his dying Speech he says He went armed to Oxford to defend himself in case the Papists should make any attempt by way of Massacre or Invasion and that he came thither to live and die with the Parliament if the Papists and their Party as was sworn and feared they would had offered to destroy the Parliament And generally all that died as Conspirators endeavoured to perswade the People that they fell as a Sacrifice to Popery and died Martyrs for the Old Cause which hath been no other than the opposing of Monarchy and the established Religion under the odious names of Popery and Tyranny when they have had no more sense of true Religion and Obedience than the Ribbons intended to be worn in their Hats that could onely declare No Popery no Tyranny but was intended to distinguish a Party for cutting of Throats Thus I have shewn the Intrigues between the Papists and Fanaticks to destroy the established Church and Government of the English Nation than which there is none in the world setled upon better foundations for Piety Liberty and Moderation nor hath any had more signal tokens of God's Almighty Providence and wonderful Blessings We may truly say in the words of David concerning his enemies Many a time have they assaulted us from our youth up but they have not prevailed against us We have been like a City besieged by two potent enemies and while one Party hath attacked us on one side the other hath taken advantage to storm us on the other and though they never could agree among themselves yet they alway conspire both in Principles and Practices to destroy the established Government both of Church and State And it is not to be wondered if it be so for the future seeing thus it hath been not onely with us from the time of the Reformation but ever since the Gospel was preached it hath had many enemies confederate against it For of a truth saith St. Peter Acts 4.27 against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel have been associated or gathered together From these Premises I do earnestly recommend to the Reason and Consciences of my dear Country-men that have any love to the Protestant Religion these following Conclusions I. That the Papists have ever since the Reformation endeavoured to raise up Sects and Differences among Protestants by disguised Emissaries among the Zealous and Well-meaning people to seduce them to Separation II. That they look on these Practices as the most effectual means to bring back the people to the Romish Religion III. That for this purpose they have been industrious to deprave the Government of our Kings and Bishops as Tyrannical the Liturgie as Popish and extolling Extemporary Prayers as Spiritual incouraging an unlicensed Ministry and preaching up Liberty of Conscience and that it is to be obtained and maintained by the Sword And that all persons who preach and practise such things do really and effectually propagate the designes of the Papists and ever have had and shall have encouragement from them IV. That it is manifest that our late horrid Wars Rapine and the Murther of our Royal Martyr and Banishment of our Soveraign were effected by the contrivance of the Papists and Fanaticks in conjunction V. That the Commotions and Rebellions in Scotland ever since 1639 sprung from the same Counsel and Conduct and that the Papists in hopes of effecting our ruine will not cease to carry on the like designes so long as our Divisions give them the like opportunities VI. That the pretences of some men to the true Protestant Religion are but vain while they practise such Rapine Oppression and Bloudshed as the very Pagans and Infidels do abhor VII That Obstinate Dissenters are before God and men guilty of all the real danger of Popery's prevailing in these Nations on the ruine of the established Protestant Religion VIII That the Church of England is the greatest Enemy that the Papists have according to their own Apprehensions and declared Judgment and consequently wholly innocent of any Designes Compliances or Approaches to the Church of Rome seeing it still persists in the same Doctrine Discipline and Worship for which the Martyrs in Queen Mary's days laid down their lives IX That those of the Communion of the Church of England ever since the Reformation have given proof of their fidelity to the Crown and opposition to Popery as well as Heresie Schism and Rebellion which hath procured them equal hatred and opposition from the Papists and Fanaticks X. That the Providence of Almighty God hath wonderfully appeared in preserving the established Church and Government from the many violent and subtile Attempts and Conspiracies of the several Factions XI That they who pretend Religion to countenance Faction and Rebellion do least regard it and generally do destroy that which they pretend to build up XII That Covenants and Associations without and against the will of the Prince do end in Confusion and Bloudshed XIII That common people are easily seduced with fair pretences of Liberty and redress of Grievances by such as neither intend nor are able to effect it XIV That there hath not been a Succession of four such Princes lineally descended for eminency in Religion Peaceableness and Clemency in any Age or Nation since our Saviours time as among us And therefore the Murmurings Seditions Conspiracies and Rebellions of Subjects are the more to be condemned and all unlawful endeavours to break the Line of such a Succession is to intrench on God's Prerogative and to distrust his Mercy who as old Brithwold said will take care for the Succession XV. That generally Conspirators and Traytors whether they succeed or not live and die impenitently and if so that they procure to themselves damnation Rom. 13. XVI That to murmur resist and rebel against such a Government as by God and our Laws is established in Church and State is to resist the Ordinance of God to disgrace and betray our Religion and to bring upon our selves both temporal and eternal destruction XVII Lastly That all the Outcrys made by the Fanaticks since the discovery of the Popish Plot have been directed chiefly to the ruine of the Established Government both in Church and State as if they favoured that Perswasion and as if none but themselves were enemies to Popery whose separation from the Church established in the judgment of the wisest even of their own Party is most like to bring it in and nothing more like to keep it out than Obedience to the King and Conforming to the Church as it is now established Thus Baxter in his Preface to the Defence of the Cure p. 17. Our Division gratifieth the Papists and greatly hazardeth the Protestant Religion and that more than most of you seem to believe or regard speaking to the Separatists And by that separation Popery saith he will get so great advantage as may hazard us all and we may lose that which the several Parties do contend about Defence of the Cure Introduction p. 52. Two way especially Popery will grow out of our Divisions First By the odium and scorn of our Disagreements Inconsistency and multiplied Sects they will perswade people that we must come for Vnity 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 all the Arguments else in Bellarmine and all other Books have not done so much to make Papists in England as the multitude of Sects among our selves Yea some Professors of Religious strictness of 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 constrained to beg and wait for Liberty the Papists may not be shut out alone but have Toleration with the rest And shall they saith Mr. Baxter use our hands to do their work and pull their freedom out of the fire We have already unspeakably served them both in this and in abating the Odium of the Gunpowder-plot ana their other Treasons Insurrections and Spanish Invasion And in Sacrilegious Desertion p. 103 104. We are indangered by Divisions principally because the self-conceited part of Religious people would not be ruled by their Pastors but would rule them you have made more Papists than ever you or we are like to recover Nothing is considerable that any Papist hath to say till he cometh to your Case and saith Doth not Experience tell you that without Papal unity and force this people will never be ruled or united It is you that tempt them to use Fire and Faggot that will not be ruled and must you that should be our Comfort become our Shame and break our hearts and make men Papists by your temptations Wo to the world because of offences and woe to some by whom they come But a much wiser and better man than Mr. Baxter hath demonstrated the same thing Preface to his Sermons Sect. 18. Three ways saith he our dissenting Brethren though not intentionally and purposely yet really and eventually have been the great Promoters of the Roman interest among us 1. By putting to their helping hand to the pulling down of Episcopacy and it is very well known to many what rejoycing that Vote brought to the Romish Party how even in Rome they sung their Io Paeans on the tidings thereof and said triumphantly Now the day is ours now is the fatal Blow given to the Protestant Religion in England 2. By opposing the interest of Rome with more violence than reason 3. By frequent mistaking the Question but especiallly through the necessity of some false principle or other which having once imbibed they think themselves bound to maintain whatever becomes of the common Cause of our Reformation which may suffer as much through some mens folly and indiscretion who pretend to be the most zealous Protestants as by all the arts and designes of our open enemies for many a man when he thought most to make it sure hath quite marred a good business by over-doing it FINIS
A Compendious HISTORY Of all the POPISH FANATICAL Plots and Conspiracies AGAINST The Established Government IN CHURCH STATE In England Scotland and Ireland From the first year of Qu. Eliz. Reign to this present year 1684. With Seasonable Remarks By Tho. Long one of the Prebendaries of Exon. Isai 9.19 c. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the land darkened and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire no man shall spare his brother They eat every man the flesh of his own arm Manasseh Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh and they together shall be against Judah Tunc inter se concordant mali cùm in perniciem justi conspirant non quia se amant sed quia eum qui amandus erat simul oderint S. Aug. in Psal 36. Conc. 2. London Printed for D. Brown at the Black Swan and Bible without Temple-bar and T. Goodwin at the Maidenhead against St. Dunstans Church 1684. TO The most Reverend Father in God WILLIAM By Divine Providence L d Archbishop of Canterbury HIS GRACE Primate of all England and Metropolitan and one of his Majesties most honble Privy-Council c. May it please your Grace I Have learned long since not to appear empty before the Lord nor without an Offering before so immediate a Minister of God This therefore such as it is I humbly devote to the service of the Church of God as it is established among us which contains a Vindication as well of the Heal as Chief Members of Church and State from the scandalous imputation of Popery and charge of the sane upon their Accusers in an impartial relation of matters of fact It is I confess one of the meanest yet a very necessary Work to remove those Stumbling-blocks and heaps of Vncleanness which men of perverse minds have laid to obstruct the Peoples entrance to our Church among which none hath given greater offence than the clamour of Popery and Idolatry Come to the Presbyterian Clergie says the L. C. J. Hales in a Pamphlet lately published by R. B. p. 28. and they will tell you that Episcopal Government is Romish and Superstitious and their Ceremonies and Vsages Antichristian Yea they will come to the People and tell them without asking that the Royal Martyr was the Head of the Grotian Religion i. e. of Popery That your Renowned and Religious Predecessor Archbishop Laud laboured to introduce Popery though he were in truth the greatest Scourge and Horrour to that Party The Great Earl of Strafford and the Learned Dr. Cousin were proclaimed and persecuted as Papists though living and dying they gave Demonstrations to the contrary And evident it is that these false Suggestions were really and purposely intended and fomented to animate the people and actually engage them in one of the most horrid Rebellions that ever was acted by any barbarous people Yet is this Outcry renewed and to the same mischievous intent as is acknowledged by Holloway That the general designe in which he engaged was to get off the King from his evil Counsel who had advised him to put a stop to the proceedings against the Popish Plotters That it was reported in all parts that Arbitrary Government and Popery were coming in apace which incensed the common people in all parts and made such a grumbling that we feared longer delays would make them mutiny This in his Paper to the King And in that to the Sheriffs He was fully perswaded that not onely Popery but Arbitrary Government was intended and that he believed many thousands in the Nation would have appeared on these reasons And in this he persisted at his Execution telling the Sheriffs That it was feared that Arbitrary Government and Popery was designed and truly I think at this present by what I can understand that there is little better designed Thus the present Government is newly dressed up in the old Rags of Popery as the Primitive Christians were in Beast skins to expose them to the rage of the people W. J. in his Celeusma accuseth many of the Conforming Clergy to be specie duntaxat Protestantes and that they do supparisitare Pelagio-Socino sed imprimis Papae Papismo though it be no less than a contradiction that they should be at the same time Socinians and Papists And still the Cry is carried on That our Hierarchy is Antichristian and that we have scarce two or three Protestant Bishops in our Communion That the Clergy is Popishly affected and are Proctors for Rome That our Church hath made many steps to Popery That our Liturgy is the Mass in English and the Litany a Popish Conjuration From these malevolent Suggestions it is that the credulous people are not onely affrighted from our Communion as if our Temples like those of the Egyptians were filled with Serpents and Crocodiles but are driven into Sedition Conspiracies and Rebellion and into many inextricate Errours and hurried from one Sect and Heresie to another till they fall into that common Sink of Quakerism which is a compound of the dregs of Popery and Fanaticism There seems to be and God be thanked for it a general abhorrence of Idolatry and Popery in the hearts of the people but that the established Church is guilty of these Abominations is the mischievous insinuation of unreasonable and malicious men who seek to raise themselves upon its ruine And with such invincible prejudices are the minds of too many possest that they are deaf to all Arguments and Demonstrations to the contrary they are as secure as if they had been taught by an Oracle since Mr. Calvin as Grotius p. 115. of his Votum pro Pace observed Illam mutationem quae Buceri consilio in Anglia erat instituta Papismi accusavit and T. C. taught That they ought rather to conform themselves in Orders and Ceremonies to the fashion of the Turks than the Papists See p. 27. of the Confer at Hampton-Court And the Popery which is now so vehemently opposed is that which our Dissenters conceive to be practised in the established Church But the inconsiderate Multitude will not perceive that while they are affrighted by such Shades and Apparitions from the Communion of our Church they do really embrace the most dangerous and distinguishing Articles and Principles of the Romanists They do as verily believe that the Presbytery or the People have a Supreme Power over the Chief Magistrate as the Papists affirm the Pope to have And as he challengeth the Keys and Sword of St. Peter so do they the Crown and Scepter of Christ for so they stick not to call their Discipline to which all Powers on Earth must bow or be broken And their Practice hath been agreeable to these Principles for from hence that damnable Doctrine as St. Paul calls it of resisting the lawful Powers and the practices of open Rebellion and secret Conspiracies have been of late days as frequent among Fanaticks as among the Papists And they presume to Canonize those that perish in Rebellion
as Saints and Martyrs as the Pope himself hath done by Thomas Becket and Father Garnet Nor hath any General or Provincial of the Jesuits exacted a more blind obedience or usurped a more uncontroulable power over the Consciences of their Proselytes and Emissaries than some of these have done So that indeed many of their Principles and Practices are but old Popery in the new dress of Presbytery as they have been formerly parallel'd by some of their Independent Brethren out of their own Books of Discipline Nor yet will their Leaders seem sensible of the pestilent effects of scandalizing the established Government with the growth of Popery when their own Disciples having pluckt their Spectacles from their noses can as plainly discern Popery not onely in their Ministry and Discipline and in every thing that they retained for Order and Decency but in their Sabbaths and Sacraments in their very Doctrines of Repentance and good works and in that of the blessed Trinity it self all which have been ridicul'd as Popish by some that pass for true Protestants But in all their Calumnies our Adversaries meet with the same fate and infatuation as other false Accusers of innocent persons commonly do their very Charge carrieth a Confutation with it being laid against those who have given the plainest demonstrations of their detestation of Popery and have acted most rationally successfully against it while the Informers are notoriously known to agree in the same Principles and to conspire in the same Practices as the Papists do for the destruction of that Church which hath been acknowledged by all sober Protestants and dreaded by the Papists as their most formidable Enemy The Jesuits and Dissenters have so long contrived and communicated politick Maximes and Counsels for the subversion of our Establishment and confederated in practices tending to that end that it is hard to determine whether there be now more Fanaticism among the Jesuits or more Jesuitism among the Fanaticks As in the story of two famous Brothers the one a Jesuit the other a Calvinist who disputed so plausibly and successfully for their Opinions that the Calvinist was perswaded to embrace Popery and the Papist to espouse Calvinism and yet they were Brethren still And if such persons as act to the same end and use the same means are equally criminal I know not how to make a distinction where I see no real difference Certain it is that as Fanaticism could never have grown to so great a bulk among us if it had not been nourished by Popery so Popery would have been extreamly weak and languishing if it had not been encouraged and animated by Fanaticism No other Artifice could have made the Popish Plot to be suspected of a Sham as some have called it but that Conspiracy of some which call themselves true Protestants but have served the Roman Cause and Interest more advantageously than all their own Consults and Confederacies have done I should not have presumed to dedicate this Treatise to your Grace had it been a Novel or Private Opinion and not the deliberate Sense and constant Judgment of the Government as well as the Practice of the Factions ever since the first conception of the Reformation King Henry the Eighth observed that the new Sumpsimus was as busie to stifle it before it came to its birth as the old Mumpsimus was And in succeeding times the Government had as watchful and jealous an eye and carried as strict a hand over the one Faction as over the other restraining them by the same Laws and executing the same Penalties on both as appears by those wholsome Statutes made in Q. Eliz. to retain her Majesties Subjects in due Obedience which have been ever interpreted by the wise Judges and common Practice of the Nation equally to concern Dissenters of all sorts It therefore seems an unaccountable Errour in them who profess a detestation of Popery to attempt the abrogation of those Laws especially if as the Dissenters affirm they were intended chiefly against the Papists as being a Grievance to his Majesties Protestant Subjects and an incouragement to Popery when in all probability the Popish Conventicles would have been as frequent as those of the Dissenters had those Laws and Sanctions been anulled and in such a juncture of time and circumstances the wisest consult of the Jesuits could not have contrived a more probable means to gratifie their Party and advance their Interest than by such a designe Nor hath this been the first joynt attempt of the two Factions to procure a Toleration for each other it being the readiest way to destroy the established Church as the Letters of Mr. Coleman and his endeavours did intimate I fear I have transgressed the bounds of Modesty as well as of an Epistle Dedicatory to a Person on whom the management of so many great and publick affairs is incumbent But I held it my bounden duty to make a publick acknowledgment of your Graces unparallel'd favour to a person of such an inferiour Rank of so mean capacities and at such a remote distance from your Grace And for this and my former rudenesses I most humbly importune your Graces Pardon as I do also for the mistakes of the following Treatise which being intended to stop the mouths of such as maliciously accuse their Fathers and Brethren and to open the eyes of such as are ignorantly seduc'd by them that by plucking out if it be possible the beam that is in their own eyes they may cleerly perceive that there is not a mote of what they falsly forged or fondly fancied to be in their Brothers eye And I hope I have not hereby forfeited the reputation or priviledge of subscribing my self Your Graces most humble and most obliged Servant THO. LONG Exon May 16. 1684. THE INTRODUCTION THE Church of England may justly complain in the like words as Erasmus Ad Episc Roffensem Triplex sustineo certamen cum Paganis illis Romanensibus qui me miserè invident cum Theologis quibusdam Monachis qui nullum non movent lapidem ut me perdant cum rabiosis quibusdam Lutheranis qui in me fremunt quod unus ut aiunt remoror ipsorum triumphos Sic erat in fatis ut hoc aetatis ex musico fierem gladiator I labour under a threefold conflict 1. Against those Pagan-Romanists who miserably envy me 2. With some Jesuits Priests and Monks who move every stone to destroy me 3. With those implacable Sectaries that think they can never rise but by my ruine By these means my Harmony is turn'd into Discord and Contention What good Protestant will not passionately condole with so indulgent a Mother under such cruel and preternatural Agonies That she who first redeemed us from POPERY resisting even to Bloud and for a whole Age together not without the immediate assistance of Heaven in time of necessity defeated all the powerful and politick attemps of our implacable Enemies should now be branded as Popish and under that notion
to maintain it against all the Arguments of Papists and Fanaticks whereby it will also appear how impotent and malicious their Accusations have been in that they have declaimed most vehemently against those as Papists that have most learnedly and successfully defended the established Church against Popery and Fanaticism which have been equally pernicious to it Insomuch that if any loyal Clergie-man or other hath in a time of need written for Loyalty or Conformity they have been marked out for Papists which is a plain Argument that the Popery and Tyranny which they decry is Christian Loyalty and Conformity And to manifest to all sober men how little of good nature as well as of Christian Piety and Charity these men have I have given many undeniable instances of their acting on the same Principles and in the like Practices as the most dangerous Papists sometimes in actual confederacy with them for the ruine of the Government For however they seem opposite to each other they are agreed to do the Government a mischief and Duo quum faciunt idem non sunt Duo They that agree in Treason are all Traytors Facinus quos inquinat aequat And of this take the following instance On October 3. 1643. there was a Letter sent from Dublin to a Member of the House of Commons which shews by what example they acted as followeth There was a Fryar taken the last Expedition into Conaught about whom was found a Collection of all your Votes Ordinances and Declarations carefully marked with short marginal Notes out of which he composed a large Manuscript intituled An Apology of the Catholicks of Ireland or a Justification of their defensive Arms for the preservation of their Religion the maintenance of his Majesties Rights and Prerogatives the natural and just defence of their Lives and Estates and the Liberty of their Country by the practice of the State of England and the Judgment and Authority of both Houses of Parliament It was penned with so little variation of Language that the name of Ireland being changed for England and the chief Actors there for those under the Parliament your own Clerk would scarce know it from one of your own Declarations All that they do is for the good of the King and Kingdom he is intrusted with all for the good of the People if he dischargeth not his trust but is advised by evil Counsellors and persons they cannot confide in 't is their duty to see this Trust discharged according to the condition and true intent thereof That they saw their Religion and Liberty in danger of extirpation and therefore had reason to put themselves in a posture of Defence but are ready to lay down their Arms as soon as the great Offices of the Kingdom are put into such hands as they can confide in c. Mutato nomine de te Anglia narratur There is lately printed an excellent Treatise vindicating the Church of England from the imputation of Popery in Doctrine Worship and Discipline to which I refer my Reader as to those points That which I designe is to vindicate our Governours in Church and State principally those who have been most accused from the like Aspersions and to retort the calumny of their Accusers by shewing their Harmony and Intrigues with the Papists both in Principles and Practices that the mouth of such Slanderers may be stopped The following Collections may serve to convince all well-affected persons that both the Papists and Fanaticks how contrary soever to each other are well agreed to attempt the Ruine of our Church as it is now established the Papists under the pretence that we are Hereticks and the Fanaticks that we are Papists but the true reason is that the Papists may regain those Profits and Dignities which for a long time they usurped in this Nation which was the most fruitful Garden that ever the Pope claimed as belonging to his Palace and the Fanaticks that they may retrieve their former sacrilegious Purchases of Crown and Church-lands and divide them among themselves Of the first we have this evidence That the Pope fills up the places of our Bishops Deans and other Dignitaries to encourage his Emissaries of which we have this Specimen in print BISHOPS CANTERBURY Cardinal Howard YORK Perrot Superior of Secular Priests LONDON Corker President of Benedictine Monks WINCHESTER White alias Whitebread DURHAM Strange late Provincial of Jesuits SALISBURY Dr. Godden NORWICH Nappier a Franciscan ELI Vincent Provincial of Dominican Monks EXETER Wolfe one of the Sorbone PETERBOROUGH Gifford a Dominican Fryar LINCOLN Sir Jo. Warner Baronet a Jesuit CHICHESTER Morgan a Jesuit BATH and WELLS Dr. Armstrong a Franciscan CARLISLE Wilmot alias Quarterman CHESTER Thimbleby a Secular Priest HEREFORD Sir Tho. Preston a Jesuit BRISTOL Mundson a Dominican OXFORD Williams Rector of Watton in Flanders St. DAVIDS Belson a Secular Priest St. ASAPH Jones a Secular Priest BANGOR Joseph David Kemash a Dominican ABBOTS WESTMINSTER Dr. Seldon a Benedictine Monk SION-HOUSE Skinner a Benedictine Monk DEANS CANTERBURY Belton a Sorbonist St. PAULS Libourne a Secular Secretary to Cardinal Howard WINDSOR Howard with twelve Benedictine Canons CHICHESTER Morgan a Secular WINTON Dr. Watkinson President of the English Colledge at Lisbone Many other Dignities are by the Popes Bull disposed of to Foreigners but these being of our Kings Dominions have been many of them diligent Promoters of our Wars that they might kill and take possession Judge now what temptation our present Bishops have to bring in Popery when the coming in of that will turn them out of their Dignities and Livelihoods if not out of the World too as in the Marian days And that the Fanaticks aim at the same end is demonstrable not onely from the unlimited power which some of their Ministers exercised over their Brethren far beyond any of the Bishops but their dividing the most profitable Benefices among themselves sequestring those loyal Clergie-men that were legally possessed of them As also from a late Proposal of Baxter Humfrys and Lob in the name of other Nonconformists who would still retain the name of Bishops so they might have the power and profit for they would have some chosen out of the several Parties of Presbyterians Independents and Anabaptists onely they desire that the Bishops should be declared Ecclesiastical Officers under the King acting Circa Sacra onely by vertue of his Commission and Authority upon which account if any of the eminent among the Nonconformists were chosen Bishops they could not refuse it as they say And indeed at the time of making this Proposal these wise men like the wise Ladies of Sisera's Mother had divided the Spoil to every man a prey of two or three Dignities besides the Garments of divers colours Judg. 5.30 Now I desire all rational men to consider that as it is a great folly and meer fascination in some to serve the lusts of those that are the Slaves of him that stiles himself the Servum Servorum Domini so it
endeavoured to prove 1. That the present was no Vsurpation 2. That former Oaths obliged not against Obedience to present Powers 3. That Obedience is due to Powers in possession though unlawfully entred And for his Authority he is not ashamed to quote these words of the Jesuit Moline de Justitiâ Tract 3. Disput 6. to this purpose Two ways one may be a Tyrant 1. Because though he be the true Soveraign of the Commonwealth he doth unjustly govern it in this case it is a sin for private men to kill him but for his own defence it is lawful and the Commonwealth assembled by their Chieftains may depose him and being deposed kill him unless greater mischief would accrue to the Commonwealth by his murther for then he should offend against the love of the Common-wealth in killing of him Shortly after he quotes Sayr's Case Consc l. 7. c. 10. n. 4. Id curare debet Occisor ita caute consulto facere ut non pejores exitus scandala ex tali Occisione sperentur which I forbear to English You see how firmly the Jesuit and Presbyter are yoked to plow up the Field of the English Church and Government They must needs be their Disciples whose Principles and Practices they so zealously follow I go on to shew in the second place their agreement in practice for by their fruits also you may know them THE INTRIGUES OF THE Papists and Fanaticks Against the Government and Religion Established Historically related WHen the Church of England was established under Queen Elizabeth there was no considerable Separation from it by Papists or Fanaticks until some of the new Society of Jesus invented a method to divide and destroy the Church of Christ among us Which they endeavoured first by opposing those who were Parish-Priests in the days of Queen Mary but allowed of our Church-Communion and having prevaile against them they rested not there but endeavoured by new Artifices to draw off some zealous Protestants into separate Congregations under a pretence of greater purity of Ordinances and Worship than were practised in our Church And to this end they imploy some subtil and Eloquent men in the disguise of zealous Protestant-Ministers to exercise their gifts of Extemporary prayer which they reported to be by an extraordinary assistance and gift of the Spirit Their preaching also was designed to bring the Order of Bishops into contempt to which they were known enemies to lay aside the Liturgie as a stinting of their gifts of the Spirit and run down those few Ceremonies that were retained that we might not have the face of a Church or any decency among us They opposed also the Supremacy of the Queen over things and persons in Religious Administrations which they contended to belong to Ministers of their rank and order And although some of the Popish Priests at that time and afterward such as Widdrington Preston Watson and the Authors of the Jesuites Catechisme opposed them in these things as tending to provoke her Majesty to greater severity against them and wrote very learnedly against those Jesuits discovering their designs to be not only against the Protestants but the more moderate Papists yet were there some troublesome Ministers Goodman Gilby Whittingham c. and others that had been at Geneva and other Presbyterian Towns and submitted to that Discipline which took all those hints from the Jesuits and made such improvements that the Disciples in a short time exceeded their Masters Doctor Cox Horne and others who adhered to the Church of England and had known their turbulent behaviour at Geneva Frankfort and other places opposed their admission to the publick Ministry and so they and the Jesuits creep first into houses and lead captive silly women and beguile the hearts of simple men and afterward gather distinct and separate Congregations under pretence of purer Worship and a more holy Discipline Of which practice we have these undeniable instances In the Ninth year of Queen Elizabeth one Faithful Commin of the Order of St. Dominick got the reputation of a zealous Protestant Minister by railing against Pius Quintus the Pope and defaming the Liturgie as being the Mass in English in opposition to which the first set up the use of Extempore prayers as a gift of the Spirit which ought not to be stinted by Forms and Liturgies but one Mr. Clerkson Chaplain to the Archbishop discovered him to be a Popish Priest which was evidently proved before the Queen and Archbishop So that he being dismissed upon Bail to appear at a certain day and it hapning that on that day the Spanish Ambassador having publick Audience of the Queen he could not be admitted though he attended with his Bail he boasted to his followers that the Queen and Council had dismissed him But finding how uneasie it would be for him in England he told his Proselytes he was resolved to go beyond the Seas to preach the Gospel there and having acquainted his Disciples how poor he was and commended to them the Cause of God he got 130 l. which was collected among the Brotherhood besides what his compassionate Sisters bestowed on him and there was no farther news of this godly man until one John Baker Master of a Ship gave this account of him to the Queen That he had seen this Faithful Commin in the Low-Countries and that one Martin van Duval a Merchant of Amsterdam told him that Commin had been lately at Rome and there imprisoned by the Pope but upon his Letter to the Pope he was sent for the next day and being accused for reviling the Pope and railing against his Church among the Hereticks of England he confessed that his lips had uttered what his heart never thought and pleaded what considerable service he had done the Pope by preaching against set Forms of prayer and calling the English prayer English Mass perswading the people to pray Spiritually and Extempore by which means the Church of England was become as odious to them to whom he preached as the Mass was to the Church of England which would prove a stumbling-block to that Church while it was a Church Upon which the Pope commended him and dismissed him with a gratuity of 2000 Ducats for his good service The next Instance is of one Thomas Heath a Jesuite in the Eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth whose Brother Nic. Heath had been Bishop of Rochester in H. 8. days He comes to the Dean of Rochester desiring him to present him to the Bishop for some Preferment In order to which he pretending himself to be a poor Minister the Dean orders him to preach in the Cathedral which he did on that Text Acts 12.6 Peter therefore was kept in prison but prayers were made without ceasing in the Church to God for him on which he told the people that it was not those of the Church of England but Spiritual prayers that brought Peter out of prison and where said he have we Scripture for any set form in
the Church But it so hapned that drawing out his Handkerchief in the Pulpit he let fall a Letter which the Sexton found and brought to the Dean which was as follows Brother THe Council of our Fraternity have thought fit to send you David George Theodorns Sartor and John Huts their Collections which you may distribute as you see fit for your purpose according to the peoples inclinations These mixtures with your own will not only a little puzzle the Vnderstandings of the Auditors but make your self famous We suppose your wants are not considerable at present by what we have heard how your flock do admire you every day more and more Be not over-zealous in your proceedings in the beginning but gradually win on them as you visit them and according as you find their inclinations to your design let us hear how you have proceeded for it will satisfie your Brethren much and inable them the better to instruct you for the future Hallinghan Benson and Coleman have set a Faction among the German Hereticks so that several who have turned from us have now denied their Baptism which we hope will soon turn the scale and bring them back to their old principles This we have certified to the Council and Cardinals That there is no other way to prevent people from turning Hereticks and for recalling of others back again to the Mother-Church than by the diversities of Doctrines We all wish you to prosper Sam. Malt. Madrid Oct. 26. 1568. This Letter was directed under the name of Thomas Finne and Malt was known to be an English Jesuite at Madrid in Spain and Hallingham Coleman and Benson with one Button and some others that went under the notion of zealous Preachers are noted by our Historians as active instruments of Separation among us whom the Letter calls German Hereticks i. e. Lutherans which Dr. Stillingfleet notes out of Mr. Cambden A. D. 1568. agreeing with the date of this Letter who says that while Harding Sanders and others attacked our Church on one side Coleman Button Hillingham Benson and others were busie on the other who under a pretence of purer Reformation opposed the Discipline Liturgie and Calling of our Bishops as approaching too near to the Church of Rome And these he notes to be the beginners of those Controversies which after broke out with so great violence Nec dum finitus Orestes So that while the Pope held the hot-Iron of Dissention on the Anvil the open Jesuite and the Masquerade Presbyter on each side beat with their Sledges to form the Project after his mind But upon the receipt of the Letter the Dean carried it to Edmond Gest then Bishop of Rochester who instantly caused the said Heath to be apprehended and examined and urging against him what he had said in his Sermon against the Liturgie and for Spiritual Prayers he confessed that he was not wholly of the Episcopal party of England but that he had laboured to refine the Protestants and to take off all Smacks of Ceremonies that in the least do tend to the Romish Faith He confessed also that he knew the said Sam. Malt but objected that the Letter was not directed to him but to one Thomas Finne which as the Bishop observed was usual among the Jesuites And to put the matter out of controversie the Bishop sent to Heaths Lodgings where in one of his Boots were found his Beads and a License from the Fraternity of the Jesuits and a Bull dated the first of Pius Quintus to preach what Doctrine that Society pleased for dividing of Protestants particularly naming the English as Hereticks In his Trunk were also several Books for denying Baptism to Infants and containing several blasphemies Heath being Convicted of these things in open Court the Bishop offered him that if he would discover for what causes he ran into those Schisms and reform his course of life he and the whole Court would intercede for his pardon and provide for his future maintenance To which he answered My Lord I know not what I might have done had I not been so publickly examined but seeing my vocation is so publickly known I shall not acknowledge my self to be guilty of any Misdemeanour for I have fought a good fight for Christ whose cause I have taken in hand This Experiment I tryed among my Country-men that the world may see that all those who term themselves Protestants are not of the Church of England though they speak against Rome The Bishop hearing him speak so obstinately said Behold my Brethren a Jesuits Confession how he hath declared he had set up a certain Form of Religion purposely to withdraw you from the Church of England but woe be to those deluders and to those that will be deluded by them we have a good Law and the light of the Holy Gospel now flourishing among us which hath for many years past been absconded therefore my Brethren consider the condition of your Souls if you start aside once from your Principles having the right way so plainly set before you you will not only run into Popish slavery again but be in peril of a total confusion of Soul and body And if Rome get once her foot on these dominions again not only your selves and your Children but your Princes and Nobles shall become slaves to her Idolatry Then was he remanded to prison and for three days brought to the Market-place at Rochester where he stood by the High-cross with a paper before his breast in which was written his Crimes then he was Pillored and on the last day his Ears cut off his Nose slit and his Forehead branded with the Letter R and was condemned to endure perpetual imprisonment But it lasted not long for a few Months after he dyed suddenly not without the suspition of having poysoned himself How many other Romish Emissaries did act after this manner is not known but certain it is that they had prevailed with too many to walk in their steps and to carry on the work in the same method that they had begun to make a Separation among us for the Authors of the Admonition in the 14 of Queen Elizabeth declared they would have neither Papists nor others constrained to Communicate which although as A.B. Whitgift saith they intended as a plea for their own Separation from the Church yet saith he the Papists could not have met with better Proctors and elsewhere he tells them that they did the Pope very good service and that he would not miss them for any thing for what is his desire but to have the Church of England which he hath accused utterly defaced and discredited by any means overthrown if not by Forreign Enemies yet by domestical Dissentions and what fitter and apter instruments could he have had for that purpose than you who under pretence of zeal overthrow that which other men have builded under colour of purity seeking to bring in deformity and under the cloak of equality and humility would
Ireland or any other person 〈◊〉 do the same which he expresly denyed saying He did it on his own score Whereupon the House Voted Resolved c. That the House doth utterly disapprove of the proceedings of Colonel M. in the Treaty and Cessation as they called it made between him and Owen Roe Oneale and that this House doth detest thoughts of any closing with any Party of Popish Rebels there who have had their hands in shedding English Bloud Nevertheless the House being satisfied that what the said Colonel did therein was in his apprehension necessary for the preservation of the Parliaments interest the House is content that the farther consideration thereof as to him be laid aside and shall not at any time hereafter be called in question Upon these proceedings the Author notes 1. The Armies Doctrine and Vse of apprehended necessity and good intentions to justifie evil actions approved of by this Parliament 2. This Agreement though it were twelve weeks before publickly known in England and divulged in licensed News-books was never scrupled until that first the said Agreement was expired And 3. That Oneale was so beaten by the Lord Inchiquine that as their News-books said he was inconsiderable and must suddenly joyn with Ormond or be destroyed 4. That these Votes call this Agreement but a Treaty and Cessation which was a League offensive and defensive against Ormond Inchiquine and all that upheld Monarchy For which the Author gives these Reasons Because the second Article says That on all occasions both Parties be ready to assist one another till a more absolute Agreement be made by the Parliament of England And the third Article saith That the Creats of Ulster residing in the Quarters of the Parliaments Army shall pay Contribution to General Owen Oneale which is a granting of Taxes against Law and it seems Oneale became a Mercenary being taken into pay Article the fourth saith That if Oneale shall happen to fight against the Forces under Ormond Inchiquine or other Enemies of the Parliament and thereby spend his Ammunition if he be near to their Quarters and want Ammunition they shall then furnish him This was actually performed when Inchiquine besieged Dundalk The fifth Article allowed Oneale the use of any Harbours within their liberty By which Premises we may rationally conclude that the Factions are not so averse from the most bloudy Papists but if occasion require they are ready to joyn interest with them to maintain their Good Old Cause against the Crown and Church of England which will farther appear by the Correspondency and Agents which the successive Parties that were uppermost maintained in foreign parts to betray the present Kings Counsels while he was in banishment for which Manning a Papist was executed for whom many Dirgies were sung in several Churches And when his Majesty was invited into Scotland the Marquess of Huntly and other Lords and Heads of the Popish Faction made a great Party to oppose his Reception unless he would grant a Toleration of their Religion But the Presbyterian Party having then the greatest power admitted him on such terms as they thought fit and served him no longer than they could serve their own designes For the clearer manifestation of the ASSOCIATION between Oneale and the Parliament there are lately come to the Council of State saith the Author of the Hist of Independ p. 245. two Letters out of Conaught from Sir Charles Coote dated the 14th and 15th of August 49 informing them with how much zeal to the Parliaments interest Owen Oneale had freely raised the Siege of London-derry On which Letters and the Votes and Proceedings of Pride 's Parliament I commend to the Readers observation these particulars First the 15th of August the Letters inform them that Oneale freely offered his assistance to Coote professing much affection to the Parliament of England and an earnest desire to maintain their interest He had formerly stiled the Parliament Monstrosum Parliamentum but now the case is altered 〈◊〉 calls them the Honourable Parliament as driving his interest against Monarchy and Protestancy In the Letter of the 14th he informs the Parliament that he hath found Oneale and his Army very punctual and faithful in all their promises and ingagements and make◠no doubt but they will continue so to the end The 16th of August he says that Oneale i◠his Express to Coote inclosed some Letters received from Col. M. and among the rest 〈◊〉 Copy of a Letter in answer to a Letter of the Lord Inchiquine charging the Colonel for joyning with Oneale and his party wherein the Colonel insinuated as if Oneale 's submission to use the Parliaments power were already accepted by them In that of the 15th Coote hath this expression in his Letter Calling to mind that it is no new thing for the most wise God to make use of wicked Instruments to bring about a good designe Aug. 15. the Letter says that Coote called a Council of War and resolved it was better to accept of the Assistance of those who proclaimed themselves Friends to us and our interest we fight for The same Letter says that we added to the Article this proviso Not use their Assistance longer than the approbation of the State of England should go along with us therein In that of the 14th Coote says Oneale was pleased to communicate to him certain proposals which were long since transmitted to the Parliament and though for his part and the prime Officers with him they do not doubt but the proposals are already yielded to by the State yet in regard their Army and party in all other parts of the Kingdom cannot be satisfied therewith till the Parliament declare more publickly therein he hath therefore desired me humbly to intreat your Lordships to declare your Resolutions therein with as much speed as may be And in a Vote of Parliament it 's said The House is well satisfied of the diligence faithfulness and integrity of Sir Charles Coote in preserving the Garison of London-derry Which says my Author was preserved by the conjunction of Oneale who raised the Siege But to return to England where though the Jesuits and Priests did not appear so visibly as in the Wars of Ireland yet that they had great influence on the Councils and Armies of the Fanaticks from the beginning to the end of the War is industriously proved by Mr. Prynne in several books especially in his Introduction to the Archbishop's Tryal and in Romes Master-piece Works of Darkness brought to light The Royal Favourite c. The first War begun with the clamour of Popery That it was admitted not onely at the Court but into the Church particularly that the King was a great favourer of Papists and the House of Commons instance in one Goodman a Romish Priest who was condemned at the Sessions in the Old-baily Whereupon the House remonstrates That it was more necessary to put the Laws in execution at that time than in any before That at
to change Government it was lawful for the Catholicks to work that change for the advancing and securing the Catholick Cause in England by making away the King whom there was no hope to turn from his Heresie This was answered affirmatively after which the same persons went to Rome where the same Question being propounded and debated it was concluded by the Pope That it was both lawful and expedient for the Catholicks to promote that alteration of State c. When that horrid Parricide had taken effect the Pope commanded all the Papers about that Question to be gathered and burnt In obedience to which Order a Roman Catholick in Paris was demanded a Copy which he had of these Papers but the Gentleman who had time to consider and detest the wickedness of that Project refused to give it and shewed it to a Protestant friend of his relating to him the whole carriage of this Negotiation with great abhorrency of the Practices of the Jesuits And when these Jesuits returned from Rome they brought many more after them to help on the same Work which at last they effected to their great joy The Roman Priest and Confessor is known who when he saw the fatal stroak given to our holy King and Martyr flourished with his Sword and said Now the greatest Enemy that we had in the world is gone A Protestant Lady living in Paris was perswaded by a Jesuit to turn Catholick when the dismal news of the King's Murther came to Paris this Lady as all other good Subjects was deeply afflicted with it and when this Jesuite came to see her and found her melted in Tears for that Disaster he told her with a smiling countenance That she had no reason to lament but rejoyce rather seeing the Catholicks were rid of their greatest Enemy and that Cause was much furthered by his death Upon which the Lady in great anger put him down the stairs saying If that be your Religion I have done with you for ever and God hath given her grace to make her words good hitherto Many intelligent Travellers can tell of the great joy among the English Convents and Seminaries about the Kings 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 Abbasses in England An understanding Gentleman visiting the Fryars in Dunkirk put them on 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 work To which they answered That the Jesuits would ingross to themselves the glory of all great and good works and of this among others whereas they had laboured as diligently and effectually for it as they So that both the Jesuits and Seculars had laboured to bring the King to death and the Army of Fanaticks were their Instruments to put it in execution Monsieur de Bourdeaux the French Embassadour being resident in London when General Monk had gotten the power of the City and the affections of the People earnestly desired to interest the King of France and Cardinal Mazarine in the Revolution of Government and made way for an Address to the General by his Brother-in-law Clergis to whom he imparted that Cardinal Mazarine would be glad to have the honour of his friendship and assist him faithfully in all his Enterprizes and that the General might be more confident of the Cardinal he assured him that Oliver Cromwel kept so strict a League with him that he did not assume the Government without his privity and was directed step by step by him in the progress of that action and therefore if he resolved on that course he should not onely have the Cardinals friendship and counsel in the attempt but a safe Retreat and honourable Support in France if he sailed in it But Mr. Clergis assured him that the General did not intend to take the Government upon him but to submit all to the determination of the next Parliament The King being in the Territories of the King of Spain when the General was minded to declare for him Sir Jo. Greenvil was dispatched by the General to his Majesty to desire him to depart out of the King of Spain's Dominions to Breda or some other place under the Government of the States of the Vnited Provinces for that he had certain intelligence he would be detained by the King of Spain's Ministers if he stayed in his Dominions Upon which Advice within two or three days he went to Breda where he continued till he was invited to his Kingdoms There was found in the Study of Francis Young after his death a Paper containing Advices given to him by Seignior Bellarini concerning the best way of managing the Popish interest in England upon the Kings Restauration The first Advice is to make the obstruction of Settlement their great designe especially upon the fundamental Constitutions of the Kingdom whereunto if things should fall they would be more firm than ever Secondly To remove the Jealousies raised by Prynne Baxter c. of their designe upon the late Factions and to set up the prosperous way of fears and jealousies of the King and Bishops Thirdly To make it appear under-hand how neer 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 most stayed men will become more odious and others will run out of all Religion for fear of Popery Fourthly That there be an Indulgence promoted by the Factious and seconded by You. Fifthly That the Trade and Treasure of the Nation may be engrossed between themselves and other discontented Parties Sixthly That the Bishops and Ministers of the Church of England be aspersed as either worldly and careless on one hand or so factious that it were well they were removed All these Directions will appear to have been followed precisely by both Parties The Grandees of the Committee at Derby-house and the Army sollicite the detaining of the Prince in France and delaying his Journy for England lest he should trouble the yet-unsetled Kingdom of the Saints To negotiate which they have an Agent lying Lieger with Cardinal Mazarine who is so well supplied with Money and so open-handed that it hath been heard from Mazarine's own mouth that all the Money the Queen and Prince had cost the Crown of France came out of the Parliaments Purse with a good advantage It is likewise said Mazarine had an Agent here to drive on the interest of France in England Hist of Independ 2 part p. 112. And it is known that Cromwel's interest with France when the present King fled thither after
Worcester-fight was so great that he prevailed to have the King driven thence to seek his safety in other Countries And it is credibly reported that Cromwel maintained or encouraged a company of Benedictine Monks to betray the Kings Counsels That Manning who was executed beyong the Seas for disclosing the Kings Counsels was a Papist and had Masses sung for him after his death That Lambert who had been suspected as a Papist thirty years with the help of a Popish Priest contrived Cromwels new Government And the Jesuits perceiving that if the Scotish and English Presbyterians should cleerly and entirely grasp the power of the Nation it would be a difficult task to take it out of their hands they abetted the Independent party and other growing Sects they mixed themselves with their Counsels and Armies as Mr. Prynne affirmed And a good Author says that a Protestant Gentleman met with about thirty of them at one time between Roan and Diep who enquiring their design and they taking him for one of their party was informed by them that they were going into England and would take Arms in the Independant Army and endeavour to be Agitators and what work those creatures made is too well known Nor is it less notorious who they were that pleaded so strenuously for Liberty of Conscience Such Tracts as directly urged the Toleration of Popery as well as of other Sects were penned and dispersed by the Jesuits and the Indulgence granted to them by Cromwel who was never known to punish any of them for their Recusancy as long as they served his interest argues his connivance if not his approbation of them By these was that Treatise of Father Parsons concerning the Succession under the Title of Doleman Reprinted and dispersed to keep us in confusion Then it was that White wrote his Jesuitical books and Milton seconded him And the Pamphlets written to justifie the Proceedings of the Army were dictated or written by the Jesuits In the year 1652. William Birchly published a Treatise called The Moderator or Persecution for Religion condemned In a Postscript to which he says that he subscribed his name according to an Order of Parliament yet is not ashamed to say that he had his Arguments from some of the Romish Priests for a Toleration of whom he pleads as passionately as if a whole Consult of them had penned the Pamphlet And a good Author saith he hath been credibly informed that a Jesuit of St. Omers declared that they were Twenty years in hammering out the Sect of the Quakers And whoever considers the Tenets of that Sect will easily see whose off-spring they are They refuse all Oaths which serves the Jesuits to evade the Tests of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy they despite the Scriptures as the Jesuits do they contemn our Sacraments especially the Eucharist as the Papists do vilifie the Ministers and in matters of Doctrine have a great analogie with the Papists Dr. Oates his Narrative and Depositions Paragraph 34. speaks of the Jesuits and one Green with eight other Fifth Monarchy-men who clubbed together for firing the City of London I have told you what White the Jesuit did and that wretched Milton Cromwel's Secretary who had been at Rome and in his writings speaks of great kindness received there and holding correspondence with some Italians could have no other design in printing those books of Divorce against Tythes and Clergy-men and to justifie the Regicides but to bring us to Atheism first and then to Confusion He was by very many suspected to be a Papist and if Dr. Oates may be believed was a known frequenter of the Popish Club though he were Cromwel's Latine Secretary The same Dr. tells us that a Party of the Jesuits at Putney were the Projectors of our troubles and the Kings ruine That they broke up the Treaty at Vxbridge That a Popish Lord brought a Petition to the Regicides signed by above 500 Papists promising That on condition of a Toleration they would exclude the Family of the Stuarts from the Crown Having said so much to prove the agreement of Papists and Fanaticks for the destruction of the Government of Church and State I shall add a few lines to vindicate the Chief Governours from those accusations of Popery which were charged on them In the year 1658. ten years after the death of the Royal Martyr Mr. Baxter prints his Grotian Religion and through Grotius's sides strikes at the heads and members of the Church of England with the same blow One reason of condemning Grotius as a Papist may be the Character which he gives of such men in his Book de Antichristo Circumferamus oculos per omnem Historiam quod unquam seculum vidit tot subditorum in Principes bella sub religionis titulo horum concitatores ubique reperiuntur Ministri Evangelici ut quidam se vocant Quod genus hominum in quae pericula etiam nunc optimos Civitatis Amstelodamensis Magisiratus conjicerit videat si cui libet de Presbyterorum in Reges audacia librum Jacobi Britanniarum Regis cui nomen Donum Regium videbit eum ut erat magni judicii ea praedixisse quae nunc cum dolore horrore conspicimus For the Grotian design i. e. Popery saith he was carrying on in the Church of England and this was the cause of all our Wars and changes p. 105. where he thus talks of the Royal Martyr beyond any thing that his barbarous Judges could accuse him of How far the King was inclined to a reconciliation with the Church of Rome saith Mr. Baxter I onely desire you to judge First by the Articles of the Spanish and French Match sworn to Secondly by his Letter to the Pope written in Spain Thirdly by his choice of Agents in Church and State Fourthly by the residence of the Popes Nuntio here and the Colledge of the Jesuits c. Fifthly by the illegal Innovations in Worship so resolvedly gradatim introduced All which I speak not with the least desire to perswade men that he was a Papist but onely to shew that while he as a moderate Protestant i. e. a Papist in Masquerade as they are now termed took hands with the Queen a moderate Papist the Grotian Design had great advantage in England which he himself boasted of p. 106. Of this indignity to that Religious Prince the learned Bishop Bramhal p. 617. of his Works took notice and vindicated him Of which Mr. B. being informed he says p. 100. of his Defence that he printed the contrary in times of Vsurpation and that the Informer could not prove it and that Bishop Bramhal was a Calumniator The Book he refers to was I suppose dedicated to Richard Cromwell whom he did not call an Vsurper but one who piously prudently and faithfully to his immortal honour exercised the Government 1659. Where p. 327. having accused the Now Episcopal party for following Grotius he says As for the King himself that was their Head
if any conjecture that he was a flat Papist I believe him not but he was the head of the Grotian Papists and he himself boasted of it ubi supra Now if any would know how far Grotius and consequently the King was a Papist he says He i. e. Grotius was a more arrant Papist than Cassander who dyed in that Communion and was one that owned the Council of Trent and such I think are flat Papists But if Mr. B. did not believe the King to be a flat Papist then his iniquity was the greater to give so many though frivolous instances by way of proof that others might believe what Mr. B. did not Did not Mr. B. know that the fear of introducing Popery was made a chief ground of the War against the King And may he not as well make it a ground of another War against the present King because he adheres to his Bishops whom Mr. B. calls Popish Clergie-men And he says that the Parliament whom they were bound to believe made it their great argument and advantage against the King that he favoured the Papists and on this supposition saith he thousands came in to fight for their Cause And they made one Article against the Archbishop of Canterbury that he endeavoured to introduce Popery whose life on that account they took away though he were indeed one of their greatest adversaries which as it appears by the discovery of the Plot of the Jesuits to take away his life mentioned in the relation of Andreas ab Habernfield and printed by Mr. Prynne wherein because of his constancy to the Established Religion from which he could not be tempted by the offer of a Cardinals Cap made to him from the then Pope by Con his Nuncio they plotted his death so it will appear to be a gross slander by that which followeth And first it shall not be denied that his promoting of decent Ceremonies and some Executions on Seditious persons procured him that ill report among the Fanaticks But he refuted it sufficiently by declaring openly at the Council-Table against the great resort of Papists to Denmark-house of which also he complained to the King with passion as a thing of dangerous consequence and particularly against Sir Toby Matthews and Walter Mountague two active Papists mentioned in Habernfields Discovery And before that time he published his Conference with Fisher the Jesuit one of the best discourses yet extant against them After which time though he could not wipe off the aspersion among the Fanaticks yet he was lookt on by the Papists as their greatest enemy He prevailed to banish both Matthews and Mountague from the Court whereat the Queen shewed some displeasure against him but knowing how able and faithful a Minister he was for the Kings service He reconciled the Queen to him again His Conference with Fisher was for the satisfaction of some persons of Quality on whom the Jesuits had practised Sir Edward Deeâ—ing his professed Adversary says That by â— the Bishop had muzled the Jesuit and struck the Papist under the fifth Rib. In his Preface 〈◊〉 King Charles he says God forbid your Majesty should let the Laws and Discipline sleep for feâ—â— of the name of Persecution and suffer Mr. Fisher and his fellows to angle in all parts of your Dominions for your Subjects Let us have 〈◊〉 dissolving of Oaths of Allegiance no deposâ—â—â— of Kings and blowing up of States for 〈◊〉 their Religion were as good as they pretend they cannot compass it by good means I am 〈◊〉 they ought not to attempt it by bad for if theâ— will do evil that good may come of it theâ— damnation is just He complains there thaâ— the Church was between two Factions as between two Milstones wherefore he thought it his duâ—â— to deliver her from both for he tells the King that no one thing did make conscientious men to waver more in their minds and to be drawn from the sincerity of Religion professed in the Church of England than the want of uniform and decent Order the Romanist being apt to say the Houses of God could not be suffered to lye so nastily were the true Worship of God observed in them the external worship of God in his Church being the great witness to the world that our hearts stand right in that Service And to deal clearly with your Majesty these thoughts and no other made me labour so much for decency and an orderly settlement of the external Worship of God To this I add that the Archbishop did no other than what was practised with good success upon the Papists in Queen Elizabeths days of which I have taken notice before to be acknowledged by our present Dissenters This most Reverend Archbishop was not more averse from the Doctrine of the Papists than from any acquaintance or correspondence with them Panzani and Con two of the Popes Nuncio's often endeavoured some Conference with him but he still put them off though some persons of Quality sollicited it He suppressed Socinian and Popish Books especially that called An Introduction to a devout life written by Francis Sales Bishop of Geneva And to omit many other arguments his Protestation at his death of which hereafter is enough to satisfie all but Infidels Bishop Beadle Anno 1633. certifyed Bishop Laud then of London of the dangerous condition of Ireland by the growth of Popery and informed the Earl of Strafford who was newly made Lord Deputy that the Pope had a greater power in that Kingdom than the King governing there by a Congregation de propaganda fide established not long before at Rome That the Popes Clergie there was double in number to the Kings and they were bound by Oath to maintain the Popes power and greatness against all persons That the Pope had erected a Colledge in Dublin to affront the Kings Colledge One Harris Dean of the New Colledge printed a Treatise against Bishop Vshers Sermon at Wansteed and after the dissolving of the new Frieries in Dublin they erected others in the Country where the people flocked in great multitudes to hear Mass forgetting the Principles of Religion That a Synodical meeting of their Clergy had been held in Drogheda in which they decreed That it was not lawful to take the Oath of Allegiance and therefore it was thought necessary to restrain them by a standing Army Whereupon the Lord Deputy was advised to summon a Parliament and so ordered his affairs as to raise an Army of Twenty thousand men which was maintained mostly out of the Estates of the Papists by which means he kept the Irish in awe and had he been continued there that Hellish Massacre on the English Protestants which followed on the withdrawing of that Great man might in all probability have been prevented But these two Great men the one of which made it his business to prevent Rebellion in the State the other to suppress Faction and Confusion in the Church were made the chief marks at which all the Plots
and Darts both of Jesuits and Fanaticks were aimed that by their fall they might more easily destroy the King as it afterward hapned and notwithstanding their serious and succesful endeavours to suppress Popery in Ireland they are reputed and accused for Papists in England but the true reason was the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop being two of the most faithful Ministers of State that the King had the Scots endeavour in the first place to take them out of the way For A Parliament being called on Novemb. 3. 1640. the Scots under pretence of Religion got a considerable Party in both Houses to help on their designe To which end at their entrance into England they made a Remonstrance That their just desires so necessary for the good of both Kingdoms could find no access to the ears of their gracious King by reason of the powerful diversion of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Deputy of Ireland who being strengthened with a mighty Faction of Papists near the King did rule in all matters both Temporal and Ecclesiastical making the necessity of their service to his Majesty to appear in being the onely fit Instruments under a pretext of vindicating his Majesties Honour is oppress the Liberties of his free Subjects and the true reformed Religion And this Remonstrance they seconded with another Libel called The Intention of the Army signifying to the People of England That they had no designe to waste their Goods or spoil their Country but onely to petition his Majesty to call a Parliament and to bring the Archbishop and Deputy to condign punishment At this time they set forth a Book against the Archbishop called Laudensium Autocatacrisis endeavouring to prove out of the Archbishop's Writings that he designed to bring in Superstition Popery and Arminianism There comes also a Petition from some Lords complaining of the great increase of Popery and of many inconveniencies drawn on the Kingdom by engaging against the Scots This was signed by the Earls of Essex Hartford Rutland Bedford Exeter Warwick Mulgrave and Bullingbrooke the Lords Say Mandevil Brook and Howard And this was seconded by another from London The day for the sitting of the Parliament being appointed on the third of November the Archbishop was advised that the Parliament in the 20 of Hen. 8. which began in the fall of Cardinal Wolsey and the diminution of the power and priviledges of the Clergie and ended in the dissolution of Religious houses was begun on the same day and therefore he should move the King to respite their sitting for a day or two The event proved too sadly ominous for this begun with the fall of the Archbishop the Rites and Priviledges of the English Clergie Bishops Deans and Chapters and the Cathedrals left without any means to repair them But there were other strange accidents observed by Dr. Heylen in the Life of the Archshop p. 450. On Friday-night Jan. 24. 1639. he dreamt that his Father came to him and askt him what he did there and he asked his Father how long he would stay there who replied He would stay till he had him along with him This Dream he noted in his Breviate In December that year the Boats that were drawn on land neer Lambeth were by a violent tempest dasht against one another and broken in pieces And the tops of two Chimneys were blown down and beat through the Lead and Rafters on the Bed in which he was wont to lie but the roughness of the water kept him that night at his Chamber in White-hall The same night at Croyden one of the Pinacles fell from the Steeple and beat down the Lead and Roof of the Church twenty foot square The same night at the Metropolitical Church in Canterbury one of the Pinacles which carried a Vane with the Archbishop's Arms upon it was blown down and carried a good distance off falling on the Roof of a Cloyster where the Arms of the See of Canterbury were ingraven in Stone which by the fall of the Pinacle were broken in pieces whereat some did conjecture that he should not onely fall himself but the Archiepiscopal Dignity should fall with him But the Archbishop took most notice of anotheer Accident on St. Simon and Jude's Eve a week before the sitting of the Parliament when going into his upper Study where his Picture in full length was wont to hang he found it fallen on the ground and lying flat on its face On Saturday May 9. 1640. a Paper was posted on the Exchange animating the Apprentices to sack his House at Lambeth the Munday following he therefore so fortified his Palace that though five hundred persons attempted it they could do nothing but they broke open the Prisons in Southwark and freed their Comrades for which actions one Bensteed a Leader of the Rabble was condemned and executed The great cry was That he endeavoured to bring in Popery Mr. Prynne says he was at least a Cassandrian Papist and endeavoured a reconciliation between us and Rome A Book written against him called The English Pope printed 1643. tells us how far the King and Pope had agreed The King saith he required a Dispensation from the Pope that the English Catholicks might resort to the Protestant Churches take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and that the Popes Supremacy was to be changed into a Priority and that marriage should be permitted to the Priests the Communion administred under both kinds and the Liturgie in the English Tongue But though these Concessions were more than the Pope would grant yet another Libel says There were general Propositions made for this agreement and that the Archbishop had made some Innovations in order thereto Popes Nuncio p. 11. But what the Archbishop did was not with a respect to peace with Rome but to the setling of the Church of England on the first Principles of Reformation and to make it more amiable even to the Papists whom he aimed to win over first by Conferences and then by an external Decency in the publick Service the Catholicks being much offended at the slovenly keeping of our Churches and the irreverence of the People at their Devotion And though some accounted the Archbishop's actions in renewing ancient Rites to give advantage to Popery yet others more knowing said that it would tend to the honour and advantage of the Church of England for Dr. Heylin reports that he heard from a person of known Nobility that being with a Father of the English Colledge at Rome one of the Novices told him with great joy that the English were about to set up Altars and officiate in Copes to adorn their Churches and paint their Windows and were returning to the Church of Rome To whom the Father replied with some indignation That he talked like an ignorant Novice and that these proceedings rather tended to the ruine than advancement of the Catholick Cause because the Church of England coming nearer to the ancient Vsages the Catholicks there
would be sooner drawn off from them than any of that Nation would fall off to Rome Some things are objected against him in relation to the Doctrine and Devotion of the Church as That the Church of Rome was held to be a true Church That the Pope hath a primacy over other Bishops That it appertains to him to call General Councils That Altars might be erected That he was not willing the Pope should be called Antichrist or that every raw Preacher should trouble his people with Popish Controversies Some of which were false Insinuations and others vain and frivolous In the Liturgies of Henry the 8th and Edward the 6th was this Expression From the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable Enormities Good Lord c. Which words were expunged in the first of Queen Elizabeth lest they should affright the Catholicks from coming to our Churches on which ground the Archbishop finding in a Book of Prayer for the fifth of November not confirmed by Law these passages Root out the Babylonish and Antichristian Sect which say of Jerusalem Down with it c. And again Cut off those workers of iniquity whose Religion is Rebellion and whose Faith is Faction He made these small alterations In the first thus Root out the Babylonish and Antichristian Sect of them which say c. In the second thus Cut off those workers of iniquity who turn Religion into Rebellion c. Against which some being conscious it was intended against them made Objections Which the Archbishop did onely to avoid the giving of causeless offences to the Romish Party Which doubtless he endeavoured with all his skill to suppress And besides his learned Disputations against them he procured a Canon to be pass'd in the Convocation For suppressing the further growth of Popery and reducing Papists to Church and issued very strict and effectual Orders for the execution thereof But it was the method whether of the Jesuits or Puritans or both to defame them most for Papists who acted most successfully against them as did this Bishop and Bishop Bramhall A passage or two in the Archbishop's Speech at his death may satisfie all sober Readers I pray God says he the clamours of venient Romani of which I have given no cause help not to bring them in Concerning the King I shall be bold to say He hath been much traduced for bringing in of Popery but on my Conscience of which I shall give God a very present account I know him to be as free from this charge as any man living and I hold him to be as sound a Protestant according to the Religion by Law established as any man in this Kingdom and that he will venture his life as far and as freely for it And I think I do or should know both his affection to Religion and his grounds for it as fully as any man in England For my self I was born and baptized in the Church of England and the Religion by Law established in that I have ever since lived and in that I come now to die This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in matters of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I have always lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and in that I come now to die What clamours and slanders I have endured for labouring a Vniformity in the external Service of God according to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church all men know and I have abundantly felt We have observed the Principles of Jesuits and Fanaticks wherein they agree and have joyntly acted against the Government in Church and State for the ruine of both and how like Janus his head they did not onely look backward to the Justification of the Murther of the old King but forward to prevent the Restauration of his present Majesty And hitherto their Practices have been according It remains now that we consider what these Factions have practised to hinder that happy Restauration by Gods miraculous providence and the wise conduct of the noble General Monk now established What the Popish Party did to hinder him from coming to his Fathers Throne hath been partly discovered already I shall now shew what the Fanaticks did And will begin with the Scots who called him home first to vex and torment him with their unrighteous dealings and temptations between hopes and fears and affronted him with unsufferable Reproaches for the sins of his Father and Grandfather as well as his own insomuch that he often attempted to leave them fearing as it came to pass that they would at last betray him What provocations he met with in private may be guessed at by their publick actions The Thursday before the Coronation was seâ— apart as a Solemn day of Humiliation for the sins of the Royal Family and Robert Douglas in the Coronation-Sermon told the King That his Grandfather King James remembred not the kindness of them who had held the Crown upon his head yea he persecuted faithful Ministers he never rested till he had undone Presbyterial Government and Kirk-Assemblies setting up Bishops and bringing in Ceremonies and laid the foundation whereon his Son our late King diâ— build much mischief in Religion all the days of his life p. 73. And p. 52. he tells our Soveraign to his face That a King abusing his power to the overthrow of Religion Laws and Liberties which are the Fundamentals of that Covenant may be controuled and opposed and if he set himself to overthrow all these by Arms they who have the power as the Estates of the Land may and ought to resist by Arms because he doth by that opposition break the very Bonds and overthrow the Essentials of this Contract and Covenant This may serve says he to justifie the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in a hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Laws and Liberties Thus was the Scotish Crown lined with Thorns and the King had Gall and Vinegar given him to drink instead of the Royal Vnction of which he says p. 34. The Bishops behoved to perform this Right and the King behoved to be sworn to them but now by the blessing of God Popery and Prelacy are removed let the anointing of Kings with Oyl go to the door with them and let them never come in again So that although the Scots Army were overthrown at Worcester yet his Majesty escaping with safety and liberty by a wonderful Providence he was as the event now shews a very great Gainer by that Loss And as to his Majesties return into England it is very evident that they had not forgotten their old Doctrine of binding their Kings in Chains and therefore they endeavoured to lay such Conditions and Fetters on the King as neither his Father could nor He would be able to bear As soon as ever the General 's intent to bring home the King was known there were frequent and zealous Applications made That
HERETICKS are shut out by Law they will secretly contribute the utmost of their endeavours to make the sufferings of dissenting Protestants as grievous as possibly they can that in despite of them their own necessities may compel them to cry out for Liberty till they procured a common Toleration for all and opened the door for Papists and Hereticks as well as for themselves And he hath lived to make good his Prognostick like Nostredamus his Son who having prophesied that on such a day the City should be burnt he set it on fire himself As to the Toleration by which Papists were indulged as well as other Dissenters it is evident that it was obtained by the mutual endeavours of both Parties Coleman confesseth it in behalf of the Papists who thereby intended the ruine of our Church to which they thought it a most probable means And for the other Dissenters Mr. Humfrys in his peaceable Designe p. 71. speaks in the name of his Brethren to this effect What shall we say then to the Papist Answ The Papist in our account is but one sort of Recusants and the conscientious and peaceable among them must be held in the same predicament with those among our selves that likewise refuse to come to Common-Prayer And p. 72. As for the common Papist who lives innocently in his way he is to us as other Separatists and so comes under the like Toleration And I saith Mr. Baxter so little fear the noise of the censorious that even now while the Plot doth render them most odious say freely 1. That I would have Papists used like men 2. I would have no man put to death for being a Priest 3. I would have no Writ de Excommunicato capiendo or any Law compel them to our Communion and Sacraments p. 19. of second Defence And p. 235. of his first Plea he says It is but reasonable if on such necessity i. e. the Penalties for Non-conformity they should accept of favour from any Papist that should save them c. So that they are resolved to live in compliance with the Papists rather than in conformity with the established Church And here it appears whether the Conformist or Nonconformist is the greater Friend to Popery Dr. Stillingfleet's Defence penned by an ingenious person says p. 68. I will tell Mr. B. a Secret which I have heard but hope he will not put me to prove it That the Parliament made good Laws the Papist out of a pretended reverence to tender Consciences hindred the execution of them and some leading Fanaticks had a private encouragement to say no more to set up a mighty cry of Persecution to cast all the odium on a persecuting Church and Diocesan Canoneers Dr. Owen takes this hint Some have reported says he that some of the Nonconformists do or have received money from the Papists to act their affairs and promote their interests which he calls a putrid Calumny c. and avows That never any person in Authority Dignity or Power in the Nation or that had any relation to pullick affairs nor any from them Papist or Protestant did once speak one word to him or advise with him about any Indulgence or Toleration to be granted to the Papists He says not That he never received any Moneys or Message to promote a general Toleration which he thinking himself particularly reflected on might have done in few words And my Author desires Dr. O. to resolve him why a Fast was appointed by a certain Independent Pastor at that time on the fifth of November which as he notes is no Popish Festival Mr. Hunt one of their Confederates says It is well known several of them i. e. the Nonconformists were in Pension to the D. And no men have been better received of the D. than J. J. J. O. E. B. and W. P. c. Ringleaders of the Separation And p. 98. Consider how the Church of England is used which is truly the Bulwark of the Protestant Religion If one Party saith Mr. Baxter viz. the Authority of the Nation would bring them to such a pass that they must be hanged imprisoned ruined or worse as if they were in the hands of Canibals unless the favour of the Papists deliver them and the other Party viz. the Nonconformists had rather be saved by the Papists than be hanged or ruined by Protestants they ought not to be suspected of Popery This is not onely to open a door to let the Papists in but upon meer Fears and Jealousies to flee out to them Now judge who is a greater friend to Popery the old Protestants who have made Law to keep it out or the Dissenters who would destroy those Laws to let it in And that their obstinate separation from the Church-Communion is an effectual means thereunto I shall give the judgment of Mr. Phil. Nye a great Covenanter who not long before his death foreseeing the mischievous consequence of those 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 common Objections against it and wonders how the different Parties came to be so agreed in thinking it unlawful to hear us preach But he saith he is perswaded it is one constant designe of Satan in the variety of ways of Religion he hath set on foot by Jesuits among us Let us therefore be more aware of whatsoever tends that way So that Mr. Nye plainly acknowledgeth that the Jesuits were very busie among them and that they and the Devil joyned together in setting them at the greatest distance possible from the Church of England and that those who would countermine the Devil and the Jesuits must avoid whatever tends to that height of Separation Mr. Baxter seemed to be of the same judgment p. 17. of his Preface to the Defence of the Cure of Church-divisions where he saith Our Divisions gratifie the Papists and greatly hazard the Protestant Religion more than most of you seem to believe or regard And had Mr. B. regarded as he ought he would not have hardened the People in that Separation as he hath since done For he says again That among the many inconveniencies of Separation 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 Yet as you have heard these men joyned interest with the Papists to procure this mischievous Toleration Coleman at his Tryal owned that he was of opinion That Popery might come in if liberty of Conscience had been granted And the Author of the two Conferences between Le Chese and the four Jesuits owns that the Declaration of Indulgence was procured by help of the Papists who were included in it but saith The Presbyterians presently suspected the kindness and like wise men closed with the Conformists when on the contrary they wrote in defence of it and so increased the Schism that we feel the
Papist and by foreign Alliances and Assistance they may be able to succeed in their wicked and villanous designes And forasmuch as the Parliaments of England according to the Laws and Statutes thereof have heretofore for great and weighty reasons of State and for the publick good and common interest of this Kingdom directed and limited the Succession of the Crown in other manner than of course it would otherwise have gone but never had such important and urgent Reasons as at this time press and require their using their extraordinary power in that behalf Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same and it is hereby enacted accordingly That James Duke of York Albany and Ulster having departed openly from the Church of England and having publickly professed and owned the Popish Religion which hath notoriously given birth and life to the most damnable and hellish Plot by the most gracious providence of God lately brought to light shall be excluded and disabled and is hereby excluded and disabled for ever from possessing having holding inheriting or enjoying the Imperial Crowns and Governments of this Realm and these Kingdoms and of all Territories Countries and Dominions now or which shall hereafter be under his Majesties subjection and off and from all Titles Rights Prerogatives and Revenues with the said Crowns now or hereafter to be enjoyed And that upon the demise or death of his Majesty without Heirs of his body whom God long preserve the Crowns and Governments of this Kingdom and all Territories Countries and Dominions now or which shall hereafter be under his Majesties subjection with all the Rights Prerogatives and Revenues therewith of right enjoyed and to be enjoyed shall devolve and come upon such person who shall be next lawful Heir of the same and who shall have always been truly and professedly of the Protestant Religion now established by Law within this Kingdom as if the said Duke of York were actually dead And that whatever acts of soveraign power the said Duke of York shall at any time exert or exercise shall be taken deemed and adjudged and are hereby declared and enacted High-Treason and to be punished accordingly And forasmuch as the peace safety and well being of these Kingdoms do so intirely depend upon the due execution of and obedience to this Law Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if any person shall in any-wise at any time during the King's life which God long preserve or after his demise or decease aid assist counsel or hold correspondence with the said Duke of York who is and ought to be esteemed a perpetual Enemy to these Kingdoms and Governments either within these Kingdoms or out of them or shall endeavour or contrive his return into either of them or into any of the Territories or Dominions of the same or shall during the King's life publish or declare him to be the lawful or rightful Successor apparent presumptive or other Heir to the Crown of England or shall after the demise or decease of the King that now is proclaim publish or declare the said Duke of York to be King or to have right or title to the Crown or Government of England or Ireland or shall by word writing or printing maintain or assert that he hath any manner of right or title to the Crown or Government of these Kingdoms and shall be therefore convict upon the evidence of two or more lawful and credible Witnesses shall be adjudged guilty of High-Treason and shall suffer and forfeit as in cases of High-Treason And forasmuch as the Duke's return and coming into any of the foresaid Kingdoms Countries Territories or Dominions will naturally conduce to bring vast mischiefs and all the evils hereby provided against upon them in War and Slaughter and unspeakable Calamity which therefore the said Duke must be presumed to designe by such his return or coming into any the foresaid Kingdoms c. Be it therefore likewise enacted and it is hereby enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if the said Duke do at any time hereafter return or come into any of the foresaid Kingdoms c. he shall be and hereby is thereupon attainted of High-Treason And all manner of persons whatsoever are authorised and required to apprehend secure and imprison his person and in case of resistance made by him or any of his Complices to subdue c. imprison him or them by force of Arms. Now let any considering man judge whereto these violent proceedings tended when the King 's necessary Guards be thought a grievance and the executing the penal Laws on Dissenters be made a grievance of the Subjects an encouragement to Popery and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom when the King may not raise moneys on his own Revenues and his People will give him none nay they shall be accounted Enemies to the Peace of the Nation that assist him when his Customs shall be taken from him and the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy dispensed with the Bill for excluding the lawful Successor resolutely insisted on and a War threatned by some if it did not pass when the D. of M. must be restored to his Offices and all that should oppose the Bill of Exclusion shall be dealt with as Betrayers of the King the Protestant Religion and the Kingdom of England and Pensioners of France and it must be taken as a favour that the D. of Y. was onely to be excluded and another would perswade him to destroy himself and another threatneth in print that rather than not exclude him they would exclude the whole glorious Family of the Stuarts when seditious Petitions were counted part of the Liberty of the People and no Addresses to the King by the Loyal Party to be tolerated and publicâ— thanks given to a seditious Party of the City for their manifest Loyalty to the King their care charge and vigilancy for the preservation of his Majesties person and the Protestant Religion and the King's Prerogative to call or dismiss his Great Council questioned and they who infused fears and groundless jealousies of the Kings ruling by an Arbitrary power did in an arbitrary manner fine and imprison divers loyal Subjects And when it was published That if the King should die a violent death they would avenge it on the Papists when the chief Ministers of State the Bishops the Lord Mayor and Magistrates and all that were eminent for their Loyalty were already condemned as being Popishly affected and the Clergie branded as Projectors for the Church of Rome Hereupon a Discovery being made by one of the Conspirators the Kings Majesty issueth his Declaration 27 of July 1683. to inform his Subjects of a Plot contrived by persons of several Perswasions to make a general Insurrection in this Kingdom and Scotland And that while this Designe
was forming some Villains were carrying on that horrid and execrable Plot of Assassinating his Majesties person and his dearest Brother And a Massacre was to follow wherein they principally designed for slaughter the Officers of State the present Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London and others that had been most eminent for Loyalty Upon which Discovery James Duke of Monmouth the Lord Melvin Sir Jo. Cockrane Sir Thomas Armstrong Robert Ferguson Richard Goodenough Francis Goodenough Richard Rumbold William Rumbold Richard Nelthorp Nathaniel Wade William Tompson James Burton Joseph Elby Samuel Gibbs Francis Charleton Joseph Tyley Casteers and Lobb two Nonconformist-preachers Edward Norton John Row John Ayloff and John Atherton fled from Justice Ford Lord Grey made his escape Arthur Earl of Essex killed himself in the Tower William Lord Russel Thomas Walcot William Hone and John Rous were on their Tryals convicted and executed And it is observable that each of them confessed enough to clear the Justice of the Nation The most that they could plead for themselves was that their Crime could amount onely to misprision of Treason Algernoon Sidney another of the Conspirators was tryed condemned and executed afterward who professed to die for the Old Cause wherein he had been engaged from his youth And indeed he was so far engaged that being named for one of the Royal Martyr's Judges he often appeared at his Tryal And Manus haec inimica Tyrannis was his Motto The Earl of Shaftsbury had been indicted of High-Treason 24 Novemb. 1681. for endeavouring to depose and put to death the King and levy war within the Kingdom he having declared That in a short time the Parliament was to sit at Oxford and that he had inspected the Elections and was satisfied that the Parliament would insist on three matters viz. The Bill of Exclusion against the Duke of York The abolishing the Act of Parliament of the 35 of Queen Elizabeth and a new Bill for uniting Protestant Dissenters which he was confident the King would not consent to and if so that he and other Lords had provided strength to compel him under the command of Captain Wilkinson and John Booth he declared the King to be a man of no faith and there was no trust in him That he deserved to be deposed as well as King Richard the second And the said Earl further declared That 〈◊〉 would not desist till he brought this Kingdom 〈◊〉 a Commonwealth as Holland was That the King was a man of an unfaithful heart not fâ—â— to rule and govern being false unjust and crueâ— to his people and if he would not be governed they would depose him Though the Witnesseâ— swore positively to the particulars yet there was such a Jury provided as brought in an Ignoramus Sir Sam. Bernardiston being their Foreman who hath since been found guilty of Misdemeanors of a high nature During the late seditious Stirs and Tumults none was more active than one Stephen Colledge a Joyner of London a pragmatical person that pleased himself with the title of The Protestant Joyner he had been busie for a long time sowing Sedition and talking Treason so openly that his Friends advised him to forbear lest he came to the Gallows He made it his business to serve some dissenting Lords boasting of his acquaintance with the Earl of Shaftsbury Lords Gray Howard Clare Huntington Pagit Lovelace c. He had fitted his Raree Show and scandalous Songs and Pictures reflecting on the Royal Family The sole pretence for his treasonable actions was his zeal against Papists who he said had feigned seventeen or eighteen Sham-plots against the Protestants he affirmed that London was to be seized by the Papists and that they had a designe against the Parliament at Oxford and therefore he with some others whom he had perswaded came well armed thither Divers Ribbons were provided as a mark of distinction bearing this Motto NO POPERY NO SLAVERY one of which he gave to Turbervil and it was proved as the Lord Chief Justice said at the close of the Tryal whom he called Papists The King was a Papist the Bishops and the Church of England were Papists He was indicted for High-Treason the 17 and 18 of August 1681 it being proved that he said That nothing of good was to be expected from the King That he minded nothing but beastliness and the destruction of the people That he endeavoured to establish Arbitrary Government and Popery Dugdale Smith and Turbervil who had been Witnesses against the Lord Stafford were of the Evidence against him though there were enough if these had been laid aside to have proved him guilty Mr. Masters testified against him p. 31. That he said The Parliament in 1640. was as good a Parliament as ever was chosen To which Mr. Masters answered I wonder how you have the impudence to justifie their proceedings that raised the Rebellion against the King and cut off his head To which Colledge replied They did nothing but what they had just cause for and the Parliament at Westminster was of their Opinion p. 31. And being demanded what he had to say against this testimony he answers That Mr. Masters had said nothing material and that it was but a jocose discourse p. 39. To which Mr. Justice Jones replied Do you make mirth of the blackest Tragedy that ever was that horrid Rebellion and the murther of the late King Colledge answered I never justified that Parliament in any thing that they did contrary to Law One Mr. Jennings who was another Witness testified that on the bleeding of Colledge's Nose he said It was the first bloud that he lost in the Cause but it will not be long ere more be lost He saw him sell the Ribbons with NO POPERY NO SLAVERY to a Parliament-man as he supposed who tyed it on his Sword c. p. 32. It is observed in the Tryal that there was not one Papist that gave evidence against him and that they were such of whom Colledge had formerly given a good Character though now the case was altered The Jury were so well satisfied with the Evidence that they quickly agreed and brought him in guilty and so he was condemned and executed at Oxford on Wednesday 31 of August 1681. Captain Tho. Walcot was indicted for High-Treason at the Old-Baily July 12 c. 1683. for endeavouring to move and stir up War and Rebellion against the King to deprive the King of his Crown and to put him to death for which he conspired with divers other Traytors and had several meetings and consults to those ends and provided Blunderbusses Carbines and Pistols c. Which being proved by Col. Rumsey Mr. Keeling Mr. Bourne Mr. West and Captain Richardson he was found guilty sentenced and executed Then was William Hone arraigned on the like Indictment the Evidence against him were Mr. Keeling Mr. West Sir Nicholas Butler and Capt. Richardson upon whose testimonies he was found guilty and executed also July 13. the Lord Russel was tryed for
endeavouring to raise a Rebellion to seize and destroy the Kings Guards to deprive the King and put him to death The Attorney-General urged That the Duke of Monmouth the Lord Gray Sir Tho. Armstrong Mr. Ferguson and this Lord with the Earl of Essex then dead were of a Council for a general Rising to which end they received several Messages from the Earl of Shaftsbury who being disappointed by Mr. Trenchard who had promised to raise a thousand Foot and two or three hundred Horse he and Ferguson left the Kingdom The Witnesses were Col. Rumsey Mr. Shepherd and the Lord Howard on whose evidence he was found guilty and sentenced to die and accordingly he was beheaded in Lincolns-Inne-Fields July 21. 1683. The next was the Tryal of Mr. Rous against whom Mr. Leigh Mr. Lee Mr. Corbin Mr. Richardson gave such evidence that he was presently found guilty and received sentence to die and was executed accordingly Captain Blague being indicted for conspiring to seize the Tower of London received his Tryal but was acquitted Algernon Sidney was tryed at the Kings-Bench-Bar on the 7th 21th and 27th of November 1683. His Indictment was almost the same as the former onely there was added to it his sending of Aaron Smith into Scotland to excite and stir up the Subjects to a Rebellion there and his being the Author of a traiterous Libel containing among other seditious discourses these words viz. The power originally in the People of England is delegated unto the Parliament He the most serene Lord Charles the Second now King of England meaning is subject unto the Law of God as he is a man to the People that makes him a King inasmuch as he is a King the Law sets a measure unto that Subjection and the Parliament judges of particular cases thereupon arising He must be content to submit his interest to theirs since he is no more than any one of them in any other respect than that he is by the consent of all raised above any other If he doth not like this condition he may renounce the Crown but if he receive it upon that condition as all Magistrates do the power they receive and swear to perform it he must expect that the performance will be exacted or revenge taken by those that he hath betrayed And in other places these traiterous Sentences are contained viz. We may therefore change or take away Kings without breaking any Yoke or that is made a Yoke which is not one the injury is therefore in making and imposing and there can be none in breaking it c. In p. 23 24 25 26. many other things were read at the Tryal out of that Libel particularly p. 26. where speaking of a King he says When the matter is brought to that that he must not reign or the People over whom he would reign must perish it is easily decided As if the Question had been asked in the time of Nero or Domitian whether they should be left at liberty to destroy the best part of the world as they endeavoured to do or it should be rescued by their destruction And as for the Peoples being Judges in their own case it is plain they ought to be the onely Judges because it is their own and onely concerns themselves The Attorney-General p. 13. says The whole Book is an Argument for the People to rise in Arms and vindicate their Wrongs He i. e. Sidney lays it down That the King hath no authority to dissolve the Parliament but 't is apparent the King hath dissolved many therefore he hath broken his Trust and invaded our Rights And concludes We may therefore shake off the Yoke for 't is not a Yoke we submitted to but a Yoke by Tyranny that is the meaning of it imposed on us The Witnesses who swore to the Indictment were Mr. West Col. Rumsey Mr. Keeling the Lord Howard Sir Andrew Foster Mr. Atterbury Sir Philip Lloyd Mr. Shepherd Mr. Cary and Mr. Cooke upon whose evidence the Jury found him guilty of High-Treason and accordingly sentence was pronounced against him and he was executed on Tower-hill Decemb. 7. 1683. I shall adde onely a few Remarks on the dying Speeches and Confession of these men and first of Col. Sidney He had no other Apology for himself but that he had been engaged from his youth in that Old Cause for which he prayed in these words Defend thine own Cause and defend these that defend it stir up such as are faint direct those that are willing confirm those that waver give wisdom and integrity unto all Grant that I may die glorifying thee for all thy mercies and that at the last thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a Witness of thy Truth and even by the confession of my Opposers for that Old Cause in which I was from my youth engaged and for which thou hast often and wonderfully declared thy self Now the Old Cause wherein Col. Sidney was engaged was the destruction of the Church and the Royal Martyr to set up a Commonwealth in which he acted as a Colonel and one of the Judges of the Royal Martyr yet he calls these Treasons Gods Truth In what Religion this Gentleman died God onely knows for he made no profession at all whether Presbyterian Independent Anabaptist or Quaker but a Protestant at large as any of those Factions term themselves As to the Lord Russel he was also unhappily engaged in the same OLD CAVSE from his youth as may appear by the following Relation Mr. Johnson the Author of the Life of Julian confirmed him in his riper years in those opinions which * This Lewis was a stickling Presbyterian that had gotten the Sequestration of Totnam-high-cross from Mr. Wimpew a loyal Minister of the Church of England To this Lewis many Noblemen and Gentlemen sent their Sons for Education among whom was the late Lord Russel And to divert his Scholars he composed a Farce wherein the young Gentlemen were to be Actors The Farce had all the Formalities of a High Court of Justice President Sollicitor Witnesses c. The Criminal was an old Shock Water-Dog which he called Charles Stuart This Dog was arraigned tryed condemned and executed by cutting off his head By which action he instilled the Principles of Ring-killing into his Scholars as if the murdering of a King were no more than the cutting off a Dogs neck Mr. Lewis and Dr. Manton had educated him For Mr. Johnson having written that Traiterous Book to defend the mischievous Doctrine of Resistance this unhappy man could not be extricated from that snare to his death And it was long before his acquaintance with this Seditious Author that Dr. Manton a great Abettor of the first War and a Favourite of Cromwel had instilled the same Principles into him For in his Comment on St. James 4.1 he proposeth this Question Whether Religion may be defended by Arms To which he answers That sometime the outward exercise of Religion and
't is believed will be sent to the Tower for that the Duke of Monmouth will accuse him concerning the Testimony he hath given and the Papists and High Tories are quite down in the mouth their Pride is abated themselves and their Plot confounded but their Malice is not asswaged 'T is generally said the Earl of Essex was murdered The brave Lord Russel is afresh lamented The Plot is lost here except you in the Country can find it out amongst the Addressers and Abhorrers This sudden turn is an Amazement to all men and must produce some strange Events which a little time will shew And then he goes on further and says in another Letter these words I am to answer yours of the 27th and 29th past and truly I cannot but with great sorrow lament the loss of our good Friend honest Mr. John Wright but with patience we must submit to the Almighty who can as well raise up Instruments to do his work as change hearts of which we have so great an instance in the business of the Duke of Monmouth that no Age or History can parallel I am now throughly satisfied that what was printed in the Mondays Gazette is utterly false and you will see it publickly declared so shortly The King is never pleased but when he is with him hath commanded all the Privy-Council to wait upon him and happy is he that hath most of his favour His Pardon was sealed and delivered to him last Wednesday 'T is said he will be restored to be Master of the Horse and be called into the Council-Table and to all his other places and 't is reported he will be made Captain-General of all the Forces and Lord High Admiral c. He treats all his old Friends that dayly visit him with great Civilities they are all satisfied with his integrity and if God spares his life doubt not but he will be an Instrument of much good to the King and Kingdom He said publickly That he knew my Lord Russel was as loyal a Subject as any in England and that his Majesty believed the same now I intend shortly to wait on him my self It would make you laugh to see how strangely our High-Tories and Clergie are mortified their Countenances speak it Were my Shesorary to be moved for now it would be readily granted Sir George is grown very humble 'T is said Mr. Sidney is reprieved for forty days which bodes well And then he goes on further and in a third Letter says The late change here in publick affairs is so great and strange that we are like men in a dream can hardly believe what we see and fear we are not fit for so great a mercy as the present juncture seems to promise The Sham Protestant Plot is quite lost and confounded The Earl of Mackensfield is bringing Actions of Scandalis Magnatum against all the Grand Jury-men that indicted him at last Assizes And then in a fourth Letter are contained these Expressions Contrary to all mens expectations a Warrant is signed at last for beheading Col. Sidney at Tower-hill next Friday Great endeavours have been used to obtain his Pardon but the contrary Party have carried it which much dasheth our hopes but God still governs He pleaded Not guilty but the Jury found him Guilty without stirring from the Bar. April 14. he was brought to the Kings Bench-Bar to receive Judgment of the Court which was That he should pay a Fine of Ten thousand pounds to the King should find Sureties for his good behaviour during his life and should be committed to the Kings Bench Prison till the same was paid and done By that which hath been said it clearly appears how near a Correspondence there hath been between the Jesuit and Fanatick both in Principles and Practices and that the Government and Church established hath been the onely Bulwork against Popery that hath withstood all its assaults though assisted by the united force of the Fanaticks Yet all this notwithstanding we still suffer under the imputation of Popery our Worship is still calumniated as Popish and for any to return to our Communion is to make a step towards Rome the Ministers of our Church are accused as disguised Emissaries of the Romish Church and the Arguments used for Conformity are but endeavours to pervert men to the Papal Superstition our Common-prayer is but the Mass in English kneeling at the Sacrament worshiping of the Host our Bishops Antichristian and our Clergy Factors for Rome And by these slanders the Fanaticks have employed the aversion of the people against the corruptions of Rome to a direct opposition against the Church of England which above any of the reformed Churches hath most strenuously and successfully opposed it And it will easily appear that the leading Fanaticks have misled their Disciples with more invincible prejudice and implicit faith than any of the Popish Priests do their Proselytes who can perswade them that that Church which hath so peremptorily disclaimed the Popes Supremacy Infallibility Wilworship Prayers in an unknown Tongue adding to the number of Sacraments and detracting essential parts from those which they retain That the Church of England which in their Articles Homilies and Liturgie have exceeded all the reformed Churches in their detestation of Popish Doctrines that have still built on the foundations of Reformation laid by Cranmer Ridly Latimer which hath still been chiefly maligned and from its infancy assaulted by the Romanists as its greatest Adversary should now be reproached by those who in this serve the Romish interest more than their own as well-willers to the Church of Rome And in truth there needs no other Argument to prove how ignorant this sort of men are of the great corruptions of Rome that forsake our Church on a perswasion that we have embraced those corruptions for either they expect that we should renounce all things that they retain and then once more we must lay aside the Creed the Commandments the Lords Prayer c. or that we should retain and practise nothing that was practised in the Primitive Church long before Popery was known in the World And it is very apparent that we have not more displeased the Fanaticks by retaining those decent Ceremonies and ancient Orders of the Primitive Church than we have incensed the Papists by retaining of them for by these Apostolical Orders and Rules of Decency we have such a beauty added to Holiness as was in use in the most pure and primitive times free from the Innovations and Superstitions of Rome and this hath raised the envy of that Church as well as the causeless malice of Dissenters against us what these rail against as Popish viz. our Government Worship Discipline and Ceremonies the other behold with grief and envy to see a Church much nearer to the primitive constitution than their own I doubt not but the Reader will joyn with me in this Opinion that it is a necessary duty incumbent on all sorts of Fanaticks that have