even in matter of Fact Besides Councel's ordinations are to be taken according to the prudent meaning of the Legislators and oftentimes beare another sense then the bare words taken as they lie and weighed out of due circumstances seeme to signifie Nor will this seem strange to an English University man since they grant that in some matters God is not pleas'd that the Scripture it self should in it's obvious sense be taken as infallible for no body will there say that all the Philosophy in the Bible is unquestionable or that the Mathematicks of it is to a Tittle just The Molten Sea is described to be ten Cubits in diameter from brim to brim and that it was round and that a line of thirty cubits did compass it Now who is it having read less then the first six Books of Euclid but can demonstrate that this is not altogether exact The Blood is not now thought by their learn'd Physitians to be the life of a Creature but the Vehicle Nor do their Astronomers believe that the Stars are less then the Sun or Moon though in Genesis they are called the two great Lights The solution to these Objections is easie and in every Sophisters mouth viz. that the Holy Pen-men writ of such matters either briefly as that measure of a Circle is to this day ordinarily express'd or else according to the Hypothesis or Opinion then assented to by the World But where this Sacred Word speaks to us doctrinally 't is to be believed on pain of Damnation so a Councel when it determines of faith we are to reverence those determinations as coming from the Holy Ghost Neverthelesse it 's other Constitutions being but humain lawes are changeable and oftentimes admit several exceptions nor doe they alwais bring with them such an inevitable obligation that there is not possible way to avoid it's bond For Promulgation c must precede This plainely appeares by the Councel of Trent to the doctrine whereof all Catholiques whatsoever submit though the rest of it's Decrees bind not in France no in any place els where they are yet unreceived But the case now in controversie needs not all this for I suppose the Minister will not deny but that the Emperors of the East and West the Kings of England Frāce Hungary Jerusalem Cyprus Arragon c. may agree together if they please to purge their Kingdoms of Heresie and upon failure that the Church shall give their Dominions to another that will perform the compact These Princes Reader that I have named were present by their Embassadors at this Councel and what was there done was by their consent the Albigensian Heresie beginning then to be somewhat numerous Nor did those Monarchs thinke themselves in a worse condition for this Ordination Moreover we never heard that any Catholique King since ever did Protest or exclaim against the Councel which doubtless they would have done had they been in any dangerby it On the cōtrary we know that Mariana as the Minister confesses was condemned for barely inclining to the opinion of thus deposing Kings which judgmēt could not have pass'd against him had this been by any Councel adjudged an Article of Faith 'T were a mortal sin in me and I should presently incur all Ecclesiastical censure if I did deny Transubstantiation by reason it is an Article of Faith and so declared by this very Lateran Councel but as for the absolute powre of deposing Kings it is held by severall as a meere opiniō and opposed by many as fals nor wil Divines say they are the worse Catholicks for it Certāly it were not unlawful if the Princes and States that own themselves Christians should now in an Assembly agree by reason they saw Judaism or Turcism encreasing that every one of them must do what he could to hinder this growth and in case any was found favouring it his Dominions should be given to another This I say without doubt is lawful and though it were not made to bind our Posterity yet it might be hoped that the zeal of so sacred an Assembly would make Governours hereafter diligent to weed out all Infidelity What therefore was here ordered was to oblige the Kings who by compact acknowledg'd the procedure and 't was also imagined that succeeding Catholique Princes would be more careful to keep their people from error when they should call to mind that this was agreed to in a Councel where the East and West met for the Patriarch's of Constantinople and Hierusalem were present Antioch and Alexandria sent deputies and which consisted of 77. Primates 412. Bishops and above 800. Abbots and Priors besides the Embassadors of so many Monarchs all which put together makes this to be the greatest Councel that ever was Much more could I say concerning this Councel and many other considerations for brevities sake I am forced to pass by But Pray Reader before I end let me mind you of this That the Popes never give away as men call it a Kingdom from a Prince simply Heretical but from one that is an Apostate and so revolted from the Church For we see that Hen. 8. was condemned yet nothing was done to his Son Edw. 6. And again though Queen Elizabeth who went to Mass in Queen Maries time and also had actually owned the Pope by keeping her Embassadour in the beginning at Rome was deprived of Soveraignty by the Bull of Pius Quintus yet no censure past against King James K. Charles the first or this present Monarch and the reason is because they always professed themselves Protestants and never acknowledged his Holiness as their Bishop and Pastor Therefore Protestāt Magistrates have no reasō to fear either Pope or Papists The Answerer having urged this Councel to vilisie it the more tells us 't was Innocent the III. who there presided that deposed our K. John and Otho IV. and then runs extravaganly to a forraign thing in hopes to make it more disgustful viz. that this Councel which made Rebellion a duty made Transubstantiation an Article of Faith Concerning King John I have told you before that Popes as private Doctors may err nay it is not certaine that without a Councel they are infallible even in their interpretations of faith much more therfore they are liable to err in their actions Neither doe I canonize or approve whatsoever Popes have done in deposing Kings And if some Popes have transgress'd it follows not that all have no more then because some Princes have been Tyrants their Predecessors and Successors must be so too Differences between Kings and Popes I consider as between Man and Wife for in all Quarrels the right can be but on one side yet it happens through humane imbecility and revenge that the most injured often commits some absurdity or other by which the Peccant party may gain a very seeming advātage No brave English King needed to have more feared Popes then they needed to have feared their other gaping
says the King of France will believe what he pleases For his Majesty well knows the Pope gave away France formerly fomented War against Hen. 4. and would do the same against him were it not for his Power and Religion REPLY IX I shewed you before in the sixth Reply that though the Reformed have actually taken away from their lawful Governours so many Dominions yet the Pope never gave away but England and France which nevertheless are still under their proper Soveraigns Consider then whether since the light of the Gospel appeared the Protestant or Popish manner of dealing has been most destructive to Princes and judge if this be an Answer to my demand which was Whether France acknowledging the Pope be not as absolute as Sweden or Denmark that are Protestants If so it follows then that Popery does not enslave a King We are beholden to the Minister for confessing the King of France is of the same Religion with the Pope for I have heard some in England say he was a Protestant Thanks be to God there is no danger of a breach between Rome and France in matters of Faith for as the very Gazets told us An. 1664 when the French Army was in Italy The King having owned the condemnation of Jansenius even then sent to the Pope to prosecute the Jansenists in France Henry the Eighth will be a warning to his Neighbours for revolting hereafter from the Church for instead of a little Ecclesiastical dependence on the Sea of Rome he has embroiled England in perpetual confusion about Religion millions of Sects daily dividing and subdividing each of which pretend they are in the right and each quote Scripture for their Opinions And by the way Reader be pleased to remember that had not this King of ours destroyed Religious Houses all the truly devout Sectaries at present would have voluntarily been cloister'd there who now distract both the Kingdom themselves for having no quiet place to vent that zeal which boyls within they become a prey to a few wicked men that blow up their well-meaning Piety into disorders and sedition Nay many of the discontented Factious themselves who now lie open to the sway and hurry of their own passions would have been glad of such a retreat honorable to all even from the Monarch to the Pesant Therefore I see now why Speed a Protestant when he made an end of his Catalogue of the destroyed Abbies spoke in this manner We have laid to your view a great part of King Henry's ill the waste of so much of Gods revenue however abused But Cambden is yet more tart for he says That many Religious places Monuments of our Forefathers Piety and Devotion to the honour of God and Propagation of Christian faith c. were in a moment prophaned and the Riches disperst which had been consecrated to God since the English Nation first profest Christianity SECT X. APOLOGY Nor will ever the House of Austria abjure the Pope to secure themselves of the fidelity of their Subjects ANSWER X. To this he says the Austrian Family being so linckt to the Pope by possessing Naples Sicily and Navar by his Gift and theire Subjects also being Papists it were a mad way to secure themselves by changing Religion But what is that says he to England where since the extrusion of that trash we call the Catholick Faith the King and people are no more Papists and having been often troubled by us have reason by experience to fear our designs REPLY V 10. To this I reply That the Spaniard being now in actual possession can as well defend these places were he a Protestant as Millan Flanders c. which are not the Popes gift or as well as other Reformed Princes have done their Countries And for the Subjects being Papists that is nothing For all subjects before Luthers time were Papists also The Minister therefore grants me here all that from the first I desired For if our former Kings were considerable abroad and as safe at home as since the change of Religion If the King of France be as absolute as Denmarck or Sweden and if the House of Austria cannot better secure the fidelity of their Subjects by becoming Protestants then by continuing Papists I say it must necessarily follow That Kings and Kingdoms by being Papists are not less absolute then if Reformed and by the same Consequence their Subjects not one whit faithfuller to their Lords by being Protestants then if they were Papists Tell me then where is the Temporal advantage of Reformation and whether our Answerer has not bauld long in vain since he now by this grants me that Kings may be absolute and Subjects faithful under Popery and yet lately he affirmed That Popery is inconsistent with Government by reason of Princes dependence on the Pope in Ecclesiastical matters and that all Papists are prone to Rebellion by the Determination of our Councels Bulls and Divines But the Minister says What is all this to England where Prince and people are Protestants I answer 't is thus much to England That now it is plain 't is an errour that Popery is inconsistent with Government and it also shews that Princes get no power in the long-run by reforming but on the contrary perpetual disorders follow How dangerous we have been to our Protestant Princes shall be discust in the Reflexion on the Popish misdemeanours in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James But how faithful and serviceable we were to King Charles the First and Second all Europe has sufficiently declared in our behalves SECT XI APOLOGY We shall always acknowledge to the whole World that there have been as many brave English in this last Century as in any other place whatsoever Yet since the exclusion of the Catholick Faith there has been that committed by those who would be fain called Protestants that the wickedest Papist at no time dreamt of ANSWER XI Here he asks what may that be for four or five of our Kings of our own Religion have been murthered by Papists that lately Hen. 4. of France was killed by Ravillac and. Hen. 3. by Frier Clement And besides this we have killed by whole Townships in England Ireland France and Piedmont REPLY 11. What a Volume might there be here writ if every matter mentioned were to be fully discust But these are the artifices of the Brethren that when they know not what to say run to another thing in hopes to puzzle an ordinary Reader who cannot imagine hearing so great a buzze but that there must be something at least of real My assertion in the Apology was That our former English Papists never did such villanies as have been committed since the Reformation To this he answers nothing but impertinently runs to the private Murthers of some of our Kings Is this proportionable Good Reader Who knows not that the Murtherers of Ed. 2. Ric. 2. and Hen. 6. were so conscious of their wickedness that
fellows in Germany For were the Government of that Country united an not so rent into factions with diversities of Religions as Sir Edwin Sandys observes breeding endless jealousies heart-burnings and hatred it needed no other help to affront the Great Turk and to repulse all his forces to the security of Christendom This therefore was one of the advantages which the Reformation brought Certainly I spoke plain enough and that without deceit viz. Where the name of Protestant is unknown that is where it has not been yet planted the Catholike Magistrates take care to keep it out But where their number or rebellion has moued their natural Prince to grant them terms in those places I say they live with more liberty then Catholikes under any Protestant Government Flanders was never compelled to let the Reformed have extraordinary priviledges Neverthelesse there are many Protestants in that Province and particularly in the Wallon Countries nor have they their Ministers hanged though these places are under the obedience of the most Catholike King What reason has the Minister to say I could name no other Country But France where Protestants have open Churches has he forgot Poland even Crakaw it self where theire Orthodox Socinian Cathechism was made Let him also think on Hungary both which are Popish Kingdoms under Popish Kings Nay in Piedmont it self they have open Churches yet a man may legally be hanged in England if he have but a private Chappel Besides this Reader there is much difference between Papists and Protestants because all Countries were possest by us and the Reformed had no pretence to Government except in England and in a small Province or two in Germany but what they got by Rebellion Therefore as a man that is turned out of his house by a stranger may expect more then the stranger being dispossest can do from the right oâ—ner so Papists may justly expect more liberty from Protestants then they can upon any pretence from Papists yet Protestants live to this day freer in Catholique Kingdoms then we do under them For Protestants may have employment in Poppish Countreys but Papists are debarred from Offices in all Countries I except none that are of the Reformed Faith I know not what the Minister would be at that the Low-Country Papists were the chief cause why the Spanish yoak was thrown off 'T is true there were many factious Catholikes there at that time stirr'd up by the insinuation of the Reformed as Saints enflame honest men now adays Yet for all this not only the first insurrections tumults were according to Strada acted by the Calvinists at Tournay Lisle and Valencien but also in the year 1581 as the Protestant Author of Europae Modernae Speculum will tell you by a publick Instrument they declared their King Philip to have rightfully fallen from the Dominion of those Provinces then united under the profession of the Reformed Religion neither would they ever afterwards suffer the Papists to have any share in the Government for fear they should bring all things back again to their true Lord an Master But now suppose Reader I had not proved the Dutch villany by the testimony of a Writer of the Protestant Religion I hope 't is no excuse to their Rebellion though some Papists did by accident facilitate their work For if so then the Murther of Charles the First by the Independents and their erecting a Government without King or Lords were not Rebellion because the whole body of the Presbyterians began the play which afterwards but 't was too late they seemed to detest and openly to exclaim against How the Edicts of France were obtained you shall hear in this next Section SECT XVIII APOLOGY Because we have named France the Massacre will perchance be urged against us But the World must know that was a Cabinet-Plot condemned as wicked by Catholick Writhers there and of other Countries also Besides it cannot be thought they were murthered for being Protestants since 't was their powerful Rebellion let their Faith have been what it would that drew them in to that ill-machinated destruction ANSWER XVIII Here he says the French Massacre was so horrid a cruelty that Thuanus tells us That considering men and having turned over the Annals of Nations he could find no example for it in Antiquity that it was cloakt with shews of Amity and a Marriage between the Houses of Valois and Burbon to which the chief Protestants being invited were after their jollity of mirth in the dead of night butchered in their Houses without distinction of Sex or Age till the channels ran with blood none escaping but the Bridegroom and the Prince of Conde who were afterwards the one poysoned the other stab'd by men of our Religion He proceeds that this which I say was condemned by Catholick Writers was also extolled as glorious by others of them and that one may guess at my meaning and that I am of their sentiment since first I call it a Cabinet-Plot a fine soft word for the Butchery of 30000. persons Secondly in answer to them that call it murther I seem to blame it as done by halves in terming it an ill-machinated destruction Lastly in saying that it was their Rebellion drew it on them let their Faith have been what it would when indeed it was their Faith let their Obedience have been what id would for the King never had better Subjects then those that were Massacred noâ— worse Rebels then the Massacrers Then he tells us that the brave Coligni was the first killed and his head was sent to Rome and his Body dragged about Paris and besides he says that the Duke of Guises factious Authority as I sweetly stile it was a black Rebellion and to decide whether they were massacred for Protestant Religion or Rebellion because both himself and I may be partial he desires to take judges between us To make it appear it was not for Rebellion they were massacred he cites K. James who says I could never learn by any good and true intelligence that in France those of the Religion took Arms against their King In the first Civil War they stood only upon their Guard c. To prove that they were massacred for their Religion since I will admit no judge but the Pope he undertakes to shew us that it was his judgment from Thuanus a Catholick Writer who tells us The Pope having an account of the Massacre read the Letter in the Consistory there decreed to go directly to St. Marks and solemnly give thanks for so great a blessing conferred on the Roman Sea and the Christian World That soon after a Jubilee should be publisht throughout the whole Christian World and these causes were exprest for at viz. To give thanks to God for destroying in France the Enemies of the Truth and of the Church That in the evening the Guns were fired at St. Angelo Bonfires made and all things performed usual in the greatest Victories of the Church
A REPLY TO THE ANSVVER OF THE CATHOLIQVE APOLOGY Or a cleere vindication of the Catholiques of England from all matter of fact charg'd against them by their Enemyes M. DC LXVIII PREFACE TO ALL THE ROYALLISTS that suffered for HIS MAJESTY AND To all the rest of the Good People of ENGLAND My Lords and Gentlemen IF formerly the English Catholiques by their Apology did in treat your Intercession to our Gratious Monarch in suspending the execution of those severities then proclaimed I a member of that faithful Body must now beseech your Iustice against the malice of a Parson who not only strives to oppress the Loyal but also by the inferences of his Discourse would stifle hereafter zeal and mitigate if he could the fire that resides in the breasts of all generous Subjects Can any thing touch men of Honour more then after the loss of so many Lives and Estates insultingly to have it said It was but your Duty Nay to go yet farther even in a barbarous falsity that Necessity only forc'd us to what we did and that at all times you would rather far have had our room then Company What Preacher preacht this in the days of old Or who told us when Cromwel lived Be gone you are no friends to Caesar It was our Duty I confess and a Duty which no good man can refuse his Soveraign neither shall we ever be shockt in the fervour of it by the Doctrine of such a Rabby The reason why I now take up the Gantlet of this Goliah is to shew the candour of our Actions being yet purer then his words are black which though many could do far better then I yet here I appear challenged into the List as Author of the late Apology Author I can call my self if plain words may create that Title but the Duty and Submission is the sence of the whole Catholique Party and for the matter of Fact Books are the preservers of it which will for ever record our Innocence in despite of such detraction and calumny A Jesuit the Minister is pleas'd to call me though I had not the happiness to be bred in their learned Schools but the trick of this poor man plainly appears that thus he hopes to make Truth it self suspected because by the Preaching of such Pastors the ignorant as children consider Sarazens have most fond Ideas of the Society and of all Priests in general My Lords and Gentlemen Before I go any farther I think it most necessary to tell you what moved me to write that Pamphlet which wken you have well weighed you will find in the intention perchance that Piety which is usually lodged in an English Heart and that you may assure your selves of the sincerity of my thoughts Know that if my Arm was too weak to weild a Sword in the late just War I had then a passion to wish my years greater But though I thus lost the Honour of laying my life at the feet of the injured Father I had yet the satisfaction to hazard it for the Son even before and since his happy Restauration For my neer Relations they all suffered in the Common Cause which as it brought death to some so to others the sale of their cōsiderable Estates and the best Fortune that any could expect was to be crowded into the dreadful List for Cōposition I am sure my zeal to the Royal Family has been as forward to my power as the best more then which no body certainly can do nor have I ever been farther Satyrical against those that stand at Helm then by innocently saying We Catholiques are always most unfortunate This is the Profession I have lived in and in the same loyal Faith will I end my days Doubtless then I could have no sinister design in publishing the Apology the good end I had let the World consider My first Motive was the Law of Nature which gives the Needy leave to call for Mercy nor was there at any time a Nation so cruel that ever yet denied this favour Could there be a more frightful sight then to see the whole English World on a sudden point and cry Fie on them Fie on them What scoffing Blasphemies did the Seditious utter How did Tenants begin to confront their Landlords Nay omitting several insolencies of the Rabble I knew some Justices by reason of private spleen to their Neighbours seize on a Servant threatning his commitment unless he made Oath what his Master daily did Thus then in a trice we became an Eye-sore to our Friends and a by-word among the Common Ennemies But now my Minister will nimbly demand Is not this accusing the King and blaming the whole Parliament for their Advice and Counsel To which I answer first with the great Embassador of Heaven God forbid Nor is it possible for a man who would hazard whatever is dear to him on Earth for the glory of his Country to harbour such thoughts against lawful and just Authority Pray Master Parson let me ask you Whether Laws in all places are executed by inferiour Officers according to the intent of the Legislator Remember Sir the infinitely wise Bill of purging Corporations and you will find how private revenge converted it into quite another thing This is a Flayl against which perchance no wisdom can make defence but nevertheless 't is Vineger and may force a shriek from the opprest without offence to Government My Lords and Gentlemen I do with all submission acknowledge that Counsellors especially the Supream may advise their Soveraign to put Laws in force without giving a reason to the Publick and moreover I do farther say that it was mercy that they were till then suspended yet it is no crime even when they are revived humbly to beg for favour And to illustrate this consider I beseech you an Example Imagine that his Majesty being returned an honest Cavalier was restored to his House which with two parts of his Lands lay round about a City the prime Jewel in the Royal-Diadem Here the good man sitting now under his own vine daily blesses God for the happiness of the Nation and here each moment he conceives fresh joys by considering how superlative his late sufferings were If now on a sudden both Houses upon mature deliberation should beseech his Majesty to make use of old Laws to new fortifie this his most considerable place which consequently would destroy this Subjects Estate no body I think could wonder to see him amazed and troubled Suppose then to diuert this ruine the poor mā should beseech his friends to intercede should shew his sufferings should urge reasons that his house would be a strength to the Town and that the Kings Enemies have certainly some bad design by his calamity For all this the Prince is no way necessitated to grant his request Because reasons which seem strong to a Party concerned may yet in themselves be frivolous when they are weighed by judgments who know far better the state of things
their Treason in his Majesties absence have been convicted since his return when as no Papist could ever yet be suspected for the least defection from our Soveraing Can this man think himself Canon of Canterbury and dare say that the Priest is known who flourisht his Sword at the fatal stroke when as no body knows him no not he himsef Doubtless he means some Hugonot Minister for what Cavalier was ever in France and knows not how those Saints adored Cromwel hating from the beginning to the end both our King and his Party Let the World judge of this Story concerning this nameless Priest by him whom he names viz. Mr. White whose Book of Obedience and Government he lays as a blot on all of our Religion when as this Mr. White has not only been sharply used by the Catholicks of England but he and this very Book were openly condemned by the Pope himself nor durst he since shew his head in any Catholique Countrey Thus may be seen the Conscience of this Monsieur who would charge us with a crime which at the writing he knew was false from this son of Darkness has my Minister and others owned to have received their light and what kind of light it is pray be pleased farther to observe He tells us That a year before the Kings death a select Company of English Jesuits were sent from their whole Party to consult with the Faculty of Sorbon who you must know Reader are the greatest Catholick Enemies the Society has in France whether they might lawfully make away the King The Doctors answered affirmavely to the Question being then stated in writing but afterwards when the Pope saw that the Kings Murther was decried by every body he commanded tha Jesuits to burn all the Papers about the Question but one of them was shewed by a Papist to a Protestant Yet for all this secrecy commanded by the Pope Du Moulin tells us p. 58. that at Roan many Jesuited persons told a Protestant openly on the news of the Kings death That they having often admonished the King from time to time to remember his promise at Marriage of becoming a Papist were forc'd to take these courses for his destruction After this History he says p. 61. That the Friers at Dunkirk and by the way there was never in that Town a House of English Scotch or Irish Friers told a Protestant Gentleman that had a mind to pump them That the Jesuits would fain engross the Honour of the Kings death to themselves but the truth was they had laboured as effectually as the Jesuits to compass it Then he tells pag. 60. That thirty Jesuits neer Diep met a stranger a Protestant Gentleman on the Road and told him that they were going into England to be Agitators in the Independent Army Good Protestant Reader I am quite tired with this senceless stuff and if you think it false consider what a jewel you have got from France but if you can deem it true let me entreat you hereafter never to fear Jesuite or Priest for I am sure such prating fools can never do you harm Besides I wonder how it came to pass that all the Great Cavaliers caress't the Jesuits and always employ'd them in much business during the Kings exile neither were they then or the rest of the Popish Priests less welcome to the Royallists of England But pardon me I beseech you Reader if I use so many words about a matter that deserves so little yet I cannot but confess I am engaged to the Frenche Divine for being so notoriously malitious and foolish nor did I ever think that Sir Walters discovery of the Plot in 1641. of blowing up the Thames to drown the City could ever be parallell'd but here I now find it outdone Have we not seen Good Reader that such ridiculous Stories as these have lately ruined the Kingdom and can any man believe if they once come in fashion again they will end with Papists No doubtless for both Church and Court will soon find the smart as by experience we begin to feel For my own part I should never have taken notice of Sieur du Moulin or his Book had not my Minister owned him as I said for his informer and now I see he has imitated him also in his method for my worthy Answerer calls me a Jesuite and so the Dr. does Philanax though I am confident he knows him to be a Lay-man and a married man also But now Reader it will not be amiss to tell you why this Mr. du Moulin is so angry with the Jesuites You must know that Petra Sancta a famous Writer in the Society taxes the Drs Father for jugling viz. for being in France a Presbyterian and in England Episcopal and so complying for gain with those Ceremonies which his Calvinistical Brethren abominated as superstitious This old du Moulin his reverend father as the Dr. calls him writ a Letter forsooth as his son says to the Rebels at Rochel to exhort them to obey the King in breaking up their Assembly which was then hatching the Rebellion that presently after broke out and yet though it has been lickt and amended I doubt not by the Doctor you may find That a ground of his perswasion was because they were not strong enough to resist the King and besides the Reverend Divine in that perswasion to Loyalty concludes Notwithstanding all he had said they ought to look after their safety fort'was unreasonable for them to separate their Assembly with the peril of their persons Of the same Loyal judgment also I find the Dr. himself for after all his rayling against Jesuites for Sedition he confesses the Term was expired of the grant of the strong Places to the Hugonots Nevertheless he says they seem to be justified for keeping those Towns by the reason of the first Grant which was to preserve them from their bitter Enemies This was the Doctrine you see of this worthy Divine who also vindicated the actions of the Reformed in Geneva Holland Germany c. and therefore I wonder not at his aspersing us for our service to our King and Country 'T is not my business to run over all his Book in order having one of his Disciples already to deal with but this I must tell him and the rest of his Tribe That since they steal one from the other none of their Fopperies shall go unanswered and this they may find in some part or other of the present treatise SECT V. APOLOGY Nor could any thing have ever grieved us more then to have our Loyalty called into Question by you even at the instigation of our greatest Adversaries If we must suffer let it be by you alone for that 's a double death to men of Honour to have their Enemies not only accusers but for their insulting Iudges also ANSWER IV. His Objection here is Men of Honour have no cause to fear either single or double Deaths
followed the method of his Predecessors and would have continued it had not the barbarous usage of the Queen of Scots provok'd him to an Excommunication and all hostile endeavours His Bull I know speaks not of Bastardy in plain terms yet with our Ministers good leave the Pope in that very Bull calls our late Queen Mary Legitimate which saying was as much against Q. Elizabeth as if he had spoken in a bolder phrase For as I urged before my Lord Bacon says That the Legitimations of Q. Mary and Queen Elizabeth were incompatible In this manner the Popes acknowledged her and for the Marriages which were offered her to very much purpose forsooth urged by the Minister from forreign Monarchs it proves no more right then that Mrs. Cleypole had been truly our Queen if France Spain or the Emperor had made love to her and I believe no body doubts but Suiters would have flockt had she been unmarried and sole Heir to her Father Though Gregory XIII sent to invade Ireland and Sixtus V. gave England to the Spaniards yet I do not see that this can touch us Catholicks in the least though the Minister thinks it a mighty Argument For if the French King may invade St. Christophers or any part of our Dominions without drawing the Name of Villain on him or his people Why may not the Pope being a Temporal Prince send forces to subdue what Country he pleases The Bishop of Munster for his smart endeavours against the Hollanders was never blamed but on the contrary commended by us and certainly the Pope is as absolute and as good a man as he Kings you see may fall upon their Neigbours themselves and without breach of Morality incite others to do the like and while Popes are free Princes they cannot be reproach'd for using that liberty without great partiality and malice This Minister foolishly handles all things and you may see his intent is only to make a noise for 't is no advantage in our present Dispute to him to shew what Kingdoms Popes over-run or give away That which he ought to prove was That it is Article of Faith amongst us to assist the Pope in every such invasion or Gift That this is not so you may plainly see for one fifth of the Turks Army are of his Christian Subjects and yet none of them are ever blamed as heritiques for defending the grād Seigniors Territories In the next place whē was it heard that any English Catholick was fain to do pennance like an accurst persō for assisting the Queen against the Spanish Invasion for there was no◠Papist then in England for the Spaniard Or who in Ireland in her Reign thought himself given to the Divel for fighting against San Joseph who came for the Kingdom upon his Holiness account For the Bishop of Armath confesses The English Papists in Ireland were faithfull in all the invasions by Spaine or Pope Now whether Pope or Spaniard intended after Conquest to restore the Kingdom to the Queen of Scots or her Heirs I know not but this I am sure of that 't was as probable as that the Hollanders who were assisted by the Arms of some Caualiers and the good wishes of us all would have given King Charles the Second possession of England had they got it from the Rump If Clement the Eighth earnestly strove that Queen Elizabeths Successours should be Catholiques I suppose no body can blame him for it but I would fain have it shewed me that King James's admission to the Crown a Protestant from his Childhood was opposed by the Catholiks of this Kingdom If they stickled not after his Mothers death for him as they did for her this answer is sufficient That he was not used like her nor did he for fear of prejudicing his future admittance ever desire any body to stir in his behalf I suppose Reader you wonder why I should challenge any man to shew me how the English Catholicks opposed King James his Succession when as this Minister tells us out of Cambden That the Papists negotiated the Spanish Invasion That afterwards they perswaded the Earl of Darby to pretend to the Crown That Doleman alias Parsons writ in the behalf of the Infanta's Title and to conclude his Accusation de declares That the Catholicks of Scotland Huntly and others raised a powerful Rebellion against this Prince First Concerning the Invasion the Minister says more then the Author himself whom he quotes for Cambden only says that some English Fugitives did promote it and who knows not that Fugitives in all ages and in all Religions machinate against those whom they call their Oppressors and on the other side who is ignorant that many Papists more considerable far then a few fugitive Priests for most of the chiefest were so assisted the Kingdom in that War and in all its other contests abroad Secondly If some of these Fugitives did perswade my Lord of Darby it was I say again done like Fugitives nor had they ever the consent of the Catholiques for it It was certainly a very rediculous Plot in them to make a Protestant Nobleman that had so poor a Title their Soveraign and if it were really designed It must I am sure have been performed by the Protestants themselves for the Papists had no power not being able so much as to set up the Qu. of Scots who had so plausible a right though they wanted not the assistance of the Pope Spaniard and all the Guisard Faction And by the way this Earle was not poison'd as the Minister would have it for Stow has a Diary and the Particulars of his sicknesse and say's The causes of all his deseases were thought by Phisitians partly a surfet and partly distempering himselfe with vehement excercise 4. days togeather in Easter weeke Thirdly For Dolemans Book who writ it God knows Parsons denied it at his death and I believe he was not the Authour because in some of his works he speaks so much to the advantage of K. James Moreover he was a man of far more wit then to write so foolish a thing for was not that man strangely simple that would dedicate his Book to my L. of Essex as the Minister would have it to prick forward an ambitious man and yet the whole matter of the Treatise is to prefer the Infanta's Title before all persons whatsoever But Reader if this kind of arguing be lawful that the errours of some unknown men must be laid to a whole Party how miserable would the Protestants themselves be when we come to try them by the same Touchstone I will not stoop to so mean and insignificant a Topick but tell you what Protestants still alive can testifie viz That in the latter end of the Queens Reing My Lord of Hertfords Title was often cried up to Tumult in the streets Nor had that a slight impression he being esteemed next to the Stuarts in blood on many a wellmeaning man
Oath was given but seeing that no Oath could be given 't was hard me thought that the whole Town should take all things as unquestionable truths though the Accusers were as I said profest enemies to us and lately to the very Kingdom also But now I thank God men understand themselves much better for Lies can never long endure SECT XXXIV APOLOGY It cannot be imagined where there 's so many men of heat and youth overjoy'd with the happy Restauration of their Prince and remembring the Insolencies of the former Grandees that they should all at all times prudently carry themselves for this would be to be more then men And truly wee esteem it as a particular blessing that God has not suffer'd many through vanitie or frailty to fall into greater faults then are yet as we understand laid to our charge ANSWER XXIV He says If a Jesuite keep the reckoning the King will ever be in our debt for our old Treasons were upon the account of his Family and our late insolencies upon the score of his Restauration Then he asks whether I would seriously perswade men that at six years distance we were still transported with that blessing There were he says fresher causes of jollity suspected by many who saw our joy while the fire raged in London and two potent Enemies hovered on our Coasts REPLY to ANSW XXXIV Many Accusations Reader were of two or three yaers standing and more and no one thing amounted to a real Publick nuissance let a man then cōsider this soberly and he will find it no little wonder that so many Catholiques of all Ranks Sexes Ages and humours should for above six years together never so far indulge to their Passions as to commit a fault fit to trouble Parliament with though from all Countries the violentest of their Enemies came to offer up their complaints against them For my part I do greatly admire at it and must acknowledge a particular Providēce assisting nor can I but thank the Publisher of the Accusations who malitiously intending us harm has done us all the right imaginable SECT XXV APOLOGY Can we chuse but be dismay'd when all things fail that extravagant Crimes are fathered on us It is we that must be the Authors some say of firing the Citie even we that have lost so vastly by it Yet truly in this our ingenuity is great since we think it no Plot though our Enemie an Hugonot Protestant acknowledged the fact and was justly executed for his vain Confession Again if a Merchant of the Church of England buy Knives for the business of his Trade this also presently is a Popish contrivance to destroy the well-affected ANSWER XXXV He says Though we lost vastly by he fire of London yet we may still be suspected by any body that considers Garnets determinations viz. that the innocent guilty may be destroyed so it be to a farther good The loss it seems he says goes not to my heart when I can be so pleasant to call Hubert my enemy and a Hugonot Protestant 't is true after that Hubert had been at confession with Father Harvey he said he was a Protestant but it being beyond his instructions he denied he was a Hugonot which he might well do because he said he thought confession to a Priest necessary to salvation and also repeated an Ave Mary which he said was his usual Prayer 'T is evident therefore that he was no Hugonot nor Protestant nor enemy to Papists upon the account of Religion REPLY to ANSW XXXV Concerning this Hubert a Frenchman that pretended to burn the City you must know He was son to a Protestant a Protestant himself in France had been of the French Church in England to the Committee and to the Judge at the Bar he profest then he was a Protestant and died so at the Gallows Certainly it was no Argument he was no Protestant because he as the Minister says esteemed of Confession for I know many Protestants that have used it some Divines have writ in behalf of it and I remember Dr. Will was mightily for it whem he governed his flock in Fleerstreet An Ave Mary is Scripture and whosoever reads the Salatation of the Angel and St. Elizab. does at that time actually say one Besides if no body is a Protestant that holds peculiar opinions then I must conclude there are very few Protestants in the World for Protestants in Religion agree only in Negatives that is they generally deny thé Pope Purgatory c. but when they come to Positives they jar and then divide and subdivide as we by experience see into a million of Sects and Factions Reader before I go farther I must tell you who this Harvey is by Nation he is a Low-Countryman but admitted among the English Jesuites as many Aliens are He is an antient quiet and pious man 't is lately I knew him but found him to be of a very Angelical conversation Many Priests being frō time to time imprisoned brought him acquainted with Newgate where sometimes he assisted those that went to die This I call high charity in any man of any Sect to take pains to make another of that Religion which his Conscience tells him is most agreeable to God Nor is there any humane interest or Policy in thus assisting Malefactours for they are poor of themselves and sure to die the next execution-day By this occasion Mr. Harvey met with the French Hugonot the pretended firer of London with whom he had discourse about Religion and after he had instructed him in the Catholique Doctrine he went to administer the Communion to the Company and then demanding of them whether they received according to the Roman Catholick faith Hubert said He had nothing to do with Roman and therefore the Sacrament was refused him nor did Mr. Harvey ever se him after This is the truth of the Story But pray what is the Frenchman to us had he been Papist though as it happened he lived and died otherwise For my part I believe there are few Frenchmen now in London but would be glad to see it afire again either for an opportunity to steal or for the advantage of their Prince were he at War with us the like would the English wish at Paris I dare say Consider therefore Reader I beseech you my Answerer and though 't is at no time my humour to give foul language yet I must say I challenge all Englād to find out one that shall excel him in ill He has accused us for the Murther of King Charles the cause of the English Irish and Scotish War the triumphing at ourmis fortunes at Sea the rejoycing for the Enemies being upon our Coast and then lastly the burning of Londō it self yet all this urged without any manner of proof no not so much as the least probability Is one detraction against one onely man a sin and punishable at the Judgment-seat of God hereafter and shall so various aspersions against so many
to the right or via juris determine the nice pretensions of each party yet this does not argue but that he would side as to action or via facti with his Prince against any person whatsoever And thus we daily see the French do who swear they cannot tell whether the Law called Salique be forged or whether in Justice the now Male-Line or the English because descended from the Heirs general ought to have the Kingdom but still they declare they will fight for their present Monarch against all Mankind This I say is the sense of the Author of the Exhortation and this I dare ingage he shall subscribe to Now concerning Philanax how poorly it is answered I believe the Minister would be ashamed to confess and yet how poorly soever he has made use of it Nay of the most contemptible and groundless follies in the whole Book I am sure the man needed not to have challenged us into the fair field of Controversie having there-in been more then Combatants ever since the breaking out of Luther Nor can there be any Argument of more generous bravery then this That though our Priests in England have been hunted from hole to hole their Papers often seized some in the midst of their works hanged no Library no Press and if to day well settled perchance forc'd on the morrow to flie yet for all these disavantages which no Protestant feels they never omitted to write things of use or to answer all sorts of Books that durst appear against our Religion or manners Fear not therefore good Minister that either Clergy or Laity will be behindhand with you in this affair and I think Dr. Pierce will tell you he found it to some purpose from both Nor shall you Sir whilst I live be ready again as soon as you please want an humble Servant to shew you your many willful errors and mistakes THE POSTSCRIPT My Lords and Gentlemen YOu have now had a short view of the malice of the Answerer and of our condition nor have I troubled you with points of Divinity it being out of my Road and more particulary belonging to them who are called to be Guides and make it their Profession to studie Controversie The search into History and Annals of Nations is the fit employement of men of Quality for by it having a view of all that is past we presently find what profits your Country and how good men by false representations may pass for abominable even in the thoughts of sober people In this sort who have ever suffered more then we for often the best of our fellow-Subjects having drawn in with their first milk an ill opinion of our manners have continued in the same sentiment till by long experience they plainly found the contrary How opposite is Popery noised to the Grandeur of Kings and yet we see That Kings were never greater than then What exclamations are there to this day against us for our stirs in the beginning of Reformation though it is evident it proceeded not from precepts of Faith but from a natural impulse to oppose Novelties Nay the efforts of our Ancestors for the Royal House of Scotland are laid to our charge as High-Treason but the putting up of Iane Gray for the ProtestaÌ„t Interest was justice even by the preaching of Dr. Ridley And moreover though but thirteen Papists were drawn into the powder Treason by the dexterity of our Enemies yet we all even the Children of many of the great Catholiques that were to have been destroyed by the Traytors are still held guilty of this Original sin After our proneness to Rebellion in which how little we are faulty and how much others have been let the World judge there 's no Principle possesses the imagination of Englishmen so fully as that we delight in Blood and that persecuting of men is a part of our Doctrine What cries therefore have been against they days of Queen Mary as if her cruelty were unparallell'd when as I have made it appear that more Catholiques have died by Protestants then of them by us and that since the exclusion of the Pope there has been a greater quantity of Blood iudicially spilt amongst us then from the Conversion of England to the Reign of Henry the Eighth The Massacre of France is prov'd you see to have beeÌ„ no effect of ReligioÌ„ but an indirect endeavour to suppress RebellioÌ„ Nor are we in England abominating the fact more guilty of the Irish Cruelties then is the Protestant Faith for what was done at Amboyna For my own part I not only detest Blood but find all Catholicks do for if in many Countries where the Prince and people as I shewed you before are Catholicks the Protestants have not only open Churches but also publick employments and in no place this is granted by the Reformed to Papists then must it needs follow that we are much kinder to you then you to us even in the matters of Religion Besides this Catholicks are so tender that the Inquisition it self is permitted in no Kingdom where Heresie is numerous nor ought we to be blamed if in a Country wholly obedient to the Church we strive to keep out all other Sects and opinions This cannot be jniustice because to all Mankind we grant the same liberty Who is it that morally blames the Moors of Affrick being of one Profession for keeping out even the Gospel it self Or who is it that says the Swedes ar inhumane because none except Lâ—therans shall live among them God alone is to judge hereafter of mens neglecting means In England therefore where all fell not from Popery there is not the same just motive for punishment and certainly it is severity in the highest degree to prosecute us with fire and sword as if we were an upstart people that brought in a strange Religion not finding it here before Ethelbert the first English King that profest Christianity and converted also by a Monk never persecuted his Pagan Subjects because their Religion was in possession and yet no consideration is thought fit for Papists though our most fundamental Laws have establisht this Faith and the maintenance of it sworn unto since the Conquest by at least twenty of our Monarchs Catholicks consider Sectaries as Magistrates do Rebels for where they are but very few they may perchaÌ„ce all suffer according to the establishtt Laws of a NatioÌ„ but if they grow numerous pity causes us now to punish nobody with death but theÌ„ prayers theÌ„ preaching then Books c. are the fittest Arms to destroy theÌ„ This makes us severe in Spain and Italy and this merciful in FraÌ„ce Germany c. yet here in our Country there are Sanguinarie Laws against Lay-men and our Priests have been handled with more seuerity then Iames Naylor or any of his Disciples What advaÌ„tage will PersecutioÌ„ bring but to make us glory that we suffer for Christ nor has it ever yet lessned our nomber No