attributed to an incapacity of learning even by experience the art of governing Therefore it concerns not onely the state but also the honour of Princes to condemne sometimes their owne first choice and judgements by second thoughts and reflections least the world should thinke that they are more wilfull then understanding more besotted upon an unhappy Favorite then attentive to the common good their owne interest and reputation This lesson was inculcated to the late King Charles by his Father when he charged him to beware of Master Laud whom King Iames did foresee to be as unfit for government as afterwards he proved by treating the English Nobility and Gentry with such scorne as if they were borne to be no lesse under his command then de facto they were at his disposall by reason of the Kings favour and commission Had his late Majesty beene as fortunate in taking his Fathers advice as his Father was prudent in giving it their posterity and the poore Cavalleers had beene in a better condition Princes are not so frequently ruined by their owne faults as by their Favorits unlesse you will reckon amongst their owne whatsoever is owned by them to excuse their Ministers Yet politick Princes are more apt to father their owne oversights upon others then adopt those of others to themselves and are seldome so constant in their affection to Favorits as for their sakes to bring their owne judgements in question either by owning their defects or defending their misgovernment 5 Heresy that could not get footing in Scotland during Iames the V. his reigne assaulted the same Kingdome in his daughter Queene Mary Stewards infancy borne but 8. dayes before her Father departed this world Iames Hamilton Earle of Aran taking upon him the government was solicited by Henry the VIII to send the young Queene into England that she might be married to his Sonne Edward Aran condescended but the Queene Mother and Cardinal Beton Chancellor of Scotland opposed Henry the VIII designe as destructive to Catholick Religion and by consent of the three States of the Realme sent the yong Queene to France to be espoused to the Delphin But before her departure Henry the VIII had gained some of the Nobility of Scotland to himselfe who preferring their private interests before Religion encouraged one Friar Williams a Dominican to preach against the Popes supremacy and to exhort all people to read the English Bible not doubting by these meanes to embroyle the Kingdome in such a manner that Henry the VIII sending an Army might not onely have the yong Queene but the whole Kingdome at his command Though the Queene escaped her Kingdome was all wasted with warre Paul the III. Bishop of Rome sent the Patriarch of Venice to comfort the Scots in their affliction exhorting them to be constant in that Faith which they had inherited from their Ancestours 6 By the sermons of Friar William and the liberty of reading the Bible many of the vulgar sort and also of the Nobility were perverted and because Cardinal Beton being Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Chancellor of Scotland was an obstacle to their intended rebellion and destruction of the Catholick Religion they did assassinate him in his owne chamber and hanged his body out at the window in his Cardinals robes It s certaine that his bloud could not be washed of from the stone of the window though great diligence was used to that purpose This murther was revenged by the King of France whose forces tooke the Castle to which the Hereticks retired punished them and suppressed their novelties But in the yeare 1558. when the Queene of Scots married the Delphin of France the Hereticks raised another rebellion The Ringleaders were Paul Meffinus a baker Harlaus a taylor and Iohn Duglas alias Grant who had beene a Carmelite Friar On the first of September the feast of Saint Giles had beene alwayes celebrated very solemnly in Edinburg as being Patron of that City The Saints Image being carried in procession according to the ancient and Catholick manner the Hereticks snatcht it away and committed many other abuses and sacrileges and spared not to exhort all sorts of people to rebell against the present government 7 Iohn Knox an Apostata Religious Priest being accused formerly of too much familiarity with his mother in law of witchcraft and of many other crimes was fled from Scotland into England and from thence to Geneva where he learnt Calvins doctrine and discipline This wicked man having by his Letters and Emissaries perturbed all in Scotland came in person in the yeare 1559. to compleat the worke he rallied all the dispersed Hereticks persuaded them to profane all Churches and Altars pull downe Monasteries banish all Bishops Priests and Religious deny obedience to the Queene Regent to whom Knox gave the lye divers times and to choose a new Councell whereof the chiefe was Iames Steward base sonne to Iames the V. who afterwards was Earle of Murray and liked well to see this confusion not doubting that his ambition might fish in the troubled water Calvin ep 285. Calvin writ to Knox congratulating with him the good successe and progresse of the Ghospel exhorting him to carry on the worke of the Lord like a valiant labourer in Christs Church But by succours from France the rebells were quieted and by the endeavours of Nicholas Pellevins the Popes Nuntius afterwards a Cardinal and of three Sorbon Doctors their heresie did not spread over the whole Nation though every day their number encreased Knox never omitted any opportunity afterwards to plant his Genevian Ghospel in his Countrey which at length by the helpe of the Devill and Iames Steward and other Polititians he perfected When King Iames came first into England being at dinner in a noble mans house he said Knot in his Protestancy condemned fol. 166. edit 1654. at Doway that God thought fit to set a visible mark of reprobation upon Knox even in this life before he went to the Devill which was that being sick in his bed with a good fire of coales by him and a candle light upon the table a woman or maid of his sitting by him he told her that he was extreamly thirsty and therefore willed her to fetch him some drinke She went and returned quickly but found the room all in darknesse for not onely the candle but the cole fire also was utterly extinct and she by that light which her selfe brought in immediatly after saw the body of Knox lying dead in the middle of the floor and with a most gastly and horrid countenance as if his body were to shew the condition of his soule Let Polititians reflect upon this horrid spectacle and consider whether they can invent a plot whereby Gods just judgement may be deluded What did it availe Knox in his last houre to have beene as powerfull in Scotland as Calvin was in Geneva and what will it availe any Polititian or Courtiour to have embroyled Kingdomes and made factions in this
chastity They are beholding to her for their Ordination which she made good and valid by her supreme authority notwithstanding any matter or nullity of forme to the contrary as you may see by an Act of Parliament Act of Parliam 8. Eliz 1. in the 8. yeare of her reigne which relates to the Records of her Letters Patents but not to any of her Bishops consecration at Lambeth as our Nags-head Ministers would faine make poore seduced soules believe and cite for a witnesse of the solemne Ordination of Parker at Lambeth so honourable a person as Charles Howard Earle of Nottingham and Lord Admiral of England but they durst not name him in Masons first edition because he was then living and would have contradicted so notorious an untruth eight or nine yeares after in the second edition they name this noble person When he was dead and yet not as an eye witnesse of the imaginary Ordination but as a guest at the banket I doubt not but Master Parker might invite the Earle of Nottingham to dine with him at Lambeth many times especially if he was his kinsman as Masons pretends but its evident he never assisted at his consecration if his Lorship was not at the Nags-head in Cheapside when Scory made him a Bishop with a knock of his Protestant Bible bidding him to take authority to preach the Word of God sincearly SECT VIII Of the English Protestant Church in King Iames and his Sonnes reigne 1 KIng Iames had too much wit to be of Calvins Religion though his education was committed to Calvinists he did perceive that it was not invented for the good of Princes but rather for their ruine and that petty Ministers and poore Elders might beare the sway in Christian Commonwealths Being called by the English Councell and Nobility to the possession of that Crown which descended to him by the evident right of his mother Mary Steward his first thoughts in England were bent against the Puritanicall discipline as one who had beene sufficiently disciplined by the Kirk of Scotland Therefore he commanded a Synod to be celebrated in London wherein himselfe was declared spirituall Head of the Church and 141. Canons made for the suppression of Puritanisme the Bible was corrected in such places onely as seemed to condemne the Puritanicall discipline and doctrine Traditiones was translated Tradition and not Ordinances or Documents as in Queene Elizabeths dayes Idols were not translated Images nor their worshippers Idolaters as formerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not interpreted now Ordination by election but by imposition of hands because all this was necessary to confute Puritans Yet all other corruptions that seemed to condemne Catholick Relâ—gion were applauded as much as before in Queene Elizabeths reigne Though Hell was not translated grave nor soule carcasse yet other devices were found to divert mens thoughts from a third place betweene heaven and hell and therefore Saint Peters words wherein he declares that Christs soule did descend to Limbus Patrum 1. Pet. 3. v. 18.19 were translated thus Quickened by the spirits by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison c. whereas the true translation is Quickened or alive in his spirit or soule in which spirit or soule he coming preached to them also that were in prison 2 The new translation which King Iames caused to be made Knot in his Protestancy condemned pag. 89. was overseene corrected and altered by Doctor Abbats of Canterbury and Smith of Glocester as Sir Henry Savill told Master Richard Montague afterwards pretended Bishop of Chichester and of Norwich For Master Montague wondring that Sir Henry to whose care was committed the translating of Saint Peters Epistles would pervert the sense of the Apostle about Christs descent into hell Sir Henry answered that the forenamed Bishops corrupted and altered the said Translation made by King Iames his order This was to transforme the very Scripture into Policy and slight both conscience and Religion Let any sober person judge how scrupulous would Master Abbots be and the other pretended Bishops in his time to forge and falsify Masons Records to the end they might make good imposition of hands at Lambeth when so impudently and wickedly they corrupted Gods Word fearing that by force of the text they should be forced to admit of Limbus Patrum and from thence be lead into Purgatory but none who dyes in the Protestant Religion needs feare going thither In the same Translation they have translated Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit so that ye cannot doe the things ye would whereas the Greeke and Latin is Ye doe not de facto the things ye would And to prove their heresy averring a necessity and Divine precept for all persons to receive both kindes 1. Cor. 11. v. 27. They falsely translate thus Whosoever shall eate this bread and drinke this cup of the Lord unworthily c. Whereas both in the Latin and Greeke it is Whosoever shall eate this bread or drinke this chalice c. which disjunctive or cannot inferre the necessity of both kindes as the conjunctive and might seeme to doe both here and in other places if by this they were not so clearly interpreted And because the Protestant Clergy even in King Iames and his Sonnes reigne were loath to depart with their wives though they pretended to be as true Priests as the Apostles they did not correct the false translation of 1. Cor. 1. Have not we power to lead about a wife as if Saint Paul had one and the rest of the Apostles they notwithstanding put in King Iames his Translation woman in the margen but wife remained in the text They did not correct the corrupting of 2. Pet. 1. Labour that by good workes you make sure your vocation and election they leave out good workes as they have done also in Queene Elizabeths translations though it be in all the Latin and in the most authentike Greeke copies 3 It were tedious to mention all the falsifications of the English translations of Scripture and these I hope are sufficient to prove that in King Iames and King Charles reigne there was as little Religion in the Church of England as in Queene Elizabeths Scripture was made speake whatsoever Courtiors and Polititians fancied and desired It was ridiculous to see how the Church did on a suddaine accommodate it selfe to the Court and how Bancroft pretended Bishop of London after of Canterbury did write and preach for Episcopacy as a distinct order of Priesthood in King Iames his reigne whereas a little before he answered Master William Alabuster when he objected that no Bishop laid hands Holiwood lib. de investig Christi Ecclesia cap. 4. or ordained Parker and his Camerades that a single Priest might ordaine Bishops in case of necessity Truly he was put to a necessity of giving this answer because the Nags-head Ordination could not be contradicted nor Masons forged Records produced 4 Before King Iames was in possession of the Crowne of England he
was engaged to many Princes that he would ease Catholicks by repealing the penall Lawes and without doubt had performed if he had not beene diverted from it by Cecil and other upstarts and Polititians whose interest was begunne and grounded upon heresy and the destruction of the ancient Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdome There was a treaty of peace betweene him and the King of Spaine whose Ambassadour in London had in his Instructions to insist upon liberty of conscience for Catholicks and the King was resolved to grant it rather then to breake of the treaty and told Cecil so much who undertooke to the King that he would make peace with the Spaniard without any obligation to favour Catholicks advising his Majesty to oblige his owne Subjects and not to permit them to owe so great an obligation to the King of Spaine or any other forreigne Prince Cecil therefore deales with an Italian Polititian by whom the Spanish Ambassadour was to by advised in all his negotiation and tells him that King Iames and himselfe also were as willing to grant liberty of conscience to Catholicks as the Catholick King was earnest in demanding it because it was not onely just but convenient for the State Catholicks being the fittest instruments to oppose Puritanisme which the King so much did feare and hate therefore they should have liberty of conscience but it was not convenient or possible to article concerning any such thing because the Kingdome would be offended and the Subjects would owe the favour to the King of Spaine not to their owne who was resolved within a little time to repeale all penall Lawes Whether the Italian believed Cecil I Knowe not but its certaine that these two Polititians resolved no mention should be made of Religion in the articles notwithstanding King Iames being of a gracious disposition told Cecil he would not persecute for conscience the Catholicks and I believe would have beene very moderate if Cecil had not invented the Gun-pouder treason plot That Cecil was the contriver or at least the fomenter of it was testified by one of his owne domestick Gentlemen who advertised a certaine Catholick his friend by name Master Buck two moneths before of a wicked designe his Master had against Catholicks one Master Tresham and another Catholick who were thought to have beene Cecils instruments in all this businesse having accesse to him even at midnight were sent to the Tower and never seene afterwards least they should tell tales and it s very certain that Percy and Catesby might have beene taken alive when they were killed but Cecil knew full well that these two unfortunate Gentlemen would have related the story lesse to his owne advantage then himselfe caused it to be published therefore they were dispatched when they might have beene made prisoners having no other weapons offensive or defensive but their swords 5 This wicked plot of Cecil made the Catholicks so odious that it was not in the Kings power to doe them his intended favour yet whether it was that he suspected Cecils knavery or that he would not have the crime of few men attributed to their Religion and to the multitude he declared he innocency of both and did not persecute Catholicks as much as Protestants desired yet the barrells wherein the pouder was are kept as reliques and were often shewed to the King and his posterity that they might not entertaine the least thought of clemency towards Catholick Religion There is not an ignorant Minister or Tub-preacher who doth not when all other matter failes remit his Auditors to the Gun-pouder treason and describe these tubs very pathetically the onely reliques thought fit by them to be kept in memory They might have kept other monuments of farre more barbarous savage cruelty whereunto none but themselves can lay claime practised by the French and Scotch Hugonots so horridly foule and abominable not onely to the thoughts but eyes of men that it is a shame to Christianity to see it degenerate by heresy to more ugly enormous outrages then ever humane nature could be transported into by the fury of Paganisme I forbeare the bloudy practises of England in Queene Elizabeth time as not so barbarous in appearance though more wicked in substance as being exhibited by publick Magistrates under the colour of Law and pretext of peace of the Land the starving and racking of so many innocent worthy learned persons the tearing out of hearts and bowels in the publike view upon suborned testimonies of base vagabond perjured catchpoules hired to sweare what they and their hirers knew to be false and all the world sawe to be voyd of all signes of truth But to returne to Cecil the mischiefe contrived by him was imputed to men that had no more hand in the plot then to disswade their penitents from it in confession the seale whereof is so sacred that it cannot be broken which obligation of secrecy is of greater aduantage to prevent treason then if it were lawfull to reveale the mischiefe imparted in that Sacrament because none will confesse a treason that he thinks may be revealed and by acquainting his Confessour with treacherous purposes he may be disswaded from them but not absolved unlesse he doth promise to desist and heartily repent It was foretold to Cecil that the hand of God would fall heavily upon him and that he should dye in a ditch and be burried in a dunghill a thing very unlikely to happen all circumstances considered and yet it happened for being jealous of my Lord Henry Howards getting into the Kings favour Cecil made such hast from the Bath to London notwithstanding a troublesome disease that going to ease himselfe in a ditch there he dyed and was afterwards burried in a Chappell that himselfe had built upon a dunghill And thus a man raised from durt came to be dissolved into his owne element and to rest in his native soile Not onely Catholicks but Protestants have reason To curse the memory of this man and his gun-pouder plot for if Catholicks had beene countenanced as King Iames intended Puritans and other Sectaries would never have had the power to bring his Sonnes head to the block and the Nation to so much bloudshead Let Polititians say what they please there is no greater support of Monarchy then Catholick Religion 6 Though in King Iames his time Religion was squared to his Majesties interest and inclination but alwayes with some regard to that which had beene formerly professed in Queene Elizabeths dayes for feare of causing a distemper by a suddaine alteration yet in King Charles his reigne the Church of England came to that perfection that it professed no Religion at all Protestants had beene so shamefully beaten from all their negative articles and lurking holes by Catholick Divines that they were forced to doe what petty Princes are accustomed when they are oppressed and overpowred by great Monarchs confining with their Estates now they side with
its greatest height and most part of the English Protestant Doctors being of no Religion at all it was time for Gods vengeance to fall upon their Church which in King Charles his reigne was but a fancy of Christianity indifferent for all heresies and in that sense onely Catholick or universall it was an â—lla podrida of all errours a politick corporation of University men that pretended a neutrality of Religion by applying absurdly their distinction of fundamentall and not fundamentall articles of Faith Finally it was a phantasma or Ghost of Reformation that a distance seemed nothing but when men drew neare and examined its principles it was found to be nothing but weake policy and obstinate heresy almost degenerated into manifest Atheisme SECT IX Of the Kirk of Scotland 1 OF all Princes none ought to be more lamented for the heresy they have fallen into then the Kings of Scotland others perverted their Subjects by policy persecution and ill example but the Subjects of Scotland persecuted their Soveraignes for Catholick Religion and made their young King sweare to maintaine heresy before he had discretion to know what they imposed upon him and his posterity King Iames the V. of Scotland was so zealous a Catholick that in the yeare 1527. he commanded a kinsman of his owne Pathrick Hamilton by name to be burnt in Saint Andrews for his obstinacy and heresy And in the yeare 1533. called a Parliament Leslaus lib. 9. wherein he declared his resolution to live and dye in the Roman Catholick Faith and obedience to the Sea Apostolick as all his Ancestours had done since Christianity was professed in that Kingdome The three States or Scotland swore the same Acts of Parliament were made against all novelties in Religion and to prevent them it was commanded that none of the ignorant and vulgar sort should read the Scripture falsely translated into English but that all should be contented to heare the Word of God from the mouth of their Doctors and Pastors according to the institution of Christ and the continuall practise of his Church 2 In the yeare 1539. a Canon regular two Dominicans one Franciscan and some seculars were burnt for obstinate Hereticks some recanted their errours others were banished But George Buchanan a Franciscan Apostata Buchan lib. 14. escaped out of prison as himselfe relates though he conceales the cause of his imprisonment which was not onely for heresy but for Iudaisme and celebrating the Jewish ceremony of eating a Paschall Lambe with great devotion in Lent This is that mercenary knave who being bribed by Iames Steward the bastard writ so basely and falsely of that incomparable Queene Mary Steward and recounts so many fables and palpable lyes in the history of his owne Nation that the very truths are not believed Beza epist Theol. 78. Beza the Heretick calls him an excellent and most worthy man and Genebrardus graceth him with the title of an Atheisticall Poet and a drunken Buffon Basil Dorc. lib. 2. King Iames had so good an opinion of him that in his instructions to Prince Henry he forbid him the perusall of Buchanan and Knoxes writings 3 Henry the VIII of England jealous to see his Nephew Iames the V. so addicted to France that after the death of Magdalen eldest daughter to Francis King of France his first wife he tooke for his second the Duke of Guises sister desired the said Iames King of Scots to give him a meeting at York The Nobility and Clergy of Scotland opposed this conference as dangerous both to the State and Religion bringing to their Kings memory how Iames the I. his Ancestour had beene kept prisoner in England upon such an other occasion as also how Henry the VIII who had beene perfidious to God and the Church was not to be trusted Hereupon Henry declares warre against Scotland and Iames the V. raises an Army to oppose and prevent Henry by making England the Seate of the warre But because he named a Favorite of his owne to command the Army under himselfe that was not gratefull to the Nobility and people they would not obey nor concurre with their Soveraigne according to their duty This put the King into a feaver whereof he dyed the 13. of December 1542. in the 32. yeare of his age a most gallant and active Prince whole greatest fault and ruine was not to distinguish betweene the duty and the humour of his Subjects a wise Prince must so contrive things that the one be seconded by the other for if they encounter it s twenty to one but the humour of a multitude will prevaile against the duty they owe to their Soveraigne who must humour his people if he will be obeyed and goe their pace if he will be served his owne way but let him endeavour to make it appeare that he hath away of his owne and that he is not at the command of others who are hated or not regarded by those that must doe his businesse when Subjects imagine that they are not governed by their Prince but by his Favorites they often breake out into open rebellion especially if the Favorites seeme to be too imperious and uncivill It were to be wished that the people did accommodate themselves to the humour or their Prince and his Councellours and not impossible if the Prince will choose persons of honour and integrity to assist him that confound not their Masters interest with their owne ambition and passions Whether the King of Scots his Favorite was guilty of any such crime I knowe not but his case hath demonstrated to posterity that nothing can be more fatall to a Prince then to strive against the humour of his Subjects for a Favorite whose fidelities they suspect or contemne his person and abilities And if Kings will thinke it concerns their honour not to part with hated or contemned Favorits because thereby they seeme to condemne their owne choice and judgements let them consider whether it be more for their purpose to be deprived of their Kingdomes or to acknowledge that they are men and may be mistaken in choosing Councellors and Privados Yet if the Councellors grew odious since they sate at the helme the case is altered and the Prince his choice or judgement cannot be censured for removing from the management of affaires persons whose incapacity was not knowne to him before he applyed them to the government of the Commonwealth 4 But in case the unfitnesse of a Favorite for governing great affaires should be so evident that the ill successe must be attributed rather to his want of wisdome and conduct then to fortune if the Prince be obstinate in his resolution of not parting with him he must runne the hazard of being censured not onely void of judgement in his choice but also incorrigible in his errours his first choice may be excused by affection to the person or want of experience his persisting in that choice notwithstanding the continuall miscarriage of businesses must be
obedience is equally destroyed by Atheisme and Protestancy Though the signes of a supreme Deity be as evident and visible to the eyes of Atheists as this world and all its creatures yet they deny obedience to that supreme Deity and though supernaturall signes as miracles and sanctity of life be as evident to the eyes of Protestants in the Roman Church and no other as any thing can be yet they deny obedience to the said Church both agree in destroying that principle upon which the obligation of beliefe and obedience is grounded Policy and civill government can as little stand without this principle as a house can without out a foundation Atheists and Protestants doe agree in undermining not onely Religion but also the authority of Princes and Commonwealths and therefore both doctrines ought to be equally prohibited and suppressed 4 In one respect Protestancy is more dangerous to civill government then Atheisme An Atheist expects not any invisible power providence to support him because he believeth none a Protestant persuades himselfe that God will second his zeale for the Ghospel and consequently is more resolute and daring if God to punish the sinnes of others permits a Protestant to have good successe in his first attempts he thinks that successe is a new engagement to proceed further looking upon himselfe as an instrument of providence to carry on the imaginary worke or the Lord. The Atheist thinks of no such providence or engagement but attributeth his successe to his owne industry and is not so fierce constant and dangerous an enemy to the civill government as a Protestant Though all this had not beene evident by reason as necessarily following out of Protestant principles yet its manifest by experience and history as we have seene in this Treatise Chap. 7. but because in the next I am to treate of the tyranny and rebellions of Protestancy I will end this with onely assuring my Reader that Polititians were never more unhappy or more grosely mistaken then in the beginning and promoting a pretended Reformation that doth not onely lead men to Atheisme but makes them incapable of being governed after they have shaken of the yoke of obedience to divine Authority appearing more sufficiently and evidently in the Roman Catholick Church then any Kings authority doth appeare in his Lieutenant or subordinate Officers But now let us proceed and descend to particulars by shewing CHAP. VIII That Protestancy inclines the Prince to Tyranny and the Subjects to Rebellion 1 PRinces may be Tyrants though the Religion they professe be good but that Religion cannot be good which inclines Princes to tyranny A Tyrant is he who rules either without or against Law making his owne will and pleasure the modell of his government To rule against the knowne and practised sense of the Law is to rule against Law because the essence of a Law consists in the sense not in the letter The fundamentall Lawes of a Christian Commonwealth are the holy Scriptures to rule against the knowne and practised sense of these Lawes is the greatest tyranny because it is to rule without and against Law it is to rule without Law because Gods sense is left out and the Reformers fancy or the Prince his pleasure is thrust into its place and Scripture is not Gods Law without Gods sense It is also to rule against Law because the Protestant sense of Scripture is contrary to the knowne and practised sense of Gods Word whereby the Church hath beene governed since the time of the Apostles This proves nothing lesse then I supposed in the title of the Chapter it demonstrates clearly that when Protestant Princes are not Tyrants we may thanke themselves and not their Religion which is directly opposite to the Law of God and inconsistent with the duty Princes owe to divine Majesty whence also it followed that it is an inclination to Tyranny against the Lawes and liberties of the Land because he that governeth without and against the Law or God is in a faire way and at least inclined to governe without and against the Lawes of men 2 I heare some Doctors of the English Protestant Church seeme to be much scandalized at Master Hobbes his Leriathan because he attributes so much to a Soveraigne and saith that Christian Subjects may in the exteriour profession of their Faith accommodate themselves with the Prince whether Turke or Jew I cannot answer for Master Hobbes his Christianity but this much I will say in his behalfe that I have not seene Protestancy better expressed nor more consequently deduced out of its principles then in this Authors Leviathan he is a good Protestant and an ill Christian How can any Protestant sinde fault with Master Hobbes See the 39. articles of the Protestant Religion confirmed by K. Charles an 1642. for making the Prince Head of the Church and sole Interpreter of Scripture Why should 12. or 7. men in King Edward the VI. time or a few Ministers in Queene Elizabeth and King Iames his reigne assume to themselves a power of framing a new Religion and coyning a new sense of Scripture contrary to antiquity and the knowne practise of all Christian Churches and in particular that of England Why should they I say assume this unlimited power to themselves and deny it to their Soveraigne 3. Ed. 6.12 5. Ed. 6.1 and his Counsell If they examine well they will finde Master Hobbes doth no more And if they acknowledge this great power in spirituall affaires to be inherent to the Soveraignes person as they doe 8. Eliz. 1. even by their Acts of Parliament how can they deny him in the temporall as absolute and unlimited a power as Master Hobbes is forced to grant by the foundation and principles of Protestant Religion Doe not the Doctors of the English Church averre that from the Popes Primacy and Headship of the Church must evidently follow an Antichristian Tyranny inconsistent with the prerogative dominion and security of Kings and the liberty of Subjects why doe they not inferre die same consequence from the Soveraignes supremacy I am sure they attribute greater power to their Kings Queenes and petty Doctors then Catholicks doe to the Pope or generall Councells who according to our Tenets cannot pare of any thing from the matter and forme of Sacraments nor alter the ancient sense of Scripture contrary to tradition and the practise of the Catholicks Church but Protestancy acknowledgeth all this power to be inseparable from the Kings and Queenes of England and yet doth confesse that both King and Protestant Church may erre against Christian Faith in their Reformations no Subject notwithstanding must speake a word against those errours he must accommodate himselfe to them in all his exteriour actions though he be convinced in judgement that they are against Catholick Religion I would faine knowe in what doth this doctrine of theirs differre from Master Hobbes Both agree in the substance both grant that men may dissemble their Faith and deny
his Prince for not punishing or banishing his evill Councellours and these who looke more upon their owne preservation then the Prince his safety or honour engage him more and more in their quarell by perswading him that to Rebells nothing must be granted who at length get all by force with the ruine of their Soveraigne and his posterity All this you may see verified in the life of Edward the Second King of England 3 But in case the quite contrary way be taken and that the Subjects to comply with perverse inclinations and those who are in power strive who shall be most wicked from thence must greater danger arise to the Prince then from any other emulation or discontent Vertuous men are few and consequently the Prince may without great difficulty finde them employments but if vice be rewarded he will not finde in his Kingdome wherewith to content half the number of dishonest pretenders and to satisfie some few of them is to disgust all the rest who being men of as little honour as conscience will make use of their number and power to obtaine what they could not by favour and will clime up to the height of their ambition by force and wicked devices This is the reason why Princes ought to esteeme and reward vertue and discountenance vice and why none ought to be of his Councell whose integrity is not notorious to his Subjects for how can a Prince discountenance vice if his Favourits be vicious and dishonest persons Their ill example may be his ruine because all men who desire to be preferred will prostitute their consciences to the Favourits will and pleasure and neglect his Master and when the Favourit hath gained the greatest part of the Subjects to his owne devotion perhaps he will plot something against the Soveraignes person and promote to the royall Throne some of his owne relations A Prince cannot be too suspicious and jealous of dishonest Councellours the greatest tye of fidelity being conscience they who have none must prove disloyall whensoever it stands with their conveniency Therefore it s most dangerous and want of true Policy in Princes to trust themselves or their affaires in the hands of such men for though it be their interest this day to be faithfull to their King it may be the contrary to morrowe I am sure it can never be his interest to stick to them or owne their dishonest proceedings The interest of Kings lyeth in the affection of his Subjects and its impossible they should affect a King who not onely protects but ownes manifest injustices Subjects are men and as apt to resent and revenge injuries as the Soveraigne He must handle them very gently and not expose them to the contempt or tyranny of wicked Ministers for though they may have patience for a time at length they may growe furious and he will finde himselfe mistaken in their temper when it is too late to dismisse or punish those who occasioned their distempers 4 Amongst all Princes ruined by the wickednesse of Ministers none is more to be pittied then Edward the VI. of England because he could as little depose as choose his Counsellours being alwayes in his minority It is the opinion of most Writers that Dudley Duque of Northumberland after beheading Seamour the Protectour did poyson the King to the end his sonne Guilford who married the Lady Iane Gray might in her right be King and himselfe in the right and reigne of his sonne governe England excluding Queene Mary and the Queene of Scots I doe not thinke that any history can give testimony of more dishonest Counsellours in one time and in one Kingdome then we read of in this poore childs reigne Seamour himselfe violated his oath and promise given to Henry the VIII that no new Religion should be brought into England during the Kings minority Afterwards he caused his owne brother to be beheaded The Duque of Northumberland plotted the Kings death dissembled his Faith which at length upon the scaffold he professed dying a Roman Catholick and exhorting the Nation to sticke to that Religion But what I desire Princes should reflect upon is how dangerous it is for them to have Counsellours void of all Religion and conscience A man would thinke that Dudley could have no other interest but that of King Edward whom he ruled together with the Kingdome and yet we see how farre he went to fetch a contrary interest and by what wicked and dishonest wayes There is no interest remote or too farre from one of a large conscience if he be perswaded its more for his purpose then the present which he manageth Let Princes therefore countenance vertue and banish vice from their Courts and Counsells if they have any care of their owne interest and security But now let us see CHAP. XIII How necessary it is for a Statesman to be a man of honour and of his word and how great a difference there is betweene Policy and Craft 1 ALl Statesmen must be Gentlemen in their actions They must shunne as much meane wayes in themselves as they must seeme not to dislike of them in other meane persons whom they employe or entertaine as necessary and base instruments They must countenance spyes but scorne to be spyes themselves The maxime of a Statesman must be not to betray any man that confides in him for the food of Policy is information and knowledge of businesses which none will give that is afraid of being betrayed A man may be faithfull to his Prince without being a Traitour to his Subjects or any other and the favour of a Minister with his Prince must not be grounded upon information of other mens defects but upon his owne services strength of judgement and dexterity of managing affaires He who creeps into favour by telling tales and such meane wayes is rather a petty spy and informer then a wise Statesman I have knowne a great Minister of State who told a Gentleman that desired to be advised by him he would helpe him in what he could but warned him before hand that he would make use of any thing he heard for his Masters service and therefore bid him consider whether it was for his purpose to communicate unto him any secrecy This was honourable and plaine dealing he would serve his King and not betray others and yet this Minister of State is knowne to be as faithfull to his Master as ever Subject was to Prince having lost for his service as great an estate as any Subject in our parts of Christendome doth possesse 2 There are some persons that place the essence of a Polititian in being a Favourite of that faction which actually beareth sway they thinke it wisdome though not worth to change their friends as often as these doe their fortune and which is worse to become enemies or those who raised them from nothing because it s so necessary to humour the present power Such cut-purses and cut-throates are the infamy of Courts and the
world if in the other he must for all eternity be but a coale to keepe in and inflame hell fire 8 In the yeare 1564. Queene Mary Steward after her returne from France married the Lord Henry Steward a Prince of the bloud royall both of Scotland and England and though Murray the Queenes base brother advised her to marry this same Prince he joyned in rebellion with the Hereticks and other seditious men against her Majesty for marrying but they were soone quasht and the heads of the faction retired into England where with Queene Elizabeth they brewed a new rebellion and to give it a better colour and successe then the former had it was thought expedient to sowe sedition and jealousies betweene the Queene and her husband who having but 22. yeares of age and being high minded had not from her Majesty that unlimited power which he desired This restriction of the yong Prince his authority was thought to proceed from the advice of David Rizius the Queenes Secretary a grave and understanding man and a severe observer of hereticall designes The Lord Henry Steward being persuaded by the Hereticks that this old man was the onely obstacle of not having all the government in his owne hands resolved to dispatch him out of the way and to that end leads a company of armed Hereticks into the Queenes chamber she being at supper and great with child of King Iames at her feete whither he repaired for protection was the poore Secretary murthered and the Queene so barbarously dealt withall that it was strange she did not dye in the place or miscarry which was all that the Hereticks aymed at But her husband reflecting upon his passion and folly being also advertised by some of the company that the Hereticks made him but an instrument of his owne ruine he entered to the Queenes chamber with pretext of causing her to signe a paper in favour of the murtherers and there acknowledging his fault both got away privatly to the Castle of Dumbar raised forces dissipated the Army of their Enemies some whereof were executed but Murray the bastard that plotted all the mischiefe was pardoned at the instance of Queen Elizabeth who was resolved by this Hereticks meanes to destroy his Sister the innocent Queene of Scots as afterwards happened 9 Prince Henry Steward considering that Queene Elizabeths kindnesse to the bastard Murray was grounded upon her hatred to his Queen and himselfe was resolved to prevent his owne death by permitting Justice have its right against a man who employed all his thoughts in rebellious designes he communicated his resolution with the Queene but she being of a more mercifull and mild disposition then the times and troubles required disswaded her husband from putting him to death though even after his last pardon there was proofe enough of treason He perceiving that the Prince looked upon him as a Traitor dealt with his confederats about murthering the Prince and promised to Iames Heburne Earle of Bothuel that he should be married to the Queene if he would kill her husband the rest of his hereticall Cabale put their hands to this engagement whereupon Bothuel murthered Henry Steward in his bed not farre from Edinburg at a Countrey house whether he had gone for his recreation and afterwards tooke the Queene prisoner as she was returning from visiting her child King Iames who was nursed at Sterling Bothuel forced his prisoner to be his wife assuring her no other hopes were left for her selfe other sonne to survive Prince Henry but his protection who was of great power amongst the hereticks as then he imagined but the contrary was soone discovered for the very same hereticks that set him upon killing the Prince and marrying the Queene raised an Army to ruine him and professed to the Queene they had no other dâ—signe in raising forces but to revenge the death of her husband whereof they knew Bothuel to be the Author and humbly desired her Majesty would be pleased to deliver him up to Justice and receive them into her grace protesting to live and dye in her obedience Bothuel was delivered to their hands whom they let escape but the poore Queene contrary to their oath and engagement was not onely made prisoner but reviled and afronted in the highest degree laying to her charge that she had murthered her husband and to make her odious and infamous to the whole Kingdome and Christian world they carried before her all the way to Edinburg the picture of her husband dead with many wounds and her little sonne painted by his fathers corps praying to God for justice against his mother This is the faith and fruit of heresy and policy When Polititians heads direct Hereticks hands we may expect nothing but such tragicall stories as this is Queene Elizabeth by destroying this poore Lady aymed at the establishment of her owne usurpation and security Murray by her death had hopes to governe Scotland Knox Buchanan and the rest of the hereticall crue looked upon the setling of Calvins Reformation and Discipline and to that end advised that the innocent Queene should be put to death of the same opinion was her good brother the bastard Murray but that glory was reserved for our Virgin Queene of England whose malice could not be satiated with afronts afflictions and many yeares imprisonment untill at length upon a publike stage the most vertuous and renowned Queene of Scots lost her head against the Law of Nature and Nations by the command of a Iezabel that cruell head heart and darling of the venerable Protestant Church of England 10 Before it was resolved by the Assembly of Hereticks whether the Queene should dye it was decreed the government of the Kingdome should be resigned to her sonne and in his minority being then but 13. moneths old to Murray and his Camerades Hereupon the Infant was declared King and in stead of the Masse honest Iohn Knox made a sermon against that holy Sacrifice and all Catholick Tenets and ceremonies recommending much to the people the observance of his Calvinian Discipline Morton and Humes swore in the young Kings name to set up the new Religion and pull downe the old which was already brought so lowe that the Queene could scarce finde one Catholick Priest to baptize her sonne the same did celebrate her husbands funerall whom she commanded to be buried in her fathers Tombe wherewith these two Catholick Princes King Iames the V. and Prince Henry Steward lyeth also enterred the Catholick Religion that for so many ages had florished in Scotland Duke Hamilton and his brother Iohn Archbishop of Saint Andrews the Earles of Huntley and Argile with many others of the Nobility protested against the oath that was taken in the Kings name of destroying that Faith which his Majesty and themselves had inherited from their noble Progenitors yet the Queene of Scots being made prisoner by Queene Elizabeth and most of the Catholick Nobility being killed in her quarrell Murray Knox and other Hereticks