left meanes in it to end controversies of Religion with peace and unity of Catholick Faith 9 There cannot be a greater foppery then to thinke that God instituted his Church without possibility of obtaining the end or its institution The end of the Catholick Church is our salvation by one and the same supernaturall and undoubted Faith communicated by preaching and hearing Rom. 10. this one and undoubted Faith in this manner is impossible If there be not at least one infallible Pastour when there are no generall Councells who may by his definition declare what is Catholick Faith what heresy whensoever the Church is troubled with diversity of opinions it s as evident therefore that the Popes infallibility is not superfluous as it is cleare that God did not deprive his Church of meanes without which its impossible to compasse the end he aymed at in its institution If Profestants themselves judge it a most absurd and destructive Tenet in any Commonwealth See the late Kings answer to the Remonstrance of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament 26. May 1642. in answer to the businesse of Hull that a murtherer or felon cannot be apprehended condemned or punished by any other authority then that of Parliament even when it actually sits how much more absurd and destructive must they grant it would be in the Church that a murtherer of soules and an Heretick cannot be declared and condemned by any other authority or infallibility then that of a generall Councell not actually sitting nor likely to be assembled in a long time Doe they imagine that God would institute a Church more absurdly then themselves would order a Commonwealth As in all well ordered Commonwealths there must be meanes to suppresse sedition at any time before it comes to be rebellion so in the Church of God there must be meanes to condemne dangerous opinions and growing heresies before they come to spread and infect Christian soules If there be no infallible and visible Judge of controversies besides a generall Councell none will alter his opinion untill the generall Councell be gathered and then it will be too late to apply the remedy An exteriour acquiescence doth not change mēs opinions nor free their minds and thoughts from heretical errours none thinkes himselfe obliged to forsake his owne opinion for that of other men If theirs be noe more then probable Therefore some infallible authority there must bee at all times in the Church whereby men may bee obliged to condemne even their owne opinions and errours and none doth as much as pretend to it but the Roman Bishop 10 The infallibility of some visible Judge of Controversies alwayes at hand especially when generall Councells can not meete conveniently is soe agreable to evident reason and soe necessary for the unity of Faith and peace not onely of the Catholick Church but also of the Christian Commonwealth that the Protestants who were most against it are now most for it and wish that the Pope if hee bee not were as infallible as wee pretend If their wish bee rationall as without doubt it is wee are to presume that God the Author of reason was as rationall in this particular as they can wish And though it bee strange how they can imagine that God can bee unreasonable in any matter and in one that soe much concerned his Church yet they are convinced by wofull experience that our belief of the Popes infallibility is as beneficial to Catholicks as their obstinacy against it hath beene prejudiciall to Protestants who make Scripture the ground and warrant of all attempts and rebellions against their Soveraignes whereas wee submit our judgements to the ancient and setled interpretation of Gods Word and when that is not cleare we conforme our selves to the sentence of the Pope a very indifferent person and supreme Judge in matters of Christian Religion at least he is more unpartiall to Princes then their owne subjects interpreting Scripture by fancy interest or passion Why should wee Catholicks believe that the Bishop of Rome is infallible and Christs Vicar upon earth rather then hee of Constantinople or any other is as much as to demand why doe wee rather believe that Philip the 4. or Lewis the 14. are lawfull Kings of Spaine and France then other men that never could pretend right to those Kingdomes See the Protestants Apology for the Church of Rome tr 1. see 3. subd 10. see 7. subd 5. 9. tr 2 see ◠3 subd 10. There is not any man upon earth who can pretend right be bee infallible in determining controversies of Religion but the Bishop of Rome Hee hath a more constant and universal tradition for his spiritual jurisdiction and infallible authority then any King hath for his temporal superiority Why should wee deny to the Pope what all antiquity acknowledged and all men must grant if it bee not out of animosity against his person or obstinacy against his prerogative which wee ought not to measure by his personal merits but by Gods providence and the publike good and necessity of the Catholick Church If wee looke upon the greatnesse of the prerogative it s more probable that one man may deserve it better and bee more capable of it then every one of them who concurre to the infallible definition of a generall Councell neither ought it to seeme soe strange that God should bee pleased to make one Pope infallible in S Peters chaire if wee believe that every Bishop is infallible in a Councell who concurres to a definition when all Christendome is assembled together in an universal Synod Noe Catholick doth believe that the Pope is infallible in all his words and actions or as a particular Doctor but onely when he proposeth or speaketh any thing in Gods name and as his Interpreter to the Catholick Church CHAP. X. That the foundation of Iustice and forme of Iudicature is wholy destroyed by penall Lawes and oathes against any point of the Roman Catholick Religion 1 THe foundation of Justice and Judicature is evidence of lawfull witnesses against whose testimony the accused person can have no rationall exception As the judge must have evidence of witnesses for the sentence he pronounceth so must the witnesses have some evidence for the testimony they give There is a great difference betweene the evidence of witnesses required against persons accused for Religion and for other crimes Eye-witnesses have best evidence against malefactours apprehended for civill crimes but in matters of Faith and religion all goeth by heare-say Rom. 10. he is the best witnesse who relyes least upon his owne knowledge his best evidence is the testimony of others dead before he was borne and though their bodies lye rotten in graves their Faith and Doctrine must be fresh in the memory and testimony of the present Catholick Church and Christian posterity 2 As the Judge must have evidence for his sentence and the witnesse for his testimony so must the Legislatour
Pius V. his profession of Faith Declarations against new heresies are no new Creeds they are but explanations of the old not new articles of Faith One article of Faith may be divided into many branches how many doth Saint Athanasius set downe in his Symbol of the Trinity and Incarnation The Catholick Church did alwayes practise this way when it was necessary to confute heresies If it was lawfull for the Church of the fourth age to command all Christians to professe and believe the Symbol of Saint Athanasius which was but an explanation of particulars contained in the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation why cannot the Church now explaine more particularly the Apostles Creed and any part of Scripture impugned by Hereticks and command all Christians to believe the same All the pretended new articles are contained in the Apostles Creed implicitely as in that of the Communion of Saints Remission of sinnes Catholick Church c. or at least in some text of Scripture as Transubstantiation in Christs words This is my Body The petty Ministers of the English Nags-head Church presume to make a new Creed of 39. articles protesting against the ancient Faith of Christendome and they admire that the Vicar of Christ and a generall Councell should warne all Catholicks to beware of their heresies and to that end declare in a Symbol of Faith more particularly the received Doctrine of the Church of God Away with these shamefull shifts of Hereticks whose last excuse for their Schisme is that they who begunne it were Roman Catholicks So were Rebells once loyall Subjects and yet that doth not excuse themselves or their adherents from the guilt of rebellion With these hereticall devises are many poore idiots misled by ungodly and wicked Preachers who gaine their living and credit by the damnation of soules that Christ our Saviour purchased at so deare a rate 6 The last thing I proposed in the title of this Chapter was that its a greater foppery in Protestants then in Catholicks to deny the Popes infallibily in deciding controversies of Christian Religion That it is a foppery in both must be evident to all persons that will reflect upon the nature of Christian Faith and the Bookes of holy Scripture When men believe as Christians they must exclude all manner of doubts and feares of being mistaken from the act wherewith they believe they cannot defend themselves from a new heresy by onely protesting against it by word of mouth they must detest it with their heart and understanding and believe the quite contrary truth There was never Heretick so simple as to broach an errour upon his owne score he alwayes pretends Gods Word for its fundation and backs it with as many texts of Scripture as Catholicks oppose against his heresy This was the practise of Arrians Nestorians and all other ancient Hereticks which Protestants doe now adayes imitate If the true meaning of Scripture were as visible to us as it is infallible in it selfe no Heretick would make use of the words of holy Writ because his fancy or interpretation would be easily discerned from the sense which God intended at least by combining and comparing one text with another but experience demonstrates that notwithstanding all combinations of one place of Scripture with another the controversy remaines and cannot be decided by Scripture alone To imagine that all which cannot be decided by Scripture alone is superfluous and the beliefe thereof not necessary for salvation is to dispense with the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation seeing the Councell of Nice Soz. lib. 1. c. 16. Athan Apol. 2. and Saint Athanasius that great Champion of the Catholick Church confuted and condemned the Arrians not by Scripture alone but by tradition and adhearing not onely to the words but also to that sense of Scripture which that present Church had received from the former 7 Seeing therefore that controversies of Christian Religion must be decided by the sense as well as by the words of Scripture and that the said sense is more clearly delivered to us by tradition and the testimony of the Church then by the words themselves in controverted texts and that Hereticks may endeavour to confound their owne tradition with that of the true Catholick Church as the Quartadecimans did in the celebrating Easter and that they may invent new heresies never thought of in former ages supposing I say that all this is possible the remedy of these evills in the Church cannot be impossible and truly the remedy is impossible at least at all times to wit when generall Councells are not assembled if the Pope be not infallible in declaring what is heresy divine Faith and Catholick tradition Such few Catholicks as called in question the Popes infallibity excused their errour not onely with the infallibility but also with the morall possibility of a generall Councell whensoever a new heresy would be invented but they were grossely mistaken as experience doth demonstrate and a perpetuall generall Councell was never intended by God who commandeth the Bishops and Prelates to have a care of the particular Churches which he committed to their charge a thing not compatible with their continuall assistance in Constantinople Trent or any other one City where the Councell is assembled But Protestants hitherto have denyed even the English Church in the 21. of their 39. articles that generall Councells arc infallible and consequently must say that God commanded an impossibility bidding us beware of new heresies Act. 20. and not believe false Prophets when he left us no infallible Judge or Pastour to declare unto us what doctrine is heresy and who are the false Prophets No Catholick was ever so unreasonable as to defend such a foppery 8 And though of late some of our Nags-head Doctours contrary to the 21. article of their Creed and English Church acknowledge that generall Councells are infallible in deciding controversies of Faith and to their eternall shame and the infamy of their venerable Mother the Protestant Church of England are now forced to call the 39. Articles of their Religion by the name of onely probable opinions yet such a definition or description they give in their printed bookes of a generall Councell with so many odde conditions and so insuperable difficulties that onely mad men may hope to see such a Christian Assembly meete and much lesse agree in condemning any heresy or declaring what is Catholick Doctrine This new definition of a generall Councell is but a meere put of to gaine time that Nags-head errours may last as long as their Ministers but they are evidently convinced and condemned by the absurdity of their poore shift it s a greater foppery to admit of infallibility in an impossible Councell then to admit of a possible Councell without infallibility The first is an absolute Chimaera contrary to the evident light of naturall reason the second seemeth onely impossible to Christians that grant there is a Church of God upon earth and that be hath
Cap. 7. sect 2. Petenda est haec per suasio ab arcano spiritus testimonto c sect 2. Non aliud loquor quà m quod apud se expetitur fideltum unusquisque c. sect 5. for our instruction I cannot deny there is great difficulty in believing that every thing which the Church proposeth as revealed is Gods revelation yet this pill must be swallowed if we resolve to believe God who cannot be believed if he speakes in his owne voice and tone because it is evidently inseparable from truth and we cannot believe what by force of cleare evidence we cannot deny Hence by the way it followeth that no Protestant or Puritan doth believe God if they ground their faith upon the evidence they pretend to have of Scriptures being Gods Word or upon that of their private spirit both which saith Calvin are discerned as clearly by himselfe and his brethren to be Divine evidences and not Diabolicall as white is discerned from black sweete from soure and light from darknesse It s very improbable that God deprived himselfe of his right and was contented not to be believed that Calvin and his Protestant crue might be eased of a duty which they exact and receive from every person that hath a good opinion of their honesty 3 Supposing it is as evident that there is a Church of God upon earth as it is reasonable he ought to be believed by men we must endeavour to finde it our The Church is an infallible Guide to lead us to God but who is the infallible Guide to had us to the Church Reason But reason in obscurity may be mistaken and what is more obscure then the way to the true Church environed with so many false Sects If our bel efe were limited to naturall verities reason might make some shift every man might pretend that his owne wit would be a sufficient guide for himselfe but seeing Christian Faith must stretch further then humane capacity there must be some supernaturall helpe In obscure matters saith Aristotle with all wise men reason must be contented with cleare signes and not expect evidence of the truth And because the Church or God doth propose supernaturall truths the signes must be also supernaturall And because there is so great difference betweene humane understandings God hath beene pleased to make his Church discernable by sensible and visible supernaturall signes that they who have least understanding may not have lesse faith then the most witty and learned if they will but open their eyes and reflect upon what they see This is the reason why so few can pretend ignorance of the true Church if they have any sense in them they may easily distinguish it from all hereticall Congregations The evident signes therefore whereby the true and Catholick Church is knowne consisteth not in exteriour formalities that may take their beginning from humane policy or from a naturall inclination to decency and good order The Protestant Church of England had as few signes of supernaturall grace as any other pretending Reformation yet in the eyes of some it lookt pretily and was more decent in the service then other Northerne Churches of Lutherans and some of their Nags-bead Ministers affected a certaine Ecclesiasticall gravity in their garb and habit notwithstanding in my opinion a secular dresse would better become their meere secularity and want of ordination The Ministers in Germany looke more Protestantlike in their short cloakes spade beards and blew starcht ruffs then our English Common-prayer Ministers doe in their long cloakes and surplises which they weare more for policy then Religion 4 Seeing Reason must be contented with cleare signes when the truth is not evident and that no evident or cleare supernaturall signes appeare in any Congregation of men but in the Roman Catholick it must be concluded that the true Church is that onely Congregation of men which professe the Roman Catholick Faith That no signes of grace doe appeare in any Church pretending Reformation is as cleare as it is that all the world is not blind for as yet neither themselves nor any other could see in any of their Sects one miracle or any other thing that lookt like supernaturall though they tell us of some Divine motions and impulses of the private spirit they are as incredible as it is impossible that God should oblige any man to take a Protestants bare word against the tradition and testimony of the Christian world informer ages confirmed with undeniable miracles and sanctity of life But some seeing the private spirit is ridiculous would faine perswade us that we may read their Reformation in Scripture so evidently declared that they wonder how we can have the least doubt against it We Catholicks have beene above a hundred yeares turning and tossing the Bible with as great care and study as the matter required and yet we could never hit upon one Protestant Tenet â—n Scripture though we have reason to thinke that we understand it as well as our neighbours which is very strange if their Doctrine be evidently contained in it But there is nothing more obscure the evidence wherein men equally learned and honest doe not agree Nothing can make them disagree in the interprettation and sense of Scripture but the obscurity thereof or obstinacy or ignorance if they be obstinate they are not honest if ignorant thâ—y are not as learned as their adversaries and its certain we doe Pro estants a favour in comparing or making them equall w th Catholick Doctors in either but when men dispute he that hath evident truth on his side may grace his adversary with any advantage as I doe at the present supposing not granting that Protestant Ministers were equall with Catholick Doctors in learning and vertue that thereby it may appeare how obscure the Scripture is wh re Protestants pretend it to be cleare and the sense most manifest 5 I will not make a long Litanies of the supernaturall and visible signes which app are in the Roman Catholick Church Miracles have beene in all ages and are now so frequent amongst us that there is not a Countrey or Province wherein the Roman Religion is professed which doth not produce testimonies so prudently credible of true and supernaturall miracles that to deny them were to destroy all human faith and reduce men to credit nothing that is affirmed by men however so well qualified with sound judgement great learning and knowne integrity Yet Protestants object its strange themselves never see any miracle being so desirous and miracles so frequent as we pretend Herod was also very desirous to see a miracle but his curiosity excluded him from that favour men who belive nothing but what they see deserve not to see miracles because they are obstinate Yet there are few Protestants who doe not see miracles what greater miracle then that all Catholicks turne not Protestants If tâ—e continuall victory over naturall and vehement inclinations doth require a miracle of supernaturall grace we are
of any words when he disguiseth himselfe and desires to be incognito is too much curiosity and ill manners But a resolution not to believe any words proposed as Divine revelation by the Church because it is not evident that God is the Author of them is hereticall obstinacy For its unreasonable to exact a clearer knowledge of the Author then of the truth of the words if we are bound to believe the truth though it be not evident we can have no reason to exact evidence of the Author especially when the truth of his words must be evident if he be knowne and consequently our resolution doth extend it selfe to this that we will not believe untill the truth be evident which is not onely obstinacy but manifest foppery because it is as much as to say We will believe nothing at all It s therefore as evident an injury to God to deny the Doctrine of the Roman Catholick Church though it be not evident that God is the Author thereof as it is to deny the truth of any mens words when they speake themselves though the truth be not evident unlesse perhaps we thinke it reasonable to exact of God what we cannot of men to wit whensoever he speakes not to believe his words unlesse we have evidence of their truth for if God be truth and we are resolved not to believe his words unlesse he manifests himselfe we are resolved not to believe them untill their truth be manifest seeing God is the truth of his owne words because he is truth by essence Of men we exact not so much we believe their words though the truth be obscure 10 This injury which is done to God consists in calling in question his veracity which is an inclination to speake truth Gods veracity is called in question whensoever any thing is sufficiently proposed as his Word and yet it is not believed that it is his Word or revelation Whether the matter sufficiently proposed by the Church as Gods Word and consequently as truth be great or small absolutely necessary or not it matters not as to the deniall or doubt of Gods veracity because he is as necessarily inclined to speake truth in a matter of little concernment as in the greatest Seeing therefore that the deniall or doubt of mens veracity consists in questioning what is sufficiently proposed as their sense and meaning and that the Doctrine and sense of Scripture embraced by the Roman Catholick Church is sufficiently proposed by its testimony and evident supernaturall signes to be the sense revelation and meaning of God his veracity must be as much questioned by calling in question the least Doctrine of the Roman Church as the veracity of men is called in question by doubting of their words whereby their thoughts and meaning are sufficiently proposed 11 From what hitherto hath beene said it s as evidently concluded that the Roman Catholick Church is infallible in all matters great and small proposed by it as Divine revelation as it is cleare that God would have men believe him or that he hath a regard to his owne honour and veracity he is not concerned in either if he permits any one falihood in the least matter necessary for salvation or not necessary to be sufficiently proposed by the Church as his Word or sense seeing he may so easily prevent it and not permit the Roman Catholick Church to erre in any proposall How can God exact or expect from us an undoubted or infallible beliefe when he speaketh and dâ—clareth his minde by men if those very men be not infallible in declaring his minde What injury can it be to God that we doubt of his veracity if in his owne hearing and presence his owne Interpreter the Church is by himselfe permitted to erre and abuse his name and authority We may lawfully suspect his sincerity in greater matters seeing the least blemish is as much as the greatest inconsistent with the infinite perfection of his Nature Therefore either God is contented not to be believed and to forfeit his honour and the esteeme of his veracity or that Church which hath evident and supernaturall signes of being his Interpreter which is the Roman Catholick alone is infallible in all matters great and small proposed as Divine revelation 12. Hence you may gather to what great fopperies hereticall obstinacy doth lead some of the most learned Ministers of the English Church when they print that God is satisfied with an exteriour acquiescence to the definitions of a generall Councell and of that Church which alone hath the signes and markes of being the true Catholick though there remaineth an inward doubt of the controversy defined This is as much as to say that God is content you give him the lye or afront him in private so you be pleased to say nothing of it in publick God is as much injured by thoughts as by words and an exteriour acquiescence is no satisfaction to him without interiour submission of judgement It s true some of these Hereticks grant that when all the Patriarchs and Christian Churches of the world conferre notes and are assembled together in a Councell which is not likely to be as farre as the present state of the world doth promise untill we all meete in the Valley of Iosaphat then is the time to submit our judgements which in plaine termes is to put of all Christian beliefe and obedience to God in his Church and remaine obstinate in heresie untill the day of judgement But of this more when we speake in particular of the English Church in King Iames and his sonnes reigne As for that other shame full shift of theirs to make all Christians the Catholick Church and every reformed Sect part thereof and the same with us in fundamentall articles I remit my Reader to a Treatise lately printed concernig the Nature of Catholick Faith and Heresy with reflexion upon the nullity of the English Protestant Church and Clergy and will now shew in particular CHAP. V. That all Religions pretending to reforme the Roman Catholick are but human inventions grounded upon weake policy strong fancy and sensuall pleasures 1 PRotestancy or Reformation in generall is a text of Scripture corrupted or fondly applied by the first Reformer to his owne fancy dreames or pleasure by Princes and Polititians to worldly interest and by the vulgar sort to liberty of life and rebellion against their Soveraignes Let the most zealous Protestant have so much patience as to read over this Chapter and I am confident he will be convinced by the very history without disputing that his Religion is not injured by this caracter or definition And as for our Polititian he may learne in this historicall part of his Cathechisme as many necessary precepts for his instruction as there are examples of Divine Providence against the Authors and Protectors of pretended Reformation That all may appeare without confusion I will divide this Chapter into Sections and in first place recount the beginning and
France now with Spaine because they are not able to stand upon their owne legs When the petty Church of England cannot defend it selfe against Catholick arguments then they side with Puritans or any others that will take them into protection and when Puritans and other Hereticks reject them then they pretend to be the same thing with us and goe by the name of Catholicks which becommeth them as ill and no lesse ridiculously then Spanish attire doth a Frenchman The title of supreme Head of the Church so spiritualized in Queene Elizabeths that she dispensed with all invalidities of Ordination and in King Iames that he dispensed with Abbats of Canterbury his irregularity when shooting at a Buck he killed a man was in King Charles his dayes limited onely to temporall affaires and all spirituall functions declared to he out of the supremacies reach and clement But rather then it shall be restored back againe to the Pope some of their chiefe Doctors bestow it upon the Sea of Saint David or some other Welch Bishoprick by reason of their obstinacy against Saint Augustin the Apostle of the Saxons who commanded the ancient Brittans to accommodate themselves to the Roman Church in celebrating Easter wherein alone they differed from it And the maine argument now alleaged for the old Brittains or Welchmens independency of the Sea of Rome is a Welch proverbe which for my ignorance of the language I cannot explaine but onely assure you that it was no more then a Welch proverbe and in all likelyhood of late date since the beginning of moderne heresies 7 Other Doctors of the English Church thinking it more for their honour and interest to have an independent Patriarch rather at Canterbury then in Wales were eager to comply with Master Lauds ambition by whom they might be exempted from dependence of Rome whence for themselves they could expect no preferment and exalted above the despicable and miserable tribe of Puritanicall pensionary Ministers Whereupon they framed a new Idea of a Nationall Faith as we see of Nationall fashions endeavouring To perswade the ignorant that a Nationall Synod of England alone was sussicient to frame a Faith and to shew the way for English men to take in their journey to heaven but this appearing ridiculous that Faith being universall to mankinde should be shaped to the severall fashions fancies customes and interests of different Nations they were forced for meere shame to appeale to Oecumenicall or universall Councells yet finding themselves in many of them plainely condemned they appealed to the foure first not as discovering in them any more ground of assurance then in others following bâ—t because they treated of matters that are not disputed in these times or at least amongst such as they regard For in those time there was no man so fond or foolish as to call our present controversies in question But upon further instance made against them that Christ had left meanes to confute errours emergent in ages following as well as in former and consequently it being no lesse possible that Luther Calvin Tindal and Fox might as well broach Heretick doctrines as Arrius Eutyches Eunomius and Nestor they were forced to admit the necessity of generall Councells in these our present and future ages Whereupon seeing themselves engaged to fall under the Censure of the Councells of Lateran and Trent which were as universall as by all humane industry could possibly considering the circumstances of time be procured and were as universally accepted as to points of doctrine as can be required and with much lesse opposition then some of the first foure which Protestants themselves are pleased to accept of there was no other remedy left to shuune their returning to Rome where they knew there was more wit then to trust men of no Religion in Ecclesiasticall government but to frame a Chimaera of a Councell morally impossible consisting of a joynt Assembly of those Patriarchs and subordinate Churches which for their long education in confessed heresy and strict subjection to the Turkes tyranny a jealous enemy of Christian Assemblies were sure never to be got together in the meane time which time they confided would serve their turne they perswaded the people to a superficiall acquiescence in the publick government and thereby in themselves without any regard to the substance of interiour intellectuall Faith and submission of judgement whereupon the worke of our salvation is built 8 They were no lesse cautious in avoyding the Censure of generall Councells then in determining that Doctrine which they pretended might onely be censured being resolved to have two strings to their bowe Upon this score they admit and absurdly apply the distinction of articles of Christian Religion into fundamentall and not fundamentall and to call that alone a fundamentall article of Faith which no Heretick ever denyed Whosoever say they doth confesse that IESVS is the Sonne of God is a Catholick and hath as much Faith as is necessary for salvation provided he doth professe to believe the Apostles and Athanasian Creed which he may interpret as he thinks most for his conveniency As for all other articles of Faith controverted betweene the Roman Catholick Church and Sectaries they looke upon them as we Catholicks doe upon some schoole speculations rather impertinent then profitable or necessary Hence you may gather that the Protestant Church of England is more beholding to their Neighbours for the little they yet retaine of Christian Religion then to their owne Doctors and Preachers the multitude and consent of believers in some generall points of Christianity is the motive of their beliefe and therefore it s meerly historicall grounded upon humane persuasion and not upon supernaturall inspiration If Protestants had conversed as frequently and familiarly with Turkes and Jewes as with Christians the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation would be esteemed no more necessary or fundamentall then that of Transubstantiation Truly Mahomets story of his familiar commerce with the holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove is every jot as probable as Luthers extraordinary vocation to reforme the Doctrine of the Church or Calvins fantasticall private spirit and would be no lesse credited by Protestants if to them it were as frequently and advantagiously recounted they would content themselves with believing that there is but one God Creator and Remunerator of mankinde 9 This want of supernaturall Faith and Christian Religion was not discovered by many who were much taken with the exteriour formalities and splendour of the English Protestant Church which looked as fresh and faire as the aples of Sodome and Gomorrha thougb in the inside all was trash and ashes it was a well adorned sepulchre of dead soules without Faith stuffed with stinking Atheisticall principles and abominable corruptions the Court seemed to be zealous for the Church and the Church for the Court but neither for God and true Religion policy and ignorance had the greatest share in their designes and decrees Heresy being thus raised to
established their perfidious Reformation brought up King Iames in their errours the first Protestant King or Prince that by heresy stained the royall bloud and name of the Stewards There is not a family in the world that ought to hate heresy and love Catholick Religion more then his posterity none was so much persecuted by our pretended Reformers and in particular by the English Church as theirs and no Subjects were more faithfull to their Soveraigne then the Catholicks of Scotland were to their Queene Mary Steward But the education of few and tender yeares doth destroy the obligation of many ages and blot out of Princes mindes the memory of their most famous Ancestors CHAP. VI. That no Policy could heretofore or can for the future give any supernaturall appearance to the reformed Churches whereby any rationall persons may be mistaken in their way to heaven by confounding them with the true Catholick Church 1 WHat a great hand Policy had in destroying Religion and setting up Reformation hath beene demonstrated in the former Chapter and Sections I doubt not but the most vulgar apprehensions that did see the change might easily perceive the difference which was betweene the old and new Religion I am also confident all sober men of the last age did looke upon Luther Calvin Cranmer Knox and all their Reformados just as we doe upon Iames Naylor and his Quakers though now many silly soules doe reverence their memories because distance of time makes things looke as unlike themselves as distance of place A brute beast at a distance may be taken for a rationall creature and a beastly reformation may by the helpe of time and policy gaine the credit of a rationall Religion amongst misinformed and weake understandings but it can never looke like supernaturall Faith to any rationall person that will examine the grounds and fundation of it notwithstanding that wicked Clergy and Polititians have endeavoured to dabe it over with the private spirit and their owne interpretation of Scripture 2 There is the same proportion betweene Catholick Religion and Reformation as is betweene ancient Gentry and upstarts Kings out of policy or favour may bestowe titles of honour but all the policy upon earth cannot make a man an ancient Gentleman if he be not one by descent A Nobleman that derives his pedigree from Citizens cannot compare in quality with men whose Ancestors have beene time out of memory knowne Gentlemen It s just so in Religions Men may give to their Reformations very glorious titles as Mount Sion Assembly of Saints Beauteous discipline and what they please but all will not doe The ancient name of Catholick comes by descent and continuall succession not by policy to the Roman Church and not to any other pretending Reformation These new Religions may well become upstarts and new families raised by heresy but methinks the ancient Nobility and Gentry looke odly in this new fashioned faith and seeme to staine their bloud by renouncing and persecuting that Religion which their noble Progenitors for so many ages did constantly professe and gloriously maintaine both at home and abroad 3 Catholick Religion doth not onely sympathise with ancient Gentry in descent and succession but also in their Coates of armes The armes of the Catholick Religion are the supernaturall signes of the true Church visible to the world Put case that a Cheate or Mountebanck disguised like a Gentleman should intrude himselfe into the company of persons of quality in Whitehall and brag much of his Gentry but when he is desired to prove it he should ingenuously confesse that he hath no other evidence for his extraction but certaine interiour motions and impulses to heroike actions questionlesse this Mountebank would be laught at by the whole company This is the case of all reformed Churches that pretend to be the true one or part thereof without any further proofe or evidence for their Religion and interpretation of Scripture then their owne word for a private spirit as invisible in it selfe as in any effect that lookes like supernaturall It s true that many noble families whose Ancestors have beene lions as their Coates of armes testify even to this day have by degrees degenerated into lambes yet they prove by tradition and records that they descend from warlike lions Though the Roman Catholick Church had no miracles nor persons of eminent sanctity of life at the present to shew for their Religion that onely of their Ancestors in former ages would be proofe enough that they professe the right Faith because they have evidence of tradition and records that it is the same with the Faith of those who worked miracles and were Saints but reformed Churches want all such evidences and though records may be forged by Master Mason and others of the English Church neither they nor any private spirit can by all their politick devises counterfeit tradition which must goe further up into antiquity then they can reach by all humane industry But the Lord be praised for it the Roman Catholick Church hath now and had in every age evident miracles and eminent sanctity of life much resembling that of the Apostles and our primitive Fathers whereby our spirit and faith is confirmed to be truly Catholick These armes and signes of Gods Church cannot be counterfeited by Reformers because they are supernaturall and above the spheare of hypocrisy and policy A Puritan may shew the white of his eyes by lifting them up to the Lord and looke very demurely and devoutly a Nags-head Minister may walke in roba longa and weare his suplise black scarfe and square cap but none of them can attaine to an eminent degree of supernaturall sanctity or worke a miracle untill they forsake the Reformation and become Roman Catholicks 4 The pretended evidence of Scripture in favour of Reformation is not lesse ridiculous then the private spirit Let us track our Mountebank Gentleman and follow him to the Courts of Westminster after his being repulsed and laught at in Whitehall for proving his Nobility onely by interiour impulses Suppose he should in the open Court lay claime to some ancient Gentlemans inheritance descended from father to sonne for many ages and should produce no other evidence or proofe for this pretended right but his adversaries owne patent in vertue whereof the ancient Gentlemans Ancestors and himselfe possessed the estate but because some words in the patent may be interpreted by the Mountebanks ambition and coveteousnesse in a different sense then ever they were before that time understood by the learned Judges of the Land our Mountebank must needs be the right heire and dispossesse the Gentleman of his ancient inheritance by misinterpreting the words of the patent absurdly and contrary to their knowne sense and to sentences and practise of the Court since ever Law was of force in England This is the case of all Protestants who pretend that there are cleare texts of Scripture against Catholick Tenets and practises The sense of Scripture which
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
Christianity either altogether or by halfe Hobbes saith Subjects may renounce all Christian Religion by words so they believe in their heart our Doctors of the English Church say Subjects may deny such points of Christian Religion as have beene renounced by their Soveraignes And when the Soveraigne will if ever that should happen deny all Christianity and believe no more then Turkes or Jewes it evidently followeth out of their principles though hitherto they durst not say it that the Subject may doe the same by an exteriour acquiescence untill the contrary be decreed in an imaginary generall Councell of their owne making and morally impossible to come together as hath beene said in the 7. Chapt. sect 8. for what reason can they have to accommodate themselves to their Prince and Church in denying some articles of Christian Religion and not all They have none I am sure to be angry with Master Hobbes who sayes nothing but what they also must say if they will sticke and be consequent to Protestant principles and particularly to the doctrine of the Church of England 3 That Protestancy doth incline the Subject to rebellion against his law full Prince is more evident then I wish it were by so many woefull experiences Their Reformation begunne in all places with rebellion and is like so to continue notwithstanding the vigilant care of wise Princes and Counsellours The reason is manifest because it s morally impossible that the conveniency of the Court should alwayes agree with the interest of the people and many times the Lawes of the Land being made to favour both are not so cleare in the behalfe of either The contrary being railed who must decide it Not the people saith the Prince because they are Subjects Not the Prince say the people because he is a part and Subject to Gods Law Both appeale to Scripture the sole Judge of Protestants controversies If the Scripture could speake and pronounce the sentence without an Interpreter all might end in peace and quiet but amongst Protestants every Subject speakes for Scripture and consequently for himselfe If every man be naturally inclined to favour himselfe and looke with a partiall eye upon his owne interest it s more then probable that Scripture interpreted by the Subjects will second their owne inclination and conveniency against that of Prince and Court neither is it lesse evident that the Prince and his adherents will not submit their judgements and wills to the finall and scripturall sentence of every Subject so that the sword and rebellion must end the controversy in that Religion where all men are supreme Judges and Interpreters of Scripture 4 And though the Prince may endeavour to incorporate the legistative power and the interpretation of the Lawes of the Land into his owne prerogative the Protestant Subjects will oppose it not onely as unreasonable but also as Antichristian pride and tyranny inconsistent with their Euangelicall liberty They will inferre this consequence If God hath made us Interpreters of his divine Law how can a Creature exclude us from interpreting the Lawes of the Land wherein we are so much concerned and which ought to be subordinate to Scripture Truly seeing no Protestant Prince or Church doth pretend to be infallible in declaring the true sense of Gods Word they can hardly condemne the Subjects private interpretation as contrary to Gods meaning all their Synodicall Decrees and legall Declarations against the Subjects fancy or pretended inspiration in favour of the Prince will be lookt upon by them who oppose his designes as suggestions of obsequious Courtiours and flattering Clergy and the people will stick to their owne interpretation of Scripture backing it with the words of the Apostles Act. 5. God ought to be more obeyed then men And if the Prince should declare that their text is but a pretext of rebellion they will retort his argument and say that his texts are but pretexts of tyranny and proclaime him a Rebell against God for the meanest of Protestant Subjects with a Bible in his hand is as absolute as his King with a Scepter nay more because he lookes upon the Scepter as subordinate to his Bible Thus you see how the liberty of interpreting Scripture is no lesse the ground of rebellion then of Protestant Faith and how politick Princes by undermining the ancient Catholick sense of Scripture with new fancies and interpretations have plotted their owne ruine and their posterities destruction And that this may appeare yet more evidently I will endeavour to prove Chap. IX That the Popes spirituall jurisdiction is nothing dangerous to Soveraignes but rather that the ground of fidelity and obedience due to them is utterly destroyed by denying the Popes supremacy and that it is a greater foppery in Protestants then in Catholicks to deny his infallibility 1 PRotestant Princes looke upon their Subjects with as jealous an eye as Spaniards or Italians doe looke to their wives The word forreigne jurisdiction though onely spirituall sounds to them as harshly and troubles them no lesse then the most injurious terme doth a suspicious husband This jealousy of Protestant Princes is no lesse fomented by the stupidity of some of their Writers then by the ambition of others Some as Master Hobbes for one looketh so dully upon man Leviathan part 3. ch 39. and government that he maketh no distinction betweene Spiritualists and Temporalists betweene the Church and State betweene the sword of Iustice and the shield of Faith betweene Christian and Man and is of opinion that out of such distinctions must needs follow faction and civill warre in the Commonwealth But other Protestant Writers admit these distinctions because they hope by them to reape some benefit or benefice Doctor Bramhall in his replication pag. 163. Nay of late some have printed that the King notwithstanding his supremacy is subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury in spirituall affaires and under the jurisdiction of his ordinary Ecclesiasticall Pastors but by no meanes under that of the Pope thinking it to be more for their Soveraignes honour to obey his Subjects then Saint Peters successor 2 That God should commit the charge of soules or any spirituall jurisdiction to temporall Princes is as incredible as it is evident that he did foresee what an ill accompt they would give of their Subjects Religion if they had the management of their owne consciences If they be so jealous of the Pope that notwithstanding he being a stranger and so farre of yet they feare he may reduce all temporall matters to his spirituall jurisdiction how doe they thinke it possible that God should not he jealous of trusting them with the soules of their owne Subjects seeing they may reduce all spirituall matters to temporall and abuse their power with much more ease and successe then the Pope can misapply his spirituall jurisdiction I am sure they ought to be more jealous of any of their owne Subjects supremacy then of the Popes spirituall jurisdiction and authority because
it is more easy for an Archbishop of Canterbury or any other in the Realme to make ill use of his supreme spirituall jurisdiction in England then it is for the Pope at so great a distance and with so little acquaintance Experience doth demonstrate that the Popes spirituall jurisdiction over all Christendome is not so dangerous as Protestant Lawes and petty Preachers doe pretend Histories doe testify that Popes have restored twenty Kings for one that they are said to depose neither did they ever pretend to depose any King untill his owne Subjects were weary of his tyrannicall government or all the world scandalized at his wicked heresies and in those very cases the Popes never tooke the Kingdome to themselves an evident argument that Religion not interest moved them to take so rigourous wayes whether warrantable or not let others dispute I cannot Yet this much I can assure Protestant Princes that Popes have exhorted their Subjects to obedience and patience when they were most persecuted In case any of his Ministers should be misinformed indiscrete or exceed his commission that fault cannot be attributed to his Master nor to the Religion of Catholick Subjects but rather to the ignorance of Catholick Tenets and of Canonicall Doctrine which commands Subjects to obey though their Soveraignes be not of their owne Religion 3 Kings and Princes by denying obedience to the Pope teach their Subjects to rebell against themselves and doe dispense with oath of alleageance The ground of fidelity and obedience due to hereditary Soveraignes is a constant tradition that he who actually resignes is lawfull successour to one whose right and jurisdiction was undoubtedly acknowledged and indeed there cannot be a more rationall and secure ground of obedience then tradition and a continuall succession of lawfull witnesses from one age to another Writings may be counterfeited Tradition cannot because its impossible to stop so many mouthes as deliver it to posterity or to contradict the testimony of whole Provinces and Nations This is the reason why Hereticks cannot gainesay the tradition of the Popes supremacy though they deny the supremacy it selfe and the truth of that Doctrine yet they are not so madly impudent as to deny what is evident to all Christendome to wit that there was a constant tradition when Luther revolted from the Church that the Bishop of Rome is Christs Vicar upon earth They onely pretend that this tradition is not a sufficient ground to oblige men to believe what it delivered or to acknowledge the Popes supremacy If it be not how can the tradition of one onely Nation be a sufficient ground to oblige Subjects to believe that their Soveraigne is lawfull King of France or Spaine or that they are bound in conscience to obey him There is not any King or Prince in Europe that hath so universall and constant a tradition for his temporall soveraignty as the Bishop of Rome hath to be Saint Peters lawfull successour and of Saint Peters being head of the Church under Christ by divine institution Pasce oves meas Feed my sheepe Joan. 21. and many other texts of Scripture have never beene otherwise understood in the Church by any but by declared Hereticks whose contradicting the tradition and ancient sense of Gods Word can as little prejudice the Popes right and supremacy as a declared Rebell can prejudice his Soveraigns right by calling in question his discent or royall authority When Saint Peters chaire is shaken by Protestant Princes their owne thrones must fall because it is not onely the fundation of the Catholick Church but the support of Christian Monarchy 4 Here I cannot omit to advertise my Reader what poore shifts some of the most learned Protestants are brought to they renew that so often and solidly refuted errour of making the Pope Patriarch onely of the West by misapplying the words of the Nicen Councell Baron an 325. Sirmondus Guther Card. Perron my râ—sp ad Object Reg. Brit. lib. 1 c. 32. 33. and concealing the true translation of the Canon as every man may see in the Authors cited in the margen The title of Patriarch of the West doth no more exclude the Popes supreme dignity of head of the Church under Christ then the title of Earle of Flanders doth exclude that of King of Spaine If the Bishops of Rome were not universall Patriarchs but Patriarchs onely of the West why did Saint Victor Pope in the second age of Christianity excommunicate all the Churches of Asia Euseb 5. hist 24. cap. 25. Spond 198. upon the difference of celebrating Easter for not accommodating themselves to the Roman Sea And though Saint Iretaeus did not approve of so great severity yet neither he nor any other called in question his authority They are also pleased to make the Pope Speaker in the generall Councells but not President they allowe him the place of first Bishop and call him exordium unitatis with Saint Cyprian but by no meanes will they grant him the title of infallible and supreme Pastor These are but weake and pittifull shifts whereunto Protestants are driven by the evidence of Councells Fathers Tradition and Catholick arguments contrary to the Tenets and Doctrine of their brethren of the late Church of England If the Pope be exordium unitatis he must be infallible in deciding the controversy proposed otherwise he will be exordium divisionis because no learned persons will submit their judgements in matters of Faith to a Judge that may be mistaken they will be as farre from his sentence and thoughts as from any other and the unity of Faith whereof Saint Cyprian speakes consists more in an unity of thoughts of judgements then of speech or exteriour acquiescence Such a dumb unity of Faith hath its beginning from Policy not Religion 5 They excuse themselves from the guilt and crime of Schisme as ridiculously as they impugne the Popes supremacy They accuse us Catholicks for the fault themselves committed because forsooth they left not our communion untill we thrust them out of doores It may be as well said that the Judge and not the thiefe is the malefactour because the Judge pronounced sentence against the thiefe The Roman Catholick Church had no more part in the Schisme of England then to declare Henry the VIII and Queene Elizabeth Schismaticks and Hereticks They committed the crime and the Pope pronounced the sentence Therefore the Roman Church or Court is guilty of Schisme is an excellent Protestant consequence But such fopperies we must expect from obstinate Hereticks that with a perverse will oppose no lesse their owne understandings then Catholick verities The Pope say they imposed new articles of Faith upon their tender consciences he made a new Creed and declared it was necessary to believe the same Therefore he was cause of the Schisme The same argument that the Arrians made against the Councell of Nice and Saint Athanasius his Creed doe these Hereticks now object against the Councell of Trent and Pope
the penall Lawes were enacted but it was a crime to be an Heretick or Apostata before the ancient Emperours and Kings made penall Lawes against heresy The Law supposed and did not make the crime as penall Statutes doe in England making a crime of Christian Religion 2. Hereticks are never condemned by the Inquisition without the testimony of many lawfull witnesses both living and dead all the ancient Fathers Councells and the whole Catholick Church of former ages testify that their errours are new and contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles no Rebell was ever more evidently convicted of rebellion against his Prince then Hereticks are by the Inquisition of heresy against God and the Apostolicall Church We Catholicks cannot obtaine so faire play at their hands we are condemned by a new Law because we are not Hereticks and our Judges are convicted of the crime they lay to our charge Surely this is to turne upside downe Justice and Judicature 3. The Inquisition medleth not with those who never were Catholicks but the penall Lawes comprehend them who never were of their Church or communion 4. The Inquisition condemns no Hereticks to death but onely declares their heresy to the end the faithfull may avoid their conversation its true the secular power executeth the secular against them notwitstanding that the Inquisition doth protest against that rigour and desireth that Hereticks may not be punished with death or effusion of bloud this protestation and petition is now and hath alwayes beene the continuall practise of the Roman Church but the penall Lawes of Protestants are written with bloudy caracters all their Courts are stained with the innocent and noble bloud of many learned and loyall Subjects onely because they would not take an oath against their conscience and abjure the Faith of their Christian Ancestours 5. Though the Inquisition were as unjust and rigorous as some of the ignorant Protestants pretend it could be no blemish to the Catholick Religion because it is not an universall practise but limited to Spaine and Italy at the instance of secular Princes who looke upon it as a necessary meanes to keepe their Subjects of those Nations in the feare of God and in awe of their Soveraignes But the penall Lawes of England are spread as farre as their Protestant Church and communion 6. The Inquisition doth seriously wish and endeavour the conversion amendment of Hereticks employing learned Divines to convince them of their errours and instruct them in the way of salvation but the penall Lawes and the oathes of supremacy alleageance and abjuration are like so many nets cast out by Protestants to fish estates in troubled consciences a farre different method from that of the Apostles who were fishers of men and not of estates Protestants fish for estates though not alwayes with successe In King Iames his reigne a Scot begged of his Majesty an English Catholicks estate to whom he procured that the oath of supremacy might be tendered never imagining that the Gentleman would take it or goe to Church and damne his soule to save his estate the Gentleman offered the Scot a faire composition but nothing would satisfy this beggar if he had not made the Catholick also a beggar who at length resolved to shew himselfe in the Church whereupon the Scot made him a most devout and learned exhortation dissuading him from all Protestant assemblies often repeating and explaining the words of our Saviour What doth it availe a man if he games all the world by the losse of his sale Yet the English man remained obstinate and resolved rather to give his soule to the Devill then his estate to a Scot. I believe there are many such beggarly Preachers now adayes in England if they consider well the text of the Scots Sermon they may apply it better to themselves then to Roman Catholicks 6 The last pretext for persecuting of English Catholicks is the massacre and murther of Protestants in Ireland in the beginning of the late troubles and this must be a preamble to all Proclamations and Oathes of abjuration What hath an English Catholick to doe with an lrish massacre I am sure he doth not thirst by nature after the bloud of his owne Nation and his Religion doth neither incline him to murther or rebellion That is a privilege of Protestancy we have a setled sense of Scripture which none can alter without breach of Catholick Faith and we are not Judges of our owne Controversies but must submit to a third and indifferent person But as for the murthers and massacres of Ireland so much and so often exaggerated in Protestant Pamphlets and Pulpits I onely say that Protestancy had a greater hand in them then Catholick Religion because our Tenets arc contrary to cruelty and bloudshead and though Catholicks may be as guilty of murther as other men the Religion cannot Is it not notorious that the Protestants in Ireland signed a bloudy Petition offered to the Parliament of England that all Irish who would not goe to Church might be extirpated or banished This was done before the Irish Catholicks did stirre But suppose that in Vlster some of the rascality or kernes being exasperated by so many and continuall injuries done to them by Protestants had murthered some persons must that reflect upon the English Catholicks and all the Irish Nation It is most certaine and evident that the murthers and massacres done in Ireland by Protestants exceeded without comparison those committed by Catholicks as well in respect of their brutishnesse as numerousnesse Witnesse their marches about Dublin where the Inhabitants were all of English extraction and spoke no other language but the ancient Saxon. There are very few of that populous Countrey called Fingale left alive all perished by fire and sword being a most innocent people and having nothing I rishlike in them but Catholick Religion In the march of the Protestant Army to the County of Wicklo man woman and child was killed a Gentle woman big with child was hanged at an arch of a bridge and the poore Catholick that guided the Army for reward of his service at parting being commanded to blow into a pistol was shot therewith into the mouth though there had beene no murther committed on the Protestants in that County In another march into the same shire one Master Comain an aged Gentleman who never bore armes was roasted alive by one Captaine Gines yea they murthered all that came in their way from within two miles of Dublin In a march into the County of Kildare in or about February 1641. some of the Officers going into Mrs Eustate of Cradogstons house a sister to Sir William Talbot of eighty yeares of age who being unable to shunne entertained them with meate and drinke after dinner her selfe and another old Gentlewoman and a girle of eight yeares of age were murthered by the said Protestant Officers Walter Evers Esquire aged and sickly and of a long time before the warre bed-ridden being carried by