Honor and Strength of the Nation Titulus Secundus HItherto Schisme and Sacriledge annexed to it chiefly reigned but the second plague was the utter ruin and extinction of Religion For by abuse of the name and authority of King Edward the very Church it self was entirely subverted Religion absolutely changed Heresie introduced and established in the full open and publike profession thereof And we might say the craft and malice of the Devil whose work it is to corrupt true Religion confound States herein most perfectly appeared For though indeed the way to Heresie and all publike disorder were sufficiently levelled and made plain by King Henry the Eighth who onely by reason of his greatness and imperious cruelty was fit to begin such a work yet Religion it self was suffered to stand a while longer at least in the general and more visible parts of it he knowing well that all could not be effected at once and that it was necessary for him to seduce States as he doth souls gradatìm by degrees opportunity and succession of time And being also confident that if those forts of Piety and true Christian-Catholike Devoâ—â—on that is the Religious Houses were once-razed the Church in England brought under a Lay head and by consequence the sheep made Governors of their Shepherds he should easily upon a second attempt there and by some other hand overthrow Religion it self King Henry at his death had appointed by will sixteen Executors who during the minority of his Son King Edward should be as it were his Guardians and Counsellors for the better governing of the Realm Among these one who made himself afterward Principal was the Lord Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford who being the Kings Uncle by the Mother-side procured himself in a short time to be made Protector and by that means gat as he thought a dispensation from his Joynt Executorship with the others and demeaned himself now in all things concerning the Affaires of the Realm as their Superior A thing which King Henry least of all intended rather he had provided with as much caution as was possible against the encroaching of any one upon the rest under any title or pretence soever But this was the way to bring about some furthâ—â— designes intended by that Party which advanced the Protector to that dignity and which the other and more honest part of the Councel did not either so providently foresee or so faithfully resist as they ought to have done One of the first things which the Protector set on foot after the Protectorship was secured to him was Innovation of Religion abolishing the Old Catholike and introducing a New under the title of Reformation Not so much out of any great preciseness that was ever observed in him or devotion that he was thought to have more one way then another but because he was thirsty and desired to drink to the bottom of the Cup which in King Harries time it seems he had but onely tasted There was yet some Game in his eye which he intend-to bring into Toyls viz. some few remains of Church-Lands Collegiate-Lands and Hospitals which he could not compass or draw into possession by any Engine better then that pretence of reforming Religion Cranmer that unworthy Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was his Right Hand and chief Assistant in the work although but a few months before he was of King Harries Religion yea a Patron and Prosecutor of the Six Articles To this end viz. the more to amuze the people and as they thought to give some strength and countenance to what they meant to set up a couple of strangers Religious men indeed by profession but such as were long since run from their Orders that is Peter Martyr and Bucer must be sent for as far as Germany and placed in the Divinity Chairs at Cambridge and Oxford That the world might see how contrary not onely the Pastors of the Church and Clergy but even all the learned men in both the Universities and of the whole Kingdom generally were to his proceedings By these two Apostate Friers together with Cranmer Ridley Latimer and some others was a new Liturgie framed and the old abolished together with that Religion which had been so many hundreds of years observed in this Nation with great happiness and honour The Protector though powerful of himself by abuse and pretence of the Kings name in all things which he did although the King were but a Child of nine years old was yet well seconded by the Duke of Northumberland and by the Admiral his onely Brother by the Marquis of Northampton c. all of them persons seemingly at least much inclined to Reformation and by them he overbore all the rest that opposed him or were any thing contrary to his designs As there were many both eminent and wise men and equally intrusted in the publike affairs with himself could things have been carried rightly In particular the Lord Privy Seal the Lord St. John of Basing Bishop Tonstall Sir Anthony Brown and that wise Secretary Sir William Paget but most especially the Noble Chancellor the Lord Wriothsley a man of singular experience knowledge prudence and who deserveth to be a Pattern to his Posterity far to be preferred before any new Guides But being made Earl of Southampton though it neither won him to the Faction nor contented nor secured him yet he stood thâ— more quiet and made no great opposition to their doings All things now grew to confusion there remained no face nor scarce the name of Catholike Church in England and though there were great multitudes of men well affected to the old Religion and discontented that the Church should be thus driven into the Wilderness and forced to lurk in Corners Yet did they shew loyalty obedience and love to the publike Peace notwithstanding They took up no Arms they raised no Rebellion not so much as against the shadow of a King or the usurper of his Royal name The Protector in the mean time goeth on with his work which is principally to enrich himself with the Remains of the Church having long before as 't is said tasted the sweetness of such Morsels in the Priory of Aumesbury He now seizeth two Bishops houses in the Strand and of them buildeth Sommerset house which as the world saw quickly reverted and slipt out of his hands After this he procureth an Act to be made whereby all Colledges remaining all Chantries Free Chappels and Fraternities were suppressed and given to the King And how greedily he entered into the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Houses and Manors that Church will never be able to forget Notwithstanding that Bishop Bourn afterward by his industry recovered something but nothing to the spoiles and wast which was made Nor was he satisfied with this For shortly after contrary to all Law to King Henries will and against his own Covenants those I mean which he entred to his Advancers when they made him Protector He committed the Lord Chancellor
of the Leaguers That if they obeyed not they should repent it And yet again at Spires he labored to have prevailed with them by fair means but thither the Duke being grown more jealous and fearful of Caesar would not come However by this course which the Emperor constantly held towards them you may see how unwilling he was to disturb the Peace or to begin the War and how inexcusable they were that rejected so often the offers of accommodation But beside this if I should relate the malice and contempt they used to him you might well think they ought not to have expected the least degree of mercy from him in case they should fall into his hands as it hapned they did For in all their publike Letters they vouchsafed him no other Title then Charls of Gaunt Surius in Chron. usurping the name of Emperor whereby they renounced all obedience to him and so far as in them lay deposed him Which was an indignity the meanest Prince of them all would not have accounted sufferable in his own person I must not forget that the Landsgrave did usually both by Letters and Messages with no little bravery and confidence assure the Princes and Towns of the League that within three moneths they would force Charls to flie out of Germany and leave the Empire to them But how then did their pretences hang together that this League was made onely se defendendo and for their Lawful Protection Surely they aimed at some thing more when they talked of expelling the Emperor out of Germany As they also did when they solicited the Kings of France England Denmark the Hans Towns and Swisses to joyn with them and dishonorably abused him by many foul and infamous aspersions It is true France indeed though his enemy at that time nobly denied them Denmark lingred expecting the success neither was King Herry forward though his great Counsellor and Favorite Cromwel sollicited their business diligently and was so forward as to promise an hundred thousand Crowns for their aid At which time Doctor Thirlby Bishop of Westminster and Sir Philip Hobby were the Kings Ambassadors with the Emperor and by that occasion witnesses of the whole Tragedy And yet a little further to disprove their proceedings by Law Let us remember first the Decree at Worms above mentioned which as Gail the Lawyer hath told us in the case of publike Peace obligeth all persons alike Let us remember the Decree of Maximilian the First Emperor about the year 1500. in these words Consentientibus Statuum Ordinum votis c. By the general consent of the Princes and States of the Empire an Edict or Constitution was published necessary for publike Peace called in the Language of the Empire Landtfrieden By which Constitution Proscription or Banishment was adjudged to all such as disturbed the publike Peace by force of Arms Gailius de Pace lib. 1. c. 14. which Gail further explains to this sense Omnia Bella c. All War saith he made without consent of the Prince and Commission from him upon private revenge or quarrel onely is adjudged unlawful And Cap. 5. In crimen laesae Majestatis incurrit c. He commits high Treason saith he whosoever within the Empire raiseth Arms but by the Emperors Authority and Commission because he usurps to himself that which is the proper Prerogative Imperial Yea Lib. 1. tit 190. their own Goldastus confesseth it to be ancient Law Nemo intra Imperii fines c. That no man presume to gather Soldiers within the bounds of the Empire but by consent of the Prince of that respective Circle where he is and that he give sufficient Caution to the State that he intends not to attempt any thing against the Emperor or against any of the States of the Empire Tom. 2. And in another place he alledgeth a Decree of Ludovicus Pius against the King of the Romans and his Confederates as guilty of High Treason for attempting against the Emperor The like also of Henry the First against Arnulphus Duke of Baviere who rebelled against him and of Otho the First against Ludolphus King of the Romans and lastly of Maximilian the First against Emicho Earl of Lingen whom he proclaimed Traytor confiscated his Lands and Estate and gave them to other Princes of the Empire onely for going to serve the French King in his Wars though out of the Empire contrary to his Proclamation And as for the Imperial Towns which confederated with these Princes there is as little to be said for them For it is a Maxim of Law recorded by Gail Vbi supra that Civitatum Imperialium solus Imperator est dominus That the Emperor onely is Lord of the Imperial Cities and not their several Magistrates And that they pretended their Liberties in this case against the Emperor to no purpose And for Luther who was the primum mobile and cheif wheel of all these motions or rather the malus Genius that Fury which agitated the people and stirred them up to all these disorders if the Princes and Towns were thus guilty he could not be innocent If the Flock did erre the Shepherd which led them was to blame I shall not here charge him again with any small faults I will not accuse him of belying Caesar most impudently when he wrote to his friend thus Wormatiam ingressus sum In Epist I entred Worms saith he at a time when I knew that Caesar would not keep Faith with me Nor of his traducing or vilifying that most Fundamental Constitution of the Empire in Aureâ Bullâ making it one of the cheif miracles which Antichrist was to work viz. The translating of the Empire from the Greeks to the French in the person of Carolus Magnus Turesel Epitom lib. 6. p. 204. which was done by Pope Leo the Third Nor of his usurping upon the Emperor and Temporal Governmâ—nt in those pretended Laws of his which he published concerning the Publike Exchequer and how he would have Church-Lands and Abby-Lands to be disposed when he and the Princes should be Masters of all It shall be enough that I say He first counselled the Princes to take Arms and oppose Caesar in his quarrel and this Sleydan himself acknowledgeth And that all his Preaching and all his endeavors were to overthrow the Ecclesiastical Electors whose Dignities and Estates being established by the Aureâ Bullâ it was Treason or Sedition in the highest degree so to do The three Ecclesiastical Electors are three Chancelors of the Empire and in respect of their Regalities immediately subject to the Emperor so as there lieth no appeal from them to the Pope but to the Emperor and Chamber at Spires Luther therefore contriving their ruine attempted treacherously to pull the fairest Flowers out of the Imperial Crown Neither could he effect the suppression of them but he must undermine and endanger the State of the Temporal Electors also who as links of the same chain must necessarily
by Edward the Sixth was not warrantable being done in his Minority and when he had neither age to discern what he did nor liberty to discern any thing to the Protector and Northumberland in whose hands he was If you approve not this Argument why do you disallow the same plea for the Authority of the King of France was the age of the one a Bar in Law and not in the other or was the one an absolute King and not the other was King Edwards consent sufficient to authorize his Uncles doings and was King Charls his consent insufficient and nothing worth to authorize the Constable with his Army to pursue and punish their Army of Rebels Beza's opinion therefore In câ—nfess fid is much contrary to what he alloweth and commendeth here For if there be no other remedy but preces and lachrymae for private persons against the oppressions of a Tyrant he betrayed the Admiral and the Prince very foully to bring them into the fields of Dreux to fight against the King for Religion Doctor Bilson hath taken up somewhere one notable singularity to excuse the Prince of Conde viz. That he was not an absolute Subject of France ought not simple subjection to the Crown Ergo might lawfully do something more then others But it argueth such a gross ignorance in the Laws of France and in the state of that Prince that it deserveth more to be pitied then answered Neither could it help the Admiral who had no other Protection then that of his Sword nor Priviledge but from his new Religion But because that smooth profession of Beza above mentioned is so much insisted on and cunningly used as it were to cast a mist before the eyes of an unwary Reader it will be necessary to clear that business a little further by letting you see the man himself in more proper colours as in relation to this point First therefore read his Positions and Catechism of Seditions viz. That Book of his called Vindiciae contra Tyrannos There acting the part of Junius Brutus a Noble Roman indeed but great enemy of Kings he propounds in the first place this Question Whether Subjects be bound to obey their Kings when they command contrary unto Gods Law and resolveth presently Pag. 22. We must obey Kings for Gods sake when they obey God But otherwise Pag. 24. we are absolved For as the Vassal saith he looseth his Fief or Lordship if he commit Felony so doth the King loose his Right and his Realm also viz. By commanding contrary unto Gods Law Which considering that Gods Law is onely as they themselves shall think good to interpret it is dangâ—rous enough But Pag. 65. he is more notable Conspiracy saith he is goâ—d or ill according as the end is at which it aimeth Which is a most pernicious Maxim and a Doctrine fit for nothing but to encourage Ruvillac Poltrot or some such villanous assassinate to his desperate work or to be a buckler to the Conspirators at Ambois So Pag. 66. The Magistrates saith he or any one part of the Realm may resist the King being an Idolater as Lobna revolted from Joram when he forsook God And Pag. 132. The Government of the Kingdom is not given to the King alone but also to the Officers of the Realm And again Pag. 103. The Kings of France saith he Spain and England are crowned and put as it were into pâ—ssession of their charge by the States Peers and Lords which represent the people And Pag. 199. There is a stipulation in all Kingdoms Hereditary As in France when the King is crowned the Bishops of Beauvois and Loan ask the people if they desire and command This man shall be King What if they do it is no argument that the people do therefore chuse him to be King for his Kingdom is confessed already to be Hereditary and so the Succession determined by Law much less that they make him such It is an acceptation onely not an election a declaration of their willing Subjection Obedience and Fidelity towards him and nothing else as you may be well informed out of Francis Rosselets Ceremonies at the Consecration or Inauguration of the Kings of France Was there ever an Assembly of Estates held to consecrate or elect a King of France or do the Kings of France count the time of their Reign from their Inauguration onely and not from their entrance was not Charls the Seventh full Eight years King of France before he was crowned as the French Historians themselves report Gaguin Giles or think you that the Peers are Ephori No they are Pares inter se but not Companions to the King They are not States as in Holland to rule and direct all Affairs For in France and England all the Authority depends upon the Kings and what is the State but the Authority of the Prince Who onely by his Letters Patents createth Peers disposeth all Offices giveth all Honors receiveth all Homages in cheif as being the sole Fountain from whence springeth both Nobility and Authority And he that would either restrain this Sovereignty within any narrower bounds or communicate it to others makes no difference between the Crown of a King and the Berrette of a Duke of Venice Many other Maxims and Rules he hath of this nature fit for nothing but to introduce Anarchy and confusion in the World most of them false all of them dangerous Vails onely to cover the ugly faces of Sedition and Treason because in their proper shapes no man living can abide to see them I might here travel and weary you further with as much good stuff out of his Book De Jure Magistratus for his it is as most men think or else Hottomans who was his Comrade But I shall leave them both for indeed they touch the string of Sovereignty with too rough a hand yea rather they strain to break it if they could by such gross and misinterpretable Paradoxes as when they say The States are above the King that is the Body above the Head As if any man could seriously make it a question whether people should be commanded by the Master or by some of their fellow-servants by the Subject or by the Sovereign by the Prince of Conde and the Admiral or by their Lawful King and Sovereign King Charls And therefore had King Philip good reason to cut off the head of that Justice of Arragon upon a just occasion and to teach the people by example what the true meaning was of Nos qui podemos tanto come vos All which Paradoxes it were easie to refel but that I have undertaken onely to discover and not to combate And because they are both learnedly and piously confuted already by Barclay Baurican and Blackwood Onely by the way I shall desire you to observe how politickly they go to work They profess not openly and absolutely any desire to change the State or to depose Kings But this they do They labor by insinuation first
Cujus contrarium verum est But let that pass The Clergy of England they count Atheists call them soldiers of Antichrist and a Bastardly Ministery And from the Fountain of this frenzy sprang in late times all those infamous and scandalous Libels of Vdal Penry Brown Greenwood Martin Marprelate Martin junior Hay any work for a Cooper The supplication to the President of Wales and many other to the late Queen and troublesome to the State But the spring-head of all was Calvin himself who Epist 105. declares magis sibi placere c. that he forsooth did rather approve the Scottish Reformation then that of England Gramercy good Sir John You like it better why because it was the issue of your own happy Brain 't is well known Knox fetcht his Coales from your Fire and cast his Engin of Reformation in your Mould and so upon the matter in commending it like a wise man you commend your self So Epist 26. he tells Cranmer relictam esse congeriem That there was a great heap of Popish superstitions yet remaining in the Church of England which did not onely dim but even much darken and corrupt the purity of Gods worship Hence it was that during all Queen Maries Reign The English Church at Genevah as they calld themselves was Antagonist and at defiance with the English Church at Franckfort for they at Franckfort defended the Authority of Bishops and used the Leiturgy and Ceremonies which were commanded by King Edward the sixth notwithstanding Mr. Calvin writing to the Protector by whose Authority they had been established was so modest as to call them scoffingly and by way of contempt Tolerabiles Ineptias certain fooleries but yet such as might be born withal for a time It is therefore we see no Hyperbolical charge or Calumny to say that this Presbyterian Discipline is the Palladium of Calvinists for which they do not onely contend but fight tanquam pro aris focis against all Kings and Princes that oppose it more eagerly and bitterly then for any other thing which no man will deny that knowes what their proceedings have been are in France Scotland Low-countries Bohemia and elsewhere or that hath read Bsialicon Doron written by a Pen that had cause enough to be sensible of their disorders or that Book of Philippus Nicolai De regno Xti which is ful of predictions of what lawless attempts and practises they would serve themselves to advance their consistory above the court which have not all prov'd untrue or lastly that of Joannes Schutz a learned Lutheran Lib. 50. caus who tells them plainly that they trust onely upon their Soecular power That they are seditious people and defend their opinions best with a Sword in their hand But that which King James himself saith of them is most remarkable Ego a Puritanis Prefat monitor c. I saith he have been vexed with these Puritans from my very Birth yea they persecuted me while I was yet in my Mothers Belly and it mist but little that they had not murdered me before I was born Among which Pranks that of the Ministers at Sterling must not be forgotten who appeared themselves in the field under the Command of some of the Nobility of that faction and forced the King to yeeld his person to them and to suffer a new guard to be put upon him and his old removed For which insolent attempt the chief of them viz. Mr. Patrick Galloway Pollard Carmichel and Andrew Melvin were glad afterwards to take covert in England yet James Gibson stood to it and called the King Jeroboam and persecutor Lawson opposed and affronted him to his face Pont and Balcanqual by open Proclamation and in the presence of a publike Notary censur'd him very formally and did what they could to withdraw the peoples Loyalty and affection from him When Philautia and Phantasia that is self-love and self-conceit do meet in Conjunction in the Brain there must needs be a great Eclipse of the understanding and a Heart swollen and blown up with singularity doth so far contemn yea hate whatsoever opposition is made against her that being not able to govern the strong passion and those fervors of a proud spirit which boyl incessantly within her Men run like so many furies upon rash and inconsiderate attempts both against the reverence due to Majestie Justice and all good government A thing manifestly observable in these Zelots And therefore the Zuinglians who are otherwise more then their half Brethren can scarcely approve them in the point of the Consistory For saith Gualter Minister of Zurich Comment in 1 Cor. c. 5. Galli habent sua seniorum Concilia c. The Reformed French saith he have their Consistories of Elders in whose hands all power and authority Ecclesiastical is as it were deposited and in These all counsels and resolutions are taken all Taxes and impositions layd for the maintaining of War against the King Proper work doubtless for the Ministers of Gods word as they will be called and for a Spiritual Court as it pretends to be and to as good a purpose De Offic. Ministror lib. 15. cap. 19.20 22. Musculus also sheweth as little esteem of them in his Loci Commun cap. 10. But above all Schultingius in his Hierarchica Anachresis doth most graphically and to the life discover their exorbitant and absurd practises shewing how all Kings Princes and Governors are made subject to their Excommunications that truly Brutum Fulmen of their elderships How Nobility and Commons both must assemble at the Summons of the Pastor who is more then half Pope in his Parish being attended by Assisting Elders rather to countenance what he will have done then to do any thing contrary to his minde Lastly Calvin at Genevah is the Supream Oracle beyond whom there is no appeal really Papa though out of a dissembled humility he seems not willing to be called Doctor So he And what confusion in the Civil State this Constitution of pretended Discipline may further cause in time Hooker in the Preface to his Books of Ecclesiastical Policy sheweth at large Titulus Quartus GEVXISM OR The Troubles in HOLLAND AND THE United Provinces BY Course we arrive now at the States of Holland Zealand and those other united Provinces that is at an Aceldama a Field of blood where the Principles mentioned so oft already in this Narrative and the Tragical effects of them have been acted with most lamentable fury and rage for many years together I will not be large in the declaration of them to shew you how the Lutheran faction first began and how violently the Calvinists succeeding did prosecute their work for then I should weary you I shall labor to be as breif as I may and rather to Epitomize things then dilate them Of all their Actions That Union of Vtrecht was the most notorious a devise cleerly according to the rules of Junius Brutus and in imitation of the Switz
and Cantons This Union was made by the States in the year 1578. For seeing on the one hand the fortunate Proceedings of the Duke of Parma and on the other the course of thâ— Male-Contents they enter a perpetual League which was comprized in Twenty Articles In the first whereof Holland Zealand Frize and Gelders joyn contra omnem vim quae sub praetextu c. to maintain one another against all force whatsoever that shall be made upon them in the Kings name or for matter of Religion After this viz. in the year 1579. the Prince of Orange who was the contriver and ringleader of all with those of Antwerp and Gaunt enter the League and subscribe on the Fourteenth of February and it was again confirmed at the Hague the Twentieth of July 1581. The design in all being to expel their Leige Lord the King of Spain and to deprive him of those Dominions as presently after they did publishing an Edict in the name of the States unitâ—d with this title or prescription Que le Roy a' Espague est descheu c. That the King of Spain is fallen from the Dominion of the Low-Countries and injoyning an Oath or form of Abjuration to be taken by all the people of those Countries in these words I W. N. Comme un bon vassal du ' pais Sware anew and binde my self to the Provinces united to be Loyal and Faithful to them and to Aid them against the King of Spain as a true Man of the Country Upon this they break all the Kings Seals pull down his Arms seize and enter upon his Lands Rents Customes and all Hereditaments whatsoever taking them into their own possession and as absolute Lords they Coyn Money in their own names they place and displace Officers of State Banish the Kings Counsellors seize upon Church livings suppress Catholike Religion beseidge Amsterdam and do all other acts that might import Supream and absolute Dominion And all this with so much terror and violence that as 't is reported Raald a Counsellor for Frizeland upon onely hearing of their maner of proceeding and of the new Oath against the King died suddenly therewith as of an Apoplexy The reasons they give why the King had forfeited his title and right to these Countries were these First because he labored to suppress Religion They mean their own which they had newly taken up contrary to the old and which had it not been for the opposition made against it by the Kings Governors in the Provinces had long before this time destroyed the Kings Religion which was legally established and received by the geâ—eral consent approbation and profession of the whole Country Secondly for oppressing that is governing them not according to the Law but by Tyranny Thirdly for abrogating their priviledges and holding them in a condition of bondage and servitude Such a Prince say they we are not bound to obey as a Lawful Magistrate but to â—ject as a Tyrant But this is a Presidâ—nt of vâ—ry dangerous consequâ—nâ—e doubtless For if private Subjects as 〈◊〉 that time they were without difpute may depose their Prince meerly upon general Charges and without having done any one overt Act contrary unto the Laws or the duty of his Office and may make themselves sole Judges in the cause of what is right betwixt the Prince and the People of which they were in no capacity either formal or virtual that is representative more then a Minor part Qui stat videat ne cadat there is no Prince nor State in the world can be secure The Rochellers may plead this as much as the Hollanders and so may any discontented party under a government which they like not as well as they But it shall not be amiss to enquire a little further into this business and lay open to plain view the grounds occasions and consequences thereof so compendiously as we shall be able The original primary and true cause of these troubles was the spring and growth â— heresie which by this time was like a Gangreen spread over the greatest part of Germany and not the least in these Low-Countries where under the shadow of religion especially of abetting and promoting liberty of Conscience as they called it All factions of State and discontentments of Ambitious persons shrowded themselves The peoples natural inclination to Novelty was great and set it much forward yet there wanted not the Concurrence of some Forreigners to blow the Coals of dissention both out of England and France Charls the Fifth Emperor a wise and provident Prince remembringing what a piece of work Luther had lately cut him out in Germany and with what danger difficulty and charge he overcame it intended as well for the quietness of these Provinces as for his own Interest and Honor to prevent as much as he could the Propagation of Martinests and all other Sects whatsoever And to that end finding no other means more proper and fit to be applied unto such a Malady had established the Inquisition among them about the yeer 1550. for the Execution whereof Mary Queen of Hungary then Regent of the Low-Countries procured such Explication and Mitigation of some Circumstances as was judged necessary But after this the Emperor resigning the whole government of these Provinces to his Son King Philip retired himself by a most memorable example voluntarily from the world and consâ—crated the last act of his life entirely to God and devotion King Philip at the first entrance into his government finding how much the Sects increased daily in Flanders notwithstanding the means opposed against them and considering what danger would ensue upon it to the State followed strictly his Fathers advise and in the year 1555. renewed the Commission Instructions and Articles for the said Inquisition But this as it happened through the general contagion and distemper of mindes which Heresie had bred in the people provd onely matter of further discontent to the Inhabitants of the Nether-Lands and did no good They alledge that all Strangers would thereupon be forced to depart the Country and by consequence their Trading would decay which was the Golden Mine and maintenance of those Provinces Thus they complained but indeed their inward grief was the humor of Innovation to which they were much inclined and therefore feared themselves There was another Politick Act of the Kings yet withall of very religious concernment and design which added Fewel to this Fire namely the Erecting of those new Bishopricks at Gaunt Ipres Floren. vand Haer de tumult Belgic Antwerp c. which he intended all the Provinces over And a third viz. the authority and power of the Bishop of Arras whose Cardinals Hat lately procured him by the Kings favor made him the more odious so as the greater his Obligation was to his Holiness or the King their Sovereign so much more it seemed was the malice both of the Nobility and common people incensed against him Lastly they urge their Ancient priviledges
Fifteen years after the beginning of the troubles Adde hereunto that when the Emperor procured the Treaty at Colen in the yeer 1579 and made choise of most Honorable and eminent persons for that purpose viz. Two of the Princes Electors the Bishop of Wurtzburgh the Count Wartzemburgh and Doctor Lawenman the King of Spain was as forward and sent thither the Duke de Terra Nova And the Duke Areschot with some others were Commissioners from the States with Commission Signed by the Arch-Duke Mutthias The States had by their Letter to the Emperor bearing date June the Eighth 1578. promised that they were and so would continue constantly resolved Vt in Belgio colatur religio Catholica sua Regi constet Authoritas that both Catholike Religion and the Kings Authority should be maintained in the Netherlands Before this at Worms in the year 1577. the Agents of the States submitted and referred themselves to the Emperor as likewise the King of Spain did Therefore both parties being so inclinable and consenting in Eodem Tertio in the same Umpire who could expect but that a general peace should follow But Davus perturbat omnia When the Emperors Commissioners were come to Colen at the time appointed viz. by the beginning of April the States Commissioners appeared not till the Fourth of May and then with a Commission insufficient and their Treating restrained to a Term of Six weeks and no longer when as themselves had been twice the time in but framing their instructions which the Commissioners of the Emperor took for a great error as justly they might do All which delays had been craftily procured by the Prince of Orange and his party on purpose to obstruct the peace And in the Articles themselves the States Commissioners propounded many things contrary to promise In the Articles proposed by the Duke de Terrâ Novâ in the behalf of his Master All kinde of severity relating to Religion was mitigated as the Emperors Commissioners had assured them to the intent ut nemo justè queri possit c. that no man might complain of the King as if he desired either to Tyrannize over their bodies or to Seize their Estates or to Oppress their Consciences for matter of Religion But nothing could prevail so the Imperial Commissioners finding such dallying and delays in the States That in Sixteen weeks they could get no answer and that in their Letters they did onely renew old grievances and quarrels they broke up the Treaty and departed Nevertheless Bâ—lduc and Valenciennes received the Articles So did Over-Issle and Tournay Artois and Henault guided by the Bonus Genius of the Country and Em. Lâ—lain that valiant and religious Marquis of Renty together with Monsieurs de Capre Heze Barze and the rest contemned the course of Orange offered their obedience to the King and made peace with the Duke of Parma But as for the Hollanders they were now further off then ever they publish discourses against the Treaty and labor by all means possible how to make good their usurpation and perfect their Union which they were all this time a framing not forgetting to scatter seeds of dissention and further discord among the Provinces in which business their Ministers helped them not a little And lastly at this time also by the advise of Orange and England they admitted Monsieur the Duke of Alenson in the year 1578. to a kinde of Protectorship of the Provinces creating him Duke of Brabant and absolute Prince of the Netherlands And all to shew how irreconcileable they were to their natural Sovereign Thus much hath been said to shew the Kings good inclination to Peace Now for his Tyranny and Exaction which they pretended and objected in the second place as the cause of making that Union and also his breaking of their Priviledges and the too severe Government of his Ministers contrary as they say to his Oath at Coronation surely so long after D' Alva's times and under the moderate Government of the Duke of Parma and after so many significations of the Kings gracious disposition and offers to ease their burthens if they would themselves this may rather be judged a Cavil to shift Peace then any desire to be rid of War But as for the business of the Tenth Penny an exaction which they so much complain of we must draw the Curtain a little and tell you it was necessity and not his own will which forced him to require that and that otherwise neither would he have done it nor the King have suffered it But as it happened being driven to an extremity for the satisfying of the Soldiers who always grow wilde if they want Pay he was constrained to incur an inconvenience that he might avoid a mischief England and Orange were the cause of it For about this time some of the Counsel here by the instigation of the Prince had made stop of no less sum then Six hundred thousand Duckets which were sent out of Spain to the Army but driven by hard weather and ill fortune upon the coast of Hampshire notwithstanding as some say the Queen had given a safe Conduct for the passage thereof But the Polititians of those times and Enemies of Spain knew well into what Streights the want of this money would drive D' Alva and that of necessity he must commit some error or other which would encrease the hatred of his Government and perhaps arm the peoples fury once more to sedition Besides this the King had sent another sum of Two hundred thousand Duckets by the Duke de Medina but that also was intercepted at Sea by the Zealanders and converted to other uses This man was of a milder nature and sent on purpose to qualifie the severity of D' Alva who by his natural Sterneness and some errors in Government which the general malice of the people and disfavor of some Forreign Princes did much aggravate had made himself it must be confessed not a little odious but having as was said lost his money and Ships he had small heart to stay among them so he quickly returned home again and with a resolution it seemed never to have further dealing with such sharking Cormorants and left D' Alva in a Labyrinth of difficulties how to get money and govern his Soldiers But however it appears by this that it was never the Kings pleasure nor purpose but meerly the necessity of his present wants which compelled the Duke to demand that Tribute and that the quarrel upon it was rather made and contrived by themselves then given And these great pretenders for the Commons that seemed then so extreamly careful of the peoples ease and sollicitous to keep them free from Taxes Impositions c. Let me ask them one question Why do they now Tax them so much Why do they lay such heavy burthens upon them they themselves now they have them in their power Excises Subsidies Taxes of all sorts which they have augmented and do daily augment and raise
to flie and lurk in corners Till the Earl of Huntingdon apprehending him brought him up again to his old lodging in the Tower where he made an unfortunate end I shall not urge the practises of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton a man of great wit and policy notwithstanding he was Indicted of high Treason and arraigned at Westminster with Arnold Warner and others because though the case were plain yet the Jury acquitted him but to their own cost and trouble And it was well for him the Advocates of those times desired not so much to triumph in the calamities of poor men nor that the prisoner should loose his head rather then they their oration and the glory of the day But say some there were no Ministers had any hand in those tumults none of them were Trumpeters to Sedition at that time What was Goodman and Gilby Were not they Ministers Was not Jewel a Ministâ—â— â—ho preacht at Gl ceâ—â—er against the Queens proceedâ—ngs Was not Doctor Sands a Ministâ—r though Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge when he walkt abâ—ut with the Ragged Staff and assisted the proclaimers of Lady Jane Were not Hooper Rogers Crowly Ministers all enrolled as friends and favorers of these actions And were there not divers other Ministers both of Kent and other Counties who upon Wyats fall forsook the Realm or was there any thing more likely to drive them out then a guilty Conscience what shall we say of those two Apostles falsly so called of the time Cranmer and Ridley W re not they Ministers yet great instruments of the Queens troubles And that not in King Edwards time onely upon which account some would excuse them but after his death and under the Reign of Queen Mary For Ridleys Sermon of Pauls Cross wherein like another infamous Shaw he so highly magnified and defended the Title of Lady â—anâ— and perswaded the people to accept and obey her as Queen iâ—pugning against all honesty and conscience the right of King Henries two Daughters was the Sunday after King Edward was dead And 't is well known the Reign of a Prince commenceth not from the time of his Coronation but instantly upon the death of his predecessor And therefore was he justly attainted and convicted of Treason Cranmer was both Counsellor and Oracle in the business and was therefore arraigned and condemned with the Lady Jane and Guildford Dudly as contriver and principal assistant in that Treason as appeareth by the Records in the Kings Bench. This man was a very Proteus in all his actions and of a disposition most servil and vitiously plyable to any humor of the King and ready always to follow the prevailing party He was first a principal instrument of the Kings divorce from â—â—â—en Kâ—â—bâ—â— ne whereby the 〈◊〉 Gatâ—â— were let opon to the Lady Anne Bolen yet afterward to serve the Kings Appetite he was used again as a chief instrument in her condemnation as appears by the Statute where Cranmâ—rs Sentence is recorded judicially 28. Hen. 8. c. 7. as of his own knowledge convincing her of some fowl act Nor can any wise or indifferent man but condemn him of inexcusable iniquity that being a Counsellor of State Primate and M tropolitan of the Realm pretending also to be a Reformer of Religion would so much betray his Master whose creature he was as to frustrate and make void his will whereof himself was made chief Executor subscribe to extinguish his issue as much as possibly he could by disinheriting his two Daughters and transferring the Crown to another Line and Family and all this most basely and contrary to his conscience onely to please a Subject and to avoid â—omâ—â—inde of affliction which he feared upon the Succession of Qâ—een Mary and against which 't is manifest by the frequent changings lapses relapses and perjuries which he made he was never well armed It is manifest therefore that in all places at home as well as abroad this Spirit of Reformation hath ever been and is seditiously pragmatical and dangerous unto Princes and States wheresoever it getteth footing and is not countenanced and advanced so far as to bear all the sway it self It is in this onely respect not in any other like the Motto of her who meerly for temporal and worldly ends made her self the great Patroness of it that is it is Semper Eadem always the same and never changeth This was it which induced them of Genevah to expel their Bishop and Leige-Lord This was it which induceth them of Sâ—ethland to renounce their lawful King Them of Holland to depose their Sovereign Prince This was it which Sollicited the Bohemians to depose the Emperor their Elected Crowned and Acknowledged King That imprisoned the most Vertuous and Religious Queen and Martyr Mary Queen of Scotland and cast her undeservedly into those calamities which pursued her to death This was it which held out Rochel and Montauban in defiance against their King and lastly that which begat so many conspiracies commotions and causes of jealousie unto Queen Mary of England So as within the space of Sixty years it hath been observed More Princes have been deposed and persecuted by Protestants their Subjects upon the quarrel and difference of Religion then had bin by the Popes excommunications or by the attempts and practises of any Subjects Catholikes in Six hundred before Of the troubles which have arisen to other Princes upon this occasion we have spoken somewhat already The business of Sweden is defended by one Master T. M. upon these grounds First That it was done by the demand of the whole State But this is a manifest falshood For if you take the whole State formally that is for all the people of the Nation it is certain that Sigismund their lawful King had not onely a great but the far greater and better part of the people well affected to him If you take it Virtually that is for some general Assembly representing the people legally met and resolving upon that business there never was any such called The meetings that were were onely of Duke Charls his faction who in comparison of the Kings party both of Nobility and Commons were but few yet as it often happens the better case was more negligently managed and those for the Duke who were also inclined to Innovation in Religion being more active industrious and unanimous in their design made shift to secure the Military provisions and to invest themselves of the chief Strengths of the Kingdom before the others and so prevailed as Chytraeus himself a Protestant Author is sufficient witness Chytra Continuat Crantzii Secondly he saith it was for the defence of their Priviledges and Liberties None of which were violated as by the same Chytraeus appeareth Thirdly that it was for the fruitoin of Religion That 's true indeed and confessed That they might introduce and establish a new Religion they renounced their old King which is the thing we charge them with and wherein whatsoever they did
best assistance to the support of the Estate Royal and of the Kingdom wherein they lived It is true through the malice of the Devil and Instigation of some Enemies of the Church some of them for the asserting of their legal Immunities and to preserve the Liberty of their spiritual Jurisdiction entirely Free as it ought they were dirven now and then yet very seldom in comparison of such a long tract of time as we instance in unto some vehement and earnest contestation with their Princes and though much further then was pleasing to them yet I suppose not beyond terms of due respect and the Authority of their Function much less did they endeavor to stir up rebellion or instigate the people to sedition and commotions against their Princes nor did they ever upon their own account solely concur in any thing of that nature The first King that ever gave cause in this Kingdom effectually and in the face of the world to trie the admirable patience obedience and loyalty of Catholikcs was King Henry the Eighth Flagellum Dei that scourge of God to the Church of England and all good Catholikes therein yet outwardly professing the same Religion in most things with Catholikes This he did first by a pretended Accusation of the Clergy to be fallen in a Praemunire because Scil they did that which all their predecessors the Bishops and Clergy of England for many Hundreds of years confessedly had done without any exception taken viz. for acknowledging the power Legantine of Cardinal Wâ—lsey which yet the King himself for his own ends and in his own case had first of all procured 2. upon the Statute of supremacy And 3. by suppression of the Abbies These were his Three first breaches by which the Foundation strength and glory of the Catholike Church in England became afterwards utterly ruinated By the first his way was levelled to the Second and the Second obtained gave him power and authority to compass the Third By the First indeed onely the Clergy smarted in a fine of an Hundred thousand pound The second lay heavy upon the Clergy and Temporalty both But by the Third viz. the suppression of the Abbies and Religious houses if we consider the infinite prejudice which the poor Commonalty suffered thereby both in point of spiritual and temporal interest the whole Kingdom might be said to be worse then conquered by him that is Robbed Spoiled Enslaved to the exorbitancy of his sole Will Prodigality Lust and Tyranny And all this done to be revenged on the Pope who condescended not to humor him in the business of his marriage Therefore and to advance his own power and greatness That Authority and Jurisdiction which had alway been acknowledged as sacred by the English ever since the English were Christians must in a moment be abandoned disclaimed abjured himself by an unheard of and fatal Ambition instead thereof made Head of the Church and all persons who out of scruple of Conscience refused to conform to such grand sudden and sacrilegious Innovations and to swear they knew not what were cut shorter by the head executed at Tyborn imprisoned banished and put into such condition as he was sure they should not oppose him The ground of the Praemunire was at first onely a quarrel which he pick't against the Cardinal Wolsey but afterwards stretched it upon the Tenters and made it reach the whole Clergy who being thereupon Summoned into the Kings Bench the business was so aggravated there by the Lawyers The Kings Learned Counsel that in the Convocation house they presently concluded to submit themselves to the King and offer him no less sum then One hundred thousand pound for their pardon This was look't upon by the Christian world as a Prodigy That so many Shepherds should be afraid of one Wolfe And though it becomes us not hear to censure whether they did as they ought yet certainly this weakness of the Pastors boded no good to the Flock and it is observed that neither themselves nor the Church nor Religion ever prospered in England afterwards However the King accepts of thâ—ir offâ—r and signs their Pardon but with a fetch far worse then the first For undâ—r a prâ—â—eâ—ce of procuring this Pardon to be confirmed to them in Parliament he draws thâ—m in there how willingly or unwillingly let the world judge to acknowledge him Supream Head of the Church It was a course even at that time not thought agreeable to Justice or Honor. For as we said the Cardinal Wolsey had the Kings License for the exercise of his Legantine power both under the Kings hand and the Great Seal of England and was employed by the Kings particular Mandate and pleasure in the quality of Legat to sit with the other Legat Cardinal Campegius and examine the business of his marriage And could the Divorce have been granted according to the Kings minde it is easily conjectured the Cardinal had never been questioned for his Legat-ship Touching the Second of Supremacy All the Subjects of England ever acknowledged that the Crown and State of England quoad Temporalia in Temporal affairs and matters is independent of any other power but of that Transcendent Majestie which saith Per me reges regnant and this to the intent that Kings and all Governors considering who will one day take their Audit may be more careful to rule with Justice and common equity without partiality passion prejudice against any mans person further then his crimes against Publike Order Common Right and the Peace of the State shall make him obnoxious and by so doing may keep their accounts streight against the day of Account And on the other side that Subjects remembring their duty and who it is that layeth this jugum suave the sweet Yoke of good Government upon their Shoulders might be induced to obey with more fidelity and prompt affection But the Question which King Henry the first of all Kings Princes or States of Christendom propounded to his Clergy and People in Parliament concerned matters purely Spiritual and wherein not himself onely and his Subjects at home but all Christian Kings Princes States and people in the world were concerned And therefore required far greater deliberation I say not then was used for in truth that was little or none at all the Kings pleasure and resolution was known and that as the world went then was sufficient but I say then could possâ—bly be used in England which was then but one single Kingdom and a small Province of Christendom And for the suppression of the Abbeys and Religious houses by that Act and this other of Supremacy together the Clergy of England were brought absolutely into Captivity and stood meerly as they have done ever since at the pleasure of the King and of the State Their Possessions the greatest part of them were seized their Goods forfeited their Churches profaned and sacked and upon the spoils thereof together with the sale of the Vestments Chalices Bells and other
the Moveables and Ornaments belonging to them the Augmentation Court was erected For the King seeing this extraordinary passiveness and submission of the Clergy could never think he had power sufficient till he had more then enough and therefore having already discharged his conscience from all Bonds but such onely as himself should think good to tie he took liberty to commit such outrages and violence upon Sacred things as no age before him nor since can parallel For first viz. Anno 27. of His Reign he appoints the Secretary Cromwel and Doctor Leigh as his Commissioners to visit the Abbyes and they by vertue of their said Commission first take out all the Plate cheifest Jewels and Reliques belonging to those houses and seize them to the Kings use Then they dismiss all such persons Religious as were under the age of Four and twenty years and had a desire to be at liberty in the world Anno 28. All the smaller Religious houses of the value of Two hundred pounds per annum and under were given to the King by Parliament with all their Lands and Hereditaments and of these the number was not less then Three hundred seventy and six who were able to dispend per annum to the benefit of the poor and service of the Publike not less then Three thousand two hundred pounds of old Rents of Assize bâ—side their Moveables Which bâ—ing undervalued and sold at mean rates yet amounted to above One hundred thousand pounds The Religious themselves and all people depending on them which were not a few were on a sudden outed and left unprovided even of Habitation above Ten thousand persons for no particular crimes charged or proved against them turned out of their own doors and driven to seek their fortune where they could A thing which compassionated the very common people themselves though not a little alienated in their affections at that time towards Monasticks more then they were wont to be to see so many persons compelled to Beg and live by Almes who by their bountiful and constant Hospitality had formerly releived many Anno 30. of His Reign some of the greater Abbies viz. Battle-Abby and the Abby of Lewis in Sussex Martin Abby in Surry Stratford in Essex were suppressed and all things belonging to them converted to the Kings use For indeed they were forced in some sort to proceed thus politickly in their work of desolation and to carry it on by degrees by reason of the Commonalty who though they stirred not yet they stood amazed as it were murmuring as lowd as they durst and were not a little unsatisfied at such doings But in the years 32. and 33. generally all the Monasteries of England of what value soever went to wrack and were destroyed The Lands belonging to Saint John's of Jerusalem were likewise given to the King and the Corporation of those Knights quite dissolved Though to turn out these with some kinde of contentment there was as some say certain Pensions during life distributed among them to the value of Two thousand eight hundred and seventy pounds In Anno 37. was the last sweep which King Harry made For then all the Chauntries in any part of the Kingdom which were many and numerous All Churches and places Collegiate yea the very Hospitals which were built and endowed by their several Founders onely and expresly for the relief of the poor were yet given to the King and permitted wholly to his order and disposing The value of Church Lands in England at this time amounted to above Three hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and eighty pounds per annum and of it the King took into his own possession and apropriated to the Crown to the value of One hundred sixty one thousand one hundred pounds yearly rent The rest it seems was sold or exchanged or distributed among Favourites Lastly to abuse the poor Commons perfectly and more easily to wipe them of those great and constant advantages as well Temporal as Spiritual which they received from these Religious places while they stood a proposition is made in Parliament by the Projectors and Sharers in this worke and 't is given out also to the people abroad That out of the Revenues of these Lands thus given to the King a standing Army for defence of the Kingdom and all other Military occasions of State should be maintained of no less then Forty thousand men besides Forty Earls Sixty Barons and Three thousand Knights for the Command and Conduct of this Army where need should be So that the Commons of England by this means should never heare of Tax or Subsidy any more This indeed was as pleasing a bait for the people as could be devised and it took accordingly They bit willingly at it But the Hook sticks in their jaws to this day Such a motion as this to note in a word by the way was made in that Parliament of Henry the fourth which they called the Lay-mens Parliament by those which countenanced Wicleff and loved the Lands far better then they did the Religion of the Church But their designs at that time were defeated by the Stout and Religious opposition of Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Prelates joyning with him Though now there were an unfortunate and unworthy Thomas found yet siting in that Seat of Canterbury ready to side with them for his own carnal ends and to countenance the Wicleffists of these times that is those Lutheran and malicious Spirits who by their Libels The supplication of Beggars well answered by Sir Thomas Moores Supplication of Souls and other wicked practises went about to destroy the Church and extripate true Religion Adde here unto the Kings natural Inclination to vain glory which was very great and begat those prodigal expences which he used towards his Favorites and Flatterers And these could not be long maintained but by extraordinary support which being not to be had in any way of Legality and Justice Avarice at last and many other vices which he was fallen to prompted him to fall upon the Church The Lords and Courtiers could not dislike the motion knowing what a rich Prey would fall to be divided among them Especially this pleased the principal Secretary of State afterward Lord Privy Seal Lord High Chamberlain of England and Earl of Essex who being a man of great experience and of a deep reach in worldly policies knew full well that such a confused Innovation as this and so full of Spoyle would be infinitely advantagious to him and a Ladder to clime at ease unto what Wealth or Honor he could wish He therefore instigates the King with all might and main to go through with the Action and to stand stoutly to his Prerogative and profit knowing his conscience was already buried in Anne Bolens Tombe To this end and the better to pave the way to his evil designs Sacriledge and Blood not seldom going along together Three of the principal Abbots of the Kingdom and Barons
of Parliament viz. the Abbots of Glastenbury Reading and Bury Stout Vertuous and Religious men and likeliest to oppose such practises were taken away before hand being condemned and executed upon the Statute of Supremacy as well to prevent the Bishops mediating for them as to terrifie the other Religâ—ous of the Kingdom from opposing the Kings designs But may we ask quo jure quo titulo by what colour of Law or Right was this suppression of the Abbies made and done I cannot tell what it may do now but certainly to have mov'd such a question then it would have cost a man his head It is certain these Abbies held their Lands in Frank Almoigne and in Fee They were quietly possessed of them by the Donations and Guifts of many Saxon English Norman Kings Princes and other Subjects who were their Founders continued legally by prescription in them admitted acknowledged and established by all Laws beside the accessory Charters of many succeeding Princes who confirmed them and most commonly added to them They held all their Lands Immunities and Estates by the same Laws Authority and Right by which the Temporal Lords held their Baronies as Magna Charta 9. of Hen. 3. and the confirmation thereof 28. Ed. 1. do abundantly testifie where it is granted that the Church of England shall be Free and have all her Liberties preserved to her inviolable Chap. 2. any Judgement given against them is declared to be Null and Void And chap. 4. The Bishops are ordered to Excomunicate all such as shall seek to infring those Charters as also they did 30. Ed. 1. including all those that should either make or procure to be made any Statutes contrary to those Liberties Whence we may note Two things The First that as Excommunication is the highest punishment which can be inflicted upon a man Spiritually so the State cannot declare its detestation and dislike of any crime more then by requiring or ordering such a punishment for it The Second That as by one and the same Charter both the Church and the Temporalty held their Liberties so that which gave or pretended to give the King power to abrogate and destroy the one could not in point of reason or justice but make the other obnoxious In the Leidger-book of Peterborrough are to be seen all King Johns Grants and Confirmations more fully and at large then they are set forth in any Printed Book Let any man but read them seriously and with attention and he will wonder at the proceedings of later times What need I remember that same Law called Sententia lata super confirmatione Chartarum by Ed. 1. or thâ— 42. of Ed. 3. chap. 8. where it is declared that any Statute whatsoever made contrary to Magna Charta shall be void or the confirmation of all these in 1 6 7 8. of Rich. 2. and in 4. of Hen. 4. All which good Laws were intended surely to prevent Sacriledge and Tyranny in succeeding times and to secure both Church and people from the encroachments of injustice The King knew very well he had no Title to any of these things but by colour and concession of Parliament and how far a Parliament hath power to give away the Lands or Interests of a Third Person neither heard nor convicted orderly of any offence that should deserve such sentence is a thing to be considered Surely is it not Therefore to make his Title appear stronger in the eye of the World Anno 31. of his Reign he procureth an Act to be made in Parliament exprâ—ssing how that since the Act of Anno 27. the Religious Houses themselves had voluntarity and of their own good wills without constraint in due course of Law and by writings of Record under their Covent-Seals givâ—n and confirmed to the King their Lands Houses Rents Revenues and all Rights whatsoever yea to this Statute they are said to consent as to an Act of their own seeking and suit and you may see among the Records of the Augmentation Court a great Chest full of particular Surrenders made by the Abbots and Covents under their hands seals to this purpose But is it not a likely tale that out of their bounty and good will they would renounce their Livings and become beggars Indeed unto so gracious a Prince as he was become towards them at that time it was â—he less marvail I my self did once deliver my purse upon Salisbury-plains and though I could not commend the honesty of those that took it yet was I fain for a while to complement their humanity towards me that they used me no worse You will say how then came it to be done why would the Abbots and other Religious give away their Lands if they were not willing I answer because they could hold them no longer They saw themselves generally deserted and forsaken by the Commons and knew very well what the King was resolved to do by that which he had done already And therefore to make some petty accommodations for themselves perhaps by granting or renewing of Leases or otherwise wâ—â—ch the King for his own ends viz. 〈…〉 the work more plausible and 〈◊〉 was content to connive at and which we may be sure came not to much they thought best to give that which they were otherwise sure to lose And by doing so rather then by using any kinde of contestation they shewed the simplicity of their obedience to be such as became their Holy Profession and the King shewed how little he feared God or regarded his Honour in the censure of the World Whosoever therefore considers the business impartially shall finde this great conquest of Religious Persons to deserve little Triumph and that the augmentation of Revenue and Treasure by it being so palpably Sacrilegious and contrary to all acknowledged Law Divine and Humane proved to be Aurum Tholosanum a curse to him that took it and upon which the judgement of God hath visibly attended ever since Nor is it strange that it should for first what saith the Scripture Is it not a curse to him that devoureth sacred things Prov. 20.25 and after vows to make enquiry And what saith History and the experience of all Ages Did ever Sacrilege go unpunished Marcus Crassus robbed the Temple at Hierusalem but is not his sad and disastrous end noted by Josephus Lib. 18. C. 8. Herod likewise opened the Sepulcher of King David and took thence much spoil but into what great miseries and misfortunes he fell afterwards Lib. 16. C. 11. the same Josephus relateth Vrraca a Gothish King going to rob but one Chappel of St. Isidore in Spain and that in a case of necessity too as might be pretended viz. to defray the charge of war and to pay his Army yet his very guts burst out of his belly in the Church-porch Histor gen of Spain as the History saith Leo the Fourth Emperor taking a precious Gem out of the Coronet of St. Sophia at Constantinople which had
Wriothsley to the Tower deposed Bishop Tonstal both from the Counsel from his Bishoprick viz. of Durham as thinking it a seignory too Stately for a man of Religion And therefore he dissolved it and brought it within the Survey of the Exchequer that is into his own power but as it was observed he never prospered after However the Act it self was most inexcusably unjust and tyrannical being so directly contrary to Law as appeared beside what hath been alledged before by 1. Ed. 3. chap. 2. where the King dâ—clareth That the Lands of Bishops ought not to be seized into the Kings hands and that what had been done in that kinde in his Fathers days was by advise of evil Counsel and hereafter should not be so But his sins now grew towards ripeness Therfore having also deprived and committed Doctor Gardiner the Bishop of Winchester dissolved the Colledge of Stoke fleeced all the Cathedral Churches in England and added unto the guilt of Sacriledge many other outrages oppressions and crimes under the Nonage of a Pupil King without any check or opposition save onely in the business of the Earldom of Oxford which he was not able to devour as he desired at last in the midst of his carriere and after he had sentenced and put to death his own and onely Brother the Lord Admiral chiefly as 't is supposed upon the instigations of an ambitious or malicious Wife he was himself arraigned for High Treason and ill governing of the Realm as may be seen by the Articles of his Attainder in Stow and thereupon condemned and executed on the twenty second day of January in the year of our Lord 1552. When the Brothers were gone viz. the Protector and Admiral Dudley Duke of Northumberland comes upon the Stage a man whose ambition and policy though unperceived had ruined both of them but especially the Protector whose chief Adversary he was and the principal contriver of the Charge against him which in brief referred unto these Heads 1. That he had subverted all Laws 2. That he had broke the orders appointed by King Henry the Eighth for his Sons good 3. That he held a Cabinet-Councel and by it transacted the publike and chief Affairs of State without the advice of his Fellow-Counsellors 4. Lastly That he observed not the Conditions upon which he was made Protector which were to do nothing in the Kings Affairs without consent of the rest of the Executors Upon these Rocks the Protector perished not without the manifest judgement of God for much injustice which he had committed in the time of his Government especially in the business of Religion and of the Church and Northumberland for a while prevailed This man though he were all otherwise in his heart yet thought fitting to seem a little more precisely religious then the Protector intending thereby to assure himself of the affections of such people as were more Zealously affected to new Religion The Protector looking onely at present proffit caâ—â—d to humor them in that point no further â—â—en might serve his own turn But Northumberland had other designs in his head which were no less then to advance his own Family to the Crown and to ruin the right Heirs And therefore to ingratiate himself more with the Common people in the year 1552. he causeth the Liturgy or book of Common prayer to be the second time Reformed and Purged of certain ceremonies and orders offensive to that sort of people which he desired to please and so to be published This project stood him in much stead among others of the Nobility it gained him the Duke of Suffolk who from henceforward seemed wholly to be at Northumberlands Devotion and to steer his course after the others compass Being a Potent man and the greatest Precisian of those times unless perhaps they dissembled both of them upon the same account But because the Lord Treasurer Paulet Marquis of Winchester was more like to cross theâ—â—â—mply with them therefore it is resolved to remove him out of the way And to that end Northumberland observing that it was the Treasurers custom sitting at the Counsel Table if at any timâ— he were suddenly called up to the King to make such hast thâ—t he commonly left his Spectacles behindâ— him he procured them once to be so sweetly anointâ—d and perfumed before his return that at his next putting them on they cost him his Nose and scaped very narrowly with his Life which yet with much adoe was saved and the Treasurer lived to make the Duke his good friend some part of requital as the event shewed Not long after this King Edward falleth sick whereupon designes growing now to maturity the Duke procures his Son Guildford Dudly to be married to the Lady Jane Grey Daughter to the Dutchess of Suffolk one who had a remote title to the Crown But they meant to advance it by their power The Lady her self being also studiously affected to the Protestant Religion and for that respect they doubted not to finde favors and assistants enough But therein their count failed them At the same time thâ— Earl of Pembrokes Son was married to the Lady Katharine another Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk And the Earl of Huntingdons Son to one of Northumberlands own Daughters All which marriages were solemnized upon one day at Durham House in the Strand And after them King Edward lived not long It is said that the Apothecary who poisoned him for the horror of the offence and disquietness of his Conscience drowned himself and that he Laundress which washed his Shirt lost the Skin of her Fingers But this is certain thâ—re are some yet living in Court who can tell how many weeping Eyes they have seen for the untimely and Treacherous loss of such a Prince See Heyward Hist Edw. 6. But the pretence and zeale of Religion which these men shewed did so overshadow all things for a time that not many could discern their impiety The Oration which Nortâ—umberland made to the Lords in the Tower when he was upon his departure for Cambridge to proclaim his Daughter in Law Lady Jane Queen doth shew what a Fox he was and how far he could both descend and dissemble to compass his ends Goodw. Annals Howbeit in his way the Justice of God met him For the people the Suffolk men especially sticking faithfully to the right Heir and their lawful Sovereign Queen Mary he was quickly deserted by all men apprehended and received at Tower-hil the due reward of his Treason and other sins with the loss of his head And so we see those two Lords of Misrule or Reformation if it must be called so that is to say the Protector Duke of Sommerset and this man Duke of Northumberland Born both of them for the Scourge and ruin of the Catholike Church in England by a just vengance of Heaven proved at last as it were Butchers and Executioners of one another undid their several Families and endangered the whole Realm
more honorable with them and more becomming good Christians then the Sword and Fortune of a Conqueror in comanding In which most Christian posture I leave them to proceed Titulus Tertius THe last and greatest tempest against poor English Catholikes was raised by Queen Elizabeth This not onely shook the foundations of the Church which had been so lately repaired by the most Catholike Princess Queen Mary but proceeded so far as humane policy and power could to extirpate the very name and memory of Catholike Religion in England Camd. in Elizab. And this as it were in an instant and without noise For as her own Historian Camdeu reporteth it was done Sine sanguine sudore No man unless perhaps it were Master Secretary Cecil did so much as sweat in the bringing in of New Religion nor was any mans blood I mean at the first beginning drawn about it The Christian world stood amazed at the first news of such a sudden alteration Both because Religion had been so lately and so solemnly restored by Parliament as also because the Queen her self that now was always professed her self so much Catholike during the Reign of her Sister She constantly every day heared Mass saith the same Camden and beside that ad Romanae Religionis normam soepius confiteretur went often to Confession as other Roman Catholikes did Yea saith Sir Francis Ingleseild when she was upon other matters sometimes examined by Commissioners from the Queen she would her self take occasion to complain that the Queen her Sister should see me to have any doubt of her Religion and would thereupon make Protestation and Swear that she was a Catholike The Duke of Feria's Letter to King Philip is yet extant to be seen wherein is certified that the Queen had given him such assurance of her beleefe and in particular concerning the point of Real Presence that for his part he could not beleeve she intended any great Alteration in Religion The same profession also she made to Monsieur Lansack as many Honorable Persons have testified and at her Coronation she was Consecrated in all points according to the Catholike maner and anointed at Mass by the Bishop of Carlile taking the same Oath to maintain Catholike Religion the Church and Liberties thereof as all other her Catholike Predecessors Kings and Queens of England had ever done Concerning the grounds which moved her to make this Alteration so much contrary to the expectation and judgement of Christendom we shall speak in due place This was manifest that the long sickness of Queen Mary gave her great advantage time both to deliberate and draw all platforms into debate to prepare instruments in readiness for all designs and to make choise of the fittest and surest Counsellors such as were most likely to advance her ends Neither did she seem to value her Honor overmuch in order to the bringing about of her chief design For in open Parliament after her intentions for a change began to be discovered she protested that no trouble should arise to the Roman Catholikes Horas Preface of Queen Elizab. for any difference in Religion Which did much abate the opposition which otherwise might probably have been made by the Catholike party and put the Clergy themselves in some hopes of Fair quarter under her Government She knew full well that a Prince alone how Sovereign soever could not establish a new Religions in his Kingdom but that it must be the work of a Parliament to give Authority and Countenance to a business of that nature Therefore to win the Bishops and the rest of the Catholikes in Parliament to silence at least she was content to use policy with them and promise them fair as Monsieur Mauvissieir hath well observed Les memoir de Mons. Mich. Castelnau who was a long time Embassador heer from the French King and curiously noted the passages of those times Add hereunto That when the Act for Supremacy was revived which was always the great Wheel of these Motions whereas by King Henry's Law both Bishops and Barons stood in danger thereof as the examples of Sir Thomas Moor Lord Chancellor of England and Doctor Fisher Bishop of Rochester had shewen in this Parliament the Queen was content to exempt the Lords and Barons absolutely from the Oath as they in King Edward the Sixths time had exempted themselves and to leave the Rigor of it onely upon the Clergy and Commons She also thought good to qualifie the Stile somewhat viz. from Supream Head changing it into Supream Governor which though it altered not the sence yet it abused some into a beleef that the Queen pretended not unto so much in matters Ecclesiastical as the King her Father had done Beside we are to remember that King Henry by pulling he Abbyes had much weakned the power of the Clergy in Parliament having deprived them of the Votes of no less then Five and twenty Abbots who constantly sat in Parliament in the quality of Barons And lastly it is well known The Lower House of Parliament it self as they call it was so calmly spirited in those times that they used not much to oppose what their good Lords of the upper House liked All which things considered and that too many of the Catholikes both Lords and others thinking it better wisdom to purchase their future security by present silence then to expose themselves to trouble and vexation afterward by opposing that which they feared they should not be able to hinder therefore either but faintly resist or quietly absent themselves who can wonder if the whole business were carried with ease upon such promises of the Queen and by the industry and craft of Sinon alias Secretary Cecil who had the chief Management of it in his hands By his advise it was thought fitting that the Noble Earl of Arundel should for a time be abused with some hopes of marrying the Queen who thereupon by the interest which he had in the house of Peers ingrosed into his own hands the Proxies or voices of so many of them who thought good to be absent as when time came served the Queens turn exceedingly well The duke of Norfolk Son in law to Arundel but now a Widower was already exasperated against the Pope because he might not have dispensation to marry his Kins-woman and therefore it was no hard matter to joyn him with Arundel The Queen had also against this time either made or advanced in dignity and consequently in interest certain new Lords whom she knew to be favorers of her design viz. William Lord Parr was made Marquis of Northampton a good Speaker and a Politick man Edward Seymour Son to the late Duke of Sommerset was made Viscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hartford Sir Thomas Howard was made Viscount Bindon Sir Oliver Saint John Lord St. John of Bletso Sir Henry Cary Lord Hunsdon She had also as much weakened the Catholikes party by discharging from the Counsel-Table many of the old Counsellors
secular Priests attainted or convinced of Actual Treason against her Majestie viz. Ballard for knowing and yet concealing the attempts of Babington in the business of the Queen of Scots and old Parson Plomtree of the North who said Mass once at a rising in those parts And yet how greevously are they charged with such crimes all along the Queens Reign And how much was the people incensed against them upon that perswasion What Sermons Proclamations Lawes were made in Thunder and Lightening and Blood against these poor men Souldiers of our Saviour Christ and fighting onely with Spiritual Arms under his Banner The Cross in that part of the Catholike Church which is Militant in England What calamities afflictions miseries have they not endured by persecution hereupon The onely Colledges of Rhemes and Doway beside other Religious Orders from other places have sent out into our Lords Harvest no less then One hundred persons who have all suffered for Things purely Spiritual that is either for being Priests or for doing the Office of Priesthood viz. Saying Mass Reconciling of Sinners unto God c. In the year 25. of Queen Elizabeth it was made Felony to harbor a Priest and to be a Priest Treason And the Act looked so cruelly back to primo Elizab. that whosoever was made Priest since that time might very easily be drawn within compass of the charge The Law was made upon occasion of those Treasons of Parry Francis Throgmorton Anthony Babington and his complices as also upon occasion of F. Campian and those Priests arraigned with him For a general apprehension was taken that these had combined with some forreign Princes and other persons of power within England to restore Religion and deliver the Queen of Scots out of prison which was a business then fresh in memory Hereupon the Priests in England frame a supplication by common consent and finde means to present the same to the Queen at Greenwich by the hands of Master Shelley Wherein after they have first condemned and renounced the practises of Parry c. They profess and declare their own judgement in these words First we utterly deny that the Pope hath power to command or give License to any man to consent unto Mortal sin or to commit or intend to commit any thing contrary to the Law of God Secondly whatsoever person he be that maintaineth such opinion we renounce him and his opinion as devilish and abominable Thirdly we protest before God That all Priests who ever conversed with us have acknowledged your Majestie their lawful Queen tam de jure quam de facto as well of right as for your actual possession of the Crown that they pray for you and exhort your Subjects to obey you Fourthly and lastly they profess that it is heresie and contrary to Cotholike faith to think that any man may lift up his hand against Gods Anointed T is true the Petition had no other success with her Majestie then this viz. that Master Shelley who presumed to commit such a Treason as to present it was suffered to be sent to the Marshalsea by order of Secretary Walsingham and there to be kept prisoner to his dying day onely upon this pretence Scilicet because the Councel had not been first acquainted with the business Howbeit by this supplication the world may cleerly see They answer the Six Articles which in those times used to be so commonly and captiously propounded to such men framed by Doctor Hammon viz. Whither the Queen were lawful Queen notwithstanding the sentence Decleratory of Pope Pius Quintus against her whither that sentence were to be obeyed in althings Whither the Pope by such sentence could give her Subjects any lawful Authority to rebel or depose her c. For if she be their lawful Sovereign notwithstanding that sentence and that obedience and loyalty be due unto all lawful Princes by the Law of God and of nature it is easie to see what must be said to such questions According also as Bishop Watson Abbot Fecknam Doctor John Harpsfeild Doctor Nicholas Harpsfeild with others who were very often and rigidly examined upon them yet professed perpetually obedience to her Majestie tanquam verae Reginae as unto their true and lawful Sovereign Yea saith Doctor Nicholas Harpsfeild reported by Goldastus a Protestant Ego regalem ejus Authoritatem Goldast de Monar Sac. Imp. Rom. c. I do acknowledge saith he her Royal Authority in all Temporal and Civil affair without exception They presented the like humble supplication to his Majestie that now reigneth some while after the discovery of that wicked and desperate Plot of the Gun-powder-treason another to the Parliament then sitting and another to the Earl of Salisbury in all of them professing the same things And though it hindred not the passing of some severe Acts against Catholikes in that Parliament occasioned as I suppose by that foul and horrid attempt yet the King himself in his Proclamation published upon that subject gratiously professeth his opinion of the generality of his Catholike Subjects viz. That they did abhor such a detestable Conspiracy no less then himself True it is F. Garnet suffered for concealing that Treason and Sir Everard Digby for contributing in some sort to the security or rather flight of some of the Conspirators But as the one viz. Sir Everard Digby much lamented his ill fortune that he should leave behinde him the memory of so great a stain protesting always that he was never made privy to their design and drift So the other viz. F. Garnet knowing it onely as he did in the way of confession and the Seal of that Sacrament which is Secrecy being by the Doctrine of Catholike Religion and that not without most just and necessary cause esteemed so inviolable it may abate something even in the judgement of man of that Heynousness of guilt and blame whereof all good Christians otherwise must necessarily condemn him In a word how much Catholikes in general and especially Priests do detest rebellion and Treason even in times of greatest affliction and pressure and what Religious observers they are of all just loyalty and obedience to their lawful Princes appears cleerly not onely by a book written in those times by the learned Bishop of Chichester Doctor Christopherson against rebellion but also by the Annotations of the Divines at Rhemes upon the New Testament where Pag. 301. we read thus Subjects saie they are bound in Temporal things to obey even the Heathen being their lawful Kings and to be subject to them for Conscience to observe their Temporal Laws to pay them Tribute to pray for them and to perform all other duties of Natural Allegiance Doctor Kellison in his Survey goeth further giving the reason of this Because saith he Faith is not necessarily required to jurisdiction neither is any Authority lost by the loss of Faith Which is also the Doctrine of Saint Thomas who in his Book Cap. 6. de Regim Princip denieth utterly
upon the Rack no less then five times the torture made him at last to speak something against himself yet he afterwards constantly denied it even to his death And all men know an argument from the Rack especially when 't is afterwards disavowed is reckoned elsewhere but a mean evidence or proof Fourthly he was a man that had a Wife and Children in England and therefore not likely to be drawn into such a plot but upon some great and present temptation which how unable a man Father Walpoole was to undertake the world knows being only a Priest of the Society a poor Religious man and under superiors Fifthly Rolls his companion whâ— came along with him never heard of any such thing nor was ever questioned about it Lastly the device it self was as ridiculous and improbable as any thing could be It was to be done Scilicet this Treason by poysoning the Queens Saddle But how is it possible to imagine such a thing should be done by a stranger and neither the Groomes of the Stable nor the Querries which are continually attending upon the Queens Horse discover the business none of which were ever questioned about it Mariana's Problematicall opinion is a Fifth objection as it happens But I shall not stand long about it First because it was but a private opinion not any general Doctrine of Catholikes Secondly because it was onely propounded by him problematically viz. in way of disputation not positively taught as his own words shew Thirdly because his whole Order disavowed it viz. in a Congregation held at Pariâ— Anno 1606. confirmed by their General Claudius Aquaviva Cardinal Tolet Categorically determineth the contrary Summa Lib. 5. Cap. 6. as likewise doth Gregor Valent. Part. 2. Q. 64. Card. Bellarm. Apolog. Cap. 13. Salmeron in Cap. 13. ad Rom. Less de Justit Juâ—e Lib. 2. Cap. 9. Dub. 4. Serrar in Cap. 13. Judic Azorius Institut Moral Becanus ad Aphorism 9. Gretser in his Vespertilio or Heretico-Politicus Richeome in his Apology Lastly the Doctors of the Sorbor as they had done formerly viz. Anno 1413. so now again Anno 1606 they declare it to be an unlawful and wicked P sition As for Simanch he may seem rather a Lawyer then a Divine and must be understood to speak according to particular Laws or Constitutions of some Nations and Kingdoms and whosoever will but read Heisius his Respons ad Aphorismos especially Pag. 85. 91. shall easily perceive that neither Simancha nor Becanus were guilty of that error Master Cuthbert Mayn's bringing of a Bull or Breve of the Pope into England is a Sixth And for such a pretended Treason he was executed at Launston upon Saint Andrews day 1577. as Stow saith in his Chronicles for preferring of Roman power His Indictment was for bringing in the said Bull and for reconciling of Master Tregion But as for Master Tregion it is answered already That he was reconciled unto God and to the Communion of his Church and not obliged to any particular service in behalf of the Pope in one kinde or other And concerning the Bull whereas the Law intends it in cleer words that the party accused should procure it immediately from Rome it was answered in behalf of Master Mayne that he never sought nor procured any Bull from Rome That which he had was onely the Copy of a Bull printed which he bought at Doway onely to peruse and see the manner of it neither was it a Bull for reconciling any man or for doing any thing prejudicial to the Queen or State but onely a Bull of the Jubily that was passed Which as it is a thing granted of course by the Pope every Five and twenty years and not at the Suit or instance of any particular person so was it also out of date and force when he bought it being expired with the year 1575. and so upon the matter was no more then a Scroll or an Almanack of the last year And yet notwithstanding because such a Paper as this was found about him and that he refused to come to Church Judge Manwood told the Jury That where manifest proofs could not be had presumptions must be allowed So the Jury quickly found him guilty upon such direction and he suffered Master Tregion lay a long time in prison among Felons and in a Dungeon most noysome fed with bread and water although he were a Gentleman of One thousand pound per annum of old Rent But being condemned in a Premunire for harbouring a Priest his Lands were seized by Writ into the Exchequer and though they were Entailed yet could the Knight Marshal finde means to avoid that and so begd them of the Queen Lastly the whole business rested upon the accusation of one Twiggs a Parish Clerk which was also false for he deposed against Master Mayne for Christmass 1575. when it was certainly known that he was at that time at Doway The Rising in the North and the Attempts of Babington in the business of the Queen of Scots were mixt Actions not for Religion onely nor State onely but for both Nor were they procured by the suit or sollicitation of Priests or Religious men but out of their own zeal who were engaged in those Attempts And. Philop The first as some have said was but the effect of a resolution which many of the Lords of the Councel had taken to pull down Cecil who being but Secretary and a very new man at Court over-acted his part and had given no small matter of offence to some of the greatest Lords but by a timely submission he made means to qualifie them and so the business was not owned so far as otherwise it might have been The other viz. of Babington and his Associates was onely to deliver out of an unjust prison the person of an absolute Princess and one who was no way a subject of England further say they then she was by fraud procured so to be nor an enemy further then she was forced by injuries and a desire to see her self at liberty Howbeit for this rsspect they are not within compass of my undertaking Nor am I to say any more concerning the Sentence Declaratory of Pius Quintus against the Queen The grounds and reasons thereof are alledged in the Bull it self to which may be added many unseemly and scandalous provocations dayly given by the New Ministers out of the Pulpits calling him Antichrist the Man of Sin the Son of Perdition and what not which the Queen and State were content publikely to connive at and countenance Others attribute it to mis-information and that his Holiness was not made rightly to understand the Queenes case and of the Catholikes of England And this is certain that many godly wise and judicious Catholikes both of the Clergy and others were not a little grieved at the manner of proceeding and wish'd rather Cardinal Allen himsâ—lf Bishop Watson and others that it had been wholly left to the judgement of God As
we see well enough it had been in other cases of this Nature Neither in King Edward the Sixths time nor against the Kings of Scotland Denmark Sweden Duke of Saxony Marquis of Brandenburgh or any other Protestant Prince was there ever any such sentence issued to this day Whereupon Father Pâ—rsons and Father Campian procured some kinde of mitigation concerning it presently after the publishing and Pope Gregory following declared That the Subjects of England ought to perform all duties to Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding the censures So little reason is there in truth that Protestants should clamour so loud as they do and cry out nothing but Treason Treason against religious and good men who as they have no other business so come they hither for no other end but to do them good and so far as lieth in their power and office to save their souls They tell the world that no less then two hundred Priests have been executed in England for Treason since the times of Reformation which is certainly a very heavy report and sufficient to make them odious to all the world if it were true or that there were any thing in it but fallacie and aequivocation of words whiles they call that Treason in England which in all parts of Christendome besides is both called and counted Religion and the highest Vertue For we beseech them to tell us of what Treason do they convict us at any time but the Treason of being a Priest the Treason to say Mass the Treason to refuse the Oath the Treason to absolve Penitents confessing their sins the Treason to restore men to the Communion of the Church the Treason to Preach and Administer Christs Sacraments the Treason to be bred up in the Seminaries that is in such places where onely as things now stand in England thâ—y can be Catholikely bred and fitted for such Christian imployment What actual and real Treason is in England according to the true sâ—nse and notion of that crime â—dious both to God and man the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. will inform us better then any other being enacted when the whole Kingdom was of one mind and of one judgement as all Christian Kingdoms and Societies ought to be not rent nor overborn by factions and parties undermining and supplanting one another by indirect and undue meanes as it was when these new Statutes of Treason were made By that Statute and by the opinions of the most learned Judges in England Ploydon Stamford c. Treason must alwayes be some Action or Intention actually discovered not an opinion onely or a profession of Religion And this is the reason why Sir John Oldcastle Stow. one of Mr. Fox his Martyrs in the Reign of Henry the Fifth mentioned before though he were both Traytor and Heretike yet for his Treason he was condemned in one Court and for his Heresie in another as also were Cranmer and Ridley in Queen Maries time Secondly it must be some Act or Intention discovered of a subject prejudicial to his Sovereign or to the State where he lives But what hurt had ever I say not Queen Mary Henry the Eighth while he stood right Henry the Seventh or any other Catholike Prince but even Queen Elizabeth her self King James or any other Protestant Prince by a Priests saying Mass absolving of Penitents preaching of sound Doctrine to them and particularly of all due and just obedience to Civil Magistrates as they have ever constantly done Therefore by the common Laws of England and in it self it is not it cannot be Treason or criminous to be a Priest to say Mass Absolve c. But onely by Statute Laws it is made so upon temporary and present occasions and for certain politick ends which men have projected of themselves and which they are resolved to follow And therefore also it is by the very Statutes themselves provided 22. and 27. Elizab. That if a Priest conforms be content to go to Church to renounce the Pope or his Orders c. he becomes ipso facto without more ado Rectus in Curia and is actually discharged of all imputation of Treason no further proceedings lie against him Yea even at the very place of Execution and when the instruments of death are upon him yet still 't is in his own power if he please in three words to pardon himself and frustrate the expectation of so many eyes as are commonly waiting to see his last Exit Let him but say I will conform or I will swear c. Ther 's no man living dares meddle with him further Which is far otherwise where the offence is judged to be Treâ—son indeed and really prejudicial to the Prince or State But the fatal resolution being taken to change Religâ—on upon a principle or pretended reason of State as false as the Counsel it self was evil viâ— That otherwise the Queen could not be secure either of her Kingdom or Life it was necessary to take a severe course with those men whose Function obliged them to maintain True Religion and to endeavour to reduce things again into the old State From this root also sprang their extream jealousie and hatred of the Queen of Scots For she being Heir Apparent to the Crown after Queen Elizabeth and a Princess zealously affected unto Catholike Religion and so strongly Allied in France Those Statesmen who had contrived and wrought all the alterations here could never think themselves secure so long as her head stood upon her shoulders Therefore was she first invited into England upon pretence of Friendship and for Safety But when she was here used with so much unkindness and kept under restraint for little less then twenty years together that at last in order to procure her Liberty she was indeed provoked to doe something which it was easie for them who loved her not to interpret to be Treason and so they cut off her head From hence also sprung those continual injuries and practises of much ingratitude against the King of Spain The intercepting of his Treasure The holding of his Towns The ayding of Orange and the States as hath been said Lastly from this onely Source and Fountain of unjust Policie sprung all those laws of severity and bloud against Recusants as we are commonly called viz. of Twenty pound a moneth of Two third parts of Estate against Hearing Mass against Harbouring a Priest against Being reconciled c. It is well known the Recusants of England against whom those Laws were made were generally persons in all degrees of the Noblest quality in this Nation Vertuous Grave Wise Charitable Just and Good men of fair and friendly Conversation towards all I shall not say Loyal to their Prince because the contrary is so commonly beleeved Stow. yet our own Chronicles will not altogether deny them right in that regard while they testifiâ— how diligent and forward they were to offer their service to the Queen and State even in that great Action of Eighty eight Neither were