Sir James Ware hath of an Irish King long before the English conquest whether the story be true or false to have gone to Rome out of devotion and layd down or offered up his Crown at St. Peters shrine Which if it had given a real title to the Pope or that See it must follow that the Bishop and See of Winchester hath as much great just certain and lawful to the Kingdoms of England Denmarke and all those others by inheritance or conquest belonging sometimes to Canutus For this devout King did no less there after he had checked the vain flattery of his Courtiers when upon a day sitting on the shore and the tyde coming in and they calling him Lord of Lands and Seas he commanding the floud not to advance and being not obeyed by the Waves but wett to some purpose presently and directly went to the Cathedral of Winchester and there offered up to God his Crown laying it on the high altar with resolution never more to put it on his head but acknowledg him the only Soveraign King of Sea and Land who commanded that little Wave to wet him And the only Original pretence of the Popes or See Apostolique's human right to England was the donation or submission of King Iohn to Innocent the thirds Legat at Dover Cardinal Pandulphus But who is so ignorant in Divinity as to pretend a right acquired by such a donation or submission were it absolutely certain as yet even Polidore Virgil himself seems to think it not to be forasmuch as he writes of it upon report onely Both law and reason tell us that a King cannot without consent of His Kingdom alien at the title thereof And Histories tell us that King Iohn who was an Usurper too for a long time at least made that donation or submission or whatever you call it directly against the Kingdom so farre he was from having the consent of his Peers people or Parliament That Henry the 3d. the Kingdom of England soon after the troubles were appeased expresly protested against it protested so even by their express Embassadour to that purpose the Archbishop of Canterbury even before in the presence of the General Councel of Lyons See Walsingame ad an 1245. and Harpsfield ad Sec. 14. c. 5. That so many laws made by all the three estates in Parliament under Edward the third and Richard the second which declare England to be an Empire and the King thereof to acknowledg no other on Earth above him but God alone did protest against it And the prescriptions of five entire ages confirm without all controule these protestations So that the Lovain Divines could not on coole and sober reflection but Judge this first ground either as to the first Original or continuance of it to be all composed of sand either as to England or Ireland or both For the same arguments are equally of force against that pretended gift of the Irish Monarch being that if we declined the likeness of it in all points or as to his intention of a reverential true acknowledgment of Gods power only or of a tye of himself and his Crown to be alwayes militant for the faith and confession of St. Peter or of a donary only of his bare Crown as to the materials of it not of the politick rights and power signified thereby to the Church of that holy Apostle or if we granted as we do not by any means That this Irish Monarch intended absolutely as much as in him to give up all the temporal Soveraignty of Ireland to that holy See yet whereas it appears not by any kind of Allegation History or Scroll that he was commission'd by the Provincial Kings or by the States of the Kingdom to do so such intention of his or such oblation donation or subjection as proceeding thence or made by him amounts to a meer nothing For no man gives that so as thereby to transferre a right which he is not empower'd by the laws to give As for the Bull or Bulls granted by Adrian the IV. to Henry the second for either the Lordship or Kingship for both were granted or at least are pretended to have been granted as may be seen in those copies extant in Baronius they are to no purpose at all in this matter Because if those we read in that great Annalist be true and not subreptitious or counter fit it is manifest out of the very tenour of them they are wholly grounded upon errour because the only ground alleadg'd in them for the Popes right to dispose of Ireland is That al Ilands on which the Sun of Justice that is Christian Religion did shine belonged to the See of Peter But whence this title came to the Ilands a lone more then to the continent nothing at all is pretended in those Bulls nor by any for them other then a meer forged imposture of donation by Constantine the great who yet is known to have never had the least footing in Ireland * As it is known that c. Constantinus d. 96. in Gratian. is not onely a meer Palea but speaks as well of the whole continent of Europe as of the Ilands For to pretend as a ground of them or of such donation or the right to make it Bellarmines indirect power in the Pope over the temporals of all Kings in ordine ad spiritualia besides that the restriction in the said Bulls to the Ilands alone and no extension to the Continent ruines this pretence or allegation it cannot be made use of by the Lovain Divines to justifie this first ground of their censure which is only meer humane right and that of Bellarmine is Divine as derived or pretended to be derived from Christ himself immediately But I confess the Lovain Divines were wary enough to decline this least they should bring on themselves a more dangerous censure from their own King and raise the power and just indignation of all Kings States and people even of their own communion to punish their temerity LIV. Nor can their next ground any whit more justifie their Censure The power of binding and loosing which the Catholick Churches of the Roman communion throughout the world acknowledge in the Pope or Church is that only which binds sinners in their sins or in just Ecclesiastical and meerly spiritual censures by denying them absolution from either clave non errante and that besides which enables them to lay binding commands or make binding laws Ecclesiastical and purely spiritual not against the laws of God and Canons of the Vniversal Church but conformable to both for the suppression of vice and furtherance of virtue And is that only which looseth sinners by absolving them in due circumstances from both sins and censures and further by dispensing with them sine prejudicio tertii in vowes or Oathes made to God alone or in other Obligations arising from the Canons of the Church only where a third person is not concern'd in point of
an ordinance in such general or rather indefinit terms for the exemption of Clerks in a criminal question from the civil-Judicatory or being it is but a command or law That none should presume to call or draw an Ecclesiastical person in a criminal question or even civil to a secular judgment against the Imperial Constitutions and Canonical Functions and whereas there was never yet any Imperial Constitution or Canonical Sanction either made before his time or in his time or after his time that exempted Clergymen in either of both sorts of questions civil or criminal from the supream civil and absolute power of the Emperour themselves or of other Kings that acknowledge neither Emperour nor Pope nor any other above themselves in their temporal government who sees not that out of this Constitution of Frederick nothing can be concluded for such exemption of Clerks in criminal causes from the supream civil power but only from that of subordinat inferiour and ordinary civil or secular Judicatories Besides we know Fredericks laws were only for those few Cities or Provinces that remain'd in his time which was about the year of Christ one thousand two hundred and twenty and therefore could not pretend nor did pretend to prescribe laws to other Kingdoms or Kings for the exemption of Clerks either in civil or criminal causes or even to the inferiour Iudicatories of other Kings And that we know also that that law of Frederick was not imitated by the like in other Principalities not subject to him not imitated I say generally as to the exemption of Clerks in all either civil or criminal causes whatsoever from the very subordinat inferiour civil Iudicatories nor even in prima instantia So that I must conclude that Bellarmine was put to a very narrow strait for an imperial or civil law wh◠〈◊〉 pitch't on this of Frederick which was not known nor as much as 〈◊〉 of in other parts of even Europe it self as owning no subjection to Frederick And yet a law not to the purpose were it of the same authority those Imperial Constitutions were when the Orient and the Occident South and North as far as the Roman Empire was ever spread at any time or even in great Constantins days were under one Lord. An imperial or civil law in those days or of such others for some ages after which wâ—e received in the wide christian world consequently generally retained might have been to purpose if it had clearly expresly on particularly enacted any thing to our present purpose But conceived in such terms as this of Frederick coâ—lâ— not be to such purpose For it is one thing to be exempted from the subjection due to Emperours or Kings and another to be exempted a forâ— secuilâ—i from a secâ—â—â—â— Iudicatory The Emperours had under themselves and established by themselves and by their own civil laws two sorts of Iudicatories The one termâ—â—â—g meer civil or meer secular Iudicatory where peculars onely or meer â—ay men were Judges And the other termed 〈◊〉 Ecclesiastical Iudicatory where Ecclesiastical Persons only or persons depâ—â—â—â— by them were Iudgeâ— whatever the cause or question was civil or criâ—â—nal temporal or spiritual or mixt of both And both had their power which as coercive or a 〈…〉 with any coerciâ—â—â— from the Emperours and from their civil law 〈◊〉 So that the Emperours exempting any from the secular Iudicatory 〈…〉 leave or put such under the subordinat pâ—â—er of the Ecclesiastical Judges deputed by the same Emperours or by their laws Which they might have done in favour of meer lay men 〈◊〉 some lay-men and in some or many or all case whatsoever made had it been their Imperial pleasure as often they did by instances grant Epise 〈◊〉 And entiam to meer lay men and in meer lay crimes or lay causes 〈◊〉 civil and criminal at leaâ— in civil Would Bellarmine conclude therefore that those were exempted or should be in such a case and by the Emperours themselves or their laws exempted from their own supream civil coercive power in criminal causes or indeed in any whatsoever Or must it follow that because by the law of England a Lord for example 〈◊〉 be condemned or tryed in a criminal cause but by his Peers that therefore in England a Lord is exempt from the supream civil coercive power of the King himself Or that it is not by a power derived from the King thâ—â— Peer 〈…〉 condemn or free another Peer Or even that by the supream power of the King which formerly established such a law of priviledge for Peers the same law may not be justly again or upon just grounds repealed and a contrary law made in Parliament if at any time it were found by manifest experience that the Peers did manifestly and manifoldly and even to the ruine of the King and Kingdom and against the very primary intention of all priviledges and laws make use of or rather abuse such a former law or former priviledge Or finally and consequently that whatever priviledge of exemption though only from Inferiour lay Judges was so granted as before to Clerks by the supream civil power of Emperours Kings and other States was such that in case of manifest and manifold abuse even to the ruine of the publick and without any hope of amendment it could not be revoked again or moderated by another law and equal power to that which gave it before Therefore from first to last I think it is now clear enough that by the civil law no Clerks are exempt in criminal causes from the supream coercive power of such temporal Princes or States under whom they live LXIX That neither by the Canons of the Church I am now to prove Wherein I find so little difficulty that notwithstanding the general errour so wide spread or supposed amongst as well Divines as Canonists to the contrary but introduced at first and continued after out of some passages of Councils very ill understood considered or examined I dare say boldly that not onely none of all those Councils or Canons of Councils alledged for such exemption of Clerks from the supream civil power but not even any of them alledged for their exemption from as much as the subordinat civil power of inferiour Judicatories hath any such matter at all Though my purpose here be not other then to prove this truth for what concerns the supream power only To which purpose I affirm that no where in any Council is it found that the Fathers attributed such authority to themselves as by their own sole power to exempt Clerks from lay Tribunals â— or which is the same thing to deprive secular Judges or Magistrates of power empire command judgment coercion or Iurisdiction over Clerks or which also imports the very same to prohibit the secular Judges not to take cognizance of or give sentence in the causes either civil or criminal of Clerks brought unto their tribunals or finally and it is still in effect the same
the Tridentine Fathers but also quite contrary to those Doctrines and Practises which are manifestly recommended in the letter sense and whole design of the Gospel of Christ in the writings of his blessed Apostles in the Commentaries of their holy Successors in the belief and life of the Christian Church universally for the first Ten Ages thereof and moreover in the very clearest dictates of Nature it self whether Christianity be supposed or not IV. That of those quite other and quite contrary Doctrines in the most general terms without descending to particular applications of them to any one Kingdom or People c the grand Positions are as followeth viz. That by divine right and immediate institution of Christ the Bishop of Rome is Vniversal Monarch and Governour of the World even with sovereign independent both spiritual and temporal authority over all Churches Nations Empires Kingdoms States Principalities and over all persons Emperours Kings Princes Prelates Governours Priests and People both Orthodox and Heterodox Christian and Infidel and in all things and causes whatsoever as well Temporal and Civil as Ecclesiastical or Spiritual That He hath the absolute power of both Swords given Him That He is the Fountain of all Jurisdiction of either kind on Earth and that whoever derives not from Him hath none at all not even any the least Civil or Temporal Jurisdiction That He is the onely Supreme Judge of all Persons and Powers even collectively taken and in all manner of things divine and humane That all humane Creatures are bound under forfeiture of Eternal Salvation to be subject to Him i. e. to both His Swords That He is empowred with lawful Authority not only to Excommunicate but to deprive depose and dethrone both sententially and effectually all Princes Kings and Emperours to translate their Royal Rights and dispose of their Kingdoms to others when and how He shall think fit especially in case either of Apostasie or Heresie or Schism or breach of Ecclesiastical Immunity or any publick oppression of the Church or People in their respective civil or religious Rights or even in case of any other enormous publick Sins nay in case of only unfitness to govern That to this purpose He hath full Authority and Plenitude of Apostolical Power to dispense with Subjects in and absolve them from all Oaths of Allegiance and from the antecedent tyes also of the Laws of God or man and to set them at full liberty nay to command them under Excommunication and what other Penalties He please to raise Arms against their so deposed or so excommunicated or otherwise ill-meriting Princes and to pursue them with Fire and Sword to death if they resist or continue their administration or their claim thereunto against His will That He hath likewise power to dispense not only in all Vows whatsoever made either immediately or mediately to God himself nor only as hath been now said in the Oath of Allegiance sworn to the King but in all other Oaths or Promises under Oath made even to any other man whatsoever the subject or thing sworn be That besides Oaths and Vows He can dispense in other matters also even against the Apostles against the Old Testament against the Four Evangelists and consequently against the Law of God That whoever kills any Prince deposed or excommunicated by Him or by others deriving power from Him kills not a lawful Prince but an usurping Tyrant a Tyrant at least by Title if not by Administration too and therefore cannot be said to murther the Anointed of God or even to kill his own Prince That whosoever out of pure zeal to the Roman-Church ventures himself and dyes in a War against such a Tyrant i.e. against such a deposed or excommunicated Prince dyes a true Martyr of Christ and his Soul flies to Heaven immediately That His Holiness may give and doth well to give plenary Indulgence of all their sins a culpa poena to all Subjects rebelling and fighting against their Princes when He approves of the War That antecedently to any special Judgment Declaration or declaratory Sentence pronounced by the Pope or any other subordinate Judge against any particular person Heresie does ipso jure both incapacitate to and deprive of the Crown and all other not only royal but real and personal Rights whatsoever That an Heretick possessor is a manifest Vsurper and a Tyrant also if the possession be a Kingdom State or Principality and therefore is ipso jure out-law'd and that all his People i. e. all his otherwise reputed Vassals Tenants or Subjects are likewise ipso jure absolved from all Oaths and all other tyes whatsoever of fidelity or obedience to him That he is truly and certainly and properly an Heretick who misbelieves calls in question or even doubts of any one definition of the Tridentine Council or of any one that is of meer Papal Constitution or of any one of those Articles profess'd in Pius Quartus 's Creed That not only the Pope but any Patriarch nay any inferiour Bishop acknowledging His Holiness may if need be both excommunicate and depose their own respective Princes Kings or Emperours and may also without their leave or knowledge reverse the Decrees of their Vice-Roys or Lieutenants and even censure depose from and restore again such Lieutenants to their former dignity and charge That all Ecclesiasticks whatsoever both Men and Women Secular and Regular Patriarchs Primaâ—s Archbishops Bishops Abbots Abbesses Priests Fryars Monks Nuâ—s to the very Porter or Portress of a Cloyster inclusively nay to the very Scullion of the Kitchin and all their Churches Houses Lands Revenues Goods and much more all their persons are exempt by the Law of Nature and Laws of Nations and those of God in Holy Scripture both Old and New Testament and those of men i. e. of Christian Emperours Councils and Popes in their respective Institutions and Canons and are indeed universally perpetually and irrevocably so exempt from all secular civil and temporal Authority on Earth whether of States or of Princes of Kings or of Emperours and from all their Laws and all their Commands that is from both the directive and coercive virtue of either or which is the same thing in effect from sin against God and from punishment by God or man for only transgressing them That consequently if any Church-man should murder his lawful and rightful King blow up the Parliament fire burn and lay waste all the Kingdom yet he could not be therefore guilty of Treason or truly called a Traytor against the King or against the Kingdom or People or Laws thereof no nor could justly be punish'd at all by the secular Magistrate or Laws of the Land without special permission from the Pope or those deriving Authority from Him That nevertheless all Clergy-men regular and secular in the World from the meanest either Accolits or Converts to the highest Generals of Orders and greatest Patriarchs of Nations inclusively may be out of all Kingdoms and even contrary to
otherwise at all noxious to humane Society and then also and there to Enact those penal Laws where at the same time the Lawmakers could not but have continually before their eyes all those beforemention'd Positions and Practises which they could not but judge to be indeed of the greatest Danger Insolence Pride Injustice Usurpation Tyranny and Cruelty imaginable even those very Positions and Practises which they knew to threaten themselves above others most particularly and which they saw themselves Ten thousand times more concern'd to persecute than any pure Religious Rites or Articles nay which they also knew to be such as even according to the judgment of the greater and sounder part of the Roman-Catholicks themselves abroad in other parts of the World did of their own nature require all the severity of Laws and all the anger of Men to prosecute them I am sure the Third Estate of the Roman Catholicks of France anno 1514 1â— did think so when they desired it should be made a fundamental Law of FRANCE to be kept and known by all men That the King being acknowledged Head in his Dominions holding his Crown and his Authority only from God there is no power on earth whatever Spiritual or Temporal that hath any right over his Kingdom either to depose our Kings or dispense with or absolve their Subjects from the fidelity and obedience which they owe to their Soveraign for any cause or pretence whatsoever That all his Subjects of what quality or condition soever shall keep this Law as holy true and agreeable to God's Word without any distinction equivocation or limitation whatsoever which shall be sworn and signed by all the Deputies of Estates and henceforward by all who have any Benefice or Office in the Kingdom before they enter upon such Benefice or Office and that all Tutors Masters Regents Doctors and Preachers shall teach and publish that the contrary Opinion viz. That it is lawful to kill and depose our Kings to rebel and rise up against them and shake off our Obedience to them upon any occasion whatever is impious detestable quite contrary to Truth and the establishment of the State of France which immediately depends upon God only That all Books teaching these false and wicked Opinions shall be held as seditious and damnable All Strangers who write and publish them shall be look'd upon as sworn enemies to the Crown and that all Subjects of His Majesty of what quality and condition soever who favour them shall be accounted as Rebels Violators of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and Traytors against the King c. And I am sure also That all the Parliaments and Universities of the same Kingdom did likewise think and believe so when at several times they proceeded with so much severity in their censures against so many inconsiderate Writers that maintain'd the Papal vain pretences of Authority to depose Kings and exempt their Subjects from the obedience due to them But to say nothing at present of the many several Arrests of the French Parliaments on this subject and speak only of their University Censures how smart these were in general the Universities of Paris (z) 1626 4. April and Caen (a) 7. May. and Rheims (b) 18. May. and Tholouze (c) 23. May. and Poitiers (d) 26. June and Valence (e) 14. July and Burdeaux (f) 16. July and Bourges (g) 25. November sufficiently tell us in their special Censures anno 1626. against the Jesuit Sanctarellus in particular i. e. against the Doctrine of such a power in the Pope asserted by him the said Sanctarellus in his Treatise of Heresie Schism Apostasie c. The first of them viz. the University of Paris finding in the said Book this Assertion That the Pope may with temporal punishments chastise Kings and Princes depose and deprive them of their Estates and Kingdoms for the crime of Heresie c. condemn'd it in formal words as new false erroneous contrary to the Law of God rendring odious the Papal Dignity opening a gap to Schism derogative to the Soveraign Authority of Kings which depends on God alone retarding the conversion of Infidels and Heretical Princes disturbing the publick peace tending to the ruine of Kingdoms and Republicks diverting Subjects from the obedience due to their Soveraigns and precipitating them into faction rebellion sedition and even to commit Particides on the sacred Persons of their Princes And the other seven Universities were not much behind for they also every one condemn'd it as false erroneous contrary to the Word of God pernicious seditious and detestable XI That if any shall object those penal Statutes which may perhaps be thought by some to have all their quarrel and bend all their force and level all the rigor of their Sanctions against some harmless Doctrines and practises whether in themselves otherwise true or false good or bad I say against the meer spiritual meer sacramental rites of our Religious worship of God and our Belief of meer supernatural operations following as for example against our Doctrines of the Consecration and Transubstantiation and our practice withall of the adoration of the Host which this present Parliament at Westminster in their late Act against Popish Recusants may be thought by some to make the principal mark whereat all the arrows of disfavour must now be shot the answer is both consequential and clear viz. That the Law-makers perswading themselves 1. that the Roman Catholicks in general of these Kingdoms both Ecclesiasticks and Laicks had alwayes hitherto since the schism either out of ignorance and blind zeal or a mistaken interest or irrational fear refused or at least declined to disown by any sufficient publick instrument the foresaid Anti-catholick Positions and Practises which maintain the Popes pretences of all Supreme both Spiritual and Temporal Dominion Jurisdiction Authority Power Monarchy and Tyranny c 2. That their Missionaries i e. their Priests not only day and night labour to make new Proselytes but also to infuse into as many of them and of their other Penitents as they think fit all their own Principles of Equivocation and mental Reservation in swearing any Oath even of Allegiance or Supremacy to the King and forswearing any thing or doctrine whatsoever except only those Articles which by the indispensable condition of their communion they may not dissemble upon Oath 3. That the Tenet of Transubstantiation is one of those Articles therefore to discover by this however otherwise in it self a very harmless Criterium the mischief which they conceive to go along with it thorough the folly of Roman Catholicks in these Dominions they make it the test of discriminating the Loyally principled Protestant from the disloyal and dissembling Papist Which otherwise they would not have done if the Romanists themselves in general who are Subjects to our Gracious King had by any sufficient Test distinguished amongst themselves and thereby convinced the Parliament and all other Protestant people
and Religious did subscribe which was purposely made to secure the Lay-Gentlemen that supposing they might enjoy the freedom of their Religion they might lawfully renounce the practice of these Articles which makes the case far different both to the one and the other they conceived you intended to deny and destroy the probability of that Opinion which they think it necessary for their ends to maintain And therefore to keep their hold and conserve their pretended right they framed this Decree in hugger mugger and kept it private Their chief motive is acknowledged in the Decree it self Least it should be said hereafter that his Holiness did approve or connive at the Subscription to such Articles as were prejudicial to his Pontificial greatness The same was also expresly intimated to the Popes Nuncio here it being signified unto him there should be no legal publication of it no more then there had been at Rome nor consequently sure did they intend it should oblige Nay even they themselves would esteem him a very Fool that would lose his Estate or venture his Life for the maintenance of this Opinion or Decree Your Negative Answers to these Articles are to be understood according to your and the Proposers intentions that is to renounce the practice of them and profess them to be no part of your Faith and Religion which I believe the very Court of Rome doth not pretend witness Cardinal Peron who after he had often averred in his Oration to the Nobles of France in the year 1615. that the Doctrine of the Pope's power to depose Heretical Kings and absolve their Subjects from their obedience was only Problematical And in particular That the Catholicks of England were obliged to obey King James then reigning In his other Oration to the third Sâ—â—te who urged and pressed to have the contrary Doctrine received as a fundamental Law of the Kingdom and as holy true and conformable to the Word of God having used all possible Arguments to dissuade them from this design and learnedly labouring to shew a greater probability for the affirmative part He concludes towards the end of his Speech That the Pope doth tolerate and suffer the contrary Opinion to be held so it be only maintained as Problematical in matter of Faith that is saith he so it be not proposed as necessary to Faith nor the Opposite declared as contrary to the Word of God impious and detestable Besides this Decree is given against the Negative Subscribers to unpublished Articles without any information or knowledge of the original Instrument whereunto you Priests did subscribe nay without calling any of you to Account but only in the Air against the Negative Subscription supposed to be done they know not where nor how contrary to the ordinary forms of our Law avd Justice But every man who hath negotiated in the Court of Rome can tell you That these Congregational Decrees are generally made by a few Cardinals and Prelates who to speak modestly little know upon what grounds and principles the abstruse Sequels of Faith are to be resolved They say in this They have consulted Divines that is perhaps some few Forreign Regulars whose Interests lie wholly in that Court depending immediately of it and exempted by his Holiness from the ordinary and divine Hierarchical Government of the Church who knowing nothing of the Affairs nor of the Circumstance of the Question were not like to deliver any other Opinion than what their great Patrons would have them I wish with all my heart That with the loss of my blood I could blot out the belief of all experienced men that nothing but Interest and Faction are prevalent in the Court of Rome It is now in every mans mouth that understands the Affairs of the World that they seek their own ends not the publick good Finally I remark that they chiefly direct their Decree to the Superiours of their exempted Emissaries no mention made of the Bishop or Clergy who are the only lawful and Canonical publishers with the permission and consent of the State or Civil Magistrates of any true authentical spiritual Command Truly if such a Decree had been sent hither and so illegally proclaimed it would have been presently condemned to be burnt by the hands of the Hangman In a word I see nothing capable to beget a Scruple nor that ought to hinder any Catholick from Subscribing to the Articles as you have done Nor shall I easily persuade my self that any wise and experienced man will shrink from so just an Act. If your State King or Parliament will suffer and tolerate you to live quietly under them which I wonder such able men should boggle at I shall quickly provide and help you with such advice from the most learned and most vertuous Divines of Europe as will make your Ecclesiastical Government an example to all other States and Kingdoms your Neighbours And still conserving all due Respect and spiritual Obedience to the See of Rome you shall free your selves from all unnecessary and unfit dependance of the Roman Court wherein I shall furnish you with the resolutions of such Questions as will open the eyes of all your unexperienced and tender conscienced Countrey-men who have not had perhaps the means to discern and distinguish their due and unnecessary obedience from a superfluous and unjust obsequiousness And which shall withall make appear to all the Christian World the now well near Fourscore years hard and unfatherly dealing of the Court of Rome over the poor persecuted and distressed Catholicks of England Let it therefore be your constant endeavour to give the King State or Parliament full satisfaction and assurance of your fidelity to the Civil and Political government of your Kingdom whatsoever it shall be which may most certainly stand with the integrity of your Religion and Consciences For the rest fear nothing trust to the justice of your Cause which you may assuredly believe will not want support For my particular according to my poor Ability you shall ever find me Your most loving Brother in Christ And obedient Servant T.H. From Paris this 2d of April 1648. By which two several Papers the written and the printed the Reader may understand fully what he shall find hereafter answered by me in the year 1664. to the foresaid Internuncio de Vecchiis concerning his Allegation or pretence of Innocent the X's having condemned these Negatives and consequently our Remonstrance as for one part thereof coincident with or virtually contain'd in them Fourth and last Observation is concerning that signal crafty admonition which the same de Vecchiis gave as you have before seen to Father Bruodin in these words Signanter ut sic refutetuâ— illud Jura nentum ne tamen Regii Ministri ansam accipiant in Catholicos saeviendi eosque tamquam Regia Dominationi quia ab Ecclesia defecerit infestos puniendi If I be not much mistaken de Vecchiis would have the Anti-Remonstrants use all kind of other false Arguments to
Infallibility of the Pope without a general Council no writings of His whatsoever though under his own hand and with his own name induce not a certainty of Faith or such an one in which there can be no falshood or errour I say nothing for the present of the other conditions they require to this that a Declaration of the Pope though by such a Decretal Epistle or Brief so promulgated and so directed to all the faithful of Christ though definitive too and in a matter of Faith oblige not per se of its own sole nature to assent or what restrictions they put as namely that neither the proems nor motives nor suppositions nor any reasons alledged are defined And that whenever the Bull is declarative onely and not constitutive also or as far as 't is only declarative if it relie on false grounds or reasons or any way uncertain or apparent only or only opinative or probable so far of necessity it is subject to the danger of errours and that the constitutive part of such a Bull grounded only upon such a declarative necessarily wants all manner of force to oblige any whatsoever at least those who clearly see the errour doubt or uncertainty For the present likewise I say nothing that these Divines require besides to the Infallibility of a Papal definition or to this that none may dissent that the Pope declare in express or equivalent words that the Article defined is an Article of Catholick faith and the contrary or contradictory heretical All these things I say and possibly more to this purpose I pass over in silence Yet there is a certain errour deceit or at least supposition not well grounded I have read and observ'd in several of your Lordships Letters to several people both here and in Ireland which I cannot let pass without a short animadversion It is That our Holy Father Alexander the VII did not think it necessary to give a new censure of our Protestation that being sufficient which had been made by former Popes since it appeared ours contained some things which were the same with the Propositions condemn'd heretofore by Paul the V. and lately by Innocent the X. But my Lord it does not appear that Paul the V. has condemn'd any one or more certain and determinate Propositions of the Oath of Allegiance as they call it or Fidelity prescrib'd by a Law of King James and the Parliament and Kingdom in his time For in the reference which you make to the judgment of Paul the V. you allude to Propositions contain'd in that Oath Nay it appears on the contrary out of the Letters of Paul the V. which are extant in Print and in form of a Brief directed onely to the Catholicks of England I question not for the present whether they were subreptitious or ever publish't or whether the due Solemnities of Law were observed it appears I say he never condemned any one or more in particular but onely in general terms after other matters of not going to the Churches Sermons and Rites of Protestants or Heterodox admonishes the Catholicks of England not to take that Oath or the like as is manifest by the very tenour of the first Brief dated at Rome the 10th of the Calends of Octob. 1606. in which only first Brief he speaks directly and by design against that Oath of it self And in particular this is manifest by the words of the same Pope in the same Brief which give the onely reason why he admonishes them not to take that Oath and why he tells them it ought perspicuously to appear to the English Catholicks out of the words of the Oath that such an Oath cannot be taken with the safety of Catholick faith and of their souls Since sayes he it contains many things which are manifestly contrary to faith and salvation For after these words and for these alone as the onely ground and reason of his Declaration and Admonition it follows immediately Therefore we admonish you that you wholly beware of taking this or the like Oaths Wherefore since it appears sufficiently by these words which assign his reason especially joyn'd with the tenour of the rest of the Brief from the beginning to the end that Paul the V. did not condemn all that was containâ—d in that Oath I say did not condemn all so much as in these general or any other terms of these Letters or at least since it does not only sufficiently but evidently appear that to his Holiness Alexander the VII it can not be known by those Letters nor indeed can be known at all for no man in his wits will say he can be certain of this otherwise than by those words and that Brief which in particular or whether any such of the Propositions contain'd in that Oath of Allegiance made by King James were censured by that Declaration nay not so much as which he desired or intended to censure and because 't is no less plain to any that shall exactly compare that Form of the Kings with ours that the Propositions are far different both in words and sense and that in that there be many more Propositions but fewer in ours that in that there is contain'd a formal Oath largely expressed and an Oath without all doubt strictly taken in some places assertory in others promissory for thrice at least if not four or five times they formally swear in that manner in that of the Kings but no Oath at all contained in ours not so much as largely taken no where in no part or Proposition from the beginning of the form to the end that 't is affirm'd in that and peradventure with the sacred tye of an Oath that there is in the Pope no power to depose Kings whereas ours for what concerns that particular expresses onely an act of the will and renounces such a power determining nothing either with or without an Oath of the Position in it self and taken in its own nature whether it be true or false or probable or not that in that some things are abjured as heretical in ours none that that binds under obligation of a promise sworn to to discover all Treasons ours declares onely a readiness of mind to discover them I say since it appears that all these things are most true and farther out of Parson's Letters in Withrington dated at Rome when they consulted there of condemning that Oath of K. James and farther also out of several Books of Bellarmine though under counterfeit names against the said Withâ—ington and other defenders of the said Oath that Paul the V. was only or chiefly moved to frame that Brief by which the Kings Oath is condemned by this reason because He had been persuaded though without any either sufficient or probable argument by Bellarmine himself and those other seven or eight Divines at Rome whom He had deputed to examine it that by that Oath was likewise deny'd the Primacy of the Pope and his power to excommunicate either Kings or their
but many of their Superiours amongst them had also discountenanced nay to their power even vexed and persecuted such of their underlings who had signed it and moreover had understood all the other practices of their Agents beyond Seas how I say notwithstanding all this the said Lord Lieutenant had hitherto and for their sakes who signâ—d most patiently expected an amendment of such errours in the rest and in the mean time extended even to the most ungrateful of the Dissentors and opposers all those very favours of Indulgence and connivance of Publick exercise of Religion which the Subscribers enjoy And how the Procurator himself had no way lessened his Zeal to endeavour by all means he could the continuance of those favours even to the very most ungrateful and malicious of his Adversaries in the grand contest Sixth reflected on the great variety of pretences which the dissenting both Superiours and Inferiours pleaded for so many years to excuse their non-concurrence and amongst or rather above all other excuses their desire and expectation of Licence for a National Assembly to consult of the equity of the demand See those either pretences or true cause Tract 1. Part. 1. Sect. 9. from Page 21. to Pag. 27. Where you find the Sixteenth of them to be this of a National Congregation desired Seventh was wholly taken up in the Merits of the main matter in controversie or the only chief end of their meeting viz. the Remonstrance and Subscription thereof And here the Procurator shewâ—d and at large dilated upon the Lawfulness and Orthodoxness of it in point of Conscience and both Christian and Catholick Religion even I mean as to those very causes of the said Remonstrance which was the Rock of Scandal because denying and renouncing all and every the branches and appendages of the pretended Papal Authority either by Divine or Human Right to depose the King c. or dispence with or declare against the Allegiance of Subjects or by Excommunication or otherwise to raise them to a Rebellion against His Majesty c. His Arguments against any such Papal Power and consequently for the said Lawfulness and Orthodoxness he derived evidently 1. From so many plain Declarations and express commands of Holy Scripture 2. From the unanimous consent of Holy Fathers interpreting those passages of Holy Scripture so and not otherwise for a whole Thousand years until Gregory the VII's Pontificat 3. From the Practice also as well as Theory of the Christian Church Universally for those ten whole centuries of years and consequently even from true Catholick Tradition 4. From the general opposition made even in all European Nations Kingdoms States Schools Universities and National Churches to the contrary positions even also in every age since the said Gregorie's days until this very present 5. Particularly from the known Assertions of the Gallican Church and Decisions too of the eight present Universities of France all unanimously condemning those self same contrary positions as impious wicked against the Word of God Heretical and more singularly yet from the six late Declarations of Sorbon May 8. 1663. Not to mention how Cardinal Perron by his fine circumventing speech in the general Assembly of the Three Estates of that Kingdom after the Murder of Henry Le Grand only endeavour'd these Positions should not be declared in formal Words Heretical 6. From the Practice of the Parliaments of Paris and Sicilian Monarchy too 7. From the Statuts of Provisors and Praemunire made so many Hundred years since by the Roman-Catholick Kings and Parliaments of England and Ireland even all the Lords Spiritual assenting especially those Statutes under Edward the III. and Richard the II. which declare the Crown of those Kingdoms to be Imperial and subject to none but God only 8. From the eminency and multitude of most learned Roman Catholick Writers even Scholasticks who all along these 600 years have in every Age expresly condemned and even both specifically and abundantly confuted those vain and wicked pretences set on foot first by Hildebrand 9. From the pitiful silliness unsignificancy and absurdity of all Bellarmin's Arguments for the other side arguments proving either nothing at all or certainly that which neither himself nor any not even of his very beloved Popes themselves would allow 10. And Lastly from the clearness of Natural Reason also in the cases and that I mean too whether the Revelations of Christianity be presupposed or no. From all such Topicks of convincing Reason and Authority I mean as well Divine as Human the Procurator deduced his own arguments for the above Lawfulness and Orthodoxness viz. of the Remonstrance and Subscription thereof notwithstanding any Bugbear of Roman Letters or Louain Censures to the contrary The eighth advanced hence to the consequential both expediency and necessity of their unanimous cheerful Subscription without further delay or regret being there was no other way or means to redeem themselves or their Church or to satisfie or appease the King or his Protestant People for what had been so publickly and vehemently acted in former times partly by them or at least many of them and partly by the rest of the Irish Clergy represented by them and acted even all along either in or immediatly after the very first Rebellion of the Irish Nation in October 1641. and in the unhappy Congregation of Waterford Anno 1641 against the first Peace and further in the year 1648 against the Cessation with Inchiquin and for the Censures of the Nuncio Lastly in the year 1650. and most unhappy Congregation of Jamestown against the second Peace no other way truly in the first place but of humble Submissive Penitential Petition begging pardon for so many former grievous Errors against all Laws Divine and Human. Nor indeed any other in the next place to allay the just suspicions and jealousies of their future demeanour but that of a sincere hearty Loyal Recognition of His Majesties Supream Temporal Independent Power Protestation of Obedience and Fidelity according to the Laws of the Land in all Temporal matters and all contingencies whatsoever and Renunciation also of all pretended Powers and false Doctrines to the contrary The Ninth was the conclusion of all in wishes and Prayers beseeching the Fathers by all that should be dear or Sacred to them to consider That nothing was desired or expected from them in either point but what certainly was more consonant to pure Christianity i. e. to the Doctrine of the Cross of Christ and therefore doubtless more holy than the contrary was or could possibly be 2. The sad fate which had perpetually and universally attended all Rebellions of those of their Religion however at so many several times and places entred into either in England Ireland or Scotland since the first separation under Henry the Eighth 3. Whether wise men ought not even in point of Prudence not only bid at last an eternal adieu to such both Principles and Practices as proved at all times and in all Countries
Catholick faith and Christian Religion That all the Catholick Vniversities of France which are Eight in number and many more which are in Poland Germanie State of Venice c. do not otherwise controvert this proposition For they hold it positively for certain and undeniable ever since the Council of Constance that a general Council is above the Pope That finally not so many Catholick Vniversities alone maintain this maxime but even the whole Gallican Church nor the whole Gallican Church alone but the Vniversal or Catholick Church in its latitude and by its lawful Representatives even in two general Councils that of Constance I mean about 300 years since and that of Basile immediately after or within 12 years after have amongst their Canons defined this to be a catholick truth All which joyntly with what is said before in this matter if the congregation had seriously considered it is like they would have declined their vain pretence of a School question of Divinity controverted in all catholick Vniversities of the world as they speake What more I have to say on this Subject of that 5th proposition abstractedly in it self considered though by occasion of the said first unreasonable reason of the Congregation or of their absolute refusal to subscribe it upon this or any other ground whatsoever they know best what that ground was will more conveniently be said in a distinct Treatise which will be the 5th in order of this work and followes immediatly after my answers to their allegations for not signing the sixth and laâ—â— proposition and after some few more additional propositions of my own added there Secondly or to their second specifical reason whereby they labour to prove the Subscription of this 5th proposition to be not onely impertinent in it self but dangerous in its consequents and unseasonable c Its answered that indeed to take of any question so as this talke in all the circumstances of it without any profit quiet or other good to the King or his Subjects should be thought in â—ight reason to be a cause of breeding new jealousies or renewing the old between the King and his people or of giving the least overture to such odious and horrid disputâ— concerning the power of Kings and Common-wealths as our late experience hath taught us would be now unseasonable though not therefore nor at all impertinent That nevertheless to talke of this specifical or particular question whether the Pope be above the general Council and talke of it now or in this present conjuncture in Ireland and talke of it so as the Congregation might and should and as expected from them or talke of iâ— so as their talke would be to those good and rational ends of bringing dissentors of their country and Religion to a free conscientious and vnanimous subscription of the negative and of thereby obstructing much occasion of new troubles and further of rooting out the seeds of Rebellion from amongst the Roman-catholick Clergie of Ireland on pretence of Papal decrees alone or letters from the Court of Rome that I say to talke of this specifical or individual question and talke of it in this manner or to these or other such good ends and in that Congregation would not be to talke of a question either impertinent in it self or dangerous in its consequents or unseasonable in any kind of respect either of the matter persons time Prince or other people but on the contrary most pertinent safe and seasonable and bringing a long with it naturally much profit both to King and Subjects because much peace and quiet by setling a truth so necessary and of so great importance against a sly error of so pernicious destructive consequence as is the contrary position That if from such talke of this specifical or particular question in such manner to such ends and in such a Congregation any should either out of ignorance or malice fall into such odious and horrid disputes concerning the power of Kings and Common-wealths as our late sad experience hath taught us it could not therefore be dangerous to give in such an occasion to such disputes so little overture as talke so qualified can be rationally thought by any indifferent man to give being this overture at most and worst could not be to other than the speculative part onely of those other odious and horrid disputes but not by any means to the practical at least for the present in that Congregation or Catholick Clergie of Ireland whom that Congregation represented and commanded That in giving so little overture to that speculation or speculative part onely of that other question and giving such overture not at all necessarily but accidentally and onely out of the biass and malice or ignorance of some of themselves both which themselves too partly and partly others also as was offered might and would easily rectifie if they pleased there could be no danger at all as to the Roman Catholick Clergie of Ireland or as from them But that in relation to others of the Monarchy of great Brittain who of late or in the late Warrs engaged themselves practically or in the practical part of those other odious and horrid disputes it is nothing this Congregation could say or unsay on that point or any other would engage anew or disengage them That Sorbone and the whole Gallican Church and the French King himself and his Council who all maintain without contradiction as even do his very Parliaments nay his general Assemblies of all the three estates of that Kingdom the most absolute Soveraignty of the French Monarch over all his people even collectively taken in what assembly soever the most independent from them or from any els but God alone can be desired in pursuance of that other tenet they all hold in the said Gallican Church of the Kings power to be given him immediatly by God alone as by the onely efficient of it that I say that learned subtile Faculty Church Prince or people never found that impertinency or danger or unseasonableness in the subscription of Sorbone to the said Proposition But on the other side much pertinency and safety and seasonableness towards the perpetual establishment of that absolute independent power in their King whereof they are jealous as of the apple of their eye and I fear much more incomparably than most Fathers of the Congregation were of the like in their own King if not to deny it him That as these good Fathers declared publickly in their said Congregation and privatly one to another the precedent of Sorbone was enough to secure them in their subscription of the three first Propositions nay and of all for this too they said so they might and ought for the same reason perswade themselves effectually no less at least of the pertinency and safety and seasonableness of their subscription to this 5th also than of the Catholickness and lawfulness of it That further yet or even abstracting as well from all precedents as from
the mean time that no such Indictments Attainders Outlawries Processes or other proceedings thereupon nor any Letters Patents Grants Leases Custodiums Bonds Recognizances or any Record Act or Acts Office or Offices Inquisitions or any other thing depending upon or taken by reason of the said Indictments Attainders or Outlawries shall in any sort prejudice the said Roman Catholicks or any of them but that they and every of them shall be forthwith on perfection of these Articles restored to their respective possessions and hereditaments respectively provided that no man shall be questioned by reason hereof for measne rates or wastes saving wilful wastes committed after the first day of May last past V. Item It is likewise concluded accorded and agreed and His Majesty is graciously pleased that as soon as possibly may be all impediments which may hinder the said Roman Catholicks to sit or vote in the next intended Parliament or to choose or to be chosen Knights and Burgesses to sit or vote there shall be removed and that before the said Parliament VI. Item It is concluded accorded and agreed upon and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That all Debts shall remain as they were upon the 23d of October 1641. notwithstanding any disposition made or to be made by vertue or colour of any Attainders Outlawry Fugacy or other forfeiture and that no Disposition or Grant made or to be made of any such Debts by vertue of any Attainder Outlawry Fugacy or other forfeiture shall be of force and this to be passed as an Act in the next Parliament VII Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon and His Majesty is graciously pleased That for the securing of the Estates or reputed Estates of the Lords Knights Gentlemen and Freeholders or reputed Freeholders as well of Connaught and County of Clare or Countrey of Thomond as of the Counties of Limerick and Tipperary the same to be secured by Act of Parliament according to the intent of the 25th Article of the Graces granted in the Fourth year of His Majesties Reign the tenour whereof for so much as concerneth the same doth ensue in these words viz. We are graciously pleased that for the securing of the Inhabitants of Connaught and Countrey of Thomond and County of Clare that their several Estates shall be confirmed unto them and their Heirs against Vs and our Heirs and Successors by Act to be passed in the next Parliament to be holden in Ireland to the end the same may never hereafter be brought into any further question by us our Heirs and Successors In which Act of Parliament so to be passed you are to take care that all tenures in capite and all Rents and Services as are now due or which ought to be answered unto Us out of the said Lands and Premises by any Letters Patents past thereof since the first year of King Henry the Eighth or found by any Office taken from the said first year of King Henry the Eighth until the One and twentieth of July 1615. whereby Our late dear Father or any His Predecessors actually received any profit by Wardship Liveries Primer-seizins Measne-rates Ousterlemaynes or Fines of Alienations without Licence be again reserved unto Us Our Heirs and Successors and all the rest of the Premises to be holden of our Castle of Athlone by Knights service according to our said late Fathers Letters notwithstanding any tenures in capite found for Us by office since the One and twentieth of July One thousand six hundred and fifteen and not appearing in any such Letters Patents or Offices within which Rule His Majesty is likewise graciously pleased That the said Lands in the Counties of Limerick and Tipperary be included but to be held by such Rents and Tenures only as they were in the fourth year of His Majesties Reign provided alwayes That the said Lords Knights Gentlemen and Freeholders or reputed Freeholders of the said Province of Connaught County of Clare and County of Thomond and Counties of Tipperary and Limerick shall have and enjoy the full benefit of such composition and agreement which shall be made with His most Excellent Majesty for the Court of Wards Tenures Respite and issues of homage any Clause in this Article to the contrary notwithstanding And as for the Lands within the Counties of Kilkenny and Wickloe unto which His Majesty was intituled by office taken or found in the time of the Earl of Strafford's Government in this Kingdom His Majesty is further graciously pleased That the state thereof shall be considered in the next intended Parliament where His Majesty will assent unto that which shall be just and honourable And that the like Act of Limitation of His Majesties Titles for the security of the Estates of His Subjects of this Kingdom be passed in the said Parliament as was Enacted in the One and twentieth year of His late Majesty King James's Reign in England VIII Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That all incapacities imposed upon the Natives of this Kingdom or any of them as Natives by any Act of Parliament Provisoes in Patents or otherwise be taken away by Act to be passed in the said Parliament and that they may be enabled to erect one or more Inns of Court in or near the City of Dublin or elsewhere as shall be thought fit by His Majesties Lord Lieutenant or other chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom for the time being And in case the said Inns of Court shall be erected before the first day of the next Parliament then the same shall be in such place as His Majesties Lord Lieutenant or other chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom for the time being by and with the advice and consent of the said Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Castelloe Lord President of Connaught Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunrie Alexander mac Donnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnewall Baronet Geoffery Browne Donnogh O Callaghane Tirlagh O Neil Miles Reilly and Gerald Fennel Esquires or any seven or more of them shall think fit And that such Students Natives of this Kingdom as shall be therein may take and receive the usual degrees accustomed in any Inns of Court they taking the ensuing Oath viz. I A. B. do truly acknowledge profess testifie and declare in my Conscience before God and the World That our Sovereign Lord King CHARLES is lawful and rightful King of this Realm and of other His Majesties Dominions and Countries and I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty His Heirs and Successors and Him and Them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against His or Their Crown and Dignity and do my best endeavour to disclose and make known to His Majesty His Heirs and Successors or to the Lord Deputy or other His Majesties Chief Governour
THE History Vindication OF The Loyal Formulary or Irish Remonstrance So Graciously Received by His MAJESTY Anno 1661. AGAINST All CALUMNIES and CENSURES IN SEVERAL TREATISES WITH A True Account and Full Discussion of the Delufory Irish Remonstrance and other Papers Framed and Insisted on By the National Congregation at Dublin Anno 1666 And Presented to His MAJESTIES then Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom the Duke of ORMOND But Rejected by HIS GRACE To which are added THREE APPENDIXES Whereof the Last contains The Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland His LONG EXCELLENT LETTER Of the Second of December 1650. In Answer to both the DECLARATION and EXCOMMUNICATION of the Bishops c. at Jamestown THE AUTHOR Father Peter Walsh of the Order of St. Francis Professor of Divinity Melior est contentiâ— pietatis causa suscepta quà m vitiosa concordia Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 1. pro Pace Printed Anno M.DC.LXXIV TO THE CATHOLICKS OF ENGLAND IRELAND SCOTLAND And all other DOMINIONS UNDER His Gracious Majesty CHARLES II. My Lords Fathers and Gentlemen HOw customary soever amongst Writers both ancient and modern sacred and profane the Dedication of Books hath been as well sometimes only to desire patronage as at other times gratefully to acknowledge benefits yet I do ingenuously confess it was nor this nor that end nor indeed any private regard whatsoever made me after some debate with my self resolve at last upon a Dedicatory Address to the most illustrious name of British and Irish Catholiks that name of names and most glorious of titles so peculiarly challeng'd and zealously contended for by you as the proper inheritance of those in this famous Empire of Great Brittaine that continue in Ecclesiastical Communion with the Catholick Bishop of old Rome What induced me to this Dedication or rather what required it as a duty of me was your undenyable concern above others in the subject or matters treated in this Book and indeed whole design of it even that very publick and great concern of yours appearing all along to be so proper so intrinsick nay so essential to the Book it self and if I may speake freely that very concern of yours the most universal and most considerable of any can be thought of at present by you To evidence your being every one so concern'd I think there needs no more than to consider what the said subject is It is 1. in general the old and fatal Controversie of late again much more unreasonably and vehemently if not more unhappily too then at any time before renewed amongst his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects especially those of Ecclesiastical Function about the nature measures and obligation of Allegiance due to His Majesty from them in meer temporal things only And 2. in particular it is for one moyety or principal part thereof the Loyal Formulary of remonstrating promising and protesting indispensable Faith and Obedience to our Gracious King Charles the Second in all civil and temporal tâ—ings whatsoever according to the Laws of the Land or of His Kingdoms respectively Which Formulary was first conceived and agreed upon in the Reign of His Majesties Father of glorious Memory about five and thirty years since by the Roman Catholicks of England or at least some leading persons of them but more lately viz. after His present Majesties happy Restauration and more effectually too was espoused by considerable numbers of those of Ireland for many evident Reasons The chief Reason was the rather by that means to induce His Sacred Majesty to command the ceasing of a rigorous persecution which was then * 1661. actually on foot in that Kingdom under the Triumvirat of Sir Maurice Eustace Lord Chancellor and the Earls of Orrery and Mountrath against all Roman Catholicks universally without distinction or exception of any After much both private and publick debate about this Formulary in the years 1661 and 1662 it not only was subscribed at several times and places by the proper hands of threescore and ten of their Clergy whereof a Bishop was one and a hundred sixty four of their chiefest Lay Nobility Gentry and Proprietors whereof one and twenty were Peers viz. seven Earls nine Viscounts and five Barons but immediately after the first Subscription at London anno 1661. was solemnly presented to and graciously accepted by His Majesty And I suppose they that had any dislike of it in those dayes were well enough pleased with their shares of the success which was His Majesties effectual countermanding the winds and tempest of persecution throughout Ireland and his gracious smiling on the distressed Catholicks both People and Clergy of that Island This honest Formulary now commonly called the Irish Remonstrance so necessarily and piously espoused thus by so many good Patriot-Subscribers as a conscientious Christian full and satisfactory profession of the duty which by all Laws divine and humane they as well as all other Subjects owe His Majesty against all pretences of the Pope to the contrary was even for that very cause i. e. for being so Christianly honest and sincerely loyal soon after traduced and impugned by sundry Ecclesiasticks of the Roman Communion and chiefly by many of those Irish who had received most benefit by it These good men were not content by their reproaches and calumnies to make it odious at home but also dealt so by their disloyal Arts and powerful Friends in other Countries that they got it to be censur'd and condemn'd in formal terms as unlawful detestable sacrilegious yea in effect as schismatical and heretical by the publick Censures of the Lovain Theological Faculty and publick Letters also both of the Bruxell-Internuncio's De Vecchii and Rospigliosi and of the Roman Cardinals De propaganda Fide under the presidency of Cardinal Francis Barbarin himself though amongst other his many titles at Rome stiled Protector of England Having thus gotten the face of Authority on their side they have not ceased ever since for twelve years to the present 1673 but especially these five or six last years have in a most furious manner proceeded even with all the vilest arts of malicious Cabals Conspiracies Plots Libels and an Impostor Commissary and a forged Commission and all the most lying slanders imaginable to persecute and defame the few remaining constant Ecclesiastical Subscribers They have kept them in continual chace with all the greatest and all the most illegal most uncanonical extent of an abused Power with monitories citations depositions excommunications denunciations and even publick affixion or posting of them Of which extremely unjust and scandalous procedures against men no way contumacious as I have sufficiently proved * Vid. Hibernica Valesii Tert. Part. Epist Prim. ad Haroldum there was no cause in nature that appeared or was pretended but a manifest design to force them to renounce their Allegiance to the King by retracting their Subscriptions When they had found them of proof against these attempts under colour of Law they broke out into rage and being
all the Municipal Laws and Oecumenical Canons too summon'd to Rome by His Holiness and are bound in Conscience to obey yea notwithstanding any command of the King or supreme temporal Magistrate to the contrary That not only the Commands of His Holiness but those also of His Delegates for example the Generals of Orders are to be in the same manner punctually obey'd by their respective Inferiours notwithstanding any contradiction of the Laws or King or any other onely the Pope excepted still who countermands all both men and Laws at His pleasure That He can suspend correct alter and utterly abolish any Imperial Royal or Municipal Constitution Custom or Law whatsoever in any State or Kingdom of the World as He shall think expedient That even so He may all Church-Canons of Discipline or Reformation whether they were made by a Diocesan or Provincial or National or even Oecumenical Synod truly such That neither the very Canons of Faith agreed upon by the most truly Oecumenical Council that ever was or can be are of any force if He alone dissent though otherwise all the Bishops Priests Doctors and People too of the Christian World every one had unanimously consented to them That His Papal Decretals Constitutions or Bulls from the instant that they are publish'd or fix'd up in acie Campi Florae or wherever else He ordains do according to their tenour presently oblige in Conscience all the Faithful throughout the whole Earth or such as are respectively concerned That He alone hath the absolute power of bestowing all Ecclesiastical Titles Benefices Offices Jurisdictions Cures from the Patriarchical to the Parochial and that being otherwise given than from Him or assumed otherwise than by His Authority they are Nullites before God and ought to be so reputed by all men and that whosoever denies this to be so is an Heretick That He alone hath likewise the absolute power not of translating only but of suspending excommunicating deposing and degrading all of them even the very Patriarchs themselves without being tyed in such procedure to the formality of Laws or Canons That He alone hath power to erect New Bishopricks unite and divide the Old give the Pall priviledge Vniversities create new Religious Orders multiplies them to what number He please extinguish them when He will c. exempt them and whom He please besides from the jurisdiction of Bishops Ordinaries and all other Persons and Powers except from Himself and His Authority That finally He alone is the Vicar of Christ on Earth And therefore in the first place He must have not a Paternal power only but a Despotical Princely and absolute Lordly power in and over the Church Militant and consequently over all General Councils to do therein what seems fit to Him in the second place His jurisdictional Authority must extend to Heaven and Hell and Purgatory thirdly without any question He hath a never-failing assistance of the Holy Ghost so that all His definitions at least in matters of Faith (a) The Colledge of the French Jesuites a Clermont in their printed Theses of the 12th of December 1662 held That the Pope is Infallible also in matters of Faith XIX Christum nos ita caput agnoscimus ut illius Regimen dum in Coelos abiit primum Petro tum deinde Successoribus commiserit eamdem quam habuit Ipse Insallibilitatem concesserit quoties ex Cathedra loquerentur XX. Datur ergo in Ecclesia Romana Controversiarum Fidei Judex Infallibilis etiam extra Concilium Generale tum in Questionibus Juris tum Facti c. Propagnabuntur Deo Duce auspice Virgine in Aula Claromontani Collegii Societatis Jesu die xii Decembris 1661. are and must be universally and perpetually true and Himself an infallible Judge in them in the fourth place which is consequent to the other He hath owing to Him from all Mortals such a perfect nay such a blind obedience That if He define Virtue to be Vice and Vice to be Virtue they ought to believe Him and if they do not they cannot be saved unless peradventure invincible ignorance excuse them and lastly to sum all in a word He is Dominus Deus noster Papa our Lord God the Pope as the Glossator (b) Zenzelinus de Cassanis in fine Glossae extravag Cum inter de verb. signif of His own Canon Law stiles Him * Aâ—stimant Papam esse unum Deum qui habet potestatem omnem in Coelo in Terra Johan Gerson Tom. ii circa materiam Excommunicationum Irregularitat Consider 11. V. That notwithstanding the incredibility of these and some other such vain Positions and of all and every of their necessary antecedents and consequents yet they all and especially the Monarchical or Despotical or rather indeed Tyrannical I am sure unreasonable and very destructive Powers ascribed in them to the Pope are every one with no lower pretence than of Divine Right and Immediate Institution of Christ maintain'd either in formal or virtual terms nay in formal the chiefest of them and such as infer the rest not only by too many of our most Famous and most Classical Authors (c) For Authors at this time Cardinal Peter Bertrand onely who lived 300 years ago may suffice whom a numberless number have ever since followed in his pernicious Doctrine which you may read Addit ad Gloss Extr. unam Sanctum de Major Obed. of all sorts Canonists Historians and Divines since the Schools began but also by the far greater authority of the Roman Bishops (d) For Popes also in this place let Boniface VIII alone suffice both in his said Extravag unam Sanctam and in many other Decretals but especially in his famed Letter to Philip Le Bel of France themselves since Pope Hildebrand's time And three only but wretchedly abused Texts of the Gospel viz. Ecce duo gladii Luc. 22.38 and Quodcunque ligaveris c. Mat. 16.19 and Pasce Oves meas Joan. 21.17 must serve the turn however against the plain design of the whole Gospel it self to drive directly by such Positions at the proper scope of the Alcoran and establish in the Church of Christ a worser Tyranny than that of Mahumetans and Mamalukes VI. That Cardinal Caesar Baronius the famous Ecclesiastical Annalist who seems in truth to have had no other end so much to heart in writing his twelve laborious Tomes as to heap together how well or ill soever all the Topicks he could imagine for asserting to the Bishops of Rome the foresaid universal Monarchy both in Spirituals and Temporals over the whole Earth yet fearing his Arguments driving at and deriving from or grounding it on a Jus Divinum or Divine Right and immediate institution of Christ would not convince any labours at last exceedingly though all in vain in several of his said Tomes of Annals to entitle His Holiness at least by Humane Right or Humane Title as for Example by Donation or Oblation or Submission or Prescription
or by the payment of Peter-pence or other Tribute or by Forfeiture c and to entitle Him I say on some such meer humane account to the Supreme Temporal Dominion of all or I am sure at least almost all and every particular Kingdom in Europe scarce one if one excepted Baron ad an Christi Namely of Arragon (e) â—97 Portugal (f) 1144. 1179. Castile yea all Spain (g) 701 10â—3 of Corsica (h) 1077. Sardinia (i) 1073. Sicily and so many Provinces in Italy (k) 704 71â— 715 755 1077 1133 1168 1059 1080 c. of Provence (l) 1081. and Little Britany (m) 869. in France yea also of the whole Kingdom of France (n) 782. and then of Denmark (o) 1062. of Saxony (p) 782. of Bohemia (q) 1073. of Dalmatia (r) 1076. of Croatia and (s) 1000. Hungary of Poland (t) 1013. of Russia (u) 1075. and finally of England (x) 740 775 847 1135 1172. and Ireland (y) 1159. If he has omitted Scotland his Continuator Bzovius (z) 1299. fetches it in But Baronius himself comprehends it in Adrian's Bull to King Henry II. in which His Holiness assumes to Himself by humane right all the Islands in general on which the Sun of Justice our Saviour Christ did shine with the glorious beams of his Gospel besides out of Europe he makes the Pope in like manner capable to dispose of the Kingdom of Armenia (a) 1197. at the foot of Mount Taurus in the very Continent of Asia As for the Eastern and Western Roman Empires the Pope has disposed of them by what right He pleased But for the East and West-Indies divided equally betwixt and bestowed perpetually upon Ferdinand King of Castile and John King of Portugal by Alexander VI in two several Bulls whereof that to Ferdinand is dated (b) May 4. 1443. at Rome the 4th of May 1443 Baronius could find no pretence at all of humane right or title in the See Apostolical to either of them and therefore leaves them at large together with so many other Kingdoms of Asia Africk America and the Terra Australis incognita to be asserted onely by His jus divinum or claim of divine right to the whole circumference of the Terrestrial Globe without exception of so much as one single foot of Land VII That for the practises answerable in all respects not only to those Positions but to the Conclusions from them which I pass over now though they are no less clearly derivable from those Premises than properly appliable even to His present MAJESTY and His present people as they have without question formerly and frequently de facto been applied to the preceeding Princes and Subjects of England Ireland and Scotland I say for such practices which are likewise quite other than any and quite contrary to all recommended in the Gospel c There is no need to go so high as Gregory VII or to any of His Three immediate Succâ—ssors Victor Vrban and Paschal who created so much evil to the Roman Empire and Emperours Henry IV and Henry V. Nor even so high as Innocent III's interdicting England near seven years together and compelling our King John to that extreme vassalage of kneeling and pulling off his own Crown from his head and laying it together with the Royal Scepter Robe Sword and Ring at Pandolfo the Legat's feet at Dover and receiving them back no sooner than the fifth day and then onely in farm and on condition to pay a Thousand Mark a year and acknowledge for ever both England and Ireland Tributary to and held of the Roman See Nor yet so high as Frederick II. Emperour of that name his Excommunication and Deposition first by Gregory IX and then again by Innocent IV the very original sources of that miserable condition of Italy for so long after worried by the incredible fury of Guelphs and Gibellines No nor so high as the like Thunderbolts of Boniface VIII against Philip le Bel of France Nor even as John XXII and His two immediate Successors Benedict XII and Clement VI their equal rage exprest in the like procedure against the Emperour Lewis of Bavier for Thirty three years continually involving the whole Empire in extreme Confusion Germany in Blood and Italy in horrible Disorders Nor yet so high as Pope Julius II his armed Thunders against Lewis XII of France and for his sake against the poor unfortunate John Albret whom He depriv'd of the Kingdom of Navarre even those very Thunders which not only so al arm'd but incens'd the said Lewis that he stamped his golden Coyn with this inscription against Rome Perdam Babylonis Nomen We need not in truth for instancing even manifoldly those practises go so high as the very lowest of these now related nor at all further than our own Kings Dominions Witness in the first place that terrible thundring that more than excommunicating more than deposing nay more than exposing Bull of Paul III (c) Dated at Rome at St. Marks anno 1535 Aug. 29. though not published till Decemb. 1538. in the first year of His Papacy against Henry VIII even that extraordinary Bull of this angry Pope and such a Bull indeed as never was used by His Predecessors nor imitated by His Successors against any sayes (d) Hist Conc. Trent Padre Paulo And Pope Pius V His Declaratory Sentence in the fifth year of His Pontificat against Queen Elizabeth intituled S. D. N. Pii Papae V. Sententia Declaratoria contra Elizabetham praetensam Angliae Reginam ei adherentes Haereticos Qua etiam declarantur absoluti omnes subditi a juramento fidelitatis quocunque alio debito deinceps obedientes Anathemate illaqueantur (e) Dated at Rome at St. Peters in the year of Christ 1569 February 24 but by John Felton so daringly or rather desperately fixed on the Bishop of London's Palace-gates in Pauls Church-yard May 25. 1570. And the Bull or Breve of Gregory XIII in the eighth year of his Pontificat directed thus Gregorius XIII universis singulis Archiepiscopis caeterisque Praelatis nec non Principibus Comitibus Baronibus Clero Nobilibus Populis Regni Hiberniae salutem apostolicam benedictionem (f) Dated at Rome at St. Peters May 13. 1580. and granting to all the Irish that would join and fight in the Rebellion of the Fitz-Geralds of Desmond against Queen Elizabeth even the same plenary pardon and remission of all their sins which is granted to those engaged in a Holy War against the Turk (g) Dated at Rome at St. Peters under the Fishers Ring April 18. 1600. or other infidel possessors of the Holy Land And that other of Clement VIII and of His Papacy the ninth year to the same purpose i. e. of the like tenour and direction to the Irish Nation in general animating them to join
unanimously in Tyr-Oen's Rebellion against the self-same heretical Queen as they call'd her not to mention here any way His Breve to Tyr-Owen himself (h) Dated in January the said year of His Popedom but of Christ 1601. And the Theological Judgment of the two famous Universities of Castile Salamanca and Valladolid (i) The former at Salamanca dated the second of February 1603. albeit the Jesuits Colledge there begun and Signed it before on the seventh of March 1602. the latter dated at Valadolid the eighth of March 1603. both justifying the lawfulness of Tyr-Oen and his Associates their taking Arms against the Queen and condemning as guilty of mortal sin all the other Roman-Catholick Irish that obeyed the Queen and fought against them for Her Majesty And the two several Breves of Paul V. (k) The first dated at St. Marks in Rome sub annulo Piscatoris x. Cal. Octob. 1606 and the second next year after which was the third of his Papacy dated likewise there at St. Marks on the 23d of August in the second and third year of His Papacy and both Breves directed to the Catholicks of England against the Oath of Allegiance made by King James in Parliament a little time before And lastly the other two several Breves of Vrban VIII (l) And that dated at St. Peters at Rome under the Signet of the Fisher May 30. 1626. whereof one was in like manner to the Catholicks of England exhorting them to lose their lives rather than be drawn to take noxium illud illicitum Anglicanae fidelitatis Juramentum quo non solum id agitur ut fides Regi servetur sed ut sacrum universae Ecclesiae sceptrum eripiatur Vicariis Dei omnipotentis c. that pernicious and unlawful Oath of Allegiance of England which His Predecessor of happy memory Paul V had condemned as such The other was that Bull or Breve of Plenary Indulgence (m) Dated 1643. May 25. given yet more lately to all the Roman-Catholicks of Ireland who had join'd in the Rebellion there begun in the year 1641 even that very Bull I mean which the Person of Quality objects in his Answer to P. W. Besides all these Publick Instruments and many more I omit of Paper and Parchment and Hands and Seals which are not denied nor can be on any sufficient ground witness in the second place all the no less unchristian than unhappy effects of these very Bulls Breves Judgments and Indulgences Particularly witness first the Rebellion of the Lincolnshire Twenty thousand men under that sturdy Monk Doctor Mackerel alias Captain Cobler and immediately after their suppression the much more terrible Insurrection of Forty thousand Yorkshire and other Northern men formed into a complete Army and even provided with a Train of Artillery calling themselves the Holy and Blessed Pilgrimage or the Pilgrimage of Grace and both Rebellions raised on pretence of Religion against Henry VIII (n) Two Rebellions in the year 1537. against Henry VIII Two more against King Edward VI. Several other in England and Ireland against Q. Elizabeth in the year 1537. Next those other two great Bodies of Northern and Western Roman-Catholick Zealots against his son King Edward VI and the latter marching into the Field with a Crucifix under a Canopy which instead of an Altar was set in a Cart accompanied with Crosses and Candlesticks and Banners and Holy Bread and Holy Water c. Then the unfortunate Earls of Northumberland and Westmerland with all their Adherents drawn so temerariously into the Field at Cliflord Moore not far from Wetherby in the West-riding of Yorkshire against their lawful Queen Elizabeth Then the Earls of Desmond Tyr-Oen Tyrconnel the Viscount Baltinglasse O Docharty and so many other Septs and Names as at several times Rebelled against Her in Ireland and from first to last continued there a long and doubtful War against Her Then the Invincible Armada (o) Spanish Invasion 1588. or Spanish Invasion in the memorable year 1588 besides those more private Plots of Parry Babington Savage Cullen Lopez Squire York and others to take away Her Life by Sword or Poyson Then against King James not only in Scotland (p) The armed Confederacy of several Earls in the year 1592. and while He was only King of Scotland the armed Confederacy of the Earls of Montrosse Bothwell Crawford Arrol Huntley Anguss the Lairds of Kinfawns of Fintrie and others in the year 1592 by the advice and at the sollicitation of the Jesuits Hay Creighton Abircrumby Tyrie but in England (q) Gunpowder-Treason Nov. 5. 1605. after coming to that Crown also both against Him and all the Three Estates of that Kingdom in Parliament assembled the most Execrable design of the Powder-plâ—t Traytors on the Fifth of November 1605 besides other Designs and less famed Contrivances formerly both in England and Scotland against His own Person Liberty and Life Lastly Under King Charles I of Glorious Memory the Universal Rebellion or Insurrection which you please to call it of all the Roman-Catholicks of Ireland (r) The Irish Rebellion 1641. a very few excepted against His said Maiesties Laws Authority and Deputies of that Kingdom in 1641 their Confederacy formed and War continued by them for so many years after and even Two several Peaces (s) The first Peace in the year 1646 and the second in the year 1648. with His Majesties LORD LIEUTENANT in that interim so scandalously violated by the prevailing Party amongst them To all which matters of Fact of both kinds relating only to the proper and even latter as well affairs as times of these Kingdoms of England Ireland and Scotland if we please to add the strictest Oath of Fidelity that can be imagined which all even our own Archbishops Bishops and Abbots do and must take at their Consecration that I may pass over now in silence not only the other Oath which all Beneficed Church-men whatsoever that have Collation or Institution by Bull from His Holiness nay all graduated Lawyers and Physitians do likewise take but also the false and yet both practical and general interpretation of the solemn vow of Obedience which all even our very Regulars do make there can be nothing more desired to shew That we need not go higher up than our own Dayes and our Fathers nor farther off than the peculiar Concerns of these very Nations to instance both manifestly and abundantly such practises as in all respects are answerable to the very worst of those Principles to which they relate VIII That notwithstanding the great multitude of Roman-Catholick Writers and greater authority of other Patrons of the same Church viz. the Roman Bishops themselves commonly these last 600 years maintaining even the very highest Enormities of the now related both Principles and Practises yet even continually since the very first time that any 〈◊〉 in those Principles or any lawfulness in those Practices hath been asserted either by Pope Hildebrand Himself
You may at the very first hearing of this Proposal plainly discover their design to be no other than by such indirect means of cunning delayes under pretence of filial reverence forsooth to hinder you for ever from professing at least to any purpose i. e. in a sufficient manner or by any sufficient Formulary that loyal obedience you owe to his Majesty and to the Laws of your Country in all Affairs of meer temporal concern This you cannot but judge to be their drift unless peradventure you think them to be really so frantick as to perswade themselves That from Julius Caesar or his Successor Octavian after the one or the other had by arms and slaughter tyrannically seized the Commonwealth any one could expect a free and voluntary restitution of the People to their ancient Liberty or which is it I mean and is the more unlikely of the two That from Clement the Tenth now sitting in the Chair at Rome or from his next or from any other Successor now after six hundred years of continual usurpation in matters of highest nature and now also after the Lives of about fourscore Popes one succeeding another since Hildebrand or Gregory the Seventh his Papacy and since the Deposition of the Emperor Henry the Fourth by Him in the year of Christ 1077 any one should expect by a paper-Petition or paper-Address to obtain the restoring or manumising of the Christian World Kingdoms States and Churches to their native rights and freedom or that indeed it could be other than ridiculous folly and madness to expect this And yet certainly thiâ— must be the natural consequent of the Popes or present Papal Courts giving you licence to sign such a publick Instrument as will do your selves and Religion right amongst his Majesties Protestant Subjects or as even amongst your selves will satisfie the more ingenuous loyal and intelligent Persons Thus at last in so many several Paragraphs in all eighteen I have given at large those farther and more particular thoughts of mine relating both to the proper causes and proper remedies of those Evils which as you so much complain lie so heavy on you as Papists to wit the rigorous Sanctions of the penal Laws c. And consequently I have given you those conceptions whereof I said also before not only That without peradventure you may find them to be right if you please to examine things calmly with unprejudicâ—d reading and coolely with unbyassed reason but also That beside your great concern above others in the peculiar Subject of the Book it was my desire to speak directly and immediately to your selves all that moved me to make this consecratory Address to you as esteeming the knowledge of such matters to be for your great advantage and withall considering a Dedicatory Epistle as the fittest place in which I might present them to your view A third motive yet and this the onely other if in effect it be another of this Dedication was my further desire of choosing you as the fittest Judges of such a Work seeing you are the only Professors amongst all those of so many different Churches in these Kingdoms who peculiarly derive your Faith from that of Old Rome which will still be famous throughout the World For although I thought it excusable not to importune you for Patronage to a Book whose Nativity is I know not which very hard or very easie to calculate nevertheless I held it but reasonable to submit wholly to your judgment the Book it self and the Subject therein handled or the Controversie 'twixt the persecuted Remonstrants of the year 1661 of one side and their persecuting Antagonists of the other In which judgment of yours I have the more reason to be concern'd for both That this and some other Books or Tracts of mine already printed and publish'd besides some other well nigh ready for the Press as well in English as in Latin do in that cause wholly decline the Authoritative â—udgment of His Holiness and consequently of all His suspected Ministers and all other suspected Delegates whatsoever as holding them in that Controversie not to be competent Judges but criminal Parties and knowing that not only in common reason and equity but also by the express Canons of the Catholick Church they cannot be Parties and Judges in the same cause with authority to bind others Therefore until His Holiness or His subordinate Ministers Officials or Delegates under Him in point of or in order to such Authoritative Judgment be pleased to proceed Canonically against me and other Remonstrants i. e. to proceed against us in a Regular Judicatory or Tribunal and in a Regular way that is by giving us indifferent Judges and a place of safety to appear in and both beyond all exception according to the Canons of the Universal Church I and my said Fellow-sufferers the few remaining constant Remonstrators must be in a high measure concern'd in that other I think more excellent kind of judgment which is common to you and to all judicious sober conscientious Men a judgment not of authority or power to bind others but of discretion and reason to direct your selves in order to that opinion you are to hold of and communication you may have with us after you have throughly and seriously ponderâ—d the merits of our Cause and the proceedings of those who would make themselves even against all the Rules of Reason and all the Canons too of the Christian Church our Authoritative Judges in that very Cause in which they are the principal Parties However though I cannot for my own part otherwise choose than be somewhat sollicitous for the succesâ— while it is a meer future contingency yet I hope and am almost confident That my integrity and constancy in the Roman-Catholick Religion shall be vindicated against all Aspersions and Misconstructions when I Appeal to you for Justification whose Censure would be the most grievous that can befall me For in truth I do so Appeal to you in this very passage most humbly and earnestly demanding of you 1. Whether in those two grand Controversies one succeeding another the former that of the Nuncio Rinuccini's Ecclesiastical Censures of Interdict and Excommunication in the Kingdom of Ireland (e) an 1648. against all the Adherers to the Cessation concluded by the Confederate Catholicks with the then Baron now or late Earl of Inchiquin who had then declared for the late King the later of the Remonstrance presented to His Majesty (f) an 1661 â— since His Happy Restauration in both which I have ever since continually engaged against the Roman Courts designs on the Supreme Temporal power of these Kingdoms Whether I say my Sermons or my Books my Doctrine or my Practice in the Concerns of either Controversie can be justly tax'd with so much as one tittle or one action against that Roman-Catholick Faith which you all together with the Roman-Catholick World abroad believe as necessary to Salvation 2. Or seeing there is not so much as any
on the other side or even calling for them by Summons or otherwise at any time before such prejudgment given or made This I say is it that both obliges and warrants me in all reason to except against them as incompetent Judges of me or my writings in that Cause i. e. to except against their individual persons but not against their Authority placed in other men of less interested or byass'd judgment Nor certainly will this Exception appear strange or ill-grounded to such as shall be pleased to turn over in this Book not only to the many divers Letters of Roman Cardinals and Bruxel Internuncio's written at several times and upon several occasions since the year 1661 to Ireland against the same Cause and me and the rest of the Remonstrants but also to the Louain Theological Faculty's Censure * Dated at Louain 1662 Dec. 29. against it i. e. against the Loyal Irish Remonstrance and Subscribers of iâ— I pass oâ—er wholly in silence at this time the Bull of Pope Alexander VII * Dated at Rome 1665 Aug. 27. in the former cause of the Appeal made anno 1648 to Innocent X by the then Supreme Council of the Roman-Catholick Confederates of Ireland from those wicked Censures of Interdict and Excommunication fulminated that year and in that Kingdom against them and all other Irish joining with or obeying them in the Cessation of Arms concluded with the Royal Party of Protestants I say fulminated therefore against them by the Archbishop and Prince of Fermo Joannes Baptista Rinuccinus Nuncio there from the foresaid Innocent X. though a very partial inconsiderate Bull grounded falsely and given directly against all the more Loyal Irish Catholicks and given so of meer purpose to make them receive absolution in forma Ecclesiae consueta and consequently to do publick Pennance for having return'd but onely so nigh their obedience to the late King of ever blessed Memory as a meer or bare Cessation of Arms in order to the preservation of His Majesties interest when their own could not subsist without it in that Kingdom And these being the Six Appendages of so many Questions going before concerning my own constancy or inconstancy in Religion you are now at liberty to determine as to that matter what you think fit So having by this time inlarged my self I hope sufficiently enough for the information of some conviction of others and satisfaction of all ingenuous lovers of Truth having discharged my Conscience and spoken my Mind touching all the three Motives that induced me to this Dedicatory Preface to you it remains that howsoever or whatsoever you judge of me or my carriage or my writings I nevertheless continue my due regard to your Benefit and conclude this Discourse as it almost begun and for the matter proceeded all along with re-minding you most affectionately of your own and your Posterities and your Religions great Concern both in the Loyal Cause I contend for and in those happy ends at which I drive Therefore in the Apostles words Before God and our Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom by all the desires you have of your own and your Posterities living comfortably in this world as free-born Subjects in your Native Countrey and by all the hopes you have conceiv'd of enjoying that better Countrey with eternal life and rest in the world to come by all your zeal not only for the vindicating of your Religion from the scandal of Disloyalty Perjury Cruelty Inhumanity Tyranny c. both in Principles and Practices but of inviting also by taking away the grand Rock of scandal those of other Churches to save their Souls in the communion of yours or of the Roman-Catholick Church if indeed you believe there is no salvation for them otherwise and by all your godly wishes of a true understanding reconciliation union peace between all Churches professing the Name of Christ and more especially between His Majesties Protestant Subjects and your selves en fine by all that is Sacred and by all that is according to reason and grace desirable I conjure you that your selves mind as you ought that great Concern of your own and mind it both effectually and speedily without further delayes I beseech you as Christians and as Catholicks by the onely adorable name of the Holy Jesus whose Doctrine you should desire to follow above all things consider That his Kingdom was not of this world (a) John 18.36 That surely he gave neither to St. Peter himself nor to any other of his eleven or twelve Apostles separately nor even to all the same twelve or thirteen with Peter and Paul collectively taken any other sort of Kingdom or the Lieutenancy of any other Kingdom than what himself had in the dayes of his abode in flesh or as he was a mortal man before his Resurrection (b) See â—â—lâ—â—â—ius himself lib. 5. de Rom. Poâ—â—tiâ— c. 4 â—itt D. That the Keyes of Heaven and the Crowns of earthly Kingdoms import very different things That as his Father sent him (c) John 20.21 22 23. so he sent all the twelve with equal and with onely Commission to remit and retain sins viz. by his Power and by his Word and by his Sacraments but not to give or to take away Scepters or Crowns (d) Non eriâ—â—â— mortalia 〈◊〉 regna dat â—â—â—lestia by any means whatsoever That he commanded what is due to Caesar to be paid to Caesar as well as to God what is due to God (e) Matth. 22 23. That Paul the thirteenth Apostle and Vessel of Election in his Epistle to the Romans * Rom. 13.1 5. plainly declares That subjection to the supereminent secular powers which carry the Sword of Justice and receive Tributes is due from every Soul and that not onely out of fear of their Sword but for Conscience sake and for fear of hell and damnation it is due from every Soul among you even from those who are the most spiritual in profession even from those who are the most high in Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Function Priests Monks Bishops Archbishops nay were they Apostles were they Evangelists were they Prophets whosoever they were as Chrysostom spake * Chrysostom Hom. 23. in Epist Paul on this Text Rom. 1â— Omnis anima c. near Thirteen hundred years since on this very Text of the Apostle and in effect with Chrysostom all the Holy Fathers of the Christian Church before and after him for a Thousand years from the Apostles time until Gregory VII That Exemption from and much more Dominion over the said Powers ate inconsistent with Subjection to them in the same Temporal matters That other Divine right of Dominion either direct or indirect His present Holiness of Rome cannot justly pretend than what He derives from Christ by or through St. Peter nor other Humane right to any Kingdom than what the free consent of the Princes People and Municipal Laws
that they might be free from all tyes of Duty Faith Obedience and Acknowledgment or Recognition of His Majesties Authority over them c. 1. This general Exception proved manifoldly viz. 1. By four several Instances of such Variation 2. By two notable Observations added to those Instances 3. By examining all and every of the several parts periods or clauses of their said Remonstrance and what their meaning in each must be and consequently by discovering all their subtlety of Ampliations Restrictions Abstractions Constractions Modifications Equivocations Reservations in fine all their Evasions and Subterfuges yea their beloved distinctions as well of Fact and Right as of the reduplicative and specificative sense 4. By Eighteen special Exceptions All from pag. 1. to 20 or last of this Second Treatise First special Instance of such variation and most material change 2. Second special Instance thereof 3. Third special Instance 13. Fourth and last Instance 14. These Instances back'd with two notable Observations more First Observation 16. Second Observation 17. One passage of their Remonstrance examined 2 3 5. Another 4. Two more 6. A Fifth 7. Sixth passage 8. Seventh 9. Their Conclusion 10. And after all the very beginning of their Remonstrance however it be in these words We Your Majesties Subjects the Roman-Catholick Clergy of Ireland together assembled do hereby declare and solemnly protest before God and his Holy Angels That we own and acknowledge Your Majesty to be our true and lawful King Supreme Lord and undoubted Sovereign as well of this Realm of Ireland as of all other His Majesties Dominions This very specious beginning and these very words I say as proceeding from the said National Congregation and as relating to all as well the Clauses inserted after as those purposely omitted is and are evidently proved to signifie a meer nothing 10 11. Eighteen special Exceptions against the said Remonstrance of the National Congregation 18 19 20. In the Third Treatise Which considers the Three first Sorbon Propositions as applied and published by the Dublin Congregation THere can be no more assurance of the present or future faith of those Congregational Subscribers from their Subscriptions to the said three Propositions added to their Remonstrance than was before intended by them in or could be from their sole Remonstrance taken according to or in that sense of theirs declared and proved to be theirs in the former Treatise Pag. 21. The unreasonable obstinacy of the Congregation as well in framing their said Remonstrance as in applying their said three Propositions both manifestly and manifoldly appears 23. First and second Argument to prove this ib. Third Argument which is ab intrinseco 24. The said three Sorbon Propositions applied c. 25. Four several Explications of the first of those three Sorbon Propositions and all those Explications own'd by the chief Divines of that Congregation ib. First Exposition 25. Second and Third 26. The Fourth and last 29. Expositions questionless even each or every of them able to â—â—ict from any man this confession that for neither of both parâ—s or both together the first Proposition adds nothing at all to their Remonstrance Pag. 30. Their second Proposition lyable to the same Exceptions Abstractions Reservations Equivocations and even Distinctions of the reduplicative and specificative sense ib. Their third Proposition also how specious soever yet as from them is wholly insignificant as being subject especially to the distinctions of the reduplicative and specificative sense of fact and of right of humane or temporal and divine or spiritual yea of ordinary and extraordinary c. 31. Third Argument in form 30. Proofs that the three Sorbon Propositions both in themselves and as applyed by the foresaid Congregation are lyable rationally to such Constructions 33. Fourth and Fifth Argument 34. An Evasion obviated 35. The Parisian Censure of Sanctarellus at length 35 36. Confirm'd by the seven other Vniversities of France 38. In the Fourth Treatise Containing Answers to the Reasons why the Congregation would not Sign any of the three latter of the Six Sorbon Declarations c. THeir Title might not ungroundedly be turn'd to this other The Jesuits Reasons unreasonable Pag. 39. The three rejected Propositions or Declarations 40. The first Paragraph of their Paper of Reasons c. contains the first or rather onely general Reason alledg'd by the Congregation for rejecting them ib. That general Reason is in effect either the Impertinency of all and each of the said Fourth Fifth and Sixth of the Six late Sorbon Declarations to assure His Majesty of Great Britain of the future Allegiance of the Irish or is the insignificancy of the same three later Propositions to assure Him any more or better of the Irish Clergies Fidelity than His Majesty might have been by their two former Instruments viz. their Remonstrance and their three first of the said six Sorbon Propositions ib. The end which the Author hath in answering as well that first or rather onely indeed but no less false than general Reason as all the rest following I confess pretended but in truth likewise very false specifical Reasons or rather pretended specifical Proofs of the foresaid general one viz. by Induction of particulars ib. The second Paragraph of their Paper i. e. the first of their specifical Reasons or Proofs viz. That they look'd upon the Fourth Proposition of Sorbon as not material in their debate For c answer'd by demonstrating the contrary as to every point of their Allegations 41 42 43 44. Particularly their speaking these words We conceive not c. in their general Reason and in their said first specifical these other words We look'd upon it c. so much in truth against their own certain knowledge and therefore Conscience answered 40 41. And their horned Argument or Dilemma answer'd 42. And their saying that they conceive not what more they might have said thaâ— hath been touch't already positively in their Remonstrance answer'd 43. They might in terminis applying the said Fourth to themselves have said That we do not approve nor ever shall any Propositions contrary unto our Kings Authority or true Liberties of the Irish Church and Canons received in the same Kingdom for example That the Pope can depose Bishops against the same Canons 41. And more at large discoursed upon Pag. 43. And their saying That they admit not any Power derogatory to His Majesties Authority answered 44 45. Third Paragraph of their Paper containing their next two specifical Reasons or Proofs and Arguments for their general one and for what particularly I mean concerns the Fifth Sorbon Declaration viz. their alledging first That whether the Pope or a General Council be above or not above c. is a School Question of Divinity which they thought not material to their affairs to talk of secondly That they conceive it not only impertinent but dangerous c. in the consequence to deny the Pope to be above a General Council for then it would follow that they must
neither that nor his offer to put himself into the City when Ireton was encamped before it could prevail with them 30. The Proceedings of the Bishops about this time i. e. their clandestine Assembly at Jamestown of their own meer motion and power without any licence approbation permission or knowledge of his Excellency ib. The Letter dated 24th of July 1650 and Signed by Thomas Flemming Archbishop of Dublin and John Burk Archbishop of Tuam to his Excellency which shews what kind of Assembly that of Jamestown was like to be ib. His Excellencies Answer from Roscommon to that Letter 2d of August that year 91. He leaves it to the judgment of the General Assembly of Loghreogh to which he writes Whether the most absolute Monarch of Christendom could after a more Kingly manner have required the advice of his Subjects or with a more negligent State have promised gracious Answers than these two Archbishops did from and to him in their said Letter 92. His Answer to the said two Archbishops produced the expressions you will find in a Letter of the whole Congregation it self to his Excellency from Jamestown dated 10th of August 1650 and subscribed by them which was also a Letter of Credence viz. to be given by his Excellency to the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelly 92. Particulars of the Message sent from the said Congregation by the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelly to his Excellency and by these Messengers or Commissioners delivered on the 13th of August 1650. 93. Neither by this Message nor the Letter of Credence of the 10th of August could any imagine that the satisfaction the Prelates do seemingly promise in both to give should be their Declaration against his Person and Authority and their Excommunication too against any that would feed help or adhere unto him both dated 11th and 12th of August the very next dayes after they had sent the above-recited both Letter and Message 93 94 96. His Excellencies Answer from Loghreogh on the 31 of August same year to the Prelates met at Jamestown i. e. to their said Letter of Credence 94. His Answer also to the particulars of the Message 95. The unhandsomness first injustice next and lastly the rashness of their said both Declaration and Excommunication 96. What not only an invasion these proceedings of the Bishops is upon the Regal Power but usurpation also on the freedom of the Nobility and Commons is fit for the General Assembly of all the Three Estates viz. then sitting at Loghreogh to consider ib. Letters from the Bishop of Clonfert and Doctor Charles Kelly to the Officers of the Army under the command of the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard and from the Bishops of Raphoe Killala and Fearns to the Earl of Westmeath and other Officers 96 97. Reflections on these Letters ib. The grounds of the Congregations or the Jamestown Assemblies proceeding to an Excommunicating of all that should feed help or adhere to his Excellency the Kings Lieutenant of that Kingdom are set down in their Declaration of the 12th of August intituled A Declaration of the Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of the Regular and Secular Clergy of the Kingdom of Ireland against the continuance of His Majesties Authority in the Marquess of ORMOND Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the misgovernment of the Subject and the ill conduct of His Majesties Army and the violation of the Articles of Peace at Jamestown in the Convent of the Fryarâ— Minors the 12th of August 1650. 98. Reflections on this Title Pag. 98. Now supposing they were the Monarchs they would be and let the grounds of their Excommunication set forth by them be duly examined it will be found that their sentence is most unjust So that as their Tribunal is usurped their Judgment is erroneous ib. The Preamble of their Declaration and His Excellencies Answer to that Preamble 99 100. First Article of their Declaration and his Answer 101. Second Article and its Answer 102. Third Article and its Answer 102 103 104. Fourth Article and its Answer 105 106. Fifth Sixth Seventh and Eighth Article with his Answers 107 108 109. Ninth Article which is concerning the conduct of the Army ib. Answer at large to this Ninth Article 109 110 111 112 113 114. Tenth and Eleventh Article and Answers to them 115. Twelfth Article and the Answer thereunto 116. Thirteenth Fourteenth and Fifteenth Article with Answers to them 117 118. Conclusion of the Declaration 119. The Names of those who Subscribed this Declaration both at Jamestown and Galway 119 120 121 122 123. His Excellency having on the 13th of October the same year 1650 received in Print His Majesties Declaration made in Scotland against the Peace concluded in 1648 with the Irish he assembles the Commissioners of Trust on the 23d of October shews them the said Declaration made by His Majesty and by their advice and consent issues his Letters of the 24th of October for the meeting of the Assembly * This was the Assembly unto which His Excellency writ this long and excellent Letter whereof I give here the Heads understand you a General or National of all the Three Estates of the Roman-Catholicks of Ireland at Loghreogh on the 15th of November that same year 1650. He writes also on the foresaid 23d of October his Letter dated at Inis to the said Commissioners of Trust assuring them he would stand by the Irish Nation for maintaining to them the said Peace of 1648 until they could have free access to His Majesty provided they of their part did four things Whereof the first is That in the mean time all the Acts Declarations and Excommunications against him and the People obeying him issued by the Bishops met at Jamestown the former August be revoked by the same Bishops c. See that Letter at length 124. This offer with all the four necessary conditions annexed to it was satisfactory to the said Commissioners of Trust as appears by their Letter of the 24th of Octob. dated at Inis to His Excellency which you may read 125 126. In compliance with their desire expressed in their said Letter His Excellency gave way to their Treating with the Prelates at Galway ib. Proposals accordingly made the 29th of October 1650 by the same Commissioners to the Committee of Bishops at Galway And His Excellencies brief Animadversions upon those Proposals if not rather in general upon the Answers made by the said Committee of Bishops 127. Those Answers themselves in terminis of the Committee to the said Commissioners of Trust in Four Articles together with His Excellencies Replies to each of them 127 128 129. After the said Four Articles of their Answers the Bishops resolve thus in express terms viz. Upon consideration of the whole matter we may not consent with safety of Conscience to the Provisoes of Revoking our Declaration and Excommunication demanded by His Excellency or granting any assurance to Him or the Commissioners of Trust for not attempting
Dignities and Offices whereby they constituted the said Father Walsh their Agent and Procurator to His Majesty and great Ministers to kiss His Majesties hands in their behalf and name c. Giving him moreover all the power authority and jurisdiction they could to act for them and the rest of the Clergy and Catholicks of Ireland and to do all things he should find expedient in order to obtain what favours His Majesty should think fit by connivence or otherwise for the exercise of their Religion and to save them from persecution on that account To which Instrument of Procuration many others afterwards did subscribe and put their Seals as soon as they saw it in particular the Bishop of Dromore and the Bishop of Ardagh with their own hands and the Bishop of Ferns by his proxy and special Commission from Spain to that end That the rest of the chief Superiours of the Clergy in other parts of Ireland did not the reason was given that the times then when it was done and sent to London were such as no Messenger would undertake to go about with the Instrument and to meet together it was impossible and all thought it sufficient for all that the Primate and those other Bishops and Vicars General had already done it especially whereas it was known that the Primate himself drew that Instrument Which I thought fit to insert here word by word as it is in the original writing To the end some persons who are yet unsatisfied in this matter may see what warrant the said Procurator had from the Clergy themselves to act for them and urge them far more yet then he hath to do themselves right In Dei nomine Amen Sciant vniversi per praesentes quod nos qui huic instrumento Procuratorio subscripfimus eligendum duximus sicut per praesentes eligimus nominamus facimus et constituimus Reverendum admodum et venerabilem virum Fratrem Patrem Petrum Valesium Ordinis Sti Francisci Recollectum S. Theologiae Lectorem c. nostrum Procuratorem Agentem et negotiorum Actorem et Gestorem ut nostro omnium nomine et vice osculetur Sacras manus Serenissimi Domini Regis nostri Caroli II. congratuleturque ejus felici et faustae inaugurationi et ingressui in sua Regna Monarchiam et Imperium Eidemque Serenissimo Domino Regi vota et preces nostras humiliter offerat et praesentet et coram sua Sacra Majestate Judicibus Commissionariis Delegatis et Ministris quibuscumque ab eodem Serenissimo nostro Rege ad id deputatis aut deputandis proponat agat sollicitet et promoveat causam Catholicorum et libertatis sive tollerantiae exercitii Religionis Catholicae in hoc regno Hiberniae Vt saltem procuret nobis eas conditiones favores et gratias quae in Articulis Pacis et Reconciliationis an 1648. compositae ratae et confirmatae inter Excellentissimum Dominum Marchionem Ormoniae et Confederatos Catholicos pactae et promissae nobis fuerunt omniaque alia proponat agat et concludat nostro omnium nomine quae in ordine ad dictam sollicitationem et Agentiam necessaria aut conducibilia fuerint Proinde damus eidem venerabili et Rdo. admodum Patri omnem potestatem Authoritatem et Iurisdictionem in quantum possumus aut debemus ut ad debitum effectum perducat pacem tranquillitatem et quietem Religionis Catholicae in hoc Regno Rogantes ut eidem credentia et fides abundé in omnibus habeâtur In quorum fidem has signaturis et sigillis nostris muniri fecimus Primo Jan. 1660. In the name of God Amen Be it known to all men by these presents that we who have subscribed this Procuratory Instrument have thought fit to elect as we do by these presents elect name make and constitute the very Reverend man Father Peter Walsh Recollect of the Order of St. Francis and Reader of holy Theology c. our Procurator Agent Actor and Doer of our affairs that in all our names and place he may kiss the Sacred hands of our most Serene Lord and King Charles the Second and congratulate his happy and fortunate inauguration and ingress into his Kingdoms Monarchy and Empire and that he may humbly offer and present unto the same most Serene Lord and King our vows and prayers and that before his Sacred Majesty Judges Commissioners and Delegats and other Ministers soever deputed already or hereafter to be deputed by the same our most Serene King he may propound act sollicit and promote the cause of Catholicks and of the liberty or tolerancy of exercise of Catholick Religion in this Kingdom of Ireland That at least he may procure to us those conditions favours and graces which in the Articles of Peace and Reconciliation in the year 1648. compounded ratified and confirmed betwixt the most excellent Lord Marquess of Ormond and the Catholick Confederats were conditioned for and promised to us And that he may propound act and conclude in all our names all other things which in order to the said sollicitation and Agency shall be necessary or conducing Therefore we give the same venerable and very Reverend Father all power authority and jurisdiction as much as we can or ought that he may bring to a good issue the peace tranquillity and quiet of Catholick Religion in this Kingdom praying that credence and beleef may be given him abundantly in all things In witness whereof we have strengthned these with our subscriptions and Seals 1. of Ian. 1660. Edmundus Archiepiscopus Ardmachanus totius Hiberniae Primas Fra. Antonius Episcopus Medensis Fra. Oliverus Episcopus Dromorensis Patricius Episcopus Ardaghadensis 1665. Cornelius Gaffneus Vic. Gen. Ardachaden Oliverus Dese Vic. Gen. Medensis Ego Jacobus Cusacus S. Theologiae D. fretus authoritate et commissione speciali Rmi D. Nicholai Episcopi Fernensis huic instrumento Procuratorio ejusdem Illmi ac Rmi D. Episcopi nomine subscribo die 8. Sep. 1662. Iacobus Dempsy Vic. Apostolicus Dublinensis c. Fra Ioannes Scurlog Ord. Praedicatorum Fra. Barnabas Barnewallus Ord. Capucinerum Fra Paulus Brownus Carmelita Discalocatus When the said Peter Walsh had in the same month of Ian. 1660. according to the English stile for it was 61. according to the Roman received this Instrument at London by the hands of the Reverend Father Antony Gearnon of St. Francis's Order and shewed it immediately to my Lord Lieutenant although as he expected he was soundly checked by His Grace for daring to receive such an Instrument from such men that is men as to the generality and chief of them formerly and lately too so charactered as they were for being in their inclinations and carriage very much disaffected to His Majesties interests and very obnoxious to the laws yet he ceased not ever after upon all good opportunities to act for them and all the rest of the Irish Clergie of their communion indifferently and without any distinction and endeavour to worke their peace
as well with His Grace as with His Majestie and His Majesties other great Ministers and for the rest of the Catholick people of Ireland that ease and connivence he could for what concerned the exercise of their Religion Nor onely that but as occasion offered by writing and printing and exhibiting to His Majestie Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Chancellour of England and other great Ministers of State several papers and books in Print and otherwise of his own labours to move the performance of the Peace of 48. to the Catholicks of Ireland and to mind His Majestie of his justice to Innocents and of His mercy to Nocents But in the first place laboured opportunely and importunely till he prevailed at last to get all the great number of Priests released which had been in several places and Provinces of Ireland in restraint about six-score of them and a great many for several years before His Majesties happy Restauration Wherein he was so impartial to all that although he was offered several times the release of such of those Priests as he would pass his word for that they had been honest all along in the Royal cause during the late difference betwixt the Confederats of Ireland yet he modestly and patiently declined that savour and let those his own special friends suffer with the rest until His Majesties Gracious condescension and my Lord Lieutenants goodness looked indifferently upon them all with an eye of compassion and mercy upon hopes given His Majesty that they would all prove faithful Subjects evermore II. The year 60. and 61. being passed over till the winter came and the hopes of Roman Catholicks for what was moved in their behalf in the House of Lords at Westminster concerning the repeal of laws against them at least and in the first place of those are called Sanguinary being blasted in the bud and the example of the late Irish Rebellion and breach of both peaces in 46. and 48. by some or many of those of that Religion and Nation having besides other arguments and intrigues being made use of against such as moved for such repeal and the Parliament of England being adjourned or prorogued and that of Ireland then under the Lords Justices the Chancellour the Earls of Orrery and Montrath sitting and a great plott amongst the Irish Catholicks so falsly imposed upon them grounded on the no less false and vain pretence of a letter sent by one Priest to an other but contrived onely by a perfidious fanatick impostour as appeared soon after and that Parliament of Ireland however and Lords Justices upon this ground proceeding with strange and new severity against both Clergie and Layety of that Religion and some few of the Catholick Gentry and Clergie consulting together at Dublin of a remedy Sir Richard Barnewal Richard Beling Esq Thomas Tyrrel Esq Oliver Dese Vicar general of Meath Father James Fitz Simons Guardian of the Franciscans at Dublin and others it was resolved upon at last to Remonstrate their condition to His Majestie and Petition his just and merciful regard of them that suffered so unjustly Which accordingly the said Mr. Beling drew in the name of the Catholick Clergie of Ireland Because the design was chiefly imposed on them and upon their account the Layety suffered But forasmuch as he considered that a bare Remonstrance of their sufferings or a bare Petition of redress could not much avail a people that lately had acted as they had done in obedience to the Nuncio both he and the rest of those gentlemen with whom he consulted found it necessary by a Solemn Declaration of their principles in point of obedience in temporal things to obstruct the grand objection of The inconsistency of Catholick Religion and of a tolleration of it with the safety of a Protestant Prince or State Which was the reason that one of those Gentlemen remembring they had lately seen a printed Declaration of the Catholicks of England in their name exhibited in a long Petition to the Parliament at Westminster a little before or in the beginning of the commotions of those Kingdoms about the year 1640. and lighting on the book after diligent search wherein they had read it which is that of Father Cressy an English man and a Benedictine Monke sometime before Protestant Dean of Leighlin in Ireland entituled his Exomologesis or the motives of his conversion to the Catholick Church and having brought it to Mr. Beling he judging it very proper for the present matter and purpose of the Catholicks and Clergy of Ireland and much pleased to have such a precedent as that of men so learned and wary as the Catholicks of England for a business or Declaration of that kind extracted it word by word out of the said book pag 76. 77. and 78. Paris impression without any other change but of the Application to the King instead of the Parliament and of Ireland instead of England and inserted it in that Remonstrance which he then drew for his own Countrymen Which although it hath been often already and in several pieces of mine published in Print yet forasmuch as it was that which occasioned this general Congregation at Dublin of the said Irish Clergie in 66. five years after it was in their names exhibited to His Majestie at London and because peradventure many would consider the tenour of it when they come to read this present Treatise and other Treatises following to free them of a trouble to looke after those other pieces wherein it is I have thought fit to give them it here again to their hand To the KINGS most Excellent Majesty The humble Remonstrance Acknowledgement Protestation and Petition of the Roman Catholick Clergy of Ireland YOur Majesties faithful Subjects the Roman Catholick Clergy of your Majesties Kingdom of Ireland do most humbly Represent this their present state and deplorable Condition That being intrusted by the undispensable Commission of the King of Kings with the cure of Souls and the care of their Flocks in order to the Administration of Sacraments and Teaching the People that perfect obedience which for Conscience sake they are bound to pay to your Majesties Commands they are loaden with Calumnies and persecuted with Severity That being obliged by the Allegiance they owe and ought to swear unto your Majesty To reveal all conspiracies and practices against your Person and Royal Authority that come to their knowledge they are themselves clamour'd against as Conspirators plotting the destruction of the English among them without any ground that may give the least colour to so foul a crime to pass for probable in the judgment of any indifferent person That their Crimes are as numerous and divers as are the Inventions of their Adversaries and because they cannot with freedom appear to justifie their Innocency all the fictions and allegations against them are received as undoubted verities and which is yet more mischievous the Laity upon whose Consciences the character of Priesthood gives them an influence suffer
liberty or that ease from the penal laws which they so vehemently desired might be so sollicited and obtained by him That my Lord Aubigny himself though expecting the Cardinal Dignity was so farre from disapproveing that Remonstrance or their concurrence to it when first it came forth in Print That he sayed plainly and often to the Procuratour when complaining to him of his said Confessour Father Peter Aylmer at that time with his Lordship at London If the King would be advised by him there should not be a Priest in any of the three Kingdoms but such as would freely sign it That although a while after when he hearkned to the Jesuits he relented somewhat on consideration of their furtherance of his pretensions at Rome or of removeing the obstacles they might perhaps otherwise put in his waye yet on better consideration again return'd to his former and fix'd principles and therefore advised the said Father Aylmer either to sign or withdraw himself out of England Which was the immediate cause of Mr. Aylmers comming then for Ireland though with design also to do all the mischief he could to cross that business as truly he did by manifest untruths although he protested so lately before and so publickly in the presence of 30. Catholicks Priests and Catholick Bishops too at London when the rest signed it that he singled not himself for point of conscience and that he would with his blood sign the lawfulness and Catholickness of it yet pretending after that he had not sufficiently studied nor understood the point as indeed he never seemed to have before or after That for the rest of the Queens Chaplains ordinary or extraordinary I mean the English Irish who were concern'd and to whom it was proper I must confess the grand mistake was in not offering it them by authority at first when it came forth as to my knowledge it was intended to be offered at Hampton-Court and at Council upon a certain Sunday but none of the copies being at hand that day and other things intervening after they were neglected Which gave so much encouragement to all other dissentors ever since albeit the case of those Chaplains and that of the rest of the Irish Clergie be very different and that none of the rest who have been so expresly particularly and positively desired their own concurrence should on that pretence denye or excuse it That finally for what concerns my Lord Abbot Montague what ever his own peculiar interest was or is in relation to that Remonstrance or to an approbation of it if demanded I am sure that being as well as my Lord Aubigny acquainted with the Divinity of France having his title and so great a benefice there and being so conversant in that Court and Church his judgement must have been for the Catholickness and lawfulness of it And a person of so great both reason and experiance in the affairs of these Nations could not but conceive it was both expedient and necessary for such of the Romish Clergie natives as would live at home in any of them to sign it and for such as were abroad or would be not to hinder those at home by disswasion from the good they might expect thereby And could not but conceive it was both expedient and necessary even for His Majesties greater assurance of them that they should do so That besides nothing more in particular being known of my Lord Abbot Mountague's affection or disaffection to that matter nay were even his positive perswasion to the contrary known of certain as it was never for any thing I could here and I have listened after it sufficiently carefully enough yet his Lordships even such demeanour could be no rational pretence for them his forraign dependency his special priviledge by serving the Queen Mother in so great a capacity as he is known to serve Her exempting him from a rule concerning others that had no such arguments to excuse them To say nothing here of his being an English man and Priest of that Clergie who were not so neerly concern'd not to be backward as the Irish Clergie were and who nevertheless did then for the generality of them most heartily desire as they do at this present His Majestie were pleased to favour them so much albeit not lying under those great suspicions the Irish Clergie do at least not having in our dayes given such cause as to demand their subscriptions to such an Instrument and be content therewith in lieu of those other demonstrations the laws they lye under expect from them IX However such as made it their interest to oppose any further subscription made use of these and many other such pittiful and too too weak pretences to excuse their nonconcurrence when they saw no further probability in those no less weak pretences of Theological arguments borrowed from Suarez Bellarmine and others of their way that writ on the Subject of the Popes ill-grounded pretences to and over the Scepters and Royal Diadems or temporal authority of Kings and in particular of the Kings of England But indeed the true causes of their backwardness and reluctancy and which even themselves almost all generally upon occasion acknowledg'd were 1. That most of their leading men and such as not onely were in office over others but very many also that bore no such offices at all as then were pretendents and candidats either abroad at Rome for titulary Archbishopricks Bishopricks Vicar-generalships Deanries Parishes Provincialships Commissaryships c. or at home amongst their own Brethren for votes to be chosen presented or preferred to such offices either amongst the secular or regu-Clergie as they aspired unto albeit as poor and inconsiderable amongst the Clergie as little Cures in Parishes without other advantage than the bare benevolence of the laye people and even as poor and inconsiderable as a Guardianship Priorship or some such other now very vain title in Ireland amongst the Regulars For because at Rome and for what depended of that Court immediately they perswaded themselves that to subscribe would be a perpetual obstruction to all their hopes as the case stands in Ireland the King being of a different communion and even at home also they could expect no more favour from their own Brethren or their own actual superiours Bishops Vicars-general Provincials c. that were adverse to the Remonstrance as most of them certainly were even such as both in their judgements for point of conscience and in their natural inclinations also to the English Crown and interests of it in Ireland were truly in their Soules for the Remonstrance would not by any means be induced to declare themselves publickly such either in word or writing 2. That such as in the late Warrs had engaged themselves against both Peaces or either of them and against the foregoing Cessation and consequently for the Censures of the Nuncio apprehended it for want of Christian humility or a true sense of piety as the worst of evils
defiled but certainly hold upon that matter in 〈◊〉 To be 〈◊〉 the Answers were 1. That it very ill â—â—ted with the profession of the followers of Christ and Successors of his Apostles and Disciples or the function of Priests of God and Preachers of Evangelical tâ—â—â—â— by their calling for any earthly regard or ambitious aim of titles or diguleies either 〈…〉 of the Church to decline the declaration of their conscience or of the doctrine of Christ whereby the stocks on people 〈◊〉 their charge or to whom they were sent might be sâ—â—â—dly and sufficiently instructed that to embrace 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 as prescribed by the law of God That besides they were altogether ouâ— in their way to those worldly and they proposed themselves with so little regard of their duty or conscience That the case was much altered 〈◊〉 that hath been these hundred years pasts And that if they expected a greater liberty they should withal expect a more arrow inspection from the Prince or State into their affairs and Government and to the persons amongst them advanced 〈◊〉 others and to the means and wayes of their advancement hereafter and their 〈◊〉 its consequently principles and faithfulness to the Crown 2. That 〈◊〉 of them as formerly had been so with â—unate and indeed most of them were so as to have been pactiâ—â—s in the Nunâ—â—o's and other annexed quarrels against the brights of the Crown 〈…〉 of the Kingdom had the 〈◊〉 reason now to be forward to embrace the opportunity given them of meâ—â—ing hereafter a better opinion and removing as well as they might out of His Majesties breast Lord Lieutenants and even out of all the rest of their fellow Subjects especially Protestants the jealousies and suspicions their former actions continue yet in them and must alwayes continue if they refuse to give so lawful and dutiful so catholick and conscientious an argument of their change and repentance as their subscription to the said Remonstrance must be reputed 3. That for those others of them who in the 〈…〉 him been honest and loyal all along they should 〈…〉 the fair hope they had of a â—ew 〈…〉 its a 〈…〉 then this for their further good 〈…〉 their profession and â—â—â—ingâ—ed 〈◊〉 of their 〈…〉 uniform in in their doctrine and life according to the law of God in all sentiâ—â—â— that Time servers nor Wealth â—â—ckâ— That besides they should confides the streight the King was in but with so 〈…〉 the impossibility of satisfying 〈…〉 happen in such a case that of this Countrey but why 〈…〉 That to the publick good and gâ—â—â— parts of the Kingdom 〈…〉 of particular could not be preferred That they 〈…〉 be of the necessities of the publick for disposition And if the King or now Laws did wrong any even of the best deserving of their friends their religion and their conscience and principles told them and their function or calling peculiarly they nor other Subjects had in such a case other remedy but prayers and tears and supplications to Him that can believe the oppressed when he please in this world and will certainly 〈…〉 in Christian patience in a better Finally that the liberty 〈◊〉 exercise of Religion and of indoctrinating the People in the wayes to heaten were the markâ— propâ—r 〈◊〉 them to shoâ— at and to this end they were called not to contend for partitions of earthly patrimonies And that where one Proprietor 〈◊〉 his â—and a thousand Catholicks would loose their souls if they would not pursue in 〈◊〉 even course the principles of the Religion and a good Conscience and by their concurrence wipe off the jealousies raised against and scandals aspersed on it by the doctrine and practises which that Remonstrance did condemn on disown 4. To those that had ingrafted in them an aversioâ— against all was called or reputed the Interest of the Crown of England in this Countrey it was seriously inculcated how unfortunate both themselves and predecessors had been therein during the revolâ—â—â—â—s and various attempts in prâ—secution thereof these 500 years past since Hâ—â—ty the 2d And how the principles and arguments they made use of to flatten themselves to some kind of â—â—â—â—fulness which indeed 〈◊〉 a pitiful and in point of conscienâ—â— were such as chose and no other then those which Father Charles 〈◊〉 Mahâ—n the Mâ—â—er Jesuit hath in his wicked Apology set out in Portugal however pretended to have been printed at Frandâ—fords and dispersed here amongst the Confederate though publickly burn'd by the hand of a hangman at Kilkenny and by the authority also of the said Confederate and against which the Proculator himself by the command of to then supream Council preach't nine Sermons five Sundays one after another in St. Kennys Church on that text of Jeremiah Quis est 〈◊〉 vobis sap â—â—siqui considerat hoc quare perierit terra Even such as would involve by consequence all Kingdoms and States in the whole earth whereinto my Forreigner ever enter'd as any time in perpetual war and blood shed Such as would beâ—â—â—ve of all right all conquering Nations let the causes of the invasion be never so just or continued-possession after be never so long and the submission of the conquer'd never so voluntary for what can appear to the eyes of man And such also as would arm even themselves who made use of such arguments one against another while the world did stand Nay and such too as being prest on by contrary arguments would make them confess consequently as indeed they did such of them as were ingenuous and freely spoke their minds to the Procurator urging them in point of reason that it were not a sin against the law of God for any to involve the whole Kingdom iâ— was again if he could to recover only for himself a small patrimony even of a much as twenty pounds a year whereof he had been in his own privat judgement dispossesâ—â—d unjustly in the late plantations made before the wars It was further laid open to such men how their sin entertaining such mâ—râ—â—â—es and harbouring such designs was by so much the more abominable before God and man by how much they were themselves Hypocritical in pretending only to others that knew them not a speciousness of Religion and that of the Church of God and interest of the Pope Then which or any of all which God knowes they intended nothing less but where it brought or could bring their other truly intended worke about 5. To the Regulars in general it was answer'd That they knew better their own strength and their own exemption and their own priviledges then so That they often engage against the whole body of the secular Clergie in matters wherein they are sure to offend them more and have more opposition from them and less support from others either in their own Country at home or abroad in forraign parts or even at Rome And they were sure enough the Pope would be wiser then to discountenance such a numerous body
hereafter and had already the Roman Courtiers would not did not except against the words but sense And that however if they would insist only on the words not sense and that they would choose rather not to speak English with the Catholicks of England and those too of their own Clergy Nobility and Gentry who subscribed their sense in such a form of words the Procurator doubted not to prevail with His Grace so far as a condescension to or permission of their wording their own sense would amount unto provided this came home to the same thing or sense of the former Which yet he feared nay saw clearly it would not As he was certainly perswaded by many arguments they intended alwayes to decline the question of right or authority or power either divine or humane in the Pope to depose the King or dispense with or absolve his Subjects from their Allegiance but only at most and at best to engage themselves to be true to the King whether the Pope had any such or no and without mentioning any thing at all of that pretence or declining it otherwise expresly or tacitly Wherein the Procurator was not deceived as shall hereafter in its proper place appear 15. To that of the Kings or Lord Lieutenants desire of their subscription as yet not appearing to them it was answered they had many sufficient arguments publick and notorious for a whole twelve-month pass'd of His Majesties and Lieutenants both being very well pleased with what was done and very desirous of what was not yet done That both very graciously accepted of their subscriptions who had given the first example both of Clergy Nobility and Gentry and no less concernedly expected the concurrence of the rest That it was unreasonable in them to stand upon the Kings or his Lieutenants desiring them to petition or make other necessary or expedient application in their own proper concerns That they could not be ignorant the laws required from them under great penalties other kinds of Declarations and Oathes besides which the King or his Ministers would not think it reasonable to urge them to any but withal such as they know the Oathes of Supremacy and that of Allegiance in the Statute of King Iames were Oathes which they would a thousand times more hardly digest and that they should think themselves happy to be esteemed and accounted hereafter loyal Subjects by not expecting the Kings desire much less command but by offering of themselves in lieu of those such a Declaration as they might subscribe without scruple And yet notwithstanding he could assure them that for a greater conviction of their inexcusable delayes and beating them from this retreat also and for discovering their intentions clearly before the face of the Sun they should see ere long under his Graces own proper hand-writing if nothing else would serve what without any ground left to reply would clear this objection Which as hereafter will appear they did both see and read too themselves with their own eyes in the original writing 16. For their put off to a general meeting of the whole Clergy of the Nation both Secular and Regular or of Representatives out of every Diocess and Order They were minded first of the issue of all such ever since 41. and more especially of that of 42. at Kilkenny where the General Confederacy was first established as by common and authoritative consent however most of them were thereto necessitated by the Proclamations and other severe proceedings at Dublin but singularly above all of the Congregation at Waterford against the Peace of 46. and of that other at Jamestown against the Peace of 48. And they were told those had given little encouragment to the Lord Lieutenant to licence or connive at any such National meeting until he had first some better arguments of their being changed in their principles and affections then they had given yet by so many long demurs and so many unreasonable reasons pretences and excuses and so much unwillingness reluctancy and opposition to a bare Declaration of their loyal resolutions for after-times That hence it might be rationally gathered they desired such a meeting of purpose only to oppose hereafter with the greater authority or colour of it that profession of their duty That without asking the Lord Lieutenants licence permission or connivence they met frequently in Diocesan Synods and Provincial Chapters to determine those things which themselves had a mind to and no way related to any thing would please either His Majesty or State or to the publick peace of the Country or security thereof nay sent from one Diocess and one Province to another to consult and determine the means of opposing such a duty or profession of it And so they might for a good end with less danger at least nay without any at all if they were so minded convene securely without acquainting His Grace at least without insisting on a pasport or safe conduct or other licence or permission under his hand as they unreasonably demanded In a word that this pretence and resolution of theirs of not signing that Instrument or other such without such a meeting was in the consequence thereof the most dangerous and pernicious they could alleadge or entertain being already as they were all generally satisfied of the lawfulness or Catholickness of the profession expected For what could be more dangerous in any Kingdom or State or human Society of a body politick of any people Civil or Ecclesiastick then that they would put the profession of their Allegiance to votes and would not therein or thereof determine any thing but at the pleasure of their fellow Subjects how averse soever to the State or King and to the laws even the most necessary and just in temporal affairs or what more dangerous then that there should be by necessary consequence as many Kings or Supream commanders of Allegiance of a people in a Kingdom as there are amongst the Secular Clergy Arch-bishops Bishops or Vicars Apostolick or General ruling the Parish Priests respectively subordinate to them And amongst the Regular Clergy as many such as there are Provincial Superiours who command their Priours Guardians Rectours likewise respectively subordinate nay as many too as there are such Local Superiours commanding those under their immediat direction And yet that being met alltogether every one must depend of every one in resolving whether he wil be a true Subject to his Prince or State from which he expects protection and to which by the laws of God and man he should own subjection That for these reasons and to prevent further inconvenience and obstruct all those jealousies and suspicions which a National Congregation insisted on or a licence permission or connivence to convene so insisted upon would certainly raise they would much better decline the thoughts of any such or other whatsoever meetings or dependencies one from another but from their own conscience and knowledge of both the expediency and necessity of
nation should highly rejoyce the miraculous Restauration of Charles the Second their natural King their only deliverer from the hard and intollerable durance and tyranny which they so many years have suffered in his absence under the suppressions of an Vsurped power and the Irish Clergie doth hold themselves by double obligation so to do first by the tye of natural subjection to their most gracious and lawful Prince secondly that they may vindicate themselves from the innumerable calumnies and lyes whereby they are misrepresented unto the King and his Ministers most falsely suggested to them that they intend to raise rebellion and tumults Wherefore we the whole body of the Dominican Friers unanimously that it may appear to the world with what sincerity of mind and purity of intension we are inclined to our Soveraign Charles the Second following the steps of our predecessors and fully satisfied in our conscience first do render most hearty thanks unto the King of Kings for the miraculous Restauration of His Sacred Majesty to His hereditarie Kingdoms and will ever pray that the same divine power and providence that established Him in his own right may give him long time happily to raign and govern And for manifestation of our fidelity to Him we do protest before God Angels and Men without any equivocation or mental Reservation our Soveraign Charles the Second to be the true and lawful King and Supream Lord of Ireland and therefore that we are in conscience and under pain of Highly offending God to obey our said Soveraign in all civil and temporal affairs no less then any of our function to their respective Princes in Europe And do further more protest that we know no external power that can absolve us from this Religious obligation no more than other Subjects of the like function with us from the like obligation in Spain France or Germany or any elswhere Finally we execrate abjure and renounce that not Catholick pernicious doctrine That any Subject may Kill or Murthen his King by himself or any other though differing with him in Religion nay we protest the contrary saying that all Subjects are bound to manifest all rebellious and machinations against their Kings person His Kingdom at State to the King or his Magistrate which we do hereby promise to do And this protestation of our fidelity we the aforesaid body of the Order of St. Dominick in Ireland do freely offer to His most meek and clement Majesty and prostrate under His Sacred â—ee we pray he may be pleased to accept this our protestation and to defend and deliver us frâ—â— the oppression of our persecutors for our profession is to fear and follow him who in the Gospel commands to give unto God his due and to Cesar his and we will always pray for His Royal Majesty his Queen and the blessing of a happy posterity Dated the 15th of October 1662. F. Iohn Hart Provincial F. Lawrence Kelly Diffinitor F. I. Burgate Deffinitor F. Eugius Coigly Diffinitor F. Richard Maddin Diffinitor F. Dionisius a Hanreghan F. Constant de Annunciatione Kyeffe F. William Bourke F. Cornelius Googhegan F. Felix Conuer F. Patrick Dulehanty F. Thomas Philbin F. Ioanner Baptista Bern F. Geâ—ot de martiribus Ferral F. Michael Fulam F. Goruldfitz Gerrald F. Abtonius Kenogan F. Clement Berae F. Batricius Doyre F. Charles Dermoâ—â— F. Dominick Fedrall F. Daniel Nolanus F. William O Meran F. Iohn Tyny F. Tadeus mac Donâ—ogh XVIII As concerning the Letter which this Dominican Provincial Father Iohn O Hart sent then by the same bearer and of the same date to the Procuratour although it was civil enough and a complement of thanks for minding his Order of their duty and further desires both of recommending them and their cause to His Grace and of hearing from him more often all particulars yet was it withal positive enough in declaring they could not or would not do more in that business than what they had now by their letter to the Duke and Remonstrance enclosed therein Nor indeed was it ever at any time before or after to this day expected by the Procuratour they would heartily or freely do any more because he knew very well in what hands the Government of that Order was or who were Provincials Definitors and Local Priors of their Province then and for many years puff and how unanimous they were all in the Nuncio's time and for him and his quarrel and ever since for the Censures and against any kind of peace with the Royal party only four or five excepted who yet had not the courage to mutter against the rest if not in private cornes Father Marke Rochford Oliver Darey Ioseph Langton Peter Nangle and because he know they gloried particularly and mightily in their however unfortunate unity therein having suffered no division amongst themselves but runn altogether one way for ought appeared so little did they consider that unity in evil is a curse from God and because he further knew certainly how they were touch'd to the very quick and took it to heart extreamly that any at all of theirs though but three only Father Scurlog Reynolds and Scully to whom since is added Father Clemens Birne had subscribed the Remonstrance and consequently saw themselves now in some degree begun to be divided In which judgment of them in general that it may be seen the Procuratour was not deceived but their violence made known to the end it may find some check hereafter I must not pass over in silence how they left no stone unremoved to vex the patience of those three or four subscribers and force them to a recantation exclaiming against them every where discountenancing them in every thing even against the rules not of their own Order only but of the common Canons of the Church and Christian charity also threatning to deprive them of active and passive voice in all elections and by actual instances thwarting in such Father Scurlog and Reynolds making one man of purpose to decline and vex them Priour of three Convents together at one time against the very Papal Canons cap. Vnum Abbatim 21. q. 1. ex Concilio Agathensi c. 57. Nay denying not licence only or a dispensation or indulgence to Reynolds in case of sickness to eat flesh but even an absolution of his sins on St. Dominicks eve because and only because he would not retract as it was in plain tearms told himself then and even by him that so denyed it his own local Prior in the City of Dublin And yet with more uncivil and barbarous usage to a Priest and from the chief Superiour Provincial in his visitation boxing an other on the face on that account only For they never did nor could taxe him nor any of those few other subscribers with any other kind of misdemeanour Finally removeing all such Friars to other Convents from being under the direction or command of Father Clement Prior of Newtown in Vlster of purpose or because he
certain that ever since the chief leading men of that Order conforming themselves further to all such directions as they receive from their Colledg or Convent of Irish Dominicans at Lovain as those of that Colledg to what they themselves procure from Rome and transmit to Ireland have been in all parts of this Kingdom very insolent and violent all of them in private discourse amongst all sorts of men decrying the Remonstrance and Subscribers of it if not as unlawful and heretical yet certainly against the Interest of the Pope Country and Religion and some of them preaching publickly at altars against both in the vilest and impudentest manner telling the people they should rather abide all evils suffer death it self then approve of such a form pursuant to the late Priour of Dublin but now of Naas Father M. Fullam's attestation under his own hands writing in a letter to one of his own Order Father John Scurlog that he would for his own part sooner take the Oath of Supremacy To such a degree of folly and frenzy their malice to the Subscribers drove them Which was the cause that especially in Connaght and Vlster they spared not to asperse the whole Order of Franciscans as well those had not yet subscribed as those did amongst the common people with defection from the See Apostolick because the Procuratour and greatest number of Subscribers and maintainers of that form are Franciscans and those tollerated by and countenanced or at least not proceeded against by their chief Superiours and to the end they might by such scandals raised of the Franciscans be themselves esteemed the Champions of the Great Pontiff in Ireland and both lessen the credit of others and gain to boot their benefactors Which was next that of pretensions at Rome and distractions at home against the peace of the Country and establishment of the King the only marke they shott at XX. Wherein they had the Augustinian Order who are twixt threescore and fourscore in this Kingdom but most of them in Connaght their unalterable and no less in so much unconscionable Associats I mean as to the generality of them For I do not involue every individual of them in such unworthy intrigues though I can say that not as much as one of this Augustinian Order hath for so many years since 61. though several of them very home reason'd with by the Procuratour himself any way declared his or their moderation in this matter so farre they were all from subscription excepting only that one Gentleman of theirs Father Gibbon who subscribed at London amongst the other 25. there And can say this much too of them that Father Martin French their late Priour at Dublin hath acknowledg'd there some 3. or 4. years since they were the Order of all others that ledd the Van of opposition by common consent or decree in a chapter held by them in 62. and in Connaght a little before those others of the Dominicans or Franciscans were held which was to them as it proved since like the laws of Medes and Persians irrevocable untransgressable without any regard of any other laws either of man or God positive or natural XXI About the same time the Procuratour had the above answers of the Dominican and Franciscan Chapters or Provincials he received from England by letter from the Bishop of Dromore bearing date the 18th of October the said year 62. another letter therein enclosed which was to the said Bishop from the Dean and in behalf of the Chapter of the English secular Clergie For those have a certain select number how many they are I do not exactly remember but I think about 28. composing their Chapter which represents and gives orders to all that Clergie wherever dispersed in England and Wales making a farre greater number for they were about 600. in Cromwels time sufficient learned and loyally affected all of them to the King Which enclosed letter of the English Dean and Chapter the Bishop sent the Procuratour as it was of purpose written to answer without place of reply an other pretended scruple of some of the Irish Clergie that they had not seen any approbation of the Remonstrance or concurrence from the Clergie of England though specially and by name invited to it by the Procuratours printed Advertisement annexed to the Remonstrance and by his book or The More Ample Account which he soon after publish'd amongst them at London The original being shewed by the Procuratour convinced all that would be convinced by reason for it was that you have here in the copy For the Right Reverend Father in God Oliver Lord Bishop of Dromore Right Reverend Father in God c. ALthough it be a chief point of Christian duty to be passive even in injustices without reply yet is that patience scarce profitable though with the gaine of private vertue where the publique receives prejudice And for this reason do I give your Lordship this trouble for understanding from persons of Quality that I and the rest of my Brethren of the Chapter are reported to obstruct the subscriptions of the Irish Clergie to the Declaration of Allegiance here exhibited to His Majestie as upon this score that being desired to joyn with you in it we refused it as both imprudent and unjust and by that refusal of our concurrence gave occasion to divers of the Irish Clergie to do the like by which we seem to be a block in the way to that freedom of Conscience which we would gladly purchase with our blood We humbly begg this favour of your Lordship that as you are best able to cleer us in this point that our concurrence was never required nor were we privy to your business the circumstances of our conditions being different from yours so your Lordship being assured of our judgment would please to signifie it where it may undeceive the over-credulous My Lord I have spoke with our Brethren concerning this business and find them so farre from censuring your draught or proceed in that protestation that as we know it destructive to Soveraign Majestie to be dependent in Regalities so we take it derogative to good Subjects to deny him the power Absolute in Temporalities And therefore being taught by the law of God to give him obedience indispensable we cannot but judge in that you runn along with your duty As for the expressions passing a censure upon the contrary tenets as some peradventure may think them too severe we could wish the circumstances of affairs in these His Majesties Kingdoms could have declared them impertinent but considering this age overrun with disloyaltie and even amongst those of our Holy Catholique Faith some to our great grief have been too active under colour of bad principles it cannot but be necessary to declare those principles no other then the Cockle of wicked doctrine sowed by the Enemy of mankind to the prejudice of Christianity which being a law of an absolute Rectitude in setting right our duties to God and
Res ignorata Necesse Mihi tamen multo firmior ac tutior regula videtur esse ut ubi jus naturae certat cum jure positivo Ecclesiastico hoc illi cedat Fr. Petrus Valesius in Opero Theologico seu Responsionibus ad Quaesita Ministri Provincialis Respons ad Quaes Tertium XXXIII In so many instances they could find their Allegations to be false if they did but a little seriously consider them Now for their unconcluding ones I take in the first place their allegation of the Faithful's being whipped by the Church and commanded to undergoe austere pennances But to conclude hence that therefore a corporal punishment may be inflicted by virtue of a spiritual power so as this spiritual power be properly or truly coercive or inflictive and not directive onely or meerly of such corporal punishments whether the patient will or not or so that it is authorized by God or by it self in its own nature of a spiritual power to proceed in a meer compulsory way to the actual execution of such punishments or to use corporal force compulsion or coaction to inflict such on him that otherwise refuses to undergoe them is a strange way of argueing Every ghostly Father may in some cases enjoyn his penitent such punishments and by virtue of his meer spiritual power may do so but can inflict none either by himself or by an other if the penitent will be refractory And not onely the Pope not only the Bishop but every inferiour Priest may in foro confessionali enjoyn his penitent even how great soever otherwise even a King or Emperour what ever is judg'd necessary for his eternal Salvation and consequently in some cases a deposition of themselves even from their whole temporal estates Kingdoms or Empires as in that of tyrannical and manifest usurpation and of necessary restitution the true and legal heire surviving and known and possible to be admitted without subversion of the State or people much more where it may be availeable to the support of both Yet I hope the Author of this Querie and reasons for the affirmative will not say that every such ghostly Father can proceed to execution whether their penitents will or no or can by force of Arms or other corporal means devest them respectively of their ill-gotten goods estates Kingdoms Empires though only to put the lawfull proprietors in possession thereof And yet the power in every such Confessour to enjoyn such temporal restitutions dispositions or even depositions and deprivations respectively to be undergone and executed by the penitents themselves and by virtue also of such injunction cannot be denied to be both truly spiritual and very legal too in the nature of a spiritual power Therefore spiritual directions injunctions prescriptions or commands of corporal punishments or of disposing so or so of our temporal estates allowed of or granted to be proper to a spiritual power is a very unconcluding argument That a real execution either immediate or mediate by corporal compulsory means coaction or force belongs to the same power And yet it is granted still that the spiritual power considered as directive hath a proportionable coercive power to witt meerly spiritual annexed inseparably and therefore no other execution but by meer spiritual wayes or means that is by denying of communion in meer spiritual matters For it is a most certain Christian and Catholick maxime That the Church of Christ as such meerly hath neither territory nor sword understanding those which are properly such or the material carnal civil or temporal sword XXXIV In the next place who sees not the inconsequence of his example out of 1. Mac. 2 Mattathias the Priest under the dispensations of the old Testament killed the Jew that offered Sacrifice to Idols and took arms against Antiochus and is not reproved therefore but rather renowned Therefore now under the new Testament corporal and mortal punishments may be forcibly inflicted and rebellion raysed against a lawful Prince by vertue only of the spiritual power of Christian Priests How many gross mistakes in this application and conclusion The Testaments are different and so are the means of planting establishing propagating or observing them no less different The former had promises of temporal blessings the later of purely spiritual The former had by special warrant of the God of Hosts a carnal sword to maintain it the later a spiritual word only Besides it appears no where that Mattathias killed that Sacrificeing Jew or took arms against Antiochus by vertue of his religious Priestly function or that he did either but in a meer natural or civil capacity as a chief member of the temporal common-wealth of the Jews albeit his motive was mixed with religious considerations And if it did as certainly it does not we know the law whereby he was to govern himself in point of conscience was that of Moyses which as to the express letter did warrant both his killing the Idolatrous Jew and his rebelling against that heathen and Alien tyrannizing usurper Therefore to conclude hence That when there is an other Testament Law Priesthood of a quite other nature each and those old ones of Moyses quite abolished by an equal power with that authorized them that now under the new testament law and priesthood of Christ no more a God of Hosts but suffering Saviour and now under that Ghospel which directs it self to be planted preserved restored not by the sword but by the word not by fighting but by suffering which gives no temporal power but meerly spiritual nor contains any promises of earthly rewards but celestial alone therefore I say to conclude from that example of the Macchabees that now this spiritual power of Christian Priests can warrant killing and rebelling by its own proper authority is nothing less absurd then what the most unconcluding argument would conclude All which I doubt not the authors of this Querie and reasons for the affirmative would have had understood more easily if they had had reflected on them a little more coolely But their interest or passion or both shut all the avenues to a serious recollection or which is worse made then guilty of horrible not only dissimulation but opposition of such known truths in matter of conscience and Christian Faith and consequently of that sin against the Holy Ghost which shall neither be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come And if they had had understood or reflected so they needed not to have been driven to such a pitiful and shameful shift as to quote so falsely or imperfectly the Author of The More Ample Account's answer to that objection of the Macchabees warre Which answer yet how satisfactory soever in the judgment of others or unsatisfactory in theirs was not by me in that place or book to any such weak argument as they frame here on the Macchabaean warre not at all to invalidate their now pretence of a power in either Christian or Moysaycal Priest to kill and rebell
controversie is in whose time Ptolomey likewise surnamed Epiphanes King of Egypt dyed and his young Son called Ptolomey Philometor was crowned after him King of Egypt and by consequence had the dominion of Ierusalem and Iewry That Antiochus Epiphanes that wicked ambitious and most cruell King of Asia and Syria taking advantage of the minority of this young Ptolomey Philometor without any just cause or provocation or any other but his own ambitious desires entred Egypt with a huge army and with intention to seize the young King and possess himself of all his Kingdom of Egypt and of his other dominions and wel-nigh effected his designs having after his taking of Memphis besieged Alexandria it self and the young King therein but was on a suddain forced to break up his siege and relinquish all again and retire immediatly out of all Egypt upon summons sent him by the Romans to do so or abide a sharp war from them That in his forced return to his own Kingdom some few wicked Jews having out of desire to be revenged of others even by the loss of their Countrey animated him to camp before Ierusalem and the riches of that City and treasures of the Temple there having set him all on fire with covetousness he marched directly towards it and the Gates being treacherously set open to him by those within of that wicked faction he surprized it in the hundred fourty and third year of the raign of Seleucus the year of the world 3796. and before Christ 168. years That as this was done without any consent of the people generally or of their Governours so he behaving himself immediatly after as the most cruel tyrant that even surprized any place and having broke all kind of conditions either concerning Religion Estate or life even with those very traytors of their own City and Countrey and having spoiled both the City and Temple and carried all the spoils with him to Antioch but two years after he surprized them so and having left most cruel Edicts after him for the future and those put in execution with unparelled cruelty it is evident enough that as he had no just title for that was nor any permission from the lawful hereditary King Ptolomey Philometor to seize Ierusalem or Iewry so he had none from the people of Ierusalem or Iewry either first or last to entitle him to the rights of a lawful King not even I say from them in case they could justly give any such their own hereditary King being still alive and still too in possession of the greatest part of his dominions nor could two years such forcible and cruel possession entitle him to any right at all That in fine as all this is manifest in History in that of Iosephus I mean and in his twelfth Book of the Antiquities of the Jews and in his eleventh for what concerns Alexander the Great himself and being further it is no less manifest in the same History of Iosephus and in the seventh and eight chapters of the said twelfth Book and in the marginal Chronology That Mattathias took arms against the said Antiochus Epiphanes immediatly after the said second year of his unlawful possession kept of Iewry 〈…〉 is immediatly â—ften the 〈◊〉 and general and cruel 〈…〉 it is no less evident 〈◊〉 foâ— that he did so that is 〈…〉 his 〈…〉 King but against 〈…〉 unjust Usurper and Tyâ—â—â— also no less 〈◊〉 And consequently that no warlike actions nor exhortations of Mattathias nor any other of that Machabâ—â—â— ar◠〈◊〉 of his Sons or of that whole Nation of the Jews against Antiochus that faithless impious inhumane King of Asia â—â—e to any purpose alledged to maintain the pretended inherent power of any Subjects whatsoever to rebell against their own true â—egal undoubted rightful hereditary King however oppressing them either in their religious or civil rights or both And this is the second answer I intended in my More Ample Account And which I give here not that it is any way necessary or directly at all to that which our present Adversaries the Authors of this second paper dispute of principally at this present or in this paper I now answer but because they have given me by their indirect reflections and by their impertinencius therein a just occasion for which I thank them to give it here for a further illustration of what I said formerly on this subject XXXV As for their Latin Postscript because I guess it was only added as an answer to an argument I press'd them with ad hominem as we speak as also with the conclusion of it in English two of their own general principles or doctrine of Probability to convince them of the lawfulness in point of conscience of subscribing the Remonstrance notwithstanding the pretence of some not only extrinsick authority 〈◊〉 even intrinsick probability appearing still in their very souls though I never did nor do believe there was any such against some position or supposition wherein that Remonstrance is grounded or which is therein contained I allow them till the advantage they can derive from these Câ—suists even as themselves quote them here For I am sure they will accordingly find the doctrine of the Remonstrance to be at least both extrinsecally and intrinsecally most probable and consequently the signing of it lawful in point of conscience But abstracting 〈◊〉 these rules and authority of Casuists which at least in 〈◊〉 matter of probability and as I have most clearly shown in my More Ample Account pag. 16. c. ought to be not only abstracted from but quite rejected as most unsafe and false and erroneous as likewise and by consequence the final English perclose as a corollary thence derived of this paper I now consider I am no less certain they will find themselves obliged in point of conscience to approve of all the doctrine positions and suppositions too of the said Remonstrance and reject and condemn the contrary as very false eroneous and scandalous too and consequently very sinful if not manifestly heretical in Christian Faith If I say they have studied or shall as they ought to do the arguments on both sides or but consulted with the Catholick Authors that have so lately handled them at large against the sophismes of Bellarmine and others of 〈◊〉 way For I fear they will not take the paâ—ts to sougth 〈…〉 â—â—â—ancie famous great and Classick Authors and 〈◊〉 in them their own ignorance and errour so long since reproach'd in the very Schools For as concerning the Scriptures and Fathers and universal Tradition of the Catholick Church and practice of Primitive Christians and that also of all ensuing ages till the Eleventh of Christianity under Gregory the Seventh they themselves cannot â—â—ny all to be against them Whereof and â—s with other both arguments and objections 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 I could heartily wish they would to satisfie yet more fully themselves take but so much pains as to read over the Barclays and Wriddringâ—â—n Father
to concurr unto and obey Hereupon presently without further debate for none at all scrâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the catholickness or lawfulness such scruples having been sufficiently 〈◊〉 before clear'd amongst all persons of reason and conscience as many as were at that meeting and had not subscribed at London put their hands to a clean copy of that which was before signed by the Nobility and Gentry at London and others that could not be present then subscribed in their Chambers Both these and those in all were eight Lords and twenty three Esquires Collonels and Gentlemen The Earl of Clanrickard The Earl of Castle haven The Lord of Gormanstown The Lord of Slane The Lord of Athenry The Lord of Brittas The Lord of Galmâ—y Henry Barnawel now Lord of Kingsland Sir Andrew Aylmer Sir Thomas Esmond Sir Richard Barnawel Philip fitz Gerrald Nicholas Darcy Francis Barnawal Sir Henry O Neale Nicholas White George Barnawal Richard Beling W. Talbot Iohn Walsh Michael Dormer Iohn Bellew of Wellistown Patrick Netervil Robert Netervil Charles White Coll. Walter Butler Coll. Thomas Bagnel Gerrald fitz Symons Robert Devoreux Coll. Iames Walsh Edmond Walsh Gerrald Fennel And being joyned to the London Subscribers of the Irish Nobility and Gentry they make in aâ— one hundred and twenty one whereof one and twenty Earls Viscounts and Barons XLIV But these Noblemen not thinking they had by their own only subscriptions done enough in this matter unles they had invited the rest of the Peers and Gentry of their communion where-ever in the Countrey abroad throughout Ireland to the like loyal concurrence framed the ensuing Letter and signed two and thirty copies of it one for every County in the Kingdom to get all the hands of the rest of the Catholick Noblemen and Gentlemen where-ever to the said Remonstrance Sirs THe desires we have to serve our King Countrey and Religion in all just ways gives you the trouble of this Letter Which is to let you know That after serious deliberation finding our selves and together with us all others of the Roman Catholick Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom as well as the Clergy of it obliged by all the rules of Reason and tyes of Conscience in the present conjuncture especially to concurr even by subscription to the late Remonstrance and Protestation presented Last Summer to his Majesty by such of our Irish Roman Catholick Noblemen and Gentlemen as were then at London and subscribed it there and received so graciously by Him We have therefore this last week given a beginning here at Dublin to that concurrence by our own manual Subscriptions also to the same Remonstrance prefixing to it a Petition to His Grace the Duke of Ormonde Lord Lieutenant for â—iâ—veighâ—ng our said Concurrence and representing it to His Majesty That reflecting on the unsignificancy of a few hands or subscriptions for attaining those great and good ends â—e drive at by this loyal and Religious Declaration we thought it concerned as further to invite by special Letters all the rest of the Nobility and Gentry of our Communion in the several Provinces and Counties of this Kingdom to the like Subscriptions to be transmitted to us hither without delay Whereunto we have found our selves the rather bound that we certainly know it is expected from us all by his Majesty and by the Lord Lieutenant and that his Grace doth wonder why the example of the first Subscribers at London hath not been here at home more readily and frequently followed hitherto by the rest who are no less concerned And that we know moreover that by the neglect or delay this twelve months past of a more general Concurrence to a duty so expedient and necessary we have let pass already fair opportunities to reap very many advantages by it That we hope the same prudential Christian Catholick and obvious reasons which perswaded us and such others as before us did give the first example from London will prevail with you no less Being they import as much as the clearing of our holy Religion from the scandal of the most unholy tenets or positions that can be taught written or practised the assuring his Majesty evermore of our loyal thoughts hearts and hands for Him in all contingencies whatsoever and the opening a door to our own liberty and ease hereafter from the rigorous laws and penalties under which our selves and our Predecessors before us in this Kingdom of Ireland as other our fellow Subjects of the Roman Communion in England and Scotland have sadly groaned these last hundred years That as we believe you will not think we would for even these very same ends how great and good soever nor for any other imaginable swerve in the least title from the true pure unfeigned profession of the Roman Catholick Faith nor from the reverence or obedience due unto his Holiness the Bishop of Rome or the Catholick Church in general so we believe also you will rest satisfied with the plain evidence of the very words genuine sense total contexture and final scope of this Protestation and of every entire clause thereof that nothing therein no part nor the whole of it denies 〈◊〉 indeed at all reflects on the spiritual jurisdiction authority or power of either Pope or Church or any power whatsoever which we you or any other Catholicks in the world are bound by any law divine or humane or by the maximes of our known and common Faith or by the condition of our Communion to assert own or acknowledge the whole tenour of it asserting only the supream temporal power in the Prince to be independent from any but God alone and the subjection and allegiance or the fidelity and obedience either active or passive due to Him in temporal affairs to be indispensable by any power on earth either temporal or spiritual That finally we do upon consideration of all the premisses and what else your own reasons may deduce thence and give further as additional arguments very earnestly desire and pray your unanimous cheerfull and speedy subscriptions to the said Remonstrance and Protestation which we have sent along with this Letter and by the hands of whom we have likewise prayed to call such of you together as he may conveniently or go about to your several dwellings for that end And if any chance to refuse the signing of it which we hope none will to bring us a true list and exact account of such together with the signatures of the rest that the multitude may not lye under prejudices for the failing of some Which being all we have to trouble you with at present commending you to God we bid you heartily farewell Dublin this 4th of March 1662. Your very loving friends and humble Servants Castlehaven Audley Clancartie Carlingford Mountgaret Bryttas Clanrickarde Fingall Tirconnell Galmoye Slane XLV And questionless if these copies had been sent then as was design'd there had been all the hands of the Nobility and Gentry in the Kingdome to the Remonstrance before
dissolution be accounted any prevarication but an amendmendment of rashness Thus have we after mature and frequent deliberation determined and decided at Lovaine in a full Congregation of the Faculty summon'd under Oath and held the 29th of December consecrated to the Martyrdome of the most glorious Bishop Thomas of Canterbury sometime Primate of England in the year of our Lords Incarnation 1662. Subscribed By the Deane and Faculty of Louaine The place of the Seale And after George Lipsius Bedel and sworn Notary to the said Theological Faculty XLVIII The first considerable effect this Lovaine Censure had was a citatory letter from the most reverend Father the Commissary General of the Franciscan order and Belgick Nation James de Riddere a Brabantine sent from Brula in Germany to Father Caron then at London The said Commissary being Ordinary Superior of all the Franciscan Order in the Belgick Nation and consequently of the Irish Franciscans as belonging to the same Belgick Nation according to the division and Statutes of that Order which divide all the Provinces thereof where-ever in the world into six Nations three Tramontaries three Cismontaines of which Cismontane the Belgick Nation is one comprehends not only at the several Provinces of lower Germany most of those of the higher but also those of Denmarke Scotland England and Ireland which four last Kingdoms or the Convents of Franciscans therein before the change of Religion though very numerous made but four Provinces of that Order So that by vertue of his Ordinary Superiour-ship General over the Franciscans in that Belgick Nation though otherwise subject himself to the Minister General of the whole Order throughout the world the said Commissary General Iames de Riddere cited Father Caron and those others mean'd by him as involved in the business to appear at Rome or Bruxels Yet having not particularly expressed the business or cause and for some other essential defects in that manner of citation Father Caron return'd the answer you have here after that citatory Letter which I give first A Letter written by the Commissary General of St. Francis Order in the Belgick German and Brittish Nation and over those of the same Order in Ireland and Denmark Father Iames de Riddere a Brabantine to Father Redmond Caron Reverend Father YOurs of the 15th of March were sent me by Father Augustine Niffo and I received them on the 17th of April at Brule in the Province of Cullen being imployed in visiting And wondred such great difficulties and dangers in obeying the commands of Superiours alledged by you who have so easily ingaged in a business full of difficulties and dangers not only to your selves in particular but the whole Order Therefore be it known to your Reverence be it known to all that have engaged themselves in the same affair That our most holy Lord whom by a special â—ye of our Rule we ought to obey doth justly expect an account from you satisfaction from your Superiors Whence it is that by iterated commands from the most Reverend Father General I admonish your Reverences and summon you to appear either before him at Rome or me at Bruxels to yield a more ample account of that act of yours to the end we may satisfie the See Apostolick be careful of the honour of the Order and of your own particular honour safety and comfort which out of a fatherly affection is desired by Your reverend Paternities most addicted Brother and Servant Fr. Iames de Riddere Superscribed To the very reverend Father Father Redmond Caron of the Order of the Friars Minors and Province of Ireland Reader Iubilate of sacred Theology As soon as Father Caron received this Letter he called together such of the Irish Franciscan Subscribers as he could meet with at London and with their consent and in all their names return'd in Latin this answer you have here translated Father Carons Reply signed by him and the rest of the Subscribers of his Order and Province of Ireland then at London Most Reverend Father YOurs of the 18th of April given at Brule we have seen whereby you summon us that have engaged in that affair to Rome or Bruxels We have sent a Copy thereof into Ireland that your summons may be known to the rest without whose answer we cannot in a Cause common to us all give that full satisfaction we intend However such as are here wonder that in your letter of Summons the cause of summoning them is not otherwise specified then by these words who have engaged themselves in that affair What affair Nay how so great a multitude being at least of the very Franciscans forty in number who with many others of the Secular and Regular Clergy and some Bishops too have signed that Remonstrance or Protestation if it or those of your Order that signed it be meaned by you may be summoned to Rome or Bruxels without any regard or consideration of either the old age of some the sickness of many and the poverty all wanting means to bear their charges for so long a journey And again how are they cited to Rome or Bruxels who by another mandate of the Right Reverend Father General which mandat is now here at London are commanded home to Ireland Whatever may be said in answer to these expostulations your most reverend Paternity may be pleased to understand the Laws of England are and of three hundred years standing that no Subject may under pain of death without the Kings licence depart the Kingdom in obedience to or compliance with any citation from forreign parts not even from Rome And that whoever doth otherwise summon or if subject to the King serues any such summons or even obeys them is in this Kingdom declared guilty of High Treason All which His sacred Majesty that now raigns hath confirmed of late and under the same penalties commanded us to observe We do not believe that your most Reverend Paternity is of opinion that we ought with so great a hazzard of our selves transgress those Laws and that command of our King to whom our bodies are subject by divine right Yet if it shall please your most Reverend Paternity to do in this case what the Canons of the Church do appoint in any such that is to appoint here or from elsewhere send unto us a Commissary or Delegate to take cognizance of our fact whatever it be where it was done to hear examine determine of and judge it we shall be very glad and most willingly submit to correction if we have swerved in any thing from the doctrine of all Antiquity Scripture or Fathers Or if peradventure you be not pleased with this submissive offer the Custos of our Province who by command of the late Middle Chapter in Ireland prepares for his journey to the General Chapter at Rome will more fully inform the Right Reverend Father General and your Paternity More we cannot say for your satisfaction until we hear from Ireland We
answer that Affrican Synod where those Fathers reprove the injustice of Celestine's demand of such transmarine judgments in the case of Apiarius requiring it to be transmitted out of Affrick to Rome and reprove I say that injustice in these very words which you may read in the now mentiond Synodical Epistle a few lines after the former words Or how can that kind of transmarine judgment be rational or legal whereunto the persons of necessary witnesses cannot be brought because either of their sex or infirmities of old age or of many other intervening impediments But that neither within the limits of the same Province nor even where the crossing of the Sea is unnecessary the parties accused be drawn too farre from their dwelling places and so molested too much by the Judges on pretence of a judicatory Innocent the Third has enacted even in a Councel Oecomenical of the whole earth cap. Nâ—nnulli Extra de Rescriptis But all this and very many other passages to this purpose I pass over at present as I have said before I pass over likewise that exception which the Canons allow against the unsafety of the place to which the summons are the unsafety of it I say if the nature of the controversy and present circumstances be considered Especially if we call to mind what several Religious men and of several Orders too that to clear themselves from calumnies in a Controversy not altogether unlike this and being not even summond in that or any other cause whatsoever nor convicted of any kind of crime the Judges themselves confessing both did venture hence to goe and appear at Rome or Madrit have suffered in our own days in our own late memory and suffered too without so much as any kind of even the very external formality of law or canons observed towards them and suffered so too most plainly against all the laws of God and nature And if we call moreover to mind those inhumane plots contrived in forraign Countries against the very lives of some even of our secular Nobility that having been formerly engaged with us in the same controversy were after in the ruine forced to shift abroad plots layd by some of those very men that now again endeavour to embroyle all anew commixe heaven and earth put all things out of frame the second time into the most horrid confusion they can of purpose partly to asperse and be revenged of us In fine I pass over the greatest exception of all The quarrel against us and the controversy in all parts to be such as concerns the temporal rights of all supream lawful Magistrates or Governours Kings and States Kingdoms and Common-wealths that acknowledge no dependency in temporals but from God alone whether they be Christians or Pagans Orthodox or Heterodox believers And consequently such whereof the Minister general or Commissary National of St. Francis's Order is so farre wide from being judge I mean as to any effect of being able and I speake onely here of ability in point of conscience to oblige their Inferiours to determine in any part against the right of Princes or silence the truth of the Gospel of Christ in this matter chiefly where the declaration of such truth is needful amongst Sectaries that are partly for want of such declaration made to them by Catholicks known to continue their separation walke in darkness and have a most strange aversion from the Church of Rome that neither is the great and most blessed Pontiff himself alone reputed a competent much less infallible Judge in this controversy not I say reputed so even by most celebrious and most excellent Catholick Divines though earnest renowned Champions for the Roman Faith in all its tenets and latitude Which manifestly abundantly appears not onely out of the late Decree of the Theological Faculty of Paris of the 8. of May this present year 1663. and many other decisions not of that Faculty of Paris alone but of all other Vniversities of the Kingdom of France and of the Gallicane Church too in general since the horrid murthers of Henry the Third and Fourth even of National Councels of the Bishops of the same Church against the several attempts of Boniface the Eight and Julius the Second but also out of the carriadge books actions of the Divines and Prelats of the Venetian Republick and Church against Paul the Fift in the year 1606. out of the sense and sentence of the Archbishops Bishops and Abbots of the Catholick Church of England in the Raigns of Edward the Third and Richard the Second above 300. years since Gregory the Eleventh and Martin the Fift strugling to the contrary but to no purpose as you may read even in Polydore Virgil in his life of Edward the Third out of the German Italian and other Churches truly Orthodox of several Nations of Europe their Prelats and Clergie who adhered to the Roman Emperours where the temporal rights were concernd against Gregory the Seventh and some other great Bishops of the Roman Sea lastly and yet more particularly our of our own William Occam in the cause of Lewis of Bauier and out of Iâ—â—nnes Parisiensis Gerson Major Almain Cardinal Cusan c. most famous writers and Doctors too both Catholick and Classick nay if any credit be given to Aventinus in his Seventh book of his Boiarian Annals where he relates the Decree of the foresaid Emperour Lewis of Bauier out of that General and celebrated Chapter of the whole very Order of St. Francis held at Perusia in Italy or out I mean of the famous Appeal they all that is their General Provincials and Doctors of Divinity made therein from Iohn the two and twentieth Pope of that name to a future Oecumenical Council of Christendom although I do not deny but the most immediate occasion of their appearing so as is related in that History against the Pope and appealing from him was his condemning the Franciscans for teaching That neither Christ nor his Apostles had any temporal right or property in earthly goods but onely simplicem usum facti Whom therefore in shew but really for an other cause that is for their siding against him with the Emperour and maintaining by their pens and Sermons the Emperours temporal rights he tearmed foolish animals pernicious foxes that by a seeming strictness of religion and hypocrisy abused the world and seduced the people having first set forth those Extravagants which you may read in the Canon law against the Order it self All which I say and very much more of this kind I pass over at present Nor least I exceed the measure of an epistle do I at this time alledge either those other arguments derived from the intrinsick nature or as they speak commonly from the very bowels of the cause it self or those which may be brought from or out of Canonical Scriptures or the monuments of holy Fathers who in a continual succession for nine hundred years compleat nay till the eleventh age of Christianity delivered
to following ages the true â—â—â—se of the Gospel without contradiction from any in this matter Nor do I alledge those others which indeed are very many out of the clear light of nature it self the known principles or articles of Catholick Truths manifestly revealed in the Gospel being once supposed For I have resolved to abstain in this letter from treating of the principal controversie What I say now is That such of our Institution as have subscribed the foresaid Remonstrance are ready according to their rule and regular vowes according to the Statutes also of our Order nay and if your most reverend Paternity please not only according to the substantial course prescribed in the Canons of the Roman Church for judicial proceedings but even according to the nicest puntillioes formalities and rigour too of them to obey that is to answer and give account or the reason or cause of our engagement or other proceedings even in this very principal matter of our said Protestation and that not only to the most blessed Father Alexander the Seventh chief Pastor of the Universal Church but also to the Minister General of the Friars Minors and his Commissary too of the Belgick Nation your most reverend Paternity provided only that you proceed not against us by violence subreption pre-occupation or any other injurious manner but in a regular lawful way according to the Canons What I say also is That neither your most reverend Paternity nor the Minister General may according to those Canons of the Roman Church in any manner summon so great a multitude of old sickly or indigent persons from a Countrey so farr distant as Ireland to undertake so long so dangerous a journey for so many hundred leagues by sea and land to appear at Rome or Bruxels and this I say whether the King countermand them or not But with more confidence I say it where or when it is manifest That not only the King forbids them positively but the very law of the Land expresly a law in force in England from the very dayes of St. Anselme when we find it enacted in the raign of William Rufus a Roman Catholick King of England about five hundred years since Which law soon after enacted also in this Kingdom of Ireland so many other after-laws of the following Catholick Princes Edward the third Richard the Second made likewise in for both Kingdoms which laws go by name of Provision or Praemuniri as your Paternity may likewise read in the same Italian of Vrbinum Polidore Virgil in his life of Edward the Third have so extended guarded fenced with so many additions of rigour and penalties that justly it is feared as Polydore sayes like that of death whereas besides manifold other punishments one is that the transgressor lose all his Goods if he have any and withal suffer all the evils of perpetual imprisonment That your Paternity cannot according to the Canons give any such kind of summons or citations I averr Whereas the Canons are in the very letter of them clearly against you and that besides the Church is according to the ordinary maxime a Pious Mother and consequently that even according to the general assertion of modern Divines and Canonists Her commands oblige none to undergo such grievous inconveniences or any manifest hazzard of them nor oblige even Regulars notwithstanding any vows whatsoever made by them if peradventure you except not the Jesuits Discalceat Carmelits or such if any such be either these or any others as vowed by a fourth kind of solemn vow or some such special one to be ready in all kind of contingencies whatsoever even that of life or death to obey And whereas moreover that passage of the Apostle is made use of by all Divines for the deduction of many consequents inferred thence as out of a maxime doubtless of absolute certainty both in Faith Reason There is no power to destruction but to edification and that that other passage likewise of another Apostle is no less clear and certain We must obey God rather then men And finally that we cannot but see manifestly the positive absolute command of God unto us for obeying in all temporals the King next to God alone or which is the same thing more then any other mortal when he commands nothing against the law of God What I say moreover and notwithstanding that I now immediatly said is That whensoever it shall appear legally or certainly and authentickly that in your Paternities foresaid letter to Father Caron the Subscribers were intended that is admonished or summoned or indeed shall be hereafter in any other way or by any other paper and that neither your Paternity nor General Minister will be satisfied without some one appear for them and in their name on your side of the Sea I will my self petition earnestly and use all my best endeavours that it may be lawful for at least my self as well in my own behalf as in that of all the rest of the Subscribers to appear there give the best satisfaction I can Though verily what the reverend Father Caron in his answer to your Paternity desired seems without any question farr more equitable to wit that you would be pleased rather to send a Commissary to the Province it self that is to Ireland where according to the Canons all debates and causes or their merits may be far better inquired into and more uprightly judged Which his either demand or counsel seems by so much the more reasonable by how much it cannot be unknown to your Paternity that the third year of our Provincial is now very near wherein your self ought according to the Statutes of our Institution to visit the Province and view in person the several faces of those under your charge and not by Delegates at least not by such Delegates who against all laws and not so much out of custom as corruption and even to conceal from you the true state of things are desired and further desired only for the continuing still a petty tyranny of some few persons and yet further desired with the shame and loss of the Order and who are and have been notwithstanding the great evil of such a precedent or the worse consequents of so evil an example granted by you and your Predecessors now for fifty years at least And hence Good Father so many tears But if your Paternity be resolved or have any mind to send a fit Commissary that is a man worthy of that imployment and a man too qualified according to our laws one not of the same Province but of some of the next adjoyning or if which would be yet more expedient you intend in person yourself to visit now at last the Irish vineyard as you must resolve on either to what end a citation of so great a number and of such persons to appear out of Ireland on your side the Sea Truly before even such of them as are young strong and healthy if any
Church for these are the very words of Gerson that such a Prelate in such proceedings be resisted to his face provided it be done with that moderation which an unblameable defence requires as Paul resisted Peter For as Origen sayes on Joshua Hom. 22. where no sin is we cannot eject any out of the Church least peradventure endeavouring to root out the cockle we root up also the very wheat Which eradication of the wheat St. Augustine in his 3d. book 2 chap. against Parmenian post Collator c. 20. so desired the Prelates of the Church to beware that he teaches there expresly the very cockle must be often let lye still as often to wit as he that otherwise deserves to be so eradicated hath a great multitude that go along with him in his delinquency And teaches consequently that to attempt the separation of such a person or in this case when the Prelates cannot without the loss or destruction of the wheat also would be most grievous sacriledge Whence it is that many Catholick Writers and those too most religious and learned have thought according to this rule of St. Augustine that upon such account Gregory the VIII Boniface the VII Innocent the IV. Iulius the II. and many other great Pontiffs who govern'd the See of Rome after and betwixt their several Popedomes have been guilty of most horrid sacriledge as such that by their excommunications of Kings and Princes their Interdicts of Kingdoms and Republicks have done nothing else but rend the Church into fatal Schismes The blame and sin whereof those writers also think ought to be charged upon those very Popes abusing so their power by unjust excommunications and other censures not on the Princes defending justly themselves and their people But as for my self and for all other true Catholick and knowing Patriots of Ireland and not of Ireland only but England too it must seem to us without doubt very certain that the greatest evils of both Nations and greatest miseries under which the professors of the Catholick Faith amongst them have so long groaned to this present had first their very fatal origin from the sentences censures and depositions pronounced by Clement the VII Pius the V. Sixtus the V. and some other great Pontiffs of the Roman See now again at last their very prodigious encrease from the more then temerarious Interdict and Excommunication of Iohannes Baptista Rinuccini late Nuncius Apostolick extraordinary from Innocent the X. in our our own dayes to the Catholicks of Ireland And these passages I give here so many and so at large on this subject of caution thaâ— your most Reverend Paternity may the better perswade your self throughly that Father Carons either advice to you or desire from you hath been very prudent For when your Paternity shall consider that to condemn a Protestation Declaration or promise of Allegiance in temporal affairs to the King must be an intollerable errour because expresly repugnant to the Gospel of Christ Matt. 22. and to the clear precepts also of the most blessed Apostles Peter and Paul Rom. 13. and 1. of Peter 2.3 and 4. chap. when you must consequently judge there can be no sin at all to be proceeded against in such a necessary subscription or if there should according to the sentence of some few seem to be any kind of transgression therein yet in the judgment of others even the greatest Doctors of the Catholick Church there can be none but rather a degree of merit as the necessary concomitant of a laudable vertuous action so farre is that Protestation from implying in the judgment of moderate Divines any kind or even smack of heresy or schysme when however your Paternity think of this I said last you must undoubtedly acknowledg the cause of those subscribers of your Order to be such as has a multitude involved therein nor of those onely of the Seraphical Order nor of others too of the secular and regular Clergie alone but of the lay people also of the Gentry and Nobility the most honourable and most remarkable of the Kingdom and those likewise in very great numbers who questionless will assert that Doctrine or the Sanctity equity and justice of that Protestation or of that our Form to which they also by a particular Instrument of their own have subscribed and will assert it with their blood and life as their predecessors have before them done these 500. years under the Kings of England when lastly whatever be the crime or cause which is either objected to or presumed of those the Subscribers of your Order if indeed your Paternities quarrel be to them at all or to that their subscription or to that Form of theirs when I say your Paternity shall understand or consider that they are not as yet contumacious and I hope they will never be against the Church or against their Prelats being they have not been ever yet called unto or summond to appear for ought appears to them not once twice thrice nor peremptorily or by any one peremptory citation sufficing for three nay not as much as once barely admonish'd in any wise and when you therefore consider that a sentence pronounced against them the case so standing with them must be extreamly unjust even for want of due procedure according to the substantial or essential form of law and reason albeit no intollerable errour as to matter of right or fact could be alleaged when I say your most Reverend Paternity shall consider seriously all these particulars I doubt not you will entertain a very serious thought also of the prudence and reasonableness of that of Father Carons either advice or desire That you take good heed to carry your self with deliberation matureness and charity in this debate which our emulous Antagonists have raised against us least otherwise more scandals and evils and such as will draw long repentance after them do follow then may be hindered taken away or ended at any time by your Paternity or by the Minister General and his perswaders or indeed by any other And so most Reverend Father I conclude this Epistle which the shortness objected by your most Reverend Paternity to Father Carons former letters which I have not yet seen hath made thus prolix For I am not without some apprehension that you will take the like exceptions to his later also which I have seen As for other passages which concern a yet more perfect account to be given by the Subscribers specially by Father Caron me and the rest of our Institution to the great Pontiff to whom next to God according to the Canons of the Catholick Church and the rule moreover of our Seraphical Father St. Francis which God willing we shall endeavour alwayes to observe we profess all reverence and even absolute obedience in spiritual affairs due from us or as to passages yet wanting if there be any such that relate to the satisfaction expected from us by as your Paternity sayes and to be given to
justice or such dispensation may be given without manifest injury to a third and besides where it is not repugnant to the law of God positive or natural And all this binding and loosing power in the Pope even in the whole Execution of it according to the Canons of the Vniversal Church and as farre as these Canons allow it as it is and will be religiously acknowledged and observed still by the Subscribers in all occasions so it is left wholly untouch'd unspoken of unmedled with but supposed still by the Remonstrance as a most Sacred Right not to be controverted much less denyed the Pope by any Catholick nor even to other Bishops of the Church for the portion belonging to them by the self same Canons But what hath this to do with the Lovain pretence of a power in the Pope to bind people by the Popes own peculiar laws Canons precepts or censures by Bulls or otherwise to do that which according to plain Scriptures practise of the primitive Church and Churches following for XI entire ages and according to the interpretation or sense delivered by Holy Fathers of those very Scriptures and according to the very first and clearest reflections also of natural reason must be vitious wicked and even most enormously wicked transgressions of those laws of God wherein neither Pope nor Vniversal Church have any power to dispense what to do with a pretended power in any to absolve from Subjection or command the Rebellion of Subjects against Soveraign Princes who are accountable to none for their temporals but to God Or what to do with binding or loosing to the prejudice and manifest injury not of one third person alone but of so many millions of third persons as there are people in a Kingdom or State This loosing is not of sin or of the penalties of sin but of virtue of Christian duties and divine injunctions Nor is such binding a binding to Holy righteousness but to Horrible depravedness And therefore both such binding and such loosing must be from no true power Divine or Humane from no Gospel of Jesus Christ or Canons of the Catholick Church nor from those Holy Keyes of knowledge or jurisdiction given St. Peter to open Heaven to penitents or shut it to impenitents nor from any Keyes at all but very false and errant Keyes if not right or true Keyes in this sense and to this purpose only that they set open the Gates of Hell first to receive all such unhappy Soules as make use of them and then to lock them in for ever Yet now that the Pope is and while he is or shall be continued a Soveraign temporal Prince in some part of Italy for the time hath been for many ages of Christianity even since Christian Religion was by law established when the Pope had no such not only Soveraign or supream but not even any inferiour subordinate temporal Princely power and may be so again for ought any man knows the Subscribers will freely grant the Lovain Divines That upon just grounds when truely such are or shall be the Pope may in the capacity of a temporal Prince but not of a Christian Bishop and may I say without any breach of the law of God declare and make Warr against the King of England always provided that he observe in all particulars what the law of God Nations and Nature require from him in the declaration or prosecution thereof And may do so with as much right as any other Soveraign Prince meerly temporal can but with no more certainly And further that the grounds of warr may possibly or in some extraordinary case be such on the Popes side as not only in the unerrable judgement of God but in the opinion of all men that shall know the grounds of both sides truely and sincerely stated the Warr may be just on the Popes side and unjust on the Kings The Subscribers do freely grant the Lovain Divines all this and all the advantages they can derive hence But what then must it follow that the subscribers have therefore sacrilegiously or against the sincerity of Catholick Religion declared in general or promised in their Remonstrance that they are ready to stand by the King and loose their lives in defence of his Person Rights or Crown or of his Kingdom State and people against all invaders whatsoever Papal or Princely spiritual or temporal c. forraign or domestick Or must this follow albeit we grant also the said promise or Declaration of standing so by the King to extend it self to or comprehend that very extraordinary case or contingency of our certain evident knowledg of the injustice of the Warr on the Kings side and clear Justice on the Popes Certainly neither the one nor other follows For albeit the case or supposition be rather metaphysically then morally possible that the generality of Subjects of either of the Princes or States in Warr together may evidently know or certainly assure themselves of the cleer Justice of the affailants fide at least so as to have no such kind of probability of any Justice on the defendants part and forasmuch as he is a Defendant yet admitting the case were morally possible who knows not that natural reason tells us and Divines and Lawyers teach that however the Prince both rashly and unjustly brings a Warr on himself and people yet both he and they are bound to hazard their lives each for others mutual defence that is for the defence of the Crown Kingdom State and Republick and for the lives liberties goods and fortunes of all that compose it though not for defence of any rashness or injustice So that although it be granted that both Prince and people are to quit all kind of unjust pretences yet their own natural defence or that of their goods lives and liberties as it comes not under that notion so it is unseparable from their taking armes in their own mutual defence in a meere defensive Warr or even that which happens after to be offensive before a good or Just peace can be obtained and is so I mean unseparable notwithstanding any injustice whatsoever done at first by Prince or people that brought the Warr upon themselves Be it therefore so that the Pope in such temporal capacity would make Warr on the King of England and be it granted for the present what otherwise in it self is very doubtful at least if not manifestly false That for the only unjust laws or only unjust execution of such or only other misgovernment or oppressions whatsoever of one King or Prince of his own proper natural undoubted Subjects without any injury done thereby to forraigners or any other forraign Kings Subjects or Prince or State such forraign Monarch or Common-wealth may justly declare and make Warr against him as for example the French or Spanish King and by the same reason the Pope also in his said temporal capacity against the King of England and be it clear and evident likewise that the
pretence or even true real only cause of Warr so declared and prosecuted by the Pope against our King is purely and solely for unjust laws made and executed against Catholicks and against as well their temporal as spiritual rights and only to restore such rights to the Catholick Subjects of great Brittain and Ireland and be it further made as clear and certain as any thing can be made in this life to an other by Declarations or Manifestoes of the Popes pure and holy intentions in such an undertaking and of his Army 's too or that they intend not at all to Usurp for themselves or alienat the Crown or other rights of the Kingdoms or of any of the people but only to restore the Catholick people to their former state according to the ancient fundamental laws and to let the King govern them so and only disinable him to do otherwise and having put all things into such order to withdraw his Army altogether let all this I say be granted yet forasmuch as considering the nature of Warr and conquest and how many things may intervene to change the first intentions so pure could these intentions I say be certainly known as they cannot to any mortal man without special Divine revelation what Divines can be so foolish or peremptory as to censure the Catholick Subjects for not lying under the mercy of such a forraign Army or even in such a case to condemn them either of Sacriledg or of any thing against the sincerity of Catholick Faith only for not suffering themselves to lye for their very natural being at such mercy Or if any Divines will be so foolish or peremptory as these Lovain Divines proved themselves to have been by this second ground of their Censure I would fain know what clear uncontroverted passage of Holy Scripture and allowed uncontroverted sense thereof or what Catholick uncontroverted doctrine of holy Tradition or even what convincing argument of natural reason they can alleadg in the case And as I am sure they cannot alleadg any so all others may presume so too being their said original long Censure wherein they lay down all their grounds and likely too their best proofs of such dare not see the light or abide the test of publick view And if all they would have by this ground or pretence of ground or by the bad arguments they frame to make it good were allowed it is plain they conclude no more against a Remonstrance which assures our King of his Roman Catholick Subjects to stand by him in all contingencies whatsoever for the defence of his person Crown Kingdom and people and their natural and political or civil rights and liberties against the Pope himself then they would against such a Remonstrance as comprehended not such standing by against the Pope but only against French Spanish or other Princes of the Roman Church or Communion For the Pope hath no more nor can pretend any more right in the case to make Warr on the King of England then any meer temporal Prince of that Religion can being if he did Warr it must be only and purely as a meer temporal Prince for as having pure Episcopal power either that wich is immediately from Jesus Christ or that which is onely from the Fathers and Canons of the Church or if you please from both he is not capacitated to fight with the sword but with the word that is by praying and preaching and laying spiritual commands and inflicting spiritual censures only where there is just cause of such And I am sure the Lovain Divines have not yet proved nor will at any time hereafter that the non-rebellion of Subjects against their own lawful Prince let his government be supposed never so tyrannical never so destructive to Catholick Faith and Religion or even their taking arms by his command to defend both his and their own civil and natural rights against all forraign invaders whatsoever and however specious the pretext of invasion be is a just cause of any such spiritual Ecclesiastical censure Nor have proved yet against them or can hereafter that such censures in either of both cases would bind any but him alone that should pronounce them and those only that besides would obey them Yet all this notwithstanding I am farre enough and shall ever be from saying or meaning that Subjects whatsoever Catholick or not Catholick ought or can justy defend any unjust cause or quarrel of their Prince when they are evidently convinced of the injustice of it Nor consequently is it my saying or meaning that Catholick Subjects may enlist themselves in their Princes Army if an offensive Warr be declared against the Pope or even other Catholick Prince or State soever and had been declared so by the Prince himself or by his Generals or Armyes and by publick Manifesto's or otherwise known sufficiently and undoubtedly to be for extirpation of the true Orthodox Faith or Catholick Religion or of the holy rites or Liturgy or holy discipline of it Nor doth our Remonstrance engage us to any such thing but is as wide from it as Heaven from Earth It engages us indeed to obey the King even by the most active obedience can be even to enlist our selves if he command us and hazard our lives in fighting for the defence of his Person Crowns Kingdoms and People amongst which people our selves are but only still in a defensive Warr for his and their lives rights and liberties but engages us not at all to any kind of such active obedience nor ever intended to engage or supposed us engaged thereunto in case of such an offensive Warr as I have now stated What obedience the Remonstrance engages us unto in this later case is onely or meerly passive And to this passive obedience I confess it binds us in all contingencies whatsoever even the very worst imaginable But therefore binds us so because the law of the Land and the law of God and the law of Reason too without any such Remonstrance bound us before The Remonstrance therefore brings not in this particular as neither indeed in any other any kind of new tye on us but only declares our bare acknowledgement of such tyes antecedently Even such tyes as are on all Subjects of the world to their own respective lawful supream politick Governours Which bind all Subjects whatsoever to an active obedience when ever and where euer they are commanded any thing either good of its own nature or even but only indifferent and where the law of God or the law of the Land doth not command the contrary or restrain the Princes power of commanding it And to a passive obedience when he commands us any evil or any thing against either of both laws That is to a patient abiding suffering or undergoing without rebellion or any forcible resistance whatever punishment he shall inflict on us for not doing that which he commands and is truly evil in it self as being against the laws of God or is
as I have done here but only quotes the books and chapters especially for the two former Which yet is not his custom when he finds the places home to his purpose As for that no less unconcluding and that too but onely one out of the new Testament you have it in the 17th of Matthew verse 23.24.25 and 26. where it is related that our Saviour being at Capernâ—â—m and the tribute gatherers demanding of Peter whether his Master would pay the tribute money or didrachma and Peter having answered yes our Saviour presently knowing of the matter and preventing Peter and questioning him in this manner what thinkest thou Simon of whom do the Kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers and Peter answering of strangers our Saviour inferr'd instantly Ergo liberi sunt filij Then are the children free Adding further thus notwithstanding least we should offend them or give them cause to be scandalized at us go thou to the Sea and cast a hook and take that fish which shall first come up and when thou hast opened his mouth thou shalt find a stater that take and give it them for me and thee Of all these examples and places of Scripture Bellarmine frames his first proof to inferre his foresaid Thesis or fift proposition which is That the exemption of Clerks in all politick or civil affairs and as well of their persons as of their goods from all even the most supream temporal Magistrate for that too he means all along was introduced amongst Christians for this also was and must have been his purpose both by divine and humane law And for humane law he supposed that proved before as himself notes and alleadges these Scripture examples and passages to prove onely that his fift proposition for what concerns divine right or divine law Notwithstanding all which I say the case is clear enough still if we but consider these very testimonies passages either out of the old or out of the new or out of both Testaments For whatever may be alleadged pretended or inferr'd though nothing can be but with very little colour out of any or even all these places taken together for the exemption of the lands goods or persons of Clergiemen from paying tribute customs polemony or other taxes whatsoever yet I am perswaded that no rational man much less any consciencious able Divine can be so blind as not to see the unsignificancy of these Scripture testimonies or examples to prove the persons of Clergiemen exempt in criminal causes by divine right and by the positive law of God from the supream civil coercive power Which onely is that I dispute here with Cardinal Bellarmine or rather with his disciples or defenders in this particular controversy the Divines of Lovain And I am perswaded so 1. Because that of the Egyptian Priests signifies no kind of exemption of their persons from laye Indicatories not even from such as are inferiour and subordinate onely nor in any causes whatsoever either criminal or civil or mixt of both Nor signifies as much as the exemption of their lands or goods from all kind of taxâ—â— or from any at all but onely from the forfeiture or sale of their lands or from paying a fift part of the increase And this exemption too from such forfeiture sale or fift part not to have been made by any positive law of God but by the laws of man that is of Ioseph or Pharao 2. Because That of Artaxerxes concerning the Mosaycal Clergie at Ierusalem signifies no more but that Kings command to his own inferiour officers not to laye any imposition of toll taxes c. on them but not a word that himself had no power to taxe them much less any syllable which might import that those Ministers of that holy Temple were exempt either in other civil or criminal causes from his own cognizance or punishment or even from that of his inferiour subordinate civil Judges or from the Lieutenant that govern'd Palestine under him Besides we know the positive law of Artaxerxes cannot be said to be the positive law of God 3. Because that of Leviticus though confessedly sometime the positive law of God signifies no more also but that the whole tribe of Levi were put under the subordinate care and jurisdiction of Aaron and of his Sons the Priests and of their successors and onely as to the Ministery of the Tabernacle whereof he had charge according to what was expresly decreed in all such particulars by God himself in the law given by him to Moyses and rest of Israels descendants Not a word at all exempting either Levits or Priests or as much as the High Priest himself in other affairs or in either criminal or civil matters from the supream civil Temporal or politick Iurisdiction of Moyses or other succeeding Generals Judges or Kings nor as much as exempting them from tribute or taxe or other imposition if at any time the necessities of their countrey or people or weal publick or kingdom were such as the supream civil Governours should judge it necessary to taxe them proportionably for the publick good or safety as well of themselves as of all the other tribes It is true that although not here yet elswhere God left the tribe of Levi exempted from being bound to be listed for War Nay expresly ordained Numb 1.49 that they should not be listed so but should be exempted from that charge or duty as being there appointed for and applyed wholly to an other special duty that is to carry still and serve and keep and watch the tabernacle which could not well consist nor at all with that of warfaring But what hath this particular exemption from one onely duty to do with a general exemption from all other civil duties whatsoever and from the very supream power it self which was to take care that this duty also as well as others should be discharged Those amongst the Romans who by the laws were priviledged not to serve in the warrs were they exempted therefore in all other matters from the supream power of the state or Empire or exempted generally from the supream Coercive power in criminal causes or must Bellarmine abuse his Reader with such quotations and such implyed but unconcluding arguments Nor certainly does that iterated expression of God in that place of Leviticus or elswhere mei sunt they are mine import any more then a special designation of that tribe for that most special Service of His about the tabernacle For he hath often elswhere in holy Scripture said of all the twelve tribes together that they were his own chosen peculiar people And yet never mean'd to exempt them thereby nor by any other expression from the power of their earthly either supream or subordinate Governours or exempt them at all from such power in either civil or criminal matters or in any whatsoever but in such religious matters onely as himself expresly had reserved for the
them from tribute and of the Domestick family of such Princes or their children free also from paying tribute and lastly on our Saviours bidding Peter to pay for them both least people should be scandalized as if sayes Bellarmine our Saviour himself had thereby declared or said that both himself and his family whose Prefect Peter was should be free from all tribute quasi diceret et se et familiam suam cujus Prefectus erat Petrus liberos esse debere where I say now is the strength of this argument to prove that by the positive law of God as much as per quandam similitudinem all Clergiemen of the world are exempt more then others both as to their goods and persons from the supream civil power or even to prove they are by such law exempt more then others as much as from tribute All Christians are of the family and as such Peter is Prefect of them all And certainly Bellarmine himself hath strugled much in his books de Rom. Pont. and more singularly yet in his others against Barelay and Widdrington to prove that Peter was so in his own days and after his days that other succeeding Bishops of Rome are so likewise even over all the goods and lands and bodies too of Christians and not onely over those of Christians but over all those of the Heathen also For so at last Bellarmine found himself constrain'd to say by the arguments of Widdrington and Barclay to which he could find no other answer But however this be or whether by any kind of similitude it may be concluded out of this passage of Matthew that Clergiemen as being in one certaine sense more especially of the Household or Domestick family of Christ either as he was the natural Son of God or as he was a man should be more exempt from paying tribute or taxes then others of his even holy believers and sanctified family who are not in that certain sense or in that special manner that is by such a special function of his family whether I say this follow or no pâ—â— quamdam similitudinem out of that passage of Matthew yet no man of never so little reason can alleadge for Bellarmine That our Saviour's instance there in his Querie to Peter about the Kings of the Earth and his pronouncing and concluding out of Peters answer Ergo liberi sunt fily must inferre that Clerks should therefore be exempt in criminal causes from the supream coercive power of the civil Magistrate or of any supream earthly King For it is well known that earthly Kings do not exempt not even the most special domesticks of their children from their own Royal supream coercive power or from that of their laws in criminal causes albeit they give them exemption from tributs or taxes and many other priviledges And no less known too That they exempt not from that power and in such causes not even their very children themselves Nay nor in civil causes either so but that they may be sued even before the subordinate inferiour Judges in the Kings Courts of Justice And for criminal causes the Cronicles of England and Histories of Spain can shew us Instances These of a Prince of Spain put to death by his Father King Phillip the Second for some intelligence as some do say with the Turk And those of a Prince of England proceeded against even by an Inferiour Judge for some misdemeanour committed or authorized by him and even proceeded so against without any special warrant from the King but that which the Judge had in the laws of the Kingdom All which being so how can it follow out of that our Saviour's illation from the answer of Peter concerning the practice of Earthly Kings in the case of not exacting tribute or taxes from their own children That by the positive law of God in this place of Matthew Clerks are absolutely exempt from the supream civil coercive power in criminal causes Or how indeed I say doth that consequence follow as much as per quandam similitudinem And follow yet upon this account that Clerks are in such a special manner of the family of the Prince or even of the Kings Heir apparant If he shall answer by quitting our Saviours illation implied in the word Erge and that of the similitude from the practice of earthly Kings as to the matter of coercion and by insisting only on these words liberi sunt filii as upon a positive declaration made by our Saviour of the exemption of Clergy-men from all Kings of the Earth and in all matters whatsoever and consequently also by appropriating so the word filii here to Clergy-men alone that not only all other Christians because Lay-persons but even our Saviour himself be not thereby understood in the quality of the natural Son of God I say that if any shall answer by such a systeme of suppositions the Reply is clear and convincing enough 1. That they are all either very false or at least very vain because without any proof or colour of proof 2. That such a positive Declaration by these words Ergo liberi sunt filii is contradicted by Bellarmine himself who expresly acknowledges no divine precept properly such of the positive law of God either in this place or any other of holy Scripture for the exemption of Clergymen either from taxes or judicial proceedings of the civil Magistrate And I am sure both he and all other Divines will confess that a positive Declaration made by Christ in holy Scripture is to all Christians a divine precept and properly such of the positive law of God 3. That if these words were such a positive Declaration neither Bellarmine nor others needed their per quandam similitudinem nor any further going about the bush 4. And lastly that if they were such then certainly St. Paul had been much out of the way when he declared the contrary Rom. 13. and all the holy Fathers expounding him there even for a whole thousand years and all the Christian Church consequently until our new Interpreters and Sophisters came in these latter ages to tell us what Christ declared as will appear evidently in one of the following Sections where I treat of that command of St. Paul or of God rather by St. Paul 13 Rom. Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit c. Let the judicious Reader himself be now judge whether the case for what concerns any positive law of God in holy Scripture be not clear enough on my side what ever Bellarmine say or whether he confess that there is no precept properly such of God or of such law in holy Scripture being our Adversaries alledge no other places either out of the old or new Testament but these I have now considered as the only of all which together Bellarmine frames but to no purpose his first argument to prove that Clergymen are even by the positive law of God free or exempt from even the supream civil coercive power of all
way as by saying they understood not by divine that which is properly and strictly divine but that only which is in a large though somewhat improper acception such and by lay-persons understand only such inferior Lay-persons Judges or Governours as in certain cases haue not from the supream power and civil laws any cognizance of Church-men Which indeed is the only rational and natural exposition of these authorities without any erroneous absurdity falsity inconvenience or prejudice as the very Canon alledged above by me at large out of the Tridentine Synod seems expresly to intimate for as much as it expresly and signally desires or confides for so it speaks that Emperours Kings and Princes will not suffer that their Officials or inferior Magistrats or Judges violat the Immunities of the Church or Church-men out of any covetousness or inconsiderancy confidens c. nec permissuros ut officiales aut inferiores Magistratus Ecclesiae personarum Ecclesiasticarum immunitatem Dei ordinatione canâ—nicis sanctionibus constitutam aliquo cupiditatis studio seu inconsideratione aliqua violent Besides the Reader is to observe two things for that of the fourth Lateran 1. That where 't is said there that Laicks usurp too much of divine right c. by divine right here we ought not nor indeed can if we will not make the Fathers to speak improperly understand the law of God but only the right belonging to God whether that right be derived immediatly from the law of God or law of man 2. That it cannot be truly said that any Clerks receive no temporal thing or benefit from the supream civil Magistrate whereas all Clerks receive from them temporal protection at least And therefore in reason owe Allegiance to such their protectors For Boniface the VIII although his authority or judgment alone without a Council be amongst very Catholick Nations or Universities of no great value or esteem in this or any other which concerns the difference or controversie For we know well enough how his extravagant unam sanctam de Majorit obed is reputed in the Gallican Church and what his Letter Brief or Bull was to a King of France where he declared them all Hereticks that would not acknowledge himself to be supream in that Kingdom and as well in all temporals as in spirituals and that the same esteem indeed and as to our main purpose may be and also truly and groundedly may be entertain'd of Innocent the Third no judicious Divine that will read in Spondaâ—uâ—s Contin his proceedings against most of all the Christian Kings not in Europe only but in Asia will deny I say neverthess that for what concerns only our present purpose of the exemption of Clergymens persons in criminal causes from the supream civil coactive power under which they live and are protected our learned Cardinal alledges this very Boniface to no purpose albeit he alledge him in cap. Quamquam de Censibus in 6. Where indeed there is no such thing For in that place as it is manifest enough out of the whole chapter and purpose or matter treated therein which was only of and against Guidagia that is a kind of toll custome or exaction to be paid for the safeguard of High-wayes and out of the very words which Bellarmine would not quote because not to his general purpose or to that of proving generally all the parts of his Fifth Proposition Cum igitur Ecclesiae Ecclesiasticaeque persâ—nae ac res ipsarum non solum jure humano quin etiam divino à saecularium personarum exactionibus sint immunes it is I say very manifest hence that Boniface in that place and no other is alledged out of him doth not as much as touch upon our controversie or say as Bellarmine imposes on him that Clerks and their goods are exempt from the secular power For be it well or ill said of Boniface here that as well by divine right or law as by humane Churches and Churchmen are free or exempt from all publick exactions of secular persons whereas by such exactions all Divines and Canonists understand only tributes tolls customes or taxes whatsoever of money or other things imposed as payable to the publick and whereas the very matter treated of and determined by Boniface in that Chapter is only that of guidagia or pedagia which was a duty as it seems payable then in Italy by all travellers and for their safe convoy or safe travelling whereas he commands only there that in prosecution of a certain decree made by Alexander the IV. his Predecessor Church-men pay no such guidagia or pedagia for their own Persons or Goods which they carry along or cause to be carried or sent non causa negotiandi who sees not it is a very great inconsequence and meer abuse of the Reader to conclude that therefore Boniface the VIII supposed generally nay says it to be de jure divino positivo taking this jus divinum strictly and properly that Clerks are wholy exempt in all criminal causes and all matters whatsoever from the supream civil coercive power of Lay-Princes Certainly neither doth Boniface teach any such matter there nor must any such follow out of what he either supposes or dedetermines there Because it is clear enough that certain persons even meer lay-persons may have a priviledge from all kind of taxes and yet be subject in other causes and other matters both criminal and civil to such as impose taxes For Iohn the VIII That who ever please to consider that whole chapter Si Imperator quoted by Bellarmine will be convinced this Pope intends no more but that as it is fitting the Emperour himself should for what concerns Religion learn from and not teach the Church so in Ecclesiastical matters it was Gods pleasure that Clerks should be ordered and examined and if they chanced to fall into an errour should be also reconciled on their return not by the Lay-powers but by the Pontiffs and Priests Which these words omitted by the Cardinal recipique de errore remeantes do sufficiently insinuat Besides that any man knows it is a very weak and sensless argument of a positive law of God for any thing or any duty or any priviledge that either Iohn the VIII or any other even a whole General Council should speak in this manner Omnipotens Deus voluit it was the will of God unless they had withal and on the debate or controversie it self made of purpose an express Canon declaring that thereby or by such manner or by these words it is or it was the will of the omnipotent God they mean'd to signifie not the general or special providence of God or his good will or pleasure known only to us for example in the present matter of Exemption because we see the Clerks as to many things are exempted so by the laws of Princes and that we know this could never have been done by Princes if God had not moved their hearts to do so For
Iustiniani Imperatoris Catholici quam probat servat Catholica Ecclesia constitutione c. XXIV cap. eccl 1. decrevit ut nemo Episcopus nemo praesbiter excommunicet aliquem antequam causa probetur c. In which law of Iustinian it is also very observable that he prescribes meer ecclesiastical punishments to be undergone by the transgressors of it Is autem qui non legittime excommunicaverit in tantum abstineat a sacra communione tempus quantum majori sacerdoti visum fuerit c. On the other side it hath been often seen that the Fathers themselves assembled in Councils made ordinances or canons in matters belonging properly to the politick administration as to wit being certain the Prince would by his own proper authority approve of such canons and consequently give them that force which the onely spiritual power could not or as knowing that by the civil laws or customs of countries such matters ought to be observed but wanted nevertheless for their more conscientious and careful observance the admonition of the Fathers and the severity also of Ecclesiastical censures threatned against the infringers Which to have been so indeed may truly and clearly appear even out of this very Council of Toledo where annuente consentiente Rege some politick canons were made by the Fathers and may appear also out of that former of Matiscon wherein the 14 canon is Vt Iudaeis a caena Domini usque ad primum diem pâ—st Pascha secundum edictum bonae Recordationis Domini Childeberti Regis per plateas aut fâ—rum quasi insultationis causa deambulandi licentia denegetur 3. That if we did absolutely grant without reserve that by the royal authority of King Guntramnus in this first Council of Matisconum and of King Recaredus in that of Toledo the jurisdiction of subordinate inferiour lay Judges over Clerks had been totally extinct in the respective Kingdoms of those two Kings yet nothing hence for the exemption of Clerks from the very supream royal power in it self and in all cases or causes Nor any thing to prove such exemption from inferiour tribunals whatever it was to have proceeded from any power of the Church or even from any temporal power of Kings before Iustinians time and Novels in favour of Clergiemen for both these Councils were held after Iustinians Raign 4. And lastly that Bellarmine was not wary enough in alleadging that first Council of Matisconum For besides that what he alleadgeth out of it hath not as much as any seeming argument for his purpose but that simple Quere which every novice could answer he hath moreover given his Readers occasion to tell him that of all Councils he should ever beware to touch on this of Matisconum being the seventh canon of it is so clear and express against his pretence of divine right or divine law for the exemption of Clerks in criminal causes from the lay Magistrate or indeed rather of any law at all even meerly humane either civil or Ecclesiastical for their exemption in all crimes or in all those which are in the canons stiled lay crimes crimina laica that murther theft and witchcraft are by name excepted by this very Council and in the seventh canon from any such priviledge of Ecclesiastical Immunity or exemption from the lay Judges however the criminal be a Clerk as may appear to any that is not wilfully blind out of this VII canon it self being as to the tenor of it word by word at leingth what I give here Vt nullus Clericus de qualibet causa extra discussionem Episcopi sui a seculari judice injuriam patiatur aut custodiae deputetur Quod si quicumque judex absque causa criminali id est homicidis furto aut maleficio facere fortasse praesumpserit quamdiu Episcopo loci illius visum fuerit ab Ecclesiae liminibus arceatur So at that time the Fathers of this Matisconensâ—â—â— Council thought it not against any law divine or humane civil or Ecclesiastical to acknowledg the jurisdiction of even inferiour Judges over Clerks accused of or as much as accused of murder theft or witchcraft and consequently nor to leave them in such causes to the punishment prescribed by the law And what think you then would these Fathers have any more priviledged such Clerks as should perchance be found guilty of or charg'd with sedition rebellion hostility or any other undenyable treason against the King State or People Or did these Fathers think you harbour at any time the least thought of a priviledge from God or Church or Prince or people to Clergiemen guilty of moveing subjects to take arms against the King himself and his laws And these being all the Councils alleadged by the learned Cardinal in his controversies de Cleric l. 1. c. 28. and those other Councils after added by him in his foresaid other last peculiar little book de potestate Papae in temporalibus against William Barclay undoubtedly because upon after thoughts he found the former in his controversies not convincing at all as no more will you those his additional ones being also already and at large both in my general Answers to them all together and in my particular answers to each a part cleared by me abundantly in my LXIV and LXIX Section where the Reader may turn to them back again if he please for those additional Councils are no other then Lateranense magnum sub Innoc. III. cap. 43. Constantiense Sess 31. Lateranense ultimum sub Leone X. finally the Council of Trent Sess 25. c. 20. de Reformat All which I have though upon another occasion considered in my said former LXIV LXIX Section therefore to perclose this present Section I find my self obliged onely further to take notice of what the Cardinal sayes nay indeed gives for the second main proof of his third Proposition l. 1. de Cleric c. 28. which third Proposition is as I have before noted in general tearms this Non possunt Cerici a judice seculari judicari etiamsi leges civiles non servent For after the Cardinal had briefly quoted the Councils of Chalcedon Agatha Carthage Toledo and Matisconum and of these five Councils had framed his first argument for that his so general third Proposition and then for a second argument pretended first the constitutions of Emperours Novel 79. 83. and 123. but immediatly after acknowledging these Imperial constitutions did not reach the exemption of Clerks at least in criminal causes from some even Inferiour or subordinate lay judges but expresly subjects them still in such causes to the Praetors and Presidents he at last for a second proof of his said Proposition to wit as it relates to criminal causes relyes wholly and onely on the authority of the canon law and for canon law in the point brings no other proof then a general and bare allegation of three Popes Caius Marcellinus and S. Gregory the Great without as much as giving us their words but telling us
that exemption be indeed or truly amounts to I pass over the little value many Countries of the Pope's even very strict communion and both many great and Catholick and Classick Authors too even very great sticklers for the Papacy it self as de jure divino have for this Bull or obligation of it yea notwithstanding all the solemnity used at Rome every year in renewing it How yet they will not receive nor publish it nor suffer it to be published amongst themselves nor hold themselves obliged at all by the publication of it either at Rome or in other places Whereof as enough may be seen in Suarez and Salas de Legibus where they treat of this subject so that was a notable instance which happen'd at Brussels in Albert and Isabels Principality over the Low Countreys resigned to them for ever by the King of Spain Philip the Second when the Nuncio Apostolick there at that time an Italian Archbishop thought he had met with such a conjuncture as therein he might introduce that Bull and therefore caused it to be affixed to the gates of the great Church of St. Gudula yet by commands from the Council of Brabant and Archbishop of Mechlin it was presently torn and pulled down quia non accessit placitum Principis and therefore too any further publication or observation of it prohibited ever since Which relation I had my self from the reverend Fathers de Young and Derkennis two famous professors of Divinity in the Colledge of the Jesuits at Lovaine when I studied in that University But whether this be so or no or whether the great number of those very famous Catholick Divines quoted by Suarez and Salas and by others too who maintain stiffely that Bulla caenae obliges no man in any Diocess out of the temporal Patrimony of the Roman Bishop as neither any other Bull of the Pope at least in matters of Discipline where not legally both published and received by the particular Churches Bishops Princes Clergy and People whether I say that great number of Divines be well grounded or no in maintaining so the invalidity of this Bull of the Supper without a special publication and reception in every particular Diocess neither the one viz. of that relation of the Fathers nor the other to wit of these Divines matters one pinn For I have shewed already that whether so or no whether without such particular publication and reception obliging or not obliging according to its tenour it hath not one word or clause to prove Bellarmin's voluit if by voluit he understand what he ought to our present purpose that is if the Pope's having actually or de facto as much as in him exempted Clerks by a Decretal Epistle Bull or Brief or other Declaration whatsoever sufficient for such purpose as much as according to the doctrine of the very Roman Divines and exempted them too even from the very supream civil power it self of temporal Princes or States For I confess that if any will understand by Bellarmine's voluit a meer inclination affection or good will of Popes to do so if they had found it feasible or according to the rules of prudence to do so that is if they feared not to loose all by doing so it may be granted and ought to be granted that within this last five hundred years many Popes have been spirited so whereof that conroversie in particular of Paul the V. with the Venetians in the year 1606. is for that one Pope a very notable instance But withal it must be granted on the other side that either this is not it which Bellarmine intended by his voluit or at least that he intended nothing to even his own purpose For such a will signifies nothing because not executed The contests therefore of several Popes with several Princes or States about jurisdiction as relating to Clerks argues no more but that such Popes did suppose or at least would have others believe they did suppose Clerks already or by some former law of God or Man or by humane custom in some places left in all causes whatsoever to the Court Ecclesiastical But argues not that any of themselves or other former or latter Popes whosoever did so exempt or attempted to exempt them so And for their suppositions or euen admonitions and comminations of censures nay or actual and manifold censures fulminated in such controversies against their opposers it is apparent in Ecclesiastical History they were little regarded by Princes or States or by other particular Churches of the papal communion or by their Divines Whereof also besides the State of Venice and several other Kingdoms and Principalities we have a most singular argument in the proceedings of Philip the Second that most religious and Catholick King of Spain when after the Usurpation of the Crown of Portugal by Anthony the Bastard Prior of Crati who by the faction and countenance chiefly of the Churchmen of Portugal got himself crown'd he reduced and subdued Portugal to himself as the more lawful Heir of that Kingdom For Spondanus ad Annum Christi 1581. tells how this great Catholick King expresly refused to extend to the religious of Portugal his Act of general Indemnity which in the general Assembly of Estates held by himself at Lisbone the said year he granted all those other Portugueses had opposed his title or the Duke of Alva his General or who had submitted to the said Anthony Nay excluded positively in the same Act and from the benefit of it all the Regulars or Monks of Portugal and besides them none at all but the said Prior Anthony himself the Bastard Usurper illegitimate Sou to Prince Lodovicus Franciscus Portugallus Count Vimiosi Iohn his brother Bishop of Guardia fifty other principal ring-leaders of Anthonie's faction And tells moreover that notwithstanding the general discontent arising from such exclusion or exception and notwithstanding all the frequent expostulations and supplications to his Catholick Majesty to mitigate this rigour he could never be wrought upon until at least two thousand Priests and Monks had by several kinds of violent deaths in several places partly within Portugal it self and partly abroad in the Islands of Azoras been destroyed in the prosecution of the warr against the relicks of Anthoni's Faction whereof also many were said to have been privatly dispatch'd It is true indeed that Thuanus L. 74. quoted by Spondanus ad annum Christi 1583. relates how it was rumour'd that Philip by his Embassadours at Rome obtained a Bull wherein the Pope pardoned him the killing of two thousand persons consecrated to God by a sacred and religious life But it is also true that neither Spondanus himself though a very precise religious Catholick Bishop and a great defender of all just laws of Popes and priviledges of the Clergy nor any other Historian or Writer I have yet seen reprehends nor tells that any other Divine or Clerk or even the Pope himself did reprehend King Philip as having violated
Ecclesiastical Immunity or Exemption by such his proceedings What therefore might be the cause of his desiring or accepting such a Bull if the story of it be true we may easily conteive to be of one side King Philips inexorable rigour I will not say cruelty first in excluding so many thousand religious and sacred men from all pardon and grace and next in pursuing and destroying them as irreconciliable enemies when he might have made them very tractable Subjects and on the other the Popes pretence of even the temporal Soveraignty or supream Lordship of the Country and Kingdom of Portugal as having been made tributary to the Church of Rome by Alphonsus the first Duke and King thereof according to Baronius ad annum Christi 1144. and the proceedings after of several Popes against some Kings of Portugal upon that ground by excommunicating and deposing some instituting others in their place and by exacting of them yearly at first agreed upon under Lucius the II. four ounces of Gold and after that four Marks of Gold under Alexander the IV. as an acknowledgement of his being the supream Lord of it or of its being held in Fee from the Bishops of Rome King Philip therefore to establish himself against the titles of so many other pretendents to that Crown thought it the safest way when he had done his work to make all sure with the Pope for after-times and get himself acknowledged King of Portugal even by him who pretended to be supream Lord of the Fee Though otherwise it be apparent also in Baronius that the Kings of Portugal did acknowledge so much dependence from the Kings of Castile as being bound to appear at their Court when called upon and give them three hundred Souldiers to serve against the Moors amounts unto But this could be no prejudice to a former independent and supream right of Popes to Portugal if there was any such especially whereas the same Barnius makes Castile it self feudatary to nay all Spain (a) Baron ad an Christiâ—â—â— â—01 〈◊〉 1703 the property of the of See Rome as likewise he doth in several places of his Annals all the Kingdoms of Christendome not even France (b) ad an 702. it self excepted And therefore nothing can be concluded from King Philips admission of this Bull but either his remorse of having abused that power God gave him over those religious men or used it in so much more like a Tyrant then a King unless peradventure he perswaded himself upon evident grounds they would never be true to him or his wariness in seeming so the more observant of the Pope in all things according to the maximes of Campanella while he drove at the universal Monarchy But however this be or not its plain enough out of his so publick refusal in the face of the Kingdoms of Portugal and Castile and in that publick Assembly of all the Estates amongst which the Ecclesiastical was the chief and out of his so long and severe prosecution and persecution of those Monks for three whole years till he destroyed them all and out also of the silence even by the Ecclesiasticks themselves of that argument of exemption when the occasion to alledge it was the greatest might be offered at any time and finally out of his receiving continually the most holy Sacraments of the Church all that time without any reprehension or objection made to him by the Church of so publick and so scandalous and so bloody and sacrilegious violation of her pretended nearest and dearest laws I say it is plain enough out of all that whatever the story be of that Bull or whatever the true or pretended motives of King Philip to accept of it neither his own Subjects of Spain or Portugal Clerks or Laicks nor those of other Churches or Kingdoms either Princes or people nor even the Prelats or Pope himself that was then did any way so regard the suppositions or even admonitions comminations nay or even actual censures of other Popes in their Bulla caenae or otherwise as to think perswade themselves that a true obliging canon or law either of God or Man of the State or Church or even as much as of the Pope himself could be concluded thence for any real or true exemption of Clerks from the supream civil power in criminal causes And so I have done with Bellarmines voluit As for his other saying above That hitherto only Hereticks have contradicted this kind of Exemption even this so extraordinary and extravagant exemption of all Clerks in all temporal causes whatsoever civil or criminal from the supream civil and coercive power I remit the Reader to the next following Section saving one where he shall see a farr other sort of Doctors then Hereticks to contradict it even Austins and Hieroms and Chrysostoms and Gregories nay the whole Catholick Church in all ages until these later and worser times wherein the contest was raised first and again renewed by some few Popes and their Partizans against the supream temporal power of Emperours Kings and States Only you are to take notice here Good Reader That 't is but too too familiar with our great Cardinal to make Hereticks only the opposers of such private or particular but false opinions or doctrines of his own as he would impose as the doctrines of the Catholick Church on his undiscerning Readers as on the other side to make the most notorious Arch-hereticks to be the patrons of such other doctrines as himself opposes and would fright his Readers from how well and clearly soever grounded in Scriptures Fathers Councils Reason Which is the very true genuine cause wherefore he gives us where he treats of such questions so exact a list of those chief and most notorious Hereticks who held against him on the point and gives them also in the very beginning of his chapter or controversie whatever it be As in this of Ecclesiastical Exemption besides what I have quoted now out of his book against Barclay cap. 35. he tells us l. de Cleric c. 28. First in general that very many Hereticks contend that all Clerks of what soever degree are de jure â—â—vin by the law of God or by the same law ought to be subject to the secular power both in paying tributes and in judicial proceedings or causes Secondly that Marsilius de Padua and Ioannes de Ianduno though Catholick Lawyers to Lodâ—uick of Bauer the Emperour but esteemed Hereticks by Bellarmine because some tenets of theirs were condemned by Iohn the XXII Pope of that name taught that not even our Sauiour himself was free from tribute and that what he did Mat. 17. when he payed the didrachme or tribute money he did not freely without any obligation to do so but necessarily that is to satisfie the obligation he had on him to do so Thirdly that Iâ—hn Calvin l. 4. Institut c. 11. Parag. 15. teaches that all Clerks ought to be subject to the laws and tribunals of secular Magistrats excepting
Steward of the family in spiritual things onely and onely enabled with spiritual power and with spiritual means also in the execution of such power And consequently that the Pope admits or introduceth Kings and Emperours into the Christian family that they may be govern'd or directed by him spiritually what hath this to do with or how doth it inferre the Pope's being exempted in temporal matters from those very Princes no more certainly then doth the King's or Emperour's being made chief temporal Superintendent by God himself of the Christian family or of those of his own Kingdom or Empire and no more then his admitting of or introducing of whom he please of all forraigners even Churchmen Priests and Bishops and let the Pope himself be one of them as it may well be into the temporal family of his Kingdom Empire or Court and Pallace that they may be govern'd and directed by him temporally civilly or politically in all matters belonging to him hath to do with or inferrs the same King 's or Emperour's being therefore exempt in spiritual matters from these Clergiemen over whom he superintends so or whom he so admits or introduces unto his own temporal family Kingdom or Court But sayes Bellarmine again the second time cap. 35. adversus Barclaium strugling yet to maintain his denyal of that first part of my said Minor in general as to all Clerks whatsoever or whosoever concerning that of the subjection of Christian Clerks to Infidel Princes there being two sentences or opinions as we have noted before neither of them favours Barclay The true sentence or doctrine is That Christian Clerks have been jure that is by the law of Christ or of God exempted from the power of Infidel Princes albeit they had been de facto subject to them And that he exempted them as his own proper Ministers who is truly said or called Apocap 1. in the first of St. Iohns Revelations Princeps Regum terrae the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Therefore according to this sentence that proposition of Barclay which is the said first part of my Minor is to be denied which he no where proves nor hath proved in this place but assumes as granted which yet indeed the more grave Writers do not grant such as are all those that mantain Ecclesiastical Exemption to be de jure divino And yet were that proposition granted that I mean of the subjection of Christian Clerks de jure legis Christianae to Infidel Princes Barclay would not could not therefore conclude for this consecution of his thence would be denied Ergo Clerks are de jure subject also to the judgment and power of beleeving or Christian Princes For all Catholick Writers as well Divines as Canonists deny this proposition which is the second amongst those of Barclay here And that consecution would be and is denied because the supream Pontiff that is the Pope hath absolutely exempted Clerks from the power of beleeving Princes who acknowledge his power but from the power of Infidel Princes who do not acknowledge his power he hath not so absolutely exempted them because he cannot force or punish these by ecclesiastical Censures Besides that consecution would also have been and is denied because the very Christian lay Princes themselves have so exempted Clerks from themselves as understanding how great the clerical dignity is Which Infidel Princes have not done as to whom that spiritual dignity was and is unknown Hitherto Bellarmine ubi supra cap. 35. How vain this reply is first as to his law diuine which he pretends I have already shewed at large in my former Sections where I handled his texts alledged out of that same law Divine will hereafter yet shew out of other clear texts to the quite contrary Vnless perhaps he means that that adorable title of Christ which he brings here Princeps Regum terrae and he might have added too Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium be an argument of such a law divine for the exemption of Clerks But no man would be so out of his right senses and I will not charge him with being so being these titles might be as properly alledged for any thing or law whatsoever he pleased to impose on Christ without any other kind of warrant As for the title of Ministers given to Clerks I have purposely said enough in my LXIII Section Leaving these titles therefore and all other such or not such let us demand of our learned Cardinal by what words in what place book or chapter hath this very Prince of the Kings of the Earth so exempted Clerks Give us Bellarmine one material word out of holy Scripture of Apostolical Tradition that proves Clerks to be more exempted by him so then other Christians even the meerest seeliest Laicks I have shewed abundantly shewed already you cannot And next how vain this reply is by his flat denial of that proposition and saying it was no where proved but assumed without proof my next following Section will yet shew as clear as the Sun because over and above all said already by me for the negative it proves of purpose in a positive way out of Scripture also the subjection of all Christian Clerks even de jure divino vel ipsius legis Christianae to all true supream lay Princes whether Infidels or Christians under whose or in whose dominions they live In the third place also how vainly he tells us that all those whom he calls graviores Scripâ—eres the more grave Writers to wit such as teach Ecclesiastical Exemption to be jure divina deny that proposition viz. that Christian Clerks were de jure subject to Infidel Princes For besides that I may and do on farr better grounds though at present it be needless to repeat them deny those to be the more grave Writers then he affirms or can affirm them to be so it is obvious to make him this reioynder that the material querie or dispute is not whether those Writers are so or no or even whether any besides himself or even also whether himself denied that proposition but whether it may be in sound reason or Christian Religion denied And what those arguments are that perswade it may be so denied And as I am sure that Bellarmine hath as yet not given as much as one likely argument to prove it may be so denied so I do averr the same of those others too whom he calls the more grave Divines Fourthly how vain his answer is by denying the consecution or consequent in case that Antecedent were granted that is by denying the subjection of Clerks to Christian Princes to follow their having been de jure divino subject to the same Princes before they were Christian how vain I say his answer is in this much appears out of the vain grounds he gives for it either in point of authority or in point of reason For the authority he pleads for denying this consecution is that if we beleeve him of
in plain tearms deny the Major to wit for the last part of it and for the former distinguish the word Cittizens parts members and again the word Subject For he would say that albeit whoever are Cittizens or parts and members and not the civil or politik heads of the civil or politick common-wealth Empire Kingdom Principality as such or as a civil and politick society are subject to and not exempt from the politick head power and laws which is the first part of the Major yet he would deny that which follows as the second part of the same proposition to wit this nor consequently from the supream coercive power of it And he would in the former part distinguish and say that indeed whoever are Cittizens parts members c. are subject either coercively or directively or both and that lay Cittizens or lay parts or members are both ways subject in all temporal matters but Ecclesiastical members not otherwise but directively and by no means coercively and that such members I mean Ecclesiastical are then onely as much as directively subject when the canons of the Church do not order the same temporal things Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo For what els do you see in the writings of this great Clerk but a perpetual change from one doctrine to an other in this matter and some other such of the Pope and Clergie as of the King also and Layety one doctrine while he was young an other when he was grown old and in his old age it self so many distinctions and evasions or rather confusions and contradictions that we know not where to and him or what to learn from him He would have the Clergie as politick parts or members of the politick common-wealth to be called Subjects to Kings whom he confesses to be the Politick Heads and he would have Kings to be called their Kings too and not onely called Kings in relation to lay subjects and he alleadges and truly too alleadges that Clergiemen as well as laymen pray for them as for their own Kings and we know it must be confessed by him they are so prayed for being the very publick Liturgy in the mass book hath that publick prayer which all Priests and Bishops too mast say and sing publickly at the altar of God wherein they say and pray for the King as their own King Et pro Rege nostro c. nay and he confesses too there in really an obligation whereby they are bound and really a subjection which they owe to Kings and yet after all he renders doth the names unsignificant and things inconsistent For I beseech you how can the King be a King that is a supream politick head and Governour to the Clerks of his Dominions or how can these they be politick Cittizens parts members of his Kingdom or bound to him or be his subjects that is be under him as such if he have no power of and over them or to command them or tye them by laws and precepts or if he have not as much as a directive power to command them or if they be not bound by as much as a directive obligation that is by an obligation arising or proceeding from the directive virtue of the command given or layed upon them To be a King of or over any or to be such a Head or such a Governour of any implyes essentially a power to command him or them over whom he is such and a passive tye of obedience in or obligation on him or them who are subjects or truly or in any proper sense named subjects And yet Bellarmine sayes in effect and gives it for his final Resolution though in contradiction to himself elsewhere nay and every where that in order to Clerks there is no such power in the King in any case not even in the very meerest temporal whatsoever nor any such obligation or tye on Clerks For he sayes as you have seen a little before that Clerks are not bound to obey their Kings meer civil laws in meer temporal matters whensoever the canons of the Church order the same matters and sayes too they are not bound as much as by the directive virtue of such laws and therefore sayes they are not bound at all being there is no tye can be but either coercive or directive and consequently must say though again in contradiction to himself the King is not King at all of Clerks nor Clerks subjects at all to the King For as the case hath already been in many even meer civil or temporal things that the canons or commands of the Pope for both are the same and the same too with these of the Church as to Bellarmines purpose have been even contrary to the civil laws of Kings and to their civil commands so the case may soon be and very well be that is whenever the Pope shall please that the canons be contrary in all such things How then can the essence or essential nature of Kingship or of Prefection and Subjection 'twixt the King and the Clerks of his dominions be And for the case that is at present wherein some temporal dispositions or a disposition in some temporal matters is left to the civil laws of Kings or left I mean as yet untouch'd by Papal constitutions who sees not plainly but that according to the above other final doctrine and subtle distinction of Bellarmine I mean his viâ—rationis and vi legis there is not even in such things or in order to the civil laws or civil commands of the King any obligation at all on Clerks to the King or to his even such commands or laws nor consequently any power of Kingship in him even in such things or by such laws over Clerks and as even now at present the case is For he tels you plainly that Clerks are not vi legis sed vi rationis bound not even as much as directively bound by virtue of such law but onely by virtue of reason And yet here also he contradicts again both himself and reason too Being that if they be bound by the virtue of reason to observe such a civil law of the Kings that is by that of natural reason or of a practical dictate of such reason for I can understand nothing els by his vis rationis which tells them they are bound in the case to observe such a law then must it be that they are bound also vi legis or by the at least directive virtue of the law it self For it is plain that no otherwise do we conclude or gather or perswade our selves that Laymen are bound either by the directive or coercive part of such law or that indeed any humane law at all even Ecclesiastical or perhaps too any law that most immediately divine obligeth us obligeth any Laicks or Clerks vi legis but onely hence that natural reason or a practical dictat of our understanding even that light of Gods countenance or that which God himself hath imprinted on
would be not to exempt them but in effect to make them to be no members at all As for that reason of diversity which Bellarmine hath given As it is unnecessary that all the Citizens pay tribute or that all bear arms to defend the Republick who sees not also that it argues no diversity no difference at all in the simile For in the natural body it is not necessary that all the members walke that all see that all hear c. But it is sufficient both in the natural body and in the civil that every member so attend perform that duty unto which it is ordained or applyed that all in common do still in the same body and under the same head what they are enjoyned or destined to Let Bellarmine therefore let his disciples abstain hereafter from such absurd Paradoxes What man of found reason hath ever yet in his own soul inwardly perswaded himself that a King may not de jure King it over that is govern by direction and coercion those of whom he is King nor a head the members of its own body But our Cardinal denye here that from the contrary position and practice any perturbations of the common-wealth should arise because that albeit the King may not coerce transgressing Clerks yet the Bishops may and will To this because I have said enough already I onely saâ— now that to assent this power of coercion of Clerks to Bishops for lay crimes or those committed in meer temporal or civil matters and deny it to King were nothing els in effect but to rayse Bishops from their Office Ministry Episcopal to the power and Dignity Royal of Kings and then consequently to make but meer Ciphers of the Kings themselves For I demand of Bellarmine or of his Schollars why were Kings instituted or to what end their power if it was not to govern the Republick to provide for the peace and safety of all the people of what condition or profession soever Lay or Ecclesiastick and to provide for the security and tranquility of all by punishing and rewarding indifferently according to the respective merits or demerits of every individual But our Cardinal snatches away from Kings this proper function of Kings and gives it to Bishops whereas it is notwithstanding certain that neither can the common-wealth be quiet if Clerks do violate the laws resign themselves over to sedition and yet may not be de jure therefore punished curbed or any way restrained by Kings For who sees not consequently that neither de jure can the King contain his Provinces in peace nor compel his people to live together within the bounds of honesty equity or justice And who sees not consequently also but that the very politick peace nay the very politick being of the common-wealth must depend of the will of the Bishops to whom onely the light of governing of licencing or restraining Clerks our good Cardinal will have to belong that by the severity of their Episcopal censures or other judgments they may as they will coerce the nocent and thereby and in so much pacifie the troubles of the Republick or as they please too permit all wickedness and all the most enormours horrid crimes of Sedition and Rebellion to extinguish quite the face and being of a Republick How farre more piously Christianly and rationally too had Bellarmine taught and writt that by the favour and priviledg given by Kings the Clergie are not subject to any other Judicatory but to one composed of Ecclesiastical judges yet so that as well those very Judges as the criminal Clerks be subject still to and not exempt from the supream Royal power of the King who gave subordinate power to those very Ecclesiastical Judicatories in temporal things nay and in spiritual too for what belongs to corporal or civil coercion and who as the supream temporal Prince may command prohibit and provide that no person of what condition or profession soever breake the peace of his Kingdom and who also may when there is just cause take cognizance of and judg as well what ever delinquent Clerks as the very Ecclesiastical judges of those Clerks To that of Hermannus the Colen Archbishop I will say that Bellarmine writes so of this matter as he may be refuted with that jeer wherewith a certain Boor pleasantly checked a great Bishop as he rode by with a splendid pompous train The story is that a country clown having first admired and said this pomp was very unlike that of the Apostles to whom Bishops did succeed and some of the Bishops train answering that this Bishop was not only a successor of the Apostles but also Heir to a rich Lordship and that moreover he was a Duke and a Prince too the clown replied but if God sayes he condemn the Duke and Prince to eternal fire what will become of the Bishop Even so doth Bellarmine write as that servant spoke that this Hermannus whom Charles the V. summon'd to appear was not only an Archbishop but a Prince also of the Empire And even so do I say and replye with the country swain when the Emperour judged this Prince of the Empire did he not I pray judge the Archbishop too But you will say that though indeed he judged the Archbishop yet not as an Archbishop but as a Prince of the Empire Let it be so For neither do I nor other Catholick Opposers of Bellarmine in this matter intend or mean or at least urge or press now that Clerks as Clerks are subject to the coercion or direction of Kings but as men but as Citizens and politick parts of the body Politick which kind of authority as Bellarmine confesses Charles the V. both acknowledg'd in and vindicated to the Emperour Of whose piety what Bellarmine adds is to no purpose For it is not denyed that it becomes good Princes to leave that is to commit the causes of Clerks how great and weighty or criminal soever to Ecclesiastical Judges if it stand with the safety or good hic nunc of the Commonwealth that such causes be discussed before such Judges And yet I must tell the Defenders of Bellarmine that if they please to consult the Continuator of Baronius the most reverend and most Catholick Bishop Henricus Spondenus ad an Christi 1545. they will find that upon complaint of the Catholick Clergy and University also of Colen to as well the Emperour Charles the V. as the Pope Pavl the III. against the said Archbishop as by the advice of Bueer introducing Heresie and licenceing the Preachers of it in that City and Diocess and that at their instance petitioning for help redress in that matter against the said Hermannus it was that the said Emperour Charles the V. did in the Diet of Wormes the said year and about the end of Iune by his Letters or Warrant signed and sealed summon the said Archbishop to appear before him within thirty dayes either by himself in his own proper person or by
his lawful Procurator to answer such crimes as were objected to him by the said Clergy and Academy and in the mean time to innovate nothing but to restore all things were innovated into their former state And therefore that they will find in Spondanus that this Emperour summon'd this Archbishop even as an Archbishop and consequently did not only summon and proceed against him as a Prince of the Empire but as a very Archiepiscopal Clerk and even too in a meer cause of Religion For this last particular also of the being of the cause for which the Emperour summon'd him a cause of Religion and Faith the same Spondanus hath expresly in the same place where he tells us that it was therefore the Pope Paul the III. who then sate in the See Apostolick thought fit by his own Letters of the 18. of Iuly immediatly following in the same year to summon to Rome the same Hermannus giving him sixty dayes for appearance before himself to wit least otherwise his Holiness might be thought to let go his own challenge of peculiar right in the See Apostolick only to proceed against so great a Clerk especially being the cause was properly Clerical and properly too a cause of Faith and reformation of the Church in religious tenets and rites and least consequently he might seem wholly to quit the quarrel of external coercion of either Clerks or Laicks where the crime was Heresie and by his own want or neglect of proceeding by his own proper Apostolical Authority against Herman whereas the Emperour had begun and proceeded already upon account or by virtue also of his own pure or sole imperial civil and lay power might be esteemed to acknowledge in lay Princes that supream external coercive right of even all sorts of very Clerks and even too of such in the very meerest and purest causes of Faith and Religion The testimony of Spondanus to this purpose is in these words Quod ut Pontifex audivit he means the summons sent by Charles from the Dyet of Worms for the Archbishop parum prohare visus quod Cesar in causa Fidei reformationis Ecclesiarum Iudicis authoritatem sibi sumeret die decima octava Iulii eundem Coloniensem ad sexagesimum diem citavit ut per seipsum vel per legittimum procuratorem coram ipso Romae se sisteret To that also which Bellarmine hath of crimina privilegiata and for as much as he sayes that in France those are call'd priviledg'd crimes whereof that Clerks may be accused before a lay Judge in the secular Court the Pope hath indulged I say it is farr otherwise And that Bellarmine could not shew nor any other can for him any Sanction or Law nay or any other authentick writing wherein it is recorded to posterity that such a priviledge was given by the Pope to Kings or Republicks Though I confess many Popes have been free enough of granting priviledges where they had no right to grant any and where only the ignorance or injustice of pretenders gave them some kind of bad excuse for attempting to give any and would willingly have all both Princes and people to desire of them priviledges for all they could themselves do before of themselves nay and were often bound to do without any priviledge Whence also it may be sufficiently evicted that it is no way probable this ordinary jurisdiction supream of Kings over Clerks was granted to them by the Pope but on the contrary certain that whereas anciently the very most Christian Kings and Emperours made use of all their both directive and coercive power to govern Clerks in all civil matters whatsoever nay and in spiritual matters too for what I mean concerns the external regiment of the Church by external direction of laws and by external coercion too of the material sword and to govern them also either immediatly by themselves or mediatly by their subordinat lay Judges and whereas the civil laws wherein and whereby afterwards the same Emperors and Kings exempted Clerks in many causes or most or if you please to say or think so in all whatsoever from the ordinary subordinate lay Judges have not a word of any exemption from the Prince himself the supream civil Judge of all both lay and Ecclesiastical Judge of his own Kingdom in the external coactive regiment therefore it must be concludent it was only from and by the free will of the Princes themselves that ordinary jurisdiction supream temporal or civil over Clerks was reserved still to themselves who remitted or bestowed away of their own right all whatever they pleased as they did that in the present case of deputing lay men for the ordinary subordinat Judges of those causes of Clerks which are not common but priviledged and retained also what they would Of all which the late and most learned Milletus may be read who in that choice and elegant Tract of his which he inscribed de delicto communi casis privilegiato shews very learnedly and clearly 1. That all such priviledges of Clergiemen had their whole and sole origen from Kings 2. And therefore that such crimes as Clerks are accused of and judged in foro civili in the ordinary civil or lay Courts are properly to be called delicta communia because to be tryed by the common law and before the common or lay Magistrate and those only which are remitted to the Bishop are by a contrary reason to be tearmed privilegiata to wit because it is by a priviledge granted by Kings or indulged by them to Bishops that bishops may take cognizance of and judge them As for Clarus and Ausrerius whom Bellarmine alledges for that his own sense of what is a priviledged crime of Clerks or for any other Canonists soever I regard not much what they say or not say in this matter Because they all commonly and without any ground not only bereave Princes of this supream right of either coeâ—cing or directing Clerks but also teach that all kind of meer temporal Principality flows and depends from the Papacy As that Legat did who in a Diet of the German Princes had the confidence to ask or querie thus A quo habet Imperator Imperium nisi habet a Domine Papa For so Radevicus hath related this Legats folly And so having throughly destroyed all the replies of Bellarmine to the grounds or any part of the grounds of my second grand argument and of the proof of it which second argument and proof of its Minor I derived partly from and built upon his own principles of Clergiemens being Cittizens and parts of the politick commonwealth I am now come to My third argument of pure natural reason which shall end this present Section Though I withal confess the grounds of this third argument are already given in my illustration of the former second But however for the clearer methods sake because too the medium is somewhat different from that in the form of my foregoing second I would give
this following now as a distinct one and as in order my third And I frame it thus Whatever natural civil or politick supream right and authority of civil direction and civil coercion of all and every person or persons whatsoever of the politick Commonwealth as such may be necessary for the preservation of the being and peace of the whole is by the law of nature it self to be attributed to and asserted or allowed in the same Commonwealth as such and consequently in the supream politick Head of it as such whether this Head be one single person by nature or an aggregation of many persons together by policy But the natural civil or politick supream right and authority of civil direction and civil coercion of all Clergiemen whatsoever living under or in any politick Commonwealth as such is necessary for the preservation of the being and peace of the whole Ergo the natural civil or politick supream right and authority of civil direction and civil coercion of all Clergiemen whatsoever living under or in any politick Commonwealth as such is by the law of nature it self to be attributed to and asserted or allowed in the same Commonwealth and consequently in the supream politick Head of it whether this head be one single person by nature or an aggregation of many persons together by policy The Major besides that it is proved already by and in the prosecution of my former argument where I alledged that maxime or principle allowed by all men and which in reason must be so allowed by all men viz. That every well or rightly establish'd civil Commonwealth must by the law of nature have in it self as such and consequently in its politick Head as such too that natural or civil authority over all the parts and members which may sufficiently enable the whole to attain the proper natural and civil ends of the whole and of all such parts as parts both joyntly and severally these ends being the civil peace quiet justice and comfortable secure living of all together I say the Major besides its being already proved so is further proved by this other maxime which even Suarez himself l. 3. de Primatu sum Pontif. c. 1. n. 4. allows and alledgeth for certain and for evident in natural reason Quod humana natura non possit esse destituta remediis ad suam conservationem necessariis That humane nature cannot be destitute of sufficient right and authority to do those things which are necessary for its own preservation in a peaceable and just way of living Now it is clear enough that the civil direction and civil coercion of all persons whatsoever living within the Dominions of the Commonwealth while they live there is necessary for its preservation And the Major is further also proved by a third maxime or principle which Morl. hath in Empor jur 1. p. tit 2. de legibus num 20. vers .. Quia cum regnum To wit this Cui regnum conceditur necessario omnia censentur concessa sine quibus regnum gubernari non potest To whom a Kingdom is given all things that is to say all right and authority which are necessary for the well governing of it are supposed to be given And yet who sees not this principle could not be true if that Major also were not true For whatever is necessary for the preservation of the being and peace of the Commonwealth is also necessary for the wel-governing of it As for the Minor I have abundantly proved it also before in the prosecution of my second argument And of the conclusion to follow the premisses necessarily there is no man will doubt It remains therefore that for an appendix of these arguments grounded on pure natural reason for the subjection of Clergiemen to or which is the same thing against their exemption from the supream civil coercive power in temporal causes to conclude this Section I shew by natural reason also that the very temporal Princes themselves how otherwise supream soever could not cannot by any law right authority or power given them by God or Man exempt from themselves that is from their own supream civil and even coercive power the Clergiemen of their own Dominions whiles I mean such Clergiemen remain of or in their Dominions and acknowledge themselves or indeed be inferiours and subjects to the same Princes or otherwise that these Princes be either acknowledged by them or otherwise truly and legally be their natural or proper legal Princes But for as much as Bellarmine hath in the often quoted 35. chap. l. contra Barclaium as being mightily startled by this position roused himself again and laid about him no less mightily to ruine it then he had to ruine that other which denied the Pope himself any such power of exempting Clerks from the same temporal Princes I will to avoid here some labour of repetition first give our learned Cardinals arguments against it and then consequently my own proofs for it in the solution of those arguments Ad quintam propofitionem sayes he quae erat non potuisse Principes supremos eximere Clericos a sua Regia potestate respondemus id manifestè falsum esse Nam etiamsi non possit summus Princeps c. To the fift proposition sayes Bellarmine which was that supream Princes could not exempt Clerks from their own Royal power I answer that it is manifestly false For albeit the supream Prince may not exempt all that live in his Kingdom from his own power unless he resign his Principality yet he may exempt some part of his people from some part of his power or even from all parts of his power and at the same time be both truly said and remain still a Prince For it is proper to a supream Prince to exact tribute from the people subject to him as the Apostle teaches Rom. 13. For it is therefore sayes he you pay tributes for they are the Ministers of God serving unto this purpose And yet the King may free such as he please from tributs For it is said 1. of Kings or of Samuel cap. 17. whoever shall kill the Philisthine the King shall enrich him with great riches and shall make his Father's house free from tributes in Israel Even so if some great King do free some one Citty amidst his Kingdom or bestow it absolutely on some body it will not be therefore consequent that he may not be said to be King of his whole Kingdom especially if he still protect and defend that Citty and that the Cittizens thereof do freely observe the laws of his Kingdom So therefore too might Kings exempt from their own Royal power the Clerks living in their Kingdom and yet be said to be and truly be kings not onely of Laicks but also of Clerks who freely observe their politick laws and who being Actors referre or deferre the causes they have with Laicks to their Royal tribunals and acquiesce to their judgment or sentence in such causes And because
the King labours and watches for the defence not onely of Laicks but of Clerks also therefore not Laicks onely but also Clerks do give him that honour which is due to Kings according to the precept of the Apostle Peter Fear God honour the King 1. Pet. 2. Finally they pray for the King as the Apostle bids them 1. Timoth. 2. saying I desire therefore first of all things that obsecrations prayers postulations thankes-givings be made for all men for Kings and all that are in preheminence Nor onely do they power their prayers to God for Kings in general but say in specie in particular pro Rege N. vel pro Imperatore N. for our King N. or for our Emperour N. expressing their names First therefore what Bellarmine sayes here is that the King may exempt some part of his own people from some part of his own power or even from his own whole power And this he proves thus Because sayes he the King may bestow on some house or Citty an exemption or immunity from tributs What 's this to our question Doth an exemption from tributs work this effect that whoever is so exempted is no more bound to the Prince in any kind of subjection For this is the onely question We confess the priviledges given to Clerks to be greater then a sole exemption from tributs but we deny that Clerks therefore are totally manumised set free or exempted from their subjection to Princes But sayes Bellarmine it is the prerogative of a Prince to exact tribute as it is to command or judge or punish and therefore if he can remit the one why not the other A vast difference there is most eminent Cardinal It is indeed proper to or the prerogative of a Prince to exact tributes because none exact such but Princes or States which are the same thing here But it is also proper to a King to remit tributes because none else may and that by such remission he ceaseth not to be â—â—ince of the same persons or people or City to which tribute is so remitted and that it may also be expedient sometimes for his Principality to remit them Nay if Princes had universally remitted all kind of tribute to all the people of their Dominions as Nero thought to do and could and would content themselves and bear all the charges of the publick and defend it too with by and out of their own patrimony would they fall therefore from their Principality But it is no way proper to a King to remit to any in all things all kind of obedience or subjection to himself and yet still to be truly called and truly essentially or properly to be or to remain King of those very persons to whom such remission is made because the power of lording commanding judging punishing at least in some cases is the very essence of Principality so that the Prince cannot remit or quit this and withal continue Prince Nor doth Bellarmine help himself by saying that albeit the Prince may not exempt or set free all his people and still remain Prince yet he may some part of them For it is plain that he cannot any part and together be Prince or King of that part whereas it is of the very essence of a King to lord it over and command his whole Kingdom to provide for his whole Kingdom and to have all within his Kingdom Natives Forreigners Dwellers Sejourners Inmates Travellers c. of what degree or quality soever obnoxious or subject to his will and laws the good to be encouraged to be rewarded by him and malefactors to be coerced and punish'd also by him Nor indeed is he instituted King to govern any part or parts of his Kingdom but to govern the whole Kingdom And therefore it must be that if he exempt any part from subjection to himself which yet he cannot de jure without the consent of all the Estates of the Kingdom he must as well in order to such part cease to be King as he would in order to all if he had bestowed that plenary exemption upon all and every part of his Kingdom For I beseech you what rational man would perswade himself that for example the present French or Spanish Kings are absolute Kings respectively of all France or of all Spain or of all French and Spaniards if in the richest and fruitfullest Territories of all France there be four or five hundred thousand Frenchmen and so many French women and if double trebble or quadrubble that number be in the Spanish so exempt from the French and Spanish Kings Dominions and yet so diffused in every Province County City Corporation and the very Villages that nothing can be more and yet having moreover so much influence on the rest of the people that they can turn them which way they please Or how could for another examples sake either Henry the Eight in England or his Catholick Predecessors be justly called or stiled Kings of England if the Clerks of that Kingdom then almost innumerable and possessing as their own proper lands and goods wel-nigh the one entire moyety of it were not truly and properly subjects to the said Henry and to other his said Predecessors Secondly what Bellarmine sayes though by way of interrogation is That if some great King doth in the middle of his Kingdom free some one City or absolutely bestow it on another he may be notwithstanding said to be King of his whole Kingdom But I would fain know what our great Cardinal understands by these words Rex totius regni sui King of all his own Kingdom Doth he repute that City so exempted or so made free by that great King to be notwithstanding part of that very Kings own whole Kingdom If so our Cardinal recedes not only from truth but from common sense For I pray what is it else to be a King but to lord it over those or to command those of whom he is King Can Bellarmine himself deny the King to be Superiour in relation to those of whom he is King And yet himself teaches cont Barclaium cap. 13. that every Superiour may command his Inferiour omnis superior potest imperare inferiori suo Some indeed question how far or in what things the power of Kings extend to their people but none at all whether in any thing or even very many things it reach or command them But our Cardinal will have that City exempted to be no more subject in any thing to be no more commanded in any matter by that King Therefore he is no more King of it Nor doth it make any difference in the case that he protect or defend that Citty For it is one thing to be a Protector or Defender and an other to be King Who is it would say that the Kings of England or France were Kings of Holland and of the rest of the United Provinces at any time since the said Provinces rebelled against their own natural King albeit we know and it
be confessed that the French and English Kings were their Protectors and Defenders against the Kings of Spain Or who would say that Henry the Second of France was King of the Confederate Princes of Germany although it be confessed also that the said Confederate Princes chose him for their Protector And as little doth that other reason or pretence and allegation of Bellarmine cives illi leges regni sponte servent that the Cittizens of that so exempted Citty do freely observe the laws of the Kingdom make any material difference in the case unless peradventure that if the Spaniards would receive the laws of France and by an express Statute enact these laws for themselves or otherwise out of custom observe them it must be granted that consequently the Spaniards renounce their own Principality and yield themselves to that of France But if Bellarmine understand or mean that Citty so exempted to be no more of the Kingdom then is the similitude to no purpose being himself grants and averrs that after and notwithstanding the exemption of Clerks Kings are not onely Kings of the Laymen but also of the Clergiemen Reges esse nonsolum Laicorum sed etiam Clericorum Reges Yet as for the reasons which he gives for this concession and asseveration I must say they are childish and unworthy of Bellarmine The first is that Clerks do freely observe the politick laws But I have rejected this presently or a little before Nor indeed can it be said with any colour that it some Nation as for example now the Armenians did receive observe the laws of a forraign King as for example too those of the King of France or Poland or Spain c. therefore such Nation must be said to acknowledg this forraign King for their own King The second is quia Clerici causas quas cum Laicis habens cum actores sunt aâ— tribunal iâ—sius Regis deferunt in judicio sententiae ejus in ejusmodi causis acquiescum that Clerks when being Actors against Laicks bring their causes to the King's tribunal and in such causes acquiesce to the judgment and sentence of his temporal Court or politick Judges But who sees not that this is not to acknowledg him to be their King And who sees not that there is no other subjection of Clerks herein but such as is acknowledged by meer strangers forraigners aliens and such as is necessary in all kinds of judicial proceedings If a Frenchman have a suit with a Spaniard if any man of this King 's natural and legal Subjects commence a suit against the Subject of an other King and living still in the Dominions of this other King must not such a Plaintiff or such an Actor apply himself to the Courts or Judicatories of the Defendant that is to those of this other King Will the Plaintiff therefore acknowledg this other King to be simply or absolutely his own King will a Spaniard if he sue in France and before French Judges acknowledg therefore the French King to be his own King or will a Hollander sueing an Englishman in England therefore acknowledg the King of England to be his own meer trifles Actor sequitur forum Rei And therefore as you rightly conclude that he is the Defenders King simply and absolutely before whom in the case he is convented so is it unreasonably inferred that he is the Actor's King before whom such Actor convents an other But sayes Bellarmine Clerks do pray in specie for the King and pray thus Pro Rege nostro N. For our King N. c. And what is more against Bellarmine For hence nothing follows more directly then that the King is King of Clerks also and that Clerks are his Subjects For who can conceive the King to be King of Clerks and yet that Clerks should not be his Subjects Being that as Almainus de sup potest c. q. 2. cap. 5. teaches Aliquem esse Regem nihil aliud est quam habere superioritatem erga subditos in subditis esse obligationem parendi Regi c. One to be a King is nothing els but to have a politick both directive and coercive power of superiority over all the people of his Dominions and that consequently there be obligations answerable on the same people as Subjects to obey him However Bellarmine would needs by so many absurd arguments uphold his very absurd sentences which say in plain tearms the King to be King of Clerks and yet Clerks not to be Subjects to the King a Citty or people to be absolutely free and yet have the King for their King and themselves for part of his Kingdom and which in word consequently confound the very notions of King and Subject and of ruling and being ruled But certainly nothing could be said to confirm and illustrate more my purpose here or that of no power in Kings to exempt Clerks from their own supream power then that Bellarmines answers and reasons for the contrary are such wretched ones indeed Out of the refutations of which and of all said before in this Section especially in prosecution of my second and third Argument it will be obvious enough to frame this other in behalf of that Corollary or Incidental Position which I gave only as an appendix of my third argument Whoever have and continue any office which essentially involves a power supream both directive and coercive of all Clerks within their Dominions may not devest themselves of the power of directing and coercing the same Clerks unless they do withal devest themselves of that office as towards the self same Clerks Because they cannot devest themselves of the essence of that which they hold still or while they hold it or for the time wherein they are to hold it this arguing a plain contradiction But the office of Kings involves a power supream both directive and coercive of all Clerks within their Dominions For this I have proved already and at large by very natural reason Ergo whoever have the office of Kings may not devest themselves of a power supream both directive and coercive of all Clerks within their Dominions unless with all they devest themselves of the office Kings as towards the self same persons Now we have seen hitherto that not only by reason and experience but even by our learned Cardinals own concessions and allegations Kings have not devested do not devest themselves of the office of Kings towards the Clerks of their Dominions but on the contrary that Kings are truly properly and essentially Kings also of such Clerks And consequently too we have seen that while the case is so and for the time it shall be so with them they cannot by any priviledges at all they have given hitherto or shall give hereafter so exempt Clerks as to exempt them from their own supream directive and coercive power And so I end this LXXII Section of my three grand Arguments of all their appendages composed partly of undoubted Theological
West Yet I confess the first occasion of that writing of Innocent's to the Emperour of Constantinople or that which he intended or at least pretended finally to instruct or advise the Emperour in was very just viz that the same Emperour should beare a greater respect to the Patriarch of Constantinople then to make him sit at the left side of his foot-stool so contrary to the laudable custome of other Christian Emperours and Kings cum alij Reges Principes sayes he Archiepiscopis Episcopissuis sicut debent reverenter assurgant eis juxta sevenerabilem sedem assignent But for any thing else in that epistle of Innocent which relates either directly or indirectly to our present purpose I must confess I see nothing at all but what is quite contrary in his application to the sense to the belief and to the practise too of all Antiquity if peradventure you except not that onely passage where he sayes Quod autem sequitur Regi tanquam praecellenti non negamus quin praecellat Imperator in temporalibus illos dumtaxat qui ab eo suscipiunt temporalia Which yet I for my own part do not except because under the word dumtaxat there lyes much restriction nay and under the word or verb praecellat also Because that dumtaxat restraines the latitude of those who might or should be said in temporals or by reason of their temporals to be under the Emperour and subject and obedient to him to such onely who receave temporals to witt lands revenues or perhaps besides these onely some temporal jurisdiction and consequently excludes all other Clerks from subjection or obedience to the Emperour who receave no such temporals from him albeit they have the benefit of temporal protection from his laws and sword for this last is not by Innocents doctrine as to our present purpose accounted among such temporals as he speaks of here And because this praecellat by reason of its more abstract and more common signification of it self imports not as much as a praecellency in power authority or jurisdiction over those very same Clerks who receave even such temporals of Innocent from the Emperour But however this be of Innocent's meaning by these two words or wary manner of expression by them I am sure he declares his mind plainly in the rest or in his answers to and distinctions of the Emperour's arguments out of Scripture especially of the place out of Peter to be that Clerks are not by the law of God to be subject to the Emperour For the refutation of which answers or distinctions I remit the Reader to what I have said formerly at large out of the law of God and Nature for the subjection of Clerks and to what besides I said before at leingth in answer to Bellarmines arguments for the exemption of Clerks either by the law of God or man or nature Where albeit I have said nothing in particular to that place of Peter or to Innocents quibble upon it as not being vaâ—â—ed by Bellarmine himself and therefore not produced by him for himself yet I have given abundantly what may shew the impertinency of alleadging that place of Peter against me or that quibble of Innocent upon it or even any thing else said by the same Innocent well or ill either in this canon Solicitae benignitatis de Major obed or elsewhere and particularly in cap. Nâ—vit ille de Judicijs Which 〈◊〉 chapter I note particularly because the Catholick Bishop of Ferns alledges it singularly in a letter of his I have as very much relyed upon by the Irish Divines who live abroad in Spain and by them relyed upon as upon a strong argument for a power in the Pope to depose Kings at least ratione peccatâ— and consequently for the unlawfulness to sign our Remonstrance of 61. or 62. which cleerly and expresly disclaims and renounceth any such power in the Pope either upon the account of sin or any other whatsoever but onely in relation to such Kings as hold their Kingdoms in fee from him and who consequently are not absolute Soveraigns or not absolutely the supream Lords of their Kingdoms not even I mean in temporals nor hold of God immediately but of the Pope whom they themselves acknowledg to be the chief truly supream Lord of such Kingdoms though by human right onely But the truth is that no such deposing power in the Pope as to other Kings who do not acknowledg themselves to hold in fee from him can be gathered out of this cap. Nâ—vit ilâ—e de Iudicijs Where if strictly examined Innocent does no more sayes no more upon complaint made to the same Pope Innocent by a King of England against a King of France That he of France though admonished by him several times to keep the treaty sworn and peace agreed upon betwixt them and particularly in relation to the County of Poitiers which England held in fee from France and as agreed upon too by articles of the said treaty and peace mutually sworn did without any regard of his oath or any just cause endeavour to force in hostile manner that fee of Poitiers back again from the possession of the English where I say upon this complaint and for ought appears out of this canon in it self Novit ille de Iudiciis Innocent doth no more but write to the Clergie of France that he deputed a certain French Arch-bishop an other French Abbot to examine the matter of Fact and proceed thereupon to give sentence and besides this sayes no more in this chapter to any such purpose as the said Irish Divines alleadg him for but that the King of France being so Evangelically denounced to the Church according to that rule of the Gospel Si peccaverit in te frater tuus c dic Ecclesiae and complained of as a publick scandalous breaker of a just Peace and religious Oath he the said Innocent did not intend to judg of the Fee being the iudgment of this belong'd to the King of France but onely of the sin committed in the breach of peace and oath Non enim intendimus sayes he judicare de feudo cujus ad ipsum spectat judicium sed decernere de peccatâ— cujus ad nâ—s pertinet sine dubitatione censura quam in quemlibet exercere possumus debemus Now whether the said Irish Divines may hence and onely hence conclude their deposing power I mean as much as according to the judgment of the same Innocent himself alone I see nothing at all in all this which may force us to yeeld Innocent his Delegats might have observed all he prescribes herein or in that whole chapter and all which the Gospel allows to him or to the Church in the case that iâ— he and they might in case of such a publick sin in the French King of the Church's admonition and of his contumacy against such admonition have proceeded to excommunicate him evangelically that is might have deprived him
supream temporal Prince in any of the Citties or territories which he either actually possesses or challengeth to himself as such an absolute or supream independent temporal Prince To enquire into any such intrigue is not material nor any part of my purpose And all I say of it because I mention'd it accidentally is that if the Pope be not so I could heartily wish he were so provided all Popes made that good use of it and onely that good use which some blessed Popes have For I am farre enough for envying the Apostolical See or even present Roman or Papal Court any even worldly greatness which may be to the glory of God and general good of Christian people was verily such even worldly greatness not onely of the Popes of Rome but of other Bishops and of other Priests too may be without any peradventure if regulated and applyed well And I am also farre enough from perswading my self that no Christian Priest can be found who may for natural parts and gifts of God be among Christians and if it please the Christians themselves such an other as Hermes Trismegistâ—s was among Heathens a great Priest great Prophet and great King withall Nay I confess that many Clergiemen have many excellencies and advantages for government above most Laymen Yet I say withall that if in elective Kingdoms or States they were by the people put at the Helme of supream temporal government or if in hereditary Kingdoms any of them came by succession to it their being Priests Bishops or even Popes would not could not enlarge their temporal power in any kind of respect nor give them any more temporal exemption as from any pure law of God or Christian Religion then they had before they were Priests c. It is not therefore against any power Ecclesiastical or even Papal as such I dispute here but onely against the unwarrantable extension of such and as onely such by those two most eminent writers Cardinal Baronius and Cardinal Bellarmine Yet I will say this much for Cardinal Bellarmine albeit shewing 〈◊〉 this also his contradiction of himself that in his great work of controversies de Concil Eccles l. 1. 〈◊〉 13. I know lot how but by the too great power of truth he confesses in very express worth that even the very Popes themselves have been subject and even too subjected themselves in temporal affairs to the Emperours and consequently that their Pontifical or Papal office or dignity did not exempt them from subjection to the lay supream power For considering there how the foâ—â— first general Councils of the vniversal Church had been convoked by the Emperours and fearing least such convocation might prejudice that authority which he ascribes to the great Pontiff and consequently bringing four causes or reasons why the Popes then were necessitated to make use of the power Imperial as he sayes for the convocation of those four first general Councils he delivers thâ—â— his fourth Reason Quarta ratio est sayes he quia to tempore Poâ—â—tyex eâ—si in spirituâ—libus essex caput omnium etiam Imperatorum tamen in temporalibus subâ—â—citbus se Imperatoribus ideo non peterat invito Imperatore aliquid agere cum tantum â—â—bâ—isset petere ab Imperatore auxilium ad convocandum Synodum vel ut permitteret Synodum convocari tamen quia Dominum suum temporalem cum agnoscebal supplicabat ut jubereâ— Synodum convoâ—â—i At post illa tempora ista omnes causae mutata sunt Nam neo illa lex viget he means that old Imperial constitution which prohibited all Colleges and frequent or numerous Assemblies without the Emperours licence to prevent seditions designs Vide l. 1. ff de Collegiis illicitis l. Conventicula ff de Episcopis Clericis noc Imperatores in â—oto orbe dominantur nec sumptibus publicis fiunt Concilia nec sunt Gentiles qui impedire possint Pontifex qui est caput in spiritualibus cum etiam ipse in suis Provinoiis sit Princeps supremus temporalis sicut sunt Reges Principes alij id quod divina providentia factum est ut Pontifex libere manus suum exequi possit So Bellarmine cleerly and expresly to a word Therefore by this ingenuous confession of Bellarmine himself the Pope hath no freedom no exemption at all in temporal matters from the civil power of the Emperour by virtue I mean of his Pontificat or Papal office But hath all his exemption in such matters by vertue onely of the supream temporal Principality which he acquired after as Bellarmine's sayes and which he possesses yet And consequently Bellarmine confesses also that this temporal Principality being removed or lost as by a just conquest and many other legal wayes it may be the Pope will be no more exempt in temporals from the Emperour or King of Rome but subject to him wholly in such Which is that onely I contend all along in this dispute of the Pope And therefore it must also follow evidently out of this doctrine and confession of Bellarmine himself that all other Priests Bishops and Clerks whatsoever even Cardâ—nals who have no supream earthly power and Principality of their own must be throughly and entirely subject in temporal matters to those supream lay Princes in whose dominions they live and whom they acknowledge to be their own very true Soveraign Lords Which is that moreover which I contend for in all the Sections of this whole and long dispute of Ecclesiastical Immunity against the Divines of Lovain And I am extremely deceaved if Bellarmine yeeld it not fairely and freely in this place however he coyned a new faith for himself after in his old age and in his little books against Barclay Widdrington and some others But forasmuch as nothing more confirmes the rightfull power and authority of Kings in all humane things over also their subjects even all Ecclesiasticks whatsoever then the most ancient custome and perpetual practise in the Christian Catholick Church this very Church her self not onely not resisting but consenting also and approving such custome and practise therefore it is that to those particular Instances already given of such practise or matter of fact in the persons of those two most holy Bishops Athanasius and Eusebius and in the persons also of those other two and not onely most holy but even the very Head Bishops of the whole Earth in their own time as being the great Pontiffs then of the Roman See to witt Gregory and Constantine I must now moreover add those other particular Instances in such matter of fact which I promised of Princes Wherein if I be somewhat prolix in bringing not a few examples down along throughout almost all ages of Christianity from the days of Constantine the great and first Christian Emperour the profit will yours good Reader and the labour mine For you may cull out and pause on such as you find the most illustrious the rest you may read over cursority on pass by
vniversae personae regni qui de Rege tenent in capite habent possessiones suas de dominico Regis sicut Baroniam inde respondent justitiis ministris Regis sequuntur faciunt omnes consuetudines regias rectitudines sicut ceteri Barones debent interesse judiciis curiae domini Regis cum Baronibus usque perveniatur in judicio ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem 4. Si quisquam de Proceribus Regni diffortiaverit Archiepiscopo vel Episcopo vel Archidiacono de se vel de suis justitiam exhibere Rex debet justitiare si fortè aliquis disfortiaverit domino Regi rectitudinem suam Archiepiscopi vel Episcopi Archidiaconi debent eum justitiare ut domino Regi Satisfaciat 5. Catalla eorum qui sunt in Regis forisfacto non detineat Ecclesia vel â—â—meterium contra justitiam Regis quia ipsius Regis sunt sive in Ecclesiis sive extra fuerint inventa 6. Filii rusticorum non debent ordinari absque assensu domini de cujus terra nati dignoscentur Fourthly you are to observe out of the same Authors Baronius Spondanus c That notwithstanding the principal or grand quarrel was concerning these and those in all sixteen heads yet the more immediat motive of the Saints death was only his refusal of giving absolution from Ecclesiastical censures but upon a certain condition to some Bishops after the King was reconciled to him For to pass by at present all other matters happen'd in prosecution of the said great difference from the year 1164. wherein the Saint presented those heads to Pope Alexander and 1170. wherein being reconciled to the King in France and with his licence return'd to England he suffer'd at Canterbury and to say nothing at all here of the Kings excessive cruelty against the favourers of St. Thomas during those six years after of his exile nor of the Saints earnest prosecution of the grand quarrel and of his own part against the King abroad in the Papal Court both in France and Rome when that Court was removed to Rome in the interim nor of the first meeting design'd 'twixt the Pope himself and the King to determine the controversie but frustrated or rather impeded wholly because the King would not assent to the Saints being present nor of that other meeting which came after to be held about the same controversy twixt the same King of England Henry the second and King Lewis of France even the Saint himself too being admitted to be present nor of three or four solemn Embassies even along to Rome about the same matter from the same Henry and so many more of Bishops Archbishops and Cardinals part of them French and part Italian sent from Pope Alexander to Henry nor of the different judgments or affections of the same Cardinal Embassadours or Legats and how some complain'd they were corrupted by the Kings money nor of King Lewis of France though otherwise both a pious Prince and great favourer of Thomas his having been dissatisfied with our Saint's rigour at the conference with Henry wherein Lewis interceded for him to Henry nor of the said Lewis's favouring again mightily the Saint and in his quarrel undermining closely at Rome King Henry nor of the Legantine power for the Kingdom of England excepting only the Diocess of York committed by the Pope to our Saint notwithstanding his being still a banish'd man in France nor of the revocation or moderation and suppression for a time of that same power upon new applications made to Rome by Henry not also of the renewed confirmation after all this of Thomas in all the fulness of the same power extending even to the Kings own person and to the inderdiction of his whole Kingdom if it pleased Thomas nor of Thomas's condemning while yet he was in France eâ—iled the controverted laws especially and namely some chief heads of them by virtue of his said Legantine power excommunicating also all the advisers upholders observers c. of them and absolving moreover all the Bishops from the oath they took firmly to observe them nor of the excommunications he moreover pronounced nominatim as well against the Kings Embassadours to the Emperour Frederick as against several others in England nor of the other difference happened twixt him and the Archbishop of York with his associat Bishops who joyntly consecrated the young King at the old Kings or Fathers command and consecrated him so in the Diocess of Canterbury against the express inhibition sent them both by himself the ordinary of that Diocess and whose right or priviledg such consecration was and by Pope Alexander too nor of the excommunication also and other censures fulminated partly therefore against the said Archbishop and his consecratours the Bishops of London and Salisbury and fulminated even by the very self same Pope Alexander and partly for having sworn to maintain or observe the 16. controverted laws nor of the preparations made by Thomas to interdict by his own Legantine power both King and Kingdom nor of the peremptory day prefixed the King even also by the Pope himself and by some other extraordinary Legats sent him to agree with Thomas at his peril by the said day nor of the final and terrible threat indeed sent also by them to the King from the said Alexander to witt that if he would not restore Thomas immediatly and without any condition at all of observing the controverted laws His Holyness would deal with him as he had all ready done with Frederick that is bereave him by a judicial sentence of his Crown and Dignity rayse both his own people and forraigners against him c nor of the absolute reconciliation of Thomas by such threats to the King on the Feast of Mary Magdalen and his solemn admission then to his Majesty by the mediation of the said last extraordinary Legats the Archbishop of Roan and Bishop of Nivern and without any condition at all on S. Thomas's side nor of the King 's falling off immediatly in some things from his promise to the Legats by denying to restore to the Church some lands which Thomas claimed as its proper right nor lastly of the new threats of Interdict from Pope Alexander for not restoring these lands I say that to pass by at present and say nothing here of all these and some other particulars happen'd in the prosecution of the principal controversy twixt the said King Henry and S. Thomas from the year 1164. until 1170 it is manifest even also out of Barâ—nius himself that after the King had newly promised Thomas to restore those lands when he I mean the King should be in person return'd from Normandy to England and that Thomas himself laying aside all further delayes of his own return to his own See of Canterbury having the Kings licence to return and the Dean of Salisbury to safe-guard him along by the King's command had accordingly embarked and was landed though
upon his landing all the Ports being by the Archbishop of York Bishop of Lendon and Bishop of Salisbury's directions beset with Souldiers his baggage was narrowly search'd of purpose to seize on all his Bulls and letters from the Pope it is manifest I say that presently after this affront when or assoon as he was come to Canterbury the Kings Ministers sollicited by the said Bishops of York London and Salisbury who were then also come to Canterbury of purpose to vex Thomas declared unto him in the Kings name that he should absolve the Bishops who were suspended and excommunicated by the Pope because what was so done against them redounded to the Kings injury and to the subversion of the customs of the Kingdom That to this declaration or demand Thomas answered first Non esse judicis inferioris soluere sententiam superioris that it was not the part of an inferiour judg to solve the sentence of a superiour And secondly answer'd when others more urgently press'd him and threatned him in the Kings behalf that for the peace of the Church and reverence he boare to the King he would run the hazard of giving absolution to those Bishops so they would swear in forma Ecclesia in the then usual form of the Church to obey the commands of the great Pontiff That hereupon when the rest of the Bishops began to yield as not thinking it safe to oppose themselves to the Church and impugne the Apostolical sanctions for the preservation of the customs of the Kingdom the man enemy of peace sayes Spondanus out of Baronius and author and propagator of all dissention from the very beginning of the troubles the Archbishop of York disswaded them advising that they should rather go to the King without whose consent sayes he such an oath could not be taken That following this advice they all immediatly crossed the Sea to the King then as yet in France and adding sin to sin sayes Baronius or his Epitomizer Spâ—ndanus sent messengers back to the young King in England â—â—o should perswade him That Thomas had sought to depose his Majesty That finally with the Father King Henry the Second himself having been otherwise before ill enough affected to Thomas though lately so as we have seen reconciled those ill advisers wrought so much by their accusations that wholy transported with rage he was heard often to let fall those fatal complaints and curses of all who had been bred with him whom he had so favoured and advanced that none of all would riâ— him of one Priest who so troubled the Kingdom and sought to despoyle him of his Royal Dignity And therefore also what is the scope of this fourth observation is manifest viz that notwithstanding the grand quarrel which continueâ— so long was about those 16. Heads of laws or customs yet the more immediat motive of the Saints death was onely that his refusal of giving absolution to those censur'd Bishops after the King was reconciled to him without any condition of tying him to the observation of the said Heads nay rather with express promise made by the King to the Pope and his said last Legats that he would no more urge their observance For as the said Baronius and Spondanus tel the particulars of this last motive out of the often mention'd Acts of his life and out of the 73. epistle of S. Thomas himself which was his last to Pope Alexander as they relate also out of the same Acts and other Historians and epistles of the Saint all other particulars given by me in this fift observation so they tell us out of the same Acts wherein as to this now all other Histories agree how the Courtiers being much moved to indignation against Thomas by these words of the King four of them conspiring the death of Thomas and immediatly therefore sayling into England and being come to Canterbury and with their swords drawn on the 29. of Dec. 1170. scarce a month after the Saint was return'd from his long exile then there broke violently into the Church when and where the good Archbishop was at evening prayers with his Monks and other Clerks and furiously calling for him by his name and the Saint hereupon being come towards them mildly and after reproving the Sextons for endeavouring to shut the Church doors and to keep out these murtherers saying that the Church was not to be kept or defended after the manner of camps non esse Ecclesiam castrorum more custodiendam telling the murtherers he was ready to suffer death for God and for asserting justice and the liberty of the Church and commanding them under excommunication not to hurt any other of his either Monk Clerk or Laick and lastly bowing down his head as in prayer and recommending himself and the cause of the Church to God to the blessed Virgin to the holy Patrons of that his own particular Church of Canterbury and to S. Denis by name and in this Christian posture expecting the fatal strokes he received them withall constancy whereby in an instant his bloud and brain mixed together with his dead trunk covered the sacred pavement Whence appears undoubtedly that whatever the former differences were twixt the King and our Saint the sole immediat later difference and onely cause of those fatal exclamations of the Kings which made or occasioned those four unfortunate gentlemen to commit so prodigious a Sacriledg was his above recited refusal of absolution to York and the other censur'd Bishops unless they would promise in forma Ecclesiae consueta to stand to the judgment of the Pope Fiftly you are to observe how it is so farr from appearing out even of Baronius or Spondanus that S. Thomas of Canterbury did break or would breake with the King or have any difference at all with him upon every of the above 16. Heads individually separatly taken as it is certain on the contrary 1. That even Pope Alexander himself even in a publick consistory where also Thomas himself was present allowed of the six last as tollerable 2. That the same Pope writing in the year 1169. epist 11. and epist 30. to the said King Henry the Second and his Bishops of England even then when the contest was in the very height took notice onely of two points in as much as he onely therein admonish'd the King most earnestly to suffer that the vacant Churches might be provided for by canonical election of Bishop and commanded the Bishops to excommunicate all both receivers and givers of lay investitures and to see that all such persons should be effectually shâ—nned by all the faâ—â—â—â— 3. That Polydore Virgiâ— in Henric. 2. â— XIII Histor Angl. tels us expresly and pâ—ainly that the grands or chief caâ—â—e of S. Thomas of Canterburys so great and long contest with his King Henry the second was that he observed this King daily advancing such Priests to Ecclesiastical dignities and even Bishopricks as were leâ—â— deserving and doing so as the King pleaded
for himself by veâ—â—â—â— of the Norman laws in force which empowered him to bestow such Ecclesiastical preferments and dignities on those he thought 〈◊〉 and consequently observed 〈◊〉 takeing a direct course to break all the authority and dignity of the Sacerdotal order and labouring mightily to bend all right and law whether soever he pleased nam cum Thomasvir summa integritate atque prudentia cerneret Regem quotidie sacerdotes minus idoneos aut eligere Episcopos aut ad aâ—d perducere sacerdotia ac ex praescripto Normannicarum legum jure ut ille aicbat suo utendo nihiâ—â— a â—â—jorum consuetudine atque concessis alienunt faciendo omnem sacerdotalis ordinis authoritatem dignitat emque frangere demum ius fasque coâ—ari trahere quo vellet priâ—â— cum admonuit c. And sixtly your are to observe several passages in that most exact latin relation or latin liâ—e of S. Thomas written and publish'd by Matthew Parker in his Antiquitates Brittannicae amongst other lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury To which so exact relation yet of Parker I do not by any mâ—ans remit you as that I do my self nor would have you good Reader to approve any of his expressions where they are to the contempt prejudice or dishonour of St. Thomas being this Matthew Parker was of an other communion that is a Protestant and even also too the very first Protestant Archbishop placed in the See of Canterbury under Queen Elisabeth and consequently no great adorer or admirer of S. Thomas but remit you to it rather as well for the better justification of S. Thomas in his grand controversy as for the great illustration of my own Answers in some particulars to the argument grounded against me on the contrary And you are to note that Parker gives you in his margent those ancient Catholick Historians of England out of whom he takes his said most exact relation as to the matter though not as to his own in everent words in some passages and gives you Houeden Walter Coventren Roff. Histor Ioranal Hist Roger de Cestriae William Cantuariens Matthew Paris Florilegus Heribertus Arch. Nicholas Trivet Radulph de Duceto Gemblacen Sigibertut Allanus Abbas Theokesheriensis Annal. Eccles. August Aurea hystor part 2. Matthew Westmonast Gervasius Therefore out of this relation partly and partly in order to it so given by Matthew Parker who questionless might have had more then any other of his days all the Records both printed books and ancient manuscrips of this Saints life if onely those which are said to be in the Vatican be excepted whereof notwithstanding he seems to have had a copy for Heribertus whom he frequently quotes in the Margent was one of the four compilers of the Vatican life you are to observe to my purpose and even to the Saints advantage and for his justification 1. How when he had been pitch'd upon by the King to be chosen Archbishop against his own will he declared freely to the â—ame King that if his Majesty would have him chosen his Majesty must expect opposition from him in the concerns of Ecclesiastical rights or immunities whenever entrench'd upon by his Majesty or civil officers 2. That the Priest accused of murder was not convict by witnesses nor by his own confession though he sailed in that was called canonical or legal purgation And yet for failing herein was punish'd as much as the Archbishop could punish him and as much too as the law required he should be that is was degraded and cloyster'd to do perpetual pennance during life and even that strict pennance which the canons laws and customs of England prescribed 3. That albeit of the crime of the Chanon Phillip Bâ—â—is nothing in particular is written by our Historians besides that of his reviling the King's Judges when he was spre'd to their tribunal yet the Archbishop not onely had him whip'd or scours'd publickly but also deprived of all Ecclesiastical benefices and offices â— That it was onely by due course of law our holy Archbishop recovered those landâ— as of right belonging to the Church of Canterbury whereof or of which 〈…〉 such complaints were made to the King 5. That for having 〈◊〉 â—â—s Seal of Chancellourship to the King to Narmandy and so quitted himself of that office he did nothing against the law of God or man nay or any thing but what he was licenced to do by the young King Henry the Son at such time as he consented to the election and was consecrated in the said young King's owâ— presence as the Saint himself pleased for himself publickly in the Parliament at Westminster 6. That for his having hindered the payment of the yearly contribution from every hyde of land he did not hinder any free and voluntary contribution of such payment but the exaction of it as of an assessment laid by the Kings own warrant and to be paid as a duty in the case into his own excheque whereas by the law or custom of the land there was not in the then case any such duty of eâ—action and assessment of such money to be paid into the Kings Treasury 7. That those 16. Heads of laws or customs about which the grand and long contest was are acknowledg'd here by Matthew Parker himself not to have been as yet then either laws or customs of the land though Henry the Second alleadg'd them and would have them as such and as the laws or customs of his grand Father but onely were conceived or written by Henry the first but never by him or other after him till Henry the Second pass'd so into laws or customs and that Thomas of Canterbury reflecting hereupon gave it amongst other reasons for his falling back from his forced oath at Clarendone and for his not confirming by his seal as was expected what he had so formerly sworn ex metu caâ—ente in virum constantem 8. That the four Squires who murther'd him demanded three things of him to be done The first was that he should do homage to the young King for his Barony the second that such Clerks as he brought with him into the Kingdom should take such an oath to the same King as would be prescribed to them for the security of the Kingdom and the third was that he should absolve the Bishops and other excommunicated persons from those Ecclesiastical censures which they had incurr'd 9. That S. Thomas denyed none of all but onely with this caution the two last that the oath to be offred to himself or those Clerks should be such an oath as might be justly or by law required of them and that those Bishops and other excommunicated persons who had done manifest injury to him and to his Church of Canterbury for which injuries partly they were excommunicated should first by oath promise to make satisfaction or repair the prejudices and injuries so done by them And that for such his answers which was but very just they immediatly next
to a perpetual cloyster'd life c was derived unto them and wholly depending of the supream temporal or civil coercive power residing originally and independently in the Prince and in his laws for the very Papal canons even Pope Caelestine the III. himself cap. 〈◊〉 homine de judicijs as I have quoted him in the former section confesseth that after and besides suspension excommunication and deposition or degradation the Church hath no other nor any more punishment for any 4. Because the very self same supream civil coercive power which as Legislative authorized the Bishops to be the onely ordinary Judges of criminal Ecclesiasticks and did also both prescribe and warrant that kind of punishment which they inflict on such Clerks and did ordain there should be no other punishment but that for such persons and the very self same supream civil power that made those municipal laws for the exemption of Clerks in criminal causes from the lay Judges may again unmake them upon just occasion or may lessen or moderat that exemption as there shall be cause and consequently criminal Clerks are still in so much under the supream civil coercive power as de facto de â—ure they are indeed and were indeed always for so many other respects and in so many other cases and contingencies notwithstanding the most ample municipal laws for exemption that are or have been 5. And lastly because there is no contradiction inconsistence or contrariety betwixt S. Thomas his being of this opinion and perswasion and the being of the laws of England such as I said they were then Which yet we may easily understand by the example of the priviledge of Peers For certainly the Peers of a Kingdom will not pretend themselves exempt from the supream coercive power of the Prince albeit they cannot by the laws of the land be judg'd or condemned but by their own Peers Therefore an exemption from one sort of Judges doth not argue an exemption from the supream power that is above all sorts of Judges And therefore nothing can be alleadg'd out of the life or death or sanctity or martyrdom or canonization or invocation or even miracles of S. Thomas of Canterbury nor out of all these joyntly taken with the laws of the land for which he stood to prove that he was of a contrary judgment or perswasion to my doctrine All that is alleadged of any such matters do onely evidence the purity of his Soul and justice of his cause neither of which my doctrine doth at all oppose but allow approve and confirm But if any should replye that the laws of the land as to our controversy were chang'd by the swearing of those 16. Heads of customes by all the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons Abbots Priors and whole Clergie and even by St. Thomas of Canterbury himself first of all as Matthew Paris tels us in these tearms Hanc recognitionem consuetudinum libertatum Deo deâ—estabilium Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates Priores Clerus cum Comitibus Baronibus Proctribus cunctis juraverunt se observaturos Domino Regi heredibus ejus bona fide absque malo ingenio in perpetuum Inter alios etiam his omnibus Thomas Cantuariensis consensit and should replye that after such change by such swearing S. Thomas of Canterbury did fall into his own former opposition of or differences with Henry the second even as to the second head of those customes and in prosecution of his former refusal to deliver up to secular justice those two criminal Clerks and should therefore conclude that S. Thomas must have pretended for himself at such time not the former laws of the land which were so repealed by a contrary law of Henry the second but either the laws of God Nature or Nations or the Canons of the Church or Pope c if I say any should make this objection here the Answer is at hand very facile and clear out of my former observations viz that such swearing alone was not enough without further signing and sealing as it seems the custom then was of the Bishops and Peers in making of laws nor all three together whether signing and sealing was necessary or not without a free consent in those or of those who swore so or sign'd or sealed so and that there was no free consent but a forc'd one by threats of imprisonment banishment death appears out of my said observations and all the several Historians especially Hoveden who treat exactly of this contest Now it is plain that such laws are no true laws or have not at all as much as the essence of laws which are not freely made without such coaction And therefore consequently it is plain that such repealing was no true legal repealing of the former laws Whereof also this was a further argument that Henry the second himself did in the end of the contest wholly quit his challenge to those controverted customs which he did so for a time constrain the Bishops Clergie and people to submit to against their own will and their own true laws Yet as it must be granted by such as are versed in the antiquities of England that there was a time and some ages too of the Christian Church in England even after the conversion of the Saxons before such municipal laws were enacted for such favourable and ample immunities to Clergiemen and before also the Clergie did as much as pretend by custom or otherwise to any exemption in criminal causes from the lay courts so I confess there have passed several ages of the very Roman Religion professed by law in England after the same great immunities and exemptions in criminal causes were in some part or for the greatest part legally repealed by law or custom or both and free consent or submission of the very Bishops and Clergie themselves upon new occasions and grounds being weary of contesting with the lay judges and Kings and that immediatly too or very soon after the days of Henry the second himself the very Popes also themselves at least many of them either consenting or certainly conniving at this change in the laws customs and practice of England in order to Clergiemen Whereat we are not much to wonder being that Roger Hoveden so faithfull an Historian as he was as he was also contemporary to Alexander the third and St. Thomas of Canterbury and was moreover so extraordinary an admirer of this Saint as may be seen by reading his Annals of him being I say this Roger Hoveden tels us in plain tearms ad an 1164. that the said Pope Alexander the third himself before his going to Rome out of France sent express directions to Thomas of Canterbury when the great difference began about the 16. Heads to submit himself in all things to his King and to promise to receive observe and obey without any exception those very customs or laws controverted Deinde sayes our Annalist Hoveden venit in Angliam vir quidam Religiosus dictus
by whom or wherein Thomas of Canterbury after some ages and upon a review of his life or actions and knowledge of his nefarious turbulencies and tragedies and of his intollerable arrogancy in raising himself above the royal power laws and dignity as he sayes was so condemn'd It seems he was either ashamed to name the person or raign of Henry the eight in such a matter and in opposition to such a Saint or verely he would impose on his unskilfull Reader and make him think it might peradventure have been so by a King and so in a time that was not reputed Schismatical by the Romanist's themselves and thereby would wholly undermine the credit of a Saint who certainly could be no true Saint if Parker was either a true Bishop in the truth and unity of the Catholick Church or true Christian in the truth and integrity of the Catholick Religion And I give it moreover to take notice of his wilful imposture where he sayes that that nameless King found out what kind of man Thomas was what evilt he had raised c. and sayes also that that nameless King found out all this in a great Conneil of all the Prelats and Peers of the Kingdom meaning so to impose on his Reader as a truth without as much as the authority of any writer for he quotes none in this nor could but against all truth that the Bishops of England in that Kings time concurr'd with him in his judgment or condemnation of Thomas of Canterbury for a traytor viz. against the Kings person or people of England or their laws or all three For certainly he could not be on any rational ground declared traytor or even to have been such at any time in his life not to speak now of the instance of his death or of any time after his reconciliation to Henry the Second but upon one of these three grounds or as having acted either against the Kings own person or royal rights or against the liberties of the people or against the sanctions of the municipal laws of England And O God of truth who is that is versed in the Chronicles of England can imagine any truth in this sly insinuation of Parker concerning that of the Bishops to have concurr'd with Henry the Eight in the condemnation or prophanation and sacriledge committed against St. Thomas of Canterbury so many hundred years after his holy life and death and so many hundred years after he had possessed not England alone but all the Christian world with the certain perswasion of his sanctity attested so even after his death by such stupendious miracles at his tomb and wrought there at or upon his invocation and by such stupendious and known miracles I say that Parker himself hath not the confidence as much as to mutter one word against the truth and certainty of their having been or having been such Nay who is it can upon a a sober reflection perswade himself that either Henry the Eight himself or any other whatever and how even soever atheistical Councellor of his could pretend any as much as probable ground in natural reason laying aside now all principles of Religion to declare this Thomas of Canterbury so long after his death to have dyed a traytor nay I say more or to have lived so or to have been so at any time in his life T is true that in all branches and each branch of the five membred complex of those first original and lesser differences which preceded that great one of the sixteen customs he for some part did not comply with the Kings expectation and for other parts positively refused to obey the Kings pleasure or even command But so might any other Subject and might I say without being therefore guilty of treason nay without being guilty of any other breach of law or conscience had he the law of the land and liberty of a Subject of his side as Thomas of Canterbury had in each of these five original differences And that he had so the law of the land for him even in that very point of them which Henry the Second took most to heart that I mean of the two criminal Clergymen besides all what I have given before at large of those very laws to prove it this also is an argument convincing enough that Henry the Second was not where he had the law of his side a man to be baffled by any Subject whatsoever nor would be so ceremonious as to call so many Councils or Parliaments of Bishops and other Estates to begg that which by law he had already in his power without their consent And therefore certainly had the law of the land been at that time for him that is for the ordinary coercion of criminal Clerks in his lay Courts and in what case soever or even in case of felony or murder committed by Clerks he had without any further ceremony at least after he saw the Archbishop refuse to comply with his desire or obey his command and after he saw also the Priest was in the very Ecclesiastical Court convict of murder sent his own Officials to force him away to and before the lay Judges and sent his Guards too or Souldiers were this necessary Neither of which he as much as attempted to do And therefore had we no other argument who sees not that it is clear enough out of this very procedure that the Archbishop committed no treason in this very matter wherein of any of also the branches of that whole five membred complex he most positively and plainly opposed that King though by such a kind of opposition as might become a Subject that is by an opposition of dissent without any interposition of arms or force 2. T is true also that after this Thomas of Canterbury opposed mightily but with such a kind opposition as I have now said all those sixteen heads of Henry the Second pretended by him to have been the Royal Costoms of his Grandfather and that after giving a forced consent and taking a forc'd oath to maintain them he retracted again freely and conscientiously his said consent and oath and refused to give his hand or seal for introducing or establishing them But I am sure there was no treason in this not only because he saw or apprehended they were against the former laws and for an evil end too press'd by that King so violently but also because he saw or apprehended that the very pretence was false that is that some of them had never been customes Is it not lawful without treason nay or other breach of law for any Peer and so great a Peer as the Archbishop of Canterbury to deny his own assent in Parliament or even to revoke and for as much as belongs to himself his own former assent at least when otherwise his conscience is wounded and when he proceeds no further by force of arms and that the laws is yet only in deliberation to be establish'd but not
absolutely or actually yet establish'd Or doth not the very nature of a Parliament and the necessary and plenary freedom of the members thereof evince this 3. T is likewise true that in the great Council or Parliament held at Norththampton and when he saw some of the very Bishops violently bent against him to ingratiat and endear themselves more and more to the King and the rest through fear yielding and saw them all generally conspiring with the lay Peers and joyntly with such Peers condemning and deposing him by their sentence from his Bishoprick he appealed to the Pope from such a sentence and such Judges and such a Judicatory and in such a cause But what then Or was it treason by the nature of the thing in it self or of such an Appeale of such a man and in such a case and from such Judges or was there any law then in England making such appeal to be treason certainly it was not by either Not by the nature of such an appeal as abstractedly considered in it self because neither appeals in a spiritual cause to the Pope nor decisions in a spiritual way of such Appeals by the Pope do of their own nature draw along with them any lessening of the Majesty or supream power of the Prince or of any part of it which is proper to him nor of the safety of the people though by accident that is by abuse only sometimes of the Appellants themselves or of such Appeals or of the decision of them by some Popes and by the neglect of either Prince or Parliament giving way to frivolous appeals or admitting of notoriously corrupt decisions they may prove hurtful Nor was there any law of England as yet then establish'd when the when the Saint appealed so which made it treason or which indeed at all prohibited him or any other Clerk to appeal to Rome in any pure ecclesiastical cause whatsoever or from the judgment of either spiritual or secular Judges or even of both together in any pure spiritual or Ecclesiastical cause such as that judgement was which was pronounced in that Council or Parliament of Northamton against this holy Archbishop even a sentence of his deposition from the See Nay the continual practice of England till then for so many hundred years before and for some time after too warranted by the very municipal laws or municipal Customs or both to appeal to the Pope in such causes which practice in many Instances of even great Bishops and Archbishops both of Canterbury and York and of the Kings also of England sending sometimes their own Embassadours to plead against such Bishops and Archbishops and sometimes to help or plead for them you may see at large everâ— in Matthew Parkers own Antiquitates Britannicae evicts manifestly it was neither treason by law or by reason or by the nature of such Appeals And the practice of other Kingdoms of Christendome till this day continued shews no less that it might have been and may be duly circumstantiated without any lessening of the Majesty of the Crown danger to the safety of the people or without prejudice to any Besides who sees not that it is against the very law of God as delivered to us from the beginnings of Christianity that Lay-men as such may fit in judgment on or give sentence for the taking away the Spirituals of a Bishop As such they can neither give nor take away any spiritual Power Jurisdiction or Authority purely such from the very meanest Clerk whatsoever Indeed if a King be made the Popes Legat in his own Kingdomes as Henry the first of England was you may read it in Houeden in whom also you may see that Henry the Second wrought all he could to get the same power from Rome for himself then such a lay person but not as a meer lay person may give sentence in such causes according to the extent of his commission And who sees not moreover that the Bishops of England who sate in the Council and as sitting there proceeded most uncanonically against their own Primat If they would proceed canonically against him with any colour as much as of the ancient canons of the Church it should have been in a canonical Convocation or Council of Bishops alone and of such other Clergymen as by the canons ought to vote and the Primat should have a fair tryal and be tryed by the canons only Those Bishops failed in all this And therefore Thomas had reason to appeal to the Pope from their sentence For ever since the general Council of Sardica there was at least in the Occidental Church an appeal allowed Bishops even from their equals and even too from their superiours to the supream Bishop or him of Rome as the Fathers of Sardica at the desire of Hâ—sius their President to honour the memory of St. Peter ordained by an an express Canon Though I confess that for what concern'd the temporals of his Archbishoprick which he held only from the King and municipal laws of the land he could not appeal to the Pope understand you otherwise then as to an honourable Arbiter by consent by vertue of any canon only or at all against the said municipal Laws or Customs of the Land if they had been against him in the case of his said Temporals as I have shewed they were not or at least I am sure were not so against him not even I mean in such an appeal concerning his meer Temporals as to render him guilty of treason for appealing so oâ— in such the meer temporal concerns of his Bishoprick And yet I add that Histories make no mention of any such kind of Appeal as this last made by him then when he appealed from the Council of Noâ—thampton though he had reason after to labour in all just meer and pure Ecclesiastical ways to recover the very temporals also of his Church to the same Church T is true moreover that immediatly after his appeal he departed the Council or Parliament the Court and Kingdom and departed the Kingdom incognito in a secular weed But neither was this any treason nor even disobedience or mis-demeanour in him There was no writ of ne exeat Regno against him There was no law of God or man prohibiting him to depart so nor any reason indeed as the case stood with him The King had stabled his own horses in his lodgings to affront him He challeng'd him for thirty thousand pounds which he had administred formerly during his Chancellorship and challeng'd him of so great a sum of purpose to pick a quarrel to him for the Saint had given him an account of all when he was Chancellor and was by the Barons of the Exchequer and Richardus de Luci Lord chief Justice and by the young King himself acquit of all these and whatsoever other accounts before he was consecrated He was notwithstanding his Appeal sentenc'd by the Barons at the Kings desire to be seized on and put in prison The Archbishops of
York and London laugh'd him to scorn in his own presence London would have with his own hands forc'd his Archiepiscopal Cross out of his hands for the Saint himself carried his own Cross in his own hands that day to Court or to that Parliament Some came to him there and then and told him that his death was sworn by his adversaries à Regalibus as Houeden ad an 1164. relates it The Earls of Cornwal and Leister came to him where he sate to bid him hear the sentence they came to pronounce against him from the Barons notwithstanding his appeal And Thomas being in such a stress commanded them on pain of excommunication to pronounce no sentence against him that day because he had appeal'd to the Popes presence And while they return'd with this answer of his to the King slipt out alone got a Horseback and one of his Servants who was there and saw the gate shut and the Guards astonish'd and a bunch of Keyes hanging hard by lighted by chance on the right key open'd the gate no man opposing and he rode peaceably to the Chanons Regular chang'd at night his habit and took a boat privatly for Flanders to save his life What treason was this None by nature of such flight in it self nor any by any law that was then nor indeed by any binding law of man that could be in the case The law of nature gives leave to even the greatest criminal to save his life by flight when he makes no other opposition or any by force of arms or forcible resistance And Christ himself said to his own Apostles and by them to Thomas of Canterbury and such others in such cases as went against their conscience Cum persecuti fuerint vos in una civitate fugite in aliam And if King Henry refused to give leave to Thomas of Canterbury when a little before his Appeal he demanded it to leave the Kingdom and that after his Appeal he departed without any more asking or obtaining such leave that matters nothing to render him guilty of treason for the reasons before given or even to render him guilty of any other misdemeanour or even of as much as any culpable disobedience for he had leave in the case from the King of Kings and from his general law for all Christians and no positive law of man much less personal precept of man can take away that liberty among Christians because there is no law nor precept amongst Christians understood to bind against the law of God or to bereave a man of that liberty and power which he hath from the law of God and nature at least in such a case which concerns the preservation of his life when it is in such evident hazard Nor will it be to any purpose to alledge the law or custom of England since the raign of William Rufus who begun it by his bare Edict as Polydore Virgil sayes l. x. Hystor Anglic. and upon a wicked occasion which the said Rufus's general expilation of all sorts and estates of people both of the Layery and Clergie and for an unmerciful end also to wit least they should elsewhere find any redress or remedy of their evils being that as Cicero sayes those evils are more tollerable which we hear then which we feel which Edict was that none should depart the Kingdom without his Pass for it is answered that the Law or Custom of England ever since and in pursuance of that Edict of Rufus either is not at all that none shall depart England without the Kings Pass as we see by daily experience it is not but only that none shall depart when he is served with a Writ ne exeas regno or were it so even in Henry the Second's dayes and in order to the very Clergie as I say it could could not be then when they were restored to all their former liberty and this too by the very Laws of Henry the First and laws and practice also at least as to this point and many others of King Stephen and yet I say were it so even at the time of our Saints Controversie at Northampton with Henry the Second as I am sure it was not the law of nature and law of Christ dispensed with our Saint for his flight against the letter but not against the rational sense of such a law of the Land or of such a Custom or whatever else you call it And it will be also to as little purpose to alledge here against St. Thomas what Houeden tells us ad an 1165. how all cryed after him upon his going out of the Room and getting to Horse whether do you go Traytor For so Houeden tells it in express tearms Dum autem sayes he praedicti Comites redirent ad Regem cum responso illo Archiepiscopus exiuit à thalamo progrediens per medium illorum uenit ad Paiefridum suum ascendit exivit ab aula omnibus clamantibus post eum dicentibus Quo progrederis proditor Expecta audi judicium tuum This I say will be to as little nay less purpose to be alleadg'd For Hoveden there doth but relate barely matter of fact and the cry of the ignorant flattering multitude And we know such a cry makes no man a Traytor indeed And we know his very Judges how unconscientious or incompetent how malicious or ill affected or how fearful soever they were not to comply in all things with their King against Thomas gave no such sentence against him as indeed they could not with any kind of colour being the said King had no other pretence to get him sentencâ—d by them but that Thomas refused to give a second account for the administration of which and of the accounts of which he had been long before legally acquitted both by the Judges and by the young King himself ideo amplius nolo inde placitare said our Saint Quod cum Regi constaret sayes Hoveden dixit Baronibus suis cito facite mihi judicium de illo qui hono meus ligius est As for Hoveden's own judgement its clear enough all along for the Saint where he of purpose and at large writes his life and death and martyrdome and miracles inserts his Epistles at length accounts him a most holy man in his life and a most glorious martyr and Saint in his death and after his death 4. But after his flight to Flanders a Country in peace at that time with England he went to France and to King Lewis which was but a back friend to England and he went to the Pope and incensed him against the King of England And yet here was no treason committed nor hostility raised by the Saint against his own King nor for ought appears out of History intended at all by him He went to France and to the King of France and to the Pope also partly to excuse himself and shew the cause why he denyed to comply with his own King for his
threatned and prepared also to interdict the Kings Dominions Let it be so as indeed Historians confess it was so And let it be so too that he prepared to publish both a local and personal interdict and which is more yet to excommunicate the Kings own Person for I confess also this very last of preparing to excommunicate the King though nothing out of History of what quality the interdict was to be or whether not only local but also personal And though reason tells us and we are not without reason or History to presume otherwise then that if personal also it was only to be against such persons as gave cause for such interdict however it was not reason either by the law of the Land at least then or by the nature of even such interdict the most general could be Not by the Law because none such is alledged nor indeed can be being it is very certain that Ecclesiastical Discipline Jurisdiction and censures were allowed then by the Law or Custome of England to be exercised in all the formality of the Canons Nor by its own nature because it is a pure spiritual penalty depriving only of Divine Offices and Ecclesiastical Burial and of some Sacraments viz. Eucharist Order Matrimony and in some cases of that of Pennance too As for the Saints preparing to excommunicate the King I have said enough of that already or of the nature and effects of the excommunication which he was resolved to pronounce had the peace not been made And I am sure we have example enough in St. Ambrose interdicting the great Roman and Christian Emperor of the World Theodosius from entring his Church at Millan that Ecclesiastical censures as such pronounced against a King by his Bishop however otherwise in temporals his own subject render not the Bishop a traytor against his King or Countrey And if you say that such general interdicts of a Kingdom are sometime causes or occasions of the peoples rising in armes against the Prince what then they are not so by their own nature nor commonly so as much as by accident or by the mallice or folly or impatience of such as abuse them The pure preaching of the Gospel hath been sometimes through the malice of men an occasion of armes and wars and slaughter of subjects and of Princes too And the holiest things and best means and wholsomest Physick may be abused Must this hinder the right use of them or must it render Christian remedies treasonable among Christians that even some Popes or some Prelates or some other Clerks or some people have either actually made evil use of them or intended to do so But for such intention it cannot be fix'd on St. Thomas of Canterbury and I shall give presently sufficient arguments that it could not be so fixed on him nay that really he had not any such And yet in the mean time I confess I am not my self in my own judgement nor ever was since I understood any thing in Theology for the practice nay or Theory of such general interdicts of a Kingdome either local or personal much less of any mixt of both nor even of a Province Diocess City or University But this is not my work now whether my own private opinion or judgement herein be right or not as I do not absolutely averr that it is right nor is it requisite I should here give my self or others the trouble of discussing the grounds Pro or Con. 7. But Pope Alexander threatned by his last Embassadours or Legats and bitter express Letters to King Henry the Second that if he did not receive Thomas to peace and without prosecution of the 16 Customes he would proceed against him as he had lately against the Emperour Frederick that is to a sentential deposition of him from his Crown and Kingdome or to the actual raising in War of both his own Subjects and of those were not his own Subjects against him Thomas of Canterbury had no hand in contriving such an Embassy or in procuring such Letters as to these particulars He solicited indeed by his own Letters from France to Alexander at Rome and so did the King of France and some of the Bishops of France most earnestly that the Pope would be pleased to recall his own late Papal suspension of the Legatine Commission and his own late Papal exemption given to King Henry the Second at the same Henry's earnest suit by his Embassadour from Thomas's both extraordinary power of a Legat and Ordinary of the Archbishop of Canterbury over King Henry and licence him to proceed Ecclesiastically against this King And no more appears out of History that Thomas solicited the Pope in if not peradventure that the Pope himself would immediately by himself proceed against Henry in the same manner was uncontroulably allowed by all the Christian Church then and all the Christian Common-wealth that is to a pure spiritual excommunication and pure spiritual interdict If the Pope exceeded both the desires of Thomas and power of Alexander what was that to Thomas For I confess that if Henry the Second did not acknowledge himself Alexanders vassal in temporals or his Kingdome tributary or to hold it in fee from Rome or that it was so then indeed by some kind of true humane right then certainly it must follow that Alexanders threats were not well grounded nor just but very injurious and very erroneous too though not treasonable in him because he was no Subject of Henry's I say if because I do not certainly know what the conscience of Henry or well or ill grounded opinion of English men generally was at that time I see that this very same Henry a little before took such a Bull for the invasion of Ireland from Adrian the fourth Pope of that name an English man who sate immediately before this Alexander that gives much ground to think that either he was perswaded the Pope had a supream even I mean temporal right to all the Christian Islands at least in the West or that he would make use of any the most improbable and ridiculous title what soever to invade and possess other mens rights And I see that he trembled at the very mention of the Popes interposition But however this matter be nothing appears out of History or ancient Records of the Saints Letters and whence should we know or should Henry the 8th after 300 years know but from History or such Records that our Saint had any kind of hand directly or indirectly in procuring or intending such a message from Alexander the III. to Henry the II. And we know Alexander was his own Master and that being setled at Rome and having humbled Frederick whether by lawful or unlawful means he little cared for Henry whereever the controversies touched or concerned his own whether true or only pretended supream Pontificial power in the exemption of Clergy-men from secular powers or in any other such whatsoever Though in other matters wherein his own interest
was not so neerly concerned he could not but retain still kindness enough for Henry albeit the King of France as nearer him and of greater use could not but sometime cross that very kindness 8. But the former Cardinal-Legats come the first time from Rome to compose the difference 'twixt Henry and Thomas where they had a conference with him betwixt Gisortium and Trie amongst other things objected to him in the behalf of Henry and after they had been with Henry that he had perswaded the King of France to war upon him Adjecerunt etiam querelas sayes Hoveden ad an 1169. injurias quibus Rex Angliae se ab ipso lasum esse conquestus est imponens ei etiam inter caetera quod ei excitaverat guerram Regis Francorum But in these words you see Hoveden sayes that this was an imposture or that Henry imposed on Thomas in this particular And immediately after the same Author tells that Thomas refuted this and all other objections by true and probable reasons Cantuariensis autem sayes he in omni humilitate mansuetudine spiritus post gratiarum actionem Domino Papae illis debitam respondit ad singula rationibus veris probabilibus querelas Regis evacuans injurias Ecclesiae damna intollerabilia patenter exponens You will say that however this be of such actual treason or treason in fact against his Prince by setting on the King of France it cannot be denyed that he held treasonable Principles that is such Principles as were suitable to such practise or such treason in fact because such as lessen the Majesty of the King and Kingdome if not wholly subject it to others forasmuch as his opinion and judgment was that Kings receive their power from the Church as himself declared in his own words to the King at Chinun Is there any man would think so but would also think at the same time that the Church might take away again or transfer the power of Kings But I say that as he cannot in act or fact be accused of treason so neither in habitude or aptitude or inclination or true meaning or natural sequele of that word saying opinion or judgement of his at Chinun may he be charged with any as much as speculative treasonable Principles however otherwise abstracting wholly not only from fact but even from intention or even also from being rendred any kind of way or framed into practical dictates 1. Because it is one thing to say that Christian Kings receive their power from the Church and another to say that after they have once received their power so the Church may either revoke it again wholly or any way lessen it As it is one thing to say that from the people as a civil society of men and not from them as a Church Kings especially in elective Kingdomes receive their power and an other that the people having once conferr'd it and so transferr'd the Majesty from themselves may revoke it againe either at their pleasure or in any case whatsoever without the King 's own consent And because the first or the assertion of receiving such power either from Church or people is no way treasonable either by the nature of such reception or such assertion in it self considered or by any positive law in any Country for ought we have heard not even in England nor certainly was treasonable in the days of Thomas of Canterbury However perhaps it be an errour against the truth of things in themselves to say that Kings in hereditary Kingdomes receive their politick royal power either from the Church or from the people or even in elective Kingdomes otherwise from either then as from bare instrumental or conditional causes or such as Philosophers call conditiones sine quibus non c. not at all from either as from the true proper efficient cause of the power For this efficient is according to the sounder doctrine in Christian Religion and in reason too God alone As even according to the Doctrine of Bellarmine God alone is the onely true proper immediate efficient of the Papal power albeit he had not been Pope if he had not first been elected by the Church or by their Representative now the Colledg of Cardinals or formerly by the Emperours or before that by the Roman Clergy or before that also by the Clergy and people of Rome both joynd together 2. Because that although we find this entire passage Et quia certum est Reges potestatem suam ab Ecclesia accipere non ipsam ab illis sed a Christo salva pace vestra loquor non haberetis Episcopis praecipere absolvere aliquem vel excommunicare trahere Clericos ad secularia examina judicare de decimis de Ecclesiis interdicere Episcepis ne tractent de transgressione fidei vel juramenti multa alia quae in hunc modum scripta sunt inter consuetudines vestras quas dicitis avitas I say that although we find this entire passage amongst those which are called in Hoveden Verba Beati Thoma Cant. Archiep. ad Henricum Regem Angliae in Concilio suo apud Chinun nay although we did admit it as truly such and admit all the rest of that Speech in Hoveden as words spoke by St. Thomas himself whereof yet I have this ground to doubt that I find not in the whole series of the History of matter of Fact either in Hoveden himself or any other when or how or that at all St. Thomas ever met that King during his banishment but twice once in Paris and in presence of the King of France and another time in the fields abroad when they were at last reconciled by the mediation of the last Legates Where then was Chinun here or any such words However admitting those Words and that entire passage of or amongst those Words as really spoke by St. Thomas and at such a place and Councel I see nevertheless partly in some former passages of that very speech at Chinun and partly also and more fully perhaps in his long and second Letter which no man doubts to be his own true letter to Gilbert Bishop of London and see in both ground enough to answer and say that in this passage I have already given the Saint mean't not at all that from the Church Kings receive so their true civil or politick Royal power or their power of the material sword at least as to the essentials or even as to the necessary appendages of it in pure civil or temporal matters that without such reception as he mean't of it from the Church they had had none at all or that without such reception as he mean't neither their birth-right in hereditary Kingdomes nor election of the people in elective Kingdomes nor any other Title whatsoever in either could be sufficient to give them as man can give true civil and politick Royal Power or to give this I mean antecedently to their receiving what they use to
Supremacy of the Pope whatever this be which the Catholick Church allows him For a pure Supreme Temporal in one and a pure Supreme Spiritual in another and over the same persons and causes are very truly certainly and evidently consistent The second Period or Clause being this And therefore we acknowledge and confess our selves to be obliged under pain of Sin to obey Your Majesty in all Civil and Temporal Affairs as much as any other of Your Majesties Subjects and as the Laws and Rules of Government in this Kingdom do require at our hands and consequently being only and wholly of the obedience due by Catholick Subjects to Hâ—s Majesty and being it doth in formal express words determine this obedience to all Civil and Temporal Affairs as you see it doth there can be therefore no dispute of this Period The third Period also containing only in effect an acknowledgment of their resolution to acknowledge evermore and perform their Loyalty and true Allegiance to the King notwithstanding any contradiction by or from the Pope or by or from any other deriving power from the Pope or See of Rome for the words are these And that notwithstanding any power or pretension of the Pope or See of Rome or any sentence or declaration of what kind or quality soever given or to be given by the Pope his Predecessors or Successors or by any Authority Spiritual or Temporal proceeding or derived from him or his See against Your Majesty or Royal Authority we will still acknowledge and perform to the uttermost of our Abilities our faithful Loyalty and true Allegiance to Your Majesty I say that being the third Period hath no other words or matter it 's very evident that the whole entire Subject of it is nought else but obedience in Temporals because the Loyalty and true Allegiance of Catholicks to their at least Protestant Prince can be no other but obedience and fidelity towards Him in all Temporal matters and because that by these words Our Loyalty and true Allegiance to Your Majesty neither His Majesty Himself nor other Protestant nor any indifferent and judicious Catholick ever yet understood nor indeed ought to understand any other Loyalty or Allegiance but that which is in meer Temporals Nor can it be said upon any rational ground that because the Remonstrants do here acknowledge That notwithstanding any power or pretension of the Pope c. or any sentence c. or by any Authority Spiritual or Temporal c. it must follow That they either deny the true spiritual Authority of the Pope over any Christians or any part of the world or even his Temporal within his own temporal Territories or within those Territories I mean which are His uncontroverredly even also as to the temporal Government or that they are resolved or that they promise or declare that they will disobey or oppose any just sentence or declaration of his obliging themselves or any other Nothing less then either doth follow by any kind of consequence whereas indeed no more but that they are persuaded that the Pope hath neither any true Spiritual nor any true Temporal power from God or man to devest the King of his Temporals or to hinder them from being His loyal liege men in such Temporals and that if he pronounced any sentence or gave any command to the contrary though it were even by Excommunication such sentence and such command and even such Excommunication would be as to all effects and purposes null and void because against the Laws of God and man and nature and not proceeding from any true power he had from God or from the Church of God but only from a vain and false presumption of power or authority in the case and a clave errante from a Key errant or which is the same in effect at most and at best from such an abuse of his authority as invalidates and annulls his sentence in all respects whatsoever They do not therefore at all hereby or in this Clause as neither in any other not even as much as virtually or consequentially in any manner soever deny or oppose his true and pure spiritual power of judging or binding or that which truly and really is in him to judge and bind spiritually or in a spiritual manner both King and Subjects or to pronounce even Excommunication against either themselves or the King if or when there shall happen any just cause thereof But they only deny 1. That he hath no kind of Temporal power acquired either by divine or humane Right that reaches to the King or his Crown People or Dominions 2. That the spiritual power which he truly and really hath either from God immediately or from the Church and which the same Catholick Church acknowledges to be so in him or which the Subscribers admit to be in him can have no such effect by Excommunication or other sentence or means as is the bereaving the King of his Temporals or as is the hindering the Subjects to obey or making it lawful for them in point of Conscience and Religion not to perform to the uttermost of their Abilities their faithful Loyalty and true Allegiance to His Majesty And that this third Period or Clause or words or meaning of them import no more but this or that such Clause or Subscribers of it cannot be rationally said to deny or declare against any true power of the Pope or any true or just or legal or even as much as only valid sentence of his I shew evidently thus by two several examples of the like expression used in another matter For without denying or opposing the Popes true power or any true just or valid or binding sentence of his his Sons may declare that notwithstanding any power or pretension of the Pope or See of Rome or any sentence or declaration of what kind or quality soever given or to be given by the Pope his Predecessors or Successors or by any Authority Spiritual or Temporal proceeding or derived from him or his See against their natural Father or his Fatherly Authority they will still acknowledge and perform to the uttermost of their Abilities their natural duty and filial obedience to their said Father And without denying or opposing the Kings true power or any true just or even any valid or binding sentence of his the very Subscribers themselves may declare as I for my part do here declare and I am sure all the rest are ready to declare that notwithstanding any power or pretension of the King or of His Crown or Kingdom or any sentence or declaration of what kind or quality soever given or to be given by His Majesty His Predecessors or Successors or by any Authority Spiritual or Temporal proceeding or derived from Him or His Kingdoms against their spiritual Father the Pope or his true Papal Authority they will still acknowledge and perform to the uttermost of their Abilities their Canonical fidelity and all that true obedience they are bound unto by
the Canons or Laws of the Catholick Church viz. fidelity and obedience in spiritual things and pure spiritual commands which are just or which are given according to the Canons clave non errante Now being that both these Declarations are lawful just and honest in point of Conscience because they are both warranted by the Laws of God and Reason and the latter without any diminution of the true Royal power or any opposition to His Majesties just Laws or Commands and the former also without prejudice to the true Papal power or just Papal commands and whereas the very self-same form of expression is observed in them which you have seen in the above third Clause of our Remonstrance it is plain by all consequence of Reason that for such expression that Clause or the Remonstrance for it may not justly be censured to signifie at all or even as much as by any kind of probable consequence how far fetch'd soever to signifie any thing against the Popes true power or against his just sentence declaration or determination whatsoever being indeed it declares for no other power in the King or faith or obedience in the Subjects to the King but for such as are at the same time consistent without any contradiction contrariety or opposition with acknowledging the true Papal power and obeying all just Papal commands or being it declares only for a Supreme temporal power in the King and for the obedience of His Subjects to Him in Temporal things neither of which nor both together oppose a pure and true Supreme spiritual power in the Pope above the same Subjects and King too nor their obedience to the just commands of the Pope in meer spiritual matters Fourth Period or Clause is in these words And we openly disclaim and renounce all Forreign power be it either Papal or Princely Spiritual or Temporal inasmuch as it may seem able or shall pretend to free discharge or absolve us from this Obligation or shall any way give us leave or licence to raise Tumults bear Arms or offer any violence to Your Majesties Person Royal Authority or to the State or Government In which Clause or words of it albeit the Clause and the words of our Remonstrance which above any other in it our Adversaries pretend to be the stumbling Block and Rock of Scandal to the more ignorant Readers yet even not only our said very Adversaries do confess but are forced by manifest Reason and Construction of those very words to confess that herein is neither Block nor Rock but to such as wilfully frame one to themselves nor as much as a virtual declaration for any other power in our King or obedience due by His Subjects but for the Supreme politick Civil or Temporal in Him in His own Kingdoms For no Forreign power Papal or Princely Spiritual or Temporal or other specificatively taken as Logicians speak but only reduplicatively taken is at all openly or not openly disclaimed or renounced in this Clause or words or sense thereof that is none at all simply or absolutely taken or taken without any modification or restriction is disclaimed or renounced but diminutively conditionally and modificatively taken or taken with that extreme modification and restriction imported by the words Inasmuch as it may seem able or shall pretend to free discharge or absolve us from this Obligation For who sees not that these additional words are meerly and purely reduplicative that is diminutive modificative restraining and limiting the sense of the former words Papal Princely Spiritual Temporal and confining it to that only of such Forreign power pretending or of such only as pretending to dispense with Subjects in their natural or bounden Duty of Allegiance and Subjection to their Prince And who sees not but that the two examples given a little before by me in my explanation of the former third Clause may as well be made use of here nay and many other such to justifie this expression too of this fourth Clause As for instance or example here If any should say and subscribe this Proposition We disclaim and renounce all either Forreign or even not Forreign power Papal or Princely Spiritual or Temporal inasmuch as it may seem able or shall pretend to free discharge or absolve us from the Obligation we have on us by the Law of God and Nature to honour our natural Parents to sanctifie the Lords day as we are bound by his Law to worship God alone with divine worship not to take his Name in vain not to Kill Steal commit Adultery nor hear false Witness nor covet our Neighbours Goods c. not to do I mean any such thing in any case wherein we are prohibited by the Law of God I say That if any should say so and subscribe this grand complex Proposition or any one single therein contained I am sure there is none of our Opposers but must notwithstanding confess That such Subscribers could not therefore be said to disclaim or renounce at all simply or absolutely or any way indeed the true either Papal or Royal power And why so marrie because they would say and truly say the words Inasmuch as it may seem able or shall pretend both diminish restrain limit and determine the signification of the former words Papal and Royal Power to another thing quite different from that which is truly such and determine it to that which is only such in a false imagination as the word pictus added to homo in this Oration or Complex homo pictus alters the signification of homo or signifies not a true man but a painted man only Besides who sees not that the words shall free discharge or absolve us from this Obligation or even these last two words this Obligation as in this fourth Clause import no other kind of Obligation but that of Allegiance and Loyalty as formerly mentionâ—d in Temporal or Civil Affairs for the word this must be Relative and the relation of it as in this clause and whole form can be to no other obedience but what is in meer Temporal and Civil Affairs being no other obedience is expresly or tacitly mention'd before as neither any where after And who sees not moreover That the following last words or part of this same fourth Period to wit these or shall any way give us leave or licence to raise Tumults bear Arms or offer any violence to Your Majesties Person Royal Authority or to the State or Government confirm all what I have said hitherto on this self-same whole fourth Period That is to say That they shew manifestly we disclaim not simply nor absolutely renounce thereby any other proper but only secundum quid or inasmuch as they are falsly pretended powers for such a wicked sinful end And yet shew manifestly we do not own or acknowledge other power in the King or State or other obedience due from our selves to either but that power in Temporals which is in all Kings and States over their own respective
people and that obedience also in Temporals which is in all other Subjects to their own respective Princes and States or an obedience which tyes them not to raise Tumults bear Arms c. against the Princes Person Royal Authority c Lastly Who sees not there was very much both expediency and necessity in these Kingdoms of England Ireland and Scotland but more especially in Ireland for Catholick Priests amongst such a world of Sectaries and under a Protestant King and State to make such a Remonstrance or one in such even formal words of disclaiming and renouncing in so much any Forreign power being the generality of Romish Priests in these Kingdoms or at least in Ireland have been these many Years and are as yet upon so many sufficient grounds suspected to own such a Forreign power both Papal and Princely Spiritual and Temporal as in their opinion at least may seem nay is able and may even justly pretend to free discharge and absolve them from all obligation of Loyalty even in the most Civil and Temporal Affairs whatsoever and give them leave and licence to raise Tumults bear Arms and offer violence to His Majesties Person Royal Authority and to the State and Government of both Ireland Scotland and England So that from first to last you see by this Discourse even the very grand Block of stumbling and chief Rock of scandal quite removed or rather see there hath never been any such at all in the Remonstrance being this fourth Clause or Period of it is free of any such and hath neither Block nor Rock in it self at all the Block and Rock being onely in false and even wilfully and maliciously false Representations of it by perverse Interpreters Fifth Period or Clause follows Being all of us ready not only to discover and make known to Your Majesty and to Your Ministers all the Treasons made against Your Majesty or them which shall come to our hearing but also to lose our Lives in the defence of Your Majesties Person and Royal Authority and to resist with our best endeavours all Conspiracies and Attempts against Your Majesty be they framed or sent under what pretence or patronized by what Forreign Power or Authority whatsoever But certainly here is nothing else Remonstrated but their being ready to perform their Duty in meer Civil or Temporal Affairs or which is the same thing I mean to perform a meer Civil and Temporal Duty and to perform it in a meer Civil way as all Subjects ought to their meer Civil or Temporal Prince To reveal Treason and defend the Kings Person Royal Authority and State even with the hazard of their Lives Are not both meer Civil and Temporal Duties As for that which some either too grosly stupid or too ridiculously malicious object 1. That Confessors who subscribe this Period or Clause of the Remonstrance declare they are ready and oblige themselves thereby to reveal in some case Sacramental Confessions and break the Sacred Seal of such Confessions made to them forasmuch as they say here They are ready to reveal all Treasons which shall come to their hearing And 2. That all sorts of Catholicks both Laymen and Clergymen subscribing this Clause bind themselves thereby to reveal that also which they cannot in Conscience reveal forasmuch as this Clause binds them to reveal all Treasons and we know 't is Treason by the Law at least in England 't is so to Reconcile any man to the Pope or to be Reconciled so to be made a Priest beyond the Seas by the Popes Authority and afterwards to return to the Kingdom of England as it is also Treason to deny that the King's Majesty of England is Supreme Governor in His Kingdom even in Ecclesiastical Causes and yet 't is plain they cannot nor ought not by any Law of Conscience as it stands not with the Laws of their Communion or Religion to reveal such matters To the first or that of Confessors I have already of purpose and at large answered in my LV Section where I Treated this Subject against the Third ground of the Louain Censure And to the Second or that of all Catholicks generally I say in brief here That Widdrington hath in his Theological Disputation Cap. 4. Sect. 3. upon the Oath of Allegiance most learnedly clearly and even diffusely answered this very Objection made in his time by some especially by Antonius Capellus Controvers 1. Cap. 2. pag. 30 seq against which or in answer to which the learned Widdrington or whoever was Author of those Works which go under his name in effect sayes That neither King James himself nor His Oath of Allegiance nor the Statute thereupon by the Clause of that Oath which tyes to the discovery of Treason did intend to bind or does indeed any way bind to the discovery of other Treason or Trayterous Conspiracy than that which is truly such by the Laws of God Nature and Nations even that which is truly such in all Catholick Nations against Catholick Princes but by no means to the discovery of such matters as are only of late by the peculiar Law of England called or made Treasons Treasonable or Trayterous Conspiracies and are not otherwise in their own nature against the natural Allegiance Truth Fidelity and Obedience of Subjects to their Prince And I say besides that neither any indifferent Catholick or even Protestant ever yet understood by the word Treason in such a Clause whereby Catholicks in an Oath or Declaration especially made by themselves oblige themselves to discover all Treasons any other kind of Treason but that which is such of it 's own nature or by all the Laws of God Nature and Nations or that which is such in all Catholick States and Kingdoms not that which is such by the positive Law of only this or that Kingdom or is only such by Laws made against even the very profession of the Roman Catholick Religion for such might be made Treasonable by an unjust Law of men were it left to the greater vote at least in some Contingencies and in some Countries And I say in the last place That words bind not against or besides the intention of such as speak or subscribe them not are by any Rule of Reason or Law to be construed so to bind whensoever the obvious and common sense of such words in all Nations or in the generality of Nations and Religions require no other intention but may subsist very well without any other intention and the Speakers and Subscribers of such words be thought to deal honestly and conscientiously and to be without fraud equivocation or mental reservation in such their speaking and subscribing Out of all which jointly taken with what I have said before on the other Clauses it is apparent enough That notwithstanding such capricious and foolish Objections the fifth Period contains no other than a promise or purpose of the Subscribers of being faithful in performing their natural Duty in Temporal matters without any kind
conclude that which was before the conclusion of my first and grand Syllogism in this very Section against the foresaid two suppositions expressed in the Louain Censure That is whether I may not most justly repeat and most evidently conclude again that the said second or short Censure of Louain which was it only came as yet to publick view against that Remonstrance of ours or of 1661 or 1662 Must be rash against Prudence false against Truth injurious against Justice and scandalous in the highest degree against Charity Nay whether indeed it be not it self and not our Remonstrance that which is truly both Vnlawfull Detestable Sacrilegious Schysmatical and Heretical being it condems for such that Protestation which in all respects is Catholick Peaceable Religious Desirable Dutifull and Lawfull And whether this Protestation being really such and that Censure really such also as it now appears abundantly to be the former so Holy the latter so Wicked the inference of the Louaine Divines wherewith they conclude their said Censure in these words Quapropter quicunque praefatam professionis formulam nondum ignorant cohibere se a signatura obligantur sub sacrilegii reatu quicumque autem signarunt refigere signaturas obligantur sub consimili reata adding to confirm this second part of their Inference and resolution that saying of the Canons incauta namque definitio salubriter dissolvenda est nec ea dissolutio reputanda est praevaricatio sed temeritatis emendatio whether I say that Inference as such or as an Inference be not deduced from notoriously false Premises and Antecedents and whether as a Resolution without any note of Inference it be not in it self as Wicked Injurious Unlawfull Detestable Schysmatical and Heretical as that must be which in a manner so solemn determines against and dehorts from the most important and most known and most necessary Christian Obedience Fidelity and Duty of Subjects to their Princes And more especially of Catholick Subjects to their Protestant Prince and yet most especially of all where the Catholick Subjects lye under such great and such rational suspition of their at least in certain Cases Fidelity to their Protestant Prince as the Rebellion of the Catholicks of Ireland in the year 1641. and their several breaches of the two Peaces in the years 1646 and 1648. besides other later Arguments have occasioned to be entertain'd of the greater part of the said Irish Catholicks Or at least and without any such relation or comparison at all but positively and strictly speaking whether that final Resolve of Louain be not and even as to both parts of it to wit the first which says That such as have not yet signed the said Remonstrance are bound under the guilt of Sacriledge to abstain from signing and the last which says also That such others who have already signed are under the like guilt bound to retire that is to revoke or cancel their Signatures whether I say that final Resolve of Louaine and as to both the said parts be not most Ungodly False Unjust Scandalous Impious and Rebellious Resolves And whether the Catholicks of Ireland practising accordingly do not thereby strengthen the Arguments of such of the Protestants as would contiue the Laws in force against Papist Recusants Whether also it appear not by this time most evidently out of what is said hitherto both in this present Section and in all the so many foregoing other Sections against the four grounds of the Louaine Censure that on the contrary such of the Catholicks of Ireland especially those of Ecclesiastical Function are under the guilt of the highest and foulest and most dangerous at least Scandal may be cast or continued on their Religion and Communion bound to add or to offer their own Subscriptions also to the said Remonstrance being that by such Subscriptions or Offer they may ruin the strongest nay the only Argument is made use of by their grand Adversaries to Scandalize their Religion and Communion and render both odious to King and State and inconsistent with the safety of at least any Protestant Kingdom or People and consequently hinder by so specious and truely strong an Argument the Repeal of the Laws which are against Papists as being a People who maintain still according to the Censure of Louaine or final Resolve therein contained that under no less then the guilt of Sacriledge no Remonstrance no Declaration no Testation or Oath is to be Subscribed by them if it disclaim any Power in the Pope to License them at his pleasure to Rebel against their Protestant King and Murther both Him and His Protestant Subjects albeit their own Relations and fellow Subjects too and who maintain also according to the same Censure or some final Resolve therein contained that even such as have already Subscribed any such Remonstrance Declaration Protestation or Oath though containing nothing else but a bare acknowledgment of the Kings Supreme or Soveraign Power in meer Temporals and the Obedience and Fidelity of his Catholick Subjects to him in such Temporals only are under no less also then the guilt of the like Sacriledge bound to Refix again their Signatures And whether such as have already Subscribed especially those of Ecclesiastical Function are not yet more strictly bound under the same highest and foulest and most dangerous Scandal to their Religion and Communion not to Refix i.e. not to retract their Subscriptions For if Priests who have so freely and voluntarily of themselves without any kind of coaction Subscribed a Lawfull Declaration of their Allegiance to their King and this only in meer Temporal Affairs be not bound not to Refix their Subscriptions upon the Judgment of Foraign or Factious Divines or upon a Letter from Rome against it or any other account whatsoever cannot all Protestants rationally conclude that there is no Trust to be reposed in no Faith to be given to such men or to any others lead or indoctrinated by them no not although they had signed Ten thousand Protestations Then which I pray can there be a more dangerous Scandal to the Religion and Communion and Persons too of Catholick Subjects under a Protestant Prince and State and where such severe and severely Penal and incapacitating Laws are still in force against Papist Recusants Besides and which is very consequentially hear whether the Faculty Theological of Louain or those of it yet alive who sign'd that most imprudent rash injurious false wicked impious and scandalous Censure And whether the two late Bruxell Internuncio's De Vecchiis and Rospigliosi and the most eminent Lord Cardinal Francis Barberin being they all three severally take the pains to write so many strange or rather bad Letters some to the Clergy and others to the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland giving both these and those caution against and exhorting all to beware of the often mention'd Remonstrance as of a dangerous unlawful and pernicious Declaration and as of one moreover contrived of purpose by false Brethren a falsis fratribus
orbem absolvere possit Et propterea dogma illud quod asserit quemque posse suum Regem quod sit disparis Religionis aut fidei Romano Catholicae contrariae e medio tollere aut contra illum arma movere ut impium Sacris Scripturis vetitum detestor abhominor Ac proinde teneo ac profiteor esse cuivis boni Catholici Subditi officium omnes Conspirationes clandestinas machinationes ad Rebellionem tendentes Regi aut sub illo Magistratui competenti aut Consiliario quamprimum aperire indicare neque ita facturum juro profiteor Ad quod maxime Divinum illud Oraculum Reddite Caesari quae sunt Caesaris Deo quae sunt Dei me invitat imo firmiter obligat In quorum omnium singulorum fidem ac robur his ego proptia manu subscripsi Pat Daly J. V. D. Octavo Maii 1663. THat Nation must be very barbarous and altogether a stranger to the Law of Nature which does not love dread and reverence Kings see over them by God which does not esteem the Name and Majesty of a King to be embraced and worshipped in Temporals next to God as a thing glorious yea even divine Wherefore there is a duty incumbent upon all the Irish but especially upon those who serve at the Altar and have the charge of instructing others to manifest with what and how great joy they celebrate the most happy Inauguration of our Illustrious Monarch and His Return to possess the Government of His Ancestors Why should not I therefore as it becomes all others likewise wish all happiness and prosperity to our most successful Prince who has snatch't these Nations and above others His Ireland out of the jaws of cruel Tyrants under whose barbarous yoke they have hitherto groaned Since it is far from Christian piety to do or think otherwise But having heard that many have a suspition there are several of our Order in this Kingdom who endeavour to raise intestine Sedition yea and aspire to get Forreign Forces to make a Rebellion against the Sacred Majesty of the King I cannot nor ought I to conceal with what observance love and sincerity of mind I am ready to yield Obedience and wish Prosperity to my most victorious King and how I am ready to bind my self by Oath faithfully to perform the same Wherefore I do most Religiously acknowledge and affirm in the word of a Priest sincerely and without all equivocation disguise or mental reservation That our most Illustrious King CHARLES the Second is Lord of this Kingdom of Ireland and of all other His Majesties Realms and Dominions by a true legitimate and hereditary Right and that I will obey him in all matters Temporal and Civil most faithfully I and deservedly and that there is no power under Heaven which can absolve me from this Oath of Allegiance more than those of my Function who are Subjects of the Princes of Germany Spain or other Nations throughout the World And therefore I detest and abhor the Opinion as impious and forbidden by the Holy Scriptures which maintains That any one may kill His King or take up Arms against Him because He is of a different Religion or of a Belief contrary to the Roman Catholick Faith Wherefore I assert and profess That it is the duty of every good and Catholick Subject forthwith to detect and discover to the King or to some competent Magistrate under him or to a Privy Counsellor all Conspiracies and clandestine Machinations tending to Rebellion and I swear and profess that I my self will so do Whereunto that Divine Oracle give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods does chiefly invite and firmly bind me To give strength and credit to all and every of these I have subscribed with mine own hand Pat Daly J. V. D. 10 May 1663. Where you see nothing at all home to any purpose much less to that of the Remonstrance of 1661. And indeed this good man alledges now being the year 1668. it was therefore the general Congregation of the Irish Clergy at Dublin and in 1666. did not would not Subscribe the Remonstrance of 1661. because Father P. Walsh declared publickly in the said Congregation That Remonstrance tyed them to stand by the King against even the very Pope himself in person invading any of His MAJESTIES Dominions with an Army and even in case too the pretence and intent also of such Invasion were only and purely to Re-establish Catholick Religion and to restore Catholick Proprietors to those Estates whereof they have been so lately dispossessed by force of Arms or which have been more lately yet invested in others by those several Acts of Parliament we have seen pass since the Kings Restauration But whether or no the said Father Peter Walsh descended then to such a case expresly and publickly in any of his several Speeches to that Congregation yet I am sure he hath sufficiently demonstrated in the _____ page of this First Part and elsewhere often the lawfulness and justice and even the necessity also of such engagement and sense of the Remonstrance at least as to a promise of passive obedience even in such very case to the King Nay and also as to active obedience and positive fighting for the King and themselves and for the natural and civil being of all the people of these Dominions even also in case of such an Invasion or of any made even with previous manifestoes of such a pure intention because no mortal man could without divine special and extraordinary Revelation know certainly that to be the real inward intention whatever the verbal outward of manifestoes should be and because of the nature of Conquest and Wars wherein a thousand Accidents may intervene which may wholly change the first intention or design A Third Paper or form of a Declaration and given the DUKE by the Lord Birmingham April 8. same Year 1664. VVE acknowledge and profess that it 's our Tenet and Opinion That we are by the Laws of God bound under pain of sin to observe inviolably and perform publick Faith with all manner of persons of whatever profession in Religion they be and to be as true obedient and loyal to our Sovereign Lord and King CHARLES the Second King of this Realm of Ireland and other His Dominions as any of His Subjects and that accordingly we will bear Him during our lives true Faith and Allegiance in as dutiful and obedient manner as the Laws of this Kingdom do require from us And if the Pope of Rome or any other person either Ecclesiastical or Temporal shall either by force of Excommunication Sentence of Deposition or by any other wayes or means attempt any thing to His prejudice That we will in opposition thereunto and in defence and maintenance of His Person Crown and Government expose our Lives and Fortunes if need be All which we Religiously swear to observe and that no
Dilationis Capituli Provincialis datum in Comitiis generalibus illi qui actu sunt Superiores possint debeant in regimine suo permanere donec aliter ab Ordine disponatur Quod credo Regiae Majestati non posse esse ingratum quandoquidem illos hactenus fideles expertus sit jam ostendant se velle in omnibus possibilibus complacere obedire prout ego desidero exoptans salutares annum novum appropinquantem Dabam Mechliniae xxix Decembris 1664. Excellentissime Domine Humillimus Servus Jacobus Riddere Commis Generalis Nationis Germano Belgicae In English thus Most Excellent Sir THere could not be more grateful News brought me than that of yours of the second of December to wit of the ceasing of all Differences and Contentions betwixt my Brethren in Ireland whom I desire to be so united as they may unite all the people of that Kingdom in the love of God and cherish them in that fidelity which is due to their King whose benevolent inclinations I have experienced some years since when I had the honour to kiss His Hands at Colen Wherefore I Congratulate Him the recovery of His Hereditary Kingdoms which then I wished to His Majesty and which that He may long and happily govern I now again wish and that he may shall endeavour to obtain from God by my Sacrifices and Prayers and by those of mine as likewise by all other services if to render any such it be in my power Being lately advertised by your Letters that such Commissaries as I had deputed for the Visitation of the Fathers and Brethren in the Province of Ireland were less grateful I presently suspended the Commission given until according to your Letters in the General Chapter which was then at Rome provision were made of such as might be grateful to all and profitable to the Province Whereof also I advertised the most Reverend Minister General who then was but now is out of Office as likewise I have him that now is That he might be pleased to help that afflicted Province or command me what he would have done by me in that business Whereupon as yet I have received no Answer which is the Reason my hands are tyed in a matter devolved to the Chapter and my Superiors Whose pleasure being desired it were temerity and irreverence to proceed in a business of so great weight and consideration without expecting their Answer who are principally interested In the mean time I hope this cannot displease His Majesty to whom I dare say nothing shall be denied which by the Laws of God and our Profession may be done For which I will also to my power and with all sincerity and diligence not omit to labour supposing that according to the Decree of Dilation of the Provincial Chapter given in the General Chapter such as are yet actually Superiors may and ought to continue in their Offices till it be otherwise disposed by the Order Which I believe cannot be ungrateful to His Kingly Majesty whereas he hath experienced them hitherto faithful and that now they shew themselves willing to please and obey him in all possible things as I also desire wishing the new approaching Year may be happy Mechlin 29. Decemb. 1664. Most Excellent Sir Your humble Servant James Riddere Commissary General of the Belgick Nation Which dissembling unjust procedure of the said Commissary being throughly considered by Father Antony Gearnon sent over of purpose to him and more especially reflected upon as soon as he privately got both intelligence and a Copy as well of the foresaid Antwerp Declaration as of those late Letters of Barberin to de Riddere and de Riddere â—s in answer to Barberin he would lose no more time in pursuit of his negotiation with de Riddere but went to Louain to try whether from Dr. Sinnick or any other he might get a Copy or sight of the first long Censure of the Faculty Theological there against the Remonstrants But his endeavours herein also were fruitless For he could have no more satisfaction nor reason from any there but this brief sentence of Doctor Sinnick from his own mouth Misimus Romam Placuit Pontifici reservat in suâ— tempora Only this little further satisfaction he had though not as to that matter That upon occasion of reasoning with the said Sinnick and other Irish there and of a Report thereof then come to the then Internuncio at Bruxels Hieronimus de Vecchiis Abbas Montis Regalis he was sent for by him and though superciliously enough dealt with at first by this Lord Internuncio in order both to Father Caron Father Walsh and himself too yet at last and when the storm was over was desired by him to work with both the said Fathers Caron and Walsh to take a journey over to Flanders to himself and their Superiours in the Order to reason the case with them and with the Divines of Louain and that then himself would not be wanting to make Father Caron Visitor of his Order in Ireland as was desired by Father Walsh and others LXXXIII BUT forasmuch as this proposition or desire of the Internuncio was made in December the same year 1664. or at least in January then immediately following and consequently after some little personal acquaintance he had had with the above Fathers Caron and Walsh I must return back to the month of September that self-same year and let the Reader understand How soon after the Procurator's coming to London in August immediately preceding the said Bruxel Internuncio Hieronymus de Vecohiis having first gone to Paris to the Cardinal Legate Chisi Nephew to the last Pope Alexander the VII arrived incognito at London about this time or in the month of September taking that for his way to Bruxels And how the Procurator hearing by chance of his being there so as I have said incognito and that he was to make no stay but immediately to depart for Flanders made it his work by all the means he could to have a Conference with his Lordship and expostulate with him for so many of his Letters to Ireland and England and for those too of Cardinal Francis Barberin against the Remonstrance or that Protestation of fidelity to the King presented to His MAJESTY in 1661. and particularly for endeavouring by his said Letters to make the Subscribers and entitle them odiously a Sect and the Valesian Sect as from the Latin Sirname of the Procurator which is Valesius and for endeavouring consequently to withdraw His MAJESTIES Catholick Subjects from their obedience and faith to His MAJESTY and prepare them for a Rebellion in such contingencies or on such specious pretexts as the discontents of many or some of them would approve and the Court of Rome or some of their inconsiderate Divines and Canonists would no less allow How also the Procurator having in his company Father Caron came at last to a Conference with his Lordship in the Back-yard at Sommerset-house Father Patrick
Magin one of Her Majesties Chaplains coming along with his Lordship and being present all the Discourse but none else besides the said Father Redmund Caron How this Discourse continued three hours from Ten a Clock in the morning to One in the Afternoon How therein after due Salutes the Procurator immediately gave his Lordship a full account of the occasion motives ends and effects too of the Remonstrance continuing his Speech for half an hour or thereabouts and concluding That being it was apparent enough that in the said Remonstrance or Act of Recognition and Petition thereunto annexed there was nothing but what was consonant to Christian Religion and as such maintain'd expresly even in our dayes and at that very present by the Gallican Church and Universities he could not but wonder much his Lordship and Cardinal Francis Barberin should write such Letters as they had to the Nobility Gentry and Clergy of Ireland against that innocent Formulary How the Internuncio answering That his Holiness had condemn'd it the Procurator replied That besides the Non-appearance of any such Papal condemnation it was plain enough his Holiness was misinformed not only concerning the occasion expediency necessity ends and use of that Instrument but the very matter also contained therein even as Paul the V. formerly in Anno 1606. in those of the Oath of Allegiance had been misinformed and consequently abused by Father Parsons the English Jesuite and by Cardinal Bellarmine and those other six or seven Theologues deputed by that Pope to report their sense of the said Oath of Allegiance made by King James by occasion of the Powder-plot Treason How hereupon the Internuncio with some anger rejoin'd shortly Ego informavi I am he that inform'd his Holiness and the Brocurator to him again near as shortly But with your good leave my Lord you have not rightly nor well informed giving withal his convincing Reasons How Father Caron adding to the Procurator's answer and in short desiring the Internuncio to point out the Proposition or Clause one or more in that Formulary against Catholick Faith and finally concluding and asserting the said Formulary to be in all parts and all respects intirely conformable to Christian Doctrine and Catholick Faith the Internuncio had no more to say but Vos ita censetis Sedes autem Apostolica aliter censet yea think so but the See Apostolick otherwise How when both Caron and Walsh had again replied That general Allegations without particular proof of the See Apostolick's sense were to no purpose That the original or at least authentick Copy should be produced That credit in such matters was not to be given not even to the Letters of the very Cardinals as both Civilians and Canonists do teach That the Popes own acknowledg'd private Letters in case there had been such have no binding force no nor even his Briefs or Bulls in the present or other such Controversies That the point of the Popes Infallibility was no matter of Christian or Catholick Faith That the See Apostolick Roman Court and Catholick Church of Christ were three different things finally that together with all now said the reverence and obedience to his Holiness did very well consist how I say this Replication being made the Internuncio looking no more as superciliously or high as he had till then begun to speak to Father Walsh after another manner i. e. moderately and by way rather of Entreaty and Prayer than Command or Empire How this was to desire the said Father Walsh to lay by thenceforward all thoughts of that Remonstrance and think rather of any other medium whereby to obtain His MAJESTIES gracious propension to look mercifully and favourably on the Clergy of Ireland notwithstanding any thing formerly acted by them How when Father Walsh had briefly answer'd That really he knew no means could serve that end without some such Act of Recognition as the Remonstrance was the Internuncio replied He himself then would propose one and how accordingly he did this viz. Sanctissimus Dominus meus c. My most Holy Lord sayes he shall issue a Bull to all the Irish commanding them under pain of Excommunication to be henceforth and continue faithful and obedient to the King How the Procurator saying presently hereunto That indeed my Lord is the medium which if accepted would make His MAJESTY a down-right Vassal to the Pope and a very King of Cards but I hope His MAJESTY hath some better and surer means to rely on for keeping that Kingdom in peace than any kind of Bull or other even Letters Patent from his Holiness the Internuncio presently again Then sayes he I propose this other medium viz. Sanctissimus Dominus meus c. My most Holy Lord shall grant and create as many Bishops and Archbishops for Ireland as His Majesty and His Vice-Roy or Lieutenant in Ireland the Duke of Ormond will desire and those very persons they shall fix upon and moreover shall empower those persons so created Prelates to dismiss and send away out of Ireland all Clergymen whatsoever whom they shall find to be disloyal to the King How moreover the said Procurator to this also replied That although it was much more specious than the former yet considering His MAJESTIES Religion and the Laws now as yet in force and other Affairs too it seem'd impracticable for the present That were His MAJESTY even of the Roman communion nay and being what He is there was nothing offered by this medium but what was and is His own by ancient Right I mean the naming of all Prelates and suffering no other such but of His own Nomination And for banishing Disturbers away That sure He could Himself do that without the help of either Pope or inferiour Bishops whenever he should find such Proscriptions necessary And further That if He could not at least by the Authority of His own Laws or must or would admit of the Popes Authority therein as necessary then surely he must also or would in so much and that an essential point of Temporal Sovereignty acknowledge His own dependance from a Forreign power which questionless He neither would nor could Therefore considering all this besides the strict Oath of Allegiance and Obedience which even such Archbishops and Bishops must before their Consecration take to the Pope and not they alone but all sorts of beneficed persons according to the present practice and Rules of the Roman Church or prescript of their Pontificals and other Canons and must take also even expresly against all those they call or esteem Hereticks the last proposed medium could be no medium at all not as much as any kind of way probable if the Remonstrance and all such other Recognitions were by the self-same Prelates and all other inferiour Irish Clergymen laid by Especially considering that the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance both Enacted by the municipal Laws here had been long since by the Popes and Court of Rome and by all their fast Friends or maintainers of
such a person than Kings can require from their Catholick Subjects and somewhat also against the sincerity of Divine Christian Faith For so the Censure of Louain sayes and so say all the Letters of so many Internuncio's and Cardinals these Ten years past against us and our Remonstrance and Subscription thereof and adhesion to it But any thing is enough to impose on willing minds Though at the same time none can be so stupid as not to see what these Papal Courtiers mean by the word King in order to us What by these things that de Vecchiis prayes we may render to the King What by those other he sayes belong to God What finally we must understand by his prayer That we may so render to the King what belongs to the King that we may not take from God what belongs to God A Cypher he means by the first as to Right but as to Fact an Usurper Invader or Tyrant Dissimulation for a time by the second The Kingdom and all the very Temporals thereof by the third And so we understand his prayer plainly for the Pope is God's Vice-gerent on earth even as to all Temporals and Crowns whatsoever by Divine Right but as to those of Ireland and England yea and Scotland too by humane Title also And truly those who lately in the year 1669. received Mr. Lyons's Retractation of the Remonstrance and excepted against that parenthesis viz. Salva fidelitate mea Regi in temporalibus debita inserted by him in that Retractation confirm all this 2. How they would have the Remonstrants or Subscribers of the Irish Formulary of Allegiance termed Valesiani or Valesians As if these Remonstrants were a Sect of Hereticks and Valesius or Father Peter Walsh whose surname Walsh they call in Latin Valesius their head or as if he were the Inventer or at least Renewer and chief maintainer now in these Countries of that Doctrine of indispensable unchangeable Allegiance in Temporal things to the Supreme Secular Prince and consequently an Arch-heretick Which questionless to have been the meaning of de Vecchiis what follows immediately in that Letter of his to Bruodin seems sufficiently to confirm I mean that passage Illud enim est quod Ecclesians Dei majori damno ac pernicie afficerâ— potest quam quovis antâ—acta Hareticorum persecutio But as I have already in many Sections together proved that Doctrine to be Christian and Catholick and the contrary Heretical as termed even when it first began some 600 years since Haeresis Hildebrandina from Pope Hâ—debrand alias Gregory the VII so I have ingenuously acknowledged who the first Authors of our Remonstrance or Formulary were That these were the Roman Catholicks of England That the Catholicks of Ireland had it from them out of Serenus Cressy's Exomâ—legesis where he inserts it as one of the motives either of his conversion to the Roman Communion or at least of his being less prejudiced than formerly against that Communion That Father Peter Walsh even that Valesius mean't by de Vecchiis was at first but one of the first Subscribers of it though afterwards he was necessitated to be both a promoter and defender of what was by him so conscientiously and justly subscribed And now again he doth confess That if to have done so argue him to be a Heretick or Arch-heretick he is content to be esteemed so by such as in the point not only abuse these terms but really associate him therein with the Christian Church and all the Holy Catholick Fathers thereof for a 1000 years till the foresaid Gregory the VII's Pontificat And in truth I am not asham'd to confess in St. Paul's words Acts 24.14 That according to that Sect which they i.e. the Roman Ministers call Heresie I serve the Father my God believing all whatsoever is written in the Law and the Prophets Whence is also consequent That had I been the only true Author Contriver and Framer of the above Remonstrance I ought and should rather have gloried therein than be â—â—â—â—med thereof Only I must confess That from the very beginning of this Controversie I have been a little â—nwardly troubled for some defects I observed in the Formulary wherein I mean it is in some passages a little short of those expressions or extensions necessary in this Age against the subtle distinctions or evasions of many or some at least of the worst sort of Scholasticks Namely in that passage where it hath 1. That no private Subject can murther or kill the Anointed of the Lord and 2. In that where it only declares the Subscribers to be ready to reveal all Conspiracies c. and 3. In that where it disclaims and renounces all Forreign Jurisdiction inasmuch as it may seem able c. expressing so an act of their will as it does not absolutely of their understanding or their judgment delivered against the very being of any such power in the Pope and 4. Where in the whole it hath neither formal nor virtual Oath either assertory promissory or declaratory nor hath such I say not even any where from the first word of that Act of Recognition to the last of it although there seem an Oath immediately preceding that Formulary but an Oath only to declare without equivocation what follows in the Formulary For these defects particularly and some few other which at my very first reading of that Formulary I observed to wit in this Age and amongst cunning subtle Evaders to be some defects I confess I was somewhat troubled Yet on the other side considering there was enough in it as proceeding from candid and willing minds and honest men that intended not any Cheat or Imposture and considering also that I could not alter change or add a word to mend it if I would present it to the King as it came to me from Ireland to be presented in the name and as from the Roman-Catholick Clergy in general of that Kingdom it must be granted that it lay not then in my power to help those defects otherwise than as I did immediately after in my rational and true Expositions of the meaning and conscientious tye of the said Formulary in all Contingencies whatsoever Which Expositions and meaning I published in my More ample Account that little Book set forth in Print presently after the Formulary had been subscribed and presented to the King Moreover I considered that the candor of the Subscribers or Swearers of the very Oath of Allegiance that which is in the Statute of King James must have some grains of allowance or certainly that otherwise no expressions therein are full or home enough to prevent all distinctions or obviate even very many evasions which might be to frustrate some at least of the great ends of that Oath being it does not seem in strictness of words or sense amongst subtle men to provide against Rebellions that may be on other grounds or pretences but those only of sentences or attempts proceeding from the Pope or of
his power and authority And we know there may be many other pretended grounds powers authorities However these matters be I declare first It was not the homeness of the Irish Formulary against the Pope but rather defect of that full and perfect and unavoidable undistinguishable homeness thereof that troubled me Though withall how defective or unhome soever it may be said by some to be against the Pope and Church or for the King and Civil Magistracy yet no man will deny now but that the Roman Court esteems it too too home and full against their Interests and Papal Usurpations Secondly That had I been at first consulted with as to the framing or fixing on a Formulary of Allegiance to the King neither King nor Council nor Parliament or House of Commons nor other Protestant Subject or not Subject whatsoever should have any ground left for excepting against the shortness or defectiveness of it as to any point controverted hitherto in that which relates to indispensable Allegiance in all Temporal things whatsoever or to its being open to Evasions or lyable to any kind of Quibbles not even to that of the reduplicative or specificative sense Thirdly That nevertheless I should not have been moved hereunto out of other respect than that of redeeming the Roman-Catholicks from the severity of the Laws against them hitherto these 100 years And I mean that of redeeming them only by a Declaration of their future fidelity and obedience in all Civil and Temporal matters so full clear and positive as would be answerable in all points to their so long consultation about such a one this whole entire Age past wherein they have declined first the Oath of Supremacy next that of Allegiance and by their demurs on both rendred themselves not only obnoxious to so many Laws but also to so many jealousies and suspitions of their Loyalty to the Crown and Kingdom of England Ireland c. as if they inclined to the vain pretences of Forreign powers And what I pray you will judicious learned Protestants say or rather what will they not say now when they cannot but understand how the said Catholicks oppose now again even a very cautious Declaration of bare and meer Allegiance in Civil things only and such a Declaration too I mean as was framed not by any Protestant but by themselves Or will not such Protestants as please have hence a very specious and probable ground to alledge in Parliament and plead there openly against the comprehension of Papists in any Act of Indulgence to Tender Consciences should there be any such And to alledge and plead I say A manifest inconsistence betwixt the safety of a Protestant Prince or State and the Repeal of Laws heretofore made against People so principled or any absolute liberty or freedom of exercise of Religion to them whose Religion appears by so many Arguments to be destructive to the very fundamentals of any Civil State especially Protestant because denying still to acknowledge as much as the very essence of such a State this essence if not consisting in at least requiring for one part of its essentials to be absolutely Sovereign or Supreme and Independent from any but God alone in all Temporal and Civil things And may not consequently the same Protestants plead That such Roman-Catholicks as peremptorily refuse to acknowledge that absolute Sovereignty or Supremacy and Independency in such a form of Declaration or Oath as cannot be lyable to any Evasions in any kind of Contingency whaâ—soever have no Title at all to His MAJESTIES gracious promises in His Letters from Breda for Indulgence to be given to all Tender Consciences that hold not Principles destructive to the fundamentals of Government For surely if any Opinions be destructive to such fundamentals those of the said Roman-Catholicks or of such Roman-Catholicks I mean as hold them must be of necessity Let any one therefore judge now with what sincerity or knowledge or truth the foresaid Internuncio Hierom de Vecchiis writ as you have seen to Father Bonaventure Brodin That the Valesian Formulary is it which may do more hurt and mischief to the Church of God than all the foreacted persecution of Hereticks And judge you Reader whom he understands here by Hereticks What by the Church of God What by hurt or mischief or ruine to that Church But blessed be God we are not so mad yet as to confine the Church of God to the walls of Rome or Papal and Cardinalitial Consistory or to the small number of men wherever diffused that either out of ambitious flattery or cowardly fear or ignorance or other respect whatsoever maintain the Papal Usurpations over Church or State asserting them so in plain contradiction both to Scripture Tradition Fathers Canons and practice too of the Catholick Church and not only to natural reason Nor yet so mad as to think that whatever hurts annoys or ruines the wicked Usurpations or unjust worldly Emoluments of such men must be esteemed any way truly hurtful to the Church of God and not rather on the other side both highly and truly advantagious and profitable Nor further yet so mad as to hold all those for Hereticks whom the Roman Ministers Tribunals or even many of their Popes even or also Boniface the VIII himself held for such No nor yet so mad as to esteem that to have been a persecution in the bad sense of this word which was a just prosecution of so many Emissaries sent heretofore from Rome of meer and set purpose to overthrow both King and Kingdom here by plotting and raising or endeavouring to raise even bloody horrid Rebellions of Subjects against both that I may say nothing now of the Invasion of Eighty Eight against Queen Elizabeth or the Powder-plot Treason after against King James and both His Houses of Parliament or of the late Rebellion in Ireland in our own dayes and year 1641. Nor finally so mad as to account the Remonstrants a Sect in the bad sense of this word albeit de Vecchiis would fain have them reputed such not only by Nicknaming them Valesians but also by joyning them in a comparative manner with those he expresly calls Hereticks For certainly it is meer madness either of blind ignorance or extreme malice that should make any to esteem the Teachers of fidelity and obedience in all Temporal things to a lawful King of what Religion soever to be therefore a Sect in the bad sense of this word Although in the Etymological sense generically taken or in any innocent thereof and in opposition to the present Roman Court its Partisans in the grand Controversie and in that or like good sense consequently whether generical or specifical wherein St. Paul confessed himself to be of the Sect of Pharisees in the point of Resurrection the Remonstrants confess themselves a Sect and glory in being so But the Internuncio gains nothing hereby if not that himself and his Associates how great or numerous soever be really in the worst sense
Kings and the Abbot who Teaches Treachery The Abbot who approves Subjection and the Abbot who approves Rebellion The Abbot who writes for Truth and the Abbot who writes for Lyes for Vanity Falshood and most dangerous Errours Lastly the Abbot who leads to Life and the Abbot who leads to Death both temporal of the body in this World and eternal of the Soul in the next I have spoken freely I must confess but not more freely than truly nor is the freedom I take more then necessary Your Lordship is the Assailant I only defend my self and that with the moderation of an unblameable defence A defence not of my self alone but of many others of thousands of almost all the Catholicks of Ireland England Scotland nay of the universal Church wheresoever diffused For that speech of yours that judgment rashly given of Gearnon has injur'd all wheresoever they live who are against the temporal Monarchy of the Pope And those former practises and attempts of yours as likewise of his Eminence Cardinal Barberin by so many Epistles and Emissaries by which you have rendred all His Majesties Catholick Subjects suspected beyond measure in the point of Allegiance and continued them under the yoke of most severe Laws have dejected afflicted and for the present quite ruin'd them all And what we had done by that publick Declaration of our Allegiance with a good Conscience and right Faith and a good and necessary end namely to clear Catholick Religion from the scandal and infamy especially amongst Sectaries of the most odious Tenets of King-deposition and King-deprivation nay and King-killing too at the will of the Pope in order to Spirituals by a pretended either direct or indirect power and besides to get those Laws taken away which have long been made against Catholicks in these Kingdoms and principally against the abettors and believers of such most wicked assertions your Lordship and his Eminence have suddenly blown away and by those Epistles of yours so busily dispers't through Ireland and England reproved either of Lying or Errour Then which in the circumstances in which things then were nothing could come to the hands of those Protestants who were enemies to Catholicks more acceptable or more wish't for nothing more contrary to the Orthodox nay or such even Heterodox as being moderate and well-affected desired a Repeal of Laws made against Religion Those being overjoy'd they had now got out of your Letters evident as they thought Arguments to overthrow or obstruct the end and scope of our Form of Protestation and prove that Catholick Religion is wholly inconsistent and incompatible with the absolute and indispensable allegiance of Subjects and the safety of the King and State especially in a Kingdom of a contrary communion These on the other side dejected with extreme grief to fall thus from their hopes when they saw that must happen which did namely That the Catholick Clergy at least in Ireland would by such Letters break into Parties and by consequence would not so unanimously freely seasonably and ingenuously give such assurance of their Allegiance for the future by subscribing the Protestation as might stop the mouths of all their Adversaries and open those of their Friends and which our good King and his principal Ministers would admit as sufficient Wherefore 't is Hierom Abbot of Mount Royal and Cardinal Francis Barberin who for the present have cast down afflicted and ruined the Catholick interest and hopes thereof in Ireland principally And consequently only you two and your credulous Clients and Zealots after you for the most part over-ignorant dull and envious not Caron nor Walsh nor any other of the Subscribers either singly or altogether you two I say are the men who in the British Empire and chiefly Ireland have raised to the Catholick Church of Christ not only troubles but mischiefs to be deplored for ever unless the mercy of God and a good King divert them and we are chiefly they who have prescribâ—d remedies against those troubles and mischiefs You two alone more than all the rest have bravely bestirr'd your selves and to your power endeavoured to obstruct all peaceable and Christian nay even in any sort probable or apparent ways to a Catholick people not only for restoring Orthodox Religion and Faith but re-establishing also the Papal Rights I mean those are truly such We are they who have laid open the onely lawful honest holy peaceable evangelical way of entirely restoring both viz. the ancient Religion and Papal Jurisdiction As far namely as that Jurisdiction is true not pretended as 't is admitted by the Canons of the universal Church not usurped against and above them as 't is purely spiritual and of the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven not temporal not mixt not confused not of the ensigns of a certain worldly Dominion and to speak in one word as far as 't is either acknowledged or received by all other Roman Catholicks of Europe Lastly you alone have been the leaders of those who as the Samaritans and Idumaeans of old look with malicious eyes upon the repairing the Holy Temple under our Cyrus and run headlong upon and with all sorts of weapons fiercely fight and this almost daily and hourly against the builders of the walls We are they who with one hand lay stones in the holy wall with the other drive back the enemy Let the Church of God and our Holy Father the Pope himself consider in equity and justice what thanks what rewards belong to you what crime is to be imputed and what punishment inflicted on us Confidently and undoubtedly I speak it If we who have subscribed that Protestation have not been nor shall be able to restore the veneration due to his Holiness by the way we have taken that is an Apostolical Christian way a way of Allegiance in Subjects peace to the People and all manner of security to Princes it will never be restored by that contrary way of yours which you have hitherto shewn us that is by Anti-apostolical Anti-evangelical Antichristian doctrines and practices both of Tumults Seditions Conspiracies Rapines Perjury Homicide nay Regicide too of Treasons and Rebellions and by consequence of acting in a most impious War and cruel Murthers and more then cruel effusion of innocent blood My Lord there has been tryal enough of that execrable way of yours enough of Attempts enough of Rebellion enough and more then enough of War Of all which Ireland alone is and to all Ages will be a sad argument for History God who is good not being inclined to give a blessing or wish't success to wicked arts or means used either in a pretended or even truly intended quarrel of Religion Nor our humble Saviour Jesus Christ crucified being pleased that his Religion should be restored by other wayes than what he first ordained or any other indeed than that of Humility and the Cross as that alone which he both in life and death in word and work shew'd his ungrateful people the Jews
Your most humble and affectionate servant in Christ Peter Walsh London Pebr. ult M.DC.LXV The Answer either to this or former Letter I cannot give because I never saw nor heard of any it having been the fate of all my Writings hitherto these 28 years on whatever Subject never to have had the honour of either Answer or Reply onely my Letter to the Duke of ORMOND in behalf of the Irish Nation and their Temporal pretences or those I mean of their Temporal rights excepted And yet my Replies on this very Subject as well to the man in the dark as to the person of Quality remain still without rejoinder But that of the Temporal rights of our miserable unfortunate Nation as it relates to the King and municipal Laws and later Acts also of Settlement or Explanation for Ireland since His MAJESTY was restored being no part of nor having any relation to the present Controversie with the Court of Rome about our Remonstrance I pass over without any further Animadversion upon it or my self or my own fortune or fate in order to it LXXXVIII SOon after those two Letters had been sent to the Internuncio and the Procurator's Reply to the person of Quality had been out in Print much about the same time a Reply indeed which at that time very much took with the Roman Catholicks of Ireland in general whether Royallists or Nuntiotists and yet the Explanatory Bill for Ireland going on apace before the King and Council at London the Procurator was advised to send from London Father Antony Gearnon once more back to the Provincial and Diffinitors of the Franciscan Order in that Kingdom partly to give them an account of his late negotiation and success in Flanders but principally to persuade them to a concurrence to and subscription of the Remonstrance without further delay that by their example all the rest of the Irish Clergy both Regular and Secular might speedily resolve to give such testimony or assurance of their future Loyalty as in a time of so great and imminent danger it was more than needful they should For it look'd then towards a Rupture and great War both with France and Holland With Letters to that purpose written by the Procurator to the Provincial and whole Diffinitory as with assurance also to them that they might safely meet where ever they pleased Father Gearnon arrives in Ireland and accosting those principally concerned delivers his Letters Whereupon the Provincial summoning all the rest to the Convent of Killihy they all meet accordingly on the day appointed which was in June 1665. and many others too both Remonstrants and Anti-Remonstrants of that Franciscan Order to hear the debates and see the issue After some dayes consultation the Diffinitory who onely were the persons in chief authority in all Nine viz. the Minister Provincial the four Diffinitors the Custos Custodum and three more stiled Patres Provinciae as having been formerly Superiours Provincial of that Province i. e. of the whole Franciscan Order in Ireland being divided on the point the greater Vote of Anti-Remonstrants amongst them carried the resolution in the Negative Which was an easie matter for that Party when they would do nothing but by Vote For they knew their own strength that way there having been in that whole Diffinitory but onely two declared overboard for the Formulary as who had long before very freely of themselves subscribed it viz. Father Valentin Brown a Professor Jubilat of Divinity eldest Father of the Province as who had been well nigh Forty years before Minister Provincial of Ireland and then received me into that Order a man esteemed both of sound learning and great holiness and Father James Fitz-Simons then Custos of the Province and Guardian of Dublin likewise a learned vertuous and very judicious Gentleman Besides these two throughly and openly declared Remonstrants the Provincial himself Antony O Docharty who was President of that Meeting and Superiour of all had by Letter under his own hand to the Duke of ORMOND Lord Lieutenant then of Ireland even sent by my self from Multifernan to the said Duke privately declared himself a Remonstrant although being an expectant from Rome and not that only he would preserve himself that side too and therefore not own before others any such matter or Letter Yet this Letter you have before page 92. 93. of this First Part. Some others also of that Diffinitory were not averse but they were overborn by a greater number especially by the violence of Thomas Makiernan Peter Gennor and Bonaventure O Mellaghlin grand inveterate fiery Nuntiotists but above all by the said Thomas whose authority or esteem amongst the Nuntio party was more than ordinary as who had been in the said Nuntio's time made Provincial of set purpose and the Provincial that play'd Rex indeed especially in his own Order until the Loyal Marquess of Clanrickard made bold yea notwithstanding the fond pretence of Ecclesiastical immunity in the case to seize upon his person and clap him prisoner into the King's Castle at Athlone By such men I say the Resolve was carried in the Negative i. e. That neither themselves nor their Brethren Franciscans in all at least Four or five hundred at home in Ireland at that very time directed by them should sign the controverted Remonstrance and yet they themselves were the very first that wrought and rais'd all the grand Controversie by their Instrument or Paper given to Brady See page 91. but another framed by themselves in that Meeting Which and their other Resolve too of writing again to the Commissary General de Riddere into Flanders desiring a Visitator I mean such an one as would not be excepted against by His MAJESTIES Ministers or by Father Walsh or other of the Remonstrants you will better understand out of their own Letters both to my self the foresaid Procurator P. W. and to the said Commissary General de Riddere Their Letters to me were three several One from them All together One from the Provincial onely And a third from Father Valentin Brown The First in this Tenure Reverend Father WE have received yours by Father Gearnon in Answer to which we say That notwithstanding we have been liable to the Censure of many for not having hitherto signed your Remonstrance by reason it was so generally contradicted by the Clergy of this Nation scrupling some distasteful expressions therein and that it did not until of late appear unto them that it was exacted or required by Authority yet inasmuch as to our great grief we are given to understand that our Order supposed to be the most numerous not accepting or signing the said Remonstrance as yet hath been the occasion that nothing was done in that particular Wherefore as well to vindicate our selves from Aspersions and to testifie our sincere Affection and Zeal by our best endeavours to advance His Majesties Service We have unanimously agreed to Sign the Protestation which goeth along with this to you Signed
in all such for any material thing to the Remonstrants and on the other side were sure of all even extraordinary favours advantages preferments offices titles mitres from their own Church and from the Court of Rome abroad while the Remonstrants were sure of nothing from either but slight from the one and extreme persecution from the other And these five last years from 1667 to the end of the present year 1672. have given sufficient Arguments of both the one and the other During which time those poor Remonstrants had nothing to ballance all their Sufferings but the bare satisfaction of Conscience to be slighted so by their Friends and persecuted so by their Enemies for professing and performing their duty to the King according to the Laws of God And yet I must here advertise the Reader That the Procurator when he yielded to the Indiction of such a General or National Congregation had moreover considered how of that same very number of 69 Remonstrants so small comparatively taken some had fallen off immediately after their signing in the year 1662. at the very first intimation of displeasure from the Bruxel Internuncio de Vecchiis and their general Superiours beyond Seas yea not staying for either the Letters of Cardinal Barberin that same year from Rome or the Louain Censure against our Formulary others and some of those too being of the most learned of the Subscribers had been lately dead and the chiefest of all for authority the onely Bishop who had so heartily in their presence and for their encouragement sign'd the very original Instrument and stood to it constantly even to his last breath Others were content only to have sign'd it like so many Nicodemus's de nocte not acknowledging amongst the opposers what they had done Many who albeit they were not so cowardly yet were content with having done their own duty in that respect onely without giving themselves any further trouble to reason with any of the Factious for bringing them either to conformity or take them off their fierce and factious opposition Some who albeit they had sufficient judgment to guide themselves or their own personal duty in order to themselves alone yet had not those abilities requisite either to persuade or satisfie others And finally how there was not wanting amongst them a false and treacherous and troublesom nay and impudent Brother who after heading first the dissenters in London thrust yea forc'd himself upon them of purpose if thereby he attain'd not his own ambitious ends to sowe all the division he could and discover all might do them prejudice and betray them too whereinsoever he might and then when he saw them advancing most and their Adversaries yielding for a Sum of money to offer his service to the same adverse party and assure them that through the favour of both the Queens and some other powerful Courtiers he would procure the Kings Letters and Commands in their behalf to stop the progress of the Remonstrants and finally when he found it seasonable i. e. when they had no longer support from the Court of England but should rather happen to be there discountenanced upon assurance of a greater reward and Episcopal preferment from the Court of Rome to declare himself over-board for those For so it was at least to the Procurator but too well known of the honest man from the beginning and so it did to others also both manifestly and manifestly soon after appear c. All these circumstances all this weakness of his own side or party the Procurator considered when he yielded to the calling as before of the National Congregation as he likewise considered not only that the Superiours of the Clergy Secular and Regular being almost all Nuntiotists and Anti-Remonstrants would very scarce any of them choose other Divines to sit with them in the said Congregation than such as were and would continue to be of their own way but also what was consequential That the whole stress of convincing persuading or working this Congregation to any reason at all though for their own sole good must have lain upon himself and peradventure besides on a very few others of the foresaid small number of 69. And yet for the Reasons given before in the beginning of this Section he judg'd it both expedient and necessary to try the issue of even such a National Congregation as the publick affairs then stood in the years 1665. and 1666. II. BUT if any demand how it came to pass That in the year 1648. there was so great and numerous a party of the Roman-Catholick Clergymen of Ireland who together with Father Peter Walsh appeared so really zealously constantly and successfully too for the King against the Nuncio's Censures of Excommunication and Interdict that they quite worsted the other side and prevail'd even for and to the actual reduction of the Confederates to an absolute submission to the King and His Lieutenant in that Kingdom and yet now since His Majesties happy Restauration Sixty nine onely of a great body of 2000 Clergymen at home in Ireland should be found to appear professing so their Allegiance to His Majesty and yet also those very few so professing to be therefore and onely therefore by their Adversaries without any fear or shame opposed yea to their power persecuted To these Queries and for the satisfaction of such Readers who having not been much conversant hitherto in those Irish affairs desire nevertheless now or perhaps the rather now to be informed how these things came to pass I answer as followeth here and as briefly as I can 1. And first as to the former Querie That indeed the party of Ecclesiasticks who in the year 1648. and cause of the Royal Interest appeared against the Nuntiotists and Owen-Roists were more even in number than all those of the Irish Clergy surviving or in being either when His Majesty was restored in the year 1660 or at any time after till 1666. 2. That besides eleven or twelve Bishops and two Archbishops and all the Secular Clergy governed by those Prelates respectively except a very few dissenters who yet dared not gainsay publickly and besides the two Provincials and whole two Orders of the Jesuites and Excalceat Carmelites except also as far as I can remember some two persons onely of the Jesuites and one onely too of the Carmelites who was my own Cousin-German and besides moreover two whole Convents and some others also in other Convents of the Augustinians lastly besides five or six but the very ablest men of the whole Dominican Order then in that Kingdom there were at least 500 of the sole Franciscan Order and were at least 30 whole Convents of it that is about the one moyety of the whole very number too of this Order as it was then flourishing above all others in Ireland actual Diffinitors Guardians Readers of Divinity Preachers Confessors Priests Clerks Lay-Brethren and amongst them several of those who had before been Ministers Provincial and many
doth not swerve from the square of Sacred Canons from the consent of great Divines and Canonists from the practice of most Catholick Nations and amongst the rest of England before the Schism without controulment of the Clergy nay we are undoubtedly possessed the Law of Nature which is above all Canons doth approve and command it so strictly as we cannot otherwise answer the Trust reposed in us when by our negligence herein the Lives and Fortunes of the Confederate Catholicks would be exposed to most inevitable and evident danger Given at Kilkenny Castle the Third day of June 1648. and in the Four and twentieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord CHARLES by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland Mountgarret Athunry Donboyne Lucas Dillon Rob Linch Rich Barnewall Rich Everard Rich Bellings Patr Gough John Walsh Gerrald Fennell Patrick Brian Robert Deuereax George Commin GOD SAVE THE KING 6. That next Winter following the General Assembly of all the Three Estates of the Confederates being conven'd from all parts of the Kingdom at Kilkenny in order to conclude the Second Peace or it called the Peace of 1648. with His Majesties Lord Lieutenant and great Commissioner the then Marquess now Duke of Ormond as they did indeed before that year ended conclude it they took into their special care to second the foresaid publick Declaration of the Supreme Council and that by another as publick of their own fix'd up publickly to the great Gate as the manner was of their Assembly-house and to several other places in Town under the hand of their Speaker Sir Richard Blake In which Assembly Declaration and Act the Estates amongst other things took notice first of the designs of the rebellious Clergymen especially Regulars who even contrary to the Oath of Association took part with the Nuncio Owen O Neill and others proscrib'd by publick and lawful Authority to hold meetings and celebrate even Provincial Chapters in the woody mountainous boggy or other unaccessible places possess'd by Owen O Neill and that too partly nay principally of purpose to proceed against those other good and loyal Churchmen who for His Majesties service obeyed the Supreme Authority of the Confederates yea to displace and deprive them of their respective local Superiourships Guardianships or other offices and to name Malignants in their stead And therefore in the next place they strictly commanded all such rebellious Out-lawed Ecclesiasticks of what dignity or title or office soever at their utmost peril not to hold any kind of Meeting or Chapter upon any account whatsoever And Thirdly also they no less strictly enjoin'd all and every the loyal Ecclesiasticks and on their Allegiance to the King and likewise at their utmost peril commanded them not to assemble with nor receive or obey any Summons Orders Precepts Sentences Institutions Destitutions Statutes c. of or from all or any of the adverse party but to continue their respective offices and other matters as formerly until His Holiness or other general Superiours beyond Seas should upon or after full information send persons duly qualified and empower'd to rectifie all abuses and punish in their way according to their demerits those fire-brands of rebellion and civil War 7. That accordingly all Ecclesiasticks adhering to and obeying the said Supreme Authority behaved themselves but more especially those of the Franciscan Order being they were above others concern'd forasmuch as Father Thomas Makiernan their Minister Provincial and his Diffinitory all and every of them declared Enemies to and by the said Supreme Authority had within Owen O Neill's Quarters presumed to hold a Chapter or Congregation intermedia as they call it and therein authoritatively as much as in them lay displaced all the loyal Guardians throughout the whole Province and order'd Malignants to succeed them 8. That by such means used and care taken that year 1648. the loyal Ecclesiasticks of Ireland then came to be and continue still so numerous until they got the upper hand in all parts even amongst the common people and quite run down their Adversaries and so for what belongâ—d to them enabled the very same foresaid Supreme Council and General Assembly to reduce that Irish Nation once more unto their due obedience to His Majesty by treating and concluding as they did within a few Months after the second Peace or that of 1648. with His Majesties foresaid great Commissioner 9. That after this Peace concluded and the Government thereby placed in and executed by the said Commissioner the Duke of Ormond as under the King Lord Lieutenant those same loyal Ecclesiasticks having in all respects the same countenance and protection from his Excellency which was before given them by the Confederate Council and Assembly witness in particular among an hundred other examples which I could alledge Father Redmund Caron come and sent from Flanders as upon the Letters and Complaints of the foresaid Council and Assembly delegated by the Highest power general then of the Franciscan Order the most Reverend Peter Marchant of purpose to reform the abuses of his Order in Ireland and either to reduce or depose the rebellious Provincial and Diffinitory they I mean the above loyal Ecclesiasticks encreased daily more and more both in number strength and credit until the two Sieges of Londonderry and Dublin had been raised and the fate of Rathmines happen'd and Cromwel with a great Army landed and the strong Sea-towns of Munster betrayed and Droghedagh and Wexford stormed and Rosse taken and the repulse at Carrig and the treachery at Waterford and Owen O Neill with his Forces being rejected by the Parliament of England condition'd but too late with and submitted to the Lord Lieutenant and Owen O Neil dying at the very time the Bishop of Clogher Ewer mâ—â— Mahoâ— made General of the same Northern Army Then it was that the Nuntio party of the Ecclesiasticks being on the late submission mix'd with the Royalists reassum'd new courage and gain'd ground by sowing new divisions and playing over again their former Game Then that after the Appeal to Innocent the Tenth sent to and prosecuted at Rome by Father John Roe Provincial of the Irish Carmelites the same Nuntio partty first began to speak big and Triumph also in that Court the said Father Roe without any satisfaction or positive answer being forced to leave off his prosecution and depart if not steal away privily viz. when the news of Rathmineâ— and the consequences thereof had been with so much gladness and excess of joy come to and proclaimed in Rome Then it was that all means and devices had been ordered there to make use of the present occasion of the Royals Powers declining in Ireland for either the reduction or destruction of the Anti-Nuntiotist Irish Ecclesiasticks as being the time expected when these could have but little or no support from a tottering Government a Government undermin'd hourly by its own seeming friends and therefore even professed Subjects and at the same
time overpowred by a declared Forraign Enemy And that amongst other such means and devices First the Commissary General alias Commissarius Generalis Familiae of the Franciscan Order in Spaine by name Pedro Mannero sent immediately into Ireland new Parents revoking and annulling the delegat Authority of Father Redmund Caron over all the Irish Franciscans of that Kingdom to take thereby all support of Church-Authority from the numerous party of them that were and would be still to the very last opposers of the Nuntio's Faction of those who design'd to alienat Ireland totally and utterly for ever from the Crown of England although it was then and now likewise clear enough that even according to the very General Statutes of that Order neither the said Manero nor any other in his Office had or could have by vertue only of such Office or without special Commission from Rome which yet he did not specifie or allude unto any kind of Authority over the above Redmund's Commissariat Power delegated unto him by the Belgian Commissary General of the North-west Nations Next and soon after that Danielâ—a Dungo an Italian being chosen Vicar General of the whole Franciscen Order throughout the World for the Minister General had been dead some moneths before during the vacancy of whose place the Belgick Commissary Reverendissimus Marchantius when he had no Superiour in the Order above him sent and delegated the foresaid Redmund with full Authority into Ireland commanded by the Supream Power at Rome sent a second Patent of his own whereby not only the Supream Power at Rome sent a second Patent of his own whereby not only the said Father Caron's delegation was totally extinct but a fierce Irish Nuntiotist by name Eugenius Fildeus or Owen O Fihilly put in the same power which Caron had over all his Order in that Kingdome And then also it was that wicked Cabals were every day a forming both in Camps and Cities amongst many both Ecclesiasticks and Laicks against the King's Lieutenant the Marquess of Ormond the Nuntiotist Clergy-men of Owen Oneills Party being indefatigable in making use of the Argument of ill success not considering they had themselves been the only chief and first causes of that very success nor scrupling once to mix truth and lies indifferently so they could as indeed they did corrupt thereby but too too many Then I say it was that Limmerick and Galway plaid their prizes and when so many Troops and Regiments so many even of Horse and Foot in every Province seduced into private Confederacies and correspondencies to undoe themselves expecting every day to see Emerus mac Mahon the Bishop of Clogher then General only of the Vlster Army to be declared by himself and others of his way in the other several Provinces and really to command as Generalissimo of all Ireland and to see presently Armes and Money arrived to him as such out of Spain by the Agency of Patrick O Duff a Franciscan now at the writing hereof in the year 1672. arrived in London as a Successor to the said Emerus in that Bishoprick of Clogher employed sometimes before out of Ireland into Spain for that purpose and consequently to see moreover a Forreign Protector of the Roman Catholick Religion c. But God otherwise provided the said Emerus's Vlster Army being defeated by the Parliament Forces in that Province and he himself taken and put to death by them An accident which I also my self bewailed though I had little reason if I had considered onely my self For no sooner had that Army come in upon capitulation on the death of Owen O Neill to the Duke of Ormond and march'd up to Kilkenny and with them the said Clogher and that he was made there one of the Twelve Commissioners of Peace in behalf of the former Confederates of Ireland and sate with the rest in that City before he was made General by the King's Lieutenant no sooner invited in by my self and sent by the rest of those Commissioners to the Franciscan Monastery where I my self was then Superior and a great company before him and Bishop also of Dromore reasoning together of some differences in order to compose them by the mediation of the foresaid Twelve Commissioners of Peace he upon my answering modestly enough some things alledged falling suddenly into a violent and extravagant passion and converting his face and speech to me by my own name then calling me Apostate and great Writer of Books though he mean't onely the little Book of Queries written against the Censures of the Nuncio and withal vehemently striking his hand on the Table at which he Dromore and many more of the company sate took a solemn bloody Oath That although it happen'd that all the rest of Ireland might peradventure be forgiven yet I never should But however these private matters were I return to what more to my present purpose happen'd then or immediately before and after that defeat and death of Clogher For a little before that as far as I can remember it was 1. That the rest of all or very near all the Archbishops and Bishops hoping all to be their own now that they had the Bishop of Clogher made General of the confident victorious Catholick Army of the North as they call'd it and amongst them even many of those Bishops too that so lately before appeared against the Nuncio's Censures met together at Jamestown in Connaught and together also with some other Clergymen Secular and Regular assumed to themselves the Supreme civil power by declaring and that by a publick Instrument dated at Jamestown in the Convent of the Franciscans there Aug. 12. an 1650. against the Kings Lieutenant General and General Governour of that Kingdom by restoring the former Confederacy and by excommunicating also all persons whatsoever that would any more obey him c. 2. That the five other Bishops and one Vicar Apostolick remaining at Galway did on August 23. of the said month and year confirm under their hands too and as to every particular what those of Jamestown had done 3. That the new Commissary Visitator of the Franciscan Order Eugenius Fildeus having before summon'd a Provincial Chapter to the Convent of Kilconel in Connaught and holding it the 17 of August that same year 1650. at such time as most of the other temporal Provinces of Ireland had been over-run by the Parliament Forces and yet encourag'd by the example of the Bishops and the Nuntiotists of that Order convening there in great numbers and such as were for His Maiesties Lieutenant and yet came thither for all came not being not only deprived of voices and otherwise too proceeded against contrary to all form of Justice even their Enemies also being made their Judges but moreover with Threats and actual violence used to the chief of them Father Valentine Brown Professor Jubilat of Divinity and a holy man and a man also who had been Provincial near Thirty years before being frighted to an unworthy
submission under their own hands writing and a new Provincial and Diffinitory chosen all of them Nuntiotists and all the Guardians likewise either titular or real made of that Party and in the last place Fifteen severe and publick Statutes voted and established for perpetual Laws against all the Anti-Nuntiotists the said Commissary Visitator confirm'd all and so discharged his duty to Rome which had him for those ends and no other Commission'd 4. That after the defeat of the foresaid Bishop of Clogher and the excommunication too of the rest of the Bishops and of their other assistants of the Clergy both Secular and Regular against all who should thenceforth obey or acknowledge the King's Lieutenant came to be generally known and the Lord Lieutenant had thereupon thought fit to withdraw out of the Kingdom and nevertheless and at the importunity of the more loyal part of the Nobility and Gentry having thought also fit to leave the Kings Authority in the hands of the truly loyal Marquess of Clanrickard a Roman Catholick yet even under this very Catholick Deputy the Nuntiotists not regarding neither him no more indeed then they did the Protestant Marquess of Ormond nor the common Enemy studied nothing more than how in the few places how in the very Mountains Boggs and Woods which only at last through their own disobedience and division were left them and that too but a little longer free if yet free from the Parliament Forces to persecute those other Clergymen who as well in their latter as former excommunication opposed them still but chiefly to persecute their more leading or more resolute men and above all others Father Peter Walsh who records this now to Posterity And that him the said Father Walsh they persecuted so maliciously inveterately continually and in many respects inhumanely â—oo throughout all Provinces Counties Places whither at any time he withdrew or wherever he sheltred himself from the common Enemy the Parliament Forces that at last in the year 1651. and then in a Provincial Synod held in the woods of Clanmalira in the Province of Leinster where he then was by chance they not only solemnly and by name denounc'd him excommunicated but interdicted even also the victualling Folks that should for as much as his money dare to suffer him enter into their houses or sell him meat or drink nay further that some of that very meeting though not by a publick Act encourag'd the looser Souldiery to kill him telling them it was lawful so to do being he was excommunicated as disobedient to and an Enemy of the Church What he suffered lately before at Kilkenny Limmerick Killaloe Galway Inishbofin c what hazards he run often in the very High-wayes Travelling were too long and not proper here to be related It sufficeth to let the Reader guess hence how it was about this time everywhere throughout Ireland with the generality of such loyal Ecclesiasticks as with him stood out so many furious shocks and weather'd so great and long and continual storms after the Royal Government began to decline in August 1649. but much more after the Lord Lieutenant had by Jamestown Excommunication been forc'd away for France about the end of the year 1650. And yet I must confess they were much weakned too before then by the loss of such numbers of them and of the holiest of them as were kill'd at Wexford * Richard Synot Paul Synot Francis Stafford Hamond Stafford John Esmond Peter Stafford c. all of them esteemed the most religious exemplar and indeed holy men of their Order in Ireland or at least equal to any whatsoever The first of them was often Guardian of several Convents amongs which was that of St. Isidore at Rome and Custos of the Province The second was even Legat from the Pope in Baâ—bary for many years Third Guardian of Wexford sometime and Secretary of the Province Fourth also Guardian of the same place and after an Hermit in an Island till he was commanded out of it by Father Caron Fifth likewise Guardian of the same Convent in his turn and of special gift in exercising Sixth like St. Bartholomew had by continual kneeling in Prayer the skin of his knees as hard as a Camels by the Parliament Forces when the Town was taken by storm and some also at Droghedagh and others elsewhere albeit the adverse Ecclesiasticks or Nuncio party cryed down those true and holy Martyrs for truly cursed and excommunicated persons and refused to pray for them as having condignly suffer'd death because forsooth obnoxious to the Nuncio's Excommunication they lived and dyed out of the Church And I must confess also that some others of their best ablest and holiest Fathers too at Waterford during the Siege thereof at Dublin in Prison and elsewhere in several parts of the Kingdom dyed of the great Plague which begun in the year 1649 and continued above Three years running over all parts and corners of the Island except onely the North. As for the Nuncio's unheard of proceedings against Valentine Brown and George Dillon at Galway such qualified persons the one Reader Jubilate of Divinity and Father of the Province as who had not only often been Guardian and Commissary thereof but also Minister Provincial above Twenty years before the other a Noble-man's son and then actual Guardian of the Town as he had formerly been Diffinitor and several times Guardian of some other Convents and both of them most virtuous and exemplar men how the Nuncio himself in person jointly with their own Provincial Thomas Makiernan suspended and both removed and reduced them to the communion of Laicks publickly before the People and this only for refusing to approve of his former Excommunication fulminated against the adherers to the Cessation of Arms concluded with the Baron of Inchiquin in May 1648 I say that as for this albeit so unjust so unheard of so uncanonical procedure wherein moreover the Nuncio himself denied them even a Copy of their sentence I will say nothing here because notwithstanding it and many other such of the said Provincial Makiernan against some others then and for some months before and after in such parts of the Kingdom where he and his Faction were rampant the opposers of the Censures adherers to the Cessation and Appeal and consequently also the said Valentine and George within some few months more got clearly the better every way of all their Adversaries albeit these advantages were lost again by such degrees and means as I have said before And for the same Reason I will not mention here Neither 1. The Provincial Chapter of the Franciscan Order at Rosserial in the year 1647. where at the Nuncio's beck and by his and the Vlster parties contrivement both Provincial Diffinitors Custos and all the Guardians generally throughout the whole Kingdom only a very few of these last excepted were chosen out of that sole Faction which had devoted it self to the said Nuncio and Owen O Neill for obstructing
of Christendom alone I say but of as much as poor Ireland onely nay and as mean of his pretences to that other kind of Monarchy which is purely spiritual as ever any of the Doctors of Sorbon or Fathers of Constance or Basil held men I say that being so principled and affected in order to the Pope were and are still nevertheless some of them true Disciples to C.M. the Irish Jesuite and to R. F. the Irish Cappuccin Yea men that look'd with contempt and scorn both on Gratianus Lucius alias Joannes Lynchius and Joannes Sinmichius for altering or suppressing the designs they had formerly had in writing the one his Cambrensis Eversus the other his Saulus Ex Rex before the King's Restauration but most particularly and singularly on Lucius for his pains and even ridiculous pains say they taken in his xxvii Chapter of his Cambrensis c. even say they also so quite contrary to his former design or that he had while he dream'd not of the Kings Restauration Lastly men who had the confidence some of them to speak personally and some to write under concealed names to my self in the years 1663. and 1664. not only of Henry II. and of all his Successors their want of true Title to Ireland but such indignities and horrible blasphemies also of later Princes as I thought better to pass over in silence than offend any with the relation such men certainly were not wanting And so I end at last all my Answers to those two Queries and with them this whole incidental or occasional Section which I have given and inserted of purpose here to make the Reader understand the more easily and clearly the true source and ground not only of all the opposition made as you shall presently see to frustrate the Indiction of the National Assembly or Congregation I mean to hinder any such meeting at all or any compliance with that Indiction but also all the strange carriage of the Fathers in that Assembly when notwithstanding all opposition to the contrary they convened and sate III. AS soon as the Letters of Indiction or Intimation which you please to call them were delivered great were the Contrivements both at home in Ireland and abroad in Forreign parts amongst the disaffected party of Irish Ecclesiasticks to hinder any such National meeting But no visible opposition save only 1. From John Burk Archbishop of Tuam then at home in Ireland living somewhere in Connaught within his Diocess and 2. From the Court of Rome by Cardinal Francis Barberin's Letters and which was consequent 3. From the Bruxel Internuncio Jacobus Rospigliosi These two last oppositions because made last in order of time I will give in their proper place viz. in the sixth Section The first from the Archbishop you have here in his own Letters together with an account of Kilmore which take up this present Section But before I give these Letters of Tuam I must desire you Reader for your own better information of this great but infirm and aged Prelate to turn to the vi Section pag. 23. 15 57. of the First Part and read my account there given of him Besides know That all the Clergymen Seculars and Regulars then at home in Ireland as many of them I mean as were unwilling to be put to the Test of their principles or affections in point of professing their due Allegiance to the King made their applications some by Letters and some also in person to Him as not only the onely Archbishop then at home in the Kingdom but the onely Prelate also that by reason of his name or family and of his having also formerly sided against the Nuncio though after he join'd with the rest of the Prelates in the Declaration and Excommunication of Jamestown might with most authority hinder any such National Congregation agreed upon without his privity and for such an end too as could not stand well with his credit who but some years before in France submitted to and received an absolution from the Censures of the Nuncio Moreover understand he was in his later years wholly guided by a Nephew of his own and a Regular of the Society of Jesuits one also by sirname Burk and consequently guided both by the Provincial and General Cabal of that Order Now whether his said Nephew minded him or no of his late submission and absolution in France of the Prophecy of Jarlach and such like other matters I know not but am sure he and others purposely filled the good Archbishops head with needless scruples or pretences against the design'd National Congregation as you may now see in his own Letters to Dublin answering the Bishop of Ardagh c. The first of which Letters dated 13 March 1666. S. N. were superscribed thus For the most Reverend Father in God Patrick c. And the tenour of them as followeth My Lord YOur Lordships Letter signed also by my very worthy Friends Patrick Vicar of Ardmagh James Vicar of Dublin and Oliver Vicar of Meath hath been in the way since the 18th of November till the 11th of February that it reached to my hand I am and was still very joyful to see your Lordships zeal and most commendable design to procure for our poor Catholick Clergy and Laity some ease and liberty to exercise those Functions of their respective Vocations which seem not consistent with the present Laws of the Land Since the receipt of your said Letter I delayed my answer till now and borrowed this time to advise with some of my next neighbouring Friends whom I durst not assemble together It is true the end ye propound to your selves and us all therein needed not this circumspection nay is such as not only good Prelates must aim at but also any well principled Catholick ought to have in his thoughts and care Yet the medium to attain to it by so general a meeting and of the chiefest of our Clergy without more assurance of their safety than your Letter may be very well scrupled by many not without much reason I grant ye have had as to your selves sufficient ground to write nay and for to ingage in calling and securing the Parties ye invite by a certain day to Dublin Is that enough to take away the fear from poor Souls that see unlawful meetings such as this must be reputed so constantly cryed against by the Government I leave your selves to judge it If our King God bless him or his Lieutenant were so jealous of our proceedings as some would make us believe they are and did consequently exact a sincere acknowledgment of our true Fidelity that which we ought and will make with our hearts and souls questionless neither would deny a safe conduct for such as might meet to contrive it But in the mean time as we are not put to it by the Vpper power and with its allowance to assemble it might seem overforwardness in our selves to venture upon a meeting that without special Authority
fortune of War and division of minds had hapned he also thought fit to change parties and look back towards the old Confederacy and consequently to be as active as others in the unhappy Congregation of Bishops at Jamestown in the year 1650. signing both their Declaration against the King 's Lieutenant and Excommunication too against all that would any way obey his Excellency This remedy not proving either useful or proper but far more noxious and the Parliament Forces gaining thereby and by the Lord Lieutenant's departure so much ground that all seemâ—d very soon after to be in a desperate condition and the Marquess of Clanrickard by Ormond left Deputy for the King in pursuance of Monsieur St. Katherin's negotiation with him from the Duke of Lorrain having sent other Commissioners to Flanders to Treat with his said Highness of Lorrain provided they had first the King's consent our Bishop my Lord of Ferns also departs the Kingdom to sollicit aids from Catholick Princes but not otherwise authorized thereunto than by the Letters of private persons albeit otherwise some of them Bishops Coming to Paris and there denied access which he desired to His Majesty our Gracious King and attributing this affront to the Marquess of Ormond he takes it to heart and speaks and both writes and prints too a little piece wherein he reflects too severely and unjustly on him the said Marquess of Ormond Which if I mistake not was it that occasion d those Books written after at Paris in opposition and answer one to the other by Father John Ponce the zealous Nuntiotist Franciscan and Richard Belings Esq that no less Ormonist than known Royalist although in former times the first Legat to Rome from the Confederates and other Princes of Italy and the very man that occasion'd the sending of the Nuncio to Ireland The negotiation with the Duke of Lorrain having come to nothing and Limmerick and Galway surrendred and consequently soon after the whole Kingdom submitted to the Parliament of England the afflicted Bishop knowing that by reason of his having on his return from Rome immediately quitted the Nuncio party and both submitted to and promoted the Peace of 1648 and of his consequential being blasted ever since by the factious Irish at Rome as an Ormonist there could be no favourable reception or accomodation expected for him in that Court he shifts the best he can for himself in several places until at last the Archbishop of St. Jago in Galicia in Spain harbour'd him generously and bountifully according to his dignity and merits where continuing for some years and officiating as a Suffragan Bishop he begun a correspondence with me by Letters soon after His Majesties happy Restauration as together with his Lordship did the good Irish Father of the Society of Jesus Father William St. Leger and either by James Cusack a Secular Priest and Doctor of Divinity or by Father George Gould a Franciscan both which came from him directly and brought me Letters hither to London he sent me some writings of his own against Ferral's Book The Book as I have noted before which not only bastardizing all those Irish not descended of the more ancient Septs or Names that possess'd Ireland even before any Invasion either of English or Danes nor only in general involving all that later brood under the Title of wicked Politicians Anti-Catholicks c. but particularly and singularly falling on the Two Ambassadors yea and taxing them with having of set purpose all along betrayed the Nuncio and his cause the Book I say that by such precious Contents from the first line to the last of it both opened our good Bishop's eyes more then any other argument could to see clearly the ultimate designs of that Party which led him blindfold so long and so often especially at Waterford in 1646. and Jamestown in the year 1650. and if I be not very much out in my conjecture was at least partly either the cause or the occasion of his beginning so and desiring a correspondence with me then anno 1662. at London he himself remaining at St. Jago What followed after his first Letters to me i. e. after what Dr. Cusack one of the first Subscribers of the Remonstrance writ him back what he return'd in the year 1662. to this Doctor what to the Duke of Ormond and me in 1665 pro or con upon the Subject of the Remonstrance what to me again in May 1666. from St. Sebastian viz. after he had received the Indiction and presuming licence to return home had quitted his good condition at St. Jago what I to him in answer and finally what he replyed to me in July that same year from Paris will best appear out of the Bishops own Letters Whereof I give here as many as I judg'd material or useful to any design of this First Tome and much the rather because he is not only the onely Bishop yet alive of those of the Irish Nation that were made before Nuncio Rinuccini's time but the onely also that endeavoured to give the best reasons he could for himself or for his own dissent as to that expected or desired from him And I must say this besides that surely had he the writer of them had as good a cause and been as much conversant in the Gallican Theology which in the point controverted is that of the Primitive Fathers of Christianity as he is both a good Orator and laying the Affairs of Ireland aside a very pious and exemplar Prelate the Irish Nation generally had never been as unhappy as it is even at this present The Roman-Catholick Bishop of Fern's Letter from St. Jago 18 Junii 1662. To the Reverend James Cusack Doctor of Divinity at London SIR BY the four last Letters I had from you to which I have heretofore answered you demand from me two things to wit an approbation of a Protestation signed by L. B. of Dromore your self and other Divines of our Nation in that City and that I would give you a power to sign a Procuratorium Father Peter Walsh hath from the Clergy of Ireland whereunto Edmund Reilly Antony Geoghegan James Dempsy and others have consented as you write to me To the same I also willingly consent and do hereby impower you to sign in my 〈◊〉 the said Procuratorium but with this limitation the said Father Walsh shall do nothing for me nor in my name touching the above mentioned Protestation until he shall receive my own express sense and answer That Protestation seems a Rock to the Divines of our Nation in this Kingdom and they wonder ye there made so easie a work of it yet of your good intentions in illo facto most of them rest well satisfied persuading themselves there was a necessity of undeceiving the Prince and clearing our Clergy from black Calumnies but they differ from you in the judgment of the matter and lawfulness of the said Protestation Briefly the opinion of the Divines here as well of our Nation
confidently as if they had with them the most fully and clearly and satisfactorily Loyal Instruments could be framed even Instruments in every respect home to the point expected from them after a short Harrangus such as it was delivered by the Bishp of Kilfinuragh as the Congregations Chair-man presented to his Grace both the Original Parchment Roll opened and the other annexed Original Paper whereof before as they were signed by the proper hands of the Fathers But his Grace having received these Instruments and layed them by on his Table answered only in a very few words That after he had read and considered of their Petition and Instruments they should hear further from him And so his Grace dismissed those first Deputies of the Congregation It remains therefore now to end this Section that for the Readers fuller satisfaction I give here an exact Copy of both the foresaid Congregational Instruments with such Titles prefixed as the Originals have but first a Copy also of their Petition The Congregation's Petition delivered by the two aforesaid Bishops on June 16. 1666. To His Grace JAMES Duke of ORMOND LORD LIEVTENANT General and General Governour of Ireland The humble Petition of the Romish Catholick Clergy now met in the City of Dublin THE Petitioners do most humbly and thankfully acknowledge the favour your Grace hath done them in the allowance and permission of a Meeting in this City of Dublin at this time by which they have had the opportunity of a Free Conference together and the happiness to have concurred in a Remonstrance and Protestation of their Loyaltie to His Majesty wherein they resolve Inviolablie to continue which they beseech your Grace to accept from them and represent to His Majesty the rather that it was so unanimously agreed to as there was not one dissenting Voice in all their Number This is their prayer to your Grace for whom and whose Posterity they will as obliged always pray The Act of Recognition as I call it commonly to distinguish it from the former of others in 1661 or the Remonstrance and Protestation of Loyalty as they term it in their above Petition Signed by the National Congregation of the Irish Roman-Catholick Clergy in 1666 and delivered likewise June 16 by the same Bishops to His Grace as from and by direction of that Assembly To the King 's most Excellent Majesty CHARLES the Second King of Great Britain France and Ireland c. VVE Your Majesties Subjects the Roman-Catholick Clergy of the Kingdom of Ireland together assembled do hereby declare and solemnly protest before God and His Holy Angels That we own and acknowledge Your Majesty to be our true and lawful King Supreme Lord and undoubted Sovereign as well of this Realm of Ireland as of all other Your Majesties Dominions consequently we confess our selves bound in Conscience to be obedient to Your Majesty in all Civil and Temporal affairs as any Subject ought to be to his Prince and as the Laws of God and Nature require at our hands Therefore we promise That we will inviolably bear true Allegiance to Your Majesty Your lawful Heirs and Successors and that no power on earth shall be able to withdraw us from our duty herein And that we will even to the loss of our blood if occasion requires assert Your Majesties Rights against any that shall invade the same or attempt to deprive Your Self or Your lawful Heirs and Successors of any part thereof And to the end this our sincere Protestation may more clearly appear We further declare That it is not our Doctrine that Subjects may be discharged absolved or freed from the Obligation of performing their duty of true Obedience and Allegiance to their Prince much less may we allow of or pass as tolerable any Doctrine that perniciously and against the Word of God maintains That any private Subject may lawfully kill or murther the Anointed of God his Prince Wherefore pursuant to the deep apprehension we have of the abomination and sad consequences of its practice we do engage our selves to discover unto Your Majesty or some of Your Ministers any attempt of that kind Rebellion or Conspiracy against Your Majesties Person Crown or Royal Authority that comes to our knowledge whereby such horrid evils may be prevented Finally As we hold the Premises to be agreeable to good Conscience so we Religiously Swear the due observance thereof to our utmost and will Preach and Teach the same to our respective Flocks In witness whereof we do hereunto Subscribe the 15th day of June 1666. Edmund Archbishop of Ardmagh Primat of all Ireland Patrick Bishop of Ardagh Andrew Bishop of Kilfinuragh Procurator to the Lord Archbishop of Tuam and to the Reverend Fathers Richard Scis Vicar General of Killalla and Maurice Corghcar Vicar General of Aconry James Dempsy Vicar General Apostolick of Dubliâ— He might have added too and Vicar Capitulary of the Diocess of Kildare John Burk Vicar General Apostolick of Cashel Denis Harty Vicarius Apostolicus Laonensis Patricius Daly Vicarius Generalis Ardmachanus ac Procurator Rapotensis Oliver Desse Vic. Gen. Midensis Terence Fitz-Patrick Vicar General of Ossorie Robert Power Vicar General of Waterford and Lismore c. Dominick Roch Vicar General of Corck Connor Fogorty Proctor of Ardfert and Achdeo Nicolas Redmond Vicar General of Fernes Teig O Brien Dean of Lismore and Parson of Dungarvan John Deoran Proctor for Father Charles Nolan Vicar General of Laghlin Thomas Higgin Vicar General of Elphin Ronan Magin Vicar-General of Dromote James Phelan Doctor of Divinity Parson of Callan Dean of Ossory Protonotary Apostolical Thomas Lacy Substitute of Limmerick Father Francis Fitz Gerrald Proctor of the Vicar General of Cluon George Plunket Divine Daniel Kelly Vicar General of Cluonfert James Killine Vicar General Duacensis Edmund Teig Vicar General of Cloanmacnoise Owen O Coigly Procurator Derensis Patrick O Mulderig Vicarius Generalis Dun. Connor Thomas Fitz Symons Divine for the Province of Vlster Thady Brohy Divine for the Province of Leinster Doctor Angel Goulding Divine for the Province of Leinster John Nolan Master of Arts Divine for Leinster Dorby Doyle Batchelor of Divinity of the Province of Leinster Edmund O Deoran Magister Ordinis Melitensis Charles Horan Divine of the Diocess of Elphin in the Province of Connaught Constantine Duffy Vicar General of Clogher John Hannin Substitute and Official of Imly Fr Peter Walsh Reader of Divinity of St. Francis 's Order Procurator of the Catholick Clergy Andrew Bishop of Kilfinuragh Chairman Fr John Hart Provincial of the Order of Preachers and a Divine for the Province of Connaught Fr Stephen Lynch Provincial of the Order of St. Augustin and a Divine for Connaught Fr Antony Docharty Provincial of the Franciscans Andrew Sall Superiour of the Society of Jesus in Ireland Fr Thomas Dillon Vicar Provincial of the Discalceat Carmelits Fr Bernard Barry Lector Jubilate of the Order of S. Francis Fr John Brady Lector of Divinity Fr Dominick Martin of the Order of
the said Burk and Forgery The Reasons why we the Roman-Catholick Clergy signed not the other three French Propositions The Propositions not inserted 4 That the same Faculty doth not approve nor ever did any propositions contrary unto the French Kings Authority or true Liberties of the Gallican Church or Canons received in the same Kingdom For example That the Pope can depose Bishops against the same Canons 5 That it is not the Doctrine of the Faculty That the Pope is above the general Councel 6 That it is not the Doctrine or Dogme of the Faculty That the Pope without the consent of the Church is Infallible BEcause we conceive them not any way appertaining to the Points controverted and though we did we thought we had already sufficiently cleared all scruples either by our former Remonstrance seperately or jointly with the three first Propositions we had already subscribed And as to the Fourth we looked upon it as not material in our Debate for either we should sign it as it was conceived in the French Original Coppy and we thought it impertinent to talk of the French Kings Authority the Gallican Priviledges and Canons from whence they derive their Immunities c. or that we should have inserted them mutatis nominibus the names being only changed and then we conceived not what more we might have said then had been touched already positively in the Remonstrance neither do we admit any Power derogatory unto his Majesties Authority Rights c. yea more positively then doth the French Proposition as may appear As to the 5th we thought it likewise not material to our affair to talke of a School Question of Divinity controverted in all Catholick Vniversities of the World whether the Pope be above general Councel or no Whether he can annul the Acts of a general Councel or no Dissolve the general Councel or whether Contrariwise the Councel can depose the Pope c Secondly we conceive it not only impertinent but dangerous in its consequence and unseasonable to talk of a question which without any profit either to the King or his Subjects may breed Jealousie between the King and his Subjects or may give the least overture to such odious and horrid disputes concerning the Power of Kings and Commonwealths as our late sad experience hath taught us The 6th regards the Popes Infallibillity in matters of Faith Whether the Pope not as a private Doctor but with an especial Congregation of Doctors Prelats and Divines deputed can censure and condemn certain Propositions of Heresie or whether it be necessary to have a General Councel from all parts of the World to decide define censure and condemn certain Propositions of Heresie The Jansenists already condemned of Heresie by Three Popes and all the Bishops of France to vindicate themselves from the Censure contest the first way They write in their own defence and many more against them On which Subject is debated the Questio Facti whether the Propositions condemned as Heresie by the Pope be in the true sense and meaning of the Jansenists or no whether in his Book or no as may appear by such as we can produce if Necessary The Universities of France say That it is not their Doctrine that the Pope c. Whether this touched our Scope or no we leave it to all prudent men to judge If they think it doth let them know that we should not hould the Popes Infallibillity if he did define any thing against the Obedience we owe our Prince If they speak of any other Infallibillity as matter of Religion and Faith as it regardeth us not nor our Obedience unto our Soveraign so we are loath Forraign Catholick Nations should think we treat of so odious and unprofitable a Question in a Country where we have neither Universitie nor Jansenist amongst us if not perhaps some few Particulars whom we conceive under our Hand to further this dispute to the disturbance of both King and Countrey XVII ON the 21 of June and 11th of the Congregation the Fathers being all seated and the Procurator also who had the night before from His Grace what answer He gave those Deputies upon receipt of their said Petition and other annexed paper being present John Burk and Cornelius Fogorty rendred such an account of their success as did seem both presently and mightily to startle at least the major part of the Congregation amongst whom the Archbishop of Ardmagh neither was nor seem'd to be the least concern'd if not more then any For as soon as those rarely gifted men Burk and Fogorty had related openly their manner of access to His Grace and not only his appearing extreamly dissatisfied with their address but his very short and positive Answer That the Fathers might Dissolve and depart immediately whether they pleased being they did no good by their meeting nor intended any the said Primat of Ardmagh stood up and fell so fouly on this Burk who as being older in years and dignified in Office before the other was he that gave this account that he spared not to tell him There could not have been any better success expected from his negotiation who being so unfit for any such matter had nevertheles so importunately thrust himself on And then converting himself to the Procurator entreated him in the name of all the Fathers that he would go to His Grace and obtain for them three days more to continue their Congregation and consider a little better how not to depart with His Grace's displeasure but rather to satisfie Him if possibly they could even by signing those very three last controverted and consequently all the Six Declarations of Sorbon applyed as they should be mutatis mutandis Wherein the whole House seeming to concur with the Primat the Procurator could do no less then promise them he would use his best endeavours and so departs for the Castle leaving them in much perplexity but withal desiring them to continue sitting till he returned They did so and he by good fortune not only found His Grace at leasure but prevailed with him for the Fathers and returned to them presently with that permission they desired They gave thanks He moves That immediately a Select Committee should be appointed to consider of both the pertinency and necessity especially as the case stood for assuring their Allegiance to the King To Sign even the Three last of those Six Sorbon Declarations The Bishop of Ardagh to hinder any further progress or signature vehemently cries out Rather presently to the vote of the whole House whether we shall in any wise or upon any condition subscribe or no those Three last But the Procurator albeit contrary to his former custome continuing still in the House and consequently of one side both by his reasons and pretence opening the mouthes of some and silencing others prevailing so at last That the greater voice cryed first for a Vote upon his motion for the Committee and than again for stroaking on
this present then we could almost have not long since either believed or hoped we should live to see But notwithstanding such great and good effects of the signature of that Loyal Formulary Remonstrance by those few Ecclesiasticks that gave the first Example at London and soon after by the Nobility and Gentry there at that time is it not equally apparent That too too many Irish Ecclesiasticks of the same Church-communion proving ever since for so many years ungrateful for so great benefits received from His Majesty and His Majesties Lieutenant General governing this Kingdom and received too by the means of that Remonstrance and of the Subscription thereof by those who had no other end in either than to redeem their Nation from the severe execution of Penal Laws yea proving to the King himself as ungrateful truly as those barbarous People were who darted Arrows at the Sun for his comfortable beams of light and heat afforded to them either not rightly understanding or not well considering the Doctrinal points of the said Remonstrance or indeed rather out of their willful byass of proper and private interest partly and partly out of meer envy and malice have used their utmost endeavours to obtain and accordingly in Forraign Parts have obtained not only judicial or Scholastical Censures both from the Roman Ministers of State and the Faculty Theological of Louain but other vexatious and Penal proceedings against some at least of the chief Ecclesiastical Subscribers and Defenders thereof nay before and after have both Preached and Prayed at home in this Kingdom every where against the Formulary it self and Subscribers thereof representing that amongst the Vulgar People who cannot discern as undoubtedly unlawful sinful scandalous sacrilegious yea schismatical and heretical too and these consequently no better who have subscribed and yet not retracted their subscription Now being the Resolves of all and each of these Queries hitherto must be in the affirmative the consequence if we be not much mistaken must also be That it is no less notoriously known how great and urgent the very special causes are which even of necessity require such a full and satisfactory Declaration c as above from this present Ecclesiastical Meeting than it is That the end of their being by his Grace the Kings Lieutenant permitted to meet and sit and deliberate so freely as they can desire and do now here in the Capital City of the Kingdom is no other All which being so it will easily be believed our affliction must be very great when of one side we certainly understand The whole procedure of the Congregations debates and resolves hitherto these Eleven days of their Session makes it appear evidently That the chief Leaders thereof mind nothing less than that end for which they and the rest of the Members have been convened or permitted to meet yea That they are obstinately possessed with and set upon quite contrary designs of their own and when at the same time of the other side we seriously consider That the issue of such Counsels if persisted in till the Fathers be dissolved must at long running of necessity prove extreamly fatal even to the generality of all both Ecclesiasticks and Laicks of the whole Irish Nation because either represented or guided by this Congregation For being we see plainly before our eyes that since the designes of those leading Demagogues are as contrary to the just peaceable and Loyal designes which we and other Subscribers of the former Remonstrance we mean that of the year 1661 had from the beginning have at present and shall God willing hereafter always continue as even darkness and light errour and truth or Hell and Heaven are or can be one to another it must naturally follow That we must consequently and no less clearly behold all our former hopes of the Irish Catholicks welfare by this National Assembly's Convention dashed to nothing and even not only despair of any good but very justly fear great and irrecoverable evils to the Nation from this very Meeting to succeed those fair and pleasing hopes if we say the Fathers end as they have begun and proceeded hitherto suffering themselves to be misled by their passionately and blindly interested Demagogues and even hurried on furiously into a cross and effectual thwarting for the future all those very publick ends which for the good of their Nation and Religion the said former Remonstrance and both Ecclesiastick and Lay Subscribers thereof drove at And surely 't is not probable that any will not easily believe that such considerations which ought to afflict all good Patriots bring upon us by so much the greater affliction by how much we think our selves the more nearly concern'd than others who have not ventured as far as we under sufferances from our own Church of purpose to do that very Church and Professors thereof in the British Empire and particularly in Ireland all the good offices we could even also by subscribing presenting defending and promoting hitherto in all just ways That Formulary of 1661 and both Doctrine and Practice thereof as the only means or at least very first of all due means for His Majesties Roman-Catholick Subjects wherever in His Dominions to win upon and to ingratiate themselves with their fellow Subjects of the Protestant Religion So much of our Melancholy thoughts and hearty resentments we thought fit to represent to the Congregation by your Lordship their Chairman to the end that since it continues yet and may some days farther and several of the Members thereof are lately more and more disposed to give the Lord Lieutenant all kind of full and real satisfaction and therefore some hopes remain still that matters are not absolutely past all recovery or remedy we may further represent as we do by this address and by your Lordship to the rest of the the Right Reverend Prelats and all other the Venerable Fathers our additional and humble both desire and Petition That they will be pleased to appoint a Committee of their best or most Select Divines to debate with us their reasons if any indeed they have whether Theological or Prudential why the Signature either of the Three last of the Six Sorbon Declarations or even of the former Remonstrance hath been hitherto excepted against And wherefore on the contradictory Question such a Formulary of their own framing hath been Signed and presented by them as hath nothing material in it not any thing truly either in the same or other words of all or any the material Points of the former Remonstrance What errour against Christian Religion or Catholick Faith or sound Doctrine they found or could alledge against all or any of those Points or Clauses of the former Remonstrance which they have so of meer design omitted in their own Lastly being they profess in words They have not excepted against their own signing of the said former Remonstrance out of any prejudice against it or the Subscribers of it why they do notwithstanding refuse
others or if indeed Finachty's judgment ought to be esteemed there would be work enough for Exorcists nay for all the Priests of Ireland though every one of them turn'd special Exorcist being he the said Father Finachty would make simple people believe that all kinds even of the most seeming corporal or natural diseases whatsoever now in Ireland are special effects of the Devils really Possessing or Obsessing the bodies of the sick That such being as to this matter the fanatick judgment of Finachty it ought to be attributed to meer folly or frenzy that now for well nigh Twelve hundred years we heard nothing from Historians of any such Diabolical Power in any Christian Countrey much less in Ireland whence as we read in our Ecclesiastical History our great Apostle St Patrick expelled at once so in truth miraculously yea and visibly too all the otherwise invisible Devils who till then by Possession and Obsession had tormented the old Heathen Inhabitants thereof That especially in a time of a Christian Kingdoms or Nations or Peoples being so grievously afflicted by visible enemies as the Roman-Catholick Irish are at present and nevertheless bearing their afflictions patiently and continuing constantly in their Sacred Religion a man of reason should not once imagine that the mercy and goodness of God would at the same time deliver them over so at least generally even also to invisible Demons as Finachty pretends That every one who pleased to enquire might find he himself the said Finachty was a very illiterate undiscerning person who never had studied not only not any thing to be considered in either natural or rational Philosophy but not one word in Divinity which might enable him to discern or try so much well as his own Spirit And in the last place That such as he himself or they themselves pretended to have been cured by him of any visible disease from what cause soever flowing were observed to have very soon after relapsed into their former evil or rather indeed not to have been at all really cured by him To this purpose and in such company as before I told when Father Melaghlin had at large and very confidently too at several times and in answer also to my Queries made to him discoursed I knew not well what to think much less what to reply And yet I must confess I gave him the more credit i. e. the rather believed he spoke nothing of prejudice envy or malice nor indeed any thing at all other than what either he had heard from the most judicious Ecclesiasticks of his acquaintance and he was throughly acquainted all all over Ireland or knew by his own experience 1. Because I could not understand he ever had or well could have had any or difference or communion with Finachty 2. Because I knew they had both been equally still of the same Nuncio-party in the late differences of the Nation nay and both even by their very names equally lovers of that common Interest concerning which they would equally both desire to know and ask too if they knew of whom as the Apostles did of Christ Domine si in tempore hoc restitutes regum Israel and by consequence were equally wishers even of true Miracles and wonders to obtain or see that restitution they expected 3. Because it could not fall into my Soul that the relator Father Mellaghlin would on that occasion freely and deliberately commit that kind of sin which as being against the Holy Ghost is not forgiven either in this or the other world and that none doubted his sin would be such if he had perversly either maligned or denyed the free grace of God in any man appearing so miraculously as was reported by others it did in Father Finachty However I made no doubt his i. e. Father Melaghlins so confident and positive answers in the case were sufficient to suspend at least my judgment or belief of any kind of true miraculous power in the said James Finachty notwithstanding his being so much cryed up for such a power Which therefore I did accordingly and for that time no more troubled my self with enquiring after him especially the rather that there was scarce any further talk of his wonders until after some four or five years more Then indeed i. e. some two years after the Kings most happy Restauration and the next August after the Triumvirats Persecution of the Irish Papists ceased and when the Duke of Ormond as the Kings Lieutenant had arrived in Ireland Anno 1662 was the second time I heard of the powerful Spirits having seized again Father Finachty and working wonders by him And then also it was that I became much more inquisitive than before of all was reported of him even for these two reasons 1. I was then my self arrived in Ireland about a Moneth after the Duke of Ormond landed where I might have all opportunities and means to learn the truth of all the said Father Finachty's either true or only pretended miraculous gifts and works 2. Immediately upon my landing and presenting my self before the Lord Lieutenant His Grace commanded me amongst other matters to look particularly and singularly after him the same Father Finachty and see he abused the People no longer by going about so like a Mountebanke cheating all the Nation nay and bringing his Countrey-men also into suspition of some bad design amongst them and this neither unjustly nor at all ungroundlesly if his procession about the Kingdom and the Multitudes every where flocking to him be considered together with all other circumstances of time and present conjuncture of publick Affairs This command and these reasons or speech of His Grace the Kings Lieutenant General and General Governour of the Kingdom added much to my own former inclinations to enquire after Father Finachty's proceedings And therefore without delay I conferr'd with the most judicious of all sorts of both Ecclesiasticks and Laicks from all parts of the Kingdom then at Dublin and amongst them with many whereof some were of his own Countrey or Province of Connaught and Countrey of Galway wherein he had his ordinary Residence who knew him very well for many years and others of other parts who had gone of purpose even some of them a long way to see him practise on themselves and others as they did What I learned of them all generally concerning his late peregrination about the Kingdom was 1. That by the mediation of some friends he had the Summer past of that same year 1662 before the Lord Lieutenants Landing procured or at least obtained a Pass from some of the great ones in Authority to go freely where he pleased about Ireland and accordingly had gone from Province to Province and consequently also had met and drawn after him many hundreds in some places in other many thousands of people some expecting to be healed by him of their infirmities others who were incomparably the greater number to be satisfied in their curiosity 2. That he had also
Muskerry as likewise that the same Bishop having in the late general ruine of his Countrey when subdued by Cromwel departed and gone to Portugal of purpose to offer his Episcopal service to that Nation wanting Bishops at that time was by the said Father Cornelius a Sancto Patricio for so he called himself there amongst his Order presented with a Copy of that Book owning himself Author thereof 6. That the Subject of the former piece or Apologetical Disputation is the same Authors utmost devoir to persuade the then Confederate Catholicks of Ireland That no King of England John Serjeant an English Priest of the Secular Clergy told me of late in England That studying in Portugal he was well acquainted with this Father Mahony of the Society of Jesus there and knew him by the name of Cornelius a St. Patricio and living at S. Roch in Lisbon and that he professed himself openly the Authour of that wicked Apologetical Disputation and Exhortation added thereunto nor Crown nor People nor State of that Kingdom had at any time any kind of Right to the Kingdom of Ireland or any part thereof that their Title to it was but meer usurpation and violence and that therefore the old Natives i. e. the meer Irish might choose and make themselves a King of one of their own Irish and in the then present circumstances of Charles I. of England's being an Heretick ought i. e. were bound in Conscience to do so and throw off together the yoke of both Hereticks and Forreigners 7. That to this purpose of persuading his Countreymen to so daring an attempt he makes it his work in that piece from pag. 7. to pag. 64. in five several and large Sections to answer all the Arguments commonly made use of to prove the true Right of the Kings of England to the Kingdom of Ireland viz. those of Donation by the Pope or Bull of Adrian IV. to Henry II. Conquest by the Sword Submission of the Irish Kings Princes Bishops People and Prescription even almost of Five hundred years 8. That the whole remainder of that Apologetical Disputation i. e. the last Section thereof even from pag. 65. to pag. 102. is taken up by him in proving an Hypothesis not only no less treasonable but if not manifestly heretical in the grounds yet I am sure much more pernicious to the World in general as to the same grounds For that Hypothesis or conditional Assertion is in these very terms Dato ergo Pag. 65. non concesso quod Reges Angliae olim fuissent legitimi ac veri Domini Hiberniae ut aliqui Angli immerito contendunt nihilominus Ordines illius Regni optimo jure poterant ac debebant omni dominio Hiberniae privare tales Reges postquam facti sunt haeretici atque tyranni And those grounds or Scheme of them you may see in these other words immediately following Hoc enim jus Ibid. potestas deponendi Principes tyrannos in omni Regno Republica est sive Gubernatio sit Monarchica sive Aristocratica vel Democratica Jam si consensui Regni vel Reipublicae in hac re accederet authoritas Apostolica quis nisi haereticus vel stultus audebit negare quod hic affirmamus Doctores Theologi Juris utriusque periti passim docent rationes probant exempla suadent Thus he makes sure work on every side by affirming as you see now That granting or supposing what till then he labour'd to prove was very false viz That the Kings of England from Henry the Second's time downwards until they became Hereticks had a true right of Lordship and Sovereignty in the Kingdom of Ireland yet the Three Estates of that Kingdom might and ought to deprive them as soon as they turn'd Hereticks and Tyrants For sayes he such right and authority for deposing tyrannical Princes is in every Kingdom and Commonwealth whether the Government be Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical And then sayes he again if to the consent of the Kingdom or Commonwealth in this matter the authority of the See Apostolick be added who but an Heretick or Fool dare be so bold as to deny what we affirm here and the Doctors both of Divinity and of the Civil and Canon Law do commonly teach Reasons prove Examples persuade 9. That the whole and consequential both subject and scope of his other annexed Piece or Tract called his Exhortation to the Catholicks of Ireland is to exhort the Irish and from all the other Topicks he judg'd most expedient even to enflame them to a putting that in execution which he had already as much as in him lay shewed to be not only lawful for but obligatory on them i. e. to a renouncing the Protestant King of England and electing presently amongst themselves a Roman-Catholick Irish Native to be their King as may be seen partly in these words in the beginning of the first page of the same Exhortation albeit the 103 page of the whole Book as composed of those two Pieces viz In sequenti Exhortatione opto persuadere Hibernis ut Haereticorum jugum semel excussum numquam iterum admittant nec permittant sed potius eligant sibi Regem Catholicum vernaculum seu naturalem Hibernum qui cos Catholicâ— gubernare possit and partly in these other pag. 117. Eligite igitur Regem vernaculum fratrem vestrum Catholicum aliquem Hibernum as likewise partly yet in these pag. 125. Hiberni mei agite pergite perficite incaeptum opus defensionis libertatis vestra occidite haereticos adversarios vestros eorum fautores ad utores e medio tollite especially if expounded as they must be by those other given before in his Apol. Disp. pag. 45. viz. Vnde non solum haereticos Anglos Scotos expellere debetis sed etiam Hibernos cujuscumque conditionis haereticis auxiliantes vel aliquo modo faventes e medio tollere deberetis tanquam Patriae proditores hostes non enim ignoratis poenas quas in Jure incurrunt haeretici illorum santores Legite caput 32 Exodi invenietis quod sanctus Patriarcha Moyses praecepis occidere 23 millia Haebreorum ob peccatum Idololatriae Legite similiter caput 25 Libri Numerorum ubi ob peccatum Infidelitatis Idololatriae praecepit Deus tollere cunctos Principes populi suspendere eos in patibulis Quinimo eodem die occisa sunt 24 millia hominum Israelitarum Jam supra dixi haresim comparari cum Idololatria haereticos esse similes Idololatris sunt enim infideles Deo hominibus Quare ut malum a vobis tollatur e medio tollite haereticos eorum fautores etiamsi alioquin sint fratres proximi vestri sicut Deus praecepit Moyses fecit 10. That beside this extreme cruelty he exhorts unto of putting to death all not only English and Scottish Hereticks remaining in Ireland but all whatsoever even Roman-Catholick Irish albeit
the other as I told before under an easie confinement i. e. to that of the whole City of Dublin till further orders if the Reader will know what I have to answer and first as to Kilfinuragh is 1. That as Kilfinuragh when he was told of the Lord Lieutenant's desire to speak to him departed suddenly and privately out of Dublin so he likewise soon after no less privately in some remote Harbour some said Cork ship'd away for France 2. That for my own part I could not imagine any other cause of his flight if not either the check of his own Conscience for his carriage in the Congregation or his great hopes of both a Home Insurrection and Forreign Invasion or his little care of his own peculiar little Flock or Diocess being also as pitifully poor and ungainful to him as it is indeed little in extent i. e. eight Parishes onely or finally his far more gainful pretence abroad of banishment or of being forced to flie for Catholick Religion forsooth a pretence yielding him at least 300 Pistols a year in France ever since that year 1666 as it did also before since the year 1652 or thereabouts 3. That I am sure he had no cause given him by the Lord Lieutenant and as sure that His Excellency intended not to give him other than only to speak and expostulate with Ardagh and him together in presence of five or six others as I have before related 4. That if the fear of such bare speaking and expostulation could be a sufficient cause or motive for a Bishop to flie away from his Flock and never look after them since any thing may be 5. That besides he knew very well that of all the Bishops of the whole Province of Munster or Archiepiscopal Province of Cashil he alone was alive that there were nine Diocesses vacant in that Province that for so many years before since Cromwel's Arms and Intrigues of the Bishops forced the Kingdom to submit to the Parliament of England there was no Episcopal Confirmation administred in that whole Province and that as consequently the whole Episcopal care of the whole Province and every Diocess therein viz. the charge of Confirming the Baptized of Ordaining Priests of Consecrating Altars c. yea of calling Provincial Synods was devolved upon him until other Pastors were provided so it must have followed that doing his duty therein he could not come short by staying at home in any respect of whatever even Temporal emoluments he reaped by his flight into France 6. That I may therefore here rationally ask What made or moved him then to go away nay and to go so as if he had been forc'd to flie for his life 7. That his continual stay in France for so many years after the Kings Restauration until 1666 yea notwithstanding my own several Letters and Messages to him during those very years both from London and Dublin praying him to return home to his Diocess and look to his Flock as others did in other parts of the Kingdom to theirs and assuring him of all permission to do so and now again since the Duke of ORMOND's removal from the Government of Ireland i. e. since the year 1669 to this present 1673. during which latter time even Thirteen or fourteen new Bishops and amongst them four Archbishops all created by the Pope do publickly and freely live and exercize their Functions at home in Ireland must plainly evince it was no true fear of the Duke of ORMOND the KING's Lieutenant in 1666. nor of any persecution from His GRACE then made him the said Bishop of Kilfinuragh flie away so as he did immediately after the foresaid Congregation of 1666. 8. That nevertheless I will not here deny but I have known of late how 't was possible the same Bishop might have had then some remembrance of his own having formerly been one of or amongst the Jamestown Committee of Bishops at Galway in the year 1650 who on the fifth of November the same year delivered unto the Commissioners of Trust the disloyal Answer to the rational Proposals for accommodation made to them by the same Commissioners of Trust I say of late because then or in the year 1666 I knew not so much as having not then nor indeed at any time after until this very last Month of May 1673 perused throughly and seriously the Marquess of Ormond's long and excellent Letter in the year 1650 to the General Assembly at Loghreogh By which Letter it appears as you may see hereafter pag. 135. of the Second Appendix to this present Work Kilfinuragh alias Kilfenora had been one of those very Jamestown Committee Bishops at Galway yea one of the very six Bishops that delivered the aforesaid Answer For these six Bishops were Killala Ferns Kilmacduogh Clonfert Kilfenora and Dromore as appears by the attestation of the above Commissioners of Trust who also were six viz. Lucas Dillon Richard Barnwall Richard Everard Gerald Fennel Richard Belings and Geoffry Browne who received the said Answer from them 9. But withall I do affirm he might have very well and clearly seen That none of all those old matters or transgressions how high soever did reflect on any even of the chief Authors i. e. were not so much as thought of by the Duke of Ormond the King's Lieutenant in order to any such purpose as the taking away any one 's either life or liberty or to hinder his free living where he pleased in the Kingdom Witness not only the Bishop of Dromore who was one of the above six Bishops and yet when he return'd to Ireland in 1663 was by the Duke both civilly received and with much respect also treated alwayes after until he dyed in 1664 but even the Bishop of Ferns another of those six and one also that soon after the year 1650 had even abroad in France and particularly by his Printed relations and I think unjustly both reflected on and exasperated the Marquess of Ormond and yet in the above year 64 was by the Duke of Ormond the King's Lieutenant heartily forgiven all and with His Grace's express permission invited home to Ireland by me yea and assured both of protection and favour though Ferns himself would not make use thereof because he would not correct the error of his late Letter in justifying anew the old proceedings of Jamestown Witness moreover the Archbishop of Tuam John Burk living then i. e. an 1666. at home in Connaught with all freedom notwithstanding he had formerly sign'd the very Declaration and Excommunication too of Jamestown and never made by Retractation or otherwise any satisfaction therefore Nay witness several other persons in particular whom I could name were it necessary as I my self introduced them to His Grace in the years 1663 1664 1665 and 1666. some of them Subscribers of those disloyal Acts of Jamestown and the rest known violent Nuntiotists all along formerly against Him yet received civilly by Him without seeming once to remember
this present Work immediately after the Fourth Treatise See there pag. 80. For albeit this Part or Treatise and Section of the Book where I am at present were the more proper place to give the said Propositions of Allegiance yet forasmuch as they are already Printed where I now told I having thought fit for some Reasons to give them in that place when some five or six years since I Printed the three next following Treatises viz. the Second Third and Fourth before this present First which I am now ending and that to Reprint them here again were needless and but increase of Charge in the Printing-house therefore I direct the Reader to the said Treatise 4. pag. 80. where he may see those Propositions and under this Title The Fourteen Propositions of F. P. W. or the doctrine of Allegiance which the Roman-Catholick Clergy of Ireland may with a safe Conscience and at this time ought in prudence to subscribe unanimously and freely as that only which can secure His Majesty of them as much as hand or subscription can and that only too which may answer the grand objection of the inconsistency of Catholick Religion and by consequence of the toleration of it with the safety of a Protestant Prince or State 7. That in this Title may be seen what end I had both in writing those Propositions and having them so debated even the same end which the controverted Remonstrance it self and all my Books written and Persecutions too suffered in defence thereof had hitherto and shall have hereafter 8. That in the same Title I attributed these Propositions to F. P. W. viz. to my self not so much because they were wholly my own draught and had not a word either added to or detracted from them by the said Divines save only in one or two places at most where to satisfie some of the Fathers I mollified the expression of my own Copy in a word or two or rather indeed left out and wholly blotted those words but chiefly because the Franciscan Provincial Chapter having come on and sate before the Divines had run over and throughly debated any of the three last Propositions or Paragraphs and the same Divines being consequently forc'd to adjourn for that time and such new distractions too having hapned in that Provincial Chapter as occasioned the departure of several of those very Divines who debated the former eleven Propositions there was no further meeting held either about the examination of the other remaining three last or subscription of any of all the Fourteen by these Divines as was at first intended Which want of subscription by them to those even eleven Propositions albeit otherwise throughly debated and approved by them all unanimously in the very terms even to a syllable wherein I give them printed Treat 4. pag. 80. 81 and 82. and want also of through examination by them i. e. by the said Divines of any of the three last although otherwise read publickly by them and not at all excepted against in that reading by any of their Colledge made me not to venture on publishing the said even so much as the first eleven Propositions in their name but only in my own all the Fourteen until they were or happen'd I mean to be hereafter actually subscribed by others Because if I had done otherwise I was not sure but some would peradventure say I had no authority for doing so being I had no actual subscription yet and consequently was not sure but such Title involving others and consequently the Propositions themselves would be disown'd at least by some of them But I was certain of my self to own both my own Title and whole Work even every individual of the Fourteen Propositions to the least word and syllable 9. That for my change of stile in the Thirteenth Paragraph or Complex Proposition which contains the three last of the six Sorbon Declarations made by that Faculty in the year 1663. or change thereof I mean from assertory of the outward object to promissory or rather only declaratory of an inward unalterable resolution of mind whereas in the eleven former it is assertory but in the said thirteenth only promissory i. e. or declaratory as now said containing only a promise or rather declaring our unalterable resolution never to approve or practise according to any Doctrine or Positions which in particular or general assert the contrary of any one even of the very three last of those six late Sorbon Declarations made against the extravagant and uncanonical pretences of the Pope the reason inducing me to this kind of change and to an abstaining also therein from any kind of Censure against those contrary Doctrines or Positions how otherwise false and wicked soever in themselves was That I feared several of the said Divines would hardly be drawn to concur unto approve of and least of all subscribe an assertory expression viz. upon the matter of the said three last Sorbon Declarations but doubted not they would easily be persuaded to come off to such a promissory or such a declaratory one without any Censure of the contrary Doctrines For otherwise had I in the Copy or Draught proposed to them express'd fully my own sense and what I would my self dare maintain publickly even under my own hand I had done it as to the outward object i. e. in plain terms categorically either asserting or denying the outward object or subject which you please to be so or so And therefore 1. as to the Fourth of those Sorbon Propositions I would have spoken thus The Pope hath no authority which is repugnant to the Supreme Royal Jurisdiction of our King no nor any which is so much as contrary to the true liberties of the Irish Church and Canons received in the same Kingdom and by consequence it ought not nor cannot be maintain'd for example That the Pope hath any authority at all to depose Bishops against the said Canons And 2. as to the Fifth I would have express'd my self in this manner The Pope is not only not above the General Council but is under every Oecumenical Council truly such As likewise 3. and as to the Sixth I would have no less plainly thus The Pope is not infallible not even in questions of Right arising about the Articles of divine Faith but certainly fallible in all even such points if or wherein he hath not the consent of the Catholick or Vniversal Church Nay further I had to such my Assertions added as smart Censures of the contrary doctrines as any of those are which you find in any of the former eleven Paragraphs or Propositions But my business or design in drawing those 14 Propositions and consequently the Thirteenth of them having been partly to draw them so as I might rationally expect to prevail with the Colledge of Divines for their concurrence I judg'd it necessary to alter my stile from assertory to promissory and make use of no Censure at all when I came to the said
's name to the Clergy he viz. Father Peter Walsh no way lowr'd his Sail but remained obstinate and insolent I likewise saw a great Man's Letter I mean a Roman termed him and Caron Apostates But I hope as it hath appear'd manifestly before in the former Sections that I have not used in any manner not even in the least degree whatsoever any kind of either fraud or force in that Congregation so by what I have said hitherto in this present Section and third Appendage therein it doth no less now appear that I kept no Anti-Congregation at all much less any such of my own faction to vex them the foresaid National Congregation For to pass over now as not material that the foresaid Colledge of Divines was not held at the same time with but first assembled after the Congregation had dissolved and four parts at least of five departed to their own respective dwellings in other parts of Ireland neither can it be said 1. That that Colledge was of my faction being it had from the beginning even the first day thereof almost one moyety of Anti-Remonstrants and was free and open for ten times so many of that sort to enter it after at any time they pleased Nor 2. That it was called either to determine any thing contrary to what the Congregation had professed or as much as to debate on that which they had concluded Nor 3. That it did in truth determine or debate any such matter No nor 4. can it be said that any such was the design or scope of calling that Colledge whereas interessed Members of the Congregation were to compose it and that after all nothing was to be therein carried by the greater vote but by the stronger reason and clearer conviction and full concurrence at last of every individual person And therefore as that Colledge ought not to be nay could not in any reason or with any truth be called an Anti-Congregation so ought it be said 1 To have been composed not only not of those of my faction or not of them more than of those of the contrary but not of any persons whatsoever that might in any wise according to their own rule proceed factiously if otherwise they would And 2 To have been kept for a much better end than to vex them or than that could be of vexing the Congregation Unless peradventure any can shew That to secure His Majesty of the Roman-Catholick Clergy of Ireland as much as hand or subscription can and thereby to answer home and fully refute the grand objection of the inconsistency of Catholick Religion and by consequence of the toleration of it with the safety of a Protestant Prince or State be not a much better end than that of vexing the Congregation Or at least can prove That to secure so His Majesty and to answer so that grand objection was not the end which Peter Walsh proposed to himself in calling or keeping that Colledge Which yet can never be proved being so directly even against the very so long since printed Title of those Fourteen Propositions which he prepared and presented to be as they were indeed the only matters to be agreed on by the Divines of that same Colledge Now if out of all it doth not appear that I kept no kind of Anti-congregation much less any such of my own faction to vex them the foresaid National Congregation I know not how any thing can appear For the often mention'd Colledge of Divines held upon the Fifteen Propositions being cleared of that scandalous name of an Anti-congregation there was no other held by me or by any other besides me to be charg'd with it because neither I nor any other hold any kind of other Colledge Congregation or Meeting while that National Congregation sate besides it self nor after it dissolved but only the foresaid Colledge of Divines upon the Fifteen Propositions A Letter indeed and but that one Letter you have before pag. 696. address'd to the National Congregation it self yea address'd by way of humble desire and Petition was during the Session subscribed by Eighteen of my Friends or of those who had formerly subscribed the Remonstrance of 1661. and delivered to the Speaker and read in the House But I assure the Reader That the Fathers who sign'd that Letter kept neither Anti-congregation nor Congregation because neither Colledge nor any Meeting at all in any house or place or time or upon any other business or even upon that very Letter whereas only some of them first and others after met some by chance and some perhaps of purpose walking in a Garden hard by the House where the National Assembly sate as they were desired and they themselves thought also good did singly sign that Letter And yet after and notwithstanding all such known manifest Truths I believe my Lord of Ferns did see as he sayes he did that false relation sent over to Flanders out of Ireland and those severe lines also of a great Cardinal to that purpose But who can hinder either the lying of Lyars or even the severe lines of an interested Cardinal on such a Subject As for the other friendly advertisement given me in the same paper and next place therein by my Lord of Ferns viz. How it was taken ill by all that after Cardinal Franciscus Barberinus c because it doth not properly or indeed at all concern my present third Appendage and that I have elsewhere at large in a more proper place answer'd it I will only say here 1. That as you may see before in this Treatise viz. pag. 632. that Letter of Cardinal Francis Barberin which the Bishop means here so you may see also there pag. 636 637 638 and 639. my brief animadversions both on that same and other Letters too as well of the said Barberin as of the three Bruxels Internuncio's immediately succeeding one after another these ten years past Hieronymus de Vecchiis Jacobus Rospigliosi and the last of all ........ Airoldi 2. That if I had lowr'd my Sail in any kind of way or sense the said Cardinal desired I had by doing so renounced the Catholick Faith as to one essential or at least material and necessary point thereof and even betrayed my Countrey to boot and consequently by doing so or complying with the Cardinal in any way must have at the same time profess'd my self an impious Rebel against the Church and a perfidious Traytor against the King Crown and Kingdom 3. That refusing to do so is so far from remaining either obstinate or insolent that without any doubt it is on the contrary remaining constant and resolute in the very best cause I could and was in Conscience obliged to undertake and maintain against the corrupters both of Loyalty and Christianity 4. That being it appears now more than manifestly more than abundantly as well out of the Louain Vniversities Censure which I have given pag. 102. and the Franciscan Belgick Declaration pag. 116. as out of
remit the Reader to such other Books and other places also in this same Book where he may find as much satisfaction as can be desired To clear in all respects whatsoever that very matter i. e. To evince as clear as the Sun shines in his brightest meridian glory That not even so much as that very species or kind of Apostasie which is or ought to be only grounded on the sin of disobedience or contumacy against some lawful Commands or Summons can be with any justice or truth objected to Me and Caron or to either of us No not even now in the year 1673 to me alone though I confess that I have my self alone since the 20th of September 1669 at several times opposed but Canonically opposed three several Citations or Summons and Commands at the instance and by the procurement of the late Bruxel-Internuncio Airoldi and other Roman Ministers abroad and their Irish Emissaries both abroad in other Countries and at home in Ireland but of purpose to suppress utterly the doctrine of the Remonstrance sent one after another from beyond Seas yea and from the lawful or acknowledged General Superiours of my own Order enjoining me under pain of Excommunication ipso facto latae to appear before them in Forreign Countries and within the term of time peremptorily prefix'd by them So much here by occasion of that second friendly Advertisement given me by my Lord of Ferns or of that great Romans having termed Me and Caron Apostates and whose Letter terming us so my Lord of Ferns did see although otherwise to treat here of that matter was I know Forreign enough to the main scope of my third Appendage which had been sufficiently treated before And therefore now There remains only the fourth and last of all the Appendages viz. A Paper of Animadversions given to the Lord Lieutenant and His Grace's Commands laid on the Procurator Upon or by occasion of which Paper I have no more to say but 1. That when the Commissioners of the National Congregation had presented His Grace the Lord Lieutenant their new Remonstrance or new Recognition and His Grace taking time to consider and examine throughly the import thereof had shewed it to such Lords of the Kings Privy Council in that Kingdom whom He thought fit to consult in that affair before He gave His Answer to the Congregation which long'd very much to know whether He would accept thereof as satisfactory one of the said Lords viz. the Earl of Anglesey then Vice-Treasurer of Ireland now at the writing hereof Lord Privy Seal in England drew briefly some material Animadversions upon it shewing its insignificancy and unsatisfactoriness in or as to the main points wherein the Fathers should have declared themselves 2. That soon after they i. e. that Congregation had dissolved His Grace was pleased to tell me of that Paper of Animadversions and together give me the very Original of which Original as I have it by me still so I give here a true exact Copy viz. Animadversions on the Remonstrance or Protestation of the Romish Clergy of Ireland subscribed the 15th day of June 1666. WE Your Majesties Subjects His Majesties satisfaction is the pretence of both these Remonstrances of this and of the former presented by Peter Walsh the Procurator of the Romish Clergy of Ireland 1661. If the former had not been in some degree satisfactory in England it had not been offered to their Subscriptions here Therefore in differing from that they must design either to offer more which is not pretended or less which will not be enough or only to alter the expression But as to that it is not probable that they would put themselves to any stress to find out better words to signifie their meaning than those which have already obtained some acceptance It may therefore be more than suspected that they decline that first Remonstrance because it is not lyable to so many reserves and uncertainties as they would have it and they will have another of their own which is more subject to what interpretations they shall please to put upon it The truth of which Conjecture is too evident by these following particulars differing from the former Remonstrance Undoubted Sovereign Seems to signifie only him who exercises Supreme Authority but the rightful Sovereign as it is expressed in the former is he who ought to exercise that Authority As any Subject ought to be to his Prince The Pope often pretending Authority directly or indirectly over Princes in Temporal affairs this expression secures not our King of their obedience against the pretensions of the Pope And as the Laws of God and Nature require I living in Ireland will obey the great Turk as far as the Laws of God and Nature require but the former Protesters will obey King Charles as far as the Laws and Government of this Kingdom require The Laws of God and Nature are general to all Mankind and every Rebel pretends to an observation of them They design not obedience to a particular King who will not regulate it by the particular constitution of his Kingdom We will inviolably bear true Allegiance That is in their own sense as far as the Laws of God and Nature require Some make the Pope Judge of the former but every man makes himself Judge of the latter The King must please both to be sure of these men No Power on Earth shall be able to withdraw us from our duty herein This is little significant seeing their duty is tryable only by the Laws of God and Nature of which the Pope and themselves are Judges But if they intend really to oppose any design of the Pope against the King why do they not say they will do it in that Paper which pretends to secure His Majesty in that particular Their obedience to the Pope is that which makes the jealousie of their disobedience to the King Therefore to clear themselves they should have renounc'd the Popes Authority as it may be opposite to the Kings If they dare not name opposition to him how can it be expected that they will oppose him And how careful they are not to give offence to the Pope we see by their clear leaving out almost the whole Paragraph in the former Remonstrance which secures particularly against his Vsurpations If they say they decline naming him in bare respect to him it seems they prefer their Complement beyond their duty but if that be it why then do they name him in their Subscriptions to the first Proposition of the faculty of Sorbon We will to the loss of our blood assert Your Majesties Rights But they are still no more than the Laws of God and Nature allows you The Laws of the Kingdom are insignificant It is not our Doctrine that Subjects may be discharged c. But doth their Doctrine condemn and anathematize such practises Or do they condemn and anathematize that Doctrine Do they condemn the Doctrine of Suarez Bellarmine Mariana Salmeron Becanus
declaration and meaning to be always with this reserve that whatever this their second proposition or constant doctrine signifie or be intended or conceived by any to signifie or this their resolution so expressed never to recede from it yet all must be with perfect submission to the Pope and so that if it sufficiently appear the Pope hath already declared or shall at any time hereafter declare by Brief Bull or other letters against such doctrine as uncatholick or against such resolution as unsafe they will quit both for these causes I say there can be no rational indifferent person but will be convinced that out of this second proposition as from them there can acrue no more assurance to the King of their future fidelitie than out of the first and consequently than out of their Remonstrance alone without any such additional proposition or propositions That is as I have a little above said just none at all Nor will their third or last Proposition mend the matter They give it indeed as the two former in words specious enough to plain well-meaning men to the simple and ignorant Nay specious enough to very understanding persons but yet such persons only as are not acquainted with their explications borrowed from late School-men and particularly from Bellarmine against Barclay and from other impugners with him of the Oath of Allegiance against the most learned Father Green and Preston of St. Beâ—ns Order as well under Widringtons name at first in several works as their own at last in their Apology to Gregory the Fourteenth and against the rest of the Roman Clergy of England that so learnedly conscientiously modestly nay and patiently too maintain'd that oath in King James's dayes especially the Secular Clergy maâ—gre Cardinal Bellarmines Letter to the Arch-Priest Blackwel and maugre likewise all his other several books under his own or fictitious names and maugre also even that either true or pretended brief of Paul the Fifth in the year 1606. against the said Oath procured by Father Parsons upon the mis-representation and most false suggestion of Cardinal Bellarmine and his seven or eight other fellow Divines to whom joyntly the examination of the said Oath of Allegiance was committed by the same holy Father Paul the Fifth and finally notwithstanding the best and worst endeavours of besides Lessius Gretzer Fitzherbert Becan Parsons himself and several others Franciscus Suarez the Spanish learned Jesuite at the instigation of the English Fathers of the same Society and in pursuance of the said Brief and for the unlawful advancement of his own great Masters no less unlawful interest This third Proposition therefore I say notwithstanding its words or tenor so specious at first to such as are not acquainted with the familiar explication or meaning of the chief proposers a meaning or explication learned from these late Sophisters that writ so ill and so erroneously too against King Iames's said Oath of Allegiance being reviewed being duly pondred as from them or as from those Congregational men will be found to be of as little weight as any of the two former and will be so found I mean as to the resolution justly expected from so venerable so grave and so withal justly suspected an Assembly But not to delay the Reader my longer I repeat again here that Proposition in it self barely or as they have given it in their own words We the undernamed do hereby declare that it is our doctrine that we Subjects oâ—e so natural and just obedience to our King that no power under any pretext soever can either dispense with or free us of the same Now mark the Sophistry In the first place the reduplicative sense must be allowed in these two words We Subjects that is in as much or while we are Subjects Which will be no longer than it shall please the Pope not to denounce the King by name excommunicated or deprived of or deposed from his kingdoms by a judicial process or bull on pretence of his apostasie heresie schisme oppression of the Church or People against that which the Pope shall determine to be justice or faith Next the same reduplication must be allowed to fall on the word King And thirdly at the word power all the former distinctions of fact and of right of humane or temporal and divine or spiritual and of ordinary and extraordinary must be ushered in And in the last place from these general words under any pretext soever there must be alwaies understood an exception of those extraordinary cases or contingencies above so often repeated of destroying the Church or People tyrannically by endeavouring to make them Apostats Hereticks Schismaticks or by tyrannising over them even in their temporal or civil rights alone And the judgment hereof must be the Pope's only or the people's when they please to take it Nor will the Doctrine of the Apostles even in the cases of tyrannical heathen Emperours as of Nero and Domitian much less of the Fathers even in the cases of manifest notorious Apostats and Hereticks as of Iulian Constantius Valens Anastasius c. move the Divines of our congregation any whit at all They say with Bellarmine the Apostles and Fathers and other primitive Christians dissembled in this point because they had not strength enough of men and arms to oppose though besides that this answer is impious it be also most manifestly false in the case of Iulian the Apostat and of the succeeding Heretick Emperours Having thus with all sincerity considered all and every of their three Propositions both nakedly and abstractedly as they are in themselves and also as given by that Congregation and having layd open most sincerely too the meaning or sense these Divines or at least the chief and most leading of them have conceive or intend others should upon fit occasions understand by those Propositions and by their several clauses and words it only now remains that I briefly put in form my third Argument grounded on such abstractions exceptions distinctions reservations and equivocations And I frame it thus Syllogistically because I have to deal with some caprichious Logicians or Sophisters No Propositions are sufficient in this age for giving assurance to the King of the future loyalty of a Roman Catholick people and as from such a Roman Catholick people too whom he hath already by experience and his Father before him found in several publick Instances manifestly disloyal and even perfidious in the highest nature could be but such Propositions as by clear express words from which there can be no exception or evasion and of which there can be no distinction according to the present School-divinity of Bellarmine or Suarez or such others descend to the specifical cases about which the controversie is if the Proposers be expresly desired by the King or the Lieutenant in his Name or by his Authority to descend so in their Remonstrance or Propositions to such cases and if they expresly and obstinatly too refuse to descend so or
their future fidelitie hereafter in the cases or contingencies wherein they are suspected I leave the indifferent reader to be judge I know what their answer will be to these two last Objections They will say the Propositions of Sorbon had no such exception against equivocation no censure of the contrary positions But the reply is no less obvious and shews the answer in both parts unsatisfactory Because the disparity is as great as the divinity and doctrine and loyalty of that famous Colledge nay and of all the Gallican Church is known to be such that their Propositions as from them and to their King or people needed no such additional exception or censure at such time as they gave those very Propositions in the year 1663. So many books lately before written by the Divines of that Faculty and Church and by the Curats of Rouen and Paris against the whole mass of casuistical opinions amongst which that of equivocations in such cases at least as ours as likewise the other of extrinsecal probability maâ—ch in the first rank and their general horror of such vile Sophistrie and withal the settledness of the generality of the French Nation both Ecclesiasticks and Lay-men in the true honest and obvious meaning of the said Propositions as comprising without further addition or specification those very cases which our congregational Divines would by their distinctions and reservations except alwayes and yet further the very penalties enacted in the rules of Sorbon and other French Universities against any that would maintain the positions of Bellarmine or the doctrine of a power in the Pope for deposing Kings all these four arguments I say to speak no more shew there was no need that the Sorbonists in the said Propositions to their own King should expresly or any other way than by the bare Propositions in themselves protest they declared them sincerely without equivocation or mental reservation And so many former no less known heavy and home censures not only of Sorbon and Paris but of all other Universities in France against that very doctrine of any power whatsoever and consequently against that which is called by new names direct or indirect ordinary or extraordinary and casual or supernatural spiritual celestial divine c. in the Pope for deposing Kings evict this confession likewise That there was no need Sorbon should to those their own propositions in the year 1663. add any new censure at all of the contrary doctrine To all which and as well concerning that of equivocation as this of censure may be added that the Sorbon-Facultie's purpose in determining and presenting the foresaid six propositions to the French King on the eighth of May 63. was only to wipe off the false aspersion which some had lately and groundlesly cast upon them as if they had held the contrary in terminis Which to have been their chief purpose may be seen by that Title of theirs prefixed to the same six propositions Declaratio Facultatis Sorbonicae contra quasdam propositiones falso impositas eidem Facultati Now who sees not that to this end it was sufficient to give the contrary or contradictory propositions without any kind of addition or explication And who sees not that our case or that of our said Congregation of Dublin of the Irish Roman Catholick Clergy was wholy different in all particulars both the doctrine and practice contrary to the plain sincere and obvious meaning of the said six propositions conceived by men that are no Sophisters hath been and is with all truth and justice grounded on sad long and manifold experiences as withal the doctrine and practice of equivocation and mental reservation charged on the generality that is on the far greater part for number of the said Irish Clergy and their Representatives And neither of them have ever yet except only those few Subscribers of the Remonstrance of 61. for ought appears either in this age or any former since the debates arose first by Books Declarations Propositions or otherwise under their hands or names any way censured that pernicious doctrine or practices following it of the Pope's power or pretence of power for deposing Kings c. as neither the doctrine of equivocation or mental reservation in such cases as ours or in any other soever But to shew what only now remains that Sorbon had that all the rest of the Catholick Universities of the Gallican Church and kingdom had lately before and both sufficiently and smartly too censured the positions contrary to the foresaid three or that of any power or pretence of power in the Pope to deprive or depose Kings raise their Subjects or the people otherwise subject in rebellion against them I will give here out of very many others those censures only of the said Faculty of Sorbon fourth of April 1626. and of the whole University of Paris the 20th of April the same year against the said uncatholick doctrines And further only add the prosecution of the same censure by the other seven Universities of France the same year too All which the late Author of the Quaeries on the Oath of Allegiance hath rendred in English and prepared to my hand as extracted out of a Book lately before printed at Paris Entituled A Collection of divers Acts Censures and Decrees as well of the Vniversity as of the faculty of Theology at Paris The Title of that of Paris and consequently of that of Sorbon therein is A Decree of the Vniversity of Paris made by the Rector Deans Proctors and Bachelors of the said Vniversity in a General Assembly had on the 20th of April 1626. at the Matutines And then immediatly follows the Decree it self in these words to a tittle It having been represented by the Rector that the sacred Faculty of Theologie moved as well by their ardent zeal and fidelity towards the Church His most Christian Majesty and his Kingdoms as also by the true and perfect love which they bear to right and justice and following therein the illustrious examples left by their Predecessors in like cases upon mature examination af a certain Latin Book Entituled A Treatise of Heresie Schisme Apostasie c. and of the Popes power in order to the punishment of those crimes printed at Rome 1625. had in the 30. and 31. Chapters of Heresie found these propositions That the Pope may with temporal punishments chastise Kings and Princes depose and deprive them of their Estates and Kingdoms for the crime of Heresie and exempt their Subjects from the obedience due to them and that this custom has been alwaies practised in the Church c. and thereupon had by a publick just and legal sentence on the 4th of April censured these propositions of that pernicious Book and condemned the doctrine therein contained as new false erroneous contrary to the law of God rendring odious the Papal Dignity opening a gap to Schisme derogative to the soveraign authority of Kings which depends on God alone retarding the conversion of
Infidels and heretical Princes disturbing the publick peace tending to the ruine of Kingdoms and Republicks diverting Subjects from the obedience due to their Soveraigns and precipitating them into faction rebellion sedition and even to commit Parricides on the sacred persons of their Princes The Rectors Deans Proctors Batchelors and whole Vniversity have made this Decree That the sacred Faculty of Theology ought highly to be commended for having given a judgment so pious so religious so wholsome against so wicked and dangerous a Doctrine for having so opportunely held forth to the whole Church but especially to all France the clear light of ancient and orthodox Doctrine for having so gloriously followed the illustrious generosity of their Predecessors and performed a task not only becoming their particular profession to defend the truth but deserving the imitation even of the whole Vniversity it self And to obstruct altogether the very entrance of this new and pernicious doctrine and cause all those who now are or hereafter shall be members of this Vniversity or merit promotion to any degree therein to remember for ever to form and regulate their opinions according to the judgments pronounced by that sacred Faculty and keep at utmost distance from the doctrine so justly proscribed and that every one in particular may fly detest and abhor it and as well in publick as privat combat confute and convince its falsity They do decree that in the next solemn procession as also annually in the Assembly for the procession general immediatly after opening the Schools in the month of October this censure shall publickly be read by the Proctor of the University the first business nothing to intervene and recorded in the Registers of each Faculty and Nation and that two Copies hereof written and signed by the hand of the Clerk of the sacred F-culty of Theologie shall be kept in the common Records of the University and the like number be sent as soon as may be to all Superiours of Colledges and Houses to the end all possible care and diligence be used to secure all those who frequent or reside in the said Colledges from the corruption and poyson of this pernicious doctrine and that they never give way that any person whatsoever presume to say or do any thing contrary to what has so wisely been determined and ordained by that sacred Faculty If any Doctor Professor Master of Arts or Scholler resist and disobey or go about in any sort by word or writing on any cause or pretence whatsoever to offer at the least attempt or make the least opposition against this so laudable and legal a censure let him for a note of infamy and ignominy be expelled and deprived of his degree faculty and rank by a sentence that may for ever cut off all hope of admittance Quintaine Scribe of the University The like Decrees and censures have been made and past on the same occasion and against the same doctrine that the Pope can punish Kings with temporal punishments depose or deprive them of their Kingdoms or Estates c. and have been publickly enacted by these other several Universities following as appears too out of the foresaid Collection of Divers Acts c. By the Vniversity of Caen assembled in the Convent of St. Francis 7. May 1626. By the Vniversity of Rheims the four Faculties being assembled in the Chappel of St. Patrice 18th May 1626. By the Vniversity of Tholouze the Rector and professors of all the Faculties being assembled in St. Thomas's School at the Dominicans 23. May 1626. By the Vniversity of Poitiers assembled at the Dominicans 26. June 1626. By the Vniversity of Valence assembled in the great Hall 14. July 1626. By the Vniversity of Burdeaux assembled at the Carms 16. July 1626. By the Vniversity of Bourges all the Deans and Doctâ—rs-Regent of all the Faculties assembled by the Rector 25. November 1626. By all which the said doctrine was condemned as false erroneous contrary to the word of God pernicious seditious and detestable And so I conclude this my third Treatise or my considerations of the foresaid three Sorbon-propositions as applied by the Congregation to our own gracious King and themselves or Catholick Clergy and people of Ireland Or which is the same thing my considerations of what the said three single Propositions do signifie as from them and as to any further or clearer assurance of their fidelity hereafter to the King or Government in the cases controverted than that was they had before signified by the former paper of their Remonstrance alone without any such additional propositions Now to their third or last paper I mean that of their reasons given to my Lord Lieutenant why they would not subscribe the other three or the three last of those six of Sorbon applyed mutatis mutandis to our King and them selves THE FOURTH TREATISE CONTAINING Answers To the reasons presented in writing to His Grace the Twentieth of June 1666. by Father John Bourk Vicar General of Cashil and Father Cornelius Fogarty D. V. I. in behalf of and by Commission from the Congregation The title of the said writing or reasons being The reasons why we the Roman Catholick Clergie signed not the other three propositions But no hand or Subscription either of Secretary Speaker or any other not even of those very Commissioners that delivered it unto the Paper BEcause that writing is somewhat long and I have already given it intirely and consequently word by word in my first Treatise or Narrative where the Reader may turn to it I will onely take it here by pieces as I have in my second Treatise their Remonstrance And having little to say to the title nor else but what I hope will appear in the procedure and conclusion of these answers which is that I might as justly prefix to this Treatise of mine as a Gentleman in England since the Kings Restoration did to a piece of his own this other title The Jesuits reasons unreasonable and that Father N. N. of the Society can tell his Clients the misterie of such prefixion or application as who hath been as well the chief contriver of those reasons as he was next the Chairman the grand obstructer of the Subscriptions unto I mean the three last propositions I observed their said writing consists of five Paragraphs Whereof the first though short enough truly yet comprehends in general their reasons The following other four are only to prove by induction and by special instance of their rejected propositions and consideration of them what is said so in general is that first Paragraph Which Paragraph therefore they begin and conclude in those words Because we conceive them not any way appertaining to the points controverted And though we did we thought we had already Sufficiently cleared all scruples either by our former Remonstrance seperatly or jointly with the first three propositions we had already subscribed But to make us believe or conceive these reasons as reasonable they give first
but in the margent of their Paper the three Propositions or those not inserted as they speak and give them truely word by word for what concerns the sense as they are in the French or Latin original and as applied by the Sorbone Faculty to themselves and French Monarch and as you have them here Fourth Proposition That the same faculty doth not approve nor ever did any propositions contrary to the French Kings authority or true liberties of the Gallican Church and Canons received in the same Kingdom for example that the Pope can depose Bishops against the said Canons Fifth Proposition That it is not the doctrine of the faculty that the Pope is above the general Council Sixth Proposition That it is not the doctrine or dogme of the faculty that the Pope without the consent of the Church is infallible After giving so these Propositions in the margent they proceed to a special observation of each and to shew either the impertinency or unsignificancy of such to their present purpose that is to any further assurance to our Gracious King of their fidelitie hereafter in the suspected contingencies or cases than hath been already given by them in the former three Propositions and in their Remonstrance taken at least joyntly together In truth were it so were those two general reasons true as they alleage them or were the proofs they give such as might be allowed for even but probable but yet withal to purpose I would my self before any if not approve yet at least not disprove a modest and rational excuse and save my self to boot some study and some paines But finding those general reasons and further specifical proofes and applications of them to be meer pretences only without either truth or colour of such to the purpose I found it an obligation on me to undeceive as farr as I can all such as are willing to be undeceived or not to be cheated by appearances and impostures And to this further end only that the peevish ill advised resolution and obstinacy of those leading men of the Roman Catholick Irish Clergie if any other such occasion be ever offered at any time hereafter as that was they had of late may no more pretend to impose on others on the account of such unreasonable reasons Wherefore now to come up close and joyn issue with them they must give me leave to tell here that when my Lord Lieutenant demanded in effect by his message sent in writing by Richard Beling Esq their Subscriptions to the three last as to the three former of Sorbone their own Procurator Father Peter Walsh gave them in their publick assembly and in his Speech then and there on the Subject both cleer and evident reasons at large for the pertinencie in our case or as to the points controverted of their Subscriptions to those three last And such cleer and evident reasons too as manifestly evict this further truth that neither Remonstrance nor former three Propositions could signifie any thing at all to the King of an assurance of their fidelitie hereafter if they decline as the case then stood the Subscription of those other three Propositions The sum of which reasons given so by me though not joyntly all together but separatly as occasion shall require I mean to give the Reader that I may not seem to obtrude my bare word on him for proof as I answer their following Paragraphs and particular distinct observations therein of each of the said three last Propositions or which is the same thing where I refute hereafter their specifical proofes of those two general pretences So that in this place I have only first to except in general against such general allegations of theirs Secondly to taxe the penman with unsincerity in wording those pretences against his own knowledge and conscience He knew very well that both himself and generalitie of the Congregation understood these three last Propositions to be many ways appertaining and very material also to the points controverted And no less understood that they had not already cleared sufficiently all scruples either by their former Remonstrance separatly or joyntly with those three first Propositions they had before subscribed And yet he would penn those his own and the said Congregations two general answers in these words Because we conceive them not any way appertaining to the points controverted And though we did we thought we had already sufficiently cleared c. Thirdly to mind the Reader that in my two former tracts I have proved evidently and at large that the Congregation neither had already cleared all Scruples nor thought they had so either by their former Remonstrance separatly or joyntly with the three first Propositions they had already subscribed And consequently that their second general reason or pretence being so already and more than abundantly refuted what must be moreover expected from me now is That without any further taking notice of or reflexion on that unsincerity of the pen-man I no less evidently refute his or their specifical proofes of the above first general reason or allegation whether he or they conceive it to be true or false though I will not altogether so confine my self as not to be at liberty where I find cause given by them in their prosecution to shew by other particular Instances different from those I have before given but as the Subject now in hand shall require that even their second general reason or allegation must be also false whether he or they conceived it to be so or no. But for the more ample satisfaction and lesser trouble of the Reader as I have purposed I repeat here in their own words their first specifical proof which takes up intirely the second paragraph of their Paper And as to the fourth they mean the 4th French Proposition above given We looked upon it as not material in our debate For either we should sign it as it was conceived in the French original copie and we thought it impertinent to talke of the French Kings authority the Gallican privileges and Canons from whence they derive their Immunities c. or that we should have inserted them mutatis nominibus the names being onely changed and then we conceived not what more we might have said than had been touched already positively in the Remonstrance neither do we admit any power derogatory to His Majesties authority rights c. yea more positively than doth the French proposition as may appear To pass by now their expression That they looked upon it c. or not to inquire whether it be true or false that they did verily so look upon that French Proposition as not material I consider the matter or proof in it self abstracting from their looke That fourth Proposition as by Sorbone applied to themselves and French King is in these words That the same Faculty doth not approve or ever did any propositions contrary unto the French Kings authority or true liberties of the Gallican Church and Canons
received in the same Kingdom for example that the Pope can depose Bishops against the same Canons But as applicable to the Roman Catholick Congregation Clergie of Ireland and in pursuance of the manner the said Congregation expressed themselves in the three former Propositions signed by them should be in these other or like words That we do not approve nor ever shall any Propositions contrary to our Gracious Kings authority or true liberties of the Irish Church and Canons received in the same Kingdom for example that the Pope can depose Bishops against the same Canons This being the first of the three Propositions against the Subscription of which the Congregation gave in the first place and in their first Paragraph those two general reasons and being that to which in the next place or in their second Paragraph they have specifically applied those self same general reasons by the above dilemma who sees not but that with the first horn of this horned argument they push at shaddowes only or dreams for certainly it cannot be said by them that any man ever yet desired or intended their subscribing that Proposition as it lyes in terminis in the French or Latin original or as applied to or presented by Sorbon to the French King To what purpose then this first branch or indeed their whole dilemma as such if not to push at shaddowes or dreams to no other verily but to wast ink paper and time and make the vanity of a Sophister that composed it appear to the life All said therefore to any kind of purpose which yet is not much at all as shall be seen presently or with any kind of truth in this argument or in the assumption or conclusion of it or indeed in the whole Paragraph is comprised in the second part of the disjunctive antecedent where they deliver it thus or that we should have inserted them mutatis nominibus the names being onely changed By which names to be changed must be understood the words Faculty French King and Gallican Church Now marke the Sophistry for I take no notice of their incongruity of Speech of that or them or being only changed As by the former branch of the disjunctive and their animadversions on it they conclude against an imaginary Antagonist for they knew none else and were certain there was none or as they shew thereby or in that case and false imaginary supposition their first general reason excused their non-subscription to this 4th of Sorbone in the very tearms of that Faculty without any change or as they prove that proposition as such or in such tearms did not any way appertain unto the points controverted with them or with assuring sufficiently their own King of their own Allegiance in all matters so by the second branch of their said dilemma and what follows they would seem to conclude against a real opposer the sufficiency of their second general reason to excuse likewise their non-subscription to the self same fourth proposition applied as it should be mutatis nominibus the names being only changed as they speake So that as by the first branch they conclude an impertinency though only against an imaginary opposer even so by the second they would seem to evict a superfluitie against a real one And no man will press them in reason to an address or declaration or any kind of Subscription that is either impertinent or superfluous Behold the whole stress of their horned argument But I have said enough to their conclusion of impertinency And therefore now only to that other of superfluity And first that although I understand not wherefore they would rather break than bend to his Majestie 's or the Lord Lieutenants pleasure in subscribing even an impertinent or superfluous proposition if no other exception could be made as it seems they could not make any yet I will grant them freely that they should not subscribe any such either impertinent or superfluous proposition not even out of any kind of earthly respect for fear or favour But what then have they yet shewen against a real adversary the said fourth proposition applied as it should in our case mutatis nominibus to be such Themselves pretend not in such cases and so applied to make it seem impertinent Their only pretence as their whole strength is to make it when so applied to appear superfluous But how do they prove this pretence or this proposition to be superfluous in this case First indeed they tell us that in case the fourth proposition were so applied they conceive not what more they might have said by subscribing it than had been toucht already positively by them in their Remonstrance But this is idem per idem or petitio principii Next they add That they admit not any power derogatory to his Majesties Authority Rights c. Lastly they say if I understand their mind aright for the words are ill enough coucht for any good construction That they have more positively expressed themselves before in relation to the Kings Authority and Rights than is done by this French Proposition I confess here are in some semblance two sorts of new mediums for proving their purpose But the answers to all and each are obvious clear and evident And first to their first where they say That they conceive not what more they might have said than hath been toucht already positively in their Remonstrance it is answered that judicious men will hardly believe them That if any will be so credulous yet he will or can withal assure nay evidence unto them they might notwithstanding on better consideration have truly and certainly conceived the contrary That their Remonstrance and three former Propositions have been already proved in the two precedent tracts so vnsignificant as they needed very much to be added to them That allowing even the very best meaning which the very Congregation or the most sincere or most cunning of them can give the words of either of the said instruments or both together yet it is plain and manifest that they could and ought to have said more if they would have the King fully that is rationally satisfied or assured of their Allegiance in all suspected contingencies That even in that very best meaning both their Remonstrance and former Propositions dwelled in generals but this fourth came to very specifical and particular cases That we may very well conceive and acknowledge an undeprivable undeposable undispensable authority in the King even in those most extraordinary cases of Schisme Heresie Apostacy Tyranny c. and such an authority too and in such cases or any other whatsoever imaginable as is not de facto or de jure subject or accountable even to that extraordinary divine power pretended to be in the Pope at least in such extraordinary cases and at least also in him by way of declaration that I say we may very well conceive and acknowledge such an authority in the King or to govern as King and yet
vary about the many particulars to which his Royal Authority could extend it self and out of error attribute some such particulars to the Pope That besides notwithstanding our being right in our judgment or doctrine of the Kings supream power in Temporals and his independency in all kind of cases from any but God alone as to his said Temporals we might erre about the Temporals themselves and think many of them spirituals that are not such at all and consequently out of that error deny the Kings Authority where we should not That of this kind are all benefices Ecclesiastical as to the Lands and Revenues and all other earthly Goods any way belonging to the Church Nay and of this kind too the very bodies of ecclesiastical Persons how spiritual soever by denomination That we might also and out of errour notwithstanding our attributing sincerely the supream independent power to the King in all Temporals think or teach peradventure against the native liberties of the Irish Church such an unlimitted spiritual power in the Pope over the spiritual things or spiritual persons in this Kingdom as might be not only against the ancient spiritual Canons received in the said kingdom but against equity and reason and Religion too and very enormously also though indirectly or by consequence only but that an infallible one against the King and Kingdom even in their Temporals purely such As for example a power of election to all kind of benefices even Episcopal and Archiepiscopal Sees as well as Parochial Churches and to all these as well as those And a power of translation at his pleasure And a hundred others which may be read at large in Monsieur Pierre Pithou's great and most accurat work intituled Les Liberties de l'Eglise Gallicane and more briefly in Father Redmond Carons second Appendix to his Remonstrantia Hibernorum that last and most learned work of his and all without the Kings consent nay contrary to his express will and the fundamental Laws of the Land That it was therefore the Sorbon-Faculty who are men understand very well what is superfluous and what not and whether the matter of this fourth Proposition contained or not any thing different from the three former or from any other consisting of a general acknowledgment of their Kings most absolute independent Supremacy in Temporals it was I say therefore they would give immediatly after the three former this fourth as specifically declaring against those injuries might be otherwise done by the Pope to their Church Kingdom or King under pretence of such a spiritual power and right only which could not be said to be of its own nature either ordinarily or extraordinarily inconsistent with the supream absolute and independent power of their King in all contingencies whatsoever and yet per se would be unquestionably most injurious and grievous to them and per accidens might prove their utter bane and even as fatal to them as Bellarmine's indirect power in temporals which they protested against in their first proposition That Finally an ordinary person may understand it is one thing and much less to declare our indispensable Allegiance to the King and his independent power in all temporals and an other and much more to declare we understand that Allegiance so as we ought to hold it an incroachment on the Kings said temporal rights and authority and on the both temporal and spiritual rights also of his Catholick Subjects that the Pope should attempt in many or any particular within his Kingdoms to dispose for example sake of goods or persons though by title otherwise Ecclesiastical or Spiritual against the Canons by them received or which is the example of Sorbone to depose a Bishop within his Dominions against the said Canons And therefore it must be clear that by Subscribing the said fourth proposition duely applied mutatis nominibus the Congregation might very well and truly and rightly too have conceived they had said more than they had already or before by subscribing the former three Propositions and Remonstrance even in case I say their said Remonstrance and three Propositions had a full cleer and sufficient expression as from them to obviat all reservations abstractions distinctions equivocations c much more when it is apparent out of my two former Tracts there is no expression at all sufficient as from them to obviat such delusions So much for their first allegation or proof Though as I have before noted if it be intended a proof of the applicableness of their first general reason to the particular of this fourth Proposition it be no new medium but idem per idem and a petitio principij To their second which is that they admit not any power derogatory to His Majesties authority the answers are That I could wish 't were so indeed That they have given as yet no sufficient proof they do not if we understand what they here say as plain honest sincere men would understand these words That understanding by His Majestie 's authority what they do indeed which in effect is a very pittiful authority an authority at best and at most subordinat to that of the Pope Church and People when either please to declare against it in any of those extraordinary cases of Schisme Heresie Apostacie Tiranny c. and an authority also which even out of such cases hath no power to hinder the Pope's absolute disposition of all Ecclesiastical benefices and persons at his pleasure understanding I say this kind of authority their medium is new indeed but vain and inconclusive For how doth it follow we admit no power derogatory to such His Majesties authority Therefore we have already by saying so attributed to our Gracious King whatever the Sorbone Doctors in truth and reallity have to their own in this fourth proposition Or therefore we shall never approve any propositions contrary to His Majesties authority meaning such as it is indeed not such as by fiction curtayled nor approve any propositions contrary to the genuine liberties of the Irish Church and Canons received in the same Kingdom as for example that the Pope can depose Bishops against the same Canons Or therefore our second general reason for not subscribing the three last Propositions is specifically applicable to the first of them being in order the fourth of the six Which reason was that we thought we had already sufficiently cleared all Scruples If any of these consequences follow then hath Aristotle failed much in his Topicks As for their third allegation to prove this applicableness and consequently their subscription to this fourth to be not necessary but Superfluous which allegation is in effect as I understand it that they had already more positively declared themselves for the Kings authority rights c. and they should add too or at least mean if they would alledge any thing here to purpose that they had so declared themselves also for the true or genuin liberties of the Irish Church and Canons received in
all ignorance malice and other preoccupation whatsoever nay and from their subscription too the Fathers will find it a very hard taske to shew I say not impertinency for this I am sure they can not after what is said before with any colour insist on any longer but any such danger in the consequence of this Proposition It is not our doctrine that the Pope is above a general Council or of this simply The Pope is not above a general Council or of this other as simple which yet is the same in effect A general Council is above the Pope That such Divines of either Greek or Latin Church either Catholick or not as affirm the Papacie or Papal authority as such or as allowed either by those Canons which in opposition to others or by way of excellency are commonly stiled Canones Vniversalis Ecclesiae or as approved even by those other Canons which are properly and onely Papal Canons and are those of the Western-Church whether all or how many of them received generally in the Western-Church or not it matters not at this time that such Divines I say of either Church Greek or Latin as affirm this Papal authority over all other Churches in the world to be onely at the utmost and immediatly such by ecclesiastical and human institution of the Church not by any of Christ otherwise then by his approbation and ratification above in Heaven of what the Church long after his Ascension had here on earth ordained will find no kind of difficulty to shew the inconsequence of the Parliament's being above the King if a general Council be above the Pope First Because the power of a general Council truely such representing the Catholick diffusive Church is by all sides confessed to be originally and immediatly de jure divino or by the immediat institution of Iesus Christ himself whether in that passage of the Gospel dic Ecclesiae or in some other Secondly Because this power is unalterable undiminishable unsubjectable even by the Council it self to any other without a new revealed command from God himself which hath not been hitherto And therefore and out of that very passage of Mathew Dic Ecclesiae must be above the Pope being the Pope can not deny himself to be one of the faithful brethren and being all faithful brethren without exception of any are commanded by Christ himself in that passage of Mathew to be under pain of Excommunication obedient to the sentence of the Church in case they be accused or charged with any guilt before it Thirdly Because on the other side the power of Parliaments is by them not onely denied to be originally or immediatly either jure divino or humano over all persons whatsoever of the respective hereditary Kingdoms if we include the Prince amongst such persons but as such denied also to have been as much as in after times introduced by any allowance or Custom approved either by God or man Prince or people themselves Fourthly Because the very same divines assert constantly the power of supream or soveraign temporal Princes or Kings at least hereditary such as our King is and of which consequently the present dispute is to be jure divino or to be given them from God himself immediatly not from or by the people Or if these divines or any of them allow it has been originally and immediatly from the people at first even as from an efficient cause yet withal maintain that the people also did originally and immediatly so transferr the whole supream power from themselves even in all contingencies whatsoever that it must be ever after irrevocable by them Alleaging for proof that the Scriptures are so clear for the Subjection and obedience of the people even to had tyrannical Kings and not for fear alone but for conscience And further alleaging that there is no tribunal of the people and consequently there is no Parliament appointed by the law of God as neither by the laws of man or nature not even in the most extraordinary cases against their Prince or against any other offending besides that erected by the Princes power Whereunto certainly he never subjects himself so as to give the people or Parliament a supream power above his ownself or a power of superiority or jurisdiction over himself and coercion of himself though he some times bind himself and limit in some cases his own power but by his own power and will alone not by any inherent in the people And who sees not in this doctrine the great and cleer and evident inconsequence of this argument The Pope is not above a general Council Therefore the King is 〈◊〉 above his Parliament Or therefore whoever subscribes that antecedent gives an overture to those late horrid disputes Would not these divines rationally say upon their own grounds this were not to argue à simili but à dissimili Would not they tell you presently what the six hundred Catholick Bishops convened in the 4th general Council that of Calcedon I mean declared in their 27th Canon albeit some great and even holy Bishops of Rome complained of it grieviously that it was the Fathers that gave the priviledges to the Bishop of ancient Rome and that it was therefore they gave such priviledges to him because ancient Rome was then the Seat of the Empire That by consequence the Papacie and power thereof as such must be acknowledged to be as instituted by the Church onely at first so till the last to be dependent subordinate and under the power of the same Church because this power of the Church is for ever unchangeable while the world continues as having been given to it by Christ himself when upon earth And therefore the Pope cannot be above but under a general Council being it is either of all sides confessed the whole power of the Church is in a general Council truely such of it must be so at least in their grounds whether any els confess or oppose it And would not they further tell you the case is quite contrary in that of King and Parliament That first there is no such thing by divine immediate institution or by that of Christ or God immediatly as a Parliament or a power thereof That neither by the mediat institution of God that is by the laws of man there is any such thing or power at least in hereditary Kingdoms which may stand in opposition to the power of Kings Nor any at all in or without such opposition but what they derive originally immediatly and solely from the pleasure of Kings at least and as I mean still in hereditary Kingdoms That secondly or in the next place the power of Kings at least hereditary Soveraign and Supream is immediatly originally and onely from God himself Or if at first any way from the people yet so from them that after their institution translation and submission hoc ipso they must be so absolute and independent that they do not acknowledge nor any way have
great Archbishop Primate Patriarch and least of all in or to the chief of Patriarchs to decide define censure and condemn in his own Diocess and in his own Diocesan Synod or when he shall see cause even without any such Synod certain propositions of Heresie provided he carry himself warily circumspectly have sufficient knowledge of or in the divine Scriptures Traditions Canons or Faith of the universal Church concerning the points controverted That notwithstanding the Catholick Church or Doctors thereof require submission and obedience at least externally even to such decisions and from all kind of persons respectively subject to the direction of such Deciders and require that submission and obedience universally where ever and whensoever the decision appears not or until it appear by sufficient and clear evidence to be in it self indeed against the faith received or at least to be very much doubted of by the rest of the faithful or by a considerable party of the learned and pious yet not only in the opinion of Jansenists but even of most of the most Orthodox Anti-Jansenists the same Catholick Church hath never yet attributed infallibility to any such decision as barely purely and only such but on the contrary held it alwayes as such to be fallible That in the same opinion likewise and as well of most of the severest Anti-Jansenist's as of the very most rigid Jansenist's when the Propositions defined so are in themselves infallibly true and of divine Catholick belief they must not therefore nor are by the Catholick Church required to be by the faithful believed to be such that is infallibly true ratione formae or by reason onely or at all of any such decision definition censure or condemnation or of any how formal soever so made as above even by the Pope himself and even with an especial Congregation of Doctors or Divines and Prelats but ratione materiae by reason of the matter onely whereon such decision falls Although to the vulgar and ignorant such particular decision onely may and ought to be a sufficient motive of even the most internal submission of their Soules as long as they hear no publick contradiction of the points by any of the rest of the Churches or pious and learned Doctors which are within the pale of the Catholick Church That as it is confessed notwithstanding that there are some other Divines of the Catholick communion who in those later and worser ages of the Church attribute infallibility to such decisions made by Popes onely without any further consent or concurrence of the Catholick Church by a general Council or otherwise than by such few Divines or Canonists as the Pope is pleased to consult with nay or otherwise too than by his own onely judgment declared to all Christians by a Brief Bull or Decretal Epistle though even against the judgment of all other Divines Canonists Prelats even those of his own particular Diocess Church or City of Rome for they place all his infallibility nay that of the whole Church in his own judgment alone declared by him as Pope or ex Cathedra that is in their explication of Cathedra declared by him to all the faithful in a Brief Bull or Decretal Epistle authoritate Petri et Pauli Apostolorum or commanded by him under pain of Excommunication or anathema or forfeiture of Salvation to be followed as the faith delivered once by the Apostles of Christ so most of this way or this opinion have been long before there was any Iansenist in the world before Iansenius himself had ever put penn to paper nay before he was born Though it be confessed withal it took strongest footing in many Schools since Bellarmine undertook the patronage of it but this too was before Iansenius's time That therefore the question in it self and even as well in relation to the Parisians or Sorbonists as to us here in Ireland and certainly of us there can be no kind of dispute abstracts wholy from all kind of Iansenisme as it is also well known the former or that of the Pope's authority over or subjection to a general Council does That whether the Sorbonist's or any of them in subscribing the 6th Proposition took occasion in part from that Bull of Alexander the 7th wherein he declares the five condemned Propositions to be in Iansenius or further took any from that Blasphemous thesis of Cleremont asserting the same infallibily to the Popes declaration even in matter of fact which Christ our Saviour had when upon earth or whether they took from neither any such occasion as indeed they might and should very justly from that of Cleremont and therefore likely have it is manifest enough that the Sorbonist's who subscribed this 6th Proposition or declaration against the doctrine of the Popes infallibility are no Iansenist's as being men that are all known to have subscribed the condemnation of the five Propositions of Iansenius and men too that most of them have been earnest all along against his doctrine and against the Patrons of it how ever some time of their own Faculty but not at all long before the date of these six Propositions That besides considering the State of the Kingdom of France and affairs of their King in the month and 8th of May 1663. when the Sorbonist's made these declarations and His being at defiance with the Pope at that very time and considering also that the four first import directly and onely for the matter what concerned their said Kings security against all such future pretensions or attempts of Popes as those were of Boniface the 8th or Iulius the second and considering besides that the whole Vniversitie of Paris not Sorbone onely went altogether with the Arch-Bishop of that See heading them to present the same declarations to their King and that his French Majesty took such special care to publish them in Print throughout his Kingdom with his own declarative commands prefixed to them and moreover considering that the former five without the 6th could not be sufficient in point of doctrine to secure him of his Catholick Subjects against the Pope and further yet considering that the said French King himself was constantly and is so farr from being a Iansenist that he hath always been and was at that very time as he is now at this present a great persecuter of them and finally considering that all the Bishops of France with all its Vniversities and for the matter the whole Gallican Church concurred with those three Popes in the condemnation of that which is reputed Iansenisme I mean the five Propositions commonly said to be found in Iansenius I say that considering well and joyning all together it may be easily and rationally concluded that amongst other motives as that of Cleremont concerning the Popes infallibility in matter of Fact equal to Christs and as that of Sorbone's wiping of the imputation of the same doctrine also of the Popes infallibility in general according to Bellarmines way so lately
Priest treat of or debate any question or subscribe any Proposition or declaration against his conscience and Religion nor on the other side ought or could any person at least such as are commanded by God and whose commission and function it is from the holy Jesus and holy Spirit to preach and teach purely the Gospel of Christian Religion and oppose by all just means any kind of innovation in the rule of Catholick and saving faith ought or could any such I say through fear of loosing those temporal profits of the whole earth had he them in actual possession omit to treat or debate or declare or subscribe a Proposition sound in it self and necessary withal in circumstances even as relating to such treatie debate declaration or subscription to oppose such innovation That such is this question and such the 6th declaration or proposition being a negative resolve of it against the Popes infallibility without the consent of the Church For were not the said resolve Catholick or sound in Catholick Religion even in the judgment of Father N. N. and of the Congregation they should have cleerly said so and were bound by their calling and on pain of everlasting damnation to have answered so for the discharge of their duty to God and their flocks Neither should any fear or favor have hindered their answering so For what will it availe a man to gaine the whole world and suffer the detriment of his Soul was the question of our Lord. And again in on other place do not fear those that kill the body onely but fear him that hath power to cast both body and Soul into everlasting fire was the same Heavenly Masters advise and command unto his Disciples And that the question it self of the Popes infallibility without a Council as that of the Councils without or against the Pope when he will not conform to them and the resolve of it on one side or other for or against the Pope is so necessary where the question is debated publickly and seriously for a resolve there is no man of judgement can deny Because thereon depends the whole certainty of what we are to believe or what we are to hope for as a necessary mean to Salvation It being manifest that Popes often have declared and commanded us many things to believe and may hereafter yet much more which the Church never did consent unto nay which many Catholick Churches in Europe have already and often too both contradicted and condemned But if the Pope or his determination be the infallible rule of faith then must all such people or Churches be in a damnable condition as opposing that rule and beleiving an error That hence it appears sufficiently and evidently this question or treatie of it is not onely not unprofitable but the most profitable can be seeing it regards directly the greatest profit imaginable that of the Salvation of Souls by the necessary rule or means of saving faith That further the profittableness of the negative resolve against the Popes infallibility if that resolve be Catholick in it self as neither Father N. N. nor Congregation denyes but grants it to be doth hence appear that such resolve alone removes the grand obstacle of reunion and reconciliation of such a world of particular Churches that profess Christ and by consequence of their Salvation by restoring them to the vnity of rhe Catholick Church wherein alone as in the Ark Noah Salvation is to be had For the grand remora is that by reason of that challenge of the Pope or rather of others for him of an absolute infallibility in himself they think they cannot expect his communion without being lyable to impositions on them in matters of faith at his pleasure and such impositions too as very many most learned and pious Catholicks themselves in all countries will not cannot submit unto but must therefore abide such vexation often as no less often makes their Communion with the Roman See and Pontiff cumbersome and loathsome and a yoake of that great absolute and intollerable subjection which neither themselves or Fathers before them could bear with Christian patience That if the reduction of so many millions of straying sheep into the fold and the consequent Salvation of their Souls or the preservation of those are in it already appear not sufficient arguments of profitableness to Father N.N. and the Congregation in the debate and resolve of this question if that which brings along with it per se and of its own nature the greatest Spiritual profit can be the gaine of Soules and eternal Salvation in the other life be not ranked hereby him or them in the number of things profitable but comprehended as onely such and understood by his and their unprofitable question which yet I believe F. N. N. or the Congregation will hardly own and if they will have us understand here that which as to the conveniencies of this world and life is unprofitable let it be so and then too let all prudent men judge whether people of their Condition Country and Religion should not esteem and confess that question and resolve of it in the present circumstances to be indeed not onely not unprofitable in any respect but certainly and without contradiction very profitable as being the most useful they could fix upon before together with or next after a sufficient Oath of Allegiance to remove the great jealousy hath been justly harboured as of the Roman Catholick Clergie of Ireland and their predecessors this entire last centurie of years ever since at least Queen Mary's Reign so and farr yet more of the present Clergie ever since the 23th of October 1641. and most of all since the Waterford Congregation in 46. and James-town Council in 48. and of their too too great dependency of the Court of Rome and too too great credulitie in or belief of and submission to any decree or command or even to an ordinary letter proceeding thence though onely from one of the Ministers and also though to the direct and absolute ruine of the King and of his Kingdoms and people together And let all prudent men judge whether being that Congregation was held by the Fathers and their Remonstrance and three first Propositions of Sorbone were subscribed by them and presented of purpose or at least under pretence to remove those jealousies and thereby obtain for themselves and rest of the Clergie and to the lay people too directed by them some peace and some ease and some indulgence and comfort either by an absolute revocation of the penal Laws against their Religion or by a mitigation or suspension of such Laws and that the Fathers thought or undoubtedly should think any thing in it self otherwise Catholick or honest and just that should be in the then present circumstances useful to that end to be also profitable in this world or life because helping on that end or that relaxation or suspension of the Laws which questionless they esteem profitable even
of so many former abroad in other parts of Europe since Gregory the 7th so manifest in History force not a confession of all this from F. N. N or if the very nature of the positions in themselves and the judgment of all judicious and ingenuous men of the world prevail not with him to confess that a general decision and resolve of the Roman Catholick Clergy in Ireland as well against the Popes pretence of infallibility as against his other of a power for deposing the King and raising at pleasure his Subjects in rebellion and against both absolutely and positively be not one of the most rational wayes to hinder the disturbance of King and Countrey as from such Clergie-men and others of their Communion and Nation and if the denyal of such decision and resolve against either pretence especially against this of infallibility since it is plain that if the Pope be admitted infallible his deposing power must necessarily and instantly follow because already and manifoldly declared by several Popes if I say this denyal convince not the denyers and such denyers as the said Congregation in this Country and Conjuncture of a design or desire or pleasure or contentedness to leave still the roots or seeds of new disturbances of both King and Countrey in the hearts of their beleevers and if I say also F. N. N. himself will not upon more serious reflection acknowledge all this to be true and â—â—ident I am sure all other judicious and knowing men even such as are â—iâ—interested wholy in the quarrel and not his partisans will That finally what I have to say is That whosoever is designed by him to be per stringed in or by this last pretence of furthering this dispute to the disturbance of both King and country may answer F. N. N. what the Prophet Elias did Achab on the like occasion Non ego turbavi Israel sic 〈◊〉 demâ—â— Patris tui 3 Reg. 18.18 qui â—ereliquistis mandata Domini secuti estis Bealim And 〈◊〉 that nâ—â— such person alone who ever chiefly perhaps intended nor his few other associates only perstringed likewise by F. N. N. and congregation in this perclose of their Paper but the poor afflicted Church of Ireland generally as it compriseth all beleevers of both sorts and sexes Ecclesiastical and Lay-persons of the Roman Communion nay but the Catholick Church of Christ universally throughout the world hath cause enough already and will I fear have much more yet to say as well to him and the Congregation as to all such other preposterous defenders of her interests what Iacob said to Simeon and Levi Gen. 34.30 upon the sack of Sichem Turbastis me â—diosum fecistis me Chananaeis Pherezaeis habitatoribus terrae hujus And more I have not to say here on this subject of infallibility But leave the Reader that expects more on that question or this dispute in it self directly and as it abstracts from the present indirect consideration to turn over to the last Treatise of this Book Where he shall find more at large and directly to that purpose what I held not so proper for this place Though I confess it was the paper of those unreasonable reasons the answers to which I now conclude here that gave me the first occasion to add that sixth and last piece as upon the same occasion I have the fifth also immediately following this fourth Only I must add by way of good advice to F. N. N That if he or the Congregation or both or any for them will reply to these answers or to what I have before said in my second or third Treatise on their Remonstrance and three first Propositions or even in my first though a bare Narrative only and matter of notorious fact related and if they will have such reply to be home indeed it cannot be better so than by their signing the 15. following Propositions Which to that purpose I have my self drawn and had publickly debated for about a moneth together in another but more special Congregation of the most learned men of this Kingdom and their own Religion held even in that very house where the former sate and immediatly after they were dissolved The Fourteen PROPOSITIONS of F. P. W. Or the doctrine of Allegiance which the Roman Catholick Clergie of Ireland may with a safe Conscience and at this time ought in prudence to subscribe unanimously and freely as that onely which can secure His Majestie of them as much as hand or subscription can and that onely too which may answer the grand objection of the inconsistency of Catholick Religion and by consequence of the toleration of it with the safety of a Protestant Prince or State 1. Prop. HIS Majestie CHARLES the Second King of England is true and lawful King Supream Lord and rightful Soveraign of this Realm of Ireland and of all other His Majesties Dominions and all the Subjects or people as well Ecclesiastick as Lay of His Majesties said Kingdoms or Dominions are obliged under pain of sin to obey His Majestie in all Civil and Temporal affairs 2. His said Majestie hath none but God alone for Superiour or who hath any power over him Divine or Human Spiritual or Temporal Direct or indirect ordinary or extraordinary de facto or de jure in his temporal rights throughout all or any of his Kingdoms of England Ireland Scotland and other Dominions annexed to the Crown of England 3. Neither the Pope hath nor other Bishops of the Church joyntly or severally have any right or power or authority that is warrantable by the Catholick Faith or Church not even in case of Schisme Heresie or other Apostacy nor even in that of any private or publick oppression whatsoever to deprive depose or dethrone His said Majestie or to raise his Subjects whatsoever of His Majesties foresaid Kingdoms or Dominions in Warr Rebellion or Sedition against him or to dispense with them in or absolve them from the tye of their sworn Allegiance or from that of their otherwise natural or legal duty of obedient faithful Subjects to His Majestie whether they be sworn or not 4. Nor can any sentence of deprivation excommunication or other censure already given or hereafter to be given nor any kind of Declaration dispensation or even command whatsoever proceeding even from the Pope or other spiritual authority of the Church warrant His Subjects or any of them in conscience to rebel or to lessen any way His said Majesties said Supream Temporal and Royal rights in any of his said Kingdoms or Dominions or over any of his people 5. It is against the doctrine of the Apostles and practice of the primitive Church to pretend that there is a natural or inhere at right in the people themselves as Subjects or members of the civil common-wealth or of a civil Society to take arms against their Prince in their own vindication or by such means to redress their own either pretended or true grievances
Confederates fallen to such an ebb and sad condition our two most flourishing Armies defeated and brought to nothing our quarters over-run by four several Enemies burnt wasted and for no less than a third part of what was ours intirely even last year now made tributary our own Forces of the Vlster Army devouring what was left by the Common Enemy and in Hostile wise destroying all places which by others were untouch't and which before this Cruelty were able to and really did support the most considerable proportions of the charges of War our Exchequer hence both empty and altogether hopeless to get in monies from a Countrey so totally exhausted and so lamentably ruined our expectations of great Sums and helps from beyond Seas being turn'd to wind smoke and despair for any thing hath yet appeared or if some little quantity be come it being feared that it should be given for maintaining sides and supporting Factions against the Government as we have seen in effect proved no common Granaries for the Publick and but very small store of grain with any private persons in so great a dearth of Corn as Ireland hath not seen in our memory and so cruel a Famine which hath already killed Thousands of the poorer sort and therefore no possibility to keep an Army in the field though no other want had been but that of bread and if Enemies were as hitherto coming on us from the four Winds lastly so much dissention such distance and such malignant hatred 'twixt our selves within the body of the Confederates as the wiser sort did not without cause conceive to be too ominous and to weaken us no less than could the strongest Army of our Enemies an ebb so low and a condition so sad of the Confederates that according to humane hopes there was no likelihood without a Cessation with some one Party they might subsist this Summer either by a defensive War in all the Provinces or an offensive in one and a defensive in the rest Yet by the Cessation they might be so enabled that according to much probability Religion might be planted this season where Heresie is most insolent and powerful of any place in the Kingdom For if that Party of the Confederates which now opposeth the Cessation were obedient and together with the Forces of the Marquess of Clanrickard drawn by this Cessation from a Neuter to a Confederate or at least to a social War against His Majesties Enemies and of the Lords Taffe Preston and Inchiquin nay should Inchiquin stay at home and give no help but only forbear annoying us should we say the foresaid Lords and Forces march against the Scots and Dublin who sees not but by the help of this Cessation Faith and Religion might in many places be planted this Summer on the ruines of Heresie And hence it is That Thirdly it is clear The Cessation is so far from disadvantaging Religion as there could hardly be a better way thought of to further it Whence followeth That not only necessity which hath been now declared but also utility or great advantage gotten by it for the Cause doth warrant it since by the Articles Inchiquin himself with his victorious Army is bound to display these Colours for us which so many times we groaned to see against us More indeed than the nature of a Cessation draweth along with it and if it be taken together with the former benefit of the second and fifth Article and with the care had that the Lord of Inchiquin's Protestant Party should not enjoy the like benefit or liberty of either their Function or Religion in our quarters more it is plain to the honour and profit of our Faith than the greatest and most Catholick Kings and Emperours performed in the like occasions Certainly we know the King of Spain hath to pass over the present Peace so long expected and so much spoken of almost in our own memory concluded a Truce of Twelve years with the Hollanders (r) Auctarium Chron. ad annal Barronii ad an 1609. and yet no such liberty obtained for the Catholick Religion within their quarters Nay we know That the most powerful and most virtuous Charles the V. King of Spain and Emperour of Germany though his Kingdoms were so vast his Forces both at Sea and Land so great his Treasures so inexhaustible and himself so victorious yet to provide for the safety of his Estate rather than to hazard too much with the Hereticks of Germany (s) Idem ad an 1547. 1552. was contented to give them by express Article and Act of Parliament the free exercise of their Religion and Function even of that Religion which was presented by the Lutherans and is called Confessio Augustana throughout all Germany (t) Yet liberty of Religion is the very worst of evils most repugnant to and destructive of Catholick Faith and of all Civil Government and only out of meer necessity to be permitted Becan in Suâ— de fid Haer. ser c. 16. q. 4. con 2. 3. by vertue of which Act and of other such Acts made by his Successors the Lutherans and Catholicks on several hours use their Rites in the same Churches in many Towns of Germany c. even to this present day We know moreover That Matthias Caesar (u) Knolls in his Turk Hist in Achâ— Gospar Landorp in the year 1606. articled with the Protestant rebellious Hungarians That from thenceforth it should be lawful for every man throughout the Kingdom of Hungary to have the free use of his Religion and to believe what he would And in the year 1609. for to purchase his own peace and safety of his Empire gave free exercise of Religion and delivered the University of Prague to the rebellious Sectaries on the 12th of July and several Churches in Austria and Moravia to the Hereticks then in Arms (x) See at large in the Turkish History in Achmat fol. 1290. the pacification made with the Protestant States of Moravia and Austria and fol. 1295. the pacification made with the Bohemians on the 12th of March We know lastly That Henry the III. King of France was constrained through the dangers otherwise threatning his State to condescend to a worse Peace than any of these mentioned with the Huguenots at large set down in Surius (y) Surius ad an 1576. And that Henry the IV. seeing his Flour-de-lucis thrown into a Labyrinth of Troubles by the same Hereticks to provide for the good of his Kingdom by quietness confirmed unto them their liberty of Religion gave stipends to their Ministers out of the Publick Treasury and certain strong holds as a pledge for performance Yet no Censures issued against these Catholick Princes or Subjects for such Agreements no Declaration made by His Holiness or by the Clergy against them but Churches open to them alwayes and Sacraments administred Which questionless could not be if His Holiness if the Prelates of those Kingdoms if the Clergy and Universities did
no yet doubtless even the Lord Nuncio and Delegates will not deny but the causes expressed in the Appeal are probable or likely or such as if they can be proved to be true will be thought sufficient There is no man of judgment hath ever yet seen or will see the Appeal that can or will deny this And if so how could it be rejected in foro exteriori as unjust whereas it hath the conditions prescribed by the Doctors Canons and Glosses for a just Appeal the one to have been made in due time and the other to have expressed in it motives which may seem in facie Ecclesiae to be probable likely or such as being proved would be thought lawful For that of bona fides mentioned by some of the Divines is not required by them but only for securing the interiour Conscience of the Appellant and not for any thing might concern the exteriour Tribunal wherein judgment is not given of the interiour opinion or bona fides of the Appellant but of that which appears exteriourly as of the causes expressed in the Appeal c. which if secundum allegata probata they be found true the Judge ad quem to whom only it belongs will give sentence for the Appeal whether in the mean time the interiour opinion of the Appellant was a bona fides or no. For of the interiour God alone is Judge not the Church And this is the reason why the Canons and Glosses speaking of the reasonableness and justice of the causes which being expressed makes the Appeal just require only such motives as seem probable or true though in themselves they be not true or such as being proved to wit before the Judge ad quem would make the Appeal lawful and say nothing of the bona fides conceiving this to be impertinent and not belonging to the external Court of judgment which they do chiefly regard Yet because the bona fides of the Appellants may be sufficiently conjectured out of the probability likelihood or evidence of the motives expressed in the Appeal who can doubt that knows the state of Ireland and looks on our condition with an indifferent eye but the Council and Confederates had not only probable motives but even reasons in themselves and before the World most evidently just which necessitated them to make their address to His Holiness and throw themselves into His protection though for point of Conscience this was needless from the violent proceedings of the Lord Nuncio and his either Delegates or Sub-delegates as being for private ends opposite to the advancement of Religion and of the common Cause destructive of the Kingdom and illegally thwarting the Supreme Civil power of the Confederates by drawing the people in as much as in them lie to Sedition and Rebellion All which motives and many more your Honours expressed at large in your Appeal and their truth may be manifestly inferred out of our sad condition the great necessity the Countrey stood in of a Cessation and the no less utility might be derived from it for the Catholick Cause as your Honours of the Council declared in your said Appeal and we have shewed in our answer to the first Querie Unto which motives may yet be added according to the power for adding your Lordships reserved to your selves in your Appeal what is consequent out of them and out of other particulars expressed in the Appeal videlicet That your Honours and the rest of the Confederates were commanded on pain of Excommunication and Interdict not to adhere unto a Cessation concluded upon actually and from which neither you nor they could fall without omission of most vertuous acts Fidelity in performance of Promises Religion in sacred Oaths and Disobedience to Authority nor without commission of sinful acts unfaithfulness in Contracts Perjury in Oaths and disobedience to Authority From which likewise you could not fall without extremely endamaging and hazarding the Commonwealth by reason of the strength and multitude of enemies which that Cessation rejected would on all sides come upon us besides the judgments of God would hang over us for our perfidiousness (k) See both in Sacred and Prophane Histories the dreadful punishments that attended alwayes the breach of Publick Faith and Perfidiousness See in the 2d of Kings 2â— how Heaven pursued with vengeance the King and whole Kingdom of Israel for having broken Faith with the Gibeonites though no less than a Hundred years since the Covenant made with them Josh 9. yea and though in that Covenant the Gibeonites used subtlety and were by profession Infidels Were not the chosen people and Nation of God for this breach of Faith scourged with an universal Famine even in the dayes of holy King David propter Saul domum ejus sanguinum quia occidit Gabeonitas And notwithstanding so many Thousands starved to death by this Famine was the Divine wrath appeased until Seven of his Sons who brake the League were resigned over by King David to the pleasure of the offended Gibeonites and were Crucified alive by them upon a Mount before the face of God Et dedit eos in manus Gabaâ—nitorum qui cruc fierunt eos in monto coram Domino repropitiatus est Deus torrae post hac See in the 36 of Paralipâ—m the deplorable fate of the unfortunate King Sedecias and of his Kingdom for having contrary to promise made renounced his Allegiance broken League with and taken Arms against Nabuchadnezzaâ— the Monarch of Babylon A â—ege quoquo Nabuchadâ—â—sâ—â— recesserat qui adjuraverat eum per Deum Was not his Kingdom therefore utterly destroyed the holy City râ—zed the Temple of God burn'd the miserable King deprived of those eyes wherewith before he beheld the Covenant broken finally his Countrey planted with Aliens and both himself and the remainder of his people translated to Babylon for to lead the life of Slaves in a long Captivity of 70 years Yet Sedecias was drawn to this breach of Peace through causes no less specious than Nebuchadnezzar's Idolatry in Religion and Tyranny in his Government of the elect Nation of God See in Gregory Sceidius and in Knolls's Turkish History the formidable event of a Cessation or Ten years Truce broken formerly concluded 'twixt Vladislaus the Christian Catholick King of Hungary and Amwâ—ath the Turkish Monarch but broken by the Christian King soon after 't was published by the persuasions and overmuch importunity of part of the Clergy specially of Julian the Florentine Cardinal then Legate Apostolick in the Kingdom of Hungary who needs would dispense in the Oath interchangeably taken by Christians and Turks for observing the Cessation Alas how late came repentance when the poor Hurgâ—rians beheld their valiant and good Vladislaus slain before their faces in the Battel of Varra their Nobility slaughtered â—â—lian himself with oâ—her Authors of this misfortune all naked covered only with blood and yielding the ghost their Army ever before this faithless dealing victorious totally destroyed and
strong motives and moral certainties produced before in our Answer to the second Querie and which we may have to persuade us that the Supreme Council who are chiefly aimed at in this business had no such evil intentions Which together with all hitherto said being duly pondered by them who now seem so adverse to us in opinion but by them discharged a little of passion retyring into their Souls and looking with an eye of indifferency upon this difference we doubt not but they will acknowledge before God the truth of our Assertions and with how little reason but great hazard of eternal salvation they disobey the Commands of the Supreme Council on pretence of the present proceedings of the Lord Nuncio and we hope as we most heartily desire with all our Souls that they or at least such of them as have an affection to Loyalty and a true zeal of Gods cause will by their unfeigned and repentant submission to the Supreme Authority established by the Kingdom make happy these Answers labour'd as the shortness of time did permit for their conversion and satisfaction of all good Patriots by DAVID Bishop of OSSORY F John Roe Provincial of the Excal Carmelites Nicholas Taylor Doctor of Divinity William Shergoli Professor of Divinity Prebend of Houth and Vic. For. of Fingal Fr John Barnwall Lector of Divinity Fa Simon Wafer Lector of Divinity F Peter Walsh Lector of Divinity Luke Cowley Archdeacon of Ossory and Protonotary Apostolick Laurence Archbold Vic. For. in the Deaneries of Brea Tawney and Glandalagh F Christopher Plunket Guardian of St. Francis Convent in Dublin Fa John Dormer Guardian of St. Francis 's Order at Castle-dermot Fr Bonaventure Fitz-Gerald Guardian of Kildare F Laurence Matthews Preses of Carmel Kilken F Laur. a sancto Bernardo Paul Nash Prebend John Shee Prebend of Main James Sedgrave FINIS THE FIRST APPENDIX CONTAINING Some of those PUBLICK Instruments related unto PARTLY IN THE QUERIES AND PARTLY In several places of the precedent WORK or in the Four Treatises of this FIRST TO ME. VIZ. I. The Oath of Association or that which was the essential tye of the Roman-Catholick Confederates of Ireland as such according to that Form wherein it was taken or renewed in the year 1644. II. The Lord Nuncio's Excommunication and Interdict by him and his Fellow Delegates or Sub-Delegates fulminated on the 27th of May 1648. against the Adherers to the Cessation made with Inchiquin III. The Supreme Councils Appeal interposed on the 31 of May the same year to His Holiness Pope Innocent X. from the said Censures Nuncio and His Fellow Delegates c. IV. The Articles of the Second Peace or of that on the 27th of the following January same year 1648. according to the old English computation but the 7th of February 1649. according to the new Roman stile concluded betwixt His Majesty CHARLES I. and the Roman-Catholick Confederates of Ireland by James Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Special Commissioner for His Majesty in treating and concluding that Peace V. The Declaration of the Archbishops Bishops and other Irish Prelates at Jamestown 12 Aug. 1650. against the said Marquess Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of Ireland wherein they assume to themselves the Regal Power restore again the Confederacy declare the said Marquess devested of all power c. VI. The Excommunication of the same date fulminated by the same Irish Archbishops Bishops and others against all persons whatsoever obeying any more or at any time thenceforth the said Marquess however the King 's Lieutenant Printed in the Year M.DC.LXXIII The Preamble to the Oath of Association WHEREAS the Roman-Catholicks of this Kingdom of Ireland have been enforced to take Arms for the necessary defence and preservation as well of their Religion plotted and by many foul practices endeavoured to be quite suppressed by the Puritan Faction as likewise of their Lives Liberties and Estates and also for the defence and safeguard of His Majesties Regal Power just Prerogatives Honour State and Rights invaded upon and for that it is requisite That there should be an unanimous Consent and real Union between all the Catholicks of this Realm to maintain the Premisses and strengthen them against their Adversaries It is thought fit by them That they and whosoever shall adhere unto their Party as a Confederate should for the better assurance of their adhering fidelity and constancy to the Publick Cause take the ensuing Oath The Oath of Association I A. B. do profess swear and protest before God and his Saints and Holy Angels That I will during life bear true Faith and Allegiance to my Sovereign Lord CHARLES by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland and to His Heirs and lawful Successors and that I will to my power during my life defend uphold and maintain all His and their just Prerogatives Estates and Rights the power and priviledge of the Parliament of this Realm the fundamental Laws of Ireland the free exercise of the Roman-Catholick Faith and Religion throughout all this Land and the Lives just Liberties Possessions Estates and Rights of all those that have taken or shall take this Oath and perform the Contents thereof And that I will obey and ratifie all the Orders and Decrees made and to be made by the Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholicks of this Kingdom concerning the said Publick Cause And that I will not seek directly or indirectly any Pardon or Protection for any Act done or to be done touching the General Cause without the consent of the major part of the said Council And that I will not directly or indirectly do any Act or Acts that shall prejudice the said Cause but will to the hazard of my Life and Estate assist prosecute and maintain the same So help me God and his Holy Gospel By the General Assembly of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland Kilkenny July 26. 1644. Upon full debate this day in open Court Assembly it is unanimously declared by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Knights and Burgesses of this House That the Oath of Association as it is already penned of Record in this House and taken by the Confederate Catholicks is full and binding without addition of any other words thereunto And it is ordered That any person or persons whatsoever who have taken or hereafter shall take the said Oath of Association and hath or shall declare by word or actions or by persuasions of others That the said Oath or any Branch thereof doth or may admit any equivocation or mental reservation if any such person or persons be shall be deemed a breaker of his and their Oath respectively and adverse to the General Cause and as a Delinquent or Delinquents for such offence shall be punished And it is further ordered That the several Ordinaries shall take special care that the Parish-Priests within their respective Diocesses shall publish and declare That any person or persons who hath or shall take
hisce subscripsimus Kilkenniae 28 Januarii 1648. Jo Archiepiscopus Tuamen Fran Aladen Ed Limericensis THE ARTICLES OF PEACE Made and Concluded by his Excellency JAMES LORD Marquess of Ormond LORD LIEUTENANT GENERAL AND General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland on the behalf of His Majesty WITH THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the Roman-Catholicks of the said Kingdom on the behalf of His Majesties Roman-Catholick Subjects of the same Re-printed in the Year M.DC.LXXIII BY THE LORD LIEVTENANT GENERAL AND General Governour Of the Kingdom of IRELAND ORMONDE VVHEREAS Articles of Peace are made concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between Vs JAMES Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland by vertue of the Authority wherewith We are entrusted for and on the behalf of His Most Excellent Majesty of the one part and the General Assembly of the Roman-Catholicks of the said Kingdom for and on the behalf of His Majesties Roman-Catholick Subjects of the same on the other part A true Copy of which Articles of Peace is hereunto annexed We the Lord Lieutenant do by this Proclamation in His Majesties Name publish the same and do in His Majesties Name strictly charge and command all His Majesties Subjects and all others inhabiting or residing within His Majesties said Kingdom of Ireland to take notice thereof and to render due Obedience to the same in all the parts thereof And as His Majesty hath been induced to this Peace out of a deep sense of the miseries and calamities brought upon this His Kingdom and People and out of a hope conceived by His Majesty that it may prevent the further effusion of His Subjects Blood redeem them out of all the miseries and calamities under which they now suffer restore them to all quietness and happiness under His Majesties most gracious Government deliver the Kingdom in general from those Slaughters Depredations Rapines and Spoils which alwayes accompany a War encourage the Subjects and others with comfort to betake themselves to Trade Traffick Commerce Manufacture and all other things which uninterrupted may increase the wealth and strength of the Kingdom beget in all His Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom a perfect unity amongst themselves after the too long continued division amongst them So His Majesty assures Himself that all His Subjects of this His Kingdom duly considering the great and inestimable benefits which they may find in this Peace will with all duty render due Obedience thereunto And We in His Majesties Name do hereby declare That all persons so rendring due Obedience to the said Peace shall be protected cherished countenanced and supported by His Majesty and His Royal Authority according to the true intent and meaning of the said Articles of Peace Given at Our Castle of Kilkenny the Seventeenth day of January 1648. GOD SAVE THE KING ARTICLES of Peace made concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between his Excellency JAMES Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland for and on the behalf of His Most Excellent Majesty by vertue of the Authority wherewith the said Lord Lieutenant is intrusted on the one part And the GEMERAL ASSEMBLY of the Roman Catholicks of the said Kingdom for and on the behalf of His Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects of the same on the other part HIS Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects as thereunto bound by Allegiance Duty and Nature do most humbly and freely acknowledge and recognize their Sovereign Lord King Charles to be lawful and undoubted King of this Kingdom of Ireland and other His Highness Realms and Dominions And His Majesties said Roman Catholick Subjects apprehending with a deep sense the sad condition whereunto His Majesty is reduced as a further humble Testimony of their Loyalty do declare That they and their Posterity for ever to the uttermost of their power even to the expence of their blood and fortunes will maintain and uphold His Majesty His Heirs and lawful Successors their Rights Prerogatives Government and Authority and thereunto freely and heartily will render all due obedience OF which faithful and loyal Recognition and Declaration so seasonably made by the said Roman Catholicks His Majesty is graciously pleased to accept and accordingly to own them his loyal and dutiful Subjects and is further graciously pleased to extend unto them the following graces and securities I. IMprimis It is concluded accorded and agreed upon by and betweeen the said Lord Lieutenant for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty and the said General Assembly for and on the behalf of the said Roman Catholick Subjects And His Majesty is graciously pleased that it shall be Enacted by Act to be past in the next Parliament to be held in this Kingdom That all and every the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion within the said Kingdom shall be free and exempt from all Mulcts Penalties Restraints and Inhibitions that are or may be imposed upon them by any Law Statute Usage or Custom whatsoever for or concerning the free exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion And that it shall be likewise Enacted That the said Roman Catholicks or any of them shall not be questioned or molested in their Persons Goods or Estates for any matter or cause whatsoever for concerning or by reason of the free exercise of their Religion by vertue of any Power Authority Statute Law or Usage whatsoever And that it shall be further Enacted That no Roman Catholick in this Kingdom shall be compelled to exercise any Religion Form of Devotion or Divine Service other than such as shall be agreeable to their Conscience and that they shall not be prejudiced or molested in their Persons Goods or Estates for not observing using or hearing the Book of Common Prayer or any other Form of Devotion or Divine Service by vertue or colour of any Statute made in the second year of Queen Elizabeth or by vertue or colour of any other Law Declaration of Law Statute Custom or Usage whatsoever made or declared to be made or declared And that it shall be further Enacted That the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion or any of them be not bound or obliged to take the Oath commonly called the Oath of Supremacy expressed in the Statute of Secundo Eliz. cap. 10. or in any other Statute or Statutes and that the said Oath shall not be tendred to them and that the refusal of the said Oath shall not redound to the prejudice of them or any of them they taking the Oath of Allegiance in haec verba viz. I A. B. do truly acknowledge profess testifie and declare in my Conscience before God and the World That our Sovereign Lord King CHARLES is lawful and rightful King of this Realm and of other His Majesties Dominions and Countries and I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty His Heirs and Successors and Him and Them will defend to the uttermost of my
Roman-Catholicks the 17th day of January 1648 and in the 24th year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord CHARLES by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland c. ORMONDE The DECLARATION intituled thus A Declaration Of the Archbishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of the Secular and Regular Clergy of the Kingdom of Ireland AGAINST The continuance of His MAJESTIES Authority in the person of the Marquess of ORMOND Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the misgovernment of the Subject the ill Conduct of His MAJESTIES Army and the violation of the Articles of Peace Dated at Jamestown in the Convent of the Fryers Minors August 12. 1650. THE Catholick People of Ireland in the year 1641. forced to take up Arms for the defence of Holy Religion their Lives and Liberties the Parliament of England having taken a resolution to extinguish the Catholick Faith and pluck up the Nation root and branch a powerful Army being prepared and designed to execute their black rage and cruel intention made a Peace and published the same the 17th of January 1648 with James Lord Marquess of Ormond Commissioner to that effect from His Majesty or from His Royal Queen and Son Prince of Wales now CHARLES II. hereby manifesting their Loyal thoughts to Royal Authority This Peace or Pacification being consented to by the Confederate Catholicks when His Majesty was in restraint and neither He nor His Queen or Prince of Wales in condition to send any supply or relief to them when also the said Confederate Catholicks could have agreed with the Parliament of England upon as good or better conditions for Religion and the Lives Liberties and Estates of the People than were obtained by the above Pacification and thereby freed themselves from the danger of any Invasion or War to be made upon them by the Power of England where notwithstanding the Pacification with His Majesty they were to dispute and fight with their and his Enemies in the Three Kingdoms Let the World judge if this be not an undeniable Argument of Loyalty This Peace being so concluded the Catholick Confederates ran sincerely and chearfully under His MAJESTIES Authority in the person of the said Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland plentifully providing vast sums of Monies well nigh half a Million of English pounds besides several Magazines of Corn with a fair Train of Artillery great quantity of Powder Match Ammunition with other Materials for War After his Excellency the said Lord Lieutenant frustrating the expectation the Nation had of his Fidelity Gallantry and Ability became the Author of almost losing the whole Kingdom to God King and Natives which he began by violating the Peace in many parts thereof as may be clearly evidenced and made good to the World I. FIrst The foresaid Catholicks having furnished his Excellency with the aforesaid Sum of Money which was sufficient to make up the Army of Fifteen thousand Foot and Two thousand five hundred Horse agreed upon by the Peace for the preservation of the Catholick Religion our Sovereigns interest and the Nation his Excellency gave Patents of Colonels and other Commanders over and above the party under the Lord Baron of Inchiquin to Protestants and upon them consumed the substance of the Kingdom who most of them afterwards betrayed or deserted us II. That the Holds and Ports of Munster as Cork Youghal Kingsale c. were put in the hands of faithless men of the Lord of Inchiquin's Party that betrayed these places to the Enemy to the utter endangering of the KING's interest in the whole Kingdom This good service they did His MAJESTY after soaking up the sweet and substance of His Catholick Subjects of Munster where it is remarkable That upon making the Peace his Excellency would no way allow His Loyal Catholick Subjects of Cork Youghal Kingsale and other Garrisons to return to their own Homes or Houses III. Catholick Commanders instanced by the Commissioners of Trust according to the Pacification and hereupon by his Excellencies Commission receiving their Commands in the Army as Colonel Patrick Purcel Major General of the Army and Colonel Peirce Fitz-Gerald alias Mr. Thomas Commissary of the Horse were removed without the consent of the said Commissioners and by no demerit of the Gentlemen and the said places that of Major General given to Daniel O Neil Esq a Protestant and that of Commissary of the Horse to Sir William Vaughan Knight and after the said Sir William â—s death to Sir Thomas Armstrong Knight both Protestants IV. A Judicature and legal way of administring Justice promised by the Articles of Peace was not performed but all process and proceedings done by Paper Petitions and thereby private Clerks and other corrupt Ministers inrich't the Subject ruined and no Justice done V. The Navigation the great support of Ireland quite beaten down his Excellency disheartning the Adventurers Undertakers and Owners as Captain Antonio and others favouring Hollanders and other Aliens by reversing of Judgments legally given and definitively concluded before his Commissioners Authority By which depressing of Maritime affairs and not providing for an orderly and good Tribunal of Admiralty we have hardly a Bottom left to transmit a Letter to His Majesty or any other Prince VI. The Church of Cloine in our possession at the time of making the Peace violently taken from us by the Lord of Inchiquin contrary to the Articles of Peace no Justice nor redress was made upon Application or Complaint VII That Oblations Book monies Interments and other Obventions in the Counties of Cork Waterford and Kerry were taken from the Catholick Priests and Pastors by the Ministers without any redress or restitution VIII That the Catholick Subjects of Munster lived in slavery under the Presidency of the Lord of Inchiquin these being their Judges that before were their Enemies and none of the Catholick Nobility or Gentry admitted to be of the Tribunal IX The Conduct of the Army was improvident and unfortunate Nothing hapned in Christianity more shameful than the disaster at Rathmines near Dublin where his Excellency as it seemed to ancient Travellers and men of experience who viewed all kept rather a Mart of Wares a Tribunal of Pleadings or a great Inne of Play Drinking and Pleasure than a well ordered Camp of Souldiers Droghedagh unrelieved was lost by storm with much bloodshed and the loss of the flower of Leinster Wexford lost much by the unskilfulness of a Governour a young man vain and unadvised Ross given up and that by his Excellencies order without any dispute by Colonel Luke Taffe having within near upon 2500 Souldiers desirous to fight After that the Enemy make a Bridge over the River of Ross a wonder to all men and understood by no man without any let or interruption our Forces being within Seven or eight Miles to the place where 200 Musqueteers at Rossberkine being timely ordered had interrupted this stupendious Bridge and made the Enemy weary of the Town Carrig being betrayed by the
Protestants Warde there our Army afterwards appearing before the place the Souldiers were commanded to fight against the Walls and armed men without great Guns Ladders Petards Shovels Spades Pickaxes or other necessaries there being kill'd upon the place above 500 Souldiers valiantly fighting Yet near Thomas-town our Souldiers being of tryed Foot two to one and well resolved were forbidden to fight in the open Field having advantage of ground against the Enemy to the utter disheartning of the Souldiers and People After this the Enemy came like a deluge upon Calan Featbard Cashel Killmalock and other Corporations within the Provinces of Leinster and Munster and the Countrey about rendred Tributary Then followed the taking of Laghlin and Kilkenny then that of Clonmel where the Enemy met with gallantry loss and resistance Lastly Ticrohan and Catharlough two great pillars of Leinster shaken down that of Ticrohan to speak nothing for the present of all other places was given up by orders Waterford block't in is in a sad condition Dunkannon the key of the Kingdom unrelieved since the first of December is like to be given up and lost X. That the Prelates after the numerous Congregation at Cloanmacnoise where they made Declarations for the Kings great advantage after printed and after many other laborious meetings and consultations with the expressions of their sincerity and earnestness were not allowed by his Excellency to have employed their power and best diligence towards advancing the Kings interest but rather suspected and blamed as may appear by his own Letter to the Prelates then at Jamestown written August 2d And words were heard to fall from him dangerous as to the persons of some Prelates XI That his Excellency represented to His Majesty some parts of this Kingdom disobedient which absolutely deny any such disobedience by them committed and thereby procured from His MAJESTY a Letter to withdraw his own person and the Royal Authority if such disobediences were multiplied and to leave the people without the benefit of the Peace This was the reward his Excellency out of his envy to a Catholick Loyal Nation prepared for our Loyalty and Obedience sealed by the shedding of our blood and the loss of our substance XII That his Excellency and the Lord of Inchiquin when enemies to the Catholicks being very active in unnatural executions against us and shedding the blood of poor Priests and Churchmen have shewed little of action since this Peace but for many months kept themselves in Connaught and Thumond where no danger or the Enemy appeared spending their time as most men observed in play pleasure and great merriment while the other parts of the Kingdom were bleeding under the Sword of the Enemy This was no great argument of sense or grief in them to see a Kingdom lost to His MAJESTY XIII That his Excellency when prospering put no trust of places taken in into the hands of Catholicks as that of Droghedagh Dundalk Trim c. and by this his diffidence in Catholicks and by other his actions and expressions the Catholick Army had no heart to fight or to be under his command and feared greatly if he had mastered the Enemy and with them the Commissioners of Trust or the greater part of them and many Thousands of the Kingdom also feared he would have brought the Catholick Subjects and their Religion to the old slavery XIV We will not speak of many Corruptions and Abuses as passing of a Custodium upon the Abby of Killbegaine worth in past years to the Confederates well nigh 400 l. per annum to Secretary Lane for 40 l. or thereabouts per annum nor of many other such like to Daniel O Neil and others at an under-value to the great prejudice of the Publick XV. We do also notifie to the Catholicks of the Kingdom most of the above Grievances and breaches of the Peace being delivered to the Commissioners of Trust in February last that the Clergy and Laity receiving redress or justice the discontent of the Subject might be removed no amendment appeared after eight months effluxed but the evil still continued that occasioned the ruine of the Nation And we also protest to the whole World having done our best we have no power to remove the jealousies and fears of the People Besides the above Injuries and violation of the Articles of the Peace against Religion the Kings interest and the Nation nothing appearing before the eyes of the People but desolation waste burning and the destruction of the Kingdom three parts of four thereof being come under contribution to the Enemy Cities Towns and strong holds taken from them Altars pulled down Churches lost Priests killed and banished Sacraments and Sacrifices and all things holy profaned and almost utterly extinguished Armies and great numbers of Souldiers by them maintained and the Enemy not fought withall those that would fight for them born down and those that would betray them cherished and advanced finally no visible Army or defence appearing they are come to despair of recovering what is lost or defending what they hold and some inclining for safety of their lives and estates do compound with the Parliament persuading themselves no safety can be to any living under the Government of the LORD LIEUTENANT attended by fate and disaster For prevention of these evils and that the Kingdom may not be utterly lost to His MAJESTY and His Catholick Subjects this Congregation of Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of both Clergies of this Kingdom found our selves bound in Conscience after great deliberation to declare against the continuance of His Majesties Authority in the person of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond premitting this Protestation to the world That we had never come to such Declaration but that we and the People of this Kingdom generally despair of the Kingdoms recovery under his Government as hereby we do declare as well in our own names and behalf as in the names and behalf of the rest of the Catholicks of this Kingdom against him the said Marquess of Ormond having by his misgovernment ill Conduct of His Majesties Army and the breach of Publick Faith with the People in several particulars of the Articles of the Peace rendered himself uncapable of continuing that great Trust any longer being questionable before His Majesty for the said injuries and ill Government to which effect we will join with other members of this Kingdom in drawing a Charge against him and we hereby manifest to the People they are no longer obliged to obey the Orders and Commands of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond but are until a General Assembly of the Nation can be conveniently called together unanimously to serve against the common Enemy for the defence of the Catholick Religion His Majesties interest their Liberties Lives and Fortunes in pursuance of the Oath of Association and to observe and obey in the mean time the form of Government the said Congregation shall prescribe until it be otherwise ordered by an
not to be hoped that We could do any thing considerable against the Rebels and We desired them if they had a mistrust of Us or dislike of Our Government that they would clearly let us know it telling them That such was Our desire of the Peoples preservation that there was nothing within Our power consistent with Our duty to the KING and sutable to Our Honour that We would not do at their desire for that end Withall letting them see that Our continuance with the name and not the power of Lord Lieutenant could bring nothing but ruine upon the Nation and dishonour upon Us so that in effect we propounded either that they would procure Us due obedience or propose some other way by Our quitting the Kingdom how it might be preserved In answer whereunto they gave Us many expressions of respect and affection and promised to endeavour the procuring of the obedience We desired then also giving Us a Paper containing some Advices or Propositions for the future conduct of Affairs All which seemed to Us to imply their desire of Our continuance in the Government and their compliance with Us though in that particular of erecting a Privy Council their itch to have a hand in the Civil and Martial Affairs was and is apparent by the ensuing Copy thereof 13th of March 1649. Remedies proposed to His EXCELLENCY for removing the Discontents and Distrusts of the People and for advancing His MAJESTIES Service presented by such of the Clergy as met at Lymerick the 8th of March 1649 and the Commissioners of Trust I. HAving joined our selves in this meeting upon Your EXCELLENCIES Summons and in compliance with Your pleasure in delivering our Sense how any life might be conserved in this gasping Kingdom The following Considerations we thought fit to be represented to Your Excellency II. It is generally thought That most of the present Distresses of the Kingdom did proceed from the want of a Privy Council as ever it was accustomed heretofore to assist the Government of this Land in War and Peace We conceive it essentially necessary That such a Council be framed of the Peers and others Natives of the Kingdom as well Spiritual as Temporal to fit with Your Excellency daily and determine all weighty Affairs of the Countrey by their counsel The Commissioners of Trust being onely entrusted for the due observation of the Articles of Peace had not the authority of Counsellors and the affairs that intrench most upon the matters of State of the Kingdom were not their study or charge III. That there be an exact Establishment of the Forces forthwith setled and agreed on directing what numbers the Army of the Kingdom shall consist of Horse and Foot what each Province shall bear what number each Regiment Troop and Company shall consist of and laying down such Rules that no payments be made but according to the number of Forces that shall be visible and extant for service and the said Establishment to be forthwith put in Execution and the said Army once established and made certain not to be multiplied or exceeded other than by solemn further establishment to be made with the consent and concurrence of the Commissioners of Trust if there be cause for it And in that Establishment a certain and sure course be taken That all the Forces have the same assurance and the like equality of payment for all the Army And in that Establishment all preventions possible to be be set down for avoiding the burthening of the People with Thorough-fare Delinquency or Free-quarter or any other Forces than those continued in the Establishment and none to have Command but in one capacity and to serve in the head of that Command otherwise not to be in Command And in the said Establishment considering the necessity the Kingdom it reduced unto the burthen of General Officers or other burthens that may be spared or not found necessary to be put by and the Kingdom at present eased thereof IV. That on the composure of that Army and on Garrisoning of places necessary to be Garrisoned exact wariness be used That none against whom just exception may be taken or who by any probability considering all circumstances cannot so well be confided in as others of this Nation be either of the number whereof those established Forces shall consist or be put or continued in Garrison V. That several places are Garrison'd without the consent or concurrence of the Commissioners of Trust It is proposed That the Forces placed in such Garrisons be forthwith removed and withdrawn and not Garrison'd but by consent of the Commissioners of Trust and that none be placed in such Garrisons but such as the Commissioners of Trust will consent to be placed therein And for particular instance of this Grievance the Castle of Clare Clonraud Ballingary and Bunratty are instanced and what else are of that nature the Commissioners of Trust are to represent and instance forthwith and see redress afforded therein to the Peoples satisfaction if any such be of that nature VI. That it is a great cause of jealousie and mistrust among the People That where Catholicks were setled or understood to be setled in some of the greatest employments of Trust in the Army they have been notwithstanding removed and put by for avoiding of those causes and grounds of mistrust the Catholicks so setled or understood to be setled in such employments are desired to be forthwith restored VII That for satisfaction of the People who in the many disorders of these times see no face of justice exercised among them a Judicature be erected according to the Articles of Peace wherein all Causes without limit between Party and Party may be heard and determined and that Judges of Assize go Circuit twice each year at least and over and besides this that some persons as Justices of Peace in Quarter-Sessions or otherwise be entrusted in each County to whom the Inhabitants of each such County may have their applications for Redress against Oppressions and Extortions hapning within that County and for Debts and other Complaints not exceeding Ten pounds This will free Your Excellency from the trouble of those multitudes of Complaints that come before You for want of other Judicatures and will leave Your Lordship the time entire to be disposed in the Consults of the State Affairs for the better management of the War and other the great Affairs that may concern the better Government of the Kingdom these being of so high a nature and so much tending to the Peoples preservation as no other matter or causes should be interposed that might give any interruption thereunto VIII That to the very great grievance and dissatisfaction of the People the Receiver General hath failed to altar his Accompts concerning the â—â—st Sums of Money levied from the People since the 17th of January 1648. though the same hath been long expected and the grievances from the Agents of Counties long foreslowed in expectation of those accompts It is
prosecute Our determination to run all possible hazards for the Kings service and the preservation of the Nation We received from you the abovementioned Propositions which how far they may be conducible to that end We know not but do wish what We are able to do for your satisfaction and the satisfaction of the People upon them may have the effect aimed at and that with the speed necessary for your and their preservation II. To the second We do not understand how the most of the present distresses of the Kingdom could proceed from the want of a Privy Council nor considering the State of the Kingdom the power intrusted with the Commissioners their abilities and how freely We communicate with them things of greatest importance how the framing of such a Council can advantage the management of the War which is now the only matter of State And that consisting only of provision to be made for an Army and the employing that Army to the best advantage is or may be as well done by the advice and assistance of the said Commissioners as by any Council of State who will have no power to raise men or to provide for them and to whom designs upon the Enemy are no further to be communicated than We shall think fit And with such We shall as readily acquaint the Commissioners and as soon be advised by them as any other We can think of the rather that We know none upon whose faith and judgment we may more safely depend nor that can better assist Us in any thing they shall be advised with by reason of their knowledge of the ability and burthen of the Kingdom which We doubt the state of most men considered cannot but be increased by a Privy Council For these Reasons We think not fit unnecessarily to presume upon doing a thing for which We neither have power nor president Yet rather than there should be any thing wanting that is in Our power to satisfie the People let the particular Acts that Privy Counsellors have heretofore done and are now necessary be instanced and as far forth as they shall appear necessary and fit We shall qualifie persons free from just exception with such powers III. All this Proposition is assented unto and as far forth as concerns Us shall be observed and immediately put in execution save that if it be intended the Commissioners should give their consent to what particular Officers should be established We conceive that a power wherewith they are not qualified by the Articles nor fit for Us to bind Our Self or any other chief Governour unto And for the not multiplying or exceeding the numbers to be fixed upon but by further solemn establishment We consent unto it as far as the same is agreeable to the Articles of Peace IV. To be explained what is intended by exact wariness or what is understood by probable circumstances V. The too punctual observation of this Proposition hath been of worse consequence than the particulars complained of have been And We expect that if the Articles of Peace be found destructively strict in this point they may be dispensed with and not only Our Self but whoever commands a considerable Party of the Army upon any Expedition may have power to Garrison any place he shall conceive necessary without consulting any man VI. This is to be explained as to particulars and then such answer shall be given as is fit and agreeable to the power given Us by His Majesty and the Articles of Peace VII We have been alwayes ready to comply with this Proposition and have more than once made offer of it witness the Commissioners and are still ready to perform what in this point We are obliged unto by the Articles of Peace VIII This Proposition is assented unto and was never hindred by Us save as to the disposing of money wherein We insist upon and shall conform Our Self to the Articles of Peace and could wish that others besides the Receiver General accomptable for great Sums of money both before and since the Peace had been or might be brought to accompt for the ease of the Kingdom IX We are ready to do justice unto the Countrey and upon the Offenders mentioned in this Proposition in such manner and with such assistance as is usual and requisite in like cases and to that effect We desire that particulars may be instanced X. To be Explained XI VVe acknowledge this Proposition to be pursuant to the Letter of the Articles of Peace and that by unavoidable necessity it hath been infringed and VVe affirm that in the case the Kingdom is the strictness thereof must be dispensed with or othewise certain provision made for the Army else no service can be done Signed ORMOND To which Answers they took no exception but as being satisfied with them made the following Declaration in their own names and the names of their Brethren the rest of the Bishops of the Kingdom The Declaration of the undernamed Bishops in the name of themselves and the rest of the Bishops convoked at Lymerick as deputed by them presented to His Excellency the Lord Marquess of Ormond LORD LIEUTENANT for His MAJESTY and General Governour of Ireland c. MAY it please Your Excellency to be informed That we are very sensible of the Jealousies and Suspitions conceived of us as was intimated unto us that we believe arising from some disaffected and misunderstanding persons that spare not to give ill characters of us as if these deplorable times wherein our Religion King and Countrey are come to the vertical point of their total ruine and destruction it should be imagined by any that we behave our selves like sleeping Pastors in no wayes contributing our best endeavours for the preservation of the People which ought to be more dear unto us than any other worldly thing that may be thought of Wherefore as well for the just vindication of our own reputation against such undeserved aspersions as for future testimony of our sincerity and integrity to endeavour alwayes the safety of the People and to manifest to Your Excellency as the Kings Majesties Lieutenant and chief Governour of this Kingdom that no labour or care of ours hath been or shall be wanting to proceed effectually to any Proposals You will please to make known unto us that may conduce to those ends We thought it therefore fit to present this Declaration of our real intentions in the name of our selves and the rest of our Brethren the Archbishops and Bishops of this Kingdom whereby we avow testifie declare and protest before God and the World That since our general meeting at Cloanmacnoise or there we have omitted nothing that did occur unto us tending to the advancement of His Majesties interest and the good of the Kingdom generally but have there and then ordered and decreed all things to us appertaining or which was in our power necessarily conducing to the publick conservation of His Majesty and His Subjects interest And also
do and have endeavoured to root out of mens hearts all jealousies and sinister opinions conceived either against Your Excellency or the present Government as by our Acts there conceived may appear And after our parting from thence in pursuance of our unanimous resolution taken in that place we have accordingly declared to our respective Flocks our happy agreement amongst our selves and our earnest desire to labour with them to those ends and made use of our best persuasions for the purchasing of their alacrity and chearful concurrence to the advantage of that service So that if any thing was wanting of due correspondence sought by Your Excellency aâ—e conceive it cannot be attributed to any want of care or diligence in us And for further intimation of our hearty desires on all occasions to serve our King and Countrey we declare that we are not yet deterred for want of expected good successes in the affairs of the Kingdom but rather animated to give further onsets and try all other possible wayes Wherefore we most humbly entreat Your Excellency to give us some particular Instructions and to prescribe some Remedies for and touching the Grievances presented by us to Your Excellency for pacifying of discontented minds and put us in a way how to labour further in so good a Cause And we do faithfully promise that no industry or care shall be wanting in us to receive and execute Your directions And in conclusion we leave to all impartial judicious persons sad and serious considerations to think how incredible it is That we should fail to oppose to the uttermost of our power the fearful and increasing potency of a rebellious and malignant Murtherer of our late Sovereign King Charles to which enemy also nothing seemeth more odious than the very Names of Kings and Bishops and who aims at nothing so much as the dethroning of our now gracious King Charles II and the final extirpation of our Natives in case as God forbid events and successes would fall sutable to his most wicked designs So far we thought necessary to declare to Your Excellency from our selves as the sense likewise and true meaning of the rest of our Brethren other Bishops of this Kingdom Dated at Logreogh the 28th of March Anno Domini 1650. Jo Archiepiscopus Tuamensis Wa Episcopus Clonfert Fran Aladensis Rob Corcagen Cluanensis Fr Hugo Episcopus Duacensis Here you see they boast much of what they had done at Cloanmacnoise and would do in manifestation of their Allegiance to His Majesty and to root out of mens hearts all jealousies and sinister opinions conceived either against Us or the present Government And that they might be therein enabled to proceed they entreat Us to give them some particular instructions and to prescribe some remedy for and touching the Grievances by them presented to Us. Whether what they have done since their meeting at Cloanmacnoise hath not verified Cromwel's Declaration in answer to the Acts of their Congregation at Cloanmacnoise in as much as concerns the preference of their own interest to His Majesty and the hypocrisie of their professions in the favour of Protestants We leave to the impartial consideration of those that shall read this Discourse To whose observation We offer That at Lymerick there was presented unto Us from the Commissioners a false senseless and scandalous Paper as Grievances from the Congregation at Cloanmacnoise When we found the said Paper to be so contrary to the professions made by the said Congregation We desired to know from the Commissioners and Bishops Whether that Paper would be avowed or not It was answered That it would not be avowed and We were desired to return the said Paper that the Grievances acknowledged to be from the Congregation might instead thereof be presented to Us. Which at their desire We did and on the first of April We received from the Archbishop of Tuam a Paper intituled The Grievances presented by the Congregation of Prelates assembled proprio motu at Cloanmacnoise subscribed by the Bishop of Clonfert as Secretary to the said Congregation being much differing from the Paper that was disavowed If the disavowed Paper was indeed the true Paper of Grievances from the Congregation at Cloanmacnoise it must follow that their professions were in many particulars selfe If it was not the true Paper it may be worth the finding out who it was that assumed the boldness to forge and obtrude a Paper so many Bishops were ashamed of upon the Commissioners For particular instructions to enable them to manifest their professed good affections We could only recommend to them to endeavour to procure Us obedience in the general and particularly at Lymerick As to what We offered of the necessity of the present obedience and garrisoning of Lymerick they seemed so far convinced that Sir Richard Everard Baronet and Dr. Gerald Fennel two of the said Commissioners were sent thither to Treat for that purpose with instructions in that behalf For the better effecting whereof the Commissioners writ to the Mayor and the Bishops as they said to the Archbishop of Cashell and Bishop of Lymerick then at Lymerick desiring them in what they might to forward the good success of that Transaction And having given the said Sir Richard and Dr. Fennel their dispatches to Lymerick and left the Grievances with Us they departed Sir Richard Everard and Dr. Fennel â—s Negotiation producing no effect and that nothing should remain unattempted by Us that We could imagine might tend to the good of the Kingdom We appointed another meeting at Logreogh of all the Bishops with divers of the Nobility the said Commissioners and several of the principal Officers of the Army and many Gentlemen of Quality the 25th of April then following To those We spoke and writ much to the effect of what We had said at Lymerick and Logreogh formerly and gave Answers to the Grievances We had received the first of April as will appear to you by the Transcript of the Letters that past betwixt Us and that Assembly as followeth May it please Your Excellency WE being here met upon Your Lordships special Letters and Your Excellency being pleased to shew unto us His Majesties Letters dated at his Court at Castle Elizabeth in the Isle of Jersey the 2d of February 1649 in answer to others from Your Lordship of the 24th of December last sent unto His Majesty by which His Majesty signifies His pleasure That in case of disobedience of the People and contempt of His Authority in this Kingdom Your Excellency should withdraw Your Self and His Authority We have conceived our selves in Duty bound for Your Lordships better information of the inclinations of this Nation humbly to present unto You That however Your Excellency might not have met with a ready concurrence to some Proposals made for advancing His Majesties service occasioned through some misunderstanding in some few persons and places yet this Countrey generally and the Nation in it as they have already
gathered to that purpose to some other service And so VVe bid you heartily farewell from Shanbuoly the 14th of June 1650. Your loving Friend ORMOND To Our very loving Friend the Mayor of the City of Lymrick These But neither that nor all VVe could do upon subsequent Treaties and Overtures moving from themselves could at all prevail with them no not Our offer of putting Our self into the City and running the fortune of it when Ireton was encamped before it But to return to the proceedings of the Bishops whose next action was a meeting at Jamestown of their own meer motion and power where whether they have not taken upon them somewhat beyond the regulation of their Clergy and spiritual affairs upon which perhaps it is thought they may so meet though stretched to the remotest possibility of strained consequence will appear by the acts of that clandestine Assembly at the very entrance whereunto a Letter signed by the Archbishops of Dublin and Tuam gave Us some doubt what kind of Congregation that would prove Their said Letter and Our Answer to it follows in these words viz. May it please Your Excellency THis Nation become of late the fable and reproach of the Christianity is brought to a sad condition Notwithstanding the frequent and laborious meetings and consultations of the Prelates we find jealousies and fears deep in the hearts of men thorns hard to take out We see most men contributing to the Enemy and rendring their persons and substance useful to his malice and destructive to Religion and the Kings interest This kind of men if not timely prevented will betray irremediably themselves and us We find no stock or substance ordered for maintaining the Souldier nor is there an Army any way considerable in the Kingdom to recover what is lost or defend what we hold So as humanely speaking if God will not be pleased for his mercies sake to take off from us the heavy judgments of his anger we are fair for losing Sacred Religion the Kings Authority and Ireland The four Archbishops to acquit their own Consciences in the eyes of God have resolved to meet at Jamestown about the sixth day of the next month and to bring along as many of the Suffragans as may repair thither with safety The end of this consultation is to do what in us lyeth for the amendment of all Errors and recovery of this afflicted People If Your Excellency shall think fit in Your wisdom to send one or more persons to make Proposals for the safety of the Nation we shall not want willingness to prepare good Answers nor will we despair of the blessing of God and of his powerful influence to be upon our sincere intentions in that place Even so we conclude remaining Your EXCELLENCIES Most humble Servants Fr Thomas Dublin Jo Archiepiscopus Tuamen 24th July 1650. For his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland AFter Our hearty Commendations VVe received yours of the 24th of July on the first of this Month and do with much grief acknowledge That this Nation is brought into a sad condition and that by such means as when it shall be known abroad and by story delivered to Posterity will indeed be thought a Fable For it will seem incredible That any Nation should so madly affect and violently pursue the wayes leading to their own destruction as this People will appear to have done and that after the certain ruine they were running into was evidently and frequently discovered unto those that in all times and upon all other occasions have had power to persuade or compel them to what ever they thought fit And it will be less credible when it shall be declared as with truth it will be that the temporal spiritual and eternal interest and safety even of those that had this power and that have been thus forewarned did consist in making use of it to reclaim the People and direct them into the wayes of preservation To be plain it cannot be denied but the disobedience VVe have met with which VVe at large declared unto many of you who with divers others of the Nobility and Gentry were assembled at Loghreogh in April last were the certain ready wayes to the destruction of this Nation as by Our Letter of the first of May to that Assembly VVe made apparent Ancient and late experience hath made evident what power those of your Function have had to draw the People of this Nation to what they thought fit VVhether your Lordships have been convinced That the obedience which VVe desired should be given to His Majesties authority in Us pursuant to the Articles of Peace was the way to preserve the Nation VVe know not or whether your Lordships have made use of all the means at other times and upon other occasions exercised by you to procure this necessary obedience VVe shall not now determine Sure VVe are That since the said Assembly not only Lymerick hath persisted in the disobedience it was then in and aggravated the same by several affronts since fixed upon the Kings authority but Galway hath been seduced into like disobedience For want of due compliance from those places but principally from Lymerick it hath been impossible for us to raise or employ an Army against the Rebels For to attempt it any where on the other side of the Shannon but near Lymerick and without the absolute Command of that City to secure it could be no other than the certain ruine of the design in the very beginning of it the Rebels power being such as to dissipate with ease the foundation that should be laid there And to have done it on this side the Shannon was impossible since the ground-work of the Army must be raised and supported from thence which whil'st it was in forming would have exhausted all the substance of these parts and not have effected the work For want of such an Army which with Gods assistance might certainly have been long since raised if Lymerick had obeyed Our Orders the Rebels have without any considerable resistance from abroad taken Clonmel Tecroghan and Catherlagh and reduced Waterford and Duncannon to great and We fear irrecoverable distress The loss of these places and the want of any visible power to protect them hath doubtlesly induced many to contribute their substance and personal assistance to the Rebels from which whether they might have been with-held by Church Censures We know not but have not heard of any such which issued against them And lastly for want of such an Army the Rebels have taken to themselves the Contribution which might considerably have assisted to support an Army and preserve the Kingdom If therefore the end of your Consultation at Jamestown be to acquit your Consciences in the eyes of God the amendment of all Errors and the recovery of this afflicted People as by the Letter giving Us notice of your meeting is professed We have endeavoured briefly to shew That the Spring of Our past losses and
approaching ruine arises from disobedience and it will not be hard to shew That the Spring of those disobediences arises from the Forgeries invented the Calumnies spread against Government and the incitements of the People to Rebellion by very many of the Clergy That these are Errors are frequently practised and fit for amendment is no more to be doubted than that without they be amended the affliction of the People will continue and as is to be feared end in their utter destruction Which if prevented by what your Consultation will produce the happy effect of your meeting will be acknowledged without questioning the Authority by which you meet or expect Proposals from Us which other than what ye have formerly and now by this Our Letter made We hold not necessary And so We bid your Lordships farewell from Roscomon the second of August 1650. Your Lordships very loving Friend ORMOND In their said Letter they tell Us the end of their consultation was to do what in them lay to mend all Errors and recovery of the afflicted People And as if they had absolute power of Government they write to Us to send one or more persons to make Proposals to them for the safety of the Nation to which they say they shall not want willingness to prepare good Answers We leave it to the judgment of that Assembly whether the most absolute Monarch in Christendom could after a more Kingly manner have required the advice of His Subjects or with a more negligent State have promised gracious Answers Our Answer to the said Letter produced the expressions you will find in a Letter of theirs from Jamestown dated the 10th of August viz. May it please Your Excellency WE received Your Excellencies Letter of the second current Where to Our grief and admiration we saw some expressions that seem meant for casting a blame upon us of the present sad condition of the Kingdom which we hope to answer to the satisfaction of Your Excellency and the whole Nation In the mean time we premit this Protestation as we are Christian Catholick Prelates that we have done our endeavours with all earnestness and candor for taking away from the hearts of the People all jealousies and diffidences that were conceived the occasion of so many disasters that befel the Nation and that in all occasions our actions and co-operations were ready to accompany all Your Excellencies designs for preservation of all His Majesties interests in this Kingdom Whose State being in the present desperate condition we thought it our duty to offer unto Your Excellency our sense of the only possibility we could devise for its preservation and that by the intervention and expression of my Lord of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelly Dean of Tuam who shall clearly deliver unto Your Excellency our thoughts and good intentions as to this effect praying Your Excellency to give full credit to what they will declare in our names in this business which will be still owned as our command laid upon them and the declaration of the sincere hearts of Jamestown dated the 10th of August 1650. Your EXCELLENCIES Most humble Servants H Ardmach Jo Archiep. Tuamen Jo Rapotensis Eugenius Killmore Nich Fernensis Procurator Archiepiscopi Dubliniensis Walt Clonferten Procurator Leghlin Fr Anto Cloanmacnosensis Episcopus Arthurus Dunensis Connerensis Th Higgin Procurat Ossor Fr Ricardus Kelly Procurat Kildar Rathbran Ord. Praed For His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland These Now let it be judged whether by this Letter We couâ—d suspect The satisfaction they intended to give Us and the whole Nation that they were free from working the disobediences We complained of and which they grieved and admired to be charged with could be their Declaration and Excommunication dated the 11th and 12th of August the very next day after they had sent the above recited Letter If We could have guessed at their purpose by their words and deep protestations We should rather have expected their sentences would have been fulminated generally against all of their Religion in this Kingdom that would not give Us full obedience and particularly against Lymerick and Galway if they persisted in the disobedience they were in than that an Excommunication should be published against any that would feed help or adhere unto Us. If this be a manifestation of the candor of their endeavours with all earnestness to take away from the hearts of the People all jealousies and diffidences We are much to seek for an argument of the contrary or how to understand protestations premitted in the name of Christian Catholick Prelates But to proceed here followeth their message sent by the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelly with Our Letter and Answer to their said message May it please Your Excellency WE being intrusted from the Clergy met at Jamestown to deliver a message to Your Excellency purporting their advice what the only means is as they conceive that may serve to free the Nation from the sad condition whereunto it is reduced at present do in obedience to Your Excellencies command signified for giving in the substance of the said message in writing humbly represent the same to be as followeth That whereas they doubt not Your Excellency hath laboured by other hands to bring the best aids that possibly could be had from abroad for relief of this gasping Nation yet finding now in their Conscience no other expedient or remedy for the preservation thereof and of His Majesties interests therein more prevalent than Your Excellencies speedy repair to His Majesty for preventing the ruine and desolation of all and leaving the Kings authority in the hands of some person or persons faithful to His Majesty and trusty to the Nation and such as the affection and confidence of the People will follow by which the rage and fury of the Enemy may receive interruption They humbly offer this important matter of safety or destruction of this Nation and the Kings interest to Your wisdom and consideration hoping the Kingdom by Your Excellencies presence with His Majesty and entrusting safely the Kings authority as above may with Gods blessing hold out until relieved with supplies from His Majesty The Prelates in the mean time will do what lieth in their power to assist the person or persons so entrusted The great trust His Majesty doth repose in Your Excellency the vast interest in Fortune Alliance and Kindred You have in the Nation and Your experience in the management of affairs of greatest consequence will we doubt not added to other the reasons proposed by us induce You to embrace this advice as proceeding from our pious intentions that look only on the preservation of the Catholick Religion the support of His Majesties Authority and the Estates Liberties and Fortunes of His Subjects of this Kingdom Which we humbly offer as Your EXCELLENCIES Most humble Servants Fr Ol. Dromore Cha Kelly August 13. 1650. AFter Our hearty Commendations The Letter of Credence of the
10th of August from the Bishops met at Jamestown being delivered to Us on the 12th of the same by the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelly Dean of Tuam We desired them for the more sure and easie understanding and answering a Proposition of so high importance to reduce the substance of their message unto writing which on the 13th of the said month they accordingly did Which after We had considered and imparted to the Commissioners of Trust We found could not be so well answered in writing as We hoped it might be by a free and personal Conference with the said Prelates which on the 26th of this month We hoped might have been had In which hope We travelled hither at a time when Our presence towards the passages upon the Shannon betwixt Killaloe and Lymerick was very necessary for the defence of that part of the Kingdom lying on this side that River But finding now that the said Prelates have not found it convenient to be here We do according to your desire return Our answer to the foresaid Proposition by the Bishops of Cork and Clonfert And so We bid you heartily farewell from Loghreogh the 31 of August 1650. Your Lordships very loving Friend ORMOND To Our very loving Friends the Prelates met at Jamestown These An Answer to the Message delivered to Vs by the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelâ—y Dean of Tuam from the Prelates met at Jamestown by vertue of their Letter desiring us to give full Credence to the said Bishop and Dean dated at Jamestown the 10th of Aug. 1650. The substance of which Message may be reduced to these particulars I. THe Message or Advice which is Our speedy repair to His Majesty to procure Supplies for the relief of the Kingdom leaving the Kings authority in the hands of some person or persons faithful to His Majesty and trusty to the Nation than which they say they can find no other expedient or remedy for relief of this gasping Nation and preservation of His Majesties interests therein or to prevent the ruine and desolation of all II. The reason of this Advice which is That thorough the Trust reposed in Us by His Majesty and our own interest in Fortune Alliance and Kindred in the Nation they hope those Supplies may more easily and speedily be obtained by Our mediation than by any other means III. The Prelates promise undertaking that in the mean time which We understand to be during Our absence they will do what lieth in their power to assist the person or persons that shall be entrusted with the Kings authority Whereunto We answer That as the principal motives inducing us thorough some hazards and many difficulties to come into this Kingdom were the obedience We owe to His Majesties command and Our earnest desire to preserve this Nation in their Allegiance to Him wherein We alwayes have and ever shall place Our interest and the interest of such Kindred and Allies as will be guided by Our advice or example so We shall alwayes readily expose Our Self to the like or greater hazards and difficulties to remove out of the Kingdom when We receive His Majesties command for it or shall be convinced that our removal tends more to His service and the preservation of the Nation than our stay We confess That observing the destructive disobedience and obstinacy of divers persons and places We were once of opinion That We might have done Our King and Countrey better service by withdrawing Our Self than by continuing here by how much there would then have been less ground for division when the Nation should be governed by one or more of their own Religion And sure We were That the stronger the resistance were that should be made against the Rebels under what conduct whatsoever the better it would be for the King and for the Nation And though We held it not fit for Us even in point of Honour in flat terms to propose Our removal which might have met with as great misinterpretation as other actions and propositions of Ours intended for the good of the People have done yet in a Discourse had with many of the Prelates first at Lymerick and afterwards here VVe did in a manner lead them to the Proposition they have now made And VVe freely acknowledge That if they and the Nobility and Gentry here met in April last had not in writing and in discourse given Us assurance That they not only desired Our stay but would endeavour to procure such obedience to Us as might enable Us with hope of success to have gone on in the VVar VVe should have made use of the liberty given Us or command then laid upon Us by His Majesty to have freed Our Self from the vexation We have since endured and the dishonour VVe foresaw VVe should be subject unto for want of that power without which as We then told the said Bishops c. VVe should be able to do nothing considerable for the King or Nation Those assurances VVe have transmitted to His Majesty as also Our resolution to attend the effects of them But those disobediences still continuing VVe have again acquainted Him with the state of His Affairs here and do daily expect His pleasure upon the representations VVe have made to him without which unless forced by inevitable necessity VVe cannot answer Our removal out of the Kingdom VVhich is our first and principal reason why VVe may not comply with the advice given Us. Another reason is That VVe plainly observe That though the division is great in the Nation under Our Government yet it will be greater upon Our removal For which in a free conference VVe should have given such pregnant evidence as VVe hold not fit this way to declare The third is That though since the meeting here where we were assured of such effectual endeavours to procure obedience to the King's authority placed in Us the particular disobediences VVe then instanced have continued and been improved by many other affronts yet it hath pleased God to raise His Majesties affairs elsewhere to so hopeful a condition that may occasion His Majesties sending Us such commands as VVe should be sorry should not find Us upon the place In the last place it is most certain That no mediation of Ours will prevail so much with His Majesty for sending relief and supplies hither as the representations VVe desire to be enabled to make of the dutifulness and obedience of the People whereunto to dispose them VVe do again call upon you to make use of all the means within your power Given at Loghreogh the 31 of August 1650. ORMOND By which VVe conceive it appears That neither from that message had VVe cause to fear that such terrible Declarations and Excommunications should so suddenly without any more warning have followed Our refusal or delay to remove out of the Kingdom The moderation and civility of their message and the reasons set down by Us for Our not going considered
their just indignation with a pious compassion of their seduced People commanded Us over to treat and conclude a Peace with the Roman-Catholicks of this Kingdom In obedience whereunto and in humble imitation of Their great example forgetting the ungrateful usage We had met with We undertook the hazard of that Voyage and at length concluded the Peace in this Preamble mentioned We are unwilling to say any thing that might seem to lessen the Loyalty and affection of the Assembly that concluded the Peace nor is it to that end that We shall answer to these men That though His then Majesty was in restraint and His now Majesty and His Royal Mother not in condition to send Supplies and Relief into this Kingdom yet there wanted not apparent motives of advantage to induce the Roman-Catholicks to consent to the Peace which was thankfully acknowledged by a more authentick Representative of the Nation than these Archbishops Bishops c. and even by as many of them as really or from the teeth outward for such we find now there were that consented to it Upon what conditions the Confederate Roman-Catholicks could have agreed with those in this Declaration called the Parliament of England We know not nor do believe they are able to prove their Assertions if they be put to it Though if it should appear it were not to be wondred at That Usurpers and such as make almost as little Conscience of breaking Publick Faith as these Declarers are more liberal in the dispensation of their unlawful acquirings by way of brokeage than a just Monarch whose purpose it is to keep as well as it is in His power only to grant conditions to a People in the state the said Confederates were in Next in their Preamble they say That after the concluding of the Peace the Catholick Confederates came sincerely and chearfully under His Majesties authority in Vs plentifully providing vast Sums of money well nigh half a Million of English pounds By which they seem to insinuate first That all the Roman-Catholicks of Ireland came thus chearfully under His Majesties authority whereas Owen O Neill with his whole Army and divers of the County of Wickloe with others were and continued in Rebellion long after the conclusion of the Peace as is well known to many of the Declarers who were of their Party as also that our first work was to reduce places held by them lying in our way to Dublin as Mariborough Athy c. They mention next after Their providing plentifully vast Sums of money adding also these words viz. near half a Million of English pounds to have it believed We were set forth with such a Sum and all the following provisions of Corn and Ammunition though it is notoriously knovvn That for all the half Million of English pounds the Army We had brought together could not march from about Cloghgrenan till upon Our private credit We had borrovved Eight hundred English pounds of Sir James Preston which is yet owing him and for which We have lately written to you to see him satisfied by means whereof and of a little meal not yet paid for neither as We believe We took in Talbotstown Castle-Talbot and Kildare But there our money and meal failing us and having borrowed about One hundred pounds from Twenty several Officers to give the Souldiers sustenance We were forced to stay on the West-side of the Liffy and thereby lost an opportunity of engaging Jones who with a much less Force than Ours was drawn forth of Dublin as far as Johnstown And in what continual want the Army was from Our setting forth even to the defeat at Rathmines being about Three months is so notoriously known having during all that time been very meanly supplied in money and that in small and inconsiderable Sums as by the Receiver Generals accompts may appear that if We be to be blamed it is for undertaking an Expedition so meanly provided and which We can only answer with the necessity of attempting Dublin and those parts before they should receive Supplies out of England and upon discovery destroy such as were faithful to His Majesty and importuned Us daily to advance For Magazines of Corn Ammunition and materials for War the stores We found so inconsiderably furnished or rather so absolutely unfurnished that till We with the assistance of the Commissioners procured some supply thereof in Waterford Lymerick and Kilkenny it was not possible for Us either to reduce the Fort of Maribourough and Athy held by Owen O Neill's party nor to march as We did towards Dublin And for Ammunition We were forced to bargain with Patrick Archer and other Merchants for a supply thereof engaging the King's Customs and Tenths of Prizes else that want of Ammunition had absolutely hindred Our march nor is the said Archer yet satisfied for his Ammunition The Truth of this is referr'd to the knowledge of many there met who can witness with Us herein and in many other distresses and difficulties We met with for want of money which We cannot call to mind How much of this half Million of Pounds hath come in in money or been disposed of by Warrant from Us We leave to be cleared by the Receiver Generals accompts But We are confident it will not amount to the Tenth part of half a Million of Pounds In the next place they say We have frustrated the Opinion the Nation held of Our Fidelity Gallantry and Abilities and become the Author of losing the whole Kingdom to God King and Nation If the Nation held a greater opinion of Our Gallantry and Ability than there was cause for it We are sorry We came short of their expectation But whatever it pleased God to bestow on Us in those gifts We faithfully employed it in the Cause We undertook and have not at all failed their expectation in point of Fidelity nor are We therein the Author of losing the Kingdom to God King and Nation as these Declarers have Rhetorically expressed themselves How they make good to the World the last assertion of their Preamble viz. That We began the loss of the Kingdom by violating the Articles of Peace is next to be considered First Article of the Declaration First The foresaid Catholicks having furnished his Excellency with the aforesaid Sum of money which was sufficient to make up the Army of Fifteen thousand Foot and Twenty five hundred Horse agreed upon by the Peace for the preservation of the Catholick Religion our Sovereigns interest and the Nation his Excellency gave Patents of Colonels and other Commanders over and above the Party under the Lord Baron of Inchiquyn to Protestants and upon them consumed the substance of the Kingdom who most of them afterwards betrayed or desâ—rted us ANSWER How We have been furnished with the foresaid Sum of about half a Million of Pounds We have told you in Our Answer to the Preamble If they urge Our giving Commissions which they call Patents to Protestant Officers as a breach
of the Articles of Peace and had purposed to have made it good they should have set down the Article violated by it But they have been so used to have credit given to their words upon trust that whether what they say be true or false they are sure it will do their work and that and not Truth is the thing they aim at We confess to have given Commissions to many Protestant Officers and that they and their men were provided for as others of their respective conditions And VVe affirm That for their Fidelity Gallantry and Ability they deserved their Commissions and Pay full as well as any other of their respective conditions And it is not true That they or the most of them or any of them that VVe gave Commissions to did betray any place or person under their Command or ever deserted Us or the Cause VVe undertook True it is That We finding the desire and design of many of the People set on by the Declarers was to starve or otherwise destroy and break the remain of the Protestant Party that came to Us for these and other reasons hereafter to be expressed We permitted them in June or July last to make their conditions with the Enemy and so sent them away But that any one place was betrayed by any of those Protestants cannot be instanced nor that any more than about Three of them whereof one was a Major and the other two Lieutenants ever went away without Our Licence How many of them dyed valiantly doing their duty or that were cruelly put to death by the Enemy there are many amongst you that know Second Article of the Declaration That the Holts and Ports in Munster as Cork Kingsale and Youghal were put into the hands of faithless men of the Lord of Inchiquin's Party that betrayed those places to the Enemy to the utter undoing of the Kings interest in the whole Kingdom This good service they did His Majesty after soaking up the sweet and substance of the Catholick Subjects of Munster where it is remarkable upon making the Peace his Excellency would no way allow the Loyal Catholicks of Cork Youghal and Kingsale and other Garrisons to return to their own homes or houses ANSWER It is very well known That We put not the Holts or Ports in Munster into the hands of any but left them in the hands We found them as We had good reason to do those persons without capitulation having received Us as His Majesties Lieutenant And if any of them have betrayed those places as We conceive the Governours of Cork Kingsale and Youghal did not but were by others betrayed We are not reasonably chargeable with their Treachery and We believe they soaked as much of the sweet and substance of Munster and were as chargeable to that Province before as after the Peace Nor is it strange if they would not agree to a Peace that must have let in those that had been of a contrary Party to be Masters of the Holts they had before the Peace upon any occasion of their drawing forth till a full settlement of Parliament till when the Confederate Roman-Catholicks were to hold the Towns possessed by them But provision was made Articles of Peace in the 17th article See it before in the Appen of Instrum pag. 53. That such as were not admitted to re-inhabit the Towns for We understand divers were were to have the full benefit of their Houses and Estates in the said Towns or Garrisons So that what is remarkable in that in making the Peace We would not allow the return of those of Cork Youghal and Kingsale to their Houses We see not more than that as without they were debarred from it for a time neither the Army under the command of the Lord Inchiquin nor the then Inhabitants of the Towns would be drawn to submit to the Peace so as the Assembly being convinced thereof and of the great danger it might bring upon the Kingdom to have them oppose the Peace consented to the Article as it is expressed in the Book of the Articles of Peace But that which these Declarers would indeed have marked and collected out of their dark Note is That by this means these Towns were perhaps purposely given up by Us to the Rebels For as they have infected the People they know them so ready to make the worst construction of all events that they need not speak plainly to them Third Article of the Declaration Catholick Commanders instanced by the Commissioners of Trust according to the Pacification and thereupon by his Excellencies Commission receiving their Commands in the Army as Colonel Patrick Purcell Major General of the Army Colonel Piers fitz Gerald alias Mac Thomas Commissary of the Horse were removed without the consent of the said Commissioners and by no demerit of the Gentlemen and the said places that of Major General given to Daniel O Neale Esq a Protestant and that of Commissary of the Horse to Sir William Vaughan Knight and after the said Sir William to Sir Thomas Armstrong Knight both Protestants ANSWER To this VVe have fully answered in Our Answer to the second Article of the pretended Grievances except the particular of Mr. Daniel O Neale who was not named in the said Article For your clearer satisfaction VVe have caused the said Article and Our Answer to be Transcribed as followeth Article viz. The second of those called the Grievances They say That notwithstanding it was by the said Articles * Articles of Peace See the 9th of them before in the Apoendix of Instrum pag. 49. provided That places of Command Honour Profit and Trust in His Majesties Army in this Kingdom should upon perfection of the Articles actually and by particular instances be conferred on the Roman-Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom and that for the future no difference should be made between the said Roman-Catholicks and other His Majesties Subjects in distribution of such places but that it would be indifferently and that the command of Forts Castles Garrisons Towns and other places of importance in this Kingdom should be upon perfection of the Articles by instances conferred on His Majesties Roman-Catholick Subjects in this Kingdom and that 15000 Foot and 2500 Horse of the Roman-Catholicks of this Kingdom should be of the standing Army of this Kingdom yet contrary thereunto were persons by instances vested in places of command in the Army upon perfection of the Articles soon after removed and others placed in their stead (a) As in the cases of Major General Purcell and Commissary Peirs fitz Gerald. That Commanders of Forts instanced upon Catholicks upon perfection of the Peace were soon after transferred to Protestants (b) As in the case of Capt. Thomas Roch in the Fort of Duncannon That His Majesties whole Army in this Kingdom did not consist of so much as was promised to the said Catholicks for their security And that of the number whereof His Majesties Army did
thorough the good affection to His Majesty of divers Officers and Souldiers rather than forced by Siege or otherwise with some of whom We conceived it fit to leave the charge thereof What actions or expressions of Ours they were that disheartned the Roman-Catholicks to fight or be under Our Command is not here set down So that VVe can no otherwise answer to this than that VVe never did any such action or let fall any such expression but were indifferent in Our actions and expressions of civility and respect to all the Officers of the Army VVhat these Catholicks and many Thousands of the People with the Commissioners of Trust or the greater part of them might Fear if We had mastered the Kingdom VVe are not to answer for But if they feared VVe would in case We had mastered the Kingdom have infringed any of the Articles of Peace their fear was unjust and groundless nor have VVe ever before heard there was such a fear in them Fourteenth Article of the Declaration We will not speak of many Corruptions and Abuses as passing a Custodium upon the Abby of Kilbeggan worth in past years to the Confederates well nigh 400 l. per annum to Secretary Lane for 40 l. or thereabouts per annum not of many other such like to Daniel O Neil and others at an under-value to the great prejudice of the Publick ANSWER To this We answer That they have in Truth no reason to speak of any particular Corruptions and Abuses in this Article generally mentioned that which they instance in Secretary Lane's having a Custodium of Kilbeggan being so false that he never had any thing to do with it If they had had a truer instance VVe suppose they would not have spared to make use of it What Daniel O Neil had they set not down nor till they do are We able to answer it Fifteenth Article of the Declaration We do also notifie unto the Catholicks of the Kingdom most of the above Grievances and breaches of the Peace being delivered to the Commissioners of Trust in February last that the Clergy and Laity receiving redress and justice the discontent of the Subject ought to be removed no amendment appeared after eight months effluxed but the evil still continued that occasioned the ruine of the Nation and we also protest to the whole World having done our best we have no power to remove the jealousies and fears of the People ANSWER If these abovementioned pretended Grievances whereof most are disproved and some confessed and proved to be no breaches of the Peace were delivered to the Commissioners of Trust in February last We never saw them till September after the meeting at Jamestown in August last And if hereby be meant that Paper of pretended Grievances without Title or Subscription whereunto We have sent you Our Answers We never saw them till the 17th of August last The Conclusion of the Declaration Besides the above injuries and violation of the Articles of the Peace against Religion the Kings interest and the Nation nothing appearing before the eyes of the People but desolation waste burning and the destruction of the Kingdom three parts of four thereof being come under Contribution to the Enemy Cities Towns and strong Holts taken from them Altars pulled down Churches lost Priest killed and banished Sacraments Sacrifice and all things holy profaned and almost wholly extinguished Armies and great numbers of Souldiers by them maintained and the Enemy not fought withal those that would fight for them born down and those that would betray them cherished and advanced Finally no visible Army or defence appearing they are come to a despair of recovering what is lost or defending what they hold and some inclining for the safety of their Lives and Estates do compound with the Parliament persuading themselves no safety can be to any under the Government of the Lord Lieutenant attended by fate and disaster For prevention of those evils and that the Kingdom may not be lost to His Majesty and His Catholick Subjects this Congregation of Archbishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of both Clergies of this Kingdom found our selves bound in Conscience after great deliberation to declare against the continuance of His Majesties Authority in the person of the said Marquess of Ormond premitting this Protestation to the World That we had never come to such Declaration but that we and the People of this Kingdom generally despair of the Kingdoms recovery under his Government as hereby we do declare as well in our own names and behalf as in the names and behalf of the rest of the Catholicks of this Kingdom against him the said Marquess of Ormond having by his misgovernment ill conduct of His Majesties Army and the breach of Publick Faith with the People in several particulars of the Articles of Peace rendred himself incapable of continuing that great trust any longer being questionable before His Majesty for the foresaid injuries and ill government to which effect we will join with other members of this Kingdom in drawing a charge against him And we do hereby manifest to the People They are no longer obliged to obey the Orders and Commands of the said Lord Marguess of Ormond but are until a General Assembly of the Nation can be conveniently called together unanimously to serve against the Common Enemy for defence of the Catholick Religion His Majesties interests their liberties lives and fortunes in pursuance of the Oath of Association and to observe in the mean time the Form of Government the said Congregation shall prescribe until it be otherwise ordered by an Assembly or until upon application to His Majesty he settle the same otherwise And we do fulminate the annexed Excommunication of one date with this Declaration against all opposers of the same Declaration All ye good Christians that shall read this our Declaration forced from us by the affliction and disasters of distressed Ireland be pleased to know that we well understand the present condition of this Nation is more inclining to ruine and despair than recovery yet will we relie upon the mercy of God who can and will take off from us the heavy judgments of his Anger War and Plague if we shall amend our wicked lives and lean like little ones upon the arms of his mercy As we cry to Heaven for remedy let us confess with tears our sins saying with the Prophet Isaiah Cecidimus quasi folium universi iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerant nos Non est qui invocet nomen tuum Domine non est qui consurgat teneat te Abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae This language from the heart will reconcile Heaven unto us quiescet ira Dei erit placabilis super nequitia populi sui Though this Nobleman hath left us nothing but weakness want and desolation and that the Enemy is rich strong and powerful God is stronger and can help us
and for his own Names sake will deliver us Deus Eliae the God of wonders and miracles erit etiam nunc apud Hibernos if our Faith prove strong and our actions sound and sincere We will conclude with St. Paul that Ocean of Wisdom and Doctor of Nations Si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos Quis accusabit adversus electos Dei Deus qui justificat quis est qui condemnat Quis ergo nos separabit a charitate Christi Tribulatio an angustia an fames an nuditas an periculum persecutio an gladius sed in his omnibus superamus propter eum qui dilexit nos Let nothing separate you from the burning charity of Christ and God will ever preserve protect and bless you SIGNED Nicolaus Fernensis Procurator Dubliniensis Fr Antonius Cloanmacnoisensis Walterus Clonfertensis Procurator Laghlinensis Fr Arthurus Dunensis Connorensis Procurator Dromorensis Carolus Kelly S. T. D. Decanus Tuamensis Fr Bernardus Egan Procurator R. admodum P. Provincialis Fratrum Minorum Fr Ricardus O Kelly Procurator Vicarii Generalii Kildariensis Prior Rathbran Ordinis Praedicatorum Lucas Plunket S.T.D. Protonot Apostol Rector Collegii de Kilecu Exercitus Lageniae Capellanus Major Hugo Ardmaghanus Joannes Archiepiscopus Tuamensis Joannes Rapotensis Eugenius Kilmorensis Franciscus Aladensis Fr Gulielmus de Burgo Provincialis Ordinis Praedicatorum Jacobus Abbas de Conga Commissarius Generalis Can. Reg. S. Augustin Walterus Enos S. T. D. Protonotarius Apost Thesaurar Fernensis Procurator Ecclesiae Collegiatae Galviensis Thadaeus Eganus S. T. D. Praepositus Tuamensis Joannes Doulaeus Juris Doctor Abbas de Cilmanagh unus ex Procuratoribus Capitali Cleri Tuamensis And we the undernamed sitting at Galway with the Committee authorized by the Congregation held at Jamestown the 6th of Aug. currentis do concur with the above Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries in the above Declaration and withal do now make firm the same as an Act of our own by our several Subscriptions this 23d of August 1650. Fr Terentius Imolacensis Jacobus Fallonus Vicarius Apostolicus Accadensis Thomas Casselensis Joannes Laonensis Edmundus Lymericensis Robertus Corcagiensis Cloanensis ANSWER This Conclusion of their Declaration is a general recapitulation of the miseries and desolation fallen upon the Kingdom and People in Tragical and passionate expressions endeavouring to infuse into them a belief that all those Afflictions are thorough Our means fallen upon them whereas We suppose We have made it evident That next to the good pleasure of God to chastise the Nation the reason thereof may most reasonably be attributed to the Sedition Disloyalty Pride Covetousness and Ambition to Rule of these Declarers whom VVe challenge to instance whom VVe have born down that would have fought for them or whom cherished or advanced that would or did betray them And where they say That some are inclining to submit to those they call the Parliament persuading themselves that there can be no safety under Our Government attended by fate and disaster as they express themselves more like Heathen Poets than Christian Bishops and Churchmen it is known to some there That to Our certain knowledge divers persons and places of consideration would have submitted to the Enemy if We had gone rather than live under the Tyranny and confusion of the Government projected by these Declarers which was the principal reason of Our stay as will We fear be too evidently verified when We are gone unless that Assembly prevent it by more prudent temperate and solid determinations than these men are capable of giving or receiving Next they say That for prevention of those evils and that the Kingdom should not be utterly lost to His Majesty and His Catholick Subjects they found themselves bound in Conscience to declare against the continuance of His Majesties Authority in Vs and accordingly in their own Name and in the Name of the rest of the Catholicks of the Kingdom they do declare against the continuance of His Majesties Authority in Vs having by Our misgovernment and ill conduct of the Army and breach of Publick Faith rendred Our Self uncapable of continuing that great Trust any longer To which We answer That to prevent the loss of the Kingdom to His Majesty they take the Kingdom to themselves and without so much as making any address to Him or pretending to have received any direction or Commission from Him they declare to the People that they are no longer obliged to obey any Orders or Commands of the person by Commission authorized from him but until a General Assembly may conveniently be called or until upon application to His Majesty he settle the same elsewhere to observe the form of Government the said Congregation shall prescribe Whereby is to be observed That as they take it upon them when they please and in the highest Temporal affairs in the world to declare the sense of the People without their consent a thing that We have never read or heard was ever till now pretended to by King Pope or Clergy so they evidently assume the power of dissolving and erecting the Temporal Government of the Kingdom And this they say they found themselves bound in Conscience to do Which being a pretence inscrutable and at all times readily to be taken up can only be answered by the Laws of the Land that will not allow the excuse of Conscience for taking a Purse on the Highway or to come home to this matter for Acts of High Treason For the Clause viz. or until upon application to His Majesty he settle the same elsewhere it is inserted with purpose to abuse the People with a belief of their Loyalty when they have first incited them to Rebellion Touching the complaint they say will make against Vs to His Mejesty it should in reason and justice have preceded their Declaration And if either His Majesty had refused them hearing and justice or if We had not submitted to His determination there had been some colour for their proceeding as they did In the last part of their Conclusion they prepare the People with an Apology of the desperate state the Kingdom is left in by Us to bear the more patiently the utter loss of it under the Government they would set up and with a touch indeed of Episcopal counsel to amend their lives and depend upon Gods providence and protection they dismiss them Wherein what example they have given them We leave to the judgment of God the Searcher of hearts and the impartial Judge of the thoughts and actions of men In the Order attested by the Bishop of Clonfert for publication of the Excommunication which publication was made at Laghreogh the 15th of September it is expressed that the Order given to the Committee of Bishops at Galway by the Congregation at Jamestown was That in case VVe would not depart the Kingdom upon their advice and depute the Kings Authority with persons of Trust or that We denied to depart
the Kingdom and no demonstration could be made how the Kingdom could be preserved under Our Government that then the said Declaration should be published It is further expressed in the said Order That VVe being sollicited to the effect aforesaid with urgent reasons absolutely denied to consent thereunto and that VVe neither did nor could demonstrate unto them any way of preserving the remainder of the Kingdom under Our Government and therefore according to the Trust reposed in them by the said Congregation they did publish the said Declaration denouncing to all Archbishops Bishops c. This is all VVe observe in this Order of Publication more than is contained in the Declaration at Jamestown VVhat We have to answer in this Order for Publication is briefly this They held it fit VVe should quit the Kingdom and depute the King's Authority with some person or persons of Trust that is pleasing to them We refuse so to do upon their advice giving them some reasons why We refuse and promising them more if they would at a free Conference hear them For not following this advice without refuting the Reasons We gave for Our not going and without hearing or so much as asking what other reasons those were which We were unwilling to write and yet would tell them at a free Conference by which caution they might imagine they were of moment they proceded to their Declaration and Excommunication Here though We have formerly touched it let it be observed That having several times and upon several occasions offered to leave the Kingdom and to depute the Kings authority not to disparage the Nation with the onely person in all respects fit for it and a Roman-Catholick This was not accepted of but We are made believe the Lord of Inchiquin being removed from any charge of the Army and the Protestant Party gone there remained no further distrust or dislike of Us and that then all obedience would be given Us. All this and whatever else they advised being done on Our part Our Frigat which lay in Ire-Connaught whence We might have securely gone being sent away and the Harbours blocked up by the Rebels ships they impose upon Us to effect an impossibility namely to go out of the Kingdom without means of Transportation or else as far in them lies We are rendred infamous throughout the world and to all Ages by their defamatory Libel Whatever Our demerit had been and if We were the faithless the negligent the every way unworthy person they have described Us to be certainly they cannot free themselves from the guilt of so mean and base a Treachery Let it be next considered That if when a company of Bishops or a Congregation of Archbishops Bishops c have a mind to set up themselves or any others as Governours over the Kingdom and this power they assume at least in the interval of Assemblies and have now twice practised it and the Governour appointed by Royal Authority or when that is absent which should never be supposed by a just Representative of the Nation will not give them room by quitting the Government he is placed in at their desire without direction from the Power whence he derives his Authority or without unavoidable necessity inforcing him if We say for his not doing a thing so contrary to the Trust reposed in him to the sense of those intrusted by the People as the Commissioners of Trust were and contrary to the sense of the most interested persons of the Kingdom the foresaid company of Bishops or Congregation may therefore with impunity deliver all men to Satan that shall feed help or adhere to him it is in this case easie to discover that Bishops or a Congregation thus doing do aim at and will if so permitted easily compass the Supreme Temporal Power If it be said They only do it upon evident necessity for the preservation of the People in apparent hazard of being lost and that in this case only of so absolute necessity they pretend to such power and when informed or convinced will lay it down to the King or Assembly We believe no King or State careful of their own preservation will allow they have this power even in this case For instance if the Bishops or Congregation of both Clergies of the Kingdom of Naples or of any Signiory under the State of Venice should pretend to a power upon any necessity whatsoever whereof the said Bishops and Congregation to be Judges of discharging the Subjects of the King of Spain from obeying the Vice-Roy of Naples or the Subjects of any Signiory under the State of Venice from obeying the Governour of any such Signiory appointed by the State directing them in the mean time to observe and obey such Form of Government as the said Congregation should prescribe till it should be otherwise ordered by the said King or State VVe suppose it would not pass for Orthodox Doctrine in that Roman-Catholick Kingdom or State That a Congregation is qualified with such power Nor would the necessity of their so doing nor yet the sanctity of their function or persons protect them from severe punishment That Our Kings Prerogative in that particular is as great in this Kingdom as the King of Spains in Naples or that of the State of Venice in any Signiory of theirs it is Treason to deny as it is to affirm That in this particular such a Congregation here hath more authority than a like Congregation in that Kingdom or State But these men have not only in this case exceeded whatever at any time or in any place was pretended to by any of their Function but had less ground if less might be for such a pretension than any others For here in a solemn Assembly of the Nation a Peace was concluded most of the Bishops signing this Declaration were actually there consenting to the Peace and all the Congregation either at or after the conclusion of the Peace subscribed to it So that by the general consent of the Congregation first or last Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery c were to look to the performance of the Articles of Peace and thereby had greater pretence to be proper Judges of the violation of the said Articles than this Congregation Yet without consulting them they publish this Declaration and fulminate their Excommunication against any that should adhere to Us among other things for pretended violations of the Peace and would not by the said Commissioners be persuaded to retract it VVhere they say We neither did nor could demonstrate unto them any way of preserving the remainder of the Kingdom under Our Government it was a question never asked of Us either by the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelly who brought Us the message or by the Bishops of Cork and Clonfert that were sent to Us for Our Answer or indeed by any other If such a question had been moved to Us VVe should doubtless have answered That the most probable
Kingdom Lastly That a present course be taken for means for Our support in proportion answerable to Our place yet with regard to the state of the Kingdom VVhich last VVe should not propose but that We are deprived of Our private Fortune whereupon We have solely subsisted ever since We came to the Kingdom To all which We expect your present Answer And so We bid you heartily farewell and remain at Enis the 23d of October 1650. Your very loving Friend ORMOND What more could in this case be offered by Us or upon what more necessary conditions We know not And that this Our offer was satisfactory to the said Commissioners appears by their Letter to Us in these words May it please Your Excellency YOur Lordships of the 23d of this instant we have received and therein to our unexpressible grief we find that His Majesty hath been induced to declare the Peace concluded in this Kingdom in the year 1648 to be void and that he is absolved therefrom taking for the principal grounds for such his Declaration the unlawfulness of the Act. And howbeit we cannot without a very feeling sense of the grief the Nation with just cause may entertain of the prejudice thereby brought upon them and the blemish cast upon those hearty endeavours of theirs to restore His Majesty to His former estate and power over His Subjects look upon those unexpected fruits of their blood and substance so chearfully spent in his service yet it greatly comforts us to understand that notwithstanding that Declaration by some undue means obtained from His Majesty Your Excellency is resolved by all the means that it shall please God to offer unto You and thorough all hazards in the behalf of this Nation to insist upon and assert that Peace and persist in so doing until Your Excellency and such as shall be entrusted and authorized by the Nation shall have free and safe access unto His Majesty And as to those Provisoes which are expressed as necessary conditions whereby His Majesties Authority which notwithstanding that Declaration we still do embrace and revere may be continued among us besides our general profession to act what lies in our power in the wayes of His Majesties service and to Your Excellencies satisfaction we do return the ensuing Answers And To the first Proviso concerning the revocation of those Acts Declaration and Excommunication issued by the Bishops met at Jamestown and the assurance demanded that nothing in that kind shall be attempted for the future we do humbly answer That Your Excellency to whom we have often expressed our resentment of such their proceedings may be confident we shall labour so far as in us lies to see Your Excellency satisfied in this particular and to that end we will all or some of us with Your Excellencies allowance and as You shall think fit repair to Galway to Treat with the Prelates upon this Subject To the second we humbly return as Answer That albeit we know that by those Censures of the Bishops met at Jamestown His Majesties Authority was invaded and an unwarranted Government set up contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom and that we are assured no Subject could be justly warranted by that Excommunication to deny obedience to His Majesties Authority in Your Excellency yet being of opinion that a publick Declaration of this kind in this conjuncture of affairs ought properly and would with more countenance and authority move from an Assembly than from us and that by such a publick Declaration now from us we would wholly obstruct the way to prevail with the Prelates to withdraw those Censures or act what is desired by the former Proviso and likewise endanger what union there is at present in opposing the Common Enemy and prejudice the hopes of a more perfect union for the future wherein the preservation of the Nation doth principally consist we do therefore humbly beseech Your Excellency to call upon an Assembly of the Nation from whom such a Declaration as may be effectual in this behalf and may settle those distractions can only proceed Yet if in the mean time and before the meeting of that Assembly those Censures now suspended shall be revived we will endeavour to suppress their influence upon the People by such a Declaration as shall become Loyal Subjects and men entrusted to see all due obedience paid to His Majesties Government over this Kingdom To the third we do humbly return as Answer That we shall at all times and in such manner as Your Excellency shall think fit to prescribe invite all or any His Majesties Roman-Catholick Subjects to such a Declaration which yet until we shall understand the Clergies sense upon the first Proviso we do humbly represent as fit for a time to be forborn To the fourth we humbly return as Answer That whatsoever Your Excellency shall find to be properly within our power and will direct to be done for procuring a free residence for Your person in any place you shall choose within the limits not possessed by the Rebels we shall readily obey Your Lordships Commands therein To the fifth we humbly return as Answer That upon debate with Your Excellency of the places fit to be Garrisoned and the number of men fit to be received thereunto we shall according to the Articles of Peace use our utmost endeavours to have such Garrison so agreed upon admitted To the last we humbly return as Answer That as we have at all times heretofore been ready and willing Your Excellencies charge should be supported out of the Revenue of the Kingdom so we are now very ready to concur in assigning any of the dues already accrued or such as shall grow due hereafter or to impose a new applotment upon the Subject towards Your Excellencies maintenance Thus humbly taking leave we remain Inis 24 Octob. 1650. Your EXCELLENCIES Most humble Servants N Plunket Ri Barnewall Ri Everard Gerald Fennell Arthunry Lucas Dillon Ric Bellings Geff Browne In pursuance of their desire expressed in the now recited Letter We gave way to their Treating with the Prelates at Galway Accordingly they went thither and proposed to the said Prelates the Revocation of their Declaration upon the motives expressed in these ensuing heads Proposals of the Commissioners of Trust made to the Committee of the Congregation the 29th of October 1650. and the Answers of the Committee I. FIrst They offered to our consideration part of a Letter of the Lord Lieutenant to them written at Enis the 23d of October last II. They shewed us the King 's Declaration made touching the Covenant and the disavowing the Peace and pursuant to that acquainted us with the condition of the Kingdom as in relation to the Kings party engaged to the Covenant and in relation to the Independents so as the onely seeming safety for the Nation is that of the Peace III. They desired to know from us what way we conceived remaineth that may tend best to the preservation of the Nation
and us IV. They proposed that an Vnion cannot be had or preserved for preservation of the Nation without keeping the King's Authority among us for that many of those considerable will instantly make their conditions with the Enemy the Kings Authority being taken away and that there is no hopes of leaving that Authority with us but by revoking the Excommunication and the Declaration for it will not be left by the Lord Lieutenant or undergone by Clanricard but on those terms Whether there is ground for the sense of the Commissioners delivered in and upon these heads We leave to themselves to make good and to the event that shall follow the refusal of the Prelates to hearken or assent to the Proposals of the said Commissioners But finding that in the Reasons given by the said Prelates for their refusal and in the Advices they give for the union and preservation of the Nation they have repeated some of those things wherewith VVe were formerly unjustly charged by them and have framed new objections against Us VVe shall take a particular view of each of them and as far forth as VVe conceive Our Self concerned shall give Answers to them though VVe had reason to hope That if the offer VVe made should not meet with the success VVe desired that yet so affectionate a manifestation of Our love to the Nation transporting Us to an overture of reconciliation with those that had so much injured Us would not have given ground for repeating of old and casting new Aspersions upon Us. Answers of the Committee to the Proposals of the Commissioners before recited First Article The abovementioned Letter was read containing his Excellencies undertaking for asserting the Peace and his demands of two Provisoes to that end Where we observe his Excellency informed His Majesty of certain disobediences and affronts put upon the Kings Authority and consequently suggested matter to His Majesty of making His Declaration against the Peace Answer VVe have in Our Answer * * Pag. 115. to the 11th Article of their Declaration answered to this Introduction and Our Letter out of which they make this Collection is but newly recited * * Pag. to which VVe refer them Second Article We have perused the King 's Declaration disavowing of the late Peace And are of opinion for ought to Vs appearing That the King hath thereby withdrawn His Commission and Authority from the Lord Lieutenant This is clearly proved out of a branch of the said Declaration taking away and nulling all Commissions granted by him In that Declaration the King will have no friends but the friends of the Covenant Hence it is evidently inferred That His Majesties Authority is taken away from the Lord Lieutenant unless he be a friend to the Covenant as we conceive he is not But if he be he is not our friend nor to be trusted by us in having authority over us In the same Declaration the Irish Nation as bloody Rebels are cast from the protection of the Kings Laws and Royal Favours It may not therefore be presumed That He would have His Authority kept over such a Nation to govern them We do join with you in that you represent to wit there is no safety to be expected from Covenanters or Independents for the Catholick Religion or this Nation If that of the Peace be proved the onely safety we are for it However we conceive the benefit thereof is due to us having made no breach of our part Answer Here they readily declare their opinion concerning His Majesties having recalled Our Commission and take pains to prove it by an unavoidable dilemma or that at least We are not their Friend nor to be Trusted by them and by another strong Argument they endeavour to prove His Majesty would not have His Authority at all kept over this Nation VVhen by this means they have as they think shewed it impossible That the Peace can be continued which they know it cannot without the continuance of the Kings Authority then they say if the Peace be proved the onely safety they are for it and that however they conceive the benefit thereof is due to them having made no breach on their part If they would make it their business to seek for Arguments to keep the Kings Authority over them they might perhaps find many and these as convincing as those they have found to dispute it out of the Kingdom as The Conclusion and Ratification of the Peace here by vertue of His Authority precedent to the Declaration seeming to annul it the certainty that He was in a free condition when he gave the said Authority and ratified the Peace concluded by it and The question that may be made whether he was so when he declared against it and lastly That by the Articles of Peace He is obliged to continue His Authority here from which obligation no Declaration at least importuned from Him by His Subjects of Scotland can free Him or take from this Nation who have no dependence on Scotland the benefit of the Agreement made by His Majesty with them Upon these grounds it was That until His Majesty had been fully informed in all that had passed here and declared his free sense upon it We offered to justifie the lawfulness of concluding the Peace and the continuing validity of it to those that had not forfeited their interest in it if We might have had the concurrence of these Bishops and obedience in the places by the strength and means whereof it might have been justified And surely this was an offer not meriting the scorn and bitterness wherewith it was rejected If they that contrived this Paper have made no breach of the Peace on their part We have lost much labour in the forepassed discourse But We believe We have proved they have made many and those the highest it was possible to make And sure they must be very partial on their own side if they think the benefit of a thing they reject is due to them Third Article Something of our sense concerning what way may tend best to the Nations preservation we will say beneath and do offer our clear intentions before God to join with you and all men in what will be found the best and safest way to such preservation Answer This is onely a profession which requires no Answer from Us. Fourth Article We are of opinion and did ever think all our endeavours should be employed to keep the Kings Authority over us But when His Majesty throweth away the Nation from His protection as Rebels withdrawing His own Authority we cannot understand this mystery of preserving the same with us and over us or how it may be done Whereas you say That many of those considerable will instantly make their conditions with the Enemy if the King 's Authority be taken away by himself as by His Declaration it is and not driven away by the Subject in such case when the People may not hold it likely they
will not agree with the Parliament for not having it We are of opinion the best remedy the King 's Authority being taken away as was said of meeting this inconvenience of the Peoples closing with the Parliament is returning to the Confederacy as was intended by the Nation in case of breach of the Peace of His Majesties part This will keep an union amongst us if men will not be precipitantly guilty of breach of their Oath of Association which Oath by two solemn Orders of two several Assemblies is to continue binding if any breach of the Articles should happen of His Majesties part The King 's Authority and the Lord Lieutenants Commission being recalled by the Declaration abovesaid we are of opinion the Lord Lieutenant hath no such Authority to leave If we must expose Lives and Fortunes to the hazard of fighting for making good that Peace seeing the danger and prejudice is alike to defend that or get a better Peace why should we bound our selves within the limits of those Articles so disavowed Answer To this VVe answer That if they were alwayes of opinion all their endeavours should be employed to keep the King's Authority over them their Declaration and Excommunication is a strange way of manifesting that opinion which Declaration and Excommunication bears date before His Majesties Declaration wherein they say He throweth away the Nation as Rebels So that whatever His Majesty hath done in withdrawing His Authority it is apparent their endeavour to drive it away was first in time In their advice of returning to the Confederacy appears the scope of their dilemma's and arguments against the continuance of the King's Authority over them which that they may be sure to be rid of they say VVe have not Authority to leave Their Reasons why in Conscience they cannot consent to the revocation of their Declaration and Excommunication follow Vpon consideration of the whole matter we may not consent with safety of Conscience to the Provisoes of revoking our Declaration and Excommunication demanded by his Excellency or granting any assurance to him or the Commissioners of Trust for not attempting the like in the future and that for many Reasons especially for First Reason That the King's Authority is not in the Lord Lieutenant nor power in us to confer a new Authority on him being also destructive to the Nation to continue it in him and preservative if in another And that was our sense when we declared against the King's Authority in his person Answer The King's Authority was to Us when the Declaration and Excommunication was framed by them they acknowledge And that it is still in Us notwithstanding His Majesties said Declaration VVe are able to make good if We could find it of advantage to His service or the safety of His good Subjects But that they confess It is not in them to confer a new Authority upon us is one of the few Truths they have set down Yet why they may not pretend to give as well as take away Authority and why they may not to Us as well as to others We know not They further say It is destructive to the Nation if continued in Vs and preservative if in another and this they say was their sense when they declared against the King's Authority in Our person We would gladly know what We have done to change their sense since the time that by their many professions formerly recited they seemed to be of another opinion If it be for doing little or nothing We believe We have made it appear they are principally guilty of Our being out of action That it will be preservative to the Nation to have Authority to govern it in another We shall be glad to be convinced in the event Second Reason We much fear we should lose the few Churches remaining under his Government as we lost under him all the Churches of the Cities of Waterford and Kilkenny and the Towns of Wexford Rosse Clonmel Cashel Fethard Kilmallock c. In this agreeing with the Maccabees Maximus vero primus pro sactitate timâ—r exat templi Answer The loss of the places mentioned here is answered elsewhere We shall only add That as Cashel was lately deserted by some of those these men esteem obedient Children of Holy Church so the same men could neither be persuaded nor forced into Kilkenny when they had orders for it and by that means both places were lost Third Reason His Excellency having declared at Cork That he will maintain during his life the Protestant Religion according to the example of the best Reformed Churches which may be the same in substance with the Oath of Covenant for ought we know we may not expect from him defence of the Catholick Religion Answer Whatever We declared at Cork in this particular was before the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and was published in Print and then well known to many of these Bishops So that they ought then to have been aware how they had concluded a Peace with one that had made such a Declaration rather than now after almost Two years to make it a ground of breaking the Peace What Our opinion is of the Covenant or the best Reformed Churches We hold not Our Self obliged to declare Resolved We were to defend the Peace concluded by Us in all the parts of it Which We have faithfully endeavoured to do and should still have endeavoured it if We had not been interrupted affronted and wholly disabled therein by the contrivement of those very Bishops their Brethren and Instruments Fourth Reason The scandal over all the world to make choice of one of a different Religion especially in Rome where His Holiness in His Agreement or Articles with the Queen of England had a Catholick Governour granted though not performed And we do fear the scourges of War and Plague that have fallen so heavy upon us are some evidences of Gods anger against us for putting Gods Causes and Churches under such a hand whereas that Trust might have been managed in a Catholick hand under the King's authority Answer Now at length they are come plainly to shew the true ground of their Exception to Us which they have endeavoured all the while to disguise under the personal scandals they have endeavoured to cast upon us They are afraid of scandal at Rome for making choice as they call it as if they might choose their Governours of one of a different Religion If this be allowed them why they may not next pretend to the same fear of scandal for having a King of a different Religion and to the power of choosing one of their own Religion We know not Touching any agreement made between the Queen of England and His Holiness for a Governour for this Kingdom We have never heard of any such and We are most confident That in the agreement and consequently in the want of performance Her Majesty is falsely aspersed by the framers of this Paper Fifth Reason That we shall
find no succour or countenance from any Catholick Prince of the Church or Laity he governing but reproach and disgrace Answer We believe that no Prince or State that could not be induced to succour or countenance this Nation being under obedience to their natural King will succour or countenance it if it suffer it self to be seduced into Rebellion upon the motives suggested by these men and their Brethren which were to give evil example to their own Subjects and hazard the quiet of their Kingdoms or States Sixth Reason That the Souldiers by the ill success of his conduct have not the heart to fight under him and so we shall be lost if we come to fighting Seventh Reason We find the People generally in great fear to be lost under his Government and are of opinion That the greater part of the People will agree with the Parliament if the Authority were continued in him despairing of defence under him Answer To these We have answered elsewhere * * From page 109. to page 115. in this Discourse Eighth Reason That we declared against him having the King's Authority out of no spleen or malice against his person so save us God but for the fear we had upon good deliberation of the utter ruine and destruction of the Nation under his Government and that now finding no reasons or wayes of preservation by him we may not with reason be induced to alter our opinion especially the Kings authority being not in him Answer We cannot sufficiently wonder That men having no spleen or malice to our person have yet been so Transported by their desire to have a Governour to their mind as to asperse us with so many untruths as they have been detected of in this Discourse Or why if their charity be such as they speak of they chose not rather to deal freely with Us in private when VVe so often provoked them to it than to join with others to keep Us here against Our inclination as if it were on purpose to send Us away irrecoverably blasted in Honour and Reputation by their publick Declaration Ninth Reason That those two considerable Corporations remaining are at great distance with his Excellency for giving Commissions to take away their Goods and other Reasons and are thought to be resolved not to submit to him though they resolve to appear as in their intentions and actions they conceive they are faithful to the Crown and to the Kings authority obedient if placed in another person Answer As to the Commissions here mentioned to be given by Us against Lymerick the many provocations disobediences affronts and challenges of dues by the Commissioners applotted on them required much more at Our hands than VVe did VVhich you will find by the ensuing Discourse though therein VVe are necessitated to re-assume in part what VVe formerly said of the demeanour of that City That VVe having for a long time observed the great disadvantage His Majesties service in the conduct of the VVar hath been subject unto for want of Garrisoning the Army in the principal Cities and Towns of this Kingdom whereby the Army could not but be undisciplin'd and unfit for action the Countrey where VVe have been forced to quarter them at large burthened and destroyed and the said Cities and Towns on the defence whereof depended the preservation of the Kingdom with the lives liberties and fortunes of all His Majesties good Subjects therein in apparent hazard of being lost upon the approach of an Enemy as by sad experience hath been verified in the loss of some places of importance for the want of the seasonable admitting into them of fitting Governours and Garrison Souldiers VVe did on the 14th of January last propose unto the Commissioners authorized by Us in pursuance of the Articles of Peace That then immediately Lymerick and other places should be strongly Garrison'd and Fortifi'd and in pursuance of the said Articles VVe offer'd unto them the names of three persons of the Roman-Catholick Religion that out of them they might choose one for the Command of Lymerick But the Plague increasing at Kilkenny together with the necessity of dissolving the meeting then there and for other important Reasons the Election of a Governour of the said City of Lymerick was deferred to the end that at Our coming thither VVe might in the manner prescribed by the Articles of Peace make choice of such a Person and Garrison as might be at once fit for so important a Charge and beyond all possibility of being lyable to just Exception from that Corporation We leave it to the Commissioners and others that then attended Us to witness what pains We there took to satisfie those of that City in the necessity of their speedy receiving a Governour and Garrison in relation to all the interests that can be of value with any people what Our patience was in passing by many disrespects and marks of an unworthy distrust put upon us there as particularly the Officer commanding the City Guards neither came to Us for orders nor imparted any to Us That no Officer of the Army nor any other person could without special leave and that hardly obtained from the Mayor be admitted to come to Us to receive Our commands and directions for resisting the Rebels than by this means prevailing in the County of Lymerick and other places and That the Lord Viscount Kilmallock a Peer of the Realm and an Officer of the Army was We being upon the place restrained of his liberty for no other reason than for quartering by Our orders for one Night some few Horse under his Command in the liberties of the City When thorough such their deportment We despaired of persuading them to the wayes leading to their proper safety and also judged it far beneath the honour of Our Master to remain any longer in a place where such Affronts were put upon His Authority intrusted with Us We determined to remove from thence to Loghreogh appointing the said Commissioners and as many of the Roman-Catholick Bishops as were within any convenient distance to meet Us there on the 19th of March Where being met We declared unto them the necessity of Garrisoning that City and gave them some notice of Our resentment of Our usage there yet sparingly in hope that by their means they might be brought to consent to what was so necessary for their own preservation and in time to a better understanding of their duty to His Majesties Authority Whereupon the said Commissioners by two of their number directed very pressing and rational Letters to that Corporation to the effect proposed by Us offering to them their choice of five persons for the Martial Government of that City all of the Roman-Catholick Religion of considerable interest in the Kingdom and of unblemished Reputation And the Bishops do affirm That they accompanied those Letters with others from themselves persuading that obedience should be given to what was required by Us with the advice and consent of
of his Majesties Kingdoms that the belief of Transubstantiation amongst English Irish and Scottish Catholicks is no more a Sign or an Argument of a Puritan Papist than it is at present amongst the French XII That we have no cause to wonder at the Protestants Jealousie of us when they see all the three several Tests hitherto made use of for trying the judgment or affection of Roman Catholicks in these Kingdoms in Relation to the Papal pretences of one side and the Royal rights of the other I mean the Oath of Supremacy first the Oath of Allegiance next and last of all that which I call the Loyal Formulary or the Irish Remonstrance of the year 1661 even all three one after another to have been with so much rashness and wilfulness and so much vehemency and obstinacy declined opposed traduced and rejected amongst them albeit no other Authority or power not even by the Oath of Supremacy (z) Art 37. of the Church of England And Admonition after the Injunctions of Queen ELIZABETH it self be attributed to the King save only Civil or that of the Sword nor any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power be denied therein to the Pope save only that which the general Council of Ephesus (a) In the year 431. under Theodosius the Younger in the Case of the Cyprian Bishops and the next Oecumenical Synod of Chalcedon (b) In the year 451 Can. 28. under the good Emperour Martianus in the case of Anatolius Patriarch of Constantinople and the two hundred and seventeen Bishops of Africk (c) In the year 419. whereof Saint Augustine was one both in their Canons and Letters too in the Case of Apiarius denyed unto the Roman Bishops of their time and albeit the Oath of Allegiance was of meer purpose framed only to distinguish 'twixt the Loyal and disloyal Catholicks or the honest and Loyal party of them from those of the Powder-Treason Principles and albeit the Remonstrance of 1661 was framed only at first by some well meaning discreet and learned Roman Catholicks of the English Nation and was now lately signed by so many and such persons of the Irish Nation as we have seen before and was so far from entrenching on the Catholick Faith or Canons or Truth or Justice in any point that saving all these it might have been much more home than it is though indeed as from well meaning honest men it be home enough nay and albeit neither of these two later Tests the Oath of Allegiance or the Irish Remonstrance promiseth to the King any other than meer Civil obedience and this obedience too in meer civil or temporal Affairs only according to the Laws of the Land nor denyes any canonical obedience to the Pope in either Spiritual or Ecclesiastical matters purely such nor indeed in any matter at all wherein the Canons of the Catholick Church impower his Holiness and wherein his Key does not manifestly err How much more may it provoke them to see the few Ecclesiastical approvers of the said Tests especially of either of these two last to have been therefore persecuted amongst and by the foresaid generality of British and Irish Catholicks yea to have been look'd upon as Outcasts Excommunicants Schismaticks Hereticks and what not And that excellent man that most loyal and learned English Monk Father Thomas Preston for having formerly both under his own name and that of Roger Widrington so incomparably defended the foresaid Oath of Allegiance to have been forced nay content and glad at last to shelter himself in a (d) In the Clink at London prison from the furious persecution of the Opposers And after him so lately again Father Peter Walsh of Saint Francis's Order only for having promoted the said Loyal Irish Formulary of 1661 and for having Subscribed it himself and refused to retract his Subscription to have been reduced to a far worse condition than Preston even that of a Bannito or an Out-lawed man by publick denunciation and affâ—xion of him as an excommunicate person to be shun'd by all former Acquaintance except a very few and to be left alone at last for the matter one single person to maintain the justice of that Formulary and of his own defence and cause and carriage all along and consequently to grapple with a numberless number of subtle and powerful and implacable Adversaries How much more to see so many Books of Roman Catholick Doctors Italian Spanish German Dutch Candian English of Bellarmine and Becan and Suarez and Singleton and Sculkenius and Tortus and Eudamon Johannes and Gretser and Parsons and Fitzherbert c to have been written printed and published against the foresaid Oath of Allegiance enacted by King James And amongst the generality of the Roman Catholick Readers so many practical Students to have been indoctrinated by those very Books or some of them Although Books in truth wholly composed of lying Sophistry i.e. of very false Doctrines in point of Religion and very treasonable and pernicious in point of subjection as it hath been sufficiently proved concerning all the above mentioned Doctors by the foresaid indefatigable Writer Thomas Preston who has not left his Antagonists either place or possibility of saying a word to his last Pieces wherewith he so incomparably baffled all their Answers Replies Rejoinders c. How much more after all this and even since his present Majesties Restauration to see so much wrath and rage against so innocent a Formulary of their own and of professing Allegiance in meer temporal things only So many forreign Censures of Divines and forreign Letters of Inter-Nuncio's and Cardinals to have been procured And so many forreign both Citations and Excommunications to have been issued forth against the Subscribers of it with professed design both to suppress it utterly and either to silence them eternally or to destroy them for subscribing it yea so many Missionaries to have been employed and Commissaries authorized and for a dead lift and when opportunity served at last in the year 1669 besides Provincials instituted and Vicars Apostolical made even so many Bishops and Archbishops on a sudden to have been created in Ireland by his Holiness for that end chiefly And all this strange and late procedure against so harmless a profession of Allegiance to have been hitherto look'd upon by the generality of British and Irish Catholicks I mean by such of them as knew thereof not only with indifferent eyes and thoughts but by the far greater part of them received with complacency and by all for ought appears submitted unto with a perfect resignation of their Souls to the good pleasure of his Holiness and his Ministers I say it is not to be imagined that all these matters concerning those three several Tests one after another should have been and happened thus even publickly before the Sun and to the full Knowledge not of Catholicks onely but of Protestants but it must of necessity give very much ground to the more considering persons
this Kingdom and in that particular too that the Pope could not depose Bishops in Ireland against the same Canons for that their third allegation I say it appears already out of all hiterto said to be even as to both branches of this fourth proposition or in relation to the said branches more than positively more than abundantly false especially if we understand by the Kings authority rights c. what honest men without Sophistry understand For if we do not the allegation must be to no purpose though it should relate only to the first branch as appears manifestly out of what is before said to their first and second allegation And for the second branch or part of the said fourth proposition they have not as much as any kind of colour to say that in their Remonstrance or three first Propositions they have as much as glanced at it Which the Reader may see with his own eyes and of himself without any further proof of mine conclude evidently by comparing together this fourth Proposition and their said three former Propositions and Remonstrance What ground then had they for this third Sophistical allegation of a more positiveness I confess that notwithstanding I have read and read again ten times over and over their said Remonstrance and three Propositions signed by them and compared both to this fourth I see none at all but that very vnsignificant and sorry one which is by a little inconsiderable change of the first Proposition which the Congregation was absolutly necessitated unto if they would not be convinced by every Soul that knew their former actions of a manifest untruth and lye For the first Proposition of Sorbone declaring in the second part that the said Faculty had always or at all times thitherto resisted or opposed even such as attributed to the Pope as much as an indirect authority or an indirect authority alone over the temporals of the most Christian King it is manifest our Congregation could not imitate Sorbone as to that part or I mean for what concerned the time past or could not have said as those of that Faculty did in these words immo semper obstitisse Pacultatem eriant ijs qui indirectam tantummodo voluerunt esse illum authoritatem Which was the reason that forced them to change the Precerpâ—â— perfect tense of the infinitive moode which tense the Sorbonists did and justy could make use of as they framed that first Proposition and change it to the future tense of the Indicative moode and put it into this form we promise that we shall still oppose them who shall assert any power either direct or indirect over him in Civil and temporal affairs Now what more positiveness hath this of the future tense argued I would fain know of any man And other argument than this sorry though necessary change I see none if not peradventure the words natural and just added to obedience in the third Proposition Epithets not made use of here by Sorbone be not thought by Father N. N. to be arguments of more positiveness But if he do and shew himself herein less than a Sophister every understanding man can tell him presently that where Sorbone sayes and declares in the said third Proposition their doctrine to be quod Subditi fidem et obedientiam Regi Chriâ—â—tae nissim it a debent ut ab ijs nullo praetextu dispensari possint it was needless to add those or any other Epithets to that faith and obedience which they profess there to be so due from his own Subjects to the most Christian King that under no pretext soever they may be dispensed with therein For certainly every man knowes there is no faith or obedience due from them to him but natural and just as neither can be from us to our own King So that albeit those Epithets be good yet they and nothing to the French proposition much less more positiveness in the declaration And whither the word faith which the Sorboniâ—â— have in this their third Proposition and yet is omitted in the same by our Congregation whither purposely or not I know not certainly do argue a less positiveness of less â—ye or obligation I leave it to others to determine Having done with their second Paragraph we are now come to their third Which I give likewise at length and in then own words As to the 5th they mean the 5th Sorbone Proposition as here in terminis that it is noe the doctrine of the Faculty but applied to the Congregation That it is not our doctrine that the Pope is above the general Couneâ— We thought it likewise not material to our affaire to talke of a School-question of Divinity controverted in all Catholick Vniversities of the world whether the Pope be above general Councils or no whether he can annul the Acts of a general Council or no dissolve the general Council or whither contrary-wise the Council can depose the Pope c. Secondly we conceive it not onely impertinent but dangerous in its consequence and unseasonable to talke of a question which without any profit either to the King or his Subjects may breed jealousy between the King and his Subjects or may give the least overture to such odious and horrid disputes concerning the power of Kings and Common-wealths as our late sad experience hath taught us Where I observe two Specifical reasons and no more given by them for the applicableness to their present purpose here of their above first general pretence The first is that whether the Pope be above a general Council or no is disputed in all Catholick Vniversities The second that their subscription to the fifth Proposition of Paris or to their resolve on this question would give others to understand it must consequently follow it is not their doctrine that the King is above the Parliament It seems they were put to very narrow shifts when they stuffed their Paper with such weak arguments But the illness of the cause afforded them no better and their resolution not to subscibe having been so unalterable as it was they must have pretended the most specious they could not certainly out of any hope to render by such pretences their obstinacie excusable with any judicious knowing men much less to impose on the Lord Lieutenant for whose immediat satisfaction they would have others believe these reasons and arguments were so digested but for a quite other design which was to abuse the multitude or vulgar by pretences of reasons and arguments whereof the common People could not understand the weakness whom therefore I have thought paines-worthy to disabuse by these following answers And first to their first argument which sayeth it is disputed in all Catholick Vniversities whether the Pope be above a general Council or not and therefore concludes the immaterialness and impertinency of their subscription to that 5th of Paris or to this It is not our doctrine that the Pope is above a general Council it is answered That those of