such as she thought would oppose themselves viz. the Lord Chancellor Heath Arch-Bishop of York the Lord Paget Lord Privy Seal the Secretary Boxhal Sir Francis Inglefeild and others in whose rooms were placed Sir Nicholas Baecon The new Marquis of Northampton The Earl of Bedford Sir Anthony Cave Sir Francis Knolls Rogers Parry and Secretary Cecil She depoâ—ed many of the old Judges made new Justices of the Peace and lastly concerning the Election of Knights and Burgesses for the Parliament ensuing she took such order by the great diligence and cunning of her Instruments in all the Counties that she wanted not a competent party ready to close with her design in that House Besides this to remove all scruples as much as might be out of the peoples heads and to make them think that the same Religion and Service continued still which was so lately before reestablished by Parliament and that all the alteration made was but onely the turning of the Leiturgy out of Latine into English for their better understanding she provided that in the Common-prayer-book there should be some part of the old frame still upheld some Collects Prayers and Anthemes of the old Missal some of the ancient Ecclesiastical Habits for Divine Service as Copes Surplices c. some Ceremonies as the Sign of the Cross Adoration and Bowing at the name of Jesus The Organs also and ancient manner of Singing their Matins and Even song was retained especially in her own Chappels and in most of the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches of the Kingdom The Title Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops was also preserved with some considerable Grace and Dignity in the State together with most part of the Revenues of which at that present the Cathedral Churches were seized By which dexterous management of affairs the Common people were instantly luld asleep and complyed to every thing and it became not so hard a matter for the Queen to excuse her self even to those forreign Princes who expected otherwise at her hands As she did particularly to the Secretary D' Assonville who was sent by King Philip out of Flanders to Congratulate her advancement to the Crown By this time the Common-Prayer-Book was framed according to the Queens appointment by certain Commiâ—â—â—oners authorised for that purpose The principal whereof were Doctor Matthew Parker after advanced to the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury having been formerly as some say Chaplain to Her Highness Edmund Grindal afterwards Bishop of London Horn of Winchester Whitehead May Bill and Sir Thomas Smith Dr. of the Civil Law The Liturgy was framed according to the Model of that which the English strangers had used at Franckford in the year 1554. and varied not much from that which Northumberland had caused to be published towards the latter end of King Edward the Sixth By the Nobility that were meerly English Protestants as the Marquis of Northampton Earl of Bedford Lord Gray of Pytgo Secretary Cecil and others it was well approved and the estabishing thereof by Parliament very much urged But those who had tasted of Genevah and were more affected with Calvins Model both disliked and opposed it either not knowing or not regarding the Queens reasons of State in the business Sir William Cecil as we said was now Secretary of State a Politick man and one that knew well enough how much this alteration would advance him his industry carried all before him Howbeit his fortunes were yet but low having onely the Parsonage of Wimbledon and some few Lands about Stamford to subsist upon Therefore in his Letter to the Lord Marquis of Northampton who was his Mecaenâ—s in the year 1560. upon the birht of his son Sir Robert Cecil he desires the Marquis being the Lord Treasurer to move the Queen in his behalf for some means and maintenance for his G. C. as he calld them who were so likely to be famous in England afterward Sir Nicholas Bacon was his Brother in Law and another chief Engin of State a man of somewhat a deeper judgement in the knowledge of the Laws and a more plausible Orator I must not forget in this Catalogue of State-Engins the Lord Robori afterwards famously known by the name of Leicester who to possess the Queens favor solely had already discarded Sir William Pickening though formerly viz. in meaner fortune a favorite and no uncourtly Gentleman Nor yet Sir Nicholas Throgmorton nor Sir Francis Walsingham nor Sir Thomas Smith who were all with the rest prime instruments of this Action intimate Counsellors in the business and posseâ— ng wholly the ears and grace of the Queen sate as chief Pilots at the Storâ— guiding the the course both of Church and Common-wealth at their pleasure All of them at this instant big with hopes of Prefermâ—nt Honor and great Offices which they were sure to loose who held them under Queen Mary Though many men wondered how Master Sâ—cretary Cecil could so easily forget his Beads and his Breviary wherewith with he so exquisitely counterfeited a Catholik in Queen Maries time that Cardinal Poole himself was deceived by him so far as to do him many friendly Offices towards her Majestie which as by the event appeared he did not much deserve Their great and indeed onely pretence or reason for the Change was Reason of State The Queens safety Scilicet This they had all of them but especially Secretary Cecil wrought strongly into her Majesties apprehension Camd. in Elizab. Actum esse de eâ si Pontificiam Authoritatem in quâcunque re agnosceret she was but a lost Princess say they if she acknowledged the Popes authority in any thing For Duo Pontifices Two several Popes already had pronounced her Mothers marriage with the King to be unlawfull and Null It may be thought her Mothers Conscience did likewise pronounce the same sentence in her own Brest otherwise why did she being ready to go to the place of Execution so solemnly entreat and charge the Lady Kingst n Speed Chron. to go to the Princess Mary and upon her knees in her name to ask pardon of her for all the wrongs she had done her protesting that until this were done she could not dye in peace But upon this ground the Statesmen of those times conclude it necessary that the Queen should alter Religion Invest her self with the Sovereignty of all Power and banish that Authority out of the Realm which had presumed to declare her Majestie Illegitimate This Counsel how prosperous soever it proved in the event through Gods permission and how speciously politick soever it might be made to seem by the Arguments and Rhetorick of those men who for their own ends and interests desired a change yet Really it could not but be full oâ— dâ—nger both to thâ— Queen and thâ— Realm but espâ—cially to the Queen who if she had pleasâ—d might have secured her self of her own particular fears by some better way For hereby the Sentence of Excomunication in some sort necessarily issuing upon her
more honorable with them and more becomming good Christians then the Sword and Fortune of a Conqueror in comanding In which most Christian posture I leave them to proceed Titulus Tertius THe last and greatest tempest against poor English Catholikes was raised by Queen Elizabeth This not onely shook the foundations of the Church which had been so lately repaired by the most Catholike Princess Queen Mary but proceeded so far as humane policy and power could to extirpate the very name and memory of Catholike Religion in England Camd. in Elizab. And this as it were in an instant and without noise For as her own Historian Camdeu reporteth it was done Sine sanguine sudore No man unless perhaps it were Master Secretary Cecil did so much as sweat in the bringing in of New Religion nor was any mans blood I mean at the first beginning drawn about it The Christian world stood amazed at the first news of such a sudden alteration Both because Religion had been so lately and so solemnly restored by Parliament as also because the Queen her self that now was always professed her self so much Catholike during the Reign of her Sister She constantly every day heared Mass saith the same Camden and beside that ad Romanae Religionis normam soepius confiteretur went often to Confession as other Roman Catholikes did Yea saith Sir Francis Ingleseild when she was upon other matters sometimes examined by Commissioners from the Queen she would her self take occasion to complain that the Queen her Sister should see me to have any doubt of her Religion and would thereupon make Protestation and Swear that she was a Catholike The Duke of Feria's Letter to King Philip is yet extant to be seen wherein is certified that the Queen had given him such assurance of her beleefe and in particular concerning the point of Real Presence that for his part he could not beleeve she intended any great Alteration in Religion The same profession also she made to Monsieur Lansack as many Honorable Persons have testified and at her Coronation she was Consecrated in all points according to the Catholike maner and anointed at Mass by the Bishop of Carlile taking the same Oath to maintain Catholike Religion the Church and Liberties thereof as all other her Catholike Predecessors Kings and Queens of England had ever done Concerning the grounds which moved her to make this Alteration so much contrary to the expectation and judgement of Christendom we shall speak in due place This was manifest that the long sickness of Queen Mary gave her great advantage time both to deliberate and draw all platforms into debate to prepare instruments in readiness for all designs and to make choise of the fittest and surest Counsellors such as were most likely to advance her ends Neither did she seem to value her Honor overmuch in order to the bringing about of her chief design For in open Parliament after her intentions for a change began to be discovered she protested that no trouble should arise to the Roman Catholikes Horas Preface of Queen Elizab. for any difference in Religion Which did much abate the opposition which otherwise might probably have been made by the Catholike party and put the Clergy themselves in some hopes of Fair quarter under her Government She knew full well that a Prince alone how Sovereign soever could not establish a new Religions in his Kingdom but that it must be the work of a Parliament to give Authority and Countenance to a business of that nature Therefore to win the Bishops and the rest of the Catholikes in Parliament to silence at least she was content to use policy with them and promise them fair as Monsieur Mauvissieir hath well observed Les memoir de Mons. Mich. Castelnau who was a long time Embassador heer from the French King and curiously noted the passages of those times Add hereunto That when the Act for Supremacy was revived which was always the great Wheel of these Motions whereas by King Henry's Law both Bishops and Barons stood in danger thereof as the examples of Sir Thomas Moor Lord Chancellor of England and Doctor Fisher Bishop of Rochester had shewen in this Parliament the Queen was content to exempt the Lords and Barons absolutely from the Oath as they in King Edward the Sixths time had exempted themselves and to leave the Rigor of it onely upon the Clergy and Commons She also thought good to qualifie the Stile somewhat viz. from Supream Head changing it into Supream Governor which though it altered not the sence yet it abused some into a beleef that the Queen pretended not unto so much in matters Ecclesiastical as the King her Father had done Beside we are to remember that King Henry by pulling he Abbyes had much weakned the power of the Clergy in Parliament having deprived them of the Votes of no less then Five and twenty Abbots who constantly sat in Parliament in the quality of Barons And lastly it is well known The Lower House of Parliament it self as they call it was so calmly spirited in those times that they used not much to oppose what their good Lords of the upper House liked All which things considered and that too many of the Catholikes both Lords and others thinking it better wisdom to purchase their future security by present silence then to expose themselves to trouble and vexation afterward by opposing that which they feared they should not be able to hinder therefore either but faintly resist or quietly absent themselves who can wonder if the whole business were carried with ease upon such promises of the Queen and by the industry and craft of Sinon alias Secretary Cecil who had the chief Management of it in his hands By his advise it was thought fitting that the Noble Earl of Arundel should for a time be abused with some hopes of marrying the Queen who thereupon by the interest which he had in the house of Peers ingrosed into his own hands the Proxies or voices of so many of them who thought good to be absent as when time came served the Queens turn exceedingly well The duke of Norfolk Son in law to Arundel but now a Widower was already exasperated against the Pope because he might not have dispensation to marry his Kins-woman and therefore it was no hard matter to joyn him with Arundel The Queen had also against this time either made or advanced in dignity and consequently in interest certain new Lords whom she knew to be favorers of her design viz. William Lord Parr was made Marquis of Northampton a good Speaker and a Politick man Edward Seymour Son to the late Duke of Sommerset was made Viscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hartford Sir Thomas Howard was made Viscount Bindon Sir Oliver Saint John Lord St. John of Bletso Sir Henry Cary Lord Hunsdon She had also as much weakened the Catholikes party by discharging from the Counsel-Table many of the old Counsellors
should be abolished and that whosoever defended the Popes Authority in Scotland should be banished and that all former Acts to the contrary should be repealed This was pretended to be done by the three Estates but the Queens Commission could not be shewn nor any consent of hers to confirm such Acts beside the opposition which the Clergy or State Ecclesiastical generally made against such proceedings See Jo. Leslaeus hist of Scotland not onely in the Parliament or Convention of States where they happened to be overborn but all the Kingdom over Therefore to make that seem good by a colour of Law which was at first begun by meer Faction and Violence some years after viz. Anno 1567. and after the deposition or rather unjust and forced Resignation of their lawful Sovereign the Queen they procure an other Parliament to be called the Earl Murray being then Regent and the King scarce out of his Cradle which confirms the Acts of the Parliament 1560. Cap. 9. and prescribes an oath to be taken by all succeeding Kings to maintain the Religion then received to which as yet no King had ever consented and establisheth the Confession of that Church The Queen provoked with their many and insufferable indignities had before this time sent for some French Forces into Scotland to oppose them But this they take so ill and the Preachers of new Doctrine in all parts of the Kingdom improve the occasion so much to her disadvantage and to the further incensing of the people that at last they not onely make shift to exclude her from all Government putting her in condition of a private person but dishonor her beside with most capital and criminous Accusations yea and cast her into prison not without great danger of her life Beza that Tibullus of Genevah instigating and encouraging them much thereunto who is pleased in his Reformed Zeal and Eloquence to call her Medea Athaliah and what not Nullum ejus sceleribus nomen c. The Good Man it seems could not finde words bad enough to express her guiltiness and yet how well is it known he had store of them always at command and how maliciously he pleaded against her while she was prisoner in England onely out of hatred to the House of Lorrain appears abundantly in his Book called Reveille-Matin I confess generally t is better to bury old quarrels then to renew their memory yet to justifie the Innocent and to detect perfectly the evil practises of these men I cannot forbear to insist a while on this Subject and to declare more particularly what inducements they pretended for such exorbitant courses They accused the Queen of procuring the death of her Husband the Lord Henry Darley out of a desire and intention to marry Bothwel who was principal in the murther Therefore say they for zeal to Justice for the Honor of the Realm and satisfaction to Forreign Nations it is necessary that she be under restraint til she cleer her self from the imputation of such heinous crimes These were their Accusations and pretenses But touching the Murther it was very unlike to be true and certainly required manifest proofs if ever any cause did Her Sex was not fit for such a Butchery and her nature known to be too Royal to harbor such dishonorable Treachery though she had some just cause of offence against him If she had desired to put him to death he was her Subject and she might have done it openly legally and by course of Justice He had been of the Confederacy for the killing of David Riza her Secretary his own Dagger was found in his Body The Earl Morton beeing fled into England upon that offence he presumed to revoke him and call him home without thâ— Queens knowledge or allowance Neither was he Loyal to the Queen in respect of Conjugal affection and duty his offâ—nsiveness in that kinde was very notorious and scandalous to all the Court and occasion of much disquiet and difference betwixt the Queen and him and from whence their common Adversaries took advantage in a short time to ruin them both What then is the proof of such a crime what evidence bring they to convince her guilty of the Fact First they object that Douglas Earl Bothwels man was executed for it True And that it was he that brought a Box of Letters of the Queens to Bothwel which he had received of Sir James Balfoor at Edenburgh to carry to his Master by which Letters intercepted their juglings and practises viz. of the Queen and Bothwel were discovered It is answered Lyes have commonly one Leg short and so 't is here For is it probable that either the Queen or the Earl should repose such confidence and so great secrets in a man that was known to be at the devotion of a contrary Faction as Sir James Balfoor was Is it likely she would at all send such a Packet which she knew contained matter of great Peril but of no consequence at all to her self For she directs them to be burnt and might have done that her self well enough without the labor of sending them to him Beside the Queen ever denied those Letters to be hers though her hand had been counterfeited to them neither was there Superscription Indorsement Seal Date or any thing else that might possibly discover more cleerly whose they were or from whom coming Her hand was onely Subscribed the Letters themselves of another Character and truly it is not probable that in a business of so great privacy she should require the State of a Secretary and that of some Stranger too for had it been the hand of any of her ordinary Amanuenses the case had been cleer and a discovery would have been easily made Neither could he who delivered them ever be found out to discover the Pack and Douglass who was the man accused to carry them protested at his death that he never knew of any such Letters Lastly supposing that she had indeed sent them yet was there no express proof of any unlawful act attempt or practise to charge her with Suppose she had desired to have her husband murthered doubtless it had been a great offence against God and odious to all men but was it a sufficient cause for her own Subjects to take Arms against her and to depose her Was not David in a like case in the business of Vriah and Bathshebah Yet he forfeited not his Crown Saint John Baptist reproved Herod for his Adultery yet did neither exhort nor counsel the people to deprive him of his Dignity though he were both a stranger of Idumaea and an usurper Edward the fourth of England was not deposed for keeping another mans Wife though he committed a great sin Nor Henry eighth for cutting off the Heads of so many of his own Wives and committing as great sins Spectante populo in the view of his Kingdom and of all the world Surely these Bouâ—efeux while they presume to punish their Kings for sin without
any good authority or proof do precipitate themselves unhappily into far greater Zeal in them is like a Sword in a mad mans hand dangerous to himself and others But to the matter What other probabilities did they produce against her Many She mourned faintly for his death which is a sign she was weary of his life She acquitted Bothwel for his death and did not punish him as he deserved Ergo let her die But what a Nugipoliloquides is this Buchanan are such conjectural presumptions as these matter of evidence sufficient to depose Princes As for her Mourning and the Funerals His Body was Embalmed and laid by James the fifth her Father the Lord Tracquaire Justice Clerk and others attended the Corps indeed most of the Counsel being Protestants the Catholike Ceremonies were not permitted and in Scotland it is not the custom to reserve the Corps Fourty days Nor was it decent that the Queen her self should have been there personally mourning as a Subject therefore she mourned privatly as his Sovereign and Wife which she did so long that her Counsel and Physitians both were forced to disswade her from it and to cease All which Sir Henry Killegrew might witness who was sent from England to condole and comfort her What could be required more of a Wife But as concerning Earl Bothwel and the Marriage following herein the jugling of Murray and his faction was most admirable and worthy to be known For First was not Bothwel acquitted for this crime by his Peers was not Murray himself who best knew the Plot together with the Lord Lindsey Sempil and other adherents principal to procure his purgation The Queen did not acquit him out of her own affection or will onely but by their advice and Counsel who were the chief Pilots of the State at that time Nay did not the same parties Murray Sempil c. procure others of the Nobles to joyn with them and sollicited the Queen to Marry Bothwel pretending it necessary for her to take such a Husband to defend her in troublesome times yea did they not in some maner force her to it and by their Hand-writing to Bothwel did they not binde themselves to obey him in case he would marry her did not they themselves viz. Murray Sempil and the rest in order to this procure the Divorce of Bothwel from his first Wife sister to the Earl of Huntly and are thereby most cleerly convinced of double dealing But what follows The charg of the Murther And of this the Lord Harris accused Murray himself viz. that at Craigmillar he Morton and Bothwel did consult conspire and determine the Kings death for the effecting whereof Indentures were there drawn and subscribed by them And to convince it more evidently Pourry Paris and Hay who were all three Executed for the Murther confessed at their death and called God to witness that those two Murray and Morton were the principal contrivers of it The like did John Hepburn Bothwels servant at his Execution for the same Fact protesting that he had seen the Articles and Writings drawn to that purpose as we said To blinde the world therefore a little Murray and Morton take up Arms upon a pretence to apprehend Bothwel and send out ships to pursue him at Sea whom themselves had sent away yea had sent the Lord Grange on purpose to him to advise and will him for his own safety to be gone promising that no body should pursue him as indeed none did very hastily for he stayed after this no less then two Months in Scotland viz. until Murray was returned out of France Then of necessity he must be gone otherwise by his stay or their taking him they would be all betrayed themselves So he finding himself over-reach't by his Associates in the Conspiracy and being as sure to be overpowered by them if he should abide it was content at last to withdraw and be offered up as a Sacrifice to the censure of the world for their purgation This therefore was the Texture and sum of the Plot concerning the death of the Lord Darley Husband to the Queen and the Queens Marriage of Bothwel These two Catilines Murray who was the Queens base Brother and Morton caused the King to be slain using Bothwels consent and assistance in it which Bothwel they perswade afterward to Marry the Queen and deal as effectually with the Queen that she should be willing to Marry Bothwel and this on purpose that they might have ground hereby to ruin them both and possess themselves of the government as in a short time they did upon a colourable though feigned accusation brought against them viz. against the Queen and Bothwel as conspiratours and contrivers of the Kings death T is well known the Earl Murray never truly loved the Lord Darley He was once in Arms and in the field to have kild him and thereupon flâ—d into England After this he perswaded the Lord Darley to give his consent to the Murthering of David Riza the Queens Secretary in which action a Pistol was also set to the Queens Belly being then great with Childe to terrifie her and if it could have been to procure her Micsarrying but the Lord Darley having obtained the Queens pardon for this yet fearing lest Murray should inform Her Majestie concerning him further then he liked he resolves with himself to kill Murray but first out of I know not what reason discovers his intention to the Queen whom he supposed to be very much incensed against Murray but she utterly disliked the business and would not endure him to speak of it which coming afterwards to Murrays knowledge as he had before practisd to estrang the Queen from her Husband and offered to procure her a Divorce from him which she also utterly condemned so now he resolves to make away him viz. the Lord Darlâ—y and to that end Plots with the Earls Morton and Bothwel as hath been said yet himself cunningly to divert suspicion and that he might be thought absolutely innocent in the business when as now all things were agreed upon withdraws himself from the Court first and then goes into France a little before the Murther was committed All which passages being indeed the most intricate maze of Treachery one of them that ever was devised by wicked men were made to appear plain enough unto Queen Elizabeths Commissioners at York as is manifest by Sir Ralph Sadlers Notes concerning that business which I have seen but afterward more cleer then the Sun at the Tryal and Execution of the Earl Morton Surius Chron. For Murray had met with vengeance before having been Pistolled by a man of his own profession as he rode in the Street at Edinburgh about the year 1570. Yet upon such false and treacherous Foundations as these do they ground all their disloyal proceedings and hard usage of the Queens Majestie their natural Sovereign afterward viz. That which they used towards her at Carbery hill their slanderous Libels their imprisoning her
at Lough-Levin and their Act of Parliament for her deposition as appeareth by the words of the Statute Lastly the resignation of her Crown which yet they stoutly affirmed at York to have been voluntary and of her own seeking But whether it were so or no their course of proceeding will best manifest For first themselves had drawn up the form of Resignation before she understood any thing of it Then Athol Liddington and the rest send Sir Robert Melvin to her to signifie from them the great danger she was in and to perswade her to yeeld to their Motion touching her Resignation yea they alledged as out of duty and well wishing to her as they said that in case the condition of affairs should change what she should do now could not be any prejudice to her being it was extorted Sir Nicholas Throâ—morton was about this time arrived in Scotland from the Queen of England upon other pretenses indeed but a most fit man to further such a work which he did so like a cunning Artificer that what wind soever blew him thither he deserved well at his return to have been created Lord Hurly At last comes the Lord Lindsey one whose hands had been formerly washed in the Secretaries blood with a Commission from the Counsel to the Queen and with stern looks tenderd the writings of Resignation to her threatning fearfully in case she should refuse to sign them Whereupon she subscribed beeing prisoner and to save her life lost her Crown Was this a Free Resignation think you Their Act of Parliament indeed calls it so but the world will judge Beside this they make her give power to the Lords Lindsey and Ruthen as her dearest Friends to renounce the government in her name and to appoint Murray Regent which was the thing he had long earnestly gaped for when thâ—s was done and she was now become as it were a private person they decree Chap. 12. that she shall remain prisoner until her Tryal And Chap. 19. They draw up her Indictment most scandalously and falsly Among the causes they pretend of her Resignation they say first That she was weary of the Government But their Tyrannous and Disloyal proceedings had made her so if she were Secondly That she was not able in Body and Spirit to endure the pains She was in the flower of her age and a Princess of no mean Vivacity quickness and Magnanimity of Spirit as they themselves and the world knew And thirdly that she might in her life time see her Son setled in the government She would gladly have seen him first of age to govern himself This was the direct way to loose both her Son and her self for ought she could expect or foresee otherwise But 't is true Domini est salus qui evellit de laqueo pedes suorum Salvation is of our Lord and he delivereth the Feet of his people out of the Snare For as it happened the Queen maketh a very strange Escape and at Hamiltoun the house of a Noble Family and at that time well affected she rovoketh all whatsoever she had done in her imprisonment Confessing and Protâ—sting that it was all again her Will and by Force and Violence extorted from her That no form of legal proceeding had been observed in it That the Noble Earls of Huntley Argile Lord Harris and many others never consented to it That in the Parliament where it was transacted there was not above Four Earls Six Lords One Bishop and Three Abbots With such manifest partiality and dislike of the greater and better part of the Kingdom was the business carried I would tell you some other no mean inducements occasions motives which perswaded these Heads of the Scottish Nation to cast themselves into such a Gulf of disloyalty against their natural Sovereign as they must needs either perish themselves or run the whole State of the Kingdom upon a Rock and wrack it but for some reasons I must do it under the Vail of an Apologue For all things are not to be spoken plainly IN Africa then there were two great Forrests neer adjoyning In the one a Lyon governed the Beasts in the other a Lyoness The Lyon was Rich and full of Prey yet feared least his Neighbor the Lyoness getting her a Forreign Mate should gather so much strength and courage as to pick some quarrel with him and invade his Forest Wherefore caâ—ling a Counsel of his Beasts he câ—nsulted with them how they might secure themselves of the Lyoness The Bull presumptuous of his strength and used to goâ—e all that came in his way together with the Boar and the Bear contemned such vain fears as not worthy of the Lyons courage yet the Major part of the other Beasts concurred in opinion with the Lyon That there was ground of fears and jealousies which an old Ape perceiving that had lived long in the Forest and was used to counterfeit gave advise presently that the Lyon should fâ—ign kindeness for saith he being an old dissembler Great hearts are soonest won with faire semblance Neither did Reignard the Fox dislike this Counsel but knowing that the Lyoness had many hungry Wolves and Wily Foxes about her advised the Lyon to send the Goat agrave Bearded personage to visite the Lyoness and renue Freindship and under colour of such friendly Negotiation to deal privately with some of the Wolves and Foxes about the Lyoness and breed in them some sear and apprehensions of her cruelty yea and if he found them inclinable to such Counsels to perswade them to stand more upon their own guard and not to suffer the Lyoness to rule so Arbitrarily as she did but rather if they could to make themselves a Free State and to be under no other command but their own The Goat performed this service so wisely that the Mongrel a Beast much used and very neer the person of the Lyoness upon hearing the Motion resented it so well that he undertook to perswade some other of the Counsel But saith he we have some cruel Beasts among us which favor the Lyoness much as The Tyger the Leopard the Vnicorn c. if they perceive this they will oppose us instantly and make a Party too strong for us Fear not that said the Goat we can spare you a Regiment or two of such Mastiffs as shall defend and guard you sufficiently onely be sure that you stand to your business and when you are once Masters of the Field there will be Prey and spoile enough Vpon this the Mongrel the Wolveâ— and the Foxes with such other Brutes as adhered to them lay their Heads together and never leave consulting and conspiring till they had entrapped the Lyoneâ—s and drawn her into such a Pit-fal as she was not able to recover her self but they seize upon her disongle her at their pleasure and put her in ward Reignard a great Counsellor of the Lyon in the other Forest and a Contriver of this Treachery hearing what success it had and that
The people may not break with their Princes so often as they break with God And afterward Subjects saith he cannot depose their Princes to whom they must be Suâ—ject for Conscience sake This is Doctrine we see quite contrary to the Aphorisms of Holland and to the Divinity that is now currant at Rochel Now as private subjects may not by Gods Law depose their Princes so are they forbidden to take Arms against them and the reason hereof is invincible For saith Doctor Bilson he that may fight may kill and War against the Prince and killing of the Prince are of consequence inevitable The Apostles saith he obeyed Tyrants that commanded all things against Religion And in those things which were commanded against God they did submit themselves with meekness to endure the Magistrates pleasure but not to obey his will Lastly and most of all to the purpose he concludeth if the Laws of the Land appoint the Nobles as next to the King to assist him in doing right and to withhold from doing wrong then are they Licensed by mans Laws to interpose themselves but in no case to deprive the Prince where the Scepter is inherited And because some of good judgement have been lead into that error that the Dukes of Burgundy had not full Power or Sovereignty in the Netherlands I will send them to School to all the Lawyers Records Stories and which is most infallible to the practise and Common Laws of the Country and unto Bodin Bodin derep and satisfie my self to alledge here that Ancient and Honorable Counsellor of our Nation the Lord Chancellor Egerton who in his Oration for the Postnati saith thus P. 71. The Dukes of Burgundy were absolute Princes and had Sovereign power in their Countries And King Henry the Eighth had as absolute power when his Stile was Lord of Ireland as when he was King For the difference of Stile makes not the difference of Sovereignty I conclude therefore upon the grounds of all Law Divine and Humane and as you have seen upon a full view and examination of all their pretenses complaints excuses c. that as their usurpation at first was without warrant so they continue the possession with as little conscience That all their Pleas are either Nullities or Forgeries and they have indeed no better title then what success and their Cannon gives them And that all forreign Soldiers that assist them knowing the injustice of their cause and that the War is so utterly unlawful do incur Mortal Sin and danger of damnation and may as justly be reproved as King Josaphat was for helping and assisting Ahab Look to the end for it is certainly fearful and we must know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I write not this as an Enemy to the Country I hold it a Peerless County for the goodly Townes Wealth Traffick Strength and Fertility in so small a Circuit nor for any personal quarrels nor for any corruption or assentation in regard of the match with Spain but onely for the truth of the story which induced me together with the danger of the President and the manifold injuries that were done to Religion For though I remembred the general dislike that they have of our government their dealing with the Queens Officers and how unkindly of old they used my Lord Willoughby as his Apology testifieth and of late what complaints our Merchants Adventurers in their Books have made of their ill usage by them at Moske at the East-Indies c. what contempt they shewed when the Duty of Sixteen Herrings was demanded in his Majesties right ☜ for Fishing upon the Coast of Scotland presuming no less then to imprison him that demanded it and many such like matters yet seeing the State is not moved why should I be offended And when I say The State I mean not the people onely but especially the King to whom Holland is most obliged and more particularly for Two Singular and Royal Favors such as might in reason require some reciprocal return of thankfulness and breed in them good Blood good Affections and also good Language The first was in restoring to them the Keyes which did open and lock up their Province and this not for any reward but a restitution onely of part of his due The second for the Free permission of their Fishing upon the English Coast wherein they yearly employ above Thirty thousand persons who are set on work by it and above Four thousand Busses Doggerboats Galliots and Pinks to their exceeding great benefit and enrichment which is not a liberty they have by any Law as some men pretend but a priviledge or permission rather of royall Grace and Favor And Grotius may prove without any mans contradiction Mare Liberum in this sense as the Kings Highway is Free for every man to walk that is to go and come but he shall never be able to prove that Fishing is Free that is to say taking away the profit upon another Princes Coast without leave of the Prince first had and obtained T is true they have had the boldness to do this for a long time without leave but they may hap to finde at last the longest time they can pretend will not serve them for prescription And thus much for our new Masters and no very good Neighbors The High and Mighty States of the United Provinces of the Netherlands Titulus Quintus PALATINISM OR The Troubles in BOHEMIA AND THE PALATINATE About Religion BOhemia is the last Stage of the Scene of Forreign Tragedies or Tumults for Religion to which I am now going yet so as I must take the Palatinate in my way an unfortunate Province of late which in the space of an Hundred years hath changed Religion no less then Five times and yet as it seems never learned well that part of Religion which is not the least principle concerning Obedience But of this wee shall cease to wonder when we think of Paraeus Gracerus and some other Divines that have possessed the Chaire there and of the Schools of the new discipline which are open Paraeus in his Commentary upon the Thirteenth ad Romanos teacheth plainly Subditi possunt suos reges deponere c. That Subjects may depose their Princes for Tyranny c. Tyranny is contrary to the very end and being of Government and therefore where it is Universal and general and no other redress to be found it is capable of the less dispute onely it is not to be determined by private persons especially of his Robe which yet most commonly they do or when they compel their Subjects to Idolatry By compelling to Idolatry he means if the Prince maintains Mass Confession Priesthood and other the Service and Religion of the Catholike Church as all Catholike Princes are bound to do by their Oath or indeed with these men if they maintain any other Religion then pure Calvinism it is to compel to Idolatry This is the sentence which he pronounceth against the Emperor
which tasted of the severity of those Laws were not a little insolent and prone to attempt Yet that she was withal a Princess very merciful is manifest by her compassion shewn to such as deserved not well of her that is To the Dutchess of Somerset to Sir John Cheek who had been the principal corrupter of King Edward her Brothers Infancy to Sir Edward Montague Lord Cheif Justice who had both counselled and subscribed to her disinheriting to Sir Roger Ch lmley to the Marquis of Northampton to the Lord Robert Dudly to Sir Henry Dudly to Sir Henry Gates c. who stood all of them attainted and the Duke of Suffolk All which persons were very obnoxious to Her Justice she knew very well they neither affected Her Religion nor Title They were already her prisoners in the Tower yet she released them all But for all this the Zealots of her time would not be quieted nor suffer her to enjoy any quiet They Libel against the Government of Women they pick quarrels and murmur at her marriage they publish invectives and scurrilous Pamphlets against Religion yea they forbear not to conspire and plot Her Deprivation out of a desire to advance Her Successor to the Crown under whom every Calvinist expected a Golden Age. The austerities and abstinences which Catholike Religion prescribed and which the Queen by Authority of Parliament had but lately reduced and was her self very exemplary in the observation of them were not much pleasing to some Gallants about the Court nor to many others both in City and Country whose affections were better satisfied with the Liberties of the former Age and therefore desired some change of this But among other Instruments of mischeif that Book written by Goodman intituled Of Obedience was a most pernicious Incentive among the commons teaching expresly Ad Nobil Scot. P. 94. That Queen Mary deserved to be put to death as a Tyrant and a Monster And that other of Knox with whom the Zealots of England did correspond too much where he hath among many other of like nature this passage Illud aud actèr affirmaverim c. This I dare boldly say saith he the Nobility Magistrates Judges and whole people of England were bound in Conscience not onely to oppose and withstand the proceedings of that Jesabel Mary whom they call their Queen but even to have put her to death and all her Priests with her After this Sir Thomas Wyat takes up Arms for which Master Fox worthily Chronicles him marches his Army like another Cyrus as some called him over Shâ—oters-Hill threatning both the Court and the City Prince and People And for this Goodman in his Book Of Obedience commends him saith He did but his duty and that it was the duty of all who professed the Gospel to have risen with him This was their doctrin then And though it be said That Goodman recanted his opinion in Queen Elizabeths days it was perhaps onely that part of it which opposed the Government of Women And if he did it absolutely what doth it prove but the inconstancy of such men and how easily they can conform themselves to times that favor them and of what spirit they are under the cross and affliction Wyats pretence was particoloured looking as he would seem both at Religion and bonum Publicum in his opposing the Queens marriage with Spain as both Holinshead and Stow agree They that suppose it to have been meerly upon a civil account are confuted by the Queen her self in her Speech at Guildhal where she tells the City That she had sent divers of her Counsel to Wyat to demand the Reasons of his Insurrections and that they found The business of the marriage was onely a cloak to cover Religion which was the thing principally aimed at For he urged also to have the Tower delivered to him to have power to nominate and chuse new Counsellors declaring plainly That he would not trust but be trusted But Master Fox is plain in the case for he confesseth of all that Rabble which followed Wyat That they conspired among themselves for Religion and made Wyat their cheif The marriage was looked upon by them onely as an accessory thing and a means to strengthen that which they meant to overthrow and eo nomine for that respect onely it was to be hindred Upon this account William Thomas a Gospeller of those times conspireth to kill the Queen and at his death is so far from repenting of such a foul intention That he glorieth to die for the good of his Countrey Yea the Faction grew so tumultuous and bold That Doctor Pendleton was shot at in the very Pulpit Preaching at Pauls and Master Bourn had a Dagger thrown at him in the same place the multitude being so disorderly That the Lord Major himself had much ado to quiet them and the Lords of the Counsel were forced to come thither the next Sunday with a guard to keep things in order and to prevent further combustions which were feared At Westminster upon Easter-day a desperate fellow wounded the Priest as he was at Mass in Saint Margarets Church there After this they found out a Perkin Warbeck and brought him upon the Stage one Wilâ—iam Fetherston counterfeiting King Edward whom the world and some of themselves especially knew well enough to be dead on purpose to amuze the Queen and disturb the State There was one Cleber sometimes a Pedant living at Yakesly in Norfolke put to death for a conspiracy against the Queen Vdal Staunton Peckham and Daniel were committed for the same crime for which and for attempting to rob the Exchequer and her Treasury and also for Heresie they had their desert Not to speak of the Treasons of Dudley and Ashton set on by the French In Devonshire Sir Peter and Sir Gawin Cary great Protestants together with Sir Thomas Denny took arms to impede King Philips arrival in England possessed themselves for some time of Excester Castle but afterward seeing things go contrary to their expectation they made an escape by getting over into France Thomas Stafford coming well instructed from Genevah made Proclamations publickly in several places of the Kingdom that Queen Mary was not lawful Qeen was unworthy to reign and to abuse the people further gave out no less boldly then falsly that already Twelve of the best fortified places in England were committed to the Spaniards Upon which pretense Bradford Proctor Streachly and he surprize the Castle of Scarborough in Yorkshire a Fort of singular strength which they would hold against the Spaniards they should have said against their Queen and Sovereign but they lost it and their heads beside Henry Duke of Suffolk one to whom the Queen had given life before being Father to the Lady Jane and a privy Counsellor in those Treasons of Northumberland fled into Leicestershire with the Lord Gray making Proclamation against the Queens marriage but not being able to raise a Commanding Army as he hoped was compelled
Wriothsley to the Tower deposed Bishop Tonstal both from the Counsel from his Bishoprick viz. of Durham as thinking it a seignory too Stately for a man of Religion And therefore he dissolved it and brought it within the Survey of the Exchequer that is into his own power but as it was observed he never prospered after However the Act it self was most inexcusably unjust and tyrannical being so directly contrary to Law as appeared beside what hath been alledged before by 1. Ed. 3. chap. 2. where the King dâ—clareth That the Lands of Bishops ought not to be seized into the Kings hands and that what had been done in that kinde in his Fathers days was by advise of evil Counsel and hereafter should not be so But his sins now grew towards ripeness Therfore having also deprived and committed Doctor Gardiner the Bishop of Winchester dissolved the Colledge of Stoke fleeced all the Cathedral Churches in England and added unto the guilt of Sacriledge many other outrages oppressions and crimes under the Nonage of a Pupil King without any check or opposition save onely in the business of the Earldom of Oxford which he was not able to devour as he desired at last in the midst of his carriere and after he had sentenced and put to death his own and onely Brother the Lord Admiral chiefly as 't is supposed upon the instigations of an ambitious or malicious Wife he was himself arraigned for High Treason and ill governing of the Realm as may be seen by the Articles of his Attainder in Stow and thereupon condemned and executed on the twenty second day of January in the year of our Lord 1552. When the Brothers were gone viz. the Protector and Admiral Dudley Duke of Northumberland comes upon the Stage a man whose ambition and policy though unperceived had ruined both of them but especially the Protector whose chief Adversary he was and the principal contriver of the Charge against him which in brief referred unto these Heads 1. That he had subverted all Laws 2. That he had broke the orders appointed by King Henry the Eighth for his Sons good 3. That he held a Cabinet-Councel and by it transacted the publike and chief Affairs of State without the advice of his Fellow-Counsellors 4. Lastly That he observed not the Conditions upon which he was made Protector which were to do nothing in the Kings Affairs without consent of the rest of the Executors Upon these Rocks the Protector perished not without the manifest judgement of God for much injustice which he had committed in the time of his Government especially in the business of Religion and of the Church and Northumberland for a while prevailed This man though he were all otherwise in his heart yet thought fitting to seem a little more precisely religious then the Protector intending thereby to assure himself of the affections of such people as were more Zealously affected to new Religion The Protector looking onely at present proffit caâ—â—d to humor them in that point no further â—â—en might serve his own turn But Northumberland had other designs in his head which were no less then to advance his own Family to the Crown and to ruin the right Heirs And therefore to ingratiate himself more with the Common people in the year 1552. he causeth the Liturgy or book of Common prayer to be the second time Reformed and Purged of certain ceremonies and orders offensive to that sort of people which he desired to please and so to be published This project stood him in much stead among others of the Nobility it gained him the Duke of Suffolk who from henceforward seemed wholly to be at Northumberlands Devotion and to steer his course after the others compass Being a Potent man and the greatest Precisian of those times unless perhaps they dissembled both of them upon the same account But because the Lord Treasurer Paulet Marquis of Winchester was more like to cross theâ—â—â—mply with them therefore it is resolved to remove him out of the way And to that end Northumberland observing that it was the Treasurers custom sitting at the Counsel Table if at any timâ— he were suddenly called up to the King to make such hast thâ—t he commonly left his Spectacles behindâ— him he procured them once to be so sweetly anointâ—d and perfumed before his return that at his next putting them on they cost him his Nose and scaped very narrowly with his Life which yet with much adoe was saved and the Treasurer lived to make the Duke his good friend some part of requital as the event shewed Not long after this King Edward falleth sick whereupon designes growing now to maturity the Duke procures his Son Guildford Dudly to be married to the Lady Jane Grey Daughter to the Dutchess of Suffolk one who had a remote title to the Crown But they meant to advance it by their power The Lady her self being also studiously affected to the Protestant Religion and for that respect they doubted not to finde favors and assistants enough But therein their count failed them At the same time thâ— Earl of Pembrokes Son was married to the Lady Katharine another Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk And the Earl of Huntingdons Son to one of Northumberlands own Daughters All which marriages were solemnized upon one day at Durham House in the Strand And after them King Edward lived not long It is said that the Apothecary who poisoned him for the horror of the offence and disquietness of his Conscience drowned himself and that he Laundress which washed his Shirt lost the Skin of her Fingers But this is certain thâ—re are some yet living in Court who can tell how many weeping Eyes they have seen for the untimely and Treacherous loss of such a Prince See Heyward Hist Edw. 6. But the pretence and zeale of Religion which these men shewed did so overshadow all things for a time that not many could discern their impiety The Oration which Nortâ—umberland made to the Lords in the Tower when he was upon his departure for Cambridge to proclaim his Daughter in Law Lady Jane Queen doth shew what a Fox he was and how far he could both descend and dissemble to compass his ends Goodw. Annals Howbeit in his way the Justice of God met him For the people the Suffolk men especially sticking faithfully to the right Heir and their lawful Sovereign Queen Mary he was quickly deserted by all men apprehended and received at Tower-hil the due reward of his Treason and other sins with the loss of his head And so we see those two Lords of Misrule or Reformation if it must be called so that is to say the Protector Duke of Sommerset and this man Duke of Northumberland Born both of them for the Scourge and ruin of the Catholike Church in England by a just vengance of Heaven proved at last as it were Butchers and Executioners of one another undid their several Families and endangered the whole Realm
he did by pretence of the Popes Letters and to deceive the Queen Therefore having found so little encouragement at Lyons as we have said he travels to Paris and endeavors to insinuate himself with Father Parsons who was there at that time with the Lord Paget but with no better success to his designs then he had found before with F. Creighton and Master Wats Howbeit by some means he procured himself access to the Popes Nuncio then resident in the City to whom he presents a Letter written in Italian by himself which he desires might be recommended by the said Nuncio to his Holiness which was done In this Letter he confesseth first what great wrongs he had done to the English Catholikes in former time but was now returning into England intending to make them some satisfaction by his service there And to that end desired the Approbation and Benediction of his Holiness not specifying any thing in particular what he intended as may be seen by his Letter which is upon Record To this Letter of Parry Cardinal Como answereth in the Popes name in such manner as every man knows For the Cardinals Letter is common to be seen Let any man read and examine it if there be any particular service intimated or any Treasonable or seditious directions given but onely a general encouragement to a good work as least that might be presumed so by those who wrote knowing nothing to the contrary which was onely in general offered And what reasonable man can think that his Holiness could do less in such a case then he did viz. then to command a Complement to be returned unto a kindness which for ought appeared was offered onely in Complement To have denied that His Holiness must have seem'd to slight too much the opinion of his Nuncio by whose recommendation the Letter of Parry was presented at Rome And who indeed if any was the man surprized in the business by giving so much credit to a person not sufficiently known to him The truth is Parry's designs were malicious every way both in respect of the Catholikes with whom he intended by means of the said Letters to insinuate himself so far if he could and to gain such confidence with them as to be able at least when time should be to do some of them mischief and in respect of the Queen whom he abused along time pretending by colour of the self same Letters that he was really suborned and sent by the Pope to attempt some violence upon her Majestie Being therefore furnished some thing to his minde as abovesaid he departeth privately from Paris without so much as taking leave of F. Parsons as by whom he found neither himself nor his business to be much regarded and procures a Pass to be sent him from the Lord Burleigh to come into England upon pretence that he had some great matters to impart to the Queen So he came the Queen heard him and he informed That the Jesuites had moved him to kill her But not being able to name any in England he was dismissed on purpose to be a Spy here at home and to discover such Catholikes to the Counsel as perhaps might be found less affectionate towards her person And to gain him the better credit with them viz. the Catholikes it was ordered so that he was once very formally convented in Parliament where he so boldly defended Catholike Religion and the Catholikes of England that the Parliament it self not knowing that all was but out of design by the Queen and her Counsel committed him to the Tower Which did indeed very much encrease his reputation with the Priests and Fathers here But his liberty was soon procured and himself had such continual access to the Queen such favor with the Treasurer and others that once he had no small hopes to have been made Master of Saint Katharines Howbeit the Counsel perceiving him but to faulter and fail in the main business viz. of betraying Catholikes and especially in the business of the Lord Latimor whom the Treasurer would fain have caught in Parries net himself at last became suspected and entangled by degrees in such Snares as he could never winde himself out but perished in that manner which he had justly deserved and for which no man lamented him A Fourth objection is against F. â—ichard Walpoole of the Society who was accused by one Squire upon the Rack to have encouraged him to poyson the Queen The Story is thus The said Squire and one Rolls being in a Pinnace of Sir Francis Drakes in the year 1596. were taken by Don Peâ—o Tellio and brought prisoners to Sivil where F. Parsons happening to be there at that time procured for them liberty and also necessary apparel and so sent them home At Saint Lucars through their own indiscretion they fall into the Inquisition and are thereupon remanded back again to Sivil where this said Father Walpoole then being was as ready to do them charitable offices in their necessity as Father Parsons had been before So he procured them liberty the Second time not indeed to depart without leave but to be forthcoming when they should be called to appear and to this he engaged his credit having first made provision of necessary subsistance for Rolls in the Jesuites Colledge and for Squire in a Monastery But they both fled away secretly and left Father Walpoole in the Lurch to answer for them yet afterwards sending him Letters to excuse their suddain departure which he also produced for his discharge So they came into England And as it happens sometimes with Travellers especially of such quality as they were to talk of much more then is true and to pretend acquaintance abroad with those which perhaps they scarce ever saw so it seems this Squire in his discourses of the intimacy and familiarity which he had with Jesuites and such men abroad did overshoot himself so far as to let fall something capable of misconstruction and which an Adversary of his one Stallenge catching up at the second hand made shift to improve â—nto an accusation of Treason against the said Squire viz. That he had been Counselled by a Jesuite to poyson the Queen and concealed it But let the Reader consider circumstances well and then weigh the Endictment Squire is accused that Father Walpoole moved and instructed him to poyson the Queen and preached to him at his departure to that purpose Is this probable For first they fled both of them away secretly from Sivil Squire and Rolls together without Father Walpooles knowledge and as 't is generally known to be true Secondly Squire was a man that always professed himself a Protestant in Spain as well as in England and so died Who can dream that Father Walpoole knowing this as well as himself should make such a proposition to him Thirdly both at his arraignment and death he constantly denied any such matter to have been propounded to him by any person on earth And though having bin
layeth not any greater upon the Christians under him All or most of the old Catholike Bishops and Clergy of England died in prisons Antipath of Prelat as Master Prinn himself confesseth of the chiefest of them amâ—ng Rogues Murtherers and Felons in the Marshalsea The rest in Exile for Religion is this no punishment Or was there any other Crime laid to their charge but onely matter of Religion Not to speak of many others Master William Anderson in 45. Elizab. was executed upon no other charge but that he was a Priest and then found to be in England so was Master Barckworth in the year 1600. was this no punishment Anno 35. Elizab. Master Barwis a Citizen of London was executed for being reconciled to to the Church and Master Pormort attainted at least for reconciling him was this no punishment In the year 1575. as Holinshead himself recordeth it for a matter to be noted The Lady Morley the Lady Brown the Lady Guildford were committed all of them to prison onely for hearing Mass and Leases presently made of two Third parts of their Lands was this no punishment I might be infinite in examples of this kinde but it is needless The case is manifest and the sense of the whole Kingdom proclaimes the contrary to what that Author pretendeth convincing his assertion of not a little imposture and calumny To conclude then the loyalty and obedience of these Gentlemen and other people of all sorts which are commonly called Recusants towards their King and the State appears undeniably in all things not only by their humble petitions to his Majesty that now is in the year 1604. and at sundry times since but by their constant and general conformity unto the temporal Government in all Queen Elizabeths Reign by their Protestation made at Ely in the year 1588. where a great many of them were prisoners by some other offers which they made to the Lord North the Queens Lieutenant there and by their justification of them afterwards by their submâ—ssions sent up to the Lords of the Privy Councel and their profession of all due acknowledgement towards her Majesty notwithstanding the sentence of Excommunication by their readiness to serve her Majesty the State even in that Action of 88. for which they are so calumniated Lastly by the very Irish Recusants joyning their Forces with the Queens at Kinsale in the year 1600. All which Arguments do indeed shew them to be â—ubjects absolutè and not ex conditione or by leave of some other as their adversaries pretend Let the Readâ—r therâ—fore now judge if he please by what hath been said whether to be a Protestant and a loyal â—ubject or a Catholike and a loyal subject be more incompatible things This was the question propounded in the beginning to be declared and it hath been declared I suppose at large both from their doctrinal assertions and constant practises in all parts of Germany France Holland Scotland Genevah and many other Countries of Christendom what kinde of people both Lutherans Calvinist and other sectaries generally are towards their Sovereign Princes It hath bin shewn that the chief scope and end of their endeavours where they come is to set up their several professions by the Sword and violâ—nt resistance of the Civil Magistrate doing but his Office in restraining them according to Law yea with the ruin of the Church and State both that shall oppose them This I say both the Lutheran s n Germany the Hugonets of France the Gâ—uses of Hâ—lâ—and the Protestants and Puritans in all other places where they could have so apparently done or attempted to doe that there is neither colour of excuse for it nor liberty to deny it The World knoweth what was endeavored in Germany against the Emperor in France how long continued they in Armes against their Sovereign Prince viz. till they had by force not to say contrary to his Oath extorted from him such Edicts of Pacification as themselves liked And that in Holland and Scotland where they had the fortune to become Masters they renounced and deposed their Princes absolutely On the other side let us consider how far it is from being true that wherewith so many Books in England have abused the people viz. That to be a Priest or a Roman Catholike and a good Subject withall is impossible They are things inconsistent with one another For if we look back to former times we shall easily finde that from the Saxons to King Henry the Eighth it was never made so much as a quâ—stion To be a Catholike was never held any bar to Loyalty and yet the Princes had their differences somtimes with the Pope even then And in the grounds of Catholike Faith there is certainly nothing contrary unto civil obedience and duty towards the temporal Magistrate Witness the Government of the Sacred Roman Empire of the Kingdoms of Spain France Poland and many other Christian Principalities and States All which differing in their several constitutions or particular formes of Governing yet doe generally and unanimously account him the bâ—st Subject and least dangerous to the State who is most of all devoted to Catholike Religion It is not therefore malum in se simpliciter whatsoever Doctor Morton or Parson White say it is not an evil intrinsecal to Priesthood nor essentially folloâ—ing the profession of Catholike Religion to be an evil subject If it happens to prove so at any time it is ex accidente and from the voluntary wickedness of particular men if not as too often it doth from some evil constitution of State in which the profession of Catholike Religion hath been unduly subverted and is as unjustly prohibited and punished Neither can it be verified of Catholike Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or universally as sedition and troubling the Civil Government is apparently chargeable upon Calvinism and the other several professions of Protestancy Therefore surely it was an errour both uncivil and indiscreet in those Doctors to frame their proposition so general onely to make us odious and suspected with his Majestie who yet we hope understands us better then so and knows that the imputation is groundless and meerly passionate We deal not so with them We are ready to acknowledge that as to particular persons there are many especially among the Protestants of England of more calm and moderate dispositions of no such fiery zeal as works in many other of their Brethren abroad Boni viri boni cives such as we confess to be both good men and good Subjects of sociable nature obsequious not inclined to Sedition nor desirous to persecute And the like good Testimony doth even the Author of the Execution of English Justice give unto Catholikes acknowledging their obedience and loyalty towards the late Queen and that in a time when they wanted not matter of complaint for the manifold oppressions and afflictions which were heavy upon them T is true every man may be supposed to wish the advancement of his