shall Eccho in his Ears that Christ shall disown all those as unworthy of his Kingdom who have here been ashamed to confess him before men But how fond are we to indulge our sins and what sorry Shields will men make use of rather than not have some colour of patronage for their crimes These Nicodemites these colloguing Hypocrites who think they can make a match between Light and Darkness and at once pass Homage both to Christ and Belial that they may seem cum ratione Insanire to offend God with warrant from his own word plead Scripture the Divel did so of old for their practice and alleadge the example of Naaman the Syrian 2. Kings 5. who being Miraculously Cured of his Leprosy came to acknowledg the true God of Israel and resolv'd not to Worship any other Deity for so saith he to the Prophet Elisha v. 17. Thy Servant will henceforth Offer neither Burnt Offering nor Sacrifice unto other Gods but unto the the Lord. But then in the next verse he comes with this Reserve In this thing the Lord Pardon thy Servant that when my Master goeth into the house of Rimmon to Worship there and he leaneth on my hand and I bow my self in the house of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy Servant in this thing And the Prophet said unto him depart in Peace Which say these men implies an approbation or leave for him so to do if therefore it were permitted for him rather than lose the favour of the King his Master to wait on him into an Idols Temple and bow down and pay the external signs of Worship there still keeping his heart upright to the Lord why may not we for like reasons assist at Mass since in our hearts we contemn and abhor it This is the full force of the Objection To which I answer 1. My friend thou that makest use of this Plea I cannot but admire since in the word of God thou hast a general road the Kings High way plainly set forth by commands and hedg'd in with Prohibitions not to depart from it and trackt by all the Troops of Pilgrims to the new Jerusalem wherein thou canst not err why dost thou rather chuke to decline and start aside after this particular Example as into a By-path rarely troden where easily thou may'st go astray How comest thou so Eagle ey'd to discover theâ—e private passages and small Chinks and Crevises and yet art so blind thou canst not see the Door Canst thou be ignorant that 't is a very dangerous thing to follow particular Examples without some other Warrant For sometimes to some persons God as by a singular priviledge hath permitted that which to all in general he hath forbidden And many things he suffers which he does not approve We do not read nor is it credible that this Syrian General was ever Circumcised will you hence raise an excuse to avoid your own being Baptized what if we should say thou art more bound to confess publickly thy Faith and abstain from all appearance of Idolatry than Naaman was because God has vouchsafed unto thee a greater measure of understanding because somewhat was indulg'd to his ignorance will you who are many degrees beyond him in knowledge claim the save priviledge How absurd how rash is this be not deceived God is neither a Sophister nor will suffer his glory to be fullfilled or his Justice eluded by any Sophistical tricks or evasions But 2. This Scripture is by them abused and being rightly interpreted gives not the least countenance to their practise who alleadge it For first you must note that this noble Syrian as long as he liv'd in Idolatry and Superstition with great cost and pomp was wont to Sacrifice to his Idols for the meanest men would strain themselves upon such occasions But now what does he resolve that henceforword he would only Sacrifice to the God of Israel Now what was that less than to make a publick notorious Profession of his having abandon'd the false Gods and only to cleave to the Lord whence the world might as easily perceive that he was no longer an Idolater as if he had proclaim'd it with the sound of a Trumpet For how could they doubt but he had cast off those Gods to whom he paid no more Offerings as he was wont to do be hesides loads away two Mules with the Earth of Canaan whereon he might adore the living God least otherwise by the contagion of profane Earth his Sacrifice should be polluted which was another solemn testimony of his Profession But afterwards he beggs pardon if he go into the Temple of Rimmon if he did this that he might counterfeit a worshipping of that Idol it would be some pretence indeed for them But the matter is quite otherwise for the words import only thus much If the King my Master shall happen to go into the Temple of Rimmon and leaning upon my â—oulder shall worship there though I bow down in civil respect to my Prince and Master let not the Lord impute it to me as though I worshipped the Idol The bowing of his body here intended was no simulation of Idolatry but a civil duty which he was wont to pay the King Those therefore that will defend themselves by this Example must first purge themselves from all suspition of Idolatry and openly show that they renounce superstition and then we shall have no controversie with them but till then 't is vain and ridiculous for them to think to shelter their impiety under this president Another excuse they would raise out of that pretended Epistle of Jeremy in the Book of Baruch chap. 6. where in v. 4. are these words Now shall ye see in Babylon Gods of silver and of gold and of wood borne upon shoulders be not afraid of them 〈◊〉 but say you in your hearts O Lord we must worship heeâ— I answer 1. This Epistle is Apocryphal and so not of sufficient authority and 2. the words are nothing to the purpose the Text only admonisheâ— them when they see them they should not be afraid of them but instead of joyning with them in their Idolatry should pay their Devotions to God That of Paul Acts 21. is somewhat more colorably yet well considered makes as little for their turn Paul say they though he knew the Ceremonies of the Law to be abolish'd yet to gratify those of his own Nation shaved his head according to Law Numb 6. 18. and vow'd and perform'd a purification after the manner of the â—aw â—f this were lawful for Paul to do we conceive we ought no more to be forbid the frequenting of Masses and other Popish mysteries 1. I answer 1. They are grievously reproachful first to God in comparing a Ceremony instituted by himself with abominable Idolatry and in the next place to Paul unjustly loading him with this infamy for was it a Ceremony condemn'd by God which Paul used or rather was it not yet an indifferent thing 'till the Light of
fearful Tragedy ensued Our great Grand-mother Eve express'd more than an inclination to Fall in that she presum'd to hold Chat with the Serpent Peter the Champion of our Lord the only man whose Sword was drawn in his Quarrel is so far infected with the Air of the High Priests Hall that as he warmed himself at the Fire so he cool'd in Devotion to his Master till at last he utterly denies him and swears and curses to it like any Tory. Most dangerous it is to come within the smell of false Religion Tertullian in his Book De Coâ—onâ militis cuts off all appearance of Idolatry not permitting Christian Soldiers to wear a Lawrel because Heathen Victinus were encircled with such Garlands etiam Draco Terrenus de longinquo non minus spiritu absorbet Alites faith the same Father The Babylonish Dragon will infect with his Breath even a far off and will you be so fool hardy as to venture into his Don Will any except a mad man run into an house infected to riffle for a rich Suit or dip his hand into a fiery Crucible to pull out Gold or hazard his Soul for acquaintance with all Religions and damn himself in a vain curiosity Fly from Idols is the charge of the Beloved Apostle 1 John 5. 21. I will destroy those saith the Lord by his Prophet Zephaniah 1. 4. that swear by the Lord and Melcham Justly therefore doth rhe Apostle Paul cut off all Association with Idolaters an Association worthy to be abhorr'd by all true Protestants I would not that you should have fellowship with Devils no Society with Devils spiritually by having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Ephes 5. 11. nor Sacramentally by combining in the practise of a false Religion It carries a special Emphasis Numb 25. 4. That Israel joyned or as som Translations render it coupled himself with Baal-peor and what followed The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel He that will be safe from the act of evil must wisely prevent the occasions some indeed by a kind of spiritual Antiperistasis have thrived in Religion by being inviron'd with Heresie and Infidelity but these men are presidents for wonder more than Imitation their paths are not for ordinary steps Who dares venture on the mercy of Lions because Daniel in the Den found a guard or commit himself to a flaming Furnace because the Three Children escaped scorching 'T is merey above expectation to deliver that man who willingly casts himself into the mouth of a Temptation To close this Subject let us therefore beware of Blending Religions of thinking at once to serve God and Mammon of being both Papists and Protestants as conveniency serves Those that are neither hot nor cold God will spue them out The Jews might not Plow with an Ox and an Ass in the same Yoak The Church of Galatia might not indure the Co-partnership of the Jewish Ceremonies If Moses and Christ might not stand together much less Christ and Belial the Lords Table and the Altar of Devils Let us be united within our selves and bequeath oppositions to the Monks and persecution to the Inquisition learn manfully and resolutely to defie Rome and Hell come not within the pale or scent of her Idolatry and be ever stedfastly zealous for the Protestant Religion whereof Truth is the circumference and Jesus Christ the Centre This resolution to conclude in the words of Mr. Wotton an eminent Divine in the Church of England will bring safety in peace and in war victory that no ill tidings shall affright you no Plots harm you no losses discourage you no menaces turn you out of the right way the Lord Jesus himself like the Angel in Joshua will march at the Head of your Troops and be as a Cloud to refresh you in the heat of Summer and as a Fire to warm you in the cold of Winter your Swords shall eat the Flesh of your enemies your Pikes and Bullets shall be be drunk with their Blood and Babylon shall be cast like a Milstone into the Sea to the Glory of God that hath appointed her this punishment the increase of Religion the safety of the State and the honour in this Life and everlasting Salvation in the Life to come Necessity of Separation from the Church of Rome p. 295. The COURANT. Truem. PUt case I say that a Gentleman that scarce ever came to Church in almost twenty years together since His Majesties Restauration thinks convenient for Reasons best known to himself to make a Solemn Declaration that he is no Papist c. and that he intends to take the Sacrament upon 't and comes on the Wednesday to the Curate and Church-wardens desiring them to be witnesses and they or one of them knowing him infected with the Itch of Scribling tell him they will sign it but would by no means have their names exposed in Print whereupon he solemnly promises their names shall not be Printed yet on the Saturday following Prints them at large and has them bawl'd about all the Streets see Observ Numb 126. and yet for all this premeditated Breach of Faith at which an Heathen would blush roundly goes next day to the Sacrament What would you think of this man and the credit of his Protestation Tory. I must needs think him a great Knave and his Declaration no more to be credited than a Jesuites under the Gollows Truem. Hold hold or you 'll be Excommunicated at Sam 's why our Old Friend in High Holbourn is the very man Tory. How Nay then the Case is alter'd I 'le lay a wager he 'll deny it Truem. So the Papists do their Plot and so 't is probable he would the Creed when 't is for his advantage but his denial makes it nevertheless a Truth The Gentlemans Trade is Leasing-making and if that were half so Criminal in England as 't is said to be in Scotland he had trudg'd further North-west long ago Tory. Come come we shall have you in the Observator Truem. I value the driv'lings of an Observator no more than Harry Care does the silly Tories impotent malice in burning him in Effigie at Norwich O Heavens how some peoples Fingers itch to be at Fire and Fagot and will play at small games rather than stand out Had not the Writ De Haeretico Comburendo been unluckily abolisht they would no doubt have been glad to have Roasted the poor Fool in bad Earnest yet know no more harm by him than the Man in the Moon only that he has the courage to write against Popery once a week when swarms of Libels and Pamphlets are scattered every day to promote it I had almost said with Impunity Tory. There 's no fear of Popery man hast thou not seen a choice Book Intitutled Plain dealing is a Jewel c. Truem. Yes though like the Pestilence it yet walks in darkness I got a sight of it by the same token the Author p. 15. makes a Solemn Declaration just like
which in hast was left or forgotten running with it to carry it to the rest in the Bonefire brake his Leg. Here was Lex Talionis Bone for Bone And to this day for a perpetual Monument in the very place where they burnt his Bones tho the Townsmen for their own profit have often essayed to bring the Water that way it never holds but still makes a Bank Thus far the Doctor I shall conclude this Weeks Task with a Copy of John Wickliff's Answer or Resolution to King Richard touching the Right and Title of the King and Pope which was as follows It being demanded whether the Kingdom of England may lawfully in case of necessity for its own defence detain and keep back the Treasure of the Kingdom that it be not carried away to foreign and strange Nations the Pope himself demanding and requiring the same under pain of Censure and by vertue of Obedience To which Wickliff return'd this Answer Setting apart the Minds of Learned Men what might be said in the matter either by the Canon Law or by the Law of England or the Civil Law It resteth saith he not only to persuade and prove the Affirmative part of this Doubt but the Principles of Christ's Law And first I prove it thus Every natural Body hath Power given it of God to resist against his Contrary and to preserve it self in due Estate as Philosophers know very well in so much that Bodies without Life are endu'd with such a kind of Power as it is evident unto whom hardness is given to resist those things that would break it and Coldness to withstand the Heat that dissolveth it For so much then as the Kingdom of England after the manner and phrase of the Scriptures ought to be one Body and the Clergy with the Commonalty the Members thereof it seemeth that the same Kingdom hath such Power given it of God and so much the more apparent but how much the same Body is more precious unto God adorned with Vertue and Knowledge For so much then as there is no Power given of God unto any Creature for any end or purpose but that he may lawfully use the same to that end and purpose it followeth that our Kingdom may lawfully keep back and detain their Treasure for the defence of it self in what case soever necessity do require the same Secondarily the same is proved by the Law of the Gospel for the Pope cannot challenge the Treasure of this Kingdom but under the Title of Alms and consequently under the pretence of the Works of Mercy according to the Rule of Charity But in the Case aforesaid the Titel of Alms ought utterly to cease Ergo the Right and Title of challenging the Treasure of our Realm shall cease also in the presupposed necessity For so much as all Charity hath his beginning of himself it were no work of Charity but of meer madness to send away the Treasures of the Realm unto Foreign Nations whereby the Realm it self may fall into Ruine under the pretence of such Charity It appeareth also by this that Christ the Head of the Church whom all Christian Priests ought to follow lived by the Alms of Devout Women Luke 7. 8. He hungred and thirsted he was a Stranger and many other Miseries he sustained not only in his Members but also in his own Body as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Cor. 8. He was made poor for your sakes that through his Poverty you might be made rich whereby in the first endowing of the Church whatsoever he were of the Clergy that had any Temporal Possessions he had the same by form of a perpetual Alms as both Writings and Chronicles do witness Whereupon St. Bernard in his second Book to Eugenius that he could not challenge any Secular Dominion by Right of Succession as being the Vicar of St. Peter writeth thus That if St. John should speak unto the Pope himself as Bernard doth unto Eugenius were it to be thought that he would take it patiently But let it be so that you do challenge it unto you by some other way or means but truly by any Right or Title Apostolical you cannot so do For how could he give unto you that which he had not himself That which he had he gave you that is to say Care over the Church but did he give you any Lordship or Rule Haâ—k what he saith Not bearing Rule saith he as the Lords in the Clergy but behaving your selves as Examples to the Flock And because thou shalt not think it to be spoken only in Humility and not in Verity mark the Word of the Lord himself in the Gospel The Kings of the Gentiles rule over them but thou shalt not do so Here Lordship and Dominion is plainly forbidden to the Apostles and darest thou then usurp the same If thou wilt be a Lord thou shalt lose thine Apostleship or if thou wilt be an Apostle thou shalt lose thy Lordship for truly thou shalt depart from the one of them If thou wilt have both thou shalt lose both or else think thy self to be of that number of whom God doth so greatly complain saying They have Reign'd but not through me they are become Princes and I have not known it Now if it do suffice to Rule with the Lord thou hast thy Glory but not with God but if we will keep that which is forbidden let us hear what is said He that is the Greatest among you saith Christ shall be made as the least and he which is Highest shall be as the Minister and for Example set a Child in the midst of them so this then is the true form and institution of the Apostle's Trade Lordship and Rule is forbidden Ministration and Services commanded Thus far St. Bernard as cited by Wickliff upon this occasion THE COURANT. Tory. NAY now all 's out I thought this 't would come to at last for D me if I did not always suspect as much I ever lookt upon Catholics as fine civil Gentlemen and for their Church I have a great Veneration because she is a true Church and a Mother Church and their Worship is very glorious and decent What an absurd thing 't is to imagine that ever such Holy Loyal Men as their Priests are should be guilty of Treason Yet I did but say a Twelve-month ago there was no Popish Plot and a Whiggish Son of a Whore gave me a slap i' th' Face and threaten'd me with Newgate for presuming to give the King and Three Parliaments the Lye But it should seem Tempora mutantur I hope e're long a Man may say and swear too That there never was any such Plot at all with Impunity and without Controul Truem. Prethee what makes you so merry about the Gills this Morning Hast thou been at Breakfast with the Painter at Aldersgate on his Whig-Pye whose Crust was made of Gammer Celier's Meal and baked in the red hot Oven of Dr. Tantivy's Skull Tory. No no but on a better
cause which persons do also preach divers matters of Slander to engender Discord and Dissention betwixt divers Estatés of the said Realm as well Spiritual as Temporal in exciting of the people to the great peril of the Realm Which Preachers cited or summoned before the Ordinaries of the places there to answer of that whereof they be impeached will not obey to their Summons and Commandments nor care for their Monitions nor Censures of the Holy Church but expresly despise them And moreover by their subtle and ingenious words do draw the people to hear their Sermons and do maintain them in their Errors by strong Hand and great Routs It is ordained and assented in this present Parliament That the King's Edmmissions be made and directed to the Sheriffs and other Miuisters of our Soveraign Lord the King or other sufficient persons Learned and according to the Certifications of the Prelates thereof to be made in Chancery from time to time to arrest all such Preachers and also their Faitors Maintainers and Abettors and to hold them in Arrest and strong Prison 'till they will justifie them according to the Law and Reason of Holy Church And the King wills and commandeth That the Chancellor make such Commissions at all times that he by the Prelates or any of them shall be certified and thereof required as is aforesaid This was the first pretended Statute that ever was in England for imprisoning Christians for Religious opinions and by colour thereof the Bishops committed great Cruelties I call it pretended Statute for tho it be enter'd in the Parliament Rolls yet it was no Legal Act for it never pass'd the Commons And therefore at the next Parliament in Michaelmas Term following the Commons preferr'd a Bill â—eciting the same and constantly affirmed That they never assented thereunto and therefore desired that the said supposed Statute be annull'd and made void for they protested That it was never their intent that either themselves or such as shall succeed them should be farther subject or bound to the Prelates than were their Ancestors in former times And to this the King gave his Royal Assent in these words Il plaist au Roy The King is pleas'd that it be so Cook 3 Instit fo 40. Foxes Acts and Monuments fo 406. But that you may more fully understand the fraud and subtlety of their Reverences in this Affair you must understand That before the invention of Printing the usual way of publishing Acts of Parliament was to engross them in Parchment and send them with the King 's Writ into every County commanding the Sheriff to proclaim them Now John Braibrook Bishop of London being then Lord Chancellor of England he by a Writ dated 26 May Anno Regni Regis R. 2. quinto sent down the before recited Ordinance of the King and Prelates amongst the Statutes that were then lately pass'd But no less knavishly left out in the next Parliamentary Proclamation the said Act of Revocation whereby the said supposed Statute was made void by which means afterwards the other still pass'd as an Act and was printed continually as such but the Act that disannull'd it was by the Interest of the Prelates from time to time kept out of the Prints the better to give colour to their imprisoning of the Laity at their pleasure And farther to make sure work Henry the Fourth having usurp'd the Crown to gratifie the Clergy who had chiefly assisted him therein in the second year of his Raign he at their Instigation procured the following cruel and wicked Law to be Enacted commonly call'd The Statute Ex Officio which that the Reader may the better observe the Spirit of Popery and Persecution and compare the Times and Actings of Men in past and more modern Times I hope it shall neither be thought tedious nor unuseful to recite the same at large Verbatim it not being now extant in Kceble or any of our Common Statute Books ITem Whereas it is shewed to our Soveraign Lord the King on the behalf of the Prelates and Clergy of this Realm of England in this present Parliament That altho the Catholick Faith builded upon Christ and by his Apostles and the holy Church sufficiently determined declared and approved hath been hitherto by good and holy and most noble Progeniâ—ors of our Soveraign Lord the King in the said Realm amongst all the Realms of the World most devoutly observ'd and the Church of England by his said most noble Progenitors and Ancestors to the honour of God and of the whole Realm aforesaid landably endow'd and in her Rights and Liberties sustain'd without that that the same Faith or the said Church was hurt or grievously oppressed or else perturbed by any perverse Doctrine or Wicked Heretical or Erronious Opinions Yet nevertheless divers false and perverse people of a certain new Sect of the Faith of the Sacraments of the Church and the Authority of the same damnably thinking and against the Law of God and of the Church usurping the Office of Preaching do perversly and maliciously in divers places within the said Realm under the colour of dissembled Holiness preach and teach these days openly and privily divers nâ—w Doctrines and wicked Heretical and Erronious Opinions contrary to the same Faith and blessed Determinations of the holy Church And of such Sect and wicked Doctrine and Opinions they make unlawful Conventicles and Confederacies they hold and exercise Schools they make and write Books they do wickedâ—y instruct and inform people and as much as they may excite and stir them to Sedition and Insurrection and maketh great strife and division among the people and other Enormities horribly to be heard daily do perpetrate and commit in subversion of the Catholick Faith and Doctrine of the holy Church in diminution of God's honour and also in destruction of the Estate Rights and Liberties of the said Church of England by which Sect and wicked and false Preachings Doctrine and Opinions of the said false and perverse people not only most great peril of the Souls but also many more other hurts slanders and perils which God prohibit might come to this Realm unless it be the more plentifully and speedily holpen by the King's Majesty in this behalf namely whereas the Diocesans of the said Realm cannot by their Jurisdiction Spiritual without Aid of the said Royal Majesty sufficiently correct the said false and perverse people nor refrain their Malice because the said false and perverse people do go from Diocess to Diocess and will not appear before the said Diocesan but the same Diocesans and their Jurisdiction Spiritual and the Keys of the Church with the Censures of the same do utterly contemn and despise and so their wicked Preachings and Doctrines doth from day to day continue and exercise to the hatred of Right and Reason and utter destruction of Order and good Rule Vpon which Novelties and Excesses above rehearsed the Prelates and Clergy aforesaid and also the Commons of the said Realm being in
to detect the Intrigues of five Priests and Jesuits that were his Fellow Prisoners but still you must note the Man owns himself a stanch Catholick Tory. Hey-day Is Satan's Kingdom then divided against it self Do the Brethren in Iniquity squabble Truem. Pish that 's no News did you never read the feuds between the Fathers in Wisbich Castle and Parsons the Jesuit and his gang in Q Elizabeth and King James's time There you may learn the very Quintessence of Railing the Elixir of Billingsgate Tory. But what says this Reverend Father Dowdal Truem. Why it seems being in Gaol in the Gate-house the wily Jesuits c. his Fellow-sufferers Povre Turner Parsons Mackarty c. cheated him of his snack of the Charity as he calls it of abundance of devout Lasses Countesses Ladies and the Devil knows who that had no better use for their Money than to bestow it upon this Hypocritical Tribe of Traiterous Villains Hinc illae Lachrymae Here 's the Root of the Quarrel And p. 2. he affirm That altho they are reputed Sufferers for Jesus Christ's sake yet they have practis'd the greatest Injustice that could be more becoming Heathens than Christians mor suitable to Infidels than Catholicks and much less to reputed Priests and Jesuits p. 60. speaking of the same Holy Fathers his Fellow-sufferers he says Each of them could with Authority nobly treat one young Woman or other of very ill Repute all day long in their Rooms it was not worth taking notice of if one of them sent for more Bottles of Wine and Brandy in one day than I drank Beer or Ale in a whole weeâ— Either of them might lawfully call two or three of their younger â—evotes their Wives and as many more their Misses who used to call them Husbands and Gallants in like manner the rest of the young Women must be their Sisters and such as were elderly their Mothers yea our holy Patriarch Mr. Povre himself took the liberty to lock himself up daily in his Chamber for some hours with a young Woman he pretended to be his Niece altho a condemned Priest in Newgate his own Country-man has openly assur'd there is no such Relation between them A Gentleman of good Credit did assure me That one of the Women this godly Man us'd to have lock'd up in his Chamber bore a Bastard to one of his Acquaintance who kept her for his Miss some years p. 37. In all my Travels in most Kingdoms of Europe I never was Eye-witness to more Tricks and Knavery than I have seen practised by the fore-named Companions of mine in this Prison altho reputed Priests and Jesuits c. This is a Popish Priest's own Testimony of the practises and conversation of his Brethren Priests and Jesuits but the other day in the Gate-house and that too at a time when they pretended to be Confessors and Sufferers forsooth for Religion If the Goats and Foxes are thus rampant and mischievous in the Pound that kind of Creatures must they be abroad in the Common But Tory methinks you are asleep Tory. I am sorry our Loyal Friends the Catholicks should be thus expos'd by a Bird of their own Feather Could you but have told me such a Story tho never so Fictitious of the Presbyterians it had been worth hearing and would have made me as merry as Herâ—â—litus Ridens or Roger's Fiddle Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY March 10. 1681-2 Et Ficta arguunt fidémque faciunt A Letter of Thanks from the Devil to the Bishops and Clergy for their persecuting the old Dissenters WE shew'd you last week by whom and with what Artifices the first Sanguinary Laws or Acts of Parliament in England against Religious Dissenters were obtain'd It remains that we should give you a brief Prospect of the Mischiefs Cruelties and sad Effects which thereupon follow'd But first since both the worth of the Matter and surprizingness of the Form and the series of Time do all invite us to it we think it will not be unacceptable to recite here a certain Congratulatory Epistle then sent abroad and by a bold Prosopopoeia directed from Old Nick himself to his trusty and well-beloved the Prelates and Clergy For tho the Original has no Date yet the Reverend and Laborious Mr. Fox who publisht it verbatim out of the Registry of the Cathedral of Hereford concludes it to have been written about the time of King Richard the Second The words whereof Translated are as follow I LUCIFER Prince of Darkness and profound Horror Emperour of the high Mysteries of Acheron Captain of the Dungâ—oâ— â—â—ebus King of Hell and Lord â—omptroller of the Infernal 〈◊〉 To all 〈◊〉 Child on of Pride and Companions of our Realm and especially to our dear Allies the Princes of the Church of this 〈◊〉 Age of which our Adversary Jesus Christ saith to his Prophâ—t I hate the Church or Congregation of the wicked send Greeting and wish Prosperity to all that obey our Commandments that â—â—serve the Laws of Satan already Enacted and that are industrious to put in Execution our Precepts and Decrees Know ye That in times past certain Vicars of Christ following his steps in Miracles and Vertues living in Humility and a poor mean Life converted in a manner the whole World from the Yoke of our Dominion unto their Doctrine and Course of Conversation to the great Contempt of our Prison house and Kingdom and no small prejudice of our Jurisdiction and Authority they nothing dreading to bid defiance to our Forces and trample upon the Majesty of our Estate for then scarce did we receive any Tribute from the upper World neither did the miserable sort of common people rush in at the Gates of our deep Dungeon as they were wont to do with continual rapping but in those days the easie broad and pleasant way which leadeth to Death was unfrequented and lay wast without the hideous noise of trampling Travellers or being trod by the feet of wretched Souls So that our Courts being without Suiters all 〈◊〉 began to howl and as being robb'd and spoil'd continued in anguish and heaviness All which considered we could not without diminution to our Glory longer suffer it the impatient Rage of our Spleen was moved nor would our Captain General by a shameful negligence endure it any longer and therefore seeking out the Remedy to prevent like exclusion and inconveniencies for the future we provided our selves of a most opportunate Expedient For instead of these Apâ—stles and other their Adheâ—onts who conduct themselves by the same Line and Level as well in Manners as Doctrine and are odious Enemies unto us we have caused You to be their Successors and preferr'd you in their steads who are the present Prelates of the Church whom we have advanced by our great might and subtlety as Christ has said of you They have Raigned but not by me Once we promised
Hundred Authors as any unbiass'd Learned Reader cannot but observâ— Thirdly He notes several Passages in the Two last Pacquets that are in Foxe 'T is very true What then Do not I there Cite Foxe for them where is the Plagiarism I Write to the Common People and Publish it thus in Successive sheets that so it may fall into the more Hands I pretend not to Instruct the Learned but to give the Vulgar such as perhaps never read Foxe and know nothing of the Magdeburgh Centuries a general Prospect of Popery that they may know and Abhor it Those things which in Foxe are tediously told I abridge what is less material I omit Remarkables I Transcribe and fairly tell the Reader where I have them and what Felony and Treason is there in all this Fourthly Why may not I furnish my Matter from Foxe and the Centuriators I doubt the Observator has some particular spite at them The first continues the Memory of many Glorious English Martyrs barbarously Butcher'd even since the Reformation under a Popish Princses of excellent Vertues setting aside her Blind Bloody Zeal which perhaps the Observator would have had forgot And the Second's Learned Labours and Industrious Researches into Antiquity have wrested one of the Church of Romes boasted Weapons out of her hands and taught us to distinguish the real Testimonies of the Fathers from Spurious Suborn'd Knights of the Post though in Gray Perriwiggs and Venerable Names I wonder what Authors the Gentleman would Advise us to perhaps his friend Father Cressy's Church History or the Golden Legend But he that regards every bark of Cerberuâ— may quickly be Deaf Let us proceed in our intended Work and let Mr. Observator be never so angry at it we will again make use of Mr. Foxe and from thence observe to the Reader That though the Church was already over-burthen'd and almost suffocated with a vast Mass of vain Superstitious Ceremonies yet Tho. Arundel Bishop of Canterbury in the days of King Henry the 4 th about the Year 1410. took upon him to encrease them by Commanding That in all Monasteries and Collegiate Churches there should every Morning be Bells Rung in Honour of the Virgin Mary which commonly was call'd Toling of Aves For the promoting of which he sent his Mandate stuft full of Wicked and Blasphemous Expressions to the Bishop of London and towards the Close thereof used these Words We therefore desiring more earnestly to stir up the Minds of all Faithful People to so devoâ—â— an Exercise c. do grant to all and every Person that shall say his Pater Noster and the Angels Salutation Five times at the Morning Peal with a Devout Mind as oft as he shall do it for each time forty days of Pardon by these Presents Given under our Seals in our Manner of Lambeth the 10th of February in the 9th Year of our Translation Now we appeal to the Reader if this were not a Lumping Pennyworth to have Forty days Pardon of all Sin whatsoever Villany a man should in that time Commit meerly for Muttering over Five Pater Nosters and Five Aves what a kind good humour'd pleasant delicate inviting Religion is Popery Yet now I think on 't my Country-men of Wengham did not find it so under his Predecessor William Courtney Archbishop of the same Province when they were forc'd to do a scurvy scandalous Pennance for the horrid Sin of not bringing Litter for his Graces Horses decently and in order The Sentence against whom being very notable I shall here Recite it and to spight the Observator it shall be out of Fox too Erroris Mater Ignorantia c. Ignorance the Mother of Error hath so blinded certain Tenants of the Lord of Wengham viz. Hugh Penny John Forestall John Boy John Wanderton William Hayward and John White That at the coming of the Lord Archbishop to his Pallace at Canterbury on Palm-Sunday-Eve in the Year 1390. being warn'd by the Bailiff to carry Hay Straw and Littor Foenum Stramen sive Literam 't is in the Original which may be noted from an Archi-episcopal Elegancy to the aforesaid Pallace as by the Tenure of their Lands which they hold of the See of Canterbury they are bound refusing and disdaining to do their due Service as they were accustomed brought their Straw not in Waines and Carts publickly and in sufficient quantity but sneakingly in Sacks and hugger-mugger to the undervaluing of the Lord Arch-bishop and derogation of the Rights of his See of Canterbury For which being call'd and personally appearing before the said Lord Arch-bishop on Thursday in Easter week sitting on his Tribunal in his Castle of Statewode they did humbly submit themselves to his Judgment devoutly craving Pardon and Mercy for those Crimes which they had committed in this behalf And then having sworn them to stand to the Commands of Holy Church and to perform the Pennance that should be Enjoyn'd them his Grace did Absolve them imposing on them and each of them a wholsom Pennance after the manner of the Fault viz. That on the Sunday next the said Penitent should leisurely go bare-footed and bare-headed in an Humble and Devout Manner a Procession to the Collegiate Church of Wengham each of them bearing on their shoulders openly a Sack full of Hay and Straw with the mouthes of the Sacks open so as the Hay and Straw may appear hanging out And to perpetuate the Memory of this Foolery the Pictures of these poor men doing this Ridiculous Pennance were entred in his Graces Register a Copy of which taken from the Original you have in Foxe with this Superscription being as 't is probable the Words they were to say in their Procession This Bagful of Straw I bear on my Back Because my Lord's Horse his Litter did Lack If you be not good to my Lord Grace's Horse You are like to go Bare-foot before the Cross In the 11 th Year of King Henry the 4 th The Commons of England in Parliament perceiving how abominably the Clergy Monks Fryars c. abused those vast Revenues which they Enjoyed to all kind of Pride and Licentiousness Preferr'd a Bill to the King to take away their Temporal Lands and to Imploy the same to the better Advantage and Safety of the Kingdom Alledging that the Temporailties then in the Possession of Spiritual Men amounted to Three hundred and twenty three thousand Marks by the Year But as the Clergy had mainly Assisted that Prince to Usurp the Crown so he did not think it safe to disoblige them at that juncture and therefore put off this Bill with a Le Roy S'avisera And about Two Years after the said King Henry dyed viz. the 2 d. of March 1413. in the 46 th Year of his Age to whom succeeded his Son then near 30 years of Age by the name of Henry the Fifth By the Preaching of Wickliff and his Followers the Eyes of great numbers of the People were in some measure enlightned to see the Errors
Fact and so being taken 4 or 5 years after was upon that outlawry without any further Tryal or Judgment Hang'd and Burnt This is the Tale The Credit of which depends partly upon the Testimonies of Historians and partly upon that of the Records of the Commission and Indictment We shall consider each of these whereby the Reader will more clearly perceive how Improbable it is in all its parts and how ill laid together in the whole 1. As to the Historians Thomas of Walsingham is the first whom all latter Authors follow as a Flock doth the Bell-weather and when we have told you that he was a Benedictine Monk of St. Albans you may easily make Judgment of his Sincerity and what truth there is in those who take matters from him upon trust Amongst the rest I observe the Jesuite Parsons makes great use of John Stow's Testimony and indeed take notice of any Popish Author speaking of modern English History you shall find commonly Stow's Chronicle strutting his Margin this made me wonder why they should make choice of him who was but a mean Mechanic being by Trade a Tayler and ignorant of the Latin Tongue rather than so many other Learned Authors till I suppose at last I hit upon the reason in a Treatise of Dr. Matth. Sutclife afterwards Dean of Exeter Intituled A Threefold Answer c. to Parsons 3 Conversions Printed Anno. Dom. 1606. where p. 3. That Reverend Author who no doubt being Contemporary with Stow had good grounds for his Assertions saith John Stow is a simple Story-writer and a worse Protestant For 't is well known that certain crafty Companions and enemies of Relion were too much Conversant with him to write truely in these matters And p. 24. Stow hath the most part of his Lies concerning the Lord Cobham alis Sir John Old castle out of Walsingham which understanding he understood 〈◊〉 being Latin and he a meer English Tailer Now it was no difficult thing if he Imployed persons Popishly Affected to Translate for him for them to Impose upon his Ignorance what would make for their Cause and then twit us with the noise and pretended Testimony of a Protestant Author Secondly that which might lead some Historians into an Error was that in the second year of this King Henry the 5. an Act was made part of this we recited in our last That all Convicted of Hâ—resy should forfeit all their Lands and Goods wherefore since they were to lose both Life and Estate the noise went that Haeresy was then made Treason tho indeed it was not so I will give an Instance or two of such misled Authors Thomas Walden in the Prologue of his first Tome to Pope Martin has these words speaking of this very business Nec Mora Longa processint qui Statutum c. Nor was it long but it was publickly Enacted by a Statute that all the Wicklevists as they were Traitors to God so should also be accounted Traitors to the King So Roger Wall of the Acts of King Henry 5. Statuit et decrevit ut quot quot Illius Seâ—tu quae diciâ—â—r Lollardâ—rum invenirentaer aemuli et fautores eo facto Rei Proditorij Criminis in Majestâ—tem Regiam haberenter He establisht and Decreed saith he That all that should be found Embracers or favourers of the sect which is called Lollards should for that only Fact be Adjudged Guilty of the Crime of Treason against the Kings Majesty And Polidore Virgil in the 22 Book of his History harps upon the same string declaring that all the Followers of Wickliffes Doctrine were deemed Hostes Patriae Enemies of their Country which is all one as to say Traitors And yet all this while the Statute does not make them Traitors nor speak any thing of putting them to Death for in case of being Convict of Haeresy and refusing to Abjure they were already to be burnt by the Statute of 2 H 4. Ca. 15. But it being so vulgarly taken as appears by these Examples 'T is no wonder that knowing Sir John Old-castle to be convicted for what they call'd Haeresy and that he was Executed they delivered to posterity that he was Executed for Treason as Imagining Haeresy to be Treason by the Law In the next place as to the Records I willingly acknowledge there is no kind of humane Testimony that ought to challeng a greater Reverence Probant et non Probantur yet even Records themselves are liable to be falsisied and whether sometime of that kind is not to be suspected here may still be a question there being not a few Symptomes of Fraud and ill practice As 1. The Commission issued to Indict and Try them bears Date the 10 th of Jannuary 1414. which was on Wednesday next after the Epiphany or Twelfth day And by the Record of the Indictment it not only appears that they were the very same day Indicted and the Bill found which is very much that a Court should sit the very same day the Commission Authorising them bears date for what time was there then for summoning a Jury c. But also in the same Indictment it is averr'd that the very same 10 th of January too was the day on which the aforesaid Conspirators to the number of Twenty Thousand were so in Warlike manner assembled in St. Gilses-fields See both the Records in Foxe fol. 529. Which being so one would expect rather to hear of Commissions Issued not so much to try them as to raise Forces to suppress them Inter Arma silent Leges twenty Thousand Rebels got together where not like much to value a Commission of Oier and Termener 2. In the Record of the Indictment it is said per Sacramenta duodecim Juratorum exstitit presentatum by the Oaths of 12 Jurators it is presented But the names of the Jurors are ommitted whereas I humbly Conceive if any such Indictment had been really and bona fide framed and found the Jurors names as in all other cases would have been here particularly Inserted in the Record 3. The Crimes alleaged in this pretended Indictment are of several sorts some of them Extravagant and all very observeable for tho there be some matters Treasonable to colour the process yet the bottom of all appears to be that they were Enemies to the Church But take the very words of the Record and Judg of them your selves By the Oaths of 12 Jurors 't is presented that John Oldcastle of Coulingin the County of Kent Chevaleir Note tho he were styled Lord Cobham in Right of his Wife yet he was no Peer of the Land and others vulgarly called Lollards who long have rashly held diverse Heritical Opinions contrary to the Catholic Faith and other manifest Errors repugnant to the Catholic Law to maintain such their Errors not being able to Accomplish their design as long as the Royal power and Regal State of our Lord the King as well as the State and Office of the Prelatick dignity within the Kingdom of England
should continue in prosperity falsly and Treasonably Contriving as well the State of the Kingdom as the State and Office of Prelates and the Religious Orders within this Kingdom utterly to Annul and our Lord the King his Brothers the Prelates and other great men of the Realm to Kill And to compel the Religious Orders to leave divine Worship and the Observation of Religion and to follow worldly Occupations and demolish both Cathedrals and Religious houses and spoil them of their Goods and to appoint the said Sir J. O. Regent of the Realm and to set up many Governments in the Realm as a people without an Head to the final destruction as well of the Catholic Faith and Clergy as of the State and Majesty of the Royal dignity did falsly and Trayterously order and propose that he with many other Rebells unknown to the Number of 20000 men from diverse parts of England Arrayed in Warlike manner should Privately Rise and on Wednesday next after Epiphany in the first year of the King at the Parish of St. Gileses c. in a great field they unanimously came together and met to fulfill such their wicked Intent persevering therein to Kill the King and his Brothers viz. Tho. Duke of Clarence John of Lancaster and Humphrey of Lancaster and also the Prelates and great men aforesaid as likewise to disinherite the King of his Realm they came Riding into the said Field Array'd after the manner of an Insurrection against their Allegiance to subdue our Lord the King unless by him with a strong hand they had Gratiously been hindered These are the very words of the Indictment which we the rather have repeated because the same was not Translated by Mr. Fox The COURANT. Truman and Tory. Tory. And how fares our Friend Nat Truem. Why truly the Lords of the Council to use his own insolent Expression have put him in a way to prove his Letters about Sir E. B. G. murdering himself Tory. As how prethee Truem. By justly sending him and his two Vouchers to Newgate Every thing you know naturally tends to its Center hence no doubt the impudent lie first came begot by the Stallion Popish Priests and Midwif'd by Dame Celier and thither 't is now return'd Tory. I 'l tell you this is a great disappointment There were Te Deums intended to have been Sung by our Catholic friends and Hundreds of us were got to the Tavern to be drunk for joy and now to be thus Balkt verily as Monsieur Coleman said There is no Trust in Man Will not this fadg then what shall we do now What sham is next O Roger where art thou Truem. Never trouble thy head with Roger he is playing at Cross purposes For Example The Question is Mr. L'Estrange why did not you for eighteen years together come to Divine service and receive the Sacrament according to the Establisht Church of England The Answer is the Parson of Dionis Backchurch The Question is M. L'Estrange why did you refuse to License a Narrative touching the manner of Sir Edmundbury Godfreys being found and say you did not know but you might offend some great people at White-hall The Answer is 't is not the first time The Question is Mr. Le' Estrange is you are no Papist why did you go to Mass and own your self to be a Member of that Church whereof the Pope is the Head The Answer is Brass Screws The Question is Mr. L'Estrange why did you refuse to Licence an Innocent Copy of Verses meerly because therein it was said That from the Cells of Jesuits and Monks there proceeded a brood to Riffle Subjects and to Murder Kings The Answer is Original Copy The Question is Mr. L' Estrange why did you refuse to Licence both an harmless and usefull Historical Collection of Popish Massacres and Cruelties and say 't was not fit to make the breach between us aud the Church of Rome wider and this since the Discovery of the present Plot The Answer is Forty Eight and pordage The Question is Mr. L'Estrange with what face could you affirm such a notorious lie that there were never above 50 Quakers at a time in the noisome Little-Ease of Bristol The Answer is Sir John Knight and 300 Horsmen The Question is Tory. Prethee leave thy fooling I wonder you dare talk at this rate at this time of day a Catholick friend of mine sent me a Copy of Verses last post out of Lancashire I 'l read a stanza or two of them We must not Blabb but only hint If all things fail the Divel 's in 't Wait but a little longer Our Plot will prove that 't is no wonder For Bones well sett if broak asunder After do grow the stronger For mark ye well altho our Plot In its first Tract succeeded not Yet much we have got by 't The Haereticks by shams and fears Are set together by the Ears Whilst Whigg and Tory fight The Tory he Swagâ—gers and Sings Drinks the Dukes health before the Kings And damns to be Emphatick When he expresseth wish and hope To Kiss the Gouty Toe of Pope Ere he 'l endure Fanatick Then for our hot Tantivy Boys That more with Oaths than pray'rs make noise They 'r Birds deâ—ile their Nest Whose Priest-Craft is preferment meerly Which or to get or save they clearly Will pass through any Test Our Friends are numberless to think on The Dammee Blades and those that drink on And Whore without all shame The Crack-farts Hectors Atheists Bulleys The Bankrupts Poets Sots and Cullies And some I dare not name Printed for Langley Curtis 1682 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY April 14. 1682. Livor post Fata quiescat Tum suus ex merito quemque tuatur Honos Some further Remarks on the Story of Sir John Oldcastle An Epitaph offered to his memory The miserable death of his persecutor Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury who made a Constitution against Reading the Scriptures LEt us go on to Examine the Matter of Treason charg'd on Sir John Oldcastle c. And must request the Reader to Remind the Record of the Indictment recited in English in our last in which besides the unaccountable omission of the Jurors names and the improbability that the supposed Fact should be Committed and Commission to the Judges and their Session and the Conviction should all bear date and happen upon one and the same Numerical day there are these other Observables that present themselves 1. 'T is therein alleadged that the design of these Imaginary Traytors in St. Gilses Thickets was to make Sir John Oldcastle Regent and why not rather King since the same Indictment charges him with design to kill the King And yet if he had a mind to be Regent why should he design to kill the King for then presently his Regency must needs expire The truth is this very expression renders it suspicious that this pretended Indictment was â—obbled up afterwards
such incorrigible Bunglers as our Irish Rascals let 'um be damn'd blacker than Luther Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY April 21. 1682. Quae si cum sociis Stultus cupidúsque bibisset Sub dâ—mina Meritrice fuisset turpis excors Vixisset Canis Immundus vel amica Luto Sus. The Grand Question Whether the Church of Rome be in any kind to be esteem'd a Church of Christ entred into the Reasons why the same is here discuss'd The definition of the Church and how divided HAving deduc'd our History somewhat below the year 1400. and being Arriv'd at those times wherein our Ancestors in England first of all were brought to Capital sufferings for the purity of Religion and were to use the Apostles phrase Hebr. 12. 4. forced to resist unto Blood the wicked Impositions of the no less cruel than Idolatrous Papal Hierarchy It will be convenient if not necessary to inquire what opinion we ought to have of the Church of Rome in its present state A task we undertake not meerly for diverting the Reader tho sure variety in all other things delightfull will not here be offensive nor the intermixing Polemicks with History be censured since we find precedents of it in the best and most approved Authors But we do it for his satisfaction too that he may make the truer Judgment of those many Tragical Scenes all fill'd with fire and fagot Blood and horror Popish fury triumphant and Pious Innocence torn and mangled and Butcher'd with a thousand Barbarities For though to each Judicious peruser the very prospect of these Cruelties is enough to satisfy him that these are the Talons of the Vulture not the sweet Breathings of the Holy Dove practises of the Synagogue of Satan not of the Church of the meek and mercifull Jesus yet some hot and superficial Readers especially in this debaucht and unhappy Age may be apt to say Here 's a Clutter indeed with a parcell of Peevish Fellows what if they were burn't or hang'd out of the way whose fault was it why would they not conform and honestly come to Church if the Church of Rome be a true Church wherein a man may go to Heaven why did they trouble themselves and the world and make a Schism and disturb the Government you make a stir and call them Martyrs but for ought I know they were Follies Martyrs rather than Gods and I remember I have seen a Book Intituled Semper Iidem or a parallel betwixt the antient and modern Phanaticks Printed here at London with I think Authority I am sure publickly and without any trouble to the Bookseller Richard Lownds at the White Lyon in St. Pauls Churchyard 1661. which renders Oldcastle Bishop Latimer Woodman c. as errant Whiggs and Raskals as ever liv'd a sort of turbulent Hereticks that interrupted the Churches Tranquility and would needs be turning the world upside down though they knew neither why nor wherefore c. Suppose one should meet a Spark of this mettal and such frequently now adays at every Coffee-house you may meet with is it not fit my honest Country men should be ready provided to Confute his Folly and do right to those Glorious Worthies who did not sacrifice their Lives to a sullen Obstinacy or factious Freake but for the pure truths of God worth a million of Lives and departed from Rome because she was so far departed from God that if they had further accompanied her afterdivine Grace had open'd their eyes to see her Abominations they must necessarily have fallen into Eternal perdition To Demonstrate this therefore it will I think be not unworthy your while and presently too lest the Disease come upon us before the Medicine be provided and black darkness surround us e're every body be sufficiently Acquainted with it's Hellish Nature to consider the three points following viz. 1. Whether the present Church of Rome ought in any sort to be esteemed a true Church of Christ 2. Whether any person Living and Dying in the Communion of that Church and understanding her Doctrine and practises and joyning therein may ordinarily be saved 3. Whether any person as suppose a Protestant out of fear compliance c. may be present at Mass understanding the same without committing of grievous sin These Three particulars we shall endeavour in this and some following Sheets to discourse of with all plainness and Candor so far from any violation of Charity that we thereby only design a most necessary Caution to prevent poor missed souls from precipitating themselves into endless Ruin and Destruction As to the first Quaery touching the present Roman Churches being a Church of Christ two things are to be premised and explained 1. What we mean in this debate by Church of Christ 2. What we understand by the Church of Rome 1. The word Church taken in its full Latitude signifies the whole company of all those whom God by his word and spirit calls to the knowledge and profession of his truth and from its members being called forth and separated from the rest of the world that live in gross and avowed Atheism or Idolatry without the knowledg and acceptation of those supernatural verities the Incarnation and Crucifixian of the Son of God for the sins of men upon the terms held forth in the Gospel it is termed the Church in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evoco to call out or from The Church thus absolutely and simply considered in this Latitude is but one as the State and Company of the Kingdom of great Britain is but one since all and every one called to this Grace of how different estate qualities or condition soever belong one way or other to this Company but in this Church thus considered there are sundry differences and respects that is the persons called to the Faith of Christ are of diverse sorts for some part of the Church is already reduced from this mortal life and Crowned with that Glory whereunto they were called when here on Earth and thence stiled the Church Triumphant the other part is that which is successively abiding in this world which for that time is called the Church Militant because it lies as it were in the Camp always alarm'd and fighting against Hells Triple League the world the Flesh and the Divel under the Banner of our Lord the blessed Jesus and patiently waiting for the victory But amongst these latter there are again two sorts First such as are effectually called and these are the Elect only whom God not only calls but chuses by his free Grace inspiring them to obey that calling and to live Holily worthy of such their vocation and who shall infallibly be Saved in the life to come and this Company we call the Invisible Church because only God knows who are His and tho we see the men and by their fruits charitably hope
is not again affixed but the Evidence of saving Faith and Testament of the Gospel being written in his heart is now added to the Seal and so it becomes compleatly authentick as not being bound necessarily to outward means Nor do we here exclude Gods free Agency in Baptism who in the Party Baptized in that Heretical Church may if it please him work Grace finding his own Water and his own Words finding I say his own Seal he can add his Covenant of Grace unto it yet no Child there Baptized coming to the years of Discretion unless he Renounce the wicked Faith and Relinquish the Idolatrous practices of that Romish Church can have benefit by his Baptism but to him it is Penal and Pernicious as Augustine speaks And now I proceed to another Argument That the Church of Rome is not a Church of Christ Argument 7. That Church which hath not a lawful Ministry is not a true visible Church of Christ But the Church of Rome hath not a Lawful Ministry Ergo. I know this to many will seem a Paradox but 't is a certain Truth for if the Church of Rome hath not a Lawful Ordination how can it have a Lawful Ministry But it has no Lawful Ordination 1. In regard of the Efficient Cause either Remote as the Pope as Head whence all their Ministerial Power is deriv'd or immediate as the Ordainer on whose Intention their Gratia gratis data dependeth So that here is a Nullity in the very Foundation of the Papal Priest-hood It is deriv'd from the Pope as Head of the Clergy and Church a Title Anti-christian and Usurp'd and so their Ministry is Anti-christian And if the Pope being Antichrist and an Usurper and Consecrating Bishops by vertue of his Papal Supremacy as Christ's sole Vicar and Peter's Successor cannot convey any power of Order upon his Bishops and Clergy what lawful Ministry can we expect in that Apostolical Synagogue So that Calvin an Author whom for Honour's sake I mention in a lewd Age when thousands decry him that either for Learning and Piety are no ways comparable to Him was in the Right in his Book called The Method of Reforming the Church Nego sub toto Papatu unum esse verè Episcopum I deny that under the whole Popedom there is one truly a Bishop and what then shall we say of their Priests neither have they any Ministerial Grace because it depends according to their Belief upon their Ordainers Intention and not upon Christs Ordinance Grace and Promise But 2 ly They fail too in the Formal and Fixal Cause of Ordination They have quite altered and Corrupted the Form and so the End thereof adding a New Form which overthroweth the Old and imposeth a New End viz. making the whole Essence and use of their Ministry to consist in Priesthood that is in Sacrificing of an Idol and so turning the Office of a Minister of the Gospel into an Idol-Sacrificing Priest For in the Form of their Ordination set down in their Tridentine Catechism Part the Second after Imposition of Hands with the sign of the Cross on the Party that is to be Ordain'd The Chalice with Wine and the Paten with the Host is delivered into his hands with these Words Accipe potestatem offerendi Sacrificium Deo Missásque Celebrandi tam pro vivis quam pro defunctis c. Receive thou Power to Offer Sacrifice to God and to celebrate Masses as well for the Living as the Dead c. And this praecipua Sacerdotis functio existimanda est is to be esteemed the principal Office or Function of a Priest Ad Extremum verò c. In fine Imposing hands again he says Receive then the Holy Ghost Whose sins soever ye Remit c. Eique Coelestem illam c. And thus the Bishop giveth unto the Priest that Heavenly Power of Retaining and Forgiving of Sins which the Lord gave to his Disciples Thus the very words of their Ordination Now we know that this power of Remitting and Retaining of Sins the Church of Rome placeth not in the Dispensing and Preaching of the Word of God but in their Sacrament of Pennance Thus they have wholly perverted their Ordination both for the formal and final End Nor do they less fail in the Material Cause ignorant unqualified Persons being ordinarily made Priests and such as only are able to Mumble over the Mass and Matins But it may be Objected That in Popish Ordination there is a Power Confer'd to Preach the Word of God 'T is true they do use these words of our Blessed Saviour which the Church of England useth viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye Remit c. Which we do indeed understand of the dispensation of the Word and Sacraments But the Church of Rome otherwise meaning thereby the Priests power of Binding and Loosing in their Sacrament of Pennance And it is in vain for them to say That their Priests in their Ordination have any Power confer'd upon them to Preach the Word of God when their Practise is far otherwise Neither indeed is it lawful for them so to Preach the Word of God as it behoveth faithful Ministers of the Gospel viz. purely and soundly to the saving of Mens Souls For the pure and sound saving Doctrine of the Word of God is branded for Heresie in the Council of Trent Nor may their Bishops or Priests deliver the sense of it otherwise than according to those Canons and Decrees In a word See the Conc. Trid. Sess 14. Can. 3. Si quid dixerit c. If any one shall say That those words of our Lord and Saviour Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye Remit they are Remitted and whose sins you Retain they are Retained are not to be understood of the power of Remitting and Retaining sins in the Sacrament of Pennance but shall wrest them contrary to the Institution of the Sacrament to the authority of Preaching the Gospel Let him be Anathema Well therefore does the pious and judicious Calvin conclude Totum Sacordotium Papisticum non solum impia est vera Ministerii profanatio sed Execrabilis in Christum comumelia quisquis est sacerdos Papalis dâ—nec titulum illum abjecerit Christi Servus esse nequeat The whole Popish Priesthood is not only an impious Profanation of the true Ministry but an execrable Reproach against Christ So that whosoever is a Popish Priest until he renounce that Title he cannot be the Servant of Christ True Ordination is a sacred Institution of Christ whereby the Person Ordain'd is Invested with a Power to Preach the Word of God and to Administer the Holy Sacraments according to Christ's Ordinance But the Ordination used in the Church of Rome is not according to Christ's Institution to wit whereby the Person Ordained is Invested with a Power to Preach the Word of God and to Administer the Holy Sacraments according to Christ's Ordinance Therefore in the Church of Rome there is no true Ordination therefore no
believe him all is for the interest of the Government when in truth such Villains pretences are the greatest Affronts in the World to the Government and will no doubt in due time be deservedly punisht as such Quod defertur non aufertur Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY June 9. 1682. An non nimiae Impudentiae est Excusare opus quo Deus contutumeliâ afficitur proximi impelluntur ad exitium A further detection of the sin of going to Mass and complying with Papists in their wicked and Foppish Ceremonies The Case of Naaman the Syrian explained TO deterr any Sober Christian from daring to be present at the Popish Mass he needs only consider the horrible Idolatry that is there committed where a bit of Bread is adored for God and no longer esteemed Bread but God himself 'T is most true were the Lords Supper there rightly Administred there would then be there a true Exhibition of the Lords Body and Blood but it would not therefore follow either that the substance of the Bread is chang'd into the Body or that the Body lies included under the Bread For the end of Instituting that Sacred Supper is to elevate our Minds to Heaven not to detain them in the visible Elements but indeed by what right does that promise This is my Body which shall be delivered for you at all belong to the Mass Before our Lord promises any thing there of that kind he commands the Sacrament to be distributed amongst the Faithful Is this done in the Mass No but on the clean contrary the Priest dispatches it all alone as a private affair and on such a manner as if he purposely meant to Excommunicate himself from the whole Congregation Christ adds another Command that we should do This in remembrance of him shewing forth the inestimable benefit of his Death with Thanksgiving But how can this be done in the Mass where not one word is understood but all things are whisper'd by the Priest with an obscure murmur and unknown Furthermore the Lord directs his word to his Disciples when reaching forth the visible sign Bread he promises them the Communion of his Body but in the Mass there is no such thing but the Priest after the manner of Conjurers or Jugglers blows upon the Bread sufflation they call it that with a secret Exorcism he may Inchant it And what is there in all this of God's Institution can day and night be more different than our Lord's Supper and this Romish Pageantry What then shall we account the Adoration paid there to the Bread Must we not confess it execrable Idolatry more gross than ever was practised amongst the Heathen and if so tell us with what fore-head with what Conscience can any Christian man dare resort thereunto that he may seem to Conform and do as others do Here 's an Idol erected to that very purpose that it may be Worshipped and Invoked in God's stead I come and down on my knees and publickly profess to adore it what Fig-leaves what excuses what evasions can palliate so shameless a wickedness But let us in some other particulars consider what these complying men must do if for sinister ends and temporal respects they will against the convictions of their Consciences joyn in outward Communion with the Papists They must not only on Sundays come to the Holy water Bottle and Mass but also on Holy-days a great part of which are instituted by Superstition then there is a Mass sung in honor of such or such an He or She Saint Now to omit that many of their Saints were little better than Devils and that several of them as St. Christopher c. were mere Phantasms Romantick Hero's that never had Being but in the Lying Legend c. passing by all this I say and supposing they were all Saints in good earnest yet still here is a Mass sung in honor to a person dead Now what can be more vile than that the Supper of our Lord should be transported to such an abuse Besides what Prayers are there used are they not for the most part impious an fill'd with Blasphemies and yet will you voluntarily interest your self in these Profanations and countenance them with your presence and complying approbation and yet hope to escape guiltless in the terrible judgment of a jealous God who is of purer Eyes than to behold vanity or connive at sin There is none of us I speak of those to whom God hath vouchsafed the Light of his Gospel but is well satisfied that the Obsequies of the dead as they are practised amongst the Papists with the Masses attending them and other appurtenances are meer abominations as well because they are falsly feigned against the manifest word of God as more especially because they extenuate and depreciate the effect and vertue of the Death and Passion of our Blessed Saviour But now if it happen any of your Relations Friends or Neighbours dye you that call your self a Christian come with others to attend the Funeral you are prefent at the Masses and pretend with the rest to pray for the Soul of the deceased dare you offer to justify all this if it be your Father or Mother that is departed you will presently be smelt out for an Heretick if you do not only approve of this Sacriledge but purchase it with your money and give so many shillings to some Priests to say so many Masses to redeem their Souls out of Purgatory I will not mention the damnable Superstitions you must run through at Easter when you must prostrate your self before the Vicar of Antichrist some wicked Popish Priest who by the authority of the Pope gives you Absolution and injoyns you pennance which perhaps may it self be as great a sin as any you have committed as to murmur over so many Ave Maria's to say so many Prayers before a Crucifix to buy so many Masses c. and to what end all this why forsooth that thereby as so many Compensations you may satisfie God for your sins if this can be approved and justified I know not what ought to be Condemned But furthermore when a man has thus spun out his days in Hypocrisie and liv'd in this filth the last Scene is still the worst in the Tragedy and that is when he comes to dye then come the Priests and the Monks the Devils Fans to Winnow him like Wheat and though he knows they are the very Locusts that proceed out of the bottomless pit yet out of complaisance he must seem to hearken unto them to be satisfied with their gibberish prayers to be content with their lew'd Absolution and ridiculous extream unction and under what throws and pangs and tortures of Conscience must such a poor soul lye when he perceives he must immediately appear before the Tribunal of that Judge whose Truth he dares not to acknowledge especially when this Sentence
they are gotten scorning and laughing at all those that are desirous to live justly holily chastly innocently and spiritually with such the Church at this day is so full that almost in every Chapter and College scarce any other can be found And can we imagine that such will endeavour the Reformation of the Church in manners and discipline and honesty of Life who count that Reformation their greatest Calamity and desire nothing so much as that it may be lawful for them to do whatsoever pleaseth them freely without controul or punishment Thus far Clemangis of the manners of the Dignified Clergy almost 300 years ago and I wish the Picture may not serve too well for some Ages since Nor was he the only complainant Cardinal Zabarella a famous Lawyer in his Treatise De Schismate written about the year 1406 talks much at the same rate and affirms That with the flattering Canonists there was nothing so unlawful which they thought not lawful for them to do insomuch that they extolled the Pope above God himself making him more than God so that saith he if God afford not his helping hand to the present state of the Church it is in danger of an utter overthrow Nor was John Gerson the Learned Chancellour of the Parisian University who was also one of the Assistants at the Council of Constance silent In his Book De Examine Doctrinarum It is not saith he in the power of the Pope or any Council to change what is prescribed by the Evangelists and St. Paul as some do Dote Yea we are to give more credit in a matter of Doctrine to the assertion of a simple unlearned man speaking according to the Scriptures than to the Declaration of the Pope or Council being contrary thereunto We have seen in what a maimed condition the Church was and that there were some able Physicians that both saw and might they have been suffered were able 't is probable to have cured her wounds Nay all the Empericks at Constance pretended at least the same design But they made use of but an ill expedient when they elected the before-mentioned Martin the Fifth For though in the Council he had carried himself very subtilly and under colour of moderation had not only avoided opposing either party but given each side grounds to hope him most inclinable to their particular Faction which much facilitated his choice the rather for that the Emperour was much taken with that stayedness of his temper and expected no small fruits of Reformation from so unbiass'd a Conduct yet no sooner were his Temples Impaled with the Triple-Crown but he appeared divested of that moderation which before he made shew of and wholly addicted to advance the secular interest Dominion and Treasure of his Chair Therefore when soon after his Election the Emperor Sigismund who had had so great an influence in his promotion press'd him earnestly to proceed on vigorously with the promised Reformation the crafty old Father wheadled it off That the Bishops c. continuing so long together at Constance was a great inconvenience to their respective Churches and charges that therefore it was now very necessary to give them a short recess that Reformation was a thing highly needful but withal being a matter of great importance it required mature deliberation Therefore he thought fit to dissolve the Council at present on condition that another should be call'd within 5 years and in the mean time he would endeavour to prepare matters and that afterwards in 7 years they should have another Council and thence forwards for ever a Decennial one that is to say a general Council every 10 years should be conven'd and sit to Redress the grievances of the Church Having Cajoled them with these fair stories to make them the rather believe that he was in honest earnest he presently ordains and appoints a place for the next general Synod viz. That it should be held within 5 years at Pavia in Italy And then in the 45 th Session they having done very little or indeed nothing towards Reforming the Root of all the Churches corruptions but only fiddle-fadled about number of Canons for ordering of Annates Collations Reserved Causes Appeals Commendums and the like Ecclesiastical Trumpery comes Cardinal Winbald like the Popes Chancellor and dissolves them by pronouncing these words Domini ite in pace My Lords you may be packing or get ye gone in peace Which was done saith Platina sublato omnium consensu maximè verò Imperatoris without any of their consents but especially against that of the Emperour Nor could the Emperour prevail with Martin to continue a while in Germany but he would away for Rome alledging that in the absence of the Popes the Saints Chappels were gone to decay and which was a more cogent reason by half Tyrants had seized a great part of St. Peter's Patrimony He was no sooner got into Italy but he engaged in several wars and reduced the Dutchy Spoletto Perusia Bononia and other places which had set up for themselves He likewise made Lewis of Anjou King of Naples though Joan the Queen thereof had before declared Alphonsus King of Aragon her Hâ—ir The time being come for holding the Council at Pavia the Pope for fashion sake sends thither one Arch-bishop a Bishop an Abbot and a Friar who met there only two Abbots of Burgundy and these six began forsooth a Council a Worshipful Representation of the whole Catholick Church on Earth But the Plague breaking out they adjourn'd from thence to Sena where things not fadging just as Pope Martin would have them he quickly gave that Assembly too a Writ of Ease without their effecting any thing But for a colour still promises to call frequent Councils and that next seventh year they should have one at Basil Having thus sham'd off the means of Redressing the Churches grievances and correcting abuses he settles at Rome and begins to reâ—edify several decay'd buildings which the Romish Historians gloriously Intitle Restoring the Church But his main business was to scrape money together For saith Antoninus He was generally blam'd as one that too greedily labour'd to heap up riches being in no wise able to say with the Apostle whose Successor he pretended to be silver and gold have I none But all his vast Treasure was lewdly consumed by his Kinsmen and especially by his Nephew the Prince of Salerno to whom it fell by his death he bestowing most of it on hired Soldiers and Enemies against the Church And now he had spun out the time till the Council at Basil was to Assemble how he would have shuffled it off or rendred it insignificant we know not since then God was pleased to cut him off dying of an Apoplexy the 20 of February 1431. in the 53 year of his Age and when he had held the Chair 13 years 3 months and 12 days This is that Pope whom many flattering Popish Authors extol for his vertues to the Skies when yet besides his
defiance to their Indentures for breach of which the Law and prudent necessary Custom of the City has awarded Little-Ease and Bridewell they shall dare be Scaperloytering to a right Honourable Feast Nor is it any answer to say they do it to shew their Loyalty for that 's demonstrated in being obedient to the Law and their Masters not in Drinking Healths Swearing roaring and Huzza-ing Tory. Well for all your slighting of Health-drinking I conceive it a most necessary thing in these times for you see what Loyal Nat-Pillory Thomson saith last Saturday how one Saunders a supposed Whigg being Indicted at Hereford Assizes the Court gravely put it to him whether he used to Drink the King and the Dukes Health who answer'd He could Eat the Kings as well as any man in England but it seems had a great Fine laid upon him Truem I verily believe this another of his impudent Scandals on the Government and doubt not but the worthy persons concern'd will vindicate themselves from his Libel for can it be Imagin'd that any of the sage Judges would so far forget themselves their Dignity and Gravity as to ask such a pitifull ridiculous question is Health Drinking an Hellish Custome condemn'd by the Law of God Habakkuk 2. 15. and Mortaâ—ity and his Majesties Proclamation now become the Shibholeth of Loyalâ— Tory. Well well I 'm sure they are all Whiggs and Phanaticks and Traitors that wont Drink the â—ukes Health for the Kings of late is somewhat out of fashion but prethe tell us what is that place in Habakkuk for I do not oft trouble my head with the Bible Truem. The words are these Wo unto him that giveth his Neighbour Drink that puttest thy Bottle to him and makest him Drunk also that thou may'st look on their Nakedness thou art filâ—ed with shame for Glory the Cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned unto thee aud shamefull Spewing shall be thy own Glory Printed for Langley Curtis 1682. The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY August 18. 1682. Dubium nullum est iis quos spiritus Christi tangit quin sciant sese Offerre summum gratissimum Laudis sacrificium quicquid contra hanc Cruentam Blasphemam Sacrilegam Meritricem Diaboli legere dicere scribere possunt Luther in Epist ante R. Barius M. De vitis pontificum Pope Alexander Poison'd by a mistake with Wine prepared to Poison a Cardinal Thirty Thousand years pardon granted Julius the second a Tory-Pope flings St. Peters Keys into Tybur Pope Leo the X. sends out extravagant Indulgences which Luther opposes and so we are brought to the beginning of the Reformation THe Pope was so far from punishing his base begotten Caesar Borgia for murdering his Brother mention'd in our last that he not winked at it but resolves still to advance him to Riches and Honour in order to which the said Caesar flung off his Cardinals Robes and openly delar'd he would be no longer a Priest but a man of Warr then he married Charlotte nearly related to the French King who was willing to bestow her on him because he had a mind to change his Bedfellow and concluded by sweetening the Pope by this match to obtain a Divorce Caesar being return'd into Italy designs the ruine of all the Governours or Lieutenants of the Cities of Romania and to take the Government and profits all to himself for effecting which there was no kind of Treachery or Cruelty which he left unpractised Stabbing some Poisoning others and Strangling diverse whilst the Father striving as it were to exceed the Son in wickedness was playing the same Game with the Cardinalls and chief Barons of the City insomuch that Volateran and Guiccardine are weary with relating their Barbarities and the politick Florentine Nick Matchiavil when he would give the World the Character or true figure of a Tyrant does it in the person of this Caesar Borgia as Zenophon describes an excellent Prince in the name of Cyrus Amongst other devises both Father and Son were exquisite Practioners in Poyson and had thereby taken off several of the Richest Cardinals But Non Lex est Justior ulla Quam Necis Artifices Arte perire sua 'T is Just such witty Engineers of Death By their own Arts should lose their hated Breath The manner of this Popes death both Onuphrius Volateran and Guiccardine relate as followeth He Supping one night in a Vineyard near the Vatican to enjoy the coolness of the Air was suddenly carried desperately sick into the Pallace and the next morning he died black swoln and beyond all credit deform'd which happened as it is credibly reported by Poyson in this manner Caesar Borgia his Son Duke of Valentia had resolv'd to Poison Adrian Cardinal of Corvoto in whose Vineyard they were to Sup that Night he sent before certain Bottles of Wine which he caused to be delivered to a Servant of his with a strict charge that no body should tast or touch it it happen'd before Supper time the Pope came and being very hot and thirsty called for Wine and because his Supper was not yet brought from the Pallace the fellow thinking this to be some more excellent sort of Wine than usual willing to gratify his Holinesses Pallate gave him some of it and just as the Father was drinking in came the Son and not imagining it to be of the Wine he had so prepared drank of it too but he being young and using present Remedies escaped with his Life but not without great Languishment which incapacited him for Actions for the future This Pope had Raign'd or rather Rag'd 11 years and the people were so pleas'd they were rid of him that Guiccardine tells us Multitudes ran from all parts of the City to glut their eyes if they could with the dead Carcase of this Serpant who with such unbridled Ambition perfidious Treachery horrible Cruelty monstrous Luxury Insatitae Avarice and selling without difference or respect all things holy and profane had Infected the whole World Nor does Onuphrius the Popes own Historiographer give him a better Character His Treachery says he was more than punical his Cruelty Barbarous his Covetousness and Extortion unmeasurable his desire to enrich his Children whether by Right or by wrong unsatiable He was strangely given to Women by whom he had four Sons and two Daughters His principal Where was Vanoccia a Roman whom for her Beauty rare meen pleasant wit and Eloquence in the time of his meaner Fortunes he liv'd with after the manner of a Wife Now was not this a rare fellow to be Christs Viccar Peters Successor Head of the Church Infallible c. Yet this was the pretious Pope who in the year 1494. Publisht with his own mouth a pardon for Thirty Thousand years to as many as would say a certain Prayer before the Image of St. Anne the Mother of the blessed Virgin Beginning Benedicta sit Sancta Anna Mater tua ex
procure secret Causes of Discord And like as craftily ye have destroyed and subverted the Roman Empire so suffer ye no Kingdom to be over much enlarg'd and enrich'd by Tranquility or Peace lest perhaps in so great Tranquility all desire of Peace set aside they dispâ—se themselves to view and consider your most wicked Works suppressing on every side your Estate and from your Treasures take away such substance as we have caused to be reserved and kept in your hands until the coming of our well-beloved Son Antichrist We would ye should do our Commendations to our entirely beloved Daughters Pride Deceit Wrath Avarice Belly-chear and Letchery and to all other my Daughters and especially to Lady Simony which hath made you Men and enrich'd you and hath given you suck with her own Breasts and therefore in no wise see that you call her Sin And be ye lofty and proud because that the most high Dignity of your Estate doth require such Magnificence And also be ye Covetous for whatsoever ye get and gather it is for St. Peter for the good of the Church and for the defence of your Patrimony and the Crucifix and therefore you may lawfully do it ye may promote your Cardinals to the highest seats of Dignities without any lett in stopping the mouth of our Adversary Jesus Christ and alledging again that he preferr'd his Kinsfolks who were of a poor and base Degree unto the Apostleship but do not you so but rather call as ye do those that live in Arrogancy in hâ—ughtiness of Mind and filthy Letchery unto the state of wealthy Riches and Pride and those Rewards and Promotions which the followers of Christ forsook do ye distribute unto your friends Therefore as ye shall have better understanding prepare ye Vices cloaked under the similitude of Vertues Alledge for your selves the Glosses of the Holy Scripture and wrest them directly to serve for your purpose and if any Man teach or preach otherwise than ye will oppress ye them violently with the sentence of Excommunication and by your Censures heaped one upon another by the consent of your Brethren let him be condemn'd as an Heretick and let him be kept in a most strait Prison and there tormented 'till he dye for a terrible example to all such as confess Christ And setting all favour apart cast him out of your Temple lest peradventure the ingrafted word may save your Souls which word I abhor as I do the Souls of other faithful Men and do your endeavour that you may deserve to have the place which we have prepared for you under the most wicked Foundation of our Dwelling-place Fare ye well with such Felicity as we desire and intend finally to Reward and Recompence you with Given at the Center of the Earth in that our dark Conclave where all the Rabble of Devils were present for this purpose specially call'd unto our most dolesom Consistory under the Character of our terrible Seal for confirmation of the Premisses THE COURANT. Truem. BUT is Monsieur L'Estrange so very angry say you Tory. You must note this extream cold March bears hard upon such Gentlemen as have old Aches and Necturnal Pains the sharp Memento's of their youthful Sins about them and therefore no wonder if friend Roger be now as petvish as a sick Monkey or any ill Minister of State in Parliament time Consequently is not at leisure to answer that small Objection of his not coming to Church or receiving the Sacrament for 18 years together But let 's leave him to his Observatorisms and praying for leisure to write against Papists and tell me prethee what thinkest of the Abhorrencies of the Association which hath made such a Figure in modern Gazets Truem. I have heard from my Grannum an old Proverb A great Cry and a little Wool For my part I abhor all Treason and Rebellion and all that tends thereunto as much as the best of you all and I believe there is scarce one of these Gentlemen Abhorrers they being for the most part such as are in present Imploys but have sworn That they Abhor levying Arms without his Majesty's Authority or under pretence of his Authority against his Person or any Commission'd by him which is the main thing Abhorr'd in this pretended Paper of Association Now what a ridiculous impertinent business is it when not only by common Loyalty we are oblig'd but also have sworn a thing it may be twenty times over to come afterwards and importune His Majesty with a formal verbose Complement to the very same purpose I see no reason in the World for this unless a Man have a mind to intimate either that his Oath is not to be taken or that he has a mind to get a Knightship a place in the Custom house or some good Job or other As to the Paper call'd The Association it may be a very ill Paper but if it were found at my Lord Shafâ—sbury's which whether it were or no or how it came there is still disputable yet since there is no offer or pretence of proof That it was of that Lord's writing that he ever saw it or heard it read that he or any body else ever promoted it or attempted getting of hands to it or that any Mortal ever approv'd of or sign'd it How is that Lord concern'd Or why such publick Abhorrence and Clamour If we must in solemn Addresses declare our Abhorrence of every wicked Paper why were you not Gentlemen as zealous and ready with your Abhorrencies of Coleman's Letters and all the Contrivers of them That there was an Association enter'd into by private persons in Q. Elizabeth's time when under colour of advancing the Interests of the presumptive Heir Mary Queen of Scots a Papist Plots were continually hatcht against that good Protestant Queen's Life and Government is well known and so far from being ill resented that at next Parliament it was confirm'd Now from that wholsome Experience there was something of the same kind proposed in the House of Commons of the last Parliament but never design'd to be obtruded without the Concurrence of the Lords and the Royal Assent Now this noise of Abhorrence seems at bottom not to be levell'd so much at the Paper said to be found in the E. of Sh 's Closet as under that name to vilifie and expose the Proceedings of the Commons and render them odious as if they were all guilty of that very Paper Tory. Well but what say you to Godfry's Murder Thompson says now he kill'd himself and L'Estrange lends a lift that way too Truem. That 's such a Superlative piece of Impudence as shews the Popish Plot still goes on else they would not dare thus affront the Justice of the Nation and out-face our very senses as if we were just ready to believe their absurd Transubstantiation In a word 't is such an impudent Calumny on the Dead and Abuse to the Nation that I think it would not misbecome the whole Common Council
to express their Abhorrence of such Popish Shams and Lies and to Address to the Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR That Thompson be call'd to Account for 't Printed for Langley Curtis 1681-2 The Weekly Pacquet OF Advice from Rome OR The History of POPERY The Fourth Volume FRIDAY March 17. 1681-2 Plangunt Anglorum gentes Crimen Sodomorum Paulus fert horum sunt Idola Causa malorum Surgunt nigrati Gierzitae Simone Nati Nomine Praelati hoc defensare parati Qui Reges estis populis quicunque praeestis Qualiter his gestis gladios prohibêre potestis Versic Parl. exhib Anno 18. Rich. 2. The Proceedings against Dissenters in the Raigns of King Richard the Second and King Henry the Fourth WE have told you the severe Laws made against all those that in these dark Times durst open their Eyes and see farther than Popery the Church then as by Law establisht thought fit to permit them such Hereticks were generally call'd Lollards they were the Puritans the Fanaticks the Whigs the Brummingham's of those days and how busie the Magistrates especially of the Clergy were to put the said Laws in Execution against them will appear in the following account 'T is true during the Raign of King Richard the Second we do not find any burnt to Death for the profession of Religion but many were imprison'd harrass'd and in great trouble and especially William Swinderby a Priest and Walter Brute a Lay-man but Learned and a Graduate of the University of Oxford the several Articles against whom and their Answers thereunto you may read at large in Foxes Acts and Monuments too tedious here to recite I shall therefore only note That John Bishop of Hereford having by solemn sentence denounced the said Swinderby to be an Heretick Schismatick and a false informer of the People and to be avoided by all faithful Christians He the said Swinderby did thereupon Appeal from such the Bishops Sentence to the King and Council by an Instrument under his hand which both in respect of the Matter and of the English wherein it is written being such as was then current now above 280 years ago I shall trespass so far on the Readers patience as to repeat it verbatim IN nomine Patris Filii Spiritûs Sancti Amen I William Swinderby Priest knowledge openly to all Men That I was before the Bishop of Hereford the Third day of October and before many other good Clerkâ— to answer to certain Conclusions of the Faith I was accused of and mine Answer was this That if the Bishop or any Man couâ—hâ— shew me by God's Law that my Conclusions or my Answers were Errour or Heresie I would be amended and openly revoke them before all the people but they sayden singly with word That there was Errours in them and bidden me subject me to the Bishop and put me into his Grace and revoke mine Errour and shewed me nought by God's Law ne Reason ne proved which they weren And for I would not knowledge me Guilty so as I knew no Errour in them of which I should therefore the Bishop sate in Doom in mine absence and deemed me an Heretick a Schismatick and a teacher of Errours and denounced me accursed that I come not to correction of the Church and therefore for this unrightful Judgment I appeal to the King's Justices for many other Causes One Cause is For the King's Court in such matter is above the Bishop's Court for after the Bishop has accursed he may not fear by his Law but then mote he sech succour of the King's Law and by a Writ of Significavit put a Man in Prison The second Cause For in cause of Heresie there liggeth Judgment of Death and that doom may not be given without the King's Justices For the Bishop will say Nobis non licet interficere quenquam that is It is not lawful for us to kill any man as they sayden to Pilate when Christ should be deemed And for I think that no Justice will give sodenly and untrue Doom as the Bishop did and therefore openly I appeal to hem and send my Conclusions to the Knights of the Parliament to be shewed to the Lords and to be taken to the Justices to be well adviset or that they given Doom The third Cause is For it was a false Doom for no Mâ—n is a Heretick but he that Masterfully defends his Errour or Heresie and stifly maintains it And mine Answer has always bene Conditional as the people openly knows for ever I say and yet say and alway will that if they cannen shew me by Gods Law that I have erret I will gladly bene amendet and revoke mine Errours and so I am no Heretick ne nevermore in Gods grace will ben en no wise The fourth Cause is For the Bishop's Law that they deme Men by is full of Errours and Heresies contrary to the truth of Christ's Law of the Gospel For there as Christ's Law bids us Love our Enemies the Pope's Law gives us leave to hate them and to sley them and graunts Men pardon to werren again Heathen Men and sley hem And there as Christ's Law teach us to be merciful the Bishop's Law teachs us to be wretchful for Death is the greatest wretch that 〈◊〉 mowen done on him that guilty is There as Christs Law teaches us to blessen him that diseazen us and to pray for him the Popes Law teacheth us to Curse them and in their great sentence that they usen they presume to Dam hem to Hell that they cursen And this is afoue Heresie of Blasphemy There as Christ's Law bids us be patient the Pope's Law justifies two Swords that wherewith he smitheth the Sheep of the Church and he has made Lords and Kings to swear to defend him and his Church There as Christ's Law forbideth us Letchery the Pope's Law justifies the abominable Whoredom of common Women and the Bishops in some place have a great Tribute or Rent of Whoredom There as Christ's Law bids to minister Spiritual things freely to the people the Pope with his Law sells for Money after the quantity of the Gift as Pardons Orders Blessings and Sacraments and Prayers and Benefices and preaching to the People as it is known amongst them There as Christ's Law teaches Peace the Pope with his Law assoiles Men for money to gader the People Priests and other to fight for his Cause There as Christ's Law forbids Swearing the Pope's Law justifies Swearing and compels men thereto Whereas Christ's Law teacheth his Priests to be Poor the Pope with his Law justifies and maintains Priests to be Lords And yet the fifth Cause is For the Pope's Law that the Bishops demen Men by is the same unrightful Law that Christ was demet by of the Bishops with the Scribes and with the Pharisees for right as at time they gaven more credens to the two false Witnesses that witnessed against Christ then they deden to all the people that witnesseden to his