Neighbours This Prince Protestant Historians conclude to be the least deserving of all our Governours for passing by his youthful Rebellion the Murthering of his Nephew his Atheism c. which they record 't is he that lost our whole interest either by Conquest or Matches in France and discontenting all his People never obliged any body that I heard of unless the Mayor and Corporation of Lynne This yet is no excuse to the Pope but shews only the unhappiness of the Nation that it had not a more generous Prince for Sr. Rob Cotton call's him a licentious soueraigne to defend our Rights and Priviledges Now for Transubstantiation it is true that in this Councel the word was first made Authoritatively use of as in the Councel of Nice the word Trinity but the sence and meaning of both Trinity and Transubstantiation was in the Scripture and held from age to age Nay the word Transubstantiation it self was used by grave Authors in Writings before Object 2. Concerning the Decrees and Bulls of Popes he says that from Gregory VII they made such a trade of deposing Kings that no weak King could wear his Crown but at the Popes curtesie and that Boniface VIII declares in these words We say and define and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary to salvation for every creature to be subject to the Bishop of Rome To this I answer that in the next Century or a little more after K. John there were more weak Kings in England then eiher before or since viz. Hen. 3. Edw. 2. Ric. and yet the Popes did not offer to take away their Crowns or ever stirred to perplex them though their wicked Subjects gave the Pope opportunity enough Nay though Hen. 3. denied any acknowledgment upon the gift of King John yet the Pope assisted him against the Rebellious Barons And for the composition of Edward the Seconds troubles his Holiness sent him two Cardinals but the Rebels would not accept of their Mediation as knowing them too much of the Kings Party Besides I told you again and again that the Popes Decrees and Bulls are not alwayes held infallible and may be opposed as they often have been by stiff and Religious Papists nor will good Catholiques scruple to do it especially about Temporal affairs And if Popes should speak in such a Dialect as the Minister urges they mean subjection in Spiritual matters 3. Object Among the Divines that agree to the deposing of Kings he mentions some Jesuites as Bellarmine Suarez Valentia Parsons or Creswel Mariana also he names though he confesses him cōdemned Out of these he cites several places to this purpose viz. As Jehojada deposed Athaliah so may Popes deal with Kings To this I say Let the Jesuites answer for their own Doctrine for I am sure they are of age and able also neither did they ever tell me otherwise but that I might reject such and the like opinions they being only the private fancies of some of their Order It has never been my study to pore upon Schoolmen nor is it worth my pains now to search Libraries whether they have said so or no which truly I do very much doubt of For my part I cannot think Jesuites such King-haters because Kings would then hate them when as on the contrary we see all Princes caress them and make them their Confessors At this time the Jesuites are in this Office to the Emperor the Queen of England the King of France the Queen Regent of Spain the King of Poland and as I take it to the now King of Portugal for they belonged thus to the late old King and Queen of that Kingdom the Dukes of Bavary Newburgh and many other great Princes of Germany are also their Penitents all which considered I must look upon Jesuites in general to be faithfuller Subjects then Protestants imagine for Kings though Papists are not always fools But suppose Jesuites were Villains what is that to the Catholick Faith must Cambridge be Babylon and the English Religion false because the Mēbers of one Colledge suppose Emanuel were thought knaves and hypocrites The other Divines and Canonists whom the Minister urges are Baronius Bertrand Lancelotus Peron Rossaeus who say according to his citations things to the same purpose about deposing of Kings All this put together Reader is the force of his Argument The Objection about Councels and Bulls you see is nothing about Divines I have already given you a touch but now I will handle it a little fuller You must know the Soul of man being so sublime and towring there is no profession in the world but that the wits of it aim to resolve all difficulties that can be proposed in the Science This makes Philosophers Metaphysicians and Schoolmen run into those seeming odd subtleties with which their writings are cram'd In the like manner Casuists thinking it a disgrace not to be able to answer something to whatever can be proposed treat in their Books about all Cases which their nimble fancies can start Among many impertinent niceties and curious Questions this of deposing Apostatizing Princes comes to be handled some perchance are for it others in may be against it Now because some have adjudged That upon a notorious falling away the Church may give to the sound the Dominions of the infected sheep lest the whole slock might be tainted immediately the Minister and other Protestants declare that the dethroning of Kings is the Catholique Doctrine I am sure this was not so absolutely agreed to by the English Protestāts themselves at least in discourse that there could be none found among them who have favoured the opinion which we are said to hold how many well-meaning men fought against Charles the I only because they falsely thought him a Papist and I my self have heard those of condition say when the King was abroad that should the Pope and his crew peruert him they would oppose his return There was no danger of this because his Majesty like his Father and Grādfather has so great a veneration for Protestantism but yet this that I urge was frequently spoke of and no body that reads this but has heard such discourses often What has been done about Religion in this our Country I shall tell you hereafter and at present I shall shew you that we Papists are not the only Rebel-teachers but that there are Reformists that profess this Divinity also Luther says You complain that by our Gospel the World is become tumultous I answer God be thanked these things I would have be and wo me miserable if they were not Zwinglius If the Roman Empire or what other Soveraignty soever should oppress the sincere Religion and we negligently suffer the same we shall be charged with contempt no less then the oppressors themselves whereof we have an example in 15. Jer. where the destruction of the people is Prophesied because they suffered their K. Manasses being ungodly to be unpunisht
day in which Carlos Gifford Whitgrave and the Pendrels should be punished by your desires for that Religion which obliged them to save their forlorn Prince and a stigmatized man for his offences against King and Church a chief promoter of it Nay less did we imagine that by your Votes Hudlestone might be hanged who again secured our Soveraign and others free in their fat possessions that sat as Judges and sealed the Execution of that great Prince of happy Memory We confess we are unfortunate you just Judges whom with our lives we will ever maintain to be so nor are we ignorant the necessity of affairs made the King and you do things which formerly you could not so much as fancy yet give us leave to say we are still Loyal nay to desire you to believe so and to remember how synonymous under the late Rebellion was the word Papist and Cavalier for there was no Papist that was not deemed a Caualier nor no Caualier that was not call'd a Papist or at least thought to be Popishly affected We know though we differ something in Religion the truth of which let the last day judge yet none can agree with your inclinations or are fitter for your converse then we for as we have as much birth among us as England can boast of so our breeding leans your way both in Court and Camp And therefore had not our late Sufferings united us in that firm tie yet our like humors must needs have joyned our hearts If we erre pity our condition and remember what your great Ancestors were and make some difference between us that have twice converted England from Paganism and those other Sects that can challenge nothing but intrusion for their imposed Authority But 't is generally said That Papists cannot live without persecuting all other Religions within their reach We confess where the name of Protestant is unknown the Catholick Magistrates believing it erronious do use all endeavours to keep it out Yet in those Countreys where Liberty is given they have far more Priviledges then we under any Reformed Government whatsoever To be short we will only instance France for all where they have publick Churches where they can make what Proselytes they please and where 't is not against Law to be in any Charge or Imployment Now Holland which permits every thing gives us 't is true our Lives and Estates but takes away alle Trust and Rule and leaves us also in danger of the Scout whensoever he pleases to molest our Meetings Because we have named France the Massacre will perchance be urged against us But the World must know that was a Cabinet-Plot condemned as wicked by Catholick Writers there and of other Countries also Besides it cannot be thought they were murthered for being Protestants since 't was their powerful Rebellion let their Faith have been what it would that drew them into that ill-machinated destruction May it not as well be said in the next Catholick Kings Reign that the Duke of Guise ande Cardinal Heads of the League were killed for their Religion also Now no body is ignorant that 't was their factious Authority which made that jealous Prince design their deaths though by unwarrantable means If it were for Doctrine that the Hugonots suffered in France this haughty Monaroh would soon destroy them now having neither Force nor Towns to resist his Might and Puissance They yet live free enough being even Members of Parliament and may convert the Kings Brother too if he thinks fit to be so Thus you may see how well Protestants live in a Popish Country under a Popish King Nor was Charlemaign more Catholick then this for though he contends sometimes with the Pope 't is not of Faith but about Gallicane Priviledges which perchance he may very lawfully do Judge then Worthy Patriots who are the best used and consider our hardship here in England where 't is not only a Fine for hearing Mass but death to the Master for having a Priest in his house and so far we are from preferment that by Law we cannot come within ten miles of London all which we know your great Mercy will never permit you to exact It has been often urged that our misdemeanours in Queen Elizabeths and King James's time were the cause of our punishment We earnestly wish that the Party had had more patience under that Princess But pray consider though we excuse not their faults whether it was not a Question harder then that of York and Lancaster the cause of a War of such length and death of so many Princes who had most right Queen Elizabeth or Mary Stuart For since the whole Kingdom had crowned and sworn Allegeance to Queen Mary they owned her as the legitimate daughter to Henry the Eighth and therefore 't was thought necessarily to follow by many that if Mary was the true Child Elizabeth was the Natural which must needs give way to the thrice noble Queen of Scots 'T was for the Royal House of Scotland that they suffered in those days and 't is for the same illustrious Family we are ready to hazard all on any occasion Nor can the consequence of the former procedure be but ill if a Henry the Eighth whom Sir W. Rawleigh and my Lord Cherbury two famous Protestants have so homely characterized should after twenty years co-habitation turn away his wife and this out of scruple of Conscience as he said when as History declares that he never spared woman in his lust nor man his fury Now for the fifth of Novēber with hāds lifted up to Heaven we abominate and detest and from the bottō of our hearts say may they fall into irrecoverable perdition who propagate that faith by the blood of Kings which is to be planted in truth and meekness only But let it not displease Men Brethren and Fathers if we ask whether Ulysses be no better known or who has forgot the Plots of Cromwel framed in his Closet not only to destroy many faithful Cavaliers but also to put a lustre upon his Intelligence as if nothing could be done without his knowledge Even so did the then great Minister who drew some few ambitious men into this conjuration and then discovered it by a Miracle This will easily appear viz. how little the Catholique Party understood the design seeing there were not a score of guilty found though all imaginable industry was used by the Commons Lords and Privy Councel too But suppose my Lords and Gentlemen which never can be granted that all the Papists of that age were consenting Will you be so severe then to still punish the Children for their Fathers faults Nay such Children that so unanimously joyned with you in that glorious Quarrel wherein you and we underwent such sufferings that needs we must have all sunk had not our mutual love assisted What have we done that we should now deserve your Anger Has the Indiscretion of some few incenst you 'T is true that is
who was althogether governed by the House of Guise by reason of the great power they had in the late Kings Reign and more especially now because the Queen-Consort was the glorious Mary of Scotland daughter to the Sister of this ambitious Duke The House of Burbon being the first Princes of the Blood were greatly troubled they had no interest in affairs and tried all manner of ways to get into play The Prince of Conde a hot-headed man seeing he could not ruine the Guises by ordinary means calls all his partizās together `among whom Coligni was the Chief to la Ferte an Apennage of his and there he told them they must take Arms to free themselves from the slavery they were in by the ruling Party The fiery youth were all of the Princes opinion to begin the War without delay But Brave Coligni as the Minister calls him replied That this were to ruine them all seeing that though their pretences were fair yet few of the Nation would follow them and on the other side all forreign Princes were in amity with France by the late agreement of the Kings Father If they had a mind he said to do their business home the sole way were to pretend Religion which in it self had an honourable appearance and besides the Calvinists in France were many hating the Guises and wanting only a Head nor would the Princes of Germany or Q. Elizabeth fail to assist them on this score which otherwise could not be done on any account Thus the Brave man not only consented to Rebellion but put them in a holy method effectually to perform it All the Assembly applauded the Counsel of this Achitophel and there-upon Andelot his Brother a most turbulent man and the Vicedame of Chartres rich and debauch were apponted to execute their determinations The manner of the Plot was this To get a great company of unarmed Hugonots to go to Court and there clamour for Liberty of Conscience and free Temples these poor men they imagined should presently be ill treated by the Duke of Guise whereupon the Protestant Souldiers which for that purpose they were to provide would immediately come to their assistance and under pretence that the Hugonots were abused they might fall on the Court and wholly destroy their Enemies Besides this 't was reported that in the disorder the King and his three Brethren were to be made away and God knows whether this last part were not as true as the first seeing after the death of these Children the House of Bourbon Heads of the design should succeed in the Throne But now see how far the Conspiracy succeeded The Provinces were divided to several of the most considerable in each division who were to make ready their Levies against the 15. of March 1560. at Blois a Town unfortified where then the Court resided Godfry de la Barre a Gentleman of Perigort who had left his Country by reason of forgery in a Law-suit and turned Calvinist was made Commander in Chief and according to their success the Prince Admiral and the rest would order affairs The Kings Councel having at last notice of this carries the King without noise to Amboise the better to secure him on a sudden with the present little force they had in readiness On the day appointed the Conspirators come and finding the King gone follow him to Amboise and assault the Castle which being too strong to be presently their's they were by the Mareschal of St. Andrew and others wholly defeated and taken Upon this trayterous attempt the King summons an Assembly of the Nobles at Fountain-Bleau where the brave Coligni grave the King a Paper and said That the Protestants hearing by his Majesties Edict that every Subject might make known his Grievance in this Assembly did present that Petition to him though it were not signed yet when his Majesty pleased it should be by 150000. hands The Assembly for all this arrogance advised against a Toleration but the Hugonots encouraged by these proceedings rose in Arms in several places and filled the Court with complaints of their many insolencies and on the other side the Prince with his Complices set upon Lyons After this the three Estates met at Orleans where the Prince was condemned to be executed and in this disorder the King died Charles the 9 was about eleven years old when he began his Reign so that in his minority the faction of the Protestants being so great the Prince was acquitted and liberty granted for publike preaching Then the Hugonots became so insolent that they massacred many people in Paris burnt the Church of St. Medard rifled Monasteries and committed many such exorbitances The Prince would have seised on the Kings Person at Fountain-Bleau but the Duke of Guise got the King of Navar first Prince of the Blood and prime Commander of State to bring him and the Queen-Regent to Paris which when the Prince of Conde understood and saw himself defeated of his design he told brave Coligni that he had plunged himself so deep that now he must drink or drown and thereupon attackt Orleans and took it using all the inhumane barbarities that can be thought of After this as Rebels are accustomed a Manifesto is set out That he took up Arms to free the Kings Person from the slavery in which the Catholick Lords held him This was directed to the Parliament who again answered That they wondered how it could be said the King was prisoner being in his own Capital City of which Charles of Bourbon the Princes own Brother was Governour where was present the King of Navar Chief Administrator of the Kingdom where the Parliament sat and in fine where all the great Officers of the Crown resided But why do I go to the particulars of this notorious Rebellion To be short Coligni's own words a little before his death will sufficiently declare how great a Traytor he was for just before the Marriage like another Nebuchadnezzar in his pride he said to some of his confidents That neither Alexander nor Caesar could be compared to him because Fortune was their friend but that he dad lost four Battles yet by his wit he stil became more formidable to his Enemies If then this brave man that began the Rebellion as you have heard that lost four Battels against his Prince that seised on so many Towns that disswaded Peace so often when desired and that did so many infamous actions all along shall pass and not be thought a Rebel then I will aver there was never Rebel since the Creation of the World The things Reader which I have here laid down you many find disperst in the first five Books of Davila's History who is an Author thought by Protestants so Authentick and so impartial sparing no body of what Rank or Faction soever that among Historians none hath a clearer fame Having given you a short occount how these Potent Hugonots plagued these two Kings be pleased now to tell me whether it was
not their powerful Rebellion let their Religion have been what it would that drew them into this ill-machinated destruction And by the way see how simple the cavil of this Minister is who says I call it ill-machinated because it was done by halves The action was wicked and a Cabinet-Plot or else there is no such thing in Nature neither did it want condemning by several famous Catholiques themselves who would doubtless have been silent had the Pope so publickly rejoyced at the news as the Minister would fain have us believe The King in Vindication of the cruelty laid to his charge gives these Reasons to the World That though every body saw how horribly the Rebels had used him yet it was not his design to Massacre so many Hugonots but only to cut off some Heads of the Party who so highly fomented the Sedition this made him cause Coligni to be shot the chief Rebel of thē all but the bullet only breaking his arm his Partizans grew to such a rage that they threatned a present War and destruction to him and his therefore he was necessitated to what he did viz. immediately to destroy those that had vowed his ruine Now to demonstrate that is was not his intention the Kings friends farther said That had he intended a general Massacre from the beginning it had been folly to shoot the Admiral so many days before the total execution because this would have alarmed the Party and given occasion to many to get away as in truth not a few did the day before the bloody night Reader I know not whether this Declaration of the King be true or not but this I am sure the action was unchristian though there were never greater Rebels then these Hugonots for they not only fought many Battles with their Prince and fortified many of his Towns against him but besides all this brought forreign Forces into France as Ruyters from Germany and English from us and because all things are lawful to the Saints they delivered up Havre de Grace to Queen Elizabeth by which we had a new footing in France even we the profest enemies of the Nation Nay they began first to Massacre Catholiques in Paris and also Coligni and Beza got Poltrot to murther the Duke of Guise father to him that was Killed at Blois This the Assassine openly confest at his death being after executed for the fact By force then and such tricks tyring out their Kings they got several Priviledges and Edicts but God send me and my Relations to live for ever in servitude rather then to obtain liberty by such strange and dissalowable courses And truly I doubt not since this Minister can justifie these Agreements but he would if the Four Bills had passed at the Isle of Wight vindicate the proceedinghs and cite those Acts with as much confidence as if they had been obtained without Force in time of Peace and quiet Had King James lived in our days and seen how the same pretences with those of the Hugonots viz. Conscience and the Liberty of the Subject had like to have ruined his Family I do believe they would have found small comfort from any Vindication of his I do therefore openly affirm that if any Englishman who has considered the villany of our times does still justifie Brave Coligni and his Hugonots he has either been an apparent Rebel or is so in his heart and will shew his Teeth upon the first advantage that shall be offered SECT 19. APOLOGY May it not as well be said in the next Catholick Kings Reign that the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal Heads of the League were killed for their Religion also Now no body is ignorant that 't was their factious Authority which made the jealous Prince design their deaths though by unwarrantable means ANSWER XIX He says the Guises were not killed for their Religion for they were killed by one of their own Religion as much bent against Protestants as they That Papists hated Hen. 3. only for sparing the Blood of Protestants and not declaring his Protestant Heir uncapable of Succession That for these causes the Guises by the Popes consent who calls them the Macchabees of the Church entred into the Holy League and called in the Spaniards and Savoyards to maintain War against him and deprive him of his Kingdom and Life Whereupon the jealous Prince as I favourably call him dealt with them as they had done with the Protestants But their case he says was so different from the Protestants that he wonders I should mention it Then he tells us the Pope excommunicated the King for this action and gave nine years Indulgence to his Subiects to fight against him foretelling as a Pope might do without Astrology that ere long he should come to a fearful end and this he says hapned for the Subjects earned the Indulgence and a Frier fulfilled the Prophesie This action the Pope in a Speech called the work of God and for its wonderfulness compared it with the Incarnation or Resurrection preferring his courage before Eleazars or Iudiths and declaring the King who profest he died in the Faith of the Roman Catholick Church to have died in the sin against the Holy Ghost Lastly He asks whether it may not be said Papists cannot live without persecuting Protestāts whē a Popish King is stab'd and damned for not persecuting them enough REPLY 19. Here is a great deal of cry and little wool for I have often said the Pope may have his frailties as well as other men and does not the Minister know he is a Temporal Prince also and in that capacity may have intrigues with his Neighbours What is this to our Religion more then if the King of Spain should make use of the Politicks too far Again if the Pope as our Archbishop all Countries being in his Province should commit humane indiscretions Why were we to be more blamed for it then Durham Chester and Carlisle ought to be for their Religion because their Metropolitan Williams joyned with the Rebels against King Charles of happy Memory I never approved the procedure of the Guises in their League and have always said they were most insolent Ministers of State to Hen. 3. but when the Duke and Cardinal were murthered at Blois by the King their Successors learnt of the Hugonots to run into a formal and open War And truly my inference I conceive was pertinent concerning the Massacre of the one and murther of the other though the Parson thinks it something strange For in this Example the Outers and the Outees the Hugonots and Guises were killed by their Kings Now since both Parties were prodigious in power able to cope with the Prince 't would be as ridiculous to say that because the Hugonots were destroyed they suffered for their Faith as that the Heads of the League were killed for their Religion Davila tells us That the Pope only refused to absolve Henry the Third saying that he could not be
then private men can be conceived to do But yet it were severe to indite this man for a Libeller or say because he begs that he mutinies against Obedience and Rule Niniveh might call for mercy without affronting Heaven even after sentence was given nor has ever the King of Kings when he punishes forbad his children to cry Remember Abraham Remember Isaac Remember Jacob O Lord remember the promises that thou hast made of old My second Reason was as a Subject to keep the Peace and to the utmost of my power to prevent all strife and division This is an obligation which no son of Adam can plead exemption from for seeing all men are under somme Government or other and Quiet the sole end of that everybody must use the best means he can so it contradict not Laws to preserve the thing for which Magistracy it self was established No Creature I am sure can be ignorant of the distraction then in England for he that was in the City fled to his Farm frightned with the noise of a new fire and he that got into the Country poasted again to Town to escape the Massacre which designed whispers dayly threatned If this disorder was amongst Protestants what dreadful confusion must you imagine amongst Catholiques who are but a handful comparatively to the whole and yet the famed Authors of these two Conspiracies Was it unbeseeming then an English Christian to wish a better understanding among his Countrymen and to desire the Royal-Party should not be disjoyned especially when an Invasion was menaced by our Confederate Neighbours and a Rebellion newly broke out within the Circuit of our own Island If remedies were needful what Medicament could be better applied then the gentle balm of true perswasion By this men saw the Tares which the Enemy sowed whilst they slept and thus they began to reknow their often tried friends descended according to Nature and Grace from those Ancestors who like so many Atlas's upheld the Grandeur of our Kings whilst the whole World from East to West admired their Victories Consider then I beseech you Great Patriots in whom the Prince of darkness reigns whether in me that am termed a Jesuit and would banish all discord from among my Brethren or in this strange Minister who to sow Sedition plows with perverted Storie and then harrows with downright falsities and untruths How does this poor man rip up old tales of Popes and by discovering his passion and fancy infer that it is a check to the Glory of Kings and utter loss of Soveraignty to be under the spiritual Jurisdiction of this Universal Bishop Why do not the Kings of France Spain Portugal and Poland see this How comes it to pass also that the Emperor who is Absolute Monarch of Hungary and Boheme and the other great Princes of Germany are ignorant of a thing of so much concernment This I much wonder at indeed especially since their Countries have so swarmed with these Reformed Evangelists But it may be they are carelesse of their interest and so is the simple Florentine who with the Duke of Savoy and the rest of the Italian Regulets want as much wit as they do Authority and Power These Princes even these very last live as I may say just under his Holiness his Nose and yet when they please dispute about Temporals not only with Sword in hand but are so absolute and arbitrary in their DominioÌ„s that England would groan to bear once in many ages what their Subjects daily suffer Reflecting thus on the premises might not I well wonder in our Apology how so wild a calumny could be laid to our charge as that our Principles are destructive to Soveraignty Truly I did wonder and that not a little especially since our fore-fathers were so eminent in Religion and yet our Kings rather Monarchs of Europe then of half an Isle giving Laws wheresoever they pleased If some Popes have been exorbitant 't is no more our Faith to believe their actions iust then that humane transgressions are the true Precepts of Christianity As some wicked meÌ„ dealt ill with Gods Anointed so on the other side who defended these Princes against pretended illegal impositions of Rome were they not Papists Yes and so fervent for that Truth that the next day they would take the Croisado next against any forreign Hereticks 'T is no breach in our Religion to say that Popes in their private Determinations may erre much less that they sin like men A Pope and Council in matters of Faith I confess Infallible and therefore I look upon the Decrees of Trent as divine as those of Nice nor were there I am sure more tricks against Protestants pretended in this then in the former against the strong and numerous Arrians No man abominates Prelatick insolencies more then I Bring out then the Glorious Roll and upon examination you will find that our bravest Catholique Princes have been the best sons of the Church nor is yet a King by our Tenets the worse Child for defending his Rights and Priviledges Caesar must have what is Caesars and to God we must â—â—nder what is Gods Shall Notions then convince Experience when as Demonstration it self often gives way to Practice Let us now summon for witnesses to this great Truth the present Kings of our Profession and though their thoughts towre far higher then Eagles they will not only deride the contrary but unanimously proclaim that their people are not rebellious by reason of Ecclesiastical dependence abroad nor do they think themselves less absolute then that very Prince who cries There ought to be no other Pope then Me. What shall I say then to such a man who will yet affirm our Principles inconsistent with Obedience To advise him to Anticyra is vain for no Ellebore can purge that madness which first taking root by ignorance has afterward been quite transformed through interest into an obstinate and selfdeceiving wilfulness My Lords and Gentlemen As malice has forced the Answerer thus ill to apply his reading so also it hath stained his face with so deep a dye that now he blushes at nothing nor regards any more whatever he says Well might I have pardoned him his rude upbraiding That our sufferings were but Duties because it is a real Truth yet no Subject takes pleasure in the sound when in rancour and despite it is used against him I say well might I with silence have swallowed this seeing afterwards I was to hear him with impudeÌ„ce proclaim That Papists were forc'd to their bravery and like a hard-hunted-Deer we threw our selves into the Herd glad to be sheltered under the Royal covert Glad we coÌ„fess as Loyal men grasp the occasion of expressing zeal but that we could not sit quietly at home I flatly here deny nay day is not clearer then this that had not our Loyalty forbad we might with triumph have been received even into the very embraces of the Enemy Had this Minister perused Books any farther then their
Calvin Earthly Princes do hereave themselves of Authority when they erect themselves against God yea they are unworthy to be accounted in the number of men therefore we must rather spit in their faces then obey them Passing by what Beza did in France Davila often mentions He writ a Book of the Power of Magistrates which Mr. Sutcliffe confesses armed Subjects against their Prince Sundry Englishmen writ wholly of this Argument That the Councellors and rather then fail the very people were bound to reform Religion whether the Queen would or no though it were by putting her to death I shall trouble you Reader with no more Citations of which our Books are full for I content my self with naming these of the greatest eminency and certainly the opinions of these Doctors may be more justly charged upon Protestants in general then the opinions of private Catholicks upon us because Luther Zwinglius Calvin and Beza were the first Reformers and if the Spirit of God taught them so much truth as they are said to preach why should this be more questionable then the rest Therefore the Pope being Pharaoh and Popery Egypt as Ministers daily affirm in their Pulpits we may well say These are thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt These Apostles rested not in the Theory but fell to the Practice also for whereas the Popes since the first rise of the Reformation never gave away evenby word but two Crowns viz. England and France the Reformed have actually deposed the absolute Princes of Scotland Denmark Swedeland and Geneva have ravisht also from their lawful Governours the Low-Countreys Transylvania and many Towns which are now called Free And for Rebellion and Tumults they have been eminent in Poland Boheme Hungary France Germany and in short in all places where this Gospel has been preacht This every Historian can tell you nay blind Mr. Heylin plainly saw it therefore did all he could when these Countries in his Geography were to be handled to purge the Reformed from the Rebellion truly laid to their charge but finding that washing a Blackmore was labour in vain he was forced with his Brother Sleidan to fly for shelter to this abominable and prodigious Argument viz. That Christ foretold that Fathers should be against their sons and brothers against brothers for his sake and that we find not in any Story the true Religion was induc'd or corrupt about to be amended without War and Bloodshed It is true the lawful Protestant Church of England teaches no such Doctrine but this I do not much wonder at for why should men the King being so absolute in Spirituals run the risk to be undone for venting such notions when as their Monarchs have been so strict Professors of their Religion The test of this would be if the Prince and people were different or like to be so in Faith and Worship 〈◊〉 what the English have done herein whâ—â— this has happened I will shew you 〈◊〉 said by and by For my part I look upon the English to be the most well-meaning and most Religious people in the World and it is that which makes them all so violent in what their Conscience tells them is true This made Papists so earnest for their Religion which had governed England so long in glory This made Protestants fierce to root out what they thought Idolatry This made Presbyterians desire to have Prelatick Superstition reformed and this made Independents and their brood cry down every thing standing stiffly as they imagined for the Kingdom of Iesus Christ I say this great sincerity and zeal makes all our Countrymen so violent which good intention wicked people taking advantage of have caused so many disturbances among us nor can Sectaries ever be quiet till they are convinc'd that some Church or other is infallible Thus Reader have I answered to this strange Calumny against us That our Principles are inconsistent with Govenment by shewing that deposing of Kings is no part of the Catholick Faith which Catholique Princes do very well know and also that in Doctrine and Practice the Reformed have been wheresoever they came far more faulty then we SECT VII APOLOGY My Lords and Gentlemen Had this been a new Sect not known before something perchance might have been doubted but to lay this at their doors that have governed the civilized World is the Miracle of Miracles to us ANSWER VII Here he says that they that have read most and have had the most experience can best cure â—s of the wonder and that K. Iames who had reason to know us said in the Parliament That there were some that might be honest of the Party being ignoraÌ„tly seduced but they that truly knew our Doctrines could never be good Subjects Then he asks when it was that we governed the civilized World For he says the Eastern and Southern Churches never were under our Government nor the Western neither but when ignorant and barbarous REPLY VII Now I plainly see the design of this Minister is to the end his flock may believe every thing answered to say something to each Paragragh let it be never so frivolous Who is it Reader that having read History is ignorant of the great power the Bishop of Rome had over the East as the Greek Fathers tell us for wee read in Eusebius that Pope Victor about anno 200. Excomunicated the Eastern Church for not keeping Easter the Roman way and this Grimston also has in his account of Popes Or who knows not of the Appeals from Africk when matters of moment arose even in the most acknowledged Primitive times But I ask your pardon for asserting this because in the Primitive times they say the Popes themselves were Protestants Yet though this were so I wonder the Minister should be so forgetful of the Great Antichrist Boniface the III who is baited by every Shoolboy This arrant Pope lived above 1000. years aago and not only called himself Universal Bishop but was owned so too by Phocas the Universal Emperor as all Protestants declare Might not then a man modestly say that Popery governed the civilized World when it governed the whole World But I d of willingly forgive a man this that has the confidence to say that we did not govern the Western World till it grew ignorant and barbarous It may be he means that those Parts have been so ever since Christs time otherwise till this late Reformation there was never any Government on this side Greece that denied the Popes Jurisdiction and Greece it self owned it in the Councel of Lateran and in Hen. 3. time also as Protestant Sir Richard Baker testifies Ever since Rome made het self Mistress of all Arts and Sciences the West took the name of the only civilized place Therefore had he understood civility he would not have made so simple a cavil and I dare say he is the first ProtestaÌ„t Writer though they have been as
contrite for killing a Cardinal since he kept another still in prison Nor does this famous Author say any thing of giving nine years Indulgence to his Subjects that should fight against him and yet if the Pope had done so he must answer for his own actions to God Almighty and not all the Members of the Catholique Church But why does this poor Minister continually harp upon James Clement whom the Divel had seduced for this work The Minister would have called me worse then a Turk as he has already done if I should lay at his door the actions of Hugh Peters who was as I think ordained at least as bad as he were Concerning the Popes Speech you must know Reader that it was a thing forged as Tortus says and never heard of but at Paris some Grandees having hopes thereby to animate their Party and others a design to defame the Sea of Rome and if you consider it you will find the Pope had no reason to rejoyce at but much to lament the death of this Prince For Henry the Third was always a most firm son of the Church and easily brought again to whatever could be desired But when he was gone an apparent Hugonot was to succeed whom though for the present they might think they were able to deal with yet necessarily at best there would be a perpetual distraction among them and besides wise men know that accidents are common in such cases and to be sure the least success on Henry the Fourth's side would have ruined the Popes interest To his Conclusion I have answered before sufficiently viz. That Protestants live better under Papist Governments then Papists do under theirs therefore I say again who the Persecutors are let the World judge SECT 20. APOLOGY If it were for Doctrine that the Hugonots suffered in France this haughty Monarch would soon destroy them now having neither Force nor Towns to resist his Might and Puissance They yet live free enough being even Members of Parliament and may convert the Kings Brother too if he thinks fit to be so Thus you may see how well Protestants live in a Popish Country under a Popish King Nor was Charlemaign more Catholick then this for though he contends sometimes with the Pope 't is not of Faith but about Gallicane Priviledges which perchance he may very lawfully do Iudge then Worthy Patriots who are the best used and consider our hardship here in England where 't is not only a Fine for hearing Mass but death to the Master for having a Priest in his house and so far we are from preferment that by Law we cannot come within ten miles of London all which we know your great Mercy will never permit you to exact ANSWER XX. Here he denies the consequence That if the Hugonots then suffered for Doctrine this haughty Monarch would soon destroy them now for he says he may persecute and not destroy them or destroy them but not so soon Nor is this Monarch he says as Catholick as Charlemaign for if he were he would be Patron of all Bishopricks in his Empire make the Pope know the difference between a Prelat and an Emperor and not chop Logick about Gallicane Priviledges he would also call a Councel as Charlemaign ded against Image-Worship to separate errours from the Faith This he says were a good way to destroy the Hugonots by taking away the causes of strife but any other way he cannot without violation of his Laws Then he says we complain of hardships we feel not and insult over the Hugonots who would mend their condition with changing with us Popish Peers he says sit in English Parliaments as well as Protestants in French That we have as free access to our Kings Brother as they to theirs and that he knows not what we would have unless we would Catechise his Highness as the Abbot did the Duke of Glocester He concludes That we complain of those Laws we never knew executed and which I say I know never will be But the Laws he says were made to guard the lives of our Princes against our Trayterous practices REPLY XX. I must here again Reader desire your judgment whether this consequence in the Apology be not as natural as can be viz. If the Protestants suffered for Doctrine when by reason of their strength it was dangerous to disturb them then doubtless this haughty Monarch being as much a Papist in Faith as any of his Ancestors would soon destroy them now having neither Force nor Town to resist his might and puissance Certainly this is as impertinent a cavil as his insisting upon Charlemagn who was Emperour as well as King of France and therefore had more Authority then if he had been but a single Monarch Besides I wonder he should urge him as Quarreller with the Pope being as great a friend as ever that Sea had For he grave to it the Exarchate of Ravenna the Marca Anconitana and the Dukedome of Spoleto which are the greatest part of the Church-Lands in Italy All the power the ancient Caesars had I know not if it were great I wish they had never parted with it but what they have granted I think now as truly helongs to the Pope as any Priuiledges that Towns or Royallty's can call theirs by the Gracious concessions of our famous Princes How shameless is this man that can say the Hugonots would mend their condition by changing with us and yet he cannot deny they have all the advantages before mentioned How prettily also after his usual manner doth he pervert my meaning in saying we have free access to his Highness for my Argument runs thus That the Hugonots may convert the Kings Brother without any prejudice to them by Law when as it is death to a Catholique to pervert as they call it the meanest of his Majesties Subjects But God send the King may never find more unfaithful Servants then such nor the Duke those that shall wish him worse then the worthy Abbot whom he is pleased to mention He has a fling also at me because the Catholique Peers sit in the House which is quite besides the thing I urged For I said the Hugonots must needs think they live happily enjoying not only their Religion in publike but also being capable of any manner of Employment even to be chosen Members of the three Estates nor is there any Parliament of France but has many of their Religion in it On the contrary Catholikes are born with an incapacity of Employment like the Villains as it were in Ancient times who had no propriety in the Kingdom If some few Lords sit in their House 't is not any favour the Nobility bear to Popery but because they have gravely considered that it would be wonderful injustice to turn out a Party for difference in Religion and permit other dissenters to continue Now seeing there are so many Opinions in the World to turn out all God knows upon whose Children the Lot may fall
because the English have a reluctancy at first to the thoughts of a stranger Nay some Members of Parliament after his admission said openly in the House Thâ—t no people endued with Natural desire of Preservation would admit a Prince of a beggerly Nation to Reign over them how just soever his claim were for fear of loosing their propriety as dear as life it self and as vigorously to be defended By this therefore Reader may be seen the rancour of the Reformed against the Kings coming in since they durst say such things even after his reception and had not the last Earl of Pembrook wisely pocketted up Ramsey's switching at Newmarket when the people cried Let us break-fast with the Scots here and dine with the rest at London 't was feared that day would have been as fatal to the King as the fifth of November might have proved Papists therefore it seems were not his only Enemies Concerning Huntly's Rebellion I am sure the man is doubly mad in mentioning it for first according to Cambden whom he cites The rising was to help the Spaniards against Queen Elizabeth who had put to death their Queen nor was there ever a formed insurrectioÌ„ so gently punisht by a King which argues they had no malice against him Nay his Majesty is pleased to say in his Basilicon Doron That the Puritans had put out many Libellous Invectives against all Christian Princes and that no body answered them but the Papists by which he said the scandal was doubled for they were the Reformed who calumniated and the Catholiques were the only Vindicators Secondly If the Rebellion suppose it as bad as may be of these Lords of another Country of another age must touch us the present Catholicks of England what a blow would this be to the Reformed Religion should I repeat the Scots unparallel'd actions against their Queen The protecting of Bothwel who would have destroy'd King James by the English And lastly omitting the continual slavery he was in the downright Conspiracie of the Gowries against his life Having thus gone through the Paragraph I must come to the nicest Question of all and nice I may call it because it is conjectural only The proposal by the Minister is this Whether if the Queen of Scots had been a Protestant we should have stickled for her and if Queen Elizabeth had not been thought illegitimate whether nevertheless we had not rebelled against her To the first I say viz. We had sided with the Q. of Scots had she been Protestant To the second No That the Papists would not have opposed Queen Elizabeth had they thought her legitimate and of the Ministers own assertions I will make this plainly appear For if according to him the Papists would have set up two Protestants the Lords Darby and Essex who in reality had no right then I say 't is certain they would willingly have embraced the Title of the Stuarts that carried so fair a shew To the second I answer That they would never have opposed Queen Elizabeth had she been thought Legitimate For if as the Minister urged in the beginning they obeyed her whom they thought an Usurper for ten years though she had utterly destroyed their Religion 't is then more then probable had her Title been good in their opinion they had submitted let her Faith have been what it would These doubts being thus resolved by the very Gentleman that proposed them who cares not if he can wound us for the present into what contradictions at last he runs himself I may I hope since he hath shewed me the example propose a Query also and I shall thank him if out of my Reply he gives the Solution I will not urge my Question so far as to suppose the Queen of Scots had been a Protestant but my demand shall be singly this Whether the Reformed in those days would have quietly obeyed Queen Elizabeth had she stood up for the Catholick Religion Reader because the Parson is not ready to give his determination I will tell you my opinion which is that I think they would not and doubtless this coÌ„jecture is not rash when we consider what has been done here and recorded by our Protestant Historians themselves Have we not seen that for the safety of Religion Edward the Sixth gave away by the advice of his Councel the Kingdom to Jane Gray and what Bees could be so busie as Cranmer and Ridley with many thousands more to set up against their lawful Queen Mary that poor Lady who had not right enough by blood and much less if she depended wholly upon the Will for that was void from the beginning according to the known Laws of the Land How many treasonable Books were written against this Queen after she came to the Crown by Mr. Goodman and others asserting That she ought to be put to death as a Tyrant Monster and cruel Beast Will Thomas also conspired to murther her and when he was to be hanged for his Treason he said he died for his Countrey By all which may be gathered the Duke of Suffolke also with many more protestants being ready and Wiat actually in an open and dangerous rebellion how dangerous it was then in England for a Prince to be a Papist though to that day there had never sat but one through Protestant upon the Throne and he a Child about sixteen when he died But now I must descend to a far more tragical example even to the death of the so often mentioned Qu. of Scots who lost her life barely upon the account of her Religion 'T is true Queen Elizabeth considered her own safety but the fury of the Nobility and people without whose incitement she durst not have been beheaded was purely for fear she might have survived Queen Elizabeth and being then the undoubted Successour might have changed Religion as the former Queen Mary had done before If I should urge this barely upon my own word I might be mistrusted therefore what I say shall be out of Cambden who was not only a Protestant but the acknowledged true Annalist of those times He will tell you that after Babingtons Conspiracy in the consultation what should be done with the Royal Prisoner some were for holding her in safe custody but others out of care of Religion would have her tried and exexecuted In pursuance then of this advice she was condemned and the next Parliament the House petitioned for the execution of her Sentence The first reason in their supplicate was for the preservation of the true Religion of Christ and after they had told Queen Elizabeth also of her own danger they harpt again upoÌ„ the former string desiring her to remeÌ„ber Gods fearful judgments upon Saul and Ahab for their sparing Benhadad and Agag two wicked and profane Idolaters In fine when the fatal day came though they were so very severe as to deny her being a Guest and a free Princess what all Embassadours