King's Forces but at last were entirely Routed and their Leaders Executed Anno 1549 Yet the next year in Norfolk they Rebell'd again and when the King sent them his Pardon they refus'd it 〈◊〉 after which they took the City of Norwich and fir'd it beat the Marquess of Northampton and were very near Defeating the Earl of Warwick whose Cannon they took and refus'd the King's Pardon a second time but were at length Defeated and so were another Party who took Arms upon the same Account that year in Yorkshire There were other Insurrections in this King's time which I will not at present mention only observe what is confess'd by a late noted Authour of the Romish Church ‖ That these Risings of the Laity in such numbers for their former way of Religion would not have been had not their Clergy justified it unto them After this Anno 1555 we find that Pope Paul the Fourth following the steps of his thundering Name-sake when the Dyet of the Germans at Ausburgh made an Edict for full Liberty of Conscience whereby the Protestants were maintain'd in the Possession of their Church Revenues fell into a furious rage publickly threatening the Emperour and King of the Romans That he would make them repent it protesting that if he did not recall the Edict he would proceed against them with as severe Censures as he intended to use against the Protestants telling all the Ambassadors in his Court That he was above all Princes that he expected not that they should treat with him as with their Equal that he could alter and take away Kingdoms as he thought good And one day at Dinner in the presence of many Persons of the highest Quality he affirmed That he would subject all Princes under his Foot No wonder then that the same Spirit of Opposition to Princes actuate the Members of the Church which possess'd their Head in such a degree that upon the Resignation of the Emperour Charles the Fifth Anno 1558 Ferdinand his Brother was rejected by the Pope who affirmed That none had power to Resign but into his hands and so it belong'd to him to nominate a Successor not to the Electors but he kept the Imperial Crown though the Pope would never acknowledge him for Emperour With the same Haughtiness did he demean himself towards Sir Edward Karn the English Agent at Rome who acquainting him by order from her Majesty of Queen Elizabeth's Accession to the Crown the Pope answer'd That the Kingdom of England was held in Fee of the Apostolick See that she being Illegitimate could not succeed and therefore it was great boldness in her to assume the Government without his leave yet if she would renounce her Title and refer all to him he would act as became his Honour But the Queen took no care to satisfie this blustering Gentleman who soon after dyed But the Pope who succeeded him Anno 1560 Pius the Fourth issued out a strict Bull commanding all the Learned of that Church to find out Arguments to persuade Subjects to break their Oaths of Allegiance in favour of the Apostolick See in order to which he granted several Dispensations to preach among the Protestants of England and to marry if need were And the same year his good Sons in Ireland by their example shewed their Obedience to it for Shan O Neale Earl of Tyrone rebelled but finding himself too weak submitted and had his Pardon though not till two years after In the mean while Anno 1561 viz. the next year the Pope's Nuncio in Ireland joyn'd himself to the Rebels publickly assisting them and by his Authority pronounced the Queen deprived of that Kingdom But the year following Anno 1562 though the Irish submitted yet Arthur Pool and others contriv'd to joyn themselves with the Duke of Guise land an Army in Wales and Proclaim the Queen of Scots to which the following Pope afterwards added his endeavours to get our Queen Murthered as the Writer of his Life informs us But in the mean time Anno 1563 that it might not be said of this that he neglected any thing for the advantage of his Supreme Power to keep his hand in ure he published a Monitory against the Queen of Navarre declaring That if she did not turn Romanist within six Months he would deprive her of her Dominions and give them to any that would conquer them but the King of France promising to stand by her his terrible Threat serv'd only to shew how ready he was to Depose all Princes that offended him if his Power had been equal to his Will And in this year it was that the Council of Trent made that excellent Decree whereby they confirmed all the Canons of Popes and Councils which set the Pope above Princes gave him Power over them and exempted the Clergy from being subject to them thereby endeavouring to Depose all Princes who knew themselves and their Rights too well to truckle under the usurped Power of their Supreme Head But though the Pope could not send any Sovereign Prince of his Errand to destroy the House of Navarre Anno 1564 yet such obedient Sons were the Cardinal of Lorrain and the rest of the House of Guise that they resolv'd its Ruine To which End they sent Captain Dimanche into Spain to get Assistance there designing to fall upon Bearn seize the Queen of Navarre the young King and his Sister and send them to the Inquisition in Spain to be proceeded against as Hereticks but this Design was discovered and so came to nothing But in the same year we are informed by one of the English Spies at Rome That the Pope granted Indulgences and Pardons to any Person that should assault Queen Elizabeth either in private or publick or to any Cook Baker Vintner Physician Brewer Grocer Chirurgion or any other Calling that should make her away together with an absolute Remission of Sins to such Person 's Heirs and an Annuity for ever and to be one of the Privy Council successively whosoever Reigned To the Endeavours of the Pope O Neale likewise added his by rebelling again and murthering the English committing the most barbarous Cruelties imaginable Anno 1565 but his Power was broken in a pitcht Battel the year following notwithstanding which he continued his Rebellion till two years after when he was Stabb'd by Alexander Oge whose Brother he had slain before Anno 1567 But though the Rebels had such ill success Anno 1568 yet the Pope will not be disheartened but the next year sends one Rodolpho a rich Florentine Gentleman into England to stir up the People against the Queen To him the King of Spain joins the Marquess of Cetona who under the pretence of an Embassy was sent over to countenance the Rebellion and command the Forces which the Duke of Alva should send from the Low Countries in order to which La Motte Governour of Dunkirk had come
privately in the Habit of a Sailer to sound the Ports Rodolpho was furnished with plenty of Money from the Pope which he distributed to make a Party into which they drew the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland with others who perceiving their Plot discovered submitted and begged Pardon This Design the Pope was so zealous for that he assured the Spaniards he would go along with them himself if need were and engage all his Goods and Treasure in the Service Nor was this the only Design of the Pope at this time for in pursuit of his Predecessour's Bull against her he advised the Queen-Mother of France to seize on the Dominions of the Queen of Navarre because she was an Heretick offering if she approved of it by his Papal Authority to appoint one of the House of Valois to be King of those Territories which if she did not like he was resolved to give them to the King of Spain but that Prince knowing they must be won by the Sword declined accepting the Pope's Bounty Hitherto the Members of the Church of Rome made no scruple to resort to the Protestant Churches Anno 1569 both for Prayer and Preaching but this Year Pope Pius Quintus published his Bull against the Queen upon which they all withdrew from any such Communion with us In this Bull the Pope calls the Queen the pretended Queen of England a Servant of Wickedness affirms that her Council consisted of obscure heretical Fellows declares her an Heretick and cut off from the Unity of Christ's Body that she is deprived of her Title to her Kingdoms and of all Dominion Dignity and Privilege whatsoever and her Subjects absolved from all manner of Duty and Obedience to her and that by the Authority of this Bull he doth absolve Them and depose Her and forbidding all her Subjects under pain of Anathema to obey her With this Bull he sends Morton a Priest into England to spread this Censure and persuade the People to back it with an Insurrection upon which as Surius tells us out of Sanders many Persons of Quality resolved to execute it Accordingly the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland who were pardoned but the year before took Arms in the North trampled under feet the English Bible and Service-Book bearing in their Standard the Cross and five Wounds of our Saviour and being betwixt five and six thousand men they grew so insolent that they would give the Queen no better Title than the Pretended Queen but the Pope being too slow in sending the hundred thousand Crowns he promised them and they at length finding their numbers too small to cope with the Queens Army dispersed and every one shifted for himself The Earl of Westmorland escaped into Flanders where he dyed miserably but Northumberland being taken was beheaded at York who was nevertheless looked upon by the Romanists as a glorious Martyr and the drops of his bloud kept by them as holy Relicks That this Rebellion had no better success Sanders and from him Surius give this Reason Because the Catholicks had not timely notice of the Pope's Bull And the same Person informs us That those that were executed for this Treason refused to the very last to acknowledge the Queens Authority Among which Sanders mentions Plumtree and others as well as the two Earls who are termed glorious Martyrs of the Catholicks by Bristow in his Motives and several others To correspond with the Pope's Intentions in his Bull Ireland puts in for a share this year where Jame Fitz-Morice of the House of Desmond and two of the Botelers raised a Rebellion but the latter being drawn to a submission by the loyal Earl of Ormond Fitz-Morice after many shifts followed their Example and was pardoned But though the two Earls and their Accomplices had sped so ill yet Leonard Dacres renew'd the Rebellion in the North Anno 1570 and fought a bloudy Battel against the Queens Forces with great obstinacy though in the end he was forced to fly into Scotland And now that the Catholicks might no longer remain in ignorance of the Queens being deprived of the Kingdoms by the Pope one Felton this year had the hardiness to fix the Bull at the Bishop of London's Gates for which being apprehended he confessed the Fact and gloried in it at his death affirming the Queen had no right to the Throne being deposed by the Sentence of the Pope Yet doth Surius affirm that he dyed a Martyr for the Catholick Faith justifying the Action as done out of Zeal for the Church and in Obedience to the lawfull Commands of the Pope The fame is affirmed by Parsons Spondanus and Hilarion de Coste who styles him the valiant Soldier of Jesus Christ commends his invincible Courage and Zeal for the Faith and affirms that his Martyrdom is one of England's most glorious Trophies though the same Person can afford the Queen no better a Title than the Impious and wicked Queen the true Jezebel of our days And that all the World may see what they thought of him at Rome no sooner could Thuanus affirm that it was a very rash Action but the Index Expurgatorius commands that passage to be blotted out so jealous are they of the Honour of this grand Traitor With as great Encomiums do we find the Memory of Dr. Story celebrated by the Writers of that Church This man was one of the most violent Persecutours in Queen Mary's days Anno 1571 for which cruelties being questioned in Parliament in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign he answered that he knew no Fault he was guilty of but only that he busied himself in cutting off the Branches while he neglected to pull up the Root it self which if he had done Heresie had not got up again For this being imprisoned he found means to escape into Flanders but being apprehended and brought into England this year he rejoiced that he should suffer Martyrdom Upon his Tryall he declined the Jurisdiction of the Court affirming that he was a Subject to the King of Spain and acknowledged no lawfull Judge in England for which he gave this Reason That seeing the Pope had declared the Queen deprived of her Right he durst not acknowledge her Authority left he should fall under the Censures of that Bull And at the moment of his Execution being asked by an Earl whether the Queen was his Sovereign he replied She was not yet is he reckoned among the Martyrs for the Romish Faith The next Year was that bloudy Massacre of Paris Anno 1572 though contrived two years before wherein it being carried over all France above 100000 Protestants were butchered in cold bloud the Duke of Guise and his Party did all they could to have the King of Navarre and Prince of Conde slaughtered with the rest but they being preserved by the King the chief Design of the Papalins in that bloudy Action was prevented
full Pardon for it from the Pope That the first might not be wanting Cedretto a noted Jesuit and Provincial of Guyenne approv'd his Resolution and Ragazzani the Nuncio recommended him to the Pope promising that his Prayers should not be wanting for the success of the Attempt with which encouragement he came to London where he received a Letter from Cardinal Como wherein the Cardinal informs him That His Holiness did exhort him to persevere and bring that to effect which he had promised and that he might be the better assisted by that good Spirit which moved him thereto His Holiness granted him his Blessing a plenary Indulgence and Remission of all his sins assuring him that he should merit highly by the Action which he terms holy and honourable to which the Cardinal added his Prayers and Wishes for its success This he confessed confirmed his Resolution to kill his Sovereign and made it clear to his Conscience that it was lawfull and meritorious which redounding so highly to the Dishonour of that bloudy Church the whole Relation is by the Index Expurgatorius commanded to be left out of Thuanus's History And well they might for as it shewed the Pope's Inclination to Bloud and Treason so it was one of the greatest instances of Ingratitude imaginable Parry owing his life to the Mercy of this Princess who had four years before pardoned him when he was tried and condemned for Burglary But though the Divine Goodness was so conspicuous in the many wonderfull preservations of that great Queen yet it pleased the all-wise Providence to permit the devilish Designs of the Jesuites to be attended with success in Holland where the renowned Prince William of Nassaw was this year murthered by Balthasar Gerard a Burgundian who confessed that a Jesuite Regent of the College of Trers told him that he had conferred with three of his Brethren who took the Design to be from God assuring him that if he dyed in that quarrel he should be enrolled in the Kalendar of Martyrs This Method of satisfying their Consciences with their Confessour's Authority was so generally taken by the zealous Assassins of those times that the Leaguers in France kept several Priests in pay who daily preached and asserted That Princes ought to be deposed who do not sufficiently perform their Duty and a Bachelour in Divinity of the Sorbonne maintained in a publick Disputation That it was lawfull for any private man to depose or kill any Prince who is a wicked man or an Heretick which opinion had so entirely possest the Cardinal of Bourbon that because the King of Navarre was an Heretick he had the Confidence to tell King Henry the Third that if his Majesty should dye the Crown would belong to him and he was resolved not to lose his Right But because these Doctrines without force to practise them would prove but empty speculations the Duke of Guise had the latter end of this year a Conference with the King of Spain's Commissioners whereby he associated himself with the Spaniards against his Sovereign obliging his party to maintain War against the Kings as long as the King of Spain pleased To promote which Design Cardinal Pellevee sollicited the Pope for his approbation of it Anno 1585 and when the Duke of Nevers declared his Resolutions to have nothing to doe with them unless he had the Opinion both of Eminent Divines and the Pope too in favour of the Undertaking his Confessour and Monsieur Faber told him that he ought to take up Arms with the Leaguers by which he would be so far from sinning that he would merit highly and perform an Action very acceptable to God and the aforesaid Cardinal with other Divines assured him that the Pope approved of it declaring it lawfull to fight against Hereticks and such as favour or adhere to them though it were the King himself he indeed advised them not to attempt his Life but to seize his Person and force him to promote their Ends In obedience to which the Cardinal of Bourbon published a Declaration dated March 31. 1585. justifying his Arms but professing great Respect to the Royal Person This Pope dying his Successour Sixtus the Fifth was more open in avowing the Leaguers Cause and therefore published his Bull against the King of Navarre declaring him an Heretick depriving him and his Posterity of all their Rights absolving his Subjects from their Allegiance and excommunicating all such as should obey him While this Pope was making Tryall of his Thunderbolts in France he had his Agents privily endeavouring to execute the Commands of his Predecessour in this Nation for which Henry Piercy Earl of Northumberland being apprehended shot himself through the heart during his Imprisonment he had been pardoned for a former Rebellion and being found a prosecutour of Throgmorton's Design became this year his own Executioner But a more formidable Anno 1586 because more threacherous and secret Design was managed by some English Seminaries at Rhemes who thought it meritorious to destroy the Queen where one Savage was so wrought upon by the Persuasions of Dr. Gifford the Rectour and two other Priests that he vowed to murther her to whom Ballard another Priest joining treated with Mendoza the Spanish Embassadour in France about an Invasion after which he drew in Mr. Babington a rich and well accomplish'd Gentleman who desired that five more might be joined to Savage to make sure work Babington affirmed that several Counties in England were ready and being assured of Assistance from Spain they resolved that the Usurper so they termed the Queen should be sent to the other World assoon as the Invaders landed but Ballard being taken Babington resolved to effect her death immediately though Divine Providence prevented it by his apprehension who with the rest of his Companions freely confessed the Fact for which sixteen of them suffered death Yet did not this deter Mr. William Stafford at the Sollicitation of the French Ambassadour from engaging in an Enterprise of the same horrid nature which though he refused to act himself yet he directed them to one Moody who willingly embraced the motion upon Promise of Preferment from the Duke of Guise but while he was contriving a way to effect it Stafford discovered all and justified it to the Ambassadour's Face who at first denied any knowledge of it With the same diligence were the Romanists in France driving on their treasonable Designs for at a Council held by the chief Conspiratours at the Jesuites College near St. Pauls in Paris they resolved to surprise Boloign there to receive the Spaniards who should land to their Assistance A Plot was laid to secure the King as he returned from hunting and another to seize the Bastile assault the Louvre and put the King into a Convent during which Action their word was to be Let the Mass flourish and the King of Navarre
one of the Conspiratours attempted to run him through but was prevented and several of his Companions taken the rest escaped And now King Henry the Great of France having amassed a very considerable Treasure prepared for some great Design which the Romanists grew so jealous of that they secretly caused several to subscribe their Obedience to the Pope in a Book which was kept on purpose it was half written through and some names subscribed in bloud several Designs were formed against his Life four Piedmontiers a Lorrainer and three others conspired his Death advice was given of several other Plots from many other places and Reports were spread in foreign parts that he was killed Father Hardy in his Sermon at St. Severius in Paris reflecting upon the King's Treasure said That Kings heaped up Treasures to make themselves feared but there needed but a blow to kill a King All these were but Fore-runners of that horrid Murther which was committed in a few Weeks after by Ravilliac once a Monk who stabbed him to the Heart with a poisoned Knife as he was going to the Arsenal in his Coach so that he expired in an instant upon his Examination he confessed that he resolved to murther the King who he supposed had a Design to make War upon the Pope because making War against his Holiness is the same as to make War against God seeing the Pope was God and God was the Pope and that he had revealed his Design to the Jesuite d' Aubigny in Confession and shewed him the Knife and that he had heard several of that Order maintain the Lawfulness of it in their Sermons No sooner was the King dead Anno 1611 but the Jesuites desired leave to teach Schools in their Colleges which acquest the Parliament took into consideration and required that they should first declare That it is unlawfull for any Person to conspire the death of the King that no Ecclesiastick hath any Power over the Temporal Rights of Princes and that all are to render the same Obedience to their Governours which Christ gave to Caesar. These Positions were proposed to them to subscribe but they refused to doe it without leave from their General upon which they were prohibited by a Decree of Parliament to teach and threatened with a farther Deprivation if they would not obey The Romanists had tried all manner of ways to deprive King James of his Life or Crown Anno 1613 but finding none successfull they had the Impudence to publish a Book this year affirming that His Majejesty was a counterfeit and not the Son of Queen Mary of Scotland The Year following Cardinal Perron Anno 1614 who had been one of the young Cardinal of Bourbon's Party against King Henry the Fourth in the Assembly of Estates in France asserted not only that Subjects may be absolved from their Allegiance and Princes deposed in case of Heresie but that they who hold the contrary are Schismaticks and Hereticks This Speech was made to divert the Estates from imposing an Oath like our Oath of Allegiance which Design so disturbed the Pope that he affirmed the Voters of it were Enemies to the common Good and mortal Adversaries to the Chair of Rome And about the same time Suarez printed his Book at Colen wherein he teaches that Kings may be put to Death by their own Subjects which Treatise came into the World with the Approbation of the Bishop of Conimbria of Silvis and Lamego and the University of Alcalum with several others In Scotland one Father Ogelby a Jesuite was taken who being asked whether the Pope be Judge in Spirituals over His Majesty refused to answer except the question were put to him by the Pope's Authority but affirmed that the Pope might excommunicate the King at his Trial he protested against the Judges that he could not own them for the K. had no Authority but what was derivative from his Predecessours who acknowledged the Pope's jurisdiction adding If the King will be to me as they were to mine he shall be my King otherwise I value him not And as for that Question Whether the K. deposed by the Pope may be lawfully killed Doctours of the Church hold the affirmative not improbably and I will not say it is unlawfull to save my Life In France several of the Princes raised Commotions which were appeased with conferring places of Trust and Honour upon the chief among them who were headed by the Prince of Conde Fruits as the Historian observes accustomed to be reaped in France from that which in other places is punished by the Executioner Not satisfied with their Honours Anno 1615 they took arms again under the same Leader and passed the Loire but the Prince of Conde falling sick Matters were composed by the Endeavours of the English Ambassadour and some others In Savoy Conspiracies were formed against that Duke's Life Anno 1616 and to deliver up the Prince his Son Anno 1617 to the Spaniards but timely discovery prevented them and preserved the Duke from another Design of some who undertook to poison him The next Year the Jesuites were banished Bohemia Anno 1618 and Moravia for coining Money and sowing Dissentions between the Magistrates and People and a Plot was discovered at Venice against the Senatours whom the Conspiratours designed to murther by a sudden Insurrection assisted by the Marquess of Bedmar Ambassadour from Spain and the Duke of Ossuna Viceroy of Naples and make an utter subversion of the State this was carried on in conjunction with the Spaniards by those Citizens and others who were the Pope's Partisans and a number of Factious Persons discontented with the Actions of the Senate who longed for a change and would stick at nothing to effect it And in France the Queen Mother being imprisoned the Duke D' Espernon with a strong Party rebelled in her Defence but before the King's Army was come up against him he procured his Pardon and the Liberty of the Queen Soon after this the Jesuites were driven out of Hungary Anno 1619 and Silesia for their seditious Practices and another Rebellion broke out in France Anno 1620 which the King marched in Person to suppress In the Valteline the Revolt was universal the Governours of Provinces and the Heads of Families were all murthered and under pretence of defending the Roman Catholick Religion all manner of outrages were committed and a new form of Government erected these Broils continued some time and the bitterness of the Papists was such that they would make no accommodation if the Protestants were tolerated there so that if a Protestant Bailiff be sent among them he cannot publickly exercise his Religion At this time the Match between Prince Charles and the Infanta was prosecuted Anno 1622 at least with a seeming willingness on both sides and being to have some Romish Priests of her Houshold the Pope urged very earnestly
published a Declaration against all that should adhere to the D. of Ormond His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant in that Kingdom upon which my Authour makes this remark that if the Archbishops c. in Ireland will take upon them to declare against the King's Authority where His Majesty hath placed it they assume an Authority to themselves that no other Clergy ever pretended to and declare sufficiently to the King how far they are from being Subjects or intend to pay him any Obedience longer than they are governed in such manner and by such Persons as they think fit to be pleased with But not satisfied with refusing Obedience to the King's Commissioner the Confederates agreed that if compounding with the Parliament should be best for the People they should doe it And presently after the Marquess of Clauricard had at their request taken the Government upon him in his Majesty's Name it was proposed in their Assembly that they might send to the Enemy to treat with them upon surrendring all that was left into their hands Thus did they chuse rather to submit to the Parliament than obey the King for they were not forced to that Submission the army of the Enemy having made no progress at that time neither had it been flusht with any new Success As forward was Father Bret to persuade the Gentlemen who had defended the Castle of Jersey for the King Anno 1651 to renounce the Royal Family and Kingly Government by taking the Engagement affirming that they were not to acknowledge any Supreme but the prevailing Power All this while the Rebellion in France increased the Parisians took Arms designing to seize the King and the Prince of Conde fortified several places and confederated with the Spaniards whom under the Conduct of the Duke of Nemours he called into France to his Assistance with which he maintained the War all this Year to whom the Duke of Orleance joined himself and with all his Interest increased the Party The next year Mr. Tho. Anno 1652 White published his Book of the Grounds of Obedience and Government wherein he asserts That if a Prince governs ill he becomes a Robber and the People may expell him in which case they are not bound by any Promise made to him and that they have no Obligation to endeavour the Restauration of a Prince so dispossessed of his Dominions but rather to hinder it nay though he were wrongfully driven out and such a Prince is absolutely obliged to renounce all Right and Claim to the Government and if he doth not he is worse than an Infidel Thus after their Designs had effected the death of that good King and expulsion of his late and present Majesty they contributed their Endeavours to hinder their return and debauch those who might attempt it yet had some the confidence to commend this Gentleman to his late Majesty though the King knew him too well to take any notice of him That they designed to hinder the Restauration of the King by an absolute compliance with the usurping Power is affirmed by one of their Communion who tells them that they were refractory to the Queen's Desires at Rome for His Majesty's Assistance and that Collonel Hutchinson could discover strange Secrets about their treating with Cromwell And it is certain that in Ireland there were several Precepts granted by the Archbishop of Armagh and others to pray for the success of that Usurper's Forces while Dominick Decupsy a Dominican esteemed a Person of great Holiness and Long the Jesuite asserted that the King being out of the Roman Church it was not lawfull to pray for him particularly or publickly on any other day except Good Fryday as comprehended among the Infidels and Hereticks and then only for the spiritual Welfare of his Soul not for his temporal prosperity The Civil Wars continuing still in France our present Sovereign then Duke of York went into the King's Army and the Princes being straitened called in the Duke of Lorrain who with his Army marched to their Succour so that they kept the Field all this and the ensuing Year Anno 1654. Anno 1654 there was a Discourse written by Benoist de Treglies Collateral of the Council or Regent of the Chancery of Naples in which this Proposition was maintained That when a Pope intends to exercise any Jurisdiction in a Countrey he ought to let his Writs be examined by the temporal Prince that so it may be known whether the Causes and Persons contained therein be of his Jurisdiction Which Proposition having been examined by the Inquisition at Rome at the express command of the Pope that Congregation declared it to be Heretical and Schismatical prohibiting the Book and threatening the severest censures against the Authour The following year affords us a farther evidence of the hopes the Romanists had conceived of the restauration of their Religion here Anno 1655 for Dr. Baily at the end of the Life of Fisher Bishop of Rochester speaking of the Lord Cromwell and the great influence he had upon the proceedings in the beginning of the Reformation expresses their hopes of his Party from the Usurper and his Counsels in these words Who knows but that the Church may be healed of her Wounds by the same Name sit hence the Almighty hath communicated so great a Secret unto Mortals as that there should be such a Salve made known to them whereby the same Weapon that made the Wound should work the Cure Oliva vera is not so hard to be construed Oliverus as that it may not be believed that a Prophet rather than a Herald gave the common Father of Christendom the now Pope of Rome Innocent X. such Ensigns of his Nobility viz. a Dove holding an Olive Branch in her mouth since it falls short in nothing of being a Prophesie and fulfilled but only his Highness running into her Arms whose Embleme of Innocence bears him already in her mouth Three years after this Popish Loyal Flattery Anno 1658 Father Ferrall a Capuchin presented a Treatise to the Cardinals of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide proposing some Methods to revive the Rebellion in Ireland and drive out not only the English but also all the Irish who were descended from the old English Conquerours as not fit to be trusted in so holy a League and about the same time Father Reiley the Popish Primate coming through Brussels refused to kiss the King's Hand though some offered to introduce him And to obtain favour with Richard Cromwell Anno 1659 he alledged that the Irish Natives had no affection to the King and his Family and therefore were fit to be trusted by the Protectour and upon his Arrival in Ireland he made it his business to gain a party there to hinder the King's Restauration promising them great assistance upon which the King gave notice of those Contrivances to Don Stephano de Gamarro the Spanish Ambassadour in Holland so that he was
But four years after was that desperate Confederacy entred into by that Duke and his Adherents in France Anno 1576 which they and the Pope afterwards termed the Holy League which had all the parts of a most desperate Rebellion and continued for so many years to the Destruction of one Prince and infinite vexation of another It was first begun at Peronne and afterwards formed into a more strict Union by which under a shew of maintaining the King they took from him all his Authority to confer it upon the Head of their Conspiracy Nay the zeal for this rebellious Association was so great that they subscribed it with their Bloud and in order to the prosecution of what they had there promised they sent Nicolas David an Advocate of the Parliament of Paris to Rome but he being slain by the way on his return Cardinal de Pellive afterwards managed their business with the Pope But among the Memoirs of that Advocate there was found an Account of the Transaction between the Pope and the Duke of Guise wherein the Design laid down is to pull down the House of Valois then reigning from the Throne and set up the Duke of Guise In this Transaction the Liberties of the Gallican Church are called a damnable Errour nothing else but the shift of the Waldenses Lutheranes and Calvinists and it is affirmed that France shall never prosper as long as the Crown continues in that line The whole Platform of the Design is there laid down and the Pope is to advance that Duke to the Crown of France as the Successour of Charlemagne in consideration whereof the Duke is bound to cause the See of Rome to be plainly acknowledge by the States of the Kingdom without Restriction or Modification abolishing the Privileges and Liberties of the Gallican Church Thus do we find the Pope promoting the most rebellious Designs to advance his own usurped Greatness And his Missionaries not desiring a better example than that of their holy Father Anno 1577 in prosecution of his Designs Cuthbert Mayne came into England dispersing Libells to maintain the Pope's Authority over the Queen and he confessed under his own Hand that he brought with him several holy grains to distribute among the Catholicks which they should keep as so many Preservatives by the producing of which they should be safe when the Protestants were to be destroyed In the same business several others were employed and one Hemford sent over with a Dispensation of the Pope's Bull whereby the Romanists had liberty to yield outward Obedience till an opportunity offered itself for the execution of that deposing Sentence And one Haydock was employed to prepare things against such a time and to note the fittest places for landing an Army as himself wrote to Allen the Jesuite Besides these one Paine a Priest and fifty others were furnished at the Pope's Charge who undertook to kill the Queen as she went to take the Air. And yet these are the men whom Sanders in his Letter to the aforenamed Jesuite terms chosen Vessels But our Countrey was not the onely Nation afflicted with these Plots and traiterous Contrivances for about the same time was Sebastian King of Portugal betrayed by the Jesuits to the loss both of his Life and Kingdom which they had before engaged to transfer to the Spanish King in which they were as good as their word though near fifty years since it is returned to the Obedience of its lawfull Heir during which War attempting to deliver one of the Isles of the Azores to the Spaniards they were discoved and treated as their Wickedness deserved but of this more hereafter The Pope's Designs upon the Queen's Life being by the good Providence of God frustrated Anno 1578 the holy Father Anno 1579 Gregory the 13th carried on the projects of his Predecessour who had willingly lent an Ear to the advice of Thomas Stukely an English Fugitive and in hopes of getting the Kingdom of Ireland for his own Son the Marquess of Vineola where we find though Popes do not marry yet they can get Children created Stukely Marquess of Leinster adding several other Titles and assisting him with Forces and a plenary Indulgence dispatcht him away for Ireland but by the way being persuaded by the King of Portugal to join with him against the Moors he was slain in the Battel together with that King But though Ireland was delivered from this Danger yet soon after James Fitz-Morice who was pardoned in the Year 1569. went over into France where he desired Assistance to beat the English out of Ireland and reduce that Nation to the French Obedience but King Henry the Third then reigning having sufficient Employment for his Forces at home Fitz-Morice addressed himself to the Pope and the King of Spain the former embraced this opportunity and sent Sanders with him as his Nuncio with a consecrated Banner and the latter assisted them with Men and Money the Pope in the mean while raising Souldiers in his Countrey for their Assistance and Relief Fitz-Morice and Sanders with the Spaniards landed in Kerry in Ireland Anno 1580 and committedall manner of Outrages in one of which Fitz-Morice was killed by the Sons of William a Burgh soon after made Baron of Castleconnel in his place succeeded his Brother John E. of Desmond to whom the Pope sent an Indulgence dated May 13. 1580. wherein he highly magnifies the Piety of James laments his Death and exhorts all the Nobility Clergy and People of the Land to follow this John in fighting against the Hereticks for the Catholick Cause and to encourage them in that good work he grants a Plenary Indulgence and Remission of all their sins in the same extent as was granted to those who were engaged in the Holy War And when the Spaniards were required by the Lord Gray then Deputy of Ireland to express their Intention in thus invading her Majesties Dominions they returned Answer That they were sent from the Pope and King of Spain to whom his Holiness had given Ireland for that Elizabeth had justly forfeited her Title to the Kingdom by Heresie that they would keep what they had got and get more if they could But in a small time after they were glad to surrender upon Mercy the Earl of Desmond having been routed before and Allen the Priest who came with the Legate Sanders slain This ill success put a stop to the Recruits the Pope was preparing to send after them Sanders dyed of hunger in the Woods and the Earl of Desmond was slain two years after by a common Soldier And to encourage these Rebels and to excite to more such Attempts this Pope Gregory the Thirteenth the same year renewed the Bull of Pius Quintus against the Queen There were five hundred Copies of it printed at Rome and the Bull it self dispersed over all Italy Spain and part of Germany as is attested by one
but being prevented by a Discovery another Resolution was agreed on to secure his Person at his return from Bois de Vincennes slenderly accompanied but failing in this also the Duke of Guise came to Paris contrary to the King 's express Order where he was received with great joy and soon after his Party being numbred and found considerable he openly rebelled barricadoing the Streets and forcing the King to flie who made his Escape with very few Attendants Soon after the King of Spain sent six hundred thousand Crowns to the Rebels and the Pope by solemn Letters applauded the Duke's Zeal compared him to the Maccabean Heroes and exhorted him to go on as he had begun but here the insignificancy of the Pope's Blessing again appeared the Duke of Guise being soon after slain at Blois and so receiving the just Reward of his continued Rebellions Thus were the Designs of wicked men who prostituted the holy Name of Religion to serve their Lusts baffled and defeated both in their Attempts against the incomparable Queen Elizabeth and the French King as also in a Plot against the K. of Navarre which by the same Divine Providence was this year discovered But the Scotch Papists were so possessed with Spanish Promises Anno 1589 and influenced by their Gold and the persuasions of Holt Creighton and other Jesuites that several Noblemen conspired to seize the King afterwards King James the First of England at his Palace in Edinburg where Huntley coming before the others was upon Suspicion apprehended which terrified the rest but being set at liberty joined himself to the Earl of Crawford and others in open Rebellion entred Aberdeen but were so terrified by the approach of the Royal Army that they retreated were taken and after Tryall imprisoned And here I find such an Account of the Conversions made by the Jesuites in Scotland as fully confirms the Observation made before of their Design in their diligent Endeavours to make Proselytes For Mr. Bruce the chief Agent for the Spaniards in his Letter to the D. of Parma commending the Zeal of the Missionaries in Scotland tells him that they had converted the Earls of Arroll and Crawford who were very desirous to advance the Catholick Faith and Spanish Interest in this Island and resolved to follow entirely the Directions of the Fathers Jesuites whence it appears their main design is to enlarge their Empire for as the same Gentleman affirms no sooner any person of Quality is converted by them but they forthwith encline and dispose their affections to the Service of the King of Spain as a thing inseparably conjoined with the advancement of true Religion in this Countrey so that by the Confession of this great Man Popery and Treason were inseparable at that time the Romanists being so in love with it that they made their Address to the broken Fleet of the Spaniards the last year to land what Forces they had several great Persons being ready to receive them And the two new Noble Converts wrote to the Duke of Parma testifying their entire devotednes to the Spanish Interest Nor was Scotland alone thus infected for in England the Earl of Arundell was this year tried and dyed in the Tower who rejoiced at the Spaniards coming prayed for their Success and exceedingly grieved at their Overthrow And the Jesuite Parsons prevailed to have a Seminary wherein to instruct Youth in such treasonable Principles as his own founded at Valedolyd But though this Island was sufficiently pestered this year by the Papal Agents and Factours for Rebellion yet were we favourably dealt with in comparison of the Treasons and Insurrections in France against Henry the Third a Prince of their own Communion who after the Death of the Duke of Guise was opposed by an almost universal Rebellion the Priests calling on their Auditours to swear to revenge the Duke's Death and railing with all manner of virulency against the King insomuch that Father Lincestre affirmed that if he were at the Altar and the Eucharist in his hand he would not scruple in that very place to kill him The Rebels styl'd him Tyrant Heretick and to have his Picture or to call him King was crime enough to deserve death they threw down his Arms and Statues and practised all sort of Magick Incantations and Charms to hasten his death The Parisians wrote to the Pope desiring to be absolved from their Allegiance with several other requests of the same nature and in their Letters to the Cardinals styled their Sovereign The late King of France and sent Agents to Rome giving them among other Instructions Orders to desire the Pope not to entertain or hear the King's Ambassadours and Messages and to excommunicate all that join with him and having chosen the Duke of Mayenne for their General would have had him take the Title of King but he refused it yet they broke the King 's great Seal and made a new one To these the City of Lyons joined affirming that Kings ought to be resisted and they will resist the King in conjunction with the Holy Union to whom the Parisians sent a Letter exhorting them to defend their Religion c. against that prodigal perjured cruel and murthering Prince the Duke of Mayenne refusing to have any Peace or admit so much as of a Truce and prosecuting the War with the utmost vigour To these Attempts and Perseverance in them they were encouraged by the Sorbon Doctours who in a Decree made Jan. 7. 1589. resolved That the People were freed from their Oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity and that they may legally and with a safe Conscience take Arms for the Defence of the Roman Religion against the wicked Counsels and Practices of the King Which Decree they ordered to be sent to the Pope for his Confirmation and this they affirm was concluded on and resolved by an entire consent of the whole Faculty not one dissenting And with the same Zeal and no more Loyalty they licensed a Book which asserted that the King ought to be assassined affirming that there was nothing in it contrary to the Roman Church To promote which they concluded that the King ought to be no longer prayed for declaring all such of the Body as should not agree to this to be guilty of Excommunication and deprived of the Prayers and Privileges of the Faculty And that there might remain no badg of Royalty to put them in mind of their Duty the Cordeliers struck off the Head of the King's Picture which was in their Church and the Jacobins defaced those in their Cloisters But this was done after the Pope had once more publickly owned the Rebels and their Cause who by his Bull asserted his Power of Rule over all Kingdoms and Princes of the Earth proceeded to admonish the King to release the Cardinal of Bourbon and Archbishop of Lyons in thirty days and within sixty days to make