and Cantons This Union was made by the States in the year 1578. For seeing on the one hand the fortunate Proceedings of the Duke of Parma and on the other the course of thâ— Male-Contents they enter a perpetual League which was comprized in Twenty Articles In the first whereof Holland Zealand Frize and Gelders joyn contra omnem vim quae sub praetextu c. to maintain one another against all force whatsoever that shall be made upon them in the Kings name or for matter of Religion After this viz. in the year 1579. the Prince of Orange who was the contriver and ringleader of all with those of Antwerp and Gaunt enter the League and subscribe on the Fourteenth of February and it was again confirmed at the Hague the Twentieth of July 1581. The design in all being to expel their Leige Lord the King of Spain and to deprive him of those Dominions as presently after they did publishing an Edict in the name of the States unitâ—d with this title or prescription Que le Roy a' Espague est descheu c. That the King of Spain is fallen from the Dominion of the Low-Countries and injoyning an Oath or form of Abjuration to be taken by all the people of those Countries in these words I W. N. Comme un bon vassal du ' pais Sware anew and binde my self to the Provinces united to be Loyal and Faithful to them and to Aid them against the King of Spain as a true Man of the Country Upon this they break all the Kings Seals pull down his Arms seize and enter upon his Lands Rents Customes and all Hereditaments whatsoever taking them into their own possession and as absolute Lords they Coyn Money in their own names they place and displace Officers of State Banish the Kings Counsellors seize upon Church livings suppress Catholike Religion beseidge Amsterdam and do all other acts that might import Supream and absolute Dominion And all this with so much terror and violence that as 't is reported Raald a Counsellor for Frizeland upon onely hearing of their maner of proceeding and of the new Oath against the King died suddenly therewith as of an Apoplexy The reasons they give why the King had forfeited his title and right to these Countries were these First because he labored to suppress Religion They mean their own which they had newly taken up contrary to the old and which had it not been for the opposition made against it by the Kings Governors in the Provinces had long before this time destroyed the Kings Religion which was legally established and received by the geâ—eral consent approbation and profession of the whole Country Secondly for oppressing that is governing them not according to the Law but by Tyranny Thirdly for abrogating their priviledges and holding them in a condition of bondage and servitude Such a Prince say they we are not bound to obey as a Lawful Magistrate but to â—ject as a Tyrant But this is a Presidâ—nt of vâ—ry dangerous consequâ—nâ—e doubtless For if private Subjects as 〈◊〉 that time they were without difpute may depose their Prince meerly upon general Charges and without having done any one overt Act contrary unto the Laws or the duty of his Office and may make themselves sole Judges in the cause of what is right betwixt the Prince and the People of which they were in no capacity either formal or virtual that is representative more then a Minor part Qui stat videat ne cadat there is no Prince nor State in the world can be secure The Rochellers may plead this as much as the Hollanders and so may any discontented party under a government which they like not as well as they But it shall not be amiss to enquire a little further into this business and lay open to plain view the grounds occasions and consequences thereof so compendiously as we shall be able The original primary and true cause of these troubles was the spring and growth â— heresie which by this time was like a Gangreen spread over the greatest part of Germany and not the least in these Low-Countries where under the shadow of religion especially of abetting and promoting liberty of Conscience as they called it All factions of State and discontentments of Ambitious persons shrowded themselves The peoples natural inclination to Novelty was great and set it much forward yet there wanted not the Concurrence of some Forreigners to blow the Coals of dissention both out of England and France Charls the Fifth Emperor a wise and provident Prince remembringing what a piece of work Luther had lately cut him out in Germany and with what danger difficulty and charge he overcame it intended as well for the quietness of these Provinces as for his own Interest and Honor to prevent as much as he could the Propagation of Martinests and all other Sects whatsoever And to that end finding no other means more proper and fit to be applied unto such a Malady had established the Inquisition among them about the yeer 1550. for the Execution whereof Mary Queen of Hungary then Regent of the Low-Countries procured such Explication and Mitigation of some Circumstances as was judged necessary But after this the Emperor resigning the whole government of these Provinces to his Son King Philip retired himself by a most memorable example voluntarily from the world and consâ—crated the last act of his life entirely to God and devotion King Philip at the first entrance into his government finding how much the Sects increased daily in Flanders notwithstanding the means opposed against them and considering what danger would ensue upon it to the State followed strictly his Fathers advise and in the year 1555. renewed the Commission Instructions and Articles for the said Inquisition But this as it happened through the general contagion and distemper of mindes which Heresie had bred in the people provd onely matter of further discontent to the Inhabitants of the Nether-Lands and did no good They alledge that all Strangers would thereupon be forced to depart the Country and by consequence their Trading would decay which was the Golden Mine and maintenance of those Provinces Thus they complained but indeed their inward grief was the humor of Innovation to which they were much inclined and therefore feared themselves There was another Politick Act of the Kings yet withall of very religious concernment and design which added Fewel to this Fire namely the Erecting of those new Bishopricks at Gaunt Ipres Floren. vand Haer de tumult Belgic Antwerp c. which he intended all the Provinces over And a third viz. the authority and power of the Bishop of Arras whose Cardinals Hat lately procured him by the Kings favor made him the more odious so as the greater his Obligation was to his Holiness or the King their Sovereign so much more it seemed was the malice both of the Nobility and common people incensed against him Lastly they urge their Ancient priviledges
the Moveables and Ornaments belonging to them the Augmentation Court was erected For the King seeing this extraordinary passiveness and submission of the Clergy could never think he had power sufficient till he had more then enough and therefore having already discharged his conscience from all Bonds but such onely as himself should think good to tie he took liberty to commit such outrages and violence upon Sacred things as no age before him nor since can parallel For first viz. Anno 27. of His Reign he appoints the Secretary Cromwel and Doctor Leigh as his Commissioners to visit the Abbyes and they by vertue of their said Commission first take out all the Plate cheifest Jewels and Reliques belonging to those houses and seize them to the Kings use Then they dismiss all such persons Religious as were under the age of Four and twenty years and had a desire to be at liberty in the world Anno 28. All the smaller Religious houses of the value of Two hundred pounds per annum and under were given to the King by Parliament with all their Lands and Hereditaments and of these the number was not less then Three hundred seventy and six who were able to dispend per annum to the benefit of the poor and service of the Publike not less then Three thousand two hundred pounds of old Rents of Assize bâ—side their Moveables Which bâ—ing undervalued and sold at mean rates yet amounted to above One hundred thousand pounds The Religious themselves and all people depending on them which were not a few were on a sudden outed and left unprovided even of Habitation above Ten thousand persons for no particular crimes charged or proved against them turned out of their own doors and driven to seek their fortune where they could A thing which compassionated the very common people themselves though not a little alienated in their affections at that time towards Monasticks more then they were wont to be to see so many persons compelled to Beg and live by Almes who by their bountiful and constant Hospitality had formerly releived many Anno 30. of His Reign some of the greater Abbies viz. Battle-Abby and the Abby of Lewis in Sussex Martin Abby in Surry Stratford in Essex were suppressed and all things belonging to them converted to the Kings use For indeed they were forced in some sort to proceed thus politickly in their work of desolation and to carry it on by degrees by reason of the Commonalty who though they stirred not yet they stood amazed as it were murmuring as lowd as they durst and were not a little unsatisfied at such doings But in the years 32. and 33. generally all the Monasteries of England of what value soever went to wrack and were destroyed The Lands belonging to Saint John's of Jerusalem were likewise given to the King and the Corporation of those Knights quite dissolved Though to turn out these with some kinde of contentment there was as some say certain Pensions during life distributed among them to the value of Two thousand eight hundred and seventy pounds In Anno 37. was the last sweep which King Harry made For then all the Chauntries in any part of the Kingdom which were many and numerous All Churches and places Collegiate yea the very Hospitals which were built and endowed by their several Founders onely and expresly for the relief of the poor were yet given to the King and permitted wholly to his order and disposing The value of Church Lands in England at this time amounted to above Three hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and eighty pounds per annum and of it the King took into his own possession and apropriated to the Crown to the value of One hundred sixty one thousand one hundred pounds yearly rent The rest it seems was sold or exchanged or distributed among Favourites Lastly to abuse the poor Commons perfectly and more easily to wipe them of those great and constant advantages as well Temporal as Spiritual which they received from these Religious places while they stood a proposition is made in Parliament by the Projectors and Sharers in this worke and 't is given out also to the people abroad That out of the Revenues of these Lands thus given to the King a standing Army for defence of the Kingdom and all other Military occasions of State should be maintained of no less then Forty thousand men besides Forty Earls Sixty Barons and Three thousand Knights for the Command and Conduct of this Army where need should be So that the Commons of England by this means should never heare of Tax or Subsidy any more This indeed was as pleasing a bait for the people as could be devised and it took accordingly They bit willingly at it But the Hook sticks in their jaws to this day Such a motion as this to note in a word by the way was made in that Parliament of Henry the fourth which they called the Lay-mens Parliament by those which countenanced Wicleff and loved the Lands far better then they did the Religion of the Church But their designs at that time were defeated by the Stout and Religious opposition of Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Prelates joyning with him Though now there were an unfortunate and unworthy Thomas found yet siting in that Seat of Canterbury ready to side with them for his own carnal ends and to countenance the Wicleffists of these times that is those Lutheran and malicious Spirits who by their Libels The supplication of Beggars well answered by Sir Thomas Moores Supplication of Souls and other wicked practises went about to destroy the Church and extripate true Religion Adde here unto the Kings natural Inclination to vain glory which was very great and begat those prodigal expences which he used towards his Favorites and Flatterers And these could not be long maintained but by extraordinary support which being not to be had in any way of Legality and Justice Avarice at last and many other vices which he was fallen to prompted him to fall upon the Church The Lords and Courtiers could not dislike the motion knowing what a rich Prey would fall to be divided among them Especially this pleased the principal Secretary of State afterward Lord Privy Seal Lord High Chamberlain of England and Earl of Essex who being a man of great experience and of a deep reach in worldly policies knew full well that such a confused Innovation as this and so full of Spoyle would be infinitely advantagious to him and a Ladder to clime at ease unto what Wealth or Honor he could wish He therefore instigates the King with all might and main to go through with the Action and to stand stoutly to his Prerogative and profit knowing his conscience was already buried in Anne Bolens Tombe To this end and the better to pave the way to his evil designs Sacriledge and Blood not seldom going along together Three of the principal Abbots of the Kingdom and Barons
they altogether refused by her Majesty They were also generally men of plentiful Fortunes and good Estates and are so still except such as the Lawes and hard times have impoverished Yet because for Conscience sake they refuse to hear Common-prayer and Sermons to receive the Communion according to the new order of the Church of England they stand by Law as it were marked out for destruction and branded with all the Characters of ignominy suspition and prejudice which the people of any State even for the greatest crimes actually commited Sir Edw. Cook can justly suffer It is reported by a great Lawyer of this Nation that from primo Elizab. till the Bull of Pius Quintus was published which was about half a score or a dozen years after No person in England refused to come to Church as if perchance that Bull had beâ—â— the sole occasion which Catholikes took to disobey the Queens Injunctions But it is a great error For not to speak any thing of Puritans many of whom before that time refused the Church-Service how many Bishops and Priests were there in England known and professed Recusants from the first beginning How many Noblemen and Gentlemen of account did openly and absolutely refuse to joyn with their New Church It is true and to be lamented The revolt of the English under Queen Elizabeth from the true Catholike Religion so lately restored was too general and too many there were who suffered themselves to be carried away with the stream of Authority and with the evill example of their Neighbors and especially of Great Ones But what is this but a general infirmity and weakness commonly observed in the people What Form soever of Religious Profession a State sets up it proves an Idol to them and they are apt to fall down before it yea though the Figure which they worship as it happens sometimes hath much more of the Calf then of the Man in it And for this respect it cannot but be matter of much consideration to all wise States-men and States to be well advised how far they proceed in this kinde viz. of establishing or setting up any outward form or profession of Religion whatsoever especially by any compulsory Acts or Penalties lest the bloud of Souls lye upon their account another day As most certainly it shall whensoever people are misled into any corrupt way of Religion meerly upon the Authority and Resolution of the State And yet notwithstanding there were in many places of the Kingdom not a few of worthy and constant Catholikes who never bowed theer knees unto Baal that is never consented nor made profession of Heresie one way or other as Lanhearne Ashby de la Zouch Grafton Dingley Cowdrey and many other places can witness by whose integrity the Catholike Church in England viz. that Remnant according to the election of Grace which God was pleased to preserve here from the general contagion to glorifie his name by suffering and to give Testimony unto Truth have subsisted and stood by the great mercy of God unto this day though indeed suffering grievously for their Conscience as God was pleased from time to time to exercise them by confiscation of their Estates vexations by Pursivants and Promoters restraint and imprisonment of their persons at Wisbich Ely Banbury York Ludlow Bury the Fleet Gatehouse c. Not to speak any thing of the spoil of their Woods leasing their Lands exaction of Fines nor yet of their disarming by Law because this last though it were as unjust and undeserved as the rest yet it had more of disgrace and ignominy in it then of real damage arguing onely suspition or jealousie which the State would seem to have of them and nothing more But the Twenty pounds a moneth was a burden insupportable especially to the meaner sort Although it must be confessed the rigour and extremity thereof was many times moderated by the Lord Treasurer Burleigh Now to compare these men with the Recusant Puritans in England for such we must know there are more then a good many in all Countries All Recusants are not Popish if it were not too odious it might be very necessary and the world could not but see much better and acknowledge the patience humility and obsequious deportment of Catholikes compared with the others insolency and stoutness For t is very well seen already that this growing Sect of Protestant Recusants are not men likely to bear such burdens should the State finde it necessary to impose them They discover a far different Spirit even now while they are but in their shell as we may say and without any visible power or interest within the Nation save that of their number Compare them with the Recusant Fâ—ugonots of France who are Brethren and of the same principles with â—urs in England you would think our Catholike Gentlemen here to be all Priests in respect of their sober humble and Christian carriage of themselves whensoever they fall under question for Religion Their very Ministers there you would take to be all Sword-men Captains Sons of Mars so much fury rage breaths out in every word or action of theirs which relates to the publike Catholikes here are persons of all other most unwilling to offend Recusants there most unwilling to obey These defend their Religion with their Swords and by resistance of the Civil Magistrate ours onely with their Pen and with their prayers Ours endure and à Scio cui credidi with St. Paul is all their comfort These endure nothing wil trust no body with their cause but themselves and their Cautionary towns They have their Bezas Their Marlorates Chamiers and other Boutefeux swarming thick in all parts of the Kingdom ready to incense and set on fire the distempered multitude against their lawful governors they have their Montaubans their Rochels Saumurs Montpelliers places of refuge and retreat strong and well fortified to shelter themselves when they cannot make good their designs in the field Catholikes here have none of all these They have no Preachers but Preachers of Pennance and Mortification They hear no Sermons at any time but such as teach them Obedience Patience Resignation to the will of God and to be willing to suffer whatsoever the will of God is They have no places of security but their own unarmed houses which if they change it is always for the Fleet Gatehouse Newgate or som other prison and place of restraint Much talk there is among Protestants of the Inquisition its severity cruelty partiality and what not to make it odious and terrible to the people but verily if a man do well consider it in comparison of the troubles vexation and manifold danger both for life liberty and estate whereto the Catholikes of England Priests and Religious persons especially are subject it may seem rather a Scare-crow then any thing else Charls the Fifth Emperor in the year 1521. at Worms decreed onely Exile against Luther notwithstanding his obstinacy and all the
THE Jesuites Policy To suppress MONARCHY Historically displayed With their SPECIAL VOW Made to the POPE Printed in the Year 1669. BABEL OR Monarchomachia Protestantium NOt many years since upon divulging of a Letter written by Master Aldred against the Match with Spain and of that scandalous Libel against the Ambassador Count Gondamour as also by the instigation of some Hot-spurs in their Pulpits the people of London were much incensed to snarl and murmur even at the very name of Spain and every Artificer presumed like an Aristarchus to censure the King for that Negotiation as for an error of State which might possibly cast the whole body of the Kingdom into a distemper As if forsooth the Kings affection to the Kingdom and his own issue had been unnaturally frozen or that his judgement had failed him and those Superior Planets of the Counsel had also lost their light and erred in their course Whereupon I was urged by divers of my good Friends to write the Apology of that Action and Proceeding because some of them had heard me deliver at sundry times not onely a full Answer to all the Objections of the contrary faction but also divers Reasons in defence thereof founded as they thought upon very just and solid considerations And truly to speak what I think the benefits which the Realm may reap by this match are such and so advantageous as I wish it rather done then disputed on For first it setleth a firm Peace between both the Kingdoms which is a matter of greater importance then they seem to apprehend who so much oppose it Secondly Traffick will thereby be established and increased when the Seas by a concurrence of both Kings shall be scoured of Turks and Pyrats Thirdly The Kingdom will be again stored with Treasure and Coyn provided we keep it lockt up within our Four Seas and not suffer so much of it to be offered daily to that Idol of Cambaia Fourthly The Crown will be disengaged from a burdensom weight of Debts and by consequence the Subject likely to be much eased in matter of Contribution and Taxes Adde hereunto the renewing and confirmation of the ancient Treaties with the House and Dukes of Burgundy which is not to be reckoned as a Cypher in the business and what it is to have so great a Monarch as the King of Spain a firm friend and ally England very well knoweth It is true the Kingdom was never so full of Money as it was by spoils and depredations betwixt the years 1576. and 1590 but how dear those purchases might have cost us wise men saw if God who had determined to give the Crown of this Nation to her issue who suffered both disgrace and death here for his glory had not made both Winds and Sea at that time to fight for England Lastly Virginia a Colony of ours tenderly to be regarded shall hereby settle her Staples and Mart and adâ—â—nce their Trade by a much safer passage and entercourse with the Islands But to me it is above all arguments That this Match is so much for the Honor Safety and Commodity of Prince Charls which every true Patriot I conceive is bound in conscience to further and advance But thus we shall be said to leave Holland in the bryars an old and assured Friend and of power upon all occasions to assist the Realm God grant the Prince never stand in need of them And for our selves we may remember how small furtherance nay rather how great hinderance they have been to the Traffick of this Realm and what great losses and damage our Merchants have sustained by their means in the Indies Muscovy and Greenland I need not tell you how chargable a Neighbor they have been nor how unsure a Friend ever prefering France before England and yet notwithstanding the Favors which they may still receive at his Majesties hand are neither few nor small if themselves by inconsiderate courses deserve not otherwise But what cause do they pretend who murmur so much against Spain They object the Sin the Curse the disparagement to Match with a Catholike Have they any reason for that Yes Because the Jews were not permitted to marry with the Ammonites nor Religious persons with the profane But that is an opinion which relisheth too much of Judaism and the Talmud the Bar is removed we are now under the Law of Grace both Jews and Gentiles Circumcision and Uncircumcision in Christ are united and made one and incorporated into one Body his Church It is true the Jews might not marry out of their Tribes because the promise was made to Abraham and his Seed therefore his Seed was not to be stained with impure blood or a commixture of Paganism But now the promise being already performed that Judicial Law is abrogated Yea say they but still it sheweth that God is not well pleased when his children mix with superstitious people True But who are the Superstitious and of which side is the true Religion We know that is a question and will be But this is out of question That they are both of them Christians both are Baptized into that blessed Name both lay hold on the promises on the Testaments on the Gospel both pray the same Pater Noster both confess the same Creed yea both reverence the first Four general Councels of the Church Who indeed is the Catholike is Filius Christi of the surer side by reason of the Mother Church and of the elder House But is it indeed so strange a thing that a Protestant should marry a Catholike not to speak here of Queen Elizabeths Treaty with Mounsieur which yet how far and fairly it was proceeded in by both parties Camd. in Elizab. our famous Camden shews at large Did not Henry King of Navar a Protestant and the Protector of the Protestant Churches in France marry with the French Kings Sister a Catholike Thuanus lib. It was propter bonum publicum as this is for publike tranquillity and peace sake and therefore did the Elders and Consistory of Genevah so much as check or reprove him for it nay did they not allow it The same King afterward matcheth his own Sister an earnest Protestant to the Duke of Lorrain Thuanus lib. who is known to be a Prince no less earnestly Catholike and a Champion of the Catholike Church in France Nay did not Lewis himself the Prince of Conde and Protector in chief of the Hugenot party when time was apprehend with great desire the overture of a marriage with Mary Thuanus lib. Leslae hist Scot. in Mariâ Stuartâ Queen of Scotland and which certainly had taken effect had not the Admiral for his particular interests laid blocks in his way But above all others it is memorable and by us Englishmen not unfit to be considered what a bloody quarrel it was made Goodwins Annals in Ed. 6. that King Edward the Sixth who was a Protestant King and the first that ever was known
were men which of all others were thought to care least for Religion Sir Philip Sidney indeed like a Noble and worthy Courtier as he was endeavored by a short Treatise to present unto Her Majesty the unfitness disproportion and inconveniencies of that Match both in relation to Her Person and the whole Realm but he did it privately and with discreet circumspection Stubs like an indiscreet and fiery Zelot taking the question in hand and prosecuting it in a way more likely to incense and corrupt the people then to advise or inform the Queen Cund in Elizab. his hand paid for his presumption And though some of the greatest and wisest of the Councel appeared very earnestly for it as a thing which was likely to unite the whole Kingdom of France unto England and would surely bring along with it the offer of the Netherlands by the Prince of Orange and the States whereby England was like to become a petent Monarchy yet was the whole Body of the Kingdom cast into much distemper and jealousies thereby Some upon partiality and faction others upon distrust of the practises of France some for their own some for their friends sinister ends and ambitions as in this very case I am perswaded men are not a little possessed with the same diseases and humors And if I did not well know the nature of the multitude which is a Beast with many heads and as mad brains I should wonder how they durst oppose the designs of their Sovereign a Prince of so great Experience and Judgement and who hath managed this business from the beginning with such wariness caution and prudence as this great Conjunction cannot portend any other effects then honor comfort and prosperity to the whole Nation Is he not the fittest to judge in his own case And his case being the case of the Commonwealth in general if any private man shall arrogate to himself either more wisdom to amend what is already done or pretend more affection to the State or more providence to foresee and prevent inconveniences certainly he must needs fall into the custody of the Court of Wards till he recover himself But having said this I shall leave the whole matter as a deliberative still and tell you in few words what the occasion was of this Discourse which followeth The occasion of the following Discourse THere met at a Merchants House in London where Merchants for their Table and Hospitality do worthily bear the Bell from all the Merchants in Europe divers persons of quality where being together in a Garden before Dinner T. Aldreds Letter the Pamphlet aforesaid and some strange reports of seditious practises from Amsterdam were read and discoursed upon In the midst of all comes in a fine Chaplain belonging to a great person in England and one that was of the Merchants acquaintance who hearing but a little of the discourse which at that time was the common Table-talk of City and Country with much vehemency he affirmed the Match was likely to breed great troubles and mischief to the Kingdom and that forsooth in regard as well of the increase of Catholikes within the Realm which it would occasion as also in regard of Spain which he ignorantly called an ancient Enemy Hereupon also he took occasion to rail bitterly against the Church of Rome as the Seminary of all the commotions in Europe and the contriver and plotter of all Treasons in England And being resolved to shew his Rhetorick in the Ruff and to omit nothing which might exasperate the company against Catholikes he alledged for examples in thundering language Heywards Reign of Edw. 6. the death of King Edward the Sixth sillily enough that you will say the many conspiracies against Queen Elizabeth buâ— especially that horrible project of the Gun-powder Treason which being undertaken onely by a few desperate Male-contents in justice might rather be buried with the offendors then objected perpetually to innocent men who do generally with great sorrow abhor the very memory of the fact and were publikely acquitted thereof by the King himself in the next Parliament following See the Kings Speech in Parliament Besides this he urged That Princes be disquieted yea endangered many times by Excommunications Bulls and other censures from the Pope by the Catechisms and Doctrines of Jesuites and that the Subjects of England are withdrawn by them from their obedience to their lawful Princes Lastly That they are a people so full of treacheries and disloyalty as no Nation can shew the like He forgat nor you must think to arm himself with the authority of Doctor Morton whose Maxim it was That we may now as well expect a white Aethiopian as a good Subject of that Religion He produced a Book entituled A discovery of Romish Doctrine in the case of Conspiracy and Treason wherein the Author playeth his master-prize against poor Catholikes with equal malice and indiscretion charging them with an infinity of scandalous accusations able to drive men into despair of the Kings Grace towards them and to breed in His Majesties Royal Heart an everlasting distrust of them He urged Parson Whites rash and uncharitable judgement against them That all their Religion was full of such Doctrines as afforded Monsters of conspiracy against the State that they teach men to murther Kings to blow up Parliaments and that since Bells time never was there such a ravenous Idol found as are the Priests of the Seminaries Ormerode also that famous Picture-maker was alledged in this heat who by a great mistake took upon him to condemn the singular and renowned Doctor Allen as affirming That Princes may be slain by their Subjects from the Text Numb 25. At length he concluded all with that Rhetorical flourish of Monsicur Lewis Baily in his Book of The Practice of Piety pag. 783. which he produced with much oftentation as if it alone had been enough to cast the whole Society of the Fathers into a fit of a Quartane Jesuites and Priests saith he are sent to withdraw Subjects from their Allegiance to move Invasion and to kill Kings If they be Saints who be Scythians Who are Cannibals if they Catholikes This conclusion for the art and wit of it could not but deserve a plaudite so the company went to Dinner and after Dinner this fine Chaplain was gone in haste Thereupon some of the company not so much taken with his Rhetorick as were the rest desired a Gentleman then present who well understood the World and was a freeman not obliged to any particular order furthen then as a Son of the Church to deliver his opinion of the Ministers invective which at last upon their much importunity he was perswaded to do in such maner as is here with his leave and particular information represented to you After some pause Claudius accusat Maechos quoth he Catilina Cethegum This is most ridiculous who can endure to hear a Gracchus inveigh against Sedition A man may perceive by the Prologue That
points and Doctrines which I leave to the more learned to discuss That which I shall insist upon here shall be according to my principal purpose to deliver their seditious Paradoxes and shew unto the World how much their new refined doctrine doth derogate from Royalty and that sovereign Authority which belongeth unto aâ—l Kings Princes and States rightly constituted and how much it favoreth the worst of Governments that is Pure Democraty or Popularity And I shall begin with Calvin who goeth more slily and cunningly to work nothing so rudely and bluntly as Luther First therefore for the reputation of his Consistory or Sanhedrim at Genevah he labors to dâ—base Monarchy and to prefer Aristocracy before it Non id quidem per se Instit lib. 4. c. 20. sect 10. Not in it self forsooth as if he had been very tender of the Rights of Kings but by reason of mens natural corruption Quia rarissime contingit Because it is seldom seen saith he that Princes can govern their Passions so well or are so wise and prudent as thâ—y ought to be to uphold good Government So he makes it a rare thing to finde a wise and moderate King and so concludes from a general defect which he supposeth in Kings that it is best fâ—r many joyntly and not one alone absolutely to command For saith he where many govern one supplyâ—th the dâ—fects of another both in point of Counsel and Justice This was his way politick and plausible enough to prepare the hearts of his people at Genevah to the Discipline which he intended for thâ—m For you must know the Genevians had now ejected their Bishop who was also their Sovereign Prince and had been so ever since the time of Frederick the First Bodin de Rep. So that their Monarchy was newly changed into a popular State yet governed Aristocratically which Calvin therefore smooths unto the people by such Reasons as it concerned him to do this change being as the First-fruits of his new Gospel in that City So having given this first blow to Monarchy though therein he seems to forget that himself was born at Noyon and finding himself safe at Genevah he proceeds and to prevent your objection in behalf of Monarchy That Kings have always grave and wise Counsellors to advise them and to supply their defects in case themselves be weak he gives his resolution elsewhere Kings saith he Comment in Dan. 11.26 make choice of such men for their Counsellors as can best fit their humors and accommodate themselves to their appetites in the ways of cruelty and deceit So he makes them little better by having Counsellors and stains the reputation of Counsellors themselves with a scandal intolerable Daniel But Chap. 2. v. 39. he is yet more passionate They are saith he out of their wits quite void of sense and understanding who desire to live under Sovereign Monarchies for it cannot be but order and policy must decay where one man holds such an extent of Government Yea Chap. 5. v. 25. Kings saith he oftentimes forget they are men aâ—d of the same mould with others They are stiled Dei Gratia but to what sense or purpose save onely to shew they acknowledge no Superior oâ— Earth yet under colour of this they will trample upon God with their feet so that it is but an abuse and fallacy when they are so stiled Which is a pretty descant is it not upon Dei Gratiâ and therefore Voila saith he See what the rage and madness of all Kings is with whom it is an ordinary and common thing to exclude God from the Government of the Wâ—rld And this he writ not in quality of a Statesman but of a Divine in that master-peice of his his Institutions and in his Commentaries upon Scripture he delivereth these dangerous Positions as matters of Doctrine and of Discipline to be generally received by all and makes a Nebuchadnezzar of all Kings But rather out of his own spleen then out of his Text by his good leave For to what purpose can such expressions tend but to disgrace Scepters and to scandalize all Governments that are not framed according to his own mould And therefore Chap. 6. v. 25. in Daniel hâ— chargeth them directly Darius saith he will condemn by his example all those that profess themselves at this day Catholike Kings Christian Kings and Defenders of the Faith and yet do not onely deface and bury all true Piety and Religion but corrupt and deprave the whole worship of God This indeed is work for the Cooper not by a Mar-Prelate but a Mar-Prince The most Christian King must be new Catechised he that is Catholike must be taught a new by an Uncatholike that is a private spirit and the Defender of the Faith must have a new Faith given him to defend by this great Prophet Calvin And so by a new Model all the old Religion of the Church and all the Laws of State concerning it must be abolished Thus doth Calvin presume to reform Kings and Government and pretends to build an Ark but it is of his own head to save the World having dreamt that otherwise it must perish by a deluge of Ignorance Impiety and Superstition of whom it may be truly said Plusquam regnare videtur He must be much more then a Prince himself who thus presumes to play the Aristarchus and censurer of Princes And that he may not seem to come short of Luther his Predecessor in any degree of immodesty Les Rois Chap. 6. v. 3 4. sont presque tous These Kings saith he are in a maner all of them a company of Block-heads and brutish persons as wilde and ungoverned as their Horses preferring their Bawds and their Vices above all things whatsoever Yet did he write this in an age when to say but truth the Princes of Christendom were not so extreamly debauched Lewis the Twelfth Francis the First and Henry the Second of France have left a better fame of themselves to Posterities then this So have Maximilian the First and Charls the Fifth Emperors in Germany Henry â—he Eighth of England degenerated onely in his latter times and not till he was corrupted by some principles of this Reforming Liberty In his children Edward the Sixth there was much hope at least and in Queen Mary much vertue In Scotland reigned James the Fifth and two Maries that might be canonized for their merits And for Castile and Portugal their Kings never flourished more for Government Greatness encrease of State Plenty Peace then in those times What could his meaning then be to censure them all so much for stupidity and vice but to breed a contempt of Kings and to induce people that live under Free States to despise and hate them and their own people to cast of their Government and procure their Liberties at all adventures especially under the cloak of Religion for at this he driveth altogether as knowing well That in popular and tumultuary States he
of Conde and the Hugonots pretending it was not against the King but against an evil Counseller and to deliver themselves from the oppression of one who abused the Kings youth That same one was the Duke of Guise who being himself a stranger say they and hating the Nobility of France on purpose to oppress them of the Reformed Religion and to set the Crown on his own head in case the King should die armed himself into the Field c. That thereupon the Nâ—bles of France perceiving his malicious designs viz. To murder and destroy so many innocents took up Arms to defend themselves against such a Tyrant That for the Kings consent it was not to be expected nor as the case stood much to be regarded seeing he was in the hands of the Guises and had neither age to discern nor freedom to deny nor power to execute the Law Lastly say some Beza teacheth obedience to Magistrates in his Book De confess fid very largely Cap. 5. Sect. 45. and prescribeth no other remedy to private persons oppressed by a Tyrant but prayers and tears to amend their lives Touching the first point the Apologists will seem confident that this Battle of Dâ—eux was neither against Law nor the King and yet afterward confess that they understand not the Law of France nor the Circumstances of the War So they pretend certainty in a matter wherein they have not Science which is to beat themselves with their own weapon But was indeed that War neither against the King nor the Law Assuredly against them both as will appear by the Laws of Charls the Eighth 1487. of Francis the First 1532. of Francis the Second 1560. at Fountain Bleau which I shall cite hereafter in the case of Rochel and Montauban Secondly it is certain that Battle was not in King Francis his time but in the Reign of Charls the Ninth And after the death of King Francis all men not unacquainted with the proceedings of that time know full well that the House of Guise did bear no sway at Court the Duke was made as it were a stranger to the State the Queen-Mother the King of Navar and the Constable sate at the stern and ruled all Therefore it is not true that the King was in captivity under the faction of Guise nor true that the Duke armed himself into the Field for the Constable commanded in cheif he and the Marshal of Saint Andrews were the Kings Lieutenants and had the Kings Commissions to warrant what they did The Duke of Guise lead onely the Rear of the Army Mons Lanow's discourses Mons Mauvissier Comment and though it were his fortune to stand master of the Field and to win the day yet he had not any charge in the Battle but onely of his own Companies Thirdly Neither did the Princes of Bourbon take arms onely to deliver themselves from the oppre sion of Guise For if it were so why did they not lay down when they saw not the Duke of Guise but the Constable Montmorency coming against them armed no less with the Kings Authority then with his Forces to chastize them as Rebels The Constable was a man against whom they could pretend nothing he was the Honor of the Admirals House the Admirals Kinsman and his great friend especially when he was prisoner at Melun by commandment of Henry the Second He was now the Kings Vicegerent in the Field why did they not reverence him yea why did they themselves begin the fight why did they first affront and assail the Kings Army This therefore is but matter of meer pretext for Beza himself confesseth plainly This Field was fought to restore or establish their pretended Religion Vbi supra Fourthly Neither is it true that the Duke of Guise is a stranger in France Is he a stranger in France who is descended clearly from the Stock and Line of Charlemaign who is no stranger in France I wis Is he a stranger in France who is a Peer of France and Cosin-German to the Prince of Conde their Protector whose own Mother was Antonietta Princess of Bourbon whose Ancestors have enjoyed the greatest Offices and Honors in the Court of France Neither may we forget the great services they have done for the Crown of France at Rome at Metz Verdun Theonville and at Calice especially in a time when all Franâ—e was in mourning and distress too for the loss which Monsieur the Admiral had received at St. Quintins Lastly that dream viz. That the Duke should aspire to the Crown is the pitifullest of all a meer fable taken out of the Legend of Lorrain and other Libels of that time For how many Walls of Brass were betwixt him and it The King himself yong his Brothers yonger their Mother living the King of Navar their trusty and Noble Friend with the whole Nobility of France as they themselves acknowledge Was it not then a likely object for such a Strangers pretensions It being then apparently false That the King was in the hands that is under the power of Guise let us consider the last Proposition viz. That the Kings Commission which the Constable had and the Prince wanted and fought against at the Battle of Dreux was not much to be regarded because at that time the King had neither age to discern nor liberty to deny c. As for Liberty it is answered already And for age what if the King wanted age naturally in his politick capacity he did not We are to know a King hath two bodies or his person may be considered under a double capacity that of Nature and that of Policy His Body politick as it never dieth so it is never defective of Authority or Direction The acts of the Body politick be not abated by the Natural bodies access The Body politick is not disabled to govern by the non-age of the natural See 26. Lib. Assis Placit 24. where by Justice Thorps judgement the gift of a King is not defeated by his non-age In the Book of Assis tit droit placit 24. Anno 6. Ed. 3. for a Writ of Right brought by Edward the Third of a Manor as Heir to Richard the First the exception of non-age against the King was not admitted For though the Natural body dieth yet the Body politick which magnifieth and advanceth the quality of the Natural is not said to die So 4. Eliz The Leases of the Dutchy made by Edward the Sixth were resolved by all the Judges to be good though made in the Kings minority So though the Kings Body natural cannot discern or judge yet that disableth not the King that the acts of his Minority ordered by his Counsel and the Regent should be of no validity which their own Hottoman in his France-Gallia might have taught them And let them resolve us whether the Counsel and State of England would take it well if a Catholike should affirm as he might do much more truly that the change of Religion made
by Edward the Sixth was not warrantable being done in his Minority and when he had neither age to discern what he did nor liberty to discern any thing to the Protector and Northumberland in whose hands he was If you approve not this Argument why do you disallow the same plea for the Authority of the King of France was the age of the one a Bar in Law and not in the other or was the one an absolute King and not the other was King Edwards consent sufficient to authorize his Uncles doings and was King Charls his consent insufficient and nothing worth to authorize the Constable with his Army to pursue and punish their Army of Rebels Beza's opinion therefore In câ—nfess fid is much contrary to what he alloweth and commendeth here For if there be no other remedy but preces and lachrymae for private persons against the oppressions of a Tyrant he betrayed the Admiral and the Prince very foully to bring them into the fields of Dreux to fight against the King for Religion Doctor Bilson hath taken up somewhere one notable singularity to excuse the Prince of Conde viz. That he was not an absolute Subject of France ought not simple subjection to the Crown Ergo might lawfully do something more then others But it argueth such a gross ignorance in the Laws of France and in the state of that Prince that it deserveth more to be pitied then answered Neither could it help the Admiral who had no other Protection then that of his Sword nor Priviledge but from his new Religion But because that smooth profession of Beza above mentioned is so much insisted on and cunningly used as it were to cast a mist before the eyes of an unwary Reader it will be necessary to clear that business a little further by letting you see the man himself in more proper colours as in relation to this point First therefore read his Positions and Catechism of Seditions viz. That Book of his called Vindiciae contra Tyrannos There acting the part of Junius Brutus a Noble Roman indeed but great enemy of Kings he propounds in the first place this Question Whether Subjects be bound to obey their Kings when they command contrary unto Gods Law and resolveth presently Pag. 22. We must obey Kings for Gods sake when they obey God But otherwise Pag. 24. we are absolved For as the Vassal saith he looseth his Fief or Lordship if he commit Felony so doth the King loose his Right and his Realm also viz. By commanding contrary unto Gods Law Which considering that Gods Law is onely as they themselves shall think good to interpret it is dangâ—rous enough But Pag. 65. he is more notable Conspiracy saith he is goâ—d or ill according as the end is at which it aimeth Which is a most pernicious Maxim and a Doctrine fit for nothing but to encourage Ruvillac Poltrot or some such villanous assassinate to his desperate work or to be a buckler to the Conspirators at Ambois So Pag. 66. The Magistrates saith he or any one part of the Realm may resist the King being an Idolater as Lobna revolted from Joram when he forsook God And Pag. 132. The Government of the Kingdom is not given to the King alone but also to the Officers of the Realm And again Pag. 103. The Kings of France saith he Spain and England are crowned and put as it were into pâ—ssession of their charge by the States Peers and Lords which represent the people And Pag. 199. There is a stipulation in all Kingdoms Hereditary As in France when the King is crowned the Bishops of Beauvois and Loan ask the people if they desire and command This man shall be King What if they do it is no argument that the people do therefore chuse him to be King for his Kingdom is confessed already to be Hereditary and so the Succession determined by Law much less that they make him such It is an acceptation onely not an election a declaration of their willing Subjection Obedience and Fidelity towards him and nothing else as you may be well informed out of Francis Rosselets Ceremonies at the Consecration or Inauguration of the Kings of France Was there ever an Assembly of Estates held to consecrate or elect a King of France or do the Kings of France count the time of their Reign from their Inauguration onely and not from their entrance was not Charls the Seventh full Eight years King of France before he was crowned as the French Historians themselves report Gaguin Giles or think you that the Peers are Ephori No they are Pares inter se but not Companions to the King They are not States as in Holland to rule and direct all Affairs For in France and England all the Authority depends upon the Kings and what is the State but the Authority of the Prince Who onely by his Letters Patents createth Peers disposeth all Offices giveth all Honors receiveth all Homages in cheif as being the sole Fountain from whence springeth both Nobility and Authority And he that would either restrain this Sovereignty within any narrower bounds or communicate it to others makes no difference between the Crown of a King and the Berrette of a Duke of Venice Many other Maxims and Rules he hath of this nature fit for nothing but to introduce Anarchy and confusion in the World most of them false all of them dangerous Vails onely to cover the ugly faces of Sedition and Treason because in their proper shapes no man living can abide to see them I might here travel and weary you further with as much good stuff out of his Book De Jure Magistratus for his it is as most men think or else Hottomans who was his Comrade But I shall leave them both for indeed they touch the string of Sovereignty with too rough a hand yea rather they strain to break it if they could by such gross and misinterpretable Paradoxes as when they say The States are above the King that is the Body above the Head As if any man could seriously make it a question whether people should be commanded by the Master or by some of their fellow-servants by the Subject or by the Sovereign by the Prince of Conde and the Admiral or by their Lawful King and Sovereign King Charls And therefore had King Philip good reason to cut off the head of that Justice of Arragon upon a just occasion and to teach the people by example what the true meaning was of Nos qui podemos tanto come vos All which Paradoxes it were easie to refel but that I have undertaken onely to discover and not to combate And because they are both learnedly and piously confuted already by Barclay Baurican and Blackwood Onely by the way I shall desire you to observe how politickly they go to work They profess not openly and absolutely any desire to change the State or to depose Kings But this they do They labor by insinuation first
to breed some dislike of Monarchs in the mindes of people and to shew how inconvenient it is for such an infinite multitude and variety of people to depend upon the Edicts of one man This being done they know it is then easie and they may much better advance the authority of inferior Magistrates and by them emboldned by such degrees to contest at last and jar with their Superiors under a pretence of Reforming abuses and pulling down Idolatry they become able to pull down Kings themselves and to level the Creators that is to say the cheif Authors and origin of all lawful Power exercised in their respective Kingdoms with the most inferior Creatures themselves upon whom it should be exercised And after this they are sure their Consistories and Elders must rule all be Judges both of Clergy and Law Councel and King They must be henceforward the onely Rabbies and from their onely Sanbedrim or Genevian Consistory must the Oracles of all Government be fetcht both for Church and Kingdom Neither can I forget how irreverently Eusebius Philadelphus viz. Master Theodore Beza disguised used his Sovereign King Charls in his other Book of Reveille Matin where usually he calls the King Tyrant and of his name Charls Valois makes this Anagram Chasseur Desloyal that is neither more nor less Perfidious Hunter or Persecutor chuse you whether Read his rimes and scandalous reproaches of the Queen-Mother himself being a fugitive for more crimes then one deservedly most infamous Peruse the Forty Articles recorded in that Book for the better advancing of seditious Government For example Art 25. All Generals and Commanders in cheif must observe the Ecclesiastical Discipline ordained by their Synods Art 40. They are bound never to disarm so long as their Religion is persecuted as they call it by the King This is the patience of those Saints But what is become of their Preces lachrymae in the mean time That pretending to reform the World are so little masters of their own Passions But in Article fourteen and fifteen their spirits and designs appear in their bravery aiming at no less then the utter overthrow of the King and extirpation of the whole family of Valois as any man may perceive that reads them These were those Holy Articles of Bearn Anno 1574. so much talked of over all France coyned with Beza's own stamp and at Melion dispersed and communicated to their inferior Moschees all the Kingdom over to the intent as they expresly avowed That they might make war more strongly against their Enemies who were no other but the King and whole State of France and â—ill it should please God say they to turn the heart of the Tyrant that is of the French King their Natural and Lawful Sovereign About the same time also was framed and published by their Emissaries that libellous life of Catharine de Medices Queen-Mother Franco-Gallia the Tocsan of Massacreurs together with that fine-piece mentioned bâ—fore called the Legend of Lorrain For this is very observable and it is an honor which the House of Guise hath had a long time that no man ever professed himself an Enemy to the Church of God in France but he was likewise at deadly feud with them All which proceedings were so notorious and unexcusable in those times that even their fellow Protestants here in England those I mean of better note and more moderated judgement do acknowledge them with dislike The Protestants of the French Church saith Doctor Sutcliff Answ to a Lib. suppl for thirty years together taught violent Reformation by the Nobility people and private persons And again Beza saith he in his Book De jure Magistratus doth arm the Subject against the Prince and in effect overthroweth the Authority of Christian Kings and Magistrates And the Book Vindiciae contra Tyrannos gives power saith he not onely to resist but to kill the King if he impugn Gods true Religion The same also is affirmed by the late Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor Bancroft in the Survey of Discipline but most copiously and at large in the Book of Dangerous Positions especially about Pag. 192. seq To these I may adde Francis Baldwin a famous Lawyer of France who lived a long time with Calvin at Genevah and knew all their proceedings very well Mirabar saith he Respons ultim ad Jo. Calvin I wondred a long while whether your fiery Apostle viz. Theodore Beza would tend who in his Sermons here so much extolled that fact of the Levites running up and down the Tents of Israel Exod. 32. and slaying every man his Brother that had committed Idolatry But I hear now that your self are not much satisfied with such Ministers And again Pag. 128. Leviora sunt isia All this is nothing saith he in comparison of that which follows For now men make war even upon the dead The Statues the Sepulchres the very bones and bodies of Martyrs Princes c. scape not their barbarous hands Cities are sacked Churches robbed and spoiled c. Which Beza is so far from excusing that he justifieth them rather and professeth to his Friend Christopher Thretâ—â—s Epist 40. That for his part he hath no thoughts of peace that is that if such outrages and villanies should cease Nisi de ellatis hostâ—bus until the â—nemies so he calls the Kings Army and all the Catholikes of France with them be totally subdued But we ought not to wonder at it It is Morbus innatus to all Sacramentaries a disease bred in their bones that is in the very vitals and entrails of their cause to be seditious and dangerous to their Princes Zuinglius their Patriarch first taught them the Lesson who Tom. 1. of his works Art 2. delivers this for an Oracle viz. That Reges quandò perfidè extra regulam Christi egerint c. When Kings break Faith with their people and do otherwise then the rule of Christ directs them which rule themselves will onely interpret Possunt cum Deo deponi They may be deposed with right good Conscience Doctor Bilson is here again entangled and troubles himself and his Reader not a little to finde som Apology for this Paradox I undertake not saith he first To defend each mans several opinion Wisely spoken Secondly They may be deposed saith he when they advance ungodliness as Saul was May they so where is the Samuel the Prophet extraordinarily and on purpose sent from God that shall do it may the people do it No saith he blushing or afraid to affirm that and therefore seems to leave it as a priviledge or a matter reserved to the judgement of the Elders But Zuinglius himself deals more plainly and tells you Art 42. and 43. who shall do it Cum suffragiis consensu totius aut majoris c. When saith he such a Tyrant is deposed by consent of all or the major part of the people it is well done and as God would have it Therefore in his
Epistle to Conradus Sonnius Lib. 4. p. 868. he professeth That obedience or respect is due unto Caesar onely upon condition viz. That he permits them entire Liberty of Religion which yet is more then the Lutherans themselves their pretended Brethren will do Otherwise saith he it should be sin in them and make them guilty before God to obey him Thus boldly doth a Minister of Sedition take upon him to determine whether and upon what terms a Sovereign Prince yea the supream and cheif of all Christian Princes shall either hold his Dignity or be dethroned If Caesar will be wise and advised by them they will obey otherwise they not onely may with Justice but are obliged to take a course with him To which end and that they might be ready when time and opportunity should serve their turn to put such Doctrine in execution in his Epistle to them of Vlm Lib. 4. p. 196. one of the Imperial or free Cities of Germany as they are called he adviseth the fraternity of Ministers there very properly viz. That they remember by little and little warily and by degrees Detrahere personam Imperio Romano c. To pull of this vizor of the Roman Empire from their Auditory and make them see what a folly it is for them to acknowledge a Roman Empire in the midst of Germany which is not regarded at Rome it self Could there be a project devised more wretchedly dangerous and disloyal then this against the Emperor O the depths of Heretical malice and treachery They must do it not suddenly not openly not all at once for that were to spoil all but sensim paulatim prudentèr now a little and then a little as the people shall appear capable of such Counsels and the poyson of Rebellious suggestions shall be most likely to be received and to work upon them Certainly a most plain and full discovery of the Reforming Design and by it the Princes and all States of Europe may see what they are to expect from that sort of people when they have once given them power enough to pull their Superiors down Having thus declared the Principles and Apliorisms of this great Triumvirate of the French Church viz. Zuinglius Calvin and Beza those Ecclesiastical Tribunes of the people and Ring-leaders of Rebellion I am now to make it appear also ex effectis or by the evident practise of such principles That Genevah is and hath been a School of Rebellion to all these parts of Christendom and a Seminary in particular of all the Civil Wars in France Neither shall I blot their names with any false aspersions For as their practise is the best Commentary of their Positions and Writings so it is the best tryal of their Loyalty and can give in best evidence whether they be as they will yet pretend and seem to be good Patriots and faithful Subjects I shall shew both their first beginnings progress and continuance at this present time and this so much as may be in a method ordering their disorderly crimes under these general heads viz. First Their Conspiracies against the King Secondly Their Battles fought against the Kings Armies and Officers And thirdly Their horrible Outrages and Villanies committed incomparable for cruelty and incredible for disloyalty The first of their Conspiracies taken notice of was that of Ambois there they began the Scene of their Tragedy on this maner At an Assembly they had at Nantes in the year 1560. certain of the Calvinists conspired among themselves to seize the Kings person and surprize the Court to apprehend the two principal of the Guises upon an accusation That they sought to invade and possess themselves of the Crown and thereby to ruine the Princes of the Blood and to suppress Religion This being secretly yet upon great deliberation concluded by them in the Moneth of January was to be executed the Tenth of March following at Blois The cheif of the Conspiracy was Godfrey de Barry sirnamed de Renaudy By this man it was imparted to the Prince of Conde who disliked it not but onely wished it could be executed in some form of Law While they stood thus at Demurrer the business hapned to be strangely and beside all their expectation discovered first by a Secretary of the Cardinal of Lorrains afterward by more perfect Intelligence and Information from Cardinal Granvellan out of the Low Countries Whereupon the King suddenly removing to Ambois the Conspirators were disappointed both of time and place so as the forces which they had levied and appointed for that exploit wandered up and down for some while without any Commander in Cheif appearing and were in a short space after most of them apprehended and gathered up by the Duke of Nemours his Troops among others there were taken the Baron of Castelnau and Monsieur Pardillan Mons Castelnau Comment Renaudy the General was slain and some others executed The Duke of Guise in the mean time providently took order for the safety of the King and the Court and so assured himself of the person of the Prince of Conde that he had not power to attempt any thing to their prejudice He was afterwards committed upon this business yea condemned to loose his head Yet nevertheless Charls the Ninth upon some politick Reasons of State and because he was so neer a Kinsman and a Prince of the Blood not onely gave him enlargement but for his honor and to assure his fidelity the more if that had been possible he acquitted him also and declared him innocent of the Conspiracy This was the first attempt of the Calvinists for Religion and Bonum Publicum Their second should have been executed at Meaulx upon the person of Charls the Ninth in the year 1567. But by the noble service of the Duke of Nemours and of the Switzers the King though with some difficulty escaped Their purpose was here as before to have possessed themselves of the Kings person and of the Duke of Anjou his Brother to have put the Queen-Mother with some others marked out to death but as I said by the valor and fidelity of the Duke of Nemours with the aid of the Switzers they recovered Paris by a sudden flight in the night and so were all saved Onely the Cardinal of Lorrain a person whom they principally desired to entrap was forced to take another way yet he made shift to get privately to Rhemes and there died A third was at St. Germans in lay against both King and Queen-Mother for which although onely Mole and Coconas lost their heads through the ill management of the business yet were there so many heads and hands both engaged in it That it was matter of great trouble disquiet and danger unto France for a long time after And this onely of their Conspiracies or of such Treacherous designs as never went further then Intention To inform you of their open and actual Rebellions in the Field where they sought by force of Arms and with
of their Religion the Cankerworm of it To discover and disprove the vanity of which pretences I shal search ab origine and deliver you the true causes of the Kings proceedings against these Male-contents and how great reason or necessity rather he had by Arms to maintain his Royal Authority which they by Arms sought either to contemn or usurp that is wherefore he was constrained at Myort to proclaim Rochel and all their Adherents Rebels against him and guilty of treason First it appears by the Edict of Nantes Art 77. That King Henry the Fourth had discharged the Protestants from holding any Assemblies General or Provincial likewise from all Unions and Leagues and from holding of any Counsel or Decreeing and Establishing any Acts by them Likewise Art 82. from holding any Correspondencies or Intelligences without the Realm Yea Art 32. They might not hold any Synods Provincial without the Kings License All which Articles they also promised to observe but as all France and the world knoweth have broken them every one And not onely so but they have intruded upon the State it self taking and fortifying places of assurance without any Warrant from the King and contrary to an express order set down in August in the year 1612. whereby it evidently appeareth to be of the Kings Royal favor and goodness to assign them places of surety and not for them to chuse or usurp where they please Adde to this their notable presumption and disobedience shewen in laboring so much to introduce the reformed Churches of Bearne and to annex them to those of France by an Act of Vnion as they call'd it both Spiritual and Temporal passed at Rochel in the year 1617. In which business they were so confident That they did not onely justifie their pretended act by Apology but promised all possible assistance to Bearn yea and bound themselves by Oath First To observe and execute whatsoevâ—r was determined in that Assembly Secondly To venture their Lives and Estates in maintenance thereof and thirdly Not to reveal or make known any Propositions Advices or Resolutions taken or made in that Assembly unto any person whatsoever no not to the King himself All which was done by them not onely irregularly and without Law but most contemptuously also in as much as they well know that the King of France had sent to all the Provinces and expresly forbad that Vnion yea and had made a Decree of his Councel to the contrary Besides how they used Regnard whom the King had sent into Bearn as his Commissioner about the Church Goods and what disorders they committed at Paw against him is scarce credible Not to speak any thing of their Assembly holden at Loudun with most obstinate disobedience to the Kings command At Grenoble the King was content and gave them leave to hold an Assembly but that all the World might see what a factious and froward spirit governed them they refuse the place and by their own authority assemble at Nâ—smes At Chastelrault and Saumur the King suffered them to Assemble onely to chuse two Deputies who were to remain at Court and receive the Kings Orders concerning them and to exhibite from time to time their own Plaints and Grievances as occasion should be Contrary to this they make an Act of Vnion there also and take the same Oath which the Confederate Catholikes then in Arms had not long before taken yet with this difference That whereas the Catholikes protest their service to His Majesty so long as he continued Catholike which was to oblige him to no more then his Oath and the Interest of His Royal Office required of him so long as he lived These Hugonots protest theirs onely on this condition viz. Le Sovereign Empire de Dieu demeurant tousiours en son entier that is to say in effâ—ct So far as may stand with their duty to God Which whosoever knows what a Hugonot thinks is his duty to God will confess to be a restriction of an equivocal and perillous signification to a King of France And so they did plainly shew sending presently after to the Camp at Sansay and offering to joyn with those Frenchmen who had taken arms to oppose the Kings marriage And not onely this but they established in each Province of France a Councel of their own to hear Affairs and to take notice what the Order and Government of the Country was yea and importunately urged to have Counsellors in the Parliament at Paris Lastly to shew in one Act as in a Mirror the height of their Presumption and Treason in the year 1621. at Rochel out of their own onely authority and arrogance they divide the Provinces of France into Seven Synods which they call Circles adding Bearn for the Eighth And having formerly resolved to have War with the King and to make good their actings by force of Arms in this Assembly now they make Orders for the Government of their Army they chuse a General and Officers for every Circle which what other thing was it but to Cantonize France Art 35. They Decree That no Treaty nor Truce should be made without this Assembly They Order That this pretended General Assembly of theirs in respect of the great charge which they must necessarily undergo should arrest all the Kings Rents and Money due for Tails Ayds Gabels c. They appoint Officers for collecting the same Art 36. They order the seizing and letting to Farm of all Goods Ecclesiastical and profits of Churches Revenues of Parsonages c. Art 41. They take the same order for all the profits of the Admiralty And when all was done the Articles are every one of them signed by their President Combart very solemnly yea as foul as their fault was and beyond all colour of excuse yet there is nothing pretended in the business but Justice and Loyalty and His Majesties service All is covered with that false mantle of Religion and Publike good But wisely and truly was it long since observed by the Orator Tully Totius injustitiae nulla capitalior c. Of all injustice saith he none is more odious and abominable then where men act their villanies under a vizard and pretence of good I for my part shall not insist much here upon the opinion of the Civilians what a Sect is what meetings of people are justly called Conventicles and declared to be against the Prince and the ancient Laws nor how Faction and Conspiracy are defined by the Lawyers and when they fall within the compass of Treason as conceiving it matter though not altogether impertinent to my subject yet something more then I have undertaken For this therefore I refer you to Farinaâ—ius Part. 4. to Decius Lib. 7. c. 7 20. to Bossius to Gigas and others who can with greater authority resolve you I shall onely alledge the Municipal and Common Laws of France in such cases which heretofore have used to be a rule and bridle of Justice and to be able to
keep men in aw In the year therefore 1477. this Decree or Law was made by Lewis the Eleventh King of France viz. All Treaties against the Kings Person or his Estate or against the Realm are declared to be Treason Which was revived or a new Law enacted to the same purpose and effect by Charls the Eighth in the year 1487. and in the year 1532. by Francis the First in the year 1560. by Francis the Second at Fontainbleau and by Henry the Second in the year 1556. All men were forbidden to bear Arms or to hold any particular Intelligences Councels or Assemblies for Conference but in Town houses or publike places By Henry the Third at Bloys in the year 1579. prohibition was made against the assembling or gathering of any Troops upon occasion or pretence of private quarrels or to enter into any such kinde of Association It was also Enacted That to hold intelligence to make Leagues offensive or to have participation with such either within or without France to levy Soldiers without the Kings License should be judged and deemed High Treason and offenders herein to be holden as disturbers of the State All which Laws are set down in the Code of Henry the Third Printed at Paris 1597. And all the Lawyers of France affirm the same viz. Francis Rogueau des droicts Royaux Bodin de Repub. Le grand Coustumier and others And surely with great reason For as without Order there can be no Peace so without Justice no Society And Calvinists in this respect differ not at all from the worst of Anabaptists if they refuse submission to the Superior Magistrate and to the Law Magistrates as King Josaphat saith 2. Paralip 19. Non hominis sed Dei exercent judicium Do execute the judgement not of man but of God And verily it cannot be denied but that this seditious Sect and Doctrine of Calvinism hath cast the State of France into a very desperate disease under which it laboreth at present and such as may seem to require more then an Aesculapius to give it perfect cure For as much as neither the Majesty of their King nor the Forces of his Armies nor the Wisdom of his Councel and Parliaments nor the Authority of the Estates so often assembled nor the Obedience due to Justice nor their own Peace and Safety together with that of the whole Kingdom can move a few desperate Out-Laws sheltring in Montauban and Rochel to yeild up themselves and their Arms to the King and to seek from His Royal Grace and Favor that Peace which all other his dutiful Subjects even of their own Tribe and Profession elswhere do securely enjoy Titulus Tertius KNOXISM OR The Troubles in SCOTLAND BUt perhaps this Fiery Zeal of the Rabbins of Genevah if it were transplanted into some colder Climate as for example into Scotland it would cool somewhat and be found of a better temper Not one jot better Calum non animum mutant It is to change air onely not complexion Their spirits that come from thence are too much fixed upon mischeif to be easily dispersed much less to be sublimated unto true goodness and vertue As experience hath shewn in the example of an infamous Empirick sent from Genevah thither whose practices have inflamed the whole Body of that Kingdom and filled it with so much irregular Zeal and abundance of ill Humors as thereby hath grown a Pleurisie of Troubles in that State which hath cost much blood and is not perfectly cured to this day The Authors of the Tumults and Alterations in Scotland with the Actors also were as violent as Whirlwinds they blew down all that stood in their way even Royalty and the Crown it self John Knox Goodman Gilby and Buchanan were the principal Instruments of the Work and emissaries of Master Calvin yet bravely seconded by Master David Fergersson a Learned Shoemaker but Minister at Dundee by Master Coverdale Willox Rous Harriot and Montgomery Victrix Legio a man may well say Et Novatores strenui Men of invincible obstinacy in their way and as perfect Innovators as could be desired All of them Ministers and of such Salt-peter Spirits as were fit to blow up and put into Combustion any Nation in the World By these was the Church of Scotland Reformed according to the Standard of Genevah and the Platform of those Elders Knox was their Nehemia's but far unlike him both in proceedings and qualities yet he pretended to act his part How properly and piously his Countryman will best inform you Langius vitâ Joh. Knoxi who wrote of his vertues Buchanan was ever a rude and slovenly Swiss of a presumptuous audacity and by nature factious He was one of them that in the time of James the Fifth at Edinburgh did solemnly in Lent eat the Paschal Lamb and being convicted of that Judaism a business which the King himself examined his Companions were condemned and burnt for the Heresie but he himself escaped and fled over into other Countreys as a man reserved to be a scourge to his own But to discern their spirits cleerly and to judge of their peaceableness patience sanctity c. which yet they so much pretended we must first read their Theorems and by the Maxims of their Doctrine we shall finde them Doctors extraordinary indeed and such as were scarce to be matched again in the whole World for the business which they came about I shall begin with Knox first who in his Book to the Nobility and people of Scotland instructs them thus in the point we treat of viz. Of obedience to Princes and Loyalty Neque promissum neque juramentum obligare potest c. Neither promise saith he nor oath can oblige any man to obey or give assistance unto Tyrants against God It is true no man saith that they can when the Tyrant expresly commandeth that which God exprâ—sly forbiddeth but that is not the case All the World knoweth in the sence of Knox and Genevah there is much pretended to be against God which is not at all forbidden by God And when a Christian Prince commands nothing but what his Office and the Laws of his Kingdom do require him to command certainly we may not so hastily presume it to be against God some better Authority must declare it to be so then the bare opinion of a Knox or a Buchanan So in his History of Scotland Princes saith he may be deposed by the people if they be Tyrants against God and his Truth and their Subjects are free from their Oaths and Obedience Secondly Goodman his Companion and Fellow Boutefeu sings to the same tune out of Exodus Goodm de obedientiâ in a Book which teacheth any thing more then what the title promiseth Toti populo hoc onus incumbit c. This is a duty saith he which lieth upon all the people in general to see that Idolaters be punished whosoever or how great soever they be none must be excepted neither King nor Queen
and liberties which they pretend were violated by the King They would have no Strangers rule or bear Office among them The Spaniards must be dismissed the Country and some new liberties granted viz. Liberty of Conscience and Toleration for Religion Thus were the names of Liberty and Religion made the Standard-bearers as it were to their future Commotions But let us concerning their several grievances As concerning the first that of the Inquisition the name is of greater Terror then the thing It was first devised upon a neceâ—sity against the Moors in Spain and upon experience of the use and benefit thereof continued And though I shall not commend any sign or proceedings that savor of cruelty yet I cannot condemn this because it addeth nothing to the punishment of Heresie which the Law did not inflict before but requires onely a more strict Execution of the Law and a more diligent course of examination to be used by the Inquisitors And certainly under God it hath been the chief Antidote which hath preserved Spain so well and so long free from the infection of heresies and from such dangerous and lasting tumults as do commonly follow them and wherewith the other Kingdoms of Europe have been generally embroyled The Spaniards themselves when they were most discontented never complained of it nor is it in it self a more bloody Law or Execution of Justice then the Consistory it self at Genevah doth maintain and hath executed more then once though unjustly and Tyrannically considering what principles they pretend and what outcries and obtestations they once made for Liberty of Conscience Liberty of Prophesying Liberty of the Spirit which is their onely Judge of Controversies according to the written word alone and not any Consistory or company of men whatsoever Besides as it was at first propounded by the King out of his zeal for the good and quiet of the Country so was it by his wisdom suspended afterwards finding they were not capable of such a remedy For the second viz. the Erecting of the new Bishopricks it was a prudent and necessary resolution to bridle Sectaries and as a Sythe to cut down those Weeds which grew so fast in Gods Church For by appointing in each Province grave and learned men to stand as Watchmen and Sentinels against the Enemies of the Church and State it would be more easie by concurrence of their Authority and by their vigilancy over their Flocks to preserve the people from danger of seducement Neither was it a new design For Philip Duke of Burgundy had long before desired it as a thing very needful because in his time all the Seventeen Provinces except onely the Diocess of Arras were under such Bishops as were strangers to the Country and Subjects of Forreign Princes which could not be convenient for the State And what good their Erection hath wrought experience daily sheweth in those places where they still continue For now every Diocess is carefully visited by a Bishop of the same Country and Language who as he hath more natural compassion so hath he also more knowledge and care to instruct his Countrymen in the way that is right and to weed out disorders And therefore was the Erection allowed and ratified by Bull of Pius Quartus in the year 1559. Concerning the third viz. the Cardinal of Arras Although his wisdom and experience in affairs of government as well Ecclesiastical as Civil was sufficiently known to the King yet because the Prince of Orange with the Counts Egmond and Horn did joyntly write to the King against him His Majestie though to his great disservice was content to remove him for their satisfaction But when this was done neither was the Country any whit the quieter for his calling away nor did they themselves cease from further practising As for their liberties and franchises had not the King confirm'd them all at the joyful entry When did he violat them afterward was it for preferring Spaniards There were very few of them left in the Country and of these fewer cum imperio Was it for the Offices of State See how the governments were distributed among themselves Count Egmond was Governor of Flaunders and Artois The Prince of Orange Governor of Holland Zealand Vtreckt and Burgundy Count Aremberge was Governor of West-Frezeland and Over-Issel Count Barlamont of Namur Count Mansfeld of Luxemberge and Clinay The Marquis of Berghen of Lisle and Doway So as 't is not easie to see how the Nobility could complain justly they were neglected or not honorably imployed And yet for addition and their further assurance of the Kings good affection to them and the Provinces he left his Sister the Dutchess of Parma Governor General with them a Woman of a very peaceable and mild Spirit and one that was like to hold the bridle of Government with a Gentle hand and to be advised by their Counsels In this maner were all things wisely and moderately constituted by the King and might have so continued had the Nobles complied with their duty and not favored so much those spirits of Innovation and Tumult which lurked up and down the Country and had infected no small part of the Common people Howbeit all things remained outwardly quiet for a long while The fire that was lay covered in Ashes The first breaking out was not til Baron Brederode and his Associates presented their Petition to the Dutchess which containing many things neither fit for them to aske nor safe for her to grant was not without reason look't upon as a Prologue to some future Troubles Henceforward the Heads of the Faction plot the advancing of their party and begin to strengthen themselves both at home and abroad These were the Earl of Culembergh who had lately married a Germane Lady of the Lutheran way Horn who was matched with the Sister of Count Harman The Prince of Orange was already by his Mother allied to the Count of Solms and his Wife was Sister to Maurice Duke of Saxony And Grave Scheremberg had married his Sister There was also Count Lodowick the Princes Brother a Soldier and a man of great Spirit Lutheran all over and as fit an instrument as could be desired both to make a party and to back it Besides these Flacius Illiricus a most turbulent Preacher of new Doctrines had been sent for privately out of Germany with some other Ministers and were dispersed in all corners of the Country incensing and corrupting the people with as much industry as was possible These were Lutherans and did mischief enough But when Calvins Quicksilver came to be cast in among them the fire then could be kept in no longer but the flames break out in all places The people in spight of Laws mutiny every where down go the Kings Arms down go Images and all the Ornaments in the Churches The Churches themselves as if they had been the Castles and Forts of some Enemy are Sackd and Pillaged Strad de bell Belgie Monasteries rifled Religious houses robd
puld down and spoiled the Religious expeld and driven out by force of Arms and all Magistrates whatsoever that endeavored either to pacifie or oppose them are contemn'd abused resisted yea their fury and violence was such as they forced the Governess her self to consult of retiring out of Brussels which she had done if the Counsel of some of the Nobles had not prevailed with her to the contrary Yet did not the causes of her dislike and distrust cease but rather grow and encrease daily viz. the private Conventicles preachings and insolency of the people openly now Lutheranizing and even in the Face of the Court yea the frequent and private meetings of many of the Nobility were matter of much jealousie to her whereof she often complained in Counsel but without redress She knew very well the people could work no great effects without a head and that the Nobles wanted power to execute any of their dâ—signs without the people but that both of them conspiring to countenance and aâ—â—st each other much mischief might follow Orange who was the chief Captain and contriver of all yet playd least in sight and would very seldom seem outwardly to favor any change of Religion all that he did was as he pretended for the interest of the Common-wealth and for the publick good He was assisted chiefly by the Marquis of Berghen Montagny and Florence Montmorency alias Count Horn who by this time was grown a perfect Malecontent yet not for Religion but upon some private respects viz. of his own debt and for being denied the government of Zutphen but especially for the execution of his Brother Montigny in Spain The meetings in which they agitated Counsels and brought their designs onward to perfection were first at Breda whither the Count Egmond was also invited as a man of the greaest Military power and interest in that Country and presently after as an effect or resolution taken at that assembly Brederode and his complices delivered their Petition to the Governess as hath been said for Liberty of Religion They had meetings also at Hoochstrat Osterweal and Saint Trudon at which that Noble Count Egmond was undone For at his Arraignment it was one of the principal things chargd against him that he had been privie to the Confederations and agreements made at those Assemblies Secondly that upon the same day the Petition was delivered by Brederode he came with the Prince of Orange and Count Horn to the great Banquet at the Earl of Culemberghs house where there were no less then Three hundred Confederates and dined with them at which time the name of Geuses was publikely assumed by the Confederates Thirdly that afterward he sent his Secretary Backerseal to the Crew offering them his aid And lastly which himself acknowledged at the Bar That he had offered his assistance to hinder the Duke D' Alvas coming into the Low-Countries and that he had neither disliked nor disswaded the proceedings of the Confederates Horn was endicted upon the same Articles with this further charge against him That he threatned to levy Fifty thousand men to rescue his Brother and bring him home upon force out of Spain Upon proof of which accusations they were both of them condemned and lost their heads as it semed not onely just for matter of Law but also necessary for reason of State for the example of others for the Regents safety and for vindication of the Kings honor and authority which partly by their practises and partly by their connivances contrary to duty had been insufferably vilified and abused by the rude multitude Sir Roger Williams History Yet is it commonly thought that Count Egmond was rather drawn in by the Craft and Policy of Orange then that he engaged muâ—h of himself being otherwise a person of a plain yet Noble and Magnanimous disposition and therefore generally lamented For what Prince is there in the World that having endured so many indignities and of such fowl nature as those we lately mentioned would not seek to vindicate his honor upon the offenders and to prevent the like for the future Was it not time for the King to Arm when the people were in Arms and had beside their contempt of Religion committed so many great and scandalous disorders the Nobility whose office and duty it was by their places to have suppressed and punished them conniving at their proceedings When the Cities were all in uproars and the whole frame of the Common-wealth seeming to be shaken Had not the King all the reason in the World to send D' Alva and forces of his own when the Provincial Governors would not be commanded to apply theirs effectually to the business It was certainly high time to do that which he did not onely to repress and keep in order those rebellious Spirits which were dispersed and acting in all parts of the Country but also to encounter and oppose Orange who by this time what by his open backwardness and oppositions to such Counsels as tended to a speedy redress of those evils and what by his secret practises and abetting of the Delinquent party had no less undermined the government it self then he had discouraged and wearied the Governess And for the Companies which D' Alva brought out of Spain at which the people were taught so much to murmur could it be lawful for the Prince of Orange to bring in the Reisters out of Germany and for his Brother the Count Lodowick with an Army of French to invade Henault and was it not lawful for the King to send in forces to maintain his own Was it lawful for them to surprize Montz and was it not more lawful for the King to expel them Let no man dream that if the Dukes forces had not come the Country would have been quiet for that was incredible to any body that knew the State of affairs The fire was not quenched but covered and would have broken out again in a greater flame The Confederating of so many and great Persons countenanced by the chief Governors themselves did Prognosticate a storm to be yet coming and all men of understanding saw they were not likely to be governed long by the Bridle in a Womans hand Therefore was the King forced upon the matter to send D' Alva And the rather because he could not but know that Monsieur Chastillon Jean Petit l' Histor the Admiral of France had sent to Baron Brederode both to incense him further against the King and to perswade him not to agree with the Dutchess of Parma for saith he that would but deceive him and offering moreover in case of necessity to aâ—â— st him with Four thousand Gentlemen That Count Lodowick after his defâ—at at Montâ— did lie at Rochel among the Calvinists and that the Prince himself was gone into France on purpose to prepare for a future invasion He knew that the same Admiral afterwards did sollicit Charls the Ninth King of France to turn all his Wars upon
onely to preserve what remained but also to repair and make up his decayed Estate There factions were ripened to their full Maturity and the place so fortified both by nature and art that till he should be able to appear in Action to the World and fight he might lie secure and write Apologies encourage seditious people abroad and settle his new Religion at home which although at first and from his Father it was Lutheran yet after he had been in France he Professed rather to favor Calvinism providently and wisely foreseing as he was a man that wanted no insight into Worldly affaires of this nature that they viz the Calvinists were to be his neerest and surest Neighbors All which practises and courses of his notwithstanding with the injustice of them being well discerned at last by the States of Artois and Henault when they were in the year 1579. reconciled to the King with the assent of the most Honorable Duke of Areschot they binde themselves in the Fifth Article of Agreement to prosecute the War against the Prince of Orange as the Enemy general of the peace of those Countries and to finde at their own charge Eighteen thousand men for that purpose which certainly being Persons of such Religions and right Noble quality as 't is known they were and of so great experience in all the passages and pretences of Orange they would never have done if they had not known both him and his practises to be very bad I confess that the Hollanders are a people very industrious and skilful to make use of their labor but yet of such a temper that as a Learned Censor saith of them Nec totam libertatem Thuâ—n Nec totam servitutem patiuntur They endure not well either absolute Liberty which makes them insolent nor absolute Servitude which makes them mad Friends they are somewhat too much to change and not always content with the present State which would appear more then it doth but that their mindes are now wholly set upon their Trade and profit wherein finding much sweet by their successes at home and abroad they are extreamly jealous of any thing that sounds but to the least obstruction of either of them The Prince of Orange therefore understanding their natures very well and to feed this jealous humor of theirs with fit matter discovers a certain secret Counsel to them which he pretended Henry the Second King of France had taken with the Duke d' Alva to suppress the Protestants by force of Arms and to erect the Seventeen Provinces into one Kingdom and this the French King himself should tell him at his being in France But first was it so likely the Duke would discover such a secret of his Master to an Enemy newly or scarce reconciled Beside King Henry dying suddenly as he did by mischance there was now no body living to disavow the imposture but D' Alva onely and him he was sure the people would not be over hasty to beleeve He was the first also that gave out that factious and stale Calumny against the Emperor and King of Spain That they should affect a Monarchy Universal over all Europe which forgeries how palpable soever yet they served his turn thus far viz. to terrifie the Hollanders to make them rely still upon him and to procure some distrust and hatred in Forreign Nations against the Spaniards and house of Austria This upon the matter is the whole charge and all that can be objected against the King from the very beginning as I have related it and these the Actors which prosecuted the business against whom what exceptions may be taken for their Estimation Integrity Testimony especially in their own cause every man may see It remains that we enquire a little whether the King stood guilty of those Crimes which they charged upon him Injustice and Tyranny For if he be innocent these men were grand usurpers if guilty another question will arise whether his error in Government will give them title and his offence free them from Subjection It is manifest to all the world that the King ever desired peace and with great care so far as in him lay labored to prevent the desolation of his people and Countries as the course that was taken by that excellent and most loyal Prince the Duke of Areschot and by the States General at Gaunt in the year 1574 do testifie When they found it requisite to decree and did decree a general Amnestia or Oblivion of all things past on both sides and took order for the dismission of the Spaniards Notwithstanding that in this pacification all things were in a maner referred to the States and the King scarcely so much as mentioned yet Don John did ratifie it and procured the Kings consent for the confirmation of all as appears by the perpetual Edict This agreement was made by the States General of the Provinces and for the general good and quiet of them yet would not the Prince of Orange Holland nor Zealand accept of it They perswaded the States General not to receive Don John for Governor till the Spaniards were gone although themselves refused at that very time to dismiss those Forreign forces which they had in Holland that is to say They would binde the Governor to perform promise but they themselves must be at liberty to break Was it for Religion they did dissent that can hardly be said For in the Articles of Agreement there was provision made for their security in that point by this Article Vt sola Romana religio in iis exerceatur exceptâ Hollandiâ Zelandiâ Roman Religion was to be exercised onely in the other Provinces but Holland and Zealand were excepted And for the Prince himself in the general Amnestia he had as absolute indempnity offered and assured him as could be imagined if that had been all he had sought And the States had prevailed more in his behalf then the Emperor could But Malice and Ambition transported him still and the more His Majestie gave assurance of his desires of Peace the more he prepared and was inclined to War wherein yet the World did never count him a Hannibal This appeared yet more plainly in the colloquy at Breda in the year 1575. where the King offered reasonable conditions and the Emperor had sent the Count Swartzembergh to perswade them to concord yet the Prince would listen to nothing the Treaty was fruitless and at the same time the Hollanders were Treating by their Agents Jean Peâ—tit Aldegund and Douza to submit themselves to the Queen of England Yet notwithstanding all this which the King knew well enough such was his patience and royal goodness and so far was he from the baseness of Tyranny towards him or any other that he proclaimed not Orange Traytor till the year 1580 that is till his malice appeared to be irreconcileable and his courses desperate and that the Trayterous Vnion of Vtrecht was framed and published which is about
Fifteen years after the beginning of the troubles Adde hereunto that when the Emperor procured the Treaty at Colen in the yeer 1579 and made choise of most Honorable and eminent persons for that purpose viz. Two of the Princes Electors the Bishop of Wurtzburgh the Count Wartzemburgh and Doctor Lawenman the King of Spain was as forward and sent thither the Duke de Terra Nova And the Duke Areschot with some others were Commissioners from the States with Commission Signed by the Arch-Duke Mutthias The States had by their Letter to the Emperor bearing date June the Eighth 1578. promised that they were and so would continue constantly resolved Vt in Belgio colatur religio Catholica sua Regi constet Authoritas that both Catholike Religion and the Kings Authority should be maintained in the Netherlands Before this at Worms in the year 1577. the Agents of the States submitted and referred themselves to the Emperor as likewise the King of Spain did Therefore both parties being so inclinable and consenting in Eodem Tertio in the same Umpire who could expect but that a general peace should follow But Davus perturbat omnia When the Emperors Commissioners were come to Colen at the time appointed viz. by the beginning of April the States Commissioners appeared not till the Fourth of May and then with a Commission insufficient and their Treating restrained to a Term of Six weeks and no longer when as themselves had been twice the time in but framing their instructions which the Commissioners of the Emperor took for a great error as justly they might do All which delays had been craftily procured by the Prince of Orange and his party on purpose to obstruct the peace And in the Articles themselves the States Commissioners propounded many things contrary to promise In the Articles proposed by the Duke de Terrâ Novâ in the behalf of his Master All kinde of severity relating to Religion was mitigated as the Emperors Commissioners had assured them to the intent ut nemo justè queri possit c. that no man might complain of the King as if he desired either to Tyrannize over their bodies or to Seize their Estates or to Oppress their Consciences for matter of Religion But nothing could prevail so the Imperial Commissioners finding such dallying and delays in the States That in Sixteen weeks they could get no answer and that in their Letters they did onely renew old grievances and quarrels they broke up the Treaty and departed Nevertheless Bâ—lduc and Valenciennes received the Articles So did Over-Issle and Tournay Artois and Henault guided by the Bonus Genius of the Country and Em. Lâ—lain that valiant and religious Marquis of Renty together with Monsieurs de Capre Heze Barze and the rest contemned the course of Orange offered their obedience to the King and made peace with the Duke of Parma But as for the Hollanders they were now further off then ever they publish discourses against the Treaty and labor by all means possible how to make good their usurpation and perfect their Union which they were all this time a framing not forgetting to scatter seeds of dissention and further discord among the Provinces in which business their Ministers helped them not a little And lastly at this time also by the advise of Orange and England they admitted Monsieur the Duke of Alenson in the year 1578. to a kinde of Protectorship of the Provinces creating him Duke of Brabant and absolute Prince of the Netherlands And all to shew how irreconcileable they were to their natural Sovereign Thus much hath been said to shew the Kings good inclination to Peace Now for his Tyranny and Exaction which they pretended and objected in the second place as the cause of making that Union and also his breaking of their Priviledges and the too severe Government of his Ministers contrary as they say to his Oath at Coronation surely so long after D' Alva's times and under the moderate Government of the Duke of Parma and after so many significations of the Kings gracious disposition and offers to ease their burthens if they would themselves this may rather be judged a Cavil to shift Peace then any desire to be rid of War But as for the business of the Tenth Penny an exaction which they so much complain of we must draw the Curtain a little and tell you it was necessity and not his own will which forced him to require that and that otherwise neither would he have done it nor the King have suffered it But as it happened being driven to an extremity for the satisfying of the Soldiers who always grow wilde if they want Pay he was constrained to incur an inconvenience that he might avoid a mischief England and Orange were the cause of it For about this time some of the Counsel here by the instigation of the Prince had made stop of no less sum then Six hundred thousand Duckets which were sent out of Spain to the Army but driven by hard weather and ill fortune upon the coast of Hampshire notwithstanding as some say the Queen had given a safe Conduct for the passage thereof But the Polititians of those times and Enemies of Spain knew well into what Streights the want of this money would drive D' Alva and that of necessity he must commit some error or other which would encrease the hatred of his Government and perhaps arm the peoples fury once more to sedition Besides this the King had sent another sum of Two hundred thousand Duckets by the Duke de Medina but that also was intercepted at Sea by the Zealanders and converted to other uses This man was of a milder nature and sent on purpose to qualifie the severity of D' Alva who by his natural Sterneness and some errors in Government which the general malice of the people and disfavor of some Forreign Princes did much aggravate had made himself it must be confessed not a little odious but having as was said lost his money and Ships he had small heart to stay among them so he quickly returned home again and with a resolution it seemed never to have further dealing with such sharking Cormorants and left D' Alva in a Labyrinth of difficulties how to get money and govern his Soldiers But however it appears by this that it was never the Kings pleasure nor purpose but meerly the necessity of his present wants which compelled the Duke to demand that Tribute and that the quarrel upon it was rather made and contrived by themselves then given And these great pretenders for the Commons that seemed then so extreamly careful of the peoples ease and sollicitous to keep them free from Taxes Impositions c. Let me ask them one question Why do they now Tax them so much Why do they lay such heavy burthens upon them they themselves now they have them in their power Excises Subsidies Taxes of all sorts which they have augmented and do daily augment and raise
in such sort that never any Common-wealth in Christendome groaned under the like burthens T is certain The Gentle Father of the people as they once called that Fox the Prince of Orange did propound and endeavor to wrest from them not the Tenth but the Sixth Penny towards his charge and maintenance in the year 1584 Mich. ab Isselt de bell Belgic after he had made them a Free State This you will say was a Note above Ela. And though the people denied it and murmured grievously at the motion yet is he still in Holland Pater Patriae so well and cunningly doth he both shuffle his Cards and play his Game Barnevelt in his Apologie confesseth that in the year 1586. he found the order of Government out of all good frame many Protestant Preachers would not acknowledge the States because they had not that command and discipline after the French fashion which they desired The Common people all contrary-minded one to another and the Towns wishing for Peace The Expences of the State exceeded all incomes by Twenty six Millions and that which I cannot but wish the Reader to observe West-Frizeland which in the beginning of the troubles did contribute onely Eighteen hundred thousand Florens was now charged to pay Quadragies centena millia librarum duos Milliones I have put it down in the Authors own words because I would not have the Reader poâ—â— bly mistaken Who is now the Tyrant and Exactor It seems though the people have changed their Lord they have not laid down their burthen D'Alva may be said to have beat them with Whips but the States with Scorpions Do but consider their Excises and Impositions upon all sorts of Commodities even the most necessary for humane life and subsistance viz. Meat Drink Fewel yea men-servants Wages and what not Besides Loans and Benevolences which are both commonly required and heavy Cnickius directly chargeth them that they exact one way or other the Fourth part of the peoples Revenues that are Hollanders and live out of the Country But saith he Si in Provinciis nostris c. if they live in any of our Provinces by leave Semissem jubent solvere c. they require them to pay the one half and in case they refuse or neglect They take all As for the cruelty of D' Alva which was objected so much to little purpose in the Treaty at Colen and hath been since Rhetorically aggravated by their Doctor Baudius let us call to minde See Baudii orat what provocations were at first given him by the oppositions and malice of the Nassovians by the War at Montz by the practises used to impead his entrance into Brabant and by so often contriving his death yet were these venial sins But when he found the Nobility so far engaged with the Geuses as they were that the Kings Authority was slighted Catholike Religion generally deserted and profaned the chief solemnities thereof in some places most impiously and contumeliously abused in the face of Heaven and of the Catholike Army when he saw the Towns in Holland and Zealand revolt Harlem Alcmar and others refusing the Kings Authority what indifferent man can wonder if severity were used at first to such of them as fell under his power Who would not think that Cauterizing was necessary when there appeared so much proud flesh in the wound and that purgations must be somewhat violent when the body is so much and so generally distempered Nor could the peaceable nature of the Commendador Ludovicus Requesens who succeeded D'Alva do any good upon such rough and irreconcileable spirits How often was he heard to cry out Dios nos libera de estos estados God deliver me from these States once Insomuch that Sir Roger Williams a Gentleman of our own Country and Soldier of good note who had served on both sides and knew the nature of the people very well condemns the revocation of D'Alva as an error of State Because saith he See his History nothing but rigor could reduce such violent Spirits unto order and nothing but a Sword in hand keep them in obedience As for the Kings Oath which they say he hath broken in the matter of priviledges if they would decide the matter by justice they must make it plain and evident by what Fact in what case instance example he hath broke it and ought not to presume so much as they do viz. to be Themselves both Plaintiffs Accusers and Judges Again supposing that the King had broken his Oath may not many things happen after his Oath-taking to excuse him from perjury By Law every Oath or promise how absolute soever yet hath always this necessary condition tacitly implyed in it viz rebus sic stantibus that things remain so as they were when the Oath was taken But if such difficulties or alterations happen as render the promise either impossible or unlawful to be performed a man doth not then commit perjury nor any other kinde of injustice by not performing his promise What if that which the King at his Inauguration promised for the good of the Province cannot be observed now but with the great dammage of the Province and of all Europe and this occasioned by the distemper and change of the people themselves of the Province of necessity if the case that is to say the condition and state of affairs be so far changed resolutions and proceedings upon them must also change Again supposing he had broken his Oath suâ culpâ and blameably yet were not the States thereby inabled or authorized to depose him and chuse a new Prince For in the Articles of the Joyful Entry this is a Clause Vt si in omnibus aut in vno quopiam Articulo pacta ista Dux Brabantiae violasset c. That if it shall happen that the said Dake of Brabant doth violate or break either all or any one of these Articles it shall be lawful for his Subjects to deny him the accustomed services until the thing in Controversie be either revoked or amended So long they might but after the grievances complained of should be redressed they were to return again to their duty and to rest in statu quo prius of obedient Subjects And the world knows how oft the King offered unto the Emperor to other Forreign Princes and to the States themselves to revoke and amend whatsoever could be proved amiss Beside the States and Courts of Brabant are more proper to decide this question then the States of Holland who have no such priviledges Originally but onely by Participation and Vnion And they that is Brabant Flanders Artois Henault and the rest have conformed themselves and are returned to their due Allegiance being obedient to the King his Laws and Government And if Holland would but follow their example the business were at an end To draw therefore to some conclusion in this matter of Priviledges and of the Kings Oath it would be demanded who granted these Priviledges
at first was it not the Prince ex mero motu gratiâ speciali out of his meer grace and favor and to gratifie and endear the affections of good Subjects to him Do not all their Charters run in this still Speak they not all this language What ungrateful presumption is it then for people to be so ready and industrious to molest their Sovereign Princes upon the advantage of their own favors What if they be forced to break an Article or some clause of an Article upon urgent cause must it be judged a crime unpardonable what would they have said to Philip Duke of Burgundy and of the Netherlands who upon occasion resumed into his own hand Henric. Berland Histor and by his own Authority all the Priviledges and Immunities of Gaunt yea detained them all his life-time teaching them thereby to acknowledge from whose grace they held them And though the people compelled his Son Charls to restore them upon his coming to Gaunt yet it proved to their cost for they were forced to seek pardon and to cast themselves and their Charters once again at his feet and to stand to mercy The like he did at Machlin but not without great suit made to him and upon such conditions as himself thought good And it is not a little strange to be considered why this Prince of Orange who urgeth so much the Kings Oath and that it ought to be kept yet makes so little conscience to perform his own For he may remember when he was made Governor of Brabant Mich. Baius de Vnion Stat. he took his Oath to maintain Catholike Religion in that Province Hath he performed it When he retired into Holland he professed and protested publikely he would alter nothing nor dispossess the Catholike Clergie of their livings The like he did at Amsterdam and further bound himself there with a Solemn Oath yet he performed none of these but the clean contrary most perfidiously and wickedly as soon as ever he had power in his hands and could attend to do it so that to serve his own turn and for his treacherous end we see how much he could urge another man though his own sovereign to his duty but for his own Religion and bonum publicum gives him a dispensation And it is just according to Calvins Institutions Lib. 4. c. 13. Sect. 21. A man saith he once perfectly illuminated by the light of the Gospel simul omnibus vinculis obediendi legibus Ecclesâ—ae solutus est is ipso facto and at an instant discharged from all bands of obedience either to the Church or the State A blessed Lesson doubtless and wherein he could not but have many Scholars But all this while no particular charge comes in against the King no instance no example is given wherein he did break his Oath when it was poâ—â— ble for him to keep it which through their distempers and undutifulness was become not a little difficult Was it in his exactions that is answered already Was it for bringing in Spaniards upon them Time and necessity forced him to be at that great charge and trouble much against his will to defend the Church to defend the Religion of his Ancestors and of the Country against the insolencies of rude ignorant impious people connived at and countenanced by them lastly to defend the Laws and laudable Customs of the Country and to make them know he was their Prince Was it in the matter of Religion Indeed it is true there is a clause in the Vnion contra omnem vim c. That it should be against all violence whatsoever that should be offered them under pretence of the Kings Authority for matter of Religion It is to be observed at the beginning Orange Horn and Montigny joyned with the people upon pretense onely of opposing the Inquisition upon this ground onely they would seem to countenance Brederode and his complices and for this end only they seem to urge the Religions Vried yea they publish books and make liberal promises to be content if they may but enjoy their own Religion and that they will not prejudice or oppose the Catholikes and with such dissembling as this they drew a great part even of the Catholikes themselves to joyn with them yea Prelates and persons no way suspected for the matter of Religion yet deceived not a little with their pretenses of liberty and of the publike good for which reason the Arch-Duke Matthias was called in and they engaged to assist and defend him with their lives and estates Well! the Religions Vried was granted and thereby as it were a Supersedeas to the Inquisition all violence and severity for matter of Religion ceased What could they desire more All the Provinces and Holland and Zealand among the rest enjoyed what they would have Liberty Religion Et quid non But it is an observation of infallible verity Faction and Heresie are always humble till they get the Sword in their hands when they have it they change their tune as it manifestly appeared by their proceedings For in a short time they of Holland were so far from keeping the Peace of Religion which they had promised that they expel the Catholike Clergy out of all places under their power They seize upon their Lands Sequester their Benefices Imprison their Persons yea molest and prosecute all without exception whose consciences suffer them not to conform to their pretended Synods at Dort in the year 1574. at Middleborough in the year 1581. yea they drown and use many other kindes of cruelty towards men meerly for Religion not enduring so much as to heare of Toleration but onely for their own and some few Anabaptists and Semi-Arrians among them The Religions Vried so impetuously desired or rather demanded when time was for themselves is now quite forgotten and Merchants of Amsterdam Bâ—ewers of Delfâ— Staplers of Dort Seamen of Horn with some few illiterate Ministers joyned with them do now Direct Rule Govern and Judge in all things Comme bon leur semble as it is in one of the Articles touching the Vnion according as to themselves seemeth good No man must gainsay them Truly if the King had proceeded thus with them if he had taken Arms and levyed forces to introduce a new Religion upon them as they did upon the Country I should confess he had much incroached upon their liberties had broken his Oath and incurred their hatred justly The States of Holland Zealand c. have done all this and much more mischief and injurie to the people of those Provinces where they command what therefore do they desire doth not their own example and practises justifie beyond all exception the Kings proceedings Shall they presume to introduce and set up by force of Arms a Religion which before themselves no man ever owned Shall the Consistory at Genevah be so precise as not to permit any kinde of Toleration Shall the pretended Churches of France and Bearn more especially insult
upon and oppress those poor Catholikes which live under their power And must the King of Spain onely be content to sit still and let Sectaries play what pranks they please and commit all outrages in his Dominions without check or controule Who can be so absurd as to judge it a thing reasonable Deos peregrinos ne colunto It was a Law of Romulus against the introducing of new and strange gods Numa Pompilius Socrates and all the wise States-men of the world Heathen no less then Christian have been always careful to provide against Innovation change and corrupting of Religion And shall his Catholike Majestie do nothing for the preserving of Religion sound and entire who both by his own piety and the dignity of his Title is obliged to do so much Shall it be necessary for the peace of their new State to use severity and shall it not be both necessary and just for the preservation of his which is so Ancient so Old For their conscience sake they will bar out Catholikes Shall he not for conscience sake take the same course with Calvinists How strangly do their beginnings and proceedings differ They take up arms against their Sovereign for Liberty of Conscience and yet by those Arms they forbid Liberty of Conscience to their Sovereign For as much as they forbid it to his people their Fellow-subjects they forbid it to Him who pretends to no more in that respect then what every subject he hath ought to enjoy And that his person together with some other of his Subjects is free is not because these men would not but because they cannot bring them in Bondage These States in their Letters to the Emperor 1608. pretend that the Spaniards made use of the Treaty at Colen rather to oppress the Country of the Netherlands then to ease them and therefore to avoid utter ruin Pleraeque Belgicae Provinciae quae in Vnione perstiterant c. Several of the Provinces say they which stood firme to the Vnion did at last renounce or abjure the King and established unto themselves a certain form of Government in the nature of a Free State and have been so acknowledged by other Christian Princes for Thirty years together and more The ground of this Plea is Tyranny exercised after the Treaty at Colen but this Union was made before how then doth it cohere to justifie their doings They say also that the King of Spain and Arch Duke acknowledge them as Free Provinces in quâ—s ipsi nihil juris pretendunt upâ—n whom they pretend to have no Title This is a new Plea I confess But the Reader will observe as it can onely justifie their possession and title for the future so doth it manifestly suppose that their actings before that Declaration was made and by which it was forcibly drawn from their Prince were Illegal Disloyal Rebellious Which the States may do well to remember so often as they use that Plea Nevertheless because by an imperfect disquisition of the matter I would not do harm where I intend onely good I leave this wholly to the Consideration of the Honorable and Learned Chancellor Peckins who can best in a convenient time satisfie the world that this is but a Scar-Crow a Fig-leaf-pretence and a Thunder without a Bolt So that their whole Plea at lest for their past actions resting only upon the stilts of pretended Tyranny Exaction and abrogation of priviledges which have been so often and so manifestly disproved what remains but their condemnation And that we abhor the principles which have lead them into this predicament of disloyalty and sin And yet to leave nothing untouched that can be easily thought on let us once again suppose all their charges viz. Tyranny Exaction breach of Oath c to be true yet must we tell them The Tyranny of a King shall never warrant their usurpation and greater Tyranny Yea suppose he hath lost his right by what Law Order or Priviledge acknowledged do they pretend to have found it Nay what Law of equity or reason have they to Act those things which they confess to be Illegal Unwarrantable yea Tyrannical in him Is it so great an offence for the King to abrogate their priviledges and is it not as great or greater offence for Subjects to usurp his nay to usurp greater then they will acknowledge he ever had May they onely be Parties and Judges in their own case and to the prejudice yea punishment of no less Person then their Prince never was such iniquity heard of Posterity will not beleeve it The Switâ— ers The Amphiâ— yon 's those Cantons of Grecia never heard of such Liberty what is if this be not to confess plainly Regnâ— occupantium esse that Kingdoms go onely by conquâ—st that possession and power are sufficient titles to any Government 'T is true a man may make himself Civis alienae reiâ—ublicae a Subject to another State then that whereof he is native perhaps more ways then one But he can never unmake himself Subject of that Country where he is native do what he can especially staying there and much less of a Subject make himself Sovereign For let him Rebel as who doubts but the Hollanders did yet he remains a Subject still de jure and of right Adde hereunto if the King should forfeit his Earldom of Holland it were not to them he should forfeit it but unto the Emperor to whom it escheates as is cleer both by the Imperial and Municipal Laws Forfeitures do not use to fall to the Tenants but to the Lord of the Fee And 't is evident that Holland was erected into an Earldom not by the Grandsires of Orange nor of any of the Burgers of Amsterdam Delft Dâ—rt c. but by the Emperor Carolus Calvus in the year 863. Qui cum audivit c. Who hearing saith the * Berland Meyer Historian that the County of Hoâ—and being a part of the Emperors demesnes was much infested and spoyled by the Danes at the instant reâ—uest of Pope John principatum ejus c. bestowed the principality thereof upon Theodorick or Thierry If then the Earldom of Holland c. be not in the King of Spain to whom it descended lineally from Theodorick The Emperor may give a second Investiture thereof to whom he please as of a Fief Imperial For to say it should be lapsed into the right of the Province as perhaps particular Estates may do is vain The Emperor takes no notice of their private customes neither can they be prejudicial to a third Person who is so much superior to them and upon whom their very customes do originally depend Beside the Earldom was never vacant there was always an Heir notoriously known either in possession or plea for it They hold it therefore by the sword onely but that is the worst title of all and fitter for those Hoords of Tartarians then for a Common-wealth of Christians Neither Littleton nor Somme rural nor Jus feudale know any such
Tenure A certain Hollander in a third defence which he hath written of the united Provinces calls the King Raptorem Hereticum notorium Spoyler and Notorious Heretick and therefore to be set upon and driven out of his Kingdom by a general League and Vnion of all the forces of all Protestant Princes and States of Christendom But hoc tantum defuit this onely was wanting to advance their Calumnies against His Majestie to the height of impudence Never was the King of Spain called Heretick by man since he deserved the title of Catholike and it could not be done now but by one whose Malice and Heresie together had corrupted his judgement unto madness Nor is it to much better purpose that which they say concerning other Princes and States viz. That they have been acknowledged and treated by forreign Princes as Free States above thirty years That time will not serve for Prescription and if it would Prescription always pleadeth some other Title and possession bonâ fide beside neither of which can they pretend without blushing Neither can the opinion of forreign Princes make their bad claym better it may give some reputation indeed to an usurper but not any Title of right And as in a bad quarrel bravely defended not the cause but the success gains the credit so it is their prosperity and not the justice of their cause which doth them honor Beside it is not true that Princes have so reputed them To Negotiate with them under a quality which they will assume is one thing and really to adjudge that quality as due to them is another They offered the Sovereignty of these Provinces to Queen Elizabeth but she refused them The world doth not think it was out of any Favor to King Philip that she did so but because she knew they offered something more then their own and she was not willing to give her own people such a bad President against her self And when for private ends and some reasons of State she was content for a while to take upon her the charge and title of Protectress of the poor distressed States c. it was observed the business was most earnestly promoted by them who were now as willing to be rid of the * E. Leicester Son as when time was the Marquis of Winchester had been to be rid of the * Duke of Northumberland Camden Father This is upon record that Aversata est Regina the Queen could never endure the offer of the Sovereignty of those Provinces Neither was Sir Noel Caron in her time ever acknowledged Embassador but Agent But to joyn issue with them more neerly let us here what Damhouderius Praxis Crimin c. 132. a famous Lawyer and their own Countryman saith Seditiosi sunt qui moliuntur conspirationem c. Seditious persons saith he are such as hatch or foment Conspiracies against the Governors and Lievtenants of the Provinces that procure unlawful meetings or assemblies of the people or cause any Tumults in the Towns What is this but an Endictment drawn against the States considering their practises not onely against the Person of D' Alva but of Don John himself the Duke of Parma c. their many and tumultuous meetings at Breda Osterweal Saint Trudens their encouraging yea incensing the Genses throughout all the Provinces lastly with their defence and holding of Harlem Alemar Leyden and other places by force of Arms Again Chap. 82. he teacheth that to make a War just there must be first a just cause Second honest intention Third Authority of the Prince or Supream Magistrate Sine quâ without which saith he 't is Treason to make War That same Sine quâ of his might make the States tremble if they reflect upon it For in all their Wars they neither had good cause nor good colour Their Religion and Liberties were all secured to them by the pacification at Gaunt by the perpetual Edict by the Articles of the Treaty of Colen which were all quietly enjoyed without disturbance by such of the Provinces as would conform to them Their Sovereign was known to be His Catholike Majestie and for their good intention as no man could judge of it but by their actions so it appeared cleerly to be onely to sow dissention among the people and through factions and discord to arm them by degrees against the supream Magistrate under colour of Religion And the Prince of Orange most disloyal of all other because being a person of Honor and so highly entrusted by the King he betrayed that great trust reposed in him and made a War by his own Authority and that of his faction against the King Although he had neither Office nor any kinde of Command in the Low-Countries but what he had under the Wings of the Eagle and the Authority of the Lyon All his Belgick Lands he held in Fee of the Duke of Burgundy as his Leige-Lord he did Homage and Fealty for them and knew that a Sovereign gives Law as well as offices to his Subjects Besides Claudius le Brun Process Crimin another famous Lawyer addeth this viz. That whosoever surprizeth Towns Castles Forts without order of his Sovereign as the Prince caused Lumay to do in Holland and as Voorst and Barland did Flushing by which the peace of the Country is broken or who attempteth against the life of his Sovereigns Lievtenant it is Treason And these are judgements which all Europe do consent in decrees of reason and principles of Government which must not be called in question if the States of Holland themselves do permitt them to be disputed they must never expect Peace Order or any setled obedience in their Country So that by Law 't is cleer in what case the States do stand for thus breaking the peace of Christendom in those times and being cause of the effusion of so much Christian blood as hath been shed in that quarrel Now concerning any liberty which the Gospel Holy Scriptures or any principles of true Religion may be supposed to give them to use such proceedings against the Sovereign Prince I shall not enter into any Theological dispute with them as being beside my purpose which is onely to shew matter of opinion and matter of Fact in this controversie of obedience due to the Supream Civil Magistrate And therefore because I write onely to English men I shall content my self onely with the judgement of Doctor Bilson against them He was a great Divine and a great Prelate of the Church of England and chosen on purpose to write on this Argument by the greatest Statesman of that time and he wrote cum privilegio of the State and with the general approbation of the English Church Shall a King Christian Subject c. saith he be deposed if he break his promise and Oath at Coronation in any of the Covenants and Points which he promiseth He answers in the Margin No. The breach of Covenants is not deprivation and gives this reason
Ottoman Greatness and the whole Nation of Turks and that in a short time Ferdinand would surely be expelled out of all Germany and forced to seek his fortunes in Spain But O Monstrous O Incredible that such desperate malice and impiety should enter the hearts of any that profess themselves Christians were it not that the Records themselves be extant fide publicâ which do assure us thereof even beyond contradiction who could beleeve it O Malice implacable O Envy most perfectly diabolical And O happy house Family Name of Austria which for the interest of true Religion and Constancy to Justice deservest to be made the object of such execrable Spleen and to Combat perpetually with such odious and Antichristian Conspiracies Guicciard Lib. 20. It is no new thing But Macte istâ virtute Be faithful to God and to those principles of piety and justice descended from so many so Religious and so Renouned Ancestors and reign in spite of Hell so long as the Sun and Moon endureth The Truth is Ambition was so hungry with them that they consulted about dividing the Bears Skin before the Bear was taken They consulted how they should share among them the spoils of the German Clergy and of the house of Austria before either of them was in their power For as by their Chancery-rolls it is evident Their intent was to advance the Palatine to Bohemia Cancel Anhaltina Alsatia and some part of Austria enlarging his Dominion also with the Bishoprick of Spiers and a part of Mentz Bethlehem Gabor should be assisted to keep Hungary which afterwaâ—d this Gabor having no issue might also probably fall to the Palâ—tines lot Too many Crowns herâ—â— you will say to expect any in Heaven Onaltzbach gaped for Two fat Benefices the Bishopricks of Wâ—râ—â—burgh and Bambergh his Neighbors and therefore was it agreed that their Armies should Rendevouz in those parts The Marquis of Baden thirsted after Brisack and was willing by this occasion to continue his possession of the upper Marquisate against the more just claim of the Count Eberstein Brandenburgh expected the least of all being content onely with a part of the Bishoprick of Wirtzburgh which lay fit for him But Anhalt intended to recruit both his purse and broken fortunes with the spoils of Mentz Banbergh and other Catholike places as also with some Lands and Lordships which were like to Escheat in Bohemia If the Venetians would joyn with them they might make themselves Masters of Istria and Friuli and so Oceanum cum Adriatico as their Cancellaria speaks they might joyn Sea to Sea and Land to Land and carry all before them without controule Such were the vast but vain designs of their Ambition and Avarice But before we proceed any further it may not be amiss to examine their Plea It is manifest their design in it self was most pernicious and such as if it had taken effect which God would not suffer had been of general prejudice to the State of Christendom and not onely to the Peace of the Empire which yet every one of the Princes Confederate were bound in some relation or other to maintain beside the subversion of all Laws which apparently it carryed along with it Who doth not remember how all the Pulpits in England when time was and generally of all the Reformed Churches abroad sounded the Alarme against the League and Leaguers in France Which yet was not half so mischeivous as this but was at first set on foot quietly without any sedition or insurrection onely for defense of the Ancient Religion always received and established in France yea confirmed with the Kings personal Oath and approbation And though it were afterward continueed and more strictly prosecuted upon occasion of some horrid Actions of murther and tyranny yet Monsieur Villeroy himself who was a wise man and a great Royallist professeth that their aim was not the Extirpation of the King of Navarre but his Reformation and that if they might be assured of his Religion which he had promised he should be instantly assured of their obedience as in the conclusion it clearly appeared every person in France according as the King condiscended to give them satisfaction in that point entirely acknowledging their Allegiance to him And the mishap which befel him afterwards was not in pursuance of the League but upon a private account not to say upon some new provocation given and which no man living justified But as for this Union it runs in a far wilder strain and is for the advancement of a new Religion entirely disavowed by all the States of the Empire in all their publike Acts. How then can it be otherwise then extreamly disloyal and criminous The Duke of Saxony himself though a Protestant Prince disswaded it and advised the Palatine very prudently and like a friend to quit Bohemia and to seek for reconciliation and pardon where as yet he might possibly finde it Beside it opened the Gates of the Empire to the Turk which mischief alone had there been no other going along with it had been sufficient to condemn it But Plessen confesseth in his Letter to Anhalt That it was an Action of the same nature with Holland and what that was we have seen already In brief they took arms against a King Lawfully Elected solemnly Crowned and established in possession by consent of the States It is true when they first went about the work they nominated the Duke of Saxony as Competitor with the Palsgrave for Bohemia but that was meerly craft and a trick of maliciousness to render the Duke suspected with the Emperor They knew he had rejected their offer and Confederacy long before when their Agent the Count Slick sollicited him in their names By this means they put Austria it self the Emperors Patrimonial Country into sedition The people there through correspondence with the Turk and Gabor were so bold as to tell Ferdinand that unless he would grant them Toleration and such Liberty of Conscience as they desired they would joyn with his Enemies And they were in this point as good as their words For in the year 1620. all the upper Austria did really quit their old Lord and submitted unto a new Protector in his stead If the Catholikes of England should attempt the like how would it be censured for sedition and punished severely as it might and yet surely the cases are much Parallel and if there be any advantage it is on our side who desire the exercise of nothing but what was once publike owned for many ages together by all the people of the Nation and legally established before us But nothing makes the Action more offensive and scandalous then that Anhalt and Onoltzbach two such private and inconsiderable persons in relation to the business they dealt in should take upon them insciis Electoribus without the knowledge and consent of the Princes Electors themselves to dispose of the succession of the Empire and in order to effect this more then
what spirit reigned in them when they were in a storm or that the State seemed to frown upon them you will finde them much differing from themselves and that they were not always such peaceable men and so calmly spirited towards Authority as now they seem For if Master Fox doth Register his Martyrs aright and that Wicliff and his followers were Protestants as Protestants will have them to be there is cause of exception against them not a little For first their opinion was That no Magistrate in the state of sin had any Authority Which Position alone openeth as wide a gap to Rebellion and Resistance against the Civil Magistrate as Hell it self can desire And that we do not bely them herein Comment in Arist Politic Melancthon himself confesseth Wicleff saith he was the cause of much tumult and trouble in England Qui contendit eos qui non habent Spiritum sanctum amittere Dominium c. Holding that such persons as have not the Holy Spirit dwelling in them or are not in state of Grace do loose all Dominion and Authority De Jure Magist And elswhere Wicleff saith he was so mad as to hold That wicked persons are uncapable of Dominion Cent. 9. Osiander witnesseth the same And therefore though the same Master Fox calleth him Stellam matutinam in medio nebulae The Morning Star in the midst of a Fog and the Full Moon of those times yet surely the mans judgement in this point was it self much befogged and the Moon of his understanding suffered a great Eclipse Secondly It can as little be denied but that in pursuance of this Doctrine and for defence of his person and some other Heterodox opinions which Wicleff taught Sir John Oldcasâ—le alias Lord Cobham Sir Roger Acton and other his followers Stow. levied an Army of Five and twenty thousand men with intention as our own Chronicles relate to suppress the Monasteries of Westminster Pauls St. Albans and to destroy all the Frieries in and about London Which they had also effected but that it hapned the religious and valiant Prince Henry the Fift was at that time in the state of Grace and exercised his Royal Authorâ—ty so happily upon them in Saint Giles his Fields where their Rendevouz was that they were all either killed or scattered and about Seven and thirty of the principal of them executed Sir John Oldcastle and Acton fled but were afterward both of them apprehended and attainted of High Treason for which and for Heresie they suffered according to their merits Master Fox laboreth much to excuse or extenuate these things but to no purpose they being so palpably and undeniably true That our English Chroniclers themselves Stow. Harpsfield Histor Wicliff and other worthy Authors of our Country do expresly avouch them And certain it is that in the first year of Henry the Fifth Schedules were set on Pauls Church door boasting seditiously of no less numbers then One hundred thousand men ready to rise against such as were enemies to their Sect. Sir John Oldcastle being first committed to the Tower for certain points of opinion concerning the Sacraments which the Synod of London had condemned brake out from thence and was harbored by one Bennet who for that fact and for dispersing Seditious Libels against the King was himself executed And Sir John Oldcastle being the second time apprehended was indicted in open Parliament as an enemy to the State but answered most contemptuously and according to the Principles of his Sect That it was a trifle to him to be judged by them and that he had no judge among them c. At his death he spake more like a mad man then otherwise desiring Sir Thomas Arpingham that in case he saw him rise again within three days he would be good to those of his Sect. Yet as it commonly happens that Preachers of Novelty and Sedition do seldom want some Princes or other of the Temporalty and great Personages to countenance them so was it here Wicliff beside some few of both the Universities Oxford especially whom his Doctrines had caught and corrupted found no mean Friends and Patrons even at Court John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster openly favored him so did Sir Henry Peircy Marshal of England insomuch that Wicliff being upon a time summoned to appear before the Bishop of London both those Personages the Duke and Marshal with divers others of the Court bore him company to Pauls on purpose to discountenance the Bishop and to animate Wicleff and his followers in their courses It is confessed the Duke and Wicleff had several ends The first aimed to destroy the Liberties of the Church and the Charter of London both which he found to be great blocks and obstacles in the way of his ambitious designs the other simply to satisfie an envious Malignant humor which possessed him against the Clergy desiring if he could to make himself famous by their infamy But it is observable the designs both of the one and of the other failed them For Wicleff as great a Protestant as they would have him died a simple Parish-Priest at Lutterworth in Leicestershire Doctor Harpsfields History where he said Mass to his death and was never able to obtain the preferment which he desired And John of Gaunt lived to be accused publikely of many evil practises prejudicial to Religion and to the Nation and in particular of aspiring to the Crown but his cheif Accuser viz. John Latimor an Irish Frier was through the power of the Duke committed to the custody of Sir John Holland as they pretended in order to his Tryal Howbeit the poor man the very night before he should come to his Answer to prevent further trouble was found strangled in his bed and that as our own Chronicles report by the same Sir John Holland and one Green But to come neerer the present age and consider how obedient and loyal this sort of men shewed themselves in Queen Maries times A time of Tryal you will say to some of them True but therefore most likely to discover their true Genius and Spirit Now it is manifest That in the short space of Her Reign which was not much above five years she had more open Rebellions and Insurrections made against her from such of her Subjects as were not well affected unto her Religion then Queen Elizabeth had from Catholikes in full Forty and five How plain and sincere her Government was how far from tricks and such strains of policy or rather iniquity as were afterward used is manifest to all the world How great a Justicer was She It will be said Somewhat too severe and it may be as truly answered That severity was necessary not onely by the judgement of Parliament which a little before had Enacted those Laws upon which she proceeded and before which she acted nothing in that kinde But also in respect of her own safety and of the State against both which that sort of men
which tasted of the severity of those Laws were not a little insolent and prone to attempt Yet that she was withal a Princess very merciful is manifest by her compassion shewn to such as deserved not well of her that is To the Dutchess of Somerset to Sir John Cheek who had been the principal corrupter of King Edward her Brothers Infancy to Sir Edward Montague Lord Cheif Justice who had both counselled and subscribed to her disinheriting to Sir Roger Ch lmley to the Marquis of Northampton to the Lord Robert Dudly to Sir Henry Dudly to Sir Henry Gates c. who stood all of them attainted and the Duke of Suffolk All which persons were very obnoxious to Her Justice she knew very well they neither affected Her Religion nor Title They were already her prisoners in the Tower yet she released them all But for all this the Zealots of her time would not be quieted nor suffer her to enjoy any quiet They Libel against the Government of Women they pick quarrels and murmur at her marriage they publish invectives and scurrilous Pamphlets against Religion yea they forbear not to conspire and plot Her Deprivation out of a desire to advance Her Successor to the Crown under whom every Calvinist expected a Golden Age. The austerities and abstinences which Catholike Religion prescribed and which the Queen by Authority of Parliament had but lately reduced and was her self very exemplary in the observation of them were not much pleasing to some Gallants about the Court nor to many others both in City and Country whose affections were better satisfied with the Liberties of the former Age and therefore desired some change of this But among other Instruments of mischeif that Book written by Goodman intituled Of Obedience was a most pernicious Incentive among the commons teaching expresly Ad Nobil Scot. P. 94. That Queen Mary deserved to be put to death as a Tyrant and a Monster And that other of Knox with whom the Zealots of England did correspond too much where he hath among many other of like nature this passage Illud aud actèr affirmaverim c. This I dare boldly say saith he the Nobility Magistrates Judges and whole people of England were bound in Conscience not onely to oppose and withstand the proceedings of that Jesabel Mary whom they call their Queen but even to have put her to death and all her Priests with her After this Sir Thomas Wyat takes up Arms for which Master Fox worthily Chronicles him marches his Army like another Cyrus as some called him over Shâ—oters-Hill threatning both the Court and the City Prince and People And for this Goodman in his Book Of Obedience commends him saith He did but his duty and that it was the duty of all who professed the Gospel to have risen with him This was their doctrin then And though it be said That Goodman recanted his opinion in Queen Elizabeths days it was perhaps onely that part of it which opposed the Government of Women And if he did it absolutely what doth it prove but the inconstancy of such men and how easily they can conform themselves to times that favor them and of what spirit they are under the cross and affliction Wyats pretence was particoloured looking as he would seem both at Religion and bonum Publicum in his opposing the Queens marriage with Spain as both Holinshead and Stow agree They that suppose it to have been meerly upon a civil account are confuted by the Queen her self in her Speech at Guildhal where she tells the City That she had sent divers of her Counsel to Wyat to demand the Reasons of his Insurrections and that they found The business of the marriage was onely a cloak to cover Religion which was the thing principally aimed at For he urged also to have the Tower delivered to him to have power to nominate and chuse new Counsellors declaring plainly That he would not trust but be trusted But Master Fox is plain in the case for he confesseth of all that Rabble which followed Wyat That they conspired among themselves for Religion and made Wyat their cheif The marriage was looked upon by them onely as an accessory thing and a means to strengthen that which they meant to overthrow and eo nomine for that respect onely it was to be hindred Upon this account William Thomas a Gospeller of those times conspireth to kill the Queen and at his death is so far from repenting of such a foul intention That he glorieth to die for the good of his Countrey Yea the Faction grew so tumultuous and bold That Doctor Pendleton was shot at in the very Pulpit Preaching at Pauls and Master Bourn had a Dagger thrown at him in the same place the multitude being so disorderly That the Lord Major himself had much ado to quiet them and the Lords of the Counsel were forced to come thither the next Sunday with a guard to keep things in order and to prevent further combustions which were feared At Westminster upon Easter-day a desperate fellow wounded the Priest as he was at Mass in Saint Margarets Church there After this they found out a Perkin Warbeck and brought him upon the Stage one Wilâ—iam Fetherston counterfeiting King Edward whom the world and some of themselves especially knew well enough to be dead on purpose to amuze the Queen and disturb the State There was one Cleber sometimes a Pedant living at Yakesly in Norfolke put to death for a conspiracy against the Queen Vdal Staunton Peckham and Daniel were committed for the same crime for which and for attempting to rob the Exchequer and her Treasury and also for Heresie they had their desert Not to speak of the Treasons of Dudley and Ashton set on by the French In Devonshire Sir Peter and Sir Gawin Cary great Protestants together with Sir Thomas Denny took arms to impede King Philips arrival in England possessed themselves for some time of Excester Castle but afterward seeing things go contrary to their expectation they made an escape by getting over into France Thomas Stafford coming well instructed from Genevah made Proclamations publickly in several places of the Kingdom that Queen Mary was not lawful Qeen was unworthy to reign and to abuse the people further gave out no less boldly then falsly that already Twelve of the best fortified places in England were committed to the Spaniards Upon which pretense Bradford Proctor Streachly and he surprize the Castle of Scarborough in Yorkshire a Fort of singular strength which they would hold against the Spaniards they should have said against their Queen and Sovereign but they lost it and their heads beside Henry Duke of Suffolk one to whom the Queen had given life before being Father to the Lady Jane and a privy Counsellor in those Treasons of Northumberland fled into Leicestershire with the Lord Gray making Proclamation against the Queens marriage but not being able to raise a Commanding Army as he hoped was compelled
violence of his own exorbitant passions without any order or colour of Law and as no just Prince ought to govern how much less would they have thought it lawful and how little would they approve it to be done against such Princes as govern legally and do nothing concerning Religion or otherwise but according as the Laws and and publike Constitutions of their several Kingdoms do direct and inable them to do He that proclaymed the Prerogative of Kings in these terms Vos Estis Dii I have said Yee are Gods surely intended to teach the world rather a lesson of obedience then rebellion And there is no Prince or State in the world Let them countenance what Sect or Profession of Religion soever they please but shall finde it at one time or another a necessary Bulwark for them to retreat unto against the inundations of popular fury Who doth deny but that it is necessary that the governments of all Princes whatsoever should be regulated and moderated by Laws and that all persons in Authority do observe all rules whatsoever that are proper for them or prescribed to them by those to whom that power belongeth We pretend not to enhaunce the Authority of Princes so far as to exempt them from the rule of Law or to make them Arbitrary in their government but this we say Vos Esi is Dii in relation unto Princes and all Persons established in Supream Authority justly that is by the will of Divine Providence and consent of the people is a great exemption of them from any popular Cognizance For what does it intimate but that * Egodixi Allmighty God himself hath made them Gods unto the people that is to say persons of Knowledge Experience Foresight Care Providence and other abilities Intellectual which are the natural and genuine principles of government competent and sufficient for the government of people who are not otherwise generally speaking Et pro majori parte able to govern themselves in civil society and for their preservation in peace and quietness which is the end of Government We think it is most proper for God onely to say Transferam Regna de gente in gentem Revolutions of Governments and Translating of one Kingdom to another are the Extraordinary Dispensations of Divine Providence and for reasons onely known unto his supream and secret wisdom Which although they be acted that is brought to pass by the hands of men yea through their infirmities and many times blamable passions as experience often sheweth and as in the case of King Rehoboam the Son of Solomon 1 Reg. 12.16 may seem plain yet are not the common people licensed hereby to run upon any irregular designs of their own head and to renounce their Governors headily and hastily of themselves for every lght greivance and misgovernment that may seem to afflict them To remove Tyrants and oppression from a people is the work of Divine Mercy as it is of his justice to permit them to oppress and from him only must they expect deliverance abiding in the mean while with patience until his Divine hand shall appear leading them to such means as they may with justice and good order use to the procuring of their liberty The Second Part. JERUSALEM OR The Obedience Loyalty and Conformity OF CATHOLIKES unto Publike Order HItherto we have insisted onely upon the Doctrines and practises of those who call themselves Reformed Churches or Protestants in the charge of Rebellion and Tumult against the Civil Magistrate by which how tolerable and quiet they are in any Kingdom or State whose Religion is not framed according to their Mode the indifferent Reader will judge It remaineth now that we make good the contrary concerning our selves and shew that those vertues which we pretend to be the true and proper Characters of our Religion viz. Humility Devotion Obedience Order Patience c. are more generally and more constantly exercised by Catholikes in times of Tryal then by any other Sect or Sort of people whatsoever This we intend to do but not so much Theoretically or by way of any long and speculative discourse as Practically Historically and by way of instance shewing what the behavior and practise of Catholikes have been in this case upon occasions given Neither shall we range far abroad into the world because that would be less pertinent to our main purpose which is onely to justifie our selves in this point so far as reason and truth will give us leave and enlarge our discourse beyond its intended bounds But we shall content our selves onely with domestick examples and that experience which the Catholikes of this Nation have given of themselves from time to time in this kinde What kinde of people they were anciently in this Land in the time of King Lucius and the Brittons I shall not need to relate but refer you to the Ecclesiasticall Histories of those times the rather because the Centurists of Magdeburgh and Master Fox in his Acts and Monuments will have these Catholikes to be Protestants and of their Church which though it be very false yet I may not ingage for the cleering of that point now Nor shall I insist any longer upon those times of the Saxons after they were converted to Christianity to shew their vertues and singular devotion towards God and how happily by means thereof the Church and Common-wealth did grow up together unto that perfection of Spiritual and Temporal glory which they injoyed under that Blessed Prince and Saint King Edward the Confessor I shall not tell you how highly the good Prelates of the Church were then reverenced by the people nor how much their holy Counsels and Authority did conduce to the happy government of the State It sufficeth Lamb. Archaion Camden Spelm. Concil that many old Saxon Laws and other Monuments yet upon record Venerable Bede and the Stories of those times with other Modern Authors are witnesses of it beyond all exception From King Edward the Confessor downwards to King Henry the Eighth there is no man of judgement will affirm or thinketh that any other Religion was known in England but the Roman-Catholike that is the same that had been long before planted here by Saint Austin and those Good men his followers who were sent hither to convert the English Saxons by Saint Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome for which charity towards our Nation Doctor Whitaker giveth him thanks and professeth it was a great Benefit and for ever most gratefully to be remembred In all which time although the Clergy made Canons and managed all things pertaining to Religion by an Authority of their own that is to say given them by God and derived to them from an other origin then that of the State or Supream Magistrate Temporal yet never did the Kings of this Realm finde them generally otherwise then obedient unto their Government and ready to serve them in such capacity as the Laws and duties of their function permitted and to contribute their
best assistance to the support of the Estate Royal and of the Kingdom wherein they lived It is true through the malice of the Devil and Instigation of some Enemies of the Church some of them for the asserting of their legal Immunities and to preserve the Liberty of their spiritual Jurisdiction entirely Free as it ought they were dirven now and then yet very seldom in comparison of such a long tract of time as we instance in unto some vehement and earnest contestation with their Princes and though much further then was pleasing to them yet I suppose not beyond terms of due respect and the Authority of their Function much less did they endeavor to stir up rebellion or instigate the people to sedition and commotions against their Princes nor did they ever upon their own account solely concur in any thing of that nature The first King that ever gave cause in this Kingdom effectually and in the face of the world to trie the admirable patience obedience and loyalty of Catholikcs was King Henry the Eighth Flagellum Dei that scourge of God to the Church of England and all good Catholikes therein yet outwardly professing the same Religion in most things with Catholikes This he did first by a pretended Accusation of the Clergy to be fallen in a Praemunire because Scil they did that which all their predecessors the Bishops and Clergy of England for many Hundreds of years confessedly had done without any exception taken viz. for acknowledging the power Legantine of Cardinal Wâ—lsey which yet the King himself for his own ends and in his own case had first of all procured 2. upon the Statute of supremacy And 3. by suppression of the Abbies These were his Three first breaches by which the Foundation strength and glory of the Catholike Church in England became afterwards utterly ruinated By the first his way was levelled to the Second and the Second obtained gave him power and authority to compass the Third By the First indeed onely the Clergy smarted in a fine of an Hundred thousand pound The second lay heavy upon the Clergy and Temporalty both But by the Third viz. the suppression of the Abbies and Religious houses if we consider the infinite prejudice which the poor Commonalty suffered thereby both in point of spiritual and temporal interest the whole Kingdom might be said to be worse then conquered by him that is Robbed Spoiled Enslaved to the exorbitancy of his sole Will Prodigality Lust and Tyranny And all this done to be revenged on the Pope who condescended not to humor him in the business of his marriage Therefore and to advance his own power and greatness That Authority and Jurisdiction which had alway been acknowledged as sacred by the English ever since the English were Christians must in a moment be abandoned disclaimed abjured himself by an unheard of and fatal Ambition instead thereof made Head of the Church and all persons who out of scruple of Conscience refused to conform to such grand sudden and sacrilegious Innovations and to swear they knew not what were cut shorter by the head executed at Tyborn imprisoned banished and put into such condition as he was sure they should not oppose him The ground of the Praemunire was at first onely a quarrel which he pick't against the Cardinal Wolsey but afterwards stretched it upon the Tenters and made it reach the whole Clergy who being thereupon Summoned into the Kings Bench the business was so aggravated there by the Lawyers The Kings Learned Counsel that in the Convocation house they presently concluded to submit themselves to the King and offer him no less sum then One hundred thousand pound for their pardon This was look't upon by the Christian world as a Prodigy That so many Shepherds should be afraid of one Wolfe And though it becomes us not hear to censure whether they did as they ought yet certainly this weakness of the Pastors boded no good to the Flock and it is observed that neither themselves nor the Church nor Religion ever prospered in England afterwards However the King accepts of thâ—ir offâ—r and signs their Pardon but with a fetch far worse then the first For undâ—r a prâ—â—eâ—ce of procuring this Pardon to be confirmed to them in Parliament he draws thâ—m in there how willingly or unwillingly let the world judge to acknowledge him Supream Head of the Church It was a course even at that time not thought agreeable to Justice or Honor. For as we said the Cardinal Wolsey had the Kings License for the exercise of his Legantine power both under the Kings hand and the Great Seal of England and was employed by the Kings particular Mandate and pleasure in the quality of Legat to sit with the other Legat Cardinal Campegius and examine the business of his marriage And could the Divorce have been granted according to the Kings minde it is easily conjectured the Cardinal had never been questioned for his Legat-ship Touching the Second of Supremacy All the Subjects of England ever acknowledged that the Crown and State of England quoad Temporalia in Temporal affairs and matters is independent of any other power but of that Transcendent Majestie which saith Per me reges regnant and this to the intent that Kings and all Governors considering who will one day take their Audit may be more careful to rule with Justice and common equity without partiality passion prejudice against any mans person further then his crimes against Publike Order Common Right and the Peace of the State shall make him obnoxious and by so doing may keep their accounts streight against the day of Account And on the other side that Subjects remembring their duty and who it is that layeth this jugum suave the sweet Yoke of good Government upon their Shoulders might be induced to obey with more fidelity and prompt affection But the Question which King Henry the first of all Kings Princes or States of Christendom propounded to his Clergy and People in Parliament concerned matters purely Spiritual and wherein not himself onely and his Subjects at home but all Christian Kings Princes States and people in the world were concerned And therefore required far greater deliberation I say not then was used for in truth that was little or none at all the Kings pleasure and resolution was known and that as the world went then was sufficient but I say then could possâ—bly be used in England which was then but one single Kingdom and a small Province of Christendom And for the suppression of the Abbeys and Religious houses by that Act and this other of Supremacy together the Clergy of England were brought absolutely into Captivity and stood meerly as they have done ever since at the pleasure of the King and of the State Their Possessions the greatest part of them were seized their Goods forfeited their Churches profaned and sacked and upon the spoils thereof together with the sale of the Vestments Chalices Bells and other
Honor and Strength of the Nation Titulus Secundus HItherto Schisme and Sacriledge annexed to it chiefly reigned but the second plague was the utter ruin and extinction of Religion For by abuse of the name and authority of King Edward the very Church it self was entirely subverted Religion absolutely changed Heresie introduced and established in the full open and publike profession thereof And we might say the craft and malice of the Devil whose work it is to corrupt true Religion confound States herein most perfectly appeared For though indeed the way to Heresie and all publike disorder were sufficiently levelled and made plain by King Henry the Eighth who onely by reason of his greatness and imperious cruelty was fit to begin such a work yet Religion it self was suffered to stand a while longer at least in the general and more visible parts of it he knowing well that all could not be effected at once and that it was necessary for him to seduce States as he doth souls gradatìm by degrees opportunity and succession of time And being also confident that if those forts of Piety and true Christian-Catholike Devoâ—â—on that is the Religious Houses were once-razed the Church in England brought under a Lay head and by consequence the sheep made Governors of their Shepherds he should easily upon a second attempt there and by some other hand overthrow Religion it self King Henry at his death had appointed by will sixteen Executors who during the minority of his Son King Edward should be as it were his Guardians and Counsellors for the better governing of the Realm Among these one who made himself afterward Principal was the Lord Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford who being the Kings Uncle by the Mother-side procured himself in a short time to be made Protector and by that means gat as he thought a dispensation from his Joynt Executorship with the others and demeaned himself now in all things concerning the Affaires of the Realm as their Superior A thing which King Henry least of all intended rather he had provided with as much caution as was possible against the encroaching of any one upon the rest under any title or pretence soever But this was the way to bring about some furthâ—â— designes intended by that Party which advanced the Protector to that dignity and which the other and more honest part of the Councel did not either so providently foresee or so faithfully resist as they ought to have done One of the first things which the Protector set on foot after the Protectorship was secured to him was Innovation of Religion abolishing the Old Catholike and introducing a New under the title of Reformation Not so much out of any great preciseness that was ever observed in him or devotion that he was thought to have more one way then another but because he was thirsty and desired to drink to the bottom of the Cup which in King Harries time it seems he had but onely tasted There was yet some Game in his eye which he intend-to bring into Toyls viz. some few remains of Church-Lands Collegiate-Lands and Hospitals which he could not compass or draw into possession by any Engine better then that pretence of reforming Religion Cranmer that unworthy Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was his Right Hand and chief Assistant in the work although but a few months before he was of King Harries Religion yea a Patron and Prosecutor of the Six Articles To this end viz. the more to amuze the people and as they thought to give some strength and countenance to what they meant to set up a couple of strangers Religious men indeed by profession but such as were long since run from their Orders that is Peter Martyr and Bucer must be sent for as far as Germany and placed in the Divinity Chairs at Cambridge and Oxford That the world might see how contrary not onely the Pastors of the Church and Clergy but even all the learned men in both the Universities and of the whole Kingdom generally were to his proceedings By these two Apostate Friers together with Cranmer Ridley Latimer and some others was a new Liturgie framed and the old abolished together with that Religion which had been so many hundreds of years observed in this Nation with great happiness and honour The Protector though powerful of himself by abuse and pretence of the Kings name in all things which he did although the King were but a Child of nine years old was yet well seconded by the Duke of Northumberland and by the Admiral his onely Brother by the Marquis of Northampton c. all of them persons seemingly at least much inclined to Reformation and by them he overbore all the rest that opposed him or were any thing contrary to his designs As there were many both eminent and wise men and equally intrusted in the publike affairs with himself could things have been carried rightly In particular the Lord Privy Seal the Lord St. John of Basing Bishop Tonstall Sir Anthony Brown and that wise Secretary Sir William Paget but most especially the Noble Chancellor the Lord Wriothsley a man of singular experience knowledge prudence and who deserveth to be a Pattern to his Posterity far to be preferred before any new Guides But being made Earl of Southampton though it neither won him to the Faction nor contented nor secured him yet he stood thâ— more quiet and made no great opposition to their doings All things now grew to confusion there remained no face nor scarce the name of Catholike Church in England and though there were great multitudes of men well affected to the old Religion and discontented that the Church should be thus driven into the Wilderness and forced to lurk in Corners Yet did they shew loyalty obedience and love to the publike Peace notwithstanding They took up no Arms they raised no Rebellion not so much as against the shadow of a King or the usurper of his Royal name The Protector in the mean time goeth on with his work which is principally to enrich himself with the Remains of the Church having long before as 't is said tasted the sweetness of such Morsels in the Priory of Aumesbury He now seizeth two Bishops houses in the Strand and of them buildeth Sommerset house which as the world saw quickly reverted and slipt out of his hands After this he procureth an Act to be made whereby all Colledges remaining all Chantries Free Chappels and Fraternities were suppressed and given to the King And how greedily he entered into the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Houses and Manors that Church will never be able to forget Notwithstanding that Bishop Bourn afterward by his industry recovered something but nothing to the spoiles and wast which was made Nor was he satisfied with this For shortly after contrary to all Law to King Henries will and against his own Covenants those I mean which he entred to his Advancers when they made him Protector He committed the Lord Chancellor
Wriothsley to the Tower deposed Bishop Tonstal both from the Counsel from his Bishoprick viz. of Durham as thinking it a seignory too Stately for a man of Religion And therefore he dissolved it and brought it within the Survey of the Exchequer that is into his own power but as it was observed he never prospered after However the Act it self was most inexcusably unjust and tyrannical being so directly contrary to Law as appeared beside what hath been alledged before by 1. Ed. 3. chap. 2. where the King dâ—clareth That the Lands of Bishops ought not to be seized into the Kings hands and that what had been done in that kinde in his Fathers days was by advise of evil Counsel and hereafter should not be so But his sins now grew towards ripeness Therfore having also deprived and committed Doctor Gardiner the Bishop of Winchester dissolved the Colledge of Stoke fleeced all the Cathedral Churches in England and added unto the guilt of Sacriledge many other outrages oppressions and crimes under the Nonage of a Pupil King without any check or opposition save onely in the business of the Earldom of Oxford which he was not able to devour as he desired at last in the midst of his carriere and after he had sentenced and put to death his own and onely Brother the Lord Admiral chiefly as 't is supposed upon the instigations of an ambitious or malicious Wife he was himself arraigned for High Treason and ill governing of the Realm as may be seen by the Articles of his Attainder in Stow and thereupon condemned and executed on the twenty second day of January in the year of our Lord 1552. When the Brothers were gone viz. the Protector and Admiral Dudley Duke of Northumberland comes upon the Stage a man whose ambition and policy though unperceived had ruined both of them but especially the Protector whose chief Adversary he was and the principal contriver of the Charge against him which in brief referred unto these Heads 1. That he had subverted all Laws 2. That he had broke the orders appointed by King Henry the Eighth for his Sons good 3. That he held a Cabinet-Councel and by it transacted the publike and chief Affairs of State without the advice of his Fellow-Counsellors 4. Lastly That he observed not the Conditions upon which he was made Protector which were to do nothing in the Kings Affairs without consent of the rest of the Executors Upon these Rocks the Protector perished not without the manifest judgement of God for much injustice which he had committed in the time of his Government especially in the business of Religion and of the Church and Northumberland for a while prevailed This man though he were all otherwise in his heart yet thought fitting to seem a little more precisely religious then the Protector intending thereby to assure himself of the affections of such people as were more Zealously affected to new Religion The Protector looking onely at present proffit caâ—â—d to humor them in that point no further â—â—en might serve his own turn But Northumberland had other designs in his head which were no less then to advance his own Family to the Crown and to ruin the right Heirs And therefore to ingratiate himself more with the Common people in the year 1552. he causeth the Liturgy or book of Common prayer to be the second time Reformed and Purged of certain ceremonies and orders offensive to that sort of people which he desired to please and so to be published This project stood him in much stead among others of the Nobility it gained him the Duke of Suffolk who from henceforward seemed wholly to be at Northumberlands Devotion and to steer his course after the others compass Being a Potent man and the greatest Precisian of those times unless perhaps they dissembled both of them upon the same account But because the Lord Treasurer Paulet Marquis of Winchester was more like to cross theâ—â—â—mply with them therefore it is resolved to remove him out of the way And to that end Northumberland observing that it was the Treasurers custom sitting at the Counsel Table if at any timâ— he were suddenly called up to the King to make such hast thâ—t he commonly left his Spectacles behindâ— him he procured them once to be so sweetly anointâ—d and perfumed before his return that at his next putting them on they cost him his Nose and scaped very narrowly with his Life which yet with much adoe was saved and the Treasurer lived to make the Duke his good friend some part of requital as the event shewed Not long after this King Edward falleth sick whereupon designes growing now to maturity the Duke procures his Son Guildford Dudly to be married to the Lady Jane Grey Daughter to the Dutchess of Suffolk one who had a remote title to the Crown But they meant to advance it by their power The Lady her self being also studiously affected to the Protestant Religion and for that respect they doubted not to finde favors and assistants enough But therein their count failed them At the same time thâ— Earl of Pembrokes Son was married to the Lady Katharine another Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk And the Earl of Huntingdons Son to one of Northumberlands own Daughters All which marriages were solemnized upon one day at Durham House in the Strand And after them King Edward lived not long It is said that the Apothecary who poisoned him for the horror of the offence and disquietness of his Conscience drowned himself and that he Laundress which washed his Shirt lost the Skin of her Fingers But this is certain thâ—re are some yet living in Court who can tell how many weeping Eyes they have seen for the untimely and Treacherous loss of such a Prince See Heyward Hist Edw. 6. But the pretence and zeale of Religion which these men shewed did so overshadow all things for a time that not many could discern their impiety The Oration which Nortâ—umberland made to the Lords in the Tower when he was upon his departure for Cambridge to proclaim his Daughter in Law Lady Jane Queen doth shew what a Fox he was and how far he could both descend and dissemble to compass his ends Goodw. Annals Howbeit in his way the Justice of God met him For the people the Suffolk men especially sticking faithfully to the right Heir and their lawful Sovereign Queen Mary he was quickly deserted by all men apprehended and received at Tower-hil the due reward of his Treason and other sins with the loss of his head And so we see those two Lords of Misrule or Reformation if it must be called so that is to say the Protector Duke of Sommerset and this man Duke of Northumberland Born both of them for the Scourge and ruin of the Catholike Church in England by a just vengance of Heaven proved at last as it were Butchers and Executioners of one another undid their several Families and endangered the whole Realm
proceedings she was not onely left destitute of all her Allies and Confederates and driven as it were to stand solely upon her own guard against France who was already an Enemy and against Spain who was a friend not very well satisfied But she was forced even at first and at the entrance of her Reign to run upon a Rock which might have Shipwrackt her whole State which was to assist the Rebells in Scotland against their lawful Sovereign under a pretence of expelling the French who were brought in thither by Authority of the Queen onely to maintain the Government established This might have taught her own people a bad lesson at home a man would think though it did not as it proved And being thus engaged in Scotland she was obliged in pursuance of her design to succor the Admiral and those Rebellious Hugonots of France by whose perswasion she invaded Normandy took possession of the Towns of Newhaven Diep and some other places delivered to her by the Vidame of Charteres But the disgrace in ill-defending and loosing of them especially of Newhaven was one of the greatest blemishes that ever the English before that time received upon French ground and far greater then it was Honor to have them delivered upon such occasion into the Queens possession For certainly had either the cause been just or prudently managed they might upon that advantage have easily brought home Calice again or lockt up the Gates of Roan and Paris But they did neither nor brought home any thing but a great Plague after them in most mens judgement a scourge to the Realm for that offence After this upon the like necessity of self-preservation and upon the Reason of State which Polybius prescribeth Vicini nimâ—ùm crescentiâ— potentia quâcunque ex causâ deprimenda By all meanes keep thy Neighbor from growing too great she made no scruple to impede and give obstruction to the affairs of King Philip in the Netherlands who was her Neighbor her Ally her Confederate yea upon more occasions then one and in matters of no small exigence the best friend which she had in the world Yet by reason of those pernicious Counsels concerning Religioâ— which she was fallen upon she was as it were compelled to disown his just interest and profess her self Ungrateful in the face of the world Thereupon Orange and the States are assisted against their lawful Sovereign King Philip. I must not deny but even in doing this she pretended respect unto the Kings interest professing in her Declaration concerning that business Stow. That what she did was to preserve the Ancient Amity and Leagues betwixt the Crown of England and the House of Burgundy and to prevent the loss and utter revolt of those Countries from the Kings obedience which she knew otherwise the States and Orange would deliver up to some other Prince more professedly his Enemy So true it is that which Machiavel observed I suppose much about those times viz. That wise Princes seldom or never want pretences for their Actions What a fair colour is here given to a foul Cause But where is Conscience Christianity and Truth in the mean time The world could see well enough through the Vizard and knew at what mark both the Queen and the States aimed But most Sage sure and worthy of so great a Commander and wise man as himself was is that of Thucydides Nullus Princeps a suis subditis justè puniendis arcendus est c No Prince saith he ought to be hindred from punishing his Subjects according to the Laws and whosoever goeth about to do so by his evil example parem in se legem Statuit c. he makes a Law against himself and inables his own Subjects in like case to seek forreign protection against his jusâ—ice And this the Queen with the whole Nation might have found true by sad experience if that either Henry the Second or Francis the Second Kings of France had lived or that her own Subjects I mean those whom she had not a little injured and alienated by her Misgovernment had not been more loyally respective of her dignity and more inclined to obedience and sufferance for a good cause then many other people in the world were But Divine Providence having decreed for our much unworthiness and many sins to remove the Candlestick of this Nation that is to deprive us of the Light of the true saving Faith and of all publike and free exercise of true Christian Religion and to deliver us up to the darkness and many old delusions of Heresie and to follow our own ways in those things wherein it most of all concerned us to have been ruled by good Authority which is the greatest judgement that can befall a Nation or any people in this woâ—ld all things cooperated to the accomplishment of his just displeasure against us And the Queen with heâ— party were permâ—tted to go on with their work without any interruption Even before her Coronation or that any debate or resolution had been taken in Parliament de novo concerning Religion she being her self but a Sheep of the Flock as Constantine Thedosius and many others her Christian Predecessors in Princely Dignity have not blushed to acknowledge yet presumed to put all the Shepheards of the Kingdom to silence commanding that none of the Bishops or other Prelates should preach till her pleasure was further known And after the Parliament all of them that refused the new revived Oath of Supremacy were deprived of all Honors Dignities and Employments which they had in Church or Common-wealth and committed to several Prisons Of this sort there are reckoned no less then Fourteen Bishops of England all Vertuous and Learned Prelates that were instantly deposed and Ten of Ireland Twelve Deans Fifteen Heads or Masters of Colledges Six Abbots besides inferior dignitaries of the clergy viz. Arch-Deacons and other Priests without number together with Master Shelley Prior of Saint Johns of Jerusalem All these as to their demeanor towards the Queen were blameless there was not the least exception taken against them in that respect The Bishops themselves were all sitting in Parliament at the time of Queen Maries death and acknowledged by diverse Proclamations Queen Elizabeths Right and Title to the Crown The Arch-Bishop of York Doctor Heath was then Chancellor of England and labored by all means possible to do her Majestie service and to settle the Hearts of her people in obedience and loyalty towards her as to their natural and lawful Sovereign especially in that grave Oration which he made to the Nobility and Commons of Parliament upon the first report of Queen Maries death The Bishops joyntly did their Homage and Fealty to her in all dutiful maner and though they were not without some suspicion that she intended to change Religion yet did they practise neither Scotizing nor Genevating towards her Never did they incense the people against her though they were generally Catholik and they might probably have
Posse Tyrannum a quoquam c. That a Prince though Tyrant can be put to death by any private Authority And at a Councel held at Oxford under Steven Langton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about the year 1228. Excommunication is decreed against all such as violate the Kings Peace or disturb the State of the Kingdom Yea the Councel of Constance Sess 15. declares it to be an error in Faith to hold otherwise Nuper accepit sancta synodus c. This Holy Synod saie the Fathers of it hath been lately informed that certain erronious opinions are holden contrary to Peace and good Estate of the Common-wealth viz. That a Tyrant may be lawfully and meritoriously taken away and killed by any Subject or Vassal of his c. Non obsâ—ante quocunque juramento c. Notwithstanding whatsoever Oath of Fidelity or Allegiance that he hath made to him Such Doctrine saith the Councel is contrary both to Faith and Manners and whosoever shall hold it pertinaciously are Hereticks and as such to be proceeded against according to the Canons What can be said or desired more upon the Parricide of Henry the Fourth King of France the Parliament of Paris a Court ever most studious of their Princes safety and extreamly vigilant against the encroaching of any forreign power contrary to his just Authority in Temporal causes yet thought it sufficient to publish this decree of the Church against the Assassinates of Princes both to shew the heinousness of the crime as also how much the Catholike Doctrine doth condemn such practises So that hereby as in a Glass the world might see the integrity of Catholike Loyalty if men would judge of them not by the private and perhaps misinterpretâ—table assertions of some particular Doctors but by these publike and avowed principles of their beleef This is the Basis on which they build the rule by which they walk and govern themselves in point of obedience towards their Sovereign Princes Or if they would judge of them by their proceedings and addresses to their Superiors their frequent petitions professions protestations of all just obedience will sufficiently cleer them If by their practice and manner of life their quiet deportment their peaceable manner of living and conversing with all men yea their prayers which they daily make unto Allmighty God in the behalf of their Prince and for the happiness of their Country do shew how innocent they are and how little they deserve those black aspersions and calumnies of Treason Rebellion Disloyalty Et quid non which some men are so diligent to cast upon them Yea to speak with no greater confidence then we justly may they shew how much more secure Princes may be and how much better Tye and assurance they have of Catholikes Loyalty then either of Lutherans or Calvinists For although Protestants do seem sometimes to teach obedience to the Civil Magistrate very freely and that it is sin for private Subjects to resist them as for Example Melancthon in his Epitome of Moral Philosophy makes it Peccatum Mortale No less matter then Mortal Sin I use his own words To violate the Tempâ—ral Laws of the Magistrates Yet is their Doctrine so clogged with exceptions so many limitations and Proviso's as it were are commonly added to it that Princes especially such as differ from them in Religion cannot finde I say not full and plenary but not so much as probable or competent security from them Melancthon in the place before mentioned limiteth himself thus Debet autem haec sententia c. But this which I have delivered saith he concerning obedience to the Civil Magistrates must be rightly understood viz. of such Magistrates as command nothing contrary to the Law of God as all Catholike Princes do in his opinion What security therefore have they from his Doctrine Lib. de Consens Evang. Beside we have shewen before according to his doctrine the people or inferior Magistrates may reform Religion and overthrow Idolatry as they call it without any publike Authority or Commission So that if the Justices of the Peace in some County or but the Petty Constables in Towns do beleeve the Religion professed by the Prince or State to be Idolatrous and not according to Gods word they are discharged of obedience by Melancthon and may fall to reforming solely of themselves And what his Master Luthers opinions were concerning this matter hath been sufficiently shewen already there need be no repetition of them here Danaeus teacheth the same or worse Lib. 6. Polit. c. 3. So doth Peter Martyr on Judges Cap. 11. and in his Common places And Althusius Politic. Cap. 35. P. 37. where among other causes of a Just War maintained by Subjects against their Sovereigns Purae Religionis defensio defence of True Religion hath the Second place Yea it is wel known that Sureau a Protestant Minister in France otherwise called Rosâ—eres wrote a Book expresly on this subject That it was lawful to kill Charls the Ninth Belfor lib. 6. cap. 103. his natural Sovereign and the Queen-Mother if they would not obey the Gospel But to conclude with one instance for all The Hugonots of France having in the Nine and thirtieth Article of their Confession professed That men ought to be obedient to the Laws to pay Tributes and to bear the Yoke of subjection quietly even under unbeleeving Magistrates They adde a limitation which corrupts and nullifies all that they had said viz. Dummodo Dei summum imperium integrum maneat So long onely as Gods Supream Authority is entirely acknowledged which under the Government of an Infidel Magistrate cannot be easily conceived Therefore upon the matter they profess nothing but abuse their Prince and the world with bare words as it is usuall with them to do Which is yet more evident by the Declaration which their Synod at Bearn in the year 1572. purposely made of this Article and of the Limitation of it Dei imperium dicitur manere illibatum Poplon nier lib. 34. cum Rex exterminatâ Catholicâ Religione c. Gods Sovereign Authority say they is then understood to be entirely acknowledged when the King abolishing or rooting out Catholike Religion shall set himself to advance onely the true and pure worship of God that is to say that which is so in their sense and opinion But to do this is it a thing to be supposed of an Infidel Prince to whom they pretend to profess subjection or is it to be expected of a Catholike Therefore I say they contradict themselves apparenly in their profession and do indeed profess nothing really but that they are Impostors and deserve to be branded with Characters of jealousie and distrust by all the Princes States of Christendom The book called Comment de Statu Relig. â—c a Protestant piece is ful of such stuff but especially Pâ— 2. Lib. 12. Cap. 1. where he affirmeth expressly That in all Oaths of Allegiance and Duty there is this condition always implyed at
we see well enough it had been in other cases of this Nature Neither in King Edward the Sixths time nor against the Kings of Scotland Denmark Sweden Duke of Saxony Marquis of Brandenburgh or any other Protestant Prince was there ever any such sentence issued to this day Whereupon Father Pâ—rsons and Father Campian procured some kinde of mitigation concerning it presently after the publishing and Pope Gregory following declared That the Subjects of England ought to perform all duties to Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding the censures So little reason is there in truth that Protestants should clamour so loud as they do and cry out nothing but Treason Treason against religious and good men who as they have no other business so come they hither for no other end but to do them good and so far as lieth in their power and office to save their souls They tell the world that no less then two hundred Priests have been executed in England for Treason since the times of Reformation which is certainly a very heavy report and sufficient to make them odious to all the world if it were true or that there were any thing in it but fallacie and aequivocation of words whiles they call that Treason in England which in all parts of Christendome besides is both called and counted Religion and the highest Vertue For we beseech them to tell us of what Treason do they convict us at any time but the Treason of being a Priest the Treason to say Mass the Treason to refuse the Oath the Treason to absolve Penitents confessing their sins the Treason to restore men to the Communion of the Church the Treason to Preach and Administer Christs Sacraments the Treason to be bred up in the Seminaries that is in such places where onely as things now stand in England thâ—y can be Catholikely bred and fitted for such Christian imployment What actual and real Treason is in England according to the true sâ—nse and notion of that crime â—dious both to God and man the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. will inform us better then any other being enacted when the whole Kingdom was of one mind and of one judgement as all Christian Kingdoms and Societies ought to be not rent nor overborn by factions and parties undermining and supplanting one another by indirect and undue meanes as it was when these new Statutes of Treason were made By that Statute and by the opinions of the most learned Judges in England Ploydon Stamford c. Treason must alwayes be some Action or Intention actually discovered not an opinion onely or a profession of Religion And this is the reason why Sir John Oldcastle Stow. one of Mr. Fox his Martyrs in the Reign of Henry the Fifth mentioned before though he were both Traytor and Heretike yet for his Treason he was condemned in one Court and for his Heresie in another as also were Cranmer and Ridley in Queen Maries time Secondly it must be some Act or Intention discovered of a subject prejudicial to his Sovereign or to the State where he lives But what hurt had ever I say not Queen Mary Henry the Eighth while he stood right Henry the Seventh or any other Catholike Prince but even Queen Elizabeth her self King James or any other Protestant Prince by a Priests saying Mass absolving of Penitents preaching of sound Doctrine to them and particularly of all due and just obedience to Civil Magistrates as they have ever constantly done Therefore by the common Laws of England and in it self it is not it cannot be Treason or criminous to be a Priest to say Mass Absolve c. But onely by Statute Laws it is made so upon temporary and present occasions and for certain politick ends which men have projected of themselves and which they are resolved to follow And therefore also it is by the very Statutes themselves provided 22. and 27. Elizab. That if a Priest conforms be content to go to Church to renounce the Pope or his Orders c. he becomes ipso facto without more ado Rectus in Curia and is actually discharged of all imputation of Treason no further proceedings lie against him Yea even at the very place of Execution and when the instruments of death are upon him yet still 't is in his own power if he please in three words to pardon himself and frustrate the expectation of so many eyes as are commonly waiting to see his last Exit Let him but say I will conform or I will swear c. Ther 's no man living dares meddle with him further Which is far otherwise where the offence is judged to be Treâ—son indeed and really prejudicial to the Prince or State But the fatal resolution being taken to change Religâ—on upon a principle or pretended reason of State as false as the Counsel it self was evil viâ— That otherwise the Queen could not be secure either of her Kingdom or Life it was necessary to take a severe course with those men whose Function obliged them to maintain True Religion and to endeavour to reduce things again into the old State From this root also sprang their extream jealousie and hatred of the Queen of Scots For she being Heir Apparent to the Crown after Queen Elizabeth and a Princess zealously affected unto Catholike Religion and so strongly Allied in France Those Statesmen who had contrived and wrought all the alterations here could never think themselves secure so long as her head stood upon her shoulders Therefore was she first invited into England upon pretence of Friendship and for Safety But when she was here used with so much unkindness and kept under restraint for little less then twenty years together that at last in order to procure her Liberty she was indeed provoked to doe something which it was easie for them who loved her not to interpret to be Treason and so they cut off her head From hence also sprung those continual injuries and practises of much ingratitude against the King of Spain The intercepting of his Treasure The holding of his Towns The ayding of Orange and the States as hath been said Lastly from this onely Source and Fountain of unjust Policie sprung all those laws of severity and bloud against Recusants as we are commonly called viz. of Twenty pound a moneth of Two third parts of Estate against Hearing Mass against Harbouring a Priest against Being reconciled c. It is well known the Recusants of England against whom those Laws were made were generally persons in all degrees of the Noblest quality in this Nation Vertuous Grave Wise Charitable Just and Good men of fair and friendly Conversation towards all I shall not say Loyal to their Prince because the contrary is so commonly beleeved Stow. yet our own Chronicles will not altogether deny them right in that regard while they testifiâ— how diligent and forward they were to offer their service to the Queen and State even in that great Action of Eighty eight Neither were
mischief which he had brought upon Germany and that his Books should be burned In the year 1526. at Machlin he enacted a Penalty against Hereticks and all such as disputed the Controversies of Religion Heretically or that kept prohibited Books viz. for the first offence Forty shillings for the Second Four pound for the Third Eight pound and Banishment as the best remedy he could think of to preserve others from infection In the year 1529. if they repented not of their error he adjudged Viris ignem Mulieribus fossam That men should be burned and women buried alive which was no more then anciently the Laws prescribed nor then what Calvin himself exercised upon Servetus at Genevah In the year 1531. he confirmed these former Acts with something additional against such as pulled down Images or defaced them with any malitious intention viz. that such persons should loose their goods This is the sum of all those Laws of the Emperor Charlâ— the Fifth concerning Religion so much complained of in the Low-Countries and concerning the Execution whereof there were also many exceptions qualifications and limitations procured by the Regent in the year 1555. upon advise of Viglius President of the Counsel at Brussels and to take away all occasions that might poâ—â—â—bly hinder Traffick or be a means of oppression to innocent and quiet people And for King Philip he always professed particularly in his answer to Montigny in Spain that he intended no addition of severity to his Fathers Laws nor to create any new offences but onely to punish those which were of old censured for offences both by the Church and State Let us look then upon England and consider if the penalties upon Catholikes here be not far more in number and much more severe To acknowledge the Popes Supremacy in Spiritualibus is Treason To be reconcilâ—d is Treason To refuse the Oath upon the first offence is a Praemunire the second Treason For Priests to come over into England is Treason if any that were made Priests since Primo Elizab. shall stay Forty days in England after the Parliament 1585. 't is Treason To Harbor a Priest is Felony and Death If yong Students beyond Sea return not and abjure their Religion it is Treason To bring in an Agnus Dei Beads or Crosses is a Praemunire To bring a Bull or any Sentence of Excommunication from Rome that may concern the Queen is Treason To absolve or reconcile a man is Treason Not coming to Church was at first Twelve pence every Sunday and to be liable to further censure afterwards viz. Twenty seven Elizab. it was made Twenty pound a moneth where it could be had otherwise their bodies were to fine for it in prison To depart out of the Realm without License and not to return within Six moneths after the Proclamation is a forfeiture of all Goods and Lands during life To hear Mass is an offence fined at One hundred Marks If a mans Son or Servant not Merchant goeth beyond Sea with his consent he forfeits One hundred pounds I speak nothing of their loss of goods imprisonments reproaches chains fetters which upon many other pretended and feigned occasions they are frequently made subject unto nor of banishment which would be counted many times matter of great favor Nor yet of the rigorous and vexatious Execution of all these Laws which makes the Tower full of such Patients and new prisons to be erected for the entertainment of them nor of the hard usage which they frequently find in those prisons The sad examples of Master Tregion at Launston of Master Rigby of Master Christopher Watson who perished at Yoâ—k with Eighteen persons more in the year 1581. with the very infection of the prison do shew sufficiently what they suffer Adde hereunto the strict examination of the Justices the proceedings of the High-Commission against them that inquisition of England not altogether untruly so called the multitude of Promoters in all the Temporal Courts of the Kingdom informing against them of Pursuivants searching and rifling their houses upon every light suspicion and not seldom without any at all but onely to make them Fine and to purchase their quiet with money Lastly the Racks and Torturings which Father Campian Father Southwel with many others tasted in their times how can they be forgotten concerning whose case I mean of Father Campian and his Associates especially beside that the whole matter of their Accusation seemed upon Tryal rather to be grounded upon words and some verbal discourse then upon any Actual design or attempt really projected against the Queen or the State and beside that at the time of their Tryal as I have been credibly informed there were persons of very Honest Quality who offered to depose that sundry of the Parties accuâ—ed were at the times specified in their several charges many hundreds of miles distant from the places where their supposed Treasons and Conspiracies were said to be I say bâ—side all this the Queens unwillingness to have them dye testifiâ—d by her own Historian is argument sufficient with indifferent mâ—n what great Traytors she conceived them to be For their Arraignment and Tryal having been in November 1581. * Stow. they suffered not till the first of September 1582. and then it was aegrè consentiente Reginâ as Camden himself confâ—sseth They who sought their lives had much ado to procure the Queens consent that the Sentence of death should be executed upon them Surely there is no man so extreamly partial or purblinde but will easily observe how much greater affliction and pressures the Catholikes of England have endured by the Laws of this Realm then the Geuses of Holland ever did or could do by the inquisition among them And how much more their state and condition might be justly commiserated especially when not onely Anabaptists and those other more innocent and harmless Sects but Puritans great and stubborn enemies of the State Arians Socinians yea even Professed Atheists and men of far more violent passions and destructive principles then Catholikes can with any reason be supposed to hold are scarce searched after or punished And yet notwithstanding all this to preserve the Queens reputation for Humanity and fair dealing with her Subjects the Book called the Execution of English Justice will make the world beleeve That no man in England is punished for Religion no mans Conscience is medled withall no man is examined upon matters of Faith But is it possible that such a pretence should be sustâ—ined by man so notoriously contrary to truth so easily so manifestly disprovable even by sight and the evidence of their own dayly proceedings In the year 1581. there was a general Pardon granted by the Queen but with a strict Caution and Proviso That no person in Prison nor Recusant for Religion should have benefit thereby which Malefactors of all sorts had Was this no punishment The Recusants pay Twenty pound a moneth for their Recusancy is this no punishment The Turk himself
layeth not any greater upon the Christians under him All or most of the old Catholike Bishops and Clergy of England died in prisons Antipath of Prelat as Master Prinn himself confesseth of the chiefest of them amâ—ng Rogues Murtherers and Felons in the Marshalsea The rest in Exile for Religion is this no punishment Or was there any other Crime laid to their charge but onely matter of Religion Not to speak of many others Master William Anderson in 45. Elizab. was executed upon no other charge but that he was a Priest and then found to be in England so was Master Barckworth in the year 1600. was this no punishment Anno 35. Elizab. Master Barwis a Citizen of London was executed for being reconciled to to the Church and Master Pormort attainted at least for reconciling him was this no punishment In the year 1575. as Holinshead himself recordeth it for a matter to be noted The Lady Morley the Lady Brown the Lady Guildford were committed all of them to prison onely for hearing Mass and Leases presently made of two Third parts of their Lands was this no punishment I might be infinite in examples of this kinde but it is needless The case is manifest and the sense of the whole Kingdom proclaimes the contrary to what that Author pretendeth convincing his assertion of not a little imposture and calumny To conclude then the loyalty and obedience of these Gentlemen and other people of all sorts which are commonly called Recusants towards their King and the State appears undeniably in all things not only by their humble petitions to his Majesty that now is in the year 1604. and at sundry times since but by their constant and general conformity unto the temporal Government in all Queen Elizabeths Reign by their Protestation made at Ely in the year 1588. where a great many of them were prisoners by some other offers which they made to the Lord North the Queens Lieutenant there and by their justification of them afterwards by their submâ—ssions sent up to the Lords of the Privy Councel and their profession of all due acknowledgement towards her Majesty notwithstanding the sentence of Excommunication by their readiness to serve her Majesty the State even in that Action of 88. for which they are so calumniated Lastly by the very Irish Recusants joyning their Forces with the Queens at Kinsale in the year 1600. All which Arguments do indeed shew them to be â—ubjects absolutè and not ex conditione or by leave of some other as their adversaries pretend Let the Readâ—r therâ—fore now judge if he please by what hath been said whether to be a Protestant and a loyal â—ubject or a Catholike and a loyal subject be more incompatible things This was the question propounded in the beginning to be declared and it hath been declared I suppose at large both from their doctrinal assertions and constant practises in all parts of Germany France Holland Scotland Genevah and many other Countries of Christendom what kinde of people both Lutherans Calvinist and other sectaries generally are towards their Sovereign Princes It hath bin shewn that the chief scope and end of their endeavours where they come is to set up their several professions by the Sword and violâ—nt resistance of the Civil Magistrate doing but his Office in restraining them according to Law yea with the ruin of the Church and State both that shall oppose them This I say both the Lutheran s n Germany the Hugonets of France the Gâ—uses of Hâ—lâ—and the Protestants and Puritans in all other places where they could have so apparently done or attempted to doe that there is neither colour of excuse for it nor liberty to deny it The World knoweth what was endeavored in Germany against the Emperor in France how long continued they in Armes against their Sovereign Prince viz. till they had by force not to say contrary to his Oath extorted from him such Edicts of Pacification as themselves liked And that in Holland and Scotland where they had the fortune to become Masters they renounced and deposed their Princes absolutely On the other side let us consider how far it is from being true that wherewith so many Books in England have abused the people viz. That to be a Priest or a Roman Catholike and a good Subject withall is impossible They are things inconsistent with one another For if we look back to former times we shall easily finde that from the Saxons to King Henry the Eighth it was never made so much as a quâ—stion To be a Catholike was never held any bar to Loyalty and yet the Princes had their differences somtimes with the Pope even then And in the grounds of Catholike Faith there is certainly nothing contrary unto civil obedience and duty towards the temporal Magistrate Witness the Government of the Sacred Roman Empire of the Kingdoms of Spain France Poland and many other Christian Principalities and States All which differing in their several constitutions or particular formes of Governing yet doe generally and unanimously account him the bâ—st Subject and least dangerous to the State who is most of all devoted to Catholike Religion It is not therefore malum in se simpliciter whatsoever Doctor Morton or Parson White say it is not an evil intrinsecal to Priesthood nor essentially folloâ—ing the profession of Catholike Religion to be an evil subject If it happens to prove so at any time it is ex accidente and from the voluntary wickedness of particular men if not as too often it doth from some evil constitution of State in which the profession of Catholike Religion hath been unduly subverted and is as unjustly prohibited and punished Neither can it be verified of Catholike Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or universally as sedition and troubling the Civil Government is apparently chargeable upon Calvinism and the other several professions of Protestancy Therefore surely it was an errour both uncivil and indiscreet in those Doctors to frame their proposition so general onely to make us odious and suspected with his Majestie who yet we hope understands us better then so and knows that the imputation is groundless and meerly passionate We deal not so with them We are ready to acknowledge that as to particular persons there are many especially among the Protestants of England of more calm and moderate dispositions of no such fiery zeal as works in many other of their Brethren abroad Boni viri boni cives such as we confess to be both good men and good Subjects of sociable nature obsequious not inclined to Sedition nor desirous to persecute And the like good Testimony doth even the Author of the Execution of English Justice give unto Catholikes acknowledging their obedience and loyalty towards the late Queen and that in a time when they wanted not matter of complaint for the manifold oppressions and afflictions which were heavy upon them T is true every man may be supposed to wish the advancement of his
certainly is the same function now that it was then when it was most honored and hath suffered no more change from what it first was then Saint Pauls Church hath suffered change since the time it was first built by King Ethelbert that is it is grown old indeed and by the iniquity of the times hath lost some part of that outward Glory Magnificence and Splendor which it once had And for Papists if men goe about to make them a Sect and endeavor to suppress them under that notion truly we shall be found a very ancient Sect and I bâ—leeve it will trouble the best Doctor in Enâ—land to assign us any other Sect-Master any other Author and Founder of our profession then our Saviour Christ and Sainâ— P ter But most men know 't is to litâ—le purpose to attempt any thing against us that way All other Sects have their particular Authors and many other circumstances of their begining aâ—â—â—gnable easily cleerly notoriously I mean not onely Lutherans Calvinists Anabaptists and such others of yesterday but those more ancient Arians Eunomians Pelagians Nestorians Manichees c. only Catholikes have not nor can any man shew when their profession began or from whom it came but from our Saviour and his Apostles What therefore should hinder a reconciliation and a re-admission of this Ancient and Universal profession of Christianity into England again I mean unto such an equal and avowed liberty of private exercise as other people of the Nation doe enjoy in the profession of theirs On his Majesties part I humbly suppose there can be little dâ—ubt made who hath been ever of himself constantly inclined to shew mercy if there had been no crooked and unhappy instruments about him to hinder it My minde saith the King was ever free from persecution or thralling my Subjects in matters of Conscience And again Fateor me non libenter suspendere Presbyterum c. I confess saith he it g eth much against my minde to put a Priest to death onely for his Religion or for saying of Mass He who judged that it could no way become him though a Prince of so great Learning and Judgement to pronounce sentence lightly in so old a controversie what Priest or Religious man can appeal to a better Judge or from whom should they expect a sentence of more favourable compassion He who sent into France to mediate for the peace of Strangers what man can doubt but of his own Royal inclination he is as willing to shew favour to his Subjects at home Though we differ in Religion yet in obedience to our Prince and the State that protects us we agree neither will we be preceded in this part of our duty by any profession under Heaven Our bodies are at the Kings service and at the States to command may they be pleased to leave our souls to God Let our actions be tried and if they finde not cause let them not trust us It hath bin long since observed by wise men That too much severity doth but make men desperate and it is an ancient Aphorism of State punire rarò What an honourable addition was it to Augustus Caesar his other Titles that of the Historian Sueton. Nunquam civâ—lem sanguinem fudisse That never any subject suffered by him in cold bloud And it is as infallibly true in all generous Spirits fidelem si putaveris facies that confidence gains much security from them as counting it the greatest of disgraces to be distrusted Malus custos diuturnâ—tatis metus Fear is not always the best Guardian Seneca who lived under a Tyrant and knew what tyranny was giveth this counsel Vlâ—ima supplicia suppliciis ultimis ponat Let saith he a Prince alwayes observe this rule in the administration of justice viz. That capital punishments be the last punishments which he inflicteth and never used but where no other remedy will serve And Tacitus observes it among other marks of Tiberius his cruelty Delatorum Authoritas magna frequens accusatio in quovis crimine adjuncta de laesâ Majestate Principis That Sycophants Informers and such fellows were the onely men about him and every offence was made Treason And certainly there can be no greater Symptome that Government declines to tyranny then the multitude of such people attending the Courts and that such proceedings are used I confess the Law was once strict at Rome Deos peregrinos ne colunto Yet Marcus Aurelius a wise and gallant Emperor tolerated the Christians yea Theodosius and Grat an Emperors though most most Christian and Catholike themselves yet for some time were contented to tolerate the Arians enemies of Christ The Venetians and many other Christian States permit the Jewes to live among them as Spain did the Moores till necessity at last forced the King to expel them It is a false and uncharitable Assertion savouring too much of gall and spleen to say as some do that Catholikes are unsociable they cannot live with Protestants in one Common-wealth without jars and tumults For is there any thing more visible and in your eyes every day then that the contrary is true Doe we not live among you here in England Have we not ever done so since the first unhappy difference and change made peaceably neighbourly friendly Doe me not buy and sell with you and you with us are we not ready to perform all offices of civility and good neighbourhood where we live Doe we refuse any kinde of temporal duties or payments Even of our Tiths to the Ministers which yet are in themselves a kinde of religious Salary and if in any surely we should boggle and shew unwillingness in them Besides it is a false surmise that we hold all Protestants generally for Heretikes and Excommunicate persons as some spare not to urge both in the pulpit and press to make us odious or that thereby we should think our selves at liberty when we have opportunity to deal less faithfully justly and truly with them then becommeth honest men and Christians For that they are not Excommunicate I mean specially by name or by any such sentence of the Judge Ecclesiastical as doth relax or debar either all or any civil duty towards them is out of question And to make a man Heretike formally speaking and in the proper notion of that crime obstinacie in opinion is by all confess d to be requisite and that he persisteth deliberately therein notwithstanding that he knoweth the opinion which he holdeth to be contrary to the Doctrine of the Catholike Church and to the general unanimous or known consent of those Pastors which as Saint Paul teacheth us ought to have the oversight and government of him in our Lord Acts 20.28 Heb. 13.7.17 Tit. 3.10 which I suâ—poâ—e cannot be the case of all the Protestants in England Indeed of thâ— Doctrine of Protestancy as 't is consider'd in it self abstractâ—dly from the persons that profess it we say 't is Heresie that is to say â— false
continue such so long as they keep under some few fiery zealots that would still be blowing the coals of dissention among them Not to speak of Sweden Denmark c. doth not that famous Kingdom of Poland Tolerate diversity of Religions doth not the great Emperor of Mosko the same and is not the general Unity of their Subiects which ariseth thereupon and would certainly be otherwise if the Government were otherwise is it not a Wall of Brass to both of them against their great enemy the Turk Let Germany also be our example that vast Nation and people no less Magnanimous and Stout is not Toleration judged expedient among them could any thing else cure their troubles Let us consider how peacably and happily Catholikes and Lutherans have conversed and lived there together for no less then an Hundred years and upwards without any dissention without any trouble upon the account of Religion save onely what Ambition and the factious Spiritedness of some particular Princes have bred and brought upon the Country much against the will of the people under that pretence No man doubteth but Charls the Fifth Emperor and Ferdinand his Brother were in their times great and wise Princes yet found they no better means to redress the troubles of State then by commanding Vt utraque pars caveret c. That special care should be had on both sides to compel no man to make profession of Religion otherwise then in his own Conscience he should be perswaded was best As Dresserus a Protestant relates it rejecting with much disdain the contrary opinion of some who as he saith would have but one Religion onely professed in the Empire And for France the case and condition of affairs there is notorious to all the world Nor could that Kingdom ever be brought to quiet till the Calvinists therein were brought upon their knees that is to such pass as to be glad of and to bâ—gge for that favorable Toleration of their profession from the King which themselves in no parts of the world beside will grant to others What reason can be given by indifferent men why the policy of England should be so singular and so differing from that of all other Christian Kingdoms and Nations about her Why should our Government be more severe in this point and more Sanguinary then that of our Neighbors It may seem to reflect something upon the honor of our Nation to mention the Turk in this case Yet certainly it cannot be denied but that Christians live quietly in his Dominions and upon conditions so easie that I am perswaded the Catholikes of England would be well contented with the like If onely it be determined that we must purchase that with our money which all other our fellow-subjects the people of this Nation do enjoy freely and count it their natural right In a word therefore to conclude seeing that both in the judgement of Protestant Divines and in the practice of Protestant Princes and States Toleration of diverse Religions is held neither unlawful nor unexpedient in Government and seeing that for so long a time of afflictions persecution of our Priests and other manifold pressures upon us for matters of Conscience Catholikes have yet through the grace of God demeaned themselves so loyally and obsequiously in all points as they have not done or attempted to do upon their own account or for the interest and advancment of their own profession any thing offensive to the State or prejudicial to the publike peace seeing that nothing can be fastned upon them in that kinde with any colour of truth but onely the business of the Gun-Powder-Treason and seeing that was a devise though acted by the hands of some desperate and wicked Catholikes yet contrived rather by the Devil and some crafty Enemies which we had in the State to make us eternally odious and suspected in the Nation and to disoblige some great person of his promises in favor of us as it may be justly thought considering what kinde of States-men sate at the Helme in those times what knowing men D' Ossat Lettres liur 2. ep 43. Pryns Antip. of Prelat P. 151. strangers abroad have writ and what Protestants themselves at home have discovered since upon that subject Seeing that Catholikes always wished well to his Majesties Title and prayed for his happy succession to these Kingdoms seeing we were not of Counsel with those who sent Beal into forreign parts to promote the Titie of Suffolk nor that set Hales on work at home as he did with law and little art to make it good nor that procured Sir N. B. to make a nest for the Phaenix by such a great volum as he wrote to that purpose Seeing that we were ever Champions to his Majesties just claim Especially Sir Anthony Brown that wise and noble Author of the Book against Leicester and that Aiax of the Law whom no man ever durst encounter in this cause Master Plâ—ydon We hope so long and so try'd fidelity will by the Kings gracious favor procure us at last some liberty and refreshment and that our humble supplication shall be considered wherein casting our selves down at the feet of our Sovereign and of the State we beg onely of them in those words of the Poet. Hanc animam concede mihi Tua caetera sunto Let our souls be left free unto God and as for our Bodies or Estates take them dispose of them freely as Justice requireth and in due proportion with our Neighbors and other the good people of the Nation for the service of the Kingdom and of the publike AN APPENDIX Concerning LUTHERS Mission I Was now going out of the field but behold an Ambush appears which is laid to surprize me it pretends at one charge to rout all the forces of my arguments and to bereave me of my hopes of Victory by eluding rather then disproving of what I have said It is a reply which some men are pleased to make in behalf of Luther whose heat and irregular vehemency which I call sedition was nothing but zeal say they of Gods honor and truth which burning within his own breast happened to kindle some lively sparks also in others They say that Luther was Elias a Prophet sent immediately and extraordinarily by God to reform the errors and corruptions of the world to restore vertue and good life to detect Antichrist who had for so many ages bewitched the whole Church with his impostures and seduced her into Idolatrie and Heresie And that therefore such a Prophet was not to be tedder'd as it were and bound up to the rules of ordinary professors But if he neglected Authority despised the Laws abused and insulted upon the Majestie of Princes disturbed the peace and tranquility of their States we are not to wonder nor lay it to his charge It was no more then a Prophet might do Tune es qui conturbas Israel did not Ahab say to Elias Art not thou he which troublest Israel The
Magia lib. 4. c. 1. of the Devil appearing to an Abbot and perswading him to say Mass he would conclude ad hominem that we especially ought not to hold it alwayes to be evil which the Devil tempteth a man unto nor consequently good because he disswades us from it But the case is so unlike and there are so many mistakes in the report of it that it might well have been spared had it not been that the Doctor would seem to say something more then had been said before him For first it was not an Abbot but a Monk whom the Devil tempted to say Mass Secondly That Monk was not yet Priest and so it was against the Canons yea it had been a grievous sin in him to have said Mass This was fit matter indeed for the Devil to tempt a man unto but it seemes it was not so fit for the Doctors purpose to mention this circumstance and therefore he leaves it out as he useth to do sometimes in other like cases Thirdly neither did Satan enter any disputation with the Monk either to prove or disprove Mass Fourthly nor did the party tempted consent Fifthly and lastly neither did Mass then first begin which is a thing principally to be regarded It was not in the substance of the thing a Novelty which the Devil tempted unto but an office of Religion generally acknowledged professed observed in all Christendom over That which Luther was tempted unto to say the lest of it was a Novelty and therefore ex naturâ rei necessarily and in all reason to have been suspected and which he would have suspected had he not been blinded with self-conceit and preferred his own single opinion and fancy above the sense of the whole Church which to do is an argument of most insolent Madness Epist 118. cap. 5. as Saint Austin speaketh This may suffice to have answered concerning Luthers Vocation or Calling as well that which he pretended as that which was true I should now give you his Character but that he hath done himself to the life in his writings and practises mentioned already Yet if you please for a tast of his modestie I shall adde a word or two not more out of his own writings and first concerning the Fathers Colloque Convival cap. de patrib he rejects them all Saint Hierome hath not a syllable in all his writings of faith or true Religion Chrysostom was a meer babler Basil a Monke all over and otherwise not worth a Button Tertullian was a Dunce a meer Carolstadius among the Doctors Cyprian a poor Divine Austin him self hath nothing singular concerning faith And for Saint Ambrose he wrote most drily and impertinently upon Genesis Saint Bernard indeed is the best Preacher of them all but where he disputes he is all for Free Will And so concludes at last that Melancthons Apology hath more true Divinity in it then all the Doctors of the Church Secondly in respect of the Saints Serm. de Nativit Fol. 442. Mariae We are all Equal to the Mother of God and as great Saints as she In Ep. 1. Pet. 1. When we are once regenerate saith he and made the Children and Heirs of God by Faith we are all Equal in dignity to Saint Peter Saint Paul yea unto the Blessed Virgin her self Mother of God We have the same treasure in us which they have and all the graces of God as largly bestowed upon us as they Which may seem not a little strange considering what he saith of himself elsewhere Nihil singulare in vitâ meâ eminet c. Colloq Fanckford Fol. 445. There is not any thing saith he very singular or extraordinary in the manner of my life I can jest I can play I am a merry companion with men yea to Gods glory be it spoken not seldom I love to take a lusty Cup also c. But by his leave where did the Saints of God thus Elias was no such Boon no such Jovial Companion it was not the Language much less the Exercise of Gods Prophets to Carowse and Quaff in this maner Saint Paul chastized his Body and held it in subjection by Fasting Watching and Pennance did not pamper it nor study to please his Appetite with Drink and Belly-cheer as Luthers fashion was Who both lived and died an Epicure beside all his other crimes and his too much Indulgence towards his Genius in that kind shortned his own days as may be more then probably collected from the reports of good Authors Sur. Chron. Vlember vitâ Luth. not excepting some of his own Justus Jonas Aurifaber and others I should adde here a word or two concerning the Vocation of Calvin to his Ministery but it was much the same with that of Luther For he finding France a Country too hot for him ever since the Iron was set to his Shoulder takes a Voyage first into Germany then afterward into Italy where getting entertainment in the house of the Dutchess of Ferrara a Lady inclined to new opinions in time he creates himself a preacher of the Reformation Extraordinarily too you may be sure For no man living gave him Authority but himself From thence he goeth to Genevah with intent to set up and exercise but as we have said his first attempt falled him and he was constrained to retire for a while to Strasburgh Yet his party at last prevailing at Genevah he returned and setled his Chair of Pestilence there which he held unto his death But I have not obliged my self to write the Character or life of any persons My Task was onely to shew That Catholikes in general were as good Subjects both in respect of their principles and practice as Protestants in general and better then the most And this I conceive is already done And therefore I shall trouble the Reader no further The Jesuites special Vow THe society of the Blessed name of Jesus endureth much prejudice with many men by reason of a certain Special Vow as they call it which they are said to make to his Holiness over and above the Three Common Vows of Chastity Poverty and Obedience It is generally conceived by Protestants that by vertue thereof they stand obliged upon command and at the pleasure of his said Holiness to attempt the life of Kings especially those which he hath declared to be Hereticks or Excommunicated to murther Princes to embroyl and trouble States and in a word to plot and execute any Treasonable design whatsoever that may advance the Popes Interest But that the world may see how much they are wronged herein and know both what the substance of that Special Vow is and what the Intent Matter and End of such Mission or Command from his Hâ—liness ought to be which they promise so presently to obey it is here Transcribed out of the Bull or Constitution of Pope Paul the Third by which their Order was Confirmed in the year 1540. and runnes thus ANd further we judge it expedient for our greater Devotion to the Sea Apostolik and more full Abnegation of our own wills and pleasures That the Professed of this Society beside the Common band of the Three Vows viz. of Chastity Poverty and Obedience be further tied by special Vow So as that whatsoever the Roman Bishop for the time being shall command pertaining to the Salvation of Souls and propagation of the Faith they shall be bound to execute the same without Tergiversation or Excuse whether they shall be sent unto Turks or unto Infidels yea even unto those that are commonly called the Indies or unto any other Hereticks or Schismaticks whatsoever Now what danger can arise unto Princes from such a vow as this further then the Preaching of true Christian Catholike Faith and the advancement of Religion is counted dangerous to their worldly Interest unhappily setled in opposition to it The indifferent Reader may judge FINIS Errata PAg. 7. in margin r. lib. 51. P. 8. in margin l. 2. r. lib. 120. l. 3. 4. ibid. deleatur Thuanus lib. P. 53. deleatur all that is in the margin P. 132. l. 3. r. deny P. 268. l. 18. r. condemned P. 287. l. 5. r. deserve P. 309. l. 4. r. principal 388. l. 20. r. Thirty Thousand P. 435. l. 24. r. seem P. 439. l. 9. r. pulling down P. 440. l. 3. r. did therefore ibid. l. 4. r. amuzed P. 453. l. 26. r. manifold P. 487. l. 9. r whit P. 564. l. 7. r. Catholikes P. 578. l. 24. r. Chacun P. 573. l. 8. r. we P. 606. l. 3. r. not P. 618. l. ult r. inconveniences P. 624. l. 10. r. calls him