e Non solum ei liceat Monarchae jus nomen sibi ipsi vendicare sed etiam suae ditioni subditos ad Principatus Regna Imperia utcunque ei visum fuerit assumere assumpto vero etiam sine Causa ab iisdem Regnis deponere ea Regna ex uno ad alterum pro suae voluntatis arbitrio transferre Quod si forte in reprobum sensum traditi has i. e. the Popes Censures quoque contempserint tunc Pontifex si tamen id Ecclesiasticae tran quillitati expedire cognoscet populos absolvere poterit à juramento Obedientiae quo se Dominis illis devinxerant cum adhuc juste imperarent ei quoque licitum erit ipsos Dominos incorrigibiles Ecclesiae Rebelles Principatuum suorum jurisdictione privare eorum jura ad alios Orthodoxos Principes transferre Sixt. Senens Bibliotheca lib. 6. Annotat. 72. Sixtus Senensis a man of great Reading but in this case he thought it not amiss to fin for company with the rest of his Party now affirming that the Pope at his own pleasure without any cause can depose of Kingdoms yet a little after he is willing to have a Reason and then the deposition is lawful enough CHAP. II. That the Pope can absolve subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance and their Obedience due to their respective Princes ME thinks 't is an odd humour that the Pope should be so much on Cock-horse above all the world besides as to expect that all Emperours and Kings should swear absolute obedience to him and yet allow other earthly Monarchs to have but a conditional subjection from their Subjects And this Allegiance though never so strongly tyed up with Oaths and Duty yet must the people be perswaded that an Item from Rome can quit them from its Obligation as poor Hortensius believed himself to be King of Poland because Roguish Francion and others told him so Though we abhor the action yet we cannot chuse but smile sometimes to see how many by the knavery of some Polititians are gull'd into villany many of our wicked States-men as the Devil turns himself into an Angel of Light wrap themselves in Religon to catch those who know nothing of it but the word And though we be tyed to Allegiance with the strictest bonds of Birth and Oaths yet from these if occasion serve the Grandees of Faction will ease us either as one Nail drives out another by taking a contradictory Oath to the former or some way or other procuring or making of and to our selves an Absolution the Pope and Disciplinarian being the Chief Masters of this Faculty Our Presbyterians after they had above two years impiously rebell'd against their King and Church to make their actions more plausible to the Vulgar took that abominable Covenant against both and so declaring their disobligation to either as if a latter unlawful Oath could quit one of the former which Law Religion and Nature did bind him to And I cannot but think here of the impious Guisian league in France who having fought a great while against their King Henry the Third and declared themselves not obliged to their Allegiance to him yet as a pretty trick to fool the world they sent to Pope Sixtus the Fifth that he would declare their war Vestram Beatissime Pater opem imploramâ—s Primum ut juramento quo nos Henrico III. quondam abstrinximus soluti declaremur Deinde ut bellum quod cum publica Religionis ac libertatis oppressere necessario gerendum est justum esse decernatur De justa Hen. III. abdicatione pag. 398. to be lawful and quit them from their Obedience to their Soveraign both Knaves of a double dye first to Rebel and then to make that sin lawful And that the Pope hath this power to absolve people from their Obedience is stifly maintain'd by the Roman Champions Amongst the rest Martinus Becanus is thus perswaded and he saith That nothing Pontifex absolvat subditos à debito seu vinculo subjectâ—onis quo obligati sunt suis Regibus nam sublato hoc vinculo ex parte subditorum jam sponte cessat potestas jurisdictio Regnum in suâ—diâ—os Pontifex qui utriusque i. e. King and People praeest in rebus ad salutem peâ—tinentibus potest mandaâ—e dâ—cernere ut subditi non teneantur praestare fidem regibus quando Reges non servant ipsis fidem nihil certius apud Catholicos Mart. Becon Controvers Angl. pag. 133. 135. is more certain amongst the Roman Catholicks than that the Pope may do not onely so but command the Subjects not to obey their Prince With him agreeth another of the same Order viz. a Jesuite but more voluminous and of greater esteem and this is Franciscus Suarez telling us in one place that the a Hos à ju ramento fidelitatis solvere vel solutos declarate Fr. Suar. defens fid Cathol lib. 3. c. 23. § 21. Pope can absolve Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance And in another place saith that to affirm the contrary is to act b Est contra Ecclesiasticum morem Conciliorumque generalium usum approbationem contra Catholicorum Doctorum consensum est etiam contra rationum Id. Lib. 6. c. 2. § 7. against the Custom of the Church the use and approbation of General Councils the consent of Catholick Doctors nay and against reason and is plainly c Propositio illa Haeretica est lib. 6. c. 5. § 1 2. Heretical And as for our English Oath of Allegiance he saith a man d Illud juramentum non ligat jurantem quia non potest juramentum esse vinculum iniquitatis quale illud esset ideo nemo potest ab illo solvi and the words before these are Nemo absolvi potest proprie qui legatus non est need never be absolved from it because 't was never binding to him e De sacrorum Immunit l. 3. Proem § 9 10. Anastasius Germonius f De Haeresi cap. 30. pag. 293 296. Antonius Sanctarellus Cardinal g Contra Barclaium cap. 27. Bellarmine h De Orig. progres S. Inquis lib. 1. Quest 1. Opin 4. § 55. 145. Ludovicus à Paramo i De potest Eccles Quest 40. Art 4. Augustinus Triumphus de Ancona k Summa V. Papa § 10. Sylvester de Priero and l Comment in Cant. Magnif lib. 3. cap. 27. dub 6. pag. 134. Rutilius Benzonius with others amongst the other Priviledges which they allow the Pope to have to straiten the Authority and Grandeur of Kings is the power to absolve their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegance and so to give them liberty either to chuse or take new Masters And m De utriusque gladli facultate Tom. 2. pag. 119. Robertus Cenalis is willing to bestow the same jurisdiction upon the See of Rome As for our Country-man n De visih Monarch l. 2. cap. 4. Nicholas Saunders
from whose modesty the recovery of the Kings favour assailed him afresh and without respect of his Majesty at such time as he led his Armies lately against the Peace-breakers with severe and terrible Letters nothing savoring of fatherly Devotion or Pastoral Patience but most bitterly threatning him with sentence of Excommunication and his Kingdom with an Interdict whereas on the otherside he rather ought with admonition to have mollified him and with merits and meekness overcome him If the Kings humility be so requited what will be determin'd against the stubborn If the ready devotion of obedience be esteem'd so slightly in what manner shall wilful obstiuacie be revenged Nay father to these so grievous threats are added yet matters far more grievous for he Excommunicated some of his Majesties Liegemen most inward with our Lord the King the Principal of his Privy Council who managed the counsels of the King and the affairs of his Kingdom and all this being neither cited nor impleaded neither as they say or call it guilty of any crime nor convicted nor confessing any thing Yea he went farther yet insomuch as he suspended from his Priestly and Episcopal Office our reverend Brother the Bishop of Salisbury being absent undefended neither confest nor convict before ever the cause of his suspension was approved of by the advice of those of the same Province or any others If therefore this course of proceedings in judgements so preposterous we spare to say inordinate be followed concerning the King and Kingdom what will be the end considering the time is evil and yeildeth great occasion of malice but that the band of grace and favour whereby the Kingdom and Priesthood have hitherto been united will be rent asunder c And so they appeal against the Archbishop Thomas The Church being somewhat troubled with these divisions it was the earnest desire of several to procure a peace and this the Pope himself wish'd having work enough to do with the Emperour Frederick To accomplish this upon the desire also of Henry An. 1168. he sends two Legates a Latere viz. Cardinal William and Cardinal Otto and accordingly impowered them with instructions to manage that accommodation in France He writes also to a Bar. anno 1168. § 3 4. Thomas desiring him by all means to give himself to peace and rather than not to have concord to wink at some things and yeild for a while Yet as if Thomas were not great enough before he intended to raise him above all in France to which purpose he resolved to make him Legat also over all those Churches but before he could bestow upon him that Legantine Authority he was to desire the King of France his leave which accordingly he did by b § 7 8 9. Letter As for the manner of the Treaty of Peace between the King and Thomas take the story of it from the Legates themselves to the Pope § 33. To our most blessed Father and Lord Alexander c. William and Oddo by the same Grace Cardinals c. Coming to the c c i. e. in France Dominions of the renowned King of England we found the controversie between him and Canterbury aggravated in far worse sort believe us than willingly we could have wished For the King with the greatest part of his followers affirmed how the Archbishop with great vehemencie d d Speed § 29. This Accusation Thomas denyed incensed the most worthy King of France against him and in like sort induced his Cosin the Earl of Flanders who before did bear him no malice to fall out with him and raise the most powerful war he could against him and this he knew of a certainty and it appear'd so by several evident demonstrations For whereas the said Earl departed from the King very friendly the Archbishop coming into his Province to the very seat of the War incited as much as in him lay as well the King of France as the said Earl to Arms The King affirm'd also that the Informations concerning the ancient Customs of England deliver'd to you were false and not true which also the Bishops there present did witness The King offer'd also that if any Customs since his time were devised contrary to the Ecclesiastical Laws he would submit them to your judgement Calling therefore to us the Archbishops Bishops and Abbots of the Kings Dominions that the King might not deprive us of all hopes of peace but rather suffer himself to be drawn to have a Conference with the Archbishop as well concerning the peace as the judgement Sending therefore Letters unto a a i. e. Thomas him by our Chaplains we appointed a certain and safe place where we might have conference with him on the Feast of St. Martin he nevertheless pretending excuses put off this Conference until the Octaves of that Saint which truely vexed the King more than could be imagined But when we saw that the Archbishop although we offer'd him safe conduct would nevertheless give us no meetings in any part of the Kings Dominions next the French we being willing to yeild to him that there might be nothing wanting in us which might redound to his profit came to a place in the Realm of France which himself appointed Being come to the Conference we began most earnestly to perswade him that he would behave himself to the King who had been his singular Benefactor with such humility as might afford us sufficient matter on which to ground our Petition for peace At which retiring himself aside with his friends after some consultation with them he answer'd that He had sufficiently humbled himself to the King without impeaching the honour of God the liberty of the Church the reputation of his own Person the possessions of the Church and farther the justice due to him and his friends These things so numbred up we seriously perswaded him as it was necessary to descend to particulars but when he would alledge nothing either certain or particular we demanded of him if in the matters specified in your Letters he would submit himself to our judgement as the King and Bishops had already promised to do to which he presently replyed that he had received no Mandat from you to this purpose But if he and all his might first be fully restored he would then proceed according as the Apostolick See should direct him So returning from the Conference since his words neither tended to judgement nor agreement nor yet would he by any means enter into the matter We manifested unto the King some things but concealing other passages as it was convenient and tempering other things what we heard c. Thomas b Bar. § 38 39 c. writes also to the Pope and informs him of the same conference and in a manner confesseth all here set down expecting his instigating the French against King Henry And another c § 53 54. Letter he writes to the Cardinals at Rome pitifully complaining that King
not exempted from the guilt of the offence although he escaped the punishment But let others dispute the Priviledge of Ambassadors and so I leave him as I finde him CHAP. VI. The Spanish Invasion THe greatest Enemies the Queen had were those whose births oblig'd them to obedience but whether their Religion its interest or some bad Principles of the Parties prompted them to such Treasons let others judge 'T is certain the Jesuits and other English Priests were the occasion of the Queen of Scots her ruine they still thrusting her on to so many inconveniences against the Queen and Kingdom that Elizabeth was the sooner perswaded to consult her own safety by taking away that which sought her overthrow As for these people when they saw no hope of restoring the Roman Religion either by Mary of Scotland nor her Son they Camden anno 1586 began to finde out new Masters and none more fit for them then the Spaniard whom they vapour'd to be Heir to the English Crown And concerning this a Vita Vincent Laurei Card. pag. 72. Ruggerius Tritonius Abbot of Pinaro in his life of Cardinal Vincentius Laurens tells us an odd passage viz. that Mary the Queen of Scots the day before she suffer'd death did under her own hand in the French Tongue declare that her Son James should not Inherit England if he remain'd a Protestant but that the right of the Kingdom should be translated to Philip of Spain And these Papers were sent to the said Cardinal Laureus being by Sixtus V. made Protector of Scotland who gave them to Conde Olivares then Ambassador for the King of Spain at Rome with order to send them to his Master Philip and this did Robertus Titius publish though without Tritonius the Authors knowledge and then living in Italy 1599. dedicating it to Cardinal Montalto And this is somewhat agreeable to one of the charges laid against her at her tryal that she sent a Letter to Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador wherein she promis'd to give her right of England to the King of Spain if her Son James would not be of the Romish perswasion The first of these Stories b History of Queen Mary James VI pag. 120. Mr. Sanderson looks upon as a meer trick and fable and whether she was really so concern'd for her Sons Religion as to use any means for his conversion to Popery King James can tell best himself and thus he saith c Monitory Preface to the Apology pag. 34. In all her Letters whereof I received many she never made mention of Religion nor labour'd to perswade me in it so at her last words she commanded her d Viz. Melvyn Master-houshold a Scotish Gentleman my servant and yet a live she commanded him I say to tell me that although she was of another Religion then that wherein I was brought up yet she would not press me to change except my conscience forced me to it For so that I led a good life and were careful to do Justice and govern well she doubted not but that I would be in a good case with the Profession of my own Religion But whether she undertook to give away the Title of England from her Son was no great matter it being against all Law Justice and Reason she having no power to dispose of the Inheritance of England yet the Romanists when all other endeavours fail'd to rob King James of his Kingdoms and life had the confidence about the year 1613. to a Jesuitica per unitas Belgii provincias Negotiatio E 4. publish a book affirming King James to be but a meer cheat or counterfeit and a mock-King denying him to be the Son of the aforesaid Queen Mary But laying aside such Forgeries that the Spaniard hath had a designe not onely to rule these Islands but to be the Universal Monarch hath been the opinion of many men amongst others I finde b Dessein perperuel des Espagnols a la Monarchie Universelle Pâ—inted 1624. in quarte one hath made an Extract from their Original Papers whither I shall refer the Reader But whatever his former attempts have been of late he hath rather lost then gain'd And though Naples Flanders Arragon Catalonia c. might do him some injury if they were in the possession of others yet as they stand divided and in a posture of defence he can never grow rich by their Coyn. But to return home Where we happen in the year which above an hundred years year 1588 before the famous German Astronomer Johannes Regiomontanus had affirm'd would be most wonderful The Prophesie it self Originally in the German Language went about by Tradition and Johannes Schoenerus repeated them to the noted Bohemian Mathematician c Ephemeridum Novum Ec. 10. Cyprianus Leovitius who first publish'd them 1577 which because they have made a great noise in the world though I finde no great matter in them seeing such general predictions may serve almost for any year take thus in the Original Tausent funff hunderâ— achtsig acht Das ist das Jar das ich betracht Geht in dem die Welt nicht under So gschicht doch sunst gross merctlich wunder Often have I been troubled at the fate Of the year fifteen hundred eightie eight And if the world it self don 't end you 'll see For its events most wonderful 't will be In this year I think France was the greatest sufferer the Covenanters or Leaguers there by their Barracado's forcing the King Henry III out of Paris and he to prevent his greater danger cut off the Cardinal and Duke of Guise which occasion'd so much war and his own Murther And besides these two the third party in that Kingdom viz. the Hugonots received a great loss by the Death of the Prince of Conde suppos'd by some to be poysoned England was in some fear and at some charges by the noise of the Invincible Armada but Spains loss was inestimable by its overthrow The Lord Maitland Chancellor of Scotland undertook in short thus to give us the year a Poet. Scot. vol. 2. pag. 138. Papa Dei petit Orbis Iber Dux Guisius Orci Regna annus mirus si potientur erit And b Id. pag. 133. Andrew Melvyn hath a Copy of Verses somewhat to the same purpose Upon this great Navy c Poet. Germ. vol. 6. p. 310. Simon Stenius d Poet. Gall. vol. 3. p. 655. Adeodatus Seba Beza and several other Forreigners bestow'd their Poetry to the no small trouble of the Index Expurgatorius which was forced to take the pains to casheer some of them For some years had this great Fleet been in preparing from several parts in the world but the History of the preparations fight and victory I shall leave to other Writers and follow mine own designe Certain it is the Spaniard scarce doubted of a Conquest which made one thus to despise the Queen Tu qui Romanos voluisti spernere leges Hispano disces subdere colla
how to make themselves Possessors of the Throne of that Kingdom and finding none so much capable by Right Title and Interest as those of the Family of Bourbon to thwart and oppose their designs it was their best policy to procure their ruine to which purpose take this following Narrative but in short of the Guisards against the House of Navarre being the chief of that of Bourbon which though * An 1564. § 8. Spondanus looks upon as a Fable and it may be according to Perefixe that the young Prince of Navarre might be then at Paris yet take the story though possibly with some mistakes upon the credit of Thanus and Gomberville now one of the French Academy and so let him and the present Archbishop of Paris also of the Academy bandy and rectifie it as they please Antoine de Bourbon King of Navarre at the Siege of Rouen being shot year 1562 into the left shoulder with a Musquet bullet of which wound he a little after died those of Guise consulted how to make their best benefit De Gomberville Les Memoires de M. de Nevers v l. 2. p. 579 c. Thuan. lib. 35. Mâ—moires d'Estat vol. 2. ensuite de câ—ux de M. de Villeroy pag. 35 36 c. by the said death Jane the Widow Queen of Navarre lived at Pau the chief Town in the Territory of Bearne adjoyning to the Pyrenean Mountains and with her she had her young Prince Henry afterwards call'd the Great now about 9 years old At this time Philip II. King of Castile having wars with the Africans and Moors his Recruits from Italy and Germany were to rendezvouz at Barcelona in Catalonia Now doth Charles Cardinal of Lorrain and his brother François Duke of Guise consult how to extirpate this Race of Navarre to which purpose they pitch upon one Dimanche to act as Agent for their Interest in those parts of Aquitaine where he had as his Assistants Monluc an experienc'd Souldier d'Escars Viscount d'Ortes with the Captain of Ha Castle adjoyning to Bourdeaux and several others great Favourersand Dependents of Guise But the prosecution of these designs was somewhat cool'd by the death of the Duke of Guise who was shot by Poltrot year 1563 at the Siege of Orleance Upon this though a Peace was struck up between the King and the zealous Huguenots where the later were gainers by the Agreement yet the Cardinal Lorrain carrieth on his former Contrivements against the House of Navarre making his Nephew the young Duke of Guise Head of the Plot. And to give a better colour to all they pretend Religion their Foundation so all Hereticks ought to be rooted out amongst which the young Prince of Navarre and his Mother to which Friends could not be wanting seeing the King of Spain would assist them To this purpose Captain Dimanche is dispatch'd into Spain to the year 1564 Duke of Alva to obtain the assistance of the aforesaid Forces at Barcelona which on a sudden might fall upon Bearne take Pau with the Queen her Son Henry and Daughter Catherine and to prevent any of their Escapes the Friends of Guise would way-lay them on the French side to which end they had several trusty Commanders and Forces conveniently placed thereabouts And the Princes thus taken should be conveyed into Spain put into the Inquisition as Hereticks and then they would be sure enough Thus the Guisards would have their desire and as a persuasive argument to the Castilian they told him that things brought to this pass the dispute for the Kingdom of Navarre would cease the Pretenders to it being thus in his possession Accordingly Dimanche gets into Spain waits upon the Duke of Alva who having heard and approv'd the design orders him to go to the King who was then at Monçon or Monson a Town in Aragon where they used to keep their Parlements or las Cortes for Aragon Valencia and Catalonia For this place Dimanche passing by Madrid he fell dangerously sioâ— of an high Feaver and being but badly accommodated in a poor Inn a Frenchman call'd Anne Vespier one of the Queen of Spains servants took pity on him removed him to his own house where he was better attended on and by the assistance of the Queens Physicians recovered For which kindness and other great favours Dimanche and Vespier enter into a strict Familiarity and Friendship In short Dimanche thinking to make use of him in his absence for some Intelligence discovers his business and the Plot to him Vespier being born at Nerac in Gascogne so a Vassal and Subject to the King of Navarre was guided by so much Loyalty as to resolve to prevent the ruine of his Soveraign for which purpose he had this advantage The present Queen of Spain was Elizabeth daughter to Henry II. King of France and so sister to Charles IX then reigning King of france and thus near related to the House of Navarre Vespier a servant to this Queen Elizabeth thinks upon the most convenient way to inform her of all for which he addresseth himself to the Grand Almoner and Tutor by whose means all is fully discover'd to her who resolveth to write of it to her Brother and Sister the King and Queen of France Notice is also given to Sieur de St. Suplice the French Embassadour then in the Spanish Court at Monçon with a desire to inform the Queen of Navarre at Pau that she might better consult and provide for her own safety Dimanche gets to Monçon opens all to King Philip in the mean time de St. Suplice one well acquainted with State matters and after imployed by the French Court dispatcheth his Secretary Rouleau into France with the Letters and Intelligence whereby the Queen of Navarre had means to secure her self and the Plot was spoiled by this discovery Yet Dimanche having done with Spain hasts to Paris where he is privately lodg'd in the Duke of Guise his house and for some time after at a Monastery belonging to the Friars call'd Bons hommes adjoyning to the Wood of Nostre Dame de Boulogne near St. Cloud not far from Paris And though the Spanish Money and Interest at this time had such a sway in the French Council and Court that Captain Dimanche though it was desired was not suffered to be seised on in his return from Spain whereby they might have discover'd further into the Plot by himself and his Papers yet was Philip and Guise both gull'd and the House of Navarre preserved to sit in the Throne And though the Queen of Navarre complained of this Conspiracy and desired justice of the House of Lorrain yet Catherine de Medicis one not apt to be commended in History the Queen-mother turn'd it off by telling her that it was best to forgive those injuries they could not punish And indeed the Interest of the Guises was then so powerful that it was dangerous to call them to an account Whilest these things were closely carrying on Pope Pius IV. was
enough to oppose his Enemies nor certain where to secure himself fearing if he left Paris it would rise against him and if he stay'd there he might be seiz'd on so zealously bent was that City for the Covenant However he gets a strong Guard about him and sends the Queen-mother to treat with the Confederates And what a grand conceit they had of their enterprise may in part be Gomberville vol 1. p. 648. seen by their Cardinals Letter to the Dutchess of Nevers wherein he tells her How pleas'd he is with the good will which she and her Duke bears to their designs which is onely for the honour of God though others traduce them as Ambitious That they shall shortly have the bravest Army that hath been in France these five hundred years That though the Queen-mother now talk to them of peace yet their demands are so many for Religion that she will not grant them c. Your most humble Uncle to serve you CHARLES Cardinal de Bourbon Chalons 23 May 1585. But in short the Treaty is carried on very cunningly on both sides and at last both Parties growing jealous of their own Force and Guise doubting the Cardinals constancy by reason of his easie nature a Peace was clapt up advantageous enough to the Covenanters for by Agreement 7 July the Huguenots were to be prosecuted several Cities and strong places given to the Guisards strong Horse-guards appointed and paid by the King to wait upon their Chieftains Guise himself is to have one hundred thousand Crowns his Forces paid and all things forgiven c. And for better satisfaction upon this Re-union of his Subjects as they call'd it the King in Parlement must publish an Edict which Perefixe calls a Bloudy one The summe of it was thus HENRY by the grace of God King of France and Poland c. 18 July Edict de Juillet How God and Man knoweth his care and endeavours to have all his Subjects of one Religion i. e. the Roman the want of which hath been the occasions of so many troubles Wherefore with the advice of his Mother and Council he doth ordain and command this unalterable Decree and Edict That in his Dominions there shall be but one viz. the Roman Religion under pain of confiscation of Body and Goods all former Edicts to the contrary notwithstanding That all Huguenot Ministers or Preachers do avoid and depart the Kingdom within one moneth That all his other Subjects who will not change their Religion shall depart within six moneths yet shall have liberty to sell and dispose of their goods That all Huguenots or Hereticks shall be incapable of any Office or Dignity That all * * Courts 〈…〉 in severâ—l plâ—â—ces by former Edicts 1576 1577. wherein half were to be Romanists and half Huguenâ—ts These were restored agâ—in by the Edict of Nantâ—s 1589. with maâ—y other favours to the Hugâ—enots mâ—ny or which have been since null'd and taken away Chambre mi-parties and tri-parties shall be taken away That all those Towns and Places formerly given to the Huguenots for their security shall by them be deliver'd up That what hath hitherto or formerly been done shall be pardon'd on both sides And that for the better preservation of this Edict all Princes Officers Governours Justices Mayors c. shall swear to keep it and their said Oaths to be registred HENRY By the King in his Council Broulart Read and publish'd in Parlement the King present De-Hevez The King of Navarre seeing himself thus aim'd at not only challengeth Guise to single Combat which the Duke answer'd only by Libels but also vindicated himself by an Apologetical Declaration drawn up by Philippe Morney Sieur du Plessis whose Pen and Learning that King used to make much use of as appears by his Memoirs and whose Life was afterwards writ by one of his Amanuenses and in whose commendations you may read a large Ode in Monsieur * Le Paâ—nasse des Poetes Francoises tom 2. fol 69 70 c. D'Espinelle's Collections King Henry III. perceiving that the Leaguers made great noise against him for not prosecuting the war against the Huguenots or rather against the King of Navarre told them his willingness to such a war and therefore desir'd them to put him in a way to have Moneys for the raising and paying the Armies but this they car'd not for being unwilling that he should be either strong or rich yet to stop their clamours he gave order for the levelling of three Armies to fight Navarre and his Associates Thus were their three several Interests in France at the same time I. The King and his Royalists II. The King of Navarre with his Huguenots in their own defence as a * Andr. Favyn Hist de Navarre p. 936. Davila p. 579. Romanist confesseth III. The Guisians or Covenanters designing the ruine of the two former and to advance themselves And now Pope Gregory XIII dying there succeeded in the Chair Sixtus V. who upon sollicitation of the Guisards thunders out a Bull against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé which being too long for this place I shall refer you to the reading of it in other * Pet. Math. Sâ—â—mma Constitut Rom. Pont. p. 901 902 903. Fran. Hoâ—oman â—ulmen Brutum Goldest Monarch Rom. tom 2 3 p. 124 125 126. Authors But because it is in none of the Editions of Cherubinus his Bullarium possibly since that time thinking it not convenient to exaspeâ—â—te that Kingdom as they have either fraudulently or politickly left out some other Bulls take the summe of it as followeth First it telleth us what a fine thing a Pope is that by his right and power can throw down and depose the greatest of Kings Then what favours and kindnesses this Henry hath received from the Pope for Gregory XIII abolished and pardoned his former sins and Heresies and gave him a Dispensation to marry his Queen Margaret and the like done to the Prince of Condé Yet for all this they have adhered to Calvinism opposed the Roman Religion and endeavoured to carry on that which they call A Refâ—rmation for which they have by Arms and Council withstood the Romanists Wherefore according to our duty we draw the sword of vengeance against these two Sons of wrath Henry sometimes King of Navarre and Henry Prince of Condé And therefore declare them and all their posterity deprived of all their Dominions Principalities Titles Places Jurisdictions Offices Goods Rights c. And that both they and their posterity are and shall hereafter be uncapable to succeed in or possess any of the premisses And we also absolve all Nobles Feudatories Vassals Subjects and all other people from their Oaths of Allegeance Fidelity and Duties they owe or promis'd to them And do hereby command and forbid all and every one that they in no wise obey the aforesaid Henries or any of their Laws or Commandments and those that do otherwise we excommunicate with the
As for the Jesuits the Senate demanding their Answer they return'd that they might continue the Divine Offices their Sermons and Confessions according to their Custom For upon notice of the Interdict they had sent Achilles Gaillardi a Paduan noted Jesuit the Author of some meditations to represent unto the Pope what good Services they might do his cause if he would permit them to stay in the Venetian Dominions For the Nuncio before his departure from Venice had been very busie with the Jesuits the chief of whom then in the City being Possevino and Bernardin Castorio noted Authors But the Pope understanding the badness of Example if such a famous Order submitted not to his Breve sent them an Express to depart Now the Term of the XXIV days appointed in the Monitorie approaching the Jesuits were required to give their final Resolution who return'd an Express refusal to say Masse which being retorted upon them as a base Equivocation they replyed it was not contrary to their former promise because the Masse for the Excellency of it is not comprehended under the words of Divine Offices The Senate seeing themselves thus abused by these people commanded the Jesuits speedily to depart their Dominions Upon this the Jesuits suddenly collected a great summ of money from their Devoted ones so packing up as fast as they could in the Evening they departed the City each one carrying the Host at his neck intimating that Jesus Christ departed with them as they took Bark the people cryed out against them Go with a vengeance and come no more hither Before their departure they had hid their richest Ornaments burn'd great quantity of writings and there was found in their Colledges a good number of Cruses to melt metals which left some blot upon them though Possevino indeavour'd to vindicate them from any design of gold or silver At their Colledg in Padua were found many Copies of a writing containing XVIII Rules under this Title being drawn up and commanded to be believed by their Founder * vid. Exerâ—icitia Spirituália Ignatius Loyola Regulae aliquot servandae ut cum Orthodoxa Ecclesia vere sentiamus In the Seventh whereof there is a Prescription to take heed how men press or inculcate too much the Grace of God And in the Third it is ordain'd That men must beleeve the Hierarchical Church although it tell us that that is black which our eye judgeth to be white The Senate having thus wisely given an hint of their Resolutions by their dealing with the Jesuits Put forth an Order that all Ecclesiasticks who would not continue Divine Services should retire out of their Dominions Upon this the Capuchins with whom the Nuncio and Jesuits had tamper'd very much resolved also to depart and intended to go according to the Jesuits Instructions to them out in Procession with the Sacrament thereby to stir up the people to Sedition who have most affection to this Order pretending to great poverty Innocency But this solemnity was hindred by Authority So in the morning celebrating one Masie eating up all the Eucharist they concluded the Office without giving Benediction to the people and then departed and so did the Theatins and the reformed Franciscans But it was observed that the Capuchins in the Territories of Brescia and Bergamo where were no Jesuits to seduce them did not depart but remain'd Obedient to their Governours celebrating Divine Service for which honesty and loyalty they were bitterly persecuted by their superiors at Rome with Excommunications and other Censures Now began a fierce dispute amongst them Whether all the Sacraments administred by the Priests that staid contrary to the Interdict were nullities or no Whether it was lawful to adore the Eucharist shewn by such Priests And Whether it was a Mortal or Venial Sin to hear Masse celebrated by such Priests Of these every one judged according to his Interest as is usual in such cases In the mean time the Jesuits by their Instruments did what they could to stir up Sedition in the State and so did other Ecclesiasticks ingaged on the Papal faction but the Senate by their prudence prevented all and being perfectly united amongst themselves kept the people in a true Obedience to them The Quarrel growing dayly greater and greater each party addressed themselves to the respective Princes in Christendom to render their cause chear and legal the Princes desiring and perswading a Reconciliation every one of the Romanists offering to be Mediators The Pope troubled that the Venetians would not stoop to his humour invented another Plot whereby he thought to make some Divisions amongst them And this it was He publish'd a Jubilee whither he invited all Christians granting Indulgences Absolutions and Pardons to all but those of Interdicted places By this Strategem he fancyed that the Venetian people seeing themselves thus deprived of such blessing and graces would disobey the Senate and run into Sedition And the better to carry this on the Jesuits gave notice that though the people were excluded in the general yet they had power from his Holiness to grant it to such of them as would observe the Conditions by them propounded amongst which were these Not to go to Masse Nor to approve the reasons and actions of the Senate But all these plots did the Pope little good Nor did their orher lyes against the Republick as if it had renounced the Roman Religion and become Lutherans or Protestants avail them any thing The Pope seeing the bad event of all these designs sends to Philip III. King of Spain to desire his Assistance The King returns an Answer that he had desired an Accommodation but seeing the Honour of his Holiness concerned he would assist him with his forces which he had also signifyed to his Ministers in Italy This Letter was received at Rome with the greatest joy and Triumph Imaginable the Spaniards vapouring of their meritorious actions to the Pope But others gave different Censures of the Letter some thinking it procured by the Authority of the Duke of Lerma the then great Favourite of Spain who ruled King and all things else But others believed that the design of it was not as it appear'd really for war but thereby to render the Venetians more submiss and tractable for a peace However the Count de Fuentes the Catholick Kings Governour at Milan seemâ—d very forward in Preparations upon which the Venetians thought it not sâ—tting to be behind so that now both parties seem'd running into a War both Pope and Duke drumming up men and making all things ready for Offence and Defence Whilst these preparations went on the better to disorder and weaken the Venetians the Marquis de Santa Croce having received the Papal Benediction by his Nuncio departed from Naples with XXVI Spanish Gallies and at Messina received the addition of XIV more thence secretly sailing along entred the Golf of Venice fell upon Durazzo a City in Albania belonging to the Turks which he sack'd and returned
is Ratifi'd He acts as God their Powers so equal are And God Christ Pope have but one judgement-chair Then Paul or th' Old-law he 's more great and true He can command ' gainst Paul and Gospel too Can frame new Rules of Faith the old Casheer And over General Councils domineer If he to Hell millions of Souls should draw 40 Dist c. Si Papa Yet none must ask him why His will is Law Nor need this seem strange to those who are assured by good Authority that some have held the Pope for no less then a a Aestimant Papam esse unum Deum qui habet potestatem omnem in Coelo Terra Johan Gerson Tom. 2. Resolut circa materiam Excommunicationum Irregularitat Consid 11. God and accordingly could command all both in Heaven and Earth Tindal disputing with one thought a Learned Doctor drave him to that issue that he burst out We had better be without Gods Laws then the Popes Tho. Fuller's Abel Redivivus pag. 127. Thus you see the more then Hogan Mogan Authority of which you shall hear more hereafter of your Infallible Lord whereby you cannot do amiss as long as you obey his hests and commands be it against King Country or Parents for against all these 't is said that he hath a jurisdiction to hound you And for a farther incouragement he maketh no small use of the word Heretick and all must be such who do not swear right or wrong to him or his Church And if a Governour be not of the Roman Church and so by their consequence be an Heretick this following Treatise will tell you what is to be done with him and their Bulla Coenae Domini publish'd every year at Rome and other places on Maundy-Thursday the Thursday before Easter will tell you how they are Curs'd and Excommunicated to the purpose And according to the b Non enim eâ—s homicidas arbitramur qâ—os adversus Excommunicatos Zelo Catholicae matris ardentes aliquos eorum trucidasse contigeret 23. q. 5. cap 147. Excommunicatorum Canon-law he that kills an Excommunicated person in meer Zeal for the Roman Church doth not incur the crime of Homicide Amongst other things this Bull damns to the Pit of Hell all those who shall assist or carry Arms to any Hereticks upon which c Marius Alterius starts this Quaere a De Câ—nsuâ—is Ecclesiasticis lib 5. Disput 8 cap. 2. pag. 527. â—â— postulabit quis If such prohibited things be convey'd to the subjects of a Prince expresly by the Papal sentence declared an Heretick whether then the Conveyers are by this Bull Excommunicated To which the said de Alteriis giveth this doughty and Roman Answer If the Subjects under the Heretical Prince to whom the Arms are carryed be of the Roman Religion hate their Prince and desire if they have ability to free themselves from his Tyranny or Government and to that end do secretly seek Arms to imploy them at the first opportunity for the destruction of the said Heretical Prince then as this great Doctor thinketh the Aiders or Assisters do no ways incur Excommunication Thus would they intrude upon us a pretty Salvo for Treason and no small incouragement for Rebellion if to Depose Kings may be titled such Again the Popes Infallibility being by some so highly cry'd up it is no hard matter to make a good-meaning Romanist believe that it is his best and safest way to obey the Pope in every thing he commandeth though it were against his King and Country of which this following History will afford many instances and this King-deposing Doctrine being so stifly maintain'd as a grand Article by their most Authentick Papal Writers the inferiour Romanist will think himself obliged to credit it and his great Judge the Pope who if he did erre in this point how can they rest assured that he did not erre in other points of Faith to retort a Joh. Clare The converted Jew part 3. pag. 17 Michaeas his Rule But concerning Infallibility I finde a war amongst themselves and our English men when it cometh to a pinch are as unsetled as they think their Neighbours are Father b Controversie-Logick pag. 212 213. White one of very desperate Principles as to Government doth in the name of the Romanists flatly deny that the Pope is Infallible affirming the contrary to be Injuriously impos'd upon them by Sectaries And Father c Remonstr Hibernorum part 5. cap. 28. p. 85 86 c. Caron of better Tenents then the former is of Opinion that the Pope with any other assistance whatever unless a General Council may erre and this of late he undertakes to prove at large And farther White confesseth that it is not yet known where this Infallibility lyeth For saith he d Controvers Log. p. 96. some place it in the Pope some in a General Council some in both some in the whole Church And a later Writer grants several Infallibilities e Labyrinth Cantuariensis pag. 177. The Infallibility of the Church Councils and Tradition depend so necessarily upon each other that whatever Authorities prove the Infallibility of any one do in effect and by good consequence prove the same of all the rest But methinks we need not stand so resolutely upon Religion or Church since the Author of Fiat Lux assures us that Time will alter any Religion f Fiat Lux pag. 73 74. A Religion once establish'd be it true or false when it is once received it is then taken for true in the space of some succeeding ages is reformed anew by other Teachers or Interpreters who in time lead men out of the former way into their own sometimes slowly gradually and insensibly that they are brought into another Religion before they be aware sometimes by open hostility to the former which whether by Covin or violence yeilds at last to the Ingress of a new one If thus Religion it self will vary and alter in time there needs not be such a confidence placed in their Infallibility and yet 't is pretty to observe that this their grand Rule which on all occasions they call to their assistance they do not know where to fix or finde and that which must judge the rest is of it self unsetled and uncertain And they grant that a Church that is g S. W. Schism disarmed pag. 22 26 28. fallible may lawfully be forsaken But this by the by and I shall confess nothing to the purpose as being besides my designe and so the less careful in its hasty scribling As for this King-deposing Doctrine though it be positively taught and believed at Rome by Pope Cardinals their greatest Doctors and every where by those whom his Holiness looks upon as through-paced sons to him and his Church and those who absolutely deny this Article as Widdrington Caron Barckley c. are with their books censured and prohibited as rotten unfound and false ware yet in Countries far enough
some cases as if the Prince should force his People to be a a Allow one or two Exceptions and twenty will follow if the Romanists be Judges Prateo lus Elench Haeret. § Mahometes compares the Protestants to the Turks Gifford Prâ—f in lib. D. Reinald Calvino-Turcismus saâ—th that the Protestants belief is worse than the Alcoran Mahometans Jewes Pagans or Infidels the Pope may discharge his Subjects of their Allegiance and Obedience otherwise due to him III. That the King Bishops Peers and Commons in Parliament cannot declare or censure the opinion which alloweth the Popes power to excommunicate and deprive Kings to be Impious and Heretical IV. That it is gross Ignorance and False not to believe that the Pope or any other have power to absolve Subjects of their Oaths of Obedience and Allegiance V. That this Oath of Allegiance though taken is not obligatory nor hath any power to binde Thus we see the foundation of Government shaken Oaths and Obedience brought to be but trifles and Supream Authority and Rule upon the common-canting whining pretence of Religion consumed to nothing Leonardus Lessius a Jesuite of great repute under the false name Discussio Decreti Mag. Concil Lateran of Guilielmus Singletonus is very zealous for this Authority to be in the Pope Tells us in one place that if the Pope b Si sam Pont. non haberet illam potestatem in Tâ—mporalia Ecclesia errarâ—t in Doctrina morum quidem circa res gravissimas Docet enim Principe per sententiam summi Pont. abdicato omnes subditos ab ejus obedientia esse solutos ditionem ejus ab alio posse occupari ut ex Conciliis constat Discuss Decret Concil Lat. pag 46. have not this power then the Church of necessity must err because it teacheth such jurisdiction to lye in the Pope but to affirm so of the Church viz. that she erreth is Heretical nay that this error viz. that the Pope cannot depose Kings c Id. Pag. 90. Hic enim error longe perniciosior erit magisque intolerabilis quam error circa aliquod Sacramentum is more pernicious and intolerable than an error concerning some of the Sacraments for 't is a d Id. Pag. 100. certain and undoubted received Opinion of the Church and therefore he e Id Pag. 123. conjures all Catholicks as they love the salvation of their Souls to have a care of doubting of it or believing the contrary for it f Ad sidem pertinere sive ita cum rebus fidei Religionis esse conjunctam ut absque sanae Doctrinae injuria non videatur posse negaâ—i belongs to faith or agrees so neer with it that it cannot be denyed without great injury to sound Doctrine And whether this Lessius in another of his Books concerning the a De potestate summi Pontifici Popes power maintains any Tenents more dangerous than these I know not no more than I do the reasons that made them suppress it though many years ago printed The Lawyer b De sindicatu Summar 4. § 56 57 58 59. Paris de Puteo from the Canon-law and other such-like authorities gathers that the Pope may depose Kings or Emperours and the old c Dist 40 Si Papa Gloss Glassator upon Gratian standing upon the same sandy Foundation maintains the same proposition against the latter and with these agree another Lawyer d Et Imperator debet confirmari à Papa tanquam superiore ab eo examinare approbari ac incongi consecraâ—i coronari si est dignus vel rejici si est indignus puta si esset sacrilegus excommunicatus licet esset electus ab Electoribus Imperii Jo. Bapt. Plot. Consilium § 64. Johannes Baptista Plotus In the year 1619. Frederick Elector Palatine of Rhine being over-perswaded by the Bohemians who had then denyed Ferdinand the Emperour to be their King to take upon him the Government over them was after some Wars overcome by the Imperialists and bereft not onely of that Kingdom but the rest of his Territories Upon this great consultation is had privately at Rome to get another Elector into his place and for the person they need not study long The Duke of Bavaria having his great expence in this War against the Bohemians and the Jesuits to whom he was a great Benefactor had a particular Devotion and was in all things sway'd by them to speak loud in his behalf and besides which was no small mover his Zeal for the cause of Rome Frederick being a Protestant and thus laid by would thus over-sway the reformed Electors in number whereby the Empire probably would still be ruled by that Religion These and other like reasons made Pope Gregory the Fifteenth and his Nephew and Favourite Cardinal Ludovisio who was also made Protector of the Irish to be earnest with the Emperour about it which at last though the Spaniard at its first motion seem'd not to like took effect and Maximilian Duke of Bavaria obtain'd that honour 1623. But that which I most aim at in this story is the Paper of advice or reasons to perswade to this action presented to the Pope and Cardinals by Michel Lonigo da Esle belonging to his Holiness in which is strongly pleaded for Bavaria ranting and boasting in a whole beadrole what pretty pranks and tricks the Popes have formerly acted over Kings and Emperours by interdicting excommunicating and deposing them altering and changing of Empires and Kingdoms and in one place speaks boldly and plainly thus It is in the Popes hands as appeareth by all Histories to renew the Emperours in their Empire to translate the authority of one Nation to another and utterly to abolish the right of Election And that Rome did think her power over Kings by way of punishment to be just and really her own you may partly guess from this following story No sooner came forth our Oath of Allegiance for the preservation Ro. Widdrington's Theological Disputation cap. 10. Sect. 2. § 52 53. c. of the King and security of his Kingdoms but Father Parsons at Rome sollicited the Pope for his Breves against it which were obtain'd but before they were sent into England this Jesuite wrote a Letter hither to intimate though falsly that he was for mitigation but that true enough the rest were for the Popes power against the King but take his own words as they are delivered to us by an honest Benedictine About some four or five Months ago it was consulted by seven or eight of the Learned'st Divines that could be chosen who gave their judgement of it Their Reasons are many but all deduced to this that the Popes Authority in chastising Princes upon a just account is de fide and consequently cannot be deny'd when it is call'd into Controversie without denying of our Faith nor that the Pope or any other Authority can dispense in this For if the Question were de facto and
munificentia largus erga indigentes Iâ—opes misericordia satis premptus ita ut non solum Princeps Populotum sed etiam Pater Pauperum vocari sit dignus lâ—â—dori Chron. magnified for a brave Souldier and King for one vertuous faithful prudent industrious just munificent and liberal that he ought to be call'd the Prince of his people and Father of the poor He had done well if his Subscription had been true to have corrected his History that they might not stand thus at defiance against each other to deceive Posterity we cannot plead â—sidores ignorance seeing he lived in the same time and Country and why may not this good Character in his Chronologie be more true and authentick than that other testified by his and the others subscription since the first was writ freely and privately without any obligation to flatter onely to inform Posterity whilst the other as is very a Marian. de rebus Hispan lib. 6. cap. 5. probable was onely subscribed to gratifie and pleasure Sisenandus a dissembling and powerful Usurper But 't is all one to my purpose were he good or bad And here we have another rancounter amongst Historians for the aforenamed Rodericus Ximenius Archbishop of Toledo and Alphonsus de Carthagena Bishop of Burgos with b De Reg. Hispan lib. 2. Michael Ritius c Arbori delle famiglie Regall di Spagna pag. 34. Cesare Campana and several others give not the least hint of any opposition that Suinthila had in his Government but that he dyed at Toledo and the learned Belgick Jesuit d Bibl. Hisp Tom. 1. p. 163. Andraeas Schottus agreeth to the last whilst other Writers are confident of his deposition the story of which is rather hinted at than told but in sum thus One Sisenandus or Sisnandus but of what relation Pens will not agree great in Wars and Authority having a desire to make himself King plotted Treason with some others of the Nobility and the better to carry on this Rebellion he sent to Dagobert King of France to desire his assistance the which he obtain'd by his great promises and treasure which he sent to this Dagobert who sent the Wealth to St. Denis where he had built the great Church since that the burying-place of the French Kings A strange piece of Policy commonly in practice for Kings not onely to assist but if beaten to protect Rebels against their Soveraigns when two to one it may a little after be their own case And as this is a strengthing so 't is an incouragement by the certainty if overcome of a refuge to Rebellion Dagobert accordingly sends Abondant and Venerand or e Jo. de Bussiers Hist Fran. Tom. 1. pag. 183. Venerabandus with an Army of Burgundians who enter Spain and march straight-way to Saragoza Upon this the Gothick Rebels revolt joyn to Sisenand by which he grew so powerful and strong that Suinthila with his Queen and Children were forced to flee and so Sisenandus by his treason obtain'd the f An. 631. Crown The Laity having thus proved themselves bold Rebels let us see if their Church be cleer from this vice Sisenand having thus usurp'd the Throne cunningly courted peace with all people and in the third year of his Reign pretending forsooth a great care for Religion and the Church though his g Jo. Mariana lib. 6. cap. 5. design was to get himself fully setled and the through extirpation of Suintila and his Relations call'd a Council at Toledo where met some LXX Spanish and French i. e. that part of it then under Spain Bishops The Bishops being met at Toledo in the Church de Santa Leocadia a h An. 305. 9. Decemb. Virgin-Martyr Sisenand like an Hypocrite humbles himself before the Council and with many tears and sobbings upon his knees desires their blessings and prayers and to mend the faults they found in the Church and suchlike good words After some Consultation and the making of some Canons they gratifie Sisenando to the purpose not onely by declaring of him true and lawful King and confirming of him in the Throne but by dashing in pieces all the hopes of Suintila whom they call Suinthilanis against whom they raunt very dapperly calling of him Fugitive and Runaway from his Authority A pretty jest that Titius should be call'd coward Qui propria scelera metuens se ipsum Regno privavit potestatis facibus exuit and worthy to loose his Lands when being over-power'd by a company of Robbers he is forced to flee to save his life And thus they deprive Suinthila his Queen and Children of all benefit there Having thus confirm'd Sisenando they go on and make strange curses and threats against any that shall indeavour to disturb him in his Throne or who shall intend by sinister ends to aspire to the Crown A pretty Type of Oliver Cromwel and his Parliament who having beat out the true Heir to the Crown and so made himself Lord Paramount they vote it high-Treason for any to oppose that Government or deny the Authority and Rule of his Highness forsooth as if it were vertue and godliness in him to depose a lawful Prince but Treachery and Villany in others to withstand an Usurper And Mariana the Jesuit himself though a great Patron to a De Institut Reg. c. 6. Treason doth confess that Sisnandus obtain'd the Kingdom either by Treachery or Rebellion though to me in the conclusion there is no difference Another of the same Society Sisenandi proditione an rebellione Suinthila sublatus est Jo. Marian. de reb Hispan lib. 6. cap. 4. viz. Andraeas Schottus doth confess that Sisenando obtain'd the Kingdom by force or b Sisenandus rex creatur qui per Tyrannidem Regnum fuit adeptus A. S. Bibl. Hispan Tom. 1. pag. 163. Tyranny and so to conclude this story we see not onely an action but also a Vindication of Treason and Rebellion and that by one of their Councils Nor is this any such wonder for they say that the twelfth Council of Toledo did the same courtesie to Flavius Ervigius or Ervingius Erigius or Hermigius after he had Trayterously endeavour'd the poysoning of the renouned King Bamba or Wamba and so got the Crown to which he had no c Hist of Spain pag. 150. Rob. Tolet. l. 3. c. 12. Alphons de Carthag cap. 1940. Andr. Schott pag. 170. Jo. Marian l. 6. c. 17. right And so much at this time for Spain Sect. 2. The Murther of Childerick the Second King of France with his Queen great with Childe ANd now let us walk over the Pyrenean Mountains and take a turn in France where we shall finde Childerick the Second King but in short time most barbarously murdered the story thus in short This Childerick but for what fault Authors will not tell us had caus'd on Bodilo or d Gaguin fol. 22. Bolidus to be bound and whipt with Rods Upon this he and some others of
Bring him a weapon that before had none That yet he might not idly loose his breath But dye reveng'd in action not alone And this good chance that this much favoureth He flacks not for he presently speeds one And Lyon-like upon the rest he flies And here lyes one and there another lies 74. And up and down he traverses his ground Now wards a felling blow now strikes again Then nimbly shifts a thrust then lends a wound Now back he gives then rushes on a main His quick and ready hand doth so confound These shameful beasts that four of them lies slain And all had perisht happily and well But for one act that O! I grieve to tell 75. This coward Knight seeing with shame and fear His men thus slain and doubting his own end Leaps up into a Chair that loe was there That whilst the King did all his courage bend Against those four that now before him were Doubting not who behind him doth attend And plyes his hands undaunted unâ—ffear'd And with good heart and life for life he stir'd 76. And whilst he this and that and each mans blow 'T is said that some of the strokes of the Swoâ—ds were to be seen in the Walls till these late times when the Castle was demolisht that King James by reason of this murther had no mâ—nd to take so full a view of the Castle at his coming out of Scotland as he at first intended being told of it as he was beholding the Castle Doth eye defend and shift being laid to sore Backward he bears for more advantage now Thinking the wall would safe-guard him the more When loe with impious hand O wicked thou That shameful durst not come to strike before Behind him gav'st that woful deadly wound That laid that most sweet Prince flat on the ground 77. Monster of men what hath thy fury done Vpon an overpressed Innocent Lab'ring against so many he but one And one poor soul with care with sorrow spent Could thine own eyes indure to look upon Thy hands disgrace or didst thou not relent But what thou didst I will not here Divine Nor stain my thoughts to enter into thine 78. But leave thee wretch unto black Infamy To dark eternal horror and disgrace The hateful scorn to all Posterity The out-cast of the world last of the Race Of whose curst seed Nature did then deny To bring forth more her fair-works to disgrace And as asham'd to have produc'd that past She stays her hand and makes this worst her last 79. There lyes that comely body all imbrude With sacred blood a midst the foul he shed Those holy streams became with that vile rude Vnhallowed stains confusedly interspred Ah! why was grosness with such grace indude To be with that sweet mixture honoured Or serv'd it but for some vile grave ordain'd Where an unbalmed Corps should be contain'd 80. Those fair distended limbs all trembling lay Whom yet nor life nor death their own could call For life removed had rid all away And death though entring seiz'd not yet on all That short-tim'd motion that soon finish shall The Mover ceasing yet a while doth stay As th' Organ sound a time survives the stop Before it doth the dying note give up 81. So holds those Organs of that goodly frame The weak remains of life a little space But ah full soon cold death possest the same Set are those Sun-like Eyes bloudless that face And all that comely whole a lump became All that fair form which death could scarce disgrace Lyes perisht thus and thus untimely Fate Hath finisht his most miserable state Though King Richard II thus lost his Kingdom and life by the Invasion of Henry IV yet no sooner came Henry V to the Crown but he shew'd his respect to Richard having his Corps convey'd from Langley to Westminster where he had him honourably buryed Stow p. 343 344. close by his Queen Anne his first Wife according to his desire when living and which was more observed yearly a day in memory of the said Richard The Epitaph of the said King Richard runs thus according to the Monkish mode of Poetry in those times Prudens Mundus Richardus jure Secundus R Holinshed vol. 3. Per factum victus jacet hic sub marmore pictus Verax sermone fuit plenus ratione Corpore procerus animo prudens ut Homerus Ecclesiae favit Elatos suppeditavit Quemvis prostravit Regula qui violavit And so much for King Richard II his miseries and murther and as for his Epitaph the ignorance and well-meaning of the Rimer shall pardon his Poetical faults being held famous and of great esteem in those times As of later times Ortuinus Gratius and the rest of the Magistri nostri and Virtuosi in the Epistolae obscurorum virorum thought their own Latine and Learning far above that of Erasmus Reuchlin and such others truely famous and immortal for their Learning and Oratory Sect. 3. The grand dispute and troubles amongst the Cordeliers concerning the trifling and childish Questions of the largeness of their Capuchin or Hood and the usage and right of the Bread and meat which they eat ANd now amongst all there Tragedies take one piece of foolish gravity where you shall finde the Pope and his Cardinals as serious about meer trifles as if in the Consistory they were met onely to invent the Game of Goose and his Holiness sitting consulting and troubling his head as wisely as Pantagruel in Rabelais in deciding the non-sence Law-case between the two foolish Lords I have heard of two Italian Brothers who fell out and kill'd each other upon the dispute which of them should possess the Heavens and command the Stars and History tells us that the Sir Hen. Wottons State of Christend p. 147 148. Aetolians and Arcadians had cruel Wars for a Wild-Boar that the Carthagenians and the people of Piraca for a Sea-rovers-ship that the Scots and Picts for a few Mastiff-Dogs and that the Wars between Charles Duke of Burgundy and the Switzers began for a Cart-load of Sheep-skins And some will tell us that that great hatred and antipathy betwixt the a Car. Garcia Antipatia de los Franceses y Espannoâ—es cap. 17. page 236. Epit. of the French Kings p. 280 this hapned anno 1463. French and Spaniards began meerly because the French were not so gloriously clad as the the other at an interview betwixt Lewes XI and Henry IV the King of Castile And the Indian Histories assure us that the King of Pegu having three white Elephants wanted a fourth for his Coach which to obtain from the King of Siam who had one b Myst of Jesuitis Part 3. pag. 54. rais'd an Army of a Million of men in which were three thousand Camels five thousand Elephants and two hundred thousand Horses whereby he destroy'd the Kingdom of Siam and forced the poor King to kill himself for the loss of his whole Empire and all
purpose Thus much for Cheures though related to the Royal Bloud of Hungary yet base cruel and covetous as most Favourites are by such vices getting their preferments All such grand Flatterers Pimps and Pick-thanks being the greatest bane and curse that can happen to a King and Kingdom Carlos had not been long King in Spain but the Emperor Maximilian year 1519 I. his Grand-father dying he was chosen Emperour at Franck-fort by the Electors and so was call'd Charles V. The Electors send him news of it desiring him to come into Germany to receive the Imperial Crowâ— He consents and prepares for his journey at which the Spaniards take an Allarum the great City of Toledo leading the way protesting against his going desiring the other Cities to joyn with them the better to hinder his departure The Emperour in hopes to get some money for his journey summons a Parliament to be held at St. Jago in Galicia Toledo obeys it and according to the custom of that City which was for the Aldermen Regidores and Common-council-men Jurados then present to draw lots and one of each to go upon whom the Lot falls it was Don Juan de Silva's chance to go as Regidor and Alonso de Aguirre as Jurate for Toledo But the Citizens knowing these two Burgesses not to be of their Faction would not afford them a full but a limited power which the other not accepting they went not Whereupon the Toledians chose four others of their own party to go and perswade the Emperour not to depart out of Spain These Commissioners hasted to Valladolid where Charles was year 1520 where being come they had a designe to get the people into a Tumult and so by force to hinder the Emperours departure and to seize upon Xeures and the other Flemings but this plot fail'd though some hours after opportunity offer'd it self if they could have taken hold of it For a Rumour being suddenly spread in the City that the Emperour was departing and that the Magistrates had granted him his desire the people in a hurly-burly ran madding about the streets shewing a willingness to hinder the Emperours journey In this hubbub and confusion one runs up into the Steeple of a A very ancient Paâ—â—sh where hung a great Bell commonly call'd the Council-Bell which never used to be ruâ—g but in times oâ— war upâ—oars or Alarms St. Michael and rings the Bell which being heard by the people without fear or wit they hurry to Arms. Charles informed of this dangerous Tumult resolves to depart though in a most stormy rain Being come to the Gates there he found some of the rabble who had seiz'd upon them began to shut them and Barricado up the way but the Emperours Guards presently made them quit their Post so having got â—ut he hastes to Tordesellas with such speed that nâ—ne but Xeures could keep him company But the Magistrates of Vallidolid plead their innocencie in this last uproar laying the fault onâ—ly upon the Rabble many of which were severely punished The Emperour hastes to St. Jago to meet his Parliament where the Commissioners or Burgesses shew nothing but their resolution to oppose the Emperours desires Though he promised a return after he had received the Imperial Crown Germany now falling into some distractions by reason of his absence From St. Jago Charles goeth to Corunna or the Groyne where the Commissioners of the Kingdoms go also and at last most of them grant him some monies for which they got no thanks from their Cities In the mean time Toledo falls into distractions the chief Authors of their troubles being Hernando de Avalos and Don Juan de Padilla with his high-spirited wife Donna Maria Pacheco all of good Families who fill'd the peoples heads full of many whimsies Insomuch that in a Religious Procession the Royal party were abused to the no small joy of the Rabble The Emperour informed of these things summons Juan de Padilla and some others to appear before him To put a plausible pretence to their non-appearance they desired some of their kindred to make a muteny and apprehend them and not to let them go but this trick failing they perswaded the Fryars of St. Augustine and those of St. Juan de los Reyes to seize upon them in their general Procession but this by another accidental disorder â—ailing also they addrest themselves to some mean and scandalous Fellows who consenting to their Plot then de Avilos and de Padilla made shew as if they intended to obey the Emperours commands and appear at the Court. Upon which the hired Rabble came and seised upon them declaring they would not part with such good Commonwealths men so carryed them to a Chappel where they made them promise not to go to the Emperour though the other seem'd teeth-forward earnestly to protest against such dealings and that they were willing to obey the Emperour This done the people made the Cowardly Governor of Toledo Don Antonio de Cordova to approve their actions and to forbid their friends to go to Court The mischief being gone thus far Hernando de Avalos and Juan de Padilla push them on farther for which they had the Fryars and Priests at their service who in their Pulpits incensed the people to the purpose who according as they were instigated though with the loss of some bloud seise upon the Gates Bridges and and Fort of the City and so all was their own they now publickly calling themselves the a La santa Comunidad HOLY COMMUNALTIE And this was the Order they governed themselves by every time they were to treat of any business the Inhabitants of every particular Parish were to assemble and two publick Notaries with them before whom every man how mean soever was to sit down and declare his Opinion The Emperour being at Corunna and fitting for his departure news comes to him of these Tumults of Toledo which did not a little trouble him but hoping that as their beginning was in haste so they would not last long Thus all things being ready he goeth b May 19. aboard lands at Dover in England where and at Canterbury being nobly entertain'd by Henry VIII he return'd to his Fleet which carryed him to Flushing thence by degrees he went for Aken there to receive the Imperial Crown where we leave him The Emperour before his departure had made Governour or Vice-roy Cardinal Adrian who had been formerly his Tutor and was afterwards Pope Adrian VI for he would not change his name according to the custom Upon the Emperours departure the Nobility and Gentry which waited upon him as far as the sea-side return'd to their own houses and the Commissioners or Burgesses to their respective Cities and the Cardinal took his way towards Valladolid And now began the people to be stark mad and the City of Segovia led the way and thus it was It is a custom in Segovia every Tuesday in Whitson-week that the Collectors meet to treat concerning the
all before them another Fleet is prepared to invade England and for a further encouragement as well of English as others to be assistants in this enterprise their Lord high Admiral draws up a Proclamation which was printed and published and you may Dr. Mat. Sutcliff's Blessings on Mount Gerizzim or the happy Estate of England pag 292 293 294 295. take it as followeth as I meet with it COnsidering the Obligation which his Catholick Majesty my Lord and Master hath received of God Almighty to defend and protect his holy Faith and the Apostolical Roman Church he hath procured by the best means he could for to reduce to the ancient and true Religion the Kingdoms of England and Ireland as much as possibly hath been in his power And all hath not been sufficient to take away the offence done against God in damage of the self-same Kingdoms with scandal of whole Christianity yea rather abusing the Clemencie and Benignity of his Catholick Majesty the heads and chief of the Hereticks which little fear God have taken courage to extend their evil Doctrine with the oppressing of Catholicks Martyring them and by divers ways and means taking from them their lives and goods b b He hath forgot the Spanish Inquisition forcing them by violence to follow their damnable Sects and Errours which they have hardly done to the loss of many souls Which considered his Catholick Majesty is determin'd to favour and protect those Catholicks which couragiously have defended the Catholick Faith and not onely those but such also as by pusillanimity and humane respects have consented unto them forced thereunto through the hard and cruel dealings of the said Catholicks Heretical Enemies And for the execution of his holy Zeal he hath commanded me that with force by Sea and Land which be and shall be at my charge to procure all means necessary for the reduction of the said Kingdoms unto the obedience of the Catholick Roman Church In Complement of the which I declare and protest that these Forces shall be imploy'd for to execute this holy intent of his Catholick Majesty directed onely to the common good of the true Religion and Catholicks of those Kingdoms as well those which be alreadie declared Catholicks as others who will declare themselves such For all shall be received and admitted by me in his Royal Name which shall separate and apart themselves from the Hereticks And furthermore they shall be restored to the Honour Dignity and Possessions which heretofore they have been deprived of Moreover every one shall be rewarded according to the Demonstrations and Feats which shall be shown in this Godly enterprise And who shall proceed with most valour the more largely and amply shall be remunerated with the goods of obstinate Hereticks Wherefore seeing Almighty God doth present to his Elect so good an occasion therefore I for the more security Ordain and Command the Captains General of Horse and Artillerie the Master General of the Field the Captains of Companies of Horse and Foot and all other Officers greater and lesser and men of War the Admiral General and the rest of the Captains and Officers of the Army that as well at Land as Sea they use well and receive the Catholicks of those Kingdoms who shall come to defend the Catholick Cause with Arms or without them For I command the General of the Artillery that he provide them of Weapons which shall bring none Also I Ordain and straitly command that they have particular respect unto the Houses and Families of the said Catholicks not touching as much as may be any thing of theirs but onely of those that will obstinately follow the part of Hereticks in doing of which they be altogether unworthy of those favours which be here granted unto the good who will declare themselves for true Catholickes and such as shall take Arms in hand or at least separate themselves from the Hereticks against whom and their favourers all this War is directed in defence of the honour of God and good of those Kingdoms trusting in Gods Divine mercy that they shall recover again the Catholick Religion so long agone lost and make them return to their ancient quietness and felicity and to the due obedience of the holy Primitive Church Moreover these Kingdoms shall enjoy former immunities and priviledges with encrease of many others for time to come in great friendship confederacie and traffick with the Kingdom of his Catholick Majesty which in times past they were wont to have for the publick good of all Christianity And that this be put in execution speedily I exhort all the faithful to the fulfilling of that which is here contain'd warranting them upon my word which I give in the name of the Catholick King my Lord and Master that all shall be observed which is here promised And thus I discharge my self of the losses and damages which shall fall upon those which will follow the contrary way with the ruine of their own souls the hurt of their own Country and that which is more the honour and glory of God And he which cannot take presently Arnis in hand nor declare himself by reason of the tyranny of the Hereticks shall be admitted from the Enemies Camp and shall pass to the Catholick part in some skirmish or battel or if he cannot he shall flee before we come to the last encounter In testimony of all which I have commanded to dispatch these presents confirmed with my Hand sealed with the Seal of mine Arms and Refirmed by the Secretary underwritten Though Father Parsons was very solicitous to understand the W. Clarkes Reply unto a Libel fol. 65. success of these preparations yet he did not expect any great matters to be performed by them and so it fell out to the no small grief we need not question of many Romanists And to augment the sorrow of the Hispanioliz'd Faction the death of the Spanish King hapned the same year to whom succeeded his son Philip III of whose attempts against Queen Elizabeth you may hear in the next Century The end of the seventh Book THE HISTORY Of the HOLY League AND Covenant IN FRANCE BOOK VIII CHAP. I. An INTRODUCTION to the HOLY LEAGUE THE Beginning of this Century had like to have been year 1502 troublesom to Germany by a mischievous League designed in the Bishoprick of Spire by a Company of barbarous clownish rustick High-shooes and so by the Germans t is Nicol. Basel Addit ad Chroâ— Naucleri p. 394. L. ur Sâ—râ—â— Com p 3â— call'd Bundiscuch These like our Levellers were to raise themselves into as high a Grandeur as any by swearing to reduce all other men to their meanness by equalling all mankind into the same condition by rooting out all Magistracy Dignities and Laws As for the Church which is continually struck at by Traitors and such Sacrilegious Wretches she was not to escape their Villanies they designing to rob her of her Revenues Titles and Decency to
with Plunder and Prisoners Hoping by this means to incense the Turk so to make him fall out with the Venetians and invade their Territories in Dalmatia But the Turk in this more Religious than the Spaniard understanding the base design scorn'd to break with the Venetian in this juncture but offer'd the Republick his Assistance This wicked design thus failing the Partisans of the Pope went another way to trouble the Republick maintaining in Print that The Marriages made within the Interdicted Territories were invalid the Matrimonial Conjunction Adultery and the Children all Bastards This was a cunning plot to amuse the zealous and simple but the wisdom of the Senate and the reasons of their writers dash'd this to pieces also Though the Roman Inquisition was very furious in their judgments forbidding under pain of Excommunication any of the Venetian Papers or Reasons to be intertain'd or read as Schismatical and Heretical and Cardinal Bellarmine was very active with his Pen against the Senators In the mean time the Ambassadors of France and Spain laboured what they could for a Reconciliation and the Emperour and Grand Duke of Tuscany were not slack in affording their assistance to a peace But the means seem'd difficult for the Pope stood upon his old plea of having the Prisoners deliver'd him and the Decrees Cancel'd And on the Contrary the Duke and Senate resolved not to betray their Temporal Authority and renounce their Decrees though as for the Abbot and Canon at the earnest intreaty of the French they were willing in a Complement to bestow them upon King Henry IV. and let him do with them as pleas'd him best and when the Pope would recall his Censures they were willing to do the same with their Letters or Protestation against them but not before lest they might intimate that they had been in the falt and done amiss Whilst the Treaty is thus earnestly carryed on by several Princes and year 1607 their Ambassadors the Pope erects a New Councel at Rome call'd La Congregation de Guerra or the Congregation of War consisting of XV. Cardinals out of whom he cull'd IV. to be imploy'd with the Treasurer and the Commissaries of the Chamber about the means to provide money and most of these were of the Spanish Faction the better to ingage that King to him if the Tryal of the cause should once be put to the Sword And it was the opinion of many that it could not end without blows for the Pope begins the year with new Levies and the Count de Fuentes who long'd for mischief caus'd the Drums to beat up at Milan for Souldiers sent to Switserland to Naples to Flanders to Germany and other places to raise what Souldiers he could getting Money and Arms from Spain so that he doubted not presently to be at the Head of XXX Thousand men The hopes of these great Preparations animated the Pope so much that in a full Consistory he declared He would have war with the Republick of Venice In the Interim the Venetians were not idle hastning their Preparations as much as in them lay so that in a little while they had got together about LXXX Gallies rais'd many Thousand foot in their own Territories sent to the Cantons to hire more doubted not of Assistance from France was promis'd aid from Great Brittain by Sr. Henry Wotten King James his Ambassador by which means they had hopes from Denmark and Holland and was promis'd supplyes from the Lorreiner whose Son viz. the Count de Vaudemont they hoped would be their General But the Duke of Lorraine being aged so superstitiously fearful of Papal Censures beside having a Son a Cardinal who with the Pope did diswade him would not permit his Son to go or any Levies to be made in his Dominions though young Count de Vandemont was willingenough for the Venetian Whilst Christendom is thus troubled with rumours of warrs and every place busie with great Preparations to fill Europe full of mischief and blood-shed and all about an idle Humour of the Popes The Treaty goeth on apace And though many Embassies and Audiences had been been imploy'd to little purpose yet the French King will try the other pull and so resolves to imploy Cardinal de Joyeuse in this business who being a Churchman might be more acceptable to the Pope yet under the Command of the Instructions might no way lessen the rights of the Republick Thus qualified Joyeuse arrives at Venice where he falls to work vigorously and willing he was to save the Popes Reputation and Credit but after many Hearings and Debates he could get only this Answer from the Senate That the Censures being taken away they would recall what they had done in Opposition to them and send an Ambassador to Rome That for the Decrees they would proceed in the use of them with such Moderation and Piety as they and their Ancestors used to do And that upon a Peace the Ecclesiasticks might return only the Jesuits excepted And with these Answers the Cardinal departs from Rome to see what good he could do there At Rome Cardinal de Joyeuse found the Opinions divided some for a Peace upon any account considering what a great mischief a Rupture might bring upon Christendom others thought it not honourable for the Pope to recede from any thing he had done till he had obtain'd what he desired and made the Republick submit As for the Pope though his greatest hopes lay in the Spaniard yet he could not with reason rely too much on him knowing his Coffers at that time to be empty and if he did him any good he would expect a requital of some Priviledges which would not be convenient for Rome to yeild to besides he doubted to be over-power'd by the Venetians and their numerous Assistance amongst whom would be many of the Reformed Religion which having once got a footing in Italy might in that juncture of time give a blow at the very Papacy These Considerations perswaded or forced the Pope to a Complyance but yet was troubled that he could not come off with Honour seeing the Venetians Answers were resolute and cunningly worded and they would not admit of the Jesuits upon any account whatever and thus to forsake them who had suffer'd for his cause would betray his Baffle to the whole world At last after several Consultations it was agreed on that at Rome Monsieur a' Alincourt the French Ambassador should demand of the Pope in the Name of the Christian King and of the Republique that the Censures might be taken away And also that Cardinal Joyeuse and d'Alincourt should give him their words in the Name of their King that the Decrees should remain without Execution until the Accord might be effected To this last clause the Pope would have had added that It was with the consent of the Republick But this was not yielded to knowing the Venetians would never agree to such an Addition So as much being done at Rome as could be de
est mortale Permissum est etiam Catholicis Haereticae Reginae id genus obsequii praestare quod Catholicam Religionem non oppugnat Non fuit unquam nec potuit esse Pontificis mens ea Obsequia circa Reginam eis permittere quae aperte cum fine scopo ipsius Pont. de promovenda in Hibernia Catholica fide ac Religione pugnant Hanc autem ejus esse mentem scopum Literae ipsae apertissime declarant Ex quibus omnibus satis manifestum relinquitur illustrissimum Principem Hugonem O-Nellum alios Catholicos Hiberniae bellum gerentes adversus Reginam Haereticam Orthodoxam Fidem oppugnantem nullo modo Rebelles esse neque debitam Obedientiam negare aut Terras Reginae injuste usurpare quin potius illos justissimo bello se terramque suam ab iniqua impia Tyrannide vindicare sacramque Orthodoxam fidem ut Christianos Catholicos decet pro viribus tueri atque defendere Quae omnia singula nos infra-scripti ut certissima ac verissima judicamus approbamus Datum Salamantic VII die Martii An. D. 1602. Sic ego Johannez de Seguensa Professor Theologiae in Collegio Societatis Jesu hujus Almae Salmanticensis censeo Idem Censeo ego Emanuel de Royas Professor Theologiae in eodem Collegio Societatis Jesu Horum Patrum Sententiae tanquam omnino certae assentior et ego Gaspar de Mena Theologiae S. Scripturae in eodem Coll. Professor In eadem sum prorsum cum Praedidictis Pp. Sententia Petrus Osorio in eodem Coll. Societatis Jesu pro Sacris Canonibus In the Name of God Amen THE most Renowned Prince Hugh O Neil doth make warr for the defence of the Catholique Faith with the Queen of England and the English people viz. That it may be lawful for him and the Irish freely to profess the Catholique Religion which liberty the Queen of England doth endeavour to take from them by force and arms There are two matters now in question aâ—â—ut this Warr. I. The one is Whether it be lawful for the Irish Catholiques to favour the foresaid Prince Hugh with Arms and all other means in this Warr II. The other is Whether it be lawful for the same Catholiques to fight against the foresaid Prince without deadly sin and to favour the English in this Warr by Arms or by any other means whatsoever Especially when the case so stands that if they deny this kind of help unto the English they expose themselves to a manifest danger of their lives or the losing of their Temporal goods And furthermore since it is permitted by the Pope that they may obey the foresaid Queen of England and acknowledg her as their lawful Queen by paying Tribute unto her for it seemeth that that may be performed what belongeth unto Subjects to do viz. To fight against the Queen's Rebels who deny their due obedience to her and seem to usurp the Land which is subject to her dominion That both these Questions may be decided we must hold as for certain That the Pope hath power to bridle and suppress those who forsake the Faith and those who fight against the Catholick Faith when by no other means so great a mischief can be hindred And furthermore it must be positively concluded That the Queen of England doth oppugn the Catholique Religion and doth hinder the Irish from the publick enjoyment of the Catholique Faith And that for this cause the foresaid Prince O-Neal and others before him mentioned in the Apostolical Letters of Clement VIII undertook the Warr against her These things thus laid down the first Question is easily resolved For without doubt any Catholick whatsoever may favour the said Prince Hugh O-Neil in the foresaid warr and this with great merit and certain hopes of an Eternal Reward For seeing that the said Prince doth make Warr by the Pope's Authority for the defence of Catholique Religion and that the Pope doth exhort all the faithful by his Letters thereunto as is manifest by his Letters and that he will extend his graces upon the favourers of the Prince in that Warr in as ample manner as if they make warr against the Turks No man in justice can doubt but that the present Warr is lawful and also that to fight for the Catholique Religion which is the greatest good of all others is a matter of great merit And concerning the second question it is most certain that all those Catholiques do sin mortally that take part with the English against the foresaid Prince O-Neil Neither can they obtain Eternal Salvation nor be absolved from their sins by any Priest unless they first repent and forsake the English Army And the same is to be censured of those who in this War favour the English either by Arms or any other means or shall give them any thing of like Condition besides those accustomed Tributes which is lawful for them by virtue of the Pope's Indulgence and Permission to pay unto the Kings of England or their Officers the Catholick Religion flourishing and being amongst them This Assertion is confirm'd by this most manifest Reason Because it is sufficiently proved by the Pope's Letters That the Queen of England and her Forces make unjust Warr against the said Prince O-Neal and those who favour him For seeing that the Pope doth declare That the English do fight against the Catholique Religion and that therefore the said English should be resisted as much as if they were Turks and that he doth bestow the same Graces and Blessings upon those who resist the said English as he doth upon those who fight against the Turks Who doubteth but that the Warr waged by the English against the Catholique Army is altogether unjust But it is not lawful for any to favour an unjust Warr or to be present thereat under the pain of Eternal Damnation Those Catholiques do therefore most grievously offend who bear Arms with the Hereticks against the foresaid Prince in a Warr so apparently impious and unjust And so do all those who assist them in the said Warr with Arms Victuals or by any other means which of themselves do further the proceedings of the Warr and cannot give account of their indifferent obedience Neither doth it any thing avail them to scandal the Apostolical Letters of Surreption or of some underhand procuring For Surreption cannot happen where no Petition of them is declared in whose favour they were dispatched But the Pope doth plainly declare in those Letters that he and his Predecessors had voluntarily exhorted the Irish Princes and all others of the Faithful to undertake this Warr. And the better to incite them to it doth enrich them with great Favours Blessings and Indulgences How can it then be supposed that these Letters were surreptitious which only contain an Exhortation strengthned with many Favours for such as did fulfil them Neither therefore can the Catholiques who assist the English defend themselves by the Reasons alledged in the second