IT was a brave Calm, and bright Moon-light night which invited me to take a solitary walk in the Ruines of the once flourishing and magnificent Monastery, de­dicated to the Honour of St. Edmund, [Page 2] the first King and Martyr (from whom the Town of St. Edmunds-Bury takes its name). I was used to be pleased with the gratefull horrour of that melan­choly Retirement, wherein I might Contemplate the various Fates of all the Glories under the Moon; and my Walk was advantag'd with the ragged shaddows which, to speak in the Roman­tick phrase, fell from the tops of broken Turrets and decay'd Walls: How high Madam Cynthia had clambred towards the Zenith, to peep over them, is not my business to tell, nor had I much time to observe, for on a sudden all the Sky was darkned, and a strong Wind blew such a Volly of Rain on my face, that it forc'd me to take shelter under the remains of a roof, which half co­vered a decay'd Chapel: I sate down upon the Pedestal of a Pillar, and lean­ing my head against it, there was such a dreadfull noise all about me, as if not the Monastery only, but the whole World also were dissolving; all my fa­culties were presently hush'd, and my thoughts jumbled into a confusion of fears, and my spirits slow'd too fast with [Page 3] the Idea's of things to take any parti­cular notice of them; how long I re­main'd in that state of insensibility, I cannot well tell; but the first thing I took notice of, was, that the Scene was strangely altered, and from a heap of Ruines chang'd to a stately and magni­ficent Cathedral; at the East-end of which was a large Antick Tomb, which by the many Lamps, that in a moment enlightned all the Church, seem'd to have been lately plundred, for the Ornaments were thrown about, and they had drop't some of the They had seve­ral falsified Re­licts, vid. His Reformation. bones for haste; among which, one was of a Horse of a large size: Lord, thought I to my self, was St. Bucepha­lus buried here? Indeed I was so amazed, that I could not tell whether I was a­sleep or awake, in the land of the living, or among the dead; so that I began to feel for my self, to know whether I was Fish or Flesh, or good Red-herring, when as my thoughts were diverted with a long Entrada of Benedictine Monks, who went in Procession up to the Shrine, and standing around it with Tapers in [Page 4] their hands (which I observ'd did not grow shorter or consume): they all sung as followeth.

[Page 5] After this a Chorus of an innumerable Company, which Sung all together.

Lord, thought I to my self, I shall cer­tainly be siz'led for an Heretick until my Crackle comes off, if ever Popery re­turn any more; and therefore was ready to vanish for fear, but that my curio­sity stay'd me; for a Gentleman in mo­dern habit, with a Crevat about his neck, which had been tied so strait, that his face was black and swoll'n: And what was more strange with a Sword run through his body? Went boldly up to them, and with a ghastly Visage: ‘Ye devout Villains and solemn Rascals, (quoth he) think not that ye shall be ever able to play the old game over again, or impose upon the World any more at the same rate ye did for 500 years: This Age is too learned to be cheated with your lying Legends, and too wise to be deluded with your pro­fitable superstitions: This Nation is [Page 6] sufficiently taught what a grievance ye were to our Forefathers: and the Kings of England have better Maxims of Ecclesiastical Policy, than to suffer Lord-Abbots in Parliaments, who with their Tribes are the Pope's sworn Sub­jects, to execute his Lusts against their Soveraigns by a Vassalage, which Cancels all other Oaths and Obliga­tions whatever. Oh happy Princes, (cry'd he) lifting up his eyes, who have thrown off the Roman Yoke; not forced to pay Pensions to Cardinals, or to maintain a chargeable Correspon­dence with Rome as Cromwell did; not troubled with an Army of Seculars in their own Bowels: Think not there­fore that these Popish Garrisons will ever be Man'd again, or that these Colonies of Ecclesiasticks will ever flourish for the future; ye in vain seek to shelter your selves in these Seraglio's of Iniquity, and pompous Kennels of Darkness, which tottered for a long time before they fell; but so fell at last, as never to rise any more: Ye grew odi­ous to the world, even in the times of darkest Ignorance; nor were the Rival [Page 7] Oracles among the Heathens more in­famous for their Falshoods and Equivo­tions before they were silenc'd of old; and that the Writings of all Pious, Learned and Witty men, ever since the Conquest, can testifie by undeniable Evidence; who might as well have gone about to puff out the Moon, as Reform you by their Writings, for nothing but dissolution, or annihilation could doe it: Therefore begon (cry'd he) ye leud spirits, wrapt up in de­bauch't Exhalations; ye impiously adorn the Shrine, whilst ye traite­rously invade the Throne, and in vain do ye invoke the Name of the Saint, whilst ye rebell against the Majesty of the King; but Sir Edmund­bury Godfrey. mine shall remain a lasting Monument of such infamous principles, when these Massy ruines are sunk into the Earth, or quite swept away from the face of it.’

At these words the Monks vanisht, and all the Vision fled away, but the Ghost of Sir E. B. G. who turning to me, said, Could I as easily defeat all those [Page 8] Legions of new Rebels, who distinguish between the Person and Authority of the Prince, as I have conjured down those old ones, who did it between the Martyr and the King; my fate which hath been made use of by precipitated fears and tumults to destroy the Government, might by orderly Counsels have esta­blisht the safety of the Kingdom; and that Reformation which brought such benefit to the Nation by the dissolution of Abbies, should not have been an oc­casion of ruining Church and State by erecting Conventicles.

Oh, Reformation! Reformation (cry'd he) and then he was pleased to bestow a little Latin upon his mouth, Corruptio optimi est pessima: O thou latitudina­rian word; Oh thou word of endless comprehension; it has wheadled it self into all the variety of actions under the Sun; it signifies Repenting, Repair­ing, Renewing, Rebuilding, Reducing, Redressing, and eke Rebelling; as also Killing, Plundering, Sequestring, Libelling, Canting, Purging and Flux­ing; and sometimes is graciously pleased to signifie nothing. Reade in all Histo­ries, [Page 9] sacred and prophane, and you shall find that all mankind, both Black, White and Mulattoes lay claim to this great and glorious title of Reformation: this is the pretence of violent Thieves and Mur­therers, as well as of good Princes and just Lawyers; of Absalon and Jero­boam, as well as of David and Josiah; of Nero, that Burnt Rome, as well as of Constantine, who became more glorious by the Church, than by the Name he gave his City which he built: This is the pretence of Enthusiasts, as well as of Pious and Learned Divines: this was the gay excuse of Cataline and Messer Anello, of Jack Straw, Wat Tyler and Colonel Who defaced Canterbury. Sandys: this came by the Honour­able Title of Inspiration to Mahomet and Sergius, to Simon Magus, Ignatius Loyola and Hugh Peters, to St. Francis, St. Be­nedict, St. Smectymnus, St. Sol in Can­cro, &c. This is the pretended Pro­perty of all Mortality from Hercules, that slew the Lyon, and the Bear, and the Hydra, and the Lord knows what, to the good old Puritanical Gentlewo­man, who killed her Cock for treading [Page 10] the Hens on the Sabbath-day: this has occasioned the great Revolutions in Em­pires, Kingdoms and Commonwealths; has been the Prologue to the great Tra­gedies of the World, whose Scenes ne­ver change without a deluge of Blood: This, with Rebellion, seems the very Original guilt of Bodies politick, makes them subject to fatal changes, and turns them from a flourishing Paradise into a ruin'd Wilderness: this accompanies all Plots, Conspiracies, Confederacies, Asso­ciations, Massacres, holy Leagues, solemn Covenants; but when it appears in the World in its genuine purity and excel­lency, free from hypocrisie, secular in­terests and designs (which it seldom does), by how few is it regarded or known? or how long does it remain before 'tis invaded by disorders, or in­volved in the confusions of a giddy and unsetled world, Men still pretending the very same thing they are destroy­ing? When Noah by the Building of the Ark, which was a Type of the Church, preach't to the World a Refor­mation, how few of the hunting Nim­rods left the pursuit of their pleasures to [Page 11] hear him? Nay, when 'twas thus re­form'd after a manner which Boccalin bespeaks in the person of Cato; the Earth no sooner appear'd, but Cham uncovered his Father's nakedness; began to break his seven Precepts, for which he re­ceiv'd a Brand of black Infamy, which shall remain as a testimony to all poste­rities, that there are a sort of men in the World that can never be Reform'd, or made white; no sooner was the Law of the Two Tables delivered with all the astonishing Magnificency that might make a lasting impression, but the So­veraign multitude made Aaron their Protector, and worship't the Golden Calf, which flow'd from the melted Rings taken off their itching Ears; the whole body of the Law was not delivered be­fore Corah, Dathan and Abiram, with their Levellers, took men, made a tu­mult, invaded the Priesthood under pre­tence that the whole Rabble was holy; for which unparallel'd Rebellion they led the way to those who resist the higher Powers, which were now testified to be ordained of God, because they were punish'd by a death not common to men. [Page 12] No sooner was the Gospel, that great and glorious Reformation of the World, de­livered, but we find it opposed by Scribes and Pharisees, by Herod and Pontius Pilate, by Jews and Gentiles, who though differing in Interests and Opi­nions engag'd in the same Association to make Coesar a glorious King, by killing him who gave him his Authority: And although the Gospel planted in the world by our Saviour and his Apostles conti­nued three Centuries in its Purity, strug­ling with Persecutions and Tribulations; yet the damages it receiv'd by Heresies (which are the tares among the wheat) were of more fatal consequence, being reckon'd 80 by Epiphanius, which after­ward multiplied into such infinite Inno­vations and Superadditions, taken either from Jewish or Heathen Customs, and found beneficial to the ambitious pro­jects of sinful men; that then Chiristian Piety began to decay, and give way to gaudy superstition; and a policy worse than devilish, because pretended to be heavenly, was set on foot, which has made a great part of the world slaves, and not a few Atheists. Thus truth was [Page 13] cloathed with golden Fetters and Chains, Obedience inverted, and Religion in far­dingals so dilated, that it lookt like a fair well proportioned face in a Magnify­ing-glass, distorted into vast deformi­ties: and thus Popery became exceed­ingly Popish. Now although the Truth of Religion appear'd in every Century, in some little Mr. Bircber Pro­test. Evidence. Mr. Shaw Origo Protest. glances, as several Authors testifie (if it be lawfull for a Ghost to quote Au­thors), yet it never broke out to any purpose, untill the Resolute Luther made way for it, through thick and thin, provok'd to it by the Impious In­dulgences of Pope Leo the 10th, and the loud Immoralities of the Spiritual Court, who soon found some Princes of Germany of the same mind, or easily perswaded them to it; but none more considerable than King Henry the Eighth of England; who though he writ against Luther, found greater Irregularities and Abuses in the Consistory, which moved him, being of a fierce disposition, and fit for so great a work, to deny and abo­lish the Pope's Supremacy, to reassume [Page 14] his own; to vindicate the Authority of National Synods, and so made way for his Pious Son King Edward the Sixth, to remove all those devices by which the Popish Clergy had enslaved the Na­tion, and that it might be parallel with the Primitive Doctrine of the Church; it suffered a short, but violent Persecu­tion under Q. Mary, untill her Death set Q. Elizabeth upon the Throne, and restored the Reformation to its fullest perfection.

Never were Church and State more happy, whose united Interests seem'd founded upon a Rock, never to be se­parated or removed: The first years of her Reign promised a Succession of Hal­cyon Ages, and the Kingdom look't like the World new born from the darksome Womb of the Chaos, calm Glories o're­spread the happy Isles, whose Lands re­sembled the Virgin Spring after the de­luge, and successes Crown'd the Seas: The Excellency of Paradise were given to the Vallies, and the Beauty of Leba­non to the Mountains; the Wildernesses blossom'd like a Rose, and Gleams of Joy warm'd the Northern World. But [Page 15] oh (cry'd he) at this he seem'd melted into tears, the frailty of all immoderate Excellency: This Mother Church soon found a generation of Vipers in her own Bowels: This Reformation which was advanced by such wise Methods, was at once utterly confounded by as strange ones as ever astonish't the World; we find in the Chronology of Helvicus, Fa­naticks of Renown Contemporary with Luther; the Devil thought it was time to bestir him when he saw the Intrigues of his Kingdom of Darkness in such manifest danger of discovery, and there­fore sent his Enthusiastical Agents, whose rebellious projects and loud blasphemies were more serviceable to him than the Pope's Nuncio's. King Henry the 8th himself in his Preface to the Book of Ar­ticles observes, That as Superstition and Prophaneness were purged away, so a spi­rit of presumption, dissention and carnal liberty were breaking in. The German heats and violences bred a Pestilential Sect of Anabaptists in the very Infancy of the Reformation; and what in respect of us was more unhappy than the Marian Persecution, those who fled to Foreign [Page 16] Plantations of the Gospel, brought home with them a Political Discipline, utterly inconsistent with the methods of our wise and pious Reformers, or with the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom, for which they had no Evangelical or Apo­stolical Precept; and although they little foresaw what dismal Schisms such different Schemes of Church-Govern­ment would necessarily produce, yet they certainly were the first occasions of our Civil Wars and home-bred Facti­ons, which has made the Reformation a hissing and scandal to Foreigners, who judge of our affairs by the event, not knowing the Causes, and condemn us in general for the extravagant Villanies which the ambitious Frensies of some particular men have publickly acted.

Sir, I wish it were possible (said I) that you could appear openly, for then those many people who are deluded would be convinc'd of these things you say. Hold you there Sir (said he), that is the way to be called a Malignant, Popish Tory Apparition, a vagrant Hob­goblin of the Church of England; they would swear that I kill'd my self Popish­ly, [Page 17] and crossed my self with my Sword, and all true Protestant Conjurers would be binding me to my good behaviour in the bottom of the Red Sea; but you can't think, Sir, how I am troubled that my head should appear for a Sign to a Haberdasher of Sedition upon Ludgate­hill: but pray tell the Gentleman who lives there, when he is at home, that he will never leave till he is lay'd by the heels, in order to the having his own exalted upon a Pole, untill the Coxcomb looks like a true Protestant Indian Cab­bage. But as for those people who have such a great fancy for nonsense, what sort of Logick will convince them? a man must dispute with them with his heels upward; but as for a Ghost, he will find it a difficult thing to put his face into shapes enough to please them; and be­sides, they have forged so many lies about Spirits and Apparitions, that they will not believe truths. And since they will not believe Moses and the Prophets, the Apostles and Evangelists, the Fathers and Councils, but are utterly against eve­ry thing that is Orthodox; neither will they be convinc'd, though Steven Marshal [Page 18] himself arose from the dead, whose last words ought to be more heeded than all his Preaching through the whole course of his life, when he so often cry'd out, King Charles, King Charles, and testi­fied so much horrour and regret for the bloody confusions he had promoted; nor was he the only man that had those stings of Conscience upon him: but I could tell you the name of one of the 104 Godly, a great Sequestrator, who seem'd a mighty Zealot all along, untill he came to dye; but then he was not fit to be seen by Malignants, because to the astonishment of that party, who Re­probate every body else without a Fe­ver or Frensie, his Conscience, which could digest the bread of so many Or­phans and Widows, that allowed him to protect the Estates of Papists, whilst he plundered the Church under the notion of Popery; nay, that could dispence with him to rob the good Old Cause it self, and keep her Money for her several years, now pull'd off her Mask, and frighted him, as if so many Devils had been about his bed; it full sorely con­vinc'd him: but I do not hear that they [Page 19] cared much for his Conscience when it had done getting of money, or prove any thing the honester for it. There­fore since such serious occasions cannot move them, I think it the best way for you to laugh them out of those stubborn and foolish humours which subject the Nation to such real Miseries, and deplo­rable Calamities as it lately felt by a tho­row Reformation; if you run into such disorders again, it will be question'd whe­ther ye be Chronicled for the greater Fools, or they for the greater Knaves; to prevent which, there is variety of means, and all lawfull and necessary; frowning and laughing are performed by the same sinews, and may have both the same ends; and I do not reade any one Canon of Scripture against bitter Ingredients in the cure of a desperate disease: Go therefore to the Zealous of the Land, and tell them who surfeit with Preaching, and are sick of the Prayers of the Church, who are light-headed with Reformations, and want of sleep; who would have all the World of their opinions, and yet are not of the same mind one hour; who pretend to [Page 20] love nothing but God and their Wives; that they are desired either to leave off hatching of Disciplines and Govern­ments, or multiplying and encreasing; for they will certainly doe one of these things; either they will people the Na­tion with Ideots, for 'tis remarkable that the very genius of this people is much altered since Tobacco and Reve­lations grew so cheap; and there is scarce a Fanatical family of note which has not some one or others of it, who have the Cramp very signally upon their Intellectuals), or else they will beget a Generation that will breed teeth only to bite and devour one another: Or lastly, a Generation that will either curse them or laugh at them, who will fill all their Stages with one anothers Grandsires; and to convince them of this, show them only what has been done by ours that were before us, both by true Papists and true Protestants (as they call themselves) either under the pretence or notion of a thorow Reformation; you will find, that though they have two faces that look different ways, yet they have both the same Lineaments, the same Princi­ples, [Page 21] the same Practices, and both im­pudently deny them, like the two men that stole the piece of Flesh from the Butcher, in the Fable: He that took it, swore he had it not; he that had it, swore he did not take it; who took it, or who has it, I do not know (quoth the Butcher), but by Jove ye are a couple of Knaves: this was one of the first Associations, but now the Mystery of Ini­quity is compleat, because they both make it a Mystery; and untill the time to come discover fully the truth of things present, pray give the World an Impar­tial Account of what has been done by the Papists first, and then by the Pres­byterians; and then ye may guess for the future why they are so like one ano­ther; who they are that Reform Mur­ther it self, that can stab men without spilling a drop of Blood, or secretly re­joyce at it when 'tis done without being guilty; that can Rebell without Plot­ting, and Plot without Rebelling; by observing what has past in the last Age, you will know what a great and glori­ous Reformation they are endeavouring now. With that he put his hand to my [Page 22] head, and I expected that he would have clapt a face to the nape of my neck, and have made a Janus of me; but he only stroak'd me o're the forehead, and then vanish'd Right Worshipfully.

His hand was so very cold, and put my head into such a dizziness, that I could not tell where I was; for the first thing I stumbled at was the Threshold of St. Peter's Church in Rome, and I fell backward into the year 1534; it was on St. Peter's day, Pope Clement was seated in his Throne in his Pontificali­bus, and all the Cardinals; with Gene­rals of Orders, Bishops, Abbots, &c. which made a very splendid show; the Anthems then sung were excellent Com­posures, and the Musick extraordinary to carry on the Solemnity of the day, when on a sudden a great Groan was heard, as if some Infernal spirit had howl'd in Disdiapason; and as well as I could distinguish it, cryed Reform. At this the Eunuchs could not sing one Note more, but made noises like hoarse Cuckows; the Cardinals Hats began to flag, and the Gems in the Triple Crown were in an Eclipse; and there was so great an [Page 23] Earth-quake, that the Church had like to have fallen on their heads, had not a lame fellow (whom no body then knew, but afterwards proved to be Ignatius Loyola) stept out, and like another St. Domi­nick, Who slew 120000 of the Albigenses, and therefore the Pope fancied he saw him uphold the Lateran Church. upheld it. At this they hasted in great a­mazement to the Consi­story in Monte Cavallo; as soon as I got in, there entred several Nuncio's from England and Germany, that lookt as if they had been affrighted, and sent home with Bottles tied to their tails; for one brought the sad Message, that there was no more Peter­pence to be Coyn'd in Histor. Con. Trid. England; that that King denied the pay­ment of Annales; that a Comedy had been acted before him to the disgrace of the Pope and his Court, who had used too great precipitation in the Case of the Divorce; not out of Conscience (for those Dispensations were very usual, and found advantageous to the Old Vicar), but to keep on the profitable debate. Another brought the News of the Li­berty of the Augustan Confession: And [Page 24] a third of the Victory of Wittenberg: A fourth related how solicitous Charles the Fifth was for a General Council. These things so troubled Clement the Seventh, that calling him a great He Emperour, he fell sick and dyed, and was succeeded by Cardinal Farnese, named Paul the Third: The first busi­ness he took in hand, was to stop those spreading alterations which threatned Rome it self (for in Faenza, a Town be­longing to the Pope, there was Preach­ing against the Church of Rome, Anno 1528); and therefore as soon as the Consistory met, a Cardinal, who seemed much dejected, stood up and said, ‘The holy City of Rome, which has been famous for Prodigies ever since the days of Livie the Recorder, was never more threatned with them than now, for 'tis certain that the Statua of the Blessed Virgin in Sancta Maria Ma­gior wept Icicles for the Revolt of the frigid Zone; and not knowing what those German Hereticks, who threat­ned to eat the Pope might doe, she had got the holy Wafer in her Armes to pro­tect the Corporal Presence: Her Lady­ship [Page 25] of Loretto was packing up for Damascus; and if she had once gone, your Holiness might have whistled long enough in St. Peter's Keys for her; several Images have had a Quar­tan Ague; and what is more than all, several souls come chattering their Teeth out of Purgatory, and complain that they have had a very deep Snow lately; therefore we ought to take a speedy course to prevent our ruine; and I know no better way than Fryar James Hogostrate's, a Dominican Inqui­sitor, who advised Leo the Tenth to prosecute Luther with Chains and Gibbets: For since Piety and Miracles ceased, all great Actions are to be done with Fire and Sword; by these we consumed the Hussits, Lollards and Waldenses, and all other Modern Goths and Vandals have been so far kept from sacking Rome, that they have been bu­ried from time to time in their own Country; for rather than they should damn their souls, and we lose our mo­ney, I think your Holiness should thun­der out Excommunications, overturn all, set the World on fire, kindle the [Page 26] North-pole with Piles of flaming He­reticks, make the frozen Seas boil over with heat, untill sodden Whales make them greasie with their fat, and swim for coolness under the Aequator.’ He strain'd so fiercely, that Leeches crept out at his Eyes and Nose, which was taken for a Miracle to confirm the truth of what he said; but Pope Paul the Third (whose chief vertue was dissimulation) being a subtile Fox, and not willing to bark loud untill he could bite, having composed his Whiskers, that his mouth became a solemn Paren­thesis, was pleased most Infallibly to say,‘We in vain cut off the member that is Gangreen'd, if we neglect to take care of the head which is fatally ill: The splendour of our Church cannot hide the extravagancy of our lives; and not only bold Hereticks will be peep­ing into our Transgressions, but even the Sons of the Church will be seeing what their Fathers doe with so much money as they drein from the veins of the living, and the graves of the dead; our Examples have too great an in­fluence: And if a Cloud hang about [Page 27] St. Peter's Cupola, it will be seen afar of. My just Commands therefore are, that ye first Reform your selves, be­fore ye go about to mar or mend o­thers; and let it not be said that my Vatican, which was the ancient abode of the Cornel. Tacit. in fi­ne Vitel. Imper. Whores, is now become the Sanctuary of Thieves and Robbers; when ye shall have shown some truly Cardinal Vertues at home in our Con­sistory, then your assistance abroad in a General Council will put an end to all the present disturbances in the Church.’

Had a whole Regiment of Oracles spoken, it could not have been more Authentick: Nothing now was noised about the World but a General Reforma­tion, and a General Council; every man began to frame to himself a new Mo­del of things, as himself most affected; and indeed the variety of mens inclina­tions in this case was so apparent, that nothing seemed more a Contradiction, than a General Reformation: For since the Laws of Charity (which alone can make men of one mind) were abolished in Rome, the Orders his Ho­liness [Page 28] gave the three Car­dinals took no effect at Histor. Concil. Tri­dent. lib. 1. pag. 68. all; and yet for all that a Reformation we must have, and that a General one too; and that by the Au­thority of Pope Paul the Third, who was the worst man living; for not only the Penetentiary and Datary-Courts, and the manners of the Courtiers of Rome were to be reformed; but whatever was amiss in the whole world, was threatned with a strict Visitation; so that wan­dring non-resident Stars were to keep at home, the spots were to be wiped out of the Moon, and dame Nature, which had been extravagant with Earth­quakes, Storms and Tempests was to put an end to her frolicks, and to grow staid and moderate; and indeed so great a splutter there was in the lower World about Reformation for about half an Age, that not many years after a Star, that was a great stranger peeped down out of Cassiopeia to see what was the mat­ter.

The Pope carried it on with such seeming Resolutions, that there was a pious uproar all over Rome, all men mar­velling [Page 29] where this wonderfull Reforma­tion should first take place; indeed the first effects of it appear'd in the Cardi­nals, who began to leave off talking Politicks at Mass, at the Jews traffick, at their devotions; and that there might be a race of Innocent Cardinals for the future, that had not run through all Or­ders of Vice. His Holiness created two of his Grandchildren, one of 14, the other of Hist. Concil. Trent. lib. 1. pag. 73. 16 years of age. All In­feriour Orders were threatned as se­verely; and although the Heretick Pas­quin had waggishly reported that the City was holy enough, most of the In­habitants being either Clergy-men or Clergy-women of Ecclesiastical Juris­diction; yet Pope Paul the Third was resolved to cut out all his Predecessors a bar and a half in point of Piety, for strict Orders were given that all men should restore to the Brutes those Irregu­lar Passions which they had purloyn'd from them; all old Images were to be new varnisht (a kind of extreme Unction to them), and several of them threatned with Excommunication, because they [Page 30] bred Worms, and could never prove their Conversion from Idolatry, since they had formerly been the Images of Heathen Gods; so that the talk was, That the second Commandment should be taken into favour again, and restored to all its ancient Honours and Dignities, and that all of them should take the up­per hand of Indulgences, a thing which mightily startled the Courtiers; for since they had been in fashion, the Spi­ritual Court flourished beyond measure, and therefore they resolv'd to defend them to the last man; and indeed they so brought it about, that this great noise of Reformation dwindled to nothing but the mending a Gutter, which drain'd the filth of the Town into Tyber; for indeed they were as much afraid of the Reformation of their pockets, as of their manners; and therefore perempto­rily said, That if Sins and Iniquities were totally abolisht, the Prerogative of Holiness would not belong to the Pope, but become a Property to all his Vassals; and his Supremacy would so dwindle away, that his Successor might e'n call himself Pope Job: They said [Page 31] moreover, that Perjury and Simony were two flowers of the Triple-Crown; that Adultery, Incest and Sodomy were Sins of Quality, that brought in vast Re­venues and Customs, that they were con­siderable Passes to the Kingdom of Dark­ness, which they ought not to surren­der but upon honourable terms; that if Vice was Banisht the World, Purgatory would be utterly uninhabited, and his Holiness would never be able to lay an Embargo upon Charon's Boat again. To this Fryar Nicolas Scom­berg, the Cardinal of Histor. Con. Trid. St. Sistus added, that the Lutherans would laugh that they had frighted his Holiness into better manners than Mar­forio's Libels, or his own Conscience could; ‘that 'twould be very dishonour­able to his Infallibility to confess his Errours to the World, and to his Holi­ness to publish the Vices of his Court by a Reformation of them: This was all this while a mere piece of politick Hypocrisie carried on to stop the Cla­mours of the World, but far from being then design'd, or ever effected: Nay when Adrian the Sixth did afterwards [Page 32] really attempt it, he was not only Contemned by his Courtiers, but Car­dinal Palavicini a long time after spake very Lib 2. cap. 6. meanly of him, and calls his zealous design of Reformation an Abstracted Idea, Ma non forme proportionate alle Condizioni della materia, But the form was not proportionate to the disposition of the matter (said he).’ Now that hypocritical strict Reformation, the Presbyterians afterwards proclaimed, differed from this only, in that to at­tain that Tyrannical Power over men's Consciences and Estates the Pope then had, and was in danger of losing; they were forc'd to longer and deeper hypo­crisie to colour their Principles, which are most Jesuitically Popish, observing the politick Rule of this Jesuit, The form was not proportionate to the matter: they were then poor, had not the power in their hands; but when by their Do­ctrines they had gained their designs, how did they agree with him in his new lights? and what difference was there between their Establishing Christ's Throne (which they had made wide [Page 33] enough for all of them to sit in like one great accumulative Pope) or St. Peter's Chair, which he makes the Imperial seat of all Power and Dominion? But further, in the course of History (which is the second Method of this Book) we shall find when we come to their days of domineering, that they fell into the most extravagant excesses, even in those very things, times and actions they pre­tended to Reform; and so likewise those very abuses the Court of Rome then for a while pretended to take away, are now establisht by Canons, and defended by their Writers; for

THE noise of the Reformation of Rome was no sooner silenc'd, but the Town was as much concern'd about a General Council; for the Consistory concluded it a better expedient, and that it look't more honourable to carry the Controversie further from their own doors: Therefore his Holiness himself, [Page 35] silence being made, was pleased to say, That since it was the Maxim of this holy and politick City, that Hereticks ought to be destroyed rather than Infidels: He knew no better means to effect it, than by calling a General Council of the whole Church-Militant, wherein he should engage the Catholick Princes to joyn their Temporal Arms to his Spiritual; that therefore by the Autho­rity of St. Peter and St. Paul, which he exerciseth on Earth, he intimateth an holy General Oecumenical Council; and because the Venetians refused to have it held in Vicenza, and the Duke of Mantua will not suffer him to admi­nister Justice in his City (which is a de­rogation from his Universal Supremacy in all cases); he was resolved it should be held in Trent, a City not only free and opportune for all Nations, but also whose very Name imported good suc­cess to the Church. Tridentum being derived from Tridens, God Neptune's Prong, which was an ancient Type of the Triple-Crown: That therefore for the greater splendour of his Apostolick Monarchy, he Commanded all Patri­archs, [Page 36] Archbishops, &c. to be there, himself resolving to go thither in Per­son.

At this three or four Cardinals stood up and took an occasion to disswade him from ventring himself into such eminent dangers, as that place so near the Ger­mans would expose him to; which thing did not only please him, because no man living is so timorous as the Pope, (insomuch that he will not eat the Con­secrated Wafer without a taster, one in­fallible symptom of Usurpation); but they also used such Arguments as kept his successors from going thither too; for they said that his Holiness was too glorious a sight for the eyes of polluted Hereticks; that to be absent better suit­ed with his spiritual and invisible Au­thority; that to imitate the Eastern Monarchs in such cases, was a policy becoming the Western Church, who are seldom seen, lest they should grow cheap in the eyes of their Subjects; that the Grand Seignior was always shut up in his Seraglio, whilst his Bassa's, Begler­begs and Agliamoglams executed his Commands in the Divan; that they [Page 37] with his most Obedient Generals of Or­ders, Abbots, Priors and Posteriors were no less ready to testifie their devotion to enlarge the spiritual Interests, by all Pious frauds, Holy cheats, and Conse­crated stratagems, which they should think convenient, that therefore he might sit still and enjoy the pleasures of the Belvedere; and they did not questi­on but that by following his directions (according to their Oaths and Allegi­ance) they should bring the Council to so happy an Issue, as to make it famous to all posterities.

The Pope contented to stay at home, hastned the Council with all possible speed; and because the people of Rome talk't of things either as they first heard them, or as they were prejudic'd. I was resolved, seeing I could convey my self without great Charges (being in a Vision) to go to Trent, I do not re­member what kind of Journey I had; but as soon as I came into the Town, there was a noise in Council, as if they had been hallowing who should roar loudest; the Cardinal of Lorain took upon him Histor. Con. Trid. [Page 38] to be Chief in those acclamations, which ended that famous Council with wish­ing long life for the Pope; Eternal feli­city were prayed for Paul and Julius; Eternal memory for Charles the Fifth; Long life for the Emperour Ferdinand, and for Kings, Princes and Republicks, to the Legates, Cardinals and Bishops, and the Faith of that Synod commended as the Faith of St. Peter. Goodly, good­ly (thought I) how loving are we now! all good friends, and a rare show: When as Father Paul the Venetian espied me, and twitching me by the Ears, Is not this (said he) a very splendid sight? Four Legates, Two Cardinals, Three Pa­triarchs, Twenty-five Archbishops, Two hundred sixty eighty Bishops, Seven Ab­bots, Thirty-nine Proctors of Men absent, Seven Generals of Regular Orders do sign, and subscribed to the Decrees of the Council (which the Hereticks re­ject), for which you hear they are in General Anathematized, therefore ought you not to fear falling into Heresie? In­deed Sir (said I) the Cardinal does it with such vehemence, that I fancy his very foam will poyson me: Yet, Sir, [Page 39] (Thanks to your Impartial History) although Campian is pleased to rant in Commendation of this Synod; and in his Ecstasie of Jesuitism to cry out, Qui delectus Episcoporum? quae Medulla The­ologorum Augustum illud Sacrarium im­plevem [...]nt? Yet I neither value their Number, nor their Judgment, nor their Excommunications any more than of so many Dogs and Sorcerers; and if you have not a care of me, I shall hit upon the Number of the Beast presently; the Number of those which subscribed, amounts in all to just 355. Now you know that the Pope is above a General Council, thus: His Holy Assent, as I may call it, makes the Decrees infalli­ble, and obliging all People, Nations and Languages; And he being put to all of them, doubles their Number, which makes 710 (which doubling their Num­ber, is his Authority above them): Now deduct 44 from 710, and there remains 666: Of the 44, I deduct 5 for the Per­son of Pope Pius Quartus, (1 for Pius, and 4 for Quartus); and the 39 for the Proctors of them that were absent, Vid. Hist. of the Council of Trent, 2 Book, P. 111. because Pope Paul the Third, upon the account [Page 40] that the Viceroy of Naples sent but 4 Bi­shops to the Council, made a severe Bull, that none, without exception, should appear by Proctor. This the Legates concealed as being too severe, because it contained all the Prelates of Christen­dom, even the most remote; and be­cause (saith your History) it was too ri­gid, Constituting, that they incurred ipso facto, the punishment of Suspension from their Ministry. Now because Pope Paul the Third published this Bull, and Pius the Fourth confirmed the Decrees by them subscribed; therefore to salve the Infallibility of both, I have reckoned them in one place, and deducted them in ano­ther; thus, Let him that hath understanding count Apoc. 13. v. 18. the number of the Beast, for it is the num­ber of a man, and his number is Six hun­dred threescore and six. Now, Sir, though I do not pretend to Calculate the Nati­vity of the Beast, yet I think I have as much authority for it, as some (well read in telling Noses) have to reckon the Pope 7000 and odd times bigger than the Emperour: As for this Council, Sir, replyed Father Paul, you need not tell [Page 41] me any thing about it; for I do assure you, he that reades my History, which I would advise all Roman Catholicks, will be convinc'd of the Jugling tricks of the Court of Rome; and what a foundation the Jesuits then laid by James Laynes, their General, for their present Greatness. Indeed, Sir, (said I) that Council have produced a wonderfull Reformation; I believe we shall find it the source and fountain of all the Villa­nies that have been acted in Christen­dom ever since; and if you will be pleased to give us a short account of the Stratagems and Jugling tricks of that Council, I will shew you what followed their Decrees of Reformation: With all my heart (replyed Father Paul) by a little that I shall tell you, 'twill not be very difficult to guess the rest. Just as he was going to speak, a French Gentle­man, belonging to the Ambassador 'Lan­sac (who so severely reprimanded the Fathers of the Council) came up to us, laughing as if he would have split his sides, which made Father Paul, a very inquisitive man, ask him what was the matter? the matter (quoth he) after he [Page 42] had taken breath; if ever the Devil danc'd, 'tis now; yonder has been the greatest mistake that ever was since the Salique Law was broke by Pope Joan: Why what's the business (said I)? Why (said he) the last Cloak-bag his Holi­ness sent from Rome, which was to be filled with Instructions concerning the Decrees of Reformation, and ending the Council, did not prove the right one; for when it was opened before the Legates and their Accomplices, instead of the Holy Ghost, the Devil flew out of it, and left nothing but a Pack of Cards behind him. Pray what course did they then take (replyed Father Paul)? Why, Sir, (said he) James Laynes, the General of the Jesuits, who was so vi­gorous for the Pope's Interests, being re­solved to make the best of it; looking very gravely, said, I wonder, Reverend Fathers, that ye as men, not used to Miracles, should stand amazed at this thing: Is it not to your immortal ho­nour, that the Devil justly fearing a Re­formation, flies from you as if he were affrighted out of his wits? And as for his Books, since ye have made Tradi­tions [Page 43] of equal Authority with the Scrip­tures, I know none more venerable than those which are contained in them; they are of that antiquity, that no mor­tal Cronologer can find out the first in­vention of them; So that Whisk is not insignificantly by the learned stiled Old Adam: And now I think of it, there is a profound mystery in the words Proponentibus Legatis, pointing to a game in those Cards; and whilst they so eagerly laboured for them, might be said to be at spiritual Putt; indeed these last Sessions we have been engaged in a pious kind of Lanterloo; we have lurch'd the Bishops; we have made the Pope Pam; and he is both Spiritual and Temporal Trump by our Decrees; which cannot alter all; being Con. Trent, p. 761. forbid upon pain of dam­nation to make any Glosses or Interpre­tations upon them.

The Fathers were so pleased, that he helped them at a dead lift (for he took great advantages from their negligence), that they ordered that his Order should have the honour to carry the Cloak-bag for the future; of which office the Cardinal [Page 44] Palavicini, the Jesuit, was afterwards so proud, that he makes that biting Jest a serious Truth in his Book, which he wrote a long time after to confute your Relation of the Transactions of the Council: Mine, (quoth Father Paul) I was just now going to give this person a short account of them; but I owe him so much kindness, that I will ob­lige him to reade it at length; but to stay his stomach for the present, I will tell him some of the last part of the po­litick Game, the Papalins then play'd. The Council (said he) turning to me, had been suspended by the Pope; who ha­ving overcome those difficulties which threatned him from the Emperour's Greatness, was not pleased with the freedom of the Prelates, who were ear­nest for a Reformation: but Pope Pius the Fourth was forced to call it again, because the French King, Francis the Second, resolved to have a National Sy­nod, Scotland revolted, and the King of Bohemia was suspected of Lutheranism: these were Counc. Trent, 407. his words: We must reform our Court first, for the Condition of the times, when [Page 45] all cry out for Reformation, requires it, and it must not be refused, in regard of the glorious Name thereof; but by reason of those Plots which the Ultramontan's have lay'd to abate that absolute Sove­raignty which God hath given us, we must speedily call the Council. The first thing mentioned was, that none but the Le­gates should propose any thing in Council; and because L. 6. 439. they found difficulty about the Article of non-residency, the Pope hastned away all the remaining Bishops to Trent; what Postings were there 472. night and day from the Council to the Consistory, untill they had gained this point? Now nothing is proposed but what pleased the Legates; and when a Proposition is made, wherein 70 agree, they in vain complain they dare not speak; What stratagems eve­ry 475. day to prevent a Reformation? and with what a world of Hypocrisie did they proclaim it? Nay, though all the Ambassadors of Princes made Lansac their Speaker (who severely told the Legates of those shamefull delays), how diabolically did they put it off with [Page 46] reckoning up the abuses of Princes Courts, and threatning them with such a Reformation, as the meanest Subjects would refuse, because it put their lives into the hands of every desperate Vil­lain. When the French and Spanish Prelates combined to assert the ancient Authority of Episcopacy, this was di­verted with a Ʋnion of Catholicks against the Protestants, or with 508. long Jangling disputations to no purpose; how cunningly did the Pope find Bishops enough in Italy to out Vote all others (whose Lands lay in the Moon, and had neither learning in their heads, nor shoes to their feet, nor money in their pockets but what he gave them); and when by gaining the Cardinal of Lorain, with some other Bishops, his Party was much the stronger; then out comes the De­crees of Reformation, and the Council must end. Pray, Sir, (said I) what were those Decrees? Such (said he) as made all the Ambassadors complain; such as were distastefull to all the World, but Italians; and yet every Mothers Son and Daughter, Town and Country, must be Spitch't-cock't in soecula soeculo­rum, [Page 47] that will not be obedient to them; you must think they were not good which were procured by such ill means; and, if you will not believe me, hear what Andrew Dudithius, Bishop of five Churches, as learned as any in that Council, says to Maximilian the Se­cond Emperour, That In Epist. ad Imp. needy and hungry Bishops came to Trent; youths for the most part without Beards, given to Riot and Luxury, hired only to give their voices as the Pope pleased, that the Council did not seem to consist of Bishops, but of disguised Maskers; not of Men, but of Images, such as Daedalus made, that moved by Nerves, which were none of their own, Hireling Bishops, who, as Country Bag-pipes, could not speak, but as breath was put into them. This is the Council the Papalins do so magnifie, who flourish with Fathers and Councils, and like Puddle-water reflect all the glories of the firmament, when they may be fathom'd with a finger: But, Sir, (said I) the designs of this are as deep as Hell, and come from the very bottomless pit. They doe so (re­plyed the French man, almost drown'd [Page 48] in tears) Oh my poor Country, which these transubstantiated Devils incar­nate have almost ruin'd! the Alps are not whiter with Snow, than the Val­lies are red with Blood: What Blood­shed, Massacres, and irreconcilable En­mities did this Holy Synod procure us, by the Holy League, which these Holy Fathers contrived? What alterations in Council did the Death of the Duke of Guise occasion, when the Scheme of their Villanies was broken? how easie is it from your History to trace the Causes of all the Civil Wars of France? the liberty of the Gallican Church, and the Supremacy of the French King were things that troubled the Court of Rome more than the Protestants; the Persecu­tion of which, was only a Stale, and to facilitate their grand design, which was to destroy the Royal Family, to consume the Nobility, to divide the Commonalty, so that the Pope might take what re­mained into his Fatherly Protection. Do not you think, Sir, (said he) very earnestly, that the Speech of de Ferri­eres stuck in their Gizards? and that particular clause, That the Authority of [Page 49] the French King was not founded upon the Pragmatique or Concordates, and Pri­vileges given by Popes, but upon the Law of Na­ture, Hist. Con. Trid. 723. Holy Scriptures, Ancient Councils, and the Law of Christian Emperours. And how was his Holiness moved with the French Protestation for Abrogation of Proponentibus Legatis? Did not the Fathers find great fault with the Go­vernment of France? and how do they mention several things included in the very words of the Holy League? what a mystick saying was that of the Pope's to Cardinal Lorain (the great Agent in that Rebellion) about Reforming France? and how oft would he say, That the Greatness of that Cardinal was profitable to the ends he had in aiming at some mat­ters of great moment; that he must shut up the Council, provide Money, and af­terwards (said he) that shall happen which shall please God. We have heard since, Sir, (said I) by Dr. Durel, your Country-man, that all the methods of that Villany were lay'd at Rome, which several Papers have discovered. Hold you there, Sir, (said he) think you that [Page 50] the Jesuits are such fools as to confess upon such pitifull dumb Evidences as Papers and Writings? they that would swear the World out of their senses; that can swallow Oaths without fear of splitting, and fancy them only a com­position of words got together by chance: Think you that they fear kissing the out-side of that Book, when they have denied the Truths contained in it, or value the testimony of any Writings, that debase the Authority of Scriptures? Alas! they are Scepticks as to every thing that shall hinder their designs; and that Rule which our Saviour gives in the doing Charity, they mis-apply to Acti­ons of Sedition and Treason; Let not their left hand know what their right hand does. Do you think they believe that there was a Letter ever delivered to Monteagle? No, they deny all the Powder-Treason, and are ready to swear that the Gun-powder was conveighed into the Cellar by those who went to search it; I wonder they have not found out that Faux only walk't in his sleep, and so 'twas all a dream: As for the people of France, they have reason [Page 51] enough to have their eyes opened, and to see and know what a glorious Refor­mation the Moulinists, who are lineally descended from the Trent Fathers, may in time produce; both Princes and Peo­ple have reason enough to take warn­ing; the same Principles are always qua­lified for the same Practices; and al­though every Rebellion differs from others, because of the change of Persons and Circumstances, yet they commonly run Parallel in many material things and occurrences: Alas, the growing greatness of the King of France is so little an argument of his Posterities secu­rity, that 'twill ruine them; he is but the Jesuits Cormorant, to catch the Fish which they will eat; and when ever they get the Popedom, they will soon discover what an insignificant thing it is to be an universal footstool, and how easily they will trample upon Monarchy; for to the singular advantages they have above any Pope that ever lived, they will have this extraordinary one of perpetuating the Popedom in their order; therefore 'tis that they magnifie, and extoll the Coun­cil of Trent, whose Canons of Doctrine [Page 52] and Discipline, whose Decrees of Refor­mation do so directly tend to this great end; and well they may boast of it, for I think there never was the like in the world. Yes verily, by your discourse, Sir, (said I) you have rubbed up my memory, that I have found out a re­nowned Gang of Theologues, that look as if they were spit out of their mouths; and who should these Gentlemen be but the Assembly of Divines sitting at West­minster in the late Rebellion: Now al­though in their Preface to the Annota­tions upon the Scriptures they call it the Pseudo-Synod of Trent, yet I will prove that there were better Protestants in Trent at that time, and some more a­gainst the essential Points of Popery than this very Assembly of Divines; and cer­tainly such they were, who declared a­gainst the impious and unchristian Stra­tagems of the Court of Rome, from whom this Assembly seems to Copy all their Transactions: Let the Devil take it ill if he pleases, that I show to the world how pitifully he is put to his Po­liticks to keep up the custom and credit of Rebellion, by vamping up old projects, [Page 53] and playing an old game over again with new shapes of Hypocrisie; I cannot help it, the truth must out, and there is no­thing certainer than that, as the Council of Trent was composed of men either very ignorant, or pre­vailed upon by threats Vid. His Con. Trid. and fears, or bigots to the Interests of the Court of Rome: So the Assembly of Divines, whom the two Houses applyed, in [...], p. 183. an unwonted way, to ad­vise of Church affairs, were not legally convened or chosen; nor did they act in the name of all the Clergy of England, nor with freedom and impartiality could they doe any thing, being limited and con­fined, if not over-awed, to doe and declare what they did. How did the Cabals of Presbyterians and the Consistory jump in the methods of their Consultations? And as the Pope either made or found Bishops enough in Italy to prevail in that Council, so likewise did they by the same ways gain enough to compose their Decrees of Faith and Discipline, and to silence all opposition. With what a glorious Reformation did they a long [Page 54] time amuse the world? as the Pope did in his Council; and what did it come to? Why, as the Jesuits, a small party at first, which pretended to live by beg­ging, have got the start of them, and do now threaten to overthrow the whole Hierarchy of the Romish Church; so the Independents broke in upon them and routed their Discipline. Did they not compose a solemn Covenant, which is sufficiently shown to be exactly pa­rallel with the Holy League? And as the pretence of that in France was to destroy the Hugonots (when as indeed it more immediately tended to the pul­ling down the Kingly Authority, and the Liberty of the Gallican Church), so this in England was pretended against the Papists, under which notion they ruined Monarchy and Episcopacy. Did not the Council of Trent tax Charles the Ninth as Hist. Con. Trid. pag. 726. a favourer of Hugonots? and did not our Assembly accuse the King as a Defender of Papists? how did they Libel all honest Divines The Authour Mr. White, Nov. 17. 1643. which opposed their wick­edness, as the Courtiers of [Page 55] Rome did the honest Fathers in the Coun­cil of Trent? The Assembly ordered pub­lick Thanksgivings when their Forces were beaten by the Kings: So the Fa­thers assembled in Trent, made Processi­ons, sung Mass, and the Archbishop of Metz made an Oration for the Victory, as they called it, which the Duke of Guise had over the Hugonots, when as there was 5000 Catho­licks, and but 3000 Pro­testants Hist. Coun. Trent, p. 606. slain. The Assem­bly, to make the good Old Cause look big, vaunted that all fo­reign Churches of Prote­stants View of the late Troubles, p. 564. sided with them; but when they sent to know their opi­nions, and expected that they would assent to, and encourage them in their Proceed­ings, Verdict upon Mel. Inquirendum. they all condemned them: So Cardinal Amulius brought Letters concerning the Oriental Christi­ans, that they did own the Pope and his Religion, but the Portu­gal Ambassador confuted Hist. Counc. Trent, 535. them as forgeries.

[Page 56] If they thus agree in their Plots, cer­tainly the issue will be almost alike (re­plyed the French man). Just as I was going to answer him, I was interrupted with such a noise of sighing, groaning and sobbing, that I thought the wild Irish had got under a Tub at their Fune­ral Lamentations, whenas a Scene opened and discovered a great number of men, who looked so devout, and so Saint-like, that I fancied the very Flies about their heads ready to turn into Se­raphims; their hands were lifted up to catch their eyes, that were ready to fly out of their heads; and their faces with white Caps turned up, made them look as if they were sick of the world: But that which amazed me most of all, was to see Salmasius and Grotius come stum­bling in at a back door; and as soon as Salmasius saw them, Was there ever such a pack of hypocritical fools, said he, since the invention of Nonsense, as this Assembly of Divines? Good Lord! how was Grotius amazed when he understood that they came from Trent, for he al­ways fancied that they came from Ge­neva. Whence soever they come, cry'd [Page 57] Salmasius, they are plotting some Villa­ny; for now they are busie about a Fast, that they may the more greedily devour the flesh of Kings and mighty men, as they strain it; these are the so­ber, godly party, that occasioned the Ci­vil Wars of England. Is the Authour of Melius Inquirendum among them (re­plyed Grotius)? No, Myn Heer, (said I) he is busie in procuring another to suc­ceed this; Who is that (said Salmasius)? Another Milton, Sir, (said I) I hope the King of England will thank him accord­ing to Law one of these days for the great and timely pains he took in his Book: in which he says, that yours which you wrote de Jure Belli & Pacis, has occasioned all the Civil Wars that have been in Europe ever since: He may as well say (replyed Grotius) that Mare Liberum is Latin for Liberty of Consci­ence; for why should my Book which was written in Latin move the Rabble (the chief instruments of that Rebellion) to those unparallell'd Exorbitancies, who understood not a word of it? therefore 'tis their fault, (For there Aug. de Util. Cred. Tom. 6. cap. 1. will ever be a difference [Page 58] between an Heretick and a plain well, meaning man that believes an Heretick), (saith St. Austin), who taught them as many Treasonable Doctrines in English, as ever Lucifer could invent in Hell; And although he seems very tender of Hurting Loyal Ears upon the account of my Writings, yet he prosesses the same Loyalty his Predecessors did in the late Rebellion, which he lays at my door, that he may with the more impudence proceed in those very practices, which directly tend to the same end: But since he is for sprinkling in a sentence or two of my Writings to justifie his own, pray let him take this along with him too, wherein I clearly show my opinion con­cerning the Causes of Rebellion: Circum­feramus oculos per omnem Historiam, quod unquam vidit soecu­lum tot subditorum in prin­cipes Grot. de Antich. bella sub Religionis titulo? Et ho­rum Concitores nunc reperiuntur Ministri Evangelii, uti se vocant. ‘Let us look through all History; what Age ever saw so many Rebellions against Prin­ces; and those that raise them, are now found to be Ministers of the [Page 59] Gospel, as they stile themselves.’ Such as himself now is, such as were this Blessed Assembly of Divines, and that holy Council of Trent, which first shew them the way to suppress Episcopacy and Monarchy, who first taught them the sanctified methods of Reforming Princes and Prelates, wherein they have infi­nitely out-done their Masters; for the Fathers in Trent were forced to disguise themselves under many Stratagems, be­fore they could get those Decrees pass; which was the end and scope of that most Popish Council: but our Assembly-men fell upon them first with the great­est impudence and violence imaginable, deluding the Nation with a fair pretence of thorough Reformation, and the Sup­pression of Popery: The Devil always provides a Vizard for his Agents, and Murtherers can cry A Race, a Race, when they are running quite away. Murtherers! (quoth Salmasius) I think this Assembly will not own that they were guilty of the Murther of the King, no more were the Jesuits of the Death of the King of France, that fell by the hands of Raviliac; they in the Council [Page 60] of Trent procured the King-killing De­crees, they fomented the fatal divisions of that Kingdom, to establish the Throne of Christ's Vicar upon the Ruines of the Monarchy; they instructed and encou­raged the Assassins, and yet they did not kill him; 'tis easie to apply it, but 'tis hard to make them believe it.

I believe so too, (Sir, said I) for with the same confidence that the Jesuits could splendidly embalm the heart of that Henry 4. Prince whom they had traiterously Murthered, do our Pres­byterians seem to lament for the Death of King Charles the First; and who but they restored King Charles the Second? who now such Defenders of the Regalia of France as the Jesuits? and Father Maimbourg writes against the Usurpa­tions of the Pope; who but Presbyteri­ans are Loyal Subjects? who but they the Preservers of their Country, and of the true Protestant Religion? Hiccius Doxius of Colchester writes his Black Nonconformist, and Dedicates it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, just as Answered by Dr. Durel. Philanax Angli­cus, a Jesuit, did before him: [Page 61] these are the men that are so irrecon­cilable to Popery, that every honest Orthodox Church-man is a Jesuitical Tory, and is mark't out in Libels and Pamphlets to the Rabble, who have a fair occasion to complement him when they Cart the Whore of Babylon through the streets of London: These are your true Protestant Processions wherein they burn the Pope in Effigie, that they may establish his Authority, for the multitude are as ready to change Crucifie him into Hosanna's, as Hosanna's into Crucifie him; they are but as Dogs to Perk that fair game; the Jesuits never want a conse­crated Gun to shoot at: this is the old game of 41; but they will neither ac­knowledge their former guilt, nor fear that punishment which attended it, which King Charles says, was like that of Corah [...]. p. 261. and his Complices (at once mutining both against Prince and Priest) in such a method of divine Justice as is not ordinary; the earth of the lowest and meanest people opening upon them, and swallowing them up in just disdain of their ill-gotten and worse-used Authority, [Page 62] upon whose support and strength they chiefly depended for their building and establish­ing their designs against me, the Church and State.

As soon as I had spoken these words, the roof was in a moment uncovered, and there descended the most glorious object that ever I beheld; it was in the shape of a Virgin, Beautifull as the Sun, and which had all the Charms of Hea­ven and Earth; her garments were not very rich, but decent and comly; her eyes piercing as lightning, and on her face was enthron'd all the glories of mo­desty and innocency; her feet, which were bare, seemed torn and bloody with Thorns and Briars; on her right hand sat Kings and Princes, and immediately next her King Charles the First with a Crown of light upon his head; her left was guarded with a long row of Reve­rend Prelates, in garments white as Snow; she no sooner descended with a quickning light all about her, but both the Trent Fathers and Assembly of Di­vines were so strangely Metamorphosed, that I could not distinguish them from Devils, or from one another, for the [Page 63] Fucus and Paint of Hypocrisie upon their faces (with which they had de­luded and bewitch'd such multitudes of people) melted off with the warmth of her Rays; and she no sooner espied them, but with an angry grief she threat­ned to make them in a short time as contemptible and odious to future Ages, as the worst Hereticks in the world ever were.

‘I have, said she, (turning and look­ing around her) travelled through the Wilderness of this World now more than Sixteen hundred years, and never yet could find any long-continued a­bode or resting-place: But when the Defenders of the Faith, like true Chri­stian Champions, had set me free from my long and dark imprisonment, and had restored me to my Primitive pu­rity and just Authority; the Honour, the Peace, the Plenty I brought to these Kingdoms, made me reflect not only upon their gratitude, but their in­terest too, for my security: But wo is me! I still, like the Sun, must pass through Clouds of various shapes, which are every where drawn from [Page 64] the combined humours of a feculent world; yet never was I so much dark­ned with sorrow and lamentations, as in these Islands for the unparallell'd In­dignities inflicted upon my head, and my members by the most ungratefull men, upon the most unjust accusation that ever was lay'd to my charge by Heathens or Infidels: I, who freed them from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities, was condemned and torn in pieces as guilty of Popish Superstitions: So my great Bridegrome was accused as in­strumental to the bringing the old Romans to take away the Place and Nation of the Jews, but their destru­ction followed his Crucifixion; and the Rebellious divisions of those very Jews provok't the Roman Emperours, and lay'd them open to that final venge­ance, that they left that Land delug'd with blood which they found over­flown with Milk and Honey. Oh my people of England, whom I love and pity with the tenderest compassion, and with an unlimited charity! Oh that ye (weeping) said she, would know [Page 65] in this your day the things that belong unto your peace; that ye would open your eyes, and see and consider who they are that will by undiscreet zeal, preposterous fears, or an ambitious po­licy subject you to a more intollera­ble bondage than ever this Nation yet felt: Are they not those Pharisaical Hypocrites which strain at a Gnat, but swallow a Camel; who Pray against Popery in the Church, but Preach Je­suitism in the Conventicle; who fight against me under a form of Godliness; who for a pretence make long Prayers, and thorough Reformations, that they may destroy Widows houses and God's too? Certainly ye have been suffici­ently taught from the Calamities ye have lately felt, without comparing them to others (of a farther distance of time and place), not to trust to any change of that Government which was restored with so Universal satisfaction, and has still preserved you in peace; but by an union of Loyal and truly Christian Resolutions, to maintain it against all opposition upon what pre­tence soever; which thing if ye doe, [Page 66] then shall ye be delivered from the Presbyterianism of the Council of Trent, and from the Jesuitism of the Assembly of Divines; from Popish Leagues and Protestant Covenants; from the Good Old Cause, with a new name to it; from establishing Christ's Throne upon the Blood’

IT is a great and lawfull conveniency that a well-meaning man has in Visi­ons, above those who design mischief when they are awake, and dream of nothing that is good when they are asleep, above Popish Priests up to the Ears in Legends, Fanaticks in Pulpits, or Witches upon Bromstaves; for his fancies are for the real good of others, as well as for to please himself: Para­bles [Page 68] are lively Pictures of significant truths, and Morality was excellently described in Fables by a Heathen; but it does not a little trouble me that the Beasts in Aesop should shame some men now a days, who will not be convinc'd of the Errors and Mischiefs they are en­gaged in, when they have the opportu­nity of being better taught by the truly ancient and Catholick Doctrine of the Church of England: but her Adversa­ries the Jesuits and Fanaticks who deny the King to be Head of the Church, do likewise reject the Reformation by his Authority; the Papists Sham it, and would make it a ridiculous Schism; the Presbyterians (though they renounce the Pope, yet retain to themselves that Usurpation which was above 500 years a gaining by the Popes), finding that such a Discipline was not consistent with the Doctrine of the Church of England, Preach't up a Reformation more pure and primitive, as they pretended; the reasons we shall know afterwards: There­fore the Emblem of the Church we saw in the last Vision, having vanquish't and discovered the unjust Stratagems both [Page 69] of the Council of Trent, and of the As­sembly of Divines, ordered her own Convocation of Orthodox and Learned Church-men to defend her for the future against both Papists and Presbyterians: They were no sooner fat, but in came Harding, and boldly told them, That they were a small obscure meeting of Cal­vinists that reformed the Church: As soon as Bishop Jewel espied him, That is very false, said he, I will tell you the truth, and tell you otherwise in the Epistle I wrote concerning the Council of Trent to a Venetian Noble man; my words relating to our Reformation, are these: For our selves we have done no­thing but with very good reason; nothing but what we saw to be lawfull, and to have been practised by the Ancient Fa­thers, without any reprehension at all; wherefore we called a full Synod of Bi­shops, and by common consent of all estates, purged our Church, as it were Augeas's Stable, of all superfluities, which either the negligence or malice of men had brought in: this was justly in our power to doe; and because we could doe it, we did it faithfully.

[Page 70] At this I was so encouraged as to ask Harding whether or no they were Cal­vinists, or a small obscure meeting that signed the Judgment of the Convoca­tion, that the Pope cannot call them without the King's consent, in the year 1536, there being present the Archbi­shop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, 13 Bishops, 49 Abbots, &c. Now the fatal blow was given to the Papal Autho­rity in England; and yet these could not be Calvinists, nor were they few or contemptible; indeed you Popish Wri­ters are great adversaries to National Councils, because they will look after the Civil Rights, that the Court of Rome do not encroach upon them, which a Ge­neral Council, wherein the Pope is what he pleases, cannot; therefore Cardinal Pa­lavicini profoundly tells Lib. 14. cap. 12. us, that Concilio Nazio­nale sempre abhorrito dà Pontifici, ‘That the Pope did always abhor a National Council;’ and good reason, because it sometimes stops that Torrent of Money which he says is so necessary to main­tain the carnal felicity of the Church; therefore we know why you stickle so [Page 71] much against the Methods of our Refor­mation which Mr. Shaw has well justified; and Origo Protest. which Dr. Burnet says was advanced with such deliberation in King Henry the Eight, and King Edward the Sixth's time, as is as great an evidence of the ripeness Part 1. Pag. 289. of their proceedings, as can be shewed in any Church in any Age: So that we were Reformed without that violence the German Divines were, as the Letters be­tween Osiander and Cranmer testifie; or without Rebellion, which is always the consequence of Popish Reformations.

At this he march't off, and made room for Raynolds, a Rhemish Renegado, who came Busling up, And although (said he) ye have fob'd off Mr. Harding, yet I suppose I shall prove your Reformation to be a wicked Separation from the Ro­man Communion, which the irrecon­cilable divisions among you testifie: for hear what I say to Whitaker, Pag. 481. Have you not at this present among you a great murmuring, even amongst the Pro­testants, against the Communion-Book and State of Religion, which in the beginning [Page 72] of her Majesties Reign was Queen Elizabeth. brought in? If the Catho­licks said nothing, have you not the Puri­tans detesting your Faith; and, were it not for the Prince's Sword, ready to dispos­sess you of Chairs and Churches? I was mightily amazed to hear this, for 'tis 99 years ago since these words were Printed; which a Gentleman observing, See you not (said he) what a scandal these rascally Schismaticks are to our Reformation? indeed the man foretold what too certainly came to pass; but he must know that we do not acknow­ledge that any of their Principles had any share or part in it, any more than they had in bringing in the King; for in the days of Queen Mary, Knox, that peevish Puritan, was as malicious towards the Orthodox in Francfurt, as the Papists were to them in England: And more­over, 'tis no wonder that they agree not with us, for they disagree among them­selves, and are not the same they were. Those in King Edward's time scrupled only some Ceremonies, as Bucer, Rogers and Hooper; those in Queen Elizabeths time excepted against some Prayers, [Page 73] Canons and Articles; but now they are for Abolishing Supremacy and Episco­pacy; they have lay'd the Ax to the root, and are gone so far from the Church of England, that they are come round about to the Church of Rome, and are worse Papists than any before the Reformation.

We perceive by Raynolds, that the Jesuits very well knew this; and therefore whilst the Presbyterians were busie to advance their Discipline, they thought them fit tools to carry on their Fifth Monarchy; their Principles being both alike destructive, both of Church and State; in order to which, they quarrel with our Reformation; and as the Pope and the Devil would have it, Cry up a thorough one of their own: Of which I will give you such a full sight, if you will go along with me, that you shall never forget it untill you are in heaven. Pray, Sir, (said I) before you doe that, let me know by what methods they brought their Discipline to that perfe­ction in 48. I will not trouble you, (said he) with a long relation of their several Cabals they had all King James [Page 74] his Reign; he himself was sufficiently sensible of their restless humour, and said, What his Son King Charles found by experience, that there were not greater thieves and cut-throats among the High­landers and Borderers; for as soon as they (by the same computation the De­vil tells his Legions) found that they were grown so numerous and strong as to make a prevalent Party in every County, then they set up their Patriots, whom they raise, and then admire, as Boyes do Paper-Kites: These were the men that should Trounce Antichrist, that should toss the Pope and all his Cardinals in Blankets; that should purge out all superfluities of Popish Idolatry, and make the Nation as clean as a peny; indeed new Brooms sweep clean, but they turned into rods to scourge it at last by their Ordinances, as Resolutions, viz. Re­solved, That the Kingdom be put into a posture of defence, March 2. 1641. Now I would fain know against whom: Against one another (said I); you know, Sir, the Spaniards sometimes at an Execution, as soon as the person is hang'd do draw all their Swords; we can't sup­pose [Page 75] that 'tis to kill the man that is dead; and it had been well for this Nation, if as the Spaniards put up their Swords again quietly, they had put themselves into a posture of Peace: No, no, Sir, re­plyed he, Jack Presbyter must have a holy War too; and since he fought for the Throne of Christ, he may as lawfully kill Malignants, as the Pope slew Infidels to regain his Sepulchre.

Item, Resolved that a Committee be appointed to examine St. Paul, whether or no it be lawfull to grant the King Tonnage and Poundage. Pray, Sir, said I, what do you mean by this? I never heard thus much before: Why, said he, Sir Jo. Eliot and Pym would not grant them, untill they had first set­led Religion touching Arminianism. Sir, said I, do you think that St. Paul will be summon'd before a Rebellious Com­mittee? No, Sir, I will assure you he will appeal unto Caesar; and besides, do you think that he will satisfie the curio­sity of those men about the difficult Points of Predestination and Free-will, who care not for damnation upon such plain terms? besides, he does not know [Page 76] why, nor does he believe that the Fun­damental Laws of this State are con­trary to the Fundamental Government of the Church, so as to alter it; and therefore he will be tryed by the Bi­shops; for which there is more Greek in his Epistles, than for a Burgess in all the Old and New Testament. When the Church of England (said he) was Reformed from the Corruptions of Rome, it was done with the advice and consent of all the Estates of the Nation; and for the establishing a publick and lasting Settlement: but these Ambitious men endeavouring to alter the Government in the State, found it a requisite piece of Policy to make a Schism and Division in the Church, in order thereunto; which was the Reason they were so zealous about those Controversial Points: So the Court Prelates in Trent gain'd their De­crees of Reformation, whilst they diverted the well-meaning Fryars in sharp dis­putes about Doctrines; so the Jesuits over-reacht the Franciscans and Domi­nicans, by setting them together by the Ears: And therefore I am perswaded, that as St. Paul would have Condemned [Page 77] those Interlopers, who troubled them­selves about things they neither under­stood nor had to doe withall; so like­wise he would have blamed those men who called themselves either Calvinists, or that stiled themselves Arminians; as he did those, who said, I am of Paul, I am of Apollo, or I am of Cephas; for among the many methods those Rebels used to obtain their glorious Reforma­tion, there was none of greater conse­quence: First of all it made a great division among the Clergy, and that numerous part of them, which contrary to their Oaths, separated from the Church either ignorantly or wilfully upon the account of Arminianism, became the greatest Incendiaries of all, and the chief Promoters of that unnatural Rebellion: And secondly, the People who by them were taught the Discipline of Calvin, were taught likewise that Arminianism was down-right Popery, which the visi­ble Ceremonies of the Church branded with the same Character confirmed to them, who could know no better; therefore they must help too to promote the Reformation aforesaid, they must [Page 78] carry on the work of the Lord in the land of the living; which they did by Tu­mults, and Petitions against Bishops, as Popish Nusances, and against the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church as Rags of Superstition: That the Jesuits had a hand in encouraging that Controversie to enrage the People against the Church, is a plain case, and nothing is certainer than that they brought up the distin­ction of Long Cloaks worn in London and elsewhere; and now they are play­ing the same game again with Socinus and his fratres Poloni. But to return to those Learned Patriots I before men­tion'd, after they had got the Power into their hands, they no more depen­ded upon the Judgment of Calvin or Arminius for what they did, than upon the Hypothesis of Tycho Brahoe, or of Copernicus, for the Sequestring Delin­quents Lands; only in the mean time it testified their zeal to all the godly of the Land (as they were deliciously pleased to stile themselves) who are wise Disputants in defence of their se­veral Enthusiasms, when they are igno­rant of the Catechism; and, like Ravilliac, [Page 79] learned in all the Doctrines of King-killing, when he scarce knew his Creed: And who did all of them unanimously agree in one Billingsgate Argument a­gainst the Bishops and Clergy, Railing, reviling, and calling them by names, enough to fright old Nicolas untill he plucks in his horns like a Snail: And althô Michael the Arch-Angel, Epist. Jude v. 9. when contending with the Devil, durst not bring against him a railing Accusation; yet these meek-hearted were taught by their Preachers in the Language of Sion, to say, that they were Wilson to the Commons 1642. Croaking Frogs, Spirits of Devils—Vicar's Jehov. Jir. p. 88. a stinking heap of Athe­istical and Roman Rub­bish—a Rotten Rabble of Scandalous Priests, Bastard Sons of Belial— White's first Cen­tury Epist. to the Reader. persons illite­rate and insufficient, dumb Dogs, Whoremongers and Adulterers, who as fed Horses, Neigh after their Neighbours Wives—Priests of Baal, Bacchus and Priapus: And therefore says Coleman to the Parliament Aug. 30. 1643, the Hie­rarchy [Page 80] is become a fretting Gangreen, and spreading Leprosie, an insupporta­ble Tyranny; Up with it, up with it to the bottom, Root and branch, Hip and thigh; destroy these Amele­kites, and let their place be no more found.

Thus that Order of men, who have been instrumental to all the Publick good this Nation ever enjoyed, was ex­posed to the publick scorn and contempt of the insolent Rabble, and made as the filth of the world, and the off­scowring of all things. But 1 Cor. 4. 13. what was their glorious Reformation in the end? Truly more infamous than Jeroboam's Rebellious Idolatry, he made the lowest of the people Priests to his high Places; but here the lowest of the people (viz. Triers, &c.) made Priests and Kings too to the most high God, as they pretended: Truly (replyed I) had St. Paul himself been here then, he had as certainly been sequestred and plun­dered, as Archbishop Laud was behead­ed: For our Puritans, who depriv'd him of his Saintship, would have found many Malignant places in his Epistles, enough [Page 81] to have brought him before a High Court of Justice; for in August 1642, one was committed to the Prison, which they made of the Lord Peter's House, for reading Malignant Chapters, as said his Mittimus, and some of them without doubt were St. Paul's. Cer­tainly the Jesuits (who were very bu­sie in all the late Rebellion) and who were for expunging the 7 first Verses of the 13th Chapter to the Romans, would have employed their Agents, to have proved him a Prelatical Papist, in England, and a great Enemy to the Presbyterian Reformation, which could not be done decently and in order, as he would have all things in the Church. Besides he put the Assem­bly of Divines to a great Postscript to their Annotat. expence of Learning, about his Epistles to Timothy and Titus, to defend their Form of Church Go­vernment; and the House of Commons were forced to the Lord knows how many Ordinances, to raise Horse, Foot and Dragoons to prove themselves the Higher Powers; and that shutting the King out of Hull, fighting him in open [Page 82] Field, and imprisoning him, was not resisting him; therefore he would have come within the reach of this thorough Reformation, as sure as a Gun, for the onely Cathedral in Christendom, de­dicated to his Honour, was Reformed to a Stable for their Horses. Well, Sir, said he, before we talk of that, come along with me, I will shew you some more of their tricks to bring about their Reformation. With that he car­ried me to St. Antolin's Church, in which at the beginning of the Rebelli­on, the Brethren had set up a Lecture to pull down Popery; as soon as I came to the Door, there was such crowding and thronging that I was unwilling to go in, besides the Steam of the Saints, which were half stew'd with Zeal, was almost as troublesome as a Damp in a Coal-mine. The Gentleman observing me to be somewhat backward, took me by the Arme; And, pray Sir, (said he) give your self a little trouble, it will be much to your satisfaction I will assure you: You must expect to be a little warm, for Presbytery and the Sweating Sickness came into England much about [Page 83] the same time. Warm, Sir, (said I) is that all the danger? Truly I do not like their Looks, what do they come hither for? For what, (said he) to take war­ning against Popery? Why, Sir, (said I) is any body to be hanged for it? No, replyed he; but yonder is a Gentle­man that will doe execution upon it pre­sently: Pray, Sir, (said I) what rea­son have these People to be afraid of Popery? They do not look as if Ma­homet would bestow the Alcoran upon them; for I do not believe that they ever had any Religion, but they dis­grac'd it: they look more like Jews than any other people living, or indeed like an Assembly of Egyptian Mummies. And truly untill they stirred, I imagined that several of them next the Wall, had been Antic Wainscot, or Grotesque Car­vings; but one Fellow amazed me mightily, for he was of such a course grain'd Complexion, that I thought an Effigies belonging to some Tomb had been walking away from its Pedestal. Whilst I was looking around me, there stept a living Creature up into the Pul­pit, that took up all my Thoughts; he [Page 84] was in the most mortified Dress that you can imagine, for the white Border upon his black Cap, made him look like a Black Jack tipt with Silver; he wrinckled his Face up and down that it resembled a Crab-lanthorn possest with a Devil, who had crumpled all the upper Crust with his Horns and Hoofs; after he had been a considera­ble time putting himself into a posture of Ugliness, and had wiped the Pearl from his Snout; at last his Mouth opened, his Lips trembled, his Eyes twinkled, but nothing was yet heard but a little grumbling in his Guts, as if his Fervency lay in his Chitterlings: the Audience in the mean time stretcht their Ears untill they look'd like Ele­phants Luggs, and then to gratifie them a word or two slipt out of his Trunk; but at last he roar'd so loud that I could not imagine but that there was an hol­low place in his Head to make an Echo, and the method and matter of his Pray­er confirmed my fancy; for excepting the malicious part of it (which respec­ted the King and his Loyal Subjects, in which his Prayers for them contain'd a [Page 85] scandalous Invective against them,) those which were for deliverance from their Enemies (as he called them) were sawcy and blasphemously foolish; their usual strain of ex tempore praying; concluding, That it would please the Lord to take his and their Foes a knock on the Costard, and then they would joyn their hands to smite them Hip and Thigh: This way of Praying was the Reformation of the Liturgy, and according to the Rules of the Di­rectory, a superfine way of propagating Sedition, leaving them scope to insert whatever might move the Passions of the ignorant Rabble, and might com­pose a Form for devout Necromancers to raise the Devil. But now for a touch of his preaching, which was the modish Eloquence of Church-Conventicles in those days: The Subject he treated upon was the Ʋnion of Protestant Dissenters against the common Dangers of Popery; and his Text in order to it was this. And in the Gen. 14. vers. 5. fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the Kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and [Page 86] the Zusims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaueh Keriathaim. He was forc'd to spit five or six times before he entred upon his Discourse, the speaking the Text had made his Mouth water so mightily, but after he had done fluxing he began.

‘Beloved! And shall we, and our Brethren in the Country, and our Brethren of Scotland, be smitten by the Kings of the Earth, as the poor Emims and Zusims were? And will it not be better that we joyn in a Co­venant together, that we may joyn with them in Battel altogether?’

Beloved! If these People I here mention be Strangers unto you, take it upon my word they were the ancient French Protestants, and this Chedorlao­mer was a huge great Popish King, a mighty tall Man, with a dimple upon his Chin, above seventeen hand high; a great sign of being a Persecutour. Pray observe, he came in the fourteenth year, there he cheated the Protestants, because he came in the Popish Stilo vete­ri. But who do you think came with him? Why all the Kings he could rap [Page 87] and rend; Antichristian French Kings, Sons of Belial. And what do ye think his Majesty Chedorlaomer, and the Kings that were with him, did? Why, first they came, and secondly they overcame, and smote the Rephaims, yea they smote them, even the Rephaims of Ashteroth-Karnaim. I suppose this was a good Town of trading, Beloved, there was a World of these honest People formerly of the Ims, there was the Rephaims, the Zusims, the Emims, the Cherubims, and Seraphims, the Ʋrims, and Thummims, and they all come from the Hebrew word le Ʋmmim; but now there is not one of them to be had for love or Money. And what should be the rea­son that so many godly people should be smitten? why truly they were sepa­rated, and were united far asunder. Do ye think that if these Protestants had made a Bargain to stand by one ano­ther, that the Pope and his Kings could ever have smitten them? Do ye think that if they had entred into Cove­nant before the Lord, that he would not have left all Business to defend them? Yes verily, the Lord loves to see [Page 88] his secret ones go hand in hand like a Yoke of Oxen. But now, Beloved! Let us consider the reasons why we are not united, for the Zusims and the Emims Case is ours at this day; I say, what is the reason? why truly, the reason is because there is no reason at all; for are we not all Protestants, though we go by several Names? If we had all the same Name, how should we know one from another? Then if I called my Wife, my Maid would come, and there would be such coming and going, and going and coming, that we should be like Sa­tan walking to and fro. What! one is called a Presbyterian, another an In­dependent, a third an Anabaptist, what signifies these Names? Are we not all Protestants? Shall a few Letters, we learnt when we were Boys, make us quarrel now we are Men? Nay, now we are come of Age to be Martyr'd? And have we not reason to fear it? For 'tis certain that the Whore of Babylon is coming with a great many Kings after her Tail; and then what do ye think will become of us? She will eat of the best, and drink of the best; She will [Page 89] eat up all your White Bread, and leave you nothing but Brown-Bread. And do you think that is all? No! She will send you Slaves to the Sugar Mines, or drown you by the way in the Pyrenaean Sea. One would think this enough, but hold ye there; She will kill you over and over again; She will fetch the Heart's Bloud and Gutts of your Souls out, and pick your Pockets. Ah! my Beloved, Ah Lord! I wish ye had been so united, that I might have divided my Text but into one part; nevertheless I will conclude with this (pray carry it home with you): We have been a long time, as Hemp, I say, as Hemp beaten by the Ungodly; let us be twisted with one ac-cord into an holy Rope, to bind their Kings in Chains, and their Nobles with Links of Iron.

As soon as he had ended, the Gentle­man pull'd me by the Sleeve; and what, Sir, (said he) do you think of Demosthenes or Cicero? What, Sir, (said I) I think they have been dead this half year. Why? (said he) When they were living they were not half so good Oratours as this very Fellow that [Page 90] now Canted (as you call it); is not that the truest Eloquence that moves the Audience to what the Preacher designs? Pray come along with me, I will shew you how servently they practise his Doctrine.

I went along with him in the Crowd, untill we came into a spacious open Field, in the midst of which was a great Ring of People hand in hand, in the middle of them a Scotch Bag-piper, and a Fellow blind-folded, dancing to the Tune of 41. Bless me, thought I, what is here to doe? what have we a dance of Satyrs in a Fairy Circle? As soon as we were come close up to them, I never saw such different shapes of Men in all my Life, there was not one of them like to another. Pray, Sir, (said I) what are these? Here are (quoth he) Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, Brownists, Ranters, Anti­nomians, Familists, Libertines, Scep­ticks, Jesuits, Adamites, Quakers.

Hold, Sir, (said I) have you ever a Rhinocerot among them? What do you mean, Sir, (said he)? Why truly, Sir, (replyed I) I thought you had been [Page 91] reckoning the Beasts of America. Oh no, Sir, (said he) these are the several Sectaries, who united in the late infa­mous League against the Government in Church and State: And is not that Man very Eloquent, that can persuade Men who are Antipodes in Religion, to venture Life and Estate, Soul and Body, to fight against any particular one, which they do not understand, so well as the differences between themselves? Oh! Sir, (said I) as these several Sects have derived their blasphemous Opini­ons from the Ancient Hereticks, so like­wise do they agree with them in their rebellious Combinations against the Sovereign Truth, as Tertullian has deli­vered to us a Character of those in his Days, let us compare them with these: Omnes tument, omnes scientiam pollicen­tur, ipsae mulieres Haereticae quàm procaces, quae audent docere contendere, &c. Now is not this like our Separatists? But to the present Case. Nihil interest illis licet diversa De Praescrip. cap. 41. tractantibus dum ad uni­us veritatis Expugnationem conspirent▪ But, Pray Sir, (continued I) which of [Page 92] these are true Protestants? Why (said he) the Fellow that is blinded in the midst of them is a Seeker; and if I had time, he who has been of all Religions, should give us an account of their seve­ral Opinions, and when you have heard them, if you can from them all patch up such a considerable Rarity as a true Protestant, I will be bound to give you a Venison Pasty made of Act ae­on, for your Supper; but I will be at leisure to give you a relationn of them at another time.

Pray, Sir, (said I) let me have a short account of some of these Rarities of Fa­naticism now, I will not trouble you to speak of them all, for I think to D. Aug. de Hae­res. St. Austin's Catalogue of Hereticks here are ninety more of a later Inventi­on added; surely Ross in his View of Religions, never saw half so many strange Garbs of Opinion, as are here before us; 'tis no wonder the Morocco Ambassadour was startled to find such Protestant Monsters amongst us, as A­frica never bred, and which can digest the good Cause, better than his Ostriches [Page 93] can old Iron. But what is yonder Fel­low with a watering-Pot in his Hand? That is (replyed he) an Ana-Baptist; and that Fellow who Trembles (as if he had swallowed an Earthquake,) has a cold Fit of the Hat, just now creeping upon him, his Principles have of late been sufficiently proved to be Jesuitical, and his Practices much more; for when the warm Fit of Zeal and Fighting is up­on him, he is as brisk a Reformer as the rest of the Pack; or as that Antinomian, who is for breaking the two Tables, that he might prevent Popery, whereas his Holiness thinks that taking away but one of the Commandments is a sufficient means to encourage it. But is not that Yeoman in his Naturalibus, a very hardy Fellow think you, and a Saint of Ex­pedition? At this, I espied a lusty Clown as naked as any in Bedlam; a very de­vout Cannabal, Sir, (said I); No, no, (replyed he) he is a true Protestant Adamite, and to shew you what an Enemy he is to Popery, and to St. Peter's Successours, he is a Disciple of the first Adam in his Innocency: What his Opi­nions are, I cannot tell (said I); I shall [Page 94] not pin my Faith upon his Sleeve (I perceive); but this I am sure of, that the Jesuits in their Morals defend this very Brutality, if it be upon the Account of Curiosity: And in the Book of Fol. 6 [...]. Conformity, we have a famous Story of Friar Leonard, how he put off his Breeches, and putting them on his Head, went stark naked about the Streets, and al­though his Fraternity cryed Shame of him, yet he was so Holy he cared not what they said; Very true (replyed he) and now we see that these Savages in Worship, the very Dregs of Popish En­thusiasts, did the Presbyterians combine with in order to their Glorious Refor­mation; and although many of these Sectaries were then insignificant, for their number, to doe any thing against the State, yet when joyned with o­thers they had a pestilential Influence upon the Government, therefore they were inroll'd in the common League and Covenant, and they had their Pro­testant Joyners to,

Indeed, when ever they were in jeo­pardy, they were Brethren to some pur­pose, and mighty sweet upon one ano­ther; and therefore Calamy tells the Commons, This is a time wherein we should all u­nite Decem. 26. 1644. against the Common Enemy, that seeks to devour us all. By their Common Enemy they meant the Government, to ruine which they used all means imagi­nable.

He could not speak one word more, for there flew such a Volley of Pamph­lets that we could scarce hear or see any thing else for them; I gather'd up a good number of them, and found them to be most Scandalous, and Seditious Libells, defaming the King, and his Prime Mini­sters of State; done with all the Artifice in the World to inflame the Rabble: and they, whose private Affairs were [Page 96] either inconsiderable, or desperate, seem'd most concern'd for the Publick. For the first Troop of those Blessed Re­formers, were a great number of Ap­prentices, who, by a Paper, were advi­sed to sack Lambeth-House. I followed them May 9. 1640. as near as I could, but they being forc'd to retire without effecting their Enter­prise returned back into the City: At my entrance I heard such a dismal noise, as if the Inhabitants had been throwing the Houses about one anothers Ears; before I was aware of any Danger, I was up to mine in the Mobile, and car­ried along with such a torrent of greasy Operators, that I could not disengage my self; all the way they went yelling, and howling as if they would split their Mouths up to their Ears; the very Earth trembled, the Teeth of half Middlesex were set on edge, and the Clouds were sour'd, and curdled with the din: I thought they would have squeez'd my Gutts out at my Mouth with crowd­ing, and feared every moment when they should give me a gentle Dab with one of their Weapons, for they [Page 97] were all arm'd with Clubs, and Glaves, and old rusty Halberts, in the midst of them, one carried an Ensign of Scotch-Cloth, with Justice on one side, and Reformation on the other in great Red Letters: they were led on by a Chim­ney-Sweeper, who carried his Cromes in Imitation of the Roman Fasces, he went gnawing a Bone, and crying out Ju­stice! Justice! I wondred against whom they were so exasperated, but found it immediately to be the Earl of Strafford, who was to their great satisfaction guar­ded to Tower-Hill, and there standing upon a Scaffold to be sacrific'd to the Accumulative Rabble, told them, He thought it a strange way to write in Bloud the beginning of a Reformation.

In Bloud! cry'd a Gentleman stand­ing by, can it begin or end with any thing else, that is manag'd by such exe­crable Miscreants as those are? I won­dred whom he meant, untill I saw him point to about 23 Presbyterian Preach­ers, whom I saw lifting up their Eyes, laying their hands to their Breasts, and talking so seriously to the People, as if they had been preparing them all for [Page 98] Death; whenas Marshal stept out and bawling as if he had been Frantick, I pray (said he) Look on me, as one that come a­mong 1641. you this day to beat a Drum in your Ears, to see who will come out and The Word in the North Re­bellion, 1644. Follow the Lamb.

I perceived that this Magical Jargon had conjur'd up a Rabble as formidable as the other, who in Legions ran vio­lently down to White-Hall, and so to Westminster, crying out, NO Bishops, no Bishops! when the Throng was past, I followed Calamy, Baxter, Newcomen and Owen, and some others, untill they were got into a private Place, where they soon changed their Countenances, and began to Laugh as heartily as ever the Wicked did in their Lives; they be­ing thus upon the merry pin, Calamy invited them all to his House, telling them, Calamy's Apol. 1646. That they knew that his House was the re­ceptacle for godly Mini­sters in the worst of Times, that 'twas there the Remonstrance was fram'd against Prelates, that there they had their Meet­ings.

[Page 99] They went with him, and I followed them, without the least suspicion, for indeed their Actions began now to pub­lish to the World their private Designs, although they coloured them with a world of Hypocrisie to the People. As soon as they were entred, they threw off their Cloaks, and taking their Girdles which were stuck round with Daggers, Ponyards and Stilletto's, cast them away with Contempt: Saying, ‘What need have we any longer of these sneaking Tools? have we not found out a more compendious way of destroying the malignant Moabites, and Canaanites that are among us? Where is that Amalekite that can stand any longer against a Bill of At­tainder? have not we the Power of the Sword, and of the Keys too, to bind and to loose, to bind up several puny Articles into one Accumulative Treason, and to loosen the Authority of the King from his Person? Do not the strong cryes of the Babes of Grace, plainly shew that Vox Populi is on our side too? With what glori­ous Hosanna's do they conveigh the [Page 100] five Members through our Jerusalem; Shewing that Christ must triumph, and now be established on his Throne? and now down go Popery and Prela­cy;’ and High Boys up go we. At this there was profound Silence for a short space, untill Bond stood up, and said; The work of Refor­mation still goes on, there *Bond to the Commons, March 27, 1644. do we get ground, as to perfect a Protestation in­to a Covenant; to ripen an Impeachment into a Root and Branch: and in a word to settle an Assembly of Divines, as a general Refiner's Fire, to try all Metals of the Church. As soon as he had done speaking, Palmer told them, The Prentices Palmer to the Earl of Essex. 1644. and Porters, were stirr'd up by God's Providence, thousands of them, to petition the Parlia­ment for speedy Relief.

I was abundantly satisfied that they were the Instruments to encourage the baser sort of People to those seditious Tumults, which began those unhappy Confusions, which they called their thorough Reformation. And therefore I [Page 101] stay'd no longer, but slipt out of doors as fast as I could. I had not gone a quarter of a Mile, before I fell into such a Drove of City Dames, that I thought the Amazons had landed at Billinsgate, with a Resolution to establish a Parli­ament of Women, because the Men or­dered things no better: They had long Samples in their Hands, on which with their Thimbles, Bodkins and Needles, they had wrought, and drawn up a very curious Petition against Bishops, and Popish Lords; which a grave old Gentleman observing, fell a Laughing heartily, and by all the Goddesses (quoth he) this is a very beautifull World, is it come to this? Must the Ladle inform the Mace? Must our Joan's reform us from Popery? 'twas before my time, but I remember that Epiphanius tells us of a superstitious Custom, of offering a Cake to the Vir­gin Mary, which he is Greekishly plea­sed to call [...], and we in English, the Heresie of Women; every Body knows that the improve­ment of that Superstition is a main point of Popery at this day; and are [Page 102] they now for making Cakes for the Fu­neral of the Mass, and for reducing Pudding-Pyes to their Primitive Insti­tution? I cannot tell (said I) whether or no they have a true Protestant Re­ceipt, but I fancy the Reason why they are so incens'd against Popery is; because 'tis a great Hinderer of Matri­mony.

Did they know what a great many, like to prove good Husbands, the Wars (said he) will destroy, they would not be so eager to promote them. Had they come with a Petition of Right, or of due Benevolence, or had they been surprized, as the young Senatour did the Roman Dames, with the fearfull Decree for Polygamy, I had not at all wondred at them; but if they must direct and govern the Church as Arbitrarily as they rule their Houses, they will in a short time wear the Doublet, and the Gown, as they have for a long time worn the Breeches: Then turning to them, Gen­tlewomen (quoth he) we shall never be able to lye quiet in our Beds for you one of these days, how is it possible to please you? Ye will neither go to [Page 103] Church, nor stay at home: I profess if ye do not behave your selves better for the Future, we will have a Salique Law against Petitioning.

This so enrag'd them that they un­cas'd him in a Moment, calling him Cuckold, Malignant, &c. at which I was so affrighted that I do not remem­ber how I got from among them, but running hastily, I tumbled over a Fel­low who lay groveling in a Gutter, and crying, Good Wife! for God's sake! I help'd him up, and when he had re­covered himself; Pray Sir (said I) what did you mean? Mean! Sir (said he) to save my Life, for I cannot save my Estate; my Wife, whom I espied among the Petitioners, hath been so li­beral in her Contributions to those sniveling canting Whelps, that I am al­most ruin'd, and what can I expect from her who would make me a Beggar to propagate their lewd Cause? I pity you, replyed a Gentleman (that overheard him) with all my Heart, but you do but take part in the common Calami­ties, which those formal Hypocrites have brought upon this whole Kingdom, [Page 104] under pretence of a General Reformati­on; in order to which they have can­cell'd all the Fundamental Laws, and Obligations betwixt Prince and People, Father and Son, Husband and Wife, that they might make way for a new Model of Obedience, Reverence and Love, by filling the Nation with Vio­lence, and staining every Corner of it with Bloud.

Whilst I was musing upon what he had said, I observ'd that the Counte­nances of many People were chang'd, and some seem'd to tremble with A­mazement, and others were stupifyed with a solitary Silence, wondring at the sudden alteration; (for there had been several Thanksgivings for the impi­ous Victories the Rebels in the Course of the Wars had gained.) At last a Rumour ran, that His Majesty was in the Hands of his Enemies, and not one­ly so, but one confidently affirm'd that his Life was threatned by a High Court of Justice.

At this a Reverend Clergy-man that had been plundred, and sequestred, and had nothing left to bestow upon [Page 105] his unfortunate Sovereign but Prayers, and Tears, shed them plentifully, and turning towards us: Is this (said he) the way to make the Prince Glorious, and the People happy? Is this the Re­formation of Antichristian Rome, and can it not be done without Bloud more Royal, than that with which the Walls of Heathen Rome were first cemented? Is it not enough that by their Canting and Railing, they have stirred up all Orders of People into an unnatural Re­bellion, but they must now crown all their Villanies with cutting off the Head of the King?

Pray Sir, (said I) to him, who are those you speak of? Come along with me (said he) and I will shew you whom I mean presently.

I followed him as far as Westminster, and he carried me into a large place which was somewhat dark, and hung around with Mourning; I observed a considerable number of the Assembly of Divines, there sitting with Armes fol­ded, and Eyes lift up, looking so pale and ghastly, as if from a Body of Divi­nity, they had dwindled into the very [Page 106] shapes of Men; I wondred to find them in such a Posture of Mortification. And (looking on my Friend who conducted me thither;) surely Sir (said I) these Godly Men are here met to lament the Death of the King, near the Monu­ments of his Predecessours: A gang of Whited Sepulchres themselves, (replyed he) the reason of their keeping this Fast, is not because the Government is ruin'd by the Death of the King, but because their Discipline is in danger by their Brethren the Independents. He had no sooner spoke, but Bastwick stood up, and looking as if his Nose had been lately put out of Joint; Bastwick's Postscript to Bur­ton. The Indepen­dents (cryed he) have now the Sword in their Hands, and think themselves strong e­nough to encounter any adverse Party; and they profess, they care not how soon they come to cutting of Throats, and speak of nothing but the slaugh­tering and butchering of the Presby­terians.

Alack! and Alas! poor Saints, cry'd one (who by his Countenance seem'd a [Page 107] Foreigner;) are they now affraid of their Wind-Pipes, which they have so often stretch'd with their Magical Cant, that they have raised a sort of evil Spi­rits they cannot conjure down again? Where will they now seek redress from these intolerable Grievances of their own hatching? Did they imagine any thing else should be the Consequence of destroying so just and wise a Go­vernment, both in Church and State; which was a sufficient Bar to keep out those wild Heresies they have now let in upon themselves? Surely no Body at home will pity them, and all the Re­formed Churches abroad do utterly con­demn them. Beza himself, whose Cho­lerick Disposition was of fatal Conse­quence to the Reformed Churches, will tell their Publick Faith it self, that it lies, when they said, An Ordinance for putting the Directory, &c. 1644. They resolv'd to Reform according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches. For let but any Man reade over that To the Prince of Conde. Epistle Dedicatory of his before his Translation of the New Te­stament, [Page 108] and he will find how positive­ly he condemns the Methods of their Reformation long before: he will find that the same Beza, acknowledges the King's Edict to be Jure Divino, of Su­preme Authority in Ecclesiastical Cases, relating to that very Reformation, though the King himself was of another Opini­on; or else what means those words (speaking of the Prince of Conde, and some others) Quos dominus Ecclesiae suae nutritios ex Regiae majestatis edicto con­stituit?

He would have continued his Dis­course somewhat longer, had not a Gen­tleman interrupted him, who was so full that he could not hold, but turning himself toward the Smectymnuans. ‘Ye meagre Hypocrites (quoth he) be­cause ye have devoured the Fat of the Land, and the Plenty of a whole Age; Do ye now look like Phara­oh's Lean Kine? Do ye, who have long been the Trumpeters of Sedition, now look like Drums unbrac'd, un­till your Chaps, like loose Parchment, flap inwards? What Fast so soon af­ter the Exceedings of the Flesh of [Page 109] Kings and mighty Men? Ye in vain pinch those Bowels that deserve to be burnt for Traytors; for ye have made the Members fight against the Head so long, that for want of a Head, they now quarrel with the Belly. Ye have made so many spare a Meal to cram the Good Cause, that at last 'tis grown too Fat, and Wanton; so that ye may pine your Gutts to Pack-thread, untill ye have enough to hang your selves, before ye shall make those People obedient to your Discipline, who were at first taught to be Rebellious by your Doctrine; and besides, all the Tith-Geese and Pigs, are grown so wild with so much shooting, that they will not stay long with any of you, but they are for Liberty of Gizard and Pettytoes, and the first turn Ana-Baptists, and the latter have thrown off the Yoke, and are become Independents; so that ye are like to starve for all them. Alas poor Bards! the Druids from every Tree preach down your Kirk; and now hope ye have enough of tho­rough Reformation, to chew the Cud upon for one while.’

[Page 110] It was in vain for them to open their Mouths, for they had nothing either to Answer or Eat; so there being a con­tinued Silence for some time, I at last turned to the honest Clergy-man (I before mentioned) and desired him if he could doe me that Favour, to give me a short view of the several Pranks the Saints A-la-mode had played up and down the Kingdom. Nothing (said he) can pleasure me more than to satisfie you with a Description of their thorough Reformation, which I shall soon do if you follow me: As we were walking together, you must consider (said he) that all the Villanies that are acted un­der that Notion are the Effects of Pres­byterian Zeal, and however they com­plain mightily in the Gangraena, 'twas they first putrified the Nation; 'twas they first taught the Rabble to Reform, and then they learnt of themselves to Blaspheme. Boccalin says, 'Tis the duty of Reformers, to provide themselves of a sure Remedy, before they take notice of the Wound; and that the Chirurgeon deserves to be punished, who first open'd the Sick Man's Vein, and then runs for things to [Page 111] close it. But they, to strain it in their own Phrase, bled the Kingdom in the Basilick Vein, and then pretended to stop it; set the Nation in a Flame, and then for fear of being burnt themselves en­deavoured to quench it. And the same Authour says, Sir, (replyed I) That every Man ought to mind his own Trade, that a Taylor cannot reform an Apothecary, much less a Cobler the Church.

No, (said he) do you think he can­not? What and if he should fancy him­self to be shod with the Preparation of the Gospel, or imagine himself a Gibeonite with his old Shoes, may not he be in League with Israel, to reform the old In­habitants of the Land? Yes, by St. Cris­pin, he hates Popery, and since he is a Translatour, he is no mean Reformer; why should not those Thumbs which have long been in Mourning for the Sins of the Nation, joyn with all true Pro­testant Fingers in pulling down high Places? But Sir (said I) to him again, is it possible that the Presbyterians should encourage such lewd Fellows of the baser sort, (who naturally delight in mischief) to reform as they should [Page 112] think fit? Yes, (replyed he) that they did, and though Boccalin should say the same thing an hundred times, and although they have experienc'd the ill Effects of their rash Reformation, yet they would make use of the same means again; and rather than fail would call in the Pope, and the Devil too, to help them.

As soon as he had spoke, we saw a great Dust arising like a Cloud, and heard a confused noise, but could not distinguish any Person of a long time, untill Greenhill (a famous Stickler for the new Pilgrimage of Grace) appeared at the Head of a vast multitude of Mecha­nicks, intermix'd with Troopers and other Souldiers; my Friend and I fell in among them, and march'd along un­till we came in view of a great and state­ly Cathedral Church, which seem'd to rock like a Cradle; as soon as we were come pretty near it, the Multitude stood still; and Greenhill turn­ing to them cryed, If Greenhill to the Commons, 1643. p. 37. Justice be at a stand, and cannot take hold of living Delinquents to keep the Axe from rust, [Page 113] let Justice be executed upon liveless De­linquents; Are there no Altars? no High Places? no Crucifixes? At this the whole Multitude rusht into the Church with such Violence, as if they would have thrown it out at the Windows, and to make way for it, they broke all the Painted Glass, which in lively Co­lours, and large Figures, represented many remarkable Histories of the Old and New Testament, calling them Po­pish Pictures, Painted Jezabels looking out at Windows; which an ingenious Gentleman observing with Indignation, these (Wall-eyed dapple Saints, quoth he,) will be for reforming the Rainbow one of these days, and fancy it to be set in Holy Water, and then down it goes if possible.

I could not hear what he said more, for the Echoes of chopping, hacking and defacing whatever came in their way, which was either decent or mag­nificent; but observing a Fellow at the Poor-mans-Box, with a Back-Sword, lifted up over the Effigies of a Cripple standing upon it, I was resolved, if pos­sible, to hear what he had to say to it; [Page 114] when I was got close to him, Thou lame Idol, (quoth he) that haltest betwixt two Opinions, that hast Feet and walkest not, I will hew thee in pieces, as Samuel did Agag before the Lord in Gilgal! At a few Strokes he cut it down, and had so split the Box that out flew seve­ral pieces of Brass and Silver, which he greedily catching; thou art (said he) like the Image in Aesop's Fables, which did the Man no good whilst he wor­ship'd it, but now being broken thou sheddest thy Mammon like Bloud: I left him, to observe a Tribe of Quakers who were got to the Steeple, and seem­ed so mighty Zealous against it, that they would have pulled it down about their Ears, had they not feared it might have beaten off their Hats, but nothing more offended them than the Bells, and their great Fault was that they called others to Church although they never came in themselves; so that whatever was said to prove them true Protestant Bells, that they had never been bapti­zed as Popish As the great Bell in St. John Lateran. Bells used to be, though they had neither God-Fathers nor [Page 115] God-Mothers, yet down they must, be­cause (said they) The Babylonians had an Idol called Bell.

Thus the Reformation was carried on according to the various Frensies, and ridiculous Humours of the jangling Rabble, who agreed in nothing but Mischief and Desolation, not sparing the very Monuments of those first Re­formers (whom in the Pag. 6. Preface to the Directo­ry, the Presbyterians ac­knowledged, as excellent Instruments raised by God to begin the purging, and building of his House, and desired they might be had in everlasting Remembrance with Thankfulness and Honour:) for they pull'd the Brass off their Tombs, and defac'd every thing that was curious for Workmanship, or Venerable for Antiquity, under the pretence of Po­pery, when as indeed their Covetousness, which was worse than Idolatry, was the chiefest Motive, that they scratch'd up the Names of worthy Benefactours for the Brass they were engraven upon, that they rak'd up the very Dust of their Ancestours, and would have sold the [Page 116] Bones of their Grandsires if any would have bought them; but this was not all; their brutish Zeal carried them to greater Extravagances, as to thrust their Swords through, and mangle the Corpses of the deceased, a piece of Romish Fu­ry, now turn'd into Protestant Pie­ty.

Whilst I observed these things with Grief and Wonder, the Clergy-man pul­led me by the Sleeve, and look you, yonder (quoth he) is fine work; at this, I espied a mixt Multitude of the wildest Machines that ever I beheld, some tooting with the broken Pipes of Organs, others dancing in Hoods, Copes, and Surplices, some Smoaking, others Swaggering with lewd and bloudy Oaths, and all of them pulling down the King's Arms, calling them the Co­lours of the Dragon, and the Ensigns of Antichrist, and saying, that the Ʋni­corn was the very White Horse in the Revelations, with a blazing Star upon his Forehead. Then a great number of Levellers, great Enemies to Angels and Arch-angels, cutting in pieces the Images of the Apostles. After them a Troop [Page 117] of Antinomians fell foul upon the Ten Commandments, and carried out the Pictures of Moses and Aaron (vowing to make his Incense blaze as well as smoak) and so burnt them with the Rails before the Altar. Whilst the Rout were thus revelling in their lewd and diabolical Triumphs, I wondred to hear on a sudden some howling and mourn­ing very lamentably, but was much more astonished to see Greenhill weep­ing, as if he had been sorry for what the People by his Instigation had done, and therefore going up to Edwards (who wrote the Gangraena) Pray good Sir, (said I) What ails Mr. Greenhill, what is the Matter? What! (said he) Edwards Ca­talogue of Er­rours, pag. 25. an Anabaptist, and a great Sectary came to him, and said, he might as safely Baptize a Dog as a Believer's Child. At this I looked towards the Font and espied a Compa­ny of Villains In Lichfield Cath. Sir Willi­am Dugdale's Hist. baptizing a Calf wrapt in Linnen. Edwards seeing them at the same time, cryed out, From all these Errours, Heresies and [Page 118] Practices of the Sectaries, you may see what a great Edward's Fur­ther Discourse. p. 195. Evil and Sin Separation is, from the Communion. of the Reformed Churches; and how high­ly displeasing to God for Men to make a Schism, and Rent in the Church of God, in time of Reformation, God punishing the Schism, and Separation of our Times with so many Heresies, Blasphemies, and wicked Practices. Very true, (replyed the Orthodox Clergy-man;) Knox and some of your Predecessours made a Schism in the Church of God in the very time of the Reformation, and because your Separation from the truly Reformed Church was unreasonable, the Preten­ces frivolous, and the Methods of your Super reformation Impious, and Ridi­culous, therefore does God justly pu­nish your Schism and Separation.

Impious! and Ridiculous! cryed 40 or 50 of them at once; was the visible growth of Popery, and Arbitrary Go­vernment a frivolous Pretence?

Yes marry was it, (replyed he) 'twas what the Papists themselves suggested, and was rather therefore the Invisible [Page 119] Growth of Popery, under the Visible Growth of Knavery. And since you talk of God's Punishment for Schism, surely the World may now trace the Guilt of your pretended Reformation in the Consequences of it. 'Twas ye set the People above the King, and now every Individual usurps a Supreme Equa­lity; a nonsensical Confusion not to be found among Cannabals; 'twas ye abolish'd Episcopacy, and now every one makes himself a Priest, with as much Authority as one Presbyter makes another; 'twas ye taught the People to sit irreverently at the Sacrament, and now ye may see some of them laying their Tails at the Communion Ta­ble; ye took away the decent Ceremo­nies in Baptism, and now they prophane that Sacrament with Diabolical ones; ye brought the Catechumeni to the Desk, and 'tis not long e're they are chirping in the Pulpit: Thus like so many Judas's have ye betrayed both Christ's Vice­gerent, and his Church too with glori­ous Pretences, and then left them to the mockery of Men worse than Jews, who have now made the Temple of God a [Page 120] Den of Thieves; which ye denyed to be the House of Prayer.

Prayer! cryed one of them! Was not the whole Book of Common-Prayer Popish, and Superstitious? Are not Bishops Antichristian? And did not that Arch-Prelate Laud design to bring us into right down Popery?

That you shall know by and by, (re­plyed he) but in the mean time 'tis re­markable, that the Arch-Bishop was condemned upon an Indictment of the Scots, for obtruding the Book of Com­mon-Prayer, and you im­posed the Title Page of the Directory. Directory up­on them, and the Irish too, a little after. That Bishops are not Antichristian, neither Name, or Office, one Instance for a thousand, and that from the Reformed Churches; Oeco­lampadius who Reformed the Church of Basil is stiled Bishop upon his Tomb, which your Reformation had certainly demolish'd.

That Arch-Bishop Laud had no such Design as you speak of, your Brother Fisher that Trent Presbyter can testify, although he smiles to think that after [Page 121] you had confuted him with the Axe, you should reform Lambeth-House into a Prison, and a Dancing-School, at once representing a Popish Inquisition, and a Carnival too. But since your main Argu­ment, that moved the People to assist you in your blessed Reformation, was, that the Liturgy of the Chuch was Po­pish, I will tell you, if you'll keep it to your self, that you either knew not what Popery was, or else had a mind to bring it in; the Fool and the Knave are both in the Case, chuse which you will; 'tis certain that by the great num­ber of Papists that were in the Parlia­ment Army, by the long delay of Assi­stance to be sent to the distressed Protestants in Ireland; you were more intent upon the ruine of the Church of England than of Rome. But pray what is Popish in the Liturgy? All of it, replyed they; and therefore ought to be reformed: Preface to the Directory. All the several burthensome Cere­monies, 'twas made a mere Idol, lip-Labour, and a great Hinderer of the preaching the Word.

[Page 122] Pray Gentlemen, (said he again) since you quote the Publick Faith, let me ask you one question: Are the Re­sponses in the Liturgy Popish? and may not the Church of England enjoyn them? No, no, replyed they, they are not of Apostolical Institution. How then (cryed he) came it to pass that the Assembly should or­der Of Singing of Psalms, Directory, pag. 83. the reading the Singing Psalms Line by Line to the People? Is that of Apostolical Institution? Or are Sternhold and Hopkins of greater Autho­rity than all the Fathers of the Church? There is enough written by learned Pens, to prove the Significancy, Use­fulness, Innocency and Antiquity of the Ceremonies of the Church, to satis­fy every Objection, and Scruple of yours before-hand; but if that cannot doe, you might a little reflect upon what followed your Reformation of them: You abolish'd all those excellent Prayers for the King and the Church; but how did yours you put in the room of them prevail, to procure either his Honour, or its good Estate? You pre­tended [Page 123] to reform the Sabbath to a Pha­risaical Strictness, but the first general Battel was fought on the 23d of October, at Edghill, on the Sunday, wherein with five shot made at the King's Ar­my, you bid him Battel; and then ha­ving abolish'd Holy-days, even Christmas day it self, which you made a Fast, you sanctified your own first Thanksgiving­day with a leud Lie. You took away the Order of Christian Burial, and in­deed there was little occasion for it, when you preach'd so many at a time to the Sword, that it could be no more used than in a Pestilence; and more­over, you being to set Christ upon his Throne on Earth, could not comply with that Prayer, that He would hasten the Kingdom of Glory. Item. You took away the Cross in Baptism, and after­wards sold your Fellow-Christians to Turks and Barbarians, among whom they must receive either the Badg of Slavery or Infidelity. You altered the Form of Marriage, and afterwards 'twas solemniz'd by a sort of Bassa's in the ve­ry Livery of the Scarlet Whore. In short, you debauch'd the People with [Page 124] Superstitious Fears, which made them fly into a wicked Rebellion, and they were afterwards as unjustly hang'd up in Bundles for the Sin of Witchcraft: Thus did ye involve the Nation in infi­nite Guilt, and they were punish'd with Judgments shadowing or reflecting their Sins; nor did ye your selves escape a retaliating Justice, being severely chastised by that very Cromwell, whom ye first set up in the House of Commons, to be such a Stickler against Dr. Neal, for a Defender of Arminianism and Popery.

At this they all fell a crying, Ah Lard! Lard! 'twas Covenant-breaking that brought all these Evils upon us, and upon this Nation.

'Twas so indeed, (replyed he) ye broke the first Covenant with your Prince, in the oath of Allegeance, by introducing the Solemn League, which brought in the Engagement, which brought in the Devil and all his Works.

He had no sooner spoken, but there was a Fellow in a Red-Coat got into the Pulpit, and playing as many Tricks as a Turkish Dervice upon a Moschite, [Page 125] railed against the Presbyterian Reforma­tion, calling it Goodwin's twelve Cautions, pag. 5. Rough, Froward, Peremptory, Imperious, &c. which Discovery of Sectaries, pag. 26. Edwards observing; All sorts of Mechanicks (said he) take upon them to preach, as Smiths, Taylors, Shoemakers, Pedlars, Weavers.

A peculiar People, truly, (replyed he) you complained, that the Liturgy of the Church of England was a great Hinderer of the preaching the Word; I hope you have now enough of it: But why should you find fault with a Red-Coat, when as your warlike Doctrine could not endure a White one: and be­sides these are but your Journey-men in Divinity, your Scribes and Amanuenses, whom you have taught all the Tricks of Sanctified Legerdemain, and if they have out-done you in your own Trade, you know that all Arts improve. What and if they have not so much Learning as you, yet they are arrived to such a pitch of Mystical Gibberish, and Edify­ing Nonsense, that they are more pow­erfull with the People than your selves, [Page 126] although you first taught them to justle out the Prayers in the known Language, by your unintelligible Cant and cramp Exorcisms; and this was driving away Popery. But, Gentlemen, let me ask you a question: Is it not a main Artifice of the Popish Priests to keep the People zealously ignorant? Is it not as easy to compose a thing in English, of which the common People shall understand every single word, and yet not know the meaning, or Connexion of any whole Sentence; as 'tis to make some Lines in Spanish words, which put to­gether shall be true Latin, the very Language of the Beast? 'Tis certainly as easy, since ye have mix'd and balder­dash'd the sacred Style with barbarous Expressions, and made every thing ye do not like, to be either Antichrist, or the Whore of Babylon. But moreover, 'tis very remarkable that ye had a fine way of amusing the Rabble with ends of Hebrew; let me tell you that Mr. Her­bert Thorndike, as learned a Rabbi as any of you, observes in his Book of Re­ligious Assemblies, from the Commen­taries under St. Ambrose's Name, that [Page 127] those who would needs speak in strange Langua­ges Pag. 351. in the Church, were of the Hebrews; and Ire­naeus Lib. 1. c. 8. tells, that the Mar­cosians at the Ministration of Baptism, used some Hebrew words to astonish the Minds of the Ignorant. I cannot say, that you directly design'd to bring in flat down right Popery, as you call it, but you were reforming us to those Fantastical Customs, from whence at first 'tis probable that the Romish Cor­ruptions had their beginning; but what and if you thought to banish the Mass by taking away the Common-Prayer-Book, 'tis certain, that you at the same time made room for the Targum; and surely your Friends the Jews could not but smile at their return into England again, to meet such plenty of Adoni­rams, Obadiahs, and Ichabods, such blessed Reformers from Popery, as would have sold them St. Paul's Church for a Synagogue, who preach'd Christ to the Gentiles; this was establishing his Throne, Nineteenthly, My Beloved.

[Page 128] We cannot help it cry'd Vines, if the Turk should come in; For that Horse of Superstition, and Ido­latry, upon the Back of Vines to the Com­mons. 1646. which the Devil hath in former times made war against the Church, is slain under him; and now he is moun­ted upon a fresh Horse of another Colour, called Liberty of Opinion (falsly called) Liberty of Conscience.

Well done old Beelzebub, (cry'd a Cavalier, laughing heartily;) a very good Jockey truly, and very well mounted upon an Horse that will carry double and treble, I hope he will be so gratefull to your Worships for helping him to him, that he will take some of you up behind him one of these Days: But for the Horse of Superstition and I­dolatry, did those Horses rout him which Cromwell brought into the Church, wa­tered at the Font, and fed at the Commu­nion Table? assure your selves that those very Gentlemen, who raised that abo­minable Lye concerning the Nag's-head, are the Men that would make you be­lieve that there is a Horse of Superstition grasing within the Pale of the Church [Page 129] of England, although 'tis hard to prove him to be lineally descended from those Horses upon which the Popes ride, whilst Princes hold their Stirrop: But since the Devil is mounted, as you say, we find he will not ride alone, for your Bro­ther the Quaker is got upon his Mare, that may in time breed as many false Opinions, as the Trojan Horse carried treacherous Grecians. But how came we (cry'd he) from Hebrew to Horse­back?

How! (replyed a Gentleman) over Hedg and Ditch, by leaping a Simili­tude of Vines's, who compares the Ser­vice of the Church to an Horse of Idola­try, whenas his Brethren who style them­selves the Horsemen, and Chariots of Israel, are Heyryck to the Commons, May 27▪ 1646. nearer related to the old Centaures; and his Horse of Opinions, might as well have been a Hydra, or the Beast with seven (score) Heads: But my Friends (cry'd he) turning to the Presbyterians, were not you forewarned of those very things of which ye now complain? Did not the Au­thour of the Loyal Convert, whoever he [Page 130] was, thus argue with you in the Year 1643? Think you such swarms of Sectaries sweat Page 17. for nothing? Are their Purses so apt to bleed to no end? Will not their costs and pains expect, at least, a congratulatory connivance in the free­dom of their Consciences? Or will their Swords, now in the strong possession of so great a multitude, know the way into their quiet Scabbards, without the expected Liberty of their Religions? and can that Liberty produce any thing but an esta­blish'd Disorder? And is not Disorder the Mother of Anarchy, and that of Ru­ine?

At this, they being all silent for a considerable time, he said again, pray what do you your selves think to be the reason, that your intended Refor­mation should so dismally miscarry? What! replyed Faircloth, why Faircloth on John 7. 25. Pag. 25. Israel could not be cured without a full and total extirpation of all the accursed Things and Persons al­so.

[Page 131] That is, (replyed the Cavalier) eve­ry Throat that could not swallow the Covenant was to be cut, which amoun­ted to some hundreds of thousands; and by all the accursed things, you meant whatever you called Popish: But I pro­test, (Saints!) according to your De­finition of Popery, many things more Po­pish than any thing you objected against the Church, escaped your sagacious Re­formation: Why did you not utterly abrogate all Leggs of Mutton, Town and Country, because they have the Popes Eye in every one of them? Why was not the Man in the Almanack, that great Malignant, laid by the Heels, whose Heart is influenc'd by Leo, the name of a great many Popes? Why did you not demolish all the Signs of the Cross-Keys, of the Mitre, and of the Cardinals Cap? Why did ye suffer the Babylonish Game of Cross and Pile? the Antichristian Game of Chess, with Kings, and Queens, and Bishops in it? Why was there a Toleration of Dice, (the very Bones of the Whore of Babylon, with black Patches on them;) these were all dis­mal Tokens of the Beast, and more the [Page 132] just Objects of your refining Zeal, than many things you did abolish. But to be serious with you, after all the Re­monstrances you made, did the King ever deny to concur with you in a Le­gal Reformation of any abuse? But in­stead of closing with him in calm and moderate Counsels, you brought all things into Confusion, with violent In­vectives, and distant Scandals, the Peo­ples easy Fancies being the best grounds of your clamorous Arguments to prove the Ceremonies of the Church Popish, and particular Irregularities of some few Clergy-men were made use of, as a ge­neral Argument against its Discipline and Government; whenas indeed, the Faults of its Members are not its Consti­tutions, nor did so good and just a King any more countenance them, than your Rebellion: and therefore they did not authorize you to revile the whole body of the Church, much less to treat the best of its Members with such barba­rous Insolencies, without distinction, as you have done: and De Moribus Eccl. Cath. Tom. 1. cap. 34. St. Austin (if you will allow of any Saints but your [Page 133] selves) hath taught you a better Lesson, when he saith, Nunc illud vos admoneo ut aliquando Ecclesiae Catholicae maledi­cere desinatis Vituperando mores hominum quos & ipsa condemnat, & quos quotidie tanquam malos filios corrigere studet. Now this I advise you that you cease at length to revile the Catholick Church, by disparaging the manners of Men which it self condemns; and whom as evil Sons it dayly endeavours to correct. The words immediately before are, Novi multos esse Sepulchrorum, & picturarum adoratores. I know that there are many Worshippers of Tombs and Pictures. So much Superstition could never be found among the Sons of the Church of Eng­land, who might have found more Cha­rity among Turks, and less Inhumanity from Infidels than from you: But you who could not endure one establish'd Religion, let in at least 40 to drive it out, as Foreigners themselves compu­ted. This was, First, (my Beloved) a plentifull Reformation.

You, that could not allow the King any considerable Supplies towards the maintaining a Foreign War, in which [Page 134] you engaged him, could raise and con­sume 17 Millions Sterling, in less than three Years in a Domestick War against him; and this was a Loyal and Rich Re­formation. Secondly,

You turned the most eminent Men for Letters and Honesty, out of both Ʋniversities, then filled up their Places with grave Dunces, and formal Block-heads, and afterwards their whole Re­venues had like to have been sold to maintain the Army; so that instead of Professours of the several Sciences, we should have had a sort of Turkish Tima­riots, who should have held these Lands in Capite of the Rump; this was a Learned Reformation. Thirdly,

You were mighty zealous for the Liberty and Property of the Subject, in­somuch that ye set the People above the King, and afterwards an High Court of Justice is mounted above them all, ta­king away the Lives of King, Lords and Commons, without Law, or Rea­son: (And if the People may deal thus with their King, where he is Supreme, why not with all other Supremes whatso­ever? and consequently by Succession, [Page 135] and with success, (for ought we know) why not rise against their Magistrates, till the last Resurrection? and put them to Death, till Death it self shall be swallow­ed up.) This was a righteous and peace­able Reformation. Fourthly, My Friends,

You declaimed against Popery migh­tily, and yet did whatever the Papists desired or prompted you to doe, time will shew that you and your Proselytes, were Factours for the Pope and the Devil in every particular of that whole Rebellion; all the Aspersions cast upon the King and the Church were of Romish Invention, which your Malice knew how to improve; the Rebel-Parlia­ment Parliament's Declaration to the King, March 9, 1641. entertain'd Ad­vertisements from Rome, Venice, and Paris, of the Pope's Nuncio soliciting France and Spain for 4000 Men a-piece, but when came they over? And was it not Popish Intelligence which ye greedi­ly catch'd to inflame the People? The Irish Rebels bragged that the King would come among them and assist them, that they did but maintain his Cause a­gainst the Puritans, that they had his Com­mission; [Page 136] and those very Scandals you made use of; lay'd that Rebellion to his Charge, wherein they set up the Pope's Standard in Opposition onely to his Su­premacy. Cardinal Richlieu fomented all those unhappy Divisions by your means; your Solemn League and Cove­nant proves most Jesuitically Popish. The Jesuits had their Spies and Agents in all your Committees; and how far they helped you in your Blessed Reformati­on, Dr. Vindication of the Protestants, p. 57. Du Moulin will tell you: and al­though the Person is not known that gave the Fa­tal Blow; yet you brought the King to the Block; and he was a Popish Priest and Confessour who then brandish'd his Sword, saying, Now our greatest Enemy we have in the World is gone. And this was your true sober Protestant thorough Reformation. Lastly,

At this they all sneak'd away, and the Gentleman taking me by the Hand led me up to the top of an high Hill, from whence I might view the Miseries of three Kingdoms raging in an uncon­querable War, and looking wistly upon [Page 137] the various and innumberable Evils, which almost twenty Years Rebellion had brought upon us, and wondring with my self when and how these trou­bles should end; I was startled by a Jesuit, who flourishing a bloudy Sword in his Hand, spake as follow­eth:

THE Horrour of past Villainies, and the endless prospect of fu­ture Calamities, had so benumb'd my [Page 140] Spirits with drowsie Grief, that I fell into a profound Trance for a considera­ble time, untill at length I was awaken­ed with the loud and joyfull Acclamati­ons of vast Multitudes, crying, God save King Charles the Second: At this I look'd and saw a mighty Train of People, so splendid and brave, as that the very confused Light of infinite Jewels made them resemble a new Milkie-Way, in which Charles his Triumphant Wain was then moving. Surely, (said I) although I have not taken so long a Nap as the seven Sleepers, yet I have snored out more strange Revolutions; what gloomy Days were those I first began to nod in? What Confusions in Church and State? what cruel Animosities? what fatal Divisions? and what was worst of all, Popery big with a whole Ages Revenge, like a Polyphemus ready to devour all; but now my waking Senses are saluted with the harmonious Triumphs of universal Joy and Con­cord. Very strange indeed, replyed my old Guide, (who carefully attend­ed me) and you might still think your self in a Dream, were not our present [Page 141] Happiness as real as were our former Miseries. I hope, Sir, (said I) they will be as lasting. I wish so too, (said he) but do not you see what soure Fa­ces yonder grim Fellows make? those cloudy Looks still threaten many a Storm to this Nation: At this I saw a great number who seem'd somewhat discontented, and were earnestly whis­pering and talking to one another, and as soon as I came up to them, I found a­mong them several Presbyterians, Inde­pendents, Anabaptists, Quakers and some Papists, who let fall some mystical words which discovered a great deal of secret dissatisfaction, but for what I could not tell; for the briskest Cavaliers in the Kingdom did not seem more active, in solemnizing his Majestie's happy Restau­ration, than most of them did. So that turning to my Friend, certainly Sir, (said I) those People are not Breeding of Common-Wealths again, so soon after their Delivery; I hope they have no democratical Qualms in their Stomachs, and have done longing for thorough Re­formations for one while. I confess, (said he) one would think what you [Page 142] say; and besides at the Solemnities of the King's Coronation, they hung out as conspicuous Evidences of their Loy­alty, as any the most Obdurate Malig­nant, for their Garlands were richly loaden with the glittering Confessions of their former Plunder and Sacrilege, but their Loyalty was exactly like the Weather at that time, very fair for a little Season, and very foul both before and after; they know how to tempo­rize with present Difficulties in hopes of future Advantages, and can be as impu­dently Loyal, as they were boldly Rebel­lious, think they may talk what Treason they please if they do but wipe their Mouths after it; and act what Villainy they will if they do but wash their Hands when they have done; a ceremo­nious sort of Varnish, left for a Legacy by Pontius Pilate to the Jesuits, and which came by the way of France, in company with the Holy League, to the Covenanters of Great Britain; for when Henry the 4th was prevailed upon by the Solicitations of others, and his own natural Clemency, to give them leave to enjoy their former Privileges in that [Page 143] Kingdom, from which they were banish'd with Infamy, for the treacherous Mur­ther of his Predecessour, they had such a strong fit of Obedience, that they at last became absolute Masters of his Heart.

Sir, (said I) if I may not interrupt you too long, I will wedge in a small Caveat, which shall be A-la-mode, and not at all unseasonable at this Juncture of time; Boccalin in his third Adver­tisement concerning the Civil Warrs of France, and the Murther of Henry the Fourth, brings in Apollo, commanding that 60000 Pack-horses should be sent from Arcadia into France, and when it was answered that there was no danger since they had so noble and numerous a Cavalry, He replyed, That since the peace and quiet of that Kingdom depended upon their Ʋnity, they could not come to it by any better means than by the Re­membrance of their former Miseries; as those Pack-Horses, which by Instinct of Nature did detest passing a second time by the same way, wherein formerly they had run the Hazard of breaking their Necks.

[Page 144] I wish (said he) that the English would take Example of the French, who being not half so wise as the Pack-Horses, are become a Pack of Asses, so that their King is not improperly styled Rex As [...]norum, for he has laid Burthens upon their Shoulders almost as bad as breaking their Necks: But our dull stu­pid Asses, who fancy themselves fit Cronies to bray with Jupiter, are so far from taking warning by the Harms of others, that they have forgot their own; and whilst the Jesuits privately prick them forward, their Teachers have these twenty Years been leading them by the Ears into another Rebellion: therefore, if you will go along with me, I will give you as pleasing an account of all their Actions ever since the King came in, to this day, as your Heart can wish; I will lay before your Eyes, at one view, all the Stratagems and Designs both of Jesuited Papists and Protestants; by which we may guess what a Superlative Reformation we might expect for the Future, if they had their Wills for the Present.

[Page 145] With all my Heart, Sir, (said I) as soon as you please, nothing can oblige me more: so away we went; as we passed along, You must know (said he) that the King was scarce setled on his Throne, and the Brethren hardly recovered of that dreadfull Astonish­ment that sudden Change had put them into, (justly fearing to be made Exam­ples for all the bloudy Villanies they had perpetrated in that Rebellion;) but in contempt of his unparallel'd Mercy, and of his Justice too, they be­gan to play the old Game over again, and to run on Tick upon a new Score. The Murtherers of the King, his Father of Blessed Memory, were represented to the People as the Righteous Suffer­ers in a glorious Cause, and their last Speeches recommended as the groaning Oracles of dying Martyrs, but if those be their Saints, what are their Devils? Surely never such Villains were cano­niz'd before, since the World began.

Yes, Sir, (replyed I) their Fellow-Labourer, James Clement, is as much extoll'd by Mariana the Jesuit, for kil­ling Henry the 3^d of France, when men­tioning [Page 146] the manner of that treacherous and diabolical Fact: He cryed out, Marian. Lib. 1. De Rege & Regis Justit. Insignem A­nimi confidentiam! faci­nus memorabile caeso Re­ge ingens sibi nomen fecit. Oh admirable confidence of Mind! O memorable Acti­on, by killing the King he got himself a great Name. But, Sir, never trouble your self about them, they may be Martyrs of the Army, but we shall never find them in the Army of Martyrs: and so fare'em well in saecula saeculorum. Just as I had spoken these Words, we were come to a place that look'd like The Devil's—of Peak. Hold, Sir, (said I) I think we are come to the very fag end of the World; surely this is the Den wherein the Ghosts of the Rump-Parliament do revell Nemine Contra­dicente.

Come on, (said he) you shall receive a great deal of satisfaction, but no harm. I know no reason why I should not be as valourous as a Glister-Pipe, although I thought it an odd kind of Portico to the Sthadt-House of Darkness, and so in we went: he carried me through a great [Page 147] many narrow windings and turnings, that I fancy'd my self wilder'd in small Gutts, untill at last I came to a pair of Gates all crusted and embroidered with Salt-Peter; as soon as they opened we entred a spacious and large Hall, at the upper end of which stood that Greekish Gentleman old Mr [...], alias Time, with a Scythe in his Hand, and a true Protestant Hour-glass of a large size on his Head: This is (said my Friend) the Chronicle Room, wherein are laid up all the Archiva of Fanaticism, this is the Register Office of the Democraticks, a Place which they are unwilling that any but those of their own Faction should see. I think, Sir, (said I) that we were forc'd to creep in at the wrong end of the Body Politick, before we could come at it: 'tis no matter for that (re­plyed he) now you are here, pray ob­serve those 22 large Tables all along the Walls, which are engraven with red Letters, what are they? (said I) Why! they are the 22 Years last past, with the Contents of all their Designs and Villanies upon them, and over them you see the Historical part of them [Page 148] painted in large Figures to the Life, we will not examine them all, because some of them contain the same things over a­gain, but what you think the most re­markable, I will expound to you: Sir, (said I) I think they did little in 1661, onely I observe some of them grumbling over a good thick Quarto-Book. That is (said he) their Liturgy of 76 Quarto Pages, for the Excellency of which they appeal to the People, because the King and Bishops would not admit of it. But here is to doe, and to doe, in the Year 62: yonder is some of them going to Execution upon Hurdles; those are Tong, Gibbs, Phillips and Stubbs, who then suffered for High-Treason, (replyed he) and perhaps they were engaged in the bloudiest and most barbarous Conspi­racy that ever was hatch'd, in which seve­ral Presbyterians joyn'd with them, as is evident from the Particulars of their Try­al; the End of it was to destroy the King, and Duke of York, the chief Ministers of State, all the Bishops, most of the Nobi­lity, of the Gentry, and Commonalty, all that should any way oppose them, or had formerly disgusted them; and all [Page 149] to reform the Kingdom to a Common-wealth again: This was so far from being a Sham-Plot, that in order to it they had their Council of Six, their Com­mittees of Secrecy, their General Offi­cers, Agents, Treasurers and Magazines, held Correspondence in most Counties; design'd to secure the Castle of Windsor, the Towre of London; had appointed the very time to begin their Villany in, which was to have been on All-Hallows Eve, a proper time for our modern Saints to commence Devilism in; and all under the Notion of a Popish Massacre. Now let us observe what were the more publick humours of those Days. Why! the several Factions began their separate Congregations, made a formal Schism, united their broken Interests; and by all Arts imaginable, endeavour'd to lay the Foundations of another War; they preach'd nothing but Persecution! Persecution! and set the dolefull Cox­combs of their silenc'd Ministers before their Farewell Sermons. Libels flew a­bout in Swarms, and Address to the Free-holders, pag. 19. one which recommen­ded to the People the [Page 150] Example of Ehud, who stab'd the King of Moab, was just upon the Wing, but was stopt in the Press; many other Cir­cumstances, if I had time, I might relate, but these are enough to shew you that the Saints were no Slug­gards.

They began (said I) to play their Pranks so early, that I believe they will never make an end; never (said he) untill there is an end made of them: for in the Name of them all, old Arthur Jackson, in a Letter of his, dated Feb. 26. 1662, and at a time, when he said he was come to Jacob's, must die, tells his Friend that the 2d Reason why he too did not conform, was; Charge of Schism renewed against Separati­on. pag. 11. The doing of any thing contrary to the covenanted Reformation, which they had so earnestly prayed for, or that might be scandalous to those that rejoyced in the first Fruits of it, and do still desire and endeavour to promote it.

Well, Sir, (said I) enough of old Arthur, and the Year 62: But I wonder to see them so busy in the Years 65, and 66. which were dreadfull enough, with [Page 151] the immediate Judgment of God upon the Nation, and the City of London particularly; but instead of appeasing the Wrath of God, they seem active to stir up the Fury and Indignation of Men against one another, by encreasing the astonishment of the People with fa­bulous Prophecies, and terrible and romantick Stories, by hinting that their Governours were the Causes of their Calamities; thus making the Pestilence a Motive to Wars, with a Zeal more raging than the Flames that consumed the City, and more contageous than the Plague that destroyed the Inhabitants; so that when we reflect upon the virulency of their Principles, and the destructive Practices they have produced, we con­clude Mr. Cowley was more than a Poet, when he said,

But Sir, (said he) look upon the Year 1673, is not that a pleasant Change? It looks, Sir, (said I) like a Year of Jubilee. I never saw so many [Page 152] People of different Humours so well pleased, what is that that makes them so devoutly Brisk and Jolly? They had then gain'd a Toleration, (replyed he) by the means of my Lord Clifford, whom you see leading a Phalanx of Romanists on one side, and the Earl of Shaftsbury at the Head of a Fana­tical Herd on the other. Toleration (said I) is a thing of very ill Conse­quence, ever since the Horses of the Sun broke loose, and ran away with Esquire Phaeton; and so made the first Leap-year, from which time we date all the unhappy Divisions among Judicial Astrologers. But did the Papists help to procure a Toleration? No wonder then we so often hear of Jesuits in the Conventicles of Fanaticks, and that they both of them have ever since more industriously conspired the destruction of the Government.

Now you speak (said he) of the De­struction of the Government, look upon these two Tables that contain the Dis­covery of the Popish Plot.

[Page 153] I cannot well reade them, (said I) I think 'tis wrote in Sir Thomas More's Characters, and so sullied that although there is a certain account of a Plot, yet I cannot understand many particulars; surely they who first contrived it, found out this way in case of discovery to sham it. But what do you think (said he) of him that discovered it? I cannot tell (said I); ‘well then, (replyed he) I will tell you a Story: There was a certain good natured Man who lived within a Mile of an Oak, and he was one Day sitting in his House, when there came a little wandring Fellow to him, and told him that in such a place there lay a hideous and dread­full Wolf, with a design to devour both him, and his whole Flock of Sheep; he being carefull to preserve his Flock as well as himself, prudent­ly contrives to apprehend and secure the Wolf; as he was going he had like to have fallen into an Ambuscado of Bears, which were the Relations and Friends of him that discovered the Wolf, and altogether as ravenous; upon this he carefully retires to con­sult [Page 154] what was best to be done: Cer­tain it was, there was a terrible Wolf, of the very race of the Wolf that was wet Nurse to Romulus and Remus; but the Bears lay in the way, who were as dangerous, for they would beat down all the Bee-Hives (the Emblems of Monarchy) for the sake of the Honey; and besides, they alarm'd the Wolf, so that he sculk'd away for the present: at last one ad­vis'd him thus. Sir, you have a Lion and a Ʋnicorn in your House, the best in the World, and without more adoe, set them briskly on both the Wolf and the Bears, and if they come any more I will be bound for their good Behaviour.’

I understand the Moral of it, Sir, (said I;) but that Picture for the Year 1680, does quite pose me, the Painter deserves to be rewarded as the Poet Choerilus was, for the few good Lines in it: Whilst (said he) you stand right against the Central Line you can make nothing of it, but come this way, what do you see now? The Pope (said I.) Go that way, what do you see now? [Page 155] Jack Presbyter. Just so, (said he) ac­cording to this Rule of Painting have they intermix'd the Popish and Fanati­cal Plots, that if a Man be not rightly fix'd they confound one another, if he be he sees them both in their proper Colours. But as they have had traite­rous designs upon the Government for above 100 Years last past, so since the Toleration they have been more than ordinarily active in their Conspiracies, which their more open and publick hu­mours do sufficiently prove, and if you will not believe me, pray observe them.

At this a pair of great Gates open'd, and discovered a spacious Court full of all sorts of People, like the Exchange-Walks; at our first entrance, a Fellow with a whole Basket of Pamphlets had like to run over me, crying, Mirma, Maromah, Maroum, or a Prophecy of the downfall of Babylon. Do not you wonder, (said my Friend) to hear these People threatning the Pope with a whole Volley of Rumbling Gibberish, who were but lately ready to run out of their Wits for fear of him, when [Page 156] the Pamphlet entituled the Growth of Popery was printed. Oh! Sir, (said I) I suppose this is onely to whet the Irasci­ble Appetite of the Saints, and to en­courage them to knock at Rome Gates, as they threatned in the Days of Oliver. This is (replyed he) fitted for an Asso­ciation, to destroy the Government under the Notion of Popery, and would be as serviceable to the Jesuits ends in France. But on the other hand, yon­der are a sort of Fellows playing upon the Hypocondria's of the Rabble, and telling them sad Stories of a Prophecy found in a Kettle, of a strange Monk-Fish, taken in the Pyrenaean Sea, upon the Coasts of Northampton-shire: yon­der are others selling your true Prote­stant Almanacks, wherein all the twelve Houses are made Conventicles, and many other ridiculous, nonsensical and sedi­tious Papers are thrown about, with which the fickle Rout first kindle their Zeal, and then light their Pipes, but these are their Tricks of old. And there­fore, let us try if we can hear what yonder Person (whom I know to be a Jesuit in Disguise,) is saying to the [Page 157] Presbyterians; as soon as we came to him. ‘Brethren, (said he) since the Church of England hates to be Reform­ed, still maintaining several Popish Ceremonies, I think our Separation from it so far from being a Schism, that we are bound in Conscience not onely to separate our selves, but to carry along with us as many as we can, by which means we shall rescue many poor Souls from the Paws of the Beast, and from the Clutches of Antichrist; and still stick fast to that Solemn League and Covenant, which we made with Hands lifted up to the most High God: and since it was the Breach of that Covenant which made the good Cause miscarry, by the fal­ling away of our Brethren the Inde­pendents, therefore ought we, laying aside the memory of all former Inju­ries, to be reconciled to them who are our Fellow-Sufferers in the pre­sent Persecution.’ We ought so, (replyed one of them) even the Common Papist, who lives innocently in his way, he is to us as other Separatists. ‘Well then (continued he) since you are [Page 158] of my Judgment, I hope you will take my advice. You see your Con­gregations dayly encrease, insomuch that we are able to vie numbers with the Episcopal-men, that a great many Wealthy and rich Persons are our Friends; I therefore advise, that up­on the Death of any of the House of Commons, we doe all our utmost en­deavour, that godly Men, and Friends to our Reformation, may be chosen into their Places, in order to this we must recommend those we design, as most worthy Patriots, and stigmatize with a brand of Reprobation and Po­pery, those who stand in competition with them: Thus shall we again slide insensibly into all the Advantages we have lost.’

He talk'd at the same rate to the Inde­pendents, Anabaptists, Quakers, and all other Sectaries, who had their several Walks, and they all took his advice: for, a little time after I heard a most horrid noise, as if the Tartars had been sacking the Town, but coming nearer, they pro­ved a vast number of common People carrying the Image of a Gentleman in tri­umph, [Page 159] and in the mean time reviling and abusing several worthy Persons of good Note, who stood looking on them. I observed but two or three Clergy-men among them, and one of them so crook­ed that his very Corps was uncanonical, the other so fat, that he had more need of Hoops than of a Girdle; whilst he was dancing in his Chair, he smiled a 1000 Ʋtopian Liberties and Privileges; and many red-fac'd Politico's nabbled the Heads of their Canes, in pious hopes of a happy Reformation: at last a Gene­ral Petition was delivered to him in a large Scroll, upon the back of which was a Sentence in Capital Letters, which was,

I smiled to think what a biting Jest some merry Tory had put upon them; but more surprized was I to find my self accosted by the very same Jesuit that had been talking with the Presby­terians; for, (laying his Hands upon my Shoulders with a great deal of Famili­arity;) now you see (said he) who [Page 160] are the Plotters; who those are that would ruine the Government, are they not those very Fanaticks that destroyed King Charles the First! that are the Pests of all Humane Societies, and are mortal Enemies to the Church and State? Hark you Sir, (said I) I have some News to tell you that is 1500 years old and more; what is that (said he?) what (said I,)

At this he sneak'd away, but I pursu'd him at a convenient distance, untill I saw him fall in with a company of Peo­ple who seemed very moody and dis­contented; as soon as he came to them: ‘Gentlemen, (said he) your conditi­on is very hard, 'tis strange that Men of your Parts should be thus neglec­ted and thrown aside; indeed I really pity you, you can expect nothing from the Government upon the ac­count of your Merits; all Preferments are bought and sold in a scandalous manner, that must be said for the Church of Rome they will let nothing [Page 161] of worth starve; and the simplest sort of Fanaticks are very liberal to those who will justifie them at any rate; but whilst in the Church of England ingenious Men want the Conveniences of Life, the dullest Blockheads of the Age are, by the help of a Sum of Money, crowded into the fattest Benefices of the Na­tion, after the great pain and peril of Ordination.’

At this one of them grew so outra­gious, that I thought he would have run mad, so that staring about him; I am resolved (said he) to be reveng'd up­on an ungratefull World! I'le rend the Rocks asunder! I'le plunge in the Deep! and wake all asleep! I'le settle the Nation as I please! Here my Muses and Graces where are you? Now for my Mathe­maticks. Well! because the World is round, 'tis perfect Demonstration that the Succession ought not to go in the Right Line.

At this a brisk Gentleman hit him such a blow on the Mouth, that he made his Teeth break their Ranks, calling him ambitious and proud Coxcomb; [Page 162] and turning to me, surely, (said he) had his Mothers Milk been curdled his Brains had been a Sillabub before now. Then turning to him, Friend, (said he) rest your self contented; such In­sects as you, ought to take example from the Hedg-hog, which travels through the shady Groves, and being conten­ted with vulgar Crabs, envies not those who enjoy the Golden Apples, and af­ter Supper is graciously pleased to wrap himself up within the Limits of his own proper Person, and so securely rests, and is more at ease, than if he should put his Nose out all Night, and pre­tend to have it grow to an Elephant's Trunk before the next Morning: but I perceive, that some of those who are padling in all the ill Humours of the Nation, have been tampering with you. That Fellow, Sir, (said I) that spoke to him is a Jesuit, and he has been as busy with all manner of Fanatical Male-Contents. Perhaps, (said he) with as much Success, for 'tis easy for him to draw those People to what Practices he please, who are of the same Principles with himself.

[Page 163] As for that little Gentleman (said I) that frets like Gum-Taffety, If he will change his Religion, because he is not suc­cessfull, he never had any. And as for the Fanaticks they have been told that theirs is purely Popish, untill their Ears are stretch'd with hearing it, and they will by no means believe it.

But I will believe my Eyes, (said he.) And if you had ever been in France, Spain, Italy, or Germany, and had seen or heard the Jesuits, or preaching Fry­ers in their Pulpits, you might at the same time have seen all our Conventiclers Mimick Voltings, their frisking Ecstasies, their apish Laughings, their sudden Howlings, their awry Faces: all their Postures are according to the Ceremo­nies of a Roman Missal, their fumbling their Buttons, their knocking their Breasts, their Hands hanging loose, and then again stretch'd as if they were be­witch'd; with an hundred other jugling Tricks, and all to set off, and varnish their Doctrines which are the most mo­dish Popery in the World; viz. That the People is the Supreme Power: That Kings and Princes may be Deposed and [Page 164] Murthered: That Success is a certain E­vidence of God's approving whatever comes to pass.

I have heard, Sir, (said I) Instances enough of the two first Positions; pray let me have one of this last.

Jenkins (said he) in his Conscienti­ous Queries, printed 1651. Asks! Whether, The stu­pendious Page 2d. Providence of God manifested among us, in the destru­ction of the late King, whether by these Providences God hath not remov'd the Government of Charles Stuart, and whe­ther a refusal to yield Obedience to the pre­sent Government, be not a refusal to ac­quiesce in the Wise and Righteous pleasure of God; and a stat Breach of the Fifth Commandment? So Bellarmine uses it for an Argument for I­mage Worship; Icono­machis Bell. lib. de Imag▪ c▪ 12. Argu­men [...]um decimum. omnia (non sine divino quodam Miraculo) malè successisse: and then instances that Leo Isaurus, for his demolishing Images lost the Empire of Italy, whereas it was taken from him by the perfidious Re­bellion and Perjury of the Roman Bi­shops.

[Page 165] Now you talk, Sir, (said I) of Image-Worship, they object as a reason of their Separation, that the Church of England is inclinable to Popish Super­stition and Idolatry: No, but they are, (replyed he;) You must know that some kind of Image-Worship sprang from the obsolete Fancies of the Anthropomor­phitae; and therefore Pope Adrian ar­gues thus; God made Man in his own Image, therefore Images ought to be worship'd: Now one would think that Pope Adrian's Idea had whipt into that Zealot's Noddle, by the way of Pytha­goras, who cryed; Oh Lord, take a Chair and come and sit among thine Honourable House of Commons. But farther, ano­ther Popish Doctrine they hold is, that God sees no Sin in his Children; that they cannot fall from Grace: So the Je­suits hold, that they cannot commit a Mortal Sin. Nemo sociorum in Lethale peccatum incidere queat; None of our Society can fall into deadly sin; thus they vaunted to Cardinal Borromaeus, saith Alphonsus de Vargas, in his Book Cap. 14. pag. 39. Edit. 1636. De Stratag. Jesuit. Their Funeral [Page 166] Sermons are as so many Popish Canoni­zations, and the Lives of their Saints, wherein they boast of such extraordina­ry Revelations, and Gifts of the Spirit, of strange Voices, great Lights, and heavenly Apparitions, seem to out-doe the Enthusiastick Legends of St. Francis, St. Dominick, Father Xaviere, or Igna­tius Loyola: they both of them interpret many places of Scripture to the very same sense; (though both very false) and the 21st of Ezekiel the 25th Verse, hath been frequently quoted by Popish and Presbyterian Expositours, to the same ends and purposes, and so has the 8th Verse of the 149th Psalm. I have of­ten thought, that John Owen learnt from the Psalter of Bonaventure, to a­buse and misapply the Psalms of David. He says, Eben Ezer, pag. 13. God came from Naseby, and the Holy One from the West, Selah. And that saith, Let our Lady a­rise, and let her Enemies be scattered, &c. The preaching of Women in the Conventicles of Quakers is rank Popery; Bell. lib. 1. de Bapt. cap. 7. Bellar­mine saith, 'Tis not onely [Page 167] permitted but lawfull for Women to teach; and * Paludanus saith, † In 4. Sent. dist. Papa potest clavem Juris­dictionis & Laico, & Foe­minae committere. And again, Papa po­test sicut Laico sic & Mulieri committere quòd excommunicet; The Pope can grant as to a Lay Person, so to a Woman the power of Excommunication. And the Canonists teach, that they may exercise Spiritual Jurisdiction. Thus you see that the Spirit of Popery in one shape or other, appears among all the several Sectaries of Great Britain; and some more of their Practices will plainly shew how injuriously they cast the Charge of their own Guilt upon the truly Reformed Church of England: They condemn all but those of their own Persuasion, and their Motto in Zion's Plea, is; aut hoc aut nihil: So Campian in his Challenge to Oxford saith, aut nostrum est aut nullius Regnum Coelorum: The Jesuits did never more industriously corrupt the Writings of the Fathers, than the Presbyterians did the last Books of Mr. Hooker's Ecclesi­astical Policy. The Papists endeavour [Page 168] to impose upon us the Rhemish Testa­ment; and the Presbyterians in King James's time were as busie to have the Geneva Notes put upon the Margent of the Bible. The Jesuits have their Index Expurgatorius; but they never cancell'd any thing with more boldness, than the Presbyterians did, when they procured that the 20th Article, viz. That the Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies, &c. was by their Malice left out in the printed Articles. And lastly, whoever shall reade their unsanc­tified Ribaldry, with which they treat the Reverend Prelates of the Church of England, will fancy them the very Cro­nies and Disciples of the famous Cardi­nal Palavicini, who to maintain the new Frame of Papal Government modell'd by the Council of Trent, does so ridi­culously, and maliciously inveigh against the Sacred and Primitive Order of Bishops; calling them In Hist Conc. Tr. Piccioli Vescovi, Fan­ciulli, impertinenti, inso­lenti, Buffoneschi; little Bishops, Babies impertinent, insolent, Buffoons.

[Page 169] He had no sooner done speaking, but we heard a mighty shouting as if some Triumph had been coming along, and hastening to see what was the matter, I perceived a great Bonfire blazing in the midd'st of the Court, and a world of People with many Torches, bringing the Pope with his Cardinals and Jesuits, to burn them in Effigie, in remembrance of the execrable Design of the Jesuits on the 5th of November; it was very pleasant to hear the Porters out-rail the Factious Preachers, and to see the Rab­ble warming themselves in the flaming Relicts of the Beast, fancying the Whore of Babylon a kind of old Witch, that was put to pain with the burning her Imps; but I was most of all surprized to see a great many Papists in disguise, as active and chearfull as any of the Company, untill I perceived that although the Pope was burnt in Effigie, yet several Protestants of the Church of England, were the Persons that were aimed at to be sacrificed in Propriis Personis: So that I withdrew as fast as I could; but by the way I had a Copy of Verses put in­to my Hands, which because they came [Page 170] from the warm Fancy of some Zealous Mongrel, design'd for a Post of a Con­venticle, I have here set down as a Spe­cimen of his Future Hopes.

Upon the Gun-Powder Treason.

Whilst I was laughing with my Com­panion, and descanting upon these Lines, I wondred to see such a sudden and strange Change in the vast Multitude there met together; the common Peo­ple, as if weary of idle Tumults began quietly to retire to their Business, the [Page 171] Romish Priests sculk'd about, and be­tray'd a world of Despair in their Looks, the Fanaticks had put on their Suffering Complexions, and look'd as heavy as smoak'd Beef; so the People being dis­persed, some of the Company had un­fortunately drop'd a strange new-fashi­on'd Idol, which had a Belt on, upon which was embroidered in Letters of Bloud the Association: Good Lord! what striving their was to keep it from being at first seen, as if it had been the Cub of some hopefull Basilisk? There was a small Company of the new-insti­tuted Order of St. Ignoramus, great Re­formers of the third Commandment, who proferr'd to wash their Hands in scalding Lead, to swallow Fire and Brimstone, and to doe harder things than the trial of the Ordeal to testify its Innocency, nay its very non Entity. But when that would not doe, a couple of Foreigners endeavoured to take Possession of two considerable Forts, that they might pro­tect it, and in order to that, they would have accepted of the Votes of their ve­ry Country Puppets in Rare-Showes; but all in vain, for a numerous Com­pany [Page 172] of Loyal and true hearted English­men broke in upon them; and being made sensible of the several un-christian Artifices, both of the Papists and Fana­ticks, to alter and destroy the establish'd Government, lay'd their several Ad­dresses at his Sacred Majestie's Feet, wherein they Religiously vow and pro­mise to defend it.

At this time there came a Gentleman to me, and pulling me by the Sleeve. ‘That our Fears and Jealousies (said he) might for ever vanish, and our future Peace, and Prosperity be real, and lasting; not onely the Loyal and true-hearted Nobility, Gentry, and Commonalty of the Realm; but the Learned Clergy too are now doing their utmost endeavours to confute the Principles, as well as prevent the Practices, both of Papists and Fana­ticks, and if you will go along with me, you shall see them as pleasantly baffled, and exposed, as your Heart can imagine, or desire.’

We went untill we came to a stately Theatre, like that at Oxford, wherein I was infinitely pleased to see such a [Page 173] number of Learned Writers of the Church of England: on one hand of them sate those who had written in de­fence of the Romish Doctrines; on the other sate Smectymnuus, with many more late Writers of the Presbyterians: The Solemnity began with Consorts of Mu­sick, and an Anthem sung by those of the Church of England, the Subject of it was, the Gun-Powder Treason, the Martyrdom of King Charles the First, and the Birth and Return of King Charles the Second: which because it was in a strein something differing from that of our late Poet, I have here set down.

[Page 177] As soon as the Anthem was ended, one in long Scarlet Robes stood up, and turning to the Papists (said) ‘Since so many Grave and Reverend Di­vines of the Church of England, have so frequently confuted the Doctrines and Positions of your Church of Rome, and yet you still perservere in your perfidious and rebellious Prac­tices: We therefore demand, that the Fundamental Principles of such fatal Bigottry may be here openly exposed, that the World may know what ridiculous Consequences, and foolish Absurdities those Opinions are subject to, for which you so zea­lously disturb the Peace of Christen­dom, and give such occasion of Scandal to Turks and Infidels.’

The Papists were so provok'd that they soon accepted the Challenge; for immediately a Lane was made among them to give way for a Monster, much like a Chinese Hieroglyphick in Kirker, with a great many Hands, Feet, and Eyes, and a Head representing the Ter­restrial Globe, on the top of which stood a Cupola. As soon as one of our Church [Page 178] saw it, he cryed out, it is not lawfull to bring Briareus into a Christian As­sembly. Briareus! said one of the Pa­pists, know you not that by this Emblem we represent the Universality of the Church of Rome? do not you know that the Bishop of Rome is the Ʋniversal Bishop of the whole Catholick Church? No, replyed he, I know it no more than the Pope of Rome; Gregory the Great did not Greg. Epist. lib. 6. cap. 3. know it, he detested it as a Symptome of Antichrist: and Phocas who bestowed it upon Pope Boniface, did not doe it untill he had an occasion to bestow his Master the Emperour Mau­ritius in the other World. But now (said he) you may plainly see it with your Eyes, look you there, there is the Globe of the whole Earth, of which the Pope is the Lord and Governour; 'tis true, you Hereticks wander in some little bye Places, as in England, and in some petty Hans-Towns of Germany, but his Authority is extended over all the World, all the Indies acknowledge him, all Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Hungaria, Transylvania, Gallicia, Valentia, Granada, Andalusia.

[Page 179] Hold, Hold Sir, (cryed he) if you should stumble o'er the Straits Mouth you will beat out your Brains against Hercules's Pillars. Pray, let us examine this Monster's Noddle, what a grievous bruise has Martin Luther given him with his High Dutch Knuckles? he has bro­ken I do not know how many Degrees of Longitude and Latitude; all Great Britain is quite beat out, and the Low-Countries are so sunck in, that I believe he must be trepan'd before he can reco­ver; in short, the Protestants are almost as numerous as the Papists. But suppose we grant him that thumping Appellation, why did Pope Paul the 5th in his Bull wherein he excommunicated Queen Eli­zabeth, use that sneaking Title of Ser­vant of Servants, your Triple Servant? He should have sent a good deep-mouth'd Nuncio that should have stretch'd his Muzzle to the uttermost, and have roar'd like a crack of Thunder among the Alpes, and have cryed Paolo quinto Papa Monarcha, di Regno, di Vaticano, Segnor del mondo, supremo, santissimo, Ʋmano magistrato, &c. This would have conjur'd down all the Pro­testants, [Page 180] and have put them into such a trembling Fit, that they would have shak'd all their Heresie out of the Knees of their Breeches; this would have bet­ter suited him who is the most serene and invincible Sultan of Contradictions, the Grand-Seignior of all Mental Reser­vations and Equivocations, the Sophi of Legends and Romances, the Great Mo­gul of Indulgences, the Czar of Holy Im­postures and Pious Cheats, the Great Cham of the Inquisition, &c.

Hold Sir, (cryed one of the Papists) this is Railery and Abuse: 'tis as true (replyed he) as that the Pope is Ʋni­versal Bishop; let him but keep within his own Diocese, and not meddle any more with the Rights of Sovereign Kings and Princes, and there is no bo­dy (that I know of) will be so ready to complement him from the Artick to the Antartick Pole for the Future.

But we hope (cryed several of them) you will allow our Church to be the Ca­tholick Church: For this word Catho­lick, there has been much scrambling these many Years, (replyed he) and you have taken much pains to monopo­lize [Page 181] it to your See of Rome, in order to which for the great number of hu­mane Hereticks whom you excommuni­cate, you take all manner of Beasts, Fowles, and Fishes into the Pale of your Church; St. Francis first conver­ted the Birds, and then afterwards he fully convinc'd and satisfied a Wolf that had a very tender Conscience; nor was he the onely Apostle to the Brutes; but the Bi­shop Book of Conf. p. 114. of Canaglion mana­ged as difficult a Diocess in the Year 1593, for he Catholickly accused the Fishes, so that afterwards they without all doubt believed the Doctrine of Holy Water. St. Bernard in a Fit of Popery is reported by Pet. de Nat. in vit. Bern. Petrus de Natalibus, to have ex­communicated the Flies: and therefore several Species of Crea­tures, observing that all Regular Orders had put themseves under the Protection of some considerable Saints, have like­wise listed themselves, the Dogs under St. Hubert, a Huntsman; the Horses un­der St. Loys, their Ostler-General; and because the Geese once preserved the [Page 182] Capitol, there was an Order from the Vatican that St. Feriol should take care of them. And so (said he) I hope we are all satisfied as to the Ʋniversality of the Romish Church: pray set forth the Antiquity of it.

Upon this all the Papists desired that they might save that Argument untill the last; fancying that it gathered strength every Moment, and desired the Assembly to take into their consideration the Ʋnity of their Church, and the Su­premacy of the Pope: as for the Prote­stants (cryed one of them) they are divided into as many Factions as there are days in the Year, and make an Anar­chy of the Kingdom of Grace; but the Roman Catholicks are all united under one Head, the Pope, so making the true Hierarchy of the Holy Catholick Church.

Upon this one of the Church of Eng­land stood up, (and said;) as for our Church, it has no more to doe or an­swer for the Factions among Protestants, than yours, nor so much neither; when did ever any Minister of the Church of England preach the Doctrines of Fana­ticks [Page 183] to promote its Interest? when did any of them ever preach, that which in their Consciences they knew to be a Lye, for the sake of the Truth? and if you look into your own, you will find those Divisions which never were in our Church, as the differences betwixt the Dominicans and Franciscans, be­twixt the Jansinists and Mollinists, which have been continued with the greatest heats imaginable; 'tis true the Pope hath sometimes interposed his Au­thority, but to no great purpose: but where was the Papal Authority in the days of the Anti-Popes? or what will become of it, if the Jesuits gain their designs? will all other Orders acknow­ledge the Papal Authority, if the Jesuits confine it to their own? the Church of England can never be subject to such a Fatal Division, so long as the King of England is acknowledged to be in all Causes, as well Ecclesiastical, as Civil, Supreme Governour. As for the Pope's Supremacy, that has been so sufficiently pelted with good Greek and Latin, by many of these Learned Authours, that I will onely humbly drop a [Page 184] few Queries concerning it at this time.

First then, We desire to know, Whe­ther our Saviour ever granted it to St. Peter? Secondly, Whether the pre­sent Pope be his Successour? Thirdly, Suppose it was granted to St. Peter, Whether there was any need of forging the Donation of Constantine afterwards? Fourthly, If it was granted to St. Peter, because he first confess'd him to be Christ the Son of the living God, Whether Pope Leo the 10th had any right to it, for saying to Cardinal Bembo, Crispinus. Quantum nobis nostrique ea de Christo fabula prosuerit satis est omnibus secu [...] notum. Fifthly, we desire to know whether any Bishoprick in Christendom remaining, can shew a Succession so dis­ordered, and corrupted, as that of Rome? Not to mention their strange Schisms, let any Person but consider the Stratagems and impious Intrigues of the Conclave, the Factions of the Nepotism, contrary to that Solemn Oath they take, enough to make Angels tremble, and he will conclude, that there is more of [Page 185] the Old City than of the Ancient Church in Rome. Lastly, If the Papal Supre­macy be so absolutely necessary to Christ's Kingdom here on Earth, Whe­ther the Cardinals be not strange Men, that they by their long Janglings, and Disputes upon a Vacancy, and at an E­lection, should so long debar him from the Administration of that Power by his Vicar; And whether it be not more suitable to a Monarchy that suffers no Interregnum: And consequently since, Rex Angliae non moritur, The King of England is said not to dye according to our Law; whether the King be not ac­cording to the 37th Article the Supreme Governour, in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil, in all his Dominions; and whether the Bishop of Rome hath, or ought to have any Jurisdiction in any of them?

At this a Jesuit stood up, and look­ing earnestly upon some newly prose­lyted Papists; Regard not (said he) what any prating Heretick of them all says: Have we not made you sufficient­ly sensible that all the Protestant Reli­gion is an Innovation? that King Henry [Page 186] the 8th, a mere Julian, was the first that apostatiz'd from the Holy Catholick Faith, the first that arrogated to himself the Pope's incommunicable Dignity of being Head of the Church?

'Tis false (replyed one of the Church of England) King Henry the 8th onely reassum'd what some of his Predeces­sours own'd, what none of them ever could, or any of his Successours ever can give a­way from the Crown of England: But the Papal Supremacy is an Usurpation and an Innovation too; 'twas never heard of in the World untill above 600 Years after Christ; nay Pope Boniface the 3d, was the first that ever pretended to be the Ʋniversal Bishop. The Christians in Tertull. ad Scap. cap. 2. Tertullians's time ac­knowledg'd the Empe­rour to be, Hominem a Deo secundum, solo Deo minorem. And Opt. Lib. 3. Optatus has the same Strain, Su­per Imperatorem non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem. What need I mention what Cyril, and Chrysostome, and Gregory the Great, and Pope Aga­tho have clearly and plainly said, and [Page 187] written upon this Point, you have been told often enough; nay in that Coun­cil which you call the Eighth General Council, the Emperour Basilius pub­lickly professeth, (none of the Bi­shops contradicting him) Epag. Basilii in Conc. quod vo­cat. Act. 8. 1. Gubernacula Ecclesiasti­cae navis sibi a Deo com­missa, That the Govern­ment of the Church was committed to him by God.

There was no reply made of a long time, for a great bustle that was among the Papists; at last three or four lusty Fellows came dragging in a mighty tall Statua, almost resembling the old Image of St. Christopher in Nostre Dame in Pa­ris, he held in his Hand a long Scroll, which was a Catalogue of all the Popes, and was hung from Head to Foot with all manner of old fashion'd Trumpery: Before it march'd an aged Hermit with a Scyth in his Hand, and looking upon the Protestants as if he would have mowed them down at once; ‘Ye base Innovatours (cryed he) that have troubled the World with new Doc­trines, where was your Religion be­fore [Page 188] Luther? See here the ancient and undeniable Records of ours; see here the infallible Traditions of many Ages, by which we clearly know that we profess the same Fundamen­tal Truths the first Martyrs asserted, (who were so very old that their Beards help'd to burn them,) and which none but a Company of new fangled Hereticks in the last Century ever denyed.’

Good Father grey-Beard (replyed Bishop Montague) don't think to afright us out of our Senses with an old Worm­eaten Idol, over-run with Cobwebs, you might as well have brought a Tom of Bedlam with the Luggage of the Gi­beonites, to prove the Antiquity of your Doctrines, as this old wither'd Hercules; for assure your self we cannot onely prove them the spurious Inventions of your Cabalistical Innovatours, but we can tell you the very Time, and Occa­sions of the introducing every one of them into the Christian Church; we have not onely the Scriptures, Fathers and Councils maintaining all the grounds of the Protestant Religion, according [Page 189] to the Reformation of our Church of England, but before it, even in the darkest days of Popery we meet with many the learned'st Men that those Ages afforded, inveighing against the Cor­ruptions both in Doctrine and Disci­pline of the Church of Rome, as Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln, William Occham, John Gerson, Picus Mirandula, Hierom Saveranola, Hus and Hierom, the Followers of Waldo; and in the Year 1260, Nicholas Gallique, wrote a Book upon that Subject, entituled the Fiery Dart: But since we cannot con­vince you of the Antiquity of Prote­stantism, we will be so complemental for this once as to allow Popery to be older than Christianity it self, it is no difficult thing to prove several of your Legends out of Livie and Valerius Max­imus; what a dull Theologue was Lip­sius not to remember that several of the fine Stories he tells con­cerning our Just. [...]ips. de Virg. Hallu. cap 6. Lady at Hall, were long before recorded of the Val. Max. lib. 1. cap 8. Statua of Claudia, plac'd in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods? the [Page 190] speaking and Miracles of Images are all Ethnick Illusions, and the friskings of Monkish Puppets, the Artificial Contri­vances of Heathenish Oracle-mongers; many of your Saints are slipt into places of Trust held by the old Deities; but I wonder that since Diana had so noble an Office as to hunt the Stag, and the Wild-Bore, that St. Gertrude should get no better Preferment in your Legends, than that of a paltry Rat-catcher: But we will talk no more of the Antiquity of your Religion. As for that Jesuit who boasts so much of it, although he is the greatest Innovatour amongst you, yet rather than fail, upon occasion, he can learnedly prove his own Order to be the eldest, as well as the richest in the World, nay contemporary with the very Hivites and Perizzites, for Numb. 26. 44. we reade; Of Jesui, the Family of the Jesuits.

He had a great deal more to say to them, but that he was interrupted with a great Crowd and Noise of Clergy-men coming in from all parts of the King­dom, who made great Complaints a­gainst the Presbyterians and other Dis­senters, [Page 191] for that they (in a time when the Government both in Church and State was in such danger, by reason of the Papists) were then more ungovern­able, restless and insolent than at any other time: and indeed so it plainly ap­peared, for those there present began to be troublesome and mutinous, pretend­ing great Fears of Popery, but levelling all their Invectives against Persons the most remarkable for Loyalty and Confor­mity; and clamouring for a speedy Re­formation of I do not know what, holding a great many Seditious Pam­phlets in their Hands, complaining, rail­ing, petitioning, threatning; which when the Papists observed they very cunningly slipt away, well knowing that they had too much alarm'd the Go­vernment to carry on their Designs at present, and infinitely pleased to think that they had left their Deputies in an uproar to make them more easy and successfull for the Future: But because they perceiv'd that their rude Clamours grew distatefull to the Generality of People, they began to be more calm, upon which a Reverend Divine stood [Page 192] up, and turning to them: Can ye, Bre­thren, (that dissent from us) imagine (said he) that we can either redress your Grievances, or answer your Writings, whilst they thus fly in Swarms about us? No certainly, unless we had as ma­ny Ears as Argus had Eyes: Let one or two of your select Champions now stand forth, and we will give you all possible Satisfaction by answering all their Objections.

To this they all willingly agreed, and after a short Debate pitch'd upon the Authours of Melius Inquirendum, and of Julian the Apostate; so Proclamation was made, and the first of them cited to appear in their Defence. As he was coming, the same Person stood up again and said; this Person has wrote a Book entituled,