A Catalogue of the Persons Assassinated, Attempted, or Designed upon by the Roman Assassins, and of those Assassins themselves, so far as they are known.
Assassinated, or suspected to be made away.
- SIr Edmond-Bury Godfry.
- The Lancashire Witness sent up to testify of Arms found there.
- The Body exposed in Westminster-Abby.
- The Lord Arch-Bp of York's Chaplain.
Attempted.
- The Shropshire Justice.
- The Yorkshire Witness in Tuttle-street.
- Macedo a Portuguese-Convert, several times assaulted, and twice shipt out of the Kingdom.
- Dr. Saul, Dr. Luzancy, Mr. Mowbray, Mr. Tompkins, Mr. Baron, Mr. Arnold, and his Friend, Mr. Wren.
Designed upon by Name.
- The King's Majesty.
- Rupert, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland.
- The Lords of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council; particularly,
- James, Duke of Monmouth.
- George, Duke of Buckingham.
- James, Duke of Ormond.
- Thomas, Earl of Ossory.
- Anthony, Earl of Shaftsbury.
- James, Earl of Salisbury.
- Arthur, Earl of Essex.
- George, Earl of Hallifax.
- Herbert, Lord Bishop of Hereford.
- Mr. Matthew Pool.
- Dr. Stillingfleet.
- Mr. William Hutchinson, alias Berry, a Secular Priest.
- Dr. Ezerel Tonge. 1. For the discovery of the Jesuits Morals; And, 2. of their Plot to his Majesty.
- All the principal leading Gentlemen of England, mentioned in the List taken with Green, and the April Traytors executed at Tyburn, 1666. or in the black Bill.
Principal Inciters and Procures of Assassins and Assassinations.
- Thomas White, alias Whitebread, Provincial of the English Jesuits.
- Thimbleby, alias Ashby, Rector of St. Omers.
- Harcourt, Rector of London.
- Ireland, Fenwick, Keins, Gavan, Ewers, Gerald, Kelly.
Other Favourers and Abettors.
- Edward Coleman Esq Dr. Fogarty, Patrick Plunket titular Primate of Ireland.
- Handkinson, sometimes Manciple or Steward to the Savoy Benedictine Monks.
- Anthony the Portuguese, Servant to the Q. Confessor.
Assassins.
- —Benedictine Monk who stab'd the Duke of Soubize, and shelter'd himself in Sommerset-House; seen by Mr. Oates in the Savoy, but left there with the rest, and Marsh in particular, for want of Authority to take him.
- Conyers, another Benedictine of the Savoy, and his Associates, Keins, Prichard, Welsh, Kelly, Lefaire, alias Feure, Gerald, Thomas Pickering, John Grove, alias Honest William, Robert Green, Henry Berry, Lawrence Hill, Philibert Vernat, Levison, Dethick, Conscious and Associates with Sir Edmond-Bury Godfry's Murderers. Messenger, sometimes Master of the Horse to the Lord Arundel, Attendant on Dr. Sheldon, Almoner to the Dutches of York. Lang. Tryal, p. 8. Sir George Wak. p. 20. Anderton the Benedictine, associated with Conyers.
Assassines who were to intexicate the Lord Shaftsbury's Coachman.
- Matteson, a Barber, behind Grays-Inn.
- Bradshaw, an Upholsterer, in Queens-street.
- Humphrey Adamson, a Watch-maker, near Turn-stile, Holborn.
- Benedict Prosser, a Silver-smith, in Silver-street in Southampton-Buildings. These were the four Assassins accused by Prance, see his Book.
- Many stout and hardy Staffordshire Assassins, whose Names are not known, chosen by Ewers, according to Whitebread's Direction; and the like in all Counties, many hundreds, as Mr. Dugdale believes.
- Karne, Wilson, Broghil, Levalian, the four Irish Russians. Fogarties four Assassins not yet named: And Flemin the 9th of the Irish Ruffians; This Flemin was a Tory, that trusted so confidently to his personal Strength and Activity, as audaciously to refuse (after he had bin proclaimed, for many Villanies done by him) the favour of Transportation into any Foreign Country, graciously offered him, for the ease of those Parts he infested with his Robberies, &c. He was at length shot by some Troopers who pursued him; in his Pocket Papers were found, which entituled him to a chief place in this Red List. Dr. Fogarty Assassin or Poisoner. Sir George Wakeman a Poisoner. The Yorkshire Assassins, accused by Baldron and others; see the Intelligence for City and Country, relating Sir Thomas Gascoin's Tryal, not yet published. The 3 Assassins who assaulted Justice Arnold.
- It is verily believed, they are some hundreds in all, who in their turns were to attend this execrable Service. To instance, Conyers at Windsor ten days, and then to remove to L. B. House. Mr. Dugdale, after his term over, was to go to Standon, the Lord Aston's, to avoid suspicion, easily raised, by the too long continuance of strange unknown Faces at Court.
- Here we may add the many thousands French, and others, listed and armed for the general Massacre in the London Fire, &c.
- Memor. Gerald and Kelley drew in Prance, persuading him it was no sin, p. 64. Hist. Plot. Gavan and Ewres drew in Dugdale, by the example of Garnet and his Miracles, and of some Scripture Example. Plunket, alias Cock, Popish Arch-Bishop and Primate of Ireland, encouraged Flemin by great Rewards, &c.
- Here may be justly added Groves his Companions, the three Irish Incendiarles, who assisted him in burning and plundring Southwark, in which work he furfeited himself, and had double pay for his double-diligence; Strange late Provincial of the Jesuits, Barton, Penington.
- [Page]David Nich. Keimash the Dominican, who lately died in Newgate, and all their Assistants, above fourscore French and Irish Incendiaries, who burnt and plundred the City of London; and namely, * Marten Debamet, Fringemaker, the Frenchman, who fired his own Lodging, apprehended in the Fact, and delivered to the Guards at Bridewell, by Mr. N. who is living to attest it. The two Peters who fired their own Lodgings upon Snow hill, having first removed all their Goods, save the Pallat they lay on; apprehended by Mr. C. then one of the Guards, but rescued by his Fellows, and dismist.
- With these also the Guards themselves, and Romish Pensioners, who dismist them to proceed in their burning and plundering, are justly to be accounted as ready for any mischief; and particularly that Captain that refused Mr. Middleton to remove his own Goods with his own Cart, telling him, That that Cart which carried away one Load of his Goods, deserved to be burnt; which could tend to nothing but to mutiny the Citizens, that they might have a pretence to execute upon them their designed Massacre.
- Dav. Nich. Blundell the Jesuits Catechist, substituted into Mr. Oats his room, for firing Wapping, and the Suburbs on that side the River, who did fire the Houses at Limehouse-hole, the 18th of Septemb. 1678. twelve days after Mr. Oats had made Affidavit of it, before Sir Edmond-Bury Godfry, and given his Majesty notice of their purpose in his Information.
- Harcourt, and the other Jesuits who imployed Mr. Bedloe, and viewed the Tower, Bridg-houses, and other on the River, in order to the application of their Fire-Balls, &c. Stubs, Gifford, Molrain, who set Eliz. Oxley to fire Mr. Birdans House.
- The Jesuits and their Assistants, who were to begin the Fire at the Temple, and carry it down to the Savoy. The Convent of the Benedictine Monks at the Savoy, who were to carry the Fire on to Charing-Cross. They who set on, and helped M. Clark to fire her Master, Mr. De-la Noys House near London-Bridg; and the other Maid formerly imployed in the like Villany; and the Boy at the Minories.
- * Memorand. This Martin de Hamet, or Andrew Somers, (for both those Names were found in his Indenture) was an Indenture-Covenant Servant, to Claud Lant of the Parish of St. Leonard Shoreditch, a French Fringe-maker; and for better convenience to carry on the Fire, and to get Arms to be used in the Massacre, in case the French, then aboard their Fleet, had landed, and the the King thereupon bin assassinated, had taken a Lodging in Robin-Hoods Court in Shoe-lane, with the then Turn-spit of one of the Inns of Court; and firing his own Chamber, locked up his Door, and was taken going away with the Key, and his Indentures in his Pocket; and had entred himself in Captain Burton's Company of the Auxiliaries in Shoe-lane. The like may be presumed of many more of these Incendiaries. This Memorandum is more especially commended to the Officers of the Trained-Bands and Auxiliaries of London; because a very wise Man, and principal Counsellor to one of the German Princes, hath, in a Book he published in French, affirmed, That there are many such French Papists in the City of London, who in time of danger would turn to their Enemies and fight against them; and now only wait for the King's Death, or other opportunity to finish what they begun and designed against their Houses and Lives, by Fire and Massacre in the Year 1666.
- Dr. Tonge hath the Original Indenture, and Witnesses to prove this whole Matter, to be produced when called for by Authority.
- See Instances of the like Fires, Massacres, and Robberies, acted by Jesuits, and other Papists, in other Cities, in time of Peace, in the Doctor's Demonstration of the Fire-Plot, or the Jesuits Incendiaries at the end of that part.
- The Assassins that assailed Justice Arnold, Mr. Tomkins, Mr. Baron, and others, may be here added when known.
Sir EDMOND-BURY GODFREY.
ANAGRAM.
EDWARD COLEMAN.
Anagram.
The Publishers Preface to the following Relation of the Mahometan Assassins, and their Comparison with the Roman.
BE pleased to take notice that this following History of the Mahometan Assassins, and their Parallel with the Papal, was most of it inserted in Dr. E. Tong's Royal Martyr, as Appendix thereunto: For in the Treatise written partly about the Year 1672, and partly about the time of his Majesty's gracious Declaration for Indulgence, he endeavoured to discover and prevent, if possible, in some measure the Horrid Plots ever since the Reformation, and more especially in the Reign of our Royal Martyr Charles the First, carried on against the Royal Family, and still continued until this day, for the ruine and destruction of our Religion, and therewith of our Laws, Liberties, and Proprieties, therein necessarily involved; and charged the Roman Emissaries to have designed all along since the Reformation, the Traiterous Parricide of our Protestant Princes, and namely, of King Charles the First, as well as King James, and Queen Elizabeth, and therein endeavoured to fortify the Testimony of the Reverend Dr. Moulin against them in that particular, discountenanced by many, and so sedulously suppressed by others, that when he endeavoured to promote an Edition of it about the time of the London Fire, he found it very difficult to obtain a Copy whereby it might be reprinted. And to the better awakening Publick Authority to such a Discovery and Prevention as he intended, He judged it convenient to set out this Parallel of our Modern Papal, with their Ancestors, the more Ancient Mahometan Assassins. The Mahometan cannot be denied the honour of the first-born of the Devil, the Murderer from the beginning in this Tribe of Regicides, though I find one of them envy him the Title, and allow him only to be an Ape of the Pope and Jesuits: But that these younger Brethren, and Successors from Rome, have far out-gone him in Principles and Practices, cannot be denied, as will be more clearly made out, when Dr. Oates shall be at leasure to perfect his Narrative of what he hath collected of their Practices in this kind from their own Archieves; by which it will appear, to admiration, most true, what John prophesied of that bloody City, That all the Blood of God's Martyrs is found in her; who hath not only publickly struck at the Crowned Heads of all the Defenders of our Faith, but incessantly persued and sought to intercept all our budding Hopes, such as were those we conceived of Edward the Sixth, and Prince Henry. There thou wilt find that hardly any of our Royal Line hath hitherto escaped their Heads, or bin unattempted by them, if they came near the Succession, or gave hopes of zeal for our Religion.
This Discourse now seasonably, as I hope, committed to the Press, is in particular designed to stir up our Parliament, to provide more strict and effectual Means for preventing the like Attempts for the future, as in duty they are obliged, and to propose to our Princes, the generous Example of the Noble Allon, that they may diligently apply their Power and Authority, to suppress, extinguish, and revenge this shame to Humanity, Christianity, Morality, and Policy, as [Page 3]well as Religion, from the face of the Earth. That Blessing and Success with which it pleased God to promote the Doctor's weak Endeavours in this kind, in his former Writings, encourages him to proceed, notwithstanding the Envy, Malice, and many other great Discouragements he finds himself hereby daily more and more exposed to. His Royal Martyr was, if not the only nor chief, yet not the least Incentive to Mr. Oates's Adventure amongst them; who in the presence of a Learned and Famous Divine, did call God to witness, That he went not into their Society to change his Religion, but to discover, if he could, this detestable Plot, of which he had some Hints from others, and found more fully laid out, and by Historical Observations on the Sufferings of Charles the First from the Romanists, endeavoured to be made out and demonstrated to publick view in the Doctor's said Book. And as this was some motive to send him abroad, so the Doctor's Translation of the Jesuits Morals, (to be further dispersed and promoted by a Satyrical Index prepared for that purpose, and intended to be published with the third and best part of those Morals not yet printed) was a principal means whereby that happy Intelligencer got seasonable liberty to return and discover this Plot: for they who had kept him so close during his abode in London, in attendance on their Consultations in the Month of April and May, (that he by Providence only found Testimony of his being here) did watch and keep him so strictly at their College at St. Omers, till June 1678, that thereon they most confidently built their lately disproved Assertion, That he never stirred thence: So that he had no other hopes left him of escaping their hands, than by deceiving their Malice, and undertaking to poison, or otherwise destroy, the Author of those Books whose Name he concealed as unknown unto him; nor did their impotent Malice, which prompted them to such a barbarity, suffer him to return to his Native Country on that Errand, till they had loaden his Soul and Conscience with an Oath to poison, or otherwise destroy him, sealed with their abominable Sacrament of the Mass; by which they thought themselves infallibly assured, either to destroy the Doctor's Life, or his Soul. God of his infinite Mercy to his Majesty, these Churches and Kingdoms, hath thus far preserved us; If henceforth either by our own froward Contentions, or negligent Spirits, we frustrate the opportunity he hath opened for our escape, and attend not after Gratitude to God, Loyalty to our Prince, and mutual Charity and Toleration, the means of preserving and uniting God's Servants, and his Majesty's true Lieges; (so many as are found amongst us, in that Bond of Christ's Perfection and Strength) and to such provision and execution of good Laws, as may utterly exterminate and extinguish this cursed order of barbarous bloody Popish Regicides, Assassins, Spies, and Incendiaries, our second Error will be certainly worse than the first, and we shall justly provoke God, by tempting him, through neglect of Means, so unexpectedly offered us, to give us up to that folly which is the immediate forerunner of a certain ruin; which God of his unexpressable undeserved Mercy prevent. Amen.
As for the Doctor, he doth boldly protest, Liberavi animam meam, that he hath, by constant attendance on Parliament, according to his Station, for many Years, offered certain and infallible Means, for the execution of all good Laws, wisely contrived by our Ancestors, for the Glory of God, Honour and Safety of our King and Kingdom, and defeated in a great part by negligence in their degenerate Posterity.
The Assassins.
WE have it from good Authority, Mat. Paris, p. 83. Hen. Spelman, Glossarium, Assasins. (saith a Modern Historian, whose Authors are in the Margin, as he quotes them) that there was formerly a Sect amongst the Turks, called Assasini, (whence we say to Assasinate) They lived in the Mountains of Phaenicia towards Tyre. Their Government and chiefest Laws were these:
Their Governor, or Master, was not Hereditary, but Elective.
He, under the notion of Humility, as if he would be only the Servant of Servants, refused all lofty Titles, being only called, The Old Man of the Mountains.
He was honoured and worshipped as Vicar of Mahomet, and so their Father and Prophet.
They pretended to be such exact observers of their Turkish and Mahometan Laws, that all others seemed but as meer Cheats, or Nonconformists in respect of them.
They were led with that blind Obedience, that they never questioned their Master's Commands, were the Action never so dangerous, difficult, or wicked; and they never left off till it was finished.
Any Prince whom they either hated, or thought to be no Friend to them, or their Party, upon the least hint they would murder, though they were sure to suffer for it.
Whosoever murdered a Prince that was not of their Religion, they believed him to have the second Place, next to Mahomet, in Paradise.
For they also believe that the Old Man, their Head and Prophet, could also dispose of Paradise.
'Tis said that this Sect was long ago destroyed by the Tartars; and whether any who call themselves Christians have espoused their Tenents, I shall not say. Thus far my Author.
Marcus Paulus Venetus, in his first Book of the Eastern Regions, Chap. 27. gives us this Relation of the Mahometan Cut-throats, whom they called Assasins.
A Certain petty Lord of those Countries, commonly called The Old Man of the Mountains, a Mahometan, joined unto him a number of Cut-throats, whom they vulgarly called Assasins, and by their untameable boldness, killed whom he pleased, so that in a short time he became a terror to all. Now, he brought that about by this Imposture. There was in that Country a certain most pleasant Valley, encompassed round with very high Mountains; within which he planted a very great and pleasant Garden, replenished with odoriferous Flowers, sweet Fruits, and other delightful Herbs. He built also in that Garden certain extraordinary Palaces, wonderfully adorned with Pictures, and spared nothing that might be for ornament unto them. Neither was there wanting to that Garden, and those Palaces, divers running Streams flowing with Water, Hony, [Page 5]Wine, and Milk; nor divers Instruments of Artificial Musick, with mellodious Tunes and Songs; Dancings, Vaultings, Wrestlings; rich Garments, and wonderful provision of all delightful Things; not to stand in enumerating other carnal and fleshly Pleasures, (for so this modest Author passeth over all the other sensual Lusts, rather than Pleasures, wherewith the brutish Fancy of that Impostor Mahomet, did accommodate both his Laws, and Paradise it self, unto his rude and barbarous Disciples). All which certain young Men, there placed by him, did enjoy, according as they best liked; neither had they any other Imploiment, than to live and enjoy that happy Life, giving no place to any Grief. There was also a very strong Castle purposely erected in the entrance of this Garden, kept and strengthned with a diligent Guard. The Ingress and Egress of this Garden lay through this Castle.
This Old Man, whose Name was Aloadin, kept also certain young and valiant Men, of bold and undaunted Spirit, whom he did train up to this very purpose, that they might execute that detestable design which he had formed in his Mind. He took care to have them instructed in the wicked Law of Mahomet; with promises to such as observe and keep it, of all carnal Pleasures in the Life to come. And that he might make them more obedient to him, and to undertake any thing he pleased, at the peril of their Lives. He, at his pleasure, caused them, or some of them, to have a certain Drink given them; by which they being intoxicated, became sensless, and oppressed with heavy and deep sleep: In the mean time they were brought into that Garden, who, their sleep being over, when they saw themselves converse and live amongst such great pleasures, they also thought themselves to be caught up into the Paradise of God, to live with Mahomet their Law-giver, and to enjoy those Delights which he promised them; to say no more, they rejoiced that they were delivered out of the miseries of the World, and now did live another and blessed Life. But after they had, for a few days, bin made acquainted with these Pleasures, the Old Man gave again, to such as he pleased, to drink of the aforesaid intoxicating Drink, and brought them, being thereby made sensless, back again out of that Paradise. They then, when come to themselves, remembring what and how great Pleasures they had for a little time enjoyed, grieved above measure, and were made exceeding sad, That they were not allowed the perpetual enjoyment of those Delights; and were willing to undergo Death it self, so they might always lead that life they had only a little tasted. Then the Tyrant, who feigned himself to be a Prophet of God, said unto them, Hear me, and be not sad, If you be ready to undergo Death without fear, when it shall be inflicted on you for your Obedience unto me, I declare, and promise you, That you shall be made partakers of those Joys which you saw only for a season. So these wretched Men, accounting Death as Gain, there could be nothing so hard enjoined them, which they would not willingly undergo to attain this blessed Life. This Tyrant therefore abused the said Men to the committing of innumerable Murders, because they prostituting their temporal Lives, contemned Death it self; and did, at the command of that Tyrant, make such havock and destruction all about in that Country, that they were formidable to all Men, and no Man durst resist their madness; so it came to pass, that many Countries and powerful Persons became tributary to that Tyrant.
CHAP. 29.
But in the Year of our Lord 1262, Allan, King of the Tartars, with a mighty Army besieged the Castle of this Tyrant, desirous to exterminate so great a Danger out of those Parts where he lived; and after three Years took him, with all his Assassins, for Victuals failed them, and utterly destroyed the Place, and killed the Men.
Some Mahometan Writers do say, That the Siege continued above thirty Years, and that they were compelled to surrender, not for want of Victuals, but of Cloathing.
Haitho the Armenian, who was present in the Tartarian Army, tells us who this Allan was; and that albeit he made his Conquests of Persia, and the Neighbour Countries in a few Years, yet the Assassins held out in a long Siege. His words in his 24th Chapter of his Eastern History are these:
Haolon (Marcus Paulus Venetus calls him Allan) Brother to Mango Can, took all those Countries, (in the Empire of Persia and its Confines) until he came to the Country of the Assassins. Now these Assassins are Infidels that have neither Law nor Faith, but only so as their Prince and Lord instructed them, who was called Sexmontius (or perhaps Senex de Montibus, the Old Man of the Mountains, (as Marcus Paulus Venetus) or, Lord of the Six Mountains) at whose pleasure and command they did freely and readily give up themselves to Death. For the aforesaid Assassins, had a certain invincible Fort, called Tigado; which Fort, or Castle, was provided of all Necessaries, and so strong, that it could not be assaulted on any side. Haolon therefore commanded a certain Captain of those Tartars, who were the Guard of the Kingdom of Persia, which he had subdued, sent thither by him, to take ten thousand of them, and with them to besiege that Castle, and by no means to depart from it till he had taken it. Thence it came to pass that those Tartars continued in that Siege Summer and Winter for the space of 27 Years. And so at length the Assassins were compelled to surrender their Fortress, only for want of Cloathing, and not for want of Victuals, or any other Cause.
The Application of this Story, I shall leave to the ingenuity of the Reader, after he hath read and farther considered this, with the foregoing brief Description of this Mahometan Sect, and their Order, as I find them described in another Writer, and premised them for that purpose, and compared them with the words of a Father of the Society of Jesus, very little varied: For whereas he speaking of I know not what Mahometan Tartars, and their Mufti, or Prince, affirms, that he did in all things apishly imitate the Church of Rome, in Matters of Piety, I must here affirm, That as the Court of Rome, and their Disciples, do too Diabolically, in too many things, imitate this Mahometan Tyrant in Matters of Idolatry; So that of the Pope and his Assassins, the murdering Society of Cutthroat Jesuits, the Old Gentleman of the Seven Mountains, and his Life-Guards, I may well say, Like Lips, like Letters; like Prince, like People; like Mistress, like Gallants; Ruffian Cut-throat Bravoes to vindicate the Quarrels of the Scarlet bloody-minded Whore. The Devil who held the whole World subjected unto his Tyranny (by the fear of Death, and Terror of the Sword) before our Saviour came, and destroyed his Works, seeks now to recover those Parts of his Dominions that are revolted from him by Fire and Sword. So the Mahometan and Popish Tyrants reign, and propagate their Kingdoms by the Sword, and their Religions too.
The Pope as he is a Chimera, made up of several brutish Powers and Parts, so his Chimerical Kingdom, part Civil, part Ecclesiastical, part Spiritual, wars upon his Adversaries by Weapons of all these sorts at once, with the Sword of his Assassin Monks and Jesuits, Bishops, Arch-Bishops, and all Missionaries, sworn Foes to all his Enemies at his Altars (as Hanibal of old by his Father against Rome) before he send them thence, against their Lives: With these also, and other Instruments, against their Policy, and with his Spiritual Engines, Lyes [Page 7]in Hypocrisy, lying Wonders, counterfeit Piety, and the like, against their Souls and Spirituals. But let no Man be deceived by them, the Devil is never more a Devil, than when transformed into the sacred appearance of an Angel of Light; nor his Ministers less, but more Ministers of Satan, for pretending and appearing as Ministers of Christ. By these Works they may be known; The Roman Wolf, for all his Sheeps Cloathing, is easily discerned by us, by his devouring Teeth, and bloody Chaps, from a Shepherd. The Dragon in the Revelation, who though he had the Lamb's Voice and Horns, had the Dragon's beastly and dreadful Shape, devouring Mouth, and formidable Claws, could not possibly be mistaken for Christ's Vicar by any, but who had first given up their Faith to lying Legends; Reason, to his seducing Orators; and Sense, to his jugling Impostors, to be led by their Noses into his Mouth. A strange Religion in the mean time that is, which requires for its first Principle, that ye unman your self, renounce Sense and Reason, not in Matters of Faith, but in those which are most properly by God and Nature subjected and objected to them. And that they may worship Stocks, first transform themselves into Blocks. This Roman Circe, to the end that she may keep Men in Vassalage, under her filthy Lusts of Pride, Ambition and Tyranny, to serve her in those her unsatiable Passions, turns all her Lovers into every Brutal and Feral Shape and Nature, the farthest she can possible from that of Humane and Rational: Some she indulges with Wine and Women, till they be transformed to Swine and Dogs; some she transports with the fury of her Love, into ravenous and devouring Wolves, Bears, and Lions. Such were the Powder-Traytors, and the Assassins we speak of. And here follows one of her Spells, whereby she practises to make those prodigious Metamorphoses which are hardly to be believed by any who have not bin sad Spectacles, or Spectators at least of her Sorceries.
In this, as in a Mirror, we may partly see how ouR brave English Spirits of the noblest Families (such as Sir Everard Digby appears to have bin by his Letters) are transported by them to such Extasies of horrid Zeal, as to blow up whole Kingdoms, Kings, and Royal Families, with their Parliaments, at once; and think such a Design to be the best of Causes, and the most glorious Undertaking that ever animated Heroick Brests; and to esteem Kings, Princes, Nobles, and all the choice Gentry of their Native Country, whereof many were their nearest Relations and Allies, as so many Vermin not worthy the least pitty, not worth the saving. And I think, on this occasion, it will not be improper for me to record, Julius Caesar Vaninus, a Noble Spaniard, and Doctor of both their Laws, the Civil and Canon, amongst our Powder-Traytors, who is so far from denying, that he glories and boasts of it, not doubting to compare himself for it with, and assume to himself the same fervour of sacred Zeal and Charity, which at once animates and illustrates the most Holy Martyrs. His words which I have inserted in the Margent, with the Title and Edition of his Book, which he wrote some ten Years before, namely, the Year after the Powder-Treason, sounds thus.
I the very least Novice of the Church Militant, being the last Year appointed and sent to London, to be there exercised in the Christian Prize-Games, laboured in that place of Exercise 49 days, in cutting of Stones, (he meant the Walls under the Parliament House); I was kindled and flamed with that desire of shedding my Blood for the defence of the Authority of the Catholick Church, [Page 8]that no greater nor better Gift, from God Almighty, could have be fallen me; So that I was judged, by the Testimony of my own, and the Conscience of my Fraternity, who were exercised with me in the same Vault and Theatre, if not Superior, at least not to have bin Inferior to any Martyr.
And he concludes with great applause to himself, and his Comrogue Roman Missionaries, the trayterous Underminers of the said Palace, as who for their Zeal and Valour, were Spectacles worthy of the Observation, not only of Angels and Men, (as St. Paul speaks in honour of the Holy Apostles) but the respect of the holy Eye of God himself, (he means in the act of blowing up K. & Parliament.)
But here I must certify the Reader, to the Glory of the Justice and Purity of that Heavenly Eye, which still watcheth over our Kings and Kingdoms, with a most sweet and merciful Providence, and pursues such prodigious Traytors with condign Severity and Vengeance; that albeit this Noble Spanish Doctor escaped both the Hand and Eye of Royal Justice in England, (whose diligence ought for ever to be commended as exemplary to all Posterity) yet did he not escape from, but was pursued by the Eye and Hand of Divine Justice, to a most dreadful, shameful, untimely Death, by the Authority of the Church, for which he was so ambitious to shed his Blood, and was burnt alive as an unparallel'd Heretick, and died a professed Martyr, beyond all example; not in confirmation, as I said before of the Authority of Rome, and her Errors, against the truth of Religion, Policy, and Morality, with the Powder Traytors, as he deserved and desired; but, which is horrid to be spoken, gave up his Life in the Flames, a Testimony and Witness against all Religion, and God himself; an obstinate and execrable Heretick and Atheist, being given up by God to that reprobate Sense, whereby ill Men, Seducers and Seduced, are justly suffered to fall into Temptations above their strength, (from which the humble and pentient are by his Grace, in Answer to their daily Prayers, delivered) whereby they inevitably grow worse and worse, till having filled up the measure of their Sins, they draw on themselves proportionable Judgments. And in these, whether we respect Sin and Punishment, and this Spiritual or Temporal, no Person, Place, or Age, hath furnished us with any Example parallel to this Powder-Traytor Julius Caesar Vaninus; nor which ought to strike more terror into the minds of the Seduced Followers of the Modern Impostors, for he, I say, their Disciple, and who praises them above all Societies of the World, as appears in his own words in the Margent;Julius Caesar Vaninus, in Epist. ad Lectorem, p. 2. Cencidunt, inquam, & possum feruntur Haereses, quia Militantis Ecclesiae fortissimi heroes ii, quos è Societate Jesu ducimus, ad illas profligandas excindendas (que) omnes ammi & corporis adhibent Machinationes. Bella arma fulmen illud Christianae Militiae, Bellarminus R. Card. Meritissimus minatus est, &c. Valentia vero, Becanus, Ducaeus, Suarez, alii (que) complures ejusdem Sanctissimae Religionis Commilitones quoties pro Gatholica Fide quam gloriosis adversus Haereses quam periculosis demicationibus decertarunt? Quam ipsos Adversarios cruentarunt, quam profligarunt? It (que) ego haec gravissimis aliis persuasus Argumentis, caeteros quidem variarum Religionum ordines quo vitae integritate, qua disciplinorum cognitione, qua deni (que) virtutum omnium excellentia exornatos elegantissime & gravissime stabilitos, ipsam vero Jesu Societatem pietatis & eruditionis parentem at (que) altricem, Romanae Ecclesiae & splendori fuisse, & ornamento, ipsam (que) Dei immortalis munere tanquam Romanae Ecclesiae Palladium, caeterarum Religionum Columen, totius Universitatis Anchoram Hominibus esse concessum, &c. he only of all Mankind died obstinately, and gloried in being a Martyr for Atheism, and a professed enemy of God, and all Religion; so brought about by God's Justice, that we and the whole World might see, in this dreadful Instance, whither the desperate Principles of the Roman Emissaries lead their Disciples and Profelytes when left to themselves. [Page 9]As for Father Parsons, who in his old Age boasted publickly, in the Jesuits College at Rome, as our Spanish Doctor here, That he had wrought in the Powder-Mine at London, And all the rest who escaped God's just revenging Hand in this World, let them stand for [...], demonstrative Tokens and Evidences unto us, as the Apostle teaches us, 2 Thess. 1.5. of the impartial Judgment to come, wherein all Men shall stand before Christ's Tribunal, and there receive righteous Judgment, according to what they have done in the Flesh, whether it be good or evil.
Here follows one of the Charms, or Exorcisms, by which our Country-men, this noble Spanish Doctor, and such other audacious Spirits, as they find most fit for their horrid Designs, are in their Chambers of Meditation, and other Recesses of Darkness, conjured up gradually to that prodigious Fury, as to think that in bloody Assassinations of Kings and Princes, and merciless blowing up of Kingdoms, they do acceptable Service to God, and merit everlasting Life.
A Secret Mystery of the Jesuits, delivered in French to a lover of the Reformed Religion, shortly after the murder of Henry the 4th, late King of France.
WHen they persuaded any Man to murder his King or Prince; after that this poor and unfortunate Man is entred into their The Chamber of Meditations, by which the Jesuits prepare, fit, and train up their Assassins, to these Mysteries, is thus shortly described, in a French Treatise printed 1602; whose Title is, La Franc et veritable Discours, &c. written to dissuade Henry the 4th of France, from restoring the banished Jesuits into France, in his 37 page, in these words. Chastell, who attempted to kill Hen. 4. of France, asked by the said Senators, if he had ever bin in the Chamber of Meditations, into which the Jesuits bring the most grievous Sinners; in which Chamber they set before them, and cause them to behold the hideous portratures and shapes of Devils of sundry most terrible Figures, under a colour of reducing them to a better course of Life; but indeed andetruth, to disorder and distract their Minds, in such manner, that they may be able, by such Admonitions and Advice as they give them, to atchieve or undertake some great Design. He answered them, That he had bin often in that Chamber of Meditations. So they call it, but it might better and more truly be stiled, The School of Fury and Madness. Chamber of Meditation and Prayer, this hellish Brood bring forth a Knife, wound up in a
Chastel enquis (by more than three hundred Senators of the Parliament of Paris, a Cloud of sufficient Witnesses) S' if n'avoit pas esse en la Chambre des Meditations, on les Iesuits intrediusoient les plus grands pecheurs, qui voyoint en icelle Chambre les pourtraits de plusieurs diables de diverses figures espouvantables sous coleur de les reduire en meillieure me, pours esbranler leurs esprits, & les pousser par telles admonitions a faire quelque grand cas. A dit quilavoit este souvent en cette Chambre, &c.
Scarf, in an Ivory Sheath, cover'd with an Agnus Dei, written round about with perfum'd Characters; and when they draw out the said Knife, they cast certain [Page 10]drops of Holy Water upon it, and then they hang upon the Haft of the Knife five or six blessed Corals, which betokeneth that the Man shall deliver so many blessed Souls out of Purgatory, as he shall give thrusts with the Knife: When they deliver the Knife into the Murderers Hands, they speak these words: Chosen and Elect Child of God, go forth like unto Jeptha; the Sword of Sampson; the Sword wherewith David did cut off the Head of Goliah; the Sword of Gideon; the Sword wherewith Judith did cut off the Head of Holofernes; the Sword of the Maccabees; and the Sword wherewith Peter did cut off Malucha's Ear; the Sword of Pope Julius the 2d, wherewith he conquer'd Imole, Fayence, Friuli, Bologne, and divers others: Go forth, and be of active Courage, God strengthen thy Arm. This done, they fall down on their Knees, and the chiefest of them conjurath on this manner; Come Chirubims, come Seraphims, Thrones that rule; come the fortunate and blessed Angels, Angels of Love, and fill this Holy Vessel with Eternal Glory, and bring him presently the Crown of the Virgin Mary, of the Patriarchs, and of the Mattyrs, for he is no longer ours. And then they say, O powerful and invincible God, who hast revealed unto him in his Prayers and Meditations, that he must kill a Tyrant Heretick, to set the Crown upon the Head of a Catholick King, being disposed and persuaded to this Murder by us, strengthen his Sinews, and multiply his Strength, that he may fulfil thy Will; give him a privy earnest (Token), whereby he may escape from them that would lay bands upon him; give him Wings, that the Spies of the Barbarous may not overtake his Sanctified Members; dart forth thy fiery Beams into his Soul, that thereby his Body may be encouraged boldly to press through all Difficulties without fear.
Having ended this Conjuration, they lead him before an Altar, where they shew him in a Picture, how the Angel took up Jaques Clement Jacobine, presenting him before the Throne of God, and saying, Lord, behold thy own Arm; behold thy Revenge, and the Executioner of thy Justice; and all the Saints stand up and give him room. All this being done, no Man may speak with this Man but four Jesuits, who when they come to him, say, That he appeareth to them as having some Divine Nature and God-head; and that they are so strucken and moved with the brightness thereof, that they kiss his Hands and his Feet, accounting him no longer a Man; and they make a shew, as if they did half envy him his good Fortune and Glory which he possesseth already, fetching a deep sigh, and saying unto him, I would that God had chosen me in this place, for then I should be assured to go directly to Paradise, and not into Purgatory.
To the Reader of the following Informations and Depositions.
LEt no Man flatter himself, as if Rome were ashamed, or had left off the exercise of those her Impious Frauds in our days, because these Works of Darkness are not practised in the Face of the Sun, or Men were grown more wise and vertuous in this Age than the former. The following Paper (not to speak of what is in every Mouth) testifies, That as they never want Encouragements, so they can never want Instruments for the most horrid and cruel Assassinations of Kings and Nobles, as well as inferior Persons, who with them are of no better esteem than Dogs, or most noisome Vermine, when they oppose their infatiable Lusts, which they call Religion, or cover with pretences of Piety.
If any Man be offended with what I have smartly written, and endeavoured to expose to publick scorn and hate of the Doctrines and Practices of the Jesuits, abominable to God and Man, as some Translations of that kind have bin denied publick License and Light, as they well deserved, had they aimed at any other end than that of publick Justice, which allows the most detestable Practices to be spoken out in the audience of all the People. If any be offended, I say, [Page 11]I would be bould to add one word to them, which is this, That all those Villanies of Cruelty, Assassination, and the Gunpowder Blow it self, had it taken effect; the poison of King James, if true; the Martyrdom of Charles the First; the Massacre of Ireland; the intended Poisoning or Assassination of his Majesty Charles the Second, whom God preserve; and with him the Massacre of hundreds of thousands of his Innocent Subjects, illustrated by London Flames, cannot be so justly laid by Man to them, nor can nor will be so severely required by God at the last day, at the hands of these Roman Missionaries, and their Disciples, the sworn Legionaries, and Spies of the Popes, and Court of Rome, to whom they are obliged as Subjects, by all Ties Sacred and Humane, of Religion, Love, Gratitude, Glory, and hope of Salvation; as to them, who contrary to Oaths, Law, Justice, and Interest of their Country, admit, harbour, entertain, plead for, favour, and shelter them, and discourage the Informers and Prosecutors, whom Zeal to publick Good hath pressed to discover and pursue them, at the extreme peril of their Lives. Let the Case be put for Spies sent into any Enemy's Country, by any Prince, if they came as Spies, and so deserve Death, much more those that know and receive them.
I'ts no less, than a common Proverb, Receivers make Thieves; and in our case make Assassins, Traitors, Murderers, Poisoners, and Incendiaries.
Here the Doctor concludes with the protestation of his Innocency, That he is ready to tender an Act of Parliament, which will put all the good Laws of England into infallible Execution, to the Glory of God, Preservation of the King, Kingdom, Religion, Laws, and Liberties; and that what-ever Laws are henceforth made without such Provisions, as are necessary to their infallible Execution, are but mockeries of God in his Concern, and gross abuses of the Country in their Interests and Trust.
This Paper coming seasonably to my hand, to prove by what particular Law, our Modern Poisoners, Assassins, Incendiaries, Plunderers, Regicides, &c. are authorized with a good Conscience to attempt so many horrid Villanies, and protest, at their Death, their Babe-like Innocency, I thought it would be acceptable to the Reader, to find it recorded here, in the Sorbon Doctor's own words, as I found it printed, in his Expostulation opposed to the Jesuits printed Thesis, defended in their Claromontane College at Paris.
Perhaps this place might require me to draw hither many other Decrees and Statutes of the Inquisition — such as those which may be read in many places of the approved Decretals [or Book of the Secrets] of the Inquisition, published at Venice by Marcus Antonius Zalterius, especially in the 472, 675, 676, namely.
That it is lawful for every Man by his own private (or proper) Authority, to take captive, strip, & also to kill Heretics.
[Page 12]That all Persons who are held bound to any Person whatsoever (not excepting Kings) in what kind of Obligation soever, are then wholly freed from it, when they to whom they are obliged, fall into any manifest Heresy.
That Hereticks, from the day they become Criminal, lose all Right and and Power (or Dominion) of retaining or disposing of all their Goods.
That all help and benefit of Laws is denied them; and that every legal Act is forbidden them.
He to whom an Heretick hath entrusted any thing, is not obliged to restore his trust to him.
That a Catholick Wife is not obliged not to defraud her Husband, because by the Husbands Heresy the Wife is free from that Duty, and so on the other hand; neither yet is the Bond of Matrimony thereby dissolved.
That all Vassals whatsoever are by the Letter of the Law (of right) freed from all Obligation, though confirmed by the Religious Bond of an Oath, by which they were engaged to their Lords. Children are in their own disposal, and freed from all Duty to their Parents, so soon as they become Hereticks.
So testifies the Catholick Doctor of the Laws of the Roman Court of Inquisition.
Pag. 9. Forsitan postularet iste locus, ut plura alia Inquisitionis Decreta, aut Statuta huc adveherem—qualia sunt illa, quae passim in Decretorio Inquisitorum approbato, & Venetiis apud Marcum Antonium Zalterium edito legi possunt, ac presertim 472, 675, 676, videlicet.
Licere propria Authoritate Haereticos capere, spoliare ac etiam interficere.
[Page 12]Omnes qui aliquo Obligationis genere aliquibus tenentur adstricti, tunc liberari penitus cum illi quibus obligati erant in Haeresin incidunt manifestam.
Haereticos à die commissi criminis amittere dominium omnium bonorum.
Haereticis omne Legum auxilium, & beneficium denegatum esse, omnemque actum legitimum interdictum.
Eum apud quem Haereticus aliquid deposuit, non teneri rem depositam Haeretico restituere.
Uxorem Catholicam, & è converso, viro Haeretico debitum reddere non obligari, quia per Haeresin viri ab hoc debito liberata est; neque tamen dissolutum esse Matrimonii vinculum.
Quoscun (que) vasallos, omni Obligatione etiam juramenti Religione munita, quo dominis suis tenebantur adstricti ipso jure liberatos esse. Filios Haereticorum effici sui juris quam primum eorum parentes incidunt in Haeresin.
And so on the other side, Kings and Parents are not bound to them by parity of Law.
And here, because my ingenious Romanist shall not object against this Testimony, as he doth against the King's Evidence, that we bring only Saying and Swearing against these monsters of Men and Opinions, and no Reasons, I will give him two Arguments to prove these Doctrines to be true and necessary Points of their Faith.
And the first Reason is, Because the most Holy Popes, and Infallible General Councils, confirmed and established these Doctrines, who confirmed and established their Faith, of the real substantial Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, over and besides all its Graces, Vertues, Powers, and Merits, to the faithful Receiver, by their incomprehensible Transubstantiation, against as clear Light of Sense in this, as of Morality utterly extinguished in that. So that they who leave the Jesuits in the Doctrine of Poisoning and Murdering Kings, cannot continue in the Communion of their Church-Mass, by the Authority of Pope or Council: Nor can the evasion help that it was ordered, but not defined; for if fallible in Practice, which is directed by Judgment, who can secure us that Judgment is Infallible, where Practice is Heretical?
My second Argument is a Demonstration, in which the infallible Pen of St. Paul gives the Major, That all is the Churches, and the Pope's Infallible Chair the Minor, The Pope, and those in his Communion, is the only Church, therefore all is theirs: and we are beholden to them that they have not long since (according to the Law of the Holy Inquisition) seized all we have; to be sure they [Page 13]owe us nothing to whom we owe our very Lives; and therefore we as vainly expect they should owe or afford us one Grain of so pretious a Truth, as an ingenuous confession of the present Plot, which were to contribute greatly to our Delivery, Life and Peace, the Plague and Ruin of their Cause.
And here we may see what quarter we are to expect from all those supercilious Factions, who Unchurch all Christians who symbolize not with them in all their Ceremonies, and fiercely Excommunicate them, as Lutherans do the Calvenists at this day. That I may say nothing of our Opinionists, who found Dominion in Grace, and run from Rome in the Fool's Circle, till they overtake and out-go it.
Postscript or Marginal Note to Flavigni.
N.B. That Green, Berry, and Hill, having so good Authority (without Warrant from any General, or other Superior Commissioned from the Pope) by the legal Decree of the Holy Inquisition, to kill what Hereticks they pleased; for them to acknowledg themselves Guilty, had bin to renounce their Holy Pope, and Holy Inquisition, which were to renounce God and Christ, and leave the Church Headless, and condemn Holy Garnet, and all the Red-letter'd Saints, who consecrated themselves by the Slaughter and Massacres they have made of more Protestants within this two hundred Years, than are now any where alive; and kill'd and burnt more in two Protestant King's Reigns, than in all their Popish Predecessors; and especially they had blasphemed their French and Irish Massacres, and English London-Fire, those renowned Proofs of Roman Zeal and Religion.
The Examination of John Lund of Iver, in the County of Bucks, taken upon Oath before me Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, this 2d day of January 1678. Who being duly Sworn, and Examined, saith:
THat upon Tuesday, the last day of December last, about six of the Clock of the same in the Evening, this Examinant being abroad to look after some Wood-stealers, he saw seven or eight Men on Horse-back coming from Iver-Heath towards Iver-Town; and three or four of them parted and went the way toward Rickmansworth, and the other four came down the Land near which this Examinant stood.
One of them having occasion to Untruss, he alighted, and another held his Horse, and commanded the other two to go forward, who, as this Examinant supposeth, were their Servants.
This Examinant saith, That he was on the other side the Hedg, and very nigh this Person who alighted, and heard the one say to the other, How are things like to go? The other answered, Well enough, for as for that Inquisitive Dog Shaftsbury, and that Dog Essex, and another whose Name this Examinant did not perfectly hear, but it was Holle, or Alle, or some such sound, their Business should be done. The one asked, Which way? The other answered, One Mac— who was a clever stout Fellow, and had courage, would do it in Womens Apparel. The other asked again, Are you sure he will do it? Yes, said he, he will; but if he will not, there are a thousand will do it for the same Encouragement. And this Examinant further saith, That he heard one of the said Persons say to the other, Do not fear, nor be discouraged, for we will send their Souls to the Devil for a New-years Gift: And then they mounted, and went forwards to a Place where the ways parted; and two of them went towards Kingston, and the other two towards Windsor. One of these Persons who had this Discourse under the Hedg, had a [Page 14]black Cap on his Head, and the other a Hat; all the Horses were dark coloured, and two of the Persons had Waste-belts on, and one of them had a laced Livery, as near as this Examinant could perceive. And further this Examinant saith not.
This Deposition of so fresh a Date, is so full an evidence of that Diabolical Murdering Spirit, still reigning in these Roman Emissaries and Conspirators, that I shall not need to produce any other of that Cloud of Witnesses; who with Sir Edmond-Bury Godfry's Blood continually cry to our King, Lords, and Commons, for Vengeance; not so much on the poor deluded Accessaries and Instruments acted, as upon the Principals, and Actors, Jesuits, Monks, Friers, and Priests, whereof there is not one sent hither who hath not some Episcopal Jurisdiction, and consequently who is not a sworn Enemy to our King, Kingdoms, and Religion. If by the equity of Moses Law, he who let a wild Ox go loose, who had formerly goared others, was to answer with the price of his own Life the mischief done by such ungoverned Brutes: I leave it to God to judg betwixt this People and their Superiors, and to determine, after so many thousands of Innocents flain in our former Confusions in all the three Kingdoms, ralsed or promoted by these Incendiaries, at whose hands that Blood shall be required, which by any neglect of theirs, in not trying up and exterminating these Furies, may again destain and pollute this Land.
These following Propositions, to prevent Assassins, have bin perused and approved, as not unworthy of publick consideration.
Other Depositions and Informations, farther discovering the Jesuital Assassins and Assassinations.
Mr. Oates's Narrative,
JUne 13.76. Tho. Whitebread in his Chamber, told the Rector of St. Omers, That a Minister of the Church of England (he meaning Dr. Tonge) had scandalously and basely put out the Jesuits Morals in English, and had endeavoured villanously to render them odious to the People; and asked the said Rector, Whether he thought the Deponent, Mr. Oates, might possibly know him? and the Rector not knowing, called the Deponent, (who stood at the Provincial's Chamber Door and heard these words) and when the Deponent came into the Chamber of the said Provincial Whitebread, he asked him, If he knew the Author of the Jesuits Morals? The Deponent answered, His Person, but could not well remember his Name. Whitebread then demanded, Whether he would undertake to Poison or Assassinate the said Author? which the said Deponent undertook to do, having fifty pounds Reward promised him by the said Provincial, and was appointed to return for England.—
At the said time the Provincial said in his Chamber, That he and the Society [Page 15]of London would procure Dr. Stillingfleet to be knockt in the Head, and Master Pool the Author of Synopsis Criticorum, for writing some things against them. Numb. 30.
July 78, Richard Ashby came to London, with Instructions from Whitebread, in which was an Item, with a Memorandum, for the procuring the Assassination of the Right Reverend Father in God, Herbert, Lord Bishop of Hereford; for that the said Bishop had bin educated in the Popish Religion, and was fallen, and they were resolved not to pity, nor spare any Apostate from the Roman Faith. Ashby also said, That Times being now ready to change, they would be ready to give, not only Apostates, but also those Hereticks that had obstinately opposed the proceedings of the Society, and their Agents in propagating the Faith, and Interest of the Church of Rome, a just Reward for their Apostacy, and infamous Obstinacy; and though the Parliament have taken away the Act for burning Hereticks, they should not escape the vengeance of Catholicks, Numb. 33.
August 9. 1678. Bazil Langworth, and others of the Society, did offer ten pounds to the Deponent (Mr. Oates) to kill Berry, formerly a Jesuit, now a Secular Priest, because he had written, and was about to print, some sheets of Paper in vindication of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy; and in it persuaded Roman Catholicks to a more charitable compliance with Protestants. And urged the Deponent, If he durst not do it himself, to procure some other to do it; assuring the Deponent, that whosoever did it, and were questioned for it, he should have a Pardon. Numb. 47.
Mr. Bedloe, pag. 42. April 75. at Paris, at a Consultation, two French Abbots, and several English Monks, discoursed about carrying on the Plot, to subvert the Government of England; to destroy the King, and the Lords of the Council, the King was principally to be destroyed, and the Government subverted, as well as the Protestant Religion. Coleman's Tryal.
Mr. Bedloe (Ireland's Tryal) pag. 44, 45. August 78. About the same time there was a discourse of a Design to kill several Noble Men, and the particular Parts assigned to every one; Knight was to kill the Earl of Shaftsbury; Pritchard the Duke of Buckingham; Oneal the Earl of Ossory; Obrian the Duke of Ormond.
I will conclude these Informations, with an Account borrowed from our ingenious Country-man, a zealous Assertor of the Church, though not of the Court of Rome, nor their Jesuitical Parasites, Braves and Cut-throats, where you may see how these Artists imitate the Warlike Laconian Education of their Youth, making, by the severity of their Collegiat Institution, the Sacred War, to which they send their Missionaries, a pleasure rather than a toyl, as all they know who have had Education amongst them.
Baronius in his Roman Martyrologie (so writes this Modern Wit) saith, That the Holy Priests, as Innocent Lambs fatted in the Sacred Cloisters, by the Holy Society of Jesus, with divine Instructions for Martyrdom, (a Sacrifice acceptable to God) and the Sacred Colleges at Rome and Rhemes, have bin put to Death, because they preached in England the Doctrine of the Holy Romish Church. [1. King-killing, as above, in the Laws of the Holy Inquisition.] I wish he had not said it, in regard they are Envoys of the Society of Jesus, because they are accused to be liberal enough of other Mens Blood, [he means the Missioners and other Orders]; and therefore, though it be a commendable thing to meet Martyrdom, I would not have them guilty of sending People meerly upon that Errand, [when there is no need for it]. Then, to breed them up as Victims to God, looks as if we sacrificed them our selves, and smells a little of Baal-Peor. Then the word Cloister sounds like a Prison, as if we kept them in Franks, or Styes, to force them to keep their Oaths, [he means, of returning as Traitors to their Countries] [Page 16]and upon this the Hereticks would be upon our Bones, and say of the God to whom we Sacrifice them; That it must be some God of this Age, or World, or else some God of the Earth, [i. Pope]; for that the God of Heaven requires now no more Sacrifices at all, nor never did those of Humane Blood. But that which spoils all is the word Fatted, Greased, or Anointed. A. B. Valgrand sent me to Lipsius Saturnals, l. 1. c. 14. for the meaning of it. There I found the term was proper to the Gladiators, who were pick'd out of the condemned Prisoners, or miserable Slaves, and afterwards maintained in their Sacred, or rather Execrable Seminaries, to the end they might purchase or pay for their Fat by their Death. Qui dabit immundae venalia fata saginae, Propertius. They weary them out of their Colleges and Chambers of Meditation, &c.
To furnish such as these, the sharp-witted Prosecutors have provided, and set up at Rhemes, Rome, Doway, Madrid, and Valladolid, Colleges of young English; who as Marcus Navarrus writes, in his third Book of Councils, by an established Papal Constitution, are bound to swear, [before they taste any of the Popes Bounty in their Colleges] That after so many Years they shall return into England to publish what they have learnt, [i. Assassination, King-killing, and City-burning, as at this day] (I add, and they at the entrance, forswear their Allegiance also); what good hath come of this, Cardinal Bellarmine tells us in his Apology for Seminaries.
N. B. To justify our Laws against Roman Emissaries, that before they are made Priests, they are guilty of accumulated Treasons.
First, It is Felony for any Protestant to go out of this Kingdom without his Majesty's leave, much more for such a mischievous end as to be trained up in such desperate Principles in the Popish Seminaries, as are there Professed, Preached, and Taught, to the utter subversion of all true Piety to God, Allegiance to Prince; Morality, Civility, or Fidelity to Mankind.
2. They renounce their Allegiance at their first entrance into such Seminaries, which were first Instituted to teach a Foreign Allegiance to a Spanish Heir, against Queen Elizabeth, this is High Treason.
3. They swear to perpetuate this their treasonable Renunciation, by an uncessant activity in Treason in their return to England, before they can receive any benefit of their Renunciation: This intent of Treason, were Treason, though it should never be reduced into Act here in England, whither it is Treason for them to come with such Traiterous Intention.
4. At and before their Ordination, their Bishops and Priests, who in England have Episcopal Jurisdiction, swear to be Enemies to all the Pope's Enemies, and to seek their utter ruin and destruction. I hope Priesthood, by its indelible Character, doth not blot out, but augment all the Oaths and Obligations to Treason, in consideration whereof it was, and without which it cannot be given.
5. All Priests who are of any Regular Orders, are obliged by their Oaths, to obey the Pope (if not with Blind, as Jesuits) at least with Canonical Obedience; and it appears above, and elsewhere, by the Canon of the Holy Inquisition, and the Letter of the Pope's Law, that they ought to molest us Hereticks by all manner of means, Fire, Assassination, Regicides, false Plots, News, &c. of which we have lately lamentable experience, till by mere vexation, we be driven, as thousands are daily out of other Countries, to wander destitute, afflicted, and tormented, in Exile; or to forsake our Religion, and Laws, and live Slaves with our Prince, under the Tyranny of the Pope and Devil.