Bellarmine alfo writ a letter to Blackwell, against the oath, and exhorted him to repair the fault he had committed, by taking of it, even though (RR) death fhould be the confe

quence.

doubt not but he would have made as vile work as the worst, and moft enterprizing of his predeceffors. But the times in which he lived permitted him not to act agreeably to his wishes. Princes had more wifdom than to become his dupes, and excommunications were of little fignificancy, for learning and good fenfe now be gan to prevail, and where thefe are, ecclefiaftical authority will be little regarded. However, this pope, we fee, talked big; his briefs have an air of authority, and he did what in him lay to difpofe the English catholics to behave contrary to their own intereft and the laws of their country, and confequently to keep up a party dependent on himself, and fubfervient to his will, a thing of the worst confequence, and therefore loudly complained of by James, as we fhall foon fee.

(RR) Bellarmine alfo writ a letter to Blackwell against the oath, &c.] This letter begins with remembring Blackwell of the long friendship that had been between them; expreffes his grief for Blackwell's sufferings; but more especially for his having, as it was feared, taken the oath, which he fays tends to this end, that the authority of the head of the church in England may be transferred from the fucceffor of St. Peter to the fucceffor of king Henry VIII. He declares that for this one head of doctrine, Fisher and More led the way to martyrdom to many others, to the exceeding glory of the English nation. And then he concludes with defiring him not to prefer a temporal liberty to the liberty of "the glory of the fons of God: neither for escaping a light and momentary tribulation, lofe an eternal "weight of glory, which tribulation itself doth work "in you. You have fought a good fight a long time; " you

66

"

2.

pen, and

quence. Hereupon James drew his published his apology for the oath of allegi

you

ance,

have well near finished your courfe; fo many years < have you kept the faith; do not therefore lose the re "ward of fuch labours; do not deprive yourself of that "crown of righteoufnefs, which fo long ago is prepa"red for you; do not make the faces of fo many yours

both brethren and children, afhamed; upon you at "this time are fixed the eyes of all the church; yea alfo "you are made a spectacle to the world, to angels, to "men; do not fo carry yourself in this your laft act, that 66 you leave nothing but laments to your friends, and "joy to your enemies: but rather on the contrary, "which we affuredly hope, and for which we conti"nually pour forth prayers to God, difplay gloriously "the banner of faith, and make to rejoice the church, "which you have made heavy; fo fhall you not only "merit pardon at God's hands, but a crown. Fare"wel; quit you like a man, and let your heart be "ftrengthned. This letter is dated from Rome, Sept. “28, 1607 (a)." Bellarmine miftook the fenfe of the (a) King oath about which he writes, as we fhall fee by James's James's works, P answer. But not to infift on this, for the prefent, 1261. would ask whether there is not fomething very odd in this perfuading men to undergo martyrdom, when we ourselves are in ease, and like to continue fo? does it come with a good grace from the mouth of a rich cardinal, who had afpired to the papacy, and even now enjoyed the greateft plenty of all things. When we fee men under fufferings, triumph and rejoice in them, and contentedly bear them themfelves, and exhort others to do fo likewife, their exhortations will have great force and efficacy; their propriety is feen and acknowledged, and all virtuous men are edified. But to perfuade others to fubmit to what we ourselves are strangers to, and which, probably, we should fhrink at the undergoing, is not quite fo well in the eyes of the world. But Bellarmine was at a diftance; Blackwell's reproaches could

H 2

not

ance, against the two briefs of pope Paulus Quintus (ss), and the letter of cardinal Bel

larmine

not have made him blush; and so the authority of the pope was maintained, it mattered not who fuffered. Modeft man! good friend! happy for him to whom he writ, that he knew what was right, and for his own intereft, or else probably tribulation would have been his portion,- -One would be apt to wonder how it comes to pafs, that those men who were fo forward to fend others on dangerous expeditions, to promote the intereft of the church, and make men profelytes among infidels and heretics, and encourage them so much with the profpects of the higheft rewards hereafter: I fay one would be apt to wonder why hardly any of these persons ever fet out on these expeditions themselves, and strive to obtain those glorious crowns they fet before the eyes of others. We fee they chufe themselves that part of the vineyard where is the richest foil, and the leaft work to be done. In this they take their ease, and enjoy themselves comfortably, and never change unlefs it be for the better. What are we to conclude from hence? do not they believe what they teach to others? are they difpofed to procure their own advantage by the fweat, labour, and blood of the honeft, the fimple, the credulous? the unbelieving race would fay fo; and those who belong not to that tribe of men, would yet be glad to know how, on this head, to confute them.

(ss) James publifhed his apology for the oath of alle giance against the two briefs, &c.] Take the following account of the occafion of this apology from bifhop Mountague, James's prefacer. "After the pope had put "forth his briefs, and the cardinal had fent his letters to "the arch-prieft; the one to enjoin the people not to "take the oath of allegiance, affirming that they could "not take it with safety of their falvation: the other "to reprove the arch-prieft for that he had taken it, and

larmine to G. Blackwell the arch-priest.

Though

"to draw him to a penitency for fo foul a lapfe. His majefty, like as became a prudent and religious prince, "thought it not meet, that these things fhould pass fór "current, but that it was expedient his people fhould "know, that the taking this oath was fo far from en"dangering their fouls, as that it intended nothing but "civil obedience, and without touching any point of " their confcience, made the state secure of their alle"giance. To perform this work, his majefty thought "the bishop of Winchester * [Dr. Bilfon, if I rightly "remember] that then was, a very fit man, both for his

fingular learning, as for that he had long laboured "in an argument, not much of a diverfe nature from "this; whereupon his majesty calling for pen and ink, "to give my lord of Winchester directions how and in "what manner to proceed in this argument, I know "not how it came to pass, but it fell out true that the "poet faith,

Amphora capit

"Inftitui, currente rota, poft urceus exit.

"for the king's pen ran fo faft, that in the compass of "fix days, his majefty had accomplished that which " he now calleth his apology; which when my lord of "Canterbury [Bancroft] that then was, and my lord of Ely [Andrews] had perufed, being indeed delivered by “his majesty but as brief notes, and in the nature of a H 3 "minute

*This bishop was Dr. T. Bilfon, who was advanced to that see in 1 597, and died in 1616. The book of his referred to by bishop Montague, wag probably that printed at Oxford 1585. in 4to, and intitled, The true diffe rence betweene christian subjection and antichriftian rebellion; wherein the princes law full power and command for truetb, and indeprivable right to beare the fword are defended against the pope's cenfures, and the jesuus sophismes uttered in their apologie and defence of English catholikes with a demonftration, that the things refourmed in the church of England by the larges of this realme are truly catbolike, notwithstanding the vaine fhew made to the contrary in their late Rhemish Teftament, by Thomas Billon, warden of Winchester.` Perufed and allowed by publike authoritie.

Though James had not fet his name to this piece,

minute to be explicated by the bishops in a larger vo"lume; yet they thought it fo fufficient an answer "both to the pope and cardinal, as there needed no "other. Whereupon his majesty was perfuaded to give way to the coming of it forth, but was pleased to "conceal his name; and so have we the apology be(4) Prefaceyond his majesty's own purpose or determination (a)."

to king

James's works.

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The reader is welcome to believe as much or as little of all this as he pleafes. For my own part, I doubt not, but James was well enough pleafed to engage in a controverfy in which he was almoft fure of fuccefs. For the pope, with all his infallibility, had urged nothing material against the oath of allegiance, and the cardinal had quite miftook the fense of it; as every one upon comparing the briefs of the one, and the letter of the other with the oath, will plainly fee, as James in this piece has fully fhewn. Indeed all objections of the latter are pointed against the oath of fupremacy, which is a very different thing from the oath of allegiance. In this piece James, after mentioning the powder plot, takes notice of the intention of the oath, which he fays, "was fpecially to make a feparation between fo "many of his fubjects, who although popifhly affect"ed, yet retained in their hearts the prints of their

natural duty to their fovereign; and those who being "carried away with the like fanatical zeal that the "powder-traytors were, could not contain themselves

within the bounds of their natural allegiance, but

thought diverfity of religion a fafe pretext for all "kinds of treafons and rebellions against their fove"reign (b)." He then mentions the good effects the oath had produced; the mifchiefs of the pope's briefs; the incivility of the pope in condemning him unheard; and after that proceeds to a formal examination of them. In this part of his work he sets forth his great favour to the catholics, in admitting them to his presence, dubbing many of them knights, freeing recufants from