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trine of the Church of Rome, that earthly sovereigns ought to be dependent on the successor of St. Peter. It was a doctrine which had frequently been acted on; and it is still the recognised doctrine of the Romish church.

All this is admitted, without hesitation, by the Papal writers of the day; it is only recently that Romanists have endeavoured to deny the charge.) Some remarkable passages occur in the Life of Pius V., by Catena, a work published by authority. A few extracts will convince the reader of the truth of the preceding statement. "Pius, thinking on the one hand to succour the Scottish Queen and liberate her, and on the other, to restore the religion in England, and to take off at some moment Elizabeth, the sink of so many evils, deputed some persons in that kingdom to give him an account of the heretics and the Catholics; and to animate the Catholics to replace their ancient ritual in the kingdom*." Gabutius, another biographer of Pius, speaks to the same effect: "He deliberated on restoring the fallen religion in England, ) and, at the same time, to take away from the world. that sink of all evils, or, as he himself called her, the servant of wickedness, if it was not possible to recall > her to reason t." Catena further adds: "While these

* CATENA, as quoted by TURNER, p. 484. His words are very remarkable: E di levare a un tempo la sentina di tanti mali Elizabetta.

+ The original runs thus: Lapsam in Anglia religionem reno

things were being secretly practised, some disputes arose between Elizabeth and the King of Spain; on which Pius took occasion to urge this monarch to favour the enterprise of the conspirators in England, as he could not secure his states in Flanders by any better way than by overthrowing this Queen. He reminded Philip of the obligations of religion, which ought to be the first thing to excite him to it. The King willingly consenting to it, it remained for Pius to incline, by his dexterity, the French to favour likewise the scheme." In allusion to the state of things in England, the biographer adds: "And in order that this insurrection might have a more favourable operation, Pius published a Bull against Elizabeth, declaring her a heretic, depriving her of her kingdom, releasing her subjects from the oath of allegiance and duties, and excommunicating every one who should afterwards obey her. The contents so excited the public mind to obey Elizabeth no longer, that if they had found out at the moment a leader, they would have rushed to a sudden revolt." The Pope also wrote to the Duke of Alva, urging him to support the English insurgents. He tells him that he is "receiving every day the most detailed and certain news of the movement excited in England by the Catholics of that kingdom against the heretics, and contra illam

vare cogitabat, simul et illam malorum omnium sentinam; seu ut appellabat IPSE, Alagitiorum servam, de medio tollere, si minus posset ad sanitatem revocare.

quæ se pro Angliæ regina gerit." He adds that they will fail if not assisted; "but if they be supported we may hope that they will succeed in re-establishing the Catholic religion in England*."

That the principles of the Church of Rome are destructive to freedom, and to the rights of kings as well as of the people, is proved by the unrepealed decrees of councils and the acknowledged Bulls of Popes; and the preceding extracts fully show that the Romanists of former times, whatever may be the case in the present day, were not ashamed of their doctrines. They even gloried in them, and confessed them openly to the world. Dr. Lingard pursues a different course. Without any reference to the unrepealed decrees of his church, he pretends to be horror-struck at the imputation of such principles as those which are expressed in the preceding extracts. The reader must decide whether Dr. Lingard or the Papists of Queen Elizabeth's days, pursues the more honest course.

The truth of the statement, respecting the Pope's concurrence in the invasion, might be proved by a reference to various writings and proceedings of the seminary priests throughout the whole of this reign. These men acted under the express sanction of the Pope. A passage occurs in one of the letters of Sanders, which may be quoted as an illustration or sample of the whole of the writers of that class. Writing to certain Popish lords in Ireland, he says:

* See TURNER's Elizabeth, 484, 485, 487.

"What mean you, I say, to be at so great charges, to take so great pains, and to put yourselves in so horrible (danger of body and soul, for a wicked woman, neither begotten in true wedlock, nor esteeming her Christendom, and therefore deprived by the vicar of Christ, her and your lawful judge: forsaken of God, who justifieth the sentence of his vicar; forsaken of all Catholic princes, whom she hath injured intolerably. See you not that she is such a shameful reproach to the royal crown, that whoso is indeed a friend to the crown, should so much the more hasten to dispossess her of the same? See you not that the next Catholic heir to the crown (for the Pope will take order by God's grace, that it shall rest in none other but Catholics) must account all them for traitors that spend their goods in maintaining a heretic against his true title and right? What will you answer to the Pope's lieutenant, when he, bringing us the Pope's and other Catholic princes' aid, (as shortly he will) shall charge you with the crime and pain of heretics, for maintain(ing a heretical pretended Queen against the public sentence of Christ's vicar *?",

* ELLIS's Letters, Second Series, iii., 95, 96.

45

CHAPTER III.

Affairs in England-Treaty of Peace-Parma-Spanish Treachery -The Queen's Preparations-English Romanists-Their Conduct-Two Parties-Days of Fasting and Prayer.

LEAVING Philip and his armada for a time, we must now return into England, to notice the Queen's preparations in this emergency. Elizabeth was exactly fitted for such circumstances as those in which the country was then placed. She was also surrounded by councillors, such as England has rarely seen. It must be regarded as a mark of God's good providence over our land, that such a sovereign should at that time have occupied the throne, and that she should have been aided by such able ministers. The selection of such men for her councils was a proof of the Queen's sagacity. How unlike were the statesmen of that day to the men by whom the throne of this country is at present surrounded!

It has been remarked, that Philip's vast preparations were known to Elizabeth's ministers some time before the sailing of the armada: but it was not at first known what was the destination of the armament*. To blind the English ministers, the Duke

*The letter in Ellis's Collection from a person who uses the initials B. C., and whom Mr. Ellis calls an English spy, has already been mentioned. It relates to the armada, and is dated from

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