he previous practices, which had
not been given up, but merely relinquished for a season. During the
years 1592, 1593, and 1594, several persons were commissioned by the
court of Rome to raise rebellions in England, and to poison or
assassinate the queen. The watchful eye of providence, however, was
extended over the country and the queen. Every plot was discovered;
every hostile design failed; and the only sufferers were the traitors
themselves.

Patrick Cullen received absolution and the sacrament, A.D. 1592, from
the Jesuit Holt, by whom it was determined to be a meritorious deed to
kill the queen; and in 1594, Williams and York came over to England for
the same purpose, having first received the sacrament in the Jesuits'
college. In the year 1597, Squire came over from Spain with the same
object in view, namely, the assassination of the queen; he also was
instigated by Walpole, a _Jesuit_, from whom he received the sacrament
under a promise to put the project in execution, and then conceal the
deed. It was observed by Sir Edward Coke, that since the Jesuits set
foot in England, there never passed four years without a pernicious
treason.

About this time the English fleet obtained a most decisive victory over
the Spanish. In 1598, Philip of Spain, the great enemy of England, was
removed by death from that scene, in which he had, for so many years,
acted so conspicuous, yet inglorious a part.

In 1599 and 1600, a rebellion was headed in Ireland by Tir Owen. This
rebel chief was, as usual, encouraged by the pope, who sent him a plume
of feathers as a token of his favour.

In 1603, the queen died in peace. From the preceding abstract it will
appear, that from the year 1570 to 1600, Queen Elizabeth and the
Protestant religion were constantly exposed to the machinations of the
active partisans of the Roman see, who were encouraged by the pope
himself. Every pontiff pursued the same course. There was a settled
purpose at Rome, and, indeed, throughout the whole Romish confederacy,
to dethrone Elizabeth and overturn the Anglican church; nor is it a
libel on the church of Rome to say, that in all these proceedings, she
acted on recognised principles--principles which had received the solemn
sanction of her councils. To root out heresy, by any means within their
reach, was deemed, or at all events was asserted to be a sacred duty
incumbent on all the members of the church of Rome. The doctrine may be
denied in the present