them In which this Apologie fayling as it must needes doe the author hath alreadie giuen iudgement against himselfe that he is a notorious libeller and that he hath brought all his followers and furtherers herein whether consenters or spreaders of it abroad into a heauie case God amend them But let vs I pray you examine the cause why this Apologie was written the authour thereof blaming so often the Priests for writing Diuers points saith he you know already and some more you are like to perceiue by this our Apologie being driuen thereunto but not all for auoiding further scandall which respect of scandall should haue withheld vs wholly from putting pen to paper in this cause if the intemperance of some persons giuen ouer as it seemeth to choler and reuenge and forgetting both themselues and others and the times wherein they liue had not broken foorth of late to such excesse as we are forced against our wils to put some stop or bridle to so licentious and scandalous proceedings lest it infect euen the good and trouble the strongest when they see such enormous matters passe without controlement In this iustification of his setting foorth this Apologie we gather first that scandall is not alwayes to be auoyded For as he saieth The respect of scandal should haue withheld him wholly from putting pen to paper in this case if the intemperance c. so that the intemperance belike of some persons may excuse a man doing that whereupon scandall may arise Note I pray you how this fellow can change his hew when it shall make for his purpose When hee will write himselfe then the intemperance of some persons is a sufficient excuse for him although scandall arise thereon And when he would haue others blamed who were more grieuously iniured and prouoked thereby to write then he is he can preach vnto them that S. Paul was of a spirit and iudgement contrary to theirs 1. Corinth 8. who doth so greatly exaggerate the danger of scandalizing any one of our brethren for whom Christ died as he sayd that he would rather neuer eate meate then doe it Thus saith this Apologie-maker in his Appendix fol. 16. And there he goeth on also and sheweth what Christ himselfe said Matth. 18. That it were better suffer death in most hideous manner to wit with a milstone at our neckes to be cast into the sea then to scandalize the least of them that beleeue in him that be our Christian and Catholike brethren And then he concludeth in this maner So as this other diuinitie that it may be done for sauing of our credites mainteining our good names and other commodities was not then knowen and commeth now downe from a contrary spirit and Master to Christ and S. Paul By this then it followeth that howsoeuer the Priests can auoid blame this Apologie-maker is in the lurch who hauing so great skill not onely in the sayings of S. Paul but of Christ also and in diuinity and the true meaning of it notwithstanding he thought that some scandall would growe by this his acte aduentured contrary to true diuinitie to write this Apologie The diuinitie which the priests doe professe teacheth them that the scandall of little ones is to be auoided and the scandall of Pharises is to be contemned And as they reade in one place Matth. 16. Qui scandalizauerit c. Whosoeuer shall scandalize one of these little ones which beleeue in mee it were better for him that he had a milstone hung about his necke and he drowned in the bottome of the sea So in another place they finde that Christ when his disciples told him that the Pharises were scandalized at that which he said answered Matth. 15. Sinite illos c. Let them alone they are blind and guiders of the blind There are diuers reasons set foorth by the Priests to iustifie their publishing of their bookes but to an indifferent Reader this place of the Preface is warrant inough since that in this authors opinion there needeth no other caufe then to put some stop or bridle to so licentious and scandalous proceedings least it infect euen the good and trouble the strongest when they see such enormous matters passe without controulment Was there euer any so licentious and scandalous proceedings as haue beene against the Priestes Can Fa. Listers the Iesuites treatize of Schisme be matched for excesse and passion against Catholike priests was there euer such an outrage committed in Christendome by any Catholike to another as this is Harken O ye factious ye are Rebels yee are Schismatikes and fallen out of the Church and spouse of Christ yee haue troden vnder your feete the obedience which yee owe to the highest Bishop yee haue sinned against all humane faith and authoritie by reiecting a moral certainty in a morall matter yee haue violently run into excommunication irregularitie ye haue lost your faculties by which you should haue gained soules to Christ ye haue so scandalized all the godly as now yee are generally become infamous What shall I say more ye haue sinned against Christ his chiefe Vicar and Christ himselfe the Iudge and Iusticer by your disobedience that with Samuel the Prophet we may say Quasi peccatum c. as a thing of southsaying it is to repugne and as the offence of Idolatry not to be willing to be quiet See I pray you that ye are nothing better then Southsayers and Idolaters And because yee haue not heard the Church while she spake vnto you by the chiefest Bishop yee are as Ethnickes and Publicans And here I make an end earnestly desiring the very mightie God that he will yet at the last giue you his grace lest that being thrust into sempiternall destruction with Ethnicks and Idolaters you suffer immortall paines for this your disobedience and scandall Thus farre F. Lister the Iesuite And was it not necessary that there should be some stop put or bridle to this licentious and scandalous proceeding was there not danger that the good might hereby be infected nay is it not euident that many a good soule hath bene infected and many also of the strongest troubled hereby and had not then the Priests iust cause to declare vnto the world how the case stood with them in England and to publish some reasons of their actions especially when after the peace made and all iniuries forgiuen by them the Archpriest did not onely not checke these licentious and scandalous proceedings of the Iesuits broched afresh by them but gaue them his hand in this action and incontinently published this licentious and most scandalous libell which neither hath the authors name nor is likely euer to be iustified We haue receiued a resolutiō from our mother citie that the refusers of the appointed authoritie were schismatikes And surely I would not giue absolution to any that should make no conscience thereof c. And therefore my direction is that they make account thereof and doe make
was a great occasion of the totall ouerthrow of religion whereupon also the same deuill brought in the diuision of opinions about going to the hereticall Churches and seruice which most part of Catholikes did follow for many yeeres and when the better and truer opinion was taught them by Priests and Religious men from beyond the seas as more perfect and necessarie there wanted not many that opposed themselues especially of the elder sort of Priests of Q. Maries dayes And this diuision was not onely fauoured by the Councell but nourished also for many yeeres by diuers troublesome people of our owne both in teaching and writing See how shamefully he followeth still this bug emulation If the little affection in the Laitie towards the Clergie and litle vnion amongst the Clergy themselues were then culpable what reward must they haue who now haue effected the same to the ouerthrow of religiō which by the great paines of many religious Priests hath gotten root in many But to our purpose It is euident that no emulation was cause of the change of the Catholike Romane religion professed in her sisters time but her Maiesties conscience I must thinke her Highnesse hauing bene euer trained vp both in her fathers and brothers times in the religion of the Protestants and following to that purpose the counsell of such as thought not so well of the Church of Rome as of the Religion that is now professed Io. Stow. in Eliz. An. 1. 1559. as may appeare by such actes as are registred to haue bene done presently vpon her Maiesties comming to the Crowne But as for the Catholikes their going to the Church it was somewhat more to be lamented perchance then to be blamed before it came to be a signe distinctiue by which a Catholike was knowen from one who was no Catholike For this consideration onely in the iudgement of the Iesuites in their Romane Colledge made the going to Church vnlawful in England as we haue heard M. Iames Younger afterwarde Doctor of Diuinitie affirme who presented vnto them the discourse which Bell made in defence of going to the Church with a protestation It is also well knowen that Fa. Bosgraue the Iesuite at his first comming ouer into England went to Church vntill hee vnderstood that now it was become a signe distinctiue and was excused for that fact by his ignorance of the then present state of our Countrey himselfe comming from such places where it was not takē for so heinous a matter to go to the Protestants Church F. Alexander his felow Iesuite may much more fitly be said in the spirit of this author to be the deuils instrumēts in Scotland by bringing in a diuision of opinions about going to the puritanical assemblies after that the Catholikes there had been instructed by the secular priests of the danger therof forbore those meetings wherby it was become also there a signe distinctiue But whensoeuer any troublesome of any sort hath either in teaching or writing nourished this or any other diuision bending this way the Secular priests haue shewed themselues most vigilant constant in the defence of vnity and the safety of our English Church as it very well appeared by M. Io. Mush his labours against Bell in the North his M. Watsons confirmation of the Catholikes in Scotland against those Iesuits Fa. Alexander his felowes the standing against Fa. Walley and Fa. Southwel two Iesuits in the South by M. Collington and M. Charnock when these Iesuits did teach the Catholikes who were called to the barre openly at Assises or Sessions in the yeere 1591 that they might lawfully to keepe themselues out of prison for not going to the Church yeeld to goe to this or that learned Protestant to cōferre with him in matters of their faith which could imply no other at the least in the face of the world then a doubt of their faith or a contentment to be instructed in their faith by such as in their conscience they tooke for heretikes and consequently it was a deniall of their faith before men if this axiome keepe his old authority Dubius in fide est infidelis He that is doubtfull in his faith is an infidell But after all this trouble was ended Fa. Southwell as we vnderstand imployed M. Standish to tell M Charnocke that hee was now of mind that it was a thing vnlawfull And Fa. Walley told M. Collington that his meaning was onely that the Catholikes should go to the houses of the learned Protestants not to conferre with them but rather as a temporall punishment to quit them from going to prison which how ridiculous a shift it is any man of meane vnderstanding may easily perceiue and also what kinde of people they were whom it was likely the Councell did most fauour if they would debase themselues to deale in such offices as the Author of the Apologie doth here affirme And thus much for his second passage The third matter which here he affirmeth is that certaine Catholicks liked not that the Catholicke English Clergie should be restored at the least by way of a Seminary which was begunne at Doway which because it passeth my capacitie I will not enter into further then this that they were strange Catholicks of what nation soeuer they were that Seminary not hauing any rule by which the Students were bound to any thing more then to studie Diuinitie after which they might dispose of themselues as they would but this Author saith that those Catholicks their letters are yet to be seene and perchance they will come foorth with the larger Apologie and giue credite to this so strange an assertion In the meane while this Author will goe forward with the narration of those hurts and difficulties which vpon emulation haue fallen out in this our English cause vnder the Queene that now is especially concerning the Seminaries c. But first as it should seeme the Gentleman must haue a pipe of Tobacco for that his stomack is marueilous full and before he can come to this narration he must disgorge himselfe Hauing therefore told his Reader how that some Catholicks were against the restoring of the English Clergie as is before shewed thus he easeth himselfe And forsomuch as the principall and onely ground of this our present contention and scandalous controuersie is the very same disease of emulation partly of Lay men against Priests and partly of Priests against religious men especially the Fathers of the Societie with whom at this present they haue to do and that this emulation is accompanied with apparant wicked sisters and daughters as Ambition enuie hatred contention malice pride malediction and other like it is an easie thing for our brethren and others to discerne from what root these buds doe spring and consequently either to auoyd them in themselues or that other men be carefull to take heed of them See I pray you what lothsome stuffe here is and so peremptorily set downe as it doeth most
greater man in diuinitie then he is if they would haue omitted their course of charitie in helping their needy countrey and stayed to haue followed a course of more knowledge of which the Apostle said most truely in him Scientia inflat knowledge puffeth vp and it hath made him so to swell as he most insolently and contemptuously cōceiueth of others as of pigmies in diuinitie who perchance admire him as much that he is become such a monster informe ingens cui lumen ademptum euill fashioned and huge and one who hath his sight taken from him Yea the poore fooles who had hid themselues with a marueilous wise and sweet reseruation of themselues in a tub of hony as it seemed vnto them were fetched out by the eares in his 4. paragraph where he concludeth against them in this maner Ergo in regnum Christi Neutrales rebelles sunt Therefore the Newters are rebels against the kingdome of Christ But in the 5. paragraph he layeth on load and vseth as his blindnesse would suffer him this Canon of the Church against the Priests Nulli fas est and when he hath cited the Cannon he concludeth thus Ergo factiosi isti prostrati sunt ruinae suae dolore eo quod cōtraiuerint decretis Apostolicis That is Therefore these factious are ouerthrowne with the griefe of their owne fall because they haue gone against Apostolicall decrees But if any man should haue asked him for these Apostolical decrees where they went how when or by whom they had bene gone against he would haue told no tale of any other then a Cardinals letter which none but a skold to serue his turne would euer haue called an Apostolicall decree for other there was none vntill the 6. of April following In the 6. paragraph among other skolds tricks he doeth most liuely represent himselfe in the obiection which he putteth to himselfe Sed dicent fortasse Pontificem haec decreuisse non sano aliorum consilio incitatum O mendacium Quid numquid factiosis istis licebit in re grauissima tam impune tamque impudenter mentiri proferant si verū est suos testes ac alia argumenta quae sapientem conuincant De stultis enim nō ita curandū est quid sentiant quidue effutiāt That is But they may say perchance that the Pope was moued by the euil counsel of others to decree this O lie What shal it be lawful for those factious to ly so scotfree so impudētly in a matter of most great weight If that be true let them bring forth their witnesses or other argumēts which might conuince a wise man for as for fooles it is not to be regarded what they thinke or tattle in the seuenth paragraph he concludeth in this manner Nunc vos appello factiosos c. vos rebelles estis schismatici estis c. Now to you factious c. yee are rebels yee are schismatickes and are fallen from the Church and spouse of Christ ye haue troden vnder your feet the obedience which ye doe owe to the highest Bishop ye haue offended against all humane faith and authoritie in reiecting a morall certeintie in a morall matter ye haue runne violently into excommunication and irregularitie yee haue lost the faculties by which yee ought to haue gained soules to Christ ye haue giuen such a scandall to all the godly as ye are become infamous in euery mans mouth What shall I say more yee haue so offended by your disobedience against the chiefest vicar of Christ and against Christ himselfe the Iudge and reuenger as we may say against you with the Prophet Samuel Quasi peccatum ariolandi est repugnare quasi scelus Idolatriae nolle acquiescere that is It is as the sinne of southsaying to repugne and as Idolatry not to hearken See I pray you that ye are nothing better then Southsayers and Idolaters and ye who did not heare the Church speaking vnto you by the highest Bishop are as Ethnickes and Publicanes And here I make an end of saying very earnestly beseeching the very great God that he will flow into your minds the very force of his grace lest that being thrust into eternall destruction with Ethnickes and Idolaters yee abide immortall paines for this your so great disobedience and scandal To mine vnderstanding euery man wil say that the priests had reason to thinke the Iesuits and the Archpriest with their seditious adherents to be scolds most wicked slanderers and that in this matter the readers themselues might be sufficient witnesses for the priests for that this Iesuite and the rest his partners in him in accusing the priests and defending themselues haue prooued themselues very scolds in deed and the parable cannot be better applyed as I doe vnderstand it and the Iesuits with their adherents are like to haue but badde successe in the end if I am not deceiued which I leaue to the euent and triall yet one thing in the meane while to requite his tale of K. Edward I thought good to aduertise that King Edward not the Confessor or a former king but a good religious king of that name who liued long after K. Edward the Confessor and was the third of that name after the conquest amongst other enormous offenders which hee desired to haue grieuously punished or rooted out of his Realme as great disturbers of peace c. Falsarum querelarum assumptores manutentores fautores eorum are numbred that is beginners or followers of false accusations and their mainteiners and fauourers against whom this decree was made by Iohn Stratford Bishop of Canterburie in a Counsel Superno Dei munere c. vnde nos piae mentis dicti regis innitatione laudabili excitati audaciam huiusmodi perfidorum compeseere cupientes omnes malefactores praedictos taliter in posterum in nostra Cantuariensi prouincia delinquentes scienter praesenti authoritate Consilij maioris excommunicationis sententiam volumus pronunciamus incurrere ipso facto that is Wee mooued thereunto by the laudable solicitation of the godly minde of the saide king and desiring to aswage the audaciousnesse of these perfidious people wee will by the authoritie of this present Counsell and pronounce that all the aforesaid malefactors who shall hereafter wittingly so offend in our prouince of Canterburie do incurre ipso facto maiorem excommunicationem And so we leaue these false accusers of their brethren of schisme rebellion disobedience c. and their mainteyners and fauourers to reflect vpon themselues in what state they liue and wish them to goe seeke remedie where it is to be had and lie no longer wallowing in sinne which daily increaseth vpon them by diuers and those many very sacrilegious actions for which their affected ignorance will be no excuse To the third exception I answere that there is not any cause to note any such veine in that place for who knoweth not that it is a word in euery mans mouth a foole or a physicion and
they list In the first Chapter of the Apol. fol. 2. this author affirmeth that the principall or onely ground of this our present contention and scandalous controuersie is an emulation partly of lay men against Priests and partly of Priests against religious men especially the Fathers of the societie And in the 11. Chap. fol. 161. he sayth that the whole world knoweth that this cōtrouersie is of Priests with the Archpriest and that the stomacke against the Iesuits is for standing with the Archpriest By which besides the contradiction it appeareth how this poore mans memory doth faile him euen in the deciding betweene whome the controuersie is which hee vndertaketh to handle and determine 13 In the same Chapter fol. 6. and 7. the beginning of the association of secular Priests is attributed to the Priests vpon their comming into England A malicious deuise for to discredit the association intended by the priests after they were frustrated of their designments by F. Parsons dealing at Rome whereas his comming to Rome was in the yeere 1597. and not before as appeareth in this place and the association began in the yeere 1595. and F. Parsons was tolde thereof before hee came out of Spaine for Rome 14 Cap 3. fol. 20. The Iesuites care for pure stuffe to make priests of The bookes which are set out by the Priests are sayd to be done by such as went ouer Seruingmen Souldiers and wanderers which is most apparantly false if those were the authors which in the beginning of this Apologie are held to be 15 Fol. 21. It is sayd That the whole bodie and name of Iesuites is impugned which is most false as may appeare in the booke to the Inquisition pag. 5. 16 Cap. 6. fol. 27. D. Norden is saide to haue bene striken by God with a strange accident of repressing his tongue by dumbnesse vntill hee died which is most false hee dying no more strangely then all persons vse to die according to the maner as the sickenesse doth take them It is well knowen that he died of a Lethargie and that he spake many times after he was first taken therewith and died in all points as became a Catholike priest as there are many to witnesse who were present 17 Cap. 8. fol. 98. His Holines is sayd to haue resolued to yeeld to the erecting of a gouernment in England vpon a mature deliberation taken of certaine letters which by the date there set downe were written in England after that this gouernment was erected Conferre them with the date of the Card Caietanes letters of the institution of the Archpriest Martij 7. 1598. and the first of these here cited wil be seene to haue bene written in England about a moneth before 18 Fol. 109. The falsehood which is layd to M. Blackewel in his proposing false instructions and affirming them to haue been annexed to his Commission is shuffled ouer with an assertion that his instructions came with his letters which no man euer doubted of The exception was against those which were proposed for such and were not such 19 In the same leafe M. Blackewell his persisting in this error that we could not appeale from him to his Holines is shifted first in this maner We are sure he did not say it in the sense they take it Secondly thus Many men in the world might say this in diuers cases wherin Appeale is cut off by his Holinesse consent and order A couple of good ieasts The first is common to that sort of people to flie to secret senses to iustifie any thing whatsoeuer passeth them And it were not altogether so intolerable if they would vnder the pretence that sometime men may aequiuocate by the example of our Sauiour other his saints onely vse it to saue themselues from being taken for such as they are but they will pleasure their friends with the like and be as ready to giue a sense of other mens words as their owne but with this difference that if they can possibly deuise how to draw other mens words to an euill sense they will peremptorily affirme that those men spake their wordes in that sense And this their frowardnes towards others is sufficiently discouered cap 2. Apol fol. 16. where the priests assertions that authority is not an infallible rule of trueth and that but one vpon earth is warranted from error and not he in all things are called in question by this author vpon some his imaginary senses But in the late spritish manifestation of spirits cap. 1. hee discouereth himselfe egregiously in this kinde where confessing that Statutes haue bene made both by our ancient kings of England and by our protestant princes by which they haue forbidden prouisions from Rome of dignities Benefices he telleth his Reader very peremptorily that they priests do conspire and iumpe with the protestant and in a false and hereticall sense obiect the statute of Praemunire Which also he would seeme to proue by giuing a reason why the olde statutes were made as though neither the statute were to bee interpreted according to the contents thereof whatsoeuer was the cause of the making thereof nor the absolute prouision of dignities from Rome forbidden because the motiue of that statute was to keepe the treasure of England within the land which was raised by the benefices at that time annexed to the dignities But to make this his cauill more plaine the dignity of a legate had no spirituall liuing annexed vnto it and yet did those Catholike princes hold him to haue incurred the penaltie of the Statute of Praemunire who would exercise a power Legantine in England without the Soueraignes consent as may appeare by the answere of Card. Wolsey when they endighted him in a Praemunire vpon those statutes constrained thereunto sayth the history to intitle the King to his goods and possessions Iohn Stow 21. Hen. 8. My Lords iudges the Kings highnesse knoweth whether I haue offended his Maiestie or no in vsing of my prerogatiue Legantine for the which I am indited I haue the Kings license in my coffers vnder his hand and broad Scale for the exercising and vsing thereof in the most largest wise the which are now in the handes of my enemies Therefore because I will not stand in question with the King in his owne cause I will here presently confesse before you the inditement and put me wholly to the mercy and grace of the King trusting that he hath a conscience and a discretion to consider the truth and my humble submission and obedience wherein I might right well stand to the tryall thereof by iustice c. By which it appeareth that although his Maiesty who then was were mooued by some of his counsell infected with Luthers doctrine to condemne the Cardinal for vsing his power Legantine yet it is euident by this that when the King was most Catholike and the Cardinal also the Cardinall would not exercise his authoritie Legantine without the Kings license and
to the 2. and 11. Chap. of the Apol. where hee doeth too-much discredit himselfe as shal be there shewed But lest the Reader should conceiue according to the broadnesse of these termes we will here only note the propositions which he termeth scandalous and temerarious and so leaue them vntill their place come to be defended Authoritie is not an infallible rule of trueth in all who haue authoritie No man is bound in all things to beleeue or execute what euery man in authoritie ouer him shall put vpon him Archpriests and their superiors also the Archdeacons and other of higher degree haue done amisse and swarued from the trueth and who vpon earth is warranted from erring but one and not he in all things These propositions are put in the second Chapter of the Apol. fol. 16. and in the margent there is this note Dangerous and offensiue doctrine And in the same Chap. fol. 19. there is exception taken at this proposition The sacrament of Cōfirmation is either most necessary in time of persecution or altogether vaine and as a superfluous ceremony in Gods Church And in the margent there is this note set A very temerarious proposition and he proueth it because it is not absolutely necessary to saluation If this fellow had euer bene a Souldier he would haue conceiued the necessitie perchance of Armor and weapons in warres although no man will say that armor or weapons are absolutely necessary to the getting of a kingdom In the 11. Chapter here quoted there is nothing but a certaine remembrance of this point with a reference to the 2. Chapter where what is said shal be discussed and answered with lesse danger of the Inquisition then this good fellow is in And whereas here also it is said that by the Priests their owne letters it may be proued that they haue dealt expressely with the Queene and Counsell against the Fathers of the Societie and such as stand with them It is a false bragge and wil be taken for such vnlesse some other letter be forged then that which is cited in the 13. Chap. For this doeth not proue any such matter as any man may see These are the words in that letter fol. 210 I haue in some sort pacified the wrath of our Prince conceiued against vs and of her Counsell and haue layed the fault where it ought to be and proued that the Secular priests are innocent for the most part Which words cannot import that he who writ this letter had dealt against any but onely that he had dealt for some who were before thought to be as deepe in matters displeasing to the State as others the State being before out of doubt that there were such plots as were not beseeming subiects much lesse beseeming men of our calling and so much the more odious by how much the shew of piety is dangerous for the effecting of any stratageme And the Counsell thought that all had bene of one stampe wherein the Inditer of that letter affirmeth he hath otherwise enformed them and freed the innocent Now we wil see how this Author beginneth to close vp his Holines mouth with as notorious a falshood as any of the rest They haue obteyned saith he that foure of their seditious company that were in prison before haue libertie vnder the Queenes letters patents to ride vp and downe all England for a time to gather money and letters which few Cath. will dare to deny them least they detect them to the Councell c. This also is a meditation vpon the same letter which is before cited and is to be found in the 13. Chap. of the Apol. fol. 210. wherein are these words I haue by opening the case vnto their Honours and to Caesar obteyned that foure principall men shal be banished after a sort to follow the appeale D. Bagshaw Bluet Champney Barneley all prisoners they shall be here with me on Wednesday next A moneth they shall haue within the Realme to ride abroad for money amongst their friends and then chuse their port c. And from hence perchance this fellow had some part of his intelligence but how commeth he to inlarge himselfe so farre as to say that these Priests had her Maiesties letters Patents vpon what record hath he found this or doth he meane thereby to draw the Lord Keeper into question as though he stood now in his light for some what which he hath to effect all Letters patents being at his perill vpon record or doth he know any Cath. who in such quandaries did giue these Priests any money we knowe some who notwithstanding the great bond they had to some of them would not see them neither would the priests presse vppon them Some againe we know who were requested to giue somewhat to their iourney to Rome if not for loue of the men yet for the loue which they pretended to peace and to haue a final end of the controuersie which could not be had but at Rome and nothing would be giuen But this fellow careth not what he saieth to the Pope presuming perchance that by some way or other all accesse should be shut and his falshood should neuer bee discouered And thus forgetting that which hee saith in the Apologie cap. 11. fol. 162. that the intention of the Priests seemeth not to be to informe his Holinesse but to make a noise in England and to gaine time of libertie and to preoccupate some mens minds by making a shew that they appeale to the highest in this their controuersie but yet indeed would be loth that hee should know it and much lother to answere it before him especially this Pope c Here he telleth the Pope in this Epistle that the Priests are to passe into France and there by the helpe of the Queenes Ambassadors and other meanes to procure if they can his most Christian Maiesties letters to your Holines in their fauor pretending that they can get the Queene of England to giue libertie of conscience to some Catholicke vnder certaine conditions whereof some must bee that the Iesuits must goe forth of England All this is in handling most holy Father by the children of iniquitie against Gods cause and his seruants and will no doubt bring forth lamentable effects if your Holines doe not speedily put your hand thereunto In this Apologie we do lay downe by cleare historicall narration and authenticall testimonies the grounds of all Christ our Sauiour inspire your Holines c. In the 10. Chap. of the Apol. fol. 147. there is a prayer made to God by the Archpr. to giue him his grace so to vse Fa. Parsons benefits as that neuer he abuse them and that neuer hee fall into any ingratefull behauiour c. And in the margent there is this note A prophecie of the Archpriest to Fa. Parsons How much more worthily doeth this place in the Epistle deserue to be noted for a prophecie but perchance hee was loath that there should be any such
And if any haue since promised obedience to the Archpriest when they receiued their faculties they are ready to giue a reasonable cause why in such and such particulars they did not obey him For as I take it this fellow will not stand obstinately in this heresie that a superior cannot doe any thing or command any thing amisse wherein a subiect may refuse to obey him although he were sworne to obey him as now many are For such oathes are alwayes to be vnderstood to be obserued in iust and lawfull matters or at the most in such as are not to bee prooued most vniust and vnlawfull as these are which the Archpriest doth command to wit that they shal not defend themselues nor be defended of other from the infamie of schisme sedition faction rebellion and such like whereof they know themselues to be most cleere and that the suffering of such slanders to goe vncontrolled would bee most iniurious to themselues preiudiciall to Gods Church in which they liue as pastors and dishonorable to God himselfe to whose seruice they haue with their vttermost peril deuoted themselues But to make all apparant in one word the priests obeyed so soone as they knew it to be his Holinesse will that it should be so as appeareth by the second Breue dated 17 August 1601 if there were no other profe for it These are the words of the Breue Quae nostrae literae simulatque promulgatae advestram filij presbyteri notitiam deuenerunt omnem illico sedatam fuisse discordiam summam pacem reconciliata inter vos gratia depositisque odijs simultatibus initam fuisse magno nostro cum gaudio cognoutmus Which letters of ours the Breue so soone as they were promulged and came to your knowledge we perceiue to our great toy that all discord was presently appeased and that a full peace was made by a mutuall atonement and a laying apart all hatred and priuate grudge So that we doe not a little marueile at this fellow his boldnes who without any regarde of so many testimonies as would be brought against him or of this Breue would set foorth to the view of the world this vntrueth concerning the priests obedience at the sight of the Breue to induce his Reader to a contrary conceit of the priests actions For thus he telleth his tale But at length his Holinesse to resolue all doubts declared by his Breue that all and euery point of the former institution by the Cardinall was by his order consent knowledge and commandement and should not this haue brought some remorse to good and tender consciences of all the broyles and turmoiles raised vp before about this vnnecessary doubt Or at least wise should not this haue so appeased men for the time to come as that whatsoeuer the superiour had bene for his person yet should his authority neuer more haue bene called in question But what insued Truely we are afraid to recount it remembring that dreadfull saying of the Apostle Mali autem homines proficiunt in peius Euill men shal go frō worse to worse And it seemeth to haue come to passe for that diuers of these chiefe heads of this seditiō seeming to haue lost much of Gods grace in not obeying promptly that Apostolicall declaration determination haue run since to farre greater contempt and perturbation of mind c. Could this fellow haue vsed himselfe more malapertly against the Popes Breue then after his wonted and graceles conceits and insinuations to tell his reader that the Priests did not promptly obey that apostolicall declaration whereas the words of the Breue are most plaine to the contrary Quae nostrae literae simulatque promulgatae ad vestram filij presbyteri noticiam deuenerunt omnem ilico sedatam fuisse discordiam c. So soone as our Breue came to your viewe presently all discord was a appeased and peace was made c. which peace is in diuers discourses shewed to haue been broken by the Archpriest when complaint being made vnto him by the priests of that audaciousnesse of Fa. Iones the Iesuite in renewing his fellow Fa. Listers absurd and seditious assertion of schisme against the priests hee did not onely anouch asmuch now a fresh but published a resolution which he sayd hee had receiued from Rome to the same effect and with such appurtenances as might well declare how deepe a roote the infection had taken The other two points to wit of vndutifulnes and of scandalous temerarious propositions are handled somewhat confusedly But for the fuller satisfaction of the Reader they shal be answered as they lie And whereas this author doeth first begin to except against some speeches vttered by letters conteined in the English booke as cōtemptuously spoken of the dignity and office of the Archpriest and also of the maner of the institution thereof by his Hol. the reader is to vnderstand that in this there is very euil dealing cōsidering that those speeches which were vsed were vsed before it was knowen that his Holines had his finger in it And they were the more boldly vsed because it was presumed that the authority was not instituted by his Holines but by the Cardinall Caietane who in his letter constitutiue affirmeth that this was his owne ordinance although hee saith in one place in generall termes that he was commanded to make a peace in England vpō the false suggestion that the priests and Catholiks were at warres And in another place that hee followed the Popes will who thought it meet that there should be a subordination in England being induced thereunto by reason giuen him by priests whereas to this day neither were the reasons euer heard nor what priests they were who gaue them except perchance a few Iesuits who are exempted frō the authoritie Nothing then being knowen to the contrary but that it was a deuise of the Iesuits and an institution of the Card. Caietane by their meanes without any letters to one effect or other from his Holines as is here confessed in this Apol. Cap. 1 fol. 7. the priests might the more iustly terme the authority by such names as to them it seemed then to deserue to wit a new and extraordinary authority vnpleasing obtruded disorderly procured gouernment exorbitant and altogether dissonant from reason the accustomed practise of Gods Church and that it was already thought by the Councell to bee of purpose erected not for Religion but for the better effecting of plots and designments of State For although neither the title of an Archpriest be new nor the authoritie of an Archpt extraordinary yet may this authoritie be termed both new and extraordinary being such as was neuer heard of to haue bene before giuen to so meane a Prelate It was called an vnpleasing authority for that it was meerely affectiue as may appeare by the constitutiue letters and if it haue now any power to do any good to any the Prelate is to giue thankes for such thankes
apud Secretarios domesticos corum scriptores fere semper expeditae expectantibus accepta earum taxa pro rei natura scripturae mercede restituuntur There is a Cardinall skilfull in the Lawe saith Zecchius who is appointed ouer the office of the Breues who hauing leaue immediatly from the Popes owne mouth or by the relation of some other without any other warrant from him and without the supplication but onely hauing a small abbreuiation of the Breues vieweth the forme of the Breue addeth or diminisheth thereof as it shall please him and when he hath viewed his small abbreuiation of the Breue and set his hand vnto it be deliuereth it backe to those who presented it vnto him and so it is carried as warranted to those to whom it belongeth to make the Breues Hereupon are letters framed in forme of a Breue and written in thinne parchment and being written they are sealed with waxe vnder the Popes scale called annulus Piscatoris by the domesticall Secretaries and their writers almost alwayes and being dispatched they are giuen backe to those who wait for them paying the dueties according to the nature of the matter and the hire or reward for the writing Let vs now lay these matters together first how that Breues be made and his Hol. neuer readeth them nor yet the Cardinall who is president or chiefe in the office after that he hath giuen his warrant for the drawing of the Breue according to that which was shewed to him by the abbreuiator nor knoweth ought of the matter but what the procurer thereof suggesteth Secondly F. Parsons industry to further the plots which he hath layd Thirdly the credit which he hath in Rome by reason of the Spanish faction which he hath many yeres blinded in such sort with putting so great an Iland as England or Ireland or both in their eyes as they cannot see how vainely they wast themselues vpon the foolish promises of so meane a man Fourthly the fault which seemeth to be very great in the Breue where it referreth vs for proofe of a matter to a letter which doth not conteine that which the Breue saieth it doth Fiftly that it may come from diuers offices and no man can with reason blame the priests if they haue some doubt of the maner of procuring this Breue and also affirme thus much God knoweth out of what office it was procured Not accusing it notwithstanding of forgerie as this authour most iniuriously and falsly taxeth them Concerning the other accusation that the Priests doe seeke to drawe his Holinesse pious meaning into matters of State I answere that his Holinesse pious meaning was not knowen or that he had any part in the institution of this authoritie vntill his Breue came And if since this time by the Iesuites meanes or any others his Holinesse hath by any acte in Ireland or otherwise giuen the Councell cause to thinke that hee dealeth in State matters the priests in England are not to be charged with that which may thereupon fall out And it is said that it hath bene confessed by some who are in hold now in England that such a conceite was currant in Spaine that this Archipresbyterie was made for the furtherance of some State plots against our Countrey which at that time perchance was concealed from his Holinesse and a fayrer tale told him of pietie to winne him to institute it at their instance who hoping to get therby what they desired would in time bring the Church gouernement into a company of blind-deuout-obedient children vnder some elder or some Agent which had beene to take away all Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie and ancient approued gouernment in our Church But as it hath bene often sayd and is confessed in this Apologie the Breue came not in a yeere after the institution of this authoritie And therefore these are very malicious accusations and constructions of the priests their words which were written or spoken when they knew no other then that all proceeded from the Cardinall Caietane at the instance of the Iesuites whose troublesome and seditious State-humors were too well knowen in England and gaue too much cause to say more then euer the priests as yet haue said in this kind But now to make an end of this second chapter this author citeth an other proposition out of the English booke that is that confirmation is either most necessary in time of persecution or altogether vaine and as a superfluous ceremony in Gods Church Vpon which assertion thus he runneth which is a very temerarious and scandalous speech not to censure it any further but to leaue it to whom it belongeth But yet he will haue a blow or two at the legges of it at the least Let vs see his play for that the wordes vaine and superfluous ceremony are contemptuous phrases of the heretikes In good time good sir and you by this haue giuen vs some light how it could be possible that you should goe so farre out of the way as you doe not only here but euery where in this Apologie You haue read as we take it that saying of Elias Siautem Baal sequimini illum If Baal be God follow him Those latter words doe best serue your turne the whole proposition is too heauie for you Can you find in any of the priests books where they say that the sacrament of confirmation is a vaine and superfluous ceremony If you can then cite the place and you shall haue humble thankes for your paynes and shall thereby also put the priests in mind of such their temerarious and scandalous propositions If you cannot as we are most sure that you cannot then must you not be offended if we thinke that you set vp your rest vpon Sequimini illum the following of Baal and that your company will suite better with beasts then with men vpon whose last words none but such senselesse ecchoes doe take aduantage His Reader being preiudicially possessed by a cōment vpon the last words he imboldneth himselfe to say somewhat of the whole sentence to wit Neither doth it follow that albeit his Holinesse and predecessours hitherto haue not thought the vse of this Sacrament necessary in England during the time of our persecution as indeede to no man in any time is it absolutely necessarie to saluation therfore good Catholikes should esteeme it for a vaine and superfluous ceremony Note I pray you the pretie sleights which he vseth The priests did say that this Sacrament was either most necessary in time of persecution or els a vaine ceremonie And he telleth vs that albeit his Holinesse hath not thought it necessary in England during the time of our persecution as though his Holinesse could not thinke that this Sacrament of confirmation was most necessarie in the time of persecution and yet not iudge it necessary here and now in our persecution by reason of such misinformations as might be giuen him as if for example any should say vnto
that subordination Thirdly with what stomacke and auersion from all Christian peace the Iesuites proclaimed after that the peace was made that they all incurred the censures of holy Church who should dogmatizando mainteine that those Priests were not schismaticks who forbore to subiect themselues vnto the auctoritie before they saw his Holines letters in confirmation thereof and the Archpriest published that he had receiued a resolution from the mother City which afterwards hee explicated himselfe to some that it was from a paire of yong Iesuits to wit F. Warford F. Tichborne or from one of them The contents whereof were that these priests were schsmaticks which is now the true state of the question as none but most impudent companions can deny and the original of these present stirres And this the Archpriest his fact the author of this Apologie in the 11. chap fol. 168. calleth an angry Epistle and challengeth the priests in termes best fitting his Religious humor that for an angry Epistle they would breake out into such scandalous tumults and so leaueth the matter without telling what this angry Epistle was and that it was a proclamation that the Priests had liued a long time inschisme and what other matters must thereupon necessarily insue not onely to the discredit of those priests but also to the disturbance of many deuout Catholicks whose ghostly fathers they had bene during that time But since that this author hath proposed the true state of the questiō as he saith to be an opposition of a few against the whole streame of other Catholicks deuising particuler wayes for their preferring and there causing some to leape and slide Let vs do him the fauor to heare how he proceedeth with this his imagination And this saith he is the true state of the question let vs declare briefly the way and path how they came into this pit Thus he beginneth this declaration Wee haue vnderstood by Card. Allens letters before mentioned written to M. Mush the yeere that he died how he had vnderstood of a certaine emulation and deuision begun in England by some priests against the Fa. of the Societie and perhaps hee perceiued the same by no meanes more then by himselfe his speach and behauiour while hee was at Rome with him the very same yeere I doe nothing marueile that this good fellow would faine haue his Reader conceiue that the Priests began a diuision against the Iesuits For if he could perswade this he would not doubt but to deale well ynough with such fooles as cannot thinke that the Iesuits can giue any iust cause why the Priests should breake with them I marueile much that he is not ashamed so often to inculcate this letter of the Cardinall which if it make any thing in this matter it maketh against the Iesuits as we haue often shewed For first cōcerning the diuision the Fathers want of good correspondence is first placed the cause of discontentment not knowen and M. Mush a Secular Priest put in commission to be peremptory aswell with the Iesuits as the Secular Priests with whō the Cardinall knew he might be bold especially in so good an action as was the furthering of a peace where he was informed there was want And for the better satisfaction of such as will be satisfied we will once againe repeate the Card. letter as it is set downe in the second Chap. of Apologie fol 11. I haue heard saith he to my great griefe that there is not that good correspondence betweene the Fathers other Priests I cannot tell vpon what discontentment c. But whereof soeuer it commeth it is of the enemie and with all possible discretion and diligence by the wiser sort on both sides to be rooted out or els it will be the ruine of the whole cause c. And therefore in this point especially M. Mush be earnest and peremptory with all parties and euery one in particular and tel them that I charge and aduise them by the blessed Blood and bowels of Gods mercie that they honour loue and esteeme one another according to euery mans age order and profession And then he exhorteth those of the Secular order which is an argument that what went before did principally concerne the Iesuits The maner also of the Cardinall his writing doeth shew that what he conceiued of the diuision here supposed was by other meanes then by M. Mush For had he vnderstood it as this Author saith perhaps by no meanes more then by himselfe his speech and behauiour while he was in Rome without perhaps the Cardinall would not haue written vnto him after his departure in this maner I haue heard to my great griefe that there is not that good correspondence between the Fathers and other Priests I cannot tell vpon what discontentment but rather haue put him in minde what he had tolde him and would not haue bene left ignorant of the true cause or some colour of cause if M. Mush had discouered any such matter vnto him And whereas here is mention of M. Mush his behauiour while he was in Rome with the Cardinall we may verely beleeue that it was such as became an honest priest and that he gaue very great satisfaction not onely to the Cardinall Allen but also to many other hauing those graces and fauours at his returne which no man euer had before him to wit authoritie not onely for himselfe in diuers reserued cases but to giue to a certaine number of other priests whom he would name at his returne into England But marke I pray you what moueth this author to say that the Cardinal writ his letter vpon M. Mush his behauiour when he was with him at Rome the very same yeere For albeit saith he this man gaue out euery where that he went to Rome to enter into that order which many yeeres before he had pretended yet others that knew him better did soone discouer his alienation from them and that he pretended perhaps by his iourney to Rome to get some other dignitie Here there is another Perhaps to helpe the former For first it was perhaps that the Cardinall perceiued a certaine diuision by no meanes more then by M. Mush his behauiour and speech at Rome and now it is perhaps that he went to Rome for to get some other dignitie Good meditations for such spirituall guides and very charitable We will not here cite M. Blackwell his letter which was written in the yeere of our Lord 1596 which was two yeres after the Cardinals death wherein hee taketh on marueilously against all those who did affirme at Rome that there had bene strife or any falling out here in England which was worth the talking of although neither he nor any man els can denie but that the scandalous separation in Wisbich was begun by the Iesuits and their faction long before and is not to this day ended We wil onely request the religious spirit of the author of this Apologie to let vs
make their actions to be yours that if through your folly and their foule dealing they could preuaile in their most vniust and wicked attempt you shall feele the smart of your blindnesse in which now you glory And if they do not preuaile you must beare the shame of your wicked enterprise But what holes are those which these men are said to seeke in their superiors coats and what superiors are they Marke I pray how this author dischargeth himselfe of this matter as these men do both against the Cardinall Protector his auctoritie and person as also the Archpriest yea and his Holines also in couert words so far as they dare What man so farre is they dare what is that which they would dare against his Holines Forsooth perswading the people that he hath beleeued false information did any man euer dare to say what and perswade the people also that the Pope could beleeue false information marry sir here was such a nole found in his coate as himselfe could neuer haue seene Here was Christs vicar himselfe very strangely abused and thereby appointed a subordination most inconuenient Were all those Popes fooles whose letters are cited in the common Law de rescriptis the Bishops also to whō they did write in such forme as they did acknowledge they might be and were often mis-informed and did many things otherwise then they would haue done if they had bene truely informed Si quando saith Pope Alexander the third to the Archbishop of Rauenna cap. si quando de Rescriptis aliqua tuae fraternitati dirigimus quae animum tuum exasperare videntur turbarinon debes Et infra Qualitatem negotij pro quo tibi scribitur diligenter considerans aut mandatum nostrum reuerenter adimpleas aut per literas tuas quare adimplere non possis rationabilem causam pretendas quia patienter sustinebimus sinon feceris quod praua nobis fuerit insinuatione suggestum That is If at any time we direct any things vnto your brotherhood which seem to exasperate your minde you ought not to be troubled thereat And afterward Hauing diligently considered of the quality of that busines of which wee write vnto you either fulfill our commandement reuerently or pretend some reasonable cause by your letters why you cannot fulfill it For we will patiently beare that you do not that which was by bad insinuation suggested vnto vs. Other Chapters there are there to be seene to this effect which in this place would be needlesly cited Onely this will suffice to shew that it hath bene long since seene that Popes could be falsly informed and thereby also appoint a matter most inconuenient And yet this was neuer taken for a hole in the Popes coat But what more is there concerning this hole not heard of in the Church before The day would blinde Hugh faine haue seene and those that are deafe would gladly heare when it was euer heard of in the Church before that an Archpriest was made Superior ouer all the Secular cleargie of two whole kingdomes as now M. Blackwell is of England and Scotland And that it is against all equitie and iustice and that his Holines could not lawfully appoint it without their consents The accepting of the auctoritie at the sight of his Holines Breue doeth conuince that the priests neuer stood vpon his absolute authoritie but vpon the custome which by Law is also confirmed that they should chuse their superior which M. D. Bishop touched and proued in his reply to F. Parsons pa. 151. and it is handled since more at large by M. D. Ely pag. 190. to 196. And that the meanes by which he had appointed is insufficient binding no man to obey it If this man do meane that the priests did not take the Cardinals letter as sufficient to binde them to obey it it is very true that they thought those meanes insufficient and they haue giuen diuers proofes of the insufficiencie thereof If he meane any other matter he must explicate himselfe For other meanes the priests did not know vntil they saw the Breue at which time they did all submit themselues vnto it All which must argue great insufficiencie defect and lacke of cōsideration in his Holines proceeding They should haue had more honestie who gaue the false information and their fault was the greater because so great a trust was reposed in them by his Holines And to mend these holes in the Popes coat I would gladly vnderstand why the two priests who were first sent to his Holines were clapt vp close prisoners before they could haue accesse vnto him If his Holines could not beleeue wrong information then might the Iesuits and the Sbirri with more credit haue bene at their iayles then seeking to imprison such as came to informe his Holines If his Holines could beleeue wrong informations and that these good men therefore ioyned together to apprehend and imprison the two priests then is this hole in his Holines coate patched vp againe that the Priests dared to perswade the people that he hath beleeued false informations for this implieth that he could And thus much for the holes in his Holines coat a pretie slubbering kinde of answere to the priests reasons The Protectors turne should be next but this author will owe him the patching vp of his holes and will goe helpe the Archpriest And as for the Archpriest their immediate superior saith he though in words they acknowledge his authority c. yet doe they seeke by all meanes possible to discredit both him his authority and person The first matters seeme to concerne him and his person as that he is charged about his doubling in his instructions and about an heretical proposition But how are these things answered the first is thus awarded We cannot apprehend how it could be spoken the second thus If M. Blackwell should say as wee are sure hee did not in the sense they take it two poore shifts But to the Apologie as it lieth And here in this place they will needs raise a certaine cauill against him the Archpriest or his persō saying that he doubled in his speech with M. Collingt and M. Charnock for of their two relations onely all these matters are raised against him vt in ore duorū vel trium testiū saith our Sauiour Matt. 8. stet omne verbum that euery thing be tried by two or three witnesses when at the first comming of the Cardinals letters and instructions he conferred them confidently with these two but this his confidence wrought in him a marueilous confusion when hee was taken tardy vpon too great a confidence of an vncleanly conueyance who so dutifully interpreted his speeches as first they said he was contrary to himselfe and affirmed his instructions to haue come from Rome together with his letters which is most true and they are to be seene vnder the Cardinals hand and seale c. Marke how this matter is shuffled vp He was neuer
a thing called an Appeale he kept a fowle stirre by some of his seditious Agents against the Appellants An other reason was because they had a desire that their cause should be knowen sufficiently abroad which could not bee knowen too much in their conceit who sought nothing but a trial of the trueth and for iustice against their vniust defamers But what this author hath to say against these bookes you shal heare in the next Chapter and if you wil haue an answere from him to this question proposed fol. 148. which part hath broken the peace you must goe picke it vp where you can now you know his worships minde CHAP. 16. How the two bookes against which the Apologie is written are sleightly runne ouer with a few cauils against them Apol. cap. 11. IN the eleuenth Chapter the author of the Apologie intendeth to shew how false slanderous and iniurious the two bookes are which the Priests set forth whereof one was in Latine to his Holinesse the other in English entituled The Copies of certaine Discourses He will also shew how highly the writers and publishers offended God and all good men thereby Lastly he will defend certaine particular men that are slandered therein And first he beginneth to shew how God was offended supposing still that credite must be giuen vnto him in all which he sayth Now sayth he fol. 160. are we come gentle Reader almost to the last but the most loathsome part of all our answere which is to handle and examine in particular the two contumelious libels c. And after a holy protestation against so base and wicked a spirit neuer so much perchance as imagined that it should be so manifest in himselfe doth here and since in his Manifestation of spirits and a certaine Latine libell entituled Appendix c. he telleth his gentle Reader that the sinne of libelling is to be considered how grieuous it is in the sight of God how great censures are layd thereon c. O how would this man make a saint with a little helpe but his gentle Reader demaundeth of him where all these considerations were when the Iesuits writ their discourse aduersus factiosos in Ecclesia against the factious in the Church where were these considerations when this libell was generally approoued by their fellow Iesuits the Archpriest and all that seditious crew which adhered vnto them in this sinnefull acte whereby many Catholicke priests were most maliciously and most vniustly defamed and to omit other most malapert and scornefull speeches were in spirit exclaimed against in this sort Vos rebelles estis c. Yee are rebels ye are schismatickes and fallen out of the Church the spouse of Christ you haue trampled vnder your feete the obedience which is due to the sea Apostolicke yee haue rushed into excommunication and irregularitie ye haue so scandalized the godly that ye are euery where infamous ye haue by disobedience sinned against the chiefe Vicar of Christ and against Christ himselfe the Iudge and Iusticer See I pray you how that ye are nothing better then Southsayers and Idolaters and as Ethnicks Publicans because you obeyed not the Church when it spake vnto you by the highest Bishop And all this sturre was because the priests did not accept of the new authoritie vpon the sight of a letter written by one that was neither the highest Bishop nor the lowest nor yet any Bishop at all nor of any such credit as he was to be beleeued in this matter as hath beene sufficiently prooued by M. Doctor Ely in his notes vpon the Apologie and M. Collington in his defence of the slandered priests and was diuersly touched before in other their bookes But where were these godly considerations when this libell so senslesse false and scandalous was written and published how was God offended hereby or was hee not in your pious wisdome were any censures incurred hereby of the Church or any punishments deserued which the ciuill lawe inflicteth vpon Libellers In whom was that base and wicked spirit against which you so godly inueigh in this place when Iesuites the Archpriest and their faction were authours spreaders or approouers of such things where were these godly meditations when the Archpriest after the peace made did spread and approoue that scandalous libell or resolution as hee termed it from the mother citie that the refusers of the appointed authoritie were scismaticks I will omit to speake of that base and wicked spirit which caried certain gentlemen from house to house as he doeth the mountebanks from towne to towne with certaine libels against particular men where they seeme to striue whether they can excell those mountebanks in shamelesse and vngracious relations I will here say nothing of that base and wicked spirit which maketh euery one of the factious adherents to the Iesuits and Archpriest a most infamous and scandalous Libeller against such priests as did delay to accept of the Archpr. before they saw iust cause and denyed afterward that they had bene schismatickes during the time of that delay I will not vrge this fellow his Manifestation of spirits in which all his holines which he pretendeth many other wayes is discouered to be nothing but hypocrisie I will onely stand vpon this Apologie in which I haue shewed and shall yet discouer so many falshoods and slanders as no man of indifferencie can deny but that it is a most notorious libell and proceeded of a most base and wicked spirit And so I will leaue it to the authour his own iudgement here giuen what sinne it is to libell how grieuous in the sight of God and man and how great censures and extreame punishments are due vnto him for it when hee shall come to his answere as the priests haue bene in the face of the whole world which in the opinion of all learned men hath freed their bookes from the ignominious name of libels But here are certaine circumstances which aggrauate the matter against the priests as first that a religious communitie is here defamed but this is false for the societie is not touched by the priests but certaine men of the society such as we hope the whole society will not beare out in their wicked courses And if they should beare them out therein and thereby make themselues a party then must the religious community expect no other priuiledge then any other irreligious company And I cannot but marueile how M.D. Ely in this Epistle to M. D.W. prefixed to his notes vpon the Apologie blameth the Priests for opposing themselues as he mistaketh them against the whole society for they haue not in all their bookes vsed any such generall termes as may include the whole bodie of the societie when they haue spoken of Iesuits but in handling particular matters haue sufficiently discouered whom they haue ment when they haue spoken of Iesuits yea they haue in plain termes and particularly affirmed and published in print that they doe not touch the body of
there was most vnchristianlike dealing that his Holinesse must be perswaded to shuffle vp matters of so great moment in our Church to whome were presented in the priests their appeale most euident proofes of the Iesuites and the Archpriest their disorders in the managing of our Church affaires And as for the style in which his Holinesse is sayd to haue written this latter Breue we leaue it to others to scan who haue list thereto and can vnderstand how great the iniuries haue bene and are still offred vnto Catholike Priests without any one word of satisfaction to be made therfore to them who haue bene iniured and let men of learning who haue read or hereafter may read the priests their bookes to his Holinesse and the Inquisition iudge whether it was not most necessary for the priests to publish in their owne defence and the priests will not be their owne Iudges whether they haue done or doe still as they may in conscience doe in publishing vntill their fame be restored which was vniustly taken away by the Iesuites in their seditious treatise of schisme and the Archpriest his pretended resolution from Rome and the controuersie decided which hath bene the cause of all these troubles for vntill this matter be fully ended and the Catholikes satisfied that the priests did as become Catholike priests to doe there will be hope that his Holinesse will not debarre the priests of such meanes as the lawe of Nature alloweth them in the purging of themselues of such crimes as their silence must needes argue a guiltinesse in and their owne consciences tell them they must vnder grieuous sinne free themselues from them But marke I pray you what deuises this fellow doth vse to haue the priests forget the abuses which were offered vnto them by the Iesuites and their faction And for himselfe his Holinesse seeing that the chiefe complaint and offence and petra scandali as it seemed was about the name of schisme and schismatikes he is saide to haue taken that wholly away in this cause both the matter and name it selfe See how he would haue his reader to thinke that this controuersie was about certaine names as though there was neuer any reall schisme laid to their charge Were the Iesuits such blocks as that they would for certaine names exclaime in this manner against the Secular priests Harken O ye factious ye are rebels ye are excommunicated ye are fallen from the Church ye are nothing better then Soothsayers and Idolaters and as Ethnickes and Publitanes besides the terrours of eternall damnation Were the Catholikes so barbarous that for certaine names they would in this time of persecution thrust Catholike priests out of their doores and some with most impudent faces some like eaues-droppers runne or creepe about to diswade the Catholikes from harbouring them or giuing them any maintenance But let vs see how his Holinesse is said to take away the name and matter it selfe in this Breue forsooth forbidding any bookes treatises or writings to be made read or held thereof and about that controuersie This is a faire taking away of a matter let vs then suppose that there be no more bookes treatises or writings made read or held hereof and about that controuersie I aske whether the Priests were schismatikas or no or what is this after-prouidence or order to the purpose for matters past If the priests had bene as wickedly disposed as the Iesuites and had procured an infamy to haue runne farre and neere against them without iust cause as this of Schisme against the priestes hath bene prooued to haue bene most vniustly spread abroad how could they thinke themselues cleared of any such slander only by an after-suppressing thereof or how could they thinke that thereby any satisfaction were made vnto them But gladly would this authour haue it so that the priestes being asked the cause of these present stirres might be debarred of giuing the true cause thereof for then might their aduersaries iustly triumph against them as troublesome people and clamarous and that they had busied themselues they knewe not why or wherein Had these Iesuites and their adherents halfe that valor in them which they would be thought to haue they would not for very shame indent with their aduersarie that he must come to the field without his armes and themselues armed from the head to the foot or were they men of that wisedome of which their followers take them to be they wold neuer haue committed so great a folly as to leaue no other hope of helpe for themselues then to procure that their aduersarie must bee forbidden to pleade for himselfe If it be true as their Libels will prooue it that they accused Catholike priests of schisme why should any priest be afraid to say that he was in such maner accused And if for quietnesse sake the name must be auoided why for quietnesse sake should not the course be altered which was taken against Catholike priests when the Catholike Laitie was in that manner seduced by the Iesuites to vse that sinfull name when they named or spake of Catholike Priests But it is no matter perchance howe priests be abused by the new illuminated so that they be not hereafter named Schismatickes and therefore this authour professeth that he procured to auoid it in his Apologie though not knowing of this expresse prohibition For saith he indeede the thing it selfe did euer mislike and grieue vs. Weladay weladay what thing was that which misliked and grieued you was it the wickednesse which was committed in the slandering so many Catholike priestes as would not contrary to the Canons of holy Church and vpon many iust reasons sacrifice to an Idoll who how well soeuer it was meant vnto him by him who had authority had notwithstanding no authority at that time at which he challenged it as hath bene euidently proued in the priests their bookes did you euer mislike that Catholike priests should be contemned and dispised by euery factious and seditious companion who vpon hope of some gaine thereby would fit your eares yea and your hearts with a placebo without any regard of them to whom they owed loue and duetie harken I pray you what it was which misliked and grieued this fellow that so much contention and falling out should be about a matter in the aire where no man was named in particular This then was it which grieued this good fellow that the priests would not be called and vsed like Schismaticks but would proue themselues to be Catholike priests and to haue discharged themselues in all points as became Catholike priests But this seemeth very strange that Schisme against which there are so grieuous lawes in Gods Church and against which F. Lyster the Iesuit and his fellowes the Archpriest and all his faction inueyed so bitterly and seduced the Laity in such sort as they did as it were schismatically make a diuision in prayer and communication and Sacraments euen from their dearest friends
the matter they doe adde of their owne in their English translation the word Here which is not in the Latine to the end it may seeme to tie the Protectors office to the place it selfe which is most absurd to any man that will consider the meaning of these words which is that the Protectors office is giuen ouer any nation order of religion or the like to protect or defend them in all occasions with his Holinesse and his successors vnderstood by the words Sea Apostolike whether it be in the Court of Rome or out of Rome for when the Pope lay at Auignon in France for examples sake yet was the office of Protector also in vse And when Cardinall Caietane our late Protector was Legate in France and Polonia his office of Protectorship ceased not whensoeuer hee would deale in any matter c. and this is sufficent for this first point which seemeth to include both folly and audacitie In this story were first to be answered why apud nos is thus translated Here with vs But I wil leaue this to Grammer boies who know that this word apud doth import a place consequently in the very nature of the signification and as I thinke neuer vntill this day was this translation iudged faultie est apud me he is here with me or est apud illum hee is there with him and it cannot but argue a greater will in the Appendix-maker then power to finde a fault The rest of the story is as absurd for who did euer say that a Protector did leaue his office when he was out of Rome the priests words are that it did not stretch further then the Court of Rome which are true although the protector be in Polonia for although hee be there in person yet may hee deale by letters in the Court of Rome and at Rome and all this while although the man who hath authority be farre from Rome yet his authoritie in that kind stretcheth it selfe to deale no further then in the Court of Rome And put the case that the Pope should goe againe to Auignon and come no more at Rome this fellow will not denie that he remaineth still Bishop of Rome and that as Bishop of that Sea hee gouerneth the Church and consequently there must be the Court of Rome and not in Rome for that as I take it the Court is where the prince is and this way also are the words true which were vsed that the Protectors office stretched not it selfe any further then the Court of Rome wheresoeuer that Court is kept And this is sufficient for to shew the folly and audacitie of the Appendix-maker who would take vpon him to correct what it seemeth he vnderstood not In hoc Consistorio c. In this Consistory that is the College of Cardinals or the Popes Counsel saith Zechi de statu Illust D. Card. Num. 9. euery Prouince and congregation of regulars and kings haue their fathers gardians which are called Protectors who in the Consistorie doe propound the elections and other causes of the Prouince committed vnto them and answere to those who oppose against them And for the second sayth he about demurring vpon his Holines letters we iudge it to be of much more importance and far more perillous yea temerarious doctrine for if it be lawfull for any man as our brethren here auerre to demurre vpon his Holinesse letters with minde to giue a reasonable cause thereof afterwards what end will there be of strife what obedience what resignation of willes and iudgements to our Superiours commandements c. See how this ignorant companion vrgeth it as perillous and temerarius doctrine notwithstanding he was shewed in The hope of peace that it was most Catholike doctrine and according to the ordinances of holy Church and he was referred for his learning to the order of Pope Alexander the third Cap. Siquando de Rescriptis where the Pope writeth in this manner to the Bishop of Rauenna Si quando c. If at any time we direct any thing to your brotherhood which may seeme to exasperate your minde you ought not to be troubled and afterward hauing considered vpon the qualitie of that businesse for which you are written vnto either reuerently fulfill our commandement or signifie some reasonable cause by your letters why you cannot fulfill it for we will beare it patiently if you shall not doe that which hath been or shall be suggested vnto vs by euil insinuation There is in the same place another saying of the same Pope cited Cap. Cùm teneamur de prebendis dignit to the same effect and this poore fellow not being able to make any answere hereunto telleth his blind obedient a tale of obedience as though this Pope Alexander had exhorted men to disobedience when hee told them that they should giue him a cause by their letters why they did not or could not do as they were commanded by him In the eleuenth leafe for want of matter in the hope of peace he falleth into the Copies of discourses and according to the erronious vaine in which he was in the Apologie hee excepteth against that which is said by the Priests that authoritie is not an infallible rule of trueth in all who haue authoritie and out of that which is said that but one vpon earth is warranted from error and not he in all things And hereupon he inferreth thus how sayth he can our English people assure themselues but that this institution of the Archpriest was one of the things wherein he might erre By what Law Logicke or Diuinitie can this fellow shew that his Holines cannot vpon false information doe a greater matter then the confirmation of an Archpriest in the authoritie of an Archpriest It was woont to be no temerarious or perilous doctrine to affirme that a Pope could commit a sinne which is a greater matter then not to be well aduised in the institution of an Archpriest for the sinne groweth of frailtie in the man and euill aduise or information by which the Archpriest is instituted in his office may come from another in whome his Holinesse may repose a trust and be deceiued All the rest which followeth in this eleuenth lease is often answered in the priests bookes and lately more at large by M. Doctor Ely in his notes vpon the Apologie and by M. Collington in his iust defence c. and there is a reason giuen in the place quoted in the 11. leafe of that which is there brought out of the hope of peace And the fault or disgrace which this fellow would should light vpon his Holinesse concerning the institution of the Archpriest in that manner that it was the Priests haue alwayes layd vpon the informers who procured such dealing as was in a matter of so great moment neither haue the priests challenged the ordination at any time for a matter of plot as proceeding from his Holinesse but as it proceeded from the Iesuits who were known to