reported how the same S. Francis had a revelation from heaven that the aforesaid Friar Helias should doe pennance for his sinnes and not be damned at all This shall you reade in the Chronicle of the Friar Minors tom 1. cap. 118. And such as will take paines to peruse S. Brigids revelations conserre them with our legends of Saints lives shall finde innumerable examples of like kind One Saint having a revelation directly contrary to what hath beene revealed unto another Notwithstanding that there is but one God one truth And we may be enduced or rather enforced to beleeve that these revelations visions and apparitions of S. Francis and Simon Stoc if any such were were meere satanicall illusions no divine revelations for that they promise that certitude and assurance of salvation in this life which is repugnant to sacred Writt the uniforme consent of the Primitive Fathers the uniforme consent of Generall Councells and the beliefe both of our holy Mother the Church and all her obedient children even unto these times as I have aboundantly proved in my Epistle to Pope Vrbanns and not necessary heere to be repeated againe And therefore I will conclude this first point with that of the Apostle Golat. 1. That if an Angell from heaven shall come and preach unto us contrary to what we have received Anathema sir But yet to give scope to a more full and ample discourse of this Argument let us admit for the present that S. Francis and Simon Stoc had received by divine revelation That whosoever shall dye in the habit of the one and the scapular of the other should undoubtedly be saved for it may not bee denyed but such certitude may be had by divine revelation Examples we have of the Scriptures of the two glorious Apostles S. Peter S. Paul of S. Mary Magdalen some others for the arme of our Lord is not shortned nor his power abridged Yet say I conformable to the doctrine of holy Church as afterward shall bee prooved that this can be no assurance or security unto others who are not partakers of the said visions and revelations to beleeve that doctrine because what is of divine authority unto one is but of humane and sallible authority unto another For say that Peter knoweth a thing to come by certaine divine revelation yet the same shall be to Patrick but onely a humane relation received from the lips of Peter a mortall man subject to error and mistaking to deceive and to be deceived and being but in via non in termine peccable in thought word and deed and therefore we see the Church whose wisdome is from the holy Ghost never to canonize any person though reputed never so holy while they are in the flesh and till such time as their sanctity be attested by signes and wonders from heaven As then S. Francis before his conversion was of life conversation like unto others of his rank quality not much scrupulous of the offence of God till he came unto the age of twenty five as may appeare both by the first words of his Testament Quia cùm essem in peccatis c. as also by his life written by Bonaveniure So albeit I confesse the a d and better part of his life after his conversion dedicating himselfe unto the service of God was as a threed more evenly ipun then the former yet not altogether without some knotes as may be knowne by his own confession when on a time so journing in the pallace of the Cardinall De S ta Cruce and in the night-time being beaten of the Devills he repayred in the morning to the presence of the aforesaid Cardinall to whom he related what he had endured and then added Men that know me not repute me as a Saint but behold how the devills who know me well doe handle and chastice me for my sinnes So he Chron fras minor toni I cap. 13. Out of all which I doe inferre that a vision or revclation is not therefore authenticall or to be believed because such a person who after â—is death was canonized for a Saint did in his life-time avouch the same either by word or writing because it is necessary for my pâ—ucent assent unto such visions or revelations that the same be canonized for supernaturall infallible truths which cannot be but by authority of holy Church which hath canonized for certaine and infallible verities no other mens workes sayings or writings then those of the Prophets and Apostles as that Angelical Doctor S. Thomas hath in these words Innititur fide nostra rev Lationi Apostolis prophetis factae qui canoricâ—s linos scripserunt non autem revelationi si qua fuit aliis doctoribus facta 1 2 q. 1.8 2 d. 2 dum Our faith is grounded upon revelation made unto the Apostles and Prophets who wrote the canonicall bookes not to revelation if any such was made to other Doctors For which doctrine he cites also S. Aug. in his Epistle unto S. Hierom Epist 14. in these words Solis enim scripturarum libris qui canonici appellaneny didici hune honorem deferre â—t unllum autherum corum in scribendo errasse aliquid firmissime credam Alios autem it a lego ut quantalibet fanctitato doctrinaque prepolleant non ideo verum putem quod ipsi it a senserunt vel scripserunt Onely to the books of Scripture which are called canonicall I have learned to give that honour that I most firmely believe that none of the Authors thereof have erred in writing but other writers I so read that with how great sanctity or learning so ever they doe excell I doe not therefore believe a thing to be true because they have so judged or so written So S. Aug. Now future glory in Heaven being a supernaturall object cannot by humane knowledge or morall certitude be assured unto us but either not all or by divine faith which though not cleare and evident yet excelleth in certitude and infallibility all scientificall knowledge whatsoever And this I say to answere those who happily in defence of their errors in the aforesaid revelations will say that albeit indeed they be not to be believed by a divine and a supernaturall faith yet may they be certaine unto us exáio tapite that is from some other topicall argument which in truth is as much as if they said nothing preaching an infallibility of the aforesaid visions and revelations then brought unto cheir justification they answere us with nothing but historicall legends and I pray God not rather fabulous and meere humane possibilityes When the poore soule in the meane time trusting unto habits and scapulats as Oracles of truth rockes of a sure foundation at the evening and perclose of life findes it selfe irreparably deceived in puncto descondit in infernum in a moment for misbeliefe siukes downe to hell whence neither the habit of S. Francis nor the scapular of the Carmelites nor the saturday
France and now of late brought into Italy and maintaines this custome contrary to the law yea to be more reasonable then the law it selfe namely that men of the laity rather then of the Glergy should be used as executioners in the aforesaid cases Those who desire to set moe examples of this nature let them read Sotus de Iure Iustitia Suarez or Lessius of the same Argument Now then to come home unto our case in hand I meane of civill causes commenced pleaded and determined in the Kings Courts the defendants being as well ecclesiasticall as lay persons in these Kingdomes of Britanny May we not perswade our selves that a custome so universally received and without interruption continued since the Conversion of the Saxons under Pope Gregory the great and King Ethelbert of England for the space of a thousand yeeres and upward may not take place of the Canon that sayth Preists in all causes must be presented before ecclesiasticall Iudges Cap. Qualiter de Iudicijs especially it being no lesse a law and a Canon of the Church as hath beene before observed That the customes of places being reasonable may derogate from the law written Ext. de consuetudinibus declared above by some examples Now then must I needes bee foreed to beleevâ—â— that all our Kings Bishops Nobles Iudges and Magistrates by whose authority Ecclesiasticall persons were convented in civill causes before secular Tribunals for a thousand yeares and upward did all live and dye excommunicated throwne out of the Church as perished members without hope of salvation when as among our English Kings themselves sixe of them were canonized Saints of which honor no other kingdome of the earth can glory namely King Oswald Etheldred Edmund Richaâ—d Edgar and Edward the Confessour many Bishops as S. Augustine S. Anselme Dunstaâ— Thomas all Archbishops of Canterbury Richard of Yorke Cutbeâ—t of Duresme Thomas of Hereford c. Alas while these and the rest of our country men were bound in the setters of Excommunication where were our gray and blacke Friars and the other zealous Regulars whose parts it was at the least after their arrivellto have anmonished both prince and people of their errors to have preached and published bookes condemning that practise so coâ—ary to the lawes as these maintaine of holy Church was the Pope and Roman court also asleepe for so many ages and would not enforme their spirituall children of so great a violation of the Canon had they misliked thereof Nay rather is it not the universall consent of all divines together with the Canon it selfe That the permission of the Pope in any Church law seeing the same either from the beginning not to be observed or by contrary custome antiquated and notwithstanding is silent and makes no opposition thereunto excuseth the subject from sin as presumed to approve and allow of the said practise See for this glan cap. in ist is § leges dist 4. in c. de treu pace in cap. cum multi 15. q. ult For so much then as it is certaine that as well ecclesiasticall as secular superiours may oblige their subjects albeit never so unwilling to obey their iust lawes so often then as they see the same lawes not to be observed and passe it over in silence they sieme thereby contented therewithall and such silence and taciturnity of the Law-giver may by the subiect according to the former rules be expounded a full consent and approbation of his practise Adde hereunto the observation of a late English Franciscan whose true name I understand is Dampart and his usurped Franciscus à sincta Clara in his late booke Deus Natura Gratia in which as my country man Edmund Bunny laboured in his treatise tending to Pacification to reconcile the Roman Catholiques to the Protestant profession So this Friar of the contrary by his glosses and paraphrasticall expositions labours to draw the Articles of the english confession to the Catholicke and Roman doctrines But let the Friar wring and wrest till he be weary he shewes himselfe but a time server a slatterer and a meere Alchimist adulterating both the doctrine of them and us and seeking to please both a inst reward for such a worke contenteth neither of whom it may be said as of the dead serpent stretched all along upon the grasse Amo sic vixisse oportuit yea so thou shouldest have lived The serpent all his life long lives crooked onely after death is straight so are many at this day both in their lives and doctrines very crooked onely death teacheth them how they ought to have lived themselves and how to have taught others to the example of the Apostle 2. Cor. 2. Non enim sumus sicut plurimi adulterantes verbum Dei sed ex sinceritate c. For we are not as very many adulterating the word of God but of sincerity and as of God before God in Christ we speake Well I must not forget for all my digressió wherefore I brought the Friar upon the stage namely for a testimony against his fellow Triars of this kingdome to shew how unlike to untuned Virginalis their wires doe jangle these maintaining that civill actions against a Priest must be heard and determined in the Bishops consitory the English Friar in the Kings courts for which he produceth his authors His words are as follow in his paraphrase upon the 27. article Confess Anglicana Regibus autem nostris fursse sic eoncessum jus nominandâ— providendi de beneficys testatur post alios Harpâ—feldius seculo 14 fursse etiam aliam consuctâ—â—dinem ex privilegio ort am immemorialem causas Clericorum cognoscendi patet ex decisione Rotae 804. ut communiter citatur To our Kings was granted the right of nomination and provision of benefices as after others witnesseth Harpsfeild in the 14. age As also another custome time out of minde sprung from a priviledge of taking knowledge of the causes of Clergy men as appeareth by the decision of the Rota as it is commonly cited So the English Friar This Do. Harpsfeild as I take it was Archdeacon of Canterbury in Queene Mary her dayes and continued the ecclesiasticall history of England froÌ„ Venerable Bode his time to his owne Decisiones Rota are the very life and quintessence of the Canon law so called from a known office in Rome called the Rota But neither of these bookes are with me for which I use the Friars quotation And now the infirmity of my body not permitting me to proceede further which for the space of these 2. moneths hath much afflicted me and dayly encreasing upon me I am forced thus abruptly to breake off rather then to make an end Beseeching almighty God of his infinite mercy to grant me and all my Adversaryes and all those who professe the name of Iesus Christ to live and dye in true faith hope and charity And so hoping to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living I take my
leave of the world Mundus non mundar sed mundus polluit Ergo Qui manet in mundo Quomodo mundus erit But how truly may I say with old Tobias Great art thou O Lord who dost wound and heale who brings unto the gates of death and backe againe Tob. 13. And so while yet we have time operemnt bonum ad omnes let us do good to all especially to the domestiques of faith as the Apostle adviceth us It being the office of a good pastor as well to seeke the stray sheepe as to feede the ninety and nine CAP. VIII An Objection answered THere remaines then a difficulty to bee removed for some will well allow of my precedent discourse were it not for one blocke which lyes in their way confessing indeede that in all causes meerely civill Clarkes were anciently empleaded in the Kings temporall courts Neither say they was this to be misliked so long as these kingdomes did stand constanâ— in the profession of the Catholique and Roman religion but fince they have declined therefrom and that the Magistrates are now of an other opinion and profession in the service of God then in those times they were That of the Apostle seemes to take place writing to the Corinthians who having received the law of our Saviour did notwithstanding in their wordly controversies draw one another unto the heathen tribunals Sic nonest inter vos sapiens quisquam c. So is there not among you any wiseman that can judge betweene his brother but brother with brother contendeth in judgement and that before unbeleivers 1. Cor. 7. Now therefore say these men It is not lawfull in these countryes rebus sic stantibus to draw clergy men to the secular tribunals of Protestant judges To which I answer That the Argument which concludes more then it ought is alwayes vitious and that reason which may bee retorted upon the arguer is ever inconsiderately propounded For if that passage of the Apostle were a precept and so binding under sinne to obedience then not onely the Ecclesiastique but the lay Catholicke might not bee compelled to answer before such Magistrates forsomuch as S. Paul speakes generally of all the faithfull without any distinction And therefore our Rhemists according to the universall consent of the fathers doe understand the words of the Apostle in the nature of a Councell and not of a commaund And happy I confesse it were if that Apostolicall councell and advice were followed namely that controversies and suits 'twixt parties which are many times commenced for light causes and more out of stomacke malice and revenge then of good conscience might be composed at home by friends and neighbours sine strepitu forensâ— without this lawyerly pleading at the Barre the benefit whereof is commonly small and uncertaine but the discommodityes both great and apparant as losse of time expence of money with much disquietnesse and vexation of minde But this is a happinesse rather to be wished then ever to be expected among such variety of wills hnmours and dispositions as the world more then ever abounds withall But to hold it absolutely unlawfull for Christians to wage law before publicke tribunalls as it is at this day the heresie of the Anabaptists So to deny that the Roman Catholickes may convent or bee convented in the courts of such magistrates under whom they live notwithstanding what difference soever in matter of religion smells very strong of the heresie of Wicliffe condemned in the Councell of Constance Forsomuch as it is the consent of all divines that no variety of opinion no error in faith no infidelity destroyes or takes away the power of the civill magistrate either supreame or subordinate Such obedience then as heretofore was due unto Catholicke princes by their subjects the same is no lesse due unto their successors of what opinion in matters of faith soever they be Religion being but accidentall and not at all essentiall unto civill principality ordained by God for the politicke and peaceable government of mankind according to that Per me Reges regnant legam conditores justadesernunt Prov. 8. By me Kings raigne and those who make lawes determine just things If then clergy men were lawfully convented in civill actions before Catholicke princes and Magistrates in times past as hath beene proved so no lesse also may they bee before Protestants at this day and the contrary doctrine of our Friars and their followers is but a corner doctrine and of no good subjects And if not of their owne choise and free election it were both good for the Church and common wealth and also for themselves that they might be forced both to live and teach conformable to their holy institutes and so happily there would bee an end of all Controversies 'twixt the Clergy and them An Epistle of the Author unto Thomas Flemming alias Barnwell Archbishop of Dublin AS I began with an Epistle unto Pope Vrbanus 8. now sitting at the helme of S. Peters Barque So it will not be impertinent by reason of some late occurents to conclude with an Epistle unto Tho. Flemming Archbishop of Dublin in the behalfe of the poore distressed Clergy of his Diocesse If any marvaile wherefore I doe addresse my letters unto him rather in print then in private the cause is as I have declared in the 6. chap. That upon what humour or by whose perswasion I know not he refuseth to receive any letter from me sent unto him by any private messenger Yet what I publish in print I finde that he most diligently peruseth Now for that my desire is he should read what I write whether I be his friend as I perswade my selfe I am Or his Adversary as he supposeth yet even from an Adversary some benefit may bee reaped Else had Plutarch never writ his booke Deutilitate ab inimico capienda Of the commodity to be made of an enemy Nor ever had S. Monica the mother of that great S. Aug. beene taught to drinke water had not her shrewd may de in her anger called her a wine bibber as S. Aug. himselfe tells us in the 9. booke of his Confess chap. 8. You see then how I endeav our to comply with the Archbishops humour and that to the example of diverse holy and learned men who have divulged unto the world those very same Epistles which they have directed unto particular persons without any private mission or signature sometimes commending their good actions sometimes reproving their bad So S. Hicrom so S. Bernard admonishing not onely Bishops and Abbates but even Popes and princes of their excesses But it will bee said that they were Saints and I a poore sinner yet say I they were not knowne by that stile when they wrote those Epistles but with much more humility then doubtlesse is in me they confessed themselves to be sinners and so of sinners became Saints But to our purpose S. Paul writing unto Titus whom hee had made Bishop tells him that therefore he
house or as he is a Priest or as he is an Archbishop but onely as he is a Friar to which sort of people either lying is essentiall or sure in many mens opinions proper quarto mode and even in the Iudgement of that most pious and learned Monke Tho. Walsingham speaking of the Friars in these words not now first by me alledged In tantum etenim illam veritatis professionem suam perverse vivendo macularunt ut in dicbus ist is in one cujustibet bouwn set argumentum teneus tam de forma quam materia His est frater Ergo mendax sicut illud Hoe est album Ergo coloratum They have in such sort stayned that their profession of truth by their unhappy living that in these dayes in every ones mouth it is a good Argument holding as well in forme as matter This fellow is a friar Ergo a lyar Even as to say This thing is white and therefore hath a colour So Tho. Walsingham in the raigne of Richard 2. fol. 266. But some will say Cuibonam To what end should the Archbishop use such doubling or to whose benefit in conferring of benefices are the waters allwayes so troubled among us I answere therein lyes a mistery not yet reveiled unto babes You know S. Paul wisheth that in the Churchall things bee done Ad adificationem I. Cor. 14. and so it is with us but how Ad adificationem Regularium to the building up of the Friars Monarchy and destruction of the Clergy for this is the common Antiphona sung in the Irise Church in these dayes Vp with the Friars and Downe with the Priests Now for our Archbishop albeit unto strangers such of the laity as take no notice of his proceedings these things are hidden and obscure yet the Priests of the Hierarchy who have summered and wintered him now these ten yeares doe feelingly understand the drice of his designes Neither in any thing doth he more service unto the Regular orders then to make these embroylements in the conferring of pastorships For first by these anticipate promises of one parish unto many none suspicious of any promise made unto other then himselfe our prelate observes which of them is most serviceable and dutifull unto his Friars which of them is the best benefactor with their friends to him his order which of them is likest to prove â Iohannes ad oppositum to the rest of his owne body and to prove the most factious against the Clergy in siding with the Friars on whom henceforward he is to have his whole dependance Secondly by this precollation of benefices unto many sede nondum vacante the Ordinary finds which of them is like to prove the most gratious unto the parishioners and which of them is the most like to draw the good liking love and affection of the laity unto him For that priest shall be assured notwithstanding all his golden promises to goe without the parish For it is against the Friars greatnesse that any should be more pleasing unto the people then their selves Thirdly by this conferring of Cures afore-hand unto divers parties ignorant one of another It may be expected that every one of them armed with a promise from the Bishop and he happily a far off in some friary in the country when they fall voyde that these competitors may enter into some scandalous contestation one with another every one thinking himself wronged by the other an occasion which the Friars will not omit to take hold of to traduce them both in private and publicke assemblyes and for their sakes the rest of the Clergy as men seditious factious contentious covetuous especially to and before the laity and all to alienate their mindes from them like unto greedy millers every one striving to draw the grise unto their owne mills notwithstanding that the same Friars have beene the plotters and incentors of all those differences Lastly let it be alwayes remembred as a golden rule and the most principall maxime of their pollicy that the most insufficient pretender of any cure be the man that shall be ever preferred experience by induction of examples hath furnished us with that knowledge for a Priest whom God hath blessed with talents of learning good parts is an Aristides not fit to live in Athens but rather to be banished per ostracismum For it is concluded by our Regular Bishops that the Friars must shine amidst such blind curates Tanquam lunainter minora sidera like the moone among the lesser stars You see my Lo. I am no flatterer neither is the discontent of missing a benefice under you that makes me so plaine with you for notwithstanding that I have lived in this kingdome now very neere these twenty yeares you know neither myselfe nor any other for me did ever motion such a busines unto you And albeit I heare some have wished you to thrust a steeple into my mouth and therby to silence me yet I ingenuously confesse sooner should old Eleazarus eat swines flesh then that I would swallow the same Not but that to be a pastor of soules is an honourable vocation in Gods Church but that I am now too old to be a Friars horseboy No no let us have no new fashions in church governmeÌ„t the old is the best such as was ordained by our Saviour Let us keepe our old priests send back these swarmes of friars over unto their monasteries where they may live according unto their holy Institutes not here to vagabuÌ„dare per tabernas popinas selling their merits their prayers their penances mortifications yea not only of their own persons but of their whole orders and that under large sealed patents unto Cookes for diet to merchauts for broad cloath suits to gentlemeÌ„ for horses c. besides oppressing a poor country with such shameles begging as little differeth froÌ„ meere rapine extortion The church may subsist yea flourish without friars but not without priests as for many ages it hath done For be they white black or gray they are of a latter institute then the priests these being the successors of the Apostles the 42. disciples they of S. Francis Dominick Ignatius of a distinct hierarchy If I be a Iohn Baptist preach in the wildernesse without profit That is not my fault but the fault of them that wil not amend their faults It were more pleasing contentfull to me to come in spiritu lenitatis in the spirit of mildnesse then in the rod of correction If the subject were so disposed Let those for whose good I take all these paines both in health sicknes reforme their manners I will soone alter both my voyce stile I wish with all my heart that I had cause to say with th'Apostle If I have made you sad either by my bookes or by my Epistle it repenteth me not for that you were so made sad unto repeÌ„tance Wel to conclude all in oneword Paul may plant Apollo may water but God is he who gives the encrease to whose blessings I humbly commend these my poore endeavours my selfe my friends my persecutors From the Cell of my solitary recollection who wisheth your-Hon all-happinesse PAUL HARRIS Pr. I Heare that some of our divines if worthy that name take great exceptions unto me for calling the Catholicke Bishops of Ireland Titulary Bishops by which tearme they understand no true Bishops at all But sure if I had beene able to have put wit into their heads as well as a booke into their hands they had beene freed from that error Let them then consult with the Canon or if they have it not let them look into Bellar. de Clericis lib. 1. cap. 17. And they will finde this to be a good argument teneus tam de 〈◊〉 quaâ— de materia Hic est episcopus titularis Ergo verus even as that Hic est parochus Ergo presbiter But I am no better then my predecessours as many as have exposed themselves to publicke consures by their writings For all of us may say with Terentianus Manrus Pro captu lectoris habene sua fata libelli PAge 28. lin 2. read a thousand owo hundred pag. 29. lin 20. for cis read ea pag. 49 for Patricke read Patriarch pag. 88. lin 21. for unlike read like The sorme of a Scapular * For so they might be debarred froÌ„ Estates Legacyes and Executorships †Excuse me that in my Arcte mastix I called him George Barnwell * Lib. 1. é 9. Aâ—or lib. 8. Mor. s. 11. â— 5