A REPLY TO A notorious Libell Jntituled A BRIEFE APOLOGIE or defence of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchie c. Wherein sufficient matter is discouered to giue all men satisfaction who lend both their eares to the question in controuersie betweene the Iesuits and their adherents on the one part and the Saecular Priests defamed by them on the other part ¶ Whereunto is also adioyned an answere to the Appendix PSAL. 26. Mentita est iniquitas sibi ¶ Imprinted Anno 1603. ¶ THE PREFACE to the Reader VBi non est sepes sayth Ecclesiasticus Cap. 36. diripietur possessio In such times wee doe liue courteous Reader as no care can be too much no diligence too great to preserue that litle which we haue or are from ruine and rapine of the euill disposed mighty How intolerable the iniuries were which some Priests once sustained and afterward freely forgaue the whole world is now a witnes and cannot but see how vntimely these stirres were reuiued by the Iesuits and the Archpr. after that peace was concluded betweene them Other iudges then the whole world the Priests would haue had as appeareth by a letter of theirs to the Archpr. in their booke dedicated to the Inquisition pa. 61. but their humble petition was sayd to be a tumultuous presumption and would not be heard They foreshewed what danger would grow by his deniall of a home-conference but that did nothing mooue him They declared that they stood in such tearmes for their good name and fame as they must either liue in perpetuall infamie or vse their pennes in their owne defence the first no way fitting their calling and present state the second very dangerous to both parts it being very probable that an Apologie would draw on an Answere the Answere a Reply and that Reply not likely to be the last howsoeuer lost labour But neither could this perswasion purchase any peace or procure that the Controuersie might be determined at home among themselues One way more did the Priests assay to stay the outrage of the Iesuits and Archpr. and that was to send to the Vniuersitie of Paris for their opinion in the matters in question which was no sooner seene by the Archpr. and Iesuits but an Edict made â—9 Maij 1600. and diuulged in condemnation of their censure and great penalties threatned against those who should either directly or indirectly maintaine or defend it in word or in writing whether it were truely giuen or forged marke I pray you this spirit whether vpon true information or otherwise as being preiudiciall to the Sea Apostolike c. This headdie proceeding and disclaiming or rather condemning all triall but a selfe will and a dangerous obstinacie in the Archpr. and Iesuits compelled the Priests to aduise vpon some other course in which consult they resolued to appeale to the Sea Apostolike and the better to preuent such blockes as were before layed in their way vpon the like attempt they published certaine bookes some in English to satisfie such of our owne Countrey as were misinformed by the one part and were not suffered to haue any speech with the other some in Latine that the cause comming to triall might not bee heard with that preiudice which false informations had before wrought and would not now be wanting Against two of these bookes there is an Apologie lately come foorth to wit against the Latine booke which is dedicated to his Holinesse and intituled Declaratio motuum c. and againe an English booke intituled The Copies of certaine discourses And at the end of this Apologie there is an Appendix wherein two other bookes are shrewdly threatned the one in English which was written in reply to a letter of the Archpriest to his assistants concerning the other bookes and is intituled The hope of peace the other in Latine which was dedicated to the Inquisition and hath this title Relatio compendiosa c. It is a world to see what shifting there is in this Apologie when a difficultie occurreth to bee answered what iugling to haue the matter on the Priestes side seeme odious what haste a second vntrueth maketh to ouertake a former which through the Authors fault onely had gotten the start how many rotten points there are by which one storie is made to hang vnder another what singular deuotion and extraordinary charity is expressed in the most vile and bitter termes that either malice or madnesse could deuise as a The Epist to his Hol. Children of iniquitie b Apol. cap. 1. fol. 5. Libertines c. and how true that sentence is in this Author In oculis suis lachrymatur inimicus si inuenerit tempus non satiabitur sanguine Ecclus cap. 12. The enemy hath water in his eies but if the time serue him it is not blood wil satiate him And this other also Caput suuÌ„ mouebit plaudet manu c. He will shake his head and clap his hands He will seeme to lament the course which is taken and in the middest of his sorow he sheweth by one or other impertinent ridiculous matter how glad he is of any litle occasion to sport himselfe at the griefes of other men Yet notwithstanding this so grosse kind of dealing as any man who is not ouer-partiall might enter into it the applause of the ignorant who will not either reade the bookes which the Priests set out or examine what is boldly although most vntruely aduouched in this Apologie demandeth an answere which although M. Doctor Ely and M. Iohn Collington haue largely and learnedly giuen to the most principall points therein handled yet vpon the earnest desire of some who haue seene this reply in my hands I emboldened my selfe without the Authours priuitie to publish it referring the Reader for more satisfaction in this present controuersie vnto their labours The last yeeres BREVE of the 17. of August would haue cast some doubt into me whether I might haue attempted thus much had not the Archpr. after a quarters meditation or more thereon published the Apologie and immediatly after an Appendix vnto it And if an vncontrolled custome may haue the credite to be the best interpreter of a Lawe my feare is much lessened by the breaking out of another payre of bookes from the same Authours since that time In which while they endeuour to manifest the bad spirits of other men they discouer their owne by such tearmes as ill beseeme their profession and pay doubly some one mans debt to which they would falsely and against their owne knowledge perswade the Reader that all the other Priestes were liable and if no benefite rise by this present discourse to the Reader yet will it be another although a needlesse witnesse against the wilfull blinde whome the holy Ghost rebuketh by the Psalmist in these wordes Noluit intelligere vt bene ageret He would not vnderstand that thereby he might doe as hee ought to doe Yours all that he is A. P. ¶ A Reply to a
certaine Libell lately published in Print in the name of the vnited Priests called A briefe Apologie supposed to be made by F. Parsons CHAP. 1. How the Authour of the Apologie playeth at All hid with the Reader and while hee is couered vnder the name of vnited Priestes he discouereth himselfe to be a Iesuit IT might seeme a very friuolous labour to examine the title of this Apologie if the Author thereof had not bene more curious in the like then there was iust cause and ouer carelesse also what entrance hee made to this present woorke of his vntrueths and poore shifts when impertinent discourses doe suffer him to fall into the matter in question which as at other times so here in the very title he peruerteth and possesseth his Reader that an Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie erected by his Holines was impugned by the books against which he writeth and for his pleasure termeth although most ignorantly Libels their Authors being alwayes ready to iustifie them both before God and the world And if his Reader might be so much fauoured by him as that hee might haue his leaue to peruse those bookes hee would soone perceiue how falsly this title is set to this Apologie the bookes intreating onely of the abuses of the authoritie and of the iust causes of the Priests their forbearance to subiect themselues to a superior of the Card. Caietans appointing before any letters came from the Sea Apostolike either in confirmation therof or to shew that the Cardinal had any such authority or commandement from his Holines to erect any such Hierarchy This Apologie is said to be written and set foorth for the true information and stay of all good Catholicks by Priestes vnited in due subordination to the right reuerend Archpriest and other their superiors As though those who had appealed from the Archpriest vpon iust cause did not remaine in due subordination to him and other their superiors to whom they had appealed But to let this calumny passe there hath bene inquity made of many who are the men here meant by these words Priests vnited c. and as yet we cannot heare of any who were priuie to the writing of it or setting it forth Some there are who confesse that their consents were asked to the setting foorth of some booke in their names the contents whereof they were not to know at that time and of most likelyhood it was to the setting out of this book but they denied to giue their consents thereunto Many suspect that this Apologie was not written by those Priests which are here made to father it but rather by those who haue alwayes made their commoditie by the disunion of the Priests And although it go forth in the name of many it is very probable that it was made by some one man For whereas one man setting out a booke may vse his phrase in the plurall number when he speaketh of himselfe wee suppose or we say it is seldome in vse that many ioyned together do vse in the like the singuler number as I pray you I suppose which here we reade in the Preface I shall in the first chapter I thinke I say in the third Chapter and in the sixt chapter I omit 〈…〉 But to let this also passe there are no weake coniectures that this Apology was made by some Iesuite who bewrayed himselfe before he was aware as may be seene in the 8. chapter of the Apologie Fol. 180. where the author hath these words Where about they aske this question concerning vs why should they be vnwilling to procure c. Copy 〈…〉 And if any man will take the paines to turne to that place cited by these Authors hee shall finde that the question was asked concerning no other then Iesuits and consequently that out of this place of the Apologie there is iust cause to take them for the Authors 〈…〉 An other coniecture there is that Fa Parsons in particuler is the author of this Apologie because in the common opinion of many who haue read his stile this is so like vnto it as it would be hard for any man to imitate it so neerely without the very same gift which he hath And the number of letters and such as they are do almost conuince that it is his doing For what occasion had any Priests here in England to enter into so many impertinent matters to their state and profession as are here by manuscripts testified which probably were not to be gotten by the first of Iuly after the publication of the bookes he vndertaketh to answere And F. Garnet the head of the Iesuits did almost discouer asmuch in a letter of his of the last of Iuly Anno 1601. to a Saecular Priest M. F. B. wherin he told him that the two printed books against which this Apologie is written should be God willing answered from Rome Such as had read Prou. 27. Laudet te alienus non os tuum Let an other man and not thine owne mouth praise thee might doubt whether F Parsons would so grossely commend himselfe as here he is commended were he not knowen to bee one who would not willingly that any mouth or pen of which he hath the gouernment should not shewe foorth his praises Some other might doubt whether it were his doing because of the diuerse Englishing of this sentence Hebr. 13. Obedite praepositis vestris subiaccte eis which here is thus Englished Obey your Superiours and submit your selues vnto them And in his selfe-clawing Wardword wherein hee discouereth a piece of his disposition against some Catholiques he translateth it thus obey your Prelates and lie vnder them Perchance those who had the printing of this Apologie prefixed this sentence and we will imagine that they in recompence of his extraordinarie commendations of them requited him in that which he might blush to say of himselfe if at any time his vndeserued prayses may make him blush There is an other place of scripture taken out of the first to the Thess cap. 5. Rogamus vos fratres corripite inquietos We beseech you brethren represse those that are vnquiet amongst you which is apparantly abused in this place both by false translation and by being applyed against Cathol Priests because when they saw a thiefe they did not runne with him but stood and stand still as they are bound in conscience in the defence of their fame against those who most iniuriously had taken it away in some places and indeuoured to doe the like seruice elsewhere if they could It is set out permissu Superiorum that is by permission of the Superiors but as yet we cannot learne what superiors these are hauing most humbly requested the Archpriest to giue vs satisfaction herein as may appeare by a letter to him from M. Collington not long after we had a sight thereof It is very probable that no superiours dare auouch it for it containeth the most grosse vntrueths idlest shifts and
any such matter compelled by your slanders should they not say truth seeing fiue or fixe partly Seminaries partly residences haue beene erected by them c. Well good sir not to deuine here what slanders they were which so happily compelled the Iesuites to speake of their so great benefits vnto the priests I will keepe mine eye-sight for the 3 5 10 and 12. chap. where I am told I shall see more of this most insolent ingratitude And in the meane while I will hope that the Iesuits of their charitie will forgiue them all who compelled them to speake so much of their owne great good deeds which were they a thousand times more then they are the Iesuites ought not to embolden themselues or challenge thereby a greater libertie to abuse men at their pleasure and it is a silly proofe that they haue not abused men in one kind because that they haue done them a good turne in another And with this the table was taken vp for the author had no other meaning when he set you to this table of principall deceits falshoods and slanders then to let you haue a taste of those two libels which the discontented priests did set forth to wit the booke dedicated to his Holines entituled Declaratio motuum A declaration of stirres c. and the English booke entituled The Copies of certaine discourses But alas poore man either his wits appeare hereby to be very shallow who out of an infinite heape of slanders calumniations and contumelious speeches which hee sayth are contained in the priests bookes could no better furnish his table with deceits falshoods and slanders which here hee vndertooke or his malice extreame great to make such a vaineglorious shew where the principal stuffe was of no more moment then is already shewed in these 28. pickt points to discredit the Latine booke and the authors thereof who alwayes haue will shew that they meane better then hee doth and tend to that place to which honest priests should tend and hope to arriue in the end whence it is to be feared they shall behold the Author of this Apologie lying and too late repenting this and other his misdeeds The rest that followeth in this Latine booke about the Appellation sayth this Author as also about a fond and seditious Latine letter of M. Iohn Mush thereon ensuing are sufficiently examined Cap. 10 and 11. Apol. But vnlesse the 10 and 11. Chap. be too too much ouerseene there is no one point of the Appellation examined There is somewhat said to M. Mush his letter in the 11. Chapter which is little to the purpose The examination of the English booke entituled The Copies of discourses is for breuitie sake put off to the 1 2 7 and 11. Apol. where it is to be defended not to haue any thing in it worthy the name of a scandall but to a Pharisie and thereby it will be shewed to bee a worke fit for Catholike priests to write and publish to the world their case standing as then it did And their fact will appeare the more iustifiable by how much it will appeare by the answer to this Apologie that they cannot be disprooued but by manifest falshoods deceits and slanders After these notes or exceptions against the Latine booke which was dedicated to his Holines vnder this title Declaratio motuum c. march certaine principall persons which the Reader must beleeue are iniuried by the priests and are defended by the Apologie amongst which there are such placed as the Authors might with more honestie haue made two lists one of those most honourable personages the other of the rest but since that they haue put them all in one companie one answere shal serue to the whole list that howsoeuer his Holines is here abused in the Epistle and the honour of the honourable is touched in this Apologie the priests at no time haue iniuried either them or any the other by-hangers neither can the contrary be shewed as any man who knoweth what vse this author will make of a little may iustly imagine in that there is no one place cited out of the booke written by the priests or in this Apologie where any abuse is conuinced And although sometimes in this Apologie the author putteth his reader in mind of such matters he doth discouer nothing but his owne desires in some and follie in other his exceptions as shall be shewed when occasion is offered And in the meane while the discreete reader may iudge whether this authour or publisher were not past shame who could not but know that the priests had bene with the Nuntio in Flanders and acknowledged his authoritie And to that end that no principall thing be hidden from his reader he hath after principall deceits and principall persons set down the principall authors spreaders of the bookes wherein these principall deceits are contained the principall persons iniuried And in naming those which he doth name for the principall authors he hath committed a very grosse error in his Preface where he seemeth to doubt who were the authors And in the end he concludeth thus So as these bookes must needs be presumed to haue bene published either by some one or few discomposed passionate people or by some heretike or other enemie to dishonour them all and discredit our cause and nation and so as to such we shall answer c. what man of iudgement will not say that either the memorie of this fellow is very short or his honestie very small who hauing named whom he thinketh to be the authors maketh his answere as to heretikes And if to these be added those disgraceful speeches which are vsed in the beginning of the 3. Chap. fol. 20. against the Authors of the bookes impugned by the Apologie his most audacious friendes will blush at his folly for there very contemptuously he affirmeth that some of them went ouer poore seruing men other souldiers what an ingratitude and dishonor is this to Fa. Ignatius Laiola the souldier and Iesuites founder other wanderers in the world c. Possibly this good mans wits are not alwaies at home and they should doe him great iniury who should looke for one wise worde from him which is not put into him by some other If he had not named those sixe for the principall authors of the books he might with lesse shame haue vttered his foule conceite but hauing named them hee cannot auoide the note of a most malitious false companion what godly pretences and promises soeuer he maketh of modestie in this Apologie CHAP. 4. How the authour of this Apologie followeth that counsell which Achitophel gaue to Absalon 2. Reg. 16. that other seeing how hee abused his Holinesse might the more desperately adhere vnto him THe Epistle which followeth to his Holinesse and is saide to be translated out of Latine into English after some time of probation expired was admitted and annexed to the Apologie It had bene very great pitie to haue
this any further here especially seeing Fa. Valent. his doctrine set downe before out of S. Thomas doeth most clearely conuince them And therefore we leaue that to God and their consciences to answere one day before the high Iudge where shifts will haue no place A condition which I doubt not but the author of this Apologie would gladly for this time should be agreed vpon howsoeuer when that day shal be present he would be willing to haue the hearing of the matter further deferred For if we doe but reflect what meanes haue bene made to haue it heard in this world and haue bene crossed by him and his faction we shall easily conceiue how vnwilling he will be to come to the triall in the next where hee must come to the naked proofe of right or wrong without his cloake which now couereth all his falsehood To this adiuration the priests will answere in their consciences afore God and at the day of Iudgement where shifts wil haue no place that when they had seene read ouer the Card. Caietanes letter which he testified not to the whole world as here it is most falsly suggested but onely to M. Blackwell being a letter written particulerly to him and to no other as appeareth by the letter extant both in the bookes dedicated by the priests to the Inquisition and at the beginning of M. Colingtons booke lately set forth and written by one who was not knowen to haue any authority in England neither did he make it knowen that he had any authoritie delegated vnto him for that which he had attempted but only by his owne bare words which no man in this case was to beleeue vnder any sin Notwithstanding they had heard that his Hol. had giuen a charge to some in particuler to haue peace with the Iesuits a very impertinent matter and as foolishly here vrged for the band to accept the Subordination at the first comming or had seene other letters testifying the same as a heare-say as M Colington doeth particulerly prooue from the 68. page to the 80. or that he was a Cardinal who writ his letters it being euident in the opinion of the chiefest Cannonists that a Card. may do more sometime then needeth or els they would neuer accord that credit is not to be giuen to him vnlesse he shew his commission whereupon your brethren doe answere sincerely and without passion that it was no morall certaintie of the Popes will and that they had not sufficient knowledge to bind vnder sinne to obedience and that no Superiours will did by any meanes appeare vnto them but rather a very bad part of their aduersaries to crosse them for a time vntill they could worke the Pope to confirme the plot which they had layde to bring the priests into a slauish bondage vnder them neither can they once be conuinced of the contrary as may in part appeare by that their reasons of their refusall before the Breue came doe stand firme as yet vnanswered And thus omitting to coniure the Iesuits Archpriest for their false dealings in this action for which assuredly they must come to an vnpleasing reckoning I wil briefly touch what is here said of the censure of Paris and make an ende of this Chapter referring the Reader for a larger satisfaction to M.D Elie his notes vpon the 8. Chapter of the Apologie pag. 245. and to M. Iohn Colington in his 4. reason pag. 153. The decree of the doctors of Sorbon in Paris consisted of two parts the one was that the priests who deferred to admit of the authoritie vpon the causes alledged were not schismaticks the other was that the priests the fact of it selfe considered did not any way offend or commit sinne By this definition of Paris saith this author fol. 118. commeth very little reliefe vnto the priests and it was printed onely to make a vaine flourish with the ostentation of an Academicall sentence Thâ—s very word Academiâ— sticketh marueilously in this authours stomach and his fellowes But let vs see how he will shew that this decree of these doctors did very little relieue the priests To the first point that it was no schisme what saith he marke I pray you his words fol. 115. for of the other point of schisme we will not talke at all am sorie that euer it was mentioned or brought in questioÌ„ But will you see this good sope of milke turned downe with a foule paire of heeles Note that which is behinde Vnquiet people hauing taken occasion hereby to continue contention and to make more brables then were needfull They were much to blame belike who would speake being publiquely defamed for schismaticks and what els a quintessence of malice could deuise as may be seene in the treatise of Schisme written by the Iesuits and approued by the Archp. and yet to this day mainteined in corners where any of that seditious crew can haue any hope to increase the schisme or diuision or what els it may be hereafter called in Gods Church by perswading now some now othersome not to communicate in Prayer and Sacraments with those who are the true members of Gods Church for a cause in which these members doe in here and plead the commandement of the head of the Church against a priuate letter from a priuate Cardinal to a priuate man as may appeare by the letter it selfe Were shame of that most wicked and sencelesse slander the cause of sorrow or silence in this author concerning this point of schisme what hope might there be that he had some grace but his sorrow and silence grow both out of a splene that his and his fellowes slanderous tongues had not that successe which he and his froward malitious adherents hoped for The submission which the priests did make at the sight of his Holines first Breue of the 6. of April 1599. acknowledged in his later Breue of the 17. of August 1601. conuinceth all but contentious brablers that the priests were further off by much from any touch or any suspition of schisme then their aduersaries here euer since their first deuiding themselues from them in prayer and communion of Sacraments But seeing he will say no more of schisme we will omit it and come to the question which this author meaneth to handle Our question saith he is then onely whether any sinne were committed whereof also we will not presume to determine any degree of sinne but leaue that to God and to the offenders consciences Now that the priests here be published for rebels seditious factious excommunicate irregular fallen from the Church to haue lost their faculties scandalous infamous persons no better then soothsayers and Idolaters disobedient to the Church and therefore as Ethnickes and Publicanes the author of this Apologie will not presume to determine any degree of sinne Our question sayth he is whether any sinne were committed but he giueth no answere to this question but wrangleth a little about the censure of
stirres of Wisbich and telleth his Reader in his religious termes how the priests doe calumniate Weston and the bigger and better part because they liued in order and retired themselues from these mens licentiousnes and for more proofe hereof his reader must goe looke in the 6. chapter of the Apologie where hee is like to finde many vntrueths vttered by his Author which are already discouered in a relation set out of those matters In the 15. page which hee calleth the 13. hee noteth this falshood that the priests called themselues vnited LaicoruÌ„ c. The Iesuits did alienate Lay mens mindes ab vnitis sacerdotibus froÌ„ the vnited priests note sayth he the phrase of vnited they being farre the lesse number and diuided both from their head and the rest of their body the English Clergie It is as the Hollanders doe call their rebelled states against the King The vnited Prouinces c. Note say I how this felow abuseth his reader by tellinghim of a diuision against a head where there was none but voto only that is to say by a religious desire which was in Fa. Weston the Iesuite who would be directer of all the priests in Wisbich to which because some would not consent he and his company diuided themselues from them which being an vniust and a scandalous separation the other priests who remained in their former course of life might iustly call themselues vnited as men who properly kept the vnion when the other made such a diuision as they would not haue any commerce with them vpon their idle toy of Reformation vnder pretence whereof the Iesuits hauing gotten the superiority the priests must yeeld to what conditions they would offer or the whole countrey must be in an vprore yet will these men chalenge the name of vnited But let euery indifferent man iudge which part did most liuely represent a rebellious state And for the further proofe of this fellow his malicious impostures for it is not possible that hee should haue hereof any ignorance let any indifferent reader looke vpon that discourse cited here by him out of the Latine booke and it will bee as cleere as noone day that there is no mention of any other matter then of the diuision wrought at Wisbich by the Iesuites and their faction some yeeres before the Archpriest was instituted and consequently before there was any other head or whole body of the English Clergie then that from which the Iesuits and their factious adherents diuided themselues In the 16. page this Author discouereth another principall deceit falshood or slander in these words Ticonius ille Donatista c. That Ticonius the Donatist c. Note saith he the spirit of these men they compare al the good and quiet prisoners in Wisbich Donatists for that they retired themselues from these mens tumultuous and scandalous life and put themselues vnder rule See cap 6. Apolog. Are not these wordes Ticonius ille Donatista shrewd wordes that doe inferre such large consequences are not rather these tumultuous and scandalous termes and irreligious exceptions against the life of Catholike priests and some of them long prisoners for the Catholike faith an euident proofe of most loose and large consciences But to make this matter more plaine against this impostor what if there were no speech of any of the Priests What a malicious Comment is this vpon those three words Ticonius ille Donatista That Ticonius the Donatist Is it not most euident that the speech there vsed concerned no one or other more then Fa. Weston the Iesuit But yet this was too much to compare him to a Donatist Well but then what if neither he were compared to a Donatist nay further yet what if in that very place F. Weston is shewed not to be Ticonius the Donatist or a follower of him how then can the indifferent Reader but iudge the Author of this Apologie past shame who will lay it to the Priests charge that in this place cited they compare all the good and quiet prisoners in Wisbich to Donatists And for what cause Forsooth for that they retired themselues from these mens tumultuous and scandalous life and put themselues vnder rule Let vs therefore now see what there is in that 16. page concerning Ticonius ille Donatista That Ticonius the Donatist c. Thus we reade in that 16. page Tandem verò aliquando vt inuidiam leniret quam sibi suisque non mediocrem conflauerat ne reuixisse videretur Ticonius ille Donatista cuius illud erat Quod nobis placet sanctum est promisit se boni viri arbitrio rectenè an illicitè separationem feeisset staturum That is to say In the ende to mollifie somewhat that great enuie which hee Fa. Weston had gotten to himselfe and his followers he promised to stand to the iudgement of any honest man whether he had lawfully or vnlawfully made the separation least that Ticonius the Donatist should seeme to haue bene reuiued whose saying this was That is holy which pleaseth vs. So that by this it is euident that not onely the priests are not compared to Donatists but F. Weston the Iesuite is shewed not to be as that Donatist because he promised to stand to the iudgement of another which as here is auouched Ticonius the Donatist would not doe but would haue that which pleased him stand for good In the same page there is another principall deceite falshood or slander noted in these words Quorum vnus c. which this Author translateth thus One in Wisbich Castle fell out of his wit by reason of opprobrious letters written vnto him c. Now he hath made his tale as he list see what he adioyneth How egregious an vntrueth this is the whole company will testifie And if their words will not satisfie a reasonable man he shall haue more witnesse For it is most vntrue that he fell out of his wit by reason of opprobrious letters written vnto him but by reason of opprobrious letters which himselfe had written by perswasion of Fa. Weston the Iesuite and other of his faction against the other Priests as himselfe in lucidis intervallis confessed and asked pardon of some of them whom he had so iniured as they are readie to testifie and these two words vnto him are added to the text in this place by the Author of the Apologie as euery Grammer boy may see who will turne vnto it In the 17. page a malicious deuise is noted in these wordes Hanc verò c. This sodality of them that liued vnder Rules in Wisbich besides many stumbling blockes which it brought into our Church was vehemently also suspected by the Queene and Councell But if those words of them that liued vnder Rules in Wisbich be fraudulently thrust into the text by this Authour in whom is the malicious deuise for so it is put in the margent deceite falshood or slander The words are no other then these Hanc verò sodalitateâ—… praeterquam quod
in Religion he would haue put the law in execution against them An other note which this authour maketh is that by the Countrey the Priests must needes meane themselues only that is to say some fiue or sixe that opposed themselues at the beginning for that his Holinesse had not asked their consents See I pray you how this fellow stil thrusteth in his Holinesse in this action who was not knowen in 12. moneths after to haue dealt therein except what might be gathered by the imprisonment of the two Priests who went out of England to Rome to haue shewed what they and others thought meete hee should vnderstand although this their imprisonment being such and in such maner before they had audience was an argument to some that it was not his action and that aswell his Holinesse in particular as that Sea and those who did fly thither for succour were too too much abused and this imprisonment of the two priests was about ten moneths after the institutiō of the Archipresbyterie How handsomely would this fellowes musicke sound were this string in tune vpon which he harpeth so often But it being so generally knowen that his Holines was not seene in the action vntill his Breue came which was aboue a yeere after the institution of the authoritie no man but he who is past shame would so often vrge his Holinesse or disobedience to his Holinesse And in this place he giueth this cause in mockage why fiue or sixe opposed themselues at the beginning for that his Holinesse had not asked their consents Alas poore man how faine he is of any foolish conceite to bring the priests into a contempt with the Catholikes Whose consent did his Holinesse aske when he confirmed the authoritie by his Breue I am well assured that he asked not the consent of any of them and yet if the Pope be of any credit or his Breue of the 17. of August 1601. they did all presently without delay yeeld themselues So that this absurd fiction of this fellow is too too apparant I would also demand whether his Holinesse had the consent of any of the Secular priests in England when this authoritie was first instituted and of how many If he had not the consent of them as doubtlesse he had not more then what M. Standish a Iesuit by promise abusing the priests gaue for them in their names who sent him not why is this vrged against fiue or sixe as though all the rest had giuen their consents to the institution thereof If he had the consent of the priestes why was there such canuasing for voyces or hands to be set to a letter which began thus Olim dicebamur Why were so many threatned Why were others who were not to be threatned sollicited with Now it is Fa. Parsons deuise you must not deny your hand Againe to an other you shall not deny me to set your hand vnto it And afterward his hand was set to it and he knew not thereof nor gaue any consent thereto And in this kind did the Iesuits labour and posted from one to another to get consents after that they sawe some to forbeare to yeelde themselues vnto it What deuises were vsed to others for their liking hereof may also be gathered by M. Blackwels behauiour in this point who sending for M. Collington and M. Charnocke vrged them to like thereof and threatned them that vnlesse they would positiuely affirme that they did like thereof he was to send information to Rome that they did dislike thereof notwithstanding they would giue no other answere then this vnto him that they did neither like nor would dislike but would beare themselues as became Catholike priests to do And this was all the opposition which was made at the beginning and it was by fewer then 6. or 5. for it was by these two only which were enow and are as many and perchance one more then at the beginning vse to oppose thēselues against springing heresies errors falshoods or the misdemeanors of such as aduenture to shew themselues in priuate before they appeare more openly to the world The causes of this opposition as this fellow tearmeth it are discoursed vpon at large by M. Iohn Collington in his booke lately set foorth of this argument And thus much in answere of that which this author noteth vpon the priests wordes which he citeth in this place After these notes taken vpon the priests words he declareth his opinion of the statute of Premunire in this maner And as for the Statute of Premunire by them mentioned it is not so ancient as they make it but was begunne to be treated about the time that Wickliffe rose vp when emulation was in heate against the Clergie and the chiefe purpose thereof was at the beginning to prohibite appellation to Rome in the first instance vnder the paines aforesaid and the worst kings of England euer since haue most vrged it and it was not made as these men say by our Catholike Bishops and Prelates nor could in conscience but sorely rather against their wils was it passed in Parliament by the streame of Temporall power and emulation against them c. If the priests did speake of a Statute of Premunire according to the opinions of men well seene in the lawes of our Realme how impertinent is this to tell vs what the chiefe purpose thereof was at the beginning and this being so that the chiefe purpose thereof was to prohibite appellation to Rome in the first instance and therefore no Catholike Bishop or Prelate could in conscience agree to the making thereof doeth not this fellow shew himselfe to be past shame in bringing in this conceite to the infinite discredit of the Archpriest and his tutors We will here omit how the Archpriest who according to his sixth instruction is to doe nothing of moment without the aduise of the Iesuites when he sent first to speake with M. Collington and M. Charnocke stood very stiffely vnto it In his letters to M. Collington that we might not appeale from him to Rome vntill it was often inculcated vnto him how dangerous that proposition was We wil also here omit his commandements vnto vs not to goe to Rome first to pleade our cause in hand for to this perchance answere may be made that he had procured that it should be first heard in Flanders before his Holinesse his Nuncio to whom when our brethren presented themselues and shewed themselues readie to haue their cause heard no one appeared for the Archpriest although he had before giuen out by his letters what potent aduersaries the priests should there find in this behalfe The Nuntio his letter to M. Blackwell and the Nuntio himselfe had written vnto him to come or send some instructed in his cause Wee doe here aske with what conscience haue his godly tutors aduised him and he attempted to punish such as haue appealed to Rome because they haue appealed to Rome as his owne
this had bene a farre worse inconuenience to exclude wholly the Sea Apostolicke for auoiding the statute of Praemunire Wherefore whither this spirit tendeth all men doe see But fewe men yet doe see whither this spirit tendeth neither must they so much as aske a question which may imply a doubt of any thing which this author affirmeth If the Priests must confesse that either they must haue asked a confirmation of their association frō Rome or else haue excluded wholly the Sea Apostolike what must the eighteene so often surnamed quiet Priests of Wisbich confesse who sought no confirmation of their enforcing and violent agencie or gouernement vnder F. Weston the Iesuit Must they confesse that they did wholly exclude the Sea Apostolike or had they any priuiledge aboue other Priests to confesse that it was not of any necessitie for them either to seeke a confirmation from the See Apostolike or to exclude it wholly Had it not been a sufficient acknowledging of the authoritie of the See Apostolike if they had alwayes beene ready to haue dissolued their association vpon notice from his Holines that he would not haue any such association in England Is euery dutiful respect which one man or two will cary voluntarily to a third to be confirmed by the See Apostolike or else that See to be thought wholly to be excluded It is most certaine that the association intended was of no other then such as would voluntarily subiect themselues to a course of life for their owne both spirituall and temporall good and to do what good they could to all others although they would not be of that company as their rules did shewe Cannot this good fellow make a difference between the sending in of an authoritie which must imply necessarily an externall iurisdiction and include the accepters thereof within the Statute of Praemunire vnlesse the prince had accorded vnto it and the sending out to haue a liking of a confraternitie of priests or association which might haue beene whether the Pope had liked it or no vntill he had forbidden it it hauing no such title of dignitie as required necessarily any acte of the Pope or externall iurisdiction to erect it or her Maiesties allowance licence or assent if shee had bene of the same religion If there were no other this title of the Archpriest would make a great difference George Blackwell by the grace of God and the ordinance of the See Apostolike Archpriest of England This author hauing pleased himselfe in prouing a contempt as he weeneth in the priests concerning this authority he stil inculcateth that it was instituted by his Holinesse and confirmed afterward by an expresse Breue as though it had bene knowen before the comming of the Breue that his Holinesse had any part in it or that any of these forementioned matters had bene first or formerly vrged by the priests after that they had full notice of the Popes mind therein and not rather been only published afterwards to the end that all might see who would what reason the priestes had to forbeare to subiect themselues vnto the authority at the sight of the Cardinall Caietans letters And whereas hee would after shew out of the priests their owne words how dangerously they doe teach disobedience to this authoritie and to all other which they mislike and in the margent putteth this note Dangerous and offensiue doctrine he doth infinitely discredit himselfe the doctrine as he hath here deliuered it being so sound and Catholike as whosoeuer shall gainesay it will prooue himselfe an Asse or an heretike Neither can his malicious descant vpon these words which he citeth preuaile in the iudgement of any who hath iudgement As for example that by this doctrine men are taught to examine euery thing comming from their Superiors by their owne iudgements and to admit what they please and leaue the rest For the discourse from whence these words are taken which are here cited doth plainely shew that the priests relied vpon the iudgement of many learned men from beyond the Seas And whereas the priests their wordes are these that no man is bound in all things to beleeue or execute what euery man in authoritie ouer him shall put vpon him he peruerteth this sentence and telleth his reader that the priests doe teach that euery thing must be examined which the priests neuer affirmed or that which pleased them should be admitted And in this matter of schisme which was not euery thing but one speciall thing and of great importance they relied vpon the censure of Paris as all men do know which cleared them from it and also from sinne from which also his Holinesse hath now declared that they were free notwithstanding that M. Blackwell was an Archpriest a Superior and stood most peremptorily in that error And by his being in authoritie countenanced such his forward adherents as by their audaciousnes in this present controuersie haue giuen earnest that they will be most ready if occasion be offered to raise a most dangerous faction against the Clergie without all respect of duety or correspondence in good desert toward them And to the question mooued here in the Apologie what other way did heresie take at the beginning against Ecclesiasticall gouernours or what other gate did some vnquiet and disobedient Catholikes in those dayes open to heresie who being offended with their superiours taught that their subiects in conscience might dissent from them and disobey them in diuers cases I answere that heresie neuer found her way into the world by trueth or Catholike doctrine as that is which is cited here in the Apologie out of the priests bookes and most ignorantly to censure it no worse oppugned by this author but by falshood after that the people were caried away with an opinion that this or that man could not erre and that all must be true which this or that man sayd And perchance the fowlest blocke at which many heretikes at this day doe stumble is a supposed doctrine which vntill this Apologie came forth was neuer fauoured by any Catholike and that is that there are some who in respect that they are in such place of authority cannot erre in any thing which being so apparantly absurd as all Catholike histories may conuince the contrary some that heare it doe resolue themselues that all the rest is naught Neither is the exception iust which is here taken against the priests to wit that they did teach this doctrine in generall without any particulars although they might haue done it without offence to any but to such as hope by their egregious flatterly sycophancie to preuaile in that after which they haue long gaped for the priests deliuered this doctrine vpon occasion of the controuersie of schisme and proued by this doctrine that the credit of the Archpriest as Archpr. was not sufficient to conuince that it was schisme and added in most plaine and particular tearmes as much as was needfull for this place for the
credit of the chiefe pastour in these words And who vpon earth is warranted from erring but one To which to take away the scandall which vpon some speaches of such sycophants as this author is hath growen in Christendome among the simpler sort of people these words are most Catholikely and truely added and not he in all things The exceptions which afterward are taken for vnkindnesse towards the Cardinal Caietane are very foolish and those that are for irreuerence are as false the priests hauing always shewed asmuch reuerence as the Cardinall did deserue or they could doe sauing their duety to the Cardinals superiour and theirs and the libertie which the Clergie hath in all places of Christendâ—…e and yet deserue not the name of libertines as this godly author out his great charitie and assistance of the spirit which guideth him termeth them in this place vpon occasion of some wordes which he saieth are vnder the handes of sixe prisoners of Wisbich and were to bee shewed to his Holinesse to wit citò indignabitur libertas si prematur that is to say oppressed libertie will not long beare it For after that hee hath shewed that the priests dealt vnkindly with the Cardinall Protectour who now hee sayth is gone to God and perchance had left a greater hope of possibilitie of some peace in our afflicted Church if he had taken some of these godly with him he would perswade his Reader that the priests doe not spare the Pope himselfe for proofe he citeth one place where they speake of their boldnes in repelling iniuries as though this did any way concerne the Pope and that other place before cited which he saith should haue bene shewed vnto him and then he falleth from this to proue a haughtinesse in the priests in that they would not suffer themselues to be accounted al the world ouer for schismatikes Other sentences also are cited out of their bookes where they indeuour to prooue how conuenient it had beene that they had had the choyce of their Superiour according to the decrees not onely of Popes but also of the Emperours at which this Authour glaunceth and vseth these wordes as though this were more as though this were not more although the one be of a higher order then the other as when we say that such a thing is of force by lawe diuine and humane when no man is so absurd as not to thinke that the law diuine doth farre excell mans law But for our purpose and to prooue that it was alwayes more to haue a libertie by the temporall Prince his lawe ouer and aboue the libertie which the Clergie had by the decrees of holy Church see I pray you howe this was thought on when it was graunted by a Parliament 47 Edw. 3. that the Cathedrall Churches should enioy their elections and that from thencefoorth the King should not write against the elected but should by his letters helpe toward their confirmation But sayth Iohn Stowe this statute tooke small effect By which it is euident that the Clergie did finde that it was more to haue the decrees of the Pope and King then the decrees of the Pope alone But if this fellow will say that two are not more then one his Reader must take it for an Oracle and by vertue of blinde obedience beleeue it vndoubtedly In the next point this author iuggleth vp two matters together the one that the Priests doe call into suspition of forgery the Popes Breue it selfe the other is that they draw his Hol. pious meaning into matter of State For proofe of the first he citeth these words out of the English booke that it was procured God knoweth out of what office which words cannot by any but an euill disposition be brought to an accusation of forgerie The most that can be made of it is that Fa Parsons might be suspected to haue procured it where hee might haue his will perchance more then was conuenient and yet the Breue not forged For as Rebuffus in praxi beneficiorum de breui Apostolico numero 16. doeth note an Apostolicall Breue solet concedi à Papa à Cancellaria ac à summo paenitentiario horum quodlibes dicitur Apostolicum sic Breuia dicuntur literae Apostolicae It vseth to be granted by the Pope and by the Chancery and by the high penitentiary and euery one is called Apostolicall and so the Breues are said to be Apostolicall letters Hauing then thus shewed that Breues may come from diuers Courts and yet be true Breues we haue also shewed that the Priests are here falsly accused where they are said to bring the Breue in suspicioÌ„ of forgery by making a doubt out of what court it was procured But to giue further satisfaction to the curious The cause why a doubt was made of F. Parsons his cariage in this matter is as we haue set it down in the booke dedicated to the holy Office pag. 59 for that the Breue affirmed that M. George Blackwell was appointed by the Cardinals letters of the 7. of March 1598 Archp. of the English Catholicks for the better vnion of the Catholicks of the kingdomes of England and Scotland whereas in these the Cardinals letters he is not made archpriest of the English Catholicks but onely of Priests and not of all the priests but onely of the Priests of the Seminaries And we did more easily giue consent to thinke that Fa. Parsons had busied himselfe more then became him because his Holines as no doubt he is carefull that no errors or shew of errors should be in the Breues so he hath no custome to looke vpon them but only giueth his consent that they be made Which consent although sometimes the chiefe of that office doeth take in presence yet sometime he giueth credit to those who say that they haue his Holines consent thereto And although he who is chiefe in that office must giue also his consent or warrant for the making of the Breue yet he taketh all his information of him who asketh for it and seeth not the Breue but onely a small abstract thereof and leaueth it to other inferior officers to draw it as it must be seale it and deliuer it to them who are the procurers thereof All which is expressed by Zecchius in his booke de republica Ecclesiastica tract de prelatis Cap. 9. Breuium vero officio praepositus est vnus Cardinalis iurisperitus qui habito viuae vocis oraculo Papae perseipsum vel alium facto absque alia Papae signatura omissa etiam porrectione supplicatoris sed sola Breuium minuta ab Abbreuiatore recepta videt formam Breuis addit minuit pro eius arbitrio reuisam minutam subscriptam ab ipso solicitatoribus restituit quae postea apud expeditores fidem facit inde litterae in forma Breuis in tenuiori pergamena scribuntur scriptae sub annulo Piscatoris dominico sub cera expediuntur
beginneth thus Sanctissimus c. to all Prelates Although also in farre lesser matters then this was no Cardinall will challenge any such prerogatiue to himselfe that his word or his letter should stand for a law to bind all men to whom the matter appertaineth to yeeld their obedience vnder sinne And both falsly and foolishly it is here vrged that it was the Popes ordination First because the Cardinall affirmed in his letters that it was his owne ordination as may appeare in those words of his letter Dum haec nostra ordinatio durauerit so long as this our ordination shall endure Secondly because although his Holinesse did declare that it was done by his commandement yet this declaration came not in a yeere after and could giue no more notice to the Priests before that hee did any thing therein then this authour of the Apologie hath knowledge at this present by any lesson which may be taught him a yeere hence and yet cannot but thinke it great folly to be charged for not beleeuing that at this present of which hee is not like to haue sufficient knowledge any time these twelue moneths following But now to the terrors which the priests are said to haue cast into Lay mens heads of admitting sorraine authority from the Pope I answere that the priests did only cast as in wisedome they might whether it were conuenient for them vpon so small a matter as was a Cardinals letter to incurre the penalties of such lawes as were before of force among the Catholikes For their submission to the Breue so soone as they saw it proued their readie obedience and reuerence to the Popes authoritie which they are often but falsely charged to haue resisted The sixt is that the doctors were told that it might be seene by the Card. letters that the Archpriests authoritie was granted by false information A point largely proued by the priests the place of the Cardinals letter quoted in all their bookes and that partialitie was vsed in the choise of him and his assistants Which clause this author hath set downe in such sort as his reader must conceiue that the priests had informed the doctors how that this also might be seene in the Card. letters which is a false imputation for the priests did not informe the doctors that any such thing appeared in those letters but onely that they had noted that there was such a partialitie vsed as may appeare in their informations without any relation to the Cardinals letters And no man can better iustifie this to the doctors to be true then he to whom in presence M. Blackwell tooke exceptions for wishing some matters were amended in the Iesuits and told him that it was the onely cause why hee missed an assistanceship And F. Garnet dissembled not the matter in his letter of the 11. of Nouember 1598. to M Collington where he maketh this conclusion about the middle of the letter So that if they would haue themselues or others that doe not affect vs though otherwise seeming neuer so vertuous to be chosen heads let them first affect vs so farre as in vertue they ought that they may be worthy of gouernment And at the beginning of this Chapter of the Apologie fol. 99 the principall counsellers in this action are said to haue bene F. Parsons and F. Baldwin open Iesuits M. Iames Standish a secret Iesuit or one at the least who had promised to become a Iesuit M. Haddock and M Martin Array who hauing forsaken their course of life in the helpe of their countrey lay to deferre some preferment by the Iesuits their procurement and haue since bene payde their hire the one with the deanrie of Dullin and the other with a prouostship in Spaine And doth not this cōfirme that which the priests did most iustly suspect to wit partialitie in the choise of the Archpriest and his assistants The readines of the priests to obey here againe obiected to haue bene a false information is proued by the Popes Breue of the 17. of August 1601. The matters concerning the two priests their iourney their restraint the iudgement of the two Card. against them the breaking forth of these present troubles after the peace made are to be handled in the Chapter following and are here very impertinently brought by this author as also that it was said God knoweth out of what office when speech was of Fa. Parsons his procuring the Breue of the 6. of April which words as it hath bene shewed were no discredit to his Hol. Breue it being acknowledged by the priests out of what office soeuer it was gotten and the words imply no more then that it might be gotten out of diuers offices and that Fa. Parsons might vse his talent to haue matters set downe therein for his best aduantage whereupon perchance it fel out that the letters of the Cardinal were mistaken in the Breue as all the world may see and it is particulerly said where in the booke dedicated to the Inquisition pag. 59. After this exception there is yet againe a refreshing of the memory of the priests their pride and arrogantie for he draweth now to an ende of his question which he proposed fol. 115. to wit whether any sinne were committed by them whereof he saith he will not presume to determine any degree of sinne their making a dangerous diuision among Catholicks in the sight of the common enemie and in time of persecution and would not be brought from it by authoritie or gentle perswasions whereof infinite hurts scandals and other damages haue and doe dayly ensue And if any man had proposed the state of the question in this sort is it likely saith he that so learned godly Catholicke men would haue defined that their fact had incurred no sinne at all Is not this a pretie resolution of the question which he had promised pag 115. that is whether any sinne were committed by the priests their forbearance to yeeld their obedience at the first sight of the Card. his letter I would aske this question when M. Blackwell himselfe sent first for M. Collington and M. Charnocke and could not with all his threatnings obtaine of them to say that they did like of that which was done what of all these matters here rehearsed by this author were then to be obiected against their fact If answere be made that afterward these things chanced which would not haue chanced had all submitted themselues at the first This answere is not to the matter For we aske the question of the fact in it selfe considered And before these diuisions among Catholicks began what was to be thought thereof Will you heare this author his owne confession in this place And yet saith he is their the doctors of Paris definition so limitted that they determine onely of the fact in it selfe and this also according to the present information giuen them excluding all other circumstances and considerations that doe or may aggrauate the
of their liues and one of them had suffered imprisonment for the Catholike faith which sentence sayth this author they accepted and confirmed also by a corporall oath This fellow forgetteth himselfe This sentence he sayth was by way of a letter to F. Parsons who was Rector or to the Vicerector and by F. Parsons onely was this sentence shewed first to M. Charnocke who was yet in prison then afterwards to M. Bishop who was at liberty and had ben so some certaine dayes And neither did F. Parsons exact any oth of them neither did they take any vnto him And in the tenth Chapter fol. 155. it is vrged that this oath was exhibited by the immediate Commissarie or Delegate of his Holines which titles belonged not to F. Parsons to whome this letter was directed by the two Cardinals as shall hereafter appeare The truth of this story and how this letter lay hid as was pretended in F. Parsons chamber for certaine dayes as he told M. Charnocke is set downe in the booke dedicated to the Inquisition pag 88. and it goeth vncontrolled and vntouched which in the iudgement of any indifferent man it should not if any iust exceptions could be takē against it Yet must his Reader be told that this author proceedeth no otherwise then in such sort as must satisfie all men for this he sayth fol. 126. speaking of himselfe offering for proofe either the publique testimonies of his Holines the two Cardinals Protectors Acarisius the Popes Fiscal and other parties that were actors or priuie to the cause or else the depositions of the said messengers themselues vnder their hands and oaths or finally the witnesse of the whole English Colledge and nation that knowe what passed in this matter which is another manner of proceeding then to publish things in corners by way of libels without any further ground of trueth then the will or malice of the publisher But these testimonies so much vanted of are loth to come to light or are caried into some farre countreys as disdaining to be in corners such as England Flanders France and Italy for these were the corners in which the priests books were published and in these corners haue the priests iustified their bookes which this poore fellow calleth libels to shift them off by one meanes or other And the priests were neuer so daintie of their bookes but that they who opposed themselues against them might haue Gods plenty for their comfort whereas contrarywise this miserable Apologie had a quartane euery time that it came to any of the priests hands and when it was to be seene by them it was by stealth and but for an houre or two so did it quake for feare of being found to be such stuffe as since it hath bene sufficiently discouered Yet to encourage the blind-obedient it telleth them of Popes and Cardinals testimonies and authenticall matters and bringeth nothing which can please these blinde affectioned but some railing words against Catholike priests as though if it could perswade the reader that they were most wicked by often inculcating it vnto him the cause were wonne and a railing word of this authors mouth would be of more weight to determine a controuersie then all possible right in the part oppressed But the indifferent reader will weigh his reasons and not his foule words and iudge of matters not as they are said to be but as they are prooued And thus much in answere to the ninth Chapter CHAP. 15. How this Apologie-maker shuffleth off the true cause of this present controuersie and layeth the blame thereof vpon the Secular priests Apol. cap. 10. IN the tenth chapter of the Apologie the author thereof intendeth to shew how that all controuersies were ended vpon the publication of his Holines Breue and how that a new breach was made He promiseth also to handle some excesses of his brethren and of their dealings with the Counsell The first point he handleth very slenderly as it should seeme for he forgetteth often that euer the controuersies were ended The second he layeth falsly to the priests as shall be shewed and in the rest he onely sheweth his merchandize And thus he beginneth this Chapter After that his Hol. had well considered the little waight of reason which these two former messengers had brought in the behalfe of their partners in England for raising so great a sedition against the Protectors letters and Archpriests incitation and had giuen some due reprehension to the sayd messengers as by their restraint aswell in Rome as by that they were not permitted to returne presently into England he thought conuenient to confirme the sayd Protectors letters c. In these few lines it is to be noted first how that his Holinesse is sayd to haue restrained the priests who went to Rome vpon consideration of the little waight of reason which they brought and permitted them not to returne or as we say in English banished them not onely England but Scotland also and Ireland yea and confined them to seuerall Countreys without allowing them any thing for their maintenance Secondly how his Holinesse confirmed the Cardinals letters Touching the first it is knowen to all the world or at the least in those parts which this author calleth corners those are England Flanders France and Italie where their bookes haue been published or sent that the two priests were restrained before they deliuered any reasons of their forbearance to subiect themselues to the Archpriest and as yet no one part of their relation hath been prooued faulty They haue layd downe an orderly narration of their messengers disorderly restraint through the false wicked suggestiōs of their aduersaries before that they had any audience and thereby haue made it euident that his Holines did not restraine them vpon any consideration of their reasons because he heard them not nor any cause else before they were restrained Secondly it is at large related both in the English booke pag. 97.98.104.105 and els where as also in the booke to the Inquisition pag 77. how that when the priests came to their answere before the Cardinals Caietane and Burghese they were not suffered to haue a copie of their accusations brought against them although it were most earnestly demanded by them that they might make their answere thereunto but a dissembling shew was made to haue all matters taken vp in peace and quietnes And this author not being able to gainesay any of this how shamelesly doth he here tell his reader that his Holinesse had well considered the little weight of their reasons and had therefore not onely restrained them but banished them or as he tearmeth it not permitted them to returne presently into England And although it be true which this author affirmeth that his Holines confirmed the Card. letters yet it is euident that he did not vpon consideration of the little weight of the messengers their reasons for they were neuer suffred to deliuer them as the custome of God Church was
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
the societie but some particular men as may be seene in their preface to the booke dedicated to the Inquisition pag 5. where they make this protestation Neque quae de societate hîc dicentur in vniuersam societatem dicta velimus cui tantum tribuimus quantū eius virtus doctrina postulant hic tantum particulares quorundam actiones conquerimur c. Neither will we that what is said here of the society be said of the whole society to which we doe attribute as much as their vertue and learning deserue we doe complaine here of the particular actions of some onely c. And as it should seeme this matter troubleth the authour of this Apologie much more as it is against a fewe Iesuits then as it is against all the rest which causeth himselfe still to forget himselfe or his matter rather when any occasion occurreth as it doth often to speake of the Iesuits and here he runneth along after them with these admirations what manner of people they bee for diuers respects that are here discouered although they were not the same men which are here discouered and of what account with our very enemies themselues of what other then hypocrites matchiuilians and traitors to their Countrey some of them being Superiours as euery parish in London hath scholemasters yea and some in hier offices some of singular merit towards the common cause such cause perhaps as to which the infamie of Catholike priests must bee iudged most necessary others notorious for their knowen vertues how gladly would blind Hugh see some of them here in England for then neither should the good haue cause to grieue nor the bad bee conformed in their naughty course who seeing the supposed best to be so bad they doe rashly coniecture that there is none good for which folly of theirs they and their bad guides must answere at the last day and smart long before vnlesse they repent themselues while they haue time to repent Thus much concerning this authours conceite of the sinne of libelling retorted vpon himselfe and his partners in this Apologie and other his Libels which he will neuer be able to iustifie Now follow his exceptions against the two bookes which he termeth Libels wherin he purposeth to discouer foule faults to haue bene as falshood deceite malice and slanderous calumniations Alwayes prouided that whereas the Reader hath still expected and liued in hope to see somewhat to the purpose now he must take this colde comfort to be remitted backe to the Chapters before handled for a larger proofe of what is to be sayd First hee beginneth with the latine booke which is dedicated to his Holinesse whose title is Declaratio motuum c. A declaration of the sturres and troubles that haue risen in England betweene the Iesuits on the one side together with M. G. Blackwel Archpriest in all things fauouring them and the Seminary Priests on the other side from the death of Cardinall Allen of pious memory vnto this yeere 1601. In this very title saith he and first page 5. or 6. abuses and sleights and shifts may be noted to be vsed towards his Holinesse c. for first whereas the whole world knoweth that their controuersie is with the Archpriest as appeareth by their Appellation to his Holines an 1600. 17. Nouemb. and others before and that their stomacke against the Iesuits is for standing with him and for as by the whole discourse of both these bookes appeareth here they change the whole controuersie and do say that it is with the Iesuits and M. Blackwell that fauoureth them so as he is put here but as an Appendix in the cause which is plaine falshood This is the first fault which is found in the Latin booke all things considered it wil not proue a fault much lesse so foule as this author would it should seeme to be the appellation was made from the Archp. not from the Iesuits because appellations are made from such only as are and take vpon them to be superiors Such are not the Iesuits ouer the Secular priests neither doeth the appealing from the Archpr. cleare the Iesuits who in the appellation it selfe are proued to be the chiefe fountaines of all these broyles as all the world may see in the Appeale And he doeth very falsly affirme that the whole discourse sheweth no other as himselfe can remember when he listeth Namely in his table prefixed to his Apologie num 23. where he citeth this sentence out of his Latine booke pag. 30. Iesuitae c. The Iesuits dispairing to be able to get superioritie to themselues by way of voyces or suffrages of the priests and on the other side hating and flying to admit episcopall dignitie into England thought to procure dominion to themselues vnder the maske of an other mans person c. Hath this fellow now forgotten what his owne iudgement was there of the priests their conceit of this matter hath not he perswaded his reader that 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 doe Apol. cap. 1. fol. 2. And would he now haue his reader beleeue that the whole world knoweth the contrary and that it is not principally against the Iesuits And whereas it is here said that the Archpr. is put as an Appendix some indeed doe thinke that he hath bound himselfe Apprentice to the Iesuits but I doe not heare that the priests do talke of th' one or th' other The second foule fault which here is found is that the priests of the Seminaries residing in England are put for the opposite part of which saith he these contentions are not the twentieth part and this is proued by their owne confessions in the former chapter Perchance this fellow hath relation to the question made to M Bishop and M. Charnocke How many they did certainely know to approue this their mission and to be priuie to the matters that should be proposed c. Chap 9. Apol. 131. To which these priests made their answere according to their owne certaine knowledge which answere is there deceitfully inserted as hath bene shewed and is here as deceitfully againe brought by him for his purpose their confessions being that there were Quà m plures sacerdotes Very many priests as appeareth where M. Charnocks examination is set downe fol. 130 which he there proued by certaine letters which he brought with him which testified as much And by their answer of their certaine knowledge which they could not haue but by present or particuler letter this fellow taketh a silly aduantage to proue that they were not the 20. part by their owne confession The priests did call themselues priests of the Seminaries because they were so and by this name are distinguished from the Iesuits who are
the principall faction against them and are priests who sooner or later for the most part did forsake the Seminaries Thirdly they say in this title saith he that their contentions against the Iesuits began from the death of Card. Allen. They neither challenge vnto themselues any coÌ„tentions against the Iesuits neither doe they say when any begun but onely intituled the booke in this maner A declaration of stirres and troubles which are or were betweene the Iesuits and them since the death of the Cardinall vnto such a yeere If a man should write of the warres in the Low Countreys from the death of the Prince of Parma vntill this present yeere must he be said to affirme that the warres began then yet cannot this author proue that there was any publique opposition or common stirres in England before the Cardinals death but that rather what was begunne as he saith Cap. 2. fol. 85. in the Cardinals time by Libertines and factious people was retained somewhat from breaking forth by his authority while he liued and this is most true for the Iesuits who lusted after a superioritie ouer the priests were afraid to make this their pride knowen either by themselues or by their factious adherents so long as he liued But the good Cardinall being dead in the yeere 94 all factious brake out together Fa. Weston the Iesuit and his factions begun a common wealth in Wisbich and vnder a colour of a stricter rule all the priests there must become his subiects or liue in perpetuall infamie some Iesuits abroad tooke order for the priests their welcome to all such places whither they were not directed by them The matters of Rome I leaue to them to whom that belongeth and although this fellow is so impudent as to alledge the Cardinall Allen his letter to proue that some of the seditious as he termeth them had begunne to stirre against the Fathers in England in his dayes his reader may easily discouer his falshood if he will turne not to the place by him cited to wit the 4. Chapter for there is nothing to be seene but to the second Chapter for there he shall finde that the priests are no more charged for any stirre against the Iesuits then the Iesuits for their sedition against the priests and moreouer that what difference there was could not be but some priuate quarrels betweene some priuate man and not any such publique difference or dislike as this is of which the booke intreated which was dedicated to his Holines as I haue shewed where this letter is set downe by this author Fourthly they said Ad S. D. N. Clementem 8. exhibita ab ipsis sacerdotibus that this declaration was exhibited by the Priests themselues to our most holy father Pope Clement the 8. This word was is of his owne addition It is said to be exhibited in that it was presently to be sent by them And if it came not to his Holines his hands so soone as they intended the fault was not in them who tooke all such meanes for it as they could so that they might iustly vse the phrase which they did without deseruing any blame therefore And the priests are saide to exhibite it themselues for that they writ it and were to present it in their owne names and the not comming of it to his Holines view will iustifie their printing of many copies that some one by one or other might come into his hands and the shamelessenes of this fellow may the more now appeare who would so peremptorily informe his reader that the priests were loth that he should know of it hauing by printing taken a most certaine way for it and much lother to answere it before him before whom the whole world will witnes for them that they haue bene to answere it The fifth cauill is at the sentence of Scripture which the priests put to their books as though they had abused it in vsing it in that place But gald nagges must haue pardon if being touched they winch The iustnesse of the priests their cause will beare them out against all hereticks hypocrits and Atheists and will stop the mouthes of them how potent soeuer they either are or would seeme to be among their like Thus much is implied in that sentence and no lesse was in the priests their meaning when they prefixed it to their Booke Sixtly and lastly it is said in this first page sayth he that it was printed Rhotomagi apud Iacobum c. At Roane in France in the house of Iames c. And hereupon he keepeth such a foule stirre as if it had beene a whole halfepenny matter where the booke had bene printed or that the Pope might haue thought the priests cause to be the more iust if the booke were printed at Roane I pray you good sir tell me what doeth the being here or there printed helpe or hinder the matter in questioÌ„ what if it be printed at Constantinople or at Cosmop If this fellow could shew what auaile may come to the priests or what preiudice to the other part by hauing their booke goe forth as printed at Roane he might haue bestowed a little of his paines taken here about it to some good purpose but his exception beeing so absurd as it is I will turne him to the Printers boy to reason this matter with him who for any thing that I can as yet learne set this which he citeth to the booke and the boy finding this fellow some equall match for him will perchance spurre him this question Why he should conster Rhotomagi Printed at Roane rather then to be â—olde at Roane or why hee should interprete Rhotomagi at Roane in France rather then at Roane in England there being in England diuers places named by as strange names as Roane is as Scotland Iury litle Britaine and such like yea the little boy will remember perchance that some of F. P. bookes which were printed here in England are said to haue bene printed at Doway and yet I trow this author will not say for a hundred pound that F. P. can lye or at the least that hee abused any man in saying so But I will leaue this authour and the Printers boy together for they seeme to be very well coupled to argue this matter onely I wish that this author would beware what termes he doeth vse in his anger for it may be the Printer will call him twice or thrice by his name if he be miscalled himselfe or perchance the Printer or his boy will tell him that there are as good Printers in London as in Roane although they themselues were not so expert and put him to a nonplus for saying that the booke was printed vnder the protection of my L. of London Well then sayth hee these sixe absurdities shifts and falshoods being discouered in the very first page of the booke as a preamble to the rest and vsed euen to his Holines himselfe we may imagine what the remnant will be
Censures when the priests submitted themselues vpon the sight of his Holinesse Breue which censures he had vsed against three priests because they had appealed from him to the pope as it is set downe in the booke to the Inquisition And I doubt not but that the Archpriest would be as glad now that all were well accorded as he was at the first attonement and be as ready perchance to breake out againe as then hee was as it is prooued in the bookes to his Holinesse and to the Inquisition neither is there any man that is in his wittes but will thinke that the Iesuits and Archpriest would haue peace that is power to vse the Secular priests at their pleasure and that the priests should suffer all manner of indignities both in fame and otherwise and not to stirre for anie thing which may be done against them least the Iesuites peace be broken which they loue so dearely and cloake it with extraordinary pietie in this place fol. 221 where they are sayd to haue stoode with the Archpriest and the rest in defence of his Holines ordination as though the priests had euer resisted his Holines ordination and not rather yeelded themselues presently at the sight of the Breue before which there was no Popes ordination And to this the Iesuites their standing in defence of his Holinesse ordination are ioyned most absurd positions of their desire not to meddle in the priests affaires whereas it hath beene shewed that they haue been the chiefe of this sedition against the priests And their interpretation that their dealing proceedes of loue is to men of vnderstanding an argument of a factious disposition and desiring of gouerning all sortes of people whosoeuer must play the Apes part to take away the enuie for their misdeedes from them They intend not sayeth hee to preiudice them in any preferment for the time present or to come Hee were worse then madde that would trouble himselfe with our Iesuites intentions which varie as often as their tongues moue and turne their intentions to serue best their owne turnes Let the Iesuites their hinderance of all our nation beyond the Seas from al promotion speake for their intentions since that no place or preferment there can be had without degrees in schooles which they haue induced his Holinesse to debarre all the English nation vnder this other intention that young men must not take the degrees when they depart from the Seminaries And that their intention may be the more euident that they will hinder euery mans preferrement they haue put into the Popes Breue a barre not onely for the proceeding in Diuinitie the knowledge whereof they haue now also cleane taken out of the Colledge at Doway but in either of the Lawes also Ciuill or Canon which are not taught in any of our Seminaries Yet must all their intentions bee most excellent and must not be thought to preiudice any for the time present or to come As for the time to come were it in their hands to preiudice any man all their protestations and oathes would carie little credite but with such as know them not In which as in all other their dealings especially in this action the priests doe most willingly forgiue them their falshood and doe pray for them that God will giue them and their adherents his grace to amende what they cannot chuse but see is amisse in themselues To which they may make a good steppe if they will enter into their owne consciences and consider of what great scandals and harmes in Gods Church they haue beene a very faulty occasion by that most wicked imputation of schisme to most Catholicke priestes and their obdurate standing in that sinfull opinion without admitting any equall triall of the cause in question which the priests did offer in most humble wise before they tooke the course that now they take and was onely left vnto them to cleare themselues of so damnable a slander ¶ A REPLY TO THE Appendix of the Apologie by J. B. THE author of the Apologie hauing seene other two bookes beside those against which he writ his Apologie maketh an answere such as it is vnto them which answere he calleth An Appendix to the Apologie by the Priests that remaine in due obedience to their lawfull Superior As though an Appeale made from a superior vpon iust causes and a lawfull prosecution thereof could not stand with due obedience But somewhat must be said and if it haue no pith in it as euery indifferent reader will soone discouer that want in this Appendix it must be ouercharged with bigge words which the blinde obedient must imagine would not haue bene vttered without iust cause although they see none After a long conflict then as it should seeme in this author whether hee should take notice of these two latter bookes to which he hath made it knowen both in this Appendix and other two scurrilous Libels set out since this Appendix came forth that he cannot make any answere he hath aduentured to say somewhat of them and that it might not bee made too apparant to the world how little the poore man had to say herein hee stuffeth these few leafes with exceptions against those bookes to which he pretended an answere in his Apologie enlargeth himselfe somewhat by way of a preface wherein he telleth his reader how vnwillingly he put his pen to paper for the defence of our Superiors and their lawfull doings and proceedings against the intemperate impugnations by tumult and Libels of a few discontented brethren c. And no man can but beleeue him that it was sore against his will that he had such cause as he had to vse his pen although he neuer made daintie of his paines and pen where hee thought he might discredit those priests which he could not bring to his lure And as for the priests their doings or proceedings they haue shewed themselues ready to giue accompt thereof and to proue both the lawfulnesse and the necessitie which was in withstanding the exorbitant proceedings of such as hauing neither any Christian wisdom nor honestie abused our Superiors and procured that al the priests should be brought into these streights to wit either to yeeld to the wicked designes of others or to be made infamous all the world ouer And to this effect was the treatise of schisme written by the Iesuits and sent abroad not onely in England but into remote places beyond the seas to perswade such as would be blinde that Catholike priests who had liued in a long most dangerous persecution for defence of the sea Apostolike were now become schismaticks and why because they did not contrary to the lawes of Gods Church yeeld their obedience to a creature of the Iesuits intruded vpon them as their Superior without any warrant from the Sea Apostolike which hath commanded that no such superior be accepted without a speciall warrant or letters from the same Sea as may be seene in that extrauagant