question of his Graces authority or looking for further proofe then the testimony of his owne word for warrantise therof but such truthes must haue like proues To end all in few words we aske our aduersaries what is our dutie to do if the laity shall refuse to beleeue one two or moe of vs to be Priestes and will not haue communion in diuine Seruice and Sacraments with vs as with Priestes vntill we shew them our Letters of orders or shall otherwise according to law proue our selues to be men of that calling Will they out of their wisedome and charitie giue vs other counsell then to haue patience in the interim and to procure with most conuenient speede satisfaction and legall testimony to their doubts and exceptions No truly well then we not holding our selues bound to admit the subordination vpon credence of the Cardinals word vntill such time as his Grace had either shewed the rescript of the delegation or proued his verball commission or obtained from his Holinesse a confirmation of the authoritie erected what was the part of our Archpriest the societie their adherents to do in this point not as ours was in the former to patient our bearing off and procure so soone as they could one of the foresaid proues for our due satisfaction either a sight of the Commission it selfe or an authentical proofe thereof or else some Papall instrument for testimonie of that which his Grace had brought into our Church and imposed vpon vs. It cannot be denied the cases being alike or rather our case infinitely more demaunding that right of iustice And if this had bene their dutie as the lots changed it would soone haue bene proclaimed then what thankes did we deserue in sauing them that labour and charges and vndertaking to our great cost the discharge of that businesse for them We desire not to be our owne iudges neuerthelesse can we thinke but that our paines therein craued a gentler recompence at their hands then to imprison those that were sent about the businesse and not only to imprison them a thing neuer heard of as we thinke since S. Peter sate first in the Chaire the nature of the affaire considered but to raise most fabulous and sinfull reports of them and dub both them vs with the surnames of all impietie as of faction emulation ambition scandall rebellion highest sacriledge disallegiance to the Sea Apostolicke renegacie from the spouse of Christ and of what not implying turpitude in this kind A strange requitall and so strange as inhumanitie it selfe could hardly deale lesse charitably or more vnconscionably with vs had we bene Iewes or Turkes and the onely drosse of either nation but our Lord Iesus giue vs euer his grace to possesse our soules in patience and incline our disturbers to reuerse at length their most vncharitable slanders the cause and continuing occasion of all the scandalous broile among vs past present and to come We haue bene the longer in refuting this weake and vngrounded reason because not onely the vulgar but father Holthy in his discourse of the 30. of Iune 1601. and diuerse other both of the Laitie and Cleargie Secular and Religious haue it most frequently in their mouths and enforce the obiection as a most mightie and choking argument to conuince what they most ignominiously burden vs withal A Fourth reason that our oppositours bring for proofe and maintenance of the crimes they impute vnto vs is the fewnesse of our number being as father a In his said discourse the 30. of Iune Holthy writeth but twelue or thirteene in all or as b Doctour Haddock and M Array in the libel dated the 10. of Ianuary 1599. giuen vp to the two Cardinals Protector and viceprotector against M. Bishop and M. Charnocke other make the account but ten and c In his letter to M. Bishop the 9. of October 1599. and in the Apologie after father Parsons manner of numbring vs much fewer then ten First let vs admit that these men write a truth as how farre their wordes swarue from all truth it commeth after to be examined yet we are to demaund of them and the rest of our impugners who think the fewnes of our number matter euidence cleere enough to condemne vs by whether the cause we stand in be naught in that we are but fiue ten or twelue which defend it If they say yea as they must or else bewray their own reason then must it follow by force of the same reason that the cause of S. Thomas of Canterbury in defence whereof d Gulielm Neubrigensis lib. 2. ca. 16. no one Bishop adhered vnto him in the whole Realme nay all subscribed to the Articles he stood against was treasonable rebellious or vnlawfull then the cause that Bishop Fisher died for and the causes that infinite other of great Holinesse maintained hauing fewer and incomparably fewer of the cleargie vnited to them in open defence of the same then are now or were at first of our companie were likewise either treasonable or rebellious or vnlawfull which we are sure our aduersaries will not say and yet they cannot but say it if they stand to the triall of the reason they make against it or shall not acknowledge the vnsoundnesse or inualiditie thereof For further satifaction in this point we refer our aduersaries to the dayly iudgement which experience maketh the surest confutation of all other whether the small number of open defendants especially when the sword of authoritie is drawne against the matter or action defended as it is in our case be a sufficient warrantie in conscience for any one of vnderstanding to infer that the cause they stand in is wicked or vngodly or not meete for men of quiet natures or Priests to be seen in Verily the question is so cleare and demonstrated by dayly experience as he that should make doubt hereof might not amisse seem to haue liued out of the world nothing being more frequent in the world then for truth to find fewest defenders when authoritie humane fauour and temporall gaine be her impugners But to vnderprop this weake reason founded vpon our small number father Holthy fortifieth and gildeth the matter in this wise It is Pag. 2. 5. well inough knowne saith he that those who receiued the authoritie farre exceeded the other who deferred their obedience not onely in number being twentie for one but in all things else setting their presumptuous minds and busie heads â—side And it is too too cleare that the refusall came not either of ignorance or infirmitie but of plaine malice of an obstinate will not to obey and from a proud presumptuous mind and seditious spirite Also it is manifest that some of the best among them were euer noted for busie and seditious spirites yea no one of their chiefest almost but he was noted with some particular fault or exception but among their brethren who embraced their authoritie there were many which
Letter Constitutiue The thirteenth and last Proposition A Superior proceeding vniustly as he doth when he commandeth more then the place and authoritie he holdeth giueth him leaue may without all imputation of blame the peril of scandall euer excepted be as lawfully resisted as an a Nauar. in ca contingat causa 5. nullitatis n 8 aduersarie as a b D. Tho. 22. q. 69. art 4. c. theefe as a c Ezech. ca. 22 wolfe as a d Molina Tō 1. de iustitia iure tract 2. disp 23. vers concessa tyrant or forraine enemie So that to disobey a Superior enlarging his precepts beyond the vtmost bounds of his authoritie is so farre from the nature of criminall disobedience as it cannot be said to be the least sinne yea the case may be such as it were sinne and perhaps great sinne to obey For none will deny but that there is e D. Tho. 22. q. 104 art 5. ad 3. D. Bernard Epist 7. a kind of obedience which is indiscreet or vnlawfull agreeable to that Canon of holy Church collected out of S. Gregorie f 3. p. pastoralis cura 2. q. 7. ca. admonendi Admonendi sunt subditi ne plus quam expeditsint subiecti ne cum student plus quam necesse est hominibus subijci compellantur vitia eorum venerari Those that liue vnder subiection are to be admonished that they be no more subiect then is meet lest whiles they endeuour to shew more subiection to men then is necessary they be compelled to worship their vices THese grounds being laid we proceed and affirme that the Cardinals Letter as it is plaine to the Reader maketh no mention at al of any Mandate or Commission which his Holines should giue other then that he should imploy his indeuour to make peace in our Countrey to the example of the peace and quietnes established in the English Colledge at Rome And how this commaundement did communicate authoritie to the Cardinall to institute an Archpriest ouer vs with like iurisdiction and soueraigntie as is expressed in the Letter Constitutiue appeared a more strange point vnto vs then we could vnderstand or find out any ground or shew of reason how the said commaundement of his Holinesse could any way be in such sort possibly extended and retaine force to bind For what necessary connexion is there betweene making of peace in our Country and instituting of an Archpriest ouer one part of those that were at variance with iurisdiction to spoile them of their faculties to remoue them from their places of residence to depriue them of the vse of their Priestly functions and to afflict and vnable them to do good in our Church and in no degree to subordinate the other more principall part of the contenders to the least iot of the same iurisdiction We say what necessary and straight coniunction is there between the two precedents that Commission being graunted to labour and effectuate the one viz. peace in our Countrey authoritie must thereby be thought to be graunted to erect and appoint the other viz. an Archprist Must the assigning of an Archpriest with such iurisdiction be holden alike intrinsicall or dependant an accessorie to the taking vp of dissention and of making peace as not ordaining the one the other could not be effected None will say it that shall compare them together and none can say it that haue wel looked vpō the sequell contētiō strife debate variance broiles scandall parts-taking enmitie slaunders calumniations wrongs iniuries being now most rife in our Church and neuer heard of before Neither any maruell at all whiles one who was vnknowne vnto vs to haue any such authoritie nor many yeares euer holden but for our backe friend would institute in our Church a new forme of gouernement the like neuer heard of in the world meerely penall wholly consisting in punishing and in punishing contrarie to the forme of law that is without citing without triall without proofe of the accusation And to bring this intollerable burden vpon vs without making so much as any one of our bodie priuie thereunto and also to giue vs none other satisfaction of this his Graces straunge proceeding in our Church but onely the warrant of his owne Letter and the same not addressed to vs neither but to the superiour onely whom himselfe without all our consents or weeting preferred to the office by the sole information of him whose busie head and actions haue bene the cause and increase of much trouble and persecution in our Church and Realme And who being a member of another bodie and professing also a mortified state and to haue relinquished the world seeketh neuerthelesse to be our great maister and to rule all and would to God but to rule and not to domineere or tyrannize rather Let any practised Gouernour Ecclesiasticall or temporall or any one of common vnderstanding in the world tell vs whether this platforme this new and strange kind of gouernement and as straunge a maner of proceeding in it were a meane to make peace or not rather the high way to breake peace to kindle debates to multiply dissention and as it were to strike vp an alatum of troubles in our poore afflicted Church too manifoldly if it pleafed God to the contrarie alreadie tossed The new authoritie therefore being in it selfe no greater a helpe to the setting forward of peace and in the sequell so preiudicious the first second third and fifth Propositions shew that his Holinesse commaunding the Cardinall to bestow his paines for the establishing of peace and concord to the patterne of the peace wrought in the English Colledge at Rome did not therin for ought appeareth or may be gathered out of the Constitutiue Lettet giue commission to his Grace to enact the foresaid iurisdiction Againe the second third and fifth Propositions declare that the enacting of the like authoritie not being so nigh linked and vnited an accessorie to the principal in charge as the one might not be wel effected without the institution of the other declare we say that we were not bound by any law of holy Church or duty of obedience to subiect our selues to such his Graces ordinance because his Grace seemed euē by the tenour of the selfe Constitutiue Letter to haue exceeded the limits of his Holinesse Commission vnto him in that receiuing but a commaundement to make peace he made an Archpriest and indued him with largest punishing iurisdiction and soueraigntie ouer vs. Neither of which were behooueable or not so behooueable to the making of peace as that peace could not be made without these as is already shewed And therefore his Graces decree touching the subordination could not at least in the iudgement of our owne thoughts bind vs the same appearing vnto vs to be an excesser or too great an enlargement of the delegation committed Plaine by the authorities and proues laid downe in the said Propositions But if our aduersaries shall here say
promoted thereunto of their owne chusing also the forme of the subordination creating themselues in truth and vnderhand the appointers of the Archpriest the designers of the Assistants the makers of our lawes the dispensers the disposers the directors the commaunders and our great masters in all things Their stomackes were too great not to haue the subordination to go forward howsoeuer father Parsons his soule lay at pawne in the Interim as wel for his vsage towards our two brethren as also for abusing therein of the Sea Apostolicke Neither among so many strange wonders could we maruell at any thing more then what the cause or drift might be why father Parsons comming on a time from his Holinesse told one of the prisoners M. Charuock that he had neuer so much ado as to perswade his Holines that he and his fellow Agent were Catholicke Priestes and not heretickes a thing as father Parsons auowed which his Holinesse would not beleeue of a long while O good God to what times are we reserued to liue in either for that so vniust an information should be giuen to the highest Pastour against vertuous Priests or that an auncient religious man should in such sort glose and counterfeit For it cannot be possible if his Holinesse stood so conceited but that very impious vntruths and with greatest colour of truth were inculcated to his Holinesse ere his practised and aged iudgement could entertaine and ground so bad an opinion of English Priestes as they comming so farre off vnto him should be of any other religion then Catholicke Two Priests to come out of England to Rome and purposely to his Holinesse Chaire and in a message and supplication from Priestes whereof a good many were then are now and had bene a long while in durance for the Catholicke cause and in an affaire meerely belonging to the Romane Religion with a prest readines also to follow and obey his Holinesse order in the same as vnder their booke-othes they assured are we trow no tokens of heresie but ablest demonstration of conuincing the contrarie What should then be the cause that his Holines was possessed with so hard an opinion against them and consequently against vs all from whom and in whose names they came Was it the matter they came about Impossible if right information had bene giuen because they came only to vnderstand the truth coÌ„cerning the institutioÌ„ of the new authoritie and to open to his Holinesse wisedom our difficulties about the same and to acquaint him with the spiritual wants of our country with humblest petition for supply Cardinall Caietane who had most cause to stretch the action to the hardest sense against vs in that it might beare some semblaÌ„ce of an opposition against his ordinance Cardinall Burghesio openly acknowledged at the time when our two brethren appeared before them sitting in iudgement vpon their cause that they could not find fault with the intention and matter they came for And if the intention matter were lawfull or not iustly to be blamed as both their Graces affirmed let our aduersaries tell what might the trespasse be why his Holinesse mind was so greatly auerted or rather his holy zeale incensed The messengers were reported the one to be a Maultster and a Horse-courser the other for an incontinent person O tongue libertie whither runnest thou O father Parsons how credulous are you in bad matters Let but this latter be proued notwithstaÌ„ding you said who perchance counteth such a saying no bad pollicie that a Priest sware it and two other Priestes tooke their othes that they heard him sweare it and we do all here yeeld our selues without further conuiction to be traytours to God and his Church and craue the fagot There was a night-cappe with a border of blacke silke two fingers deepe a dozen of silke points fine sockes a sword and a dagger found in their chambers and matter of much good sport made therat father Parsons the chiefest doer hauing now forgotten how himselfe went attired when he liued in England and how some of his brethren here now go more costly then any Priest The messengers were accused that they came to Rome to renue the stirs in the Colledge The apprehension of M. Dudley M. Barrowes M. Râ—wse and M. Watson the remoue of Fa. Weston M. Archer M. Southworth and M. Pound from Wisbich to the Tower the great search made by the Officers for our Archpriest was laid to their charge as a complot agreed on before their going and after executed by vs here their confederates To make the bead-rowle long inough it was obiected that M. Doctour Bagshaw had a pension of fiftie pound a yeere of her Maiestie that we dealt with the Counsell and tooke direction from them The fall of M. Ithell and the Apostacie of Frier Sacheuerill were laid warmely in their dish with a long rable of surmises what would become of some others if they hold on Were not these fine exceptions we appleale to the whole world or accusations rather Who would euer think they could haue bin spoken without a vizard or obiected by any who before had not shaken hands with all shamefastnesse Alas alas whither do vnruly humours driue such as serue them For could there be grosser tales deuised if one would haue fabled for the whetstone or more infamous slaunders coined if there had beene a dispensation graunted to forge at pleasure That these things were laid in the dish of our two brethren against vs their fellows it cannot with any truth be denied or but with the abandoning of a great deale of modestie be stood against For sundry Letters containing the greatest part of the premises and which father Parsons had the perusing of and was the inditor or prompter of all or most of the contents and which also himselfe sent open into England to and for our Archpriest and others to reade are yet extant and both the priests liuing against whom the said counterfeit crimes were obiected and who are ready to witnesse or if need so require to depose so much as before is rehearsed But what would we inferre out of all these Verily not that father Parsons did accuse them and vs to his Holines in al the foresaid crimes for then vndoubtedly his maners had bene so far discrepant from the etymologie of his religious name as blacke is from white or hell from heauen Neuerthelesse we cannot but assure our selues that he or some other and none but himselfe hath the office of informership in the English affaires plaid a monstrous bad part in inciting his Holinesse by vntrue and vngodly suggestion to conceiue so infinite hardly of our two brethren as not to be brought but vpon long perswasion to thinke them to be Catholicke Priests Now although the reasons testimonies and probabilities already alleaged may sufficiently declare what grounds we had to beleeue that his Holinesse did neither commaund the institution of the new authoritie nor was priuie to the particulars
reuiewed and compared with the Constitutiue Letter and we are content to make the aduersary who is most against vs our Iudge in the case For to begin with the first and take them all in order The second letter of Cardinall Caietane which is set downe verbatim in the beginning of Angles p. 2. in 4 q. de rest leg paenal diff 1. con 1. the booke were it not contrary to the naturall forme of iustice obserued among all nations be they Christians Iewes or Pagans for any one in the exterior Court to beare witnesse in his owne cause neither auerreth nor specifieth any one particular of his Holinesse commission vnto him other then the commission it selfe in generall termes as all men may be their owne informers that will reade the Letter Moreouer there be certaine clauses or points interlaced in the sayd Letter which did so little inuite vs to beleeue the residue therein mentioned or what his Grace had written before in the Constitutiue Letter as they most mightily more then euer before caused vs to doubt of the processe For some part of the contents curteously findeth fault with maister Blackwell for that he had not written to Rome of our manners or actions in so long while and rendering his excuse layeth it in his modesty and charitie in that he would not be easily moued to accuse his brethren a property wherein one of his greatest facilities did and doth consist as we then knew and haue sithence more abundantly felt nor can himselfe deny this much and father Parsons letter to maister Doctor Bishop of the ninth of October 1599. and the late Apologie do verifie it apparantly Another peece of the letter imposeth a commaundement or two vpon our Archpriest both to certifie the names manners and actions of the tumultuous and the causes which they pretend of their reluctation for so the letter termeth vs and the iustifiable demaund we made for Canonicall proofe of his Holinesse commission ere we did absolutely engage and subiect our selues therunto Iniunctions which certes we could not beleeue nor suspect to proceed from order of his Holinesse notwithstanding so much was expresly signified in the letter Nunc tamen S mo id postulante vt informatio debita de omnibus habeatur faciendum tibi erit omnino Yet now his Holinesse commanding the same that due information be giuen of all you must needes do it The reasons why we could not beleeue or suspect thus much were first because his Holinesse was at Ferrara three hundreth miles or thereabout from Rome at the time when the Cardinals letter was written for his graces letter bore date from Rome the tenth of Nouember 1598. and his Holinesse maried the King of Spaine and the Duke of Burgundy at Ferrara on the 12. of the same moneth two dayes after the date Againe his Holinesse for a good while before had not bene in Rome being in his iourney towards Ferrara nor was the Cardinall one of his attendants in the iourney And to thinke that aduertisements of like quality and small moment as this businesse of ours was passed this while too and fro betweene his Holinesse and the Cardinall were a very improbable conceit considering the continuall trauell of his Holinesse and the hourely accesse of all sorts of people vnto him and for that his Holinesse intended ere long to returne to Rome where the Cardinall might haue personall conference with him about the affaire and in time conuenient inough the matter being but onely to inquire how a few poore Priestes haue liued and to vnderstand from their aduersaries the causes they pretend in dislike of a gouernement already in being And albeit these were the respects which inclined vs to doubt whether his Holinesse enioyned any such commaundement as the letter specified yet that which indeed farre more setled the doubt in our thoughts was the partiality or iniustice in that our aduersaries and those that made a chiefe party and were most interessed in the controuersie should haue the certifying of what we could say either in clearing of our selues or against them and so haue the telling of both tales theirs and ours Beside it seemed straunge that we being defamed but of one crime if it be a defamation and a crime to do as the Ca. si quando de potest iudicis deleg lawes of holy Church licence and direct when doubt is made either of the commission or of the specialties therein contained we must haue our manners or actions without any specification of or in that particular ransacked and layd open to the world The first kind of partialitie or iniustice not tollerated among the Heathens and the later if by our manners and actions the course of our life be meant as the exception taken against the negotiators and other our brethren do verifie as contrary as what may be most contrary to the expresse Canons of the Sea Apostolicke Inquisitio fieri debet solummodo super illis Ca. inquisitionis de accusat § ad haec ca. qualiter el. 2. eodem criminibus de quibus clamores aliqui praecesserunt Inquisition ought onely to be made concerning those crimes of which some clamorours reports haue gone before That maister Blackwell was willed to make inquisition of our manners or actions by way of authority and consequently by way of inquisition the words of the sayd letter do attestate For the Cardinall hauing before signified the Popes commandement to maister Blackwell that he should not faile but send notice of our names manners or actions his grace immediatly addeth Quod vt facilius citiusque ex nostrae ordinationis authoritate perficias hoc tibi caeterisque Presbyteris iniungimus vt statim ac diligenter fiat The which thing that you may by the authority of our ordination performe with the more ease and speede this we enioyne you and the rest of the Priestes that it be foorthwith and diligently accomplished But the most we would inferre of the premises is that these things being part of the contents of the Letter and sounding so hardly both against the common forme of iustice the decrees of Gods Church we could not imagine either the same to be written by any order receiued from his Holinesse or written at all by the Cardinall but we tooke the letter for an extrauagant of father Parsons subscribed by the Cardinall without perusing it before only vpon confidence of father Parsons iudgement and sincerity in managing the affaire he had begun Neuerthelesse we can but muse why father Parsons would haue other mens liues and actions informed when if his owne life and disposition were vnripped they would perchance bring as little edification to the world as the life and transgressions of some other But the old saying is Non videmus manticae quod in tergo est we do not see the part of the wallet that hangeth behind where father Parsons of likelihood as this his forwardnesse should shew hath bundled vp the frailties of his
not and the ensuings God willing shall proue that we could not admit him without transgressing the lawes of holy Church then the non-admittance of him was not to maintaine controuersies but to defend we say not our freedome though if it had bene so the endeuour had beene most lawfull and honest but to defend trueth to shunne penalties and for conseruing order and the Hierarchie of Gods Church inuiolated Actions which no way approach to that degree of deformitie as to deserue exile and also confinement in exile and in Catholicke Priestes that had many yeares ventered their liues in Christ his cause and the banishment and confining therein to be inflicted vpon them by personages of Ecclesiasticall preeminence If on the other side M. Blackwell was so fully and absolutely constituted our Archpriest as we could not without sinne protract the submission of our obedience vnto him then must we craue pardon to thinke that the two Cardinals mistooke in their sentence quid pro quo one kind of sinne for another the lesse for the greater For the only and sole cause which their honors alleage in the sentence of banishing and confining our two brethren was for that they had maintained controuersies with men of their owne order So that if the bearing off to receiue M. Blackwel in the authority he claimed were indeed the maintaining of the coÌ„trouersies which their graces meant in their senteÌ„ce as needs it must be if M. Blackwel wrote a truth in affirming vs to be condemned at Rome as their complices we being at no time their complices in any other controuersie then as we haue said their Graces mistooke the lesse sinne for the greater controuersie for disobedience or truer for rebellion a Panorm in ca. sâ—ne 2. de ofsic iud deleg nu 4. rebellion being when one will not obey or shall impeach the iurisdiction of his Superiour or for a far greater sinne if all be true which hath bene obiected against vs. Neither were their honours as it seemeth only mistaken or spoke improperly in this but also in another point of like moment viz. in that M. Blackwell being lawfull Superiour to our two brethren as it is supposed and in manie respects of more then Episcopall iurisdiction ouer them neuerthelesse their Graces did not otherwise name or more particularly stile M. Blackwell then by comprising him vnder the general terme of other me of their own order for so runne the wordes in the sentence as the Reader may see nor is there any other cause at all alleaged why they were banished confined but for that they had maintained controuersies with other men of their owne order and therefore not expedient to the English cause that they should anon returne to those parts where they had so demeaned themselues Errours of that nature as it were hard to thinke their graces would commit considering their long practise and place but chiefly in respect of the vnusuall and grieuous punishment imposed and for that by this generall or improper speech neither the punished were let to vnderstand the nature of their offence a default in iustice nor satisfaction giuen to the world why so heauy chastisement was taken of Priests comming so farre off to the Sea of Rome Considerations which force vs to thinke that their Graces meant not by the said words of the decree the controuersie which our two brethren had with the Archpriest in not admitting his authoritie vpon sight of the Constitutiue Letter but the maintaining of some other controuersie albeit we wote not nor can gesse what controuersie that should be or with whom Againe the wordes of the decree are for maintaining controuersies with other men of their owne order Which being spoken in the plurall number and none can say that either of our two brethren maintained controuersies or had so much as vnfriendly speech with any one Priest M. Blackwell excepted in reproofe or dislike of his admitting the subordination Which conuinceth except the sentence were erroniously giue that their Graces could not not vnderstand by maintaining controuersies with other men of their owne order the difference betweene the Archpriest and them concerning the receiuing or not receiuing of the Subordination And to shew the aduantages that commonly concurre with all truth and do abound in this we will grant to our aduersaries that the Cardinals vnderstood no other controuersie in their sentence then that which our two brethren had with our Archpriest about the subordination and wherein we were their complices and that also the punishment inflicted was such as it might aswell appertaine to vs as to them as how meerely impossible it was so to do it hath bene declared before yet what sequence can be inferred either in equitie which is iustice tempered with the sweetnesse of mercie and euermore chalengeth her due place in iudgements giuen by such personages because iustice without mercie is crueltie as S. Chrysostome writeth or in rigour extending all things to the highest seueritie that can be Must the condemnation that passed vpon our two brethren be stretched needes inuolue vs their complices neither summoned to the triall nor named in the sentence nor specified in his Holinesse Commission to the Cardinals or we otherwise vnder like authoritie or iurisdiction of their graces Certes both reason learning common sense and the custome of all Nations Heathen and Christian do counterpleade nor all ages as we thinke can yeeld one president from the beginning of the world to this present day where and against whom any iuridicall condemnation as that is maintained to be which passed against our two brethren hath bene in like sort extended were the persons to Dist 86. siquid 2. q. 1. in multis capitibus eadem q. 7. ca. ipsi ca. testes 15 q. 7. per totum ca. qualiter 2. de accusationib Concil Trid. sess 13 de reform ca. 4. 1. Tim. 5. whom it was extended of neuer so base calling and the fact they committed neuer so notorious and execrable Circumstances or materiall points which greatly alter our case for Popes Councels generall and prouinciall and famous Emperours haue decreed sundrie priuiledges for the more iust and respectfull proceedings against men of our function Yea the holy Apostle for the more reuerence of Priesthood omitted not to giue direction likewise in this affaire and the fact also wherein our two brethren were condemned not the most hainous euen by that species or kind of the offence to which the Cardinals themselues raunged and intituled it by viz. the maintaining of controuersies with other men of their owne order It is a receiued Proposition among the Canonists and alleaged by Pope Innocentius the third and Pope Gregorie the ninth that a Ca. dilecto de prebend dignit ca. cum snp r de sent reiud eod ca. quamun Regulariter alijs non nocet res inter alios iudicata Regularly a matter past in iudgement betweene others hurteth none but the parties themselues
of the Popes Letters for his preferment thereunto No doubt but the vtter face of the perswasion which the sonnes of Iacob vsed to Sichem was good and holy as being the act of Circumcision Gen. 34. the chiefest Sacrament of the old law yet Sichems obedience thereunto was the cause of his death and of the slaughter of many mo Againe if we looke vpon the outside of Dauids counsell to Vrias in 2. Reg. 11. exhorting him to take his ease after his wearisome iourney there appeareth nought but goodwill and kindnesse and yet Dauid had a subtile fetch therein and more respected his owne good in the counsell then he did the welfare of Vrias Neither did the enemie of mankind let to candie and cloake his perswasion to our vnfortunate mother Eue with an outward shew of godlinesse Eritis sicut Dij scientes bonum Gen. 3. malum Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and euill but what drift he had therein all her posteritie feeles We know how excellent a vertue obedience is especially that kind which father Parsons would haue vs to practise and which spirituall writers call Caecam obedientiam blind obedience for that it closeth the eye of our will and leadeth the iudgement of our vnderstanding as the guide leadeth the blind man agreeable to this saying of S. Gregorie Vera obedientia nec Praepositorum Li. 2 ca. q. in li. 1. Reg. intentionem discutit nec praecepta discernit quia qui omne vitae suae studium maiori subdidit in hoc solo gaudet si quod sibi praecipitur operatur Nescit enim iudicare quisquis perfectè didicerit obedire True obedience neither discusseth the intention of his Prepositors neither scanneth their commaundements because he that hath subiected the whole course of his life to the direction of his superiour ioyeth only in this if he do as he is commannded For he knoweth not to iudge that hath perfectly learned to obey But as we wot the thing that father Parsons counselleth vs too to be right good in it selfe being the perfection of the y D. Tho. 2. 2. q. 104. art 3. worthiest of al other morall vertues so do we feare least he seeke therein the increase of soueraigntie and absolutely without contradiction to rule in our Country as already he hath not blushed to vaunt himselfe of the commaund he holdeth in England we speake from report of an eye and eare witnesse as well ouer many of the Laitie as of the Cleargie which vaine bragge he would easily make good with aduantage could he once bring vs to a blind kind of obedience neither to discusse the commandements of our Archpriest whom he directeth in all things nor the ordinance of any other superiour vpon what false information soeuer the same was enacted Volo vos sapientes esse in bono simplices Rom. 16. in malo I would haue you sayth the Apostle to be wise in good and simple in ill Which God of his mercies make true in father Parsons and in vs all Concerning the other part of the charge that hauing resolued to be vnquiet we would not desist till lastly we fel to contemne our superiours commandement Here we haue good cause to aske father Parsons how he knew being no Prophet nor the sonne of a Prophet that we had resolued to be vnquiet for so much was neither written in our foreheads nor manifested in the nature of our actions doing nothing as we haue often sayd more then what the Canons and constitutions of holy Church and the vniforme consent of all writers allow and direct But notwithstanding the iustnesse of the cause we will not trouble him with this demaund hauing another question of more weight to be assoiled viz. that he tell vs and the world vnlesse we and the world must hold him for more then a vaine speaker wherein and how we contemned the commandement of our Superiors that is as Diuines and the Summists write in a thing z D. Tho. 2. 2. q. 986. art 9. ad 3. Caiet ibid. in summa verb. coteptus valet To. 3. disp 10. q. 4. punct 5. Siluest verb. Contemptus nu 1. Archidiaco in Ca. quicunque dist 81. Dominicus in Ca. Nullus dist 55. Viguerius ca. 5. § 9 ver 1. Nauar in Manuali ca. 23. nu 42. Prouerb 18. we were bound to obey them did not obey theÌ„ for this respect only because we would not be subiect to their coÌ„mandements A slander which he nor our aduersaries shal euer be able to proue not prouing we trust he will make coÌ„science to reuerse the words as he must needs if he loue his soule the sooner if by the gradation and forme of speech he vsed he intended to giue ayme to the Reader of our nigh approching or perfect arriual to that degree of sin which the holy Ghost mentioned by the pen of Salomon Impius cum in profundum venerit peccatorum contemnit When the wicked is sunke to the depth of mischiefe he contemneth the commaundements of Almightie God and of his Deputies vpon earth Finally touching the remnant of the obiection vnanswered to wit that our sinne in refusing to subiect our selues to â—he new subordination before it was witnessed or approued by his Holinesse Breue can no where else be placed but in the highest greece of disobedience seeing it was committed against the supreme Pontâ—fex himselfe and against the dignitie of the whole Romane Court We referre the Reader the assertion being most ignorant and vncolourable to that which hath bene said before * Pag. 29. sequen â—ib in our second Reason and * Pag. 85 86 in our answer to our aduersaries third obiection and to that which God willing we shall hereafter touch in both the Reasons that follow AN eight obiection or shift which our oppositours deuise for maintaining their feeble assertions and for finding a way out of the straites which their afterwits saw would mightily enuiron them if they should stil hold and maintaine * Our Archpriest in his letters in the 8. and 17. of August see pag 67. as they did at first the subordination to be the act and ordinance of our Cardinal Protector because to acknowledge this much did and would euer most hardly rub vpon them either to shew the rescript of his Holinesse delegation to the Cardinall or to proue his Holinesse verball Commission vnto him or driue them to recall vnles they should shew themselues of worse conscience then they seeme to be the temerarious and too too vncharitable censures which they had most wrongfully laid vpon vs and dinulged euery where for not yeelding our obedience no law nor rules of conscience binding vs therunto without proofe first made in that behalfe of the Cardinals authoritie to M. Blackwell vpon view of the Constitutiue Letter to correct this errour father Parsons in the bill of complaint which M. Haddocke and M. Martin Array exhibited to Cardinall Caietane
expresly contrarie to his Holinesse Breue O Lord Christ O Sir our Superiour who are we or what may our cause be that not to be adiudged renegates from the Sea Apostolike or traitors to God by sinne must be accounted a preiudice to the dignitie of the sea Apostolicke strange and so strange as it astonieth You say that the sentence clearing vs of schisme and sinne is expresly contrarie to his Holinesse Breue We beseech you to quote the wordes to shew the place for if it be expresly contrarie as you say then the contrarietie must needes consist in plaine termes not in deductions or inferences vpon the tenour or purport of the Breue Or if this much be not to be shewed as al the labor vnder heauē can neuer shew it because neither of the two wordes schisme or sinne is vsed in the Breue nor we that prolonged the yeelding of our obedience any where specified in the same we then pray you to frame the arguments which conclude and infer so much For verily we for our parts do not see as is said before * Pag. 109. 110 111. in the place where we haue discoursed of this very point how any such inferēce cā with vnderstāding be made Or if vnderstāding be mis-led to make such an inference yet we protest that we cānot cōnceiue how the authorities that contradict the verity of such an inference which we haue alleaged * Pag. 58. sequentibus before cā possibly be answered or colourably shifted off Or were all the Canonists deceiued their authorities worth nothing yet if M. Blackwell be such a superiour Prelate as is contained vnder the wordes of the former Extrauagant and as his former faculties and largest iurisdiction must in all reason make him then is it dead sure that no such inference can be made because that cannot be schisme or sinne which the Extrauagant decreeth and commaundeth to be obserued vnder the paine of leesing the fruites of their ecclesiasticall liuings that shall presume to transgresse the precept And as we cannot conceiue how the censure of the Vniuersitie could be preiudiciall to the dignitie of the Sea Apostololicke or expresly contrary to his Holinesse Breue so can we lesse imagine how the same censure can be reckened preiudiciall to our common peace so much wished for by his Holinesse vnlesse our purgation of schisme and sinne be such a barre or aduerse hinderance of peace as the one cannot stand or be effected except the other be repealed Which lacke of charitie howsoeuer it may sort with the kind of peace that perhaps some of our aduersaries affect whose passion of ouerweening of themselues is so puissant as they can hardly if at all count that peace for peace wherein our discredit is not proclaimed yet we are sure that the stiffe seeking of our dishonour cannot sort with that peace which his Holinesse wisheth to be among vs. For this being a charitable peace charity not reioycing 1. Cor. 13. vpon iniquitie but reioycing with truth the fathers of the Societie especially our Superior should rather congratulate that we were acquited by publike sentence of a famous vniuersitie in the crimes obiected vpon errour then by opinionatiue defending their rash and temerarious iudgement make nouissima peiora prioribus their last actions worse Math. 12. then their first against vs. Concerning the other reason which our Archpriest alleageth also as part of the cause why he did so seuerely prohibite the defending of the censure of Paris viz. for that the same was preiudicial to the sentence iudicially giuen by the two Cardinals appointed iudges in our cause we know not where to take the first exception the whole and euery word thereof lyeth so loose and open Father Parsons in the Apologie will Fol. 133. not haue the said sentence giuen so much by way of a iudiciall sentence as by way of a letter vnder the two Cardinals their hands and seales So that if we may beleeue father Parsons the sentence was not iudicially giuē Neither were the two Cardinals appointed iudges to decide whether our deferring for the causes rehearsed in the question to receiue M. Blackwell our Superiour vpon view of the Cardinals Letter were schisme or sinne the matter meerely considered in it selfe abstracted from all circumstances nor yet were their Graces appointed iudges in the cause of any one of our whole companie saue only in the cause of M. Bishop and M. Charnocke as the title of the decree and the decree it selfe doth witnes Againe their Graces sentence doth not signifie that they inflicted the punishment vpon our said two brethren for refusing to subscribe to the new authoritie or for comming to Rome because there is no such thing set downe nay the contrarie is expressed in that the causes for which they were restrained from comming into England or for going into the kingdomes of Scotland and Ireland were onely as the words of the decree do testifie for maintaining controuersies with other men of their owne order and for that it appeared in no case expedient for the English cause that they should returne into England Now to mainetaine controuersies with other men of their owne order and to appeare not to be expedient that they should forthwith returne into England are things different from deferring their obedience to the Archpriest and from sending or going to Rome for fuller knowledge of his Holinesse pleasure and to lay open our difficulties vnto him Besides if the cause in which the two Cardinals were appointed Iudges See more of this point pag. 101. sequentibus was the refusall to subscribe to the authoritie of the Archpriest instituted by the Letters of Cardinall Caietane and for sending to Rome then was Cardinall Caietane appointed iudge in the cause that most nearely concerned himselfe a thing against law and so intollerable in the ministring of iustice as his Holinesse would neuer haue assigned him iudge therein nor the Cardinall for edification sake haue vsed the office especially in designing the punishment Or to grant which is no more so then a foxe is a fearnebush that the two Cardinals had giuen sentence in the same cause before and otherwise then did the vniuersitie What then must the censure of a renowned vniuersitie one of the most famous in Christendome be so lightly set by abandoned detested and that in a matter of fact as whosoeuer shall either defend or maintaine it directly or indirectly in word or writing must if he be a priest be presently in the fact it self suspended from diuine offices and leese his faculties or if such a delinquent be a lay Catholike he must in like manner be interdicted ipso facto A rigour as the like whereof all the Annales and records of all the Prelates actions since Christs time hitherto cannot as we assure our selues yeeld one instance or neare example But that which of all other points in the decree seemeth to be most out of rule
is the imposing of so heauy penalties for the direct or indirect maintenance of the censure Whether the vniuersitie gaue the same vpon true information or otherwise This this appeared so strange as we hardly durst beleeue our owne eyes before we read the wordes ouer and ouer gaine nor should we so haue beleeued the same had the decree not come forth in the hand writing of our Superior and vnder his seale For was it euer heard that one Prelate and of no higher calling thē an Archpriest Protonotary Apostolical being also but a Bachelor of Diuinity neuer reader in the facultie would not only so ouerrule the cēsure of a whole vniuersitie but so farfoorth to reiect it as to bereaue Priests of their faculties to suspend them from the altar to interdict the Laitie man and woman yong and old vulgar and noble whosoeuer shall maintaine the same so much as indirectly and this Whether the information giuen to the vniuersity were true or false Was it euer heard that Priests hauing no other meanes to maintaine themselues by then by vse of their faculties and liuing euery houre in danger of death for profession of their faith should be spoiled of their faculties disabled to do good to others put from the altar robbed of their maintenaunce debarred from Sacraments and incurre all these spirituall punishments for defending the censure of a most learned famous and Catholike vniuersitie in a matter neither decided by any decree of holy Church nor contrarie to any expresse authoritie of holy Scripture Was it euer heard that men and women leesing all their goods and two third parts of their lands onely because they will not go to a contrarie Church and dayly hazarding their liues and the vtter ruine of their whole posterity for professiō of the Romane faith for receiuing Priests for releeuing their necessities for the glorie of Gods Church for preseruation of Religion for good example to their The penalties following the censure of interdiction euen christen should be exiled from vse of all sacraments put from being present at diuine Seruice and dying not to be interred in Christian manner and to be thus disgraced maligned defamed and spiritually afflicted for adhering to their friends approued to be honest by long triall for taking part with their ghostly fathers in a matter of fact discussed and determined to be lawfull by publicke censure of a renowned vniuersitie Was it euer heard that the like measure hath bene met by an Archpriest to Priests by a Superiour to his subiects by a father to his children by a labourer to his brethen coadiutors by one liuing in persecution against his fellowes in the same persecution and this by the counsell and direction of religious persons who must not be counted sicut caeteri homines as the rest of workemen in the same vineyard O heauen O earth are ye not astonied or do ye not close your eyes from beholding the iniustice the inhumanitie the vnnaturalnesse the oppression the affliction vnspeakeable enough to stumble any that are not well staied by grace But besides these exceptions of our Archpriest against the censure father Parsons as one being inured with the trade of deuising shiftes descendeth in the Apologie to other particulars and telleth vs that the said definition of Paris in very deede very little releeueth our case and Fol. 115. sequentib that we might well haue spared to print it but for making a vaine flourish with ostentation of an Academicall sentence And why so Marie because the information that was giuen to the Doctours was wrong and defectuous and that there was no man of the Archpriestes side to reply or tell the tale as it ought to be and tell them how false the information was Is all this true then we pray tell vs what man was at Rome when you laboured and informed the Cardinall and his Holinesse about instituting the subordination to reply or tell them how false the information was Had not you father Parsons the drawing of the Constitutiue Letter the setting downe of the instructions and additions The day of iudgement will declare you had howsoeuer you cloude matters now from the sight of those that will not see light when the Sunne shineth Were there any Priestes in England which were to liue vnder the subordination that had a part a voice or were made priuy to the designe saue happily some two or three of whom father Garnet your inciter and aduertiser stood wholly possessed and had the commaunding of their pens tongues and trauels You write in seuerall places of the Apologie that both the Laitie Fol. 98. 99. 117. alibi and Priestes desired by their letters and expresly demaunded of his Holinesse a subordination among Priests Shew their letters or giue vs some secret notice of their names that the truth may be knowne or we shall not beleeue you but take thi◠as we must do innumerable other for escapes of your pen and memorie You write likewise that if those reuerend learned men had bene indifferently instructed in the case how it passed they would haue bene of a farre other mind and iudgement then to cleare such a fact And we do as verily beleeue that if his Holinesse had bene indifferently informed how matters passe in England betweene the secular Priestes and the fathers of the Societie he would haue appointed a farre other forme of Subordination then such as inlisteth but one side of the contenders and maketh those that were their oppressors before more potent to exercise their splene and exempteth them from out the compasse of the iurisdiction appointed ouer the other Rome father Parsons cannot perswade vs that euer his Holinesse pious and tender conscience would suffer you to sit as you do at sterne making lawes for vs chusing our Superiour directing gouerning and raigning as a Vice-pope ouer vs had he bene indifferently giuen to vnderstand of our Princes hatefull auersion from you and that not for your good deedes or leauing the world and the generall auersion likewise that most of our Priests conceiue of your insinceritie in many matters and truthlesse dealing Finally you adde that they would not haue cleared such a fact as hath caused so many sinfull scandals Here we must intreate you to name what kind of cause our action of delay was of the sinfull scandals that haue followed You must needs range it as we thinke vnder that kind of cause which is called causa sine qua non the cause without which the ensuing fact had not bene committed which as you know the Philosophers terme stolidam causam a foolish cause And sure if our bearing off and sending to Rome was lawfull in it selfe as beside the decision of Paris the authorities before going do proue inuincibly your reason for that such our fact hath caused so many sinfull scandals is weake childish For hath not the institution of your owne order approued by the Sea Apostolicke to be good and
holy bene the cause sine qua non of many sinfull scandals the world will witnesse yea in that many some by their pens some by their tongues some after another maner haue spoken and done that which was very sinfull and which they would not haue done had your order neuer bâ—ne founded You know what the Prophet and the Apostle writeth and of whom Ecce pono in Sion lapidem offensionis Esa 8. Rom. 9. petram scandali Behold I put in Syon a stone of stumbling and a rocke of scandall And yet we are more then sure that you will not inferre any of our Sauiours actions to be vnlawfull albeit they caused many most sinfull scandals in the kind of cause aboue mentioned But now let vs see how you shew the information giuen to the Sorbon Doctors to be wroÌ„g defectuous false sinistrous For euery of these is your own Epitheton You make 6. exceptions to this purpose The first is that we in proposing the question said only that an ecclesiasticall Superior was coÌ„stituted by the Letters of a most illustrious Cardinal not telling the Doctors that he was Protector of the nation which doth much increase as you say his credit for matters touching the country vnder his protectioÌ„ The inualidity of this exceptioÌ„ is refuted before the Cardinal not instituting Pag 66. 67. the subordinatioÌ„ by any vertue of his Protectorship but onely by commission from his Holinesse what did the adding or not adding that the Cardinall who was his Holinesse delegate in the action was also Protector of the nation import sith the institution of the subordination did not belong to his office of Protectorship and consequently we not bound to obey his letter vntill he had prooued the commission because Literis cuiusdam credendum est de his quae facere De probati §. 3 nu 15. potest vel debet ratione officij sui Beleefe obedience saith Speculator is a tribute due to be giueÌ„ to the letters of those that coÌ„mand the things which appertaine to their office So that the ordaining of the subordination being a thing not belonging to the office of his Protectorship we held it superfluous to set downe in the state of the question that the Cardinall who by his Letters instituted the subordination was also the Protector of our nation And whereas you say that the adding of being Protectour of the nation doth much increase his credit for matters touching the Country vnder his protection we say the same if either you meane by matters such as beloÌ„g to the office of Protectorship or do meane that the title of being Protector doth much increase his credit though not so much as we were bound to beleeue and take his Graces word for warrantize of his Holines commission vnto him But if you meane another or greater increase of his credit then either of these then we discent from you in opinion and assure our selues that ye can neuer make good by reason or authoritie that which you say herein Your second exceptioÌ„ That we putting down the questioÌ„ did but onely signifie that the Cardinall did it according to the will and good liking of the Pope but did not tell them that it was expresso mandato by his Holinesse expresse commandement which the Cardinall setteth down clearly in his Letters Father your little sincerity or rather boldest audacitie amateth For where doth the Cardinall cleerely set downe in his Letters that he receiued an expresse commaundement to erect a subordination Certes either your ignorance appeareth grosse and verie faultie that would not ouerview the letter before you affirmed out of it a matter of such weight or your audacitie in the affirmance there being no such commandement We graunt that the Cardinall in the beginning of his Letter maketh mention of an expresse commaundement receiued from his Holinesse to make peace in our countrey to the example of the peace in the English Colledge but what is this to an expresse commandement of erecting a subordination especially so afflictiue burdenous in our whole church How litle these two do folow one another and how the expresse commandement of doing the one is not nor cannot be the expresse or tacitiue commandement of doing the other the three first Propositions with sundry other places in our Pag. 23 â—4 second Reason do manifest and confirme aboundantly When the Cardinall came in his Letter to appoint the Subordination he made this entrance For so much as some men thinke it would not a little auaile to the making of peace if a subordination were constituted among the English Priests and the reasons yeelded by the Priests themselues which was but M. Standish onely so farre as yet we know for the same were approued by our holy Father we following the most godly and most prudent will of his Holinesse haue decreed to ordaine a subordination Where is the expresse commandement you talke of and which as you say the Cardinall setteth downe clearely in his Letter we meane an expresse commandement of instituting a subordination Verily we must answer you with a Non est inuentus except you can lend vs a spirit to find that which is not We propounded the question in as full or more large termes then the Cardinall vsed for his Grace wrote sequentes voluntatem we following the most godly and prudent will of his Holinesse haue decreed to ordaine a subordination And we in the state of our question wrote that the Cardinal did also declare in his letters vnto vs that he decreed the subordinatioÌ„ iuxta voluntatem beneplacitum according to the will and good liking of his Holinesse So that where the Cardinall said he did institute the subordination following the will of his Holinesse we added that not onely he did it following his will but that also he did it according to his Holinesse good will and pleasure which is somewhat more ample or of greater emphasis Your third exception We concealed another thing vttered also in the Cardinals Letters to wit that a subordination was demaunded by Priests letters to his Holinesse What did you dreame when you wrote this for where we pray is it vttered in the Cardinals letters that Priests in their Letters to his Holinesse did demaund a Subordination Fie what failings are these must we thinke the cause you pleade no better but that it requireth to be vpholden with such apparant falsities The Prophet saith in detestation of idols Lingua ipsorum polita à fabro ipsa etiam Baruc. 6. inaurata inargentata falsa sunt non possunt loqui Their tongue is polished by the Carpenter and themselues being gilded and siluered ouer are notwithstanding counterfeit and cannot speake We know not what Art hath polished your pen but certaine we are that howsoeuer the counterfeits she draws shew faire to the outward view yet looked into and examined they are false and as idols speake little truth Againe how shall we know that
speeches and writings do speake euery where very vnkindly and vnreuerently of him Sir if we should aske you what these vnreuerent speeches writings were the instances would be to seeke vnlesse you deuised matter of your own coining Or to let this passe whom should we beleeue you or the famous Cardinall Allen gone also to God who told M. Mush that the said Protector neuer did nor euer would as he feared do good to our countrey And we are sure that fewe or none tasted anie part of that you report except M. Haddocke who left our campe without any great losse to our cause and perchance some other deuoted persons whom you recommēded And here we humbly request that we may not be thought to write this being more then anie of vs wrote before either vpon another motiue or to other end then we did that is to purge our selues of the note of hatefull ingratitude which you impute vnto vs and to shew how litle beleefe you deserue in many of your writings Touching the last calumne in the beadrole vz. the terrours we cast Fol. 117. into lay mens heads of admitting forreine authoritie from the Pope which tendeth you say to a worse consequence then all the rest and by which as Fol. 14. 15 16. you write in another place his Holinesse and all other godly and learned men may see and pitie vs but especially our spirit of vindicatiue and maleuolous proceeding c. We answer that you seeme by this course construction of our wordes to carrie a verie sharpe disposition of wounding vs in the speedingest place you can Is your religious charitie no more That which was affirmed was onely that by the opinions of diuerse men In the copie of Discourses pag. 6. of iudgement in the lawes of our countrey this our admitting of the Archpresbyteriall iurisdiction may by law and will by likelihood be drawne within the compasse of an old law of Premunire made in a Catholike time because it is an externall iurisdiction brought into our Realme against the will and notice of our Prince and countrey This was the summe and the worst of all that was written and the cause of the writing was to yeeld a reason why we deferred to receiue the Subordination vpon view of the Cardinals Letter namely because the preiudice it might this way turne vs vnto was great and great by an auncient law of the Realme Which brought vs into a most certaine opinion that we were no wayes obliged in conscience notwithstanding the contrarie position of the Iesuites and our Archpriest to admit the Subordination vpon the sole credence of the Cardinals Letter the preiudice we should incurre by the admitting thereof being as we haue said so great to our selues and profitable to none and consequently that which most of anie other thing did iustifie our delay Because no writer who is See the Authors quoted pag 61. 62. ◠89. largest in the prerogatiues of Cardinals but doth hold that in matters of verie great preiudice a Cardinall is not to be beleeued vpon his word in things that he relateth to haue receiued from another So that the cause which enforced vs to mention the said law of Premunire being no other then to iustifie our bearing off or to free our selues in the crimes obiected against vs by father Lyster and others and our words also which ensued in the verie next page witnessing that his Holinesse least commaund should euer bind vs though with hazard and losse of our liues to accept of any Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction which he should appoint make known vnto vs after a Canonicall maner we cannot but maruel what passion guided or rather blinded your pen in running thus eagerly vpon vs without iust or colourable cause giuen if you had bene pleased to vnderstand our intention and words aright And we maruell the more hereat in respect you fall into this inuectiue humour after our deeds had verified our words and we really admitted the subordination according to our promise vpon the first appearance of his Holinesse Breue notwithstanding the danger of the foresaid lawe of Premunire standing in force and inlisting vs within the penalties thereof for so doing A fact wherein we litle doubt whether the clergie of Fraunce or Spaine would haue followed vs if the case had bene theirs but would haue respited their acceptance notwithstanding the Breue till his Holinesse had bene otherwise and fuller aduertised and the mischiefe prouided for But now we being so few that is to say some fiue or sixe and such as we Fol. 15 119 were for so scornefully do you terne vs small account perchaunce is to be made of our right specially standing against the designe of a Iesuite we haue to alleage Nulla erit distantia personarum ita paruum audietis vt magnum That in discussing of rights there is no difference Deut. 1. of persons or number to be respected but the case of the few small is to be tendred as well as the case of the many and great Your other assertions that we by our foresaid naming of the Statute of Premunire laboured to cast terrors into lay mens heads of admitting foreine authoritie from the Pope and that we would haue the Princes consent to be needfull for the legitimatio of the new authoritie denominate our selues being but some fiue or sixe to be the Countrey and that we also opposed our selues against the Subordination for that his Holinesse had not asked our consents These are so ill deductions so farre fetcht and sauouring so strongly of the old leuen that whosoeuer reades them must hold you farre gone in passion or drowned in indignation against vs. Did the Subordination concerne anie lay man at all when we mentioned the Statute of Premunire The Constitutiue letter is as flat as flat may be against anie such inference or interpretation For it onely instituteth M. Blackwell Archpriest ouer the Seminarie priestes abiding in England or Scotland and giueth him not the least authoritie in the world ouer the Laitie or so much as once toucheth anie such matter How shamefully therefore do you wrest our words sith when we first wrote them the Subordination implied none of the Laitie and were onely printed to shew by reason that we were no such lewd persons nor intangled in the censures of holy Church as father Lyster with his adherents did most ignorantly or most vncharitably censure and diuulge vs to be We assure our selues father Parsons that your restlesse spirit and pen your enterprising and busie actions haue turned heretofore our Catholike Professants to infinite preiudice for to no knowne cause can we impute so much the making of the seuere lawes of our countrey as to your edging attempts and prouocations And as we assure our selues of this so do we feare least this your notorious playing and descanting vpon our wordes and your forward endeuours to Fol. 15. 110. 117. 132. draw all things
immundo quid mundabitur à mendace quid Eccle. 34. verum dicetur What shall be cleansed by the vncleane and what truth can be spoken by a lyer Which words as well the ordinarie glosse as Lyra and other expositours do appropriate to the Diuell onely and can be verified of none other and much lesse of a Priest who how wicked and abhominable soeuer his inward life be yet doth he ministeriouslie cleanse either when he baptiseth or absolueth and although the Diuell sometimes telleth truth yet because he neuer telleth truth but to the end to deceiue and for that such actes q D Th. 1. 2. q. 1. art 3. q. 19. art 4. 6. 7. 2. 2. q 43. art 3. q. 64. art 7. take their denomination of the end therefore the Diuell alwayes intending deceipt no truth as holie Scripture affirmeth can be expected from him Which kind of habituate and obdurate wickednes and reprobation being not to be found in any mortall man the place can not be truly spoken of any but of the Diuell and if of none except the Diuell doubtlesse his Reuerence shewed either much splene or some ignorance in applying this sentence to me whom yet he hath not proued to be of so infectious vncleannesse and lying spirit as that I defile whatsoeuer I haue hand in and can tell no truth but to the end to beguile Let the premisses and other his writings be pondered which are not scant in his letters and I do not doubt but that my reioynders will seeme as temperate and respectiue as reason dutie and priestlie mildnes did bind me vnto To end this point I do not remember that euer I mentioned any Superiour in my letters to him saue onely father Garnet neither him in any reprochfull or contumelious manner which maketh me the more to muse with what libertie of penne and conscience his Reuerence could pretend and diuulge the taking away of my faculties to be for writing letters vnto him full of contention or calumniation against other Superiours when I neuer touched in my said letters but one onely and him after no vnseemely manner his approbation of father Listers treatise and the nature of his owne assertions considered which were very false iniurious and shameleslie detractiue against me in particular as the specialties of the Appeale do testifie The fourth cause that our Arch-priest giueth for depriuing me of my faculties is for that euen at the instant when he tooke them from me I attempted many things against peace This he saith but doth not specifie wherein nor would his Reuerence when after I wrote vnto him to know the particulars answere me a word The truth was that vnderstanding our intention to appeale from him and thinking Maister Mush and my selfe to be two of the chiefest in the action he knew no meanes how better to take his peniworths of vs before-hand then to disfurnish vs of our faculties And to cloake the reuenge his Reuerence deuised the foresaid foure causes with a coople etceteraes as loope holes to let in what he or his friends could afterwards espie out of more truth or moment against vs. But let our encountering of father Listers paradoxe and our withstanding the imputation of enormous disobedience be exempted which conscience bounden respect of our good names tyed vs vnto and the whole world can not giue an instance wherein we hindered the making of peace nay we aboue any others laboured and pressed the chiefe meanes of establishing true peace as the discourse of the next Reason will demonstrate It appeareth by that litle which is said in answere to the reasons of our Arch-priest that there was neither neede nor necessitie nor any iust cause occurring why he should bereaue vs of our faculties especially before summons and conuiction of the fault To say our misdemeanours were notorious and therefore no neede of citing or triall before the inflicting of the punishment is too bare a refuge and ouer common nor other then may be alleaged in the wrongfullest accusation that can be imagined The Canonists r Anto. fran in ca. ad extirpandas de fil presby in lib. a. sub no. 4. Gloss in ca. ad nostram de emp. rend Speculat li. 3. de notor crim § 1. nu 9. teach Quod licet notoriâ—m non sit de necessitate probandum tamen debet probâ—ri illud esse notorium That although there be no necessitie to proue that which is notorious or publick yet there ought proofe to be made that the same is notorious Which our Arch-priest hath not yet done nor can euer be able to do by all the conioyned forces of the aduerse part For that is s Gloss in ca. vâ—stra de cehabi cler verb. notorium ca. tua ca. quaesitum cod tit notorious in this case quod ita exhibet se conspectu heminum quod nulla potest tergiuersatione celari which so exhibiteth it selfe to the eye or vnderstanding of all men as that it can not be hid or excused by any colour or tergiuersation soeuer Or as t In ca. vestra de cohab cler nu 14. Panormitane and v In 2. q. 1. ca. de manifesta Archidiaconus describe a notorious fact or crime cuius testis populus est dissimulationi locus non est whose witnes is the people and can not be dissembled But the two first offences for which our faculties were taken away that is for defending of our cause and demaunding satisfaction do so litle offer themselues to the vnderstanding of most men in the nature and liuerey of notorious faults as they hold the actions for most lawfull and the latter two viz. the writing of contumelious or calumnious letters and my frequent deuisings against peace how can they be notorious and manifest to others or not admit deniall or dissimulation when my selfe who should best know as being most inward to mine owne action and intention can by no examination of my conscience holden neither for the dullest nor the blindest recount any such transgression It is a generall rule without exception among the learned in the lawe x Aâ—to franc in ca. consuluit de appell sub lit 6. verb. notorium Card. in consi 54. incipi in â—lucidatione Ro. consi 42. incipi visis Quod debet consâ—are de notorio ante quam super notorio disponatur That there ought to be a manifest constat and greatest assurance that the crime or fact be notorious before any processe be made or punishment imposed vpon the same as notorious Furthermore if any processe be made or ecclesiasticall penalty inflicted without summoning the offender before for a fault that is not publick or notorious the processe or penaltie doth not bind Sententia lata contra non â—â—tatum nulla est nisi in facto notorio A sentence as writeth y Verb. citatio nu 5. Siluester giuen without citing the delinquent before in a fact that is not notorious
is voyd and of no effect And Panormitane writeth z In ca. vestra de coha cleri nu 18. Quandoque potest competere aliqua defensio quod est quasi regulare tunc requiritur citatio aliàs sententia non valebit Sometime in facts that are notorious there may be place of defence which is very common and then citation is so requisite as without it the sentence is of no validitie By which places and others before quoted it is very plaine that our Arch-priest did not only exceede the bounds of the Constitutiue Letter in the manner of taking away our faculties but that he did also breake the lawes a Clem. ca. pastoralis de re iudica of Nature and holy Church in such his enterprise and the fact neuerthelesse of no obligation which may also be confirmed by other arguments There is nothing lesse doubtfull either in the b 12. q. 5. c. 1. ca. 1. de causa poss prop. tit vt lite non contesta per totum Canon or c L. fi c. si per vim siue alio modo l. 2. Ciuill lawe then that no one can be depriued of the thing he possesseth without iudiciall examination and triall of the cause Which without question holdeth also true as d In ca. accepta de rest spo solut oppositionis octauae nu 18. 19. Pagi 223. Nauar writeth in ecclesiasticall rights So that the possession and vse of our faculties being vnto vs in steed of benefices and in a sort couenanted for and deserued as it hath bin before shewed it followeth directlie vpon the same reason that we cannot lawfully be dispossessed of our faculties before we be heard and iudiciall examination had of the offence for which they are to be taken away But of that which may not lawfully be done there can be no neede or necessitie which are the limits and direction when our Arch-priest may take away faculties as appeareth by the Cardinals letter therefore this not obserued but exceeded e D. Tho. 22. q. 60. art 2. 6. Ricardus in 4. dist 18. art 4. q. 4. Pag. 25. his fact therein may easily be mortall sinne to himselfe but neuer of any effect in vs because if he goe beyond his commission he goeth beyond his iurisdiction and going beyond his iurisdiction his fact is of no force nor obligation but absolutely voyd in it selfe as the fourth and fifth propositions teach Againe the Diuines and Canonists agree that regular or religious Priests being once allowed by the Bishop to heare confessions cannot againe be imbarred thereof but f Henriques li. 3. de poeni ca. 6. nu 6. Benedict 11. in Extrauag inter cunctas Pius 5. prop. mot pro mendic Sotus dist 18. q 4. art 3. Siluest verb. confess 2. nu 11. causa cognita probata vpon examination and proofe of the cause pretended Much more then the priests in England being sent with like danger of life into our country and hauing no other meanes of procuring harbour or maintenance then by vse of their faculties nor any way inabled so much to reclaime or profit others as by exercise of that function should not nor cannot by any lawe or rules of conscience and the more for that also the losse of their faculties is a defamation vnto them be depriued of their faculties but vpon iudiciall examination and tryall of the cause and crime obiected Hence as by other perticulars the iniustice and oppression of our Arch-priest appeare great in dispossessing vs of our faculties onely vpon the bare naming of a cause without citation or proofe of the cause alleaged a course contrarie to lawe diuine and ecclesiasticall and contrarie to the forme of all practise in the christian world Which measure also becommeth the more ouer-running in extremitie and iniustice towards vs in that his Reuerence notwithstanding the long want of our faculties would not restore vs to our former state vpon the order and commaundement of his Holines Nuncio in Flanders to whom himselfe assigned me in his dimissories as to the Iudge of my appellation a more direct and lesse iustifiable kind of disobedience by many degrees then we can be charged with notwithstanding the condemnation and outcryes that haue bin made and continued for a long space most violently against vs. The words of the Nuncio his letter vnto him belonging to this point were these Eo casu mittendi aliqui erunt sufficienti procuratorio authoritate ad ea quae hanc in rem necessaria erunt peragenda instructi si profectionem rationes negotia admodum R d◠D. V. incumbentia non admittant interim eam monitam rogatam cupimus vt interea temporis omnia in antiquum statum reponentur To the end that all matters may be examined and discussed before the Priests that are come from England go forwards in their iourney to Rome some are to be sent with sufficient information and authoritie for accomplishing the things that are hereunto necessary if your Reuerences charge and affaires may not suffer your personall repaire vnto me in the meane season whiles these matters be a treating we admonish and will you to set all things in their old state Some weeke or more after I had sent the Nuncio his letter vnto our Arch-priest and receiuing no answere from him I addressed the Letter following Very Reuerend Sir I Sent you some few dayes past a Letter from his Holines Nuncio in Flanders with a copie of an other of his to the Priests of our Countrie in generall I doubt not but that you haue receiued them and receiuing them not I alone but other also of my brethren do maruell the contents and the solemnitie of the feast considered that we haue not as yet heard from you By reason of which delay these are very earnestly to beseech you to aduertise vs whether you determine to restore vs to our former state as his Honour in the said Letter directed and willed you to do Which due of iustice we expect the more to receiue at your hands in regard the thing his Grace 3. q. 1. in multis ca. eadem q. 2. ca. Oportet ca. Si Episcopus enioyneth you is none other then what the Canons of holie Church not vnstrictly commaund the vse of our faculties being vnto vs in lieu of Ecclesiasticall liuings and the meanes of our maintenance Let vs therefore we againe beseech you good Sir vnderstand your full mind in the point and receiue notice of the time you assigne for the appearance of some of the Appellants before the Nuncio there both to answere to that your selfe or your Procuratours shall obiect and to proue the auowances in the Appeale and other iniustices receiued that so his Lordship hearing both parties face to face may the more maturely iudge and relate to his Holines at full to whom other of our associates in the action are gone the beginning processe and true causes of