honor est in honorante say Deuines in exposition of the princely Prophets speech Omnis honor regis ab intus in fimbrijs aureis c. And for that the questioÌ„ is not of admittance into the nuÌ„ber of nobles or geÌ„tles but being once matriculated cataloguated registred in that KaleÌ„der whether that then being but a Gentleman of proper merite onely and not of bloud coat-armor or auncestrie the foresaid wants and defects do more disable the subiect wherein they are inherent to aduancement ecclesiasticall or ciuill that is whether a Priest by function or an Esquire by creation ought more to conceale and hide his faults and which of them may be soonest hindred from preferment to higher dignities as from an ordinarie Priest to be a Pastor Vicar Deane Archdeacon Bishop c. and from a Gentleman of coat-armor to be a Knight Baron Lord baron Vicount and Earle c. Wherein because it is presupposed that they are both in the way to preferment the one as a consecrated Priest by his spiritual the other as a created Esquire by his temporal gentrie the difference by consequent must needes follow thereupon to be this that being once admitted by dispensation legitimation c. those things most in request with a Priest afterward must be learning vertue gouernment c. None of which in our speech of meanes to aduancement are so exactly required in a temporall Gentleman and on the other side the graces and abilities expected at a temporall mans hand must be parentage valor comelinesse of person and wealth sufficient to maintaine his estate c. which may cause his good fortune by marryage and otherwise none of which are required so precisely in a Priest and perhaps not at all necessities his preferment standing not vpon mariage or ostentation of his wealth friends and temporall abilities but vpon the managing of the thing he hath or is to take in hand wherein wisedome prudence and other ciuill politicall and morall vertues are required And so by consequent it followeth that as both are to maintaine their honour renowne and credite to the vttermost so both may conceale such defects as may hinder the same preferment which otherwise might and would accrew vnto them alwaies respecting time place person and other circumstances as may preiudice either one or other thereby which to explane how that may happen I will set the case downe in these few examples following Saint Augustine rightly called the Apostle of England because sent hither by blessed Saint Gregorie the Great to conuert as he did this countrie to the Catholike Romane faith sending for the Welch or Briton Priests fallen into Apostacie and Pesagianisme to come to conference with him concerning sundrie of their heresies and grosse errors obseruing well his actions and behauiour towards them vpon the speech of a false prophet or Pelagian Hermit they all that came to parlee presently left him before the first encounter because he did not rise and giue them the chaire place or honor point at their meetings mightily condemning him for an arrogant proud man But yet was it no pride in him at all because he both came in all humble wise submitting himselfe to the meanest in all Kent vntill he had conuerted them and also for that he should by giuing them place coming as he did an Apostle haue preiudiced the See Apostolike and the Popes Holinesse from whence as an ambassadour with Legatiue power he came and also he should therein haue preiudiced the Regall Maiestie of King Ethelbert of Kent by name who then hauing receiued the Catholike Romane faith at Saint Augustines hands whom for that cause his Maiestie had highly priuiledged they did not send for him but he sent for them by authoritie from the said King who afterward also compelled them to receiue the same faith and to renounce their heresie with the death of two thousand Monks of Bangor Abbey at one time procured by the King of Kents exciting the King of Northumberland and others to warre vpon them c. Conformable to this example in another kind may very well be the secular and Seminarie Priests comming into England with like Apostolicall authoritie as did Saint Augustine and therefore as they are to humble themselues in all respects wheresoeuer they come in England as he did in Kent vnder any ciuill magistrate vnder her Maiestie and not to contend for a cappe or a knee where is readie prepared for them a racke and a halter by course of lawe in this land through the Iesuites mischieuous practises bringing all the rest to be had in iealousie thereby so are and ought they to stand vpon points when they come in place where their priesthood is called in question Aâ—â—â—e 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 weâ—l â—e two â—â—â—â—ble â—â—â—â—â—â—es of 〈◊〉 N◠〈…〉 boâ—â— hâ—â—â—â—â—d aâ—â—bâ—â—h 〈◊〉 â—â—all men Th◠〈◊〉 was aâ—â—oâ—re shewâ—â— by the Lord â—â—d Dâ—cre â—o Capt. Stukeâ—â—y whâ—ch Stukeâ—â—y tak ng vpon him to be â—n extraordinary gâ—â—aâ— person desireâ—â—he â—â—â—le Dacre is 〈◊〉 on a time to gâ—ue him countenance and the place of 〈◊〉 where eâ—â—â— hâ— staâ—â—◠〈…〉 checks 〈◊〉 it told hiâ— â—oâ— and further if he once esteâ—ed to take either place or titlâ— of honor vpon him in his presâ—nce he would maâ—â— him know him selfe as too â—reat â—n indignity 〈◊〉 so highly â—â—scenâ—ed of that honor he was of 〈◊〉 hâ— bloud to be suffered thâ—t be should well know that honour consisted not in popular applause nor yet 〈◊〉 excesse furâ—â—it of worldly â—ches The other example was of a Noble mans son who being prisoner to a Knight fâ—r that the said Knight had enâ—red into some â—â—aiâ—â— with 〈◊〉 concerning hiâ— Noble bloud be tooke him by the sleeâ—e as they wâ—re in goâ—â—g ouer a stile passing ouer before him said Know you Sir H.B. I am W. sonne of W Lo. S. and though I gaue you place before yet hereafter I will not neither can I without preiudice of my house and honour do it c. and vsed with contempt either of their function or of the Sea Apostolike by whose authoritie they pleade Marrie yet herein also with a different respect had to an aduersarie of an other profession and religion whom in these times to contend withall it were in vaine and but an occasion of moe dangers many blasphemies greater sinnes and to one that is of the same religion the secular Priest is of A verie fit example agreeing whereunto was of late shewed by one secular Priest to three sundry persons all Catholikes and one a Priest Iesuited to the first being a Gentleman but yet meaner of calling then either of the other he gaue place at table hand wall and stile because he saw it proceeded of simplicitie inciuili lâ— rudenesse in him though perhaps entermingled with some spice of sâ—lâ— conceit and sawcinesse and withall there came no contempt of Priesthood direâ—tly thereby The second hauing also before time alwayes giuen place because he was
Portingals and Spaniards continued kept the honours point for Martiall exploits these latter yeares but who shall carie away the price in the cadences of the Spaniards God only knoweth Thus came the foure Patriarkes of Hierusalem Antioch Alexandria and Constantinople by succession of honor wealth and fame in Gods Church to rise and fall one after another and now all decayed dead and gone from their auncient state renowne and dignitie in the Church of God here militant on earth Thus came all Monasticall Heremiticall and religious orders of Saint Anthony of Saint Basill of Saint Augustine of Saint Hierome of Saint Benedict of Saint Bernard of Saint Dominicke of Saint Frances of Saint Clare of Saint Briget and sundrie other religious orders of men and women to haue their generation and corruption by the freedome left of God in humane actions and mans choise to be good or bad vertuous or vicious and to rise and fall by succession one after another by merited fame and iust desert of their life manners and graces giuen and employed by them to Gods glorie In few thus came the spirituall Knighthoods of the Templers the Knights of Saint Iohns the Knights of Rhodes and now of Malto by a lineall succession of fame renowne and worthinesse to haue panigericall histories set foorth of their prayses And the like is of later orders and societies of Carmelists Carthusians Capouchians Theatines Iesuits Bonhommes c. all which set vpon the worlds Theater represent a mournfull tragedie of mans miserie how like to flowers they haue now one and then another order companie or societie burgened blossomed bloomed and flourished and yet subiect to the fates of free-will in all humane wights their deriuatiues are strayed abroad haue left and are gone from the obedience deuotion pietie pouertie chastitie charitie humilitie patience and religious zeale which was in the primitiues and founders of their Orders What shal we say more the whole body mysticall of Christ consisting of the three estates Ecclesiasticall Temporall and Monasticall do auerre the Peripateticall Prince his principle to be true in all things depending vpon chance and chaunge concerning the conuersion of countries people and nations to the Catholike faith For was not the generation or beginning of the Mosaicall law a plaine corruption fall and decay of the law of nature all the Gentiles presently vpon the Orient rise bright shine and flourish of the Israelites Church and their Hebrew Monarchie being giuen ouer into infidelitie and Idolatrie contrarie to the law of nature vnder which the faithfull had liued aboue two thousand yeares without distinction of Iew or Gentile vntill this Mosaicall law began And when for the Iewes sinnes and offences the period of their Monarchie and end of their synagogues and temples honour and religion came did not then the primitiues of the East Church amongst the Christians carry away the auriflambe of all religious zeale After that when the heauie cadens of the East Church came did not also then the Sonne of iustice tanquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo spread abrode the bright beames of his spouses glorie in a transparant light throughout these our West Ocean cloudes of heathenish darknesse and giue to these Northren Isles the prerogatiue regall of Prime-birth to his inheritance if the Britons and afterwards the English Saxons could haue kept it When by succeding turnes the most part of Asia and Affricke was corrupted and fallen away and all Europe conuerted to the sacred Apostolicall Romane faith when Monasteries began in this North Christian world to be built and great multitudes of Monkes Friers Canons regulars Nunnes and other sacred Saints and holy persons to consort themselues together when Emperors Kings Queenes Princes Lords and Ladies of all degrees fled from their regall Palaces to priuat Cels and left the triumphes of their conquests the trophees of their loues and pompes and pleasures of their Courts to who so would possesse them when here an Anchoresse there an Hermit and in euery wood wild and desert some sacred virgine valed inuested interred dead to the world was to be found when all fertile soyles all places of pleasure profite and content all earthly wealths and reuenues of most woorth were turned into Abbey and Church lands liuings and liuelyhoods when holy emulation was who might giue most all gaue of the best and made this flourishing Isle our Ladies dower when Kings and Queenes Priests and Prelates Lords and Ladies Monkes and Friers sacred Virgins and chast Matrons and all sorts of persons knew their duties first to God to his Church to her Priests then to their Prince to the Commonwealth and to her Peeres and lastly each one to another how when and where to commaund or obey when all things sorted to so sweet a sympatheall harmonie in English hearts as England by a prerogatiue royall of grace diuine merited to be called Anglia chara Deo gens when flying fame of their rare Angelicall conuersation had fronted the coasts of furthest countries and occupied with great admiration of mind the mouthes of most men in the world when England Fraunce and Flaunders Italy Bohemia and Germany Spaine Portugal and Hungary Sicilie Naples and Cyprus Denmarke Poland and Sweden Scotland Ireland and Norway did striue for a supremacie to carry away the garland of vertue deuotion and religion on all sides Then inimicus homo enuying at mans felicitie to conforme by permission diuine Gods concurrence with secondarie causes to the Philosophers prescript of generation and corruption in tract of time corrupting all these Northren and Westerne parts of the world with contention ambition Turcisme heresie and Pharisaisme a new generation of Catholike truth and religion begins to labour and bring soorth their children amongst the Indians Antipodies and new found world before vnknowne vnto these Northren and Westerne parts discouered first by Portingals and Friers and after proceeded in by Spaniards and Iesuits And now listen what followed Amongst many other cadences and fals the heauiest of all the rest hath bene iudged by many to haue bene our English calamities begun at first by the ambitious aspires of Cardinall Wolsey who affecting the highest Soueraigntie in causes Ecclesiasticall on earth made a great breach by his contrarie plotting betwixt King Henry the eight of famous memorie and the Sea Apostolicke And afterward when vnder her Maiestie Queene Elizabeth our Soueraigne now regnant sundrie persons of rare indowments graces and abilities had retired themselues to places of studie and seruice of their Lord God beyond the seas where they liued in diuerse Seminaries and Colledges leading there a right Monasticall and religious life in a most perfect state of religious profession calling and order as both all other religious Orders and Ecclesiasticall persons that conuersed with them or knew their manner of life and whereunto their whole studie tended did acknowledge somtimes in teares proceeding after their returne hither in simplicitate cordis with all humilitie patience
and haue many signes of grace in them yet being but of shallow wits simple conceits meane iudgement for casting of plots or statizing they must silly soules be imployed as practitioners in another kind to wit to win affections vnto them and admiration to be had of them either by a vowed silence Quia stultus si tacuerit pro sapiente reputabitur or else by rules giuen them what they may speake and not passe those limits assigned them or otherwise to employ themselues as they find euery one fittest and best agreeing to feede humorists with phantasticall conceits Which points if any either make scruple of yea or thinke it not meritorious for obedience sake or otherwise do not manage it hansomely he is sure to be thrust out for a reprobate or some euill end to come to him one way or other But now for heretikes and Apostataes I haue said enough in the former Quodlibets that there are many of them fallen alreadie out of Gods church without euer returne againe and so they do daily and questionlesse so they will do still there being no more certaintie nor assurance of their stand then of any other either secular or religious person nor in very deed so much as they now liue because they haue made religion but an art of such as liue by their wits and as I said before a very hotch potch of omnium githerum religious secular cleargicall laicall ecclesiastical monasticall spirituall temporall martiall ciuill oeconomicall politicall liberall mechanicall municipiall irregular and all without order And howsoeuer they brag band and boast of their familiaritie with God their rare and special indowments for guiding and gouernement of soules more then secular Priests haue whom Catholickes are admonished to take heed of and beware of all Priests in generall that are not either Iesuites or guided by Iesuites in all things their high contempt of Priesthood their fanaticall dreams of extraordinary inspirations insufflations illuminations or terme them incantations or what you list for all is starke nought yet will they neuer or hardly be able to recouer that credite they haue lost throughout all Christendome by these arrogant vaunts of their holinesse And as for the last point whether any of them haue returned againe into Gods Church after their lapse or no another question might be made whether they haue not brewed a new heresie in a greene fustie vessell or broched an old raised vp ab orco out of a rotten stinking caske in maintaining it in precise termes as they haue viz that after a man is fallen out of the Catholick Church although he returne again be recoâ—â—iled to outward shew yet is he still an Apostata so to be accounted for euer after neuer to be admitted of into the Church of God to beare any authoritie or to be preferred to any ecclesiasticall dignitie as one of God forsaken impossible for such euer to recouer their former grace stand againe Insomuch as hereby you may note that if S. Peter had come vnder a Iesuits censure as he did vnder his mercifull Lord Master Iesus after his relapse with thrise denial forswearing of him he shold neuer to death haue bene head of the Church afterward no nor euer numbred amongst the twelue Apostles nor yet iudged worthie to haue bene one of the seuen Deacons equals but well if he had recouered the name of one of the seuentie Disciples amongst these sharp censurers of all men And this is the cause why it hath seemed so rare amongest the ignorant people to heare of a Iesuits fall out of the church Were it not that al histories Chronicles antiquities dailye examples make it manifest that there is no error so grosse no sect so absurd no hereâ—y so blasphemous no archbroker of any impietie so base but hath had and still will haue millions of folowers yea at the first before they be discouered some very wise blessed and perhaps learned men to folow fauor and defend or allow of them I shold otherwise haue thought it impossible that so many sound Catholickes some wise learned and vertuâ—â—â— should euer haâ—e bene blinded with thesâ—â—â—arisaâ—call Iesuites as they are 〈◊〉 it is â—â—â—oueltie neither â—â—y â—â—â—â—â—ent of a Ieâ—â—â—â— pietie of iust caâ—se Nay whosoeuer should say so or yet that a Iesuit could fal or erre or misgouern himself or others or do any thing amisse you shall haue a yong Iesuitesse ready to flie in his face to cast the house out at the window where she stands and better had it bene for such an infamous detractor forsooth to haue gone an hundred miles on his bare feet then euer to haue spoken such a word as being sure to be accounted of as a spie an heretick or at least an vnsound Catholike attainted in his good name euer after for who can fasteÌ„ such a slander vpon these new illuminates they haue such cogging shifts with them and so many of them as that amoÌ„gst others if any going vnder the name of a Iesuit chance to fall then it shall be giuen out that he was a Seminarie or secular Priest and quite discarded from the societie If it be so manifest as it cannot be denied but he was a Iesuit indeede then shall he either be gotten in and reconciled againe and so secretly conueied out of the land or else the matter hushed vp in hucker mucker so as it shall neuer be after spoken of for you know a wonder lasteth but nine daies and then it is forgotten especially if no reckoning be made of it as though it had neuer bene And this Machiuilian trick they haue by meanes of their spials intelligents in euery country court and corner that so soone as euer any mishap doth happeÌ„ to any one they presently being certified therof set down the conclusion whether such a partie his fall or other euill demeanure be fitter to be blazed abroade or smoothered vp or in what sort it may be handled to their most aduantage and accordingly hereunto if he be one of theirs and that the fact cannot be concealed then to giue it out as a trifle light matter or thing of nothing or else that the partie was one long agone reiected and neuer accounted of amongst them but yet let alone for that they knew what end he would make before hand c. And so the speech going abroade amongst Catholickes as sent first from the fathers there is litle or no talke of it as not worthie of anie memorie or notice and such in a sort was Maister Wrights case though to their shame he hath proued better then anie of them as yet haue proued and farre better since he hath consorted himselfe to liue as other Priestes did then when at the first he had a smacke of their singularitie in his proceedings But let it be of anie Seminarie or secular Priest and then all the belles in the Towne nay in the whole Realme must ring of it nay sea and
vt in quo quis peccauit in eodem punietur Now then that this neuer practised nor ordinarily heard of the like crueltie amongst heathen and infidels should be in vse amongst the Christians nay amongst Catholickes nay amongst Priestes nay amongst religious persons and that against their own deare brethren countrimen and friends that suffer for the same cause which they pretend to suffer for that this should be maintained as lawfull by any Iesuit who takes vpon him to be an illuminate an inculpable guider of soules a man come to the highest step of the scale or ladder of perfection that all laws shold bind men to giue of their owne proper goods and treasures for reliefe of captiues and the poore and needie and that these men notwithstanding should withhold not their own which were more tollerable but other deuout and charitable persons both men and womens deuotions and beneuolence and that not from ordinarie captiues or other poore afflicted for Christ his sake but for such as are not without cause of iealousie had of thē all for the Iesuits cursed conspiracies treacherous attempts persecuted imprisoned put to death The very Canibals and Anthropophagies shall rise vp at the last day and condemne this barbarous and sauage generation of Belials brood for this crime And whereas the grace of God deriued to his Church by the sacred priesthood ought to be bestowed gratis as is said Gratis accepistis gratis date the Iesuits haue deuised a false kind of exercise whereby to fleece charitable people and so inrich themselues therin imitating Simon Magus in selling Gods blessings nay in that their precise course is farre more execrable then his was For Simon Magus dealt plainly though villanously and most blasphemously in offering to buy the holy Ghost and gifts of God for money But these ô what shall I terme them deale cousiningly in making people beleeue that the exercises or other graces which they bestow in Gods behalfe are more precious and singular in themselues then if giuen by anie other either secular or religious Priest that is not Iesuited The persecutiō of the Iesuites is so extreme in depriuing of prisoners yea and all others abroade so much as they can possibly of all reliefe that vnlesse her Maiestie and honorable Councell either clearly dismisse her tried most loyall subiects with a gracious conniuence at their secret vse of their function no way seeking to offend any one or else extend her magnificall beneficence in maintaining them as condemned to her Highnes prisons they are not possibly long to continue hold out or liue and so draw them on by litle and little to make it seeme a matter in conscience to giue anie thing from them nay not to giue all a man or woman hath or can possibly make for them in recompence of these so great and extraordinary giftes graces bestowed vpon them As though the least gift of God or drop of grace giuen in and by any sacrament ministred by any though the meanest priest be able to be counteruailed with all the wealth in the world which foule abuse is nothing else but a meere mentall Simonie vsurie sacriledge and most impious hypocrisie That this shamefull theft should not onely passe vnpunished in measure according to the qualitie condition and state of the person who taking vpon him a religious profession it aggrauates at least if it do not alter and change the sinne to be more hainous in him then in any other by many degrees of impiety But withal that the people should be set on to auow it as most iust conuenient to be so scil that no reliefe should be sent to anie opposite to a cursed pharisaicall Iesuites designements yea and that the Iesuits themselues should glory in it make their vaunt of it scil that they wil make all the secular priests leape at a crust ere it be long for so said that good holy father Iohn Gerrard of late to the Ladie Markham in Notingham shire who told it shortly after to Master Atkinson c. and that they will driue the Seculars perforce to yeeld vnto them for meere pouerty want The pillages of the Iesuits both in England and Scotland being so much the more odious by how much as spirituall robberies yea and that committed by religious seeming persons passe al temporall pilferings there are three in chiefe which are generally to be noted First a report of faculties gotten to abstract from what parsonage or vicarige they list all spiritualities for preuenting forsooth of symony thereby to make them meerely temporal and saleable and then being sold at the highest rates vpon pretence of deuiding the mony betwixt S. Peter and poore prisoners one good father or other comes with Dominus opus habet and makes alwaies the best part of it their owne cleare gaines Secondly alike to this is their order set downe for restitution as verbi gratia an vsurer or extraordinary gaine-maker by buying or selling or by anticipation or dilation of payment or a Lawyer taking more of Clients then his ordinary fees or a procurer of any euill cause also a landlord Sherife or other officer or persō whosoeuer that gets any thing falsly or indirectly for which a restitutiō as indeed there ought must be made because the parties often know not how much nor to whom to make it therefore must they compound forsooth with the fathers giuing certa pro incertis to Saint Peter and the prisoners but the fathers swallow vp all or the most of it yearly amounting to a mighty sum of mony some one man hauing giuen 500. pounds to that end Thirdly but amongst al their deuises to enrich increase their order their forme of meditatiō called by thē an holy exercise is worthy the noting for all others to beware of them that haue not felt the smart of it already and this practise is for such as are either for their pregnancie of wit learning or their parentage friends or their wealth possessions fit for the Iesuits purpose cannot otherwise but by the taking of this holy exercise be allured to their society this then is such a barbarous cruelty as I want words to expresse the abhominatiō of the sin Maister Tempest was so canuased amongst them that hauing his faculties taken from him and being thrust out a doores of his owne friends his father in law hiding his face whē he came in place where he was his owne sister not daring to owne nor acknowledge him nor to send him any reliefe and in few his ghostly father denying him to come at the Sacraments at length being thus cruelly dealt withall he was forced to yeeld to whatsoeuer they would vrge him vnto notwithstanding that as himselfe hath since confessed and told some of his friends he neuer to death could or should like of them in his hart knowing their tyranny and extreame cruelty to passe all measure against whomsoeuer they powred out their
earth His words are these When I came to Rome saith he I found the Colledge as a field with two hostile campes within it father Generall and his assistants wholly auersed and throughly resolued to leaue the gouernement c. And taking vpon him to shew the causes of those long troubles in the Colledge he saith Some thinke that it is in great part the nature of the place that ingendereth high spirits in them that are not well established in Almighty Gods grace For comming thither very young and finding themselues presently placed and prouided for abundantly This speech had bene fitly applied to father Parsons himselfe and may iustly be returned vpon him and his society and acquainted daily with sights and relations of Popes Cardinals and Princes affaires our youthes that were bred vp at home with much more simplicity and kept vnder by their parents and maisters more then the Italian education doth comport forget easily themselues and breake out into liberty I meane such as haue run astray and lost respect to their superiours in Rome And this opinion of the circūstance of place is greatly increased by the iudgement of strangers both Spanish and French Flemings and other nations who affirme that they try by experience that their people which liue in Rome if they be not men of great vertue do proue more heady afterwards and lesse tractable then others brought vp at home But yet to this other men of our nation adde a second reason for the English Colledge which is at Rome being a place whereunto many young men do resort onely vpon a desire of seeing nouelties When any come thither of the English nation find such a commodity of study and maintenance themselues in want and misery they made suite for that whereunto perhaps they had no true vocation from God nor due preparation in themselues to so holy and high an estate and so being once admitted fell afterwards into disorder and to put out of ioynt both themselues and others c. Thus farre this impious father sheweth it to be the want of grace in some and want of true calling in others that they disagreed with the Iesuits But now to heare his report of the estimation that our English students and Priests haue gotten by their being at Rome I thinke it will make all parents afraid and all our youth abhorre comming at Rome amongst them euer after vnlesse their parents wish or themselues intend to haue them all Iesuits or at least Iesuites bondslaues to sweare to whatsoeuer they say to trot and trudge whither and when they please and to runne their most traiterous race and cursed courses inhumane odious hatefull to God and man In good faith deare Catholikes Lords Ladies Gentles or whosoeuer you be that haue your children or other friends vnder the Iesuits tyrannicall yoke in bondage beyond the seas pardon for Gods loue pardon my vehemencie on your behalfe against these malignant wretches I could not with patience set hand to paper after I had read this letter following but walked two or three turnes vp and downe in my chamber trēbling in anger with my heart as high as my head to thinke on the villany of this bastardly runagate Parsons cursed be the hower wherein he was borne this filius peccati sacrilegij iniquitatis populi Diaboli how euer he durst come at Gods holy Altar after his blasphemies and outragious speeches and writing against the secular Priests and Students most falsly irreligiously and Pharisaically laying his owne sinnes and the rest of the Iesuits seditious vprores and more then heathenish impietie vpon the innocent most cruelly persecuted by them all and by him in speciall aboue al the rest as most cruell Iewish harted vnnaturall His words are these Lo this wretch There is no true humilitie obedience nor other vertue but in a Iesuite or his bondslaue Baconius saith he and that was one of the Cardinals that came comport him at his lodging often told me that our youthes bragged much of their Martyrdome but they were refractarij that was his word had no part of Martyrs spirit which was in humilitie and obedience His Holinesse oftentimes told me that he was neuer so vexed with any nation in the world For on the one side they pretended pietie and zeale and on the other shewed the very spirit of the Diuell in pride All the world knoweth these things rightly to simbolize with Parsons and the rest of the Iesuits contumacie and contradiction c. and euer now and then his Holinesse would put his finger vp to his braine signifying that there stood their sicknesse and so would most of the Court when they talked of them saying the English were indiauoluti and like words His Holinesse added also that he knew not what resolution to take for on the one side to punish them openly would be a scandall by reason of the heretickes and if he should cast them foorth of Rome some had told him that they would become heretickes c. Lo what a long lowd lye this Puritane Iesuite hath brought to a loose end falsely fathered on his Holinesse against the seculars all the world knowing the Iesuits to be the men most like of any other in the world this day to fall into the most blasphemous heresie and apostacie as these that are become alreadie incorrigible of any Prince Prelate or people And againe he saith that I haue heard his Holinesse often and diuerse Cardinals more often report with exceeding dishonour to our nation the headinesse and obstinacie of our youthes So as now many great and wise men begin to suspect that the sufferings of our blessed Martyrs and confessors in England was not so much for vertue and loue to Gods cause as of a certaine choller and obstinate will to contradict the Magistrates there c. O monster of all other for so I may well tearme thee because I imagine thou art an irregulate Priest by reason of thy aspiring hart which probably wold neuer permit thee to seek for dispensatiō of thy bastardly base bloud Sundrie mischieuous practises of impiety are amōg the Iesuites yet of all their maximes this is one of the most inhumane bloudy cruell and mercilesse to wit that whosoeuer doth not approue and aduance Fa. Parsons and some of his fellowes conceits and courses touching our country nation though they be neuer so foolish rash furious scandalous dangerous nay though men be desirous to sit stil and meddle nothing with them nor against them one way or other yet if he do not ayde assist thē yea be currents of their fatall course in al things it is lawfull yea meritorious to haue such persons infamed by casting out any calumniation against them that may discredite them the practise wherof how many poore Priests in England haue tasted nay who hath not there being not one secular Priest whō lesse or more they haue not defamed yea no Prince Prelate Lord
For who doth not see what a generall calamitie and extreme want and misery all catholikes as well secular as lay persons liue in that are not Iesuited what huge summes of money they collect euery yeere as before hath beene touched in part what bankes they haue in other countries and yet no pittie no reliefe no respect had of any that are not of their corporation or as brokers dependent vpon them to serue their turnes withall vsed as bondslaues to inrich themselues with that they haue or can gaine by them Fourthly I heere omit their officious enterprises for the conuersion of their countrey their seeking of superioritie ouer the seculars their barres put into all the bloud royall of this land to disinherite them their diuision made of all both ecclesiasticall monasticall and temporall states corporations and houses of any reckoning within the land their deuises to preuent as much as they can possibly that no other religious order especially no Benedictine nor Dominican shall come within the realme In fewe looke into their whole course manner of proceedings for their countries conuersion and you shall finde nothing but a large exchequer of a charter of policies how to bring by exchete the whole church common-wealth to be vnder their priuate corporation societie and so quite altering the course of conuersion of countries into a profession of a kinde of Lumbards Senselesse be that man or woman holden for euer heereafter that shall iudge any sinceritie fidelitie naturall and humane affection or other good meaning to be in them for reestablishing of religion or planting the catholike faith in their countrey if they may haue the swing and beare the sway THE II. ARTICLE VVHether the seculars or Iesuits haue had heretofore or haue now more secret intercourse and dealings inwardly and vnderhand with all or any of the Lords or other magistrates vnder her maiestie here in England or king Iames in Scotland c. THE ANSWERE THe answere to this article pertaines directly to a matter of state and therefore shall it be handled more peculiarly in the next generall Quodlibet of statizing against Parsons the Archstatist of the Iesuits For the present the question here intended is as of a matter of religion scil whether of them being both catholikes haue more close dealings with the common aduersaries in religion to them both The cause of which question doth rise vpon these Zoilists enuious aemulation that some few seculars whom they thought either to haue depriued of their liues or puld them downe so lowe as neuer after to haue risen haue by Gods prouidence found grace fauour and iustice at her Maiesties hands by opening their innocencie and loyall harts towards her royall person and their natiue countrey to those in authority vnder her Highnesse as master doctor Bagshaw whose death they most treacherously sought and others whom now they seeing to haue cleered themselues of al state medles and thereupon to haue found extraordinary fauour these most malicious restles slanderers inuent a new deuise that seeing they cannot preuaile with the aduersaries against the innocent to bring them to the gallowes they will spit out their gaule against them to catholikes to make them to be holden and accounted of as spies atheistes irreligious and such as haue forsooth extraordinary intercourse with some Lords or others in authoritie for the state and thereupon more fauour then others haue or then any sound catholike can haue or should seeke for or accept of In regard of which viperous speech fitter for a feinde then faithfull soule the question heere is mooued if it be an offence to haue any secret dealings with the ciuill magistrate then whether the seculars or Iesuits haue offended more therein To which I answere heere in briefe that if any offence be in that action the Iesuits will ouerweigh as farre the seculars in that as a horse load will a pound weight as the practises and dealings of their Parsons their Heywoods their Holts their Holtbeis their Creswele their Garnets c. will testifie it by sundry letters and witnesses against them to be brought foorth and shewed at time conuenient Yea doe they thinke it is vnknowne vnder whose wings the Archpriest liues shrowded or to and from whom the letter was sent on father Gerards behalfe to wish her after some fewe complements and thanks for the token she sent him to keepe her iewell the saide Gerard well c. or who they be that plie and plead for the Iesuits vnderhand and to whom in speciall intelligence is giuen from time to time of all that euer they know that may not touch the Iesuits or somtimes by accusing some of their owne company to contriue some vnhonest or sluttish part they are about more handsomely then otherwise they could or by whom they are backt to be so bold as they are both in prison and abroad to make their vaunt that they haue moe and greater friends both in the English and Scottish Court then the seculars haue more then halfe naming some particular nobles and others in high esteeme and authoritie vnder her Maiestie that are secretly entred into league with them forsooth on the Spanish behalfe Nor noe it is but a base feare of that seruile Parsons minde least by this fauour shewed of her Maiestie her honorable Counsell and other magistrats to those tried to be innocent and guiltlesse of the generall iealousie for conspiracies had of all for their sakes his treasons and treacheries should boult out more speedily and not haue so safe close and secret meanes to tamper with any to deale on his behalfe with her Highnes to accept of him for a spie as earst he offered himselfe to be so with deepe protestation and many vowes and circumstances that he would yea and no doubt but in matters for his owne aduantage he doth by his agents giue intelligence to the state of all things that euer he should heare of to be intended any way against her person crowne or kingdome working in the meane while notwithstanding vnderhand with the late Earle of Essex to be the king of Spaines close Pensioner for furthering of the inuasion yet againe at the same time dealt so as it should haue beene bewraied to the late Lord Treasurer Cicill and thus the cogging mate neuer deales with any of this lande but it is to worke their greater heauier and more speedy ruine So as I conclude that the Iesuits haue more secret close and inward dealings vnder hand with the ciuill magistrate then the seculars haue who go speake and deale openly not afraid nor ashamed of any thing they do or treat of with whomsoeuer it shall please God to mooue the harts to listen vnto or fauour them and by consequent the Iesuits close tamperings sheweth them to be most pernicious dangerous irreligious infest and enimies to the church and common-wealth of this and all other lands their owne guiltie consciences accusing them by their words and actions For true
the suite of Daniell to send home his countrimen in peace and quiet or otherwise to harden his and Darius his hart to yeeld to no release but that for euer they should there condemned despised and dispersed remaine In this heroicall disputation the moderators wherein no doubt were full replete with no lesse Cherubinicall knowledge then Seraphical zeale the three great princes Michael Raphael and Vriel with the rest of the Regents and gouernors deputed to the Hebrues monarchie or twelue tribes of Israell taking part with the Iew and Daniell and the prince of the Persian kingdome who had resisted Daniell 21. daies together with all the Lords protectors guardians and gouernors of Mede of Perse of Chaldaea of Babylon and of all the Asiacke monarchie vsque vltra Garamantes and Indos taking the parts of the Gentiles and defending those people princes and nations ouer whom by Gods mercifull designment they had the protection gouernment and charge of patronage Thus began the plea. The guardians of the frontires of Palestine alledged how all that rich countrie à fructu frumenti vini olet multiplicata and abounding with milke and hony in former ages was now become desert wilde laide waste to sacke and spoile with robbers and theeues hauing no repâ—â—â—e of God nor good Saint no soule in that soile but nowe diâ— pâ—râ—sh Whereas before out of euery tribe there past yeerely sundry deuoâ—re soules thence into Abrahams bosome to be in a readines at th Mâ—ssâ—â— his returne into heauen Therefore was it necessarie that Z â—â—ch 〈◊〉 Esdras that Nehemias and others of the Iewes priestâ— Leuites prophetâ— and scribes with the whole multitude should be deliuered to replenish these prouinces with Gods people againe To this was answered by the Gentiles generals and captaines that forasmuch as Nabuchodonosor as Baltasar as Darius as Xerxes and other monarches by secret instinct and often good motions put into their harts by commission giuen vnto them from their heauens king had of their princely benignitie granted vnto the Iewes after triall made of their constancie and that their God fought for them in the cause of religion and sacrifice a free libertie of conscience to serue their Lord God agreeing to their Iewish rites and that euen Daniell who was so desirous to haue his people sent home was in as high authoritie grace and fauour with those Ethnicke princes as any noble of their owne sect in the court and countrie where they and he together liued therefore was that argument for the Palestian empire of no validitie seeing it is not the soile but the soule which God respecteth and whereof they all haue charge and thar no humane wight be he Iew Gentile or Proselite Christian Infidell or Catechumene but hath his good Angell appointed to protect him at his first entrance into the worlds vale of miseries and is bound to continue with him accompanying him where euer he goes so long as he or she remaines in this territorie of teares Then the guardian of Hierusalem and principall of Iudea S. Michaell as it seemed replied and said that though it were the men which liued in the world and not the world it selfe which they all had charge of in chiefe yet because man came of earth and in Salem citie was Adam our protoplast created therefore was the prerogatiue royall giuen to Iebus land to be called Terra sancta for euer after The language also which Adam first did speake and which after some two thousand yeeres continuance of that onely and no moe throughout the world remaining vncorrupted as destinated to the posteritie of Heber in the time of Phaleg amongst 72. distinct tongues cast amongst the Nimrodian rebels in the tower of Babell comming by lineall discent to be called Hebrew after the diuision made was the same which Moses which Samuell which Salomon which Dauid with all the Iewes legifers vsed in their scriptures codes law bookes prophecies and other writings and this tongue of all others is onely called Lingua sancta Moreouer the people of this nation Iewes borne and none but they are called Gens sancta populus electus regale sacerdotium by right of inheritance euen from Adam from Noe from Abraham from Israell from Dauid by lineall succession in a downe-right line And although their ancestors liued in bondage 400. yeeres space vnder the Aegyptian Pharaos during which time seuen mighty nations of sundry warlike people whereof the chiefe being Cananites gaue the name to the whole land inhabited ouer all yet did not that discontinuance any whit disable their rightful title and claime but that at time conuenient by Gods appointment to the number of 1300000. and aboue past ouer the red sea leauing not one Israelite behinde them in Aegypt and vnder the conduct of Moses and Duke Iosue victorious ouer thirty kings and kingdomes besides other states this sacred nation possessed this holy land the holy language still preserued amongst them So as euen to these countries kingdomes and prouinces hath God assigned his Angels protectors of his people therin and by consequent in rigor of his iustice the Iewes ought to returne into the kingdome of Iurie and Hierusalem againe With this answere was not the Angell of Perse contented but held on his plea on the Gentiles side affirming that as it was for their sins that God in his iustice had reiected Israells issue so although it pleased him to manifest his omnipotent power and Maiesty that man might say non in carneo brachio corroborabitur vir and that there was no God but the Lord God of Israell alone yet was not his mercy so tied to their sleeue as after so many signes tokens prodigious woonders and miracles shewed for their sakes in open sight of all their enemies as amongst the Aegyptians before named the Philistines the Tyrians the Moabites the Ammonites the Edomites and all other nations round about them he should still forgiue and forget to punish them agreeing to their demerits as hitherto he had but that the destinies of their daies drawing to an end the fatall web of their woes being at hand and the period of their time now approching there was no expectation to be had of their returne nor in rigor of iustice any motion to be made on that behalfe And euen Daniell Ezechiell Ieremie and the rest of the prophets doe know that the quadrupart monarchie began in Babylon vnder Nabuchodonosor which shall continue to the end by translation from the Chaldeis to the Medes and Persians as now it is and from them to the stout inuicted Macedonian Greeke from whom by reuolution af time it shall descend to the Romanes sacred Senate and whosoeuer be the monarchie vnder that prince power and potentate shall the Iewes captiues liue Therefore the holines of the land the sanctitie of the tongue the purity of the people the sacred vnction of the priest is not to be named when it comes to pleading of Gods iustice and mans deserts Heauen was euer
should be so and that they should obey them not onely for feare but for conscience Sixtly there is an argument that carieth some pretie shewe which may be framed from a good rule of Cardinall Bellarmines It is apparant that the worde of God doth prescribe obedience to wicked princes it is also as apparant that the lawes of the church as in our case do forbid obedience to such princes Now saith the said Cardinal but in another matter Quando ius diuinum ius humanum pugnant debet seruari ius diuinum omisso humano Seuenthly Iustinus Martyr Athenagoras and Tertullian haue notably expressed this dutie of subiects to the ciuill magistrates be what they shall good or bad And though then they were very prophane men and cruell persecutors many of them yet they labored verie earnestly to shew that by the doctrine of Christ himselfe of all his holy apostles and the whole church his sweete spouse it was the dutie of all Christians liuing vnder them and being borne their subiects to serue and obey them in all their temporall affaires and causes of imploiment Vectigalia collectiones c. There are none of your subiects saith Iustinus to the Emperor that pay their tributes customes and collections to such officers as you appoint to collect them sooner then we do that be Christians Sic instituti sumus for we are so taught c. to giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars And againe Nos solum deum adoramus vobis in alijs rebus laeti inseruimus Likewise Athenagoras to the Emperor Antonius pro imperio vestro c. The Christians doe powre out their vowes and praiers to God for your empire that the sonne may succeed the father and the empire may long increase and flourish And Tertullian of like sort saith we pray with all our harts that God will grant to all Emperors a long life a secure empire an obedient family valiant armies a faithfull Senate honest subiects a quiet gouernment and whatsoeuer is acceptable vnto them Eightly but least it should be obiected that there is difference betweene heathen kings and such as being once true Christians and catholikes as al Christians are by baptisme are apostataed out of the church therefore though subiects are boūd to obey the first sort yet it foloweth not that they are so bound to the second To this I answere that although the difficultie be cleered in my second reason before set downe yet S. Augustine shal make the point more manifest Ordinauit sic deus ecclesiā suam c. God hath so ordred his church as all ordinarie authority and magistrates may haue in this world honor done vnto them aliquando à melioribus and sometime from their betters Contigit tibi c. It hapneth that thou art become a Christian hauing a master non ideo Christianus factus es vt dedigneris seruire thou art not therefore made a Christian that thou shouldest thinke scorne to serue thy master still O quantum c. O how much are rich and great men bound vnto Christ who so ordereth their families as if there be in them a seruant that is an infidell Christ doth conuert him non ei dicit and doth not saie vnto him serue thy master no longer bicause now thou knowest him who is indeed thy true Lord and master Yea but such a seruant may say Indignum est vt iustus fidelis seruiat iniquo infideli It is not meete that a iust and faithfull man should serue a wicked master being an infidell Whereunto Saint Augustine answereth non hoc ei dixit sed magis vt seruiat A seruant may say so but Christ neuer told him so but that being a Christian he should the rather continue his seruice to such a one his master If Christ himselfe the Soueraigne Lord of heauen and earth seruiuit indignis did obey wicked rulers praied for them being persecutors quanto magis how much more ought man not to disdaine to serue his Lord and master with all his minde with his whole good will and with perfect loue etiam malo though he be a wicked man Quod autem dixi de domino c. And what I haue said of the master and seruant vnderstand the same of powers and kings and of all other superiors of this world Sometimes they are good and feare God and sometimes they feare not God And so he commeth to the place which I haue all this while aimed at Iulianus extitit infidelis and was he not also an apostata a wicked man and an idolater But Christian soldiers serued the Emperor an Infidell when they came to a cause that touched Christ his honour they acknowledged none but him that was from heauen when he would haue had them to haue serued Idols and haue offred sacrifice vnto them they preferred God before the Emperor But when he said vnto them bring foorth your forces go against such a nation they presently obeied They distinguished their eternall Lord from their temporall Lord and yet they were subiect vnto their temporall Lord in respect of his will who is their eternall Lord. Thus farre Saint Augustine whereby I trust it is plaine that kings are to be obeied by their subiects whether they be wicked persons heretikes apostataes or woorse if woorse could be Besides all these generall reasons before mentioned why no good subiects ought to giue eare to such traitorous counsellors as Parsons and his fellowes were 1588. and so still continue there yet are some more particular and more pertinent respects why her Maiesties subiects ought not to haue regarded any or all their said Iesuiticall perswasions before mentioned for their ioyning with the Spaniards First the excommunication of Pius 5. hauing beene procured vpon false suggestions and so by surreption it hath euer beene thought by the grauer and more learned priests and catholikes in England to haue been void and of no validitie in law from the beginning And the same opinion is held of both the renouations partly in that a renouation of that which is not is voide and partly also for that the instigations as Parsons hath set them downe are many of them false and all exceeding malicious Which opinions being true in what case were they that were animated with the first excommunication to rebellion 1569. and in what case should they haue bene that should haue followed the Iesuits councels 1588 Surely they were and haue beene traytors both before God and man Secondly there are so many questions of the nullities of excommunications as it will alwaies be found a very hard matter for subiects to discerne when they are so farre to regard them as that with safe consciences they may take vp armes against their soueraignes vpon pretence that they are excommunicated Thirdly a great vncertaintie riseth amongst the schoolemen concerning the denouncing of any such excommunication when it may be thought to be so sufficient as that the subiects of any king
of graces yet may I presume without offence to any to challenge a childes portion amongst the holiest men as they once were or are mortall creatures in humane inclinations and in the gifts of nature agreeing to the three foresaid effects of affections proceeding from loue charitie and zeale and that euen in a sense commendable honest and lawfull abstracted from indiscretion follie and lightnes in me And this free deliuery of my minde humble confession of mine owne cholericke humour and vtter detestation of all partialitie singularitie or what else soeuer may preiudice Gods honour my countries weale or common cause or mine owne innocencie as acting all mine actions in simplicitate cordis of meere zeale vtcunque will I hope suffice to take away all rash if not peremptory preposterous and malignant iealousies had of me for smelling of that I wil auerre with my deerest blood to detest as much if not more as any such precise censurers of my thoughts doe or shall be possibly able to giue testimony of for their disgusting of the same And heere a little further to explane my minde if still you will turne zeale into choller in me and reuenge into zeale in the Iesuiticall faction be pleased deere catholikes to remember that though all men came of one moulde yet are they not all of one mettall by reason of some aspect starre or planet shrowded in the skie or of the clime constellation and influence of the bodies celestiall or other calculation or naturall incline taking after their parents their site of birth place of education c. To all which though will be free to yeelde or resist for astra mouent sed non cogunt say the sound diuines yet doe those motions worke in some thus in others so and in all diuersly as the diuersitie of natures doth incline them in acts either of chiefest zeale or of morall and naturall motion And that as well in words and writings as in deedes and actions As amongst the poets laureate Virgill hath a graue and loftie Ouid a light and pleasant Horace a hearsh biting and satiricall stile Amongst Orators we haue a sententious Salust a fluent Cicero a thundring Demosthenes and although all eloquent yet the last a full sumd or consumate Orator terrified so the reader in the onely peruse of his bookes as the perplexed with his parlee well perceiuing it said viua voce with a deepe sigh fetched from an halfe dead hart What are you afraid to reade Yea but then quid si audiuisses illam bestiam loquentem As much to say if you had seene and heard as I haue the acts gestures voice words and motion of the beast bent against you how then would it haue moued you viua vox hauing quandam energian in it as Saint Ierome noteth in that place Amongst Philosophers Aristotle was wise profound Plato humane diuine Pythagoras hot precise and all sound exquisite naturians Amongst Diuines Saint Augustine plaine Saint Gregorie mild Saint Ierome sharpe and all profound learned vertuous and the last most eloquent Amongst scholemen Petrus Lumbardus pithie Thomas Aquinas angelical Dunsus Scotus quipping and yet Doctor Subtilis Amongst the most famous preachers in Rome of later yeeres three were rare and all superlatiues in a different kind whereupon the adages went thus on their behalfs Tolletus docet Lupus mouet Panecrollus delectat In few amongst the Apostles Saint Peter was the onely vterine and germane brother to Saint Andrew and therefore by birth bloud and education neerest linckt vnto him of any other but yet in Gods concurrence with secondarie causes none did sympathize so well nor came so neere together in nature of all the disciples as did the said supreme Apostle with the vessell of choice election Of which two it is song in the church agreeing to the purpose that gloriosi principes terrae quomodo in vita sua dilexerūt se ita in morte non sint separati For the later of which his owne epistles make it manifest how chollerick nay how exorbitant and furious if not hereticall would a Iesuite haue said he was And howsoeuer it seemed that the first of these had his emulators euen of those that were most modest milde humble and charitable fulre pleate with loue diuine as was the chast paranimph Saint Iohn our Sauiours loue and our Ladies darling yet doth Saint Peters acts set forth a greater zeale in him then in Saint Iohn and that he had an inclination to be of a practique or of an actiue life as a gift required in an ecclesiasticall or secular person euen of nature And therefore was it that noting well how quick hote and hastie he was full of valour actiuitie and stoutnes as the soden motion shewed in cutting of Malchus his eare and after asking the question Domine si percutimus in gladio although it pleased our Sauiour to giue him a gentle checke by his fall to make him know him selfe and to consider that non in carneo brachio corroborabitur vir yet did he neuer after he was risen and reconciled to his maker and most mercifull redeemer againe stoope yeelde or giue back one foote in prosecuting Gods quarrell and the churches cause in defence of bothe their honours remaining resolute constant and inuicted of mind therein to death euen with the same valorous hart he had before The old saying being truely verified in him that naturam expellas furca licet vsque recurret the Aethiopian can not change his skin caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt And be it in good or bad sense taken yet is the definitiue sentence in humane actions true that nature hath her inclinations to this or that according to the humour of the subiect which though it may be altered changed and turned to good or euill to vertue or vice to well or woe by reason of free will and grace diuine relinquishing or assisting the internall acts in acting of their externall actions to produce the effects intended yet nature alwaies must and will haue her swinge in the progresse and manner of proceeding thus or so as course of kinde inclines her And euen so is it with me in this bitter kind of writing which my sharpe censurers might haue pleased of their charitie to haue interpreted as proceeding if not from an absolute perfect zeale yet from an act of zeale vtcumque conioyned with choller or anger at their impietie but neuer to smell of heresie as I wil auerre it at a stake against the purest prowd spirited Iesuite among them that will or dare vndertake the quarrell for discerning of spirits wherof they boast to try who smels or stincks most vilely of heresie they in pernitious vsurpate censure of me or I in defence of whatsoeuer I haue written alwaies with in and vnder submission to our holy mother the catholike Romane church in all humble wise What should I say more deere catholiks there are three internall parts or portions mixt of flesh