corrupt conscience for it could not be imputed to our ignorance that without good reason and all probabilitie of sufficient cause we were likely to forbeare the acceptance of the new authoritie till the comming of the Breue wittingly to cast our selues into a damnable state If our former labours and conuersations had deserued this conceit our aduersaries might haue had some pretence to justifie their doings and perhaps saued themselues from the ignominie of detractors and calumniators But if not as I hope the world will testifie for vs then surely they should haue takē another course contrarie to this they tooke as well for sauing themselues from greeuous sinnes as for preseruing vs from these horrible infamies into which they haue cast both themselues and vs by their headie and rash judgements For truly if any one reason of ours or all together be found a sufficient cause of our delay a heape of sinnes infamies will redound vpon their owne heads and we shall be freed And now touching M. Bluet M. Clarke and others of ours that are said to haue accesse and conference dayly with the Bishop of London or some other of the Counsel Haue their former cōuersation in the world and their long sufferings cast that euill sent or doe they yeeld such certaine proofes of a gracelesse disposition that this fact of theirs can deserue no defence nor excuse or is it so manifestly ill in it selfe that it will admit no cause as reasonable to salue it or is there no meane nor way whereby their fact indifferent doubtlesse in it owne nature may be if not altogether justified and defended yet at the least excused or left vnjudged to be alreadie of the vilest qualitie and they accordingly demeaned Aunswere for the Iesuits Is it a manifest and an vndoubted sinne that a Catholick priest and prisoner haunt an aduersaries house and haue conference with him Gent. Now truly I am persuaded it is not for I haue read of many good Saints that haue haunted the companie of euill persons with great zeale and merit and our Sauiour Christ himselfe and his Apostles vsed the company of scribes pharisies publicans and the worst sinners Priest If this be indifferent and may be done with merite what can make it a sinfull action in M. Bluet and M. Clarke Gent. Their intention and businesse onely or perhaps the scandale they giue thereby Priest For the scandale in respect of all the learned Catholicks of England the Priests and religious men especially it is Scandalum acceptum and not datum For they knowing it to be an indifferent action of it owne kind and to be justifiable and made good by many circumstances if they take scandale before they see some ill effect to be intended or necessarily to issue thereupon it must be onely Scandalum acceptum And for the simpler sort of Catholickes they also with their leaders are bound in conscience to suspect or judge no ill of the indifferent actions of their Catholicke fathers and prisoners vntill some sinfull intention or effect appeare And in this case much more ought the constancie of these Catholick priests imprisoned as long as they perseuer constant to stay at the least all good Christians from temerarious or rash judgements which is euer a greeuous sinne and in this case is greatly encreased by the state and dignitie of these men and by their former good deserts and sufferings than they should be moued by their accesse and conference onely to suspect or judge the worst or to vtter any thing derogatorie to their good names The Iesuits and Priests which are willing to set this scandale on foot and labour what lieth in them to make our priests actions seeme hainous and horrible and neuer cease to persuade the people to judge the worst and to exclaime against them these Iesuits and Priests haue the more sinne and as they be the authours and continuers of the scandale so haue they to answere for the sinnes of their disciples Gent. By my faith it is daungerous to be too forward in imitating the Iesuits zeale in this point and great safetie it is to suspend ones judgement and to temper ones tongue till more be knowne Pr. I thinke that the securest way for as S. Iames fourth sayth Qui detrahit fratri aut qui iudicat fratrem suum detrahit legi iudicat legem Si autem iudicas legem non es factor legis sed Iudex He that detracteth his brother or judgeth his brother detracteth the law and judgeth the law but if thou judge the law thou art not the obseruer of the law but the judge A Pharisaicall vice it is rashly to judge and condemn other men and I wish the Iesuits the Archpriest with their complices in slaundering vs were free from all note and contagion of this turpitude But if we throughly examine the causes which wee haue giuen them on our part and with indifferencie weigh the nature of these actions their circumstances in euery respect whereupon the Iesuits and their adherents haue judged and defamed vs of most horrible crimes we shall easily perceiue thē to haue transgressed the bounds of all Christian charitie A religious man is bound to tend and aime at Euangelicall perfection This consisteth not in the name of an order nor in the three essentiall vowes of pouertie chastitie and obedience to a Superiour For hereby onely the principall lets and impediments which may hinder their attaining to perfection are remoued But perfection indeed Tho. 2.2 which by their profession they are bound to endeuor vnto dooth consist in a full mortification of themselues in all respects and in a perfect charity towards God and man Now I demaund of the Iesuits what degree of charitie they haue shewed and exercised in this controuersie was euer any bad companions so dissolute and impudent and desperate railers so void of conscience and charitie which vpon so slender causes and grounds first of our delay to receiue the authoritie and now of hauing conference with the Bishop of London or others of the Counsell could euer haue run a more intemperate headie and vncharitable course of rash suspition and judgement to the ouerthrow of our good names than the Iesuits haue done Could they more haue exceeded the limits of grace of temperance of modestie of humanitie than the religious Fathers haue VVho in matters belonging onely to the supreame Pastor to decide haue taken vpon them to determine the cause who with their own particular fantasie haue preuented the sentence and judgement of the See Apostolicke and who finally vpon a priuat opinion of their owne thought yet erronious by men not their inferiors for learning judgement sinceritie and other vertues haue earnestly laboured for euer to disgrace and vtterly defame so many Catholick priests Could any lost or forlorne caitife haue made more vile and detestable inferences or gathered more loathsome poyson or raised a more pestiferous stinch by stirring in these matters and freely
spending their mouths in condemning and defaming priests for their conferences with the Counsell and Bishop than these religious men haue done and their disciples by their example and onsetting VVhat then auaileth a name and boast of religious perfection when in obseruing this ordinarie precept of not judging or not condemning rashly they are so farre short of matching the most of our imperfect priests that they haue scarsely gotten one step before the baddest Christians Could not their charitie find any one cause or reason for excuse of M. Bluet and M. Clarkes indifferent action till some worse effect appeared VVas it needfull for their charitie to preuent their ill doing which perhaps will neuer fall out with most reprochfull slaunders Infamies in the conceits of humble and charitable men come timely ynough vpon Catholicke priests after they haue certainely done the fault and in no wise ought to be cast vpon them before the crime bee committed It is no hainous trespasse in these extremities and wants of necessary releefe in prison which by the Iesuits and the Archpr. their meanes is vncharitably brought vpon them to sollicite the Counsell or Bishop for more enlargement or for continuance of the libertie they haue alreadie or to procure the like to their afflicted brethren If in this onely they haue found a little fauor why then might not a Iesuits charitie haue pretended or imagined this to bee the cause of their going and conference Again it is no crime to sue for their owne and their brethrens banishment if thē in these great and most grieuous miseries inflicted vpon them by the Iesuits and Arch-priest as slaunders penurie losse of faculties suspensions and the like vndeserued cruelties aboue the common persecution by their aduersaries in faith they seeke for their owne deliuerance by banishment might not the religious Iesuits and Archp. by this reason justifie or at least excuse their going to the Bishop YVhat if their intentions be to worke some good of these magistrats either for their conuersion or to make them more fauourable to afflicted Catholickes and better conceited of Catholicke courses yea or to procure some tolleration or other good to our church All these be lawfull ends and might be more easily and with lesse daunger of sinne supposed by charitable men to bee their businesse till some worse matter appeared than the baddest disposition and affair that emulous heads can deuise These and many moe causes of their conferences and accesse may bee without much labour thought vpon all or any one of which might be sufficient ynough to induce a timerous conscience to deeme the best or at least to stay it from the downefall of rash suspition judgement and defamation And to tell what I thinke I should not marueile any whit if her Majestie and her Counsell should doe M. Bluet M. Doctor Bag. M. Clarke and many of our seminarie priests more singular fauours and good turnes than these they haue done or they doe to the Iesuits considering they know we hope in the end our priests simply to deale in matters of religion only and no whit to entermeddle in state affaires nor to concurre with Fa. Parsons and his associates in their plotting about titles successors inuasions and disposing of the crowne and realme either in her Majesties time or after her decease An odious and vnfit occupation for religious men which by profession should haue left the world Gent. Left the world Nay Gods pitie I feare me rather that Saint Barnard toucheth them not a little when speaking of religious men hee sayth Itane mundum sibi semundo crucifixerunt vt qui antea vix in suo vico aut oppido cogniti suerāt modo circumeuntes provincias curias frequentantes regum noticias principumque familiaritates assecuti sunt Haue they so crucified the world to themselues themselues to the world that they which before were knowne scarsely in their owne street or towne now wandering about prouinces haunting courts they haue gotten the acquaintance of kings and the familiaritie of princes And againe Video post spretam seculi pompam nonnullos in schola humilitatis superbiam magis addiscere ac sub alis mitis humilisque magistri grauius insolescere impatientes amplius fieri in claustro quam fuissent in seculo quodque magis peruersum est plerumque in domo Dei non patiuntur habere contemptui qui in sua non nisi contemptibiles esse potuerunt I see some after they haue despised the pompe of the world to learne rather pride in the schoole of humilitie and vnder the wings of a mild and humble master to wax more proud and to become more impatient in the cloister than they had been in the world and which is most peruerse of all for the most part they disdaine to bee had in contempt in Gods house which in their owne estates could not be but contemptible If this concerne them let them looke to it and if it doe he telleth them from whence their euill springeth saying Nec aliunde haec omnia mala contingunt nisi quod illam qua seculum deseruerunt descrentes humilitatem dum per hoc cognitur inepta denuo sectari studia secularium canes efficiuntur reuertentes ad vomitum Neither proceed these euils from any other but that forsaking that humility wherwith they left the world whiles hereby they are enforced to follow again the vnfit studies of secular persons they become dogs returning againe to their vomit Pr. For these sayings of S. Barnard how it toucheth the Iesuits I will not trouble my selfe but as I said our not intermedling in matters of Estate may be a very great motiue to her Maiestie her Counsell why they should do vs moe pleasures and shew vs greater fauours than the Iesuits and such as runne their courses which cause being no fault in vs but a laudable thing and conformable to our function if we should reape fauours therfore they ought not in conscience to be turned to our reproch and infamie as though we were fauoured by them for some lewde demeanour and the Iesuits ought to blame themselues if for their dangerous tampering in things which belong them not they should finde some extraordinarie affliction or not the like fauours that three or foure semenarie Priests haue done Gent. Indeed there is no reason to the contrarie the jelousie of our magistrates and the State of our Countrey considered Pr. But now what benefits and fauours be these which any of ours receiue so extraordinarily aboue the Iesuits and their adherents Gent. The report flyeth That besides this libertie and fauour which M. Bluet and M. Clarke find that you all are maintained by the Lords of the Counsell that you want nothing and therefore are not to haue allowance or a part out of any common almes or money giuen for reliefe of poore Catholike Priests and prisoners Pr. VVhat thinke you of this report Gent. I thinke it very false Pr. I assure you
hereticall or an euill prince VVhat can they say to the Bishops and Pastours in the Low countries and the Vniuersities of Doway whom they reckon to be their aduersaries by reason of the great contentions had betweene them about eight yeares ago VVhat to the Vniuersities of Louaine with whome they haue had bickering since VVhat to the whole order of Dominicans letting passe other religious betweene whom and them there hath been of long as is continuall bitter strifes in Spaine as all the world knoweth And all these included in Fa. Parsons ougly beadroll If all these be of bad disposition and gracelesse because they be the Iesuits aduersaries then haue we also good cause to dread but if contrariwise these be reported to be their aduersaries and are indeed no lesse than we and yet knowne to be good Catholick men Vniuersities and orders it is no true cause of disgrace vnto vs if we be reported also their aduersaries for defending our selues against their violent injuries and for resisting their other courses manifestly hurtfull to our whole church Gent. VVhat is the cause that they make these troubles and giue such discontent almost in euery place where they come Pr. Surely not any perfection of vertue that is in them aboue other religious men but their polliticke tampering and their busie stirring both in temporall states and Ecclesiasticall For they being not tied to keepe the quire with diuine offices as other religious orders bee they haue more leisure and libertie than any other to occupie themselues in matters impertinent vnto them It is their glorie to bee euer stirring in the greatest affaires and with the greatest personages where they come yea they delight so much in the actiue life that their young men are no sooner out of their nouiceship or course in learning but if there be ought in them they begin to tamper and to become polliticke and must be thought sufficient to mannage any businesse I remember I haue read in an Italian hystorie written by a gentleman of Genua touching the late king of Portugall Sebastian and the competitors to that crowne after his death how the Iesuits greatly fauoured by that king disturbed not a little the peace of that kingdome by their tampering in the princes affaires where the author noteth how with great indiscretion as vpon a head and suddainely they would haue reformed the corrupt manners of the countrey Againe how by the Cardinals meanes they procured the displacing of some auncient officers about the king and brought in such as depended on themselues to no small discontentment of many And lastly how especially vpon the Iesuits motion and persuasion the king entertained the Affricane affaires and resolued to vndertake that fatall voyage from which yet they could not afterwards dissuade him when it was misliked and thought daungerous by all his friends This Historie is now in English See page 9. 10. 11. c. because they had set him too farre in liking therwith before But at the last they wrought themselues out of fauour with the king as he sayth for they would ouerrule all Gent. I would see that hystorie Pr. I thinke you may haue it in England it is in Octauo and printed in Italie as I remember Gent. By likelyhood then this busie intermeddling of theirs in Vniuersities in kingdomes in the charges of Bishops and Pastours c. is the cheefe cause why they worke these troubles euery where Pr. Verely I thinke it be For among them he is most esteemed that can shew himself most politicke most stirring and vndertaking especially with greatest estates and highest matters Gent. These humours are not in them all For I know diuers of them very good simple and vertuous men which trouble their heads with nothing except their studie and deuotion Pr. There be some of them no doubt such as you say continuing in the simplicitie and good zeale wherewith they first entered and encreasing their spirituall graces These though they must sooth the humors of the rest and in all things defend their actions yet delight not to be busie and stickling in others mens affaires and indeed these be the glorie of their societie and deserue loue and honour aboue the rest But there be few of this sort considering it is a credit among themselues to be actiue and politick and no small contention who may bee thought most to excell in these Gent. Yet many good men thinke much and marvell what should be the cause why you secular priests should be aduersaries to the Iesuits haue contentions with them and especially with Fa. Parsons who is most esteemed of among the Iesuits for his wisdome and other good parts and who also hath wrought great good to our Nation by his booke of Resolution which argueth him to bee a vertuous man and by erecting Semenaries for the education of our yong men And generally the Iesuits seek not their owne temporall benefit but bestow themselues onely for the good of others many say that without them our Church had bene in worse case than it is Againe that it is but a slaunder that they entermeddle in the mattets of you secular priests or that they haue any dealings in the affaires of temporall estates It is no just cause giuen you by them but your own vnmortified passions and disobedient minds to your lawfull superiors which make you to repine and mammer and to exclaime against them Priest For the Iesuits in generall I neuer said nor thought other but that if they keepe themselues onely at these good exercises of preaching of ministring sacraments without prejudice to the ordinarie Pastors of catechising of teaching in schooles of visiting the sicke and liuing as brethren and fellow labourers in Gods worke seeke the estimation of the secular cleargie among their people I neuer thoght I say but that they be very profitable coadjutors in Christs church and deserue loue and reuerence of all sorts But if withall they become officious sticklers in princes affaires Ecclesiasticall or temporall or busie themselues with entermedling in the secular Cleargies matters which belong not to them and seeke to aduaunce themselues in credit and otherwise aboue the priests as in England they haue done I then thinke them very dangerous and noysome members in any church for the subuersion of peace and good order because vpon that disposition forthwith they bring in great deuisions and draw both priests and people into lamentable factions as is manifest in this poore realme At VVisbich you haue heard how they made very scandalous contentions about establishing a superioritie in one of theirs aboue all the other prisoners You haue heard also how they hindered the vnion of secular priests in a confraternitie how they withstood our endeuors touching Bishops or Suffraganes how without our consents or priuitie they procured an Arch-priest to be ordained ouer all English priests in England and Scotland they onely appointing what kind of superioritie and gouernement our Church should haue and
refusing to obey his decrees of what qualitie soeuer they shall be we must return vpon themselues the same reproch but in a higher degree for contending with their Fa. Generall in any sort or for any cause Or if againe for credite of their societie they list to excuse their brethren and free them from disobedience in that contention because in many cases the subjects may resist their Superiours will or commaundement if they doe this for loue to their owne credite wee may entreat them for Christian charities sake to excuse our fact or to cleare vs of this horrible crime and slaunder of disobedience for our refusing to obey the Archp. in his decrees opposit to the lawes of nature and holy church Gent. It were good reason they should so doe in this matter of his vnjust decrees But how can you excuse your selues from disobedience when you vse your faculties after hee hath depriued you of them and yee celebrate notwithstanding he hath suspended you Doe you not acknowledge him to haue jurisdiction ouer you in these cases Priest Yes we doe but yet in such wise prescribed vnto him and limitted as if hee attempt to doe any thing beyond his commission it is of no effect nor validitie Gent. This must needs bee true for it were an vnreasonable and disorderly authoritie if it left all at his libertie especially to inflict punishments at his pleasure without more Priest His authoritie is to punish priests for crimes committed either by suspending the vse of their faculties or by depriuing them altogether as for suspending from the aulter we thinke hee wanteth authoritie But where there is no crime committed where no crime is proued against a priest nor he manifestly convicted thereof the Archp. hath no authoritie in any sort to punish him Now touching our case he hath suspended some others he hath quite bereaued of their faculties but for what crimes hath he done it and in what manner Hee hath not conuented nor cōvicted any of our priests of those faults which he and the Iesuits haue faigned against them without proofe of the crime without hearing the accused without citing them to aunswere vpon meere fictions and vncharitable surmises of his owne and theirs he hath proceeded against some as men guiltie of schisme rebellion enormious disobedience to the See Apostolicke and his owne authoritie against others for defending their good name in this slander against others for asking satisfaction others he afflicteth for setting their hand to the appeale without his licence others for persuading both parts to send two priests to Rome quietly with the state of the controuersie that so it might be ended by his Holinesse others for that they will not recall their appeale and yeeld to his opinion no lesse injurious to them than erronious in diuinitie and learning yea if any defend the censure of the Vniuersitie of Paris hee also tasteth of his whip Gent. These proceedings are the most disorderly and injust that euer I haue heard Priest They are no better than I tell you Gent. Surely it were impietie to thinke that his Ho. would giue him authoritie to afflict and punish innocent priests in this manner Priest So it were And therfore proceeding against vs without authoritie all his suspentions and depriuations are of no valliditie but to be contemned as friuolous proceeding from an vncharitable disposition in him and the Iesuits his counsellors Thus you see that in truth we are not justly to be touched with any note of schism rebellion or disobedience against either the See Apostolicke or the Arch-priest and that these reports are manifest calumnies and vntrue slaunders purposely deuised by our emulous aduersaries to delude mens eyes and to stirre vp the world against vs to our discredite Now if you be satisfied in these points of schisme rebellion and disobedience let vs goe to another report Gent. For these things mee thinke you haue said sufficiently and I know not what to reply more than I haue done Pr. VVell go to then what is the next slaunder The second Slaunder Gent. They giue it out all ouer that you be daungerous men because you are extraordinarily fauoured by the priuie Counsell and State by whom they say you are maintained and diuers of you haue free accsse and familiaritie with them and the Bishop of London M. Waid and others which are great presumptions that you be scarse honest men or to bee trusted by Catholickes For say they these with whom you deale and of whom you find these singular fauours are professed aduersaries to Gods holy Church and to all Catholickes and therefore it cannot but yeeld probable and very pregnant suspition of bad dealing and of treason to the common cause that you onely should haue friendly entertainment conference and accesse at your pleasures Pr. They be our aduersaries no maruell then if they speake the worst of vs they can and vpon their euill affection take hold of every occasion to surmise and report the euill we neuer did nor thought You see how vpon their own priuat opinion only against all right and conscionable proceeding where many as learned and judiciall as they held the contrarie they condemned and defamed vs of schisme rebellion and disobedience all Diuines and Canonists reproue their fact and all posteritie will admire their impudencie their want of charitie or skill or both and in the rest also their zeale spurneth them forward to deuise and vomit out any thing that may defile our credites Indeed their slaunders carie a great shew of probabilitie because they are in an odious matter and seeme to proceed from an honest mind zealous and sincere but let the particulars bee once discussed and the vizard of deceit taken away and then foorthwith the surmise and report will appeare in it owne likenesse to be a meere calumnie and vntrue slaunder First therefore where they say that we bee men of daunger it is the slaunder of an enemie deseruing no more credite than their reason is of force to proue VVhat is their reason then Because we are singularly fauored by the priuie Counsell and state Admit it bee so is this sufficient to prooue vs daungerous If it be not then is it a pernitious calumnie to account vs daungerous for a cause which is not sufficient to conuince vs to be daungerous If it be then must it follow that not only some of themselues but many also of their best lay friends in England haue beene and are in the same predicament with vs. Had not Fa. Hawood Iesuit such extraordinary fauour of the lord of Leicester that besides the secret plottings conferences which were betweene them before the Iesuits apprehension when the Father was in durance in the tower he only had there more libertie and found more friendly vsage than all the priests in the other prisons throughout England yea when many Catholicke priests were closely shut vp rigorously vsed and cruelly executed Fa. Hawood lay at ease and safetie in the
tower and at the time of his banishment all men reported him to haue found singular fauours aboue the rest touching his prouision This Fa. also had many conferences with Sir Christopher Hatton and receiued fauours of him before hee was apprehended VVhat should we say hereupon that Fa. Hawood was a daungerous Iesuit Or rather that these extraordinarie fauours are not sufficient to proue a Iesuit or a priest to be daungerous Father Bosgraue another Iesuit found not he also extraordinarie fauours in prison and banishment whiles many a good seminarie priest was straightly handled put to death I hope we may truly say That neither master Bluet nor master Clarke nor any other of vs whom the Iesuits and Archp. would discredite by accesse and familiaritie with the magistrats haue as yet condescended so farre vnto them as that Fa. Hawood did and yet was he not defamed thereby to be a dangerous man VVe let passe the two ancient and famous Iesuits Fa. Langdale and another either of which had remained in the societie aboue twentie years before their Apostacie which argueth that al Iesuits be not Saints before they breake out of their order wee let these passe I say and come to Fa. Iohn Gerard who is said to haue found more fauourable entreatie by our common aduersary during the time of his indurance than any of our priests imprisoned in those time or than those which now they so much exclaim against he is said to haue ben absent from his prison and this by license 2 3 4. or mo nights and dayes together Gent. Thus much I also haue heard of him that hee had more fauour and libertie than all his fellow prisoners besides But this was procured as I heard by great bribes for he had alwayes greater store of money than all the rest Pr. I condemne not the man nor thinke him dangerous for so doing He found fauor among our enemies to haue libertie if he be to be excused or not to be judged daungerous because he procured it by his money then to find extraordinary fauour among the heretickes is no true cause why a Iesuit or a Priest should be thought daungerous And why should not our priests in this case be as free from slander and infamie if they can procure to themselues by other honest meanes without money the same or more libertie as a Iesuit that bought it with his mony I will not now rehearse what some magistrats in high place haue said of secret meetings conferences between some of the priuie counsell some Iesuits nor what some of the Iesuits entirest fauourits haue whispered to their friends concerning straunge plots and deuises for no trifles I wisse betweene the Iesuits some of high roome and dignitie in the State Be it true as they reported or be it false as spoken but for a brag to win the Iesuits mo friends and credit as men able to dispose of all it much forceth not all finally commeth to this issue That we be not daungerous men because we receiue extraordinary fauor of the state For if they also had conference and withall hold this principle themselues also should be dangerous men with vs which they will not graunt if they had not yet in their conceits and by these reports that they had when the case is their owne they thinke it no sufficient cause to account them daungerous for finding fauours and conferring with the priuie Counsell and so they acquit vs also of the same slaunder For there can bee shewed no disparitie nor reason why this may not be as free for a Catholicke priest as for a Iesuit Gent. You seeme to conclude this rightly vnlesse they wil say that their dealing with the priuie Counsell or the fauors they find of the State cannot bring them into suspition or obloquie to bee daungerous men as it must doe priests because they are religious mortified men fast and sure from corrupting or deprauing by the magistrates as priests bee not which are passionate men looser of life and more inconstant and therefore this daunger is more to be feared in them and lesse in the Iesuits Pr. It may well be that they carry no worse conceit of themselues nor better of vs than this and I dare vndertake for them that howsoeuer their charitie extendeth to vs their owne good word shall neuer be wanting to themselues But these chimericall conceits and fictions do not alter the nature of the thing we speake of And for seminarie priests in England it is manifest that they haue laboured in Christs vineyard with no lesse fruit consummated their courses in prisons and death with no lesse courage and zeale than any Iesuit hath done hetherto yea euen such priests as these perfect Iesuits reputed to bee most imperfect and with whom they haue had great contentions in the colledges beyond haue matched them in the performance of all Christian duties whē the triall was made by enduring prisons miseries and death But as the huswiues prouerbe goeth All these fathers geese must be swans They be Iesuits ergo peerelesse Gent. I perceiue you but what were you about to say of their friends Pr. No more but this that by slaundering vs to be dangerous men by reason of some fauors we are said to find at the priuie counsels hands they bring the same slaunder vpon their best friends Gent. How may this follow Priest Marry thus who knoweth not that diuers of the principall Catholickes in England for temporall estate are their best friends And who is ignorant againe that they haue found and receiue still very extraordinarie and singular fauours from sundry of the priuie Counsell such as no other Catholickes in England besides themselues can haue If these great ones be not daungerous persons by reason of their extraordinarie fauours why should they thinke vs and our friends to be if at any time wee reape the benefite Gent. I know no reason why they should vnlesse perhaps the Iesuits affection and conceit of the perfection of all such as they deale with make this difference where in truth there is none But yet they say that some of you goe voluntarily to the Bishop of London and haue dayly conferences with him and other our aduersaries which thing is very suspitious and hath not beene vsed by any Iesuite or any of their side Priest Indeed the Iesuits carry a higher conceit of themselues than they doe of our priests the same must others also carry of them how small ground or cause soeuer there be thereof or else farewell friendship and you are their aduersarie Correspondent also hereunto is the opinion and estimation which the Iesuits and their people haue of such every where as depend vpon them and haue yeelded themselues into their guidance in respect of all such Catholicks as deale onely with the seminarie priests For onely this dependance on them is cause ynough why they should bee thought mortified zealous perfect and saints and the rest for
all them of the Spanish faction in Rome the hope wherewith he dayly feedeth them of bringing this to passe by his owne pollicies and the helpes he can procure in England causeth them to admire the man and him to be most highly esteemed among them Gent. It is very ridiculous if they should bee so simple as to think Fa. Parson to be able when the day commeth to set the crowne of England vpon whose head it pleaseth him or that he should haue so strong a partie in England as are of power to beare the best game away and dispose thereof at his pleasure Priest They neuer heard that hee was sonne to a blacke-smiths wife but take him perhaps to be some nobleman and allied with many great ones And indeed for his imperious carriage he may easily seeme to strangers to be better descended than in truth hee is For hee is exceeding bold of great vndertaking and can set out all he hath to the best shew Besides a kingdome is an object of that alluring qualitie as the very simple-wishing of a man thereto procureth liking and fauours much more the entiteling a prince thereto and deuising meanes to compasse the same Gent. It is so but Fa. Parsons is much esteemed of by most Catholickes in England yea and of many Protestants also by reason of his booke of Resolution and the Seminaries hee hath procured for our Nation Pr. As this booke of Resolution was a good work and woon him all the credit which was due to Granado that laid the platforme to Father Parsons hand and gaue him the principall grounds and matter thereof and which also was deserued by maister Brinckley for the penning as diuers report so no doubt the libell he writ against the Earle of Leicester and the other against the old L. Treasurer and this worke of Succession whereby he entitleth the Ladie Infanta to the crowne of England with disgracing all other Titles and Competitors hath got him much hatred and discredit in England and Scotland If the booke were his it was well done and he deserued commendation for it and surely if he had gone forward with the other two parts as he promised hee had spent these twentie yeares and moe both more to Gods honour and the good of his countrey and to his own greater merit than he hath done by all his other polliticke stickling in matters of State or by his cunning his violent his contentious and his vnconscionable proceedings otherwise But his head was too busie and ouermuch prophaned and greatly it is to be feared his dealing considered in Spaine and in Rome also against our students and the two good priests we sent thether about this authoritie again his deceiuing the Pope by false information both in procuring the authoritie by incensing him against the priests that when he finished that booke of Resolution he made an end also therewith of deuotion sinceritie and honest dealing It is no certaine nor probable argument to proue a man to be a Saint or a vertuous and a good man because in times past he hath written a vertuous booke yea or because hee writeth one in the present For this abilitie consisteth principally in the power of a mans vnderstanding whereas vertue and goodnesse as well supernaturall as naturall resteth in the will and affecteth the operations thereof Lucifer that damned fiend was a Cherubin of highest intelligence hee and his wicked angels exceed all men in wit and knowledge and want no skill to contriue and make spirituall bookes of absolute perfection yet this great knowledge of theirs neithet maketh them good nor can argue them to be vertuous spirits as long as their will is peruerted The like we may say of Adam that neither his great graces wherein he was created nor his supernaturall gifts which remain after his fall in both which states he had sufficient skill to deliuer to the world as good doctrine as Fa. Parson hath done could proue him to be a good man when he had cast himselfe out of the state of grace into sinne and the fame is true also in euery learned man beeing in mortall sinne and in Fa. Parson himselfe if at any time since he hath beene in that damnable state by their sinne they are depriued of justifying grace and other supernaturall vertues depending therupon but their faith their hope and knowledge gotten before their fall remaineth still by which they may teach and write as perfect doctrine as before they could Yea I haue heard Doctor Stapleton report of certaine bookes written vpon the holy Scripture by Iohn Caluin that they contained excellent good morall doctrine and if the heresies entermingled therewith were cancelled that they might be read with great profite and pleasure and yet no Catholicke will denie but that Caluine notwithstanding all this was a great enemie to the Romane religion Did not Salomon write many deuine volumnes and yet afterwards he became a bad man Now let Fa. Parsons booke goe with that deserued commendations what hee was good or bad whiles hee writ it for hee might bee either I cannot judge and I will suppose the best but what hee hath been since his owne bad actions yeeld presumptions ouer-pregnant and probable that sometimes he hath been no Saint nor sincere honest man Gent. In my conceit it is a manifest signe of a defect in wisedome judgement and discretion for any so worthely to valew a man for one or many his good actions past that when after the same he doeth euill he will not beleeue or see it or else in manifest faults stand to justifie and defend him by reason hee was once a good man or had done well before For mens judgements should be conformable to the object or otherwayes they cannot be true and in this though the precedēt good actions ought to stay a man from rash judgement and to make euery one suspend his censure vntill he be assured of the fact yet when his euill doing is once apparant a wise man should not let his affection cary him away to judge blacke to be white or a man fall'n to vice to remaine still a saint Priest VVell then you see that Fa. Parsons booke of Resolution made aboue twentie yeeres agoe cannot justifie nor ought not to patronize his naughtie actions committed since no nor in the judgement of any man to prejudice our cause and vs in these contentions we haue with him Gent. In reason it should be so but yet the Seminaries in Spaine saint Omers erected by his means haue gotten him much credit cause men to thinke him the bestfriend our Countrey hath Pr. If men would judicially consider what he hath done in this point perhaps they would thinke worse of him and his actions than they doe For albeit there be now by his meanes moe Semenaries for our yong studients than before yet doublesse our Countrey reapeth much lesse benefit now by all than it did of old by the two onely of Rome and
want of this passionate dull imperfect and but ordinarie Catholickes though in truth they exceed and excell theirs in the performance of any Christian dutie excepting this onely that they are guided by the priests and haue not resigned themselues and all they haue to the wils and directions of the Iesuits And this foolish difference and friuolous distinction to be betweene the Iesuits and their dependents and the seminarie priests with their Catholicke people is not obscurely insinuated if it be not the principall scope aimed at in the Treatise of Three fairwels written by a cheefe fauourite of Iesuits but not without their priuitie their perusing and their consent in publishing it abroad for otherwise the Gentleman followed little of that resignation and perfection hee talked so much on in that book where he will haue a man in all things depend of the Iesuits and to bee guided by them As then no doubt he was himselfe in most absolute sort both in making and diuulging that gallant Treatise But now that some of ours vsually resort to the Bishop of London and haue secret conference with him I know not how farre the religious charitie and perfection of a Iesuit occupied in the custodie of Euangelicall counsels will aduenture to suspect judge or report thereof sure I am they should not haue proceeded thus farre as they haue done alreadie if they had obserued the rules and limits but of ordinarie precepts and Christian charitie VVe will not speake now of such priests as haue beene most officious for the Iesuits and Archpriest in furthering their hard attempts against vs and yet are knowne to come to the Bishop of Londons house no lesse than these of ours which they so rattle with infamies Let vs deale onely with these two of ours M. Bluet and M. Clarke vpon which the slaunders cheefely run Haue they not both been knowne for vertuous and good Catholicke priests the one hauing endured a longer imprisonment for defence of Christs faith than any Iesuit hath spent yeares in England yea before any of that order entered the realme Hath he not waxen old vnder that heauie yoke preferring the ignominie and affliction of Christs crosse aboue the glorie and pleasures of the world Hath hee not liued with great credit and honour among both Catholickes and Heretickes which he purchased by his Catholick zeale in defence of Gods cause and by his sincere discreet and vertuous comportment in his conuersation Hath hee now perhaps reuolted from his faith or professed himselfe an enemy or that in any the least degree he will bee rebellious or disobedient to the See Apostolicke Doth he not still lie in prison for his Catholicke religion Or can they say perhaps that he wanteth abilitie and the talents of wit or learning by reason whereof hee may be thought incapable of promotion or so insufficient to vndertake roumes of dignitie and liuings among heretickes that being fallen from his faith or become a traitor to Gods cause or what else soeuer the slaunderer will haue him For those defects of his they judge him unfit for preferments and woorthie no better than this little libertie hee hath in prison Meaner men than M. Bluet or M. Clarke if they fall to the protestants are friendly entreated are set at libertie and preferred to benefices in their ministerie as is manifest in Dawson Maior Bell Tedder and the rest what ill hap then haue these two to lie still in prison and misse all aduauncement For M. Clarke also it is well knowne how he hath long and zealously trauelled for the sauing of soules with no lesse paines and fruit than the Iesuits about him Hee hath made a more glorious profession of his faith and sustained harder triall by affliction than many of them Is he deuoid also of all sufficiencie and good talents that if he be gone from God and all goodnesse hee cannot yet if he would step out of prison to some fatter benefice among the ministers They that value their owne actions how slender and trifling soeuer they be aboue all that their fellowes doe are very easily caried away what by peeuish emulation what by selfe-liking into rash judgements and disgracefull reports to misconstrue the words and deeds of them they fancie not to interprete all sinisterly and to take and censure all they see or heare in the worst part they can deuise affirming against both the manifest rule of charitie and the expresse commaundement of God forbidding all rash and temerarious judgements in these words Matth. 7. Nolite iudicare non indicabimini nolite condemnare non condemnabimini affirming vncertaine things I say for certaine or taking vpon thē to judge anothers seruant when that office belongeth not to them Domino enim suo stat aut cadit Rom. 14. or if it concerne them judging secret things for manifest euils or finally if they bee manifest persecuting them as to be done badly without knowledge of mind intention and disposition of him that did them A good conceit or opinion by the law of Nature is due to euery man and this ought all Christians to carry in the secrecie of their owne hearts each one towards other vntill by some manifest and certaine fault one haue deserued the contrarie By the same law also a mans credit honor and good name should rest entire and safe without losse or detriment vntill by some inexcusable bad fact or fault or by some assuredly knowne crime they be impeached no lesse than this was due vnto our Catholicke priests in prison to M. Bluet to M. Clarke to M. Doctor Bag. whom more than any these religious fathers with the Archpriest and their complices haue disgraced with slaunders and to all the rest of vs in durance or abroad It was due vnto them I say from all sorts of Catholick people from all priests from the Archpriest from the Iesuits neuerthelesse they haue bereaued vs of this treasure and due By what crimes manifest and certaine haue wee lost our right herein How can they defend themselues from cruell injust rapine VVe were schismatickes say they we denie it and say it is no more but their own damnable calumnie slaunderous fiction VVe were rebellious and disobedient to the See Apostolicke we denie it and say this to be an vndeserued infamie we neuer hauing the least intention or thought without which these horrible crimes cannot be committed to seperate our selues from the See Apostolicke or to disobey in any thing Clement the eight or any superiour certainly knowne to be constituted by him ouer vs so farre forth as his authoritie might appeare to be extended And for this point our innocencie is so cleare that the Iesuits and Archp. with all their adherents shall neuer be able either by wit or learning or honest dealing to proue vs guiltie of these crimes or to defend themselues from the foule note of vncharitable contumelious slaunder VVere we knowne to be men of that bad life euill demeanure and