that all the inhabitants of the Earth and not onely of Rome may heare it and take knowledge of the injustice and falshood of those who by their places office in Gods Church should be lights lanthornes unto others to direct their paces into the wayes of justice peace and truth For it is so farre from any shadow of verity That Paul Harris hath beene disobedient unto his Superiour the Archb. or that ever he denyed upon any summons citation or message to appeare before him or to answer any accusatiō or matter litle or great layde unto his charge that in all his life he never received any message or citation at all from his Ordinary which hee hath not obeyed And this to bee true the Archb. in his owne conscience knowes and none better then himselfe understands the innocencie of P. H. in that behalfe But in case it bee otherwise since it is a matter of fact why hath not the Archb. in all this time since Harris wrote his two Bookes for his owne credit reputation and to the greater affront of P. H. declared here at home unto some sufficient understanding men either of the Cleargy or Laity the falsity of this his so bold assertion naming the partyes by whom he sent his citations or his messages to what place he called him unto his answer The time when the day the moneth or the yeare that so P. H. being challenged of so notorious an untruth in his writings might be disrespected accordingly Doubtlesse such an advantage would not have been let passe had P. H. been guilty of any such disobedience unto his Ordinary Since it is well understood that the Archb. is not so tender of that mans credit reputation And such have beene the accusations and informations of the Ordinary and his Friars against P. H. at Rome himselfe never being called to his answer either here or there CAP. IV. Paul Harris not admitted to any hearing of his Diocesan was forced to seeke for Iustice at the hands of the Civill Magistrate IT is the office of a Prelat not onely to feed but to governe his flocke As the sheepheard doth not only lead his sheep to holesome pastures but protects them from the jawes of all ravenous beasts such of their fellowes as would be hurtfull unto them This our Savior teacheth setting down the parts of a good Sheepheard Ioh. 10. from whose office among all other professions in the world it pleased him to transferre that name unto the Governours of his Church tearming both himselfe and them Sheepheards or Pastors saying Ego sum pastor bonus c. Now Tho. Flemming a Pastor having P. H. a member of his flocke whose cure charge belonged unto him and being wronged by some of them who were also under his charge and complaining of his aggrievances unto his Pastor could not bee admitted unto his presence sending them by the hands of others he spedd no better And this P. H. doth averre to be true not by his owne testimony which in his owne cause is worth nothing but by the attestation of most grave Rev. persons yet living who have firmed the same with their owne hands and are ready to justifie it before any Tribunall Reade then as followeth VVEe whose names are here subscribed doe witnesse That in our presence Tho. Flemming Archb. of Dublin did renounce all correspondency either by word or writing with Paul Harris Priest telling us plainly that thence forward he never would receive either Letter or Petition from him or would medle in any matter of his for him or against him but wholly disclaimed all jurisdiction or power over him wishing us to signifie so much unto the aforesaid Paul Harris which accordingly wee did May 24. 1631. Peter Caddell Pr. VVilliam Shergold Pr. Thus P. H. being excluded from all audience correspondencie with his Pastor he addressed himselfe unto the Temporall Magistrate yet neither in Ecclesiasticall or Criminall cause but meerely Civill such as was the detayning of some Bookes from him by a Priest a Friar and the same most injustly as it appeared upon the hearing before the now Lo. Chiefe Iustice of the Kings Bench for by his order they were restored him After this againe P. H. understanding of some slanderous informations made by Friars and others against him unto the Ordinary and weening that after so long a space hee had beene come unto a better mind hee sollicited him againe for an audience but being repulsed as before he sent him this message as followeth THis 15. day of May 1633 Wee whose names are here subscribed doe witnesse That being requested to deliver a message unto the R. R. Tho. Flemming Archb. of Dublin wee accordingly the yeare and day above written delivered the same The which was this That whereas divers slanders accusations are intimated unto your Ho. against the aforesaid Paul Harris Pr. and presented unto you his Pastor as also published abroad by divers Friars and others to the prejudice of the good name fame of the aforesaid Marris his request unto you the Lo. Archb. by us is that you would be pleased according unto the Lawes and Canons of holy Church to judge him first admitting him unto audience and to his just defence The Lo. Archb. answer unto us was That in case Paul Harris would admit and receive an absolution for the Excom that he had notoriously incurred hee would otherwise not Iames Talbot Pr. VVilliam Shergold Pr. Thus Reader thou seest That two yeeres after the former denyall P. H. is againe debarred of audience by the Archb. or else to be admitted upon such tearmes as to acknowledge an Excom Of which Excom for that himselfe hath written very largely in two former Bookes he will be here more briefe The Excom pretended against him is That he commenced a suit as hath beene formerly said before a Temporall Magistrate against a Priest a Friar for detaining of certain Bookes from him For our Archb. his Friars are of opinion that no Ecclesiasticall persons ought to bee brought before a Temporall Magistrate for what cause soever and that the party so conventing them incurres Excom De Iure To which P. H. answers That no such Canon was ever received or practised in these Kingdomes as hee hath largely declared in his former Bookes and that he preferres the judgement of all antiquity under his Majesty and his Predecessours before the opinion of Tho. Flemming and all his followers Since those who are learned in the Lawes as well Canon Civill as Common doe with one voyce agree and have assured him That in all causes actions meerely Civill of which nature this was against the Priest the Carmelite Friar that as well Bishops as Priests Abbots and Priors did sue and were sued in the Kings Courts none other If then all Bishops and Priests Abbots and Friars who have consented and allowed of this practise for these thousand yeeres upward did maintaine
that there wants not of these Countreyes in the Citty who are able to translate them into Italian This Congregation of Cardinalls I confesse have a glorious stile conferred upon them by his Hol. as to be Propagators advancers promoters of the Faith but surely their endeavors will never answere unto those honorable titles so long as giving eare to a company of turbulent malecontent Friars they shall seeke to disturb the peace tranquillity of those Kingdomes over or in which they have no principality I say by exercising a secular power over those who are none of their subiects For as his Majesty of Great Brittaine never attempted to exile any of the Popes subjects out of Rome or any other his Territoryes so neither ought they to banish any of his Majesties liege people either out of this or that City Province or Diocesse but to know their owne bounds and not to transgresse the same And truly were I either wise or learned I would endeavour to perswade those most eminent L. Cardinalls in acknowledgment of their error either to send an Embafsadour unto his Majesty or at least to direct a deprecatory Epistle unto him by which he might be induced to passe over that injurious entrenchment upon his Crowne Dignity And alas what lesse can they doe This truly would be a cōmendable act beseeming their greatnesse and answerable unto their high titles by this meanes the Faith might either be propagated or certs lesse scandalized And it may be hoped that in so generous a brest of our renowned Soveraigne it would find both a gentle admittance and remittance And as for the faithfull people here mentioned Surely as many as be of understāding capacity who I cōfesse are not the greatest part of your flock doe well see discerne that all these machinations of the Friars against Harris proceed meerely from malice who for his desire zeale of their reformation as well in their corrupt manners in life as abhominable errors in doctrine doe labour by all meanes to ruinate undoe him But P.H. is confident that Qui habitat in adjutorio altissimi in protectione Dei coeli commor abitur Hee that dwells in the helpe of the highest shall remaine in the protection of the God of Heaven Neither is he better then his predecessors so many worthy Prelats and Priests who for seeking to reforme abuses among Monkes Friars have suffered at their hands extreame persecutiō not alwayes ad exiliū but sometimes ad sanguinē Examples whereof both ancient and moderne our Ecclesiasticall Historyes doe recount And it is no smal comfort unto P.H. and an affront to his adversaryes that his bookes being by the Friars presented unto the Roman Censors and by them read perused tryed sifted bolted yet came off as Gold from the fire without the least note obeliske or asteris ke of reproofe which is also no small honour unto our holy Faith because hereby those who are otherwise perswaded in matters of doctrine may plainely see that the Catholique Church maintaines none of those fooleryes which the Friars profructu ventris doe daylie vent and were largely confuted in his aforesaid Booke It followeth in the Epistle And that some scandall arise not by meanes of this order your Lordship may give unto the said Bishop when he receiveth this enclosed such advertisements informations as you shall thinke fitting for prevention thereof But no advertisements or informations that Dublinensis could give seemed sufficiēt to Medensis to the prevention of scandall maturely considering that it was a thing impossible without notorious scandall indictâ causâ to banish a Priest out of the Diocesse wherein hee hath his habitation his friends acquaintance and benefactors and that in a continued residence of more then 20. yeeres and to be sent into Pontus I mean to uncouth unknowne places where being separated from his friends wel-willers he may with lesse difficulty have his throat cut by a malicious Friar or some suborned Wood-kerne O! but Harris might passe into his native Countrey of England True indeed and so he may but not for sic volo sic jubeo of a Prelate though as yet he is not so minded these 20. yeeres of a continued absence having made him well-neere as much a stranger in his owne Countrey as in the County of Tirconnell where as yet he never set foot Such are the fruites of time whose nature is as the Poet Menander saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to procure oblivion No no with the good leave of the State P. H. now of the age of 63. hath set up his rest and is resolved to say of Ireland and in particular of this Diocesse of Dublin Hic habitabo quoniam elegi eam Heere will I dwell for that I have made choyse thereof till such time as his better part bee translated into a better habitation Againe the Lo. Bishop of Meath no doubt doth well consider that a banishment inflicted without an examination of the cause without the bill of the Plaintiff and answer of the Defendant can not but be most injurious illegall and so by the same non-sense of a nolo that a party is removed from this Diocesse of Dublin he may also be excluded from any other Diocesse and so consequently out of all Christendome for that there is no place in any Countrey of the Christian world but is contained in some Diocesse and so perforce must bee cōpelled to live either vpon the Seas or among Turkes and Infidells Lastly the Lo. B of Meath had good cause to refuse to be imployed in such a piece of service viz. to pronounce sentence of exile against any of the Kings Subjects for hee being a Do. of that famous Vniversity of Sorbon as by profession a Divine so also seene in the Canons Lawes of holy Church doth well understand that Exile is a punishment beyond the spheare of Episcopall jurisdiction proper to the Crowne and not to the Miter and accordingly to be managed by the Secular and not by the Spiritual arme So S. Bernard in his 5. booke De consideratione unto Pope Eugenius tells us That as the Keyes belong unto the Prelats so the Sword unto the Civill Magistrate Forsitan tuo nutu non tua manu evaginandus Peradventure by your will sayth he not by your hand to be unsheathed Which doctrine is layde downe and canonized in the Decretals of Gregory lib. 5. de Cler. excom tit 27. cap. 2. Si quis presbyter aut alius clericus fuerit degradatus aut ab officio pro certis criminibus suspensus ipse per contemptum superbiam aliquid de ministerio sibi interdicto agere praesumpserit postea ab Episcopo suo correptus in incepta praesumptione perduraverit modis omnibus excommunicetur quicunque-cum co communicaverit similiter se sciat esse excommunicatum Similiter de Clericis Laicis vel foeminis excommunicatis observandumest Quod si aliquis omnia ista
not impart his mind unto him for that he is perswaded he will never condescend thereunto in moving him in that affayre he shall but loose his labour and peradventure be repulsed with blame Well what then what doth the Friar Mary he sayes Courage mâ—â—n Frers and without any further delay hee excommunicates the party himselfe I demaund in this case Quid juris Itâ— answered that the Friar is mercifully dealt withall 〈◊〉 he bee but set upon the Pillary or upon an Asse and whipt naked from the waste upward thorough the streetes of Paris And why because he presumes to execute that power which he never had True it is That conformable unto the Canons above alledged as also the immemorable customes constitutions of these Kingdomes in case of enormous crimes as Theft Murder Perjury Simony Heresie c. as also disobedience proceeding to incorrigibility c. and that not onely in Clearkes but in Laicks unto their Ecclesiasticall superiours as Bishops other Prelates after spirituall remedies used as admonitions censures depositions degradations c. at the instance of the Church upon a siguificavis there commonly issued out a Writ from the Kings high Court of Chancery Decapiendo excommunicate De comburen do baretico c. according to the quality of the delict If then our Archbish hath proceeded in this legall manner with his subject is arrived at the uttermost extent of Episcopall jurisdiction He may then require the assistance of the Secular arme by intimating his Processe into the Kings Court of Iustice which if they answere his desires so it is if not he must rest contented and not thinke to erect a new Tribunall and a new course of proceeding contrary to what before by authority of Church Common-wealth is established and by custome of so many ages confirmed To make him selfe both Prince Prelate both Bishop and Civill Magistrate to plucke the Roses from the Kings Crowne and to place them in his owne Miter For by so doing he may draw the sword of the Secular arme upon his owne neck and in prosecuting others make himselfe an offendor in the highest degree How often doe we finde in former ages when both Prince and Prelate were of one lip and heart in divine worship and acknowledged obedience unto the Pope in matters spirituall Yet even in those times did not those Catholique Princes alwayes answere the instance and requisition of their Bishops in lending them the assistance of their sword and secular arme but sometimes were slow and remisse in that kinde of correspondency yea sometimes did absolutely deny the same As who so will peruse the Ecclesiasticall History of the Church collected by that learned Card. Caesar Baronius in his Annalls Or our Countrey-man Nicholas Harpsfeild in his Ecclesiasticall History of England shall easily finde And so often as this hapned what did those Prelats forsooth contained themselves within the bounds of their spirituall and Episcopall juvisdiction never attempting to hang burne or banish as our hor-spurre Frians have perswaded our Archb. to the great scandall of Gods Church and his owne utter ruine if the King bee not the more mercifull unto him Which matters well pondered by the B. of Meath it is no wonder that hee told our Arch that they were none of his friends that procured him that Commission from Rome to pronouÌ„ce sentence of exile against any of the Kings Liege people by which act himselfe might come to bee in the same predicament with Tho. Flemming Archb. not onely a bad member of Gods Church but a disloyall subject unto his Majesty verifying that of the Prophet Psal 49. Cùm videbas furem currebas cum to c. CAP. III. The informations by which the Archb. his Friars procured from the Congregation of Cardinalls De propagandâ fide the Commission of Paul Harris his exile from the Diocesse of Dublin POpes and Princes Cardinalls Bishops are men and no Angells according as they are informed so they speake so they write so they determine causes so they absolve and so they doe condemne I remember I have read in Philip Commines his history of the warres twixt the French King Lewis II. Charles Duke of Burgundy that in some services wherein the French had the worse routed more upon a Pannick feare then any just cause of terror some Commanders being after by the King called to an accompt for their cowardise The Author observes so reports it That certaine Captaines and great Monsieurs that ran from the field but six leagues off were severely punished for their offences and others who fled from the field and ran ten leagues beyond them were highly rewarded for their valour good service Noting as I said before that Princes by reason of an impossibility of proper knowledge in themselves as touching the estate of absent affayres are forced resting upon informations to judge accordingly walking sometimes upon the right hand and other whiles upon the left And so it hapned in the cafe of P. H. who by Friar Wadding the Archb. his Agent in the Citty and others of his fraternity as well shodd as bare-footed Friars his mortall sworne enemies is accused to be a most turbulent a seditious person disobedient to all lawfull authority and as one confirmed in contumacy remaines incorrigible and so incurable without hope of amendment c. And thus have the Friars chanted their Mattins at Rome P. Harris the defendant of his innocencie in the mean time lyes at anchor in the Port of Dublin little knowing how the windes blow abroad till upon these suggestions there comes from the Citty not a Commission to any particular Bishops or other Prelats to examine his cause or to heare what the Archb. can alledge against him or he make answer thereunto but the perclose of all judiciall proceedings namely Sentence and that is thought fit to bee of Exile out of the Diocesse wherein he lives and that sentence commanded unto the B. of Meath to pronounce But now heare good Reader what Paul Harris saith unto this information Albeit nothing more or other can hee say then what he hath delivered in his former Bookes Even the same which all the Cleargy of Dublin doe know at this day to be true That which so many of the Laity as take notice of our troubles doe know to be true That which the Friars themselves the onely causers procurers of all these intestine broyles twixt the Cleargy and the Regulars best of all know to bee true Namely that this information made by the Archb. and his Friars unto the Cardinalls at Rome is most false most unconscionable wicked that it is a meere Chimera an Enâ—rationis without any existent foundation And to the end that the world may againe againe understand in all places that which in these parts is most palpable I could wish not the shell of a Triton but the trumpet of an Arch-angell to sound it thorough sea land
an error I thinke P. H. had better venture upon that error then upon the skill of a Prelat who never yet studied out of his owne Friary or tooke degree in any Vniversity But this Physician who is so liberall of his plasters offering his absolutions before the Penitents aske them Sith he can not cure himselfe let him seeke a remedy in time for his owne sores not being ignorant that himselfe is notoriously excommunicated ab homine and by authority of this present Pope Vrbanus 8. in the controversie twixt Patrick Cahil Patrick Brangan frō which to the great scandall of Gods Church we never heard that yet hee received an absolution And I pray God that not guilty of schisme and heresie he stands not also excommunicate De Iure But now ex abundanti Let it be supposed for granted it will never be that to draw Ecclesiasticall persons before Secular Tribunalls in all causes as well Civill as Ecclesiasticall Criminall is unlawfull and that the Canons inhibite the same under Excom Suppose also that this Law be received and in all times hath beene in viridi observantiâ practised in these Kingdomes I say all this being granted as most true undoubted P. H. is as cleare from all spot of Excom as the sun-beames or the water in the fountaine As how Forsooth upon this ground That before he convented those Ecclesiasticall men to wit the Priest the Friar above mentioned hee was denyed all audience and correspondencie with his Prelate the Archb. either by word or writing as before hath beene declared testified In which case it is lawfull not onely for a Priest but for a Layman to seeke for Iustice at the hands of the Temporall Magistrate against a Cleargy-man and to convent him before a Secular Tribunall I say in case his Prelate refuse to heare him or to admit his complaint or to doe him justice Reade for this De Iudiciis tit 1. cap. 7. Qualiter Quando together with the Gloss you will find these words Quod in defectum justitiae Clerici ad judicium seculare trahi possunt That for want of Iustice Clergy-men may be drawne to Secular Tribunalls Casus Titius a Priest is indebted one hundred Crownes to Sempronius Priest or Lay-man the debt cannot be denyed the day of payment is expired but Titius will not performe Sempronius is of our Friars opinion that it ought to bee tryed recovered before the Ordinary but the Ordinary will not heare him or receive his libell Where shall Sempronius sue his Bond against Titius At Rome But that hath not beene seene or heard of since the Capitoll was built Ergo he must either loose his debt or take the benefit of the Canon In defectum justitiae Clerici ad seculare judicium trahi possunt as before And S. Athanasius doubted not long before the Canon was thought of to convert the Arian Heretiques his false accusers of foule crimes before Constantius the Emperour Athan. in Apolog. ad Constant. And before him S. Paul Act. 25. appealed in the Controversies he had with his owne Nation the Iewes unto Caesar Appello Casarem But if you answer that in the aforesaid cases there was no spirituall superiour Prelat or Bishop to heare or to determine their causes I then reply And what distinction make you twixt a Prelat that will not heare a Priests cause and no Prelat at all Verily none And this was still is the case of P. H. who before his Ordinary never yet could be admitted either plaintiffe or defendant Wherfore I conclude that in conventing his Adversaryes though Priests before the Temporall Magistrate in Civill causes hee did not incurre any censure of Excom being warranted by the Canon above alleadged In defectum justitiae Clerici ad seculare tribunal trahi possunt For want of Iustice Cleargy-men may be convented before the Secular Iudgment Vnlesse wee will maintaine the Archb. Tho. Flemming to be above the Canon which is not onely absurd but hereticall And let my Reader whether Friend or Adversary observe that neither Brangan or Doyle can be excused from Excom De Iure in the conventing of P. H. before the Temporall Magistrate he never having to this day declined the jurisdiction or forum of the Ordinary So as the Canon De Iudiciis Qualiter Quando which hath excused P. H. for drawing them before Secular Iudgments namely In defectum justitiae can no sort militat in their behalfe who have suffered no defect of Iustice from their Ordinary In fine then they remaine absolutely excommunicated together with their Master and may say Iam sumus ergo pares CAP. V. Of the want of judgment and discretion in the Bishop and Friars the persecutors of Paul Harris IS it possible that man a reasonable creature made unto the Image of GOD should have his reason so over-ruled with passion and his judgment so over-mastered with malice as they should be powerfull not onely to obscure but in a sort to extinguish the light thereof For not to speake of conscience common honesty which as in every Christian ought chiefly to prevaile so especially in Church-men who are to be guides leaders of others unto their salvation How is it possible that wit capacity or common sense should not avert these men from such violent and out-ragious courses against P. Harris Is it because that glorious Greatnesse who sits at the Helme of Government is pleased most graciously to grant unto us some more favourable respect then in times past using us not with standing what difference soever with others in points of doctrine with all indiffērecie in the Politique government As if he should say Tros Tyriusque mini nullo dìserimine habetur Papists and Protestants are one to mee Who in subjects ducties so well agree Such is the influence of that blessed aspect in our dread and no lesse beloved Soveraigne with that gracious propitious Starre to their perpetuall glory and our unspeakable comfort O then what pitty is it That golden Peace and gowned Rest should be the parents of so foule an off-spring as is discord and dissention Is it That we have already surfetted of Ease and in so short a time become weary of so long-expected a well-fare that now the rod and rigour of State being removed we should embolden our selves upon domesticall broyles Is it For that a way is given nor onely to the freedome of our Consciences but even to the moderate discreet exercise of our spirituall Functions as well Episcopall as Priestly that we should contend also for Secular power and preheminencie to the encroaching upon our Caesars jurisdiction Is this the gratitude and thankfulnesse wee owe and shew for these our Halcyon dayes in which no storme is either for the present felt or for the furure feared If our owne ungraciousinesse and intemperate ambition doe not abbreviat and shorten the same Verily if our Friars had but read their Esops fables they might