and to the vvhole state if so iust a request so humbly asked in his name should be cōtemned it vvould please their goodnes to vvithdravv their heauy hand from the poore Catholikes and rather procure them licence of her Ma. tie to serue God after the manner of al their Christian forefathers then to afflict thē in body and mind so pitifully that so both the Seminaries might cease and their Honours might haue Gods Priests and all Catholikes pray for them rather as their patrons then as their persecutors Trusting that they and al the vvise of the Realme be persuaded that the Kingdom of God first sought is the vvay to the peace felicity and security of al vvordly vveale vvhich not onely their ovvne pietie and prudence may teach them but also the example of the Hebrues vvho for feare of endamaging their temporal state for sooke their promised Lord and Sauiour Of vvhom therfore S. Augustine vvriteth this sentence vvorthy to be emprinted in the hartes of al such as haue the rule and charge of kingdoms Temporalia perdere timuerunt vitam aeternam non cogitauerunt sic vtrunque amiserunt ⧠An admonition and comfort to the afflicted Catholikes CHAP. VII NOVV hauing sincerely set forth to the vvorld our intentions vve may turne our talke for conclusion of this Defense to you our fathers frendes and brethren in Christ being either in the fornace of Gods probation or in the burden and broile of that hote haruest of our Lord or by sure treading threshing and vvinovving laid vp for vvel tried vvheat in the barne-floore of Christes Church to you vve say Be humble vvise meeke peaceable patient and constant in all your cogitations vvordes ansvvers doings and sufferings that Christ Iesus vvhom you serue may blesse and prosper your endeuours moue her Ma. ties hart to haue compassion open her graue Counselers eies to see your innocencie alter the enimies and il informers malice and malediction vnto loue and good affection tovvardes you stirre vp the mindes of al men invvardly and in conscience to consider the cause of your afflictions and giue them such sense reason and religion that they may acknovvledge your vndeserued calamities For your life and behauiour agreable to your faith and calling and formed in all pietie discretion and modestie after the demeanour of all old Martyrs and according to the paterne of those glorious Confessors our true fathers Pastors and Maisters that haue by their sacred persons sanctified your prisons by tvvo and tvventie yeres durance shal defend your Christian intents and ours more then all the vvordes that vve can make In the meane time both you and vve vvith all our louing brethren the Catholikes must rest vpon God and the equitie of the cause so vvell knovven and approued to the vvisest in the vvorld and our ovvne vvell enformed conscience For as the cause and not the paine or persecution vvherof only Heretikes do vaunt them selues iustifieth vs so Christ and our conscience testifie that vve are not acquainted vvith any conspiracies against our Prince and Countrie nor do suffer for rebellion or treason attempted against man but for that vve vvill not conspire vvith Coré and his complices against Moyses and Aaron Peter and Paul vvhich the holy Scriptures call rebellion against God and for that vve crie vpon our deerest Countriemen that the reuolt from the Catholike Church is a greater fault by manifold then defection from any earthly king or Cōmonvvealth fyre once sent from heauen and the earth opening and svvalovving such offenders aliue dovvne to Hel for our vvarning and for Gods reuenge of so greuous a crime For this in truth and none other matter do you and vve suffer It is for the honour peace and vnitie of the Church it is for the sauing of our ovvne soules and the soules of our beloued parents and frendes it is for the defense of Christes Priesthod and souerainty in earth it is for his eternal Sacrifice and Sacraments it is for the custodie of that doctrine and truth vvhich vvas laid vp as depositum in the hands of S. Timothee and other Bishops and Priests to be preserued from al corruption and alteration coming by heresie and noueltie it is for the good garding of the holy Scriptures and the natiue sense therof set dovvne by Gods Church and al the holy Doctors from heretical adulteration and deprauation it is for our inheritance left vs by S. Gregorie and S. Augustine our first Apostles vvhich vve may not betray for a thousand deaths finally it is for al our Christian fathers faith honour and memorie to vs most deere and blessed The defense of any one article of the Catholike faith of any one point of Christian doctrine any title of our Lordes lavv any one Sacrament the sauing of any one soul being the price of better bloud then ours is cause iust and great ynough vvillingly and patiently to sustaine al mortal paines but for so many partes of our beleefe impugned for so many holies profaned for millions of soules hazarded for the saluation of our Prince othervvise so gratious our Countrie our parents and our posteritie not to suffer vvere against al duety of nature charitie and religion Such is then your cause deere Sirs as neuer Martyrs nor Confessors since Christes time had any more vvorthy more cleere or more glorious Vvhich to forsake for any feare of man or flatterie of this vvorld should be our eternal ignominie both here in this life and before God and his Angels in the next The manner of your suffering cōfession and Martyrdom for blessed be God some of our brethren haue gladly and honorably persisted euen to death and many mo are ready by his grace for the same resembleth also the old proceding in that kind vvhich hath not been commōly vsed since Kings vvere Christened For as the persecution of Priests and Bishops vvherof S. Hilarie complaineth against Cōstantius the Arian Emperour is oftentimes so couertly and craftily conueied that being in deede great and perilous yet it can not appeare to the due commendation of the sufferers or good example of the seers so both of old and of late almost in euery Countrie as by the Arians and Circuncellions in Afrike and Italie and by the Caluinistes in France Holland and Zeland Priests and Catholikes haue been persecuted more often and more cruelly tormented and massakred then vvith vs thankes be to God but yet neither so much to the merite of the sufferers before God nor to the edification and aduancement of the peoples faith and hope in him as vvith vs vvhere the matter passeth vvith deliberatiō and in forme of lavv and order Vvhen Christian Catholike men are barbarously assailed and sodenly slaine no question made of their faith or holy order no promis giuen of life or promotion if they list to deny their profession no deliberation nor time to consult nor former terrours shevved no tedious nor lingering paines of
in their ovvne conceit and very dānable in the iudgmēt of others the due consideratiō vvherof hath yelded to vs many yea some scores partly before and partly after their enterāce to that trade or that vvere doubtful vvhether of the tvvo religiōs vvere true vvherein to take trial of none but the one vvhich the svvay of the Countrie forcibly driueth vnto vvhen they might haue proofe of the other so neere at hand in a College of their ovvne vvithout great cost or trauail seemed to many much shame and inexcusable negligence in cause of saluation vvhich is the iustest cause to trauail as S. Augustine telleth Honoratus in the vvorld Vvhich hath driuen diuers ouer to their great satisfaction and admiration of the euidence of our part Grammar Schooles also from al partes of the Realme haue yelded vs many youthes vvhich hauing their vvhole and ful trayning in Catholike Colleges here proue no lesse seruiceable for their Countrie then the others And the rest brought vp in the Vniuersities there do easily here by comparison perceiue the great corruption in the same specially of life and maners sinne libertie and licentiousnes daily more and more shevving them selues to be companiōs of this nevv doctrine Vvhich doctrine vvho so euer attempteth to amend let him knovv by our experience that the place affected is custom and pleasure in sinne and shame and lothsomnes to cōfesse and amend Vvhich being cured there remaineth no difficultie These youths Gentlemens sonnes specially are much propense in our Countrie God be thanked for it as also for that it giueth exceding hope of better times to the Catholike faith and many aduenture ouer to vs vvithout their parents consent and sometimes much against their vvilles Vvho though they could be content to haue their children better brought vp then they can be at home yet for feare of disfauour of the vvorld vvherein they be more entangled then their sonnes they refuse often to giue them any releefe at all feare sometimes ouerpaising their natural affection and God taketh the care of their deere pledges and keepeth them here for their Countrie And because one College could not be sufficiēt for so great store of al sortes as is said and for that this beneath might be subiect to diuers disturbances by fine practises of the aduersarie vvherof our remoue from Duay gaue vs good experience notvvithstanding the Catholike and honorable Magistrate sithence by their letters instantly inuiting vs thither againe therfore God moued the hart of the Popes Holinesse to erect that other also in Rome a place not commonly subiect to the like hazards that so these tvvo Colleges might be more plentiful Nourceries for the Church of our Countrie and ioyntly vvorke together for the benefite of the same The first intended and most certaine fruite therof ouer and aboue the prouision for the time to come being to saue so many soules as not onely vvere any one time in both the Colleges or in other Schooles in these partes expecting roomes in the same but al othets that in diuers times and seasons haue been or shal be brought vp in them during the schisme the number of vvhom vvhich is already exceding great and the rest vvhich are to come hereafter Christ onely knovveth besides many trauailers that intending not precisely any matter of religiō haue yet by Gods careful prouidence that ouerreacheth mans purposes to his saluation been happily by them conuerted to Christian faith and life to their great and inexpected ioy Al vvhich if they had taried in the English Vniuersities or thervvise had folovved the maner of our Countrie had perished euerlastingly vvithout al question though by the erroneous iudgement and persuasion of the Protestants many feare not their damnable state The second and further fruite of the said Colleges is to instruct men in al Cases of conscience and Controuersies and to breede in them zeale and desire to be Priests euen in these daies specially vvhē they can looke for no vvorldly honour lucre preferment or promotion thereby but manifold dangers disgraces persecution vexations onely by praiers and Sacrifice the special office of that holy Order and an act that maketh the most forcible clamour to God for mercie of al others to make intercession for our desolate frendes at home and to aduēture into England there to serue them vvhose hartes God shal touch to admitte spiritual comforts and to preferre saluation before vvordly cōmodities and to minister vnto them al Sacraments necessarie for the life and grace of their soules Vvhich duety through loue that is stronger then death very great numbers of both the Colleges besides other vertuous and learned Priests haue godly and happily done to the benefite and vnspeakable solace of infinite persons great alteration of mindes throughout the vvhole Realme and vvonderful encrease of courage in al sortes not onely to thinke vvel in hart but opēly and as Christian Catholikes are bound to do boldly to professe their faith and religion and to refuse all actes contrarie to the same Vvhich vvas thought a hard thing to the vvordly at the beginning but novv they vvould not be in their former case for al the goods the Realme yeldeth acknovvledging it to be an extreme miserie that the greatest part of the Coūtrie should be Catholikes in their hartes and in their mouths and actions Protestants And this they haue done onely by the povver of Priesthod in spiritual silent and peaceable maner ād not vvith riottes tumults or vvarlike concourse they haue done it as the Apostles and other holy men did in the primitiue Church by trauails vvatchings fastings perils at the portes perils in the sea perils on the land perils of open enimies perils of false brethren feares of the lavves feares of hurting their frendes feares for scandalizing the vveake by contumelies disgraces pouertie prisonments fetters dungeons rackes deaths And this the omnipotēt God because it is his ovvne vvorke enterprised by order and authoritie of his cheefe Minister in earth hath prospered excedingly though it seemed at the beginning a thing hard or impossible the Aduersaries hauing so many yeres the lavves the svvord the pulpits and al humane helpes for them But the enterance to this spiritual attempt and traffike vvas vvel opened before by bookes vvritten from these partes and by sundrie letters of the vertuous youthes to their parents and frendes vvhom they besought to regard their soules and not to damne them selues vpon pretēce of sauing their lāds and goods to the profite of them their childrē and posteritie desiring no other inheritance then their saluation and companie in heauen the lacke vvherof should be to them more then al mortal sorovves To this the fruites of the Protestants doctrine their profane life and maners their restles contentions debates and dissentions among them selues their scandals mo in those fevv daies of their felicitie then vvas giuē of the true Clergie in a thousand yeres before though al the Aduersaries slaunderous reportes of
They vvere ouercome in Aërius Vigilantius Iouinian Imagebreakers Berengarius and others by many iudicial sentences and by plaine learning refuted before our daies they are condemned by the like meanes in our time yeld they vvill not til God miraculously cōfound their cheefe preachers And for further trial of our doctrine vvould God it might please our Prince to cōmaund some of vs her Catholike subiects abrode or of them vvhich be at home either in prison or at libertie to appeare before her Ma. tie or any indifferēt iudges in scholastical cōbat vvith any one or any number of Protestāts of her dominions or any other part of the vvorld Vvhich men though they durst not shevv their faces in the late General Councel vvhich is the proper place of such disputes vpon trifling and vnvvorthy pretences refusing the same blaspheming that holy assembly and barking at it in bookes a far of vvhen they durst not come neere it as the Heretikes condēned in the first foure great Councels did also tovvard the same yet their causes of feare or exception vvould cease in this case if it pleased her Highnes by her vvisdom and clemēcie to giue order for the libertie and saftie of both partes therein Neither neede our Aduersaries be curious in the case the personal feare or danger being on our side but the shame and confusion vve trust in God shal be on theirs Once there vvas a conference in deede but vvithout al order and indifferēcie and at that time vvhen there vvas such a greedly desire of nouelty and chaunge that vvil and affection forcibly ouerruled al the matter Novv so many yeres hauing both vvel cooled the inordinate heat that the people lightly haue in such cases and giuen good experience of the Sect vve doubt not but God vvould prosper the matter to the great good of the Realme and contentmēt of her Ma. ties and al doubtful consciences For though such disputes vvith the Catholike Churches Aduersaries out of Councels and fit places be not in them selues alvvaies so allovvable nor profitable yet oftentines they haue done good and haue been thought necessarie both of late and of old as vve see by the diuers conferences of S. Augustine and others vvith the Manichées Arians and Donatistes in Afrike and some in France and Germanie vvith the Caluinists and Protestāts And that this vve also might do vvith our Superiors liking vve most hartely desire trusting that our doctrine vvhich novv is condemned of fansie and humane tradition should then be inuincibly proued to be most agreable to Gods sacred vvord and holy Scriptures Thus also further being bold and of duety to his Holines vvho also is charged to haue instituted these Colleges to traine vs vp in erroneous doctrine bound to say as the truth is that in these his Colleges there be vsed as many meanes to attaine to the knovvledge of the Scriptures and Gods truth reserued in them and his holy Church as in many mo of theirs Our vvittes be of God as theirs are and alloted to vs by his goodnes in as plentiful measure as theirs our absence from our Countrie the aduersity and pouerty incident to the same being not excessiue is as fit for studie as the more plentiful and delicate state of our English Vniuersities at home being othervvise for that thing and for al vvorldly splendour the noblest Schooles in Christendom Our foundation in al kind of faculties requisite for the studie of Diuinitie is as deeply laid as theirs our diligence rather more then lesse our time both of age and studie more complete then theirs commonly can be that are for the most part in our daies so timely called out of the Schooles to pulpits and promotions Our order methode and course of Diuinitie kept and ruled by obedience and the Superiors prescription much more profitable then theirs that is mere voluntarie Vve haue mo disputations lessons conferences examinations repetitions instructions Catechizings resolutions of cases both of conscience and controuersies methodes and maners to procede in the cōuersion of the deceiued and such like exercises specially for daily practise in the Scriptures vvherein the Protestāts vainely pretend their cheefe praises to cōsist because they can promptly alleage the leafe and the line of their booke in our tvvo Colleges then are in their tvvo Vniuersities cōteining neere hand 30 goodly Colleges And as concerning Sermons no Sunday nor Holy day in the yere vvanteth one and tvvise a vveeke besides for the exercise of yong preachers declamations in matters of Diuinitie For the tonges also notvvithstanding so many their publike and priuate lessons and great vaunting of the same I vvould vve might haue opportunitie to shevv vvhether they or vve haue more commoditie of them either to the knovvledge of Diuinitie or to the aduantage of our cause As for the Maisters and Professors of our Colleges specially the Romane Readers of vvhom vve may vvith better reason and respect of our shamefastnes speake then of our ovvne here vvhom yet I trust our Aduersaries shal find sufficiēt vvhen God shal put them to the proofe vve may be bold to say they be in al kind the most choise and cunning men in Christendō for vertue learning gouernemēt and al education of youth vvherof vvould God our Nation at home might once take triall Novv for that part of education vvhich pertaineth to Christian life and maners because knovvledge and learning be obtained specially by prayer and godly behauiour impure persons being not so apt to receiue and obey the faith our cheefe endeuour is in both the Colleges to breede in our Scholers the feare of God deuotion and desire of saluation Vvhich is done by diuers spiritual exercises as daily examinations of their consciences often Communicating or Receiuing the B. Sacrament often confessing much praying continual hearing and meditation of holy things deepe conceiuing and compassion of their Countries state and danger of their deerest frendes soules Al vvhich things to tell in particular vvere to long Neither this much vvould vve haue said of such matters had not our necessarie defense driuen vs therevnto For vvhich and principally for the honour of God and his Holinesse eternal commendation vve haue touched the maner of that education vvhich our Aduersaries haue persuaded her Highnes Councel to be disagreable to Gods vvord Humbly thanking our Lord God that for our further vvarrant therein he hath giuen to these endeuours such effect that many haue found eternal good thereby in our Countrie and that he neuer suffered any as far as vve could perceiue and do remember vouchsauing to conferre vvith vs one moneth to go hēce not persuaded and contended in conscience though many yerely resort to both the Seminaries either vvholy doubtful or plaine Protestants Vvhereby vve find it certaine that many a good soul perisheth in our Nation onely for lacke of hearing and seeing the Catholike faith and practise therof The sensible comfort vvherof is so vnspeakable to al that truely do
Maiestas or the Commonvvealths disturbāce is but to seeke meanes to haue the bloud of innocēt men that neuer committed treasons nor trespasses against any Prince or Common-vvealth it is to make our liues and deaths odious and the true causes therof vnknovven to the vvorld baptizing that by the name of treason and sedition vvhich is mere matter of religion soul and conscience Vvhat hath Masse Matins Confession Absolution beades Agnusdeies and other consecrated tokens of our communion vvith al the Churches of Christ through al ages vvhat affinitie haue they in nature vvith treason Stād they not in al Nations round about you vvith the high duety and loyaltie that belongeth to Princes is there any definition or description of that trespasse vvhich can of reason include the premisses or proue them treasons And though the lavves may make things treason vvhich before vvere not yet in making them so consideration is alvvaies had of the qualitie and cōdition of the faultes and offenses For as to make the saying of Diuine seruice after the rites of the Catholike Church to be Simonie vsurie felony or aduoutrie vvere ridiculous and impossible so it is impossible to make these matters of mere religion in true and proper fense the offense of treason or disloyaltie to the Prince or Commonvvealth Neither doth euery commaundemēt of the Soueraine though in things lavvful not fulfilled make the offense treasonable much lesse either vvhen it concerneth matters merely repugnāt to Gods vvord and our dueties to the Diuine Maiestie as it did in Daniels and the Three childrens case or in causes not truely subiect to any temporal King or his lavves For if such a Prince should make the like lavv that Darius did That no man should pray to any God other then him self for certaine daies al the lavves in the vvorld can not make the refusant a traitour nor bound to obey more then Daniel vvas then not onely because lavves euidently vniust and against God may not be obeied but for that the prayer to the true God and seruing him is not repugnant to any duety that the subiect ovveth to his Soueraine by Gods lavv or nature and therfore can not be made treason in true and proper speach The Churches holy Sacrifice Seruice and Sacraments and consecration or blessing of creatures by the vvord of God and prayer haue no qualitie or condition of treason or crime against the maiestie of the Prince or the repose of the people But if in making such factes treason the meaning be nothing els but to make them punishable by death and othervvise as treasons by the statutes of the Realme are and ought to be then haue vve the pitifullest iniurie in the vvorld that beīg no traitours in deede yet vve must suffer the ignominie and paines of treason and so much the greater that it is done by pretense of lavves and publike authoritie then if it vvere done as it hath been in Holland Zeland and some part of France by barbarous crueltie of Heretikes the Prince and Commonvvealth not agreing therevnto For it is a greuous sinne and dishonorable vvhen a vvhole State agreeth vpon any iniquitie And vve think verily God vvould haue taken vengeance vpon our poore Countrie if her Ma. tie of great clemencie had not staied the execution of so vniust and intolerable disorders though diuers mo then her Highnes knovveth of haue fealt the extreme smart therof in most cruel sort God turne his iust ire from vs for the same But seeing a staffe is easily found to beat a dogge and vvith lions eares be often hornes and such cases of religion and cōscience must needes be so extremely punished Vvhy do they reduce our offense rather to Treason then to Heresie If our doctrine be vvicked our actions superstitious our vvorship of God sacrilegious idololatrical or anyvvise vntrue or vnlavvful vvhy are vve not condemned of such crimes rather then of treason or vnduetifulnes to our Prince for if they be faultes they are directly against Gods honour and but indirectly and consequently against the Prince But for the better enterance into Caluinisme and entertaining the same the old lavves peraduenture for punishing Heretikes vvere repelled or because they can not so easily determine vvhether vve be Heretikes or our Aduersaries vvho haue been dubbed vvith that name so long by the lavves both spiritual and temporal of al Christian countries vvhich also yeld vs the Protestāts making no great claime therevnto both the name of Catholike vvhich vvith S. Augustine vveighed so much and al the properties and prescriptions of truth therevnto belonging therfore they thought it a neerer vvay to make vs traitours then Heretikes and to punish vs for pretensed fedition and conspiracie then for errour in doctrine or heresie Vvherein though they haue giuen authoritie to the Court of Parliament to determine together vvith their Conuocation of the Clergie vvhat is an errour or an heresie yet it is not like they vvil agree of any such thing shortly This also being a common thing in times of errour and disorder to make the fault committed or said to be cōmitted against the Prince greater and more punishable then the offense done directly against God against the Common vvealth thē against the Church against the body thē against the soul more a do about Caesars tribute then Gods due as both in al other things and in the very title of Supremacie is plaine Vvhere the superiority Tēporal hath the first place and preeminēce and the Spiritual is but accessorie vvholy vpholden and directed by the other as vvel for the right of the thing as for the exercise of iurisdiction agreable therevnto And in that case it must needes so be the crovvne being not a spiritual dignitie but a temporal the person of a Prince not spiritual but temporal the Realme not a spiritual Commōvvealth but a temporal the Parliament not a spiritual Court but a temporal the statutes not spiritual lavves but temporal Or if not al these vvholy and soly temporal yet al these more tēporal then spiritual vvhich our Aduersaries them selues can not vvith any reason deny So that in such Countries and lavves vve can expect no other but that al our spiritual endeuours misliked of the State must needes against Gods lavves and mans be violently dravven to treasons and trespasses temporal vvhich be they lavvful or vnlavvful be euidently mere spiritual first to be condemned by their Clergie of errour or heresie and then to be punished by the temporal lavves if they had any standing in force against such offenses Therefore in al these cases pretended treasonable vve for our selues and our brethren by S. Paules example vvho being charged before the ciuil Magistrate of conspiracie and il demeanour tovvardes his Countrie protested that he vvas iudged concerning the Resurrection a question in religion and not for sedition or concourse in tumultes do crie to God and al Christian people vvhich behold our afflictions and sufferings that it is for
disordered and shameful meanes of Protestants in these daies to preferre their rebellions against both the spiritual and temporal Gouernours besides the horrible designements of their Caluinistical Consistories pretented Synodes and Prophecyings in diuers Countries al tending directly to pernicious innouations Compare novve these factes and other the perilous treacheries done against the repose of al Realmes round about and you shal vvel perceiue the attēpts of the other side to be sport and pastime in any vvise mans iudgement of vvhat religion so euer he be to the implacable fiercenes and furie of the other a people by this nevv no religion made most brutish conscienceles restles and that vvil hazard al the Kingdoms of the vvorld before it be filled vvith bloud and spoile except God preuent the matter vvith his mercie and reduce al men to the obedience of his Catholike Church and their Princes againe And for the present troubles in Ireland vvhich novv namely seeme to giue some cause of doubt that our brethrens intentions may be against the state no lesse then for the preferment of the Catholike faith most sure it is and of certaine knovvledge the vvriter hereof protesteth that they neither vvere nor could be acquainted othervvise thervvith then by the common brute of the vvorld If the Pope haue any part in those affaires assure your selues their elders vvhich of reason should rather knovv it neither by his Holines mouth nor any of his ministers in the time of those Students being in Rome heard so much And therfore to racke those poore innocent persons and to vvreast out of them Princes secrets vvherof there can be no reason that they should be partakers is a lamentable and rare case in our Countrie specially in the clement reigne of her Maiestie Imagine ye the Italian gouernement and specially the Papacie to be so discretely menaged that euery poore Priest or scholer in the citie knovveth the Popes secrets No no Christ doth knovv it and he shall one day open their innocencie and iudge their cause and ours vvho as vve shal then ansvver before him neither knevv then nor novv knovv any intentions of Pope or Princes concerning such things as are conteined in the Articles of the pretended confederacie mentioned in the Proclamation of the 15 of Iulie as more largely vve haue declared before As that also vvhich the late relapsed Minister levvdly reported in open pulpit and printed booke that the Excommunication of the Queene should be published here in our College of Rhemes and set on the postes and publike places of this citie vve protest to be an impudent vntruth and slaunder vvherof the vvhole tovvne vvill beare vs vvitnes and euery vvise man might easily discouer that caluminious fiction because in the dominions of his Ma. tie most Christian vve neither could nor durst do any such thing So that by this one thing so maliciously feyned al sincere and indifferent men may deeme of the rest of his hearesaies and sightes at Rome as of impudent lies and slaunders Humbly therefore vve desire for the honour of God her Ma. ties vvise and graue Counselers not to conceiue vpon such base felovves contriued calumniations othervvise of our doings and our brethrens either at home or abrode then as of men most obediently duetifully and naturally affectioned to her Ma. tie to their Honours and our deerest Countrie so far euer as shal stand vvith our subiection to Gods lavves and the Churches to vvhich vve are as much bound by our Baptisme and religion as to the former by nature and birth Being in the behalfe of God bold this much further in like loyaltie to tell them that the causes of vvhat perils and dangers so euer may be tovvard that Realme vvherof so God saue our soules vve haue no knovvledge can not be iustly attributed but to the first alteration of religion and forsaking the society of the Catholike Church and kingdoms Hereof proceedeth the multitude of nevv Sectes directly tending to the disturbance of publike repose vvhich for the special attentiō giuen to the doings of Catholikes are vvittingly ouerseen Vvhich Sectes in this case must needes proue more pernicious because by the propertie of many of them teaching their likers by contrarie actes othes and asseuerations to couer their conscience til time require their intentions can hardly be discouered and by the common condition of al heresies bringing noueltie chaunge and libertie vvhich yeld them many folovvers shal hardly be resisted Catholikes abhorred these mutations from the beginning because it is their grace to loue antiquitie grauitie and constancie Vvhom also it is our principal endeuour to induce to the open confession of their faith vvhen by the lavv of God it is required and neuer by contrarie othes or actions to pretend an other religion then they beare in their breastes Vvhich plaine discouerie of our selues can not be disagreable or dangerous to the Politie And maruel it is in our eies that such extreme diligence should be vsed by al penal lavves othes punishments and persuasions to driue the Catholikes to professe that outvvardly vvhich is knovven they hate in their hartes invvardly as though there vvere imminent danger of open professed Catholikes and none of the close dissemblers in the same kind For I thinke their vvisedoms do not imagine that their othes and statutes do chaunge their meanings though they alter their countenances nor that feare can long or surely keepe his maister Hovv so euer it be alteration of religion is the cause of al inconueniences though a fevv yeres vvordly prosperitie couer from the simple that very first surge of our miserie and perplexitie and to returne to Gods Church againe is the onely right remedie out of vvhich al Kingdoms are sure to perish assuredly Vvhich not acknovvledged maketh many a plaister and preseruatiue to be vvrongly applied Against our Lord no force nor counsel can preuaile vvho hath vsed as their vvisdoms must needes knovv the rod of his ire against al those great Kingdoms once most florishing in Christian faith and libertie novv vnder the tyrannie of the Turke and other Heathens specially for sinne schisme and heresie Let not their Honours contemne the voice and admonition of a poore creature vvhose speach may be the instrument of Gods prouident care ouer that poore afflicted people vnder her Ma. ties and their gouernement But if the restitution of the Realme to the Catholike Church can not stand vvith their consciences as being persuaded their ovvne religion to be true or at least not vvith their vvisedoms for that being thus far gone the retiring backe might be dangerous to the state yet for Christes loue vve aske it let their Honours haue some care and consideration of our consciences also and of other innumerable in the Realme no lesse timorous and as vvel informed as theirs or any mens can be in this case that for our satisfactiō before God and for the peril that may fall through his offense and indignation to them
brethren the Catholikes of Englād that it is not dissimulation hiding or couering our consciēces by othes going to the Churches seruices and preachings of Protestants nor halting on both sides coldnesse and carelesnesse nor yelding to the present svvay of pretended lavves to saue our liues and liuings til time serue our turne that can deliuer our soules or euer recouer the Realme to the vnity of Gods Church againe There is nothing in the vvorld but zeale of Gods house and ardent loue of our Lord and of the soules bought vvith his bloud that can vvinne vs this field Vvhich excellent grace of most high charitie proceeding from Christ that giueth you not onely to beleue in him but to suffer for him is the happiest lotte that you could haue in this life brethren most deere a benediction of God not to your selues onely among so many thousands ful good men that attaine not to so high dignitie of Confession and Martyrdom but to al your Countrie name frendes and familie being blessed and protected by your trauailes in Christ for euermore a thing sought for of many ful perfect men and saincts but not obtained so extraordinarie is your gratious happe herein You knovv the superaboundant revvard the glorious crovvne the eminent state the ineffable felicity of such as confesse Christ before men and vvash their garments in the bloud of the lambe You knovv the revvard so incomparable succedeth immediatly al the paines but a moment betvvixt mans momentanie punishment and Gods euerlasting payement betvvixt the temporal ignominie and eternal glorie You knovv vvithin an houre aftervvard euerlastingly the poorest Confessor of Christ is not onely more glorious vvith the Angels and Saincts in heauen but also often as vve see both in the old and late Martyrs of more renovvmed memorie amōg men then their persecutors You knovv once before the throne of Christ in the theatre of heauen and earth these rufflers of the vvorld shal say vvith many sighes and grones These lo are they of whom we made a mocke coumpting their life madnes and their death inglorious and now wo be to vs they are reckened among the Children of God and their lotte among the Saincts You knovv the force of Martyrdom is such as S. Cyprian also telleth vs that vvithout al chastisement paine or purgation in the next life vvhich S. Augustine saith is greater then any torment in this vvorld it deliuereth the soul from all vvordly infirmity remaines reliques impurity and debt of former offenses and yeldeth it immediatly vnto ioy vnspeakable No vertue no act nor office of this life so meritorious to the sufferer so acceptable to the revvarder nor that so speedily amply and securely procureth eternal glorie To be felovves of Christes crovvne and glorie to be pronounced blessed by his ovvne mouth to be of that designed number of elect persons for the accomplishment of vvhom the iudgement and resurrection so desired of Saincts is differred to contribute any drop of bloud or iote of affliction to the making vp of the full measure of Christs passions for his body vvhich is the Church far excedeth al humane dignitie and felicitie For this revvard then so passing for a cause so good and glorious for a Maister so louing merciful and mighty vvhat earthly miserie should vve refuse to suffer Let vs consider that men for their Prince freend Countrie and home put their liues in extreme peril they refuse no aduenture be it neuer so desperate they put them selues before the mouth of the canon they enter into any breach they sustaine al the plagues famines feares calamities that nature may endure and they do vvell for it is their duety and the dignity of mans condition not to yeld to these transitorie afflictions in the seruices of the Commonvvealth or other honorable quarels See I pray you the daily distresses and hazards of life lands and goods in ill causes all vvhich be vsual among so many desperat cutters and companions ready for a rush to kill and be killed euery moment that for satisfying of their inordinate lust to vvine vvemen dice gorgious apparel or desire of reuenge contemne al dangers giues and gallovves Remember hovv many of the Nobilitie and others in al Nations haue aduentured their persons frendes and posteritie to aduance some particular faction against their ovvne Countries neuer atchieued vvithout infinite bloudshed and calamitie In al these quarels be they iust or vniust so many of al degrees to be ready to suffer al the extremities of death and ignominie euery man for his Prince many for frendes thousands for mere fantasies and falsehod and shal none suffer for our Sauiour for the Church our mother for our brethrens saluatiō shal vve thinke it strange to haue three or foure hundred ready to die for Gods cause to suffer for the best and most honorable quarel of al other that man can haue in this life that Christ should haue some souldiars of al orders that can be content to lose lands goods and life for his sake in this spiritual fight of patience and toleration vvhen the vvorld hath so many One tovvne valiantly assaulted and stoutly defended loseth mo men and sustaineth more miserie in a yere then vve shal bestovv vpon Christ that died for our sakes before and vvill recompense vs incomparably aftervvard in the hotest persecution that lightly can be these xx tie yeres In vvhich case to say nothing of noble Catholike Gentlemen and other deuout people of vvhat sort or sexe so euer to vvhom God giueth euen novv the spirit of constancie by the example of S. Sebastian S. Vincent S. Maurice vvith the vvhole legion of Thebes and S. George the paterne and patrone of our English knighthod vvhose courage in suffering for Christ vvas more glorious thē their fighting for man but to say nothing of them nor of S. Catherine S. Margaret S. Agnes S. Lucie and the like mirrours for our deuout maidens and vvidovves to behold for vs that be of the Clergie this is the onely and proper kind of fight Our order and condition make vs free from the vvarres and other perilous or martial affaires often bringing death and dāger both at home and abrode Vvemen haue their continual perils and miseries by bearing and bringing vp their children Vve besides our natural deaths and aduersities cōmon to al other are subiect to no violence nor troubles but very fevv and very seldom and in such measure as God appointeth or permitteth and in such moderation that it may by his grace easily be borne If vve should for feare or covvardenesse forsake our station in Christes field hauing the example and encouragement of so many Prophets so many Apostles so many Bishops and Priests in the rase of Martyrs and of Christ him self vve vvere the vnvvorthiest Priests that euer vvere And our glorious Sauiour and his Church if they had none to commaund for their seruice and defense in this kind of combat vvere