they alvvayes ioyne together against the Romans So the Iesuits howsoeuer they iarre amongst themselues yet are they all bent together vnited against all others that oppose any one of thē or their proceedings Heereupon Sixtus quintus of famous memory was wont to say of them as diuers of credit in Rome reported Qui tangit vnum tangit omnes and themselues many times haue affirmed no lesse in the late stirrs of the Romane Colledge But for this Fa or any other to say that they haue not many and often iarres and those no small ones neither is to fall into the depth of impudencie Witnes the great controuersie betwixt the Spanish and Italian Iesuits not manie yeeres past vvitnes the iarrs betweene fa Crighton and father Parsons for Scottish and Spanish affaires the like betwixt him and fa Haywood in England him and fa Holt diuers others of them as fa Cresswell and fa Edmund Harwood against fa Hieronimo Fierouante and fa Iulio the Confessor of the English Colledge in Rome whereupon the remooue of the two latter followed as all know who were then in the Colledge This poynt is so euident to all the world as I assure my selfe no one religious Order in Gods Church commeth neere vnto them therein witnes their daily expulsions out of theyr order and the multitude departing from them yeerely The 3. 5. and 7. articles are that the Iesuits be firebrands of all sedition enemies to all secular priests such notable lyers as none will belieue them no not when they sweare that by the schismaticks in England they are called Horsleeches c. For the two first poynts theyr late actions both at home and abroad do witnes so euidently that none who are therwith acquainted can iudge any otherwise of them For the last concerning the imputation of lying so famous and notorious are theyr equiuocations so scandalous that the very Protestants take notice thereof to the great preiudice of our profession alwaies heretofore famous for our truth and sincerity But such iuglings and shiftings of late haue beene vsed by them that not onely Protestants but also Catholicks yea Priests can scarce tell when they speake sincerely when otherwise I know they will vsually make great shewes of kindnes where they least affect vvitnes this a pretie cunning policie of one of them not long since practised vpon an honest gentleman who beeing to haue entertainement in a certaine place before his repaire thether this Iesuit vsing great shew of kindnes towards him would needes of curtesie bestow his Letters vpon him for his better credit and kinder entertainment which the honest gentleman receiuing as a kindnes departed But by the way beeing somewhat acquainted with their tricks and hauing no great cause to put ouer-much cōfidence in their dealings hee thought good to see whether hee caried not hote coales to burne his owne coate Wherevppon opening the Letter he found such stuffe against him selfe as had I not seene the same I should hardly haue belieued it to haue beene true But this tricke of honestie was borowed of worthy father Parsons the cunningest polititian in these practises aliue I thinke Witnes this his dealing with Robert Shepheard in his commendations to Doctor Eley in Musepont Witnes this his dealing with diuers scholers after the attonement in Rome How soeuer this kinde of dealing may seeme excusable vnto them vnder the name of honest equiuocations sure I am that fewe honest men will excuse it from dishonest lying I remember that a reuerend honest Priest once told me that he discoursed aboue an houre with a Iesuit and many complements passed but not on reall intended veritie from the good Father A worthy practise in Religious men to affect such dishonest dealings which tendeth to nought els but to take away all societie conuersation amongst men which is hatefull euen vnto Pagans and Turkes For howe should a man conuerse with such a one whose conceits and meanings hee shall neuer vnderstand whereby he shal often conceiue most good when the other intendeth most knauery and villanie But to make an end of these articles Fa Parsons collecteth one in close and end of all to make you laugh to wit that he and his companions as is reported gathered fiftie thousand pounds out of England to their owne vse But Fa Parsons merry iest is the multiplication of this summe to 200. millions of Italian scudi Heere forsooth he telleth you the people must laugh I know some persons so merrily disposed that eftsoones they can laugh at a feather but if wisedome with discretion and grauitie consider this multiplication I verily think no such merry mood will moue their conceits but rather iudge that error to haue beene either in the transcription to the presse or in the Printer then of malice which were too too blind or ignorance which were as grosse to mistake so much the alteration of the summe out of one kind of coyne into an other See now whether there were more malice or ignorance in the error or more folly in the carping exceptions But we must giue him leaue to snatch at the least aduantage for all will be too little to iustifie themselues or excuse their actions But let vs come a little to the accusation about their collections It is well knowne that collections in England haue not been small yet haue the distributions been so scant and sparing that poore prisoners neuer liued in the like want as of late yeeres they haue done let them speake heereof that haue felt the smart yet all the world knoweth that such Collections haue passed generally thorow theyr hands what becommeth thereof God knoweth But sure I am that for themselues howsoeuer prisoners are pincht they liue in aboundance and excesse as before I haue noted some examples thereof and something by the way I will tell you It is not long sithence 22. hundred pounds in gold were taken going ouer the Seas which being confiscate to her Maiestie neuer any came to claime the same neither could it be knowne whose it was and more then this by some of the highest it was thought verily to be the Iesuits money I will not say absolutely it was theirs because I was not of their counsaile but it was a wonder that the owners if it belonged to any others would make no meanes by way of suite or supplication to haue got at the least some part thereof backe againe sith the chiefest penalty was but the confiscation of the money taken which no man going about made the matter more suspitious to all men But more wil be said heereof if there be any further occasion Now I will onely proceede by coniectures and add to the rest some other probabilities or inducements in that the Iesuits being religious men and therefore poore yet some of our English Iesuits beyond the Seas who haue no reuenues or commings in any way knowne will sometimes bestow largely in crownes of their owne purse vpon
whom or from whose degree such actions proceeded And I would but aske Fa Parsons because I know him to be a great statist this one question whether in his conscience he doe think there be any Prince in the world be he neuer so catholicke that should haue within his dominions a kind of people amongst whom diuers times he should discouer matters of treason and practises against his person and state whether he would permit those kind of people to liue within his dominions if he could be otherwise rid of them and whether hee would not make straight Lawes and execute them seuerely against such offenders yea and all of that company and quality rather then he would remaine in any danger of such secret practises and plots I thinke Fa Parsons will not for shame denie this especially if he remember the examples of the French religious men for the like practises expelled England generally in a Cath time and by a Cath Prince and theyr lyuings confiscate and giuen away to others The like was of the Templars both in England and Fraunce Yea to come neerer vnto him was not all their order expelled Fraunce for such matters and yet the King and state of Fraunce free from imputation of iniustice in that action If these things proceeded from Cath Princes iustly against whole Communities or orders of Religion vppon such causes wee cannot much blame our Prince and state being of a different Religion to make sharpe lawes against vs and execute the same finding no lesse occasion thereof in some of our profession then the fore-said Princes did in other religious persons whom they punished as you see But you will say that there is no reason that the innocent should be condemned for another mans fault if some one Cath or Priest were faulty in this kind all were not so how then can the actions of the state against such be iustifiable To this I aunswer that you cannot think that euery particuler French Monke was guilty of treason in that Kings dayes when all were expelled nor is it like that all the Templers were so irreligious as some of them were neither doe I think that all the Iesuits were accessarie or consenting vnto their practises in Fraunce yet all you see payd for the delict of some Princes are iealous and haue cause so to be there depending so much vpon their safety as there doth When therefore they find trecherie in any Communitie they will be sure to prouide for the worst and rather extirpate that Cōmunitie then liue in feare thereof Doth it not so happen alwayes when the Gouernours or Magistrates of a Cittie counite or concurre vnto any treason doth not the Cittie presently lose all her priuiledges and the Prince seaze vpon the same and take all into his owne hands gouernment suppressing the whole state of the Cittie for the faults of a few onely vvhat meruaile then if this hath happened in our case where there hath been such difference in religion And then iudge whether we that haue beene innocent in such practises as GOD and our conscience can witnes and yet haue felt the smart of such proceedings haue not great cause to cleere our selues to exclaime against such as will neuer leaue to irritate our Prince and state and to make known vnto her Maiestie and our state the innocencie both of vs of our ghostly children who haue beene pressed with the burden of afflictions by reason of such vndutifull attempts in some few vnrestrained persons most humbly crauing at her sacred hands some redresse for such miseries that the stroke may light where the offence hath been giuen and not henceforth vpon the necks of poore innocents If there be any offence in vs towards her Maiestie or her proceedings it is onely in matters of religion which beeing a thing not onely proceeding of mans will but by a light from God informing first the vnderstanding and then the will and therfore not to be altered or disposed as other indifferent actions or conceits may be wee hope may and will be more excusable in her gracious sight But for matters of practising against her person crowne or state that is a thing onely proceeding from a peruerse and passionate will the vnderstanding still remayning sui iuris able to discerne ad vtrum libet eyther of the cōueniencies or mischiefs of such affaires which no way can be excusable Now whereas some woorthy men are touched with such vndutifull proceedings in the afore-said Treatise you must vnderstand that thereby the persons of the men are not condemned but rather theyr facts or they onely in those facts yet worthy men in themselues And you must vnderstand that good men yea Saints haue had their errors as these proceedings in these woorthy men must be acknowledged neither may we approue such errors because the Authors of them were Saints No man approueth the defence of rebaptization in Saint Cyprian because S. Cyprian is a Martyr and yet whilst hee liued he defended the same very earnestly practised it with great contention against other Bishops Dauids fact of murthering Vrias must not be excused because he was secundum cor Dei and now a Saint no no passions and errours haue raigned in Saints whilst they were vpon the earth yea euen amongst the Apostles and disciples of Christ whilst he was with them Therefore let no man be scandalized that good men and worthy persons are condemned in some particuler facts sith no man liueth on earth without error But you will say it is commaunded in the Law non reuelabis turpitudinem patris tui the two sonnes of Noe were cursed of God for reuealing and laughing at theyr fathers nakednes therefore we should rather haue buried such defects of our worthy parents in perpetuall obliuion vnder ground then haue published them thus to the world Alas I would to God it had beene in our power to haue hid these things without the mischiefes before expressed belieue vs assuredly the world then should neuer haue had knowledge of them but it was not in our power their facts were so publique to the world better known vnto our state then to our selues But it will still be said if such men of worth and great vertue dealt in such matters why should wee so much exclaime against the Iesuits Is their fault so haynous therein aboue the others To this I aunswer that the Iesuits faults are much more as you also will confesse if you cōsider all circumstances well For first what was done by these worthy men was done almost in the first heate of change of Religion wherin both more passion might mooue and greater hopes of recouery of religion stirre them vp to such attempts Besides their hopes of sincere dealing in such as should haue concurred in those actions meerely for religion not of ambition might draw them on to follow such deuises For as then the ambitious intentions of the Spaniards were not discouered vnto them which
by others as indeede he was but Fa Parsons will neuer leaue his old tricks of iugling From these higher powers of Popes by one step vp and another downe he commeth vnto the greater part in Wisbich which he saith we make our enemies and he noteth 30. well neere of them and but seauen or eight of ours whereas when these contentions began in Wisbich and during their most aboade there the number was not of such inequallity as he telleth you there being 13. on the vnited part and 19. on the other and no more How they may be increased or diminished since the end of those stirres by new missions from other prisons importeth little to the purpose Yet we assure our selues and know it to be true that necessity forceth some to hang on their sleeues there least otherwise they should starue in prison by the vncharitable subtraction of exhibition caused by the Iesuits as all men know But to come neerer to the purpose Be the number more or lesse what folly I pray you is it in prosecuting of a iust cause to make a few priests in prison our aduersaries Indeede if the cause were euill I would hold with Fa Parsons that we ought to haue respected the grauity and merits of so many Confessours in prison together with the iniustice of the cause by vs taken in hand but seeing our cause is iust and most iust as in the chiefest point of the Archpriest and matter of schisme already is euident and in the rest I doubt not will proue in the end what ouer-sight was it by such honest and lawfull meanes to procure their enmitie if they will thereby make themselues vniustly our enemies or aduersaries Marie saith Fa Parsons because theirs being the greater part in that house euery man of iudgement considering the odds and differences of these two parts to wit the number and qualitie of each side will easily incline to giue sentence against them To this wee say that euery man that taketh father Parsons courses and regardeth multitude and strength more then equitie and iustice will easily condemne indeed the lesser part but euery wise and honest man vvill looke into the cause and not to the number or outward faire shew of the persons which often deceaueth the vulger sort but neuer any discreet indifferent person not caried away with partialitie And as for the coÌ„mendations of fa Weston they had been better out of another mans mouth then fa Parsons and wee haue sufficiently spoken thereof in the first chapter But touching Ma. Pond wee can better commend his constancie in religion and durance then his discretion in his particuler actions which we will omit not indeed intending the disgrace of any rather attributing such things to a defect in nature then otherwise though I must needes tell Ma Parsons that hee tasteth too too much of spight and mallice in disgracing â—oure reuerend and worthy men our friends to wit first Ma Doctor Bagshaw whom in disdaine he calleth a Doctor of his owne procuring without licence of his Superiour Whereas all men know there is no other licence required in taking degree in schooles but sufficiencie in the party proceeding which all the world knoweth was more in him then any Iesuit that euer came into England and approbation of the Vniuersitie where he taketh degree which hee had with great applause See whether this sauoured not of malice against the Doctor in particuler making him further the Author of all contention because he opposed himselfe to theyr ambitious desires and charging him with expulsion out of the Romane Colledge which is most false and that he was of an vnquiet spirit there All these obiections proceed of an old grudge without any iot of veritie The Rector Alphonso Agazara that then ruled the Colledge betwixt whom and the scholers was difference was then thrust out for his troublesome vnquiet gouernment and vniust dealings against the scholers as is well knowne to all that liued then in Rome You may find more of this matter in Ma. Doctor Bagshawes aunswer to the Apologie ioyned with Doctor Ely his notes The second person whom hee so much disgraceth is Ma Bluet a man of great grauitie and for his long sufferance the most worthy Confessor of our Nation and whose person and cariage hath been such as thereby he hath beene and is venerable in the sight of all men euen amongst the Protestants And as touching his hauing once beene a Minister it is a lewd obiection against him no more derogating from his vertues and good parts then S. Augustines beeing once a Manichè derogated from his authority and sanctity vvhen afterwards he was Bishop of Hippo. Who knoweth not that diuers worthy men of our Nation haue beene Ministers and yet doubtlesse are whom we hope to see vnited with vs in the body of the Cath Church Haue not diuers beene called from the very Altars of Idols to become Christians yea and priests to and will you say that the office of the Ministrie is more disgracefull then the office of Idolaters But this still sheweth a spice of too too much malice The other two reuerend priests are Ma. Champney and Ma. Barnbe whose parts and vertues are knowne to be such as all the enuy in fa Parsons cannot impeach Ma. Bluet and Ma. Champney are now in Rome if any iust exceptions could be made against them were it to touch their liues I think fa Parsons would vrge it against them But all that hee or any other saith to discredite them is vntrue and fained of purpose to keepe theyr ignorant affected heere at home in iealousies blinding them with muddy mists of detractions that men should not see into theyr owne sleights and deceits and discouer theyr bad proceedings in these affaires The next ranke of the enemies wee haue procured as hee sayth is Doctor Saunders Ma. Moreton Doctor Web and Cardinall Allen and with these he ioyneth Doctor Stappleton Doctor Bristow Ma. George Martin and Ma. William Reynolds It is a world to see how this man shuffleth and cutteth to draw all famous men to be fauourers of his fond and foolish courses by consequence aduersaries to vs of some of which it was neuer heard that euer they medled in any matter concerning state And if euer they did which to vs is vnknowne as we thinke to the world wee would as vvell dislike of them therein as we do with all actions of that quality proceede they from whom they will Yet is not this to condemne or disgrace the men as we haue said or to make them iustly our enemies no more then to dislike the fact of S. Cyprian in rebaptization is to procure S. Cyprian our enemie but rather the contrary to procure theyr amity greater loue if duly and iustly they consider it speaking of such as are yet liuing in that hereby we giue them sufficient light to see the errors of such proceedings and what harme hath come to Gods cause by such
attempts Into which the worthy Cardinall Allen looking more narrowly saw right well and therefore detested such proceedings in his latter dayes as you may see more plainly in Ma. Charles Pagets aunswer for himselfe in the end of Doctor Elyes booke against the Apologie where also you may perceiue how farre hee was from ioyning with fa Parsons or fauouring his proceedings whō he held for a man of a violent and headlong spirit and much complained thereof And if it had so pleased God that hee had liued fa Parsons would haue found that hee had disliked his courses and would haue curbed him for them But hee liued not and some say his death was not without suspition It is certaine that whilst he liued fa Parsons kept himselfe aloofe in Spaine but after his death hee hastened him as soone as hee could conueniently to Rome Where after the said Cardinals death and the death of the worthy Bishop of Cassana which was by flat poyson as many affirme hee raigned like a little King But God that throweth downe the highest Ceder tree would haue things fall out as they haue done that his pride and ambition might be seene and his secret vniust vncharitable and disloyall facts wherein hee hath long steeped his practising fingers to the oppression of many innocents and encrease of our domesticall afflictions might be seene on all sides to his speedy humiliation which God graunt or his euerlasting infamie which I wish he may by iust satisfaction in true humility auoyde But to come 〈◊〉 our purpose for the facts of Doctor Saunders they haue beene sufficiently both in the first chap and Important considerations proued to haue beene vniustifiable and it little importeth whether he did thrust himselfe into the Irish matters or was commaunded thereto as Father Parsons affirmeth which yet wee beleeue not the action it selfe being vnnaturall and therefore not falling vnder commaund and much lesse to him being a priest Neither was he forced to iustifie the action of the nobles in the Northern commotion or to defend any such courses as he did which no way were conuenient and therefore let Fa Parsons hold his babble vnlesse he will still discouer more his treacherous will towards his Prince and Country to make himselfe more hated of both which neede not his deserts haue beene so good As for the action of Doctor Web and Ma Morton it was an inconsiderate and vnaduised act irritating the Queene and state without any reason in the world And assuredly had Pius quintus seene the inconueniences thereof I assure my selfe he would haue kept in that Bull. But many faire tales of great matters to be performed by the Nobles within the Realme drew him thereto as in like manner the hopes of the Recouery of Ireland buzzed into Pope Gregories head by Stukley prouoked him to the like attempts afterward Let any man of indifferencie iudge whether wee haue not cause to dislike these course But sure I think Fa Parsons did long for a generall massacre of Cath throughout England in that he would haue vs to iustifie these things and fauour still his wicked plottings and practisings As concerning the booke set out in Card Allens name in 88. it is the terriblest worke that hath beene writ of that subiect and able to hang all the priests and Cath in England if they had but the least finger in it yet this holy Fa would haue vs to iustifie it If the worthy Card did so much ouer-shoot himselfe wee know it was much contrary to his hart in his latter dayes and therefore are verily perswaded for diuers reasons that the worke eyther wholy or in the greatest and worst part thereof proceeded from Fa Parsons vnder the good Card name which made vs to impugne it not as the Card worke but as Fa Parsons And such derogating words as are vsed against it touch not the worthy Card but that vnworthy Iesuit Neither is it the Card that is called by the name of this Iesuit but Fa. Parsons though he would fain shift it off to the Card. Touching the Card booke against English iustice shewing that Cath did truly suffer for Religion and were free from matters of treason and treacherie and that priests were not sent in to deale in matters concerning the state but Religion onely is so little impugned by vs that euery where in all our writings and in the Important considerations it selfe wee auerre and defend the same in that point But to say that no Priest Iesuit or other Cath hath practised against the sacred person of our Soueraigne and quiet of her state as wel by their dealings within the Realme as by their procuring inuasions and laying the plots thereof without the Realme it were meere impudencie and to denie a verity as apparant as the sunne-shine at noone dayes as both by diuers publique conuictions thereof and by books letters and pamphlets written to that purpose may appeare and Fa Southwell in his supplication in part confesseth as much Therefore these things being so euident and publique as they be wee doe no more but seeke to cleare our selues and Cath heereof letting the burden light vpon some particuler persons medlers in such vndutifull actions and not vpon the whole innocent body of Priests and Cath. VVhich course how necessary it was for all Cath in our Country let themselues be Iudges vnlesse they would willingly haue had their throats cut or haue beene hanged for other mens actions In the taile of this Catalogue of our made enemies Fa Parsons placeth himselfe as the chiefe of all the rest and I beleeue him to be the chiefest and onely as the spring head from whom all our miseries and mischiefes both temporall and spirituall in part or whole for many yeeres did and still doe proceede although he reckon vp a fardell of Fittons in his owne commendations wondring from whence all these imputations should come and that in all our bookes he can find no one thing of substāce that we haue against him And then he reckoneth mountaines of mighty great good things done for vs and many other matters for the iustifying of himselfe All which prayses would haue sounded far sweeter our of his neighbours mouth then his owne vnlesse such neighbours were scant in those coasts First he saith his departure out of England is highly iustified in the Apologie that no man without shame can obiect the same againe For this Fitton reade Ma Doctor Bagshawes aunswer to the Apologie in Ma. Doct Elyes notes Then he talketh of his ioyning with Card Allen in Flaunders and Rome for the promoting of the Cath cause in England It seemeth he was an ill copesmate for I am sure Cardinall Allen quickly shot him off for a wrangler After this he reckoneth his Seminaries in Spaine and Flaunders A goodly broode hee gaue vs a reward to breake our heads by his good deedes to bring men into treasons against their Prince and Country as is declared before and more appeared
or the right of the States it as little importeth considering that he was put in trust with it by her Maiestie and vpon his alleageance to her should haue discharged the trust and fidelity reposed in him in that charge To dispute the case whether hee might in conscience or ought in danger of mortall sinne deliuer vp the Towne to the King of Spaine is not necessary to our purpose yet this I will say that all which Fa Parsons hath said in proofe thereof is not worth a rush vnlesse hee proue two points first that her Maiestie is the person that hath giuen the first cause of breach of the league with the Spaniards which I think if matters be well examined will proue contrary as you may see by the attempts made by the Spaniard both secretly and publiquely against her Highnesse and state before aleadged nothing being attempted by her against his Maiestie of Spaine or any his Countryes Which being true then might she iustly and in conscience iure gentium make warre against him win his Townes and Countries from him and in right and iustice detaine them Secondly he must proue that Sir William Stanley knowing in his conscience that she had no iust cause of warre against the Spaniard which I think he could not know might deliuer vp the said Towne without a greater mischiefe to follow vpon such restitution for a man is not bound to make restitution of goods euill gotten or possessed mala fide when without imminent danger of his owne or other mens liues he cannot doe as all Canonists will confesse because the life of a man is dearer then goods and the lesse euill must be preferred before the greater As for example if I should haue vniustly taken away the weapons of another man and had beene malae fidei possessor yet if I should perceaue that the true owner were paratus ad homicidium and thereby eyther my owne life or others might be endangered if I should restore his weapons vnto him which erst I had taken vniustly from him in this case it is euident that I were not bound to make restitution although I were as I haue said malae fidei possessor So in this case of Sir William Stanleyes if greater mischiefe might probably ensue thereof then the deteyning of the Towne could be he was not bound thereto Which case Fa Parsons hath not handled Now will I referre the censure to other men whether greater euill did not grow vnto our common cause in England by this particuler fact of Sir William Stanlies in that the state was thereby exasperated against all cath for his fact which great damage and common hurt of his Country-men and Cath he was in charity bound more to regard then the restitution of one Towne to the Spaniard And therefore waying and considering the auersion and alienation of our state from Cath for such facts as these of Sir William and the like wee haue often wished that if his conscience had felt any touch or scruple concerning those warres he had otherwise quietly left them off or with-drawne himselfe without giuing any such open occasion of complaint vnto the state But his not onely deliuering vp of that Towne but also ioyning himselfe with the Spaniard in field against his Soueraigne and Country may not be approued by any good subiect And therfore I wish that so worthy a martiall man had conuerted his sword against the Turke or other common enemies and not against his owne Soueraigne and Country that by his actions our Prince might haue had no iust cause to haue beene offended with vs at home Aliens and strangers may doe what they will and wee yet remaine blamelesse if wee haue no part with them because they are strangers but when naturall subiects of our owne Country and Cath shal in these iealous and suspicious times practise or conuert their weapons against their Prince and Country it cannot but incense their wrath and indignation against all Cath at home as by experience we haue felt Touching Fa Parsons vrging of an Epistle writ by Card Allen in defence hereof what might be his reason or whether he did it of himselfe or vrged there-vnto by reason of the great expectance of the Spanish intention anno 1588. immediatly following which we suspect I cannot tell but I wish with all my hart it had beene vnwritten considering the little good hath come thereby Neither is this to dishonour the worthy Card as Fa Parsons would make it but contrariwise to shew our loue and honour we beare towards him in that we hartily wish such ouer-sights or inconuenient actions as the best man in this life is not without imperfections nor the wisest in his iudgement without errors had neuer proceeded from him And whereas such things as the book written in the yeere 1588. this Epistle are too too euident and publiquely knowne to our state and all men else we seeke to excuse the same as much as in vs lyeth that the fault or rather the errour may by circumstances seeme more tolerable which no man of wit or discretion can deny to be an euident demonstration of our loue and affections towards him as our dearest and worthiest Father Which cannot be odious and offensiue in vs to our Prince state as we trust in that duty and nature bindeth euery man extraordinarily to loue their parents and founders eyther naturall or spirituall And therefore to excuse them is but a shew of filiall loue and affection but obstinatly to defend and maintaine that in a parent which is no way approueable were meere sycophancie not loue meere peeuishnes not any tolerable affection Now come we to the great attempt made by the Spaniards in the yeere 1588. out of which action Fa Parsons exempteth all English Iesuits because he saith himselfe fa Holt and fa Creswell were then in Rome with Cardinall Allen and that no English Iesuit at all was residing at that time eyther in Spaine or in the Low-countries But all this proueth not that therefore the Iesuits had no part in this action Neither can it be probable to any man of iudgement or vnderstanding that the Iesuits beeing so great with the King and so forward in attempts against our Country hauing had their fingers in matters precedent as you haue seene would now sit still hauing so faire an offer made and so good opportunity to be dooing I confesse that there was no great respect made to the English beyond the Seas in that action nor in any other of the Spaniards will be if euer matters come to issue nor perhaps were the English Iesuits called to be counsellers therein as since they haue beene because indeede the Spaniard intended a most bloody conquest and translation of our state and people But to thinke that the Iesuits were not vrgers thereto and setters forwards to theyr power of that attempt were to contradict all reason and probabilities For first it is most certaine that all the vvorld had very
him into the Colledge of the Iesuits and leauing him in a paued roome he tooke occasion to depart from him vpon some affaires to speake with one of his fellow Iesuits in that house And comming back againe vnto him hee brought the Rector of the Iesuits Colledge with him who entred into an inuectiue and bitter discourse against him and the conclusion was as followeth He commaunded him to put off his Scholers robes to put on a sute of ragges which they offered him to depart the Colledge and Citty and to shift for himselfe saying that he was not worthy to stay longer there neither should and that for a viaticum to helpe himselfe in his trauaile he should not haue so much as a Spanish reall which is but sixe pence English Ma Barkworth perceauing their intentions told them that he would not depart with such disgrace hauing not offended in that if he had concurred with the fore-said youths for their entrance into Religion yet was it not such a fault as could deserue such expulsion their wills being not in his power to rule or commaund The Rector seeing he would not dispoile himselfe and put on those ragges to depart called in certaine of his lay brethren strong fellowes to deale with him by violence and to enforce him to change his habite Whereof two comming vnto him catched him by the legges and pulling them from vnder him vpon a suddaine threw him backward flat vpon the pauement with such violence being then sicke and weake with a Feauer that hee was much brused there-with and in a great maze presently vpon his fall the rest of the lay brethren apprehended some a legge some an arme and so drew him into another roome paued in like manner as in those hote Countries all roomes for the most part are He being as I say thus amazed and perceauing them to pull and hale him fearing belike that they would murder him vsed these words but in the Spanish tongue What will you kill me will you kill me let me first confesse me When they had thus dragged him into the other roome with strugling and striuing he got vpon his feete No sooner was hee vp and recollected but that one of them gaue him such a stroke with his first vpon the face that hee felled him down backward againe With this blow he was so brused in his face that when he was cold afterwards he was not able to vtter his words that one though neere him might well vnderstand him what he spake Whilst this was in hand and the Rector of the Iesuits Colledge and the Minister of the English Colledge Fa Blackfan being spectatour of this cruell and inhumaine tragedy in came a Spanish Iesuit of a noble house in Spaine and finding them in this sort abusing so outragiously this priest he reproued them for it and told them it would be a great shame vnto them if the world should be witnes thereof Heere-vpon they left off and hauing better bethought themselues of this fact so outragiously committed they intreated him to keepe silence thereof and not to make the other Scholers acquainted heere-with and they would kindly intreate him heere-after he should haue large faculties a good viaticum when he went for England and all the friendship they could shew him else Heere-vnto he seeming to yeeld they priuily conuayed him backe to the English Colledge brought him to a sequestred chamber where he lay vntill his recouerie But some of the Scholers that then were in the Colledge as there were then not aboue 9. or 10. the rest being sent away to another place for feare of the plague at that time in the Citty seeing him come in all brused began to suspect some ill measure So that notwithstanding their secret conuaying him into a sequestred chamber they found him out and resorted vnto him which one of the Iesuits perceauing spake vnto them saying Take heede come not neere him for we verily think he hath the plague This speech they gaue out to feare the Scholers from resorting vnto him that they might not see into what pleight they had brought him But for all they could doe they could not hinder them but that they would did see him The Physician being sent for vnto him and feeling of his pulse not knowing what had happened sayd that hee had suffered great violence by which you may gesse how strangely hee was handled in this combat I know there be diuers that wil thinke this History strange and incredible but if it chaunce that Ma Charles Paget doe but set downe the actions of Fa Holt especially concerning Ma Godfray Foulgeam the very cause of whose death hee was you shall see more strange matters then this And for the proofe of this History of Ma Barkworth my selfe haue heard it related of three or foure seuerall parties witnes thereof and such as desire more certainty heerein I referre them vnto those that were then in the Colledge of Vallâ—dolid and saw him in this extremity and heard him afterwards deliuer the whole course of their proceedings with him in the Iesuits Colledge as heere it is set downe Of which number some are priests who haue vppon their faith and fidelity deliuered the story thus vnto me as from his owne mouth and their owne eyes being witnes to part of it Another example of their vncharitable dealing was with Ma Fixar one of the most famous men of our Nation for diuers good parts in him whom first heere in England they disgraced with the note of espiall most vniustly And afterwards he being in great credite in Lisbone in Portugale with the Bishop if I be not mistaken was by Fa Parsons meanes with-drawne thence vnder colour of greater preferment And when they had him thence into Spaine they confined him into an out place with such disgraces disgusts that he shortly died These two I thought good to set down omitting infinite more examples of his and other English Iesuits their vncharitable dealings against diuers yea most part of our Country-men especially the Gentlemen abroad in banishment Beleeue me it were farre more ease and tolerable for any Cath to liue at home and endure the afflictions of our Country for their consciences then to liue abroad in Spaine Italy or the Low-countries and to suffer that at the Iesuits hands which I know diuers to haue done To the fift and last point of accusation concerning the booke of Succession put out in the name of one Dolman a secular priest whatsoeuer his friuolous excuses may be of vir dolorum it may haue a fitter construction from dolus then dolor in that the whole worke is naught else but a deceitfull conference and treatise to bring an old rotten fayned title neuer dreamed of before this vir dolorum coyned it out of a whole Tessaradecades of genealogies and generations so long agoe that the very Iland it selfe might haue beene turned topsey turuy since the first spring or roote of that title and many a
plus doubting whether I should excuse this poore man by imputing some strange weaknes of braine or distemperature in his head of late befallen him which bereaueth him eyther totally of his wit or partly impayreth his iudgement or wholy depriueth him of his memory or whether I should flatly condemne him of ouer-much impudencie Faine I would that some of the former defects in nature might excuse his folly but I feare me that if I should goe about so to excuse him I should not be beleeued Wherefore I must of necessity leaue him to himselfe as hee is and let the burden light vppon his shoulders as it may For hauing vndertaken it I must needs open the truth though to his shame and losse You shall therefore vnderstand that in very deede the first occasion of our standing out from the Archpriest was the strange and vnusuall bringing of him in vppon vs by the Iesuits and the iust doubts and difficulties which wee conceiued in his pretended authoritie as well concerning the manner as the substance thereof yet were we content and offered though to our wrong to submit our selues when by any Apostolicall writ wee might be assured of his holines pleasure that so he had appointed would haue it so to be And to be informed heereof with more speed we sent two of our brethren to Rome to propose our difficulties to his holines expect his resolution VVee will omit heere to speake of their good entertainment by Fa Parsons theyr Iaylor being els where sufficientlie discoursed In the interim how we were vsed at home you both saw with your eyes haue heard often related Whilst our brethren were in durance in Rome Fa Parsons procured this Breve hee speaketh of To the which wee all presentlie without delay as himselfe knoweth and in the Apologie professeth though with vncharitable interpretation submitted our selues as we had promised but that there would be no more controuersie neither could wee neither euer did vvee promise for that was more in the Archpriest the Iesuits to hinder or performe then in vs. All cause of former controuersie had beene occasioned by them by intermedling in our affaires and appointing Superuisors for vs and in raysing and maintaining the note of schisme against vs most vniustly as all the world now seeth And therefore although we might promise for our selues yet could wee not make any such absolute assurance the greatest stroke thereof lying in them and so little hope giuen vs of true performance of sincere peace indeede But to proceede hauing thus submitted our selues a generall peace as we thought was concluded by each partie and order taken that the note of schisme should perpetuallie be buried in obliuion and no more vrged against vs. This the Archpriest promised both for himselfe and the Iesuits aswell at the attonement as also to some afterwards in particuler But yet so wel was this performed on his the Iesuits parts that within one month or six weekes the same was a fresh set a flote against vs as well in places where we conuersed as in other places also where we neuer had beene And to cōfirme and concurre with these proceedings the Archpriest sent his directions into all parts that none of vs should be admitted to the sacrament without speciall acknowledging that we had been Schismatiques Whereuppon we were indeede refused in sacraments reiected from the Alter and accounted as infamous persons and Listers Libell was defended as sound and true doctrine which charged vs with disobedience rebellion and I know not what The Archpriest spred Letters against vs made Decrees refused conference commaunded vs silence and forbad vs to appeale c. All these things are not vnknowne to Father Parsons and that by these vncharitable courses wee were enforced against our wills to seeke for remedy to the Sea Apostolicke by course of lawe and iustice from the which notwithstanding the Archpriest and Iesuits sought against all law and order of iustice to hinder and forbid vs. How can it then iustly be saide that the ensuing discourses which proceeded vppon this second wrong were contrary to the first that proceeded onely vppon difficulties of the institution of the Archpriests office or how doe they shew that we were much further from obeying the Archpriest then before or doe they not rather shew the vniust yncharitable proceeding of the Iesuits and Archp in reuiuing after the attonement their old calumniations of schisme c. against innocent priests and their obstinate violence in prosecuting the same notwithstanding the euidence of the matter and the resolution of the most famous Vniuersitie of Paris against them Where were then this mans wits or his honestie that hee coulde shufle vp such contradictions and gather out of our due proceedings such great repugnancie in vs from obedience What way in the world I beseech you if you be of any iudgement or capacitie could Catho priests rather take in these so great difficulties and controuersies to shew theyr dutie and obedience to Gods Church then by seeking humbly vnto her bosome and lap for euidence reformation in such doubts and troubles And nowe add to this the effect therof clearing vs from all note of disobedience in those proceedings which may giue sufficient testimonie of our sinceritie and of their iugling To the other two bookes viz. The hope of peace and Relatio Turbarum to the Inquisition hee saith so little but yet so vncharitably as it well discouereth more enuie of which he speaketh so much in the Preface then either sufficiencie or modestie For well he might haue left the approbation or condemnation of the booke to the holy Inquisition vnto the iudgement and censure of those woorthy persons whom his holines hath made presidents and Iudges in such affaires and not haue arrogated the same by preuention vnto himselfe But the poore man sawe well enough that the acceptance thereof was not so vngratefull or hatefull vnto the wisedome of those Fathers who proceede not ordinarily in such cases after his will but maturely with iudgement iustice and discretion and that no such censure or reprehension was likely to come from thence against the booke and therefore hee thought it good to beginne betime to play his part least the Comedie should die for want of Actors For the hope of peace let them of iudgement that haue read it censure whether it be nothing but vanity scurrility or doth not rather open much bad dealing of the Archpriest in those Letters Now let vs come to the discourse of the stirrs begun at Wish concerning which matters as hee refers you to the 6. chapter of his Apologie so to countermaunde him therein we refer you to our relation being more large and perspicuous But saith hee in the sixt chapter of the Apologie matters are set downe plainly sincerely with order and perspicuitie without amplifications or exaggerations as in our discourse hapneth To this wee retort the same in effect for our aunswer
compasse of particuler faculties and extraordinary dispensations which are proper to all pastors in generall As for example to giue leaue to eate white meats in Lent or at other times to dispence with such as haue reasonable cause for fasting VVhich cases they had drawn vnto themselues making Priests to seeke for theyr faculties yeerely at theyr hands when as in very deede this faculty belongeth vnto the Priests ex ordinaria potestate quatenus sunt pastores and not to the Iesuits but extraordinarily onely by way of indulgence as coadiutors vnto vs as happeneth in all other exemptions or faculties which they possesse As touching the third part of the first Paragraffe that it is beaten into the heads of diuers that Masse is not rightly sayd but of a Iesuit sure I am and I thinke all the world knoweth it to be true that they haue such tricks and pollicies to put some such extraordinarie conceits into Catholicks heads that I see not but in some part this assertion may be verified For they haue theyr men and followers or precursors in places where they come who must suggest it for a strange and extraordinarie matter to be present at theyr Masses and that euery Cath that shall come vnto any of them to confesse communicate shall haue I know not what plenatie indulgences for the first time Let but the indifferent Reader iudge whether this kinde of practise be not a prety Iesuiticall tricke to suggest such strange conceits of them and theyr administrations of Sacraments or saying of Masses aboue others And whether they haue any such extraordinary indulgences or no graunted vnto them I know not But this I am sure that if there be any such it sauoureth somewhat of too much pollicie as thereby to draw a greater opinion of men towards them then to others VVhich might giue sufficient occasion to suspect the verity of any such peculier graunt vnto thē from the Sea Apostolicke Yet this must be more then petie-treason to call any faculty of theyrs into question though great reason may moue me thereto which in them to do by others must be accounted but a religious care and prouidence to auoyd imposture I might heere also alledge the seditious Treatise of Wiseman called The three farwells tending to no other end but to draw mens conceits wholy to this one point that nothing is sufficiently done which proceedeth not from a Iesuit or such an one as is gouerned in all things by them But because this is more particulerly intreated of in the late booke of Quodlibets writ by Ma. Watson I refer the Reader thether Now will I leaue you to iudge whether wee haue not some cause to belieue the accusations of Fisher if the Memoriall was of his deuise in part to be true and not so voyd of ground or reason as Ma. Parsons would haue you beleeue But to proceed yet farther with this confident Fa in his own cause Perhaps hee thinketh euery bare assertion that comes from his Mastership should be had as an Oracle with all men though otherwise neuer so absurd and vntrue Howbeit let vs track him in his folly and see what hee can say to the Accusations following No Iesuit goeth to visite anie in England or trauaileth from one place to another but he is richly apparelled and attended on with a great traine of seruants as if hee were a Baron or an Earle This paragraph also our good Fa shufleth off with an interrogation sct vvhether in our conscience this be true Would you not think by this kinde of confident ostentation in Ma Parsons that this imputation were more then sottish yea malitious without all ground or showe of ground in the world Yet if by some examples I doe not manifestly shew this to be grounded vpon some true and reall experience beleeue me not in the rest First I will but referre you vnto all the Priests Cath that liued in England in Fa Hawoods time of liberty and knew him and his manners and fashions well and if they doe not assure you that his port and carriage was more Baronlike then priestlike all the world will condemne them for most partiall and impudent deniers of the truth Was he not wont to ride vp and downe the Country in his Coach had he not both seruants and priests attendants that did hang on his sleeue in great numbers did he not indict Counsels make and abrogate lawes vvas not his pompe such as the places where he came seemed petie-Courts by his presence his traine and followers See whether heere be not one notable example of excesse at which Fa Parsons himselfe was wont to carpe there being emulation betweene them about his superiority and the others exemption Againe for present I referre you vnto Fa Garnets pompe and expences of which I haue heard some honest priests who haue beene much with him report that he cannot spend lesse then 500. pound by the yeere But wee will not much stand vpon his pompe or expences because being prouinciall of his order he will claime a prelacie and therefore more honour and more pompe although our times and case well considered will scant tolerate such excesse But let vs come I pray you vnto some priuate men of their order and his subiects The mighty and extraordinarie excesse of Ma Iohn Gerard hath beene such and so notorious that I suppose few priests besides other Cath to be ignorant thereof His apparrell at one time hath beene valued at a higher rate then I will for shame speake of which he hath had in store as it hath been reported by such as were well acquainted there-with his church stuffe was worth no lesse then 200. marks and the last time he was taken losing but such stuffe as was onely portable I referre me to the officers that seazed thereon for the value thereof his horses were many and of no small price My selfe haue knowne him to haue two Geldings in a Gentlemans stable at 30. pound a Gelding besides others else-where and horses of good vse S. Ambrose in times of necessity would breake Chalices and other precious vessels of the Church to relieue the wants of poore Christians but these men in the great afflictions miseries wants of afflicted poore Cath may possesse not onely superaboundance of Church stuffe but also great excesse of apparell horses iewels et quid non Whilest others starue in prison and abroad without scruple of conscience and this quia Dominus opus habet You will imagine that the expences of this man could not be very small that was thus richly furnished and I beleeue as much and for experience thereof I will set downe his expences during his imprisonment in the Clincke well knowne to diuers that liued there with him by which you may gesse at the rest During his being there in durance liuing as a close prisoner in shew though with more fauour then any other howsoeuer the matter hapned which we will not wrest vnto
Nuncio to send for the Doctor againe when hee was gone and perswade a mutuall peace Which the Nuncio performing your Factor Fa Baldwyne vpon his knees asked forgiuenes of the Doctor both in your name good Fa and in the name of the whole Societie and the Doctor afterwards in some sort performed the like to him of humilitie not as hauing offended but if in any thing he had wronged any of you Although it pleased you afterwards against the Nuncio his commaundement of silence to publish the act out of the pulpit in Rome as though the Doct. had asked you forgiuenes and not you him writ so both into Spaine England and into other places whilst the good Doct. kept silence vpon conscience which in such cases was yet neuer found in you These are the ordinarie iugling tricks which are too too familiar with you good Fa. Now my good Sir was Ma. Doct. Gifford authour of these accusations If he were why did you not then take your pennyworths of him and make him to doe publique satisfaction these things beeing so notoriouslie false I am sure you might haue had iustice when the matter came to hearing before his holines his Nuncio Beleeue it good Fa these circumstances will make all the world thinke these accusations true if you maintaine the D. to be Authour of them sith that he not onely went vnpunished but that you also by your Proctor asked him forgiuenes And as for Ma. Charles Paget the world knowes you would neuer haue spared him one iot if you had found the least hole that might be in his coate But to let this passe it skilleth not much from whom the accusations come the author must beare his owne burden Yet will wee performe our office and sincerelie examine the truth of euery particuler accusation The first article is this The Iesuits are so ambitious as not content with the bounds theyr Fathers had placed they haue in theyr insatiable desire alreadie swallowed vp kingdoms and Monarchies Ma Parsons in a marginall note termeth this an absurd contumelious speech and in the text asketh with what conscience we could publish this slaunder to the world c. To this I say that being but printed as themselues divulged thē whether the words may be stretched in worse sence then in the originall in Latine if any such be wee know not and might suspect perhaps not without reason the worst at their hands yet as they are I will not say that this is so absurd false as Ma. Parsons affirmeth For if you will but indifferently consider what we haue said concerning their practises with vs heere both in Wisbich and abroad as also theyr plots and practises concerning matters of state apparant by theyr owne bookes letters and open actions discouered in part both in the Important considerations in the booke of Quodlibets and others of late printed I do not see how a man can well auoyde the suspition of a desire in them of the whole Monarchie of England Which suspition is not a little fortified by their forecasting of matters both for generall particuler affaires to be ordered by them or at their discretion directions when the time serueth as appeareth by Fa Parsons proude pamphlet of Reformation intermedling with all estates See more thereof in the Quodlibets VVhich points considered may not a man reasonably suspect that they haue swallowed alreadie in their desires the kingdome Monarchie of England Doe not their late attempts in Ireland shew as much for that kingdome I will omit their stratagems in Fraunce and Scotland and that which is reported of Iapona and other places in the Indies where they keepe to themselues the sole dominion will admit no other Clergie but play Bishop priest and Munck themselues Neither is it a sufficient aunswer to reply that they take not vpon them the name or title of King For that importeth not so they may gouerne and direct Kings Nobles Bishops prelates and others Therein consists theyr ambition and swallowing of kingdoms here spoken of And by this you may see the truth and veritie of the sixt article of accusation against them sct That if this ambition do remain vnpunished the age that is to come shall see that it wil bring bondage not onely to Prelates but to Princes Monarches themselues c. Iudge whether this doe not probably yea euidently follow vpon the first And for the subiecting of Prelats it is too too well knowne by experience that manie Bishops haue much to doe with them their force is so great and they stand so much vpon their priuiledges Besides the foundation layd by Ma. Parsons in the forenamed Treatise of Reformation sct of making all Bishops Prelates pensioners doth conuince no lesse For which they had cause whosoeuer they were that dealt in this matter to beseech his holines that he would lay the axe to the tree and cut of the pride of this Societie c. which we likewise pray beseech for their good may be done by the axe of Reformation that beeing brought within order as other Friers and religious men be they may attend vnto the quier and their deuotions and not to kingdoms and Monarchies which must needes eyther breed their own ouerthrow or the destruction of kingdoms and sedition to all Christian common welths as by many examples in Fraunce Swethland England and else where they haue alreadie wrought The Pope can commaund nothing in all his Mandates but the Iesuits finde meanes to frustrate it by seculer power This is the 9. article of accusation of which this our Fa asketh whether it can be true or probable Hee hath forgot belike the notorious fact at Louaine where the Iesuits by the power and authority of the King of Spaine forbad the publishing of the Popes order for the Vniuersitie against the Iesuits This fact belike this good father thought to haue beene so secret as it was vnknown to the world or at the least forgotten He likewise thinketh that the world tooke no notice of their dilation euen in Rome it selfe to admit the Popes Breve against vti scientia habita in confessione making vse of any thing which was learnt by confession which al other religious men presently admitted without reply vntill such time as his holinesse sent them a new Mandate in virtute sanctae obedientiae sub censuris ipso facto incurrendis presentlie without delay to admit thereof Many more examples in this kinde might be produced to shew their aptnes to resist the Popes Mandates and the little esteeme or reuerence they beare towards such of them as check or cōtrole their disorders Witnes this their irreligious irreuerence towards Sixtus quintus and open preaching against him in Spaine and rayling against him else where vsing approbrious irreuerent speeches of him in Rome it selfe That the Iesuits doe eagerly waite for the death of the Pope and of the renowned Cardinall Toled that they may bring
slaughter vpon all c. What their desires haue been concerning the death of his Holines I cannot affirme but sure I am they affected him but a little in the beginning of his raigne both for his proceedings against them in the behalfe of the Scholers in the English Colledge in Rome as by the History thereof you shall shortly see at large as also for his ioyning with his Maiestie of Fraunce that now is against the Spanish intentions and designes wherein their fingers were deepely plunged as all men know and they yet feele but as for the worthie Prelate Card Toled I thinke few men be ignorant of their clamours against him of ambition and partiality for his dealings in the affaires of the English Colledge VVhich might giue a probable conceite of their desire or expectance of his death For they vse not much to lament the death of their enemies And if any man shall goe about to denie that any clamours or detracting speeches were euer vsed by them against this worthy Card I will say hee is impudent and hath a face of brasse and is as shamelesse as Ma. Parsons who wil affirme or denie any thing For my selfe haue heard the fore-said irreuerent speeches from some of their owne mouthes Now for the sequell of slaughter or blood-shed I leaue it as divulged by themselues and to the proofe of the author if any such thing were laid to their charge by anie And for the truth thereof their owne consciences must aunswer though they giue no great occasion of our good conceite towards them for their future actions by their former dealings touching the 23. 24. and 25. art of the Iesuits seeking the gouernment of the Colledge of Doway or dissolution thereof we haue said sufficiently already As concerning the 13. art preposterously brought in heere that it is a knowne maxime among the Iesuits diuide et impera set diuision and them you shall gouerne at your pleasure I thinke no man that is not wilfully blind can excuse them heerein if he doe but halfe indifferently consider their proceedings from time to time as well in the Colledge at Rome and amongst the English in Flaunders as also in England at Wisbich Castle and in these late generall garboiles In all which stirres their chiefest busines hath beene to set men first together by the eares by strange slanders calumniations and other Machiauilian policies and then to attempt their purposes and designes of rule and dominion He that readeth what is already shewed in this reply and what hath beene said in former discourses concerning their proceedings both at home abroad must needes confesse as much vnlesse he will denie apparent effects to proceed from their proper and vnknowne causes That the Iesuits vse to intercept all manner of letters is so generall an acclamation in forraine Countries that it seemeth not to be clean void of verity though for my own part I cannot say that I haue seene them intercept any Card or Princes packets But for experience of this matter concerning meaner mens letters many a score will beare witnes with me that it is too too vsuall amongst them not onely in Rome but also in the low Countries and in England to and some letters cited by this good Fa in his Apologie approue as much As concerning the attestation in the 12. article see what we haue said before to the conclusion of Fishers Memoriall as also for the 13. article following For more proofe and verity whereof consider but their late dealings both in the Romaine Colledge low Countries Wisbich now generally throughout England Which I omit heere to recite because you may read more at large thereof in the former treatises heeretofore published For the verity of the 19. article touching the contempt of the President the renowned Card we referre you to what is said before to the 20 article To speake much to the 17. article of the reuolt of eyther priests or Iesuits I am not willing pittying and lamenting as well the fact of the one as the other Yet this I must tell Fa Parsons that it is a very common practise amongst his people and their followers to note not onely the reuolt of any priests but also whatsoeuer infirmity they can imagine to be in them and this of purpose to the disgracing of priests euery where suggesting that neuer any of their order fainted in the least sort Which how contrarie to truth it is we know are rather sorie for them then purpose in vaunting manner to presse them with the ignominie thereof But if they will needes prosecute such vncharitable courses to our disgraces I promise this good Father that I will note him aboue eyght of his order that haue incurred this disgrace and bring him testimonie thereof sed qui stat videat ne cadat I pray GOD hartily neuer any of them may reuolt And by the way I must tell you that it is but a iugling trick to delude your eyes when they say that neuer any sent in obedience of his superiour fell For hereby will they exclude any one that shal incur this disgrace either affirming that they had dismissed him before he fell or that they came not from their superiours but of their owne heads This is a politick shift which they haue in their order aboue all other religious societies that they may dismisse any out of their order before his last vow which fewe in respect of the multitude of them are admitted vnto Where-vpon it happeneth that sometimes a man is 20. or 30. yeeres a Iesuit and afterwards is dismissed By which shift they put of many notorious things committed by them dismissing the persons delinquent out of theyr order secretly to auoyde the note of their crimes which other Religious orders cannot doe Yet cannot this iustifie them neither if wee would enter the lists with them in this point Now to the other articles of English matters and English Iesuits the first is of their dissension and particulerly of Fa Garnet and Fa Weston which this Fa saith we contradict in our latter bookes complayning that Fa Garnet Father Weston Fa Parsons and the rest are too much vnited the one obeying the others becke You haue read I suppose the history of Sampsons Foxes who were all tied together by the tayles running with their heads diuers courses yet all into the Philistians corne To let you therefore vnderstand more both of their owne contradictions of theyr vnitie it is with them as it often times happeneth amongst children of one familie sâ—t brothers and sisters who will very ordinarily fall out amongst themselues but when they come to a third controuersie or conflict to wit that any one of them falleth out with a third person a stranger vnto them they will all take part together and fall vpon the forrainer like as the seditious in Herusalem quarrelled daily and hourely one against another to theyr miserable destruction by ciuill mutinie yet would
once appearing such as liued and saw how little sinceritie or care of Gods cause they had but meerely sought after the Crowne and the subuersion of our country not onely repented them of theyr former dealings but also detested and hated such proceedings as was manifest in Cadinall Allen and doubtlesse would so haue happened in the rest if they had liued to haue seen the handling of matters since But for the Iesuits they are so headlong and violent in these courses that they seeme no more to regard the good of our Country or estate thereof then the Spaniards themselues For notwithstanding the manifest intentions of conquest and subuersion by the Spaniards intended yet do they so concurre with them as whereas the Spaniard of himselfe seemeth slow they pricke him on continually with plots suggestions Witnes Fa Parsons actions concerning two seuerall Nauies which miscaried in one of which Ma Doctor Stillington tooke his death of the other since he speaketh in a letter writ from Rome to Ma. Thomas Fitzherbert Witnes this the late attempt in Ireland in which Fa Archer an Irish Iesuite was a great actor VVho will not say now that the Iesuits are much more to be blamed then any of the former woorthy persons sith they desist not to prosecute that which by some of them was afterwards disliked continue an offence begun yea and vppon knowledge of the infinite deformitie thereof into which the other saw not so deepely as is probable Hauing thus giuen you some light whereby you may trulie see into the drift end of the foresaid Treatise of Important considerations the reasons we haue to purge our selues of such inexcusable practises for the which hetherto wee haue all smarted and the causes wee haue not onely to condemne those facts and attempts how woorthy soeuer the persons were that dealt therein but also to exclaime against those that still runne such disloiall races and with all our power and might not onely to disclaime but also resist and reueale such vndutifull practises and indeuours of her Maiesties disloyall yet naturall subiects be they what they may be and of what condition and quality they will be for no condition or qualitie may patronize disloyaltie hauing I say giuen you some light hereof let vs now consider vvhat particuler obiections or indeed barren exclamations this Father maketh against this Treatise VVe will let passe his vaine quipping at sundry and seculer beeing both scurrilous and irreligious in abusing the phrase of seculer priests vsed and approued alwaies in Gods Church with great reuerence to the order of priesthood which he not without note of contempt ioyneth with an allusion vnto secular minds and desires saying not onely secular in order but also in mind hart and desires making the word secular in one sentence to be predicatum indifferently and in like sence as a man would thinke vnto order mind harts desires so may a man say ordo saecularis mens saecularis corda saecularia desideria saecularia in one and the same prophane vnderstanding which how irreligiously it soundeth from the mouth of a religious man iudge you Verily if he had been carefull of his penne he might haue seuered the sentences at the least so as the sence of the word might haue appeared diuers and therein haue shewed a reuerent respect to priesthood howsoeuer he had otherwise despised our persons But let vs see I pray you what he saith to our mislike of certaine Treatises letters and reports written made in diuers parts of the world All that hee sayth to this matter is nothing but a shufling vp of graue and worthy men of our nation who haue writ or dealt in such affaires but whether therein they did wel or ill hee neuer sheweth by any reason or proofe in the world Onely he exclaimeth at vs as enuious and malicious such as haue sold our tongues to the common enemy This kinde of shifting dealing is common ordinarie with this father but how simple in the sight of wise men I leaue you to cōsider If it be a sufficient proofe or excuse in euery particuler fact viz. such a graue and woorthy man did the like what matter of fact may not be excused Did not S. Cyprian rebaptize such as had beene baptized before by heretiques Is it therefore vppon this ground a sufficient warrant to anie man to rebaptize such as are baptized by protestants Haue not diuers Saints and Martirs done diuers things not to be imitated of the generations following What good conclusion then is this Graue and worthy men haue writ and dealt in this affaire therefore it is good conuenient and lawfull If such graue and worthy men had infallibilitie in their actions which Saints in this life haue not had then such an infallible inference might be made but not otherwise Therefore good Fa you should not onely haue produced the actions of such men but also the reasons and grounds of their actions and proued them to haue been good and currant by some conuincing reason and proofe but this you neuer touch Any shadow seemeth sufficient to you to bleere mens eyes but this may not serue your turne Wise and graue men haue erred and sometimes doe erre and yet remaine both wise and graue Wee are not Angels who intuitiuè see into the natures of things what is conuenient or inconuenient but we are men subiect to passion and mutability gathering things à posteriore whereof follow manie errors and imperfections in our actions And heere-vppon it commeth that posteriores cogitationes solent esse meliores and we often finde that by experience which at the first we were ignorant of A notable example heereof we haue in this very matter by Card Allen both a graue and a wise man as all the world knoweth For he was somwhat faultie in the beginning in this kinde as by a certaine treatise wherein his finger was is too too manifest yet doe we well know that in his latter time this worthy prelate was such an enemie vnto those proceedings as he neuer could endure to heare of them and much complained of the proceedings of some Iesuits therein as many can witnes Now then eyther Fa Parsons must condemne the former actions of this worthie man as erroneous as well as we doe or else disclaime from his latter proceedings being not in the same course with the first Yet heere by the way I must tell you that I verily think that this worthy man was drawne vnto these proceedings more by others then of his owne nature and I haue no small reasons to induce me thereto For first you know the generall expectance of the whole world concerning the Armado of 1588. as well for the greatnes thereof as the opinion of the Spaniards sincere pretence of Religion which was nothing so This conceite might draw the good Card to be deceaued as well as Pope Sixtus who it is well knowne was drawne into a conceite thereof and deceaued
of Gods grace offered or no. Neither can any law or necessity in the world contradict or impeach the law of nature borne with man and alwaies remaining in him To the 5. poynt obiected by Fa Parsons wee haue said sufficient already for our honest and lawfull excuse in blaming or condemning of some actions done by worthy men not therby defaming or condemning such persons but such acts as errors in these worthy persons Which is not as hee falsly affirmeth to cast any fault vpon any worthy person or Martyr or to defame them in any sort sith the facts imputed vnto them were too too well knowne vnto the state and too publique vnto the world Whereby wee were but constrained to purge our selues as guiltlesse of any such matter rather choosing that the fault that was should fall vpon particuler men dealers therein and so knowne to be to the world then vpon the whole company of innocent priests Cath vvhich was I thinke but according to the rules both of iustice and charity And whereas it is sayd that if some of vs had beene of the counsell and knowing as much as we doe know wee should haue giuen our cōsents to straight lawes for the suppressing and preuenting of such wicked designements you must vnderstand that this is deliuered but as the particuler speech of some few and not of all in generall as Fa Parsons falsly setteth downe Neither did we say that we would haue giuen our consents to that which hath beene done against Catho as he maliciously peruerteth our words but onely to some straight lawes for the suppressing and preuenting of such wicked designments Which I thinke any good Common-wealths man in the world of what religion soeuer vvould haue done and could haue done no lesse then haue yeelded and giuen consent to make some straight lawes for preuenting the ruine and subuersion of his prince and country vnlesse he had beene perfidious vnto his prince and trayterous to his country But by your leaue Fa Parsons these lawes should haue haue been made to haue brideled such good fellowes as your selfe and others that haue dealt so perfidiously with theyr prince and countrey and not generally against all priests and Catholicks And we perswade our selues they had not been made so generall if her Maiestie and the state had seene into the rootes of such proceedings and knowne that they had growne only from some few particuler persons such as your selfe and not from the body or most part of priests and Catholicks Which the state could not see into discerne from the beginning beeing ignorant of the distinction which ought to be made betweene vs and your fellowes and therfore is not so much to be cried out against and defamed for tyrannie this ignorance considered as by you her highnesse her lawes and gouernment haue beene traduced making your selues thereby and by others the wicked enterprises the principall and chiefe cause of all such straight and bloodie lawes But rather is her Maiestie and the state to be excused and implored for more pitty and compassion towards vs for the time to com sith they now see farther into the true rootes springs and causes from whence and from whom such attempts haue come Neither is Fa Parsons recapitulation of some lawes made and some executed before their comming into England a sufficient excuse because it is well known that her Maiestie and the state was diuers times as by the Important considerations you may see irritated by sundry vndutifull attempts of her subiects and forrainers together before shee made anie bloody law at all And there are many pregnant presumptions that the Iesuits fingers were medling in some or most of them For there be Priests who haue heard Fa Parsons when they were Scholers in Rome make set Lectures for a whole Lent as I remember of all matters which had happened from her Maiesties beginning of her raigne In the discourse whereof he was so ready and could descend so farre into particuler plots and intentions of plots which neuer came to passe and were vnknowne to her Maiestie and the state as in the practise concerning the Earle of Northumberland and the like that you would sweare he or his had been in the bosome of euery such plot and deuise To the sixt and last point brought in preposterously as he commonly vseth to doe taking his bits by snatches heere and there to make vp his gallymaufrey it deserueth no other aunswer then hath already beene giuen it being no other but a fond exaggerating of his old common points with exclamation and bitter words without reason or proofe of any one absurdity or vniust vntruth deliuered by vs. Which argueth his spirit to be more fraught with spite then power or ability We will not aske him which of the seauen deuils rayleth and biteth with so many bitter words and false calumniation vniustly and vntruly against vs but hartily pray God to deliuer him from all incursions of the deuill and all Atheisme and Machiauelisme that he may sincerely see how he hath offended God by his plots and practises in abusing his poore afflicted Church in our Country and setting dissension and diuision in his Clergy for the compassing of his policies and designes which so long as he and his shal practise we cannot but still intreate Cath to forbeare the sending of their children vnto the schooles where such maisters as Fa Parsons and his associates shall be teachers and gouernours but rather to send them to other Vniuersities abroad in other Countries vntill God shall prouide better for vs. And thus we will end our aunswer vnto the first Chapter in which we haue beene ouer long and tedious because of the diuersitie of matters hudled vp therein by Fa Parsons after his accustomed manner desiring the Reader to beare with vs therein in that we were willing to open some things more largely that such as were ignorant or not so well acquainted with these our affaires and the true causes of them might see the better into the very grounds of all which being so largely deliuered in this first chapter we shall with more facility and more briefly passe ouer the rest that followeth alwayes as occasion happeneth referring you to what is deliuered at large in this first treatise An aunswer to the second Chapter concerning our pretended passionate spirit in the manner of the handling of our former arguments FA Parsons his 2. Chap. containeth little in substance but what hath beene said in the former and is at large by vs aunswered onely hee hath taken a little paynes in speaking largely in his owne prayse to the commendation of some others of his owne order because they want good neighbours to aduaunce and extoll them and in gathering together of some cholerick words heere and there deliuered in some of our former bookes In which kind of style although he and some of his deserue the garland yet he omitteth not to make the best shew of aduantage thereby
all the probability we haue that fa Parsons was a stickler therein or some other Iesuits is this that in the Romane Colledge before diuers of the students there hee could deliuer the plot and euery circumstance thereof so exactly that all men which heard him adiudged him to haue beene in the very bosome of that designement In which discourse he deliuered some particulers as that it was plotted that the Earles sonne should trauaile vpon licence out of England and comming into Millaine should haue been staied vnder I know not what pretences that thereby the Earle himselfe might haue been lesse suspected in England about his plot and intentions This fa Parsons deliuered there as diuers yet will witnes which could not but demonstrate him to haue been inward with that plot in that also this intention concerning the Earles sonne vvas vnknowne vnto the Queene and state as I vnderstand vntill by this his discourse it was made publique Note still gentle Reader how all circumstances bring in the Iesuits to be accessary to all plots and deuises As concerning the plot of Babington and the other gentlemen it is not ascribed vnto the Iesuits directly but onely alledged as an vndutifull practise and treacherous against her Maiestie and state by those gracelesse Iesuited gentlemen whereby great hurt and preiudice arose vnto the Catholicks and catholicke cause in our Country And the matters beeing so apparently treasonable fault is found with Ma. Southwell for that he excuseth it in his supplication going about to lay all the blame thereof vppon the Secretary Sir Frauncis Walsingham as though he had beene the inuenter and layer of the plot and perswader or drawer on of the Gentlemen thereunto Which is both false and ridiculous to imagine that he durst practise in laying such dangerous plots of state without her Maiesties priuitie howsoeuer his intentions were to breake the necke of all in the end with the ouerthrowing of the dealers therein Neither could the Gentlemen be excused if he had been the first author and perswader thereof for that no mans perswasion may excuse an euill act that in it selfe is euill for so might a man lay all his sinnes perhaps vpon the deuils backe But howsoeuer Ma. Secretary Walsingham entertained the plot after it was reuealed vnto him by some of the confederates to bring it vnto the ful perfection wherein perhaps he did more then hee had thanks for of her Maiestie yet can it not be denied but that the plot practise proceeded from themselues and theyr owne confederats and was by them really intended as appeared manifestly by theyr owne confessions And therefore to be excused afterwards by a Iesuit could not but yeeld suspition vnto her Maiestie and the state of hollow loyaltie in Catholicks towards her who would goe about to excuse apparant treasonable practises against her person thereby to perswade her subiects and others that such as were iustly put to death for theyr treasons were not guilty therein but that they vvere onely plots and inuentions of the state themselues which is to defame the publique iustice of a Prince theÌ„ which a greater wrong cannot be done especially when matters are apparant to the contrary And that this fact of Ma. Southwell was iustly condemned and disalowed as inconuenient to omit iniuries to her Maiestie and state the effects since haue demonstrated as much the state hauing been more exasperated there-with then with any pamphlet writ these latter yeeres as hath appeared by the execution of three seuerall persons for onely medling therewith and divulging it Thus you see that what hath been said concerning Anthony Babingtons matter hath beene spoken with great reason and moderation without any accusation at all of the Iesuits therin but onely touching our dislike of the excuse of this foule fact afterwards made by Fa Southwell by which the inconueniencies specified arose as all men will witnes But sith Fa Parsons is agreeued with that little sparingly set downe in some fiue lines onely he must giue vs leaue to deliuer you some probabilities where-vpon we could haue taxed them with suspition of dealing therein The plot was but a continuance as it were of Parryes deuise and Throgmortons practises in which as you haue seene they and their fauourites were Counsellers perswaders and abetters and therefore not improbable that they would prosecute the same when any opportunity should be fitly offered and a fitter theÌ„ this wherein so many resolute Gentlemen were combined they could not haue That the Iesuits were not taxed of this at the arraignments of these Gentlemen or accused by their confessions imports little For you must know that the Iesuits are wise and cunning politicians and can tell how to manage matters by secondary or third meanes lying aloofe off themselues and being least seene or suspected such as haue beene acquainted with their dealings know this which I say not to be voyde of truth Hauing then had some experience in the faile of Parry his plot and Throgmortons in which especially the first they were neerely touched it behoued them to be more warie and deale with more cunning and secrecie then they had done That Fa Parsons Fa Holt and Fa Creswell were at Rome and Naples is little to the purpose the intercourse of letters and intelligences from all places being so speedy familier and common with them wheresoeuer they remaine as it is knowne to be Besides at that time Fa Darbishire lay in Fraunce and vnlesse I be deceaued in Paris a man fit by the reports of men of iudgement to deale in such affaires and with cunning enough And to all this the conference which Ma Ballard had with their most entirely Iesuited friend Mendoza and the sequell also of Fa Southwells defence or excuse This haue we related not to accuse the Iesuits directly with this plot of Babington and his confederates but onely to shew you that lesse was said thereof in the Important considerations then might haue beene if the author had vttered those matters of malice against the Iesuits as Fa Parsons affirmeth Some thing further might be said heereof concerning Fa Weston that worthy wight his inward acquaintance and familiarity with Ma Babington that sommer â—hat he was executed But thereof wee will be silent at this time neyther would I now haue made any mention of 〈◊〉 but that I finde our common aduersaries to be acquainted with it Now are we come to Sir William Stanlyes yeelding vp of Dauentry condemned in the Important considerations as a cause also of exasperating our Prince and state against Cath at home Father Parsons after his accustomed manner carpeth at his knighthood giuen by Sir William Drury in Ireland and not by the Earle of Leister in Flaunders which being a by-matter from our purpose little importeth being that he receaued that degree by her Maiesties authority and therefore it forced not by whose hands he receaued it And for his holding the towne in the right of her Highnesse
too much â—auour of An other vntruth alledged by him in this chapter is that we affirme that his holines hath no authoritie to moue war for religion against any temporall Prince This is a manifest lye for his temporall authority concerning this point was not examined by vs as I haue shewed aboue After this in the 77. page follow three vntruths conioyned as in one that we perswade all the world that all is sedition conspiracie rebellion amongst Catholicks in England and not matter of religion that vvee make them the true Authors and occasioners of all theyr owne trouble vexations and dangers by theyr owne indiscreet and temerarious actions and that we also iustifie the cause of the Persecutors and lay the fault vppon the persecuted All these are so manifest forgeries as impudencie it selfe without a brazen visage could not auerre it wee manifestly excusing the body of Priests and Cath and laying the fault onely vppon some particuler persons where the true fault was indeed thereby to shew the wrongs and iniuries that generally Cath and Priests haue sustayned without iust cause onely excusing the Queene and state by ignorance not knowing the difference betweene the innocent and guilty and not iustifying theiâ—â—ard proceedings For it is one thing to excuse a fault and another thing to iustifie the same yea we doe say that the extremity of affliction exceeded in our opinions the measure of the faults But to denie occasions to haue beene giuen by Fa Parsons and his complices and some other also who wee wish had beene better aduised we cannot vnlesse we had as shamelesse countenances as perhaps he frameth to himselfe when he denieth such apparant verities And the same lye is iterated againe in the page following to wit that we make sufferings in England not to be for conscience but for practising against the Prince and state I doe greatly feare he wil proue in the end to haue Laesam imaginationem in these matters framing to himselfe a conceite that all the calumniations which hee can deuise against vs must be true because hee so dreameth Another vntruth is in the 79. page that we haue sent to offer our selues to the King of Scots which is onely spoke of malice to bring vs into suspition and iealousie with our own state at home a thing he vehemently laboureth to doe by all the meanes he can vse as well by lyes and disgraces as by his example of Constantius alledged by him out of Eusebius and Sozomenus you may perceaue which testimonie in very truth doth more properly agree vnto himselfe in that he hauing beene an open professed enemie vnto her Maiestie alwayes yet to purchase her fauour and his credit with her againe wrote a letter some few yeeres past vnto her Highnes a fact of no small presumption offering her his seruice and that he would giue her intelligence out of all parts of Europe what was intended against her and her estate This Letter in his owne hand hath been shewed vnto some of our friends who know his hand as well as himselfe that he may not say it was counterfeited which yet if hee doe I think no man of wit or vnderstanding will thinke probable For what aduantage should her Maiestie or the state get by counterfetting a Letter of Parsons to such a vaine effect If you will say to disgrace him I verily thinke and assure my selfe that her Maiestie and the Counsell no more regard the poore fellowes credit or discredit then you regard your old shooes And in reason doe but thinke whether it is probable that so mighty a Prince and so great a state should respect so meane a fellow I verily thinke he is altogether forgot of them but when as at some times his practises make him infamous to them as the burning of Diana her temple made the obscure Cripple to be talked of By this you may see how fitly Constans his example may be applied to himselfe or to the conceite of her Maiestie and the state But as touching vs his malice cannot reach to his scope her Maiestie and the State know well that as to them wee professe our selues most loyall and faithfull in word and action so stand we most resolute in the profession of our faith loyaltie to God and his Church which God assisting vs wee will continue Another lying inuention of his owne is that we haue deuised a new discourse about Succession and haue dealt another way in England for the intitling of the Crowne more to the tast as he sayeth of some great personages of our estate This malicious falshoode he hath inuented newly to bring vs into iealousie and suspition and thereby hatred to his Maiestie of Scotland See how this Robin good-fellowe playeth his part on all sides to worke mischiefe and contention But hee shall neuer finde such shuffling dealing in vs about matters that concerne vs not as himselfe hath practised First he began with the Scottish title affirming difference in Religion no sufficient cause of barre in right to a Kingdome as you may see in Greenecoate or Leisters Common-wealth howsoeuer now hee inueigh against his Maiesties title onely for Religion Then hee practised with the Prince of Parma to haue his sonne Ranutius marry to L. Arbella thereby to fortifie his title deriued from the house of Portugall And lastly he practised with the Spaniard and hath intitled his daughter the Infanta These haue beene his mutable iuglings by which his Cath Maiestie might see how sure a staffe he hath of him who hath runne through so many titles euer shifting to the greatest as occasions doe require And I am perswaded that hee will returne againe to his Maiestie of Scotland or any other if he see them likelyer once to winne the spurres then the Spaniard Now as he maketh no conscience to slaunder vs thereby to worke our discredits to the vttermost of his power so to fortifie his falshoods against vs he doth arrogate vnto himselfe and his whatsoeuer good and laudable action is done by any of vs or our friends As for example the motion of a toleration and mitigation of extremities in cause of Religion knowne to be first effectually proposed by Ma Bluet and Ma Clarkes meanes and as well the petition as instructions there-vpon with informations of the manner of ease desired drawne by them and put into the hands of such of worth discretion and wit as prosecuted the same this I say he arrogateth to his fauorites and friends though I know that some of them did in many places inueigh against the â—ute and auerted men as much as in them lay from harkning thereto framing strange falshoods and lyes about our intentions and the action it selfe And I am halfe perswaded that if the Iesuits had not beene the matter had found better successe For it is well knowne that they haue alwaies beene enemies to all toleracions in Religion because they think that they should perhaps be expelled or forced to retire themselues vpon
vniust and vncharitable iniuries vexations wrought thereby may not very vnfitly be applied to himselfe For the deuill where he commeth is alwaies busie thrusting the party on to mischiefe and the greater more mischiefe a man doth the more doe we suppose the deuill to be busie with him Now hee that shall consider fa Parsons continuall contentions from the beginning with all men euen of his owne order as hath beene shewed as also his mighty and great attempts in matters of state whereby hath risen great vexations of innocent Catholicks his detestable diffamations not onely of our poore scholers in Rome but also of our whole nation in them his setting of our quiet Cleargie together by the eares a worke proper to the deuill with infinite wrongs to particuler men may tell me at leysure whether the parable of the vncleane spirit seauen more returning might not be retorted vpon himselfe But we rather wish his reformation then any such oppressions of seauen spirits as vncharitably he chargeth vs with His speech of S. Hillary proficit semper c. might also be returned to the manifesting of his owne follies daily more more in that notwithstanding the euidencie of our cause proued by vs and still by him reproued he still opposeth him selfe which in the end will prooue wilful indiscretion Also his often commending of himselfe and vrging of his owne good deedes and benefits done to vs argueth no great wisedome Sure I am that many of vs neither euer saw or tasted of his great bounty but many haue felt the smart of his exorbitant actions But to passe ouer this trifling induced thereunto by his example in the progresse of his discourse hee canuaseth an humble and good religious peticion of Ma. Watsons wherin hee desireth charitable remembrance of his poore sinfull soule in such sort as he sheweth very little charity or religion rather scoffing at the speech with words of disdaine as sinfull sudds c then otherwise And when hee commeth to his person he bewrayeth no small enuie and gall by describing him with such disdaine so falsly also as all men that know him may see that it seemeth it grieued him that hee vvas made a man and within the number of reasonable creatures Afterward and conformable heereunto doth he goe about to taxe his minde an higher enuy then the former with a vaine bragge and proude assertion of the Iesuits in generall as men of contrary life spirit iudgement will workes and manners to him by a sequell as it were involuing suspicions as vsually the Iesuits doe of I know not what imaginations of disorderly life most falsly and most vncharitably But let fa Parsons temper this kinde of suspicious and vncharitable writing or wee will promise him we will open such matters of his holy bretheren as shall make both him and them ashamed thereof Yet are wee not willing to rippe vp the liues of any knowing that the infirmities of euery Christian should rather be pittied and relieued by prayer then reioyced at or reuealed as the Iesuits vse to doe in what they can by all that oppose theyr proceedings discrediting the persons of those whose cause they cannot infringe which is a tricke rather of a Machiuilian then a good Christian This course wee haue hetherto auoyded as all men can witnes neuer entring into the particuler liues of any Iesuit or fauourite of theirs and wee wish not to be vrged vnto it against our wills by such kinde of dealings least happily fa Parsons and all his company repent that they euer prouoked vs therevnto After his vncharitable descriptions of his body mind he falleth to flat railing against him calling him a lost ladde the staine of his religion and order permitted by God and vsed by the deuill and the like vncharitable stuffe with no lesse vncharitable surmises of his peace made with my L. of London as though it had beene for some trechery or other All which calumniations discouer enuie malice without reason For it is well knowne by such as dealt for him that his peace was made vpon honest conditions and most lawfull and that he stoode both nice and scrupulous about the admittance of the offer at the first which argueth that it was neither sought by himselfe nor accepted vpon any base or vnlawfull conditions Besides it is well knowne that since his comming in and his peace made hee hath done much good as well to diuers in particuler yea and some of the Iesuits friends who little deserued it at his hands if hee had respected persons or sought to requite wrongs as also to the good of all the Catholicks in generall And whereas father Parsons noteth out of Cominaeus that in time of sedition the worst men grow fastest who in a quiet state should not be respected it seemeth to be a great touch of his owne credite who as wee haue noted before neuer loued in his life to be out of factions and garboyles raysing and maintayning tumults in all places in the world amongst English Catholicks wheresoeuer hee came and continuallie tempering in our English affayres as well against our prince state and whole country as our Clergie Colledges both which he and his haue tossed and turmoiled from time to time with such seditious plots practises and garboyles that it is a world to consider his busie working humor in these affaires By which meanes chiefely hee hath made himselfe famous and infamous to the world See how well father Parsons hath profited by his example out of Cominaeus For Ma. Watson all men know that he hath been in very great esteem amongst Catholicks abroade before these troubles more then now he is by reason of the Iesuits good words against him calling him into suspicion and iealousie of trechery in respect of his supposed peace made with the state which argueth that he hath not so much growne by trouble or factions as indeede Fa Parsons hath done After all this to shew more his particuler malice against him hee runneth backe vnto his first going beyond the seas and his comming to Rhemes whether comming as hee sayth a poore begging boy he was taken in of charity and his first allowance was for a good time pottage onely and licking the dishes which other men had emptied before and afterwards was admitted to serue at the Table and carry away dishes and then to make beds and such other offices in which kinde hee serued one Ma Boast a Priest c. All this he spitteth out against Ma. Watson wherein you may note a particuler malice against the man as he shewed before in the Apologie against Ma. Doct. Bagshawe For you must note that those alwayes that most stand in this Fathers way on them he layeth loade as if all his powers were recollected to wreake his teene as the saying is or worke reuenge But this kinde of fashion will sooner discouer his malice amongst wise men then procure him credite in his raylings For if
he were innocent and not indeede really toucht by Ma. Watson where his sore lyeth what neede he to kick so fast reason and quiet reply would sooner haue shewed his innocencie if hee had beene innocent then this outragious scolding Beleeue me if I were altogether ignorant in these affaires I should suspect Fa. Parsons to be galld and rubbed vpon the olde sore by his intemperate inuectiues against him for that he hath taken vpon him to discouer his actions and practises and so I thinke the like suspicion wil these immodest inuectiues breed in all wise mens heads Consider whether fa Parsons impatience passions make him not to forget himselfe and shew ouer-much folly but he that itcheth must needes scratch Now as concerning Ma. Watsons first going ouer beyond the Seas in such meane estate as he reporteth it is nothing so For being discended of good and honest parentage both by father and mother out of both which stocks hath descended worthy men as the last Bishop of Lincolne and two Abbots one of the which was the Abbot of Blancheland and one Lord Prior out of his mothers lyne it cannot be imagined that he came of any base or contemptible stocke though indeede his parents through some desastrous fortunes were not in their latter yeeres in that aboundance in the world as they had and might haue beene had not such chaunces incident vnto men in this life befalne them as might haue made the richest Monarches meane and poore which notwithstanding was such as alwayes brought him vp in good sort And for his going ouer it was with such difficulties and so often repulses hauing been nine times vpon the Seas for that purpose that it might consume no small store of mony and exhaust a well lined purse Yet notwithstanding all this his resolution was such and Gods concurrence so effectuall that at the length he arriued according to his desire at Rhemes where he was louingly entertayned when as by reason of the pouerty of that place diuers others were reiected and forced to retire to the Campe or become Seruing-men else-where and his entertaynment was equall with other mens children of better birth friends and parentage then euer Fa Parsons was and not as a begger or of charity but as the admittance of euery one that there was admitted was opus charitatis nor in such meane and base sort as maliciously without reason or truth Fa Parsons affirmeth but as a Scholer of the house with the same priuiledges that other had and so employed vnto his booke wherein he profited as all men see Neither as we vnderstand was hee imployed in making of beds as this Fa insinuateth to his discredit although such an office in a Colledge to a priest as Ma Boast was and the other but then a youth was no disgrace nor empeachment of credit as all men know But to the poynt Ma Pibush now I hope a blessed saint was the man that attended in that kinde vppon Ma. Boast not Ma. Watson Sed malicia quò vades Thus you see how blinde Fa Parsons enuie towards this man is in obiecting things as discredit which if they had beene so had not been any discredite at all if not honour but being not so doth manifestly conuince him of an enuious disposition towards the man If wee should now doe as Fa Parsons heere hath done enter into the Genealogies of his fathers and associates we could emblazon one for a black-smiths son if so well another for a very poore and meane mans child a third for a Tanners sonne a fourth for an Apothecarie his Prentice the fifth for a poore boy sent ouer by a priest one of our friends another for a Taylours sonne heire and in that yet som-what And how many more might wee reckon of as meanestate if birth should disparage their degree and function but this is a conceit distasting the iudgement of any wise or indifferent man sith not birth but merits and vertuous qualities maketh priests Neither doe we register these we haue done as any touch to their dignities and priesthood but only to check Fa Parsons exorbitancie and discouer his folly in bewraying himselfe and his best friends After all these disgracefull speeches steeped in gall he toucheth his lapse with more enuie then all the rest taxing him therein of many vntruthes as is knowne to such as were best acquainted with all circumstances thereof and vnto whose refutation we will leaue all particulers as also the falsifying of his letters which yet as Fa Parsons alledgeth them tast of more true vertue and humility then he sheweth charity in prosecuting the same Hee hath forgotten belike how dastardly he fled himselfe in time of persecution as Ma. Doct Bagshawe noteth in his aunswer to the Apologie Soone after this he speaketh of his breaking of prison which may worst of all be noted by him sith it is a thing so familiar and ordinarie with his pupills both with greater scandall and lesse cause then euer was in his as may appeare both by Ma. Lysters departure out of the Marshalseas his fellow prisoners hauing giuen their words for his true imprisonment to the Keeper whereby they were left in no small danger as also Ma. Barrows and Ma. Rowse their apprehension caused by his escape Such danger and scandall by breach of faith and promise neuer happened in the others escapes And as for the death of Mistris Warde for cooperating to Ma. Watsons escape she might haue auoyded it if she had not returned to the place from whence shee came with the boat after his departure by which ouer-much zeale shee was apprehended examined and there-vpon executed Her zeale of repairing to that place to haue him prayed for and to heare if he were safely departed being more really the cause of her death then the cooperation to his escape which she had auoyded if she had not repayred thither whereof he also warned her before hand and shee promised him she would not neither knew he of her apprehension vntill newes was brought him of her death which greeued him sore as being knowne to carry that stout and gratefull minde as hee would eyther by returne haue saued her life with losse of his owne or else haue offered himselfe to death with her Now as concerning his gallantnes with chaines iewells I know not what it will be a thing worth the noting particulerly for father Parsons credite and his followers and fauorits Thus then was the matter There was a Pettyfogger of the Iesuits a fawner on their fauours and one that to his petty posse was a factour for them This good fellow a Goldsmith by his profession and som-what more fold a certaine Iewell to Ma. Watson which hee prised vnto him at ten pound which Iewell when it came to be looked into by another Goldsmith one Ma. Pareman in Tower streete it proued worth not aboue eight shillings This was the great Iewell that made Ma. Watson so
for the more easie cariage But who now will belieue Fa Parsons henceforward by his own rule though he say truth sith he heapeth vp so many vntruths together in fardels without blushing In the same page and the next following he laboureth to extricate himselfe of an obiection concerning his offering to sweare to Iames Clarke in London that he neuer meant to be Papist but onely to goe to Padua to studie Phisicke In which the cunningst shift hee hath is to ridde the same by an equiuocation because forsooth the word Papist is odious in England and not a terme professed by vs. This is the clenliest and best shift he hath as there you may see VVhereby you may note that hee had learned Logick before hee went ouer and knew the difference betwixt vniuocum aequiuocum which practise hee hath not lost since for ought I see After this hee braggeth of his good deedes for feare they should be forgot in the next paragraffe saith it is a violent lie that Cardinall Allens opinion was of him that hee was of a violent nature but for that reade Ma. Charles Pagets aunswer to the Apologie In the next paragraffe he commeth to Stukleys matters cōcerning Ireland which he layeth vppon Doctor Lewis saying that he had no part therein which he confirmeth by that he had beene then but two or three yeeres of the societie and was not Priest Of this we haue spoken in the fourth Chapter but that he had beene but two or three yeeres of that societie and was not priest argueth not that he was no dealer therein For if he could be of that credit and respect that he entred then into difference with Doctor Lewis Archdeacon then of Cambray and Referendary to Pope Gregory the 13. about some matters concerning that busines as here he confesseth I see not but that hee might in the same manner be of like credite with his order to haue a hand therein also And all men know Fa Parsons was forward enough at his first going ouer in such busie affaires and the greatnes of the Iesuits with Pope Gregory might giue occasion way enough thereto In the next page 92. hee noteth Ma. Blackwells bewayling his comming into England and his rising in his order by practises and vntruthes of which he saith and many more if wee can proue any one poynt hee will say wee are honest men in the rest Now then for our credits with fa Parsons for his rising by practises or factious disposition I will say no more but what is iustifiable à parte rei viz. that the most stirring medling practising heads amongst all of our English nation to goe no farther haue alwaies come to credite preheminencie amongst them Witnes this per inductionem Fa Parsons whose factious disposition hath been euery where sufficiently displaied with proofes sufficient VVitnes father Haywood and his busie factious inclination at his comming into England of which fa Parsons can beare witnes being at variance with him and many other priests yet liuing in England some of them hauing beene present at his Synodes where he made himselfe President in the Popes name VVitnes father Holt of whose disposition you may read in Ma. Charles Pagets answer to the Apologie Witnes fa Creswell as you may see in Doctor Elyes aunswer to the Apologie Witnes father Garnet the onely chiefe actor in all our stirres heere in England I might adde Fa Crighton the Scot with the rest and father Holt if he were aliue would take my part These then are pretty inducements to thinke father Parsons rose in his order by his factious disposition But for the other point concerning Ma. Blackwell let him be examined vpon his oath whether he came not vnto Ma. Bluet then prisoner in the Marshalseas vsing these or the like words VVhat meant Doctor Allen to send this man ouer he will vndoe vs all And being asked why hee aunswered that his expulsion out of Oxford was so infamous that it would be obiected by the Protestants to the disgrace of the cause Let Ma. Blackwell I say be vrged with this I adiure him as hee will aunswer it before Almighty God at the latter day to say the truth and then fa Parsons shall see wee haue wonne our credits euen in both these points besides an hundred more already prooued As for his action in Paris to get himselfe released thence I haue heard men of credite report the same thing and that Verstegen alias Rowland was one of the three that came to enquire late for him For his euasion that hee was not there subiect I would aske Fa Parsons whether when a Iesuit maketh aboade in any prouince hee be not subiect to the Prouinciall of that prouince for as then fa Parsons was no Prouinciall but a priuate Iesuit though he had indeed the superiority of such as came with him into England Touching the story of Doctor Gyfford and father Baldwine before the Nuncio in Flaunders read Ma. Charles Pagets aunswer to the Apologie and you shall see the contrarie to this fellowes words from the Nuncio his owne mouth In the 93 page b. hee denieth the Bishop of Cassana to haue beene generall Visitor ouer them because he had an other viz. the Bishop of Mont Reall ioyned in Cōmission with him which is but a cauill For they were both Visitors generall therefore the Bishop of Cassana had authority ouer them to visite and reforme them if he would haue put it in practise against them which hee would not doe to auoyde theyr clamors of partialitie against them for that they held him theyr enemie although he had many memorialls deliuered him vp against them euen of diuers of their owne order which he shewed to some priests yet liuing God forgiue him for his omission herein Concerning the Letters writ against the said Bishop cōtaining these words vel Turca vel mors vel daemon eripiat eū á nobis there be yet witnes thereof aliue who saw him burne it with his owne hands vsing these words pereat memoria earum cum sonitu For the poysoning of Sixtus quintus Cardinall Allen the Bishop of Cassana and others whether they were poysoned or not God knoweth and by whom But for Sixtus quintus it is notorious that hauing beene sicke of a burning Feauer and beeing newly recouered he suddenly fell downe againe and as was said with drinking of a cuppe of Greeke wine he died within the space of sixe houres if I be not deceiued The suspicion you see is great of his poysoning and that the Iesuits should concurre hereto the conceit may arise by their euill affection towards him in respect of his resolution to reduce them to the forme of other religious orders a little before his death But that they did concurre to this fact I will not for any thing accuse them as beeing a matter I cannot certainly know therefore will leaue it to that day in which all things shall be opened Touching