in Scripture and alleadged by M. Hall for the mariage of Priests with his other proofes for their practise are examined and refelled the vow of Chastity is proued to be lawfull and not impossible § 1. Of the testimonyes and examples of the ancient Fathers Councells especially the Trullan and historyes produced by M. Hall for the mariage of Priests and Clergy men § 2. The later Part of M. Halls letter is examined the fiction of S. Vdalricus his epistle to Pope Nicolas the first is refuted Gregory the seauenth defended withall is declared the practise of our owne Countrey euen from the Conuersion vnder S. Gregory § 3. 5. Further to satisfy your request I haue added another paragraffe which contayneth a more generall censure or suruey of M. Halls whole booke not that I taxe or touch as much therof as deserueth correction for some other more potent Index expurgatorius is necessary to blot out all the faults and to purge either by water or fire this impure stable but for that out of these which I haue taken you may make a coniecture of the other which I haue left and more fully be able to conceaue the worth of this writer whome to me you haue so much extolled for all his painted wordes serue to no other end then to make the simpler sort to swallow down more greedily his poysoned pills whiles they see them couered with such golden phrases of superficiall cloquence and vrged with so great shew of zeale as if the man meant nothing but truth whiles he plainely gulleth them with most open lyes Of these thrids is this net wouen which catcheth so many of the weaker people much like as S. Hierom sayth to the web Hier. ep ad Cyprian Presbyt of spiders that catcheth weake flyes by birds and beasts is broken a sunder telam araneae texunt sayth he quae parua leuia potest capere animalia The Heretikes weaue a spiders web which is able to catch little and light creatures as flyes gnats or the like but by others of more strength is broken in pieces the light and more simple sort in the Church are deceaued by their errors when as they cannot seduce such as are strong in the truth of fayth So he of all heretikes and I of M. Hall Read what I write then belieue as you find this Paragraffe is long and beareth this inscription A detection of sundry errours committed in M. Halles writings which he shall do well either to amend or els heereafter to be altogeather silent § 4. The length of the thing makes me sometymes as occasion serues to speake to M. Hall sometymes to the Reader sometymes to your selfe no other thing is to be noted and for that the rest is directed to you alone I will not heer giue you the farewell but referre that vntill I come to the end of the whole The doctrine of the Apostles expressed in Scripture and alleadged by M. Hall for the marriage of Priests and his other proofes for their practise are examined and refelled the vow of chastity is proued to be lawfull and not impossible §. 1. BEFORE I descend to the particulers of M. Halls Apologeticall discourse for the marriage of A censure of M. Hals manner of writing Ecclesiasticall persons this briefly in generall I must say thereof that I haue not read a more loose base ragged peece of worke or so many impertinences couched togeather in so narrow roome in any matter or writer of coÌ„trouersyes which I haue seene betweene the Protestants vs as in this which made me wonder to behold one so busy of so little ability for the learning he euery where sheweth is lesse then meane though his malice be great doth still ouer reach his knowledge and surpasse all modesty but much more did I meruaile to see such passions so predominant in him as he could not conteyne them within some of the boundes of his owne Characters of morall Courtesy but was transported by their violence so far as to transgresse not Christian charity only but euen the prescript of common ciuility as euery where you will see for in this short Letter vpon no occasion or ground at al he breaketh forth into such base and reproachfull tearmes vseth such insultations and insolencyes such false accusations and impostures against Catholikes as will loath any modest man to read and must needs argue little wit and good intention in the writer who in so graue a matter is forced to stoop to so Ruffianly demeanour 7. And truly this base spirit seemeth to be so habituall in M. Hall as I can expect nothing M. Halls railatiue speaches taxed from him in case she should reply but whole cart loads of contumelies so fast they do flow from him and so little power he hath to bridle these impetuous motions of his discomposed mynd that notwithstanding in his vowes and meditations he say that if he cannot tame his passions Lib. 2. §. â—â— that they may yield to his case yet at least he will smother them by concealing that they may not appeare to his shame yet so vnable he is to do the one or the other as that euen where shame should haue withholden him most I meane in the pulpit deputed for the word of God and instruction of the faythfull in deliuery of which we can neuer be to graue or modest euen there I say he could not conteyn but in two sermons hath vttered more vnsauery filth then the Iesuits take them al togeather haue done in two thousand or in all the sermons of theirs extant in print so different are their spirits therefore no meruaile if he beare them such implacable hatred for thus in one sermon he sayth If euer you looke to see good dayes of the Ghospell the vnhorsing and confusion of that strumpet Pharisaisme and Christianity pag. 55. of Rome c. Againe dost thou thinke he sees not how smoothly thou hast dawbed on thyne whorish complexions and yet further in belying the Iesuits wherin he is copious without end malicious without wit and railatiue without measure A poore widdowes cottage sayth he fild the panch of that old Pharisy how many faire patrimonyes of deuout yong geÌ„tlemen druryed by them pardon the word it is their owne the thing I know can witnes haue gone down the throats of these Loyalists let their owne Quodlibet and Catechisme report And is it tolerable trow you thus with lying ribaldry to intertayne the people gathered to heare his sermon is this the word of God which he doth preach is this the modesty of the Gospell and for the two books which he calleth their own it is his own vntruth for they were composed by their enemyes I meane by men of as much credit as himselfe and one of the writers publikly at his death recalled what he had written and craued pardon of the Iesuits for the wrong of the world for the scandall which he
Perù Brasil Mexico and the adioyning coasts and assigneth the causes of their not working miracleâ— as I shall more fully declare when I shall come to handle this in the Ditection And euen now there is come to my handes a booke written by one Collins in defence of Doctor Andrews If Spenser the Poet were liuing he might very well make another Collins Slowt vpon his slowterly discourse so loose loathsome as will weary the most patient Reader and withall so ignorant railatiue and lying as I wonder that it was permitted by priuiledge to come to the Presse was not suppressed with his other which he wrot against the Reuerend Father Andraeas Eudemon-Ioannes He is fortunate in the choice of his Aduersaryes for be singles out such as are singular but in the combat he is weake simple and a meere pratler this he shall better heare from him whome it concernes then I shall need now to declare Only this I must note in him that Et Platanus Platanis Alnoque assibilat Alnus One egg is not more like another then are these Ministers in lying For this seely fellow in his Epistle to his Maiesty of all others which euer I saw written to a Prince the most beggarly thus writeth of Cardinall Bellarmine He in his deuoutest Meditations of all others his booke last set forth de aeterna Felicitate sayth M. Collins will not excuse Kings from being murthered de iure not only de facto only he passes it ouer as a casus omissus happily because auouched in his other Volums more peremtorily So he Insinuating that Bellarmine alloweth the murthering of Kings not only de facto but also de iure for what other sense can his words beare that he wil not excuse Kings from being murdered de iure And againe when afterwards he sayth The Cardinall not content with a death de facto implyes that they may be slaine de iure too but that it doth approue it which is so far from the Cardinalls meaning as he insinuateth the quite contrary For hauing compared the Saints in heauen with Kings on earth he commeth after to shew wherein the Saints do excell them and putteth this for one point that earthly Kings are subiect to many calamityes from which the Saints are exempted and deliuereth the difference in these wordes Denique potest etiam Rex subditos vinculis carcere exilio flagris morte mulctare sed potest etiam Rex de facto loquor non de iure vinciri carceri mancipari exilio vulneribus Lib. 1. c. 5. morte mulctari Id verum esse probauit Iulius Caesar Caius Nero Galba Vitellius Domitianus c. To conclude a King may also punish his Subiects with fetters prison banishment whippings and death but the King also may be fettered I speake de facto not de iure may be committed to prison may be punished with banishment wounds and death This did Iulius Caesar find to be true this Caius Nero Galba Vitellius Domitian c. So Bellarmine And let any heere iudge whether the Cardinall speaking de facto and not de iure do not graunt the one and deny the other Graunt I say that such facts haue fallen out and may vpon the wicked disposition of the people fall out againe but not that they were lawfully done VVhich is further confirmed by the other examples which he doth produce of which somâ— were good Princes as Gordian Gratian Valentinian the second and others Some also Saints as S. Edward of England S. Sigismund of Burgundy S. Wenceslaus of Bohemia and S. Canutus of Denmarke And is it possible to conceaue that the Cardinall should affirme all these to haue beene lawfully murthered And in case he had so imagined why then did he interpose that negatiue exception de facto loquor non de iure I speake of the facts which haue fallen out for certaine it is the forenamed Princes to haue beene slaine but not of the lawfullnes of their killing VVas it not trow you to excuse the Kings and accuse the murtherers For if he would haue implyed the contrary or approued it as lawfull he would neuer haue spoken in this phrase of speach but either haue concealed these words or expressed his mind in other And it cannot but moue laughter to see how this man geeth about to proue the immortality of Kings and reprehendeth Bellarmine for saying only that Kings de facto may be slaine telling his Maiesty most sonâ—ly that the Scripture leads vs to speake of Kings Princes in another strayne as if they that ought not to be violated by any mortall hand could not dye at all So this grosse flattering Parasite But where I pray you are those straynes Sure I am he must strayne hard before he find any such on our Bibles He alleadgeth the saying of Dauid speaking of the death of Saul How was he slaine as if he had not beene annoynted with oyle But doth this shew that de facto Kings cannot be slaine or rather doth it not shew the contrary For heere you haue Saul a King and yet de facto slaine which is as much as the Cardinall doth affirme But to this M. Collins very learnedly scilicet replyes that Kings dye not as Kings but as men quatenus homines non quaâ—enus Principes and so graunteth that Kings as men may be killed but not as Kings By which reason I will deny that any Minister Cobler Tinker or Tapster may be killed or dye at all Or though some of these degrees come to be promoted to the gallowes yet are they hanged as wicked men not as Ministers not as Coblers not as Tinkers not as Tapsters for els all Ministers Coblers Tinkers Tapsters should be hanged which were as you know a very pittifull case And the like happeneth although they dye in their beds for they do not dye because they are Ministers Coblers Tinkers Tapsters which are accidentall qualityes but for that they are mortall men and subiect to corruption But I leaue him to his learned Aduersary who yet as I perswade myselfe if he read any one Chapter in him will be more moued to contemne his writings then to answere them And indeed he should to much iniure himselfe in case he should seriously go about to refute such an idle froth of indigested fully or encounter with so base and babling an Aduersary whose pride ignorance rusticity are such as the one maketh him to reiect the other not to discerne the truth and the last to forget all modesty or good method in writing S. Bernard speaking of Heretikes truely sayd Nec rationibus conuincuntur quia Bernard serm 66. in Cantic non intelligunt nec auctoritatibus corriguÌ„tur quia non recipiunt nec flectuntur suasionibus quia subuersi sunt Such Ministers as M. Hall M. Collins and the like are not conuinced by reasons because they vnderstand them not nor amended by authorityes because they regard them not nor moued by persuasions because they are
much lesse so far as Luâ—her as to marry Nunne yet for that he did equall the meritâ— marriage with the meed of virginity cause some to marry was by all condemned for an heretike of whome thus writteth S. Augustine Virginitatem etiam sanctimoni-lium continentiaâ—xus August haeres 82. virilis coniugiorum castorum fidelium meritis â—â— quâ—bat c. He did equall the virginity euen â— Nunnes and continency of men chosing a sinâ— life with the merits of the chast and fay thâ—â— marryed folke and certayne old virgins in Râ— where he taught this doctrine were sayd â— hearing of him to haue marryed himselfe true neither had nor would haue a wife which â— sayd he did not teach for any greater merith held to be in virginity before God that migâ— auaile vs in the kingdome of euerlasting life but for that it did more auaile the present necesity of this that is least a man should be coâ—bred with the troubles of marriage In which words of S. Augustin we see two things graunter by our Aduersaries and denyed by this Fatheâ— vs the first that it is lawfull for such as haue vowed to marry the other that virginity is not meritorious to euerlasting life for M. Hall as after we shall see can endure no merits of our workes and Câ—luâ—â— â—n this will haue virginity only to be better then marriage because it is lesse subiect to worldly entanglements not for any merit or sanctity that he will haue to be in the same wherein he agreeth with Iouinian as you see as we with S. Augustine And this much out of the Fathers 52. There resteth to shut vp this matter that we also alleadge the Canon and Ciuill laws Proofes out of the Canon Ciuil law which for that I haue beene so prolix in the former authorityes of the Fathers I wil the sooner dispatch and hast to come to the other part of the Impossibility auouched by M. Hall in which I shall be forced to make some little demurre The Canons therfore shew how Eusebius Gratim causa â— q. 2. cap. dâ—ponsaâ—aÌ„ cap. Deâ—reta Greg. l. 6. epist 20. the Pope decreed that if a virgin be betroathed to one her parents cannot force her to marry with another but it is lawfull for her to enter into a monastery and become Religious which case happening after in the tyme of S. Gregory the Great at Naples where not the parents but the party to whome the virgin was assured either of griefe or despight kept al her goods from her S. Gregory commaunded the Bishop Fortunatus to see all restored because sayth he the decrees of the Canon law do no wayes permit any to be punished with whatsoeuer mulct who will become Religious So he And heere as you see the state of virginity is preferred before mariage and the monasticall life exalted without any touch of vnlawfullnes filthines or Antichristian brand 53. In the ciuill is that resolute degree of Iouian successour to Iulian the Apostata still extant in the Code Si quis non dicam rapere sed attentare Codice de Episcop Cleric lege si quis tantummodo iungendi causa â—atrimonij sacratissimas virgines ausus fuerit capitali poenaferiatur If any one I will not say shall rauish but shall be so bould as to attempt only to sollicite the most holy virgins with intention to marry them let him be put to death So the law And the occasion whereupon it was made is very remarkable for Iulian the Apostata attayning to the Empire reuolting from Christian fayth vnto Paganism dealt with holy Virgins as our King Henry the eight with all the Religious of England so well did these two Princes agree for he permitted certeyne lewd companions to marry some of them and without all checke or rebuke to solicite others to that vncleanes the matter by Sozomen is thus related Istam legem ideotulit quod Sozomen l. â— cap. 3. quidam improbi viri c. Therefore did Iouian or Iouinian as some call him make this Law because some wicked men vnder Iulian the Emperour had marryed some such virgins making them eyther by force or persuasion to yield to this abuse as it vsually falleth out when in the troubled state of Religion filthy lust findes freedome The singuler zeale of Iouian in defending the purity of Religious Virgins without punishment to commit such villany So he 54. And in setting downe the wordes of the law this Historian expresseth one clause omitted in the Code which sheweth with how great zeale this worthy Emperour imbraced this thing for he not only made it death to perswade such a virgin to marriage much more to rauish her by force but further added that the same punishment should be extented to whosoeuer els that lasciuo solùm obtutu aspiceret should but as much as cast a wanton looke vpon them and we may conceaue what he would haue sayd and done had he but found Fryers marryed to Nunnes or a lay man in his Empire vnder the title of his Vicar generall as was Thomas Cromwell Thomas cromwel to King Henry visiting all the Abbeyes Prioryes Monasteryes Nunneryes of his dominions putting forth all Religious persons that would go and forcing all vnder the age of 24. to go whether they would or no and that in secular attyre to seeke their fortunes doubtles this puissant Prince had neuer expected so long another occasion to cut off the head of such an impure monster as King Henry did who after diuers yeares charged him with heresy treason robbery for this alone had suffised this had beene more then inough if King Henry the eight had not beene more like vnto Iulian the Apostata then deuout Iouian and others about him at that tyme like the Heliotropium which bendeth alwayes his head to the Sunne had not flattered and followed him I meane in all his wicked designes among which sort of people it was no miracle to find such base spirits because men of that stamp as Iouian was wont to say Non Deum sed purpuram colunt make the Kings robes the rule of their Religion seeke to rise by other mens ruines procure their priuate aduancement by publike spoile and without al care or conscience transgresse and breake all lawes of God or man rather then they will withstand the vniust pleasure of any licentious Prince by whome they may expect to be preferred 55. This iust and rigorous decree of Iouian is further seconded by another in Iustinian where there is extant a law against those that should Lege 41. de Episcop Clericis by violence rauish virgins diaconesses or widowes that if such were taken adhuc flagrante delicto they should being conuinced by the parents of the sayd virgins widdowes c. or their kinsfolkes tutors or procuratours be put to death and then further it is enacted vt huic poena omnes subiaceant c. that all be
which is yet more then I need that he hath by this example euinced his cause and will neuer any more mention his diuorce 11. But if in this passage he cog notoriously if he affirme the quite contrary to that which is in his author if as before out of Origen he cut off three wordes with an c. so heer he do add one word which quite altereth the sense then I hope his friends will bethinke them well how they trust such iugglers who with the Aegyptians looke them in the face whiles their fingers be in their purse and I wish that with his falsehood he did but picke their purses and not seduce their soules bought ransomed with the deere price of the precious bloud of the sonne of God And that there be no mistaking betweene What M. Hall doth affirme out of S. Cyprian and I do deny vs remember I pray what M. Hall doth affirme to wit that Numidicus was a marryed Priest and that S. Cyprian auoucheth so much I on the other side deny both the one and the other and say that he was neuer a marryed Priest and that S. Cyprian neuer sayd any such thing but the quite contrary that he was made priest after his wiues death Let S. Cyprian decide the doubt betweene vs. 12. This Numidicus then being a marryed man was by the persecutours carryed togeather with his wife and others to be martyred the rest When Numidicus was made Priest were put to death before him with them he cheerefully saw his wife burned making no other account but to drinke of the same cup and to follow her into the flames he dyd so was left for dead Ipse sayth S. Cyprian semiustulatus Epist 35. iuxta Pamelum alias l. 4. ep vltim lapidibus obrutus pro mortuo derelictus c. He halfe burned couered with stones and left for dead whiles his daughter out of filiall duety sought his body he was found not to be fully departed and being taken out and by carefull attendance somewhat refreshed he remayned against his will after his companions whome he had sent before him to heauen Sed remanendi vt videmus haec fuit causa vt eum Clero nostro Dominus adiungeret But this as we see was the cause why he remayned behind that God might make him of our Clergy and adorne the number of our priesthood made small by the fall of some with glorious Priests Thus far S. Cyprian whose wordes are so plaine as they need not explication for he plainely testifyeth that he was made Priest after his wiues death and for that cause to haue beene preserued aliue and he sayth not as you see Numidicus presbyter vxorem suam concrematam c. Numidicus the Priest saw his wife burned but only Numidicus saw his wife burned A foule corruption the word Priest is added both in the English text and Latin margent by M. Hall and that as you see for his aduantage cleane contrary to the mind of his authour 13. For without that word what doth this testimony auaile him what doth it proue will he reason thus Numidicus after his wife was burned was made Priest therfore he was a marryed Pbesbyter and his example proueth the marriage of all Priests to be lawfull these extremes are too far asunder to meet in one syllogisme and he shall neuer be able to find a medius terminus that can knit them togeather I wish that I were neere M. Hall when some or other would shew him this imposture to see what face he would make thereon whether he would confesse his errour or persist in his folly for I see not but turne him which way he list he must be condemned Protestāt◠neuer write against Catholikes but they corrupt Authors for a falsifyer I know not what fatall destiny followes these men that whatsoeuer they treat of in any controuersy betweene vs them they cannot but shew legier-du-mayne fraud and collusion and yet notwithstanding pretend all candour and simplicity for heer on the word Priest standeth all the force of M. Halls argument and that is foysted in by himselfe not to be found conioyned with the wordes he cyteth in S. Cyprian 14. If M. Hall say which is all he can say that in the beginning of the epistle S. Cyprian hath these wordes Numidicus presbyter ascribatur presbyterorum Carthaginensium numero nobiscum sedeat in Clero c. Let Numidicus the Priest be numbred amongst the Priests of Carthage and let him sit with vs in the Clergy then goeth on with the description of his merits of the courage he shewed in seeing his wife dye c. this plaister cannot salue the soare for this epistle S. Cyprian wrote after he had ordered him Priest and his ordination as there he declareth and you haue now heard was after his wiues death Numidicus himselfe giuing by his rare constancy his so resolutely offering himselfe to dy for Christ occasion of his promotion yea of further preferment for in the end of the same letter S. Cyprian sayth that at his returne to Carthage he meant to make him Bishop as Pamelius doth rightly interpret him So as there is no euasion left for M. Hall to escape 15. I haue purposely transposed the fact of Paphnutius in the Councell of Neece the authority The fact of Paphnutius in the Nicen Councell is discussed whereof although it be more ancient then S. Athanasius who therein albeit present was not Bishop but Deacon yet are the Authors who recount the same much more moderne and all the credit lying on their relation no writer more ancient so much as mentioning any such matter the Councell if selfe disclayming from it these Authors in other things being found vnsincere fabulous I thought it not worth the answering but seeing that M. Hall notwithstanding he saw it fully answered in Bellarmine and others will needs bring it in againe as though nothing had euer beene sayd thereunto Answered by Bellarmine l. ◠de Clericis cap. 20. §. argumentum 5. vltimum and out of his wonted folly and vanity insert heere and there his Greeke words which haue no more force and emphasis then the English with this conclusion in the end His arguments wone assent he spake and preuailed so this liberty was still continued and confirmed I will briefly deliuer what hath beene answered thereunto if first I shew what legier-du-maine is vsed by this Epistler in setting it down with aduantage to make it serue his purpose the better 16. For whereas Socrates recounteth the fact Socrates l. 1. cap. 8. S zom l. 1. cap. 22. of Paphnutius in a particuler matter touching the wiues of such Priests only as were ordered whē they were marryed men whether such should be debarred from their wiues bound to continency as the rest this man from the particuler draweth it vnto the generall from only marryed Priests to
memory Reader is to be admonished that this epistle which by error of the writer is referred to Pope Nicholas the first in my mind is rather to be attributed to the name and tyme of Nicholas the second or Nicholas the third And is it so indeed Syr Iohn then why do you put it out of the due place vnder a wronge Pope why did you tel vs that the first Nicholas restrayned marriage and for that was reprehended by S. Vdalricke Did the Saint grauely and learnedly refute and disclaime against the vndiscreet proceeding of Pope Nicholas the first before the letter and after was proued not to haue sayd one word vnto him at all but to haue spoken to another who was Pope more then a hundred yeares after his death which of these Foxes will you beleeue these are such riddles as I cannot vnderstand them and no more as I suppose did he himselfe when he wrote them and so I leaue them to M. Hall to answere who for this matter in his margent remitteth his Reader to M. Fox and yet he in his last admonition contradicteth M. Hall who is resolute that it was written to the first and not to the second or third Nicholas 26. And M. Fox like a bad tinker whiles he would mend a little hole by knocking he The correction of M. Fox refuted beates out the bottome of the kettle or at least makes the hole much larger then it was before for whereas most Authours agree that S. Vdalricke dyed in the yeare 974. as Herm annus Contractus Vrspergensis Baronius and others or 973. as Crusius how could he write to Nicholas the second who was made Pope more theÌ„ fourescore years after S. Vdalricks death For as Platina Baronius others affirme Nicholas the second was not made Pope vntill the yeare 1059. such a foole or prophet do these men make this Saint to be for if he wrote to the first Nicholas he wrote to one buryed more then twenty yeares before he was borne if to the second to one not made Pope till more then fourescore years after he was buryed and as for the 3. Nicholas he is so far off that I thinke his great grand-father was not begotten when S. Vdalricke dyed for he was made Pope in the yeare 1278. and the other departed this life the year 973. so as there are almost three hundred yeares betweene the death of the one and creation of other so exact are these men in historyes and such regard they haue to deliuer the truth or rather are so impudent and shameles as they care not what they write or what they auouch 27. For whereunto now are all M. Halls boasts come of the force warrant of this testimony M. Hall cast in his cause that it is able to answere all cauills satisfy all readers and conuince all not willfull Aduersaryes or els that he would be cast in so iust a cause For who seeth him not only to be cast but crushed also in this matter who seeth nor on what sliding sands he placeth the chiefest foundations of his surest proofs for now all his fayre words and resolute assurance of his so potent Aduocate is proued to be nothing els but light smoke false coyne a meere cogging collusion which bewrayeth in the writer to too much vanity conioyned with affected ignorance or intollerable stupidity in so much as I may conclude this first argument against M. Hall with the words of the Authour who some yeares past set out S. Huldericks life and in this matter thus writeth in the Preface Scio ad haec impuram nescio cuius nebulonis eptstolam Vdalrici aliquando nomine venditam sed cùm â—a ad Nicolaum Pontificem scripta sit Nicolaus autem primus plusquam viginti annis ante Vdalricum natum suerit mortuus secundus Pontificatum octogesimo quod excurrit anno post eum mortuum inierit ferrei sit oris oportet qui tantum mendacium ausit asserere plumbei cordis cui possit imponere So he Which wordes for courtesy I leaue vnenglished least M. Hall should thinke that I applyed these discourteous tearmes vnto him in particuler which I will not and that authour speaketh to the first framer of this fancy alone or to all in general that will be deceaued by such fooleryes 28. Besides this argument of tyme an euiction vnauoydable other presumptions there are which seeme to me to be very effectuall and No such epistle to be found amongst the Epistls of S. Vdalricus not answerable wherof that is one which Staphilus relateth of the epistles of that Saint all registred and reserued in Auspurg amongst which there is not the least signe or shew of any such letter neither doth Martinus Crusius the Lutheran in his Sueuicall History of which Auspurg is the chiefest Citty so much as once infinuate any such thing which yet should not haue beene omitted if it could haue beene found that authour taking all occasions where he can to calumniate Catholikes and gather vp all scraps of any antiquity which may seem to make against them which yieldeth to this argument more perswasiue validity no Author of those tymes when it was written or any other after vntill our age euer mentioned the same or so much as heard thereof till our late Sectaryes set it forth and many reasons there were to haue vrged the authority thereof in case such a thing had byn extaÌ„t written by a man of that fame for sanctity as S. Vdalricke to such a Pope as Nicholas the first in such a matter so often so earnestly debated with such circumstance of more then six thousand childrens heads a lye fit for Lucian and the like which yet none euer did and their silence is to me a sure signe that no such thing was extant in their dayes Two or 3. yeares before the death of S. Vdalrickâ— was the contentioÌ„ of the incontinent Priests begun in England and yet none euer mentioned this letter 29. And to make this more plaine whereas with S. Vdalricke in Germany at the same time liued S. Dunstane in England who also out liued him for some yeares and there that contention was then hoatly pursued by that Saint others against the licentiousnes of Priests it seemeth to me very strange that such an epistle should haue beene written whils that conflict was on foot which lasted for diuers yeares and no acknowledge thereof to haue beene had in England where it might most auayle and with the authority of the Authour haue giuen more credit to the cause then the others should haue beene able to infringe but no such thing was then euer alleadged not one syllable therof in Malmesbury Houeden Huntingdon Matthew VVestminister VVilliam Nubrigensis Florentius or any other and thereof I inferre that there was no such letter euer written which vpon so vrgent an occasion ar so opportune a tyme and so directly for the purpose of the lewd Clergy could not haue The