Spaniards who then must be our good Maisters and of like the greatest number at the least in all authorities both in Court Country as in conquests happeneth and all men know the Spaniards to be the most licentious people in Europe especially the souldier Where is now your ground fa Parsons of an easie reformation but commonly great folly and blindnes followeth pride euen in the wisest men And if father Parsons say that this Treatise of Reformation was not intended vppon any conquest although it is euident that it was yet is it both foolish and arrogant Foolish in that hee buildeth Castles in the ayre knowing neither when by whom nor how the reduction of our country shall happen and therefore an hundreth to one that his foolish Chimeras will be either forgot or coÌ„temned when that time happeneth Arrogant in that thereby he seemeth to think that at such times our couÌ„try should want men of wisedome or piety or both to see what will be then conuenient and put the same in execution vnlesse he prescribe them before hand tell them what they must do But to open a little more in particuler his great folly heerein such as haue read the said Treatise beeing priests and men of credite vnto some of whom Fa Parsons himselfe shewed the said booke as secretly as now it is kept doe report that his directions are that the municipall lawes of our Country shall be so altered that the Ciuill lawes must beare the sway And this is the more probable because hee shuffleth it of saying little or nothing to this obiection nor bringing in one word of the Memoriall in proofe hereof or of the disposition of the Innes of Court how they should be imploied though he toucheth both but so as if he were afraid to shew what he hath written thereof for shame For our Clergie also they say that all men should be put to pensions in the beginning and the Colledges both in Oxford and Cambridge in the same sort depriued of theyr lands and reuenues and becom pensioners And this hath beene maintained to my selfe by some of his fauourites as a thing necessary with great vehemencie both for edification as also the disposing of the ouerplus to other good vses in the behalfe of the Church And that which is sayd heere to this purpose in excuse hereof is so little and nothing at all of Colledges that it is apparant he was vnwilling to manifest his follies therein VVhat he sayth of the King and Counsell hee will not tell you for doubtlesse it is good stuffe Of the nobility hee leaueth out what he hath said concerning theyr pompe traine reuenues and diet concerning the inferiour nobility which is our gentry as Knights Esquires and Gentlemen he noteth her Maiestie indirectly with oppression and contempt thereof to her dishonour which sheweth his pride and carelesse cariage towards all sorts Touching religious orders which hee noteth as a member of his diuision of the Clergie in his Epistle he sayth not one word at all but shuffleth it off as forgotten because therin he should haue discouered his loue and affection to all orders of religious people besides his owne All which orders one order onely excepted he excludeth out of England as they affirme for the first seauen yeeres or more that Maister Iesuits in the meane time might haue the sway of all and enter into the houses liuings and possessions of other religious orders if they could Thus he shuffleth and cutteth sparing no estate and yet heere he citeth you some fragments of the best stuffe he could picke out of that proude pamphlet to make you belieue that his indeuours therein were holy and zealous meerely for the good of Gods church his country Sometimes he calleth them excellent notes and obseruations and so proudly extolleth himselfe therein as he dareth to affirme though like a stage-player he taketh vppon him an other person then his owne that the contradictors of this his fantasticall worke haue neither vertue nor ability to imitate him Certainly the man hath a great conceite of his owne dooings and is too much ouercarried with partialitie and ouerweening of himselfe For otherwise let any man of iudgement and indifferencie duly weigh euen that which he hath cited himselfe in the best manner out â—f the aforesaide Treatise and hee will iudge it to be but pâ—oude and foolish stuffe and meere Chimericall conceits â—owsoeuer they carry a shew of religious reformation for that some of them are inconuenient and all without his sphere But to leaue these his foolish vanities let vs see what hee sayth in the behalfe of his booke of Succession First in excuse thereof he sayth that it came forth with the consent of Cardinall Allen and his liking and approbation which we assure our selues to be a malicious calumniation of the worthy Cardinall deceased For is it like that hee who so mightily disliked the Oration made by a young scholler in Valledolid wherein the title and right of England was offered vp into the Kings hands together with themselues and theyr parents is it like I say that he would approue this seditious booke wherein all right to the Crowne of our country is cast vppon the Infanta of Spaine Who in the world will belieue this But it is a fashion with father Parsons to father his sedicious practises and foolish actions vppon other worthy men commonly such as are dead as you may see by the multitude of dead mens Letters cited in the Apologie Howsoeuer he would draw the Cardinall into this work wee knowe that his affection in his latter dayes was not so great towards him as to concurre with him in any such fond intentions Adde to this that Fa Parsons hauing written this treatise and shewing the same to two reuerend priests when it was but in papers one after another both of them disliking and disswading him from the publishing thereof hee promised that it should not be printed But you will easily think that if he had obtained the Cardinalls approbation he would little haue regarded their opinions or promised to haue suppressed it as he did but would quickly haue satisfied them with his good liking and applause And where he saith that some of our selues at the first shewed liking thereof howsoeuer some one or other not seeing into the drift of it might ignorantly like the discourse sure I am that none of iudgement looking into it seriously euer liked it And I am sure that both my selâ—â— and diuers others of more experience vtterly disliked and condemned it from the beginning as diuers know But 〈◊〉 Parsons wise and graue iudgement esteemeth our heads greene and therefore he saith we carpe at that we vnderstand not Indeede it is to walke in a maze and a labyrinth of cares to follow his turbulent braines in all his sedicious intentions And yet by his leaue this was but a proud speech of his for all the world knoweth that some if not the
could finde a stomack to eate 3. meales ordinarily in one day and those sound ones too As for Fa Parsons insulting vpon Ma Bluets speech to Fa Weston concerning th' vse of Sacraments and his diuers comments there-vpon It is but the superfluitie of his owne vanity Ma Bluets speech was both graue and iudiciall in any reasonable mans iudgement For if the sacrament and good counsell of the Confessarins would not or could not reforme a Priest liuing in prison for conscience Religion how should we thinke that Ma Westons Agencie was like to effect it vvhere-vnto no man could be tyed in these times by force but of free will so might refuse those remedies at his pleasure his Agencie hauing neyther power of life nor death imprisonment nor chaines and therefore not to be compared as wise Ma Parsons seemeth he would haue it with a common wealth or publique authority where iustice may be executed in foro contentioso But you will yet happily call me to reckoning further for my first assertion wherein I affirmed that the Iesuits intended a generall dominion ouer all the priests of England by their attempt at Wisbich for the truth of which assertion although I haue alreadie giuen you sufficient reason yet wil I further satisfie you heerein by obseruation of that which hath followed since You know I suppose how the Priests were about a Sodalitie amongst themselues which was chiefly intended as by the rules thereof you may gather for the prouision of such as came newly and rawly ouer for the disposing of them abroad to their better securitie for the prouision of prisoners in durance for the better reliefe to Cath abroade in matters spirituall for the particuler good of euery priest and for the checking of some exorbitant and vnnaturall courses taken by the Iesuits against their Prince and Country to abolish such medlings in those affaires as impertinent to our function and vocation and to strengthen and inable our selues in these matters by a mutuall vnion this I say was the end of our sodalitie which we imparted vnto the Iesuits that they should see our sinceritie and honesty in those proceedings but we were too sincere and plaine to deale with such craftie crowders for they well perceiued that this course would discouer much of their iuglings in matter of state also put an euerlasting blocke or bulwarke against their intended superioritie So that although openly they seemed to like of the course because for shame they durst do none other yet they thought it high time to worke some cunning meanes to delude our indeuours Whereupon they secretly addressed Ma Standish one that had been most forward for the association but a secret Traytor vnto all the rest vnto Rome and there by the working of Fa Parsons he was brought before the Pope as hauing great affaires concerning the Clergie of our Countrie Wherein an oration furtiue vniustly and vntruly in the names of all the Priests of our Countrie he desired a gouernment and subordination Which false office being by him performed Fa Parsons himselfe busily folowed the matter with many vntrue suggestions vnto his holines of great discord betweene the Priests and Catholicks in England and we wot not what for the suppressing and reformation whereof some subordination gouernment was forsooth necessary Vpon these and many other such like vntrue suggestions his holines referred as sithence wee haue learned the whole disposition of this affaire vnto Cardinall Caietane theyr Protector Whereby Fa Parsons had in effect as much as he desired or could haue wished For the Cardinall euer stood at the Iesuits direction in all matters concerning our affaires as all the world knoweth Thus vvas Ma Blackwell by the Card commaundement and through Fa Parsons practicall deuises inuested in his authoritie a man wholy prostrated at the feete of Fa Garnet and standing meerely at his deuotions and directions in all matters of moment as by all his violent courses against vs in their behalfe the world may see But to manifest this point more palpably vnto you that you may see wee speake not of passion or emulation against the Iesuits but directly as the truth is In the instructions sent vnto the Archpriest concerning the execution of his office one and the chiefest prouiso was that hee should in all matters of weight be aduised by the Prouinciall of the Iesuits Fa Garnet Doe but thinke hereby how matters were like to be managed heere when all the controuersie was onely betweene vs the seculer Priests and the Iesuits not between Priests and Catholicks as falsly Fa Parsons suggested and that our Archpriest must be taught by the Iesuits Prouinciall what he shall doe in any matter of moment Iudge indifferently I beseech you whether this was not a trick to keep the managing of all matters in their owne handes and hold the Priests in slauerie and subiection vnto them Which because they saw by experience they could not obtaine imediatly to themselues they deuised to procure it more cunningly by a third person hauing a Secular priest in a corner wholie depending vppon them So that our superiour beeing to be directed by their superiour all the soueraigntie gouernment should indeed haue rested in the Iesuits Adde vnto this fa Garnets owne words deliuered before Ma Mush Ma Dudley when they came vnto him about the appeasing of the broyles in Wisbich vnto whom shewing himselfe discontented that they had not cōcurred to the confirming of fa Westons Agencie he vsed these or the like words to this effect That hee saw no reason why the priests in England should not as well be gouerned by the Iesuits here as they were and had beene in the Colledges beyond the Seas Now let any man that is not ouermuch blinded with affection towards the Iesuits of which sort I know there be many who will belieue nothing that maketh against any of thē indifferently iudge whether all their indeuours and intentions from the beginning were not to attaine vnto a monarchiall gouernment ouer the Clergie of England And yet this inference seemed strange vnto good Fa Parsons Beleeue me I thinke he so much presumes vpon his wit and policies together that he thinketh he may walke in a Net and not be seene But softly good Fa other men haue eyes aswell as your selfe and can discerne such grosse colours especiallie when the sunne shineth so cleerely But yet before I proceed any further I cannot let passe an admirable shew of a detracting spirit in Fa Parsons who in the close of his quipping carping against the foresaid discourse of the stirrs raised at Wisbich is not ashamed to note certaine particuler accusations as whoredome drunkennesse dycing pewter stolne which Mary the maide found in ones Chamber c. spoken of in the foresaid Relation Which he so cunningly shuffleth vp and leaueth hanging so suspiciously as if they were things euident without controle condemning the parties accused Whereas in the aforesaid discourse and
score yea hundreds yet aliue that doe step before it And no lesse a deceite it seemeth to be that he would put it forth in the name of a reuerend auncient Priest in England to bring him into danger for the same Whereas he sayeth that hee neuer knew Ma. Dolman it is a manifest vntruth For he not onely knew him but also knew him to be one of the most principall priests of our Nation both for the reuerence of his yeeres grauity iudgement and 〈◊〉 good parts that hath alwayes opposed himselfe againste the vniust and exorbitant courses of the Iesuits whereof 〈◊〉 Parsons hauing such continuall and certaine informations of euery man in particuler and their affections could not be ignorant especially he being the onely man of respect amongst the chiefe Cath of account in the East parts of England And therefore it may well be presumed that this vir dolorum as he calls himselfe did dolo malo of purpose publish the same vnder his name thereby to doe him a good turne if he could Wee know the Iesuits charity towards their back-friends and such as stand in their way And whereas in disgracefull sort he seemeth to excuse him from such an intention because forsooth as he sayeth Ma Dolmans talent is knowne to be farre inferiour to such a labour you may gather his loue and affection towards him how willing he is to doe him a good turne if it lay in his power Wee can assure you that all that know the man and speake not of him in spleene and hatred because he is not a fauourer but an aduersarie to the Iesuits proceedings cannot but confesse that he is a man of excellent good parts and not inferiour to most of Fa Parsons faction in England And therefore no vnlikely matter that a worthier peece of stuffe then this Libell of Succession might proceede from his endeuours if hee would be so idle as to busie himselfe about such vngratefull toyes After these obiections Fa Parsons by the mistaking of a word falsely printed viz greenewatt for greenecoate of purpose maketh himselfe ignorant of the matter which he knoweth as well as a begger knoweth his dish For he cannot be ignorant of his owne speeches deliuered in Greenecoate alias Leisters Common-wealth a booke written by himselfe to the disgrace of the late Earle of Leister Wherein he sayeth that difference in Religion speaking in the behalfe of the Scottish tytle ought to be no barre in the inheritance to the Crowne Thus you see him like a weather-cocke turning euery way But now he is become so religious in the behalfe of the Spaniard that he will haue them all to goe together by the eares and one to cut anothers throat yea suffer all the villaâ—â—â—es and miserable oppressions in the world by the Spaniard â—â—cause he is a Cath rather then to admit of the Scot for that 〈◊〉 is not so or of any other in his case and will needes haue all men bound without all temporall respects whatsoeuer vnder payne of damnation to striue to bring in a Cath Prince against the true heire and him that hath the best title Which generall proposition how absurd it is and against the very law of nature we haue else where shewed For by the same reason were the Christians bound being in great multitudes in the primitiue Church yea and whole legions of them souldiers and therefore in more likelyhood to haue preuailed therein then a few vnarmed Cath here in England to haue ioyned their forces at euery change for the erecting of a Christian Emperour the same being a thing of greater importance to Gods Church then for any King or Prince of so small an Iland to be a Catholike Neither can the difference of heresie and infidelity the one being a subiect to the Church and the other none much helpe the matter for your Emperours many times went by election and faction of the souldiers and hee that could get the force of the souldiers to proclaime him and bring him in was the true Emperour without respect of blood kindred or linage and therfore there was more reason for the Christians so to haue done at that time then for Cath in these But yet they held no forcible courses I meane the Christians nor thought it lawfull so to doe As concerning the letter to the Earle of Angus we haue already shewed sufficient out of it to the same purpose it was cited in the Important considerations The whole course of the letter being somewhat long after Fa Parsons manner of writing familiar Epistles is to no other end then to shew his diligence bestowed 8. or 10. yeeres for the King of Scotland his vntimely aduantage to the crowne of England And for the matter of the French Embassadors going to the Pope to procure audience for our first two messengers Ma. Doctor Bishop and Ma. Charnocke he may aske Ma. Nicholas Fitzherbert thereof I doubt not but hee can resolue him therein of the truth Whether it was the French Embassador or a Cardinall it was an office agreeable to their humours dignitie Neither is it to the purpose that the Duke of Cessa laughed or is fained to laugh by fa Parsons for all was but a Spanish laughter and so must be reputed nothing discrediting any action of ours vnlesse he thinke gestures laughters can put vs like children out of countenaunce But he is much mistaken for if laughing will serue the turne we can laugh as fast as either Fa Parsons or the Duke either be it spoken without touch to his degree which wee respect in him and all persons of Maiestie grace or honour VVe will heere omit the vsage of our two messengers because else where wee haue spoken sufficient thereof but yet he hath heaped vp such a farthell of vntruths in the onely relating of them as that they were heard for three months together that they were not cast into prison that iustice by that action was not violated c. that I am ashamed to see such palpable vnshamefastnes not one word beeing true as by our former discourse to his holines where things must be fifted to their verities you may see and also in the copies of discourses If furthermore you please to read Ma. Doctor Bishops aunswer to fa Parsons letter and the censure vpon the same there you shall find the straightnes of their vsage with a strange imprisonment vnder Fa Parsons theyr Gayler and that they were neuer admitted to deale about their busines nor heard but onely once beeing accused before the two Cardinalls But these are the straynings and ouerstraynings of fa Parsons to defend his proceedings which I told you of him in the preface For his question how the restraining of a couple of priests may be both blaspemie to the sea Apostolick and to her Maiestie I aunswere him that this is a forgery and an imposture of his owne and no such coniunction made in the Epistle by him cited Onely it is there
himselfe for vs. And thirdly all men almost of worth as well of the Clergie as Laïty that liue abroad beyond the Seas haue pittied our oppressions as it is well knowne The second effect by Fa Parsons noted is that mens harts and inward cogitations heereby are made manifest which otherwise might haue lurked vntill better ability and thereby haue wrought more mischiefe which now bursting forth will be seene and auoyded c. This effect being also as generall as the other and admitting any application so fitly agreeth with Fa Parsons and the Iesuits as all the world could not haue found out an office more agreeable for the purpose For may not I beseech you by this scandalous breache and the occasions and circumstances concurring euery man of wisedome see what the plottings of the Iesuits haue beene and their secret workings vnder-hand as well for the ouerthrow and subuersion of our Country by inuasions practises and treacherous deuises as also the subiection of our Clergie to an vnheard of slauerie which if by occasion of these stirres and fallings out they had not beene made manifest might haue lurked and lien secret and vnknowne vntill their plots and practises had beene ripe and their ability ioyned with the Spanish forces able to haue wrought the ouerthrow of both which I hope by the prouidence of God and concurrence of all good English subiects as well Catholicks as others will be auoyded beeing by these occasions made open and manifest vnto them As for Fa Parsons vncharitable prophecie that the chiefe and principall of our part are like enough to goe farther become as Bell and other Apostataes wee hope in this hee will rather proue one of the false prophets of Ball then any true prophet of God But such presages as these tast not of the greatest Christian charitie or modesty which father Parsons might haue had These are all the effects and applications of his necessity and vtility which father Parsons maketh vvhich hovv generall they be in themselues and hovv weakely by him applied or whether by this our returning them vpon himselfe and his they carry not more weight reason by odds I leaue the indifferent and discreete Reader to iudge After these effects page 122. he beginneth to direct Catholicks how to beare themselues in this time of triall as well in respect of the enemy and persecutor as the troublesome as he termeth vs. And for the first he giueth so good directions and aduertisements of humility patience longanimitie obedience and true spirit of Christian sufferance that if he and his complices and some few other had obserued the same from the beginning towards theyr soueraigne and country it had been doubtlesse farre better for all catholicks in England at this day then now it is But he can speake well though he haue done neuer so vnhappily as in the fourth Chapter you may see and this is but a tricke of a polititian to vse the best words when he meaneth least good And whereas hee taxeth vs in generall tearmes to haue yeelded to goe farther with Protestants in matters against religion and Catholicke doctrine then wee might it is a meere calumnie and for his life hee cannot name the least particularitie of this but onely after the old manner spetteth out generall accusations with out any particulers in the world whereas we are able particulerly to charge him and some other Iesuits to haue gone farther in their practises against her Maiestie then any Catholicke doctrine conscience or religion can warrant them coÌ„cerning the taking away of her life by secret murdering and conspiracies see the fourth Chapter and I farther say that Fa Parsons practises first with the Scot then with the Spaniard and as they say with the Duke of Parma also but I am sure father Holt did for inuading his naturall country subiection thereof by fire and sword which must needs haue followed were and are vnnaturall because against his natiue soile and naturall Soueraigne vncharitable because the increasing of Catholicks affliction at home and vnconscionable because without that iust due respect of either which in conscience he ought to haue had Now let the world see whether we deale in generalitie with fa Parsons as he dealeth with vs. VVee will omit his inuectiues against vs as men in a frenzâ—e and possessed with violent and raging spirits and his warning to Catholicks to keepe themselues from comming vvithin our fingers or reach as though wee were traytors would betray them which sheweth his small charity not to adde malice VVee will also passe ouer his long and tedious discourse of the spirits of men trying of spirits which word spirits he hath so canuased thorow all this his Libell as if hee had been some Zwingfieldian or precise Anabaptist indued extraordinarily with the spirit But I will not omit his false hereticall interpretation of the place of S. Iohn Try the spirits c. thereby leading his Reader into a presumptuous error of iudging all both men and matters contrary to the true meaning of the Apostle as you may perceiue by Gerson Ma. Gregory Martin vpon that place In the close and conclusion of this his discourse of discerning of spirits he doth so set out himselfe as if hee had no other marke or ayme for all men know him to be and as he might thereby be discerned of a most violent and headlong spirit And for the humility obedience pouerty patience and charity of the Iesuits which hee noteth for effects and signes of the spirit of God I refer it to the iudgement of such as haue knowne theyr proceedings in these late affaires with what insolencie and violence they haue prosecuted the matter of the Archpresbyterie and schisme against vs theyr insatiable desire of rule and gouernment ouer vs first in Wisbich then abroade theyr excesse in apparrell expenses horses attendants possessing indeede the whole collections almost of all that is giuen in pios vsus theyr impatience in being coÌ„tradicted or controlled rather mouing sedition in the whole afflicted Church of our country then they would be crossed of theyr wills or let fall theyr vniust designes theyr bitter inuectiue writing against vs with the most opprobrious terms that could be deuised before we euer put penne to paper or gaue them any cholerick word Whereby any wiseman may see how fa Parsons hath shaped the declaration of the spirit of Sathan which vncharitably he would impute vnto vs and haue all Catholicks so to thinke of vs which by due and indifferent consideration might more fitly be applied vnto himselfe his associates if I were so vncharitable as to prosecute it and did not rather pray that Sathan may haue no power at all ouer him or any of his order Now are we come vnto the Quodlibets the last booke and that which he most inueigheth at beeing indeede somewhat sharpe and cholerickly written according to the disposition as well of the matter vrging choler as
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
that office on the Iesuits behalfe I know not neither doe I see that necessitie in the prosecution thereof that Fa Garnet could doe no lesse as Fa Parsons affirmeth For I would but aske him this one question why he did not procure a iuridiciall examination of matters that men might speak what they knew vpon their oathes but would shuffle them vp in corners and seeke to draw men by fauours perswasions the like to testifie for them as I am able to proue they did This kinde of couert dealing in any wise mans iudgement could not but yeeld great suspition of guilty consciences in them For all men know that a man will conceale many things which he could say being but ordinarily thereof demaunded which he would not doe being examined iuridicè vpon his oath Besides who is ignorant that such as should haue accused them by their subscriptions should thereby haue incurred their high displeasure which for ought I see many yet feare and yet haue done thereby small good in that their subscriptions should haue been concealed or by some meanes or other frustrated of their ends as the subscriptions of the three priests were who subscribed somewhat disliking to their humors But there was a farther policie in these matters The procuring of these subscriptions were but an introduction to other poynts which they had in hand concerning the Archpresbiterie For by this meanes did they first sound the affections of priests towards them try what they could doe with them if the like manner of occasion should serue afterwards as in the same sort they did after the institution of the Archp by priests subscriptions to a congratulation procure his confirmation After the end of all this our good Fa seemeth to lament our case for defaming of theyr order and hee citeth manie Authors against diffamations and defamors of others specially of Religious orders But I would faine knowe to what end hee so much laboureth in quoting Authors to this purpose Can he thinke that men who professe to direct other mens consciences can be ignorant of the sinne of detraction and penalties thereof Well in execution and practise men may erre but it were great folly rashnes for him to thinke them ignorant in the knowledge or speculation of it Or is Fa Parsons so vnobseruaunt of his owne actions writings that he doth not see that wee can retort all that hee hath said heerein against himselfe Is there any man liuing that hath more defamed Ecclesiasticall men then Fa Parsons VVas it not Fa Parsons that defamed so many vertuous Priests scholers in the Seminarie of Rome and divulged the same to all the world and now in print in his Apologie Is it not fa Parsons that in the said Apologie hath defamed 12. or 13. reuerend priests prisoners in Wisbich Is it not Father Parsons that hath divulged in the said booke by letters through the world diffamation against all the priests of England that refused to subscribe to the Archpriest Was it not fa Parsons that enformed falsly vnto his Holines against not onely all the Priests of England but also all Cath suggesting to his Holines that they were at varience and quarrelling one with the other Was it not Fa Parsons chiefely that defamed Ma Doctor Gifford and now renueth the same course againe in his Apologie Nay who liueth amongst vs that euer opposed himselfe against any proceedings of the Iesuits felt not this Fathers good words See now good Sir what danger you stand in through your vniust and slaunderous calumniations But as for that we haue sayd or done you shall see that wee will sufficiently purge our selues of all such dangers which he shall neuer be able to doe First you know it is a generall receaued ground by all that when the actions of any particuler man or men be they of what degree they will be secular or religious Ecclesiasticall or Lay do tend vnto any generall or common hurt of a cōmunitie as for example the actions of some particuler seruaunt in a familie to the ruine or ouerthrow of the familie some particuler scholer or scholers in a Colledge to the subuersion of the Colledge or some particuler men in a cōmon wealth to the destruction of a Common wealth it is then not onely lawfull to disclose these particuler men and theyr particuler actions though otherwise priuate and diffamatorie vnto the said particuler parties as all such actions of theyr owne nature must needs be but also euery honest seruaunt euery faithfull seruaunt euery true scholer and loyall subiect is bound in conscience vpon his duty to his Master faith vnto his Colledge loyaltie to his Prince and loue to his country to disclose such persons and their facts or intentions with our regard or respect vnto the hurt or damage that may redound vnto the said particuler parties so offending The reason heereof is this because a generall good is alwayes to be preferred before a particuler and a greater hurt to be eschued before a lesse As for example when two euils concurre so that both cannot be auoyded but that necessarily the one must happen it is not onely charitie but euery man is also bound to preuent the greater euill with permission of the lesse rather then the contrary This foundation beeing layd which is grounded vppon the law of nature now will I easily make you see that our divulging of some proceedings of Fa Parsons and other Iesuits is not onely voyd of iust imputation but also lawful iust and necessary all circumstances considered therefore free frō the danger of those penalties cited by Fa Parsons in this worke And first for the reuealing or indeede divulging of things already reueled by theyr owne foolish open dealings Concerning matter of state who can be so ignorant as not to know that he is bound more to loue his country then a Iesuit yea the whole order of the Iesuits sith vnto the first he is bound by the law of nature to the second onely by the law of fraternall charitie Now then the actions of the Iesuits tending so euidently as they doe and haue done to the ruine subuersion and ouerthrow of our Prince and country both by secret practises open incursions of Spanish inuasions as is manifest both by theyr own books letters other dealings as well in Ireland as England what good subiect or true-harted Englishman can doe lesse then disclaime vvith his mouth resist with his blood and open with his tongue all such vnnaturall and trecherous attempts And if any man be so simple or so deluded by theyr fayre words as that he hath not or doth not see any such practise or intention in them let him not therefore blame vs for speaking therof or divulging the same who are too wel acquainted therewith and therefore bound to reueale what we know therein when it shall be necessary for the preseruation of our Prince and Countrey Neither let any man be so simple as to
whose secret actions priuate workings tended vnto the subuersion of the Prince and Countrey or Magistrate and Citty and that this being vnknowne to the Prince or Magistrate affection would not suffer them to see their owne danger and the danger of their Countrey Common-wealth or Citty it were not only lawfull for me to disclose the particuler actions of the said party though priuate thereby to giue occasion vnto the Prince or Magistrate to be more vigilant vnto themselues and their estates and more obseruant of the aforesaid dangerous person but also an act of allegeance to my Prince and of loue vnto my Country vnto which euery man is bounde in duty and conscience So in our case if any particuler actions of the Iesuits be discouered they are but matters of proceedings with particuler men that thereby you might learne by particularities and matters of lesse moment to conceiue the better what how dangerous their practises be in matters of greater waight and how theyr proceedings hold one and the selfe-same course both in particuler and generall affaires in matter of lesse and greater moment And this so long as we obserue truth in our relations is both lawfull and necessary as the case now standeth with the Iesuits and their actions in England and we are free both from the note of detractors in reuealing theyr exorbitant proceedings penalties thereby incurred The like cannot be said in theyr behalfe for defaming of vs. For they haue not onely vniustly and vntruly detracted from our good names and credits in these matters of our proceedings as all the world now seeth but also entred into our particuler liues most falsly going about to touch therein our good names which no way is excusable in that if any such thing had beene true in any of vs yet could it not beeing a secret infirmitie haue tended to any generall hurt of any whole body or common-wealth but onely to a particuler hurt of a mans selfe which by no law of conscience could be reuealed by them Neither haue wee done so by them though I thinke no man will recken them all saints But those secret diffamations proceeded doubtlesse of a machiauilian ground and not of iustice or charitie Now let vs come at length vnto the booke of Important considerations at which our deere Father spitteth no lesse then fire with words of folly frensie fury mutinie warre and defiance parasiticall pernicious erroneous hereticall wicked reprochfull trayterous ridiculous impious base and wickedly minded proctors for hereticks accusers against persecuted Catholicks transformed with passion enuy malice sold our tongues to the cōmon enemy vnited in wicked attempts contemptible to all Catholicks of discretion the like Certes this good mans zeale was great when in his heate of choler hee vttered so many fierie and passionate speeches But yet I must needs craue pardon at his hands to runne ouer this matter a new and request his patience that wee may examine the booke againe and see whether it deserue so mightie blame as hee maketh shew of Belieue me if it doe we will cancell it and blot out his date but if it proue otherwise hee must be content to let it passe with a more fauourable interpretation and not wrest matters into worse sence then euer the Authors intended In the very first entrance into this booke I wish you to note a cunning falshood of this Father in the relating of the title of this booke which he setteth downe thus Important considerations to mooue all true Catholicks that are not wholy Iesuited to acknowledge all the proceedings of the state of England against Catholicks since it excluded the Romaine faith and fell to heresie to haue beene not onely iust but also mild and mercifull c. In this altered title which is not verbatim with the title of the booke Fa Parsons sheweth himselfe not a little first in foysting in of the world all before proceedings thereby to take aduantage of euery petty matter that hath happened perhaps sometimes by the knauery of some Pursuiuant or other odd fellow without commission or warrant as also in adding with a Parenthesis since it excluded the Romane fayth and fell to heresie therby to make the matter shew more hatefull and haynous Whereas in very deede as euery man may see that list to read ouer the Treatise the intention is not to excuse or iustifie euery particuler action of the state as the action may be in it selfe considered without further respect then to that particuler bare action For who will or can iustifie or excuse the killing of a priest as a priest or confiscating or hanging of a Cath as a Cath meerely for religion This I say is not intended in that booke as all the world may see for therein is lamented the hard course taken as well against Priests as Catholicks neither for ought I see doth the state make shew of persecution quo ad vitam et necem for matter meerely of religion and conscience but vppon pretence of treason or attempts against her Maiesties person or state or at the least vpon the feare thereof Now then all the end and scope of this booke is none other then this to excuse the state from such generall imputation of infamie layd vpon it especially by the Iesuits who haue been the chiefest causers of those vehement afflictions as though the state without all cause or shew of cause had made lawes against innocent men and there-vpon persecuted them vnto death no true occasion of exasperation hauing euer been giuen from any such person eyther to prince or state To take away I say this vnderserued infamie this treatise was written of purpose to lay the fault truly where indeede really it hath beene humbly desiring at the feete of our Soueraigne that we being innocent in such actions may not sustaine the burden of their offences but may obtaine so much fauour in her gratious sight as to be numbred amongst her loyall subiects and those that hate such vnnaturall and euer accursed practises least otherwise we be inforced to say lamenting our case with the Prophet patres nostri peccauerunt et non sunt et nos inquitates eorum portamus This I say is the whole scope and intention of this worke and therefore doth the author giue reasons by particuler mens actions and vndiscreete attempts as well by writings as practises that the state hath had iust cause to feare when it perceaued such dealings and there-vpon was moued to prouide by lawes and premunitions against the like afterwards And if by these lawes and prouisions it happened that innocent men sometimes were wronged as in all generall lawes it happeneth sometimes yet was not the state all causes first giuen considered so much to be condemned nay rather it was to be excused in that it is most certaine that it hath not proceeded with that rigor vpon such causes giuen as otherwise it might haue done to the extirpation of all such persons from
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
admirable expectance of that army and the Iesuits more then any Secondly it is plaine by the Cardinals booke if it were his written as a preparatiue to that action that hee was made Cardinall of purpose for that exployt to haue been sent hether presently vpon the Spaniards conquest But Father Parsons saith that he laboured to set forwards at that time the Cardinals preferment if you wil belieue him which maketh it euident á primo ad vltimum that father Parsons was a dealer in this action Thirdly it is also certaine that the Iesuits in Rome were great with the Spanish Embassador liger there and had great recourse vnto him when the matter was on foote Doth not this then argue them to be concurrers thereunto Fourthly it is likewise most true that the English Iesuits in Rome appropriated certaine pallaces in London to themselues to fall vnto their lots when this matter was in handling to wit Burley house Bridewell and an other which I haue forgot making themselues cocksure of their already deuoured pray This all the students that liued in the Colledge at that time will witnes with me Now would I demaund of you what reasons they might haue to be their owne caruers if they had not had some interest in that affaire Fiftly wee know that they were more forward in Rome concerning this matter then the Cardinall or any other insomuch as at the first newes of the Spaniards comming downe into the narrow Seas they vvould haue had Te Deum sung in the Colledge Church for ioy of victory if the Cardinall had not staied it Doth not this also shew that they were as farre in the matter as Card Allen or any other And to conclude did not the posting ouer of fa Parsons into Spaine presently after the ouerthrow of this armie for farther dealing with the Spaniard for the time to come and his better informations in English affaires and fa Holt posting into the Low-countries for the like purpose to keepe the Spaniard still in hope of future times that this mishap might not with-draw him frō euer enterprising the like afterwards shew that they were dealers in the former doubtlesse all these circumstances cannot but sufficiently prooue it that they were in the iudgement of wise men Now as touching the speech of the Duke of Medina Sidonia wee haue already shewed out of Fa Parsons ovvne speeches that hee made no respect at all of Catholicks neyther knew hee as Fa Parsons said whether there were anie Catholicks in England or not The next poynt brought in by Fa Parsons is the last Irish attempt but before wee say any thing to that wee must put his fatherhood in minde of his practises concerning two other preparations wherein he cannot deny himselfe to haue beene not onely a dealer but also the very chiefe and principall actor The first was that wherein Doctor Stillington some others got their death which miscaried by reason of the ignorance of their Pilots or rather by the prouision of God 34. shyps beeing shiuered vpon theyr owne Bayes If he denie this wee haue Ma. Thomas Leake a reuerend priest and others witnes thereto with whom he dealt to goe in that Armie And because Ma. Leake refused he intreated him accordingly This preparation was intended as thē was thought for Ireland The second preparation was som three or foure yeeres after if I be not deceiued of which Fa Parsons maketh mention in a letter writ to Ma. Thomas Fitzherbert frō Rome into Spaine desiring to heare of the successe thereof saying withall that they had little hope of that attempt at Rome This preparation as I remember was in the same yeere that the Earle of Essex went vnto the Ilands and it miscaried also by tempests One of the ships vnlesse I be deceiued was driuen into an Hauen in South-wales These two preparations are so euident to haue proceeded with his concurrence and cooperation as he no way can denie it without the note of impudencie so many witnesses and his owne Letters beeing in testimony against him By this you may see how foolish false and ridiculous that protestation is which he alleadgeth of Sir Frauncis Inglefield Ma. Thomas Fitzherbert if any such were wherein they say that neuer any conquest was intended by the old King of Spaine nor by his Maiestie that now raigneth For I vvould but aske Fa Parsons to what end these preparations vvere whether they were to catch Butter-flies vppon the seas I think few men of vnderstanding will think that good King Phillip meant to haue onely established Catholicke religion by force of Armes and when he should haue seene himselfe maister of the field and Crowne would depart quietly leauing all to our selues as he found it No no the sweet Kingdome of England would haue been perhaps as precious vnto him as his best dominions in the world No lesse absurd is the protestation concerning Fa Parsons and Father Creswell that they did neuer treat in their liues nor consent that the King of Spaine should haue any temporall interest in the Crowne of England nor that the old King or his Maiestie now raigning euer intended any such thing but onelie the good of Catholicks and their ease This is so friuolous so childish and so sencelesse a protestation that I am ashamed to thinke of the folly thereof What wise man will not laugh at Fa Parsons to heare him in such sober protestation affirme that hee neuer intended that the King of Spaine should haue any temporall interest to the Crowne of England and yet by all his might power seeke to make him Maister thereof by inuasion and force of armes or that hee pretended nothing but the ease of Cath when hee sought the cutting of their throats These are strange contrarieties in words to protest our good and in action to seeke our liues VVas the booke of Titles wherein the Kings daughter the Lady Infanta was intitled to all her Maiesties Dominions writ to no purpose but to exercise father Parsons wit VVas it a vaine speculation in the ayre without relation to effect or end Or if it be a sottish dulnesse for any man to thinke so how then was there no temporall interest sought to the Crowne of England But because the interest was layd vpon the Infanta therefore belike father Parsons thinketh all inconueniences absurdities salued and himselfe excused A simple shift to blind a buzzard As though the Infanta could get or possesse the crown of England without asmuch preiudice to our Country as if the King should haue taken the right to himselfe Must they not both come in by force of armes must not that be with conquest subuersion of the state debasing of all nobilitie and translation of our English nation in the greatest part Can we expect lesse by a Spanish conquest then wee found by the Norman in the Conquerer his daies No certes It wil be farre worse Let any man but looke backe to those times and
most part of those who disliked this his heraldrie were in learning his maisters and in knowledge of the state of our Country what was conuenient or inconuenient pleasing or displeasing pacifiding or irritating better informed then himselfe as being men who liued vnder the burden of affliction and were not fled the field as hee was neither were their wits so weake as not able to see Fa Parsons cunning ayme therein Though like a Gipsey he play at fast and loose yet men that are acquainted with his olde tricks can gesse at his new fetches But whereas he saith that as times stood when the booke was written it was necessarie to handle that matter of succession to the crowne and that the first book is of such waight that it is an irreligious point for any Cath to be ignorant therein concerning the matter of preferring a Cath Prince for the which no good Cath can dispense with himselfe vpon any humaine respect or consideration whatsoeuer These his assertions are so headlong fond and desperate as I know not well how to deale with him As the times then stoode you say Meane you Sir as the times then stoode in Spaine or in England If you were throughly pressed to name vnto vs a fit time for xx yeeres past at least when wee might conueniently haue dealt heere with the point of Succession I beleeue it would pose you Such are our lawes in that behalfe as silence in such matters had beene much more fit for you that liue abroad and lesse dangerous to vs who are subiect to some stormes at home You must therefore needes haue relation to the times as they ranne in Spaine And so wee haue descryed the traytour After the repulse 1588. this good Fa hastneth into Spaine and finding no likelyhoode that the King would againe attempt the like course against this Realme he thought it was time to intitle him to the Crowne if so be hee might set a new edge to his former desire thereof If I misse of your meaning you may expound your selfe heereafter Next you commend vnto vs exceedingly the first book of your treatise like a very wise and a modest man But when I perused it me thought I was reading all the while your Maister in that art Buchanan the Scot his booke de iure Regni apud Scotos vnto whom you are very much beholden If any will take the paines to reade them both let him condemne me for a seducer if I haue abused him heerein Their full scope is how they may set vp the people against their Soueraignes Well well good Fa when people are thrust into such courses they are not easily stayd and you are but a simple man for all your statizing if you know not that popularity in the ciuill state doth not well disgest a Monarchie in the ecclesiasticall You tell vs further that it is an irreligious thing for any to be ignorant who shall succeede her Maiestie and therefore you forsooth thought it time to teach them But the time was when such trayterous courses were vtterly forbidden that in Spaine it selfe by the fift Counsell at Tolet vnder paine of excommunication But I know your shift you will tell vs that there was no feare then in Spaine but that whosoeuer should succeede hee would be a Catholicke which is not so with vs now in England And if not so with vs how then Father It is true I confesse that there is no competitor vnto the Crowne of England that is Catholicke in whom any probabilitie in the world of enioying the crowne can be imagined as all men know But what then Are Catholickes bound without all humane respect to dispose themselues for such a Competitor as must be a Catholicke Againe if Catholicks would so dispose themselues what probabilitie is there that they could direct or make such a King beeing the weakest and the deiectest number in our country and are besides deuided in themselues through the Iesuits honest practises as euery man seeth And as touching the Infanta of Spaine neither is shee a Competitor more thē euery gentleman in England that can any way deriue himselfe from any noble house that hath any way matched in the blood royall as the most auncient Gentlemens houses in England haue done Neither is there any probabilitie of her Obtayning the Scepter vnlesse we be willing to become slaues to Spaniards and aliens as this vnnaturall English Iesuit would haue vs. Now in this case as all things stand with vs in England I thinke there is no man of iudgement that is not Iesuited and so Hispanized but vvill say that wee are not bound to oppose our selues for a Catholicke Prince I might adde some other reasons to this purpose as that we may not doe euill that good may come of it The common rule of iustice requireth that euery man should enioy that which by right and inheritance belongeth vnto him In auncienter times obedient and dutifull Christians liuing vnder Tyrants prayed not onely for them but for theyr chyldren that they might succeede theyr fathers in the Empire though they theyr sayd children for ought the Christians knew were like to proue no better then theyr Fathers Wee are to commit the cause to God in whose hands the harts of Princes are and who doth make and pull downe Kings at his will praying that whomsoeuer it shall please his diuine prouidence to inuest with the Crowne and scepter of our Country hee will vouchsafe to incline his hart vnto the Catholicke Romane religion and fauour of his Church For where in mans reason no possibility of things are they are alwaies to be referred vnto Gods holy prouidence and disposition who worketh beyond mans expectation Besides the reasons which the Councell of Toledo yeeldeth why it was forbidden to name a Successor to the crowne as long as Chintillus the King liued doe fight with Fa Parsons tergiuersations It was held an vnlawfull thing so to doe But you shall haue theyr owne words Quia et religioni inimicum et hominibus constat esse perniciosum c. Because it is both contrary to religion and hurtfull for men to thinke of future things vnlawfully to search after the falls of Princes to prouide for themselues for aftertimes seeing it is written It belongeth not to you to know the times and moments which the Father hath put in his owne power Wee ordaine by this decree that whosoeuer shall be found to haue sought after such thinges and during the Princes life to haue aymed at an other for the future hope of the kingdome or to haue drawne other vnto him for that purpose shall be cast out of the congregation of Catholicks by the sentence of excommunication By these things you may see whether the peremptory proposition of fa Parsons be not in our case a flat paradoxe but he neuer looketh to circumstances of time persons or place so hee may by generall propositions seeme to make a faire shew of somewhat But to come
the conditions of security to be giuen vnto the Queene concerning her person and state which they perhaps are vnwilling to be drawne vnto considering thereby all their plots and practises should be cut of Neyther happily wil the State trust them in whom it hath found such trecherie by reason of their mutuall bond wherein they are all tyed to follow the direction of Fa Parsons the Archeplotter of state practises against our Prince and Countrey And to proue this part concerning the Iesuits affection towards toleration Fa Parsons their ring-leader and square to the rest openly in Rome before the Scholers as diuers will testifie against him made a long speech against toleration of Religion in England in that as he said Cath thereby would grow cold and lose their feruencie they had got by persecution See whether the motion of toleration was like to proceede from these me◠and yet he insinuateth some motiue vnto her Maiestie and the Counsell to deale with him or his party because forsooth we being deuided as he sayth haue little credite By this also indirectly you may perceaue his minde to toleration in Religion or any benefit to Cath seeing he disgraceth to his power such as deale for their good when he knoweth that her Maiestie and Counsell will not trust him or any of his faction in whom they haue found so much sedition But to proceede with the rest of this Chapter Fa Parsons would haue you in the beginning wonder at our friends confidence in Cath Countries in that they durst not goe to the Nuncio in Flaunders without a pasport But he might more iustly haue told you that our confidence in him and his fellow Iesuits was such that our friends durst not commit themselues into their hands For if they had so done they had all beene layed fast for euer comming at Rome the Iesuits had so earnestly practised with the Spanish Embassadour against them affirming that they were enemies vnto the King and I know not what In so much that notwithstanding their pasport the Embassador came posting down about them and Fa Baldwine Doct Cesar Clement and others ranne with open mouth against them to the Nuncio whereby one of them as it is knowne had like to haue been taken by a policy if he had been in his Inne His horse was seised on vntill the Nuncio sent for the Gouernour and gaue him a checke Consider then whether they had not cause to feare the Iesuits whose irreligious oppressions our former messengers had once tasted before But more of this wil be sayd in another treatise And as for their telling the Nuncio that they were in feare to come vnto him it was true they said so and gaue their reasons not as fa Parsons setteth them downe but that we had beene oft prouoked by our Archpriest vnto him and threatned with him by these words that he the Archpriest had beaten vs with roddes but the Nuncio would beate vs with scorpions These only were the reasons giuen to the Nuncio which were most true And for the breve and his Commission to end the matter our Messengers vvere content and did referre themselues vnto him Whereupon he writ to the Archpriest to appeare by himselfe or Proctors and the Doctor staied in Paris to meete them But the Archp refused as seemed for he neuer appeared one way or other vntill his two Agents some monthes after went ouer to be his Proctors in Rome who passed indeed by the low countries but what they did there wee know not Onely it vvas said that beeing before the Nuncio they could not deliuer their tale and that the Iesuits were ashamed of them Insomuch that one of the Iesuits of that Country demaunded if the Archpriest had no more sufficient men in England to send about his affaires This was reported whether it be true or no I will not auerre Touching the Breve the Nuncio plainly told our brethren that he had but a Copie thereof and that the Archp had the originall sent him long before marueyling as he said that he had not published it adding further vnto them that they were not bound to take notice thereof sith the Archpriest had not divulged it And whereas Fa Parsons saith that our friends beeing at Doway were exclaimed against by the Rector seniors there it is a manifest vntruth They found nothing but kindnes at their hands For English men of worth abroade I thinke fa Parsons cannot name one that exclaimed against theyr iourney But I am sure that all of reconing haue euer exclaimed against his vnconscionable practises as well lay Gentlemen Nobles as of the Clergie and he can name very few of esteeme of either sorts which haue not complained against him As touching his reports written concerning a toleration vpon condition the Iesuits and Archpriest should be recalled I would it were true And if hee had respect to the common cause he would wish so to but they vse more to regard their priuate interest then any publicke good Concerning the matter of schisme he writeth three vntruthes in three or foure lines First that Lysters Libell was neuer published secondly that soone after it came forth it was recalled by the Archpriest at the attonement Heere are involued two falshoods first that the attonement was soone after the divulging of that Libell there beeing a full yeere betwixt them secondly that then it was recalled which is a lie for hee promised onely the matter should neuer be vrged and that the Treatise should die but he neuer performed eyther of those conditions Thirdly that it could not be said to infame any which is an impudent assertion aboue 30. de facto being defamed by it and so held and practised against thereupon besides an hundreth at the least of neuters fauourers whom it concerned But to leaue these apparant vntruthes his best refuges let vs come at length to Card Sega his Catalogue or Memoriall alleaged against the scholers of Rome Fa Parsons noteth the causes of those tumults in Rome to haue been raised vppon the same causes against the same persons that these heere in England haue beene and therein we yeeld hee saith truly And for the persons to wit the Iesuits wee agree with him that as they were the men impugned by them there so are they also by vs heere Touching the cause also which he ascribeth to liberty and freedome from subiection as such liberty and freedome excludeth tyranny oppressions vniust insultations of the Iesuits wee likewise graunt it but as he maliciously cōmenteth vpon it with hatred of order discipline and superioritie we say and will conuince him that hee speaketh of malice and against his knowledge For hee cannot denie but that the scholers in Rome excepting iustly against theyr violent tyrannie and oppressions offered notwithstanding to admit of all the bonds and rules whereto any of themselues were bound by their order their vowes excepted and to tye themselues to the obseruance thereof during their
to the naturall disposition of the writer which being if a defect yet a defect in nature is not to be so much condemned But howsoeuer fa Parsons in this worke hath cried quittance as by the table of his words and phrases in the end of this reply you may see and therefore he may the better rest satisfied therein In his discourse heereof hee so ruffleth as if it were a Pedante amongst his scholers or that he had Ma. Watson on the hippe to crush him at his pleasure whereas indeed he hath for the most part either altered his words in reciting them mistaken and misconstrued his meaning or stretched the words and phrases farther then theyr proper sence by him intended I will alledge you some examples And first in the Epistle to the Quodlibets page 8. Ma. Watson writeth thus If that by way of quodlibet or Thesis proposed a man may without blasphemie sinne scandall or any offence in the world aske whether God or the deuil be to be honored whether our sauiour Christ could sin or no whether our blessed Lady were an adulteresse or common woman or not and withall to bring arguments pro et contra for auerring or impugning the same then to put foorth a question whether a Seminary priest or a Iesuit ought sooner to be credited cannot iustly incurre any reprehension or blame Which speech cannot be contradicted all questions in scholes being lawfull to be proposed and arguments brought on both sides so that the conclusion be in the defence and approbation of truth and verity But marke how fa Parsons citeth the said words He setteth them forth in this sort In this kinde of writing it is lawfull for him to dispute whether God or the deuill be to be honored whether our blessed Lady were an adultresse or common woman or not c. and then mightily inueigheth against him as of an audatious and impudent spirited person for proposing and putting in print such questions O the honesty of father Parsons VVhereas Maister Watson by way of supposall If a man may aske such questions without sinne scandall c then á fortiore is it lawfull to put the questions following hee maketh him to say that it is lawfull for him to dispute whether God or the deuill be to be honoured c. therby to turne the sence more odious and euill sounding which is but a very Iesuiticall tricke For although euen as Fa Parsons saith it be lawfull pro et contra to dispute those questions if iust occasion be offered or in schooles for the exercise of learning c yet as he hath altered the speech you see the sence more vnpleasing then in the former For he doth not propound them as questions but onely saith that if in the schooles such questions may be propounded If he insist vppon the naming of such things in print he doth but cauill For who knoweth not that many such questions are disputed by the Schoolemen in print Againe where Ma. Watson maketh a discourse of the fall of all religious orders in former times from theyr first puritie and feruencie which discourse is most true as we see before our eyes in the Benedictins Dominicans Franciscans Augustines and other orders where they are not of late reformed how farre they differ from the puritie and pietie of their first institution in theyr founders dayes this discourse fa Parsons will haue to be distorted against all religious men and theyr orders simply as affirming them to be all corrupted Thirdly where he preferreth seculer priests in England before Iesuits and other religious persons as well in preferment of degree worthines of person and superioritie in place as also in the state of perfection hee saith it proceedeth of the spirit of pride emulation ignorance temerity and folly and that the doctrine is against S. Tho. of Aquine S. Chrisostome and others not quoting the places where But I will say to Fa. Parsons and stand vnto it that for him or any Iesuit to defend the contrary is therein to shew their pride and ignorance For in chalenging place aboue their betters both in degree and honour in Gods Church is contrary to all custome and law of the Church as Ma Dâ—ct Elye in his answer to the Apologie hath shewed at large Howsoeuer some men may make question betweene parochus in genere and a religious person and the states of both which the Sorbonists defined on the pastors behalfe yet no man can doubt betwixt a religious state and ours in England where we are daily prepared to giue our liues for our flock of which Christ himselfe sayth Maiorem charitatem nemo habet vt ponat quis animam suam pro amicis suis And therefore the state of Iesuits or any other order whatsoeuer is not to be compared with the state of our Priests in England let Fa Parsons infringe this proposition if hee can But to make the case more plaine and euident we will put this generall axiome or ground that no man may leaue a more perfect state to goe vnto the lesse perfect being in vow bound vnto the more perfect but any religious man may leaue their Monasteries and domesticall discipline yea and in some cases are bound therto for the health of their neighbours soule as for example if there be no other meanes probable of his recouerie therefore to cooperate with Christ in the gaining of soules is a more perfect state then the profession of any particuler order of discipline or religion For to that end a state is said to be more or lesse perfect because it supposeth more or lesse perfection but that state of life supposeth more perfection which supposeth such inflaming charity as to be ready to giue their lyues for their neighbours spirituall good then that which onely seeketh his owne good therefore the life of a Priest in England which supposeth such a charity and such a resolution as to be ready to die for the good spirituall of his flocke is more perfect then a religious life which onely attendeth to himselfe and therefore supposeth no more then obedience obseruance of rules and ordinary charity Furthermore religion is but the way or meanes to perfection and therefore a man entreth into religion because hee would become perfect but that state wherein a man hath dedicated his life for his neighbours saluation is not a way or meanes to perfection but supposeth the highest and greatest perfection in this life therefore the state of a secular priest in England is more perfect then any religious state in the world Yet doth it not follow that euery priest is more perfect then a Iesuit or other religious man no more then it followeth that euery Bishop because of his state of perfection is more perfect then any priest or euery Iesuit then any Lay man because euery man liueth not according to the state he professeth And thus much for Ma. Watsons propositions in the grace preferment of the state of priests in England Fourthly