parts of Christendome ex professo and in particular are banisht for such out of all the most Christian Kingdome of France as also for their Spanish faction there where for all their great meanes and flattering Ballades of late made and exhibited to the King they are not like to get in againe this yeare nor yet the next hee hearing of their turbulent carriage here in England Onely they holde in here and there with the good Capuchines being at oddes with all other orders and oftentimes among themselues which is their greatest credit and which they may easily doe for that as one of those good Friers on a time confest they couet to haue all and these nothing Vpon this grounde likewise it was that the excellent good Bishop of Bamberge in Germanie being laboured vnto some fewe yeares agoe by the importunat commendations of the house of Austrich and other Catholicke-states of the Empire for their admittance into his most reformed diocesse he answered no I brooke no such Quiddits To conclude then with that I began to say seeing the Iesuits are a societie so inferiour to all other religious Orders and yet ambitioning aboue them all in the bare name of Iesus scorning belike in their singularitie to bee called after their founder hee being as yet no canonized Saint as aforesaid and namely an Order farre inferiour to the Seminaries both for institution and merit to our Church and Countrey as alreadie is partly proued though not in priuiledges from the Sea Apostolicke wherein howsoeuer otherwise they come short in merits to other orders it will be sure to be neuer a whit behinde to any it is I say great pusillanimitie in the brothers of the same cedere suo iuri so much as to giue them the preheminence in our Countrey for ecclesiasticall rule either in their owne name or to their vse as Maister Blackwels is much more to suffer themselues to be so infamed by them as by flat libell and which worse is by their owne partaking therewith Is it not enough that the Iesuits disgrace and supplant them with their zizaniaes in their owne Colledges liuing vnder their Ferrule that they expell them thence at their pleasures that they beate them almost to death but also in their Countrey they will assay the like and euen not there manumize them from their wrongs Pharao himselfe being no longer cruell to the Israelites then whilest they liued in his land saue once when in reuenge thereof the red Sea miraculously deuoured him and all his host Is it not enough that for euery one Martyr of those Fathers there haue been twentie at least of these Brothers to our Church and yet they to vsurpe the honour of all like the Spanish-Souldiour in the Lowe-countries who hath been alwaies the least part in his Lieges seruice there and yet the most in the praise Is not all this I say and a great deale more of the Iesuits vnkindnesses and vndeseruings both of our Seminaries our Church and Countrey enough but needes to al this they must adde libelling vpon them too forgetting that Qui dixerit fratri suo Racha is reus gehennae ignis I could wish and I verily hope they will valew themselues aboue the Iaponian and other Indian Clergie who know no other Pope then the Iesuits and take their bare words for Canons At least I could wish that in this case of so reall reproch to their whole bodie and preiudice to their Apostolike-haruest in our vineyard here they would as I hope in God they will abiuring Mammon and all other sinister allure and adiure of both Iesuit and Iesuited Arch-priest ioyne with their wronged brethren in a confident and vnanimous defence and not suffer their honours which is also their owne so basely to be bandied out of our Church and Countrey namely by an intruding societie were it but in honour of their excellent Founder our late Cardinall a man no whit inferiour to their Father Ignatius but rather afore him in all manner of rare desert to the Sea-Apostolicke for which hee was worthie to die a Peere of the same à fortiore then they being the naturall broode of our English Church ex traduce from Saint Augustine and Mellitus continued rather then founded by the said good Cardinall to our Countrey in all this age of persecution Surely Cosin rather then this shall come to passe through the indiscreete obedience or rather pusillanimitie of the Seminaries themselues toward the Iesuits there will not want amongst the Catholicke-laitie spirites to vndertake the defence in honour both of our Church and Countrey and namely of the Appealants our so reuerend Patriots and ghostly Fathers who though they for their parts haue all this while been content in their exceeding charitie but to holde the buckler to their eares against the Societies blowes yet these haply will not sticke to returne them in their behalfes a sound venny at least Yea seeing those Fathers haue thus presumptuously broken quarter with ours and that in our owne Countrey they being meere Spanish let them either yet make amends if at least it be not too late or else be sure that they sit fast for that saluo the Appeale they are like to carrie as good as they bring for all our good Cardinall be dead and gone such being Lex talionis dens pro dente oculus pro oculo and againe a meere morall iustice that Quisquis quae non licet loquitur quae non lubet audiat We Catholickes standing as yet on the one side of the Riuer the Appeale depending and the Iesuits on the other I doe not doubt but God will giue vs the day when once we come to closing or if not at least God shall lose no honour by our foyle so humbly will we all with our Appealant-Fathers yeeld vs obedient to the disgrace and the Apostolicke Sea which spirite I pray God they beare The Societie hath giuen scandals enough and daily doth throughout all the parts of Christendome which if they were but halfe made into a nosegay would I doubt not yeeld so vnsauorie sent vnto English noses that we should esteeme such flowers not worth the setting in Englands garden But this debt they may yet forestall if they will and all harder measure that may therewith befall them by licking out their Racha so irreligiously written and more impudently maintained against our Fathers and withall absolue themselues in so doing from their reatus gehennae ignis Well ipsi viderint They know very well that Non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum and that confession of a fault is the least part of Pennance saue letting the wrong fall which we see they would now gladly doe if that would serue the turne but it will not for that as the French man saith Desbender l'arque ne guerit pas le play To vnbend the bowe heales not the wound More charitie were it in them by a penitent confession though with the lesse satisfaction which once our
from S. Peter to this day beene such that euer I reade Ignem veni mittere in terram quid volo nisi vt ardeat being a fire that Christ neuer meant as out of two flints by repercussion or out of steele by hard-edge but such a fire as hee sent downe in forme of disparted tongues ouer his sacred mother and the Apostolike assemblie at Pentecost and that which Saint Augustine our countries Apostle brought ouer to Eleutherius our king from Saint Peters sea Such is the fire that burnes in Iesus name and such the fire that flames from forth the Seminaries amōgst vs at this day Volentes trahit saith S. Paul of the holie ghost hauing his spirit nolentes non cogit The Iesuits mistake groslie if they thinke that God is to come to his spouse in turbine tonitru for such shall be the comming of Antichrist another day but in leui aura quasi susurrans Saxonie that was subdued to the Catholicke faith by armes how short time continued it therin being the last of all the Germaine-Prouinces that receiued it and the first that forsooke it In like manner at this instant hath not the Poland king receiued notable domage and daylie doth both in his owne and the Churches estate at the hands of his natural subiects the Sweathlands vnder the conduct of his vncle Fredericke whom they haue chosen their Protector and as now the newes is their king against him comming at the Iesuits instigation to conquer them to the Catholike faith Hath hee not lost not onelie all that his naturall heritage this of Poland being his kingdome but by election from euer being by all likelihood Catholicke againe it being now by meanes of such his prouocation the rather rooted in heresie but also part of Liefeland too which before was Catholicke besides his honour and all his charges of warre Such forsooth was the Iesuits religion in this case and so set they on the king to reuenge their wrongs rather then his or Gods and the irreuerence those people did them as they informd comming to take place and to preach amongst them by vertue of the kings letters-patents And thus if the Popes holinesse had anie such commission as is said the Iesuits doe vsurpe it they hauing I am sure no Breue of his to shew whereby thus to set kingdome against kingdome for religion as Poland against Sweathland and Spaine against vs. The knights of the Temple of Rhodes those of Malta at this day though they be the vowed souldiers of Christ his church neuer bore so quarrellous and irreligious spirits neither yet the Iesuits founder though hee were sometimes a souldiour left them any such rule But least of all is the Spaniard so peaceable a man amongst his neighbours as that hee neede to be nowd on to quarrels by the religious Howsoeuer that is not the way cosin the spirit of Christ being meeke and humble and what manner of Ghospelling he propounded to his Apostles and what armes viz. a scrip and a staffe you may read in the Acts. Moreouer if propter iniustitias c. as in 2. Reg. God to deliuer a nation ouer to the hands of another nation be his curse to that nation so giuen ouer and not his blessing is it meete that the Patriotts of the same should exhibit themselues instruments thereunto all people being bound to complie with their countrie as with their mother in all Gods blessings and not his maledictions Now then seeing it doth or may appeare vnto you that the king of Spaine neither de facto hath nor de iure can haue anie autenticke title or colour of title from the sea-Apostolicke to the royall Crowne of this land as for religion which of all pretences is most forceable much more easilie and iustlie may you condemne the Iesuits for perswading amongst vs a Spanish title thereunto in blood which the Spaniard himselfe neuer to this day yet pretended either in himselfe or his predecessors and lastlie if such their supposed title together with the aforesaid from the church faile then forsooth the benefit of Spaines conquering vs which of all other positions is most absurde Touching their title in blood then were it neuer so new and so true it is sufficient answer therunto to say that in respect they are meere straungers and of another nation I meane the king and his sister both such their title is voide and of no effect as well as for Fraunce to impleade their Sallicke-law in barre against Englands title vnto it Againe prescription were also a competēt estopple vnto them they pretending from king Iohn and Edward the third and yet neither their ancestors nor they themselues hauing layed in their claime to this day which during the deuision of the houses of Lancaster and Yorke at what time it continuing long and the whole land likewise therevpon deuided in ciuil warres it was a fit season for the Spaniard to haue done set in foote considering that vis diuisa debilis and also being then neerer the stemme of this pretended title which would haue made the better show Briefe if titles so farre fetcht might take place for a Crowne I wisse there are in this land a manie poore persons at this houre that might be serud before Spaine And as for king Iohn though hee were not the best Prince either to the Church or our Countrie but vnfortunate to ech and to him selfe most yet will we not hold him so vnblest of God and vnhappie as that from his loyne should be intituled a forraine-pretender to this realme ne euer built hee London bridge for a Spanish Conqueror to trample on as I haue often heard that nation bost of such a day Much lesse king Edward that our victorious king may his ghost abide to see England vnder a forraine rule who subdued forraine powers and Crownes to it Be this enough said and more then needs touching Spaines title in blood to England seeing that euen a meere English pretendant to deduce a title so farre off and after so manie changes amongst vs without making claime any time betweene were absurd much more so meere strangers present enimies as both they are to our state for which as little reason wee haue as for their religious pretence aforesaid to be any way parties to their raignes ouer vs. Touching their conquest then and the vtilitie therof to our countrie which is the last point the Iesuits perswade the other two fayling they doe well verilie to suggest it vtill at least if so seeing that vulgus amicitias vtilitate probat rather then honest and honourable which at all it would not be but contrariwise a meere wrong in them to attempt and slauerie in vs to endure So noble an Iland as this which to vse the Spanish Chronographers owne words was one of the 3. prime plumes in the helme of the Romaine Empire at her greatest the other two quoth he being Spaine and Fraunce an Iland which
they doe though with somewhat a lower and a hoarse voyce as almost out of breath On the otherside if it bee no Schisme in them as out of question it is not wherin then are the Appealants to blame to make their defence publike the offence being publike as is said both in substance and in circumstance to their publike reproch Say that the Libeller wrote it not in any such spirit as of a libell nor that he meant it should euer become publike being written but priuatly to his friend yet it is not that can salue the blame nor his nor his Abbettors shames seeing that howsoeuer it becomming publike since a publike staine thereby inflicted vpon the parties by their publike defence thereof hitherto and a publike president thereby giuen not only to detraction but to all manner of vice besides the Schisme Nor is the world ignorant of the Iesuits querks in this kinde they vsing to make shew of but done in priuat and in iest what they meane should passe publike and in earnest namely if the matter be not iustifiable as for example Father Cowbucks letter to Maister Doctor Bishop at Paris touching his excusing the disgraces done him at Rome as not proceeding from him it being most false did he not write his said letter of vntrue excuse vnto him but first acquaint all France and Flanders and a great part of England with the contents thereof by copies before euer the originall came to the Doctors hands in so much as he knewe the substance thereof by sundry both copies and reports of others before he receiued the same Also of later dayes to colour their murderous batterie of Maister Lambart in Salamanca for not hindering certaine youthes vnder his prefecture there in the Colledge from being Benedictines whom belike they had rather should haue become Iesuits being very towardly youthes haue they not since his martyrdome herein England falsified a letter of his by inserting thereinto certaine wordes nay whole sentences of their owne in hyperbolicall and super-exalted praise of their societie and so copied it abroad for his True it is and there is no question but that the Saint forgaue them that outrage at his death from the bottome of his heart but how Euen as Christ our Sauiour and Saint Stephen by his example did their persecutors praying for them and not as his so singular good friends and heauenly Patrons as that forgerie would make him Blame not then the Plaintifes for their publike defence by publisht bookes seeing it is meete that publike wrong should vse publike meanes toward publike amends and the rather for that the Arch-priest since the publishing of those bookes in his answere to them boldly and brauely stickes not to say that euen that booke to his Holinesse was not like euer to haue come to his hands but by his meanes wherein hee most scandalouslie derogates from the Popes honour as to haue him thought his fellowe-Pupill to the Iesuits Now whereas it is reproacht the Appealants that in processe of this their busines of the Appeale they pray as it were in ayde of my Lord of London and other capitall Protestants in the Land by vsing extraordinarie accesse and commerce to and with them it is true that seeing the generaltie of Catholikes is so vnnaturally distastfull of their innocence it hath pleased God to raise them vp if not friends at least commiserators ex lapidibus terrae not that the parties so aggrieued or any their friends haue I dare say receiued any domage thereby but contrariwise some of them good turnes and perhaps may in time more and more Such is the spirit of these good men vt retribuant bonum pro malo and so good and great is God and euer was toward distressed innocence as to raise it vp friends citra expectationem in confractionem malignantium So raised he vp these latter yeeres England the olde enemie of France to ayde and establish France her distressed King against not so much a religious as a Spanish league to the passe of peace he and it enioy now And who knowes whether haply out of this so morall commiseration of the Protestant it may likewise please Almightie God by the ministerie of these his innocents to worke his extraordinarie and vnexpected glorie in them generallie to the Catholicke cause qui potens est ex lapidibus istis suscitare filios Abrahae As great and as vnlikely matters as this hath the hand of God wrought and namely in this kinde in Saint Eustace whom as we reade in his Legend God for his meere moralitie being then a heathen man called by famous miracle to his faith and in the end crowned him a glorious Saint And though the Iesuits make vse of this poynt in the Appealants reproch insinuating the consequent Apostasie of some of them euen at Paules Crosse and hereupon doe copiously discourse to Catholickes in their vaine-glorie how much more blessed a thing it is to be hated rather then fauoured of heretickes and the Diuell as they for their parts they say are yet for all that it is well knowne how much they labour the contrarie vnder hand at this instant giuing out that what hope there is of a toleration to vs from the state is wholy by their meanes and not by the Appealants so cunning they are to make vse of euery occurrent to their owne glorie rather then their brothers yea or then Gods It is very well knowne with what vaunt of their great friends and faculties both here at home and abroad namely in the Popes the Emperours and other Christian Princes Courts they haue lately offered their seruice to the State and that with what extreame extenuation of the Appealants their habilities and friends to performe the like and withall it is well knowne what opinion the State hath of such their offer as also of their brother Father Combuck his offering not many yeeres since by his letter and messenger both which are yet extant he to be her Maiesties true Intelligencer from Spaine It were strange if hee or they could so gull our State being so passing prudent or that they could performe so notable contraries in eodem subiecto as to deserue well of Spaine and England both being each others enemie namely by malignant meanes to each vnder-hand which as yet we see no indifferent and sincere hand hath been able to doe Notwithstanding admit that their Father-hoods for all their hitherto disloyall and meere Spanish vndeserts at out States hands could thus worke themselues in credit and employment with and by it or that our State were driuen to so desperate tearmes as to neede to vse their seruices hauing been and still being such manner of persons then were it forsooth no scandall at all nor no degree from blisse to cooperate with heretikes but contrarie wise they to be esteemed for excellent men men of high and deepe reach of acute pollicie of rare performance briefe the very angular-stone which only Christ was ex
before anie of them was able to free it selfe from that Empire hauing euer since all but the time of the Heptarchie stood selfelie-Monarchike and in paragon with either Fraunce or Spaine and other the greatest Monarchies of christendome as well for the honours of warre as of peace a nation which hath twice conquered Fraunce and as for Spaine was able to free her neck from the Danish yoke the Dane being a nation full of valour within one 24. yeeres the Spaniard not performing his like freedome from the Moore being a base and obscure nation vnder 700 a nation which was able to bring in a Dolphin of Fraunce with all the martiall-flower of that kingdome to make vse of here at home euen in ciuill warres amongst our selues and that done safelie to acquite it selfe againe of him them which what nation in christendome but England would haue aduentured a nation whose Empire hath extended from the I le of Thule to the Pirenean-mounts simul semel and that in setled peace as we may read in the raigne of king Henrie the second a nation which hath beene able to send forth armies and Armadoes as farre as the holie land and performed more seruice for God and his church there then any other nay then all other christian people concurring in the same a nation that hath made other countries both afraid and beholding to it and as we read great Princes yea and an Emperour her Pensioners a nation that hath furnisht Saint Peters sea with two excellent good Popes and the Catholicke church with as manie Saints and deepe learned men and at this day doth as anie countrie in christendome besides it being the first begotten childe of the same our Ladies Dowre briefe a nation which at this day euen vnder a woman and as the Spaniard and Iesuits pretend in her vniust vndertakings hath hitherto bin able to make her partie good against all the world maintaining it selfe in peace when all her neighbour-states round about her are on fire such a nation I say to cease now at length her Monarchicke-honour and become vassall to Spaine or any nation in the world be it by title or conquest or whatsoeuer pretence yea of religion oh how dishonourable and abominable were it to true English-nature and valour and scandalous to all the world Prouinciall I say for so should it be were it either vnder the brother or the sister of Spaine seeing that neither of their states Spaine or Flaunders would agree his or her throne to be out of them and in faith for England to be ruled by a Prince out of the land which neuer yet was seene since England was England as little reason it hath as well for her profit as for her honour If in Spaine it is too farre off if in Flaunders neither yet is that neere enough besides that all those Prouinces make but an Archduke which is farre vnder the honour of a realme such as England is whose Crowne is and euer was Emperiall both for waight and fashion Then to be gouerned by their deputies say vice-royes which the Infanta cannot afford being her selfe no Queene how displeasing that were on the otherside the calamities of Flaunders may any time these 30. yeers and yet at this day teach vs. For what cutting off of the Nobilitie of the land came in with the Duke of Alua and what oppression of the commons and with and for them both what warres and waste of those estates to this houre The like perhaps may be alleaged of Ireland vnder her Maiesties deputies at least the Irishrie so pretend iustifiying their present rebellion vpon their harsh hand ouer them though questionles herein they haue little reason but rather doe bite and whine at once are turnd rebels for not knowing in their sauagerie when they are well who were it Queene Maries dayes how ere they herewith pretend religion as little would they be loyall They want but to haue tasted the Spaniard a while to become true againe to England As for the Infantaes estate here if of the two that be it the Iesuits had rather and that withall her own countrie would assent to her residence here besides the absurdities and inconueniences hereof alreadie cited this is another and not the least to wit the vnlikelihood of her euer hauing issue being issue-lesse at these yeeres whereby would remaine the same vncertaintie of an English heire after her that now is In lieu whereof what factions were it not likelie shee would during her raigne ouer vs maintaine for her brother his heires succession to the Crowne what ielousies nay perhaps what not ciuil wars she being a partie alreadie aggreeued for the supposed wrongs done by England both to her father and her brother for which she would happilie thinke by this meanes to make them full amends or at least if such her practise should not preuaile to shew her selfe in so assaying a verie louing sister It is not her laying open her Low-countries and her brothers dominions no not his Indies to our trafficke in the meane time which aswell is like to come to passe ere long God willing through their inforced amitie with vs can counteruaile this hazard alone muchlesse all the aforesaid Nor is it yet halfe an age since the Spanish nation being admitted into our countrie in al loue and in the greatest knot of amitie that may be imagined to wit by the mariage of their Prince with ours at what time and that in how short a time we were as willing to be rid of thē through their ill deseruings as some of our countrie men with the losse of their liues shewed themselues alittle afore vnwilling of their comming we may yet verie well remember We may yet very well remember the chargeable vse they then made of our coūtry in their own wars both by land sea our losse of Caleis the while We may yet remēber their insolence amongst vs proude misgouernance to the contempt of our nobilitie much more of our commons for which no sooner was that knot between the two nations broken by the death of that blessed Queene but straight they were made to know how great disgust they had giuen vs with the losse of some of their liues for a farewell If then comming in as friends they deserued as foes at our countries hands how much more comming in as foes though nere somuch vnder the couert of religious friends may wee thinke to find them cruell and tyrannous namelie hauing had since so much matter of reuenge ministred them from hence as they assume Or why did they not then if their title were such to the Crowne of England as the Iesuits suggest make vse of that oportunitie for their subiecting vs But sure it seemes t was not the will of God both for that they tooke no such counsaile then and also if they meant anie such matter Gods sequestring the Spanish Prince from out the realme and taking away the Queene