of Veniall and Mortall sinnes flat against the principles of that profession 7. If after ReconciliatioÌ„ vnto the Catholick Church I had written or spoken against any article of hir faith my crime toward hir might seeme inexpiable and your aduantage against me very great Howbeit it is neither the one that I am guilty of nor the other which I feare but it was your pleasure Sir to make a chayne of such wrongs to weaue them in your discourse 8. I answere therefore FIRST that I wrote not that little Pamphlett after my returne out of Yorkeshire but before SECONDLY that as I came vnreconciled into the presence of that Venerable Priest F. Flud so I neuer saw him nor heard of him vntill my arriuall in S. Omers where also himself had remayned one whole yeare at the least before that time And I meruayle that your intelligencer concealed this point from your notice which he could not but know much more certainly then that I was reconciled by such a Priest though heere also I leaue your informer and your self vnto your better proofes THIRDLY that I wrote it according to my opinion therein precisely at that howre And truly this was one of the 3. or 4. points wherein I had the learned judicious and expedite resolution of that Reuerend Priest after my arriuall being perswaded absolutely in most points at that time and chiefly in the chiefest metropoliticall question concerning the †Men must diligeÌ„tly seek out the true Church that so they may rest in hir judgement sayth D. Field in his epist. dedicat CHVRCH So then I neither wrote agaist that which I did belieue nor yealded vnto that which I did not conceiue FOVRTHLY that the occasion of writing it was a certain conference betwixt me and a Catholick gentleman vnto whose hands I deliuered it and desired him to procure me a good resolution thereunto FIFTLY that the occasioÌ„s of publishing it were many and one principall viz. to diuert a strong suspition intertayned somewhere to my prejudice as I was induced to think by sondry reasons SIXTLY that some particulars in that paÌ„phlet as namely * in fine Secreta mea mihi c. haue long since made the construction more cleare vnto Sir Edward and his world which sometimes was more secrete and obscure 9. This is good Readers the true text of this matter which now I referr vnto your judicious interpretation Let me add onely a word for a finall complement herein and say thus much that if I were as guilty of or in this fault as my Accuser would make you belieue yet I might be excused rather then y See the Examen of Fox his Calendar Part. 1. pag. 374. c. CRANMER himself whose seuerall Treatises pro contra for and against the Reall Presence were exhibited by Bonner in a publick Iudgement when it was no small mortification you may think vnto that chaÌ„dged Father to behold the faces of his vnlike children Wherefore z Ouid. Met. 13. Haud timeo si jam nequeo defendere crimen Cum tanto commune vivo 10. But as there is no proportion in our faults if yet I committed any in respect of all the circumstances of Person matter manner c. so ZWINGLIVS a greater Patriarch then he and one of the a Apo. 11.3 two witnesses against Antichrist as b de Relig. in exposit 4. Praecepti Zanchius belieueth may hold out his buckler for my defence For he * Sir Edw. phrase pag. 100. mark you me now falling away from Luther and teaching a doctrine of the Sacrament contrary vnto his former preachings confesseth plainely that c De vera falsa Relig. he knew the truth long before but he serued the time wherein he is commended by Christ as a faithfull and wise seruaÌ„t who giueth meate vnto his family in due season So sayth your Zwinglius of whom the censure of d De Eucharist lib. 1. c. 1. Bellarmine is perhapps very true to witt Zwinglius betrayeth his impiety to couer his ignoraÌ„ce Howsoeuer it be the censure of his fellow witnesse e Loc. Com. Luth. Fabric classe 5. pag. 50. M. LVTHER is very terrible against all that Sacramentary faction viz. He that taketh pleasure in his owne damnation let him belieue that the truth is taught by theis Spirits since they beganne and defend their opinions by lies 11. So much for your second proof and now to your THIRD which you deliuer in theis words f pag. 19. It is not long since you haue complayned through impatient emulation and ambition that if you might haue been then preferred and not aduised rather to returne to the Vniuersity to repayr your wings You would not haue changed your copy so soone nor made so sorry a flight from vs to ROME This you know to be well knowen and vpon farther occasioÌ„ may be better specified vnto the world 12. I answere The thought neuer entered into my heart the speach neuer proceeded out of my mouth And I am glad as well for your owne as my sake that you haue some other Authour then your self who sitt at the receipt of custome and keepe an auditt of intelligences to specify in theis behalf that so when he commeth forth and crieth adsum I may answere confidently and say vnto his face * Psal 26.12 Mentita est iniquitas sibi Wherefore remooue theis wrongs from your self vnto their proper Authours that I may behold them in their owne center then you are free whosoeuer shal be found guilty in this matter For I assure you that I am incredibly abused and whosoeuer the Authour be I beseech the Readers to vnderstand that g Matth. 1â— 28 Inimicus homo hoc fecit §. 2. Of vnnaturall affection to my Father 1. SIR Edward is desirous to make me odious and contemptible in the eye of his world and therefore he would shew that I am an vnnaturall Husband to my VVife and likewise an vnnaturall Sonne vnto my Father persons that should be conjoyned with indissoluble bands of loue For the bands betwixt the first are sacramentally Supernaturall betwixt the secoÌ„d intrinsecally Naturall and Inseparable in both In the first two are made one in the second one brancheth from the other so that betwixt the Husband and Wise there is a concourse of equall duties from the Father there is a decourse of affection vnto the Sonne and from the Sonne a recourse vnto the Father 2. How I am condemned in the first respect you haue h Chap. 1. §. 4. already seene how I am condemned in the second you shall now receiue a double proof FIRST Your Father tooke a long iourney saith i pag. 17. Sir Edward to seek out his lost Sonne who neuer opened his mouth to aske him blessing for his paynes Then after an amplification of no value or suâ—stance he addeth k pag. 18. Was not this I say grief inough but that you must depriue him also
haue mewed you vp in their idolatrous cage I dare say you had been in England long siâ—…ce FOR so you did protest c. Behold then the inference heere is to shew my procliuity to renounce the Catholick Romane faith as a thing not intertayned in the secrete approbation of my heart But of this scandalous imputation I haue already treated in the * §. 1. num 6 c. precedents vnto which I must now remitt the courteous Reader 9. SECONDLY the manner of this protestastion viz. as I hoped to haue any part c. I neither can remember nor will acknowledge to haue proceeded from my lippes That which my memory and conscience can best testify vnto me is that I sayd by the grace of God Which is a speach of great importance I confesse but yet formally it hath not such power in exaggeration as the other 10. THIRDLY because Sir Edward doth deale so precisely with me I may not giue him leaue thus to circumcise the time nor to chandge my words at his owne pleasure For I sayd not absolutely WITHIN THREE WEEKES at the farthest I will returne but I added a forsan with which particle Sir Edward helpeth himself c pag. 47. elsewhere to triuÌ„ph ouer me yet without a victory PERHAPPS within three or four weeks I cannot certainly resolue vpon the time And so I know no reason why vpon my returne within this yeare or more my word might not stand inuiolate and entire in that respect if I would rather presse Sir Edward with outward reasons theÌ„ acquaint him with my inward thoughts 11. To come then more particularly vnto matter it self as I deny not my speach and therewith my intention that by the grace of God I would returne c. so there are many circumstaÌ„ces heerein and specially three which may ease the burthen and cleare the difficulty on my behalf 12. FIRST that my Father and friend knew my resolution to be vnprepared and yet now they would force it vnto a birth before the prefixed time For it was my HOPE and it was their PROMISE that I should haue the whole Monday for my deliberation which was now denied Wherefore this their sodayn and vnnecessary departure contrary vnto both was the first cause of my abortiue promise borne before it was conceiued 13. SECONDLY my sympathizing eyes beheld the streame of teares flowing from a deepe fountayn of loue and grief in my deare and carefull Father which was the strongest eloquence of Nature to perswade my vnperswaded self who being * S. August Conf. lib. 3. cap. 12. filius tantarum lachrymarum knew not what to say or think when my Soule suffred a dissipatioÌ„ of all hir powers Mettall so softened was fitt for any impressioÌ„ It was not a returne into a CONTREY with a FATHER things of no small value in all mens estimation but the present expense of my dearest life which I could and should haue promised to satisfy such loue and to mollify such grief Si haec tempestas propterme orta est c. if all this be for my sake dispose of me at your owne will 14. THIRDLY though I was thus preuented by them besides my expectation and so caried out of my self beyond my strength yet there was annexed vnto my promise of returne a condition of security But where should I rereiue it At Douer 15. Behold now my errour which drew on my fault For hauing thus incautelously and improuidently in my benummed spirits made my promise to returne so that I might receiue security at Douer and perceiuing afterward what danger I might incurre though I doubted not of my friends good will but of their power onely I desired that my security might giue me meeting at Calais least otherwise the Land might prooue more daÌ„gerous then Sea and specially for two reasons The ONE because I then had as now I haue a grounded resolution of heart to remayn a constant meÌ„ber of the Catholick Romane Church from which the certainty of faith is to be sought saith d Part. 1. Serm. coram Alexand. 5. Gerson a e D. Field pag. 85. worthy guide of Gods Church therefore I should be lesse acceptable vnto them whom in all temporall things I would gladly reuerence and obay The OTHER because I stood theÌ„ charged vpon the point of Reconciliation which M. Etkins did insinuate vnto me at S. Omers and Sir Edward hath now published in his Letter to prejudice the integrity of my * §. 1. num 6.7.8 Faith and safety of my Life But as he doth vntruly accuse me of Reconciliation in ENGLAND so my ignorance of the Law made me too confident and too fearrefull also in this respect Too confident for when I knew experimentally that Reconciliation is onely a Sacramentall act to reduce vs into the fauour of God and vnity of his Church I did not suspect the seuerity of the Law therein therefore out of the comfort and exultation of mine owne heart I imparted something in this behalf by my Letters vnto a person of eminent dignity and place Too fearfull for vnderstanding afterward the penalty of Reconciliation and not knowing how farr the statute extendeth in this case I thought the perill to be equall whether within his Majesties dominions or without the same neither had I any notice to the contrary till I perused the statutes not many howres before the writing hereof 16. Now if my Father and my Friend did feare the losse of their dearest liues where no law was in force against theÌ„ nor any man coÌ„ceiued a thought prejudiciall vnto the least droppe of their bloud and yet did therefore depart from S. Omers against their owne promise and without any cause had not I just reason to prouide securely for my self when my life should be * As I conceiued in maÌ„ner aforesayd actually in the mercy of justice exposed vnto continuall danger vpon some ineuitable acts of my Religion 17. Thus you see â—ood Readers wherein I fayle as also vpon what precedent and consequent reasons If heeretofore you haue wholly coÌ„demned me I appeale from your first vnto your secoÌ„d and better thoughts If now you excuse me wholly you do more for me then I would do for my self For as I find some thing which I may defend and some thing which I may excuse so there is some thing which I may and do condemne And so I recommend my self with this matter vnto the mercy of God and vnto the charity of the Readers desiring them to make this case their owne before they giue their sentence vpon me 18. The SECOND remonstrance of my perjury Sir Edward deliuereth in this sort f pag. 18. The like solemne oath you tooke in the presence of M. Etkins that vpon the faith of a Romane Catholick and as you hoped to be saued this booke of yours which you then shewed him should not be printed 19. A solemne promise before and now a solemne oath in both
now vnto the second Cause which is like vnto the first as amongst * Facies non omnibus vna est Nec diuersa tamen c. Ouid. Sisters the one is the half image of the other The Misse of your preferment was grieuous vnto you saith t pag. 15. Sir Edward and u pag. 14. hauing missed a former preferment you think by this meanes that the State will wooe you to returne 2. In which accusation he is so confident that diuiding the affection of Aërius vnto me reseruing the opinion of that heretick vnto w pag. 56. himself he x pag. 20. challengeth me as a man infected with the disease of Aërius and y pag. 10. this was the disease of Aërius and z pag. 11. when I speake of Aërius I think of M. * An hater of God Theomisus Which name Sir Edward giueth me in his new baptisme and I am no more vnfortunate therein then S. Innocentius whom the Magdeburgians haue bated the first syllable of his name or S. Athanasius to whō the Trinitarian hereticks haue added one letter or S. Cyprian with whom a Pagan Philosopher exchandged an other making them appeare as †Nocentius Sathanasius Caprianus monsters who were the lights of the world 3. But digesting this wrong as also many other viz. †pag. 1. Fantasticall witt a 10. frantick fitts b 50. rayling Rabshekah c 6. monstrous birth c. and sparing the Authour who accuseth d 49. my currish pen I proceed vnto the matter it self 4. And heere if Sir Edwards former objectiō of Puritanisme had stood in force against me it had not bene so much a mutation as a progression and perfection in that ghospell to runne frō it into Brownisne or Barrowisme and from thence into Anabaptisme which in the strict letter sensed by inward Spiritt according to the ancient rules of Protestant Religiō also is the neatest and most refined ghospell of them who fell away from * The Sacramētaries and Anabaptists fell from vs c. Luth. in Gal. 5.9 LVTHER the c Powel de Antichr pag. 324. great Reformer of the Church And surely if the chandge of my Religion had depended vpon such a temporall respect as Sir Edward doth suggest thoses courses had sorted as fully for my commodity and more neerely with my conscience then this opposite contrariety which I now embrace 5. But I plead no such defence It was the light of truth that conuinced me the power of grace that perswaded me no corrupt affection but euident reason no wāt in earth but desire of heauen no discontentment which I found but comfort which I sought did bring me effectually vnto this happy chandge 6. Which motion of my Soule if it came from the earth and had the same beginning with this corruptible Body my choyce were improuident to forsake my former and to intertayn this present course Could I not perceiue that by flying I did not fly but increase my euill Did I not know that this was no salue for such a sore but a remedy worse then the sicknesse it self if either I wanted or sought for temporall meanes Did I not foresee that I should now exclude my self from such cōpetent meanes as I had and better fortunes which I expected and that withall I should expose my name vnto certayn obloquy and my life vnto vncertayn danger 7. Oh sayth the Knight but you thought that the Sate would wooe you to returne No not so for am I not as a droppe of water in that great Element But yet you Sir Edward a member of f pag. 4. the most superlatiue Parliament do you not in charity perswade my returne and do you not frame sondry g pag. 94. Motiues to this effect 8. Your h pag. 4. c. former lines were written in bloud as the lawes of Draco your later in milk wherein I am restored agayn vnto my i pag. 93. name Theophilus and almost vnto your fauour so that you my Aduersary-Friend might justly haue a second right in me the first being alwayes reserued vnto my Honorable Lord to vse dispose and employ me according to your will if my conscience did not retayn me in this Faith with an inuiolable bond 9. As for other Motiues more effectuall and powerable then flesh and bloud can easily resist I will say nothing at this time I may not publish the fauours of other men so freely as Sir Edward doth proclayme my faults This onely may suffise to shew vnto men of charitable and reasonable mindes that I languished not with the disease of k Epiph. haeres 75. August haeres 53. AERIVS or l See the Examen of Fox his Calend. Ianuar. 1. WICKLIFFE and delighted not my self in the singularity of opinion as they did but for the truths sake which conuinced me for my soules sake which lay in perill for my Sauiours sake who redeemed it with his bloud I repayred vnto that m Hieronym ad Damas Ark out of which there is no safety in the waues of heresy and schisme that so I might be knitt vnto that Church whereof n In 1. Tim. 3.15 S. Ambrose sayth DAMASVS was Rectour in his time and PAVL is at this day a Church one in faith ancient in time visible in succession comely in order conformable in actiōs * It was S. Augustines obseruation in his time she that is in all places and like hir self wheresoeuer she is the roote without which the branches shall wither the vnited body out of which the diuided members shall perish and decay §. 4. Of my Wife c. 1. THe third Cause which Sir Edward assigneth of my Alienatiō is my Mariadge a yoke saith o pag. 15. he to burthensome to your shoulders the mariadge-God Himenaeus was none of your best friends c. Concerning which subject I might intertayn the Reader with a long discourse But cui bono as Cassius was wont to say to what good or for what end and purpose 2. Seeing two sorts of people generally in the world Good and Euill VVise and Foolish Charitable and Malitious I haue cast my reckoning thus I shall not be condemned by the first and I care not to be accused by the second 3. Howbeit to satisfy the just expectation of some idle curiosity of others in this matter I say that I sought not my Wife in the beginning but was sought by hir friends Gentlemē of quality able and willing to further me in the courses of this world and specially in my late profession I accepted their conditions and liked hirs the promise was made the knot was tied yet so that she was to remayn wholly vnder their prouision vntill I should be actually possessed with all conuenient meanes and then hir portion was to be in my hands hir self in my care 4. Now if Sir Edward will presse me yet farther with that vnciuill demād of the p A.
Gellius lib. 5. cap. 20 Romane Censor Habésne vxorem ex animi tuisententiâ I might answere vnto him as the party vnto the Censor Habeo equidem vxorem sed non herclé ex animi tui sententiâ It was inough for him and me to make our choyce to our owne contentment in this case If there were any other default Sir Edward knoweth the wise necessary counsayle for me and other husbands also q A. Gell. l. 1. c. 17. Vxoris vitium aut tollendum aut ferendum qui tollit vxorem commodiorem praestat qui fert sese meliorem facit 5. But to deale with you in good earnest Sir do not think so vncharitably of me that I wanted due affection vnto my spouse or that wanting due affection vnto hir I would therefore renounce the Spouse of Christ as you pretend your Church to be inuest hir with that name No there had been other alleuiations in this behalf not so vnkind to hir not so dishonest before men not so impious in the sight of God But that I might embrace a comfortable vnion with the Spouse of Christ the Catholick Romane Apostolick Church I am therefore separated by place not loue from hir betwixt whom and me there is a perfect neerenesse in this great distance And though Sir Edwards pen hath made a * See afterward Chap. 2. §. 3. num 22. 25. fowle blott to the prejudice of hir good affection towards me yet I will belieue it to be a part of the commō wrongs which we sustayn from this vngentle Knight And thus assuring both hir and him that I want not affection but meanes to expresse it which I will endeauour to do whether within or without the Land I will conclude this matter and therewith this chapter also 6. Perhapps now I may be condemned for writing too much or too little in this kind howbeit he that ingageth me into the doubtfull censure of the Readers hath made the same aduenture of his owne fortune If we fare equally I am eased by his company If I fare worse I haue patience to beare and charity to forgiue If better he hath no reason to complayn CHAP. II. Of sondry other crimes objected vnto me by Sir Edward in his first sifting Paragraph §. 1. Of my disconceipt toward the Catholique Romane faith after my Alienation from the Church of England 1. SIR the amplitude of your discourse exceedeth the commission of your title For though your first Paragraph doth promise according to the inscription r pag. 7. to fift the CAVSES of my Alienation which you haue raysed vnto THREE yet the greater part thereof spendeth it self in other pretēded crimes viz. disconceipt toward my present Religion perjury in promises astorgy and vnnaturall affection vnto my Father and such like things without coherēce in them selues or reference vnto their title yet Sir you accuse the ſ pag. 2. mishapen disproportion of my booke as though my cōceipts had payned the womb of my braynes and striuing for birth had broken from me rather by violēce then by order Which accusation may perhapps belōg rather vnto your self whose zeale to do me wrong distempered the method of your thoughts so that the things which beganne to proceed from you at the first retired themselues to yeald passadge vnto the rest as t Gen. 38.27 Zara beganne first to come into the world and yet withdrew himself to giue place vnto the birth of Pharez 2. But I passe by your method and I come vnto your Matter wherein if you be found defectiue also either by your owne inuention which is good or by others suggestion which I would rather belieue in this case then your stayning calumniations must in the end returne and ebb agayn vpon you or thē from whom they flowed in the beginning And now I will treate particularly of the pretended crimes which being dispersed in your sifting Paragraph shall be reduced heere more exactly vnto their seuerall heads 3. The FIRST criminatiō therefore annexed vnto the former Causes toucheth my disconceipt toward the Romane Catholick faith as though my Alienation from you were rather in actiō then affectiō outward thē inward in mouth thē mynd this you prooue by a triple euidēce or reasō FIRST I do easily belieue say u pag. 16. you vpon his credible report that at such time as M. Etkins your old fellow Chaplayn and friend * at S. Omers desired your company to Bruxells or to England you smote your hand vpon your breast and in great passion vttered theis words O that I might safely returne for that is my desire Yea more you * pag. 16. say that at his sight I had Peters teares in my eyes for the deniall of my Maister c. 4. As for the person relating he doth me wrong if you wrong not him in the relation it self For I appeale vnto his cōscience which representeth things past in hir secrete and inward reflex whether I gaue him the least signe or suspition of inconstancy in this truly and onely Catholick faith or whether I expressed any the least affection toward that which he now doth and I did sometimes professe Doth he not remember that my Father treating with me to shew obedience and humility in hearing the judgements of some principall Deuines in England but finding no hope of my conformity according to his desire sayd thereupon VVhat then should he do in England if he be so obstinate Yea doth he not remember his owne apology for me in my Fathers presence In good faith I do belieue that he is so perswaded in his heart 5. That he proposed vnto me a jorney for Bruxells or England or both I deny not as also that I shewed an affection in me loyall vnto my Prince dutifull vnto my Contrey louing vnto my Friends whom I was desirous to see but yet without any such tragicall action or passion to any such end and purpose as you from him pretend Wherefore I must leaue you both to deuide this wrong betwixt your selues which is so much the greater whether in you or in him because you are one whom I neuer offended he is one whom I euer loued And what soeuer the effects of his friendshipp toward me haue been they are not proportionable vnto this discourtesy if the matter it self were true as God knoweth it is most false Seneca said wisely vpon his owne experiēce Quidam sunt amici leues inimici graues which yet I will neuer apply vnto him vnlesse I find by better informatiō then you seeme either to receiue or giue that he hath done me this wrong which you haue published in his name And so much for the first 6. Your SECOND proof ensueth viz. x pag. 17. The small liking which you haue to the Romish Religion you sufficiently manifested when as being reconciled to that Synagogue by one Flud a Priest you did yet after your returne out of Yorkeshire write a little Pamphlett