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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14614	The copies of certaine letters vvhich haue passed betweene Spaine and England in matter of religion Concerning the generall motiues to the Romane obedience. Betweene Master Iames Wadesworth, a late pensioner of the holy Inquisition in Siuill, and W. Bedell a minister of the Gospell of Iesus Christ in Suffolke.	Wadsworth, James, 1572?-1623.; Bedell, William, 1571-1642. aut; Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656.	1624 (1624)	STC 24925; ESTC S119341	112,807	174

subdued my will to relent vnto my vnderstanding by meanes of prayer and by God Almighties grace principally I came to breake through many tentations and impediments and from a troubled vnquiet heart to a fixed and peaceable tranquilitie of minde for which I doe most humbly thanke our sweet Lord and Sauiour Iesus before whom with all reuerence I doe auouch and sweare vnto you as I shall answere it in the dreadfull day of iudgement when all hearts shal be discouered that I forsooke Protestant Religion for very feare of damnation and became a Catholique with good hope of saluation and that in this hope I doe continue and increase daily and that I would not for all the world become a Protestant againe And for this which here I haue written vnto you in great haste I know there bee many Replyes and Reioynders wherewith I could neuer be satisfied nor doe I desire any further Disputation about them but rather to spend the rest of my life in deuotion yet in part to giue you my deare good friend some account of my selfe hauing now so good an occasion and fit a messenger and by you if you please to render a reason of my Faith to Master Hall who in his said printed Epistle in one place desires to know the motiues thereof I haue thus plainly made relation of some points among many Whereunto if Master Hall will make any Reply I doe desire it may bee directly fully to the points and in friendly termes vpon which condition I doe pardon what is past and of you I know I neede not require any such circumstances And so most seriously intreating and praying to our gracious Lord to direct and keepe vs all and euer in his holy Truth I commend you vnto his heauenly grace and my selfe vnto your friendly loue Seuill in Spaine this first day of Aprill 1615. Your very affectionate and true louing friend IAMES WADDESWORTH To the Worshipfull his respected friend Master WILLIAM BEDELL at his house in Saint Edmundsbury or at Horinger be there deliuered in Suffolke Kinde Master BEDELL MIne old acquaintance and friend hauing heard of your health and worldly well-fare by this Bearer Master Austen your neighbour and by him hauing opportunitie to salute you with these few Lines I could not omit though some fewe yeeres since I wrote you by one who since told mee certainly hee deliuered my Letters and that you promised answere and so you are in my debt which I doe not claime not vrge so much as I doe that in truth and before our Lord I speake it you doe owe me loue in all mutuall amitie for the heartie affectionate loue which I haue and euer did beare vnto you with all sinceritie For though I loue not your Religion wherein I could neuer finde solide Truth nor firme hope of saluation as now I doe being a Catholique and our Lord is my witnesse who shall be my iudge yet indeed I doe loue your person and your ingenuous honest good morall condition which euer I obserued in you nor doe I desire to haue altercations with Master Ioseph Hall especially if he should proceede as Satyrically as he hath begun with me nor with any other man and much lesse would I haue any debate with your selfe whom I doe esteeme and affect as before I haue written nor would I spend the rest of my life which I take to be short for my lungs are decaying in any Questions but rather in deuotion wherein I doe much more desire to bee hot and feruorous then in Disputations beseeching our Lord to forgiue my coldnesse yea my neglect therein and to pardon and free me from all sinne and to guide and keepe you in all happinesse euen as I wish for mine owne soule through the Redemption of our sweet Sauiour and by the inter●ession of his holy Mother and all Saints Amen Written in haste from Madrid 14. Aprill 1619. Your assured true friend IAMES WADDESWORTH Receiued I●ne 4. 1619. To the Worshipfull my very good friend Master IAMES WADDESWORTH at Madrid deliuer this Salutem in Christo Iesu. THe late receipt of your Letters good Master Waddesworth did diuersly affect me with ioy and shame and I know not with whether most I was glad to heare of you and your prosperous state much more to receiue a kinde Letter from you Ashamed therein to be called vpon for debt who haue euer endeuoured to liue by that rule of the Apostle Owe nothing to any man Yet not so much for that which you must vrge the debt of loue sith by that Text it appears that it can neuer be so discharged as there should not be more behinde to pay And your selfe who challenge this of me doe owe me as much or well more For let me tell you I haue the aduantage of you herein by my profession for where your loue is to me as to a man or to an honest man nor can by your present perswasion goe any further I can and doe loue you as my deare brother and fellow member in the mysticall body of our Lord Iesus Christ. And from this ground to his knowledge I doe appeale I doe heartily pray for you and beare with you and as the Apostle enioynes Rom. 15. 7. Receiue you with a true brotherly affection I am not therefore ashamed of this debt but doe reioyce as much in the owing of it as in the payment But my shame growes from the being behinde with you in the office of writing Wherein yet heare my honest and true excuse Neither will I goe about to set off one debt with another For you may remember how at our parting you promised to write to me touching the state of Religion there which if wee shall make out a perfect reckoning I account to be a good debt still But this I say when your Letters of the first of April 1615 came to my hands I purposed to returne answere by the same B●arer who as hee told mee was to returne about the Midsommer following But I had a sodaine and extraordinarie iourny which came betweene and kept me from home till after the Commencement so as that opportunitie was lost Besides vpon the reading of your Letters I perceiued your intention was to haue them imparted to Doctor Hall expecting in a sort some reply from him To him threfore did I send them After some moneths I receiued this answere which though I had once purposed to conceale as not willing to be the meane of any exasperation betweene you yet now hoping of your wisedome and patience I send you inclosed that it may be some euidence of my true excuse Vpon the receipt of it I began to frame an answere to the points of your Letter according to your desire full and in friendly termes I had well-nigh finished it when I was presented to this Benefice and thereby entered into a world of distractions These together with the labour of writing it ouer and vncertaintie of safe conueighing my

simpliciter largo modo non in rigore verborum esse dicantur and againe cur inepte dicantur Sancti viri aliquo modo passionibus suis delicta nostra posse redimere so I hope and wish you would doe the like for calling vpon them and presenting their merits vnto God and as yee may more safely and sweetely speake vnto our Iesus who is our Aduocate with the Father entered into the Holy of Holies to appeare before God for vs. To his gracious protection I commit you and doe rest Horningshearth this 15. of Iune 1620. Your assured friend and louing Brother W. BEDELL To the worshipfull his much respected friend Master WILLIAM BEDELL at Horningshearth by Saint Edmundsbury in Suffolke these My very good Friend MAster BEDELL my last vnto you was by a Gentleman who went from hence about sixe moneths since but I haue vnderstood hee fell sicke at Paris by the way and so was first hindered there in his iourney and afterward againe at Brussels fell to a relapse which detained him so long that although now very lately I heare he is recouered and gone forward into England yet in so long delayes so often sickenesses I know not whether hee haue lost or forgotten my former Letters wherefore out of this consideration and by the opportunitie of this Bringer and by the true harty affection which I beare you being desirous to signifie vnto you the continuance of my sincere loue I could not pretermit this so good an occasion though hereby I haue nothing else to say nor intreate but if wee haue ●arres yet our dissention may be rather in the matter and cases then betwixt our persons as discreete Lawyers vse to pleade vehemently each for his Clyents iustice and yet remaine betwixt themselues without breach of amitie and abstaining from opprobrious iniurie wherein I haue great confidence that you will proceede both more moderately in all the circumstance and to better purpose in the substance then Master Ioseph Hall vnto whose Letter directed to you and by you sent vnto me I wrote certaine Marginall Notes onely and so returned the same by the aboue named Gentleman whereof also if it returne to your hands I would intreate you to send me a Copie both of his Text and my Glosse for then being in haste I remained with neither Our Lord keepe you and guide vs all to his truth and to heauen Madrid 8. Iune 1620. IAMES WADDESWORTH The Letter of Master D. HALL mentioned in the formerwith Master WADDESWORTHS marginall notes GOod Master Bedell what a sorry crabbe hath Master Waddesworth at last sent vs from Siuill I pittie the impotent malice of the man sure that hot Region and sulphurous Religion are guiltie of this his choler For ought I see hee is not onely turned Papist but Spaniard too Ibi vi●itur ambitiosa paupertate The great man would not foyle his fingers for that is his word with such an aduersarie as my selfe hee should haue found this conflict his foyling indeede but hee scornes the match and what wonder if he that hath all this while sat on Father Creswels staires scorne the vnworthinesse of him whom an English Vniuersitie scorned not to set in the chaire of Diuinitie But whence is this my contempt I see but two vices to cleare my selfe of Poetry and Railing of the latter you shall acquit mee if you will but reade that my poore Epistle which he sleights thus Let your eyes iudge whether euer any thing could be written more mildely more modestly more louingly Of the former I must acquit my selfe Cuius vnum est sed magnum vitium Poesis what were I the worse if I were still a louer of those studies If he could haue had leisure to tend vpon any thing besides that Fathers Packets he might haue seene most of the renowned and holy Fathers of the Church eminent in that profession for which I am scornd amongst many others Tertullian Lactantius Nazianzen Prudentius Fulgentius Apollinarius Nonnus Hilarius Prosper and now in the vpshot deuout Bernard and why should their honour be my disgrace But the truth is these were the recreations of my minoritie nun● oblita mihi And if Poetrie were of the deadly sinnes of their Casuists I could smart for it in my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is this a fit scandall to ●ake vp from so farre What my proficiencie hath beene in serious studies if the Vniuersitie and Church hath pleased to testifie what neede I stand at the mercie of a fugitiue But if any of his Masters should vndertake me in the cause of God he should finde I had studied prose As for these vaine flourishes of mine if he had not taken a veny in them and found it smart he had not strooke again so churlishly Was it my Letter that is accused of Poetry there is neither number nor ryme nor fiction in it Would the great Schoole man haue had me to haue packt vp a Letter of syllogismes which of the Fathers whose high steppes I haue desired to tread in haue giuen that example what were to be expected of a Monitorie Epistle which intended onely the occasion if he had pleased of a future discourse Wee I slanders list not learne to write Letters from beyond the Pyrenees Howsoeuer I am not sorry that his scorne hath cast him vpon an aduersarie more able to conuince him I am allowed onely a looker on therefore I will neither ward nor strike his hands are too full of you my onely wish is that you could beare him sound againe whereof I feare there it little hope There was neuer aduersarie that gaue more aduantage hee might haue serued in th●se Coleworts neerer home I professe I doe hartily pittie him and so if it please you let him know from me What Apostacie which is the onely hard word I can be charged with impute to the Roman Church I haue professed to the world in the first Chapter of my Roma Irreconciliabilis if I offend not in too much charitie there is no feare say what you will for me I haue done and will onely pray for him that answers me with contempt farewell and commend mee to Master Sotheby and your other louing and reuerend Societie and know mee euer Your truely louing friend and fellow labourer IOS HALL Waltam Ian 10. 1615. Good Master Bedell this Letter hath lien thus long by me for want of carriage I now heare you are setled at Horningsherth whereby I wish you much ioy I am appointed to attend the Ambassador into France whither I pray you follow me with your praiers May 15. To my Reuerend and worthy friend Master Doctor HALL at Waltham deliuer this SAlutem in Christo. Good Master Doctor this Letter of yours since my receipt of it hath beene a traueller further then you or I which being some moneths since returned into England I returne to you that it may relate what entertainment it hath found

in forraine parts It is now a yeare and more that I receiued a Letter from Master Waddesworth challenging an old debt of me an answere to his Letters which occasioned this of yours I wrote backe and among other things enclosed this your Letter which he hath censured as you see His answere by reason of the sicknesse of the Gentleman that brought it first at Paris and after at Bruxels came not to me till the latter end of May and now lately another I receiued from him wherein he desires a Copie both of your Text and his Glosse as he cals it as hauing reserued none for haste I haue not yet sent him my answere to his Motiues which hath long layen by me for lacke of leisure to copie it out and meanes safely to conuey it being well towards a quire of Paper My auncient fault tediousnesse But the Gentleman that brought me his former Letter hath vndertaken ere long to consigne it into his hands Therein I endeauour to vse him with the best respect I can deuise onely oppugning the Papacy and Court of Rome Now Sir that which I would entreate of you is this You know the Precept of the Apostle touching them that are fallen lend me your hand to set him in ioynt againe And be pleased not onely not to reflect vpon the weakenesse of his Glosse but not so much as vpon the strength of his stomacke ● though that bee also weakenesse as Saint Augustine well cals it infirmitas animositatis Writ a letter to him in the Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which shall either goe with mine or be sent shortly after Who can tell what God may worke Surely at least we shall heape coales of fire vpon his head Although if all be true that I heare it is not to be despaired but he may be deliuered out of the snare of error the rather because he hath not that reward or contentment which he expected He liues now at Madrid with the Persian Ambassador Sir Robert Sherly and hath good maintenance from him being as his Steward or Agent The kinde vsage of his ancient friends may perhaps bring him in loue with his countrie againe c. This for that businesse Now. c. October 2 1620. To the worshipfull my very good friend Master IAMES WADDESWORTH at Madrid deliuer this Salutem in Christo Iesu. SIr I receiued by Master Fiston your letters of the eight of Iune and as I hope ere this time you vnderstand the former which I mention in them to which I wrote in answere and deliuered the same to Master Aston the 15. of the same Moneth Doctor Hals letter with your marginall Notes which in your last you require I send you herein enclosed Though if I may perswade or intreate you both neither should the Text nor Glosse make you multiply any more words thereabout Vpon the receipt of your Letter I spake with Master Aston who told me that he held his resolution for Spaine whereupon I resolued also to send by him mine answer to your first as thinking it better to doe it more safely though a a little later then sooner with lesse safetie And here Sir at length you haue it Wherein as to my moderation for the manner I hope you shall perceiue that setting aside our difference in opinion I am the same to you that I was when we were either Schollers together in Emmanuell Colledge or Ministers in Suffolke For the substance I doe endeauour still to write to the purpose omitting nothing materiall in your Letters If sometimes I seeme ouerlong and perhaps to digresse somewhat from the principall point more then was necessary I hope you will pardon it sith you required a full answere and the delay it selfe had neede to bring you some interest for the forbearance And because you mention the vehemencie of discreete Lawyers although me thinkes we are rather the Clients themselues that contend since our faith is our owne and our best freehold let me entreate of you this ingenuitie which I protest in the sight of God I bring my selfe Let vs not make head against euident reason for our owne credit or fashion and factions sake as Lawyers sometimes are wont Neither let vs thinke we loose the victory when truth ouercomes We shall haue part of it rather and the better part since errour the common enemy to vs both is to vs more dangerous For truth is secure and impregnable we if our Errour be not conquered must remaine seruants to corruption It is the first praise saith Saint Augustine to hold the true opinion the next to forsake the false And surely that is no hard masterie to doe when both are set before vs if we will not be either retchlesse or obstinate From both which our Lord of his mercy euermore helpe vs and bring vs to his euer lasting Kingdome Amen Horningshearth Octo. 22. 1620. Your very louing Brother W. BEDELL THE COPIES OF CERTAINE LETTERS c. Salutem in Christo Iesu. CHAP. I. Of the Preamble The titles Catholique Papist Traytor Idolater SIr I doe first returne you heartie thankes for the truth and constancie of your loue and those best effects of it your wishing mee as well as to your selfe and reioycing in my safe returne out of Italy For indeede further I was not though reported to haue beene both at Constantinople and Ierusalem by reason of the neerness● of my name to one Master William Bidulph the Minister of our Merchants at Aleppo who visited both those places I thanke you also that your ancient loue towards mee hath to vse that word of the Apostle now flourished againe in that after so many yeeres you haue found opportunitie to accomplish your promise of writing to mee though not as ye vndertooke of the state of Religion there yet which I confesse I no lesse desired the Motiues of the forsaking that you had professed here Whereof since it hath pleased you as yee write now to giue mee an account and by me to Master Doctor Hall with some expectation also as it appeares of reply from one of vs I will vse the libertie which you giue me and as directly as I can for the matter and in Christian termes for the manner shew you mine opinion of them wherein I shall endeauour to obserue that Precept of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether it be to be interpreted louing sincerely or seeking truth louingly Neither soothing vntruth for the dearnesse of your person nor breaking charitie for diuersitie of opinion With this entrance my louing friend and if you refuse not that old Catholike name my deare brother I come to your Letter Wherein though I might well let passe that part which concernes your quarrell with Master Doctor Hall with aetatem habet yet thus much out of the common presumption of charitie which thinkes not euill giue mee leaue to say for him I am verily perswaded he neuer meant to charge you with Apostasie in so horrible a sense as