him in the Protestant Religion for which he was afterwards when he was College-Bursar so very zealous that he changed a great many old Books and Manuscripts for Protestant Books and did first put Protestant Writers into their College-Library and after his disgraceful putting out of the College when an old Friend of his a Gentleman of the Inner Temple declared to him that he had doubts concerning his Religion he did not only protest to the Gentleman but offered to take his Oath upon it That he was no Papist nor did ever intend to be Others will have his turning out of his Fellowship to be occasioned by his being a turbulent and lewd Man guilty of Forgery and Knavery and such-like crimes as made him unfit for a Society and Dr. Bagshaw who had been of the same College and afterwards turned Papist also and became a Seminary Priest affirms that he was accused of falsifying his College-Accounts by Stancliffe his Brother Bursar and this is often objected to him by the Secular Priests who have treated him with severity enough though not with more than his Pranks after he became a Jesuit did deserve Others assign other reasons of his being discharged the College but to set aside at once the reasons offered by his Brethren the Jesuits and those objected by his severer Adversaries the Secular Priests the matter may be truly decided by the Testimonies of two unexceptionable Witnesses who both knew him and one of them was Fellow of the same College with Persons Archbishop Abbot and Mr. Camden the Historian the Archbishop hath written a large Letter about this very business which I shall transcribe hither out of Mr. Foulis who says he did transcribe it from the Original with the marginal Notes upon it To my worshipful loving Friend Mr. Dr. Hussye at Mr. Haiden's House who dwelleth at the Sign of the Tunn in Watlingstreet give these YOU write unto me to know what is in record any way against Mr. Parsons and I return you here inclosed word for word so much as is in the Register of Baliol College In the Resignation as you may see he had written sponte coactus but now it is sponte non coactus being blotted out and non being set over Which I am deceived if it be not altered by some body else of late in as much as I am verily perswaded that since my coming to the College I have seen it sponte coactus which although it carry a Contradiction yet intimateth that he resigned against his will The particular reasons whereof no Man can tell better than Dr. Turner now dwelling in Fetter-lane or Dr. Hide of Sarum for as I take it they were both present at his removing The causes and manner of his giving over as far as I could ever comprehend were these Bagshaw being a smart young man and one who thought his penny good Silver after that he had his Grace to be Batchelor of Arts was with some despight swindged by Parsons being Dean of the College hoc manet alta mente repostum And Bagshaw afterward coming to be Fellow was most hot in Persecution against Parsons It was the more forwarded by Dr. Squire 's displeasure who was then Master of Baliol College and thought himself to have been much bitten by vile Libels the Author whereof he conceived Parsons to be who in truth was a Man at that time wonderfully given to scoffing and that with bitterness which also was the cause that none of the company loved him Now Dr. Squire and Bagshaw being desirous of some occasion to trim him this fell out in the year 1572. Parsons had been Bursar and being joyn'd in Office with one Stancliff a very simple fellow he took the advantage of the weakness of his Colleague and falsified the Reckonings much to the damage of the College as also deeply polling the Commoners Names whereof there was store in the College and withal not sparing his own Scholars by all which means it was thought that he had purloin'd one hundred Marks His Office expired at St. Luke's Tide there were some that between that and February 1573. scanned over the Books being moved thereunto by the secret complaints of some of the Commoners their Scholars and finding it apparent as also being now certified that he was a Bastard whereas it is the first quality there required by Statute that every Fellow should be Legitimo Thoro natus they proceeded to have his Expulsion solemnly Where by the way you may add that Parsons was not of the best fame concerning Incontinency as I have heard some say who lived in Oxon at that time but whether that were then objected against him I have not heard Parsons being put to this push in the College-Chapel and ways sufficient concurring to expel him and in truth no Man standing for him maketh humble request That he might be suffered to resign which with some a-do was yielded to him and then he wrote as you have here inclosed Afterwards before the Assembly broke up he intreated that his giving over might be concealed by reason that it would be disgraceful unto him with all Men but especially with his Scholars and their Friends and for these causes humbly prayed that he might keep his Scholars Chamber c. and be reputed as a Fellow in the House the matter being concealed from all the Boys and the younger sort in the House which then in words was yielded unto and that other Decree which now you see razed was enacted for the time but afterwards was soon crossed as you may behold And soon after their coming out of the Chappel by Bagshaw's means a Peal of Bells was rung at Magdalen Parish-Church being the Parish wherein Baliol College standeth the reason of which ringing as it was imparted to some few to be to ring out Mr. Parsons so generally it was not known to the World or in the College which gave occasion to this farther Jest. When Parson 's was Expell'd he was one of the Deans of the Colledge and so by his Place was to keep Corrections in the Hall on the Saturdays The next time therefore of Corrections which was the day of Parsons his Exclusion or soon after Dr. Squire causeth Parsons to go into the Hall as Dean and to call the Book and Roll c. And then cometh Dr. Squire himself in and as if it had been in kindness to countenance him but in truth more profoundly to deride him he calleth him at every word Mr. Dean and desireth him often to have a strict care to the good government of the Youth and not only for a fit but all the time of his year that he was to continue in Office Some of the Commoners knew all this Pageant and laught the more sweetly and Parsons in the end spied how he was scorned and nothing concealed nay understanding all his Knell which was rung out for him for very shame got him away to London and there not
violently urged by the Jesuits above all others excepting that Society whose rich Colleges and abundance of Treasure made it apparent quickly to the World that some were great gainers while the poor Lay-Catholicks were made great sufferers by that Recusancy Upon Campian's Execution England grew too hot for our Father Parsons and notwithstanding the mighty zeal he pretended for the Conversion of England yet he was for saving one and getting out of harms way and therefore slips away back into France under the Pretext of conferring with Doctor Allen about the Seminaries and of Printing some Books which could not be done in England and never returned hither tho' he continued Superiour of the Jesuits Mission after this But though the Kingdom was delivered from such a Firebrand yet he continued diligent beyond Seas in his Seditious Designs and was to the last a constant Enemy to his Native Countrey As he had laboured in the promoting the Popish Recufancy and getting the English Papists to be governed by the Jesuits so he now employs all his Arts and all his interest to get Seminaries erected for the supplying England from time to time with Priests to keep up that Recufancy and to prepare the Papists here to joyn with any Invasion that they abroad should procure against their own Countrey Assoon as he was got hence to Roan in France he dealt with the Duke of Guise to erect a Seminary for such a purpose in Normandy after which he goes into Spain and prevails with King Philip to encourage and erect such in Spain so that in a short time they could not only boast of their Seminaries at Rome and at Rhemes but of those at Valladolid at Sevil at St. Lucars in Spain at Lisbon in Portugal at Doway and St. Omers in Flanders in all which their Youth were educated with violent Prejudices against their own Native Countrey and their minds were formed to all the Purposes and Designs which this chief Incendiary Parsons had in his head Father Moor the Author of the History of the Mission does indeed tell us That Father Parsons was for having the Youth that were entered into these Seminaries to take an Oath about faithfully answering the End and Benefit of their Education there but says not a word of their being forced to subscribe the Infanta of Spain's Title against the True Title of the then King of Scots King James the First The Oath was this IN. N. considering with how great benefits God hath blessed me c. do promise by God's assistance to enter into Holy Orders assoon as I shall be fit for them and to return into England to Convert my Countrey-men there whenever it shall please the Superior of this House to command me But when once Father Parsons being puffed up with his Familiarity with the King and Court of Spain had devoted his Soul and Body both to the service of that aspiring Crown then he was for having the Youth in the Seminaries to subscribe to the Spanish Title which was of his own inventing to the Crown of England then he was for speaking out his design against his Native Countrey And that he dealt in such traiterous designs after his getting out of England is proved upon him by their own Writers As touching the Colleges says Clark the Priest concerning him and Pensions that are maintained and given by the Spaniard which he so often inculcateth we no whit thank him for them as things are handled and occasions thereby ministred of our greater Persecution at home by reason of Father Parson's treacherous practices thereby to promote the Spanish Title to our Country and his hateful Stratagems with such Scholars as are there brought up enforcing them to subscribe to Blanks and by publick Orations to fortifie the said wrested Title of the Infanta meaning Isabella Clara Eugenia Daughter to Philip the Second of Spain whose Right to the English Crown was maintain'd in a Book by this Parsons made but published by him under the false name of Doleman As this Priest gives us an account of the zeal of Father Parsons for the Infanta so Watson another Romish Priest helps us to another of his knavery about the same affair That Parsons earnestly moving the young Students in Spain to set their hands to a Schedule that they would accept the Lady Infanta for Queen of England after the decease of her Majesty to wit Queen Elizabeth that now is but finding them altogether unwilling to intermedle with these State-affairs belonging nothing to them and most hurtful to both their Cause and Persons used this cunning shift to draw on the innocent and simple youths to pretend forsooth to them of Valladolid that the Students in Sevil had done it already no remedy then but they must follow And that having thus craftily gotten their names he shewed them to the Students in Sevil for an example of their fact and forwardness which he required them to imitate Though these are sufficient Evidences of the use Father Parsons put the erected Seminaries to yet I cannot but add that great and wise Cardinal the Cardinal d'Ossat's account of these very Seminaries in his Letter to the King of France Henry the Fourth about the Spaniards and Father Parsons Design against England For this purpose also says he were the Colleges and Seminaries erected by the Spaniards for the English at Doway and at St. Omers wherein the young Gentlemen of the best Families in England are entertain'd thereby to oblige them and by them their Parenâ—â— and Kindred and Friends The principal care which these Colleges and Seminaries have is to catechise and bring up these young English Gentlemen in this Faith and firm Belief that the late King of Spain had and that his Children now have the true Right of Succession to the Crown of England and that this is advantageous and expedient for the Catholick Faith not only in England but where-ever Christianity is And when these young English Gentlemen have finished their Humanity-Studies and are come to such an age then to make them throughly Spaniards they are carried out of the Low-Countries into Spain where there are other Colleges for them wherein they are instructed in Philosophy and Divinity and confirmed in the same Belief and holy Faith that the Kingdom of England did belong to the late King of Spain and does now to his Children After that these young English Gentlemen have finished their courses those of them that are found to be most Hispaniolized and most couragious and firm to this Spanish Creed are sent into England to sow this Faith among them to be Spies and give advice to the Spaniards of what is doing in England and what must and ought to be done to bring England into the Spaniards hands and if need be to undergo Martyrdom as soon or rather sooner for this Spanish Faith than for the Catholick Religion In this Cardinal we find to what excellent purposes the Seminaries were erected that Father Parsons laboured
was a Comical sight indeed to see Mr. Lobb the Presbyterian and Father Petre the Jesuit caballing and contriving together and as great Intimado's as if they had been of the very same Society to see Pen the Quaker and Brent Mr. Alsop and Nevil Payn settling and securing Liberty of Conscience and Father Warner as obliging to them as can be but whatever Professions of Love and Sincerity were made to the Nonconformists by the Jesuits then I can assure them that at the same time F. Warner the Jesuit the late King's Confessor lookt upon all the Dissenters together as the worst and vilest of Men and insufferable in any Government especially in a Monarchy and this I have out of his History of the Popish Plot written with his own hand which I have now by me wherein his Characters of the Presbyterians which is the name he gives to all Dissenters are somewhat extraordinary and I should desire Mr. Alsop and Mr. Lobb to recollect how far this following Character of themselves and their Friends does agree with the Discourse they were at the same time treated with by the late King the Jesuits and their Tools Pervicacissima says he ista factio omni imperio adversa populorum exitio nata Romae Patriae communis Erynnis Such Characters as this run through his Seven Books of the History of that Plot which I could not peruse without astonishment that any People that wear the name of Christians could be such abominable Hypocrites as to court and caress with their Tongues those Men whom in their writings they were at the very same instant representing to Foreign Nations and to Posterity as the wickedest and worst of Men Furies and Firebrands of Hell the least that such a practice can prove is that a Jesuit is a Scandal to the Christian Name And now I have mentioned Father Warner's MS. History of the Popish Plot I cannot but do the Earl of Castlemain the kindness to help him out of this History with a breviate of his Instructions for his Embassy to Rome In his late printed account of what had been said by him before the late House of Commons he makes his Embassy to have been just such as is between two Temporal Princes about Compliment and Commerce and says he could prove it but that he had indeed burnt his Papers I am glad I can help his Lordship herein out of Father Warner's History whom no body will question to have known my Lord Castlemain's true business to Rome being at that time a chief managing Jesuit and which is more the King's Confessor This is his account of it when he comes to speak of that Kings Accession to the Crown and his suppressing the two Rebellions against him Things being says he however settled within the Realm and in a peaceable flourishing Condition the next care his Majesty had was to unite his Countries to the Obedience of the Bishop of Rome and the Apostolical See which had been cut off by Heresie about an age and a half ago To try the Pope's Inclination in the Year 1685 he sent Mr. J. Caril who succeding to the utmost of their desires and being recalled the Earl of Castlemain was sent the next Year to wit 1686. Extraordinary Embassador to the Pope in the name of the King and the Catholicks of the Realm to testifie their Canonical Obedience or to make their Submission to the Holy See g They would never consent to come to any indifferent Tryal or Disputation with the Catholicks and below This manner of publick Disputation which hath been often asked at the Protestants hands and could never be obtained How very unprobable this is which the Jesuit does so confidently affirm here I appeal to the Papists who have read how warmly their Party did declare against any such Disputations in the beginning of Q. Eliz. and to what this Jesuit himself relates of the Conference in France betwixt du Plessis and Cardinal Perron That the Pope's Nuncio declared against it as a thing that did not belong to the King to appoint And though this hot Jesuit is for such Conferences yet those of his own Party that have more learning and more moderation have not been fond of such Tryals In the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign when she appointed a Conference to be managed with all the fairness that the Jesuit himself proposes in his Conference here the Archbishop of York did after he had communicated the Queens Intentions about it to his Brethren not without difficulty consent to it And what was the fruit of it the very first day they met at the Conference they broke the Rules for it and pretended their Paper which they were to read first was not quite ready and that they had mistaken the order The next day they met the Conference ended the Papists refusing to read their Paper first upon the second point as had been agreed for them at the appointing the Conference and the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln who were two of the Disputants were so far from approving such Projects as our Jesuit lays down here that they declared That the Doctrine of the Catholick Church being established ought not to be disputed and talked of Excommunicating the Queen and her Council for appointing such a Conference which yet our Jesuit has the face to say the Protestants durst never grant h I perswade my self this Examination would do exceeding much good And I am as fully perswaded that the Jesuit's Perswasion here had no other Foundation than Confidence which he would have been cured of as to this thing had he read either Bishop Juell or Dr. Whitaker's Works and for all the Jesuit's assurance then we see his own Gang as well as the rest of the Missionaries that were to have converted us in the late Reign durst never so much as think of this Project they were for varnishing and painting instead of disputing and he was the cunningest Man that could make their Popery look likest the Protestants Doctrines witness the Bishop of Meaux and the Representers Writings There was indeed a little venturing into antiquity by the Author of the Nubes Testium and Mr. Clench but how they two came off the World does already know CHAP. V. The forwardness that ought to be in all for the Restitution of Ecclesiastical Lands and Livings and with what facility and ease it may be done AMong other good Dispositions of Minds and effects of a true and sincere Reconciliation with Almighty God one principal ought to be at the time that his Divine Majesty shall shew mercy unto England k that every one should have a special care and fervent desire to clear his Conscience well and sufficiently about Abby-Lands and Ecclesiastical Livings which himself or his Ancestors by any pretence of Title whatsoever shall have invaded or detained to which thing we may apply that wholesome Admonition of God by the Prophet as very peculiarly spoken to us at that day expurgate