enlarged by a In constitutione quae incipit cum à nobis Paulus the third b In const quae incipit Romani Pontificis Iulius the second and c In const quae incip sanctissimus Iulius the third inuolue or concerne the promotion and office of Maister Blackwell as how little true all these things are the former reasons haue sufficiently declared yea we tooke the hard conceite and indignation which our Prince and the State carry against Father Parsons whom they reputed to be the chiefe deuiser of the subordination and to haue the whole ruling thereof as a iust excuse of not admitting the authoritie especially at the first appearance thereof vpon the bare sight of the Cardinals letter directed also to no more then one And the grounds why we tooke this to be a reasonable cause of iustifying our bearing off were these that follow First because the Magistrates haue in their hands and de facto haue shewed to some prisoners at the time of their examinations for proofe and to exaggerate the disloyalties and treasons obiected one or mo letters which they affirme to be father Parsons wherein his concurrance and furtherance to an inuasion were expressed then the mans restlesse tampering in State matters being reported to haue profered and reprofered the Crowne of our Countrie to seuerall Princes now to one now to another as the meeting of matters and oportunities could most recommend and credit his words and entertaine the personage with hope thereof thirdly the incessant solicitation which the Magistrate protesteth that he hath vsed with forraine Potentates and the attempts which as the same Magistrate affirmeth haue thereon ensued for a conquest of our countrie So as the Magistrate vnderstanding as common fame could not but bring it to his hearing that the subordination was the worke of father Parsons our feare was least the politick State would deeme vs coadiutors and creatures combined with him if we had admitted the Subordination vpon no greater compulsion then the Protectors letter and consequently that we were persons who did deserue to be abandoned and to haue the extremitie of the lawes prosecuted against vs. Could we therefore in common reason do lesse matters standing in these termes then deferre our acceptance of the authoritie vntill his Holines had commaunded vs by Bull Breue or other papall instrument or verball message to subiect our selues thereunto that so the State might see our receiuing of the Subordination not to be for any liking we caried towards father Parsons proceedings but for obedience only towards the Sea Apostolick and in a matter wherein the obseruances of our religion bound vs and the same not iustlie preiudiciall to the temporall state Verily we tooke this for so reasonable and iust a cause as we could not but stand thereupon vnlesse we would in our owne vnderstanding haue shewed our selues cruell to our owne innocencie of ill deserts towards the Magistrate in not remouing his wrong suspition of vs when and how we might ingratefull to our benefactors vnmindfull of our owne liues betrayers of the cause we professe enemies to the professors thereof and iniurious to the honor of Priesthood for that all these her Maiestie and the State not reading in our actions that we were true dislikers of all and singular his disloyall practises and platformes were like to receiue increase of affliction blemish by our admittance of the iurisdiction before such time as his Holines had confirmed the same thereby through the vertue of his supreme authoritie freed both it and vs from hauing part in father Parsons intentions so farre as they were any whit disloyall Neither is father Parsons holden onely of our Magistrate for a Statist or marchandizer of the Crowne and Diademe though this were enough to estrange deforce vs from hauing any connexion or partaking in ought with him but his trauels and negotiations this way are become so notoriouslie knowne that euen Pasquine in Rome as intelligence is sent vs speaketh in this manner of him If there be any man that will buy the Kingdome of England Let him repaire to a Marchant in a blacke square Cappe in the Citie and he shall haue a very good penny-worth thereof Touching the proper nature of our delaie vpon the foresaid cause we thinke that the same will not onely appeare iust and reasonable before any Tribunall vpon earth to our full excuse but that it will be found of that qualitie in the day of iudgement when * Psal 5. Sophon 1. Iustice will be iudged and Ierusalem searched with a candle For what humaine cause can be thought iust or reasonable if not the precedent branching into so many seuerall and weightie consequences as the premisses deliuer and reason maketh manifest if circumstances of time place and persons the direction of a wise mans aime be vprightlie considered And if the cause were either in truth or in semblance iust we meane either iust in it selfe or so taken in good faith by vs then our prolonging to subiect our selues supposing the Cardinals letter had bin a binding precept vnto vs was either no sinne at all or not greater then a veniall No sinne if the cause were reallie iust as witnesseth a Ca. si quando de rescript Pope Alexander the third b 12. q. 96. art 6. 22. q. 147. art 3. ad 2. in 4. dist 15. q. 3. art 4. ad 4. quaest ad 3. Saint Thomas c In dist 76. ca. vtinam Archidiaconus d In ca. â—am quae de rescript nu 4. in rubr de obseruat iâ—iu nu 11. Panormitane e Verb. lex nu 8. Siluester f In â—an ca. 23. nu 43. Nauar g P. 1. li. 2. ca. 36. nu 16. Graffius and others Or not greater then a veniall if the cause were but putatiuely iust as writeth h 2 P. tit 6. ca. 2. ante § 1. Saint Antonie i In 22. q. 147 art 3 in summa verb. prâ—ceptum Caiâ—tane k In 4. dist 15 q. 4. Paludamus l Verb. ieiunium nu 21. Siluester m Vbi supra Nauar n T. 3. disp 9. q. 2. punct 5. Gregorius de Valentia and others Neither is this doctrine only true in the commaundements of inferiour prelates but holdeth likewise true in the precepts of Cardinals or of Popes them selues as both the text of the lawe and the best writers do testifie o Ca. si quaÌ„do de rescript Si aliqua tuae fraternitati dirigimus quae animum tuum exasperare videntur turbari non debes c. Qualitatem neâ—otij pro quo tibi scribitur diligenter considerans aut mandâ—tum nostrum reuerenter adimpleas aut per literas tuas quare adimplere non possiâ— rationabilem causam praetendas If we inioyne you any thing sayth Pope Alexander to the Archbishop of Rauenna that may seeme to stirre your mind you ought not to be troubled therewith but
institution of our Superiours nor make any secret meetings for aduising one the other when as the condition of our state embarreth vs to meete publikely nor write letters to any beyond the seas without his priuitie For these reasons and for that the authoritie it selfe was most strange neuer heard of in the Christian world meerely penall without mixture of any benefite to our selues Church or countrey of most absolute soueraigntie without tye in the proceedings to any forme of law other then the arbitrarie pleasure of the Archpriest and the receiuing of the sayd authoritie the same being a superiour prelature expresly and vnder heauie penalties forbidden b Extâ—â—u Iaiuncl c. Bulla 2. Iulij 2. Iulij 3. constit 34. by the constitutions of holie Church except the partie preferred thereunto do shew the Letters of the Sea Apostolicke such as the Cardinals were not for proofe of his promotion Notwithstanding all these exceptions and iustifications of our bearing off to admit the subordination we neuerthelesse offered to obey Maister Blackwell in the meane though not to receiue him to our Superiour till such time as the Pope should make forth his Breue or otherwise confirme him in his place and likewise protested vnder our hands that no sooner should any such Breue or confirmation appeare but that it should find vs readie most absolutely to receiue the authoritie But this was not deemed sufficient nor ought could satisfie but our present submission Which because we deferred to make and did not yeeld to acknowledge him for our Superiour vpon testimonie of the Cardinals letter father Lister diuulged his condemned Treatise against vs his Superiour father Garnet and M. Blackwel approued the same They taught that our company was to be shunned that our faculties In Fa. Listers treatise and in Fa. Garnets letter of the 7. of March were lost that our selues were excommunicated that none vnder mortall sinne could inuite vs to say Masse and those that did participate with vs in Sacraments made themselues also partakers of our wickednesse Which inflaming matter of dissention and vntollerable reuiling against vs lasted some moneths and when at last the Popes Breue arriued we were content notwithstanding the sharpnesse of the premisses to forgiue all for peace sake and receiued the Subordination in as large maner as it was proposed Presently vpon this atonement and remission of the former defamations Father Iones raised another paradox farre more strange and absurd then that of Father Listers and our Archpriest soothed it to be true vidz that whosoeuer did stiffely maintaine that we had not incurred the crime of schisme by the prorogation of our refusall to receiue M. Blackwell for our lawfull Superiour he himselfe ipso facto for such his maintenance incurred the censures of holy Church At this time also M Blackwell published a resolution which he said he receiued from our mother citie declaring the refusers of the appointed authoritie were schismatikes and commaunded that none should absolue vs in confession vnlesse we did first acknowledge so much In his Letter to Master Clearke and likewise menaced that if we did perseuere in the contrary opinion he would deale with vs as a Prelate for appeasing the same Vpon which order and threate of our Archpriest and as well for satisfaction of our ghostly children as to make a finall end of the controuersie we offered to dispute the question with the Iesuites the authors of the Calumniation but being denyed this iust request by our Archpriest we sent compelled thereunto to the Vniuersitie of Paris with humble petition to that venerable companie of the Sorbons that they would vouchsafe to deliuer their opinioÌ„ censure in the case Who freeing vs from schisme and all sinne in the nature of the act our Archpriest made foorth eftsoones a decree prohibiting 29. of May 1600. vnder grieuous penalties either directly or indirectly the said censure of the famous Vniuersitie And within short time after his 18. of October 1â—00 Reuerence published another decree wherein he by vertue of his authoritie iudicially declared vs to haue bene truly disobedient to the Sea Apostolike and rebellious against his office for not admitting the subordination at first and forbad vs vnder present losse of all our faculties and of being ipso facto suspended and interdicted neither to presume our selues nor any other for vs to defend our former disobedience any maner of way by word or writing Yea his Reuerence enacted further in the same decree that we as §. 5. if we had bin boyes in some Colledges vnder the Iesuits and that it behoueth also that some iealousie were cast abrode of our demeanure should not haue any secret meetings or communication together saue such only as tended to the increase of pietie and hospitalitie or of humanitie and peace A law of that qualitie notwithstanding the smooth pretext as the christian world neuer heard the like to be made for Priests and Pastors sent by the sea Apostolicke for reducing others to the Catholicke faith By which and some other of our Archpriest his decrees following in the discourse the reader may iudge both what an vnworthy and seruile bondage he and the Iesuites whose counsell or direction he exactly followeth in all things haue and would more of all likelyhood haue brought vpon vs ere this day if we had not appealed and wrote to his Holines and also whether there remayned any other refuge vnto vs then to appeale and try the accusations before that Tribunall vnto whose iudgement both they and we must stand Further we haue seuerall times sued for peace at the hands of our aduersaries euen vpon vneuen conditions namely before the first Breue before and after our appellation and before our brethrens preparation to Rome but they of the other side euermore reiected all our offers nor would accept of any conditions wherein our vtter discredit and their victory though in vnrights should not appeare to the world The holy Ghost writeth and the words are true as well Eccle. 41. touching the spirituall as carnall parent the children complaine of their wicked father because they liue in reproch for him And S. Thomas c 22. q. 73. art 4. ad 1. quodl 10. q. 6. art 13. with all other schoole Diuines teacheth that a man is bound to defend his good name when the wrongfull deprauing thereof turneth others to detriment Likewise the same Doctor d 22. q. 72. art 3. c. writeth that one may be bound to purge his good name euen in respect of doing good thereby to the defamer viz. when through the checking and repressing of his boldnes the party is learned to be more wary and temperate Which is also the commaund of holy writ answere a foole according to his foolishnes least he seeme wise Proverb 26. to himselfe We trust by the litle which is said that both the necessitie and iustnesse of our defence appeareth so much the more by how
principally meant in not taking the names of moe Priests with them or in a better forme then they did and specially because they omitted the procuring of the King of France his Letter in their behalfe to his Ambassadour in Rome which was promised and another to his Holinesse himselfe for request of fauourable audience in their sute matter of iust sorrow they smarting after the rate they did for omitting of the helpes vpon confidence only of the most behoueable and reasonable petitions they were to propose But of what persons beside the Cardinall his Grace did our two brethren remaining close prisoners heare that the Archpresbytership and the faculties adioyned was the order of his Holinesse Had any of those accesse vnto the prisoners which liued neare about his Holinesse or were often in his presence and so by likelihood might heare when the commission was giuen or after talked of Were other straungers or their countrey-men in the city allowed to come vnto them Were the students of the Colledge licensed at that time to visite the prisoners and haue communication with them No no they were alike straightly kept as they were not suffered to consult or speake with any nor the one of them with the other What then did his Holinesse Fiscall who was appointed to examine the prisoners but not long after surrendred the office to father Parsons report so much vnto them It cannot be sayd because the same man at the end of all their examinatioÌ„s resiftings told the prisoners as they both witnesse that the subordination was not the ordinance of his Holinesse Of whom then had the prisoners that intelligence vndoubtedly either from father Parsons or father Owen who onely had recourse vnto them relators that must needes haue beliefe giuen to their words because the one was a chiefe deuiser of the authority and his reputation lay in gage to haue it go forward the other a profiting scholler in father Porsons studies and his right hand in this busisinesse as the seruice following declareth When maister Charnocke wrote his letter vnto vs by the appointment of the Cardinals for a finall end of their durance as father Owen reported and father Parsons had the perusing thereof a night and a day it was brought againe vnto him by father Owen with order from father Parsons to adde that the subordination erected was the order of his Holinesse who answering he could not write so because he knew it not the other replied that the Cardinall protector sayd it when he sate in iudgement in the cause and that father Parsons affirmed the same and therefore he might well and truly write that to his knowledge the Archpresbitership was the appointmeÌ„t of his Holinesse Whereupon the prisoner being willing to giue the fathers the most contentment he could for his speedier riddance out of prison promised him to write in so large a maner in that point as possibly he could with any truth and accordingly signified in his Letter yet not that he knew the subordination to be the order of his Holinesse but that he heard the Cardinal to affirme it and also vnderstood it by credible relation of others The like wrote M. Bishop and not vnlike vpon the same perswasion But neither the one nor the other of our brethreÌ„ nor the Cardinall Protector in the Constitutiue Letter nor any other of whom witnesse is claimed did euer in the least word affirme that the faculties and iurisdiction annexed to the Archpresbitership the onely point which was most needfull of all other to be descended vnto being the most materiall and which alone for the amplenesse rigour vnusualnesse thereof caused our delay were the ordinance or commandement of his Holines A thing worthiest of special note as that most manifesteth the headie violence of our aduersaries and how beyond all colour of reason they haue proceeded in their accusations and outcries against vs. Now touching the commendation and dutie our two brethren sent to be done to our and their superiour the Archpriest who could thinke reading the passage but that somwhat lay hid was insinuated by the words that they being prisoners in Rome should as it were hunt after so impertinent an occasion of calling M. Blackwell their Superiour and direct commendations vnto him by that title when as we were right sure they both well knew that the Cardinals Letter made him but Superiour ouer the Priestes residing in England and Scotland only and not ouer any whiles they liued any other where And one of them being sithence asked the meaning of the said words aunswered that the authoritie of the Archpriest not stretching to any out of England this clause so farre as I can so farre distant vsed in the same sentence where he rendred his dutie did shew that he wrote it onely to make faire weather with father Parsons and the sooner to get himselfe released of the imprisonment he indured But would our aduersaries indeed vnderstand the truth how much or wherein our two brethren do either beare witnesse against vs or condemne our standing off to yeeld our obedience vntill the comming of his Holinesse Breue Let them reade M. Bishop his answere to father Parsons Letter and the censure vpon the same both printed in the English booke and written when they were not in hold and then tell vs the particularities wherein they giue testimonie against vs or find fault with our delay In the meane there are none but must see that all the testimonies which are brought against vs proceeded from one head take their whole force from the Cardinals word and not from his Graces word as auowing the particular faculties iurisdiction annexed to the Archpresbytership to be the command or appointment of his Holinesse but from his Graces word onely that he receiued a Commission to make peace in our Country and that following the will of his Holinesse he decreed a subordination We therefore being not bound to beleeue specially to obey as hath bene sufficiently proued before the Cardinals word himselfe writing and affirming it we were lesse bound by al consequence to beleeue and obey the same related or witnessed vnto vs by others And here I thinke good to aduertise touching the report I haue made of all the precedent testimonies that I do not so aâ—â—ow it as that I engage my word the report to be in euery iot one with the Letters themselues for this were the imperfection of mans memorie considered to ground certaintie vpon vncertaintie especially the time being long since I read most of the Letters and neuer read them but once nor could be admitted to copie them forth wheÌ„ also I feared no accident lesse then that matters would fal out as now they do or that we should euer haue had occasion to proue our selues no disobedient run-agates from the Church of Rome or from the supreme Pastour thereof who with semblable perill of life and renunciation of worldly preferment haue for many yeeres laboured to reduce
can learne of There be other obiections which our aduersaries make as that none but a few women adhere in opinion vnto vs * Father Holtby in his discourse of the last of lune that we cannot pretend ignorance nor except against the sufficientnesse of the promulgation and such like not worth the answering Neuerthelesse concerning the first we hope the sentence of the vniuersitie of Paris giuen in our behalfe will not admit it to be true if so there were no other at all that did participate in the opinion with vs as perhaps if voyces were cast there would be found as many for vs as against vs. And concerning the iudgement of Priestes who should best know what they did we are right sure that we haue 6. for one if not ten or rather sixteen that conspire in opinion with vs for one that dissenteth And as for the two latter and such like we vtterly disclaime the patronage standing more assured of the strength and iustnesse of our cause then to flie to such pretexts for succour And here to conclude our third Reason we comfort our selues in the grounds precedent that howsoeuer the large potencie and aliance of our aduersaries may happen to ouersway yet that the day of iudgement if not the seate Apostolicke before will declare vs guiltlesse of the crimes obiected and that the measure which hath bene met vnto vs was and is most oppressing iniurious violent and spiritually hurtfull to manie The fourth Reason THE fourth Reason of our standing off was that admitting there had no surreption appeared in the Constiutiue Letter nor obreption but that all things had passed by true and full information and with perfect knowledge of his Holinesse as the day of iudgement will declare for vs that at the time of our delay we did morally assure our selues in both to the contrarie and that not onely his Holines commanded the institutioÌ„ of the Archpresbytership with the faculties and instructions annexed but that he himself was indeed the immediate and sole institutor thereof and that also the Cardinall had certified this much vnto vs in plaine termes and that finally the preiudices which accompanie the authoritie did neither licence vs to suspend our beleefe nor could any way hold vs excused for not beleeuing his Grace on his word as how little true all these things were the reasons aforegoing haue we trust sufficiently shewed yet we thought our selues secure in conscience free from touch of the least disobedience if his Holinesse promoting M. Blackwel to so large and much more in some respects then episcopall authoritie we refused to receiue him to the dignitie and ministration of the office before such time as he did shew vs the Popes letters for testimonie of his promotion This we tooke to be lawfull and the reason why we tooke it to be so was the a De electione ca. 1. extrauagant Iniunctae of Pope Bonifacius the 8. where these words are read Praesenti itaque perpetuò valitura constitutione sancimus vt Episcopi alij Praelati superiores quocunque nomine censeantur qui apud sedeÌ„ ApostolicaÌ„ promouentur aut confirmationis munus recipiunt ad commissas eis Ecclesias absque dictae sedis literis huiusmodi eorum promotionem seu confirmationem continentibus accedere non praesumant nullique eos absque dictarum literarum ostensione recipiant aut eis pariant vel inteÌ„dant Quicunque verò ipsos absque huiusmodi dictae sedis literis recipientes vel obedientes eisdem tam diu sint à beneficiorum suoruÌ„ perceptione suspensi donec super hoc eiusdem sedis gratiam meruerint meruerint obtinere We by this present constitution saith Pope Boniface continuing for euer do decree that Bishops and other superiour Prelates by what name soeuer they are intitled who are promoted by the Sea Apostolike or receiue the benefite of confirmation do not presume to take the charge of those churches committed vnto them without the letters of the same Sea containing such their promotion or confirmation and that none without shewing the foresaid letters receiue obey or reuerence them for such And whosoeuer shal receiue or obey them without the testimony of such letters from the said Sea remain so long suspended from receiuing the fruites of their benefices vntill they shall deserue to obtaine the relaxation of the said censure from the Sea Apostolicke That M. Blackwell was constituted a superiour Prelate and consequently in this point comprised vnder the words of the Extrauagant it appeared in that himselfe had no Ecclesiasticall superiour in the whole Realme but was as Metropolitane and all the secular Priests of our nation residing in England or Scotland appointed his subiects A prelate of higher superioritie in this kind then euer England had were Cardinall Wolsey the counter-partie of the comparison And that he was also contained vnder the other part of the Extrauagant to wit the Church or Churches committed vnto him seemed most plain hauing our whole Catholicke Church both the Secular Cleargie and Laitie committed to his charge as his Holinesse two Breues do testifie To One of the 6. of Apill 1599. the other of the 17. of August 1601. auoid that is said and exempt M. Blackwell from being comprehended vnder this latter part of the Extrauagant vpon pretext that there are no Ecclesiasticall reuenues an euasion of his owne belonging to the Church or Catholike multitude whereof he is appointed Superior is not onely to make the good Pope and prudent Gouernour of Gods Church to regard temporalities more then he did order and reformation in Gods house but most oppositely to contradict the Proeme of the same Extrauagant where the holy Pope dilateth of the great perill and spirituall preiudice which followeth vpon the admitting of Prelates to the dignity and office they claime and would assume to themselues before they haue made lawfull proofe of such their promotion and orderly calling to place of gouernement For remouing of which inconuenience the Pope ordained that no Bishop or superiour Prelate promoted by the Sea Apostolike should b â—auar in c. accepâ—â— de restitu spâ—liâ—t of posit 8. â—u 39. be receiued to the dignitie and prelature bestowed vpon him before he shew the Letters of the same Sea for testimonie of such his Ecclesiasticall preferment Moreouer if our aduersaries shall denie M. Blackwell to be any like superiour Prelate as is vnderstood in the Extrauagant we answer that granting it to be true which they say although for the Reasons aforegoing the same may seem somewhat in congruent neuerthelesse other Popes who haue sithence succeeded haue in such cases extended the same prohibition and penalties to inferiour Prelates as writeth c Par. 1. Instit mor. li. 5 ca. 2. quaeritur 5. Adzore and citeth for instance the constitutions of d Constitut quae inâ—ipit Cuâ— nobis Paulus tertius and e Const quae incipit Sanctissimis Iulius tertius And certes we are of opinion that there
is the imposing of so heauy penalties for the direct or indirect maintenance of the censure Whether the vniuersitie gaue the same vpon true information or otherwise This this appeared so strange as we hardly durst beleeue our owne eyes before we read the wordes ouer and ouer gaine nor should we so haue beleeued the same had the decree not come forth in the hand writing of our Superior and vnder his seale For was it euer heard that one Prelate and of no higher calling thē an Archpriest Protonotary Apostolical being also but a Bachelor of Diuinity neuer reader in the facultie would not only so ouerrule the cēsure of a whole vniuersitie but so farfoorth to reiect it as to bereaue Priests of their faculties to suspend them from the altar to interdict the Laitie man and woman yong and old vulgar and noble whosoeuer shall maintaine the same so much as indirectly and this Whether the information giuen to the vniuersity were true or false Was it euer heard that Priests hauing no other meanes to maintaine themselues by then by vse of their faculties and liuing euery houre in danger of death for profession of their faith should be spoiled of their faculties disabled to do good to others put from the altar robbed of their maintenaunce debarred from Sacraments and incurre all these spirituall punishments for defending the censure of a most learned famous and Catholike vniuersitie in a matter neither decided by any decree of holy Church nor contrarie to any expresse authoritie of holy Scripture Was it euer heard that men and women leesing all their goods and two third parts of their lands onely because they will not go to a contrarie Church and dayly hazarding their liues and the vtter ruine of their whole posterity for professiō of the Romane faith for receiuing Priests for releeuing their necessities for the glorie of Gods Church for preseruation of Religion for good example to their The penalties following the censure of interdiction euen christen should be exiled from vse of all sacraments put from being present at diuine Seruice and dying not to be interred in Christian manner and to be thus disgraced maligned defamed and spiritually afflicted for adhering to their friends approued to be honest by long triall for taking part with their ghostly fathers in a matter of fact discussed and determined to be lawfull by publicke censure of a renowned vniuersitie Was it euer heard that the like measure hath bene met by an Archpriest to Priests by a Superiour to his subiects by a father to his children by a labourer to his brethen coadiutors by one liuing in persecution against his fellowes in the same persecution and this by the counsell and direction of religious persons who must not be counted sicut caeteri homines as the rest of workemen in the same vineyard O heauen O earth are ye not astonied or do ye not close your eyes from beholding the iniustice the inhumanitie the vnnaturalnesse the oppression the affliction vnspeakeable enough to stumble any that are not well staied by grace But besides these exceptions of our Archpriest against the censure father Parsons as one being inured with the trade of deuising shiftes descendeth in the Apologie to other particulars and telleth vs that the said definition of Paris in very deede very little releeueth our case and Fol. 115. sequentib that we might well haue spared to print it but for making a vaine flourish with ostentation of an Academicall sentence And why so Marie because the information that was giuen to the Doctours was wrong and defectuous and that there was no man of the Archpriestes side to reply or tell the tale as it ought to be and tell them how false the information was Is all this true then we pray tell vs what man was at Rome when you laboured and informed the Cardinall and his Holinesse about instituting the subordination to reply or tell them how false the information was Had not you father Parsons the drawing of the Constitutiue Letter the setting downe of the instructions and additions The day of iudgement will declare you had howsoeuer you cloude matters now from the sight of those that will not see light when the Sunne shineth Were there any Priestes in England which were to liue vnder the subordination that had a part a voice or were made priuy to the designe saue happily some two or three of whom father Garnet your inciter and aduertiser stood wholly possessed and had the commaunding of their pens tongues and trauels You write in seuerall places of the Apologie that both the Laitie Fol. 98. 99. 117. alibi and Priestes desired by their letters and expresly demaunded of his Holinesse a subordination among Priests Shew their letters or giue vs some secret notice of their names that the truth may be knowne or we shall not beleeue you but take thi◠as we must do innumerable other for escapes of your pen and memorie You write likewise that if those reuerend learned men had bene indifferently instructed in the case how it passed they would haue bene of a farre other mind and iudgement then to cleare such a fact And we do as verily beleeue that if his Holinesse had bene indifferently informed how matters passe in England betweene the secular Priestes and the fathers of the Societie he would haue appointed a farre other forme of Subordination then such as inlisteth but one side of the contenders and maketh those that were their oppressors before more potent to exercise their splene and exempteth them from out the compasse of the iurisdiction appointed ouer the other Rome father Parsons cannot perswade vs that euer his Holinesse pious and tender conscience would suffer you to sit as you do at sterne making lawes for vs chusing our Superiour directing gouerning and raigning as a Vice-pope ouer vs had he bene indifferently giuen to vnderstand of our Princes hatefull auersion from you and that not for your good deedes or leauing the world and the generall auersion likewise that most of our Priests conceiue of your insinceritie in many matters and truthlesse dealing Finally you adde that they would not haue cleared such a fact as hath caused so many sinfull scandals Here we must intreate you to name what kind of cause our action of delay was of the sinfull scandals that haue followed You must needs range it as we thinke vnder that kind of cause which is called causa sine qua non the cause without which the ensuing fact had not bene committed which as you know the Philosophers terme stolidam causam a foolish cause And sure if our bearing off and sending to Rome was lawfull in it selfe as beside the decision of Paris the authorities before going do proue inuincibly your reason for that such our fact hath caused so many sinfull scandals is weake childish For hath not the institution of your owne order approued by the Sea Apostolicke to be good and
his Holinesse allowed of the reasons You set it so downe indeede in the Cardinals Letter and we beleeue it so farre as it is meant by the reasons touched in M. Standish his oration to his Holinesse a bird as all men thinke of your owne hatching but if you vnderstand by the words the reasons that the Priests yeelded in their Letters to his Holinesse when they demanded a subordination of him as the words themselues must needes inferre then we do not beleeue it because we cannot thinke that any of our fellow Priests did euer write such letters to his Holinesse But let it be true that his Holinesse allowed of the reasons which the Priestes made in their Letters vnto him for a subordination yet we know and not onely by his Holinesse words to some of our brethren but euen by the record of your owne reports that his Holinesse yeelding to graunt a subordination would not assigne the particular subordination till he had receiued signification from the priests in Englād what kind of subordination An holy prudence that those who were to obey and bore the heate and burden of the day should make choise of the subordination and superiour we liked and best agreed with the state of our countrey And thus hauing his Holinesse word for warrant related also by your selfe to some of our companie had we not good reason we aske the indifferent and all of iudgement to thinke we not aduertising his Holinesse of the kind of gouernement we thought fittest that surreption was vsed in the information and consequently to delay as all lawes permit the submission of our obedience vntill the truth and state of matters were better knowne Vndoubtedly these howsoeuer they appeare to other conuinced our vnderstanding and bid vs not to feare sinne neither to doubt but that his Holinesse would take in good part if not thankefully our sending vnto him about the premisses Your fourth exception We said in putting downe the state of the question vnto the Vniuersitie that many of vs refused to subscribe to the authoritie as though we had bene a great multitude or the maior part Good sir where do you reade that this word multi many must be taken for a great multitude or for the maior part of that companie whereof it was spoken The Canon hath a 4 q. 3. § si testes Pluralis locutio duorum numero contenta est the speaking in the plurall number is verified in the number of two And Panormitane writeth that b In ca. ad nostram de reb ec alienat nu 5. Duo dicuntur multi two are called many And although the words many few do take c Gloss in ca. Latores de Cler. excō vel depos verb. Multitudinem their most proper and relatiue denomination of the number whereof they are auerred to be many or few yet no doubt fewer after this account would beare the name of many then so great a multitude or maior part as you require and seeme to inferre that the Doctours vnderstood by our words in the proposing of the question and that they made it one of the causes why they cleered vs from all sinne in the nature of our fact Vndoubtedly sir to make that this your fourth exception should cary any weight it is of necessity that you first proue and yet it is a thing which you can neuer proue the small or great number of the refusers to subscribe to be of that intrinsecal aliance or essence with our fact as it made the same in his owne nature sinne or no sinne For if the nature of our fact in delaying our obedience and sending to Rome were not changed by the small or great number of vs who in such sort prolonged to receiue the authoritie what skilleth it or what difference can it put the fact considered in it selfe for with that limitation the vniuersitie deliuered their censure whether the doers were many or few one or a thousand this being but an accident and a circumstance and of no such omnipotencie as could possibly change the nature of the fact in it selfe considered Further if notwithstanding that which we haue said the exception must still appeare of force as all that are of iudgement do wel see it cannot yet the same is doubly satisfied in our Pag. 92. answere to the fourth obiection of our aduersaries to which place for auoiding of vnnecessarie repetition we referre the Reader Now that which you adde for explication or better proofe of the exception bewraieth a worse conscience Your words be these That not being the twentieth part at the beginning of those that admitted the gouernement if we haue increased our number since it hath bene by as false information as this was to the Doctors of Paris and by perswading them to the participation of our libertie and freedome from all gouernement which is a sore baite for yong men as all the world knoweth Is this your charitable iudgement father that neither we nor our brethren had better ends in our actions then you specifie and which you recken by verdite of the whole world a sore baite for yong men But let vs see now you haue passed your censure ouer vs how true the same is The censure consisteth of these three points first that we seduced our brethren by false information then that we perswaded them to the participation of our libertie thirdly that this libertie and freedome from all gouernement was a sore baite for yong men as all the world knoweth So that you make the meanes by which we drue our brethren to our side to be sleights and leasings and our end why we drew them no other then to haue them our fellowes in libertie and in such a libertie as all the world knowes to be a sore temptation to yong men Touching the first what false information could this be in particular by which you say we beguiled our brethen were not all our brethren who haue since turned for vs or manifested themselues to be of our mind both eye and eare witnesses of all matters as well as our selues were they not euermore lookers on priuier to our aduersaries proceedings then any of vs from whom they were more auerted Surely if you know what the particular information was by which we won thē to our part you may do well to set the same downe or if in case you do not know the information in particular then we aske you with what conscience do you so confidently auerre it to be false not knowing it what it was When you shall open this much we doubt not but that we shall be also able to giue you and the world satisfaction to the contrarie In the meane we deny your speeches to be true But what say we do we deny them to be true sith you affirme no more but that we increased our number by as false information as was the information which we gaue to the vniuersitie and which being
puncto 2. 4. who this way is scandalized must first note or be bound to note both that another will take scandall at such his fact and that himselfe be bound to desist vpon the same notice or aduersion Which two points and circumstances our aduersaries will neuer be able to proue to haue concurred in the act of our deferring But of the other side we little doubt but that the condemnation which they passed vpon vs for the sayd delay and the great stirres which by the nature of such their actions haue followed haue occasioned both many and most lamentable scandals Concerning the ambition wherewith some of vs goe charged by our aduersaries we would know whether they accoumpt vs voyde of all iudgement for if they do not how can they report vs to be ambitious when there is not scarce any one of meanest vnderstanding in our country but knoweth that no Englishman either of the Cleargie or Laitie can come to preferment in Rome Spaine Flanders or any place where the Iesuites liue but only or chiefely by their mediation or countenance Yea what Priest in England can come into credit with the Arch-priest or hold so much of his fauour as he possessed before if the Iesuites do not like well thereof Also touching the future none can be so blinde as not to see that the Iesuites affect and hope to haue the distributing of promotions and the ruling of all things if our countrie happen to turne Catholicke Of which hope and designe of theirs though there be many other strong presumptions yet none seeme to conclude the same so apparantlie as doth Father Parsons Babell that is his Castle in the ayre or booke of Reformation prescribing rules to all estates So that our aduersaries knowing vs voluntarily to haue discontinued familiaritie with the Iesuites and broken off all dependance on them and neuerthelesse vpbraiding vs with ambition they must needes take vs to be very fooles not onely in striuing to swimme against the streame but also desiring promotion whereas we abandon all the likeliest meanes of attayning thereunto Or let these things pleade for vs as they may yet because my selfe by report am most condemned by name for trauelling in the humor of seeking superioritie I must here craue a fauorable construction from the reader of my intents for laying downe the particulars following being inforced thereunto by the necessitie of my owne purgation When the sodalitie or clergie association so earnestly inueyed against both in the Letter of the six assistants to his Holines Nunti◠in Flaunders and in seuerall places of the Apologie was first intended to be erected there were of that companie who labored me that I would not refuse to accept of the superioritie but can any one say that euer I graunted thereunto Maister Standish one of the chiefest promotors at that time of the sayd Sodalitie and whose testimonie is freest from suspition being now become an aduersary thereunto can witnes no and that I still insisted to haue the Superiour chosen by two third parts of such as should vnite themselues for the institution of the sayd Sodalitie Againe to the end that the Superior might this way be chosen I named fiue or sixe auncient Priests out of which the election as I thought might well be made offering beside to contribute largely towards the taking and furnishing of a house for the vse of the sayd Sodality so as they would exempt me and make choyse of an other Now if the precedent refusall and offer do not cleere me of being desirous of superioritie because the one may be interpreted for an externall shew of humilitie only and both dissembled by me to the end to draw them the more cunningly onward to the continuing of their purpose of making me the superiour yet surely the speeches which I vsed to Maister Blackwell himselfe about the same matter will I hope free me with all men Not long before the instituting of the new authoritie Maister Blackwell dealt earnestly with me that I would desist from making or furthering any innouation through the erecting of the Sodalitie affirming that it argued an ill affected humor in me to intreate others for so he sayd he vnderstood that I did though in truth it was not so to be of the Sodalitie whereof my selfe was designed the head Whereupon I then presently gaue him my word to be his bondman if euer I accepted thereof and yeelded him harty thanks for his speeches as hauing giuen me a sufficient cause by them to deny all my friends for euer taking vpon me the office by how many soeuer the same might be importuned and layd vpon me which I trust is so plaine and sincere a disproofe of that which is imputed vnto me as it can admit no exception Moreouer when Maister Bishop and Maister Charnock were resolued to go to Rome for giuing his Holines to vnderstand what kind of gouernment the Cardinall Protector had instituted in our country and how inconuenient the same was in many respects and withall to manifest vnto him the lack of Bishops which our yonger Catholicks had for the ministring of the sacrament of Confirmation and how greatly that benefit was desired by many I requested Maister Bishop that if they should winne his Holines to graunt Bishops that in no sort he would name me for any assuring him that if I thought he would I should neither be willing he went the iourney nor would contribute a penie thereunto To speake yet more foolishly finding my selfe not so strong as I did desire against all such temptations and willing to strengthen my selfe more I enioyned my selfe a yeres pennance as the day of Iudgement will declare for the better subduing of them which spirituall taske I performed and found God be euer thanked for his infinite mercies long before the penance expired that holie feare and hatred of like dignities as I would not nor I hope yet will stoupe to the ground to take vp the best Bishoprick in the Christian world with the charge Small reason therefore had our Arch-priest to write as he did of me and to diuulge the copy of his letter namely that I was a man clowded in my vnderstanding if not In his Letter to Maister Hebborne of the 2. of March 1599. cloyed about my heart with too many fumes of ambition And as little cause also haue many others who perchāce lesse know me to prattle and inlarge their backbitings of one as they do Further if there be any Priest or lay person in England with whome at any time I haue conferred about deriuing Superiority to my selfe let him not spare to publish whatsoeuer I sayd vnto him but I thinke there is not that creature liuing which can charge me with any such matter Of the otherside if either Father Parsons or our Arch-priest wrote the Epistle of pious griefe as few doubt but one of them did it is strange to see the praises they deliuer of them selues And as for Father