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A00908	A defence of the Catholyke cause contayning a treatise in confutation of sundry vntruthes and slanders, published by the heretykes, as wel in infamous lybels as otherwyse, against all english Catholyks in general, & some in particular, not only concerning matter of state, but also matter of religion: by occasion whereof diuers poynts of the Catholyke faith now in controuersy, are debated and discussed. VVritten by T.F. With an apology, or defence, of his innocency in a fayned conspiracy against her Maiesties person, for the which one Edward Squyre was wrongfully condemned and executed in Nouember ... 1598. wherewith the author and other Catholykes were also falsly charged. Written by him the yeare folowing, and not published vntil now, for the reasons declared in the preface of this treatyse.	Fitzherbert, Thomas, 1552-1640.	1602 (1602)	STC 11016; ESTC S102241	183,394	262

eucharist whereof I haue spoken already but also before when he promised it for that whē soeuer he spoke therof he represented the same to the vnderstanding of the hearers as a body sacrificed dead not speaking of his whole person or of himselfe as liuing but of his flesh of his body of his blood as my flesh is truly meate and my blood is truly drink and the bread which I will geue is my flesh this is my body this is my blood or if he spoke of himselfe or of his person it was with an addition to shew that he was to be eaten as when he sayd he which eateth me liueth for me which kynd of speech made some of his disciples forsake him say●ng it was durus sermo ae hard speeche conceauing therby that they were to eate him dead as other flesh bought in the shambles wheras he spoke in that manner to signify that he shuld be sacrificed before he should be eatē and therefore he euer spoke of himselfe as already killed and dead for that no creature whyles he is liuing is in case to be eaten as S. Gregory Nissen doth note very wel in the place before alledged in which respect Paschasius also sayth that our Lord is killed to the end wee may eate him and Isichius that Christ killed himselfe when he supped with his disciples not because he is truly killed or doth truly dy but because he dyeth mistically that is to say for that his death is mistically and truly represented by the separation of his blood from his body vnder seueral and dyuers formes of bread and wyne for although by reason of his immortality and impassibilytie he cannot dy neyther yet be so deuided but that he remayneth whole vnder both kynds yet for as much as the forme of wyne rather representeth his blood then his body and the forme of bread rather his body thē his blood according to the very woords of our sauiour saying of the one kynd this is my body and of the other this is my blood it followeth I say that by reason of this separation wrought by the force of the woordes of consecration he is exhibited in the Sacrament as dead and so dyeth in mistery as wel to represent his death vpon the crosse as also to offer himselfe in sacrifice to his father for the which it is not of necessity that he truly and realy dy but it suffiseth that he dy in some sort that is to say mistically for although all liuing creatures that are sacrificed are offred to God with the losse of their lyues and so are made true sacrifices yet in such other creatures as are not subiect to death it sufficeth that they be offred to almighty God and receiue withall some notable mutation or change to make the action to be sacrifical and different from a simple oblation for when any thing is offred to God and remayneth stil in his owne kynd forme and nature it is called an oblation so the first fruits the tythes the first begotten or borne of liuing creatures yea and religious persons as leuits and others in the old law were only offred to God for that they were no way changed wheras al things sacrifysed were eyther wholy destroyed or consumed by swoord or fyre or els at least receiued by the actiō of the priest some notable mutation Therfore seeing our sauiour being now eternal immortal and impassible is not subiect to death nor to any destruction or mutation by losse of his lyfe it sufficeth to make him a true sacrifice that he be offred to God with such mutation or change as may stand with his present state and condition as wee see he is offred in this sacrifice wherein the selfe same body that was borne of the blessed virgin Mary and is now in heauen glorified with the proper forme and lineaments of a natural body is by the omnipotency of our sauiours woords pronounced by the priest represented vpon the altar as dead and in formes of bread and wyne his body to be handled broken eaten and his blood to be dronke or shed as the body or blood of any other liuing creature that is killed in sacrifice wherby he is also in some sort cōsumed for that his body being eaten and his blood dronke he looseth the forme and peculiar māner of beeing that he hath in the sacrament which beeing deuynes caul Sacramental in respect of all which admirable mutations S. Augustin doth notably and truly apply to our sauiour in this sacrifice the history of King Dauid when he changed his countenance as the scripture sayth before Abimelech or king Achis for they are both one which he sayth was verifyed in our sauiour Christ when he changed his countenance in the priesthood and sacrifice of Melchisedech geuing his body and blood to be eaten and dronk There was sayth he a sacrifice of the Iewes in beasts according to the order of Aaron and that in mistery and there was not then the sacrifice of the body and blood of our Lord which the faythful know and is dispersed throughout the world and a litle after shewing how Melchisedech brought forth bread and wyne when he blessed Abraham he teacheth that it was a figure of this sacrifice then prosecuting the history how Dauid being taken for a mad man went from Abimelech which signifieth regnum Patris that is to say as he expoundeth it the people of the Iewes he applyeth also the same to our Sauiour saying that whē he told the Iewes that his flesh was meat his blood drinke they took him for a mad man and abandoned him wherevpon he also forsook them changing his countenance in the sacrifice of Melchisedech that is to say leauing all the sacrifices of the order of Aarō and as it were disguysing him-selfe vnder the formes of bread and wyne which was the sacrifice of Melchisedech he passed from the Iewes to the Gentils This is the effect of S. Augustinus discours in that place concerning the mutation or change incident to our Sauiours person in the sacrament of the Eucharist and requisit to the sacrifice whereof I treat wherby it hath the nature of a true sacrifice as I haue declared before which being considered with the circumstances of our sauiours owne woords as wel in the promise as in the institution thereof all signifying that his flesh his body aud his blood was to be eaten dronk as of a creature killed in sacrifice yea that the same was then presently geuen or offred by him to his Father for his disciples who represented the whole Churche and for remission of sinnes besyds his manifest allusion to the promulgation of the old Testament dedicated with the blood of a present sacrifice and lastly the consent of the learned Fathers of the Churche confirming our Gatholyke doctrin in this behalfe no reasonable man can dout but that our Sauiour at his last super did ordeyn the Sacrament

offertur ●ome sayth saynt Ambros 〈◊〉 recipiens passionem offers se ipse quasi sacerdos he is offred as ma● and as receiuing or 〈◊〉 his passion● and he offreth him-selfe as Priest in which respect he is both Priest and sacrifice as wel now on the altar as he was in his passion vpon the crosse though for our greater comfort he vseth also therein the interuention and ministery of Priests who being nothing els but his instruments and exercysing all one Priestly function vnder him their head do all pertayne to that one aeternal Priest-hood of Christ according to the order of Melchisedech which as Lactantius sayth must of necessity be in the Churche Iesus Christ sayth he being a Priest did make for him-selfe a great aeternal temple that is to say the Churche in quo templo aeternum sacerdotium habeat necesse est s●cundum ordinem Melchisedech in which temple he must needs haue an aeternal Priest-hood according to the order of Melchisedech so that the vnity of Christs priest-hood is not impeached by the multitude of his ministers no more then the vnity of a Kings monarchy by the multitude of his inferiour officers by whome he gouerneth And as for the multitude of masses which our aduersaries carp at as reiected by S. Paule the Fathers of the Churche shal answer for vs S. Chrisostome expoūding this epistle of S. Paule answereth this very same obiection that our aduersaries make agaynst vs This sacrifice sayth he is an example of that sacrifice vpon the crosse for wee alwayes offer the very self same thing not now one lambe and another to morrow but the very same therefore this is one sacrifice for otherwyse because it is offred in many places there should be many Christs thus farre saynt Chrysostome The very same argument and reason and the very lyke woords vseth saynt Ambrose to proue the vnity of this sacrifice and concludeth non enim aliud sacrificium sicut pontifex veteris legis sed idipsum semper offerimus we offer not an other or different sacrifice as did the Bishop of the old law but wee alwayes offer the self same Also Primasius the diuinity sayth he of the sonne of God which is euery where doth cause that they be not many sacrifices but one though they be offred by many it causeth in lyke manner that it is that body which was conceaued in the virgins wombe and not many bodyes as also that it is but one sacrifice and not dyuers as were the sacrifices of the Iewes Thus sayth he We read the very same in substance in Theopila●●us O●cumenius Sedulius Haymo and others that haue written vpon saynt Paules epistle to the Hebrewes of whome the meanest may in any indifferent mannes iudgement counteruayl all the sectaryes of this tyme who framing new fantasies of their owne braynes or reuiuing old heresyes are forced for the mayntenance therof to wring and wrest the holy scriptures from the meaning of the holy ghost to their priuat sence and to cōdemne the iudgement of all the anciēt ●athers of the Churche who liuing in such tymes as these matters were not in controuersy can not be suspected of parciality and much lesse of ignorance of the scriptures seing their learned commentaries and expositions thereof geue sufficient testimony of their continual trauails labours therin besydes that their most vertuous lyues led in continual prayer pance and religious discipline for the which the Christian world admireth and honoreth them as great seruants of God and saynts is a sufficient argumēt that God rather assisted them with his spirit in the vnderstāding of the scripture then Martin Luther Zwinglius Beza Caluin and such other flagitious and wicked apostatats whose vicious and leud lyues whereof the world is yet a witnes do manifestly declare with what kynd of spirit they were possessed Therefore he that would leaue the general consent of al the ancient fathers to follow the phantastical or rather phrenetical opinions of these new fangled fellowes deserueth to be deceiued and can haue no excuse of wilful blyndnes eyther before God or the world But now to conclude this question concerning the sacrifice of the Masse I draw out of all the premisses 4. conclusions The first is that which at the first I vndertook to proue to wit that the oblation of the blessed body and blood of our Sauiour Iesus Christ which wee caul the Masse ys the proper sacrifice of the new testament prophesied by Malachias prefigured by the sacrifice of Melchisedech promised instituted and offred by our Sauiour practised by his Apostles and by the Churche euer since The second is that it is propitiatory not only for the liuing but also for the dead The third that the heretykes of this tyme that contradict abolish the same hold not the law of the new Testament instituted by Christ seing they haue not the proper priesthood and sacrifice therof without the which the sayd law and Testament cannot be S. Paule teaching such a necessary concurrence of the one with the other that he affirmeth that the priesthood being translated the law must also of necessity be translated as I haue shewed before therfore seeing they haue not this priesthood and sacrifice it followith they haue not the law and Testament of Christ which can not be without the same The fourth poynt that followeth of the premisses is that they are most pernicious enemies of humainkind seing they labour to depriue vs of the most souerain remedy that God of his infinit goodnes hath left vs for the reparation of our dayly wracks by sinne and for the consolation both of the quick and the dead for which cause the old Christians in the persecutions vnder Dioclesian being persecuted for hearing masse as wee are now as I haue shewed in the beginning of this treatise answered the tyrants that the masse was spes salus que Christiantum the hope and health or saluation of Christians and that therfore they could not forgo it the reason whereof I haue declared before to wit for that therby are aplyed vnto vs the fruits of our Sauiours passion which is not only represented but also dayly renewed in the sacrifice of the masse as witnesseth saynt Gregory so often sayth he as wee offer the host of his passion so often wee renew his passion and as saynt Cyprian sayth passio Domini est sacrificium quod offerimus the sacrifice which wee offer is the passion of our Lord Lastly Martialis the most ancient martir and Disciple of Christ sayth that which the Iewes did sacrifice vpon the Altar of the crosse wee do propose on the sanctified altar for our saluation knowing that by that only remedy lyfe is to be geuen vs and death to be eschewed thus far the blessed martyr This remedy I say the heretykes of these our dayes doe seek by their pestilent doctrin to take from vs yea and do in deed

state I wil signifie hereafter Thirdly it is not vnlikely that the deuisers of these fayned conspiracies seeing themselues employed by your Lordships otherwhyles in some matters of state take themselues for so great statists that they make no doubt to extend their care further then your Lordships meane they should do to wit to the whole state and gouernment yea to the person of her Ma tie though litle to her good or comfort holding it a high point of policy and necessary for the comon welth that her Ma tie be kept as a man may say in aw with thease bugbeares of imaginary attempts against her person to the end shee may bee the more plyable and easy to be gouerned for as the poet saith res est imperiosa timor feare is an imperious thing Furthermore the end which they may haue for their owne particular commoditie is to make themselues and their seruices more gratful to her Ma tie and to your Lordships by their pretended discouerie of so many daungerous treasons against her Ma tie and the state Whereto I wil ad that it also importeth your honours to consider whether any of those that are taken to be the cheife discouerers of these supposed treasons may be thought to fauour the title of any particuler pretender to the crowne after her Ma tie for in such case they may perhaps vse this artifice to shadow some designemēt of their owne no lesse daungerous to her Ma ties person then this which they feigne and lay to our charge to the end they may the more assuredlie and securely execute the same that afterwards the suspition and blame therof may rest vpon vs which we read was the practise of Seianus in the tyme of Tiberius the Emperour who aspiring to the Empyre and determining to make away Agripina that was a great mote in his eye first suborned some to put into her head that the Emperour meant to poyson her and after made rumors to be spred all ouer Rome that some had conspired her death I say not this my Lords to charge any man particularly for I know not who they are that are the forgers of these false coynes but because I see that the lyke practises haue beene vsed to the destruction of Princes and may with reason think that those which haue so litle conscience to procure the spilling of so much innocent blood by such damnable deuises as these wil make lesse scruple to break all lawes humayn and diuine when there is question of a crowne I therfore insinuate this to your honours as matter worthy of your consideration especially feing it cannot be thought that they beare any good and loyal affection to her Ma tie knowing that she cannot but be much afflicted with the vehement apprehension of these supposed treasons and yet neuer ceasing to torment her therwith framing dayly new fantasies of fayned feares as though heauen and earth had conspired against her the concept wherof accompagnied with other cares incident to the gouernment of such a potent state might suffise to procure the vntymely death of the most couragious prince that liueth and what it may woork in her Matie no lesse timorous of nature by reason of her sexe then decaying now in bodilie vigeur by reason of her declining yeares any man may easely iudge THAT THESE PROCEEDINGS of our aduersaries which they hold for polityke are against all pollicy and true reason of state CHAP. XVIII BVT put the case that her Ma tie be so inuincible of courage that there is no feare of any such effect to follow yet let it be considered whether in other respects it stand with true reason of state to incence her Ma tie against her subiects by lyes and slaunders and them against her by insupportable wrongs and cruelties which were no dout the next way to put all in combustion yf the Catholykes loyalty obedience and patience were not such as God be thanked yt is and I hope euer wil be such I say as neuer hath ben red nor heard of in any people so opprest so long tyme together so many in number so honorable in quality and condition and so frended abroad as they might bee in respect of their religion yf they would seek the remedy that other discontented people haue sought in former tymes whereby the state of England hath ben changed and turned vpsyde downe twyse or thryse already since the conquest for how were the two Kings Richard the 2. 3. disposessed of their crownes and lyues but by their owne subiects malcontent succored with smale forces from abroad yet no such cause geuen them as is to vs who are esteemed for no better then opprob●ium hominum abiectio plebis the skorne of men and outcasts of the people as saynt Paule sayth peripsema mūdi the very scūme of the world contēned trodē vnder foot derided of all men depriued of all priuiledge of natural subiects of hon●ors dignities lādes lyues for no greater offences then our auncient the vniuersal fayth of Christendome made treason yea for fayned crymes neuer meant nor dreamt of To this purpose it is to be considered that no force nor power is so great as Cicero sayth that can resist the hatred of a multitude neyther any empyre so potent that can long stand by rigour oppression and cruelty therefore amongst the causes of the ouerthrow of empyres and Kingdomes Aristotle worthely reckoneth hatred and feare of the subiects exemplyfying the same with the smale continuance of all the tyranical states that had ben in his tyme or before and Caesar confessing that he neuer knew any cruel man that could long conserue him-self and his state but only Sylla which yet was not long he wysely added that he would not follow his example wherein he had great reason for one swallow as they say makes no sommer neyther can the example of a few which escape counteruayle a common experience that teacheth what euident daungers do accompany cruelty oppression which no humain power nor pollicy cā make secure as it is euident enough to all wyse men that wil consider how litle securitie Kings and Princes that haue incurred the hatred of their people haue found in the remedyes and defences that humain pollicy hath inuented I meane in their treasures fortresses gards armies multitude of spyes wisdome and vigilance of councellours and such lyke for haue not a number of them notwithstanding all this ben by their subiects chastised and reformed deposed expelled imprisoned killed and those that haue escaped best haue they not commonly liued a miserable lyfe afflicted and tormented with continual feares ielousyes and suspitions of their best friends for as Seneca sayth he that is feared of many must needs feare many what did all the welth power and force of the Roman empyre auayle the Emperour Claudius poysoned by his raster and Nero so pursued by the people that he

charitable man can conceiue of me that I would now without all compulsion hope of gayne or feare of losse aduisedly forsweare my self with a wilful and damnable periury frustrate and loose all that fruit of my former sufferings Neuerthelesse yf any man be so passionate and vncharitable that he wil not be satisfied with this my protestatiō and solemne othe let him way wel the matter it self with all the circumstances then I doubt not but he wil easely fee the wrong donne both to Squyre and vs that are conioyned and mentioned in his accusation First therfore for this purpose it is to be considered what was Squyres end therein seing as the Philosopher sayth the end is the first thing in intention though the last in execution in a matter of so great weight daunger as this there must needes be some great consideration that moued him therto which the contriuers of this tragedy knew so wel that for the better colouring of the deuise they forged the most forcible motiue and highest end that maybe which is zeale of religion and hope of aeternal reward induced perhaps therto by the late example yet fresh in memorie of the last King of Fraunce killed by a fryer moued with meere zeale without all hope of tēporal gayne or possibility to escape therfore they sayd that Squyre by F. Walpooles persuasions entended the death of her Ma tie and my L. of Essex to the end to do a meritorious act and to gayne euerlasting glorie but the vanity of this fiction is euident seing it is manifest that he was a protestant as he shewed playnely at his death when yt was no tyme to dissemble where-vpon I inferre that seing his religion taught him that there is no merit in workes and much lesse in such workes how could he imagyn that the killing of her Ma tie should be meritorious or any way grateful to God she being the principal piller of his religion by whose death the same should be endangered and the Catholyke fayth lyke to be furthered or at the least he must needs imagyn that F. Walpoole had no other end therin but the furtherance of his religion yf he moued him to any such matter could he then be so contrary to him-self as for zeal of religion or hope of merit to seek the ouerthrow of his owne religion this is incredible absurd and impossible Seing then it is cleare that he could haue no such motiue or end as was supposed and vrged in his accusation what may be thought of the whole matter buylt vpon so weak fals a ground but that the foundation fayling the whole buylding must needes fal withal for the further proof wherof and our ful purgation though it might suffise without further discourse that Squyre at his death cleared both himself and vs yet to the end that the impiety malice of our aduersaryes may be withal so euident that they shal haue no colour or pretence to haue proceeded according to allegata probata which in some cases may excusse a iudge from all offence though he condemne an innocent man I wil particularly examine the groundes where-vpon he was condemned THE EXAMINATION OF THE grounds wher-vpon Squyre was condemned and how vncertayne is the tryal of truthe by torment CHAP. II. ALTHOVGH I haue litle vnderstanding of our english common lawes whereof I neuer had further knowledge then that which I got by the experience of some fewe cases that I saw tryed at the common Assizes and in the Kings bench which also by my long absence from England I haue in part forgoten and therfore cannot proue by the words and texts therof nor by books cases that Squyre was wrongfully condēned yet yf I proue the same by the approued lawes of other countreys yea and by reason and conscience which are the grounds of all good lawes yt must needs follow that eyther he was condemned flatly against our english lawes also or els that the same are repugnant to conscience and reason which were as great an inconueniēce as the other and such as I am sure no common Lawyer of England wil grant neyther is it to be supposed Now then to come to the examination of this matter yf it be true that is heer reported as it is lyke to be for that we heare yt vniformely from dyuers partes that Squyre was condemned without any witnesses presented at his arraynment vpon some light presumptions and his owne confession extorted by torment as he sayd him-selfe at the barre and also at his death it is cleare that he was wrongfully condemned for that no law can allow that such a confession should suffise for the condemnation of any man without some other euident proofes yt being manifest that the innocēt may be forst by tormēt as soone to accuse himself falsly as the nocent truely to confesse his fault which the cyuil law proposeth to all Iudges carefully to be considered saying that Iudgment by torment is deceytful for that often the innocent are compelled thereby to confesse faults which they neuer committed and S. Augustin wisely noting the inconuenience of such tryals lamentably bewayleth the practise thereof and the infirmity of mānes Iudgement in this manner in these wordes When a man sayth he is tormented in his owne cause to try whether he be culpable or no many tymes the innocent suffreth most certayne paynes for an vncertayne fault not because any cryme of his is knowne but because his innocency is vnknowne so that the ignorance of the iudge causeth the calamity of the innocent and that which is more intollerable yea to be lamented with fountaynes of teares we see that whiles the Iudge tormenteth the accused least he should kyl an innocent it happeneth by the miserie of humayn ignorance that he falleth into the inconuenience that he seeketh to auoyd and ignorantly killeth a guyltles man whom he tormented to know whether he was guylty or no for the accused rather chussing to dy then to indure the torment doth many tymes accuse himself of that which he neuer did Thus much S. Augustyn in this discourse Hereof also Valerius Maximus geueth a notable exāple in a seruant of Marcus Agrius who being accused to haue kylled a seruant of Titus Fanius did for feare of torment most constantly affirme that he had donne it though after he was executed the partie whom he confessed to haue killed returned home safe wherto I might ad many examples of lyke matters that fal out in day he experience but that I wil not be tedious to your Lordships and therfor I wil only touch breifly by the way one that concerneth my self not vnlike to this of Squyres which happened in the yeare of our Lord 1595. at my being with the Dukes grace of Feria in Bruxels where I was through the rigorous yf not malitious proceedings of a certayne Iudge brought to be accused by two seueral persons not only to haue intelligence which

Sr. Robert Cecyl whose honour knoweth how innocent I am therof but also to haue conspired togither with them the burning of the Kings munition at Machlyn though afterwards through the goodnes of almighty God and the particuler fauour of the Dukes grace to whom I am therfore to acknowledge an aeternal obligation I was fully cleared therof for the processe being at the Dukes request reueiwed by the priuie councel the proceedings of the Iudge throughly examined it appeared that he had not only geuen two torments to eyther of the prisoners without iust cause and so forst them to accuse both me and them selues wrongfully but also cōfronted them togither in such sort that the one instructed the other what he should say yea and that he razed their depositions that were different and made them agree by his owne arte wherto the prisoners consented also for feare of new torments chusing rather to dy then to indure the same and determining to discharge theyr consciences at their deathes as wel for their owne purgation as myne and this appearing to be true by the examination not only of the prisoners them-selues but also of the Iudges clark the laylor besydes that it was euidēt that there had beene no munition at Machlyn to burne of 25. yeares before the prisoners were quit of that matter by sentence and I for that I was neuer in the hands of the Iustice was only declared to be cleare and innocent by testimony giuen me vnder the hands of the priuie councel and the Iudge was also forst to restore my honour and to do me such reparation of the wrong as I rested satisfied And I doubt not but yf I had as potent a patron frend in England at this present as I had at Bruxels who might procure the proceedings of this matter of Squyre to be sifted examined to the bottome as hee did the other there would be found no lesse indirect dealing in this then there was in that if not much worse more cunningly hādled as after wil in parte appeare OF THE CRVELTY OF the Rackmaisters in England and of the manner of their examinations CHAP. III. BVT to the end your Lordships may the better conceyue how Squyre was circumuented and forced to accuse both him-self F. Walpoole may it please yow to enter into the consideration of some of the barbarous vsage tyranie that the Rackmaisters tormentours and inferiour officers and examiners by whose hands he passed haue vsed in the causes of Catholykes for many yeares and dayly do vse obseruing no order of Iustice nor forme of law neyther in examining nor tormenting for they examin men not only of their owne works words and thoughtes yea and what they would do or say in such and such cases a thing neuer practised eyther amongst Chrystians or heathens but also of other men by name and with such particularities as they teach them when they are in torment what they would haue them say of them-selues and others for their owne ease against all conscience and law which law sayth he which examineth in tormēt ought not to aske particulerly whether Lucius Titius did the murder but generally who did it for otherwayes he playeth the parte of an instructor and not of an examiner Furthermore they seek many tymes by subtyle and captious questions to entangle at vnawars some simple Catholykes that know not the particuler penalties of the lawes nor the daungers therof and after they cause them to be executed thervpon wherof I could alleadge many exāples but one shal suffise which of my owne knowledge I can affirme to be true M. Fleetwood not many yeares since Recorder of London examining M. Iohn Nelson Priest asked him many questions as yt were by the way of conference concerning Schisme and the definition thereof and who were to be called Schismatikes and so drew him by litle litle frō one poynt to an other so farre that at last he made him by necessarie consequences confesse that the Queene was a Schismatike and when the poore man saw by the triumph that he made therat and by the diligent wryting of the clarke that he was fallen into the snare of some penal law he protested that he knew not whether he had offended any law or no and that willingly he would not haue donne it yf he had knowne it but notwith-standing the seruāt of God was after indyted ther-vpon araygned and executed and when presentlie after the same day one M. Metam a learned and graue Priest being conuented before the commissioners and demaunded by the Recorder of the same matters and in the same subtyle manner refused to answere to such bloody questions not to geue him and the rest occasion of so great a sinne as to spil his blood the Recorder fel into an extreame great rage and reuiled him shamefully reproching him with tymiditie and cowardise the lyke whereof I think was neuer hard nor red of in any Christian no nor heathē cōmon wealth as that those which should be the ministers of Iustice guardians and defenders of the Lawes and meanes to keep men from transgression thereof should procure them to be transgressours and be offended with men because they wil not offend yea and vse the sayd Lawes not as lanternes or guydes to lead and direct men to do their duety but as stumbling blockes to ouerthrow them as snares to entangle them and as knyues to cut theyr throtes and neyther giue them leaue to speak nor to think nor to hold their peace which poynt Tyberius Caesar though otherwise tyrannical did mislike saying as Suetonius reporteth of him that in a free common wealth and tongue and thought ought to be free which libertie of speach neuerthelesse we craue not but only that it might be lawful for to think what we list not matters of treason or conspiracy against the Prince or state as sycophants do bable but matters of our fayth and conscience such as all English-men from the tyme that we were made Christians haue thought and professed vntil these our dayes and all Catholykes besydes throughout the world do stil think and this with all dutie and loue to their temporal Princes at least mee thinks yt were reason that we should haue leaue to be silent and not to offend the lawes by forced speach when we neyther meane nor list to do it for as the traigical poet sayth Though nothing els permitted be let silence breed no blame For no man craues of any King lesse fauour thou the same To conclude this poynt of their examinations I cannot persuade my selfe that our lawes can allow them seeing the Imperial Lawes do ordayne exemplar punishment against such magistrates as shal make any malitious or captious interrogatories as appeareth by a law of Adrian the Emperour which sayth Si quid maligne interrogasse c. yf it shal be proued that they haue examined any maliciously or captiously Let them be punished