our powers should take vpon vs to giue it vnto another were he neuer so good a Catholike that had no right thereto Iustinus Martyr speaking of the duety of Christians to the ciuill Magistrate in those times of Infidels and persecutors affirmeth that they prayed not onely for the Emperors themselues but also for their sonnes that they might succeede them in the Empire quod aequissimum est which saith he is most agreeable to iustice and equitie were they like to prooue as euill as their fathers there is no exceptions of it The which I rather obserue to shew my dislike of Fa. Parsons in this point who is accustomed vpon euery occasion when he is in his best moode to affirme that he careth not who it is from whence he commeth or what right he hath to the crowne of this kingdome that when the time commeth shall be able to catch it so he be a Catholike But concerning both this point and the former least it should be said that whilest I would seeme to giue a reason of that which I haue in hand I do onely shew my opinion and illustrate the same with similitudes that are of as great vncertainty as that which I propound I will confirme my opinion with the iudgement of a principall man to whom there will no great exception be taken and then that which I haue said will prooue to be an argument ab authoritate Thus he writeth Soloiure naturali diuino non priuatur aliquis Dominio in subditos propter peccatum Apostasiae in fide c. If you goe no further then to the law of nature or to the law of God no king is depriued from his soueraigntie ouer his subiects though it be for the sin of Apostacie from faith And he giueth a very sound reason for this his assertion nam fundamentum dominij non est fides c. For faith is not the ground of dominion but some other politike title hauing force by the lawe of nations of succession by inheritance or of election or of iust acquisition by iust warre Qui tituli possunt etiam manere sine fide neque vnquam extat ius aliquod diuinum quo eiusmodi tituli eneruantur propter defectionem a side which titles may remaine without faith neither is there any lawe of God whereby such titles are impeached for defection from faith 8. I know that iure ecclesiastico by the authoritie sentence of the Popes holines much more may be done then here I will speake of But yet I thinke it wil prooue in the end the best course for men not to do so much as they may Many things be lawfull which are not expedient And this Iesuiticall course of downe with princes when they offend them may peraduenture so prouoke them as they will say as fast downe with priests and of a certainty we shall haue the woorse When they finde that the titles of their kingdomes cannot be touched either by the lawe of nature or by the lawe of God do what they list it may giue them occasion to oppose themselues with greater seueritie against the See Apostolike in that the same should make such extreme lawes voluntarily against them as should tend to the thrusting of them out of their kingdomes And out of question it will be subiect if once they take this course to great iangling whether such lawes as should touch the deposing of a king are not rather to be accounted lawes ciuill and temporall then any matter or subiect fit for ecclesiasticall men or lawes to worke vpon We see already that some kings do take vpon them to deale and make lawes in causes ecclesiasticall denying his holines authority therein within their kingdomes And will it not seeme a thing much more plausible probable if other kings shall stand vpon it and say that his holines hath no interest to make any ciuill or temporall lawes that may touch their freeholds Nay if things should come to this rifling I feare they would in their heat goe further and tell his holines that for ought they finde kings haue as great authority to depose priests as priests haue to depose kings Besides it must be cōfessed that all priests Iesuits and euery other sort of clergie men the Popes holines excepted are borne subiects of kings and princes and it will be an odious assertion to say that the taking of priesthood vpon them should giue them warrant to bristle and make head against their soueraignes Furthermore it cannot be denied shift the Iesuits with all their cunning neuer so prettily but the immunities which priests haue from the temporall lawes of kings doe proceede as Saint Thomas acknowledgeth from their meere fauour and godly zeale towards them Also it is most manifest that as the kings of England haue beene most bountifull to the church and churchmen here within their dominions in so much as all the reuenewes and temporalties with many singular priuiledges which in this realme our forefathers haue enioyed haue proceeded from their most princely liberality and authority so standeth the case of the clergy in all other kingdomes which two points would be duly considered of in time For if princes should by the same meanes seeke to spoyle the church and take from it all her said immunities priuiledges and temporall possessions it will little auaile to bring in our distinctions how parliaments may giue what they list to the church and churchmen but they can take nothing either from them or from the church What the power of a parliament is in England we haue had too great experience and I suppose the states in other kingdomes haue the like And therefore in all pollicie kings and soueraigne princes are not to be ruffled with in this Iesuiticall maner That which they may pretend how in these their discourses they ayme but at some one or two doth indeed touch all kings if they incurre the displeasure of his holines Surely though I humbly acknowledge my selfe to be minimus fratrum meorum and neither arrogate to my selfe to be of such mature iudgement as many are nor will presume to take vpon me so peremptorily on the one side as Father Parsons doth on the other though vnlearnedly God wot yet I finde many great dangers that may happen to the Catholike Roman church if these violent spirits be not in time suppressed Such furious insulting ouer princes will neuer doe good They may be drawen many waies by gentle and milde proceedings with them rather then by such indiscreete and desperate courses whereby they grow to greater resistance For if the Popes holines in times past dealt so sharpely as it seemeth with Baldemarus king of Denmarke that he writ in this sort to the supreme Pastor Notum tibi facimus vitam nos habere à Deo nobilitatem à parentibus regnum à subditis fidem ab ecclesia Romana quam si nobis inuides remittimus per presentes Be it knowen vnto thee that we haue our
to serue his owne turne withall They will beleeue that the Archpriests authoritie once had can neuer be lost againe be it from God or the Diuell at the first graunt made vnto him by forgerie cousinage or false play by deluding of the Popes Holinesse preiudice of the See Apostolicke contempt of Priesthood premunire incurred against her Maiestie with treason to her Royall person Crowne and State and by all abuses that may be as he hath committed many since and those such as the authoritie he had is lost by them or by any other meanes They will beleeue that he this Archpriest and the Iesuites haue still their authorities and are not excommunicated suspended c. as they are in very deede by their cursed proceedings most vniustly and iniuriously against the innocent and in taking vpon them matters aboue their reach by vsurping his Holinesse place and authoritie They will still beleeue and follow these Saintly men make no scruple to come at Seruice and to Sacraments with them notwithstanding that by all these Quodlibets past and to come they may see what a daungerous desperate and damnable race they runne and all those that follow them They will still beleeue for all this that the seculars are excommunicated and suspended c. by the Archpriest and that he had and hath power to do it and therefore will they still make scruple to come at any of them to confession or other sacrament notwithstanding that neither will nor dare the Archpriest or Iesuites auouch it openly but in hucker mucker neither their brokers and trumpeters stand to it publikely In fewe if this will not resolue the laitie and moue them to ioyne with the seculars as a parcell of their owne corporation and common body politicall that must sticke to them when the other I meane the Iesuits as a priuate corporation and body of it selfe will be farre to seeke at least for any helpe or succour yeelding to them further then will stand for their owne priuate gaine and commoditie but if quite contrarie they will still runne against the streame and beleeue that blacke is white chalke cheese new sectaries saints and religious men seculars or rather controllers of seculars then can I say no more but new doctrine new faith new maisters new schollers new fathers new children and all in the end new c. and there I leaue it THE IIII ARTICLE WHether any go before the Iesuits in politicall gouernement prudence c. or not THE ANSWERE LIke as in all true Heroicall morall Cardinal yea or Theological vertues in general there are many thousands go beyond theÌ„ so in true prudeÌ„ce in speciall and by consequent in politicall gouernment as it is a branch deriuatiue from prudence many do excel them throughout the Christian world euery where Marry take pollicie as it is now a dayes taken by common phrase of speech in the subiect wherein it is inhaerent as we say that a right Politician is a very Machiauell a very Machiauell is an vpright Atheist and an vpright Atheist is a downeright dastardly coward void of all religion reason or honestie so by consquent it may be said that in politicall gouernment or Machiuilcan pollicie none goeth beyond the Iesuits at this day For the better vnderstanding whereof I will here set you downe some of their sleights and deuises how they deale to become great and to haue gouernment and charge of others committed vnto them and all this by the fame and report that goes of them by admiration cunningly gotten to be had of them and their doings in all things A â—hough sundrie 〈◊〉 â—he seculars might haue had â—â—aâ—ple fâ—culâ—â—â—s for hallowing 〈◊〉 Châ—lices disâ—enâ—â—â—â—ons c. as any Ie uit euer â—â—d or hâ—â—h yet 〈◊〉 king humbly 〈◊〉 heâ— vocation and coâ—â—ntiâ—g tâ—â—msâ—lues with such faculties as might extend to the absolution of any sinâ—e and deliuerie of any penitent soule out of the power of thâ— Diâ—ell which authoritie the meanest Priest hath aswell as the mightiest Rabbie of the Iesuiticall order they littlâ— the â—meâ— of the inconueniences that would come of these newly enlarged faculties that the Iesuits at the first entrance came withall as hauing cast their plot before hand how to winne fâ—me and mâ—ke themselues admiâ—ed aâ— of the English a 〈…〉 â—â—t to ceaâ—e of euery noueltie Neither did the seculars then consider what was spokâ—â—â—bâ—oad of the Iesuits not yet remembred the Cardinals words that the Iesuits would proue but thornes in the seâ—â—â—â— sides and be cause of great troubles amongst them So great was their charitable ouersight in not opposing theÌ„selâ—â—◠〈◊〉 iuâ—t these â—harisees 〈◊〉 the first or seeking to haue them called out of this land but it was for our sinnes that 〈◊〉 weâ—e thus bewitched with them Their first deuise then is to get a report to go amongst the people of them to be the rarest men for learning wisedome vertue and gouernment that are in all the world in this age to be found Which opinion to confirm they cunningly obtained extraordinarie faculties for hallowing of Chalices c. and after that they got a report to go that for their familiaritie and nearenesse to God to obtaine their sute in all their needâ— they are and must needes be endued with a speciall spirit for guiding of soules which the seculars want 2 To second this withall a secret admonition must be giuen to warne all Catholikes to take diligent heede to beware of all Priests in generall how they come at any Sacraments with them at extraordinarie times of making generall annuall or quarterly confessions but weekly or monethly onely vnlesse they be either Iesuits or such as are correspondents vnto theÌ„ as wholly aduised guided and ruled by them in all their proceedings 3 This foundation thus laid then to huffe and ruffe it out a Councell of women must be called to set cocke ahoope and these of nature being as flexible to yeeld as credulous to beleeue and as prone to vertue or vice vpon any sudden motion as forward dutifull and truly deuote and timerous in doing any thing otherwise then those that are their spirituall guides do moue them vnto must be the chiefe factors for them a while as those knowne to be potent in mouing either to contemne or esteeme whosoeuer they will haue aduanced or disgraced 4 Hauing first got in a foote and after the whole body by this peece-meale meanes into any court or countrie then must there be a deuise to get a residence for some principall man amongst them who how vnfit soeuer yet shall he be commended for a sans peere without comparison to remain in the Princes court or with some speciall man or woman of marke who may giue him best intelligence of all things that passe or are done there And by this deuice there are few or no Kings Courts in Europe or of Christendome this day where some of their intelligents do not reside of purpose to receiue and giue intelligence vnto their
Althogh it might haue bene in some sence a speciall point of vncharitable pollicy for the Iesuits to haue reiected that friendly offer to haue brought vp 30. of our English youthes as at Rome because that probably many of those would haue bin Benedictines and haue frustrat the Iesuits hope of hauing al here for themselues without copartners yet was it no pollicie in thē to beate a Priest almost to death for but making the motion of receiuing one into the Benedictines order for that foule fact did openly bewray their vnmortified passionate humours pride ambition malice auarice and other shamefull vices too too bad to be spoken of but most of all to be in any religious person that with the worlds weapons they make their vaunt that they can conquer the world Therefore dare they attempt to bid battell liuing in the world to religious men liuing out of the world and still themselues be no worldlings Herein then consists the miserie which being discouered any man may reade the riddle plaine scil that for asmuch as the Benedictines had all or the most part of the Abbey lands in England bequeathe vnto their Monasteries by sundry deuout holy and vertuous Catholike men and women in times past liuing in this Realme and for that the Dominicanes haue the chaire of authoritie for reading in the schooles especially in Salamanca in Spaine which grieues these pure spirited soules at the very heart and what banding brawling and quarrelling they haue made with them about it were too long to recite and also to them belongs of due right the soueraigne authoritie of the sacred Inquisition and withall to be called Predicatores preachers where euer they go with an higher prerogatiue then euer any Iesuite could or I hope euer shall haue for it were daungerous and great pitie that euer such ambitious men should obtaine such ample priuiledges And lastly for that the Scotists Franciscanes especially the Obseruants haue also had sundrie Frieries here in England as also the Carthusians commonly called the Charterhouse Monkes haue had the like in some sort Therefore was there bona causa cur none of all these or any other religious order that had euer enioyed either house or land in Albions Ile should euer come there again or any other religious order that might liue without the Iesuits for their sakes But all of them as reprobates and of God forsaken must be banished hence and a statute made in that high Councell that none such should euer come within this land after it is conquered by Spaniards and Iesuits sicut placuit Iesuitis The second Act enacted or statute made in that high infernall Consistorie was concerning the Church and Abbey lands scil That forasmuch as there be an hundred Bishoprickes great and small in these three kingdomes of England Scotland and Ireland with well nigh 20000. Parsonages and Vicariges and how many Monasteries Nunneries Frieries and other religious houses it is hard to tell the number Notwithstanding there was a booke brought into Paules Churchyard in written hand to be bound vp and sent God knowes where into Spaine as it may be thought because the partie that brought it was a sideman of the Iesuits the collection wherof as it was there reported stood the party in foure hundred pounds In which booke of a huge volume in a small hand there were set downe all the religious houses that euer haue bene in this Realme what land was giuen vnto them where it yet lyeth who gaue it how long since vpon what condition and prouiso when by whom how much and wherein altered diminished or increased and in whose possession it is at this present These with other circumstances and particulars being set downe no man can iudge otherwise but it was a worke fit for that Synodicall court to haue the perusing and censuring of it And there if any where is their nūber of religious houses like these to be found All which as also nothing else belonging either to the Ecclesiasticall or Monasticall state must be any longer in the hands of Bishops Abbots or other secular or religious persons as heretofore they were accustomed and incorporated vnto their seuerall orders But all must be vnder the holy society of Iesus presently vpon the establishing of the spiritual monarchy Which done their father General or Prouinciall must call out foure Iesuits two secular Priests who must be also demy Iesuites else all were naught These sixe Vicars I pray God not of hell for of heauen they are not they smell so ranckly of Cartwrights and Bruses pure synodall ministery like sixe Dutch Peeres of whom the Prophecies talke or so many mighty Lords shall haue the lands mannors Lordships parsonages monasteries and what soeuer else belonged to Church or cloister resigned ouer into their hands allowing to the Bishops Parsons and Vicars competent stipends pensions to liue vpon according as Bishops Suffragans Montseniors haue allowance in other Catholike countries or rather as the Turkes Bassaes Ianizaries vnder him are maintained And all this sicut placuit Iesuitis as the Romanes in their leagues were wont to write or rather iuxta decretum Medorum atque Persarum à quo prouocare non licet as king Darius sayd Liuery and seisen thus taken by these sixe Tribunes or popular Nobles all the rest must be imploied in pios vsus as father Generall of Rome shall thinke good The Colledges in both Vniuersities must be likewise in the power of these mortified creatures No Bishop nor Parson nor Vicar nor fellow of any Colledge must be so hardy as once to demand an account what is become of their reuenues lands and Lordships If they do this shall be the answer mirantur superiores c. or in plaine tearmes how dare you seeme to inquire how a Iesuite disposeth of any thing being peculiarly guided by the Spirit c. The third Statute was there made concerning the Lords temporall and other of the Nobility Gentry of this land And this Statute did consist of this point especially sci That euery Noble or Gentleman of special account and liuing such as to omit others Sir Robert Cicill Sir Iohn Fortescue Sir Iames Harington Sir Robert Dormer Sir Iohn Arundell now his sonne maister Iohn Arundell called great Arundell of Cornwall Sir Iohn Peter Sir Mathew Arundell of Warder his sonne and heire Sir Henry Constable Sir Iohn Sauage with sundry other Knights and Esquires all which were there limited by that blind prophane Parliament what retinue they should keepe when time came of inhauncing how much should be allowed them to spend yearely and what diet they should keepe at their tables The fourth Statute was there made concerning the common lawes of this land and that consisted of this one principall point that all the great charter of England must be burnt the manner of holding lands in see-simple free-taile franke Almaigne c. by Kings seruice soccage or villanage brought into villanie scoggerie and popularitie and in
Atheisme may a man be possibly an vnspotted Catholike by externall professiō and outward shew of life and yet be proued to be an Atheist in action practise and maner of proceeding in the same externall shew professiō that he makes THE ANSWERE HE may be so for a right Machiuilean whom commonly in that sense we call an Atheist must be a counterfeit of all religions professions sects A Preacher an Heralt of armes and an Alchumist must be vniuersall mē fit o discourse of any thing the first by applicatiō of his speech agreeing to the quality of the person for one kind of document is for Princes an other for studēts another for pesants c. and so in the difference of coates and confections of quintessences the like is of an Atheist in another kind scil in counterfeiting of actions c. opinions factions and affaires he must be one of those three sorts of persons that ought to be seene throughly and not superficially in all arts and sciences He must be a Cateline in countenance a Protheus in shape and a Camelion in change gaudere cum gaudentibus flere cum flentibus semper vultum gestare in manibus to chide and cherish to winke and looke to laugh and weepe with a breath He must be a precise Pithagoras a sage Solon a magnificall Mecaenas and a wanton Thraso all at once He must be a legifer with Licurgus a martial mā with Hector and a Councellor with Cicero He must be an Antiquary with Nestor an Historian with Plutarch and a Sapient with Cato He must be a Dauus in crafty slinesse a Pigmaleon in fond affections an Vlisses in courtly pleasance to cast his eye here there his head vp and downe vse his voice high or low at his pleasure In few he must comply with all times comport all persons and be full of complements in all things pertaining to motion in iesture and behauiour speech silence or any action So as a perfect Atheist must be either a complete Alchumist or an vpright humorist but alwayes an hypocrite THE IIII. ARTICLE VVHether all the Iesuits may in the sense precedent in the last Article be rightly called Atheists or not and wherein their fallacy doth most consist An od conceit I haue of the Iesuits perfection excellency moues me to place the Generall loco summi generis as a Summist of all the rest subordinate vnder his fatherhood For their society being subiect to no superiour authority otherwise thē as they please yet authorised of their own bare word to checke controule and correct al whō they are displeased withall sparing neither king Kesar Pope nor Priest their head must needs be a primum or supremum genus as not subordinate to or vnder any earthly power nor yet subiect to any law THE ANSWERE TO say the Iesuites are all smattred with Atheisme I will not and to say that any of them all are absolutely scotfree from it I cannot it is so repugnant from their owne principles Therefore must we needes vse a distinction betwixt a Iesuit commandant and a Iesuit obeisant A Iesuite commandant I take in this place to be one of these three vniuersals or predicables scil father Generall father Prouinciall father Rector the first as a summum genus of the society commands all in all nations the second as a species commands those of that kingdome nation and prouince where he liues and the third loco differentiae like the Lord Maior of London or gouernour of this or that Towne or City doth commaund with a different authority all those that liue vnder him there And a Iesuite obeisant may be deuided into the other two Pophytian vniuersals called proprium accidens with the addition of omni soli semper vbique to the former and separable and inseparable to the latter For all inferiour Iesuits must obey their superiour fathers they onely must acknowledge their obedience to a sole Iesuit and none other Prince Potentate or Prelate whosoeuer their obedience must last for euer at no time free for what cause soeuer and it must be euery where without exception of person or place so as if they be commaunded to call the Pope his holinesse Lutherane they must do it and so they haue if to murther an annointed Prince they must do their indeuour and none hath bene wanting and if in court or country Church or Palace the field of warre or land of peace that in a Heathen Hereticall Schismaticall or Catholike country all is one they must obey it And this is proprium quarto modo as agreeing to none other order society association company or corporation whatsoeuer saue onely the Iesuits A sword is inanimate and but a dead peece of mettall and yet it is the death of a quicke life leading man A cause instrumentall is the immediat agent in euery action artificiall and the principal agent naturall is but therin a cause remote Take then away the instrument and the artificer is able to do nothing moue the instrumentall Iesuits and their fantor◠instrumentall to forsake the Iesuiticall Principles and then will not Fa. Parsons be able to do any thing which being so therefore stands it their Prouincials Fa. Garnet Weston vpon all they are worth to bestirre themselues to lie to face to forge to deny to forsweare to renounce to praise to extoll to admite to defame to despise to count light and to do all that the diuel can suggest or wit can deuise to aduance themselues and ouerthrow the seculars else are they no Atheists nor currant Politikes sed vtri credendum sit censetu whethe seculars or Iesuits are herein to be obeyed Againe it is rightly called accidens aswell separabile as inseparabile for as it commeth by chance and falleth out by hap-hazard that any one is a Iesuite so being once admitted confirmed and professed in the societie which few are such is their pollicy to keepe them in awe and themselues out of feare of reuealing their chiefe secrets which onely the professed fathers are acquainted withall in chiefe vntill they be throughly tried by many yeares continuance the graces graunted and rules prescribed them being both inherent to their order it is an inseparable accident vnto them to be such and none other euer after for otherwise there were no reason of their freedome more from impossibilitie of error then others haue And yet because free will bewraies their folly launching out right Libertine-like perforce hereupon it comes that popular applause puffing them vp with proud conceits of their owne proper excellencie finding that they haue as good parts gifts and abilities as their superiors be he Rector Prouinciall or Generall greedily affecting soueraigntie with their fellowes a quotidian hot ague naturally burning in all ambitious hearts and either being inwardly too scrupulous or outwardly too lauish after many and perhaps long conflicts with themselues they break out renounce the societie
or Iudge Paramount on earth vnder the Diuell in hell must denounce the sentence following out from his infernall seate Forasmuch as the secular Priests durst presume to appeale to Saint Peters chaire against my faithfull seruant George Blackwell instituted at my appointment designements and instructions giuen to the Pope of Rome to make him Archpresbiter and Protonotharius c. in and throughout the great Kingdomes of Albion or great Britaine to do lawe and iustice vpon such rebels against my louing brother the King Catholike of Spaine as in that Imperiall Isle it should seeme meete iust and necessarie in his wisedome to haue sharpely rebuked chastised and punished and for that also I did prescribe the manner how the said Pope was to proceede according to the tenure of my abstract of statutes lawes orders and actes enacted by me and my Generall in the high Councell of Reformation for England with a prouiso that my forenamed seruant Maister Blackwell should haue nothing to do with the fathers of the societie I thought it meete in my experience and wisedome not onely to exempt all my brethren and confatherhoods the Iesuites in England Scotland or elsewhere from being vnder the Archpriest but moreouer and besides to will and commaund my said seruant Maister Blackwell vnder paine of officipard to do nothing without my Prouinciall Garnets counsell designements and decrees who being an especiall illuminate and hauing a more neare familiaritie with God then any of the rest by reason of his place and calling he the said Blackwell thus directed by him shall be so farre and free from error or doing any thing amisse in acting all things vnder obedience to my Prouinciall as whosoeuer should contradict any thing by him decreed I hold it sit that he be noted for an Ethnicke a reprobate and one that was neuer established in the grace of God c. All these lawes statutes and acts with prouisoes thus enacted forasmuch as the seculars contemptuously haue violated infringed and broken the very marrow center and quintessence of their contempt accrewing to the preiudice of the holy societie and therein to Father Parsons in chiefe it stood his Prouinciall Garnet vpon to lay about him on the behalf of Blackwell to make his cause and quarrell his owne and this to be outwardly in shew Clement the eighth his Holinesse the Pope of Romes in managing and menacing and inwardly in intention to be Parsons that bastardly vicar of hell his in the platforme plotcastings and practises And so for all the world neuer imagine nor dreame of any kind of temporall gouernement by a Puritane Iesuit to be otherwise intended then as a Puritane Minister said in Edenborough God and the Kirke against the King and his Councell and outher ney King or ney Minister in Scotland As much to say and as Knoxe that seditious traitor did write to her Maiestie that those Princes who will not subiect themselues to their infernall and damnable discipline yea and submit themselues to be ruled by the Puritanian Ministerie might iustly and shold be deposed and depriued both of Crown gouernement and life at their pleasure Wherein you may please to note by the way that the Puritanian Ministers made the Gospell and the blacke Kirke of Scotland their pretence for aduauncing such a man to the Crowne as should wholly subiect himselfe and sweare and subscribe to the defence of their doctrine And yet all the world knoweth it that they would bring all into a Swisserly popularitie or a Geneuian gouernment void of Prince peere or other Noble or at least will neuer yeeld to accept of any King that shall not be ruled by theÌ„ And euen so the Puritanian Iesuits must needs intend do make shew of aduancing none to the English Crowne but such a one as is conuerted to the Catholike Church of Rome making the Gospell and spouse of Christ their pretence therein But yet their platforme allowes no King power or potentate aboue them and by consequent seeing notwithstanding yet needes they must haue the countenance of some great Monarch for a time to gouerne by in the state temporall as now they make his Holinesse for a while their sconce and buckler in the state ecclesiasticall it were no pollicie in them to haue an absolute Soueraigne to raigne in this land no not euen the Infanta who questionlesse Parsons made choise of before her father or brother the King of purpose to haue her gouernement subordinate either vnder him or the Emperour but as they haue gotten an Archpriest to be as it were a Vicar generall subordinate vnder his Holinesse in causes Ecclesiasticall and yet his said Holinesse onely to be a shadow or cloake but to haue no medlings or dealings nor to know any thing of the affaires of his Church here further then they shall please to informe him of so will they neuer admit of other gouernement but a Viceroy to be as it were a Prorex or King homageâ— subordinate to Spaine or Austria in causes temporall And yet the said Prorex must stand at their deuotion and not be able to informe anie thing to the King absolute further or otherwise then as they shall appoint him which if he do or attempt the contrarie he is sure to be deposed and loose his life for it either such a new King homager chosen by the Prince absolute at their assignement or else no King euer after but a king Cardinall and Pope Iesuit THE X. ARTICLE VVHether then is it dangerous or not to haue any of the English bloud royall either maryed to one of the Iesuiticall or Spanish faction which I perceiue is all one in the generall pretence though not in the intention or practise either within or without the land or otherwise conuerted to the Catholike faith if God so giue them grace by any Iesuite or Iesuited Priest of their faction THE ANSWER THe daunger you make a question of may be two wayes taken one spiritually and the other corporally In neither of which daungers any one can be said properly and directly to be in the act of either mariage or conuersion Because as I said at the first these seditious turbulent factious Iesuites here in England howsoeuer they may be in foro conscientiae and before God excommunicated suspended irregular or otherwiâ—e haue incurred any ecclesiasticall censure by their absurd grosse erronious opinions practises and proceedings yet for that they liue hitherto as visible members of the Catholike Church and neither do neither dare publikely teach much lesse obstinately defend any thing contrarie to the Catholike Churches doctrine and beleefe and further forasmuch as there is no sentence as yet denounced from his Holinesse against them or if denounced yet not here made knowne or if knowne yet no Bull nor Briefe come for assurance thereof or if any such yet not publikely promulgated therefore in foro externo all these circumstances considered and that the Church doth iudge secundum allegata probata as
men not as Gods in these cases knowing that the words inuasion and hostile power denotate a generall subuersion population and ouerthrow of the whole common wealth and state with slaughter of body soule and all together and not the conuersion of any one no nor preseruation or safetie of the already conuerted for so said the Duke of Medina in plaine termes scil I will respect neither one nor other if I haue them once vnder my sworde for I meane to make roome place and space there for my master c. Neither in very deede in such a case could he almost choose to doe otherwise though he had a more compassionate religious and humane hart then any Spaniard seemeth to haue For how should he knowe a catholike from a protestant in the open field where is no time to bow nor kneele vnlesse it be against their wils But when besides this it is manifest by the Dukes speeches yea and the Iesuits too at sundry times affirming the same as father Southwell at Wisbiche did confesse no lesse in the hearing of diuers priestes there prisoners that though the inuaders might yet would they not spare one catholike in England more then a protestant nor so much as they would spare the puritanes The reason whereof may be this in their barbarous policie scil least vnder that pretence if shew of religion might saue their liues all for the time becomming wholy catholikes would be too many and too strong a partie to remaine on liue and readie vpon euery the least occasion offered to rise in armes and take the crowne off from the inuaders head if inuested therewith thrust all forraigners out of the realme and set vp a catholike king of their owne countrie and nation againe Therefore seeing that to preuent this inconuenience the inuader whosoeuer will make sure worke if once he got footing without sparing of man woman or childe besides those traitors of Iesuits or puritanes that shall escape perhaps for a time as comming in vnder his banner to betray their natiue countrie into his hands I hold that man for woorse then mad that will runne vpon his owne death euery way as those English doe be they of what religion or profession soeuer that should vpon any false perswasion or feare of excommunication or otherwise oppose themselues against their natiue prince and countrie And if when no such danger was of vtter subuersion and destruction of all yet in these temporall and martiall causes we finde that no excommunication suspension or interdiction did take place so but that those punished by ecclesiasticall censure did still prosecute to death their prince and countries cause were the said excommunications or other ecclesiasticall censure iustly or wrongfully inflicted which when hot bloods are vp is not regarded of any as in the strife betwixt prince Lewis of Fraunce and king Iohn of England and his sonne after him king Henry 3. and the Baliol and Bruse of Scotland and sundry other examples it may appeere euen in catholike times when there was no religion but one then à fortiori in the case proposed like to a Danois conquest when the pretence is coloured with a religious maske and the pretendor intendes notwithstanding a generall massacre of all indifferently to plant a new people there with vtter extirpation of the ancient inhabitants there is no sense religion nor signe of humanitie in that English hart that would so vnnaturally be deluded with scruples doubts and sophisticall buzzes put into his head in the premises as not to resist Secondly an other interrogatorie point or question in the article proposed is that supposing the Iesuits and Archpriest had right on their side in the matters of contention betwixt them as they seeme to make the case as cleere for them as the seculars doe on the contrarie that thereupon they should iustly procure an excommunication with other ecclesiasticall censures to be inflicted according to the qualitie of the person the occasion giuen vpon the part of the appellans and all their adherents for their contempt disobedience c. formally reestablishing ratifying and confirming ad amplius the saide Archpriestes authoritie whether then ought not the seculars and all other catholikes obey and surcease from further pursuite against either the Iesuites or Archpriest or no And to this I answere that a supposed proposition must haue a supposed solution scilicet that supposing all were right iust lawfull and necessarie on the Iesuits part and the quite contrarie on the seculars then were the seculars not onely bound to obey and surcease but also to cry peccauimus and submit themselues to doe such penance as should be inioyned them c. 2. in the case proposed although they were to surcease from pursuite of the appeale in that matter yet were they not bound to let fall their plea on the behalfe of the Catholicke Church and common wealth in generall or of their owne natiue countrey in speciall for that the matters of contention betwixt the seculars and Iesuits being of two kinds the one proper as cōcerning the iniuries wrongs done one to the other and the other common as concerning the iniuries and wrongs done to the whole Church the common wealth the supreme power and soueraigne Maiesties in both states they being instrumentall agents and yet withall liue members of the two bodies misticall and politicall were bound to respect Bonum publicum before priuatum and by consequent not to desist from prosecuting the appeale in those cases wherein the interest is in the whole Church and commonwealth and not in themselues alone 3. I say the supposition is but a meere metaphisicall or rather chymericall supposall or conceite neither doe I thinke that there is any Iesuite in England this day but in his owne conscience he knowes he is in the wrong and that the seculars haue the right on their side as well in the particular as generall action and by consequent it is impossible as I said in the former article but that if euer the matter come to pleading it will goe on the seculars side against them 4. I say more that admit an excommunication should be gotten procured suggesto mendacio against them for the one cause or the other yet were the excommunicated suspended c. onely propter obedientiam to forbeare comming at or hauing the vse of the Sacraments But no further so as in prosecuting their appeale or doing of any other act for the furtherance of their cause they were as free as before from all sinne or other offence in not obeying any charge laide or commandement giuen them to the contrary 3. A third interrogatorie point doth seeme to import thus much in this article scz whether an excommunication suspension c. being gotten quo iure quaue iniuria against the seculars and their adherents hanging the appeale were it to be obeied or not in forbearing to come at the altar or Sacraments Whereunto I answere 1. That Post
appellationem factam manis est excommunicatio or as saith the glosse Nemo potest excommunicari 2. That admit there had beene no appeale yet could no excommunication suspension c. binde them in the case proposed in foro conscientiâ—e quia litterae impetratae suggesto mendacio non nocent eis contra quos impetrantur c. sententiae contra leges canonesue perlatae debent vtique pro infectis haberi c. 4. Lastly a question doth rise heere out of this article whether in foro exter an excommunication suspension c. do alwaies binde or not The Archpriest is knowne directly to haue no such authority as he master Parsons giuâ—â—ut he hath to excommunicate suspend c. neither was his holinesse priuâ— to his vsurpate intâ—nt on in taking more vpon him than he hath graÌ„ted ergo ad placâ— tum whether any will obey him in the points in question or not c. vers gra whether if by meanes made to his holinesse on the Iesuits and Archpriests behalfe there should a precept briefe or bull be obteined to command all Catholicks to be at master Blackwels command and to obey him in all things sub paena excommunicationis suspensionis amissionis omnium facultatum c. were it to be obeied or not To which I answere first that it were as is saide before scil to suffer patiently that iust torment inflicted vpon them if knowne directly that it were his holinesse will and intent to haue it so by refraining from the Sacraments and thus much propter obedientiam piae iurium ecclesiam eiusque cap. Rom. po tum ad euitandum scandalum which in this case might happen to the infirme and weake Catholicks iudgeing it to proceed of contempt and disobedience to the sea Apostolick if they should presume to come at the holy altar or frequent any Sacraments being excommunicated c. though neuer so wrongfully and iniustly Secondly that notwithstanding such an excommunication yet the said seculars and their adhaerents might proceede as before either in prosecuting the appeale begun or beginning a new and following of the same Note that the Archpriest cannot haue authoritie from the Pope to stop all appeales froÌ„ him to the Pope and by consequence thâ—ugh in Blackwell had authority to excommunâ—cate suspend c. in all thinges which he hath not neither daâ—e take it vpon him to defend he hath so yet were his excommunication void both in foro conscientiae ecclesie in this case of forbidding appeales wherein so free al men were from any bond to obey as they were bound to disobey it and reiect him as an Antipape notwithstanding any command or authority to the contrary vntill such time as the truth of their cause were made knowne to his holinesse and that they had receiued his resolute answere Which had no such censure could be incurd because the wrong accrewing in ius suum by making the Archpriest aboue himselfe it were not in the Popes power to giue him such an authoritie and remaine Pope after it for that the passage of an appeale must alwaies be from an inferior to a superior ergo if master Blackwell haue authoritie to command that none shall write nor send nor seeke for iustice from him to the Pope nor and by consequent then it followeth to any other but whom he shall assigne as his charge giuen to the apellants to goe into the Low countries c. includes so much arrogancie and vsurpation of a supremacy at least vnder paine of excommunication c. then it followeth that he the said Blackwell is the supreme head of the church Catholike at least heere in England from whom there is no appeale to be made but all iniuries to be borne off with head and shoulders neither will his or the Iesuits excuse for him serue their turns to say the seculars appeale is but about friuolous light matters in themselues proceeding of a seditious stubborne disobedient obstinate contentious spirit not well established in the grace of God c. In all which cases it were expresly against the Canons to disobey him or to appeale from him as from say they their lawfull superior and by consequent that he may command them not to trouble his holinesse with such brabling matters c. I say this neither will neither shall serue his turne For if they be but trifles or wranglings A Bishop cannot authorize his chaplein a king his secretary not the Pope his protonotary in things wherein the so authorized depriues the authorizer of his superioritie ouer him and withall of the chiefe act of iustice and title of his dignity and honor belonging to his person or place but must withal make him by that act his superior bicause no duals in popedomes kingdoms or Bishopr ckes but all singles as one in one c. then haue the seculars the woorst of it being sure to be sharpely punished when the plea shall come before his holinesse but if otherwise it will prooue then videant ipsi Iesuitae cum suo Archipr But howsoeuer be it so or be it not yet the seculars affirming that it is of matters of most moment that euer hapned in this age as both by these 10. Quodlibets and sundry other bookes written of this subiect may and will appeere it is neither Blackwell nor Garnet nor Parsons nor Lucifer nor who is the prowdest of them to face it with greatest impudency that shall dare presume to be iudge therein or stoppe it from comming to his holinesse but shall be noted for an Antipope at least Thirdly I say further that suppose there were neither Rex nor summus Pontifex in all the world as for the space of 2000. yeeres or thereabout it was so the first borne sonne of euery family being that while vnder the law of nature both king and priest in authoritie without the name and that all gouernment on earth were as it should be in that case Aristocraticall yet did not that hinder but that still a subordinate power shoud be aswell in the church as common-wealth and lawe and iustice there take place in order so as alwaies an appeale might be lawfull and not deniable from an inferior person court corporation common-wealth or what name title or authoritie soeuer to a superior but not on the contrary in any of these without preiudice of the predominant and so from one to another till it come to the chiefe and highest court Yea this kinde of subordination is euen in the lawes themselues the Ciuill lawes or lawes Common heere in England which equall the lawes Ciuill being inferior to the lawes Canon or municipall in this lande as is cleere by a plea which ordinarily may be remooued from the common Law into the court of Chauncery and the law Canon inferior to the law of Nature and Nations which commonly is taken to be one with Natures lawe and againe the lawe of Nature to the Law of God as it is giuen written
for contempt of all authoritie power and soueraigntie in regall maiestie Whereupon entring into a new league of confederacie that from thencefoorth they would neuer come at the Queene though she sent for them without consent of their companie they animated their faction to be alwaies readie and to stand vpon their guarde They gaue their Queene the lie diuers times and vsed her with most despitefull speeches They sawcily termed her part a faction euen iust in all things like to the Iesuiticall proceeding and renouncing their obedience vnto her protested that whosoeuer should take her part should be punished as a traitor whensoeuer God should put the sword of iustice into their hands They consulted with Wilcocke Knox and other ministers for deposing of the Queene regent from her gouernment who assuring the rest that it was lawfull for them so to doe processe was made sentence was giuen and her highnes was depriued of all regiment by a formall act set downe in the same storie penned by Knox and printed in part afterward here in England Sixtly another most grosse antistatisticall principle of theirs is that they of their exorbitant word and authoritie might call a parliament and enact what they pleased without consent of king Queene or other state Whereupon holding a mocke parliament ann Dom. 1560. by consent of the French king and their Queene his wife they forsooth therein reformed religion and set out a confession of the Christian faith And vpon intelligence giuen to the said king and Queene denied to confirme or ratifie the actes thereof being mooued thereunto the confederates answered We little said they regard it for all that we did was rather to shew our dutifull obedience then to beg of them any strength to our religion And when it was obiected that it could not be a lawfull parliament where there was neither scepter crowne nor sword borne They made light of it saying that these were rather pompous and glorious vaine ceremonies then any substantiall points of necessitie required to a lawfull parliament Thus much for their principles of practise Now for their doctrine of statizing the principles are also of like condition whereof these are chiefe scil First that reformation of religion belongeth to the commonaltie Secondly that the commonaltie by their power may bridle the cruell beasts to vse that beast Knox his words the priests Thirdly that the commonaltie if the king be negligent may iustly prouide themselues of true preachers and maintaine and defend them against all that doe persecute them and withall deteine the profit of the Church liuings from the other sort Fourthly the commonaltie and nobilitie ought to reforme religion and in that case may remooue from honor and punish such as God hath condemned he meaneth idolaters in the Deuteronomicall law of what estate condition or honor soeuer Fiftly it is not birth-right onely nor propinquitie of blood that maketh a king lawfully to raigne aboue a people professing Christ Iesus Sixtly if princes be tyrants against God and his truth their subiects are freed from their othes of obedience Seuenthly the people are better then their king and of greater authoritie Eightly the people haue right to bestow the crowne at their pleasure Ninthly the making of lawes belongs to the people and kings are but as Masters of the Roles Tabulariorum custodes Tenthly the people haue the same power ouer the king that the king hath ouer any one person Eleuenthly it were good that rewardes were appointed by the people for such as should kill tyrants as commonly there is for those qui lupos aut vrsos occiderunt aut catulos eorum deprehenderunt saith Buchan de iure regni Twelftly the people may arraigne their princes Thirteenthly the ministers may excommunicate the king Fourteenthly he that by excommunication is cast into hell is not woorthy to inioy any life vpon earth c. There are an hundred twise told of the like statisticall principles and practises to be collected out of Caluine of Beza of Buchanan of Hotaman of Vrsin as he commeth out from Newstad vindici contra tyrannos and of other puritan ministers of the consistoriall tribe fitly agreeing to the Iesuitical platforme in their high councels of reformation and other writings All which are such matters of state indeed as no true subiect can deale in allowing of them but is a ranke traitor for his paines THE II. ARTICLE VVHether the seculars doe or may preiudice the crowne common-wealth or both or either state or gouernment of England ecclesiasticall or temporall by dealing in these affaires now in hand THE ANSWERE NO way possible for them or any other loyall and naturall English subiect to preiudice hurt or offend any either publike or priuate person or body naturall ciuill or politicall dealing as they doe in seeking onely a relaxation of persecution on their owne and the catholiks behalfe and a securitie of state and quiet on the behalfe of their prince and countrie for both which nature conscience loue loyaltie and dutie doe binde them all to pleade as is euident by discourse vpon all the particulars As first for her Maiestie it is a preuention of all dangers to her royall person bicause hereby a singular meanes may in her high wisedome be vsed as well to finde out the puritane as the Iesuiticall faction as also to roote both out of the land by information giuen and discouerie of the one faction on the part of the protestants of the other on the part of the catholikes Secondly for the state present in generall it giueth an assurance that by no word writing or other practise there can be any thing attempted without their priuitie bicause euery one for their owne indemnitie will be ready to reueale it and thereby stop the impotencie of traitors from so attempting for feare of discouerie ere euer it come to acting Thirdly to the Lords temporall or ciuill state there cannot come any thing for them to dislike of as there being nothing desired at their hands by the seculars and other catholikes but onely a good word on their poore distressed countrymens behalfe to her Maiestie that they may be hereafter without feare of losse of life lands or goods or to be sackt ransackt pild and polde as by inferior officers they haue sometimes hitherto been And that the penall lawes for paiment of money for their recusancie may so be tempered as both her loyall catholike subiects may be able to liue her Maiesties cofers more inriched their seruice done with more alacritie to her Highnes in time of neede and all better appointed and able to performe what they take in hand on her royall person and countries behalfe by this meanes Fourthly to the Lords spirituall there can in like sort no inconuenience grow thereby for that there is no suite either made or intended in preiudice of their present incumbencie or hinderance of one farthing they inioy of the ancient catholike church reuenues or abatement of one inch of their honor knowing
which he dissolued not like a Iesuite though Caesar was an Infidell but as all true Catholike Priests ought to doe saying in direct termes giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars and vnto God that which is his owne of due right Fourthly the Apostles followed the steps of their Master For he being suspected by king Herode to aspire by degrees to the Empire cleared himselfe thereof by paying of tribute and by teaching all other subiectes to giue vnto Caesar that which was Caesars right Then his Apostles afterwards vnderstanding that it was commonly conceiued that the doctrine of the Gospell taught such points and preceps as were very preiudiciall to the state of the Empire and other kings and Princes they to purge that suspition did so oft in their writings commend and extoll the authority of all Emperors kings and Princes shewing the same to proceede from God himselfe and to be his owne ordinance Non est potestas nisi à Deo said Saint Paule to the Romanes And Ciuill Magistrates are sent from God said Saint Peter Ministri Dei sunt thus they taught for the iustifying of the Magistracy of such as were at that time Infidels and persecutors neuer mentioning that thereby they had lost their Empire or kingdomes or that they might iustly be deposed or any such matter as our Iesuites in the like case doe now a daies affirme Fiftly the holy Fathers of the Primitiue Church following the Apostles as they followed Christ when they found that through the malice of Sathan the same obiections amongest many other were still insisted vpon against the Christians and their doctrine as if all had tended to the impeachment of the Monarchy and treachery towards the Emperors they bent themselues to refell those slaunderous imputations Iustinus Martyr Athenagoras and Tertullian succeedingly did write diuers discourses and some to the Emperors themselues wherein they acknowledged as much as the Apostles had taught them And thus these auncient fathers said of the authority of their Emperors being still Infidels and persecutors Noster est magis Caesar vt à nostro Deo constitutus Loe we quoth Tertullian in his Apologie haue more interest in Caesar then the heathen bicause he is appointed Emperor by our God and not by the false Gods whom they worship The name of an Emperor à Deo traditur Dicam plane Imperatorē dominū I will plainely call the Emperor my Lord and Master Inde est Imperator vnde est homo antequam Imperator inde potestas illi vnde spiritus He that made him a man made him an Emperor from him he hath his authority who gaue vnto him life Sciunt c. Christians know who giueth the Emperors authoritie and that they are in their Empires à Deo secundi post quem primi The second person to God himselfe and next him the first With Tertullian the other two fathers before named doe in effect very fully agree whose doctrine you see doth no way sound like the aforesaid tune of Iesuitisme Sixtly I haue not read all the rest of the auncient fathers some of them I haue but neither by mine owne reading haue I found nor euer heard it reported by any of credit that the said fathers did in their times either preach or write any otherwise of the authority of magistrates although Infidels and persecutors nay Apostataes then as you haue heard Christ his Apostles Iustinus Martyr Athenagoras Tertullian did I wil only trouble you with S. Augustine who is most plaine That whether the king be good or bad milde or tyrannous bountiful to the church or a persecutor one that imbraceth the Gospel Cath. Roman faith or is become an Apostata yet they are Gods lieuetenants their power and soueraignty are both from God of him they hold their kingdomes are to be obeyed in all things which are not against the law diuine and Gods church here militant on earth as for their paying of tribute fighting his battels defending their countries and such like Read if you please that which he writeth vpon the 13. Chapter to the Romans and in his fift booke De Ciuitate Dei Cap. 22. and vpon the 124. Psalme in which last place you shal find that he mantaineth in precise termes that Iulian by his Apostacy was not held to haue lost the Empire or his right interest and title that be had before vnto it but obeyed by the Christians propter Dominum aeternum bicause the eternal God would haue it so Now no king be he vitious a schismatike or an heretike can be thought with any reason so euill as an Apostata It is woorse to slide from the faith of Christ totaliter wholy then aliqua ex parte as it is apparant in Saint Thomas Seuenthly I am of his opinion that as the receiuing of the Catholike faith and Gospell of Christ cannot make a priuate man to be a temporall king so the reiecting of the same faith c. cannot make a king a priuate man And indeed to my vnderstanding saluo semper meliori iudicio it were against all reason it should be otherwise As for example à Simili A Farmor being a heathen man and hauing the lease of a mannor which is not good in lawe doth receiue the faith of Christ and so becommeth a Christian Were it not an absurd conceit for any man to thinke that the receiuing of the Christian faith should make the said bad lease to be sound and substantiall Likewise on the other side the said Farmer hauing as sufficient a lease as law can make it of another mannor doth returne againe to Paganisme It would seeme to me as absurd if any person should imagine that the said lease or his right vnto it were thereby any whit impaired Againe when men receiue the Gospell and are baptized be they kings or priuate men it altereth not our case they receiue thereby an interest to the kingdome of heauen but no further right to their worldly inheritance then they had before And so also for the contrary If any king or priuate person being a Christian and withall a Catholike do fall out of the Catholike church and forsake the faith of Christ it is a sufficient punishment for him to loose thereby his inheritance and right to the ioyes of heauen though for his worldly state he be left as the church in puris naturalibus did finde him And the same is in my iudgement in an other like case If the heire apparant of any Catholike king or other prince were either addicted to heresie or should become an Apostata I being borne to be his subiect would vse my vttermost endeuour to reclaime him but if that purpose would not preuaile with him which I know God hath appointed to be the ordinary meanes for mens conuersions I hold it were a very impious part either in me or in any other priuate person being his subiect if we should seeke to preuent him of his right or if it laye in
no question if they had liued in our daies and withall vnder Englands alleageance they would either haue forborne or that speach haue qualified Touching Bannes though of this age yet a Spaniard he was and therefore his doctrine is lesse strange for this point But let that passe I blame him not for holding what opinion he list disputatiue bicause it is an ordinary matter so to doe yea and that in pointes of very great importance one scholeman holding an opinion in matters that are not directly of faith quite contrary and against one an other And so could I well haue borne with father Parsons if a schooleman as he is not he had beene to haue holden what opinion he listed in the schooles or for disputations sake concerning the conueniency or inconueniency of publishing this doctrine Marry withall I wish from my hart that he had left it there stil buried it in silence vnder his deske that it had neuer come within ken of an English eye nor within the sound of our aduersaries iealous eares But seeing that published it is by them and that in an other worse sense then either S. Thomas or Bannes euer dreamed of as tending wholy to a Puritanes popularity as hereafter shall be proued therefore must it needes follow to be a most pernitious doctrine and very vnfit to haue beene published to the world in these so dangerous times as wherein we all doe liue And by consequent it necessarily must and shall be improued and father Parsons iustly conuinced of treason and error for publishing of it like a right Puritane which I prooue by this discourse following Buchanan that archtraytor of Scotland in his booke De iure regni apud Scotos hath written at length to this very purpose against whom master Blockwood a woorthie man and a sound catholike did very learnedly oppose himselfe and hath at large confuted this monstrous conceite very substantialy All the Buchanans and Iesuits in Christendome will neuer be able to answere him in that point When Saint Paul saith Buchanan as master Blockwood alleageth his words commaunded the Romanes to obey the superior powers appointed by God he writ so In ipsa nascentis ecclesiae infantia cum christiani nec numero nec opibus nec authoritate valerent ac proinde eorum duntaxat ad quos scribebat non autem vniuersorum ciuium rationem habuisse In the infancie of the church saith this sacrilegious traytor to sacred Maiestie euer blasphemous Christians flourished not either in number or in wealth or in authoritie and therefore Saint Paul had onely respect of those to whom he writ that were not able to rebell and ment not that his precept should be held for a perpetuall lawe when Christians should grow afterwards to be of greater force Would not a man thinke he had heard a Iesuite all this while But let Buchanan go forward In those times Christians were faine to shrowd or hide themselues vnder the obedience of princes and magistrates though they were wicked and vnder the shadow of any kinde of dominion whatsoeuer bicause they were poore few of them citizens but strangers and for the most part such as had beene bondmen and the rest trades men and seruants that with great toile susteyned themselues And therefore Saint Paul admonished them vt temrori seruirent that they should dissemble for the time being mindfull of their condition and not peepe out of their holes much lesse seeke to trouble those that were in authority But if Saint Paul liued now adaies when not onely the people but princes do professe Christianitie and when Christians are equall both in number and strength to match tyrants he would command the multitude to inquire into the saide tyrants proceedings and as they saw cause to put them to death Thus far this Scottish bloodsucker and enimie to all regal soueraignty to whom father Parsons and the said Iesuits that writ of the deposition of Henry 3. are exceedingly beholden For he in his booke of succession and the other in their said discourse do follow him vp and downe step by step so directly as if they had purposed to haue professed themselues to be his schollers and to defend whatsoeuer he hath written were it neuer so desperate impious prophane and more then heathenish Thus you heare what the Iesuits doctrine is and how iumpe turne Turke and Puritane like they haue proceeded therein Now follow their grounds For the grounds and foundation of this Iesuiticall and Puritane doctrine of obedience till subiects haue force to rebell you may please to vnderstād that it is built vpon a new fond exposition of the Scriptures as partly you haue heard which is a very dangerous point and will giue our common aduersaries exceeding aduantage against vs in that hitherto we haue pretended to follow in all matters of controuersie with them that sence of the Scriptures which was generally receiued by the ancient fathers and haue greatly inueighed against their new expositions whereby they wring at woorst the written word that it may seeme to speake no other wise then they would haue it And that now the Iesuits in this case doe runne the same course it is manifest In testimonie whereof whereas the example of the Iewes by Ieremies direction vnder Nabuchodonozor hath beene generally held for a president for all christians if euer they shall happen to come into the like bondage so the practise of Christ concurring with it in paying tribute to Caesar a wicked king and commanding all men to do the like and with this precept also the rules of the Apostles fitly agreeing in prescribing all Christians of what calling soeuer generally to obey and performe all duties of subiects to all superior powers and particularly to kings as those being more excellent then the rest the ciuill magistrates being then likewise wicked persons and persecutors adding hereunto the generall expositions of the auncient fathers That the Apostles do speake in those places of such kinde of ciuill gouernors as heere we intreate of and that all Christians if they happen to liue vnder such like kings are to obey them and to submit themselues vnto all their temporall and lawfull commaundements it is cleere yet all this notwithstanding out come these new illuminates the Iesuits and as if they were become Caluinists they take vpon them with their new glosses to auoide and elude the true sence and ancient interpretations of all these places The Iewes say they were commanded diuinitus extraordinarily to obey and pray for Nabuchodonozor which ordinarily bindeth not Christ paide tribute and spake as a priuate person The Apostle Saint Paul ment that his precepts should be generally vnderstoode of obedience to good kings onely and Saint Peter when he commandeth all Christians to be subiect to the king quasi praecellenti that is saith one when the king doth excell in vertue and not otherwise and father Parsons in his booke of titles omit his absurd Appendix wherein he runneth riot
in this point of rebellion and popularitie saith that where Salomon affirmeth By me kings raigne and Saint Paul auoucheth that authoritie is not but of God and therefore he that resisteth authoritie resisteth God these places are to be vnderstood of authoritie power or iurisdiction in it selfe according to the first institution for otherwise when it is vniustly vsed it may be resisted in manie cases euen by the commons or multitude whom in his Appēdix he bindeth in conscience to rebell c. which kinde of shifts we haue euer detested and therefore nowe you shall heare what we thinke of this doctrine To speake plainely my minde in this case with all humble submission to the Catholike church and censure of my opinion herein I hold this doctrine of the Iesuits in these daies to be an open way to Atheisme so to expound the Apostles as that they might be thought to temporize which is a plaine kinde of dissimulation For there being question made concerning the doctrine of the Catholike church and Gospel of Christ as though it had impeached the authority of the ciuill Magistracie the Apostles to cleare themselues of so false an imputation did of purpose propose the contrary and prescribed such obedience and duty to all subiects as was by the lawes of God and all nations due vnto them But if the Apostles had beene of the Iesuits opinion in this matter and would haue dealt truely sincerely and directly as the Iesuits do neuer when such a doubt was made by the States where they preached they should haue answered to this effect scil If you that are Emperors kings and worldly gouernours doe meane to continue your wicked courses in opposing your selues against Christ and vs his seruants we are by the doctrine of our Master Christ and authoritie committed vnto vs to seeke your confusion and to depriue you from your Empires kingdomes and gouernments as soone as we are able to make head against you or if any of you will be content to heare and obey vs we must tell you that wherunto you must trust which is that when once you haue submitted your selues to this our said doctrine If you shall not foreuer afterwards conforme your behauiour and conuersation according to our rules and prescription we must be bold with you and do the best we can to mooue your subiects to rebellion and to depose you likewise as soone as they shall haue competent strength to incounter with you and in default thereof it is our duety to perswade by all the policies we can deuise some of your neighbour princes to take your subiects parts for your vtter ruine Inter bonos bene agere oportet We professe our selues to be teachers of the truth and therefore we cannot chuse being vrged vnto it in this particular but to signifie the truth vnto you after our plaine and direct proceedings with all men Now if such a kinde of answere to haue beene made by the Apostles do seeme most absurd then what wicked and absurd wretches are these good fathers who by their interpretations do impose it vpon them if they had dealt sincerely Or if the Apostles should haue meant indeed as these men would haue them and as it is before expressed then what might the world haue thought of them that to couer such tragicall points of blood and rebellion and to abuse princes they did pretend nothing but prayers paying of tributes honoring of kings and obeying of them for conscience sake But this course was farre from the blessed Apostles It is indeed very well befitting the puritanes the Iesuits such as Parsons Creswell c. who are the mē that teach practise it For it is their doctrine by dissimulation hypocrisie by lying equiuocating to seduce their hearers But what saith Master Blockwood to Buchanan Paulus vtendum fore precepit Laruatam hypocrisin sub persona religionis latere voluit Potestatibus obediendum edixit quia resisti non posset Christianos viribus admotos ad armacessantes ad arma concitat imperiumque frangit Did Saint Paule commaund vs to be time seruers Was it his minde that religion should be disguised with such a visard of hypocrisie Did he command men to obey the magistrates bicause they were not able to resist them Did he prouoke them to armes when their number and strength serued and bad downe with the Emperor This is right Mahumetisme tendeth to the ouerthrow of the Gospel and church Catholike the sweete spouse of Christ and therefore is to be detested cane peius angue Fiftly this Iesuiticall dreame doth derogate so much from the Maiestie of holy Scripture and the churches authority as thereby the vanity of it is very manifest and apparant For what saith Master Blockwood to Buchanan Itan ' diuinas leges vt humanas Aristotelis mensurarum similes esse putas Doest thou thinke Gods lawes as Aristotle speaketh of humane lawes that they are like measures that they should turne with the weathercocke and chaunge with the conditions of times and places No no much more truely and as it were by diuine inspiration doth he expresse the strength and constancie of diuine lawes who saith Non erit c. There shall not one lawe bee at Rome an other at Athens now one and then an other but there shal be one immortall lawe for all Nations and all times Imperator omnium Deus and God shall be Lord and Emperor of all He is the Inuenter the expounder and the giuer of this lawe which he that will not obey is his own enimy maximas poenas luet and he shal neuer escape greeuous punishments And such were Christs and his Apostles precepts not subiect to alteration and chaunge not framed to serue the time not fitted to this or that priuate person or plebian multitude one while commaunding obedience to tyrants and presently after to take vp armes against them but as we are to thinke of the very lawes of God their rules of obedience are permanent and to continue vnchangeable whilest this world endureth Furthermore it is to be supposed that the Church of God in the times of Iustinus Martyr and Tertullian did vnderstand the meaning of Christ and of his Apostles in this point as well as Parsons or any of his crue But it would haue seemed a strange doctrine both to them and all other Catholikes that had the feare of God before their eyes or any sparke of true and vnfained Catholike religion in their harts in those daies to haue heard it set down for positiue Diuinitie that notwithstanding any thing that Christ or his Apostles taught as touching obedience to kings and Princes yet it is to be accounted a pernitious and vnspeakeable sinne for subiectes being of sufficient force and ability not to resist for to that effect are father Parsons words in his Appendix and take armes against them if they be euill and wicked Instinus Martyr as I haue before obserued hauing set downe the duety of
Christians towards the ciuill magistrate the Emperor then a wicked man and a persecutor doth in direct termes affirme that Christ had taught them such obedience and alledgeth his very words giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars If it be here obiected that peraduenture in Iustinus time the Christians wanted number to depose the Emperors Tertullian will make the matter most manifest that it was the onely will and pleasure of God reuealed apparantly by Christ and his Apostles that kept the Christians within the compasse of their duties to the Emperors when otherwise they wanted neither number nor strength to haue beene reuenged of them When the Christians labored frō time to time to purge themselues from sundryfalse imputations and from this one amongest the rest that whereas they professed their obedience to the Emperor it was onely but for feare and that if they had strength ynough they would then shew themselues to be his enimies and take vp armes against him Tertullian writeth to this effect Neque est vt obijciatis Neither is there any cause you should obiect vnto vs that therefore we dissemble the iniuries done vnto vs bicause we want force to reuenge them For euery one of vs is able although not openly yet in secret to doe mischiefe ynough For what were more easily done if it were lawfull to recompence euill with euill then in the night to burne your City Nay if we were disposed to professe our selues your enimies as you account vs we want not strength of souldiers but haue greater force then those Nations that doe warre dayly against you The Maures and Parthians and other barbarous people are but one Nation whose borders are limited but of Christinns the number in euery place is almost infinite There is no place nor order where there are not Christians So as if by our discipline we could take armes we could make a greater conspiracie against the Romane Empire then was hitherto euer made whether you respect force or courage Hitherto Tertullian as vnlike to our Iesuites as dutifull subiectes are vnlike Rebels and traitors And for the better manifesting of our allegiance to our Soueraigne vnfainedly from our Catholike harts so many of vs as are not of the Iesuites faction I will here a litle enlarge my selfe to shew what further testimony and reasons we haue to detest this Iesuiticall and Puritanian doctrine Saint Augustine who liued in a troublesome time neuer dreamed that the Scriptures did warrant subiectes no longer to obey wicked kings then they had power and force to rebell If he were now aliue our Iesuites would surely set him to schoole againe For whereas in his exposition vpon the 124. Psalme he hath at large discoursed how seruants and subiectes by receiuing the Catholike faith and Gospell of Christ are not in any sort released from their dueties seruices and subiection to their Masters Lords Soueraignes but are rather thereby more straightly bound to performe the same diligently truly and faithfully as in the sight of God before whom they stand he commeth to this obiection Sed numquid sic erit semper vt iniusti imperent iustis But shall it be so alwaies Shall the wicked still haue commaundement ouer the rest To this obiection you know what father Parsons would say viz. No it shall not be so any longer then that you shall be able to ouerthrow such gouernors and get you better And if in short time you shall not be able your selues so to doe I will doe my vttermost to procure you some assistance out of other Countries by forraigne inuasions procuring excommunications suspensions interdictions depositions and other meanes But to omit this vnnaturall stepfather let vs heare what S. Augustine that worthy Prelate light lanterne piller and Father of and in the Catholike Church will answere to the said obiection Nunquid sic erit semper Shall it alwaies be so Non sic erit It shal not be so But when shall it be otherwise The substance of his answere is that it shall be otherwise when Christ commeth to iudgement Now saith he we often see that there are many good Lords and masters but when it hapneth otherwise it must be borne with Quare Why vt non extendant c. that the iust may not stretch forth their hands to wickednes vnderstād that such their seruice and subiection is not euerlasting Sed preparent se ad possidendam sempiternam haereditatem And therefore reseruing themselues for this lasting inheritance let them beare iniuries but doe none And his conclusion of all this discourse is in these words Haec cogitant qui voluntatem dei sequuntur non voluntatem suam who followe Gods will and not their owne Now if this were the doctrine of the catholike church in those daies then how inconuenient this Iesuiticall innouation is and howe dangerous to be published now a daies the state of al catholiks in England but especially of priests may make it to be euident For by this wicked assertion so soone as the number of catholiks shall be so increased as that they may be able to take armes against her Maiestie they are bound in conscience so to doe and do grieuously offend if they do otherwise nay they do incurre the Popes excommunication saith father Parsons Now what must her Highnesse and the state thinke of such subiects doth it not stand her in hand to preuent that the number of catholiks do not increase if therefore they doe increase faster then she would if sufficient testimony be not giuen to the contrarie scil that al are not of this Iesuiticall faction Puritanian opinion hath she not good cause giuen her to cut them off I speake after the manner of men not presuming to tempt God with miracles What could any king or prince in Christendome being perswaded in religion as her Maiestie is do otherwise if he ment not to haue the crowne plucked from his head There is no way to preuent this mischiefe for ought I know but that all catholikes do enter into a league and make a vowe that they neuer will giue care to these bloody Iesuits in that behalfe but vtterly detest it and that were their number and strength much more and greater then her Maiesties they will neuer be perswaded or drawne either by threatnings or promises of any be it the Pope himselfe to beare armes against her Highnes to the destruction of her royall person and state but be ready to aduenture their goods and liues in her Maiesties defence against him or any other that shall assaile or inuade by hostile hande her state or kingdome vnder pretence of restoring of the catholike faith or whatsoeuer Nay as many catholikes as stande affected to the Iesuits considering how her Highnes hath beene vsed by these their false teachers they shall thinke themselues most infinitely bound to her Maiestie if notwithstanding they shall now vowe and professe as is expressed yet that she shall be pleased to beleeue them the