to clemencie and rage to compassion The confiâ—ent therfore that gaue out these confessions did it but to sooth vp such credulous auditors as they knewe verie apt to entertaine any rumors against the credit of Catholiks hoping of likelihood to sell them these fables for some benefite of more importance No no most GRATIOVS Soueraigne it is not the authoritie of two priuate men that can carrie away Princes so readie to imploy the manie forces if they haue not motiues of greater consequence and whosoeuer considereth our surprising of the Kinges Townes in Flaunders or inuading his Countries in Spaine and Portingale our assisting his enimies against his daughters right in Brittaine our continnall intercepting his treasure warring with his fleets and annoying his Indies shall finde other causes of his comming euen since his last repulse then the slender hope of a fewe beggerlie Catholickes or the fainte perswation of two banished men It is also no small iniurie that is offered to your Highnesse in making your SACRED hand guided by such thoughts as scorne to haue vntruthes the patrone of your actions to seeme the Authour of this Sentence That manye men of wealth professing in your realme a contrary religioÌ„ are knowne not to be empeached for the same either in their liues landes goods or liberties but only by paying a pecuniary summe as a penalty for the time that ther refuse to come to Churches If this be as truely as confidentlye spoken why were the venerable Prelates and other Priestes and Gentlemen depriued of their Liuings and pyned in Wisbiche why are all the principall Catholikes committed to Elye knowne to the ministers then to Banbury afterwardes to their owne houses with a short compasse about them beeing nowe only let loose to verifie a part of this proclamation and to be easlyer ensnared in the perills thereof to which euery child may see they are more subiecte at home than they woulde be in prison and if they chance not to be so wary not to be entrapped effectes will soone proue if your Maiesties fauor preuent not the intention of others that this libertie was for a purpose iust at the comming forth of the proclamation graunted sith order will soone be taken that they shall not surfet of being so long free and if this saying be true that none are troubled for religioÌ„ what keepeth at this houre at London Yorke and other places great numbers of manie poore Catholikes in prison some of them languishing a-way with the commodities of their inclosure haue by a patient death obtained the best liberty others yet after many yeeres indurance for no other cause but for Religion beeing offered liberty if they would goe to Church Pining still in painefull restraint witnesseth to the worlde with their lingring miseries the manifest falsenes of this assertion Was it not punishment for Religion when a coÌ„panie of Honorable Worshipful Ladies and Gentlewomen were most vnciuilly led through Cheapside with their Priests before them only for hearing MASSE and that before Priesthood was enacted to be Treason Is not that very statute a most heauy oppression now when the most of these Queene MARIES Fathers that are left are become so oulde and impotent that they can not possibly supply Catholiks speciall necessities to make it by Law fellony to receiue young Priests Are not Catholiks shortned by this means froÌ„ such helps to which their conscience and Religion bindeth them a torment to vertuous minds more afflictiue than any outward punishment Are they not by this tied to this wounding and bitter choise either to liue like Heathens vvithout the Rites of Christian and necessarie SACRAMENTS for theyr soules health or to purchase them at the rigorous price of hazarding theyr Liberties Liues Landes and Posterities as in case of fellonie In points also of our credit hovv deepely vvee are incurred in respecte of our Religion hovv many experiences make it most manifest Wee are made the common Theame of euery rayling declaymer abused vvithout meanes or hope of remedie by euerie wretch with most infamous names no tongue so forsworne but it is of credit against vs none so true but it is thought false in our defence our slaunders are common workes for idle presses and our credits are daylie sould at the Stationers staules euerie Libeller repayring his vvantes vvith impayring our honours being sure that vvhen all other matters faile any Pamphlets against vs shall euer be vvelcomed vvith seene as allowed If vvee keepe Hospitalitie vvee are censured to be too popular if vvee forbeare vvee hoarde vppe monie for secret purposes if vvee be merrie vve are â—de vvith forraine hopes if sad vvee are 〈◊〉 content vvith the state at home If vvee subscribe to Articles it must be called Hipocrisie if vve refuse disloyaltie in some wee are measured by the eyes and tongues of such vvhome wee can no vvaie please but by being miserable yea the verie name of a Catholike as they in theyr new Testament terme it a Papiste is so knowne a vantage for euerie one that either oweth them monie or offereth them iniurie that they can neyther claime their right nor right theyr vvronges but their aduersaries straight leauing the mainepointe pleadeth against them for theyr Recusancie And thus trauersing theyr suites often causeth theyr persons to be committed to prison If any displeasing accident fall out whereof the authors are eyther vnknowne or ashamed Catholikes are made common Fathers to such infamous Orphanes as though none vvere so fit sluces as they to let out of euerie mans sinke these vnsauorie reproches not so much but the casuall fires that sometimes happen in London the late vprores betweene GentlemeÌ„ aprentises were laid to our charge thogh the occasioners of both were known so wel that the report against vs could not but issue from an vndeserued malice yea Hacket a man so far from our Faith as Infidelitie it selfe and a little before so notorious a Puritane that he was of cheefe reckoning among them when hys blasphemies grew so great hys articles so impious that they made Christians eares to glow and his adherents to blush then was hee posted ouer to vs for a Papist and so named to vulgar sort so common a practise it is to bestowe vpon vs the infamies of all offenders I omitte the vniformed shame and contempt that the very lawes lay vpon vs condemning the chiefe function of our Religion partly for treasonable partly for punishable faultes And pretending an auncient faith honoured in all former ages to be so detestable a thing that it should by a solemne Statute be thought necessarie to make it treason to perswade any vnto it I leaue the slaunders forged against Priests after theyr Executions purposely reserued till the parties were past answering then deuulged to make them hatefull It vvere infinite to lay before your Maiesties eyes all the crosses that in this world wee beare which to men whom eyther gentry or nobility maketh tender ouer theyr honours cannot be but
much diligence haue searched out the truth by an indifferent triall betweene the learned on both sides as they haue with violence martyred and oppressed vs they vvould happilie thinke themselues more vnnaturall for hauing misledde infinite soules into endlesse perdition then vs that with the sweat of our dearest blood seeke to gleane a few scattered eares the sillie reliques of their infortunate haruest And if our due care of our Countrie be such that to reare the least fallen soule amongst your Maiesties Subiects from a fatall lapse we are contented to pay our liues for the ransome how much better should wee thinke them bestowed if so high a penny-worth as your GRACIOVS SELFE or the whole Realme might be the gaynes of our dearest purchase But though they that hunt this fault in vs might best be their owne pray faith being the strongest of true and naturall fidelitie yet must we be accounted vnnaturall being ballanced in their affections that draw all causes of compassion to motiues of crueltie and make theyr condemning reports the contraries of our dutiful meanings with the like spirit still breathing more ill will then truth He tearmeth the Right Honorable the Lord Cardinall Archbishop Allen and Father Parsons both learned reuerent men two seditious heads looking happily through such eyes as iudge all men by theyr owne colours what cause haue they giuen to this slaunderer vnlesse it be coūted sedition to gather the ruins of Gods afflicted Church and to haue prouided Sanctuaries for persecuted succourlesse soules which forced at home either to liue with a goared conscience or to lie open to continuall vexations rather choose to leaue theyr countrie then their Catholike Religion It was no sedition for many in Queene Maries time to be harboured in Geneua maintained thē by those that now enuie against vs. It is no sedition to admit such multitudes of straungers as for theyr faith swarme into England out of all countries It is thought Charity to aid the Stats of Flaunders in the behalfe of Religion It is extolled in your Maiestie as an Honorable fauour to protect the Portingall and S. Horatio Palanisine but if wee whose case at home in respect of our faith is more miserable then any Protestantes in any other Countries haue chosen two venerable men to procure vs some refuge from our domesticall scourges where wee may follow our studies and exercise Pietie strait your Maiestie though induced to practise the same curtesie to others is informed against them as seditious heades So true it is the same thing is not it selfe in diuers persons yet as God almightie and the world is our witnesse nothing in those Seminaries is either intended or practised but the releefe and good education of such forsaken men as from the storme of our English shoare flie thether for a calme roade that perfited in the course of learning vertue they may returne to offer theyr blood for the recouerie of soules As for the basenes of theyr birthes which among other like pointes is interlaced vvith as impertinent as scornefull a parenthesis as a fitter noate for the penners than for your maiesties obseruatiō I meane not to dwel long vpon it for the thing neither importeth any offence to God not crime against your Maiesty nor greatly abaseth them whom excellent vertue the onely true measure of worthinesse hath ennobled Yet this without disparagement to any may truely be auoided that the Cardinalls grace is of as good ancient a house euery way as worshipfully allied as some of the highest Counselours were in their meaner fortunes till your Maiesties fauors and their rare abilities made them steppes to clime into their present honours And whether he might of likelihood haue carried as high a sail if the time had equally secunded him with fauorable gales I leaue to their iudgementes who are priuy to his present estate greater than England can afford to any cleargy man For your Maiesty being as able to know we lesse willing to vse the excellēcy of your subiects thā other Princes it may be iustly presumed that he might as well haue entred into credite at home if his Faith had not drawen his foote from the first step as with strangers in a forraine country wher nether familiarity with the Peers nor acquaintāce with the Prince but the only fame of his worthines sent an admiration loue of him into thir harts whosoeuer considereth the manner of his aduancement being created Cardinal alone out of the ordinary times a prerogatiue seldom yeelded but to special persons who marketh his wisdome to haue bin in such reuerence that in Pope Greg. the 14. his sickenes he was thought fitest among the Cardinals to be vizgerent in spiritual causes who is ignorāt of the smal cause of our country by laws libels other meanes seeeking to vndermine the Popes Sea hath giuen him to reward her subiects with so high promotions who finally weyeth the aduentures of our Councel to hinder his preferment and darken his vertues with hard information shal easly beleeue the mā to be of rare perfectiōs that hauing no other wings to beare his credite but learning and vertue could reach to so high points of fauour notwithstāding so mighty lets As for Father Parsons he hauing placed the vttermost of his ambition in cōtempt of honor the highest of his wealth in voluntary pouerty will easlie acknowledge his birth to haue bin of more honest thē great parents yet were they not so meane but that they were able to afford him such education as might haue made his good parts a way to no small prefermēt And albeit his credit be great with the K. of Spaine yet did hee neuer Vsurpe the Title of the KINGES CONFESSOVR as as this inditor would perswade your Maiestie though some of the simple sort of our English souldiers in the Gallies vpon error and ignorance muttered some such speeches amongst them selues As for other Priestes how many of them are Knights Esquires sonnes as otherwise both to worshipfull and noble houses alleyed heires to faire reuenewes let their owne friendes and Parents dispersed through the whole Realme beare witnesse This onely vvee may say in answere of our obiected basenes that in the small number of the Catholike Priestes of our Nation vvhich reacheth not to the tenth of the Protestant Ministrie there are very neare as many yea happily more Gentlemen then in all the other Cleargie of the whole Realme Now whereas we are most vncourteouslie called a multitude of disolute young-men wee desire no other euidence to disproue this accusation then an indifferent censure For first before our departure out of the Realme we must resolue to abandon our Countrie friendes and all such comforts as naturally all men seeke and finde in theyr natiue Countrie Wee must relinquish all possibilities of fauour riches and credit We must limite our mindes to the restrained and seuere course of the SOCIETY OF IESVS or the
attempts than to wreake so much anger vpon vs that were neuer chargeable with so huge enormities And yet the death of one man shut vp in a silent obliuion that open offer of vprore most blasphemous impietie against God and your Maiestie though it be generallie knowne that there were more fauorers and 〈◊〉 of that parti than coulde be euer charged with Babingtons offence We speake not this to incense your Maiestie against others being so well acquainted with the smarte of our owne punishementes to wishe any Christian to be pertaker of our paines Our onely intent is most humbly to intreat that if so impatient a zeale accompanied with seditious wordes and actions was so easilie finished and remitted in the chastisement of one your Highnesse in clemencye woulde not suffer so many innocent Priests Catholikes to be so cruelly and continually martyred who neuer incurred so enormous crimes And sith we daylie in our liues alwaies at our executions vnfeinedly praie for your Maiesty sith at our deathes wee alwaies protest vpon our souls our clearnes from treason our dutiful loyal minds subscribing our protestation with our dearest blood Let vs not most mercifull Soueraine be thus daily plunged deeper into newe disgraces and still proclaimed and murthered for traitours Let vs not be so esteemed for Godlesse and desperate monsters as to spende our last breath in bootlesse periuries or at our greatest neede of Gods fauour to sacrifice to the diuell our finall vowes what reason then can moue vs so damnably to dissemble when our expired date cutteth off all hopes our deathe the ende of euills hath in this worlde no after feares and a resolute contempt of our own liues excludeth al thoughts of meaner liues yea if any hope feare or loue carry any swaye as doubtlesse there doth in all Christian minds it is a hope to be saued a feare to be damned aloue to God to his trueth our endlesse wel-doing al which in that dreadfull moment whereupon dependeth our whole eternity can neuer be motiues vnto vs to sende our forsworne soules headlong to hell-fire But let vs proceede in our necessary defence as the inditor doth in his false accusations we are charged for the easiar 〈◊〉 of vnnaturall people weake of vnderstanding to yeeld to our perswations to haue brought Bulles Indulgences pretending to promise Heauen or cursing damnation to hel It was but a forraine supply for want of true factes to fasten vpon this fonde conclusion being so farre from trueth and so full of incongruity that euery nouice in our faith can reproue it for error I omitte the reprochfull termes of vnnaturall and weake vnderstanding most iniuriously fathered vppon such a Princes pen whome a Royall minde hath taught not to staine her paper or blemishe her stile with those and so many other base and reuiling wordes as are pestered together in this proclamation I reporte all men to their eies and eares for aunswere to these slaunders whether the soule-rightes excepted in all temporall duties Catholikes be not as naturall to their Prince as beneficial to their neighbours as reguler in themselues as any other subiectes yeelding the vttermost of all that is exacted in Subsidies Persons Men and Munition besides the patient losse of our Goods and Landes for their Recusansie Let it be read in letters of experience whether Catholikes be of shallowe braine or of so weake vnderstanding that they woulde be carried away with these imaginary Bulles promising heauen and threatning hell of which Catholikes eares neuer hearde before This worlde can witnesse that in Diuinitie Lawe and Phisicke and all other faculties and functions either of Piety or pollicy all Englande I may say all Christendome scarce knoweth any men more renoumed than our ENGLISHE Catholikes without vanity be it spoken in a iust defence but though they were not such Sallomons for wisedome as some others take themselues to bee yet they bee allowed ordinary sence and intendment which if it be but so much as may serue them to tell ouer the Articles of their Creede it is enough to be knowen that no Bulle can promise Heauen or threaten Hell but for keeping or breaking Gods Commaundementes Iudge then most Soueraigne LADIE whether that it be not too great an indignation to see the sacred name of our Noble QVEENE which next to Gods worde shoulde be honoured among the most impregnable testimonies of trueth to be with vndeserued abuse by any subiecte subscribed to these most vaine and so impossible fictions Who likewise but meaning to make his PRINCES paine a spring of vntruethes woulde against the certaine knowledge of so many and so infinite people as well seers as hearers euen as from your MAIESTY that no PRIEST in Indited Arreined or Executed for Religion sith it is so often and in euerie Sessions seene that vnlesse we our selues shoulde confesse manifestly that wee were PRIESTES no other treasonable crime coulde bee iustly proued against vs and for this howe farre it is from deseruing this odious title your Maiesty may easilye gather for that all Christendome hath these fifteene hundred yeeres honoured for Pastours and gouernours of their soules those that nowe are more than vnfauourably termed Traytors yea if to be a Priest made by the authoritie of the See of Rome present within your highnesse dominions be a iust title of treason If they that harbour reliue or receiue any such be worthy to bee deemed fellons then all the glorious Saintes of this Lande whose Doctrine and vertue God Almightie confirmed with many miracles were no better than traitours and their a-bettours fellons Then DAMIANVS and FVGATIVS that first brought Christianity in King LVCIVS his time 1400. yeers past then Saint AVGVSTINE his companions that conuerted our Realme in Saint GREGORIES time were who in the compasse of treason sith theyr functions and ours were all one equally deuided from the Sea of Rome from whence they were directly by the Popes Elutherius and Gregorie sent into this kingdome being Priests and Religious men as all antiquity doth witnes yea all the Churches and places of pietie chiefe ornaments of this Noble Realme all the Charters and Indowments bestowed vpon Priests Religious persons yet registred in the ancient laws are but monuments of felonie fauourers of treason And if it should please God to alot the day of generall resurrection in your Maiesties time a thing not impossible as vncertaine what would so many Millions of Prelates Pastours and Religious people thinke that both honored and blessed this kingdome with the holines of their life and excellencie of their learning much vvould they rest amazed to see their Relikes burned their memories defaced and all theyr Monasteries dedicated once to pietie praier and chastitie now either buried in their ruines or prophaned by vnfitting vses but more would they muse to find their Priesthood reckoned for treason and the releefe of Priests condemned for felonie these being the two principall testimonies of deuotion