house my Aunt aforesaid had procured me a pension of ten duckats a moneth of his Holinesse if I would come and liue in Italy and to this effect were both his letters the one to my father the other to me To be short my father leauing the election of these two concurring courses to my owne will commending vnto me both the one and the other with proffer if I chose the latter to make his Holinesse ten duckets a moneth fifteene of his owne exhibition I stood not long vpon the choise but for hauing already seene inough of the Dukes Court being curious to see renowned Rome the Popes holinesse and generally braue Italy easily made that my choise Whereupon my father by the way of Rhemes from whence there was then a mission readie for Rome and I to haue that good companie sent me away toward Rome with crownes in my purse whether I arriued vpon a horse which I bought of father Cowbuckes brother To Rome then when I came Rome I saw and Romes holy things two Popes the one dead the other aliue and whatsoeuer else sacred or prophane was to be seene in that vaste citie of all which I giue God thankes I made me that Catholicke edification which I could being but sixteene yeares old and but a yeare and a halfe Catholicke still vrging my aforesaid Cosin when I should see Naples and the rest of Italy and enioy my pension But neither Naples nor any rest of Italy might I see nor yet S. Peters pennie which the fathers vnderstanding that my father was then dead in the Duke of Parmaes campe before Antwerpe put into their owne purse forcing me to continue a scholler in the English Colledge which I did the space of a yeare and a halfe or thereabouts till I got away as ye shall heare And this was hitherto all the Iesuits fauours vnto me hauing both put me besides my Page-ship to the Duke of Parma which was a preferment for the best subiects son in Flanders and none had it but such and also cosined me and the Pope both of his pension Iudge ye then how truly he faith that the Iesuits were his best friends for many yeares beyond the seas where he needed their friendship and neuer wanted it For some of vs knew him first a litle wanton idle-headed boy in the English Romaine Colledge so light-witted as once if we remember well he went vp into the pulpit with a rose in his mouth to make the tones as there they call them before all the Colledge A litle wanton idle headed boy and light witted as he remembers I promise ye Cosin an important point to be remembred which surely had not this charitable Iesuite and his wees remembred for me I my selfe do and do acknowledge it beshrewing the age of sixteene yeares that I was no stayeder and not him for being so very a foole at sixe and fortie or vpward as to vpbrayde me of so veniall imperfections who himselfe at but a yeare older to wit at seuenteene was so much a more wanton and idler headed then I as to get his sister with child as afore is shewne wherein he seemes to be of that fathers spirit who being himselfe a monstous blasphemer derided and checked his litle sonne for swearing by Gods nigs If to go vp into the pulpit to make the tones with a rose in my mouth were such a fault what I pray had it bene if I had gone vp with a thistle especially the businesse I went about being so very very important After that he fell to such deuotion as he not onely tooke the oath of the Colledge to be a Priest My falling to deuotion especially in Rome and in the English Colledge was such a fault I trust as might easily deserue pardon at Gods hands and partly satisfie for my former wanton idle head howsoeuer this father reprocheth it and as for my taking the oath of the Colledge to be a Priest that Cosin is a lie as broade as an acre of land For neither was I an Alumnus of the Colledge being the Popes pensioner as ye haue heard why I should be put to any such oath neither yet my yeares and inclination then suting to so high and holy a vocation being by the libellers owne saying but a litle wanton idle headed boy and light witted which their fatherhoods perceiuing me to be as also how still earnest I was to come away is it likely that they in their holy-ghostly wisedom would administer such an oath vnto me without saying twise at least Vtquid perditio haec By this you may see that were there any such oath tendred vnto me at those yeares what discreete father 's the Iesuits are and how sleightly they set by holy priesthood which is the greatest dignitie on earth as to impose it vpon boyes I had bene a child of the Church not passing two yeares before this supposed oath and litle account was I able to make God wot of my faith or to iudge of an oath and yet forsooth did take the oath to be a Priest But the truth is this is a flat lie inasmuch as I perfectly well remember that whē that oath was proposed to others being all of good yeares and all Alumni of the Colledge my Cosin R. S. aforesaid tooke me with him out of the Church and only tendred me the ordinarie oath of the inquisition that is to continue Catholike and in subiection to holy Church and the sea Apostolike which oath I tooke do maintaine wil by Gods holy grace vnto my death For as touching the other oath my Cosin knew very well by my continuall discontent how ill I brooked the paines of the Colledge how hourely I laid at him for my pension to liue at large for which he was the man that neuer moued me any such question as to be a Priest But also pretended to be an Augustine Frier The former and this are two lies with one breath but on he is a Iesuite All the shift he hath to saue his credit in this latter is his saying that he hath a fearefull conscience to auouch things he knowes not for certaine The man is willing enough yea faine he would haue this reproch to passe vpon me though to be a Frier I hold it an honor and my selfe vnworthy thereof and to that end hath penned it downe and yet forsooth he hath a timorous conscience like the clowne who was not ashamed to fill his paunch with pease-pottage so full that it almost crackt againe and yet made daintie to cough downeward for feare to shew what windie stuffe he had eaten Now as touching his said supposall of my becomming an Augustine a very foole may discerne therein his too manifest folly and bad spirit for is it likely that hauing first taken the oath of the Colledge I would so soone that is in one halfe yeares space haue bene forsworne as to become a Frier the whole time of my continuance in Rome
forthcomming But all their crowes must be white which whether blacke or white being but crowes much good I pray God may it do them In effect there is nothing so religious so honorable and to Gods honour but impietie may depraue nor any thing so criminall and abhominable but it may be-honest at least in shew especially vpon pretext of Religion and holinesse as Iesuites vse to do all their euils But those fathers must not be repaid with their owne measure nor is it meete it being so much out of measure as ye see If the Seminarie or Secular Priest should so render vnto them the example would be too scandalous and domageable to Gods Church here amongst vs they being as it were the very brow of it and as a beacon vpon mount Sion So should not our Church be without continuall Schisme nor the State ciuill without imminent hazards from abroade and corruption at home so very foule for the most part are all their examples which to expiate how many of these good men haue lost their liues as in equall condemnation with the Iesuits from the State And in particular so should detraction be the greatest Ladie in this land it being the most Iesuiticall vice of all other of the most varietie and facilitie to be practised for ye may do it by supposals Suppose ye for example that one of the Appellant priests do resort to my Lord of London it is iust thereupon to report and sweare that he hath alreadie recanted at Paules Crosse and is turned Protestant or maried to a wench and become a cuckold and so of the like whatsoeuerye list so the rule and standart in your conscience be Ordo ad Deum And for I speake of detraction I will here relate and condemne vnto you hoping you will do the like with me one of the foulest presidents that euer you heard or read of in this kind of Iesuitisme The Authors whereof in generall are all the whole Iesuiticall faction at this day in England as for labiall slander of the partie detracted but in especiall and in way oflibell but three or foure One is father Cowbucke in his late infamous Appollogie or what other Iesuite is thereof the Author another the Manifester of folly and bad spirit c. the third the aforesaid Cowbucke or the Archpriest as some thinke in the Latin Appendix and the fourth and last is one Versteghen alias Rowland a Coopers sonne and a binominous fellow worthily so markt and knowne to the world were it for no other spot orstaine of his life then this one alone Of this fourth libell and libeller onely I here meane to certifie you letting the other three passe as throughly alreadie either answered or in answering to M. Watsons lasting credit who is the man thus Iesuitically infamed by those of his owne reuerend coate and companie This Versteghen then alias Rowland the honest Coopers sonne here at S. Katherins in London rising vp onely by brocage and spierie for the Hispanished Iesuits liuing now as though he were an Hidalgo in Antwerpe as who may not be a gentleman so far from home hauing read or heard of a certaine passage in M. Watsons Quodlibets where he feeles himselfe touched rather for a very fopperie indeed then any enormous crime as may appeare to the Reader takes the matter so highly in blemish to his Iesuitical reputation and withal pepper so in the nose as ye shall heare He writes me hereupon his letter or rather his libel ouer into England coppie vpon coppie in which omitting how by the way he calumniates the partie of the Appellants in generall he most sacrilegiously termes the said good man M. Watson an Apostata vnworthy of Priesthood one who hath made shipwracke of his soule a bussard a dissard a lier a base companion an out-cast of the world hatefull to God and man a contemptible base obscure and ridiculous creature a rauer a railer a slaunderer detestable abhorrible perfidious malicious venimous shamelesse wicked false vile a scholler of women and fooles a notorious lying knaue a Iudas and no wayes to be ballanced for worthinesse and credite to father Parsons a fit cadence beleeue me to such a straine Good cosin before I proceede any farther in reproofe of this wretch do not I pray your eares glow alreadie being so very Catholicke as you are to reade these termes against an annointed Priest Do ye not alreadie condemne and spit at so Iesuiticall a spirit The fellow I haue knowne a long time and withall to haue bene euer an impe of the Iesuites else how is it possible that professing himselfe a Catholicke and a Gentleman nay and to suffer for the ca se he to be so impious to holy Priesthood as these termes import him Could any Hereticke Turke Painim Atheist Witch Diuell haue beene more sacrilegious or any scauinger more vncleanely or could any though neuer so enormous a Caitife haue bene more abiectly taunted then with these termes What thinke you when such a vermin as this shall dare offer such indignitie to holy Priesthood then which what higher dignitie haue ye in the Church of God A man would haue thought that had M. Watson bene neuer so guiltie and deseruing those Epithetes yet the sacred Order of Priesthood whereby he abides neuerthelesse medicinable to all that sacramentally apply vnto his salue by vertue of that Character which still remaines indeleble vpon him vnto his graue would haue had so much priuiledge with a Catholicke man as to haue forborne him those termes especially the dissard for I wil render him but his own measure vouchsafing in his said libel vpon one Digs a ranke Puritane persecutor of Catholikes the title of Maister But oh God oh infinite corruption in holy Church when such spirits are suffered nay nurtured therein when a religious Societie and that of Iesus can beget such brats How may we not feare yea and in a manner sweare that Cecidit ciuitas sancta when whereas heretofore the lay did therein now and then debauch the religious now the relgious do debauch the lay and that as bad as bad may be namely to the outraging of what is most holy to wit Priest and Prince the later as we lately inough saw in the murther of the last French King and latelier might haue seene in the now regnant and also in our own deare Soueraigne sundrie times by the Iesuiticall hand had not Gods hand bene the stronger and the other not to go farre for examples thus in M. Watson Cosin let me with your patience chide this bussard a litle though a great deale he deserues in zeale and honour of Catholike Religion which no whit warranteth such a scandale as also in humbe loue and reuerence of the partie depraued whose vertues I haue long tasted of to my much spirituall edification and therefore may iustly challenge to be admitted a witnesse in his behalfe against this libeller Were Sir Thomas Moore aliue I am sure he would herein take
the sea Apostolike for salue of all those sores and the Iesuites their earnest withstanding the course cleares as cleare as the Sunne the Priestes partie from all and euery so hainous imputations as being a testimoniall of a cleare conscience and much yea as much as may be to the glorie of S. Peters chaire There wanted therefore arte in the Authour touching this so speciall point of the fiction as cunning Maisters as the Iesuites are in Chymaeraes likewise in that he so sleightly and pusillanimously ouerskips D. Fishers Treatie of Schisme which is the ground of all the present Schisme Besides this Chymaericall conceipt of the Apolloger he likewise here and there taxeth verie ◅rdly the Appellants bookes as temerarious and vnsound in Religion wherein how temerarious and absurd he shewes himselfe all sincere Catholicke readers of those bookes may discerne On the other side whosoeuer shall reade their treatie of Schisme and this their Apollogie with the Appendix may well say and sweare that there was a temerarious pen indeed as well for matter of faith as of fact and so of all their other writings vpon this argument of the Appeale and the estate of our countrey and therefore let not a Iesuite become a censor of other mens writings or doings as temerarious till he haue amended and satisfied for his owne temeritie both in his doctrine of prince-killing and other disloyaltie to ones Prince and Countrey as also in libelling against innocents ambitioning rule in the Church of God and being Schismatickes therein But what tell I them of temeritie who are impudent and whose ground where they take be it euen against the holy sea is Dolus not Virtus and all manner of falshood and coggerie that may be imagined As for the latter part of the booke true it is that the Author hath shewne himselfe therein his arts or rather his crafts-maister the same consisting wholly of defamations whereof that societie hath the exactest schoole vnder heauen How orderly he fetcheth in the principall Appellants one by one and hath his obloquie to them all and how reuerently he calumniates them for all is done vpon colour of Religion and as their position is though not so their disposition In ordine ad Deum Of one he saith that his becomming scandalous he meanes for being in the Appeale is for hauing lost the Iesuiticall spirit wherewith he defameth him to haue bene sometimes attainted and so of the rest In effect all that part of the Appollogie tends to this that by deprauing of the persons of some of the principall Appellants their matter may be thought bad whereas in truth they are and euer were in the eye of all our Church and euen of Protestants so excellent men both for learning and all manner of good edification that I know not what Iesuite in the world is worthy Soluere corrigeam calciamenti eorū much lesse that may truly say Black is their eye Wherefore good Cosin if the booke chance to come to your hand do it the correction as to reade it with iudgement in so doing you shall find it no whit worthy so much as an ordinarie ciuill approbation much lesse of the Appellants answer Which notwithstanding they are in hand withall in fauour of the rude and ignorant Catholicke whom such matter with the methode proceeding from such persons as ought and are thought to be religious and the same supported by too manie more worshipfull then wise Catholickes is apt to seduce so homely offices do the Iesuites put these good men vnto who else would I wisse be a great deale better occupied Well the point of Schisme cannot by all likelihood be now long in difference it being at this instant in his Holinesse handling where how little soeuer and but bo-peeke-like the Iesuite speakes of it by his Appolloger he must be forced to say therein what he can or dare and that in the audience of all the world and so to his shame I doubt not so litle doubt I of his Holinesse high prudence and prouidence in so important a matter as it is importing the peace both of our Church and Countrey and the rather for that his Holinesse can not choose but see the eyes of all Christendome vpon him in this behalfe besides the infinite prayers of zelous Catholickes throughout England concurring hereunto at Gods hands Great was the iudgement and goodnesse of God that whereas the Iesuites had abused the Sea Apostolicke by their so surreptiue procurement of the Archpriestship at his Holinesse hands they in the same irreligious spirit of theirs to administer that authoritie no lesse abusiuely as by libell and vniust censures against innocent Priests whereby to deserue to be cited as now they are to the barre of Iustice both concerning the one and the other which else peraduenture had not come to passe so much was their latter act not onely Peccatum ex se but also Poena peccati to the former according to that of S. Augustine in his confessions Domine tu inssisti sic est vt poena sua sibi sit omnis inordinatus appetitus Which being so what a folly and shame is it that the Iesuites not being here in our Church and Countrey a partie able of themselues for all the power of Spaine to make good the offence that our fathers of the Seminaries must thus abbet them one against another and so highly to their owne iniurie and disgrace Call ye it a meeke spirit to be so humble or rather is it not basenesse and treason to the Catholicke cause as well as to themselues as great as may be imagined Call ye this Iohn Gersons imitation of Christ or is this an autenticke cariage of his Crosse This if euer any is meere dispersion and not aggregation subuersion and not edification pusillanimitie and not zeale and valour in the cause of God Which notwithstanding the Iesuites quaile and are rather retrograde then onward in the quarrell it being so very vniust as it is There is no question and we know it well that both with their teeth and nailes they still labour to hinder the businesse from the Apostolike Barre wherein they do but condemne themselues and their cause afore hand inasmuch as stood they vpon a good ground they should rather reioyce to see their innocenc◅e so called in question and examined to Gods honour and theirs in the foyle of the Appellants who on the other side were they not most innocent from Schisme and all other their aduersaries imputations is it likely that they would euer haue engaged their existimations their friends yea and their liues as they haue done at so high and austere a Barre as that of S. Peters Was it euer seene that the man of a guiltie conscience would prosecute a triall and that with so many miles trauell as from England to Rome by sea and by land farre from all friends and against a profest and mightie enemie who seekes nothing more then his death such as the Isuites
that howsoeuer his Holinesse may continue to erre herein we the Catholicke subiects of this Realme may still remember our duties and despise the pipe of Spaine Then would I not doubt but Gods finger would come in betweene and worke her Maiesties Princely heart to his glorie and our ease which now that Spaine and the Iesuites would seeme to take this office out of Gods hand they rather marre then make good The remedie against which mischiefe is in our power it being in our wils aswell as in our duties not to be worse then Turke or Painim as in such disloyaltie and misnature to our Prince and countrey in the behalfe of that Gothicke and Barbarian nation Spaine we should be Well are the Iesuites Dijtitulares as being so termed after Iesus but sure no way Dijtutclares in this their gospell Farre better gods in that kind were the Romaine geese which with their cackle awaked the garrison of the Capitoll in defence of that mount against Brennus his Escalada by night and more worthie a great deale they to be held for goddesses therefore among those heathen people as they were a long time after then these fathers for gods amongst vs that are Christians whom by this their so vnnatural position they would transforme to worse then geese For what bird may be said so much to defile his owne neast as a man to be so very a varlet to his owne countrey The Iesuites neuerthelesse would haue it so and to this effect it is more then probably suspected that the King of Spaine hath by their disbursements his pensioners and feed men here amongst vs yea and the Iesuites themselues sticke not to vaunt that they haue a finger not onely in the Catholicke commons of this Realme but also in the State wherein but specially the latter I dare sweare that Mentitur iniquitas sibi God of his infinite goodnesse I beseech neuer to suffer the Crowne of England to haue such a circle about it as any so bad States-men nor euer may English Nobilitie be so stained True it is and we are not ignorant by the examples of Sicilie Naples Lumbardie and the low Countries that highly doth the Spaniard digâ—…ie the naturall Nobilitie of thâ—…se Prouinces indowing them ouer and aboue their owne patrimonie though very ample with double as much pension from Spaine but to what end Truly to no other then that by so retaining the affections of the nobles loyall to him he may by their hands being naturals the easier tyrannize ouer the Commons to their vtter bondage and beggarie as in thâ—…se parts we see it This kind of complement may perhaps allure a base minded States-man as none such we trust belongs to the Crowne of England to hearken to such the Iesuits suggestion in Spaines behalfe but neuer a true nobleman indeed For whosoeuer such he be that values the honour of his aâ—…mcestrie deriued to him in bloud and withall the honour of such his office ofstate whereby he is incorporate to the Queene and sworne a father to his countrey it is not possible that he can be so Iesuited Neither is it probable that any Catholicke or other commoner of but common sort sence and ciuility can be drawne thereunto notwithstanding that in the point of a childs dutie to his parent and also of a seruants to his maister it is strange how Iesuitisine hath debaucht a great many Catholikes that I know and haue heard of I know the Catholicke children of either sexe and those some of them in their ripest sence and of extraordinarie religious shew and reputation who since their becomming Iesuited haue very scandalously not onely neglected their fillall dutie and reuerence to their parents but which worse is cleane set them at naught such swolne and puritane-spirits those fathers haue put into them vpon opinion belike of their being Gods dearlings and assured of their saluation or else vpon perswasion that they being their spiritual parents they ought in regard of them to misregard their carnall by how much the spirit is more honourable then the flesh It is no maruell if men so impious against the law of nature do teach their pupils all foule manner toward the ciuill Magistrate as also if they dare to preach it for good religion a man to be a traitor to his Prince and Countrey But very much it were a maruell if Englishmen especially Catholickes who as such ought to be the best and loyallest subiects vnder heauen and such as all Princes may be glad to raigne ouer would be depraued by their so Morisco doctrine as fauouring so much of Spaine and the bastard Sowbucke Spaines so leud Apostle For setting aside the infinite scandale and dishonour for such a Realme as this to vaile bonnet to any forreine nation in the world what may we probably expect at Spaines hands were it vnder her aw then tyrannie in octauo whose way-makers being religious are men of so foule desert both to it and our Church Al the good that we may be certaine of were Catholicke Religion which I graunt were the greatest good vnder heauen but with it such oppression and that vnder the pall and pretext of Relgion as what can be more irreligious or what Catholicke may endure it Yes you will say we shall haue Indie gold by the meanes I graunt ye but how so dearely bought as we had better be pleased with our English copper The same when we haue it to be forth comming to the Spanish magistrates extortion and perhaps to euerie rascall Spanish souldiers rapine or haply in liew thereof the horne to your forehead or the rape of your daughter or the buggerie of your sonne or the Sodomizing of your sow with thousands such like insolencies and shames as are 〈◊〉 naturall to that torrid nation and you had better be dead then endure There would be such wresting then of Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari by the Iesuits that all that euer you are and haue should thereby come vnder the execution of Spanish tyrannie euen to the accises vpon sallads egges pudding-pies shooing-hornes and the like plaine and pettie wares throughout the Realme whereas our Sauiour Christ gaue that precept in reuerence to true lawfull naturall Soueraignes and not to tyrants and vsurpers especially forreiners such as the Spaniards would be if it should come to that How much more comfortable construction may we that are Catholickes at this day in England make of thâ—…se words of Christ being both by his instant example when he vttered them and more fully afterward by his Passion at what time though he were God and might as he himselfe affirmed haue commaunded legions of Angels at his Fathers hands in his defence against Caesar and the ciuill magistrate yet would not so do but contrariwise yeelded himselfe like a most meeke Lambe to the shamble and in particular at his apprehension rebuked S. Peter for drawing his sword against Malchas though in so good a quarrell as of him his Lord and
not Poena facit Martyrem saith S. Augustine and our Sauiour Ex fructubus eorum cognoscetis eos These be the true rules that Heretikes and Iesuites are to be knowne by of all Catholickes namely as enemies the one scandals the other to the Catholike Church the one without the other within the same And yet these others sway mightily we see with ignorant Catholickes in their good acceptance and commendation according to that Stultorum plena sunt omnia At a word it is such a societie that were S. Augustine now aliue and to write anew his Citie of God he would pen it downe and make it knowne for the most imposturall corporation that euer was within the same and as pernitious to it if it should hold on vnreformed as any malignant limme that euer hath bene thereunto For which ye may see what great reason the French King had to expulse them out of his most Christian kingdome and how little reason the Catholike King hath to giue them the countenance he doth whereas the rude Indians if they but vnderstood the French Kings reasons for his expelling them would I perswade me do as much amongst them Another querke this societie hath wherewith to winne to be admired and that is her prophecies Great Propheciers the Iesuites are and fortune-tellers to wit not of trifles as of stolne or lost neckerchers handkerchers crosse-clothes pin-pillowes and the like like Gipsies or Witches but of the changes and deaths of States and Statists though for the most part most foolish and false whereby you may see from whence their illuminations come and with what holy-ghost their familiaritie and correspondence is whereof they so much boast For example they one while prophecied of the last Lord Treasurer of England the Lord Burleigh that for being not so much a persecutor of the Catholicke Church in generall as in particular of their societie by Gods angry doome he should die Herods pedicular death another while that he should be executed at the Court-gate in her Maiesties displeasure and to the infinite contentment both of Court and Countrey who notwithstanding as he liued a great Councellor so to the eye of the world died a faire death and was laid out a faire coarse and buried with great honor So likewise of her Maiesties end how disasterously they haue prophecied and do expect I am sure you haue heard and do disgust as much as I. But what talke I of Protestants seeing that also vpoÌ„ very religious Catholikes they haue augured no lesse fatally for being their known or but suspected distasters If but a pin prick such a one or his tooth ake neuer so litle it must be straight thought Gods anger to the partie and that all the Angels of heauen haue a finger therein in reuenge of his odious soule to God Whereas what mischiefe soeuer happens to any child or dearling of theirs though neuer so prodigious and the partie neuer so leud must be reputed but ordinarie and naturall yea and Gods blessing vnto him as in probate of his vertues and not in plague to his sinnes Thus rarifie they as it were all aduerse persons to their doctrine and proceedings either to the diuell or to nothing and blub vp their owne impes in presumption like rice or pease in pisse I know the Gentlewoman my allie who in this strange ballowne-like spirit being extreme Iesuitical vaunted these vaine ascensions of her soule to heauen-ward Imprimis that her first ghostly father being but a bare Secular Priest brought her but on her way to heauen the second a Iesuited Secular brought her to heauens gate but the third a profest Iesuite he oh he of all the good men that euer liued she was beholding vnto for heauen it selfe Was it not as puritane a spirit in another Iesuitesse sometimes my good acquaintance who in the case of her daughters preferment in mariage refused to hold parley with a very worshipfull gentleman in a motion made by a Secular Priest concerning a match betweene his sonne and her said daughter for no other reason in the world then because such a Priest and not a Iesuite was the meanes which Iesuitisme of hers the Gentleman scorning aswell for his owne honour as for the honour of the Secular Cleargie gaue her ouer with an affrent as she deserued The like puft spirit or rather à fortiore was that of a Iesuiticall Priest now in Framlingham who in a letter of his to a kinswoman of mine perswading her to Iesuitisme in the present schisme hath these Pharisaicall termes vnto her or the like as I perfectly remember in his owne commendation O my good God how much hast thou honoured me aboue thousands of my brethren in thy seruice how may I not hope for my long sufferances for thy sake my watchings prayers fastings to be thine for euer in thy glorie Oh see what vertue is and how boldly it may bespeake Gods iustice All which neuerthelesse I would haue you think I attribute to Gods goodnes and not to my owne deserts c. How like ye I pray this spirit of a man Do ye thinke it tastes any whit of the holy Ghost or of his spouse the Catholicke Church Haue ye euer read of the like in any Saint of God Confesâ—…or or Martyr beleeue me I haue not A Iesuit so to commend himself how is it not to condemne others and to be too peremptory a Prophet of disasters especially to his distasters though commonly as false in the one as Pharisaical in the other How is it that they condemne not onely other mens bad but euen their best actions not proceeding from the instinct of their spirit but farther dare as I say to prophecie Gods dread doomes thereunto and to them Oh monstrous singularitie to presume so high or if not monstrous but meete why may not I pray by the same reason a Secular Priest or his friend aswell not censure that societie for most impious vnfortunate yea and reprobate for the paucitie of Martyrs that haue bene of it in England all this time of affliction neither any Saint of it as yet so much as their Founder canonized in the Catholike church since their institution to this day Why may not we aswel by the same reason calumniate euen those three or 4. Martyrs which are al that haue bin of their societie here in England to haue died rather to their shames for their sins then to gods glorie which though vnconfirmed as yet by myracles for Saints God defend that absolutely we should Yea God desend we should so much as censure M. Atkinson the late Apostata priest their renouned dearling both before and since his Apostasie for a reprobate seeing that Non est abbreuiata manus Dei at any time toward a repentant sinner Howbeit not that withall we are bound in conscience to extenuate his lapse scandale as but a trifle which some Iesuits lately haue done and that by their expresse letters in his commendation into Ireland which are
edition seeing you would needs publish it with only two letters for my name I therein agnize both your loue and discretion Moreouer your adding my mot to the title doth likewise quit the edition from libellious aswell as my Fig for fortune which heretofore came forth with no other face and yet was neuer taken vp for a rogue no not by any Iesuiticall Bedle that euer I heard of Whereas if you looke into sundrie bookes of theirs which from time to time haue come forth without anie name or knowne liuerie at all as the contents thereof are wholly infamatorie or traiterous so in that respect are they to be reputed inormous libels for example Greene-coate Philopater c. which are all or the most of them attributed to father Cowbuck Then as for the present author this Iesuite what name of his or but two letters of his name I pray find ye to this his Manifestation of folly and bad spirit whereby he not to deserue to be burned in the hand for a vagabond Notany No nor any durst he shew manifesting so bad spirit and so much folly in that Censure of his as he hath done for feare of the infamie that might attach him which notwithstanding he hath not escaped at Gods hands who knowes both his name and his nature Were he not a most leud companion and of a most guiltie conscience he would no doubt not haue shamed somewhat to haue showne his face aswell as I who had I feared the worst of any Iesuites spite or the badnesse of the matter in that my letter handled would haue made it a quarrell to you for that A. C. and wished my selfe as litle in sight as he hath showne him Wherein he hath showne himselfe not so honest a man as Uersteghen who like a right Coopers son stucke not to set one of his names to his infamatorie letter against M. Watson as in my last letter I discoursed vnto you but more to brag of his gentrie Sure this Iesuite carieth with him cauteriatam conscientiam that he dares not plucke off his vizard for feare of shewing to the world a face more ilfauoured then it Which notwithstanding partly he is discouered for such as he is at leastwise if he be the man I take him for vz. a man who being the mis-begotten of a ploughman and he a Cuckold too vpon the body of a plough-woman hath accordingly demeaned himselfe fust in begetting two bastards male and female vpon the bodie of his owne sister betweene his age of seuenteene and three and twentie which was the cause he ranne away as fearing the sheete c. and so became a Iesuite secondly or rather formerly and continually by being a common alehousesquire and the drunkennest spunge in all the parish where he liued thirdly for being an hereticke of the family of loue all his life till he became a Iesuite which was the leafe he turned Into which societie it seemes he was the sooner receiued for hauing bene of that family and also for the behoouefull vse those fathers saw they were likely to make of his seditious and libellious spirit in their common-wealth which subsists much vpon that kind of prop. Well what he wanted hereof at the first their fatherhoods haue perfected in him so fully now that beshrew me if I know a more accomplished detractor in the world Adde hereunto their Ordo ad Deum whereby all a Iesuites euils must be reputed frō the holy Ghost and the very name of a Iesuit to import infallibilitie in faith and charitie so far forth that what he beleeues saith or doth be it neuer so much to the blemish of any person yea to the preiudice of a whole common-wealth must not be thought to need any collaterall credit and that is the reason why for example this Iesuite scornes to set his name to his booke like an honest man as though it were no libell without it being of a Iesuits doing It followeth Who if he be the man that we do gesse we do not greatly maruell c. He doth well beleeue me in saying that we do gesse for that being a bastard he is as you know filius populi and consequently a plurall creature and of more names then one and therefore we or else that knowing the points he meaneth to affirme to be meere false and slaunderous he would by his we draw partners into his shame amongst whom the holy Ghost being alwayes pretended to be one iudge you what blasphemy this his we is Poore praise and comfort it is to haue copartners in euill though reall and not forged euill euen as poore as a man to thinke to purchase himselfe a good name by deprauing of others in both which kinds this Iesuite hath transgressed propter bonum societatis For as for the first howsoeuer he pretends some Iesuited secular Priests to haue their pens in this his libell yet that rests at the Readers courtesie to beleeue knowing the Iesuits sleight how still they seeke to set Seminarie against Seminarie by labouring to haue their mischiefes ioyntly against them all to seeme the ones against the others whereas in very truth it is but the Iesuits sole act together with his particular Paraclete except haply there be here and there a Seminarie so corrupt vnhappie and foolish against his owne and his brothers honours or any others as to be so Iesuited in malediction That after so great varietie of state and former life as some of vs haue knowne him in c. As for the varietie of my state and former life I am I thanke my God not ashamed of it the same not hauing bene variable in Iesuiticall grosse scandals of schisme or mis-faith in the Church of God as God my conscience and all that know me can witnesse nor euer shall by Gods helpe Neither was the varietie he taxeth me of other then sutable to my yeares from time to time for your satisfaction wherein I must here the libeller so vrging rip vp my whole life vnto you as followeth First at my age of thirteene I was taken from schoole and sent vp by my good Aunt whom you knew to an Inne of Chancerie from whence I was shortly after by my cosin T. S. to whose care I was committed admitted of Lincolnes Inne where I continued no longer then whiles I could steale ouer into France to my father Where being arriued he within some few moneths after tooke me along with him into Flanders where in the Duke of Parma his Court lying then at Tornay the Ladie Franc◅lina the Dukes reputed mistris taking contentment in my English daunces which at that age did not ill beseeme me she at my fathers request procured me a Pages place about his Alteze In the nick whereof came letters from my Cosin R. S. at Rome who hearing that I was come ouer and desirous to see and enioy me there with him for the neere kindred that was betwixt vs and the loue he formerly bore me in his mothers
being but one yeare and a halfe or thereabouts and the first yeare litle inough by all intendment to settle my wanton idle light witted head afore I could be fit for either the one or the other so high vocation To shew you then how false either of these imputations are you must vnderstand that in my discontentment to be so made a schoole-boy and cosined both of the Popes pension and my libertie I taking a deuotion to S. Monacha S. Augustines mother went often to the Augustines Church in Rome where her bodie lay and there falling acquainted with a Venetian Frier of the Monasterie I vnderstood that he knew my Vnkle Sir Richard Shelley in Venice by whose meanes I afterward often writ vnto him informing him of my discontentment with the Iesuites for their so abusing his Holinesse and me but especially after my Cosin R. S. his departure for England To which my aggriefe in the end after sundrie letters that passed betwixt vs the Lord Prior of Malta for such was his title most louingly complied sending me by this Friers meanes three and fiftie duckets where with to get me from Rome into France with request that I would make Venice my way affirming that forasmuch as he had no other kinsman in those parts he would leaue me when he died if I liked to liue with him all that he had With these three and fiftie duckets I departed the Colledge Rome and Italy where at parting father Cowbucke being come thither but a litle afore and also D. Allan who within a while after was created Cardinall the one gaue me his malediction the other a thousand blessings And this I protest was all the leaue and Uiaticum the fathers gaue me at my departure from Rome this their paternall charitie where with the libeller more in particular vnderneath vpbraideth me Yea ouer and aboue all this father Cowbucke was the man who perceiuing D. Allan his credit to be more with me then his wrought him to be thus farre forth his instrument as to disswade me my going to Venice to my Vnkle which he vnderstood I intended and my said Vnkle expected so ill the father brooked either that good Knight or my good fortunes or both I was too blame in that respect to the good Doctor both for my duties sake to my Vnkle and also for my profit though minding to haue returned of purpose vnto him out of France the next yeare after before which time the good Knight died leauing all his riches to a meere seruant so vnfortunate was I or rather so vnfortunate a Iesuite to me whom this Iesuite termes my friends who neuer failed me And this was all my becomming either College Priest or Augustine Frier and thus much can M. Duke sometimes my entire friend in earth now a Saint in heauen witnesse of my going to the Augustines to whose priuitie I imparted all that my proceeding Insomuch as at a word aswell might the libeller haue affirmed that I would haue become a Nunne for S. Monachaâ—…s sake or a Iesuite for father Cowbuckes as an Augustine especially if withall he knew what law raigned in my loynes and what spirit colophized me at those yeares with S. Paul In vaine therefore doth this manifester of his folly and bad spirit stroake as it were his beard after so grosse a slander aduise yonkers to beware by me how they slip back contemne when they are in their sister euen as vainely as I haue noted the vaineglorious Spaniard to do the like to his beard picke his teeth pat and stretch forth his paunch and stroke off crummes from his clothes after an egge as if he had dined with a Lord Maior of London But most of all vaine and malicious he is after two so expresse lies to commend himselfe for a timorous conscience as to affirme things that he knowes not for certaine which neither could his fatherhood vaine-gloriously inough do vnlesse withall he condemned me of a lauish conscience in the contrarie Ah poore father and poore praise so to borrow or rather steale grace by the disgrace of others Were there no greater faults in a Iesuite then this please God I had but so much of S. Augustines spirit as to discouer it to the full to the Churches caution and edification But of the two orders the likelihood that was was rather of my becomming Iesuite especially if I had bene as forward in accepting as some were in proffering me that scandal For verie well I remember that whiles I liued in the Colledge father Agazarius who was then Rector till toward the latter end at what time father Cowbucke came in his place the fat father Minister whose name I haue forgotten and my Cosin R. S. Prefect of the studies all three most fauningly woo'd me to like of their Societie to which end they did me the fauour for so they reputed it as to admit me into their spirituall exercises whereof God I thanke I made much better vse vnto my soule then so noting as yong as I was the strange spirit of some youths in the Colledge their chiefe dearlings as namely Anth. Maior whom they made Consiliarius primus or secundus of the congregation of our Ladie in the Colledge which was a fauour who since is Apostated euen wilfully and beneficed here in England Likewise yong as I was I could well see what foule vse they made of the said good exercise of our Ladies congregation for the maintaining offaction amongst both the scholers and Priests and for the Iesuiting of the best wits and best bred youths from the true intent and institution of the Colledge Also I saw how vilely for example they abused M. Doctor Bagshaw and Doctor Cicill putting them to all the boyish exercises of the house and in the end expulsing the former of them with others from thence In few yong though I were I noted by other in cautelam to my selfe from becomming either Iesuit or Iesuiticall that what talent they saw in me apt for their turnes if being such I should not happen to employ it religiously and so to the reputation of their Societie that it would stead them aswell to be employed in dishonestie so the dishonestie were exquisite and extraordinarie as their instructions could helpe to make it so much that Societie is the refuse of religiousnesse and therefore worthily the last religious order in holy Church and their founder not likely to be canonized for a Saint till it be cassieâ—…ed As then it is but a worke of supererogation a man to confine himself to any order of Religion so is it but a bonum inculpate omissum to be of any whosoeuer haue any such deuotion as I protest I neuer had howbeit to be a Iesuite I do not see how that consideratis considerandis vz. the euils of it as Iesuites are now a dayes for the most part it is not a Malum realissimé commissum From this spirit of religious and ecclesiasticall life he fellbacke soone
vnion to the Catholicke Church which was in Anno 1583. by the hand of old and good M. Woodward in Rone in Normandie I neuer either in schismaticall or hereticall word deed or assent scandalized the same but haue euer held and reputed such my Religion as the apple of my eye and as a brooch pledge piller and seale of saluation to my soule Yea rather then I will euer vpon temptation of the flesh the world or the diuell disparage my selfe herein to the Catholike Church I trust in God to endure a thousand deaths In testimony of which my Catholike cōscience I here by these presents auow the same vnto you good cosin and to as many as may happen to reade this letter praying you and them to beare me record hereof at the latter day when all flesh shall arise to iudgement If the actuals of my life haue not bin so conformable to this my professed faith as they ought it hath bene my extreme frailtie I confesse for which God I thanke that he hath left medicinable Sacraments in the Church whereby I may rise and renew me from time to time yet sure I am that to dislike of so schismaticall and trecherous preuaricators as Iesuites are at this day both to our Church and countrey and to oppose against them as such with al my abilitie with and for the sacred Seminaries my true spirituall fathers is no wayes an act of ill life so much as veniall much lesse Apostacie from God and all pietie but the cleane contrarie that is Catholicke and bounden dutie in the highest degree Let therfore this libelling Iesuit looke into his owne conscience and checke these his slanderous imputations to me first there and then to the world-ward and as for his satisfaction to me he shall find it easie at my hands who do daily pray God to forgiue me my trespasses as I forgiue all trespasses against me Till when let him not vaunt as aboue ye haue read of atimorous conscience to affirme things that he knowes not for certaine especially if tending to the reproch of any and in religious humilitie think himselfe as all men ought the veriest sinner of all others And finally his deadly and diuellish hatred to Iesuits in generall and to father Parsons in especiall to whom notwithstanding he was wont to professe great obligation for his spirituall good as he is not ashamed to conclude thus of him In briefe if he haue bene a Iudas to Gods Church and his country to the disparage of the Seminaries c. That I being so verie Catholicke as you haue heard do hate Iesuits as Iesuites that is as they ought to be good religious men according to their institution and their founders rules confirmed priuiledged so indulgently by holy Church is another falsitie and I repute it as a slander Marie that I hate them as men generally debaucht and digressed from their principles and consequently as most scandalous transgressors this I acknowledge to be verie true and my dutie as I am a Catholike being withall sory euen in my soule and with my hart for the honour of my holy mother the Church that there can be a religious societie in it so scandalous as this aswell to all her children and friends as to her foes but specially in a Church so much vnder execution as this our English is Yea so farre forth I am sorie herefore as that to redeeme the same I take God to witnes I would willingly endure a manie Anathemaes both temporall and corporall in this world Gods grace and loue reserued And as for father Cowbucke I denie and maligne him not the credit of his booke called the Resolution but do agnize his paines therein taken whether as a collector or but as a translator to be meritorious and fruitefull and in particular my selfe to haue bene more then somewhat profited thereby in spirite in the time of my catecumenage and so also haue manie bene by Buchanans seuen Psalmes who notwithstanding became himselfe an Apostata in the end Other either spirituall or temporall debt to him or his societie I acknowledge none but the cleane contrarie that is disgusts and iniuries both to my selfe as A. C. and also as I am a member of the Catholicke Church and my countrey either of which that Societie but especially this man haue notoriously scandalized and preiudiced In which respect I might iustly distast and impeach them in my former letter to you as I did in maner of an Appollogie for the Seminaries to whom in all duties both to our Church and countrey we are chiefly indebted And if haply they haue erred in anie thing to the hurt of either of them it hath bene in bringing in of Iesuits and giuing them here the countenance they haue to the discountenancing of themselues and generally of the Catholicke cause through their ingratitude singularity and auarice Being which maner of men and therefore iustly banisht out of France and distasted of the most part of Christendome how is it that their reproch may be a blemish to any or rather not their praise a reproch Truly Cosin if they hold on as they haue begun and that withall the world by their meanes grow not worse then it is alreadie I do not doubt but we shall see it so ere long if they be not cassierd the sooner so much is their corruption exorbitant and readie to runne ouer Good God that such a societie of men after so many scandals and foule deserts of theirs in France and elsewhere for Prince-killing sedition c. can be thus of credit in England where also they haue assayed no lesse and daily do before our eyes besides their present schisme in our Church whereas the Seminariesouer and aboue the high honor of their secular and pastorall priesthood and their instiution thus for the shamble in Gods cause and for our soules like vowed good shepheards are truly good men and our good fathers in all aswell moral as spirituall practise gatherers not dispersers with whom to be afflicted by the Iesuits and our common aduersaries highly we ought to hold it a glorie to God and vs and as for my owne part I do reputing this Libellers contumelies against me for their sakes for such being glad that you amongest other my good kinsemen and friends are so open eyed standing vpon your honor to be wise and vertuous as to discerne not onely a Iesuits grosse and goutie faults as for example a lie but also his finer and quintessenced gulleries as daily now you do You may see and be glad to see it how farre these fathers are alreadie chased by ours that like a foxe almost spent in the hunting they haue now no other shift for the life of their schisme then to bepisse their tailes and besprinkle therewith the hounds that are readie to fasten on them in the eyes wherewith if it may be to put them off Such foxe-like pissing-shift is this Manifester his quil-full oflice vz. expresse