may haue therin the which may be considered eyther as common to all the enemies of Catholyke religiō or els as particuler to these our Aduersaries now a dayes of the first I haue spoken before discoursing of the concurrēce of calumniation and persecution where I proued that it hath beene alwayes the custome of the persecutours of Catholykes to seek by imputation of fals crymes to obscure the true cause of their sufferings and consequently the glorie of their martyrdomes wherin neuerthelesse how much they haue fayled of their purpose I meane as wel these of our tyme as those other their praedecessours it is euident by common experience seing almightie God hath in all ages so disposed and day he doth for his owne glorie that the cleare light of truth and innocencie hath dispersed the clouds of calumniation in such sort that his seruants haue triumphed ouer all the malice of men and remayned no lesse glorious with a double crowne of martyrdome then their enemies ignominious and odious for there double persecution For the proof hereof let vs look back to former tymes see what the persecutors of Gods Churche haue gayned by the lyke deuises haue they therby any iote obscured the glorie of Gods seruants who are esteemed honoured and serued through-out the Christian world for glorious Martyrs and saynts of God and receyue more honour glorie in one festiual day of theirs then all the Monarks of the world in all the feasts of their lyfe Are not the Altars Temples buylded to God in their memories more triumphant then the thrones and trophes of all earthly Kings doth any Princes power extend it selfe so farre as theirs whose dominion reacheth from the east to the west frō the one Pole to the other whose subiects seruāts and supplyants are not only the common people but Princes and potentates Kings Emperours that crouch kneele and present their petitions at their toombes and monuments or whersoeuer ther is any litle memory of them Are all the royal robes crownes and diademes of Emperours and Kings so much esteemed and reuerenced in their owne Kingdomes as is throughout Christendome the least rag or relyke of any one of them wherto we see Almightie God geueth no lesse vertue and power oftentymes when it is for his glorie and their manifestation to cure the sicke to heale the lame to rayse the dead to cast out Deuils then he gaue to the hemme of our Sauiours garment to the handkerchefs that touched S. Paules body to the shadow of S. Peter This hath alwayes beene so notorious in Gods Churche that S. Chrisostome speaking of the great miracles done by the body and relykes of the blessed martyr saint Babilas maketh the same a manifest argument against the Paynims to proue that Christ is God which I wish by the way that our Protestants in England may note for their confusion seing that denying the vertue of saynts Reliks they do paganize with them and do deny therby an euident argument of Christs diuinitie but to proceed On the other syde what honour haue their calumniatours and persecutours purchased to themselues are not their very names odious and execrable to all posteritie as the memory of the other is aeternized with immortal glorie is not theirs buryed in aeternal infamie To this purpose sayth the book of wisedome that the wicked shal see the end of the iust man and shal not vnderstand what God hath determined of him and why our Lord did humble him they shal see him and contemne him but our Lord shal deride them for they shal fal afterwards without honour shal euer be amōgst the dead in shame and infamie Hereby may our aduersaries partly iudge what they shal gayne in the end by murdering so many Catholyks as they do vnder colour of treasons and enormious crymes but for their further satisfaction in this point let them look abroad into Christendome and see what acount is alreadie made of their supposed traytors I meane such as die directlie for religion made lately treason who of all Christian Catholyke people in the world are held for no lesse glorious martyrs thē those of the primitiue Churche as appeareth not only by the publike testimonie of the most famous wryters of this age but also by the deuotion that all Catholyks yea and the greatest Princes and potentates of Christendome do beare to the least relyke of any one of them which they think themselues happie to haue keep with all due respect and reuerence besydes that it hath pleased almightie God to glorifie his name already with diuers notable miracles donne by the same which hereafter wil be knowne with sufficient testimony of the truth therof and as for their martyrdomes I haue no doubt but as alreadie they are knowne acknowledged and honoured by all true Catholykes so in tyme also conuenient they wil be approued by the authoritie of the whole Churche whiles in the meane tyme the memory of their persecutors shal be damned eyther to the deep pit of obliuion or els to euerlasting ignominie as they may see it hath alreadie happened to their praedecessours and thus much for the end common to all persecutours OF OTHER ENDS PARTICULER to our English aduersaries and of their disloyaltie therin towards her Maiestie CHAP. XVII THE other ends particuler to our home aduersaries at this day may be thought to be partlie publyke and for the common good as they in the depth of their wisedome or rather in the height of their follie do imagin and partlie for their owne particular profit or emolument The publyke are these first to incense the Queenes Ma tie against vs to the end she may geue them leaue to exercise freelie all crueltie vpon vs wherby they hope in tyme to destroy vs and to extinguish the memorie of Catholyke religion wherin I wish them by the way to note how farre they are deceyued of their expectation how almightie God doth daylie infatuate and frustrate their councels and turne them to their owne confusion seing that notwithstanding all their rigour there are at this day many more recusants in England and sincere Catholyks that wil geue their liues for their Religion then ther were when the persecution first began so that we see how true it is which Tertulian sayth Sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae the blood of Martyrs is the seed of the Churche But to proceede The second is to irritate also her Ma tie against the King Catholyke who is therfore cōmōly made an abettor of all those fayned conspiracies least otherwayes she being of her owne inclination desirous of peace might come to some cōposition with him so Christendome be brought to repose which these mē imagin would in tyme grow to be daungerous to their gospel or rather to their particular states commodities which they may be presumed to esteeme more then any ghospel but how this piece of pollicie standeth with true reason of
Henries tyme except he haue a brazen face and a â—eared conscience or els be ignorant of all antiquity But to returne to S. Augustin and those first two hundreth yeres comprysed in the history of S. Bede yf wee consider the notable miracles wherwith it pleased God to confirme this our Catholyke religion in those dayes for his owne glory and the conuersion of the panims no man can â—out that it is the true fayth except he be more faythlesse incredulous then those infidels that were conuerted therby Saynt Bede signifieth that S. Augustin wrought so many miracles whereof he declareth some that S. Gregory wrote vnto him to admonish him not to be proud therof he also declareth very many famous miracles donne by a crosse erected by King Oswald and after by his relickes as wel in Ireland and Germany as England and by the relickes of saynt Eartongatha daughter to the King of Kent and her cosen Edelburg both virgins and nunnes of S. Edelâ—â—eda the Queene that dyed a virgin in a monastery whose â—ody was taken vp whole vncorrupt after many yeares â—â— the discouery whereof diuels were expelled and many â—â—sseasses cured Also he recounteth the lyke notable miraâ—â—es of S. Chad S. Cutbert S. AEdelwald and saynt Iohn a Bishop which they did whyles they were yet liuing and others donne by holy oyle by the blessed sacrifice of the masse all which for breuities sake I omit remitting our aduersaries to the autor in the places aleaged in the margent OF THE FIRST CONUERSION of our country whyles it was called Britany in the tyme of King Lucius with euident proofes that our Catholyke fayth was then preached planted there CHAP. V. BVT for as much as our country hath ben twyse coÌ„uerted from paganisme first in the tyme of the Britains and after in the tyme of the Saxons or English they wil say perhaps that although we proue that the second tyme our Catholyke religion was planted and established there when many errors as they would haue the world to thinke were crept into the Church yet at the first conuersion in King Lucius dayes their religion was taught and deliuered to the Britains which some of their croniclers are not ashamed to intimat to their readers and namely Holinshed who yf my memory fayle me not for I haue not his book here maketh Eleutherius the Pope write a letter to King Lucius more lyke a minister of England then a Bishop of Rome Therefore I wil take a litle paynes to examine this poynt wil make it manifest that our Catholyke religion which saint Augustin planted amongst the English was deliuered 400. yeres before to King Lucius and the Britains by Fugatius and Damianus or as some say Donatianus sent into Britany by Pope Eleutherius in the yeare of our Lord 182. And although no ancient historiographer or writer for ought I haue seene do signify particularly what poynts of religion were preached to King Lucius at his conuersion partly for that matters of so great antiquity are but very breefly and obscurely handled and partly because in those dayes when there was no other but our Catholyke religioÌ„ vniuersally professed this of the protestants not so much as dreamt of it was needlesse to signify the poynts or articles therof for that it could not be immagined to be any other bur the Roman fayth yet in the discourse of the tymes and ages next ensewing the conuersion of King Lucius whyles the fayth which he receiued remayned pure and vncorrupt the cleare light of truth doth snfficiently shew it selfe through the clouds of the obscure breuity wherewith the matters of those tymes are treated To this purpose it is to be vnderstood that as our famous countryman S. Bede testifieth the fayth preached to King Lucius and the Britains remayned in integrity and purity vntil the tyme of the Arrians which was for the space of almost 200. yeares and although he signify that from that tyme forward the people of Britany weare geuen to noueltyes and harkened to euery new doctrine yet it is euident in him that neyther the Arrian heresy nor yet the Pelagian afterwards took any root there or could infect the whole body of the Britain Church but only troobled the peace thereof for a short tyme in so much that it should seeme the first was rooted out by the industry of the good Pastors and Bishops of Britany whereof some were present at the great councel of Sardica held against the Arrians shortly after that of Nice in which respect S. Hilary doth worthely prayse the Britain Bishops for that they wholy reiected the Arrian heresy and the later I meane the heresy of Pelagius which saynt Bede sayth the britains would nullaâ—enus suscipere in no sort receiue was suppressed by S. German and saint Lupus two Bishops of France who at the request of the Britains came into Britany and confounded the Pelagians in open disputation whereby the people were so â—ncensed against the said heretykes that they could hardly â—old theire hands from them and in conclusion banished those that would not yeld to the true Catholyke faith and here vpon ensewed such peace and tranquility in the britan Church that for a long tyme after as saynt Bede testifieth the fayth remayned there intemerata vncorrupt wherby it appeareth that after the expulsion of the Pelagians which was about the yeare of our Lord 450. the Church of Britany reteyned the same fayth that it receiued at the first conuersion and therfore yf we fynd the vse and practise of our religion vntil these tymes it may serue for a testimony that the same was deliuered to King Lucius First we read that presently after the persecution of Dioclesian wherin our protomartyr saynt Alban with some others was put to death about the yeare of our Lord 286. the Christians that had liued before in woods and caues not only repayred the Churches which the persecuters had destroyed but also made new in honour of the martyrs celebrated festiual dayes and buylt amongst others a most sumptuous Church in honour of S. Alban where many miracles were wount to be donne continually vntil the tyme of S. Bede as he himselfe witnesseth afterwards when the Pelagian heresy had somwhat infected the country saynt German going thether out of France to confound the Pelagians at the request of the Britans themselues as I haue declared before appeased a great storme at sea with casting therein a little water in the name of the Trinity which no dout was holy water and being arriued there he restored sight vnto a noble mans daughter applying vnto her eyes certayne relyckes which he caryed about him c. after hauing confuted the Pelagians and reduced all to the purity of fayth as saynt Bede sayth meaning therby the fayth first preached to King Lucius he went to the toomb of S. Alban to geue thankes to God per ipsum by
men amongst the protestātes themselues haue noted heretofore But now comming hether to Rome and seing the matter reuiued and mightyly vrged to the preiudice of all Catholykes by 2. seueral lybels composed lately in England the one by an heretical minister ashamed of his name and therfore Sutly shrowding it vnder a fals Visar of O. E. and the other written very lately by a puritan as it seemeth calling himself Thomas Diggs I haue determined to set out my apology for the ful satisfaction of all indifferent men in this poynt wherto I am moued the rather for that I haue also sufficiently treated therin some other matters handled by O. E. who laboureth to proue that all the persecution which Catholykes haue hetherto suffred is iustly to be ascribed to their treasonable attēpts besydes that he is not ashamed to affirme that none haue bē put to death in all her maiestyes raigne for matter of religion which impudent assertion of his I haue so sufficiently confuted in my sayd apology as no more needeth to be sayd in that matter Neuertheles vpon this new occasion giuen by him I haue thought good to prefix this treatise to thesaid Apology to giue thee good reader some more particular satisfaction concerning this point and first to answere sincerely and truly vpon my owne knowlege an other slanderous and malitious conceit of his touching the il affection as he supposeth of diuers principal Catholykes to their country and therefore for as much as I intend also vpon occasions that may be offred to debate and discusse in this treatise some pointes of Catholyke religion now in controuersy and withal to cleare our doctrine in those pointes from certaine malitious slanders of our aduersaries I haue thought good to entytle the whole A defence of the Catholyke cause Wherein I make no doubt but that thow wilt easely note good reader amongst many other thinges the inconsideration of our aduersaries in that they are not content only to wrong vs in our goodes and persons by extreme iniustice vsed towards vs but also to wound vs so deeply in our fame by their calumniatious and slanderous lybels and reportes that they force vs much against our willes to lay open to the world their shameful and vnchristian proceedings in defence of our owne innocencie and for the honor of our cause which not only all lawes of God nature and nations do allow and permit but also conscience vrgeth and byndeth vs vnto in this case For although priuate men may somtymes with great merit suffer themselues to be slaundered without contradiction when no furder detrimēt ensueth thereof then the losse of their owne fame or their particular hurt yet when the same is ioyned with other mennes harme or with a publyke damage espetialy of religion they cannot without offence to God neglect or omit their owne iust defence Therefore I hope no man wil blame mee or other Catholykes in lyke case for offring iust purgation of our selues and our cause though it bee with the reproch of them that slander vs vt obstruatur os loquentium iniqua that the mouthes of calumniators may bee stopped And whereas the same may seeme to redound to some disgrace or dishonor of the state by reason of the publyke authority pretence of her maiesties seruice wherewith our aduersaries do comonly couer and colour all their malitious actions I purpose for my parte to vse in this my defence such due respect to the state to the supreme gouernours thereof I meane her Maiestie and the honorable Lordes of her counsel that I hope to auoyd all iust cause of offence and giue ample testimony of the loyalty of a moste dutiful subiect discouering to her Maiestie and their honors by way of humble complaint the great abuse offred by our aduersaries no lesse to them then to vs as wil more particularly appeere in my Apologie directed and dedicated to the Lordes of the councel AN ANSWER TO TVVO MALITIOVS SLANDERS CONCERNING the conquest of England falsly supposed to be pretended and solicited by the Catholykes and touching the late enterprise of the king of Spayne in Ireland Also concerning Sir VVilliam Stanley CHAP. I. AMONGST many malitious slanders wherwith O. E. and other heretyks seek to make vs and our cause odious to all men one of the principalest is that wee desyre and conspyre the cōquest of our countrey by the king of Spayne wherewith they charge not only F. Parsons and the Iesuytes but also other English Catholykes that haue serued and serue the Catholyke king in which respect I cannot forbeare to testify the truth of my knowledge in this poynt hauing had sufficiēt meanes and occasion to vnderstand what hath ben treated with the Catholike kings of Spayne by any of our nation since the yeare of our Lord 1589. at what tyme I passed from the court of France by reason of the troubles there to the seruice of their Catholike Maiesties whome I haue serued euer since and for some yeres together in the court of Spayne vntil now of late that I retyred my selfe from thence to Rome to satisfy my priuate deuotiō by dedicating the rest of my declyning dayes to the seruice of God in an ecclesiastical function Therfore I here protest vpon my conscience not only in my owne behalf but also in the behalf of F. Parsons and the English Catholykes that serue his Catholyke Maiesty that our dealings haue bin so contrary to that which is imputed vnto vs that we haue donne farre better offices for our country in this poynt then the malice of our aduersaries suffereth them to suppose For hauing wel considered that the breach of amity betwyxt her Maiestie and the Catholike king growing dayly by sundry acts of hostility on both parts to an implacable quarrel might moue him to seek the conquest of our country wherof his puissant preparations in the yere 88. gaue no smalle suspition to the world and not hauing any hope to be able to diswade his Maiestie from seeking some sharp reuenge of the attempts made against him by sea and land wherto not only reason of state but also respect of his reputation and honour seemed to oblige him wee determined to do our vttermost endeuour so to temper and qualify the same as it might not turne to any conquest of our country To which purpose sir Francis Englefield whylst he liued Father Parsons Fa. Creswel and my self haue at dyuers tymes represented to his Matie of glorious memory many important reasons to perswade him that it was not conuenient for him to seek the conquest of England nor probable eyther that he could conquer it or yet if he were able to do it that he could long keep it in subiection and this wee haue vrged so oft and with such pregnāt reasons as wel to his Matie that now is as to his father of glorious memory that I verely beleeue that if they euer had any inclination or resolutiō
religion condemned and therfore as the whole Churche hath hetherto held and honored those old Christians for glorious martyrs so doth it now at this day and euer wil esteeme these other for no lesse as I haue shewed in my Apology more at large and therfore I wil proceed to speak a woord or two of the great iniustice donne since my Apology was writteÌ„ to two priests called M. Hunt and M. Sprat condemned and excuted at Lincolne in the yeare 1600. These two being taken in a search and confessing themselues only to be Catholykes were first imprisoned and then shortly after indited for hauing conspyred and practised the death of her Maiesty mooued her subiects to rebelion withdrawne them from theyr natural and due obedience and from the religion now established in England to the Roman fayth and finally for hauing mayntayned the autority of the Pope of all which poynts no one touching matter of state was proued against them no witnesse being produced nor so much as the least presumption of any attempt or coÌ„spiracy against her maiestyes person or state or that rhey had persuaded any man to the Catholyk religion ot sayd any thing in fauour of the Popes autority more then that which they answered to the captious question of the Queenes supremacy demaunded of them there after their apprehension lastly it was not so much as proued that they were Priests which though they denied not yet they did not confesse but put it to tryal vrging to haue it proued by witnesses or other sufficient arguments whereas there was none at all but light presumtioÌ„s therof as that there was found in thir males two breuiares which many lay men vse as wel as Priests and a few relicks and some holy oyle which they might haue carried for other mennes vse not their owne so that to conclude of all those great treasons whereof they were indited there was no one proued except the matter of the Queenes supremacy which is a meere poynt of religion as I am sure the puritans in England and all other heretykes abroad wil witnesse with vs who impugne the same as wel as wee and yet neither by the verdit of the Iury nor yet by the senteÌ„ce of the Iudge were they cleared of any one point but condemned for all as though they had bin guilty of all and so in truth executed for matter of religion though slandred with matter of state whereby their martyrdome was far more glorious the malice of our aduersaries more manifest the iniury donne vnto them vnexcusable the sinne of the Iudges and Iury most execrable which sufficiently appeared by the iustice of God extended vpon Iudge Glanduile who had shewed an extraordinary malice and fury agaynst them and was therfore as wel may bee presumed within a few dayes after strooken by the hand of God in such miraculous manÌ„er as the rest may take example therby yf their harts be not indurat And besydes these late martyrs before rehearsed M. Tichborne M. Fr. Page and M. R. Watkinson were arraigned condemned at London for beeing made Priestes beyond the seas and coming into England contrary to the statute were executed at Tiburne the 20. of April this present yeare 1602. beeing there not suffred to declare the truth of their cause and suffrance And this was donne euen at such tyme as hope was both giuen and conceaued of a more mylder cours of proceeding towards Catholykes then heretofore It is moste grieuous to consider how M. Tichborne by one of his owne cote was betrayed and apprehended almighty God vouchsafe to restore to that wretched man so great grace as he fel from in the dooing of that acte M. Page and M. Watkinson were apprehended in the tyme of the sessions the one by a wicked woman suborned to dissemble religion for such purposes the other by one Bomer who hauing late before playd the dissembling hypocrite spy at Doway returned into England there to become the disciple of his master Iudas At the same sessions was condemned for fellony and also executed one Iames Ducket a Catholyke lay man and another lay man with him about a treatise written by a martyr diuers yeares since concerning the cause of Catholyke sufferers OF THE IMPVDENCIE OF a minister who being present at the death of two martyrs aforesayd affirmed publykly that our country was conuerted by saynt Augustin the monke to the protestants religion by occasion whereof the truth of the poynt is euidently declared CHAP. IIII. I Can not omit to say somewhat here of the notable impudency of a foolish minister who being present at the death of the two martyrs at Lincolne aforenamed and hearing one of theÌ„ declare vnto the people his innoceÌ„cy protesting amongst other things that he dyed only for the profession of the Catholyke fayth to the which our country was conuerted from paganisme in the tyme of Pope Gregory the great was not ashamed to say publykly that the religion now taught preached there is the same wherto England was first conuerted And although I hold not this minister for a man of that woorth that he may merit my labour or any mans els seriously to confute his ydle babling yet for as much as the same hath bin oft published and preached by many others and many ignorant abused therby and seing the narration of our first conuersion may no lesse profit and edify the vnlearned reader with the testimony of the truth then content and delyte him for the pleasure of the history I wil breefly treat first of the coÌ„uersion of the Saxons or English in the tyme of King Edelbert and after of the conuersion of the Britains in the tyme of King Lucius euidently proue that our Catholyke faith was preached and planted in our country at both tymes and that our Kings and country continued euer after the latter conuersion in the obedience of the Church of Rome vntil the tyme of K. Henry the eyght It appeareth by our chronicles and histories that in the yere of our Lord 582. according to S. Bedes computation S. Gregory surnamed the great the first of that name sent into England saynt Augustin a monke with diuers others of his profession to preach the Christian fayth to the English and that they came thither bearing a siluer crosse for their banner and the Image of our Lord and sauiour as saynt Bede saith paynted in a table and hauing leaue of King Edelbert to preach to his subiects began first the exercyse of Christian Catholyk religion in the citty of Canterbury in an ancient Chutch which they found there dedicated to S. Martin from the tyme that the Romans liued there in which Church ipsi primo sayth saynt Bede conueâ—ire Psaâ—lâ—re orare missas facere praedicare baptizare coeperunt they first began to assemble themselues to sing to pray to say masse to preach and baptise vntil the King being conuerted they had â—eaue to buyld some Churches and
who can with any reason deny that the Popes supremacy the confession whereof is now made treason in England was in King Lucius dayes acknowledged generally of all men for what moued him being so farre from Rome to seeke to receiue the faith of Christ from thence but that he desyred to haue it from the fountayne head were there not Christians at the same tyme in England as there had ben from the tyme of Ioseph of Arimathia by some of whome it is lyke he was conuerted and might haue ben Baptysed or yf there were no Christians there that might satisfy his deuotion and desyre in that behalfe was there not at the same tyme very learned Bishops in France by whome he might haue receiued satisfaction without sending so farre as to Rome what then moued him therto but that he vnderstood that the admission of all Christs sheep into his fold the Church belonged principally to the successor of S. Peter to whome our sauiour particularly commended the feeding of his flock which saynt Bede insinuateth sufficiently saying that King Lucius beseeched Eleutherius by his letters that he might be made a Christian per eius mandatum by his commandement Neither can there any other probable reason be geuen why a few yeres after Donaldus King of Scots sent to Pope victor the next successor of Eleutherius to receiue of him the Christian fayth which at the same tyme florished not only in France as before I haue sayd but also in England from whence he might haue had Bishops and Priests to instruct and baptise him and his people But for the more manifest proof of this poynt let vs heare what S. Ireneus who florished at the same tyme in France teacheth concerning the autority of the sea Apostolike gouerned then by Eleutherius from whome K. Lucius receiued the fayth VVhen we shew sayth he the tradition of the greatest and most AuncieÌ„t Church knowen to all men founded constitute at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles Peter Paule that the same tradition receiued from the sayd Apostles is deriued euen to this our tyme by the succession of Bishops we confound all those that any way eyther by an ouerweening of their owne wits or by vayne glory or by blyndnesse and euil opinion are led away with fals conceyts for euery Churche that is to say the saythful which are euery where must needs haue recours to this Church agree therewith propter potentioreÌ„ principalitatem for the greater or more mighty principality of the same wherein the tradition of the Apostles hath ben alwayes conserued by them which are euery where abroad and a litle after hauing declared the succession of the Bishops of Rome from saynt Peter to Eleutherius who he sayth was the twelfth he addeth by this ordination and succession the tradition which is in the Church from the Apostles and the preaching of the truth is come euen to vs hec est plenissima osteÌ„sio this is a most ful euident demonstration that the fayth which hath ben conserued in the Churche from the Apostles vntil now is that one true fayth which geueth lyfe Thus farre S. Ireneus out of whose words may be gathered three things very imporrant and manifest against our aduersaries The first the force of tradition in the Churche of God that the same alone being duly proued is sufficient to conuince all heretykes that teach any thing contrary therto The second that the continual succession of the Bishops of Rome in one seat and doctrin is an infalible argument of the truth The which also Tertulian in the same tyme not only obserued but also prescrybed for a rule against all heretykes in his book of Prescriptions To which purpose S. Augustin sayth the succession of Priests from the seat of Peter the Apostle to whome our Lord recoÌ„mended his sheep to be fed holdeth me in the Catholyke Church and in another place number the Priests euen from the very seat of Peter and in that order of fathers see who succeded one an other that is the rock which the proud gaâ—â— of hel do not ouercome Optatus Mileuitanus in lyke sort vrgeth this succession of the Roman Bishops against the Donatists reckoning vp all the Bishops from S. Peter to Siricius with whome he sayth all the world did communicat and there-vpon concludeth therfore yow sayth he that challeÌ„ge to your selues a holy Churche tel vs the beginning of your chayre Thus reasoned these fathers against heretykes aboue 1200. yeres ago as also did S. Ireneus before in K. Lucius tyme and the same say wee now with no lesse reason against the heretykes of our tyme we shew them our doctrin conserued in a perpetual succession of Bishops from the Apostles vntil this day we demaund the lyke of them and seing they cannot shew it we conclude with S. Irenaeus that they remayne confounded and that they are to be registred in the number of those that eyther by an ouerweening of their owne wits or by vayne glory or by blyndnes and passion are led away with fals conceits The third poynt that I wish to be noted in the words of S. Irenaeus is the supreme dignity of the Roman Churche aboue all other seing that he cauleth it the greatest most ancient not in respect of tyme for the Churches of Hierusalem and Antioch were before it but for autority and therfor vrgeth it as a matter of necessity duty that all other Churches whatsoeuer and all faythful people throughout the world ought to haue recours therto and agree therwith propter potentioreÌ„ principalitateÌ„ for the greater and more powreful principality and autority therof which autority is founded vpon no other ground then vpon the institution of our Sauiour himselfe who gaue the gouerment of his Church to S. Peter the Apostle not only for him selfe but also for his successors which I wil prooue heare with as conuenient breuity as the importance of the matter wil permit THAT OVR SAVIOVR made S. Peter supreme head of his Churche CHAP. VIII THE supreme autority of S. Peter ouer the Churche of God is to be proued directly out of the holy scriptures by many places and arguments but 3. shal suffice for breuityes sake The first place is in S. Mathew where our sauiour promised to S. Peter to buyld his Church vpon him saying Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram adificabo Ecclesiam meam that is to say thou art Peter or a rock and vpon this rock I wil buyld my Churche signifying by this allegory that he made him the foundation or head of his Church for the head is to the body the gouernour to the common welth as the foundation is to the buylding that is to say the principal part the stay strength and assurance therof and this appeareth more playnly in the Siriac tongue in which saynt Mathew wrote his gospel where
poynts which I haue handled what hath alwayes bin the doctrin of the Churche of God concernâ—ng the same and that therfore King Lucius could receiue no other froÌ„ the Catholyke RomaÌ„ Churche by the which he was conuerted to the Christian fayth and yf I thought it needful to rip vp euery other particuler point controuersed betwyxt our aduersaries and vs I could easely shew the same in euery one But what needeth it seing they cannot proue that any Pope I wil not say from S. Eleutherius to S. Gregory but from S. Peter to Clement the eight that now gouerneth the Churche hath taught and decreed any different doctrin from his predecessors whereas on the other syde wee shew euidently that in a perpetual succession of our Roman Bishops there hath ben also a continual succession of one the selfe same doctrin where vpon it followeth infalibly that King Ethelbert and the English could not receiue from S. Gregory the Pope any other fayth then King Lucius and the britans receiued from saynt Eleutherius and that wee which now hold communion with the Roman Churche teache no other doctrin then that which was taught by them to our ancestors and hath successiuely come from S. Peter consequently from our Sauiour Christ. Therefore thou mayst wel wonder good reader at the impudency of our English ministers that are not a shamed to preache teache the contrary wherby thow mayst also see how lamentable is the case of our poor country wherein such haue the charge and cure of soules as haue not so much as common honesty to say the truth in matters as cleare as the Sunne and teach such a religion as for lack of better reasons and arguments they are forst to mayntayne it with manifest lyes slanders yea and murders of innocent men whome they execute for fayned crymes vnder colour of matter of state acknowledging therby sufficiently the truth of our Catholyk fayth seing they are ashamed to aâ—ow that they trooble any man for it whyles they confesse that they punish and put to death heretykes namely the Anabaptists directly for their religion and their impudency is so much the more notorious for that their publyk proceedings in the dayly execution of penal and capital lawes touching only matter of religion doth contradict and conuince their sayings and writings wherein they affirme that they put none to death for religion But for as much as I haue treated this matter at large in diuers partes of my Apology besydes that I vnderstand that some others also entend to treate thereof in the answere of a ridiculous challenge made by O. E. fraught with most absurd paradoxes as wel concerning this poynt as others touching our Catholyke fayth I remit thee good reader therto and so conclude this treatys beseeching almighty God to geue our aduersaries the light of his grace and vs in the meane tyme pacience and constancy and to thee indifferency to iudge of maters so much importing the eternal good and saluation of thy soule which I hartely wish no lesse then my owne FINIS A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS OF THIS TREATISE THE preface wherein are declared the causes of the long delay of printing the Apology and withall is noted the impudency of a late wryter in England disguysing his name with the letters O. E. who auoweth the fiction of Squyres employment for a truth and affirmeth that none are put to death in England for religion An Answere to two malitious slanders auowched in the foresayd libels concerning the conquest of England falsly supposed to be pretended sollicited by the Catholyks touching the late enterprise of the King of Spayne in Ireland Also concerning sir VVilliam Stanley and the Iesuits calumniated by the lybellers CHAP. 1. Concerning father Parsons in particular and that the extreame malice that the heretyks beare him is an euident argument of his great vertue CHAP. 2. That the Catholykes are persecuted martyred now in England for the same causes that the martyrs dyed in the primatiue Churche and of the great iniustice donne to two Priests condemned at Lincolne by Iudge Glanduile CHAP. 3. Of the impudeÌ„cy of a minister who being present at the death of the two martyrs aforesaid affirmed publykly that our country was conuerted by saynt Augustin the monk to the protestants religion by occasion where-of the truth of that poynt is euidently declared CHAP. 4. Of the first conuersion of our country whyles it was called Britany in the tyme of King Lucius with euideÌ„t proofes that our Catholyk fayth was then preached and planted there CHAP. 5. The same is coÌ„firmed proued out of Gildas the sage Ca. 6. Certayne poynts of controuersy are discussed whereby it is proued that King Lucius receiued our Catholyke fayth and first of the Popes supremacy in Ecclesiasticall causes CHAP. 7. That our Sauiour made S. Peter supreme head of the churche CHAP. 8. That the successors of saynt Peter to wit the Bishops of Rome succeed him in the supremacy of the Churche CHAP. 9. That the Bishops of Rome exercised supreme autority in the tyme of King Lucius CHAP. 10. The matter of holy Images is debated and the vse thereof proued to haue ben in the Churche of God euer since our Sauiours tyme. Chap. 11. The commandment of God touching Images is explicated the practise of the Churche declared Chap. 12. Concerning the relicks of saynts and the reuerend vse thereof Chap. 13. That our doctrin concerning the sacrifice of the Masse was generaly receiued and beleeued in the tyme of King Lucius and first that it was foretold and prophecyed by Malachias Chap. 14. That not only the sacrifice of Melchisedech but also all the sacrifices of the old law were figures of the sacrifice of the masse and are changed into the same and by the way is declared the necessity of sacrifice as wel for common welth as for religion Chap. 15. That our Sauiour Christ instituted and offred at his last supper the sacrifice of his blessed body and blood proued by his owne woords by the expositions of the Fathers with a declaration how he is sacrificed in the masse and lastly that he gaue commission and power to his Disciples to offer his body and blood in sacrifice that is to say to say the Masse Chap. 16. That the Apostles practised the commission geuen them by our Sauiour sacrificing or saying Masse them-selues and leauing the vse and practise thereof vnto the Churche that the ancient Fathers not only in King Lucius tyme but also for all the first 500. yeares afeer Christ taught it to bee a true sacrifice and propitiatory for the liuing for the dead Chap. 17 An answere to the obiections of our aduersaries out of S. Paules epistle to the Hebrewes with a declaration that the heretyks of this tyme that abolish the sacrifice of the Masse haue not the new testameÌ„t of Christ and that they shew themselues to be most pernicious enemies of humain kynd Chap. 18.
in example of all others to the end that the lyke be not committed hereafter OF THE TORMENTORS and their manner of proceeding against law and conscience CHAP. IIII. SEEING such are their examinatioÌ„s what maruail is yt though their torments be no lesse exorbitaÌ„t which they giue commonly to Catholykes without accuser or witnes and without measure or certayne number as of late yeares to omit other examples was euident in two rare gentlemen Priests and religious learned fathers Southwel and Walpoole whom they tormented the one 10. and the other 14. tymes though they had neyther accuser nor witnes nor iust presumption of other matter against them then their religion for the which only they were after condemned and executed whereas by the ciuil law a man cannot be tormented except their be proofes against him Luce clariâ—ra as Baldus sayth clearer then the Sunne it self testified at least by one witnes omni exceptione maior against whome no exception can be takeÌ„ that eyther hath seene the cryme coÌ„mitted or otherwayes vnderstood it as certaynly as though he had seene it in which torment also a certayne moderation is praescribed which is not lawful for the Iudge to exceed as it shal not be reiterated but when new proofes are presented and as some lawyers say more pregnant then the first and that the partie tormented be neyther killed nor lamed therwith neyther yet that any other kynd of torture be vsed then ordinarie in so much that the Doctors do maruelously enueigh against such Iudges as inuent newe manners of torments calling them caâ—nifices and not Iudices hangmen and not Iudges Likewise the Canonists do teach that it is a mortal sinne for a Iudge to geue torment without sufficient witnesse and euidence or to exceed the number of measure praescribed by the law so that it dependeth not vpon the wil of the Iudge nor yet is it the lawful power of a Prince to dispeÌ„ce therewith or to command it to be downe in other manner as some very learned Cyuilians haue signified vnto kings and princes in some cases and occasions as them-selues haue written therfore the ciuil lawe worthelie ordayneth paenaem capitis payne of death against the Iudges which geue torment without sufficient proofes and appoynteth other greiuous punishments for them that obserue not the praescript and ordinaÌ„ce of the law in geuing the same wherein I report my selfe to the Doctors of the Arches and M. of the chancery that are Ciuilians and canonists who caÌ„not be ignorant of their lawes in this point Wherby your lordship may vnderstand what they deserue that torment the Catholyks vpoÌ„ their owne braynes and bare suspitions without any proof or witnes in the world that with such extremety as they lame some and kil others and with such deuilish deuises as amongst Christians hath not bene hard of whereof I could alleadge some lamentable examples of Priestes hanged vp by rhe meÌ„bers or priuy partes as of M. Tho. Pormort and M. George Beesley but especialy of M. Francis Dikenson of whose torments I think good to relate some perticulers omitting to auoyd prolixitie the stories of the others It is not many yeares since the said M. Francis Dikenson Priest was taken and committed to prison by one of the persecutors who seing him to be a very proper yong man in the flower of his age and imagining that he might quickly ouerthrow him by the sinne of the flesh found meanes to haue a woman conueyed to his bed who being repelled by him and the enemy seing that the practise took no effect but came to be knowne not only to all those that were in prison but also to many others abroad to the commendation of the Priests chastitie and honour of the Catholyke Religion he was so inceÌ„sed against him that he caused him to be haÌ„ged vp first by the priuie partes which he made to be pearsed in diuers places with whote yrons and after by the hands vntil he was half dead and then called in many to see his sayd priuie partes inflamed and rankled with the burning of the whote yrons saying vnto them after they were gone foorth agayne behold this chaste Priest how he hath dressed and spoyled himselfe with naughty women and not content therewith caused him also to be araygned and executed for being a Priest without hauing any other matter against him which kynd of cruelty tending to the ouerthrow both of soule body honour and all can hardly be matched I think with any example of the old heathen persecutours of the primitiue Churche This I haue thought good to represent to your Lordships as wel that it may please yow of your wisedomes piety to haue an eye hereafter vnto such proceedings as also that your honours may conceyue what such merciles men as these might make so weak a man as Squyre was to say or do to the preiudice of himself and others and yf neuerthelesse they haue wrought the lyke effect God be thanked but in very fewe of that great numbers of Catholykes that haue past their handes in this our persecution it is not to be ascribed to any other thing els but to the miraculous assistance that God for his owne glorie hath geuen and geueth to these witnesses of his truth no lesse then he did in tymes past to the ancient martyrs THAT THE COMMON lawes of England do not admit torment in tryal of cryminal causes for the condemnation of the delinquent CHAP. V. BVT now to proceed with the matter of Squyre our lawmakers wysely considering the great incoÌ„ueniences that grow of the secret tryal of causes by torment the danger of errour the corruption of iustice the circumuention of the party accused the slaunder and calumniation of the innocent and lastlie the smal ground that is to be made vpon a confession wrong out by the rack not only ordayned the publike tryal which we haue in vse but also excluded all torment from the same admitting onely the testimony of lawful and sufficient witnesses which being had the partie is condemned in our law though he neuer confesse the cryme so that the confession being not material or necessarie for condemnation as in other countreys it is torment which serueth only to extort the same is superfluous for where the effect is not necessarie the cause is also needles And yf our law forbiddeth not or perhaps ordayneth the vse of torment in matters of conspiracy against the Prince and state it is to be vnderstood that it is not to the end to force the partie to confesse for his condemnation but for the bolting out of the bottome and circumstances of the matter to know all the confâ—derates for the praeuention of the dauÌ„ger which may ensewe to the common welth for otherwyes I must needes say that our lawe should be contrary to it selfe and that the daunger of errour and of corruption of Iustice which our lawmakers sought to preuent by our
prisoners yt had beene requisite that yf not all at least some of these particulars should haue beene proued eyther against them all or at least against some one of them as yt is euident yt was not for though we should graunt that some bodie had told Slead or Cradock in Rome that there would be great styrres in England shortlie what did that touch F. Campion in particular or any of the rest And wheras one sayd that he had heard also at Rhemes of some such styrres lyke to ensew what proued this against any of those that came from Rome or yet against those that were come from Rhemes diuers yeares or monethes before or els afterward seing that there was at that tyme neare hand 200. English at Rhemes of whom it could not be with any reason presumed that they were all priuie of the conspiracie yf there had byn any such and yf only some were priuie therof how did it appeare that those which were araygned were of that number seing the witnesses did not particulerlie charge any of them therewith Lastly he which testified that M. Payne the Priest told him of a conspiracy of some Catholykes to kyl the Queene in a progresse what proued he against any of them at the barre seing that M. Payne was none of their companie and the matter altogither differeÌ„t from the other where vpon they were indited Was this then such playne and sufficient euidence as is necessarie in law for condemnation of a man in matter of lyfe and death which euidence as before I haue shewed in Squyres case ought to be as cleare as the SuÌ„ne not general but particuler not of hearesay but of assured and certayne knowledge and testified by witnesses auouching one and the self same particulers But what need I labour to ouerthrow their testimonies by law seing it was cleare to all them that were present at their araignmeÌ„ts or deathes that they were neyther all knowne one to an other neyther yet to the witnesses themselues before they were brought to the barre and that some of them were in England and some in other places at the same tyme that they were supposed to haue coÌ„spired at Rome and Rhemes as diuers of them affirmed and was by the othe of M. Thomas Lancaster manifestly proued of M. Colington the Priest who was quit thervpon and the lyke was also auouched of an other of them by one M. William Nicolson who being present and moued in conscience to testifie a truth called to the Iudges from the place where he stood and offred to depose that he knew that one of the prisoners whose name I haue forgot was other where then was sayd in his inditemeÌ„t at the same tyme that the cryme was supposed to be committed OF TVVO CATHOLIKES in wales condemned vpon the testimonie of witnesses suborned and hyred for money CHAP. XIIII TWO substantial men the one cauled Ihon Hewes the other Richard White hauing beene many mes most cruelly tormented and examined by Sr. George BroÌ„ley others his assistants in the Marches of Wales coÌ„fessed nothing wher-vpon hold might be taken to execute any of the captious lawes vpon them were neuerthelesse designed to the slaughter and for that purpose 3. witnesses were suborned to accuse them that they had persuaded some to be Catholykes the prisoners being araygned thervpon excepted against the witnesses that one of them had beene nayled on the pillorie for periurie in the same shyre as it was notoriouslie knowne to all men and that aswel hee as the rest were hyred to testifie against them the iudges answered to the first exception that though the partie had beene periured in one case yet he might say true in an other and then did put the prisoners to the proof of the subornation for which purpose they auowed that a gentleman of good estimation who was then in the same towne could testifie it and therfor desyred he might be called the gentleman was sent for and being deposed witnessed that one Peter Roden told him that Gronow for so was one of the witnesses cauled and his compagnions had receyued 15. shillings a peece to geue testimonie against the prisoners and that he was also offred so much himself and had refused it The iudges knowing belyke that this was true fearing that it would be made too manifest would not send for Peter Roden but reiected the testimony of the Gentleman as improbable saying what should any man gayne by the death of these men that he should suborne witnesses against them and so without further tryal of the truth therof bad the Iurie go togither who hauing some scruple to condemne them vpon the testimonie of such infamous and suborned witnesses could not agree thervpon vntil two of them had beene to conferre with Sr. George Bromley by whom as it should seeme their consciences were so wel satisfyed that they found them guiltie where-vpon they were condemned and the one of them called Richard White executed at wrexam where he had beene long tyme before prisoner OF VVILLIAMS YORKE AND Patrick Cullen executed also for fayned conspiracies against her Maties person CHAP. XV. BVT to returne to fayned conspiracies against her Ma tie I omit diuers for lack of perfect knowledge of the particularities and wil speake only of some published 4. or 5. yeares agoe in a pamphlet printed in diuers languages as in English FreÌ„ch and Duitch coÌ„cerning a conspiracy of Doctor Lopez and two other portugueses in which pamphlet two Englishmen called Williams and Yorke and Patrick Cullen an Irishman were charged to haue conspired the death of her Ma tie by the instigation of the banished English Catholykes at Brussels And for as much as the pamphleter would seeme to iustifie the condemnation and execution of the sayd two Englishmen the Irishman by their owne confessions I wâ—â— but desyre your Lordships for the discouery of that fiction only to consider the circumstances thereof not meaning to medle with the matter of Doctor Lopez and his fellowes because no English Catholyke was charged therewith The pamphleter sayth they confessed that the English Catholykes at Brussels held certayne councels amongst them-selues where at were present two Doctors of diuinity a Iesuit 5. or 6. gentlemen and others all which are named in the pamphlet who he sayth conspired altogeather the death of her Mayestie and persuaded WilliaÌ„s and Yorke to vndertake the execution thereof with the promise of fortie thousand crounes that for the greater satisfaction and faster binding of them father Holt the Iesuit took the blessed SacrameÌ„t which he had brought to the councel kissed yt and gaue yt vnto them swearing vpon the same that he would pay them the sayd â—ome when they should haue effected that which they had promised For the examinatioÌ„ of this supposed coÌ„fession I would wish to be considered what likelyhood or probability there is that those two soldiers Williams Yorke both of them young men whereof the first was
was not only he to whom I told it but also the man that we let slip to accuse Squyre to be reuenged of him which how improbable and absurd it is I remit to the iudgement of any indifferent man that knoweth him and vs or hath but any sparck of prudence to discouer a coggingly For first how is it credible that we had so litle wit and discours as yf we had recommended any such matter to Squyre to assure our selues that he had beene fals vnto vs reuealed it only because he had not executed it with in lesse then a yeare wherof there might be so many lawful impediments ymagined as howsoeuer we might suspect him yet could we haue no reason so fully to condemne him that we should send one our selues to discouer it whervpon must needs follow great inconuenience to vs whether he had detected yt himself or no for yf he had not we should not only do wrong to him but also to our selues yea and to all the Catholykes of England in ministring matter of a new and general persecution for if our aduersaries are fayne to inuent such lyke matters many tymes to take occasion ther-vpon to persecute vs could we be ignorant that they would do it much more yf they had such a iust occasion ministred by our selues wherby all Catholykes and we especially should be decried euery where for manquellars princekillers traytours and homicides in all tribunals pulpits assemblies books and sermons and many an innocent man suffer for our cause vpon this general condemnation Is it likely then that we would take such a desperate resolution only vpon a bare suspition And put the case that he had reuealed it and that we had assured our selues therof could we haue any reason in the world to geue further light of the matter our selues and so to fortifie his accusation of vs which of it self could not haue the credit nor consequently be so preiudicial to our common cause as when it should be seconded with a testimony of our owne But they say we are passionate men and especially I and therfore were transported with desyre of reuenge for so saith the pamphleter that to wreak our selues on Squyre we sent in Stallage to accuse him because we were persuaded that he was fals to vs let vs then examine this a litle and see what cohaerence there is therein I would gladly know as wel of the Author of the pamphlet as of M. Atturney and others that vrged this point against Squyre and vs at the barre what reuenge we could expect to haue of Squyre by reuealing that which we thought he himself had reuealed were we so simple to think that we could hurt him therby truly though these fyne heades wil not allow vs so much wit as themselues yet they do vs wrong to take from vs ordinary discourse and common sense seing these are things so euident that it rather may be wondred how their deep conceits could take them for probable then imagined that we should commit so grosse errours so that this deuise is sufficiently disproued by the absurdities therof But how simple soeuer these men take vs to be it appeareth that the pamphleter was not wel in his wits when he acknowledged that Stanley was suborned by vs to accuse Squyre and that two letters which he preteÌ„ded to haue stolne out of one of our studies weere found to be counterfeit yea and that thervpon it was collected that Squyre was an honest man which in deed was the most direct construction that could be made theron wherby the pamphleter notably discouereth the extreame iniustice donne to Squyre for yf the subornation of Stanley was so manifest that it serued for an argument of Squyres honestie it is cleare that the torment geuen to him vpon Stanleys accusation was against all law and conscience whervpon it also followeth that the torment being vniustly geuen the confession extorted therby was vtterly voyd in law and by consequence the condemnation grounded vpon the confession most vniust and iniurious as I haue sufficiently proued in the 8. chapter Furthermore whereas the Pamphleter confesseth that Stanley had two counterfeit letters coÌ„cerning this matter which he praetended to haue stoâ—ne out of one of our studies he geueth me no smaâ— occasioÌ„ to think that the letter which the priuie councellor vrged against Squyre at his araignment as written betwixt my kinsman and me was one of them whervpon for my part I wil make no further collection then that the pamphleter sheweth himselfe to be a very simple man in publishing such thâ—nges as directly redound to the ouerthrow of the cause which he vndertaketh to defend Wel to conclude this point for as much as it doth not appeare vpon what ground the pamphleter and his fellowes affirme that Stanley was sent into England suborned by vs whether vpon their owne imagination or els vpon his confession I lay that their charitie towards vs and their proceedings heretofore in lyke causes being coÌ„sidered togither with Stanleys good conscience and conditions wherof I haue spoken amply before it as litle importeth what they say or imagâ—n of vs as what he hath confessed or shal confesse except it be at the gallowes which is now as matters are handled in England the only tribunal of truth I meane the only place where truth is tryed as may appeare by the late exaÌ„ple of Squyre so that when I shal vnderstand that Stanley is hanged also and that at his death he hath ratified this I shal then say that there is some more probability therin though since the wryting of this it is signified as hath beene said that he denieth all agayne now in the towre And truly if our aduersaryes did not persuade theÌ„selues that he would at his death coÌ„fesse the truth as Squyre did so marre all I doubt not but they would haue hanged him ere this being the man he is and so wel deseruing it but now as the matter standeth I think for auoyding the foresaid trial of Tyburne he may rather feare a fig then a halter seing those that haue him in their clouches cannot but conceyue that the truth of this matter may in tyme come to be discouered to their shame no lesse by his lyfe then by his publyk death so that I think he may make his wil if he haue any thing to dispose though the haÌ„gman is neuer lyke to haue his coat Thus much to the text of the paÌ„phlet now to the glosse for that hereafter I must be a litle more playne with the Author therof then the respect and dutie I owe to your Lordships would permit If I should coÌ„tinue my speach to yow I wil by your Lordships leaues addresse the same hence-forth to him and his fellowes OF CERTAINE IMPERTINENT and foolish glosses of the Author of the pamphlet and first concerning the moderation and lenitie which he sayth is vsed in causes of Religion where it is not mixt