this doctrine Let him name the parties or else we wil name him and all will take him for a cogging companion For neither do we make Kings aboue generall Councels nor exempt them from all censures although not to that effect as the Romanists teach Fol. 113. 2. encount c. 14. he affirmeth boldly and blindly that the grieuances of the Germain nation was a complaint of princes called protestants and that it was endited by Luther and exhibited against the Popes pardons at a Councell at Noremberg But therein he lappeth vp diuers foule lies First the matter of the Popes pardons was but one matter of many and therefore not the sole subiect of their complaints as Parsons pretendeth Secondly if they had not bene Papists they would neuer haue fled to the Pope for reformation nor giuē him such reuerent termes as they do Thirdly it was neuer heard of till now that Luther was the enditer of these grieuances exhibited to the Popes legat anno 1522. Finally this méeting at Noremberg an 1522. was no Councell but a diet wherein the princes desired reformation rather of abuses then the dissolution of the Popes authoritie He denieth also that any pardon is sold for murder of children fornication adultery incest and such abominations But let him looke once more vpon the penitentiary taxe printed at Paris wherein the price of the pardon for euery one of these offences is set downe If he find not these matters in the penitentiaries taxe let him looke the fées for the Popes buls for euery of these points in the Popes Chancery He shal also find in my treatise against Bellarmine proofe for the sale of pardons Let him therfore either search more diligently or lie lesse confidently or heare himself taxed patiently Fol. 117. 2. encount c. 15. he affirmeth that Iames Clement conferred with no man liuing before he killed the French king Henry the third and that he had no absolution before he committed the fact Two lies most desperately auouched where of the second concerning his absolution is confuted by the confession of Iaques Bourgoin his confessor executed for absoluing him and by the common practise of Iebusites that absolue such as go about such murders as is proued in the fact of Walpoole that absolued Squire that promised to empoyson Quéene Elizabeth and of Holt that did the like to Yorke and Williams that vndertooke to murder her and by diuers like facts of others The second is refuted by the memorials of the league by the author of the Iebusits Catechisme and by Iohn de Serres in his Inuentorie In the memorials of the league we find that the yong friar was induced by the Iesuites perswasions Ne furent ils complices saith the author of the Iebusites Catechisme page 203. d'auec le Iacobin de l'assassinat du feu roy Were not they saith he speaking of the Iebusites complices to the Dominican frier that murdred the late King He saith also that the murder was fuborned by the Iebusites and leaguers and that he was drawne to it by promises of paradise and that he was assoyled for it and almost sainted beforehand Iohn de Serres in his Inuentorie sayth That Iames Clement communicated his resolution with Doctour Bourgoin prior of his conuent to Commolet and other Iebusites and the heads of the league to the principall of the sixteene and fortie of Paris and that all encouraged him to this happie aduenture promising him rewards in earth and in paradise if he should be martyred in the execution of his purpose a place aboue the Apostles Ainsi resolu sayth Iohn de Serres il communique son affaire au docteur Bourgoin prieur de son couuent au pere Commolet autres Iesuites aux chefs de la ligue aux principaux de seize de quarante de Paris Tous l'encouragent à cest hereux dessein On luy promet abbayes eueschez s'il auient qu'il soit martyrisè rien moyns qu'vne place en paradis au dessus des Apostres May we not then rightly conclude that Parsons is a notorious and most impudent lyar and that the Iebusites are King-killers and notorious traitors No question And I doubt not but they shall be so reckened of all posteritie notwithstanding the barking of such dogges against such reports I do therefore maruell as Athanasius sayth of the Arrians That without abomination and horrour of lying they could vtter such lies seeing the deuill is father of lyes and lyars are strangers to him that calleth himselfe truth Miror eos sine vlla abominatione horrore mendacij it a falsa c. potuisse dicere cùm mendacia patrem diabolum habeant ijque qui mentiuntur alieni sint ab eo qui dicit ego sum veritas And well may I conclude That if all lyes ought to be farre remoued from religion and those positions which for religion are taught and learned as Saint Augustine sayth lib. de Mendacio ad Consentium cap. 10. That then it is not religion that Parsons doeth maintaine with so many lyes nor can his lies stand with the grounds of religion Finally I say to the deceiued Papists as Constantine sayd to heretikes of his time Cognoscite quibus mendacijs vestrae doctrinae inanit as teneatur Behold by what lyes the vanitie of your doctrine is maintained And if they beléeue not me let them hearken to Parsons himselfe that in his answere to my Epistle affirmeth That he that lyeth is not to be trusted in any thing he saith or writeth CHAP. X. An answere to Parsons his immodest rayling and behauiour throughout his whole Warne-word HArd it will be for me to recount all the scurrilous and rayling termes which Robert Parsons of his cholerick liberality bestoweth vpon Sir Francis Hastings and my selfe It appeareth he is of the race of those wicked men of which the Prophet Psal. 14. speaketh Quorum os maledictione amaritudine plenum est Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitternesse And well may I apply to him that which Hierome sayd to Ruffin Tanta confingis quanta non diceret de latrone homicida de scorto meretrix scurra de Mimo You deuise so many villanies as a cutthrote would not vtter against a robber or a comon whore against a harlot or a scurrilous Scoganlike mate against a Vize Which I doe the lesse wonder at because I vnderstand he is descended of a scolding whore and was begotten by a filthie Monke and hath ben of late among cutthrotes and robbers that came against his countrey But if I do not touch all yet will I giue you a taste of some that by a few you may vnderstand the fellowes disgustful humour in many In the front of his book for feare of loosing time he draweth out his Copiam verborū scurrilium and without further aduisement calleth me Insolent and vanting Minister Termes well fitting a bastardly scurrilous and scuruy frier and euill applied to a minister of Gods word whose
let vs sée what they are and in what places they are done First workes of true and sincere religion they care not for The Popes giue ouer teaching and busie them selues not much with praying Nay they persecute such as professe religion and will not suffer the vulgar sort to vnderstand what they pray commaunding them to pray publikely in tongues not vnderstood Pontifices nunc bella iuuant saith Palingenius sunt cetera nugae Nec praecepta patrum nec Christi dogmata curant Prelates now delight in warre other things they esteeme as toyes they neither regard the precepts of their fathers nor Christs Religion Iustice is slowly administred among them for the Pope easily dispenseth with the breach of all Ecclesiasticall laws and giueth absolution for most hainous sinnes before and sometime without all satisfaction Vrspergensis speaking of the dayes of Innocent the third Exaltatum est cornu saith he iniquitatis The horne of iniquitie is exalted He sheweth also that then iustice was sold for money In time past saith Brigit iustice dwelt in Rome and her princes were studious of peace but now all is turned into drosse and her princes are murtherers Neither do they so many almes déedes or deale so bountifully that they néed much to brag of their liberalitie Petrarch doth call Rome couetous Babylon and sayth that couetousnesse raigneth there Multo aequanimius ferunt millium animarum iacturam saith Clemangis quam decem solidorum They had rather lose ten thousand soules then ten shillings But percase by reason of their solemne vowes they are chast and continent Alas there is nothing more sensual and luxurious Quis non moechatur saith Palingenius speaking of the Romish vnchast Cleargie that is Who doth not offend in luxuriousnesse Huldricus doth shew that this forswearing of mariage is cause of great vncleanenesse Pelagius lib. 2. de planct Eccles. art 27. saith that by reason of priests vowes and licenciousnesse almost halfe the people in Spaine are bastards Speaking of priests Nimis incontinenter viuunt saith he at que vtinam nunquam continentiam promisissent maximè Hispani regnicolae in quibus prouincijs in pauco maiori numero sunt filij laicorum quà m clericorum This I cite at large for the honor of bastard Parsons that is so well affected to some old bastard Spaniards Truth is no friend to such lying companions VVhat truth can be there saith Petrarch where all is so ful of lyes He excepteth not the secret places of Churches the seates of iustice nor the Popes throne Quis vsquam saith he vero locus vbi omnia mendacijs plena sunt For their fraud and lies Palingenius calleth priests and Friers impostors and crafty foxes Hos impostores igitur vulpesque dolosas Pelle procul Neither can we commend them much for their clemency albeit their Popes sometimes affect the name and title of Clement For they prosecute their enemies as cruelly as euer did tyrants as Platina saith in Sergio 3. they torment poore simple Christians that touch their abuses and massacre them They are red with the blood of saints Finally neither vertue nor pietie sheweth it selfe in any of their actions What are then the good works that our aduersaries so much commend in them selues Forsooth pilgrimages to Rome oblations to saints almes giuen to sturdie Friers Monks building of Seminaries for rebellious youths eating of fish and toadstooles and muscles on fasting dayes vowing of virginitie and single life whipping a mans selfe doing penance by a Proctor praying to Saints hearing of Masses and such like Nay they accompt it meritorious to massacre Christian Princes and others when the Pope doth excommunicate them But part of these workes are flagitious part superstitious none good If then they alleage vs not their good workes and proue them their glory and boasting of their workes will proue vaine and odious Finally they must thew vs where these workes are done for which the Papists looke to merit eternall life and by which they claime iustification If they say at Rome as no doubt they will calling the same the holy citie then we shall wonder at their impudencie For that citie both in regard of Priests and people of all others is knowne to be most flagitious Peters pallace saith Mantuan is polluted and rotten with luxuriousnesse Petrique domus polluta fluenti Marcescit luxu And againe Sanctus ager scurris venerabilis ara Cynaedis Seruit venerandae diuum Ganymedibus aedes The same man lib. 4. fastorum telleth Leo the tenth that he was to reforme thrée things first the bloudie broiles of Italie secondly the poyson of the court of Rome that infected all countries and thirdly the abuses of religion that was much oppressed The manners of Italie Robert Bishop of Aquila rehearseth The sinnes of Rome are noted by Petrarch in his Sonnets beginning Fiamma dal cielo and L'auara Babylonia and Font ana di dolore where he signifieth that she deserueth to be consumed with fire from he auen for her notorious wickednesse Palingenius bringeth in the diuell affirming that both the men and women of Rome were his for that all did apply themselues to luxuriousnesse gluttonie theft and fraud contending who should excell others Cunctiluxuriae saith he at que gulae furtisque dolisque Certatim nosterque est sexus vterque If then pure religion is to visite the fatherles and widowes in their aduersitie and to liue an vnspotted life in this world as Iames the Apostle teacheth then is not Papish religion true nor vndefiled If such as do the workes of the flesh described Galat. 5. shall not inherite the kingdome of God then is the state of Papists most miserable vnlesse they repont They may say to themselues Peace peace and boast themselues that they can do mischiefe But therc is no peace to the wicked neither shall their misthieuous malice and bloudie massacres alwaies escape vnpunished CHAP. III. Of the erronious and absurd doctrine of Papists concerning the foundations of Christian Religion WRetched is the state of those that liue in darknesse and ignorance and without the knowledge of religion and vertue Ignorantia magnum malum and as Tully saith nescire turpe It is a shame not to know But not to know God nor his lawes is both shamefull and damnable Qui ignorat ignorabitur saith the Apostle that is God will not know him that is ignorant of God Yet farre worse it is to do maliciously and wickedly then onely to liue in ignorance and blindnesse But worst of all it is to hold obstinately dangerous and false opinions contrarie to the faith of Christ. If then beside their ignorance and leudnes the Papists hold diuers erronious and false opinions concerning religion then cannot their estate be otherwise then miserable Let vs therefore sée what they hold both concerning the foundations and also concerning diuers necessarie points of religion The Papists giue out that the Pope is the foundation
certaintie of faith by his owne reading or by the credite of some others we may aske his friarship likewise or because he is but a doogeon dunce of the Pope who is as it were an oracle of Papists the same question And if he answer that he hath it by his owne reading then we shall much wonder at his impudencie For Parsons knoweth that Popes reade litle or nothing and for the most part are ignorant of schoole diuinitie If he say his Popeship hath it by the vertue of his close stool then is the same but filthy learning especially the Pope being laxatine as was Gregory the fourteenth If he say he haue it from his Masse-priests and friars then are they more certaine oracles then he and this learning must come from the tayles of friars and not from the head of the church Parsons therefore to cleare this doubt fol. 110. saith That they do not depend on the Pope as a priuate man but as he is head and chiefe pastor of Christs vniuersal Church He saith also That his rudenesse is turned into wisedome But that the Pope is the head of Christs vniuersall Church is the thing in question That a man should be a sot as he is a priuate man and wise as he is a publike person is ridiculous That he is made wise and learned being made Pope is most false So it appeareth Parsons is ensnared in his owne question and must confesse that the faith of papists is nothing else but the Popes priuate fancie and grounded on the Popes chaire and most absurd and sottish which can not be obiected to vs séeing we ground our selues vpon the Apostles and Prophets who in matters of faith saluation speake plainely and alwayes the same things most constantly In his first encounter chap 15. he spendeth much talke about the rule of faith But most of his words are direct contrary both to himselfe and to his holy fathers profite For in the Wardword page 6. he said the vniuersal Church was the squire and pole-star which euery one was to follow confounding like an ideot the thing ruled with the rule In the Warneword fol. 100. he saith the summe and corpes of Christian doctrine deliuered at the beginning by the miracles preachings of the Apostles is the rule of faith Which is contrary to the Popes profit For if this be true then vnlesse the Popes determinations and traditions ecclesiastical were preached by the Apostles and confirmed by mracles they are to be excluded from being the rule of faith Parsons therefore is like to those which dig pits for others but fall into them themselues He hath prepared weapons for vs but like a mad sot hath hurt himselfe with the same Finally Captaine Cowbucke like a noble woodcocke is caught in his owne springes CHAP. IX A catalogue of certaine principall lies vttered by Robert Parsons in his late Warne-word THe Spirit of God as the Apostle sayth speaketh euidently that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith and shall giue heed vnto spirits of errour and doctrines of diuels which speake lyes through hypocrisie and haue their consciences burned with a hote yron Which prophecy as in other heretikes so especially in the Papists we may sée most plainely and euidently to be fulfilled For they departing from the auncient and Catholike faith taught by the holy Apostles and Prophets and recorded in holy Scriptures haue giuen héed to spirits of error and beléeued the trash of vnwritten traditions and lying legends and therupon haue founded their prohibitions of certaine meates and mariages and such like doctrines of diuels confirming their opinions with grosse lies vttered with seared consciences and brazen faces contrary to all shew of truth They take to themselues the name of doctors and fathers but are false teachers and vnkind traitors And as Theodoret saith of certaine heretikes Christianorum sibi appellatione imposita apertè docent contraria Calling themselues Christians or Catholikes they openly teach contrary I could specifie it by Caesar Baronius and Bellarmine by Sanders Stapleton and diuers other principall authors of the popish sect But I will not match any man of note with so notorious a dolt and so base a swad as Robert Parsons is of whom we are now to speake though not much to his commendation The onely example of Parsons and that in one of his fardles of lies which we are now to rip vp shall shew them to be notorious and bold lyers The diuellish and erronious doctrine of friars we haue touched before and shall haue often occasion to mention In the front of his booke he promiseth the issue of three former treatises and in the second page talketh of eight encounters But he falsifieth his promise and lieth grossely For of the thrée former treatises he toucheth onely two chapters and of eight encounters entreth onely vpon two Further he declineth the true issue of matters and runneth bias like a warped bowle of dudgeon into impertinent idle questions Doth he not therfore as Hierom saith of one make shipwwracke in the port In his Epistle to the Reader taking vpon him to deliuer the summe of the controuersie betwixt him and vs he wracketh himselfe likewise thinking to wreake his malice vpon vs and beginneth with a grosse lie There hapned saith he some few yeares past he noteth 1599. in the margent as often also before a certaine false alarme of a Spanish inuasion then said to be vpon the seas towards England Where I néed not to note the idiotisme of Parsons speech that talketh of a Spanish inuasion vpon the sea towards England being ellewhere noted but only I wil touch his impudencie in lying and dcnying that about this time the Spaniards were ready with forces at the Groyne for the inuasion of England And the rather for that this was the occasion that moued Sir Francis Hastings to giue warning to his countrey and also because the same sheweth that Parsons is very sorie that any man is acquainted with the desscines of the Spanish Ring and that he could not take vs sleeping and so closcly and priuiliy cut his countrimens throtes I say then it is a lie most notorious to affirme that the alarme giuen vpon occasion of the Spanish preparations anno 1598. for an inuasion of some part of England was false And proue it first by the words of the Ring who recouering out of a trance and comming to himself asked if the Adelantado were gone for England Secondly by the prouisions of ships and men made at the Groync and Lisbone and which coming thence shaped their course for England albeit they were by wether beaten back Thirdly by the testimony of one Leake a Masse priest that was dealt with all to come for England Fourthly by the testimonie of the Secular priests in their reply to Parsons his libell fol. 65. sequent who direaly charge Parsons to be a solicitor of these pretended attempts anno 1598. Fiftly by Parsons his