not so far as to evince the presence of your witnesses much less their speciall attention reflexion admiration or the like which are the fundations of a lasting memory for my witnes doth not mention the day Wherefore it was a worke not only of supererogation but superfluity that your superintending Brethren should put in their attestation that they sate in the Parliament begun at Wesminster the 3. day of Novemb. 1640. without giving some signe of their sitting or standing in Parliament the time of the speech Yet Mortons attestation is not only superflous but ridiculous A man that hath bin publickely manifestly and frequently convicted of most wilfull and most impudent lyes in his writings is grovvne so forgetfull not only of what he spoke but of what any man in his wits ought to speake that he delivers himself in these terms I could never have made such a speech as is there pretended and the proofe it excellent seeing y have ever spoken according to my thoughts and alvvays believed that fable of the Nagshead consecration to have proceeded from the father of lyes A deafe man might as well say he heard it with his heeles as that Morton should say he spoke according to his thoughts when he thought it convenient to speake otherwise And no lesse ridiculous industry was vsed in procuring a publique Notary and five witnesses to make men believe that the attestation is truly his owne not falsly fathered vpon him for no body doubted but he would give a most ample testimony for himself and his cause but no man that knowes him by his writings vvill give credit to any thing he sayeth in behalfe of religion Persuade the old man that you have found a new trick to make better vse of of the Nagshead consecration then that of Lambeth you shall have him with double number of witnesses avow the speech he hath disavowed For is it credible he feares a fevv private mens silent censure who hath hardned his face against the publicke reproach of as many schollers as read bookes of controversy But I shall present him and his fellowes to your eyes in their owne glasse that you may know them better by sight then by hearsay AN APPENDIX Of the wilfull and shamefull falsifications and falsities of Protestant Ministers I require no gentle and courteous nor so much as unpartial and unpassionate readers I am content with any partiality or passion provided that it doe not wholy deprive them of the use of their eyes and reason I give but a scantling and that in hast and out of such bookes I had at hand and what I found with litle seeking I am so assured by my owne experience of the plenty of this kinde of ware promiscuously to be found in the prime Protestant writers particularly in the English Nation that I fear no other reproach but of my sparing paines in collecting no greater heapes of this abominable filth to cause therby a wholsom though noysom detestation of that Religion which is vpheld by so vnchristian vnhumane Diabolical Policy I begin with Morton In a virulent and calumnious pamphlet intituled A discovery of Romish doctrinein case of conspiracy and rebellion pag. 4. he alleageth as an ancient decree out of Gracian Causa 15. qu. 6. c. 40. Si juravi me soluturum alicui pecuniam qui excommunicatur non teneor ei solvere first it is no decree either of Pope or Councel but only words of the glosse secondly it is an objection not the resolution of the glosse for it resolves that he is bound to pay and proves it by divers lawes and reasons In his treatise called a confutation of the Popes supremacy as supreame head of rebellion pag. 2. He affirmeth that in the old testament the Jesuits are forced to allow that the king was supreame head of the Church in spirituall affaires and ordering Priests and for proofe citeth Salmeran d. 12. in ep Pauli in gen § sed contra Where he doth not only cleerly hold but largly prove the quite contrary and solves the objections and further ads that in case it had bin so in the old it doth not follow that it is so in the new In his reply and full satisfaction concerning the charge against Protestants for rebellion c. pag. 3. he imputeth to Vasques that he holds a man may be an heretique though he be not obstinate wheras in the very disputation mentioned Vasques guieth this definition of heresy commonly received Haeresis nihil est aliud Disp 126. c. 3. quam error in rebus fidei cum partinacia and it is impossible that Morton should have bin ignorant of this notion of heresy so frequently taught and generally received and by Vasques expressely In the same booke pag. 38. Morton feigneth that divers Catholique authors hold that Popes cannot possibly be heretiques as Popes now for the conclusion and consequently cannot be deposed among these he brings Bellarmin and Gratian though Bellarmin directly teach that the Pope may be an heretique and therupon deposed by the Church or rather is ipso facto deposed and may be so declared by the Church and citeth the very canon of Gracian saying haereticum Papam posse judicari expressè habetur Can. si Papa dist 40. Morton citeth Azor for the same l. 5. c. 14. Valentia analy l. 8. c. 3. and Salmeron Cam. in Galat 2. d. 24. and Canus de locis l. 6. cap. 8. and Stapleton doctrin l. 6. initio And Costerus de Pontif. in Ench. c. 3. and yet all these in the very places teach plainly and flatly the very contrary And further he is not ashamed to ad that these authors confirme their doctrin by the universall consent of Romish Devines and Canonists for the space of 100. yeares whereas they boath teache the contrary to wit that the Pope may be heretique and deposed and innumerable others of that age true it is that God neyther hath nor will permit that any Pope though heretique in his private opinion should by publique decree ex cathedrâ define any heresy neither for any thing wee know out of history well examined can it be convinced that any Pope hitherto hath bin an heretique in his private perswasion albeit in this point there be different opinions which nothing at all belong to the present purpose But I must invite the reader at least for a pleasant entertainment if no higher motive can induce him to peruse Mortons discourse against Aequivocation and confer it with the answer contained in a booke intituled A treatise tending to Mitigation it will be no smale sporte I do not say to catch him napping in ignorant mistakes but to heare rapping loud lies one after an other in that very booke where he detesteth Aequivocation and professeth a most religious precisenes in point of truth For example he citeth Azor. l. 11. instit cap. 4. quite contrary to this meaning patching words to geather that were spoken seperatly and to an other end and falsly
therfore it was plotted that old Landaffe should be inveigled to give them a meeting in a Taverne where with good words and good cups they hoped to bring the old man to a good humour But God gave him grace to abstaine from a second scandal though himself had taken the oath of supremacy yet in his judgment he was à Catholique and more sensible of B. Bonners excomunication ready to be fulminated against him then D. Bramhall would have his Reader believe Now if we will add to this necessity the principles and inclinations of the persons that were to be ordeined Bishops we shall find there was nothing in the circumstances of the Taverne consecration which makes it incredible for the persons were of the opinion then à la Mode condemning consecration as a point not necessary for Ecclestical power though not te be refused for publique satisfaction and seeing no better could be had they thought it more expedient to have something presently which they might give out for Consecration then to expect longer for their benefices which was the buisnes they were about and sought vvith all care and speed to bring about 8. I must returne once more to M. Neale and complaine of your railing M. Doctor against a learned and honest man You call him a spie brainsick foole c. and despise his testimony because he was not sworne the credit which as wise men as you did give him is an argument that he was no foole and that he could well distinguish a Consecration dinner from an ordination such a mistake doth not much misbecome a Protestant Courtier as the Earle of Noting ham was but it can not be believed of such a Priest and a Lector of the University of Oxford as M. Neale I remember when you tooke vpon you in Bruges to confirme some eminent persons of the English Court many of the Courtiours were starled at so vnusual a ceremony as your confirmation seemed to them and were solicitous to know what it meant Why should not the Earle of Notingham be as ignorant of a Protestant consecration as the Courtiers of Bruges were of your ceremonious confirmation Especially seing confirmation should be given to all and therfore frequent Fitz. Simons in Britan. Pag. 317. where as Consecration of Bishops happens seldome 9 To M. Neale and other Catholiques eye vvitnesses of your Nagshead consecration cited by M. Constable may be added the testimony of all the Puritans who say that the profane Order and Ordination of Protestant Bishops in England Demonstrat disciplina cap. 8. §. 1. 2. pag. 43. had its beginning and progresse in a corner not in a congregation I hope the Archiopiscopal Chappell of Lambeth is no corner these words must allude to the Nagshead Taverne for no other place is heard of but these two and do prove that your Registers deserve no credit but that they were forged in a corner To the Puritans I will aggregate all your English Clergy in the beginning of K. Iames his reigne when Holiwood printed how D. Alabaster asked of M. Brancroft pretended Bishop of London how his first Superintendents Parker c. were consecrated he answered that he hoped in case of necessity a Priest might ordaine Bishops This answer demonstrats the truth of the Nagshead story and the forgery of your Records because all your Clergy did acquiesce to Brancroft answer not one of them had a word to oppose against F. Holivvoods booke and by their silence proved themselves our witnesses Qui tacet consentire videtur 10. Now M. Doctor that we have produced the grounds circumstances and witnesses of the Nagshead story and of your solemne consecration at Lambeth let vs compare one with the other that the Reader may judge which of both ought to be credited Our story of the Nagshead is grounded vpon a constant tradition of a hundred yeares betweene wise and sober persons which tradition can not be counterfeited because no human industry can reach or spread so farre as to speake the same thing by so different mouthes and interest as there are amongst our witnesses Catholiques Puritans and Protestants But the ground of your protestant consecration at Lambeth comes farre short of what yee intend to prove by it for your ground is your Register vvhich appeared not being called for neere a hundred yeares ago vntill the yeare 1613. And besides it might be as easely counterfeited as any other writing by one or fewe hands without the concurrence or conspiracy of so many hands heads and opposite interests as would have bin necessary for the counterfeiting of one Tradition So that as to the grounds of both stories ours is the more credible 11. As for circumstances which must relate to the place tyme and persons there is no doubt that our story hath the advantage The place of your pretended consecration Lambeth vvas never named even in your Hanovv Register vntill 1613. Our story named the Nagshead Taverne from the beginning As for the persons their conscience and religion we have also the better for you have seene how litle in those dayes your religion valued Ordination and your first Bishops conscience could make no scruple to act and receive in a Taverne what they judged to be no act of religion As for the danger of Premunires or other penalties they could not feare any having in their comission an ample dispensation to do what they pleased against the Statutes and Canons as hath bin demonstrated in the 2. Chap. And finaly the last circumstance which is of time and persons doth so divide the relations of your writers vvho speake of this consecration at Lambeth that their contradictions are a sufficient proofe of your forged records because relations drawne out of true records can not vary in the names and nomber of persons in the month or day which of course are expressed with great exactnes You can find no such contradictions in the Nagshead story 12. But now let vs reflect vpon the number and quality of the witnesses Ours are not only M. Neale but others of most intire credit spectators of the Nagthead Consecration as M. Constable writ in their owne life times neere a hundred yeares ago but yee never named any eyewitnesse but one the Earle of Notingham eyther dead when he was cited or if alive in a manner and lesse credible then if he had bin dead Our eye witnesses related the story of the Nagshead to D. Watson Bishop of Lincolns D. Bluet D. Haberley M. Constable John Stow to the Priests prisoners at Wisbich c. but your one witnesse never related the story of Lambeth to any that had a name but only is sayd by M. Mason to have told it to a namelesse friend Our witnesses published the story of the Nagshead in the very beginning as soone as it happened but your Witnesse never published that of Lambeth but told it privatly to a friend as if forsooth it had bin a secret or a prejudice to his Church
too well knowne in those dayes to be called in question and not only then but even in the beginning of King James his reigne when F. Sacrobosc Lib. de investiganda Christi Ecclesia Cap. 4. edit 1603. Holiwood objected it in print an 1603. to all your protestant Clergy and confirmed it by the testimony and confession of D. Bancroft then living being actualy in place of Bishop of London Yet no certificats appeared to contradict the story or Bancrofs acknowledgment none to convince the Puritans objection What reason could there be of this silence and patience but cleere evidence of what you now so confidently deny so that you see M. Doctor how this stir which you have made about Mortons vindication doth prove the truth of your Nagshead Consecration and that your certificats to disprove my Lord Audleys testimony reflect vpon more then you did designe or desire and totaly destroy the plea of your forged Registers But let vs heare what he saith for himselfe in his ovvne words Having seene a booke intituled the Consecration Succession of Protestant Bishops c. particularly perused that Chapter calld the Vindication of the Bishop of Durham I finde my self reflecting of some expressions therein the Bishop of Derry author obliged to say something as concerned so have desired place here for a few linies Who the Author of the treatise of Catholique faith c. fixeth on to prove his allegations touching the Bishop of Durhams speech I know not for he told me of it before ever I spoke to him but sure I am if it be looked after he may have sufficient testimony to satisfy half a douzen juries but that which stirs me to speake in this matter is a note I have at the request of the Bishop of Derry given him vnder my hand wherein I say in substance the same with the Author touching the Bishop of Durhams speech as for the booke against Episcopacy which was the ground of the discourse my note only avers it was brought into the howse but said not by whome nor who was the author in truth I wondered much to finde that the Bishop of Durham doth deny this speech for I can not remember that ever I heard of or read the story of the Nagshead till that day in Parlament of my Lord of Durham then I heard it from him and this I say as I shall answeare it before the judgement seat of God Allmighty And I doe not remember that ever I heard the Bishop of Lincolne or any other Bishop before or since mention the Nagshead or touch that story if I had not named him my Lord of Durham mought have just reason to complaine but my Lord of Derry will not beleeve that I for I can not but take it to my self doe or ever did know the Bishop of Durham so well as to sweare this was the man If his Lordship had bin an English Bishop an frequented Parliaments he would have omitted this Not to multiply vvordes I can assure his Lordsp I could as well surely have sworen this is the man the Bishop of Durham as his Lordship could of Sir George Ratclif when he lived Besides his person place of the Bishops bench is too eminent to be mistaken An other expression of my Lord of Derry is I do not take my self to be so exact Analyser of a discourse as to be able to take my oath what vvas the true scope of it Here likevvyse I must beg his Lordships pardon I knovv no such defect in my self for there is not any thing more easy then to comprehend the true cope of a short a plaine Historicall discourse as this was to conclude as to the Bishop of Durhams denial I hope that confessing him self novv of the age of 95. yeares it vvill be held no crime to say or improbable to beleeve that one of that grear age may at least forget vvhat he spake so many yeares since For the tvvo cerficats of the other Lords that of the temporall saith litle to my Lord of Derryes purpose neither with an indifferent judgment can that of the spirituall worke much For my part I doe not say that any or all their Lordships whose names are put to the certificats in the booke were in the Howse at this time or if any of them were that they tooke notice of what my Lord of Durham spake for many discourses are made in Parlaments litle notice taken of them neither had I of this but that it was to me a new thing The Clarque of the Parliament is all so brought in to certify though as to my note his paines mought have bin spared for I doe not mention a booke presented and consequently none to be recorded and as for speeches I doe assure his Lordship in the authority of an old Parliament man that it is not the office of the Clarque to recorde them his worke would be too great till it be a result or conclusion then he writes them downe as Orders Ordinances c. of Parliament I vvill end this short faithfull defence which I have bin here necessitated to make for my self vvith many thanks to my Lord of Derry for his charity opinion of my ingenuity seing his Lordships inclination in this matter is to absolve me from a malicious lye I vvill absolve my self as to the mistakes either in the person or matter assuring his Lordship all the vvorld there is none 3. Though this relation and testimony given by my Lord Audley doth not only cleere me from casting any aspertion vpon D. Monton but also makes the whole speeche layd to his charge sufficiently credible one positive witnesse with such circumstances proving more then many negative and it being more probable that D. Morton or any other in the Parliament should forget then my Lord Audley feigne such a story without any possible designe or profit yet I must vindicate my selfe from the note of credulity rashnesse overmuch confidence and formal calumly fixed vpon me by D. Bramhall for believing my Lord Audley and publishing his relation Is it credulity or rashnesse good M. Doctor to believe a person of honour Pag. 26. and of so greate ingenuity as you confesse my Lord Audley to be and no man of honour can deny in a matter wherof he had as cleere evidence and hath as perfect memory as is possible for any man to have of any object by the acts of his senses and understanding He protesteth before God and man that he never heard any thing of the Nagshead consecration till then and that the novelty of the story made him very attentive that he remembers the individual circumstances of the place where D. Morton stood his posture and all other actions wherwith he accompanied his speech and that after D. Morton had finished the same he asked a Lord of knowne reputation and wisedome whether the first protestant Bishops had bin ordained in a Taverne and that he
translateth in to English that very text of Azor. which himself citeth in the margen The words in latin are Si venit ex loco aliquo peste minimè infecto qui falsò habetur pro infecto Which Morton turnes thus into English if he com from a place infected But truely translated make the case wholy different and are these if he came from a place not infected which falsely is held to be infected But he is not only content to be convicted of vnexcusable falsehood by men that study moralists but even by schoolboys that read Tullies offices in his 90. page he doth so grossely pervert the sense change the words and distroy the whole drift of Tullies discourse l. 3. offic § Regulus and § sed si that it is a wonder to see what impudensy growes from a custom of lying These are but a few examples of the many detected by the aforesaid Treatise of Mitigation and an other called A quiet and sober reckoning with Thomas Morton by the reading wherof and conferring each particular with the bookes cited every one may in a short time and no great trouble judge by his eyes whether I have reason to except against such a witnes in his owne cause and what reason there is to follow so wilfully and wickedly blind leaders But I cannot but wonder at one circumstance that after Morton had gained reputation by this practise he was promoted to the title and profits of a Bishopricke purchasing by a new kind of fimony not with buying but with lyeing a rich benefice I Bellarmin or Perron could have bin convicted of this false and base proceeding either before or after their Cardinals caps what a noyse would have bin when we heare such a clamour vpon that which is not proved but only pretended to be a credulous mistake Yet when I consider John Foxes Acts and Monuments the very Magazin of no lesse malicious then ridiculous lies to have got so honorable a place in Protestant Churches and that not by vulgar simplicity but by publick authority not by connivence or negligence but vpon designe and by command when I see this abomination hath stood so long in the holy place I wonder no more at Mortons promotion nor at whole Nations deceaved by Mahomets Alcoran If I should insist vpon the number of those that by commaund or concurrence are guilty of the falsehood of Foxes booke I should accuse many more then I am by this present occasion obliged but the Ministers I cannot excuse vpon any title for although they be of meane learning and no extraordinary reading yet the falsities are so numerous and obvious that it is impossible but many should have fallen under the observation of most And by the booke of the three Conversions of England and the Examen of Foxes Calender which have bin printed almost threescore yeares since and have come to the hands of many Protestant Ministers this Foxes fowle worke hath bin so plainly discovered that those who have seen it if they had least zeale or love or care of truth ought to have informed their Brethren and not to have permitted any Christian Religion to be longer prophaned with so publick a slaunder and shame of Christianity Should a renegate Captive tell his maister that the sect amongst Christians which he had bin taught was maintained by such false and shamfull practises he would easily gaine Credit of a true Proselite turned Turke vpon conscience and not convenience I need not set downe Foxes impostures for you shall see them in the forsaid bookes so grosse and thick set one by another that it will be harder to make a way through them then find the way to them I will passe my word the Author does him no wrong and the reader vpon his owne examination will take my word in an other occasion But to returne to Morton now with a white Rochet on his backe but with as little ingenuity and candour of mind as before The imposition of those unhallowed hands hath not imprinted the least marke of grace in his soule or shame in his forehead In the grand imposture writ by him then B. of Cov. and Lichf pag. 85. edit 2. he sets doune a large and lying description of the Inquisitions cruelty and addes So your Authour And who do you thinke is this Author but Cornellius Agrippa a Magitian as himself confesseth of himselfe And where doth he write what heer is alleaged against vs In a booke condemned by our Church Not a word of these circumstances but only that he is our Author to make the Reader believe he is one we have no reason to except against You had better take him to your selfe for his blacke art is of the same colour with yours and taught by one maister who esteems you the better scholler having done more mischiefe with your false jugling then Agrippa with his conjuring Now pag. 388. the same jugling trick over againe Marke the ensuing words Els why is it that your owne Thuanus speaking of this separation Viz of Luther sayd that some in those days layd the fault vpon the Pope Leo More fully your Cassander an Author selected in those days by the King of the Romans as the chiefest divine of his And pag. 385. He cals Thuanus our noble Historian Who knows nothing of Thuanus but by this mans relation would take him to be not only a sound unsusspected Catholique but of special regard amongst vs wheras both our common opinion and his owne Annals prove him a Hugonot But besides falsely reporting him for a Catholic he is plainly falsified in these very places alleaged In the first he speaks not of Luthers separation but of the election of Prelats in France and in the 2. where he speaks of benefices Morton makes him speake of Indulgences in both places evidently against his cleere words which read as they stand in Thuanus have not the least shadow of ambiguity But the makeing Cassander ours and our chiefest Devine being listed in our Index of forfidden bookes amongst the Heretiques of the first ranke and his owne writings accusing him not only of the general heresies of these times but of others also particular to himself is not only a shamles but senseles imposture It is a labour too loathsom to dig any longer in this filthy dunghil of corruptions And it is a madnes in any man that already knowes Morton by his notoriously impudent lying bookes or before he take knowledge of him vpon this admonition to give the lest credit to any thing he shal say write signe or sweare concerning Religion as being convicted by his owne writings to have lost all remorse of conscience all feare of reproach from men or punishment from God Did he believe there is a God who hath prepared a Hel of torments for those who maintaine a division in the Church by so many wilfull impostures and seriously intended to prevent the scourge of his heavy hand could he stand gazing vpon his grave at