not assigne vs a Superiour without our priuity and consent we take it to be more then all our aduersaries can proue that we euer spake And as for the citing of the g Dist. 61. ca. Nullus inuitis dist 63. ca. si in plebibus ca. 1. de electione Canons that permit or authorize the Cleargie to chuse their Superiour they were not cited by any of vs to the end to proue that his Holinesse could not appoint vs a Superiour without asking our voices or acquainting vs first with the dessigne but were only alleaged to shew that it was a custome receiued in holy Church not yet discontinued euery where that the Cleargy should haue the chusing of their owne Superiour and which being a fauour allowed to many by the Sea Apostolicke and by censure of common reason a great furtherance to peace and of electing the fittest person we could not thinke if his Holinesse had bene rightfully informed but that his pastorall loue and benignitie would haue graunted vs venturing our liues as we do for the primacy of his seate and oppressed with many sorts of afflictions the chusing of our Superiour or at least not to haue giuen as the Constitutiue Letter specifieth the perpetuall election of him to the Cardinall Protector a stranger vnto vs vnacquainted with the difficulties of our countrey and distant by more then a thousand miles from vs. To this end were the Canons alleaged as the circumstances and drift of the places where they are alleaged do witnesse And therefore we cannot but feare a sinister intention in father Parsons and in our other aduersaries that thus adde to and wrest our wordes to the sense and purpose which themselues like best But to returne The Constitutiue Letter giueth also authoritie to our Archpriest to take away faculties granted by whom soeuer and he hath de facto taken away such faculties from some of vs as his Holinesse himselfe immediatly gaue to the parties from whom he took them A larger iurisdiction then any Metropolitane Patriarke or legate Cardinal in the world hath as we thinke adioyned to his person or office Which supereminencie together with the reasons aforegoing seemeth most apparantly to enforce that M. Blackweâ—â— cannot be but reputed such a superiour Prelate as is intended by the words of the Extrauagant Episcopi alij Prelati superiores quocunque nomine conseantur Bishops and other superiour Prelates by what name soeuer they are called Or if we should denominate the authoritie according as it is practised we must needes cal it a high prelacy because it either dispenseth with the law of God nature and man or violateth the same IT either dispenseth with the law of God or violateth the same because what God commaundeth our Archpriest forbiddeth for example God commandeth Libera eum qui iniuriam patitur deliuer him Eccl. 4. who suffereth iniurie Againe Liberate vi oppressum de â—nanu calumniatoris Ier. 22. Deliuer ye the violently oppressed from the hand of the calumniator Prou. 24. And in another place Erue illos qui ducuntur ad mortem Rescue them who are vniustly lead to death But now our Archpriest prohibiteth vnder heauy penalties euen when our good names were rather in the act of dying then in leading to death and after the Vniuersitie of Paris had giuen sentence for vs not onely our lay friends or our fellow Priests but also our ghostly fathers who by priuiledge of that office knew saw and were feelingly sure of the wrong and calumniation obiected to defend vs by word or writing directly or indirectly although they were bound by the foresaid law of God and by the right of truth charitie and h Nau. in Manu ca. 24. nu 17. 18 22 ca. 14. n. 10. Decretum 18. Octob. 1600. §. 4. iustice to speake in our purgation The words of our Archpriests decree and prohibition were these Prohibemus in virtute sanctae obedientiae omnibus praesbyteris etiam sub pâ—na suspensionis atque interdicti quortâ—m absolutionem nâ—bisipsis reseruamus addo ettam amissionis omnium facultatum ipso facto incurrendarum Laicis verò sub poena interdicti ipso quoque facto incurrendi ne quisquam illam praeteritam inobedientiam vnde tanta inter nos extiti pacis perturbatio quouis modo verbo vel scripto directè vel indirectè defendâ—re praesumat We prohibite all Priests in vertue of holy obedience and vnder paine of suspension interdict the absolution of which we retaine to our selues I adde also vnder paine of leesing all faculties to be incurred in the deede it selfe and the laity vnder paine of interdict to be likewise presently incurred that no one any maner of way in word or in writing directly or indirectly presume to defend the foresaid disobedience past which bred so great contention among vs. Which part of our Archpriests decree may seeme the more seuere §. 3. in that he himselfe in the paragraph next before hauing sentenced and denounced to the whole Realme that we were truly and really disobedient to the Sea Apostolicke and rebellious against his office instituted by the same Sea would immediatly after the condemnation bearing no more truth then the foregoings haue shewed forbid vs and all others in the manner as is set downe not to defend that disodience by name Which â—red so great contention among vs which as the whole world knows was for that we would not yeeld our selues guiltie of the crimes and most grieuous abhominations that were obiected and maintained by the Societie and their adherents against vs. And indeede had not father Lyster father Garnet and father Iones with some other most dispiteously and alike vniustly massacred our good names or our Archpiest not approued and patronized their infinite wrongs done against vs vndoubtedly all had bene at quiet long since and neuer growen to the thousand part of that most rufull excesse to which the violent prosecution of their wrongs and the vnconscionable seeking to oppresse vs by strong hand haue caried the contention and do still alas increase and nourish the flame Saint i Prima par titu tâ—rtio c. 10 §. 10. reg 4. Antonine k In ca. cum conting it de rescriptis remed 2. nu 30. in manu c. 1. 27. nu 282. Nauar and other l Albert. Magnus Panormit Imola Felinus Alexander Neâ—o IoaÌ„nes Andreas Dominicus Perusius cited in the places aforesaid authors of greatest name affirme that a man may with safe conscience follow and practise that which one Doctour of fame resolueth to be lawfull so that it be neither repugnant to the authoritie of expresse Scripture nor decree of holy Church as we trow the censure of Paris is not nor will our aduersaries euer proue it to be Againe m Tom primo q. 63. art 4. contro 2. conclu 4. vers est hic idem colligitur ex tomo 2. in disp de trib vest ar 3. contro
question of his Graces authority or looking for further proofe then the testimony of his owne word for warrantise therof but such truthes must haue like proues To end all in few words we aske our aduersaries what is our dutie to do if the laity shall refuse to beleeue one two or moe of vs to be Priestes and will not haue communion in diuine Seruice and Sacraments with vs as with Priestes vntill we shew them our Letters of orders or shall otherwise according to law proue our selues to be men of that calling Will they out of their wisedome and charitie giue vs other counsell then to haue patience in the interim and to procure with most conuenient speede satisfaction and legall testimony to their doubts and exceptions No truly well then we not holding our selues bound to admit the subordination vpon credence of the Cardinals word vntill such time as his Grace had either shewed the rescript of the delegation or proued his verball commission or obtained from his Holinesse a confirmation of the authoritie erected what was the part of our Archpriest the societie their adherents to do in this point not as ours was in the former to patient our bearing off and procure so soone as they could one of the foresaid proues for our due satisfaction either a sight of the Commission it selfe or an authentical proofe thereof or else some Papall instrument for testimonie of that which his Grace had brought into our Church and imposed vpon vs. It cannot be denied the cases being alike or rather our case infinitely more demaunding that right of iustice And if this had bene their dutie as the lots changed it would soone haue bene proclaimed then what thankes did we deserue in sauing them that labour and charges and vndertaking to our great cost the discharge of that businesse for them We desire not to be our owne iudges neuerthelesse can we thinke but that our paines therein craued a gentler recompence at their hands then to imprison those that were sent about the businesse and not only to imprison them a thing neuer heard of as we thinke since S. Peter sate first in the Chaire the nature of the affaire considered but to raise most fabulous and sinfull reports of them and dub both them vs with the surnames of all impietie as of faction emulation ambition scandall rebellion highest sacriledge disallegiance to the Sea Apostolicke renegacie from the spouse of Christ and of what not implying turpitude in this kind A strange requitall and so strange as inhumanitie it selfe could hardly deale lesse charitably or more vnconscionably with vs had we bene Iewes or Turkes and the onely drosse of either nation but our Lord Iesus giue vs euer his grace to possesse our soules in patience and incline our disturbers to reuerse at length their most vncharitable slanders the cause and continuing occasion of all the scandalous broile among vs past present and to come We haue bene the longer in refuting this weake and vngrounded reason because not onely the vulgar but father Holthy in his discourse of the 30. of Iune 1601. and diuerse other both of the Laitie and Cleargie Secular and Religious haue it most frequently in their mouths and enforce the obiection as a most mightie and choking argument to conuince what they most ignominiously burden vs withal A Fourth reason that our oppositours bring for proofe and maintenance of the crimes they impute vnto vs is the fewnesse of our number being as father a In his said discourse the 30. of Iune Holthy writeth but twelue or thirteene in all or as b Doctour Haddock and M Array in the libel dated the 10. of Ianuary 1599. giuen vp to the two Cardinals Protector and viceprotector against M. Bishop and M. Charnocke other make the account but ten and c In his letter to M. Bishop the 9. of October 1599. and in the Apologie after father Parsons manner of numbring vs much fewer then ten First let vs admit that these men write a truth as how farre their wordes swarue from all truth it commeth after to be examined yet we are to demaund of them and the rest of our impugners who think the fewnes of our number matter euidence cleere enough to condemne vs by whether the cause we stand in be naught in that we are but fiue ten or twelue which defend it If they say yea as they must or else bewray their own reason then must it follow by force of the same reason that the cause of S. Thomas of Canterbury in defence whereof d Gulielm Neubrigensis lib. 2. ca. 16. no one Bishop adhered vnto him in the whole Realme nay all subscribed to the Articles he stood against was treasonable rebellious or vnlawfull then the cause that Bishop Fisher died for and the causes that infinite other of great Holinesse maintained hauing fewer and incomparably fewer of the cleargie vnited to them in open defence of the same then are now or were at first of our companie were likewise either treasonable or rebellious or vnlawfull which we are sure our aduersaries will not say and yet they cannot but say it if they stand to the triall of the reason they make against it or shall not acknowledge the vnsoundnesse or inualiditie thereof For further satifaction in this point we refer our aduersaries to the dayly iudgement which experience maketh the surest confutation of all other whether the small number of open defendants especially when the sword of authoritie is drawne against the matter or action defended as it is in our case be a sufficient warrantie in conscience for any one of vnderstanding to infer that the cause they stand in is wicked or vngodly or not meete for men of quiet natures or Priests to be seen in Verily the question is so cleare and demonstrated by dayly experience as he that should make doubt hereof might not amisse seem to haue liued out of the world nothing being more frequent in the world then for truth to find fewest defenders when authoritie humane fauour and temporall gaine be her impugners But to vnderprop this weake reason founded vpon our small number father Holthy fortifieth and gildeth the matter in this wise It is Pag. 2. 5. well inough knowne saith he that those who receiued the authoritie farre exceeded the other who deferred their obedience not onely in number being twentie for one but in all things else setting their presumptuous minds and busie heads â—side And it is too too cleare that the refusall came not either of ignorance or infirmitie but of plaine malice of an obstinate will not to obey and from a proud presumptuous mind and seditious spirite Also it is manifest that some of the best among them were euer noted for busie and seditious spirites yea no one of their chiefest almost but he was noted with some particular fault or exception but among their brethren who embraced their authoritie there were many which
things done to the contrarie His wordes in the latter decree these Vt omnes occasio in posterum tollatur vel minimae litis de hac praeterita controuersia commouendae quoniam ex literis nostrae institutionis datis Romae die 7. Martij 1598. potestas nobis concessa est de dubijs ac controuersis inter nos exorientibus determinandi eaeque literae à S mo D. N. die 6. Aprilis 1599. confirmatae sunt omniaque singula illis literis contenta de expresso mandato ordine cum participatione certa scientia sua facta ordinata fuisse declarante adeo vt suum plenarium effectum sortiri plenissimam roberis firmitatem obtinere debeant atque irritum mane sit quicquid secus per quoscunque commissarios aut iudices attentari scienter vel ignoranter contigerit propterea nos ex authoritrte hac nobis à S mo D. N. commissa pronuntiamus declaramus primas illas literas institutionis nostrae omnes Catholicos in Anglia verè obligasse eosque quinostrae authoritati scienter quouis modo repugnarunt verè inobedientes fuisse sedi Apostolicae in nostrum officium per eandem sedem institutum rebelles The English That al occasioÌ„ hereafter may be takeÌ„ away eueÌ„ of mouing the least strife of this controuersie past because by the Letters of our institution giuen at Rome the 7. of March 1498. authority is graunted vnto vs to determine the doubts and controuersies that rise betweene vs and these letters were confirmed by his Holinesse the sixth of Aprill 1599. and declaring all and singular the things contained in these letters to haue bene done and ordained by his expresse commaundement and order and with his participation and certaine knowledge in so much as they ought to haue their fullest effect and obtaine greatest firmenesse and that it be voide and of no validity whatsoeuer shall happen otherwise to be assaied wittingly or ignorantly by what Commissioners or Iudges soeuer Therefore we by this authority committed vnto vs by his Holinesse do pronounce and declare these first letters of our institution really to haue bound all the Catholikes in England and those who wittingly any maner of way impugned our authoritie to haue bene truly disobedient to the Sea Apostolicke and rebellious against our office instituted by the same Sea The words he vseth in the dimissorie and refutory letters are these Manifestum est quod ipsorum progressus etiam ante Breue Apostolicum in grauem condemnationem Romae duorum Ill morum Cardinalium etiam suae S t is iudicio prolapsi fuerint It is manifest that their proceedings he meaneth our delay and sending to Rome euen before the comming of the Apostolicall Breue were sharply condemned at Rome by the sentence of two most illustrious Cardinals and also by the iudgement of his Holinesse Were not our deseruings very ill if these things be true Or being vntrue was not our superiour forgetfull in reporting after this maner that is vntruly of the Cardinals vniustly of his Holinesse and most wrongfully against vs his subiects and brethren None can deny it Let vs then examine the matter and see whether the reports be true or no. And here first we protest that we cannot coniecture the reason why his Reuerence calleth maister Doctor Bishop and maister Charnocke two Embassadours by which name they are also stiled in the Appendix considering they were imprisoned before they were Fol. 22. heard and after exiled a part and confined in their exile a kind of intreaty which was neuer vsed by that Sea towards any Embassadours if towards any other person To thinke our Superiour vsed the word as a mocke placing it as he did in a publike Decree seemeth so much or infinitely to derogate from the grauity requisite as we cannot well admit the thought albeit we know not what other meaning he could haue But to let this passe and come to what is more materiall After the condeÌ„nation at Rome of the two Embâ—ssadors together with all their complices here we are verie sure that our greatest aduersaries themselues will not say that there passed any other condemnation vpon our two brethren at Rome or elsewhere saue that sentence only which the two Cardinals Caietane and Burghesio gaue in writing vnder their names and in this there is no mention made of their complices nor any word in the whole sentence that can in the least maner sound that way And to the end we be not our owne iudges but that other may see the truth as well as our selues the sentence is verbatim set downe and after translated into English R do in Christo P. Rectori vel Vicerectori Collegij Anglorum de vrbe Decretum Ill orum Cardinalium Caietani Burghesij de causa Gul. Bishopi Rob. Charnochi REuerende in Christo pater vti frater Cum audita his dâ—ebus atque examinata duorum sacerdâ—tum Anglorum causa nobis à S mo commissa Guli mmirum Bishopi Rob. Charnochi qui sanctitatis suae iussu per menses aliquot in isto Collegio detenti fuerunt visum nobis fuisset nullo modo causae Anglicanae expedire vt dicti presbyteri statim ad eas partes reuertantur vbi controuersias cum alijs sui ordinis hominibus exercuerunt idipsum modo re cum S mâ— collata eiusque desuper voluntate iterum explorata decernendum atque statuendum duximus Quâ—propter praefatis Guli Rober sacerdotibus S â—â— suae nostróque nomine ordinamus ac in virtute sanctae obedientiae sub paena suspensionis à diuinis ipso facto incurrendae alijsque censuris paenisque S mâ— D. N. iudicio iâ—fligendis strictè praecipimus vt nisi de expressa S â—â— suae aut Ill â—â— Cardinalis Protectoris licentia Angliae Scotiae vel Hiberniae regâ—a pro tempore adire non presumant sed apud alias Regiones Catholicas quibus à nobis praescriptum eis suit quietè pacificè ac religiosè viuent curentque tam literis quam nuncijs alijsque modis omnibus quibus possunt pax vnioque inter Catholicos Anglicanos tam domi quam foris conseruetur Quae si ipsi verè ac rebus ipsis praestiterint citius deinde licentia reuertendi restitui eis poterit Haec vero interim legitimè ab eis obseruari fidelitèrque executioni mandari praecipimus hoâ—que nostro nomine R tia V a eis significet Datum Romae ex adibuâ— nostris die 21. Aprilis 159â— R a V ae Vti frater H. C lis Caietanus Protector Vti frater C. Carlis Burghesius The English To the reuerend in Christ Father Rector or Vicerector of the Colledge of the English in the Citie The Decree or definitiue sentence of the most Illustrious Cardinals Caietaine and Burghesio in the cause of William Bishop and Robert Charnocke REuerend father in Christ as our brother Whereas of late by commission from his Holinesse we haue heard and examined the cause of
I would vpon such good grounds as he did haue accepted and exercised the same with out testimonie of a Breue to confirme it I thus answere in few words I confesse I knew not of certaintie what I should haue done if the accident had so fallen out but if you will haue my coniecture and what my thoughts now giue me I do verily perswade my selfe that if I had made and set downe in writing the like reasons in the disallowance reproofe of the other kind of gouernment before intended as Maister Blackwell did and so greatly to his owne liking I should not doubtlesse so at the first and with like applause haue admired and congratulated the authoritie For what one reason did his Reuerence alleage in mislike of the gouernment he impugned and went against which did not conclude as much and as directlie against this subordination which his complying with the Iesuites and actioning for them as beside other To the Cardinall Protector testimonie his letter of the first of Ianuary beareth witnes haue solicited and procured to himselfe The chiefe reason he vsed and which carried most weight was that we Seminarie priests hauing liued now in England more then twentie yeares in great peace and with like fruit of our labours without any superioritie constituted among vs it could not be thought either wisedome or pollicie or other then extreme follie if after so long experience of a happie state we should goe about to ordeine a subordination and therefore he for his part did condemne and would euer be against any such innouation during the present suite and afflictions of our Countrie Againe when Maister Blackwell reasoned with me in this matter among other exceptions he insisted most in this that the kind of gouernment purposed was very defectiue preiudiciall and faultie in that it did assigne but one onely Superiour ouer all the Priests throughout the whole Realme adding that if he should liue to the conuersion of our countrie he would for so much as should lye in him solicite that the Bishopricks might be deuided into moe Sees for that as he then affirmed the Dioces were greater and the vnder-pastors moe in number then the trauels of one man could well gouerne And therefore admit quoth he that we should haue a Superiour appointed yet it were most vnmeete that there should be but one made in the whole Realme By that which is said I would say that how desirous soeuer you or others thinke me of authoritie a fault of which mine owne conscience doth not much reprehend me and I thanke my Lord Iesu for the grace I should not hauing before vsed the like reasons and speeches haue accepted of the authoritie in the manner that Maister Blackwell did or if so I had with most ioy accepted thereof yet without all peraduenture I should not before the receipt of a Breue or other Apostolicall instrument alike violently haue inforced the submission of my bretheren thereunto with like speede with like constraint with like condemnation and wrack of their good names and trouble of no fewer as I thinke then of a thousand soules To make an end I let passe vnanswered the exception you amplifie against me for writing that you were in times past beholding vnto me and that you spared not to interpret the words in the sence that was furthest from my meaning and thereupon also to inferre that most pleased your selfe For my leaue-taking I pray you if you write againe which I do not desire that you would write more to the purpose and with fewer failes or not to mislike if I omit to aunswere you Fare you well Ianuary 29. 1600. Yours in charitie I. Colleton I Hope the truth of the contents but especially the nature of the occasions which inforced me to write being the defence of my vnguiltines do sufficientlie of themselues without other iustification cleere me from blame or vndoubtedly from that manifest kind of blame as might iustly or colourably induce our Arch-priest to lay so heauie censures vpon me without so much as citing me before or examining the particulars and such proofes as I could make of that I had written This I trust is so euident to common sense and palpable to the dullest vnderstanding that it were wast labour to dilate thereof and greater idlenes to stand to confirme it by authorities For against whom should the imputatiue offence be cōmitted Not against the lay Gentleman to whom I wrote for I did but aunswere to what he obiected and if I may be my owne iudge in no degree of like quicknes as his accusations or truer his egging slaunders did patterne vnto me not against father Parsons vnlesse the man must be alike priuiledged that what soeuer he say or do and how vsurpingly soeuer he shall prosecute and inlarge the same all notwithstanding must be bound vnder the present clapping on of Censures not to touch no not in a priuate letter his least imperfections albeit they smart neuer so deepely through his intemperate humor not against father Lyster and his soothers because I repeated but their owne words and such as themselues diuulged both here and in other places beyond the seas with great applause of their ignorant fauorites And if against Maister Blackwell as I do not see how it can be so taken because in one point I wrote no more then his Reuerence affirmed vnto me and in the other I sayd only what my selfe should not haue done as my thoughts then gaue me if so I had bin in his place yet the iniury I did him being properly against himselfe he could not by the a 4. q. 4. Ca. 1. 23. q. inter quaerelas Cannons of holie Church be iudge in his owne cause and inflict the punishment A transgression whereof Saint Gregory reprehended the Bishop Ianuarius with no lesse words then these Nihil te ostendas de caelestibus cogitare sed terrenam te conuersationem Epist 34. habere significas dum pro vindict a propriae iniuriae quod sacris regulis prohibetur maledictionem anathematis inuexisti Si tale aliquid denuo feceris in te scias postea vindicandum You shew that you haue no thought of heauenly things but signifyes an earthlie conuersation whilest for reuengement of your owne peculiar iniurie which holie rules forbid you impose the curse of excommunication If you shall do the like againe know that punishment must be done vpon you And thus hauing briefely shewed that my letter could not be iustly a cause of the censures and penalties inflicted for that it neither wrought nor inferred a correspondent iniury to any person therein specified I will discend to the other cause which as yet remayneth vnexamined The third and last cause which our Arch-priest alleageth for suspending interdicting and redoubling the reuocation of my faculties is for that there were three names subscribed to the Appeale and the Priests whose names they were denyed to haue consented to the letter or causes
immundo quid mundabitur à mendace quid Eccle. 34. verum dicetur What shall be cleansed by the vncleane and what truth can be spoken by a lyer Which words as well the ordinarie glosse as Lyra and other expositours do appropriate to the Diuell onely and can be verified of none other and much lesse of a Priest who how wicked and abhominable soeuer his inward life be yet doth he ministeriouslie cleanse either when he baptiseth or absolueth and although the Diuell sometimes telleth truth yet because he neuer telleth truth but to the end to deceiue and for that such actes q D Th. 1. 2. q. 1. art 3. q. 19. art 4. 6. 7. 2. 2. q 43. art 3. q. 64. art 7. take their denomination of the end therefore the Diuell alwayes intending deceipt no truth as holie Scripture affirmeth can be expected from him Which kind of habituate and obdurate wickednes and reprobation being not to be found in any mortall man the place can not be truly spoken of any but of the Diuell and if of none except the Diuell doubtlesse his Reuerence shewed either much splene or some ignorance in applying this sentence to me whom yet he hath not proued to be of so infectious vncleannesse and lying spirit as that I defile whatsoeuer I haue hand in and can tell no truth but to the end to beguile Let the premisses and other his writings be pondered which are not scant in his letters and I do not doubt but that my reioynders will seeme as temperate and respectiue as reason dutie and priestlie mildnes did bind me vnto To end this point I do not remember that euer I mentioned any Superiour in my letters to him saue onely father Garnet neither him in any reprochfull or contumelious manner which maketh me the more to muse with what libertie of penne and conscience his Reuerence could pretend and diuulge the taking away of my faculties to be for writing letters vnto him full of contention or calumniation against other Superiours when I neuer touched in my said letters but one onely and him after no vnseemely manner his approbation of father Listers treatise and the nature of his owne assertions considered which were very false iniurious and shameleslie detractiue against me in particular as the specialties of the Appeale do testifie The fourth cause that our Arch-priest giueth for depriuing me of my faculties is for that euen at the instant when he tooke them from me I attempted many things against peace This he saith but doth not specifie wherein nor would his Reuerence when after I wrote vnto him to know the particulars answere me a word The truth was that vnderstanding our intention to appeale from him and thinking Maister Mush and my selfe to be two of the chiefest in the action he knew no meanes how better to take his peniworths of vs before-hand then to disfurnish vs of our faculties And to cloake the reuenge his Reuerence deuised the foresaid foure causes with a coople etceteraes as loope holes to let in what he or his friends could afterwards espie out of more truth or moment against vs. But let our encountering of father Listers paradoxe and our withstanding the imputation of enormous disobedience be exempted which conscience bounden respect of our good names tyed vs vnto and the whole world can not giue an instance wherein we hindered the making of peace nay we aboue any others laboured and pressed the chiefe meanes of establishing true peace as the discourse of the next Reason will demonstrate It appeareth by that litle which is said in answere to the reasons of our Arch-priest that there was neither neede nor necessitie nor any iust cause occurring why he should bereaue vs of our faculties especially before summons and conuiction of the fault To say our misdemeanours were notorious and therefore no neede of citing or triall before the inflicting of the punishment is too bare a refuge and ouer common nor other then may be alleaged in the wrongfullest accusation that can be imagined The Canonists r Anto. fran in ca. ad extirpandas de fil presby in lib. a. sub no. 4. Gloss in ca. ad nostram de emp. rend Speculat li. 3. de notor crim § 1. nu 9. teach Quod licet notoriâ—m non sit de necessitate probandum tamen debet probâ—ri illud esse notorium That although there be no necessitie to proue that which is notorious or publick yet there ought proofe to be made that the same is notorious Which our Arch-priest hath not yet done nor can euer be able to do by all the conioyned forces of the aduerse part For that is s Gloss in ca. vâ—stra de cehabi cler verb. notorium ca. tua ca. quaesitum cod tit notorious in this case quod ita exhibet se conspectu heminum quod nulla potest tergiuersatione celari which so exhibiteth it selfe to the eye or vnderstanding of all men as that it can not be hid or excused by any colour or tergiuersation soeuer Or as t In ca. vestra de cohab cler nu 14. Panormitane and v In 2. q. 1. ca. de manifesta Archidiaconus describe a notorious fact or crime cuius testis populus est dissimulationi locus non est whose witnes is the people and can not be dissembled But the two first offences for which our faculties were taken away that is for defending of our cause and demaunding satisfaction do so litle offer themselues to the vnderstanding of most men in the nature and liuerey of notorious faults as they hold the actions for most lawfull and the latter two viz. the writing of contumelious or calumnious letters and my frequent deuisings against peace how can they be notorious and manifest to others or not admit deniall or dissimulation when my selfe who should best know as being most inward to mine owne action and intention can by no examination of my conscience holden neither for the dullest nor the blindest recount any such transgression It is a generall rule without exception among the learned in the lawe x Aâ—to franc in ca. consuluit de appell sub lit 6. verb. notorium Card. in consi 54. incipi in â—lucidatione Ro. consi 42. incipi visis Quod debet consâ—are de notorio ante quam super notorio disponatur That there ought to be a manifest constat and greatest assurance that the crime or fact be notorious before any processe be made or punishment imposed vpon the same as notorious Furthermore if any processe be made or ecclesiasticall penalty inflicted without summoning the offender before for a fault that is not publick or notorious the processe or penaltie doth not bind Sententia lata contra non â—â—tatum nulla est nisi in facto notorio A sentence as writeth y Verb. citatio nu 5. Siluester giuen without citing the delinquent before in a fact that is not notorious
that are qualited therewith Do they only affect you so farre as in vertue they ought that haue but one yea and one nay with you and can dislike nought and will approue all whatsoeuer you say or do or go about Or may they be said to affect you so farre as in vertue they ought who carrie a reuerent respect towards your Societie and towards your persons also yet not so affectionatlie but will see and can dislike that is amisse in your actions and be further willing to put their most helpe to the redresse No doubt if this measure be of the size that contenteth there are as many or more fit left vnchosen as chosen vpon suspect and ielousie only that they affected you not so farre as in vertue they ought I haue little feare but that Maister Blackwell well cleared himselfe of all suspition that way and affected you so farre as in vertue he ought when in your behoofe and not without preiudice to the schollers he wrote a Letter to Rome witnessing vnder his hand that there was no dislike or difference betweene the fathers of the Societie and the Priests in England albeit your selfe with shew of griefe voluntarily acknowledged the contrary vnto me not long before yea complained thereof and expostulated the causes He also affected you so farre as in vertue he ought when for making vp the fuller measure of your purgation letted not as the report goeth to touch three Priests at once with disgrace by writing vnder their testimonies and censure which they gaue concerning the particulars of the memoriall Hij tres patres non bene informantur c. as if the three good Priests had bin altogether strangers to the State and truth of matters or carried so loose consciences as in so waightie an affaire would affirme they knew not what and to testifie vnder their hands what themselues were ignorant of Likewise that partie affected you so farre as in vertue he ought who writing somewhat as it was thought with the largest in your and your brethrens behalfe and being demaunded by a familiar friend of his how he could verifie the words answered he could do it by the figure hyperbole If such dealing and excesse of truth be the meane of farming your good conceipts I would be loath to become tenant if I might haue as this good man had an assistantship for vantage Others who spake and wrote their conscience and deliuered no more then what their knowledge iudgement and integritie led them vnto and that also vpon charitable considerations and to good purpose were notwithstanding deemed thereby not to affect you so farre as in vertue they ought and thereupon by the decree of your owne order reputed not worthie of gouernment The particular is knowne and after an vndenyable manner as from his mouth who carieth greatest regard with you By all that I haue said I would say that this your strange caueat or canon and correspondent proceedings as well in appointing of our Superior as in the choise of the assistants and in the deuising of the instructions and forme of gouernment shew apparantlie enough how little you seeke to haue the ordering and swaying of all things You affirme that in very deede you would not haue any reprehended because they are opposite against you but because they acknowledge not their lawfull Superior I praye sir how do these words comport with that you said before where you will haue the want of affection towards you a barre against election Will you make men vneligible without a fault or without such a fault as is worthie of reprehension or will you haue such faults as make men vneligible to be soothed in them and not reprehended One of these must needes follow by the sequele of your order and either concludes more then my selfe sees reason to maintaine But let this be as it may be assuredly all men are not perswaded and some do feele and will sweare that not only the reprehending of your oppositors but the punishing of them also and with extreame rigour enough setteth but as a gentle corrasiue to your hearts howsoeuer you grieue now and would haue that none be reprehended for being opposite against the Societie You giue vs to know and seeme to take a liking therein that you will by Gods grace procure alwayes and to your vttermost that whosoeuer is opposite against the reuerend Archpresbyter must of force be consequentlie opposite against you your brethren Howsoeuer you please your self in the needlesse vttering of these voluntarie speeches my dulnes cannot conceiue how this spirit agreeth with that of Saint Paule factus sum infirmus infirmis vt infirmos lucrifacerem by compassion of the infirmities of all sorts I became weake to the weake that I might gaine the weake If it be a fault to oppose our selues in the manner we do against the new authoritie challenged as we acquiet our conscience to the contrarie and thinke our selues well able by sound and good arguments to vphold the lawfulnes thereof against whome soeuer in our countrie yet your Societie being no partie nor bound to intermedle more indifferencie and lesse taking against vs had beene in my poore opinion as charitable and more wisdome For by making your selues a partie without cause and so professed and forward a partie what could you get but aduersaries and haue debarred your selues from being mediators in the difference si fieri potest quod ex vobis est cum omnibus hominibus pacem habentes if it may be as much as in you hauing peace with all men That you say you will gloriari in Domino if any be thought opposit to your Societie who are opposite to our reuerēd Archpresbyter I say no more but hope that notwithstanding your gloriari in Domino your glorie in our Lord yet our Lord wil not be in this gloria vestra nec exaltās caput vestrum your glorie nor the lifter vp of your head You auouch that the new authoritie is the only meanes to ioyne vs all together in perfit loue and vnion and that there is now no hinderance at all of vnitie but the not admitting and refusing of the same Sir I can easily belieue you in this for God forbid I should liue the while to account you or any of you so ouerloaden with frailties or surcharged with ill nature that hauing your desire will refuse to contract loue and vnion with those that graunted it vnto you and further surrender themselues to your disposing That which followeth in the same paragraffe maketh me somewhat to muse by whose authoritie or example you applie the words of Saint Paule non tenens caput not holding the head to the Archpresbyter For if the holie Fathers of Christes Church and the Popes themselues other then in a generall terme euer abstained for reuerence to the Apostles from vsing their kind of blessing and salutation gratia pax à Deo Patre Domino nostro Iesu Christo grace and peace frō
citiusque ex nostrae ordinationis authoritatè persicias hoc tibi caeterisque presbyteris iniungimus vt statim ac diligenter fiat Variaque harum literarum authographa ad te mittenda iussimus quo facilius multis ad rei peragendae breuitatem ostendi possint Dominum praecantes vt magna bonorum snorum abundantia vos compleat pace veraeque charitate quae perfectionis omnis vinculum est dignos efficiat Neque defatigemini animis vt Apostolus hortatur si difficultates ac contradictiones nonnullas in hoc vestro regimine experiamini id enim vel optimis semper Ecclesiarum rectoribus ab initio contigit idem Apostolus ipsius Christi Domini exemplum vobis proponit Qui talem inquit sustinuit à peccatoribus aduersum semetipsum contradictionem Sed omnia tandem ipse Dominus pacabit fluctusque exurgentes compescet vosque de laboribus vestris ac patientiae cumulatè remunerabitur Ipse vos custodiat semper Romae die decimo Nouembris Anno 1598. Vti frater Henricus Cardinalis Caictanus Protector The English Henry Cardinall Caietane Chamberlaine of the Church of Rome Protector of England c. to the very reuerend and beloued in Christ George Blackwell Archpriest of England greeting in the author of health VErie reuerend and beloued in Christ as our brother vndoubtedly we tooke singular great contentment in the frequent letters which both your charity your consultors the assisting Priests and many other graue men sent vnto me of late concerning the iust gladnesse and common approbation of the subordination which his Holinesse vpon iust and godly causes appointed to be instituted by vs in this English Cleargy This truly was alwayes to be expected as well from the singular opinion of your vertue as also from the profession of your excellent life that ye who vnder-go so much danger and take so great paines in againe-restoring due obedience to the Vicar of Christ and Sea Apostolike your selues refuse not to obey the ordinances of the same holy Sea but rather with chearfull mind as you haue done you would imbrace with open armes as the Prouerbe is the appointments of your highest Pastor decreed for your profit peace and to make you strong And so vpon this yours and all good Priests their alike ready and ioyfull obedience and which they testified by letters both his Holinesse and my selfe as the duty of my office required and for the loue beside which I feele to be singular towards you tooke certes no meane ioy and edification which I could haue wished to haue bene perpetuall or of long continuance But vppon later intelligence it began to be somwhat disturbed when newes came that some as it is wont to happen enterprised to repugne and to raise vp contentions also to make conuenticles to the end to call the commandements of superiours into question Finally in processe it was signified to his Holinesse by Ministers abiding as it seemeth in the North parts that two Priests were sent out of England by the tumultuous which contradict this subordination of the Church of England instituted by commaundement of his Holinesse Of which thing his Holinesse being aduertised he tooke it as it was meete very grieuously and would be more fully informed of the perturbers And sith your charity hath not as yet written any certaintie vnto vs of this matter nor of the manners actions of those men which doubtlesse is attributed to your modesty and pietie as one who is not easily moued to accuse his brethren yet now his Holinesse commanding the same that due information be giuen of all you must needs labour that the truth of things be layd open by you in taking and trasporting vnto vs so farre forth as conueniently and without daunger it may be done the iudgement of those good men that accord with you and in noting the names of the contenders apart and in signifying the causes which they pretend of their reluctation The which thing that you may by the authority of our ordination performe with the more ease and speed this we enioyne you and the rest of the Priestes that it be forthwith and diligently accomplished And we haue commaunded that many copics of these letters be sent vnto you to the end they may be shewed to many for quicker dispatch of the affaire beseeching our Lord to fill you with the great abundance of his blessings and make you worthy of peace and true charity which is the bond of all perfection Neither be you wearie fainting in your mind as the Apostle exhorteth if you meete with some difficulties and contradictions in this your Regiment for that hath alwayes chanced euen from the beginning to the best gouernours of the Church and the same Apostle proposeth vnto you the example of Christ himselfe our Lord Which saith he sustained of sinners such contradiction against himselfe But our Lord will appease all things at last and allay the swelling God grant it sourges and reward you abundantly for your trauels and patience who alwayes keepe you Rome 10. of Nouember 1598. As your brother Henry Caerdinall Caietane Protector The Reasons whereupon we delayed to admit the Archpriestes authoritie vntill the arriuall of his Holinesse Breue The first Reason FIrst it appeared manifest vnto vs euen by the very expresse words of the Cardinals Letter by which his Grace instituted the subordinatioÌ„ that the same was procured by wrong information and consequently voide and of no force to bind vs to the acceptance thereof We say voide and of no force because seuerall Canons do so forcibly vndo annullate whatsoeuer is procured by wrong information as they make surreption that is as are the wordes of the law a Ca. super literis de rescrip when a truth is suppressed or a falshood suggested So cleere and infallible a cause of fâ—ustrating all graunts as this manner of speech is often vsed in them b Ca. si is de silijs presb lib. 6. Nullius penitus esse momenti veluti per surreptionem obtentum c Ca. simotâ— proprio de praebend lib. 6. veluti surreptitium nolumus vires obtinere to be vtterly of no moment as obtained by surreption and like as matter surreptious or gotten by wrong information we will not that it should retaine any force As though the supreme Pastours would haue said wrong information is of that certaine vndoing and destroying qualititie as in obtaining of what grace soeuer it be found to haue place it presently marreth and maketh the graunt of no effect And that this is so indeed and no wresting of the words of the law let the best CoÌ„mentors beare witnes for vs. The Glosse which next after the text of the law is of greatest authoritie hath these words d Clemen de praebend Ca. 1. Literae gratiae vitiautur sunt ipso iure nullae si fierint obtentae per surreptionem Letters of grace of which kind must needes be his Holinesse graunt
that the Constitutiue Letter maketh mention how his Grace in ordaining the new authoritie followed therein the will of his Holinesse we may answere that imagining as we did and vpon most pregnant grounds that father Parsons was the inditer of the letter we had little reason knowing him as we do to credit euery word therin especially the matter being so greatly preiudiciall to our selues Church and Realme and so fit a rise or step besides to his further designes Another reason also and which more induced vs not to beleeue euery word in the Cardinals Letter was the report it made of the fatherly charitie which the Iesuits exhibited towards all Priestes in our countrey and that they molested no one An affirmance so farre from truth as to doubt whether it be true or no were to doubt whether yee be cold or fire hote or whether there be a Sunne in the element For who can deny vnlesse he be resolued to deny any thing how apparant or demonstrable soeuer but that all the Cleargy and sociall dissention in our Realme proceeded from some of the fathers of the Society The dissention at Wishich from fa. Weston assuming superioritie the dissention now on foot from fa. Lister the author from fa. Garnet the approuer from fa. Iones the increaser from fa. Holtby the maintainer and from some other of the Society the abettours of our most grieuous wrongs and infamie Thus no doubt we might answer and neither idlely nor vntruly yet we will not thus answer but referre our selues to the sixth Proposition which yeeldeth another kind of reioynder and bringeth more light and helpe to our cause and innocencie For the said Proposition teacheth that the formall obiect of obedience is the knowne precept of a Superiour not the sole will vnlesse it be an imperatiue or commanding will and so notified as the subiect vnderstand it to be a commaund So that admitting we had bene bound to heleeue euery word in the Cardinals Letter as how little we were bound it will appeare anon and more in the next reason yet the Cardinall vsing but these words Nos S t is suae pijssimam prouidentissimamque voluntatem sequentes hoc ipsum statuere decreuimus We following the most godly and the most prouident will of his Holines haue decreed to appoint a subordination among the English secular Priests we could not see how this related will of his Holines did put on the nature of a precept especially after so expresse and certain a maner as that we were bound all causes how iust soeuer set aside to obey forthwith the new authoritie not respite our absolute submission therunto no not so long as til we could seÌ„d to his Holines for more direct assured knowledge in the matter Beside the reasons were neither few nor vulgar but many and very materiall which droue vs to thinke that if his Holinesse had possessed such a determination as at vnawares without any one of our assents or priuitie to appoint vs a superiour and with so large soueraigntie ouer vs yet that he would neuer haue vsed so little fauour towards vs who liue in the midst of so many miseries and dayly spend our liues for the truth and primacie of that Chaire as to enact the authoritie in so powerable a manner that euen at the first appearing thereof and by the bare Letter of one Cardinall only it should be the crime either of notorious disobedience or schisme an impossibilitie euen not to prostrate our selues and surrender our full and absolute obedience thereunto without either making question how it câ—me or so much as to send to his Holinesse for vnderstanding whether it was his ordinance or no. First the milde and sweete disposition of his Holinesse nature forbad vs so to thinke then the quality of our pressures the ancient Canons Distinct 63. Ca. Si â—n plebibus of the holy Church allowing Priests the election of their Archpriest the deserts of our poore estate seruing God in the degree of Priesthood without either enioying or expectance of Church liuing yea and which did most of all deforce vs from entertaining so hard a thought of his Holinesse loue and pastorall regard towards vs his afflictiue labourers was the most respectiue and honourable speeches which himselfe vsed to some of our brethren namely that he would not appoint any order of gouernemeÌ„t in our country before the good A ground of surreption Priests in England so gracious were his Holinesse words should aduertise him what kind of gouernement were fittest best sorted with the miseries of our Church That his Holinesse vsed these speeches there be two Priests or moe in England that will depose it and father Parsons himselfe hauing more then once reported so much cannot without doing wrong to his religious profession denie or vnsay the same So that the question rested whether of these two we should sooner and were more bound ☜ to beleeue the Popes owne word or the Cardinals Letter Either the Popes word related vnto vs by seuerall of our brethren of good report and the immediate hearers thereof or the Cardinals Letter penned as we no whit doubted by our boldest aduersarie containing apparant vntruthes as before is shewed and will hereafter more appeare And now the matter of our choise to whom we should giue more credite being of this quality whether sooner to beleeue the Popes owne word or the Cardinals Letter was it possible that father Lister or any other of lesse holy profession and of meaner parts could embolden their pens and tongues to by-name vs so prodigally as he and some of his complicers haue done Or could it be thought credible that our superiour who by his place and order of charity is the more inuited to loue vs and bound by iustice wherein he may to defend vs would intreate his children our trespasse no greater in so vnkind and hard a manner as he hath done and continueth Let others who can aunswere We will returne and proceede in our proues Senior Acrisio of the Popes Fiscals and who had commission to examine maister Bishop and maister Charnocke in their imprisonment at Rome hath giuen very good testimony with like circumstances as not lightly any euidence may deserue more beliefe For this officer hauing by himselfe and father Parsons taken the examination of the two prisoners and demanded of like as many questions of them as were thought necessary he told them that now he was to make relation of all things to his Holinesse and therefore counselled them to commend the cause to God by prayer adding that it were not amisse also if they would enioyne to themselues three dayes fast that weeke for better prospering of the affaire A spirituall taske which the prisoners gladly vndertooke and performed in the time prescribed The next weeke Senior Acrisio came to the prisoners and among other matters very confidently affirmed to them both apart that the new superiority was not instituted by his
principally meant in not taking the names of moe Priests with them or in a better forme then they did and specially because they omitted the procuring of the King of France his Letter in their behalfe to his Ambassadour in Rome which was promised and another to his Holinesse himselfe for request of fauourable audience in their sute matter of iust sorrow they smarting after the rate they did for omitting of the helpes vpon confidence only of the most behoueable and reasonable petitions they were to propose But of what persons beside the Cardinall his Grace did our two brethren remaining close prisoners heare that the Archpresbytership and the faculties adioyned was the order of his Holinesse Had any of those accesse vnto the prisoners which liued neare about his Holinesse or were often in his presence and so by likelihood might heare when the commission was giuen or after talked of Were other straungers or their countrey-men in the city allowed to come vnto them Were the students of the Colledge licensed at that time to visite the prisoners and haue communication with them No no they were alike straightly kept as they were not suffered to consult or speake with any nor the one of them with the other What then did his Holinesse Fiscall who was appointed to examine the prisoners but not long after surrendred the office to father Parsons report so much vnto them It cannot be sayd because the same man at the end of all their examinatioÌ„s resiftings told the prisoners as they both witnesse that the subordination was not the ordinance of his Holinesse Of whom then had the prisoners that intelligence vndoubtedly either from father Parsons or father Owen who onely had recourse vnto them relators that must needes haue beliefe giuen to their words because the one was a chiefe deuiser of the authority and his reputation lay in gage to haue it go forward the other a profiting scholler in father Porsons studies and his right hand in this busisinesse as the seruice following declareth When maister Charnocke wrote his letter vnto vs by the appointment of the Cardinals for a finall end of their durance as father Owen reported and father Parsons had the perusing thereof a night and a day it was brought againe vnto him by father Owen with order from father Parsons to adde that the subordination erected was the order of his Holinesse who answering he could not write so because he knew it not the other replied that the Cardinall protector sayd it when he sate in iudgement in the cause and that father Parsons affirmed the same and therefore he might well and truly write that to his knowledge the Archpresbitership was the appointmeÌ„t of his Holinesse Whereupon the prisoner being willing to giue the fathers the most contentment he could for his speedier riddance out of prison promised him to write in so large a maner in that point as possibly he could with any truth and accordingly signified in his Letter yet not that he knew the subordination to be the order of his Holinesse but that he heard the Cardinal to affirme it and also vnderstood it by credible relation of others The like wrote M. Bishop and not vnlike vpon the same perswasion But neither the one nor the other of our brethreÌ„ nor the Cardinall Protector in the Constitutiue Letter nor any other of whom witnesse is claimed did euer in the least word affirme that the faculties and iurisdiction annexed to the Archpresbitership the onely point which was most needfull of all other to be descended vnto being the most materiall and which alone for the amplenesse rigour vnusualnesse thereof caused our delay were the ordinance or commandement of his Holines A thing worthiest of special note as that most manifesteth the headie violence of our aduersaries and how beyond all colour of reason they haue proceeded in their accusations and outcries against vs. Now touching the commendation and dutie our two brethren sent to be done to our and their superiour the Archpriest who could thinke reading the passage but that somwhat lay hid was insinuated by the words that they being prisoners in Rome should as it were hunt after so impertinent an occasion of calling M. Blackwell their Superiour and direct commendations vnto him by that title when as we were right sure they both well knew that the Cardinals Letter made him but Superiour ouer the Priestes residing in England and Scotland only and not ouer any whiles they liued any other where And one of them being sithence asked the meaning of the said words aunswered that the authoritie of the Archpriest not stretching to any out of England this clause so farre as I can so farre distant vsed in the same sentence where he rendred his dutie did shew that he wrote it onely to make faire weather with father Parsons and the sooner to get himselfe released of the imprisonment he indured But would our aduersaries indeed vnderstand the truth how much or wherein our two brethren do either beare witnesse against vs or condemne our standing off to yeeld our obedience vntill the comming of his Holinesse Breue Let them reade M. Bishop his answere to father Parsons Letter and the censure vpon the same both printed in the English booke and written when they were not in hold and then tell vs the particularities wherein they giue testimonie against vs or find fault with our delay In the meane there are none but must see that all the testimonies which are brought against vs proceeded from one head take their whole force from the Cardinals word and not from his Graces word as auowing the particular faculties iurisdiction annexed to the Archpresbytership to be the command or appointment of his Holinesse but from his Graces word onely that he receiued a Commission to make peace in our Country and that following the will of his Holinesse he decreed a subordination We therefore being not bound to beleeue specially to obey as hath bene sufficiently proued before the Cardinals word himselfe writing and affirming it we were lesse bound by al consequence to beleeue and obey the same related or witnessed vnto vs by others And here I thinke good to aduertise touching the report I haue made of all the precedent testimonies that I do not so aâ—â—ow it as that I engage my word the report to be in euery iot one with the Letters themselues for this were the imperfection of mans memorie considered to ground certaintie vpon vncertaintie especially the time being long since I read most of the Letters and neuer read them but once nor could be admitted to copie them forth wheÌ„ also I feared no accident lesse then that matters would fal out as now they do or that we should euer haue had occasion to proue our selues no disobedient run-agates from the Church of Rome or from the supreme Pastour thereof who with semblable perill of life and renunciation of worldly preferment haue for many yeeres laboured to reduce
other to the sheepfold and due obedience of the same Church and highest Pontifex That which I haue said is the whole truth of my owne thoughts and as much and not otherwise then my memorie vpon best recalling of matter could suggest If our aduersaries will haue the foresaid persons to speake more for them or in another tune against vs let them produce their Letters and out of them all inforce the most they can against vs. The qualitie and maner of their dealing with vs hitherto doth not put vs in hope they will much spare vs and we on the otherside haue as little feare truth and sinceritie encouraging but that we shall be wel able to free our selues of as much as all corners being sought can be obiected in our rebuke And certes the force of the foresaid testimonies if such farre off speeches from the point vnintended and accidentall may be called testimonies which Pope Calixtus 3 q. 9. testet § si debitum denieth will appeare very weake and be most easily auoided if the ground they stand vpon be aduisedly pondered For if any of all the parties of whom our aduersaries claime testimonie should be demaunded 4 q. 2. 3. si testes §. null â—s idoneus Siluest verb testis nu 2. Cardinal Caietane excepted who neither might fitly beare euidence in his owne cause the reason why they so wrote or what knowledge or certaintie they had of the thing they affirmed would they or could they truly yeeld another reason for such their affirmaÌ„ce theÌ„ that they heard it to be so by report or that they had read the Letter Costitutiue We beleeue verily no how caÌ„ we beleeue otherwise one liuing at the time of the grant of the CommissioÌ„ in Louaine others in Bruxels an other in Doway an other we wote not where all distant a thousand miles from Rome where the authority was granted saue onely Cardinall Caietane and father Bellarmine since made Cardinall And first to heare a thing by report is no good ground or sufficient warrantise for any one thereupon to witnesse the same to be true For the Ecclesiastical Canon hath Testes noÌ„ de alijs causis vel negotijs dicant 3. q. 9. testes testimonium nisi de his quae sub praesentia eorum acta esse noscuntur Let not witnesses giue testimonie of other causes or matters but of those which are knowne to be done in their presence And Innocentius affirmeth that if one bearing witnesse of a thing and being asked how he knew it to be so as he witnesseth it to be his testimonie is nothing worth if the can render no surer cause of his testimonie then that he heard it by report Si dicit ego scio quia sic omnes dicunt non valet eius testimonium In ca. cum causam de testi attest nu 3. quia malâ—m insufficientem causam reddit sui testimonij If the Testis say I know it because all men do so report his testimonie is not good because he assignes too weake or insufficient a cause or ground of the testimonie he beareth And the same holy Father and Pope reputed the glorie of the Canonists hath these wordes in the Nu. 2. same place Officium testis est propriè dicere veritatem de ijs quae percipit quinque sensibus corporis It is properly the office of a witnesse to tel the truth of those things which he knoweth by one of the fiue senses of the bodie Consonant to this is that also which Siluester writeth Requiritur Verb. testis nu 6. quod testis testificetur de auditu proprio scilicet quantum ad sonos vel devisu quantum ad visibilia idem de alijs sensibus non de alieno * Glos in l. in sâ—m ff de aqua pluuia arcen quia non est propriè testimonium It is required that a testis should beare witnesse of the things himselfe heard or saw and so the same of other senses and not of things he taketh by report because this kind of euideÌ„ce is not properly a testimony Neither do other authors new or old disagree in this position Benintendus a Conclu 67. nu 10. Testis de auditu non solum non plenè probat sed etiam non facit praesumptionem sufficientem ad transferendum onus probandi in contrariuÌ„ A witnes speaking by hearesay doth not only not fully proue but faileth to make so much as a sufficient presumption of inforcing the aduersarie to proue the contrarie Again which coÌ„meth a little nearer and more distinctly to our case the same authour hath these words almost immediatly ensuing the other b Ibid. nu 11. Testimonium de auditu relatione alterius nullam facit probationem in negotio de recenti gesto Testimonie giuen by heare-say and vpon report maketh no presumption in a matter newly done Speculum c Li. 1. de test § 1. nu 53. Testimonium de auditu alieno sâ—z quod audiui dicit non valet A witnes vpon hearesay is little worth Panormitane d In ca. ex literis de consuetu nu 4. Testis interrogatus quo modo scit debet dicere quia vidi audiui A witnesse being asked how he knew the thing he testifieth ought to be able to answer because I saw it and heard it For that as Barbatia recordeth e Super Clem. in rubrica de elect fo 97. col 4 In vsu auditu fundatur testimonium Testimony touching mattet of fact is founded vpon assurance of the eye and eare The author comprising the verdict of the other three senses vnder the noblenesse and generalitie of the eye and eare On the other side if our aduersaries shall say that the aboue named witnesses or any of them did reade the Constitutiue Letter and therefore wrote as they did we aske them what maner of ground this is wherein it differeth from the kind of testimonie that followeth Iohn imagineth that Peter gaue him a boxe on the eare and thereupon frameth a bill of complaint against Peter and when he had framed it sheweth the same to sundry of his friends After the matter is brought to triall Peter denieth the giuing of the blow Iohn auerres it the fact resteth to be proued by witnesses Iohn in this meane while vnderstandeth that those his friends to whom he shewed the bill haue sithence addressed some Letters to certaine of their friends and vttered some words concerning the contents and drift of the bill and thereupon calleth them to witnesse and bringeth their said Letters into the Court and they comming to giue euidence the Iudge asketh whether they were present and did see when Peter gaue Iohn this blow and they answer no. The Iudge demaundeth further what then is it which they can say for testimonie of the fact Marie quoth they we did reade his bill of complaint before the sute was commenced and thereupon wrote
two English Priests to wit William Bishop and Robert Charnocke which haue bene for the space of some moneths detained in this Colledge it appeared vnto vs to be in no case expedient for the English cause that the sayd Priests should immediatly returne to those partes where they haue bene at variance with other men of their order and now hauing conferred the matter wiâ—h his Holinesse and being againe certaine of his pleasure therein we thinke meete to decree and appoint the very same Wherefore we ordaine in his Holinesse and our owne name and do strictly commaund the foresayd Priests William and Robert in vertue of holy obedience and vnder paine of suspention from diuine offices to be incurred in the fact it selfe and vnder other censures and penalties to be inflicted at the appointment of our holy father that without the expresse leaue of his Holinesse or the most Illustrious Cardinall Protectour they do not for the time presume to go to the kingdomes of England Scotland or Ireland but liue quietly peaceably and religiously in other Catholike countries where we haue assigned them and endeuour as well by letters as by messengers by all other meanes that peace and vnion be conserued among the English Catholikes at home and abroad Which things if they truly and really performe their licence to returne may the sooner after be graunted vnto them But in the mean while we command these things to be rightfully obserued faithfully executed that your Reuerence signifie thus much vnto them in our name Giuen at Rome from our Pallaces the 21. of Aprill 1599. Your Reuerences as brother H. Cardinall Caiâ—tane Protector as brother C. Cardinall Burghesio NOw let him whosoeuer would soonest find a hole in our coate teach vs in what part of the sentence we their complices here are mentioned or point vs to that word in the whole Decree which can any way iustly or colourably be stretched to such a meaning or implication And if neither of these can be shewed as most sure it is they cannot how can we with any regard of truth or moderation of speech be sayd to be condemned Againe delegatine Iudges of what estate soeuer they be receiuing authority by Commission from their superiour to heare and determine the cause of sâ—ch and such persons by name as did the two Cardinals from his Holinesse as their sentence it selfe beareth witnesse cannot extend their censures condemnation to any of the sayd persons complices not expressed in the CoÌ„missioÌ„ how guilty soeuer they know them to be The reason is because they haue no authority nor iurisdiction ouer them as the first fourth and fifth Proposition teach in the second Reason and may be further declared by this similitude of the cases The Qâ—eenes Maiestie giueth a Commission to two of her priuie Counsellors to arraigne Iohn Astile and Iohn Anoke for treason coÌ„mitted Now we aske whether these priuie Counsellors may by vertue of this limited and particular coÌ„mission proceed vpon and condemne such coÌ„plices of the said traitors as their honors by sifting matters may find to haue had their finger in the treason without any personall triall or summoÌ„s of theÌ„ for thus also it fared in our case We assure our selues that none will say they can and those that are studied in the lawes do knew they cannot and that the lawes of our country reasons voice haue prouided punishments condigne for so exorbitant a presumption Furthermore howsoeuer the condemnation giuen by the Cardinals vpon our two brethren may be lengthned to reach vnto vs yet the punishment imposed a correlatiue in a kind to the condemnation and which cannot but concerne all those on whom the condemnation passed ne did nor could possibly any way agree or so much as point to their complices here For this being that those on whom the condemnation was giuen should not presume to go into the kingdomes of England Scotland or Ireland without expresse leaue of his Holinesse or the Lord Protector it could in no congruencie in the world appertaine to vs who were in England long before and at the same time euen to the knowledge of the Cardinals themselues when their Graces deliuered the sentence if both their Graces did expressely set downe such a sentence as the speeches and cariage of Cardinall Burghesio to M. Charnocke seeme in a sort to admit a doubt least the inditing therof were the left-hand worke of father Parsons as the words in isto Pregnant suspition of father Parsons cloaked dealing Collegio detenti detained in this Colledge contained in the sentence and the sentence being dated from their Pallaces yeeld no improbable conceit together with other grounds touched in the censure vpon father Parsons letter to M. Bishop Moreouer if condemnation passed vpon vs at Rome as complices of our two brethren then doth it necessarily follow that we were their complices in the crime they were condemned for And what crime was that for maintaining controuersies as the sentence expresseth with other men of their order Well but what kind of controuersie did they maintaine and with what men by name and how came our partaking with them so notorious as that we might rightfully be condeÌ„ned for what was not rightfully done can neuer be but iniuriously obiected without summons or relation from vs what we could say for our selues The sentence doth neither specifie what were the controuersies nor name the men with whom they maintained them Wherefore it were well and but the due tribute of charitie considering the infamie that groweth vnto vs by so publike an affirmance of our condemnation at Rome that declaration were made both what the controuersies were in particular the names of the persons with whom they were maintained and also our notorious participation in the same that so our countrey might be informed of the particular and our selues â—ake notice of the offence we committed which without such helpe we cannot hitherto call to mind To say that the controuersies and the persons with whom they were maintained was the delay which our two brethren our selues made in admitting the new authoritie after sight of the Cardinal Protector his Letter and in their going to Rome by our perswasion for more certaine knowledge of the subordination and how fully it was established and for informing his Holinesse aswell of the inconueniences thereof as of the needs that abound in our country were as we thinke to charge the two Cardinals with ignorance or error or both For if this were the controuersie and the Archpriest the partie with whom it was maintained as if not the whole world caÌ„not proue vs to be their complices in any other coÌ„trouersie then we must ask this question whether M. Blackwell was at that time when we delayed to subiect our selues vnto him so authorized our Archpriest as we were bound vnder sin or other bond to admit him before the comming of his Holines Breue If he were not as the foregoings shew he was
person and admit the execution of his office without shewing the Popes letters for testimonie of the legation Neither in shew be it spoken vnder leaue with due submission to holy Church doth such refusall deserue any great censure because seuerall a Steph. Papa dist 63. ca. lectis Nicholaus Papa dist 97. ca. nobilissimus ca. de man prin l. vnica Popes beside the demonstration of dayly practise haue testified that it is not the maner of the Apostolicke Sea to receiue an Ambassage from any person whatsoeuer without letters in the credence of the Ambassadour And therefore that holy Sea not accustoming to receiue or beleeue any Ambassadour without letters from the Prince or Potentate he commeth from it seemeth to follow not amisse this action of the highest Sea being as an exampler for other that Kings or other temporall and supreme Magistrates are not bound to receiue and giue credite to the word of a Cardinall Legate vnlesse he shew the Popes letters for witnesse of his commission But these notwithstanding we graunt as the truth is that a Cardinall Legate ought to be beleeued vpon his word without shewing the Popes letters for testimonie yet we resolutely denie that a Cardinall delegate is to haue the like credite giuen to his word in the charge or matter committed vnto him as father Parsons inferreth except he first shew the Popes letter or otherwise proue the Commission A veritie which hath bene sufficiently if not more then enough confirmed before by diuerse authorities out of all the chiefest Pag. 58. 59. sequentib writers new and old vpon the law Neuerthelesse to abound in our proofes of this materiall point we will adde one authoritie more and such an authoritie as concludeth for vs against our aduersaries whether the Cardinall instituted the subordinatioÌ„ as his Holines delegate by a rescript or as his coÌ„missioner by word of mouth only Si de magno alicuius praeiudicio agatur non creditur Cardinali testanti sibi aliquid à Papa viuae vocis oraculo maÌ„datum nec creditur ei asserenti esse delegatum nisi literis ostensis If the question be saith Zecchius of a matter that is very De statu Ill â— Cardinalium nu 9. vers 6. indomeageable to another a Cardinall is not to be beleeued vpon his word testifying that the Pope enioyned him such a commaundement by word of mouth neither is beleefe to be yeelded vnto him if he affirme himselfe a delegate vnlesse he shew the letters And the author proues both partes of the assertion by the testimonies of sundrie other writers which he there citeth Further beside the pleading of authority the reason is manifest why credit is giuen to the word of a Cardinall naming himselfe a Legate without shewing the Popes letters and not to the word of a Cardinal affirming himself a delegate or to haue receiued such a CoÌ„mission by word of mouth except he shew the Popes letter for testimonie of the delegation or proue the verbal commission after a farre more authenticall maner then by the sole record of his owne word or missiue Letter patent or sealed For when the Pope sendeth a Legate de latere to anie Prince Zecchius de statu Ill â—i Legati nu 2. Country or Prouince he neuer sendeth him but with the aduice and consent of the residue of the Cardinals which maketh the mission very notorious Againe a Cardinall legate departing vpon like occasion from the Court of Rome taketh his dispatch and leaue of his Holinesse and the other Cardinals with great solemnitie goeth likewise towards the person and place assigned after a most honorable maner of attendance accompanied with others of rare parts and when he commeth neare to the confines of the Countrey or Prouince whereof Idem ibidem nu 3. speculum de Legat. § 4. superest he is made Legate he aduertiseth the nighest Bishop of his approching at hand who presently is to commaund his Cleargie to giue their attendance and meete the Legate on his way comming and to bring his Grace to the Cathedrall Church or any other that is nearer with all sutable preparation and entertainement Which kind of ceremonies with other complements do euer make all laterall legations most aparant but in delegations and more in commissions by word of mouth there is no such solemnity nor manifestation vsed which yeeldeth a most materiall cause why credite is and ought to be giuen to the auowance of a Cardinals affirming himselfe a Legate without shewing the Popes Letters why the like credite is not by any bond due to be giuen to the word of a Cardinall if he affirme himselfe a delegate or shall say he receiued Commission from the Pope by word of mouth to do this or that To put another difference betweene the cases a Cardinall Legate receiueth the masse or body of his authority * Speculum vbi supra nu 14. Zecchius vbi supra nu 4. Siluest verb. Delegatus n. 22 Cucchus lib. 1. Tit. 25. de off potest leg Staphilus eodem tit alij a lege communi from the supreme dignitie and office he holdeth but a Cardinall delegate Commissioner or executor taketh not onely the subiect but the limits and specialties of his whole iurisdiction from the Popes rescript or verball direction and therefore ought to proue the particular tenour by other meanes then by the sole credence of his owne word especially because as a Gloss in ca. 1. de rescript verb. procâ—ssus ordinarie iurisdiction the b ca. 2 de offi-Legat li. 6. like as is legation is matter fauourable so all delegatine iurisdiction is matter displeasant or burdenous and matter that is burdenous requireth in common reason a more full and strict proofe then matter importing fauour And further that which maketh yet the case somewhat more cleare is the receiued positioÌ„ among the Canonists that although c Paâ—â—rm in ca. quod translationeÌ„ de off leg nu 10. a Cardinall is to be counted a Legate vpon his word neuerthelesse if he claime any iurisdiction more then he hath from the constitutions of the law by office of his Legateship he is not to be beleeued vpon his word but must proue his claime and saying either by shewing his commission or by testimonie of witnesses or after some legall maner which maketh plaine in the consequence that where a Cardinall hath not the authoritie he claimeth by vertue of ordinarie iurisdiction founded in his person as in an ordinarie there he is not to be beleeued vpon credence of his sole word but must authentically proue what he affirmeth ere any be bound to obey Which precedent differences and disparitie if father Parsons had considered he would neuer haue made so ignorant inference as he did vpon the place of the Glosse before cited nor would he haue so weakly reasoned if the subiect he wrote of had bene matter of state or belonged to the genealogie of Princes
is no man of vnderstanding who shal consider the ample iurisdictioÌ„ that our Archpriest carrieth ouer the whole secular Cleargie but will easily thinke that he may well be included vnder the name of a superiour Prelate specially if he reflect vpon the wordes immediatly ensuing Quoâ—unque nomine censeantur by what title or name soeuer the superiour Prelate be called Beside there are many braunches of his authoritie which do either equall or exceede the iurisdiction of a Bishop in the same points For demonstration S. Thomas writeth f Quodlibet 10. art 10. ad 3. Tolâ—t de 7 pecc mort c. 21. Ibidem that the secular cleargie are not bound to obey their Bishops but in matters that belong to their Cleargie state and not in the generall disposition and course of their liues this being by the opinion of the same Saint and greatest Clarke that kind of obedience which the religious vow and ow to their Prelate and is an ouerplus to that which the Secular owe and are bound to render to their Bishops But the iurisdiction that the Constitutiue Letter giueth to our Archpriest ouer all the Seminarie Priestes of our nation residing in England or Scotland is to direct admonish reprehend and chastise them whichout limitation in or for what yea as him selfe affirmed to me at the first shewing of the Constitutiue Letter we were bound to obey him in all things So that in this point his iurisdiction cannot be lesse and may with facilitie be vnderstood to be more then Episcopall ouer vs. Againe the forme of the Constitutiue Letter imparteth iurisdiction to our Archpriest to heare and determine our doubts and controuersies and may take away our faculties if we impugne or disobey his resolution or shew our selues vnquiet in any thing he shall commaund A soueraigntie which if it doth not surpasse yet certainly it is not inferiour to the amplest authoritie in this kind that euer any Bishop or Archbishop had in our countrie specially if it be considered that the hearing and determining of our doubts and controuersies are like to be and must be the dangers of the time so enforcing demeaned without aduocate without pleading without legall processe without tribunall or before any other Iudge then the Archpriest himselfe who as matters haue hitherto happened hath bene a chiefe partie in all the differences Further the Constitutiue Letter communicateth iurisdiction to our Archpriest to remoue vs from the places of our residences being in Lay mens houses and liuing vpon their charities And the ninth instruction giueth him authoritie ouer the Catholicke Laity to remoue the Priests they keepe and assigne them others in their roome The words of the said instruction are Vtrique sciliâ—et Sacerdotes incolae seu parochi Domini laici apud quos viuunt scire debebunt in potestate vestra esse pro maiori Dei gloria Sacerdotes ab vna domo vel residentia in aliam mutare neque agrè quisquam id ferre debebit aut obluctari sed Dei gloriae A pretext soonest deuised and a readie meane to help the Iesuites or their auowed friends to the best places to wreak their displeasure vpon whoÌ„soeuer Arg. D. Tho. 2. 2. q. 104. ar 5. cor Et Caiet ibideÌ„ ad secundum dubium in Tractatu 9. de vinculo obedientiae vnicae Grassuis p. 2. li. 2. ca. 18. nu 11 12. Innocentius Abbas Felinus alij quos ibi citat In the bill of Complaint of the tenth of Ianuary 1599. In the letter of pious griefe In the Apologie and in the Appendix animarumque saluti suum gustum postponere Both the Priests that are resident and the Lay persons with whom they reside must know that for the greater glorie of God you haue power and iurisdiction to change Priestes from one house or residence to another and that neither of them ought to take it hardly or striue against it but to conquer and subordinate his or their liking to the glorie of God and health of soules A facultie so little second to the authoritie of the highest Archbishop in the world that it may be a question or rather no question whether circumstances considered it be not greater then Papall our own and our benefactors liues depending thereon Our own liues for that put from our acquainted harbour many of vs vs do not know where next to hide our heads theirs in regard that such remoues by authoritie can hardly or not hardly be kept secret and growing to be knowne our patrons that harboured vs of charitie become discouered and by euery base and hungry companion that shall get knowledge of the matter may informe her Maiesties Officers and procure their houses to be searched and their goods to be seazed on their seruants examined their children rifled their wiues throwne out of doores their lands consiscated themselues committed to prison arraigned conuicted executed and their family for euer after vtterly ruined and ouerthrowne And here the oportunitie of the place offereth an occasion to speak a word or two in answer to that which father Parsons obiecteth and inculcateth in his bookes and writings against vs to wit that we should affirme that the Pope could not lawfully appoint such a kind of subordination ouer vs and likewise that his Holinesse could not essigne vs a Superiour without our priuity and consent Assertions which hitherto I cannot find by the search I haue made in any bookes of ours neuerthelesse we do not deny touching the first but that some of vs haue said by way of reasoning yet still with reseruation of our dutie to the Sea Apostolicke and his Holinesse that we did not conceiue how his Holinesse could giue authoritie to our Archriest to place and displace Priests liuing of temporall almes in Catholike houses sith by the laws of our Countrie the entertainers must and do venter their liues and all that they are worth in the action and that the Priests also who are so remoued cannot but receiue thereby some flaw or blemish in their credit as being reputed vnfit or insufficient for the place they were remoued from and consequently much hindred for getting other places and in the meane not vnlike to fall into the hands of the enemy for want of conuenient maintenance or harbour to shroude themselues And now if this doctrine seem vnsound or absurd or other then most conscionable we request father Parsons and father Garnet whom we no whit doubt to be the deuisers of the facultie for that we cannot thinke that euer such a rigour was of his Holinesse setting downe or euer fully vnderstood by him with the truth of all circumstances to instruct vs in the difficultie and manifest the grounds of the contrarie vnto vs and we promise by Gods grace that their labour shall not be lost but that they shall haue vs forthwith to change our opinion and to yeeld them thankes for the charitie Concerning the other assertion that we should say His Holinesse could
true as we maintaine and the other information to our brethren by your owne wordes but as false we are content if this much do please to allow the comparison Neuerthelesse the truth is that the information and motiues which inuited some of our brethren to manifest themselues and drew others to amend their former hastie errour in receiuing so fruitlesse an authoritie vpon the sole warrantize of the Cardinals Letter was times deciphering The true causes of the increase of our numbers of matters the loue of truth the direction of their owne consciences the inward working of their compassion the sorrow griefe their hearts felt by seeing how vniustly we their brethren were slandered and how violently beyond all measure extremities were caried prosecuted against vs and this vpon no colour or inducement more then because we were few So that compassion of our miseries and loue of lessening the burden by diuiding it among more were the meanes and information that increased our number and not the participation of our libertie and the sore baite therof Neither is there scarce any one Catholicke or Protestant in our countrey that markes how matters passe but can tell that we onely and none but our partie are punished by the Archpriest Which thing whether it be true or no or not more then our words import let the taking away of faculties from seuerall of the Appellants since the making of the appeale let the suspending and interdicting of vs let the solemne declaration which he made by his letters addressed to that end Vniuerso clero Anglicano caeterisque In his letter of the 21. of February 1601. Christi sidelibus in Angliae regno commorantibus to the vniuersall English Cleargie and other faithfull people of Christ abiding in the kingdome of England let his refusing of our appeale * In the same Letter In his letter of the 16. of May 1601. D. Bagshaw In his Letter the 18 of March 1601. M. Colleton let his strange inuerting of our words let the contumelies in calling one of vs Erraticus per saltuÌ„ ascendens Doctor a wandring Doctor ascending by iumpes and another the sonne of Belial let the exempting of vs from hauing part of the common diuidents if we be prisoners or if we be at libertie let their excluding of vs from all places and fauors where the aduerse part can preuaile let the disgraces the obloquies the slanders that are euerie where in citie and countrey spread tennised and maintained against vs and the freedome and rich friendship which our brethren of the other side find beare witnesse and decide whether the participation of our libertie and the freedome we enioy aboue our fellowes of the other partie be a sore baite for yong men or not rather most potent meanes to deterre both yong and old from taking part with vs. Moreouer there be some Priests in our countrey who for that they The rigor of the gouernement be destitute of friendes and know not how possibly to liue if they should openly appeale or otherwise manifest their conscience in matters haue written and protested to his Holinesse that they dare not appeale by reason of the foresaid extremities Againe our Archpriest In his Letter of the 21. of Febr. 1601. Stilo Romano warneth and exhorteth in our Lord all Catholickes Vt omnibus modis quibus possunt nos vitent that by all meanes possible they should shunne our companie and taking vs to be breakers of peace he wisheth them as they do shew themselues patrons and foster-fathers of the Church of Christ Omni ope atque opera iuxta Apostoli praeceptuÌ„ etiam confundere nitaÌ„tur that they would labor by all helpes and furtherances to confound vs according to the precept of the Apostle Likewise one of the Assistants M. Standish words to M. Drâ—wâ—e said that he wold no more froÌ„ henceforth account the AppellaÌ„ts his brethreÌ„ nor otherwise esteem of theÌ„ theÌ„ of Bâ—l Topâ—lif Also another Priest of like forwardnes aduiseth that our coÌ„pany should be shuÌ„ned M. G. as his who hath a plague sore running vpoÌ„ him And some Priests that are not known to adhere vnto vs haue told vs that if their benefactors did know they were in our coÌ„pany they would discontinue their charities withdraw their good affectioÌ„ from them All which to our seeming do conuince that the benefite and libertie we enioy by appealing is not so sweete a baite for misleading young men as the matter is made but rather most sower auersions and such as he that is a young man and not a senior in vertue and in contempt of worldly fauours will beware as of his vndoing how he appeales or haue commerce with vs in the cause And albeit we haue staid long about the confutation of this reason yet here we cannot omit to note one thing more viz. that you hauing otherwhere affirmed that we were not aboue ten or not so many and In the libell the 10. of Ianuary 1599. In your letter to M. Bishop the 9. of October 1599. repeating also in this very place that we were not the twentieth part at the beginning of those that admitted the gouernement would neuerthelesse after the reading of our appeale and seeing thirtie of our names therunto make a doubt by an if whether we haue increased our number since Certes how slow of beleefe soeuer you would make your selfe to appeare in this point yet our Archpriest is not so incredulous for he said not long since by credible relation that the Laitie had neede to sticke vnto him for the Priests were fallen away Neither do we doubt if there were a commission graunted to examine euery Priest on his oth how he liketh the gouernement but that the number of those which would depose for it would be very small and hardly twentie besides the Assistants in all England if al the Assistants should take theis othes for the allowance thereof as we doubt they will not Your fifth exception that we pretended onely to refuse to subscribe to the authoritie of the Archpriest before he had obtained letters from the Sea Apostolicke for confirmation as who would say that this being done we meant to be quiet Sir how highly you esteeme of your owne credit yet deedes being euer of more power to perswade then wordes we hope especially hauing thousands of witnesses on our side that our deedes will be credited before your wordes Did we not all presently vpon the arriuall of his Holinesse Breue receiue the authoritie and subiect our obedience to M. Blackwell the matter is plainer then can be denied and it is acknowledged by our Archpriest and fuller by father Garnet in their letters which are set down in the tenth Chapter of the Apologie yea your selfe intitleth that Chapter in this manner of the Fol. 146. 147. Fol. 148. ending of all controuersies vpon the publication of his Holinesse Breue But you call in doubt whether the
without vtter wracke of his credit he could not occupie his pen in defence of the paradoxe What others will thinke in this point we know not but our selues seeme most sure hereof The other points that we would haue the reader to note in the delating and proofe of the exceptions are the words he vseth that he will Fol. 115. not presume to determine any degree of sinne touching the deferring of our obedience to the Archpriest but will leaue that to God and to the offenders consciences and likewise his declaration that well we might haue spared Fol. 118. to print the Censure of Paris but that M. Champney would make a vaine flourish with the ostentation of an Academicall sentence Of like he wrote the former without any deliberation or did not afterwards remember what he had written because in the eleuenth chapter he defineth resolutely Fol. 172. that we were bound vnder grieuous sinne by all rules of true diuinity to haue obeyed with far lesse euidence then was shewed vnto vs. Which doubtlesse seemeth to be written when his iudgement was asleepe as may appeare by that which is said before * Pag. 61. 62. Deuteron 19. and by the text of holy scripture In ore duorum vel trium testium stabit omne verbum In the mouth of two or three witnesses euery word shal stand And touching his opinion that we might well haue spared the printing of the Censure of Paris we neede say no more but that such outfacing words do way little with the wise who know that where shame is not the like words may be spoken of any truth in the world And likewise know that put case all the exceptions were true which are alleaged against the Censure yet the same Censure doth cleere vs of father Listers imputation and of enormious disobedience because if it were either of these crimes our deferring could not be but sinne in the fact considered in it selfe which the censure denieth and that we had so wicked and diuellish intention as to cut our selues from holy church or rebell against any lawfull superior in a deede lawfull in it selfe as the Vniuersitie defined our deferring to be we thinke our aduersaries will Math. 7. Rom. 14. Iac. 4. D. Tho. 22. q. 60. art 2. 6. q. 67. art 1. not say it and we are sure they cannot say it without guilt of vsurped iudgement and most grieuous sinne to their soules and so leauing these matters we will returne and proue that the aucthoritie as it hath bin practised infringeth or dispenseth with the law of nature THe aucthoritie as M. Blackwell hath hitherto demeaned it either dispenseth with the law of nature or violateth the same in that he by vertue of the aucthoritie prohibited the accused to defend Clem. ca. pastoralis de re iud § caetâ—ruÌ„ themselues A right if any other taught by nature her selfe And that he hath thus done the proues be many and vndeniable Father Lister accused vs of a foule crime the infamie was diuulged in all parts of the Realme and in many places beyond the seas our company grew thereon to be shunned our benefactors were put in feare that their soules would finde smart in the next world for harboring of vs in their houses seuerall meanes were practised and attempts giuen to remoue vs * and not to leaue vs where to hide our heads * Father Garnet In his letter the tenth of Nouember the superiour of the Iesuites affirmed that we ministred and receiued sacraments in deadly sinne that we gaue poyson in liew of medicine that we were such by the opinion of all the learned as his brother Lister had censured vs to be that our criminous sinfull irregular and excommunicate state was so plaine and notorious as none vnder sinne could forward or assist vs in the exercise of our functions Priests were dealt withall and fauors promised so as they would affirme or report vs guiltie of the crimes obiected To make our oppressions great enough a Roman resolution without name of the author was published against vs by our Archpriest and direction giuen by him that none should absolue vs in confession before we would acknowledge and make satisfaction for the enormities wherewith we were charged Likewise to increase our burthen father Iones gaue foorth and our superior said the position was true that whosoeuer mainteined vs not to be the abandoned creatures which father Lister iudged vs to be incurred ipso facto for such their defending of vs the censures of holie church What shall we say Our Archpriest himselfe charged vs with enormious disobedience to liue a gracelesse state and in * In his letters of the 21. and 27. of February and of the 14. of March 1600. the letters wherein his Reuerence thus censured vs which were also made common ouer the Realme he forbad vs being no otherwise condemned vnder threate of suspendinâ— vs presently from the vse of our function either by word or writing to defend the disobedience imputed Againe there was neither meane nor measure obserued in multiplying of afflictions vpon vs M. Blackwell in his decree of the 18. of October 1600. denounceth and declareth vs to haue bin truly disobedient to the Sea Apostolike and rebellious against his office and in the next paragraffe of the same decree prohibiteth all of vs in vertue of holie obedience and vnder paine of suspension and interdict and vnder losse of all our faculties ipso facto to be incurred not any maner of way by word or writing directly or indirectly to presume to defend the disobedience whereof he immediatly before condemned vs. Was there euer greater iniustice heard of vpon earth Can that ecclesiasticall secular or prophane Iudge be named who before Iuridicall condemnation forbad vnder like or so grieuous penalties any offendor guilty of what crime soeuer to defend his reputation Pope Clement the fift affirmeth that focultas defensionis Clem. ca. pastoralis de re iud quae à iure prouenit naturali adimi non valet libertie of defending our selfe proceeding from the lawe of Nature cannot be forbidden And what is more ingraffed in nature or a deeper instinct thereof then not being conuicted nor coÌ„demned to defend our good names We do not denye that the deferring of our obedience to the Constitutiue Letter and Archpriest was notorious we meane publikely knowne but that this deferring and protracting of our subiection till the comming of his Holines Breue was either enormious disobedience or any of the other crimes pretended this we denye to be notorious or to be true at all That kinde of defence which consisteth in denying the vnlawfulnes of a fact acknowledged to be done cannot be taken away by the prerogatiue of the Prince or by any law Sum accusatus de homicidio fateor sed volo me defendere quia feci me defendendo ista defensio tolli non potest I am a In ca. ex parte 2 de offi
that place Againe whatsoeuer it be that he accuseth me of as what it is I cannot imagine he must needes take the same from the mouth of another or borrow it from his owne inuention because he neuer knew me nor I him or euer had conference each with other by messenger word letter or otherwise Neuerthelesse sith Fa. Iones layes his confession to my charge in the discurteous manner he doth I must needes thinke or hold the Father very inconsiderate that there is some surer proofe for the veritie of that I stand accused of then the only presumption of Fishers bare confession Or if there be not as I request all that may be brought to be brought against me the measure is very hard which is offered in that his sole word must be a currant truth against me whome your selues condemne and are bound thereunto vnder losse of much credit for a very vnhonest malicious and lying person You affirme that his Holines of late hath ordained a certaine gouernement among vs and that Maister Blackwell is our lawfull Superior made by God Good sir if you loue not our errors or more if you loue peace Note these well proue your affirmations and you end the difference For vndoubtedlie our soules beare witnesse that you are faultilie mistaken if you take vs for such that will neither obey what our holie Father the Pope appointeth or what God himselfe ordaineth Belieue me I beseech you that the reason why we delay in the manner we do to subiect our selues to the new authoritie is not because we are in vaine puffed vp by the sense of the flesh as you wrongfullie insinuate but because we neither see nor can heare of any Bull Breue or other authenticall instrument comming from his Holines for attestation and declaration thereof Which forme of processe being euer the customarie vse of the Sea Apostolicke euen in matters of much lesse moment and incomparablie of lesser question and failing in this maketh vs greatlie to misdoubt or rather putteth vs in vndoubted assurance that his Holines was not the author thereof nor the appointer His holie Fatherhood well knowes we haue no Church-liuings but liue only of almes and that our miseries are in way of no other case then the prison torture and gallowes euery miscreant hauing sufficient authoritie to apprehend vs so that for his Holines to increase the number of our pressures to make the burden of our crosses more heauie not only by denying vs the choice of our owne Superior a freedome and benefite which the Cleargie euery where else and by the Canons of holie Church enioyeth but by imposing also a Superior vpon vs without all our vnderstanding and not with the least notice of our liking seemeth to our iudgements to be a course of much greater seueritie then the mildnes of his Holines nature and the ripe wisedome of his aged experience would euer designe and lesse enact and put in vre against vs. Further his Holines being for these fortie yeares space our immediate Bishop how can we without expresse certificate of such his Holines pleasure admit another betweene his blessed Fatherhood and vs vnlesse we would thereby condemne our selues of want of loue and dutie towards his Holines and of forgetfulnes for seuerall rich benefits receiued They be in England who haue heard his Holines to say that he would not appoint a gouernment in England before to vse his owne words the good Priests there should aduertise what kind of gouernment they thought fittest and best liked Therefore affirme what you list and tell your fauorites and the vulgar neuer so liberallie and vntrulie to prattle of our misconceiued disobedience yet we may not beleeue the new authoritie to be the ordināce of that sea hauing by the record of many his Holines owne words to the contrarie There is an especiall prouiso in the Cardinals letter that if it happen the Archpresbyter to dye or be taken then the next senior assistant to supply that roome till there be another chosen by the Cardinall Verily if we had no other ground at all but the hardnes of this prouiso there were cause enough to assure our selues that his Holines had no part in the new authoritie For who weeting to the abundance of his fatherlie loue care and mild proceedings can winne his thoughts or once to feare that his wisedome and rare clemencie would alike grieuouslie loade our miseries with so perpetuall a burden as neither first nor last nor at any time to haue the choosing of our owne Superior but must in all changes stand to the appointment of a stranger vnacquainted with vs and our State and who taketh wholie his aduertisements or direction from others that are not of our companie but incorporate to another body and who more labour the glorie and aduancement of their owne peculiar as reason leadeth then the good of others from whom they are by profession distinguished Yea those that are the Cardinals informers and whome his Grace most willinglie heareth and followeth are the chiefe parties of the one side in the difference for ouerruling whereof the new authoritie was first thought on sollicited and at vnawares brought vpon vs. Now the truth of the particular being thus as euery one sees who is acquainted with the issue of matters and will not close his eye I appeale euen to the good opinion which your selfe holds of his holines disposition indifferencie and iustice whether if he had bin the institutor of this new authoritie his wisedome and tender conscience would haue permitted the adding of so large a prerogatiue or truer of so vnequall a prouiso I thinke it an attribute of iustice if not a decree in nature that the bond of obedience ought euermore to bring some commoditie with it as the obedience of the seruant to his maister receiueth wages the obedience of the child to his parent the benefit of education the obedience of the wife to her husband her maintenance and dowrie the obedience of the religious to his superior prouision of all necessaries the obedience of the Priest to his Bishop iurisdiction and the appurtenances the obedience of the subiect to his Soueraigne protection and the administration of iustice and generally wheresoeuer obedience is due there followeth a correlatiue I meane a good depending which maketh it due You would haue vs to obey and it is the scope of all your trauailes I praye name vs the good that commeth to vs thereby the whole authoritie consisting only in the taking away of faculties and in distressing more our miseries If the supposed authoritie had bin the action of the Pope no doubt his Holines consideration for drawing mens obedience the sooner thereunto would haue giuen to it some indulgence at least if no temporall or other kind of spirituall commoditie I shall be driuen to touch this point in mo places being the directing cliffe to all and therefore do omit here to stay longer vpon it hoping what is alreadie said
quietest of all others stint and end the variance And hauing now good sir proposed our request and giuen you a feeling of our desires it followeth that we suppliantlie beg of your good Fatherhood which our hearts performe in most respectiue manner that you would not stretch our words beyond our intention which is only to make to appeare how earnestlie we couet a friendlie conference to heare what can be said and be heard what we can say to the end the question to and fro largely discussed the truth may lye open and all further contention dye for euer Which being the all only scope and marke of our designe propounded also vpon hope of leaue and vnder correction we trust there is no cause why we should feare to haue our intercession for a conference named a challenge our inforced defence a voluntarie opposition satisfaction to others a breach of obedience and the seeking of repose to our owne soules vndutifulnes to our Superior or contempt of Authoritie An intreatie that would make our case most miserable loaden till we be forced to bemoane our agreeuances and then more loaden for making way to ease them But our hope is better and we misdoubt no part of the precedent in respect of your owne construction but because the addresse the purport so beseeking remayneth to be imparted by you to others and perhaps not euery one in readines to vnderstand our meaning to the best therefore we haue presumed the more expressely to signifie what we would not haue conceiued amisse And thus reuerenced sir being come to the end of that we would say we leaue with humblest request of pardon and like defrayment of dutie The first condition FAther Wallay Father Lister and whome and how many soeuer of the Societie they shall thinke good to choose vnto them to be reasoners debatours or disputants of the one side and of the other three such Priests of our companie as we shall nominate The second The grounds reasons arguments answers reioynders of both sides vpon full discussion and agreement to be set downe in writing The third The vmpeers or arbitratours to heare and determine of the waight truth and coherence of all that shall be said or alleaged by either side to be two or three of the senior Assistants and Maister Doleman And that it be in the choice of your Reuerence to admit such of the Laitie to be hearers of the dispute as to your wisedome for the qualitie of occurrances shall seeme meete The fourth That each of the foresaid arbitratours shall faithfullie promise in the word of a Priest to proceede to the giuing of sentence vpon the proofe and disproofe of either side according to the dictamen of their consciences and inward perswasion without delay colour mitigation and all partialitie The fift If the said arbitratours shall iudge that our case was schisme and our selues schismaticks then we to be bound most humblie to aske pardon on our knees of your Reuerence and the Societie for hitherto defending the contrary against the veritie of their your affirmance If of the other side they shall censure or deeme that we were no schismaticks then the Societie especially the penner and the approuers of the pamphlet of schisme to acknowledge their errour reuerse the tract and make vs some ratable satisfaction for the heape of iniuries and infamies sustained The last That it be lawfull without offence or prohibition for either side after sentence giuen and fulfilling of the premisses to seeke if it so please a resolution in the difference from the Vniuersities beyond the seas vpon shew and euidence of the said written dispute grounds reasons proofes arguments subscribed with the hands of the vmpeers and disputers of both sides to the end it may manifestly appeere to be the same and no place left to the other side to suspect any indirect dealing either by adding changing or subtracting ought to in or from the originall and that none of the foresaid arbitratours or disputants refuse or deferre to put to his name being requested thereunto An Appendix DEere sir after the writing of these no weake doubt began to arise in our minds whether we had done well or ill in not descending fuller into the causes that induced or truer constrained vs to the making of the foresaid Supplication And the more we chewed the doubt the greater it waxed and the plainer we sawe how we had therein omitted the particularizing of that which would most iustifie the mouing and best pleade the graunt of our sute May it therefore stand with your good leaue that we here supplie the defect for what you giue not leaue to the same we reuoke and beseeke it be holden vnwritten 1 The head sourse whence our agreeuances do chiefely spring is the retractation or vnperforming of that which your selfe did set downe vnder your hand and the testimonie of one of your Assistants namely a prohibition willing and if that were not sufficient commaunding all parties to desist to inueigh or follow the note of schisme against vs but contrariwise to suffer all matters past to quaile and to english your owne Latine phrase lye buryed in perpetuall obliuion Which charitable ordinance and many wayes most needefull for making and conseruing peace how much and how oft it hath bin gone from let the particulars declare that follow One of vs informed your Reuerence that a Father of the Societie whome he named affirmed and stood to the iustifying of the assertion that whosoeuer beleeues or to vse his owne word holds opinion dogmatizando that we were not schismaticks incurreth ipso facto the censures of holie Church Which licence of speech at leastwise outwardly you no way seemed to dislike but answered the position was true And if true and we not deceiued in the signification of the word how many good sir of very good conscience do there abide in a right dolefull and a most miserable plight of soule All our ghostlie children not few in number and some of them of good qualitie and infinite others beside hold opinion nay firmely most resolutely and with boldest assurance beleeue we were no schismaticks and will the Father say that we and they all through this our beliefe liue and continue in a damnable state and vnder the heauiest curse vpon earth Pardon we can neuer thinke it nor count it lesse in our selues then rashest temeritie euen but once to surmise the same yet vnlesse the Father be mistaken or our selues beguild in the darke or incongruent senses of his speech we see no auoydance but we must needs more then thinke it being bound if his position be true to belieue and teach the veritie therof Verily deere sir this touch or somewhat more sitteth so neere is of that nature reacheth to so many and goeth vested with like circumstances as by no warrant of conscience we may neglect the disproofe were we through the vertue of humilitie or the holie contempt of our selues neuer so greatlie
Arch-priest inflicted his punishments and how vnconscionably contrary to all truth and iustice he would haue vs in our submission to bely and defame our selues For it is to be noted that this forme of submission or iniurious condition of release was not sent to Maister Drury alone but the same was exacted also of Maister Mush when he wrote to the Arch-priest for the restoring of his faculties and of vs all especially of my selfe when Maister Iohn Benet vpon direction from father Parsons labored to compose the dissention into whose hands at that time as himselfe can witnes I committed my whole particular for him to make what end he thought sit so willing I was of peace howsoeuer our Arch-priest held me therein auerted which manner of proceeding exaction so greatly distasted Maister Benet as whereas before he would not graunt to set his name to the Appeale he then presently gaue his consent thereunto saying that he now saw no hope of compounding the controuersie by any other more peaceable meane then by appellation The Prophet writeth Erit opus iustitiae pax Peace shall be the Esay 32. worke of Iustice And the Euangelists do note vnto vs that our Sauiour stood in the middest of his Disciples when he sayd Pax vobis Luke 24. Iohn 20. Peace be vnto you signifying thereby that indifferencie begetteth and continueth peace A vertue which our Arch-priest hath not hitherto much obserued but rather shewed himselfe euer most partiall betweene the Iesuites and vs as the particulars afore going do conuince and so also may the words which he vsed to me at my last speaking with him to wit that whatsoeuer we should say or do against the Iesuites he would take the same to be done as to himselfe Which considered the nature of their iniuries done against vs and how little they seeme to incline to satisfie or desist from increasing of them may easily appeare and â—â—stly put vs in dispaire of enioying peace so long as his Reuerence holdeth his place and opinion Our good Lord turne all things to his honor To fold vp the whole discourse we do and euer did very certainely assure our selues vpon the reasons afore-going that our deferring to receiue the new authoritie was lawfull before God and man as either commaunded or directed by the Canons of holy Church and not repugnant to the doctrine of any good writer auncient or moderne Idle therefore and vngrounded are the exceptions which our oppositors pretend and the slaunders they haue raysed of vs or if they will not haue ignorance to diminish their fault the calumniations toto exorbitant and excessiue Wherefore we hope they will make vs satisfaction especially for the temporall losses that haue directly accrued vnto vs by such their defamations and more through the wrongfull taking away of our faculties They know the b Reg. 4. de regâ—ur li. 6. rule of the law the same c Ad MacedoniuÌ„ epist 54. being the maxime of Saint Austen Peccatum non dimittitur nisi restituatur ablatum The sinne is not remitted except what is taken away be restored and satisfaction made where d D. Tho. 22. art 2. 4. there is abilitie of the domages incurred And they know also that e Ibidem art 8. restitution implyeth a negatiue precept and consequently f Ibidem 2â— q. 35. art 2. c. that it bindeth them to make the same forthwith Neither are they ignorant that this right of satisfaction g Siluester verb. Papa nu 16. being conteined vnder the first conclusions of the law of Nature remaineth vndispensable by any power vpon earth so that knowing to what they are bound our demaund and affiance is that they will discharge the bond and not as witting offenders deserue to be beaten with many stripes They haue the Luke 12. whole realme and a great part of the Christian world to their lookers on and therefore it would vndoubtedlie redound to their obliquie and scandalize not a few if they should make no satisfaction for so grieuous iniuries and detriments It hath bin proued once or twise before that the prorogation of Pag. 85. 86. 238. yeelding our obedience to M. Blackwell was neither disobedience against his Holines nor the Cardinall nor against himselfe notwithstanding the contrarie assertion of our aduersaries and the laying of a much fouler crime to our charge a crime which for the obiect or noblest good it impugneth being the h D. Tho. 22. q. 39. ar 2. Note the grieuousnes of our defamation vnitie of Gods Church his Doue spouse is worse then theft adultery murder or patricide and worse then the most detestable outrage that can be committed against our neighbor We of purpose omit here to refute the vnworthines of the imputation because his Holines himselfe hath giuen sentence against the same and not only cleered our delay from the accusation of schisme and enormious disobedience but from all kind of disobedience And verily we cannot but greatly maruell how possibly so many of our aduersaries carying the reputation of learning and iudgement could conspire in so great an error vnlesse the wisedome of God thought it fit for some cause to humble them or check the high opinion which many carry of their worthes to the disgrace if not to the contempt of others their fellow-laborers and perchance of equall deserts with them in the worke they iointly haue in hand Obstinate disobedience and without i D. Tho. 22. q. 39. art 1. obstinacie there can be no schisme may be considered three manner of wayes either against the thing commaunded or the person commaunding or against the office of the commaunder in not recognising him for his Superiour And this later kind of rebellion only maketh the crime of schisme as k Ibidem ad 2. Saint Thomas and all his l Caiet ibidem in summa verb. excommunicatio 7. Banues ibideÌ„ Valentia Tho. 3. dispu â— 3. q. 15. punct 1. expositors with the m D. Antoninus 3 par tit 22. ca. 5. §. 11. Archidia 3. par tit 13. Siluester verb. schisma ante nu 1. Summists do witnesse Hence it followeth demonstrably if our refusall to receiue Maister Blackwell to our Arch-priest did or could any way possibly make vs schismaticks that the only and principall cause of such our refusall was and of all necessitie must needes haue bin for that the Pope note our words or the Cardinall by his commission had instituting the subordination appointed him for our Superior which how farre it was and is from all truth let our sending to Rome declare let the protestations we made in our first letters that the least canonicall notice which should come from his Holines should presently stint all disputes and Pag. 269. finde vs readily obedient in what soeuer let our often repeated demaund and continuall insisting for a Breue Bull or other Papall instrument Pag. 255. for testimonie of the Institution
puncto 2. 4. who this way is scandalized must first note or be bound to note both that another will take scandall at such his fact and that himselfe be bound to desist vpon the same notice or aduersion Which two points and circumstances our aduersaries will neuer be able to proue to haue concurred in the act of our deferring But of the other side we little doubt but that the condemnation which they passed vpon vs for the sayd delay and the great stirres which by the nature of such their actions haue followed haue occasioned both many and most lamentable scandals Concerning the ambition wherewith some of vs goe charged by our aduersaries we would know whether they accoumpt vs voyde of all iudgement for if they do not how can they report vs to be ambitious when there is not scarce any one of meanest vnderstanding in our country but knoweth that no Englishman either of the Cleargie or Laitie can come to preferment in Rome Spaine Flanders or any place where the Iesuites liue but only or chiefely by their mediation or countenance Yea what Priest in England can come into credit with the Arch-priest or hold so much of his fauour as he possessed before if the Iesuites do not like well thereof Also touching the future none can be so blinde as not to see that the Iesuites affect and hope to haue the distributing of promotions and the ruling of all things if our countrie happen to turne Catholicke Of which hope and designe of theirs though there be many other strong presumptions yet none seeme to conclude the same so apparantlie as doth Father Parsons Babell that is his Castle in the ayre or booke of Reformation prescribing rules to all estates So that our aduersaries knowing vs voluntarily to haue discontinued familiaritie with the Iesuites and broken off all dependance on them and neuerthelesse vpbraiding vs with ambition they must needes take vs to be very fooles not onely in striuing to swimme against the streame but also desiring promotion whereas we abandon all the likeliest meanes of attayning thereunto Or let these things pleade for vs as they may yet because my selfe by report am most condemned by name for trauelling in the humor of seeking superioritie I must here craue a fauorable construction from the reader of my intents for laying downe the particulars following being inforced thereunto by the necessitie of my owne purgation When the sodalitie or clergie association so earnestly inueyed against both in the Letter of the six assistants to his Holines Nunti◠in Flaunders and in seuerall places of the Apologie was first intended to be erected there were of that companie who labored me that I would not refuse to accept of the superioritie but can any one say that euer I graunted thereunto Maister Standish one of the chiefest promotors at that time of the sayd Sodalitie and whose testimonie is freest from suspition being now become an aduersary thereunto can witnes no and that I still insisted to haue the Superiour chosen by two third parts of such as should vnite themselues for the institution of the sayd Sodalitie Againe to the end that the Superior might this way be chosen I named fiue or sixe auncient Priests out of which the election as I thought might well be made offering beside to contribute largely towards the taking and furnishing of a house for the vse of the sayd Sodality so as they would exempt me and make choyse of an other Now if the precedent refusall and offer do not cleere me of being desirous of superioritie because the one may be interpreted for an externall shew of humilitie only and both dissembled by me to the end to draw them the more cunningly onward to the continuing of their purpose of making me the superiour yet surely the speeches which I vsed to Maister Blackwell himselfe about the same matter will I hope free me with all men Not long before the instituting of the new authoritie Maister Blackwell dealt earnestly with me that I would desist from making or furthering any innouation through the erecting of the Sodalitie affirming that it argued an ill affected humor in me to intreate others for so he sayd he vnderstood that I did though in truth it was not so to be of the Sodalitie whereof my selfe was designed the head Whereupon I then presently gaue him my word to be his bondman if euer I accepted thereof and yeelded him harty thanks for his speeches as hauing giuen me a sufficient cause by them to deny all my friends for euer taking vpon me the office by how many soeuer the same might be importuned and layd vpon me which I trust is so plaine and sincere a disproofe of that which is imputed vnto me as it can admit no exception Moreouer when Maister Bishop and Maister Charnock were resolued to go to Rome for giuing his Holines to vnderstand what kind of gouernment the Cardinall Protector had instituted in our country and how inconuenient the same was in many respects and withall to manifest vnto him the lack of Bishops which our yonger Catholicks had for the ministring of the sacrament of Confirmation and how greatly that benefit was desired by many I requested Maister Bishop that if they should winne his Holines to graunt Bishops that in no sort he would name me for any assuring him that if I thought he would I should neither be willing he went the iourney nor would contribute a penie thereunto To speake yet more foolishly finding my selfe not so strong as I did desire against all such temptations and willing to strengthen my selfe more I enioyned my selfe a yeres pennance as the day of Iudgement will declare for the better subduing of them which spirituall taske I performed and found God be euer thanked for his infinite mercies long before the penance expired that holie feare and hatred of like dignities as I would not nor I hope yet will stoupe to the ground to take vp the best Bishoprick in the Christian world with the charge Small reason therefore had our Arch-priest to write as he did of me and to diuulge the copy of his letter namely that I was a man clowded in my vnderstanding if not In his Letter to Maister Hebborne of the 2. of March 1599. cloyed about my heart with too many fumes of ambition And as little cause also haue many others who perchāce lesse know me to prattle and inlarge their backbitings of one as they do Further if there be any Priest or lay person in England with whome at any time I haue conferred about deriuing Superiority to my selfe let him not spare to publish whatsoeuer I sayd vnto him but I thinke there is not that creature liuing which can charge me with any such matter Of the otherside if either Father Parsons or our Arch-priest wrote the Epistle of pious griefe as few doubt but one of them did it is strange to see the praises they deliuer of them selues And as for Father
engaged in the difference and a party also is appointed Counsellor and aduiser to the Iudge the Iudge prescribed to do nothing of moment without him Too strange a forme of Iustice as we thought for his Holines to be the setter downe of and so vnfit a meane to peace as what can able and further contention most Touching also the composing of the dissention pretended to be betweene the secular Priests and the lay Catholickes this authoritie appeared in like maner very defectiue in the means of taking it away if there had bene such a difference in regard the Cardinals Letter giueth the Archpriest onely authoritie ouer the Seminarie Priests and maketh not euen the least mention of any iurisdiction or power giuen him ouer the laitie as he that peruseth the Constitutiue Letter the true and sole lists of his whole authoritie cannot but see Or if any will shew themselues to be of so weake iudgement as once a speciall Agent of our aduersaries did vpon warrantise as he said from father Parsons as to auow that the Archpriest holding authoritie ouer the Priests Confessours to the Laitie he holdeth likewise authoritie ouer their ghostly children it were vndoubtedly a strange consequence and which bringeth a new doctrine into the world For hereby it cannot but follow that when a religious man a thing most common is Confessor to a King or Pope the chiefe of the house or companie whereof the religious man is a member hauing by the rules and vow of religion iurisdiction ouer the Confessor he hath likewise iurisdiction by this reason ouer the King or Pope to whom the said religious mā is ghostly father But let the sequel be good as in common reason it is most absurd yet euen in this maner the authoritie is in it selfe farre short of effecting peace For not all the Lay Catholickes and most probably not such between whom and the Priests the contention was or was like to be are vnder the charge of the Seminarie Priests but vnder the guiding of the Iesuits and consequently no whit at all vnder the iurisdiction of the Archpriest if the former doctrine were currant that he that retaineth iurisdiction ouer the Confessor retaineth iurisdiction ouer his ghostly children Further these that were in this maner vnder the direction of the seminarie Priests were not neither would be nor perhaps could be so tied to continue with them but that they would leaue them at their pleasure and when they thought good Nay it cannot be doubted but they meeting with such an occasion would not faile to change their ghostly father and go to confession to the Iesuits for ridding themselues from all such authoritie of the Archpriest An inconuenience as none greater and which by likelihood would in short while set our whole Church on fire Wherefore the authoritie of the Archpriest appearing vnto vs neither auaileable to the making of peace between the secular Priests and the Catholicke laitie if they had bene at variance as it was suggested neither a meane to attone the debates betweene the Iesuits and the Priests which was concealed and his Holinesse motiue and intent of commaunding a subordination to be instituted being a pious and zealous desire of according all differences and making perfect peace it seemed cleare vnto vs that his Holinesse neuer meant that this kind of subordination afflicting onely and furthering nothing els but the increase of our miseries should be brought into our Church but some other more profitable kind of regiment that might encourage strengthen and support the naturall infirmities of man in these troubles and hote times of Catholike triall All which considerations and precedent profes did more then problably assure vs that it could hide neither offence before God or man and lesse the crimes obiected to deferre our absolute submission vntill such time as his Holinesse should make knowne his particular commaundement or ratifie and approoue the Cardinals act after some authenticall manner The third Reason OVR third reason was that supposing the information had bene true and that his Holinesse had giuen also a plaine and direct commaundement to the Cardinall to ordaine an Archpriest with like power and soueraigntie ouer vs as is challenged and that himselfe likewise had nominated M. Blackwel appointed the Cardinall to choose him to the office and further that all these particulars had bene cleerely and most expressely set downe in the Constitutiue Letter as how little any of them were the Letter it selfe doth best testifie and the former reason hath sufficiently shewed yet not knowing these things otherwise to be true but by the sole testimonie of the Cardinals Letter we did and do still think that we were not bound to beleeue in such a generall innouation and preiudice of our Church the like vntestified single relation without Canonicall certitude of such his Holinesse delegation to his Grace or Commission by word of mouth or other deriued authoritie in what manner or vnder whar title soeuer For who can doubt but that it is most meete and requisite that the greater and more strange the authoritie is which is claimed the more Canonicall and euident ought the proofes to be by which it is claimed To make an Archpriest superiour ouer the Cleargie of a whole Realme to direct to reprehend to chastice and prescribe as he listeth vnto them to remoue them also from their places of residēce the same being in temporall mens houses and of almes and not onely in this nature to commaund them while they reside in the same kingdome with him but also to hold exercise the same iurisdiction ouer them if so they reside in an other kingdome gouerned by an other Prince and distant by many hundreth miles from the place of the others abode These are so rare nouelties without example in holy Church as no proues but such as are legall can seeme warrantable or sufficient inough in the case And because this very point which we are now entring into is the hardest knot in the whole controuersie in which the principall issue most lieth we thinke good for the more perspicuitie of the discourse first to make a diuision of the meanes by which the Cardinall might receiue authoritie from his Holinesse to constitute such a subordination in our Church And then to proue that his Graces Letter whether patent or sealed as to my remembrance it came sealed vp according to the Romane maner with a labell was no such proofe as could either in law or conscience bind vs to admit the subordination appointed without further specialty of such his Holines Commission vnto him then the credence and testimonie of his Graces Letter either patent or close sealed Touching the first it seemeth cleere that his Grace receiued authoritie from his Holinesse to constitute an Arch priest ouer vs either by way offormall delegation or by way of Cōmission by word of mouth This is so euident and manifest by the tenor of the Constitutiue Letter if a
commaundement to make peace be a Commission to institute an Archpriest that if our aduersaries shall gaine-say it they seeme not to loue truth but rather to affect contention And if his Grace receiued authoritie from his Holinesse by way of formal delegation then his Grace not shewing vs the Popes rescript or a contestified copy thereof for testimonie of the delegation we were not bound by law or conscience to admit the subordination vpon the sole credence of his Graces Letter patent or close sealed Pope Innocentius in his decision to the Bishop of Baia registred among the Decretals priuiledgeth all persons not to beleeue another to be a delegate vnlesse he first proue the Delegation his wordes be these a Ca. Cum in iure de offi delc Nisi de mandato sedis Apostolicae certus extiteris exequi non cogeris quod mandatur Except thou remaine certaine of the madate of the sea Apostolicke thou art not bound to execute the thing commaunded But what manner of surenesse or certaintie that is here it resteth to be explaned which is here vnderstood by the words nisi certus extiteris except thou remaine sure The expositors both ancient and moderne affirme that to the making vp of this kind of surenesse is necessarily required either the sight of the originall of the delegation or at least a contestified copie thereof b In sua Eoclesiastica rep de iudice delegat nu 5. Delegato non creditur dicenti se delegatum nisi id literis probet idque probare debet per originale vel per exemplum ex originali solemniter sumptum Credence as writeth Zecchius is not to be giuen to a Delegate affirming himself a Delegate vnlesse he proue the same by a rescript and he ought to proue it by the originall or by an example taken solemnely that is according c Ca. pen. vlt. dâ— fide inst ca. Significauit ca. Albericus de testib to order and forme of law out of the originall The very same hath Panormitane touching the meanes of prouing a Delegation d In ca. cum in iure de offic del nu 6. Mandatum delegationis primo potest probari per orginale secundo per exemplum solemniter sumptum ex originali The mandate of a delegation may first be proued by the originall secondly by an authenticke copie of the originall The like do the authorities also conclude that follow Innocentius e In ca. cum olim â—ssemus de priuil exces priuil nu 4. Delegatus noÌ„ probat mandatum nisi literas ostendat The delegate doth not proue his madate except he shew the letters Durandus f I. i. 2. de probationibus §. 3. nu 1. Delegatus nihil potest facere nisi ostendat literas suae delegationis The Delegate can do nothing vnlesse he shew the letters of his delegation Egidius g Decisione 7. de off deleg Delegatio Papae non potest probari nisi per literas The Popes delegation cannot be proued but by Letters Bouerus h Verb delegatio nu 10. Delegatio potest probari per testes postquam fuerit literatoriè semel praesentata alias secuâ— A DelegatioÌ„ may be prooued by witnesses after it hath bene once shewed by a rescript otherwise not Bollemera i Conclu 110. nu 15. Delegatus ante receptas literas suae potestatis non potest vti iurisdictione sibi demandata The Delegate cannot vse the iurisdiction committed vnto him before he haue receiued the Letters of his authoritie Pope Boniface the eight k In extrauagante iuncta de elect §. Sane Dicenti se delegatum sedis Apostolicae non creditur vel intenditur nisi de mandato Apostolico fide doceat oculata Credence is not to be yeelded or his words to be harkned vnto who shall affirme himselfe a Delegate of the sea Apostolicke vnlesse by eye-witnesse he proue the Apostolicall mandate The Glosse l In ca. cum in iure de off dele Nisi delegatus ostendat iurisdictionem suam non est ei credendum si dicat se delegatum Except the Delegate doth shew the instrument that witnesseth his iurisâ—iction he is not to be beleeued if he affirme himselfe a delegate And in another place m In ca. 1. de sensibus exact li. 6. § Postquam verb. in scriptis casu 25 Scriptura requiritur in Delegato Papae A Letter instrument is required in the Popes delegate for proofe of the delegation All which authorities and other that might be alleaged make the case plaine that neither credence is to be giuen to a Delegate vnlesse he proue the delegation nor that the delegation can be otherwise proued but by shewing either the originall or an authenticke thereof and consequently neither being shewed vnto vs as our aduersaries themselues will confesse we were not bound to beleeue the delegation And here we might end this member saue that perchance our oppositors will reply and say that we take our marke amisse in regard the partie Delegate was a Cardinall and therefore not tied to make either of the two foresaid proofes but that his Graces owne word was of authoritie enough to bind vs obey the ordinance without further proofe of the delegation or tenour of his Holines graunt To which we answer First that Imola and Antonius de Butrio with sundrie others of the In ca. quod super his de fide instrumentoruÌ„ Ca cum in iure de offi deleg best writers affirme that the aforesaid wordes of the Canon Nisi de mandato sedis Apostolicae certus extiteris exequi non cogeris quod mandatur Vnlesse thou be certain of the Popes mandate thou art not bound to execute the thing commaunded haue their full force and strength and are to be extended to the estates and personages of Cardinals and that they as wel as other Delegates are bound by this place of the law to proue their delegation or no tie to ensue Which is also the opinion of Benedictus Vadus a In repertorio verb. Cardinal Cardinalis qui asserit se delegatum non creditur ei nisi ostendat literas A Cardinal auouching himselfe a Delegate is not to beleeued vnlesse he shew the rescript of the delegation And it is likewise the opinion of Conradus b Li. 2. ca. 2. de Cardinalibus §. 3. nu 22. Non creditur Cardinali asserenti se esse delegatum nisi ostensis literis suae delegationis Beleefe is not to be giuen to a Cardinall affirming himsElfe to be a Delegate except he shew the letters of his delegation Semblably to this also writeth Felinus c Ca. super his de fide instru nu 10. Sicut dicenti se delegatum non creditur nisi ostensis literis ita nec Cardinalibus As beleefe is not to be giuen to one auowing himselfe a Delegate except he shew the Commission so likewise neither to Cardinals Again the same author handling this question of purpose whether a
speeches and writings do speake euery where very vnkindly and vnreuerently of him Sir if we should aske you what these vnreuerent speeches writings were the instances would be to seeke vnlesse you deuised matter of your own coining Or to let this passe whom should we beleeue you or the famous Cardinall Allen gone also to God who told M. Mush that the said Protector neuer did nor euer would as he feared do good to our countrey And we are sure that fewe or none tasted anie part of that you report except M. Haddocke who left our campe without any great losse to our cause and perchance some other deuoted persons whom you recommēded And here we humbly request that we may not be thought to write this being more then anie of vs wrote before either vpon another motiue or to other end then we did that is to purge our selues of the note of hatefull ingratitude which you impute vnto vs and to shew how litle beleefe you deserue in many of your writings Touching the last calumne in the beadrole vz. the terrours we cast Fol. 117. into lay mens heads of admitting forreine authoritie from the Pope which tendeth you say to a worse consequence then all the rest and by which as Fol. 14. 15 16. you write in another place his Holinesse and all other godly and learned men may see and pitie vs but especially our spirit of vindicatiue and maleuolous proceeding c. We answer that you seeme by this course construction of our wordes to carrie a verie sharpe disposition of wounding vs in the speedingest place you can Is your religious charitie no more That which was affirmed was onely that by the opinions of diuerse men In the copie of Discourses pag. 6. of iudgement in the lawes of our countrey this our admitting of the Archpresbyteriall iurisdiction may by law and will by likelihood be drawne within the compasse of an old law of Premunire made in a Catholike time because it is an externall iurisdiction brought into our Realme against the will and notice of our Prince and countrey This was the summe and the worst of all that was written and the cause of the writing was to yeeld a reason why we deferred to receiue the Subordination vpon view of the Cardinals Letter namely because the preiudice it might this way turne vs vnto was great and great by an auncient law of the Realme Which brought vs into a most certaine opinion that we were no wayes obliged in conscience notwithstanding the contrarie position of the Iesuites and our Archpriest to admit the Subordination vpon the sole credence of the Cardinals Letter the preiudice we should incurre by the admitting thereof being as we haue said so great to our selues and profitable to none and consequently that which most of anie other thing did iustifie our delay Because no writer who is See the Authors quoted pag 61. 62. ◠89. largest in the prerogatiues of Cardinals but doth hold that in matters of verie great preiudice a Cardinall is not to be beleeued vpon his word in things that he relateth to haue receiued from another So that the cause which enforced vs to mention the said law of Premunire being no other then to iustifie our bearing off or to free our selues in the crimes obiected against vs by father Lyster and others and our words also which ensued in the verie next page witnessing that his Holinesse least commaund should euer bind vs though with hazard and losse of our liues to accept of any Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction which he should appoint make known vnto vs after a Canonicall maner we cannot but maruel what passion guided or rather blinded your pen in running thus eagerly vpon vs without iust or colourable cause giuen if you had bene pleased to vnderstand our intention and words aright And we maruell the more hereat in respect you fall into this inuectiue humour after our deeds had verified our words and we really admitted the subordination according to our promise vpon the first appearance of his Holinesse Breue notwithstanding the danger of the foresaid lawe of Premunire standing in force and inlisting vs within the penalties thereof for so doing A fact wherein we litle doubt whether the clergie of Fraunce or Spaine would haue followed vs if the case had bene theirs but would haue respited their acceptance notwithstanding the Breue till his Holinesse had bene otherwise and fuller aduertised and the mischiefe prouided for But now we being so few that is to say some fiue or sixe and such as we Fol. 15 119 were for so scornefully do you terne vs small account perchaunce is to be made of our right specially standing against the designe of a Iesuite we haue to alleage Nulla erit distantia personarum ita paruum audietis vt magnum That in discussing of rights there is no difference Deut. 1. of persons or number to be respected but the case of the few small is to be tendred as well as the case of the many and great Your other assertions that we by our foresaid naming of the Statute of Premunire laboured to cast terrors into lay mens heads of admitting foreine authoritie from the Pope and that we would haue the Princes consent to be needfull for the legitimatio of the new authoritie denominate our selues being but some fiue or sixe to be the Countrey and that we also opposed our selues against the Subordination for that his Holinesse had not asked our consents These are so ill deductions so farre fetcht and sauouring so strongly of the old leuen that whosoeuer reades them must hold you farre gone in passion or drowned in indignation against vs. Did the Subordination concerne anie lay man at all when we mentioned the Statute of Premunire The Constitutiue letter is as flat as flat may be against anie such inference or interpretation For it onely instituteth M. Blackwell Archpriest ouer the Seminarie priestes abiding in England or Scotland and giueth him not the least authoritie in the world ouer the Laitie or so much as once toucheth anie such matter How shamefully therefore do you wrest our words sith when we first wrote them the Subordination implied none of the Laitie and were onely printed to shew by reason that we were no such lewd persons nor intangled in the censures of holy Church as father Lyster with his adherents did most ignorantly or most vncharitably censure and diuulge vs to be We assure our selues father Parsons that your restlesse spirit and pen your enterprising and busie actions haue turned heretofore our Catholike Professants to infinite preiudice for to no knowne cause can we impute so much the making of the seuere lawes of our countrey as to your edging attempts and prouocations And as we assure our selues of this so do we feare least this your notorious playing and descanting vpon our wordes and your forward endeuours to Fol. 15. 110. 117. 132. draw all things
after your owne by as may more endomage their hard state then they wil be readie or haue cause to thanke you for Did you meane to bid all truth and modestie farewell when you determined to put downe in print that here is nothing but maleuolence and disobedience Fol. 15. discouered with desire to bring the Archpriest and all those which obey him within the compasse of temporall lawes and treason Hath our mention of Premunire so soone hatched treason And are you sure that so wicked a desire did possesse vs Fie fie the libertie of your penne and conscience appalleth To end our answer to this your fifth exception against the Censure of Paris we would know what decision others do thinke that the said Doctors would haue giuen in our case if we had layed downe in the state of the question that the chiefe plotters and procurers of the Subordination were some of the fathers of the Society and none their cooperators or vnder-workmen in the action but such onely as were suborned or set on by them that those who defined our bearing off and sending to Rome to be the sinne obiected were some of the Societie that those who reported vs to be excommunicate irregular without faculties infamous persons sacrificers in mortall sinne and the giuers of poison in lieu of medicine were some of the Societie that those who most precisely abandoned our companie and would not execute anie diuine office in our presence nor in the presence of our lay-adherents were some of the Societie that those who broched our troubles reared the tumults reuiued the contention disquieted our Catholike communion made parties or faction among Priestes kindled dissention betweene the laitie and clergie made dislike and diuision betwixt nearest friends and blew the coles to all our stirres were some of the Societie acknowledged in the Epistle of Pius Greil fol. 7. who first entring into our labours we welcomed with all honor we gaue them the preheminence we acquainted them with our friends and places we extolled their order and in a sort receiued them as the Galathians did S. Paule that is as Angels of God and with like tender affection as if it could haue bene we would haue plucked out our owne eyes to haue giuen them vnto them We say if we had particularized these things in the bodie of the question as we did conceale them and did not so much as insinuate that anie father of the Societie had a finger or his assent in the accusations what would the learned Doctors haue said how would they haue blushed and blessed themselues at the demonstration of the ingratitude Your sixt and last exception That no man was present in Paris to tell the Doctors how falsely we put downe in the question that it seemed to vs by certaine words of the Cardinals letters that the Archpriest his authority was graunted by false information and that partialitie was vsed in the choise of him and his assistants and that our messengers to Rome were not sent to lay open our difficulties to his Holinesse but rather to contradict and make a broyle in Rome Sir we pray you to tell vs whom you take your selfe to be Must these be false because you affirme them so without making any proofe at all of their falsitie Verily we repute you for no such man as yet and how litle these your words do deserue such a respect let the instances set downe in our first Reason declare which do Pag. 16. sequentem manifest false information most apparantly Yea good nature would rather haue commended the temper of our information then reproued it wee saying no more but it seemed to vs by certaine wordes of the Cardinals Letters that the Archpriest his authoritie was graunted by false information c. when the matter we auerred was most euident by the testimonie of the whole Realme For who is so shamelesse as will affirme either that the Catholike Laitie were at dissention amongst themselues or the secular Priests amongst themselues or that both of these two were at variance one against the other Auowances expressed in the Cardinals letter and alleaged as the sole cause of instituting the Subordination Sure how worldly wise soeuer you are in other points yet in this you shew litle that would iterate and contend to beare down a matter with the sole waight of your own denial wherin there be thousands that know and can conuince the contrarie Saint Thomas and common reason teach that peccare mente obstinata aggrauat 2. 2. q. 88. art 6. c. peccatum to maintaine an vntruth with a wilfull minde increaseth the malice of the sinne And whether partialitie was vsed in the choise of the Archpriest and his counsellers or no we leaue it to the common voice of our brethren to determine and to the wofull effects which haue meerely proceeded from the imperfection and distemperature of the maner of gouerning hoping that there are none of right iudgement but will see by the peeces of letters and other writings which follow that we had reason to note partialitie in the choise of the Archpriest and his counsellers Tantum absunt illi pij patres ab omni appetitu dominij vt nobis in omni loco A part of M. Blackwelles Letter to the Cardinal protector of the 10. of Ianuary 1596. insignis humilitatis mansuetudinis patientiae pietatis charitatis exemplar praeformarint Valde certè ingrati essemus si non illos honore prosequcremur vt patres amore complecteremur vt amicos officio coleremus vt beneficos studio imitaremur vt magistratos pietatis affectu agnosceremus vt patriae salutis Ecclesie apud nos varijs tempestatibus iactatae pracipuos adiutores acerrimos propugnatores Qui illis detrahunt nec seipsos nec illos norunt nam qui sunt apud nos qui aduenientibus praesbyteris extransmarinis partibus auxilio sunt nisi patres Societatis Iesu Domi exclusi ab illis excipimur indumento latera ab illis commodè comptè vestiuntur victâ— destituti pecunia ab illis sustentantur nescientes vbi commorarentur quia ignoti ab illis equos alia ad iter necessaria habent paratissima loca etiam prudentissimè designata vbi in lapsis recuperandis Catholicis confirmandis in Dei cultu propagando laudabiliter laborare possunt Neque hisce finibus concluditur eorum charitas Nos enim ipsi qui pondus dici aestus per plurimos annos sustinuimus ex eorum fontibus in nostra necessitate plurimum alleuamenti consolationis habuisse nos liberè profitemur Si sciret amplitudo vestra quantum pecuniarum ex proprijs suis patrimonijs nam minima sunt quae ex eleemosinis illis obueniunt in talibus in alijs pietatis officijs patres insumpserint quà m proÌ„ptè ad Sanctos refâ—cillandos in carcere detentos alios varijs rerum temporum difficultatibus implicatos