began to be Christians and to subject themselves also to this Spiritual Government and Jurisdiction of Souls and to be Sheep of these Spiritual Pastors among the rest they were admitted without detriment or diminution of their Temporal State and Government so far forth as it concerned the Temporal good of the Commonwealth which is Peace Wealth Justice and the like but yet so as they should not meddle or challenge power in the Spiritual Jurisdiction of Souls but be subject therein and leave that Government to Clergy-men and Spiritual Governors appointed by Christ and put in authority for that purpose long before Temporal Princes came to be converted as hath been declared And therefore came the distinction of Spiritual Governors and Temporal Governors of Clergy-men and Lay-men of Christian Pastors and Christian Sheep in which number of Christian Sheep and Subjects all Princes of the World are to be accounted in respect of their Souls and in all points appertaining thereunto and in respect of their Spiritual Pastors And albeit here in this life among Flesh and Blood where matters of this World and Life present are more respected commonly being present and the object to our Senses than Spiritual matters are of the life to come which are not seen but believed only though I say the external shew power and terror of Temporal Princes be much more respected reverenced and feared than is the authority of Priesthood or Jurisdiction of Spiritual Governors yet in themselves there is no comparison as by the reasons before alledged doth evidently appear but that the authority of Priesthood is much more great high and worthy and more principal and ancient in the Church of Christ for that it was before the other many Years and is over and above the other and that so far forth as St. Paul in his first Epistle and fourth Chapter to the Corinthians hath these words If you have secular Judgments among you appoint for Judges the contemptible that be in the Church of Christ for that function which yet I speak saith he to your shame for that none of the wiser sort among you do end or take up these temporal strifes but one Christian accuseth another and that before secular Tribunals even of Infidel Princes Christ himself when he was requested to judge between two Brothers in a Temporal matter he refused the same as also fled when the People would have made him a Temporal King and finally he said his Kingdom was not of this World which was not to disallow or contemn Judgment or Temporal authority of this World or that he was not in truth most lawful King also of this World being the Judge Author and Creator thereof but all this was to shew the small account he made of all this Temporal power in respect of the power Spiritual over Souls which properly he came to exercise and to plant and settle in the Church after him unto which all Kings and Emperors that would be saved should subject themselves and their Sceptres as we read that our Great Constantine before named and first Christian Emperor of the World did and after him the most renouned of the rest as Valentinian the two Theodosius's Justinian Charles the great and others in the occasions that were offered did humble themselves unto their Pastors and Governors of Christ's Church shewing themselves thereby to be the true Nurses and Foster-Fathers of Christ's Church which Isaiah the Prophet had foretold should come and succeed in Temporal Christian Kingdoms and Monarchies And yet by this did they not lose or diminish one jot of Temporal authority height or Majesty but rather did greatly confirm and increase the same for that Spiritual Pastors and Governors of Souls do teach and command all due reverence and obedience to be done in Temporal matters to Temporal Princes and do exhibit the same also themselves and do punish the contrary by Spiritual and everlasting punishments as well as by the Temporal upon such as are wicked or rebellious therein so as both these Governments joyned together in a Christian Commonwealth and one not disdaining or emulating the other but honouring rather respecting and assisting the same all goeth well both for the Temporal and everlasting felicity of all And such as do set division betwixt these two States are very Instruments of Sathan such as are the Hereticks Politicks Atheists and other seditious People of our days And for that in no other Country of the World whilest ours flourished hath there been more union love honour and respect born betwixt these two Orders of Spiritual and Temporal Men than in England as may appear even to this day by the many Temporal Honours Prerogatives and Dignities given to our Clergy in the Parliament and other Temporal affairs and that the Emulation and breach between the same enkindled and set on by the Devil and wicked Men hath been a principal cause of the ruine both to Country and both Parts that were Catholick in times past as hath been said and seen for this cause I thought it not amiss to speak somewhat more largely of the matter in this place and by this occasion having mentioned the same in divers other places of this Memorial before as a matter of no small importance to be throughly remedied and reformed at the next change if God say Amen which remedy will be if the Clergy considering their high Vocation and Estate be not proud thereof nor ambitious but endeavour to conform their lives to so great worthiness of their Profession And if Lay-men on the other side considering the very same to wit the dignity and reverence due to such as have Jurisdiction and Government over their Souls and must open and shut the Gates of Heaven unto them do not malign and envy their Estate as miserable Chore Dathan and Abiron did but do seek rather to profit themselves thereby and willingly joyn with them to the procuring their own and other Men's Salvations And this is so much as is needful to be spoken in this place of the Laity or Temporalty in general for that afterward there will be place to speak of all particularities that shall occur in the several Chapters that shall ensue CHAP. II. Of the Prince and his Council and matters belonging to them AS the Prince in every Commonwealth is the Head and Heart from whence all life and vigour principally cometh unto the same so above all other things is it of importance that he be well affected and disposed and so much the more in England above other Countries by how much greater and eminent his authority is and power with the People more than in divers other places by which means it hath come to pass that England having had more store of holy Kings in ancient times than many other Countries together came to have Religion and Piety more abundantly settled by their means than divers Realms about them and on the contrary side her Kings and Princes of later years having
as appeareth by a Letter of his own to a certain Earl That the Catholicks themselves threatened to deliver him into the hands of the Civil Magistrate except he desisted from such kind of practices This Account of Father Parson's turbulent and seditious behaviour immediately upon his arrival in England is confirmed by our great Historian Mr. Camden who had it from some of the Papists themselves and speaks it upon their own credit that they had thoughts of delivering him into the Magistrates hands on this account But notwithstanding the Intentions and Threats of those more peaceable Papists we see Father Parsons went on in his own way wherein he made so good progress that though he came into England but in June that year viz. 1580. yet before Christmas all things seemed ready for an Insurrection the Papists being taught and that under pain of Damnation to renounce the Queen who had now no more Authority over them being deposed by the sentence of the Infallible Pope at Rome and the Popes and King of Spain's Countenance and Assistance promised them if they would but rise and make a Rebellion That the Papists by that time were generally come over to Father Parson's Party and lookt upon the Queen as no longer their Sovereign by reason of her Deposition by Pius the Fifth and Gregory the Thirteenth who sent the first Mission of these Jesuits into England is plain from the Confession of Hart one of their Fellows who was taken about that time wherein he acknowledged to put it in his own words That the Bull of Pius Quintus for so much as it is against the Queen is holden among the English Catholicks for a lawful sentence and a sufficient discharge of her Subjects fidelity and so remaineth in forte but in some points touching the Subjects it is altered by the present Pope viz. Gregory XIII For where in that Bull all her Subjects are commanded not to obey her and she being excommunicate and deposed all that do obey her are likewise innodate and accursed which point is perillous to the Catholicks for if they obey her they be in the Pope's Curse and if they disobey her they are in the Queen's danger therefore the present Pope to relieve them hath altered that part of the Bulls and dispenced with them to obey and serve her without peril of Excommunication which Dispensation is to endure but till it please the Pope to determine it otherwise This was a strange Alteration to be made in so short a time that the Bull of Pius Quintus should be generally despised when it was first publisht among the English Catholicks and that Parsons who came over to encourage and exhort to the putting that damnatory Bull in Execution against the Queen should be in danger of being delivered up into the Magistrates hands for his traiterous designs and yet within half a year that the Bull of this Pope should be holden among those English Catholicks for a lawful sentence and a sufficient discharge of the Subjects fidelity This shews that these Jesuits and the Seminary Priests did ply this matter very close and made it their chief if not their whole business to gain this point upon the English Papists that so they might be in a greater readiness to joyn in any foreign attempts against their Countrey or to rise here against her whom by these new Apostles they were taught and did now believe to have no authority at all over them And as these two Jesuits business was to fill their credulous Peoples Heads with this sort of Seditious Doctrine so they themselves had the boldness to assert and maintain it publickly when they thought it necessary for their purposes Campian our Father Parsons Brother-Missioner was taken at Lyford-House in Barkshire the next year and being brought to his Tryal and Convicted of High-Treason received his Sentence accordingly after his Condemnation being asked Whether Queen Elizabeth were a Right and Lawful Queen He refused to answer and being a second time asked Whether he would take part with the Queen or the Pope if he should send Forces against the Queen he openly professed and testified under his hand that he would stand for the Pope and yet this Jesuit must be a Martyr in the Popish Calendar and dyed purely for Religion and for being a Priest of the Catholick Roman Church whereas if there can be such a thing as Treason against any Government in the World Campian was certainly guilty of it And so his Brother Robert Parsons though he had not such an opportunity of testifying his Faith and making Confession of his Opinion in the face of Magistracy it self Campian's Execution frighting him away out of England yet by his writing he shewed to the World that his Brother Campian and he were perfectly of the same mind as to the Pope's power and Queen Elizabeth's Authority in England In his Book written on occasion of a Proclamation of this Queen against them and called generally Philopater from the feigned Name of Andreas Philopater under which Father Parsons disguised himself he does very frankly discover how much a Subject he lookt upon himself to be to his Lawful Queen even before the Pope's Sentence of Deposition against her Hinc etiam infert Vniversa Theologorum Jurisconsultorum Ecclesiasticorum est certum de fide c. It is certain says he and what we ought to believe and it is the Opinion of all Divines and Ecclesiastical Lawyers that if any Christian Prince fall from the Catholick Faith and would have others to follow him he himself thereby doth forthwith â—oth by Divine and Humane Law yea though â—he Pope the Supreme Judge hath not issued forth any censure against him fall from all â—is Authority and Dignity and his Subjects â—re freed from all their Oaths of Allegiance â—hich they sware to him as a Lawful Prince â—nd they may nay and ought if they have â—orce enough to overcome to pull him down â—rom his Throne as an Apostate Heretick a â—orsaker of Christ and an Enemy to the â—ommonwealth And so fond is Father Parsons of this Notion of the Lawfulness of Deposing Princes meerly for Religion that to make it go down the easier with his Popish Friends he was dealing with he makes it to be the certain determined and undoubted opinion of all Learned men and plainly agreeable and consonant to the Apostolick Doctrine After which he is not content with its being only lawful to Depose their Prince upon this account of falling from their Popish Religion but will have it that they are all obliged and bound to do so if they have strength and power upon their Consciences and utmost danger and pain of their Souls If this Jesuit was not a Doctor fit for a Papal Mission into England I am very much mistaken he that could in Print vent such Doctrine to the World as well as teach it in private among his Followers and Confidents what work and what progress
to furnish all places with particular Curates and Pastors which may be by God's grace and good diligence of this Council in erecting and furnishing Seminaries within the space of some five or six years that is before this Council shall resign over their authority And in the mean space the best means of supplying the common Spiritual needs of England would be perhaps that no Priests besides Bishops Deans Archdeacons and the like that are needful for the Government of the rest should have any particular assignation or interest in any Benefice but only a sufficient Pension allowed him by the Council of Reformation or Bishop of the Diocess for his convenient maintenance and his Commission to Preach Teach hear Confessions and all other Exercises of Priestly Function And when the Council of Reformation were to leave their charge then might they take a view of all the Priests in their times or before and according to each Man's talent and good account given of himself in this time of tryal to place them in Benefices But yet with this express Proviso and Condition That they may be removed again from the same Benefices to a worse or to none at all if they give not Satisfaction in their Function which only Bridle may chance to do more good than all the Laws and Exhortations in the World and it would be good sometimes to put it in Execution to promote some in higher Benefices and thrust down others to lower by way of Visitation when cause is offered And one thing before all others will be of very great moment for this Council to put in practice which is That presently at the beginning they do publish an Edict or Proclamation with all severity commanding under pain of great Punishment That no Religious or Ecclesiastical Person whatsoever do enter into the Realm without presenting himself before the Council within so many days after his entrance and there to shew the cause why he cometh and the Licence and Authority by which he cometh and to stand to the Determination of the Council for his aboad or departure again for if this be not done and observed with all rigour many scandalous light and inconstant People partly upon novelty and partly upon hope to gain will repair presently to England and do great hurt by their Example And when this Door is once stopped it will be easie for this Council to write to all the Heads of Religious Orders that are in other Countries to send them such a number of exemplar and reformed Men or Women to begin to plant the said Religious in England as shall be thought expedient and be demanded And for that Religious Orders have been more defac'd dishonoured and persecuted in our Realm than in any Christian Country in the World perhaps it would be convenient to make such an amends and recompence as is not besides in any other Kingdom to wit that all the approved Religious Orders that are in the Church of God should be called into England and placed joyntly in the City of London for that at least it is to be presumed that this City would be capable of all and from thence they might be derived afterwards by little and little into other places of the Realm as Commodities were offered and as Men's Devotions should require and as they should be proved to be most agreeable and profitable to the State of our Country but altogether to be in London and that in the perfection of their first Institution would be a most excellent thing and a priviledge above all other Kingdoms in the World where all Religious Orders are not seen together and much less in the perfection of their first institute and observance which ought to be the Condition of admitting any Order into England now at our next Reformation be they Men or Women to the end that the greater Glory of God be procured in all things And for more easie effectuating of this there may be taken order that Religious Men and Women be called and admitted only from the Parts and Countries for beginning this great work of England where it is known that their Order is reformed and hath some that observe the first perfection of their Rule and in our days divers Countries have And with this one Observation only about Religious Orders and People England would be the most eminent Country of Christendom as hath been said In the beginning of Religious Houses in England care may be had that such be builded and most multiplied as be most needful and profitable for the time present and do apply their labours to action and to the help also of others and that before all the rest Seminaries and Colleges be built and put in order for the more ease of our Clergy And as for old and ancient Religious that appertain most to Contemplation though also they be not to be omitted yet when in every Shire there were one of a sort planted for a beginning and indowed with sufficient Rent for a competent number that would observe their first institution it were no evil entrance for that quickly the Devotion of Good People would increase the same and so would England come in small time to be furnished with more variety of Monasteries and Religious Monuments and of much more edification than when it flourished most Nunneries also for refuge of Virgins and of the devoutest sort of Womenkind were to be set up and the most of Observant Orders and of most edification were first to be planted for example and encouragement of others It were also to be considered whether some new Military Order of Knights were to be erected in our Realm for exercise and help of our young Gentlemen and Nobility as in other Countries we see it And as for England in times past it had only the Order of St. John of Malta wherein now perhaps there may be some difficulties at first for that we have no Knights left of our Nation in that Order to train the rest and to begin it only with strangers may seem hard And secondly For that albeit their institute be good and holy to fight against the Turk and other Infidels yet is Malta far off and these Ages have brought forth many more Infidels and Enemies near home to wit Hereticks and thereby the binding of young Gentlemen which live abroad in the World in Wealth Liberty Ease and Conversation also with Women to perpetual Chastity by Vow as Knights of Malta be without giving them the means and helps that other Religious Men have to keep the same which are Disciplines and restraint from Company and the like has also his difficulties as both reason and experience doth teach us and the examples of some other Countries do prove as namely of Spain where for avoiding of difficulties they have procured Dispensation from the Pope that the Knights of the Military Order of St. James Alcantara Calatrava and the like may Marry Wherefore some are of Opinion That it were good
Societies and Confraternities are seen to be instituted in other Countries where Charity doth flourish and ought to be also in ours and the publick Prisons for this respect of the Shires were to be put in principal Towns and Cities where these Societies might be erected and an extract or summary of all the charitable works accustomed to be done in other great Cities by the Confraternities and other ways as namely in Rome Naples Milan Madrid and Seville were to be had and considered by our Council of Reformation and put in ure as much as might be conveniently in England A general Story of all the most notable things that have hapned in this time of Persecution were to be gathered and the matter to be commended to Men of Ability Zeal and Judgment for doing the same And when time shall serve to procure of the See Apostolick That due honour may be done to our Martyrs and Churches Chapels and other memories built in the place where they suffered and namely at Tyburn where perhaps some Religious House of the third Order of St. Francis called Capuchins or some other such of Edification and Example for the People would be erected as a near Pilgrimage or place of Devotion for the City of London and others to repair unto Before this Council make an end of their Office or resign the same which as before has been signified may be after some competent number of Years when they shall have settled and also secured the state of Catholick Religion and employed the Lands and Rents committed to their charge and this were to be done with the greatest expedition that might be it would be very much necessary that they should leave some good and sound manner of Inquisition established for the conservation of that which they have planted For that during the time of their authority perhaps it would be best to spare the name of Inquisition at the first beginning in so new and green a State of Religion as ours must needs be after so many Years of Heresie Atheism and other Dissolutions may chance offend and exasperate more than do good but afterwards it will be necessary to bring it in either by that or some other name as shall be thought most convenient for the time for that without this care all will slide down and fall again What form and manner of Inquisition to bring in whether that of Spain whose rigour is misliked by some or that which is used in divers parts of Italy whose coldness is reprehended by more or that of Rome it self which seemeth to take a kind of middle way between both is not so easie to determine but the time it self will speak when the day shall come and perhaps some mixture of all will not be amiss for England and as for divers points of the diligent and exact manner of proceeding in Spain they are so necessary as without them no matter of moment can be expected and some high Council of Delegates from his Holiness in this affair must reside in the Court to direct and to give heart and authority to the other Commissioners abroad as in Spain is used or else all will languish Their Separations of their Prisons also from concourse of People that may do hurt to the Prisoners is absolutely necessary as in like manner is some sharp execution of Justice upon the obstinate and remediless Albeit all manner of sweet and effectual means are to be tryed first to inform and instruct the Parties by Conference of the Learned and by the Labour and Industry of Pious and Diligent Men for which effect some particular method and order is to be set down and observed and more attention is to be had to this for that it is the gain of their Souls than to the execution only of punishment assigned by Ecclesiastical Canons though this also is to be done and that with resolution as before hath been said when the former sweet means by no way will take place And finally this Council of Reformation is to leave the Church of England and temporal state so far forth as appertaineth to Religion as a Garden newly planted with all kind and variety of sweet Herbs Flowers Trees and Seeds and fortified as a strong Castle with all necessary defence for continuance and preservation of the same so as England may be a spectacle for the rest of the Christian World round about it And Almighty God glorified according to the infinite multitude of dishonours done unto him in these late Years And for better confirmation of all points needful to Religion it would be necessary that either presently at the beginning or soon after some National Council of the English Clergy should be gathered and holden and to consider in particular what points of Reformation the Council of Trent hath set down and to give order how they may be put in execution with all perfection And finally besides these points touched by me for the Council of Reformation and this National Synod to look upon many more will offer themselves when the time shall come no less necessary and important perhaps than these which their charity and wisdom and quality of their Office will bind them to deal in for God's Service and the publick weal And I have only noted these thereby to stir up their memory to think of the rest CHAP. X. Of the Parliament of England and what were to be considered or reformed about the same or by the same FOR that the English Parliament by old received custom of the Realm is the Fountain as it were of all publick Laws and settled Orders within the Land one principal care is to be had that this high Court and Tribunal be well reformed and established at the beginning for a performance whereof certain Men may be authorized by the Prince and Body of the Kingdom to consider of the points that appertain to this effect and among other of these following First of the number and quality of these that must enter and have Voice in the two Houses And for the higher House seeing that Voices in old time put also divers Abbots as the World knoweth it may be considered whether now when we are not like to have Abbots quickly of such greatness and authority in the Commonwealth as the old were it were not reason to make some recompence by admitting some other principal Men of these Orders that had interest in times past as for example some Provincials or Visitors of St. Benet's Order seeing that the said Order and others that had only Abbots in England are now reformed in other Countries and have therein Generals Provincials and Visitors above their Abbots and with the same Reformation it will be convenient perhaps to admit them now into our Country when they shall be restored and not in all points as they were before Secondly about the Lower House it may be thought on whether the number of Burgesses were not to be restrained to greater Towns
fixt upon the Bishop of London's Gates the Title of which to trouble the Reader with no more of it is this The sentence Declaratory of our holy Lord Pope Pius Quintus against Elizabeth Queen of England and the Hereticks adhering to her wherein also all her Subjects are declared to be absolved from the Oath of Allegiance and whatever other duty they owe unto her and those which from henceforth shall obey her are involved in the same Curse or Anathema But as terrible as this Title and as much more terrible as the Bull it self was it did no ways answer the Pope's Expectation it was so far from raising all the Papists in the Nation against her which was his Expectation as well 〈◊〉 his command that it was contemned and slighted by most and instead of alieâ—â—ting their duty and their affections from the Queen it did alienate them both from him who was so ill advised as by such hasty unreasonable and ridiculous provocations to bring the severity of Laws and Trouble upon them who had hitherto been suffered quietly to enjoy in private the exercise of their Religion but now had no reason to expect it any longer being made every one of them so obnoxious and suspicious to the Government by reason of this his declaratory Bull against the Queen In this Condition the Queen and Realm were when our two Jesuits were sent over and as no wise Man nor sober Man among the Papists themselves ever doubted that this Excommunication and Deposition of Queen Elizabeth was oweing to the false suggestions and traiterous and importunate solicitations of the Jesuits Faction so it is as little to be questioned that the Jesuits undertook to make this Bull effectual and to raise not only the Papists but all others that they could buy into their interest to depose the Queen and reduce the Realm to the Pope's Obedience and that for this very purpose their first Mission came over hither They pretended indeed that they came over only to minister in Spiritual things to the necessities of the remaining Catholicks in England and to propagate their Catholick Religion as they call it for the saving of Men's Souls and that their business was not to stir up Sedition against the Queen or to meddle with matters of State but whatever their pretences were or whatever Father Moor has devised for them in his account of their Mission into England this we are sure of that the private Instructions here following given these two Jesuits by Pope Gregory XIII for their coming hither together with their practices immediately after their getting into England prove the direct contrary upon them We must understand that as by the damnatory Bull of Pius V. Queen Elizabeth and all her Adherents were cursed and deposed from all Power and Authority so by the last clause but one of it the Papists themselves were put under the same Curse and Anathematized if they continued to obey her Praecipimusque interdicimus universis singulis c. And we command and forbid all and every the Noblemen Subjects People and others aforesaid that they presume not to obey her or her Monitions Mandates or Laws and for those who shall do otherwise than here commanded we do involve them in the same Sentence of Anathema This was very hard upon the Papists themselves since how unable soever they might be to depose the Queen and how certain soever their Ruine would be upon the least attempt towards it yet attempt it they must and disobey her and her Laws they must or else be put into the very same Condition with the Heretical Queen her self and therefore the Jesuits or their Friends who were to come over foreseeing this great inconvenience that the English Papists were not allowed to wait a favourable opportunity of deposing the Queen but must do it out of hand though it was absolutely impossible for them obtained faculties from this Pope's Successor Gregory XIII to free the Romanists in England from the Curse of that Declaratory Bull for the present till things were riper and a more favourable Juncture offered it self which Faculties were taken about one of these two Jesuits Complices immediately after Campian's Execution and run thus Facultates Concessae P. P. Roberto Parsonio Edmundo Campiano pro Angliâ die 14 o Aprilis 1580. PEtatur à Summo Domino nostro Explicatio Bullae Declaratoriae per Pium Quintum contra Elizabethum ei adhaerentes quam Catholici cupiunt intelligi hot modo ut obliget semper illam haereticos Catholicos vero nullo modo obliget rebus sic stantibus sed tum demum quando publica ejus dem Bullae executio fieri poterit Then followed as my Lord Burleigh's now stand but hereafter when the publick Execution of the said Bull may be had or made c. The Pope hath granted these foresaid Graces to Father Robert Parsons and Edmond Campion who are now to go into England the 14 th day of April 1580. Present the Father Oliverius Manarcus assistant Faculties granted to the Two Fathers Robert Parsons and Edmond Campian for England the 14 th of April 1580. LET it be desired of our most Holy Lord the Explication of the Bull Declaratory made by Pius the Fifth against Elizabeth and such as do adhere to or obey her which Bull the Catholicks desire to be understood in this manner That the same Bull shall always oblige her and the Hereticks but the Catholicks it shall by no means bind as affairs do Tract concerning Execution for Treason and not for Religion tells us many other Petitions of Faculties for their further Authorities which were all concluded thus Has praedictas Gratias concessit summus Pontifex Patri Roberto Personio Edmondo Campiano in Angliam profecturis die 14 o Aprilis 1580. Praesente Patre Oliverio Manarco assistente Thus furnished Father Parsons set out for England upon his true business which was not to read Mass and take Confessions and the like but to put this Bull of Deposition in Execution against his lawful Queen as soon as matters were a little riper and when the Jesuits thought fit to speak out And as his Instructions were such so his behaviour was every whit answerable to them he made it his whole business to alienate the Papists he conversed with from their Allegiance and went about the Kingdom in his several disguises upon the same traiterous errand one while in the habit of a Soldier another while in that of a Gentleman sometimes in the habit of a Minister again in that of an Apparitor a very Proteus Sedition and Treason was his business hither and he presently upon his arrival in England fell to his Jesuitical courses and so belaboured both himself and others in matters of State which the Jesuit Moor would fain have the World to believe they were charged in their Dispatches not to meddle in neither by word nor writing how he might set her Majesties Crown upon another Head
Members and Branches whom this Memorial may concern are Three to wit the whole Body of the Realm jointly and then the Crgy and Temporalty apart Therefore the same order shall be observed for more perspecuity's sake in treating matters that are to be handled according to these three parts First of things that appertain to the whole Body of the Realm in general and then to the Clergy and Laity in particular's dividing each one of these two latter Members into his particular branches also as namely the Clergy and Spiritualty into Bishops Priests and Religious and the Laity and Temporalty into the Prince with his Council the Nobility and Commons making of every one of these chief Members their particular Chapters also apart as in Prosecution of this Treatise shall appear And to the performance of this the Author was incouraged especially by two points which for divers Years he has been perswaded in The First That God will most certainly at his time appointed restore the Realm of England to the Catholic Faith again as may appear by the evident hand he holdeth now in the work The other That England being once converted may be made the Spectacle of all the World and an Example of Perfection to all other Catholic Countries and Churches round about it if want of Zeal and good will do not hinder it in those that God shall bring to that blessed day which the Gatherer of this Memorial hopeth will not and with this hope he setteth down the Notes and Advertisements ensuing A Table of the Chapters of this MEMORIAL PART I. Touching the whole Body CHAP. I. SOme special Reasons why England above all other Realms ought to procure a perfect Reformation when time shall serve CHAP. II. What manner of Reformation is needful in England after so long a storm of Persecution which is declared by the Example of Gold coming out of the Furnace and of a Garden newly planted after the Weeds and Thorne are consumed by Fire CHAP. III. How this happy Reformation may be best procured and what Disposition of Mind is needful for it in all parts CHAP. IV. How all sorts of People to wit Catholicks Schismaticks and Hereticks may be charitably dealt withal to their most profit at the neat change of Religion CHAP. V. The forwardness that ought to be in all Men for the appeasing of God's Wrath about the rapine of Ecclesiastical Lands and Livings and with what facility and case a good Composition and reasonable Satisfaction may be agreed upon without the over-burdening of any Party and how the said Livings may be disposed of CHAP. VI. Of the many great and singular Benefits that would ensue to the Church and Realm of England by this manner of Restitution Agreement and Disposition of Ecclesiastical Livings CHAP. VII Of a Council of Reformation to be ordained by the Authority of the Prince and Parliament with consent of the See Apostolick and wherein they are principally to be occupied for the raising up of our Churches again and first of all in gathering up and profitably bestowing of these Church-Livings that shall be restored CHAP. VIII Of divers other great Points that will belong to the Council of Reformation to deal in for the bringing of our English Church to its former Perfection CHAP. IX There ensue yet more matters that appertain to the Council of Reformation for beautifying our Church above the beauty that it had before and above the rest of all Christian Churches CHAP. X. Of the Parliament of England and what were to be considered or reformed about the same both in it self and other PART II. Touching the Clergy CHAP. I. OF the Clergy in general what they are and ought to do at the next change and how soundly united with the Laity CHAP. II. Of Bishops and Bishopricks of England what is to be restored and what continued what reformed CHAP. III. Of Deans Canons Pastors Curates and the rest of the Clergy what is needful to make them flourish CHAP. IV. Of Seminaries Colledges Vniversities and Schools for restoring and increase of our Clergy CHAP. V. Of Vniversities more at large and of the Government Discipline and manner of proceeding of our English Vniversities and in what Points they do differ from other Vniversities abroad and what is to be increased added and altered or established to make them absolutely the best in the World CHAP. VI. How Offices Preferments Fellowships Scholarships and other said places were to be provided in our Vniversities to avoid infinite inconveniences and of divers other Points to this purpose CHAP. VII Of Religious Men and Women and matters appertaining unto them and their Estate and how England may be furnished with them in far better sort than any other Catholick Nation in the World PART III. Touching the Laity CHAP. I. OF the Laity and Temporalty in general and of the agreement and concurrence with the Clergy for both their good with the Difference of both their States CHAP. II. Of the Prince and his Councel and matters belonging to them for the publick benefit CHAP. III. Of the Nobility and Gentry of England and matters appertaining to their Estates for the bettering the same every way CHAP. IV. Of the Inns of Court and Studies of the Common Laws of England and of the Laws themselves what is to be considered amended or bettered in each part CHAP. V. Of the Commons of England and of matters appertaining to them how tenderly they are to be cared for cherished and maintained with divers Advertisements for their publick Commodity The FIRST PART of this MEMORIAL OF THE Reformation of England Wherein are touched Points that do belong to the whole Body of the Realm as before in the Preface has been declared and is the Ground of the other Parts that ensue CHAP. I. Some special Reasons why England above all other Realms ought to procure a perfect Reformation when time shall serve IF ever Nation under Heaven were bound to shew themselves grateful to Almighty God and to turn heartily and zealously unto him and to seek his highest glory by a perfect Reformation of their Country when his Divine Majesty shall open the way it is the English Nation for the Reasons following First For that no other Nation in the World on whom God hath laid the scourge of Heresie hath received so many helps and graces to resist the same as England hath done which is evident by the b multitudes and valour of English Martyrs by the fortitude and zeal of so many and such Confessors by their Constancy Patience and Fervour at home by the store of Seminaries abroad and by the Spirit of Priests brought up in them and many other Favours and Priviledges used towards the English Nation in these our days all which do require an extraordinary Demonstration of forwardness of English Catholicks when the time shall serve to be answerable in some sort to these extraordinary Benefits Secondly We do both see and feel the inestimable damages that ensued
on the contrary side Qui facit veritatem saith he venit ad Lucem ut manifestentur opera ejus And though I confess that in a quiet and establisht Catholick State Disputation with Hereticks were not to be presumed profitable yet our Condition is different now at the beginning and will be for some Years in England and all satisfaction must be given that may be conveniently and seeing our building is true at the Foundation and our Mony with which we desire to enrich Men is pure Gold and tried the more we rub it on the Touchstone the better it will appear and the more acceptable it will be to all Men. One other publick satisfaction also I could wish were given for some days at the beginning to certain principal Persons in London or elsewhere or rather that every Bishop should do it in his City or Diocess for that in my Opinion it would be of very great importance And this is That some chief Man of Learning and Authority of our side or the Prelate himself should take a certain hour in the day to confer openly the writings of some two of both sides as namely of Juell and Dr. Harding in London for that they write both in the Vulgar Tongue the one against the other and of Whitaker and Dr. Stapleton in Oxford or Cambridge for that they writ in Latin and the manner of this Conference might be that one in Pulpit or publick Audience should read some Paragraph out of one of them and confer presently the Authors which he citeth and whether he citeth them truly or no and to let the places be read publickly out of their own Authors which may be prepared to be there present and then the answer of the other might be read and Authors also that he alledgeth and for more indifferency of this Examination or Collation there might be two Learned Men appointed one of each side a Protestant and a Catholick to see that no fraud or injury be done to any Party but only the Books examined sincerely and seeing that the truth is but one and cannot but appear by this Collation h I perswade my self this Examination would do exceeding much good to all such of understanding as should be present as indeed I suppose that all principal Protestants likely would be for that the Exercise would be both pleasant and profitable and I dare avouch that Juell will be discovered to make so many shifts and to slide out at so many narrow holes and creeks to save himself and to deny falsifie and pervert so many Authors Doctors and Fathers as his own side within few days would be ashamed of him and give him over which would be no small blow to overthrow Heresie even by the root in England he having been their chiefest Pillar to maintain the same in that Kingdom Besides these two publick satisfactions I do perswade my self there will be need of little more for that the private Industry of divers good and learned Men and one Lay-man with another and the vertuous lives and conversations of our Priests and Clergy-men and the Example of all sorts of Religious People both Men and Women and the very outward face show and practice of Catholick Devotion the wearisomness of Heresies and of their Authors and Maintainers will quickly work out all affection of People towards them and plant it the contrary towards true Religion Piety and Catholick Christianity And thus much for gaining of those that have been deceived by error and are of a good nature and think they do well and do hold a desire to know the truth and follow the same and finally do hope to be saved as good Christians and do make account of an honest Conscience though they be in Heresie But for others that be either wilful Apostates or malicious Persecutors or obstinate Perverters of others how they may be dealt withal it belongeth not to a Man of my Vocation to suggest but rather to commend their State to Almighty God and their Treaty to the wisdom of such as shall be in authority in the Commonwealth at that day admonishing them only that as God doth not govern the whole Monarchy but by Rewards and Chastisements and that as he hath had a sweet hand to cherish the well-affected so hath he a strong arm to bind the Boysterous Stubborn and Rebellious even so the very like and same must be the proceeding of a perfect Catholick Prince and Commonwealth and the nearer it goes to the Imitation of God's Government in this and all other points the better and more exact and more durable it is and will be ever And this answer may be given in general for in particular what order is to be holden with such as before I named Persecutors Arch-Hereticks false Bishops Preachers Ministers Apostates Traytors to the Cause Strangers and Foreign Hereticks that do oppress the Realm and others of the like Crue and Condition I leave to be determined according to the circumstance of time occasion and place when opportunity shall be offered Animadversions on Chap. IV. f PErchance it would be good not to press any Man's Conscience at the beginning for matters of Religion for some few Years The perusal of this part of this Chapter I cannot but recommend to all those Dissenters in England that did in the late Reign not only accept of the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience but give the King such extravagant thanks for it They must not deny that they were warned of the snare and that all the Kindness shewed them was but forced and would in a little time have proved their own as well as Ruine of the Church of England which was too wise to be trickt by the Jesuitical Arts of that Court They may see here what was the sole design of that grinning Toleration and which is more how lasting it was to have been Who can read the Jesuit's Instructions and Limitations here about it as the late King questioness did and remember the Cant that was set about then that the Liberty of Conscience should be made as firm as Magna Charta and established to all Posterity It was indeed the Admiration of all wise Men that the Dissenters who had believed that the Declaration of 1672. was designed to make way for Popery and had seen it proved out of other Books as well as Coleman's Letters that this was their most probable way to bring in Popery should in the Reign of a Popish King himself governed by Jesuits and when Popery was barefac'd be imposed upon to comply with and which was ten times more foolish to address and thank the Popish King for that Declaration which I do from my Soul believe would not have been continued to this Year 1690. so many are the Limitations and Restraints and Conditions in it that it would have been the easiest thing in the World for them when they pleas'd to have taken the forfeiture of this Charter also for Liberty of Conscience It
Times Men Matters and Occasions may chance to fall out very like or the same in England whensoever it shall be reduced to the Catholick Faith again great and special care is to be had lest semblable effect should also follow to the universal prejudice of the common cause wherefore this ought to serve as a preparative both for our Prince and People to put on the same pious and generous mind that Constantine the Great did to bear patiently with the infirmities of Men and remedy all matters the best he may and the People but especially Priests to beware of like deceit of the Devil and amongst other things if perchance in time of Persecution cause has been given or taken of offence or disgust between any person whatsoever that have laboured in God's Service and do tend all to one end to procure effectually now that it be altogether cut off and put in oblivion and this especially amongst the Clergy and by their means amongst others and if there should be any unquiet or troublesome Spirit found that under any pretence would sow or reap or maintain divisions that the Holy Apostles Counsel be followed with him which is to note and eschew him to the end that all may join chearfully and zealously to the setting up of this great and important work of Reformation And so much for Concord But as concerning example of good Life and to be Lanterns of the World I hope in Jesus there will be no great need at that day nor for that day now to call much upon our Clergy or at leastwise for some years after our Reduction they having received so abundant grace of Almighty God in this time of Persecution and so excellent a kind of Holy Education in our Seminaries as never perhaps any Clergy had in the World which Benefit of God ever ought to be a Spur unto them to be answerable to the same in their lives and works and to fear the most terrible sentence of St. Paul to the Hebrews about the hard and miserable case of such as after much and special grace received slide back again to their everlasting and most intolerable Damnation A blessed Servant of God in these our days cried out in a certain Memorial of his to the Council of Trent about matters of Reformation saying Take from us once if it be possible the shame and reproach of Israel which is the Evil and Idle Life of Clergy-men which cry ought ever to found in the Ears of our Clergy also for a watch-word and jointly to remember the Admonition of St. Paul no less necessary than this for them that are to labour in God's Vineyard which was That having meat and competent maintenance they should seek no farther but be content to labour willingly and liberally for so worthy a Master as is to pay them above all expectation or desire in the next Life Which Admonition is most important for moderating our appetites and avoiding of ambition greediness and contention when the day shall come though in England there will not want to give contentment also with abundance in temporal matters to all godly Men that shall labour there if his Divine Majesty vouchsafe to restore the same from his Enemies hands so as my hope is that our Clergy in every degree from the highest to the lowest will endeavour at that day to conform themselves to all rules of Reason Piety and Religion and to hearken gladly to any good Counsel or remembrance of Order and Discipline that shall be offered for theirs and the common good and with that I may presume to set down the Notes that hereafter do ensue CHAP. II. Of Bishops and Bishopricks in England BIshops and Prelates be Heads of the Clergy and if all ought to be Light and Salt how much more they that must lighten and season not only the Temporalty and Laity but all the rest of their own Order also who according to the example given them by their Prelate are wont to proceed And on the other side the best means for a Bishop to do much good in his Diocess is to have good Priests about him for that a Prelate without good Priests to help him is a Bird without Feathers to fly and to have good Priests he must make good Priests both by his Life Doctrine and other good means and especially by Seminaries for that Figs grow not on Thorns as our Saviour says and to have so great a Treasure it must cost both Labour Industry and Mony The Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops in England is commonly more than in divers other Countries and more respected and their ordinary inquiry upon dishonesty of Life or suspicion thereof is peculiar to England alone and of very great importance for holding Men in fear of carnal sins and for this cause to be continued and increased And albeit in some other Counties simple Fornication be not so much punished or pursued and inquired upon and that the Stews also be permitted for avoiding of greater inconveniences in respect of the different natures and complexions of the People yet by experience we do find that the same necessity of liberty is not in England and consequently in no wife to be brought in again for that it is an occasion of fall and of grievous temptations to many that otherwise would not have them That English Custom also of often Visitations by the Bishop and by his Councellors Officials and other Ministers and Probats of Testament to be made before them and the use of often administring the Sacrament of Confirmation to Children is very laudable and to be honoured and any other thing that may belong to the authority credit or good estimation of the Bishop or of his Function and Office and if for a time after the next change some hand were given to Bishops also in Temporal affairs as to be principal in all publick Commissions within the Shire it would greatly authorise Religion and assure the Country much more to the Prince It will appertain to the Council of Reformation to consider of the Revenues of each Bishoprick and where there wanteth sufficient to bear out decently that State then to add so much as shall be necessary yet are Bishops to be admonished saith Mr. John Avila that Christ willeth them to be Lights of the World and Salt of the Earth by their fervour of Religion Prudence and Vertues and not by abundance of great Riches and Pomp and he alledgeth a Canon of the first Council of Carthage which saith thus Episcopus habeat vilem supellectilem mensam victum pauperem dignitatis suae authoritatem fidei vitae meritis quaerat And upon this he addeth That much more hurt hath come to the Church of God by overmuch Wealth of Bishops than by their Poverty albeit he wisheth notwithstanding that they have sufficient with Moderation And he beseecheth the Council of Trent that as well of Bishops Livings as of Deanries Archdeaconries Rich
third part of the Fellows and Scholars which otherwise might be maintained more if the Head's Portion were moderate as in other places it is And the going forward in studies would be much better attended unto Wherefore this point in all reason is to be remedied and no more to be allowed to the Head during his Government than a reasonable portion for himself and for a Man or two whilest he governeth and that the same Government endure not ordinarily more than three years and that he may be elected out of any College or House of the University without prejudice of losing his place or commodity that he had before if after his Headship ended he will return to the same again And to the end he be more vigilant in his Office the order of other Countries seemeth very good that a Month before his said Office is to end there should ordinarily a Visitor be sent to examine how he and his Officers have behaved themselves and in what state they leave the Colleges and that the said Visitor should assist afterwards in the Election of a new Head and Officers to be chosen at the same time and that done might the Visitation be confirmed with such assistance as shall be appointed thereunto and so sentence be given for the praise or punishment of the said Head and the rest of the Officers for their years past With this vigilance it may be presumed that the Government of Houses would go much better especially if there were some one Man in or near each University that had eminent authority over all to determine causes and to send ordinary Visitors to every College and Hall every third year at the change of their Head-Officers as is aforesaid himself remaining high sole and perpetual Visitor of the said University during his Life It were to be wished also if it could be brought to pass that young men in the Colleges during time of their studies though they be Fellows had no Voices in setting or letting of their Lands buying or selling choosing of Officers among themselves and the like for that most certain it is both by reason and experience that these things do greatly distract the wits of young-men and especially of students and do hinder their learning and put them in continual broyls disquietness contention and dissention both amongst themselves and with their Superiors For remedy whereof it seemeth that some two or three at the most within every College of the most ancient and fittest for the purpose that have ended their studies or are very near to the same might be appointed to have a hand in the Temporalties Therefore together with the Head without troubling the rest whereunto may be joyned some wise or discreet Procurator abroad and all these might be bound not to lett or set buy or sell any great thing of importance without the consent of other two or three Heads of Religious Houses or other Colleges within the said University who might be immediate Patrons and Over-seers of this College or Hall and might be bound to come or send every quarter of the year once to view and see the accounts how they pass and at the end of each year to subscribe them with their hands and at the end of three years when the Head and other ordinary Officers of the College were to be changed for to avoid Elections it would be best no doubt for every College to choose their Head and all other principal Officers at one time together for to endure for three years as before hath been said These Patrons and Overseers after the Visitation ended by him that shall be sent by the chief Visitor be he Chancellor or Bishop that shall have this supreme authority they may I say join with the said Visitor to overlook his Visitation as also assist him in the Election of the Head and Officers that are to follow and have their Voices also in the same and this may be observed in every College over which both particular Patrons and Overseers may be appointed as hath been declared for their better Direction and Government And besides these a general Visitor may be over the whole University and be respected and obeyed by all which no doubt would be far better and more commodious than one College to depend as now they do of one Bishop as their Visitor and another of another which Bishop lying oftentimes far off cannot have so great care or knowledge of University matters as was needful and consequently of less authority with the whole For that the Bishop which is respected by one College for that he is their Visitor is nothing cared for by others over whom he hath no jurisdiction at all But by the means which I have proposed of being general Visitor and lying in or near the University he shall be respected by all and his Ordinances will be observed for that he is present to over-look the same And again if two or three Heads of Houses be appointed immediate Patrons and over-lookers of every particular College there will be much matter of Government and Authority to exercise all Heads and one College will respect another and help to hold up Discipline and good order one in the other which now is not done CHAP. VI. How Fellowships Scholarships and other such places were to be proved AS for choosing of Fellows and Scholars into every House where places are vacant and that with indifferency and good order without partiality and bribes as now is used this method following may be observed which is used also in foreign Universities When any place is void in any College it should not be provided and filled again before the end of the year in which it falleth void to wit until the next festival day of the same College and this to the end both that the College may help and better it self by the saving of the Fellowship or Scholarship for the remnant of that year as also to the end there be time to give notice abroad in the University or farther off also if need be that such and such places are void to the end that fit men may prepare themselves to oppose for the same And so when the time cometh or some three or four days before the Feast that the Head with his principal Officers as also that the Patrons before mentioned may joyn together and make publick examination of the Opponents as well for their manners as learning and this in such sort as there may be no place for corruption or partiality And then taking first a publick Oath to do uprightly according to their Consciences they may give their voices and he that hath the more part clearly of all the Electors to be accounted for lawfully chosen and none else which point only if it might be observed in our Englâ—sh Universities and the foul corruption and bribery removed that Heresie hath brought in in our days that would be sufficient to animate all the youth in England to follow
other points of importance have been touched by me elsewhere concerning these matters as also about the new Militant Order that may be erected and brought in I shall here make an end both of this subject and of the Second Part of this Memorial appertaining to the Clergy The THIRD PART of this MEMORIAL Appertaining to the LAITY The Third and last that treateth of Laity or Temporalty hath three principal Heads or Members no less than the former to wit the Prince with his Council the Nobility and Commonalty of every one of which we shall speak in order as in the former Parts hath been done CHAP. I. Of the Laity or Temporalty in general BY that which I have spoken in the First Chapter and Second Part of this Memorial about Clergy-men the difference and distinction may appear that is betwixt these two principal branches of a Christian and Catholick Commonwealth to wit the Clergy and Laity which is a distinction observed from the very beginning of Christian Religion and the Primitive Church as may appear by the first second third eight seventy and divers other Canons of the first general Council of Nice where often mention is made of this distinction And before that again Tertullian a most learned and ancient writer not only setteth down the same distinctly of Clergy and Lay-men as received generally in his time but sheweth also and reprehendeth earnestly the Emulation and Envy that even then began by art of the Devil to be in divers of the Laity against the Clergy using the same objections that Luther and Calvin and other Hereticks of our time set on foot again now against the same sort of Men. When we Lay-men saith Tertullian ' in his Book de Monogamia become proud and are inflamed against the Clergy then we say we are all one and that all Men be Priests for that Christ made all Priests and unto God his Father but when we come to be exhorted and provoked to observe Priestly Discipline equally with them then we lay down our Vomits and confess that we are different and inferiour to them By which words of Tertullian we learn not only the great antiquity of this Distinction between Lay-men and Clergy-men but also the antiquity of that hatred and emulation which our times have received between these two States to the infinite hurt and prejudice of God's Catholick Church and in like manner the antiquity of that heretical Objection which Calvinists and Lutherans make against Clergy-men saying That all Men are Priests as well as they by which is seen that as God's Church hath been ever one from the beginning holding always this distinction of these two Members so hath also the Devil's malice been one from that time hither in setting divisions between the same The Derivation and Original of these two names is known to all the World being deducted of the Greek wherein Clergy signifieth Inheritance Lot or Portion which the holy ancient Father St. Hierome in a certain Epistle to one Nepotian saith may be understood in two ways and both of them true to wit for that either Clergy-men be the peculiar Inheritance Lot or Portion of God or for that Almighty God is the peculiar Inheritance Lot or Portion of Clergy-men above the rest of other People which People in the Greek Language is called Laity And we in England from the first time that we were Christians to explicate more the matter and to make the distinction betwixt these two sorts of Men more full and plain have used to call them the Temporalty and Clergy-men the Spiritualty and so we say in all the Acts of our Parliaments to wit the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in this present Parliament gathered together And the very Hereticks themselves that first envied so much against this distinction of Laity and Clergy are now come to use the very same speech and phrase in their Parliaments that is to say the Spiritualty and Temporalty for better understanding of which distinction of Spiritualty and Temporalty for that it is as I have said most ancient in our Realm it is to be considered that as in Man there are two parts first and principally the Soul which is a Spirit and endureth for ever and consequently the matters belonging thereunto are Spiritual and Eternal And Secondly the Body which endureth but for a time and therefore the things appertaining thereunto are called Temporal Even so for that the Office of the Clergy-men is principally about the Soul and Life to come and of Lay-men about matters appertaining to the Body and to the life present therefore the former are called Spiritual and the other Temporal whereof ensueth that as much as the Soul exceedeth the Body and Spirit excelleth Flesh and as much as the Life to come passeth the Life present and Eternity excelleth Time so much excelleth the State and Vocation of Clergy-men the State of Temporal men as St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Chrysostome and St. Ambrose three worthy Doctors of Christ's ancient Church in their several Treatises about Priesthood do declare notwithstanding that in their particular Lives a Lay-man may be better than a Clergy-man and be preferred before him in matters of his Salvation For more Explication whereof it is to be understood that Christ at his being upon Earth shewing his coming to be only for gaining of Souls would not meddle in Temporal Government but framed unto himself a new Order of the Clergy for this purpose choosing first Apostles and giving them authority to ordain others for their Successors by Imposition of Hands by the name of Bishops and besides these other inferiour Orders also by the name of Priests Deacons and the like and to this sort of People which he called the Light and Salt of the Earth he committed the managing of Souls and all authority and jurisdiction necessary for the same as to Teach Preach Baptise Administer Sacraments to bind and loose from Sin to correct and reprehend to make intercession by Prayer and finally the opening and shutting of the Gates of Heaven Which heavenly jurisdiction over Souls to the end he might shew how high and worthy a thing it was and not depending any way of the Temporal Jurisdiction and Government of Emperours Kings and Princes which respected Temporal ends but much higher and far more eminent he did ordain it and caused to be in practice for many Years together when all Temporal Princes of the World were Infidels and Enemies and knew not of this But yet on the other side was not this Government of Secular Princes impeached taken away or hindered by this other and different Spiritual Government of the Clergy but rather confirmed and established by the same so far forth as they tended to common Justice Peace Equity and Vertue which this Spiritual Government of Christ did principally procure as means as well to their ends that is to the Salvation of Souls as to the Temporal end of the Weal publick And therefore when afterwards Princes
a storm of injustice and iniquity by how much the more all parts and joints of equity both towards God and Man have been wrested and wronged therein by Hereticks and Atheists And first of all are to be redressed the open wrongs which have been done to our Catholicks for their Faith and Religion whether it were by shew or colour of Laws or by manifest Tyranny And secondly are to be remedied the known publick oppression of the common People by some that have been in authority as namely incroachments upon their Lands Tenements or the like as also the corrupt manner of proceeding of certain Quests and Juries both in matters of Life and Lands that in later days by the infection of Heresie have been accustomed to apply themselves to the favour of Magistrates in authority without regard of Right or Conscience One thing also in particular for very honour of our Realm and saving the Lives and Souls of infinite Men is greatly wished might be recommended to his Majesty and effectually redressed which is the multitude of Thieves that rob and steal upon the High-ways in England more than likely in any other Country of the World they being also oftentimes of no base Condition or Quality that do it but rather Gentlemen or wealthy Men's Sons moved thereunto not so much of poverty and necessity as of light estimation of the fault and hope of Pardon from the Prince whereby it cometh to pass that albeit the English Nation as by experience is found he not so much inclined to steal in secret as some other Nations are and that more are put to Death in England for punishment of that Fact than in many other Nations together yet is this enormity of robbing upon the High-ways much more frequent and notorious in England than any where else in Christendom which is a great infamy to our Government and hurt to the Common-wealth For remedy though divers means may be suggested whereof I shall have occasion to speak in the two Chapters following yet one principle is thought to be if it were once known that the Prince would hardly or never dispense or give pardon in that offence but upon great rare and extraordinary occasion For albeit many obtain not this pardon yet the very hope thereof encourageth others to attempt the Fact And we see that in some Countries and especially in Spain above all other that I have seen though the Realm be much bigger and have many more fit places to commit such offences than ours yet very rarely it is heard that publick robberies are committed upon the High-ways though in private and secretly is no Country perhaps more which principally is attributed unto the certain and constant publick Justice that is done upon them without remission that commit the Fact if they be found and to the great diligence used for finding them out by the particular pursuit of a certain Company and Confraternity of Men appointed for the purpose and peculiarly dedicated to this work named the Holy Brotherhood which is endued with many priviledges and sufficient authority for the same The which thing is wished also might be brought into England and made subordinate to the new Religious Order of Knights to be instituted both for the defence of Sea and Land which I have spoken of in the First Part of this Memorial And albeit the strictness of the Prince be necessary in giving Pardons for cutting off all hopes to the Malefactors yet were it to be wished that the rigour of our Temporal Laws for putting Men to death for theft of so small quantity or value as is accustomed in England were much moderated and some lesser bodily punishments invented for that purpose as also that some means of moderation wherein the manner of quick dispatch of Men's lives by Juries impanelled in haste and forced to give Verdict of Life and Death upon the suddain without allowing space either for them to inform themselves or for the accused to think duly upon his defence or to help himself by any Proctor Attorney contrary witness or other such aides as both reason and other Country Laws and equity it self seemeth to allow whereof I shall speak more when I shall come to speak of our Common-Laws of England in the Fourth Chapter of this Part. And for that it will not be enough to plant only Religion Justice and other such parts of a true Christian Commonwealth but also it will be needful to uphold maintain and defend the same It must appertain also unto a Catholick Prince whom God shall bless with the Crown of England to shew himself a continual Watch-man over the same and with his vigilance provide for the perpetuation thereof and first of all to assure the Succession of the Crown by good provision of Laws which Hereticks of later years have so much confounded and made so uncertain and in such manner must be link the state of Catholick Religion and Succession together as the one may depend and be the assurance of the other Moreover his Majesty must see due execution from time to time done of such good Laws and Ordinances as to these and like purposes by himself and the Realm shall be at the beginning determined and set down for which effect it seemeth that the custom of some other wise Catholick Princes of foreign Countries is much to be commended who do use both ordinarily and at other times unexpected to send Visitors to divers parts of their Realms as namely to Universities and to all Courts of Law and Justice and other places where any great abuse and excess may be committed touching the Prince's Service or other State of the Commonwealth which Visitors being Men of great integrity skill and wisdom and furnished with sufficient Authority and Commission to fear no Man do return back true Information of that which is well or amiss to the Prince and his Council who after diligent view and deliberation do cause the same to be published and all Parties to be punished or rewarded according to their merits which is a great Bridle to hold things in order Furthermore for that it is of great moment for the Prince to know and be truly informed of the quality and merit of such of his Subjects as he is to prefer to Offices and charge in the Common-wealth either Spiritual or Temporal it were necessary his Majesty from time to time as for Example from three years to three years or the like according as some other godly Princes also use should cause certain Lists and Catalogues to be given him of Men's names by divers secret ways and by Persons of credit discretion and good Consciences touching all such Subjects in every Country Province Universities Cathedral Churches Houses of Law and particular Colleges as for their learning wisdom and other good qualities were fittest to be imployed and preferred by his Majesty and that these Lists and Memoires should be often viewed by the Prince himself and by his Council