should be so and that they should obey them not onely for feare but for conscience Sixtly there is an argument that carieth some pretie shewe which may be framed from a good rule of Cardinall Bellarmines It is apparant that the worde of God doth prescribe obedience to wicked princes it is also as apparant that the lawes of the church as in our case do forbid obedience to such princes Now saith the said Cardinal but in another matter Quando ius diuinum ius humanum pugnant debet seruari ius diuinum omisso humano Seuenthly Iustinus Martyr Athenagoras and Tertullian haue notably expressed this dutie of subiects to the ciuill magistrates be what they shall good or bad And though then they were very prophane men and cruell persecutors many of them yet they labored verie earnestly to shew that by the doctrine of Christ himselfe of all his holy apostles and the whole church his sweete spouse it was the dutie of all Christians liuing vnder them and being borne their subiects to serue and obey them in all their temporall affaires and causes of imploiment Vectigalia collectiones c. There are none of your subiects saith Iustinus to the Emperor that pay their tributes customes and collections to such officers as you appoint to collect them sooner then we do that be Christians Sic instituti sumus for we are so taught c. to giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars And againe Nos solum deum adoramus vobis in alijs rebus laeti inseruimus Likewise Athenagoras to the Emperor Antonius pro imperio vestro c. The Christians doe powre out their vowes and praiers to God for your empire that the sonne may succeed the father and the empire may long increase and flourish And Tertullian of like sort saith we pray with all our harts that God will grant to all Emperors a long life a secure empire an obedient family valiant armies a faithfull Senate honest subiects a quiet gouernment and whatsoeuer is acceptable vnto them Eightly but least it should be obiected that there is difference betweene heathen kings and such as being once true Christians and catholikes as al Christians are by baptisme are apostataed out of the church therefore though subiects are boūd to obey the first sort yet it foloweth not that they are so bound to the second To this I answere that although the difficultie be cleered in my second reason before set downe yet S. Augustine shal make the point more manifest Ordinauit sic deus ecclesiā suam c. God hath so ordred his church as all ordinarie authority and magistrates may haue in this world honor done vnto them aliquando à melioribus and sometime from their betters Contigit tibi c. It hapneth that thou art become a Christian hauing a master non ideo Christianus factus es vt dedigneris seruire thou art not therefore made a Christian that thou shouldest thinke scorne to serue thy master still O quantum c. O how much are rich and great men bound vnto Christ who so ordereth their families as if there be in them a seruant that is an infidell Christ doth conuert him non ei dicit and doth not saie vnto him serue thy master no longer bicause now thou knowest him who is indeed thy true Lord and master Yea but such a seruant may say Indignum est vt iustus fidelis seruiat iniquo infideli It is not meete that a iust and faithfull man should serue a wicked master being an infidell Whereunto Saint Augustine answereth non hoc ei dixit sed magis vt seruiat A seruant may say so but Christ neuer told him so but that being a Christian he should the rather continue his seruice to such a one his master If Christ himselfe the Soueraigne Lord of heauen and earth seruiuit indignis did obey wicked rulers praied for them being persecutors quanto magis how much more ought man not to disdaine to serue his Lord and master with all his minde with his whole good will and with perfect loue etiam malo though he be a wicked man Quod autem dixi de domino c. And what I haue said of the master and seruant vnderstand the same of powers and kings and of all other superiors of this world Sometimes they are good and feare God and sometimes they feare not God And so he commeth to the place which I haue all this while aimed at Iulianus extitit infidelis and was he not also an apostata a wicked man and an idolater But Christian soldiers serued the Emperor an Infidell when they came to a cause that touched Christ his honour they acknowledged none but him that was from heauen when he would haue had them to haue serued Idols and haue offred sacrifice vnto them they preferred God before the Emperor But when he said vnto them bring foorth your forces go against such a nation they presently obeied They distinguished their eternall Lord from their temporall Lord and yet they were subiect vnto their temporall Lord in respect of his will who is their eternall Lord. Thus farre Saint Augustine whereby I trust it is plaine that kings are to be obeied by their subiects whether they be wicked persons heretikes apostataes or woorse if woorse could be Besides all these generall reasons before mentioned why no good subiects ought to giue eare to such traitorous counsellors as Parsons and his fellowes were 1588. and so still continue there yet are some more particular and more pertinent respects why her Maiesties subiects ought not to haue regarded any or all their said Iesuiticall perswasions before mentioned for their ioyning with the Spaniards First the excommunication of Pius 5. hauing beene procured vpon false suggestions and so by surreption it hath euer beene thought by the grauer and more learned priests and catholikes in England to haue been void and of no validitie in law from the beginning And the same opinion is held of both the renouations partly in that a renouation of that which is not is voide and partly also for that the instigations as Parsons hath set them downe are many of them false and all exceeding malicious Which opinions being true in what case were they that were animated with the first excommunication to rebellion 1569. and in what case should they haue bene that should haue followed the Iesuits councels 1588 Surely they were and haue beene traytors both before God and man Secondly there are so many questions of the nullities of excommunications as it will alwaies be found a very hard matter for subiects to discerne when they are so farre to regard them as that with safe consciences they may take vp armes against their soueraignes vpon pretence that they are excommunicated Thirdly a great vncertaintie riseth amongst the schoolemen concerning the denouncing of any such excommunication when it may be thought to be so sufficient as that the subiects of any king
our powers should take vpon vs to giue it vnto another were he neuer so good a Catholike that had no right thereto Iustinus Martyr speaking of the duety of Christians to the ciuill Magistrate in those times of Infidels and persecutors affirmeth that they prayed not onely for the Emperors themselues but also for their sonnes that they might succeede them in the Empire quod aequissimum est which saith he is most agreeable to iustice and equitie were they like to prooue as euill as their fathers there is no exceptions of it The which I rather obserue to shew my dislike of Fa. Parsons in this point who is accustomed vpon euery occasion when he is in his best moode to affirme that he careth not who it is from whence he commeth or what right he hath to the crowne of this kingdome that when the time commeth shall be able to catch it so he be a Catholike But concerning both this point and the former least it should be said that whilest I would seeme to giue a reason of that which I haue in hand I do onely shew my opinion and illustrate the same with similitudes that are of as great vncertainty as that which I propound I will confirme my opinion with the iudgement of a principall man to whom there will no great exception be taken and then that which I haue said will prooue to be an argument ab authoritate Thus he writeth Soloiure naturali diuino non priuatur aliquis Dominio in subditos propter peccatum Apostasiae in fide c. If you goe no further then to the law of nature or to the law of God no king is depriued from his soueraigntie ouer his subiects though it be for the sin of Apostacie from faith And he giueth a very sound reason for this his assertion nam fundamentum dominij non est fides c. For faith is not the ground of dominion but some other politike title hauing force by the lawe of nations of succession by inheritance or of election or of iust acquisition by iust warre Qui tituli possunt etiam manere sine fide neque vnquam extat ius aliquod diuinum quo eiusmodi tituli eneruantur propter defectionem a side which titles may remaine without faith neither is there any lawe of God whereby such titles are impeached for defection from faith 8. I know that iure ecclesiastico by the authoritie sentence of the Popes holines much more may be done then here I will speake of But yet I thinke it wil prooue in the end the best course for men not to do so much as they may Many things be lawfull which are not expedient And this Iesuiticall course of downe with princes when they offend them may peraduenture so prouoke them as they will say as fast downe with priests and of a certainty we shall haue the woorse When they finde that the titles of their kingdomes cannot be touched either by the lawe of nature or by the lawe of God do what they list it may giue them occasion to oppose themselues with greater seueritie against the See Apostolike in that the same should make such extreme lawes voluntarily against them as should tend to the thrusting of them out of their kingdomes And out of question it will be subiect if once they take this course to great iangling whether such lawes as should touch the deposing of a king are not rather to be accounted lawes ciuill and temporall then any matter or subiect fit for ecclesiasticall men or lawes to worke vpon We see already that some kings do take vpon them to deale and make lawes in causes ecclesiasticall denying his holines authority therein within their kingdomes And will it not seeme a thing much more plausible probable if other kings shall stand vpon it and say that his holines hath no interest to make any ciuill or temporall lawes that may touch their freeholds Nay if things should come to this rifling I feare they would in their heat goe further and tell his holines that for ought they finde kings haue as great authority to depose priests as priests haue to depose kings Besides it must be cōfessed that all priests Iesuits and euery other sort of clergie men the Popes holines excepted are borne subiects of kings and princes and it will be an odious assertion to say that the taking of priesthood vpon them should giue them warrant to bristle and make head against their soueraignes Furthermore it cannot be denied shift the Iesuits with all their cunning neuer so prettily but the immunities which priests haue from the temporall lawes of kings doe proceede as Saint Thomas acknowledgeth from their meere fauour and godly zeale towards them Also it is most manifest that as the kings of England haue beene most bountifull to the church and churchmen here within their dominions in so much as all the reuenewes and temporalties with many singular priuiledges which in this realme our forefathers haue enioyed haue proceeded from their most princely liberality and authority so standeth the case of the clergy in all other kingdomes which two points would be duly considered of in time For if princes should by the same meanes seeke to spoyle the church and take from it all her said immunities priuiledges and temporall possessions it will little auaile to bring in our distinctions how parliaments may giue what they list to the church and churchmen but they can take nothing either from them or from the church What the power of a parliament is in England we haue had too great experience and I suppose the states in other kingdomes haue the like And therefore in all pollicie kings and soueraigne princes are not to be ruffled with in this Iesuiticall maner That which they may pretend how in these their discourses they ayme but at some one or two doth indeed touch all kings if they incurre the displeasure of his holines Surely though I humbly acknowledge my selfe to be minimus fratrum meorum and neither arrogate to my selfe to be of such mature iudgement as many are nor will presume to take vpon me so peremptorily on the one side as Father Parsons doth on the other though vnlearnedly God wot yet I finde many great dangers that may happen to the Catholike Roman church if these violent spirits be not in time suppressed Such furious insulting ouer princes will neuer doe good They may be drawen many waies by gentle and milde proceedings with them rather then by such indiscreete and desperate courses whereby they grow to greater resistance For if the Popes holines in times past dealt so sharpely as it seemeth with Baldemarus king of Denmarke that he writ in this sort to the supreme Pastor Notum tibi facimus vitam nos habere à Deo nobilitatem à parentibus regnum à subditis fidem ab ecclesia Romana quam si nobis inuides remittimus per presentes Be it knowen vnto thee that we haue our
no question if they had liued in our daies and withall vnder Englands alleageance they would either haue forborne or that speach haue qualified Touching Bannes though of this age yet a Spaniard he was and therefore his doctrine is lesse strange for this point But let that passe I blame him not for holding what opinion he list disputatiue bicause it is an ordinary matter so to doe yea and that in pointes of very great importance one scholeman holding an opinion in matters that are not directly of faith quite contrary and against one an other And so could I well haue borne with father Parsons if a schooleman as he is not he had beene to haue holden what opinion he listed in the schooles or for disputations sake concerning the conueniency or inconueniency of publishing this doctrine Marry withall I wish from my hart that he had left it there stil buried it in silence vnder his deske that it had neuer come within ken of an English eye nor within the sound of our aduersaries iealous eares But seeing that published it is by them and that in an other worse sense then either S. Thomas or Bannes euer dreamed of as tending wholy to a Puritanes popularity as hereafter shall be proued therefore must it needes follow to be a most pernitious doctrine and very vnfit to haue beene published to the world in these so dangerous times as wherein we all doe liue And by consequent it necessarily must and shall be improued and father Parsons iustly conuinced of treason and error for publishing of it like a right Puritane which I prooue by this discourse following Buchanan that archtraytor of Scotland in his booke De iure regni apud Scotos hath written at length to this very purpose against whom master Blockwood a woorthie man and a sound catholike did very learnedly oppose himselfe and hath at large confuted this monstrous conceite very substantialy All the Buchanans and Iesuits in Christendome will neuer be able to answere him in that point When Saint Paul saith Buchanan as master Blockwood alleageth his words commaunded the Romanes to obey the superior powers appointed by God he writ so In ipsa nascentis ecclesiae infantia cum christiani nec numero nec opibus nec authoritate valerent ac proinde eorum duntaxat ad quos scribebat non autem vniuersorum ciuium rationem habuisse In the infancie of the church saith this sacrilegious traytor to sacred Maiestie euer blasphemous Christians flourished not either in number or in wealth or in authoritie and therefore Saint Paul had onely respect of those to whom he writ that were not able to rebell and ment not that his precept should be held for a perpetuall lawe when Christians should grow afterwards to be of greater force Would not a man thinke he had heard a Iesuite all this while But let Buchanan go forward In those times Christians were faine to shrowd or hide themselues vnder the obedience of princes and magistrates though they were wicked and vnder the shadow of any kinde of dominion whatsoeuer bicause they were poore few of them citizens but strangers and for the most part such as had beene bondmen and the rest trades men and seruants that with great toile susteyned themselues And therefore Saint Paul admonished them vt temrori seruirent that they should dissemble for the time being mindfull of their condition and not peepe out of their holes much lesse seeke to trouble those that were in authority But if Saint Paul liued now adaies when not onely the people but princes do professe Christianitie and when Christians are equall both in number and strength to match tyrants he would command the multitude to inquire into the saide tyrants proceedings and as they saw cause to put them to death Thus far this Scottish bloodsucker and enimie to all regal soueraignty to whom father Parsons and the said Iesuits that writ of the deposition of Henry 3. are exceedingly beholden For he in his booke of succession and the other in their said discourse do follow him vp and downe step by step so directly as if they had purposed to haue professed themselues to be his schollers and to defend whatsoeuer he hath written were it neuer so desperate impious prophane and more then heathenish Thus you heare what the Iesuits doctrine is and how iumpe turne Turke and Puritane like they haue proceeded therein Now follow their grounds For the grounds and foundation of this Iesuiticall and Puritane doctrine of obedience till subiects haue force to rebell you may please to vnderstād that it is built vpon a new fond exposition of the Scriptures as partly you haue heard which is a very dangerous point and will giue our common aduersaries exceeding aduantage against vs in that hitherto we haue pretended to follow in all matters of controuersie with them that sence of the Scriptures which was generally receiued by the ancient fathers and haue greatly inueighed against their new expositions whereby they wring at woorst the written word that it may seeme to speake no other wise then they would haue it And that now the Iesuits in this case doe runne the same course it is manifest In testimonie whereof whereas the example of the Iewes by Ieremies direction vnder Nabuchodonozor hath beene generally held for a president for all christians if euer they shall happen to come into the like bondage so the practise of Christ concurring with it in paying tribute to Caesar a wicked king and commanding all men to do the like and with this precept also the rules of the Apostles fitly agreeing in prescribing all Christians of what calling soeuer generally to obey and performe all duties of subiects to all superior powers and particularly to kings as those being more excellent then the rest the ciuill magistrates being then likewise wicked persons and persecutors adding hereunto the generall expositions of the auncient fathers That the Apostles do speake in those places of such kinde of ciuill gouernors as heere we intreate of and that all Christians if they happen to liue vnder such like kings are to obey them and to submit themselues vnto all their temporall and lawfull commaundements it is cleere yet all this notwithstanding out come these new illuminates the Iesuits and as if they were become Caluinists they take vpon them with their new glosses to auoide and elude the true sence and ancient interpretations of all these places The Iewes say they were commanded diuinitus extraordinarily to obey and pray for Nabuchodonozor which ordinarily bindeth not Christ paide tribute and spake as a priuate person The Apostle Saint Paul ment that his precepts should be generally vnderstoode of obedience to good kings onely and Saint Peter when he commandeth all Christians to be subiect to the king quasi praecellenti that is saith one when the king doth excell in vertue and not otherwise and father Parsons in his booke of titles omit his absurd Appendix wherein he runneth riot
in this point of rebellion and popularitie saith that where Salomon affirmeth By me kings raigne and Saint Paul auoucheth that authoritie is not but of God and therefore he that resisteth authoritie resisteth God these places are to be vnderstood of authoritie power or iurisdiction in it selfe according to the first institution for otherwise when it is vniustly vsed it may be resisted in manie cases euen by the commons or multitude whom in his Appēdix he bindeth in conscience to rebell c. which kinde of shifts we haue euer detested and therefore nowe you shall heare what we thinke of this doctrine To speake plainely my minde in this case with all humble submission to the Catholike church and censure of my opinion herein I hold this doctrine of the Iesuits in these daies to be an open way to Atheisme so to expound the Apostles as that they might be thought to temporize which is a plaine kinde of dissimulation For there being question made concerning the doctrine of the Catholike church and Gospel of Christ as though it had impeached the authority of the ciuill Magistracie the Apostles to cleare themselues of so false an imputation did of purpose propose the contrary and prescribed such obedience and duty to all subiects as was by the lawes of God and all nations due vnto them But if the Apostles had beene of the Iesuits opinion in this matter and would haue dealt truely sincerely and directly as the Iesuits do neuer when such a doubt was made by the States where they preached they should haue answered to this effect scil If you that are Emperors kings and worldly gouernours doe meane to continue your wicked courses in opposing your selues against Christ and vs his seruants we are by the doctrine of our Master Christ and authoritie committed vnto vs to seeke your confusion and to depriue you from your Empires kingdomes and gouernments as soone as we are able to make head against you or if any of you will be content to heare and obey vs we must tell you that wherunto you must trust which is that when once you haue submitted your selues to this our said doctrine If you shall not foreuer afterwards conforme your behauiour and conuersation according to our rules and prescription we must be bold with you and do the best we can to mooue your subiects to rebellion and to depose you likewise as soone as they shall haue competent strength to incounter with you and in default thereof it is our duety to perswade by all the policies we can deuise some of your neighbour princes to take your subiects parts for your vtter ruine Inter bonos bene agere oportet We professe our selues to be teachers of the truth and therefore we cannot chuse being vrged vnto it in this particular but to signifie the truth vnto you after our plaine and direct proceedings with all men Now if such a kinde of answere to haue beene made by the Apostles do seeme most absurd then what wicked and absurd wretches are these good fathers who by their interpretations do impose it vpon them if they had dealt sincerely Or if the Apostles should haue meant indeed as these men would haue them and as it is before expressed then what might the world haue thought of them that to couer such tragicall points of blood and rebellion and to abuse princes they did pretend nothing but prayers paying of tributes honoring of kings and obeying of them for conscience sake But this course was farre from the blessed Apostles It is indeed very well befitting the puritanes the Iesuits such as Parsons Creswell c. who are the mē that teach practise it For it is their doctrine by dissimulation hypocrisie by lying equiuocating to seduce their hearers But what saith Master Blockwood to Buchanan Paulus vtendum fore precepit Laruatam hypocrisin sub persona religionis latere voluit Potestatibus obediendum edixit quia resisti non posset Christianos viribus admotos ad armacessantes ad arma concitat imperiumque frangit Did Saint Paule commaund vs to be time seruers Was it his minde that religion should be disguised with such a visard of hypocrisie Did he command men to obey the magistrates bicause they were not able to resist them Did he prouoke them to armes when their number and strength serued and bad downe with the Emperor This is right Mahumetisme tendeth to the ouerthrow of the Gospel and church Catholike the sweete spouse of Christ and therefore is to be detested cane peius angue Fiftly this Iesuiticall dreame doth derogate so much from the Maiestie of holy Scripture and the churches authority as thereby the vanity of it is very manifest and apparant For what saith Master Blockwood to Buchanan Itan ' diuinas leges vt humanas Aristotelis mensurarum similes esse putas Doest thou thinke Gods lawes as Aristotle speaketh of humane lawes that they are like measures that they should turne with the weathercocke and chaunge with the conditions of times and places No no much more truely and as it were by diuine inspiration doth he expresse the strength and constancie of diuine lawes who saith Non erit c. There shall not one lawe bee at Rome an other at Athens now one and then an other but there shal be one immortall lawe for all Nations and all times Imperator omnium Deus and God shall be Lord and Emperor of all He is the Inuenter the expounder and the giuer of this lawe which he that will not obey is his own enimy maximas poenas luet and he shal neuer escape greeuous punishments And such were Christs and his Apostles precepts not subiect to alteration and chaunge not framed to serue the time not fitted to this or that priuate person or plebian multitude one while commaunding obedience to tyrants and presently after to take vp armes against them but as we are to thinke of the very lawes of God their rules of obedience are permanent and to continue vnchangeable whilest this world endureth Furthermore it is to be supposed that the Church of God in the times of Iustinus Martyr and Tertullian did vnderstand the meaning of Christ and of his Apostles in this point as well as Parsons or any of his crue But it would haue seemed a strange doctrine both to them and all other Catholikes that had the feare of God before their eyes or any sparke of true and vnfained Catholike religion in their harts in those daies to haue heard it set down for positiue Diuinitie that notwithstanding any thing that Christ or his Apostles taught as touching obedience to kings and Princes yet it is to be accounted a pernitious and vnspeakeable sinne for subiectes being of sufficient force and ability not to resist for to that effect are father Parsons words in his Appendix and take armes against them if they be euill and wicked Instinus Martyr as I haue before obserued hauing set downe the duety of
Portingals and Spaniards continued kept the honours point for Martiall exploits these latter yeares but who shall carie away the price in the cadences of the Spaniards God only knoweth Thus came the foure Patriarkes of Hierusalem Antioch Alexandria and Constantinople by succession of honor wealth and fame in Gods Church to rise and fall one after another and now all decayed dead and gone from their auncient state renowne and dignitie in the Church of God here militant on earth Thus came all Monasticall Heremiticall and religious orders of Saint Anthony of Saint Basill of Saint Augustine of Saint Hierome of Saint Benedict of Saint Bernard of Saint Dominicke of Saint Frances of Saint Clare of Saint Briget and sundrie other religious orders of men and women to haue their generation and corruption by the freedome left of God in humane actions and mans choise to be good or bad vertuous or vicious and to rise and fall by succession one after another by merited fame and iust desert of their life manners and graces giuen and employed by them to Gods glorie In few thus came the spirituall Knighthoods of the Templers the Knights of Saint Iohns the Knights of Rhodes and now of Malto by a lineall succession of fame renowne and worthinesse to haue panigericall histories set foorth of their prayses And the like is of later orders and societies of Carmelists Carthusians Capouchians Theatines Iesuits Bonhommes c. all which set vpon the worlds Theater represent a mournfull tragedie of mans miserie how like to flowers they haue now one and then another order companie or societie burgened blossomed bloomed and flourished and yet subiect to the fates of free-will in all humane wights their deriuatiues are strayed abroad haue left and are gone from the obedience deuotion pietie pouertie chastitie charitie humilitie patience and religious zeale which was in the primitiues and founders of their Orders What shal we say more the whole body mysticall of Christ consisting of the three estates Ecclesiasticall Temporall and Monasticall do auerre the Peripateticall Prince his principle to be true in all things depending vpon chance and chaunge concerning the conuersion of countries people and nations to the Catholike faith For was not the generation or beginning of the Mosaicall law a plaine corruption fall and decay of the law of nature all the Gentiles presently vpon the Orient rise bright shine and flourish of the Israelites Church and their Hebrew Monarchie being giuen ouer into infidelitie and Idolatrie contrarie to the law of nature vnder which the faithfull had liued aboue two thousand yeares without distinction of Iew or Gentile vntill this Mosaicall law began And when for the Iewes sinnes and offences the period of their Monarchie and end of their synagogues and temples honour and religion came did not then the primitiues of the East Church amongst the Christians carry away the auriflambe of all religious zeale After that when the heauie cadens of the East Church came did not also then the Sonne of iustice tanquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo spread abrode the bright beames of his spouses glorie in a transparant light throughout these our West Ocean cloudes of heathenish darknesse and giue to these Northren Isles the prerogatiue regall of Prime-birth to his inheritance if the Britons and afterwards the English Saxons could haue kept it When by succeding turnes the most part of Asia and Affricke was corrupted and fallen away and all Europe conuerted to the sacred Apostolicall Romane faith when Monasteries began in this North Christian world to be built and great multitudes of Monkes Friers Canons regulars Nunnes and other sacred Saints and holy persons to consort themselues together when Emperors Kings Queenes Princes Lords and Ladies of all degrees fled from their regall Palaces to priuat Cels and left the triumphes of their conquests the trophees of their loues and pompes and pleasures of their Courts to who so would possesse them when here an Anchoresse there an Hermit and in euery wood wild and desert some sacred virgine valed inuested interred dead to the world was to be found when all fertile soyles all places of pleasure profite and content all earthly wealths and reuenues of most woorth were turned into Abbey and Church lands liuings and liuelyhoods when holy emulation was who might giue most all gaue of the best and made this flourishing Isle our Ladies dower when Kings and Queenes Priests and Prelates Lords and Ladies Monkes and Friers sacred Virgins and chast Matrons and all sorts of persons knew their duties first to God to his Church to her Priests then to their Prince to the Commonwealth and to her Peeres and lastly each one to another how when and where to commaund or obey when all things sorted to so sweet a sympatheall harmonie in English hearts as England by a prerogatiue royall of grace diuine merited to be called Anglia chara Deo gens when flying fame of their rare Angelicall conuersation had fronted the coasts of furthest countries and occupied with great admiration of mind the mouthes of most men in the world when England Fraunce and Flaunders Italy Bohemia and Germany Spaine Portugal and Hungary Sicilie Naples and Cyprus Denmarke Poland and Sweden Scotland Ireland and Norway did striue for a supremacie to carry away the garland of vertue deuotion and religion on all sides Then inimicus homo enuying at mans felicitie to conforme by permission diuine Gods concurrence with secondarie causes to the Philosophers prescript of generation and corruption in tract of time corrupting all these Northren and Westerne parts of the world with contention ambition Turcisme heresie and Pharisaisme a new generation of Catholike truth and religion begins to labour and bring soorth their children amongst the Indians Antipodies and new found world before vnknowne vnto these Northren and Westerne parts discouered first by Portingals and Friers and after proceeded in by Spaniards and Iesuits And now listen what followed Amongst many other cadences and fals the heauiest of all the rest hath bene iudged by many to haue bene our English calamities begun at first by the ambitious aspires of Cardinall Wolsey who affecting the highest Soueraigntie in causes Ecclesiasticall on earth made a great breach by his contrarie plotting betwixt King Henry the eight of famous memorie and the Sea Apostolicke And afterward when vnder her Maiestie Queene Elizabeth our Soueraigne now regnant sundrie persons of rare indowments graces and abilities had retired themselues to places of studie and seruice of their Lord God beyond the seas where they liued in diuerse Seminaries and Colledges leading there a right Monasticall and religious life in a most perfect state of religious profession calling and order as both all other religious Orders and Ecclesiasticall persons that conuersed with them or knew their manner of life and whereunto their whole studie tended did acknowledge somtimes in teares proceeding after their returne hither in simplicitate cordis with all humilitie patience
it and wish either it had been vndone or in this or that manner otherwise then it was denounced and executed That which hitherto I haue said of the first point of this article doth in some sort confirme my assertion concerning the second For if the excommunication of kings be inconuenient then what shal we thinke of those men being subiects in times so dangerous as neuer any were more then we now liue in that did seeke either to procure the said excōmunication against her Maiestie or to renew it As touching the first procurers of it were it D. Harding D. Stapleton D. Morton D. Webbe all or any of them they were yet by their leaues with reuerend regard to their priesthood and doctorship be it spoken but simple men out of their positiue diuinitie and did mightily ouershoote themselues in it diuers waies First there being a rash affection or zeale if you will haue it so called in some of the catholike Bishops when her Maiestie began to raigne to haue imitated Saint Ambrose by excommunicating her highnes and diuers others yet as Master Saunders noteth prudentiores Episcopi vel certe mansuetiores The wiser sort of thē or surely the milder were of another opinion and preuailed Indeede he further saith that they altogether thought it meete to referre the consideration of that matter to the Popes wisedome to doe therein as he thought conuenient but it appeereth not that they did afterwards sollicite his holines thereunto But the contrarie will easily be prooued by some that are aliue who can testifie that they were farre from that minde especially afterwards when they had better considered what was likely to ensue if any such excommunication should be procured And it will likewise be iustified sufficiently that Bishop Watson was exceedingly grieued when he heard that Pius quintus had been drawne to that course as in his wisedome seeing the great inconuenience of it Secondly the same reasons ought to haue hindered the said Parsons and any other from solliciting the Pope to that censure which mooued those catholike Bishops to forbeare it themselues They considered saith M. Saunders that they were the Queenes subiects and that such a fact might peraduenture haue procured some tumult and scandall and trouble of the whole Ecclesiasticall state and order and also might probably haue stirred vp some persecution Thirdly if it were true that some Iesuites haue lately written but with great Machiuillian sleights to curry fauor for the better furtherance of sundry their intended mischieuous designements that her Maiesty was in effect cōstrained to take the course for the alteration of religion that she did when she came first to the crowne then dealt they therein contrarie to the reasonable construction of sundry canons of the Church and consequently very rashly and vniustly Fourthly it may be gathered as I suppose out of Saint Ambrose by his dutie to the emperour otherwise signified that it was farre from his hart to thinke of the deposing of him from the empire or of absoluing his subiects from their obedience if the emperor had withstood him But these men were of another humor they knew that their sute to Pius Quintus did tend to her highnes deposition from the crowne so far as the Bull would reach and to the raising vp of such a garboyle in the kingdome as any true catholike hart may iustly quake to thinke of it Fiftly S. Augustine as S. Thomas obserueth would not praecipitare sententiam whether is woorse a catholike of an euill life or an heretike against whose conuersation no iust exception may be taken Now it is well knowne to all the world and acknowledged in Spaine what manner of person a certaine king was that once bare a great sway there and with how many most notorious and hainous enormities he might truly haue beene charged but yet the Spanish Iesuits and catholikes were farre from the violent humor of our men they did neuer presume or once indeuor to seeke or sue to haue their soueraigne excommunicated Whose example of forbearance therein doth argue the inconsiderate rashnes of our said Iesuited catholiks and Iesuits that haue dealt in such sort as all the world seeth with her Maiestie Sixtly whereas diuers kings and absolute princes haue reiected the authoritie of the See Apostolike as well as her highnes and doe still so perseuere yet we finde not that any hitherto of their subiects priests Iesuits or what other soeuer haue sought their ouerthrow deposition and destruction as our English Iesuits by profession and some other priests in affection and faction Iesuited haue sought for It is true that in Fraunce there are publike monuments of Iesuiticall tyrannie For first they procured Henry the third to be excommunicated and then by degrees they murthered him The like course they also held for a long time with the king now regnant sauing that to their intollerable greefe the blowe which they procured to be giuen him prooued not mortall though still their malice and hatred towards him appeereth manifestly to be as extreme as euer it was and therefore their good wils to be considered of accordingly For all which and many moe most traiterous practises the Iesuits are at this day an odious and detestable generation in that kingdome and with great prouidence and iudgement are banished thence for euer Whereby we may see what all such persons doe deserue who haue amongst vs prosecuted her highnes with little lesse malice and treason in seeking to haue her Maiestie excommunicated which is made by such miscreants but an entrance to all further disloyaltie crueltie and mischiefe Seuenthly it is apparant by the iudgement of S. Augustine that when excommunication cannot be denounced against any but with the inconueniences that are in the point before touched and are therefore in such cases to be forborne those counsellors that shall notwithstanding sollicite and labor for to procure any such excommunications are to be vtterly reiected and condemned as being persons whose counsels are inania pernitiosa atque sacrilega quia impia superba sunt plus turbant infirmos bonos quam corrigunt animosos malos vaine pernitious and sacrilegious bicause being wicked and proud counsels they bring greater trouble to weake good men then amendment to those that are euill and stoute For in such cases he saith that those things must be borne with patiently that cannot be reformed without the said inconueniences and that it is the dutie of good men in the meane while cum dilectione with loue and charitie to mourne and lament and not to take such desperate and wicked courses against all dutie faith and allegiance as these men we speake of did and our Machiuillian Iesuits doe still pursue and indeuour Eightly wheras excōmunication is termed by the learned sort of catholikes medicina a medicine that is such a censure as tendeth to reforme the party censured this their traiterous indeuour for I can terme it no better aimed at nothing but
Christians towards the ciuill magistrate the Emperor then a wicked man and a persecutor doth in direct termes affirme that Christ had taught them such obedience and alledgeth his very words giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars If it be here obiected that peraduenture in Iustinus time the Christians wanted number to depose the Emperors Tertullian will make the matter most manifest that it was the onely will and pleasure of God reuealed apparantly by Christ and his Apostles that kept the Christians within the compasse of their duties to the Emperors when otherwise they wanted neither number nor strength to haue beene reuenged of them When the Christians labored frō time to time to purge themselues from sundryfalse imputations and from this one amongest the rest that whereas they professed their obedience to the Emperor it was onely but for feare and that if they had strength ynough they would then shew themselues to be his enimies and take vp armes against him Tertullian writeth to this effect Neque est vt obijciatis Neither is there any cause you should obiect vnto vs that therefore we dissemble the iniuries done vnto vs bicause we want force to reuenge them For euery one of vs is able although not openly yet in secret to doe mischiefe ynough For what were more easily done if it were lawfull to recompence euill with euill then in the night to burne your City Nay if we were disposed to professe our selues your enimies as you account vs we want not strength of souldiers but haue greater force then those Nations that doe warre dayly against you The Maures and Parthians and other barbarous people are but one Nation whose borders are limited but of Christinns the number in euery place is almost infinite There is no place nor order where there are not Christians So as if by our discipline we could take armes we could make a greater conspiracie against the Romane Empire then was hitherto euer made whether you respect force or courage Hitherto Tertullian as vnlike to our Iesuites as dutifull subiectes are vnlike Rebels and traitors And for the better manifesting of our allegiance to our Soueraigne vnfainedly from our Catholike harts so many of vs as are not of the Iesuites faction I will here a litle enlarge my selfe to shew what further testimony and reasons we haue to detest this Iesuiticall and Puritanian doctrine Saint Augustine who liued in a troublesome time neuer dreamed that the Scriptures did warrant subiectes no longer to obey wicked kings then they had power and force to rebell If he were now aliue our Iesuites would surely set him to schoole againe For whereas in his exposition vpon the 124. Psalme he hath at large discoursed how seruants and subiectes by receiuing the Catholike faith and Gospell of Christ are not in any sort released from their dueties seruices and subiection to their Masters Lords Soueraignes but are rather thereby more straightly bound to performe the same diligently truly and faithfully as in the sight of God before whom they stand he commeth to this obiection Sed numquid sic erit semper vt iniusti imperent iustis But shall it be so alwaies Shall the wicked still haue commaundement ouer the rest To this obiection you know what father Parsons would say viz. No it shall not be so any longer then that you shall be able to ouerthrow such gouernors and get you better And if in short time you shall not be able your selues so to doe I will doe my vttermost to procure you some assistance out of other Countries by forraigne inuasions procuring excommunications suspensions interdictions depositions and other meanes But to omit this vnnaturall stepfather let vs heare what S. Augustine that worthy Prelate light lanterne piller and Father of and in the Catholike Church will answere to the said obiection Nunquid sic erit semper Shall it alwaies be so Non sic erit It shal not be so But when shall it be otherwise The substance of his answere is that it shall be otherwise when Christ commeth to iudgement Now saith he we often see that there are many good Lords and masters but when it hapneth otherwise it must be borne with Quare Why vt non extendant c. that the iust may not stretch forth their hands to wickednes vnderstād that such their seruice and subiection is not euerlasting Sed preparent se ad possidendam sempiternam haereditatem And therefore reseruing themselues for this lasting inheritance let them beare iniuries but doe none And his conclusion of all this discourse is in these words Haec cogitant qui voluntatem dei sequuntur non voluntatem suam who followe Gods will and not their owne Now if this were the doctrine of the catholike church in those daies then how inconuenient this Iesuiticall innouation is and howe dangerous to be published now a daies the state of al catholiks in England but especially of priests may make it to be euident For by this wicked assertion so soone as the number of catholiks shall be so increased as that they may be able to take armes against her Maiestie they are bound in conscience so to doe and do grieuously offend if they do otherwise nay they do incurre the Popes excommunication saith father Parsons Now what must her Highnesse and the state thinke of such subiects doth it not stand her in hand to preuent that the number of catholiks do not increase if therefore they doe increase faster then she would if sufficient testimony be not giuen to the contrarie scil that al are not of this Iesuiticall faction Puritanian opinion hath she not good cause giuen her to cut them off I speake after the manner of men not presuming to tempt God with miracles What could any king or prince in Christendome being perswaded in religion as her Maiestie is do otherwise if he ment not to haue the crowne plucked from his head There is no way to preuent this mischiefe for ought I know but that all catholikes do enter into a league and make a vowe that they neuer will giue care to these bloody Iesuits in that behalfe but vtterly detest it and that were their number and strength much more and greater then her Maiesties they will neuer be perswaded or drawne either by threatnings or promises of any be it the Pope himselfe to beare armes against her Highnes to the destruction of her royall person and state but be ready to aduenture their goods and liues in her Maiesties defence against him or any other that shall assaile or inuade by hostile hande her state or kingdome vnder pretence of restoring of the catholike faith or whatsoeuer Nay as many catholikes as stande affected to the Iesuits considering how her Highnes hath beene vsed by these their false teachers they shall thinke themselues most infinitely bound to her Maiestie if notwithstanding they shall now vowe and professe as is expressed yet that she shall be pleased to beleeue them the