times past did but be thus spoyled massacred for no fellony trespas or treason but for holding that faith which al our happy forefathers and our selues vvere baptised in and out of vvhich I knovv there is no saluation in the next vvorld nor grace in this Beseching Christ our merciful Sauiour to pardon me that I denied him and his truth for feare of man and mortall paines As I also humbly for his sake desire al Catholikes vvhom I haue vniustly offended in this my fieblenes to forgiue and pray for me that I neuer fall to the like tentation againe namely those glorious confessors vvhom I loue as mine ovvne soule and honor as the chosen vessels of God vvho vvere iniured by my vndew dealing For I confesse and acknowledge in my conscience that I should haue suffered any torments in the vvorld rather then haue vttered any their godly religious actes to their dommage vvhether it vvere trew or false and that I should not nor ought by Gods word haue disclosed any such thing though I had takē an oth to doe it and to ansvvere to al interrogatories concerning the same being assured that al such othes be vnlavvful and ought not to be taken nor be kept if of frailtie they chaunce to be taken Because no man can binde him self neither by oth vow or any other obligation to God or man to accuse or be wraye any innocent to the persecutor no such othes I say binde being one sinne to take them and an other and that greater to keepe them But the thing a lasse is novv past and can not be amended in it self but only may be forgiuen as I verely hope it is both at God and mans hand by this my sincere confessing humble crauing pardon and poore publike satisfaction till the vvhich vvas done I could neuer finde reste in my vvounded conscience nor durst approche to the holy Altar to offer the deutiful giftes of my priesthod made much vnworthy of that high function through my said greuous offence and scandal Which being now as I hope in our Lords mercy and their great charitie remitted I shal daily vvith great comfort doe during life these soueraine duties of religion for them as also as I am most bound in deutie for my deare Mother and al her Christian offpringe my dearely beloued Brethren and Sisters according to the flesh desiring God to reliue their zele vvith trew vnderstanding humbly beseeching my louing Brother Sister vvho bound them selues in a certen somme of mony for my good behauiour so they cal the conformitie to their English procedings not to impute my departure to any vnnaturall carlesnesse of the losses dangers that may fall vnto them by forfaiting their bande by my retire ouer sea for God knovveth it is the speciall vvordly thing that greueth me but rather to accompte it a supplie of my patrimonie vvhich vvould haue surmonted it much in valewe a case of such meere necessitie both of my soule and body as no interest of temporall goods vvhatsoeuer may counteruaile it and of their singuler brotherly and sisterly affection if any extremitie should be vsed towards them in the matter as I trust verely their innocencie vvel knovven to the Counsel their great earnestnes and diligence to gaine me to that religion vvhich they of error and ill education thinke to be true shal procure them al courtesie fauour therein not to accompte the losse of monye which one daye either in this or the next vvorld may be redered by God or man againe for the health saluation of their owne flesh blood or at least if they thinke this not the waie to saluation yet for quieting of his conscience against vvhich what soeuer a man doth must needes be sinne and damnable Thus I ende desiring them and al Catholikes my louing brethren in Christ to pray and thanke God vvith me for al his mercies that he hath done to my soule as it shal laude and blesse his holy name for euer more Giuen at Rhemes this 19. of May being the Ascension of our Lord IESVS to vvhom be al thankes and eternall glorie for euer and euer Amen 1573. By me a poore sinner your Brother in Christ Edvvard Osberne Priest THE SATISFACTION OF M. IAMES BOSGRAVE THE GODLY CONFESSOR of Christ concerning his going to the Church of the Protestants at his first comming into England To al Christians and al that professe the Catholike faith to al such as are chained Imprisoned or othervvise afflicted for the faith and religion of Iesus Christ peace and saluation BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord IESVS CHRIST the father of mercies and God of al comfort vvho comforteth vs in al tribulation I am merueilous heauy and sorrow full at the hart for that I vnderstand that there is a certen sinister opinion sprong spred abroade euery where of me as though I had renied that faith religion which had her beginning of our Lord Iesus Christ vvas receiued of the Apostles and Doctors hath ben perfited sealed not onely with the blood and death of the vvorthy Martyrs but principally with the blood and death of Christ our Lord. Would to God that I had either neuer ben borne or els that I had ben buried immediatly after my death If I borne of Catholike parents nourished brought vp vnder Catholike scholmaisters trained vp in learning in those countries vvhere the Catholike religion dooth greatly prosper and florish now at the length after my retorne into my coūtrey to mine owne and my parents comfort should depart from that Church vvhich S. Paul calleth the piller ground of truth should deny Christ our Lord and breake my faith plight in baptisme and vvhereas al men did expect that I should haue borne grapes to bring furth weedes My deere and vvelbeloued brethren to vvhom I write these fewe vvhose glorie and saluation I seeke and vvhom I beare in my bowels I forsake my part of heauen and vvish neuer to see the good of God in the land of the liuing and would that my name were blotted out of the booke of life if I euer either did or attempted or as much as thought any such thing let me also be accursed and a Maranatha if I vvould either crucifie Christ our Lord againe or make void and frustrate the blood that the holy Apostles and vvorthie martyrs haue shed vvho al vvere slaine for that religion faith which Christ our Lord hath communicated reuealed vnto vs gratis of the vvhich religion and faith I my self am partaker and for the vvhich I am readie to suffer death O wretch that I am of al men the vnhapiest what hope of saluation could I haue how durst I lift vp mine eies to heauen vvith vvhat face might I call Christ our Lord Father if I should forsake his spouse the Church our Mother I knovv most louing brethren that there is no more saluatiō to be looked for out of the Church
in the which I beleeue my self to be vvith you then there was out of the Arch of Noë which bare the type figure of the Catholike Apostolike Church Do not yee therefore giue ouer light credit to euery flying tale for I know that the ende shall proue al these rumors that haue ben spred of me to be false and fayned For I hope brethren and this is my desire that I shal be bound vvith the same chaine and for the same faith that you are I trust to be partaker both of your tribulations your rewards God forbid that I should glorie to vse the speach of the vessel of election and of the Doctor of the Gentils vvith out al arrogancie and pride sauing in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ I beseech you therefore as yet not being bound but peradventure to be bound in our Lord that you remaine and walke vvorthily in the vocation religion and faith to vvhich you are called and that you be ready to shed your blood for the same You haue heard that I vvas become a Protestant I call God and his Angels to vvitnes brethren that this hath ben mine election and that full often if I ly then I praie God I neuer speake more that I had rather be a Turke or a Ievv then a Protestant that is to be enrouled among those that haue renied the faith of Christ There be many I knovv vvhich haue heard me albeit vvith murmuring and indignation vtter these vvords For it were better for me in deede neuer to haue knoweÌ„ the vvay of truth then after the knowledge thereof to start back from it If therefore my freends the fame of my retorne into my countrey be come vnto your eares if peraduenture these naughtie reports of me be coÌ„monly talked of amongst you if you do ouer expect any thing of me that perteineth to the duty of a brother freend or kinsman of yours that vvhich the name of a Christian maÌ„ dooth require vvhich is borne brought vp and by the space of many yeres as it vvere confirmed in the Catholike Church and faith perswade your selues for certain that I will by Gods assistance satisfie your expectation You haue heard peradueÌ„ture that I vvould go to the Church God almightie in vvhose sight I am speake and vvho is the searcher of the hart and reines of men dooth know that I neuer went to the ProtestaÌ„ts church vvith the mind to pray or to allow and professe their sect neither by coÌ„straint or free accord to seeme by any meanes to approue by consent and liking this religion which they terme reformed but I vvent sometimes that but seldoome vvhen I thought it good only for to see their rites and then manner of preaching and doing and to make mine English tong more prompt ready Nor do you not thinke that that vvhich is lavvfull to some one for certen causes is conuenient to al men for I vvould not counsel other men to go to the protestants church yea I haue diswaded men from it aboue a thousand times and haue shewed them that it was in no case lawful because that he that loueth danger shall fall into it neither vvould I haue gone to their conueÌ„ticles for any thing if I had know that I should haue giuen occasion of scandall You haue heard and do maruel at it that I am at liberty and therefore you suspect that I am retorned to my vomit Deerely beloued I am of al lyers the vaâ—nest if I do not enuie you your chaines your prison your banishment your gard your losse of goods your tribulation for Christ and perswade not your selues I praie you that I do reioyce in this my fortune and libertie but rather that it is sorrovvful loth some vnto me that I am not vvorthy to suffer contumely for the name of Iesus Therefore I attribut my liberty to the clemency of God almightie to the courtosie of the Q. Maiesties honorable and vvise Counsellers I impute it to mine owne mishap to my great sinnes but that which is differred is not altogether taken avvaie If I vsed doutfull words before the Q. Maiesties counsel for the vvhich they set me at liberty I haue interpreted them more plainely by my letters which I haue novv sent to the Q. most honorable sage Counsellers But put the case I yelded vnto them vvhy brethren ought I to attribute more to my self then to most blessed Peter most holy Marcellinus most stout Thomas of Canterbury of the vvhich the two former were Popes and al after the denial of Christ obteined pardon and shed their blood for the Catholike faith Be you not therefore seduced vvith the vvicked example of one man but staÌ„d stoutly dwell in this church in which wee haue ben borne and bred the vvhich Christ our Lord hath built and brought forth vpon the foundation of the Apostles and their Successors vvhose ruines do begin now after a sort to be repaired and restored But to draw to an ende I beseech you brethren by by the bowels of the mercie of Iesus Christ by that charitie vvherewith he so loued vs that he vouchsaued to be hanged on a tree for vs by his crosse his wounds by the nailes and speare vvhich are the badges of our Sauiour that you be not frighted nor moued vvith false reportes th' end wil proue al and perswade your selues that as I am partaker of one countrey with you so am I partaker of one Church one faith one religion one doctrine vvith you I thought good to write this letter to witnes thereby vnto you that I am of the same religion in vvhich I vvas borne againe by baptisme and for the vvhich I am most ready to dye vvith you I desire you also to pray vnto Christ Iesus crucified for me to giue me grace to direct al my thoughts vvords and works to the glory of his most holy name to mine ovvne saluation and to the profite and commoditie of my countrey Let vs also pray continually and vvith a common accord that Christ our Lord would preserue the Queenes Maiestie and her sage Counsellers and illuminate them vvith al truth that al their beginnings proceedings teÌ„de to the glory of almighty God Christ Iesus embrace vs al in the bowels of his mercies confirme vs and make vs al in one agreement in the Church which he hath founded vvith his most precious death Fare yee vvell AN ADMONITION TO THE READER THere are no more of regard as farre as vve yet heare that haue relented al this long perilous time of practize and persecution sauing M. Aufild and M. Govwe the former in England through extreeme feare of torments yelding onely to goe to their church once and that vvith many qualifications the other in Fraunce vpon other frailtie specially for desire to retorne home and enioye the commodities temporal that God had giuen him in his countrey vvho both streight vpon their fall being in regard of humane frailtie not great vvept bitterly haue done penaunce accordingly vvritten their letter to our Presidet in Rhemes of thâ—â—â— readines to doe any satisfaction for the scandal and offence committed and so be reconciled to Gods Church againe and haue done since that and doe al they can possibly for th'aduauncement of the Catholike faith Vvhose like publike acknovvledge of their offence should here haue been set furth but that the same could not be so speedely sent hither as the dispatch of these other vvas compted necessary Onely in al this gentil reader I desire the to marke for thy coÌ„solatioÌ„ the mercies of God hovv in this loÌ„g combat vvith so forcible and povvrable ennemies according to the flesh vvho vvaÌ„t no meanes vvorldly either to force by feare of death torments or to tempt by pleasure proffit preferments or to entangle by art and pollicie he hath giuen vs his poore seruaunts and souldiars not onely to fight stand hold out haue assured hope of victory ouer the aduersaries but to haue it vvith so small a losse by the death of so fevv vvith the fall or vvounding of so fevv so easely recouered againe to farre more aduantage of the cause as our Lord hath of his grace vsed the matter then if they had neuer had experience of their ovvne infirmitie and of the necessitie of his holy ayde by vvhom onely vve are vpholden in this spiritual fight for our faith and defence of his deare Spouse our Mother the Church vvhich by no povver of man or Diuel can be ouerthrovvne Fare vvel gentil reader and make thy profit to saluation of these examples of our frailtie vvhereby thou seest Gods streinght to be perfited in our infirmitie and our vveakenes to be sustained by the force 〈◊〉 his grace to him be al honor and glorie Amen The first of Iune 1583.
be preferred in England And as touching the College of Rhemes this I saie that I spake more of mallice then of truth and so in likevvise the College of Rome vvas falsely accused by me And as concerning M. Doctor Allen I say in conscience that I knovv or haue heard by the man nothing els but innocencie his religion excepted 7 Besides these vve vvill proue him to be a periured person not onely for that he is in relapse falne againe into those heresies vvhich he abiured publickly solemnely voluntarily at Rome 4. yeres since but for that he promised vpon his othe when he was a student in the English College at Rome that he vvould take holy orders and go into England and there to teach the Catholick faith vvhensoeuer he should be sent by his superiors which promis confirmed vvith an oth he hath broken not vvithout great scandall The seuenth article is true and I haue incurred periurie for that at Rome I liued as an hypocrite being neuer in hart of the Romane religion 8 Moreouer vve obiect to him that he abused the Pope vvith craft and deceipt vvhen vnder pretence of sicknes and that he could not awaie vvith the aier of Rome he desired leaue of his holynes to come to the College at Rhemes there to follow his studie and to be made prieste and to that ende requesting and receiuing of his holynes 50. crovvnes of gold but assoone as he had gotten the money thus fraudently he vvent straight into England As concerning the eight article it is graunted I defrauded the Pope of 25. crownes giuen vnto me in vvay of Viaticum to bing me to Rhemes For al these articles being thus graunted by me Iohn Nicols I am right sory and submit me self vnder the feete of any such as I haue maliciously and greuously offended God knovveth I spake these things vvith a desire to be promoted rather then vvith a minde to vtter the truth God be merciful vnto me and pardon me and al those vvhom I haue thus offended vvilfully I crie mercie and beseech them for Christ his sake to forget such iniuries so impudently committed against them partly by Sathans prompting partly by the countenāce of others in commending such stuf By me Iohn Nicols Englishman M. Stubs gaue me the matter of my booke in the Tovver intituled The recantion of Iohn Nicols c. M. Vvilkinson did vvrite in the margent the notes and also added to that vvhich I vvrote and corrected the faults by me escaped Moreouer I told my Lord Treseurer about alhallowtide last past Anno Domini 1582. these vvordes that follovve If it may pleas your honor I am right sorie that I haue such bookes put forth that conteine more falsehood then truth My lord ansvvered that the Papist found out that I lyed Vvhen I confessed to M. Kirkby in the tovver that it repented me in vvriting such bookes as vvere contrary to the truth M. Lucas Kirkby reported these my vvords to M. Reignolds of Oxford vvho made reporte thereof to Sir Frauncys Vvalzingham vvho being certified of this thing vvrote or sent to M. Lieutenant of the Tovver of London that I should be sent for and examined face to face before M. Kirkby to knovv vvhether it vvas so or not as Sir Frauncis vvas certified Vvhen I came to the Tovver M. Kirkby vsed these vvordes to me vvhen he saw me Speke the truth quoth he and shame the Diuel So I vvill quoth I doubte not thereof M. Kirkby was examined apart and I ansvvered truly if I had been permitted by M. Lieutenant so to do For vvhen I said so I told M. Kirkby that I vvrote those bookes for ambition say not so quoth M. Lieutenant vvrite quoth he to his Secretary after this manner That he vvas sorie that he vvrot his bookes so rudely as he did Vvhen M Reignolds in the presence of Doctor Humfrey told me that he vvould proue to my face before M. Doctor Humfrey M. Kirkby being called before them that I had vttered such vvords as that I vvas sorie that my bookes were published conteinning more vntruth then veritie and that I said I vvould forge no more against the Papists neither in print nor pulpit Vvhich thing vvhen M. Lieutenant heard he had him hold his peace and talke no more thereof By me Iohn Nicols THE SATISFACTION OF LAVRENCE CADDEY TOVCHING his frailties and fall from the Catholike Church at his retorne into England IF there be any Catholicks in England or out of England that heard of my speach or recantation at Paules crosse which was in the yere of our Lord 1581. These are to certifie them that it vvas directly against my conscience and that I vvas neuer of that Religion that then I pretended as God shal saue me at the general day of Iudgement For I will shew plainely and manifestly that of my inward defection from our Mother the Catholick Church there were neuer any effectual causes vvhereby it may most cleerely appeere that invvardly I vvas neuer since my first reconciliation to the Catholick Church an heretick For either I invvardly separated my self from the Catholick Church because I thought some points of the Churches doctrine to be false or for the euel life of the Catholicks For the first although I neuer studied diuinitie but as much as some Cathecumini do and the yonger schollers that are yet in the course of Philosophie or other prophane sciences yet I am not I thanke God so dull of vvit but I can Iudge somewhat of Religion and of the difference betwene the Catholicks and the Protestants by the sermons of learned men which I haue here to fore frequented by the cōuersation I had vvith learned Fathers vvhich daily did expound the harder points of Religion and often did dissolue diuers folish and childish Sophismes of hereticks Whereby I knovv and truly euer since my first conuersion did knovv that euery point of the Catholick religion is conformable to the vvord of God although the hereticks do falsely say that they are grounded vpon the bare traditions of men and to me it is euident that there is no article of the Catholick faith novv called in doubt which may not be proued by diuers places of the scriptures or by most cleere sequell inuincebly deduced and gathered of the same And where the aduersaries say that either the Catholicks do recite places out of the scriptures vvhich are not authētical or els if they do allege places out of the true scriptures that they expound them falsely according to their ovvne fancies I vvas neuer since my first reconcilement so simple or necligent of my saluation as not to see that to be an vsual stale euasion of al old hereticks For this I knovv that Luther that provvde Lucifers Primogenitus or vvhat other singular sectarie soeuer being but one man although he had ben most holy in the sight of men as in deede he vvas most vnholy and vvicked both before God and man ought not to iudge
scriptures to be authentical or not authentical by his owne priuate vnconstant and variable spirit and refuse the Iudgement of the Church and General Councel vvhich determineth such things by the spirit of truth promised by Christs expresse vvord and so cleerely testified in scriptures to abide vvith the same to th' end of the vvorld And in truth it vvas a note sure enough for me to confirme my self in my forefathers faith and to condemne in my conscience the contrary sect of the Protestants that I heard by men of full credit howsoeuer th' English sectaries vvrith and vvrangled in the matter of late to saue their honesties that one heretick as Luther by his spirit denieth some bookes that our Caluinists accept to be Gods word by the iudgement of their spirit and I savv it plainely by mine owne late experience of them that they receiue and condemne admit or repell euen as they thinke good for the vantage of the cause and as may best serue for the defence of their deuellish doctrine Wherein truly I say for the reuerend respect and honotable dealing with the diuine booke of Gods word not withstanding the aduersaries pretending al reuerence towards the scriptures and tedious vaunting talking and tossing of them the Catholicks yet do so farre passe them in Religious keeping preseruing interpreting translating alleaging al other vse of holy vvrit as the true owner and occuper of any thing passeth the theefe and vsurper I beleeue it and haue had experience of it in both sides and therefore I speake it For the second that is th' exposition of scriptures I knew it was the property of al hereticks to abuse wrest and vvring them to vvhatsoeuer them selues list and particularly to the priuate sence of euery secte maister ech one for his owne erronious doctrine and the condemnation of his fellowes I haue heard vvith mine owne eares and seene vvith mine owne eyes that the scriptures sound al for Luther and against the Sacramentaries in Germany and in England and some other places al the Bible is at Caluins and Bezas beck and soundeth vvhatsoeuer they say against not onely the Catholicks or Lutheranes but against their ovvne booke of common praier actes and iniunctions published by authoritie the Puritanes there hauing reconced aboue an hundreth and sortie errors in th' English seruice against the scriptures vvhich I noted in the time of my being in England especially in London and Cambridge aswel the writers Preachers Readers and Disputers as most other schollers and prentises be puritanes condemning by Gods word that same seruice administration vvhich them selues daily resort vnto For vvhich who soeuer shall reade the writings of M. Vvhittakers or the disputes of Fulke Charke Vvalker and such other Ministers lately had in the Tower they shal find my vvords and obseruation true and shall see many points of puritanisme decided by them by coulor of scriptures against their ovvne authorized seruice all those things set out by authoritie I neede not stand to tell you now the Lutheranes expound this notorious text Hoc est corpus meum so farre othervvise then the Zuinglians and Caluinists that they haue prooued these by Gods expresse vvord hereticks and these them for the reciproke plaine carnal men and Idolaters both th' one and th' other vvrithing the sacred words to their owne erronious and damnable sect against the proper nature and plaine sense vvhich the letter the circumstance the conference of places the auncient fathers Councels and the vvhole Church expresly setteth downe Vvith this I haue marked that the Sectaries of our countrey and al other places being singular vaine-glorious louers of them selues and cherisers of their ovvne fantasies seeke for nothing but nouelties and in th' exposition of scriptures to finde out that which neuer neither foole nor wiseman found out before them and al this vvith a ridiculous boast of euery mans seuerall spirit gifte and knowledge vvhich to me and others that see their liues and learning and partly know their intention is a straunge case Hovv soeuer it be their exposition so nevv so improbable so inconstant so various so farre differing from the commeÌ„taries of al the fathers passing al these men in al grace and knowlege from the general Councels that not by particular fansie of a few but by vniforme consent of the most learned in the vvorld haue by Gods vvord truly through th' assistance of the holy Ghost vnderstood defined these things to our hands this consideration I say of their vngodly behauiour towards the holy scriptures the glorious Doctors the vniuersall Church of al ages and nations of which by my late being among them I haue enformed my self better then euer I could haue doÌ„ne by reading of bokes or here say hath fortified my faith against them I trust in God during life But because I professe not in this breif satisfactioÌ„ to dispute of the matter or arrogate to my self any profound knowlege in these things I for this point say no more but this that if I had ben partly bent to heresie when I vvent into EnglaÌ„d as I was not I speake it as before God the more I had ben coÌ„uersant with the ProtestaÌ„ts yea with the learnedsts amoÌ„gst theÌ„ the soner should I haue ben reclaimed froÌ„ that heresie For in other things though I may bouldly saie they haue the gifts of the mind as plentifully as any nation yet in diuinitie specially in these controuersies they are so bewitched that through the common malady of heresie vvhich by Gods iust iudgement of sinne and for saking th' obedience of his Church is euer ioyned vvith pitifull darkenes of vnderstanding especially in such as brag most of the light that when they bring but Sophismes to proue their religion they both thinke and bouldly aduouch that they are demoÌ„strations But here they wil exclaime after their manner and say they bring places of scripture wil charge me that I cal the scriptures Sophismes No God forbid for that were blasphemie but I call the false and childish exposition or the place either by false translation or exposition wrested a Sophisme the vvhich may sone be espied of him that hath any iudgement or common sense especially if God hath lightened his vnderstanding by the doctrine of the Catholick Church Besides if I had fauored heresies this would haue reuoked me to see some of those that on this side the scas were both counted know to be void of all good gifts and qualities of the minde not capable of any science yet at their retorne home to be admitted to be publick preachers and their vvords being nothing but knowne forgeries blasphemous lyes to be compted â—s Oracles and conclusions deduced out of th'expresse vvord of the Lord as they speke in our countrey One saith very vvisely of Aristotle that he vsed hard and difficult termes in Philosophie to driue awaie from the reading of his bookes those that vvere simple and vnlearned lest saith he Omnia
harpiarum more immundo contactu conspurcarent that is to say lest they should diminish and abase the reuerēd maiestie of philosophie by their foolish and doting expositions How soeuer it is in that facultie of Philosophie sure it is that the written vvord of God is full of profound mysteries yet is confidently bouldly and malepertly expounded now in England as vvel priuatly at euery table and tauerne as in the pulpits and common assemblies of simple and vnlearned artificers so that the lay people prentises especially and yong schollers assone as they can bid Caesar good morrow in Greeke or reade th' English Testamēt yea the women dare presume to dispute with the Clergie of the cheefest points of Religion and bouldly condemne the cheefest clercks in the vvorld Is not this I pray you a great abasing of th'excellēcie of the vvord of God surely if I had fauored heresies this would haue ben a sufficiēt motiue to haue reuoked me I could bring many moe strong reasons to this purpose but because I am a yong nouice in learning and because I thinke this vvhich I haue brought will suffice to proue that there vvas no cause of my invvard defection in respect of my particular knowledge I vvil here end this first point For the second that I had no cause to seperate my self from the Catholick church for the euel life of the Catholicks and to come to be a Protestant for their holynes I vvil shew it manifestly and yet no great profe vvil be loked for at my hands therein First suppose the Catholicks liued very euel as ill as their aduersaries purposely to deceiue the people faine them to do if I thinke the Religion to be good their euel life should neuer cause me to for sake it if a man should measure truth faith by the elle of vertu and innocencie in the professors follovvers of any sort in mans frailtie miserie of this life God should haue no people nor part in this world al being subiect to sin and danger in this mortal state But surely if wee should docide the matter by the difference of life behauiour and conuersation of both sides I vvere vvorse then an asse to determine for the Protestants against the Catholicks amongest whom the first Professors vvere Saincts and the cheef leaders and teachers aftervvard most holy and al these follovvers though fraile and sinfull men yet finding remedy by the medicinable Sacraments penaunce and discipline of the Church for their daily offences Where contrary vvise the very first authors of this Protestancy Luther Caluin Beza and the like or as them selues call them the restorers reformers of Religion vvere not onely vulgarly nought but of notorious infamous wicked life as their Ministers be in al coūtreies and their zelous followers not good in any place specially in Englād where they haue notoriously betraied their false faith by their foule fruicts Yea and vvhere it is knowne that their doctrine it self hath só altered to the vvorse al kinde of States and that their pulpits are nothing els but a schoole of sinne licentiousnes lust and liberty that al wisemen wonder at it and good men lament the case Who knoweth not that vertue deuotion godly life it self is bourthenous and hateful to the Protestants so far surely that they seeke as I haue seene not onely to abolish deface and destroy the bookes now or of ould written for defence and proofe of the Catholick faith which they may do vpon some pretence of errors conteined in the same but they burne vp al godly treatises and bookes of contemplation meditation and instruction of Christian life and manners conteining no dispute of religion at al as long sith they vsed a deuout treatise of the life and Immitation of Christ and now of late they openly burned a number of the bookes of prayer and meditation of prayer made by Levves of Granado together with the new Testament Assure your selues that they cānot abide such bookes of al others knowing that deuout praier onely penaunce and amendement of life vvill easily bring men from their pretēded Religion in which no such deuotions are found Neither if you marke vvell shall you euer finde that the learned of the Protestants writ or treat of any such argument al their doings are in pugnis verborum in strife emulation contention contradiction destruction They stand vpon quick dispatch and attribute al to Christ his passion without ether much meditation of it or conforming them selues vnto it Finally they haue turned the grace of Christ into carnal lust and licence To see these things which in England are so open and euident not so much profound learning is requisite as due consideration and some experience of other places vvhich if our Gentlemen students and others ether of the ynnes of Court or vniuersities or of what other place or calling soeuer might haue as diuers by trauelling ouer the seas to ether of the Seminaries or other Catholick schooles haue happely proued they should see vvhat difference of life manners education and behauiour there is betwixt the one and th' other This one thing I dare be bould to say for the Seminary of Rome where I most liued in mine absence from my countrey which therefore I knew best and vvhich the vvicked calumniators haue most sought to slaūder the youthes and students al there be as vertuous as any be in Christendome And let both Oxford and Cambrige giue me one such for hollynes of life and conuersation so long as they be there vnder the Protestants regiment as there be a number in the said Seminary and I promis you I vvill say in S. Peters in Rome al that I said at Paules crosse in London Not vvithstanding as I said al euel life maketh not nor proueth one to be an heretick for I am an offendor as other men and perhaps the cheef of many sinners but I haue found remedy mercie saluation in the Church in vvhich onely the holie Passion of Christ the cause of al remission is profitable and out of the same nothing but damnation though mans life seeme neuer so iuste and holy For this his blessed passions sake I trust he vvill nether now remember the sinnes of my youth nor this my exterior reuolt from his holy Church vvhich I professe as before to haue ben of frailtie against mine owne conscience and knowlege God that knoweth al things knoweth that I did it not for any liking I had of the Protestants either life or religion knowing both to be starke nought onely the Diuel by false and subtil persuasions vvas the cause of my outward defection First I had a seruent desire to see my parents and freends and because I vvas afraid they neither durst nor vvould receiue me for seare of the statuts I thought it good to play the hypocrite if that may be called hypocrisie to put on the habit and resemblance of wickednes with the Bishop of London that is to faine
and enchaunte their dearest freends then other men can doe their deadly enemies These lo are the arguments and not any colour of scriptures any learning of the heretikes or any other probabilitie in the vvorld that can moue any man to be of their religion the same reasons vvill as easely make one a Turke I doe speake it before God as a protestāt For though those that be from their childehod brought vp in their Vniuersites or other their Scholes and Churches vvithout a special miraculous grace of God can not lightly be of any other religion because they can not ordinarely beleeue excepte they heare or reade some catholike trew teachers or vvriters vvhose writings therefore the protestants hide from them with all diligence yet none that euer hath ben a brode in the vvorld and seene th' other or that hath the good lucke to looke to the faith of our forefathers in our countrie or any other Christian countrie can be in hart a protestante And would God al the youthe of both vniuersites especially my deare Brethren whom God hath blessed vvith vvit learning and good nature saw what loue sinceritie sweete and plaine dealing is vsed in the Seminarie of Rhemes vvhere I now by God his grace am and how easely vpon a fevv daies conference and hearing vvith out al Rackes Feares Forces Tormentes vvorldly allurementes or presermentes by the only force of truth and euidence of holy scriptures and such other plentiful proofes as the Church of God and al Catholike scholes haue for al the articles in controuersie besides the great difference betwixt the life order and manners seene here in Churches and scholes and the wilde behauiour of our maisters and Scholers in England Or at least it vvere to be vvisshed that our fellow students in both the Seminaries or other Catholikes might haue the like fredō to come to those vniuersites as theirs do hither and there to trie with out threates of imprisonmēt death or terrifyinge by calling men traitors rebels and I can not tell vvhat to see then vvhether their spirit or vvord vvhereof they so childisly vaunte them selues could conuert any of this education in the holy Church to their improbable secte At the beginning I knovv vvhen their vvares were fresh and their nouelties ioyned to the promises and doctrine of luste and licentiousnes they found some schollers and may yet finde some to follovv their concupiscences but none trevvly I thinke either yong or olde that can be perswaded by their arguments They make much a doe vvhen they gaine the exterior assent of infirme persons vvhich in deede are thankes be to God very fevve in comparison of the great number of those that gloriously and constantly contemne their terrors perswasions through whose forcible praiers and merits I verely thinke God hath giuen me now at this time and in manner al the rest of their feeble brethren grace mercy that th' enemies there may haue confusion by vs where they looked for glorie the vveake that fell or vvere scandalised by vs may rise and repent vvith vs and those that stande may be vvarned by our frailtie and by the admonition of the holy Apostle to take head they fall not For mine ovvne part God knoweth since I knevv vvhat religion ment I vvas neuer and least of al of late vvhen they caused me to subscribe to them of their meaning I subscribed our Lord God forgiue me to that which one Vvilliam Harte parler-preacher to my vncle Sir Robert Lane deuised vvhich I neither knew of before vvrote my self nor beleeued my self The very truth is one Richard Levvis a minister Person of the Parish vvhere I vvas bred vp where I then abode a famous preacher in deede but as I am able to iustifie a most infamous liuer brought me to that vnlucky bargaine as he vvas before the procurer of my first relenting vvhich he may remember by this token that his energumicall spirit could not abide the signe of Christs Passion portred in a glasse vvindow in my Fathers Parler vvhich vvas the Crosse and vvoundes of our Redemer vvith this sentēce vvritten about the same Pittey his passion that caused our redemption this goodly speach he scraped out let the rest alone vvhich his diuisishnes no Christian I suppose will allow nor I though fallen before could like in him but once fell into hote dispute vvith him about the same vvhose foolish defence vvhich vvas for that Christ is omnipotent and a glorious God I can not novv stande to reporte Surely the very acquaintance with such mens actiōs and vvordes vvhich they often lett fall in familiar communication among such as they deale vvith all secretly would make a man abhorre them one example may be of Fox the auctor of the volume of Crackes many lies I vvould saie Actes monuments to whom vvhen I had of late in cōference alleaged a place of S. Peter 2. Pet. c. 1.11 for proofe that our good vvorkes vvere cause of our iustification and saluation the fellovv answered flatly such vvordes I doe not remember but if S. Peter say that wee are iustified or saued Per praesidia bonorū operum for so he is vvont to interlace his English speaches with latten vvordes I would say that he lied because Iame sure that Paul hath the cōtrary whereby and by diuers like thinges I vvel perceue those good fellovves measure all religō by their owne meere phansie caring in truth nether for Peter nor Paul nor Christ further then their can vvrith they vvordes to their lust I am sommething beholden to this man not vvithstanding for that at our very first acquaintance of al he made me partaker of a certen secrete vvhich he said he had not reueled to any man els vz. That he vvas called by God him self to make his nevv latten booke of iustification Againe at the same time very impertinently to our talke he told me that he had sent an angell to alderman Martin to change into single pense for to imploye them in almees verely I laughed in my sleue to heare this vaine hypocrite talke thought I vvith my self Hypocrita cupit videri iustus These vvicked ministers of Satan vvere they that by their craft pollices promises procured my subuersion and subscription of the said articles and other vniust actions All vvhich articles vvhich vvere seuen I novv by this publike testimony doe reuoke and recant of mine ovvne free wil as before in hart so novv openly before all the vvorld protesting that I vvill by the grace of God liue and die in the communion and felloship of the Catholike and Apostolike Church of Rome and during life vvill obey in al spiritual causes our holy Father Gregory the XIII and his successors in th'Apostolike seate Christs vicars in earth the reuolte from vvhom hath bene the cause of al these errors sectes and diuisions and that vvee can not liue in rest and peace of conscience in our vnhappy daies and countrie as our auncetors in