many Persecutors to help themselues with simulation and sleight when they found by experience that open violence did not auayle them but Totius iniustitiae nulla est capitalior quà m eorum qui cùm maximè fallunt id agunt vt honi videantur Offic. lib. 1. bloud in any case that might haue any relation to Conscience though but of deceaued and disguised conscience as notwithstanding the care and K Zelum habent sed non secundum scientiam they haue zeale but want knowledge Rom. 10. 2. zeale that we haue euer carried for the maintenance and propagation of this ancient true Catholicke L It is neyther ancient nor true nor Catholicke Religion And what will not these men affirme if it may serue their turne that haue no conscience nor scruple to abuse the world with such impropriety of wordes in thinges so notorious and of so great consequence Religion which we professe yet hath our said naturall ClemeÌ„cie euer withhoulden vs from putting the law to that due execution against Popish Priestes and Recusantes which their euill M These be their faultes and ill desertes to receaue Priests into their houses to heare Masse to frequent the holy Sacraments not to communicate with Heretickes in their errours and Sacriledges to be loyall to God and obedient to his Church and to the Prince also in whatsoeuer is not against God and his holy law desertes at diuers tymes towardes vs and their insolent N They call the resolution and constancie of the Catholickes in these their tryalls Pryde and Arrogancie with the same truth and liberty of speach that they terme the Nouelties of their Sectes Ancient True and Catholicke Religion Venite cogitemus c. Come let vs bethink our selues to inuent somthing against Hieremy Come let vs giue him a wouÌ„d with our toÌ„gue This was at that tyme the counsayle of the Iewes against Hieremy or rather against our Lord and Sauiour Et hodie Haereticorum contra seruos eius est cogitatio vt calumnias struant sanctos viros accusatione praeueniant Hieron in cap. 18. Hieremiae and proud carriage especially of late did iustly deserue at our handes But now that their ill behauiour at home manifested first by the Priests O The Authors of this Conspiracie were Puritans and Protestants to wit the Barons Cobham Gray Syr VValter Rawley treason imediatly after our entry into this Kingdome and next at the horrible Powder P There are great presumptions it is receaued amongst Protestants themselues that likewise the Authors and inuentors of this Conspiracy were some of the same persons that haue their hand in these Proclamations and that it was one of their accustomed policies and trickes of State to make a way with some colour of Iustice to this new Persecution long before intended by some of them not vnlike to another deuise wherwith they intangled and defamed the pious memory of the Queene of ScotlaÌ„d Mother to his Royall Maiesty tooke away her life with the barbarous cruelty that all men know treason the vnnaturall Cruelty wherof is neuer to be forgotteÌ„ loined to this horrible and lamentable accident abroad we meane that Diuelish and vnnatural murder of the late French Q What fault had the Catholickes of England or what can they be imagined to haue had in the death of the King of France But herin is verified that which Salomon saith Occasiones quaerit qui vult recedere ab amico He that is minded to leaue his friend seekes occasions Prou. 18. 1. King our Dearest Brother hath so stirred R How can this agree with the Kinges speach made to the Parlament to incense them against the Catholickes set out in print vnder his name vp the harts of our louing subiects represented by the Houses and Body of Parlament as both the Houses haue ioyned in making an S Whether it were by their petition or no it importeth little but it is the ordinary stile of these Statistes For so the Parlament made petition to King Henry the eyght to put away his lawfull wyfe and after to Queene Elizabeth to change Religion and to put to death the Queene of Scotland and all such iniust and ignominious Actions must forsooth be proposed by supplication Antiquum obtinent humble petition to vs to be more wakeful then hertofore we haue beene vpon the Courses T O that they would consider their Courses and Steppes with intent to imitate their innocency vertuous liues But alas all this vigilancy is to another end to wit to spy what they may lay hould vpon This is Aâ—s artium Scientia scientiarum the Alchimy of our age and the PurseuaÌ„ts patrimony and steppes of the Papistes And to this effect that we would be pleased to put in due execution hereafter without any longer conniuency the good V It shall appeare by and by how good wholsome these Lawes be All the ancient lawes of the Kingdome are in fauour of Catholike ReligioÌ„ Such lawes as King Henry the eight Q. Elizabeth and now lastly his Maiesty of England haue made against it are neither good nor wholsome but violent vniust pernicious both to the Common-wealth to the King himselfe if he would consider them with indifferency and wholsome lawes of this Realme made against them the most part whereof were made before X They meane the lawes of Queene Elizabeth which his Maiesty hath coÌ„firmed adding to them many other of his owne Et nouissimus error est peior priore as shal be seene our entry into this Kingdome so were we at our Coronation sworne to the maintenaÌ„ce of them We haue iust reason according to their humble desire to be more carefull then heretofore we haue beene in seeing our said Lawes put in due execution since in this case our Y What scrupulosity is this they make no CoÌ„science to mooue Catholicke Princes to breake the holy Oathes which all their Predecessors haue taken and Conscience is burdened in regard of Religion and since there is their dwelling places It is our expresse will pleasure to discharge like as by these Presents we doe discharge all by-past licences graunted vnto them for their repayring hither And although this tyme of Parlament and the Creation of our eldest Sonne be so vnfit and dangerous F Trepidauerunt timore vbinpon erat timor Danger might be magined but there could be none they know well inough their conscience telleth it them that there is no feare to be had of the Recusantes The feare is theirs for they liue in continuall daunger subiect to violent lawes and to the insolency of their Persecutors because they will not leaue God nor offend their consciences Others there be that force theÌ„selues to obey these lawes with knowne daunger to their soules who of force must and do feele inspeakable repugnance disquietnes and horror considering what a styrring spark the conscience is These are the men that with most reason are to be feared as the most oppressed If his
A PROCLAMATION PVBLISHED VNDER THE NAME OF IAMES King of Great Britanny With a briefe moderate Answere therunto WHERETO Are added the penall Statutes made in the same Kingdome against Catholikes TOGEATHER With a Letter which sheweth the said Catholikes piety And diuers Aduertisements also for better vnderstanding of the whole matter Translated out of Latin into English Et inimici nostri sint Iudices Deutr. 32. 31. And let our enemies themselues be Iudges Imprinted with Licence M. DCXI. THE PREFACE THE Christian and discreet Reader vvill perceaue by this Proclamatiō into vvhat hāds the Kingdome of England so renovvned for Religion and piety in ancient times is novv fallen And hovv much vve that in other Coūtreys enioy freely the meanes of our saluation (a) Ex alijs periculū facito tibi quod ex vsu fiet ex Comico ovve to Almighty God and to our Catholike Princes Wherfore lighting by chāce vpon this Proclamation and considering the good vse that might be made of it I vvould not follovv the example of another faithfull zealous Christiā vvho did teare in peeces vvith publik reproach such another Edict set vp in (b) Euseb lib. 8. hist cap 3. Nicomedia by Cōmandement of Dioclesian but haue caused it to be trāslated vvord for vvord into Latin and other languages to the end that the same vvhich the Aduersaries giue out in their priuate tongue to terrify the people of England being published in other languages may be of generall (c) Omnia ad aedificationē fiant 1. Cor. 14. 26. edification vvarning and example to all other Countreys He canot be trulie said to liue in Christ nor doth he participate vvith his holy spirit that hath no feeling of the grieuous vvoundes vvhich are daily inflicted in the (d) Multi vnum corpus sumus in Christo singuli autē alter alterius mēbra Rom 12. 5. body of Christ nor compassion of the sufferings of his poore brethrē and of the blindnes and obstinacy of those that persecute them Wherfore let vs aske of God (e) Vt conuertātur à tenebris ad lucem de potestate Satanae ad Deum Act. 26. 18. light for the Persecutors patience for them that suffer and for our selues that by this Exāple vve may learne to feare his iudgments and to knovv distinguish the (f) Quomodo tunc is qui secundum carnē natus fuerat persequebatur eum qui secundum spiritum ita nunc Gal. 4. 29. tvvo differēt spirits that appeare in this Letter and Proclamation and take such vvarning by the perditiō of the one side that vve may be partakers of the others revvard in that charity and (g) Totum corpus per nexus coniūctiones constructum subministratum crescit in angmentum Dei 2. Cor. 19. cōmunion of Saintes vvhich vve Christians acknovvledge and Christ our Sauiour intendeth to quicken in our harts by these examples to the end that by these afflictions and innocent bloud vvhich his Fatherly goodnes doth suffer to be shed his Church may increase in number and Gods glory and aduancement of his truth that they testify openly vvhat they belieue B. D. de Clerimond THE PROCLAMATION By the King A PROCLAMATION for the due execution of all former A Heere is first to be noted Gētle Reader the cūning which these men vse in this Title calling Lawes to make them passe with more authority those which in deed cānot possibly be Lawes For all politick and ciuill lawes must haue their rule foundation from the law of God and the law of nature and therfore those humane Preceptes which are not groūded vpon reason and iustice no◠haue for their end the common good haue neyther the force of Lawes nor can truly be so called D. Thom. 1. 2. q. 19. art 2. 91. art 3. But the Lawes here alleaged haue neither reason nor iustice nor respect to the Weale-publicke but proceed onely frō passion and for particuler ends Wherefore they ney ther are nor can be termed Lawes Lawes against B They call Recusants those Catholikes that refuse to participate with them in the errors and impious Ceremonies of the Protestant Sect. Recusants giuing thē a day to repayre to their owne dwellings and not afterward to come to the Court or within ten miles of London without speciall licence And for disarming of them as the law requireth And withall that all Priestes and Iesuites shall depart the Land by a day no more to returne into the Realme And for the administring the Oath C It may more truly be called the Oath of disloyalty and disobedience as herafter shall be seene of Allegiance according D In like manner did the high Priests and chiefe of the Iewes alleage Law to condemne Christ our Sauiour Ioan. 19. 7. crying out VVe haue a Law and according to that he is guilty of death to the Law THOVGH the principall care that a Religious E The introduction is good but not well applyed And here the Reader may obserue to what liberty they are come in the vse of words in which they follow not Priscian but Machiauels Lawes and wise King ought to haue should be for the maintenance and propagation by all godly lawfull and honest meanes of the true F The Religion neyther is nor possibly can be Catholike which they would authorize with this strange and new-found māner of speaking For Catholike is as much to say as Vniuersall But we see that the doctrine of English Protestants is peculiar to them of England onely and yet not cōmon to them all nor to the greater part For first the most of them that professe that sect do it for hope of gayne or for feare of the penalties inflicted vpon Catholikes But that which is most to be considered is that amongst them that follow these fancies and think they do well there be as many differences of opinion as there be different imaginations For they haue no certaine rule of fayth nor what to affirme and therfore nothing is so certaine and infallible amongst them as that they haue no certainty and constancy in that which they teach in the affirmatiue points of their profession for in the negatiue all Sectaries agree to deny the Catholike truth Catholick and Christian Religion and to that effect as he must plant good seed with the one hand so to displant and roote out with the other as far as he can the Cockle G Heere they tell vs what the King should do and not what he doth O Rex fac hoc viues Luc. 10. 28. and tares of Heresie that do ordinarily grow vp amongst the Lordes wheat yet hath our nature beene euer soe inclined to H The holy Ghost teacheth vs that Mercy and Truth vphould the King It is vnderstood if he vphould Truth and Mercy And that Clemency doth establish his Royall Throne Prouerb 20. 28. Clemencie especially we haue euer beene so loath to shed I It hath bene the fashion of
accordingly and in proportion their tormentes shall increase till all iniquity be ended all sinners receaue their finall sentence in body and soule to be endured whilst God is God for so his iustice requireth that no good worke be vnrewarded nor any sinne vnpunished in this present lyfe or in the lyfe to come Betweene these two extremes of glory and payne his Maiesty standeth and with him all the rest that be partakers in this Cause euery mans hour-glasse is turned and their tyme slippeth away irreuocably and with great speed and in all liklyhood they haue past allreadie the greatest and best part of their dayes O that he would pause a little vpon this consideration and before he be engaged so far that he cannot goe backe retyre himselfe into the Closet of his owne soule and there in secret with quietnes and repose consult with God and his owne Conscience whether it wil be better for him to imploy the remnant of his dayes in remedying former errours and so assure vnto himselfe an euerlasting Kingdome in companie of his blessed Mother or following Queene Elizabethes steppes and sporting himselfe as she did the rest of his dayes with losse of his owne so many millions of soules as depend vpon his beare her company for euer Let no man flatter and deceaue himselfe nor be deceaued with vaine opinions There is but one God and one Truth and one way to heauen by true fayth true hope and true Charitie for all must be gounded in truth which can be but one One heauen will not hould Queene Mary of Scotland and Queen Elizabeth of England as their Religions their Liues and their Deathes were contrary so infallibly be the places of their eternall aboad His Maiesty hath relation to both and yet it is in his hand and choyce by Gods grace which of them he will follow And if togeather with the saluation of his soule he will establish also his Royall Estate vpon earth to himselfe and his Posterity were it not a thousand tymes better for him to lay his foundation and build vpon the setled Religion and rightfull descent from King Henry the 7. from other his renowned Catholicke Auncestors then vpon the ruines of Schisme and Heresie brought in by the dissolution of King Henry the 8. and continued with so many violences and deceiptes as were vsed with some colour of Iustice in Queene Elizabethes daies to hold her vp and her broken Title on foot If he follow her and her Father he casteth himselfe and his into a world of ineuitable and endlesse inconueniences wheras if he prudently reiect the vnchristian deuises inuented to giue Authority to their errors and sinnes wholy impertinent to his right and repayre for his Title to the roote and take his Religion from whence his right must come if he will haue it without controuersy he may with a wet finger put remedie to all The End is Excellent and the Meanes are Easie he hath Examples in other Kingdomes and what would he haue more The Sect of the Protestantes in England is a motly of many colours a masse of many metalls and iust the Statua of Nabuchodonosor of gould siluer and brasse borrowed of others and with earthen feet which are onely their owne and continually decay He that will make a durable building must lay a sure foundation and rayse his worke by leuell otherwise though it may make a fayre shew for a while yet certaine it is the higher that it riseth the nearer it is to ruine And hence commeth the fall of Princes the decay of Common wealthes and the change of earthly Monarches from one lynage or people to another because they were not well founded or not well continued There cannot possibly be deuised any other Religion so fit for Kinges I meane such as wil be Kinges and not Tyrantes nor so profitable to Common wealths as is the Christian Catholicke Religion giuen by Christ Iesus for the benefit of men for by inward sweet motions and force it restrayneth all excesses in those that gouerne and in those that are gouerned it worketh obedience and subiection for Iustice and Conscience sake and keepeth them in loue and loyalty by the secret instincts of Reason and Grace when other inferiour respects should be wanting Notwithstāding that God Almighty hath ordained the holy Lawes and Decrees of his Religion for the eternall saluation of Mankynd yet for that one good principle alwayes helpeth another in consequence the same Religion is so commodious and fit for the preseruation of secular Estates as if it had beene ordayned for nothing else And it is iust as the sinews in a mans body wherwith the bones and other solid partes are tyed togeather in such sort that although in the politicke gouernment there may be errours and faultes yet where this Religion florisheth and is kept in due reuerence it supplyeth all other wants houldeth togeather the parts of the Cōmon-Wealth not only in ordinary sicknesses but in perilous diseases and keepeth it from death ruyne and decay when all other remedies haue lost their force And for this reason the prosperity of such Kinges Kingdomes as haue care to preserue the purity and sincerity of this Religion are secure and durable because it reduceth all Estates to the groundes of Truth and Iustice which only are permanent And for the same reason such as professe other Sectes must of force lyue in continuall disquietnes and stagger with daily feare and suspition because the pillars of their Security may faile them and fall by many accidents If with this new Oath and Obligation to goe to the Protestants Churches and other outward protestations wherto his Maiesty intendeth to bynd his Subiectes they became Protestants indeed and left to be Catholickes in their harts it were something to the purpose though on his part not well done for the thinges in themselues be vnlawfull but seeing it falleth out cleane contrary and neyther this nor any other good is gotten by them the longer they be vsed the further they goe forward the more his Maiesty looseth by them For they must needes cause in the parties iniured and in their friends and well-willers hart-burning against the Authors of such violent proceeding and lesse reputation and good will to his Maiesty euery day contrary as I suppose to the security he intendeth and to all that in prudence he should procure Such as stand at his elbow and set him (K) Sapientes Consiliarij Pharaonis consiliū dederunt insipiens Isa 9. 11. forward in these Actions though his Maiesty play the game yet it is euident they make good their owne and not his Quaerunt quae sua sunt non quae Regis aut Christi They are diligent vigilant and effectuall in all that may bring them profit but it is not the Kinges as presently shal be seene In other thinges they are prudent but in this they are short Heere passion blyndeth the matter is mistaken and thenfore
they must needes fayle in the meanes For the cause which they would maintaine being in it selfe vniust they can bynd no mans conscience by any violence to approue it how soeuer some may dissemble for flatterie or feare which auayleth litle to the Kinges purpose Wherfore till they can finde out some proportionable meanes to perswade men of iudgment that they haue Iustice on their side and that their opinions are true and the Catholicke Religion false which as they well know is impossible all the rest they can do to make their cause seeme good is wholy vnprofitable And togeather with this supposing that which is most true although such as be about his Maiesty endeauour to conceale it that the number of such as be in their hartes Catholickes and belieue all that the Recusants professe is greater without all comparison then these that be formally hereticks and that euen amongst those that were furthest out of the way many come euery day to vnderstand the Truth and many to professe it It were much better and far more proportionable for that which his Maiesty intendeth if he intend to quiet his Kingdome and assure his Royall Estate to himself and his Successors when he should be pleased to do no more at least to suffer mens consciences to be free seing for the reason alleaged he cannot tye them and by this meanes content all and oblige all to loue him and serue him and especially those that now he houldeth in greatest iealousy to be his most loyall Subiectes and most obedyent and more sure to him then any of the rest then contrary wise vsing violence without necessity where it can haue no place whilst he laboureth to content a few cause iust indignation in multitudes which can bring no good and in tyme may be occasion of many ineuitable harmes Moreouer for the intēt which his Maiesty hath to vnite his two Kingdomes of Scotland and England in one vnder the Title of Great Bryttaine what meane can be deuised more effectuall then that which onely hath vnity in it selfe and consequently vertue to vnite others and which only hath meanes to preserue it selfe and such as imbrace it in vnity The Catholicke fayth hath this propriety to vnite and with her secret vertue and force to reduce such as lyue dispersed like sauage and wilde people to the estate of men and perfect vse of reason in ciuill lyfe teaching them to brydle their passions and conquer their ill customes amend their manners and abandone their former vices and sinnes and in sine to yield their willes to rule and reason making them men and Christian men faythfull to God and dutyfull to their Commaunders which before were barbarous rebellious to God and to their Princes and litle better then beastes This the ancient Histories that treate of the peopling of many partes of Europe doe teach most euidently where men lyued like bruyte beastes vntill they were instructed and reformed with this holy Religion And at this day we see in Brasile and many partes of the Indies that Catholicke Religion hath effected with great facility that which souldyers Armes could not do drawing the people out of the caues mountaynes and woods which before they inhabited euery one by himselfe to build townes and Cytties in the playnes and lyue sociably in Community frequenting the Churches and holy Sacramentes and all other actes of Christian profession with great piety and deuotion And both the Histories of these Countryes and such as come from thence testifie that with this Catholike discipline they haue profited so much in ciuility morall conuersation and politike lyfe that in many places they are nothing inferiour to the ancient Christians yea in some parts they goe beyond them in the exercises of Christianity and in all that is cōmendable in a morall lyfe in so much as the Gouernours of these Countries laying downe their armes giuing ouer attempts of war many tymes vsed with much bloudshed and little effect haue thought it a better course more proportionable to their end to send them teachers to instruct them in the Catholicke fayth because they see by experience that with this meane they bring to passe easily in few monethes that which they could not do by force in many yeares The same may be sayd of some Nations here in Europe which haue professed enimity and deadly hatred tyme out of mynd one against another by reason of bloudy warres and hostility that had passed betweene them and by meanes of this soueraigne band of vnity haue beene reconciled and brought to lyue vnder one Gouerment with great peace and friendship which doubtlesse could neuer haue beene done nor so inueterate and violent humors tempered but by this sacred and sweete lenitiue of Catholicke Religion And for this reason it is called Catholicke because as it is common to all so it is fit for all and a common band with peculiar effect to reunyte and tie togeather such as the waywardnes of mans miserable nature hath drawne to auersion and deuided Extremes if they are to be made one must needs haue some meanes to vnite them and those which agree in one third and so principall a meane of vnion as is the Catholike faith with hope charity and in such a body of Religion as agreeth in those vertues may easily preserue themselues in amity and accord though in some lesser matters there arise differēces Will you haue a proofe of this neare home and proper to this purpose I my selfe in diuers partes haue knowne English-men and Scottes notwithstanding their old auersion and antipathy almost turned into nature yet being Catholikes to liue togeather in great amity and friendship Neither must it seeme strange for the communication in the same faith the common vse of the same Sacraments and common fountaine of grace piercing and deuiding betwixt the marrow and the bone doth clense the rust canker of corrupt natures instinct and remoue all Nationall quarrels emulations And without doubt neyther can his Maiesty find nor any other man deuise any other so proportionable a meane as this to make his two Kingdomes one or to preserue any long time the amity begun betweene them considering the deadly hatred fastered and inueterated causes of disunion which they haue carried in their bowels for so many ages past Non adhaeret testa ferro Nature cannot do it nor Art bring it to passe Onely this heauenly confection is able to worke this great wonder And the reason more in particuler may be because this Religiō once entring and taking root in mens harts it is as the Scripture saith Virtus Dei ad salutem subduing in man whatsoeuer is of man to the obedience of our Sauiour God and Man Christ Iesus whereby man ceaseth to be himselfe and that which before he was to himselfe and is transformed into a liuely member and part of the Mysticall body of Christ for reuerence and due respect to his Head yieldeth dutifull obedience to
open the dores in the darke to the amazement of the familyes make that spoile and hauocke which such manner of people are like to do in such occasions To the basenes of the persons and rigour of the Lawes may be added another thing worth the noting to wit the extorsion of the penalties by a new stratageme of Astronomy and computation of tymes of their owne For example the law is That euery Recusant pay twenty poundes a Moneth for not going to Church What doe these ingenuous Executours The ordinary accōpt that the Astronomers gather by the motion of the Planets doth not content them by this the yeare as wese is deuided into twelue Monethes but it is not for them they will haue it by weekes and so find thirteene Moneths in the yeare by this accompt extend the penalty of that Statute vpon the Recusants Now what reason equity and iustice is in this let any indifferent man consider The Lawes of themselues are rigorous and odious and these set them on the tenters stretch them out beyond their nature and execute them with more rigour then the Law-makers did intend Viderit vtilitas By this example you may gather many others which for breuity I omit Heere somebody may doubt seeing the Indignation of the Persecutors of this time is greater or at least equall to that of Queene Elizabethes tyme how commeth it to passe that now there is not so much bloud shed Martyrdome of Priestes and of their receauers as then To this I answere that experience hath taught them how much they loose by open cruelty And they find it more for their aduauntage to consume the Catholikes by hunger rather then to kyll them by the sword For making them awaie by little and little they dy many deathes the manner of their dying is more painfull and lesse spoken of so that by this deuice they double their cruelty yet haue a colour to pretend Clemencie and commendation of Mercy Nay that which is more they would make the world belieue they persecute no man for Religion And for this cause hauing persuaded his Royall Maiesty to follow the footsteps renew the persecution of his Predecessour they deuised this new Oath against the Popes Authority to reduce at least in outward appearance to matter of State Treason that which is meerly a point of Catholike doctrine And with this colour they begin a fresh to martyr Priests seeing other punishments will not make them afrayd and spoile Lay-Catholikes more then euer and yet forsooth they persecute no man for Religion I wot not whence it commeth whether from the great opinion that they haue of their witts or the little of ours that they persuade themselues that they shal be belieued when their wordes are so contrary to their doinges In the fore said Lawes as they are extended in English they forbid so often and so largely the thinges pertayning to Religion as they repeate two hundreth and seauenty tymes the Name of Priests Altars Masses Seminaries Iesuits Colledges Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction Faith Sea Apostolicke Bishop of Rome Head of the Church Images Churches Agnus Dei Madals and Graines hallowed Beades Breuiaryes Masse-bookes Life of Saints and the like and for euery one of these Markes and Tokens of Catholicke Religion they put a penalty and many of them they forbid vnder paine of death And notwithstanding that with these Lawes and Proclamations they publish openly to the whole world their hatred against Catholicke Religion yet they blush not on the other side to affirme will needes be belieued that they forsooth as I haue said persecute no man for Religion but all is for Treason and Practises against the State I desire the Reader heere to iudge whether the things mentioned or vse of them be crimes against the State or that the State be well erected where these actes of Piety and Religion are punished as Crimes To be short All these Treasons and Crimes imputed to Catholickes are comprized in one to wit to be faythfull seruantes of Christ and obedient children of his Church This is the Crime of Crimes and Treason of Treasons this is the offence vnder so many and so different names titles condemned and punished by these Lawes This in fine is the ground summe and substance of this Persecution prosecuted so many yeares and now renewed and increased as here may be seene There was some few yeares past a Conspiracie of seauen or eyght yonge gentlemen who induced as the report goeth by a traine of some chiefe Protestantes intended with one fire to extinguish another which had endured many yeares deuouring and consuming the bowells and best substance of their Countrey But howsoeuer it was begun and intended let it be as their greatest Aduersaries will haue it notwithstanding the publike voyce and many presumptions prooue that it was an Inuention of State and a meere trap to entangle them Let vs I say graunt that the same men that put it in execution were they that layd the plot were the Authors Let vs graunt all this and what else they can desire yet with what conscience and with what reason should any be made partaker of the danger or punishment that had no part in the Action that neyther gaue any consent or had any notice of what was intended For if we admit this course of Iustice and this manner of proceding if the fault of one or of a few may be extended to a whole community perforce all Comon-wealths must goe to wracke yea mankind must perish all the whole world must downe at a blow For by this Law manner of gouernment they cannot stand The Law of God and his diuine iustice hath a far different proceeding for it saith expressly that he onely that commytteth the fault shal be punished Iustitia iusti super eum erit impietas impij erit super eum Ezech. 18. 2. anima quae peccauerit ipsa morietur Why then should that which was vndertaken by indiscreet zeale and want of Consideration in one or two be imputed to the Religion or to the rest that doe professe it without any participation of the Crime The Catholicke Church hath most holy and iust lawes and such as doe swarue from them do in such sort perish that she neuerthelesse remayneth blamelesse For why she neyther doth nor permitteth nor approueth any euill The faultes be personall and of priuate men the doctrine is vniuersall which admitteth no faultes these belonged to some few and passe with tyme the other is euerlasting and the cause common to all that be present and to come And therfore we publish these Lawes to the sight of the whole world we answer print these Proclamations in diuers tongues because the notice of this case belongeth to all the Catholicke Church which as one body though dispersed in diuers Countries must needs feele the iniustice and violence offered to so principall a part and pray for the remedy A COVNTER-COMMAVND CONTEYNING
since Christ his tyme and so truly that they cannot name any one wholy of their side till at length Luther and Caluin and some such like Apostata's men of small learning and much lesse good report for their dissolute behauiour and in that regard vnfit to be Teachers and Tutors to Princes raked out of Hell and out of the sinke and dunghill of their owne sensuality the poysoned doctrine wherwith they haue infected the sincerity of Christendome and made this hauocke that we se especially in the Northern Countries of Germany France England and others The ouer-weening of themselues auarice interest sensuality and desire to lyue at liberty haue brought them into such dulnesse of spirit that they vnderstand not nor consider that supernaturall fayth contrary to all that which they looke after and for which the Catholikes suffer so much is doctrine reuealed from heauen and no humane (A) Audite verbum Domini haec dicit Dominus Deê° vae Prophetis insipientibus qui sequuÌ„tur spirituÌ„ suum nihil vident Quasi vulpes in desertis Prophetae tui Israel errant vident vana diuinant mendacium dicentes Ait Dominus cùm Dominê° noÌ„ miserit eos Ezech. 13. 2. 3. 4. 6. inuention or deuise The soueraigne Mysteries of this holy fayth must be receaued by (B) FormaÌ„ habe sanoruÌ„ verboruÌ„ quae à me audisti bonum deposituÌ„ custodi 2. Tim. 1. 13. 14. Fratres state tenete traditiones quas didicistis siue per sermonem siue per epistolam nostram 2. Thes 2. 15. lawfull Tradition and belieued with humility piety and deuotion and not irreuerently (C) Sicut qui mel multuÌ„ comedit non est ei bonum sic qui scrutator est maiestatis opprimetur à gloria Prou. 25. 27. discussed with malepart pride nor examined by onely humane reason which doubtlesse of it selfe without help from aboue how much so euer it striue to ascend can neuer reach vnto them It is cleare and out of doubt to any vnderstanding not peruerted that of God and his workes we must belieue many things which heere we cannot vnderstand And it is most reasonable and iust that we subiect our wittes to assent to his Truth as we subiect our willes to the obedience of his Law For in very deed he were but a silly God and of small Maiesty if we could comprehend all that he doth Let vs therfore in this lyfe belieue that which he commaundeth and the Catholicke (D) Ecclesia est columna firmamentum veritatis 1. Tim. 2. 15. Tenet me in Ecclesia conseÌ„sus Church teacheth which gouerned by his diuine spirit caÌ„not erre and hauing setled our faith vpon this sure foundation liue with that purity and sanctity that he desireth and the same dinary actions of mans lyfe in the discourse and contemplation what shall I say of inuisible thinges yea of the grossest and basest workes of Nature The contentions of Philosophers teach vs how little certainty lesse euidence they haue in their profession And many times we caÌ„not conceaue how artificiall things are made vntill we be taught Amongst all these occasions to erre none is so often or so easily deceaued as he that presumeth most of his wyt according to the old English prouerbe when he wily beguileth himselfe In this incertainty who wil aduenture his saluation vpon his owne discourse and much lesse vpon Caluins or Luthers or any such like It was a singular Mercy of Christ to leaue vs our greatest treasure vnder the custody (M) Miraculis inchoata spe nutrita charitate aucta vetustate firmata c. of Fayth not subiect to the varyances of mens humors and opinions It may suffice vs that we belieue the same faith that our Forefathers held I wis as wise as wee for more then a thousand yeares togeather and before them those which taught them to belieue by Prescription from the Apostles time If any man be so incredulous or so malepart as to contend si quis contentiosus esse velit it may suffice for answere to all his obiections We haue no such custome in the Catholicke Church as S. Paul answered to the Corinthians If the Kinges most Excellent Maiesty would be pleased once to enter into an indifferent consideration of these things and the like with earnest desire to saue so many soules as hange vpon his If he would seeke the Truth in her fountaine and reducing the Conclusions on both sides to their Principles examyne and ponder the waight of the proofes as in other cases of lesse importance he hath done with applâ—use of the world If I say he would once reiect all other respectes and resolue vpon this one Mayne Important Point I doubt not but that with such heauenly illustrations as in like cases God of his louing prouidence is wont to affoard he would quickely wynd himselfe out of the Labyrinth of Errour into which his Infancy was brought before he could preuent it and from whence Custome humane Policie of Estate Company of flatterers and double-harted Friends neuer suffered him to get out nor to enter into a true consideration and suruey of the manifould obligations his Maiesty hath to deliuer himselfe and his people from the thraldome and captiuity in which they liue Such as haue risen to that height of Riches and Estate wherin their now stand by the ruines of Catholicke Religion will no doubt hould on the same course as longe as they can and seeke still to make their part good notwithstanding it be with iniury to Gods honour Religion and Truth And therfore his Royall Maiesty will prudently se what counsaile may come from such kynd of interest vnlesse their for made for a time to be dissolued This (P) Ignorat homo quid ante se fuerit quid post se futurum sit quis ei poterit indicare Labor stultorum affliget illos qui nesciuÌ„t in vrbem pergere Eccles 10. 14. 15. Labyrinth wherin such as aduenture to trauayle without (Q) Emitte lucem tuam veritatem tuam ipsa me deduxerunt adduxerunt in monteÌ„ sanctum tuum in tabernacula tua Ps 42. 3. a guide first leese their ayme and then themselues in errour is but set for a summer This mortall lyfe that we lyue is nothing else but a (R) Referet vnusquisque propria corporis prout gessit siue bonuÌ„ siue malum 2. Cor. 3. 10. representation or Comedie whose Scenes Actes passe by daies houres and momentes till it be ended and a (S) Vidi cuncta quae sunt sub sole ecce vniuersa vanitas Eccles 4. 11 game at Chesse wherin when the Mate is giuen as well the King and the Rooke as the Pawne and the rest are shuffeled togeather cast (T) Omnia quae de terra sunt in terram conuerteÌ„tur omâ—es aquae in terram reuertentur Eccles 4. 11. into the bagge out of which they were taken Heere though many affect
all lawfull Superiours whether they be spirituall or temporall to ech of them in that which appertayneth to their charge as to the Substitutes Lieftenants of him to whom all subiection is due And as this is voluntary proceeding of conscience and loue so it causeth concord and good will to all others of the same body without difference many times to such as for personall respects deserue little to be obeyed or loued This is the true root and reason of estate this is the true and only policie to effect vnion this is the only proper method of curing old inueterate soares of discord and the only way to heale effectually those that so long time haue layen festering And howsoeuer at this present they be couered and ouer-healed they be not hoale in the bottome and therefore must be prudently and perfectly healed least with new occasions they breake out againe with greater violence and extremity then euer before And to hasten this breach I cannot imagine how his Maiesty or any for him could deuise a more effectuall or more speedy meanes then he hath taken in hand powling and impouerishing the natiue Englishmen Catholikes to enrich and aduāce strangers and heretikes to whome he giueth their goods and dispossesseth them of their Patrimonyes and Lands which their Ancestors had lawfully enioyed many hundred yeares only because they will not sweare that which they thinke to be false nor goe against their Consciences to the Protestants Churches without any other offence to the King or Common-wealth Who can looke on this be he neuer so great an enemy of Catholike Religiō that will not loath it especially considering that those who suffer these wrongs are the best Subiects most innocent and of more vertuous and exemplary life then any other of the Common-wealth Suppose they were deceaued in their beliefe houlding for true the Religion which all their Ancestors euen from the Apostles time haue belieued for their aduersaries cannot giue instance where when or by whome any poynt of that which they belieue and professe was inuented or brought in since the Apostles tyme notwithstanding their cauill of Ceremonyes and other accidents out of the substance which may be added altered or taken away as tymes and oceasions require without preiudice to the fayth or Religion to which they appertaine But as I say supposing the Catholicks liued in errour and misbeliefe this same errour authorized by so long Prescription as I haue sayd deserueth not punishment but pardon and toleration especially it being as their greatest enemies must needes confesse without any hurt to the Common wealth for none can deny but that the Recusants lyfe and conuersation is of much more edification and good example in all manner of Christian vertue then any of the rest And this and no other thing is the cause that their Aduersaryes finding in them no faults of their owne are forced to accuse them of other mens offences and to calumniate and slaunder them with false imputations as the old Persecutors did the Christians of the primitiue Church and this also is the cause of so vnusuall and improper manner of speaking as may be obserued in these Proclamations and Lawes And they are drawne by necessity to this manner of proceeding forced to charge them with secret crimes for indeed all that passeth in publicke wherof the world may be wytnes is in their fauour And therfore they vrge them what they thinke and not onely that but what they would thinke in tyme to come vpon conditionall cases which are neuer like to be A strange manner of proceeding and not heard of in other places But to this miserable perplexity and suspition men come that will gouerne without God his Truth And if these thinges of themselues cannot but mooue to compassion any true English indifferent hart of whatsoeuer Religion the party be what an ey-sore must it needes be what hart-burning thinke you doth it cause to see withall the spoyle of these innocent subiects turned to mayntaine the pride and superfluities of Strangers some of them making their nestes in the toppes of the Noblest and fruitfullest trees that is planting themselues in the best Houses and Familyes and occupying the chiefest Offices and Roomes of the Common wealth others returning home to their Countrey loaden with the spoile of Catholickes goodes who doubtlesse least of all others feele their owne harms as men best armed with patience and most comforted with the considerations abouesayd and the like to suffer all that cōmeth for Christ But for the rest no doubt but their hartes are filled with indignation and bytternes whatsoeuer Religion they professe and much more those of other Sectes and most of all those that be furthest of from Catholicke Recusancie as men lesse mortified more styrring more ready to be moued to anger disdayne and reuenge howsoeuer they may couer it for a tyme. And this generally out of Nationall passions and affections which no doubt are more vehement and more inflamed where there concurreth also particuler respectes And at this day you shall hardly find any one famylie of worth in England that by one way or other in the roote or in the branches hath not allyance or interest in the cause persecuted The experience of fourty yeares and vpward wherin they haue persecuted the Catholickes in that Kingdome supposing by that way to roote out their Religion is a strong argument amongst many others to conuince their Aduersaries that they hould a wrong course for all the world seeth that by this persecution Catholicks haue increased both in number and zeale with them the meanes that God hath ordained for their preseruation both at home abroad For within the Kingdome there be at this day many more Priestes and Religious men to teach the Truth to such as desire it then were when Queene Elizabeth made the first Capitall Lawes against them And generally Catholickes are more constant and more ready to endure the penalty of the Lawes and the Colledges for the bringing vp of such as God selecteth for the mayntenance of this cause are more in number euery day And as their afflictions continue so their friends increase and the more their vertue is tryed and their cause more knowne the more readines they find and more desire in all good men to help them This experience in truth were there nothing else doth plainly demonstrate that his Maiesty in prudence of Estate though he had no greater Motyues should bethinke himselfe of some other course and vse more proportionable meanes to bring about his Honourable Designments And doubtlesse if his Iudgment and other Naturall Giftes be answerable to the report he will easily see the conuenience by that which hath beene sayd setting passion and bad Counsayle aside For what man is there of any vnderstanding that hauing bene troubled fourty yeares togeather with one and the selfe same infirmity and vsing all that while the same dyet the same Phisitians the same method in
suddainly when they were least ready for their accompt that by these exaÌ„ples others may take heed which is a singular fauour for by chastising some few he inuiteth to his mercy the rest to whome he giueth tyme and occasion of repentance Within these few yeares there haue dyed suddainly at diuers tymes in England foure of the priuy Counsell and their deathes are so much the more markable as they were lesse prouided for For this is the misery of suddaine death when it ouertaketh a sinner and neyther giueth him warning nor leasure to repent One of these was the Lord High Treasurer a worldly wise man though not wise for himselfe who hauing spoken vehemently at the Counsell-Table in a busines touching Syr Iohn Lusons land as was sayd and bowing downe his head as though he would rest he that sate next him thinking to awake him from sleep found him dead without the least remembrance of the Eternall Iudgment to which he was called so at vnawares as he left astonished all that were present The second was the Lord (P) Thomas Popam Chiefe Iustice of England a man of cruel harsh conditioÌ„ a grieuous persecutour of Catholicks He tooke one day in the morning as many times he vsed to do certaine easy pilles for his health and after hauing to signe some Writs or as others say Warrants to apprehend Recusants suddainly found himselfe so ill that he could not go abroad as he had determined From his chaire he would haue cast himselfe vpon his bed but he (Q) Cor durum habebit male in nouissimo qui amat periculum in eo peribit Eccles 3. 27. dropped down dead He had before coÌ„playned of conuulsions and great paines in his body but he shewed no memory of God more then in his life time he was accustomed The third was also a priuy Counsellour that occupied the Name and Place of the Archbishop of Canterbury a great Politician and one of the plotters as is reported of the New Oath and Powderworke wherin it was founded as he had bene of many other Stratagems (R) Bene coÌ„surgit diluculò qui quaerit bona qui autem inuestigator malorum est opprimetur ab ijs Pro. 11. 27. and deuises against the Catholikes He ended his life as the former without tyme to prepare himselfe for the great accompt He was of base Parentage but by his diligence and wit he scambled vp to the height from whence he fell First he got into seruice with the L. Chancellour Syr Christopher Hatton as his Chaplaine and Examiner His Maister was greatly fauoured of the Prince at that tyme and a secret fauourer of the Catholikes And in this poynt M. Bancroft flattered him so cunningly that he got his good will and much money vnder him After his Maisters death he was able to do for himselfe as is reported bought the Bishopricke of London of Syr Ferdinand Gorge Gentleman of the Queenes ChaÌ„ber for three thousand pounds And hauing gotten into that place with desire to ascend though against his conscience afflicted Gods seruants both at home abroad with many sleightes deuises In fine by these wayes walking alwayes with a gouldeÌ„ staffe in his hand ascendit fortè CathedraÌ„ as one merily sayd of his Predecessor he passed from London to Lambeth and there played the wolfe in a sheephards weed At length as he had allwaies a styrring brayne it disquieted him so much that he could not sleepe and for remedy he tooke of a Paracelsian Phisitian a dormytall medicine wherwith he slept so profoundly that he awaked no more onely they hard him grone pitifully and strugle with death and in this manner he ended with terrour of his friendes and seruantes that were present leauing to them and to vs and to all the world an example to feare the iust (S) ViruÌ„ iniustuÌ„ mala capient in interitu Psal 139. 12. Iudgmentes of God His Predecessour in (T) Iohn Whitgift Canterbury Sea and President of the priuy Counsayle died in a manner after the same fashion Vpon I know not what occasion he made a bytter inuectyue at the Counsell-Table against (V) Vae duplici corde labijs scelestis manibus malefacietibê° peccatori terram ingredienti duabê° vijs Eccl. 2. 14. the Catholicke Religion notwithstanding he knew it in his conscience to be the only Truth and hauing ended his speach he bowed downe to take vp his spectacles and being taken suddainly with an Apoplexy that made him speachlesse was carryed from the Councell-Table to his House and a few houres after departed this world to receaue his Iudgment and Reward These foure great States-men all of the priuy Counsell dyed one after another suddainly without any signes of contrition or memory of God as hath bene said and in this consisteth the obseruatioÌ„ and example for otherwise to him that liueth well no death is vntimely though it cannot be without mystery that God sendeth to so many Priuy Counsellours in England this manner of death in these times But of all the rest the most miserable and of greatest terrour and example for the Kings Royall Maiesty is the death of Queene (X) Seminauerunt triticum spinas messueruÌ„t hereditatem acceperunt non ijs proderit Ier. 12. 13. QuantuÌ„ glorificauit se in delicijs fuit taÌ„tùm date ei tormentum luctuÌ„ quia in corde suo dicit sedeo Regina Vidua non sum luctuÌ„ non videbo ideo in vna die venieÌ„t plagae eius Mors luctê° fames igne comburetur quia fortis est Deus qui iudicauit eam Apoc. 18. 7. Elizabeth his Predecessour which being so notorious and so well knowne to his Maiesty for breuities sake and for respect to her Person I will omit Many such like examples no doubt happen in England but are more noted in two sortes of people The one of such as in their conscience haue knowledge of the Truth and outwardly deny it and oppugne it for temporall respectes as it is thought the two Archbishops did the other of such as haue a violent auersion from Catholicke Religion and vpon hatred and splene persecute such as professe it as did the L. Chiefe Iustice and other such like Well the Kings Maiesty and his Counsellours cannot deny but God (Y) Nemo potest dicere Dominus Iesus nisi in Spiritu sancto 1. Cor. 1. 2. 3. Considera opera Dei quod nemo possit corrigere queÌ„ ille despexerit Eccles 7. 14. Qui odit correptionem vestigiuÌ„ est peccatoris qui timet Deum coÌ„uertetur ad cor suuÌ„ Eccl. 12. 7. dealeth mercifully with them in giuing them these publicke examples as watch-wordes and warninges to make them looke about them It may please him also to giue them grace to lay them to their hartes and make benefit of them But this also is mercy and a speciall fauour of God who onely knoweth the true causes of all that is