Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	prince_n	queen_n	3,203	5	6.8163	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17505	A replie vnto a certaine libell, latelie set foorth by Fa: Parsons, in the name of vnited priests, intituled, A manifestation of the great folly and bad spirit, of certaine in England, calling themselues seculer priestes VVith an addition of a table of such vncharitable words and phrases, as by him are vttered in the said treatise, aswell against our parsons, as our bookes, actions, and proceedings.	Clark, William, d. 1603.; Barneby, Francis. aut; Clarionet, William, attributed name.	1603 (1603)	STC 4321; ESTC S107159	173,407	232

whom or from whose degree such actions proceeded And I would but aske Fa Parsons because I know him to be a great statist this one question whether in his conscience he doe think there be any Prince in the world be he neuer so catholicke that should haue within his dominions a kind of people amongst whom diuers times he should discouer matters of treason and practises against his person and state whether he would permit those kind of people to liue within his dominions if he could be otherwise rid of them and whether hee would not make straight Lawes and execute them seuerely against such offenders yea and all of that company and quality rather then he would remaine in any danger of such secret practises and plots I thinke Fa Parsons will not for shame denie this especially if he remember the examples of the French religious men for the like practises expelled England generally in a Cath time and by a Cath Prince and theyr lyuings confiscate and giuen away to others The like was of the Templars both in England and Fraunce Yea to come neerer vnto him was not all their order expelled Fraunce for such matters and yet the King and state of Fraunce free from imputation of iniustice in that action If these things proceeded from Cath Princes iustly against whole Communities or orders of Religion vppon such causes wee cannot much blame our Prince and state being of a different Religion to make sharpe lawes against vs and execute the same finding no lesse occasion thereof in some of our profession then the fore-said Princes did in other religious persons whom they punished as you see But you will say that there is no reason that the innocent should be condemned for another mans fault if some one Cath or Priest were faulty in this kind all were not so how then can the actions of the state against such be iustifiable To this I aunswer that you cannot think that euery particuler French Monke was guilty of treason in that Kings dayes when all were expelled nor is it like that all the Templers were so irreligious as some of them were neither doe I think that all the Iesuits were accessarie or consenting vnto their practises in Fraunce yet all you see payd for the delict of some Princes are iealous and haue cause so to be there depending so much vpon their safety as there doth When therefore they find trecherie in any Communitie they will be sure to prouide for the worst and rather extirpate that Cōmunitie then liue in feare thereof Doth it not so happen alwayes when the Gouernours or Magistrates of a Cittie counite or concurre vnto any treason doth not the Cittie presently lose all her priuiledges and the Prince seaze vpon the same and take all into his owne hands gouernment suppressing the whole state of the Cittie for the faults of a few onely vvhat meruaile then if this hath happened in our case where there hath been such difference in religion And then iudge whether we that haue beene innocent in such practises as GOD and our conscience can witnes and yet haue felt the smart of such proceedings haue not great cause to cleere our selues to exclaime against such as will neuer leaue to irritate our Prince and state and to make known vnto her Maiestie and our state the innocencie both of vs of our ghostly children who haue beene pressed with the burden of afflictions by reason of such vndutifull attempts in some few vnrestrained persons most humbly crauing at her sacred hands some redresse for such miseries that the stroke may light where the offence hath been giuen and not henceforth vpon the necks of poore innocents If there be any offence in vs towards her Maiestie or her proceedings it is onely in matters of religion which beeing a thing not onely proceeding of mans will but by a light from God informing first the vnderstanding and then the will and therfore not to be altered or disposed as other indifferent actions or conceits may be wee hope may and will be more excusable in her gracious sight But for matters of practising against her person crowne or state that is a thing onely proceeding from a peruerse and passionate will the vnderstanding still remayning sui iuris able to discerne ad vtrum libet eyther of the cōueniencies or mischiefs of such affaires which no way can be excusable Now whereas some woorthy men are touched with such vndutifull proceedings in the afore-said Treatise you must vnderstand that thereby the persons of the men are not condemned but rather theyr facts or they onely in those facts yet worthy men in themselues And you must vnderstand that good men yea Saints haue had their errors as these proceedings in these woorthy men must be acknowledged neither may we approue such errors because the Authors of them were Saints No man approueth the defence of rebaptization in Saint Cyprian because S. Cyprian is a Martyr and yet whilst hee liued he defended the same very earnestly practised it with great contention against other Bishops Dauids fact of murthering Vrias must not be excused because he was secundum cor Dei and now a Saint no no passions and errours haue raigned in Saints whilst they were vpon the earth yea euen amongst the Apostles and disciples of Christ whilst he was with them Therefore let no man be scandalized that good men and worthy persons are condemned in some particuler facts sith no man liueth on earth without error But you will say it is commaunded in the Law non reuelabis turpitudinem patris tui the two sonnes of Noe were cursed of God for reuealing and laughing at theyr fathers nakednes therefore we should rather haue buried such defects of our worthy parents in perpetuall obliuion vnder ground then haue published them thus to the world Alas I would to God it had beene in our power to haue hid these things without the mischiefes before expressed belieue vs assuredly the world then should neuer haue had knowledge of them but it was not in our power their facts were so publique to the world better known vnto our state then to our selues But it will still be said if such men of worth and great vertue dealt in such matters why should wee so much exclaime against the Iesuits Is their fault so haynous therein aboue the others To this I aunswer that the Iesuits faults are much more as you also will confesse if you cōsider all circumstances well For first what was done by these worthy men was done almost in the first heate of change of Religion wherin both more passion might mooue and greater hopes of recouery of religion stirre them vp to such attempts Besides their hopes of sincere dealing in such as should haue concurred in those actions meerely for religion not of ambition might draw them on to follow such deuises For as then the ambitious intentions of the Spaniards were not discouered vnto them which

most part of those who disliked this his heraldrie were in learning his maisters and in knowledge of the state of our Country what was conuenient or inconuenient pleasing or displeasing pacifiding or irritating better informed then himselfe as being men who liued vnder the burden of affliction and were not fled the field as hee was neither were their wits so weake as not able to see Fa Parsons cunning ayme therein Though like a Gipsey he play at fast and loose yet men that are acquainted with his olde tricks can gesse at his new fetches But whereas he saith that as times stood when the booke was written it was necessarie to handle that matter of succession to the crowne and that the first book is of such waight that it is an irreligious point for any Cath to be ignorant therein concerning the matter of preferring a Cath Prince for the which no good Cath can dispense with himselfe vpon any humaine respect or consideration whatsoeuer These his assertions are so headlong fond and desperate as I know not well how to deale with him As the times then stoode you say Meane you Sir as the times then stoode in Spaine or in England If you were throughly pressed to name vnto vs a fit time for xx yeeres past at least when wee might conueniently haue dealt heere with the point of Succession I beleeue it would pose you Such are our lawes in that behalfe as silence in such matters had beene much more fit for you that liue abroad and lesse dangerous to vs who are subiect to some stormes at home You must therefore needes haue relation to the times as they ranne in Spaine And so wee haue descryed the traytour After the repulse 1588. this good Fa hastneth into Spaine and finding no likelyhoode that the King would againe attempt the like course against this Realme he thought it was time to intitle him to the Crowne if so be hee might set a new edge to his former desire thereof If I misse of your meaning you may expound your selfe heereafter Next you commend vnto vs exceedingly the first book of your treatise like a very wise and a modest man But when I perused it me thought I was reading all the while your Maister in that art Buchanan the Scot his booke de iure Regni apud Scotos vnto whom you are very much beholden If any will take the paines to reade them both let him condemne me for a seducer if I haue abused him heerein Their full scope is how they may set vp the people against their Soueraignes Well well good Fa when people are thrust into such courses they are not easily stayd and you are but a simple man for all your statizing if you know not that popularity in the ciuill state doth not well disgest a Monarchie in the ecclesiasticall You tell vs further that it is an irreligious thing for any to be ignorant who shall succeede her Maiestie and therefore you forsooth thought it time to teach them But the time was when such trayterous courses were vtterly forbidden that in Spaine it selfe by the fift Counsell at Tolet vnder paine of excommunication But I know your shift you will tell vs that there was no feare then in Spaine but that whosoeuer should succeede hee would be a Catholicke which is not so with vs now in England And if not so with vs how then Father It is true I confesse that there is no competitor vnto the Crowne of England that is Catholicke in whom any probabilitie in the world of enioying the crowne can be imagined as all men know But what then Are Catholickes bound without all humane respect to dispose themselues for such a Competitor as must be a Catholicke Againe if Catholicks would so dispose themselues what probabilitie is there that they could direct or make such a King beeing the weakest and the deiectest number in our country and are besides deuided in themselues through the Iesuits honest practises as euery man seeth And as touching the Infanta of Spaine neither is shee a Competitor more thē euery gentleman in England that can any way deriue himselfe from any noble house that hath any way matched in the blood royall as the most auncient Gentlemens houses in England haue done Neither is there any probabilitie of her Obtayning the Scepter vnlesse we be willing to become slaues to Spaniards and aliens as this vnnaturall English Iesuit would haue vs. Now in this case as all things stand with vs in England I thinke there is no man of iudgement that is not Iesuited and so Hispanized but vvill say that wee are not bound to oppose our selues for a Catholicke Prince I might adde some other reasons to this purpose as that we may not doe euill that good may come of it The common rule of iustice requireth that euery man should enioy that which by right and inheritance belongeth vnto him In auncienter times obedient and dutifull Christians liuing vnder Tyrants prayed not onely for them but for theyr chyldren that they might succeede theyr fathers in the Empire though they theyr sayd children for ought the Christians knew were like to proue no better then theyr Fathers Wee are to commit the cause to God in whose hands the harts of Princes are and who doth make and pull downe Kings at his will praying that whomsoeuer it shall please his diuine prouidence to inuest with the Crowne and scepter of our Country hee will vouchsafe to incline his hart vnto the Catholicke Romane religion and fauour of his Church For where in mans reason no possibility of things are they are alwaies to be referred vnto Gods holy prouidence and disposition who worketh beyond mans expectation Besides the reasons which the Councell of Toledo yeeldeth why it was forbidden to name a Successor to the crowne as long as Chintillus the King liued doe fight with Fa Parsons tergiuersations It was held an vnlawfull thing so to doe But you shall haue theyr owne words Quia et religioni inimicum et hominibus constat esse perniciosum c. Because it is both contrary to religion and hurtfull for men to thinke of future things vnlawfully to search after the falls of Princes to prouide for themselues for aftertimes seeing it is written It belongeth not to you to know the times and moments which the Father hath put in his owne power Wee ordaine by this decree that whosoeuer shall be found to haue sought after such thinges and during the Princes life to haue aymed at an other for the future hope of the kingdome or to haue drawne other vnto him for that purpose shall be cast out of the congregation of Catholicks by the sentence of excommunication By these things you may see whether the peremptory proposition of fa Parsons be not in our case a flat paradoxe but he neuer looketh to circumstances of time persons or place so hee may by generall propositions seeme to make a faire shew of somewhat But to come

it and reforme it if he can if hee cannot but findeth him obstinate in his opinions he executeth the spirituall law vpon him by the sword of excommunication whereby hee is spiritually slaine and cut off from Christes flock Which if hee still continue then doth the Church iudge him not onely withered in the branch but also dead in the roote and therefore as a dead tree deliuereth him vp vnto the seculer power to execute law iustice vppon him Where note that the Church taketh not away his life but contrariwise deliuering him vp vnto the seculer power intreateth for him and then doth the Prince or seculer Magistrate execute the sentence of death vppon him as a person dangerous to the state of his Realme and his other good and loyall subiects for the reasons aboue-said These kinde of proceedings in Gods church shew how far shee hath euer been from so violent courses as to plant religion and fayth by blood and that vnto a Clergie person as he is a Clergie person the power of life and death belongeth not neither doe such proceedings in deede imitate the clemencie of Christ whom the Church and Clergie framed vnto him should imitate Neither did the Bishops in the primitiue church put to death such hereticks as fell from theyr fayth and taught false doctrine as they might haue doone many times no doubt especially if priuate murmurings in such cases had beene tolerable S. Bernard a religious man dealing with S. William Duke of Aquitaine a great persecuter of gods people at that time did not seeke to poyson or murder him secretly to rid the world of him and yet hee had him priuately for some time together in his Monasterie where hee might with great facility haue done it neither did he seeke to suggest practises against him in his owne country or invasions from the King of Fraunce or other Princes adioyning but to win him by wholsome instructions spirituall conferences and the like Neither did the Pope at that time seeke his subuersion but his reformation sending perswasiue messages vnto him to desist yea and embassages by the said holy Saint Bernard to moue him to better courses and by these kind wholsome means praying continually for his conuersion with patience and expectance they won him from a persecuter and a very wicked man to become the rarest penitent and strangest paterne of austerity in the world Whereby of a vessell of ignominie and reproch he became a vessel of glory and of a bad man a Saint VVhy should wee not haue delt so with our prince and state by prayers and supplications if they had beene neuer such cruell persecuters which all occasions that haue beene giuen them beeing well considered wee cannot iustly affirme who knoweth whether God by such prayers and meanes would not haue conuerted their harts to other courses sith the harts of Kings are in the hands of God But saith Fa Parsons this paradox tasteth of Lutheranisme Anabaptisme We answer that by Gods grace we are as far off from either Luthers or the Anabaptists doctrine as hee or any of his Societie Neither doe we either denie externall force or ciuill Magistrate or dispute as Martin Luther is said to haue done to proue that it is not lawfull to wage warre against the Turk We haue not in all this discourse once gone about to affirme much lesse to proue that any one king may not vpon iust causes make warre against another Nay we did neuer say that cause might not be giuen of such iust warre euen in some case of religion but leaue that as a matter not pertinent to be handled of vs at this time This onely wee haue said and doe say that religious men or priests haue not to doe with kingdoms and those of our owne Nation which haue dealt in such affaires against their prince and country we do therein condemne their actions and disclaime from them as vndutifull and vnpleasant to all true English natures And we wish also with all our harts that no Pope or other Clergie person had euer medled therein to exasperate our prince state against vs at home Yet if we had generally kept our fingers from such matters howsoeuer they had been attempted by forrainers wee are perswaded that the wisedome of our prince and state would not haue imputed their actions vnto vs in whom wee could not haue had so much interest as to infringe either their wils or indeuours But it beeing otherwise too euident that some haue intermedled in such matters though sore against our wills we can doe no lesse but acknowledge it to be a fault and woorthy of punishment humbly prostrating our petitions at the feete of her Maiesty that it will please her to make distinction of the innocent and such as neuer haue offended in this kinde from those that haue intangled themselues in such monstrous and vnnaturall attempts that poore harmelesse innocents and such as with their soules loue her person and with their blood are ready to defend her estate and their countrey as I am perswaded all the Catholicks in England are which remaine vntainted with Iesuitisme may not perish for the offences of others Another falshood of this Fa is in relating another place in the 38 page of the aforesaid Treatise of Important considerations which he thus reporteth viz. The word of the spirit and not the sword of the flesh or any arme of man is that which giueth life and beautie to the Cath Church and that the promise made to Saint Peter is a sure and sufficient ground to defend Catholick religion without armes Thus he relateth our words and then exclaimeth against the paradox forsooth How sincerely truly he setteth our words downe you shall see and thereby iudge of his honestie Our words are no other then these The Catholicke fayth for her stabilitie and continuance hath no neede of trecherie or rebellion The promise made to S. Peter is her sure ground and is more dishonoured with treasons wicked policies of carnall men then any way furthered or aduaunced The word of the spirit and not the sword of the flesh or any arme of man is that which giueth life or beautie to the Cath Church Confer I beseech you this speech deliuered as it was by vs as Fa Parsons relateth it and see whether he hath plaied the part of a faithfull and honest relator First therefore before we enter into his false dealings herein it is most euident in the iudgement of wise men that armes weapons neuer beautifie Gods Church or the Catholick faith howsoeuer they may be necessary or conuenient sometimes to defend the same frō incursions of aduersaries or oppressions of Infidels Turks or Hereticks as in some sort is before expressed For all beauty of the Catho Church consisteth in vnitie and consent of doctrine true and reuerend administration of Sacraments true and sincere preaching of Gods word holy obseruations of the rights and ceremonies thereof and the

our greater persecution at home by reason of Fa Parsons trecherous practises thereby to promote the Spaniards tytle for our Country and his hatefull stratagems with such scholers as are there brought vp enforcing them to subscribe to blanks and by publike Orations to fortifie the said wrested tytle of the Infanta which courses cannot but repay vs with double iniuries and wrongs for the benefits receaued If they had been sincerelie giuen vs for Gods cause without any such vniust conditions we should haue cause to thank him and euer pray for his regall prosperity But being otherwise as we haue said we cannot thinke it a poynt of ingratitude not to respect his liberality therein And whereas Fa Parsons in the 31 page laboureth to perswade vs that the King of Spaines intentions against our Country were principally for the aduauncement of Cath Religion and that he neuer meant or pretended in his life any temporall interest for himselfe to the crowne of England he both iugleth with vs and also speaketh against his owne knowledge and conscience First he iugleth by a notable equiuocation in that he sayeth he neuer pretended interest for himselfe to the crowne of England because forsooth he meant it for his daughter the Infanta a prety shift to play bo-peepe with I pray you what ease should haue come more to vs by pretending it for his daughter then if he had pretended it for himselfe And as touching his intention principally as you say for Religion did not you Fa Parsons affirme to diuers Scholers in Spaine who are yet ready to iustifie the same against you that if the Duke de Medina had preuailed in 88. he had made no regard of Cath and that the state of our Country was not knowne vnto the Spaniards before you came to Spaine and made them there-with acquainted and that it was Gods doing to preuent that attempt for our Countries good Haue not you deliuered the like speeches to the same effect since to diuers Scholers in Rome Did not Fa Southwell comming ouer to Wisbich vse the like speeches there of that attempt Haue not our Scholers in Spaine diuers times heard the religious Preachers in open pulpit condemne their intentions as not principally for Gods cause but for ambition the like How can you then assure vs of his principall intention for Religion Haue not you in the hearing of diuers Scholers vsed these speeches in talking of the Spaniards attempts against our Country viz It is no matter let them alone when they haue once subdued our Country and setled the same we will quickly thrust them out againe A prety perswasion to children but sottish and ridiculous in the eares of wise men Yet did it shew your great regard eyther to one thing or other so you might draw all to your desire You haue certainlie a very factious braine and so that you may set men together by the eares you care not But to leaue these Spanish intentions let vs proceede with you to other matters From the Archpriest Iesuits king of Spaine he cōmeth vnto the Popes and fourthly hee reckoneth that wee should haue abused his holines that now raigneth whom wee haue made as he saith our aduersarie And why forsooth Because we did not admit the Archpriest at his first institution by the Card protectors letters and that we affirmed that a Breve might be procured out of some office without his holines knowledge and that wee said our two messengers Ma. Doctor Bishop and Ma. Charnocke were ill handled by Fa Parsons procurement in Rome and that his holines beeing moued by the French Embassador or Agent was once determined to heare our said two Agents but afterwards disswaded by the Spanish Embassadour and other meanes wrought by fa Parsons These forsooth are the great matters that haue made his holines our aduersary which things because they are childish obiections and meere Pageants of folly in fa Parsons scanned answered and iustified so oft in our seueral writings I wil omit to be wrapped vp amongst other his follies But concerning the other three Popes viz. Pius Quintus Gregory the 13. and Sixtus quintus whose actions against our Country by the inducements principally of the Iesuits and such like wee both dislike and wish neuer had beene I see no how he can draw vs to any inconuenience in the vvorld vnlesse it be vnlawfull to dislike any particuler action done by any Pope For otherwise I am sure that by those actions came no good but much hurt and I assure my selfe that if the aforesaid Popes had foreseene the inconueniences that haue ensued such actions they would neuer haue been drawn thereto But they were deceiued seduced by diuers Stukeley the Iesuits and the Spaniard who should haue been named first as beeing the first and the last in plotting of all mischiefes against our country Neither is it strange to haue Popes drawne to inconuenient courses by the aduise coūsell of others For in these matters they are but as other princes depending vppon theyr counsell and aduise which may erre as in the attempt of Paule the 4. against Naples But it may be lawfull for the Iesuits to tax Popes actions in higher points a great deale without danger and yet we may not say this or that particuler fact in a Pope had beene better omitted What folly if not insolencie is this Did not the Iesuits generally condemne Sixtus quintus and publiquely one of them preach against him in Spaine because hee would haue changed theyr name to Ignatians after the manner of other religious orders taking their name of their first founder and haue brought them to the Quire And for his dealing in the behalfe of the King of Fraunce that now is did they not say that his holines Clement the eyght erred in absoluing the said King of Fraunce beeing therein deceiued by his Diuines These are matters of a little more consequence then our dislikes of particuler actions against our country or resisting a Cardinalls Letter Yet ours argueth great folly and must needes procure the Popes to be our enemies theirs great wisedome meriting much at the Popes hands for their good seruice done therein What is this but to arrogate infallibilitie to theyr proceedings and to draw all states Popes and Princes both to be directed and ruled by them But by the way I may not omit his cunning leauing out of halfe a sentence in the 52. page where relating our wordes out of the Important considerations which are these If the Pope had neuer beene vrged by them to haue thrust the King of Spaine into that barbarous action against our Realme hee leaueth out the first halfe and citeth them thus If the Pope had not thrust the king of Spaine c. which maketh the sentence to sound more odious against the Pope as proceeding of his owne proper motion and desire of our Countries ouerthrow where by our words we shew him to haue beene induced and vrged therto

admirable expectance of that army and the Iesuits more then any Secondly it is plaine by the Cardinals booke if it were his written as a preparatiue to that action that hee was made Cardinall of purpose for that exployt to haue been sent hether presently vpon the Spaniards conquest But Father Parsons saith that he laboured to set forwards at that time the Cardinals preferment if you wil belieue him which maketh it euident á primo ad vltimum that father Parsons was a dealer in this action Thirdly it is also certaine that the Iesuits in Rome were great with the Spanish Embassador liger there and had great recourse vnto him when the matter was on foote Doth not this then argue them to be concurrers thereunto Fourthly it is likewise most true that the English Iesuits in Rome appropriated certaine pallaces in London to themselues to fall vnto their lots when this matter was in handling to wit Burley house Bridewell and an other which I haue forgot making themselues cocksure of their already deuoured pray This all the students that liued in the Colledge at that time will witnes with me Now would I demaund of you what reasons they might haue to be their owne caruers if they had not had some interest in that affaire Fiftly wee know that they were more forward in Rome concerning this matter then the Cardinall or any other insomuch as at the first newes of the Spaniards comming downe into the narrow Seas they vvould haue had Te Deum sung in the Colledge Church for ioy of victory if the Cardinall had not staied it Doth not this also shew that they were as farre in the matter as Card Allen or any other And to conclude did not the posting ouer of fa Parsons into Spaine presently after the ouerthrow of this armie for farther dealing with the Spaniard for the time to come and his better informations in English affaires and fa Holt posting into the Low-countries for the like purpose to keepe the Spaniard still in hope of future times that this mishap might not with-draw him frō euer enterprising the like afterwards shew that they were dealers in the former doubtlesse all these circumstances cannot but sufficiently prooue it that they were in the iudgement of wise men Now as touching the speech of the Duke of Medina Sidonia wee haue already shewed out of Fa Parsons ovvne speeches that hee made no respect at all of Catholicks neyther knew hee as Fa Parsons said whether there were anie Catholicks in England or not The next poynt brought in by Fa Parsons is the last Irish attempt but before wee say any thing to that wee must put his fatherhood in minde of his practises concerning two other preparations wherein he cannot deny himselfe to haue beene not onely a dealer but also the very chiefe and principall actor The first was that wherein Doctor Stillington some others got their death which miscaried by reason of the ignorance of their Pilots or rather by the prouision of God 34. shyps beeing shiuered vpon theyr owne Bayes If he denie this wee haue Ma. Thomas Leake a reuerend priest and others witnes thereto with whom he dealt to goe in that Armie And because Ma. Leake refused he intreated him accordingly This preparation was intended as thē was thought for Ireland The second preparation was som three or foure yeeres after if I be not deceiued of which Fa Parsons maketh mention in a letter writ to Ma. Thomas Fitzherbert frō Rome into Spaine desiring to heare of the successe thereof saying withall that they had little hope of that attempt at Rome This preparation as I remember was in the same yeere that the Earle of Essex went vnto the Ilands and it miscaried also by tempests One of the ships vnlesse I be deceiued was driuen into an Hauen in South-wales These two preparations are so euident to haue proceeded with his concurrence and cooperation as he no way can denie it without the note of impudencie so many witnesses and his owne Letters beeing in testimony against him By this you may see how foolish false and ridiculous that protestation is which he alleadgeth of Sir Frauncis Inglefield Ma. Thomas Fitzherbert if any such were wherein they say that neuer any conquest was intended by the old King of Spaine nor by his Maiestie that now raigneth For I vvould but aske Fa Parsons to what end these preparations vvere whether they were to catch Butter-flies vppon the seas I think few men of vnderstanding will think that good King Phillip meant to haue onely established Catholicke religion by force of Armes and when he should haue seene himselfe maister of the field and Crowne would depart quietly leauing all to our selues as he found it No no the sweet Kingdome of England would haue been perhaps as precious vnto him as his best dominions in the world No lesse absurd is the protestation concerning Fa Parsons and Father Creswell that they did neuer treat in their liues nor consent that the King of Spaine should haue any temporall interest in the Crowne of England nor that the old King or his Maiestie now raigning euer intended any such thing but onelie the good of Catholicks and their ease This is so friuolous so childish and so sencelesse a protestation that I am ashamed to thinke of the folly thereof What wise man will not laugh at Fa Parsons to heare him in such sober protestation affirme that hee neuer intended that the King of Spaine should haue any temporall interest to the Crowne of England and yet by all his might power seeke to make him Maister thereof by inuasion and force of armes or that hee pretended nothing but the ease of Cath when hee sought the cutting of their throats These are strange contrarieties in words to protest our good and in action to seeke our liues VVas the booke of Titles wherein the Kings daughter the Lady Infanta was intitled to all her Maiesties Dominions writ to no purpose but to exercise father Parsons wit VVas it a vaine speculation in the ayre without relation to effect or end Or if it be a sottish dulnesse for any man to thinke so how then was there no temporall interest sought to the Crowne of England But because the interest was layd vpon the Infanta therefore belike father Parsons thinketh all inconueniences absurdities salued and himselfe excused A simple shift to blind a buzzard As though the Infanta could get or possesse the crown of England without asmuch preiudice to our Country as if the King should haue taken the right to himselfe Must they not both come in by force of armes must not that be with conquest subuersion of the state debasing of all nobilitie and translation of our English nation in the greatest part Can we expect lesse by a Spanish conquest then wee found by the Norman in the Conquerer his daies No certes It wil be farre worse Let any man but looke backe to those times and

too much ●auour of An other vntruth alledged by him in this chapter is that we affirme that his holines hath no authoritie to moue war for religion against any temporall Prince This is a manifest lye for his temporall authority concerning this point was not examined by vs as I haue shewed aboue After this in the 77. page follow three vntruths conioyned as in one that we perswade all the world that all is sedition conspiracie rebellion amongst Catholicks in England and not matter of religion that vvee make them the true Authors and occasioners of all theyr owne trouble vexations and dangers by theyr owne indiscreet and temerarious actions and that we also iustifie the cause of the Persecutors and lay the fault vppon the persecuted All these are so manifest forgeries as impudencie it selfe without a brazen visage could not auerre it wee manifestly excusing the body of Priests and Cath and laying the fault onely vppon some particuler persons where the true fault was indeed thereby to shew the wrongs and iniuries that generally Cath and Priests haue sustayned without iust cause onely excusing the Queene and state by ignorance not knowing the difference betweene the innocent and guilty and not iustifying thei●●ard proceedings For it is one thing to excuse a fault and another thing to iustifie the same yea we doe say that the extremity of affliction exceeded in our opinions the measure of the faults But to denie occasions to haue beene giuen by Fa Parsons and his complices and some other also who wee wish had beene better aduised we cannot vnlesse we had as shamelesse countenances as perhaps he frameth to himselfe when he denieth such apparant verities And the same lye is iterated againe in the page following to wit that we make sufferings in England not to be for conscience but for practising against the Prince and state I doe greatly feare he wil proue in the end to haue Laesam imaginationem in these matters framing to himselfe a conceite that all the calumniations which hee can deuise against vs must be true because hee so dreameth Another vntruth is in the 79. page that we haue sent to offer our selues to the King of Scots which is onely spoke of malice to bring vs into suspition and iealousie with our own state at home a thing he vehemently laboureth to doe by all the meanes he can vse as well by lyes and disgraces as by his example of Constantius alledged by him out of Eusebius and Sozomenus you may perceaue which testimonie in very truth doth more properly agree vnto himselfe in that he hauing beene an open professed enemie vnto her Maiestie alwayes yet to purchase her fauour and his credit with her againe wrote a letter some few yeeres past vnto her Highnes a fact of no small presumption offering her his seruice and that he would giue her intelligence out of all parts of Europe what was intended against her and her estate This Letter in his owne hand hath been shewed vnto some of our friends who know his hand as well as himselfe that he may not say it was counterfeited which yet if hee doe I think no man of wit or vnderstanding will thinke probable For what aduantage should her Maiestie or the state get by counterfetting a Letter of Parsons to such a vaine effect If you will say to disgrace him I verily thinke and assure my selfe that her Maiestie and the Counsell no more regard the poore fellowes credit or discredit then you regard your old shooes And in reason doe but thinke whether it is probable that so mighty a Prince and so great a state should respect so meane a fellow I verily thinke he is altogether forgot of them but when as at some times his practises make him infamous to them as the burning of Diana her temple made the obscure Cripple to be talked of By this you may see how fitly Constans his example may be applied to himselfe or to the conceite of her Maiestie and the state But as touching vs his malice cannot reach to his scope her Maiestie and the State know well that as to them wee professe our selues most loyall and faithfull in word and action so stand we most resolute in the profession of our faith loyaltie to God and his Church which God assisting vs wee will continue Another lying inuention of his owne is that we haue deuised a new discourse about Succession and haue dealt another way in England for the intitling of the Crowne more to the tast as he sayeth of some great personages of our estate This malicious falshoode he hath inuented newly to bring vs into iealousie and suspition and thereby hatred to his Maiestie of Scotland See how this Robin good-fellowe playeth his part on all sides to worke mischiefe and contention But hee shall neuer finde such shuffling dealing in vs about matters that concerne vs not as himselfe hath practised First he began with the Scottish title affirming difference in Religion no sufficient cause of barre in right to a Kingdome as you may see in Greenecoate or Leisters Common-wealth howsoeuer now hee inueigh against his Maiesties title onely for Religion Then hee practised with the Prince of Parma to haue his sonne Ranutius marry to L. Arbella thereby to fortifie his title deriued from the house of Portugall And lastly he practised with the Spaniard and hath intitled his daughter the Infanta These haue beene his mutable iuglings by which his Cath Maiestie might see how sure a staffe he hath of him who hath runne through so many titles euer shifting to the greatest as occasions doe require And I am perswaded that hee will returne againe to his Maiestie of Scotland or any other if he see them likelyer once to winne the spurres then the Spaniard Now as he maketh no conscience to slaunder vs thereby to worke our discredits to the vttermost of his power so to fortifie his falshoods against vs he doth arrogate vnto himselfe and his whatsoeuer good and laudable action is done by any of vs or our friends As for example the motion of a toleration and mitigation of extremities in cause of Religion knowne to be first effectually proposed by Ma Bluet and Ma Clarkes meanes and as well the petition as instructions there-vpon with informations of the manner of ease desired drawne by them and put into the hands of such of worth discretion and wit as prosecuted the same this I say he arrogateth to his fauorites and friends though I know that some of them did in many places inueigh against the ●ute and auerted men as much as in them lay from harkning thereto framing strange falshoods and lyes about our intentions and the action it selfe And I am halfe perswaded that if the Iesuits had not beene the matter had found better successe For it is well knowne that they haue alwaies beene enemies to all toleracions in Religion because they think that they should perhaps be expelled or forced to retire themselues vpon

the conditions of security to be giuen vnto the Queene concerning her person and state which they perhaps are vnwilling to be drawne vnto considering thereby all their plots and practises should be cut of Neyther happily wil the State trust them in whom it hath found such trecherie by reason of their mutuall bond wherein they are all tyed to follow the direction of Fa Parsons the Archeplotter of state practises against our Prince and Countrey And to proue this part concerning the Iesuits affection towards toleration Fa Parsons their ring-leader and square to the rest openly in Rome before the Scholers as diuers will testifie against him made a long speech against toleration of Religion in England in that as he said Cath thereby would grow cold and lose their feruencie they had got by persecution See whether the motion of toleration was like to proceede from these me● and yet he insinuateth some motiue vnto her Maiestie and the Counsell to deale with him or his party because forsooth we being deuided as he sayth haue little credite By this also indirectly you may perceaue his minde to toleration in Religion or any benefit to Cath seeing he disgraceth to his power such as deale for their good when he knoweth that her Maiestie and Counsell will not trust him or any of his faction in whom they haue found so much sedition But to proceede with the rest of this Chapter Fa Parsons would haue you in the beginning wonder at our friends confidence in Cath Countries in that they durst not goe to the Nuncio in Flaunders without a pasport But he might more iustly haue told you that our confidence in him and his fellow Iesuits was such that our friends durst not commit themselues into their hands For if they had so done they had all beene layed fast for euer comming at Rome the Iesuits had so earnestly practised with the Spanish Embassadour against them affirming that they were enemies vnto the King and I know not what In so much that notwithstanding their pasport the Embassador came posting down about them and Fa Baldwine Doct Cesar Clement and others ranne with open mouth against them to the Nuncio whereby one of them as it is knowne had like to haue been taken by a policy if he had been in his Inne His horse was seised on vntill the Nuncio sent for the Gouernour and gaue him a checke Consider then whether they had not cause to feare the Iesuits whose irreligious oppressions our former messengers had once tasted before But more of this wil be sayd in another treatise And as for their telling the Nuncio that they were in feare to come vnto him it was true they said so and gaue their reasons not as fa Parsons setteth them downe but that we had beene oft prouoked by our Archpriest vnto him and threatned with him by these words that he the Archpriest had beaten vs with roddes but the Nuncio would beate vs with scorpions These only were the reasons giuen to the Nuncio which were most true And for the breve and his Commission to end the matter our Messengers vvere content and did referre themselues vnto him Whereupon he writ to the Archpriest to appeare by himselfe or Proctors and the Doctor staied in Paris to meete them But the Archp refused as seemed for he neuer appeared one way or other vntill his two Agents some monthes after went ouer to be his Proctors in Rome who passed indeed by the low countries but what they did there wee know not Onely it vvas said that beeing before the Nuncio they could not deliuer their tale and that the Iesuits were ashamed of them Insomuch that one of the Iesuits of that Country demaunded if the Archpriest had no more sufficient men in England to send about his affaires This was reported whether it be true or no I will not auerre Touching the Breve the Nuncio plainly told our brethren that he had but a Copie thereof and that the Archp had the originall sent him long before marueyling as he said that he had not published it adding further vnto them that they were not bound to take notice thereof sith the Archpriest had not divulged it And whereas Fa Parsons saith that our friends beeing at Doway were exclaimed against by the Rector seniors there it is a manifest vntruth They found nothing but kindnes at their hands For English men of worth abroade I thinke fa Parsons cannot name one that exclaimed against theyr iourney But I am sure that all of reconing haue euer exclaimed against his vnconscionable practises as well lay Gentlemen Nobles as of the Clergie and he can name very few of esteeme of either sorts which haue not complained against him As touching his reports written concerning a toleration vpon condition the Iesuits and Archpriest should be recalled I would it were true And if hee had respect to the common cause he would wish so to but they vse more to regard their priuate interest then any publicke good Concerning the matter of schisme he writeth three vntruthes in three or foure lines First that Lysters Libell was neuer published secondly that soone after it came forth it was recalled by the Archpriest at the attonement Heere are involued two falshoods first that the attonement was soone after the divulging of that Libell there beeing a full yeere betwixt them secondly that then it was recalled which is a lie for hee promised onely the matter should neuer be vrged and that the Treatise should die but he neuer performed eyther of those conditions Thirdly that it could not be said to infame any which is an impudent assertion aboue 30. de facto being defamed by it and so held and practised against thereupon besides an hundreth at the least of neuters fauourers whom it concerned But to leaue these apparant vntruthes his best refuges let vs come at length to Card Sega his Catalogue or Memoriall alleaged against the scholers of Rome Fa Parsons noteth the causes of those tumults in Rome to haue been raised vppon the same causes against the same persons that these heere in England haue beene and therein we yeeld hee saith truly And for the persons to wit the Iesuits wee agree with him that as they were the men impugned by them there so are they also by vs heere Touching the cause also which he ascribeth to liberty and freedome from subiection as such liberty and freedome excludeth tyranny oppressions vniust insultations of the Iesuits wee likewise graunt it but as he maliciously cōmenteth vpon it with hatred of order discipline and superioritie we say and will conuince him that hee speaketh of malice and against his knowledge For hee cannot denie but that the scholers in Rome excepting iustly against theyr violent tyrannie and oppressions offered notwithstanding to admit of all the bonds and rules whereto any of themselues were bound by their order their vowes excepted and to tye themselues to the obseruance thereof during their