MY Very especiall friend. I could not leaue to let you vnderstand, that being ary­ued heere in Cullen, this present moneth of Aprill, about my affayres, certayne merchants came to lodge in the same Inne where I am lo­ged, that also intend to take their iour­ney [Page 6] to Franckford Mart, among these a Merchant of Brabant, and a Merchant of Holland, hauing one night supped togeather at the table wherat myselfe a­mong others was present, they chan­ced after supper to fall into discourse: which seeming vnto me to be worth the wryting I haue taken paynes to pen it, and heere I now send it you, supposing you may be asmuch pleased with rea­ding it, as my selfe & others were with hearing it, when we willingly sate vp late in the night to that end.

It was then occasioned by this mea­nes. Whē (according as the custome is, when men from different places hap­pen to meete togeather) we began to aske one another what newes there was stirring abroad. The Brabander de­maunded of the Hollander what newes there was in Holland? The Hollander as som-what dissembling, sayd he knew of no newes there.

[Page 7] When a reformed Brother comming out of Holland, knowes no newes, it is a signe that the brethren there haue no newes to their liking.

It is your pleasure so to say: but when there is no newes, then can none be told.

Then must I tell you what newes I heare out of Holland. It is told me that your Holland-States, of what trades soeuer they haue byn heertofore, they doe now all of them practise Pressing-worke.

What meane you by that? I vnder­stand not what you say.

Then are you more fortunate then many thousandes, that both know it well, and feele it well, by reason that their very harts are in effect pressed out of their bodies, through the intollerable [Page 8] and vnsupportable taxations which are layd vpon them, in so much that many do now begin to say, God be with the good Duke of Alua, that demaunded no more but the tenth penny of our goods.

And that which is yet more grie­uous is, that of these most grieuous ex­actions no end appeareth, but to the cō ­trary they do dayly increase more, as though they were but in their begin­nings, which falleth out in a fit tyme for the comon people, when things are so good cheap, especially food & fuell, that the price is double as much as but a whyle since it was, and where traficke so flourisheth, that merchants, marryners, and artifices, are forced to keep more holy-dayes, (or rather play-dayes) then are set downe in the Alma­nacke.

Concerning Trade, it may be com­pared vnto the tyde, which ebbes and flowes. If it be not so good now as it [Page 9] hath byn, we must haue patience vntill it mend. And as for the exactions, they are not ordayned without reason by our High-mighty Lords the States, who well know what they haue to doe.

They know it well, and the poore comons feele it well: you comfort your selues with patience vpon hope of a­mendment of traficke, but the patience is much more certayne, then the a­mendment.

I agree with you in opinion that the exactions are not ordayned without reason, for lawlesse necessity is the rea­son, and need it is that enforceth them. And therfore your high-minded Lords the States, that well know their heauy charge, their great debts, and their small in-comings, must consequently well know what they doe, & happy it were that they also well know, wherin they do not well.

[Page 10] I note your words very well, you call our High-mighty Lords the States, The High-mynded Lords the States: you ought not so to abuse, & mis-name our Lords, and Land-rulers.

I see not wherein I abuse or mis­name them, because in very right and reason the tytle of High-mynded, farre better befitteth them, then High-migh­ty, for Lownesse they haue inough, but Highnesse none at all, except in their myndes, which agrees but ill with such as liue so low that they should sit vnder water, if they did not hemme thēselues from it with walles of earth. Being then such as they are, and dwelling so low as they doe, the High-nesse of their minds appeareth the more in that they will needes assume vnto themselues the tytle of High-mighty, or High-power­full Lords and States.

They assume vnto themselues this [Page 11] tytle, in regard of their authority.

Whence haue they authority?

From God.

Haue they heeretofore byn Princes, or subiects?

Our Countrey was sometime belon­ging vnto the King of Spayne, but so is not now.

God hath comaunded that subiects must be obedient vnto their Kings and Princes. Shew me where God hath graunted a priuilege vnto the States of Holland, to relinquish and reiect all o­bedience vnto their lawfull and soue­raigne Lord the King of Spayne; and to band agaynst him in publike rebelli­on, and to assume vnto themselues the Princely authority belōging vnto him.

We haue obtained our freedome by the sword.

Put the case that now in our intēded iorney to Frankford (where by the leaue of God we meane to go) we should hap­pen to be set vpon by theeues, who with their swords should hurt & wound vs, and take our money & goods from vs; I demaund of you whether they ought lawfully to possesse it as their owne, because they got it by their swords.

I am not obliged to shape you an ans­were to euery tryfling question you may aske me.

And I am of opinion that no man is obliged to answere vnto any questiō, whereunto he is not able to answere. But yet I know that if such robbers by the high-way-side should fall into the handes of Iustice, they should not be freed frō the hands of the hangman [Page 13] by excusing thēselues, that our money & goods belonged vnto them, because they had gotten it from vs with their swordes.

Let it be, as be it may. Our high & mightfull Lords and States Generall of the Vnited Netherlands, haue power and authority: and because at the be­ginning of our discourse you asked me for Newes, know now that these our Lords and States, haue lately published a Placcart, wherein, in spite of all that are agaynst it, they haue shewed that they haue authority.

This Placcart conteyneth a prohi­bition, that no Iesuytes, Priests, Fri­ars, or other ordayned persons of Ro­mish profession, shall come into these vnited Prouinces, or being there, may still remayne and continue.

Moreouer that no man shall send a­ny children to schoole, or to remayne in any Cittyes, Places, Vniuersityes, or [Page 14] Schooles vnder the commaund of the King of Spayne, in the enemies Coun­treys or in other Colledges of Iesuites. And that no gatherings or collectiōs of money, gold, siluer, coyned or vncoy­ned, or of other goods, or wares shal be made, to, or for the benefit or behoofe of any Churches, Hospitalls, Spiritu­all, or other Colledges, or Conuen­ticles.

In this tytle of a Placcart, published by authority of such as haue not any au­thority all, I note three points.

1. The first is, the prohibition or forbidding of Priestes and Iesuytes the Countrey.

2. The second is, that no chil­dren may goe to Schoole in any place vnder the commaund of the King of Spayne, or in Colledges of Ie­suytes.

3. The third is, that no money may be giuen to the vse or benefit of any [Page 15] Churches, Hospitals, Spiritual, or other Colledges.

So it is, and so enacted and establi­shed in the assembly of the aforenamed High-mighty Lords the States generall, in the Earles-Hage the six and twentith day of February, in the yeare of sixteen hundreth & two and twenty, and there printed by Hillebrand Iabobson, sworne printer vnto the High-mighty Lords the States generall.

Heerby I am brought to vnderstand that this Placcart of the High-minded Lords the States is printed in the Earles-Hage, Ergo, There is an Earle to whome this Hage appertayneth, & this Earle notwithstanding that he is law­fully issued and descended, and conse­quently the true heyre vnto those anci­ent Earles, that haue gouerned there; yet is he of new States which are no Earles, wholy thurst out, who haue [Page 16] now made thereof a States-Hage, but must neuerthelesse suffer it to continue the name of an Earles-Hage in memory of the true claime, which the Earle & owner thereof hath vnto it.

Heere then is this Placcart printed by Hillebrand Iacobson, sworne Printer vnto the High-minded Lords the states: wherby may be noted, that this sworne Printer vnto those States, is not to leaue out any lye that they shall please to giue him in any Placcart of theirs to print, for feare of being found periured.

The Lords the States do giue him no lyes to print.

Doe they punish him when lyes are found printed in their Placcarts?

He is not punished, because no such lyes are found.

They that know not a lye from a [Page 17] truth or will not know it, fynd it not; but they that can discerne vntruthes from truthes, can find them out, albeit they stand in established Proclamati­ōs of highly named Netherland States. And surely, this must needes proue a more lucky Placcart then many forgo­ing haue proued, if no lyes were to be found in it, and especially where there is mention made of Iesuytes, and Ec­clesiasticall persons.

Indeed the Iesuytes in this Plac­cart are called a pernicious & murtherous sect▪ & that they of this sect & other priests, Friars, and spiritual, or religious named per­sons, of the Romish Religion doe endeauour to bring the good inhabitants of these vni­ted Netherland Prouinces, by meanes of their fals doctrine & Idolatry, to an auer­sion from their lawfull Superiours, to the murthering of Princes and Potentates, & to instruct them in all kyndes of treason a­gaynst them, thereby to preferre the Tyran­ny [Page 18] and absolute Domination of the King of Spayne, and his adherents in worldly, and of the Pope of Rome and his dependants, in spirituall causes.

Haue I not ghessed right? I see now that this Placcart will not for lacke of lyes make any fore-going Placcart a­shamed: for heere they fall so fast one vpon another, that I had need of some breathing tyme to note them.

The Iesuytes are heere named a per­nicious and murtherous sect, which is a shamefull lye.

That the Iesuytes & other Priests, and spirituall named Persons, of the Romish religion, doe seeke to bring the inhabitants through their false do­ctrine to Idolatry, is a blasphemous lye.

That they seeke to bring these in­habitātes to an auersion from their law­full superiours, is a needlesse lye, for the Caluinian Preachers, and the States [Page 19] themselues, haue already done the same.

That they seeke to bring them to the murthering of Princes and Potentates, is a Diuelish lye.

That they instruct them to all kind of treason agaynst Princes and Poten­tates, is a horrible lye.

That they seeke, in these Coun­treys to preferre the Tyranny of Spayn, is a villanous lye.

It is not inough to say that these are all lyes, but they must be prooued so to be.

How els? Haue you but the pati­ence that I may haue tyme to doe it.

Seeing then, that the Iesuytes are heere put in the first place, and called by the Epithere of a pernicious & mur­therous sect, and that they, and other spirituall persons, do seeke to procure the murthering of Princes and Poten­tates: this also being a common slaun­der [Page 20] and Calumny which dayly rydeth on the serpētine tonges of your Holland Caluinian Ministers. It is then need­full to examine and call into considera­tion what murthers of Princes and Po­tentates, haue hapned in Christendome in this age of ours, and since the tyme that the order of the Iesuits by Saint Ig­natius de Loyola was founded.

The number of Princes and Poten­tates, that haue come to such violent and vnfortunate endes, I fynd to haue byn eight.

The first of these was the most Reue­rend and Illustrious Lord, Melchior Zobel Bishop of Herbipolis, and Duke of Franconia in Germany. This Prince was cruelly murthered, as he was going frō the bridge, ouer the riuer of Mayne, from the Citty of Herbipolis or Wirtz­burge, to the Castle where he held his Court or Residence, which Castle is neere vnto the sayd Citty. His murther was caused by a Gentleman of the same [Page 21] Countrey of Franconia, called Grum­bagh. What kynd of Iesuit this Gentle­man was, resteth in consideration, for Catholike he was not, but a professor of the new pretended reformation, and so were also the actours which he im­ployed in committing of the mur­ther.

The second in this vnfortunate nūber was Henry, King of Scotland by his mariage with Mary Queen of Scot­land, Father to his Maiesty King Iames, now King of England & Scotlād &c. This Prince was a Catholike, and was murthered by a conspiracy of Calui­nists, and by Caluinists which there­unto were imployed he is thought to haue byn strangled. These then must needes haue bin Caluinisticall Iesuites, aswell those I meane that were of the conspiracy, as the executors of the fact, for there was not one Catholike among them.

The third was Iames Earle of Mur­ray [Page 22] in Scotland, bastard Brother vnto Mary Queene of Scotland before na­med. He was a rebell and a persecutour of the Queene his Soueraygne, and Si­ster by the Fathers side: He forced her to fly into England, and Tyrannically vsurped the Gouernment of her King­dome, vntill the time that a Gentleman named Hamilton slew him with a gun, in the towne of Lithquo, when being on horsbacke he was accōpanyed with many Gentleman that came with him to make his entry into that towne. Hamilton notwithstanding escaped and fled into France. The Earle was in re­ligion Caluinist, and so was Hamilton also that slew him. It may be that he af­terward in France became a Catholike. If the Holland Caluinists wil make a Ie­suyte of him, then must he haue byn a Caluinisticall Iesuite when he commit­ted the fact; for Catholike-Iesuite he neuer was.

The fourth in this number was [Page 23] Francis Duke of Guyse. This valiant Prince seruing the King of France a­gaynst his rebells, was by one Iohn Pol­trot, who came behind him, shot throgh the body with a pistoll, as he was on horsebacke in his iourney: & it is wor­thy the noting that this Poltrot being well horst, and hauing discharged his pistoll vpon the Duke, put spurres to his horse and made a way with all speed possible; and hauing ridden the whole night, and not otherwise weening but that he was many myles from the place where he committed the murther, was in the morning apprehended neere vn­to the place where the deed was done. If this Poltrot must now be made a Ie­suyte, he must then be a Geneuian Ie­suyte: for Geneua was his schoole, and Beza the Caluinian Rabbin, his school­mayster that instructed him, to mur­ther this Prince.

The fifth in this nūber was William of Nassaw Prince of Orange, who be­ing [Page 24] in open rebellion agaynst his law­full Soueraygne Lord, King Philip second of Spayne, the which by all the lawes of the world is Crimen laesae maiestatis, was at Delfe in Holland slayne with a pistoll by one Baltazar Gerard, a­lias Seragh a Burgundian. Of what re­ligion this Prince was, there is no cer­tainty, but Baltazar, that slew him was a Catholike: that he was a Iesuyte was neuer knowne, but if Caluinistes haue gotten the skill to make him a Iesuyte eight and thirty yeares after his death, who in his life was neuer any, it may be registred for a Caluinisticall miracle.

The sixt in nūber was Mary Queene of Scotland, Mother vnto his Maiesty that now is King of Scotland and En­glād &c. This Princesse being an abso­lute and soueraygne Queene, & being enforced by her rebellious subiects, fled into England, vpon hope and promise to be by Queene Elizabeth succoured. She was with the Queene of England [Page 25] in good peace and amity, and was by her through her letters inuyted for her more defence and safety to come into England; but so soone as she was there arriued, she was layed handes on, and detayned as a prisoner, directly against all right and reason, and so detayned a­bout the space of twenty yeares. In all which tyme, Queene Elizabeth did ne­uer so much as once vouchsafe to see her, or heare her speake. In the end when she accepted of the meanes that was offered her for the escaping out of her vniust imprisonment, she was mur­thered with an axe, by the hands of the comon Hang-man; which most foule and great murther was cōmitted to the euerlasting dishonour & shame of false Iustice, because it was done vnder the cloke and colour of true Iustice: for she being an absolute & Soueraigne Princes of herselfe, was no subiect vnto Queene Elizabeth, or vnto her lawes, and yet notwithstanding she was condemned [Page 26] as a criminall subiect. A most Tyran­nous example, of very murther, and iniustice, vnto all ensuyng posterity. And most contrary to the doctrine of Caluinists that will haue Princes sub­iect to no authority or power vpon earth, but only vnto God, vnlesse they can heere make a God of Bul the Hang­man.

This act doth the more remain to the greater shame of the actors, because v­pon the committing therof, great bon­fyers were made in the streets, and the belles rung, in manner of a triumph, for ioy of obtaining some great victo­ry.

This Queene was a Catholike. The Hangman that murthered her was a Caluinian Protestant, whose handes had byn imbrued in the bloud of diuers Iesuytes & Priestes, in the raigne of the forsayd Queene Elizabeth. If Holland Caluinistes will now make a Iesuyte of of him, he must then be a Gewse-refor­med [Page 27] Iesuite, & that can be no great dis­reputation vnto them, seeing that May­ster Paul Bafous a hangman in Liuonia or Liftland, left his office of hangman­ship, and turned preacher of the Word, according to the Holland reformation.

Vpō the death of this holy Queen, the Calumnies of Caluinists raised against Iesuytes, are contradicted in the ensu­ing Epigramme.

The seauenth in this number is Hen­ry the third King of France, who after he had caused Henry Duke of Guyse & his brother the Cardinall to be muthe­red, was murthered himselfe by one [Page 28] Iacques Clement a lacobin or Domini­can Friar. This King was a Catholyke & so was also the Fryar that killed him. If our Holland-Gewses wil now make a Iesuyte of him that dyed in the habite of a Dominican Fryar (for he was pre­sently killed by those that then were a­bout the King) they can do more then the French Hugenots, who would as fayne haue had him a Iesuite as the Holland-Gewses would, but they must notwithstanding be contented to let him be a Dominican Fryar, as he liued and dyed.

Heere can I not omit also to note, that if so be, that for this fact of Iaques Clement, the Caluinists should giue vn­to the Fryars of S. Dominikes order the name of a Pernicious and Murtherous Sect, or that they sought to bring sub­iects to the murthering of Princes, and Potentates, they had in all truth done the Religious men of this Order much wrong: for there can be no reason that [Page 29] a whole order should beare the blame, & reproach of the fault, that one of the same order hath committed, and wher­in the others were innocent. How much lesse reason can then be found, that the Iesuites (of whose order no one was euer knowne that euer killed Prince or other person) should of slaun­derous Gewses be calumniated with the name of a murtherous sect, and to be stirrers vp of the inhabitants of Hol­land to the murthering of Princes and Potentates: which were a greater pitty, for the inhabitants of Holland to doe, considering that Princes & Potentates are not among them in so great aboun­dance, vnlesse the meaning of the Plac­cart should be, that the Iesuites and Priestes, did intend to imploy the in­habitants of Holland to goe & murther Princes and Potentates in other Coun­treys

The eight and last of this vnfortu­nate number and ranke, was Henry the [Page 30] fourth King of France, who was mur­thered by one Francis Rauaillac: and if so be the Holland Gewses will make of him a Iesuite also, yet the administers of Iustice in France, which are as far­seeing as those of Holland, and haue throughly enformed themselues of this mans condition and state of life, and done their vttermost endeauours to come to the full knowledge of all that might concerne the matter of the Kings death, could neuer find that he so was. And yet the sharp-sighted states of Hol­land, that can looke further into mil­stones then other men▪ can better dis­cerne who are the murtherers of Princes and Potentates, in other Countreyes, then the officers of Iustice themselues, in whose handes they happen to fall, that commit such criminall facts.

But can there no Princes els be found that haue byn killed or murthered since the Iesuites haue had ther beginning, [Page 31] then only these you haue named?

I know not of any more, but of this number of eight. Marry heere by the way is to be noted, that fiue of this num­ber haue byn murthered by Caluinists, and three by Catholikes: King Henry 3. King Henry 4. both Kings of France, & William of Nassaw Prince of Orange, by Catholikes: Melchior Zobell Bishop of Wirtzburge and Duke of Franconia, Henry King of Scotland, Iames Earle of Murray, Francis Duke of Guyse, and Mary Queene of Scotland by Calui­nists. And if thinges had succeeded ac­cording to intentions, Caluinists had, had the honour to haue had six of these eight to haue byn murthered by them: for William Prince of Orange, before named, was in very great possibility to haue byn murthered by a Protestant al­so, and I wot not how many Zeland States with him, to haue borne him cō ­pany in the ayre, when he and they [Page 32] should haue byn blowne vp togeather with gunpowder, wherof I may take occasion to speake more anone. In the meane time behold whether in this odi­ous busynesse of Prince killing, Calui­nists haue not the precedence by oddes, Notwithstanding they cry out so lowd, and so falsely vpon Iesuites, giuing thē the name of a pernicious and murthe­rous sect, when themselues in this foule fact, fall foulest of all that therein are to be touched, & the Iesuites not found to be touched at all.

Let all the world now iudge, to whome it is, that the odious Epithete of Prince-killing is best befitting, either to Iesuites or Calumists. Who might not laugh at this mad accusation, and thinke that reformed Holland-Gewses are turned fooles, not knowing what they say? They seeme through the vehe­mency of their malice to be become blind, and giue occasion themselues of the manifestation of their owne shame [Page 33] which before lay vndiscouered. What strange kindes of Iesuites haue heere byn found, among the murtherers of Princes and Potentates? The Holland Gewse-reformed brethrē may heere see what comes of lying. That their prea­chers continew their lying in their pul­pits I can in some sort tollerate; the poore fellowes haue charge of wife & children, their preaching is their trade to liue by, and to mayntaine their fa­milies. But the worshipfull Lordes the States to lye, and to publish lyes in Prin­ted Placcarts, that indeed is somwhat to grosse: you may please to excuse me for beeing so free with your Lords and States, Because

Me thinkes they that practise lying, should in reason become more cūning, then to make lyes that are so grosse and palpable, and doe indeed bring credit and reputation to Iesuites, and shame [Page 34] vnto themselues that spred them: for al­wayes it is found that when any one is accused and afterward found inno­cent, the accuser is cursed and hated, & the false accused pittyed, beloued, and belieued.

These Caluinian Calumniatours will seeme by calling Iesuites & Priests the murtherers of Princes and Poten­tates, as if they (poore innocent soules) were becom great Care-takers for Prin­ces & Potentates safeties. This surely is a very suddainly-growne-vp affection: they were not wont to be so, for me thinks it is not so long ago that Princes can haue forgotten, that at such tyme as their subiects rebelled against them, the good Hollād-Gewses were alwayes readier to assist their rebelles agaynst them, then them against their rebelles. I must needes acknowledge some reason why it so should be, & that is, that simile gaudet simili, & if at this day any Princes find this to be true, themselues know [Page 35] it best: But further to manifest their good affection to Princes, we are to note that it hath not only byn shewed in the fiue aforenamed, who they mur­therously haue bereft of their liues, but also in some vnto whome euen after their deathes they haue shewed indig­nity and villany, as vnto William the Conqueror King of England who was buryed at Cane in Normandie▪ where the French-Hugenotes in their Rebellion in the yeare 1562. vnder conduct of Chastilian, when they tooke this towne, and spoyled the Churches, they brake open the tombe of this great Cōquerer, and threw his bones about the streets.

At Orleans, where they also com­mitted their Church-robbery and Sa­crilege, they brake open the tombe of King Lewys the eleuenth, and burnt his bones.

The bones of Iohn Earle of Ango­lesme Father to King Francis the first of France, who for his vertue & deuotion [Page 36] deuotion was reputed as a Saint, they suffered not to rest in his sepulcher, but threw them out. This hate may haue proceeded of two causes, the one be­cause he was a Prince, the other (& po­sible the greatest) because of his Sancti­ty, for to the bones of Saints or holy mē haue Caluinists shewed so great hatred, that at Towres they tooke the bones of the holy Bishop Saint Martin, and the bones of the holy Saint Francis of Paula, and ioyning vnto these bones the body of a dead Asse, they burnt all three togeather, to the end Catholiks should not saue any part of the bones or ashes for reliques, and yet to make more sure worke, they did cast all the ashes into the riuer of Loire.

They would also haue broken down & wholy destroyed the Abbey of S De­nis in France, withall the tombes of the Kings of France that there are buried, but that the Prince of Condy who then was their chiefe, was faine to preuent [Page 37] it, by appointing a Guard about the Abbey, which he did in regard that he was descended from some of the Kings that there lye buryed.

The Caluinists of Scotland haue destroyed the Tombes of the Kings of that Countrey, aswell in the Abbey of Dunfermeling, as in the Abbey of the Holy Crosse.

In Bruxelles, when the Caluinian Gewses had their domination there, they opened the vault in the Church of S. Godula, where some of the Dukes of Brabant were buryed; and brake open the leaden chests, and threw out their bones.

These are acts of Caluinian refor­med louers of Princes, that not only re­bell against them, and murther them, but when they are dead endure not that their bodyes may quietly remaine in their sepulchers. Are not these good te­stimonies of the great affection, that these reformed brethren beare vnto [Page 38] Princes and Potentates? Surely Kings, Princes, and Potentates, may take no­tice, of the great change in these fel­lowes, who so suddainly are become so great Care-takers for their safties. But because there is no appearance that Princes and Potentates will send their Ambassadors into Holland, to thanke them for their care; it seemes they can smell, it is but a dissembled care, and that they doe not heerin giue credit, vnto those reformed, or deformed Bre­thren.

I see not for all this, that Iesuytes are welcome to all Princes and Poten­tates.

They are welcome to all those that best know them, but it is no wonder that such as are misinformed by lying-teachers, and haue no good affection to Catholike religion, haue an auersion from Iesuites, for they neither know [Page 39] them, nor yet come to heare any right report of them, from the mouthes of those that truly know their piety, and vertuous conuersation. But to the end you may know whether the greatest Princes of Christendome do know and respect them or no, I will heere for the better knowledge of the ignorant, and in opposition to those that out of a re­solued malice doe calumniate them, make it briefly to appeare, in what ac­compt and reputation they stand with those aforesaid Princes: that thereby their Caluinian Maligners, and all o­thers, may see what they haue profitted by their so loud barking against them, in Placcarts, in pulpits, in pamphlets, & all kind of detraction.

Yet with protestation before God, that I do this, and haue resolued to doe it, wholy of my selfe, without being thereunto desyred, moued, or counsel­led by any Iesuite in the world, or be­ing a Iesuite my selfe.

[Page 40] Let vs then begin with his Holines, Gregory the Fifteenth, now Pope, at this present, who chose for his Confessor Cardinall Bellarmyne of the Society of IESVS.

The Emperour Ferdinand now rai­gning, hath to his Confessor a Iesuite.

The most Christian King of France hath to his Confessour a Iesuyte.

The victorious King of Polonia, hath to his Confessor a Iesuite.

The Ecclesiastical Princes Electors, with the Duke of Bauaria, and almost all the Catholike Princes and Prelates of Germany, haue to their confessours Iesuites. And so haue in like manner the greatest Prelates and Princes of Ita­ly.

And albeit his Catholike Maiesty of Spayne hath no Iesuite to his confe­ssour, but a Friar of the Dominicans ac­cording to an ancient custome, of some former Kings of Spayne; yet is he very much affected to the Iesuites, of the [Page 41] which one was confessor to his mother; and his Brother and Sister haue vnto their Confessour a Iesuite called Father Ieronimo de Florentia, whome King Philip the third, of glorious memory, Father vnto the present King Philip the fourth, caused to come vnto him for his consolation in his greatest sicknes, and to remaine with him till he gaue vp the Ghost.

So haue also many of the greatest Prelates and Princes of his Court, Ie­suites to their Confessours. In like sort haue the principallest Prelates & Princes in the Court of the Emperour, in the Court of the King of France, and in the court of the King of Polonia &c.

Are the Iesuites murtherers of Princes and Potentates, and haue the greatest Princes and Potentates of all Christendome, no more feare of them, then to admit them daily in their pre­sence? To make choice of them as of those especiall persons vnto whom they [Page 42] reueale the secrets of their soules & cō ­sciences? This is no signe that they beliue Caluinists, & hold Iesuites for Prince-killers, but a manifest token, that they hold Caluinists for false accusers, and Iesuites for true seruantes of Christ, whose great learning & vnderstanding, accompanyed with true religious de­uotion, with a well tempered discreti­on, and all kinde of vertue, these Princes owne experience hath suffici­ently taught them to discerne. I will ne­uer desire Caluinists to cease from ca­lumniating Iesuites: they doe heereby make themselues the more knowne vn­to Catholike Princes & Potentates for malicious Calumniatours. Caluinists cannot teach Catholike Princes to know Iesuites, because they are sure they know them better then Caluinists can know them, and Caluinists better then otherwise they should, by their calumniating them.

Heere standeth it also to be noted, [Page 43] that some Princes who haue disposed themselues to abandon the world, and to serue God in religious state of life, haue become Iesuites. As the Duke of Gandia in Spayne, Aloisius Gonzaga, sonne & heyre vnto Ferdinand Marquis of Castillion, the Duke of Bouino in I­taly. And now of late Charles of Lo­nayne Prince, and Bishop of Verdune, Prince of the Empire, and Cosin to his Maiesty of England, with sundry other great and noble persons. Now is it in all reason to be considered that if such noble Men and Princes, who for no other respect then the meere loue & seruice of God, entred into this Society, should not therin haue foūd the deuout & godly life of these Fathers, with such exercise of learning & vertue, not to be in all respects conforme to the good opi­nion, which they had conceaued therof, before they came among thē, there can be no doubt, but they wold haue depar­ted frō thē, albeit they had made proofe [Page 44] of their conuersation for some yeares togeather, for that this Order doth not oblige profession to be made at the end of one yeares probation, but alloweth an vnlimited tyme of more yeares.

Considering with my selfe what great persons in this our age (notwith­standing all slaunders that calumnia­ting aduersaries haue raysed against Ie­suites, Priests, & Friars &c.) haue aban­doned the world, religiously to serue God in pouerty, chastity, & obedience, in sundry Orders, and that a Duke hath byn seene to become a Capuchin in Pa­ris, and the Brother of a Duke to be­come of the same austere order in Bru­xelles, I was mooued to thinke that it may belōg before we may see a Gewse or Caluinian Duke, or Prince become a Minister, albeit that condition of life obligeth not to the making and perfor­ming of any such vowes, or to any au­sterity at all, but to liue with ease, in the Ghospell of free liberty. There is a [Page 45] prouerbe in the Netherland language, that Herman did in tyme get on his du­blet, after he had byn seauen yeares drawing on of one sleeue; but I suppose Hermans dublet might wholy be gotten on, and quite worne out, before a man might see, such persons moued by the great piety they might obserue in Mini­sters, to enter with them into the ser­uice of the Word.

But to returne vnto my precedent purpose, me thinkes it were not heere impertinent to see, and consider what cause there may be found of the great hatred which Caluinists beare vnto Ie­suytes (and not Caluinists alone but all other Sectaryes,) for albeit they beare il will and hatred vnto all Catholikes, & especially vnto all Ecclesiasticall per­sons; yet is it manifest vnto al the world that the Iesuites of all others haue the precedence in the malice of Caluinists. And seeing something there may seeme to be, that is singular in these religious [Page 46] men, more then in others I haue the more endeauored to discerne what this may be, and three thinges I haue ob­serued.

1. This first is, that there was ne­uer any Order in the Catholik Church, that in so short a space hath dispersed it selfe so farre ouer the world, to make the name of Iesus Christ knowne vnto heathen and Pagan people.

2. The second is, that there was ne­uer any Order that in so short a tyme, hath written so many learned bookes, aswel in diuinity, as in al other laudable sciences.

3. The third is that there was ne­uer any Order, that in so short a tyme hath had so great a number of Martyrs, as well by the persecution of Pagans, as Apostata Christians.

As for their exercises of deuotion, labour in preaching, hearing of con­fessions, instructing and bringing vp of youth in learning, without any re­compence [Page 47] of their parents, making of attonements where there is dissention and discord, readines at all houres of the day and night, to visit the sicke, and to consolate their soules, is not now needfull heere to be spoken at large: but when I well consider their manifold deedes of Deuotion and Charity, I re­member the wordes of Christ vnto the Iewes, when for his good deedes they would haue stoned him to death, I haue wrought many good workes among you: for which of those will you stone me?

Enuy is the deadly enemy of vertue and of wel-prospering. The Iesuites thankes be to God, do go well forward in al their works of piety; and for these, Sectaryes will stone them: and beeing themselues the actual murtherers of Ie­suytes, it is no maruell that they seeke to robbe & tak away the good name & fame of those, whose lyues they let not to take away: nor is it any wonder, that they to coulour their owne tyrannous [Page 48] murthering of Iesuites, giue out that Ie­suytes are murtherers of Princes & Po­tentates: As if themselues did put Ie­suites to death, therby to saue the lyues of Princes & potentates which Iesuites would els bereaue them off. But what loue Caluinists, and principally Hol­land-Gewse-Caluinistes do beare vnto Princes, themselues doe now adayes, the lōger the more, make better known vnto the greatest Princes of Christen­dome, then they can make knowne vn­to them, that Iesuites are murtherers of them, and of Potentates.

I must confesse, that you haue heere manifested vnto me much more then before I euer knew, or heard of. But yet, notwithstanding that it cannot be perceaued, that the Iesuites haue had a­ny hād in the deaths of any of the eight Princes heere by you mentioned, it should seeme they haue had knowledge of intentions of murthering Princes, as [Page 49] of Queene Elizabeth of England, King Henry the fourth of France, before he was murthered by Rauaillac, his Maie­sty that is now King of Great Britayne, by the gunpowder Treason, & his Ex­cellency Prince Maurice in Holland.

For the first, concerning Queene Elizabeth of England, if we well con­sider her abandoning of the Catho­like Religion, which at her corona­tion she swore to mayntayne, and that beeing a woman, she tooke vpon her supreame authority in Ecclesiasticall causes (which your Caluinian deuines in Holland do affirme to be Idolatry ei­ther in man or woman) ordayning also by her Statutes, that those who should deny to confesse her Ecclesiasticall au­thority vpon their oathes, should suffer death as traytors: That she deposed and put from their places, the Catholike Bi­shops and Prelates, casting some in pri­son & forcing others to fly the realme.

[Page 50] That she ordayned a forfayture of twenty poundes a moneth, for not comming to her Caluinian-protestant Church-seruice, with other lesser for­faytures for Catholikes of lesse meanes, who in regard of their consciences ab­sented themselues from the sayd ser­uice; by meanes whereof the prisons e­uery where became so replenished with Catholikes, that new prisons must be made for thē, because the old could not conteyne the number.

Moreouer the putting to death of so many Catholike Priestes, as also the putting to death, and ruyning of some Gentlemen, and others that had harbo­red them.

The question now is whether Gewses or Caluinists being to the con­trary so treated by any Prince that had sworne to maintayne their Caluinian religion, they would with patience en­dure it? Who can belieue this? Seeing they haue not letted to rebell agaynst [Page 51] their Princes and Soueraignes that haue intruded no innouation, or change in religion vpon them, as agaynst the Kings of Spaine, & France, and against Mary Queene of Scotland: who I say can belieue this, when it is apparent that the very ground-worke and foun­dation of Caluinian religion is layed & setled vpon rebellion, as to all the world it is manifest.

This Queene Elizabeth was so seuere and cruell, that she letted not to burne alyue some of our countrey-men, beeing Netherlanders, & not her borne Subiects, for their Anabaptisme; and caused some Puritans which are direct­ly concurring in religion with the Cal­uinists of Holland, to be hanged, and o­thers to fly the realme, and lyue in exile, because they had sought both by wry­ting and preaching, to bring the religi­on of England to the iust forme and fa­shion of that of Geneua, & Holland. Punishing then, the Anabaptistes as he­retikes, [Page 52] and the Puritans as seditious, she hath not letted to vse a greater cloke and colour for her persecuting of Ca­tholikes, and this was, to cause to be giuen out at diuers times, that they me­ant to kill her.

She imployed among other for one of her spyes, sometyme in France, som­tyme in Italy one William Parry, This Parry coming vpon a tyme out of Ita­ly, supposing to get more credit and fa­uour, came vnto her and told her, that at his being in Italy where he bare himselfe as a Catholike (hauing leaue so to do) he there demaunded of a Ie­suyte, if it should be a deed well done to kill the Queene, and that the Iesuyte answered yea, & that thereupon he had promised the Iesuyte to do it. Parry be­ing then demaunded, if he had not in his trauayles abroad, byn acquaynted with one Father William Criton a Sco­tish Iesuyte (who at that tyme was pri­soner in the Tower of London) he ans­wered [Page 53] yea. Being then demaunded if he had asked the same question of the sayd Father Criton, he answered he had, but that Father Criton had disswaded him from it: he thought belike that if he had answered yea, he should haue byn brought face to face with Father Criton, who might haue conuinced & shamed him, and therefore he thought it easier for him to bely a Iesuyte that was ab­sent, then one that was present. Father Criton within a whyle after was deliue­ret out of the Tower, and the rather for that he was a Scotsman & no borne sub­iect, howbeit he was bannished out of the Countrey. Parry, because of his ser­uices in matter of spiery, solicited to haue a place and office that now was fallen vacāt: the place was giuen to an­other, Parry grew malecontent, and cast out wordes of murmuration. The Earle of Leycester loued him not, he was known and discouered among the Ca­tholikes for a spy, & that he had broght [Page 54] diuers principall Catholikes in trouble: & being thus discouered he was grown out of date, and vnable to do seruices of the same kind, as he had formerly done; Parry was apprehended, and charged he had an intention to kill the Queene: in fine he was hanged, and this was at last the reward he got for the good of­fices he had done. The reason why he was hanged, seemeth to haue byn, that if they had let him liue, & not giuen him liuing according to his desyre, he might haue discouered many secrets: he wrote a letter vnto the Queene out of the Tower, wherin among other things he sayd vnto her: Pitty poore Parry, and relieue him, for life without liuing is not fit for him.

It is no custome that a criminall offender, and in so haynous a matter as the murthering of a Prince, shall not on­ly wryte to be set at liberty, but to be prouided of meanes to liue by. He knew well that they knew, that the counsell [Page 55] which he said was giuen him by a Ie­suite in Italy, was but an inuention of his owne head for the more conueni­ent persecuting of such, as might be found to haue receaued Iesuytes into their howses (of the confiscation of whose goods Parry might haue had his share) but it so fell out, that Parry play­ed wily-beguyle himselfe. For when he came to the gallovves, and savv how the matter went, he grew so ill contented, that he plainly sayd, that the Queene after his death would say, that she had lost the best keeper of her parke.

Some yeares after the death of Par­ry, one Edward Squyre was also han­ged, who as it was giuen out, did meane to poyson the Queene & Earle of Essex, (who afterward by the sayd Queene was put to death.) This Equire came out of Spayne, and sayd that a Iesuyte there had coūselled him to poison the Queen, and the Earle. The poyson he sayd was [Page 56] deliuered him in a bladder in Spayne, & there with he should annoint the saddle wheron the Earle should ryde, and the chayre wherin the Queene should sit. This must haue byn a very wonderfull poyson, that a chayre & a saddle being but annoynted therewith, it would kill those who should sit in the one, & ride on the other.

Who cānot thinke this to be a most palpable lye? how must he then speed that must bring this forcefull poyson in a bladder (if any bladder could contein it) and anoynt it on the chayre and on the saddle? But the lying foolish knaue that came with this tale in his mouth, vpon hope of reward, because he would not performe the busines, but discoue­red it, was notwithstanding rewarded at Tiburne with a halter, which was held necessary, because it might be thought the Queene had much reasō to sustaine the quarrell of the Hollanders; seeing Spayne so much hated her, that [Page 57] murtherers were sent from thence for her destruction: for Squyre was ouer­borne by the force and torment of the racke, to intend & meane the thing in­deed that himselfe came to reueale, and so was hanged, notwithstanding he was a good Protestant.

As concerning the constant and glorious Martyr Father Edmund Campi­an, who with others (to wit thirteene in number) was condemned for hauing in Rome, and Rhemes conspired the Queens death, as a couple of most false witnesses affirmed, is as shamefull and vniust a matter, as euer any did passe by way and course of Iustice: for after these false witnesses, had taken their oathes, that these thirteene persons had at Rome, and Rhemes on such and such days, of such & such moneths, of such a yeare, conspired the Queens death, one Mayster Thomas Lancaster a Gentle­man, and one Mayster William Nicol­son, being there present, and both cre­dit-worthy [Page 58] persons, did offer to proue by diuers witnesses, that some of these thirteen persons had not byn out of England that yeare, wherin the false witnesses had sworne they conspired the Queens death in Rome, & Rhemes: & that they had not bin out of England in some yeares, both before that yeare and after it: and the prisoners them­selues protested at the Barre, on their soules, that in all the dayes of their lyues they had neuer byn all togeather at one tyme in one place, but only there that very day. And albeit the protestation and offer of proofe made by the two persons before named, had byn suffici­ent in all law and iustice throughout the world to haue discouered these false witnesses, and to haue caused them to haue had their deserued punishment, yet proceeded the Iudges forward in iniu­stice, and condemned Father Edmund Campian, & almost all the rest to death, as being culpable of that conspiration, [Page 59] whereof by these false witnesses they were accused. But at this we need not wonder if we consider what the Iustice was of this Queene, who letted not to make a law, directly contrary to the law of God and all the world, that one wit­nesse only should be sufficient, for the condemnation of a man to the losse of life and goods, if it were in a case con­cerning herselfe: which without all doubt may cause wonderful iniustice in a coūtrey where such persidious people are inough to be found, as for reward will not make scruple to take any oath, agaynst whosoeuer it be, let the cause be what it will: and the more in the cause of the Prince, whereby hope of fauour and greater reward, is giuen. But be­cause the history of this glorious mar­tyr, and of those others also that were with him condemned, is published to the world in Print in the Latin tongue, I shall not need in this matter further to enlarge my selfe.

[Page 60] That King Henry the fourth of Frāce was hurt by one Iohn Chastell at Paris who meant to haue killed him some years before he was killed by Rauaillac, is knowne to all the world. This Cha­stell, had somtyme byn a scholler in the schooles of the Iesuytes, Ergo say the Hugenotes, the Iesuytes instructed him to murther the King. Surely a very fayre conclusion: Many youthes go to other schooles, wherof some come afterward to comit criminall offences, as treasons, murthers, thefts, and the like; is it not a good argument & great reason, that for this their School-mai­sters must be punished or defamed?

The fact of Chastell came to be iudged & looked into by certayne Po­litykes, and great enemyes of Iesuites, and in a fury the Iesuytes were com­maunded out of Paris, a Piramide was erected in memory of this fact, and in accusation of the Iesuites, the Iesuites patiented this Calumny, vntill tymes [Page 61] daughter might be admitted to haue au­dience: which in the end so came to passe, that this King (thankes be vnto God) vnto whose view the Iesuites had byn by their Hugenotes and Politike backe-friends so vgly painted out, and described, receaued at their handes so great satisfaction of their innocency, that he not only caused the Fathers of this Society to be receaued agayne into Paris, and caused the scandalous Pira­mide to be raced downe to the ground; but by many benefits done by him vnto these Fathers, besides the erecting for them the fayrest Church and Colledge they haue in all France, he shewed him­selfe their very great affectioned & true Friend: yea he made choyse of thē, to be the preceptors and scoole-maisters vn­to his owne Children, to declare vnto the world that he held them not for euil instructors of youth, as they had byn vniustly reported to be. Who can desire greater testimony of these Fathers ac­quyting, [Page 62] from this great calumny?

Let vs now come vnto his Maiesty the present King of great Britaine, con­cerning the acculation of Father Henry Garnet in the matter of the gun-powder treason. This treason was without all doubt, a most wicked intention of some Catholikes, that with patience would not endure the persecution which so many of their Catholike-brethren had so long, & so patiently endured, and as the good Christians in the persecutions of the Roman Emperous also did. But who wotteth, whether this might not be a deuice, first practised in the subtill brayne of the Secretary, Sir Robert Ce­cil, who by some subtill deuice might get it put into the heades of some Ca­tholikes, aswell as the Secretary Sir Francis Walsingam had before, that im­ployed one Polie a favgned Catholik, to draw those Gentlemen into the conspi­racy of deliuering out of durance Mary Queene of Scotland his maiesties mo­ther [Page 63] that now raygneth: by which meanes of those Gentleman came all to lose their hues, and that good Queene also. But let that be, as be it might. One of those Catholikes that was priuy to the sayd powder treason, confessed on the torture, that he had in confession giuen Father Garnet knowledge of the matter. He sayd not that Father Garnet was one of the conspirators, or that he animated him, or any of them vnto it, but to the contrary, that he had earnest­ly diswaded him from it. They were put to death: Father Garnet was apprehen­ded; he was accused to haue byn priuy to the treason▪ and that he had not dis­couered it. Father Garnet answered that he might not in any sort vtter ought that was reuealed vnto him in cōfessiō, for secrecy of all that which is vttered in cōfession must euer be an inuiolable precept in the Catholike Church: for the priest that should do the contrary is to be degraded, and to be shut vp, [Page 64] and put to pennance all the dayes of his life.

But Father Garnet declared that he was so earnest in forbidding him to co­mit this foule fact, that he denyed to giue him absolution, vnlesse he would desist from this intention: what could the Father haue done more, if the con­spiracy had byn against the Pope him­selfe?

Thus then was this innocent Fa­ther put to death, not for that he was a conspiratour or actour in this trea­son, but because he would not vio­late the strong seale and obligation of the holy Sacramēt of Cōfession, which no Priest vpon earth can be licensed to doe.

It hapned at such tyme as the Cal­uinian-Gewses had vsurped through their rebellion, the gouernement of the Citty of Antwerp, that a Spanish mer­chant there dwelling named Iaspar de Enastro, hauing vnderstood that King [Page 65] Philip the second of Spayne, had decla­red by sentence, that William of Nassaw Prince of Orange, of whome he was the Lawfull soueraigne Lord, was fallē in crimen laesae maiestatis ▪ for his publike rebellion agaynst his beforenamed So­ueraygne, and did thereby deserue to suffer death, & that he had put the exe­cution of the said sentence in the hands of any such person or persons as would vndertake it: He thereupon counselled and perswaded a young fellow that was his seruant, called Iohn de Iauregny borne in Biscay, to performe this act. But when this Iauregny was ready to goe a­bout it, the aforesayd Enastro his may­ster, got himselfe out of the way. Iau­regny with a pistoll shot the Prince of Orange through the checkes, whereof he dyed not, but Iauregny was present­ly killed by some of the Prince his ser­uants: heerupon enquiry being made, it was vnderstood that Iauregny did vse to go to confession to one Father Anto­nius [Page 66] Timmerman, a religious man of the order of S. Dominicke. This Religious man was apprehended and asked what Iohn de Iauregny had vttered vnto him in Confession. The Religious Father well knowing the strict commaunde­ment of the Catholike Church, that nothing that is vttered in confession must be reuealed, made answere that he knew not; because that he indeed did know nothing, concerning this mans confession that he might vtter. His examiners then caused him to be hanged by his thumbes, with weightes fastned to his toes, to force him by this torture to reueale vnto them what had by Iauregny byn reuealed vnto him in confession; but the Reuerend and reso­lute Father, would in no sort violate therein the law and commaundment of the vniuersall Church of God, but al­wayes whyle he hung in this great tor­ment, he called vpon God, saying out of the 140. Psalme, Keep o Lord my mouth [Page 67] and my lipps, that I sinne not with my tongue. Heerupon they sentenced him to death, and to the deuiding of his bo­dy into foure quarters: which death & martyrdome he constantly endured.

Of the before-mentioned Pow­der-treason, was also accused Father William Baldwine, of the SOCIETY of IESVS. This Father as he tra­uailed in Germany was by Frederike the fourth, then Palsgraue of the Rhene, ap­prehended neere vnto Franckendale, & by him sent prisoner vnto the Amba­ssador of his Maiesty of England, then resident at Duyseldorp in the Countrey of Cleue. And worthy it is to be noted, that on the very same day that this Fa­ther was deliuered into the handes of the English Ambassadour at Duysel­dorp, the sayd Palsgraue dyed at Heydel­berge, & so came to tast of death him­selfe, sooner then the Father, which he intended to send to the slaughter.

The Father was carryed into En­gland, [Page 68] where after he had remayned prisoner many yeares in the Tower of London, and not the least point in the world could be proued against him cō ­cerning the aforesayd Treason, (not­withstanding that in some printed bookes it was published that he was culpable) he was at last deliuered out of prison, and dismissed the Realme.

Concerning one Peter Pan, sayd to be sent by the Iesuytes of Ipres in Flanders to kill Prince Maurice in Hol­land, the matter hath byn throughly examined, and the Calumny raysed a­gaynst those Fathers sufficiently refu­ted in a Printed booke, wherein is also set downe an attestation of the Magi­strates of Ipres (of whence this Peter Pan was) wherin this accusatiō is shew­ed to be false. Peter Pan was knowne to be a fellow that was frantike, but the madnes of his braynes could not free him out of the handes of the Holland-hangman: for the Iustice of Holland [Page 69] found it wisdome, to put this poore foole to death.

I trust I haue heere cleerly decla­red, how the Iesuites haue by their Caluinian enemyes byn most falsly calumniated: and albeit that them­selues do in such cases recomend their cause to God, disposing themselues to beare with patience all iniuryes, for the loue of CHRIST IESVS, notwith­standing they well know how false they are: yet my selfe euen of zeale vnto truth and equity, could not omit to vt­ter thus much, vpon the occasion now giuen.

The custome of giuing out, that Ie­suites and Priests do intend to murther Princes, was first takē vp in England & put in practise by some of Queene Eli­zabeths Caluinian Counsellers, who to haue the better colour to persecute Ca­tholikes, whome they feared might en­crease to fast, as also to make them the lesse compassionate of the people, did [Page 70] seeke to make them odious by ordinari­ly giuing out that they went about to kill the Queen. But that the sayd Queen and her Counsellers themselues did not belieue this, reason maketh manifest: for whē is it found that a Prince or Ru­ler fearing that for some certaine noto­rious cause he is in dāger to be killed by any of his subiects, will notwithstāding continue the same cause, yea and daily more & more increase it, as this Queen did her persecution▪ how can this agree with reason of State? for through con­tinuance and increase of persecution, those that are persecuted doe comonly also increase: and it might fall out that among the number of the persecuted, for all do not alwayes endure with like patience, some might be found, that be­ing driuen to desperate termes might attempt some such thing (for as the Phi­losopher sayth, the fly hath her splene) but the patient suffering for religion is especially taught, and recomended by [Page 71] Catholike teachers, and the contrary by others of contrary Religions, and es­pecially Caluinists, of whose hoat and reuengefull spirits the world hath al­ready had testimony inough.

Father William Criton the Scottish Iesuyte before named, being before some of Queene Elizabeths Counsell, a little before his departure out of the Countrey, sayd vpon occasion concer­ning this matter: My Lords, you vse heere a manner of giuing out among your subiects, that Iesuites and Priestes do go about to kill your Queene; but in very truth, if we intended any such thing, she could not liue: for you must vnderstand, that there are a multitude of people of the Catholike religion, that haue wholy abandoned the world, and haue chosen to liue in all strictnes and austerity, sequestring themselues from all worldly pleasures, desiring and in­deauouring nothing more then to leaue this world, and to liue with God in his [Page 72] Kingdome of heauen. Among these men that so little respect the world di­uers may be found, who beeing perswa­ded that it were so meritorious a deed before God, that he who should deliuer the world from an enemy and persecu­tor of the Catholike religion, and ther­fore loose his life, should straightwayes enter into the eternall ioyes of heauen; without all doubt this matter would not be left vnattempted. The counsel­lers hearing this had little to say to the contrary.

To say the truth, I must needs con­fesse I haue heere heard much more thē I supposed could be sayd. I do now well perceaue a man can neuer come to the true vnderstanding of what standeth in controuersy, before he haue heard both partyes.

I haue first recounted, what Princes and Potentates haue byn murthered, or [Page 73] made away in our dayes; and after that, I haue spoken of intentions or mea­nings to make away Princes: It resteth that I now speake of the intentions of Gewses, or Caluinian reformed Bre­thren, about the murthering or making away of Princes; those innocēt wolues I meane, that haue had their handes in the bloud of fiue of the eight Princes before named, to the end we may also see how pure and vnspotted they are in their good meanings & in­tentiōs, to haue put that busines in fur­ther practise.

First then it is a thing cleere & no­torious that the Hugnenots of France had a resolued purpose to haue murthe­red the most Christian King Francis the second, with his mother, and sundry of the nobility, in the Citty of Amboise.

It is also most certayne that a Ze­land Gewse or Caluinist, meant to haue blown vp William of Nassaw Prince of Orange, with some of the Holland and [Page 74] Zeland States, with gun-powder, in the Towne-house of Flushing, if it had not byn discouered by him that assisted him to conuey the powder into the sel­ler or vault of the sayd Towne-house. And had this succeeded according to the purpose of the authour thereof, Bal­tazar Gerard, that afterward killed the sayd Prince of Orange, had saued his life, and his labour, and the Gewses re­formed Brethren had, had the honour of murthering six of the eight Princes before named.

When I consider this Prince, and these intentions of his death, me thinkes it must needes be a great signe, that he was not in the fauour of God, since as well Caluinists, as Catholikes, went a­bout to kill him.

Heerto may also be added the Earle of Gowry in Scotland, a Caluinist also. The history is publike in print, how he meant to haue killed the King, wherof yearly memory both in Scotland & En­gland [Page 75] is continued, on the fifth day of August, for his Maiesties deliuery.

You make me almost ashamed of my selfe, to consider that our people in Holland do make such exclamations a­gaynst Iesuytes and Priestes, and are shewed to be in those foule facts faulty themselues, and the Iesuyts and Priests whome they accuse, not faulty at all.

I am well content, & thinke my labour well bestowed, when I fynd my selfe to haue to doe with such as wil af­foard place vnto truth and reason, be­fore passion and partiality.

But heere are you also to vnderstand that, that which I haue sayd, concer­ning the cleering of the Iesuites of this Calumny, doth also serue for the clee­ring of other Catholike Priests, and spi­rituall persons, that secretly remayne in Holland, & in the adioyned Prouin­ces, or in any place els, where they are [Page 76] fayne to remayne in like manner, who haue not any charge, nor can haue any charge to commit, or endure others to comit such foule and euill facts, but are to meddle in matters concerning their Priestly function, as in administration of Sacraments, and instruction of Ca­tholikes in all piety & vertue.

The Placcart saith notwithstanding, that the Iesuytes and Priests do seeke to bring the good Inhabitants of these Prouinces with their false doctrine, to Idolatry, to an auersiō from their Law­full Superiours, and to the murthering of Princes and Potentates, to preferre therby, in these Countreys the Tiranny and absolute domination of the King of Spayne &c.

Heere haue we agayne a whole heape of Calumnyes togeather: Iesuites and Priests are heere accused for falfe doctrine & Idolatry.

[Page 77] Of intending to bring the good In­habitants of these Countreys to an a­uersion from their lawfull Superiors.

To the murthering of Princes and Potentates, and to the furthering of the tyranny & domination of the King of Spayne.

Let vs now vpon examining of these points, see what may be sayd, with truth and reason.

Concerning the false doctrine wher­with Caluinists do accuse Iesuites and other Catholike Priestes: That is, that among other points, which they hold contrary to their heresyes, that God is not so vniust and tyrannicall, that he doth (as Caluinists affirme) take yoūg infants euen frō the brests of their mo­thers, and vndeseruedly cast them into the euerlasting fire of hell.

The true doctrine then according as Caluinists do teach▪ is, that God so doth; and the doctrine of Iesuites and Priests which Caluinistscal false, is that [Page 78] God is so good, so iust, and so mercifull that he doth not so.

Concerning their Idolatry, this es­pecially is, as Caluinists affirme, that they belieue and teach▪ that the body of Christ is really present in the Sacramēt of the Altar, that they adore it, and pray vnto it, and that in their Churches they haue Images. Now must I demaund of you, from whence it proceedeth that Catholiks belieue the reall Presence of Christ in this Sacrament?

I know it is true that Christ at his last supper taking bread, and blessing it, sayd vnto his Apostles, take and eate: This is body: but for all that, he did not so meane it.

But withal you cōfesse that the cause of this beliefe commeth from the very mouth of Christ himselfe: if it come from the mouth of Christ, then taketh it not originall from the mouth of any [Page 79] Pope. Christ must haue lyed when he sayd it was his body, if it were not his body; or Caluinistes must now lye, in saying it is not his body, notwithstan­ding Christ sayd it is.

Neither of both do lye, Christ meant that it was the figure, or signe of his bo­dy.

Where is it written, that Christ meant it so?

Our Preachers doe so interprete it.

I perceaue your Preachers will not only take vpō them to reforme the Ca­tholike Church, but they will also re­forme Gods word it selfe, and make it vtter that which therein is not to be found.

But shew me where it is written that aboue 1500▪ yeares after Christ had said it was his body, and that all Christians [Page 80] throughout the world did thereupon so beliue it to be; he would then send new teachers into the world, to reforme this ancient Fayth, with teaching Christi­ans to belieue, that it was not his body, and that he did not so meane as he spak, when he instituted this Sacrament.

The oldest Christian fayth was, that it was not the body of Christ, and ther­fore our teachers do call themselues the reformers of religion, because they re­forme and bring religion to the first & most ancient manner: for if this were not so, they could not appropriate vn­to themselues the name of reformers of religion.

They giue themselues the name of Reformers, but with their appropriating this name vnto themselues, they oblige themselues in the sight and iudgement of all men, of vnderstanding, of the whole world, & in al honour & reason, [Page 81] if they wilbe accompted worthy to be belieued, cleerly to demonstrate two thinges.

The first is, that they are expresly sent from God to reforme religion: for if so be that a reformation was needful, thē was it also needfull that God should thereunto send and imploy fit persons, that must be men of great holynes, and haue power from himselfe, to make it appeare to the world, that they were sēt from him.

The second is, that they must be able to stop the mouthes of all others, that at the same tyme should also ap­peare in the world, pretending refor­mation of religion as well as they, albeit in diuers different manners, setting thē at defiance, and chalenging to combat with them, with the weapon of the Word, as long as they dare.

If men of vnderstanding seeme to imbrace your Caluinian reformation without seeking such requisite satisfa­ction [Page 82] therein as heere is noted, they can be no other then Politikes, whose mo­tiue is their owne particuler temporall end, or matter of state, and not mat­ter of religion.

But whereas you say that the most ancient Christian beliefe was, that the reall presence of Christ was not in the Sacrament; whereas the wordes which Christ spake and wherhence this Faith is deriued, is the most ancient cause of this beliefe:

There is then to be considered, if the Apostles themselues when Christ sayd, Take and eate this is my Body, did so belieue it to be or not: but certayne it is that they all belieued it, vnlesse it were the false traytor iudas: for if they had doubted thereof, the had without all doubt demaunded or proponed some question vnto him about it, aswell as when he sayd, that it was as easy for a camell to passe through the eye of a needle, as it was for a rich man to enter [Page 83] into the Kingdome of heauen for them, they straight wayes demaunded of him, who could then be saued? Whereupon he answered them, that with God all thinges are possible. Is it possible with God that a camel, or the cable of a ship, can go through the eye of a needle? Then can the body of Christ be in the Sacrament. But the Apostles among sundry other great miracles which they had seene our Sauiour doe, whereof we fynd some written (though many of them were left vn written) did also see him worke some great miracles in his owne body, when he so altered the na­turall course therof, that he did sundry thinges therewith aboue the course and possibility of nature: and therefore it is no wonder that the Apostles, were all silent, and without reply belieued the wordes of Christ, which they knew to measure by his power.

There is also to be considered, that if so be the first Christians, to wit those [Page 84] of the primitiue Church, haue belieued as Caluinists now do, that the body of Christ is not really in this Sacramēt, or that this Sacramēt is but a figure, signe, or token of the body of Christ, how & when began the beliefe in the world, that the body of Christ was really there? Through whose ordayning was it so to be taken & belieued? By whome was it taught? By whom was it writtē? At what time was it that Communion-tables were taken out of Churches, and Altars erected there in their places?

That know I not.

Nor no man els. But all Christen­dome knowes where, when, and by whome, Altars in Churches haue byn broken downe, & Communion-tables there brought in: No lesse to be seene and noted to all the Christians of the world, must it needs haue byn, if in any foregoing age since the time of Christ, [Page 85] Communion Tables (if they had byn in Churches) had byn caryed out, and in place thereof, Altars had byn builded, and Masse then begun to haue byn said at them, & Christians then first taught that the reall Presence of Christ was to be belieued to be there.

Verily you do now tell me much.

I will yet tell you more, howbeit but in briefe: for I will leaue these mat­ters that Concerne controuersies in re­ligion to be debated more largely & le­arnedly by Catholike Deuines, but that which I haue to tell you is this: That be­sydes the Catholike Christians of the Roman Church, there are great num­bers of Christiās of the Greeke Church: There are many Christians of the Abi­ssine or Ethiopian Church: There are Christians of Malabar in the east Indies which were at first conuerted by Saint Thomas the Apostle, with sundry other [Page 86] sorts of ancient Christians aswell in A­sia as in Africa: for the Apostles them­selues haue byn in those Countreys, & first preached among their ancestors, and brought them to the fayth. These do differ in some points and ceremo­nies one from another, & also from the Church of Rome, but all these Chri­stians can shew out of their Ecclesi­asticall Annales and Church histories, that they haue had Masse euen from the very tyme of the Apostles, and haue al­wayes belieued that the body of Christ was really in the Sacrament of the Al­tar: and albeit that these are sequestred from the Church of Rome, and all of them who vnto that Church haue not reconciled themselues, are by the same holden for Schismatikes; yet will they all beare witnesse for the Church of Rome against all our European new & different sectaries, that they doe all of them falsely bely the said Church, in af­firming those things to be corruptions, [Page 87] which they take vpon them to reforme.

Doe they affirme that the Apostles themselues haue first planted the Masse in their Countreyes?

All of them with one consent doe resolutly affirme it, assuredly knowing that the Masse hath not had among thē any other originall.

I haue in Holland both read & heard somthing, but this that you now tel me did I neuer read, nor heare before: but how is it then, that the Apostles haue not mentioned this in their writings?

The Apostles well knew that they had no need to write that, which they instituted and taught to be daily in vse among Christians, seeing it could not then be forgotten, and therefore needed not for the preuenting of obliuion, to be putit dovvne in vvryting.

[Page 88] Of the greatest number of the A­postles we haue no wrytings at all, and those that wrote, haue left many things vnwritten, aswell concerning Christ himselfe, as concerning their owne selues, not hauing written, when or by whome themselues were baptized, nor whether they were baptized or no, and yet were they without all doubt bapti­zed. They knew that Christ had pro­mised to send the Holy Ghost vnto his holy Catholike Church, to teach the sayd church all truth, and to remayne therewith to the end of the world, what necessity was there then for them to put downe all thinges in wryting, whereas their expresse charge was to go ouer all the world, and preach, and baptize, and this may well be the cause that but fiue of the twelue Apostles of christ haue written, and those but briefly neyther; and the other seauen not at all, or not whereof we haue any notice. But ne­uer will I belieue, that any of the A­postles [Page 89] that haue written, haue euer in­tended, that their wrytings aboue fif­teene hundreth years after their deaths, should then first come to be truly inter­preted by a Iohn Caluin, or such like, who in our miserable dayes haue affli­cted the whole Christian world.

You haue heere told me so much, and with so cleere apparence of truth that I stand wondering thereat, and by Gods grace I will not leaue, to reflect well vpon it.

Your Gewses-reformed, will also make Catholikes Idolaters, for hauing of Images in their Churches. They may make Moyses an Idolater also, who notwithstanding he forbad the making of Idols, erected Images in his temple, for he well knew the difference betweene the one and the other.

The Heathenish Idolls, agaynst which the sacred Scripture inueygheth, [Page 90] so much, the Heathen did offer sacrifice vnto, which is the highest and greatest honour that is done vnto God himselfe. The belyers of Catholikes may put on their spectacles to see what sacrifice, or Godly honour is done by them vnto I­mages, albeit they be Images of Christ, of his blessed Mother, and of his Saints, not of the Gods of the Heathen, which were all Diuells.

No Catholikes offer sacrifice to a­ny Images: no Catholikes pray to any I­mages, for so to doe were not only a most grieuous offence vnto God, but a great folly & madnes in humayne crea­tures. A dog will neuer run at a carued or painted hare. Doe Sectaries weene that Catholikes haue lesse sense then brute beasts? can they not vnderstand as well as vnreasonable beasts that they are things without life? Catholike Chri­stians haue them in vse, for memory of God and of his Saints, and in reueren­cing them, the reuerence is meant and [Page 91] referred vnto those they represent: as when at hearing the name of IESVS, we doe not reuerence the sound, but our thoughts are straightwayes by that sound transported to Christ himselfe, as by the sight of his Image they also are. But your Caluinian pulpit-fellowes, to seduce & bring the people in false con­ceyts of Catholikes▪ will perforce make them Idolaters, and belye them, in des­pyte of truth. But let vs now proceed to to the rest.

So I pray you do, for I haue heard in­ough of this wrong-named Idolatry.

Concerning the point that Iesuites and Priestes, do go about to bring the good inhabitants of these vnited Pro­uinces to an auersion from their lawfull superiours, is in troth, as good a iest to be laught at, as it were, that a thiefe hauing cut a purse, should cry out a­mong the people to looke well vnto [Page 92] their purles, for being cut by the Cut­purses. The Gewses themselues of Hol­land haue long since brought the inha­bitants of those partes to haue an auer­sion from their lawfull Superiours; and now they say, that Iesuytes and Priests do go about to do it, as though it were not by themselues done already, and as though the present rebellious Vsurpers of superiority there, were true and law­full Superiours. But what goodly fel­lowes will heere be lawfull superiours? Doth this lawfull Superiority belong vnto them, because they haue by fraud and violence made themselues the may­sters of Cittyes and Prouinces, & cha­sed the lawfull superiours away? Why was not then Iohn Buckleson, the Tayler of Leydon, a lawfull King of Munster in Westphalia, when in like sort he had chased the lawfull Superiours thence? And why haue your Holland-States by strong and forcible opposition hindred the Arminians from making thēselues [Page 93] maysters of some Cittyes, that so they might become the lawful Superiours in them, as well as they in others?

But how greatly are the poore Hol­landers all the world ouer pittyed, be­cause the King of Spayne doth so much trouble them, to put them out of their lawfull superiority? They haue vnder­stood that Catholike religion obligeth to the restitution of ill gotten & detay­ned goods, and therefore they are in feare, as if they also knew that they are the vniust detayners of that which be­longeth vnto another. But considering that Caluinists or Gewses, that haue the power and authority in their hands to make restitution, are not such as goe to Cōfession to Iesuites or Priestes, they may therefore haue the lesse feare.

As touching the murthering of Princes and Potentates, there hath al­ready sufficiently byn spoken: but it see­meth by the wordes of the placcart that the Iesuytes and Priestes doe seeke to [Page 94] bring the good inhabitants of Holland to become the murtherers of Princes & Potentates; as if Iesuytes and Priestes went into Holland, to seeke to make prouision of murtherers among the good inhabitants there, to the end they might employ them where need should be, in the murthering of Princes and Potentates, in other Countreyes; as though none els for such purpose could be found more fitting, then among the good inhabitants of Holland.

That they there should also further the Tyranny & domination of Spayne, are two lyes. No subiects of the King of Spayne are by him tyrannized, neyther haue the Iesuites or Priests in Holland medled, or haue had charge to meddle in matters of State or Gouernment, as thinges beeing out of their profession.

The Hollanders cry out, and take on very much about the Tyranny of Spayne: but if it were so, that the King of Spayne had no subiects out of [Page 95] Spayne but only Hollanders, the Hol­landers might perhaps be better belie­ued: but he hath other subiects also in Europe, and out of Spayne, and of se­uerall nations.

He hath Portugeses, Neapolitans, Sicilians, Milaneses, Burgundians, Germans, Walons, and Netherlanders, that are not vnder Holland gouerne­ment. And which of all these Nations is it, that liueth not now in a more free and better state, then in former tymes vnder the comaund of their particuler Kings, Princes and Lordes? And where among all these differēt nations is there any one found, that is so Tyrannized ouer at this day, as are the subiects of Holland, with so great and so intolle­rable exactions and taxations.

And whereas they haue alwayes made profession, to leaue people to the liberty & freedom of their consciences, they do notwithstanding forbid some of their good inhabitants vpon great [Page 96] paynes, the exercise of their religion ac­cording as their consciences do require, which they deny not vnto Anabaptists, nor Iewes.

They cry out, and take on about the Tiranny of Spayne, to make the in­habitants afrayd of a faygned Tiranny, that in the meane tyme they may the better goe forward, as vnseene, with their owne true and great Tiranny in­deed.

No children may be sent to schoole in any places vnder the comaund of the King of Spayne, or in Colledges of Iesuytes &c. Belike there is no good Gewses-Latin, or caluinian-reformed sciences there taught.

Neyther may any children of Hol­land be sent to schoole in any enemyes Countrey: but this being obserued I do scarsly see where any youth of Holland may out of Holland be sent to schoole; seeing the Hollanders haue behaued themselues so well, and do so continew [Page 97] to behaue themselues, that they make all the world their enemyes.

All collections of money, gold, sil­uer, goods &c. for, or to the vse of any Churches, Hospitailes, Spirituall or o­ [...]er Colleges or Conuenticles, are pro­ [...]bited.

Heerby may be perceaued that they [...] [...]etayne memory of their Church­robbing. They know Catholike religi­on teacheth to make restitution of ill gotten or wrongfully detayned goods, and now they feare that some of their good Inhabitantes Iesuyts or Priests to haue some scruple in conscience about the restoring agayne of some such goods, & therefore they haue held it necessary to settle their consciences in quiet, by pro­hibiting them to come among them; & so not to come to know that for any Church-robbing they ought to make satisfaction, nor yet to extend any cha­rity insteed thereof to any Hospitalls, [Page 98] spirituall or other Colledges &c. for the worth-full Superiors of Holland, haue occasion inogh to vse money, gold, sil­uer, and other goods themselues, or can fynd occasion to make vse thereof, ra­ther then it should, by collections, be transported out of those prouinces to o­ther places.

When I well consider of all that you haue heere recounted, I am not farre from belieuing, that it may all be true, but in Holland we may not speake so.

The Comons in Holland are made belieue that all thinges are there as they ought to be, that they do well, and al­so prosper well.

Those neuerthelesse in Holland that beare the heauy burthen of those great taxations, must needes feele the con­trary. And they that do not y [...] feele it though, do stand in good po [...]lity to [Page 99] feele it better: for the States without all doubt, will from hence-forward be more and more carefull to employ all their vnderstandings, so to inure their subiects to the burthen of pressures and taxations, that they shall not easily by any Apoplexies loose their sense of fee­ling.

Heere will I make an end, for it is now late inough to go to bed.

I thanke you much for your dis­course, I will not forget to thinke vpon it. And therfore thinke not I pray you, that your wordes haue byn vttered to deafe eares.

Then I hope I haue not strawed Roses before swyne, but haue shewed reason to reasonable creaturess.

¶The rest of the company who with silence had listned to that which was spoken, did giue thankes to the Brabander for his discourse; & so euery [Page 100] man went to his rest. And heerewith wil I also rest from writing for the pre­sent: and recomending my selfe vnto the continuance of yours good fauour▪ leaue you to God.