Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worsley, Edward
WORSLEY, EDWARD (1605−1676), Jesuit, born in Lancashire in 1605, is said to have been an Oxford student and a protestant minister, but his name does not occur in the records of that university. He entered the Society of Jesus on 7 Sept. 1626. Having repeated his studies at the college of Liege, he was made professor of philosophy, logic, and sacred scripture. He was professed of the four vows on 29 Sept. 1641, and in 1655 he was a missioner in London. He was declared rector of the college at Liege on 31 Oct. 1658. In 1662 he was acting as English procurator and missioner at the Professed House, Antwerp, where he died on 2 Sept. 1676, aged seventy-one. He was ‘regarded both by his own community and by externs as an oracle alike of talent, industry, learning, and prudence’ (Foley, Records, iv. 597).
Subjoined is a list of his works, which were all published under the initials ‘E. W.’ 1. ‘Truth will out; or a Discouery of some Untruths, smoothly told by Dr. Jeremy Taylor in his Dissuasiue from Popery; with an Answer to such Arguments as deserve Answer,’ 1665, 4to. 2. ‘Protestancy without Principles; or Sectaries unhappy Fall from Infallibility to Fancy,’ Antwerp, 1668, 4to. At the end are ‘A few Notes upon Mr. Poole's Appendix against Captain Everard’ [see Poole, Matthew]. The book is in reply to Matthew Poole's ‘Nullity of the Romish Faith’ and Bishop Stillingfleet's ‘Account of the Protestant Religion.’ 3. ‘Reason and Religion; or the certain Rule of Faith, where the Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church is asserted against Atheists, Heathens, Jewes, Turks, and all Sectaries. With a refutation of Mr. Stillingfleet's many gross errors,’ Antwerp, 1672, 4to. 4. ‘The Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church and her Miracles defended against Dr. Stillingfleets Cavils,’ Antwerp, 1674, 2 vols. 8vo. In the second volume the author maintains the truth of the miraculous translation of the house of Loreto. 5. ‘A Discovrse of Miracles wrought in the Roman Catholick Chvrch, or a full Refutation of Dr. Stillingfleets unjust Exceptions against Miracles,’ Antwerp, 1676, 8vo. 6. ‘Anti-Goliath, or an Epistle to Mr. [Daniel] Brevint, containing some Reflections upon his Saul and Samuel at Endor,’ 1678, 8vo, pp. 59: a posthumous work.
[De Backer's Bibl. de la Compagnie de Jésus; Dodd's Church Hist. iii. 314; Florus Anglo-Bavaricus, p. 53; Wood's Athenæ, ii. 403; Foley's Records, vii.863: Jones's Popery Tracts, pp. 219, 221, 251, 380, 485; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 227; Southwell's Bibl. Soc. Jesu, p. 186.]