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A02483 An ansvvere to a treatise vvritten by Dr. Carier, by way of a letter to his Maiestie vvherein he layeth downe sundry politike considerations; by which hee pretendeth himselfe was moued, and endeuoureth to moue others to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, and imbrace that religion, which he calleth catholike. By George Hakewil, Doctour of Diuinity, and chapleine to the Prince his Highnesse. Hakewill, George, 1578-1649.; Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614. Treatise written by Mr. Doctour Carier.; Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614. Copy of a letter, written by M. Doctor Carier beyond seas, to some particular friends in England. 1616 (1616) STC 12610; ESTC S103612 283,628 378

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bee to this point more fully and cleerely spoken B. C. 13. And for the blessed Sacramēt they do not worship the Accidents which they see but the Substance which they beleeue and surely if Christ be there truely really present as your Maiestie seemeth to graunt hee is hee is as much to bee worshipped as if wee saw him with our bodily eyes neither is there any more Idolatry in the one then in the other If our blessed Sauiour himselfe should visibly appeare in person as hee was vpon the earth Iewes and Infidels would hold it for Idolatry to worship him and would crucifie him againe and so would all heretikes also who refuse to worship him in the Sacrament where hee is really present G. H. 13. You tell vs that the people doe not worship the accidents which they see but the substance which they see not but the question is whether they rightly beleeue the substance of Christs body to lie hidden and as it were buried vnder those Accidents which I am sure Saint Augustine on whom you so much relie is so farre from defending or else the adoration of Images before mentioned that in diuerse places hee maintaineth the cleare contrarie to both And to grant that after the words of Consecration pronounced the bodie of Christ is there folded or kneaded vp in a bodily maner yet whether the Priest that pronounceth them be rightly Ordered and if hee be whether hee pronounce them with the intent that the Church intends they may iustly make a doubt and consequently a question whether their worship bee idolatrous or no for in such cases by confession of all in stead of Christs bodie they worship the bread for our parts wee constantly beleeue him to be in heauen and not in the bread whereas we make a iust doubt whether a great part of them who beleeue him to be in the bread doe with like constancie beleeue that hee is in heauen You further adde that if he be truely and really present as his MAIESTIE seemeth to graunt he is as much to be worshipped as if wee saw him with our bodily eyes But indeed it is not the seeing of him with our bodily eyes that makes the matter or giues occasion of worshipping for then a blind man could not worship him at all nor a seeing man in the darke but the beleeuing of him to be present in a bodily manner Wee beleeue him then with his MAIESTIE it being Caluins opinion expressed in the very selfe same termes to be truely and really present but in a manner Sacramentall not bodily and consequently not to bee worshipped there as being not wrapped vp vnder the accidents of bread but triumphing in heauen And here by your leaue how submissiuely soeuer you would seeme in other places to carrie your selfe towards his Maiestie you make bold to put the title of Heretike vpon him and to ranke him among no better then ●ewes and Infidels But our iust defence is that after the way which you call Heresie we giue more true and lawfull honour to our blessed Sauiour then you casting all that religious worship which you giue to the blessed Virgin to Angels to Saints to the bread in the Eucharist to Images to Reliques to the Crosse and all that opinion of Merit of Supererogation and Satisfaction which you ascribe either to your selues or others wholy and solely vpon him either as God or as Man or as Mediatour betwixt God and Man onely wee denie to giue that honour to his Image or the bread in the Eucharist which is as essentially due to him as to them vndue B. C. 14. After diuers other obiections not so much because I was not as be cause I desired not to be satisfied I came to the Popes supposed pride and tyrannie ouer Kings and Princes and tolde them of the most horrible Treason intended and practised by Catholikes against your MAIESTIE which hath not yet beene iudicially condemned by the Church of Rome They all seemed to abhorre the fact as much as the best Subiests in the world and much more to fauour and defend the authoritie of Kings and Princes then Heretikes doe And they sayed that although your Maiestie were out of the Church yet they doubted not but if complaint were made in a iudiciall proceeding that fact should be iudicially condemned In the meane time it was sufficient that all Catholike writers did cōdemne it and that the Pope by his Breue had condemned it exhorting the Catholikes of England to all Christian patience and obedience and as for any other authoritie or superioritie of the Pope then such as is spiritual and necessary for the vnity of the Church I haue met with none that doe stand vpon it G. H. 14. You well say they seemed to abhorre the fact it being of the nature of those whereof Tacitus speakes Quae nunquam laudantur nisiperacta which are neuer commended till they are ended had it taken effect according to their designes for the setting vp of their Religion among vs it had vndoubtedly bin recorded a most happie and fortunate successe which now by abortion onely and miscariage is stiled an horrible Treason And if they defend the authoritie of Kings and Princes much more then they whom they call Heretikes I would faine know how it comes to passe that more of those Princes w●om you call Catholikes permit within their Dominions the publike exercise of Religion to those Heretikes then the contrarie Surely in my iudgement it is an euident argument that Christian Sta●es conceiue reason to bee more iealous of the one then of the other neither is the reason farre to be sought ●ince the one acknowledgeth no Supreme forreine power which the other doth but the Pope you say condemned the Powder-plot by his Breue I much desire to see that Breue of the Popes which condemnes it I suppose it is most like to be found on the backside of Constantins donation as an Ambassador of Venice told the Pope touching his right to the Adriatique Sea or we may say of it Breuis esse laboro obscurusfio hee is so briefe and obscure in it as we can find no such matter Two Breues of Clements I remember I haue heard of for the withstanding of his Maiesties entrance to the Crowne and two others of Paulus V. against the taking of the oath of allegiance which I marueile M. Doctour neuer vouchsafed so much as once to remember through his Letter but any against the Powder-plot I cannot call to minde I haue seene or so much as heard of Lastly wheras you beare vs in hand that the Popes fauourites stand vpon none other authoritie for their Master then such as is spirituall and necessary for the vnity of the Church I guesse their meaning to be Bellarmines indirect power in temporals or temporall power in ordine as spiritualia in relation to spirituall dueties which is in trueth vpon the matter as much as can be demanded by them
beene in the Easterne Church hee being worse then an Infidell that prouideth not for those of his owne houshold To conclude wee neither speake nor write against lawfull Vowes but the rashnesse of them and impossibilitie in performing them Not against true Virginity but the fained shew of it and the preferring it by so many degrees before the honourable estate of mariage Not against necessary Pouertie but the voluntarie choise of it when more good may be done by possessing and vsing those meanes God hath sent vs Not against Fasting but the pharesaicall vse of it and making it part of diuine worship Not against Praying but the performance of it in a strange tongue rather for custome then for conscience rather by number then by weight in drawing neere vnto God with our lippes when our hearts are farre from him Not against Watching but the pretended apish imitation and merit in it Not against Obedience but the abuse of it in the enterprising of damnable and desperate attempts Lastly not against austeritie of life but inciuilitie and that shew of wisedome which S. Paul censureth in the second to the Col. Consisting in voluntary Religion and humblenesse of minde and not sparing the bodie You doe well to adde that all these are required in a Monasticall conuersation but how they were or are performed God knowes and the world not vndeseruedly suspects B. C. 26. Vpon these conditions the Lords the Commons and the Clergie were content to beleeue that the King was Supreme head of the Church of England Not that they did thinke so indeed or that they desired to augment his authoritie but that they might bee protected by him freely enioy those commodities which they thought schisme had brought vnto them and feared the vnity of the Church might againe take from them Hence did arise a necessitie of inueighing against the Pope and the Church of Rome as against Antichrist and Babylon and the greatest enemies of the State of England Insomuch that that Clergie man was most acceptable to them and in their opinion most worthy of preferments that could most confidently preach and write the most foule and monstrous assertions of the Pope and the Church of Rome though they were neuer so false These and such like are those temporall respects which would faine seeme the daughters of those doctrines which themselues haue brought foorth and to be diuided from the Catholike Church by doctrine when they themselues haue caused the doctrine of diuision G. H. 26. Vpon these conditions you say that the Lords and Commons and Clergie were content to beleeue that the King was supreame head of the Church of England whereas your selfe before confesse that these conditions were afterward graunted to the Clergie who notwithstanding were the forwardest in perswading the King to accept and assume that title as may appeare by the booke set out by the whole Conuocation of England intituled The Institution of a Christian man besides the Treatises of diuers particular Bishops to the same purpose as namely Stephen Gardiners discourse of true obedience together with Bonners Preface annexed to it Longelands Sermon and Tunstals Letter to Cardinall Poole all which are extant to be reade and seene at this day and surely he that shall obserue their vehement protestations specially of Gardiner whom I hold the most sufficient among them for learning and withall the soundnesse and weight of the reasons which they enforce against the Popes pretended iurisdiction will easily beleeue that they thought in very deede as they wrote that their minds and their pennes concurred in one But from hence you say arose a necessitie of enuying against the Pope and the Church of Rome as against Antichrist and Babylon as if his Holinesse had neuer beene graced with the title of Antichrist before Henry assumed his title of supreame head nor Rome called Babylon before England was freed from that Babylonish captiuity Whereas your famous Cardinall hath none other proofe from Scripture that S. Peter was euer at Rome but by expounding Rome to be the Babylon from whence he dated his first Epistle And when the seuerall markes of Antichrist shall be applied to any so properly as to the Bishop of Rome I will confesse he is iniuriously so styled in the meane time I can hardly imagine any so foule and monstrous assertions which some of your Popes haue not deserued euen by the confession of your owne Writers it being enough to make a modest man blush in reading and relating that which they blushed not to act nay boasted of being acted in so much as I doubt not but I may confidently affirme that neither the Catalogue of Emperours taking in the Heathenish among the Christians nor any one succession of Kings in the world since the first creation of it to this present age euer afforded so many monsters of men so many incarnate deuils so expert in all kind of villanies as that of your Popes neither can any one King or Emperour be named whom some of your Popes haue not out-stripped And what needed then any imitation of your side in faining false assertions where true were so plentifull B. C. 27. In all these and all other doctrine of diuision men haue receiued great countenance and encouragement from Geneua For although M. Iohn Caluin were neuer any good subiect or friend to Bishop Duke or King yet hee did so fit the common people with new doctrine that no Gospel can be so pleasing to them nor so light some as his for finding Geneua to be fallen out both with their Bishop who was their ancient Prince and their Duke to whom they pretended against their Bishop and to bee all in a combustion amongst themselues for want of gouernment although he were then a stranger and a very young man of some sixe and twenty or seuen and twenty yeeres olde at the most yet he thought good vpon the opportunity to giue the venture and to step in himselfe to be founder of a new Church and state amongst them And for that purpose hee found them such a Catechisme as they might easily contemne all ancient learning and authority and saue themselues by a strong fancie which hee called faith And this pleased the Bourgers of Geneua so well that they called a meeting and caused all the Citizens to sweare that that Catechisme was true and all Popery false as may appeare in Caluins life written by Beza and prefixed to his Epistles And although the ministeriall Presbitery of Geneua haue lost much of M. Caluins greatnesse yet the Citie hath had the fortune euer since by the helpe of their neighbours to hold out against their Bishop and the Duke and all their ancient gouernours G. H. 27. You passe on in this Section and the next to passe your censure vpon Geneua and Caluin in as much as from them wee haue receiued great countenance and encouragement whereas neither Geneua nor Caluin were
his Angels charge ouer thee but suppressed that which made against him to keepe thee in all thy wayes now if any man farther desire his Maiesties meaning in calling Rome the Mother Church hee hath fully expressed himselfe in his Premonition Patriarchs saith he I know were in the time of the Primitiue Church and I likewise reuerence that institution for orders sake and amongst them was a contention for the first place And for my selfe if that were yet the question I would with all mine heart giue my consent that the Bishop of Rome should haue the first seat I being a Westerne King would goe with the Patriarch of the West whereby it is cleare that his Maiesties meaning was and is to yeeld the Bishop of Rome ouer other Westerne Bishops in case they should meet i● Councell a prioritie in sitting not a superiority in commanding a primacy or precedency in order not a supremacie in power and iurisdiction it beeing the marke which Mr. Doctour driues at and from thence labours cunningly but malitiously to inferre contrary to his Maiesties both minde and words I conclude this point with a Reuerend Prelate His Vicarship to Christ must be proued by stronger and plainer euidence then you haue yet shewed before wee may grant it and for his Patriarkeship saith he which you now take hold of by Gods law he hath nne in this Realme for ●ixe hundred yeeres after Christ he had none for the last sixe hundred as looking to greater matters hee would haue none aboue and against the sw●rd which God hath ordained he can haue none to the subuersion of the faith and oppression of his brethren in right reason and equity he should haue none you must seeke farther for subiection to his tribunall this land oweth him none B. C. 18. There is another statute in England made by Queene Elizabeth and confirmed by your Maiesty that it is death for any English man to bee in England being made a Priest by authority deriued or pretended to bee deriued from the Bishop of Rome I cannot beleeue that I am a Priest at all vnlesse I be deriued by authority from Gregory the great from whence all the Bishops in England haue their being if they haue any being at all G. H. 18. The Statute intended is the 27. of Eliz. Cap. 2. which indeed in the body thereof hath words sounding to that purpose but the sense is malitiously peruerted and the inference thereupon for he that shall reade through that Statute and consider all the parts shall clearely perceiue that therby none other Priests are intended then Popish Priests made and ordeined by Popish Bishops and not such as Mr. Doctour was made in England by any of our Bishops here Though perhaps it were true that our Bishops did deriue their first authority from Gregory which we do not yeeld vnto considering that Augustine from whom they are pretended to deriue it was not consecrated by him but by Aetherius Archbishop of Arles if wee may beleeue our own Venerable Bede for the title of the Statute is An Acte against Iesuites Seminary Priests and such other like disobedient persons and the preamble of the acte hath these words Whereas diuers persons called or professed Iesuites Seminary Priests and other Priests which haue beene and fro● time to time are made in the parts beyond the Seas by or according to the order and rites of the Romish Church haue of late yeeres commen and bene sent into England c. So that if according to the rule Praefatio est clauis Statuti we shall interprete the body by the title or preamble howsoeuer the wordes in the body of the acte bee somewhat generall yet what Priests are intended by the Law-makers is euident enough and except M. Doctour were a Priest according to the Order and Rites of the Romish Church by shauing anoynting and imposition of hands by a Popish Bishop and that since the first yeere of Queene Elizabeth he needed not to haue feared the danger of the Law B. C. 19. There is another Statute in like maner made and confirmed that it is death to bee reconciled by a Catholike Priest to the Church of Rome I am perswaded that the Church of Rome is our mother Church and that no man in England can be saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church and therefore I can not chuse but perswade the people to be reconciled thereunto if possibly they may G. H. 19. This Statute also is either purposely or ignorantly mistaken and is not distinct from that following but are both one namely 23. Eliz. cap. 1. The title of it is An Acte to retaine the Queenes Maiesties Subiects in due obedience and the preamble recites that whereas diuers ill affected persons haue practised to withdraw the Queenes Subiects from their naturall allegeance the purueiw of the Acte followeth that all persons which shall put in practise to ●bsolue perswade or withdrawe any of the Queenes subiects from their naturall obedience to her Maiestie or to withdraw them for that intent from the religion established and so foorth shall be traitours and the person willingly absolued or withdrawen as aforesayd to be likewise a traitour so that the withdrawing of the Subiect from their naturall obedience or for that intent from the religion established is the offence made treason and not simple exhorting to the Romish religion as is alleadged And yet to speake a trueth I see not how any exhortation to an absolute submission of the vnderstanding and the will to the Bishop of Romes Iurisdiction which now is made the onely essentiall forme of that religion can well be seuered from such an intent But Rome you say is the mother Church and no man in England can bee saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church Where if you terme it the mother Church in that sense that his MAIESTIE doeth wee imbrace it but if your meaning bee that shee is our mother either in regard that wee receiued the first life or still should receiue the nourishment of religion from her wee denie it our nation being first conuerted to the Christian faith by Ioseph of Arimathea who intombed the Corps of our Sauiour and lieth himselfe interred at Glastenbury together with twelue disciples his assistants where they first preached the Gospel as Gildas affirmeth in the life of Aurelius Ambrosius and Malmesbury in the Booke intituled The Antiquitie of Glastenbury written to Henry of Bloys brother to King Steuen and Abbot of the same place and it is consented vnto by the learned Antiquaries of later times as namely Mr. Cambden Iohn Bale Matthew Parker Polydore Virgil and others grounding themselues vpon the authoritie of the best approued and most ancient writers and withall considering our keeping of Easter and other Ceremonies were after the fashion of the Easterne Church and not of the Westerne at the comming of Austin I may very well coniecture that our
none otherwise of Faith then the Scriptures giue him warrant which it may bee in your opinion are but a strong fancie neither but had you as throughly read him vpon that point of Iustification by faith as Pighius did though with a mind to confute him you might haue had the grace to haue yeelded in opinion to him as hee did by the confession of Tapper in the 8th Article of his second Tome sometimes his fellow-pupil vnder Adrian the VI. Pope of that name neither doth hee in that Catechisme teach them to contemne all ancient learning and authoritie as you faine but fained authoritie and learning falsely so called For what learning haue wee more ancient then the Scriptures or what authoritie more binding and yet for authoritie of the most auncient Councels and godly Fathers I thinke hee voucheth more then euer Doctor Carrier read though hee built not his faith vpon them and teach others to doe the like in regard of such auncient learning and authoritie being but humane the aduise of the Prophet is to bee regarded or rather the command of God by the Prophets mouth to bee obeyed Thus saith the Lord Stand in the wayes and see and aske for the olde pathes where is the good way and walke therein and yee shall finde rest for your soules For it is true that with all wise and moderate persons that kind of antiquitie obtain●th that authoritie and reuerence as it is sufficient matter to moue them to make a stand and to discouer and take a viewe but it is no warrant to guide or to conduct them a iust ground I say it is of deliberation but not of direction but on the other side as it is well obserued by a writer whom Master Doctor himselfe before nameth with honour who knoweth not that time is truely compared to a streame that carrieth downe fresh and pure waters into the salt sea of corruption which enuironeth all humane actions and therefore if man shall not by his industry vertue and policie as it were with the Oare rowe against the streame and inclination of time all institutions and ordinances be they neuer so pure will corrupt and degenerate Finally for the iustifying of that which you haue deliuered touching Caluine and his proceedings you send vs to Bezaes narratiō of Caluins life but had you not in the perusal therof shut vp the eye of charitie and onely opened that of malice and enuie you might as easily haue seene and obserued in the same narration his wonderfull assiduitie in reading in preaching in writing in conferring insomuch that being aduised by his physicians and by his friends requested a little to forbeare in regard of the weakenesse of his body and his manifold infirmities his vsuall answere was that idlenesse to him was the greatest sickenesse or Vultis me otiosum à Domino deprehendi will yee that the Lord when hee commeth should finde me doing nothing his zeale to Gods trueth and courage in maintaining it such that he not only crushed the errors of the Church of Rome but quelled like another Hercules so many new monsters of opinions by the clubbe of Gods word that the very mētioning the names of the authors and summ● of their seuerall heresies would take vp much time and many lines his sound and profound knowledge in his profession such that Melancthon no childe in Diuinitie was wont to style him by an excellencie The Diuine his temperance such that for many yeres he tooke but one repast a day his modesty such that by his will hee ordained after his death there should be no monumēt erected to him or so much as a Tombe-stone layed ouer him yet Beza his Colleague would not spare to bestowe this ensuing Epitaph on him which hee was as able as vpon that sad occasion vnwilling to afford and the other out of his deserts as worthy as out of his modesty the crowne of all his other vertues vnwilling to receiue Romae ruentis terror ille maximus Quem mortuum lugent boni horrescunt mali Ipsa à quo potuit virtutem discere virtus Cur adeo exiguo ignotoque in cespite clausus Caluinus lateat rogas Caluinum assidue Comitata modestia viuum Hoc tumulo manibus condidit ipsa suis. O te beatum cespitem tanto hospite O cui inuidere cuncta possint marmora After his death many of the citizens who had often seene him before yet much desired to see him againe and many strangers came from forreine parts purposely to know him and to bee knowen vnto him among whom was a worthy Gentleman at that time Ambassador in France for the Queen of England and howsoeuer malice haue found Lucianus in his name charitie hath found Alcuinus B. C. 28. Now it is the nature of all common people especially of Ilanders not onely still to affect more and more noueltie and libertie and to bee weary of their olde Clergie but also to admire any thing that comes from beyond the Seas and to cherish and comfort one another with reporting the good successe which Schismatikes and Rebels happen to haue against their lawfull Prelates and ancient gouernours and to impute all their good fortune to their new Religion Hence it is come to passe that that doctrine which is indeed the lawfull doctrine of the Church of England is neglected or contemned as a relike or a ragge of Popery and Caluins institutions being come from Geneua and fairely bound vp with the Preface of the Gospell is dispersed throughout all Schooles Cities and Villages of England and hath so infected Priest and people as although it bee against law yet is it cryed vp by voyces to be the only current Diuinitie in Court and Countrey in hope belike that it may one day serue the turne in England as well as it hath done in Geneua and in other places where it hath preuailed G. H. 28. Your Countrey-men are herein much bound to you in that you make Ilanders so much to affect nouelty ascribing their change of religion to the changeablenesse of their nature whereas other nations in the continent of Europe are by consent of those who are interessed in neither by nature more changeable then they That Polander who first by his pen encountred his Maiesties Premonition labouring to wype off the staine of the Powder-treason from the religion of the actours laid it vpon the nature of an English man whom in all religions he accuses to be naturally disloyall to his Prince to his imputation of disloyalty you adde the affectation of nouelty thereby to lay a staine vpon our religion But Qui mala non mutat in bonis non perseuerat The seruant is not aboue his lord nor the disciple aboue his master and we know that it was the question which the Iewes proposed to our Sauiour What new doctrine is this and of the Grecians to S. Paul May wee not know what this new
reason The like befell Iohn de la Poole designed by Richard the third after the death of his owne sonne to bee his Successour himselfe being alwayes euen in that respect suspected of Henry the VII till at last he was slaine and his brother vnder Henry the VIII beheaded These reasons might mooue her Maiestie for the stopping of that declaration not the feare of his Maiesties right but the care of preseruing it being sufficiently proclaimed in his blood and discent Whatsoeuer it were since his Maiestie who had the neerest interest in that errand hath bene content thus graciously to passe it ouer it cannot but argue want both of wisdome and charitie in Mr. Doctor thus vnseasonably and maliciously to reuiue it Lastly God of purpose no doubt raised vp his Maiestie to crosse the worldly and diuelish pretence of Rome and to perpetuate the life of that Religion which you call Schisme and I make no doubt but if King Henry the VII had found it left by his predecessor in the state that his Maiestie did hee would in his wisedome haue left it to his Successor as hee is like to doe and I am the rather induced to thinke so because in the first yeere of his raigne the Pope hauing excommunicated all such persons as had bought allome of the Florentines by his permission if not command it was resolued by all the Iudges of England that the Popes Excommunication ought not to be obeyed or to bee put in Execution within the Realme of England and in the same yeere hee suffered sharpe lawes to be made by the Parliament to which himselfe gaue being by his Royall assent for the reformation of his Clergie then growen very dissolute and in the eleuenth yere of his raigne a Statute was enacted that though by the Ecclesiasticall Lawes allowed within this Realme a Priest cannot haue two Benefices nor a bastard be a Priest yet it should be lawfull for the King to dispence with both of these as being mala prohibita but not mala per se all which argues that they then held the King to bee personam mixtam as it was declared in the tenth yeere of his reigne that is a person mixt because hee hath both Ecclesiasticall and Temporall iurisdiction vnited in his person B. C. 34. But perhaps the Schisme though it serue you to none other vse at all for your title yet it doth much increase your authority and your wealth and therefore it cannot stand with your honour to further the vnity of the Church of Christ. Truely those your most famous and renowned ancestours that did part with their authority and their wealth to bestow them vpon the Church of CHRIST and did curse and execrate those that should diminish and take them away againe did not thinke so nor finde it so And I would to God your Maiesty were so powerfull and so rich as some of those kings were that were most bountifull that way You are our Soueraigne Lord All our bodies and our goods are at your command but our soules as they belong not to your charge but as by way of protection in Catholike religion so they cannot increase your honour and authority but in a due subordination vnto Christ and to those that supply his place in iis quae sunt iuris diuini It was essentiall to Heathen Emperours to bee Pontifices as well as Reges because they were themselues authors of their owne religion But among Christians where Religion comes from CHRIST who was no worldy Emperour though aboue them all the spiritua● and temporall authority haue two beginnings and therefore two Supremes who if they bee subordinate doe vphold and increase one another but if the temporall authority oppose the spirituall it destroyeth it selfe and dishonoureth him from whom the spirituall authority is deriued Heresie doth naturally spread it selfe like a ca●k●r and needes little helpe to put it forward So that it is an easie matter for a meane Prince to be a great man amongst heretikes but it is an hard matter for a great king to gouerne them When I haue sometimes obserued how hardly your Maiesty could effect your most reasonable desires amongst those that stand most vpon your Supremacy I haue bene bold to bee angry but durst say nothing onely I did with my selfe resolue for certaine that the keyes were wont to doe the Crowne more seruice when they were in the armes of the miter then they can doe now they are tyed together with the scepter and that your title in spirituall affaires doth but serue other mens turnes and not your owne G. H. 34. Hauing passed your supposed remoouall of all opposition both in doctrine and State thereby to make a readier way to your imaginary reconciliation you now come to an endeuour of clearing such obiections as you conceiued would offer themselues whereof the first is that the religion established which you call schisme serues to increase his Maiesties authoritie and wealth and therefore it cannot stand with his honour to further the vnity of the Church of CHRIST Indeed it must be confessed and cannot bee denied that the religion established yeelds his Maiestie the authority due vnto him which is more then the Romish yeelds to the Soueraigne Princes of her profession and yet no more then CHRIST and his Apostles in practise yeelded and in precept command And yet withall it cannot be denied but some of his Maiesties ancestours partly through the insensible incrochment of some ambitious Popes and partly through the neglect of some weake kings did part indeed with some of their authority to bestow it vpon that Church to which you intitle Christ yet that they reserued to themselues a power euen in Ecclesiasticall causes I haue already made sufficiently to appeare in mine answere to the 16 section of the first chapter and in diuers other places to which I wil presume to adde that which his Maiesty hath published to the world touching this very point in his Premonition to all Christian Princes and States My Predecessors ye see of this kingdome euen when the Popes triumphed in their greatnesse spared not to punish any of their Subiects that would preferre the Popes obedience to theirs euen in Church matters so farre were they then from acknowledging the Pope their temporall Superiour or yet from doubting that their owne Church men were not their Subiects And now I will close vp all these examples with an Acte of Parliament in King Richard the II. his time whereby it was prohibited that none should procure ● benefice from Rome vnder paine to be put out of the kings protection And thus may ye see that what those kings successiuely one to another by foure generations haue acted in priuate the same was also maintained by a publike law By these few examples now I hope I haue sufficiently cleared my selfe from the imputation that any ambition or desire of nouelty in me should
how hath their multitude intangled the Christian world yet must no man dare open his mouth to complaine of that We reade of Luther that when he heard his books by publike order were burnt in Rome he as solemnely burnt the Canon law at Wittenberge We haue not proceeded neither thinke wee it fit to proceed so farre but haue rather chosen out of that dunghill to seeke for a pearle which hauing found we are content to keepe and as occasion serues to make vse of We haue not wholly abrogated the Canon law but wee retaine it in part though not as receiuing strength from the Popes authoritie who for any thing I know hath no more right of making lawes for vs then wee haue for him but from the gouernours of our owne Church Neither did the Kings of France in the erection of their Vniuersities receiue it any otherwise then to vse at their own discretiō not to oblige them as a law or if it did the power of it was deriued from their owne approbation not from Romes imposition and therefore haue they expresly and by name forbidden the 6th Booke of the Decretals to bee read in their Vniuersities as lawe as being expresly against the lawes and liberties of the Gallican Church Now if they refuse one part they might in my iudgement by the same reason if they found it inconuenient or disagreeable reiect the whole and I thinke they would not stand much if occasion serued vpon the casting off of the Canon lawe who could by no meanes yet bee induced to the receiuing of the Canons of the Council of Trent A notable instance hereof wee haue euen in the depth of Popery in our owne Countrey At the Parliament of Merton it was proposed that children borne before marriage might bee adiudged legitimate according to the rule and practise of the Canon law They all made answere with one voice Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari we wil not yeeld to the change of the lawes of England by which it appeares that they receiued not in those very times all the Popes Canons as lawes and those which they receiued they had not the force of lawes because the Pope imposed thē but because themselues entertained them in that nature and to that purpose ratified them Mr. Doctor need not marueile then if our Parliament now make lawes to the same purpose and by the same authority as they ratified those The Summons of Parliament euer since the time of King Henry the V. and how long before I know not haue in one constant forme and tenour made mention that the Parliament is summoned to consult de negotijs statum defensionem Regni Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae contigentibus of businesses concerning the State and defence of the Realme and Church of England Among other Kings S. Edward begins his lawes with this protestation that it was his Princely care Vt populum Dei super omnia Sanctam Ecclesiam regat gubernet To rule and gouerne Gods people and aboue all the Church of God And before him Ina k●ng of the West Saxons professeth that hee called a Councill of his Bishops and Senators that they might consult of matters De salute animarum Statu regni touching the saluation of their soules and the State of the kingdome And therefore doeth our chiefe Antiquarie rightly distinguish our Courts into Ecclesiasticall Ciuill and mixt which hee makes the Parliament as beeing compounded of both and consequently capable to determine of matters of both natures though I must needes say the case is somewhat altered from ●ormer times when not onely the Arch-bish●ps the Bishops the Abbots and Priors whose number was double to th●t which now it is and litle inferiour to the ●e●porall Lords sate in thhe igher House of Pa●liament and had con●luding vo●ces but the bodie of the Clergie and Cathedrall ●hurches had their Proctours amongst the Commons as may be c●llected by diuers of our Statutes in print but no● that the number of the Lords Spirituall in the higher House is ●essened and the others are cleane excluded the lower House mee thinkes it should stand with reason and equitie that th● li●ertie of making of lawes or Canons in Church-matters should bee referred and reserued by his Maiesties gracious fauour and with his Royall assent to Church-men assembled in their Conuocation who are presumed to be most able and willing to establish good and wholesome Constitutions and to reforme what is amisse Thus in the yeere 1603 at his Maiesties first entrance into this kingdome by vertue of hi● Prerogatiue Royall and Supreame authority in causes Ecclesiasticall did hee graunt lic●nce and free power vnto them to treate and agree vpon such Ordinances as they should thinke necessary and conuenient for the honour and seruice of Almighty God and the good and quiet of the Church and afterward being by them agreed vpon and throughly considered by his Ma●estie out of his princely inclination to maintaine the present estate and gouernment of the Church of England hee not onely co●firmed them by his Royall Assent but by the same authoritie commaunded the entertainement and execution of them through the Realme Another matter you fling at is the multitude of Lawyers at this day as i● they were exceedingly increased but if you had read and well obse●ued Foretescues obseruation in this behalfe who wrote about 200. yeeres since being then Chiefe Iustice of England and had compared this time to that you would haue found that the number of that Pro●ession in those dayes was litle lesse then at this day certainely their colledges were then more then now His words are Sunt namque in eo decem hospitia minora et quand●que verò plura quae nominantur hospitia Cancellariae ad quorum quodlibet pertinent centum studentes ad minus et ad aliqua eorum maior in multo numerus licet non omnes in eis semper conueniant Maiorū quatuor sunt ad minimū eorum pertinent in forma praenot at a ducenti studentes aut propè They haue ten lesser houses which they call Innes of Chancerie to euery of which belong one hundred students at least and to some many more though they be not all continually resident in them of the bigger houses they haue ●oure and to each of them in like manner belong two hundred students or thereabout Whereras at this present in some of the Innes of Court there are not 260. and in the greatest little aboue 300. in commons at one time and for the ●nnes of Chancerie they are but eight in number and in most of them not aboue 50. in commons together But if they are increased it may well be imputed not so much to our multitude of statuts as to our long peace the nurse of homebred quarrels or to the dissolution of our Monestaries and that as I conceiue for foure reasons First for that whereas in those dayes when the Monasteries stood many yonger brothers did
or is Caluin charged by any aduersary to ouerthrow any of these so much as by consequence where then is M. Doctors moderation 4 I thinke we shall expect long before that leasure be offered 5 If all English men then your selfe were baptised in that doctrine in which notwithstanding you were not confirmed as you ought or at lea●t wise it was not sufficiently confirmed in you 6 It was touched indeed but not prooued 7 That iust treatise will prooue nothing els but an vniust calumnie if by Caluinisme you vnderstand Caluins doctrine 8 My Table of comparison here annexed to mine answere will manifest many plaine contradictions and that in the mainest points of doctrine 9 Wee professe the patience of doues but not of asses such as you would prooue vs to bee if you make vs in that to beleeue what you promise to prooue 10 It is the obstinacie of the Church of Rome that inforceth vs to be at warres with her 11 Whether the contradiction of the doctrine which you here confesse but denyed before rather argue the corruptions of State from whence they come then are argued by the grounds of that Religion whereupon they stand we shall haue fitter opportunitie to examine in the Sections following 1 My Lord of Ely 1 The words of the Bull are these Impia mysteria instituta ad Caluini praescriptum à se suscepta obseruata etiam à sub ditis s●ruari mandauit 2 Obserue their ye●rely Catalogues that come from the Mart of Frankeford 3 I haue in mine hands Letters written frō Beza to Archbishop Whitgift and from him againe to Beza wherein they both acknowledge that we agree in the substance of true religion Eliz. 13. Art 35. 36. 1 How could it be for the ea●e of his later wiues and their children since the breach was made vpon the taking of his second wife or ●ather his first if his marriage with Queene K●ther●ne were a nullitie and that before hee had any childe by her 2 Yet hereafter you goe about to prooue that in temporall respects the Romish religion is the fittest to giue contentment to the seuerall members of the State 3 That vntimely growing together would rather haue beene a cause of festring and rankling so that the breach is kept open rather vpon iudgement then vpon affection 4 You make the King the authour of it who should haue excluded him or called him to an account Gregory 7 Re●● lib. 7. ●pist 1. 〈◊〉 3. concil pa. 1244 edit B●●ij 1 Were not those fauorites fauorers of the Romish religion 2 If they were Saints why did you still pray for them as if they had bene in Purgatory 3 Of these two last you may say as they in the 19. of the Acts who made siluer shrines for their great Goddesse Diana By this craft we haue our wealth 1 M. Cambden in his description of Worcestershire 2 By the common lawes of England it is euid●nt 〈◊〉 no man 〈◊〉 he be Ecclesiasticall or haue Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction can haue inheritance of tythes My L Cook● in his fi●t part of reports 2● Ed. 3. lib. Ass. pl. 75. 3 Were not the fire in Purga●ory in which the ●oules of those dead are supposed to be very hote the fire in the Popes and Monks kitchins would quickely be very cold 1 Your pompous and empty shewes in Gods seruice well deserue that title of goodly gay nothings 2 Satisfaction and penance I take to be both one in the language of Rome though you seem to put a differēce betweene them 3 Whether the people were kept in obedience by the Popes authority let the manifold troubles by his meanes raised testifie 1 What carnall minded Priest or Monke would not rather entertaine varietie of Concubines then be tyed to one wife Sacerdotibus magna ratione sublat●s nuptias 〈◊〉 restitu●nd●● vider● * 1 Tim. 5. 8. 1 Those doctrines being set on foote and maintained as I haue shewed before long before our diuision from Rome might well cause it but could not be caused by it 1 You had smal reason to make him an enemie to Dukes saue only for not betraying his Citie to the Duke of Sauoy 2 Why his doctrine should bee so pleasing to the common people I see no reason but onely the force of trueth since it restraineth them of much liberty which the Romish affordeth 3 They were fallen out with their Duke and yet pretended to him whereas in trueth the Duke pretended to them not they to him Duke Amadius indeed got that donation from Pope Martin but neither himselfe nor any of his successours could euer enioy the possession and as I heare Philibertus their present Duke publikely renounced his pretence vnto it in the last assembly of the Protestants of France at Grenoble 4 Better an young reformer then an olde apostate 5 Hee found the substance of it in the Scriptures though not the forme or method 6 Your faith of Rome comes not so farre as a strong imagination it contents it selfe with a bare speculation or naked apprehension some reprobates going as farre in beleeuing and all diuels farther 7 B●zaes words are Eiurato pal●m Papatu by which I take to be vnderstood the renouncing of the Papacie or the Popes authority not the swearing of all Poperie to be false or the abi●●ing of a mans hope of attaining the Popedome as a relapsed ●riar lately expounded himselfe 8 That which was affected by Gods speciall prouidence in their often and miraculous deliuerances you maliciously ascribe to fortune and the helpe of their neighbours How could the Bishop and the Duke be both their ancient gouernours Method hist. cap. 6. 1 Tom. 2. par● 1. 2 In the 〈◊〉 part of his Sermons against Caluin preached at Thurin 〈◊〉 1582. 1 Th●u which teachest another man should not steale doest thou steale 4 So that a man might truely say of them as the O rator doth of some of his time Prouenie●ant ad rompub noui orator●● adolescentuli 5 See no man despise thy youth Tit. 6 Me non esse pecuniosum si quibusdam viuus non persuadeo mors tamen ostendet 7 M. Hooker in his Preface to his Ecclesiasticall discipline 8 B●zaes words are Pl●risque ex collegi● timiditate turbas fugi●ntibus * Ierem. 6. 16. 1 You haue made your obseruation good by your owne affecting of n●ueltie in the change of your religion 2 There must needs be more libertie in that pr●fession where indu●gences are so rise and dispensations so easie 3 If by the old Clergie you meane the ancient forme of Ecclesiasticall gouernement it remaines at this day vnaltered 4 The admiring of all that comes from beyond seas may better bee applied to your Romane Catholikes then any other to whom omn● longinquum pro magnifico est as also their com●orting one another with reports 5 But by the Papists it is condemned as heresie 6 I cannot possibly conceiue