alterum diem Deo volente Qui te seruet Illustrissime Domine Londini VIII Eid Sept. MDCXIII Tuae Reuerentiae obseruantiss cultor IS CASAVBONVS Right Reuerend my Gracious Lord I Send vnto your Grace the Letter whereof you haue heard The Letter was sent me with intent it should be communicated vnto the King but I thought it fitter to bee suppressed and to be shewed vnto none For I cannot approue the drift of that learned man who wrâ—te the Letter Wherefore I answered him forâ—â—with and with many words aduised him to desist from that purpose I brought him many reasons why I certainely beleeued it was folly or rather frensie to hope for any good from the Romish Phalaris for that very terme I vsed who laughs at our euils if there be any amongst vs. I laid before his eyes how auerse the Peeres of the Romish Church are from all equitie specially Bellarmine of whose impiety I wrote at large vnto him I set before his eyes with how great danger to himselfe he seemed to become the Popes Patron I alledged testimonies of Matthew Paris of the great misery of England when it was vnder the Popes obedience I added the example of that Narbonois who of late sent vnto the Kings MAIESTY a booke of the like argument that being commanded by the KING to say my mind I professed my detestation thereof and that it was his MAIESTIES will to haue some animaduersions set in the margent of the booke After which what became of Carier I know not This I thought good to signifie vnto your Grace but I expected vntill you were returned vnto the Citie for the publishing of my booke stayes meat home I haue other weighty matters whereof to aduise with your Grace within this day or two God willing who preserue you my gracious Lord. London Sept. 6. 1613. Your Graces most respectiue Obseruer ISA. CASAVBON B. C. 17. There is a statute in England made by King Henry the VIII to make him supreame head of the Church in spirituall and Ecclesiasticall causes which Statute enioynes all the subiects of England on paine of death to beleeue and to sweare they doe beleeue that it is true and yet all the world knowes if King Henry the VIII could haue gotten the Pope to diuorce Queene Katherine that he might marrie Anne Bullen that Statute had neuer been made by him and if that title had not enabled the King to pull downe Abbeys and religious houses and giue them to Lay men the Lords and Commons of that time would neuer haue suffered such a Statute to be made This Statute was continued by Queene Elizabeth to serue her owne turne and it is confirmed by your Maiestie to satisfie other men and yet your Maiestie yeeldeth the Church of Rome to be the mother Church and the Bishop of Rome to bee the chiefe Bishop or Primate of all the Westerne Churches which I doe also verely beleeue and therfore I doe verely thinke he hath or ought to haue some spirituall iurisdiction in England and although in mine yonger dayes the fashion of the world made me sweare as other did for which I pray God forgiue mee yet I euer doubted and I am now resolued that no Christian man can take that oath with a safe conscience neither will I euer take it to gaine the greatest preferment in the world G. H. 17. The Statute here intended can be none other then the Sâ—tute 26. of H. VIII Cap. 1. for that is the first Statute that medleth with the Supremacie which Statute is as the Common Lawyers terme it Statutum declaratiuum not introductiuum noui iuris as doth clearely appeare by the Preamble which hath these words Albeit the Kings Maiestie iustly and rightfully is and ought to bee taken and accepted supreame head of the Church of England and so is recognized by the Clergie in their Conuocation yet neuerthelesse for corroboration and confirmation thereof Be it enacted that the King shall bee taken and accepted Supreme head c. So that the Doctor is fowly mistaken to say that there was a Statute made by K. Henry the VIII to make him Supreme head for it was his ancient right that made him so and it was his Clergie that had acknowledged him to be so before the making of this Statâ—te nay the very phrase and letter of this Statute it selfe doeth purposely renounce the power of making and assumes onely the authority of confirming Whereby it is cleare that Henrie VIII made not a statute to make himselfe Supreme in Ecclesiasticall causes as Mr. Doctor affirmeth but to confirme those Statutes and Rights which his noble Progenitors as iuâ—tly challenged to belong to their Crown as the Bishops of Rome vniustly pretended to be annexed to their Myter And where he sayes that the Statute which according to his vnderstanding made him Supreme head did also enioyne the Subiect to beleeue and sweare it tâ— bee true it is manifest that there is not any mention at all of any oath in that Statute but it is true indeede that in the 28. of Henry VIII chap. 10. there is an oath of Supremacie ordeined the refusall whereof by some certaine persons enioyned by that Act to take it was made high Treason And herein againe is the Doctour deceiued nay which is worse seeketh to deceiue others for onely some certaine persons were bound by that Statute to take the oath and not all the Subiects of England as he falsely surmiseth Anno 35. Henry VIII cap. 1. the oath of Supremacie ordeined by 28. was repealed and a new forme of oath prescribed and extended to more persons but neuer to all in generall The same Parliament Cap. 3. enioyneth that the stile of Supreme head be receiued and vsed and this was all that was done by Henry VIII in the point of Supremacie by way of Statute So that to say as Master Doctor doth that all the Subiects in England are bound vpon paine of death to beleeue the Supremacie is a malicious fiction in two respects First touching the persons enioyned to take the oath and lyable to the punishment and then againe as touching the offence for that beliefe alone which is a secret inclination of the minde knowne onely to God the searcher of the heart and not issuable nor tryable by any Law humane should be made an offence punishable by death is in it selfe so absurde as it cannot but appeare to bee a false imputation to charge our Law-makers therewithall Lastly whereas hee sayes that Henry the VIII would neuer haue made that Statute if he could haue gotten the Pope to haue diuorced Queene Katherine that he might haue married Anne Boleine it is cleare and all the world may know that if King Henry would haue ioyned with Francis the French King in the warre of Naples against Charles the Emperour the Pope would not haue stucke to haue giuen way to that diuorce for the better procuring of which Combination hee did not onely
hee concluded a match betwixt his sonne Prince Edward and Queene Mary of Scotland that as his father had vnited the white and the redde Roses in the royall branches of Yorke and Lancaster so his sonne might vnite the Lions passant and rampant in the armes of England and Scotland but it so pleased God that that match vpon occasion fell asunder and that happy vnion was reserued to our times Now for Queene Elizabeths feare those of her Sexe indeed by their nature are fearefull and great Princes by reason of the place they stand in are â—ealous specially of the heire apparent if hee be potent if neere at hand if remote in blood if in Religion different yet all the feare she conceaued from his Masties Mother arose partly from the practises of the French with whose King she matched and partly of the Seminarie Priests and Iesuites and pretended Catholikes euer making her the highest marke and pitch of their ambition till they had brought her to the lowest ebbe of her misfortune which was also hastned through her Subiects feare rather then their own as appeares by her seuerall answeres and replies to the demands of the Parliament and propositions of her counsel touching that point as also in that as soone as the newes of it was brought to her not thinking on any such matter she receiued it with indignation her countenance her speech shewed it with excessiue griefe for a while she stood as it were astonished and afterwards betook her selfe in priuate to mourning and weeping shee sharpely entertained her counsellers remooued them from her presence and commanded Dauison her Secretarie whom shee accused of being more foreward and officious in that businesse then she either desired or expected to be brought to his triall in the Starre Chamber where he was deepely censured in a mulcte of ten thousand pound and imprisonment at the Queenes pleasure but her displeasure was so heauy against him that hee continued there long and assoone as the excesse of her griefe gaue her leaue she thus briefly wrote with her owne hande to the King of Scotland now our gracious Soueraigne Most deare Brother I Wish you vnderstood but felt not with what vnmatchable griefe my minde is perplexed by reason of that wofull accident executed against my meaning which my pen trembling to mention you shall vnderstand by this my cousin I shall request you that as God and many others can testifie mine innocencie herein so you would rest assured that had I commanded it I would neuer haue denyed it I am not of so base a minde as either to feare to doe that which is iust or to denie it being done I am not so degenerate or of a Spirit so ignoble but as it is no Princely part to couer the inward intention of the minde with the outward speech so will I neuer dissemble mine actions but labour rather that they may appeare to the world in their proper colours Be you therefore fully resolued as the trueth is that had I intended such a matter I would neuer haue cast it vpon others neither haue I reason to charge my selfe with that which I intended not For other matters this Bearer will impart them to you and for my selfe beleeue it there is none liuing that loues you better and more intirely or is more carefully prouident for you and your good and if any happen to suggest any thing to the contrary perswade your selfe that such thereby aime at their owne aduantage rather then yours God keepe you long and long in safetie Yet out of the blacke cloud of this sad accident did the disposition of diuine prouidence as some wise men haue obserued most clearely shine in as much as those things which both Q. Elizabeth of England Q. Mary of Scotland chiefly desired and shot at in all their consultations were by this meanes effected The latter as at her death she witnessed wished nothing more earnestly then that the two diuided Realmes of England and Scotland might bee vnited in the person of her dearest sonne The former that true Religion together with the safetie and securitie of the Kingdome might bee preserued entire and that God was pleased to grant both their wishes to our comfort wee feele and can not but most willingly acknowledge And for his Maiestie he both signified to Queene Elizabeth by Sir Francis Walsinghame in the yeere 1583. almost foure yeeres before his mothers death that he would most constantly maintaine the same Religion which was then publikely receiued and againe sent her the same message by Sir Robert Sidney about two yeeres after So that she needed not to feare his right in that regarde and for his affection otherwise hee both testified it before her death in the Preface to his Basilicon Doron where he thus speakes In England reignes a lawfull Queene who hath so long with so great wisedome and felicitie gouerned her kingdomes as I must in true sinceritie confesse that the like hath not beene read or heard of either in our time or since the dayes of the Roman Emperour Augustus And since her death hee hath yeelded the like testimonies of her aswell in his Apologie as also in his Premonition where he remembers that being chosen to be his Godmother shee sent into Scotland the Font wherein he was baptized So that if by outward actions and speeches we may make coniecture of the inward thoughts and Passions of the minde shee was so farre from fearing his Maiesties right to the Crowne as she endeuoured rather by all conuenient meanes to aduance it neither doe I find it recorded by her friends or obiected by her enemies that during all her reigne vpon any occasion shee euer conceiued a thought or cast out a word toward the setting vp of any other Successour or the preiudicing of his right Nay in the yeere 1587. she sent the Lord Hunsdon gouernour of Berwike into Scotland to giue him notice that the Iesuiticall faction euen while his mother liued proiected how they both might be put by their right and the Spaniard brought in and withall was presented him an instrument subscribed by the Iudges of England assuring him that the sentence passed vpon his mother could no way bee preiudiciall in law to the right of his title But it will be sayd shee discouered her feare in stopping any declaration of the heire apparent specially being vrged thereunto by the three estates assembled in Parliament in the yeere 1566. whereas in trueth she in reading might haue obserued that few or no Successors in collaterall line had beene declared aâ— Lewis Duke of Orleans was not declared heire to Charles the eight yet succeded peaceably that it hath oâ—ten prooued dangerous to name a successour not only to the possessours but sometimes to the Successours themselues as it did to Roger Mortimer Earle of March designed heire to the Crowne by Richard the second his sonne Edmund being helde in prison and there pining away vpon none other
very honest men and such as I did loue with all my heart I was very loth to dissent from them in priuate much more loth to oppose them in publike and yet seeing I must needes preach I was lothest of all to oppugne mine owne conscience together with the faith wherein I was baptized and the soules of those to whome I preached neuerthelesse hauing gotten this ground to worke vpon I began to comfort my selfe with hope to proue that the religion established in England was the same at the least in part L which now was and euer had beene held in the Catholique Church the defects whereof might be supplied whensoeuer it should please God to moue your Maiestie thereunto without abrogating that which was alrâ—ady by Law established which I still pray for and am not altogether out of M hope to see and therfore I thought it my duety as farre as I durst rather by N charitable constructions to reconcile things that seemed different that so our soules might bee for euer saâ—ed in vnity then by malitious calumniations to maintaine quarrels that so mens turnes might for a time bee serued in dissention G. H. 8. L How then can we bee esteemed heretiques who broach their owne fantasies since holding as the Church of England doth we hold the same that the Catholike Church hath euer held M Truely you had little reason to hope to liue to see thosâ— vnwarrantable Supplies you speake of by his Maiesties command aswell in regard of your owne infirmities of body as his MAIESTIES strong resolution of minde to the contrarie but it may bee your intelligence deceiued you sure wee are your hope failed you N Touching your opinion of Reconciliation whether it may be thought to proceede of charitie or arrogancie as also whether it be probable or in a maner possible as the case now stands I shall haue fitter opportunitie to discusse hereafter then in this place Yet giue mee leaue by the way to tell you that in my iudgement you call that Vnitie which is indeed distraction it tending to nothing els but a rent and a drawing of vs further from other reformed Churches and neâ—rer to the Church of Rome for if this were not your meaning the same charitable constructions would haue serued to recoÌ„cile things that to you looking through the false spectacles of preiudice passion seemed verie different betwixt vs other reformed Churches abroad much better easier then for the reconciling of those maine broad differences which are indeed betwixt vs and the Church of Rome Of which I feare I may too truly say as Abraham doth to the rich glutton in hel between you and vs there is a great gulfe set so that they which would goe from hence to you can not neither can they come from thence to vs. I speake in regard of Reconciliation in differences of Religion for otherwise but too manie are suffered to goe from hence thither and hauing sucked their poison to returne againe at their pleasures for the vomitting of it out amongst vs notwithstanding the sharpe penalties and great gulfe set betweene vs. B. C. 9. In this course although I did neuer proceed any farther then law would giue me leaue yet I found the Puritans and Caluinists and all the creatures of Schisme to be my vtter enemies who were also like the sonnes of Zeruiah too strong for Dauiâ— himselfe 2. Sam 3. 39. but I well perceiued that all temperate and vnderstanding men who had no interest in the Schisme were glad to heare the trueth honestly and plainely preached vnto them and my hope was by patience and continuance I should in the ende vnmaske hypocrisie and gaine credite to the comfortable doctrine of Antiquitie euen amongst those also who out of misinformation and preiudice did as yet most mislike it And considering with my selfe that your right to the Crowne came onely by O Catholikes and was ancienter then the Schisme which would very faine haue vtterly extinguished it and that both your P disposition by nature your amitie with Catholike Princes your speeches and your proclamations did at the beginning all tend to peace and vnitie I hoped that this endeuour of mine to enforce Catholike Religion at the least as farre as the Common prayer Booke and Catechisme would giue leaue should be well accepted of your MAIESTIE and bee as an introduction vnto farther peace and vnitie with the Church of Rome G. H. 9. O His MAIESTIES right to the Crowne is double the one from his mother lineally descending of the first match of the Ladie Margaret daughter to Henrie the VII and sister to Henrie the VIII Kings of England with Iames the fourth King of Scotland his MAIESTIES great Grandfather who though she imbraced that Religion in which shee was brought vp being neuer acquainted with any other yet as his Maiesty obserueth in his Monitorie Preface to the Christian Princes shee disliked some of the superstious Ceremonies and abhorred those new opinions which the Iesuits call Catholike His second right aboue any other preâ—endor was from his father descended of the second match of the sayd Ladie Margaret with Archibald Douglas Earle of Angush being brought vp in Q. Elizabeths Court whose father the Duke of Lenox professing the reformed religion as well appeared by his practise in his life in receiuing the Sacrament after the manner of the reformed Churches and by the confession of his faith in the hearing of many ministers at his death in all likelihood his Maiesties father himselfe should be that way affected though Cardinall Bellarmine vpon the relation of I know not whom would faine haue it otherwise And whereas you say that schisme would faine haue extinguished his Maiesties right it is well knowen that those whom you call schismatikes were the chiefe instruments vnder God to preserue his Maiesties not onely right but life against the fury of some whom you call Catholikes both before his mothers death and since P From his Maiesties progenitors you come to his owne disposition by nature his amity with Catholike Princes his speaches his Proclamations which all tended at the beginning you say to peace and vnitie True indeed it is that his Maiestie by nature is disposed to mercy his amitie with Christian Princes argues his charitie and heroical ingenuitie voide of ielousie suspition euen where occasioÌ„ may seem to be giuen his speaches and Proclamations were not bloody yet all this could not serue your turne as a sufficieÌ„t warrant to endeauor a peace with the Church of Rome in matters of religion no more then a league with the great Turke for traffike should giue occasion of ioyning with him in Mahometisme but had you withall with the other eye reflected a little backe vpon his Maiesties education from his very Cradle the choice of his aliance in mariage his counsel to his sonne touching the matter of religion in the first booke of his Basilicon Doron his
and more then must be granted by vs it reaching to the deposition of Princes from their thrones and the disposition of their Crownes when his Holinesse shall iudge it fit for the vnity of the Church as well appeared in his Buls both against King Henry the father and Queene Elizabeth the daughter And thus farre Cardinall Perron that peaceable man and your great Patron expressed himselfe in the last assemblie of the three estates of France for which the Pope gaue him and the rest of the Clergy who stucke to him in that businesse as great thankes as if they had saued Saint Peters shippe from sinking both the Cardinall and the Pope supposing as it seemes that those sparkes flew into France from the fire of England howsoeuer sure it is they were quenched by the water of Tyber B. C. 15. So that whereas my hope was that by finding out the corruptions of the Church of Rome I should grow further in loue with the Church of England and ioyfully returne home and by inueighing against the Papists both enioy my present preferments and obtaine more and more I saw the matteâ— was like to fall out cleane contrary It is true indeed that there are many corruptionsâ— in all States God hath not his wheat field in this world wherein the deuill hath no tares growing and there are not tares more ranke then those that grow among the wheat for optimi corruptio pessima and where grace aboundeth if it be contemned there sinne aboundeth much more But seeing my reading and experience hath now taught me that the trueth of Christian Religion taught and practised at this day in the Church of Rome and all the obedient members thereof is the very same in substance which was preâ—igured and prophesied from the beginning of the world perfected by CHRIST himselfe deliuered to his Apostles and by them and their Successours perpetually and vniuersally practised vntill this day without any W substantiall alteration and that the new religion in X England wherein it doth differ hath no ground but either the pleasure of the Prince and Parliament or the common crie and voyce of the people nor no constancie or agreement with it selfe what should I now doe It is not in my power not to know that which I doe know nor to doubt of that which I haue spent so much time and taken so much paines and bestowed so much cost and made so many trials to find And I know if I should yeeld to be reconciled to the Church I should be in this world in all likelihood vtterly vndone and which grieued me more I should bee reiected of your Maiestie my most redoubted Lord and Master and despised by all my deare friends and louers in England G. H. 15. W The Church of Rome holds indeed the substance of Christian Religion in profession but yet by consequence shakes the foundation of it as it holds the death of Christ to be satisfactory for sinne and yet adding thereunto her owne meritorious satisfaction consequently by the latter she ouerthrowes the former for If righteousnesse be by the Law then Christ died without a cause and in reason impossible it is if traditions be held of equall valew with the Scriptures for the constituting of substantiall points but that in short time there should ensue a substantiall alteration and he that knowes not that the Church of Rome holds many things now as parts of the Catholike faith which it helds not in former ages knowes little what hath bene anciently held or now is X If by the religion of England you vnderstand that which is by Law established as in coÌ„mon construction you cannot otherwise be vnderstood you coÌ„demne your selfe out of your owne mouth in as much as you acknowledge before that the religion established by law in England was the same saue onely it was somewhat defectiue which now is and euer had beene held in the Catholike Church and yet here you say it hath no ground but the pleasure of the Prince and Parliament wheras in trueth we build vpon the Rocke of the Scriptures but you vpon the sand of traditions and which of vs hath the sounder foundation I appeale no farther then reason it selfe to iudge You as though you were not yet dead from the ordinances of the world burden your selues with traditions as touch not taste not handle not which all perish with the vsing and are after the commandements and doctrines of men but we haue a most sure word of the Prophets taking heede thereto according to S. Peters counsell as to a light that shineth in a darke place and as our ground is sure so is our agreement constant and vniforme in all points materiall and necessary to saluation whereas in the building of your tower of Babel such diuersitie of languages is heard that there is hardly any exposition of Scripture or point in controuersie which hath not bene or is called into question either directly or by consequent by some that liued and died in that Church which you call Catholike as will easily appeare to him who shall turne ouer the volumes of of Cardinall Bellarmine which is the true reason as I suppose that his workes are not allowed to bee read of all but of publike professours and such others as haue speciall permission from their Superiours B. C. 16. These were my thoughts at the Spaw which did so vexe and afflict my soule as that the waters could doe my body no good at all but rather much hurt neuerthelesse I auoided the company of Catholikes abstained from the Church and did both dispute and write against the Church of Rome as occasion was offered I still hoped that time would giue better counsell and therefore resolued to goe from the Spaw to Heidelberge to doe my duetie there in the meane time I thought with my selfe it may be God hath mooued his Maiesties heart to peace and reconciliation I knowe his disposition was so in the beginning and I remember M. Casaubon told me when I brought him out of France that his errand was nothing else but to mediate peace betweene the Church of Rome and the church of England Therefore I thought before I would submit my selfe to the Church of Rome I would write vnto M. Casaubon such a letter as he might shew vnto your Maiestie containing such conditions as I thought might satisfie your Maiestie if they were performed by the Church of Rome The copie of which letter is too long here to set down But when M. Casaubon answered me that he knew your Maiestie was resolued to haue no societie with the Church of Rome vpon any condition what soeuer and that it would be my vndoing if those my letters should come to your Maiesties hands or of those that bare the sway I began to despaire of my returne into England vnlesse I would ouerthrow both the health of my bodie and the quiet of my
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 iâ— 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 â—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 swâ—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 froâ— 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 â—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
preiudice of any honest man in England to see some vnity betwixt the Church of England and her mother the Church of Rome And now hauing declared the meanes of my couersion to Catholike religion I will briefly also shew vnto you the hopes I haue to doe your Maiesty no ill seruice therein G. H. 21. It is true indeed that those Statutes which you alledge are not seuerall in themselues but members of the same And it appeares well though you had not professed it that at the writing hereof you had not your bookes about you you affirme things vncertaine so confidently and things certaine so falsly But you are sure you say they make such fellonies and treasons as were the greatest vertues of the Primitiue Church whereas wee are more sure that the greatest vertues and fattest sacrifices and shortest cut to heauen as they are now esteemed in the Church of Rome were in the Primitiâ—e Church held none other but murders and parricides and felonies and treasons Thou doest promise saith Augustine to Patilian that thou wilt reckon many of the Emperours and iudges which by persecuting you perished and concealing the Emperours thou mâ—anest two iudges or deputies why didst thou not name the Emperors of thy Communion wert thou afraid to bee accused as guilâ—y of treason where is your courage which feare not to kill your selues To say the Emperours perished for persecuting was treason in his time in our age you thinke it much that reproching of Princes as tyrants and heretiques and aiding the Pope with your perswasions absolutions and rebellions to take their Crownes from them should be punished or adiudged treason how beit a certaine trueth it is that there is no conspiracie so pernitious and dangerous to the state as that which is whispered into mens eares and conueyed into their hearts vpon a sense of deuotion and outwardly couered with a shew of religion notwithstanding as true it is that in England none are put to death for Caâ—holâ—ke religion no nor for the Romish which you call Catholike as hath beene at large iustified in a booke written by a Peere of the Realme intiâ—uled the defence of the iustice of England and is verified by his Maiesty in his Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance in the very entrance of his answere to the Popes first Breue where he not onely cleareth himselfe at large from this imputation but the late Queene that blessed defunct Lady as he there calleth her in whose proceedings saith he who list to compare with an indifferent eye the manifold intended iâ—uasions against her whole kingdome the forreine practises the internall publike rebellions the priuate plots and machinations poysonings murthers and all sorts of deuises dayly set abroach and all these wares continually fostered and fomented from Rome together with the continuall corrupting of her Subiects aswell by temporall bribes as by faire and spaciâ—us promises of eternall felicitie and nothing but booke vpon booke publikely set foorth by her fugitiues for approbation of so holy dâ—signes who list I say with an indifferent eye to looke on the one part vpon these infinite and intollerable temptations and on the other part vpon the iust yet moderate punishmeÌ„t of a part of these hainous offenders shal easily see that that blessed defunct Lady was as free from persecution as thâ—y shall free these hellish instruments from the honour of Martyrdome And againâ— his Maiestie maintaineth the same in his Premonition to Christian Princes not farre from the conclusion As for the cause of their punishment sayth he speaking of Romish Catholikes I doe constantly maintaine that which I haue sayd in my Apologie that no man either in my time or the late Queenes euer dyed here for his Conscience for let him be neuer so deuout a Papist nay though he professe the same neuer so constantly his life is in no danger by the Law if he breake not out into some outward act expressely against the words of the Law or plot some vnlawfull or dangerous practise or attempt Priests and Popish Churchmen onely excepted that receiue orders beyond the Seas who for the manifold treasonable practises that they haue kindled and plotted in this countrey are discharged to come home againe vnder paine of Treason after their receauing of the sayd orders abroad and yet without some other guilt in them then their bare home comming haue none of them beene euer put to death Hitherto his Maiestie Whereas on the otherside wee iustly complaine that they execute our professours though strangers for Religion and only for Religion and in that most bloodie and barbarous manner specially where the Inquisition is in force that whore of Babylon being drunke and yet not filled with the blood of the Saints And whereas you impute crâ—elty to our Lawes what tragicall cruelties were exercisâ—d in Queene Maries dayes euen vpon women and children nay which is most odious and vnnaturall vpon women great with childe I pray God as well forget as some yet aliue well remember Now as you holde and handle our Martyrs worse then Traytors So your most notorious Traâ—tors must stand registred in the Calender of Martyrs Not many dayes before Garnet suffered there came to visite him at his lodging in the Tower certaine choise Diuines amongst whome the chiefe were My Lordes the Bishops of Bath and Wells of Lincolne and Leichfield as now they are among other questions one of them proposed this Whether if the Church of Rome afâ—er his execution should declare him a Martyr hee did approoue thereof hee deepely sighing and shrinking vp his shoulders made this answere Me a Martyr O what a Martyr but the Church will nâ—uer doe it and I pray God it be neuer so much as thought vpon Indeed if I had dyed for the Catholike Religion and vnhappie man had beene acquainted with nothing else but that which was reuealed mee in Confession I might perhaps seeme not vnworthy the honor of Martyrdome and merite the iudgement of the Church but now as the case stands I must acknowledge my fault and confesse the sentence of death pronounced against me most iust Then againe doubling and trebling his sighes and shewing tokens of vnfained sorrow I would to God sayeth he what is done might be vndone I could wish that any other chance had befallen me rather then my name should thus be stained with the blot of Treason which offence though most grieuous yet I distrust not but it may be washed away with the teares of repentance and that Christ will haue mercie on me Sure I am that if I had all the world in my power to bestow I would willingly giue all that I might be freed from the guilt and imputation of treason which lies heauie vpon my conscience shall stand recorded in the sentence of my condemnation Notwithstanding all this is hee recorded a Martyr apologized by Eudemon and by Delrio paralelled with Denis the Areopagite What would Mr. Doctour say to this now had wee
her singular vertues and excellencies erected to her euerlasting memorie a princely Monument in the magnificent Chappell of her grandfather Henry the seuenth inscribed with this ensuing Epitaph of her greatnesse Sacred vnto memorie Religion to its primitiue syncerity restored Peace throughly setled Coine to the true value refined Rebellion at home extinguished France neere ruine by intestine mischiefes relieued Netherland supported Spaines Armado vanquished Ireland with Spaniards expulsion and traitors coercion quieted both Vniuersities Reuenues by a law of prouision exceedingly augmented finally all England enriched and xlv yeeres most prudently gouerned ELIZABETH a Queene a Conqueresse a Triumpher the most deuoted to pietie the most happie after lxx yeeres of her life quietly by death departing hath left here in this most famous Collegiate Church which by her was established and refounded these remaines of her mortality vntil at Christs call they shall againe rise immortall Shee died the xxiiij of March the yeere of Saluation MDCII of her reigne xlv of her age lxx For an eternall memoriall Vnto ELIZABETH Queene of England France and Ireland daughter of King Henrie the VIII grandchild to K. Hen. the VII great grandchild to K. Ed. the IIII the mother of this her Countrey the Nurse of Religion and Learning for perfect skill of very many languages for glorious endowments as well of minde as body and for regall vertues beyond her Sex A Prince incomparable IAMES of Great Britaine France and Ireland King inheritor both of her Vertues and Kingdomes to her so well deseruing piously hath this erected Which I haue the rather set downe at large aswel for the reuerence I bare her memorie in whose reigne it is not the least part of my comfort that I was borne and baptized as to commend to posteritie his Maiesties Royall disposition in giuing her right so farre as were it not authorized by his princely testimonie future ages would thinke it fabulous but specially to shew that hee ascribeth all her honour and prosperitie not to the Church of Rome as Mr. Doctor doth or to the religion by him called Catholike but to her deuotion and pietie and the restoring of religion to its primitiue syncerity For with it as shee made the entrance of her reigne so doth hee of her Epitaph both esteeming it as the head spring from whence all that ensuing happinesse did flow and was deriued neither can it in mine vnderstanding bee otherwise ascribed to Rome then in granting that the reputation and renowne which shee wanne was in part gained and much increased by escaping through Gods especiall prouidence euer watchfull ouer her the manifold treasons and frustrating the barbarous attempts that were hatched at Rome and to bee acted by Romish vassals aswell against her person as estate which made her greatest enemies confesse the finger of God is heere and surely had not Rome endeauoured by might and maine to quench and eclipsâ— her light witnesse the Bull of Clement the 7th while shee was yet in her mothers wombe and afterward of Pius and Sixtus and Cardinall Comoes letter to Parrie and Cardinall Allens booke to the Nobilitie of England in the yeere 1588. I am clearely of opinion the beames of her honour had not shined so clearely and gloriously to the world as they did Lastly those singularities which you bring of being a woman a maiden Queene and the last of her Race they were indeed aduantages of admiration but such in my iudgement as rather shew that shee was blessed from heauen then by any earthly meanes in as much as liuing and dying both without the helpe of an husband and hope of an heire from her owne body she notwithstanding proiected and effected so great matters and so much good to the State she gouerned B. C. 5. As for the honour and greatnesse of the Turke and other Infidels as it reacheth no farther then this life so it hath no beginning from aboue this world And if we may beleeue S. Ambrose in Luc. 4. alibâ— those honours are conferred rather by Gods permission then his donation being indeed ordained and ordered by his prouidence but for the sinnes of the people conferred by the Prince that ruleth in the ayre It is true that the Turkish Empire hath now continued a long time but they haue other principles of State to stand vpon the continuall guarde of an hundreth thousand Souldiers whereof most of them know none other Parents but the Emperour the tenure of all his Subiects who holde all in Capite ad voluntatem Domini by the seruice of the Sword their enioyned silence and reuerence in matters of Religion and their facility in admitting other Religions aswell as their own to the hope of saluation and to tolerate them so that they be good Subiects These and such like are principles of great importance to increase an Empire and to maintaine a temporall State But there is no State in Christendome that may endure these Principles vnlesse they meane to turne Turkes also which although some be willing to doe yet they will neither hold in Capite nor hold their peace in Religion nor suffer their King to haue such a guard about him nor admit of Catholike Religion so much as the Turke doeth G. H. 5. You might with the Turke aswell haue ioyned the King of China the Sophie of Persia the Chame of Tartarie the great Magore Presbiter Iohn the like whose estates few Christian Princes exceede or can match in riches and greatnes But that they should haue their estates Conferred on them by the Prince that ruleth in the aire neither Ambrose affirmes it nor is it in it selfe true Saint Ambrose his words are these A Deo potestatum ordinatio amalo ambitio potestatis The ordaining of the power is from God but the ambitious desire not the conferring of it from the diuell Indeed it is his challenge in that chapter To whomsoeuer I will I giue it speaking of the power and glory of earthly Kingdomes but it is the voice of God speaking in the person of wisedome in the 8 th of the Prouerbs By mee Kings raigne and Saint Paul teacheth vs There is no power such as himselfe liued vnder but of God to which purpose it is well sayd of S. Augustine whom M. Doctor pretendeth to follow most among the ancients Qui dedit Mario ipse Cesari Qui Augusto ipse Neroni Qui Vespasiano vel patri vel filio suauissimis imperatoribus ipse Domitiano crudelissimo ne per singulos ire necesse sit Qui Constantino Christiano ipse apostatae Iuliano Hee that gaue it to Marius gaue it to Caesar He that gaue it to Augustus gaue it to Nero He that gaue it to Vespasian the father or his sonne most sweet Emperours gaue it also to Domitian the most cruell and that I should not need to reckon vp the rest in particular He that gaue it to Constantine the Christian gaue it to Iulian the
conspiracies of Romanists plotted against the State and person of our late renowned Soueraigne Had not her Maiesty iust cause then to complaine as she did in open Parliament That shee knew no creature breathing whose life stood hourely in more perill then her owne and that euen in the first entrance into her estate she entred into infinite dangers of life as one that was to wrestle with many and mighty enemies And that it may appeare to the world that his Holinesse could not plead ignorance or innocency in these proceedings I will hereunto annexe the copie of the Cardinals letter to Parry translated out of the Italian originall very worthy in my iudgement not to be buried in forgetfulnesse but to bee commended to the knowledge of succeeding ages SIr his Holinesse hath seene your Letter of the first with the assurance included and cannot but commend the good disposisition and resolution which you write to holde toward the seruice and benefit publike wherein his Holinesse doeth exhort you to perseuer with causing to be brought to effect that which you promise and to the ende you bee so much the more holpen by that good Spirit which hath mooued you thereunto his Holinesse doth grant you Plenary Iudulgence and remission of all your sinnes according to your request assuring you that beside the merit that you shall receiue therefore in heauen his Holinesse will further make himselfe debtour to acknowledge and require your deseruings by all the best meanes he may and so much the more in that you vse the more modesty in not pretending any thing Put therefore to effect your holy and honourable determinations and attend your health and to conclude I offer my selfe vnto you heartily wishing all good and happy successe From Rome the 30. of Ian. 1584. At your disposing N. Card. of Como Now if this bee not directly to make God the authou of treasons as well as of kingdomes to perswade men that they are moued thereunto by the good Spirit that they are not only satisfactory for sinne but meritorious holy honourable for mine owne part I know not what is But to proceede who were they but pretended Catholikes that were authors of the Prince of Aurenge his vntimely death of that bloody and barbarous massacre in France of which one of their own Catholike historians writes Excidat illa dies aeuo nec postera credant Saecula And were not Philopater and Doleman and Rossaeus Peregrinus the bastards of Creswell and Parsons and Reynolds long since censured here at home and lately the seditious bookes of Mariana Becanus Suarez all Romish Catholikes and Iesuites condemned to the fire by the high Court of Parliament of Paris and yet notwithstanding all this and much more that might be brought to this purpose out of his Maiesties Apologie would you now beare him and vs in hand that had it not bene for the Powder-treason we had had little to say against Romish Catholikes before this day Certainely it must needes argue when you thus wrote either your extreme ignorance in not vnderstanding the passages of our estate or extreme malice in publishing the contrary to that which in my iudgement you could not but vnderstand But you demand one king to bee named in all the world that euer receiued honor from Caluinists farther then to be their champion and protectour vntill their turne were serued as if you were ignorant what honour Caluin himselfe yeelded to Francis the first in his Epistle prefixed to his institutions howbeit he were rather a persecutour then a protectour of that profession as appeared by his commending the destruction of Mirandol and Cabrieres to the Parliamēt of Prouence howbeit afterward he repented himselfe of the fact and gaue charge to Henry his sonne to doe iustice vpon the murtherers Henry the III. they forsooke not to the last being persecuted and at last murdered by the leaguers and as for Henry the IV. surnamed the great they not onely stucke close to him in all his distresses when his Romish Catholike subiects banded themselues against him but when hee had quitted his owne and their religion and of their champion became a great patron and benefactour of the Iesuits their most malitious opposites yet did they not cease to honour him still as much as any his most loyall and louing subiects both liuing by their pennes and tongues and persons and states and beeing dead with their teares and desire of search to be made and iustice to bee done vpon such as should bee found to haue any finger in his death Or if you were ignorant of these forraine examples yet could you not but remember that here at home Edward the sixt and Queene Elizabeth of famous memory and our present gracious Soueraigne receiued as much honour from those whome you call Caluinists as euer any prince in the world from his pretended Catholike subiects and that not so much for the seruing of their owne turnes as for conscience sake and the performance of their dueties What turne can they now expect to be serued from Queene Elizabeth being gathered to her fathers yet doth her name remaine alwayes honourable among them and the memoriall of her pretious as the remembrance of Iosias like the composition of the perfume that is made by the art of the Apothecary sweet as hony to all mouthes and as musicke at a banquet of wine wheras many of her Romish Catholike subiects endeuoured what they could to haue taken her heart blood from her beeing liuing and still indeuour what they can to take her good name from her beeing dead At his Maiesties entrance some of them pretended to honour him none more but it was for the seruing of their owne turnes in hope of a toleration for when once they sawe the constancie of his MAIESTIES minde and the vanity of their owne hope they hoped to haue serued him and his posterity such a turne as should haue sounded through the Christian world and haue made the eares of him to tingle that should haue heard it whereas they who receiued not that satisfaction at the conference of Hampton Court which they desired and hoped for continue notwithstanding faithfull and loyall Subiects to their Soueraigne Lastly for Queene Mary though they could expect no good turne from her in regard of their profession but rather all the shrewd turnes that her misguided zeale and the malice of others could heape vpon them yet the Norfolke and Suffolke Protestants were her strongest furtherance to attaine the Crowne and afterward the rest as well as they ceased not to honour her as farre foorth as the honor due to God would giue them leaue except some few who opposed themselues not so much against her Person or Gouernment as against the mariage with a forreiner whose power they feared would bee preiudiciall to the Realme and yet was not this attempt neither seconded or approued by the maine bodie of that profession But all other Caluinists you say doe ouerthrow their
and age and wrought by the frownes and threates of Cardinall Poole then Archbishop of Canterbury the Popes Legate and in England the principall Proctor and Champion for the aduancing of his authority was once brought to acknowledge that shee was a Romane Catholike but herein she did no more then St. Peter did whose successour the Bishop of Rome pretendeth himselfe in denying his Master No more then the Prince of Condie the King of Nauarre and his sister who at the massacre of Paris for feare renounced their Religion and were by the Cardinall of Bourbon reconciled to the Church of Rome though after ward being at liberty they reimbraced their former profession Nay no more then Queene Mary her selfe who being terrified with her Fathers displeasure wrote him a Letter vvith her owne hand yet to be seene in which for euer she renounceth the Bishop of Romes authority in England and acknowledging her Father vnder Christ supreame head of the Church of England confesseth his marriage with her Mother to haue beene vnlawfull and incestuous But I would faine know after Queene Elizabeth came to the wearing of the Crowne by what Catholike opinions shee gaue hope to her neighbour Princes that shee would continue Catholike If it were so as Mr. Doctor would beare vs in hand how was it that the reformed Churches through Christendome applauded her comming to the Crowne as it had beene the appearance of some luckie starre or the rising of some glorious Sunne for their Comfort and reliefe and your pretended Catholikes hung downe their heads as if they had seene some Comeâ— or blazing-starre How she was then affected in religion and so professed her selfe may appeare if no where else yet in Osorius his Epistle which he wrote her not long after her comming to the Crowne where he highly commends her for her wit for her learning for her clemencie for her constancy for her wisdome for her modestie but disswades her by all the arguments he could inuent from the opinions she had conceiued and did expresse in the matter of Religion Pius Quartus doth the like in his letter which he sent her about the same time by the hands of Vincentius Parpalia Abbot of Saint Sauiours who as it appeares in the Letters dated the 5th of May 1560 had priuate instructions to impart to the Queene among which the chiefe were thought to bee as it is reported by the most diligent searcher of truth that if she would reconcile her selfe to the Church of Rome and acknowledge the Supremacie of that See the Pope for his part would bind himselfe to declare the sentence pronounced against her mothers marriage to be vniust to confirme by his authority The English Liturgie and to permit the administration of the Sacrament here in England vnder both kindes By which it appeares that at that time shee then maintained the same opinions which during her life shee altered not And here it may be worth the remembring that the fourteenth day of Ianuary about two moneths after her sisters death as shee passed in her triumphall Chariot through the streetes of London when the Bible was presented vnto her at the little Conduit in Cheape shee receiued the same with both her handes and kissing it layd it to her breast saying That the same had euer been her chiefest delight and should bee the rule by which shee meant to frame her gouernment Before this a Proclamation came foorth that the Letanie the Epistles and Gospels the Decalogue the Creede and the Lords Prayer should bee read in all Churches in the English tongue and though it were the 14th of May after being Whitsunday before the sacrifice of the Masse was abolished and the book of the vniformitie of Common Prayer and the administration of the Sacraments publikely receiued and Iuly following before the Oth of Supremacie was proposed and August before the Images were by authority moued out of the Churches broken and burnt so moderately did shee proceede in this businesse of reformation by steppes and degrees yet is it plaiâ—e aswell by the choyce of those eight whom she added to her sisters Counsell beeing all in profession Protestants which Pius 5 tus in his Bull makes a part of his grieuous complaint and those whom she either restored to their former dignities or aduanced to new being likewise as auerse from the Romane Religion as also by the refusall of Nicholas Heath then Archbishop of Yorke the See of Canterbury by the death of Cardinall Poole who deceased the same day that Queene Mary did being then voide and of the rest of the chiefe Bishops to annoint and consecrate her at her Inauguration it being therefore performed by Owen Oglethorpe Bishop of Carlile by these proceedings I say it is plaine that at her first entrance to the Crowne she sufficiently declared her selfe to bee the same in matter of Religion as afterwards they found her Wherunto if full satisfaction be not yet giuen in this point for farther proofe might be added that when Philip of Spaine wooed her for mariage the funerals of her sister being not yet solemnized The French King by his Agent the Bishop of Engolesme laboured if it had gone forward to stop their dispensation at Rome vnder colour that Queene Elizabeth fauoured the Protestants Religion and the Earle of Feria the Spaniards Agent here in England bore our pretended Catholiks in hand that except that match went forward it could not goe well with them so farre was shee at her first entrance from giuing hope to her neighbours as Mr. Doctor would perswade the world of continuing or turning Catholike by shew of Catholike opinions vnlesse her retaining the ancient forme of Ecclesiasticall policie and the godly Ceremonies vsed in the Primitiue Church be accounted Catholike opinions as in truth if wee take the word Catholike aright they may But no maruell hee should thus boldly and falsely charge the dead since hee spareth not in the same kinde his Maiestie now reigning and by Gods grace long to reigne amongst vs to the confutation of such slanders and confusion of such slanderers Hee goes on and tels vs that all her life long shee caried her selfe so betwixt Catholikes and Caluinists as shee kept them both still in hope But herein he mainely crosseth himselfe aswell in that which hee hath deliuered in the Section next saue one going before that if there bee now the same reason of State as there was all Queene Elizabeths dayes there is as little hope that his Maiestie should hearken vnto reconciliation as then there was that Q. Elizabeth would as also in that which afterwards he addes in this Section that being prouoked by the excommunication of Pius Quintus shee did suffer such lawes to bee made by her Parliament as might crie quittance with the Pope and Church of Rome And in the next Section he sayth It was necessary in reason of State to continue the doctrine of diuision as long as the
fire her Nauie and with three thousand Spaniardsâ— subdue Ireland to the Spanish dominion These and many other sufficient reasons to prouoke her we find recorded by Hieronimus Catena in the life of Pius Quintus who was Secretarie to Cardinall Alexandrin that Popes Nephew so that though he haue in that discourse discouered many things to the world of Pius his proceedings against that Queene before vnknowen to our English yet may wee well by reason of his place afforde him credite as also in regarde his booke was Printed and published in Rome it selfe with the Priuiledge and approbation of Sixtus Quintus next Successor to Pius saue one And had she not good reason then to suffer such Lawes to bee made by her Parliament as might crie quittance with the Pope and Church of Rome Yet I will bee bold to say that lesse innocent blood nay lesse blood was shed in her 44. yeeres in maintenance of Christs and her owne authoritie against the vsurpation of the Pope then in her sisters foure yeeres in maintenance of the Popes vsurpation against her owne and her Successours lawfull authority insomuch as an Italian and hee no Protestant as I guesse giues this testimonie of her Tanta extitit eius animi moderatio atque innata clementia vt non immerito c. So great and so apparant was the moderation of her minde and inbred clemeÌ„cie that not vndeseruedly it may be said of her which the ancient histories haue left to posteritie of Alexander Seuerus borne of his mother Mammaea Nempe Anaematon hoc est citra sanguinem namely that shee hath gouerned her kingdome without bloodshed Cum suapte natura semper à caedibus crudelitate abhorreat for euen her nature doth abhorre the thought of slaughter or crueltie so he goeth on in a large discourse of her praise And when he thus wrote she had reigned twenty yeres it being a maruell as the late Bishop of Lincolne in his answere to Parsons hath well obserued their Index expurgatorius had not scowred him ere this and for this nay their owne Priests shall speake for Queene Elizabeths Lawes who say that considering Iesuiticall practises shadowed vnder the cloake of Religion all the Lawes enacted against Catholikes were made with great moderation and clemencie as comming from a Prince most milde and mercifull nor haue they cause to vrge repeale of any Statute made so long as Iesuits take such courses Nay which is more Parsons himselfe in the Preface to the first part of his triple conuersion commendeth Queene Elizabeth for her moderate gouernment and that was in the last yeere of her reigne and yet by the way it is worth the noting that in one and the same leafe hauing so commended her in one page mary then she was aliue in the very next page for then he heard shee was dead in a Preface to his Maiestie he compares her to Dioclesian for crueltie whereas her sobrietie and clemencie was such that her brother King Edward was wont commonly to call her His sweete sister Temperance neither did shee euer heare of any capitall punishment though neuer so deserued vpon offenders euen of such as had sought her own death but it bred a kind of horror and sadnesse in her whereby had not her Counsellers earnestly inculcated the necessitie of some exemplary iustice many dangerous attempters had escaped due punishment which mooued her to say being once questioning with a great Diuine in Oxford about books meetest for Princes to studie on that her reading of Senecade Clementia had done her much good but some would perswade her it had done her State as much harme howsoeuer I will shut vp this point with S. Augustine when he was intreated to mediate for a mittigation of some strait Lawes if Princes serue Christ in making Lawes for Christ they doe what they ought I will not gaine say them and your selfe graunt that this course seemed in poliâ—ie necessary for her who was the daughter of King Henry the VIII by Anne Bulleine borne with the contempt of Rome the disgrace of Spaine and the preiudice of Scotland and it is true indeede that it both seemed and was a necessary course for her not onely in policie but in pietie who was the daughter of him who vpon iust reason vnhorsed the Pope of his pretended authoritie by her who was not onely a zealous professour but a Patronesse of that trueth which wee professe and for her birth with the contempt of Rome and disgrace of Spaine it seemed by her courses shee was not vnwilling to haue it so intâ—rpreted but for the preiudice of Scotland shee was vpon all occasions so farre as shee conceiued it stood with her safetie and honour most willing to expresse the contrary and surely by her liuing and dying in a single State without marriage she rather prepared a way to the furtherance of that Title which wee now see to our great comfort as she would also no doubt to hers Si quis modo sensus in vmbris if there were any feeling or knowledge in the dead of these temporall and transitory affaires seeing it is fallen out to bee as true in that succession as it is in its owne nature strange Mira cano Sol occubuit nox nulla sequuta est B. C. 33. But now that your Maiestie is by the consent of all sides come to the Crowne and your vndoubted Title setled with long succession the case is very much altered for your Maiestie hath no need of dispensations nor will to pull downe Churches nor no dependance at all on Henry the VIII and if this Schisme could haue preuented your Title with the diuorce of one wife and the marrying of fiue more neither your mother nor your selfe should euer haue made Queene Elizabeth afraid with your Right to the Crowne of England and therefore though it were necessary in reason of State to continue the doctrine of diuision as long as the fruit of that doctrine did continue yet now the fruit of Schisme is all spent and that Parenthesis of State is at an end there is no reason but that the old sentence may returne againe and bee continued in that sense as if the Parenthesis had been cleane left out and that God had of purpose crossed the fleshly pretence of Schisme and raised your Maiestie to restore it as your most wise and Catholike progenitor King Henrie the VII did leaue it G. H. 33. If his Maiestie by the consent of all sides bee come to the Crowne why did Clement the VIII the yeere before his entrance and that as his Maiestie witnesseth in the Conclusion of his answere to Paulus Quintus his first Breue contrary to his manifold vowes and protestations at the same time and as it were with the same breath deliuered to diuers of his Maiesties Agents abroad send to Henry Garnet Iesuite their Arch-priest in England two Bulles to the contrary the one to the Clergie and the other
to the Laitie The Title of the former was Dilectis filijs Archipresbytero reliquo Clero Anglicano and the other Dilectis filijs principibus nobilibus Catholicis Anglicanis salutem Apostolicam Benedictionem The summe of both thus To our Beloued sonnes the Archpriest and the Clergie the Peeres and nobles Catholikes of England greeting and Apostolicall benediction The tenor was That after the death of her Maiestie then liuing whether by course of nature or otherwise whosoeuer should lay Claime or Title to the Crowne of England though neuer so directly and neerely interessed by discent should not be admitted to the throne vnlesse hee would first tolerate the Romish religion and by all his best endeuours promote the Catholike cause vnto which by a solemne and sacred Oath hee should religiously subscribe after the death of that miserable woman for so it pleased his Holinesse to terme Elizabeth that most great and happie Queene By vertue of which Bulles if vertue may be in any such vicious libels the Iesuites disswaded the Romish minded Subiects from yeelding in any wise obedience vnto our most gracious Soueraigne now being But this not working to their wished effect and hee now solemnely proclaimed with an vniuersall applause loue and peace their hopes beganne to wither and growe colde and no succours from Spaine being now to bee expected Garnet the Superiour for the auoyding farther dangers sacrificed these starued Buls to the God of fire Moreouer in the yeere 1588. when his Holinesse blessed that inuincible Spanish Nauie was it to settle the Crowne vpon his Maiestie after Queene Elizabeth should be deposed Surely his Maiestie both rightly conceiued and freely expressed the contrary to Sir Robert Sidney at that time sent into Scotland from Queene Elizabeth affirming that hee expected none other good turne at the Spaniards hands but that which Polyphemus promised to Vlisses that others being first deuoured himselfe should haue the fauour to bee swallowed last And did not the greatest part of Pius his Bull aiming principally at her through her sides also strike his Maiestie And did not one Robert Parsons who sate at the helme in Rome write a certaine Booke of Titles intituled Doleman wherein he excludes his Maiestie and prefers the Infant a of Spaines right before all other pretenders to the Crowne but when hee once saw his Maiestie setled beyond all hope and expectation he made as you doe and the rest at that time did a vertue of necessitie acknowledging his vndoubted and lawfull Claime in his Preface to his Triple conuersion whereof for mine owne part I can giue none other reason then that which you adde to another purpose the case is altered Whiles his Maiestie was onely in hope you shewed your selues in your owne colours being now quiet in possession you plucke in your hornes yeelde to the times and are content to bee carried with the streame And though the personall case bee altered in regard of his Maiestie and Henry the VIII yet if his Maiesty either needed the like dispensations or had the like will to pull down Churches I make no question but his Holinesse would without any great difficulty giue way to both conditionally that his pretended but vsurped authority might be restored But as he is a publique person and represents the body of the State the case is no way different which is the freeing of it from forraine and vniust vsurpation And for Queene Elizabeth I will be bold to say it that at her comming to the Crowne she was not so farre ingaged for the defence of that religion which she constantly maintained to her dying day as his Maiesty hath by manifold obligations bound himselfe to the maintenance and continuance of that which she at her death left and hee at his entrance found established amongst vs. For testimonies wee neede goe no farther then his frequent and solemne protestations aswell by his penne as by word of mouth and that not onely before but since his comming to the Crowne to which if we adde the carefull education of his Sonne the most noble and hopefull Prince euen in that respect the bestowing of his onely daughter that most sweet and vertuous Lady vpon the Prince Palatine not onely a Protestant but as you terme them a Caluinist the honourable entertainement of Isaac Casaubon and Peter Moulin the liberty giuen to the French Dutch for the free and publike exercise of their religion in diuers parts of his Maiesties Dominions and lastly his constant refusall of so much as the Toleration of any other religion notwithstanding the importunitie of suits and supplications for it the matter as I suppose will be cleane out of doubt And as Queene Elizabeth was prouoked by Pius V. so was his Maiesty by Paulus V. in a degree very little different the one absoluing her subiects from their oath of Allegeance and the other forbidding his to take such an oath So that though the Parenthesis in regard of personall succession bee ended yet in respect of profession which of the two is the more to bee regarded the sentence as yet runnes on and as we hope will haue no period but with the worlds end But the more to exasperate his Maiesty against King Henry the VIII and his daughter Queene Elizabeth you tell him that if the Schisme could haue preuented his title neither his Mother nor himselfe should euer haue made Queene Elizabeth afraid with their right to the Crowne of England For the iustnesse of the diuorce I haue already deliuered mine opinion at large and yet if any desire farther satisfaction let him reade the first dialogue of Antisanderus who both strongly maintaines the equity of the Kings proceedings in that businesse and clearely confutes the slanders of that base fugitiue and for his wiues had the way bene fairely made vnto them no iust exception could be taken to the number Philip the II. of Spaine besides his Mistresses had successiuely foure wiues whereof the first was his fathers Cousin germane and the last his owne For the compassing of which what strange courses he tooke I list not to relate but referre the reader to the Prince of Aurange his Apologie yet none that I know hath taxed him for his multitude of wiues in as much as he liued and died a Romane Catholike Did not Henry the last of France diuorce his first wife after they had bene almost as long married and vpon lesse shew of iust reason then Henry the VIII but the one made semblance at last of subiecting himselfe to the See Apostolike which the other by no meanes could bee brought vnto as he did at first this alone beeing it that varied the case and that which he did herein may well be interpreted to haue sprong from a desire of setling the Crowne in his owne posterity rather then of preiudicing the title of Scotland For though during his reigne some discontentments there were between the two nations yet not long before his death
first Tome of the Councils If Mr. Doctour I say had well coâ—â—â—ered this together with that famous resistance made by the sixt Councill of Carthage in which S. Augustine was a member to the vniust claime of three succeeding Popes Zozimus Boniface and Celestine in the high businesse of Appeales hee might in good discretion haue forborne to presse his Maiestie to the triall of the most ancient Fathers Now touching the question of Antichrist it is not discussed by his Maiestie as an hypotheticall proposition but as his opinion his Maiesties words are these As for the definition of Antichrist I will not vrge so obscure a point as a matter of faith to be necessarily beleeued of all Christians but what I thinke herein I will simply declare Cardinall Peron indeed makes the proposition of deposing Kings to bee problematicall and yet withall a part of the Catholike faith but his Maiestie though he make his opinion of Antichrist no part of his faith yet beeing his opinion in regard of his apprehension you cannot make it hypotheticall which hee also declared to bee his iudgement before his comming to the Crowne of England by his Commentarie on certaine verses of the 20th Chapter of the Reuelation of S. Iohn neither is his Maiestie the onely King that hath been of that opinion You may remember not long since one of the French who stamped on his coyne Perdam Babylonem vntill then his Maiesties substantiall and weighty reasons touching that point bee disprooued I see no reason hee hath to recall what hee hath written in the meane time his Maiestie may more iustly take vp that then the Author of it what I haue written I haue written lest hee should incurre the censure of changing as the Moone Lastly for the example of Henry the VIII it is both false and impertinent false in that you say he contradicted his booke whereas his booke as I haue already shewed is onely touching the seuen Sacraments which he held to his dying day impertinent in that you take it as granted that his Maiesty by recalling himselfe should alter from lesse good to much better which is the thing alwayes by vs denied but neuer was or euer can be proued by you Indeed we find that S. Augustine made his Retractations from naught or lesse good to better and Bellarmine in his Recognitions from bad to worse and Dr. Carier to haue fallen from a formall Protestant to a professed Papist and as our Sauiour speakes to Saint Peter thou being conuerted strengthen thy brethren So hee contrariwise being himselfe peruerted labours to weaken his Maiesties faith but it is grounded on that Rocke against which the gates of hell with their power much lesse the instruments of Rome with their foisting and cogging shall neuer be able to preuaile B. C. 37. The other and the greatest obiection that howsoeuer your Maiesty before your comming to the Crowne and in the beginning of your reigne were indifferent yet after the Gun-powder treason you were so angred and auerted as now you are resolued neuer to be friends and therfore he is no good subiect that will either himselfe be reconciled to the Church of Rome or perswade any of your subiects thereunto I confesse your Maiesty had good cause to bee throughly angry and so had all good men whether Catholikes or Protestants but if your Maiesty will hearken to those that worke their owne purposes out of your anger you shall bee driuen to liue and die out of charity which although it bee not so horrible to the body yet is it much more harmefull to the soule then violent or sudden death It is hard I confesse for a priuate man to asswage his anger on the sudden and there is as much difference betwixt the anger of a priuate man and the indignations of a Prince as betwixt a blast vpon the riuer which is soone downe and a storme vpon the sea which hauing raised the billowes to the height is nourished by the motion thereof and cannot settle againe in a long time but there is a time for all things and seuen yeeres is a long time When a man is in the midst of his anger it pleaseth him not to bee intreated by his neighbours much lesse by his seruants but when a man hath chidden and punished vntill he is weary hee will bee content to heare his seruant speake reason and though he be not the wisest yet he is the louingst seruant that will venter to speake to his master in such a case God himselfe is exorable and it pleaseth him to be intreated by his seruants for his enemies I am perswaded there is no good Catholike in the world that can be your Maiesties enemy and therfore I doe assure my selfe that God will be pleased with you to heare them speake and not bee angry with me for mouing you thereunto And if your Maiesty doe but vouchsafe so much patience as to giue equall hearing I doubt not but yoâ— shall receiue such satisfaction as will giue you great quiet and contentment and disquiet none of your subiects but those onely that doe for their aduantage misinforme your Maiesty and misleade your people And if your Maiesty haue no such vse of the Schisme as King Henry the VIII and Queene Elizabeth had and that it doth neither increase your authority nor your wealth nor your honour but rather hinder them all and depriue you of that blessing which otherwise you might expect from CHRIST and his Church from your Catholike neighbour Princes and subiects and from the Saints in heauen in whose Communion is the comfort of euery Christian both in life and death then whatsoeuer some great Statesman may say to the contrary I do verely beleeue they doe but speake for themselues And that there is no true reason that may concerne your Maiesty to hinder you from admitting a toleration of Catholikes and Catholike Religion that those who cannot command their vnderstanding to thinke otherwise may find the comfort they doe with so great zeale pursue in the vnitie of the Catholike Church amongst whome I confesse my selfe to be one that would thinke my selfe the happiest man in the world if I might vnderstand that your Maiesty were content that I should bee so G. H. 37. You come at last to the greatest obiection as you terme it which is the Gun-powder treason but doubtlesse in the iudgement of any indifferent reader you say least in the clearing of it seeming rather in conclusion to referre it to a farther hearing then for the present to answere the obiection or excuse the plot That which you haue to say is that there is a time for all things and God himselfe is exorable as if his Maiesty were mercilesse and inexorable whereas hee proceeded vpon the discouery of that most barbarous designe with such rare clemency and singular moderation that iustice was onely taken vpon the very actors and offenders themselues
Kings Henry the VIII and Edward the VI. who by their Letters Patents haue warranted the same of which landes and possessions if the owners should now be dispossessed the King should be bound to repay vnto them all their money which would arise to such a huge masse that it would be a hard matter for the Crowne to restore it 3 The Nobles and Gentry of this realme most of whom haue sold and aliened their ancient inheritances to buy these new cannot liue according to their degrees if these possessions should be taken from them 4 The purchasers or owners of such lands and possessions in as much as they came to them by iust title according to the ordinance of the Kings of this kingdome haue held and doe still hold a good and iustifyable course in obteining them 5 The enioying of such landes and possessions is so common vnto euery State and condition of men Cities Colledges and Incorporations that if the same bee taken from them there will necessarily follow thereupon throughout the whole Kingdome a suddaine change and confusion of all Orders and Degrees 6 Seeing that the goods and possessions of the Church euen by the authority of the Cannons may bee aliened for the redemption of captiues and that the same may bee done by that Church onely to whom such possessions doe belong It is fit and reasonable that such dispensations should bee granted for continuing of possession already gotten for so great a good of publike concord and vnity of the Church and preseruation of this State as well in body as in soule Those possessions indeed in many places I speake specially of Tenths which by reason of Popish dispensations were first caried from the Church are as the flâ—sh which the Eagle stole from the Altar carying a coale of fire with it to the burning down and quite consuming of the nests of many of them that held them and in this respect Mr. Doctor may well say that the most part of them who now enioy them haue payed well for them in asmuch as the first owners were enforced or their posteritie within a generation or two to sell that which others purchased Now this curse of God I can impute to none other thing then to the alienation of Tenths from their proper vse to which they were and still should be ordained or at leastwise the bare and scant allowance which is made to the Minister of the greatest part of the fattest Impropriations so that commonly no Parishes are worse prouided for then those that pay most the redresse wherof if it should please God to put into his Maiesties heart and the assembly of the Estates in parliament it would bee a worke no doubt honourable in it selfe acceptable to CHRIST and beneficiall to his Church for which he would the rather blesse their other proceedings I speake not for the restoring of Impropriations though that were rather to be wished then hoped their value being little or nothing inferiour to the Benefices but the making of a coÌ„petent allowance out of them for the maintenance of a preaching Minister and I am sory to heare that some of them should be so backward in the former who most vrge the later the rather for that I would not haue it thought our Religion cannot stand but by the spoyle of the Church liuings though the Pope as it seemes by Mr. Doctor cares not who loseth so that himselfe may winne The vertue of the Sacraments expressed in holy Scripture wee preach not against but as for merit of workes and inuocation of Saints they were preached against and that in England long before the lands were taken from the Abbeys and though they are still preached against yet with vs are the Saints reuerenced with the honour due vnto them by our obseruation of the dayes consecrated to the memorials of their glorious and precious deaths And some Churches are built among vs as occasion serues and necessitie requires but more Hospitals Schooles almeshouses Colledges Libraries and the like charitable workes since the beginning of Queene Elizabeths reigne to this present time then in the space of any three score yeeres successiuely taken since the Conquest which I speake not to boast of the fruits of our Religion but to giue God the honour and as for the Hugonotes of France as you are pleased to terme them if they bee guilty of pulling downe Churches wee neither incourage them to it nor defend them in it as neither doe wee the Papists in their barbarous massacres but onely say of them as the parents of the blind man they are of sufficient age let them answere for themselues Lastly because you addresse your discourse in particular to the Nobles in this Section I craue leaue to put them in mind of a peece of a letter written by their predecessors to the Bishop of Rome during the reigâ—e of Henrie the III. I will recite it in the words of Matthew Parris translated The great ones sayth hee by writing to the Pope complained of the scandals bred out of the rapine and auarice of Rome and spread not onely in England but through the Christian world that themselues would not endure that their countrey from thencefoorth should bee so rudely handled no though the King himselfe should winke at it and vnlesse say they these matters bee speedily redressed by you let your Holinesse know for certaine that it may not vniustly bee feared that such a danger is likely thereby to ensue both to the Church of Rome and to our Lord the King that no remedie will easily bee found for it My hope then is that our Nobles being now farther enlightned by the beames of the Gospell and the cleare discouery of the trueth in the writings of learned men then their predecessours who liued in those times of darkenesse will like the Noble Theophilus to whom S. Luke dedicates his Gospell and The Actes of the Apostles and those noble Bereans who the more noble they were receiued the word with the greater readinesse hold fast the profession which they haue vowed themselues vnto by resisting the vsurpation and tyranny of that man of sinne and maintaining the libertie and freedome of their countrey In the first Parliament held by Queene Mary after her Comming to the Crowne the Nobilitie of England though they gaue way to the administration of the Sacraments and other doctrinall points as they were vsed and held in her Father Kings Henries time yet could they hardly be induced either by her importunitie whom it most concerned in regard of her birthright made good by the Popes dispensation or by the perswasions of Cardinall Poole her Cosin and by her made Archbishop of Canterbury who had beene for many yeeres maintained for the most part at the Popes charge to yeeld that the Queene should surrender her title of Supreme head of the Church of England or that the Pope should bee suffered to exercise his wonted iurisdiction within her dominions how much more then at