and storme at her enioying of the Crowne as at her Christian and Religious gouernment Buls are not hastelie procured your Pope must be sued vnto and false informations must be giuen and it might be as they had vaine hopes for a time to feede themselues with so those hopes fayling the fittest season for publishing of the Bull was thought to be when others were prepared to raise rebellion The second point is a matter of as deepe consideration as the former wherein hee telleth vs by enumeration of diuers hard vsages offered by her Maiestie and the Protestants against the Pope and Popish Catholicks that it must needs be that not malignitie of the Pope and his adherents against her but diuers iniuries and cruelties offered inforced the publication of the Bull. I will not vouchsafe to make an Apologie for defence of those things which you Sir Encounterer recken vp as wrongs and iniuries offered to your Pope and Pope-worshippers this onely I say for answere that as her Maiestie hath done nothing in the reformation of Religion in requiring an oath of her people for acknowledgement of her authoritie in inforcing her Subiects to the true seruice of God in punishing offenders and obstinate persons and such like proceedings but that which God commaunded her and the godlie zealous Princes haue done before her so it doth not necessarilie follow that notwithstanding all those things haue been done in godlie zeale and louing care for the saluation of the soules of her people therefore you are free from malignitie your faultines wherein I haue euidentlie proued before though in your deepe and cunning flatterie you would gladlie denie it you fawne vpon her Maiestie and yet accuse her most falselie of breach of promise in altering Religion you seeme to free her from a desire to publish Gods Gospell and yet affirme that your Pope had great cause to proceede against her Other Princes as Edward the first Richard the second Henrie the fourth haue made lawes against the Bishop of Rome his authoritie and vsurped iurisdiction and yet haue not tasted so much of his malice which sheweth the malignitie of your Pope and his adherents against her Maiestie As for your Poperie and superstition rooted out of this land it was not of so long continuance as you boast for but little before William the Conqueror Kings were Gods Vicars for gouerning his Church Ecclesiasticall liuings were bestowed by the Princes they made Ecclesiasticall lawes Priests were married and your Transubstantiation was not then knowne You blasphemouslie scoffe at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and ye glorie in the dissention betweene vs and the Lutherans but as the Lord is of will and power to mocke mockers so can hee make the infirmitie of his seruants worke to his glorie and their good I passe ouer many things willinglie in this your Rhetoricall flourishing contenting my selfe to haue shewed the non sequitur of your allegation The third point which you would haue considered is that it was an acte of iurisdiction from an Ecclesiasticall superiour as also an auncient kinde of proceeding against Princes in our land as well as in other places without any trouble to the people for the same and therefore you would not haue your Catholikes to be charged with it or troubled for it For answere thereunto this I affirme that as wee acknowledge not your Popes superioritie or Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction ouer vs he playing the vsurping Tirant in censuring our Prince so we neither yeelde that this his proude and malicious cursing and excommunication of Princes hath been of long continuance or that those his adherents who iustifie his proceedings are to bee freed from blame We acknowledge that Princes the annointed of the Lord are the higher powers ordained to execute Iustice and Iudgement ouer the good and euill We knowe no other Superiour in nations and kingdomes next and immediatelie vnder God but such as the Apostle Peter willeth vs to be subiect vnto when he saith Submit your selues vnto all manner ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be vnto the King as to the Superiour c. he speaketh of one not of many superiours where a Monarchie is established The time was when your Bishop of Rome was far from hauing a superioritie euen in Rome and his dominions for both Charles the great and Otho the great had right soueraigntie and royaltie of the Countries giuen to your Popes with acknowledgement to bee their Soueraigne Lordes in regarde of which they yeelded tributes and other seruices vnto them as also in former times the Emperours had their Lieutenants and deputies in Rome euen to Gregorie the seuenths time and your Popes obtained not the Soueraigntie which now they challenge till it was almost 1200. yeares after Christ in the daies of Alexander the third and Innocentius the third both Bishops of Rome Your vsuall engine of excommunication and depriuing of Princes of their Crownes is likewise far short of that antiquitie by which you would seeme to mitigate the rigour and crueltie thereof For as there was neuer any Romane King or Emperor excommunicated and depriued of his kingdom by any Bishop of Rome before Henry the fourth Emperour of Rome who was excommunicated cursed by Gregory the seuenth the brand of hel who being a Necromancer a periured person and a most wicked man confessed at his death to a Cardinall that he was set on by the Diuell to raise vp discord and warres in Christendome so in England from the conquest vnto King Henrie the eight there was no Prince of this land deposed by your pope but onely King Iohn It is a noueltie Sir N.D. and not a matter of antiquitie as Sigebert telleth you to teach that people owe no subiection to euill kings c. As for that you say that Subiects heretofore in our land haue not beene troubled or forced to alter their beliefe concerning the Popes power notwithstanding his cursing and depriuing of Princes is more then you know and it maketh no great matter whether it were so or no seeing that your vse of excommunication hath not been so frequent in our land and your dealings were neuer so treacherous and desperate as they haue been of late Our English Nation did neuer at any time since the first receiuing of the faith vnto this day acknowledge the vsurped power of your Pope to depose Princes much lesse hath it been anie matter of our faith your Pope Nicholas and Boniface the eight may put in transubstantiation to be an Article of our beliefe and make your popes supremacie of the necessitie of saluation but wee haue learned to ground our faith vpon the Scriptures of God which teacheth no such absurd and diuellish points The lawes of our land haue heretofore in King Richard the seconds time and Edward the thirds time made it treason to bring in any excommunication from Rome to impugne the lawes of the Realme for benefices and patronages to compasse or imagine the
nothing can be said sufficiently but as a paineful compiler of the ecclesiasticall Historie thinketh all places considered where the Romish Phalaris hath intermedled France Flanders Italy Spayne and whersoeuer the gripes of this greedie griffin as Chaucer compareth him could râ—ach it would be hard to say whether the Romane heathen Emperors in the prime-daies of the Church or the Romish Bishops in the latter had caused more Christian bloud to be spilt And whereas this Encounterer wringeth out a malediction from hence pretending by this chaunge of Religion the torturing hanging and racking of so many learned Priests c. he shall neuer be able to proue so farre as euer I could learne that any one either Priest or Lay-man learned or vnlearned hath in this land these fortie yeares beene put to death onely for being a Recusant and of a contrarie Religion as the libertie and home-dwelling of so many Recufants without dread of any such daunger may proue sufficiently The Wolfe persecuteth the Lamb not the Lambe the Wolfe As for those fewe which haue suffered in these fortie yeares not comparable to the number of those which were martyred in Queene Maries fiue yeares I am so farre off from reioycing at their death that with all my heart I wish they had neuer sucked the poyson of treason from your Iesuites breastes that so they might haue preuented the due and iust shedding of their owne bloods To these may be added other corporall blessings in a short view among which this is not the least that the establishment of true Religion hath quite remoued from our neckes the yoke of popish bondageâ— How miserablie this poore land was oppressed and impouerished by the Popes dispensations exactions contributions besides his continuall subsidie of Peter-pence nothing being able to satisfie his greedie appetite and insatiable auarice our stories in sundry places make lamentable mention Now he must haue the tenth of all the moueables in England Wales and Ireland then foure markes of euerie able Church and where one was not able to reach there the other poore Churches must ioyne to make vp the money shortly by a new Mandat all beneficed men must pay the first part of their reuenues then prouision of English benefices for boyes of Rome 300. at a clappe and what not Poore England was continually pilled and polled and almost suckt drie whereof to vse one example for many the Nobles ioyntly with the Commons complain in the Raigne of Henrie the third in which their complaint hauing made mention of the continuall subsidie of Peter-pence and other contributions they adde these words And now see wee beseech you which is lamentable to behold what iniuries we sustaine by you and your predecessors who not considering those our subsidies and contributions before remembred doe suffer also your Italians and forrayners which be out of number to be possessed of our Churches and benefices in England c. And immediatly which forrayners neither defending the said religious persons neither hauing the language whereby they might instruct the flocke take no regard of their soules but vtterly leaue them of wilde beastes to be deuoured Wherefore it may truly be said of them that they are no good shepheards for that neither they doe know their sheepe nor the sheepe doe know the voice of their shepheards neither doe they keepe any hospitalitie but onely take vp the rents of those benefices carrying them out of the Realme wherewith our brethren our nephewes and our kinsfolkes might be sustained who could and would dwell vpon them and employ such exercises of mercy and hospitality as their dutie required whereof a number for meere necessitie now are lay-men and faine to flie out of the Realme And now to the intent more fully to certifie you of the truth you shall vnderstand that the said Italians and strangers receiuing of yeerely rents out of England not so little as threescore thousand markes by yeare besides other auailes and exises deducted do reape in the said our kingdome of England more emoluments of meere Rents then doth the King himselfe being both Tutour of the Church and Gouernour of the land c. they further proceeded in their complaint which for breuity sake I omit The conclusion is miserably was this land oppressed vnder the Romish Pharaoh not onely the skinne flayed from the flesh but the flesh in a manner rent from the bones from which by this happy chaunge of Religion wee are deliuered the Lords name be praised therefore The name of peace is sweete and the thing it selfe both pleasant and profitable with which blessing the Lord hath also greatly blessed this land these fortie yeeres that in this respect her Maiesties raigne hath beene as the raigne of Asa of whom it is written that he had no warre in those daies for the Lord his God had sent him peace round about For as for the late tumults and stirres of Ireland it is euident to whom they are to be ascribed by the sending thither of Saunders and of Italian bandes by the Pope who is the common Trumpeter of Sedition in all Christian Common-weales which seeke to shake off the yoke of his tyrannie There kindled vpon the like occasion the flame of Rebellion in the North but bessed be God it vanished quickly like a smoke Spayne likewise attempted an inuasion but with such successe as neither hath he cause to boast of his winnings nor wee to complaine of our losses for as the starres fought in their course for Israel against Sisera so did the windes for England against Spayne other warres to speake of we haue had none but such as we haue voluntarily vnder-taken for the reliefe and support of those that were oppressed And this it selfe is no small blessing that England in the raigne of a Woman hath beene the common refuge to all Christian nations eyther rent asunder with ciuill warres or oppressed with forraine forces so that a Queene hath sit as Arbitrer of peace and warre amongst Christian Kings France is witnesse hereof What should I speake of Suethland c. what of Flaunders being receiued into our tuition and societie yea the Turke himselfe who happily before the renowmed raigne of her Maiestie had neuer heard the name of this little Island moued with the Maiestie of her name hath laid armes aside and through her intercession hath granted peace to the Polonians being almost brought to extremitie To these I might adde the blessing of riches plentie and aboundance such as hath not lightly beene knowne in this land before which God hath aboundantly sent vnto vs. Whereby we haue beene enabled to minister to the necessities of so many oppressed and to sustaine such voluntarie warres as honourable respects haue moued her Maiesty to vndertake for the needfull succour of others which who so seeth not is blind and who so acknowledgeth not is verie ingrate I may also adde the multitude of people increased mightily since her Maiesties first enterance
his preface he pleaseth to see and examine how I goe forward in my tale as he tearmeth it which I hope to the equall reader shall appeare no fable 〈◊〉 a iust charge my words which he setteth downâ— aâ—â— theâ—e Vnto which clouds mists and darknes was added and wherewith was mixed all bloodie and sauage crueltie against those that desired knowledge and were any may 〈◊〉 by Gods grace with a glimmering at small insight into true Religion for though it were but onely a desireth reade vpon the booke of God either olde or new Testament then Hereticke was his title heresie was his â—ault and for this was he called before the Romish Cleargie to receiue their censure and such neuer departed from their cloathes till they had branded them to the slaughter To which after many scoffes he saith That he is sorrie the writer of that booke calleth himselfe Knight to whom in law of Chiualrie a man should not giue the lye but with obligation to defend it in the fielde Whereunto I brieflie reply for this time that if this masked companion will put off his vizzard and shew his face that I may know who speaketh to me I will through the assistance of my God not onely lay before him his shameles reprochfull slaunders against my Soueraigne and her gouernment and words of disgrace to my selfe but also make him such further answere as fitteth his demerits and my place in the meane time I list not to fight with a shadow nor to howte at the Owle that flieth by night To come to the matter out of this one period this artificiall Vulcan forgeth two vntruths properly called lyes as he saith which he imputeth to me the first that I say To reade on the booke of God was held to be part of an heretike The second That for this cause onely men were called before the Romish Cleargie in England and branded to the slaughter But soft Sir you shall finde it harder to conuince me of one lye then to charge me with many for both in making and giuing lyes you haue a singular gift and rare dexteritie For concerning the first the people were not only forbid to reade or heare read the Scriptures translated by such as the Romanists call Heretikes but the Papists are witnesses against themselues that they forbid the reading of the Scriptures translated by their owne Catholikes vnles the Bishop or Inquisitour with aduise of their parish Priest or confessour giue them speciall licence thereunto in writing and was it not obiected to Iohn Lambert as an hereticall opinion that heads and rulers are bound by necessitie of saluation to giue the holy Scriptures to the people in the mother language Doe not your Rhemists in the preface of their translation of the new Testament say they doe not publish it vpon erronious opinion of necessitie that the Scriptures should bee alwaies in our mother tongue or that they ought or were ordeined by God to bee read indifferently of all Now if to thinke the Scriptures may be read indifferently of all be in your iudgement an hereticall opinion then for men so to read them is in your iudgement an hereticall action whereof I would wee had not so many proofes But in any of the three learned tongues Hebrew Greeke and Latine saith the Encounterer none was euer debaâ—red to reade them this Sir is but a flourish to face out the matter and a coppie of your countenance to make as though you were willing Scripture should be read of all onely that you feared hereticall translations Where as first of laymen and women not one of a thousand vnderstand either of those three tongues secondly yourselues in those times sent not abroad any vulgar translations of your owne refining which the people without danger of hereticall corruption might reade and thirdly what your iudgement is concerning the vsing of such as you doe send forth is partly shewed alreadie you should deale plainely and confesse that whatsoeuer you say for a glosse your opinion is that not onely those few laye men which vnderstand any of those three learned tongues should forbeare reading the Scriptures but euen many men of your Cleargie profession An Italian Bishop tolde Espencaeus a great Diuine of Paris that his Countrimen were terrified from reading the Scriptures least so they should become hereticks Espencaeus then demaunded What studie then doe your Countrimen professe The Bishop answered The studie of both the lawes Ciuill and Canon but principally of the Canon law Doe some Bishops amongst you iudge the reading of the Scriptures so dangerous that they abstaine from it for feare to be made heretickes and yet will you face vs out with permitting laye men to reade them in Hebrew Greeke or Latine Let Sorbon it selfe be witnes how your Cleargie men were wont to be exercised in the reading of the Scriptures For amongst the many conflicts which Robertus Stephanus had with diuers of these learned Sorbonists about the newe Testament printed by Collinaeus when he asked some of them in what place of the new Testament it was written they would answere they had read in Ierome or in the decrees but what the new Testament was they could not tell and againe another great Clerke of that Colledge was wont about that time verie often to say I wonder that these young men alleage to vs the new Testament by this day I had spent more then fiftie yeeres ere I could tell what the new Testament was What should I stand further eyther to prooue that ye account it heresie for lay men indifferently to read the Scriptures which all men know ye doe or to disproue the grossenes of your opinion in so forbidding the reading of the Scriptures which out of the Scriptures themselues and sundrie testimonies of godly Fathers as also examples of ancient times translating the Scriptures into vulgar tongues is by sundrie euidently proued ye ought not to doe To passe therefore to the second supposed vntruth which you set downe to be this that for this cause onely men were called before the Romish Clergie in England and branded to the slaughter To iustifying whereof before I proceed giue me leaue to tell you that this word onely by you thrust into my words is one lye of your coyning though not the onely one lye for what though to some of their charges were laid other like articles Doth that make that this was not accounted a point of an heretike to read the scriptures in English and that for this men were called before your Clergie As for example Thomas Moore a poore and simple man of the age of 24. yeeres was at Leicester in the yeare 1566. accnsed coudemned and burned onely because he said his maker was in Heauen and not in the Pix no other thing being laid to his charge If at his iudgement some other articles had been obiected to him would it not haue been true for all that that to say his maker was in
also but euer with due reuerence to both parents c. All which by way of similitude you apply to our Queene as a mother and your Pope as a father and to your Saundrs Allen Bristow Stapleton c. as elder brethren and to the Priestes and lay men in England as yonger brethren c. which similitude consisteth of nothing but dissimilitudes For first the Pope is no way our father and therfore our obedience reuerence loue not to be deuided betwixt the Queene and him as the childrens betwixt the father and mother the Queene is our mother both nourishing vs as a tender parent in things temporall as also in taking care for the Church of Christ in this land in things spiritual according to the Lords promise by the Prophet to his Church Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queenes thy nurses So did Iehosaphat Ezechias Iosias amongest the Iewes Constantine Iustinian Charles the great with other like Princes amongst the Christians commaund and make lawes in causes ecclesiasticall and acknowledged no vniuersal father-hood of your Pope I wish he did discharge the dutie of a true spirituall father within his owne Diocesse and Bishopricke but it is an hard testimonie that Laurentius Valla giueth him Papas dici nomine Patres re Parricidas that the Popes are called fathers in name but in deed they are Parricides Againe if the elder brethren interpose their iudgement betwixt their Parents by your own confession it must euer be with due reuerence to both partes this reuerence your elder brethren haue not shewed towards the Queene too good a mother for so vngracious Impes whom they not onely call heretike pretended Queene vsurper c. but haue by all meanes sought the murthering of her sacred person Thirdly the yonger children you say must holde their peace and mourne for the contentions but not intermeddle But Sir your elder brethren whom you allow to speake are farre enough from reach they may safely define what they will against the Queene and cast abroad their iudgements in railing bookes to yonger brethren to settle in them a consent therto Which being done they must yet make shew not to intermeddle to the end they may the better auoide perill to their persons secretly hearten the people against her Maiestie Take an instance hereof from one of your yonger brethren one Paine a Priest who walked no lesse closely for his safetie then he was directed nor lesse cunningly to corrupt the peoples hearts then he was commanded who from his owne mouth discouered to one Eliot a bloudy platforme laid to destroy her iestie and diuers of her Honorable Councell with armed men the effecting whereof stayed onely the comming ouer of certaine Priests which were expected in the meane time through Gods goodnes this horrible treason was discouered and preuented And Paine being asked how they durst practise or attempt any such mischieuous action his answere was that to kill the Queene or to vse anie crueltie against her or any that would take her part was no offence to God and that they might doe it as lawfully as to a brute beast and to approue himselfe a fit messenger to be sent on such a bloudie errant he affirmed that himselfe would be one of the first that should execute the same here is one of your yonger brothers whom all the world must confesse to be a fit son for such a father as your Pope is Besides this your Cardinall Allen Doctor Worthington and others as elder brethren sent Richard Hesketh a Gentleman of Lancashire and a younger brother to induce the Lord Strange late Earle of Derbie to make a suddaine rebellion in England and to take vpon him the title of the Crowne assuring him from them and others of treasure and forraine forces to maintaine the same which treason the Honorable Earle dutifully detected Hesketh himselfe confessed and bitterly cursed his elder brethren to make him a yonger brother to aduenture the danger of the treason that they as elder brethren doe teach and deuise farre enough from reach Is this the weeping of your yonger brethren without intermedling are these the teares then are they of a right Crocodiles brood which seemeth to weeepe but it is to this end that they may sooner kill and destroy Nay further then this these elder brethren commend to their yongers treason against her Maiestie for a point of their faith namely that if the Pope say the worde none of the Papistes ought to obey her Maiestie nor to account her Queene of England for in the cases of conscience as Doctor Bilson now Bishop of Winchester noteth wherewith the Iesuites that came into England were furnished to the 55. Article when they be asked whether the Bull of Pius Quintus that was giuen out or any Bul that the Bishop of Rome can hereafter giue out all Catholikes be bound to yeeld obedience faith and loyaltie to Queene Elizabeth as to their lawfull Prince and Soueraigne the resolution is he that demaundeth this question asketh in effect whether the Pope might doe it or no to which demaund what a Catholike should answere it is playner then I need here to explicate If therefore a Catholike be asked do you beleeue that the Bishop of Rome may depriue Queen Elizabeth of her crown he must answer not regarding any danger of death I beleeue he may for this questiō is a point of faith and requireth a confessiō of our faith Do not these elder brethrē think you dutifully put in their iudgements between these two imagined Parēts the Queen the Pope when they teach their yonger brethrē treason against the Queen for an article point of their faith To ende with this Cardinall who thanks be to God ended his life before he could attaine the expected end of his traiterous dessignments doth he not perswade that it is not onely lawfull but honorable to murther Princes for Religion for saith hee There is no warre in the world so iust or honorable be it ciuill or forraine as that which is waged for Religion Now if it be true that ciuill warre which is the warre of Subiects against the Prince be iust and honourable then is it an honourable act for Subiectes to kill the Prince for the ende proposed in warre is victorie and the way to victorie is bloudshed and slaughter not so much of the people who are not impugned but for partaking with the Prince as of the Prince himselfe whom you seeke to depose and place an other in his steed And this doctrine of your Cardinals Parrie himselfe confesseth vnder his owne hand writing did throughly resolue confirme and strengthen him in his diuellish purpose to kill the Queene Doctor Allens booke saith he was sent me out of France it redoubled my former conceipts euerie word in it was a warrant to a prepared mind It taught that Kings may be excommunicated depriued and violently handled It proueth that all warre
the Worlde is nowe amended at Rome euen as sower Alemendeth in summer view the dealings of our moderne Popes and those onely which concerne our owne State First the Pope most iniuriouslie deposed her Maiestie from her Royall Crowne dismissed her Subiects from their obedience due to her yea cursed as many as did obey her further hee sendeth Murton into England to stirre vp Rebellion against her and consequentlie as much as in him lay to fill the land with dead corpses and to make our flouds run dyed with English bloud when this succeeded not hee sent Saunders with sundrie forces to inuade Ireland not onlie to increase Rebellion there but to winne it quite from her Maiestie if hee might The bloud by this occasion shed in Ireland could not yeelde his holines an heartie draught and therefore hee setteth on and abetteth the Spanish King in the yeare 1588. to make Inuasion for a full Conquest and to the ende he might throughlie speede and not faile he lendeth him all the helpe he could but especiallie as hee that writeth the Canonization of Didacus affirmeth because by diuine helpe he thought this Conquest might quickelie be atchieued Sixtus Quintus then Pope in that fittest opportunitie of time did Canonize Didacus a Spaniard and placed him in the number of Saints in whose merites the Spanish King did so greatlie trust And that no propertie of a bloudie monster might bee wanting in him hee suborned Parrey and armed him with full remission of all his sinnes besides other promises murtherouslie to kill her Maiestie and to shed her guiltles bloud If these euidences cannot make this popish Sycophant to see and abhor the Popes bloudie humour I can yeelde no other reason in his excuse but that which a Poet of their owne setteth downe AEthiopes vna quoniam nigredine sordent Ille color nulli vitio datur omnibus idem Vultus alterius si quis reprehenderet ora Et sua damnaret c. i. Blacknes for that it dyes each AEthiops face Blacknes with them is held for no disgrace All are like faced who so doth others blame His proper visage he perforce must shame If this fellow were not an horseleach that is bloudie minded himselfe he would easilie acknowledge the bloudie humour of the Pope To shut vp this point whereas he saith that for my speech against the Pope which is both iust and true I am to be restrained and checked euen for the very honour of England it selfe and our nation I referre it to the honorable iudgement of the higher authority what checke and restraint is fit for this fellow who so stifly standeth for her Maiesties professed enemy and will not endure to haue him accused of a bloudy humour who hath pronounced her no Queene stirred rebellions in her Realme against her sent an Inuadour to conquer her and authorised bloudie traitors secretly to kill hir and that for the honour of England it selfe that it may be freed from the ignominie of breeding such vipers and of our Nation that the people of our Nation may not be so inchanted by the poysoned cup of this Cyrce as to degenerate from Christian loyaltie to Antichristian treacherie whereto the Antichrist of Rome this Encounterers halfe God doth call them Whether the Pope be that special Antichrist wherof Daniel our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles doe speake I will not stand here to dispute specially because all the notes set downe in the Scripture of Antichrist are by sundrie learned men fully prooued to concurre in the Pope and in none other and that by Babilon in the Reuelation is meant Rome not onely as it was when the heathen Emperours held it as the Papistes say but as now it is the Pope raigning in it The tenne reasons sillie ones as they be which you alleadge to proue the contrarie with three times tenne more set downe by your Captaine Saunders are by Doctor Whitakers throughly sifted and refelled as also whatsoeuer the great Iesuite Bellarmine could say for his master to free him from this imputation is by diuers notablie learned fully examined and confuted whose bookes with others of the same argument in English because they are extant and almost in euerie mans hand I refer the reader to them contenting my selfe with a cōpetencie of knowledge for the instruction of mine owne conscience and not presuming to take vpon me to be a teacher of others To conclude whereas this Romane aduocate saith that this lande ought to beare more reuerence to the sea of Rome then other Nations for that it hath receiued more singular benefits from thence namely that it was conuerted from Paganisme to Christian Religion by the speciall diligence labour and industry of the same Sea I answere first that it is apparant by sundrie testimonies that this land was conuerted to the faith long before the time by you specified and not by the Bishop of Rome Guildas testifieth that Britanie receiued the Gospell in the time of Tiberius the Emperour and that Ioseph of Arimathia was sent by Philip the Apostle from France hither where he remained till his death And Beda our countriman likewise doth testifie that in his time this land kept Easter after the manner of the East Church by which may be gathered that the first preachers came hither from the East parts of the world and not from Rome more proofes might be set downe but I spare them Secondly though it be granted that Elutherius sending hither preachers from Rome in king Lucius his time did first conuert this land to the Christian faith I say there is not now the same faith in Rome that was then there was then no Masses said the partes of it were not then found out no transubstantiation no setting vp of Images in Churches the communion was then in both kindes administred to the lay people no vniuersall Pope c. Elutherius writeth thus to King Lucius Yee haue receiued of late through Gods mercie in the Realme of Britanie the law and faith of Christ ye haue with you within the Realme both the parts of the Scriptures out of them by Gods grace with the counsaile of your Realme take ye a lawe and by that lawe through Gods sufferance rule your kingdome of Britanie for you be Gods Vicar in your kingdome according to the saying of the Prophet c. Thirdly the latter Popes haue been more beholding to this land for our money then the land for anie good receiued from them our kings haue often complained that the dropsie thirst of these late Romanists cannot be quenched The Priour of Winchester one Andrew being expulsed was faine to giue to the Pope 365. markes yeerely to be restored againe to his place this and manie such like were but slender gleanings in comparison of the mightie haruest that from this land they yeerelie gathered In a word the Apostle saith of the Thessalonians that they were examples to all that beleeue in Macedonia