no doubt were great if it were true in such a man as Cardinall Bellarmine is that he hath mistaken the whole State of the QuestioÌ„ in his writing to M. Blackwell going about to impugne only the old Oath of Supremacy in steed of this new Oath entituled Of Allegiance but this is most cleerly refuted by the very first lynes almost of the letter it self For that telling M. Blackwell how sory he was vpon the report that he had taken illicitum Iuramentum an vnlafull Oath he expoundeth presently what Oath he meaneth saying Not therfore deare Brother is that Oath lawfull for that it is offered somwhat tempered modifyed c. Which is euidently meant of the new Oath of Allegiance not only tempered with diuers lawfull clauses of Ciuill Obedience as hath byn shewed but interlaced also with other members that reach to Religion wheras the old Oath of Supremacie hath no such mixture but is playnly and simply set downe for absolute excluding the Popes Supremacie in causes Ecclesiasticall and for making the King supreme Head of the Church in the same causes all which is most euident by the Statutes made about the same from the 25 yeare of King Henry the 8. vnto the end of the raigne of King Edward the sixt V. Only I do heere note by the way that the Apologer in setting downe the forme of the Oath of Supremacie saith I A. B. do vtterly testifie and declare in my Conscience that the Kings Highnes is the only Supreme Gouernour as well in all causes spirituall as temporall wheras in the Statute of 26. of K. Henry the 8. where the tytle of Supremacy is enacted the wordes are these Be it enacted by this present Parlament that the King our Soueraigne his heirs and successors shal be taken accepted and reputed the only Supreme Head in earth of the Church of England called Ecclesia Anglicana and shall haue inioy annexed and vnited to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme as well the tytle and style therof as all honours digniâ—yes authorityes annuityes profitis and commodityes to the said Dignity of Supreme Head of the said Church belonging c. VI. And further wheras two yeares after an Oath was deuised for confirmation heerof in Parlament the wordes of the Oath are sett downe That he shall sweare to renounce vtterly and relinquish the Bishop of Rome and his Authority power and iurisdiction c. And that from hence forth he shall accept repute and take the Kings M. tie to be the only Supreme Head in earth of the Church of England c. And that the refusers of this Oath shall be reputed traytors and suffer the paynes of death c. And in other Statutes it is decreed that it shall be treason to deny this title of headship to the King And by like Decree of Parlament it is declared vnder King Edward what this Authority of headshipp is when they say For so much as all Authority of Iurisdiction spirituall and temporall is deryued deduced from the Kings M. tie as Supreme Head of these Churches Realmes of England and Ireland c. VII This was wont to be the doctryne of Supremacy in the tymes of King Henry and King Edward and it was death to deny this tytle or not to sweare the same now our Apologer thinketh it not good to giue it any longer to his Ma. tie that now is but calleth him only Supreme Gouernour which is a new deuise taken from Iohn Reynolds other his fellowes who aboue twenty yeares gone being pressed by his Aduersary M. Hart about calling Q. Elizabeth Head of the Church he denyeth flatly that they called her so but only Supreme Gouernesse which I had thought they had done in regard of her sex that is not permitted to speake in the Church But now I perceaue they haue passed the same also ouer to his M. tie not permitting him to inherite the tytles eyther of King Edward or King Henry which misliketh not vs at all for that so farre they may passe heerin as we may come to agree For if they will vnderstand by supreme Gouernour the temporall Princes Supreme Authority ouer all persons of his dominions both Ecclesiasticall and Temporall in temporall matters excepting only Spirituall wherin as yow haue heard a litle before S. Ambrose told the Christian Emperours of his tyme that being Lay-men they could not rightly meddle I see no great difficulty which in this affayre would remayne betweene vs. VIII To returne then to the Charge of ouersight and grosse mistaking to vse the Apologers words layd by him to Cardinal Bellarmine for impugning the ancienter Oath of Supremacy insteed of this later called Of Allegiance Of giuing the child a wrong name as he saith I see not by what least colour or shew of reason it may staÌ„d against him For besydes that which we haue said before of the teÌ„perament modification mentioned by him to be craftily couched in this later Oath which by his letter he refuteth I meane of lawfull and vnlawfull clauses which must needes be vnderstood of the second Oath he adioyneth presently the coÌ„futation of those modifications saying For yow know that those kind of modifications are nothing els but sleightes subtilityes of SathaÌ„ that the Catholicke faith touching the Primacy of the Sea Apostolicke might eyther secretly or openly be shott at Lo heere he mentioneth both the Oathes the one which shooteth secretly at the Primacy of the Sea Apostolicke which is the later Of Allegiance the other that impugneth it openly which is the first of the Supremacy And as he nameth the secoÌ„d in the first place so doth he principally prosecute the same proueth the vnlawfulnes therof mentioning the other but only as by the way for that it is as TotuÌ„ ad ParteÌ„ to the former as a man can hardly speake of particuler meÌ„bers of a body without naming also the said body as wheÌ„ S. Iames inuegheth against the toÌ„gue he saith That it inflameth the whole body so Card. all Bellarmine could hardly reproue the particuler branches of the Oath of Allegiance tending against sundry parts of the Popes Primacie without mentioning the generall Oath of Supremacy though it were not his purpose chiefly to impugne that but the other Which later Oath albeit the Apologer sticketh not to say that it toucheth not any part of the Popes Spirituall Supremacy yet in the very next period he contradicteth ouerthroweth himselfe therin For so much as deuiding the said Oath of Allegiance into 14. seuerall partes or parcels twelue of them at least do touch the said Supremacy one way or other as by examination yow will fynd and we shall haue occasion after to declare more at large IX As for example he writeth thus And that the Iniustice saith he as well as the error of Bellarmine his grosse mistaking in this poynt may yet be more cleerly discouered I haue
acknowledge professe testify declare in my Conscience that the Pope neither of himself nor by any authority of the Sea or Church of Rome hath any power authority to c. doth not this include eyther beliefe or vnbeliefe Againe I doe further su eare that I doe froÌ„ my hart abhorre detest abiure as impâ—ous here icall that damnable doctrine position That Princes which be excommunicated and depriued by the Pope may be deposed c. Doth not heere the swearer promise not to belieue that doctrine which he so much detesteth How theÌ„ doth the Apologer so grosly forget and contradict himself euen then when he goeth about to proue contradictions in his Aduersary XXVI It followeth consequently in the Oath And I doe belieue and in Conscience am resolued That neyther the Pope nor any person whatsoeuer hath power to absolue me from this Oath or any part therof These wordes are plaine as yow see And what will the Apologer say heere Is nothing promised in those wordes to be belieued or not to be belieued XXVII But now we come to the contradictions of Cardinall Bellarmyne wherof the Apologer taketh occasion to treate for that the Cardinall affirmeth in one part of his letter That neyther his Maiesty of England nor any Prince else hath cause to feare violence from the Pope for that it was neuer heard of from the Churches infancy vntill this day that any Pope did commaund That any Prince though an Hereticke though an Ethnicke though a Persecutour should be murthered or did allow the murther when it was done by an other Which assertion the Apologer to improue bringeth in examples first of doctrine that Bellarmyne himself doth hold That Princes vpon iust causes may be deposed by Popes and then of facts That diuers Emperours haue bene deposed and great warres raised against them by Popes as Bellarmyne in his workes doth confesse and cannot deny and consequently doth contradict himself But surely this seemeth to me a very simple opposition or contradiction For who doth not see that these things may well stand togeather are not opposite and may be both true That Popes vpon iust causes haue waged warres against diuers Princes and Potentates and yet neuer caused any to be vnlawfully made away murthered or allowed of their murthers committed by others For may not we say iustly that warlike Princes are no murtherers though in the Acts of warres theÌ„selues many haue bene slaine by their authority and commandement Or may not we deliuer our Iudges of England from the cryme of murther though many mens deathes haue proceeded from them by way of Iustice No man I thinke will deny it XXVIII And so if some Popes haue had iust warres with some Princes Kinges or Emperours or haue persuaded themselues that they were iust in respect of some supposed disorders of the said Princes as here is mentioned the warre and other hostile proceedings of Pope Gregory the seauenth against the Emperour Henry the fourth this is not contrary to the saying of Cardinall Bellarmyne That no Pope euer commaunded any Prince to be murthered or allowed therof after it was done by an other For as for that which heere is affirmed by the Apologer That the Pope was inraged at the Emperour Henry the 5. for giuing buriall to his Fathers dead corps after the Pope had stirred him vp against his Father and procured his ruyne neyther proueth the matter nor is altogeather true as heere it is alleadged Not the first for this proueth not that the Pope eyther commaunded or procured this death which Bellarmyne denyed Not the second for that the two Authours by him cyted in his margent to wit Platina and Cuspinian doe not auerre the same For in Platina I finde no such thing at all and Cuspinian his wordes are plaine to the contrary That when Henry the Father was dead and buried in a Monastery at Liege his Sonne would not make peace with the Bishop of that place called Otbert except the dead body were pulled out of the graue againe as it was and so remayned for fiue yeares XXIX And againe Cuspinian writeth That the report was that Gregory the 7. did before his death absolue the Emperour but that his Sonne Henry the 5. and his followers neuer left to sollicite the succeeding Popes vntill he was excoÌ„municated againe thereupon had afterward this Christian buriall denyed him And how then is all this ascribed to the Pope which proceeded from the Some against his Father Our Apologer saith That he was sett on by the Pope to rebell against him but this his witnesses affirme not For Cuspinian saith that it was Suasu Marchionis Theobaldi Berengarij Comitis Noricorum Ottonis sibi ex materna sâ—irpe cognati And in this commonly agree all other Authors as Vrspergensis who then liued Crantzius Sigonius Nauclerus and others And why then is this so vniustly layed vpon the Pope What Author can he bring for it that auoucheth the same Why is it couertly cast in as though this matter apperteyned to Gregory the seauenth who in his life had warres with Henry the fourth but yet dyed before him Heere then nothing is so apparent as the desire to say much against Popes with neuer so litle occasion and lesse proofe But let vs go forward XXX In the second place he produceth the approbation of the slaughter of the late King of France by Pope Sixtus in his speech in the Consistory But no record of credit eyther in Rome or elswhere can be found to testify that any such speech euer was had by Pope Sixtus And I vnderstand that diuers Cardinalls are yet liuing who were then present in the first Consistory after that newes arriued who deny that Sixtus euer vttered any such words as of the allowance of that horrible fact though he might and did highly admire the strange prouidence of God in chastising by so vnexpected a way so foule and impious a murther as that King had committed vpon a Prince Bishop and Cardinall and those neerest of bloud vnto his Maiesty of England without any forme of iudgment at all And that a spectacle heerby of Gods Iustice was proposed vnto Princes to be moderate in their power and passions for that in the midst of his great and Royall army and corporall guardes he was strangely slaine by a simple vnarmed man when nothing was lesse expected or feared Nor can any thing be more improbable or ridiculous to be imagined then that which is heere affirmed by our Apologer and yet he saith he is sure therof That this friar which killed the King should haue bene canonized for the fact if some Cardinalls out of their wisedome had not resisted the same No such thing being euer so much as imagined or consulted of as many doe testify who were then in Rome So as nothing is more common here then bold assertions without wittnesses XXXI And the
THE IVDGMENT OF A CATHOLICKE ENGLISH-MAN LIVING IN BANISHMENT FOR HIS RELIGION VVritten to his priuate friend in England Concerninge A late BOOKE set forth and entituled Triplici nodo triplex cuneus Or An Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance Against two BREVES of Pope PAVLVS V. to the Catholickes of England a Letter of Cardinall BELLARMINE to M. GEORGE BLACKWELL Arch-priest VVherin the said Oath is shewed to be vnlawfull vnto a Catholicke Conscience for so much as it conteyneth sundry clauses repugnant to his Religion S. Hieron Comment in Cap. 4. Hierem. Let an Oath haue these companions Truth Iudgment and Iustice for if these be wanting it shall not be an Oath but Periury ¶ Permissu Superiorum ANNO 1608. THE GENERALL Contentes of this ensuing Letter diuided into three Paragraphes 1. THE first paragraph handleth matters concerning the substance of the Oath which in the Apologie are spoken by way as it were of Preface before the setting downe of the Popes Breues 2. THE second considereth the said two Breues impugnation therof by the Apologer and how sufficiently or insufficiently the same is performed by him 3. THE third discusseth the Answere made to Cardinall Bellarmynes Letter diuers poyntes of moment therin conteyned but weakly impugned by the Apologer as the Authour of this Letter iudgeth To the Reader THIS Letter comming to my hands gentle Reader some dayes past from my learned friend beyond the seas and hauing imparted the same priuately vnto sundry of myne acquaintance who desyred to read somewhat concerning the Argument in haÌ„d they were very earnest with me to yield to the printing therof for eschewing so great labour tyme and expences as would be necessary for the copying it out to so many as desyred the view therof which I intreate thee to take in good part and vse it to thy benefit And so to CHRIST IESVS I committ thee with wish of all felicitie both in this lyfe and the next PARTICVLER chiefe poyntes handled in this Letter In the first Paragraph 1. WHo is thought to be the true Authour of this Triplex cuneus or Apology and vpon what reasons arguments Num. 2. 3. 4. c. 2. The contentes of the Oath and how the lawfulnes of taking it was consulted with learned men both at home and abroad num 14. 15. c. 3. VVhether this Oath do conteyne matters of only meere Ciuill and Temporall Obedience and not any of Religion as is pâ—â—â—â—â—ded num 20. 21. c. 4. VVhat full and perfect Obedience and dutifull Allegiancâ— Catholicke Subiects do acknowledge themselues to owe and offer vnto his Ma. tie in all Temporall affayres as much as euer any English Subiects from the beginning vntill K. Henry the eight his time and as any forrayne Subiect doth to any Catholicke Emperour King or Prince at this day num 25. 26. c. 5. How contradictory it is in it self That Catholicks must sweare to take the Oath freely without coaction notwithstanding the penalty of Premunire if they refuse it num 29. c. 6. Concerning a petition to his Ma. tie for exposition of the said Oath for auoyding of needles vexations num 32. 33. c. 7. That nothing is gayned but much lost to his Ma. tie by ouer-much vrging the said Oath num 34. 35. c. In the Second Paragraph THe summe of the two Breues of Paulus V. and whether1 he had reason to complayne of Catholicks sufferance or no num 1. 2. 3. c. VVhether Q. Elizabeth did persecute Catholicks,2 and whether she were so happie in her life and gouernment as some do make her num 5. 6. 7. c. That it is not height of pryde in Catholicks to desyre lyberty of3 Conscience as the Apologer sayth num 25. 26. 27. c. That clemency is no cause of desperate attempts as this Apologer4 insinuateth but rather the contrary to wit cruelty num 32. 33. c. In what poyntes and why this Oath is held to be vnlawfull for5 Catholicke men to take with the examination of Scriptures Fathers and Councels about the same num 41. 42. c. How the Apologer wittingly mistaking the State of the Question,6 goeth forward impugning only his owne deuises num 61. 62. In the third Paragraph CArdinall Bellarmyne is wrongfully charged to mistake1 the State of the Controuersy and to impugne the Oath of Supremacy insteed of the Oath of Allegiance num 4. 5. c. VVhy the Apologer changeth the old Tytle of Supreme Head2 of the Church established by Statute vnder K. Henry the 8. and K. Edward the 6. vnto Supreme Gouernour num 6. 7. c. 3. The ancient Councels of Toledo how vntruly they are alledged for prescribing this forme of Oath now exacted num 11. 12. 13. c. 4. Clauses of beliefe or not beliefe proued to be in this Oath contrary to the Apologers assertion num 26. 27. c. 5. An eleuen Contradictions obiected out of Cardinall Bellarmynes workes but no one can be verified num 35. 36. 37. c. 6. The Authorityes of sundry Fathers examined whether they make to the purpose for which Bellarmyne doth alledge them in his Epistle num 58. 59. 7. Great variety of calumâ—â—ious dealing against the Cardinall for disgracing him num 74. 75. c. 8. How Kings and Princes are truly seruants of their Subiects and how their Authority is mediatly and not immediatly from God num 78. 79. 83. c. THE IVDGMENT OF A CATHOLICKE MAN TO HIS FRIEND in England Concerning the Apology for the new Oath of Allegiance Paragr I. I CANNOT but yeild yow harty thankes my louing friend for the new Booke yow sent me ouer by Gunâ—ar at his last passage For albeit I haue determyned with my selfe in this my banishment to spend my tyme in other studyes more profitable then in contention about Controuersyes yet must I needs accept kyndly of your good will in making me partaker of your newes there And more gladde should I haue beene if yow had aduertised me what your and other mens opinion was of the Booke in your parts then that yow request me to write our mens Iudgement from hence And yet for so much as yow requâ—â—â—t so earnestly at my handes and that the party is to returne presently I shall say somewhat with the greatest breuity that I can Albeit I do not doubt but that the partyes that are principally interessed therin will answere the same much more largely II. First then for the Authour for so much as he setteth not downe his Name it seemeth not so easy to ghâ—sse yet the more generall opinion in these partes is that as that odious Discouery of Roman Doctryne and practises which of late yow haue seene answered was cast forth against the Catholickes vnder the cyrred name of T. M. with direction as he said from Superiours the Authour being in deed but an inferiour Minister so dyuers thinke it to be probable that this other Booke also commeth
and honoured receyued so gladly and with vniuersall ioy meant to serue faithfully trusted that as he had vnited the two Kingdomes in one Obedience by his Succession so would he by his liberality vnite and conioyne the harts of all his Subiects in bearing a sweete and equall hand towards them all From such a King I saâ— or vs to expect liberty of ConscieÌ„ce and equality with other Subiects in this poynt at least of freedome of soule what height of pryde may it be called May it not rather seeme height of pryde in this Minister his â—ellowes that hauing bynâ— oâ—d enemyes and alwayes borne a hard hate uâ—â—hand and tongue against his Ma. tie both in their Sermons Bookes Speaches all the tyme of the late Queenes raigne now vpon the suddayne sine vllis meri is praecedeâ—â—ious will needs be so priuiledged assume vnto themselues such a confident presumption of his Ma. ties speciall fauour as to suffer no man to stand by them but to hold it for height of pryde in vs to hope â—or any freedome and liberty oâ— our Conscience at alâ— What is height of pryde and soâ—lâ— iâ— this be not XXIV But his Ma. tie is wise will as we hope according to his prudence in tyme looke into this sort oâ—men and manner of proceeding And to returne to the Apologer he reckoneth vp therby to exaggerate the more our ingratitude the particuler fauours his Ma. tie did vnto vs at his first entrance as That he did honour diuers Catholicks with Knighthood being open Recusants That he gaue audiece indifferently to both sydes bestowed equally fauours and honours vpon both professions gaue free conâ—inuall accesse to all rankes and degrees of Papists in his Court and company freeing Recusantes from their ordinarie payments gaue order to his Iudges with his owne mouth to spare execution of all Priests though they were conuicted gaue libertie by his gracious Proclamation to all Priests not taken to go out of the Countrey by such a day and all Priestes that were taken were sent ouer and sett at liberty and many other gracious fauours benefittes VVhich saith he tyme and paper would fayle me if I would make enumeration of them all in recounting wherof euery scrape of my pen so vse his words would serue but for a blott of the Popes ingratitude and iniustice in meating his Ma. tie with so hard a measure for the same So as I thinke quoth he I haue sufficiently wiped of the teares from the Popes eyes for complayning vpon such persecution c. XXV Thus writeth this man who in naming the Popes ingratitude must much more include ours that are Catholicks for that these benefitts such as they were appertayned nothing to the Pope but only in Christian charity as a common spirituall Father and Pastour he being otherwise a stranger vnto vs in bloud and for other worldly respects And as for Catholicks they accept gratefully whatsoeuer least fauour hath byn or is done vnto them and do not doubt but that if his Ma. tie had not bene preuented by sinister information persuasion of others they had tasted of much greater as due vnto them in that they are naturall borne Subiects of the Realme most loyall in hart affection neuer meaning otherwise but to liue in most orderly and dutifull Subiection and Obedience to his Highnes as to their liege Lord and Soueraigne XXVI And wheras this man for proofe of the contrary nameth the powder-treason of a few therby to discredite the whole though this calumniation haue beene answered before yet now I ad further as one said Distingue tempora scripturam concordabis If there had bene no persecution before that treason this might haue beene assigned for some probable cause of the subsequent tribulations but all England knoweth that this is not so but that his Ma. ties sweete myld aspect towards Catholicks at his first entrance was soone by art of their enemyes auerted long before the conspiracy fell out For that not only all the most cruell Statutes and penall Lawes made by Q. Elizabeth were renewed and confirmed before this with addition of others tending to no lesse rigour acerbitie but also the exaction of the same was put in practice with great seueritie namely the paymeÌ„t of the twenty poundes a moneth or two partes of their goods and landes for Recusants once remitted by his Ma. tie as heere is confessed were not only recalled againe but the arrearages therof in like manner exacted and for leuying wherof throughout sundry shyres of the Realme especially in the North there was such ransacking of mens houses such dryuing away of their Cattell froÌ„ their groundes such strayning of their Rents such vexing of their tennants not knowne perhaps to his Ma. tie as if the whole Countrey had byn gyuen ouer to spoyle desolation XXVII Nor were mens goods and persons only afflicted but the lyues also of sundry taken away for cause of their Religion before this powder-treason fell out which desperate treason to ascribe as an effect and fruite of too much clemency in his Ma. tie as this Minister doth is a strange assertion no doubt for so much as such effects do not proceed but of exasperated myndes which clemency worketh not eyther in men or beasts Neyther did euer any learned Philosopher that wrote of the good institution of any Common wealth or of the security of any Prince in his Gouernment put such effects for fruits of clemency but rather of the contrary manner of proceeding And if all the disasterous ends of the most vnfortunate Princes that euer haue byn destroyed should be layd togeather and the causes therof exactly inquired it would be found so and consequently that this Minister is no good Counsellour to his Ma. tie in this so great weighty affayre And we hope that Almighty God by the mercy of his dearest Sonne our Sauiour and through the prayers of his Ma. ties good Mother and other holy Princes of his Royall bloud now in heauen will neuer suffer him at the egging of such exasperating people to follow so violent troublesome and dangerous a course and so contrary to theirs whiles they lyued vpon earth and so alienate from his owne sweete nature and Princely disposition XXVIII But to proceed a litle further in the narration of some poyntes of heauy persecutioÌ„ that insued soone after his Ma. ties being in England much before the powder-treason was attempted Who doth not know what afflictions were layd vpon Catholicks euen in the very first yeare of his Ma. ties raigne especially towards the end therof much more throughout all the second yeare before the said powder-treason fell out For then not only in the Shires and Prouinces abroad but euen in London it selâ—e and in the eyes of the Court the violence and insolency of continuall searches grew to be such as was intollerable no night passing commonly but
things or not If it be lawfull as I neuer heard or read it doubted of then why is the Pope so vniust and cruell towards his owne Catholicks as to commaund them to disobey their Soueraignes lawfull commandement If it be vnlawfull why hath he not expressed any one cause or reason therof But this Dilemma is easily dissolued or rather falleth of it self both his pillers being but broken reeds framed out of false suppositions For that the Pope neyther denyeth it to be lawfull to obey the Soueraigne in Cyuill and Temporall things nor doth he command Catholicks to disobey their Prince his lawfull commādements but only where they be vnlawful to be performed as he supposeth them to be in the taking of this Oath Wherof he expresseth sundry causes and reasons I meane so many as the Oath it self cōteyneth points cōcerning Religion to which end he setteth downe the whole Oath as it lyeth with intimation that those points cannot be sworne with integrity of Catholicke Religion good conscience which is sufficient for a Iudge who disputeth not but determineth So as hereupon to make illation of the Popes vniust and cruell dealing towards Catholicks by this his decision as though he sorbad Ciuill Obedience is to buyld vpon a voluntary false ground supposing or rather imposing the Pope to say that which he doth not and then to refute him as though he had said it indeed And is this good dealing LVIII But yet he goeth forward vpon the same false ground to buyld more accusations against the Pope saying That if the foundation of his exhorting Catholicks to beare patiently their tribulations be false as this Apologer auoucheth it to be then it can worke no other effect then to make him guylty of the bloud of so many of his sheep whome he doth thus willfully cast away not only to the needles losse of their liues and ruyne of their famylies but euen to the laying on of a perpetuall slander vpon all Papists As it no zealous Papist could be a true Subiect to his Prince and that Religion and the Temporall Obedience to the Cyuill Magistrate were two things incompatible and repugnant in themselues Thus he LIX But who doth not see that these be all iniurious inferences inforced vpon the former false suppositions to witt That Catholicks suffer nothing for their Conscience That there is no persecution at all in England That there is nothing exacted by this last oath but only and meerly Cyuill Obedience and that in this the Pope exhorteth them to disobey the Temporall Prince in Temporall dutyes and thereby giueth iust occasion to the Prince to vse his sword against them and consequently that he is cause of the effusion of their bloud and of the infamy of Catholicke Religion as though no Catholicke by his Religion could be a true Subiect to his Temporall Prince All which suppositions being vtterly mistaken and not true the more often they are repeated the more exorbitant seemeth the ouersight of the wryter And in my opinion the very same might haue bene obiected vnto S. Cyprian and other Fathers of the Primitiue Church that they were guylty of so many Martyrs bloud willfully cast away and of the ruyne of their familyes and other inconueniences by exhorting them not to doe against their Consciences nor to yield to their Temporall Princes Commandements against God and their Religion no not for any torments that might be layd vpon them nor for any losses that might fall vnto them of goods life honour same friendes wife children or the like which were ordinary exhortations in those daies of persecution as by their Bookes yet extant doth appeare LX. Neyther is it sufficient to say that those tymes and ours are different for that the things then demaunded were apparantly vnlawfull but these not for that to vs that are Catholicks these things are as vnlawfull now as those other were then to them for that they are no lesse against our Consciences in matters of Religion For why should it be more damnable then and indispensable to deliuer vp a Byble or new Testament for examples sake when the Emperour commaunded it then now to sweare an Oath against our Conscience and Religion when our Temporall Prince exacteth it For that this perhaps is called the Oath of Allegiance Who knoweth not that the fayrest tytle is put vpon the fowlest matter when it is to be persuaded or exacted And he that shall read the Historyes of that tyme and of those auncient afflictions shall see that Act also to haue beene required as of Obedience and Allegiance and not of Religion being only the deliuery vp of materiall bookes and yet did the whole Church of God condemne them for it that deliuered the same and held for true Martyrs all those that dyed for denying thereof for that they would not doe an Act against their Consciences LXI Well then to draw to an end of this second paragraph about the two Breues of Paulus Quintus two things more writeth this Apologer whereunto I must in like manner say somewhat The first is That Pope Clemens Octauus sent into England two Breues immediatly before the late Queenes death for debarring of his Maiestie our now Soueraigne of the Crowne or any other that eyther would professe or any way tolerate the professours of our Religion contrary saieth he to his manifold vowes and protestations simul eodem tempore and as it were deliuered vno eodem Spiritu to diuers of his Maiestyes Ministers abroade professing all kyndenes and shewing all forwardnes to aduance him to this Crowne c. Wherein still I fynde the same veyne of exaggeration and calumniation continued by the Apologer For hauing procured some knowledge of those two Breues I fynde them not sent into England togeather nor immediatly before the late Queenes death but the one diuers yeares before shee dyed and the other after her death and this to different effects For in the first the Pope being consulted what Catholicks were bound to doe in conscience for admitting a new Prince after the Queene should be dead for so much as some of different Religions were or might be pretenders he determined that a Catholicke was to be preferred not thinking as may be presumed to preiudice therein his Maiesty that now is of whome vpon the relations and earnest asseuerations of those his Maiestyes Ministers abroad who heere are mentioned he had conceaued firme hope that his Highnes was not farre from being a Catholicke or at least wise not altogeather so alienate from that Religion or professours therof as reasonable hope might not be conceaued of his conuersion though in regard of not preiudicing his Tytle in England the said Ministers auouched that it was not thought expedient at that tyme to make declaration therof LXII This was auerred then how truly or falsly I know not But many letters and testifications are extant hereof which were the cause of those demonstrations of Clemens Octauus to fauour