there is no smal number in England from the familiaritie of the Prince expel them thrust them out by proclamatiōs force them to flee out of the Realme As for me that am so farre of there is no cause whie ye should be greatly careful for so much as it can not be suspected that I shoulde take awaie from you your gaines after which as you shew your selfe you gape so greedilie But by your pacience Sir me thinketh ye are of nature very base and abiecte that for so meane a promotion take so great stomake and courage If ye can not beare so meane a condition but that you must needes in respecte of your office laie vnto me the name of a priuate man what would you doe if you were called to some higher degree of worshippe You saie that I do goe about to appaire the estimation of lawes wheras in deede I doe thinke that the good estate of a common weale standeth and is mainteined by lawes and am hartily sorie that through these pestilēt sectes al good lawes customes and ordinaunces are fallen to ruine and decaie You saie that I appeache all the whole Realme of England I can not tel of what hateful newfanglednes the whiche is also false For I haue heard of credible personnes that the greatest part of that Iland doe continue in the Olde Religion Now wheras you require of me to beare with you bicause you haue talked somewhat freelie with me as being an English mā fostred and brought vp of the Queenes Maiestie and of the affaires of England not ignorant I commend your loue towardes your countrie I commend your loyaltie towards your Prince I cōmend your knowlege of things gotten by long experience I cōmend also your freedom in speache But beware you doe not so muche as in you lieth ouerthrow your Countrie beware you bring not the Quene into daunger of her estate and life and when you are pricked and yearked foorth with the goades of your owne madnes beware you cloke not your erroneous beleefe and licentious life vnder the honest name of libertie Ye promise assuredly that you meane to doe it for no debate or dissension of minde whereas there can not be deuised any greater dissension then this you taking vpon you to mainteine and I contrariwise to inuey against the most wicked and heinouse malefactours of the worlde And where you saie that your purpose is to pul out of mens heartes certaine false opinions that they haue cōceiued of the state of England if you can so doe you shal doe me a verie friendly pleasure But this one thing I meruaile much at that you say that my writings might happē to cause this false rumor and infamie that is now bruted of England What say you Sir Are you only ignoraunt how long time it is sence England was firste charged with this infamouse report How was it possible when the holie men Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester and S. Thomas More were openly put to death for their constancie in their faith and Religion when the good Religiouse Fathers the Carthusians were with most cruel tormentes slaine and murdred when the houses of Religion in the whiche was appointed a mansion or dwelling place of perpetual chastitie were laid wide open and turned to prophane vses when many other momentes of holines were vtterly ouerthrowen and defaced how was it possible I saie that England shoulde be without a very exceding greate infamie But without cause saie you Be it so if it please you for I wil not as yet dispute for either part Yet this muche I saie that euen at that time there was a great brand of dishonestie burnt into the estimation of English men But you forsooth that shoulde haue defended al those thinges with maine pollicie and counsel were not yet come to beare the swaie and therfore the matter being destitute of such a spokesman as you are that opinion that was by the constant reporte and brute of al men diuulged tooke place in al the Realmes of Christendome How is it then true that I should caus◠this infamie which is so olde by my writinges set out but the last daie You commend my kinde of writing the which is more then I requir◠of you For that I vse in matters we knowen words not necessarie as yo◠thinke you reproue me But your reproch I am nothing offended withal for my desire is to talke of thinges mo◠clere and plaine and what were to b◠put into my Oration and what to be put out I thinke it dependeth of my iudgement and not of yours whiche peraduenture knowe not what my meaning is You saie that whereas I pretended in the beginning to doe some other thing I fel at the length to taunting and defacing of Religion That is trew in deede if most vile and seditions heresie may be called Religion You say that it is to no purpose for me to goe about to discharge manie Inglish men of the enuie of the facte for that as you saie their case and cause is al one And to proue that you declare the manner of England to be such that no law bindeth the people there vnlesse it be first decreed by the whole communaltie receiued of the nobilitie approued by the Clergie and last of al authorised by the King and therfore can not stand that a lawe being made by the ful consent and agreemēt of al some men should susteine blame and some others should be altogether void thereof The law I like wel But that it is not kept I thīke itmuch to be misliked If the geuing of voices were free and not wrested and gotten out frō men by threatning and punishmēt I would like your saing wel But here to passe ouer with silence the lightnes and inconstancie of the multitude which may verie easilie be brought to any incōuenience either with the hatred of seueritie either with the shew of gentlenes and withal to leaue that point vntouched howe it is a thing impossible for euerie particular man to geaue his voice but of force they must geue ouer their authoritie of geuing voices vnto a few I would you would teach me this one thing for I confesse plainely that I am a straunger and nothing expert in matters of your cōmō weale what horrible fact had the bishop of Rochester cōmitted that neither the grauitie of his person neither the dignitie of a Bishop could saue him from death Went he about anie treason against his coūtrey Had he conspired the death of the Prince Had he entred into talke with foraine ennemies to betraie his owne common weale Nothing lesse But bicause he most constantlie refused to yeeld his consent vnto a wicked statute the holie and innocent man was so punished as though he had ben the most detestable traitour in the worlde What had Thomas More committed a verie good man and excellentlie well learned Had he forged the Kinges letters patentes ▪ Had he embeseled the Kinges treasure Had he kylled
A LEARNED AND VERY ELOQVENT Treatie writen in Latin by the famouse man Hieronymus Osorius Bishop of Sylua in Portugal wherein he confuteth a certayne Aunswere made by M. Walter Haddon against the Epistle of the said Bishoppe vnto the Queenes Maiestie Translated into English by Iohn Fen student of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Louen LOVANII Apud Ioannem Foulerum Anno 1568. Cum Gratia Priuilegio TO THE CATHOlike Reader I Was moued gentle Reader to translate this Booke into our mother tongue for diuers and sundrie causes First the fame of the authour prouoked me thereunto who is not in my priuate opinion but in the estimation of alsuch as know gim a vertuous Prieste and godly Bishoppe in the iudgement of the world for grauitie wisedome eloquence and profound knowledge in al kinde of learning in these our daies a singular yea an odde man Then I thought it expedient to impart the benefit therof vnto my vnlearned countrey men bicause as it was writen generally for the commoditie of al the Churche of Christ so it was especially meant and as it were dedicated to the Churche and cōmon weal of Englād vnto the which as it may appeere both by the epistle which he wrot before vnto the Queenes Maiestie as also by this Booke he bare siugular good will Moreouer I iudged that mylabour in translating it shuld be the more profitably emploied bicause there are in it many goodly exhortations to stirre a mā vp to the loue and feare of God many holesome lessons by the whiche a Christian man may direct and order his life many points of Catholike doctrine whiche are in these dayes called in controuersie by our Aduersaries so plainly set out that the vnlearned maie take great profit therof so lernedly disputed that such as are wel exercised in Diuinitie may find wherwith to increase their knowlege To be short the thing that most moued me to take these paines was bicause it conteineth a briefe confutation of manie erroneous opinions of much heretical and pestilēt doctrine comprised in a litle booke set out these late yeares in the name of M. Haddon wherin was pretended an answere to the Epistle of Osorius which I spake of before but in effecte was nothing els but a numbre of stout assertions faintly prooued be sprinkled here and there with bitter tauntes vnsauerie gyrdes and other the like scomme or froth of vndigested affections These were the things that cawsed me to spare some time from my study to trāslate this booke into Englishe for the commoditie of suche as vnderstande not the Latine tongue wherof if thou shalt receiue any profit as thou maist very much if thou reade it with diligence and good iudgement thanke God of it and with mindful hart acknowledge his great mercy and goodnes towards vs in that it hath pleased him in this perilous time not only to send vs at home in our owne countrie most vertuous godlie and learned men to be vnto vs a perfecte rule both of good life and true beleefe but also to moue the heart of this graue Father and reuerēt Bishop whose learned writinges haue deseruedly obteined so great authoritie thoroughout al the Church of Christ to pitie the lamentable state of our most miserably decaied Church and to laie his helping hand to the repairing of it employing thervnto the rare gyftes and graces of God with the which as thou shalt perceiue by reading this booke he is most beawtifully adourned and decked And thus I bid the heartily farewell commending my selfe to thy deuout praiers and thee to Almightie God whome thou shalt most humbly besech that it maie please him either of his mercie to turne the heartes of such as are maliciously bent against the true faith of Christe or els of his iustice to turne the wicked deuises and diuelish practises of Achitophel and all his confederacie to the glorie of his holie name and aduaunceme◠of the Catholike Churche From Louen the fyrst of Nouember Anno Domini 1568. John Fen. THE FIRST BOOKE I Thinke it a great grace and benefite of God M. Haddon that your booke which ye sette out against me a fewe yeres past with much a doe at the length this last daie came vnto my handes Such care hath God put into the hart of Henrie the Cardinal who is a most godly Prince and wise gouernour to vse al possible diligēce that no such bookes as may disteine the purenes of godly Religion be brought in emongest vs. Had it not benne that Emanuel Almada Bisshoppe of Angra a man excellently wel furnished with al good qualities and vertues to me moste intiere both for the streight friendshippe as also for the long acqueintaunce betwene vs begone and continued euen from our Auncestours had accompaigned the most vertuous Ladie Marie Princesse of Parma into the low Coūtries of Flaūders I had not as yet heard any thing either of the booke or of the Writer But he after his arriual into those parties chauncing vppon the booke thought he could no lesse doe of friendshippe but take vpon him my cause and confute your reprocheful wordes Howbeit in the worke which he wrote with singular diligence he tooke vppon him the defence not so muche of me as of Religion of pietie of godlinesse After his returne into his countrie whiche was much later then we hoped it was rumored foorthwith that an English man whose name was vnknowen had writen against Hieronymus Osorius and that the Bishoppe of Angra had earnestly taken vpon him the defence of Osorius and this much was signified vnto me by my friendes letters At the same time I was painfully occupied in visiting my Diocese the which notwithstanding I was not so letted but that I found a time to salute my frind and welcome him home by my letters in the which I required of him that he woulde send me your booke together with his defence He answered me to euery point of my letters as humanitie courtesie and frindship required But as touching your booke he said he was moued in conscience not to send it vntil he had obteined licence of the Cardinal whereby ye may perceiue how heinouse and wicked offence it is emongest vs to reade the bookes of such men as haue with many errours infected Religion This wise man albeit he had had very exact and perfect tryal of my Religion by long experience and saw that I was placed in the roome and dignitie of a Bishop and therefore might of mine owne authoritie search and trie out what soeuer wilines or craft laie hiddē vnder the couert of your writings yet durst he in no wise make me partaker of your booke before he vnderstoode our Cardinalles pleasure You wil here peraduenture scorne and laugh at his ouermuch superstition But I shal neuer thinke any diligēce that is employed to put away the contagion of such a deadlie or mortal pestilence to be ouermuch After many moneths at the length when he vnderstoode the Cardinals pleasure he
or greuously inuried any of the Kinges subiectes No suche matter But onelie bicause â—e woulde not claw and flatter the â—ing but rather woulde speake his â—inde freelie they chopped of his head before al the people as though he had ben a fellon or traitour But now what saie you to the CarthusiaÌ„s most vertuouse godly and religious Fathers men in pleading at the barre vnacqueinted in the coÌ„mon affaires and practises of the world vnskilful Why were thei so cruellie handled Why were they trussed and hanged vppon gibbets Whie were they dismeÌ„bred and quartered in peaces Whie were they finally burned and coÌ„sumed with fier dowbtlesse bicause they would not with their voice allow and make good a thing that vnto them seemed wicked heinouse and vnworthie to be named What shal I say of the holie bishops whom you haue lodeÌ„ with yroÌ„s fetters and chaines whom you haue shut vp in darke and close prisons whom you haue robbed both of goods and honour Haue you any thing elles to laie to their charge but that they would not geue their asfent to your statutes which semed to them vniust And therfore it is no wonder if other men being with such cruel and horrible punishments put in extreme feare be not ouer bold to declare their mind freelie in open place For where the geuing of voices is not free but forced of men by feare and terrour there reigneth not the couÌ„sel of the whole but the lust and outrage of a few You doe not therefore sufficiently proue that those lawes were made and allowed by the coÌ„mon agreement and consent of al states For it is manifest that they were violently forced and that who so euer did gainesaie them was extremely punished As touching my humble suite vnto the Queene wherein I besought her Maiestie that if I were able by good argumeÌ„t to proue that these authours or brochers of newe fanglednes did most daungerously and perniciously erre it might please her to esteme and hold their doctrine as vngodly and detestable you say that it is a false accusation without strength of argument that it procedeth of stomake and not of loue towardes the trewth that it is grounded vpon a slaunder and not vpoÌ„ reason that it is a reproch and not a disputation laied vpoÌ„ the ground worke of religion â–ª You require of me the verie same thing as I required of your Quene that is to wit that if you were able to shew that I had without good cause found fault with the gouernement of your common weale I should repent me of myne offence First of al I take Christ Iesus to witnes who only knoweth the secrettes of my hart that I wrote those my letters neither for hatred neither for displeasure neither for reproche as you say but for earnest good zeale and loue I beare to the trewth and to the welfare of the whole realme For what haue Inglish men hurt me more then other men What wrong or displeasure haue thei done me Trulie neuer a whit But contrarie wise I haue ben informed by the letters both of Antonius Augustinus Bishop of Ilerda a man for his excelleÌ„t vertues and singular knowledge in the liberal sciences wel deseruing the dignitie of a bishop together with immortal fame who was sometime sent from the bishop of Rome legat vnto Quene Marie as also by the letters of Iohn Metellus a Burgonion a man whom for his courteous and swete conuersation ioyned with rare giftes of learning I loue verie intierly that manie great learned men in England did geaue mâ— a verie honourable report Wherefore there was good cause whie I should rather loue English men then malice or reuile them Neither did I euer thinke to reprooue your common weale but the corrupt lewdnes of a fewe which disquieteth the whole realme And whereas you charge me with curiositie for medling in a straunge common weale I thinke it is no straunge common weale but myne owne For I did not reason of the lawes of your Realme and ciuile ordinaunces but of ChristiaÌ„ religion for the which I am not afraid to loose my life And therefore shal I neuer thinke any thing to be impertinent to me whereby I may mainteine and set foorth the honour of this common weale Consider now M. Haddon how iust your request is This is your demaund If you can conuince and manifestly prooue not that I am in any errour for that were tolerable but that I wrote my epistle for hatred euil wil and reproch you require of me to confesse my fault and to saie that I was ouer rash when I tooke vpon me to control your matters whiche I knew not Can you on the other side prooue whereas I meaÌ„t louingly frindly and religiously that it was done slaunderously enuiously and vntruly But lest you should say I deale to straightly with you this much I promise you faithfully If you be able to proue not that I wrote for any euil intent for that is impossible but that the rearing vp of this your newly framed religion is without all fault and blamelesse I wil repeÌ„t me of my doyng I am not ignorant how daungerous a matter it is to promise thus much to a man of law But bicause I haue a good affiaunce that you shal not be able to circumuent me with any malicious and crafty fetch of the law and my desire is to discharge honest men of slaunderous reportes I promise you thus much of myne honestie if you be able to proue that those felowes be honest godlie and religious men whiche I take to be lewde and wicked verlettes I will neuer speake one word against you You take it in snuffe M. Haddon that I deale so boisteously with your new maisters saing that I doo oftentimes thunder out against them most horrible and fyerie reproches yea so much that mans hart can not deuise any thing more detestable Wherin I perceiue that you can not well discerne what an argument and what a reproch is For I contended not with reprochful woordes but with argumentes such as you can not yet answere Than you saie Where are these monsters of Religion What are thei How long haue they continued Where are those misshapen felowes to be found If you thinke to shift the manifold argumeÌ„tes which I haue vsed with such a glittering shew of wordes you are much deceiued For I loke for reasons and not for a vaine noise of wordes But that that you bring in vpoÌ„ this is a very toy and mockerie Your woords be these Declare the thinges name the persones note the times adde the circuÌ„stances that we may haue some certaintie wherin to staÌ„d with you as also to withstand you I thinke M. Haddon it was longe ere you were set to the Rhetorike schole and that ye were not verie apte to learne it You would be counted a Rhetorician and yet you know not that Rhetorique is a prudencie or discretion in speaking so that what so euer is against discretion is not conuenient
thinke that this word high mai not be born in the dignitie of a bishop why do you not in like maÌ„ner detest the name of highnes in the Maiestie of a king No say you it was very wisely prouided that al the magistrats and Princes in EnglaÌ„d shuld haue one supreme Prince whom they shuld al reuereÌ„ce and by whose power aÌ„d autority they shuld be al restrained for otherwise it cannot be chosen but that there would be stirred vp muche trouble and discord to the great peril of the whole realme I thinke you say truly And therefore I affirme in like manner that in the Churche whiche ought to be alwaies one it is necessarie that there be one supreme power of a high bishop whose authoritie all other Bishops should reuerence For otherwise it must needes be that there arise much debate and manie pestilent sectes to the great ruine and decaie of the Churche and that the Church be brought therby into verie great daunger For if within the space of fourtie yeares sence a great peece of Germanie and afterwardes England fel from the Bishop of Rome so many sâ—ditions haue risen emongest the Princes of your Religion that they caÌ„ not possibly agree neither with other meÌ„ neither yet within them selues what ende thinke you wil ensew in case al Christendome the which God forbid being thereunto procured and moued by your diligence and vnreasonable meanes should rebel with the like outrage and madnes It remaineth therefore that as in England there is one supreme power whiche comprehendâ—th al other Princes vnderneth it so there be also in the Churche one supreme authoritie the whiche al other inferiour powers must willingly and diligently obeie For otherwise it is not possible that the crewel tempestes risen in the Churche should euer be slaked or the flames of discord quenched or the ciuile warres ended Now for so much as Christ is the authour of peace Whosoeuer wil saie that they wil haue but one only bishop which is our Lord Iesus Christe and by the religious preteÌ„ce of this worde wil open a gap to so manie opinions and to so much pestilent dissensioÌ„ thei are lyers No they doe rather fight against Christ and worshippe Satan the authour of debate and discorde But contrarie wise such as honour and reuerence the bishoppe of Rome as the Vicare of Christ for that respect only bicause he is the lieutenant of Christ in the earth they doe in deede acknowledge only Christ to be the high Priest And yet you saie that by this your rebellion and contempte you doe not cut and maÌ„gle the coate of Christ but only geue a touch at the Bishop of Romes cloke And by and by after you bring in these wordes Neither doe we laie open the waie as you saie to sedition but we doe daÌ„me vp the path the â–ª which goeth downe through his licâ—ntious lead to the great decaie of good manners Of this lead and of your notable reproch I haue spokeÌ„ before with as much modestie as the matter would suffer me But of this your base vile and shamelesse boldnes when you say that you haue not rent and torne the coate of Christ but rather that you haue by this your most wicked rebellion made a goodlie prouision that good manners should not decaie I can not wel tel what to say to you Dare you seing euerie where as you doe that there are so many diuisions of pestileÌ„t sectes with so much debate and discord that there is no certaine faith emoÌ„gest you no agreemeÌ„t in ReligioÌ„ that your confessioÌ„s are changed almost euerie day your beleefes and Creedes corrected that the olde places of doctrine are disanulled and new set vp that manifold sectes ariseth daily and the old Church is diuided in many parts how dare you I say report that this your falling from the Church hath not maÌ„gled the coate of Christe When you see with your eyes that pride arrogancie disobedience stubbernes saucie talke slaunderous report fleshlie pleasure naughtines dishonesty tumult and sedition goeth vp and downe freely and vncoÌ„trolled wheresouer your maisters put their foote with what face dare you say that you haue after this rebellion set the manners of men in good and seemelie ordre The thing it selfe speaketh dailie examples declare neither doe the open assises no neither secret parlars hold their peace But let vs now see howe worshipfully you confute that my discourse as touching the Monarchie of the holie Church You say In the best time of the Church there was one God and one faith That is true But now neither is there one God nor one faith emongest the ministers of your gospel For one offereth vp diuine honour to pleasure an other to madnes some to the bealie and some to railing Luther hath one faith Bucer an other Zwinglius hath one and Caluin an other And yet you say Peter had his Prouince Paule had his and Iames his and other had other Prouinces And yet did not this separation of their persons disioine the vnitie of their saith What conclude you then maie it be gathered by these things that you saye that Peter when he was resident in one Prouince had no preeminence ouer the rest of the Apostles That is not wel coÌ„cluded of these things that you haue spoken For now euery Bisshoppe hath his Prouince and the Bisshop of Rome hath his And yet are we all subiect vnto him by the lawe of God It foloweth In processe of time many of the Bishops of Rome were Martyrs and were sacrificed vnto God by prophane and vngodlie Princes but Crownes had they none vnlesse it were the Crownes of Martyrdome This extraordinarie soueraintie of Popedome they knew not Yes M. Haddon it is wel knowen that the most blessed Princes and soueraignes of the Church of Rome them selues to witte Clement and Euaristus and Lucius and Marcellus and Pius the which atteyned the Croune of Martyrdome with very great glory whom neither ambition nor any other vnlauful desire moued to seke for that supreme honoure do beare witnes against you For their writinges declare plainely that their iudgement was that the soueraintie of the vniuersal Churche was euer in the Church of Rome What should I here reherse Ireneus Augustine and al other holy Fathers What shoulde I here vnfolde the memorie of al the antiquitie Of the new writers reade if it please you Eckius the B. of Rochester Cocleus Pighius and such other most excelleÌ„t men both for vertue and learning and you shall see how ignorant you are in this mater of the supremacie They dispute and contend not with reprochful wordes not with lies not with impudeÌ„cy but with testimonies of the holie Scriptures but with the authorities of the holy Fathers but with examples of the vnspotted antiquitie and they presse their aduersaries and proue them to be not onely wicked felowes but also very mad and frantike meÌ„ But how is it possible that you should vnderstand these thinges What time could
you spend in the studie of Diuinitie being a maÌ„ alwaies coÌ„uersant in the law court and hindered with many affaires And so me thinketh that you are not so muche to be blamed as your maisters the whiche haue nouseled you in so mani errours How be it you are also to be blamed for two points The first is lightnes for that you haue so lightly geuen credite to naughty meÌ„ The other is impudeÌ„cy for that you haue so rashly auouched thinges that you neuer read Tel me I pray you where haue you read that Gregorie did abandone this supreame dignitie of the B. of Rome And yet you put it in your oratioÌ„ affirming it ful stoutly and are neuer a whit ashamed of your lying At the length you conclude thus Wherfore if the best state of the church was without this Monarchy may also lack it ful wel yea we ought to lacke it not only bicause it is expressely forbidden by the Gospel but also bicause it standeth wel with reason What a rashnes and impudencie is this in you to conclude an Argument after this sorte without al reason You must bring in your conclusion vpon thinges that are true knowen and agreed vppon not vppon thinges that are false and not graunted If you be ignorant in this you are a very dolt if you know it and yet will goe about to conclude your argument vpon false propositioÌ„s without any proufe going before you are to be taken as a very shamelesse sophister For emongest the guyles and subtilties which the babling sophisters are wonte to vse this is accounted for one of the first to goe aboute to conclude what them listeth vppon thinges that are not true neither graunted neither agreed vppon If the best state of the Church saie you was without this Monarchie we may also lacke it full well What if the best state of the Churche was neuer without this Monarchie may you then lacke it I thinke not If it be then proued by writinges and records yea and by the ful agreement of al the holy Fathers that the best state of the Church was neuer without this Monarchie if you are able neither to coÌ„fute the authorities neither to make any good proufe for your selfe neither to bring any sure ground of antiquitie but only in bare wordes to saie what ye list doe you not see that all youâ— talke is fainte and weake and that it is pitifully shaken and battred of it selfe without gonneshotte And yet as though you had already contriued the whol matter according to your hearts desire you say moreouer Yea we ought to lâ—okd it How proue you that it is of duâ—tie What fruict can you shew of this your wicked rebellion What light haue you shewed to the worlde by this your outrage and madnesse so wonderfull that you may wel say that you haue discharged your duetie and office commendably Nowe whereas you say that the Gospel forbiddeth it expresly you declare the verie true cause of all your doinges For it seemeth that you are minded to doe that onely that the Gospell of Christe forbiddeth you to doe How be it you woulde not saie so but rather that you do by the warrant of the Gospel refuse the authority of the B. of Rome Suche is your eloquence that you are not able marlie times to vtter your owne meaning But by what testimonie of the Gospel by what authority haue you proued it Bring foorth the place presse vs with the wordes coÌ„uince vs with the commaundement shew where the Gospel hath forbidden not darkely but by expresse and plaine words that we shuld not acknowledge any one man as the high Vicare of Christ in the earth You saie moreouer that it standeth with reason whereas you neuer shewed before how reason and this your lewdnes may stande together And yet as though you had moste plainely and inuincibly proued the matter you do not only coÌ„clude veri much besides the purpose but also vauÌ„t your self beyond al modestie Some il hap come to that felow your Schoolemaister that brought you vp so il It is like he toke vpon him to make you eloquent and he made you not only a babe but also an vntoward and a 〈…〉 Wherfore I would geue you 〈◊〉 to take an action against him to make him repaie his waiges that he tooke of you For you bestowed your time very il with him the which might haue ben better spent in drawing out writes and processes in the Law But let vs see what reason you bring You saie Neither can the head so far froÌ„ the meÌ„bers disagree coÌ„ueniently What are you yet to learne to speake Latine What meane you by this What is to disagree conuenientlie For the thing that is in it selfe conuenient is nothing disagreeable Whereas you saie therfore that a thing doth disagree conueniently you speake not pure and cleane Latine but you vse a monstruouse kinde of Latine speache For this cause I am not ashamed to confesse so often that I doe not vnderstand what you saie I suspect you would saie in this place that it is not possible that the heade should 〈◊〉 be ioyned vnto the members being so farre a sunder If you say so you are much deceiued if you beleue that the coÌ„iunction of the church consisteth in the nighnes of places and not in the consent of faith and agreement in one Religion But if you doe comprise vnder this disordered kinde of speach some other more secret mysterie When you haue exponnded your self then peraduenture I wil answere you You say afterward Especially for somuch as this Monarchie or only soueraintie for the which you laboure so much we haue it at hand at home with vs in Englande so that we neede not to seeke it abroad It is not my part to rehearse al your woordes after you like a childe But I will aske you this one thing what only power or souerainty is that We haue say you the absolute authoritie of a Kinges Maiestie wherein is conteined fully and wholly the Princelie estate of our common weale What would you also that the supreme authoritie of the Church should be subiect vnto this Kingly Maiestie as you saie For no man euer said that your common weale ought to be gouerned by the authoritie of the Bishop of Rome in matters coÌ„cerning the state of your ciuile affaires but only that the Churche of Englande can not refuse by any means without great offence the authority of the Bishop of Rome For this doe we contend and as you saie labour so earnestly This is that which you saie is nothing necessarie for so much as the Kinges Maiestie hath an absolute authoritie emongest you and therefore you neede not seeke any other abroad You say therfore expressely that your Quene doth rightfully take vpon her the gouernement of Englande in spiritual matters And the more hardelie to presse me therewithal you reason with me after this forte But surely this seemeth vnto you a thing not to be borne
by their most honourable death set out their faith excedingly manie haue abiden imprisonement reprochful woordes with diuers other incōmodities manie being loth to see suche a decaie of religion wander from place to place of their owne accord like banished men and outcastes and haue liefer to keepe a continual combat with miserie and needines then to beholde with their eies so heauy a sight The which thing verie manie other men would do also if you would suffer them Moreouer and this I heare that ther are certaine places within that Ilād vnto the which the infectiō of this morreine is not yet come and it is reported that there are manie noble men also which are vntowched A frind of myne an honest and credible person which hath some doinges in England tolde me this for certaine that there are moe in the realme that continue in their faith stil then there are of such as haue forsaken it howbeit they dare not professe it openly for feare of them that are in authoritie For it is lawful for them so long as they are not required to professe their faith openly to keepe it to them selues vntill such time as they must either maintaine their religiō by suffring death if they be put vnto it or els reserue them selues to a better worlde to the ende that all good men decaie not at once And as for them whose heartes are not blinded with pride which are caried awaie not so much of malice and naughtines as of simplicity of mind of the which there are verie manie maie verie easily be brought home againe Wherefore I saied not that al the Iland was geuen to suche vices neither haue I laied downe al hope of the recouerie of the whole no I trust to see within these few daies such an alteration of things that the verie remembrance of this most pestilent plague shalbe vtterlie abolished Furthermore I meant not in those my letters as I tolde you before to make anie enditement or accusation but to aduertise your Prince that she should not suffer her self to be infected with the pestilent sectes of desperate felowes the which thing that I might doe it the better I declared certaine tokēs by the which true religiō might be discerned from false religiō and true Prophetes frō false Prophetes In the doing wherof if I lacked discretion we shal see anon Thus much haue I spokē concerning my letters the which you saie were writen without good argument and without anie comely grace Wherin I find a great lacke of grauitie in you for it is not the part of a graue mā to be moued with a talke which is void of all good argumēt And yet you as a man maie wel cōiecture by your writinges after you had read my letters fell into such a pelting chafe such a rage and madnes that you betraied your griefe by reprochfull and railing talke yea you went so farre in it that you were not ashamed to bewraie to the worlde the verie stammering and stuttering of your tongue You confesse also that my letters were caried vp and down throughout al Christendome the whiche shoulde not haue ben done if they had ben written without anie good grownd But let vs see how you which saie that I had no argument to staie vpon will answere that myne argument by the whiche I prooued that the puritie of the Gospel was not restored by your maisters for so much as emongest the disciples of your Gospel there raigneth a numbre of most detestable vices Tushe saie you it is all false that you report of the dishonestie of the men of our side Such is your impudēcy M. Haddon that you will denie the thing which is knowen and commōly bruted yea which is sealed and cōfirmed by the testimoniall of the whole worlde Doe you not cōfesse the broiles and tumultes of Germany See you not with your eyes how volupteousnes flieth to and fro auancing her selfe how licentious liuing getteth vp and down vncōtrolled how the churches of religious men are prophaned with bloudshead how al places of deuotiō are rifled and robbed how treason and wilie practises are wrought againste Princes by your sectaries how al places where so euer your maisters set vp schoole are distourbed with hurly burlies How then dare you saie that that thing was neuer done which you not only heare of other men but also see it done daily with your owne eyes Admit say you that this were true yet could it neuer com of this cause which you gather I would faine learne of you how it should not come of this cause There was alwaies say you darnel somen emongest the good corne There was alwaies seedes of diuerse kindes of the which some were choked in the thornes and some were dried vp by the heate of the sonne The false Prophettes did alwaies bende them selues against the true Prophets our Lord Iesus Christ fownde Caiphasses the Apostles found Nerons the Martyrs that folowed them founde Decies But to omit these thinges as ouer stale I wil bring you home to your owne doores In your Churche is there not synne committed openly Do not men offend in the sight of the worlde You deny it not Wel then throwe away your argument the whiche either it is of no force or els if it be it is against your owne selfe firste and against your Churche By this talke you thinke that you haue tourned the eadge of our dagger But you see not howe manie faultes there are in it Firste of all I deny not that it was euer so as I said plainely in my letters that there were manie vices in euerie common weale and that the seades of naughtines were sowen emongest the good corne But I required and that instātly to vnderstand how these menne of god had discharged their duetie which tooke vpon them to purge the corne and to plucke vppe al such weedes are were noisome to the corne The which thing when I saw they performed not yea when I saw that through their diligence vice came vp a great deale ranker then it did before I gathered by that that their doctrine was nothing wholesome That the true Prophetes susteined the enmitie of false Prophetes Christe of Caiphas the Apostles of Nerons the Martyrs of Decies I graunt you but that maketh much more for the confirmation of myne argument For vertue was euer enuied of the wicked hatesull to viciouse assaulted by the vnfaithful And yet was it alwaies of suche puyssaunce that it preuailed against al crafte and policie against all subtile practises and priuie awaites against the force of wickednesse and vice and brought to the world a goodly and wholesome ordre For they that gaue eare to the Prophetes that folowed Christ that kept the faith of the Apostles that reuerenced the cōstancie of the Martyrs were not presumpteouse wicked disordered and vicious but they were wise modest gētle courteous decked and beutified with diuerse and sundry vertues For the vertue of holy mē the more