the Moveables and Ornaments belonging to them the Augmentation Court was erected For the King seeing this extraordinary passiveness and submission of the Clergy could never think he had power sufficient till he had more then enough and therefore having already discharged his conscience from all Bonds but such onely as himself should think good to tie he took liberty to commit such outrages and violence upon Sacred things as no age before him nor since can parallel For first viz. Anno 27. of His Reign he appoints the Secretary Cromwel and Doctor Leigh as his Commissioners to visit the Abbyes and they by vertue of their said Commission first take out all the Plate cheifest Jewels and Reliques belonging to those houses and seize them to the Kings use Then they dismiss all such persons Religious as were under the age of Four and twenty years and had a desire to be at liberty in the world Anno 28. All the smaller Religious houses of the value of Two hundred pounds per annum and under were given to the King by Parliament with all their Lands and Hereditaments and of these the number was not less then Three hundred seventy and six who were able to dispend per annum to the benefit of the poor and service of the Publike not less then Three thousand two hundred pounds of old Rents of Assize bâ—side their Moveables Which bâ—ing undervalued and sold at mean rates yet amounted to above One hundred thousand pounds The Religious themselves and all people depending on them which were not a few were on a sudden outed and left unprovided even of Habitation above Ten thousand persons for no particular crimes charged or proved against them turned out of their own doors and driven to seek their fortune where they could A thing which compassionated the very common people themselves though not a little alienated in their affections at that time towards Monasticks more then they were wont to be to see so many persons compelled to Beg and live by Almes who by their bountiful and constant Hospitality had formerly releived many Anno 30. of His Reign some of the greater Abbies viz. Battle-Abby and the Abby of Lewis in Sussex Martin Abby in Surry Stratford in Essex were suppressed and all things belonging to them converted to the Kings use For indeed they were forced in some sort to proceed thus politickly in their work of desolation and to carry it on by degrees by reason of the Commonalty who though they stirred not yet they stood amazed as it were murmuring as lowd as they durst and were not a little unsatisfied at such doings But in the years 32. and 33. generally all the Monasteries of England of what value soever went to wrack and were destroyed The Lands belonging to Saint John's of Jerusalem were likewise given to the King and the Corporation of those Knights quite dissolved Though to turn out these with some kinde of contentment there was as some say certain Pensions during life distributed among them to the value of Two thousand eight hundred and seventy pounds In Anno 37. was the last sweep which King Harry made For then all the Chauntries in any part of the Kingdom which were many and numerous All Churches and places Collegiate yea the very Hospitals which were built and endowed by their several Founders onely and expresly for the relief of the poor were yet given to the King and permitted wholly to his order and disposing The value of Church Lands in England at this time amounted to above Three hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and eighty pounds per annum and of it the King took into his own possession and apropriated to the Crown to the value of One hundred sixty one thousand one hundred pounds yearly rent The rest it seems was sold or exchanged or distributed among Favourites Lastly to abuse the poor Commons perfectly and more easily to wipe them of those great and constant advantages as well Temporal as Spiritual which they received from these Religious places while they stood a proposition is made in Parliament by the Projectors and Sharers in this worke and 't is given out also to the people abroad That out of the Revenues of these Lands thus given to the King a standing Army for defence of the Kingdom and all other Military occasions of State should be maintained of no less then Forty thousand men besides Forty Earls Sixty Barons and Three thousand Knights for the Command and Conduct of this Army where need should be So that the Commons of England by this means should never heare of Tax or Subsidy any more This indeed was as pleasing a bait for the people as could be devised and it took accordingly They bit willingly at it But the Hook sticks in their jaws to this day Such a motion as this to note in a word by the way was made in that Parliament of Henry the fourth which they called the Lay-mens Parliament by those which countenanced Wicleff and loved the Lands far better then they did the Religion of the Church But their designs at that time were defeated by the Stout and Religious opposition of Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Prelates joyning with him Though now there were an unfortunate and unworthy Thomas found yet siting in that Seat of Canterbury ready to side with them for his own carnal ends and to countenance the Wicleffists of these times that is those Lutheran and malicious Spirits who by their Libels The supplication of Beggars well answered by Sir Thomas Moores Supplication of Souls and other wicked practises went about to destroy the Church and extripate true Religion Adde here unto the Kings natural Inclination to vain glory which was very great and begat those prodigal expences which he used towards his Favorites and Flatterers And these could not be long maintained but by extraordinary support which being not to be had in any way of Legality and Justice Avarice at last and many other vices which he was fallen to prompted him to fall upon the Church The Lords and Courtiers could not dislike the motion knowing what a rich Prey would fall to be divided among them Especially this pleased the principal Secretary of State afterward Lord Privy Seal Lord High Chamberlain of England and Earl of Essex who being a man of great experience and of a deep reach in worldly policies knew full well that such a confused Innovation as this and so full of Spoyle would be infinitely advantagious to him and a Ladder to clime at ease unto what Wealth or Honor he could wish He therefore instigates the King with all might and main to go through with the Action and to stand stoutly to his Prerogative and profit knowing his conscience was already buried in Anne Bolens Tombe To this end and the better to pave the way to his evil designs Sacriledge and Blood not seldom going along together Three of the principal Abbots of the Kingdom and Barons
thousand Duckats and the Imperial Towns partly with Money and partly upon their humble Petitions and Submission made their peace at last with the Emperor And thus by the good Providence of God and happy conduct of Caesar was the Empire preserved in Statu quo prius the Electors Ecclesiastical and other Prelates continued and their Dignities maintained whereas in all probability had the Princes prevailed as they had already by the instigation of Luther and such Preachers swallowed the Revenues extinguished yea wholly buried the Title State and Authority of Bishops in their own Provinces so would they have done all the Empire over Now as Greatness and Innovation seldom want Patrons nor wit to colour their faults so it must be confessed there are some who endeavor to excuse Luther and Lutheranism of the odiousness of this Action yea and the Action it self from the imputation of Rebellion First of all Doctor Bilson affirmeth Differences of Christian Subjects c. That the Lawyers of Germany do in some cases permit resistance to be made against Caesar but he names not one Then he saith The States of Germany are not absolutely subject to the Emperor but onely upon some conditions Secondly Centur. 16. the Divines of Magdeburgh plead That if the Magistrate pass the bounds of his Authority and command things wicked and unlawful he may well be resisted and must not be obeyed Thirdly Sleydan saith Lib. 19. fol. 263. We may resist Caesar with good Conscience when he intends the destruction of Religion and Liberty Lastly Consil Evangel Part. 1. p. 314 Philip Melancthon with great confidence gives Authority to the Inferior Magistrate to alter Religion and overthrow Idolatry So they all conclude the War lawful both by Gods Law and Mans And this indeed is the substance of the Reasons alledged by the Duke and the Landsgrave both when the League was first made at Smalcald and when they first proclaimed War against the Emperor But as it is easie to perceive these Doctors Assertions do all of them suppose certain things which ought first to be proved as for example 1. That Caesar passed the bounds of his Authority for if he did not it is clear they passed theirs 2. That he commanded things wicked and unlawful 3. That he went about to destroy true Religion and their Liberty All these must be proved before it be lawful to take Arms and resist him by their own confession I demand therefore of them this Question When Caesar or the Supream Magistrate commandeth any thing to be done which is not apparently contrary to the Laws of the Empire then in force who shall be Censor who shall Judge whether Caesar passeth the bounds of his Authority and whether the things which he commandeth be impious or no They answer he absolutely sought to destroy their Religion and Liberties But I reply it hath been an old and usual stratagem of Satan to oppose Religion against Religion thereby to bring in Atheism and leave us no Religion Beside making Lutheranism to be the onely true Religion and their Liberties to consist in the free profession of that they take that for granted which Caesar both at Worms and Auspurgh made the greatest Question So they argue not well because they do not proceed ex concessis yea it is manifest that when they did presume to set up a new Religion they passed themselves the bounds of their Authority and the World might judge Caesar a very simple Prince if he should either change his own Religion or tolerate theirs upon the bare credit of Luthers private opinion and spirit or upon the bare Protestation of the Confederates For were they competent Judges against the whole World or can Religion be lawfully and orderly changed by Civil Magistrates onely and when neither a General Councel nor National Councel hath decreed it nor any Imperial Dyet established it may every Elector or Prince frame a new Religion for his own Province by Law without consent of the Emperor and States Give me an Instance shew me a President when any such Innovation was ever made in the Empire without an Imperial Dyet Shew me a Law or some colour of Law by which it might be done or else confess That the Princes taking up Arms against the Emperor was without Justice and their quarrel without lawful ground Beside was it lawful for the Confederates to coyn a new Religion and maintain it by Arms and was it not more lawful for the Emperor to defend the old which was already received and to reform them The Boors took Arms upon the self-same pretences viz. For Religion and Liberty yet the Princes with their own forces and with no less Justice and Honor subdued them Why might not therefore Caesar compel the Confederates unto the same terms as they did the Boors viz. To exercise that Religion which was established at least with à quousque until a legal Reformation could be had and to obey the Laws in force and to keep the Peace of the Commonwealth Doth the degree or dignity of the persons make the cause so different I trow not And for any designs of Caesar upon them under colour of Religion it cannot be made good They were first in the Field the Emperor had not any forces ready a long time after yea they pursued him with their Army and compelled him to fortifie himself P. Avila de bello Germanico So that if mens Councels may be guessed at by their actings it is clear they had rather designs upon him And his favorable dealings with all of them after the Victory do more then refute such a calumny But saith Dr. Bilson The Emperor is not absolutely to be obeyed by the States It is no matter He is to be obeyed in seeing the Laws and Constitutions of the Empire observed and that is enough to justifie his proceedings in the case How far he is absolute and how far the Princes do ow fealty and homage to him and obedience to the Publike Constitutions of the Empire their several Oaths taken at the Coronation of the one and Investitures or Instalments of the other do best shew But I will leave skirmishing and come to the main point It is most certain That Caesar did observe the Law and that the Confederate Princes did violate both the Laws and Liberties of Germany For what Prince soever stands Rectus in Curiâ having the ancient and known Laws of the Kingdom on his side must always be judged to hold a better plea then Subjects who arm themselves against him illegally disorderly and by authority of their own private opinions onely At that time Caesar was bound by Law to extirpate Lutheranism and to maintain the Popes authority in Germany as it was acknowledged in the other parts of Christendom he was bound to maintain Catholike Religion and the Immunities or Rights of the Church so manifestly that even their own Goldastus doth acknowledge it to be the Emperors Oath so to do
onely to preserve what remained but also to repair and make up his decayed Estate There factions were ripened to their full Maturity and the place so fortified both by nature and art that till he should be able to appear in Action to the World and fight he might lie secure and write Apologies encourage seditious people abroad and settle his new Religion at home which although at first and from his Father it was Lutheran yet after he had been in France he Professed rather to favor Calvinism providently and wisely foreseing as he was a man that wanted no insight into Worldly affaires of this nature that they viz the Calvinists were to be his neerest and surest Neighbors All which practises and courses of his notwithstanding with the injustice of them being well discerned at last by the States of Artois and Henault when they were in the year 1579. reconciled to the King with the assent of the most Honorable Duke of Areschot they binde themselves in the Fifth Article of Agreement to prosecute the War against the Prince of Orange as the Enemy general of the peace of those Countries and to finde at their own charge Eighteen thousand men for that purpose which certainly being Persons of such Religions and right Noble quality as 't is known they were and of so great experience in all the passages and pretences of Orange they would never have done if they had not known both him and his practises to be very bad I confess that the Hollanders are a people very industrious and skilful to make use of their labor but yet of such a temper that as a Learned Censor saith of them Nec totam libertatem Thuâ—n Nec totam servitutem patiuntur They endure not well either absolute Liberty which makes them insolent nor absolute Servitude which makes them mad Friends they are somewhat too much to change and not always content with the present State which would appear more then it doth but that their mindes are now wholly set upon their Trade and profit wherein finding much sweet by their successes at home and abroad they are extreamly jealous of any thing that sounds but to the least obstruction of either of them The Prince of Orange therefore understanding their natures very well and to feed this jealous humor of theirs with fit matter discovers a certain secret Counsel to them which he pretended Henry the Second King of France had taken with the Duke d' Alva to suppress the Protestants by force of Arms and to erect the Seventeen Provinces into one Kingdom and this the French King himself should tell him at his being in France But first was it so likely the Duke would discover such a secret of his Master to an Enemy newly or scarce reconciled Beside King Henry dying suddenly as he did by mischance there was now no body living to disavow the imposture but D' Alva onely and him he was sure the people would not be over hasty to beleeve He was the first also that gave out that factious and stale Calumny against the Emperor and King of Spain That they should affect a Monarchy Universal over all Europe which forgeries how palpable soever yet they served his turn thus far viz. to terrifie the Hollanders to make them rely still upon him and to procure some distrust and hatred in Forreign Nations against the Spaniards and house of Austria This upon the matter is the whole charge and all that can be objected against the King from the very beginning as I have related it and these the Actors which prosecuted the business against whom what exceptions may be taken for their Estimation Integrity Testimony especially in their own cause every man may see It remains that we enquire a little whether the King stood guilty of those Crimes which they charged upon him Injustice and Tyranny For if he be innocent these men were grand usurpers if guilty another question will arise whether his error in Government will give them title and his offence free them from Subjection It is manifest to all the world that the King ever desired peace and with great care so far as in him lay labored to prevent the desolation of his people and Countries as the course that was taken by that excellent and most loyal Prince the Duke of Areschot and by the States General at Gaunt in the year 1574 do testifie When they found it requisite to decree and did decree a general Amnestia or Oblivion of all things past on both sides and took order for the dismission of the Spaniards Notwithstanding that in this pacification all things were in a maner referred to the States and the King scarcely so much as mentioned yet Don John did ratifie it and procured the Kings consent for the confirmation of all as appears by the perpetual Edict This agreement was made by the States General of the Provinces and for the general good and quiet of them yet would not the Prince of Orange Holland nor Zealand accept of it They perswaded the States General not to receive Don John for Governor till the Spaniards were gone although themselves refused at that very time to dismiss those Forreign forces which they had in Holland that is to say They would binde the Governor to perform promise but they themselves must be at liberty to break Was it for Religion they did dissent that can hardly be said For in the Articles of Agreement there was provision made for their security in that point by this Article Vt sola Romana religio in iis exerceatur exceptâ Hollandiâ Zelandiâ Roman Religion was to be exercised onely in the other Provinces but Holland and Zealand were excepted And for the Prince himself in the general Amnestia he had as absolute indempnity offered and assured him as could be imagined if that had been all he had sought And the States had prevailed more in his behalf then the Emperor could But Malice and Ambition transported him still and the more His Majestie gave assurance of his desires of Peace the more he prepared and was inclined to War wherein yet the World did never count him a Hannibal This appeared yet more plainly in the colloquy at Breda in the year 1575. where the King offered reasonable conditions and the Emperor had sent the Count Swartzembergh to perswade them to concord yet the Prince would listen to nothing the Treaty was fruitless and at the same time the Hollanders were Treating by their Agents Jean Peâ—tit Aldegund and Douza to submit themselves to the Queen of England Yet notwithstanding all this which the King knew well enough such was his patience and royal goodness and so far was he from the baseness of Tyranny towards him or any other that he proclaimed not Orange Traytor till the year 1580 that is till his malice appeared to be irreconcileable and his courses desperate and that the Trayterous Vnion of Vtrecht was framed and published which is about
Tenure A certain Hollander in a third defence which he hath written of the united Provinces calls the King Raptorem Hereticum notorium Spoyler and Notorious Heretick and therefore to be set upon and driven out of his Kingdom by a general League and Vnion of all the forces of all Protestant Princes and States of Christendom But hoc tantum defuit this onely was wanting to advance their Calumnies against His Majestie to the height of impudence Never was the King of Spain called Heretick by man since he deserved the title of Catholike and it could not be done now but by one whose Malice and Heresie together had corrupted his judgement unto madness Nor is it to much better purpose that which they say concerning other Princes and States viz. That they have been acknowledged and treated by forreign Princes as Free States above thirty years That time will not serve for Prescription and if it would Prescription always pleadeth some other Title and possession bonâ fide beside neither of which can they pretend without blushing Neither can the opinion of forreign Princes make their bad claym better it may give some reputation indeed to an usurper but not any Title of right And as in a bad quarrel bravely defended not the cause but the success gains the credit so it is their prosperity and not the justice of their cause which doth them honor Beside it is not true that Princes have so reputed them To Negotiate with them under a quality which they will assume is one thing and really to adjudge that quality as due to them is another They offered the Sovereignty of these Provinces to Queen Elizabeth but she refused them The world doth not think it was out of any Favor to King Philip that she did so but because she knew they offered something more then their own and she was not willing to give her own people such a bad President against her self And when for private ends and some reasons of State she was content for a while to take upon her the charge and title of Protectress of the poor distressed States c. it was observed the business was most earnestly promoted by them who were now as willing to be rid of the * E. Leicester Son as when time was the Marquis of Winchester had been to be rid of the * Duke of Northumberland Camden Father This is upon record that Aversata est Regina the Queen could never endure the offer of the Sovereignty of those Provinces Neither was Sir Noel Caron in her time ever acknowledged Embassador but Agent But to joyn issue with them more neerly let us here what Damhouderius Praxis Crimin c. 132. a famous Lawyer and their own Countryman saith Seditiosi sunt qui moliuntur conspirationem c. Seditious persons saith he are such as hatch or foment Conspiracies against the Governors and Lievtenants of the Provinces that procure unlawful meetings or assemblies of the people or cause any Tumults in the Towns What is this but an Endictment drawn against the States considering their practises not onely against the Person of D' Alva but of Don John himself the Duke of Parma c. their many and tumultuous meetings at Breda Osterweal Saint Trudens their encouraging yea incensing the Genses throughout all the Provinces lastly with their defence and holding of Harlem Alemar Leyden and other places by force of Arms Again Chap. 82. he teacheth that to make a War just there must be first a just cause Second honest intention Third Authority of the Prince or Supream Magistrate Sine quâ without which saith he 't is Treason to make War That same Sine quâ of his might make the States tremble if they reflect upon it For in all their Wars they neither had good cause nor good colour Their Religion and Liberties were all secured to them by the pacification at Gaunt by the perpetual Edict by the Articles of the Treaty of Colen which were all quietly enjoyed without disturbance by such of the Provinces as would conform to them Their Sovereign was known to be His Catholike Majestie and for their good intention as no man could judge of it but by their actions so it appeared cleerly to be onely to sow dissention among the people and through factions and discord to arm them by degrees against the supream Magistrate under colour of Religion And the Prince of Orange most disloyal of all other because being a person of Honor and so highly entrusted by the King he betrayed that great trust reposed in him and made a War by his own Authority and that of his faction against the King Although he had neither Office nor any kinde of Command in the Low-Countries but what he had under the Wings of the Eagle and the Authority of the Lyon All his Belgick Lands he held in Fee of the Duke of Burgundy as his Leige-Lord he did Homage and Fealty for them and knew that a Sovereign gives Law as well as offices to his Subjects Besides Claudius le Brun Process Crimin another famous Lawyer addeth this viz. That whosoever surprizeth Towns Castles Forts without order of his Sovereign as the Prince caused Lumay to do in Holland and as Voorst and Barland did Flushing by which the peace of the Country is broken or who attempteth against the life of his Sovereigns Lievtenant it is Treason And these are judgements which all Europe do consent in decrees of reason and principles of Government which must not be called in question if the States of Holland themselves do permitt them to be disputed they must never expect Peace Order or any setled obedience in their Country So that by Law 't is cleer in what case the States do stand for thus breaking the peace of Christendom in those times and being cause of the effusion of so much Christian blood as hath been shed in that quarrel Now concerning any liberty which the Gospel Holy Scriptures or any principles of true Religion may be supposed to give them to use such proceedings against the Sovereign Prince I shall not enter into any Theological dispute with them as being beside my purpose which is onely to shew matter of opinion and matter of Fact in this controversie of obedience due to the Supream Civil Magistrate And therefore because I write onely to English men I shall content my self onely with the judgement of Doctor Bilson against them He was a great Divine and a great Prelate of the Church of England and chosen on purpose to write on this Argument by the greatest Statesman of that time and he wrote cum privilegio of the State and with the general approbation of the English Church Shall a King Christian Subject c. saith he be deposed if he break his promise and Oath at Coronation in any of the Covenants and Points which he promiseth He answers in the Margin No. The breach of Covenants is not deprivation and gives this reason
own Religion as beleeving it to be right or the best neither are Catholikes to be excepted in that point They must be permitted to desire at least and wish for the restoring of Catholike Religion as it ought to be But surely as to the means whereby they procure it and the course and manner of their proceeding that seek and endeavor it This treatise hath already shewen what great odds and difference there is betwixt the proceedings of Catholikes and that of Protestants And that what the one viz. Catholikes seek â—â—ely by way of Petition Supplication Prayer and humble Remonstrating of their Sufferances The other viz. Protestants seek chiefly by fire and Sword and Cannon Bullet and by Thundring of Ordnances rather then Apologies in their Princes ears Beside to proceed a little further in this Parallel the Catholikes generally and for a long time both in Germany and France were Passive as in England they are still to this day The Protestants were Aâ—tive and the offendors Catholikes onely defend their own maintain the possession of that which they have quietly held out of all memory of Men and Ages Protestants invade and usurp by force Priests desire onely to keep that which they once de jure had Ministers seek to get that which they had not Catholikes obey ex conscientiâ out of an inflexible principle of Conscience and absolutely submit unto all lawful and established Government Protestants generally speaking but upon condition and with such limitations and restrictions of their obedience as they themselves think good to prescribe Priests are punished not for any formal wickedness or that which is a crime in its own nature but for something that is so onely by interpretation or in the judgement of the present State which perhaps a few days agoe did not judge so but the quite contrary Calvinists when they suffer suffer for real and foule crimes for Sedition Rebellion Murther Treason not imputative onely fictitious or made such of late by the prevailing of some particular faction in the State but truly and properly so and adjudged for such by all Laws Divine and Humane of their own Countries and of all Christendom beside long before they or their Grandsires were born Witness the examples of this last year in France of Lescun President of the Assemblies at Rochel Haute-Fountain Chamier P. Gomboult and some others who all suffered for real and actual Treasons and by vertue of such Laws not as the Parliament at Paris or some party there had procured to be enacted a few years or a few moneths before on purpose to entrap them but by the ancâ—â—nt known Lawâ— of â—rancâ— b wh ch they themselves knew the Kingdom was governed and had been ever governed time out of minde and therefore could not in any reason but expect the execution of them upon themselves in case they would persist to offend Witness the Treasons of their Brother Bischarcy in Poland who attempted to kill the King and did indeed wound him very dangerously as he was going to Church They object to us the positions of some private and disavowed persons and words onely We object to them the resolutions of whole general Assemblies held by them and those rebellions which have followed thereupon not in word onely but in deed and in act their real and actual Conspiracies their many Battles really and actually fought in the Field without lawful Authority or any publike Call against their Sovereign Princes with other manifold iniuries and insolencies committed Lastly Protestants reform commonly per populum and by Tumults Catholikes do nothing of this kinde but by Law Order and their proper Superiors So that the difference betwixt them is manifâ—st and the integrity of the professions of Catholike in point of obedience and loyalty towards their Prince beyond that of Calvinists or Protestants generally speaking is visible to every eye Why may they not then under the Favor of the State enjoy like Liberty of Conscience Person and Estates with other good Subjects notwithstanding that they differ in Judgement from the profession of the State Why may not a Catholike be tolerated to live and injoy without molestation that which God Nature and the Laws of the Land do give him as well as a Calvinist Why should the Laws of England be fettered with so many Shacles of Interpretative and Temporary Treason to the prejudice of many innocent persons and to the scandal of the Government Admit that for some worldly respect they were indeed nâ—cessary in State-policy for the times wherein they were enacted yet the times changing so much as thâ—y have done and those causes entirely ceasing which made them seem necessary then it may be thought now not onely safe as undoubtedly it is but honorable and just to repeal them May it not with great reason be wondered at that a Nation so Just so Honorable so Wise as this of England hath ever been acknowledged by the Nations abroad and settled by Extraordinary Dispensations of Divine Providâ—nce upon such Equitable fair and just principles of government as be constantly held forth by the Supream Authority of the Nation should permit any thing to be counted Treason by an Act of Parliament which is so generally over all Christendom at this day and hath been so anciently and even till of late times in this our own Nation so much honored maintained and reverenced by all men especially I say when there is no cause of suspicion remaining when there is no cause nor colour of jealousie from any persons that desire this liberty at least none but what may be easily removed by the wisdom of the State and plenary satisfaction given in that behalf both to themselves and to all the good people of the Nation How much Religious men and persons Ecclesiastical now called Traytors by the Law were wont to be esteemed in this Nation is not necessary now to speak our own Chronicles and the Constitutions of our very Laws themselves do abundantly declare it If a bondman entred a Cloysture he could not be commanded out by any power whatsoever The Law it self anciently holding it more reasonable that even the King should loose his interest in such a body then that he should be taken out from the Order which he had chosen The like was judged if the Kings Wards entred Religion An Alien by Law can hold no Lands in England yet if he be a Priest he may by Law be a Bishop here and enjoy his Temporalties as Lanfranck Anselme and some others did who were never Denizens It is well known The Six Clearks of the Chancery were anciently Clearks of the Church The Master of the Rolls Master of Requests Lord Privy Seal yea the Lord Chancellors and Treasurers of the Realm not onely commonly but in a manner constantly till of late times were Bishops Clergy-men How strange therefore may it seem that the Laws of England should make a Function so ancient and honorable in England to be Treason which
the Lyoness was secur'd sends another Messenger to the Mongrel advising him to make sure of the Lyoness Whelp and then he might securly rule and govern all For saith he Possession is the chief point in Law and when you have him you have all Perhaps out of sullenness and restraint he may die however if he lives he shall be sure to live at your pleasure and disposing if you take him in time so he did accordingly This is the Fable The Moralizing of it I leave to those that expound Riddles though this be such as needeth not an Oedipus to declare it I might here end my discourse of this pretended Church of Scotland and of its irregular and tumultuous Reformation but that I desire to satisfie the Reader a little further in the true cause of this particular distemper or more special abuse and contempt of Civil Magistracy which the Reformers of this Church seem to have shewen all along their work It proceeded without all doubt from the Spirit and humor of Calvin who first devised it and was himself a bitter enemy against all Magistrates in whose Counsels he could not rule In so much as at Genevah it self he was at first expelled for a seditious person by the Magistrates of that City and compelled to go live with Bucer at Strasburgh Yet afterward the party which favored him prevailing at Genevah he was recalled back again but refused to return unless upon condition and promise that his discipline should be received So it was promised by a general consent of the City and at his coming performed His consistory that is to say an Oligarchy of certain pickd Elders was erected as it were the Inquisition of Genevah This by the way was a strain of policy much beyond Luthers dull reach and which madded him all his life long For by this Calvin did not onely set up a Church Independent of him and without consulting at all with him viz. with Luther but became a Dictator general as it were to all the Protestant or reformed Churches abroad and so very much Eclipsed Luthers glory But the seat of his Dominion was at Genevah as we said having setled his discipline in such maner there that by colour and pretence of it he was able not onely to censure offenders at his pleasure but to carry on designs against any opposition whatsoever For indeed through the concurrence of his Eldership who were commonly all at his book he was upon the matter invâ—sted with a kinde of Sovereignety both of their Town and Chuâ—ch He and his Eâ—ders ruled all there And to the end it should be received abroad with due reverence though it were indeed the Idol of his own fancy yet they set it down viz. Calvins Presbyterian Discipline for a mark of the True Church and joyn it in equal rank with the Preaching of the word and Administration of Sacraments So that by means of this Discipline he not onely in a short time became himself the great Soldan of the Lake but sent his Mammalukes also out into all the Provinces of France and planted Reformed Churches there after his Model of Genevah The Sinods or more general Assemblies whereof seating themselves in the principal and chief Towns of the Kingdom are thereby inabled to hold such correspondence with the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation inclined to novelty as that they are sure of a constant and strong support from them upon all occasions yea to engage them perfectly in their way they take them many times very politickly into their Consistories in the quality of Lay-Elders and do questionless nourish in themselves no faint hopes to be able one day by their means to subvert those Pillers of the Catholike Church which so much obstruct their proceedings viz. the Bishops Archbishops and other Prelates of France and to set up Calvinism and their Consistories all the Kingdom over This I say is the Train of their Policy and the reason why they are so implacable in their hatred and incessantly violent and active against all such Princes and States as do oppose the introduction of their Discipline which is the Medium whereby in France Scotland the Palatinate and elsewhere they have made or endeavored to make themselves Supream heads and Masters of misrule over all others as hath been in part declared already and shall be further manifested in the sequel of this narration Hence it is that all commanders Generals and all other Officers whatsoever in their service are so strictly injoyned by the Articles of Bearn Art 25. as hath been said to observe the discipline Ecclesiastical as it shall be from time to time ordained by their Synods And hence that is to say from this Arrogant confidence of theirs it was and indiscreet zeal that they refused when time was at Rochel so much as to speak with Monsieur Byron the Kings Embassador and used Monsieur la Nove with so much and so long incivilities that at last he was constrained to forsake them And out of this fiery zeal for their Diana of the Discipline it proceeds that they oppose prosecute and vilifie with so much bitterness of spirit and ill language where they can or dare all other Ecclesiastical government whatsoever all Order of Divine Service Rites and Ceremonies which are not exactly after their Mode or framed according to their Pattern And in this particular the Protestants church of England hath from the beginning so much tasted of their spleen or madness rather that Mr. Butler of Cambridge may seem to have shewen no less judgement then wit in the definition which he once gave of a Puritan viz. That he was a Protestant frayed out of his Wits which King James in the Conference at Hampton Court disliked not The reason whereof may be this We finde by experience that Ceremonies and Solemnity have ever in the Church of God stirred up and bred a reverence and devotion in the hearts of good people towards the service of God that they help to elevate and awaken their souls in time of prayer and other Divine worship also that the order and gravity of Bishops and other Prelates of the Church were not onely wont to finde but apt to procure estimation and respect with the people Now ask a Puritan his opinion of a Rochet a Surplis cornerd Cap or any other Habit which distinguisheth Ecclesiastical persons from the Laity he tells you presently They are the raggs of Antichrist badges of Superstition The Communion Book he calls the Portess and Breviary of Satan set prayers extinguish zeal with him yea are tantum non flat Idolatry The Ecclesiastical Courts are the Synagogues or Shops of the Devil and but the excrements of a corrupted discipline which they would fain reform As for the Authority and Government of Bishops he subscribs to Doctor Ames Hunc Episcoporum ordinem medio tollendum c. That either this Hierarchy of Bishops must down or Popery will come upon us do what we can
violence of his own exorbitant passions without any order or colour of Law and as no just Prince ought to govern how much less would they have thought it lawful and how little would they approve it to be done against such Princes as govern legally and do nothing concerning Religion or otherwise but according as the Laws and and publike Constitutions of their several Kingdoms do direct and inable them to do He that proclaymed the Prerogative of Kings in these terms Vos Estis Dii I have said Yee are Gods surely intended to teach the world rather a lesson of obedience then rebellion And there is no Prince or State in the world Let them countenance what Sect or Profession of Religion soever they please but shall finde it at one time or another a necessary Bulwark for them to retreat unto against the inundations of popular fury Who doth deny but that it is necessary that the governments of all Princes whatsoever should be regulated and moderated by Laws and that all persons in Authority do observe all rules whatsoever that are proper for them or prescribed to them by those to whom that power belongeth We pretend not to enhaunce the Authority of Princes so far as to exempt them from the rule of Law or to make them Arbitrary in their government but this we say Vos Esi is Dii in relation unto Princes and all Persons established in Supream Authority justly that is by the will of Divine Providence and consent of the people is a great exemption of them from any popular Cognizance For what does it intimate but that * Egodixi Allmighty God himself hath made them Gods unto the people that is to say persons of Knowledge Experience Foresight Care Providence and other abilities Intellectual which are the natural and genuine principles of government competent and sufficient for the government of people who are not otherwise generally speaking Et pro majori parte able to govern themselves in civil society and for their preservation in peace and quietness which is the end of Government We think it is most proper for God onely to say Transferam Regna de gente in gentem Revolutions of Governments and Translating of one Kingdom to another are the Extraordinary Dispensations of Divine Providence and for reasons onely known unto his supream and secret wisdom Which although they be acted that is brought to pass by the hands of men yea through their infirmities and many times blamable passions as experience often sheweth and as in the case of King Rehoboam the Son of Solomon 1 Reg. 12.16 may seem plain yet are not the common people licensed hereby to run upon any irregular designs of their own head and to renounce their Governors headily and hastily of themselves for every lght greivance and misgovernment that may seem to afflict them To remove Tyrants and oppression from a people is the work of Divine Mercy as it is of his justice to permit them to oppress and from him only must they expect deliverance abiding in the mean while with patience until his Divine hand shall appear leading them to such means as they may with justice and good order use to the procuring of their liberty The Second Part. JERUSALEM OR The Obedience Loyalty and Conformity OF CATHOLIKES unto Publike Order HItherto we have insisted onely upon the Doctrines and practises of those who call themselves Reformed Churches or Protestants in the charge of Rebellion and Tumult against the Civil Magistrate by which how tolerable and quiet they are in any Kingdom or State whose Religion is not framed according to their Mode the indifferent Reader will judge It remaineth now that we make good the contrary concerning our selves and shew that those vertues which we pretend to be the true and proper Characters of our Religion viz. Humility Devotion Obedience Order Patience c. are more generally and more constantly exercised by Catholikes in times of Tryal then by any other Sect or Sort of people whatsoever This we intend to do but not so much Theoretically or by way of any long and speculative discourse as Practically Historically and by way of instance shewing what the behavior and practise of Catholikes have been in this case upon occasions given Neither shall we range far abroad into the world because that would be less pertinent to our main purpose which is onely to justifie our selves in this point so far as reason and truth will give us leave and enlarge our discourse beyond its intended bounds But we shall content our selves onely with domestick examples and that experience which the Catholikes of this Nation have given of themselves from time to time in this kinde What kinde of people they were anciently in this Land in the time of King Lucius and the Brittons I shall not need to relate but refer you to the Ecclesiasticall Histories of those times the rather because the Centurists of Magdeburgh and Master Fox in his Acts and Monuments will have these Catholikes to be Protestants and of their Church which though it be very false yet I may not ingage for the cleering of that point now Nor shall I insist any longer upon those times of the Saxons after they were converted to Christianity to shew their vertues and singular devotion towards God and how happily by means thereof the Church and Common-wealth did grow up together unto that perfection of Spiritual and Temporal glory which they injoyed under that Blessed Prince and Saint King Edward the Confessor I shall not tell you how highly the good Prelates of the Church were then reverenced by the people nor how much their holy Counsels and Authority did conduce to the happy government of the State It sufficeth Lamb. Archaion Camden Spelm. Concil that many old Saxon Laws and other Monuments yet upon record Venerable Bede and the Stories of those times with other Modern Authors are witnesses of it beyond all exception From King Edward the Confessor downwards to King Henry the Eighth there is no man of judgement will affirm or thinketh that any other Religion was known in England but the Roman-Catholike that is the same that had been long before planted here by Saint Austin and those Good men his followers who were sent hither to convert the English Saxons by Saint Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome for which charity towards our Nation Doctor Whitaker giveth him thanks and professeth it was a great Benefit and for ever most gratefully to be remembred In all which time although the Clergy made Canons and managed all things pertaining to Religion by an Authority of their own that is to say given them by God and derived to them from an other origin then that of the State or Supream Magistrate Temporal yet never did the Kings of this Realm finde them generally otherwise then obedient unto their Government and ready to serve them in such capacity as the Laws and duties of their function permitted and to contribute their
The ones Ambition The others Avarice destroying him Yet of the two the calamity of the Protector must in all humane judgement seem most disastrous For 't is certain through his own weakness and the importune instigations of his Wife he was compelled to serve the designs of his greatest Adversary in the world by putting his own brother to death And after that living to see Bologne lost and the Crown through his Misgovernment engaged in many debts wants and trouble he last of all ended his days fatally and without any shew of repentance for those sins which brought him to that end Whereas in this respect Northumberland was far more happy For having in all humble and penitent maner acknowledged his offences to the Bishop of Worcester Doctor Heath his Ghostly Father and thereby reconciled himself to God and to the Communion of his Church at the place of Execution not out of design or hopes of life as some would malitiously asperse the action but willingly freely of his own accord and out of conscience as himself protesteth at his death he made another most Christian and publike acknowledgment of his Faults especially those which concerned Heresie Sacriledge and Treason in all which he confessed himself to be most guilty And thereupon used much and vehement exhortation to the people to beware of those Preachers of New Doctrine who had fâ— ed the Kingdom with so many false Opinions and much trouble Assuring them plainly and openly concerning himself that whatsoever he had professed or done in that kinde proceeded wholly from Covetousness Ambition and other evil Motives not worthy to be named and not from any perswasion of Judgment or Conscience which he ever had that way And therefore adminished them that they should willingly return to the Communion of Gods Church and keep themselves constant in the Catholike Faith and true Religion Which for Conscience sake saith he I onely tell you and that I may thereby in some sort acquit me of my duty and save my soul and not for any humane or temporal motive expectation or hope whatsoever And so died The Oration it self out of which this is extracted may be seen at large in Schardus Sim. Schard Memor Histor in Maximil 2. a Protestant chronicler of note in his historical collections and elsewhere I suppose without much difficulty Thus lived and thus died as we have said the two grand adversaries of Gods Church and subverters of Catholike Religion in England after so many disorders committed as God was pleased to suffer by their power and procurement and that they had sufficiently scourged and afflicted those whose sins well deserved such punishment they were both of them taken away by the hand of Justice and met with their deserts Temporally and things were restored to some better pass But what did the Catholikes all this while How did they behave themselves What Rebellions did they raise what commotions or tumults of the people did they procure I mean the more civil religious and ingenuous amongst them 'T is true some Risings there were in Devonshire and the Western parts of the rude multitude exasperated especially upon some temporal grievances oppressions and wants which followed the misgovernment of those times Religion was either not at all or least of all pretended by them They were vexed indeed to see the encroachments which the Protector and others made dayly upon the Kings and Peoples Interest They were sensible of the Scarcity and Dearth of all kinde of necessary commodities for life which came suddenly upon them and was far greater then it used to be They could not endure well to be abridged by Inclosures of some other Liberties which they pretended to In brief They were sensible of all such inconveniences in the Government of the State as concerned the Outward Man but for Religion further then it served to ease their Spleen that is to clamor to asperse and rail upon those whom they conceived the Authors of their other and more resented grievances I conceive they minded it not and that there is scarce any good ground why a man should think them in that respect more Catholikes then Protestants And if a Priest or some Ecclesiastical person were found amongst them as it were strange if there should be none considering how many there were then in the kingdom absolutely destitute and discontented yet certainly they were not many nor in any other quality considerable Whereas 't is certain that Kets camp in Norfolk a business of far greater consequence and difficulty were all of them such as were fallen with the State from the profession of Catholike Religion and become Protestants And this I would generally premise desiring the Reader to observe it that where I affirm of Catholikes that they did not conspire against their Princes nor raise any tumults in the kingdom for matter of Religion I mean such only as were Catholikes indeed and stood firm in their Holy Recusancy not complying in any sortwith those alterations which Henry the 8th Edward the 6th or Queen Elizabeth in their several times procured to be made contrary to the integrity of Christian Religion For such as complied were not to be counted Catholikes any longer but Heretikes Schismaticks Hypocrites c. And for such people having corrupted their faith to God I would not be taken to apologize in any other point of duty For 't is very possible they might still retain some notions of Catholike Religion in their minds which afterward and upon other occasions running into terms of disloyalty they might pretend as matter of complaint against their Prince though themselves were neither Catholike nor That nor any other matter purely Spiritual the true original cause of their Disorder but onely those Temporal Grievances by which they smarted as is abovesaid and which they saw well enough to procceed either wholly or in part from the several alterations made There were the like in Lincolnshire which our English Chronicles pass not over in silence But it sufficeth that for the generality of Catholikes I mean still those of more ingenuous civil and better quality notwithstanding so great and violent provocations as were used towards them their patience and submissive demeanor towards the State and civil Government was most exemplary to the World Neither Prelates nor Priests nor Lay-people making any resistance against those unworthy men who so much oppressed them under the Kings usurped Authority and Name making such havock in the Church and spoil of all things consecrate to the Service of God and exercise of their True Ancient Christian-Catholike Religion as this Nation never saw the like since it had â—he happiness to be called Christian It seemed they had been bred in a better School of Vertue then that which Calvin opened at Genevah and had learnt to bear the cross of their Saviour that is to say these temporal afflictions calamities and injuries with more Patience and that the glory of Martyrdom in sufferance was accounted far
mischief which he had brought upon Germany and that his Books should be burned In the year 1526. at Machlin he enacted a Penalty against Hereticks and all such as disputed the Controversies of Religion Heretically or that kept prohibited Books viz. for the first offence Forty shillings for the Second Four pound for the Third Eight pound and Banishment as the best remedy he could think of to preserve others from infection In the year 1529. if they repented not of their error he adjudged Viris ignem Mulieribus fossam That men should be burned and women buried alive which was no more then anciently the Laws prescribed nor then what Calvin himself exercised upon Servetus at Genevah In the year 1531. he confirmed these former Acts with something additional against such as pulled down Images or defaced them with any malitious intention viz. that such persons should loose their goods This is the sum of all those Laws of the Emperor Charlâ— the Fifth concerning Religion so much complained of in the Low-Countries and concerning the Execution whereof there were also many exceptions qualifications and limitations procured by the Regent in the year 1555. upon advise of Viglius President of the Counsel at Brussels and to take away all occasions that might poâ—â—â—bly hinder Traffick or be a means of oppression to innocent and quiet people And for King Philip he always professed particularly in his answer to Montigny in Spain that he intended no addition of severity to his Fathers Laws nor to create any new offences but onely to punish those which were of old censured for offences both by the Church and State Let us look then upon England and consider if the penalties upon Catholikes here be not far more in number and much more severe To acknowledge the Popes Supremacy in Spiritualibus is Treason To be reconcilâ—d is Treason To refuse the Oath upon the first offence is a Praemunire the second Treason For Priests to come over into England is Treason if any that were made Priests since Primo Elizab. shall stay Forty days in England after the Parliament 1585. 't is Treason To Harbor a Priest is Felony and Death If yong Students beyond Sea return not and abjure their Religion it is Treason To bring in an Agnus Dei Beads or Crosses is a Praemunire To bring a Bull or any Sentence of Excommunication from Rome that may concern the Queen is Treason To absolve or reconcile a man is Treason Not coming to Church was at first Twelve pence every Sunday and to be liable to further censure afterwards viz. Twenty seven Elizab. it was made Twenty pound a moneth where it could be had otherwise their bodies were to fine for it in prison To depart out of the Realm without License and not to return within Six moneths after the Proclamation is a forfeiture of all Goods and Lands during life To hear Mass is an offence fined at One hundred Marks If a mans Son or Servant not Merchant goeth beyond Sea with his consent he forfeits One hundred pounds I speak nothing of their loss of goods imprisonments reproaches chains fetters which upon many other pretended and feigned occasions they are frequently made subject unto nor of banishment which would be counted many times matter of great favor Nor yet of the rigorous and vexatious Execution of all these Laws which makes the Tower full of such Patients and new prisons to be erected for the entertainment of them nor of the hard usage which they frequently find in those prisons The sad examples of Master Tregion at Launston of Master Rigby of Master Christopher Watson who perished at Yoâ—k with Eighteen persons more in the year 1581. with the very infection of the prison do shew sufficiently what they suffer Adde hereunto the strict examination of the Justices the proceedings of the High-Commission against them that inquisition of England not altogether untruly so called the multitude of Promoters in all the Temporal Courts of the Kingdom informing against them of Pursuivants searching and rifling their houses upon every light suspicion and not seldom without any at all but onely to make them Fine and to purchase their quiet with money Lastly the Racks and Torturings which Father Campian Father Southwel with many others tasted in their times how can they be forgotten concerning whose case I mean of Father Campian and his Associates especially beside that the whole matter of their Accusation seemed upon Tryal rather to be grounded upon words and some verbal discourse then upon any Actual design or attempt really projected against the Queen or the State and beside that at the time of their Tryal as I have been credibly informed there were persons of very Honest Quality who offered to depose that sundry of the Parties accuâ—ed were at the times specified in their several charges many hundreds of miles distant from the places where their supposed Treasons and Conspiracies were said to be I say bâ—side all this the Queens unwillingness to have them dye testifiâ—d by her own Historian is argument sufficient with indifferent mâ—n what great Traytors she conceived them to be For their Arraignment and Tryal having been in November 1581. * Stow. they suffered not till the first of September 1582. and then it was aegrè consentiente Reginâ as Camden himself confâ—sseth They who sought their lives had much ado to procure the Queens consent that the Sentence of death should be executed upon them Surely there is no man so extreamly partial or purblinde but will easily observe how much greater affliction and pressures the Catholikes of England have endured by the Laws of this Realm then the Geuses of Holland ever did or could do by the inquisition among them And how much more their state and condition might be justly commiserated especially when not onely Anabaptists and those other more innocent and harmless Sects but Puritans great and stubborn enemies of the State Arians Socinians yea even Professed Atheists and men of far more violent passions and destructive principles then Catholikes can with any reason be supposed to hold are scarce searched after or punished And yet notwithstanding all this to preserve the Queens reputation for Humanity and fair dealing with her Subjects the Book called the Execution of English Justice will make the world beleeve That no man in England is punished for Religion no mans Conscience is medled withall no man is examined upon matters of Faith But is it possible that such a pretence should be sustâ—ined by man so notoriously contrary to truth so easily so manifestly disprovable even by sight and the evidence of their own dayly proceedings In the year 1581. there was a general Pardon granted by the Queen but with a strict Caution and Proviso That no person in Prison nor Recusant for Religion should have benefit thereby which Malefactors of all sorts had Was this no punishment The Recusants pay Twenty pound a moneth for their Recusancy is this no punishment The Turk himself
pleasure enjoying the full swinge of their Lust and Lawless Appetites without controule Lastly Erasmus who was a man of intimate acquaintance with them and knew their ways as well as themselves and beside one that never writ partially in favor of Catholikes as the world well knoweth what a Testimony gives he of them in his Spongia advers Hutten Lutheranos video multos c. I meet saith he with many Lutherans abroad but with such as live according to the rule which they pretend very few or none Consider well saith he all this sort of people which call themselves Gospellers and tell me if you can where in the world is there more Luxury Prodigality and Excess used where Lust and Debauchery on the one side or Covetousness on the other rageth more Are those people meaning the Catholikes whom yee have forsaken and seem to detest so much in any respect so blamable as they Give me one example if you can of any one man whom this Doctrine of the Gospel as you call it hath at all bettered in his manners hath made of a drunkard or intemperate person sober and well governed of shameless or licentious modest and chast I can give you many saith he who by turning Lutherans are become Ten times worse then they were What man living ever saw a Lutheran shed a Tear out of any sense or dislike of sin or so much as to breath out a sigh or knock his brest in sign of sorrow and detestation of himself that he had offended God No verily Contrition is not any necessary part of their Pennance it is a thing altogether unknown among them I mean as to the practice and true exercise of it Their opinion or principle of onely Faith viz. That Christ hath done all for them and that they have nothing to do in order to Salvation but to beleeve this is a sufficient Antidote against all such kinde of sadness with which they like not to be troubled Yea it is most lamentable to consider how generally men live and dye without any other sense or feeling of their sins at all save what the shame prejudce or some other Temporal inconvenience which commonly attendeth the doing of evil may perhaps cause in them in relation to God they perswade themselves that nothing is required of them but onely to believe that all is forgiven That Christ hath done all that is to be done by them and suffered all that is necessary to be suffered so they take no further care but dye accordingly that is in a most unhappy security For as concerning that other pretence viz. that Luther should be sent thus Extraordinarily as they say to detect Antichrist unless they mean by giving some example or pattern of him in his own person and practises which in many respects were indeed very Antichristian I know not how it can be understood For if they mean he should discover the Pâ—pe to be Antichrist it is a stale I had almost said an exploded pretence no less vain then any of the rest discovering more inconsideration and spleen in the pretenders then any thing else The Characters which Holy Scripture doth give of that great Antichrist who is to come and make War upon the Church towards the latter end of the world are many and cleer yet so little applyable to the Pope as not any thing can be less The sum of them all is expressed in those Titles which Saint Paul giveth him 2 Thess 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which is understood That Antichrist must be a professed and open Enemy of our Saviour Christ holding and maintaining all things diametrically contrary and in opposition to him He must be the head of a people openly and expresly at defiance with the Kingdom of Christ which is the Church and not onely supposed to be so in the opinion of some few men by interpreâ—ation and some strained consequence of misgovernment in that society which is professedly Christs own Kingdom No the people and followers of Antichrists Kingdom must oppose and persecute the people and followers of Christ to the death He must be an Enemy in all points unto Christs law to Christs Testament to Christs Priesthood All which he must for some short time Universally abolish and put down It is not vice alone nor some supposed superstition nor error in opinion onely which shall erect and constitute that accursed State but it must be a general Apostacy and departure from the Law of Christ as both Melancthon in his Common places Basil 1562. Pag. 34. Tom. 7. P. 875. and Zanchius a famous Protestant in his answer to the Arians do acknowledge it must be an opposition publike and professed to the same Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they say and a persecution of the Professors thereof general all the world over But doth Saint Peters Successor thus are these things applyable to the State of the Church under his government What face of Brass can maintain it without blushing Doth he persecute any man for professing Christ Or doth he punish or censure any but according to his office and as the Canons of the universal Church enacted acknowledged and exercised by all Christian Princes and good Prelates before him do prescribe Doth not Luther himself confess Contra. Anabap. that in the Papacy true Christianity is still retained Doth he not confess that the Popes Church as he calls it is the Church of God That there is true Baptism true Absolution or Remiâ—sion of sins among them the true office of Preaching yea the true Catechism that is the Summary of all Doctrines necessary to be preached Are these things to be maintained by Antichrist Or to be found and professed in that rabble of Miscreants which shall follow him Doth not Whitacre Junius Saravia Zanchius and almost all Protestants generally acknowledge as much that we hold at least the principal Articles of faith That we agree in Fundamentals That the Roman Church is a true Church of God yea our Mother Church in whom is yet remaining and from whom English Protestants at least pretend to have received True Ordination True Calling and Authority to preach Lastly is there any Prince or Person on Earth that professeth greater reverence and observance to the Law of Christ then the Pope doth How then can he be Antichrist is there any Power or Authority known in the world more vigilant active zealous and continually attent to preserve this Law in its full Honor Estimation and Integrity with all men then the Sea Apostolike hath always been and is Nay to speak ingenuously and seriously in what condition think we had Christianity been at this day if that Authority had not been established and acknowledged in the world but that all things had been left to those Arbitrary and dividing Principles on which Protestancy pretendeth to build viz. Sole Scripture and every mans private Interpretation or Reasoning The destructive inconvenience whereof are