is alleaged was neuer before heard nor read of in the Christian Church and therefore I would haue wished the Pope before hee had set downe this Commaundement to all Papists here That since in him is the Power by the infallibility of his spirit to make new Articles of Faith when euer it shall please him That he had first set it down for an article of faith before he had commanded all Catholikes to beleeue and obey it I will then conclude the Answere to this point in a Dilemma Either it is lawfull to obey the Soueraigne Question in Temporall things or not If it be lawfull as I neuer heard nor read it doubted of Then why is he so vniust and so cruell towards his owne Catholikes as to Commaund them to disobey their Soueraignes lawfull Commandement If it be vnlawfull Why hath he neither expressed or any other that either would professe or any wayes tollerate the professors of our Religion contrary to his manifold vowes and protestations simul eodem tempore and as it were deliuered vno eodem spiritu to diuers of his Maiesties ministers abroad professing such kindnesse and shewing such forwardnesse to aduance him to this Crowne Nay the most part of Catholikes here finding this Breue when it came to their hands to be so farre against Diuinitie Policy or naturall sense were firmely perswaded that it was but a counterfeit Libel deuised in hatred The Catholikes opinion of the Breue of the Pope Or at the farthest a thing hastily done vpon wrong Information as was before said Of which opinion were not onely the simpler sort of Papists but euen some amongst them of best account both for learning and experience wherof the Archpriest himselfe was one But for soluing of this obiection the Pope himselfe hath taken new paines by sending forth a second Breue only for giuing faith and confirmation to the former That whereas before his sinne might haue bene thought to haue proceeded from rashnesse and mis-information he will now wilfully and willingly double the same whereof the Copie followeth TO OVR BELOued sonnes the English Catholikes Paulus P. P. V tus BEloued Sonnes Salutation and The second Breue Apostolicall Benediction It is reported vnto vs that there are found certayne men amongst you who when as wee haue sufficiently declared by our Letters dated the last yeere on the tenth of the Calends of October in the forme of a Breue that ye cannot with safe Conscience take the Oath which was then required of you And when as wee haue further straightly required you that by no meanes yee should take it yet there are some I say among you which dare now affirme That such Letters THE ANSWERE TO the second Breue NOw for this Breue I may iustly reflect his owne phrase vpon him in tearming it to be the craft of the Deuil For if the deuill had studied a thousand yeeres for to find out a mischiefe for our Catholikes here hee hath found it in this That now when many Catholikes haue taken their Oath and some Priests also yea the Arch-priest himselfe without compunction or sticking they shall not now onely bee bound to refuse the profession of their naturall Allegiance to their Soueraigne which might yet haue bin some way coloured vpon diuers scruples conceiued vpon the words of the Oath but they must now renounce and forsweare their profession of obedience already sworne and so must as it were at the third Instance forsweare A double Oath of every Subject their two former Oaths first closely sworne by their birth in their naturall Allegiance and next clearely confirmed by this Oath which doeth nothing but expresse the same So as no man can now hold the faith or procure the Saluation of his soule in England that must not abiure and renounce his borne and sworne Allegiance to his naturall Soueraigne And yet it is not sufficient to ratifie the last yeeres Breue by a new one come forth this yeere But that not onely euery yeere but euery moneth may produce a new Monster The great and famous writer of the Controuersies The late Vn-Iesuited Cardinall Bellarmine must adde his talent to this good worke by blowing the Bellowes of Sedition and sharpening the Spurre to Rebellion by sending such a Letter of his to the Arch-priest here as it is a wonder how Passion and an Ambitious desire of mainteining that Monarchy should charme the wits of so famously learned a man The Copie whereof here followeth TO THE MOST Reuerend Master GEORGE BLACKVVEL Arch-priest of the English Robert of the holy Church of Rome Cardinall BELLARMIN sendeth greeting MOst reuerend Sir and Brother in Christ It is almost fourtie yeeres since we did see one the other But yet I haue neuer beene vnmindfull of our ancient acquaintance neither haue I ceased seeing I could doe you no other good to commend your labouring most painefully in the Lordes vineyard in my prayers to God And I doubt not but that I haue liued all this while in your memorie and haue had some place in your prayers at the Lords Altar So therefore euen vnto this time wee haue abidden as S. Iohn speaketh in the mutuall loue one of the other not by worde or letter but by labour and trueth But a late message which was brought vnto vs within a few dayes of your bonds and imprisonment hath inforced mee to breake off this silence which message although it seemed heauie in regard of the losse of your pastorall function which you haue exercised in that Church yet withall it seemed ioyous because you drew neere vnto the glory of Martyrdome then the which thing there is no gift of God more happie That you who haue fed your Flocke so many yeeres with the worde and doctrine should now feed it more gloriously by the example of your patience But another heauy tidings did not a litle disquiet and almost take away this ioy which immediatly followed of the aduersaries assault and peraduenture of the slip and fall of your Constancie in refusing an vnlawfull Oath Neither truely most deare brother could that oath therefore be lawfull because it was offered in sort tempered and modified for you knowe that those kinde of modifications are nothing els but sleights and subtilties of Satan that the Catholique faith touching the Primacie of the Sea Apostolike might either secretly or openly be shot at for the which faith so many worthy Martyrs euen in that very England it selfe haue resi sted vnto blood For most certaine it is that in whatsoeuer words the Oath is conceiued by the aduersaries of the faith in that Kingdome it tends to this end that the Authoritie of the head of the Church in England may bee transferred from the successour of S. Peter to the Successour of K. Henry the eight For that which is pretended of the danger of the Kings life if the high Priest should haue the same power in England which he hath in all other
shall take the Crowne from Philip or Philip shall take the Miter from the Pope Whereupon the Pope stirred vp Otho against him who slew him and presently went to Rome and was crowned Emperour by the Pope though afterward the Pope deposed him too Was not the Emperour e Petrus de vineis Epist 2. lib. 2. Cuspian in vit Frederici 2. Frederike asraid when Innocentius the fourth excommunicated him depriued him of his Crown absolued Princes of their Oath of Fidelity to him and in Apulia corrupted one to giue him poison Whereof the Emperour recouering he hired one Manfredus to poison him whereof he died What did f Paulus Ionius Hist lib. 2. Alexander the third write to the Soldan That if hee would liue quietly hee should by some sleight murther the Emperour And to that end sent him the Emperours picture And not g Cuspianus Alexander the sixt take of the Turke Baiazetes two hundred thousand Crownes to kill his brother Gemen or as some call him Sisimus whom hee helde Captiue at Rome Did hee not accept of the conditions to poison the man and had his pay Was not our h Honenden pag. 539. Henry the second afraid after the slaughter of S. Becket That besides his going bare-footed in Pilgrimage was whipped vp and downe the Chapter-house like a schoole-boy and glad to escape so too Had not the King of France his father reason to be afraid when the i Gomecius de â—ebus gestis Fran. Ximenij Archâ—eâ—is Tolet. lib. 5. Pope gaue away his Kingdome of Nauarre to the King of Spaine whereof hee yet possesseth the best halfe Had not the King his sonne reason to be afraid when hee was forced to begge so submissiuely the relaxation of his Excommunication as he was content likewise to suffer his Ambassadour to be whipped at Rome for penance And had not our late Soueraigne reason to looke to her selfe when shee was Excommunicated by Pius Quintus her Subiects loosed from their Fidelitie and Allegiance towards her her Kingdome of Ireland giuen to the King of Spaine and that famous fugitiue Diuine honoured with the like degree of a red Hat as Bellarmine is is not ashamed to publish in print an a Card. Allens answere to Stan. Let. Anno 1587 Apologie for Stanlies Treason maintaining That by reason of her Excommunication and Heresie it was not onely lawfull for any of her Subiects but euen they were bound in Conscience to depriue her of any Strength which lay in their power to doe And whether it were Armies Townes or Fortresses of hers which they had in their handes they were obliged to put them in the King of Spaine her enemies hands She no more being the right owner of any thing But albeit it bee true That wise men are moued by the examples of others dangers to vse Prouidence and caution according to the olde prouerbe Tum tua res agitur paries cùm proximus ardet yet his Maiestie our Soueraigne was neerelier summoned to vse this caution by the practise of it in his owne Person First by the sending forth of these Buls whereof I made mention already for debarring him from Entrie vnto this Crowne and Kingdome And next after his Entrie and full possession thereof by the horrible Powder-Treason which should haue bereft both him and his both of Crowne and Life And howsoeuer the Pope will seeme to cleare himselfe of any allowance of the said Powder-Treason yet can it not be denied that his principall Ministers here and his chiefe Mancipia the Iesuites were the plaine practisers thereof For which the principall of them hath died confessing it and others haue fled the Countrey for the Crime yea some of them gone into Italy And yet neither these that fled out of this Countrey for it nor yet Baldwine who though he then remained in the Low-countryes was of counsell in it were euer called to account for it by And whereas for illustration of this strong Argument of his hee hath brought in for a similitude the historie of a Nazianzenus in â—uliar inuâ—ctâ—ua prima Iulian the Apostata his dealing with the Christians when as he straited them either to commit idolatrie or to come within the compasse of treason I would wish the Author to remember that although a similitude may bee permitted claudicare vno pede yet this was a very ill chosen similitude which is lame both of The disproportion of the Cardinals similitude feete and handes and euery member of the body For I shall in few wordes proue that it agreeth in no one point saue one with our purpose which is that Iulian was an Emperour and our Soueraigne is a King First Iulian was an Apostata one that had renounced the whole Christian faith which he had once professed and became an Ethnike againe or rather an Atheist Our Soueraigne is a Christian who neuer changed that Religion that he dranke in with his milke nor euer was ashamed of his profession Iulian dealt against Christians onely for the profession of Christs cause His Maiestie in this case dealeth with his Subiects only to make a distinction betweene true Subiects and false hearted Traitours Iulians ende was the ouerthrow of the Christians His Maiesties end is to maintaine Christianitie in a peaceable gouernement Iulians drift was to make them commit idolatrie His Maiesties drift is to make his Subiects to make open profession of their naturall Allegiance and ciuill Obedience Iulians meanes whereby he went about it was by craft and insnaring them before they were aware His Maiesties course in this is plaine cleare and voide of all obscuritie neuer refusing leaue to any that are required to take this Oath to studie it at leisure and giuing them all the interpretation of it they can craue But the greatest dissimilitude of all is in this That Iulian pressed them to commit idolatrie to idoles and images But his Maiestie and all his Subiects of his profession are so farre from guilt in this point as wee are counted Heretiques by you because wee will not commit idolatrie So as in the maine point of all is the greatest contrarietie For Iulian persecuted the Christians because they would not commit idolatrie and yee count his Maiestie a persecutour because he will not admit idolatrie So as to conclude this point this old Poets sentence may well bee applied to Bellarmine in vsing so vnapt a similitude Perdere quos vult Iupiter hos dementat And therefore his vncharitable conclusion doth not rightly follow That it seemeth vnto him that some such thing should be subtilly or fraudulently included in this Oath As if no man can detest Treason against the King or professe Ciuil subiection except he renounce the Primacie of the Apostolike Sea But how he hath suckt this apprehension out at his fingers ends I cannot imagine for sure I am as I haue oft said he neuer goeth about to proue it And to answere an improbable imagination is to fight
So his Saint Leo lift vp Saint Peter with praises to the Skie that he being his d For so he calleth himselfe in sermo 1. in die â—ssum heire might haue gone vp with him For his Saint Leo was a great Orator who by the power of his Eloquence redeemed Rome from fire when both e Exbreniario Romano Attilas and Gensericus would haue burnt it Some fruits of this Rhetorick he bestowed vpon Saint Peter saying The Lord f Epist 89. did take Peter into the fellowship of the indiuisible vnitie which words being coupled to the sentence alleadged by the Cardinall That hee hath no part in the diuine Mystery that dare depart from the solidity of Peter should haue giuen him I thinke such a Sare as he should neuer haue dared to haue taken any aduantage by the words immediatly preceding for the benefit of the church of Rome and the head thereof since those which immediatly follow are so much derogatory to the diuine Maiestie And againe My g Epist 52. writings bee strengthned by the merit and Authority of my Lord most blessed Saint Peter We h Epist 89. beseech you to keepe the things decreed by vs thorough the inspiration of God and the Apostle most blessed Saint Peter If i In ser 2. in die anâ—â—â—er asâ—um suae any thing be well done or decreed of vs If any thing be obtained of Gods mercy by dayly prayers it is to be ascribed to Saint Peters works and merits whose power doth liue and Authority excell in his owne Sea He k Ser. 3. in die annâ— assump suâ— was so plentifully watered of the fountaine of all Graces that whereas hee receiued many things alone yet nothing passeth ouer to any man but by him And in a word he was so desirous to extoll Saint Peter That a message from him was an c Epist 24. Embassage from S. Peter Any thing done in his presence was in Saint Peters d Epist 4. presence Neither did he vse all this Rhetorick without purpose for at that time the Patriarke of Constantinople contended with him for Primacy And in the Councell of e Concil Calcâ—d Act. 16. c. â— 28 Calcedon the Bishops sixe hundred and more gaue equall Authority to the Patriark of that Sea and would not admit any priuiledge to the Sea of Rome aboue him but went against him And yet hee that gaue so much to Peter tooke nothing from Caesar but gaue him both his Titles and due giuing the power of calling a Councell to the Emperour as it may appeare by these one or two places following of many If it may please your f Epi. 9. Theodo sio Godlines to vouchsafe at our Supplication to condescend that you will command a Councell to be holden within Italy And writing vnto the Bishop of Constantinople Because the most Clement g Epist 16. Flauiano Emperour carefull of the peace of the Church will haue a Councell to be holden Albeit it euidently appeare the matter to be handled doth in no case stand in neede of a generall Councell Albeit h Epist 17. Theodosio my occasions will not permit me to be present vpon the day of the Councell which your Godlinesse hath appointed So as by this it may well appeare that he that gaue so much to Peter gaue also to Caesar his due and prerogatiue But yet he playeth not faire play in this that euen in all these his wrong applied Arguments and Examples he produceth no other witnesses but the parties themselues bringing euer the Popes Sentences for approbation of their owne Authority Now indeede for one word of his in the middest of his Examples I cannot but greatly commend him that is that Martyrs ought to indure all sorts of tortures and death before they suffer one syllable to be corrupted of the Law of God Which lesson if he and all the rest of his owne profession would applie to themselues then would not the Sacrament be administred sub vnâ specie directly contrary to Christs Institution the practise of the Apostles and of the whole Primatiue Church for many hundred yeres then would not the priuate Masses bee in place of the Lords Supper then would not the words of the a Bellar. de sacra Eucharist lib. 4. cap. 14. Canon of the Masse be opposed to the wordes of Saint Paul and Saint Luke as our Aduersary himselfe confesseth and cannot reconcile them nor then would not so many hundreths other Traditions of men be set vp in their Church not only as equall but euen preferred to the word of God But sure in this point I feare I haue mistaken him for I thinke he doth not meane by his Diuina dogmata the word of the God of heauen but onely the Canons and Lawes of his Dominus Deus Papa otherwise all his Primacy of the Apostolike Sea would not bee so much sticken vpon hauing so slender ground in the word of God And for the great feare he hath that the suddainty of the Apprehension the bitternesse of the Persecution the weakenesse of his Age and other such infirmities might haue bene the cause of the Arch-priests fal in this I haue already sufficiently answered him hauing declared as the trueth is and as the said Blackwell himselfe will yet testifie That hee tooke this Oath freely of himselfe without any inducement thereunto either Precibus or Minis But amongst all his citations he must not Some of Sanders his worthy sayings remembred forget holy Sanderus and his Visibilis Monarchia whose person and actions I did already a little touch And surely who will with vnpartiall eyes reade his Bookes they may well thinke that he hath deserued well of his English Roman-Church But they can neuer thinke but that he deserued very ill of his English Soueraigne and State Witnesse his owne bookes whereout I haue made choice to set downe heere these fewe Sentences following as flowers pickt out of so worthy a Garland a Sand. de visib monar lib. 6. cap. 4. ELIZABETH Queene of England doeth exercise the Priestly acte of teaching and preaching the Gospell in England with no lesse authority then CHRIST himselfe or MOSES euer did The Supremacie of a b Sand de cla Dauid lib. 6. cap. 1. woman in Church matters is from no other then from the Deuill And of all Kings in generall thus hee speaketh The c Sand. de visib Monar lib. 2. cap. 4. King that will not inthrall himselfe to the Popes authority he ought not to be tollerated but his Subiects ought to giue all diligence that another may be chosen in his place assoone as may be A King that is an d Ibidem Heretike ought to be remoued from the Kingdome that he holdeth amongst Christians and the Bishops ought to endeuour to set vp another assoone as possibly they can We doe constantly e Ibidem affirme that all Christian Kings are so farre vnder Bishops and Priests
Christian Kingdomes it is altogether idle as all that haue any vnderstanding may easily perceiue For it was neuer heard of from the Churches infancie vntill this day that euer any Pope did command that any Prince though an Heretike though an Ethnike though a Persecuter should be murdered or did approue of the fact when it was done by any other And why I pray you doeth onely the King of England feare that which none of all other the Princes in Christendome either doeth feare or euer did feare But as I sayd these vaine pretexts are but the Trappes and Stratagemes of Sathan Of which kind I could produce not a few out of ancient Stories if I went about to write a booke and not an Epistle One only for example sake I will call to your memory S. Gregorius Nazianzenus in his first Oration against Iulian the Emperour reporteth That he the more easily to beguile the simple Christians did insert the Images of the false gods into the pictures of the Emperor which the Romanes did vse to bow downe vnto with a ciuill kind of reuerence so that no man could doe reuerence to the Emperours picture but withall he must adore the Images of the false gods Whereupon it came to passe that many were deceiued And if there were any that found out the Emperours craft and refused to worship his picture those were most grieuously punished as men that had contemned the Emperour in his Image Some such like thing me thinkes I see in the Oath that is offered to you which is so craftily composed that no man can detest Treason against the King and make profession of his Ciuill subiection but he must be constrayned perfidiously to denie the Primacie of the Apostolike Sea But the seruants of Christ and especially the chiefe Priests of the Lord ought to be so farre from taking an vnlawfull Oath where they may indamage their Faith that they ought to beware that ry the Great hath written in his 42. Epistle of his 11. booke Let not the Reuerence due to the Apostolique Sea bee troubled by any mans presumption for then the state of the members doeth remaine entire when the head of the faith is not bruised by any iniurie Therefore by S. Gregories testimonie when they are busie about disturbing or diminishing or taking away of the Primacie of the Apostolique Sea then are they busie about cutting off the very head of the faith and dissoluing of the state of the whole body and of all the members Which selfe same thing S. Leo doeth confirme in his third Sermon of his Assumption to the Pope-dome when he saith Our Lord had a speciall care of Peter and prayed properly for Peters faith as though the state of others were more stable when their Princes minde was not to be ouercome Whereupon himselfe in his Epistle to the Bishop of Vienna doth not doubt to affirme That he is not partaker of the Diuine Mysterie that dare depart from the soliditie of Peter who also saith That hee who thinketh the Primacie to bee denied to that Sea hee can in no sort lessen the Authoritie of it but by being puft vp with the spirit of pride doeth cast himselfe headlong into hell These and many other of this kinde I am very sure are most familiar to you who besides many other bookes haue diligently read ouer the visible Monarchie of your owne Saunders a most diligent writer and one who hath worthily deserued of the Church of England Neither can you be ignorant that most holy and learned men Iohn Bishop of Rochester and Thomas More within our memorie for this one most weightie head of doctrine ledde the way to Martyrdome to many others to the exceeding glory of the English Nation But I would put you in remembrance that you should take heart and considering the weightinesse of the cause not to trust too much to your owne iudgement neither be wise aboue that is meete to bee wise And if peraduenture your fall haue proceeded not vpon want of consideration but through humane infirmitie and for feare of punishment and imprisonment yet doe not preferre a temporall libertie to the libertie of the glory of the Sonnes of God neither for escaping a light and momentanie tribulation loose an eternall waight world to wonder with me at the committing of so grosse an Errour by so learned a man as that hee should haue pained himselfe to haue set downe so elaborate a Letter for the refutation of a quite mistaken Question For it appeareth that our English Fugitiues of whose inward societie with him he so greatly vaunteth haue so fast hammered in his head the Oath of Supremacie which hath euer bene so great a Scarre vnto them as hee thinking by his Letter to haue refuted the last Oath hath in place thereof onely payd the Oath of Supremacie which was most in his head As a man that being earnestly caried in his thoughts vpon another matter then hee is presently in doing will often name the matter or person hee is thinking of in place of the other thing hee hath at that time in hand For as the Oath of Supremacy was deuised for putting a difference betweene Papists and them of our profession So was this Oath which hee would seeme to impugne The difference betweene the Oath of Supremacie and this of Allegiance ordained for making a difference betweene the Ciuilly obedient Papists and the peruerse Disciples of the Powder-Treason Yet doth all his Letter runne vpon an Inuectiue against the compulsion of Catholikes to denie the authoritie of Saint Peters successors and in place thereof to acknowledge the successors of King Henry the eight For in King Henry the eights time was the Oath of Supremacie first made By him were Thomas Moore and Roffensis put to death partly for refusing of it From his time till now haue all our Princes professing this Religion successiuely in effect mainteined the same And in that Oath only is conteined the Kings absolute power to bee Iudge ouer all persons aswell Ciuill as Ecclesiasticall excluding all forreigne Powers and Potentates to be Iudges within his Dominions Whereas this last made Oath containeth no such matter onely medling with the Ciuill Obedience of Subiects to their Soueraigne in meere Temporall causes And that it may the better appeare that whereas by name hee seemeth to condemne the last Oath yet indeede his whole letter runneth vpon nothing but vpon the some other authority of the Church and Sea of Rome yet by other meanes with others helpe he may depose our King That the Pope may dispose of his Maiesties Kingdomes and Dominions That the Pope may giue authoritie to some Forrein Prince to inuade his Maiesties Dominions That the Pope may discharge his Subiects of their Allegiance and Obedience to his Maiestie That the Pope may giue Licence to one or more of his Maiesties Subiects to beare Armes against his Maiestie That the Pope may giue leaue to the King his Subiects to offer violence
in all matters appertaining to Faith and Religion that if they shall continue in a fault against Christian Religion after one or two admonitions obstinately for that cause they may and ought to bee deposed by the Bishops from all the Authority they hold amongst Christians f Ibidem Bishops are set ouer Imperiall Kingdomes if those Kingdomes do submit themselues to the Faith of CHRIST We doe constantly g Sand. de clau Dauid lib. 5. cap. 2. affirme That all Secular power whether Regall or any other is of Men. The h Ibidem Anoynting which is powred vpon the head of the King by the Priest doeth declare that he is inferiour to the Priest It is altogether against the will of i Sand. de clau Dauid lib. 5. cap. 4. CHRIST that Christian Kings should haue Supremacy in the Church And whereas for the Crowne and conclusion of all his examples he reckoneth his The Card. paire of Martyrs weighed two English Martyrs Moore and Roffensis who died for that one most weightie head of Doctrine as he alleadgeth refusing the Oath of Supremacie I must tell him that he hath not bene well informed in some materiall points which doe very neerely concerne his two said Martyrs For it is cleare and apparantly to be proued by diuers Records That they were both of them committed to the Tower about a yeere before either of them was called in question vpon their liues for the Popes Supremacy And that partly for their backwardnesse in the point of the establishment of the Kings Succession whereunto the whole Realme had subscribed and partly for that one of them to wit Fisher had had his hand in the matter of the holy a Called Anna Burton See the Act of Parliament maid of Kent he being for his concealement of that false Prophets abuse found guilty of Misprision of Treason And as these were the principall causes of their Imprisonment the King resting secure of his Supremacy as the Realme stood then affected but especially troubled for setling the Crowne vpon the Issue of his second Marriage So was it easily to be conceiued that being thereupon discontented their humors were thereby made apt to drawe them by degrees to further opposition against the King and his Authority as indeed it fell out For in the time of their being in prison the Kings lawfull Authoritie in cases Ecclesiasticall being published and promulged as well by a generall Decree of the Clergie in their Synode as by an Acte of Parliament made thereupon they behaued themselues so peeuishly therein as the old coales of the Kings anger being thereby raked vp of new they were againe brought in question as well for this one most weightie head of Doctrine of the Pope his Supremacie as for the matter of the Kings marriage and Succession as by the confession of one of themselues euen Thomas Moore is euident For being condemned hee vsed these words at the Barre before the Lords Non ignoro cur me morti adiudicaueritis videlicet ob id quod nunquam voluerim assentire in Hist aliquot Martyrum nostri seculi Anno 1550. negotio Matrimonij Regis That is I am not ignorant why you haue adiudged me to death to wit for that I would neuer consent in the businesse of the new marriage of the King By which his owne confession it is plaine that this great Martyr himselfe tooke the cause of his owne death to be onely for his being refractary to the King in this said matter of Marriage and Succession which is but a very fleshly cause of Martyrdom as I conceiue And as for Roffensis his fellow Martyr who could haue bene content to haue taken the oath of the Kings Supremacy with a certaine modification which Moore refused as his imprisonment was neither only nor principally for the cause of Supremacy so dyed he but a halting and a singular Martyr or witnes for that most waightie head of doctrine the whole Church of England going at that time in one current and streame as it were against him in that Argument diuers of them being of farre greater reputation for learning and sound iudgement then euer he was So as in this point we may well arme our selues with the Cardinals owne reason where he giueth amongst other notes of the true Church Vniuersality for one we hauing the generall and Catholike conclusion of the whole Church of England on our side in this case as appeareth by their booke set out by the whole Conuocation of England called The Institution of a Christian man the same matter being likewise very learnedly handled by diuers particular learned men of our Church as by Steuen Gardiner in his booke De vera Obedientia with a Preface of Bishop Boners adioyned to it De summo absoluto Regis imperio published by Master Bekinsaw De vera differentia Regiae Potestatis Ecclesiae Bishop Tonstals Sermon Bishop Longlands Sermon the letter of Tonstall to Cardinall Poole and diuers other both in English and Latine And if the bitternesse of Fishers discontentment had not bin fed with his daily ambitious expectation of the Cardinals hat which came so neere as Calis before he lost his head to fill it with I haue great reason to doubt if hee would haue constantly perseuered in induring his Martyrdome for that one most waightie head of doctrine And surely these two Captaines and ringleaders to Martyrdome were but ill followed by the rest of their countrymen for I can neuer reade of any after them being of any great account and that not many that euer sealed that waightie head of doctrine with their blood in England So as the true causes of their first falling in trouble whereof I haue already made mention being rightly considered vpon the one part and vpon the other the scant number of witnesses that with their blood sealed a point so greatly accounted of by our Cardinall there can but small glory redound thereby to our English Nation these only two Enoch and Elias seruing for witnesses against our Antichristian doctrine And I am sure the Supremacy of Kings The supremacie of Kings sufficiently warranted by the Scriptures may and will euer be better maintained by the word of God which must euer be the true rule to discerne all waightie heads of doctrine by to be the true and proper office of Christian Kings in their owne Dominions then he will be euer able to maintaine his annihilating Kings and their Authorities together with his base and vnreuerend speeches of them wherewith both his former great Volumes and his late Bookes against Venice are filled In the old Testament Kings were directly a 2. Chron. 19. 4. Gouernours ouer the Church within their Dominions b 2. Sam. 5. 6. purged their corruptions reformed their abuses brought the c 1. Chron. 13. 12. Arke to her resting place the King e 2. Sam. 6. 16 dauncing before it f 1. Chro. 28. 6. built the