See did yet most humbly supplicate Martian the Emperor that he would be pleas'd to call a Council in Italy because that Country did then seem most convenient for that purpose his Words are these All the Priests do most earnestly beseech your Clemency that You would be pleased to command a General Synod to be celebrated in Italy But this Emperor that he might shew that he had the Right of calling Councils and none but he commanded the Council to meet at Chalcedon in Bithynia and not in Italy where the Pope did most violently desire it should have been held And when Ruffinus in the Contest which he had with St. Jerome alledged a Synod tell us said St. Jerome what Emperor commanded it to meet St. Jerome did not think a General Council of any great Validity except some of the Emperors call'd it Now I do not inquire what Emperor commanded the Bishops to meet now at Trent but only whether the Pope who takes so much upon him hath consulted with the Emperor about holding this Council and what Christian King or Prince has he prae-acquainted with his Will Now to break in upon the Rights of another and to assume to a mans self what belongs to another man by Fraud or Force is injurious and for him to abuse the Clemency of Princes and to command them as if they were his Servants is a superlative and intolerable piece of Injury and contumely and it would be an equal Injustice in us to confirm and allow that Injury and Insolence of his by our Compliance and therefore if we should only reply That this Council of yours at Trent is not lawfully call'd and that nothing relating to it has been rightly and orderly managed by Pope Pius no man can with any Justice blame our Absence 9. I shall not here trouble you with an exact account of the Injuries our Nation hath received from the Popes of Rome that they have snatch'd the Scepters out of the Hands and plucked the Diadems from off the Heads of our Kings that they pretend that this Kingdom is theirs that it is possess'd in their Right and that our Kings are their Beneficiaries of Homagers These are old Injuries but of late years they have stir'd up at one time the King of France and at another the Emperor and what this Pope Pius has consulted spoken done contrived and threatned against us need not be remembred here for his Words and Actions are not so close and secret but they may be known and his Will thereby be discovered And as to the means by which he acquired the Popedom and the steps by which he climb'd to that heighth of Dignity I shall say nothing I do not say that he corrupted the Cardinals by purchasing their Votes and by Bargain and Purchase as by Mines and Ambushes aspired to the Popedom I do no say neither that very lately when he was not able to pay the Cardinal Caraffa by whose Assistance he purchased the Votes of the other Cardinals and to whom upon that Score he ow'd a very considerable Sum of Money he cast the poor man into Prison and there basely murthered him I leave these and such other things as these are rather to you who being nearer to them must needs see them more clearly and understand them better than we do at this distance And now Sir do you wonder that we should not come to this bloody man this Purchaser of Votes this Bankrupt and this Simonaical Heretick It becomes not a wise man believe me to throw himself into the Chair of Pestilence and to consult concerning Religion with the Enemies of all Religion My Mother said one commanded me not to approach to the Infamous and St. John the Apostle durst not remain in the same Bath and wash himself with one Cerinthius a Heretick lest he should perish with him by a Thunder Clap from Heaven I have not sat said David in the Council of the Wicked neither have I walked with the Workers of Iniquity 10. WELL but be it so for this time let it be granted that the Right of calling Councils belongs to the Pope and that he can in this point command the World and let whatever we have said concerning the Power of the Emperor and the Right of Kings be taken for false and vain and let Pius be supposed too to be a good man that he was rightly and lawfully chosen Pope that he has not sought the Life of any man that he has not murthered Caraffa in Prison yet it is fit that Councils should be free after all this and that who pleaseth may be there who cannot conveniently may on the other side be absent this was the equity and moderation of better men Princes then were not treated with so much Violence and Rudeness so that if any person happened to stay at Home or did not send Ambassadors to the Council he should presently be noted by the Eyes and Fingers of all men I beseech you Sir what Observer kept count who was absent from the Councils of Nice Ephesus Constantinople and Chalcedon but there was in none of these any Ambassadors from England Scotland Poland Hungary Spain Denmark nor any part of Germany See read and consider the Subscriptions and you will find what I say is true And why do you not rather wonder that the Britans did not come to those full famous celebrated and frequented Councils Or that the Popes then were so wonderful patient that they did not presently censure them for Contumacy But this Papal tyranny was not then grown up it was then lawful for Pious Bishops and the Holy Fathers without any Prejudice to stay at Home Paul the Apostle would not trust himself to the Council of Jerusalem but appealed unto Caesar and tho St. Athanasius the Bishop was call'd to the Council at Caesarea by the Emperor yet he would not come and he also when he perceived the Arrian Party the strongest in the Council of Syrmium would not stay but presently withdrew and went away and the Bishops of the West following his Example refused to come to that Council St. John Chrysostom did not come to an Arrian Council tho he was invited both by Letters and Messengers sent by Arcadius the Emperor When the Arrian Bishops in Palestine were met together and had the greatest part of the Votes on their side Paphnutius an old man and Maximus Bishop of Jerusalem departed out of the Convention and went away Cyrillus a Bishop appealed from the Council of the Patropassians Paulinus Bishop of Treves would not come to the Council of Millan because he saw by reason of the Favour and Power of Constantius the Emperor every thing plied under and was over-rul'd by Auxentius an Arrian Bishop The Bishops who came to the Council at Constantinople would not afterwards come to that which was holden at Rome to which they were call'd also which yet was no prejudice to them tho they were commanded to attend there by Letters from
under Boniface the 8th when the Papal Power was at the highest about two hundred years before Huldericus Zuinglius began to preach the Gospel or indeed was born But from that time to this all things there have been in the greatest Tranquility and Quiet that was possible not only in relation to foreign Wars but intestine Commotions so that if it were a sin to deliver their Country from a foreign Dominion which oppressed them with great Insolence and Tyranny yet it is unjust and absurd to load the Reformation with the Crimes of others or them with those of their Fore-fathers 14. BUT O immortal God! Shall the Bishop of Rome accuse us of Treason Will he pretend to teach the People Subjection and Obedience to Magistrates Or has he any regard to Majesty Why then does he suffer himself to be call'd by his Flatterers the LORD OF LORDS which none of the ancient Bishops of Rome ever did as if he would have all Kings and Princes whoever they were and wheresoever be no better than his Vassals and Slaves Why does he boast that he is the KING OF KINGS and that he has the Right of commanding them as his Subjects Why does he force Emperors and Monarchs to swear Obedience to him Why does he boast that his own Majesty is seventy seven times greater than the Majesty of the Emperor and that forsooth because God made two great Lights in Heaven and because the Heavens and the Earth had not two several but one single Beginning Why have he and his Followers in that like the Anabaptists and Libertines shaken off the Yoke and exempted themselves from the Jurisdiction of all Civil Powers that they might with the greater liberty and security plague the World 15. WHY has he his Legats that is a crafty sort of Spies as it were in ambush in the Courts Councils and Chambers of all Kings Why doth he as his Interest requires set Princes at variance amongst themselves and at his pleasure fill the Earth with Seditions Why does he proscribe and take for an Heathen and Pagan whatever Prince withdraws himself from his Dominion and promise his Indulgences so freely if any man will by any means whatsoever assassinate his Enemys Doth he preserve Empires and Kingdoms or at all consult and desire the Publick Peace You ought O pious Reader to pardon us if these things seem a little more sharp and eager than becomes a Divine for so great is the Provocation so great and so impotent with all is the Ambition of the Popes that it cannot be expressed in other or milder Words For he had once the Insolence to say in a publick Council that all the Authority of all the Kings in the World depended upon him He out of Ambition and Desire to Rule distracted the Roman Empire and tore in pieces the Christian World he absolved the Italians and amongst them himself from the Oath wherein they were obliged to the Emperor of Greece with great perfidy and solicited his Subjects to revolt from him and call'd Charles Martell the Great out of France into Italy and after a new and till then unheard of manner made him Emperor He deposed Chilperick King of France an innocent Prince only because he did not like him and set up Pipin in his Place He would if he had been able have cast out Phillip the Fair another King of France and have adjudged the Kingdom of France to Albert King of the Romans He broke the Power of Florence tho his own Country which was then a most flourishing City and changing its free and peaceable State he delivered it up to the Lust of one man He made all Savoy to be torn in pieces by the Emperor Charles the 5th on the one side and Francis the First King of France on the other scarce leaving to the miserable Duke one City to shelter himself in 16. I am weary of Examples and indeed there is nothing more troublesome than to enumerate the great Actions of the Popes of Rome of this nature I pray of whose Party were they who poisoned the Emperor Henry the 7th in the Eucharist and they who did the same to Pope Victor in the holy Chalice Who exercised the same Art upon our King John of England in a common Table Cup whoever they were and of what Party soever this is certain they were neither Lutherans nor Zuinglians Who is it that at this day permits the greatest Kings and Monarchs to kiss his Feet Who is it that commands the Emperor to hold his Bridle and the King of France his Stirrup Who was it that cast Francis Dandalus Duke of Venice and King of Crete and Cyprus under his Table to gnaw the Bones with the Dogs who crowned Henry the 6th the Emperor at Rome not with his Hands but with his Feet and then with his Foot kicked his Crown off again adding that he had power to create Emperors and to depose them Who armed Henry the Son against Henry the 4th his Father and caused the Son to take his Father Prisoner and having shaven and treated him ignominiously to cast him into a Monastery where he pined away with Hunger and Sorrow who was it that trod insolently upon the Neck of the Emperor Frederick and as if this had not been a sufficient Affront subjoyned out of the Psalms of David Thou shalt walk upon the Asp and the Basilisk and shalt tread the Lion and the Dragon under thy Feet Where is there such another Example of despised and injured Majesty in all History except in Tamberlane the Scythian a fierce and a barbarous Prince and in Saphores King of Persia All these were Popes all of them Successors of St. Peter all most Holy Men whose Words were every one of them to be Gospel to us 17. IF we be guilty of Treason who reverence our Princes who submit to them in all things as far as the Scriptures will permit us what then are these Men who have not only done all these base things but have also extol'd them as generous Actions Do they thus teach the People to revere Magistrates or can they with any Modesty accuse us of being Seditious Men the Disturbers of the Publick Peace and Contemners of the Majesty of Princes For as for us none of us shake off the Yoke nor imbroil Kingdoms nor dispose of Empires nor do we reach Poison to our Kings nor put out our Feet to them to kiss nor do we insultingly tread upon their Necks No our Profession our Doctrine is this That every Soul whose ever it is whether it be a Monk or an Evangelist or a Prophet or an Apostle it ought to be subject to Kings and Magistrates and so the Pope himself except he affect to seem greater than the Evangelists Prophets and Apostles ought to acknowledge and call the Emperor his Lord as the ancient Popes in better times ever have done We publickly teach that
against King John another of our Princes the Bishops and Monks and some part of the Nobility and absolved all his Subjects from that Oath of Allegiance they had taken to him and at last by the highest Impiety not only deprived him of his Kingdom but his Life and they wounded Henry the VIII a most noble Prince with their Curses and Excommunications and stir'd up against him sometimes the Emperor and sometimes the King of France and as much as in them lay exposed our Kingdom to be a Prey and a Booty to them like a company of silly men as they were to think so great a Prince would be frighted with Vizors and Rattles or that so great a Kingdom could be devoured at one mouthful and as if all this had not been enough they would needs make England a tributary Province and yearly most unjustly exacted a considerable Revenue out of it so much has the Friendship of the City of Rome cost us Now if they extorted these great Advantages from us by Impostures and ill Arts there is no reason why we should not by good Methods and Laws recover them back again but if on the other side our Kings induced by an Opinion of their simulated Holiness in the darkness of those times freely bestowed these things on them upon the account of Religion there is now very good reason that our latter Kings having discovered the Error of their Ancestors should take them away again they being possess'd of the same Power with the former Kings for every Donation becomes void when it is no longer approved by the Will of the Giver but it can never seem a Will which is clouded and impeded by Error The Conclusion THUS I have acquainted thee my Reader that it is no new or strange thing to see the Christian Religion in these days upon its Restitution and Revival in the World entertain'd with Slanders and Reproaches for the same things happened to Christ himself and his Apostles And yet least thou shouldest be misled and imposed upon by these Clamors of our Adversaries we have represented to thee what the whole manner of our Religion is what we believe concerning God the Father concerning his only Son Jesus Christ and concerning the Holy Ghost what our Opinion is concerning the Church the Sacraments the Ministry the Holy Scriptures the Ceremonies of the Church and all the other parts of the Christian Religon We have declared also that we detest as pernicious to the Souls of Men and plagues all those Ancient Heresies that have been condemn'd by the old Councils and Holy Scriptures That we have reduced into practise again as much as we can possibly the Ecclesiastical Discipline which our Adversaries had much weakned and that we punish all Licentious Courses of Life and Debauchery in Manners by our ancient and established Laws and that with as much 〈◊〉 as is fit and possible That we pâ—â—serve all Kingdoms in the same State we found them without any Diminution or Mutation and preserve the Majesty of our Princes intire as much as we can possibly That we have departed from that Church which they had made a Den of Thieves in which they had left nothing sound or like a Church and which they themselves confessed to have erred in many things as Lot left Sodom or Abraham Chaldea not out of Contention but out of Obedience to God and have sought the certain way of Religion out of the sacred Scriptures which we know cannot deceive us and have return'd to the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and Apostles that is to the beginning and first Rise of the Church as to the proper Fountain 2. THAT we have not indeed expected the Authority or consent of the Council of Trent in which we saw nothing was manag'd well and regularly where all that entered took an Oath to one Man where the Ambassadors of our Princes were despised and ill treated where none of our Divines could be heard where Partiality and Ambition openly carried all things and according to the Practice of the Holy Fathers and the Customs of our own Ancestors we have reformed our Churches in a Provincial Synod and according to our Duty we have cast off the Yoke and Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome who had no just Authority over us nor was like either Christ or St. Peter or the Apostles or indeed like a Bishop in any thing Lastly we do all agree amongst ourselves in all the Doctrines and Points of the Christian Religion and do with one Spirit and one Mouth worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 3. WHEREFORE O Christian and Pious Reader now thou feest the Reasons and Causes of the Reformation of Religion with us and of our Departure from them thou oughtest not to wonder that we should rather choose to obey our Saviour than Men. St. Paul hath admonished us that we should not be carried away with every Wind of false Doctrine and especially that we should mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple Their Impostures accordingly like Batts and Owls do now sometime since begin to flie and steal away before the rising Sun and cannot indure the Light of the Gospel and altho they were in some sense built and heaped almost up to Heaven yet they sink down into Ruins of their own accord For thou oughtest not to think that those things happened accidentally or by chance It was certainly the Will of God that in these times the Gospel of Jesus Christ should in defiance of all opposition be spread abroad in the World and therefore men being moved by the Word of God freely betook themselves to the Doctrine of Christ and as for us we sought neither Riches nor Pleasure nor case by this Change for our Adversaries abound in all these and we had a much larger Share of them whilst we continued with them 4. NOR do we decline Concord and Peace with Men neither but yet we will not continue in a State of War God that we might have Peace with Men. The Name of Peace saith St. Hilary is Pleasant but then Peace and Servitude are not the same thing for if according to their desire the Name of Christ should be supprest the Truth of the Gospel betrayed their wicked Errors be dissembled the Eyes of Christian Men be deluded and a plain and apparent Conspiracy be carried on against God himself this is not saith that great Man Peace but the conditions of a most base Slavery There is saith Nazianzen an unprofitable Peace and there is an useful sort of Discord for we must pursue Peace with Conditions as far as 〈◊〉 lawful and in us lyeth and unless these Limitations may attend it Christ himself came not to bring Peace into the World