durst protect felons and murtherers against the King and Iustice of the land neither reuerencing King nor obeying his lawes passed ouer without licence to the King of France Further being adiudged to prison by the King for refusing to giue accounts of great summes of money receiued by him and Reignold Earle of Cornewall and Robert Earle of Leicester being sent to him to tell him of the iudgement set downe against him this meeke Martyr and holy Saint was so farre from the obedience of a subiect that he told the earle of Leicester in these words That how much more precious the soule is then the bodie so much more ought he to obey Becket then his terreine King So notorious and euident was the rebellious opposition of this Popish Prelate against his lawfull Prince that he was openly by the king and his Nobles called Traitor in that he refused to giue earthly honour to his King as he had sworne to do and therefore they generally agreed that he was wel worthy to be handled as a periured Traitor and rebell and therefore most impudent is this Ward-worders assertion that neyther the King nor his Officers did charge him with treason If you please to adde hereunto the arbitrement of this controuersie put into the French kings handes with king Henries large offer and Beckets proud refusall there is no man I hope that knoweth what it is to be an obedient subiect but will condemne him for a rebellious Traitour The kings offer in that arbitrement was this There haue been saith he Kings of England before me both of greater and lesse puissance then I am likewise there haue been many Bishoppes of Canturburie both great and holy men what the greatest and most holy of all his predecessours before him hath done to the least of my predecessors before me let him doe the same to me and I am content Which offer though it were in it selfe and so deemed by all that stood by not onely reasonable but more then reasonable so that they all cried with one voice the king hath debased himselfe enough to the Bishop yet the rebellious spirit of this Archbishop would not yeelde vnto it nor accept peace with his King vpon so fauourable a condition What a Giant-like pride traiterous presumption is this to refuse to yeelde so much obedience to his Prince and Soueraigne as the greatest and holiest of his place haue alwaies yeelded to the meanest kinges of this land what needeth any further proofe of Beckets treason Yet if you will you may remember the letter of Maud the Empresse to him Wherin she chargeth him that in as much as in him lay he went about to disinherit the king to depriue him of his crown and if the Empresse might be thought to speake partially on the King her sonnes behalfe yet the two Cardinals sent by the Pope to heare all this controuersie out of question will not condemne him without iust cause And yet in a letter sent from them to the Pope they do condemne him of exciting stirring vp forraine Potentates to make warre against his naturall liege Lord the words of which letter were these William and Otho Cardinals of the Church of Rome to Alexander the Pope c. comming to the land of the king of England we found the controuersie betwixt him and the Archbishop of Canterburie more sharpe and vehement then we would for the King and the greater part about him said that the Archbishop had stirred vp the French King grieuouslie against him as also the Earle of Flaunders his kinsman who was verie louing and kind to him before he made his open aduersarie readie to wage warre against him as is by diuers euidences most certain c. Now for a subiect to stirre vp forraine States to make warre vpon his Soueraigne and countrie was at all times high treason but that Becket did so by the Cardinals confession was by diuers euidences most certaine therefore Becket not now his enemies but his breâ—hren the sonnes of his owne mother being Iudges was a traitor Who then but such a one as hath sold himselfe to all impudencie and shamelesse gainsaying the truth would seeke to couer Beckets rebellions by the facts of Iohn Baptist Ambrose Hillarie of Athanasius Chrysostome which haue as much agreement with the cause of Becket as hath light with darkenes good with euill sweet with sower concerning whose Saint-being I will say nothing sith my purpose is not to search what he is with God after his death but what he was towards his Prince in his life neither am I priuie to his repentance which might be secret at the last gaspe or to Gods iudgements into which I presume not to presse Yet you may remember that long since it was a generall Prouerbe of your Pope-made Saints That many are worshipped for Saints in heauen whose soules are burning in Hell and that in particular concerning Becket great doubt was moued as is by writers alleadged out of Caesarius the Monke whose words are these Quaestio Parisijs inter magistros ventilata fuit vtrum damnatus an saluatus esset ille Thomas c. There was a question debated amongst the masters at Paris whether Thomas Becket was saued or damned To this question answereth Roger a Norman that he was worthie death and damnation because he was so obstinate against Gods minister the king Peter Cantar a Parisien disputed on the contrarie that his miracles were great signes and tokens of saluation and of great holines in him c. Which argument this Encounterer likewise vrgeth But behold what strength is in it For one of these we shall find to be true that either they seemed only and were no miracles indeed such as many by the craft and conueiance of idle Monks haue been shewed to the people as namely those miracles of the Dominicke Friers in their hot contentions with the Franciscans about the conception of our Ladie who thinking by sleight to worke in the peoples heads that which by open preaching they durst not now attempt deuised a certaine Image of the Virgin so artificially wrought that the Friers by priuie gynnes made it to stirre to make gestures to lament to complaine to weepe to grone and to giue answeres to them that asked c. vntill the Franciscans seeing by this meanes their credits to decay and all the almes to be conueyed to the Dominickes boxe and not being vnacquainted with such cousening practises espied their iugling and discouered their feined fraudulent miracles For which cause foure of the chiefest actors in this iugling miracle were burned at Bernâ— Or secondly if they were not counterfeite but done in deed they were not wrought by God but by the power of Sathan to draw men from Christ to Antichrist Of these the Apostle foretelleth vs that whensoeuer it commeth to passe it might not trouble vs That the comming
to giue ouer their olde impudent proposition That ignorance of the Scriptures is the mother of Popish deuotion For what meant the so strict forbidding to laye men the reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue but that their deuotion should not growe of the knowledge but of the ignorance of the Scriptures flat contrarie to our Sauiours commandement giuen to the vnlearned multitude of the Iewes Search the Scriptures for in them you thinke to haue eternall life and they are they that testifie of me where the reason annexed to the Commandement sheweth to whom the Commaundement appertaineth euen to as many as it concerneth to seeke after eternall life and to know Iesus Christ and him crucified which is the laytie no lesse then the Cleargie contrarie also to the Apostles exhortation to the Colossians being laye men Let the word of Christ dwell plenteously in you Whereupon Chrisostome noteth Audite seculares omnes comparate vobis biblia animae Pharmaca c. Heare you secular or laye men euery one get vnto you Bibles the Phisicke of your Soule if you will nothing else at the least get you Testaments the epistles of Paul the Gospels the Actes to be daily and diligent instructors to you In a word contrarie to the spirite of the same Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes who reproueth them that they were like vnto Children and vnexpert in the word of righteousnes whereas they ought to haue their wits exercised therein But ignorance of the Scriptures better pleaseth you in the people and shall leade them to such deuotion as maketh more for your aduantage Hence hath growne your deuice of fides Implicita a faith wrapped and folded vnder the obedience of the Church namely that it is sufficient though they knowe not distinctly what they ought to beleeue but obediently submit their vnderstanding to the Church beleeuing as the Church beleeueth though what the Church beleeueth they knowe not This Carbonaria fides is highly commended by Cardinall Hossius who farther teacheth the simple laye man that he should thinke it went very well with him if he could say by heart the Lords praier the Articles of beliefe and the ten Commaundements though he knew not the meaning of the words As for other knowledge if any asked him a question hee should answere that hee did beleeue the Catholike Church And this ignorance of the Scriptures as a fruitfull mother hath brought forth many a blinde daughter of gainfull deuotion to your kitchin what greater deuotion was either then esteemed to be or indeed what acte more for your aduantage then the building of Monasteries and Nunneries and the endowing them with great lands and reuenues And this deuoute daughter mother Ignorance of the Scriptures brought forth which as for the most part they were builded by Kings and great States vpon some great murder either by wane in the field or priuately committed at home so the cause was as in stories may be seene Pro remedio animae meae pro remissione redemptione peccatorum meorum c. For the reliefe of my soule for the redemption and forgiuenes of my sinnes c. Which blasphemous derogation to the death and passion of Christ Iesus the knowledge of the Scriptures would haue quicklie discouered Yea how Deuotion hath been separated from knowledge not in your laye people alone but in your Priests too whilest deuotion hath been so tyed to their daily saying of their Maâ—tins and euensong which without deadly sinne they may not leaue vnsayd whiles in the meane time they vtterly cast aside the Apostles commaundement Giue attendance to reading exhortation and doctrine in the answer of Iohn Lambert to the 25. Article to him obiected may partly appeare I will onely adde this one testimonie that by the confession of some of your owne coate which haue made any conscience of their carriageâ— may appeare how carefullie your deuoutest Fryers haue been to couple knowledge with their imagined deuotion Franciscus Sampson generall of the order of the Friers Franciscans reprouing both their ignorance and carelesnes hath these words Pratres mei dilectissimi à primordio nostrae Religionis floruit conscientia c. My beloued brethren in the beginning of our Religion there flourished conscience but our beauty by little little sliding away the first sillable was taken away and there remained Scientia science or knowledge but now our sinnes so deseruing the first sillable is againe taken away and we remaine Pura entia stipites statuae meere things which haue a being euen very stockes and blockes To adde further proofe in a case so manifest were to light a candle at noone day yet this I will adde ex abundanti If publike praier in the Church and congregation of the faithfull be a chiefe and principall part of Deuotion made you not Ignorance the mother of their Deuotion when as ye would not allow their publike praiers in a tongue that the people vnderstoode Yea your Cardinall Hossius vseth this reason to proue that the Church seruice should be in the Latine tongue rather then the vulgar because saith he since some vsed the vulgar and knowne tongue in Church seruice Deuotion hath not onely not been increased but diminished And our Countrey man but the Popes Champion D. Stapleton in an English booke that he writeth against Bishop Iuel confidently affirmeth that Deuotion is not furthered but hindered by a tongue that is vnderstoode In a word D. Cole Deane of Paules and one chosen not onely to maintaine the Papists assertions against the Protestants in the disputation at Westminster but appointed by the Bishops and other his Colleagues to be the mouth for them all whose speech in the end they all being asked did auow to be the mind and saying of them all euen he in that honorable assemblie of the Councell and Nobles and frequent concourse of the Commons did with great vehemencie maintaine this proposition in these words I say Ignorance is the mother of Deuotion And so Sir Encounterer you must be forced to take it both for a maxime minime though minimè tibi placet to confesse a truth The second fayned position wherewith it pleaseth this deepe Clerke to charge me is because I say your Syde holdeth that it is not for lay men to meddle in matters of Religion c. And for this after your olde railing fashion you charge me with subtiltie and impudencie my subtiltie you say I shew in this word meddle which may either signifie that lay men must not determine or define of matters of Religion or else not to meddle or care for Religion at all And surely Sir though I may giue you good leaue to take it in which fence you will for in the former sence you will not deny but that euen Princes are restrained to doe any thing in causes of Religion within their own dominions without
also but euer with due reuerence to both parents c. All which by way of similitude you apply to our Queene as a mother and your Pope as a father and to your Saundrs Allen Bristow Stapleton c. as elder brethren and to the Priestes and lay men in England as yonger brethren c. which similitude consisteth of nothing but dissimilitudes For first the Pope is no way our father and therfore our obedience reuerence loue not to be deuided betwixt the Queene and him as the childrens betwixt the father and mother the Queene is our mother both nourishing vs as a tender parent in things temporall as also in taking care for the Church of Christ in this land in things spiritual according to the Lords promise by the Prophet to his Church Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queenes thy nurses So did Iehosaphat Ezechias Iosias amongest the Iewes Constantine Iustinian Charles the great with other like Princes amongst the Christians commaund and make lawes in causes ecclesiasticall and acknowledged no vniuersal father-hood of your Pope I wish he did discharge the dutie of a true spirituall father within his owne Diocesse and Bishopricke but it is an hard testimonie that Laurentius Valla giueth him Papas dici nomine Patres re Parricidas that the Popes are called fathers in name but in deed they are Parricides Againe if the elder brethren interpose their iudgement betwixt their Parents by your own confession it must euer be with due reuerence to both partes this reuerence your elder brethren haue not shewed towards the Queene too good a mother for so vngracious Impes whom they not onely call heretike pretended Queene vsurper c. but haue by all meanes sought the murthering of her sacred person Thirdly the yonger children you say must holde their peace and mourne for the contentions but not intermeddle But Sir your elder brethren whom you allow to speake are farre enough from reach they may safely define what they will against the Queene and cast abroad their iudgements in railing bookes to yonger brethren to settle in them a consent therto Which being done they must yet make shew not to intermeddle to the end they may the better auoide perill to their persons secretly hearten the people against her Maiestie Take an instance hereof from one of your yonger brethren one Paine a Priest who walked no lesse closely for his safetie then he was directed nor lesse cunningly to corrupt the peoples hearts then he was commanded who from his owne mouth discouered to one Eliot a bloudy platforme laid to destroy her iestie and diuers of her Honorable Councell with armed men the effecting whereof stayed onely the comming ouer of certaine Priests which were expected in the meane time through Gods goodnes this horrible treason was discouered and preuented And Paine being asked how they durst practise or attempt any such mischieuous action his answere was that to kill the Queene or to vse anie crueltie against her or any that would take her part was no offence to God and that they might doe it as lawfully as to a brute beast and to approue himselfe a fit messenger to be sent on such a bloudie errant he affirmed that himselfe would be one of the first that should execute the same here is one of your yonger brothers whom all the world must confesse to be a fit son for such a father as your Pope is Besides this your Cardinall Allen Doctor Worthington and others as elder brethren sent Richard Hesketh a Gentleman of Lancashire and a younger brother to induce the Lord Strange late Earle of Derbie to make a suddaine rebellion in England and to take vpon him the title of the Crowne assuring him from them and others of treasure and forraine forces to maintaine the same which treason the Honorable Earle dutifully detected Hesketh himselfe confessed and bitterly cursed his elder brethren to make him a yonger brother to aduenture the danger of the treason that they as elder brethren doe teach and deuise farre enough from reach Is this the weeping of your yonger brethren without intermedling are these the teares then are they of a right Crocodiles brood which seemeth to weeepe but it is to this end that they may sooner kill and destroy Nay further then this these elder brethren commend to their yongers treason against her Maiestie for a point of their faith namely that if the Pope say the worde none of the Papistes ought to obey her Maiestie nor to account her Queene of England for in the cases of conscience as Doctor Bilson now Bishop of Winchester noteth wherewith the Iesuites that came into England were furnished to the 55. Article when they be asked whether the Bull of Pius Quintus that was giuen out or any Bul that the Bishop of Rome can hereafter giue out all Catholikes be bound to yeeld obedience faith and loyaltie to Queene Elizabeth as to their lawfull Prince and Soueraigne the resolution is he that demaundeth this question asketh in effect whether the Pope might doe it or no to which demaund what a Catholike should answere it is playner then I need here to explicate If therefore a Catholike be asked do you beleeue that the Bishop of Rome may depriue Queen Elizabeth of her crown he must answer not regarding any danger of death I beleeue he may for this questiō is a point of faith and requireth a confessiō of our faith Do not these elder brethrē think you dutifully put in their iudgements between these two imagined Parēts the Queen the Pope when they teach their yonger brethrē treason against the Queen for an article point of their faith To ende with this Cardinall who thanks be to God ended his life before he could attaine the expected end of his traiterous dessignments doth he not perswade that it is not onely lawfull but honorable to murther Princes for Religion for saith hee There is no warre in the world so iust or honorable be it ciuill or forraine as that which is waged for Religion Now if it be true that ciuill warre which is the warre of Subiects against the Prince be iust and honourable then is it an honourable act for Subiectes to kill the Prince for the ende proposed in warre is victorie and the way to victorie is bloudshed and slaughter not so much of the people who are not impugned but for partaking with the Prince as of the Prince himselfe whom you seeke to depose and place an other in his steed And this doctrine of your Cardinals Parrie himselfe confesseth vnder his owne hand writing did throughly resolue confirme and strengthen him in his diuellish purpose to kill the Queene Doctor Allens booke saith he was sent me out of France it redoubled my former conceipts euerie word in it was a warrant to a prepared mind It taught that Kings may be excommunicated depriued and violently handled It proueth that all warre
your generall Viccars warrant which Romish conceite you shall finde learnedlie confuted by Doctor Bilson who is now Bishop of Winchester in the latter sence I need not to labour any more proofe then that before is set downe touching your breeding of Gods children in blindnes and ignorance and withholding the keye of knowledge from them and how will you haue them meddle with or care for that which they know not Though I say I may well iustifie both yet let me tell you that you doe not well distinguish the word meddle for as to meddle may signifie to be present in Councels c. in which sence you seclude the Laytie from medling with Religion so likewise it may signifie to trie and examine by the touchstone of Gods word the doctrine there taught and not to beleeue without farther discussing whatsoeuer their superiours teach them And in this sence likewise you will not haue them meddle yet the men of Berrhea are much commended for medling thus in Religion in that hauing heard the Apostle they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so as he deliuered and to this medling doth the Apostle exhort all Deerely beloued beleeue not euery spirit but trie the spirits whether they be of God or not And Chrisostome thinketh it an absurd thing that all men should not thus meddle with Religion Quomodo absurdum non est c. What an absurditie is that for money we trust not other men but count it and tell it after them but for more excellent things simplie to follow other mens sayings especially sith we haue the exactest rule and ballance of all the testimonie of the lawe of God therefore I pray and beseech you that you will leaue what this and that man thinketh and enquire all these things of the Scriptures Now how doe you permit lay men thus to meddle with matters of Religion when as ye take from them the vse of the Scriptures which as the rule or leuell serueth the Architect to direct his building by the ballance trieth the true waight of euery thing plainly sheweth what doctrine is true and to be imbraced what false and to bee reiected But no maruell that you haue forbidden them thus to meddle with matters of Religion when you haue broached such doctrines and maintained such opinions as some of your selues confesse cannot be iustified by the Scriptures It is recorded that some of the learneder sort of your Cleargie haue vsed to say amongst their friends Sic diecrem in Scholis sed tamen maneat inter nos c. I would say so in the schooles but yet let it be kept secret amongst our selues I thinke the contrarie we say so in the schooles but yet it cannot be proued out of the Scriptures c. Howsoeuer it may be you will generally be loath to confesse thus much of the Scriptures yet the Fathers you haue not onely mangled and depraued where their testimonies were pregnant against your errors as for example that plaine place of Gregorie Nissen Eam solummodo naturam quae increata est colere venerari didicimus we haue learned to adore and worship onely that nature which is vncreated where your Spanish Diuines in their Index expurgatorius set down this direction Deleatur dictio solummodo put out the word only sundry such places as both our learned men haue discouered in your Indices are to be found out But you plainly professe thinking it should haue remained secret among your selues and neuer to haue come to our knowledge that in the auncient Fathers you do very often deny very many errors meaning such sentences as make for vs against you by inuenting some comment or exposition and that you doe faine and deuise some conuenient sence when they are by the aduersaries in disputations and conferences obiected against you which things considered should stir vp the spirits of all men thus to meddle with matters of Religion and not by and by to beleeue and receiue euery doctrine because your Church teacheth it And now are we come to that high and capitall slaunder against the holy Pope-made Saint Thomas Becket whom I call a traitour at which the gall of this Popish Saint-seruer is so moued that he taketh on fretteth chafeth and as another mad Aiax Flagellifer threatneth that I shal rest with a broken head as in another place he speaketh of cudgelling with blowes and bastinadoes wherewith he supposeth to haue wrought a manly peece of worke But Sir pause a while the more rage the lesse reason and the the greater haste commonly the worse speede It were good aduise for you that threaten the breaking of other mens heads to looke warily to your own for the olde verse may happily be verified in you Saepe sagittantem didicit referire sagitta Inque virum plagae conuersarecurre re plaga The arrow oft vpon the shooter doth rebound And he receiues the blow that others thought to wound To examine a little the state of this Becket who was a traitor as I affirme not I onelie but many before me against Henrie the second but to vse the words of mine Author taken vp and shrined for a newe Saint made of an olde Rebell fiftie yeeres after his death which was in the fourth yeere of Henrie the third I doe openly professe to auoide all such carpers and quarrell-pickers as this fellow is to separate betweene his punishment and death and betwixt his cause and carriage against his Prince The first being outragious against all law and order by priuate persons not publikely authorised therto the second traiterous and meritorious of death the king hauing to that end iust matter enough if he had pleased by lawe to prosecute the cause against him which by sundrie euidences may be shewed but some fewe shall serue And first if Ciprians rule be true Non poena sed causa facit Martyrem It is not the punishment but the cause that maketh the Martyr what was the maine ground of the controuersie betwixt the King and him was it not as they terme them the liberties of the Church as this Encounterer granteth liberties not spirituall but carnall not of Christes giuing but of Antichrists deuising There were as Authors affirme in that time of Henrie the second more then a hundred murthers besides other felonies proued vpon the Clergie which when the King would haue punished according to the lawes of the land Becket opposeth himselfe and beardeth the King in this so iust an action vnder title of standing for the liberties of the Church a holy quarrell no doubt but such a Martyr such a cause From this straunge ground these proceedings ensued there was a law and constitution that neither Bishop nor Clerke should goe out of the land without the kings licence and then he should take an oth not to procure any hurt against the king or any of his notwithstanding this proude Prelate who
time in your proud boasting The words you say were neuer sufficiently proued to haue been spoken by him neither by sufficient witnesses nor by his owne confession and because the words could not serue to any purpose but to his owne ruine he being known to be wise and no foole you would haue it beleeued that he spake them not at all This is but a simple defence Sir Encounterer of your stout champion seeing the words were spoken in the hearing of so many witnesses both of your side and ours in the Parliament house and seeing that the speech being generally testified by them that heard him at that time it was neuer either by himselfe denied or by others that were present controlled If Doctor Storie had been so wise as you would perswade he was he would neuer haue vsed such impudent words such shamelesse talke such vnconscionable and cruell speeches without anie pittie of such as he had persecuted most cruellie as it is certainelie reported he did also at that time As for the interpretation which you call a bloudie commentarie it was not deuised to draw bloud nor to presse him downe seeing he long since receiued his iust iudgement it doth onely descrie his bloudie and disloyall heart which caused his tongue to vtter such furious and bloudie speeches You would faine haue Doctor Storie not to meane the Queene by the roote but either heresie it selfe or the infected Nobilitie and Gentrie But alas Sir N.D. your fained glosses are so farre from drawing his words to another sense that they rather confirme the same much like to Pilates superscription which being set vp to shew the cause of Christs condemnation did yet notwithstanding proclaime his innocencie and conuince them of crueltie for doe not you a little before confesse that these words could serue to no other purpose but to his owne ruine and doe not you here acknowledge that the Nobilitie and Gentrie seasoned with true Religion which you in the madnes of your idle braine call heresie were but inferiour roots both which things doe proue that his words which were these They meaning the Commssioners and Counsellors in Queene Maries time laboured onely about the young and little sprigs and twigs while they should haue stricken at the roote and cleane haue rooted it out cannot be meant of any other but of the Prince and chiefe roote from whom by the great goodnes of God the generall and open profession of Christian Religion hath againe sprung vp in this our land and with whom it doth continue yet still notwithstanding that Bacon Cicill Knowles and all those that you named are dead and gone The words must needs aime at a person and not an heresie at one and not at many at a chiefe and not at anie inferiour howsoeuer this glosing and cunning Encounterer would perswade vs of our Queenes affection to Poperie or denie that true Religion was willinglie and ioyfullie without compulsion and constraint from others established and maintained by her Rishton one of your Masters speaking of her before she was crowned saith Animum in eare suum statim patefecit c. 1. she presentlie shewed her mind in Religion both by silencing Catholike preachers as he calleth them as also by suffering all those that had liued in exile for Religion to returne home and by charging a certaine Bishop readie to celebrate before her that he should not eleuate the consecrate host For which respects as he confesseth the Archbishop of Yorke and the rest refused to crowne her The iudgement which Doctor Storie receiued by the Iustice of our land was most iust not being iudged to death for these words as you craftily yet verie foolishlie and falsely haue set downe but for that he denied her Maiesties Supremacie in the land and Soueraigntie ouer him and pleaded himselfe to be no subiect to the Queene but to the king of Spaine And this is it that your Martyr-maker Doctor Saunders seemeth to insinuate in his title added to Doctor Storie shewing that he suffered for the Primacie of your Bishop of Rome but obserue the blasphemie of this Pope-holy Encounterer against Christ and his heinous accusation out of a trecherous heart against the Magistrates and Iustice of our land in comparing such a traitour as Storie was with our Sauiour Christ and our Iudges with Pilate Leaue your blind zeale Sir Romanist which carrieth you so violently to such impieties and begin at length to imbrace true Religion with vs in the feare of God and in all loyaltie and dutie reuerence and commend the true Iustice of your Countrie Whatsoeuer your Catholikes doe imagine Storie to be worthie of hauing made him a Martyr who indeed was a traitour howsoeuer your selfe blinded with partiality heresy cannot find out any trespasse of moment committed by him though he denied our Prince to be his Soueraigne and Queene yet to euerie Christian and in different reader his iudgement will appeare to be iust and his offence no lesse then treason Doctor Saunders indeed hath made him a Martyr in his booke of the visible Monarchie of the Church and it may be you haue a purpose to canonize him for a Saint if there might be found a Suriu◠that by his Legions or Legend of lies would faine vnto him a better life some strange miracles but it being true that the cause not the punishmēt doth make a Martyr and that some things had in great estimatiō with mē may be abominable in Gods sight your traiterous Story shal be no better a Martir then the Martirs of Montanus Marcion Nouatus heresies of whom Eusebius maketh mentiō And so leauing your traiterous Doctor let vs come to the second hostilitie wherwith you find fault that is the Bull of Pius Quintus with the excommunication of her Maiestie concerning which Bul it moueth your patiēce greatly that euery where in schooles sermons books places of Iustice this fact of your Pope should be produced as a sound witnes and testimony of the vnsound and disloyall hearts of such of your catholikes as approue your Popes dealing therein by which you would enforce that matter wanted wherwith to charge your traitors at their arraignment for there was alwaies many and sufficient proofes wee need not seeke farre for matter to conuict you of most grosse impieties and cursed practises you haue herein yeelded vs too great an haruest to labour in and our hearts desire hath euer been that we might trulie speak better things of you We charge none to be guiltie of the fact but such as approue it or shew thēselues too forward to yeeld obediēce vnto it yet sir N.D. I think you could hardly resolue this doubt how a papist acknowledging your Popes authoritie and iustifying his proceeding therein may acknowledge her Maiestie to be his true and rightful Queene For in the title to that Bul you know the Queene is called a pretended Queene by the Bull she is deposed her
and storme at her enioying of the Crowne as at her Christian and Religious gouernment Buls are not hastelie procured your Pope must be sued vnto and false informations must be giuen and it might be as they had vaine hopes for a time to feede themselues with so those hopes fayling the fittest season for publishing of the Bull was thought to be when others were prepared to raise rebellion The second point is a matter of as deepe consideration as the former wherein hee telleth vs by enumeration of diuers hard vsages offered by her Maiestie and the Protestants against the Pope and Popish Catholicks that it must needs be that not malignitie of the Pope and his adherents against her but diuers iniuries and cruelties offered inforced the publication of the Bull. I will not vouchsafe to make an Apologie for defence of those things which you Sir Encounterer recken vp as wrongs and iniuries offered to your Pope and Pope-worshippers this onely I say for answere that as her Maiestie hath done nothing in the reformation of Religion in requiring an oath of her people for acknowledgement of her authoritie in inforcing her Subiects to the true seruice of God in punishing offenders and obstinate persons and such like proceedings but that which God commaunded her and the godlie zealous Princes haue done before her so it doth not necessarilie follow that notwithstanding all those things haue been done in godlie zeale and louing care for the saluation of the soules of her people therefore you are free from malignitie your faultines wherein I haue euidentlie proued before though in your deepe and cunning flatterie you would gladlie denie it you fawne vpon her Maiestie and yet accuse her most falselie of breach of promise in altering Religion you seeme to free her from a desire to publish Gods Gospell and yet affirme that your Pope had great cause to proceede against her Other Princes as Edward the first Richard the second Henrie the fourth haue made lawes against the Bishop of Rome his authoritie and vsurped iurisdiction and yet haue not tasted so much of his malice which sheweth the malignitie of your Pope and his adherents against her Maiestie As for your Poperie and superstition rooted out of this land it was not of so long continuance as you boast for but little before William the Conqueror Kings were Gods Vicars for gouerning his Church Ecclesiasticall liuings were bestowed by the Princes they made Ecclesiasticall lawes Priests were married and your Transubstantiation was not then knowne You blasphemouslie scoffe at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and ye glorie in the dissention betweene vs and the Lutherans but as the Lord is of will and power to mocke mockers so can hee make the infirmitie of his seruants worke to his glorie and their good I passe ouer many things willinglie in this your Rhetoricall flourishing contenting my selfe to haue shewed the non sequitur of your allegation The third point which you would haue considered is that it was an acte of iurisdiction from an Ecclesiasticall superiour as also an auncient kinde of proceeding against Princes in our land as well as in other places without any trouble to the people for the same and therefore you would not haue your Catholikes to be charged with it or troubled for it For answere thereunto this I affirme that as wee acknowledge not your Popes superioritie or Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction ouer vs he playing the vsurping Tirant in censuring our Prince so we neither yeelde that this his proude and malicious cursing and excommunication of Princes hath been of long continuance or that those his adherents who iustifie his proceedings are to bee freed from blame We acknowledge that Princes the annointed of the Lord are the higher powers ordained to execute Iustice and Iudgement ouer the good and euill We knowe no other Superiour in nations and kingdomes next and immediatelie vnder God but such as the Apostle Peter willeth vs to be subiect vnto when he saith Submit your selues vnto all manner ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be vnto the King as to the Superiour c. he speaketh of one not of many superiours where a Monarchie is established The time was when your Bishop of Rome was far from hauing a superioritie euen in Rome and his dominions for both Charles the great and Otho the great had right soueraigntie and royaltie of the Countries giuen to your Popes with acknowledgement to bee their Soueraigne Lordes in regarde of which they yeelded tributes and other seruices vnto them as also in former times the Emperours had their Lieutenants and deputies in Rome euen to Gregorie the seuenths time and your Popes obtained not the Soueraigntie which now they challenge till it was almost 1200. yeares after Christ in the daies of Alexander the third and Innocentius the third both Bishops of Rome Your vsuall engine of excommunication and depriuing of Princes of their Crownes is likewise far short of that antiquitie by which you would seeme to mitigate the rigour and crueltie thereof For as there was neuer any Romane King or Emperor excommunicated and depriued of his kingdom by any Bishop of Rome before Henry the fourth Emperour of Rome who was excommunicated cursed by Gregory the seuenth the brand of hel who being a Necromancer a periured person and a most wicked man confessed at his death to a Cardinall that he was set on by the Diuell to raise vp discord and warres in Christendome so in England from the conquest vnto King Henrie the eight there was no Prince of this land deposed by your pope but onely King Iohn It is a noueltie Sir N.D. and not a matter of antiquitie as Sigebert telleth you to teach that people owe no subiection to euill kings c. As for that you say that Subiects heretofore in our land haue not beene troubled or forced to alter their beliefe concerning the Popes power notwithstanding his cursing and depriuing of Princes is more then you know and it maketh no great matter whether it were so or no seeing that your vse of excommunication hath not been so frequent in our land and your dealings were neuer so treacherous and desperate as they haue been of late Our English Nation did neuer at any time since the first receiuing of the faith vnto this day acknowledge the vsurped power of your Pope to depose Princes much lesse hath it been anie matter of our faith your Pope Nicholas and Boniface the eight may put in transubstantiation to be an Article of our beliefe and make your popes supremacie of the necessitie of saluation but wee haue learned to ground our faith vpon the Scriptures of God which teacheth no such absurd and diuellish points The lawes of our land haue heretofore in King Richard the seconds time and Edward the thirds time made it treason to bring in any excommunication from Rome to impugne the lawes of the Realme for benefices and patronages to compasse or imagine the
the Worlde is nowe amended at Rome euen as sower Alemendeth in summer view the dealings of our moderne Popes and those onely which concerne our owne State First the Pope most iniuriouslie deposed her Maiestie from her Royall Crowne dismissed her Subiects from their obedience due to her yea cursed as many as did obey her further hee sendeth Murton into England to stirre vp Rebellion against her and consequentlie as much as in him lay to fill the land with dead corpses and to make our flouds run dyed with English bloud when this succeeded not hee sent Saunders with sundrie forces to inuade Ireland not onlie to increase Rebellion there but to winne it quite from her Maiestie if hee might The bloud by this occasion shed in Ireland could not yeelde his holines an heartie draught and therefore hee setteth on and abetteth the Spanish King in the yeare 1588. to make Inuasion for a full Conquest and to the ende he might throughlie speede and not faile he lendeth him all the helpe he could but especiallie as hee that writeth the Canonization of Didacus affirmeth because by diuine helpe he thought this Conquest might quickelie be atchieued Sixtus Quintus then Pope in that fittest opportunitie of time did Canonize Didacus a Spaniard and placed him in the number of Saints in whose merites the Spanish King did so greatlie trust And that no propertie of a bloudie monster might bee wanting in him hee suborned Parrey and armed him with full remission of all his sinnes besides other promises murtherouslie to kill her Maiestie and to shed her guiltles bloud If these euidences cannot make this popish Sycophant to see and abhor the Popes bloudie humour I can yeelde no other reason in his excuse but that which a Poet of their owne setteth downe AEthiopes vna quoniam nigredine sordent Ille color nulli vitio datur omnibus idem Vultus alterius si quis reprehenderet ora Et sua damnaret c. i. Blacknes for that it dyes each AEthiops face Blacknes with them is held for no disgrace All are like faced who so doth others blame His proper visage he perforce must shame If this fellow were not an horseleach that is bloudie minded himselfe he would easilie acknowledge the bloudie humour of the Pope To shut vp this point whereas he saith that for my speech against the Pope which is both iust and true I am to be restrained and checked euen for the very honour of England it selfe and our nation I referre it to the honorable iudgement of the higher authority what checke and restraint is fit for this fellow who so stifly standeth for her Maiesties professed enemy and will not endure to haue him accused of a bloudy humour who hath pronounced her no Queene stirred rebellions in her Realme against her sent an Inuadour to conquer her and authorised bloudie traitors secretly to kill hir and that for the honour of England it selfe that it may be freed from the ignominie of breeding such vipers and of our Nation that the people of our Nation may not be so inchanted by the poysoned cup of this Cyrce as to degenerate from Christian loyaltie to Antichristian treacherie whereto the Antichrist of Rome this Encounterers halfe God doth call them Whether the Pope be that special Antichrist wherof Daniel our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles doe speake I will not stand here to dispute specially because all the notes set downe in the Scripture of Antichrist are by sundrie learned men fully prooued to concurre in the Pope and in none other and that by Babilon in the Reuelation is meant Rome not onely as it was when the heathen Emperours held it as the Papistes say but as now it is the Pope raigning in it The tenne reasons sillie ones as they be which you alleadge to proue the contrarie with three times tenne more set downe by your Captaine Saunders are by Doctor Whitakers throughly sifted and refelled as also whatsoeuer the great Iesuite Bellarmine could say for his master to free him from this imputation is by diuers notablie learned fully examined and confuted whose bookes with others of the same argument in English because they are extant and almost in euerie mans hand I refer the reader to them contenting my selfe with a cōpetencie of knowledge for the instruction of mine owne conscience and not presuming to take vpon me to be a teacher of others To conclude whereas this Romane aduocate saith that this lande ought to beare more reuerence to the sea of Rome then other Nations for that it hath receiued more singular benefits from thence namely that it was conuerted from Paganisme to Christian Religion by the speciall diligence labour and industry of the same Sea I answere first that it is apparant by sundrie testimonies that this land was conuerted to the faith long before the time by you specified and not by the Bishop of Rome Guildas testifieth that Britanie receiued the Gospell in the time of Tiberius the Emperour and that Ioseph of Arimathia was sent by Philip the Apostle from France hither where he remained till his death And Beda our countriman likewise doth testifie that in his time this land kept Easter after the manner of the East Church by which may be gathered that the first preachers came hither from the East parts of the world and not from Rome more proofes might be set downe but I spare them Secondly though it be granted that Elutherius sending hither preachers from Rome in king Lucius his time did first conuert this land to the Christian faith I say there is not now the same faith in Rome that was then there was then no Masses said the partes of it were not then found out no transubstantiation no setting vp of Images in Churches the communion was then in both kindes administred to the lay people no vniuersall Pope c. Elutherius writeth thus to King Lucius Yee haue receiued of late through Gods mercie in the Realme of Britanie the law and faith of Christ ye haue with you within the Realme both the parts of the Scriptures out of them by Gods grace with the counsaile of your Realme take ye a lawe and by that lawe through Gods sufferance rule your kingdome of Britanie for you be Gods Vicar in your kingdome according to the saying of the Prophet c. Thirdly the latter Popes haue been more beholding to this land for our money then the land for anie good receiued from them our kings haue often complained that the dropsie thirst of these late Romanists cannot be quenched The Priour of Winchester one Andrew being expulsed was faine to giue to the Pope 365. markes yeerely to be restored againe to his place this and manie such like were but slender gleanings in comparison of the mightie haruest that from this land they yeerelie gathered In a word the Apostle saith of the Thessalonians that they were examples to all that beleeue in Macedonia
notice of it if it were concluded on after the marriage why might not this be brought to his Master and others into Spaine by letters from some of the Nobles that were with the King here So that this is but a poore shift to discredite Bradfords aduertisement and the circumstances considered that I did set downe before of his being a Papist in profession in dwelling a Spaniard and in place not to write this without perill I doubt not but to euery one in whom reason ruleth and not passion it will proue probable enough that there might bee a iust cause of such an aduertisement When Lewis the French King his sonne was by our nobles called into England and set vp for their King against King Iohn the Vicount Melun falling deadly sicke vpon remorse of conscience secretly confessed to diuers of the Barons what was the purpose of Lewis to doe when he had once obtained the Crowne namely that Lewis with sixteene of his Counsellors whereof this Vicount was one had compacted after possession of the Crowne obtained to depriue our chiefe Nobles of their lands and possessions and driue them into perpetuall exile And so farther proceeding and with many teares pittying the extreame miserie this land was like to come vnto he brake out into these words My friendes I counsaile you earnestly to looke to your selues and to prouide the remedie in time least it come vpon you vnwares your King for a season hath kept you vnder but if Lodowicke preuaile he will put you from all c. Had Lodowicke so treacherous an intent when our Nobles so highly fauoured him and shal it seeme strange that King Philip should haue such a secret meaning did a Frenchman and an enemie vpon very remorse of conscience bewray this secret and might not Bradford an Englishman though a Papist hazzard his life to discouer King Philips daungerous plot against his countrie Or may our Chronicles recorde this purpose of Lodowicke and publish it to posteritie and may it not be lawfull for me to set downe the discouerie of your Catholike Kings secret determination to admonish my countrie men to take heed how they lend aide to bring in a forraine ruler into the Realme least perhaps it follow that they be displaced themselues and be made straungers in their owne land But the taxes set downe by me as intended to be brought vpon this land you call childish toyes such as one would not imagine that a man of Sir Francis name house and calling would euer publish But such childish toies they are as euerie sound true Englishmā hearing of the seruile gonernment of Spaine and feeling the freedome we liue withall in England will from his heart praise God for the blessed freedome we liue vnder and pray to God for euer to deliuer vs from Spaines bondage and this doe many other Nations besides vs wherof some haue been so miserably taxed that they haue been forced as one doth crediblie report to sell their beds they lie vpon to pay taxations imposed vpon them In the cloze of this when I set downe what you say of your kings determination concerning the Ladie Elizabeth as well as the rest after you haue referred vs to that you haue set downe before of his kindnes to her when she was prisoner to which I haue made you alreadie a full answere you runne into your common place of railing againe and adde That no modest man can cease to wonder how so infamous a libell could be suffered to passe to the print especially containing diuers personall reprochful contēptuous calumniations against so great potent a Prince c. I like you wel sir you are fast to your friends I wish I could find you as faithfull to your Soueraigne then should I find you as hot if not more hot in raging against those of your side that haue most wretchedlie railed against her Maiestie your rightful Soueraigne if you proue worthie to be her Subiect wherin they haue sought to impugne her right to defame her faith to discredit her gouernment to touch her honour to violate and abate the Maiestie of her place c. But as Athalia fled into the Temple and cried out treason treason whereas her selfe indeed was the traitour and Hercules furens in the tragedie raged and threatned to be reuenged of those that had slaine his children himselfe indeed hauing slaine them in his mad moode so these good fellowes crie out against those that vtter opprobrious speeches against Princes whereas themselues are the peerles and matchles men of all Christendome in whom the saying of Saint Iude is verified Which despise gouernment and speake euill of them which are in authoritie I protest I am abashed and my pen trembleth to set down those intolerable calumniations that not onely forreiners but home-borne Papistes haue vttered against her Maiestie I know not how to compare them herein but to the diuell the father of all slaunder and calumniation for as it is written in the Reuelation That the Serpent did cast out of his mouth water against the women like a floud that he might cause her to be carried away of the floud so haue these hell hounds spued forth whole flouds of reprochfull and calumnious slaunders thereby to darken and drown the honour of her Maiestie if they could possiblie Remember Sir in what sort Bartholomaeus de miranda master of the Popes Pallace behaueth himselfe towards your Soueraigne and with how villanous reproches he doth load her in his admonition set before the Epistle of Osorius directed to her Remember how he raileth at her that wrote the cononization of Didacus who being a Spaniard was of speciall purpose sainted by the Pope to further the King of Spaine in his intended conquest of England And though the wiser sorte of our Nation haue learned euen by the lawes of morall ciuilitie as your selfe confesse that a man must speake moderately also of his enemie yet the learned'st of our English Papistes haue not learned to speake moderatelie of their Soueraign whom they ought not to reckon their enemy you know how immoderatly immodestly Station Saunders and Rishton to omit others doe raile against her as against the Turke himselfe they could not doe worse Now Sir how should that which vpon vrgent occasion if to inuade and seeke to conquer the land and to make way thereunto by seeking the shortning of my Soueraignes life through treasons may be reckoned an vrgent occasion I say how should that I haue set downe against your Catholike King anger you if so manie opprobrious and contumelious reproaches as you know vttered against your Soueraigne and that not alone by forrainers but by such as should be subiects doe not moue you I write against a straunger truly these against their Soueraign falsely I to confirme subiects hearts in loyaltie and obedience to their lawfull Soueraigne they to corrupt Subiectes heartes and to make them disloyall and disobedient to their Soueraigne I
of which curse you will not incurre and such is the force of your Catholike Religion and Spanish Crownes as you will rather worship Dagon then serue the liuing God and giue your faith to an vsurping stranger then keepe yours giuen and due to your lawfull Soueraigne Yet for all this you doubt not to tender a remission of your whole answere to the iudgement of the Lords of her Maiesties Councell by which your answere and remission if it bee well scanned in matter and manner you will bee found iustlie to deserue all the titles contained in this one verse Vafer detractor mendax elatus iniquus A subtile railing lying proud treacherous man And thus much haue I aduentured to offer to the view of my Christian Countrymen in defence of my former Watch-word collected by me out of my Christian affection to them for their benefite that they may know I stand still constant and confident to defend the truth of my God against Poperie and all other heresies to performe my Loialtie to my Soueraigne against all Popish Espaniolized Traytours and treason and to stand for the libertie of my Countrie against Rome and Spaine and all forraine Potentates whatsoeuer as also that my silence should not cause them to conceiue that this masked Champions rayling tongue hath any way distempered me or his threatning brauadoes any whit dismaied me the first whereof I passe ouer with little regard according to the Counsell of wise Salomon It is the glorie of a man to passe by offences the second I scorne being sent out by a cowardlie Companion that speakes big and dares not shew his face To conclude I delight not in warre and hostilitie betweene Princes I wish peace in all States and Common-wealths from my heart so farre forth as may stand with the glorie of almightie God who is the supreame author of all authoritie and gouernment and is onely to bee serued both by Prince and people as his word prescribeth For I confesse Dulce est nomen pacis res verò ipsa tum iucunda tum salutaris And yet can I not subscribe to this blinde Peace-makers desire that longeth for a Peace to the dishonour of God and laboureth by a Peace to bring in his Idoll worship againe amongst vs but I heartelie pray to my God to preserue vs from such a Peace and with Erasmus I affirme Melior est talis pugna quae Deo proximum facit quà m pux illa quae à Deo separat But if such a Peace may be had as may not preiudice a good Conscience in the truth of Religion we now holde nor impeach the safetie of our deare Queene nor hazard bondage to our Countrie by the gouernment of forrainers and strangers blessed bee that Peace-maker and God almightie graunt vs such a Peace all our daies And this haue I presumed to say in answere to this Champions Peace prayed for in the Conclusion of these his Encounters with a minde rather to raise vp the power and pride of Rome and Spaine then for any good minde or meaning he hath to our Queene Elizabeth or England And now to knit vp this my Resistance to euery of your rayling Encounters Sir N.D. I assure my selfe you shall finde all the Protestants and Professors of Gods truth in England as also many of those that are infected with the Romish Religion so well resolued from your owne pen of your want of ciuilitie in rayling beyond measure and your want of a found heart to your Soueraigne and Countrie in so highly extolling your two greatest Monarches of Rome and Spaine to the preiudice and touch both of Queene and Countrie so farre forth as the power of your wicked wit and words can deuise and perswade as your glosing shall gaine little credite to worke my condemnation in any of their iudgements either for any thing that was in my former booke or for any thing contained in this latter For I meane none other in all that is said but a desire of confirmation to the one in a holy profession and a reformation to the other of their being any longer seduced and misled by Romes inchantments and a care in both to stand firmelie and faithfullie to defend their Soueraigne and Countrey against forraine malice and home Treason whereunto if way should bee giuen God should be dishonoured our Queene endaungered our Countrie depriued of it auncient and most comfortable liberties and then what can either one or other looke for but miserie and desolation For what befell both to Guelphes and Gibellines when the Gibellines brought in a friend of theirs called Facinus Canis who was to haue the goods of the Guelphes for his paie He was no sooner gotten in but that without sparing of either both sides were spoyled whereof when the Gibellines complained saying that their goods were spoyled contrarie to agreement this their friend by them brought in answered That themselues were Gibellines and they should bee safe but their goods were Guelphes and they must pay for it Your selues can make the application and so to your wisdomes I leaue it beseeching God to continue his wonted mercie towards our Queene and land and to giue to this my aduersarie and all of his faction a better minde if it stand with his good will and pleasure Amen FINIS The scope of this Apologie Flatterie falsely charged vpon me What flatterie is Arch flatterers at Rome About the blessings of this land No contrarietie betwixt our present daungers and our former blessings Eccle. 49. Encounter 3. pag. 39. Our Christan Religion no cause of tumults A short view of blessings spirituall and temporall from God by her Maiestie powred on this land 1 Vnitie in veritie A scornefull reproach The termes of Puritanes and Protestants Vnitie vntruly vaunted of by the Papists De Idol Ecc. Ro. lib. 1. ca. 1. Lact. li. 1. ca. 19. 2. King 17. Matth. 28. Reuel 1. 2 Libertie to reade Scriptures Hom. 3. de Laâ—â— Reuel 1. 3 Publike prayer with vnderstanding Hier. in prolo 2. in comment in Gal. Aug. in Psa. 99. 4 Exercise in true holines Esay 1. Erasmus Two extremities in our good works to be auoided 1 2 Luk. 18. Phil. 2. 5 Freedome from persecution 6 DeliueraÌ„ce from intollerable exactions To Pope Innocent .4 in the Counsell at Lyons c. 1245. 7 Long peacâ— 8 Power in forraine countries 9 Wealth of the land 10 Multitude of subiects Lamenta 1. Prou. 14. Psal. 107. Lying falsely imputed to me Friers and Papists braue liers Poperie iustly charged with darknes Scripture neither at home nor at Church permitted to the people in a knowne tongue Preaching what it was in Poperie 2. King 6. Preaching how rare Boner Matth. â—â— Act. and Monuments vol. 2 pag. 862. D. Bassinets Oration O blindnes O blasphemie This Land liued not in former times in such darkenes as lately vnder Poperie A fond Argument Rom. 1. Arnobius Another Argument of the Papists peerelesse learning examined 1. Cor. 14. Papists
though I will not burst out into any impatience as considering more what is fit for me to speake then for him to heare yet I hold that in the grieuous accusation of flatterie I ought not to be silent Therefore I allow it not onely for wittie but worthie to be imbraced for truth that which you alleadge concerning flatterers I hold the answere to the question no lesse true in the whole then in part The question was What beasts were most perilous And the answere is Of all wilde-beastes a Tyrant of tame-beastes a flatterer and if you can as easily free such as you seeke with might and maine to defend from the iust imputation of tyranny as I shall be able to cleare my selfe from any the least intention to flatter you shall doe more then euer any could doe for them before Antisthenes is reported to be wont to say he had rather haue rauens resort to his house then flatterers yeelding this reason that rauens do but pray vpon the carcasse being dead but flatterers deuoure both bodie and soule aliue To enterprise the enumeration of great States and Princes through flatterers vtterly ruinated were to vndertake an endles labour but as the verse hath Blanditiae plusquam dira venena nocent Sugred and sweet flatterâ—â—â—â—â—teth more Then deadly poyson thâ—â—gh thou drink great store So were it not hard to â—hew more seigniories and kingdomes subuerted by secret flatterie then by open hostilitie by how much the more earnestly I beseech the Lord that if her Maiesties Court cannot be altogether free from flatterers who as burres doe commonly hang vpon the sleeues of Princes yet by her princely wisedome she may alwaies espie them and finde them out saying as the Philosopher is reported that was Nephew to Plato Define adulari nihil enim proficis cum te intelligam leaue thy flearing and fawning thou preuailest nothing for I perceiue thee well enough But I pray you Sir N. D. where learned you that skill to take vpon you to affirme and proue that to publish the commendation of Princes vpon iust desert is flatterie I doubt me for all your desire to be thought a great Clerke it will trouble you and all your colleagues to fortifie this position But not to dwell long vpon this point disdaine not to heare what Democritus will tell you Rectè quidem facta laudare honestum est mala verò laudibus vehere adulterini est animi impostoris To giue due praise to good deserts is honest but to praise and extoll euill deeds argueth a corrupt and a couzening mind and therefore I doubt not with farre more ease to free my selfe from flatterie wherewith you falsely charge me for commending the good things of our land then you shal be able to auoid the iust imputation of an adulterous and deceiuing mind in deprauing Gods blessings with your Macheuilian wit and false interpretations And if I had leasure to stand vpon iust retortion of vniust accusations I could send you to the Popes Pallace where a man may finde more shamelesse flatterers then I thinke were euer to be found in any Christian Princes Court Panormitan as is by sundrie learned men alleadged shameth not to flatter your Pope so farre as to make him almost equall with God Excepto peccato Papa potest quasi omnia facere quae Deus potest Sinne excepted the Pope can in a manner do all things that God can doe Againe another clawbacke Non minor honor debetur Papae quam Angelis c. No lesse honour is due to the Pope then to the Angels for which cause he receiueth of Christian people adorations prostrating themselues on the ground and the kissing of his feete which the Angell would not permit by Iohn the Euangelist to be done to him Another Imperatoria Maiestas tantò est inferior Papa quantò creatura Deo The imperiall Maiestie is so much inferiour to the Pope as the creature is to God Others that he is Ens secundae intentionis compositum ex Deo homine And in a word the Canonists roundly in the Glosse Dominus Deus noster Papa Our Lord God the Pope Which blasphemous flattering speech Doctor Raynolds noteth that the Cardinals and others deputed by Gregorie 13 to reuise correct and purge out such things as by errour had crept into the Glosses annotations in the booke of decrees and decretals c. yet haue not only not remoued this blasphemie but not so much as giuen the least castigation vpon it belike because they thought that could not fit the Pope which the Apostle writeth of Antichrist that he doth sit as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God vnlesse they should suffer a place to be extant wherein he is plainely called Lord God in a popish worke by the Papists themselues corrected printed at Rome and that at the Popes own speciall commandement and so much concerning your accusation of flatterie The which yet you labour to enforce because I take vpon me to speake of infinite blessings from Almightie God by her Maiesties gracious gouernment powred vpon this land and yet my selfe you say confesse a thousand feares and frights and imminent perils which hang ouer vs in these words I doubt not but you are men of wisedome and can easily conceiue what dangers we stand in by that which hath beene said before And againe The life of Religion Queene and Countrie is at the stake Verely if I should speake of the great blessings bestowed vpon this land in the happie establishing of true Christian Religion amongs vs and should think the contrarie I should iudge my selfe worthie to be taxed with so odious a crime as flatterie is For I will say as he in the Poet Odi etenim ceu claustra Erebi quicunque loquuntur Ore aliud tacitoque aliud sub pectore claudunt I hate as gates of hell who euer thou art That one thing say'st another think'st in hart But good Sir what contrarietie is there in my words May not a land be truly blessed from God in hauing a gracious Prince by whom Idolatrie is remoued and true Religion planted and yet for want of due acknowledgement of the Lords goodnes and true fruits of thankfulnes be by forraine enemies maligned or by home-traitors hazarded The remembrance of Iosiah saith Iesus Syrach is like the composition of perfume that is made by the Art of the Apothecary it is sweet as hony in all mouthes and as Musicke at a banquet of wine He behaued himselfe vprightly in the reformation of the people and tooke away all abomination of iniquitie he directed his heart vnto the Lord and in the time of the vngodly he established Religion Highly was Ierusalem blessed by the raigne of good Iosiah rooting out Idolatrie and restoring to the people the booke of the Law as is this land likewise by the like blessed Raigne of our gracious Iosiah and yet euen in his time for the Idolatrie committed
vnder his Father and Grand-father and for their affections declining to Idolatrie and not truly esteeming the blessings in Iosiah their king powred vpon them the Lord threatneth to bring euill vpon that place and the Inhabitants thereof Which he did by suffering Iosiah to be slaine by the souldiours of the king of Egypt and within few yeares after his death selling his owne people into the hands of the idolatrous Babilonians For as darknesse naturally followeth light and night the day so do great punishments accompanie rare blessings when they are not duely esteemed as they ought Blessed was Ierusalem by the testimonie of the Lords owne mouth when he said My beloued had a Vineyard in a very fruitfull hill and he hedged it gathered out the stones of it and he planted it with the best plants and built a Tower in the middest thereof and made a wine-presse therein But when he looked for grapes and it brought forth wild-grapes the Lord threatned from the height of this blessed estate to cast them into the gulfe of miserie to take away the hedge from his Vineyard that it might be eaten vp and breake downe the wall thereof that it might be troden downe c. The Lord hath not therefore been lesse beneficiall to vs in placing so gracious an head vpon the bodie of this Realme because you and some such as your selfe are doe yet remaine to God ingrate and to your Prince and Countrey vnnaturall Onely I beseech God that whereas by his appointment the Oliue is yet ouer vs with her fatnes and the Figge with her sweetnes and the Vine with her fruitfulries that amongst many other sinnes of our land for our vngratefull contempt of so great a blessing a Bramble be not set ouer vs which is good for nothing but to burne and consume vs and so much concerning my supposed contradiction Now Sir N. D. it is your pleasure to heare my manner of speech in these words If I should take vpon me to enter into the enumeration of all the benefits and blessings that from the Almightie haue beene powred vpon this little Iland of England c. And hauing thus vnperfectly repeated them you passe the ouer with this sleight exception saying That in mentioning our little Iland I must take Scotland with me else I erre in Cosmographie as though England were not deuided in gouernment from Scotland though both rest vpon one continent and as though your selfe did not tearme this Realme an Iland euen where you do distinguish it from Scotland Therefore Nodum in scirpo quaeris and to this shift you are put very often for want of matter But if seemeth that Scotland was named here by you chiefly to make way for your purpose to giue a glaunce at battels murders destruction of Countries Prouinces Townes Cities Houses and particular men that haue beene in Scotland within these fortie yeares as though Scotland had neuer tasted these or any of these before and then you come in with Ireland wherein you seeme to bewaile the death of the noble Desmons whose treasons yet liue by succession in one of the same name who it is said wrote â— treason full letter stuffed with most intolerable opprobries and slaunders against her Maiestie and the state to the King of Spaine And this I hope is no great proofe of your sonâ—dnes to Queen or State France and Flaunders follow to fill vp the number But had you any respect of truth or care of modestie you would neuer haue made the true Religion wee professe the cause of murders tumults and garboyles which teacheth dutifull obedience and condemneth all mutinies seditions and rebellions You should do well to haue told vs who murdered the King the Lord Iames the Lord Russell in Scotland In France who murdered the Prince of Conde after he was taken prisoner which I thinke the law of Armes will not well beare Likewise who they were that laidâ— bloudy hands vpon the Admiral Chattilion being first shot in with a Pistoll with three bullets in the streetes and afterwards slaine in his chamber And so of Marlâ—ret slaine in his garden and of the famous learned man Ramus who hauing paid monie to ransome his life was beyond all humanitâ—e most cruelly quelled And generally who were the Authors not onely of the bloudie massacre in Paris but also of the like vprores in other Cities and quarters of the Realme principally at Lyons Orleans Roan Tolouse in which Cities within the space of one moneth there are numbred at the least thirtie thousand godly Protestants to be slaine your holy father at Rome to shew with what spirit he is led and with what meanes he sticketh to maintaine his Religion which otherwise would fall to the ground so soone as he heard of this bloudie tragedie maketh great ioy with his Cardinals with their procession with their gunshot and singing Te Deum Yea in honour of that Act proclayming a Iubile with great indulgence and solemnitie For Flaunders tell vs who murdered the noble Prince of Orange against whom it was proclaimed that who soeuer could bring him aliue or dead or slaie him should haue fiue and twentie thousand crownes You shall finde that such a Catholike-faith as yours is hath still sought to maintaine it selfe by such Catholike means as these are treasons tumults seditions secret murders and such like As for our true Christian Religion it is so cause of tumults garboyles and murders as Christes birth was of the murther of the poore infants in which neither Christ nor the infants ought offended the madnes was in Herod and all Ierusalem to be for this cause in an vprore In a word it is Herods Religion which seeketh to murther Christ and the Christes and annoynted of the Lord. I proceed to your aduertisement for a better direction to mens iudgements that all blessings of a Common-wealth may be reduced to two heades the one spirituall belonging to the soule and conscience the other temporall concerning the bodie and weale publike and that the Lord hath richly blessed this land since her Maiesties Raigne I doubt not to proue to all that haue iudgement and indifferency following your owne methode And first there hath beene in England since this happie alteration change from popish superstition to Christian veritie One God worshipped in spirit and truth one faith one belief one forme of seruice in praier and praises to God one number of Sacraments which are onely two by the word of God one head of the Church which is Christ the Lord as the holy Ghost testifieth by the Apostle Him hath God appointed to be the head of the Church And his substitute annointed appointed ouer vs is our Soueraigne and Queene who is to commaund and be obeyed in Christ and for Christ in all causes aswell ecclesiasticall as ciuill and not your proud vsurping Priest at Rome and if you can like to looke vpon the harmonie of confessions you shall find all the