May brings greene buds blooming with blossoms bright Flora yeelds Poesies May yeelds flowers diuine Surpassing May dimming her glittering light As Sol doth cause sweete Cynthias beames to pine No labour doth his reaching minde forgoe Whereby O Reader good thy good may grow Sitting in harbours greene with vertues grace Not in the chambers of fond Venus lust He meanes to make his pen iourney apace To shew the truth and rub off errors rust Then hither youth repaire with Echoes laude Giue May due thankes his praise deseru'd applaud Robert Foord THE ARGVMENT OF THIS TREATISE THe Pope goeth in his solemne procession by the aduise of Cardinall Allen he passed through that streete where the Marble image of the woman Pope Ioane was erected and yet standeth representing her filthinesse and abhomination he looketh vpon it and with the sight thereof is so strangly afrighted that he ran backe againe like a mad man to the great admiration of the people The next day he called his Cardinals and held a Parliament in his Consistorie where three questions were propounded agreed vpon The hollow chaire of Porphirie stone vsed for the proofe of the Popes humanitie was torne in peeces The Marble image of the woman Pope Ioane was broken down and all the English catholikes were exiled and commanded to packe out of Rome the next day They seeing the Popes holy displeasure against them concluded togither to giue him a thousand Florens and euerie yeere after so much if so be that they might haue his blessed fauour and permission to abide in Rome whereupon the Pope absolueth and recalleth them and taketh them into his gracious liking againe THE POPES PARLIAMENT GRegorie the fourtéenth now Pope of Rome Franciscus Zarabella Papa facit quicquid libet etiam illicita est plus quà m Deus no meere naturall man but Lord of Lords and king of kings and more then God as his adherents are blindly perswaded after he had sate in the chaire of Porphirie stone of some called the chaire of ease or hollow stoole of easement for proofe of his humanitie mounted vp aloft in his gaudie Pontificalibus and passing in his solemne procession from S. Peters church to Laterane by the meanes of Cardinall Allen an English fugitiue a man much fauoured and fancied of the Pope and his prelats he tooke his way straight forth and did not passe vndirectly by other streetes making his way somwhat the longer as his predecessours haue vsed to do for the space of 500. yéeres and more where by the way he saw the marble image of the woman Pope Ioane lying in trauel who going that way streined with pains betwéene Colosseo and S. Clemens church brought forth died and as they say was there buried Looking vpon the image and noting the fashion proportion and prodigie of the same A straunge thing in such an earthly God surely he was vpon the sodaine astonied and as one bereft of his wits in so much that in a great chafe and furie throwing off his Myter casting away his Pixe regarding neither his pontificals nor procession he shooke vp his old crooked ioyntes and ran backe againe as fast as his heeles could fling to his Pallace leauing behinde him the Cardinals bishops priestes and all the rest of the people Strange was the sight and rare was the accident that he which is equall with the Patriarks This is the blind opinion of his parasites aboue kings and Emperours and one that is al and aboue all that cannot erre by any meanes possible should haue such a foule blot to his holinesse as not to remember himselfe as though he had dranke of the riuer Lethe in hell Quae praeteritarum rerum fertur obliuionem inducere and so to runne and rage as though the water of the lakes in Ethiope had béene in his belly Ouid. Metamorp 15. 197. Quos si quis faucibus hausit Aut furit aut patitur mirum grauitate soporem Yea it was such a supernaturall euent and aspect as the beholders thereof and all they that heard of it did descant diuersly vpon it and were stroken into no small admiration therewith Some said he had a celestiall motion in him and feared lest he should be taken vp into heauen Plut. in vita Romuli as Romulus was Some said he was verie ill at ease doubted lest dirges should be sung for his soule the next day Ben. Cardinalis Some said he had the spirite of Hildebrand who being but Cardinall did beate Pope Alexander with his fist and kept him prisoner Some said the marble image was the cause thereof and wished it had neuer béene there erected Some laid all the blame vpon Cardinall Allen the Popes swéete dearling said that he was worthy to haue sharpe and seuere punishment for it Some also led with a better spirite then the rest said that the Pope surely was Antichrist that man of sin 2. Thess 2.4 sitting in the church of God shewing himselfe aboue all that is worshiped or called God that this was a most liuely manifest tokē therof shewed of God to the confusion ouerthrowing of that beast But Cardinal Allen good mā was more thē al the rest Cardinal Allen not a little grieued with the Popes misfortune not a little terrified tottered with this chance yea he was so nipt in the pate stroken with such a paralyticall passion that his Cardinals hat would scarse abide vpon his shauen crowne Wherfore he withdrew himselfe from the companie with al spéed he could went to his lodging there locking himself fast into his study he mused ruminated vpon the matter at last fel into these spéeches with himselfe Rom. 8. Now must I néeds beléeue that all things worke vnto good vnto them that be in Christ Iesus and that truth wil conquer falshood though it be neuer so finely or freshly coloured Now must I perforce confesse though neuer so vnwillingly that the truth of God is mighty shal preuaile that if the God of Israel come into the Temple 1. Reg. 5. the idoll of Dagon must néedes fall downe that darkenes shall flie before the light and the more fiercely mans wisdome shall withstand the more glorious shall God be in his victorie Now alas must I affirme that which erst I haue vehemently and vauntingly denied that Rome is the great citie of Babylon that the Pope is Antichrist that son of perdition and that the Romane Church is the verie synagogue of Sathan For what maruellous miracles hath God shewed that he is highly displeased and offended at vs What strange signes and tokens that he abhorreth and abandoneth our religion and the professors therof Esay 30. What liuely and plaine demonstrations that we are children of vntruth children that will not heare the law of God Is Peters successour Christs vicar the shepheard of the vniuersall Church now an Apostata and an enemie to God Is our
man nor to the saluation of your brethren so that you lead with your selfe innumerable heapes of people vnto the chiefest bondslaue of hell there euer to be beaten with manie stripes yet your faultes no mortall man presumeth to reprooue here because you shall iudge all men and be iudged of no man your selfe Then your good and sacred censure of the Porphirie stone my most high Lord and reuerend father is of vs all to be adored and honoured especially since it is grounded vpon most weightie and substantiall reasons tending not a little to the health and illustration of the holy church of Rome and to the aduancement and propagation of your splendent light and prehemence For certes in euerie indifferent mans iudgement the preseruation thereof is in no kind of way a glorie and furtherance but euerie kind of way a scandale and ignomie to the Catholike religion and to the principall towre thereof the citie of Rome What doubt can there be in the humanitie of the high bishop that is to be created Can hée bée Hermophroditus a man and a woman It is possible for Semyramis being a woman was a long time taken for a man both in one Is it possible that a woman being not capeable of holie orders can aspire vnto that dignitie and be founde worthy of that high calling and function in wisedome grauitie learning wit and authoritie or is it possible that a woman can so long conceale her sexe and not be knowne and espied Surely surely the kéeping of the hollow chaire of Porphirie stone and the sitting therein of our Lord and high bishop is of all other things most vaine foolish and ridiculous sauouring of little wit and lesse wisedome Notwithstanding some there be A foolish shadowing friuolous that shadow the matter and affirme that the stoole of naturall easement doth serue for this purpose to the Pope least the soueraigntie of honour exhibited vnto him should in his owne conceite lift him higher then for the degrée of humaine condition but this is to little or no purpose therefore Dirue confunde downe with it and teare it in péeces Conuenimus omnes We all agrée to it let not so vile an obiect remaine in your court and such a pestiferous custome of disgrace and rascalitie be anie longer vsed of Peters successours Gregorie séeing the Cardinall so vehement and valiant in the cause brake off his spéech and said Satis loquentiae you haue spoken enough the matter is more clearer then the noone day and néede no farther disputation The Popes commandement concerning the Porphirie chaire The Porphirie chaire is brokē in the Consistorie Wherefore my pleasure and commaundement is this that the Porphirie chaire be presently brought hither into the Consistorie before vs and be in our sight broken defaced and vtterly abolished The Cardinals hearing these words sent immediatly for it and soone it was brought into the Consistorie and before the face of the Pope and his Cardinals all hewed and shiuered into péeces when this was done the Pope procéeded after this manner Most worthy Cardinals séeing that we haue fully and absolutely considered and decided the first point and brought it to that effect as is lawfull and expedient for vs let vs come likewise to the second which is whether the marble image by the Colosseo representing the woman Pope Ioane in childe bearing is to be kept and let stande as heretofore it hath béene or else vtterly to bée defaced and destroyed My censure is in like manner as it was of the former The Popes censure concerning the marble image that it is wholly and principally to be subuerted and abolished for it is more to be feared then the Basiliske and more to be auoided then the Cockatrice and it is a greater staine hurt and reproch to our seate Apostolike a more manifest president and picture of the woman Pope and a more grieuous eye-sore to a Catholike The Popes weighty reasons for suppressing of it then the other this is publike and openly to be seene whereas the other is secret and closely kept this is easily to be perceiued of euerie one that séeth it the vse of the other is hardly to be vnderstood of any yea this is the bodie and verie heart of Pope Ioane but the other is but a little part and member thereof I maruell much what he ment that first caused it to be erected and what my predecessours ment to let it stand in that place as it doth What say you to it renowmed Cardinals Cardinall Medices a man of the greatest wealth and riches though not of the greatest wit and learning made this aunswere Nothing is or hath béene most soueraigne Lord and supreme Pastour that more impaireth the excellencie of your sacred scepter more eclipseth the orient beames of your dignitie and more abrogateth the rites and canons of the auncient and catholike Romaine religion then that fond and foolish fable of Pope Ioane which our aduersaries beléeue as an infallible truth and most vsually cast vs in the téeth withall aboue all other things What meanes haue heretofore béene vsed for the remedie thereof you are not ignorant the whole storie hath béene stoutly and stifly denied and yet it auaileth not Her name hath béene left out of the Calender of the Popes and yet nothing the better Onuphrius Pamuinius of set purpose hath béene hired to face out this matter Truth it is he wrote worthily for his hire winning some credite by aduenturing his wits in a desperate cause and yet it is neuer the néere But this way proposed by your highnes is of farre greater force and excellency and of such singular weight importance that néeds it must slacke and qualifie the slaunder and verie shortly burie the memorie thereof in perpetual obliuion For the hollow Porphirie stone and that vaine and vile image being gone what remaineth to continue the remembrance thereof Who can mislike this enterprise Who ought to reprehend this prouiso Nay who dare resist such a worthie and apostolicall action A parls page for the Pope Then let it forthwith be executed most holy Lord and let not the matter that wil be such a light and lampe to the Catholike faith be any longer stayed or delaied Are you al of this mind said the Pope The Cardinals with one consent answered Verum est saluberrimum est nemo nostrum refragatur It is true The Popes iudgement concerning the marble image The marble image is brought into the Consistorie It is broken into pieces and throwne into Tyber togither with the Porphirie stone it is good and wholsom counsell none of vs do withstand it Then quoth the Pope let it forthwith be set vpon let the image be broken downe and no one péece thereof left behind Let it be brought hither before vs into the Consistorie that we may sée it defaced and not be deceiued in the doing of it When the Pope had thus spoken men were presently sent
Catholique Apostolique autentique and mother Church become an harlot corrupt and putrified Are all our ornaments orders and ceremonies but toies trash and trumperies all our Saints and pictures but dumbe stockes and foolerie all our pompe pride and prodigalitie contemptible and odious Is our antiquitie our vniuersalitie and vnitie whereupon we haue bragged and boasted so exceedingly now vilified detestable and nothing worth And are our images heathenish but siluer gold Psal 135. the works of mens hands Haue they mouthes and speake not eyes and see not eares and heare not And are all we like vnto them that put our trust in them VVhy then vicisti Galilaee take all and pay the Baker Thou knowest thine owne and no power can pull them out of thine hand But soft faire man Sic notus Vlisses CoÌ„demne not so hastily for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temeritie is daÌ„gerous in all matters Consulta quae sunt agenda cunctaÌ„tèr Take aduisemeÌ„t in those things which thou doest Thinke with thy selfe Rome is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rome is Rome strength power and health the Metropolitane of all Europe the rocke of Christ the spouse of Christ the light of the whole world cannot with one small earthquake be shaken and ouerthrowne Our Pope is Christs vice-gerent the head of all Churches the prince of Pastours and as farre aboue kings as God is aboue man He hath the keyes of heauen the triple crowne both swords authoritie ouer heauen and hell to let set bind and loose and do what please him and cannot with one bare mischance be harmed or discredited Note the braue and lusty speeches of a stout papist Nay he hath wealth and riches treasure iewels and what not and is farre happier better then Peter was who said Aurum argentum non est mihi Siluer and gold I haue none What is there then that can diminish his glorie cracke his credite or impaire his holinesse An semper feriet quodcúnque minabitur arcus Will euerie bow that is bent strike the marke And euery little blast subuert the Roman faith No no it is farre otherwise Remember that the Popes heretofere haue had as badde or rather worse chances then this and yet there was no contradiction to them nor any derogation to their religion Remember the actions of Pope Hildebrand of Clement the eight of Innocentius the third Remember the opinions of Iohn 22. of Liberius many others I channe Baleus de illustr scrip Brâ—an Remember the madge Howlet that sate vpon the middle beame of saint Martins Temple two dayes together where the Pope called Balthasar with his prelates sate in councell flickering about with his shreeching noise and casting his broad eyes directly vpon Balthasar Acts Monuments Tâ—m 1. fol. 705. 706. who would not be beaten away with libets or clubbes or crying noise till with much cudgelling at him being sore beaten he fell downe dead before them all Remember also the straunge sights the monstrous births and the signes in the elements that haue beene in Rome and in other Countreys where the Romane faith is professed What for all this Is our Pope preiudiced or his holinesse abhorred Is our religion changed our pompe diminished our orders dissolued or anie one iote of our ceremonies abrogated O worthie proctour for the pope No no the Pope is too mightie to haue repulse of earthly creatures and Rome is too strong to be blowne downe with so light a blast Hic Petrus haec Petra Here is the faith here is the way And if an Angell come from heauen and tell the contrarie Anathema we will not beleeue him Well well but consilium domi take counsaile and aduisement with thy selfe and catch not so foolishly at the Moone-shine in the water Consider yet further of the matter and thou shalt not so lightly slippe it ouer The Pope was straungely afrighted No small matter Where in his solemne procession A shrewed peece of worke How came it to passe by beholding the marble image of Pope Ioane O this is gall to me The Cardinall caused the Pope to passe throgh the forbiddeÌ„ streete and wormewood to English Catholiques But how did it chance that he had not refrained that way as the Popes manner hath a long whiles beene O it was by my meanes conscientia mille testes I cannot nor may not denie it I neuer thought any such thing would haue happened vnto him yea I thought the refraining of the Popes that way to haue beeae causelesse and but méere vanitie How shall I pacifie this tumult How shall I pull my necke out of this coller With what face shall I looke vpon the reuerend holinesse of Gregorie What opinion will he now conceiue of me that hath loued me tenderly fauoured me especially and honourablie promoted me to the dignitie of a Cardinall And what will he thinke also of my good countrymen whom he harboureth succoureth and maintaineth at his great charges Veh misero mihi quanta de spe decidi I was neuer in this extremitie and I neuer kindled such firebrandes of troubles before Shall I flie that would be a most horrible discredite Shall I hide away that is dastardly Shal I confesse the fault that sauours of base simplicitie See the spirit of a Romish champion Shall I recant and hasten backe againe to my natiue Countrey what thinke not of that be rather thine owne butcher Shall I beare a bolde face and manly resolution and feare no colours Oh this is the way Hic labor hoc opus est here goeth the hare away Procéede and feare not Thou art a Cardinall O noble courage in a cardinal and worthie actions for him thou hast cunning to smooth Logicke to reason eloquence to perswade yea and Magicke too if neede be to worke greater miracles then these Flectere si nequeo Superos Acheronta mouebo Therefore proface and stint not Audentes fortuna iuuat Eneid 7. fortune fauours them that be resolute Hauing thus spoken he left his closet and went towards Laterane the Popes pallace following the counsell of Aeneas Curis ingentibus aeger Spem vultu sineulat premit altum corde dolorem Eneid 1. bearing a faire face outwardly but inwardly pinched with manie bitter passions and millions of griefes and comming into the Popes court as he had beene accustomed was noted and maligned at by many yea verie heardly and heauily taken yet he went forward not forgetting Didoes lesson Ineid 4. Degeneres animos timor arguit And hied to the swéete side of his good Lord and master the Pope fully determining to trie the vttermost of the chauece and what would befall vnto him He found the Pope as his good lucke was in reasonable good temper and recouered of his former agonie The great studie of the Pope that he vseth yet neither occupied in the pulpit I warrant you nor in the studie of Theologie nor feeding his shéepe as Christ commaunded Peter
plus in the matter Thou canst smooth and sooth These be the fruites of Papists thou canst with the Satyre out of one mouth blow both whotte and colde thou knowest well enough the fashion and frailtie of this Court Omnia Roma cum precio thou hast vnguentum rubrum to grease them withall if néede bee thou hast enough and enough to pacifie this fray and to saue thy selfe harmelesse Therefore be not dismayde sat supérque habes and say with Niobe tutum me copia fecit Hauing thus spoken he went vp and downe with a pleasant and merrie countenaunce couering as well as he could all his griping griefes and patheticall affections with an outward colour of great courage spirite and securitie Yet by no meanes he could driue away the cogitation out of his heart but euer he hammered and hacked vpon it and especially how he should the next day answere the matter brought in question Therefore he disputed pro con with himselfe and armed his heade so strongly and bombasted his braines so egregiouslie that his force seemed impregnable and hee thought himselfe able in disputation to encounter with the best doctour and profoundest Coriphaeus in all Italie Well the day and hower was come wherein he should draw néere towardes the Consistorie wherefore he got all his tackling and furniture about him and went his way As soone as hee and the rest of the Cardinals were sate the mightie Maiestie of the high potentate Gregorie came in glittering and glistering in his pontificall and princely robes fortified with no smal companie of men and palfraies Plaine and euident tokens of Antichrist and sat downe in a stately and emperiall chaire there erected and prepared for him after that he had well setled himselfe he began this solemne oration Reuerend Cardinals my owne déere and first begotten children The Popes oration fit and worthie pastours of my Catholique and Apostolique Church may it please you to the health and securitie of my authoritie to the praise and honor of God See his pride and ambitiō he putteth himselfe before God and to the encrease and aduancement of our Romane faith and religion to consider with me and to iudge vprightly of these three points following First whether the Porphyrie chaire vsed for the triall and proofe of our virility The points to be decided in the Parliament is to be preserued as hitherto it hath bene or else to be destroyed and abolished Secondly whether the marble image néere Colosseo that sheweth Pope Ioane lying in her trauell is to be kept as an ancient monument or to be defaced and broken in péeces as a ridiculous and odious spectacle Thirdly whether the English fugitiues are to be retained and further maintained at our great charges or else without any longer delay to be vtterly expelled and exiled They all answered it pleaseth vs. The Pope then went forward on this maner The popes iudgement in the first point Most noble Cardinals I will first of all relate vnto you my sacred and Apostolicall censure concerning these questions and then I will permit you franckly and fréely to propose your iudgements also My censure concerning the hollow chaire of Porphirie stone is affirmatiue and this that it is no longer to be kept and preserued as proper to the Romane chaire of blessed Peter prince of the Apostles but forthwith to be defaced and destryed as a thing too base and contemptible far vnworthie of our high calling and reuerend iurisdiction The reasons that moue me are these First it is no small defamation and disgrace to Christ his chiefe vicar and pastour to him whose power is diuine and emperious farre aboue any mortall man to yéeld himselfe to so vnséemely and vile athing Sabellicus Enneadis 9. lib. 1. ab vltimo Diacono attrectantur as to suffer another man attrectare genitalia at his creation Secondly it is a renouation and continuall demonstration of the memorie of Pope Ioane who hath brought more infamie contempt and detestation to our sanctified chaire and religion then now can or euer I feare me will be well wiped or taken away Thirdly the defacing and abolishing of it will restraine hereticall and contumelious tongues aswage the calamities of these our times quiet the controuersies of religion and restore a more true and Ecclesiasticall peace vnto vs. Now let me heare what your opinion is Conuenimus omnes said the Cardinals your holinesse hath spoken nothing but that which is for the glorie of the blessed chaire of Peter for the benefite of the ancient Catholike faith and for the assurance of our safeties and dignities And what say you Cardinall Allen quoth the Pope Vox tua raucescit are you mute and silent How like you these suppositions The Cardinall with all mildnesse and modestie thus answered Conuenimus omnes We agrée altogither they are pure and Catholike fit and famous decrees and canons for your Apostolical seate and for the ancient absolute and full perfect faith of the high citie of Rome Perge perge go on go on quoth the Pope you haue more to say I am sure Since it so pleaseth your sanctimonie said the Cardinall Libentissimè pergam I will go forward with all my heart Right well may I vse the words of the learned father S. Hierome In Epist. Haec est fides beatissime Papa quam in catholica discimus Ecclesia in qua si minùs peritè aut parùm cautè forte aliquid positum est emendari cupimus à te qui Petri fidem sedem tenes This is the faith ô most blessed father which we learne in the catholike Church wherein if any thing peraduenture be put not skilfully nor aduisedly we desire to be reformed of you who vsurpe the seate and faith of Peter For if the holy mother church of Rome False vngodly opinions be so founded built and grounded vpon Peter Prince of the Apostles that the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it and if Peters successour and Christs chiefe steward hath the keyes of heauen giuen him to binde and loose to adde and subtract to multiplie and diuide at his celestiall will and pleasure then who may vnder paine of damnation gainesay his heauenly sentence and opinion and without his great curse and thundering bull derogate any one iot from his faith and religion A notable Parasite If your omnipotent authoritie most gracious father be as farre aboue Princes and Emperours as the sunne is aboue the moone and aboue the Angels of God without whom there is no saluation then how may we or dare we once spurne or maligne at you and reiect your diuine and infallible sentence in any matter whatsoeuer You are the spirituall man that iudgeth all things you your selfe are iudged of none and although you be found vnprofitable and remisse in your workes hauing no regard to your owne saluation This was the detestable doctrine of Pope Boniface an English
she was so or no. What though she was brought vp in mans apparrell What though she was Pope of Rome with child and deliuered thereof in procession What spot and crime is this to vs What cause of banishment I pray you heartely can we heale the sore or quiet the slaunder Hath it béene in our power to remedie the euill and asswage the mischiefe Was not she fiue hundred yeares and more before this our time Then truely truely we are for that no more to be banished then the French are because their ancetours were sometime like to spoile and sacke the Capitoll or the Italians are because Petrus the head Captaine of the citie of Rome with two Consuls and twelue Aldermen and diuers other nobles gathering their powers togither laid hands vpon Pope Iohn the fourtéenth in the church of Laterane and clapt him in prison eleuen monethes Whereas it is farther obiected that our kinges Magistrates and rulers haue contemned and vilified the holy sea of Rome and haue verie ill entreated the Popes themselues with their Legates and faithfull seruants and that none of our countrie haue done such seruice fealtie and obedience to this blessed chair of Peter as it was meete and requisite for them I will proue the contrarie and that by such cléere and euident testimonies that you shal sée the obiections against vs flie away as the night clouds before the sunne What one of all our kings before the time of king Henrie the eight but did fauour and fortifie the holy Sea of Rome did homage and duetifull obedience to it and princely and honourablie fought in defence of it against the Turkes and Infidels and all other aduersaries whatsoeuer What a famous and singular king was Edgar What a worthy maintainer of the catholike faith doctrine He builded for religious monks 48 monasteries or as some report as many as be sundayes in the yeare Did not king Iua after he had ruled the West Saxons 37. yeares go to Rome and become a Monk resigning his kingdom to Ethelardus his Nephew These kings became Monkes Did not the Quéene also Ethelburga become an Abbesse ledde thereto with great and pure deuotion Did not Ethereldus of Mercia Kemedus of Mercia Offa of East Saxons Selly of East Saxons and Sigebertus king of East Angles do the like Haue not manie Queenes and kings daughters with other noble women become Nunnes for the zeale and loue they had to the Apostolique faith of Rome as Hilda Ercheirgoda with her sister Ermenilda These Queens became nūnes Edelberga Werburga Kinreda Kinswida her sister Elfleda with many others What shall I tell you of king Canutus who went to this holy citie on pilgrimage and founded here an hospital for English pilgrims and had such loue and heartie affection to it that he gaue to the Pope many precious gifts and burthened his land with a yearely tribute called the Romeshot I could tell you of many mo but for breuitie I will ouerslip them What shall I speake of many other excellent men which England hath nourished and fostered who haue refused no paines and forsaken no perils for the glorie and aduauncement of the Sea Apostolique of Rome He wrote a book against him called Opus scintillaerum Weakly and simplie God knoweth as is to be seen Traitors and conspirators Shall I tell you of Lanfrancus bishop of Canterburie that confuted the Sacramentarie heresie of Berengarius of the learned Abbot Petrus Cluniacensis that conuicted the doctrine of the Peterbrusians of Thomas Walden a most learned man that wrote against Wickliffe of the holie Bishop Fisher that learnedly refuted Luther Oecolampadius Shall I tel you of Cardinal Poole Gardiner Martin and of others of later memorie as Saunders Cope Bristow Dorman Parsons Morton and of an hundred more all which haue beene such worthie proctours and singular champions for the Catholike religion that no other Countrey hath yéelded and brought forth the like For as that nation first receiued the fayth from Rome so those which are not fallen into the damnable beresies of the Hugonetes and other secrataries do reuerence and obey the same and for their conscience will abide any crosse and tribulation whatsoeuer Saint Eleutherius Pope and Martyr the first Apostle of Brytaine preached in that land by Damianus Fugatius within little more then 100. yéers after Christs death Gregorie the great that holie Pope caused to be preached to the English nation by Augustinus Melitus and other holy priestes although the gospellers that be there now denie this and say that as well the report of Eleutherius as also of Augustine that the one was the first Apostle of the Brittaines the other of the English is vntrue and blindly hold that the faith was not first preached there by them the Gospel came into England frō the East and not from Rome but either by Ioseph of Arimathaea or by S. Paul the Apostle passing that way into Spaine or by Simon Zelotes or by the Gréeks or some others But the English only you say and none but they do hinder and annoy your sacred and ghostly procéedings and also subuert the good and gracious attempts of all your friends most loyall children What is this to vs They are gone from vs they are not of vs they are none of our fold they are giuen ouer to Sathan we haue forsaken them we haue no societie with them we defie damnifie detest them we reuolt not nor once so much as wauer we stick wholly and solely A verie hote and earnest proctor firmly fréely to the auncient Romane doctrine and so we will do come life come death come heauen come hell come fire come sword come any crosse or losse whatsoeuer Shal we be for this our loue tender affection reiected shal we be lopped off frō this fruteful vine as vnprofitable vnsauerie branches shall we be banished and yet iustly conuicted of no crime or offence that deserueth it If we be we must take it patiently but truly we will say and say againe iniusta nouerca summum ius summa iniuria an vnnaturall mother great right great iniurie The Pope perceiuing his vehement allegations his tediousnesse therein interrupted him with this chat Cease thy babling Cardinal leaue off thy ands and ifs tittle tattles I know not what iwis all not worth a blue point much a do and litle helpe fat féeding and leane cattell Hei misero pingui macer est tibi taurus in aruo Thou kickest against the pricke and castest water into the sea and shewest thy selfe not a Cardinall but a caitife not a catholicke but a schismaticke not an obedient child A graue and discreet reasoning of a Pope but a bastardly and beggerly brat so much to canuasse and cancell my words to spurne at my celestiall and lawfull procéedings and to go about to repel and obliterate my good purpose and determination Hast thou forgotten nosce teipsum know thy selfe Hast thou