AN ANSWER TO A TREATISE WRITTEN BY Dr. CARIER By way of Letter to his MAIESTIE WHEREIN HE LAYETH DOWNE SVNDRY POLITIKE CONSIDERATIONS By which hee pretendeth himselfe was moued And endeuoureth to moue others to be reconciled to the Church of ROME and imbrace that Religion which he calleth CATHOLIKE By GEORGE HAKEWIL Doctour of Diuinity And Chapleine to the PRINCE his Highnesse B. C. Mine heart will vtter foorth a good matter I will intreat in my workes of the King G. H. Giue thy iudgements to the King O God and thy righteousnesse to the Kings sonne IMPRINTED AT LONDON by IOHN BILL 1616. Cum Priuilegio TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE DREAD SOVERAIGNE HAD this Letter of Dr. Carier beene imparted or the drift of it onely reached to your Maiestie it would haue deserued none other answere then your Maiesties priuate censure and might well haue beene buried in silence with the Author of it But now that it not only aymes in particular at all the members of the bodie Politike First the Nobles then the Commons and lastly the Clergie but withall is published to the view of the World and spread through all the quarters of your Land for the better effecting of that it aymes vnto and is not a little magnified by the Romish faction It must needs argue in vs either want of wisedome in preuenting a mischiefe or of power in prouiding for our owne safetie or of zeale and sinceritie in our loue to the Trueth if it should passe without some discouery aswell of the malicious scope to which it tends as the weakenesse of the arguments by which it endeuours to perswade The maine end which it driues at is either a totall reconcilement to the Church of Rome or if that cannot be a partiall toleration of the Romish Religion The generall meanes by which it striues to compasse this end are first by working a destraction euen amongst those your Subiects who euery way conforme themselues aswell to the doctrine as the discipline of the Church of England established by publike allowance in making some Puritanes and some Protestants who in his language can endure the state of the Church of England as it is but could be content it were as it was implying thereby the rest to be Puritanes some Caluinists and some temperate men who cannot but in iudgment approue the trueth of that Religion which he calles Catholike thereby implying the rest to bee Caluinists the one he termes the greatest enemies of the Clergie the other his honest and louing brethren wherof he professeth he knew many and himselfe to be one whereas in trueth if any such there be the difference should rather haue beene made betwixt Protestants and Papists English and Romish Catholikes since they who could be content the Church of England were as it was before the Reformation can in my iudgement bee none other then Papists and those that in their iudgement approue the doctrine of the pretended Catholike Religion can as farre as I apprehend it been none other then Romish Catholikes Thus those whom we call Papists he calles Temperate Protestants and those whom we call Protestants he calles State Puritanes The second generall meanes for the compassing of his desired end is an indeuour to worke an vtter seperation betwixt our Church and other reformed Churches specially those of France and the Netherlands whom therefore in contempt hee calls Hugonots and Geux and their doctrine Caluinisme intending thereby as I conceiue either to weaken our strength by leauing vs to stand single or which is worse to inforce vs at length to relapse vpon Rome And to this purpose is hee bold to affirme that their doctrine makes as much against the Religion of England as that of Rome whereas the writings of the most learned men aswell on their as on our side our harmonies of Confessions the testimonie of our aduersaries nay the Pope himselfe in his Bull against Queene ELIZABETH your Maiesties Bookes and practise in the matching of that Noble Ladie your daughter and in permitting those Churches the free exercise of their Religion within your dominions so plainely euince the contrarie that I wonder hauing let fall so foule a blot from his pen he durst present it to your Maiesties view and yet I neede not wonder considering hee was not ashamed to tell your Maiesty that for any thing you haue written in your Apologie or Premonition you may when you please admitte the Popes Supremacie in spirituals which must needes argue either that he was meerely ignorant what your Maiesty had written or cared not at all what himselfe wrote regarding rather the euennesse of his Stile and the cadencie of his sentences then the trueth of his assertions like false windowes bearing proportion with the rest of the building but without light By the trueth of these assertions your Maiestie may make an estimate of the whole piece in which if I can iudge any thing I haue not met within the narrow compasse of so short a treatise so formally pend and carrying so faire an outside so many weake arguments so many grosse mistakes so many notorious falshoods so many irreconciliable contradictions so many sandie and disioynted consequences howsoeuer were his proofes neuer so strong so sure so true so consonant so coherent yet was hee a man most vnfit to intermeddle in a businesse of vnion and pacification who was so farre ingaged to one partie as by his owne acknowledgement hee was perswaded that all the Religion at this day prescribed and practised by the Church of Rome is the true Catholike Religion and promiseth particularly to iustifie it from point to point when time and opportunitie should serue and your Maiestie together with vs of the same profession he rangeth among Iewes and Infidels and heretiques for refusing to ioine with them in the worship of Christ in the Sacrament But God blessed not his vaine proiect Mr. Henrie Constable dying within fortnight after he came from Paris by Cardinall Perrons appointment to Leidge to conferre with him and himselfe a while after in Paris within a moneth of his comming thither to conferre with the Cardinall yet as the Apostle speakes of Abel being dead he yet speaketh though in a different manner and the speach of dead men commonly prooues more effectuall more profitable or more dangerous then that of the liuing For your Maiesty there is God be thanked no feare at all the obligations by which you haue tied your selfe to the Religion established amongst vs being so many and so strong and withall his motiues for inducement to the contrary so weake dealing with your Maiesty as the deuill did with our Sauiour who being beaten from Scripture fell to the promising of the glory of kingdomes which notwithstanding was not in his power to performe onely for their sakes some Replie seemed not vnnecessary of whom it may truely be sayd which hee falsly affirmes of your Maiesty that they imbrace shadowes
it to the world that no other sect of heretikes not excepting Turke Iew nor Pagan no not euen those of Calicute who adore the deuill did euer maintaine it by the grounds of their religion Marke by the grounds of their religion that it was lawfull or rather meritorious as the Romish Catholikes call it to murder princes or people for quarrell of religion And although particular men of all professions of religion haue beene some theeues some murtherers some traitours yet euer when they came to their ende and iust punishment they confessed their fault to be in their nature and not in their profession these Romish Catholikes onely excepted And if that be your religion which we finde maintained by the chiefe pillars and Doctours of your Church and determined to bee Catholike by your Popes and Cardinals surely we haue as litle reason to entertaine your doctrine as wee haue good reason euer to be iealous of your practise Your doctrine is That the Pope if hee thinke good may excommunicate and depose kings and dispose of their kingdomes by absoluing their subiects from their allegeance and setting forraine princes to inuade there dominions as if they held not their Crownes from God but from him and as if they were to write no more in their stiles by the grace of God but by the Popes grace king of such or such a kingdom Your doctrine is that treason deliuered vnder the seale of cōfession is not to be discouered though it be to the indangering of your Soueraigns person the subuersion of the whole body of the State Your doctrine is That as many Churchmen as are in the Kingdom which in most is a third part in some more they are all exempted from the coertion of the ciuill Magistrate being for punishment whether in bodie or in estate onely lyable to the censures of Ecclesiasticall courts which haue both dependance vpon the Popes authoritie and direction from his Canon Law Your doctrine is That as many Bishops and Arch-Bishops as are any where consecrated ought to take their oath to bee true and loyall to their good Lord and holy Father of Rome to the vtmost to execute and further his Commaunds without any limitation or reference to the authoritie of their Soueraigne Lord the King as may appeare by the tenour of the oath here ensuing which I haue annexed to the end the Reader may iudge whether this be the onely Religion as Mr. Doctour pretendeth to keepe Subiects in obedience to their Kings I Iohn Bishop or Abbot of A. from this houre forward shall be faithfull and obedient to S. Peter and to the Holy Church of Rome and to my Lord the Pope and his Successors Canonically entring I shall not bee of counsaile nor consent that they shall lose either life or member or shall bee taken or suffer any violence or any wrong by any meanes Their counsaile to mee credited by them their messengers or Letters I shall not willingly discouer to any person The Popedome of Rome the rules of the holy Fathers and the regalities of S. Peter I shall helpe retaine defend against all men The Legate of the Sea Apostolike going and comming I shall honourably intreate The rights honours priuiledges authorities of the Church of Rome and of the Pope and his Successors I shall cause to bee conserued defended augmented and promoted I shall not bee in Counsell Treatie or any act in the which any thing shall be imagined against him or the Church of Rome their rights states honours or power And if I know any such to bee mooued or compassed I shall resist to my power and assoone as I can I shall aduertise him or such as may giue him knowledge The rules of the Holy Fathers the decrees ordinances sentences dispositions reseruations prouisions and commandements Apostolike I shall keepe to my power cause to be kept of other Heretikes Schismatikes and Rebels to our Holy Father and his Successours I shall resist and persecute to my power I shall come to the Synode when I am called except I bee let by a Canonical impediment The lights of the Apostle I shall visite personally or by my deputie I shall not aliene or sell my possessions without the Popes Councell so God mee helpe and the holy Euangelists No meruaile then that Henry the eight when he commaunded the forme of this Oath to bee publikely reade in Parliament complained to the Speaker Sir Tho. Audely and some others whom for that purpose he sent for that he had thought the Clergie of his Realme had bene his Subiects wholly but now we haue well perceiued sayeth hee that they are to vs but halfe Subiects or indeed scarce Subiects at all Finally your doctrine is that the Christians in the Primatiue Church abstained from taking armes not so much for conscience sake as because they wanted strength which must needs open a wide gappe to the people vpon any humorous discontent when they once feele their owne strength like an vntamed horse to cast their rider if they may and that I may speake in your own phrase to make no bones of violating the Maiestie of the king and his children and is this a Religion fit to keepe Subiects in obedience to their Soueraignes Whereas our doctrine on the other side is That the persons of princes are sacred and by Gods ordinance priuiledged from all violence and for their actions that they are onely accomptable to God their Crownes and Scepters not disposeable by any but by him who set the one vpon their heads and the other in their hands who hath the name written on his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords who as Iob speaketh leadeth Princes away spoiled and ouerthroweth the mightie and againe he powreth contempt vpon Princes and weakeneth the strength of the mightie Lastly our doctrine is that the Subiects duetie is not by any dispensable but by him alone who by his diuine prouidence subiected them to that power Now whether of these doctrines ours or yours is most likely to keepe men in obedience euen our enemies shall bee our Iudges Yet this to bee your doctrine your bookes witnesse and no man of learning and ingenuitie among you will denie But for our doctrine you pretend the opinions of Caluinists and those countrey Caluinists and those met in an Ale-house not in plaine termes but by consequences gathered not by sober or setled braines vpon iudgement but by working heads of greater libertie at their pleasure and that not in their bookes or speeches but in their liues and practises Thus the mountains swell as if wee should haue a giant borne but at length after much expectation wee haue a little mouse brought into the world What Mr. Doctour are there no principles in the Romish Catholike Religion from whence working heads of greater libertie doe at their pleasures draw the like dangerous consequences in their liues and practises If there bee none how comes it to passe that there are so many
doctrine bee as opposite to our Religion as to the Romish then must it needs follow that either ours and the Romish agree in one or that ours is as distant from Caluins as Caluins is from the Romish both which to bee vntrue appeares aswell by the testimonie of all other Romish writers and the authority of the Pope himselfe in his Bull against Queene ELIZBAETH as those whome they terme Lutherans who euer range vs among the Caluinists as also of our owne writers and those of forraine Churches by you termed Caluinistical because with him they ioyne in profession of the same trueth the manifold Letters by them written and Bookes dedicated to our late blessed Queene our Bishops and Noble men by French and Heluetian Diuines specially of Zurich and Basil testifie to the world that they then held their religion to bee the same with ours and ours with theirs and for any thing I know neither theirs nor ours is since changed saue onely some such neutrals as your selfe labour to drawe vs neerer to Rome then they can bee drawen or the trueth it selfe will permit that wee should Among many other testimonies I will onely instance in two the one an Heluetian touching our conformitie with forreine reformed Churches in former times the other a French man touching the present the Heluetian is Bullinger who dedicating his Commentaries vpon Daniel to Horne Bishop of Winchester Iewell Bishop of Salisbury Sandes Bishop of Worcester Parkhurst Bishop of Norwich and Pilkington Bishop of Durham in his Epistle Dedicatory professeth hee did it chiefly to this ende that posterity might vnderstand their indissoluble knot of friendship and the mutual consent betweene England and Suisserland in matter of Religion howbeit they were remooued farre asunder in situation of place The French is Peter Moulin who in defence of his Maiesties Booke against Coffeteau acknowledgeth that wee had enough sufficient men of our owne to defend the Cause but that hee vndertooke the worke to let the world knowe that the same Confession which his Maiestie had made was also theirs and that they and the trueth were assailed in his Person and Writings But what neede I stand vpon the particular testimonies of priuate men since the Confessions of our Churches are extant to be compared as well in the Booke intituled The Harmony as in that other termed The bodie of Confessions In the meane time to giue the Reader some satisfaction I will set downe the doctrine of the Church of England in points of difference together with Caluint on the one side of it and the Romish on the other that so wee may make some estimate whether Caluinisme bee as opposite to the Religion of England as to that of Rome Now for the doctrine of the Church of England I will not extend it so wide as to the Bookes and Lectures of our Bishops and publique professours the lights and guides of our Church and Vniuersities nor yet contract and confine it as Mr. Doctor doeth within the narrow compasse of the Common prayer Booke and Church Catechisme the booke of Canons and therein Nowels Catechisme Can. 79. being confirmed and allowed by publike authoritie But aboue all I very much maruell Mr. Doctors memory should so farre faile him as quite and cleane to forget the Booke of Articles solemnely agreed vpon by the Reuerend Bishops and Clergie of this kingdome at two seuerall meetings or Conuocations of theirs in the yeeres of our Lord 1562 and againe 1604 and lately againe confirmed by two seuerall Canons the 5 and 36 in number since himselfe subscribed to them at the taking of his Orders if not of his Degrees and liuing a long time as Chaplen in house with Archbishop Whitegift and since keeping his ordinary turnes of waiting at Court and residence at Canterbury he could not bee ignorant of them nay I can shewe it vnder his owne hand which argues hee fought against the light of his owne conscience that setting downe the differences betweene the Olde English and New French diuinitie as he calles it hee quotes diuers of those Articles for the doctrine of the Church of England and besides professing himselfe so skilfull in the Statutes he could not but knowe that The Booke of Articles and Iniunctions is by them aswell confirmed and authorized as The Booke of Common Prayer in which Articles are also allowed and ratified The second Booke of Homilies and holy Orders so that whatsoeuer is doctâ—inally deliuered in any of these may safely bee called The doctrine of the Church of England But for the present I will content my selfe with the Booke of Articles onely and for the doctrine of the Church of Rome with the Canons and positions of the Tridentine Councell and Catechisme and for Caluines doctrine with that specially which hee hath deliuered in his 4. Bookes of Christian Institutions Here followeth the Table of differences B. C. 22. For when the breach was resolued on for the personall and particular ease of Henry the VIII and the children of his later wiues it was necessary to giue euery part of the Common-wealth contentment for which they might hold out in the heate of affection and studie to maintaine the breach otherwise it was likely that in the clearenesse of iudgement it would quickly haue growen together againe and then the authours thereof must haue beene excluded and giuen account of their practise G. H. 22 Howbeit Henry the VIII actually indeed made that breach with Rome which continues at this day and is like to doe till Rome by her reformation endeuour to make it vp yet they certainely erre who seeke the cause of it onely in him and in his times or fixing their eyes vpon his person quarrel looke not vp to the state and course of former ages for as no wise man would assigne the cause of death to some accident falling out in the last point and period of life but to some former distemper or intemperancie so the reasons of vnhorsing the Pope and reiecting his authoritie with the generall applause of all the estates of the Realme hauing beene so long anâ— so deepely rooted in mens minds are not to be searched for in the personall and particular proceedings of Henry the VIII but in the ancient Records and euidences of our Histoâ—ians who all complaine of the spurring and gauling and whipping of our land by those Italian riders vntill like Balaams asse shee turned againe opened her mouth to complaine and being out of all hope of reliefe by complaint cast her rider As many witnesses we haue hereof well neere as Writers since the last 600. yeres as many cleere testimonies as there be leaues in Mat. Paris the most learned and sufficient Writer vnlesse you will except William of Malmesburie that those times afforded It was a memorable speech of Robert Grosteed Bishop of Lincolne who liued 358. yeres since in the time of Gregory the IX Caelestine the IIII. Innocent the IIII.
who iudge of matters onely by euents as Geometricians measure the height of towres by their shadowes and are ready to turne euery accident to an argument for their owne purposes but such as iudge of euents by looking into their causes which not many loue much to busie their braines about nor are indeed capable of and frame not arguments to their opinions but contrariwise submit their opinions to the soundnesse and force of argument such I â—ay I am sure it cannot much moue AN ANSWERE TO D. CARIERS LETTER TO THE Kings Maiestie CHAP. I. The meanes of my conuersion to Catholike Religion BENIAMIN CARIER 1. I Must confesse to Gods honour and my owne shame A that if it had bene in my power to choose I would neuer haue bene a Catholike I was borne and brought vp in schisme and was taught to B abhorre a Papist as much as any Puritane in England doth I had euer a great desire to iustifie the religion of the state and had great C hope to aduance my selfe thereby neither was my hope euer so great as by your Maiesties fauour it was D at the very instant of my resolution for Catholike Religion and the preferment I had together with the honour of your Maiesties seruice was greater by much then without your Maiesties fauour I looke for in this world But although I was aâ— ambitious of your Maiesties fauor and as desirous of the honours and pleasures of my Countrey as any man that is therein yet seeing that I was not like any long while to enioy them and if I should for my priuate commodity speake or write or doe any thing against the honour of Christ his Church and against the euidence of mine owne conscience I must shortly appeare before the presence of the same Christ in the presence of the same his Church to giue an account thereof Therefore I neither durst any further to pursue my owne desire of honour nor to hazard my soule any farther in the iustifications of that religion which I saw was E impossible to bee iustified by any such reason as at the day of iudgement would goe for payment and that it may appeare that I haue not respected any thing so much in this world as my duetie to your Maiesty and my loue to my friends Countrey I humbly beseech you giue me leaue as briefly as I can to recount vnto you the whole course of my studies and indeuors in this kind euen from the beginning of my life vntill this present GEORGE HAKEWIL 1. A In saying you would neuer haue bene a Catholike if it had bene in your power to choose you seeme to fall vpon that opinion which is wrongfully thrust vpon Caluin that wee are conuerted as it were by constraint whether we will or no and consequently you ouerthrow both the freedome of will and the merit of worke B It seemes then your father who brought you vp did much abhorre a Papist and yet you confesse in the next Section that he was a learned and deuout man and that he seasoned you with the principles of piety and deuotion C Your great hopes were indeed alwayes beyond your iust deâ—â—rts yet his Maiestie might be drawen to fauour you the raâ—her for that hypocriticall sermon which you made last before him in his â—happell at White-hall D So it seemes you resolued for the pretended Catholike religion before your parting from hence howbeit before you beare vs in hand that you got licence to trauell to the Spaw onely for your health and afterward you tell vs that you went hence hoping to finde some greater offence in the seruice of the Church of Rome then you had done in their bookes that so you might returne better contented to persecute and abhorre the Catholikes at your pleasure Thus for your aduantage you turne your tale as Mariners doe their sailes E No reason at the day of Iudgement in all likelâ—hood shall better goe for payment then that which the Iudge as a rule to be iudged by himselfe hath left vs and of which we may say if we be deceiued thou Peter thou Paul or thou Christ hast deceiued vs. But whether on the other side your humane inuentions or as the Apostle cals them voluntary religion and will-worship will then passe for currant pay a iuster doubt may be made of which hee might iustly say as he doth to his people by his Prophet Who hath required these things at your hands B. C. 2. I was borne in the yeere 1566. being the sonne of Anthonie Carier a learned and deuout man who although hee were a Protestant and a Preacher yet did so season me with the principles of pietie and deuotion as I could not choose but euer since bee verie F zealous in matters of religion Of him I learned that all G false religions in the world were but policies inuented for the temporall seruice of Princes and States and therefore that they were diuers and alwayes changeable according to the diuers reasons and occasions of State H But true Chrâ—â—â—ian Religion was a trueth reuealed of God for the eternall saluation of soules and therefore was like to God alwayes one and the same So that all Princes and States in the world neuer haue beene nor shall be able to ouerthrow that Religion This to me seemed an excellent ground for the finding out of that Religion wherein a man might find rest vnto his soule which cannot be satisfied with any thing but eternall trueth G. H. 2. F A zealous man indeed your selfe confessing in your Preface that you then began to looke to the health of your soule when you were out of hope to enioy the health of your bodie And in the very Section going before that you were as ambitious of his Maiesties fauour and as desirous of the honours and pleasures of your Countrey as any man that is therein But it seemes you dwelt by bad neighbours who are thus inforced to commend your owne Zeale or else they hold it of none other kind then that of which the Apostle speakes hauing strife for her companion and sedition for her daughter and if wee should graunt that you had Zeale though not according to knowledge I rest well assured that this Epistle in the iudgement of the wisest would not euince the contrary G Your father being as you say a Protestant and a Preacher in all likelyhood by False Religion vnderstood the Romish being indeede the deepest policie inuented by men for their own purposes that euer was in the world the children of darkenesse being in their generation wiser then the children of light and is in that regard rightly termed by Saint Paul the mysterie of iniquitie which began to worke in his dayes but since hath fullie weaued those threeds which were then begunne to be spunne the Cockatrice is now hatched which was then onely in the egge And surely I thinke not without great
reason the Bishop of Rome hath or at least wise formerly had the word Mysterie engrauen on his diademe since in the seuenteenth of the Reuel at the fift verse it is foretold it should be written on the forehead of the â—reat Whore For to passe by other depthes of Satan as they bee called Reuel 2. verse 24. I would know what Religion was ener in the world which inuented a policie like to the Popes dispensations in generall but specially in Mariages it being hitherto the best stake in his hedge and without exception the strongest sinew for the tying of Christian Princes vnto him as to their head they being made many of them by it legitimate and illegitimate without it So they stand in a maner bound to defend his authority with the same sword that they do their own Crownes And I am verily perswaded were it not that they lie obnoxious to him in this regard some of them would not sticke so close to him as they doe especially since the publishing of his Maiesties learned and godly premonition vnto them Farther what vse they make of Confessions for the discouerie of all secrets as well of nature as of States Indulgences Canonizations Consecrations Of their bloodie Inquisition which like a sharpe Northerne winde nippes the spring of Religion in the bud Of forging false Authours and corrupting the true Of suppressing the bookes of our Writers and correcting their owne Of spreading false rumors and razing all antiquitie that makes against them the world hath long since discouered Besides all this they haue a baite for euery fish a motiue to draw euery seuerall humour for an ambitious disposition they haue a triple Crowne or a Cardinals cap for a Contemplatiue a Monkes cloister or a Friars coule for a working practical head imployment in State affaires for a Scholasticke preaching writing and in writing some they set to meditations some to politike discourses some to cases of conscience some to commentaries some to controuersies according to the seuerall point and temper of their wits Nay he that shal but consider the politike forme of gouernment obserued in the onely order of the Iesuits their rules their intelligence their corespondence their infinite cunning deuises how to winne some whom they desire for respects to be of their society or to make their friends and to disgrace or remoue others whom they suspect to stand in theirway may iustly pronounce of them that they haue perfectly learned the former part of our Sauiours lesson Be wise as serpents but not the latter be ye innocent as doues wheras nothing argues the inocency of our cause more then that it hitherto hath bin and still is supported meerely by the goodnesse of God and the euidence of trueth H Surely if true religion be vnchangeable then the Romish cannot be the true it hauing suffered so many changes both in doctrine and practise that wee may now iustly question it whether it bee the same or no as the Schollers of Athens did Theseus his ship after many reparations wee may seeke Rome in Rome it selfe and not find it I will instance onely in the Masse which like a beggars cloakehath receiued so many additions and patcheâ— that if S. Peter should now liue to see a Priest saying Masse hee would without doubt conceiue it to bee any thing rather then the commemoration of Christs death or the administration of his Supper and to speake a trueth as long as the traditions of Men are held of equall authoritie with the liuely Oracles and eternall trueth of God it caâ—not bee but that religion which is grounded on them should be as subiect to variation as are the conceptions of mens minds So that your ground for the finding out of that religion wherein a maâ— might finde rest vnto his soule is excellent good but your application erroneous since there is indeede no rest but vpon eternall trueth and no trueth eternall but that which is diuine B. C. 3. My next care then was after I came to yeeres of discretion by all the best meanes I could to enforme my selfe whether the religion of England were indeed the very same which being prefigured and prophecied in the olde Testament was perfected by our blessed Sauiour and deliuered to his Apostles and disciples to continue by perpetuall succession in his visible Church vntill his comming againe or whether it were a new one for priuate purposes of Statesmen inuented and by humane lawes established Of this I could not chuse but make some doubt because I heard men talke much in those dayes of the change of religion which was then lately made in the beginning of Queene ELIZABETHS raigne G. H. 3. I would demaund by M. Doctors leaue whethermen might not talke as much of the change of religion made in the beginning of Queene Maries raigne as Queene Elizabeths But you will say Queene Maries was a restitution to the ancient and wee replie that Queene Elizabeths was a restitution to a more ancient and most true it is the most ancient is the most true So that in this regard wee may iustly say Nos non sumus nouatores sed vos estis veteratores and with our Sauiour From the beginning it was not so B. C. 4. I was sorry to heare of a change and of a new religion seeing me thought in reason if true religion were eternall the new religion could not be the true But yet I hoped that the religion of England was not a change or a new religion but a restitution of the olde and that the change was in the Church of Rome which in processe of time might perhaps grow to bee Superstitious and Idolatrous and that therefore England had done well to leaue the Church of Rome and to reforme it selfe and for this purpose I did at my leisure and best opportunitie as I came to more iudgement reade ouer the Chronicles of England and obserued all the aâ—terations of religion that I could find therein but when I found there that the present religion of England was a plaine change and change vpon change and that there was no cause of the change at all at the first but onely that â— King Henry the VIII was desirous to change his olde bedfellow that hee might leaue some heires males behind him for belike hee feared the females would not bee able to withstand the title of Scotland and that the change was continued and increased by the posteritie of his latter wiues I could not chuse but suspect some thing But yet the loue of the world and hope of preferment would not suffer me to beleeue but that all was well and as it ought to be G. H. 4. You told vs before that your care was assoone as you came to yeeres of discretion by all meanes you could to enforme your selfe whether the religion of England were indeed the very same which being prefigured and prophecied in the olde Testament was perfected by our blessed Sauiour and
deliuered to his Apostles and disciples and here you tell vs that when you came to more iudgement for the better informing your selfe herein you read ouer the Chronicles of England a proper course indeede as if a man should reade ouer the Chronicles of England to search whether the practise of our Architects in building agree with Vitruuius his precepts or of our husbandmen in manuring their grounds with Columellaes rules For mine owne part I should rather haue thought that the readiest way to informe your selfe aright had been to compare the religion of England with the doctrine of the Gospels Epistles Actes of the Apostles and Church history the ende of a Chronicle being not to shew euery alteration in religion specially where it is made peece-meale insensibly and by degrees of which a man may say that hee sees it is changed though he sawe not the changing as he sees the grasse hath growen though he saw it nor growing and the shadow in a diall to haue mooued though not moouing The enuious man sowed his tares in the night so that men discouered it then when they sprang vp in the morning but the sowing of them they could not obserue because it was done cunningly in the night when all men slept and for a time they lay hid vnder the earth And yet are not our Chronicles so silent but that they euery where lay open the iust comp aint of our Kings and groning of our Clergie and people vnder the yoke of the Bishop of Rome as shal more clearely appeare when we come to shew what benefit euery estate may expect from the restitution of Romish religion But you say you found the religion of England a plaine change and change vpon change But our constant answere is that which you professe you hoped to finde that the change was in the Church of Rome our change being nothing else but the scowring off of that rust or the repairing of those ruines which we found had insensibly growen vpon it For to suppose that tract of time cannot drawe a corruption vpon religion aswell as vpon ciuil affaires is as if a man should imagine that Castles indeede are subiect to reparations but not Churches and for your pretended change vpon change wee may boldly say that our Common prayer booke hath not receiued so many changes as your Breuiaries your Portesses your Legends your Martyrologies your Pontificals your Ceremonials and specially your Missals haue done and that since our reformation nay since the framing and publishing of our Common prayer bookes in the beginning of the reigne of Edward the VI. wee find no change in any materiall point at all saue that in their Letanie they prayed to be deliuered by name from the tyrannie and malice of the Pope which for any thing I know might as iustly and vpon as good reason haue been retained by vs as it was by them put in H Now why Henrie the VIII should cause the first change in religion out of a desire to change his bed-fellow I see not except you esteeme a restraining of the Popes vnlimited power in dispensations to be a change in religion and indeed it may well be since now the world is come to that passe that the Popes authority and religion are in a manner as reciprocall as the definition and the thing defined And for the change of his bedfellow it is well knowen to those that haue read ouer our Chronicles with obseruation as your selfe pretend you haue that he being married to her at the age of 10. yeeres or thereabout protested against it when he came to 14. in the presence of Richard Foxe Bishop of Winchester and Iohn Reade a publique Notary as appeares by a deed vnder his owne hand being then Prince of Wales besides the Counsell both of Spaine and of France treating a mariage for the Lady Mary the one wiâ—h Charles the Emperour the other with Henry Duke of Orleans they both made a doubt whether the mariage of her mother hauing bene wife to the Kings owne brother could be dispensed with or the children begot in this second bed legitimate and by Law allowed to succeed to the crowne nay which is more D. Longland then Bishop of Lincolne the kings Confessour after it had long slept reuiued this Scruple in the kings conscience the Cardinall being Archbishop of Yorke and Legate to the Pope together with the Archbishop of Canterbury and all the rest of the Bishops Rochester onely excepted who was then lately made Cardinall but lost his head before his hat came ouer subscribed and sealed to the iustnesse of the diuorce both our Vniuersities yea many beyond the Seas to the number of 10. or 12. some of them in Italy it selfe and vnder the Popes peculiar iurisdiction confirmed it vnder their common seales diuerse of our Doctors being purposely sent to Rome about it offered dispute before the Pope to proue it Cranmer in a priuate conference at Vienna with Cornelius Agrippa then following the Emperour euery where admired for his learning so fully satisfied him that he held the proposition most true if it could be proued that the Lady Katherine was carnally knowen of Prince Arthur whereof the presumptions were great The one was that Prince Henry was deferred from his creation and title of Prince of Wales by the space of sixe moneths after Arthurs decease vpon a supposition that the Lady Katherine might be by him conceiued with childe Another was that for this cause the said Lady procured a second Bull from the Pope with this addition Velforsan cognitam and peraduenture carnally knowen which Bull was only purchased to dispense with this mariage A third presumption was from the report of Prince Arthurs Chamberlaine vpon certaine words spoken by the Prince the first morning that he rose from his bed A fourth was the relation of the Ambassadours of Ferdinando her father king of Spaine being sent hither purposely to see the mariage consummated who returned their knowledge of their mutuall coniunction by the markes and that nothing was left vnperformed of any nuptiall right And surely they being both of yeeres able enough to accomplish the acte he aboue 15. and she aboue 17. laid both in one bed almost fiue moneths together doe assure vs the certainety of that which in this businesse is made the greatest scruple These were the reasons which in appearance moued Henry the VIII to the remouing of his bed-fellow not those which you as fondly imagine as you suggest malitiously I doe not take vpon me the clearing of this king from all the blame that is cast vpon him yet I may truely say that strangers haue bene more fauourable vnto him then our owne countrey-men he being deepely and bitterly taxed not onely by Saunders from whom nothing but such slanders could be expected but by a later writer professing himselfe of our owne Church to the great content of the Romish faction whose obligation notwithstanding to the daughter in the
censure of wise men might deseruedly haue purchased some more respectiue termes of the Father whereas Thuanus the most vnpartiall and iudicious Historiographer of our age giues this testimonie of him that he was a Prince of singular naturall indowments and such a one in whom had hee not too much loosed the reines to this pleasure you could hardly find wanting any perfection Nay after his diuorce from his Queene and from the Church of Rome the Bishops which hee named sayth hee were honest men and good Schollers being euer himselfe a great Patron of learning which testimonie I the rather alledge because the Spanish expurgatorie index hath rased it as also diuers other verie memorable passages in this Author B. C. 5. Thus I satisfied my selfe at Schoole and studied the Artes and Philosophie and other humane learning vntill being Master of Artes and fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Cambridge I was at last by the Statutes of that house called to the studie of Diuinitie and bound to take vpon me the Order of Priest-hood then I thought it my duetie for the better satisfaction of mine owne soule and the sauing of othermens to looke as farre into the matter as possible I could that I might find out the Trueth and hauing the opportunitie of a very good Librarie in that Colledge I resolued with my selfe to studie hard and setting aside all respect of men then aliue or of Writers that had mooued or maintained Controuersies farther then to vnderstand the question which was betwixt them I fell to my prayers and betooke my selfe wholly to the reading of the Church Historie and of the ancient Fathers which had no interest on either side and specially â— made choise of S. Augustine because I hoped to find most comfort in him for the confirming of our Religion and the confuting of the Church of Rome G. H. 5. After your perusing the Chronicles of England you betake your selfe to the reading of the Church Historie and ancient Fathers and in speciall make choise of S. Augustine in whom you find the doctrine of Rome euery where confirmed and ours confuted But I would faine know whether one maine point of the doctrine of the Church of Rome be not the Supremacie of that Sea and whether a chiefe feather in that wing be not Appeals from forraine parts Now whether S. Augustine approued them I appeale to his practise being one of those Bishops in the Councell of Carthage who discouered and disclaimed the impudencie and forgerie of the Church of Rome in challenging that as right which some of constraint had performed and others of courtesie had graunted for which himselfe with his Fellow-Bishops were excoÌ„municated by the Bishop of Rome and for any thing I can finde in the Church Historie so died Some of his workes I haue read specially those of Christian doctrine and of them I will be bold to say that they confirme no one point of Romish doctrine controuersed at this day and surely there if any where had beene the proper place to declare the Bishop of Rome Supreame iudge in all controuersies B. C. 6. In this sort I spent my time continually for many yeeres and noted downe whatsoeuer I could gather or rather snatch either from the Scriptures or the Fathers to serue my turne But when after all my paines and desire to serue my selfe of Antiquitie I found the doctrine of the Church of Rome to be euery where coÌ„firmed by most profound demonstrations out of holy Scripture made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel and most conformable to all Christian soules and saw the current opinions of our great Preachers euery where confuted either in plaine termes or by most vnanswerable consequence although mine vnderstanding was thereby greatly edified for which I had great reason to render immortall thankes to our blessed Sauiour who by these meanes had vouchsafed to shewe himselfe vnto mee yet my heart was much grieued that I must be faine either not to preach at all or to crosse and varâ—e from the doctrine which I saw was commonly receiued G. H. 6. I haue perused your Common-place booke written for the most part with your owne hand and indeed it thereby appeares that your noting might more deseruedly bee termed a snatching then a gathering though by your will you solemnely bequeath it as a rich legacie to C.C.C. in Camb. whereof you were a Fellow but you found the doctrine of the Church of Rome you say euery where confirmed by most profound demonstrations from holy Scripture in trueth I must confesse they are so deepe that throughout this treatise they are inuisible but I much desire to knowe by what profound demonstration from holy Scripture you would proue the adoration of images the administration of the Sacrament vnder one kinde the exercise of publike prayer in a language not vnderstood of the people or lastly the Bishop of Romes vsurpation ouer the temporals of Princes vnlesse you bring Bellarmines profound demonstration to that purpose Pasce oues meas or Baronius Surge occide manduca or the Canonists fecit Deus duo magna luminaria much like a profound demonstration I haue heard of for proofe of the Salique law the lillies neither labour nor spinne therefore the Crowne of France ne tombe point sur laquenouille fals not to the distaffe or like that of a Frier who would needs proue that ten worlds were made in the first Creation and that out of our Sauiours wordes in the Gospel annon decem factisunt mundi but he was well answered by his brother in the words following Sed vbisunt nouem and did hee not deserue the title of D. profundus trow you for so profound a demonstration By such like profound demonstrations you find the doctrine of the Church of Rome made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel which for the Sacrament is drinke yee all of this and for the power of his ministers my kingdome is not of this world wordes deliuered as it seemes out of a propheticall spirit as foreseeing what errours should in after ages spring vp in his Church but you doe well to say that those doctrines were made agreeable to this trueth they may bee made so or at leastwise made to seeme so by forging and hammering vpon the anuill of mens conceits howbeit in themselues they are not so as the belles seeme to the childe to ring that tune which runnes in his head B. C. 7. Being thus perplexed with my selfe what course I were best to take I reflected backe againe vpon the Church of England and because the most of those Preachers which drewe the people after them in those dayes were Puritans and had grounded their diuinitie vpon Caluins institutions I thought peraduenture that they hauing gotten the multitude on their side might wrong the Church of England in her doctrine as well as they desired to doe in her discipline which indeed
very honest men and such as I did loue with all my heart I was very loth to dissent from them in priuate much more loth to oppose them in publike and yet seeing I must needes preach I was lothest of all to oppugne mine owne conscience together with the faith wherein I was baptized and the soules of those to whome I preached neuerthelesse hauing gotten this ground to worke vpon I began to comfort my selfe with hope to proue that the religion established in England was the same at the least in part L which now was and euer had beene held in the Catholique Church the defects whereof might be supplied whensoeuer it should please God to moue your Maiestie thereunto without abrogating that which was alrâ—ady by Law established which I still pray for and am not altogether out of M hope to see and therfore I thought it my duety as farre as I durst rather by N charitable constructions to reconcile things that seemed different that so our soules might bee for euer saâ—ed in vnity then by malitious calumniations to maintaine quarrels that so mens turnes might for a time bee serued in dissention G. H. 8. L How then can we bee esteemed heretiques who broach their owne fantasies since holding as the Church of England doth we hold the same that the Catholike Church hath euer held M Truely you had little reason to hope to liue to see thosâ— vnwarrantable Supplies you speake of by his Maiesties command aswell in regard of your owne infirmities of body as his MAIESTIES strong resolution of minde to the contrarie but it may bee your intelligence deceiued you sure wee are your hope failed you N Touching your opinion of Reconciliation whether it may be thought to proceede of charitie or arrogancie as also whether it be probable or in a maner possible as the case now stands I shall haue fitter opportunitie to discusse hereafter then in this place Yet giue mee leaue by the way to tell you that in my iudgement you call that Vnitie which is indeed distraction it tending to nothing els but a rent and a drawing of vs further from other reformed Churches and neâ—rer to the Church of Rome for if this were not your meaning the same charitable constructions would haue serued to recoÌ„cile things that to you looking through the false spectacles of preiudice passion seemed verie different betwixt vs other reformed Churches abroad much better easier then for the reconciling of those maine broad differences which are indeed betwixt vs and the Church of Rome Of which I feare I may too truly say as Abraham doth to the rich glutton in hel between you and vs there is a great gulfe set so that they which would goe from hence to you can not neither can they come from thence to vs. I speake in regard of Reconciliation in differences of Religion for otherwise but too manie are suffered to goe from hence thither and hauing sucked their poison to returne againe at their pleasures for the vomitting of it out amongst vs notwithstanding the sharpe penalties and great gulfe set betweene vs. B. C. 9. In this course although I did neuer proceed any farther then law would giue me leaue yet I found the Puritans and Caluinists and all the creatures of Schisme to be my vtter enemies who were also like the sonnes of Zeruiah too strong for Dauiâ— himselfe 2. Sam 3. 39. but I well perceiued that all temperate and vnderstanding men who had no interest in the Schisme were glad to heare the trueth honestly and plainely preached vnto them and my hope was by patience and continuance I should in the ende vnmaske hypocrisie and gaine credite to the comfortable doctrine of Antiquitie euen amongst those also who out of misinformation and preiudice did as yet most mislike it And considering with my selfe that your right to the Crowne came onely by O Catholikes and was ancienter then the Schisme which would very faine haue vtterly extinguished it and that both your P disposition by nature your amitie with Catholike Princes your speeches and your proclamations did at the beginning all tend to peace and vnitie I hoped that this endeuour of mine to enforce Catholike Religion at the least as farre as the Common prayer Booke and Catechisme would giue leaue should be well accepted of your MAIESTIE and bee as an introduction vnto farther peace and vnitie with the Church of Rome G. H. 9. O His MAIESTIES right to the Crowne is double the one from his mother lineally descending of the first match of the Ladie Margaret daughter to Henrie the VII and sister to Henrie the VIII Kings of England with Iames the fourth King of Scotland his MAIESTIES great Grandfather who though she imbraced that Religion in which shee was brought vp being neuer acquainted with any other yet as his Maiesty obserueth in his Monitorie Preface to the Christian Princes shee disliked some of the superstious Ceremonies and abhorred those new opinions which the Iesuits call Catholike His second right aboue any other preâ—endor was from his father descended of the second match of the sayd Ladie Margaret with Archibald Douglas Earle of Angush being brought vp in Q. Elizabeths Court whose father the Duke of Lenox professing the reformed religion as well appeared by his practise in his life in receiuing the Sacrament after the manner of the reformed Churches and by the confession of his faith in the hearing of many ministers at his death in all likelihood his Maiesties father himselfe should be that way affected though Cardinall Bellarmine vpon the relation of I know not whom would faine haue it otherwise And whereas you say that schisme would faine haue extinguished his Maiesties right it is well knowen that those whom you call schismatikes were the chiefe instruments vnder God to preserue his Maiesties not onely right but life against the fury of some whom you call Catholikes both before his mothers death and since P From his Maiesties progenitors you come to his owne disposition by nature his amity with Catholike Princes his speaches his Proclamations which all tended at the beginning you say to peace and vnitie True indeed it is that his Maiestie by nature is disposed to mercy his amitie with Christian Princes argues his charitie and heroical ingenuitie voide of ielousie suspition euen where occasioÌ„ may seem to be giuen his speaches and Proclamations were not bloody yet all this could not serue your turne as a sufficieÌ„t warrant to endeauor a peace with the Church of Rome in matters of religion no more then a league with the great Turke for traffike should giue occasion of ioyning with him in Mahometisme but had you withall with the other eye reflected a little backe vpon his Maiesties education from his very Cradle the choice of his aliance in mariage his counsel to his sonne touching the matter of religion in the first booke of his Basilicon Doron his
and more then must be granted by vs it reaching to the deposition of Princes from their thrones and the disposition of their Crownes when his Holinesse shall iudge it fit for the vnity of the Church as well appeared in his Buls both against King Henry the father and Queene Elizabeth the daughter And thus farre Cardinall Perron that peaceable man and your great Patron expressed himselfe in the last assemblie of the three estates of France for which the Pope gaue him and the rest of the Clergy who stucke to him in that businesse as great thankes as if they had saued Saint Peters shippe from sinking both the Cardinall and the Pope supposing as it seemes that those sparkes flew into France from the fire of England howsoeuer sure it is they were quenched by the water of Tyber B. C. 15. So that whereas my hope was that by finding out the corruptions of the Church of Rome I should grow further in loue with the Church of England and ioyfully returne home and by inueighing against the Papists both enioy my present preferments and obtaine more and more I saw the matteâ— was like to fall out cleane contrary It is true indeed that there are many corruptionsâ— in all States God hath not his wheat field in this world wherein the deuill hath no tares growing and there are not tares more ranke then those that grow among the wheat for optimi corruptio pessima and where grace aboundeth if it be contemned there sinne aboundeth much more But seeing my reading and experience hath now taught me that the trueth of Christian Religion taught and practised at this day in the Church of Rome and all the obedient members thereof is the very same in substance which was preâ—igured and prophesied from the beginning of the world perfected by CHRIST himselfe deliuered to his Apostles and by them and their Successours perpetually and vniuersally practised vntill this day without any W substantiall alteration and that the new religion in X England wherein it doth differ hath no ground but either the pleasure of the Prince and Parliament or the common crie and voyce of the people nor no constancie or agreement with it selfe what should I now doe It is not in my power not to know that which I doe know nor to doubt of that which I haue spent so much time and taken so much paines and bestowed so much cost and made so many trials to find And I know if I should yeeld to be reconciled to the Church I should be in this world in all likelihood vtterly vndone and which grieued me more I should bee reiected of your Maiestie my most redoubted Lord and Master and despised by all my deare friends and louers in England G. H. 15. W The Church of Rome holds indeed the substance of Christian Religion in profession but yet by consequence shakes the foundation of it as it holds the death of Christ to be satisfactory for sinne and yet adding thereunto her owne meritorious satisfaction consequently by the latter she ouerthrowes the former for If righteousnesse be by the Law then Christ died without a cause and in reason impossible it is if traditions be held of equall valew with the Scriptures for the constituting of substantiall points but that in short time there should ensue a substantiall alteration and he that knowes not that the Church of Rome holds many things now as parts of the Catholike faith which it helds not in former ages knowes little what hath bene anciently held or now is X If by the religion of England you vnderstand that which is by Law established as in coÌ„mon construction you cannot otherwise be vnderstood you coÌ„demne your selfe out of your owne mouth in as much as you acknowledge before that the religion established by law in England was the same saue onely it was somewhat defectiue which now is and euer had beene held in the Catholike Church and yet here you say it hath no ground but the pleasure of the Prince and Parliament wheras in trueth we build vpon the Rocke of the Scriptures but you vpon the sand of traditions and which of vs hath the sounder foundation I appeale no farther then reason it selfe to iudge You as though you were not yet dead from the ordinances of the world burden your selues with traditions as touch not taste not handle not which all perish with the vsing and are after the commandements and doctrines of men but we haue a most sure word of the Prophets taking heede thereto according to S. Peters counsell as to a light that shineth in a darke place and as our ground is sure so is our agreement constant and vniforme in all points materiall and necessary to saluation whereas in the building of your tower of Babel such diuersitie of languages is heard that there is hardly any exposition of Scripture or point in controuersie which hath not bene or is called into question either directly or by consequent by some that liued and died in that Church which you call Catholike as will easily appeare to him who shall turne ouer the volumes of of Cardinall Bellarmine which is the true reason as I suppose that his workes are not allowed to bee read of all but of publike professours and such others as haue speciall permission from their Superiours B. C. 16. These were my thoughts at the Spaw which did so vexe and afflict my soule as that the waters could doe my body no good at all but rather much hurt neuerthelesse I auoided the company of Catholikes abstained from the Church and did both dispute and write against the Church of Rome as occasion was offered I still hoped that time would giue better counsell and therefore resolued to goe from the Spaw to Heidelberge to doe my duetie there in the meane time I thought with my selfe it may be God hath mooued his Maiesties heart to peace and reconciliation I knowe his disposition was so in the beginning and I remember M. Casaubon told me when I brought him out of France that his errand was nothing else but to mediate peace betweene the Church of Rome and the church of England Therefore I thought before I would submit my selfe to the Church of Rome I would write vnto M. Casaubon such a letter as he might shew vnto your Maiestie containing such conditions as I thought might satisfie your Maiestie if they were performed by the Church of Rome The copie of which letter is too long here to set down But when M. Casaubon answered me that he knew your Maiestie was resolued to haue no societie with the Church of Rome vpon any condition what soeuer and that it would be my vndoing if those my letters should come to your Maiesties hands or of those that bare the sway I began to despaire of my returne into England vnlesse I would ouerthrow both the health of my bodie and the quiet of my
referre this Matrimoniall cause to the hearing and determining of his Legates but gaue Campeius a secret Bull in his bosom as witnesseth Francis Guicciardin in the 19th Booke of his Historie a Catholike in his profession no man more a reporter of things hee sawe no man truer and a creature of the Popes imployed in honourable charges the Copie of it is to be seene in Anti-Sanders dated in the yeere 1527. the 17th of December and the fifth yeere of Clement the seuenths Popedome wherein hee infringeth the former dispensatioÌ„ affirming that the King could not continue in such Matrimonie without sinne whereupon hee decreed that after the delaration of the nullitie of the former mariage and the Kings absolution it should bee lawfull for him to marrie another This Bull he forbad him to shew to any saue onely to the King and Cardinall Wolsey his fellow Commissioner in that businesse and though openly he commanded him to handle the cause with all expedition yet secretly hee willed him to protract the time promising that himselfe would watch an opportunitie to publish the Decree so the King and Queene were cited to appeare before them in May following at which time after some debating of the cause they protracted the sentence till the beginning of August and after many delayes finding that King Henry could not by hope of the diuorce bee drawen to side with the French the Pope commanded Campeius to burne his Bull and to returne home whereby it appeares that King Henry might easily haue had the nullitie of his mariage with Queene Katherine ratified at Rome without taking the title of Supreme head if hee would haue yeelded to the Popes conditions But the Lords you say and Commons would neuer haue suffered such a Statâ—te to bee made had not that title inabled the King to pull downe Abbeys and Religious houses and giue them to Lay men I would faine know then what mooued the Bishops to giue way to it who had no share in that diuision yet had they with the consent of the Clergie passed it in Conuocation before it was so much as proposed in Parliament and for the Commons a very little share fell out to their parts And if â—he assuming of that title were indeed so needfull as you pretend for the supressing of those houses by what authoritie did Cardinall Wolsey dissolue some and the King by his example more before that title was by him publikely assumed Now for Queene Elizabeth it is true that she reuiued those Statutes of Supremacie enacted by her father and repealed by her sister but not without diuers exceptions as may appeare by the bookes in so much as a new forme of Oath was established by her which is the Oath at this day in force the refusall of which vpon a second offering by such as stand conuicted of a former refusall is by the Statute of 5â— Eliz. cap. 1. made high Treason and it is none otherwise Nay further by an expresse prouiso in that Statute none are compellable to take the Oath the second time but Ecclesiasticall persons and some few others especially named in that Statute neither doth shee take to her in that or any other Statute the title of Supreme head but of Gouernour by which what shee vnderstood herselfe expressed in her Iniunctions and her Clergie in their 37. Article confirmed in two seuerall Conuocations where they thus speake Where wee attribute to the Queenes Maiestie the chiefe Gouernment by which title we vnderstand the mindes of some slanderous folkes to be offended wee giue not to our Princes the ministring either of Gods word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Iniunctions also lately set foorth by Elizabeth our Queene doe most plainely testifie but that onely prerogatiue which we see to haue beene giuen alwayes to all godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himselfe that is thâ—t they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Temporall and restraine with the ciuill sword the stubburne and euill doers neither doe I see how Osorius in his Epistle to her can be interpreted to affoord her lesse where he professeth that all Kings are Pro parte suaiuris diuini Vicarij Vicars of Gods Law in their places From Queene Elizabeth you passe to his Maiestie and tell him that he confirmed the same Statute to satisfie other men arguing therein his Maiestie of great weakenesse either as being not able to iudge what he did or as being caried by others against his owne iudgement But that his MAIESTIE did it aduisedly and rather to satiffie himselâ—e then others appeares by this that hee was inuested with the same power which that Statute giues him before his receauing of the Crowne of England and since himselfe with his owne penne hath thus both iustified and explained it if these examples saith he sentences title and prerogatiues and innumerable other in the olde and new Testament doe not warrant Christian Kings within their owne dominions to gouerne their Church aswell as the rest of their people in being Custodes vtriusque tabulae not by making new Articles of Faith which is the Popes office as I said before but by commaunding obedience to bee giuen to the word of God by reforming the Religion accâ—rding to his prescribed will by assisting the Spirituall power with the Temporall sword by reforming of corruptions by procuring due obedience to the Church by iudging and cutting off all friuolous questions and Schismes as Constantine did and finally by making decorum to be obserued in euery thing and establishing orders to be obserued in all indifferent things for that purpose which is the onely intent of the Oath of Supremacie if this office of a King I say doe not agree with the power giuen him by Gods word lâ—t any indifferent man void of passion iudge But yet his Maiestie you say yeeldeth the Church of Rome to be the Mother Church and the Bishop of Rome to bee the chiefe Bishop or Primate of the Westerne Churches Indeed his Maiesty in his first speech in his first Parliament called after his entrâ—nce to this Kingdome is pleased to acknowledge the Romane Church to be our Mother Church this M. Doctour is content to vrge but to conceale that which he addeth defiled with infirmities and corruptions as the Iewes were when they crucified Christ and as I am none enemy saith he to the life of a sicke man because I would haue his body purged of ill humours no more am I an enemy to their Church because I would haue them reforme their errours not wishing their throwing out of the Temple but that it might be purged and clensed from corruption otherwise how can they wish vs to enter if their house bee not first made cleane Herein Mr Doctour dealing with his Maiesty as the deuill did with our Sauiour hee pressed that out of the Psalme which made for himselfe Hee will giue
his Angels charge ouer thee but suppressed that which made against him to keepe thee in all thy wayes now if any man farther desire his Maiesties meaning in calling Rome the Mother Church hee hath fully expressed himselfe in his Premonition Patriarchs saith he I know were in the time of the Primitiue Church and I likewise reuerence that institution for orders sake and amongst them was a contention for the first place And for my selfe if that were yet the question I would with all mine heart giue my consent that the Bishop of Rome should haue the first seat I being a Westerne King would goe with the Patriarch of the West whereby it is cleare that his Maiesties meaning was and is to yeeld the Bishop of Rome ouer other Westerne Bishops in case they should meet iâ— Councell a prioritie in sitting not a superiority in commanding a primacy or precedency in order not a supremacie in power and iurisdiction it beeing the marke which Mr. Doctour driues at and from thence labours cunningly but malitiously to inferre contrary to his Maiesties both minde and words I conclude this point with a Reuerend Prelate His Vicarship to Christ must be proued by stronger and plainer euidence then you haue yet shewed before wee may grant it and for his Patriarkeship saith he which you now take hold of by Gods law he hath nne in this Realme for â—ixe hundred yeeres after Christ he had none for the last sixe hundred as looking to greater matters hee would haue none aboue and against the swâ—rd which God hath ordained he can haue none to the subuersion of the faith and oppression of his brethren in right reason and equity he should haue none you must seeke farther for subiection to his tribunall this land oweth him none B. C. 18. There is another statute in England made by Queene Elizabeth and confirmed by your Maiesty that it is death for any English man to bee in England being made a Priest by authority deriued or pretended to bee deriued from the Bishop of Rome I cannot beleeue that I am a Priest at all vnlesse I be deriued by authority from Gregory the great from whence all the Bishops in England haue their being if they haue any being at all G. H. 18. The Statute intended is the 27. of Eliz. Cap. 2. which indeed in the body thereof hath words sounding to that purpose but the sense is malitiously peruerted and the inference thereupon for he that shall reade through that Statute and consider all the parts shall clearely perceiue that therby none other Priests are intended then Popish Priests made and ordeined by Popish Bishops and not such as Mr. Doctour was made in England by any of our Bishops here Though perhaps it were true that our Bishops did deriue their first authority from Gregory which we do not yeeld vnto considering that Augustine from whom they are pretended to deriue it was not consecrated by him but by Aetherius Archbishop of Arles if wee may beleeue our own Venerable Bede for the title of the Statute is An Acte against Iesuites Seminary Priests and such other like disobedient persons and the preamble of the acte hath these words Whereas diuers persons called or professed Iesuites Seminary Priests and other Priests which haue beene and froâ— time to time are made in the parts beyond the Seas by or according to the order and rites of the Romish Church haue of late yeeres commen and bene sent into England c. So that if according to the rule Praefatio est clauis Statuti we shall interprete the body by the title or preamble howsoeuer the wordes in the body of the acte bee somewhat generall yet what Priests are intended by the Law-makers is euident enough and except M. Doctour were a Priest according to the Order and Rites of the Romish Church by shauing anoynting and imposition of hands by a Popish Bishop and that since the first yeere of Queene Elizabeth he needed not to haue feared the danger of the Law B. C. 19. There is another Statute in like maner made and confirmed that it is death to bee reconciled by a Catholike Priest to the Church of Rome I am perswaded that the Church of Rome is our mother Church and that no man in England can be saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church and therefore I can not chuse but perswade the people to be reconciled thereunto if possibly they may G. H. 19. This Statute also is either purposely or ignorantly mistaken and is not distinct from that following but are both one namely 23. Eliz. cap. 1. The title of it is An Acte to retaine the Queenes Maiesties Subiects in due obedience and the preamble recites that whereas diuers ill affected persons haue practised to withdraw the Queenes Subiects from their naturall allegeance the purueiw of the Acte followeth that all persons which shall put in practise to â—bsolue perswade or withdrawe any of the Queenes subiects from their naturall obedience to her Maiestie or to withdraw them for that intent from the religion established and so foorth shall be traitours and the person willingly absolued or withdrawen as aforesayd to be likewise a traitour so that the withdrawing of the Subiect from their naturall obedience or for that intent from the religion established is the offence made treason and not simple exhorting to the Romish religion as is alleadged And yet to speake a trueth I see not how any exhortation to an absolute submission of the vnderstanding and the will to the Bishop of Romes Iurisdiction which now is made the onely essentiall forme of that religion can well be seuered from such an intent But Rome you say is the mother Church and no man in England can bee saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church Where if you terme it the mother Church in that sense that his MAIESTIE doeth wee imbrace it but if your meaning bee that shee is our mother either in regard that wee receiued the first life or still should receiue the nourishment of religion from her wee denie it our nation being first conuerted to the Christian faith by Ioseph of Arimathea who intombed the Corps of our Sauiour and lieth himselfe interred at Glastenbury together with twelue disciples his assistants where they first preached the Gospel as Gildas affirmeth in the life of Aurelius Ambrosius and Malmesbury in the Booke intituled The Antiquitie of Glastenbury written to Henry of Bloys brother to King Steuen and Abbot of the same place and it is consented vnto by the learned Antiquaries of later times as namely Mr. Cambden Iohn Bale Matthew Parker Polydore Virgil and others grounding themselues vpon the authoritie of the best approued and most ancient writers and withall considering our keeping of Easter and other Ceremonies were after the fashion of the Easterne Church and not of the Westerne at the comming of Austin I may very well coniecture that our
first conuersion to Christian religion was from the Iewes or Grecians and not from the Romanes so that if Rome bee rightly â—ermed oâ—r mother Church it must be in regard of later supplies from Eleutherius and Gregory not of our first Conuersion howsoeuer the holy Citie being now become an harlot wee haue no more reason to reuerence her as a mother but as a strumpet till she repent and amend to shunâ—e all vnion with her S. Paul writing to the whole Church of Rome and giuing them their due praise for their deuotion and zeale and entring at last into the reiectioÌ„ of the Iewes for their vnbeliefe he warneth expresly the Romans in these words Boast not thy selfe against the branches and if thou boast thy selfe thou bearest not the roote but the roote thee Thou wilt say the branches were broken off that I might be graft in well through infidelity they are broken off and thou standest by faith be not high minded but feare For if God spared not the naturall branches take heed lest he spare not thee Behold therefore the goodnesse and seuerity of God toward them which haue fallen seueritie but towards thee goodnesse if thou continue in his goodnesse otherwise thou also shalt bee cut off Now whether the Apostle spake generally to the Gentiles and inclusiuely to the Romanes or namely to the Romanes and proportionably to the rest it is all one to vs one of the twaine he must needs Origen saith vpon these words of Paul I say to you Gentiles Now hee plainely turneth his speach to the Gentiles but chiefly to those of the citie of Rome that beleeued S. Paul speaking then to the Romanes no man may except the Romans and they being included his admonition to them if there could bee no danger in them of swaruing from the faith was vtterly superfluous and the condition implied ridicâ—lous and the commination odious and the reason friuolous Now that which S. Paul there threatned we find come to passe so that we cannot we dare not ioyne hands with her nay wee are so farre from beleeuing that none can bee saued that continues out of the visible vnitie of that Church that on the other side we coÌ„stantly beleeue that the means to be saued is to separate our selues from the vnity of that Church till she separate her selfe from her errors specially since in your vnderstanding the continuing in the visible vnity of that Church is in a manner nothing else but the acknowledging of the Bishop of Rome to bee the visible head of it and if none can bee saued without that what shall become of your honest brethren of the English Clergie whom you professe you are so farre from condemning as you doe account your selfe one of them what of so many millions of soules in the Easterne and Westerne Christian Churches more in number by many degrees then those that yet continue in that visible vnitie and better both in life and beliefe then those who acknowledge it or the visible head himselfe of it B. C. 20. There is another Statute in like manner made and confirmed that it is death to exhort the people of England to Catholike religion I am perswaded that the religion prescribed and practised by the Church of Rome is the true Catholike religion which I will particularly iustifie from point to point if God giue time and opportunitie and therefore I can not choose but perswade the people thereunto G. H. 20. For the Statute here pretended I haue already answered that it is none other then a branch of the former And for your promise of iustifying from point to point the religion prescribed and practised by the Church of Rome if it be performed when wee shall see it published I doubt not but a Confutation will be found as particular and plaine and more true then your Iustification but in the meane time I cannot but wonder what you can say more herein then hath often been sayd by as earnest and more learned Proctors of that Church then your selfe Besides how comes it to passe you should be suddenly expert and so peremptorily confident in all the controuersed points except you were resolued in most of them before your parting hence I remember Duke Humfrey discouered a notable piece of knauery in a beggar who pretending blindnesse from his birth vndertooke to iudge of colours instantly vpon the recouery of his sight this your vaine offer to iustifie all points in controuersie presently vpon your breathing of outlandish ayre cannot but giue vs iust occasioÌ„ to suspect the like hyopocrisie Lastly if the religion prescribed and practised by the Church of Rome be in all points the only true religion why would his holinesse permit the exercise of ours with little or no alteration as afterward you beare vs in hand vpon conditions his MAIESTIE on the other side would admit of his supremacie and the Masse B. C. 21. It may bee these are not all seuerall Statutes some of them may bee members of the same for I haue not my bookes about mee to search but I am sure all of them doe make such felonies and treasons as were the greatest vertues in the Primitiue Church and such as I must confesse my selfe I cannot choose if I liue in England but endeuour to bee guilty of and then it were easie to finde Puritanes enough to make a iury against me and there would not want a Iustice of peace to giue sentence and when they had done that which is worse then the persecution it selfe they would all sweare solemnly that D. Carier was not put to death for Catholike Religion but for felony and treason I haue no hope of protection against the cruelty of those lawes if your Maiesty be resolued vpon no conditions whatsoeuer to haue society at all nor no Communion at all with the Church of Rome and therefore while the case so stands I dare not returne home againe But I cannot be altogether out of hope of better newes before I die as long as I doe beleeue that the Saints in heauen doe reioyce at the conuersion of a sinner to Christ and doe know that your Maiesty by youâ— birth hath so great an interest in the Saints in heauen as you shall neuer cease to haue vntill you cease to be the sonne of such a mother as would reioyce more then all the rest for your conuersion and therefore I assure my selfe that shee with all the rest doe pray that your Maiesty before you die may bee militant in the Communion of that Church wherein they are triumphant And in this hope I am gone before to ioyne my prayers with theirs in the vnity of the Catholike Church and doe humbly pray your Maiesty to pardon me for doing that which was not in my power to auoide and to giue me leaue to liue where I hope shortly to die vnlesse I may hope to do your Maiestie seruice and without the
her singular vertues and excellencies erected to her euerlasting memorie a princely Monument in the magnificent Chappell of her grandfather Henry the seuenth inscribed with this ensuing Epitaph of her greatnesse Sacred vnto memorie Religion to its primitiue syncerity restored Peace throughly setled Coine to the true value refined Rebellion at home extinguished France neere ruine by intestine mischiefes relieued Netherland supported Spaines Armado vanquished Ireland with Spaniards expulsion and traitors coercion quieted both Vniuersities Reuenues by a law of prouision exceedingly augmented finally all England enriched and xlv yeeres most prudently gouerned ELIZABETH a Queene a Conqueresse a Triumpher the most deuoted to pietie the most happie after lxx yeeres of her life quietly by death departing hath left here in this most famous Collegiate Church which by her was established and refounded these remaines of her mortality vntil at Christs call they shall againe rise immortall Shee died the xxiiij of March the yeere of Saluation MDCII of her reigne xlv of her age lxx For an eternall memoriall Vnto ELIZABETH Queene of England France and Ireland daughter of King Henrie the VIII grandchild to K. Hen. the VII great grandchild to K. Ed. the IIII the mother of this her Countrey the Nurse of Religion and Learning for perfect skill of very many languages for glorious endowments as well of minde as body and for regall vertues beyond her Sex A Prince incomparable IAMES of Great Britaine France and Ireland King inheritor both of her Vertues and Kingdomes to her so well deseruing piously hath this erected Which I haue the rather set downe at large aswel for the reuerence I bare her memorie in whose reigne it is not the least part of my comfort that I was borne and baptized as to commend to posteritie his Maiesties Royall disposition in giuing her right so farre as were it not authorized by his princely testimonie future ages would thinke it fabulous but specially to shew that hee ascribeth all her honour and prosperitie not to the Church of Rome as Mr. Doctor doth or to the religion by him called Catholike but to her deuotion and pietie and the restoring of religion to its primitiue syncerity For with it as shee made the entrance of her reigne so doth hee of her Epitaph both esteeming it as the head spring from whence all that ensuing happinesse did flow and was deriued neither can it in mine vnderstanding bee otherwise ascribed to Rome then in granting that the reputation and renowne which shee wanne was in part gained and much increased by escaping through Gods especiall prouidence euer watchfull ouer her the manifold treasons and frustrating the barbarous attempts that were hatched at Rome and to bee acted by Romish vassals aswell against her person as estate which made her greatest enemies confesse the finger of God is heere and surely had not Rome endeauoured by might and maine to quench and eclipsâ— her light witnesse the Bull of Clement the 7th while shee was yet in her mothers wombe and afterward of Pius and Sixtus and Cardinall Comoes letter to Parrie and Cardinall Allens booke to the Nobilitie of England in the yeere 1588. I am clearely of opinion the beames of her honour had not shined so clearely and gloriously to the world as they did Lastly those singularities which you bring of being a woman a maiden Queene and the last of her Race they were indeed aduantages of admiration but such in my iudgement as rather shew that shee was blessed from heauen then by any earthly meanes in as much as liuing and dying both without the helpe of an husband and hope of an heire from her owne body she notwithstanding proiected and effected so great matters and so much good to the State she gouerned B. C. 5. As for the honour and greatnesse of the Turke and other Infidels as it reacheth no farther then this life so it hath no beginning from aboue this world And if we may beleeue S. Ambrose in Luc. 4. alibâ— those honours are conferred rather by Gods permission then his donation being indeed ordained and ordered by his prouidence but for the sinnes of the people conferred by the Prince that ruleth in the ayre It is true that the Turkish Empire hath now continued a long time but they haue other principles of State to stand vpon the continuall guarde of an hundreth thousand Souldiers whereof most of them know none other Parents but the Emperour the tenure of all his Subiects who holde all in Capite ad voluntatem Domini by the seruice of the Sword their enioyned silence and reuerence in matters of Religion and their facility in admitting other Religions aswell as their own to the hope of saluation and to tolerate them so that they be good Subiects These and such like are principles of great importance to increase an Empire and to maintaine a temporall State But there is no State in Christendome that may endure these Principles vnlesse they meane to turne Turkes also which although some be willing to doe yet they will neither hold in Capite nor hold their peace in Religion nor suffer their King to haue such a guard about him nor admit of Catholike Religion so much as the Turke doeth G. H. 5. You might with the Turke aswell haue ioyned the King of China the Sophie of Persia the Chame of Tartarie the great Magore Presbiter Iohn the like whose estates few Christian Princes exceede or can match in riches and greatnes But that they should haue their estates Conferred on them by the Prince that ruleth in the aire neither Ambrose affirmes it nor is it in it selfe true Saint Ambrose his words are these A Deo potestatum ordinatio amalo ambitio potestatis The ordaining of the power is from God but the ambitious desire not the conferring of it from the diuell Indeed it is his challenge in that chapter To whomsoeuer I will I giue it speaking of the power and glory of earthly Kingdomes but it is the voice of God speaking in the person of wisedome in the 8 th of the Prouerbs By mee Kings raigne and Saint Paul teacheth vs There is no power such as himselfe liued vnder but of God to which purpose it is well sayd of S. Augustine whom M. Doctor pretendeth to follow most among the ancients Qui dedit Mario ipse Cesari Qui Augusto ipse Neroni Qui Vespasiano vel patri vel filio suauissimis imperatoribus ipse Domitiano crudelissimo ne per singulos ire necesse sit Qui Constantino Christiano ipse apostatae Iuliano Hee that gaue it to Marius gaue it to Caesar He that gaue it to Augustus gaue it to Nero He that gaue it to Vespasian the father or his sonne most sweet Emperours gaue it also to Domitian the most cruell and that I should not need to reckon vp the rest in particular He that gaue it to Constantine the Christian gaue it to Iulian the
apostata So then in Saint Augustines opinon God did not onely order those honours by his prouidence as you would haue it but conferre them by his bounty Neither haue we any reason to thinke but that he who called Cyrus his Shepheard and his Anointed and gaue him the treasures of darkenesse and assured Nabuchadonosor by his Propheâ— that himselfe had giuen to him a Kingdome and power and strength and glorie may as truely bee sayd to haue conferred that gouernment vpon the Turke which now he holds But it seemes you aime through the Turkes sides to strike at Queene Elizabeth and through her at King Iames Infidels and Heretikes being in the Roman language ranked together So that their king domes being not by Gods donation they might lie loose and by occasion fall as it were by excheate to his holinesse gift Your reasons of the largenesse and long continuance of the Turkish Empire are as farre from the purpose as your whole discourse is from any sound Diuinitie for not to stand vpon the sifting of the trueth of them which in some of them may not vniustly be questioned your inference is that such principles are of great importance to increase and maintaine a temporall estate But the point is whether any can be of sufficient importance to vphold any estate when God for the dishonouring of his CHRIST is purposed to ruine it and as the Psalmist speakes of a fruitfull land to make it barren for the iniquity of the people that dwell therein before you speake of a Supernaturall iudgement of God in destruction and here of a Naturall and humane inuention for preseruation which can hold no more proportion with the former then a Venice glasse with an yron pot or an earthen vessell with a brasen Lastly what states you should meane that are willing to become Turkish I know not but what they are that inioy their estates in capite Ecclesiae ad voluntatem Domini Papae and enioyne the greatest silence and outward reuerence in matters of Religion and withall are content to admit the toleration of Iewes and Turkes too in their Dominions rather then of Christians your selfe when you wrote this could not bee ignorant Nay some of the Popes themselues as namely Alexander the VI. and Paulus the III. if we may credite Thuanus had secret commerce with the great Turke against the Christian Princes and the former of them if Iouius and Guicciardin mistake not tooke vnder hand of the Turke Baiazets two hundred thousand Crownes to kill his brother Gemen And Alexander the III. wrote to the Soldan that if he would liue quietly he should by some sleight murther the Emperour Frederike Barbarossa and to that ende sent him the Emperours picture B. C. 6. It is most true which I gladly write and so giue out with all the honour I can of your Maiesty to speake that I thinke there was neuer any Catholike king in England that did in his time more imbrace and fauour the true body of the Church of England then your Maiesty doth the shadow thereof that is yet left and my firme hope is that this your desire to honour our blessed Sauiour in the shadow of the Church of England will moue him to honour your Maiesty so much as not to suffer you to die out of the body of his true Catholike Church and in the meane time to let you vnderstand that all honour that is intended to him by schisme and heresie doth redound to his great dishonour both in respect of his realla and of his mysticall body G. H. 6. You honour his Maiesty much indeed in giuing out that he imbraceth a shadow in stead of a substance as Ixion did a cloude in stead of Iuno and Iacob bleare-eyed Lea in stead of Rachel but in trueth of the Church of Rome wee may safely say that with Esops dog in snatching at the shadow she hath lost the substance of religion she hath so couered ouer all the parts of diuine seruice with the leaues of ceremonies that hardly is the fruit it selfe to be seene she hath so bepainted the face of Gods worship that not easily is the natiue complexion thereof to be â—ound The Poet spake it of the women of his time Pars minima est ipsa puellasui But we may more truely affirme it of the Romish religion her ornaments and apparell are such that a man may seeke Rome in Rome and her religion in her religion and not find either I will giue but one instance for all Bellarmine in the conclusion of his controuersies of the Sacrament of Baptisme maketh no lesse then twelue ceremonies to march before it fiue to assist and fiue to hold vp the traine of which some are profane the greatest part ridiculous and few or none wherein wee differ so much as knowen to the primitiue Church Now if the Church of England haue scowred off the drosse and pared away the superstition and nouelty retaining the substance together with the most comely and ancient ceremonies aswell in this Sacrament as in other parts of diuine seruice and his Maiesty follow her therein shall he therefore be sayd to imbrace the shadow and not the body whereas in truth if euer King of England embraced the body of religion without respect to the shadow of vaine and needlesse ceremonies it is his Maiesty which while he doth there is little feare by Gods grace of his dying out of the body of Christs true Catholike Church whose head is not the Bishop of Rome but Christ himselfe vnderstood in the 10. of S. Iohns Gospel and there shal be one sheepefold and one sheepeheard B. C. 7. For his reall body is not as the vbiquitaries would haue it euery where aswel without the Church as within but only where himselfe would haue it and hath ordained that it should bee and that is amongst his Apostles and Disciples and their successours in the Catholique Church to whom he deliuered his Sacraments and promised to continue with them vntill the worlds end So that though Christ bee present in that Schisme by the power of his dietie for so he is present in hell also yet by the grace of his humanity by participation of which grace onely there is hope of saluation hee is not present there at all except it be in corners and prisons and places of persecution and therefore whatsoeuer honour is pretended to be done to Christ in schisme and heresie is not done to him but to his vtter enemies G. H. 7. By the reall body of Christ I suppose you vnderstand the naturall his mysticall body being also reall but not naturall and I see not but this naturall body may as well bee euery where wherein you taxe the Vbiquitaries as in heauen and on earth and vpon earth in tenne thousand places at the same instant which the Church of Rome maintaines but it seemes by confining of him to the Church on earth your purpose is to exclude him from
state being now setled and a continuall posteritie like to ensue of one nature and condition God knoweth what that forcible weapon of necessitie may constraine and driue men vnto at length But thankes be vnto God the Father of our Lord Iesus CHRIST who hath so fixed and stablished the Royall heart of our gracious Soueraigne as that neither his bloodie threates nor your sugred promises can moue it one point from the center of that trueth which himselfe hath still professed and in which his posterity are trained vp And thus the weakenesse of the foundation vpon which the first reason of your vaine hope is grounded is discouered God in his promises is alwayes most sure but this your reason pretended to be grounded thereupon most vnsure since neither the true Religion is found at this day in that Church which you call Catholike neither are temporall blessings alwayes annexed to that Religion which is indeed true Thus much you might haue learned of Hall the Iesuite who after the discouery of the Powderplot recites vnto Littleton for his comfort certaine examples of Heretikes ouercomming Catholikes in battell and Infidels ouerthrowing Christians or of father Robert Parsons in his Replie to his MAIESTIE touching Queene ELIZABETHS happinesse outward felicities saith hee are worldlings arguments no necessary improuements of Gods blessing howbeit Father Robert Bellarmine makes it one of the 15. and Bozius one of his 100. notes of the true Church but much rather and better might you haue learned it of the Prophet Dauid who was so sorely perplexed with this point that till he went into the Sanctuarie of God and there vpon consultation with him vnderstood the reason of it hee was well nigh at his wits end saying to himselfe in a kinde of despaire Then haue I clensed mine heart in vaine in vaine haue I washed mine hands in innocencie Yet if the argument were infallible God hath approued the trueth of his Maiesties Religion by those manifold outward blessings and miraculous deliuerances which of his mercâ—e hee hath vouchsafed him So that his Maiestie might iustly take vp that of the same Prophet in another place Blesse the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benefits who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with louing kindnesse and tender mercies and our hope and vnfained prayer to God is that whiles his Maiestie ceaseth not in this maner to honour God God will not cease in like maner to honour him and his posteritie with many blessings in this world and in the next with eternall happinesse B. C. 10. The second reason of my hope that Catholike Religion may be a great meanes of honor security to your Maiesties posteritie is taken from the consideration of your neighbors the Kings and Princes of Christendome among whom there is no state ancient and truely honourable but onely those that are Catholike The reason whereof I take to be because the rules of Catholike Religion are Eternall Vniuersall and Constant vnto themselues and with all so consonant to Maiestie and Greatnesse as they haue made and preserued the Catholike Church reuerent and venerable throughout the Christian world for these thousand and sixe hundred yeres and those temporall states that haue beene conformable thereunto haue beene alwayes most honourable and so are like to continue vntill they hearken vnto Schisme And as for those that haue reiected and opposed the rules of Catholike Religion they haue beene driuen in short time to degenerate and become either tyrannicall or popular Your Maiestie I know doth abhorre tyrannie but if Schisme and Heresie might haue their full swinge ouer the Seas the very shadow and reliques of Maiestie in England should be vtterly defaced and quickly turned into Heluetian or Belgian popularity for they that make no conscience to prophane the Maiesty of God and his Saints in the Church will when they feele their strength make no bones to violate the Maiestie of the King and his children in the common wealth G. H. 10. Hauing opened your entrance to a second reason in shew but indeed the same with the former you tell vs that among all the Kings and Princes of Christendome there is no state ancient and truely honorable but onely those that are Catholike wherein you doe the King of Denmarke and Sweden specially the former great honour in consideration belike of his neere alliance to his Maiestie as also to all the secular Princes of Germanie the house of Austria and the Duke of Bauaria onely excepted and among the rest the Prince Elector Palatine of Rhine his Maiesties sonne in law is most bound to thanke you and it seemes you conceiued so much by intending your iourney to Hydelberg and good reason you should haue been welcome considering you make both him and all the rest of the Kings and Princes of Christendome that haue forsaken Communion with the Church of Rome to bee both base and tyrannicall wheras I may be bold to say it that at this day there are none more moderate in their gouernments then those whom you call Schismatikes and of them the greatest part were neuer so flourishing as since they renounced societie with that Church specially the Heluetians and Belgians in whom you instance being growen more rich more powerfull and politike in their affaires then euer before And for popularity the Heluetians had it long before any change of religion and those very Cantons which call themselues Catholike retaine that forme and none other vnto this day And for the Belgians it appeares by the Prince of Orenge his Apollogie that they euer challenged their freedome as due by the Capitulations betweene them and their gouernours the Dukes of Burgundy and now at last after so much Christian blood spilt as all the world knowes in the Articles of peace concluded betweene the King of Spaine and them they are declared a free State Now whether they make any conscience of profaning the Maiestie of God let their published Confessions which testifie and hee that compares their practise with that of the Italians may easily iudge of the tree by the fruits whether wee regard the prophanation of his Maiesty in the blaspheming of his Name or the disgracing of his word or the vnsanctifying of his day for his Saints they all agree I speake for the maine body of their guides and professours in giuing them as much honour as they are lawfully capable of or would themselues willingly receiue and if this bee the heresie you meane wee professe it hath had its full swinge ouer seas already but doe not yet perceiue that therâ—by the Maiestie of our King is any way violated but rather strengthened and increased Lastly whereas you tell vs that you take the reason of all this to bee because the rules of Catholike religion are eternall vniuersall and constant to themselues I graunt there is and ought to be a mutuall dependance betwixt religion and ciuill policie the one both giuing
they bee not silenced they must say nothing but what they are able to prooue by sufficient authority before those that are able to iudge as if our Bishops were ignorant that it belonged to their charge to take notice of the preaching of vnsound doctrine within their Diocesse and accordingly to censure it or knowing what is their duety in that behalfe they were more vnwilling or vnable to performe it then Doctor Carier and his Colledge of Critickes and in the meane time a conference must be had of learned and moderate men on either side such belike as your selfe like Metius Suffetius luke-warme halting betwixt two opinions rowing to the shore and looking to the Sea holding with the hare and running with the hound who publikely pray for the King and priuately worke for the Pope true learning we reuerence and Christian moderation we highly esteeme but Science falsely so called bent to the patronage of falsehood and neutralitie vnder the vizard of moderation to the reconciling of error to trueth is but the abusing of faire and honourable Titles to base and malicious ends which imputation you labour to fasten vpoÌ„ vs as if by the light of the Gospel we held the people in extreme ignorance wheras the Prophet Dauid tels vs that the word of the Lord was a lanterne to his feete and a light vnto his pathes and S. Peter You haue a most sure word of the Prophet to which you doe well that you take heede as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place but you beare vs in hand that the light of the Gospel holds men in extreame ignorance Zachary prophesied of his â—onne the Baptist that he was ordained to giue light to them that sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death to guide their feete into the way of peace and the Baptist himselfe of CHRIST that he was that true Light which lighteth euery man that commeth into the world But you tell vs that it serues to dazell mens eyes and rob their purses And no doubt had you liued among the Pharisees in the time of CHRIST or Iohn the Baptist you would haue called their doctrine a counterfeit light in a theeues lanterne aswel as ours being in substance the same with theirs And for ignorance I may bee bolde to say it with a thankefull acknowledgement to God for it that a good part of our people are more expert in the Scriptures and are better able to yeeld an account of that faith which is in them then many of your Prelates and Priests whereof some beare the name of the brotherhood of ignorance and all at least by your practise acknowledge her the mother of deuotion in as much as you withhold the trueth in vnrighteousnesse like Esopes dog you neither eate hay your selues nor suffer others to eate it You pretend the key of Knowledge but you neither enter in your selues nor suffer others to enter you neither reade nor esteem the Scriptures your selues as you ought nor suffer the people to reade them but seale them vp in an vnknown language to the vse of a few with whoÌ„ you please to dispense B. C. 21. For matter of doctrine there is no reason that your Maiestie or the Kingdome should be molested or burthened for the mainetenance of Caluinisme which is as much against the Religion of England as it is against the Religion of Rome and will by necessarie consequence ouerthrow not onely the Catholike Church the Communion of Saints and the forgiuenesse of sinnes but also all the Articles of the Creede saue onely so much as the Turke himselfe will be content to beleeue which will be easie to proue vpon better leasure The doctrine of England which is contained in the Common prayer booke and Church Catechisme confirmed by act of Parliament and by your Maiesties Edict wherein all Englishmen are baptized and ought to be confirmed and therefore there is some reason that this should be stood vpon But this doctrine in most of the maine points therof as hath bene touched before and requireth a iust Treatise to set downe in particular doth much differ from the current opinions and Catechismes of Caluinisme doth very neere agree with or at least not contradict the Church of Rome if wee list with patience to heare one another and those points of doctrine wherein wee are made to be at warres with the Church of Rome whether we will or not doe rather arguethe corruptions of the State from whence they come then are argued by the grounds of that Religion wherevpon they stand and the contradiction of doctrine hath followed the alteration of State and not the alteration of State beene grounded vpon any trueth of doctrine G. H. 21. We are now come to one of the maine points you driue at howbeit you seeme onely to glance at it in passage and to draw it on vpon the bye which is to put vs off from all fellowship and communion with those Churches who acknowledge Caluin to haue beene an excellent instrument of God in the abolishing and suppressing of Poperie and the clearing and spreading of his trueth that so being separated from them we may either stand single and be encountred alone or returne againe to our old bias and relaps vpon Rome and so through Caluins sides you strike at the throat and heart of our Religion For our parts we all wish with the Reuerend learned Prelate of our owne Church that you were no more Papists then wee Caluinists no more pind on the Popes sleeue then we on Caluins whoÌ„ we esteeme as a worthy man but a man and consequently subiect to humane error and frailtie We maintaine nothing with him because he affirmes it but because from infallible grounds he proues it whereas the Popes bare assertion with you is proofe sufficient You are so sworne to his words that they are of equal or higher authoritie with you then Pythagoras his precepts with his Schollers ipse dixit is enough for your warrant but for vs we imbrace Caluin as himselfe doth authors not diuine vsque ad aras so farre foorth as with diuine hee accordeth and no farther This is our iudgement of Caluin but to say that the doctrine which he maintaines is as much against the Religion of England as it is against that of Rome is a desperate assertion and such as can neuer be made good did all our fugitiues lay their heads together and were all their wits turned into one And I much meruaile what you meant pretending so much tendernesse of conscience and diligence in search of the trueth to suffer your malice so farre to preuaile vpon your iudgment as to let so foule a blot so manifest a falshood to drop from your pen and not only so but to present it to the scanning of so learned a Prince and to publish it to the view and censure of the world For if Caluins
to wit Westminster Chester Peterborough Oxford Bristol and Gloucester whereof the fiue last are yet in being at which time hee also erected at Canterbury a Deane with 12. Prebends at Winchester another with 12. more at Worcester another with ten at Chester another with sixe at Peterborough another with sixe at Oxford another with eight at Ely another with eight at Gloucester another with sixe at Bristol another with sixe at Carlile another with foure at Durham another with twelue at Rochester another with sixe and lastly at Norwich another with sixe so that wee haue good reason to thinke he returned againe to the Church much out of the Abbey lands and if notwithstanding all this God blessed him not in his thriuing wee haue nothing else to answere but that of Salomon It is a snare to the man who deuoureth that which is holy and after vowes to make inquiry But in his wiuing hee so blessed him though in this too hee shewed himselfe a man and consequently subiect to humane passion and frailty that three of his children successiuely wore the Crown after him of which the first was renowmed for his vertue beyond his age and the last beyond her Sexe of the one and his mother it was written Phoenix Ianaiacet nato Phoenice dolendum Saecula Phoenices nullatulisse duas And to the other might bee applied Non decor effecit fragilem non sceptra superbam Sola potens humilis sola pudica decens And though they all died without issue yet doth his honour still liue in theirs Henry the II. of France died in the vnitie of the Church of Rome yet three of his sonnes reigning after him left the Crown to a neighbour Prince as the children of Henry the VIII heere with vs did yet none that I haue met with hold him in that regard accursed of God and if in that respect God cursed Henry because hee renounced the pretended authoritie of the Church of Rome then should hee by vertue of that reason haue blessed Henries eldest daughter with issue who with great submission and deuotion reconciled her selfe to that Church and married to the most Catholike King and though the world were for a while so borne in hand yet in the end the great and solemne expectation thereof vanished into smoake Now that Henrie was wearie of his title of Supremacie before he died it appeares not and that hee wished to bee reconciled to the Pope which you call being in the Church againe is as vnlikely since no doubt is to bee made but vpon notice giuen of his Contrition and desire of Satisfaction hee might as easily haue beene absolued as wished it But certaine it is that hee wished it not if we may make coniecture of his wishes from those speeches which a little before his death hee deliuered to Mounsieur de Hannibault Lord Admirall of France and Ambassadour to the French king being then at Hampton Court in the moneth of August and in the yeere 1546. in the hearing of Cranmer Lord Archbishop of Canterburie concerning the reformation of Religion and afterwards more neere his death and more openly to Bruno Ambassador of Iohn Frederike Duke of Saxonie vnto whom the King gaue this answere in the hearing of these foure sufficient witnesses the Lord Seymer Earle of Hartford Lord Lisley then Admirall the Earle of Bedford Lord Priuie Seale and the Lord Paget That if the quarrell of the Duke of Saxonie were nothing else against the Emperour but for matter of Religion he should stand to it strongly and hee would take his part willing him not to doubt nor feare and with this answere dismissed him Besides the manner of his sonne and heire Apparent Prince Edwards education the qualitie and disposition of those persons whom he named as the principall ouerseers of his Will from which number hee excluded the Bishop of Winchester the most busie and forward instrument in those times for the maintenance of the Romish Religion though hee had once admitted him and was earnestly solicited by some of his bed chamber to readmit him are to mee so many euident demonstrations that hee was so farre from wishiug reconciliation with the Church of Rome that hee rather desired and intended if God had spared him life a while longer some more full and perfect reformation of Religon But the secret working of Gods holy prouidence which disposeth all things after his owne wisedome and purpose thought it good rather by taking that King away to reserue the accomplishment of that worke as he did the building of his Temple to Solomon to the peaceable time of his sonne Edward and Elizabeth his daughter whose hands were vndefiled with any blood and life vnspotted with any violence or crueltie Lastly not content to rippe vp the disgraces of his life you dogge him to his very graue bearing vs in hand that he was accursed of God in as much as hee wanted a Tombe which was the want also of Queene Mary his daughter But if the want of a Tombe be a token of Gods Curse vpon Henry then the hauing of it must consequently be a token of his blessing vpon Elizabeth whom notwithstanding you wrappe in the same Curse Nay how many of your Bishops of Rome then are Cursed of God of whom a number are not onely without Tombes but some in the first age of the Church by the fury of their persecutors and some in latter times by the malice of their Successors without Graues also Indeed wee reade of Dauid a man after Gods owne heart His Sepulchre is with vs vnto this day But of Moses a faithfull seruant in all the house of God No man knoweth of his Sepulchre vnto this day And yet in my remembrance we read it no were that either Dauid was more blessed of God for the one or Moses cursed for the other the heathen Poet could tell vs Coelo tegitur quinon habet vrnam And S. Augustine that these kinde of Monuments and Memorials are Solatia viuorum not suâ—sidia mortuorum comforts only for the liuing no helpes for the dead and many noble spirits may be of Catoes minde desirous rather that after their deaths it should be demaunded why they haue no statue erected to their memory then why they haue one This I speake onely to shew that had hee had no Tombe yet were it no great dishonor to him But if we may credite the last but not the worst compiler of the Historie of our Countrey hee was with great solemnitie buried at Windsor vnder a most costly and stately Tombe begun in copper and guilt but neuer finished In the inclosures of whose grates is curiously cast this Inscription Henricus Octauus Rex Angliae Franciae Dominus Hiberniae Fidei defensor And that it might appeare to posteritie how Artificiall and Magnificent this worke was intended he there sets downe the seuerall parcels and pieces of the Modell thereof as he found it described in a Manuscript receiued from Mr. Lancaster
reason The like befell Iohn de la Poole designed by Richard the third after the death of his owne sonne to bee his Successour himselfe being alwayes euen in that respect suspected of Henry the VII till at last he was slaine and his brother vnder Henry the VIII beheaded These reasons might mooue her Maiestie for the stopping of that declaration not the feare of his Maiesties right but the care of preseruing it being sufficiently proclaimed in his blood and discent Whatsoeuer it were since his Maiestie who had the neerest interest in that errand hath bene content thus graciously to passe it ouer it cannot but argue want both of wisdome and charitie in Mr. Doctor thus vnseasonably and maliciously to reuiue it Lastly God of purpose no doubt raised vp his Maiestie to crosse the worldly and diuelish pretence of Rome and to perpetuate the life of that Religion which you call Schisme and I make no doubt but if King Henry the VII had found it left by his predecessor in the state that his Maiestie did hee would in his wisedome haue left it to his Successor as hee is like to doe and I am the rather induced to thinke so because in the first yeere of his raigne the Pope hauing excommunicated all such persons as had bought allome of the Florentines by his permission if not command it was resolued by all the Iudges of England that the Popes Excommunication ought not to be obeyed or to bee put in Execution within the Realme of England and in the same yeere hee suffered sharpe lawes to be made by the Parliament to which himselfe gaue being by his Royall assent for the reformation of his Clergie then growen very dissolute and in the eleuenth yere of his raigne a Statute was enacted that though by the Ecclesiasticall Lawes allowed within this Realme a Priest cannot haue two Benefices nor a bastard be a Priest yet it should be lawfull for the King to dispence with both of these as being mala prohibita but not mala per se all which argues that they then held the King to bee personam mixtam as it was declared in the tenth yeere of his reigne that is a person mixt because hee hath both Ecclesiasticall and Temporall iurisdiction vnited in his person B. C. 34. But perhaps the Schisme though it serue you to none other vse at all for your title yet it doth much increase your authority and your wealth and therefore it cannot stand with your honour to further the vnity of the Church of Christ. Truely those your most famous and renowned ancestours that did part with their authority and their wealth to bestow them vpon the Church of CHRIST and did curse and execrate those that should diminish and take them away againe did not thinke so nor finde it so And I would to God your Maiesty were so powerfull and so rich as some of those kings were that were most bountifull that way You are our Soueraigne Lord All our bodies and our goods are at your command but our soules as they belong not to your charge but as by way of protection in Catholike religion so they cannot increase your honour and authority but in a due subordination vnto Christ and to those that supply his place in iis quae sunt iuris diuini It was essentiall to Heathen Emperours to bee Pontifices as well as Reges because they were themselues authors of their owne religion But among Christians where Religion comes from CHRIST who was no worldy Emperour though aboue them all the spirituaâ— and temporall authority haue two beginnings and therefore two Supremes who if they bee subordinate doe vphold and increase one another but if the temporall authority oppose the spirituall it destroyeth it selfe and dishonoureth him from whom the spirituall authority is deriued Heresie doth naturally spread it selfe like a caâ—kâ—r and needes little helpe to put it forward So that it is an easie matter for a meane Prince to be a great man amongst heretikes but it is an hard matter for a great king to gouerne them When I haue sometimes obserued how hardly your Maiesty could effect your most reasonable desires amongst those that stand most vpon your Supremacy I haue bene bold to bee angry but durst say nothing onely I did with my selfe resolue for certaine that the keyes were wont to doe the Crowne more seruice when they were in the armes of the miter then they can doe now they are tyed together with the scepter and that your title in spirituall affaires doth but serue other mens turnes and not your owne G. H. 34. Hauing passed your supposed remoouall of all opposition both in doctrine and State thereby to make a readier way to your imaginary reconciliation you now come to an endeuour of clearing such obiections as you conceiued would offer themselues whereof the first is that the religion established which you call schisme serues to increase his Maiesties authoritie and wealth and therefore it cannot stand with his honour to further the vnity of the Church of CHRIST Indeed it must be confessed and cannot bee denied that the religion established yeelds his Maiestie the authority due vnto him which is more then the Romish yeelds to the Soueraigne Princes of her profession and yet no more then CHRIST and his Apostles in practise yeelded and in precept command And yet withall it cannot be denied but some of his Maiesties ancestours partly through the insensible incrochment of some ambitious Popes and partly through the neglect of some weake kings did part indeed with some of their authority to bestow it vpon that Church to which you intitle Christ yet that they reserued to themselues a power euen in Ecclesiasticall causes I haue already made sufficiently to appeare in mine answere to the 16 section of the first chapter and in diuers other places to which I wil presume to adde that which his Maiesty hath published to the world touching this very point in his Premonition to all Christian Princes and States My Predecessors ye see of this kingdome euen when the Popes triumphed in their greatnesse spared not to punish any of their Subiects that would preferre the Popes obedience to theirs euen in Church matters so farre were they then from acknowledging the Pope their temporall Superiour or yet from doubting that their owne Church men were not their Subiects And now I will close vp all these examples with an Acte of Parliament in King Richard the II. his time whereby it was prohibited that none should procure â— benefice from Rome vnder paine to be put out of the kings protection And thus may ye see that what those kings successiuely one to another by foure generations haue acted in priuate the same was also maintained by a publike law By these few examples now I hope I haue sufficiently cleared my selfe from the imputation that any ambition or desire of nouelty in me should
all you come to the Subiect but if it were in the power of Romanists I doubt much whether hee should long sit there and how hee commaunds all well appeares by their refusall to take those lawfull Oathes which hee imposeth Now for the Subiect you beginne first with the Lords and so descend to the Commons Concluding lastly with the Clergy and sing them seuerally a Syrens song that so being lulled asleepe the common ship they are caried in may dash vpon the Rocke of Rome B. C. 39. For mine owne part for the discharge of my duetie and conscience I haue considered of all there States and can resolue my selfe that I haue not preiudiced the State of any good Subiect of yours but mine owne in comming to the Catholike Church And first for your Lords and Nobles it is true that many of their anâ—estors were allowed a very good share in the diuision of the Church when the Shisme began therfore it concerned them in reason of State to maintaine the doctrine of diuision but I thinke there are very few in England either Lords or other now possest of Abbey lands which haue not payed well for them and might aswell possesse them in the vnitie of the Church as in the Schisme and there was a declaration made by the Pope to that purpose in Queene Maries dayes so that now there is no neede at all to preach against the merits of good workes nor the vertue of the Sacraments nor the inuocation of Saints nor the rest of Popery that built Churches vnlesse it bee to helpe the Hugonotes of France to pull them downe G. H. 39. Hauing entred into a deepe studie and serious consideration of all States at length you resolue as from the oracle that you haue preiudiced none in playing the turnecoate but your selfe and sure I am of the same opinion there being none as I hope so vnwise as to be turned by you Now in taking this suruey you begin with the Lords who were allowed a very good share you would say a great in the diuision of the Church yet if they will bee so good as to side with the Pope they shall both enioy their Religion and keepe their possessions as now in this Religion they doe so wee see you would iuggle at fast and loose play at small game rather then sit out and became all vnto all that you might winne some though in another sense then S. Paul both meant and practised it And whereas you would salue the matter by thâ—ir paying for those possessions that shift will not serue the turne for Queene Maries dayes when the greatest part of them were both vnsold and vnbought otherwise then in the first sharing By your opinion that Abbey lands may bee aswell possessed in the vnitie of the Church as in the Schisme as you are pleased to call it it seemeth you haue seene the motiues perswading to a dispensation in that behalfe collected and reduced into writing in the second yeere of Queene Maries reigne the originall of which amongst other authentike remembrances of that time is preserued in the Office of his Maiesties Papers which because I verely thinke it was the ground of that Declaration made by the Pope in Queene Maries time which you speake of and a prinâ—ipal inducement of the Statute made the same yeere in confirmation thereof and for that also I suppose it is not any where publikely to be found I will here insert ANNO DOM. 1554. QVod omnes qui iusto titulo iuxta leges huius regni pro tempore existentes habent aliquas possessiones terras siue tenementa Monasteriorum Prioratuum Episcopatuum Collegiorum Cantariarum Obituum c. siue eadem pecunijs suis perquisiuerunt siue per donationem vel per mutationem siue alio modo legitimo quocunque in sua possessione huiusmodi remanere possint valeant easdem suas possessiones ratas confirmatas sibi habere ex confirmatione dispensatione Sedis Apostolicae Causae rationes quare huiusmodi dispensationes cum honore conscientia rectè concedi possint 1 Status Coronae huius Regni bene sustineri non potest vt cum honore regat gubernet si huiusmodi possessiones ab illa separentur quod hodie maxima pars possessionum Coronae sit ex huiusmodi terris possessionibus 2 Complurimi homines pecuniis suis acquisiuerunt ingentes huiusmodi terrarum portiones à serenissimis Regibus Henrico VIII Edwardo VI. qui per suas Litteras Patentes easdem terras warrantizauerunt quibus terris possâ—ssionibus sipossessores huiusmodi nunc priuarentur Rex teneretur rependere pecunias omnes in hac partâ— expositas quae in tantarum summarum vim molâ—m sese extenderent vt d Corona difficillimè restitui possent 3 Magnates nobiles huius regni quorum plerique vendiderunt alianauerunt antiquas suas haereditarias possessiones vt has nouas obtinerent in suo statu viuere non possunt si huiusmodi possessiones ab illis auferantur 4 Acquisitores vel possessores huiusmodi terrarum possessionum propterea quod easdem habuerunt ex iusto titulo iuxta ordinem Regum huius regni habebant etiamnum habent bonam fidem in illis obtinendis 5 Possessio huiusmodi terrarum adeò est communis cuique statui ordini hominum Ciuitatibusque Collegiis Incorporationibus vt si ab illis tollantur auferantur subitam quandam metamorphosin singulorum statuum magnam omnis ordinis confusionem in vniuerso regno hinc indesequi necesse sit 6 Cum bona possessiones Ecclesiae ex authoritate Canonum pro redemptione captiuorum alienari possint Idque per illam Ecclesiam solam ad quam illae possessiones pertinebant aequum est dispensari pro continuatione possessionis iam acquisitae propter tantum bonum publicae concordiae vnitatis Ecclesiae ac praeseruatione istius Status tam in corpore quam in anima THat all such as by iust title according to the Lawes or Statutes of this Realme for the time being haue any possessions lands or tenements lately belonging to Monasteries Priories Bishoprickes Colledges Chanteries Obites c. Whether they haue purchased theÌ„ for their money or are come to possesse them by gift grant exchange or by any other legal meanes whatsoeuer may retaine and keepe the same in their possessions and haue the same ratified and established vnto them by the confirmation and dispensation of the Sea Apostolike Causes and reasons why such dispensations may be iustly granted with honour and conscience 1 The state of the Crowne of this kingdome cannot be well susteined to gouerne and rule with honour if such possessions be taken from it for at this day the greatest part of the possessions of the Crowne consisteth of such lands and possessions 2 Very many men haue with their moneyes bought and purchased great portions of those lands from the most Excellent
themselues might haue liued and died in the seruice of God without posteritie and haue helped to maintaine the rest of their families which was so great a benefit to the Common-wealth both for the exoneration and prouision thereof as no humane policie can procure the like The Farmer and Husbandman who laboureth to discharge his payments hath little or nothing left at theyeres end to lay vp for his children that increase grow vpon him may remember that in Catholike times there were better penny-worths to bee had when the Clergie had a great part of the Land in their hands who had no neede to raise the Rents themselues and did what they could to make other Lords let at a reasonable rate which was also an inestimable benefite to the Commons so that whereas ignorant men carried with enuie against the Clergie are wont to obiect the multitude of them and the greatnesse of their prouisions they speake therein as much against themselues as is possible for the greater the number is of such men as be mundo mortui the more is the exoneration of the Commons and the more the land is of such as can haue no proprietie in them the better is the prouision of the Commons for themselues can haue no more then their food and their regular apparell all the rest either remaines in the hands of the Tenants or returnes in hospitalitie and reliefe to their neighbours or is kept in a liuing Exchequer for the seruice of the Prince and Countrey in time of necessitie so that the Commons doe gaine no wealth at all but rather doe lose much by the Schisme G. H. 41. You proceede and assure the Commons that our separation from Rome makes much against their wealth and libertie for proofe whereof you beginne with the Puritan vnthrift who lookes for the ouerthrow of Bishops and Churches Cathedrall hoping to haue his share in them Now I denie not but some such vnthrifts there may bee shrouding themselues vnder the vizard of those whome you call Puritans but their power is not so great God bee thanked as wee neede feare them nor I hope shall bee whiles his Maiestie and his posterity sway the Scepter who is so farre from pulling them downe or giuing any way vnto it that hee hath not onely to his immortall fame bound his hands from withdrawing any thing from them but restored them in Scotland and both often and openly professed No Bishop no King and as for them which looke for that ouerthrow let their eyes drop out of their sockets with looking and the yong rauens deuoure them I haue heard of a platforme of our Church gouernment deuised by Parsons if the Pope should once againe recouer his footing amongst vs in which one especiall piece of his proiect is the pulling downe of the Bishopricks Churches Cathedrall that his Holinesse and the Padres may bee all in all so that the Iesuites may most properly bee termed those Puritan vnthrifts And I make no doubt but if his Holinesse could dispence with those who withhold the Tenths of the Church he might as well dispence with the pulling downe of Bishoprickes and Cathedrall Churches Now for those honest Protestants who for matter of religion could be content it were as it was conditionally themselues might receiue more benefit their heads may bee in England but sure their hearts are in Rome deceiuing themselues aswell in vndervalewing the benefit they haue as in expecting that they haue not nor are euer like to haue the faire pretexts and promises made them from Rome being like the Apothecaries boxes haâ—â—ng Catholicon set on their front in capitall letters as if they conteined a soueraigne medicine for all diseases but within are full of deadly poison or like the apples of Sodome which are to looke to beautifull buâ— being touched onely with the finger presently are turned into dust The first apple you present the Commons if they yeeld to the reentertaining of Popish religion is increase of wealth But before we goe any farther in the triall of this point I shall desire all ingenuous Papists rightly to informe both themselues and others what the two Monkes Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster haue left vpon record touching the Bishop of Romes most intolerable exactions in this kingdome whiles his authority here preuailed and then to iudge indifferently whether by submitting our neckes to that yoke which our fathers were not able to beare it be likely the wealth of our land should be increased That which one of the Popes pronounced touching our Countrey was doubtlesse the opinion of them all I speake of latter times Verè hortus noster deliciarum est Anglia verè puteus inexhaustus est vbi multa abundant de multis multa possunt extorqueri England is our Paradise of pleasure a well neuer to bee drawne drie and where much abounds much may be taken It was the speach of Innocent the IV. reported by Maâ—thew Paris anno 1245. about which time S. Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury vndertooke a voyage to Rome to complaine of the great vexations and extortions offered the Clergie and people by Caâ—dinall Otho his Legate who hiding himselfe in the tower of Ousnie Abbey for feare of a tumult of the Schollers of Oxford they termed him Vsurer Simonist rent-racker money-thirster peruerter of the King subuerter of the kingdome enriching strangers with the spoiles of the English but Edmund returning home without successe in his complaint and weary of his life in England by reason that hee could not redresse the Popes oppressions made choise of a voluntary banishment at Pountney in France where hee died with the honour and opinion of a Saint Not long after his Holinesse desirous to see England caused his Cardinals to write their letters to the King that it would be a thing tending much to his honour and safety and to his kingdomes immortall glory to enioy the Lord Popes presence who did long to view the rarities of Westminster and the riches of London but the Kings Counsell told him plainely that the Romane rapines and simonies had enough stained the English puritie though the Pope himselfe came not personally to spoile and prey vpon the wealth of this Church and kingdome the like deniall of entrance hee had found both in France and Arragon it being said that the Pope was like a mouse in a sachell or a snake in ones bosome who but ill repay their hosts for their lodging and the infamies of his Court deserued none other whose filth saith our Monke sent foorth a steame and stench as high as the very cloudes These and worse were the effects of the Bishop of Romes vsurpation here in England by imposing continuall taxes and tallages being sometimes the tenth sometimes the fifteenth sometimes the third sometimes the moity of all the goods both of the Clergie and Laity vnder colour of maintaining the Popes holy warres against the Emperour and the Greeke Church who were then
G. H. 44. And wee are on the other side as confident that in going to the Church of Rome and forsaking your owne in which you were bred and baptized besides the indangering of your own soule you haue done no good seruice to his Maiestie neither in respect of himselfe nor his children neither of his Lords nor Commons in perswading vnitie with the Church of Rome vnlesse first shee could bee perswaded to the imbracing of the same veritie in Religion with vs. There is onely the Clergie left which if Popery should goe on and preuaile as you desire it should shall not in the next age bee left to bee satisfied or to giue satisfaction but there is little reason that any man that loues the Clergie should desire to satisfie such Clergie-men as your selfe while you were among vs who vnder hand fauour Papists and maintaine such points of doctrine as if his Maiesties authoritie were not would out of hand ouerthrow the doctrine established and in stead thereof reestablish the Papacie B. C. 45. There neuer was is nor shall bee any wellsetled State in the world either Christian or heathen but the Clergie and Priesthood was is and must bee a principall part of the gouernment depending vpon none but him onely whom they suppose to bee their God but where Caluinisme preuaileth three or foure stipendary Ministers that must preach as it shall please Mr. Maior and his brethren may serue for a whole city and indeede if their opinions bee true it is but folly for any State to maintaine more For if God haue predestinated a certaine number to bee saued without any condition at all of their beeing in the visible Church by Faith or their perseuering therein by good workes If God hath reprobated the greatest part of the world without any respect at all of their infidelity heresie or wicked life if the faith of CHRIST be nothing else but the assured perswasion of a mans owne predestination to glory by him if the Sacraments of the Church bee nothing but signes and badges of that grace which a man hath before by the carnall couenant of his parents faith if Priesthood can doe nothing but preach the word as they call it which lay Lay-men must iudge of and may preach to if they will where occasion serues If the study and knowledge of antiquity vniuersality and consent be not necessary but euery man may expound Scripture as his owne spirit shall moue him If I say these and such like opinions be as true as they are among the Caluinists in the world common and in England too much fauoured and maintained there will certainely appeare no reason at all vnto your Parliament whensoeuer your Maiesty or your successours shall please to aske them why they should bee at so great a charge as they are to maintaine so needlesse a party as these opinions doe make the Clergie to be They can haue a great many more sermons a great deale better cheape and in the opinion of Caluinisme the Clergie doe no other seruice they that doe in England fauour and maintaine those opinions and suppresse and disgrace those that doe confute them they although themselues can be content to bee lordes and to goe in Rochets are indeed the greatest enemies of the Clergie and it were no great matter for the Clergie they might easily turne lay and liue as well as they do for the most part but it is a thing full of compassion and commiseration to see that by these false and wicked opinions the deuill the father of these and all other lies doth daily take possession of the soules of your Subiects both of Clergie and laitie These kind of Clergie men I confesse I doe not desire to satisfie any other way then as I haue alwayes done that is by the most friendly and plaine confutation of their errours to shew them the trueth as for other Clergie men that are conformable to the religion established by Law as well for their doctrine as for their discipline if they be good Schollers and temperate men as I know many of them are they cannot but in their iudgements approue the truth of Catholike religion and if it were not for feare of losse or disgrace to their wiues and children they would be as glad as my selfe that a more temperate course might be held and more liberty afforded to Catholikes and Catholike Religion in England These Clergie men I am and euer shall be desirous to satisfie not onely in respect of themselues but also in respect of their wiues and children whom I am so farre from condemning or misliking as that I doe account my selfe one of them and I desire nothing more in this world then in the toleration of Catholike religion to liue and die among them and therefore I haue had so great care in this point as before I did submit my selfe to the Catholike Church I receiued assurance from some of the greatest that if his Maiesty would admit the ancient subordination of the Church of Canterbury vnto that mother by whose authority all other Churches in England at the first were and still are subordinate vnto Canterbury and the first free vse of that Sacrament for which especially all the Churches in Christendome were first founded the Pope for his part would confirme the interest of all those that haue present possession in any Ecclesiasticall liuing in England and would also permit the free vse of the Common Prayer booke in English for Morning and Euening Prayer with very little or no alteration and for the contentment and security of your Maiesty he would giue you not onely any satisfaction but all the honor that with the vnity of the Church and the safetie of Catholike Religion may be required which seemed to me so reasonable as beeing before satisfied for the trueth of Catholike Religion I could aske no more so that I am verely perswaded that by yeelding to that trueth which I could not deny I haue neither neglected my duety and seruice to your Maiesty and your children nor my respect and honour to your Lords and Commons nor my loue and kindenesse to my honest friends and brethren of the Clergie but rather that my example and my prayers shall doe good vnto all G. H. 45. That the Clergie should be a Principall member of the body popolitike we graunt but that they should depend on none but him only whom they suppose to bee their god wee denie Indeed where the authority of the Bishop of Rome swayes looke how many Clergy men there are so many subiects are exempt from the Iurisdiction of the secular power and wholy depend vpon his Holinesse who is to them in regard of the vniuersalitie of his commaund and the infallibilitie of his iudgement in stead of their God but for vs Non habemus talem consuetudinem neque Ecclesia Dei we depend
a Christians for whom he did predestinate them also hee called and whom hee called them also hee iustified and whom hee iustified them also hee glorified since then hee neither calls nor iustifies Turkes wee are sure they cannot be of the company of the predestinate But his Maiestie himselfe I now remember well concluded this point at the conference at Hampton Court and therefore wee neede not feare his being deceiued in iudgement his determination is that wee should iudge of our Predestination not so much descendendo by prying into Gods secret counsell as ascendendo by searching our owne hearts the sincerity of our owne hearts being as it were the counterpane of Gods eternall decree locked vp in the Cabinet of his counsell and therefore the Apostle in the 2. to Tim. and the 2. ioynes them both together The foundation of God saith hee remaineth sure and hath this seale The Lord knoweth who are his there is the Instrument sealed on Gods part the Counterpane on ours instantly followes and let euery one that calleth on the Name of CHRIST depart from iniquitie So that the way to assure our selues that wee are in the number of those that are sealed to life is to call on the name of CHRIST in our profession and depart from iniquitie in our conuersation the one is required in our life and the other in our beliefe Neither is the faith of such beleeuers an opinion or fancie but the ground of things which are hoped for and the euidence of things which are not seene and a shield to quench all such fiery and venemous dartes nor is their hope a presumption but a sure anchor against despaire nor their charitie lust but the loue of their neighbours as of themselues nor their God an idole but that Lord who hath reuealed himselfe vnto vs in his word whereas on the other side we may iustly say that the Popes Ecclesia malignantium may more easily serue a Turke her Religion being rebellion her practice murthering of soules and bodies as it acknowledged in the publike prayers of our Church her faith beeing but wauering and full of irresolution her hope a balancing and estimation of her owne merit her charity an ostentation of workes no God so powerfull with her and beneficiall vnto her as the Pope and the Masse We know that all religions begin their Creed with I beleeue in God but none haue lesse reason then they who beleeue in him in generall without particular application and for S. Augustines testimonies that to an heretike the entertainement and imbracing of his fantasies is his religion I demand which is more likely to build his religion on fantasieâ— either he who depends meerely on the written word of God or hee that equals his owne inuentions thereunto B. C. 47. I haue more things to write but the haste of answering your Maiesties commandement signified to me by S ir Thomas Lake his letters haue made mee commit many faults in writing this very suddenly for which I craue pardon and cut of the rest but for my returning into England I can answere none otherwise but thus I haue sent you my soule in this treatise and if it may finde entertainement and passage my body shall quickely follow after and if not I pray God I send my soule to heauen and my body to the graue as soone as may be In the meane time I will reioyce in nothing but onely in the Crosse of CHRIST which is the glory of your Crowne and therefore I will triumph therein not as being gone from you to your aduersary but as being gone before you to your Mother where I desire and hope for euer to continue Your MAIESTIES True seruant and Beadesman Beniamin Carier G. H. 47. S. Iohn concludes his Epistle to Gaius I haue many things to write and Mr. Doctor his to his Maiestie I haue more things to write but S. Iohn trusts to come shortly after and speake with him mouth to mouth but Mr. Doctour will not promise that except he be first assured his Letter may finde entertainment which as I heare was very slender and no marueile then he hasted not after S. Iohn craued not pardon for his faults which we make the marke of an Apocryphal writer but M. Doctor doth and that very deseruedly in as much as he chose rather with Albinus to craue pardon for his faults committed then not to commit them and whereas he imputes his faults to his sudden writing in imitation belike of Campian therein he addes another fault to his former in as much as a great part of this was written long before his Maiesties command came to his hands partly in a Latine Epistle to Mr. Casaubon and partly in an English letter to an honourable person in Court and yet for any great matter is in it in my iudgment it needed no long deliberation as it was suddenly written if it were so so may it somewhat mooue a man of a suddaine apprehension but surely the grauer and wiser sort I thinke it will little affect Lastly for your returne into England you can make none other answere you say then this that you haue sent your soule in this treatise and if it may finde passage your body shall follow after while you were here your body was with vs but your soule with them for anima est non vbi animat sed vbi amat and your selfe in your Common place booke maintaine that a man may liue among heretikes or Schismatikes not yeelding outward obedience to the Church and yet liue in the State of grace if his soule be vnited to the Church in the vnderstanding by faith and by charity in the will conditionally he withhold himselfe from such outward obedience not for priuate respects but for the publike aduantage of the Church As your soule then was with them when your body was with vs so your body being with them your soule was then busie working here with vs but for their purposes and sure except you altered your opinions set downe in this treatise and I haue cause to feare you entertained worse dying among the Iesuits better you should stay there both in body and soule or send your soule out of your body and your body to the graue as in Gods prouidence you haue done then to returne to infect that Countrey and Church in which you were borne and bred and baptized which as you professed in your last Sermon before his Maiesty and in writings which I haue to shew vnder your owne hand might iustly contend with any Church in the world for purity of doctrine But it seemes you had forgotten being but a nouice in that doctrine you were to passe by Purgatory before you came to heauen except you supposed the Spaw waters had sufficiently purged you or else you presumed farre vpon the merit of your profound demonstrations as if thereby you needed not De profundis to be sung nor Masse to be
said for your deliuerance from thence but that you must presently iumpe into heauen I durst warrant the Iesuits among whom you died did not esteem you such a Saint Indeed Castellanus who made the funerall oration vpon Francis the 1. the French King was excepted against and accused by the Sorbonists for saying That he doubted not but the Kings soule was in heauen but his purgation was made by Mendoza that he thought he called by Purgatorie in passing but being as he was of a stirring disposition hee made no stay there but I thinke M. Doctor who offers to vndertake the iustifying of all Romish doctrine was not of this opinion We teach with S. Iohn that Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their labours But M. Doctor should haue remembred that the Church of Rome teacheth with Virgil whose authority Bellarmine solemnly quoteth to that purpose That the soules of the most iust except they die by Martyrdome or presently after Baptisme or doe some notable Meritorious worke as for the purpose the killing of a King whom that Church shall iudge a Tyrant are all to bee scoured in the flames of Purgatory fire before they enter into heauen But in the meane time you say you will reioyce in nothing but onely in the Crosse of Christ which is the glory of his Maiesties Crowne where if by the Crosse of Christ you vnderstand as S. Paul did Christ Crucified you do well hee being indeed not only the Glory of his Maiesties Crowne but the Crowne of his and our glory but if the materiall Crosse or a painted or carued Crucifix this could bring but a shadow of ioy to you and of glory to his Maiesties Crowne Lastly you conclude that you are not gone from his Maiestie to his aduersaries but before him to his Mother For the first of which I demaund who his Maiestie shall account for his aduersaries but those who condemne such Romane Catholikes censuring their Books and commaunding them to purge themselues who onely maintaine his Ciuill power in Temporall affaires and restraine his subiects from taking the Oath of meere naturall Allegeance which in effect is all one as if they absolued them from that Oath being taken and consequently incouraged them to rebellion For the second part of your conclusion we doubt not but his Maiesties Mother might find mercie knowing no better religion then that in which shee was borne and bred when such Apostates as our of discontent or for temporall respects forsake a knowen trueth which they haue preached in which they were baptized to which they haue subscribed shall finde heauen gates shut against them But wee iudge nothing before the time vntill the Lord come who will lighten things that are in darkenesse and make the counsels of the heart manifest and then shall euery man haue praise of God Who so confirme vs in that we are right and reforme vs in that we are amisse that passing through things temporall wee may not finally lose eternall Now prayse and honour and glory and power bee vnto him that sitteth vpon the throne and vnto the Lamhe for euermore B. C. Multum incola fuit anima mea cum his qui oderunt pacem eram pacificus cum loquebar illis impugnabunt me gratis Psal. 119. vers 5 6. G. H. The wordes of his mouth were smoother then butter but warre was in his heart his words were softer then oyle yet were they drawen swords Psal. 55. 21. AN ANSWERE TO THE MATERIALL POINTS of a second Letter of Dr. Cariers written also from Leige to his friends heere in ENGLAND WHen I had almost finished my former answere to the Doctors Letter to his Maiestie another Letter of his dated also from Leigâ— and directed to his friends in England came to mine hands wherunto are added certaine collections found in his Closet made by him as it is thought saith the Publisher of the miserable endes of such as haue impugned the Catholike Church to which is also annexed a briefe exhortation to perseuere constantly in the sayd Catholike Church what opposition soeuer may occurre and lastly a few examples of the admirable felicitie of such as haue defended the same Church First then for the Letter I must confesse I expected from Mr. Dr. some piece of greater value considering himselfe had promised vs in the last Section of his first chapter particularly to iustifie and make plaine froÌ„ point to point the Religion at this day practised and prescribed by the Church of Rome Pelitier for him that hauing consigned his writings into the hands of one of his friends wee should shortly haue that happinesse as to see them published to the ioy and comfort of Catholikes and the edification of those whom hee had forsaken But at last we haue receiued for payment in ful satisfaction of the whole debt as I conceiue this Letter with the appertenances which I would haue set downe intire as I found it the very sight of it being confutation sufficient but that I should haue done the Printer iniury in staying his presse and withall haue raised my booke to a bulk too far exceeding my purpose and it may be haue deceiued the reader too in offring that to his view which he would haue iudged scarce worth the reprinting In his entrance after his verball flourishes and the repetition of that which hath already been answered more then once if any way materiall hee settles at length vpon nine Propositions the very marrow and piâ—h of all his Letter all tending to draw what hee might from the authority of Scriptures and to cast it vpon the Church that is in his language the Romish Clergie as afterwards hee expresses himselfe I will examine the propsitions as they lie in order B. C. 1. That our Sauiour did leaue nothing in writing but taught his Religion to his Apostles by word of mouth G. H. 1. Doubtlesse our Sauiour was not of that Polish Cardinals minde who thought it had beene better for the Church had there beene no Scripture extant at all for though himselfe left nothing in writing touching his Religion yet by the Scriptures alone hee proues himselfe to be the Messias in his conferences his Sermons his disputations with it hee informes the ignorant confirmes the weake instructs his Disciples confutes the Pharisees puts the Sadduces to silence and the diuell to flâ—ght Not a booke of Moses and scarce a Prophet but hee either quotes some passages from him or at least alludes to some in him specially that of the Psalmes and the Prophet Esay Nay in the 24. of St. Luke it is said hee proued his passion and resurrection from Moses and all the Prophets Though it were hee that spake to the Patriarches in dreames and visions and Reuelations yet hee mentions none of them for proofe and except they were 〈◊〉 much lesse traditions but his ordinarie questions and exhâ—rtations and reprehensions are How readest thou and haue yee not
consequents will finde a sufficient answere in the meane time you must giue vs leaue to suspect that Doluâ— latet in vniuersalibus falshood insists vpon generals 5 Wee haue good reason to thinke you were not so much grieued for crossing those great preachers you speake of as that thereby your prefeâ—ment was crossed 1 Such a profound demonsration is that of Bellarmine out of Petrus Damianus to shew the reason why in the Popes old Seales S. Paul was on the right hand of S. Peter because forsooth Paul was of the tribe of Beniamin and Beniamin signifies the sonne of the right hand and for this he quotes Gen. 35. and 42. * Matth. 26. 27. * Iohn 18. 36. 1 It seemes then your Puritane for you tell vs before those preachers were such may be a very honest man yet afterwards you tell vs their principles are such as ouerthrow all honesty 2 As loth as you were to oppose them in publike yet you did as farre as you durst as your selfe afterwards confesse 3 The faith in which you were baptized is the â—ame which now is professed in the Church of England and that I am sure no man expected you should oppugne * Luke 16. 26. 1 I had thought before that a Puritane and a Caluenist a creature of Schisme in your language had bene all one 2 If Dauid himselfe bee a Schismatike as you make him how were the creatures of Schisme to strong for him 3 Those whom you call temperate men we may suspect to bee neutrals made of lincie whoolsie neither hote nor cold but halting betweene two opinions 1. Kings 18. 21. 4 That which you call honest preaching of the Trueth wee take to be the neerest approching that may be to Româ— gates 5 Herein you failed not in that at last you vnmasked your owne hypocriosie * 2. King 9. â— â—â— * Ierem. 51. 9. 1 You might more properly haue applied fiery to your desperate Cath. for such was their practise 2 There needed no great violence to aggrauate the haynousnesse of that plot 3 How comes it then to passe that notwithstanding all this in the next chap. you so earnestly labour the conuersion of his Maiestie and the whole Realme Ex oreâ—tuâ— condemnaberis serue nequam Luke 1â— 22. 1 What needed any great wit or learning for the iustification of that doctrine which by your owne confession holds no point expresly contrary to antiquity 1 To allow the people images for religious vse and then to admonish them that they take heed of idolatry is as if a man should put an hungry horse into a goodly pasture and then command him not to eate or a child vpon the top of a lâ—dder and then bid him take heed of a fall 2 Why do they couer them in Lent then 3 We should indeed haue our conuersation amongst the Saints in heauen but not amongst their images on earth M. Hooker in his 5. booke of Ecclesiastical policie Sect. 65. 1 I tolde you before you were prepossessed with preiudice which made you obiect so weakely 2 Had it taken effect they would haue abhorred it as Sixtus did the Friars murthering of Henry the III. of France in the Consistorie of Cardinals where he compares it to the worke of our Redemption 3 A likely matter that his Maiestie should make complaint in a iudicial proceeding to him in whom he professeth that he acknowledgeth no right of proceeding iudicially in the censure of his owne Subiects 4 All those Writers whom you call Catholikes doe so condemne it as they seeme rather to thinke it vnfortunate in the successe then mischieuous in the plot 5 What authoritie this is will appeare in Pius his Bull whose words are these And him alone hath hee made chiefe ouer all nations and kingdomes who may alone root out destroy scatter waste plant and build that the faithfull people knit together with the band of mutuall charitie might be kept in the vnitie of the Spirit 1 How could your hope bee such since your resolution was to the contrary as appeares by your own words in diuers passages before 2 Your selfe within a fewe lines after acknowledge you found many 3 So that it seemes by your owne confession the greatest corruptions are to be found in the Church of Rome seeing by Gods wheate field in your vnderstanding can bee meant none other but that Church in which in your opinion grace most aboundeth 4 Belike then you saw some broad difference in the circumstance 5 You made sure worke for that by carrying ouer store of monies with you by obtaining pensions from the Pope the Q. Mother of France and Cardinall Peâ—â—on * Gal. 2. 21. * Col. 2. 20 21 22 * 1. Pet. 1. 19. 1 It may bee those afflictions serued to free you from Purgatorie as you presume in the conclusion of your letter otherwise I see not why you should afflict your selfe for chusing the only supposed meanes of your saluation 2 You disputed with such learned men as you could meet with and yet auoided the companie of Catholiks you promise his Maiesty to remember him at the dayly oblation and yet you abstained from their Churches 3 That which you call peace is a betraying of 〈◊〉 the trueth and 〈◊〉 that which you call a reconciliation is a rent froÌ„ forreine reformed Churches 4 I marueile who gaue you authoritie to bring M. Casaubon ouer from France 5 Hauing receiued this answere What moued you to be so saucie and importunate to mooue his Maiestie the second time to entertaine Societie with that Church 6 Though you loued that Romish religion well you loued your life better 1 In what sense Rome may bee termed the mother â—hurch see in mine answere to the 45. Section 2 His Maiestie termeth him the Patriarch but not the Primate of the West 3 Where was your great zeale then to sweare against your conscience for fashion but did you not take it again when you came to yeres of discretion at the taking of your degrees at your institution in your Benefices at your admittance to your Prebendry and Chaplenship and oft recognize the truth of the summe of the said oth in your prayer before euery sermon you made How then comes it now to passe that you would not take it again to gaine the greatest preâ—ermeÌ„t in yâ— world but that you were out of hope to get any or by your owne confession long to enioy it 4 The Bishops in K. Hen. the 8. time thought themselues as good Christians as your selfe yet they tooke it or at least made a shew of taking it with a good conscience besides you call thâ— consciences or the Christianity of your honest brethren of the Clergy into question who haue taken the same oath it may be more then once and yet being good Schollers as you pretend they could not be ignorant what offence they incurred in taking it 1 Master Dâ—â—lington in his inference vpoÌ„ Guicciardines Degression
afford as many sufficient and learned Preachers and that in a more substantiall and conscionable fashion then the Popes Hierarchie and that London alone affords more then Rome it selfe and their readinesse to supply Sermons is not so much out of any good will they beare that exercise as out of ill will they beare vs. Iohn Aduenâ— lib. 30. Anal. Boio 1 So that in Mr. Doctors Logick an honest Protestant may thus be defined One that can endure the State of England as it is and could be content it were as it was that he might receiue more benefit 2 You tel vs before that all false religions in the world are but humane policies and we as truely returne it vpon you that this humane policie fauours of a false religion 3 Many of them though they professed themselues dead to the world yet were they aliue to the flesh Renulfus Câ—str lib. 7. 1 Indeede by the forme of words yet extant in the masse booke and vsed by the Priest it is supposed that a number should Communicate daily with him but it seldome is so 2 If wee had no vse of confessours yet might and ought inferiors be kept in awe of hell fire by their Preachers and superiours be tolde of their errours in state by their Counsellers but you seeme to assure his Maiestie that if hee will not be told of his errours in confession he shall in rebellion * 2. Cor. 5. 18. 1 Bell de peâ—â—t lib. 3. Cap. 2. 2 Epist ad Front pag. 129. 3 Premon 125 4 See nouell doct in the ende of the Premon the 3. 5 Epist. ad Front pâ—g 140. 6 Pag. 326. 7 That is they doe not binde him to present the party confessing as appeares both in the body and title of the Canon * Gal. 5. 1. 1 If in those middle times when all things ranne in a current course there were not so many Statutes made in Church matters it must be imputed rather to the want of occasion then of power the plantation or reformation of the Church chiefly giuing occasion to the making of lawes in Church matters 2 When the name of a Parliament began in England is vncertaine See my L. Coke in his Preface to the ninth part of his reports 3 I take the raising of new houses to be no hinderance to the Common-weâ—lth the Lawyers themselues being a part of the Commons 4 As 〈◊〉 the Ciuill Law came not from the Roman Infidels â—hich notwithstandâ—ng stand well enough with the authoritie of the Ecclesiasticall Courts 5 What you call Catholike I know not but sure I am that since King Eth. time many Statutes haue been made for the restraâ—ning of the Bâ—shop of Romes vniuâ—t vsurpation neither doâ— finde that hee â—â—â—tered any thing in the lawes of the kingdome saue onely by commaâ—ding them to be turned into his mother tongue 6 Iâ— by better times you meane the restitution of the Romish Religion or the recoÌ„ciliation of our Church to Rome you had certainly very little reason to expect them from the learning wisedome and moderation of those that are now the chiefest in that profession the chiefest of all hauing both fâ—equently and fullâ— declared himselfe to the contrary and suffred for it by the slanderous tongues and pennes of malicious Romanists and namely Eudaemon and Parsons 1 Bod in lib. 1. de â—epub cap. 8. 2 See Monsâ—ir Seruius the Kings Attourney generals speach in the end of the reformation of the Vniueâ—sitie of Paris 3 Spâ—culum Iust. anno 712. 4 Statut. 21. Râ—â— 2. cap. 11. 5 Comment cap. 49. 6 A God containes the Sea within his owne bounds and marches so is it my office to make euery Court containe it selfe within its owne limits see his Maâ—â—sties Speech in Parliament 1609. 7 Cap. 17. 1 What thoâ—â— Clergie men are wee desire to know and who in your sense are Caluinists 2 What those points of doctrine are wee shall see in the next Section 3 That his Maiesties fauour to the Clergie is such as not to giue way to their ouerthrow and in stead of them to set vp a few stipendary Preachers we haue had good triall and are bound to blesse God for it but sore against the will of all Romane Catholikes it is that his Maiestie should fauour them so much 1 How Caluin himselfe though he were a stipendary Minister pleased Master Maior and his brethren let his banishment more then once for his free preaching testifie 2 We are assured that both his Maiesty and his heire apparent are so well resolued in this point as they wil neuer put it to the question 3 Our Sermons are not so cheape as your Masses which notwithstanding are in a manner the very life and soule of your Priesthood 4 The vntrueth of this assertion appeares in mine answere 5 As if all those who are called Lords and goe in Rochets were not by their place conformable to the discipline had often before they come to that place subscribed to the doctrine established by Law 6 They may more easily turne Lay with you where Lay men are admitted to the administration of the Sacrament 7 These kinde of Clergie men desire no satisfaction from you but wish you had bin as carefull to maintaine that trueth which once you professed as to confute their pretended errours which confutation notwithstanding you speake much of but no where performe nor so much as vndertake 8 You may rather call them temporizing then temperate 9 It were well that others knew them too if any such there bee who in iudgmeÌ„t approoue the trueth of that religion which you call Cath. and yet proâ—â—sse themselues not onely members but Ministers of our Church but our hope is that their number is not such as you vaunt of it being vnpossible that honest men and good Schollers should take the oath of Supremacie and subscribe to our articles of religion and yet in iudgement approue the authority of the B. of Rome which is in a maner the substance of that religion 10 Had ours had the like temperate course held with them or the like liberty afforded in Queene Maries dayes they would haue thought themselues happy 11 Their wiues and children are bound to pray for you in regard of your fatherly care of them 12 It is well that you account your selfe one of the honest men and good Schollers but they are so farre I hope from accounting you one of them as they vtterly condemne and mislike your courses 13 But it pleased God you should die among strangers and not liue to see that toleration you desired neither shall any of them we hope that yet liue and desire to see it 14 As if the whole fortune of Greece depended vpon your submission to that Church 15 What assurance can there bee on our parts from them who hold yâ— faith is not to be held with heretikes but you forgot your promise made to my Lords Grace of
the 11. and 19. of Iames being put for the 1. and the 17. the 15. to the Heb. for the 11. and Psalm 83. 12. for 84. 11. But herein it may be hee followed the diuision of the vulgar edition and the rest I am content to impute to the Printer Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim Dr. CARIERS PREFACE TO HIS LETTER Most Excellent and Renowned Soueraigne IT is not vnknowne to all those that knowe me in England that for these many yeeres I had my health very ill and therefore hauing from time to time vsed all the meanes and medicines that England could afford Last of all by the aduice of my Phisitians I made mine humble suite vnto your Maiestie that I might trauell vnto the Spaw for the vse of those waters purposing with my selfe that if I could be well I would goe from thence to Heydelberge and spend this winter there But when I was gone from the Spaw to Aquisgrane and so to Colin I found my selfe rather worse then better then I was before and therefore I resolued with my selfe that it was high time for me to settle my thoughts vpon another world And seeing I was out of hope to enioy the health of my body at the least to looke to the health of my soule from whence both art and experience teacheth me that all my bodily infirmities haue their beginning for if I could by any study haue prooued Catholike Religion to bee false or by any meanes haue professed it to bee true in England I doubt not but the contentment of my soule would haue much helped the health of my bodie But the more I studied the Scriptures and most ancient Fathers to confute it the more I was compelled to see the trueth thereof and the more I laboured to reconcile the religion of England thereunto the more I was disliked suspected and condemned as a common enemie And if I would haue been either ignorant or silent I might perhaps with the pleasures and commodities of my preferments haue in time cast off the care of Religion But seeing my studie forced mee to knowe and my place compelled me to preach I had no way to auoid my griefe nor meanes to endure it I haue therfore apprehended the opportunitie of my Licence to traâ—ell that I may withdraw my selfe for a while from the sight and offence of those in England which hate Catholike Religion and freely and fully enioy the presence of our blessed Sauiour in the vnitie of his Catholike Church wherein I will neuer forget at the dayly oblation of his most blessed bodie and blood to lift vp my heart vnto him and to pray for the admission of your Maiesty thereinto And in the meane time I haue thought it my duety to write this short treatise with mine owne hand wherein before I publish my selfe vnto the world I desire to shew to your Maiesty these two things 1 The meanes of my conuersion vnto Cath. Religion 2 The hopes I haue to doe your Maiesty no ill sâ—ruice therein I humbly craue your Maiesties pardon and will rest euer Your Maiâ—sties faithfull and truely deuoted seruant B. Carier GEORGE HAKEVVIL IT is likewise knowen to all them that knew you that for these many yeres you haue beene more sicke in minde then in body which hath appeared not onely publikely in your Sermons and writings but priuately in your Conferences and Letters where of my selfe am in part a witnesse but they with whom you were longer and more familiarly conuersant can more fully testifie it and though you vsed many medicines yet one was wanting to wit a meeke and quiet spirit a thing before God much set by it being as Dauids musicke which stilled Sauls rage and this I am perswaded would haue done you more good aswell in regard of the diseases of your body as your minde then any of your other medicines or all of them put together among which your last was the Spaw waters which I graunt you might vse by aduice of Physitians but I haue withall reason to thinke the voyage out of his Maiesties dominions into those parts was by you intended rather for the fuller safer discouering of the sickenes of your mind then the recouering of that of your body which your selfe in this very Preface confesse vpon the matter in as much as being you say suspected condemned as a common enemy and hauing no way to auoid your griefe nor meanes to endure it you desired to withdraw your selfe from the sight and offence of those who hated Catholike Religion whereby I presume you meane such as opposed your turbulent courses labouring vnder pretence of Catholike Religion and olde English diuinitie to bring in and set vp the new Romish and considering you stood so affected it seemeth to me strange you should purpose a iourney to Heydelberge and the spending of a winter there being so profested an enemy to all Caluinists except you hoped to conuert Abraham Scultet Or Dauid Parrey My selfe passed one whole winter amongst them and vnlesse their opinions be since altered or you had altered yours before your comming thither or at least concealed them at your being there you would doubtlesse before the winter had passed growen more weary of them then of vs But being you say vpon the way at Colin you found your selfe worse and thereupon resolued it was high time to settle your thoughts vpon another world and being out of hope to enioy the health of your bodie at least to looke to the health of your soule So that by your owne confession you made a vertue of necessitie then resoluing to settle your selfe when you expected not long after the dissolution of your body then to fixe your thoughts vpon God when you perceiued you could not long remaine in the world which as it is lesse acceptable to God then for a man to consecrate the flowre and strength of his age to him so is it in the doctrine of the Church of Rome lesse meritorious in it selfe and in reason not so exemplar to draw others Had you determined to forsake a falshod and imbrace a trueth for the meere loue of truth without worldly respects men would rather haue inclined to thinke that true which you had imbraced had you hoped to rise higher and liue longer and yet not held your life or hope of honor deare in regard of that future life and glory which you hoped for by the change of your Religion you might sooner haue induced others to follow your steps but for a man so ambitious as your selfe by your owne acknowledgement who by striuing against the streame had put himselfe not onely out of hope of rising higher but almost out of breath to and all hope of liuing much longer to seeke that name and fame in dying abroad which he saw could not bee gotten by liuing at home it may perhaps worke somewhat with those
exposition published vpon the 7. 8. 9. and 10. verses of the 20. chapter of the Reuel or lastly his subscription to the confession of his faith in the yeere 1581 assoon as hee came to yeeres of discretion you would haue had little reason to haue presumed so farre vpon him for hearkening to any peace with the Church of Rome as long as her whoredomes and witchcrafts râ—maine yet in such abundance and being offered cure â—hat we might know she is Babylon she hath and still doth wilfully refuse to be cured But the sandie ground of the vaine presumption will yet more liuely appeare if the forme of that subscription bee well considered in which hauing rehearsed and renounced the chiefe points of Popery as namely the Popes vsurped authoritie ouer the Scriptures ouer the Church ouer the ciuill Magistrate and the consciences of men his deuilish masse his blasphemous Priesthood his profane sacrifice for the quicke and the dead and in a word the erroneous and bloody decrees of the Councel of Trent hee promiseth and sweareth by the great name to the Lord God to perseuere in that faith and to defend it all the dayes of his life to the vtmost of his power vnder paine of all the Curses contained in the Law and the danger both of bodie and soule in the fearefull day of iudgement and further straightly chargeth and commandeth all his officers and ministers to make the same subscription themselues and to take it of others vnder their charge and lest we should thinke that arriuing to riper age hee altered his iudgement in his instructions to his sonne he giues vs this assurance As for the particular points of religion saith hee I neede not to dilate them I am no hypocrite follow my footesteps and your owne present education therein B. C. 10. But when after my long hope I at the last did plainely perceiue that God for our sinnes had suffered the deuill the athour of dissension so farre to preuaile as partly by the furious practise of some desperate Catholikes and partly by the fiery suggestions of all violent Puritans hee had quite diuerted that peaceable and temperate course which was hoped for and that I must now either alter my iudgement which was impossible or preach against my conscience which was vntolerable Lord what anxietie and distraction of soule did I suffer day night what strife betwixt my iudgement which was wholly for the Q peace and vnitie of the Church and my affection which was wholly to enjoy the R fauour of your Maiesty and the loue of my friends and Countrey this griefe of soule now growing desperate did still more and more increase the infirmities of my body and yet I was so loth to become a professed Catholike with the displeasure of your Maiestie and of all my honourable and louing friends as I rather desired to silence my iudgement with the profits and pleasures of the world which was before mee then to satisfie it with reconciling my selfe vnto the Catholique Church But it was Gods will that euer as I was about to forget the care of religion and to settle my selfe to the world among my neighbours I met with such humours as I saw by their violence against Catholikes and Catholike religion were like rather to waken my soule by torture then bring it asleepe by temper and therefore I was driven to S recoile to God and to his Church that I might find rest vnto my soule G. H. 10. Q Certainely for their sinnes it was that God suffered them to plot so barbarous a designe but for our good wee hope if in nothing else yet in working in vs a stronger hatred of that religion which produceth such effects and in awakening vs to beware of the like mischieuous plot againe if it be possible the like may be plotted we excuse not our selues but in this businesse we haue rather tasted of Gods mercy which we deserued not then of his iudgements which wee must acknowledge we deserued R Quis tulerit Gracchos deseditione querentes what patient eare can endure him talking of nothing but peace and vnity who did euer blow the coales of dissention both in Court and Countrey as well in the Colledge where he liued a fellow as in the Church where he was a Canon S So it may well be gathered out of your owne words that the chiefe ground of your griefe was that you saw your ambitious humour was now crossed in as much as you could not keepe the olde wont and withall rise to place of honour T Your apostasie and forsaking the faith and Church in which you were baptized you call a recoiling to God and to his Church neither will I much stand vpon it since we know that Antichrist must sit in the Temple of God bearing himselfe as God B. C. 11. And yet because I had heard often that the practise of the Church of Rome was contrary to her doctrine I thought good to make one triall more before I resolued and therefore hauing the aduise of diuerse learned Physitians to goe to the Spaw for the health of my body I thought good to make a vertue of necessitie and to get leaue to goe the rather for the satisfaction of my soule v hoping to find some greater offence in the seruice of the Church of Rome then I had done in her bookes that so I might returne better contented and persecute and abhorre the Catholikes at home after I should find them so wicked and idolatrous abroad as they were in euery pulpit in England affirmed to be For this purpose before I would frequent their Churches I talked with such learned men as I could meet withall and did of purpose dispute against them and with all the wit and learning I had both iustifie the doctrine of England established by Law and obiect their superstition and idolatrie which I thought they might commit either with the images in the Church or with the Sacrament of the Altar G. H. 11. That is a trueth to auouch the practise of the Church of Rome to be more grosse then her doctrine howbeit we must confesse her doctrine in many points to be very grosse appeares by this that the better and wiser sort among themselues both in their iudgements and writings condemne many fopperies vsually practised by the people and winked at by their guides as their hallowing of graines and medalls and beads by touching some supposed Relique with opinion of merit Their praying to fained Saints and beleeuing forged legends and miracles Their permitting of publique Stewes and a Priest to keepe his concubine vnder a yeerely rent which Espencaeus wisheth were falsly thrust in among the grieuances of Germany Their setting of certaine rates vpon the most grieuous sinnes before they bee committed as appeareth in their Taxa Camera Their allowing of Sanctuaries for wilfull murder Their ordinary buying and selling of soules in Purgatory as a man would buy an horse in
Smithfield Lastly the making of ghosts to walke and talke at their pleasure of images to moue to weepe to sweate to speake when they list are matters which the modester sort dare not defend and yet the most impudent cannot well deny and surely for mine owne part I must confesse that nothing so much mooued me to a loathing of their religion as the beholding of their practise their whole worship wherein we differ either consisting in apish ridiculous gestures or in a meere outward formality or directed wholly to the greatnesse and gaine of the Clergy And I haue heard some English gentlemen affirme that being induced by subtilty of argument to the entertaining of some doctrine of the Church of Rome the sight of her whorish countenance and the licentious liues of her chiefe Prelates euen in Rome it selfe hath wrought them to a distaste of it as supposing that a face so artificially painted and composed could not stand with simplicity of trueth nor such lewdnesse in liuing with soundnesse in doctrine which Adrian the VI. by nation a Netherlander one of the best Popes of latter dayes acknowledged to be the chiefe cause of so much scandall in the world and so generall and eager a desire of reformation as appeares in his instructions to his Nuntio to bee deliuered to the States of Germany assembled in Diet and recorded by Espencaeus in his Commentary on the first of Titus and therefore promiseth that he would begin with the reformation of his owne Court as our Sauiour did with the Temple but his disposition being discouered and his intent knowen order was takē that he should not proceed in that busines being shortly after cut off by vntimely death So that if you had so pleased you might haue found the practise of the Church of Rome much more grosse then her doctrine aswell for exercise of their religion as for the liues of their Clergie and religious men neither needed you to haue vndertaken a voyage to the Spaw for that purpose in as much as you had made or at least might haue made triall therof at your being in France with an honourable person imployed thither by his Maiesty In the last words of your Section going before this you tel vs that you were driuen to recoile to God and his Church that you might finde rest to your soule and here within 10. lines you tell vs that you got leaue to trauell beyond the Seas hoping to finde some greater offence in the seruice of that Church then you had done in her bookes in her practise then in her doctrine and yet both your instances in the Section following and conference with learned men argue their doctrine rather then their practise B. C. 12. Their common answere was that which by experience I nowe finde to be true viz. that they doe abhorre all idolatry and superstition and doe diligently admonish the people to take heed thereof and they vse images for none other purpose but onely for a deuout memorie and representation of the Church triumphant which is most fit to bee made in the time and place of prayer where after a more speciall maner we should with all reuerence haue our conuersation amongst the Saints in heaven G. H. 12. It appeares by resting satisfied with this answere that either your wit and learning were very slender to obiect hauing as it seemes scarce looked into later writers so much as to vnderstand the state of questions controuersed betweene vs which notwithstanding you pretend before in your fifth Section or else your will forestalled by preiudice was very apt to receiue satisfaction with any answere For what nouice is there so meanely studied in Controuersies who knowes not that the Church of Rome hath hitherto practised and still doth professe that the vse of Images in their Churches is not onely for memorie and representation as you affirme but for worship and adoration and withall commandeth her Pastours in that Catechisme which they call the Romane to teach the people so Nay which is more they both giue and maintaine to bee due the same adoration to the signe of the Crosse and neither lesse nor more then is due vnto Christ himselfe which opinion as a moderate and iudicious writer hath well obserued howsoeeuer they endeuour to varnish and qualifie with distinctions which the Schooles in speculation haue boulted out pretending that the Crosse which to outward sence presenteth visibly it selfe alone is not by them apprehended alone but hath in their secret surmise or conceit a reference to the person of our Lord Iesus Christ so that the honour which they ioyntly doe to both respecteth principally his person and the Crosse but onely for his persons sake yet the people not accustomed to trouble their braines with so nice and subtill differences in the exercise of religion are apparantly no lesse insnared by adoring the Crosse then the Iewes by burning incense to the Brasen serpent and in actions of this kinde we are more to respect what the greatest part of men are commonly prone to conceiue then what some fewe mens inuention can deuise in construction of their owne particular meanings His Maiesties owne wordes to this purpose are excellent and worthy obseruation But for worshipping either of them sayth hee speaking of Reliques or Images I must account it damnable Idolatry I am no Iconomachus I quarrell not the making of images either for publike decoration or mens priuate vses but that they should be worshipped and prayed vnto or any holinesse attributed vnto them was neuer knowen of the ancients and the Scriptures are so directly vehemently and punctually against it as I wonder what braine of man or suggestion of Sathan durst offer it to Christians and all must be salued with nice Philosophicall distinctions as Idolum nihil est and they worship forsooth the Images of things in being and the Image of the true God but the Scripture forbiddeth to worship the image of any thing that God created It was not a nihil then that God forbade onely should bee worshipped neither was the Brasen serpent nor the body of Moses a nihil and yet the one was destroyed and the other hidden for eschewing of Idolatrie yea the image of God himselfe is not onely expresly forbidden to be worshipped but euen to be made The reason is giuen that no eye euer saw God and how can wee paint his face when Moses the man that euer was most familiar with God neuer saw but his backe parts Surely since hee cannot bee drawen to the view it is a thankelesse labour to marre it with a false representation which no Prince nor scarce any other man would be contented with in their owne pictures Let them therefore that maintaine this doctrine answere it to Christ at the latter day when hee shall accuse them of Idolatrie and then I doubt if hee will bee payed with such nice Sophisticall distinctions Hitherto his Maiestie then which I see not what could
words so many and forcible arguments to the contrarie be deduced I must confesse I know not what belongs to Logike and for other passages in the same speech which seeme to fauour your cause you must either iniuriously wrest them from the authors meaning or make them by reasonable construction sutable to these Howsoeuer your selfe being a Churchman and one of those whom he sharpely taxeth for changing their coats through curiositie affectation of noueltie or discontentment in their priuate humours cannot possibly be ranked amongst them to whom as to minds only retaining the liquor they first dranke in out of his speciall clemencie he proposeth more fauourable conditions and yet among these too he hath since discouered an vnnaturall disposition whom he hoped to find by moderate gentle vsage in the matter of naturall subiection quiet and well minded men and therefore no marueile if his Maiestie be since more exasperated and farther off from any reconciliation with that Religion then before But Mr. Casaubon you say tolde you that his errand hither was nothing else but to mediate peace betweene the Church of Rome and the Church of England It is certainely false that Mr. Casaubons errand was by his Maiestie intended to bâ— such and most vnlikely to be true that it was by Mr Casaubon so reported to you considering his direct and expresse writings both before his comming ouer and since against the chiefe Patrons and controuersed points of the Church of Rome and among the rest in the conclusion of his Epistle to Cardinall Perron where hee assures him from his Maiesties mouth and in his name that his constant purpose and full resolution was as long as the Church of Rome yeelded not to antiquity and trueth to entertaine no society with her at all which you might haue read before your departure and spared the paines of writing to M. Casaubon whome that I may yet more fully cleare from this imputation being not able now to speake for himselfe I will here set downe his Letter written with his owne hand to my Lords Grace of Canterbury vpon this very occasion in which hee termes the report no better then the slander of a wicked Apostate Illustrissimo Reuerendissimo Praesuli Domino Cantuariensi totius Angliae Primati Domino meo summa obseruantia colendo Illustrissime Reuerendissime Domine HEri quum essem in Aula ostendit mibi Regia Maiestas librum à Carerio sibi missum in quo mira quaedam de me narrantur puto Serenissimum Regem tuae Reuerentiae illa ostendisse Ego Dei gratia puto me sic vixisse priusquam in hoc regnum venirem postquaÌ„ veni in Angliam vt curare non debeam quid perditus apostata deâ—me garriat aut scribat apparet ipsum grauissimâ— iratum esse mihi propter Epistolam quam illi scripsi vt ab hoc insano consilio eum reuocarem propterea id agit vt meum nomen apud Regiam Maiestatem tuam Reuerentiam infamet Sedspero meliora de Regesapientissimo de te Illustrissime Presul apud quem si mihi opus esse apologia crederem omnia omisissem vt tuae Reuerentiae praesens me purgarem Sed non puto adeo infoeliciter mecum agi vt inâ—andi apostatae calumniae aliquid apud te contra existimationem meam valeant Si iusseris statim adero et ad omnia tuae Reuerentiae satisfaciam Interim quam sim occupatus in colophone imponendo operimeo narrabit tuae Reuerentiae Vederburnus noster verè pius iuuenis tua beneuolentia Presul Illustriss non indignus Deus immortalis te seruet Ecclesiae suae In Musaeo XIV Kal. Ian. MDCXIII Tuae Illustriss Reuerentiae obseruantissimus cultor ISA. CASAVBONVS Right Reuerend my Gracious Lord YEsterday being at Court the KINGS MAIESTIE shewed mee a booke sent him from Carier wherein certaine strange things are reported of me I thinke his MAIESTIE hath shewed them vnto your Grace I hope I haue by the grace of GOD so liued both before I came into this Kingdome and since I came into England that I ought not to care what a forlorne Apostate pratleth or writeth of me It appeares he is very angry with me for a letter I wrote him to reclaime him from that mad course thereupon he goes about to traduce me to the KINGS MAIESTY and your Grace But I hope better both of that most wise KING and of you most renowned Prelate Vnto whom if I thought there were need of Apologie I would laying all other things aside in person purge my selfe vnto your Grace But my case I trust is not so vnhappy that the slanders of a lewd Apostate should be of any force with you against my reputation If you command I will forthwith repaire vnto you and satisfie your Grace vnto the full In the meane time how busily I am occupied about the conclusion of my worke my friend Vederburne a very religious yong man and not vnworthy of your Graces fauor can shew your Grace God Immortall preserue you vnto his Church From my study Decemb. 19. 1613. Your Graces most respectiue Obseruer ISA. CASAVBON And that it may appeare how auerse hee was from vnion with that Church I will hereunto adde a former Letter written likewise to my L. Grace of Canterbury touching the same businesse before he was thus prouoked by D. Carier vpon occasion of a Letter written to the same effect from the Doctor to him Illustrissime Reuerendissime Domine MItto Reuerentiae Epistolam de quâ inaudiuisti Ego acceptam Epistolam vt Regi communicaretur putaui premendam neque ostendendam cuiquam mortalium Non enim possum probare consilium viri illius eruditi qui epistolam scripsit Quare respondi illi statim multis cum illo egi vt ab eo proposito desisteret Multas rationes ei attuli cur certò crederem amentiam esse aut potiâ—s furorem boni aliquid sperare à Romano Phalari nam hoc verbo vsus sum qui nostra mala si quae sunt inter nos ridet Proposui ei ob oculos quà m essent alieni proceres Romanae Ecclesiae ab omni aequitate imprimis Bellarminus de cuius impietate plura ad eum scripsi Posui illi ante oculos quanto cum suo periculo patronum Papae videretur agere Attuli testimonia Matthaei Paris de summâ Angliae infoelicitate quando Papae Ro. paruit Addidi exemplum illius Narbonensis qui nuper ad Ser. Regem similis argumenti librum miserat me iussum à Rege loqui eum librum detestatum esse D. Regem voluisse in latere libri animaduertere Posthaec quid factum sit Carerio nescio Hoc ego volui Reuerentiae tuae significatum Sed expectabam donec ad vrbem redijsses nam me libri mei editio domi tenet Sunt alia quaedam grauia de quibus acturus sum cum tuâ Reuerentiâ post vnum aut
preiudice of any honest man in England to see some vnity betwixt the Church of England and her mother the Church of Rome And now hauing declared the meanes of my couersion to Catholike religion I will briefly also shew vnto you the hopes I haue to doe your Maiesty no ill seruice therein G. H. 21. It is true indeed that those Statutes which you alledge are not seuerall in themselues but members of the same And it appeares well though you had not professed it that at the writing hereof you had not your bookes about you you affirme things vncertaine so confidently and things certaine so falsly But you are sure you say they make such fellonies and treasons as were the greatest vertues of the Primitiue Church whereas wee are more sure that the greatest vertues and fattest sacrifices and shortest cut to heauen as they are now esteemed in the Church of Rome were in the Primitiâ—e Church held none other but murders and parricides and felonies and treasons Thou doest promise saith Augustine to Patilian that thou wilt reckon many of the Emperours and iudges which by persecuting you perished and concealing the Emperours thou mâ—anest two iudges or deputies why didst thou not name the Emperors of thy Communion wert thou afraid to bee accused as guilâ—y of treason where is your courage which feare not to kill your selues To say the Emperours perished for persecuting was treason in his time in our age you thinke it much that reproching of Princes as tyrants and heretiques and aiding the Pope with your perswasions absolutions and rebellions to take their Crownes from them should be punished or adiudged treason how beit a certaine trueth it is that there is no conspiracie so pernitious and dangerous to the state as that which is whispered into mens eares and conueyed into their hearts vpon a sense of deuotion and outwardly couered with a shew of religion notwithstanding as true it is that in England none are put to death for Caâ—holâ—ke religion no nor for the Romish which you call Catholike as hath beene at large iustified in a booke written by a Peere of the Realme intiâ—uled the defence of the iustice of England and is verified by his Maiesty in his Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance in the very entrance of his answere to the Popes first Breue where he not onely cleareth himselfe at large from this imputation but the late Queene that blessed defunct Lady as he there calleth her in whose proceedings saith he who list to compare with an indifferent eye the manifold intended iâ—uasions against her whole kingdome the forreine practises the internall publike rebellions the priuate plots and machinations poysonings murthers and all sorts of deuises dayly set abroach and all these wares continually fostered and fomented from Rome together with the continuall corrupting of her Subiects aswell by temporall bribes as by faire and spaciâ—us promises of eternall felicitie and nothing but booke vpon booke publikely set foorth by her fugitiues for approbation of so holy dâ—signes who list I say with an indifferent eye to looke on the one part vpon these infinite and intollerable temptations and on the other part vpon the iust yet moderate punishmeÌ„t of a part of these hainous offenders shal easily see that that blessed defunct Lady was as free from persecution as thâ—y shall free these hellish instruments from the honour of Martyrdome And againâ— his Maiestie maintaineth the same in his Premonition to Christian Princes not farre from the conclusion As for the cause of their punishment sayth he speaking of Romish Catholikes I doe constantly maintaine that which I haue sayd in my Apologie that no man either in my time or the late Queenes euer dyed here for his Conscience for let him be neuer so deuout a Papist nay though he professe the same neuer so constantly his life is in no danger by the Law if he breake not out into some outward act expressely against the words of the Law or plot some vnlawfull or dangerous practise or attempt Priests and Popish Churchmen onely excepted that receiue orders beyond the Seas who for the manifold treasonable practises that they haue kindled and plotted in this countrey are discharged to come home againe vnder paine of Treason after their receauing of the sayd orders abroad and yet without some other guilt in them then their bare home comming haue none of them beene euer put to death Hitherto his Maiestie Whereas on the otherside wee iustly complaine that they execute our professours though strangers for Religion and only for Religion and in that most bloodie and barbarous manner specially where the Inquisition is in force that whore of Babylon being drunke and yet not filled with the blood of the Saints And whereas you impute crâ—elty to our Lawes what tragicall cruelties were exercisâ—d in Queene Maries dayes euen vpon women and children nay which is most odious and vnnaturall vpon women great with childe I pray God as well forget as some yet aliue well remember Now as you holde and handle our Martyrs worse then Traytors So your most notorious Traâ—tors must stand registred in the Calender of Martyrs Not many dayes before Garnet suffered there came to visite him at his lodging in the Tower certaine choise Diuines amongst whome the chiefe were My Lordes the Bishops of Bath and Wells of Lincolne and Leichfield as now they are among other questions one of them proposed this Whether if the Church of Rome afâ—er his execution should declare him a Martyr hee did approoue thereof hee deepely sighing and shrinking vp his shoulders made this answere Me a Martyr O what a Martyr but the Church will nâ—uer doe it and I pray God it be neuer so much as thought vpon Indeed if I had dyed for the Catholike Religion and vnhappie man had beene acquainted with nothing else but that which was reuealed mee in Confession I might perhaps seeme not vnworthy the honor of Martyrdome and merite the iudgement of the Church but now as the case stands I must acknowledge my fault and confesse the sentence of death pronounced against me most iust Then againe doubling and trebling his sighes and shewing tokens of vnfained sorrow I would to God sayeth he what is done might be vndone I could wish that any other chance had befallen me rather then my name should thus be stained with the blot of Treason which offence though most grieuous yet I distrust not but it may be washed away with the teares of repentance and that Christ will haue mercie on me Sure I am that if I had all the world in my power to bestow I would willingly giue all that I might be freed from the guilt and imputation of treason which lies heauie vpon my conscience shall stand recorded in the sentence of my condemnation Notwithstanding all this is hee recorded a Martyr apologized by Eudemon and by Delrio paralelled with Denis the Areopagite What would Mr. Doctour say to this now had wee
my Kingdomes was grounded vpon the plaine words of the Scripture without the which all points of Religion are superfluous as any thing contray to the same is abomination I had neuer outwardly auowed it for pleasure or awe of any flesh I take his meaning to be either for loue or feare of any mortall man or rather for any worldly and fleshly consideration whether it were to gaine and make aduantage by entertaining and embracing it or to loose and suffer disaduantage by reiecting and opposing the contrary I speake not this as if by Gods grace as much and more both honour and securitie did not waite vpon our Religion as vpon the Romish but onely to shew that these are no sufficient inducements to draw so much as a priuate man much lesse to mooue the diuine and noble spirit of a Christian prince specially such a prince as hath often shewed himselfe able to iudge of reasons of a higher straine to the accepting of a new beliefe and another forme in the seruice of God but only the plaine demonstration and cleare euidence of the truth of that beliefe and necessitie of that forme B. C. 3. The first reason of my hope is the promise of God himselfe to blesse and honour those that blesse his Church and honour him and to curse and confound those that curse his Church and dishonor him which hee hath made good in all ages There was neuer any man or Citie or State or Empire so preserued and aduanced as they that haue preserued the vnitie and aduanced the prosperitie of the Church of Christ nor any been made more miserable and inglorious then they that haue dishonoured Christ and make hauocke of his Church by Schisme and heresie G. H. 3. To grant that which you assume that the Church of Rome is the onely true Church this argument drawen from temporall blessings is sometimes false vncertaine alwayes and your assertion that neuer any man or Citie or State was preserued aduanced as they that haue presâ—rued the vnitie and aduanced the prosperitie of the Church of Christ is very broad and too large considering it extends euen to Solomon himselfe who though hee aduanced the Church yet can it not properly bee said that hee aduanced the Church of Christ nay out of the Church who were euer more prosperous succesfull in their affaires then Augustus and Traian Of the former of whom it is said that he found Rome of Bricke and left it of Marble of the later that hee raised the Romane Empire to the highest pitch of glory and spread the power of their Command vnto the farthest borders and largest circuit that euer before or since hath by them been possessed for the kingdome of Dacia hee subdued Armenia Parthia and Mesopotamia made subiect Assyria Persia and Babylon conquered passed Tygris and stretched the confines of the Romane Empire vnto the remotest dominions of the Indies which neuer before that time had seene the Romane Banners or so much as heard of their name besides his morall vertues were such that in the choyce of a new Emperour they euer wished for one more happie then Augustus better then Traian and yet this man with whom for outward prosperitie no Christian Emperour can bee balanced was not only out of the Church but an enemie to it raised against it the third and one of the hotest persecutions of the tenne For further proofe hereof I referre the reader for this point to S. Augustines first 10. bookes of the Citie of God and surely he that shal duely consider the flourishing greatnesse of the Assy rian and Grecian but especially the Romane Monarchy will easily discouer the lightnesse of this reason and the vanitie of the assertion I speake not to detract from the Christian and truely Catholike religion euen in regard of outward blessings but onely to proue that God bestowes them sometimes vpon the good thereby to shew that absolutely and in themselues they are not bad sometimes againe vpon the bad to shew that in themselues they are not good and takes them sometimes from both to shew that in their owne nature they are indifferent B. C. 4. If I had leasure and bookes it were easie for mee to enlarge this point with a long enumeration of particulars but I thinke it needlesse because I cannot call to mind any example to the contrarie except it be the State of Queene Elizabeth or some one or two others lately fallen from the vnitie of the Catholike Church or the State of the great Turke that doth still persecute the Church of Christ and yet continues in great glory in this world but when I consider of Queene Elizabeth I find in her many singularities she was a woman and a mayden Queene which gaue her many aduantages of admiration she was the last of her Race and needed not care what became of the world after her dayes were ended she came vpon the remainders of deuotion and Catholike religion which like a Bowle in his course or an Arrow in his flight would goe on for a while by the force of the first moouer and shee had a practise of maintaining warres among her neighbours which became a woman well that she might be quiet at home and whatsoeuer prosperitie or honour there was in her dayes or is yet remaining in England I can not but ascribe it to the Church of Rome and to Catholike religion which was for many hundred yeeres together the first mouer of that gouernment and it is still in euery setled kingdome and hath left the steppes and shadow thereof behinde it which in all likelihood cannot continue many yeeres without a new supplie from the fountaine G. H. 4. Why you should ioyne Queene Elizabeth with the great Turke I see no reason but onely for the iustifying of Rainolds his booke of Caluino Turcisme Otherwise a marueile it is that you would instance in her happinesse whom the Pope in his Briefe declared amiserable woman and yet her gouernement was not more happie then her sisters who notwithstanding shee submitted her necke to the Romane yoke was vnfortunate howbeit in her owne disposition she is reported to haue been a gracious and vertuous Lady instance may bee brought in the bringing in of a forreiner the frustrating of the great hope of her conception her short and bloody reigne extraordinary dearths and hurts by thunder and fire and lastly the losse of Calis the last footing wee had in France being held by her predecessors the space of about 250 yeeres whereas Queene Elizabeth oppugned and accursed from her very Cradle by the Church of Rome their thunderbolts returned vpon their owne heads and her selfe like a tender plant after a thunder shower prospered the more and being no lesse full of honour then dayes she was gathered to her fathers as a ripe sheafe of corne that is carried into the barne in so much that her Successour our most renowned SOVERAIGNE in admiration of
Kings and Princes wheresoeuer they can preuaile in which passage can none other bee intended but the Netherlanders of whom touching this point I will say no more that they are now after the wasting of so much treasure and the shedding of so much Christian blood declared a free estate by him whose Regall right you pretend they ouerthrow Lastly those whom you call Caluinists either denie or call into question as few principles of Religion or Articles of Faith as any Romish Catholike nay I will be bold to say it and readie to make it good that the former maintaine some of them strongly which the latter ouerthrow if not in plaine termes and directly yet at least indirectly and by consequence by establishing their owne Articles Vnknowne to the Apostles and the Primitiue Church they make the Articles of our Christian Creede of none effect and for exposition which concernes not points in difference betweene vs and the Church of Rome if I can iudge any thing your Writers differ more among themselues and assume to themselues a greater libertie in expounding then ours and if they be restrained of their Allegoricall Tropologicall and Anagogicall interpretations as impertinent many times to the point in hand as wide from the scope of the Text they will presently cry out that wee despise the authoritie of the Church when it may be they haue wrested the meaning of one or two latter Fathers against the streame of Antiquitie and what bond of obedience can there be to God or to Kings for Gods sake in such Religion B. C. 14. It is commonly obiected by States-men that it is no matter what opinions men hold in matters of Religion so that they be kept in awe by Iustice and by the sword Indeed for this world it were no matter at all for Religion if it were possible to doe Iustice and to keepe men in awe by the Sword In Militarie estates while the Sword is in the hand there is the lesse need of Religion and the greatest and most martiall estates that euer were haue beene willing to vse the Conscience and reuerence of some Religion or other to prepare their Subiects to obedience but in a peaceable gouernment such as all Christian kingdomes doe professe to be if the reines of Religion bee let loose the sword commonly is too weake and comes to late and is like enough to giue the day to the Rebell And seeing the last and strongest bond of iustice is an Oath which is a principall act of Religion and were but a mockerie if it were not for the punishment of Hell and the reward of Heauen it is vnpossible to execute iustice without the helpe of Religion and therefore the neglect and contempt of Religion hath euer beene and euer shal be the forerunner of destruction in all setled States whatsoeuer G. H. 14. Hauing now spent your powder and shot in discharging your three substantiall reasons and the Apologizing of the Powder-treason for the filling vp of your paper but to the abusing of his Maiesties leisure and patience you here begin a fresh with a solemne discourse of the necessitie of Religion for a well ordered Common-wealth vnder colour of meeting with an obiection of States-men that it matters not what opinions men hold in matters of Religion so they bee kept in awe by iustice and by the sword But these Statesmen I take to be of Machiauels sect who of what nation he was by birth and of what religion by profession wee are not ignorant The ancient Romans indeed being themselues Lords of the world became vassals to the Idoles of all nations by admitting the free vse of their diuerse Religions of them all holding that as it seemeth the most perfect Religion which refused none as false neither is the Turke much different from that opinion howbeit hee preferre his owne Religion before all others but all other States-men who are so conuersant in affaires of State as they neglect not Christanitie can not but hold the Christian religion alone admittable in Christian Common-wealthes Now as we grant in all States some Religion necessary and in Christian States onely the Christian admittable So with all we confesse an Oath to bee a principall acte of that Religion But how it is abused by Romish Catholikes for seruing their owne turnes by Dispensations by aequiuocations and Mentall Reseruations both Histories witnesse and wee haue had too great experience By which meanes that which indeede should be the surest and strongest band of truth iustice and as the Apostle speakes an end of all strife is become the matter of quarrell and a meere visard for iniustice and falshood to maske vnder and by the same meanes as the Romish Religion is growen odious to vs so for their sakes both ours and theirs going both vnder the common name of Christians is in that respect growen odious to the very Turkes who obserue an oath made by the name of their Mahomet more inuiolably then wee by the Name of CHRIST one to another as well appeared by our King Henry the third who being a great exactor vpon the poore Commons as euer was any king before him or since and thinking thereby to winne the people sooner to his deuotion most faithfully promised them once or twice and thereunto bound himselfe with a solemne oath both before the Clergie and Laitie to graunt vnto them the old liberties and Customes of Magna Charta and Charta de Foresta perpetually to bee obserued whereupon a Quindecim was granted to the King but after the payment was sure the King trusting the Popes dispensation for a little money to be discharged of his oath and couenant went from that he had promised and solemnely sworne before In like manner the sayd King at another time being in neede of money signed himselfe with the crosse pretending and swearing deepely in the face of the whole Parliament that hee himselfe would goe in person against the Saracens but as soone as the money was fingred small care was taken for the performance of the oath being so put in head by certaine about him that hee needed not to passe of that periurie for so much as the Pope for an hundred pounds or two would quickly discharge him thereof as Matthew Parris reports it who liued at the same time and was often in Court with him this was then the account which by reason of the Popes easie dispensations Kings made of their oathes to their Subiects The like account by the same meanes did Charles the 9th of France and the Queene his mother make of their oath taken to the King of Nauarre the Prince of Condie the Admirall and the rest of the Protestant profession at what time his sisters marriage was made more red with their blood then his wine but this blood crying for vengeance himself at his death issued blood at all the passages of his bodie Neither did Subiects make any other reckoning of their oathes taken to their Kings
first Table in their number making of foure but three and of those three they breake the first and second in worshipping the Blessed Virgine Angels Saints Reliques Images with diuine worship and in speciall the Crucifix and Sacramentall Bread professedly with the same kind of worship which is due to Christ as God and what account they make of the other two their little reckoning of blaspheming and profaning Gods Name and Gods day giue but too sufficient demonstration to the world But to bee plaine with you I finde no such words in S ir Francis Bacons Essayes printed the yere 1612. which vpon this occasion I haue reuised there beeing onely one of religion and that the very first which speakes so wittily so learnedly so fully against your drift in this place and the former section which shewes how the deuill out of the arsenall of false apprehensions sends forth the distorted engines of actions they be his owne words in that place as I cannot but hold it both a fence and a grace to insert it into mine answere whole and intire as himselfe hath deliuered it lest I should doe him iniury by mangling it The quarrels and diuisions for religion saith hee were euils vnknowen to the heathen and no maruell for it is the true God that is the ielous God and the gods of the heathen were good fellowes but yet the bounds of religious vnitie are so to bee strengthened that the bounds of humane societie bee not dissolued Lucretius the Poet when hee beheld the acte of Agamemnon induring and assisting at the sacrifice of his daughter concludes with this verse Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum But what would hee haue done if hee had knowen the Massacre of France or the Powder treason of England Certainely hee would haue been seuen times more Epicure and Atheist then hee was nay hee would rather haue chosen to haue been one of the mad men of Munster then a partaker of those counsels For it is better that Religion should deface mens vnderstanding then their pietie and charitie retaining reason onely but as an Engine and Chariot-driuer of cruelty and malice It was great blasphemie when the deuill sayd I will ascend and bee like the highest but it is a greater blasphemie if they make God to say I will descend and bee like the Prince of darkenesse And it is no better when they make the cause of Religion descend to the execrable actions of the murthering of Princes butchering of people and firing of States neither is there such a sinne against the person of the holy Ghost if one should take it literally as in stead of the likenesse of a Doue to bring him downe in the likenesse of a Vulture or Rauen nor such a scandall to their Church as out of the Barke of S. Peter to set foorth the flagge of a Barge of Pyrats and Assassins Therefore since these things are the common enemies of humane society Princes by their power Churches by their decrees and all learning Christian Morall of whatsoeuer Sect or opinion by their Mercurie rodde ought to ioyne in the damning to Hell for euer these facts and their supports and in all counsels concerning Religion that counsell of the Apostle would be prefixed Ira hominis non implet iustitiam Dei The same noble gentleman speaketh much to the same purpose in his Essay of Superstition as that it erecteth an absolute tyrannie in the mindes of men it hath been the confusion and dissolution of many States anâ— bringeth a new Primum mobile that rauisheth all the Spheres of gouernement The master saith hee of Superstition is the people and in all superstition wise men follow fooles arguments are fitted to practise in a reuersed order And thus I hope by this time Mr. Doctor hath gained little to the aduantage of his cause from the true and wise obseruations of Sir Francis Bacon Lastly for your instance in Mutinous souldiers I cannot conceiue whither your discourse tends but to shew that more honestie is yet left amongst vs then in those of your profession and is like to bee as long as we feare the assault of a common enemie which is like to bee as long as you remaine in opinion and condition like your selues B. C. 17. And as for their exhortations to obedience to your Maiestie when they haue first infected the vnderstanding of your Subiects with such principles of rebellion as haue disturbed and ouerthrowen all other States where they had their will it is a ridiculous thing to thinke vpon such exhortations and all one as if a fantasticall fellow finding a herd of young cattell in a close should first breake downe the hedges and then crie aloud to the cattell they doe not venture to goe out not seeke any fatter Pasture for feare they bee put in the pound and if they chance to feede where they are because they haue no experience of other and to tary in the Close for an houre or two then the vnhappie fellow should runne to the honour of the cattell and tell him what great seruice hee had done him and how hee had kept his cattell in the Close by â—is goodly charmes exhortations Let them say what they list of their own honesty and of their exhortations to obedience as long as they doe freely infect the peoples soules with such false opinions in religioÌ„ they do certainly sowe the seedes of disobedience rebellion in mens vnderstandings which if they bee not preuented by your Maiesties giuing way to Catholike religion will in all likelihood spring vp in the next generation to the great preiudice and molestation of your MAIESTIE and your posteritie so that whether I doe respect heauen or earth mine owne soule or the seruice of your Maiestie God or your neighbours or your subiects my assured hope is that by ioyning my selfe to the Catholike Church I neither haue done nor shall doe any ill duety or seruice vnto your Maiestie G. H. 17. You say that our exhortations to obedience are ridiculous the vnderstanding being once infected with such principles of rebellion as wee teach Had you vouchsafed to haue stooped to the nominating of those principles in particular you had dealt ingenuously and giuen some matter of reply but as you would shew your selfe a polititian in the whole body of your discourse so doe you specially in this that throughout you insist vpon vniuersals which not onely dazell the eyes of their vulgar Reader but yeelde starting holes of euasion to the authour What your Principles are and what ours touching obedience to the ciuill Magistrate I haue already opened in mine answer to the twelfth and thirteenth Sections of this Chapter Now the remedie you say to preuent the mischiefe likely to ensue vpon such doctrine is the admission of Catholike religion as if wee neuer heard nor read of any rebellion abroad nor at home raised from the professours of that religion during the space of a thousand sixe
shallow as proceeding rather from affection then iudgement is this because if a man aske you say in cold blood whether a Roman Catholike may be saued the most learned Church-man will not denie it Wherein if we be more charitable to you then you are to vs in passing censures of damnation it should in my iudgement rather argue the goodnesse of that Religion from whence such charity flowes towards mens persons then be vrged as a proofe for the approbation of that erronious doctrine which in it selfe it condemns The Turke is too liberall in admitting all Religions to the hope of saluation and on the other side you are too niggardly and sparing in shutting out all from the hope thereof which receiue not the marke of the beast in their foreheads or hands We desiring to runne a middle course betwixt both extremes as we shut out all such who directly deny the merits of CHRIST so doe wee passe a fauourable censure on those who deny him not of malice but of ignorance and that not directly but by consequence It is true that S. Paul hath in the fifth to the Galatians If yee be circumcised CHRIST shall profit you nothing That is if a man put his trust in Circumcision or in any thing else beside Christ though with Christ in the matter of iustification he is abolished from Christ and the merite of his death and Passion Now what confidence the Romanists put in their owne satisfaction for veniall sinnes and temporall punishment either in this life or in Purgatorie due to mortall their writings testifie but yet our assurance is that many of them when they come to make their last account betwixt God and their owne Conscience and throughly consider of the weakenesse and corruption of their owne nature for the vncertaintie of their owne proper righteousnesse and for the auoiding of vaineglory according to Bellarmins aduise they rest wholly in the alone mercie and goodnesse of God renouncing in particular that merite of worke which their Church in generall for her owne aduantage maintaineth and teacheth them to maintaine Or lastly God of his Graciousnesse may accept of their repentance for vnknowen sins and consequently for their erronious opinons which by reason of their education they vnwittingly imbrace yet this charitable construction of ours can bee no sufficient warrant for vs either to shut our eyes against a knowen trueth or to open our eares to hearken to any motion of reconcilement to a knowen errour Now whether a Romane Catholike may bee a good subiect wholly submitting himselfe to Romish positions I referre the reader to his Maiesties speech in Parliament in the yeere 1605 who should know what belongs to his owne state and to mine answere to the 12. Sect. of this Chapter a part of his Maiesties very words in that speech are these I therefore doe thus conclude this point that as vpon the one part many honest men seduced with some errors of Popery may yet remaine good faithfull subiects so vpon the other part none of those that truely knowe and beleeue the whole grounds and schoole conclusions of their doctrine can euer prooue good Christians or faithfull subiects If then we bee so farre diuided both in God and in the king how can we but be vtterly diuided in our selues B. C. 20. Truely there is no reason at all but onely the violence of affection which being in a course cannot without some force be stayed The multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according vnto trueth but according vnto customes and therefore hauing beene bred and brought vp in the hatred of Spaniards and Papists cannot chuse but thinke they are bound to hate them still and that whosoeuer speaketh a word in fauour of the Church of Rome or of Catholike religion is their vtter enemy and the Puritanicall Preacher who can haue no being in charity doth neuer cease by falsifications and slanders to blow the coales that hee may burne them and warme himselfe But if your Maiesty shall euer bee pleased to commaund those make-bates to hold their peace a while and to say nothing but that they are able to proue by sufficient authority before those that are able to iudge and in the mean time to admit a conference of learned and moderate men on either side the people who are now abused and with the light of the Gospel held in extreme ignorance are not yet so vncapable but they will be glad to heare of the trueth when it shall be simply and euidently deliuered by honest men and then they will plainely see that their light of the Gospel which they so much talke of is but a counterfeit light in a theeues lanterne wherby honest mens eyes are dazeled and their purses robbed and it will also appeare that there is not indeed any such irreconciliable opposition betwixt the Church of England and the Church as they that liue by the schisme doe make the world beleeue there is neither in matter of doctrine nor in matter of State G. H. 20. You farther endeuour to prooue in the entrance of this Section that the diuision of the Church of England from the Church of Rome ariseth rather from affection then iudgement in as much as the multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according to trueth but according vnto customes Now whether it be the Church of England or the Church of Rome that stands vpon multitude and that multitude vpon custome the Bishop of Rome himselfe shall be the iudge nay not onely your multitude but the chiefest pillars of your Church stand most vpon it if you had but looked into your great Cardinals notes of your Church you should haue found antiquity or custome to haue beene the second howbeit both Acosta and Xauerius in their seueral writings made the Indians standing vpon their customes the chiefe difficulty of their conuersion to CHRIST It was Symmachus the Pagans argument in his Epistle to Theodosius the Emperour recorded by S. Ambrose Seruanda est tot saeculis fides nostra sequendi sunt maiores nostri qui secuti sunt foeliciter suos Our religion which hath now continued so many yeeres is still to bee retained and our ancestours are to bee followed by vs who happily traced the steps of their forefathers and is not this Mr. Doctors owne argument to perswade his Maiesty to the Romish religion in the 2. and 10. Sect. of this Chapter how comes it then to passe that in this place he findes fault with those that iudge according to custome and makes it a popular errour teach that a while and indeed we may be brought to shake handes with Rome she standing vpon a pretended truth of antiquity but we vpon the antiquity of trueth in as much as our Sauiour said not I am antiquity but I am trueth And S. Cyprian his blessed Martyr Antiquity without truth is nothing els but ancient errour Now the reason you giue that our
both they and their posterity might be at vtter defiance therewith and so hauing ouerthrowne and prophaned the good workes of the Saints it was necessary for them to get them Chaplins that might both dispute preach and write against the merits of good workes the inuocation of Saints the sacrifice of the Altar prayer for the dead and all such points of Catholike doctrine as were the grounds of those Churches and religious houses which they had ouerthrowen and prophaned And it was not hard for those Chaplines by some shew of Scripture to proue that which their Lords and followers were so willing to beleeue G. H. 23. The Abbies and Religious houses were growen to that height of idlenesse the mother of ignorance and luxurie within themselues and by reason thereof into that contempt and base estimation with the people that it was high time some blood should haue beene drawen from their swelling veines specially considering the little vse the Common-wealth had of them but chiefely for that they were so farre degenerated from the primitiue institution Their number was great it being 645. monasteries of men and women accounting the Priories and Frieries besides Chaunteries and free Chappels their seate commonly in the fairest and fattest part of the land their reuenues amounting to an inestimable summe as in the originall booke thereof taken by Commission and giuen to the King may appeare though at their dissolutions their values were fauourably and farre vnder rated in so much as in the raigne of Edward the first a statute of Mortmaine was made for the restraining of that excesse And had not Henry the fifth beene wisely diuerted vpon the French warres by Archbishop Chichly he had in all likelihood preuented Henry the eight in diminishing if not demolishing those houses being sâ—t on by his Parliament held at Leicester in the beginning of his raigne in which a bill was exhibited complaining how their reuenues giuen for deuotion were most desorderly wasted vpon Hounds and Hawkes and Horses and Whores which if better imployed would serue for the defence of the land and honour of the King and suffice for the maintenance of fifteene Earles fifteene hundred Knights sixe thousand two hundred Esquires and one hundred Almes-houses for reliefe of impotent and diseased persons and besides all this to the Kings Coffers there would thereby yeerely accrew twenty thousand pounds And to speake a trueth Cardinall Wolsey was the man who by pulling downe the smaller both shewed and made a way to the King Henry the eight for taking the like order with the bigger Neither did hee thinke his hands lesse bound towards his owne subiects then the Pope and French King did theirs for the rooting out of the rich and powerfull order of Templars through Christendome accusing them of like grieuous and vnnaturall offences as were in open Parliament layed to the charge of our monasticall professours vpon the relation of such Commissioners who were appointed to make search to that purpose no marueile then that as after the dissolution of that order which fell out in the raigne of Edward the second as Thomas de la More reportâ— is who at the same time liued as an officer in his Court the heires of the donors and such as had indowed them with lands reentred vpon those parts of their ancient patrimonies so in the downefall of Monasteries the Lords tooke their share of those lands which their ancestors had formerly bestowed to piouâ—â—vses but were at that time very much abused by the possesâ—ours But a great part of them about or somewhat aboue 600. yeeres since were thrust into the possessions of maried Church-men by Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury so that if euery bird had his feather at their dissolution the greatest part of their lands had returned to the Clergie or at least their impropriations which were as improper to them though they held them by dispensation as now it may well bee disputed they are to the possessâ—urs of them A part whereof notwithstanding are so farre off from being at defiance with your Church that they are professed Romane Catholikes And in Queene Maries dayes among all those that intirely embraced that Religion not so much as one was found that could be drawen to disgorge those sweet morsels they had deuoured or to make restitution of a foote of land though the Queene her selfe the rather to draw them on had offered all she held in possession Then was your doctrine of good workes your Inuocation Saints your sacrifice of the Altar and your prayer for the dead restored which were the grounds you say of those religious houses yet the land which had bene their maintenance was not restored And as the reuiuing of those doctrines could not serue to giue new life vnto the carkasses of those ruined houses so the ruining of those houses was not the cause as you pretend of the impugning of those doctrines since they were impugned by the confession of your owne Writers by the Waldenses by the Albingenses by Wicliffe by Husse by Luther by Zuinglius by Caluin before those houses fell and continued for the most part during all the raigne of Henry the eight as may appeare by the sixe articles commonly called the whip with the sixe cordes And for any thing I finde he altered nothing excepting the taking downe of Monasteries and the Popes authority but onely the translation of the Bible and the singing and reading diuine seruice in our mother tongue so that it is cleare to any indifferent iudgement that the contradicting of those doctrines rather caused the ruine of those houses then their ruine as you would beare vs in hand the contradicting of those doctrines And it were no hard matter not by shew of Scripture but by Scripture it selfe to prooue their vnsoundnesse But an harder I am sure it were for his Holinesse Chaplaines from thence to proue their soundnesse in that sense as they are now defended in the Church of Rome howbeit you are as willing to beleeue the trueth of them for the aduantage you reape by them specially by the sacrifice of the Altar and prayer for the dead as any can bee vpon the like reason to beleeue the contrary B. C. 24. To the Commons was giuen great hope of reliefe for their pouertie ease of subsidies and the burden of so great a Clergie and many other goodly gay nothings And for the present they should haue liberty and the benefit of the common Law that is leaue to liue by such Lawes as themselues list to make and to contemne the authoritie of the Church which although it were for their benefit euery way yet because it crossed their affections like wayward children they could neuer abide it and was not this reason enough for them to hold out the breach and to study Scripture themselues that they might be able to confute Confession Satisfaction Penance and to declaime against that tyranny of the Church of Rome whereby
themselues and their forefathers had bene kept in awe and obedience vnto God and their kings G. H. 24. The Commons might haue beene disburdened of their Subsidies had those reuenues and treasures which came or might haue come to the Crowne by the downefall of monasteries bene imployed as they might haue bene the plates and wires of gold of Beckets onely shrine together with the pearles and precious stones of inestimable value filling two great chests But God so ordered the matter for their laying of sacrilegious hands as it may be thought vpon those tenths which by himselfe were consecrated to himselfe that neither it nor the rest prospered neither was the king thereby much inriched nor the Commons relieued it beeing like the dead flie in the boxe of oyntment or the Colloquintida in the Prophets pottage Now for the peoples liberty in making lawes at their own pleasure to liue as they listed it is a matter fondly surmised and published of you not promised by the State nor demanded or expected by them The Lawes Ecclesiasticall were in King Henries time and by his authority appoynted to be compiled and digested by a certaine company of Bishops and other diuines ioyned in Commission with Ciuill and Canon-Lawyers to the number of 32. but this worke being leâ—t imperfect by the death of that king was afterward finished in the dayes and by the command of his sonne Edward which my selfe haue seene though by the vntimely death of that king also it neuer yet receiued publike allowance And for other lawes as the world knoweth they neither could nor can make any without the consent of the Lords spirituall and temporall and the approbation of the king And lastly how the lawes of your Church crossed their affections let their often and dangerous rebellions for the restoring of them testifie there beeing none in trueth more fitting to the humour of a natural minded man as may appeare by this that a man of no religion and like white paper or sponged tables apt to receiue any impression will sooner imbrace yours then any other in the world From this you digresse to their studying of the Scriptures that they might be able to confute confession satisfaction penance and to declaime against that tyranny of the Church whereby themselues and their forefathers had bene kept in awe and obedience to God and their king For their studying of the Scriptures it is indeede a great eye-sore to you because thereby your malice in withholding your followers from reading them and withall your burdensome traditions thrust vpon them for your owne honor and gaine but to their paine and grieuance are clearely discouered and discerned from that which before you call eternall trueth but to them nothing can bee more profitable or to their guides more comfortable so it bee done with reuerence and â—obriety and as our Preface to the Bishops Bible exhorts not so much to dispute and contradict as to learne and obey as being a practise which both our Sauiour himselfe and his Apostles and the holy Fathers of the Primitiue Church specially S. Chrysostome in diuers homilies often and earnestly exhort their heares vnto And for the confutation of those poyntes you name I am of opinion and I thinke not without reason that many of our people are better able by Scriptures to confute them as they are now held and vsed amongst you then your greatest Bishops and Cardinals are from thence able to proue them of whom some haue not sticked to professe that they thought that time which they passed in reading the Scriptures to be of all other the most vnprofitably spent preferring Tullies Orations before Pauls Epistles and Aristotles Ethikes before Solomons Prouerbes B. C. 25. To the Clergiemen that would turne with the times beside the possibilitie of present preferment by the alteration was giuen shortly after leaue to marrie to purchase and to enioy the profit and pleasure of the world as well as the laitie and what carnall minded Monke or Priest would not with might and maine keepe open the breach after he was once plunged in it rather then to be in danger to forgoe so pleasing a coÌ„moditie Hence did arise a necessitie of speaking and writing against Vowes Vrginitie Pouertie Fasting Praying Watching Obedience and all that austeriâ—ie of life which is by the Lawes of the Church required in a monasticall and Priestly conuersation G. H. 25. Little hope was there giuen for the present to the Church-men that yeelded to the King for matter of preferment since the Abbots and Priors were not onely turned out of doores but their houses rased and their goods and lands confiâ—cated And for the Bishops none of their places thereby fell voide they all Rochester onely excepted ioyntly concurring with the king in casting off the Romish yoke and for their marrying purchasing neither of theÌ„ were permitted during the reigne of king Henry who liued reigned somewhat aboue 14. yeres after the breach with Rome Howbeit if wee may credite Mr. Cambden an vnpartiall Antiquarie Churchmen were not forbidden mariage in England till the yere 1102. then Anselme Archbishop of Canterburie sayeth hee offered violence both to nature and to the Scriptures which he writes vpon occasion of one Ealphegus a Priest famous for his learning who was married and dwelt in the South part of Deuonshire And further he alledgeth the words of Henry of Huntindon touching that act of Anselme He forbadwiues to the English Priests being neuer before forbidden which to some seemed a thing very decent to others as dangerous least whiles they aimed to a puritie aboue their reach they might fall into horrible impurities to the dishonour of CHRISTS Name and their profession Those words of Cambden before quoted together with these of Huntindon by him alledged are commaunded to be rased by the Spanish Index But they might aswell haue rased those of theâ—I â—I in Platina auouching that hee saw great reason why Priests should be restrained of mariage but greater why it should be restored them or those of Cassander by that ouer rigorous and vnseasonable constitution speaking of restraint of marriage in Churchmen wee see much grieuous and abominable scandall to haue arisen in the Church or those of Mantuan touching S â— Hillary Bishop of Poictiers in France Non tibi progenies nocuit non obfuit vxor Legitimo coniuncta toro Or lastly those of the same Poet speaking of the father of Nazianzen Praesule Patre satus nam tunc idiura sinebant non horruit illâ Tempestate Deus Thalamos cunabula toedas And in another place of the father of Basil and Gregorie Nyssen Tutius esse volunt qua lex diuina sinebat Isse viâ veterumque sequi vestigia patrum Quorum vita fuit melior cum coniuge quam nunc Nostra sit exclusis Thalamis coniâ—gis vsu. And if marrying be allowed them I see no reason but they should withall be allowed purchasing as they are and alwayes haue
doctrine wherof thou speakest is but we may truely answere both in their defence and our owne Nos non sumus nouatores sed vos estis veteratores It is not we that affect nouelty but you the counterfait face of antiquity thereby labouring to make a peace and to strike a league with vs as the Gibeonites did with Ioshua deceiuing him by the shew of old sackes olde bottles old shooes old garments and bread that was drie and moldy You farther charge vs with comforting one another in reporting the good successe which Schismatikes and rebels happen to haue against their gouernors whereas the very enemies of those whome you call Schismatikes and Rebels haue bene many times inforced to acknowledge their good successe to haue come not so much from good fortune as from the extraordinary hand of God so that they haue beene constrained to crie out with Pharaohs sorcerers The finger of God is here At the siege of Rochell the inhabitants being brought to great want as Thuanus reports it euery tide were brought in a kinde of shel-fish he calles them Surdones or Pectunculos which I take to bee little scallops or muscles and that in great abundance for the relieuing of the besieged they hauing neuer bene seene vpon that coast before that time nor since Of Ziska the Bohemian Aeneas Syluius afterwards Pius the second being Pius indeed before he was so in name recorded it to posterity that eleuen times in fought battels hee returned conquerour out of the field and was himselfe neuer foiled The Duke of Medina Generall of the Spanish inuincible nauy sent against vs for the rooting of vs out in the yeere 1588. and blessed by the Apostolicall benediction when hee saw how the windes and the waues and the starres in their order fought against them professed he thought Iesus Christ was turned Lutheran Hispanus ipse saith our famous Annalist Cladem acceptam vt à Deo composito animo tulti Deoque et Sanctis quod non tristior fuerit gratias egit et per Hispaniam agi iussit The King of Spaine himselfe tooke the blow patiently as giuen by God and both himselfe gaue thankes and commanded his Subiects through Spaine to doe the like that it fell no heauier in the consideration of which admirable successe we might apply that to our Church and Religion which was written of the Emperour Theodosius O nimium dilecta Deo cui militat equor Et coniurati veniunt ad classica venti Vpon that occasion and not without reason were some coynes stamped with this inscription Glory to God alone others with this Man proposeth God disposeth and lastly others with this Impius fugit nemine sequente Which all tend to this purpose that it was God fought for vs in the maintainance of his owne cause I will conclude this point with the testimonie of Bizarro an Italian and for any thing I can find no Protestant speaking of our late renowned Soueraigne Quod verò ad me attinet id tantum in praesentia dixerim Elizabetham Britanniae Reginam singulari Dei opt max. bonitate ac prouidentia gubernari Quamuis enim ipsamet egregiâ virtute ac sapientia praedita sit et apud se consiliarios habeat summo iudicio summaque prudentia prestantes tamen fatendum est humana consilia persaepe inania reddi nisi ea diuinitù regantur Id vero vt ita esse iudicem superiorum temporum facit recordatio cum cogito quot interni externique hostes huic opt Reginae insidiati sint et quà m mirabiliter illam Deus ab eorum insidijs atque conatibus eripuerit Touching my selfe I will onely say this for the present that Elizabeth Queene of Britanny hath beene hitherto preserued by the singular goodnesse and prouidence of almighty God For though her selfe be indued with singular vertue and wisedome and shee haue about her Counsellours of excellent iudgement and foresight in the managing of her affaires yet must wee confesse that humane Counsels are often frustrated vnlesse they bee guided from heauen and that I should so thinke the remembrance of the passages of latter times inforceth me when I call to minde how many home-bred and forraine enemies haue layed in waite for the life of that vertuous Queene and how miraculously God hath freed her from all their plots and assaults You goe forward and tell vs that from hence it is come to passe that the lawfull doctrine of the Church of England is contemned as a ragge of Popery and Caluins Institutions cried vp by voyces in Court and Countrey in hope it may one day serue the like turne in England as it hath done in Geneua as if Geneua had not discharged her selfe of the claime of her Bishop and Duke before Caluin compiled his Institutions or as if we knew not that Caluins Institutions make nothing against the gouernment of lawfull Magistrates or if it bee a booke so dangerous as you would make it a wonder it is to mee that neither your selfe nor any as yet of that side haue so much as vndertaken a through confutation of it Must it needes be that all who imbrace his paines and learning in those Institutions intend the subuersion of the state or presently contemne the doctrine of the Church of England Your olde Master Archbishop Whitegift was of another minde who maintained to his vtmost the doctrine of the Church of England and yet gaue he Caluin his due also labouring alwayes where any occasion was offered to countenance his writings with Caluins authority and specially out of that booke which you most mislike yeelding him the title of a famous and learned man Nay euen in the vse of things indifferent hee giues this testimonie of his iudgement and moderation If Mr. Caluin were aliue saith he and rightly vnderstood the state of our Church and Controuersie truly I verely beleeue that hee would condemne your doing and I am the rather induced to thinke so because I vnderstand him to haue allowed many things in the English Church being at Geneua which you altogether mislike To this Archbishops testimonie I could adde the opinion of his predecessours Cranmer Grindal and Parker gathered out of their seuerall Epistles to Caluin and other writings but I will content my selfe with that of Bishop Iewell who was so far frō neglecting or contemning the doctrine of the Church of England as a relique or ragge of Poperie as that the Confession extant in his Apologie for our Church is registred as the authenticall doctrine of our Church as well in the body as in the harmony of Confessions But Archbishop Whitegift goeth farther making both his Apology the defence therof to be the doctrine of the Church of England And by this Archbishops authority was it ordered that those his bookes should be bought of euery Parish and chained in their Churches to be read of the people at vacant times Yet this worthy Bishop in the defence of his Apologie
termeth Caluin a reuerend Father and worthy ornament of the Church of God Now touching his booke of Christian Institution in particular M. Hooker who is well knowne not to haue contemned the doctrine of the Church of England as a ragge of Poperie thus writes Two things saith he speaking of Caluin in his Preface to his bookes of Ecclesiasticall policie of principall moment there are which haue deseruedly procured him honour through the world The one his exceeding paines in composing the Institutions of Christian religion The other his no lesse industrious trauaâ—les for exposition of holy Scripture according to the same Institutions In which two things whatsoeuer they were that afterward bestowed their labour he gained the aduantage of preiudice against them if they gaine-sayed and of glory aboue them if they consented Then which I cannot imagine what could bee vttered more effectually Thus malice would not suffer you to see that worth in Caluin and his Writings which these Worthies professed and published who were notwithstanding more earnest and zealous Patrones of the doctrine of the Church of England then your selfe But it may be you thought it would bee credit enough for you onely to enter the lists with so stout and renowned a champion howbeit to hunt after applause by dishonouring the names of famous men was held by S. Ierome and is accounted by all good and wise men but a tricke of vaine and childish arrogancie there being lesse comparison betwixt Carier and Caluin then Caluin and Stapleton whom notwithstanding a great Diuine and publike professour of one of our owne Vniuersities comparing together professeth there was more sound Diuinity in Caluins little finger then Stapletons head or whole body I will conclude mine answere to this Section with the words of a graue Bishop yet liuing no enemie to the doctrine of the Church of England as his Writings shew Caluin is so well knowen sayeth hee to all those that bee learned or wise for his great paines and good labours in the Church of God that a fewe snarling Friars cannot impeach his name though you would neuer so wretchedly peruert his words Thus much of Caluin and his Writings for I durst not goe so farre as Thurius Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempora chartas Huic peperere viro saecula nulla parem B. C. 29. These reasons or rather corruptions of State haue so confounded the doctrine of the Church of England and so slandered the doctrine of the Church of Rome as it hath turned mens braines and made the multitude on both sides like two fooles which being set backe to backe doe thinke they are as farre asunder as the horizons are they looke vpon But if it please your Maiestie to command them to turne each of them but a quarter about and looke both one way to the seruice of God and your Maiestie and to the saluation of soules they should presently see themselues to bee a great deale more neere in matters of doctrineâ— then the Puâ—itanicall Preachers on both sides doe make them beleeue they are I can not in the breuity of this discourse descend into particulars but if it please your Maiestie to command me or any other honest man that hath taken paines to vnderstand and obserue all sides freely and plainely to set downe the difference betwixt Caluinisme and the doctrine of England established by Law and then to shew Locos Concessos and Locos Controuersos betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome I doubt not but the distance that will be left betwixt for matter of doctrine may by your Maiesty be easily compounded G. H. 29. Whether reason or rather corruption of State haue not bred confusion rather in the doctrine of the Church of Rome then of England let Romes infinite ambition and insatiable couetousnesse masked vnder pretence of doctrine testifie As long as the Bishops of Rome kept them to their profession in the gaining of soules to God matters went wel for doctrine but when once they turned Statists in stead of gaining soules cast about for the gouernment of the world then were their Friars and flatterers found who were as readie to shape and frame her Doctrine according to the modell of State Before the Councill of Trent which was called in the memorie of some yet liuing it is made euident by my learned brother Dr. Carleton in his Consent of the Catholike Church against the Tridentines that the Doctrine of the rule of Controuersies of the Church of Iustifying Faith of Grace was the same in the Church of Rome which is now publikely taught and professed with vs. If by the Church of Rome we will vnderstand her chiefe Prelates not those Friars and flatterers which belonged rather to her Court then her Church from whence then arose this confusion of doctrine which followed after but onely from that corruption of State which went before and yet it cannot but bee acknowledged that as our bodies first warme our clothes and then our clothes serue to keepe warme our bodies so the corruption of State first brought foorth this confusion of doctrine but being brought foorth the daughter serues to nourish and maintaine the mother Now for the confounding of our doctrine wee answere with S. Paul If our Gospel saith he be hid it is hid to them that are lost So we if our doctrine bee confounded it is to them whom the God of this world hath confounded and blinded lest the light of the glorious Gospel of CHRIST who is the image of God should shine vnto them The second thing which you charge vs with is the slandering the doctrine of the Church of Rome and are your Romanists cleare of that accusation or dare any man of iudgement and learning discharge them doth not Pererius accuse Catharinus for calling that an intollerable and desperate opinion of Luther touching Reprobation which notwithstanding was the same opinion and none other as Pererius confesseth then S. Augustine maintained touching the same point Doth not Reynolds our Countrey man howbeit otherwise maliciously bitter against Caluin specially in his Caluino Turcisme in his iudgement free Caluin from the imputation of making God the authour of sinne in his latter yeeres which notwithstanding is still pressed vpon him both by your selfe and others Doth not Bellarmine cleare him from making the second person in Trinitie to be from himselfe and not from the first with which errour notwithstanding hee is charged by Genebrard by Lyndan by Canisius And for our owne Church doth not Bristow affirme that our Religion is prooued by experience to be indeed no Religion Doth not Allen speaking of our Sacraments Seruice and Sermons call them things which assuredly procure damnation Doth not Reynolds in the booke before named endeuour to make our Religion worse then the Turkish not distinguishing betwixt Caluinisme and the doctrine of the Church of England But
one example for all may be that lewd libeller who in the very entrance of his libell exclaimeth That the Protestants haue no Faith no Hope no Charitie no Repentance no Iustification no Church no Altar no Sacrifice no Priest no Religion no Christ. What shall we say to these intemperate Spirits if they speake of malice then I say with Michael the Archangel The Lord rebuke them But if they speake of ignorance then I say with the holy Martyr S. Steuen Lord lay not this sinne to their charge or with our blessed SAVIOVR Father forgiue them they wote not what they doe Now for our slandring the doctrine of the Church of Rome when you or any other shall produce the like Assertions out of any Writer amongst vs of note and credite I shall be content to yeelde farther credite to your Assertion then as yet I finde reason I should for the residue of this Section I referre the Reader to my marginall notes as deseruing in my iudgement no better or other answere B. C. 30. But perhaps there is so great opposition in matter of State that although the doctrine might bee compounded yet it is impossible to heare of agreement and if there bee the same reason of State which there was in beginning and continued all Queene Elizabeths dayes there is as little hope now that your Maiestie should hearken vnto Reconciliation as then was that King Henry the VIII or Queene Elizabeth would but when I doe with the greatest respect I can consider the State of your Maiestie your Lords your Commons and your Clergie I do see as little cause in holding out in reason of State as I doe in trueth of doctrine G. H. 30. From the matter of doctrine you passe to thereason of State in which if your reasons be of no greater waight or truth then in the former his Maiestie his Lords his Commons his Clergie haue no more reason to hearken to reconciliation with Rome then King Henry or Queene Elizabeth or the Subiects in their times had which hee that lookes not through the spectacles of a preiudicate opinion will as easily discouer as you confidently affirme the contrary B. C. 31. King Henry the VIII although hee had written that Booke against the Schisme of Luther in defence of the Sea Apostolike for which he deserned the title of Defensor fidei yet when he gaue way to the lust of Anne Bullen and the flattery of his fauorites and saw hee could not otherwise haue his will he excluded the Pope and made himselfe Supreame head of the Church that so hee might not onely dispence with himselfe for his Lust but also supplie his excesse with the spoyle of the Church which was then very rich But when hee saw God blessed him not neither in his wiuing nor in his thriuing hee was weary of his Supremacie before he died and wished himselfe in the Church againe but hee died in the curse of his father whose foundations he ouerthrew and hath neither childe to honour him nor so much as a Tombe vpon his graue to remember him which some men take to bee a token of the Curse of God G. H. 31. King Henry the VIII wrote a Booke indeed or at least a Booke was in his name written in defence of the seuen Sacraments against Luther as Mr. Doctor might haue learned if no where else yet out of Cardinall Bellarmins Apologie But in defence of the See of Rome which hee cals Apostolike I haue not mette with any and it should seeme by his mistake of the subiect handled in that booke himselfe neuer mette with it as for the Title which King Henry receiued the world is not ignorant how liberall his Holinesse is in bestowing Titles where hee expects some greater aduantage sticking down a feather that hee may quietly carrie away the goose Thus did hee giue Charles the Emperour neere about the same time the Title of Defensor Ecclesiae for directing a Writ of Outlawrie against Luther whereupon at the Emperours beeing here in England those verses were set vp in the Guildhall in London ouer the doore of their Councell Chamber where they yet remaine Carolus Henricus viuant defensor vterque Henricus fidei Carolus Ecclesiae And in the Bull by which Leo the tenth confirmed this Title to the King subscribed with his owne name and the names of fiue and twentie Cardinals and Bishops it appeares that their chiefe scope of honouring him with this Title was to tye him and his posteritie faster to that See But as a learned and graue Prelate of our owne hath well obserued being the high Priest for that yeere not so in the next he foretold by way of prophecie what the King of England should bee which we find to the honour of CHRIST and the glory of our kingdome most truely and happily accomplished in our Gracious Souereigne now reigning who hath to the vtmost defēded the truly Christian and Catholike faith by his Pen and will no doubt bee as ready to doe it when occasion shal serue with his sword and yet were it not for feare of crossing your imaginarie reconciliation you would with Bellarmine tell vs that his Maiestie in present as vndeseruedly retaines that Title as King Henry receiued it deseruedly who afterward notwithstanding as deepely incurred his Holinesse disfauour aswell by calling into question that Title which the Bishops of Rome had assumed to themselues of Pastours vniuersall S. Peters successours and Christs Vicars as by resuming to himselfe that Title which some of the Popes had yeelded his predecessours as may appeare in the Letter of Eleutherius Bishop of Rome to Lucius King of Great Britaine in which Eleutherius attributeth to the King the Title of Gods Vicar within his kingdome which letter howsoeuer the Authour of the Threefold conuersion labour to staine with the blemish of forgery yet is it to be found inrolled in the Copie of King Edward the Confessors Lawes Neither is it true that Henry tooke this Title to himselfe it was giuen him by the Parliament of his Lords and Commons and Conuocation of his Clergie not as a new thing but as renewed And if he were desirous to change his bedfellow in hope of heires male as you tell vs before it was not to giue way to the lust of Anne Bulleine as here you affirme and if hee might haue had his will in being dispensed with by yeelding to the Popes will in ioyning with Francis the French King against the Emperour Charles as before it is proued then did he not exclude the Pope take that Title to dispence with himselfe especially being mooued with the approbation of so many Vniuersities and learned men But if thereby he made himselfe a way for the supply of his excesse with the spoyle of the Church wee haue not wherein so iustly to excuse him howbeit hee conuerted much of it to good vses namely to the erecting of sixe Bishoprickes
and age and wrought by the frownes and threates of Cardinall Poole then Archbishop of Canterbury the Popes Legate and in England the principall Proctor and Champion for the aduancing of his authority was once brought to acknowledge that shee was a Romane Catholike but herein she did no more then St. Peter did whose successour the Bishop of Rome pretendeth himselfe in denying his Master No more then the Prince of Condie the King of Nauarre and his sister who at the massacre of Paris for feare renounced their Religion and were by the Cardinall of Bourbon reconciled to the Church of Rome though after ward being at liberty they reimbraced their former profession Nay no more then Queene Mary her selfe who being terrified with her Fathers displeasure wrote him a Letter vvith her owne hand yet to be seene in which for euer she renounceth the Bishop of Romes authority in England and acknowledging her Father vnder Christ supreame head of the Church of England confesseth his marriage with her Mother to haue beene vnlawfull and incestuous But I would faine know after Queene Elizabeth came to the wearing of the Crowne by what Catholike opinions shee gaue hope to her neighbour Princes that shee would continue Catholike If it were so as Mr. Doctor would beare vs in hand how was it that the reformed Churches through Christendome applauded her comming to the Crowne as it had beene the appearance of some luckie starre or the rising of some glorious Sunne for their Comfort and reliefe and your pretended Catholikes hung downe their heads as if they had seene some Comeâ— or blazing-starre How she was then affected in religion and so professed her selfe may appeare if no where else yet in Osorius his Epistle which he wrote her not long after her comming to the Crowne where he highly commends her for her wit for her learning for her clemencie for her constancy for her wisdome for her modestie but disswades her by all the arguments he could inuent from the opinions she had conceiued and did expresse in the matter of Religion Pius Quartus doth the like in his letter which he sent her about the same time by the hands of Vincentius Parpalia Abbot of Saint Sauiours who as it appeares in the Letters dated the 5th of May 1560 had priuate instructions to impart to the Queene among which the chiefe were thought to bee as it is reported by the most diligent searcher of truth that if she would reconcile her selfe to the Church of Rome and acknowledge the Supremacie of that See the Pope for his part would bind himselfe to declare the sentence pronounced against her mothers marriage to be vniust to confirme by his authority The English Liturgie and to permit the administration of the Sacrament here in England vnder both kindes By which it appeares that at that time shee then maintained the same opinions which during her life shee altered not And here it may be worth the remembring that the fourteenth day of Ianuary about two moneths after her sisters death as shee passed in her triumphall Chariot through the streetes of London when the Bible was presented vnto her at the little Conduit in Cheape shee receiued the same with both her handes and kissing it layd it to her breast saying That the same had euer been her chiefest delight and should bee the rule by which shee meant to frame her gouernment Before this a Proclamation came foorth that the Letanie the Epistles and Gospels the Decalogue the Creede and the Lords Prayer should bee read in all Churches in the English tongue and though it were the 14th of May after being Whitsunday before the sacrifice of the Masse was abolished and the book of the vniformitie of Common Prayer and the administration of the Sacraments publikely receiued and Iuly following before the Oth of Supremacie was proposed and August before the Images were by authority moued out of the Churches broken and burnt so moderately did shee proceede in this businesse of reformation by steppes and degrees yet is it plaiâ—e aswell by the choyce of those eight whom she added to her sisters Counsell beeing all in profession Protestants which Pius 5 tus in his Bull makes a part of his grieuous complaint and those whom she either restored to their former dignities or aduanced to new being likewise as auerse from the Romane Religion as also by the refusall of Nicholas Heath then Archbishop of Yorke the See of Canterbury by the death of Cardinall Poole who deceased the same day that Queene Mary did being then voide and of the rest of the chiefe Bishops to annoint and consecrate her at her Inauguration it being therefore performed by Owen Oglethorpe Bishop of Carlile by these proceedings I say it is plaine that at her first entrance to the Crowne she sufficiently declared her selfe to bee the same in matter of Religion as afterwards they found her Wherunto if full satisfaction be not yet giuen in this point for farther proofe might be added that when Philip of Spaine wooed her for mariage the funerals of her sister being not yet solemnized The French King by his Agent the Bishop of Engolesme laboured if it had gone forward to stop their dispensation at Rome vnder colour that Queene Elizabeth fauoured the Protestants Religion and the Earle of Feria the Spaniards Agent here in England bore our pretended Catholiks in hand that except that match went forward it could not goe well with them so farre was shee at her first entrance from giuing hope to her neighbours as Mr. Doctor would perswade the world of continuing or turning Catholike by shew of Catholike opinions vnlesse her retaining the ancient forme of Ecclesiasticall policie and the godly Ceremonies vsed in the Primitiue Church be accounted Catholike opinions as in truth if wee take the word Catholike aright they may But no maruell hee should thus boldly and falsely charge the dead since hee spareth not in the same kinde his Maiestie now reigning and by Gods grace long to reigne amongst vs to the confutation of such slanders and confusion of such slanderers Hee goes on and tels vs that all her life long shee caried her selfe so betwixt Catholikes and Caluinists as shee kept them both still in hope But herein he mainely crosseth himselfe aswell in that which hee hath deliuered in the Section next saue one going before that if there bee now the same reason of State as there was all Queene Elizabeths dayes there is as little hope that his Maiestie should hearken vnto reconciliation as then there was that Q. Elizabeth would as also in that which afterwards he addes in this Section that being prouoked by the excommunication of Pius Quintus shee did suffer such lawes to bee made by her Parliament as might crie quittance with the Pope and Church of Rome And in the next Section he sayth It was necessary in reason of State to continue the doctrine of diuision as long as the
haue stirred mee either to robbe the Pope of any thing due vnto him or to assume vnto my selfe any farther authority then that which other Christian Emperours and kings through the world and my owne Predecessours of England in especiall haue long agone maintained Neither is it enough to say aâ— Parsons doth in his answere to the Lord Cooke that farre more kings of this Countrey haue giuen many more examples of acknowledging or not resisting the Popes vsurped authority some perchance lacking the occasion and some the ability of resisting them for euen by the ciuill Law in the case of a violent intrusion and long wrongfull possession against me it is enough if I proue that I haue made lawful interruption vpon conuenient occasions Hitherto his Maiesty And I cannot but wonder what Mr. Doctour meant if he had read it not to take any notice of it or if he reade it not how he durst presume thus to write to his Maiesty without so much as the reading of his writings From whence we may gather that what Henry the VIII acted in that regard was but a manifestation of the intents and desires of his predecessors which they durst not fully expresse and what they enacted a preparatiue to the roundnesse of his proceedings Besides I see not but if his Maiesties predecessors granted that to his Holinesse which was indiuidually annexed to the Crowne as being a speciall branch of their prerogatiue Royall his Maiestie stands none otherwise bound to maintaine that graunt then they held themselues obliged to make that good which King Iohn had yeelded vnto him and if they did part with their authoritie as your selfe speake then was it their owne before they parted with it and not the Bishops of Rome as your Romane Catholikes would haue it by Diuine right and consequently beeing their owne as they vpon occasion best knowen to themselues conferred it so vpon a contrary occasion I see no reason but either themselues or their successours might as lawfully resume it But the trueth is that it was not giuen by them but stollen by the Bishop of Rome and by him held vnder colour of prescription yet your selfe by discourse of reasâ—n and force of trueth are driuen to confesse that our bodies and goods are at his Maiesties command either forgetting 〈◊〉 whom you wrote or not remembring or it may bee so much as knowing what the Church of Rome whose defence you vndertake defends touching the exemption aswell of the bodies as the goods of Churchmen from the iurisdiction of the secular though Supreame power and how his Maiestie in diuers parts of his writings hath most sufficiently prooued the nouelty of this doctrine so that what you write herein can bee imputed to none other but to grosse flattery or palpable ignorance flattery of his Maiestie in that which he truely holds or ignorance of that which is falsely held by the Church of Rome but like a shrewd Cow that hath yeelded a good meale oâ— milke and then ouerthrowes it with a spurne of her foote so hauing subiected our bodies and goods to his Maiesties commaund you exempt our soules from his charge but by way of protection in Catholike Religion as if you meant purposely to crosse that of the Apostle Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers But I would â—aine dâ—maund if his Maiestie should not protect vs in that Religion which you call Catholike whether our bodies and goods shall then bee at his commaund Surely if his Holinesse whom you cannot but vnderstand by those that supplie Christs place in ijs quaesunt iuris diuini and to whom you would haue vs subordinate haue the command of our soules and his Maiestie onely of our bodies the later may command what hee list but men will execute his commands no farther then the former will be pleased to giue leaue whereof we haue had often and fresh experience aswel in the Bulls of Pius Quintus and in the Breuâ—s of Paulus Quintus and in trueth â— cannot but commend his wit though not his honestie that hee intitleth himselfe vnto and interesteth himselfe in the more actiue and noble part the bodie without the soule being as the shales without the kernell or the scabberd without the sword Those Kings that out of their Regall authoritie purged the Church of corruptions and reformed the abuses thereof brought the Arke to her resting place dedicated the Temple and consecrated it with prayers proclaimed fastes caused the booke of the Lawe new found to bee read to the people renewed he Couenant betweene God and his people bruised the brasen Serpent in pieces which was set vp by the expresse commandement of God and was a figure of Christ destroyed all Idols and false Gods make a publique reformaâ—ion by a Commission of Secular men and Priests mixed for that purpose deposed the high Priest and set vp another in his place they that lawfully called Generall Councils for the suppressing of heresies as Constantine did the Nicene Theodosius the elder the first at Constantinople Theodosius the yonger the Ephesin Valentinian Martian the Chalcedonian they that made Lawes for the ordering of Church-men and Church-matters as Iustinian and Charlemaine cannot in the iuâ—gement of any indifferent man be said to haue no charge of the soules of such aâ— are committed to their charge but onely by way of protection Neither doeth it follow that his Maiestie in taking the charge of soules vpon him according to the qualitie of his office and Gods appointment whose officer hee is should therfore be himself a Priest or be the author of his owne Religion as you would maliciously inferre from the custom of the heathen Emperors no more then the Kings of Israel or the Emperors of the Christian Primitiue Church were Priests or authors of that religion which by diuine ordinance they tooke care of aswell in the Priest as in the people aswell in confirming and countenancing what was in order as in censuring and restoring what was amisse neither was it in the time of the law of nature held vnlawfull that both the Regall and the Ecclesiasticall the princely and the priestly power should reside together in one person during which Law wee haue not many examples of Kings that gouerned a people where the Church of God was planted there is onely mention to my remembrance of Melchisedecke King of Salem and of him it is sayd withall that hee was a Priest of the most High God so that in his person these two offices the principalitie and the Priesthood were ioyned both which followed the prerogatiue of the birth-right and to this double dignity was answerable a double portion the like do we reade of Anias that he was Rex idem hominuÌ„ Poebique Sacerdos and it was the speach of Diogenes the Pythagorean that to make a compleat King hee had need bee a Captaine a Iudge and a Priest of which two
the euents are so cleane contrary to the Prefaces and pretences of them as if God of purpose would laugh them to scorne G. H. 35. If the Crowne haue more Pence paid in now then in former times it must needes follow that were it not by default of officers the meanes might bee greater to doe great workes both in peace and in warre whereas you vpbraid his Maiestie that his are but yet hoped for hee hath had other occasions as the world well knoweth of expence then his ancestors had and those occasions that they had hee hath not whether in building at home or in warring abroad theirs it may be were more conspicuous but his more necessary and yet I doubt not but vpon iust occasion his Maiestie would bee able to maintaine as great and as powerfull an armie as any of his predecessors to the terror of Rome and the Romanists who are so farre from complaining of his Maiesties wants as they would rather triumph most in this that hee were not rich Gretser in your account I am sure a good Catholike complaines not butscoffes at his Maiesties neede of money in his answere to Monsieur Plessis his Epistle Dedicatory to his Maiesty prefixed to his Mysteriū iniquitatis in which his Maiestie being incouraged by that noble Lord to lay by his Pen and take his sword in hand though it were to the passing of the Alps and the sacking of Rome Gretser in his replie makes it the burden of his song in diuers periods Sed deest pecunia But the onely sure way you say for his Maiestie to inrich himselfe is to turne Romane Catholike as if it were not fresh in memorie what infinite masses of treasure the pretence of that Religion carried out of the land to the triple Crowne of Rome and other forreiners well neere as much as was brought to the Crowne of England it selfe as appeares in Bonners Preface to Gardiners oration of true obedience In the reigne of King Henry the third it amounted by iust computation to the summe of 60000. markes which amounts to an incredible masse at this day and was more then the standing reuenues of the Crowne at that time as the Author of the British antiquities reports it out of Matthew Paris in the life of Boniface Archbishop of Canterburie in which relation are also set downe the grieuances which the Bishops the Abbots the Barons and the king himselfe exhibited in their seuerall Letters to his Holinesse touching the grieuousnesse of his exactions the effect whereof was as followeth That the Pope being not content with that aide which is called Peter-pence hee made money here in England by a thousand cunning sleights and trickes without the consent of the King against the ancient Right and Liberties of the Kingdome and against the Appeales put in by the Kings Ambassadours and Proctors in the Council of Lions That the Benefices and Prebendaries in England were by him conferred vpon Italians and Romanes not able to speake or so much as to vnderstand our language and that many times one Italian succeeded another as in lawfull inheritance the Church reuenues being by this meanes wasted and caried out of the kingdome the word of God not preached Ecclesiasticall dueties not obserued hospitality almes and Diuine Seruice neglected and lastly the walles and roofe of Chancels and Parsonage houses suffered to drop downe to the indangering of many soules and the vtter desolation of the Church That of those Churches into which hee thrust not strangers he exacted Pensions against his owne promise by letter That the natiue English were vpon all occasions drawen by Citations to the Court of Rome against the Customes and Common Law of the Kingdome and against the Popes owne priuiledges formerly granted To like purpose is that which I finde in a Manuscript of Mr. Hales a man renowned in his time aswell for his learning as his honestie his words are these speaking of the cunning fetches of the Bishops of Rome for the enriching of themselues and their Clergie to the impouerishing of the King and the State First saith hee they exempted the Clergy aswell the Secular as the regular from the authoritie of the Kings of England whereby they neither would obey the Prince but when and wherin it pleased them nor albeit they had the greater part of the possessions and profits of the Realme they would be contributory to the charges of the defence thereof but when it listed them Secondly they reserued to themselues the collations generally specially of all Archbishopricks Bishopricks Abbies Priories all other dignities and benefices in England which many times they gaue to aliants that neuer dwelt in England nor euer came into England So the reuenues thereof were not spent in the Realme but caried out of the same when they gaue them to any of the Realme they made them pay exceeding summes of money for Palls Annats First fruits Tenths and such like whereby the Realme from time to time was very much impouerished Thirdly they vsed to dispence not onely with their owne Lawes and Canons but also many times with Gods word in matters of Matrimony and otherwise whereby they sucked no litle treasure out of the Realme Fourthly in causes testamentary in causes of Matrimony and diuorces right of tithes oblations and obuentions they had decreed that men might appeale from any Court within this Realme to the Court of Rome whereby the people of this nation was very much troubled by reason it was so farre distant from this Realme and when they came thither they could not in long time haue redresse but with long delayes were constrained to spend whatsoeuer they had Fiftly with dispensations for eating flesh and white meates for pardons and redemption of soules out of Purgatory for dispensations with vowes and such like beggery they scraped together infinite summes of money and because no fish should escape for lacke of bait they had their Dataries and Collectours continually gaping for the prey resident here in England Lastly the Clergie of this Realme being animated by the authority of the Bishop of Rome the Arch-bishops Bishops and such as had Spirituall Iurisdiction within this Realme not onely vnreasonably troubled and vexed the people of this realme in their Courts but also exceedingly pilled polled and robbed them vnder colour of Fees and duties The Parsons and Vicars were not content with the moderate Mortuaries and Corse-presents but also daily increased the same and would haue what it pleased them without any consideration of the misery and pouerty of the widow and children liuing yea and many times where the dead had but a bare vse and no property in the goods and chattels they were found in his possession and in many places they would neither baptize nor marry nor bury but they would haue some extraordinary reward the common sort of Priests would not depart with any their Masses or praiers vnlesse they were sure to haue money Of these and the
like most vnsufferable vexations Iohn of Sarisbury in his 6. booke and 24. chapter De nugis Curalium complaines Polidor Virgil himselfe an Italian in his 8th booke and second chapter De inuentoribus rerum is not sparing in the relation of them and the booke aboue mentioned intituled Antiquitates Britannicae is so full of them as it seemes to haue bene written to none other purpose which notwithstanding I finde not gainesaid by any Romanist And can wee expect then that his Maiesty by the helpe of Romish Catholike Religion should euer bee enriched Surely in reason that which is the meanes of impouerishing his Realme and his subiects can not be a meanes of inriching him In the want of people saith Solomon he might as well haue sayd in the peoples want is the destruction of the Prince For as the multitude of people is the kings honour so the wealth of the people is the kings riches and the welfare of the people the kings safety But saith Mr. Doctour one of the maine pretenses of Henry the VIII was to enrich himselfe in the spoile of the Church which notwithstanding in euent proued to be contrary to which I reply with the Poet Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab euentu facta not anda putat Actions are not so much to be measured by their issues and euents as by the causes from which they spring and the ends to which they are directed When the people exceeded too much in offring gifts toward the worke of the Sanctuary by the discretion of Moses they were restrained and a proclamation made throughout the Campe they should bring no more Why should it not be as lawfull for Henry the VIII to restore it backe againe to the owners if too much were giuen as for Moses to restraine them for giuing hee tooke it out of their hands who vpon al occasions at the Popes command were ready to vse it as a weapon against himselfe and in defence of their holy Father and conferd it vpon those who therewith were to serue both himselfe and the State in peace at home and in wars abroad As the Church prayes for the ciuill state so is it to shield the Church and better it were the Church should quit a part of her maintenance then that the whole should lie obnoxious to the â—acrilegious hands of forreine vsurpation If in performance hereof that which should haue bene ordained to publike or sacred was by some ill disposed persons or the king himselfe turned to priuate and prophane vses or if that which inseperably belongs to the maintenance of Ecclesiasticall persons were put into the possession of those who serued not at the altar this manner of proceeding might so staine and vitiate the whole action as it might carry a secret curse with it vpon the authours and actours of it No doubt but a good cause and in it selfe most iust both may bee and oft is marred in the handling and being handled neuer so well yet in the issue it may miscarry Gods iudgements being alwayes in themselues most iust but many times their causes hidden from vs. I vndertake not the defence of Henry or any other Prince or person in robbing the Church but to his vnfortunate euents we may oppose the happy successe of Queene Elizabeth his daughter and successour both in gouernment and in opposition to the Church of Rome She maintained long and chargeable wars in diuers kingdomes abroad against Balak and Balaam Gog and Magog to the infinite expense of her treasure and yet at her death she left more in her coffers then her Romish Catholike sister and immediate predecessour notwithstanding her peace abroad her mariage with the Lord of the Indies and her readmittance though with much adoe of the Popes authority Lastly for full satisfaction in this point Mr. Doctor hauing so good intelligence of his Maiesties disposition and being so inwardly acquainted with his secrets as he makes himselfe could not well be ignorant that his Maiesty is so farre from inriching or hoping to inrich himselfe in the spoile of the Church vnder colour of religion that to his immortall fame since his comming to the Crowne he hath bound his owne hands and his posterity from alienating the reuenues consecrated to the Churches vse so that your inuectiue in this place is malicious against King Henry if in no other regard yet because it is impertinent in regard of his Maiesty who hath no Monasteries to pull downe nor as your selfe before confesse will to pull downe Churches but though he haue no will to pull downe Churches but rather to set them vp it followes not but that he should be willing to preserue that Church wherof vnder God he is set by God as the chiefe Gouernour from the spoile and tyrannie of forreine vsurpers Nay the latter may not vnfitly be inferred vpon the former And if in regard of that preseruation onely wee now pay his Maiesty what those tyrants formerly receiued he receiues nothing but what he rightly may nor we pay but what in duety and conscience we ought B. C. 36. There is yet another obiection or two in reason of state concerning your Maiesty which seeme to be harder to answere then all the rest Whereof the one is that your Maiestie hath vndertaken the cause in writing and set out a booke in print and it must needes be great dishonour to you to recall it This indeede is it which I haue heard the Caluinists of England often wish for before it was done and much boast of after it was by meanes effected that your Maiestie should no longer be able to shew your selfe indifferent as you did at the first but were now ingaged vpon your honour to maintaine their party and oppugne the Catholikes and altogether to suppresse them But there is nothing in that booke why your Maiesty may not when you please admit the Popes Supremacie in spirituals and you are partly ingaged thereby to admit the triall of the first general Councels and most ancient fathers and as for the question of Antichrist it is but an Hypotheticall Proposiâ—ion and so reserued as you may recall your selfe when you will And howsoeuer that booke cameforth either of your owne disposition or by the daily instigation of some others that did abuse your clemency and seeke to send you of their owne errand it cannot serue their turnes nor hinder your Maiestie from hearkening to an end of conteâ—tion For if King Henry the VIII in the iudgement of Protestants might saue his honour and contradict hiâ— booke from very good to starke naught they must not deny but that your Maiesty may increase your Honour by altering your booke from lesse good to much better G. H. 36. There are not onely two but many more Obiections that might be made in reason of State concerning his Maiesty which not onely seeme but are indeede harder to answere then your poore and slight euasions can giue satisfaction
wherewith you being kindled haue no lesse constantly and couragiously then wisely and religiously withstood so great rashnesse wee had been vtterly ouerwhelmed with intolerable griefe and indeed this had been a fearefull token seeing wee may not without cause suspect lest into France haue flowen sparkes of the lamentable fire of England to the consuming and destruction of all true Pietie and Religion in that most Christian Kingdome which wee trust relying on Gods helpe shall alwayes more and more increase vnder the patronage of so godly a King trained vp with so great vigilancie to this end principally by a most religious and truely most Christian mother you thereunto diligently yeelding your helpe as you alwayes commendably haue done but although such hopes doe not a little comfort vs yet are wee not for all this free and voide of all affliction and trouble yea wee are vehemently anguished considering with our selues in how crosse and stormie a time wee by the secret dispensation of God vndertooke the guiding of S. Peters Barke standing doubtfull and perplexed lest happily through our negligence the sinke of vices increase and consequently the nauigation growe more dangerous and difficult for this cause wee dayly flie vnto him and implore his helpe who as without any merit of ours so also when wee thought nothing lesse was pleased we should sit at the sterne and guide the helme whom wee pray that while the waues rush against the Prow and heapes of foming Sea swell on each side and tempest follow in the Sterne hee not suffer any wracke notwithstanding so violent shaking of the shippe meane while we giue the greatest thankes to his infinite goodnesse that in the greatest danger which hitherto happily wee haue been in hee hath relieued vs with most seasonable succours to wit by your singular vertue and prouided for the safetie of the Kingdome of France by the counsell industry and religious fortitude of the Ecclesiasticall order of that Kingdome and on the other side wee gratulate you much and withall greatly praise you that your France nowe beholdeth flourishing againe in you the zeale pietie learning and magnanimity of her holy Fathers Denis Hilary Martin Bernard and the rest whose memorie is blessed for their care of Gods honour and the Churches dignity yea and all the holy Church of God may acknowledge of your company Cardinals of such eminence as become so worthy members of the holy Apostolike Sea and Bishops and Prelats and Pastours who are good seruants and faithfull and truely worthy of their Master hauing really shewed that they loue his glory more then themselues true Pastours of the sheepe of Christ who for the saluation of their flocke haue not doubted to lay downe their owne life while by shedding of their owne blood they haue with so great feruencie of minde shewed themselues ready to maintaine the fences of the Lords folde that is the Churches Rights Highly therefore doe wee praise you and gratulate you againe for what is more laudable what more glorious then for the Priests of God setting aside respect of all humane commoditie constantly to haue defended the dignity of holy Church and through zeale of maintaining the Catholike trueth to neglect their owne life As also it is to bee ascribed to the greatest happinesse that it so fell out this noble triall of your Priestly vertue should be made the Pietie and Religion of holy King Lewis his Progenitour no lesse reigning in your King then the memory of his glorious name reuiues in him wherefore wee doe the more exhort you that you alwayes more earnestly persist in your most laudable enterprise God verely will perfect the worke hee hath begun in you acknowledge his hand wonderfully moouing the hearts of Kings which hee holdeth and with one accord beare vp against the violence of the raging Sea stirred with the storme of humane pride and the whirlewind of secular wisedome seuered from the feare of God doubtles the tempests that are risen he will allay who failed not his wauering disciples indeed hee suffereth vs to bee tempted but giues an issue with the temptation therefore bee of good courage knowing that the Iudge standeth aboue and beholdeth the combate of his seruants to giue vnto euery one a reward worthy of his labour and he that fighteth valiantly shall be worthily rewarded Now we whose charitie hath been alwayes great toward you in the Lord vehemently louing you and highly esteeming your excellent vertue doe most willingly promise to afford you whatsoeuer helpe or Comfort in the Lord vpon this occasion we can yeeld being exceedingly bound to you for your so glorious and admirable exploit not ceasing in the meane time daily to pray vnto God the Father of mercies that by the increase of his holy grace hee would vouchsafe alwayes to keepe and strengthen you in his holy seruice and because wee cannot sufficiently according to our desire manifest vnto you by writing this most louing affection of our heart vnto you wee haue giuen in charge to our Venerable Brother Robert Bishop of Montpellier our Apostolike Nounce that what hee hath receiued in Commission touching this businesse more at large from vs hee carefully by word of mouth impart vnto you who will also further declare vnto you what wee thinke fitting for the full perfecting of the businesse To him therefore shall yee giue altogether the same credence which yee would to our selues speaking vnto you God confirme you in euery good worke and direct alwayes your Counsels and endeuours according to his holy pleasure and we from the inmost bowels of our charitie bestow vpon you our Apostolike benediction Yeuen at Rome at S. Mary the greater vnder the Signet of the Fisherman the last of Ianuary 1615. the 15th yeere of our Popedome Petrus Strozza Now as long as such griefe such ioy such hope such feare such loue such ielousie is so passionately expressed in the main businesse about which his Maiesties personall and publique quarrell with Rome first beganne what likelihood is there of perswading his Maiestie that no Roman Catholike in the world can bee his enemie except first hee bee perswaded that the Pope of Rome is no Roman Catholike yet how farre hee was mooued to anger vpon occasion of the Powder-treason against the body of that profession his owne wordes deliuered in the next session of Parliament after the discouery of that bloody designe shall testifie as for mine owne part sayth hee I would wish with those ancient Philosophers that there were a Christall window in my brest wherein all my people might see the secretest thoughts of my heart for then might you all see no alteration in my mind for this accident further then in these two points The first caution and warinesse in gouernment to discouer and search out the mysteries of this wickednesse as farre as may beâ— The other after due triall seuerity of punishment vpon those that shall bee found guilty of so detestable and vnheard of a villenie This was
those two things which M. Doctour craues to be yeelded vnto he shrowds vnder the cloake of the first vse of the Sacrament whereas his Maiestie rightly termeth the present doctrine and practise of the Church of Rome therein new coyned articles neuer heard of in the first 500. yeeres Such as are the cutting off of one halfe of the Sacrament from the people priuate Masses where the Priest playeth the part both of the Priest and of the people their Transubstantiation Eleuation for adoration reseruation in boxes and circuâ—gestation in Processions besides an infinite number of ridiculous and apish toyes in the celebration of it Notwithstanding you make no bones to demand the free vse hereof that is as I conceiue in effect the publike toleration and liberty of Romish religion a matter most vnreasonable to be expected from his Maiesty of any king liuing who therefore specially seemes to mislike the bitternesse of some busie Ministers who God be blessed grow both fewer in number and more calme in their courses because they trouble the peace of the Church thereby giuing aduantage to the entry of Papists by the diuision thereof how then can you conceâ—ue any hope of a Toleration of your pretended Catholike religion it selfe But if you consider that which his Maiesty writeth against the mariage of his sonne to oâ—e of a different religion your hope wil be much lesse Solomon from the toleration of a strange worship within his dominions fell at last as we know to the imbracing of it himselfe And it is obserued by Diuines both Iewish and Christian that the diuersitie of religion tolerated by King Solomon in diuine worship was by God requited vpon his heire and next successour Iure talionis by a retaliated diuision of an vnrecouerable rupture in the ciuill gouernment Your owne Stapleton spares not to reuile Bodiâ— in particular as an enemy to Christianity for maintaining that liberty The Rhemists conclude to like purpose in their annoâ—ations vpon the new Testament and Bellarmine spends two whole chapters in confuting their arguments who pleade for this indifferencie inforâ—ing it from the example of the Iewish Church grounds of Scripture practise of Emperours iudgement of Fathers yea reason and experience to bee pernitious in any Realme boâ—h to the Ecclesiasticall and ciuill state and dangerous euen to themselues which vse that liberty shall we imagine then that his Matie a king if any other in the world so desirous to serue God truely without shrinking or wauering setled in conscience resolued in iudgement confirming by practise by word by writing by oath by lawes by aduice what hee openly professeth would euer differ so much from himselfe as to admit euen of a partiall Toleration of a religion different from if not contrary vnto his owne a matter so contrary to Gods will so dishonourable to himselfe so dangerous to the State Be not partaker saith S. Paul to Timothy of other mens sinnes now I cannot conceiue how in his case the Magistrates permitting when it is in his power to forbid can well be distinguished from pertaking From your demands you come to your promises whereof the first is that the Pope for his part would confirâ—e the interest of all those that haue present possession in any ecclesisticall liuing in England he must then confirme the interest of all those whom you call Puritans and Caluinists as well as others which I thinke hee will bee as vnwilling to doe as they to take it from him nay I am perswaded there is no Clergy man in England worthy the name and credit of a good Subiect or the profit of the liuing he holdes who would thinke the possession of it any way the securer for the Popes confirmation But to grant that the right of those who haue the present interest in them might by that means bee strengthened what were like to become of the fattest Benefices and best dignities of our Church the same power continuing in the next age wee may in part coniecture by the experience of former times they being by the Popes authoritie conferred vpon his fauourits Italians and strangers who neuer came so much as to see them and yet notwithstanding was the rest of the Clergy so harrowed partly by the cunning practise and partly by the violent extortion of his Legats and Collectours as I haue already shewed that it is surely a lamentable thing to read it much more to feele it The Second thing you promise is the permitting the free vâ—e of the Common prayer booke in English for Morning and Euening prayers with vâ—ry little or no alteration belike then his Holinesse hath of late better studied that Scripture of Saint Paul the 1. to the Corinthians and the 14. then which I see not what can be more cleerely spoken not onely for reading and expounding the Scriptures but specially for praying in a knowen language and if his Holinesse iudge it no offence to God to permit the vse of our Liturgy in English what reason can our Recusants pretend of their refusall to ioyne with our Congregation in the vse of it except his purpose bee to permit it only for an interim as Charles the 5th did to the Germans vntill hee can gaine further strength to worke his owne ends or as hee doth the stews to auoide a greater conceiued mischiefe but God be thanked wee haue and hope still to haue the freâ—â—se of that booke without his permission and for his permission should thinke nothing the better but rather the worse of it The third and last thing you offer is that for the contentmâ—nt and securitie of his Maiesty his Holinesse would giue him not only any satisfaction but all the honour that with the vnity of the Church and safety of Catholike religion may bee required but how farrâ— the vnitie of the Church and the safety of Catholike religion extends it selfe is so doubtfull a case as none can determine it but the Pope himselfe so that except his Maiestie can define or diuine rather what that meanes hee shall bee as farre to seeke of his securitie as euer Hee hath alreadie declared by his Breues that the taking of the Oath of Allegeance cannot stand with the safety of Catholike Religion so that if hee will secure his Maiestie hee must not only condemne those Authors and damne that Doctrine which teaches his power in deposing Kings and disposing of Kingdomes but hee must either recall that declaration made as hee pretendeth vpon long and weightie deliberation which it may bee to â—erue his turne hee would as willingly doe as absolue the Venetians though they no way submitted themselues in the point controuersed or if hee persist in the maintenance thereof as in greatest likelihood hee wâ—â—l I see not which way hee can secure his Maiestie except hee may bee said to secure who cuts off all meanes of his securitie an oath being among all Christians and Heathens if they bee but morally honest
their Religion of the Church before they wrote it G. H. 4. Here I must confesse I could not but wonder what Mr. Dr. meant if hee had read and beleeued Saint Pauls Epistle to the Galathians in affirming that hee learned his Religion of the Church whereas himselfe in the first and second Chapter of that Epistle inforceth the contrary with so many and so inuincible arguments that they can not but instantly stop the mouth of any who would offer to open it in defence of Mr. Doctours assertions Now I certifie you brethren saith hee that the Gospel which was preached of mee was not after man for neither receiued I it of man neither was I taught it but by the Reuelation of Iesus Christ. Secondly for Saint Marke and Saint Luke though they learned their Religion of the Church by hearing the Apostles as the Apostles themselues did from Christ by hearing and seeing him yet doth it not follow but the former as well as the latter wrote by the instinct and direction of the holy Ghost nay doubtlesse it were no lesse then impietie once to imagine the contrary To which purpose the words of Bellarmine are worthy obseruation Vt vere dicitur Epistola principis quae à principe dictatur etiamsi is qui eam scripsit antea sciebat quae scripturus erat ita dicitur immediatum Dei verbum quod scriptum est ab Euangelistis Deo inspirante dirigente licet scripserint ea quae viderant vel audierant As that is truely sayed to be the Letter of a Prince which hee dictates though hee who wrote knew before what he would write So is it the immediate word of God which is written by the Euangelists God inspiring and directing them though they sawe and heard those things before which they wrote Lastly for S. Luke he learned not the actes of the Apostles which he wrote from the Church himselfe being an actour in a chiefe part of them and whereas Mr. Doctor affirmes that he was not of Christs company whiles he was vpon the earth Sâ—ella a Writer of the Church of Rome in his Enarrations vpon the 24. of S. Lukes Gospel and the 13. verse assures vs that graue Doctors by whome I take it hee meanes the Fathers were of opinion that S. Luke was one of those two Disciples whom our Sauiour instructed as they were iournying to Emmaus B. C. 5. That diuers others did write the Religion of Christ as they did apprehend it but their Gospels and Epistles were reiected by the Church Luke 1. 1. G. H. 5. In the Primitiue Church a great part of the beleeuers but specially their guides were miraculously indued as with other gifts so with a discerning spirit and that not onely in differencing the sinnes and persons of men but iudging of their writings so that though they wrote a trueth touching the Christian religion yet were they able to discerne whether that trueth were written by speciall illumination and instinct of the same spirit wherewith themselues were inspired whereupon wee haue good reason to accept what they accepted as Canonicall and as Apocryphall to reiect what they reiected but for the present Church though it should tenne thousand times reiect the whole or any parcell of that written trueth which they accepted yea though one from the dead or an Angel from heauen should preach any other Gospel yet ought wee rather to accurse then beleeue him notwithstanding the Church of Rome as if she were inuested with equall or higher power though indeede shee reiect no booke as Apocryphall which that Church accepted as Canonical yet doth she accept and impose diuers bookes as Canonicall which that reiected as Apocryphall B. C. 6. That at the day of iudgement there will be no writing to try true Religion from heresie but only the eternall trueth of Christ in the soules of his Saints G. H. 6. But that Eternall trueth of Christ in the soules of his Sainâ—s is the same and none other then which is contained in the holy Scriptures now the Gentiles indeed in as much as they haue sinned without the Law they shall also perish without the Law that is without the Law written saue onely in the tables of their hearts but the Iewes in as much as they haue sinned in the Law shall be iudged by the Law saith Saint Paul and our Sauiour There is one that accuseth you euen Moses in whom ye trust whereby none other thing can bee vnderstood then the Law written by Moses B. C. 7. That the Scriptures were written by men of the Church admitted Canonicall by Councils of the Church preserued from tyrants by the care of the Church and euer vntill late expounded by the consent of the Church G. H. 7. That the Scriptures were written by men of the Church we confesse yet so as withall it cannot bee denied but those holy men wrote as they were moued by the holy Ghost We also confesse that they were admitted Canonicall by the Councils of the Church that is declared not made to bee so and likewise that hitherto they haue been preserued by the care of the Church which therefore is called The pillar and ground of trueth neither ought they to be expounded but by the consent of the Church if wee speake of exposition to bee publikely allowed and receiued touching fundamentall points otherwise both Caietane and Andradius and Iansenius and Maldonat and diuers others of the Church of Rome in sundrie places professe that they rest not satisfied in any interpretation giuen by the Fathers but preferre either their owne or some other found out in this age So that if Mr. Doctor by the Church vnderstand the Fathers wee haue no reason to barre our selues of that liberty which the chiefe Doctors of the Church of Rome both challenge as due and practice as needfull yet so as wee vse that libertie with moderation and sobrietie the people submitting their iudgements to their Pastours and the Pastours in seuerall to their bodie vnited or represented where no very cleare and manifest reason appeareth to the contrary B. C. 8. How fewe men are able to reade and expound Scriptures any way and whether it be not easier to beleeue the Church then to beleeue a few priuate men that say they can expound Scriptures better then the Church G. H. 8. If wee should follow the rules and practise of the Church of Rome fewer would bee able either to expound or reade the Scriptures then now are Espencaeus a Dr. of the Sorbon witnesseth that hee was told by an Italian Bishop that his Countreymen were terrified from reading the Scriptures lest they should become herettikes but the Doctor demaunding what Arte they then professed why quoth the Bishop both the Lawes but specially the Canon And Robert Stephens demanding some of the Doctors of the Sorbon in what place some passage of the New Testament was written they answered that they had read it in Hierome or the decrees but for
the New Testament they were ignorant what it was nay one of them was wont to sweare by the light that hee wondered yong men talked so much of the New Testament himselfe being fifty yeeres old before he vnderstood so much as what it meant and if such blinde guides leade the blinde what marueile if both fall into the ditch Now for beleeuing priuate men I would faine know how the common people in their Church come to know the exposition of the Church or the Church it selfe but by the information of priuate men And if any of ours preferre their owne iudgement before the current opinion which I suppose Mr. Doctor meanes by the exposition of the Church I haue shewed before vpon what ground they doe it and that therein they doe no more then those very Romish Diuines who complaine most of them B. C. 9. That all sorts of heretikes haue alwaies boasted of the Scriptures and despised the Church G. H. 9. Though the deuill falsly alleaged Scripture yet our SAVIOVR thought it no sufficient reason to forbeare the alleaging of it and though the Pharises pretended the authoritie of the Church yet hee imbraced not their corrupt glosses leauing vs an example in both to follow his steps Vpon these Propositions Mr. Doctour inferreth that the onely way to finde the true religion of CHRIST is to enquire which is the true Church of CHRIST now to knowe the Church saith he our Sauiour did found we must obserue that this word doth signifie diuerse things sometimes the House of Gods seruice sometimes the Congregation of all those that are Baptized and sometimes the Clergie or Spiritualtie and in this sence alone our Sauiour founded a Church when hee did call and send his Apostles and gaue them the same power which himselfe as man had receiued of his Father Then to know which is the true Church saith he we must inquire which is the Clergie that was founded by CHRIST and continueth in the Vnitie of the Church by perpetuall Succession from the Apostles and so from CHRIST himselfe And for certaine resolution thereof he referreth vs to three arguments as he calleth them infallible whereof the first is Thâ— report of Chronicles and Histories The second is The Vniuersalitie Antiquitie and consent of doctrine taught in the true Church and The varietie noueltie and repugnancie taught in Schisme And herein you may inquire saith hee of the most learned and most honest to informe you The thirde is The testimonie of Scriptures of the olde and new Testament For answere to this inference I would willingly learne where Mr. Doctour learned those acceptions of the Church once I am sure he taketh it otherwise then it is taken in holy Scripture and againe in holy Scriptures it is taken otherwise then he taketh it Neither are his two former meanes for the finding out of the Church more iustifiable then his acceptions of the Church whereof the first is the report of Chronicles but to grant that all Chronicles spake as the Pope would haue them yet were all this but humane testimony a sufficient inducement to moue but no sufficient ground for the conscience to build vpon For the proofe of his second reason he refers his reader to the information of the most learned and most honest But how if as learned and more honest informe him and that more truely to the contrary Here needes a farther inquirie which Mr. Doctor foreseeing at length sends vs to the Scripture as being forced with vs to confesse that the last resolution and onely infallible stay of the Christian soule in search both of the trueth it selfe and consequently of the true Church professing and publishing that truth must nâ—cessarily rest vpon that and nothing else ¶ A briefe Answere to the other collections annexed to the Doctors last Letter NOw for those other Collections which are added to his Letter as the Publisher makes a doubt whether they were made by him or no so I make no doubt if hee had liued hee would neuer haue suffered them to come to the light in such sort as now they are published Notwithstanding because they appeare in his name I held it not amisse to make some answere vnto them First then for the miserable ends of such as haue opposed the Catholike Church hee brings the example of Iudas and Caiphas and Annas and the three Herods and Pontius Pilate and Nero and Domitian and Pharaoh and Haman and Iezebel and Antiochus and Ieroboam and a number of like stuffe After he comes to Arch-heretikes translating word for word what Bellarmine thereof hath obserued in his 17. Chapter of the notes of the Church where hee makes the 14. note to bee Infaelix exitus seu finis eorum qui Ecclesiam oppugnant The vnhappy end of such as haue oppugned the Church the greatest part of which excepting those last which Maister Doctor is pleased to call the monsters of our age we condemne as farre foorth as the Doctor did or Bellarmin doth But for the fabulous narration of their ends wee may truely say that Bellarmine as vniustly voucheth the authoritie of Cochlaeus and Bolsecke as the Doctor suppresseth Bellarmines For what law humane or diuine ciuill or naturall admitteth a mans mortall and sworne enemie to bee witnesse against him Yet such was Cochlaeus vnto Luther and Zuinglius and Bolseck vnto Caluin who both as they deadly hated them for their religion as the Samaritanes did the Iewes so had Bolseck a particular grudge against Caluin for that hee opposed himselfe so vehemently against his wicked errours and seditious practices in Geneua as hee procured his banishment from thence which mooued him to seeke this base kinde of reuenge vpon him the rather being requested and solicited thereunto as hee saith himselfe by very many his Lords and friends as hoping by the defamation of Caluin to recouer his lost credit with them And as being their malicious enemies they would not report the trueth so not being present at their endes they could not haue certaine knowledge thereof at leastwise their testimonie cannot with any reasonable or indifferent mindes counterpoise the euidence of those worthy men who were eye-witnesses and present with them For Pluris est oculatus testis vnus quà m auriti decem One eye-witnesse is of more force then tenne eare-witnesses and it is great folly saith Bellarmine to beleeue the reports of them that were not present rather then of them that were present But let vs particularly and seuerally but briefly examine their slanders Luther saith the Doctor out of the Cardinall and the Cardinall himselfe out of Cochlaeus died suddenly for hauing supped very delicately and pleasantly being in perfect health and hauing delighted all his companie with merrie conceits the same night hee died But Tho. Bozius a Friar of the new Oratory order reporteth otherwise and that vpon the testimonie of one that then was Luthers seruant but since as hee saith became theirs in religion namely
man of their owne side reiects it as a meere â—able for hee reports that hauing for the space of full seauen yeeres fought with diuers diseases and griefes yet was he therefore neuer a whit lesse diligent in his function nor absteined from continuall writing and at length died of the disease called the difficulty of breathing Nay Genebrard though farre from the ingenuitie of Thuanus and one that raileth most impotently vpon Caluin yet durst not charge him herewith and was ashamed to defile his Chronicle with such an impudent lie Fr. Iunius saith that hee was at Geneua then wen Caluin dyed yet neither saw nor heard nor knew nor perceiued any such thing nor so much as euer dreamed of any such matter In a word he was visited in his sickenesse by sundrie excellent personages by the Syndicks of the Citie by the Ministers by others all which are witnesses of the sickenesse whereof hee dyed And Theod. Beza who faithfully wrote his life and death whereof as he saith hee had beene a spectator sixteene yeeres together testifieth that in him was proposed vnto all a most excellent patterne of Christian both life and death which saith he is as easie to calumniate as it is hard to imitate These things considered I referre mee now vnto the Readers indifferencie whether is more worthy of credite the whole Citie of Geneua and so many notable men present at his sicknesse and death and testifying of his peaceable holy and Christian departure or one Hieron Bolseck a Knight of the poste twice banished thrice a runagate who of a Carmelite became a Physitian or rather a Quacksaluer a sworne enemie to Caluin one that had beene from Geneua more then ten yeeres together and had sold his pen vnto his Lords and friends to defame Caluin And thus much in defence of those men whom the Dr. termeth the Monsters of our age Now although the vnhappy end of some particular men be no demonstratiue proofe and scarce a coniecturall signe of the falshood of that religion which they professe and that Church in which they make their last end yet that it may appeare in requital of the Dr. or rather the Cardinal how vnhappily some zealous persecutors of such as haue forsaken fellowship with the Church of Rome haue ended their liues I could referre the Reader to a large Discourse touching that point toward the end of the second part of the Acts and Monuments and also in Hassenmullerus in the conclusion of his booke Neither can the like iust exception bee taken against their euidences as against that of Bolseck and Cochlaeus But I will content my selfe with the testimonie of Thuanus a professed member of that Church which Mr. Doctor cals Catholike yet such a one as besides his great paines and diligence in the search of trueth had singular meanes for the finding of it out himselfe being now President in the Court Parliament of Paris where his father had bin Premier President before him This man then testifies first of the Cardinall of S. Andrewes in Scotland who condemned George Wiseheart vnto the fire that standing at a window sumptuously set forth with cushions and hangings of silke to behold his execution George being exhorted when the fire began to burne to be of good courage This flame indeed answered hee is painefull to my bodie but it doth no whit dismay my minde but hee that now from aloft lookes downe so proudly vpon me as arrogantly as now he sits so ignominiously within these fewe dayes shall hee lie along which soone after came to passe for being miserably slaine his dead body was in the open sight of all laide along in the same window from whence he had so ioyfully beheld the burning of Wiseheart And so the euent saith Thuanus verified his Prophecie Iohn Roman a Monke and cruell persecutor inuented a new kind of torment for the persecuted he would draw vpon their legs boots full of hote boiling grease and then setting spurres vpon their heeles iestingly would demand of them whether they were not sufficiently appointed for their iourney But vnderstanding that a summons was granted out against him by the Parliament of Aix to answere for his cruelties and that by the commandement of Francis the I hee fled vnto Auinion where thinking himselfe safe from men yet hee escaped not saith Thuanus the vengeance of God For he was spoiled by his owne seruants of all that he had and brought to extreme pouertie his body also was so full of loathsome vlcers that oftentimes he wisht for death which yet he could not obtaine but after a long time and horrible torments Oppeda another bloody persecutor being called to answer for his more then barbarous cruelties in the Parliament of Paris by the appointment of the said King Francis scaped indeed that danger by the commendation of the Guise and together with his Collegues was restored vnto his former dignity neuerthelesse soone after he was striken with horrible paines in his entrailes wherewith he was a long time tormented and at length in the mids of most cruell torments breathed forth his cruell soule God saith Thuanus inflicting on him that iust punishment which the iudges exacted not which though it were long in comming yet fell the more heauily when it came Albaspineus when Protestants were brought forth to execution aduised to stop their mouthes that they might not speake vnto the people Not long after falling deepely in loue with a certaine woman he fel withal out of his wits and being strikeÌ„ also with the lowzie disease he died in most grieuous torments his friends putting a bridle into his mouth to force him to receiue some sustenance which yet he frantikely refused hauing decreed to famish himselfe because of the vnsufferablenesse of his paines Ponsenatius another butcher being fallen into great debt hauing riotously wasted both his owne patrimony and his wiues dowry vpon conscience of his wicked life fell likewise mad whereupon despairing of his saluation being chained vp by his friends with lamentable shrikings and rending of himselfe hee finished his life in extreme pouerty Finally Cardinall Crescentius the Popes Agent in the Council of Trent hauing spent much of the night in writing letters to the Pope and at length rising from his chaire he seemed to see a dog which with huge iawes firie eyes and eares hanging downe to the ground furiously came towards him and by and by couched vnder the table then calling his seruants and light being brought when hee saw the dog no where appeare he was astonished at it and thereupon fell into many sad cogitations and so into sicknesse which he no sooner felt but presently hee despaired of life although his Physicians and friends gaue him good hope of recouery At last being caried from thence to Verona and euen at deaths dore he would often call vpon them that attended him to take heed of the dog and to keepe him from comming vpon his
bed Thus farre out of Thuanus To these may be added the miserable end of Philip the II. King of Spaine who though he had bene a chiefe pillar of the Romish Church and a great enemy of the Protestants and their religion yet died hee of the same disease which the Doctour out of Bellarmin and Bellarmine out of Cochaeus imputes to Caluin As also the vnhappy endes of all those who were the chiefe plotters in the Massacre of France Charles the IX then King the Queene Mother Henry the third then Duke of Aniou the Kings brother and the Duke of Guise of which Charles died wallowing in his owne blood issuing out of all the conduits of his body the Duke of Guise was suddenly slaine at Blois by Henries command for griefe whereof the Queene Mother died within a few dayes and in reuenge of the Guises death not long after Henry himselfe was murdered by a Frier Lastly to crie quittance also with the Dr. in regard of the ends of Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius and Caluin whom he counteth Arch-heretikes and termeth Monsters it may please him to remember that sundry of the Bishops of Rome who haue bene very Antichrists and by his owne Platina and Genebrard are called Monsters of men haue had most fearefull and wretched ends For some haue beene poisoned some murdered by Anti-Popes some haue died in prison Iohn the XII euen in the very act of adultery was suddenly striken by the deuill saith Turrecremata and died without repentance others that haue compacted with the deuill haue bene caried away by him and not to reckon vp all that thus haue perished seeing it would bee too tedious fiftie Popes arow being rather Apostatical then Apostolicall and monsters of men It is no marueile saith Genebrard if they were so many in few yeeres and died quickly His last argument is the temporall prosperity of them which haue defended the Church His examples are likewise a meere translation of Bellarmines 18th Chapter of the notes of the Church So that for answere thereunto I might iustly referre the Reader to them who haue answered him as also to my Replie to the fourth Section of M. Doctors second chapter of his Letter to his Maiesty But I chuse rather to close vp the whole with his Maiesties words in the latter end of his answer to Cardinall Perrons oration History saith his Maiesty and experience teach vs that disunion with the Pope hath no whit impeached the prosperitie of kingdomes Philip the faire reigned in peace and prosperity notwithstanding his attempts vpon the Papall Sea King Lewis the twelfth defeated in battell the troupes of Pope Iuly the second and his alies declared him falne from the Papacie and caused Crowns to be stamped wherin Rome is called Babylon yet neuerthelesse was loued and honoured of his subiects who gaue him the title of Father of the people Neuer did Great Britaine euer receiue so great blessings of God nor enioyed so much peace and plentie as since the time that Popes haue no more but the looking on and sent no more their Legats to gather the tribute of S. Peter and that the Kings of England doe no longer homage vnto the Pope for their Crowne and are no more lashed by Monkes What was Holland Zeland and Frizeland before that God lighted among them the torch of the Gospell in comparison of the riches and prosperitie wherein God hath aduanced them The Common wealth of Venice doeth it enioy lesse peace and prosperity then before since they haue taken from the Pope one of his swords and haue shaken off his temporall power On the contrary side the Kings of France after they had giuen vnto the Popes all what they held in Italy and the Countie of Auinion haue againe receiued of them but course entertainmeÌ„t Popes haue forged a donation of Constantine to the end to deface the memory of the donation of Pepin and Charlemaine They haue troubled the State banding themselues for the sons of Lewis the Courteous against their owne father whose life was an example of innocence They haue skimmed the Realme of Money by infinite pillages wherewith the Kings of France haue endeuoured to meete by their pragmaticall sanction They haue oftentimes interdicted the Realme degraded their Kings sollicited their neighbours to inuade the kingdome stirred vp the people against the King whence many troubles and parricides haue ensued Rauilliac rendred this reason of his attempt because said hee the King would make warre against God inasmuch as hee would make warre against the Pope and that the Pope was God Which maketh mee to maruell how the Cardinall could alleage for example the late trouâ—lâ—s during which France fell foule with the Pope seeing that the Pope himselfe raised vp those troubles If the Kings or people of France hauing offended the Pope God had otherwayes sent among them somâ— pestilence or famine this might with some probabilitie haue been taken for a reuenge of the iniurie done vnto his Vicar but seeing the Pope himselfe hath caused these euils it is not God who punisheth the iniuries done vnto the Pope but the Pope who reuengeth himselfe and which is worse without receiuing any wrong Whence it appâ—areth that to exhort the Kingdome to maintaine vnion with the Pope by the remembrance of the calamities past is not to exhort them to loue the Pope but to call to minde the euils which he hath caused and to tremble at his thundrings and conspiracies which hurt those onely that feare them and which haue drawen vpon my kingdome many blessings Now if France haue had any prosperitie during the time that it well accorded with the Pope this hath been because the Pope seeketh the amitie of those Princes that are in prosperitie and which haue meanes to annoy him Kings are not therefore in prosperitie because the Pope is vnited with them but the Pope is vnited with them because they are in prosperitie Euen as swallowes arriue in the spring but make not the spring so the Pope ioyneth himselfe to the prosperitie of kingdomes but maketh not their prosperitie But if there happen any disaster in a Kingdome or any ciuill warre which putteth an Estate in danger the Pope vnder a shadow of hauing care of the saluation of soules thrusteth himselfe into the quarrell and runneth vnto the wracke to reape his profit thereby And if a State change its Master hee will that the new possessour vnto whom hee hath giuen aide hold the kingdome of his liberalitie but if the ancient possessour conquer his enemies notwithstanding the Popes thundrings then his Holinesse offers him all sorts of Indulgences and out of his compassion receiueth him againe whom hee was not able to destroy Hitherto his Maiestie then which nothing can bee spoken more fully and effectually to this purpose For surely not to speake of the prosperitie of forraine countries who haue broken off communion with the Roman Synagogue he is more then blind that cannot see and too
more often Recognized it in his prayer before his Sermons 4 Pag. 220. Where among such famous Doctors as were conuerted lately to the Romish Religion hee reckons Dr. Bull for one 5 See the late B. of Lincolnes answere to a namelesse Catholike p. 115. 6 May 21. 1610 7 His Maiesty there speakes of the French King Henry the IV. 8 Nâ—sâ— itaque idexpâ—ctâ—â—ur a serenâ—ssimo Regâ— vâ— palam â—or am vniueâ— so mundo profiteatur sâ—metâ—â— ad sidem cogâ— non vâ—deo quo modo aâ—imus Regius in tâ—m iusta 17a tanto perâ—â—â—lo suo suorum pâ—ssit ad corum parâ—es propius aâ—â—edere 9 See the relation of the state of religion in these Westerne parts which it were much to be wished the Author himselfe would perfect and publish 10 Brittaâ—nom 〈◊〉 pag. 324. 1 I can shew it in the Authors owne Letters that he had a purpose of publishing it 2 He hath now gotten more name and fame by running away from vs then by any acte that euer hee did among vs. 3 The Credite he had in Court was won by his hypocrisie 4 He was like enough to aspire to higher preferment but while he remained like himselfe not like to attaine it 5 What intiâ—ing baits could these be vnto him who by his own acknowledgement felt the state of his body such that hee could not long enioy them 6 The wauering was in his braine not in their opinions 7 Hee professeth indeed that hee found a large opposition betweene the new French as he calleth it and the old English but betweene the English and the Râ—mish none at all or â—o small as it might easily be reconciled Chap. 2. Sâ—ct 29. 8 Or rather a counterfeit light from him who is transformed into an Angel of Light 9 His owne relation shewes how slowly he proceeded in this businesse as being in hope of higher preferment and yet in despaire of longer life 10 Catholike Roman I take to be as much as Kent and Christâ—ndome 11 Had Mr. Dr. done so he had rested where he was Cap. 2. Sâ—â—t 36. 1 You might haue named Scripture as well as art but it seemes you purposely forbore it lest you shou'd seeme a Caluinist 2 In your 2. chap. 21. Sect. you affirme the doctrine of the Church of Eng. to be that which is conteined in the coÌ„mon prayer booke and Church Catechisme very nere agreeing with or at least not contradicting the Church of Rome 3 Had you brought any proofe from the Scriptures ancient Fathers for the trueth of that Religion which you call Cathol you would haue thereby giuen vs some reaâ—on to thinke â—ou had indeed studied them 4 Your reconcâ—liation of religâ—oÌ„ was nothing else but a renouncing of the truth 5 It is maruell you had not imparted knowledge by writing 6 Your place compelled you not to preach points of Râ—mish doctrine 7 Catholike Religion is not hated in England but the religion of pretended Catholikes is iustly restrained 8 You might as fully and â—reely haue enioyed the preâ—ence of our blessed Sauiour in the vnitâ—e of the English Church as the Râ—mish 9 How can there be a dayly oblation of that which himselfe offered once for all Heb. 7. 27. 9. 28. and 10. 10 10 When his Maiâ—sties reasons are answered why he should not bee already esteemed in the vnitie of the Catholike Church prayer for his admission into it will bee admitted 11 Your dueâ—ie would better haue appeared in writing somewhat in defence of his Maiesties writings 12 Your auowed presence at the dayly oblation as you call it was a sufficient declaration of your reuolt 13 How sufficiently either of these two bee shewed I leaue it to the indifferent Reader to iudge 14 I wonder that any hauing affiance in his Holinessâ— pardons should desire his Maâ—esties 15 Hee is indeed likely to bee a faithfull seruant to his Maiestie who flies to the tents and pleads the cause of his sworne enemies 1. Pâ—t 3. 4. 1 It was such a schisme as the Apostle practised when certaine were hardened disobeyed speaking euill of the way of God he departed from them and separated the discsples Acts 19. 9. and gâ—ue the like commandement to others if any teach otherwise and consenteth not to the wholsome words of the Lord Iesus and from such separate thy selfe 1. Tim. 6. 3 4 5. 2 This ambition of yours was it which being some what crossed or not fully satisfied caused your apostâ—sie as it did Arrius his heresie 3 Yet himselfe afterward iustifies it chap. 2. sâ—ct 21. 4 Doe men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles and can either duety or loue be expected from such subiects and friends better is the hâ—tred of an open enemy then the loue of such a friend 5 Ab ouo vsquâ— ad maluâ—â— He repeats the same phrase in diuers other places * Colâ—ss 2. 23. * Esai 1. 12. 6 Great zeale and neutralitie in Religion seldome stand together as neither doe gâ—eat zeâ—le and vehement ambition 7 We grant as much tâ—at the gates of hell shall neuer vtterly prâ—uaile against it Non bene câ—n 〈…〉 vna sede morantur ambitio zelus * Iames 3. 16. * Rom. 10. 2 * Lâ—ke 16. 8. * 2. Thes. 2. 7. * Matth. 10. 1â— 1 He indeede deliueredit to his Apostles and disciples to continue but sure wee are it continued not by that succession and in that Church which you call visible and perpetuall or at least not as he deliuered it the enuiâ—us man came in the night and sowed tares amongst it * Matth. 19. 8. 2 Obserue here the great zeale of this man which himselfe boasteth of in the 2. Sâ—ction going before * Matth. 13. 5. 25 1 It is to be noted that some of thesâ— Vniuersities professe in their published instruments that they tooke an oath to deliuer and to study vpon the foresaid questions as should be to the pleasure of God and according to conscience the copie whereof is to be seene in our English Chronicles 2 After the determinations of these Vniuersites were read in open Parliament there were shewen aboue a 100. bookes drawen by Doctours of strange regions which all agreed the Kings marâ—age to be vnlawfull 1 How learnedly you vnderstood the state of the question betwixt vs appeares afterward in setting downe the opinion of the Church of Rome touching Images 2 No mention at all of reading the Scriptures that was too base a worke for so great a Clerke 1 How comes it to passe then that the profouÌ„d Doctors for prooâ—e of many doctrines of that Church forsake the Scriptures flie to traditions 2 As if in your learning the Gospel were not Scripture 3 Belike then we in these colde Northerne Climats haue no Christian soules 4 When those Preachers shal be named and their current opinions specified and the passages quoted by which they are conâ—uted I doubt not but the vnanswerable
Page 3. 2 Page 200. 3 Which Dispensation was first granted contrarie to the opinion of all the Cardinals of Râ—me being Diuines Hall ann Hâ—nry 8. 4 In the yeere 1562. and againe in 1571. 5 Apol. for the Oath of alleagiance p. 108. 6 Eusebius lib. 3 de vita Constantâ—i * Psal. 91 11. 7 Such a precedenciâ— hath the Emperour before Christian kings but no command ouer them 8 B. Bilson part 2 of Christian subiection p. 237. 1 This penalty was not inflicted for taking Orders but for returning after Orders taken such a penalty did Solomon impose and execute vpon Shimei 1. King 2. 2 There is lesse doubt of the Episcopall being of our Bishops then of those that deriue their being from the Popes in regard of their manifold schismes and if it came to scanning the Archbishop of Canterbury hath faiâ—er euidence to shew for his right to that See then the Bishop of Rome to the Popedome nay the Pope to the Bishopricke of Rome * Roâ— 11. 18 c. 1 He that examines the writings will easily find you wrote without booke 2 Such a Catholike then as your selfe the Sâ—ate standing as it doth can by your owne confession bee no good subiect 3 As if onely Puritanes were at the making of those Statutes or they alone make care and conscience of the execution of them 4 A mâ—rueile it is that a man of your age and experience should conceiue or affirme that to belong to the office of a Iustice of Peâ—câ— which appertaines to the Iudges or Iustices itenerant 5 Your hope must needes be grounded vpon a vaine presumption of some strange and sudden alteration in his Maiestie considering his full resolution and your many infirmities but your hope is perished with your selfe and so may all they who entertaine the like 6 You speake as if the naturall birth of a man gaue him interest in the Saints of heauen whereas there they put off all carnall affections and become like vnto the Angels 7 The Saints of heauen haue no knowledge of the particular conuersion of a sinner by any ordinary intuition but by reuâ—lation extraordinary 8 Many Saints no doubt are triumphant which were neuer militant in that Church which acknowledgeth the Pope her head 9 Where no offence is committed there needs no pardon to be either demanded or granted 10 The seruice you intended was nothing els but a plotting with the Pâ—pâ— and his Factours how you might betray the liberty of your Countrey and submit your Soueraignes neck to the yoke of his seruice 11 Vnlesse the Church of Rome draw neerer to vs then hitherto shee hath made sheâ— of it cannot bee but with the preiudice of all the honest men in England and honesty it selfe that a neerer vnion betwixt her and the Church of England should be concluded then already there is 1 Contrâ— literâ—â— Patâ—â— 2. c. 92 2 This Booke was written by my L. Burleigh L. Treasourer wherein hee pâ—ouâ—s that no Romish Catholikes were then executed but for iustifying the Bul of Pâ—us V. which Card. Allen replied vnto but so weakely as the trueth is thereby streâ—gthened 3 This samâ— poiâ—t is againâ— confirmed by his Maiesty in his booke Dâ— droâ—â— dâ—s Râ—yeâ— Pagâ— 113. 4 Ego intraproximum trimestro â—el sâ—mestre tot puta quinque vel sex reconciliaui pro quibus spondere ausiâ— quod quaecunque occasiâ— inciderit a parte nâ—stra â—â—turi sint omnes Tâ—rt Torti 138. 1 I suppose your meaning is to be accounted so 2 I haue not met with any that teacheth it but holy Father Aristotle in the entrance of his Politikes 3 That which you call the malice of the times was the iust censure of your superiours procured by your own malice against the trueth 4 What seruice could you do by dying but by remouing a dangerous instrument 5 So then you seeme to confesse that for religion you were of the same mind long before you went hence as since you haue declared your selfe which notwithstanding in diuers other places you contradict 1 Pol. lib. 3. cap. â— In methodâ— histâ— vt apparet in 〈◊〉 ex purgatâ—riâ— 1 That is you haue put off a Diuine to put on a Statesman but the prouerbe is Monachus in aula piscis in arido and your owne saying is that false Religion is but a policie for the temporal seruice of Princes 2 What securitie did it procure to Henry the IIII. and the 7. Emperours or to Chilperike Phil. lebâ—l Lewis the XII or the 2. last Hen. of France and if there be no securitie but in that religion what religion is that which will admit of no security in any but it selfe 3 They were aduanced by the grace of God and their owne right not by the Roman Religion which in a maner is all one with the Bishop of Romes authoritie by which Histories recorde how king Iohn and diuers other his Maiesties predecessours aswell of England as France and Scotland haue bene aduanced and protected 4 Why then if the Roman Religion had remained amongst vs should they still haue beene prayed for as if they had remained in Purgatorie 1 All this must be vnderstood of the Church of Rome which first curseth and then by all meanes laboureth to confound such as oppose against her imputing her owne deuillish plots to Gods working 1 See Lipsius his admiranda or de magnitudine Remani Imp. 1 It is rather Rome that is fallen from the vnitie of Christs Church 2 You are somwhat more fauorable to her herein then Bocius in his 12. booke and 3 chapter of the signes of the Church Terenixa passim pradicatur ex illicito coitu ac propterea fuitincemitijs Angliae publicis decretum vt illi defunctae in regno possent succedere ex huiusmodi concubinatunati A most malicious lie 3 She came vpon the religion professed and established in her sisters reigne which you call remainders of deuotion and wee denie it not but how comes it to passe that her sister was so vnfortunate if the onely comming vpon her remainders made Q. Elizabeth so happy 4 That which you cal maintaining of warre amongst her neighbours his Maiestie in her ensuing Epitaph termes the relieuing of France and supporting the Netherlands hee might iustly haue called it the setting vp of a iust King in his owne kingdome and the freeing of a free Estate from the vniust vsurpation of a forreine power 5 For feare of failing wee are yeerely supplied with a new Mission of shauelings from the fountaine but sure I am perswaded if this current were stopped our peace and prosperitie would be both more honourable and certaine then it is 1 That is as far as the drift of your reason proposed in the 2. and 3. Section of this Chapter 2 To conferre is not properly by a bare permission but by donation 3 Kingdomes may be bestowed vpon wicked men for many other reasons besides the sinnes of the people
as to be a scourge to other States or for some other temporall seruice which either their predecessors had done or theÌ„selues might doe or lastly as S. Ierome notes God thereby inuites them by his bounty that theÌ„selues should bee conuerted from their owne sins See T. Fitzâ—herbert of this poiâ—t in his treatise of Policie and Religion part 1. ca. 17. 4 His ordinary guarde in Constantinople and there about are but 24. thousand and though many of them be taken from the breasts of their Christian mothers yet is it not the greatest part as you auouch 5 Their facilitie in admitting other religions aswell as their owne to hope of Saluation should in reason rather weaken their Empire then fortifie it and those other principles of great importance rather serue to make a tyrant then to increase or maintaine a temporall Christian gouernement Rom. 13. De Ciuit dâ—i lib. 5. Cap. 21. 1 Since it was first a Church there were neuer so many able labourers in it nor religioÌ„ so sincerely preached and professed as by Gods gracâ— it is at this day so that it rather deserues the name of a body and yours of a shadow 2 By Schisme and Heresie you vnderstand schismatikes and heretikes and among them you ranke his Maiestie Such is the great honour you doe him as the Iewes dealt with Christ so doe you with his annointed they said Haile King of the Iewes and they 〈◊〉 him with theâ—r rods Iohn 19. 3. 1 Obserue the moderation of this reconciler who would beare the world in hand that Christ is none otherwise present among vs in our Churches then he is among the deuils in hell 2 If they shall say vnto you Behold he is in the secret chambers beleeue it not Mat. 24. 26. 1 Who are more guilty of this then your Priests and Iesuites 2 Was not this the pretence of Thomas Pâ—râ—y Earle of Northumberland and Charles Neuill Earle of Westmerland when they tooke armes and raised forces against their Soueraigne in the yeere 1569. and yet sent out Proclamations and Commissions in her name which notwithstanding they ceased not to bee Popish traitouâ—s howbeit the Spanish expurgatory index labours to cleare them from that imputation as also the Earle of Desmond and a notorious traitour of Ireland by rasing that â—estimonie of them in M. Cambden who iustly records them so to posterity 3 Who haue serued their own turnes most and raised more sedition the Clergy of Rome by their vniust vsurpation or the Clergie of England by their iust reformation I leaue to the world to iudge 1 This is the hope and prayer oâ— you all as long as you want stâ—ength but if you had that once we should quickly heare you change your note and sing another song In the meane time we can account your prayer none other then as theirs in the last Psalme saue one who haue the praise of God in their mouth and a two edged sword in their hands either be what you would seeme or seeme to be what indeed you are * Psal. 73. * Psal. 103. 1 In the front of this reason you seeme to disstinguish it from the former but in the pursuit of this Section you meerely confound them 2 In saying so you cannot but put his Maiestie to rebuke also there being the like none other reason of him and of other Kings who haue disclaimed vnion with Rome 3 I meruaile much where those rules were to be found for the space of the first 300. yeeres after Christ and whether the greatnesse and Maiesty of the great Turke or King of China be not beyond all the rules that Catholike Religion deliuereth in that kind 4 What they are that despise gouernement and speake euill of those that bee in authoritie his Maiestie is not now to seeke 1 De Laâ—ciâ— cap. 7 2 De Ponti Ro. lib. 1. cap. 7. 3 Ibidem 4 Ibidem de Cler. cap. 20. 5 De Pontif. lib. 3. cap. 16. * Lib. 5. cap. 8. 6 De Laicis cap. 8. 7 De Pontif. lib. 5. cap. 8. 8 De Pontif. lib 2 cap. 26. 9 De Pontif. lib. 4. cap. 15. 10 Dâ— Clericis cap. 28. 11 Ibidem 12 Ibidem * 2. Sam. 7. 14. * Psal 82 6. * 1. Sam. 24. 11. * 2. Chro. 9. 8. * 2. Sam. 14. 20. * 2. Sam. 21. 17. * Isay 49. 23. * Rom. 13. 5. * 1 Tim. 2. 2. * Rom. 13. 4. Matth. 22. 11. 1 Neither the Dutch nor the French acknowledge his Maiestie their chiefe 2 They ioyne together against the visible Monarchie of the church or rather the tyranny of the Pope which you call order but good it can not be being not from God 3 I desire to learne where you find that the deuils torment one another once we are sure if they did but helpe to cast out one another their kingdome could not stand 4 You seeme to intend the Netherlands which notwithstanding was neuer a kingdome nor their Bourgers Princes but how the Pope hath turned the ancient kingdome of the Romanes into a new State and made himselfe of a Priest a temporall Prince wee are not ignorant 5 Neither can I perswade my selfe that your Catholikes will euer ioine together to make one King ouer them all though the Iesuites it may be both desire and endeuour it 1 The word Geuse in their language signifies a begger 1 Bellarmine chargeth not only Calum with this opinion but Zuinglius and Kellison Melancthon who were not Caluinists 2 Surely that Pope who in his Conclaue told his Cardinals that the dominican Frier murdered the French King by the will of God by his ordinaÌ„ce by the aide of the Almighty by his speciall helpe spake litle lesse yet is that oration verified by Warmington a Romish priest sometimes Chapleine to Card. Allen from whom himselfe got a copie 3 They might quickly bee as learned as your selfe in the Scriptures for any thing appeares in this Epistle 4 Belike your selfe were present to take your part of the ale or you had good intelligence with the alewise 1 1 In his speech in Parliament after the Powder treason * Iob. 12. 19. 21. In 1. 2. d. 129. n. 2. In 1. Iac. 10. reas cap. 8. Demonst. 1 3 7. Lection 8. par â— De sig lib. 3. cap. 5. In hâ—â— epist. to Cham. In his Suruay l. 5. c. 2. Bib. sel. li. 8. c. 11 De amis gra lib. 2. cap. â— 3. Lib. 3. q. 12. de sac l. 1. pa. 4. c. 12. 2. d. 34. q. 1. art 3. 1. q. 13. art 1. pa. 1 9 3. 1 2. q. 93. art 6. pa. 4 96. 2. d. 37. q. 1. 1. par q 49. ar 2 Lib. 1. dist 41. In 9. ad Rom. lect 3. Torquet ac flectit in eis inuisibiliter operando * Vers. 27. 28. * Vers. 5. * Cap. 1. 21. * Cap. 10. 15. 1 Foelix scelus virtus vocatur had it taken effect that which now is stiled an horrible
treason had been a most honourable and meritorious acte 2 It was the deuil indeed that wrought it it being beyond all humane inuention yet you canot denie though you are vnwilling to grant it that hee vsed none but pretended Catholikes for his instruments in that businesse 3 The latter we easily beleeue but leaue you to proue the former 4 It may be by God you vnderstand him who exalts himselfe aboue all that is called God and by lawfull obedience as much and as farre as he shall thinke fit 5 Whether our religion or yours bind subiects more to the performance of their duty let my answere to your 12. section make proofe 6 Indeed the fresh examples of the death of the 2. last Henr. of France and the infinite trâ—â—â—sons against Q. Elizabeth and our present Soueraigne cannot be but odious to all good Christians 7 Perpetuity of kingdomes is onely from God but yet may his Maiesty more iustly expect perpetuity froÌ„ his subiects who acknowledge none other Soueraigne then those Princes from theirs who acknowledge them deposeable by a forreine power 8 Their religion being grounded onely vpon the liuely oracles of God cannot but tye them more effectually to it selfe then your humane traditions 9 We assume no liberty of expounding articles of faith at our pleasure as his Maiesty hath declared it in his booke against Vorst but a freedome by Christ from the rigour of the Law from the guilt and punishment of sinne and from obseruing humane traditions as religiously as diuine ordinances 1 Garnet by Eudaemon 2 Greenwell and Gerrard 1 It was the speech of Christopherus Thuaâ—â—â—s reported by Iacobus Aug. his sonne * Eccles. 49. 1. 1 You seeme to meane the ancient Romanes who made more conscience of an Oath in which particular act of Religion you afterward insist then the Romish Catholikes at this day * Ebr. 6. 16. * Iere. 4. 2. * Gen. 21. * Gen. 31. 1 Is not this Romish opinion which holds it sufficient to beleeue as yâ— Church beleeues so that they liue morally well but for our selues we haue had experience yâ— where our religion most preuaileth and men are brought to the knowledge of the trueth there barbarisme inciuility are the more banished 2 The words of the Poet are nemo repente fuit turpissimus 3 In stead of the arseâ—all you should haue said the Capitole Seâ—â—c frag * 1. Cor. 13. 12. 1 By this it appeares you intended the publishing of your letter at the writing of it 2 M. Doctour himselfe in the 8. Section of his 1. Chapter confesseth that hee knoweth diuers very honest men of these Preachers 3 Hauing made them before the Seeds-men of Sedition and Authours of all errour in doctrine and corruption in manners it is then good time of day to tell vs you will not accuse them 4 Sir Francis Bacon is more beholding to you for quoting his Essayes then S. Matth for alledging his Gospel or S. Paul for his Epistles but I am sure he is too noble a Gentleman to hold it any commendation to be quoted or commended by such as your selfe 5 If they vtterly faile in the Precepts of the first Table they may well be called Heretikes rather then Schismatikes 6 Since the first reformation aboue a generation hath passed and yet by your owne acknowledgement there remaine diuers very honest men euen among those whome you labour most to disgrace 7 In your construction a Puritan and a Caluinist are reciprocall and you make all the reformed Netherlanders the Heluetians the French and the greatest part of the English to be Caluinists so that the greatest part of all their sonnes must proue Papists or Atheists or else your obseruation failes 8 Reformers you tell â—s before commonly degenerate in the next generation and here you shew vs how by turning Papists or Atheists as if Papiâ—me and Atheisme were so neere of kinne or â—o resembling in condition that the one might easily be mistaken for the other or thâ— one prepared away to the other * 1. Cor. 14. 1 The same conceit hath Charron in his booke de trois vâ—râ—te lib. 3. c. 12. 2 I haue since found words to that purpose in his Meditationâ—s sacrae but not as M. Doctor quoteth them 1 You tell vs before of sure rules in policie and mutinous Souldiers and here you shewe your skill in Cowhâ—rdship that wee may know you are aliquid in quolibet though nihil in toto 2 Notwithstanding those charmes your Romish Catholiks cannot be kept within their bounds charme the charmer neuer so wisely 3 Mutato nomine de tuis â—abula narratur 1 D. Hall in his Roma irreconciliâ—â—ilâ—â— 1 If others might be good Subiects your selfe could not be so in as much as in the last Sect. of the 1. cha you confesse that liuing in England you could not choose but bee guilty of the breach of many of our Statutes Lib. 5 de Iustiâ— cap. 7. 1 Of this ranke was M. Doctour as appeareth in the 19. Sect. of his first Chap. where he promiseth to iustifie all the present doctrine of the Church of Rome from point to point 1 Here your rules of policy failed you in as much as violence of affection is rather by time to be qualified then withstood by force 2 Who they are that blow the coales for the burning of others and warming of themselues if I were silent the stones of the ParliameÌ„t house would speake 3 You might haue done well to haue perswaded the Pope or the King of Spaine to haue held such a conference in their dominions 4 How simply and euidently your Postillers and Friers vse to deliuer the trueth in their Sermons we are not ignorant but whom you should mean by your honest men but your selfe and your companions we know not 5 Who they are that dazell mens eyes and robbe their purses your glorious outside in Gods worship and your infinite trickes to get money sufficiently testifie 6 How reconciliable the differences betweene vs are I haue declared in mine answere to the 18. Sect. of this chap. 1 Lib. 4. de mili Eccles. cap. 5. 2 De salute Indorum lib. 2. c. 18. 3 Lib. 4. epist. 1. 4 Lib. 5. epist. 30. See Lipsius in the conclusion of his booke de Mag. Rom. * 1. Tim. 6. 20. * Psal. 119. 105. * 2 Pet. 1. 19. * Luke 1. 79. * Iohn 1. 9. * Rom. 1. 18. 1 A most notorious vntruth if by Caluinismâ— you vnderstand Caluins doctrine 2 How Caluins doctrine ouerthrowes al these or any of these let his bookes testifie 3 Will the Turke beleeue Christ to haue beene the Sonne of God by eternall generation or to haue beene conceiued by the holy Ghost or to haue risen from the graue by his owne power the third day after his buriall or visibly to haue ascended into heauen or that from thence hee shall returne againe to iudge the quicke and the dead
or is Caluin charged by any aduersary to ouerthrow any of these so much as by consequence where then is M. Doctors moderation 4 I thinke we shall expect long before that leasure be offered 5 If all English men then your selfe were baptised in that doctrine in which notwithstanding you were not confirmed as you ought or at leaâ—t wise it was not sufficiently confirmed in you 6 It was touched indeed but not prooued 7 That iust treatise will prooue nothing els but an vniust calumnie if by Caluinisme you vnderstand Caluins doctrine 8 My Table of comparison here annexed to mine answere will manifest many plaine contradictions and that in the mainest points of doctrine 9 Wee professe the patience of doues but not of asses such as you would prooue vs to bee if you make vs in that to beleeue what you promise to prooue 10 It is the obstinacie of the Church of Rome that inforceth vs to be at warres with her 11 Whether the contradiction of the doctrine which you here confesse but denyed before rather argue the corruptions of State from whence they come then are argued by the grounds of that Religion whereupon they stand we shall haue fitter opportunitie to examine in the Sections following 1 My Lord of Ely 1 The words of the Bull are these Impia mysteria instituta ad Caluini praescriptum à se suscepta obseruata etiam à sub ditis sâ—ruari mandauit 2 Obserue their yeâ—rely Catalogues that come from the Mart of Frankeford 3 I haue in mine hands Letters written froÌ„ Beza to Archbishop Whitgift and from him againe to Beza wherein they both acknowledge that we agree in the substance of true religion Eliz. 13. Art 35. 36. 1 How could it be for the eaâ—e of his later wiues and their children since the breach was made vpon the taking of his second wife or â—ather his first if his marriage with Queene Kâ—therâ—ne were a nullitie and that before hee had any childe by her 2 Yet hereafter you goe about to prooue that in temporall respects the Romish religion is the fittest to giue contentment to the seuerall members of the State 3 That vntimely growing together would rather haue beene a cause of festring and rankling so that the breach is kept open rather vpon iudgement then vpon affection 4 You make the King the authour of it who should haue excluded him or called him to an account Gregory 7 Reâ—â— lib. 7. â—pist 1. 〈◊〉 3. concil pa. 1244 edit Bâ—â—ij 1 Were not those fauorites fauorers of the Romish religion 2 If they were Saints why did you still pray for them as if they had bene in Purgatory 3 Of these two last you may say as they in the 19. of the Acts who made siluer shrines for their great Goddesse Diana By this craft we haue our wealth 1 M. Cambden in his description of Worcestershire 2 By the common lawes of England it is euidâ—nt 〈◊〉 no man 〈◊〉 he be Ecclesiasticall or haue Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction can haue inheritance of tythes My L Cookâ— in his fiâ—t part of reports 2â— Ed. 3. lib. Ass. pl. 75. 3 Were not the fire in Purgaâ—ory in which the â—oules of those dead are supposed to be very hote the fire in the Popes and Monks kitchins would quickely be very cold 1 Your pompous and empty shewes in Gods seruice well deserue that title of goodly gay nothings 2 Satisfaction and penance I take to be both one in the language of Rome though you seem to put a differeÌ„ce betweene them 3 Whether the people were kept in obedience by the Popes authority let the manifold troubles by his meanes raised testifie 1 What carnall minded Priest or Monke would not rather entertaine varietie of Concubines then be tyed to one wife Sacerdotibus magna ratione sublatâ—s nuptias 〈◊〉 restituâ—ndâ—â— viderâ— * 1 Tim. 5. 8. 1 Those doctrines being set on foote and maintained as I haue shewed before long before our diuision from Rome might well cause it but could not be caused by it 1 You had smal reason to make him an enemie to Dukes saue only for not betraying his Citie to the Duke of Sauoy 2 Why his doctrine should bee so pleasing to the common people I see no reason but onely the force of trueth since it restraineth them of much liberty which the Romish affordeth 3 They were fallen out with their Duke and yet pretended to him whereas in trueth the Duke pretended to them not they to him Duke Amadius indeed got that donation from Pope Martin but neither himselfe nor any of his successours could euer enioy the possession and as I heare Philibertus their present Duke publikely renounced his pretence vnto it in the last assembly of the Protestants of France at Grenoble 4 Better an young reformer then an olde apostate 5 Hee found the substance of it in the Scriptures though not the forme or method 6 Your faith of Rome comes not so farre as a strong imagination it contents it selfe with a bare speculation or naked apprehension some reprobates going as farre in beleeuing and all diuels farther 7 Bâ—zaes words are Eiurato palâ—m Papatu by which I take to be vnderstood the renouncing of the Papacie or the Popes authority not the swearing of all Poperie to be false or the abiâ—â—ing of a mans hope of attaining the Popedome as a relapsed â—riar lately expounded himselfe 8 That which was affected by Gods speciall prouidence in their often and miraculous deliuerances you maliciously ascribe to fortune and the helpe of their neighbours How could the Bishop and the Duke be both their ancient gouernours Method hist. cap. 6. 1 Tom. 2. parâ— 1. 2 In the 〈◊〉 part of his Sermons against Caluin preached at Thurin 〈◊〉 1582. 1 Thâ—u which teachest another man should not steale doest thou steale 4 So that a man might truely say of them as the O rator doth of some of his time Prouenieâ—ant ad rompub noui oratorâ—â— adolescentuli 5 See no man despise thy youth Tit. 6 Me non esse pecuniosum si quibusdam viuus non persuadeo mors tamen ostendet 7 M. Hooker in his Preface to his Ecclesiasticall discipline 8 Bâ—zaes words are Plâ—risque ex collegiâ— timiditate turbas fugiâ—ntibus * Ierem. 6. 16. 1 You haue made your obseruation good by your owne affecting of nâ—ueltie in the change of your religion 2 There must needs be more libertie in that prâ—fession where induâ—gences are so rise and dispensations so easie 3 If by the old Clergie you meane the ancient forme of Ecclesiasticall gouernement it remaines at this day vnaltered 4 The admiring of all that comes from beyond seas may better bee applied to your Romane Catholikes then any other to whom omnâ— longinquum pro magnifico est as also their comâ—orting one another with reports 5 But by the Papists it is condemned as heresie 6 I cannot possibly conceiue