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
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
bee to this point more fully and cleerely spoken B. C. 13. And for the blessed SacrameÌ„t they do not worship the Accidents which they see but the Substance which they beleeue and surely if Christ be there truely really present as your Maiestie seemeth to graunt hee is hee is as much to bee worshipped as if wee saw him with our bodily eyes neither is there any more Idolatry in the one then in the other If our blessed Sauiour himselfe should visibly appeare in person as hee was vpon the earth Iewes and Infidels would hold it for Idolatry to worship him and would crucifie him againe and so would all heretikes also who refuse to worship him in the Sacrament where hee is really present G. H. 13. You tell vs that the people doe not worship the accidents which they see but the substance which they see not but the question is whether they rightly beleeue the substance of Christs body to lie hidden and as it were buried vnder those Accidents which I am sure Saint Augustine on whom you so much relie is so farre from defending or else the adoration of Images before mentioned that in diuerse places hee maintaineth the cleare contrarie to both And to grant that after the words of Consecration pronounced the bodie of Christ is there folded or kneaded vp in a bodily maner yet whether the Priest that pronounceth them be rightly Ordered and if hee be whether hee pronounce them with the intent that the Church intends they may iustly make a doubt and consequently a question whether their worship bee idolatrous or no for in such cases by confession of all in stead of Christs bodie they worship the bread for our parts wee constantly beleeue him to be in heauen and not in the bread whereas we make a iust doubt whether a great part of them who beleeue him to be in the bread doe with like constancie beleeue that hee is in heauen You further adde that if he be truely and really present as his MAIESTIE seemeth to graunt he is as much to be worshipped as if wee saw him with our bodily eyes But indeed it is not the seeing of him with our bodily eyes that makes the matter or giues occasion of worshipping for then a blind man could not worship him at all nor a seeing man in the darke but the beleeuing of him to be present in a bodily manner Wee beleeue him then with his MAIESTIE it being Caluins opinion expressed in the very selfe same termes to be truely and really present but in a manner Sacramentall not bodily and consequently not to bee worshipped there as being not wrapped vp vnder the accidents of bread but triumphing in heauen And here by your leaue how submissiuely soeuer you would seeme in other places to carrie your selfe towards his Maiestie you make bold to put the title of Heretike vpon him and to ranke him among no better then â—ewes and Infidels But our iust defence is that after the way which you call Heresie we giue more true and lawfull honour to our blessed Sauiour then you casting all that religious worship which you giue to the blessed Virgin to Angels to Saints to the bread in the Eucharist to Images to Reliques to the Crosse and all that opinion of Merit of Supererogation and Satisfaction which you ascribe either to your selues or others wholy and solely vpon him either as God or as Man or as Mediatour betwixt God and Man onely wee denie to giue that honour to his Image or the bread in the Eucharist which is as essentially due to him as to them vndue B. C. 14. After diuers other obiections not so much because I was not as be cause I desired not to be satisfied I came to the Popes supposed pride and tyrannie ouer Kings and Princes and tolde them of the most horrible Treason intended and practised by Catholikes against your MAIESTIE which hath not yet beene iudicially condemned by the Church of Rome They all seemed to abhorre the fact as much as the best Subiests in the world and much more to fauour and defend the authoritie of Kings and Princes then Heretikes doe And they sayed that although your Maiestie were out of the Church yet they doubted not but if complaint were made in a iudiciall proceeding that fact should be iudicially condemned In the meane time it was sufficient that all Catholike writers did coÌ„demne it and that the Pope by his Breue had condemned it exhorting the Catholikes of England to all Christian patience and obedience and as for any other authoritie or superioritie of the Pope then such as is spiritual and necessary for the vnity of the Church I haue met with none that doe stand vpon it G. H. 14. You well say they seemed to abhorre the fact it being of the nature of those whereof Tacitus speakes Quae nunquam laudantur nisiperacta which are neuer commended till they are ended had it taken effect according to their designes for the setting vp of their Religion among vs it had vndoubtedly bin recorded a most happie and fortunate successe which now by abortion onely and miscariage is stiled an horrible Treason And if they defend the authoritie of Kings and Princes much more then they whom they call Heretikes I would faine know how it comes to passe that more of those Princes wâ—om you call Catholikes permit within their Dominions the publike exercise of Religion to those Heretikes then the contrarie Surely in my iudgement it is an euident argument that Christian Staâ—es conceiue reason to bee more iealous of the one then of the other neither is the reason farre to be sought â—ince the one acknowledgeth no Supreme forreine power which the other doth but the Pope you say condemned the Powder-plot by his Breue I much desire to see that Breue of the Popes which condemnes it I suppose it is most like to be found on the backside of Constantins donation as an Ambassador of Venice told the Pope touching his right to the Adriatique Sea or we may say of it Breuis esse laboro obscurusfio hee is so briefe and obscure in it as we can find no such matter Two Breues of Clements I remember I haue heard of for the withstanding of his Maiesties entrance to the Crowne and two others of Paulus V. against the taking of the oath of allegiance which I marueile M. Doctour neuer vouchsafed so much as once to remember through his Letter but any against the Powder-plot I cannot call to minde I haue seene or so much as heard of Lastly wheras you beare vs in hand that the Popes fauourites stand vpon none other authoritie for their Master then such as is spirituall and necessary for the vnity of the Church I guesse their meaning to be Bellarmines indirect power in temporals or temporall power in ordine as spiritualia in relation to spirituall dueties which is in trueth vpon the matter as much as can be demanded by them
will giue occasion to increase their wickednesse and make it greater then it was before This I take to be the substance and effect of that wee hold touching this point and I doubt not but the vndertaking of my deceased fellow Chaplaine may bee made good in shewing euery parcell of this doctrine in the writings of those who either liue or died in profession members of the Church of Rome To conclude then God predestinateth no man to bee a Traitour or a Theefe but foreseeing hee will bee so hee determineth to make vse of their theft or treason for the aduancement of his owne glory and the aduantage of his Church and children hee being in himselfe so good as hee would suffer none euill in the world were hee not withall so powerfull as out of euery euill to draw some good as by the same power hee brought light out of darkenesse and caused water abundantly to flowe out of the hard and drie rocke B. C. 13. Here I know the great masters of schisme will neuer leaue obiecting the horrible treason of certaine Catholikes against your Maiesty which if the deuill had not wrought to their hands they had had little to say against Catholikes before this day But I humbly intreat that the fact of some few men may not for euer bee obiected against the trueth of a general rule It is not the question which religion will make all your subiects true but which religion is most likely to make all true It is certaine there bee traitours against God and man of all religions and Catholikes as they are the best subiects so when they fall to it they are the worst traitours But if we will looke vpon examples or consider of reasons the Catholike is the onely religion which as it doth duely subordinate kings vnto God so doth it effectually binde subiects to performe all lawfull obedience vnto their kings I will not repeat examples because the ancient are tedious and the present are odious but if there can be but one king named in all the world that did euer receiue honour from Caluinists farther then to bee their champion or protectour vntill their turne were serued then I may be content to beleeue that your Maiesty and your family shall receiue perpetuity from them But if your Caluinists doe professe to honour you and all other Caluinists doe ouerthrow their kings and princes wheresoeuer they can preuaile I can hardly beleeue that yours meane any more good earnest then the rest There is certainely some other matter that they are contented for a time to honour your Maiesty it cannot bee their religion ties them to it for it doeth not tie them to it selfe There is no principle of any religion nor no article of any faith which a Caluinist will not call in question and either altogether deny or expound after his owne fancie and if he be restrained he cries out by and by he cannot haue the liberty of his conscience and what bound of obedience can there be in such a religion G. H. 13. The world is now come to a good passe that those who obiect the haynousnesse of horrible treasons shall carrie the title of the great masters of schisme But notwithstanding we bee held Schismatikes for our labour we will not leaue to obiect it and not onely to obiect it but crie and thunder against it being as his Maiesty hath rightly obserued not onely a crying sinne of blood but a roaring and thundering sinne of fire and brimstone and the rather for that we doe not therein so much obiect the fact of those who were to be the actours in it as the rules of those their ghostly fathers and spirituall guides who were acquainted with it and consenting to it some of whom haue since bene apologized by the pens of Romish writers and other some protected and countenanced in or by the court of Rome it selfe One reports it that the Pope caused the massacre of Paris what time in diuers places of France were murdered about 60000 persons to bee painted in his palace it should seeme ad perpetuam rei memoriam lest so extreme wickednesse should be forgotten So no doubt should this Powder worke haue bene painted by it if it had not miscaried saue that no art could haue imitated the confusion no colour haue represented so barbarous cruelty What staine could shadow the blood of so royall Princes what red were sufficient to paint the blood of so many and noble Christians what blacke the darknesse of that day what azure the vnmercifulnesse of that fire what deuise what inuention could haue expressed the wofull crie of the innocent and the infernall noise of the blow it was the vttermost point of all villeny beyond which is terra incognita no man can deuise what should bee betweene Hell and it and shall they then bee reputed masters of schisme who obiect the foulenesse of a treason by your owne confession so horrible then let our greatest Bishops our wisest Counsellours our grauest Iudges and our Soueraigne himselfe bee all accounted the great Masters of schisme who describe it by so much more liuely then others in as much as they looked more narrowly into the particular veines and bowels of the plot were more capable to conceiue the vast extent of the mischiefe likely to haue ensued vpon it and lastly were more sensible of the horrour of it in regard of their owne danger Yet thus much we all conceiue that if all the deuils and damned spirits in hell together with all the reprobates on earth should meet in Conclaue and set all their inuentions aworke to the vttermost they could neuer finde out againe the like hellish and damnable designe But had not the deuill you say wrought this to their handes we had litle to say against Catholikes before this day As if the Bull of Pius Quintus the intiteling of the Spaniard to the kingdome of Ireland the rebellion of Northumberland and Westmerland were now quite forgotten or the practises of Sommeruile set aworke by Hall a Seminary Priest of Spaine furnished at the Popes charge with fiftie other resolutes of Throgmorton sollicited by Bernardine Mendoza the Spanish Leiger Ambassadour lying in London of Parry incouraged by Cardinall Comoes perswasion of Ballard and Babington together with twelue other gentlemen imboldened by the same Mendoza of Stanly apologized by Cardinall Allen of Cullen an Irish fencer hired by Stanly for thirty pound of Lopez a phisitian and Portugall by birth set a worke by Christophero de Moro a speciall counseller of the king of Spaine for a iewel of gold garnished with a great diamond and a large rubie in hand and the promise of 50000. crownes more to bee payâ—d of Yorke and Williams intised by Holt a Iesuite and Owen an English fugitiue and Spanish pensioner lastly of Squire animated and instructed by Walpoole were not yet fresh in memory besides infinite other
haue others that few haue forsaken our Religion to imbrace the Romane but such as haue bene first in their liues notoriously deboshed or extremely thirstie and ambitious of honour and preferment beyond the opinion of other men and their owne desert And whether more distorted engines of actions be sent foorth from the arsenall of Romish apprehensions or English in regarde of Religion let the barbarous Massacre of France and the vntimely death of their two last Henries the often attempts vpon the person of our late happie and famous Queene and of late the damnable Powder-treason intended against our gracious SOVERAIGNE and the State and lastly the cruelty and ambition the vnnaturall and vnmeasurable lust euen of those nations which are most zealous of the Popes greatnes and are therefore accounted most Catholike decide the controuersie It was a good answere which was returned by one of our side to a pretended Catholike demaunding what reason hee had not to imbrace that Religion why saith hee Because it teacheth a man to eate his God and kill his King And in any Religion whatsoeuer it is not so much the knowledge of the truth which maketh an honest and happie man as the practise of that we know The deuill himselfe when wee haue done our best will know more then we howbeit it is certaine wee must endeuour to know the will of God before we can doe it and therefore the good Angels are so much more foreward and constant in the execution of his wil then we as they know it better then we We see through a glasse darkely but they face to face Wee in part know but they euen as they are knowen B. C. 16. The Caluinisticall preacher when hee hath gotten his honest abused and misguided flocke about him will cry out against mee for this Popish collection and call God and them to witnesse that he doth daily in his Sermons exhort men to good workes and to obedience to the Kings MAIESTIE and am not I and my brethren sayeth he as honest and as ciuill men as any Papist of them all for mine owne part I will not accuse any Caluinist though I could neither can I excuse all Papists though I would Iliacos inter muros peccatur extra But I must neuer forget that most true and wise obseruation which the noble and learned Sir Francis Bacon maketh in one of his first Essayes viz. that all Schismatikes vtterly failing in the precepts of the first Table concerning the Religion and worship of God haue necessitie in policie to make a good shew of the second Table by their ciuill and demure conuersation toward men for otherwise they should at the first appeare to bee as afterwards they shew themselues to be altogether out of their ten Commandements and so men would bee as much ashamed to follow them at the first as they are at the last It is a sure rule of policie that in euery mutation of State the authors of the change will for a while shew themselues honest rather of spite then of conscience that they may disgrace those whome they haue suppressed but it doth neuer hold in the next generation You scarce heare of a Puritan father but his sonne proues either a Catholke or an Atheist Mutinous souldiers whiles the enemy is in the field will bee orderly not for loue of their general but for feare of their enemy but if they be not held in the ancient discipline of warres they will vpon the least truce or cessation quickly shew themselues G. H. 16. Whatsoeuer fond conceit your idle braine fancieth to it selfe or your pen paints foorth to others touching our Preachers whom you terme Caluinistical we may freely speake it and thanke God for it that this Iland affoords as many learned sufficient Preachers and that in a more substantiall conscionable fashion then all the Popes hierarchie it may seeme a bolde assertion but he that in forraine parts hath seene and obserued the apish action and heard the ridiculous and vnsauoury tales of their Friers who are commonly their most famous Preachers will vndoubtedly grant as much Nothing so frequent with them as fictions against Lutheranes and Caluinists of fables out of their golden legend deuised by leaden braines and vttered by brasen foreheads whereas the word of God the only meanes of rightly informing the vnderstanding and conuincing the conscience they either vse not at all or very sparingly and that commonly in Latine without quotation of verse or chapter as if they feared indeede the people should haue too much knowledge of it whereas S. Paul professeth that hee had rather speake fiue words in the Congregation to the instruction of others then tenne thousand in a strange tongue But herein he scarce shewes himselfe a good Catholike and a marueile it is the index expurgaâ—ory had not wipte it out Now for the piece of the Sermon which you put into the Caluinisticall Preachers mouth that himselfe and his brethren and their flocks were as honest ciuill men as any Papist of them all howsoeuer you are pleased to play the iester and make your selfe merrie in such kind of flouting yet I may truely say and I thinke it will not be denied that many of those preachers and their brethren are honester men then the Pope and his brethren the Cardinals whose excessiue pride and luxury had it not beene counterballanced by the fained humility of the Friers impossible it is that their kingdome could haue stood thus long which made Panigirolla as I suppose when he came to speake of Sanctam Ecclesiam in his sermons at Turim in Sauoy to fetch the word sanctam from sancio sancis sanciui distrusting as it seemes to proue the Romish Church the true Catholike by the marke of sanctity and holinesse which he saw rather to agree to the Caluinists then to them otherwise it was impossible hee should so childishly wrest the meaning of the Apostles the ordinary sense of the Latine word the onely sense of the Greeke word and the common consent of all antiquity And it seemes your selfe foresaw so much when you tell vs you could not excuse all Papists though you would And for mending the matter you presse vs with the authority of S ir Francis Bacons Essayes that all Schismatikes failing in the precepts of the first table concerning the worship of God haue necessity in pollicie to make a good shew of the second Table by their ciuill and demure conuersation towards men But herein in my iudgement you doe that noble and learned gentleman as you deseruedly stile him some iniury in applying his obseruation if it bee his against the religion which himselfe professeth whereas in trueth it fits it selfe more properly to your Romish Catholikes here at home among vs who pretend some of them great shew of morall vertue and ciuill honesty specially in matter of mortification and charitable workes whereas they mangle the precepts of the
fruit of that doctrine did continue Thus his owne testimonies like the false witnesses which deposed against our Sauiour agree not together but is it likely that shee caried her selfe all her life long with such indifferencie considering shee sent helpe both by men and money to the Protestants in Germanie in Scotland in France in the Netherlands Shee harboured and succoured such Italians French and Dutch as forsaking their owne Countreys for conscience sake fled for refuge into her Dominions as to a common Sanctuary of piety and Religion affording them conuenient places for the exercise of their deuotions in the Isles of Iersey and Garnsey in Hampton in Norwich in Sandwich in Maidston in Canterbury in Colchester and in London it selfe Moreouer shee that would not so much as admit Pius Quartus his Nuntio in the yeere 1561. to enter her Kingdome though hee brought with him very friendly Letters from the Pope Shee that would not bee intreated by the Emperour and other Princes sollicitations to send her Bishops or Ambassadours to the Councill of Trent nor to yeelde any toleration of the Roâ—ish Religion within her Dominions alleaging that it would bee dishonourable to her selfe repugnant to the decrees of her Parliament preiudiciall to her Realme pernicious to her Subiects vnlawfull in it selfe offensiue to God scandalous to her neighbours and vnsafe for the Romane Catholikes themselues Shee that was sought vnto for mariage from Scotland from Denmarke from Sweden in regard of her Religion and in treatise with the Emperour Ferdinand for his sonne Charles and with the French King and Queene mother first for the Duke of Aniou afterwards King of Poland and France by the name of Henry the third and secondly for the Duke of Alençon his yonger brother commonly knowen by the name of Monsieur afterwards Duke of Aniou alwayes interposed this condition That they should innouate nothing in Religion onely hauing the exercise of their owne in some priuate place to themselues Shee that in the yeere 1579 entertained with all honourable respect Iohn Casimere sonne to Frederike the third Count Palatine and great Vncle to Frederike the fift who now gouernes himselfe a Protestant and hauing led an armie of Germanes in defence of the Protestants aswell into France as into the Netherlands bestowing on him the noble Order of the Garter which with her own hands shee put on together with many rich presents and an yeerely pension during his life bestowed on him Shee that was voyced by the Papists to conclude all her Parliaments with Axes and Taxes because of her exactions vpon Recusants and rigorous Lawes as they pretended against Seminary Priests Iesuites in regard whereof they compared her to Nero and Dioclesian the most bloody Emperours and cruell persecutors of the Christians Lastly Shee that could not be won to yeelde one iote either by the flatteries and faire promises of Paulus Quartus nor to shew any token of being dismayed or dishartened by the threats and thundering Bull of Pius Quintus is it possible I say that she who notwithstanding all the difficulties dangers that might from then cearise was from her cradle to her graue thus zealous and constant in her Religion sutable to that Motto which she had chosen to her selfe Semper eadem should now be said or thought to haue carried her selfe all her life long so coldly indifferently as to haue giuen hope to both contrary factions But being you say the daughter of the Breach-maker hauing both hâ— Crowne and her life from the Schisme it was both dishonorable and dangerous for her to hearken to Reconcilement whereas in trueth she had her life and held her Crowne from the Author of life and grand Commander of Crownes to which shee had farre better right then hee that would haue deposed her to his triple Crowne the one being helde of her by lawfull succession which had beene so acknowledged by the Bishop of Rome himselfe would shee haue submitted herselfe to the power of that See but the other of him by vnlawfull vsurpation And if in regarde shee was the daughter of the Breach-maker it was both dishonourable and dangerous for her to hearken to Reconcilement it must consequently follow that likewise dangerous and dishonourable it would haue beene to keepe the Pontifician partie in hope and though she were iustly prouoked by the biting Excommunication of Pius Quintus being stricken by him before she was Legally cited or warned in so much as some of the Romish Catholikes themselues thought it a peece of rashnesse in that Pope so to deale with her yet before this Bull was extant shee gaue so little hope to those whom you call Catholikes that the Pope therein labours to paint her foorth as a barbarous and bloody Persecutour and wee may well imagine that had shee giuen such hope as you pretend she did to the Romanists the world had neuer heard the bellowing of that Bull But thankes be vnto God The raine fell the floods came the windes blewe and beat sore vpon her house but it fell not for it was founded vpon a Rocke and that Rocke was CHRIST During her happie and glorious raigne somewhat aboue the space of 44. yeeres shee saw the change of no lesse then 8. Popes Paulus the 4th sitting in that See at her entrance and Clement the eight at her death betweene which two came these seuen Pius 4. Pius 5. Cregorie 13. Sextus 5. Vrban 7. Gregorie 14. and Innocent the 9th all which wrought more or lesse both against her Person and State so that she might deseruedly take vp that of the Psalmist Many Bulles haue compassed me strong Bulles of Bashan haue beset me round they gaped vpon mee with their mouthes as a rauening and roaring Lyon But being by his Gracious prouidence who set the Crowne vpon her head deliuered from all their snares shee might well stampe that of the same Psalmist vpon her coyne as shee did and with all no doubt vpon her heart Posui Deum adiutorem meum and sing with Deborah after her victory vpon Sisera O my soule thou hast marched valiantly or as some read it thou hast troden downe strength Now that which sharpened her against Pius Quintus was not onely his Bull though that were in it selfe cause sufficient to inrage her but the setting aworke of one Ridolphus a Florentine who vnder the colour of Marchandizing became the Popes agent for blowing the coales and stirring vp the minds aswell of her owne Subiects as of forraine Princes against her by whom the olde Foxe promised if need were to goe in person himselfe against her and to lay to pawne if occasion so required all the goods of the See Apostolike euen to the Chalices the Crosiers the Reliques and the Holy Vestments Besides all this he conferred an yeerely pension and titles of honour vpon Tho Stanley a discontented fugitiue only for raâ—ling vpon her and vainely bragging that he would set on
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
the height of his anger any more then this he declared not and lesse then this well he could not But before this you say in the entrance of this Section stil harping vpon your old string He was indifferent wheras your great Cardinall a man of no meane intelligence in his Tortus makes his Maiesty to haue bene a Puritane whiles hee was in Scotland and againe confirmes the same in his Apologie for that in the first booke of his Baâ—ilicon Doron he affirmes that the religioÌ„ there professed was grounded vpon the plaine words of the Scripture and againe in his second booke that the reâ—ormation of religion in Scotland was extraordinarily wrought by God And before the Powder treason he makes him so farre from indifferencie as he faines the seuerity of his lawes against Romane Catholikes to haue giuen occasion to that foule conspiracy and to the conspirators being then without all hope of entring into so desperate a course And sure it seemes the Powder-traytours themselues held him not indifferent for they discouered greater anger towards him in the proiecting of that bloody treason then he toward them or their associates after the discouery of it which notwithstanding it seemes by Watsons confession not long before his execution the Iesuites were hatching before his vndertaken for religion too was detected not full three moneths after his Maiesties right to the Crowne before it was setled or so much as set on his head nay Garnet himselfe their Arch-Priest being sollicited not long before the Queenes death by a gentleman of a noble family but Popishly affected that when time serued hee would set forward the kings title among Catholikes returned this answere that he had nothing to doe with the kings right or the promoting it in as much as he was so hardened in a religion contrary to his that now there was no hope of his conuersion left Thus we see that neither the Powder-traitours themselues nor Watson and Clerke Priests nor the Iesuits nor the Arch-Priest nor the Cardinall held him indifferent before the Powder-treason yet Mr. Doctor is of a contrary opinion to them all perswaded it may be by his Maiesties Letters pretended to be addressed before his entrance into this kingdome in the yeere 1598. to Pope Clement the VIII Cardinall Aldobrandin and Cardinall Bellarmine that some one of the Scottish nation might bee created Cardinall by whose intercourse he might more freely and safely negotiate with the Pope this reason indeede I haue heard some Romane Catholikes much stand vpon and except this be it I cannot conceiue what should moue Mr. Doctour thus boldly and frequently to vpbraid his Maiesty with indifferency which was the fault of the Angel of the Church of the LaodiceaÌ„s And surely he that writing to his Maiesty so grosly erreth about his Maiesties writings I may I hope without breach of charity suppose that hee neuer so much as read or saw the full answere to this obiection long since published to the view of the world standing partly vpon his Maiesties peremptory deniall of euer yeelding his consent to the sending of such letters and giuing the Pope to vnderstand by messages deliuered by word of mouth that if hee haâ— receiued any letters at all as written from him he should esteeme them none otherwise but as counterfeit or gotten by stealth partly vpon the confession of the party himselfe before his Maiesty and the Lords of his Counsell who out of an ambitious desire of aduancing his neere kinsman to the dignity of a Cardinal being then the Secretary of State shufled in those letters among others when his Maiesty was ready to take horse and so by cunning got them to be subscribed and partly vpon the Popes proceedings after the receit of them which was the shewing of them to such as came thither of the Scottish nation and demanding whether they thought the subscription to bee his Maiesties owne hand suffering some to take copies of them besides he neither answered the Letters nor granted the suite contained in them and some yeeres after writing to his Maiesty by Sr. Iames Lindsey he neither mentioned those letters nor blessed his Maiesty with Apostolike benediction and after all this sent his two Breues to the Romane Catholikes here in England for the excluding of him from the Crowne And thus haue we now not onely the traitours the secular Priests the Iesuits the Arch-Priest the Cardinall but the Pope himselfe making against this vaine supposition of his Maiesties indifferencie before the Powder-treason To conclude this Section then and therewithall my reply to such pretended motiues as might incline his Maiestie to reconcilement with the Church of Rome or toleration of Roman Catholikes if his Maiestie haue as great reason to continue seperation with the Church of Rome as Henry had to make it and Queene Elizabeth to maintaine it and that it doth increase his lawfull authoritie both ouer more persons and in more causes if it may serue for the better inriching of his coffers an vnion with that Church can not but bring both his honour and wisedome into question being so farre prouoked without iust occasion giuen or any satisfaction hitherto made and hauing so deepely ingaged himselfe in the quarrell if thereby hee shall depriue himselfe of that blessing which otherwise he might expect and hitherto hath felt from Christ his Sauiour whose cause hee pleadeth from his Christian and truely Catholike neighbour Princes states and Subiects and lastly from the Church of CHRIST in whose communion is the greatest comfort both in life and death then whatsoeuer some discontented fugitiue or hired aduocate of Rome may say to the contrary I doe verely beleeue they doe but speake for themselues and that there is no true reason that may concerne his Maiesties good but rather danger and harme why hee should admit a publike toleration of Papists and Popish Religion who stoppe their eares at home against the charmer charme hee neuer so wisely and abroad with great eagernesse pursue the ruine of their natiue countrey among whom I professe I must hold Mr. Doctor to haue been one till I be better informed to the contrary B. C. 38. But although your Maiestie sit at the Sterne and commaund all yet are you caried in the same â—hippe and it is not possible to weild so great a vessell against winde and tyde and therefore though it doe not concerne your Maiestie in your owne estate yet if your Lords and your Commons and your Clergie doe reape any great benefit by the Schisme it will be very hard for your Maiestie to â—ffect vnitie but if vpon due examination there bee no such matter then is it but the crie of the passengers who for want of experience are afraid where there is no danger and that can be no hinderance to any course your Maiestie shall thinke to bee best for the attaining of the hauen G. H. 38. From his Maiestie that sits at the Sterne and commands
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
and receiuing life and strength vnto and from the other yet true religion medleth not so much with the temporal state as to hinder or further the proceedings of it otherwise then by the force of the word and the power of Ecclesiasticall censures but that which you call the Catholike religion hath like the Iuie that growes into the wall so incorporated and intwisted it selfe into the bowels of those States where it is setled that it can hardly bee rooted out or remooued without endangering the bodies of the States themselues which cannot but giue vs iust occasion to suspect that it is for the most part in the points controuersed betweene vs nothing else but a policie inuented of men to serue their owne turnes And consequently according to your owne rule set downe in the second Section of your first chapter a false and counterfeit religion And in trueth when wee shall come to examine the rules of that Church wee shall finde that they are not so consonant to the Maiestie and greatnesse of temporall Princes as you pretend but rather tend to the trampling of their Maiestie vnder foote and laying their honour in the dust and to the aduancing and raising of the greatnesse of the Bishop of Rome to the vtmost pitch and possibilitie of height Some of these rules which make so much for the Maiestie of Kings are brought by Bellarmine and by his Maiestie truely obserued and quoted in the latter end of his Apologie for the Oath for Allegeance which because they are so pat to this present purpose I will craue pardon to borrow and annexe hereunto they are twelue in all a fit number for the Iesuites Creede or to make vp a full Iury to passe a verdict vpon Mr. Doctors Assertion That Kings are rather slaues then Lords That they are not onely subiects to Popes to Bishops to Priests but euen to Deacons That an Emperour must content himselfe to drinke not onely after a Bishop but after a Bishops Chaplen That Kings haue not their authority nor office immediatly from God nor his Law but onely from the law of nations That Popes haue degraded Emperours but neuer Emperour degraded the Pope nay euen Bishops that are but the Popes vassals may depose Kings and abrogate their lawes That Churchmen are as farre aboue Kings as the soule is aboue the bodie That Kings may be deposed by their people for diuers respects But Popes can be deposed by no meanes for no flesh hath power to iudge of them That obedience due to the Pope is for conscience sake But the obedience due to Kings is onely for certaine respects of order and policie That those very Churchmen that are borne and inhabite in Soueraigne Princes countreys are notwithstanding not their Subiects and cannot bee iudged by them although they may iudge them And that the obedience that Churchmen giue to Princes euen in the meanest and meere temporall things is not by way of any necessary subiection but onely out of discretion and for obseruation of good order and Custome His Maiesties inference hereupon is this These contrarieties saith hee betweene the Booke of God and Bellarmines bookes haue I here set in opposition each to other vt ex contrarijs iuxta se positis veritas magis elucescere possit and thus farre I dare boldly affirme that whosoeuer will indifferently weigh these irreconciliable contradictions here set downe will easily confesse that Christ is no more contrary to Beliall light to darkenesse and heauen to hell then Bellarmines estimation of Kings is to Gods by whom they are called as his Maiestie noteth before The sons of the most High nay Gods themselues The Lords annointed Sitting in his throne The angels of God The light of Israel The nursing fathers of the Church with innumerable such stiles of honor wherwith the old Testament is filled and as for the New Testament Euery soule is commanded to be subiect vnto them euen for conscience sake All men must be prayed for but specially Kings and those that are in authoritie The Magistrate is the minister of God to doe vengeance on him that doth euill and reward him that doth well yea we must obey all higher powers but specially Princes and those that are supereminent Giue vnto Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods So that wee may iustly conclude out of his Maiesties true collections and iust inferences that the rules of holy Scripture which wee make our principall and onely infallible leuell aswell in matter of manners as of doctrine are indeed most consonant to the maiesty and greatnesse of Kings but the rules of that religion which you call Catholike as they are reported by Bellarmine next his Holinesse the chiefe pillar and Proctor thereof this age hath aforded most disconsonant and repugnant thereunto I cannot but wonder then what Mr. Doctor meant to write thus to his Maiestie who hauing so particularly and exquisitely published his mind to the world in this point it must needs argue grosse ignorance and negligence in him not to haue read or obserued what was by him written or a strong presumption of his owne abilitie with one breath of his mouth or blot of his pen to perswade his Maiesty to the contrary B. C. 11. I knowe well that the Puritans of England the Hugonots of France and the Geuses of Germany together with the rest of the Caluinists of all sorts are a great faction of Christendome and they are glad to haue the pretence of so great a Maiestie to be their chiefe and of your posteritie to be their hope But I cannot be perswaded that they euer will or can ioyne together to aduance your Maiestie or your children further then they may make a present gaine by you they are not agreed of their religion nor of the principles of vniuersall and eternall trueth and how can they be constant in the rules of particular and transitory honour where there is nullum principium ordinis there can bee nullum principium honoris such is their case there is a voyce of confusion among them as well in matters of State as of Religion their power is great but not to edification they ioyne together only against good order which they call the common enemie and if they can destroy that they will in all likelihood turne their fury against themselues and like deuils torment like serpents deuoure one another in the mean time of they can make their Bourgers Princes and turne old kingdomes into new States it is like enough they will doe it but that they will euer agree together to make any one Prince King or Emperour ouer them all yeeld due obedience vnto him further then either their gaine shal allure them or his sword shall compell them that I cannot perswade myselfe to beleeue and therefore I cannot hope that your Maiestie or
your posteritie can expect the like honour or securitie from them which you might doe from Catholike Princes if you were ioyned firmely to them in the vnitie of Religion G. H. 11. His Maiestie neither needes nor desires aduancement from forraine parts or parties yet we cannot but acknowledge that those whom you call Geuses of Germanie a nicke name first imposed on the Netherlanders by Barlamont a Spanish factor who withstood the bringing in of the Spanish Inquisition among them and vpon occasion of that name tooke for their deuice a wallet and a dish with this Inscription Faithfull to God and the King euen to beare the Wallet Inferring thereby that they were better Subiects then Barlamont and his adherents are more able vpon all occasions to second his Maiestie specially vpon the Seas then any other State in Christendome What seruice they did vs in the yeere 1588. by keeping the Prince of Parma from ioyning with the Spanish fleete which had swallowed vs vp in conceit it is well knowen and no doubt but being confederates and friendly vsed they would be readie vpon like occasion to performe the like friendly office And for those whom you call Catholikes I would know how many of them labor to aduance their confederates farther then it stands with their owne aduantage or reputation In matter of Religion the Netherlander Heluetian and French differ not at all and from some States of the higher Germanie they differ not so much as the French Catholike from the Romish and Spanish in as much as the latter admit of the Councell of Trent the former not so and againe which is another notable and maine point of difference the former submit the Pope to a generall Councell the latter not but as they haue made him transcendent ouer Kings so haue they ouer Bishops too not onely single but assembled in Synode So that vpon the matter they were as good keepe themselues at home and saue so much trauell and charge But to graunt those whom notwithstanding you call Caluinists without exception or distinction were not agreed of their owne religion yet to say that the rules of particular and transitorie honour depend vpon the principles of vniuersall and eternall truth it can by no meanes be admitted as a true principle since those rules by reason may be and by practise are as certaine and constant amongst Infidels as Christians No people were euer more punctuall and precise in termes of honour then the ancient Grecians and Romanes yet were they we know without God in the world without the knowledge of vniuersall and eternall truth And the same may be iustified of many of the Easterne princes at this day but I cannot but meruaile at your folly specially taking vpon you to play the Statesman in telling his Maiestie that the Caluinists will neuer agree together in making any one king ouer them all as if any Prince in Christendome were so sencelesse as to expect it or they so mad as to offer it considering they are all either vnder the obedience of other Soueraignes or free Estates of thēselues And yet no doubt but as great securitie may be expected from them as from your Catholikes though his Maiestie were vnited to them in Religion in as much as they maintaine not the lawfulnesse of aequiuocation nor acknowledge any superiour power able to assoile them from the obligation of their oathes and solemne promises What reason hath his Maiestie if hee were as firmely ioyned to them in the vnitie of their Religion as the Pope himselfe could desire to expect greater securitie from them then his Predecessors found at the hands of their Ancestors or themselues vpon occasion and opportunitie finde at the hands each of other Nay if they find no securitie many times from the Popes themselues who are the pretended heads of that Religion with what assurance can they expect it one from another being thereby onely linked together as members vnto that head It hath beene sayd of some of them how iustly I leaue to those who haue made triall that they neither sing as they pricke nor pronounce as they write nor speake as they thinke the latter of which if we may credit Comines might iustly be verified of Lewis the XI of France who made shew of deuotion in the vnity of that religion no man more in so much that he would often sweare by and kisse his Nostredam of lead which he euer wore as a brouch in his hat yet what little security other princes of the same religion found at his hands in their contracts with him the same historiographer who was well acquainted with his secrets witnesseth and were he silent yet his counsell giuen to his sonne Charles the eight that hee should learne no more latine but this Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare would speake as much which lesson is indeede onely recorded of him but it may rather bee wished then thought that it is not learned and practised of the greatest part of the great ones in the world Machiauels name being hatefull and odious to all but his rules and preceps too much imbraced of some B. C. 12. The third reason of my hope that Catholike religion should bee most auaileable for the honour and security of your Maiesty and your children is taken from the consideration of your subiects which can be kept in obedience to God and to their king by no other religion and least of all by the Caluinists for if their principles be receiued once and well drunke in and digested by your Subiects they will openly maintaine that God hath as well predestinated men to be traitours as to be kings and hee hath as well predestinated men to be theeues as to be iudges and hee hath as well predestinated that men should sinne as that Christ should die for sinne which kinde of disputations I know by my experience in the countrey that they are ordinary among your countrey Caluinists that take themselues to be learned in the Scriptures especially when they are met in an alehouse and haue found a weaker brother whom they thinke fit to instruct in these profound mysteries and howsoeuer they be not yet all so impudent as to holde these conclusions in plaine termes yet it is certaine they all hold these principles of doctrine from whence working heads of greater liberty doe at their pleasures draw these consequences in their liues and practises and is this a religion fit to keepe subiects in obedience to their Soueraigne G. H. 12. Your third reason to perswade his Maiesty to the renouncing of his owne religion and the imbracing of yours is by bearing him in hand that none other will keepe his subiects in obedience and least of all the Caluinisticall But is it possible so learned and so wise a man as you take your selfe to bee should write in this maner and withall remember that your letter was directed to his Maiesty who hath long since proclaimed
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
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
if they had the like dispensations or Kings to Kings or Subiects to subiects And if this be not to make a meere mockery of oathes which should be made in trueth in iudgment and in iustice and consequently of religion as if indeede there were no punishment of Hell no reward of heauen I conceiue not what is and by your owne rule this contempt of religion cannot but in time drawe on the destruction of those States which thus vnder pretence of religion and obedience to their holy Father neglect and contemne it Lastly if they esteeme so little of oathes made one to another what should we expect at their hands to whom they hold Faith is not to bee held bee it neuer so solemnely plighted whereas Abraham made conscience of his oath taken to Abimelech and Iacob to Laban both Idolaters and so did they againe though Idolaters or Infidels to Iacob and Abraham But let such as maintaine that position That faith giuen or sworne to Heretikes or Infidels is not to bee held call to minde what successe it tooke at the battaile of Varna in Bulgaria in the yeere of our Lord 1404 what time Ladislaus the yong King of Polony by the dispensation of Pope Eugenius and the perswasion of Iulianus his Nuntio broke his Oath and League made with Amurath the second Emperour of the Turkes in which battell the King his horse being first killed vnder him was stricken downe and slaine the Popes Bishops that were in the field to incourage the souldiers fleeing to saue themselues fell into Bogges and Marishes and there perished Iulianus the Cardinall which with the Pope was the chiefe doer in breaking the League was found dead in the way being full of wounds and spoyled to his naked skinne and all the ditches and trenches were filled with the blood of Christians A memorable spectacle of Gods vengeance vpon the breach of oathes made euen to Infidels Discite iustitiam moniti non temnere Diuos B. C. 15. The deuill that intendeth the destruction aswell of bodies as of soules and of whole States as of particular men doth not commonly beginne with mens bodies and with matters of State but being himselfe a Spirit and the father of lies hee doth first insinuate himselfe into mens vnderstandings by false principles of religion whereunto hee hath the more easie entrance because hee hath perswaded their gouernors to beleeue that it is no great matter what opinions men hold in matters of religion so that they looke well into their actions and keepe them in obedience Which perswasion is all one as if the enemie that besiegeth a citie should perswade the garison that they might surrender the Castle to him well enough and keepe the base towne to themselues But when the deuill hath preuailed so farre as by the matters in the first truth that is of religioÌ„ to get the vnderstanding in possession which is the Castle as it were and watchtower of both the soule and bodie and state and all hee will peraduenture dissemble his purpose for a while and by slandering of the trueth and pleasing them with the trifles of the world which by Gods permission are in his power make men beleeue that the world is amended For nemo repentè fit pessimus but shortly after when hee seeth his time hee will out of his arsenale of false apprehensions in the vnderstanding send foorth such distorted engines of life and actions as will easily subdue both bodies and states and goods and all to his deuotion G. H. 15. This Section together with your former for any thing I can gather serue onely to make a large Portall to a little Cottage and wide Gates to a Citie that may runne out of it you fetch a great swinge to strike a litle blow and a full carriere to leape ouer a straw It is throughout a meere flourish rather intended as it seemes to amaze the reader as Mountebankes doe their hearers with arsenals of apprehensions and distorted engines of actions then to teach him the plaine and simple trueth scarce so good as a Metaphor which I haue heard tending to the contrary of yours that if the Faux of our concupiscence should once giue fire to the powder of our appetite it were likely to blowe vp the Parliament house of our reason The scope you driue at as I conceiue is this that the vnderstanding being misinformed in religion produceth answerable effects in the coÌ„uersation which we as easily grant as you vnnecessarily goe about to proue The heathen Philosopher could tell vs Si cui intueri vacet quae faciunt quaeque patiuntur superstitiosi inueniet tam indecora honestis tam indigna liberis tam dissimiliasanis vt nemo fuerit dubitaturus furere eos si cum paucioribus furerent nuncsanitatis patrocinium est insanientium turba If a man had the leisure to looke on those things which men possessed with superstitious opinions both doe and suffer hee should find theÌ„ busied about matters so vnbeseeming honest minded men so vnworthy of free ingenuous spirits so vnlike the effects of sober and setled braines that a man would sweare they were starke mad were but the number of them lesse that went a madding whereas now the onely cloake to palliate and patronize their madnesse is the multitude of mad men Which words sound to me as if the marke they shoot at had been the practise of the present Church of Rome issuing from their false and superstitious opinions touching Gods worship In which whether we consider the things they doe in the administration of their Sacraments about the reliques of dead men in setting foorth the feasts of our Sauiour and the Saints or what they suffer in Pilgrimages in Penances and the like if the same things were acted but by fewe in number which now by long custome and common consent are growen familiar to them being practised by multitudes I cannot iudge them so vnwise but themselues if they stood by and looked on would iudge them mad I haue heard of a Turke who comming to Rome and beholding their most abominable and licentious disorders at their Carneuals and presently vpon it their counterfet sadnesse and hanging downe their heads like a bulâ—ush vpon Ashwednesday so named for the ashes which they tooke he conceiued that the sprinkling of ashes had bene a speciall remedie for the curing of madnes but to the matter It is true indeed that where Idolatrie and vngodlinesse goeth before there a giuing vp to a reprobate sence and worldly lusts follow after as S. Paul rangeth them in his first to the Romanes and his second to Titus Yet on the other side it is as true that vpon the putting away of good conscience in the entertainement of worldly lusts as often ensues a shipwrake of Faith in opening a gappe to vngodlinesse as we learne of the same Apostle 1. Tim. 1. I haue obserued it in mine owne experience and so I thinke
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.
and Alexander the VI. who lying vpon his death-bed the very night of his departure making a lamentable and bitter complaint to the Priests and Monkes that stood about him of the miserable estate of the Church and laying the burthen of so great a mischiefe vpon the Popes shoulders whom therefore he called Heretike and Antichrist at length hee yeelded vp his soule vnto God with these words in his mouth Non liberabitur Ecclesâ—a ab Egiptiaca seruitute nisi in ore gladij cruentandi The Church will neuer bee freed from this Egyptian slauery but by the point of a bloodie sword Thus did this holy man foresee and foretel as it were by a Prophetical Spirit that which we see accoÌ„plished So that Henrie the VIII serued onely as a midwife to bring to the world that birth wherewith our countrey had bene in trauell many yeres before and had not he bene borne some other meanes would haue beene found out for the doing of that which he did and what we see already done in England will also vndoubtedly be brought to passe in other Nations when their measure is full and God will In the meane time that the trueth of this assertion may the better appeare I will adde to those examples and instances brought to this purpose by his Maiestie in his Premonition two others in my iudgment very obserâ—able the one of William surnamed the Conquerour the other of Henrie for his learning surnamed Beauclerke his third sonne and second Successor in the Kingdome both out of the Manuscripts of that noble Antiquarie Sr Robert Cotton knight Barronnet The father thus writes to Gregory the VII commonly knowen by the name of Hildebrand vpon notice giuen him from his Legate Hubert that he was to doe him fealtie and â—o pay him money as his ancestors had done Hubertus Legatus tuus Religiose Pater ad me veniens ex tua parte me admonuit quatenus tibi successoribus tuis fidelitatem facerem de pecunia quam antecessores mei ad Romanam Ecclesiam mittere solebant melius cogitarem vnum admisi alterum non admisi fidelitatem facere nolui nec volo quia nec ego promisi nec antecessores meos antecessoribus tuis id fecisse comperio Hubert your Legate Religious Father comming vnto me aduertised me as from you that I was to doe fealtie to you and your Successors and that I should bethinke my selfe better of the money which my Predecessors were wont to send to the Church of Rome the one I admitted the other I admitted not The fealtie I would not performe neither will I because neither my selfe promised it nor doe I find that my Predecessors performed it to yours Vpon which occasion as it may well be supposed the Pope returned this answer to his Legate Hubert after signification how little he esteemed money without honour giuen him hee comes to the person of the King in these termes Multa sunt vnde Sancta Romana Ecclesia aduersus eum queri potest nemo enim omnium Regum etiam Paganorum contra Apostolicam sedem hoc praesumpsit tentare quod is non erubuit facere There are many things whereof the holy Roman Church may complaine of against him in as much as none of the Pagan kings haue attempted that against the Sea Apostolike which hee hath not blushed to put in execution Now for Henry the sonne who in this regarde swarued not from his fathers steppes part of Pope Paschals letter vnto him runnes thus Paschalis seruus seruorum Dei dilecto filio Henrico illustri Anglorum Regi Salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Cum de manu Domini largiùs honorem diuitias pacemque susceperis mir amur vehementius grauamur quod in Regno potestateque tua beatus Petrus in beato Petro Dominus honorem suum iustitiamque perdiderit Sedis enim Apostolicae nuncij vel literae praeter iussum Regiae Maiestatis nullam in potestate tua susceptioneÌ„ vel aditum promerentur nullus inde clamor nullum inde iudicium ad sedem Apostolicam destinatur Paschal the seruant of the seruants of God to our beloued sonne Henry the most renowned King of England health and Apostolicall benediction Sythence you haue plentifully receiued honour riches and peace from the hand of the Lord We exceedingly woonder and take it in ill part that in your Kingdome and vnder your Gouernment S. Peter and in S. Peter the Lord hath lost his honour and right in as much as the Nuntioes and Breues of the Sea Apostolike are not thought worthy entertainement or admittance in any part of your Dominions without your Maiesties warrant No complaint now no appeale comes from thence to the Sea Apostolike To which the King after termes of complement replies in in this manner Eos honores eam obedientiam quam tempore Patris mei antecessores vestri in Regno Angliae habuerunt tempore meo vt habeatis volo eo videlicet tenore vt dignitates vsus consuetudines quas pater meus tempore antecessorum vestrorum in regno Angliae habuit ego tempore vestro in eodem regno meo integrè obtineam Notumque habeat Sanctitas vestra quod me viuente Deo auxiliante dignitates vsus regni Angliae non minuentur Et si ego quod absit in tanta me deiectione ponerem Optimates mei imo totius Angliae populus id nullo modo pateretur Habita igitur Charissime Pater vtiliori deliberatione ita se erga nos moderetur benignitas vestra ne quod inuitùs faciam à vestra me cogatis recedere obedientia That honour and obedience which your predecessors had in the Kingdome of England during the Reigne of my father my will is you should haue in my time with this condition that my selfe fully and wholly enioy all the Dignities Prerogatiues and Customes which my father enioyed in the sayd Kingdome in the time of your predecessors and I would your Holinesse should vnderstand that during my life the digninities and prerogatiues of the Crowne of England by Gods grace shall not bee minished and if I should so farre abase my selfe which God forbid my Lords and Commons would by no meanes endure it wherfore most deare Father vpon better aduice let your gentlenesse be so tempered toward vs that I bee not enforced which I shall vnwillingly doe to withdraw my selfe from your obedience Whereby it appeares that Henry the first began to hammer and beate vpon that which Henry the last by Gods appointment in the fulnesse of time brought to perfection and though these two Kings the Father and the Sonne gaue way to some part of the Popes iurisdiction as I shewed before Yet hereby it appeares it was a burthen vnto them B. C. 23. Therefore to the Lords and fauorites of the Court was giuen the lands and inheritance of the Abbies and religious houses that hauing once as it were washed their hands in the bowels and bloud of the Church
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
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
one of the Heralds at Armes the title whereof was this The maner of the Tombe to be made for the Kings Grace at Windsor So that I cannot but woonder how either our Historiographer and our Herauld should be so much mistaken or which I rather thinke how Mr. Doctor so great a Polititian should be so sowly deceiued and so confidently leade others into the same errour I will conclude this Section with the conclusion of ourfamous Annalist touching this Prince Princeps Magnanimus in cuius maximo ingenio inerant confuso quodam temperamento virtutes magnae vitia non minora A stout and gallant Prince he was in whose braue spirit a man might obserue blended and tempered together by a rare kinde of mixture great vertues and no lessevices But had he honoured the See Apostolike as much at last as hee did at first his vices had beene buried in silence and his vertues highly extolled whereas now by opposing himselfe against it his vertues are suppressed and his vices racked vpon tenterhookes and set vpon the Stage which course were enough to make the best Princes nay the best men to appeare monsters to the world B. C. 32. Queene ELIZABETH although she were the daughter of Schisme yet at her first comming to the Crowne shee would haue the Common Prayer Booke and Catechisme so set downe that shee might both by English Seruice satisfie the Commons who were greedie of alteration and by Catholike opinions gaue hope to her neighbour Princes that she would her selfe continue Catholike and all her life long she caried herselfe so betwixt the Catholikes and the Caluinists as shee kept them both still in hope But yet being the daughter of the breach-maker and hauing both her Crowne and her life from the Schisme it was both dishonourable and dangerous for her to hearken to Reconcilement And therefore after she was prouoked by the Excommunication of Pius Quintus shee did suffer such Lawes to be made by her Parliaments as might cry quittance with the Pope and Church of Rome This course seemed in policie necessary for her who was the daughter of King Henrie the VIII by Anne Bulleine borne with the contempt of Rome the disgrace of Spaine and the preiudice of Scotland G. H. 32. From Henry the father you descend to Elizabeth the daughter as you call her of Schisme howbeit she were indeed the Nursing mother of the Church And for the Common prayer Booke which she allowed it was the same with very litle alteration which was current by publike authority during the reigne of her brother King Edward So that it was no inuention of hers to satisfie the Commons as you falfly suggest but an imitation of her renowned brother for the satisfying of her owne conscience and the furtherance of the seruice of God in a knowen language You adde that by Catholike opinions she gaue hope to her neighbour Princes that she would continue a Catholike wheras the world knowes that her mother was otherwise affected being brought vp in France vnder the Lady Margret Alençon a principal fauouresse of the Protestant religion there after shee had a while waited vpon Q. Mary yonger sister of king Henry the VIII and wife to Lewes the XIII the French king and as long vpon Claudia sister to the Guise and wife to Francis the first and in regard she was this way affected the holy maide of Kent was by Clergie men suborned to prophecie against her and as one writes it seemeth very plaine that the crimes supposed against her were matters contriued by the Pope and his instruments her chiefest enemies none of them all that were accused in the same treason confessing the acte euen vnto death but haue left direct testimonies in writing to the contrary one meane groome excepted namely Marke Smeton who made confession vpon some promise of life belike but was executed before he was aware or had time to recall what he had said Now the mother being thus affected and that before king Henry cast his affection towards her or disaffected Rome in likelyhood the daughter had beene that way also affected whether the breach with Rome by her mothers mariage had bene made or no. It was S. Pauls argument to Timothie that the faith first dwelt in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and therefore he was well perswaded of him also He argues not from his father and his grandfather but from his mother and his grandmother so may we by the same reason from the faith which dwelt in the mother of Queene Elizabeth make some coniecture of her faith that it was not different from her mothers But her education vnder Roger Ascham who was himselfe that way affected to cōtinue her so read vnto her among other authors for her diuinity exercise Melancthons common places will yet farther cleare this matter but the suspition cast vpon her though most vniustly as hauing a finger in Wyats conspiracy and Stories damnable aduise to leaue lopping at the branches and strike at the roote will put it out of doubt and doubtlesse as in that regard shee suffered much hardenesse during the raigne of her sister so had shee not suruiued to haue worne the Crowne had not God in his prouidence mooued the heart of the Spaniard to preserue her aliue not so much out of any loue of her person or pittie of her ruefull estate as out of reason of state lest she being taken out of the way and her sister dying as she did without issue the Kingdomes of England Scotland and Ireland might in time be vnited and annexed to the Crowne of France by meanes of the Lady Mary Queene of Scotland next heire in right after Queene Elizabeth then affianced to Francis Dolphin of France and heire apparent to Henry the second the French King then which the Spaniards thought nothing could happen more disasterous to their affectation of greatnesse Besides all this being as she was the miracle of her sexe and ranke for wit and learning it is not improbable that as the knowledge of the Arts and Languages and the light of the Gospell brake forth both together so in her person the one might haue prepared and as it were beaten out a way for the entrance of the other though neither her Mother had beene that way affected nor her Father made any breach as wee see his Maiestie that now is to the glory of God and our great comfort though his Father were slaine before his birth and his Mother liued and died in that Religion in which shee was brought vp yet by the excellencie of his naturall parts and learning but especially by the working of Gods holy spirit hath attained to such a light of Religion that he hath not only discouered the trueth but chosen and professed it being discouered and with his Penne maintained and defended that which he professeth True indeede it is that Queene Elizabeth during the raigne of her sister tender both by sexe
to the Laitie The Title of the former was Dilectis filijs Archipresbytero reliquo Clero Anglicano and the other Dilectis filijs principibus nobilibus Catholicis Anglicanis salutem Apostolicam Benedictionem The summe of both thus To our Beloued sonnes the Archpriest and the Clergie the Peeres and nobles Catholikes of England greeting and Apostolicall benediction The tenor was That after the death of her Maiestie then liuing whether by course of nature or otherwise whosoeuer should lay Claime or Title to the Crowne of England though neuer so directly and neerely interessed by discent should not be admitted to the throne vnlesse hee would first tolerate the Romish religion and by all his best endeuours promote the Catholike cause vnto which by a solemne and sacred Oath hee should religiously subscribe after the death of that miserable woman for so it pleased his Holinesse to terme Elizabeth that most great and happie Queene By vertue of which Bulles if vertue may be in any such vicious libels the Iesuites disswaded the Romish minded Subiects from yeelding in any wise obedience vnto our most gracious Soueraigne now being But this not working to their wished effect and hee now solemnely proclaimed with an vniuersall applause loue and peace their hopes beganne to wither and growe colde and no succours from Spaine being now to bee expected Garnet the Superiour for the auoyding farther dangers sacrificed these starued Buls to the God of fire Moreouer in the yeere 1588. when his Holinesse blessed that inuincible Spanish Nauie was it to settle the Crowne vpon his Maiestie after Queene Elizabeth should be deposed Surely his Maiestie both rightly conceiued and freely expressed the contrary to Sir Robert Sidney at that time sent into Scotland from Queene Elizabeth affirming that hee expected none other good turne at the Spaniards hands but that which Polyphemus promised to Vlisses that others being first deuoured himselfe should haue the fauour to bee swallowed last And did not the greatest part of Pius his Bull aiming principally at her through her sides also strike his Maiestie And did not one Robert Parsons who sate at the helme in Rome write a certaine Booke of Titles intituled Doleman wherein he excludes his Maiestie and prefers the Infant a of Spaines right before all other pretenders to the Crowne but when hee once saw his Maiestie setled beyond all hope and expectation he made as you doe and the rest at that time did a vertue of necessitie acknowledging his vndoubted and lawfull Claime in his Preface to his Triple conuersion whereof for mine owne part I can giue none other reason then that which you adde to another purpose the case is altered Whiles his Maiestie was onely in hope you shewed your selues in your owne colours being now quiet in possession you plucke in your hornes yeelde to the times and are content to bee carried with the streame And though the personall case bee altered in regard of his Maiestie and Henry the VIII yet if his Maiesty either needed the like dispensations or had the like will to pull down Churches I make no question but his Holinesse would without any great difficulty giue way to both conditionally that his pretended but vsurped authority might be restored But as he is a publique person and represents the body of the State the case is no way different which is the freeing of it from forraine and vniust vsurpation And for Queene Elizabeth I will be bold to say it that at her comming to the Crowne she was not so farre ingaged for the defence of that religion which she constantly maintained to her dying day as his Maiesty hath by manifold obligations bound himselfe to the maintenance and continuance of that which she at her death left and hee at his entrance found established amongst vs. For testimonies wee neede goe no farther then his frequent and solemne protestations aswell by his penne as by word of mouth and that not onely before but since his comming to the Crowne to which if we adde the carefull education of his Sonne the most noble and hopefull Prince euen in that respect the bestowing of his onely daughter that most sweet and vertuous Lady vpon the Prince Palatine not onely a Protestant but as you terme them a Caluinist the honourable entertainement of Isaac Casaubon and Peter Moulin the liberty giuen to the French Dutch for the free and publike exercise of their religion in diuers parts of his Maiesties Dominions and lastly his constant refusall of so much as the Toleration of any other religion notwithstanding the importunitie of suits and supplications for it the matter as I suppose will be cleane out of doubt And as Queene Elizabeth was prouoked by Pius V. so was his Maiesty by Paulus V. in a degree very little different the one absoluing her subiects from their oath of Allegeance and the other forbidding his to take such an oath So that though the Parenthesis in regard of personall succession bee ended yet in respect of profession which of the two is the more to bee regarded the sentence as yet runnes on and as we hope will haue no period but with the worlds end But the more to exasperate his Maiesty against King Henry the VIII and his daughter Queene Elizabeth you tell him that if the Schisme could haue preuented his title neither his Mother nor himselfe should euer haue made Queene Elizabeth afraid with their right to the Crowne of England For the iustnesse of the diuorce I haue already deliuered mine opinion at large and yet if any desire farther satisfaction let him reade the first dialogue of Antisanderus who both strongly maintaines the equity of the Kings proceedings in that businesse and clearely confutes the slanders of that base fugitiue and for his wiues had the way bene fairely made vnto them no iust exception could be taken to the number Philip the II. of Spaine besides his Mistresses had successiuely foure wiues whereof the first was his fathers Cousin germane and the last his owne For the compassing of which what strange courses he tooke I list not to relate but referre the reader to the Prince of Aurange his Apologie yet none that I know hath taxed him for his multitude of wiues in as much as he liued and died a Romane Catholike Did not Henry the last of France diuorce his first wife after they had bene almost as long married and vpon lesse shew of iust reason then Henry the VIII but the one made semblance at last of subiecting himselfe to the See Apostolike which the other by no meanes could bee brought vnto as he did at first this alone beeing it that varied the case and that which he did herein may well be interpreted to haue sprong from a desire of setling the Crowne in his owne posterity rather then of preiudicing the title of Scotland For though during his reigne some discontentments there were between the two nations yet not long before his death
hee concluded a match betwixt his sonne Prince Edward and Queene Mary of Scotland that as his father had vnited the white and the redde Roses in the royall branches of Yorke and Lancaster so his sonne might vnite the Lions passant and rampant in the armes of England and Scotland but it so pleased God that that match vpon occasion fell asunder and that happy vnion was reserued to our times Now for Queene Elizabeths feare those of her Sexe indeed by their nature are fearefull and great Princes by reason of the place they stand in are â—ealous specially of the heire apparent if hee be potent if neere at hand if remote in blood if in Religion different yet all the feare she conceaued from his Masties Mother arose partly from the practises of the French with whose King she matched and partly of the Seminarie Priests and Iesuites and pretended Catholikes euer making her the highest marke and pitch of their ambition till they had brought her to the lowest ebbe of her misfortune which was also hastned through her Subiects feare rather then their own as appeares by her seuerall answeres and replies to the demands of the Parliament and propositions of her counsel touching that point as also in that as soone as the newes of it was brought to her not thinking on any such matter she receiued it with indignation her countenance her speech shewed it with excessiue griefe for a while she stood as it were astonished and afterwards betook her selfe in priuate to mourning and weeping shee sharpely entertained her counsellers remooued them from her presence and commanded Dauison her Secretarie whom shee accused of being more foreward and officious in that businesse then she either desired or expected to be brought to his triall in the Starre Chamber where he was deepely censured in a mulcte of ten thousand pound and imprisonment at the Queenes pleasure but her displeasure was so heauy against him that hee continued there long and assoone as the excesse of her griefe gaue her leaue she thus briefly wrote with her owne hande to the King of Scotland now our gracious Soueraigne Most deare Brother I Wish you vnderstood but felt not with what vnmatchable griefe my minde is perplexed by reason of that wofull accident executed against my meaning which my pen trembling to mention you shall vnderstand by this my cousin I shall request you that as God and many others can testifie mine innocencie herein so you would rest assured that had I commanded it I would neuer haue denyed it I am not of so base a minde as either to feare to doe that which is iust or to denie it being done I am not so degenerate or of a Spirit so ignoble but as it is no Princely part to couer the inward intention of the minde with the outward speech so will I neuer dissemble mine actions but labour rather that they may appeare to the world in their proper colours Be you therefore fully resolued as the trueth is that had I intended such a matter I would neuer haue cast it vpon others neither haue I reason to charge my selfe with that which I intended not For other matters this Bearer will impart them to you and for my selfe beleeue it there is none liuing that loues you better and more intirely or is more carefully prouident for you and your good and if any happen to suggest any thing to the contrary perswade your selfe that such thereby aime at their owne aduantage rather then yours God keepe you long and long in safetie Yet out of the blacke cloud of this sad accident did the disposition of diuine prouidence as some wise men haue obserued most clearely shine in as much as those things which both Q. Elizabeth of England Q. Mary of Scotland chiefly desired and shot at in all their consultations were by this meanes effected The latter as at her death she witnessed wished nothing more earnestly then that the two diuided Realmes of England and Scotland might bee vnited in the person of her dearest sonne The former that true Religion together with the safetie and securitie of the Kingdome might bee preserued entire and that God was pleased to grant both their wishes to our comfort wee feele and can not but most willingly acknowledge And for his Maiestie he both signified to Queene Elizabeth by Sir Francis Walsinghame in the yeere 1583. almost foure yeeres before his mothers death that he would most constantly maintaine the same Religion which was then publikely receiued and againe sent her the same message by Sir Robert Sidney about two yeeres after So that she needed not to feare his right in that regarde and for his affection otherwise hee both testified it before her death in the Preface to his Basilicon Doron where he thus speakes In England reignes a lawfull Queene who hath so long with so great wisedome and felicitie gouerned her kingdomes as I must in true sinceritie confesse that the like hath not beene read or heard of either in our time or since the dayes of the Roman Emperour Augustus And since her death hee hath yeelded the like testimonies of her aswell in his Apologie as also in his Premonition where he remembers that being chosen to be his Godmother shee sent into Scotland the Font wherein he was baptized So that if by outward actions and speeches we may make coniecture of the inward thoughts and Passions of the minde shee was so farre from fearing his Maiesties right to the Crowne as she endeuoured rather by all conuenient meanes to aduance it neither doe I find it recorded by her friends or obiected by her enemies that during all her reigne vpon any occasion shee euer conceiued a thought or cast out a word toward the setting vp of any other Successour or the preiudicing of his right Nay in the yeere 1587. she sent the Lord Hunsdon gouernour of Berwike into Scotland to giue him notice that the Iesuiticall faction euen while his mother liued proiected how they both might be put by their right and the Spaniard brought in and withall was presented him an instrument subscribed by the Iudges of England assuring him that the sentence passed vpon his mother could no way bee preiudiciall in law to the right of his title But it will be sayd shee discouered her feare in stopping any declaration of the heire apparent specially being vrged thereunto by the three estates assembled in Parliament in the yeere 1566. whereas in trueth she in reading might haue obserued that few or no Successors in collaterall line had beene declared aâ— Lewis Duke of Orleans was not declared heire to Charles the eight yet succeded peaceably that it hath oâ—ten prooued dangerous to name a successour not only to the possessours but sometimes to the Successours themselues as it did to Roger Mortimer Earle of March designed heire to the Crowne by Richard the second his sonne Edmund being helde in prison and there pining away vpon none other
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
to any man of iudgement whereof a chiefe one is his Maiesties vndertaking the cause in writing wherein wee are bound to blesse God that hath set such a King ouer vs whom he hath indowed with such singular gifts as to giue occasion to such an Obiection Hee was no foole that pronounced that CoÌ„mon-wealth happy where learned men had the gouernment or the gouernors were learned and another who holds those wise men in the Gospel who came from the East are therefore held Kings because they were learned which I speake not to derogate froÌ„ other Kings but to thanke God for our owne whose drops that fall both from his tongue and Pen are as the Prophet Dauid speakes in another case like raine falling vpon the mowen grasse or as showers that water the earth We haue read in our own Chronicles of one Bladud a Brittish King who studied at Athens of Alured a Saxon King who translated the Psalter into his own language of Henry a Norman King who for his great schollership was surnamed the Beauclarke but for a King only Dauid and Salomon excepted that hath written so much and so well as his Maiestie exposing it to publike censure hath left it as an euerlasting monumeÌ„t of his name to posterity for mine owne part I must confesse in my small reading I haue not met with any either in our owne or forreine History Some Kings haue done some what in this kinde but hee excelleth them all so that for a Christian King to write and to publish his writings to the world euen in matter of Religion is not without example The Booke of Charlemaine in defence of the decree of the Synode of Frankeford which himselfe had thither called and against the Canons of the second Nicene Council touching the controuersie of adoring images is yet extant to bee seene in the Palatine library so is it acknowledged by Augustinus Steuchus in his second booke of Constantines donation where hee presses some things in that Booke for the Popes aduantage Howbeit Bellarmine in his second Booke of Images and 15th Chapter labourto prooue the contrary granting that it was sent by that Emperour to Pope Adrian but not as his owne His Maiesties Bookes aswell the former in defence of the Oath of Allegeance as the later by way of Premonition to the Christian States are no doubt as great corrasiues and eyesores to you as to vs they are cordiall and comfortable and cannot be but to him as dishonourable if hee should recall them as now they are honourable if hee continue constant to himselfe and them Now that they should proceede rather from the instigation of others then his owne disposition is a surmise of your owne I know not whether more foolish as being ignorant of that which hee had both written and spoken and done since hee came to yeeres of discretion conformably thereunto or dishonest in calling his Maiesties singular wisedome into question in suffering himselfe to bee so farre abused as vnwittingly to bee sent on other mens errands and to serue other mens turnes Howsoeuer there is nothing you say in that booke by which you cannot but vnderstand both the Premonition and the Apologie both bound together in one volume and titled together in one front why his Maiestie may not when he please admit the Popes Supremacie in Spirituals wherein first you dash though peraduenture vnawares against your great Cardinal who in his Letter to Blackwell professeth that in whatsoeuer words the Oath of Allegeance in defence of which his Maiestie wrote his Apologie bee conceiued it tends to none other end but that the authorie of the head of the Church of England may bee transferred from the Successour of S. Peter to the Successour of K. Henry the VIII this indeed he affirmes falsly but both in his Tortus against his Maiesties Apologie and in his Apologie against his Maiesties Premonition hee affirmeth truely that the vsurped Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome is in them both impugned And I cannot but marueile at such shamelesse impudencie as dares thus to write to his Maiestie touching his owne writings whose very words toward the later end of his Apologie are these discoursing before of the Supremacie of K. Henry the VIII in Church-matters for which Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas Moore were pretended to haue suffered I am sure saith hee that the Supremacie of Kings may and will euer be better maintained by the word of God which must euer be the true rule to discerne all weighty heads of doctrine by to bee the true and proper office of Christian Kings in their owne dominions then hee will euer be able to maintaine his annihilating Kings and their authorities together with his base and vnreuerent speaches of them wherewith both his former great volumes and his late bookes against Venice are filled Where he goes on and proues this Supremacie aswell by the Old as the New Testament and the practise both of the Kings of Israel and the Christian Emperours in the Primitiue Church both explaning and iustifying the Oath of Supremacie as it is by him imposed and taken by vs and in his Premonition written afterward though set before in the Booke he is so cleere in this point that Mr. Dr. cannot but stand conuinced either of grosse negligeÌ„ce in not reading or vnpardonable forgetfulnes in not remembring what he had read His Maiesties words are these But as I well allow of the Hierarchie of the Church for distinction of orders for so I vnderstand it so I vtterly deny that there is an earthly Monarch thereof whose word must be a Law and who cannot erre in his sentence by an infabilitie of spirit Because earthly Kingdomes must haue earthly Monarchies it doth not follow that the Church must haue a visible Monarch too for the world hath not one earthly Temporall Monarch Christ is his Churches Monarch and the holy Ghost his Deputie Reges gentium dominantur eorum vos autem non sic Christ did not promise before his Ascension to leaue Peter with them to direct and instruct them in all things but he promised to send the holy Ghost vnto them to that end And for these two before cited places whereby Bellarmine maketh the Pope to triumph ouer Kings I meane Pasce oues and Tibi dabo claues the Cardinall knowes well enough the same woâ—â—s of Tibi dabo are in another place spoken by Christ in the plurall number and hee likewise knowes what reasons the ancients doe giue why Christ bade Peter Pasce oues and also what a cloud of witnesses there is both of ancients and euen of late Popish Writers yea diuers Cardinals that doe all agree that both these speeches vsed to Peter were meant to all the Apostles represented in his person otherwise how could Paul direct the Church of Corinth to excommunicate the Incestuous person Cum Spiritu suo whereas he should then haue sayed Cum Spiritu Petri and how could all the
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
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