one example for all may be that lewd libeller who in the very entrance of his libell exclaimeth That the Protestants haue no Faith no Hope no Charitie no Repentance no Iustification no Church no Altar no Sacrifice no Priest no Religion no Christ. What shall we say to these intemperate Spirits if they speake of malice then I say with Michael the Archangel The Lord rebuke them But if they speake of ignorance then I say with the holy Martyr S. Steuen Lord lay not this sinne to their charge or with our blessed SAVIOVR Father forgiue them they wote not what they doe Now for our slandring the doctrine of the Church of Rome when you or any other shall produce the like Assertions out of any Writer amongst vs of note and credite I shall be content to yeelde farther credite to your Assertion then as yet I finde reason I should for the residue of this Section I referre the Reader to my marginall notes as deseruing in my iudgement no better or other answere B. C. 30. But perhaps there is so great opposition in matter of State that although the doctrine might bee compounded yet it is impossible to heare of agreement and if there bee the same reason of State which there was in beginning and continued all Queene Elizabeths dayes there is as little hope now that your Maiestie should hearken vnto Reconciliation as then was that King Henry the VIII or Queene Elizabeth would but when I doe with the greatest respect I can consider the State of your Maiestie your Lords your Commons and your Clergie I do see as little cause in holding out in reason of State as I doe in trueth of doctrine G. H. 30. From the matter of doctrine you passe to thereason of State in which if your reasons be of no greater waight or truth then in the former his Maiestie his Lords his Commons his Clergie haue no more reason to hearken to reconciliation with Rome then King Henry or Queene Elizabeth or the Subiects in their times had which hee that lookes not through the spectacles of a preiudicate opinion will as easily discouer as you confidently affirme the contrary B. C. 31. King Henry the VIII although hee had written that Booke against the Schisme of Luther in defence of the Sea Apostolike for which he deserned the title of Defensor fidei yet when he gaue way to the lust of Anne Bullen and the flattery of his fauorites and saw hee could not otherwise haue his will he excluded the Pope and made himselfe Supreame head of the Church that so hee might not onely dispence with himselfe for his Lust but also supplie his excesse with the spoyle of the Church which was then very rich But when hee saw God blessed him not neither in his wiuing nor in his thriuing hee was weary of his Supremacie before he died and wished himselfe in the Church againe but hee died in the curse of his father whose foundations he ouerthrew and hath neither childe to honour him nor so much as a Tombe vpon his graue to remember him which some men take to bee a token of the Curse of God G. H. 31. King Henry the VIII wrote a Booke indeed or at least a Booke was in his name written in defence of the seuen Sacraments against Luther as Mr. Doctor might haue learned if no where else yet out of Cardinall Bellarmins Apologie But in defence of the See of Rome which hee cals Apostolike I haue not mette with any and it should seeme by his mistake of the subiect handled in that booke himselfe neuer mette with it as for the Title which King Henry receiued the world is not ignorant how liberall his Holinesse is in bestowing Titles where hee expects some greater aduantage sticking down a feather that hee may quietly carrie away the goose Thus did hee giue Charles the Emperour neere about the same time the Title of Defensor Ecclesiae for directing a Writ of Outlawrie against Luther whereupon at the Emperours beeing here in England those verses were set vp in the Guildhall in London ouer the doore of their Councell Chamber where they yet remaine Carolus Henricus viuant defensor vterque Henricus fidei Carolus Ecclesiae And in the Bull by which Leo the tenth confirmed this Title to the King subscribed with his owne name and the names of fiue and twentie Cardinals and Bishops it appeares that their chiefe scope of honouring him with this Title was to tye him and his posteritie faster to that See But as a learned and graue Prelate of our owne hath well obserued being the high Priest for that yeere not so in the next he foretold by way of prophecie what the King of England should bee which we find to the honour of CHRIST and the glory of our kingdome most truely and happily accomplished in our Gracious Souereigne now reigning who hath to the vtmost defēded the truly Christian and Catholike faith by his Pen and will no doubt bee as ready to doe it when occasion shal serue with his sword and yet were it not for feare of crossing your imaginarie reconciliation you would with Bellarmine tell vs that his Maiestie in present as vndeseruedly retaines that Title as King Henry receiued it deseruedly who afterward notwithstanding as deepely incurred his Holinesse disfauour aswell by calling into question that Title which the Bishops of Rome had assumed to themselues of Pastours vniuersall S. Peters successours and Christs Vicars as by resuming to himselfe that Title which some of the Popes had yeelded his predecessours as may appeare in the Letter of Eleutherius Bishop of Rome to Lucius King of Great Britaine in which Eleutherius attributeth to the King the Title of Gods Vicar within his kingdome which letter howsoeuer the Authour of the Threefold conuersion labour to staine with the blemish of forgery yet is it to be found inrolled in the Copie of King Edward the Confessors Lawes Neither is it true that Henry tooke this Title to himselfe it was giuen him by the Parliament of his Lords and Commons and Conuocation of his Clergie not as a new thing but as renewed And if he were desirous to change his bedfellow in hope of heires male as you tell vs before it was not to giue way to the lust of Anne Bulleine as here you affirme and if hee might haue had his will in being dispensed with by yeelding to the Popes will in ioyning with Francis the French King against the Emperour Charles as before it is proued then did he not exclude the Pope take that Title to dispence with himselfe especially being mooued with the approbation of so many Vniuersities and learned men But if thereby he made himselfe a way for the supply of his excesse with the spoyle of the Church wee haue not wherein so iustly to excuse him howbeit hee conuerted much of it to good vses namely to the erecting of sixe Bishoprickes
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
termeth Caluin a reuerend Father and worthy ornament of the Church of God Now touching his booke of Christian Institution in particular M. Hooker who is well knowne not to haue contemned the doctrine of the Church of England as a ragge of Poperie thus writes Two things saith he speaking of Caluin in his Preface to his bookes of Ecclesiasticall policie of principall moment there are which haue deseruedly procured him honour through the world The one his exceeding paines in composing the Institutions of Christian religion The other his no lesse industrious trauaâ—les for exposition of holy Scripture according to the same Institutions In which two things whatsoeuer they were that afterward bestowed their labour he gained the aduantage of preiudice against them if they gaine-sayed and of glory aboue them if they consented Then which I cannot imagine what could bee vttered more effectually Thus malice would not suffer you to see that worth in Caluin and his Writings which these Worthies professed and published who were notwithstanding more earnest and zealous Patrones of the doctrine of the Church of England then your selfe But it may be you thought it would bee credit enough for you onely to enter the lists with so stout and renowned a champion howbeit to hunt after applause by dishonouring the names of famous men was held by S. Ierome and is accounted by all good and wise men but a tricke of vaine and childish arrogancie there being lesse comparison betwixt Carier and Caluin then Caluin and Stapleton whom notwithstanding a great Diuine and publike professour of one of our owne Vniuersities comparing together professeth there was more sound Diuinity in Caluins little finger then Stapletons head or whole body I will conclude mine answere to this Section with the words of a graue Bishop yet liuing no enemie to the doctrine of the Church of England as his Writings shew Caluin is so well knowen sayeth hee to all those that bee learned or wise for his great paines and good labours in the Church of God that a fewe snarling Friars cannot impeach his name though you would neuer so wretchedly peruert his words Thus much of Caluin and his Writings for I durst not goe so farre as Thurius Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempora chartas Huic peperere viro saecula nulla parem B. C. 29. These reasons or rather corruptions of State haue so confounded the doctrine of the Church of England and so slandered the doctrine of the Church of Rome as it hath turned mens braines and made the multitude on both sides like two fooles which being set backe to backe doe thinke they are as farre asunder as the horizons are they looke vpon But if it please your Maiestie to command them to turne each of them but a quarter about and looke both one way to the seruice of God and your Maiestie and to the saluation of soules they should presently see themselues to bee a great deale more neere in matters of doctrineâ— then the Puâ—itanicall Preachers on both sides doe make them beleeue they are I can not in the breuity of this discourse descend into particulars but if it please your Maiestie to command me or any other honest man that hath taken paines to vnderstand and obserue all sides freely and plainely to set downe the difference betwixt Caluinisme and the doctrine of England established by Law and then to shew Locos Concessos and Locos Controuersos betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome I doubt not but the distance that will be left betwixt for matter of doctrine may by your Maiesty be easily compounded G. H. 29. Whether reason or rather corruption of State haue not bred confusion rather in the doctrine of the Church of Rome then of England let Romes infinite ambition and insatiable couetousnesse masked vnder pretence of doctrine testifie As long as the Bishops of Rome kept them to their profession in the gaining of soules to God matters went wel for doctrine but when once they turned Statists in stead of gaining soules cast about for the gouernment of the world then were their Friars and flatterers found who were as readie to shape and frame her Doctrine according to the modell of State Before the Councill of Trent which was called in the memorie of some yet liuing it is made euident by my learned brother Dr. Carleton in his Consent of the Catholike Church against the Tridentines that the Doctrine of the rule of Controuersies of the Church of Iustifying Faith of Grace was the same in the Church of Rome which is now publikely taught and professed with vs. If by the Church of Rome we will vnderstand her chiefe Prelates not those Friars and flatterers which belonged rather to her Court then her Church from whence then arose this confusion of doctrine which followed after but onely from that corruption of State which went before and yet it cannot but bee acknowledged that as our bodies first warme our clothes and then our clothes serue to keepe warme our bodies so the corruption of State first brought foorth this confusion of doctrine but being brought foorth the daughter serues to nourish and maintaine the mother Now for the confounding of our doctrine wee answere with S. Paul If our Gospel saith he be hid it is hid to them that are lost So we if our doctrine bee confounded it is to them whom the God of this world hath confounded and blinded lest the light of the glorious Gospel of CHRIST who is the image of God should shine vnto them The second thing which you charge vs with is the slandering the doctrine of the Church of Rome and are your Romanists cleare of that accusation or dare any man of iudgement and learning discharge them doth not Pererius accuse Catharinus for calling that an intollerable and desperate opinion of Luther touching Reprobation which notwithstanding was the same opinion and none other as Pererius confesseth then S. Augustine maintained touching the same point Doth not Reynolds our Countrey man howbeit otherwise maliciously bitter against Caluin specially in his Caluino Turcisme in his iudgement free Caluin from the imputation of making God the authour of sinne in his latter yeeres which notwithstanding is still pressed vpon him both by your selfe and others Doth not Bellarmine cleare him from making the second person in Trinitie to be from himselfe and not from the first with which errour notwithstanding hee is charged by Genebrard by Lyndan by Canisius And for our owne Church doth not Bristow affirme that our Religion is prooued by experience to be indeed no Religion Doth not Allen speaking of our Sacraments Seruice and Sermons call them things which assuredly procure damnation Doth not Reynolds in the booke before named endeuour to make our Religion worse then the Turkish not distinguishing betwixt Caluinisme and the doctrine of the Church of England But
read and search the Scriptures and yee erre not knowing the Scriptures and for traditions he names them not but to reiect them Secondly it is acknowledged by the greatest Clerks and chiefest pillars of the Church of Rome that the Euangelists in writing their Gospels and the Apostles their Epistles were none other but the pens of a ready Writer the Secretaries of their Lord and Master now that which the Secretarie writes according to the direction and inditing of his Lord more commonly is more iustly ought to be called the writing of the Lord then the Secretarie it is St. Augustines reason in the last Chapter of his first booke of the consent of the Euangelists Cum Euangelistae saith hee Apostoli scripserunt quae Deus ostendit dixit nequaquam dicendum est quod ipse non scripserit quicquid enim ille de suis factis dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperauit In as much as the Euangelists and Apostles wrote that which God manifested and spake it cannot be said that himselfe wrote not for whatsoeuer his pleasure was wee should reade touching his workes and words that he gaue them in charge to write as it had beene with his owne fingers Thirdly it is reported by Eusebius lib. 1. cap. 13. that our Sauiour left in writing a letter to Abgarus King of Edessa the copie whereof he there setteth downe at large affirming the originall to haue bene kept among the publique Records of that Citie but for mine owne part I must needs say that if it bee not fained I can not conceiue why it should not be receiued as canonicall Fourthly and lastly it may very well bee that our Sauiour wrote nothing himselfe in as much as those things which were to bee written were testimonies concerning himselfe for though it be true in regard of his diuine authoritie which hee deliuers in the eight of St. Iohns Gospel Though I beare record of my selfe yet my Record is true Yet in regard of the apprehension of flesh and blood it is as true which he hath in the fifth of the same Gospel If I should beare witnesse of my selfe my witnesse were not true B. C. 2. That our Sauiour commanded not his Apostles to write his Religion but to teach it Ite praedicate G. H. 2. As if a man might not teach as well by his pen as his tongue by writing as speaking nay doctrine deliuered by writing as it is conueyed more purely and certainely without mixture arising from humane frailtie and corruption so it spreads farther and lasts longer and if it degenerate is more easily reformed It is worthy to bee marked which St. Luke hath in the Preface of his Gospel to that noble Theophilus Hee confesseth that he had beene instructed in the doctrine of Religion yet hee thought to write vnto him from point to point that hee might haue the certainety of those things so that though hee had indifferent good knowledge before yet writing the storie was the meanes to beget certainety so saith Dauid This shall bee written for the generation to come Neither to my remembrance doe I reade of any that forbad their followers to write but onely the Pythagoreans and the Druides Once wee are sure that it pleased Almighty God to countenance the writing of holy Scripture by his owne practice in as much as hee wrote the Decalogue once and againe in tables of stone And as he led the way himselfe so in expresse termes he commanded his seruants the Prophets to doe the like Moses and Esay and Ieremy and Ezekiel and Habacuk Before the Law was written what vniuersall apostasies there were from the true worship of God the floud is a sufficient testimonie and after it was lost though the Priesthood continued what generall swaruings there were both of Prince and people as well in maners as religion appeares 2. Chro. 34. What forbids vs then to thinke that our Sauiour in commanding his Apostles to teach all nations should not by vertue of that command as well giue them in charge to publish their doctrine by writing as to deliuer it by word of mouth Besides whiles wee reade in the first of the Reuel at the 11. verse that he who was dead and is aliue commands Iohn to write those things which he saw in a booke and againe at the 19. verse Write the things which thou hast seene and the things which are and the things which shall come hereafter And againe in the second and third Chapters in particular to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna write to the Angel of the Church of Pergamus write to the Angel of the Church of Thyatira write to the Angel of the Church of Sardis write to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia write to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea write while I say we finde the charge of writing so often giuen to Iohn and that by him who was dead and is aliue I can neuer subscribe to the trueth of that Proposition that our Sauiour commanded none of his Apostles to write except I should denie S. Iohn to haue beene an Apostle or our Sauiour to be vnderstood by him who was dead and is aliue B. C. 3. That of the twelue Apostles seuen did leaue nothing at all in writing but taught their Successours the Religion of Christ by word of mouth G. H. 3. This Proposition supposeth the number of the Apostles to haue bene but twelue whereas Matthias made the thirteenth and Paul the fourteenth who proclaimes it in the front of the greatest part of his fourteene seuerall Epistles Paul an Apostle But it may be Mr. Doctor will not vouchsafe him that name because he wrote more then any of the Apostles Secondly in the fifteenth of the Actes wee reade that the Apostles met together in Councill wrote Letters the very tenour whereof there appeares neither can it be otherwise conceiued but that the whole number of them or at leastwise the greatest part was there assembled So that to say that seuen of them left nothing in writing is both derogatorie from the authoritie of Scripture and in it selfe vniustifiable Thirdly it may very wel be that seuen of them left nothing els but that Letter in writing not because they held it sufficient to teach only by word of mouth as Mr. Doctor would imply but because sixe of them had written which how needfull it was they should performe appeareth aswell by Saint Paul as Saint Iude. Fourthly and lastly though nothing of their writing bee come to our hands yet it is not certaine whether they left nothing in writing since it is probable that Saint Paul wrote another Epistle to the Corinth which is now no where extant B. C. 4. That Saint Marke Saint Luke and Saint Paul were not of Christs company whiles he was vpon the earth and therefore must needs learne
bene angry with them who standing least vpon his Maiâ—sties supremacie not onely endeuor to crosse his desires but to indanger his person and to cut off himselfe and his posterity 10 By the keyes doing the Crowne seruice belike you meane the triple Crowne 11 That the Keyes are tyed to the Scepter is false his Maiâ—sty neither hauing nor challenging the right of binding and loosing but true that by the Pope both Scepter and sword too are tyed to the Keyes 12 If his Mâ—â—â—stiâ—s title rather serue others then himselfe we are sure his Holinesse title rather serues himselfe then others Pag. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 1 Exâ—mptiâ— Clericorum in rebus pâ—liâ—iciâ— tâ—m quoad personas tuÌ„ quoad bona introducta est iure humanâ— paritâ—r diuino Bel. l. de cle cap. 28 * 2. Sam. 17. 6 1. Chron. â—3 12. 2 Chrâ—n 6. 2. King 23. 2. 2. Châ—o 20. 3. Nehem. 9. 38. 2. King 18. 4. 2. Chron. 17. 8. 1. King 2. 27. 2 Socr. 1. 9. 3 Theod. 1. 9. 4 Theodoretus lâ— 5 cap. 9. 5 Euagriâ—â— lib. 1. cap. 2. 6 Leâ— Epist. 43. Gen. 14. 19. 7 Apud Stoâ— de regnâ— See to this purpose Aristot. pol. lib. 3. cap. 11. 8 Ferdin Lopâ—z lib. 1. Hist. Iud. Cap. 14. 9 Quia in Ciuitate bellicosa plures Romuli quam Numae similes reges putabat fore iturosque ipsâ—s ad bella ne sacra desereâ—entur flamineÌ„ Iâ—ui assiduum Sacerdotem â—reauit Liu. lib. 1. * 2. Pâ—t 2. 9. * 1. Cor. 2. 15. 10 Maynard de priui Eccl. art 9. 11 Bulla Pâ—â— Quin. ast; Ier. 1. 10. 12 See their book of Sacred Ceremonies 13 Monit Poâ—â—â— * Matth. 28. 18. * 1. Sam. 13. 13. * 2. Cro. 26. 19. * Exod. 28. 14 Without all contradiction the lesse is blessed of the greater Heb. 7. 7. * Exod. 4. 16. * 2. Chron. 19. * Deut. 17. 12. * Acts 25. 11. 1 It is more to be feared that Rome will doe what she can to make him poore but neuer complaine that he is not rich 2 The reason why God did not blesse it I haue giuen in mine answere 3 The Court of augmentation is annexed to the Exchequer and yeelds yeerely to his Maiestie as much as euer as I thinke 4 As they were then in the hands of the Clergie they yeelded nothing but at their pleasure 5 You obiect to his Maiestie his empty Coffers but labour to make them more emptie by subiecting him to Rome 6 How diligently you haue perused the Statutes I haue made it appeare in mine answere to the later part of your first chapter and yet it seemes you are more skilfull in them then in the Satutes whereof Dauid speakes I will delight my selâ—e in thy Statutes Psa. 119. 16. * Proâ— 14. â—â— * Exod. 36. 1 See the Statute 2 Witnesse the Church of Saint Albons 1 It seemes then that they whom you call Caluinists as touching the confession of his faith are of the same iudgement with his Maiesty 2 To grant thaâ— which notwithstanding is not false as I haue shewed in mine answere to this Sect. yet are there many things in the same booke which if his Maiâ—sty maintaine as vpon his honor he is bound to doe he can neuer turne Romane Cath. 3 K. Henry neuer contradicted his booke 4 From thence it followes that by your owne acknowledgement what his Maiestie hath written is good * Luke 22. 25. * Iohn 14. 26. * Iohn 21. 15. 16. 17. * Mat. 18. 18. * 1. Cor. 5. 4. * Acts 15. * 1. Cor. 1. 11. * Gal. 2. * Gal. 1. 18. 1 Bel. de Rom. pâ—nt lib. 1. cap. 27. Can. 6. 2 In prefat lib. de fide 3 Pag. 89 90 91 92. 93. 4 Episc. Eli. in respons ad Apol. Card. Bellar. pag. 167 168 169 170 171 172. 5 Lib. 5. vltra med in Apol. 1. 2. sapius repetit 6 In haâ—â—si Sethianorum in cap. vlt. 1. Pet. 7 De Sanct. bâ—atit lib. 1. cap. 6. 8 Lib. 2. de purgat cap. 8. 9 De S. beat lib. 1. cap. 5. 10 Lib. 4 de Râ— Pont. cap. 8. * Pag. 89. 11 Lib. 1. de Rom. Pont. cap. 8. 12 Cypr-Epist ad Pompo cont Epist. Steph. 13 Pag. 474. * Iohn 19. 22. * Ecclus. 27. 11. 1 Indeed he cannot well bee a good subiect who either reconciles himselfe or perswades others to be reconciled to that Church which maintaines heretikes to be as infidels if not worse his Maiesty an heretike 2 I guesse at your meaning your Cath had cause to be angry that it succeeded not 3 Belike you vnderstand the Parliament who perswaded his Maiesty to the imposing of the oath of allegeance 4 His Maiesty may both detest the fact and punish the offendours and endeuour by wholsome lawes to preuent the like mischiefe and yet both liue and die in charity 5 Where is that reason 6 God indeed is exorable but vpon submission and hearty contrition which yet appeares not either in the tongues or pens of Romanist 7 Quid opus est verbis quum facta se ostendunt 8 His Maiesty is as the Angel of God wise to discerne who they are that labour to misinforme him and misleade his people 9 It should seeme then you are fallen from the hope of perswading his Maiesty to become a Rom. Cath. to the toleration of that religion which notwithstanding he cannot admit without double periury See Tâ—rtuâ—a Torti pag. 82. 14 Christanouic Pacenius Becan Parsons Coqueus Eudamon Schoppius Reboule Coffeteau Peletier Gretser Suarez Beaumanoir * Râ—â— 3. 15. 2 Ad M. Torti lib. Resp. pag. 191 3 L. of Balmerinoch then his Maiesties Secretary 1 Many of those passengers who iustly feare danger haue greater experience in the guiding of this ship then your selfe could haue 2 The attaining of your Hauen we take not to bee the way to Heauen * Acts 17. 10. 1 Defence du Droit des Rois pag. 111. 112. 1 Whether your Preachers or your Friars and â—esuites abuse the people more with lies in their Sermons let them iudge who haue heard both 2 For morall and ciuill honestie there were among the ancient Romans and more learned then they 3 Belike they condemned you for one among the rest and were not much mistaken 4 It is well you hold some honest men amongst them least your selfe should bee accounted none 5 The Romish Church for many chiefe points hath not so much as pretext of Scripture 6 We might say the like of some of your followers more truly in as much as we beare them record that they haue zeale but not according to knowledge 7 What makes you to crie out so against Puritane Preachers but that most of the people are led by Sermons 8 I haue said it before and I will be bold vpon this occasion giuen to report it againe not to boast of it but to praise God for it that his Maiesties Dominions
his Arguments sometimes beyond the extent of the Letter such extrauagant matters as he drawes in vpon the bye I thought it sufficient to reply vnto in my marginall notes so that in one of the two nothing I thinke worth the answering hath escaped vnanswered and I shall craue that curtesie of the Reader if he receiue not satisfaction in the one to haue recourse to the other and this I take to bee faire and iust dealing without exception once I am sure I haue dealt with him as my selfe in like case should desire to be dealt withall which I take to bee the safest rule of iust dealing Surely a matter it is of little labour and credite but lesse honestie to deale as Fitz-Simon hath done with Mr. Mason whose learned and painfull booke of the lawfull Consecration of our Bishops he pretends he read ouer and confuted in 15. dayes but his chiefe confutation as may eaâ—ily appeare to the Reader stands in denying acts vouched out of the publike Register or as Eudaemon the common packehorse of Rome hath lately dealt with my Lord of Salisburie answering his Antilogie a booke of about 60. sheetes full of varietie of learning and â—uident proofe with a Libel of some three or foure sheets at most which he hath also rather stained with rayling at persons and catching at words then made offer to answere so much as one materiall point and to speake a trueth I haue good reason to thinke he rather wrote it that the title might be seenâ— in the common Catalogue then that the Booke it selfe might commonly bee read in regarde that the worke is so slender and the copies so few that as it is scarce to be had so is it scarce worth the reading being had himselfe professeth that he wrote it Ne magni aliquid latere in â—o libro putarent queÌ„ nemo confutasset Lest men should thinke some great matter lay hidden in that booke which no man had confuted but hee that shall compare both may well say notwithstanding his answere that no man hath yet confuted it Somewhat more wisely and warily hath he dealt with Casaubons Exercitations answering onely the fourth chapter of his first Exercitation and promising a whole volume to follow after against the rest in imitation belike of Richard Stanihurst who hath published his flourish to a future combate with his Nephew Mr. Dr. VSher but I thinke wee shall see the full encounters both of the one and the other by leasure Pollicitis diues quilibet esse potest but Tarda solet magnis rebus inesse fides An easie matter it is to promise great matters but not so easie to performe them being promised For mine owne part I must confesse I haue made a larger answere then either the treatise answered deserued or the state of my bodie and my leisure being to make so often returnes from a remote part of the Kingdome to mine attendance in Court could well permit or indeed my selfe at first proiected but I haue now found it true in mine owne experience which I haue often heard obserued by others to fall out many times in writing as it doth in building many alterations and additions present themselues besides and beyond the first designe It was written of Fame but it may as truely be said of this kind of writing Vires acquirit â—undo It gathers strength in going as in eating a man sometimes gets a stomack which was the reason together with an expectation that either some more able pen would haue vndertaken this encounter or some matter of greater importance promised by the Author himselfe and Pelitier would ere this haue beene published to the world that mine answere hath beene differred till now but if it be well enough it is soone enough how well it is let the reader iudge whom notwithstanding I shall desire to suspend his iudgement till hee haue heard both parties speake which request mee thinkes is but reasonable considering I haue dealt so fauourably with the aduerse party as to set downe all at full that hee could say for himselfe With whom if I deale in mine answering as if hee were still aliue it is to bee ascribed to himselfe who in the conclusion of his Letter professeth hee sent his soule therein neither is that I haue done herein without example of those by whose greatnesse if need were small faults might be countenanced it is I hope sufficient that I neither intend thereby to wrong the dead or deceiue the liuing Neither let it bee thought blameable that being by profession a diuine I haue medled so much in matters of state it was rather out of the necessitie of the arguments to bee replied vnto then any desire or disposition of mine owne farther then to make it appeare to the world that the Religion by vs professed is more sutable to the preseruation of the ciuill power and in speciall the forme of policie established among vs then that religion which dares accuse ours of the contrary of which I may truely say that in the termes it now stands it doth not so much vphold temporall policie as it is vpheld by it and yet like the iuie which riseth by clasping the oake hath it at length ouertopt the oake of Soueraignetiâ— it selfe whereas on the other side ours hath hitherto had none other supports but the meere euidence of trueth and diuine assistance and so according to that receiued principle of nature being still nourished by the same meanes as it was first bredde it makes vs confident that it will both grow the better and last the longer Thus commending thee to Gods grace the worke to thy charitable censure and my selfe to thy Christian prayers I rest Thine in our Common SAVIOVR George Hakewil ⧠The Publishers Preface to the Reader before Dr. CARIERS Booke HAuing exactly perused good Reader this Treatise here presented to thy view and finding it both in stuffe and stile to be learnedly and eloquently contriued I tooke my selfe in some sort obliged in Christian duty to divulge it in print to the world vnwittingly I confesse to the Author howbeit encroaching vpon his charitable consent who I am well assured is most forward to defray his talent in ought wherein the Catholike Romane religion may be aduanced Of this firme and full resolution he hath made effectiue proofe not onely in words but also in workes The Author as it is notoriously knowen hath gained name and fame among the Protestants hauing beene a Teacher in their Colledges a Preacher in their Pulpits a Doctor in their Schooles a Canon in their Churches Chaplaine to the King his most excellent Maiestie flowing in wealth supported with the credit of the Court most likely in short time to aspire to higher Ecclesiasticall preferments had hee persisted in the course of his former profession Yet notwithstanding all these worldly allurements which are in good sooth wondrous inticing baites to hooke and to hold an vnstayed soule Mr. Doctor
censure of wise men might deseruedly haue purchased some more respectiue termes of the Father whereas Thuanus the most vnpartiall and iudicious Historiographer of our age giues this testimonie of him that he was a Prince of singular naturall indowments and such a one in whom had hee not too much loosed the reines to this pleasure you could hardly find wanting any perfection Nay after his diuorce from his Queene and from the Church of Rome the Bishops which hee named sayth hee were honest men and good Schollers being euer himselfe a great Patron of learning which testimonie I the rather alledge because the Spanish expurgatorie index hath rased it as also diuers other verie memorable passages in this Author B. C. 5. Thus I satisfied my selfe at Schoole and studied the Artes and Philosophie and other humane learning vntill being Master of Artes and fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Cambridge I was at last by the Statutes of that house called to the studie of Diuinitie and bound to take vpon me the Order of Priest-hood then I thought it my duetie for the better satisfaction of mine owne soule and the sauing of othermens to looke as farre into the matter as possible I could that I might find out the Trueth and hauing the opportunitie of a very good Librarie in that Colledge I resolued with my selfe to studie hard and setting aside all respect of men then aliue or of Writers that had mooued or maintained Controuersies farther then to vnderstand the question which was betwixt them I fell to my prayers and betooke my selfe wholly to the reading of the Church Historie and of the ancient Fathers which had no interest on either side and specially â— made choise of S. Augustine because I hoped to find most comfort in him for the confirming of our Religion and the confuting of the Church of Rome G. H. 5. After your perusing the Chronicles of England you betake your selfe to the reading of the Church Historie and ancient Fathers and in speciall make choise of S. Augustine in whom you find the doctrine of Rome euery where confirmed and ours confuted But I would faine know whether one maine point of the doctrine of the Church of Rome be not the Supremacie of that Sea and whether a chiefe feather in that wing be not Appeals from forraine parts Now whether S. Augustine approued them I appeale to his practise being one of those Bishops in the Councell of Carthage who discouered and disclaimed the impudencie and forgerie of the Church of Rome in challenging that as right which some of constraint had performed and others of courtesie had graunted for which himselfe with his Fellow-Bishops were excoÌ„municated by the Bishop of Rome and for any thing I can finde in the Church Historie so died Some of his workes I haue read specially those of Christian doctrine and of them I will be bold to say that they confirme no one point of Romish doctrine controuersed at this day and surely there if any where had beene the proper place to declare the Bishop of Rome Supreame iudge in all controuersies B. C. 6. In this sort I spent my time continually for many yeeres and noted downe whatsoeuer I could gather or rather snatch either from the Scriptures or the Fathers to serue my turne But when after all my paines and desire to serue my selfe of Antiquitie I found the doctrine of the Church of Rome to be euery where coÌ„firmed by most profound demonstrations out of holy Scripture made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel and most conformable to all Christian soules and saw the current opinions of our great Preachers euery where confuted either in plaine termes or by most vnanswerable consequence although mine vnderstanding was thereby greatly edified for which I had great reason to render immortall thankes to our blessed Sauiour who by these meanes had vouchsafed to shewe himselfe vnto mee yet my heart was much grieued that I must be faine either not to preach at all or to crosse and varâ—e from the doctrine which I saw was commonly receiued G. H. 6. I haue perused your Common-place booke written for the most part with your owne hand and indeed it thereby appeares that your noting might more deseruedly bee termed a snatching then a gathering though by your will you solemnely bequeath it as a rich legacie to C.C.C. in Camb. whereof you were a Fellow but you found the doctrine of the Church of Rome you say euery where confirmed by most profound demonstrations from holy Scripture in trueth I must confesse they are so deepe that throughout this treatise they are inuisible but I much desire to knowe by what profound demonstration from holy Scripture you would proue the adoration of images the administration of the Sacrament vnder one kinde the exercise of publike prayer in a language not vnderstood of the people or lastly the Bishop of Romes vsurpation ouer the temporals of Princes vnlesse you bring Bellarmines profound demonstration to that purpose Pasce oues meas or Baronius Surge occide manduca or the Canonists fecit Deus duo magna luminaria much like a profound demonstration I haue heard of for proofe of the Salique law the lillies neither labour nor spinne therefore the Crowne of France ne tombe point sur laquenouille fals not to the distaffe or like that of a Frier who would needs proue that ten worlds were made in the first Creation and that out of our Sauiours wordes in the Gospel annon decem factisunt mundi but he was well answered by his brother in the words following Sed vbisunt nouem and did hee not deserue the title of D. profundus trow you for so profound a demonstration By such like profound demonstrations you find the doctrine of the Church of Rome made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel which for the Sacrament is drinke yee all of this and for the power of his ministers my kingdome is not of this world wordes deliuered as it seemes out of a propheticall spirit as foreseeing what errours should in after ages spring vp in his Church but you doe well to say that those doctrines were made agreeable to this trueth they may bee made so or at leastwise made to seeme so by forging and hammering vpon the anuill of mens conceits howbeit in themselues they are not so as the belles seeme to the childe to ring that tune which runnes in his head B. C. 7. Being thus perplexed with my selfe what course I were best to take I reflected backe againe vpon the Church of England and because the most of those Preachers which drewe the people after them in those dayes were Puritans and had grounded their diuinitie vpon Caluins institutions I thought peraduenture that they hauing gotten the multitude on their side might wrong the Church of England in her doctrine as well as they desired to doe in her discipline which indeed
vpon due search I found to be most true for I found the Common prayer booke and the Catechisme therin contained to hold no point of doctrine expresly contrary to Antiquitie but onely that it was very defectiue and contained not enough and for the doctrine of I Predestination Sacraments Grace Freewill Sinne the new Catechisme and Sermons of those Preachers did run wholly against the Common prayer booke and Catechisme therein and did make as little account of the doctrine established by law as they did of the discipline but in the one they found opposition by those that had priuate interest in the other they said what they list because no man thought himselfe K hurt G. H. 7 If our Common prayer Booke and Catechisme therin contained holde no point of Doctrine contrarie to Antiquitie as you affirme Surely the Church of Rome must needs be contrary to Antiquitie in as much as it holds diuers points contrarie to it If we should beginne with the Preface which is confirmed by equall authoritie of State as the bodie of the booke it tels vs in the verie entrance there was neuer any thing by the wit of man so well deuised or so sure established which in continuance of time hath not beene corrupted as among other things it may plainly appeare by the Common praiers in the Church commonly called Diuine Seruice the reason is added a little after in as much as the godly and decent orders of the Fathers were altered and neglected by planting in vncertaine Stories Legends Responds Verses vaine repetitions Commemorations Synodals that commonly when any Booke of the Bible was begunne before three or foure Chapters were read out all the rest were vnread Another reason is there annexed that whereas S. Paul would haue none other language spoken to the people in the Church then they vnderstand and haue profite by hearing of the same the Seruice in this Church of England these many yeeres hath beene read in Latine to the people which they vnderstand not so that they haue heard with their â—ares onely but their minde hath noâ— beene edified thereby Now for the bodie of the Common prayer Booke I will first beginne with the diuision of the Commandements The Church oâ— Rome ioyneth the two first in one the better thereby to cloke their Idolatrie in the worship of Images But the Common prayer Booke of the Church of England diuideth them into two therein following two of the Fathers at most excepted all Antiquitie The Church of Rome in the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Eucharist teacheth that we eate and drinke the Body and Blood of Christ carnally The Common prayer of the Church of England in the forme of administring that Sacrament that wee doe both Spiritually and by Faith feed on him in our hearts eating and drinking in remembrance that C H R I S T dyed and shed his Blood for vs. The Church of Rome holdeth that the Oblation of the Bodie of C H R I S T is to be iterated The Common prayer Booke of the Church of England that being by himselfe once offered hee is a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice for the â—innes of the whole world which also meeteth with the Romish satisfaction for Veniall sinnes as they call them and temporall punishment dew to Mortall The Church of Rome teacheth that the outward Sacrament of Water sufficeth to saue Infants The Common prayer Booke of the Church of England in the administration of publike Baptisme that the working of the holy Ghost is to be ioyned thereunto The Church of Rome teacheth that Laijks and Women may in some cases lawfully Baptise The Common prayer Booke of the Church of England in the administration of priuate Baptisme that none may doe it lawfully but the lawfull Minister The Church of Rome teacheth that children may bee confirmed before they come to yeres of discretion and are able to yeeld an account of their Faith The Common prayer Booke of the Church of England in the order set downe for Confirmation teacheth and commandeth the contrarie More might bee sayed to this point but this shall suffice to shew that if the Common prayer Booke of the Church of England be in no point of doctrine contrarie to Antiquitie as M â— Doctor affirmeth then must Antiquitie needs bee contrarie to the doctrine of the Church of Rome in as much as the doctrine thereof and our Common prayer Booke are contrarie each to other But you further adde that though it containe no point contrarie to Antiquitie yet is it verie defectiue and containeth not enough Indeed we confesse yâ— we goe not so far as the Church of Rome but so far as we haue warrant We pray to God in the Name of CHRIST they to God to Saints We pray for the liuing they for the liuing and the dead We acknowledge 2. Sacraments they to those two adde fiue more We make the Communion of the Eucharist properly a Sacrament they a Sacrament and a sacrifice and that propitiatorie We hope to be saued by the merits of Christ they by his merits and their owne the principall ground of all these additions is that we make Scripture the onely rule of faith they both Scripture and traditions and by mingling the water of their owne inuentions with the wine of the Gospel they haue made the Law of Christ of none effect And surely if defect may iustly bee imputed to vs excesse may much rather to them who in their Pontificall spend seuen leaues in the largest fol. onely about the benediction of bels which is indeed little different from Baptisme and many hundreds about such â—opperies and trifles as wise men among themselues cannot but laugh at and yet dare not speake against and good men pitie though they cannot remedy I I marueile what doctrine of predestination grace free-will or sinne you finde in the Common Prayer booke or Catechisme therein the end of the one being not to set downe doctrinall positions but the exercise of religious actes and of the other as briefly as may bee to instruct children in the principles of Christian religion not men of riper age in the controuersies K It is to me strange that you dare write thus to his Maiestie who made it knowen to the world by his pen when other Christian Princes and Churches were silent that hee thought himselfe hurt by the pestilent subtilties of Vorstius howbeit he were not vnder his dominions by Legate his own subiect who was burnt at London for Arianisme some few yeeres since But surely I am clearely of opinion that his Holinesse would take it much more to heart and thinke himselfe more hurt if a Frier should preach against his power in deposing Kings and disposing of kingdomes then if he denied the eternall generation of the second person in Trinitie from the first or the procession of the third from the other two B. C. 8. This truely was an increase of my griefe for knowing diuerse of those Preachers to be
his Angels charge ouer thee but suppressed that which made against him to keepe thee in all thy wayes now if any man farther desire his Maiesties meaning in calling Rome the Mother Church hee hath fully expressed himselfe in his Premonition Patriarchs saith he I know were in the time of the Primitiue Church and I likewise reuerence that institution for orders sake and amongst them was a contention for the first place And for my selfe if that were yet the question I would with all mine heart giue my consent that the Bishop of Rome should haue the first seat I being a Westerne King would goe with the Patriarch of the West whereby it is cleare that his Maiesties meaning was and is to yeeld the Bishop of Rome ouer other Westerne Bishops in case they should meet iâ— Councell a prioritie in sitting not a superiority in commanding a primacy or precedency in order not a supremacie in power and iurisdiction it beeing the marke which Mr. Doctour driues at and from thence labours cunningly but malitiously to inferre contrary to his Maiesties both minde and words I conclude this point with a Reuerend Prelate His Vicarship to Christ must be proued by stronger and plainer euidence then you haue yet shewed before wee may grant it and for his Patriarkeship saith he which you now take hold of by Gods law he hath nne in this Realme for â—ixe hundred yeeres after Christ he had none for the last sixe hundred as looking to greater matters hee would haue none aboue and against the swâ—rd which God hath ordained he can haue none to the subuersion of the faith and oppression of his brethren in right reason and equity he should haue none you must seeke farther for subiection to his tribunall this land oweth him none B. C. 18. There is another statute in England made by Queene Elizabeth and confirmed by your Maiesty that it is death for any English man to bee in England being made a Priest by authority deriued or pretended to bee deriued from the Bishop of Rome I cannot beleeue that I am a Priest at all vnlesse I be deriued by authority from Gregory the great from whence all the Bishops in England haue their being if they haue any being at all G. H. 18. The Statute intended is the 27. of Eliz. Cap. 2. which indeed in the body thereof hath words sounding to that purpose but the sense is malitiously peruerted and the inference thereupon for he that shall reade through that Statute and consider all the parts shall clearely perceiue that therby none other Priests are intended then Popish Priests made and ordeined by Popish Bishops and not such as Mr. Doctour was made in England by any of our Bishops here Though perhaps it were true that our Bishops did deriue their first authority from Gregory which we do not yeeld vnto considering that Augustine from whom they are pretended to deriue it was not consecrated by him but by Aetherius Archbishop of Arles if wee may beleeue our own Venerable Bede for the title of the Statute is An Acte against Iesuites Seminary Priests and such other like disobedient persons and the preamble of the acte hath these words Whereas diuers persons called or professed Iesuites Seminary Priests and other Priests which haue beene and froâ— time to time are made in the parts beyond the Seas by or according to the order and rites of the Romish Church haue of late yeeres commen and bene sent into England c. So that if according to the rule Praefatio est clauis Statuti we shall interprete the body by the title or preamble howsoeuer the wordes in the body of the acte bee somewhat generall yet what Priests are intended by the Law-makers is euident enough and except M. Doctour were a Priest according to the Order and Rites of the Romish Church by shauing anoynting and imposition of hands by a Popish Bishop and that since the first yeere of Queene Elizabeth he needed not to haue feared the danger of the Law B. C. 19. There is another Statute in like maner made and confirmed that it is death to bee reconciled by a Catholike Priest to the Church of Rome I am perswaded that the Church of Rome is our mother Church and that no man in England can be saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church and therefore I can not chuse but perswade the people to be reconciled thereunto if possibly they may G. H. 19. This Statute also is either purposely or ignorantly mistaken and is not distinct from that following but are both one namely 23. Eliz. cap. 1. The title of it is An Acte to retaine the Queenes Maiesties Subiects in due obedience and the preamble recites that whereas diuers ill affected persons haue practised to withdraw the Queenes Subiects from their naturall allegeance the purueiw of the Acte followeth that all persons which shall put in practise to â—bsolue perswade or withdrawe any of the Queenes subiects from their naturall obedience to her Maiestie or to withdraw them for that intent from the religion established and so foorth shall be traitours and the person willingly absolued or withdrawen as aforesayd to be likewise a traitour so that the withdrawing of the Subiect from their naturall obedience or for that intent from the religion established is the offence made treason and not simple exhorting to the Romish religion as is alleadged And yet to speake a trueth I see not how any exhortation to an absolute submission of the vnderstanding and the will to the Bishop of Romes Iurisdiction which now is made the onely essentiall forme of that religion can well be seuered from such an intent But Rome you say is the mother Church and no man in England can bee saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church Where if you terme it the mother Church in that sense that his MAIESTIE doeth wee imbrace it but if your meaning bee that shee is our mother either in regard that wee receiued the first life or still should receiue the nourishment of religion from her wee denie it our nation being first conuerted to the Christian faith by Ioseph of Arimathea who intombed the Corps of our Sauiour and lieth himselfe interred at Glastenbury together with twelue disciples his assistants where they first preached the Gospel as Gildas affirmeth in the life of Aurelius Ambrosius and Malmesbury in the Booke intituled The Antiquitie of Glastenbury written to Henry of Bloys brother to King Steuen and Abbot of the same place and it is consented vnto by the learned Antiquaries of later times as namely Mr. Cambden Iohn Bale Matthew Parker Polydore Virgil and others grounding themselues vpon the authoritie of the best approued and most ancient writers and withall considering our keeping of Easter and other Ceremonies were after the fashion of the Easterne Church and not of the Westerne at the comming of Austin I may very well coniecture that our
multitude iudge according to custome is because that they beeing bred and brought vp in the hatred of Spaniards and Papists can not choose but thinke they are bound to hate them still Wee might giue the same reason with more shew of truth of your multitude trained vp in the hatred of those who you call Lutheranes and Caluinists whom they are taught to hate more then ours either a Spaniard or Papist which two what reason you haue to couple together I vnderstand not except it be to iustifie the front of Puentes his booke Chronicler to the King of Spaine which sets forth Rome as the Sunne with this inscription Luminare maius vt praesit vrbi orbi and Spaine as the Moone with this Luminare minus vt subdatur vrbi dominetur orbi ouer both is written Fecit Deus duo magna luminaria and in the midst betweene both are the armes of Rome and Spaine knit together with this motto In vinculo pacis vnder the one is set Rome as a conquerour and vnder the other Spaine as a warriour both supporting betweene them the ball of the world vnder which is this title Tomo Primero de la conueniencia de las dos Monarquias Catholicas la de la Iglesia Romana y la del Imperio Espanol c. Neither are we ignorant who they are that doe not whisper it in corners but publish it to the world in their bookes that GOD MADE TWO GREAT LIGHTS ☉ The greater to be the Soueraigne of the City and the World ☽ The lesser to be ruled by the City and to ouer-rule the World IN THE BOND OF PEACE THE FIRST VOLVME OF THE CONVENIENCIE OF THE TVVO CATHOLIKE MONARCHIES THAT OF THE CHVRCH OF ROME and the other of the Spanish Empire With a Defence of the Precedencie of the Catholike KINGS of SPAINE before all the KINGS of the World TO THE MOST GLORIOVS PHILIPPO ERMENIGILDO OVR LORD EMPEROVR OF THE KINGDOMES OF SPAINE AND SENIOR OF THE GREAtest Monarchie that euer hath bene amongst men from the Creation of the World to this age AVTHOR Mr. Fr. IVAN de la Puente of the Order of the Predicants Chronicler to the Catholicall Maiestie Calificador to the Inquisition and Prior of S. Thomas in Madrid 1612. We haue the true resemblances of royall linages ROME SPAINE IN MVTVALL AYDE At MADRID Out of the Kings Print P.P. fe FECIT DEVS DVO LVMINARIA MAGNA Luminare maius vt praesit Vrbi et Orbi Luminare minus vt subdatur vrbi et dominetur orbi In vinculo pacis TOMO PRIMERO DE LA conueniencÃa de las dos MonarquÃas CatolÃcas la de la Iglesia Romana y la del ImperÃo Espanol y defensa de la Precedencia de los Reyes Catolicos de Espanna a todos los Reyes del Mundo AL GLORIOSISIMO FILIPO Ermenigildo nuestro Sennor Emperador de las EspanÌ„as y SenÌ„or de la maior Monarquia que antenÃdo los hombres des de la creacÃon hasta el SÃglo presente Autor el Maestro fr Iuan de la Puente de la orden de Predicadores ChronÃsta de la Mag a CatolÃca CalÃfÃcador dela InquisicÃon y PrÃor de S to Tomas de MadrÃd 1612. as there is one head who guides all in spirituall so there should bee but one to doe well in all Christendome to gouerne all in ciuill affaires and not vnlikely Mr. Doctor when he thus ioyned Spaniards and Papists together might secretly ayme at some such matter and yet are not the Pope and the Spaniard so firmely vnited betweene themselues but that Charles the V. was content to winke at least at the sacking of Rome by Charles Burbon then vnder his pay and Phillip the II. his sonne being one of the pretenders to the Crowne of Portugall refused to stand to his Holinesse arbitrement in the decision of that controuersie and they both while they liued were and this present king yerely is accursed at least inclusiuely for withholding the kingdomes of Naples and Sicilie as being of right parts of S. Peters patrimonie But all that is obiected against the Papists or Spaniards are in your account the falsifications and slanders of puritanicall Preachers howbeit who they are that labour by that meanes to disgrace their opposites let the Pictures forged and printed of our fained persecutions in couering your Catholikes with Beares skinnes and baiting them with dogs testifie and your reports which my selfe haue heard from your Friers in their Pulpits of our strange barbarisme as well in manners as religion as if no sparke of ciuilitie or knowledge of God were left amongst vs. It is your practise if not your doctrine Calumniare audacter semper aliquid haeret Bee bold to lay on loade with slandering somwhat will alwaies sticke to though the wound be closed and cured some scarre will euer remaine though a man purge himselfe neuer so sufficiently yet such is the nature of slander that it runnes faster and spreads farther then the purgation Many who heard the one neuer heard of the other or if they heard it through malice and naturall corruption they more willingly hold fast and entertaine the one then the other I haue heard it credibly reported that a Spaniard comming to Oxford and seeing the Trinitie pictured long agoe in the Diuinitie schoole window he wondred at it considering hee had been taught by their Preachers that wee denied and blasphemed the Trinitie And here the Pamphlet written and published of Bezaes death and reuolt which himselfe liued to answere with Bezarediuiuus though it bee famously knowen yet it is not amisse to reuiue it being so notable and shamelesse an imposture Touching your motion to his Maiestie for the silencing of those Preachers vpon whom for speaking freely against the abuses of the Church of Rome you bestow the liuerie of Make-bates it is not vnlike for the manner of it to Philips capitulating with the Athenians that for the better negotiating of a peace they would be content for a while to deliuer ouer their Orators into his custodie But Demosthenes finding himselfe to be chiefly interessed in that businesse told his citizens that it was as much as if the woolues should desire to haue the dogs in their keeping that guarded the sheepe His Holinesse may permit and countenance and by rewards incourage his Iesuites and Friars to speake and write what they list of Kings Princes and namely of his Maiestie our most renowmed Soueraigne witnesse the railings and slanders of Pacenius Christanouie Becanus Coquaeus Eudaemon Schoppius Rebullus Parsons Coffeteau Peletier Gretser their pennes may walke at libertie their tongues are theirs they ought to speake what Lord shall them controll But his Maiestie shall doe well to bridle and restraine his most painefull and duetifull Ministers who stand in the watch-tower and keepe Sentinell to discrie the incursions of the enemie and to discouer such false Prophets as come to vs in sheepes clothing but within are rauening woolues or if
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.
of the same Epistle he mentioneth Marlorates Commentary on that place which was compiled out of the Comments of diuers other learned men but specially out of Caluins besides Caluin died in the yeere 1564. as Beza witnesseth and Salmeron in the yeere 1595. as Ribadineira hath left it vpon record So that it might well be and I verily thinke it was so that Caluin was dead many yeeres before Salmeron set vpon this exposition of the Epistles specially of that to Titus which among his sixteene seuerall Tomes is ranged in the last saue one So that it seemes he wrote it not long before his death and consequently many yeeres after Caluin was dead Lastly the vniformity of the style and the tenour of writing plainely discouers that Caluin was the creditour and Salmeron the debtor or rather the thiefe which I the more marueile at considering in the Preface of his exposition vpon the Epistles he professeth his intent was chiefly to dispute against the heretikes of these times who called themselues Paâ—ls Diuines and gloried in his doctrine And in the third part of his first booke next following proposeth diuers questions touching the Church and the gouernement against Luther and Caluin by name Now for Maldonate and Iansenius though they colour the matter more cunningly in the change of words yet are they nothing lesse beholding to Caluin in many places for the sence And thus we see how out of the mouthes and pennes of those who for reputation of learning were farre aboue and for bitternesse of malice were nothing inferiour to Dr. Carrier Caluins rare and singular gifts are truely acknowledged But he was neuer you say any good subiect or friend to Bishop Duke or King It was the same imputation which by the Iewes was cast vpon Christ and by the Pagans vpon the Christians in the Primitiue Church as may appeare in Tertullians apology for them deliuered by him to the Emperoâ—rs Seuerus and Antoninus a great part whereof is spent in wiping off that aspersion and therefore Caluin may beare it at your hands with the greater patience Against the state of Bishops if he any where write otherwise then becomes him we may well impute it to his zeale against the great abuse of that order in the Romane hierarchie and his desire of establishing his owne discipline which though he did well to erect at Geneua as being a kinde of gouernment most fit for that city yet to shew that wee make him no god we professe he did ill in imposing it as necessary on all other Churches What friend hee was to Kings beside infinite other passages through his voluminous writings his onely Epistle to Francis the French king prefixed to his Institutions doth sufficiently declare which as Beza not without good reason thinketh if that king had but read it would haue occasioned the giuing of some deepe wound to the whore of Babylon hee being not of the humour of those kings that followed after him in the kingdome but a sharpe censurer of a deepe iudgement a great patrone of learning and of himselfe not auerse from that side and though in his Commentaries vpon Amos he seeme to mislike Henry the 8th his title of Supreame Head which by Stephen Gardiner and other sycophants of Court was then interpreted to spread as farre include as ample power as that he had taken from the Pope yet the lawfull Supremacie of kings he both alloweth and defendeth as his Maiesty truely witnesseth for him in his Catalogue of Tortus lies annexed to his Premonition and therein hee sheweth himselfe a better friend to kings then D. Carrier was when he thus passed his censure on him for though hee often dranke to his Maiesties health as he professeth in a letter which he thought worthy the imparting to all well minded Catholikes yet withall hee laboured by might and maine to readuance and reestablish his authority amongst vs who hath professedly crossed and dashed the taking of that oath by which is onely testified that naturall allegiance which we owe his Maiestie Now for his comming to Geneua and the founding of that gouernment discipline there which continues in force amongst theÌ„ with no ill successe at this day whereas you tell vs that being a very yong man of some 26. or 27. yeres old at the most yet he thought good vpon the opportunity to giue the venture and step in himselfe For his age I will not much striue with you but onely desire you to remember that some of your Popes but many of your Bishops and Archbishops and Cardinals haue bin thrust or at least haue thrust themselues into places of greater charge before they arriued to those yeres and perchance before they saw one halfe or a quarter so many Yet it cannot bee denyed but it pleaseth God sometimes to raise vp the Spirit of a yong Daniel or a yong Samuel or a yong Timothie for the effecting of that which an old Ely is vnfit for yong men for the most being most zealous and aduenturous but with all more inconsiderate and old men more cold and remisse but withall more wary and circumspect according to that of S. Ierome in one of his Epistles to S Augustine Bos lassus fortius figit pedem The aduice of an old man is commoÌ„ly best but the execution of young The former haue alwayes beene accounted fitter for setled businesse but the latter for new enterprises in as much as men of age commonly obiect too much consult too long aduenture too little repent too soone and seldome driue businesse home to the full periode but content themselues with a mediocritie of successe as louing to sleepe in whole skinne I am not of that Rabbyes mind who because in Scripture Yong men are sayed to see visions and old men to dreame dreames thereupon inferreth that young men are admitted neerer to God then olde because vision is a clearer reuelation then a dreame But yet experience teacheth vs and a noble Gentleman before named hath rightly obserued it that the more a man drinketh of the world the more it intoxicateth and age doth profit rather in the powers of vnderstanding then in the vertues of the will and affections So that Caluin though hee had beene younger when he came to Geneua then you make him yet had his youth bin no sufficient cause to despise him considering as the Lawyers for the punishing of a malefactor vnder age are wont to say malitia supplet aetatem so may I much rather for a iust defence scientia or prudentia supplet aetatem which shewes it selfe in this that before his comming thither he had written his excellent Commentarie vpon Seneca de Clementia and at Orleans had beene offered the degree of Doctorship in the lawes without paying so much as the ordinary fees by the generall consent of all the publike professours of that facultie whereas their common determination is now sayd to bee Accipiamus pecuniam dimittamus asinum in
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
like most vnsufferable vexations Iohn of Sarisbury in his 6. booke and 24. chapter De nugis Curalium complaines Polidor Virgil himselfe an Italian in his 8th booke and second chapter De inuentoribus rerum is not sparing in the relation of them and the booke aboue mentioned intituled Antiquitates Britannicae is so full of them as it seemes to haue bene written to none other purpose which notwithstanding I finde not gainesaid by any Romanist And can wee expect then that his Maiesty by the helpe of Romish Catholike Religion should euer bee enriched Surely in reason that which is the meanes of impouerishing his Realme and his subiects can not be a meanes of inriching him In the want of people saith Solomon he might as well haue sayd in the peoples want is the destruction of the Prince For as the multitude of people is the kings honour so the wealth of the people is the kings riches and the welfare of the people the kings safety But saith Mr. Doctour one of the maine pretenses of Henry the VIII was to enrich himselfe in the spoile of the Church which notwithstanding in euent proued to be contrary to which I reply with the Poet Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab euentu facta not anda putat Actions are not so much to be measured by their issues and euents as by the causes from which they spring and the ends to which they are directed When the people exceeded too much in offring gifts toward the worke of the Sanctuary by the discretion of Moses they were restrained and a proclamation made throughout the Campe they should bring no more Why should it not be as lawfull for Henry the VIII to restore it backe againe to the owners if too much were giuen as for Moses to restraine them for giuing hee tooke it out of their hands who vpon al occasions at the Popes command were ready to vse it as a weapon against himselfe and in defence of their holy Father and conferd it vpon those who therewith were to serue both himselfe and the State in peace at home and in wars abroad As the Church prayes for the ciuill state so is it to shield the Church and better it were the Church should quit a part of her maintenance then that the whole should lie obnoxious to the â—acrilegious hands of forreine vsurpation If in performance hereof that which should haue bene ordained to publike or sacred was by some ill disposed persons or the king himselfe turned to priuate and prophane vses or if that which inseperably belongs to the maintenance of Ecclesiasticall persons were put into the possession of those who serued not at the altar this manner of proceeding might so staine and vitiate the whole action as it might carry a secret curse with it vpon the authours and actours of it No doubt but a good cause and in it selfe most iust both may bee and oft is marred in the handling and being handled neuer so well yet in the issue it may miscarry Gods iudgements being alwayes in themselues most iust but many times their causes hidden from vs. I vndertake not the defence of Henry or any other Prince or person in robbing the Church but to his vnfortunate euents we may oppose the happy successe of Queene Elizabeth his daughter and successour both in gouernment and in opposition to the Church of Rome She maintained long and chargeable wars in diuers kingdomes abroad against Balak and Balaam Gog and Magog to the infinite expense of her treasure and yet at her death she left more in her coffers then her Romish Catholike sister and immediate predecessour notwithstanding her peace abroad her mariage with the Lord of the Indies and her readmittance though with much adoe of the Popes authority Lastly for full satisfaction in this point Mr. Doctor hauing so good intelligence of his Maiesties disposition and being so inwardly acquainted with his secrets as he makes himselfe could not well be ignorant that his Maiesty is so farre from inriching or hoping to inrich himselfe in the spoile of the Church vnder colour of religion that to his immortall fame since his comming to the Crowne he hath bound his owne hands and his posterity from alienating the reuenues consecrated to the Churches vse so that your inuectiue in this place is malicious against King Henry if in no other regard yet because it is impertinent in regard of his Maiesty who hath no Monasteries to pull downe nor as your selfe before confesse will to pull downe Churches but though he haue no will to pull downe Churches but rather to set them vp it followes not but that he should be willing to preserue that Church wherof vnder God he is set by God as the chiefe Gouernour from the spoile and tyrannie of forreine vsurpers Nay the latter may not vnfitly be inferred vpon the former And if in regard of that preseruation onely wee now pay his Maiesty what those tyrants formerly receiued he receiues nothing but what he rightly may nor we pay but what in duety and conscience we ought B. C. 36. There is yet another obiection or two in reason of state concerning your Maiesty which seeme to be harder to answere then all the rest Whereof the one is that your Maiestie hath vndertaken the cause in writing and set out a booke in print and it must needes be great dishonour to you to recall it This indeede is it which I haue heard the Caluinists of England often wish for before it was done and much boast of after it was by meanes effected that your Maiestie should no longer be able to shew your selfe indifferent as you did at the first but were now ingaged vpon your honour to maintaine their party and oppugne the Catholikes and altogether to suppresse them But there is nothing in that booke why your Maiesty may not when you please admit the Popes Supremacie in spirituals and you are partly ingaged thereby to admit the triall of the first general Councels and most ancient fathers and as for the question of Antichrist it is but an Hypotheticall Proposiâ—ion and so reserued as you may recall your selfe when you will And howsoeuer that booke cameforth either of your owne disposition or by the daily instigation of some others that did abuse your clemency and seeke to send you of their owne errand it cannot serue their turnes nor hinder your Maiestie from hearkening to an end of conteâ—tion For if King Henry the VIII in the iudgement of Protestants might saue his honour and contradict hiâ— booke from very good to starke naught they must not deny but that your Maiesty may increase your Honour by altering your booke from lesse good to much better G. H. 36. There are not onely two but many more Obiections that might be made in reason of State concerning his Maiesty which not onely seeme but are indeede harder to answere then your poore and slight euasions can giue satisfaction
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
ordinary confessing and communicating as Mr. Doctour it being rightly obâ—erued by a worthy gentleman who confesseth that hee brought with him into those parts this perswasion that surely in this there must needes bee a very great restraint to wickednesse a great meanes to bring men to integrity and perfection when a man shall often suruey his actions with diligence censure them with griefe and shame confesse them with punishment eâ—piate and extinguish them with firme intent neuer to returne to the like againe whatsoeuer had defiled or stained the soule notwithstanding saith he hauing searched into the meaning thereof in those parts I finde that as all things whereof humane weakenesse hath the custody and gouernâ—ment fall away decaying by insensible degrees from their first perfection and purity and gather much soile and drosse in vsing so this as much as anything for this point of their religion which in outward shew carieth a face of seueâ—ity and discipline is become of all others the most remisse and pleasant and of the greatâ—st content to the dissolutest mindes the matter being growen with the common sort to this open reckoning what neede wee refraine so fearefully from sinne God hauing prouided so ready a meanes to be rid of it when we list yea and the worser sort will say when we haue sinned we must confesse and when we haue confessed we must sinne again that we may also confesse again and withal make worke for new Indulgences and Iubilies making account of Confession as drunkards doe of vomiâ—ing who drinke till they vomite and vomite that they may drinke againe yea I haue knowen of those that caried shew of very deuout persons who by their owne report to excuse their acquaintance in matters criminall haue wilfully periured themselues in iudgement onely presuming of this present and easie remedie in Confession and others of more ordinary note amongst them when the time of confessing was at hand would then venture vpon those actions which before they trembled at as presuming to surfet and surcharge their stomacks by reason of the neighbourhood of the phisitian which phisitian also himselfe is perhaps more apparently infected with the noysome disease his patient discloseth then the patient who is not any way bettered by the counsell which the Phisitian giueth but this must be granted to bee the fault of the people yet a generall fault it is and current without controllement howbeit the Priests are no more excusable on their parts then the people telling the penitent that God is mercifull and whatsoeuer sinnes he committeth so long as hee doth penance and is no Lutherane there is good remedy for him and for their penance it consisteth ordinarily but in Aue Maries and Pater nosters with Almes deedes by those that are able and fastings by them that are willing yea I haue knowen when the penance for horrible and open blasphemy besides much other lewdnesse hath bene none other then saying of their Beades thrice ouer a matter of some houres muttering and which in Italy they dispatch also as they goe in the streets or ride on the way or doe their busines at home making none other of it then as it is indeed two lips and one fingers worke but were the penance by the Priests inioyned neuer so hard and sharpe the Popes plenary pardons sweepe all away at a blow Now whether seruants be not with them vnfaithfull to their masters children disobedient to their parents people vndutifull to their Prelates Subiects disloyall to their Soueraignes aswell as with vs I leaue it to them to iudge who haue had experience of both Did not Clement and Rauilliac and the Powder-traytours vse Confession and those villaines who assaulted the Prince of Aurange the one sorely wounding the other murdering him and did not their confessions serue to harden them in their damnable resolutions Lastly for the seale of Confession without which you say it is impossible to vse the thing it selfe wee hold it being rightly limited a lawfull yet an humane constitution as neither in trueth is particular confession it selfe to men any other and he that will not forbeare in conscience and common honesty to disclose a secret reuealed in such manner will hardly forbeare for feare of punishment and sure I am of opinion better no seale to at all then such a concealement imposed as is by the factours of the Romish Church maintained and was not onely preached by Garnet but in him commended by Eudaemon and Bellarmine and in others by his example bee the issue thereof neuer so deuilish or toward the king and kingdome neuer so dangerous and although it be true as his Maiesty truely obserueth that when the Schoolemen came to bee Doctours in the Church and to marre the old grounds in Diuinity by sowing in amongst them their Philosophicall distinctions though they I say maintained that whatsoeuer thing is tolde a Confessour vnder the vaile of Confession how dangerous soeuer the matter bee yet is hee bound to conceale the parties name yet doe none of them specially of the old Schoolemen deny that if a matter be reuealed vnto them the concealing whereof may breede a great and publike danger but that in that case the confessour may disclose the matter though not the person and by some indirect meanes make it come to light that the danger thereof may be preuenâ—ed But no treason or deuilish plot though it should tend to the ruine or exterminion of a kingdom I vse his Maiesties owne word must be reuealed if it be told vnder Confession no not the matter so farre indirectly disclosed as may giue occasion for preuenting the danger therof though it agree with the conceit of some 3. or 4. new Iesuited Doctors yet is it such a new and dangerous head of doctrine as no king or State can liue in security where that position is maintained And here it shall not be amisse to remember that vnto ward answere which Binet the Iesuit shaped to Casaubon in the kings library in Paris two or three moneths before the death of Henry the great as they talked of Garnets execution which the Iesuit termed martyrdom It were better quoth he that all kings should perish then that the seale of confession should once be broken vp adding withal this reason that the gouernment of kings was but an humane constitution wheras confession was a diuine ordinance which wheÌ„ I heard saiâ—h Casaubon Obstupui steteruntque comae vox faucibus haesit But afterwards reading the bookes written by men of the same mettall and societie and perceiuiâ—g hee had sayd nothing which they taught not in effect though not in the same wordes I left wondring sayeth hee and censured mine owne folly Notwithstanding all this the same Mr. Casaubon confesseth and not onely for himselfe but for vs speaking in the plurall number in the Page immediatly going before that it was an ancient decree of the Church full of pietie and wisedome that it should not bee
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