and storme at her enioying of the Crowne as at her Christian and Religious gouernment Buls are not hastelie procured your Pope must be sued vnto and false informations must be giuen and it might be as they had vaine hopes for a time to feede themselues with so those hopes fayling the fittest season for publishing of the Bull was thought to be when others were prepared to raise rebellion The second point is a matter of as deepe consideration as the former wherein hee telleth vs by enumeration of diuers hard vsages offered by her Maiestie and the Protestants against the Pope and Popish Catholicks that it must needs be that not malignitie of the Pope and his adherents against her but diuers iniuries and cruelties offered inforced the publication of the Bull. I will not vouchsafe to make an Apologie for defence of those things which you Sir Encounterer recken vp as wrongs and iniuries offered to your Pope and Pope-worshippers this onely I say for answere that as her Maiestie hath done nothing in the reformation of Religion in requiring an oath of her people for acknowledgement of her authoritie in inforcing her Subiects to the true seruice of God in punishing offenders and obstinate persons and such like proceedings but that which God commaunded her and the godlie zealous Princes haue done before her so it doth not necessarilie follow that notwithstanding all those things haue been done in godlie zeale and louing care for the saluation of the soules of her people therefore you are free from malignitie your faultines wherein I haue euidentlie proued before though in your deepe and cunning flatterie you would gladlie denie it you fawne vpon her Maiestie and yet accuse her most falselie of breach of promise in altering Religion you seeme to free her from a desire to publish Gods Gospell and yet affirme that your Pope had great cause to proceede against her Other Princes as Edward the first Richard the second Henrie the fourth haue made lawes against the Bishop of Rome his authoritie and vsurped iurisdiction and yet haue not tasted so much of his malice which sheweth the malignitie of your Pope and his adherents against her Maiestie As for your Poperie and superstition rooted out of this land it was not of so long continuance as you boast for but little before William the Conqueror Kings were Gods Vicars for gouerning his Church Ecclesiasticall liuings were bestowed by the Princes they made Ecclesiasticall lawes Priests were married and your Transubstantiation was not then knowne You blasphemouslie scoffe at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and ye glorie in the dissention betweene vs and the Lutherans but as the Lord is of will and power to mocke mockers so can hee make the infirmitie of his seruants worke to his glorie and their good I passe ouer many things willinglie in this your Rhetoricall flourishing contenting my selfe to haue shewed the non sequitur of your allegation The third point which you would haue considered is that it was an acte of iurisdiction from an Ecclesiasticall superiour as also an auncient kinde of proceeding against Princes in our land as well as in other places without any trouble to the people for the same and therefore you would not haue your Catholikes to be charged with it or troubled for it For answere thereunto this I affirme that as wee acknowledge not your Popes superioritie or Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction ouer vs he playing the vsurping Tirant in censuring our Prince so we neither yeelde that this his proude and malicious cursing and excommunication of Princes hath been of long continuance or that those his adherents who iustifie his proceedings are to bee freed from blame We acknowledge that Princes the annointed of the Lord are the higher powers ordained to execute Iustice and Iudgement ouer the good and euill We knowe no other Superiour in nations and kingdomes next and immediatelie vnder God but such as the Apostle Peter willeth vs to be subiect vnto when he saith Submit your selues vnto all manner ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be vnto the King as to the Superiour c. he speaketh of one not of many superiours where a Monarchie is established The time was when your Bishop of Rome was far from hauing a superioritie euen in Rome and his dominions for both Charles the great and Otho the great had right soueraigntie and royaltie of the Countries giuen to your Popes with acknowledgement to bee their Soueraigne Lordes in regarde of which they yeelded tributes and other seruices vnto them as also in former times the Emperours had their Lieutenants and deputies in Rome euen to Gregorie the seuenths time and your Popes obtained not the Soueraigntie which now they challenge till it was almost 1200. yeares after Christ in the daies of Alexander the third and Innocentius the third both Bishops of Rome Your vsuall engine of excommunication and depriuing of Princes of their Crownes is likewise far short of that antiquitie by which you would seeme to mitigate the rigour and crueltie thereof For as there was neuer any Romane King or Emperor excommunicated and depriued of his kingdom by any Bishop of Rome before Henry the fourth Emperour of Rome who was excommunicated cursed by Gregory the seuenth the brand of hel who being a Necromancer a periured person and a most wicked man confessed at his death to a Cardinall that he was set on by the Diuell to raise vp discord and warres in Christendome so in England from the conquest vnto King Henrie the eight there was no Prince of this land deposed by your pope but onely King Iohn It is a noueltie Sir N.D. and not a matter of antiquitie as Sigebert telleth you to teach that people owe no subiection to euill kings c. As for that you say that Subiects heretofore in our land haue not beene troubled or forced to alter their beliefe concerning the Popes power notwithstanding his cursing and depriuing of Princes is more then you know and it maketh no great matter whether it were so or no seeing that your vse of excommunication hath not been so frequent in our land and your dealings were neuer so treacherous and desperate as they haue been of late Our English Nation did neuer at any time since the first receiuing of the faith vnto this day acknowledge the vsurped power of your Pope to depose Princes much lesse hath it been anie matter of our faith your Pope Nicholas and Boniface the eight may put in transubstantiation to be an Article of our beliefe and make your popes supremacie of the necessitie of saluation but wee haue learned to ground our faith vpon the Scriptures of God which teacheth no such absurd and diuellish points The lawes of our land haue heretofore in King Richard the seconds time and Edward the thirds time made it treason to bring in any excommunication from Rome to impugne the lawes of the Realme for benefices and patronages to compasse or imagine the
which in that letter of Boners to the Lord Cromwell are to be found And this I hope is sufficient to cleare me from malignitie and sycophancie for calling so vnworthie a man a bloudie monster After this flourish to make shew in generall of the Bishops milde mature whereof by these fewe particulars the reader may more soundly iudge this his Proctor proceedeth to cleere him of seeking her Maiesties life in the raigne of her sister but it seemeth his conscience gaue him a secret checke when he set pen to paper about this defence For how weake an Apologie doth make for so haynous an accusation the lines are few in which he wrappeth vp the handling of this weightie case and the reasons as weake as water that he alleadgeth for the Bishops clearing It was so farre off from Gardiners condition and nature saith this forward Proctor that he dareth say I doe him apparent and wilfull wrong What Sir if for malice he might be compared to the diuell as Boner witnesseth what could be more agreeable to his nature then to seeke the bloud of so gracious and innocent a Ladie And seemeth not trow ye his case to be verie good which so wooddie yea so hot and fierie a Patrone seekes to maintaine with so slender and cold a defence as I dare say he doth him apparunt and wilfull wrong But he addeth she was an obiect rather of loue and compassion then of enuie and hatred But what loue could proceede from him that was of an hard heart and cancred malicious stomacke what compassion could he shewe whose verie bowels were cruell As for the misterious bracelet of which this brabler talketh in which all the secrecie of Wyats conspiracie was said to lie hidden which Gardiner farther pierced then any other but neuer vsed or vrged the knowledge gotten thereof to the Ladies perill I answere that the misterie of this Shemeis treacherie against that innocent Ladie his now Soueraigne may hereby appeare to all men who to grace his client with the commendation of a deepe politike to pearse further into the misterie of that conspiracie then anie other and of a tender harted man in not vsing nor vrging his knowledge gotten thereof to the Ladies perill layeth the highest disgrace vpon his Soueraigne that can be imagined as if she had been secretly confederate with Wyat in his rebellion against her sister and that this Eagle-eyed Bishop had spied so much in a misterious bracelet but of pure good will did neuer vrge it to her perill Whereas for euer finding any suspition against her through so manie hard and earnest siftings his owne mouth is a witnesse against him who kneeling downe to her Grace after long triall had of her loyaltie and integritie said Then hath your Grace the aduantage of me and other of the Lords for your long and wrong Imprisonment As for his concealing of any thing that hee might finde against her or desire to free her from daunger who knoweth not how farre both hee and the rest of the Clergie were from any such inclination For when Wyat at his death cleered the Ladie Elizabeth Doctor Weston cried Beleeue him not good People c. Which being related to Sir Thomas White then Lord Maior he was moued at the bloudie humour of this Popish Doctor and said of him with indignation In sooth I neuer tooke him but for a knaue But was your Bishop more mildlie affected then the Doctor Nay hee was so vnwilling to haue her cleered as hee chafed exceedinglie at a poore Apprentise in London for saying that Wyat had cleered her and the Lord Courtney and caused the Lord Maior to bring this poore youth to the Starre Chamber where hee vttered a speech vpon that occasion and pronounced the innocent Ladie guiltie and commaunded the Apprentise should be punished And if Master Bridges then Lieutenant of the Tower had not as is reported most honestly aduentured to Queene Marie to informe her of a warrant that was out for the execution of this her worthie Sister the innocent Ladie had lost her life poore England had been depriued of so gracious a Soueraigne and the light of our Candlesticke had been put out But blessed bee the Lorde who gaue not the Soule of his Turtle Doue to the beasts nor his darling to the power of the dogges With this for good fellowship may walke hand in hand his plea for the Bishops freedome concerning the bringing in of the Spaniard of which I affirme that Gardiner and his complices neuer rested vntill they had brought in the Spaniard and matched him with Queene Marie by which they betraied God her and the whole Realme from which this Proctor first would cleare him by imagining in him a partiall affection to the Earle of Deuonshire whom he would haue married to the Queene But it were strange that in a man of Gardiners place there should bee so great ficklenes and mutabilitie that in so short a space so great loue should bee turned into such extreame hatred a little before in his loue he would haue made him as you say as a King by matching him to Queene Marie within a while after he would haue made him worse then a caitife and to suffer as a Traitour accusing him earnestlie in the Starre Chamber when as Wyat had cleered him Secondlie hee demaundeth if this had been so as hee saith it was not why did they betraie therein both God their Queene and their Countrie To which his demaunde I briefelie answere God was betraied because his true Religion was exiled which Queene Marie before her obtaining the Crowne promised to the Suffolke men to maintaine and in steede thereof Idolatrie was established The Queene they betraied because they matched her to an vnhusband-like husband who estranged both his affection and companie from her which was thought to be a great cause of the shortning of her daies for when the cause of her often sighing a little before her death was asked of her selfe she confessed this to bee one though not the onelie cause that she could not enioie the companie of her husband The Realme they betraied because they sought to make it subiect to a stranger though yet blessed bee God doe all they what they could or the Queene herselfe they could neuer set the Crowne of England vpon King Phillips head And that the temporall inconueniences by that match were not more fullie felt God is to bee praised who gaue him here so short an aboade Further by this match they bringing in the Pope and resigning the Supremacie to him did wrong to the Crowne for by the Lawe of God the King in his owne Realme is chiefe gouernour both in causes Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill the Pope contrariwise will not onelie be aboue the King in all causes Ecclesiasticall but also in some Ciuill challenging all Bishops and Cleargie men for his subiects exempting them in things Ciuill from the Kings authoritie whereby he robbeth the
King of a great part of his Subiects and in the Realme doth gleane out another Realme to himselfe yea challengeth to haue power to depose the Prince Againe the auncient Lawes of the Realme were hereby made to stand for cyphers the Lawes of the Realme will haue a Priest for debt to bee sued before a temporall Iudge but the Popes Lawe commeth and crieth the contrarie Patrones by the Lawes of the Realme should giue Benefices but the Popes Lawe setteth them besides All the dangerous consequences threatned to this Realme by that match it is not my purpose to set downe I will onelie adde a fewe verses made long since concerning that marriage by which the Reader may partlie see what is to be iudged of it Regi non Regi nupsit non nupserat Angla est Non Angla est grauida est non grauida est grauius est Parturit atque parit sic vos voluistis ouantes Nil tamen illa parit sic voluit dominus Duxerat ad paucos menses mox deserit idem Sponsa est mox vidua est sic voluit Dominus Irrita frustrentur semper sic vota malorum Perniciem patriae qui voluere suae A King she matcht yet not a King scant doe her married call English she is not English yet great not with childe at all She breedes and beareth in her wombe as ye triumph and braue Yet brings no childe into the world euen so the Lord would haue Philip a few moneths married her then leaues her with great speede A wife she is a widow straight the Lord had so decreed Euen so confounded be th' attempts of wicked Papists all Which of their natiue Countrie seele the ruine and the fall Now I come to the great fume and chafe of this hot Encounterer for that I say the Recusants cannot professe more loue and loyaltie to the Queene that now is then did Gardiner Boner and Tunstal to her noble Father and Brother which they did confirme by Printed bookes for Gardiner in his booke de vera obedientia c. where like a graue States-man and another Nestor hee takes vpon him to taxe mee either with ignorance in the matters of our owne Realme or with forwardnes to tell vntruthes His allegations are two the first that Gardiners booke de vera obedientia was written for feare of the Kings violent proceeding or not being well instructed perhaps in the controuersie of the Supremacie and that shaken with the frailtie of humane infirmitie hee shrunke with Saint Peter But he may remember that first Gardiner with sundrie others did take a voluntarie and solemne oath against the Pope as by the copie thereof yet extant may appeare wherein he sweareth purely of his owne voluntarie accord and absolutelie in the word of a Bishop c. Then he stayeth not heare but writeth his booke de vera obedientia for the Kings and against the Popes Supremacie which hee professeth to doe with long and mature deliberation and Boner in his preface before that booke perswadeth the reader to esteeme Gardiners censure and authoritie to be of more weightie credence in as much as the matter was not rashlie and at all aduentures but with iudgement and wisedome examined and discussed saying that a man may rightly call him Fabius that with his aduised taking of leasure restored the matter The second allegation is that for King Edwards Raigne it is a flat fable and fiction that I tell of Bishop Gardiners following the sway also of that time Gentle Sir Encounterer did not Gardiner againe in the Raigne of King Edward take a solemne oath against the Popes vsurped authoritie and subscribed to the Kings lawfull Supremacie 〈◊〉 in causes Ecclesiasticall within his owne Realme Yea did he not before King Edward flatlie preach against the Popes Supremacie as also against Images Ceremonies Munkeries Chauntries c. Therefore doe no more blasphemouslie compare Saint Peterâ— fall to Gardiners dissimillationâ— Saint Peter denied vpon the suddenâ— and within few houres 〈◊〉 Gardiner sware solemnly preached publikelie and wrote vpon long and aduised 〈◊〉 and so continued many yeares till 〈…〉 authoritie 〈◊〉 another course Concerning his sermon made at Paules Crosse vpon this text surgereâ— It is time for vs now to arise from 〈◊〉 I shall neede little to answere because it 〈◊〉 concerneth my former booke but how firâ—â—e soeuer your wisdomâ— thinketh that the time since King Henrie shaking of the Popes tirannie might be compared to a sleepe and the resuming of the Pope withall his wares to be an awaking yet what more like might then Poperie and the liuing 〈◊〉 vnto a sleepeâ—â— For as darkenes coâ—ereth all things in the night and men cannot walke safelie for want of light so Ignorance preuaileth in Popâ—â—â—e and the people are misled therein so that they cannot see which way they ought to walke because they are not permitted to exercise themselues in the Word which is a lanterne to our feete and a light vnto our steps and as in sleepe the hungrie man dreameth that he careth but when he awaketh his soule is emptie so in Poperâ—e the people being fed with mens traditions thinke themselues in good plight but when they are truelie wakened as Ionah by Gods spirite they perceiue that they were hunger-starued for want of the true foode of their soule the word of God In stead of all which large comparison of those times of King Henrie and King Edward to a sleepe and commending the Bishops wisdome for the choice of so fit a text I will set by way of opposition another euigilate or caueat to awake made to the Pope and his Clergie long before the profounde Sermon of this youâ—â— Bishop euen in the time of Henrie the fourth called the A.B.C. AWake ye ghostlie persons awake awake Both Priest Pope Bishop and Cardinall Consider wiselie what waies that ye take Daungerouslie being like to haue a fall Euery where the mischiefe of you all Farre and neere breaketh out very fast God will needes be reuenged at the last How long haue ye the world captiued In sore bondage of mens traditions Kings and Emperours you haue depriued Lewdly vsurping their chiefe possessions Much miserie you make in all Regions Now your fraudes be almost at the last cast Of God sure to be reuenged at last Poore people to oppresse you haue no shame Quaking for feare of your bloudie tyrannie Rightfull Iustice you haue put out of frame Seeking the lust of your God the Bellie Therefore â—â—dâ—re you holdlie ceâ—tifie Very little though you be thereof agast Yet God will be reuenged at the last But to looke backe a little vpon this famous Sermon in the long narratioÌ„ that you set down by occasion of this Sermon I must examine some few points wherin either this Proctor belieth the Bishop or the Bishop the King And first if it be true that he affirmeth that King Henrie the eight appointed Gardiner to be one of the sixteene Counsellors in his
durst protect felons and murtherers against the King and Iustice of the land neither reuerencing King nor obeying his lawes passed ouer without licence to the King of France Further being adiudged to prison by the King for refusing to giue accounts of great summes of money receiued by him and Reignold Earle of Cornewall and Robert Earle of Leicester being sent to him to tell him of the iudgement set downe against him this meeke Martyr and holy Saint was so farre from the obedience of a subiect that he told the earle of Leicester in these words That how much more precious the soule is then the bodie so much more ought he to obey Becket then his terreine King So notorious and euident was the rebellious opposition of this Popish Prelate against his lawfull Prince that he was openly by the king and his Nobles called Traitor in that he refused to giue earthly honour to his King as he had sworne to do and therefore they generally agreed that he was wel worthy to be handled as a periured Traitor and rebell and therefore most impudent is this Ward-worders assertion that neyther the King nor his Officers did charge him with treason If you please to adde hereunto the arbitrement of this controuersie put into the French kings handes with king Henries large offer and Beckets proud refusall there is no man I hope that knoweth what it is to be an obedient subiect but will condemne him for a rebellious Traitour The kings offer in that arbitrement was this There haue been saith he Kings of England before me both of greater and lesse puissance then I am likewise there haue been many Bishoppes of Canturburie both great and holy men what the greatest and most holy of all his predecessours before him hath done to the least of my predecessors before me let him doe the same to me and I am content Which offer though it were in it selfe and so deemed by all that stood by not onely reasonable but more then reasonable so that they all cried with one voice the king hath debased himselfe enough to the Bishop yet the rebellious spirit of this Archbishop would not yeelde vnto it nor accept peace with his King vpon so fauourable a condition What a Giant-like pride traiterous presumption is this to refuse to yeelde so much obedience to his Prince and Soueraigne as the greatest and holiest of his place haue alwaies yeelded to the meanest kinges of this land what needeth any further proofe of Beckets treason Yet if you will you may remember the letter of Maud the Empresse to him Wherin she chargeth him that in as much as in him lay he went about to disinherit the king to depriue him of his crown and if the Empresse might be thought to speake partially on the King her sonnes behalfe yet the two Cardinals sent by the Pope to heare all this controuersie out of question will not condemne him without iust cause And yet in a letter sent from them to the Pope they do condemne him of exciting stirring vp forraine Potentates to make warre against his naturall liege Lord the words of which letter were these William and Otho Cardinals of the Church of Rome to Alexander the Pope c. comming to the land of the king of England we found the controuersie betwixt him and the Archbishop of Canterburie more sharpe and vehement then we would for the King and the greater part about him said that the Archbishop had stirred vp the French King grieuouslie against him as also the Earle of Flaunders his kinsman who was verie louing and kind to him before he made his open aduersarie readie to wage warre against him as is by diuers euidences most certain c. Now for a subiect to stirre vp forraine States to make warre vpon his Soueraigne and countrie was at all times high treason but that Becket did so by the Cardinals confession was by diuers euidences most certaine therefore Becket not now his enemies but his breâ—hren the sonnes of his owne mother being Iudges was a traitor Who then but such a one as hath sold himselfe to all impudencie and shamelesse gainsaying the truth would seeke to couer Beckets rebellions by the facts of Iohn Baptist Ambrose Hillarie of Athanasius Chrysostome which haue as much agreement with the cause of Becket as hath light with darkenes good with euill sweet with sower concerning whose Saint-being I will say nothing sith my purpose is not to search what he is with God after his death but what he was towards his Prince in his life neither am I priuie to his repentance which might be secret at the last gaspe or to Gods iudgements into which I presume not to presse Yet you may remember that long since it was a generall Prouerbe of your Pope-made Saints That many are worshipped for Saints in heauen whose soules are burning in Hell and that in particular concerning Becket great doubt was moued as is by writers alleadged out of Caesarius the Monke whose words are these Quaestio Parisijs inter magistros ventilata fuit vtrum damnatus an saluatus esset ille Thomas c. There was a question debated amongst the masters at Paris whether Thomas Becket was saued or damned To this question answereth Roger a Norman that he was worthie death and damnation because he was so obstinate against Gods minister the king Peter Cantar a Parisien disputed on the contrarie that his miracles were great signes and tokens of saluation and of great holines in him c. Which argument this Encounterer likewise vrgeth But behold what strength is in it For one of these we shall find to be true that either they seemed only and were no miracles indeed such as many by the craft and conueiance of idle Monks haue been shewed to the people as namely those miracles of the Dominicke Friers in their hot contentions with the Franciscans about the conception of our Ladie who thinking by sleight to worke in the peoples heads that which by open preaching they durst not now attempt deuised a certaine Image of the Virgin so artificially wrought that the Friers by priuie gynnes made it to stirre to make gestures to lament to complaine to weepe to grone and to giue answeres to them that asked c. vntill the Franciscans seeing by this meanes their credits to decay and all the almes to be conueyed to the Dominickes boxe and not being vnacquainted with such cousening practises espied their iugling and discouered their feined fraudulent miracles For which cause foure of the chiefest actors in this iugling miracle were burned at Bernâ— Or secondly if they were not counterfeite but done in deed they were not wrought by God but by the power of Sathan to draw men from Christ to Antichrist Of these the Apostle foretelleth vs that whensoeuer it commeth to passe it might not trouble vs That the comming
sagelie compareth their qualities together as Plutarch doth the most famous worthies of Rome and Greece which his comparison I passe ouer as nothing concerning any thing said by me in my former booke against them Onely I yeelde they were birdes of a feather and therefore fit to slie together and according to our English prouerbe like will to like you know what followeth and in deede milke is not liker milke nor one egge another then were these two statelie Prelates each of them being brides of the Popes owne hatching and as it is in the Prouerbe Mali corui malum ouum and both of them for the Popes sake being false and treacherous against their Soueraignes Cardinall Allen against her Maiestie as hereafter shall bee shewed Bishop Gardiner against her renowmed Father when he was Ambassadour for the King to the Emperour hauing secret intelligence with the Pope then the Kings open and professed enemie in so much that the King in euery generall pardon that he graunted by Parliament after this practise he did still except all treasons committed beyond the Seas meaning thereby as it was supposed that the Bishop should not take any benefite by any generall pardon if his Maiestie would at any time call him to account and further minded as it seemeth to haue vsed extremitie of lawe against him if the Lord had lent his Highnes longer life vpon iust matter not taken away by any pardon commaunding thereupon often the Lorde Paget being then his Secretarie to keepe safe certain writings which he had against him But the parities or disparities of your two Prelates by you compared together I passe ouer as matter impertinent and come to your exceptions against my speeches vttered of them in particular And first concerning Bishop Gardiner he setteth downe these my speeches Gardiner that most proude and bloodie monster left no corner of his wit vnsought to shorten her Maiesties daies and preuent her by the bloodie slaughter of her sacred person from being our Queene And againe The Recusants of our age cannot professe nor make greater shew of loyaltie and loue to our dread Soueraigne neither c. This my charge against Gardiner this sturdie Encounterer seeketh to beate backe first by commending him for a most tender hearted and milde man that no one great man in Queene Maries time was farther from bloud and bloudines then he and that any good natured Protestant that liued in that time and had wit to iudge and indifferencie to speake the trueth without passion would confesse as much Which because himselfe cannot but know to bee a shameles vntrueth and therefore doubting how the generall commendation of his milde nature would be intertained he for a particular instance telleth vs a long tale of like authoritie concerning his tender affection towards the Duke of Northumberland after hee was condemned c. which as it nothing concerneth our matter in hand so hauing onely his bare worde to warrant it the indifferent reader may credite and regard as he seeth cause And for the better direction of thy iudgement gentle Reader and fuller iustifying of my accusation against him it shall not be amisse to take a short view of a few particulars by which the gentlenes of this Bishops nature may appeare to all men I will not here stand vpon the secret intestine and deadlie hatred which he alwaies bare to the fauourers of the Gospell and how through his wilie craft he so farre preuailed with the king to proceed in such sort against the worthy Martir of Christ Iohn Lambert as he did the only example of Marbecke for that kings time shall suffice Who being conuented before Gardiner for the concordance in English now extant which he then had begunne was by all meanes by men sent from the B. sifted to detect whom he knew to be fauourers of the Gospell with which importunities the man of God being wearied he burst forth into these words O Lord what will my Lord doe will his Lordship compell me to accuse men and wote not wherof After this the Bishop himself talketh with him asketh him whether he wil cast away himself To whom he answering no my Lord I trust yes quoth the Bishop thou goest about it for thou wilt vtter nothing What a diuell made thee meddle with the Scriptures thy vocation was another way c. and why the diuell diddest thou not hold thee there And after hard pressing him to detect and accuse some and his deniall to accuse anie for heretikes because he could not iustly the milde Bishop told him Sith thou art so wilfull and stubborne thou shalt goe to the diuell for me And so whereas Sir Anthonie Wingfield Captaine of the Guard had before sent word to the keeper of the Marshalsey that it was the Counsels pleasure he should intreat Marbecke gently this charitable tender hearted Gardiner sent word to the keeper to lay yrons vpon him to keepe him fast shut in a chamber alone that when he came to meat he should speake to no man nor no man to him and further that he should suffer no manner of person no not his own wife to come to him or minister anie thing to him and in this streight and hard sort continued he about three weekes His wife made often sute to the Bishop to be permitted to visite her husband but his bowels wanted compassion till at length she meeting him at the Court was bold to pul him by the Rochet and said to him O my Lord these eighteene daies I haue troubled your Lordship now for the loue of God and as euer you came of a woman put me off no longer but let me goe to my husband One of the kings seruants and her next neighbour standing by besought him to be good Lord to her which had her owne mother lying bedredde vpon her hands besides fiue or six children I promise you quoth the Bishop her husband is a great heretike and hath read more Scripture then any man in the Realme hath done and he knoweth a great sort of harlots and will not vtter them but at length gaue her leaue to go to her husband willing her to aduise him to vtter such naughtie fellowes as hee knew c. In Queene Maries time when he was now Lord Chancellor ruled the rost how far not onely from tender pittie but euen from ciuill humanitie hee shewed himselfe to bee the examples are too many and experiments too plaine and therefore needlesse here to be inserted But a taste must be giuen to the Reader for which this may suffice when that reuerent learned man and afterwards a most constant Martyr of Iesus Christ D. Rowland Taylor a Doctor professed in both the lawes and withall a right perfect diuine appeared before Gardiner vpon his summons how vngently did he intreat him nay how furiously did he at the very first sight rage against him not reasoning with him mildly as he came a Bishop
testament to gouerne his Sonne and the Realme how happened it that Sir Anthonie Browne was so earnest and importunate a sutor to the King to haue Gardiner put into his Will againe when he was put out And why did the King bid him holde his peace and trouble him therewith no more For if hee were in he would trouble them all and if hee moued him any more for Gardiner he would also put him out Is not this an argument that the King reposed great trust in Gardiner for the gouernment of his Sonne and the Realme Another thing you say Gardiner vttered in his Sermon that King Henrie in his latter time was inclined to reconcile himselfe to the Pope But I would the Bishop had had more wit to speake truth and lesse skill in lying for it is apparant that not long before the Kings death hee with his owne mouth answered the Ambassadour of Frederick Duke of Saxonie that if the quarrell of the Duke his master were nothing else against the Emperour but for Religion he should stand to it stronglie and hee would take his part Nay more then this as the worthie Archbishop of Canterburie Doctor Cranmer a man farre more inward with the King then Gardiner was doth testifie the King but little before his death resolued talking with the Archbishop and French Embassadour that he and the King of France within one halfe yeere would not onely change the Masse in both the Realmes to a Communion as it is now vsed but vtterly to haue banished the Bishop of Rome his vsurped authority Yea they were so throughly and firmely resolued in that behalf that they minded also to exhort the Emperour to doe the like in Flaunders and other his Countries and Seigniories or else to breake off from him A third thing in this discourse you alleadge that Bishop Gardiner was wont to say of King Henrie that after he left to loue that person which by Gods law and mans law he was bound to loue aboue all others to wit his first wife and Queene he neuer loued anie person heartilie and constantlie after Whereunto I shortly answere that concerning his often changes of his wiues putting som to death and others away I will not take vpon me to answere at all But to Gardiners report I answere that this his mutabilitie proceeded not hereof because he ceased to loue the first but because he first loued where he should not namely his owne brothers wife against the voice of God and nature as crouching and glosing Gardiner who flattered with the issue of this vnlawfull match not in word onely but in publike writing professed to the whole world vtterly condemning the former mariage with his brothers wife and approuing iustifying the second with Queene Anne In his booke De vera obedientia he writeth of that point to this purpose And amongst these Sith there is commaundement that a man shall not marrie his brother's wife what could the King excellent Maiestie 〈◊〉 otherwise then he did by the consent of the people and iudgement of his Church that is be diuorced from vnlawfull marriage and vse lawfull and permitted â—â—â—â—â—â—tion and obeying as 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 conformablie 〈◊〉 commaundement cast off her whom neither law nor right permitted him to haue and take him to chast and lawfull marriage Wherein although the sentence of Gods word whereto all things ought â—â—sâ—oupe might suffice yet his Maiestie was contented to haue the assisting consents of the most notable graue men and the censures of the most famous Vniuersities of the whole world and all to the intent that men should see he did both that he might ought to do vprightly seeing the best learned most worthy men haue subcribed to it shewing therein such obedieÌ„ce as Gods word requireth of euerie good and godly man so as it may be said that both he obeyed God and obeied him truly c. Hitherto Gardiners words Who reading this discourse of Gardiner concerning the kings first vnlawful his second lawful mariage would euer haue suspected such mutability in the man so suddainely to turne the Cat as the Prouerbe is in the panne approuing that which before he openlie condemned and condemning that which before he publikely approued or who noting this his inconstancie and not this onely but the other of condemning and abiuring the Popes Supremacie and earnest maintaining of it againe will not thinke him a verie Proteus which can change himselfe into all shapes serue all times sooth all Princes affections with â—it aio negat nego And so I leaue your wauering Bishoppe and come to your constant Cardinall About whom you professe to be verie briefe but if you had not spoken in his defence at all you had shewed yet some loue of truth and hate of treason for as wicked Sheba blew the trumpet of sedition against Dauid so hath this your Cardinall done against her Maiestie In my former booke I charge him that though he seemeth to wish that Doctor Saunders and Doctor Bristow had spared to speake so much in defence of Puis Quintus his Bull against her Maiestie yet he both affirmeth that these two learned men of great zeale and excellencie had their speciall reasons to doe so And in another treatise Viz. his defence of Sir William Stanlies act in giuing ouer Deuentre to the King of Spaine he doth as fully approue the Bull as anie of the other which though I condemne as good cause I should being a point of so high treason as that the Queene being by the Pope deposed is no longer Queene noâ— to bee obeyed yet you answere for him smoothly that he must needs be of like iudgement with Saunders and the rest and that he might speake his mind plainely being in the place and dignitie that he was when occasion should be offered Which in other words is as much to say as your Cardinall must needs be of the iudgement that the Queene was no longer Queene after the Bull published neither might her Subiectes obey her But yet it was good pollicie to speake sparingly of that point and for the Papistes to yeeld for a time outward obedience to auoide the daunger of the law till a fit time might come either by open force or secret treason to put the Bull in execution And so much doe the faculties granted by Gregorie the thirteenth to Parsons and Campion import which is further warranted by Saunders going after into Ireland with Italian and Spanish forces to haue depriued her Maiesty of that kingdome which fact as you cannot deny so will you not shew to detest in a subiect against his Prince because it was for your Pope For a further defence yet of your Cardinall you alleadge the example of childrens sorrow to see their parents at iarre that the yonges sort are fitter to weepe and mourne then to determine the controuersies and that the elder sort may speake more freely and interpose their iudgements
also but euer with due reuerence to both parents c. All which by way of similitude you apply to our Queene as a mother and your Pope as a father and to your Saundrs Allen Bristow Stapleton c. as elder brethren and to the Priestes and lay men in England as yonger brethren c. which similitude consisteth of nothing but dissimilitudes For first the Pope is no way our father and therfore our obedience reuerence loue not to be deuided betwixt the Queene and him as the childrens betwixt the father and mother the Queene is our mother both nourishing vs as a tender parent in things temporall as also in taking care for the Church of Christ in this land in things spiritual according to the Lords promise by the Prophet to his Church Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queenes thy nurses So did Iehosaphat Ezechias Iosias amongest the Iewes Constantine Iustinian Charles the great with other like Princes amongst the Christians commaund and make lawes in causes ecclesiasticall and acknowledged no vniuersal father-hood of your Pope I wish he did discharge the dutie of a true spirituall father within his owne Diocesse and Bishopricke but it is an hard testimonie that Laurentius Valla giueth him Papas dici nomine Patres re Parricidas that the Popes are called fathers in name but in deed they are Parricides Againe if the elder brethren interpose their iudgement betwixt their Parents by your own confession it must euer be with due reuerence to both partes this reuerence your elder brethren haue not shewed towards the Queene too good a mother for so vngracious Impes whom they not onely call heretike pretended Queene vsurper c. but haue by all meanes sought the murthering of her sacred person Thirdly the yonger children you say must holde their peace and mourne for the contentions but not intermeddle But Sir your elder brethren whom you allow to speake are farre enough from reach they may safely define what they will against the Queene and cast abroad their iudgements in railing bookes to yonger brethren to settle in them a consent therto Which being done they must yet make shew not to intermeddle to the end they may the better auoide perill to their persons secretly hearten the people against her Maiestie Take an instance hereof from one of your yonger brethren one Paine a Priest who walked no lesse closely for his safetie then he was directed nor lesse cunningly to corrupt the peoples hearts then he was commanded who from his owne mouth discouered to one Eliot a bloudy platforme laid to destroy her iestie and diuers of her Honorable Councell with armed men the effecting whereof stayed onely the comming ouer of certaine Priests which were expected in the meane time through Gods goodnes this horrible treason was discouered and preuented And Paine being asked how they durst practise or attempt any such mischieuous action his answere was that to kill the Queene or to vse anie crueltie against her or any that would take her part was no offence to God and that they might doe it as lawfully as to a brute beast and to approue himselfe a fit messenger to be sent on such a bloudie errant he affirmed that himselfe would be one of the first that should execute the same here is one of your yonger brothers whom all the world must confesse to be a fit son for such a father as your Pope is Besides this your Cardinall Allen Doctor Worthington and others as elder brethren sent Richard Hesketh a Gentleman of Lancashire and a younger brother to induce the Lord Strange late Earle of Derbie to make a suddaine rebellion in England and to take vpon him the title of the Crowne assuring him from them and others of treasure and forraine forces to maintaine the same which treason the Honorable Earle dutifully detected Hesketh himselfe confessed and bitterly cursed his elder brethren to make him a yonger brother to aduenture the danger of the treason that they as elder brethren doe teach and deuise farre enough from reach Is this the weeping of your yonger brethren without intermedling are these the teares then are they of a right Crocodiles brood which seemeth to weeepe but it is to this end that they may sooner kill and destroy Nay further then this these elder brethren commend to their yongers treason against her Maiestie for a point of their faith namely that if the Pope say the worde none of the Papistes ought to obey her Maiestie nor to account her Queene of England for in the cases of conscience as Doctor Bilson now Bishop of Winchester noteth wherewith the Iesuites that came into England were furnished to the 55. Article when they be asked whether the Bull of Pius Quintus that was giuen out or any Bul that the Bishop of Rome can hereafter giue out all Catholikes be bound to yeeld obedience faith and loyaltie to Queene Elizabeth as to their lawfull Prince and Soueraigne the resolution is he that demaundeth this question asketh in effect whether the Pope might doe it or no to which demaund what a Catholike should answere it is playner then I need here to explicate If therefore a Catholike be asked do you beleeue that the Bishop of Rome may depriue Queen Elizabeth of her crown he must answer not regarding any danger of death I beleeue he may for this questiō is a point of faith and requireth a confessiō of our faith Do not these elder brethrē think you dutifully put in their iudgements between these two imagined Parēts the Queen the Pope when they teach their yonger brethrē treason against the Queen for an article point of their faith To ende with this Cardinall who thanks be to God ended his life before he could attaine the expected end of his traiterous dessignments doth he not perswade that it is not onely lawfull but honorable to murther Princes for Religion for saith hee There is no warre in the world so iust or honorable be it ciuill or forraine as that which is waged for Religion Now if it be true that ciuill warre which is the warre of Subiects against the Prince be iust and honourable then is it an honourable act for Subiectes to kill the Prince for the ende proposed in warre is victorie and the way to victorie is bloudshed and slaughter not so much of the people who are not impugned but for partaking with the Prince as of the Prince himselfe whom you seeke to depose and place an other in his steed And this doctrine of your Cardinals Parrie himselfe confesseth vnder his owne hand writing did throughly resolue confirme and strengthen him in his diuellish purpose to kill the Queene Doctor Allens booke saith he was sent me out of France it redoubled my former conceipts euerie word in it was a warrant to a prepared mind It taught that Kings may be excommunicated depriued and violently handled It proueth that all warre
ciuill or forraine vndertaken for Religion is honorable All which things considered I appeale to any good natured Papist who hath in him any sparke of loyaltie in his heart to his Prince loue to his natiue countrie whether this Cardinall not only by secret practises seeking to stir rebellion against her Maiesty but by publike writing earnestly perswading the same yea animating encouraging her Subiects to lay violent hands vpon her sacred person were not indeed a cardinall and arch-traitor and for this his Proctor I answere him and conclude almost with the very words wherwith himself shutteth vp this his Encounter let all men iudge of this mans treacherie Resistance to the fift Encounter concerning the Iesuites THe sundrie occurrents in his last Encounter about Bishop Gardiner and Cardinall Allen did draw from mee moe lines then either at the first entrie I purposed or these two worthie Prelates were worthie of Now for the ground and foundation of his long and tedious prattle in this fift Encounter he saith he will set downe my accusation in mine own words which are these that ensue I doe not heare that the Popes holines is so purged from ambition or so reconciled to Religion as he meaneth not to continue his clayme for the Supremacie or will cease to settle the dregs of his poysonfull and superstitious doctrine amongst vs. I cannot perceiue that the thirst of Parsons and his Pew-fellowes is yet quenched for seeking the bloud of our deare Soueraigne and in her the destruction of vs all the cause remaining still for which heretofore they haue sought it c. And here first like a right Hicke-scorner as in deed scorning and rayling are the flowers wherewith hee doth garnish all his speech hee noteth the fond and ridiculous manner of my fantasticall writing as it is his pleasure to censure it and because his note if it were not worth noting men would thinke it worth nothing therefore hee also painteth his margent therewith that ye might not faile to remember it in these words Sir Francis ridiculous Festus called Paul a madde man who yet spake the words of truth and sobernes the madnes was in Festus himselfe euen so gentle Sir I doubt not but to sober men I shall appeare to write soberlie howsoeuer you iudge me ridiculous and the follie shall rest in your owne bosome And therefore I say againe that I doe not heare nay more then that I doubt I shall neuer heare that the Popes holines is so purged from ambition or so reconciled to true Religion c. or that the thirst of Parsons and his Pew-fellowes is yet quenched for seeking the blood of our deere Soueraigne c. And in the first you giue me a good satisfaction for you assure me that your holy Pope will neuer leaue his claime for Ecclesiasticall Supremacy because when he doth that he must leaue to be Pope In this I easilie beleeue you and for this I will neuer put you to your oath for it is hard for the Pope to cease to vsurpe other mens rights but if you should take a solemne oath vpon your holie Masse booke that your Popes Popedome or Supremacie was ordained by our Sauiour I could not beleeue you Therefore looke not that your bare word shall goe for a currant proofe with mee in this behalfe seeing you haue no one title of the word of God to warrant it it being manifestlie to be proued thereby that he is wholie opposite to Christ both in faith manners and gouernment which long challenge of his and leane proofe of yours is largelie confuted and ouerthrowne by sundrie learned Neither is it like you say that he will be so purged to become a Protestant and I confesse this is rather to be wished then hoped for but if your reason be for that the Pope cannot erre in doctrine or become an heretike such as you mistake Protestants to bee your error is great in the Popes prerogatiueâ— wherein not onely your owne friends will bee your enemies but the examples of sundrie Popes which fell into heresie will disproue you For Marcellinus fell not onelie into heresie but into Idolatrie for he sacrificed to Idols Honorius held taught the heresie of the Monothelites and was therefore accursed by the sixt generall Councell Honorio haeretico Anathema Cursed be Honorius the heretike Liberius became an Arrian heretike Stephen fell into the error of the Donatists and to be short Iohn the 22. did so notoriouslie erre about the state of the Soules after death that his error was by the Diuines of Paris with sound of Trumpets openlie condemned in the presence of the King himselfe who beleeued rather the Parisien Diuines in that point then the Court of Rome I would they were not so prone to heresie nay authors of heresie but that they would returne from whence they are fallen that is to that truth of Christian Religion which we professe which also many Bishops of Rome for the space of some hundreths of yeares after Christ religiouslie professed But though you thinke the Iesuites much honoured by mee in that I ioyne them as you say in slaunder and calumniation with the Pope himselfe yet you please not to ioyne them in defence with the Popes holines whom for a prerogatiue you will handle by himselfe And in deede I mislike not your method for it were absurd to make the worke equall to the workeman and to ioyne the Creator and the creature together for so a learned man writeth of the sect of the Iesuites that it is Creatura Papae nouissima nequissima The last and worst creature of the Popes making You therefore enter your plea for the Iesuites deferring the Popes cause to the last saue one that hee might bee accompanied with the King of Spaine following in the last whom yet you might if you had followed your Booke of ceremonies haue sent before the Pope to leade his horse by the bridle that the Pope in his pontificalibus might haue come all behinde But your method be at your owne choice for defence of your Iesuites you labour and sweate amaine but it is like Sisyphus toyle Saxum sudans nitendo neque proficit hilum In rouling vp the stone he takes great paine But all for naught it tumbles downe againe Your tedious and irkesome prolixitie I will recompence with all conuenient breuitie You run a long course about the contradictors of the Iesuites which you acknowledge to be not onely those whom you account heretikes but sundrie Pope-Catholikes and to them you applie the saying of the Iewes against the Christians That the sect of the Christians was euery where spoken against with a long idle discourse to the same purpose But Sir all this is besides the purpose and it is apparant that all this while you doe extra chorum saltare If you had first by Scripture proued and strengthned the originall of your Iesuiticall societie together with their