had made or don by any person or persons in or about any consecration confirmation or investing of any person or Persons elected to the office or dignity of Archbishops or Bishops by vertue of the Queens letters patents or Commission since the beginning of her Reign So that to know whether D. r Parker and his Camerades were true Bishops none must have examined whether they had bin consecrated by other Bishops but only whether the person or persons that were the Consecrators whether lay men or Ecclesiastick it matter'd not performed that ceremony by virtue of the Queens letters patents or commission If they could shew her great seal they might vse what matter and form they pleased for by the Act 1. 8. Eliz. there was given to the Queens Highness her Heires c. full power and authority by letters patents vnder the great seal of England from tyme to tyme to assign name and authorise such person or persons as she and they shal thinck meet and convenient any lay man or woman would serve turn to exercise use enioy and execute vnder her Highness all manner of jurisdictions Priviledges preheminences and authorities in any wise touching or concerning any spiritual or ecclesiastical power or jurisdiction within this Realm or any other her Majesties Dominions or Countrys Now priesthood being nothing but a spiritual power to Consecrat Christ's Body and Bloud and forgive sins and Episcopacy including besids the same a spiritual power to consecrat and ordain other Priests and Bishops who can doubt but that by these words and Statut the Queen might and her Successours may by their sole letters patents and great seal make any lay man whether Carter or Catchpole a Protestant Bishop or Priest seing therby he receiveth ful power to exercise vse execute c. all manner of jurisdictions preheminencies and authorities in any wise touching or concerning any spiritual or ecclesiastical power c. And because ther might remain no ambiguity or scruple of Parker and the first Protestant Bishops valid and legal Consecration the same Statut 8. Elizabeth 1. assures us that the Queen in her letters patents for that purpose directed to any Archbishop Bishops Or Others mark the word Others for the confirming investing and consecrating of any person elected to the Office or dignity of any Archbishop or Bishop hath not only vsed such words and sentences as were accustomed to be vsed by the late King Henry and King Edward her Majesties Father and Brother in their like letters patents made for such causes but also hath vsed divers other general words and sentences wherby her Majestie by her supreme power and authority hath dispensed with all causes or doubts of any inperfection or disability that can or may in any wise be objected against the same as by her Majesties sayd letters patents remaining on record more plainly wil appeare Now Mr. Bramhal the late Primat would fain make the Parliament so sensless and his Readers so simple as to referr the words mentioning and comparing the records of the Queen and her Father and Brother's tyme in this Act to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Register and not to their Majesties letters patents wher as by the whole context and discourse it is evident that the Parliament's drift is to shew no such ceremonious solemnity as of late hath bin pretended and printed by Mr. Mason was necessary Had ther bin any such legal or formal Consecration at Lambeth as 50. years after was forged and foisted into the Archbishop's Register the Parliament 8. Eliz. 1. would have remitted us therunto named Lambeth and not insisted al-togeather vpon the Queen's dispensation for the validity and legality of her first Bishops Consecration and caracter Many ar the reasons lately printed and not like to be answered that persuade all prudent men who have not too great a passion for the Prelatick Clergy to believe that Mr. Mason's new found Register of Lambeth is forged 1. It was never produced nor mentioned by the first Bishops so much pressed by their Adversaries to shew some Register or any evidence for their Consecration 2. They were only desired to let the world know wher when and by whom they had bin made Bishops questions easily answered had they bin consecrated at Lambeth or any Register then extant when Dr. Harding Stapleton and others charged them with nulity and illegality of Episcopal caracter 3. It 's no more credible that such knowing and conscientious men as Stapleton Harding Fitzherbert c. then living in England and probably at London would question so publick and solemn an action then it is that a sober man would now cal in doubt King Charl's 2. coronation at Westminster or ask in print who set the Crown vpon his head pretending he neuer had bin crown'd And though Bishop Godwin and other Prelatick Writers abuse Dr. Harding Holiwood Fitzsimons c. for relating the meeting of the first Protestant Bishops with a design to be ordained at the Nagshead in Cheap-side yet all the world knows that albeit there could be no design to feign that story yet our Controversy with the Prelaticks is not whether their first Prelats were ordained there but whether they were ordained any wher We know Bishops might be as validly consecrated in a Tavern though not so decently as in a Church But t' is fit they also consider that if Dr. Parker and their first Bishops were so narrowly watch't by Mr. Neal and other Catholicks whom Primat Bramhal doth cal Spies that they could not be merry in a Tavern without their knowledg they could hardly perform so serious and solemn an Action in a Church as the first Consecration of a Protestant Archbishop without their observation it being a matter then so much sought after and controversed of so great curiosity in it self and of greatest concern to us the total credit and being of their new Reformation depending therupon And yet for aboue 50. years none of the Writers of either side Catholick or Protestant who mentioned all other particulars relating to the reformation writ or spoke a word of this solemnity at Lambeth The Puritans indeed upraided the Prelaticks with saying their Episcopal ordination in England had it's beginning and progress in a corner not in a Congregation but we can not imagin they could mistake the Archiepiscopal Chappel of Lambeth for a corner or deny that the great Assembly pretended to have had bin at Dr. Parker's Consecration deserved not to be caled a Congregation Queen Elizabeths Clergy thus created by her patents and Parliaments they endeavored to shew themselves gratful to her Majesty by making the people believe that Popery by the principles wherof she was vncapable of the Crown was Idolatry the Pope Antichrist c. And to that end corrupted Scriptures in their English Translations as shal be proved herafter And because their frauds and follies were discoverd by Catholick Priests the sanguinary and penal laws were enacted and executed
only more â—ound in point of Christiatity but more safe in order to the government then any others And though it be a common and true saying that the greatest Clerks are not the wisest men and by consequence not so fit to prescribe rules for governing as wordlings that are not Divines or as wranglers that are Lawyers yet I humbly conceive that when the misfortunes of a government proceed not from want of judgment or resolution in the Councel but from want of faith or which is the same from an acknowledged vncertainty of faith in the Church Catholick Divines seing we are unanimous in matters of Christian belief and do persuade the best part of Christendom that our Church is infallible in the same and if heard we doubt not to prevail with these British Nations also to credit vs in that important point however improbable it may seem to them at first sight I hope this supposed we Catholick Divines may without offence pretend to be better able to shew and salve the spiritual sore of this state then any Protestant Statists or schoolmen who want sufficient unity and assurance of faith in themselves to make their cure and care credible to others Seing therfore the foundation not only of Christian Religion but of a peaceable government doth consist in a firm persuasion of the people governed that the doctrin professed and established by Law is infallible and of Divine inspiration not of human invention and by consequence that the decrees and determinations of the State which in all Governments ought to be proportioned to the doctrin of its Church are lawfull and intended for the common good not designs or devices to fool the multitude feed the ministery or favor the soveraign and that not only evidence of falshood but vncertainty of truth in matters of Christianity must needs render the Church and State that profess such an vncertainty so weak and contemptible that the subjection to either cannot be otherwise secured then by the force and fear of a standing Army and that such a subjection doth savor more of a Turkish slavery then fâ—â—a Christian Society or of a civil subordination to publick authority and therfore is the cause of continual discontents and frequent rebellions and that no Church but the Roman Catholick doth as much as pretend or can persuade it s own infallibility in matters of Religion seing I say all this is manifest by reason and our wofull late experiences I question not but that the Parliament will be pleased to take in good part this humble proposal of saving our souls and of setling this state by the doctrin of the Roman Catholick Church and by the Revenues of the Protestant Prelatick Clergy especially if the corruptions of Scripture and falsifications of Councells and Fathers wherwith I do charge that Clergy and wherby alone they maintain their Protestancy be cleerly demonstrated in this Treatise and patiently heard in a publick Trial. It 's now above a Century of years since the great Statsmen of England have employed their wit and industry in devising how to setle Monarchy vpon Protestancy but vnder favor we Catholick Divines do shew and all Protestants may suspect by the success that in so great an affair they have proceeded like vnskillfull Architects that busy themselves altogether in proportioning and adorning the superstructures without inquiring into the strength and solidity of the foundation They mistook sand for stone fals translations for true Scripture a lay ministery for a lawful Clergy a temporal soveraignty for a spiritual supremacy They layd for the first stone of their New fabrik a sworn spiritual rebellion the oath of supremacy against the chief Prelat and common Father of all Christendom S. Peters Successor No marvail then if this fundation yeelded and the whole fabrik fell to the ground in our late distempers for by an evident parity of reason it must be concluded that it is as lawful for Protestants to depose Kings as Popes by vertue of their privat and arbitrary interpretations of scripture If notwithstanding the legal and long possession or prescription of a suprem spiritual superiority the Bishop of Rome may by the principles and prerogative of Protestancy be reformed and reduced to be only Patriarck of the West or a privat Bishop what temporal soveraignity can be absolute or secure among Protestants The same arguments the same texts of Scripture the same spirit the same interpretations of God's Word that Luther Calvin Cranmer and all other Protestants objected against the Popes supreme spiritual authority did the Presbyterians and other Protestants press by an vnanswerable paralel against the late King 's temporal Soveraignty Wherfore it is much to be feared that notwithstanding the extraordinary prudence of our government we shall be frequently involved in as great troubles and dangers as formerly and that the privat spirit and English Scripture interpreted by Protestants will prevail against lawfull Monarchy whensoever the like circumstances do concurr viz. a Zealous Parliament a mild King a covetous Clergy a stubborn people and resolute Rogues to lead them and declare to the Multitude their own strength as wel as the fundamental principles and priviledges of all Protestant Reformations In Catholick Commonwealths all these circumstances do meet the principles of Protestancy only excepted and yet the Catholick subjects remain immoveable in their obedience in regard of the credit and authority of their Church and Clergy which in privat confessions and publick exhortations continualy inculcat how inconsistant any privat or arbitrary interpretation of Scripture and by consequence any pretext of superiority over the Soveraign is with the Christianity and obsequiousnes of Catholick faith and how principal a part it is of that â—aith to believe not only that the Church is infallible in its doctrin but also that temporal Soveraigns are Gods Vice-regents and absolut in their government and therfore as such ought to be revered and obeyed And when by reason of heavy taxes or other such accidents the fire of sedition somtimes breaks forth among Catholicks it is generally speaking suddenly quencht by the authority and severity of the Clergies Censures against the Authors or by the devotion and reverence which even the most Irreverent of our profession exhibit to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar that is shewn vpon such emergencies to the mutinous people which notwithstanding their fury and madness immediatly fall down to adore their God and Redeemer and for respect of him whom they beleeve to be realy present are appeased or at least give ear to their Pastors reasons and exhortations with more patience and better success then any Protestant people in the like occasions Wherfore though we Catholicks should grant as we neither do nor can that the Protestant or Prelatick reformation is as safe a way to Heaven as the Roman Religion yet methinks such Protestants as desire to live peaceably or govern prosperously ought to preferr Popery before Protestancy That K. Henry 8. in the heat
the Canon of the Iews as if the Jews might not doubt and omitt to put some books divinely inspired into the Canon as wel as the primitive Christians or as if the Apostles might not supply that defect and declare some books of the old Testament wherof the generality of the Jews doubted to be Canonical SVBSECT I. Doctor Cozins exceptions and falsifications against the Councel of Trent's authority answered The difference between new definitions and new articles of faith explained THe Protestant obstinacy is not excusable by the exceptions made against the number of Bishops that voted in the Councel of Trent or against the pretended novelty of the Canon which they decreed As to their number the authority of defining matters of faith in a general Councel is no more limited or diminished by the absence of members legaly summoned and long expected then the authority of a lawful Parliament by the absence of many Lords and commons especialy if there be a necessity of applying present remedies to the distempers of Church or Common-weal Doctor Cozins doth confess that the Catholick Church stood in need of a reformation and that the Councel was too much diferr'd and delay'd After they had met at Trent Seing the Bishops were not as many as the Pope and his Legats expected and wished for the greater solemnity of so important a decision as that of the Canon of Scripture whervpon they were to ground their further definitions they put of that session for 8. months and at the end of them hearing that besids those who were at Trent many Bishops were setting forth and others in their Journey they differred the definition of Canonical Scripture for three months more to the end as many as could possibly come might be present If through neglect contempt age infirmity or other accidents wherof the Pope was not in fault many Bishops were absent that could no more prejudice the authority of the Councel at Trent then the like circumstances disanull the authority or make voyd the Acts of our Parliaments But sure the learned Protestant Pastors cannot but smile at the simplicity of their illiterat flocks when they consider the zeale and earnestnes wherwith they except against the smal number of Bishops and their presumption forsooth in the Councel of Trent For the declaring the Canon of Scripture and other Divine truths and yet them-selves accept the Canon of Scripture and doctrin of their own Churches vpon the bare word of one Luther Zuinglius Calvin or vpon the sole authority of the 12. or seven men appointed by Parliament in the reign of Edward 6. Besids our Canon of Scripture was confirmed by the whole Councel of Trent afterwards together with the other points of faith therin defined And though Doctor Cozins pag. 208. tels how the Princes and reformed Churches in Germany England Denmark c. immediatly set forth their Protestations and exceptions against the Councel aleadging that the caling of this Councel by the Pop's authority alone was contrary to the Rights of Kings and the ancient Customs of the Church That he had summond no other persons thither nor intended to admitt any either to debate or give their voice there but such only as had first sworn obedience to him that he took vpon him most injustly to be Judg in his own cause c. Yet it is sufficiently manifested to the world by the very Acts of the Councel that the Pope did nothing but what his Predecessors had don and the Catholick Princes and Church had approved in the like occasions and that though Protestants were not admitted to vote at Trent yet they were not only permitted but invited in a most secure and civil manner by the Councel to reason dispute and debate their controversies and answer for them-selves and their doctrin and this way of proceeding is no more vnreasonable in a general Councel then it is in a Parliament not to permit any to vote therin before he taks an oath of alegiance not to say any thing of the oath of Supremacy and much less to admit of Lords or Commons accused of treason or rebellion to sit in the House vntil they prove their innocency or acknowledg their fault and obtain their pardon by a dutiful submission and profession of repentance And granted that nothing had bin resolved in the Councel of Trent by the Fathers therof but what first was canvass't at Rome by the Pope and Conclave which is false yet we conceive that to be no more against the constitution or freedom of a Councel then it is against the constitution or freedom of a Parliament that no Bill pass vnto an Act vnless it be first signed by the King and approved by his Councel and yet we know that to have bin the constant custom in one of his Majesties Kingdoms since the reign of King Henry 7. As for the Pope or Church of Rome being Judg in their own cause it is a prerogative so absolutly necessary for the authority and govermnent of Magistracy and the quiet and peace of the people governed that no Monarchy or Commonwealth can want it without falling into great inconveniences and confusion A subject t' is true may sue the King but the sentence must be given in the King's Courts and by his authority notwithstanding any objected dependency or parciality of the Judg explaining the laws and customs in favor of his Soveraign And he who would not acquiesce in such a sentence but would needs have the cause decided by a foreign Prince or People is a rebel If this be reasonable and just in temporal Courts and fallible sentences how much more in spiritual controversies and infallible definitions of the Church which definitions of the Church if not acknowledged to be infallible the Church can not have any jurisdiction or authority in matters of faith as not being able to satisfie doubts and setle the inward peace of Christian souls either perplexed in them-selves or in daunger of being perverted by others whether hereticks or pagans neither of which can be indifferent Judges or competent Arbitrators between the Catholick Church and her Children And seing doubts and differences are vnavoidable in both Church and Commonwealth and that there can be no appeale to Infidels or Foreigners without doubt it is more agreable to Scripture to the law of nature and light of reason that Parents and Pastors be Judges in any cause of their Children and inferiors then the contrary or that there be no Judg at all nor jurisdiction either spiritual or temporal But that which Doctor Cozins and all Protestants most press against the judicature of Popes and the councel of Trent is that they do not judg according to Scripture and to the right sense therof wheras Kings and their Judges are regulated by the laws of the land even when the suit is against the King or his pretended prerogative To this we answer that Popes and Councels are as much regulated by Scripture in their definitions
compared these Magdeburgian Centurists and indeed ti 's the case of all other Protestant writers to fellowes accused or suspected of theft heresy or any other crime who willingly present themselves before the Magistrat or Senat of the Citty And there first of all for their cleering should bring in for witnesses against themselves the best learned most grave and most honest men of all that Citty to testify that they indeed are Thieves and hereticks or the like but yet having so don would endeavor to refute all these again by only saying that these men so highly esteemed and commended for their integrity spoke rashly and incommodiously and knew not what they testified against them or at least were in a dream and that the accused persons alone ought to be believed against them all Might not these men be thought mad or drunk that would take such a course of defence And yet this is the course and case of the Magdeburgians who citing first the gravest and most ancient Fathers of Christendom against themselves do reiect the same again with this only Iest and contumely that they speak incommodiously ignorantly and were stubble Doctors opiniones incommodae naevi stipulae c. Doctorum Cyprian say they speaketh without Scripture Cyprian doth feign superstitiously Cyprian doth Iudge naughtily Tertullian doth erre Few in ancient times did write perspicuously and with Iudgment And of the whole multitude of Doctors of the second age which was neerest to the Apostles they are pleased to say Albeit this age was neerest to the Apostles yet the doctrin of Christ and his Apostles began to be not a litle darkned therin and many monstrous and incommodious opinions are every where found to be spread by the Doctors therof Then of the third age they say the further that we go from the Apostles age the more stubble we shall find to have bin added to the purity of the Christian doctrin So that you may see what these foure drunken Germans judge of succeeding ages of the greatest Doctors and of the whole Catholick Church and what credit their writings deserve John Fox in his Acts and Monuments doth imitat the example of these Dutch drunken Centurists his Masters not only in this impudent foolery but also in their fraudulent dealing of concealing and cutting off many of the Testimonies of the Holy Fathers least the multitude and cleerness of the authorities should give our Catholick cause too much credit but he dissenteth from the Magdeburgians in saying that the true Church of Christ is both visible and invisible visible to them that are in her and invisible to them that are out of her So that according to Fox heathens and heretiks that are out of the Church can not see her nor be converted or convinced by those visible and supernatural signs wherewith God hath made her remarkable and conspicuous to the end that such as are not in her may see her and be converted a thing so much inculcated by the ancient Fathers that they say very few or none of the meanest capacities can be excused by invincible ignorance from damnation But let vs see what an Jmaginary Church of Protestants he fancies and builds in the Aire And first we may observe that for the first twelve hundred years after Christ not finding as much as one Parish of Protestants in the whole world Fox doth not name any Church or Congregation but the Roman Catholick But from Pope Innocentius the 3. time downwards Fox beginneth and bringeth forth for the true Church a rablement of condemned Sectaries dissenting in opinions and professions not only from the Catholik but also from the Protestant reformations and divided among themselves cohering in no other form or succession but that one sprung vp by chance after the other which as his adversary tells him he tieth togeather in a Catalogue or list as Sampson's foxes were by the tailes This list or Catalogue he setteth down in his protestation to the Church of England telling first that even during the time of the last 400. years from Pope Innocentius downwards the true Church of Christ he meanes the Protestant which vntill then had bin wholy invisible durst not openly appeare in the face of the world being oppressed by Tyrany But yet that it remained from time to time visible in certain chosen members that not only bare secret good affection to sincere doctrin but stood also in the defence of truth against the Church of Rome But if his Protestant Church was invisible to them that were out of her and by consequence to Papists it needed not feare their Popish Tyrany by which it could be no more prejudiced then Spirits or men shut vp in enchanted Castles In which Catalogue saith Fox first to pretermit Bertramus and Beringarius which were before Pope Innocentius 3. a learned multitude of sufficient witnesses heere might be produced whose names are neither obscure nor doctrin vnknown as Ioakim Abbot of Calabria Almaricus a learned Bishop that was judged an heretick for holding against Images besides the Martyrs of Alsatia of whom we read 100. to be burned by Pope Jnnocentius in one day Add likewise to these the Waldenses and Albigenses Besides divers others standing against the Pope an 1240. c. Then he addeth to these some privat persons for the most part Catholiks as Dante 's the Jtalian Poet Armacanus Occham c. and finaly embraceth in his Church the Lollards Wickleffians Hussits and all other Sectaries vntill he comes to Luther Zuinglius and Calvin c. all of them disagreeing in opinion and every one pretending his own opinion to be the true Catholick faith And this is the visible succession of Fox's Church and the subject of his Ecclesiasticall History wherby he pretends to no greater antiquity then of 400. years nor can he prove any other vnity of faith then their impugning the Pope and the Roman Catholick Doctrin not vnanimously but some one point some another disagreeing in most among themselves I will briefly refute these his lyes and reveale his fraud Bertram was a Monk lived and dyed a Roman Catholick above 800. years agone after his death some of his followers forged a litle pamphlet in his name savoring or favoring the Berengarian heresy but the fraud was presently discovered and rejected Berengarius recanted his heresy and dyed a penitent Catholick Ioachim an old man half out of his wits was censured by the Pope for certain fond prophecies and some errors also about the Blessed Trinity Almaricus was never Bishop but only of Fox his making he was condemned for many other heresies besides holding against Images as for teaching there is no resurrection of Bodies at all 2. That there is no paradise nor hell 3. That the body of Christ is not in the Sacrament 4. That God spake as much in Ovid as in Austin c. As for his Martyrs in Alsatia they who relate that story say certain Hereticks to the number of 80.
〈…〉 who run their 〈◊〉 wayes c. But truly I 〈◊〉 no reason why they should Iudâ—â— so rashly of Roman Catholicks 〈…〉 to persuade the King and the whole world that we are so impious and envious as to conceale from the people the light of the Ghospell seeing we stick to the old letter and sense of Scripture without altering the Text or rejecting any parts therof or devising new Interpretations and we are dayly imployed not only in preaching and explaining God's word in Europe but forsake our own Countreyes and conveniences and travell with great difficulties and dangers both by Sea and Land to Asia Afrik America and the Antipodes with no other possible design but to publish the doctrin of Christ and enlighten the Nations of Gentillâ— who are in 〈…〉 ignorance And as for their self-conceited presbitâ—â—ian 〈…〉 Brethren who run their own wayes in translating and interpreting Scripture we do not excuse them but only say that we see no reason why prelaticks should 〈…〉 for a fault wherof themselves are no less guilty Do not prelaticks run their own wayes as well as those other Sectaries in translating the Bible Do they stick to either the Greek Latin or Hebrew Text Do they not leape from one language and Copy to an other accept and reject what they please Do they not fancy a sense of their own every iot as contrary to that of the Catholick and ancient Church as that of their Brethren the Presbiterians and others is acknowledged to be And yet they are nether more learned nor more skilfull in tongues nor more godly then those they so much contemn and blame But to the end every Christian may more cleerly discern 〈◊〉 Cheat and divert himself with some variety in the method of this tedious but convincing argument I will give 〈◊〉 a brief relation of a remarkable passage much to the 〈◊〉 purpose which happned in the beginning of King James 〈◊〉 Reign by which he may in one man's case see the 〈◊〉 and sincerity of all the Protestant prelatick Church and 〈◊〉 in King Iames his time and Iudge what satisfaction 〈◊〉 may have in this world or whether they may expect 〈◊〉 in the next by relying vpon the authority and 〈◊〉 of the Prelatick Protestant Church of England SVBSECT II. Of Deane VValsingham's search into matters of Religion before his change to the Catholick how he repaired for a Resolution of his doubes to King Iames as to the head of the Church who remitted him to the Lord of Canterbury and he to other men and how after finding no satisfaction he betook himself to the reading of Catholick and Protestant Authors for discerning on what side was the true or false Dealing I Will reduce into as narrow a compass as I can Deane Walsingham's relation which he dedicated to K. Iames concluding his epistle with these words most humbly on my Knees I beseech your Royal Majesty to pardon me this 〈◊〉 resolution wherunto I protest vpon my soule and Conscience that no earthly motive drew me but only my love and obedience 〈◊〉 to him that is King of all Kings c. That 〈…〉 pag. 〈…〉 as you have seen to change my Iudgment and yeild to the manifest evidence of truth which I found to be on the Catholick side and nothing 〈…〉 shiftâ— and deceits on the contrary This 〈◊〉 speake here Good 〈◊〉 as in the sight of Almighty God and as in truth of conscience I have found and no way out of passion or evill affection or wordly respects in which every man will easily see how much I prejudice my self by this new course taken But that both reason and Religion prudence and all true piety doth â—â—â—quire that the everlasting salvation of our soules should be preferred before all other human respects whatsoever which is the true and sincere cause of this my resolution And this I desire thee Good Christian Readerâ— to believe and assure thy self to be most true as aâ— the last day when we shall all appeare before the Tribunal of 〈◊〉 Saviour and all hearts be made known will evidently appeare In his preface to the Reader he gives an account of his Protestant education and Religion wherin 〈◊〉 was so zealous that he took all occasions to deale with others either for their confirmation or gaining to 〈◊〉 and to this effect was wont to send Books of that profession to any that would read them By which occasion it fell out that one of his acâ—quaintance that seemed backward in the acceptance of a Book was content to receive it from him vpon condition saith he that I should promise him to read an other Book he would lend me wherof I accepted This book was inittuled a Defence of the Censure given vpon two bookes of William Chark and Meredith Hanmer Ministers which book I litle esteemed at that time thinking it should serve me for some disport especialy for gathering out some absurdities against Papists wherâ—ith I did Imagin all their books to be abundantly stuffed But finding whersoever I lighted certain passages which I could 〈◊〉 well digest and many proofs alledged wherunto I could 〈◊〉 â—â—swer I cast â—t ofâ—en aside and then took it in hand again 〈◊〉 â—oon after I felt my self so strangely troubled and turâ—â—â—led in Iudgment and conscience vpon the reading therof 〈◊〉 my soule had taken pills indeed and could not beare 〈…〉 I conferred divers of my difficulties with 〈◊〉 â—â—nisters without specifying that I had them out of such 〈◊〉 but they could give me very litle satisfaction or 〈◊〉 at all Wherupon I made divers Iourneys to London 〈…〉 to see Books of sundry sorts as also to conferre with 〈◊〉 of my friends And having wearied my self in this sort 〈◊〉 the space of divers moâ—thes at last I betooke my self to a â—ore strange resolution but yet such as then seemed to 〈◊〉 most necessary for appeasing of my mind and this was 〈◊〉 so much as I had taken two or three several times the oath 〈◊〉 supremacy first to the Queene and afterward to his Majesty that now reigneth I 〈◊〉 persuade my self that my best comfort of conscience would come from the superiour powers but especialy from his learned Majesty who governed the Crown as from God's Lieutenant and substitute in all causes and affaires whatsoever Wherfore after much deliberation not daring to conferr â—ith any Papist or almost to entertain any Good thought 〈◊〉 them or of their Religion I determined with my self to â—ake a short memorial vnto his sayd Majesty and to deliver him the summ of my afflictions and doubts together with the â—â—ok it self which had bin the cause therof and to entreat him by his supreme authority to give order for my sound satisfaction therin and so binding vp the old book in the comeliest manner I could I got me to London and thence to Greenwich and there after many difficulties of audience I exhibited the same together with my Memorial both tyed and conjoyned in one