therby the cheefest and worthiest seruauntes of God in those daies and best able to discouer his falshoode doeth euidently shew that in other writynges which should neuer come to like examination and tryall they would make small conscience of like corruptions so thei might serue their turnes Further the creditte they obtained in the Church by some good Bishoppes of Roome in the beginning and cōstant Martirs of Christ was a great meanes whereby these whiche succeeded in their places but not in their pietie and holye profession togeather with the power and authoritie which they had gotten of the Emperours coulde not so easily and openly bee discouered as that the tyme of their beginning to fall awaie and theire secrete procéeding and growing forwarde shoulde bee openly controlled Which we may see in the declinations and conuersions of common welths For the lawfull gouernement of Kinges or of a senate of Princes or of the states of a land after an equall and iust regiment of some yeares either of purpose or thorow the weaknes of mans nature which is not able to maintaine thinges long in any perfect state may decline in time to a tyranny or confusion But if the whéele of such a state be not turned with any suddaine violent motion but softly in many yeres almost without any noyse then I say that in a certaine periode of tyme the lawfull and iust gouernement will be chaunged in déed into an vnlawfull tyranny or confusion But yet while it is a turning especially in the beginning when the motions are leaste and hardest to be discerned no man almoste can bee able to saye when this wheele was firste moued or whose hand first began to turne it And this shal yet be harder if such as haue finest senses to discerne euen of the most still and insensible motions vppon their discouering of them be charged and condemned as traitours to the state For by this meanes others which perceiue no sensible alteration are greatly hindred to discerne of their exact and exquisite iudgement and thinke rather that they were deceiued worthely executed for some Treason against the state Whereas notwithstanding after when the motions grow more forcible and violent euerye meane wit will be able to discerne it and in the ende no man so blind nor dull but must needes perceiue it And such hath beene the conuersion of the Church of Rome In the tyme of the Apostle Paules preaching in it for of Peters beeing there we haue no certaine ground in the scriptures The state of that Churche both for doctrine and discipline was perfect and such as the Lorde Iesu him selfe had appoynted After his tyme it continued in good state while it was vnder persecution euen to Constantines time yet so that euen then the whéele began to turne And tho the motions were so easie stil as all men perceiued them not yet some of exquisite iudgement did discerne in it a slyding forwardes to this supersticion and tyrannie Amongest whome Ireneus noted Victor in the Question of the daye to bee kept for Easter daye to haue beene to peremptory and to take to much vppon him to excommunicate the East churches for it the matter being in it selfe indifferent and Victor hauing no authoritie ouer those Churches After when it had peace and rest from persecution the motions grew faster and swifter For then it began to seeke for wealth after wealth taking occasion by the honour of the place being then the seat of the Empyre began to affect some like preeminence in the church and to draw as it were in the church the image of the Empyre Whereof tho the rough draught was imperfect and a shadow of lyues not easie to be discerned yet after the cole came the pensill and then the colours til at the last the whole image of the Empyre was to be seene in the state of the Church In which tyme fell out the falsification of the Canons of the counsell of Nice reprooued by Austen and all the fathers of that coūsell Which liberty of theirs and the free estate of other churches as counterwholes so checked his course that it could not goe fast forward til by the authoritie of Phocas hee had obtained the name of vniuersall Byshop Which being once obtained with in a while after it grew to be such as all were declared Heretiques which should speake against it And then the wheele was violently carried to this apostasie from the trueth of the Gospell and as the motions were more sensible so more there were which perceyued it and spake against it But notwithstanding al the difficulties which might hinder this purpose it appeareth for all the secresie subtletie hipocrisie authoritie force and cunning whereby they sought to hide their wickednesse from the worlde yet by the grace of God the beginners and authours of certaine of the degrees of this mysticall iniquitie are to bee discouered Concerning the reste we vndertake to prooue that what time or by whom soeuer they were brought in that they were not taught by Christ nor his Apostles nor in their tyme which is our immoueable ground where on we build that at what time or by whome so euer it began it is not to be alowed nor receiued M. Iewell of reuerend memory did vndertake and perfourme againste them that twenty nine points Wherin they differ from vs the primitiue church Whensoeuer after they were brought in yet were not knowne nor taught in the church for sixe hundred yeres after Christ Amōgst which this is one which he nameth of the real presence and consequently Their masse which is another for their Masse can not stande without a real presence And if neither in the time of Christ nor sixe hundred yéers after they can prooue them to haue beene receiued to what purpose is it to aske when they began let them rather shewe vs when they began and prooue that so many points as haue beene offered them were receiued in so manye sundry ages and times of the Church Which if they can not doe then let them acknowledge their iuste cause of satisfaction and their wilfull ostinacy against the truth but to satisfy him further in the particulers he hath set down I say first touching the question of the real presence it began to be moued after the daies of Charles the great in the raigne of Charles his neuew At what time Bertram an excellent clarke wrote a large volume of it and prooued the words of the Supper were to be vnderstood in a mistery and figure and not really After whom Paschasius began to write for the vnderstanding of the words of a real presence And after thē both Bertrams iudgemēt was maintained by Berengarius the French churches and the opinion of Pascasius by Lanfranc and others Thus diuersly was this controuersie handled till the Laterane counsell defyned of it which yet the French churches especially of Aniou and Yours for a long time yéelded not vnto Of this errour
¶ AN ANSWERE TO A SVPPLICAtorie Epistle of G. T. for the pretended Catholiques written to the right Honorable Lords of her Maiesties priuy Councell By VVATER TRAVERS Minister of the worde of God Rom. 13.4 If thou do euill feare for he beareth not the sworde for nought for he is the Minister of God to take vengeaunce on him that doth euill Apoc. 19.20.21 But the Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought myracles before him VVhereby he deceiued them that receiued the Beasts marke and them that worshipped his image These were aliue cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone And the remnant were slaine with the sword of him that sitteth vppon the horse which commeth out of his mouth and all the foules were filled full with their fleshe AT LONDON Printed for Tobie Smith dwelling in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crane ¶ An Answere to a Popish Treatise touching the persecution of Catholikes in England written to the R. H. LL. of her Maiesties priuie Councell The Preface to the R. H. LL. of the Counsell WHeras Right Honorable the reformation of those which refuse to serue God with vs in such holy exercises of religion as for this purpose are established amongest vs hath bene carefully sought by some punishment of their obstinacie according to the good lawes prouided in this behalfe there are which complaine of this moderate seueritie and both vnfitly vnduetifully terme it by the hatefull and odious name of persecution Of which sort one hath written a whole treatise of this matter by way of an Epistle to his friende which he intitleth of the persecution of Catholiques in England In which discourse the Authour is not afraide to offer most shamefull wrong to many faithfull officers of her Maiesties iustice charging them with rigorous and cruell dealing who haue soberly and temperatly caried themselues in the execution of such lawes vpon them as their ill merit had worthily made them subiect vnto By which bold slaunders he giueth himselfe occasion so to complaine and cry out of the persecution of Catholiques in England as if God had not set ouer vs and them a gratious Ladie of famous renoume for mildenes and clemencie who seeketh onely by a reasonable correction to winne them to obedience first to almightie God and then to her lawfull authoritie but rather some cruell Nero or persecuting Diocletian that desired nothing but their destruction and their bloud Which notwithstanding it can not be vnknowne to any that liue in this state to be a complaint most vniust and vntrue yet hath there stept vp an other as he would seeme to be an abetter a voucher of that most slaunderous libel yea a translator a printer a publisher of it vnto others who herein hath worse prouided for the credit of their vntruth then his authour had done before him For he first had cunningly put his large speach into the bosome of his fellow as ready as it séemeth to be abused as he was willing to deceiue him hauing the credulity of his friend the secrecy of his writing to conceale some part of his offence But this translator by printing and publishing of it and namely in our English tongue hath laide them both open to the iust reproofe and condemnation of all the lande For what English man will not now condemne them both for false witnesses against the church of God and their own countrie when they shall reade or heare them in so many things to be so fowly defamed contrary to the knowledge of all the lande but especially I maruell with what face hee coulde once offer to present it to the reuerend senate of your most honourable chamber For howsoeuer he might flatter himselfe to bee able to make some of the people affected to his cause and dwelling farre from these parts to beleue some peece of his slanders yet coulde hee neuer be in anye hope so to abuse your H. who of your owne knoledge vnderstanding are able to conuict him of so many vntruthes Which notwithstanding this Author fearing no rebuke nor shame for it as speking out of a vaut or frō vnder a maske by concealing of his name hath imboldned him selfe to offer it euen vnto your Honors with an other discourse of his owne which he entituleth an Epistle to the Councell The substance of which his treatise is that the cause of our pretended Catholiques is such as it deserueth not the extremities which vpon the credit by like of his Author hee complaineth to be vsed against thē but rather is worthy to be well intreated if for the tyme it may not haue all the honour hee esteemeth to belong vnto it Of which two epistles the one being written in latine to a friend concerning this pretended persecution of Catholiques in Englande hath beene alreadie sufficiently answered by that reuerend Father Maister Doctor Humfrey in his late booke of Iesuitisme or of the practises of the church of Roome The other remaining yet vnanswered I was moued by some of my Friendes to the cause to take paines to make answere to it Which at the first I confesse I was loath to take vpon me notwithstanding I sawe the great aduantage I should haue of mine aduersary in the maintenance of a most holy and honourable quarrell For considering so many excellent wittes and so well able to deale in these causes to sit quyetly at their bookes or peaceably to edifie the Church by preaching of the gospel whether it be that they feare the diuers euents of writing by reason of the exquisite iudgements of the learned and the bitter malice of the enimy or that they esteeme it vnprofitable for the Church to leaue or slack their other worthy labours to striue with a contentious aduersary that will neuer be satisfied me thought their exāple was a good president for him to follow that commeth so farre behinde so many of them in al sufficiency for this purpose But especially I was willing to haue wtdrawen my selfe for the reuerence I most worthily haue of the graue sentences of your H. which I saw I could not escape dealing in a matter wherewith your H. table is seazed alreadie For knowing mine owne weakenes I iustly feared to beginne my simple practise of this kinde of pleadinge in so high and honourable a Court and before such Iudges whose wisedomes can so easily discouer any want of those which come before them But when on the other side I set before me the price of the cause which we striue for the qualitie of my vocation calling the most vnworthy slaunders wherew t the enimy chargeth the sacred truth of God and the lawful authoritie of this land I could not see that any of the former reasons ought so farre to preuaile with me as to withdrawe me from a seruice so holy so duetifull and so necessarie as I iudged this to be For as for the examples of such as like not to deale in these
and honourable Parentes it is no harde matter to poinct out bothe the Parentes and tyme of the natiuitie of it But as of a base sonne of a common Harlott no man can tell the father So their Romishe Superstition beyng the base issue of the whore of Bablilon no maruell though wee can not tell who it was that begot it That Harlot hath had so many louers as it is not easie for her selfe to tell who was father of her sondrie Bastards But though neither their father nor tyme of birthe be knowne is it therefore to bee concluded that thei are right and noble borne nothyng lesse But any other Parentes and Authours of our faithe then our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles neither he nor all the sonnes of Romulus at Roome nor of Remus at Rhemes shall euer bee able to shewe Thei maie easily shewe by whose blessed ministerie the Lorde of late hath restored vnto vs this Gospell again as it was easie in Iosias tyme to saie that the booke of the lawe was founde in Iosias tyme the 13. yeare of his reigne by Hilcia the Priest whiche was no preiudice to the lawe For if it had not been founde till of late when the Gospell accordyng to the truthe of it was found yet had it been neuerthelesse the law of God and that most holy and auncient law whiche had been giuen sometymes by the ministerie of Moses So likewise thei may name in what Kynges daies what yeare of his reigne Luther began to discouer the abhomination of the Popes indulgences after both he and others restored to vs againe after a lōg apostasie time of darknesse the knowledge of the truth yet were thei no Authors of it no more then Helcia of the law but Moses of the law and Christ of the Gospell whiche thei preached and other Authors shall thei neuer be able to shewe But for their Romishe faithe we will ioyne this issue with them to shewe it is not of Christ nor of his Apostles Further also notwithstandyng that thei and others who haue ruled the worlde haue wasted all the recordes of many auncient Writers that we can not haue the writynges of all that did controlle them and that in some fewe 100. yeares in the beginnyng their faithe crept in by little and little by soft and flowe paces and that with greate hypocrisie that it could not bee well discouered and therfore not easily controlled for suche tyme yet will wee shewe that when the buildyng and seede appeared aboue the grounde the seruauntes of God discouered Antichristes Sinagoge and his Tares and haue freely complained to the Lorde against it The reason why it is hard to discouer the Authors and tymes of the seuerall pointes of this Popishe heresie are these First it entered not into the Churche all at once but in sondry ages declined from the truthe of the Gospell till it came to this full apostasie wherein it hath beene now some hundred yeres The degrees of which declination were so small at the beginnyng that thei were not easily to be spied Reasons why this issue is not to be ioyned For as the grasse and wheate growe as wee reade in the Gospell yet no man can discerne the growyng of it or see how muche of it shooteth vp in a daie So likewise doe the Tares A man maie well discerne them when thei are growne but while thei are growing it is not easie to discerne Secondly the hypocriticall shewe that these beginnynges of declination caried with them was a greate meanes to deceiue the worlde For if it bee not easie to know the Wolfe in a Sheepes skinne nor the Beast in his shewe of two hornes like a Lambe nor the Angell of darknesse when he transformeth hymself like to an Aungell of light so most of all this hath place in little and small beginninges of Superstition couered and clothed with a shewe of good deuotion For these and suche like causes the auncient Fathers within the first 4. or 500. yeares tooke no greate heede to the little and small beginnynges that were then laied of this misterie of iniquitie Further also those tymes were exercised greatly in striuing with maine Heretickes seekyng to ouerturne openly the groundes and foundations of our faithe concernyng the twoo natures and vnitie of the persone of Christ Iesu Thei had to striue with Ebion Cerinthus Arius Eutiches Eunomius Nestorius and after with the Donasties Pelagians and many other who euidently and manifestly sought the subuersion of the chiefe groundes of Christianitie Wherfore hauyng to deale with many open enemies and of those some of greate abilitie to hurt the churche for speciall giftes of knoledge and eloquēce thei set them selues as there was great cause thei should to resist the forcible violence of those mightie enemies whereby it was scarse possible for those worthie learned fathers to take heede to those degrees of superstition that by little and little so suttely and hypocritically crept into the church Besides this if any of them did discerne the soft slidyng awaie from true religion and deuotion into superstition yet sure thei neuer feared the issue would haue been suche as experience hath taught vs. And if thei gaue any token of their dislike hereof the wastes and confusions of the world since that time haue been suche as it maie be well enough that some of them reproued more thē can now be shewed by any workes that are extant There were many worthie and famous mē which wrote infinite volumes of whō now little remaineth and some nothyng but their names Origen wrote exceedyng muche yet there remaineth now little in comparison of that he wrote and that which remaineth is so corrupted that it nothing aunswereth the famous reporte of learnyng which Origen had in the church in his tyme. To this maie be added that the B. of R. by meanes of the R. Emperors whiche were Monarches of the worlde with whom thei were in credit had the meanes to deface abolishe all writynges rolles and recordes whiche might hinder the growyng of their superstitions And that this is no vaine surmise of a thyng that might bee it appeareth that thei were so diligent to doe it as ther was nothyng so authentike and reuerende that for their purpose thei were not ready to corrupt and falsifie What was more reuerēd in Austens tyme then the famous councell of Nice and the Cannons agreed of by the Fathers assembled together in that reuerend Consistory Senate yet the B. of R. corrupted falsified the 9. Cannon of that Councell to lay the foūdations of the Primacy whiche thei pretended vnto ouer all Churches For so the Story reporteth that Faustine the B. of R. Legate or Deputie alledged that Cannon for the Supremacy which being after diligently sought for by Austen the rest of the Fathers was found to bee corrupted and so thei wrote vnto the B. whiche foule act to corrupt the Cannōs of so reuerende a Councell and to seeke to abuse
publike causes I sawe there were also many contrarye presidents and that of many worthy men who in like times had stoode in the gap and in the breach against the enemie Moreouer Neh. 4.16.17 I considered this our time to be like that wherof we read in the booke of Neemie wherein because of the often and hot charges of these Samaritanes enuying the raysing vp againe of the new Ierusalem out of the ruines wherin they had ioy to see it we are constrayned so to buylde it as we may stand also redy armed to make head against the enemie and to beate him backe when he shal assayle vs. Which because the learned will see to be no matter of game and striuing for the golden pen but a necessarye seruice of God and his church I hope they will be satisfied better with that which may bee sure for defence then faire for shewe But chieflye this is my hope of all your H. both for the graue wisdome God hath endued you with and for the accustomed fauour you are wont to shewe to all such as to their power doe endeuour faithfully to serue the Lord. As for the enemie I know in deede his malice is bitter and his pen foule and shameful For so both others of them and especially the defendant of the late censure hath notoriously testified in his wicked slaunders of as worthie men as the sunne hath seene anye in this age of their profession But seing it lieth not in vs to make them modest and that we are called in good and il report yea in life and death to serue God his church I willingly commit any iniurie that may be done me by them for his cause to him to whome the punishment thereof appertaineth Iude Epist and who as Enoch prophecied long agoe commeth with thousands of his Saintes to doe iustice vpon them all and to reprooue those which are wicked amongst them of all the deedes which they haue wickedly committed and all the hard speaches which wicked sinners haue spoken against him Wherefore being satisfied for these doubtes and knowing no other sufficient cause to the contrary I haue thought this defence to be my most bounden duetie to almightie God to her most excellent M. to your H. and to this whole state and church Therefore I haue resolued by your LL. good fauour seeing no man els so long time had vndertaken to deale with this Plaintife to maintaine against him to my small power the glory of God in the iust defence of his trueth the honor of the authority I haue named in their most lawfull proceedings against such as vntruely are called Catholiques Thus hauing before your H. most humbly rendred some reson of this my doing I come now to ioyne with mine aduersarie The effecte of this Authours purpose is as he himselfe declareth in the beginning of his booke The answere and hath béene touched before in presenting your LL. with the Epistle intituled of the persecution in Englande with this treatise of his own is to complaine of intollerable extremities vsed agaynst the pretended Catholiques for their only conscience sake as he affirmeth and also to become suter to your Honors in behalfe of their cause that if for the time it may not be receyued as he thinketh it worthy yet at the least it may not be so hardly intreated as hee woulde make the world beleue it hath beene hetherto Which their cause being not of the thinges of this life wherin reason and discourse may trie and discerne but of religion he ought to haue taken his reasons to perswade the religion he would maintaine to bee good out of the holy and sacred bookes of the canonicall scriptures 2. Tim. 3.17 For of these we reade that they are able to make vs wise vnto saluation thorow the faith that is in Christ Iesus as the Apostle addeth in the same place they are giuen by inspiration from God to furnish vs and to make vs fully able to instruct in that which is truth and to conuict whatsoeuer agreeth not with it Therefore as in question of mettall the touch stone is called for to shew the good and to discouer the badde so should he haue touched with this true onely touch both our mettall and his that that which is base or fine in eyther religion might haue bene discerned In doubtful controuersies in the law they were commanded to repaire vnto the hie priest into whose brest the Lorde had put Vrim and Thummim Exod. 28.30 whereby he was able to giue aunswere in all causes Christ is our hie Priest and the holy scriptures as being that wisedome of God to be reuealed to vs the Vrim and Thummim whereby we are answered as by Oracle from God in al our controuersies Therefore in this most weightie cause counsell ought to haue bene sought for there where the brest of Christ is open vnto vs and where a perfecter light then that of Vrim Thummim shineth to our most safe direction Esay 8.9.10 But this Author that we may know by the testimony of the Prophet Esay that there is no sparke of true light in him leaueth the lawe the testimony and seeketh to humane reason as to a cunning enchantres and as Saul to seeke answere hee goeth from the liuing vnto the deade Heb. 4.12 Ephe. 2.1 for the worde of God is liuing and the sonnes of men are borne deade in their sins But let vs see his reasons such as they are and howsoeuer he would flie the saymasters furnace the subtile weight yet bycause we know there is no other certain way to try what goodnes it may be of that hee bringeth we must make a say of it by the fire of the Lords altar and weigh euery thing by the weightes of his sanctuarie The reasons he bringeth are principally two Reasons vsed to perswade fauor towardes the Romane catholiques whereof the one is of the punishment laide vpon them and the other of the cause wherin they stand He toucheth briefly two other reasons which are of lesse moment rather of complemēt circumstance thē of any great weighte or substance in this question which are of the person of the ende For if it fall out as by Gods grace I vndertake to show that the punishment and the cause is such as that these falsly named Catholiques are dealt with in iustice and that mitigated with great moderation and clemencie then do these with all receaue their answere Yet something I will answere perticularly to these reasons and first to that which is taken of the persons of those who are punished In this he alleadgeth that they are of our owne bloude and Nation The first reason answered and borne subiects of the lande Wherein what doth hee pleade for them that may not be with as good reason brought for all malefactors which the lawe doth punish And to whom els doth the lawe extende but to the borne
God as it is now established amongst vs is a wicked a sinful act yet notwithstanding for feare of punishment they conforme themselues they offend and are guilty though not of sin against the holy ghost Howlet as some late Puritan Seminarist doth affirme yet of sinne great and grieuous not in doing the thing which is lawfull and good but because they do it not well and Christianly that is in faith and true perswasion that such their doing is pleasing to God but contrariwise condemning it in their heart as vnlawfull them selues of hipocrisie so that while they dwell in that perswasion they can do nothing that may be acceptable vnto God Therefore such as are desirous to please him are with prayer to examine this their perswasion by the holy scriptures whereby finding as vndoubtedly they shall in due time whom the Lord will saue that it is not according to god they ought to chaunge their mindes by true repentance and then doing the dueties requyred of them in faith and certaine knowledge of pleasing God in them their doings shal be godly and acceptable in Christ Iesus But if they cōtinew obstinat still yet is not authority to be blamed for compelling them as the noble Kings Asa and Iosia did commaund and compel the people by seueritie of their lawes and punishments to serue the Lord what ignorant and vngodly perswasion so euer they haue to the contrary For this duety God requireth at the Magistrates hand to whom hee hath not committed his sword in vaine and in it selfe it is so necessarie that if this pretence were sufficient cause why men should be respected not onely the Magistrate should become gilty of not doing the duetie which God requireth of them but also no Christian estate or pollicie coulde stand For this would soone bee euery mans answere in case of being enioyned any thing concerning God or men howe holy or iust so euer it were that did dislike him that his cōscience is against it Therefore it can be no cause by the word of God after the procuring of such meanes for their instruction by the Gospell sincerely duely preached vnto thē as our Sauiour Christ hath appointed for the calling of men from their errors to the knowledge of the truth why your H. should forbeare eyther to require so godly a duety of them or to punish the disobediēt as their offence may deserue At their own peril be it if thorow ignorāce or wilfulnes they take darkenes for light and light for darkenes Such commandement punishment for disobedience is not of it selfe hurtfull vnto them but rather greatly profitable both by telling them what they ought to do and by threatning and punishing the obstinat whereby some may be wakened more seriously to examine their conscience so come to yeald obedience vnto God and to the law And thus far haue I dealt with his circumstances Now remayn his two other reasōs which are of substance and weight in deede in this matter if he were able to make them good For the one is a iustification of their cause the other a chalenge of the punishment layd vpon them But first hee blameth her M. iustice as extreeme and keeping no proportiō with the offence wherewith they are charged and secondarily mayntayneth their cause not onely to deserue no such punishment but to be worthy of all fauor First therefore I am to examine what he sayeth agaynst her M. iustice You persecute heauely saith hee vnto your H. and that in such measure as the like hath scarce been mentioned in Christianitie before albeit in some poynts more couertly then some other did This persecution he setteth out after by comparyson of the discipline as hee wryteth of the Catholicke church namely in the time of Queene Mary affirming this persecutiō in all respects far to surmount ouerreach that to be both greater incōparably more greeuous To the same effect he addeth many other like speeches in the end of his epistle which there shal receiue their answere By which complaint a man would thinke that might worthely be thought so if it exceede so far as he affyrmeth that most cruell and bloudie persecution of the true Catholicks and constant Martirs of God in Queen Maries time But of this he geueth occasion to speake more fully hereafter Now to answere his most vniust and slaunderous accusatiō of the iustice done vpon them I deny this to be tru wherw t he would charge the present State which I deny not only because they are no Catholiques and therfore no punishment of them can be properly called persecution but a iust execution of obstinate heretickes but also because that for meere conscience and matter of Religion no such thing is done or hath been done to any man since her M. most peaceable and happy Raigne Hee complayneth of the rackinges and stretching of their ioyntes the renting and dispersing of their bowels the dismembring of the partes of their bodies and maketh many such like greeuous complaints What may be done to such of them as are wilfull and obstinate seducers I leaue to your wisdomes to consider This being true that such are Heretickes seducing and deceiuing in as dangerous matters for men to be abused in as euer did any Heretickes before them which both hath beene often heretofore and may at any time b◠sufficient argumentes and vnanswerable of their part be prooued against thē But yet I say further that notwithstanding that it is so far of that these tragicall complaints should be true that no one of all their Catholickes for cause of his conscience and religion onely being no otherwise an offēder against the lawes hath lost either life or limme since the happie day of her M. coronation vntill this time All which gracious time there hath not beene for recusance nor for being at masse nor yet for saying masse how often soeuer they so offend neither by former Statutes nor those of the last Parliamēt which they most complaine off any further punishment appointed then of los of libertie and goods True it is that her Maiestye by the Sage aduise of youre Honours and of her whole Nobility and Commons hath prouyded by lawe for the punishmēt of such pretended Catholiques as shal be found gilty of any treasonnable practise against her H. estate and person being forced by most vrgent causes and many dangerous attempts of theirs dayly pressing her thereunto For considering first the bloudy resolution of the Councell of Trent the dayly attempts to put it in execution there was great and most worthy cause why your H. should seeke by all godly prouision to preuent their intended mischiefe The secret and detestable decrée of that Tridentine conspiracy against God and against his annointed was to make a League amongst all the Princes whom they had made drunck with the golden cup of their fornicatiō Buch. rerum Scot. lib. 17. to confer their meanes and ioyne all their forces
abhominations for which after they might condemne them to the fire But we confer with them as desirous to delyuer their soules from the wrath to come and their present estate from such punishment as the law doth lay vpon them Releeuing of the prisoners of Christ was thorowe their extreme dealing an occasion to sundrie of great troubles But who hath heard of any Act. and Mo. who for this onely cause hath fallen into any trouble amongst vs. They killed fiue prisoners for the Gospell at Canterbury with famine and miserably relieued the rest for any torment As in time of imprysonment not one of theirs hath bene offered any for religions sake In deed if vnder color of conscience they haue intermedled so far in matters of State as that they haue bene to be tainted of treason it may be such haue beene examined vpon the Rack according to the auncient order both of this and other States in like cases that therby they might be constrayned to confesse that to the safety of many which otherwise they would obstinately conceale to the ouerthrowe of their Countrey Whereof not hauing vs in suspicion at any time but persecuting vs only for the Gospels sake yet some with Ioseph haue had the yron enter into their soule and other with Paul and Silas haue beene layd in the dungeons and there also had their feete put into the stockes Act. 16.25 singing to God as if they had byn in heauen Act. 5. I might name also a great nūber who with Peter and Iohn were whipped and scourged and reioyced that they were vouchsafed to suffer for the word of the Lord Iesu whereof as there were many so a young child amongst the rest was so sore beaten that he dyed of it who before his death was sent to his father whom they had put in the stockes in Lollards Tower Actes and Mo. setting a dish of water by him with a stone in it not much vnlike that of the Iewes which as they read said of Ieremie let vs put wood into his bread to torment the poore man with the pittiful sight of his child so shamefully beaten and many other such foule extremities I could remember them off How they dealt with Hun as it is like with some other which dyed in pryson is partly vnderstoode to their iust reproch and will be plainly discouered in the day when all secretes shal be reuealed It were to long to examine their like dealings in other countreys therfore I referre the Reader to their stories and namely to the 6. and 9. Chapters of the Spanish Inquisition where he shall see what close prysons what spare and lothsome dyet what strange and barbarous extremities are vsed by them The last poynt of the comparyson of vsage is in the execution of death which hee sayth hath beene done of their part in all fauor for iust reproofe wherof let the gentle Reader looke ouer the Storie of D. Tayler who being cruelly vsed all the way he went to execution there being ready for it was stroken a great stroke vpon the head with a waster and hurt againe with a fagot cast at him which light vpon his head brake his face that the bloud ran downe after stricken vpon the lips and last of all so smitten with a Halbard that hys braynes fell out But of all other horrible was the execution of the Garnesey woman Perotine both in her own person in that she was executed being great with child also in her child which being taken vp out of the fire viewed by the offycers was to the perpetual reproach of their most barbarous cruelty cast againe to his mother into the fire In elder time also terible was the executiō death of Sir Iohn Oldcastle the worthie L. Cobham is a witnesse to all ages of their barbarous executions It were to long to rehearse the stories of their most cruell executions in other Countries in all ages Therefore I referre the reader to the bookes themselues namely to the 12. chap. of the Spanish Inquisition Only two examples I will set down for a shewe one of more auncient time and the other of verie late In the low Countries at Tourney Bertram a zealous professor of the Gospell found such fauour as this man speaketh in his execution that after many rackings and tormentes before he had his right hande and foot pressed and mishapen with hot irons his tongue cut of his mouth stopt with a ball of iron his body let vp and downe to the fire till it was burned to ashes which were cast into the riuer Of late in the yeare 1581. at Roome Atkines an English man a zealous professor of the Gospell for a like matter as Bertrames was before which was the taking of their masse Idol from their altar and throwing it vpon the ground had this fauour shewed him in his execution that al the way he went to it as it is reported by such as saw it there were foure did nothing but thrust at his naked body with burning Torches and by a deuise for the purpose was burned so as his legges were burned first that the Tyrantes might feede their eyes with a horrible spectacle of so strange tormentes of the constant Martyr witnesse of Christ this hath bene their execution with al fauour Thus we see the chastisement layd vpon them is the rod of a tender most louing mother correcting her obstinate sonnes to bring thē to her obediēce duety but they haue beaten the true church of God with Scorpions as the Sirians did to the Israelites in Galaad they haue threshed it with flayles of yron Their greatest restraint is such I speak of those which are restrained for matter of religiō that they haue cōuenient roomes houses with gardēs to walke in but they thrust our poore brethren into their darkest dungeōs into the caues holes of the earth as into the dens of Dragons Their dyet is liberall and such as pleaseth them selues to haue but they so fedde the true Church of God in their time and yet doe where their authoritie may serue that she might and yet may in such places renewe the complaint of the olde church of Israell and of her cheefe heade and captaine Christ Iesus I haue eaten ashes as breade and mingled my drinke with weeping They gaue me gall and wormewoode to eate Psal 22. and vineger for to drinke they opened their mouthes vpon me as roaring Lyons they made me so spare that I might tell my bones my heart melted in me like waxe my tongue did cleaue to the roofe of my mouth for drought and I sate me downe vpon the earth Psal 2◠and in the dust But the Lorde whose right hand worketh such changes and alterations hath had compassion of our estate in this land his name be praysed for it and hath opened the prison doores he hath deliuered those which were vowed to death when his appoynted time was come
effecte whiche followed it of not esteeming of the commaundementes of GOD in comparyson of this moste vile and beggarlye tradition whereby it was againe fulfilled in that yee transgresse the commandements of God to keepe your own traditions Last of all for the damnable opinion of meryting by it the forgiuenesse of their sinne I conclude it to be neither godlinesse pollycye nor good reason to allowe it As for the true and right fasting commaunded by precepte and cōmended by examples in the sciptures vnto vs it were to be wished that as at somtimes namely in the great plague in London and at the earthquake there was a godlye entrance made by authoritie to the restoring of it vnto vs so it might bee fullye reestablished amōgst vs. The vse wherof in the auncient primitiue Chur. was eyther for supplication to turne away some present or imminent danger of war pestilence famine or any other great calamitie or for suite to obteine some great perticular blessing as gratious direction in the calling of such as should serue the church specially in the ministery preaching of the word or any such waightie extraordinarye requestes greatly concerning the good estate of the Churche Which occasions to seeke to GOD in this most humble earnest maner we see by experiēce do remain stil shal continue to the end of the world For both other great graces may vpon sundry occasions fal out to be so necessarye for the state of the Churche that this way were to bee taken to obtayne them oftentimes in respect of the ministery this would be requisite And for the other cause seeing we oftentimes so multiply our prouocations against God that in iustice he threatneth to poure out his plagues euen vpon his owne people so offending against him it were most necessary that the church had the right vse of this holie order restored to it againe that hereby the hot wrath and high displeasure of GOD against vs might be pacified Wherefore it were to be wished by all good meanes of all men to bee sought for that by the authoritie of the magistrate and aduise of the preachers of Gods worde vpon any such reasons eyther generally in the whole Lande if the cause be generall or particularly in the place where the occasion may bee that the people were aduised and commaunded vppon some day fitte for the purpose to surcease their worldly affayres as they doe vppon a Sabbaoth or holie day to fast vnto the euening to the ende that they may assemble them selues at the houres accustomed vppon suche daies to the Churche to heare the worde of God fitly for the time zealously preached and also to make their earnest prayers to God for the fauour they would obtayne and their most humble supplication with rent and contrite heartes in teares strong crying in the spirit to turne away such his heauy indignatiō from vs as we may lye vnder or feare to fall vppon vs. To take one example of many in the scriptures Io. 2. we reade in the prophecy of Ioel that the L. threatning a famine exhorteth the people hereunto vpon hope that if they sought him earnestly they shoulde finde him gracious and mercifull long suffering and of greate goodnes In the same place declaring that he beyng angry no flesh could be able to beare it he giueth thē cōmandemēt therof in these words Wherefore euē now saith the L. be ye turned vnto me with al your hart in fasting weaping lamentatiō a litle after soūd the trūpet in Sion appoint a fast proclaim a holiday gather the people ordaine an assēbly call together the aged the litle ones euen those which such the brests let the bridegrome come out of his chamber the bride out of her chāber Let the pristes the ministers of the Lord weepe betweene the altar the porch say O Lorde spare thy people and geue not ouer thy possession to reproche that the Gentiles should rule ouer thē why shold they say amongest the nations where is their God Thus farre the prophet in the name of God whiche I haue thought good to set down here that in cōsideratiō therof it may be vnderstood to be a cōmādemēt of God giuē to the magistrates preachers of Gods word that both of thē according to the duties of their seueral calling should vpō like occasion aduise appoint such a day of fast wherein the people shold humble themselues in true repētance seeke with mighty prayers deliuerance frō the punishment threatned or lying vpon them Which is so much the more necessary at this time to be knowē for that we see that the wrath of God hath broken out vpon vs of late as a flaming fire in visiting vs with the grieuous visitatiō of that pestilēce both in this citie of London and sundry other places of this land Which visitation since the great plague hath cōtinued in this Citie wasting the Inhabitants as a small fire now the space of 15. yeares cōtinually and sometimes raging more fiercely as it did of late And surely there are many iuste causes to feare least the L. may commaunde this furnace to be heated yet seuen tymes more and that the Angell of GOD which hath stoode ouer this Citie with his drawen swoorde to strike it not onely a fewe daies as hee did in the time of Dauid ouer Ierusalem but so manye yeares may stil pursue his execution if all holie and lawfull meanes bee not vsed to mittigate the Lords displeasure towards vs. wherefore most humbly I beseech your Honours as one who by your LL. Honourable fauour haue a parte and lotte in the ministerie within this Citie that by your Godly meanes suche order may bee taken that both at all tymes heereafter vppon like occasion signified before vnto your HH and namely at this present vpon so vrgent necessary cause as we are now pressed withall suche dayes of faste and holy assemblies may be appointed Wherein the people thorowe the blessing of God vppon the woorde zealously preached vnto them humbling their soules in true repentance as in sackloth ashes before the Lord and the Lords seruants in the midst of them praying for thē as it is in Ioel O Lord spare thy people c. It is to be hoped that such repentance prayers may stand as Aaron with his holy censors did in like case of plague in the gap and in the breach betweene the liuing and the dead that the Angell of the Lorde strike no more of vs downe with this fearefull hande and sword wherewith wee haue seene alreadie so manie slaine and fall downe on euery side round aboute vs. A wise K. sayth our Sauiour in the gospell seeing a mightier King then himselfe comming against him with so many thousands as he is not able in any sort to meete him in the filde while hee is yet a farre off sendeth an ambassage vnto him for peace Therefore seeing the Lorde of
haue enough to do to prouide for themselues and their children as many times for all their care they are so little able to do as they leaue a nūber of poore orphanes behynd thē at the charge of the parish Touching thē I graunt it in part to be true that he saith of their hospitality offals buyldings but I deny their single life to haue bin the only cause or any greate cause of it For if they had contented themselues with such conuenient maintenance as had beene fit for their calling notwithstanding their single life they should neuer haue bin able to haue kept the houses he speaketh of haue builded churches with the surplussage of their liuings But this it was that made thē rich they woorshipped him that promised our sauiour Christ vpō like conditiō to giue him al the K. glory of the worlde They were neuer satisfied like the graue but heaped liuing vpon liuing office vppon office and that with the iniury and wrong of all the worlde They impropriated benefices and annexed them to their Abbeyes monasteries other places to their prelacies dignities a thing vtterly vnlawfull For how should it be lawful when the poore parish as he saith giueth the tithe of al they haue to the end they may haue a mā of God amongest them who may teache them the right way to serue and honour God and to saue their soules that this tithe should be taken from them and giuen to an idle cloyster of Friers or other that doe no duetie for it and leaue the poore people spoyled of their goodes and vnfurnished of one that should be their guide to euerlasting life By which prophane couetousnesse they made them selues guiltie not onely of their robbery of the goodes of the people which they enioyed without any iust title but also of the destruction of their soules in taking from them the meanes wherby they might be taught vnto saluation And shall wee then esteeme it a great liberalitie that if anie of the poore parishe had occasion to trauell by them that way to make him drinke or to giue him a meales meate Euen as one that had robbed a man shoulde giue him a pennie when hee mette him in the high way These are the cuppes and dishes for whiche our Sauiour Christ thundereth in the Gospell Yee Scribes Pharisies and Hypocrites you make cleane the outside of the cups and dishes but within they are full of robbery and wrong for indeede those theyr cuppes and dishes so filled were full of spoyle nay of bloud and that of the soules of menne whiche is one of the commodities they occupie as it is in the Reuelation Apoc. 18.3 with like impietie they annexed benefices vnto their Abbeyes and other houses and dignities by Popish dispensations of commendamus non residences Pluralities tot quots other more the like abhominations And not content herewith they had a thousande other cunning shiftes howe to drawe the riches of the people yea the wealth of all the lande into their handes as it well appeared at the putting of them downe in the late raigne of the renowmed K. Henry the eight It was signified to the King in a supplication how those iolly idle beggers as they are called there had robbed all the poore of the lande al the hospitalles and other almes houses and that they had drawn more then the third part of the whole lande into their possession With this manie times the common Wealth founde it selfe agreeued and prouided diuers and sundrie good lawes as of mortmayne mortuaries and sundry others against their couetousnesse because they gathered all to them as if they woulde haue dwelt alone in the lande and yet exempted themselues from the burdēs charges of the Common W. Therefore in this excesse couetousnesse and insatiable spoyle if for pollicy to keepe the more quietly the possession of so greate riches in their handes they spared some meales and offalles to the poore people or buylded Colledges and Abbayes they cannot bee esteemed to haue increased the wealth and riches of the people whom so diuersly they spoyled and impouerished It had beene as it is nowe without comparison more profitable for the common wealth that euery man had enioyed his propriety in suche a portion as the Lord by any good title shall blesse him with by tylling and manuring whereof hee might haue beene able to maynteyne the estate GOD hath called him vnto and not to stande wayting for offalles But this was indeede a politike poynt for theyr owne gayne For heereby they assured theyr estate by such benefits and pleasures and bound men the more to depende vpon them and to fauour their wicked superstition for the gayne sake Nowe if married ministers doe not the like what hinderance is this to the common wealth which hath in a great parte recouered agayne into her owne handes the landes and liuinges whereby that Hospitality was kept and these houses buylded whiche in all good reason must needes bee both more profitable and more honourable for the common wealth For that euery man sitteth at home in his owne house and eateth the fruite of his owne ground and drinketh his owne water is it not a thousand tymes more profitable and more to his iust contentation yea and more honourable then to seeke it els where and to haue it at an other mās doore Further if of that liuing they lawfully inioy the ministers prouide competently for their house childrē Doth not the lawe of God and of all nations allowe them so to doe Yea bynde them to it For he that prouideth not for his house sayeth the Apostle hath denyed the fayth and is woorse then an Infidell As for the pouertie of our ministery whereby hee obiecteth that many times they leaue a number of poore orphanes at the Parishes charges notwithstanding in the ministery a number be sufficiētly prouided Yet is it indeed to be acknowledge that our ministerie in many places is greatly vnprouided contrary to the cōmandemēt of God to the iust cause of feare of his indignation against vs for it if it bee not some way in tyme relieued But this especially ariseth of the spoile which they made by impropriating the liuing of so many particular churches to the maintenance of their cloisters nests of their superstitious corruptions for remedie wherof we are most hūmble cōtinuall suters to god the authority he hath set ouer vs as indeed it must be acknowledged that in all christiā dutie the minister ought to be mainteined For the Lord hath expresly cōmāded both in the law in the gospel that the Preachers of the Gospell should to liue of their holy labours To which duetie oftentimes the people are exhorted encouraged with promise of increase of blessing if they bee carefull that the Leuite which is amōgst thē be not forsaken And surely seeing they leaue as they ought all other trades wherein occupying thēselues they might thorow