to giue ouer their olde impudent proposition That ignorance of the Scriptures is the mother of Popish deuotion For what meant the so strict forbidding to laye men the reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue but that their deuotion should not growe of the knowledge but of the ignorance of the Scriptures flat contrarie to our Sauiours commandement giuen to the vnlearned multitude of the Iewes Search the Scriptures for in them you thinke to haue eternall life and they are they that testifie of me where the reason annexed to the Commandement sheweth to whom the Commaundement appertaineth euen to as many as it concerneth to seeke after eternall life and to know Iesus Christ and him crucified which is the laytie no lesse then the Cleargie contrarie also to the Apostles exhortation to the Colossians being laye men Let the word of Christ dwell plenteously in you Whereupon Chrisostome noteth Audite seculares omnes comparate vobis biblia animae Pharmaca c. Heare you secular or laye men euery one get vnto you Bibles the Phisicke of your Soule if you will nothing else at the least get you Testaments the epistles of Paul the Gospels the Actes to be daily and diligent instructors to you In a word contrarie to the spirite of the same Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes who reproueth them that they were like vnto Children and vnexpert in the word of righteousnes whereas they ought to haue their wits exercised therein But ignorance of the Scriptures better pleaseth you in the people and shall leade them to such deuotion as maketh more for your aduantage Hence hath growne your deuice of fides Implicita a faith wrapped and folded vnder the obedience of the Church namely that it is sufficient though they knowe not distinctly what they ought to beleeue but obediently submit their vnderstanding to the Church beleeuing as the Church beleeueth though what the Church beleeueth they knowe not This Carbonaria fides is highly commended by Cardinall Hossius who farther teacheth the simple laye man that he should thinke it went very well with him if he could say by heart the Lords praier the Articles of beliefe and the ten Commaundements though he knew not the meaning of the words As for other knowledge if any asked him a question hee should answere that hee did beleeue the Catholike Church And this ignorance of the Scriptures as a fruitfull mother hath brought forth many a blinde daughter of gainfull deuotion to your kitchin what greater deuotion was either then esteemed to be or indeed what acte more for your aduantage then the building of Monasteries and Nunneries and the endowing them with great lands and reuenues And this deuoute daughter mother Ignorance of the Scriptures brought forth which as for the most part they were builded by Kings and great States vpon some great murder either by wane in the field or priuately committed at home so the cause was as in stories may be seene Pro remedio animae meae pro remissione redemptione peccatorum meorum c. For the reliefe of my soule for the redemption and forgiuenes of my sinnes c. Which blasphemous derogation to the death and passion of Christ Iesus the knowledge of the Scriptures would haue quicklie discouered Yea how Deuotion hath been separated from knowledge not in your laye people alone but in your Priests too whilest deuotion hath been so tyed to their daily saying of their Maâ—tins and euensong which without deadly sinne they may not leaue vnsayd whiles in the meane time they vtterly cast aside the Apostles commaundement Giue attendance to reading exhortation and doctrine in the answer of Iohn Lambert to the 25. Article to him obiected may partly appeare I will onely adde this one testimonie that by the confession of some of your owne coate which haue made any conscience of their carriageâ— may appeare how carefullie your deuoutest Fryers haue been to couple knowledge with their imagined deuotion Franciscus Sampson generall of the order of the Friers Franciscans reprouing both their ignorance and carelesnes hath these words Pratres mei dilectissimi à primordio nostrae Religionis floruit conscientia c. My beloued brethren in the beginning of our Religion there flourished conscience but our beauty by little little sliding away the first sillable was taken away and there remained Scientia science or knowledge but now our sinnes so deseruing the first sillable is againe taken away and we remaine Pura entia stipites statuae meere things which haue a being euen very stockes and blockes To adde further proofe in a case so manifest were to light a candle at noone day yet this I will adde ex abundanti If publike praier in the Church and congregation of the faithfull be a chiefe and principall part of Deuotion made you not Ignorance the mother of their Deuotion when as ye would not allow their publike praiers in a tongue that the people vnderstoode Yea your Cardinall Hossius vseth this reason to proue that the Church seruice should be in the Latine tongue rather then the vulgar because saith he since some vsed the vulgar and knowne tongue in Church seruice Deuotion hath not onely not been increased but diminished And our Countrey man but the Popes Champion D. Stapleton in an English booke that he writeth against Bishop Iuel confidently affirmeth that Deuotion is not furthered but hindered by a tongue that is vnderstoode In a word D. Cole Deane of Paules and one chosen not onely to maintaine the Papists assertions against the Protestants in the disputation at Westminster but appointed by the Bishops and other his Colleagues to be the mouth for them all whose speech in the end they all being asked did auow to be the mind and saying of them all euen he in that honorable assemblie of the Councell and Nobles and frequent concourse of the Commons did with great vehemencie maintaine this proposition in these words I say Ignorance is the mother of Deuotion And so Sir Encounterer you must be forced to take it both for a maxime minime though minimè tibi placet to confesse a truth The second fayned position wherewith it pleaseth this deepe Clerke to charge me is because I say your Syde holdeth that it is not for lay men to meddle in matters of Religion c. And for this after your olde railing fashion you charge me with subtiltie and impudencie my subtiltie you say I shew in this word meddle which may either signifie that lay men must not determine or define of matters of Religion or else not to meddle or care for Religion at all And surely Sir though I may giue you good leaue to take it in which fence you will for in the former sence you will not deny but that euen Princes are restrained to doe any thing in causes of Religion within their own dominions without
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
vnder his Father and Grand-father and for their affections declining to Idolatrie and not truly esteeming the blessings in Iosiah their king powred vpon them the Lord threatneth to bring euill vpon that place and the Inhabitants thereof Which he did by suffering Iosiah to be slaine by the souldiours of the king of Egypt and within few yeares after his death selling his owne people into the hands of the idolatrous Babilonians For as darknesse naturally followeth light and night the day so do great punishments accompanie rare blessings when they are not duely esteemed as they ought Blessed was Ierusalem by the testimonie of the Lords owne mouth when he said My beloued had a Vineyard in a very fruitfull hill and he hedged it gathered out the stones of it and he planted it with the best plants and built a Tower in the middest thereof and made a wine-presse therein But when he looked for grapes and it brought forth wild-grapes the Lord threatned from the height of this blessed estate to cast them into the gulfe of miserie to take away the hedge from his Vineyard that it might be eaten vp and breake downe the wall thereof that it might be troden downe c. The Lord hath not therefore been lesse beneficiall to vs in placing so gracious an head vpon the bodie of this Realme because you and some such as your selfe are doe yet remaine to God ingrate and to your Prince and Countrey vnnaturall Onely I beseech God that whereas by his appointment the Oliue is yet ouer vs with her fatnes and the Figge with her sweetnes and the Vine with her fruitfulries that amongst many other sinnes of our land for our vngratefull contempt of so great a blessing a Bramble be not set ouer vs which is good for nothing but to burne and consume vs and so much concerning my supposed contradiction Now Sir N. D. it is your pleasure to heare my manner of speech in these words If I should take vpon me to enter into the enumeration of all the benefits and blessings that from the Almightie haue beene powred vpon this little Iland of England c. And hauing thus vnperfectly repeated them you passe the ouer with this sleight exception saying That in mentioning our little Iland I must take Scotland with me else I erre in Cosmographie as though England were not deuided in gouernment from Scotland though both rest vpon one continent and as though your selfe did not tearme this Realme an Iland euen where you do distinguish it from Scotland Therefore Nodum in scirpo quaeris and to this shift you are put very often for want of matter But if seemeth that Scotland was named here by you chiefly to make way for your purpose to giue a glaunce at battels murders destruction of Countries Prouinces Townes Cities Houses and particular men that haue beene in Scotland within these fortie yeares as though Scotland had neuer tasted these or any of these before and then you come in with Ireland wherein you seeme to bewaile the death of the noble Desmons whose treasons yet liue by succession in one of the same name who it is said wrote â— treason full letter stuffed with most intolerable opprobries and slaunders against her Maiestie and the state to the King of Spaine And this I hope is no great proofe of your sonâ—dnes to Queen or State France and Flaunders follow to fill vp the number But had you any respect of truth or care of modestie you would neuer haue made the true Religion wee professe the cause of murders tumults and garboyles which teacheth dutifull obedience and condemneth all mutinies seditions and rebellions You should do well to haue told vs who murdered the King the Lord Iames the Lord Russell in Scotland In France who murdered the Prince of Conde after he was taken prisoner which I thinke the law of Armes will not well beare Likewise who they were that laidâ— bloudy hands vpon the Admiral Chattilion being first shot in with a Pistoll with three bullets in the streetes and afterwards slaine in his chamber And so of Marlâ—ret slaine in his garden and of the famous learned man Ramus who hauing paid monie to ransome his life was beyond all humanitâ—e most cruelly quelled And generally who were the Authors not onely of the bloudie massacre in Paris but also of the like vprores in other Cities and quarters of the Realme principally at Lyons Orleans Roan Tolouse in which Cities within the space of one moneth there are numbred at the least thirtie thousand godly Protestants to be slaine your holy father at Rome to shew with what spirit he is led and with what meanes he sticketh to maintaine his Religion which otherwise would fall to the ground so soone as he heard of this bloudie tragedie maketh great ioy with his Cardinals with their procession with their gunshot and singing Te Deum Yea in honour of that Act proclayming a Iubile with great indulgence and solemnitie For Flaunders tell vs who murdered the noble Prince of Orange against whom it was proclaimed that who soeuer could bring him aliue or dead or slaie him should haue fiue and twentie thousand crownes You shall finde that such a Catholike-faith as yours is hath still sought to maintaine it selfe by such Catholike means as these are treasons tumults seditions secret murders and such like As for our true Christian Religion it is so cause of tumults garboyles and murders as Christes birth was of the murther of the poore infants in which neither Christ nor the infants ought offended the madnes was in Herod and all Ierusalem to be for this cause in an vprore In a word it is Herods Religion which seeketh to murther Christ and the Christes and annoynted of the Lord. I proceed to your aduertisement for a better direction to mens iudgements that all blessings of a Common-wealth may be reduced to two heades the one spirituall belonging to the soule and conscience the other temporall concerning the bodie and weale publike and that the Lord hath richly blessed this land since her Maiesties Raigne I doubt not to proue to all that haue iudgement and indifferency following your owne methode And first there hath beene in England since this happie alteration change from popish superstition to Christian veritie One God worshipped in spirit and truth one faith one belief one forme of seruice in praier and praises to God one number of Sacraments which are onely two by the word of God one head of the Church which is Christ the Lord as the holy Ghost testifieth by the Apostle Him hath God appointed to be the head of the Church And his substitute annointed appointed ouer vs is our Soueraigne and Queene who is to commaund and be obeyed in Christ and for Christ in all causes aswell ecclesiasticall as ciuill and not your proud vsurping Priest at Rome and if you can like to looke vpon the harmonie of confessions you shall find all the
your generall Viccars warrant which Romish conceite you shall finde learnedlie confuted by Doctor Bilson who is now Bishop of Winchester in the latter sence I need not to labour any more proofe then that before is set downe touching your breeding of Gods children in blindnes and ignorance and withholding the keye of knowledge from them and how will you haue them meddle with or care for that which they know not Though I say I may well iustifie both yet let me tell you that you doe not well distinguish the word meddle for as to meddle may signifie to be present in Councels c. in which sence you seclude the Laytie from medling with Religion so likewise it may signifie to trie and examine by the touchstone of Gods word the doctrine there taught and not to beleeue without farther discussing whatsoeuer their superiours teach them And in this sence likewise you will not haue them meddle yet the men of Berrhea are much commended for medling thus in Religion in that hauing heard the Apostle they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so as he deliuered and to this medling doth the Apostle exhort all Deerely beloued beleeue not euery spirit but trie the spirits whether they be of God or not And Chrisostome thinketh it an absurd thing that all men should not thus meddle with Religion Quomodo absurdum non est c. What an absurditie is that for money we trust not other men but count it and tell it after them but for more excellent things simplie to follow other mens sayings especially sith we haue the exactest rule and ballance of all the testimonie of the lawe of God therefore I pray and beseech you that you will leaue what this and that man thinketh and enquire all these things of the Scriptures Now how doe you permit lay men thus to meddle with matters of Religion when as ye take from them the vse of the Scriptures which as the rule or leuell serueth the Architect to direct his building by the ballance trieth the true waight of euery thing plainly sheweth what doctrine is true and to be imbraced what false and to bee reiected But no maruell that you haue forbidden them thus to meddle with matters of Religion when you haue broached such doctrines and maintained such opinions as some of your selues confesse cannot be iustified by the Scriptures It is recorded that some of the learneder sort of your Cleargie haue vsed to say amongst their friends Sic diecrem in Scholis sed tamen maneat inter nos c. I would say so in the schooles but yet let it be kept secret amongst our selues I thinke the contrarie we say so in the schooles but yet it cannot be proued out of the Scriptures c. Howsoeuer it may be you will generally be loath to confesse thus much of the Scriptures yet the Fathers you haue not onely mangled and depraued where their testimonies were pregnant against your errors as for example that plaine place of Gregorie Nissen Eam solummodo naturam quae increata est colere venerari didicimus we haue learned to adore and worship onely that nature which is vncreated where your Spanish Diuines in their Index expurgatorius set down this direction Deleatur dictio solummodo put out the word only sundry such places as both our learned men haue discouered in your Indices are to be found out But you plainly professe thinking it should haue remained secret among your selues and neuer to haue come to our knowledge that in the auncient Fathers you do very often deny very many errors meaning such sentences as make for vs against you by inuenting some comment or exposition and that you doe faine and deuise some conuenient sence when they are by the aduersaries in disputations and conferences obiected against you which things considered should stir vp the spirits of all men thus to meddle with matters of Religion and not by and by to beleeue and receiue euery doctrine because your Church teacheth it And now are we come to that high and capitall slaunder against the holy Pope-made Saint Thomas Becket whom I call a traitour at which the gall of this Popish Saint-seruer is so moued that he taketh on fretteth chafeth and as another mad Aiax Flagellifer threatneth that I shal rest with a broken head as in another place he speaketh of cudgelling with blowes and bastinadoes wherewith he supposeth to haue wrought a manly peece of worke But Sir pause a while the more rage the lesse reason and the the greater haste commonly the worse speede It were good aduise for you that threaten the breaking of other mens heads to looke warily to your own for the olde verse may happily be verified in you Saepe sagittantem didicit referire sagitta Inque virum plagae conuersarecurre re plaga The arrow oft vpon the shooter doth rebound And he receiues the blow that others thought to wound To examine a little the state of this Becket who was a traitor as I affirme not I onelie but many before me against Henrie the second but to vse the words of mine Author taken vp and shrined for a newe Saint made of an olde Rebell fiftie yeeres after his death which was in the fourth yeere of Henrie the third I doe openly professe to auoide all such carpers and quarrell-pickers as this fellow is to separate betweene his punishment and death and betwixt his cause and carriage against his Prince The first being outragious against all law and order by priuate persons not publikely authorised therto the second traiterous and meritorious of death the king hauing to that end iust matter enough if he had pleased by lawe to prosecute the cause against him which by sundrie euidences may be shewed but some fewe shall serue And first if Ciprians rule be true Non poena sed causa facit Martyrem It is not the punishment but the cause that maketh the Martyr what was the maine ground of the controuersie betwixt the King and him was it not as they terme them the liberties of the Church as this Encounterer granteth liberties not spirituall but carnall not of Christes giuing but of Antichrists deuising There were as Authors affirme in that time of Henrie the second more then a hundred murthers besides other felonies proued vpon the Clergie which when the King would haue punished according to the lawes of the land Becket opposeth himselfe and beardeth the King in this so iust an action vnder title of standing for the liberties of the Church a holy quarrell no doubt but such a Martyr such a cause From this straunge ground these proceedings ensued there was a law and constitution that neither Bishop nor Clerke should goe out of the land without the kings licence and then he should take an oth not to procure any hurt against the king or any of his notwithstanding this proude Prelate who
before and since the beginning of her Raigne Or was it because in setting downe the iust iudgement of God and the punishment of Iustice iustly inflicted vpon Doctor Storie I doe in the ende thereof desire that al they which wish to Queene Elizabeth as he did for those be my words pagina 27. may speed as he did Other matter I am sure you can find none from the 18. page vnto the 49. of my booke which all in this Encounter you take vpon you to answere And I pray you Sir are these such matters as may iustlie prouoke anie to such furie outcrying opprobrious names and grieuous accusations as in this your Encounter you haue vsed against me the matters are all iustifiable as shall after more fully God willing appeare and as well might Cushi who bringing newes to Dauid of the ende of Absolon said the enemies of the Lord the King and all that rise to doe thee hurt be as that young man is be charged with a bloudie mouth the worme of heresie woodnes and furie as I for desiring as I did against her Maiesties enemies My heart I thanke God is free from thirsting after the bloud of anie and the true conuersion reformation of my countriemen who are deuoted to the Bishop of Rome and the Romish newe faith should be more ioy and comfort to me then anie worldlie thing which both doe argue that I loue their persons though I detest their Popish Religion and traiterous practices I wish that Papistes may liue and that Poperie may dye and I ioyne with Saint Augustine concerning Papists in generall who are not particularly tainted with actuall treason Non oramus vt moriantur inimici sed vt corrigantur sie mortui erunt inimici iam enim correcti non amplius erunt inimici Wee pray not for the death of our enemies but for their correction and amendment so our enemies shall bee dead for being amended they shall bee no more our enemies But now to the seuerall parts of your Encounter as they follow in order with as much breuitie as I may It offendeth you greatly that I impute her Maiesties deliuerance from great daunger in the time of Queene Mary to bee wholly and onely wrought to her from Gods goodnes and this out of the madnes of your idle braine you blasphemously call a miracle of Milne-wheeles but with all the craftie wit you haue how greatly soeuer you vaunt thereof imagining that I cannot vnderstand plaine humane reason you shall not be able either to make her deliuerance lesse strange and admirable then I haue said it was or to cleere any of those that I haue accused to hunt after her life at that time But I pray you Sir N.D. why should this matter so much displease you as to vrge you to write so many lines in seeking to disproue my saying Is it because you would flatter her Maiestie and perswade her that she was better beloued then she thought she was Or is it because you are vnwilling to heare that God should so honour the Gospell as to bring in the free publishing and profession thereof into this our Land by one that was marueilously preserued to be a Prince and nourse vnto vs Or is it because you would free those daies from such malice and crueltie as her Maiestie did sensiblie perceiue Or for that you would shew your skill in carping at my sayings Whatsoeuer occasion you did take for iust cause had you none you might haue done better to haue spared your labourâ— and to haue said as we doe with the Church in Dauids time vpon the like occasion in preseruing Dauid to be King of Israel This is the Lords doing and it is marueilous in our eyes If any Israelite then discontented with Dauids gouernment should haue said you are miracle-makers and framers of miracles of Milne-wheeles because in humane reason there may bee imagined diuers pregnant and potent causes which did concur to the preseruation of Dauids life and his admission to the kingdome as namely that Ionathan was his friend he was beautifull and valiant he had married the Kings daughter and the people did honour him should not such a one haue shewed himselfe a blasphemous deprauer of Gods worke and an enuious repiner at Dauid his safetie and honour Yes out of question Looke then to your selfe Sir Encounterer and learne to speake more reuerently of Gods marueilous workes and in charitie reioyce with them that reioyce Iubemur saith Bernard colligere fragmenta ne pereant id est ne minima beneficia obliuisci We are bidden to gather vp the very fragments and crums that is not to forget the least benefits How much more then should wee magnifie the power of God in his wonderfull workes But how doth hee disproue my sayings First hee laboureth to proue that her Maiesties life and blood was not sought after neither was shee in such danger as I haue affirmed next hee sheweth certaine humaine causes of her Maiesties preseruation That she was subiect to suspitions and that she was had in ielousie and did hold the Queene and state in suspence and care this Encounterer denieth not alleaging cunningly some such reasons thereof as namely her inclination to true Religion the attempts of Wyat Courtney Carow c. and the condition of the Queene of Scots thereby endeuouring after his cunning manner both to leaue her Maiestie to be suspected at the least of some disloyaltie to her Sister as also to cleare the chiefe pillers then of Poperie from doing her wrong and the Queene of Scots from working of treason against her since that time But let him write neuer so cunningly seeking to leaue the matter doubtfull by way of presumption as he shall neuer be able to tainte her Maiestie with the least shew of disloyaltie in those dayes who witnessed with her Diamond the soundnes of her heart and innocent behauiour in these words Much suspected by me nothing proued can be So shall he neuer bee able to free either the State then from troubling and wronging of her Maiestie vniustly neither to cleare the Queene of Scots of such treasons as she was iustly condemned for But how proueth he that she was in no danger of life euen because shee was preserued For saith he there being power in them to put her to death and no power at home or abroad to hinder them if there had been such a seeking after her death as I haue affirmed then by forme of argument iustified by Cicero in his Rhetorickeâ—◠〈◊〉 have been effected Alas poore fiâ—â—ie Encounterer must my speech which onely accuseth the Romish Cleargie then in place of credite to seeke her life include the King and Queene Or must it needs follow where there is a soueraigntie and outward strength for that I â—â—ke you meane by power ioyned with will there the matter must needs be effected If this reason were good how was Moses preserued there being power and will
in Pharaoh to kill him How was Dauid preserued from Saule or the Prophets from Ierobâ—â—â— or the Israelites from Hamâ—â—s malice Peter from Herods crueltie or our Sauiour Christ for a time from the conspiracie of the chiefe Iewes For in all these there was will ioyned with outward power for a time and yet the things desired not effected Cicero his argument holdeth where there is nothing supposed to hinder and where the will is fully bent to doe a thing but in all Soueraigntie and inclination of the will it holdeth not because there may want strength and continuance of the partie and the will may not be throughly setled as that of the Iewes they would faine haue put Christ to death but they feared the people God no doubt did strangely keepe Queene Marie from consenting to the bloodie practise of the Romish Cleargie against her Sister and though some of the Cleargie did seeke her death yet it might bee hindered by others and their desires by some considerations so crossed that though they did desire her death yet they could not effect it for which the Lord of Heauen onely is to be praised But what a shameles forehead hath this Encounterer who against so manifest a truth so plainely and sensiblie to bee proued doth not blush to denie that her Maiesties life was at that day earnestlie and maliciouslie sought after Why was shâ—e so hastelie sent for when shee was sicke to bee brought vp to the Court either aliue or dead presently vpon Wyats rising why was she falsly accused and burdened with Wyats insurrection yea so far that he was brought against truth and conscience to accuse her Why was she committed to the Tower to be a close prisoner Why did she say Tanquam ouis when she remoued from the Tower to Woodstocke Why was she in many feares and so often enforced to bewaile her estate and to pray to the mightie God to preserue her Was there not a report that there was a warrant out for her execution and did not M. Bridges Lieutenant of the Tower go in haste to Queene Marie and so by certifying her preuent the bloodie execution When the sword of iustice could not by any meanes be drawne forth against her what extreame dealings were vsed and what secret conspiracies plotted for the bringing of her to an vntimely death and the shedding of her innocent bloud I spare to write more in so plaine a matter that reuerent learned man Master Foxe hath at large in his Monuments of the Church set downe the miraculous preseruation of her Maiestie at that time from extreame calamitie and danger of life which who so readeth shall with inward compassion and watrie eyes rather lament her pitifull estate then with a hard heart and shameles face deny so manifest a truth as this Encounterer doth As for the causes which he alleageth did concurre to the preseruation of her Highnes it is not denied but that some of those by him alleaged and many others which in probable reason might be imagined might well concurre for the working of her Maiesties securitie at that time but that any of thofe was so potent and mightie as of necessitie to make her safe from daunger or that they or any other can bee certainely alleaged to be necessarie causes and procurers of her deliuerance with all his wit and insight into matters of State of which he seemeth much to brag he will neuer be able to shew Certaine it is that her Maiestie when she was in that trouble and daunger vsed these words when shee protested her innocencie at her landing at the Tower Before thee O God I speake it hauing none other friends but thee alone and as certaine it is that neither wise States-man nor any other can definitelie say of these or any other supposed causes in these respects or for these causes chiefly shee was preserued what though shee were gracious amiable and vertuous and much fauoured of the Spanish King who in policie it may be did by that meanes seeke to win the peoples hearts vnto him must it needs follow hereupon that therefore her innocent behauiour could not bee called into question nor her bloud shed by any wicked conspiracie The King of Spaine was farre from her in her greatest trouble and neither you nor any other can say that hee pleaded her cause or stoode openly for her freedome at any time If hee sent the Duke of Feria to visite her or secretly did speake for her to Queene Marie as Master Foxe seemeth to confesse he did that which was seemely and honorable in a King and that which her place and innocencie iustly deserued As for the generall hope which you say most men had of her Maiesties being a Catholike if it had been either so vniuersally conceiued as you imagine or by such outward tokens had appeared as you haue set downe how can it be true that she was presumed by many to be inclined to a different Religion from yours as you a little before in this Encounter doe confesse If shee had been deuoted so earnestly to Popish Religion why needed commaundement to be giuen that shee should haue Masse within her house within two daies after her committing to the Tower and how happened it that her men were so vnskilfull to helpe the Priest that the first day there could be no Masse for want of a Clerke and the next day one of her yeomen at Kyrieleson made a stop and set the Priest being not able or not willing to proceede any further Her sound affection to true Religion was the cause of all her trouble and danger in her Sisters daies and her willing and ioyfull embracing of the true Christian faith and of God his true worship and seruice hath so sufficiently been witnessed euer since the beginning of her Raigne that no man of common sense or Christian charitie hath the least cause to suspect that her heart should bee vnsound in the present profession of God his true Religion and Gospell The last cause which you alleage to concurre to the preseruation of her Maiestie is but a thing imagined by you seeing the matter of depriuing her Maiestie of life neuer came to any such stately consultation as you your selfe in handling this point doe plainelie graunt and seeing also that in such a case they could haue found out other meanes for preuenting such a potent pretender whatsoeuer you say of the Spaniards affection to the Queene of Scots at that time I am sure all England had like to haue tasted by so lamentable an experience that this Lady of Scotland was so affected by Spaine and sundrie of our English Espagniolized traitours as if through Gods goodnes shee had not been cut-off in time hardly could our Soueraigne haue escaped with life long being almost daily in daunger whilest that Scottish Queene liued through the practise of Rome Spaine and our home Traytors Thus notwithstanding all your flourishes and deuises your potent causes are too
but barking at him like a mad dog calling him knaue traitor heretike villaine varlet beetlebrow-foole c. and afterwards committed him to prison where he lay a yeere and three quarters till the Papists had gotten certaine olde tyranous lawes by King Henrie and King Edward before put downe to be reuiued againe vpon which Gardiner cyted him and others ex officio before himselfe and his colleagues and pronounced against him Master Bradford and Master Saunders three worthie learned and painefull preachers the sentence of death His dealing with Master Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester a Gentleman of a good house being a Knights sonne though rayling Storie cried out against him he is a vile heretike knaue for an heretike is no Gentleman I aske not of what compassion and mercie but of what equitie and iustice did it sauour when he committed this valiant Souldier of Iesus Christ prison and kept him there a yeere and a halfe taking all his liuing from him without all lawe onely because he spake his mind freely of the questions proposed to be disputed of in the Conuocation house whereunto besides the libertie of the house they had the Queenes warrant for their securitie But it booted not to pleade priuiledge of the house or warrant from the Queene tender hearted Gardiner of his dissolute I would say absolute power kept him so long in prison and afterwards sent him to his slaughterman Boner to be branded to the fire In whom this is worthie the noting that he seemed as if he had been vnwilling to haue medled with Master Philpot saying I maruaile why other men will trouble me with their matters but I must be obedient to my betters and I wis men speake otherwise of me then I deserue as if he should haue said that the bloudie affection of Gardiners heart must be executed by Boners hands And when in that time of Master Philpots captiuitie with Boner Gardiner died Boner perceiuing that Master Philpot would by no meanes recant burst forth into these words Now ye thinke because my Lord Chancellour is dead we will â—â—â—â—e no moe Which wordes what doe they argue else but that howsoeuer some Bishops and other Clergie Masters were the inferiour executioners yet Gardiner the Lord Chancellour was the Arch-Dedalus and chiefe master of the worke and he that did blow the bellowes to kindle all the fires wherein the bodies of so many Martyrs were consumed to ashes The which will appeare more plainly if we consider a memorable storie set downe by Master Foxe of him reported by two credible persons of worship in the house of a worshipfull Citizen bearing then office in the Citie of London from Master Mundaie secretarie sometime to the old Lord Thomas Duke of Norffolke namely that the same day Master Ridley and Master Latimer were burnt at Oxford the olde Duke of Norffolke with this reporter his secretarie attending on him came to Bishop Gardiners house the olde aged Duke wayting there for his dinner the Bishop was not disposed to dine till at length about foure of the clocke commeth in his seruant in all post haste from Oxford assuring the Bishop most certainly that he saw fire put to them Then commeth out Gardiner reioycing to the Duke and calleth for dinner and began merely to eate but the bloudie Tyrant had not eaten a fewe bits but the suddaine stroke of God his terrible hand fell vpon him in such sort as to vse mine Authors own words immediately he was taken from the table and so brought to his bed where he continued the space of fifteene daies during which time he could not auoid by vrine or otherwise any thing that he receiued whereby his bodie being miserablie inflamed within who had inflamed so many godly Martyrs before was brought to a wretched end And thereof no doubt as most like it is came the thrusting out of his tongue from his mouth so swolne and blacke with the inflammation of his bodie A spectacle worthie to be noted and beholden of all such bloudie burning persecutors But not to stand vpon the deuotion of this your milde Bishop who would not eate till he were sure of the death of these two worthies a deuotion matchable with that of the Tyrant Richard the third then but Protector who sware by Saint Paule that he would not dine till the Lord Hastings head were off and would needs stay so long for his oathes sake nor vpon the great ioy this Bishop conceiued at the certaine report of their deaths as if the shedding of Christian bloud had been to him as the obteyning of great treasures nor yet vpon the fearfull iudgement of God so vpon the present and on the suddaine inflicted vpon him I will remember this one thing how that the Dutches of Suffolke espying him in the Tower being the prisoner inking Edwards raigne said it was merrie with the Lambes now the Wolfe was shut vp which speech this your gentle natured Bishop and nothing vindicatiue as you terme him well remembred in Queene Maries time and therfore in the first lent of her raigne studied an holie practise of reuenge first by touching this Dutches in the person of her husband Master Bertye for whom he sent an attachment to the Sherife of Lincolneshire with a speciall letter commaunding him most strictly to attach him and without Bale to bring him vp to him to London whereas he had no cause at all to send for him Afterwards examineth him of the Dutches his wiues Religion whether she was now as readie to set vp the Masse as before to pull it downe with further obiections to the same purpose by which Master Berty fully perceiued the cruell minde of the Bishop set vpon bloudie reuenge and therefore obtained leaue of the Queene for his vrgent and important affaires to passe the Seas secretly appointed how the Dutchesse should come after who with her daughter of a yeere olde with a fewe of her meanest seruants in great danger tooke barge at Lion Key in the mistie morning chusing rather to commit her selfe to the winde and waues then to your Gardiners gentle and nothing vindicatiue disposition What should I stand vpon any further matter to lay open the nature disposition of this your milde Prelate Boner who knew him better then you Sir Encounterer doth more then iustifie me in that large description of Gardiners nature disposition which he wrote to the Lord Cromwell wherein he tearmeth him to be of an hard heart and cankred malicious stomacke that he spake with a Pilates voice and chargeth him that in talke had with him he bad turde in Boners teeth againe and againe that the flesh of his cheekes beganne to swell and tremble and that hee looked as if he would haue runne through him that he behaued himselfe bedlemly that in malice and disdaine he might be compared to the diuell of hell not yeelding to him in pride at all with sundrie other notes of such speciall commendation
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
notice of it if it were concluded on after the marriage why might not this be brought to his Master and others into Spaine by letters from some of the Nobles that were with the King here So that this is but a poore shift to discredite Bradfords aduertisement and the circumstances considered that I did set downe before of his being a Papist in profession in dwelling a Spaniard and in place not to write this without perill I doubt not but to euery one in whom reason ruleth and not passion it will proue probable enough that there might bee a iust cause of such an aduertisement When Lewis the French King his sonne was by our nobles called into England and set vp for their King against King Iohn the Vicount Melun falling deadly sicke vpon remorse of conscience secretly confessed to diuers of the Barons what was the purpose of Lewis to doe when he had once obtained the Crowne namely that Lewis with sixteene of his Counsellors whereof this Vicount was one had compacted after possession of the Crowne obtained to depriue our chiefe Nobles of their lands and possessions and driue them into perpetuall exile And so farther proceeding and with many teares pittying the extreame miserie this land was like to come vnto he brake out into these words My friendes I counsaile you earnestly to looke to your selues and to prouide the remedie in time least it come vpon you vnwares your King for a season hath kept you vnder but if Lodowicke preuaile he will put you from all c. Had Lodowicke so treacherous an intent when our Nobles so highly fauoured him and shal it seeme strange that King Philip should haue such a secret meaning did a Frenchman and an enemie vpon very remorse of conscience bewray this secret and might not Bradford an Englishman though a Papist hazzard his life to discouer King Philips daungerous plot against his countrie Or may our Chronicles recorde this purpose of Lodowicke and publish it to posteritie and may it not be lawfull for me to set downe the discouerie of your Catholike Kings secret determination to admonish my countrie men to take heed how they lend aide to bring in a forraine ruler into the Realme least perhaps it follow that they be displaced themselues and be made straungers in their owne land But the taxes set downe by me as intended to be brought vpon this land you call childish toyes such as one would not imagine that a man of Sir Francis name house and calling would euer publish But such childish toies they are as euerie sound true Englishmā hearing of the seruile gonernment of Spaine and feeling the freedome we liue withall in England will from his heart praise God for the blessed freedome we liue vnder and pray to God for euer to deliuer vs from Spaines bondage and this doe many other Nations besides vs wherof some haue been so miserably taxed that they haue been forced as one doth crediblie report to sell their beds they lie vpon to pay taxations imposed vpon them In the cloze of this when I set downe what you say of your kings determination concerning the Ladie Elizabeth as well as the rest after you haue referred vs to that you haue set downe before of his kindnes to her when she was prisoner to which I haue made you alreadie a full answere you runne into your common place of railing againe and adde That no modest man can cease to wonder how so infamous a libell could be suffered to passe to the print especially containing diuers personall reprochful contēptuous calumniations against so great potent a Prince c. I like you wel sir you are fast to your friends I wish I could find you as faithfull to your Soueraigne then should I find you as hot if not more hot in raging against those of your side that haue most wretchedlie railed against her Maiestie your rightful Soueraigne if you proue worthie to be her Subiect wherin they haue sought to impugne her right to defame her faith to discredit her gouernment to touch her honour to violate and abate the Maiestie of her place c. But as Athalia fled into the Temple and cried out treason treason whereas her selfe indeed was the traitour and Hercules furens in the tragedie raged and threatned to be reuenged of those that had slaine his children himselfe indeed hauing slaine them in his mad moode so these good fellowes crie out against those that vtter opprobrious speeches against Princes whereas themselues are the peerles and matchles men of all Christendome in whom the saying of Saint Iude is verified Which despise gouernment and speake euill of them which are in authoritie I protest I am abashed and my pen trembleth to set down those intolerable calumniations that not onely forreiners but home-borne Papistes haue vttered against her Maiestie I know not how to compare them herein but to the diuell the father of all slaunder and calumniation for as it is written in the Reuelation That the Serpent did cast out of his mouth water against the women like a floud that he might cause her to be carried away of the floud so haue these hell hounds spued forth whole flouds of reprochfull and calumnious slaunders thereby to darken and drown the honour of her Maiestie if they could possiblie Remember Sir in what sort Bartholomaeus de miranda master of the Popes Pallace behaueth himselfe towards your Soueraigne and with how villanous reproches he doth load her in his admonition set before the Epistle of Osorius directed to her Remember how he raileth at her that wrote the cononization of Didacus who being a Spaniard was of speciall purpose sainted by the Pope to further the King of Spaine in his intended conquest of England And though the wiser sorte of our Nation haue learned euen by the lawes of morall ciuilitie as your selfe confesse that a man must speake moderately also of his enemie yet the learned'st of our English Papistes haue not learned to speake moderatelie of their Soueraign whom they ought not to reckon their enemy you know how immoderatly immodestly Station Saunders and Rishton to omit others doe raile against her as against the Turke himselfe they could not doe worse Now Sir how should that which vpon vrgent occasion if to inuade and seeke to conquer the land and to make way thereunto by seeking the shortning of my Soueraignes life through treasons may be reckoned an vrgent occasion I say how should that I haue set downe against your Catholike King anger you if so manie opprobrious and contumelious reproaches as you know vttered against your Soueraigne and that not alone by forrainers but by such as should be subiects doe not moue you I write against a straunger truly these against their Soueraign falsely I to confirme subiects hearts in loyaltie and obedience to their lawfull Soueraigne they to corrupt Subiectes heartes and to make them disloyall and disobedient to their Soueraigne I