diuers of those auncient Kings became Monks yet neither was the Monasticall life so farre out of square as now it is they made it not a cloake of idlenes and filthie liuing a nurserie of idolatrie and grosse superstitions but they desired that life as fittest for contemplation and free frō the encumbrances of the world Diuers of the heathen Emperors left the Imperiall administration and betooke thēselues to priuate contemplation as Dioclesian Maximinian Lanquet ann Christ. 307. Neither doth this one opinion of the excellencie of Monasticall life shew them to be resolute Papists for it followeth not because they were Monks that consequentlie they held transubstantiation worship of images and the more grosse points of the Romish Catechisme 3 He shall not be able to proue the tenth part of that great number of 180. Kings either to haue themselues professed the now Romane religion or by lawes to haue prescribed the same to others some instances I will produce In King Lucius dayes not the Pope but the King was Gods vicar in his kingdome and it was his part to gather the people together to the law of Christ as Eleutherius Bishop of Rome testifieth in his epistle Cedde and Colman dissented from the Church of Rome about the celebration of Easter Wilfride about the same time confesseth that Images were inuented of the Deuill which all men that beleeue in Christ sayth he ought of necessitie to forsake and detest King Alfred or Alured translated the Psalter into English and he was instructed by Ioannes Scotus who writ a booke de corpore sanguine Christi which was condemned by the Pope in the Synod Vercellens being of Bertrams opinion against the corporall presence which fansie was not as yet receiued in the Church as is apparant by the sermon of Elfricus against transubstantiation In King Edward Athelstane and King Edmunds time the Prince had power to constitute ecclesiasticall lawes and to prescribe rules and orders for ecclesiasticall persons as may appeare by diuers of their lawes In King Edgars time Priests mariage was lawfull which began then to be restrayned Many lawes and acts haue passed since in open Parliament to restraine the iurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome to inhibite the purchasing of prouisoes frō thence arrests processes excommunications vnder paine of exile imprisonment forfeiture of goods and that not without expresse consent of the Clergie See Richard 2. ann 16. cap. 5. These then which allowed not the worship of images beleeued not transubstantiation gaue the Prince authoritie in spirituall causes approued the mariage of Ministers and the translation of the scriptures into the vulgar tongue restrayned the authoritie of the Romane Bishop may worthilie doubted of whether they were Papists 4 King Henry was so farre from repenting his proceedings against the vsurped Romane iurisdiction that if God had spared him life he intended a thorough reformation of Religion as was easilie to be seene both by his resolution for religion vttered not long before his death to Monsieur de Annebault the French Embassador and his answere made nearer to his death to Bruno Embassador to the Duke of Saxonie that he would take his part against the Emperour if the quarell were for religion 5 More vntrue it is that our late Soueraigne in the late dayes of persecution professed that religion with such deuotion The cruell and vnnaturall dealing toward her highnes then is a sufficient argument to conuince this large reporter of a great vntruth how she was sent for by commission in great extremitie of sicknes to be brought aliue or dead committed without cause to the Tower her seruants remoued from her straitlie examined her owne seruants restrayned to bring her diet denied the libertie of the Tower a strait watch kept round about her in danger to be murdered in continuall feare of her life her death by Winchesters platforme intended which by Gods prouidence she escaped Adde hereunto Stories desperate speech vttered in the Parliament house that he was not a little grieued with his fellow Papists for that they laboured onely about the young and little sprigs and twigs while they should haue striken at the roote c. All this euidentlie bewrayeth what opinion they had of her Maiesties resolution in religion and what she had of theirs In the meane time their cruell proceedings are laid open who if it were as this Coniecturer sayth would so persecute an innocent Ladie whom they commend for her deuotion 6.1 That euidence which he alleadgeth from M. Fox his mouth out of the Register booke of the Guildhall in London conteineth not the precise forme of the Princes oath to be taken at the Coronation which before I haue recited out of Magna charta but certaine monitions and instructions concerning the dutie of the King 2. He vseth great fraud in setting downe the words both inuerting the order and leauing out what he thinketh good as that the King ought to loue and obserue Gods commaundements then must he be an enemie to idolatrie and to the doctrines and commaundements of men such as many be obserued in the Romane Church Beside he sayth to maintaine holie Church whereas the words are to maintaine and gouerne the holie Church c. but they can not endure that Kings should rule and gouerne the Church 3. For the King to take his oath vpon the Euangelists and blessed reliques of Saints it sheweth not that the King did worship those reliques or sweare by them though he lay his hand vpon them no more then he doth sweare by the booke that putteth his hand vpon it or Abrahams seruant by his maisters thigh when he sware vnto him or Iacob by the heape of stones ouer the which he tooke his oath But as Ambrose well sayth Christianus imperator aram solius Christi didicit honorare A Christian Emperour hath onely learned to honor Christs altare And so Christian Princes haue learned to giue all religious honor to Christ and not to impart it to his seruants to make them sharers with their Maister Thus hath this sophisticall dialogist fayled as well in the probation of the assumption as in his enlarging of the proposition But whatsoeuer her Maiesties predecessors were she was not bound where they wandred out of the way to erre in their steps Iosias of idolatrous parents both father and grandfather was himselfe a religious Prince and a true worshipper of God Heathen stories will tell vs that noble Pericles came of an euill race Pompeius the great of despised Strabo Vlysses Aesculapius famous men of lewd parents The graue Poet also doth insinuate as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sonne excels in vertues fame the parent euill of whome he came As of euill parents vertuous children may descend so out of superstitious antiquitie religious posteritie may issue and florish And as Ambrose well answered the obiection of Symmachus the Pagane Maiorum ritus
obiection of pride riches wine and women was vnfittest to proceed from this Ignatian Friers mouth For doth he with his fellows thinke to dance in a net haue we not bene certified from their companions copesmates the Masse priests that some of the Iesuites vse to reade Lectures by night to the auditories of women while their husbands scratch their heads at home They tell vs of their rich apparell their riding in coaches their stables of geldings their expences after 500. pounds by the yeare as hath bin before shewed more thē once Is not this now a prety vow of pouerty and chastity which these new vpstart Friers are entred into I say therefore with Hierome Ignominia est Ihesum esurientem fartis praedicare corporibus ieiuniorum doctrinam per rubentes buccas tumentiaque ora proferre It is a shame to preach of Christs fasting with a pampred body and to commend abstinence with red cheekes and swolne face Of all other of the Popish profession it may be worst sayd of them which Thucydides vttered of the Corinthians That they were worthy to reproue others 2. Neither can he shew vs twenty generall Councels in all Bellarmine can find but eighteene and some of them not extant neither is he able to produce a thousand prouinciall Councels nor halfe so many and both generall and prouinciall Synodes are more against them then with them as I haue else where declared Popes we yeeld them and heretikes the one their fathers the other their brethren The auncient Fathers that liued within sixe hundreth yeares after Christ are against them All schooles and Vniuersities neuer approued their doctrine The Vniuersitie of Oxford cleared Wickliffe of heresie The Vniuersity of Prage fauoured Iohn Husse The most famous Academies in Europe gaue sentence with king Henry concerning his mariage against the Pope And at this time Protestants neither in number nor in fame of schooles of learning will giue place to the Romanists 3. What safe conduct you vse to graunt to the learned Protestants to come to disputation is euident by the example of Iohn Husse and Hierome of Prage the first notwithstanding his safe conduct graunted by the Emperour Sigismund was vniustly put to death at the Councell of Constance the other could get none at all 4. True it is that Bishop Cranmer was entertained by the young students very rudely with hissing and clapping of hands but that shewed their impudency rather then his impotency That he deserued not to be hissed his learned writings to this day do sufficiently declare But they disputed with him as the high Priests and Scribes did with Stephen they gaue a shout and stopped their eares and as the Stoikes and Epicures disputed with Paul at Athens railing vpon him and mocking him Thus the Donatists conferred with Augustine and other Catholike Bishops they with their outcries and exclamations made such a noise that the other could not proceed And no other course do the Iesuites take at this day in their disputations seeking by their turbulent behauior and Stouterlike voice to countenance their cause as this last yeare Anno 1602. appeared in a colloquie at Ratisbone betweene Hunnius with other ministers and Tannerus with other Iesuites So that we may say of such disputers as Cicero of Orators That they which vse to exclaime do betake them to clamorous outcries for want of skill as a lame man to his horse euen so hissing and clapping of hands in a disputor bewrayeth want of matter 4. Our Chronicles indeed will tell how litle that disputation in the time of the first Parliament was to the glory of the popish sort how peruerse and forward they were and contemptuous to authority that being appointed to dispute in English they would haue it in Latine wheras they were to begin they vtterly refused so through their wilfulnes the disputation brake off The conference in the Tower to whose disgrace it tended the report thereof in print will sufficiētly testifie They say it is good beating of a proud man but to dispute with a froward spirit that will neuer yeeld nor confesse himself ouercome is a wearisome labour Thus these bragging Friers if we wil beleeue them are alwayes conquerours whereas poore soules they haue bene put to vnreasonable and shamefull foiles but that they set a good face vpon it as Thucydides sayd of Pericles when he was asked of Archidamus king of the Spartanes which of them wrastled best A man sayth he can hardly tell for when I cast him downe he by saying he had no fall perswadeth the beholders and so ouercommeth Such Hierome speaketh of Nihil impudentius arrogantia rusticorum qui garrulitatem authoritatem putant in subiectum sibi gregem tumidis sermonibus tonant Nothing is more impudent then certaine arrogant Rustikes which by brabling striue to haue great authority and thunder out swelling words among their disciples and flocke And thus do these bragging Friers boast of their disputations in corners among their simple and credulous schollers The third Inducement 1. I Will pleade by time as Daniel did it is the seuentieth yeare of our desolation since king Henry the eight began to impose this heauie burden vpon vs. The yeare of Iubile is begun when all exiles are to returne c. p. 129. 2. Your Honors know what a generall amitie Pope Clement the eight hath concluded c. that which maketh peace and vnitie with God and man is true religion that bindeth them together p. 130. there is no religion wherein England can agree with any because the religion thereof is different from all neither can any two protestant nations haue this peace together because no two of them be of one religion p. 131. 3. If we will agree in this point with Catholike nations we shall agree with God with Angels for the same is approued by them with all glorious soules in heauen with patient Christians in Purgatorie we shall haue peace with our selues We shall disagree with none but diuels and damned spirits p. 131. 4. If it be in your power to procure this attonement and perfourme it you shall effect the most honorable thing this age hath seene c. If you can performe it neglect it though ye be no formall persecutors yet because you suffer others to do it c. except you will recall your minds you are like to tast of the same vengeance c. What is to be done your Honors know what you will do I cōmit to your honorable prudent considerations and craue leaue to giue my lawfull charge vpon those impious and irreligious enemies of Christ and rebellious traitors to the holy Catholike Church c. The Aduertisement 1. YOu must haue Daniels cause before you can haue assurance of Daniels deliuerance And you are somwhat too forward in your account for the Papists had no great captiuitie in Henry the eights time while the Masse the
sent the helue after the head and found both so I hope this simple present added to the former may make a way for me vnto your Maiestie not to speake for my selfe but in the behalfe of the Church of Christ. Now because I know not whether in this kind I may euer hereafter haue occasion to speake to your Maiestie let me be bold in the feare of God to vtter my mind to your Highnesse not onely with reuerence as to a King but plainely in singlenesse of hart as to a Christian a good man and louer of Gods Church Hierome of Sicile was wont to say That none that spake freely to him did importune him or was vnseasonable much more to your Christian Maiestie free and plaine speech deliuered in dutie I trust shall not be vnpleasing First then as we all do praise God for your happie succession in the kingdome by whom we are vndoubtedly perswaded religion and peace shall be coÌ„tinued and maintained that we haue all cause to say with Israell The Lord hath done great things for vs whereof we reioyce the times fall out much better and the change more happie then was of some feared of others expected It hath not happened vnto vs as aged Leontines foretold to the Antiochians who pointing to his gray and white haires said When this snow is melted much mire will follow that is sedition and trouble But after the dissolution of the white snowie haires of our last aged Soueraigne no such trouble God be thanked hath followed the Lord hath not left vs as sheepe without a shepheard We are the same sheepe to be led foorth still to the waters of life though another sheepheard As the Church of England acknowledgeth Gods great goodnesse herein so your Christian Maiestie shall do wel to recogitate with your selfe as you do the Lords great mercies toward you who in your infancie from many perils most prouidently preserued you and in your former raigne from many dangers miraculously deliuered you and now to a most flourishing kingdome most honourably aduaunced you I doubt not but as your Highnesse hath the like occasion so with the Prophet you will vtter the same affection My soule praise thou the Lord and forget not all his benefites as well appeareth to the great comfort of vs all by that religious weekely erected exercise in your Highnesse Court Your Maiestie well remembreth Moses counsell to the king that he should reade in the law of God all the dayes of his life that his heart be not lifted vp aboue his brethren Princes are set in slipperie places if God stay them not abundance of honor pleasure wealth may soone intangle theÌ„ This appeared in Salomon who strangely fell and declined from his integritie Alexanders example in forraine stories is notable who in iustice temperance chastitie was a mirror to all Princes before he tasted of the pleasures of Asia Dionysius for a while delighted in Plato and seemed to be studious of Philosophie but he quickely fell away therein well resembled to a booke wherein that which was before written was soone blotted out But in Christians the mutabilitie of nature is corrected by the stabilitie of grace and God with whom there is no variablenesse nor shadowing by turning shall so strengthen your royall heart as that it be neither ouer-cast with shadow nor turned by change There are two enemies to Christian constancie enuie and flatterie the one practiseth the other perswadeth that pulleth backe this letteth to go forward the last is the worst the first least to be feared Enuie followeth vertue flatterie nourisheth vice the first Themistocles well perceiued who being yet young said he had done no excellent thing because he was not enuied the other Phocion was not ignorant of to whom when the people gaue applause for his oration What saith he to his friends haue I spoken any thing amisse vnawares shewing that popular applause and flatterie doth often worke vpoÌ„ some infirmitie Many haue preuented trecherie that could not take heed of flatterie Dauid whom neither Abner and Amasaes valour nor Achitophels wit could subdue Ziba his false tale seduced and smiling ease and prosperitie corrupted Nehemiah could wel beware of Tobiah and Sanballat that were threatning aduersaries but he was most in daunger by Shemaiah and Noadiah dissembling Prophets The way for Princes to auoide such flatterers is to haue faithfull seruants and followers as Dauid saith The faithfull in the land shall dwell with me the vpright in heart shall serue me Lysippus the Caruer did worthily reproue Apelles the Painter because he had made Alexanders picture with a thunderbolt in his hand as a God the other with a speare honouring him as a valiant Prince I doubt not but they are more pleasing to your Highnesse that giue you that is due then which ascribe that you will not take Against enuie and trechery your Maiestie must oppose your Christian innocencie and carefull circumspection against flatterie your Princely humilitie As Ambrose well describeth the penitent king of Niniuie that humbled himselfe in sackcloth He forgetteth himselfe to be a king while he feareth God the king of al a straunge thing while he casteth away his purple robes and remembreth not that he is a king he beginneth to be a king of Iustice he did not lose his kingdome but chaunged it to the better God graunt that to your Princely humilitie and Christian pietie may be added diuine constancie that although archers shoot at you some with darts of enuy trechery some with the bolts of flatterie yet with Ioseph your bow may abide strong and the hands of your armes strengthened to the end Agesilaus well said I do so vse my selfe that in no chaunge I be chaunged We all trust that this speech will be more truly verified in your Christian Maiestie then in that heathen Prince which your firme and we hope vnchaungeable constancie hath manifested it selfe in your stedfast resolution for the continuance of religion in sinceritie without mixture Some haue preasâ—ed alreadie if not presumed to make request for toleration of their Masse or rather Misse-seruice for all is amisse in it but they might know that the Arke and Dagon cannot dwell together that Hezechiah will not suffer the brasen serpent to stand nor Iosias permit the Chemarims to execute their idolatrous seruice They wold seeme to condition with your Maiestie whose lands and persons are at your courtesie much like the Athenians who being forced to giue vp their citie to the Spartans desired that Samos might be left to whom one wittily answered When you are not your owne you would haue others to be yours Whereupon grew this Prouerbe He that hath not himselfe would haue Samos We haue an English by-word Beggers must be no choosers so neither must petitioners be prescribers Your Maiestie can answer such importunate vnreasonable suiters as Zerubabel answered the aduersaries of Iudah that offered
thereof are dissolued but I will establish the pillars of it Your Maiestie as another Moses can onely appease the strife betweene the Hebrewes and as another Constantine to reconcile the Church-ministers who wrote thus vnto them Let me enioy good daies and quiet nights without care if not my griefe will be the more When your Highnes hath wrought this cure you shal be no more troubled with petitions by day nor careful meditations by night Aristippus and Aeschines being fallen out one asked the first what was now become of their friendship he answered It was asleepe but he would awake it When your Highnesse hath awaked the peace of the Church you shal sleep more quietly your selfe and not be troubled any more with Constantines carefull nights You are our Salomon to iudge betweene vs they that loue diuision and to contend causlesse let them haue the least part Theodosius when Catholikes and Heretikes put vp their libels to him prayed God to direct him so your Maiestie well knoweth that your direction herein must come from God Diuerse complaints as lots are cast into your Princely lap but the disposition thereof is of the Lord. God we trust and for the same pray will so dispose your royall heart that the best cause may haue the first lot the most honest suite the happiest issue and the iustest quarrell the fairest triall Faile not their godly desire herein most gracious Prince that neuer would haue failed you who were resolued I speake herein of mine owne knowledge to haue aduentured their liues and states for your Maiesties iust title who waited for you as for the raine and for the consolation of Israell Faile not then O noble King the hope of Christs Church yea the expectation of Angels yea the trust that Christ hath committed vnto you to be a faithful seruant as Moses in his house so as one saith The eyes of men are not only cast vpon you and the whole land setled to behold your life but God and Angels expect your faithfull seruice God we verily trust will not faile you with his spirit but as the Prophet saith Whosoeuer calleth vpon the name of the Lord shal be saued so your prayers and teares which you poure vnto God shall both saue you and your people as one said to Augustines mother Non potest perire tantarum lachrymarum filius the child of such prayers and teares cannot possibly perish or fall away Now as to our great comfort we enioy your Maiestie a norishing father of Christs Church at home so your Highnesse is expected to be a succour and comfort to other afflicted Churches abroad though you are not as a head to direct them yet you may be as a hand to helpe them though not a roote to giue them life and sap yet as a wall for the small branches to runne vpon to stay them vp as it is said of Ioseph It was Iosua his honour to ayde the Gibeonites their confederates against the combined Kings of Canaan Dauid was a captaine to all that were distressed and afflicted Hercules is honoured in heathen stories because he trauelled through the world to remoue cruell gouernours Noble Alexander is famous for the same who conquered a great part of the world reducing rude and barbarous people to ciuill life who charged all to esteeme the whole world as their countrey good men as their countrymen the bad as aliens and strangers Our English Chronicles do blame Henry the second for refusing to take the protection and defence of the distressed Christians in Ierusalem offered vnto him by Heraclius the Patriarke the troubles that befell him at home are ascribed to that cause But Ecclesiasticall stories make honourable mention of the Emperour Theodosius the younger whose loue was such to the afflicted people of God that being present to behold certaine publicke sights and shewes and there hearing of the death of one Ioannes a cruell rebell and tyrant presently left the playes and went to the Church to giue thankes to God Queene Elizabeth was a foster mother to all distressed Christians and I doubt not but all Protestants in the world shall receiue comfort in the cause of Religion from your Maiesties fauour in being a mediator for their peace or succour for their reliefe But of all other we the poore companie of schollers and students haue greatest cause to reioyce in your Maiestie whom now we haue obtained a learned and iudiciall patron of our labours and writings whereas before no gift or present was held to be more base nor lesse regarded of all hands Schollers bookes the trauaile of the soule the weakning of the bodie the care of the day and studie of the night were not not so welcome to the most as a Lawyers fee from the client or a tenants new-yeares gift to his Land-lord I your Maiesties poore subiect could speake herein by experience what small hartening I haue had in the world for my poore trauels in the Church but I will be sparing in mine owne cause And yet I speake not this as though we expected our reward from men though we be men and had need of terrene encouragement but I am bold a poore writer of this Church of England to poure forth the common griefe and complaint of students in this behalfe into your princely bosome Bookes were growne into such small request that many would scarce vouchsafe the reading of them but few beare in mind who presented them they were layed aside by the walles or set vp onely to make a shew as one saith Sacrorum opera ingeniorum in speciem cultum parietum comparantur The labours of sacred wits were vsed onely to beautifie the walles But now we trust as Homers Iliads were accepted of Alexander which he made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the furniture of his iourney Terence workes of Scipio Origens bookes of Ambrosius whom he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because hee continually prouoked him to write and as Hieromes writings were esteemed of Damasus so I doubt not but scholers labours shall be as welcome to your Maiestie as any other subiects presents And in this confidence I haue bene bold againe to offer my seruice to your Maiestie For as he that made that harpe wherewith Thales appeased the tumult of the Lacedaemonians and he that built the ship wherewith Themistocles did defend Greece had cause more to reioice therein then in any worke beside so to none else we more willingly present our labours then to your sacred Maiestie a generall procurer of our peace and defender of Church and countrey whose vigilant heart careth for all whose diligent eye seeth for all whose liberal hand reacheth vnto all And not onely at this present but while I liue haue I purposed to consecrate my pen to the honor of your Maiestie if God will you please And I say with Hierome Quamdiu in hoc corpusculo sum scribam aliquid gratum
three proofes are produced First the multiplicitie of suites Secondly the multitude of statutes Thirdly the testimonie of Protestant writers that complaine of the impietie of these times pag. 8.9 For the first he appealeth to the testimonie of Iudges records of Courts c. contentions betweene tenant and tenant Lord and Lord Lord and tenant c. to the rich estate of so many Lawyers pag. 8. Ans. 1. Although the multiplying of suites and aptnes to goe to law and that for trifles be not commendable yet it is no sufficient argument to disable and make a nullitie of a Church for euen the Corinthians to whom S. Paul doubteth not to ascribe the name of the Church of God were contentious and full of quarrels as the Apostle saith vnto them Now therefore there is vtterly a fault among you because ye goe to law one with another why rather suffer you not wrong c. 1. Cor. 6.7 2. If suites haue encreased since the expulsion of the Popes iurisdiction out of England religion is not the cause thereof but other probable reasons may bee yeelded without any blame to the Church or Religion first because since the dissolution of Abbeys and the dispersing of those lands into many mens hands which before were vnited and annexed to those Corporations it could not otherwise be chosen but that questions about titles and priuiledges should grow as infinite were the suites which were commenced before betweene Abbots and Bishops the Priors and their Couents betweene one Cell and another which controuersies haue had their time and now begin to slake as Westminster Hall can testifie and in the next succeeding age are like to be fewer and we wish they may so be As for Lawyers wealth it is no disparagement to the Gospell though it may be a blot to their conscience if it bee not rightfully gotten neither are there many that haue of late daies gained so much by the law though some I confesse by the confluence of Clients and if I may so say the monopolie of causes haue gotten enough for it is thought that scarse the tenth man of the whole number that are called to the Barre do get their maintenance by it And it is well knowne that some of your friends and welwillers Frier Robert or Richard or what els the first letter of your name R. betokeneth haue helped to share and shaue in the law among the rest Secondly whereas many appeales were made to the Sea of Rome and infinite causes promoted thither Bishops fetcht vp their Chapters Priors their Couents by processe to Rome Archbishops their Suffraganes yea sometime the subiects their King Is there not great cause since this forraine course in prosecuting of suites was stopped that much more busines thereby be procured at home so that the floods of causes which streamed into that sea being turned an other way must needes make an inundation and ouerflowing of suites at home Thirdly the Gospell hath not caused such multiplicitie of suites but it is an abuse of this long peace which hath increased the wealth of the land and riches breede quarrels and make men impatient of wrongs I make no doubt but that in our neighbour kingdome of France suites haue beene multiplied and Lawyers thereby farre more aduantaged since the appeasing of the ciuill warres then in many yeares before which change can not be layed vpon their religion which is not there changed but vpon the alteration of the times This then is not an effect of the Gospell but a defect in those that know not to make vse of this peace and abundance procured by the Gospell 3 This obiection of vnkind and vnnaturall suites and debates doth most fitlie rebound vpon their owne heads for neuer was the Clergie fuller of stomacke nor more readie to reuenge and apt to quarrell then vnder the yoke of Poperie What contentions then hapned sometime betweene the King and the Archbishop as between King William and Lanfranke King Henry the first and Anselme King Stephen and Richard Henry the second and Becket King Iohn and Ste. Lancton King Henry the third and Boniface sometime between Archbishops and their Suffraganes Bishops and Monks Deane and Chapter secular Priests and Monks betweene Friers of one sort and Friers of another Such were the sturres and broyles betweene the Archbishop of Canterburie and Richard of Yorke betweene Lanfranke and Archbishop Thomas betweene Theobald A. B. of Canterbury and Siluester Abbot of S. Austens betweene William of Canturbury and Ieremias Prior betweene Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury and the Canons of S. Paule betweene the said Boniface and the Monks of S. Bartlemew that sate there in harnesse in his visitation betweene the Abbots of Westminster and the Monks of the same house between William of Winchester and Boniface of Canterburie betweene the said Boniface and the Canons of Lincolne betweene the Monks of Canterbury Canons of Liechfield a number of such hote contentions and friuolous quarels might be produced which haue raigned in Poperie what Bishops sea what Abbey Nunrie Chappell what Church cathedrall conuentuall or collegiate was free from these broyles And as these contentions were many so they grew vpon small occasions as betweene Boniface of Canterbury and the Canons of Lincolne for giuing of a prebend betweene Edmond of Canterbury and the Monks of Rochester for the election of the Bishop between Gilbert of Rochester and Robert the Popes Legate for sitting at his right hand betweene the Abbot of Bardney and the said Robert for the visitation of the Abbey betweene William of Elie and the Canons of Yorke for not receiuing him with Procession Thus the Popish Clergie vpon the wagging of euerie strawe were readie one to offend an other And concerning vnnaturall suites among kinsfolks brethren parents and children and for vnsufferable abuses he might for shame here haue held his peace seeing all these haue so abounded and ouerflowed in Poperie when the husband became a betrayer and persecutor of his wife as Iohn Greebill of Agnes his wife a poore woman that was burned at Exceter was persecuted of her husband the father betrayed his children as Woodman his sonne Richard the children accused their parents as Christopher and Iohn Greebill their mother Agnes Greebill children were constrained to set fire to their parents as Ioane Clearke to her naturall father William Tilsworth and the children of Iohn Scriuener did the like the brother conspired his brothers death as Alphonsus Diazius a Spaniard most trayterouslie sent vp his man with a Carpenters axe wherewith he killed his brother Ioannes Diazius at Nuburge in Germanie himselfe staying and waiting belowe till the bloudie act was performed Who seeth not now how shamelesse and impudent these men are to obiect these things to the Protestants vntruly which are verified and iustified vpon themselues Such vnnaturall and wicked practises as these are shall they neuer be able to produce against vs. This accusation
so ample in iurisdiction that no temporall Prince Christian or Infidell no professor of regiment in ecclesiasticall causes c. was by many degrees possessed of so large a regiment 8. Our priuate Priests the most reuerend and learned fathers of the societie of Iesus are honoured of the greatest Princes in the world c. The disswasion 1. NEither doe I defend that religion that diuideth the militant and triumphant Church in robbing God of his honour in giuing it to Angels and Saints against their wils who refused to bee worshipped here in earth as the Angell of Iohn and Peter of Cornelius And therefore God requireth no such honour to be giuen vnto them so that as our Sauiour saith of Moses There is one which accuseth you euen Moses in whom ye trust euen so the Angels and Saints shall be witnesses and accusers of popish superstitious worshippers who honour the creature in steed of the Creator But the religion which Protestants professe and I defend doth make but one familie in heauen and in earth Ephes 3.15 ioyning them together in an holie societie and communion we in earth giuing thankes for them whom God hath deliuered from these terrene miseries and they longing to see vs also with the whole Church to be made partakers of their ioy As Cyprian saith Magnus illic charorum numerus nos expectat parentum fratrum filiorum de salute sua securi de nostra solliciti A great number of our friends doth there looke for vs of our parents brethren sonnes secure of their saluation and sollicitous for ours Other entercourse betweene the Church militant and triumphant there is none neither of our prayers to them that were superstitious for the Lord saith Call vpon me in the day of trouble and I will deliuer thee Psal. 50.15 nor of their help and assistance to vs that were superfluous God is able alone and sufficient to defend his Church as the Angell saith None holdeth with me in these things in the defence of the Church but Michael your prince which is Christ. Dan. 10.21 2. Which doth not that wrong to the faithfull departed to thrust them downe into the extreame paines of purgatorie which they say exceede all the paines of this life when as the Scripture saith that they which dye in the Lord doe from thencefoorth rest from their labours and all teares are wiped from their eyes They neede not therefore any reliefe from the liuing being in ioy and happines 3. Which doth not make any representation of Christ by Images for wee are commaunded not to corrupt our selues in making any grauen image or representation of any figure Deuter. 4.16 Neither doth it presume to offer vp Christ in sacrifice as the Papall priesthood doth because the Scripture saith that Christ doth not offer himselfe often but he appeared once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe And with one offering hath hee consecrated for euer them that are sanctified But our religion prescribeth the holie Sacrament of the bodie and bloud of Christ to bee vsed according to his institution in his remembrance as our Sauiour himselfe saith Doe this in remembrance of me Whereupon it was thus concluded and resolued in a generall Councell Ecce viuificantis illius corporis imaginem totam panis scilicet substantiam quam mandauit apponi Behold the whole or all the image of that quickening bodie the substance of bread which he commaunded to be vsed We haue then no other commemoration or representatiue image of Christ but onely the Sacrament celebrated according to his owne institution As for blasphemous swearing by instruments of our redemption though too many among Protestants are addicted to that euill custome yet he might haue bin ashamed to obiect it to vs knowing how common a thing it is among Papists to sweare as it appeareth by their own Synode which thus complaineth Quo colore nunc consuetudo passim iurantium in omni negotio excusari possit non videmus With what colour the custome of such which sweare vpon euerie occasion can be excused wee see not Those sacrilegious oathes to sweare by the Masse by the crosse nailes bodie bloud of Christ his wounds by S. Peter S. Anne S. Mary and the rest where els had they their beginning but in Poperie Yea it seemeth that swearing by such is not onely vsuall among them but commendable also for one Sanpaulinus for reprouing one of swearing was suspected to be a Lutherane and thereupon further examined sifted condemned and burned at Paris ann 1551. 4. It is also vntrue that there is no consecration or distinction of callings among vs for both Bishops haue their consecration from the Metropolitane with his Suffraganes and Ministers their ordination from their Ordinaries by imposition of hands which ought to be and is assisted with other Presbyters The Prince doth not challenge any power or authoritie of the Ministrie of any diuine offices in the Church or to conferre orders or consecration but onely by the Letters Patents conferreth the temporalties of Bishoprickes the Metropolitane with his assistance consecrateth as other Patrones present to benefices and the Ordinarie instituteth And this hath been the ancient vse and custome of England and prerogatiue of the Crowne that licence should be demaunded of the King to chuse and his royall consent to be had after election made as it is euident in diuers ancient statutes 5. As for the Papall Hierarchie it is altogether imperfect and out of order 1. The office of the Pope is iniurious and Antichristian taking vpon him to haue iurisdiction and prerogatiue ouer all other Bishops contrarie both to the Scriptures which gaue vnto all the Apostles the same authoritie and to them al the keyes were equallie committed and power to binde and loose Mat. 18.18 And to the Canons for Nicen. 1. can 6. parilis mos the like custome and iurisdiction is decreed to the Patriarke of Alexandria as to the Bishop of Rome Chalcidonens action 16. equall priuiledges are yeelded to Constantinople which is called new Rome as to old Rome The like may be shewed out of the eight first generall Councels The offices of Archbishops and Bishops as wee condemne not absolutely when they are vsed not as titles of ambition but as holesome meanes to preserue vnitie as they should be exercised among Protestants so in the Papall policie wee mislike them being but the Popes creatures and fit props to vphold his Antichristian and vsurped power But concerning your seuen orders of Priests Deacons Subdeacons Acolythists Readers Exorcists Doorekeepers wee hold them as superfluous and vnnecessarie seruices The Apostle sheweth that Christ hath giuen some to be Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some pastors some teachers for the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the Ministrie for the edification of the bodie of Christ c. If these bee sufficient to
black and euill conditions So I trust we are sufficientlie taught to beware of these crouching friers lewd and vngodlie practises The 11. Perswasion I Defend a religion c. where there is no festiuitie no office or part of diuine seruice c. but representeth vnto vs one benefite or other no ceremonie is vsed in the holie sacrifice of the Masse no action of the Priest no ornament or attire he weareth no benediction he giueth no signe of the crosse he maketh but hath his religious signification and preacheth vnto vs his introite to the Altare his actions there his returne from thence the verie vestments wherewith he is adorned his putting of them on his putting them off his Amice Albe Girdle Maniple Stole Vestment speake nothing but Christ crucified c. The Disswasion 1 INdeede such Church such preaching this superstitious insinuation by crossings turnings comming going putting off putting on copes vestments is fit instruction for such blind worshippers But Christ is otherwise preached in his true Church then by dumbe ceremonies Moses was read and preached in the synagogues Act. 15.21 Faith commeth by hearing Rom. 10.17 not by shewing shadowing or signifying What hypocrites are these to thrust out of the Church the plaine reading of scripture to the peoples vnderstanding and to supplie it with mute and maymed shewes and ceremonies in which respect the Prophets words may be vsed against them who required these things at your hands Isay 1.12 2 But that it may better appeare what a goodlie kind of preaching this is by signes and circumstances I will brieflie bring in view some of their pope-edifying significations which by great ouersight the Frier belike ashamed thereof hath omitted and to begin with his owne trumperie First the shauing of Monks and Friers is very rich in sense and signification 1. It betokeneth the reuelation of the mysteries of our redemption by Christ. 2. It expresseth the similitude of Christs crowne of thornes 3. It insinuateth the amputation and cutting away of carnall desires 4. The circle of haire which is left representeth the fashion of a crowne because to be deuoted to Gods seruice is to raigne 5. The baring and making naked of the head implieth an apert and naked life and an open and free heart for celestiall meditations Likewise they vse diuers Magicall enchantments in the dedication of Churches 1. They make 12. crosses vpon the walles and set twelue burning lamps ouer against them signifying thereby that the 12. Apostles by their preaching brought light to the world 2. They burne incense set vp taper-light annoynt the altar and vessels with oyle to shew that the place is consecrate to holie vses 3. They sprinkle ashes ouer all the Church therein writing the Greeke and Latine Alphabet thereby setting forth the preaching of the faith which was first taught in those toongs 4. They beate vpon the Church dore with an hammer to driue Sathan from thence In Baptisme they vse many interpretatiue toyes 1. They touch the eares and nostrels with spittle that the eares may be ready to heare and the nostrels to discerne betweene the smell of good and euill 2. All the senses are signed with the crosse thereby to be defended 3. Salt is put into their mouth that they may be kept from putrifying in sinne 4. They are annoynted with oyle in the breast to be safe frō suggestions 5. They are annoynted with chrisme in the top of the head and thereby become Christians 6. A white garment is put vpon them that are baptized to betoken their regeneration 7. A vaile is put vpon their head in signe that they are now crowned with a royall diademe 8. A burning taper is put into their hand to fulfill that saying in the Gospell Let your light so shine before men c. Math. 5. In Matrimonie the like toyes are obserued as to couer the parties with a vaile to ioyne them together with a partie-coloured scarfe of white and purple to mutter certaine words ouer the ring to hallow it Thus haue they pestered the Church with a multitude of idle vnprofitable and vnedifying ceremonies which the Apostle calleth a yoke of bondage Galath 5.1 And as Augustine sayth Ipsam religionem quam Deus paucissimis sacramentis liberam esse voluit onerib premunt vt tolerabilior sit conditio Iudaeorum c. They cumber or oppresse religion with burdenous ceremonies which God would haue free with few sacraments And these friuolous obseruations and superstitious types do tend to instruction and bring religious lessons as this expounder of riddles telleth vs like as the Pharisees phylacteries and fringes of their garments tended to keeping of the lawe They writ the lawe in parchments and scroules and tied them to their frontlets and bound them vpon their armes whereas they should haue kept them in their harts Thus the Papists keepe the memorie of Christs death in crosses vestures pictures and such like which should be reuiued by the preaching of the word whereby Christ is described in our sight and among vs crucified as S. Paule to the Galathians and graft in mens hearts by a liuely faith 3 Now further as these papall Romanes do boast of their preaching and significant rites and ceremonies so the Pagane Romanes can pretend the like for their religion whose hieroglyphicall toyes are very consonant and suteable to these new histrionicall tricks of Christned Romanists 1. They sacrificed to Saturne bareheaded because all things are naked and open to God for the which cause also popish Priests were shauen to betoken their open and free harts c. 2. Their women in mourning vsed white garments to betoken innocencie and simplicitie so doth the white garment vsed in popish baptizing as we haue seene before 3. It was a great offence to vtter the name of their Deus tutelaris their God of defense so the Masse-priest mumbleth his mysticall enchaunting words in secret 4. When they tooke vp the table they alwayes left somewhat remayning because no holie thing such as they counted the table should be left emptie so the Masse-priests do reserue some part of the sacrament vpon the altare and hang it vp in the pixe 4 They did burne lamps in their temples and at the graues of the dead and consecrate wax candles to their Gods to signifie the euerlasting light so do the Papists 5 The auncient Romanes married not in May because it was an holie time vsed for solemne expiations so the Church of Rome inhibiteth mariage at certaine seasons for the holines of the time 6 They vsed not to marrie their Cosins that by mariage they might increase kinred In the Papall seignorie for the same cause mariage is forbidden betweene Godfathers and Godmothers and their Godchildren as they are called because they are alreadie of a spirituall kinred 7 The Paganes vsed a kind of shauing which betokened a crowne and thereof
with fearefull sights and terrible scritches c. A right description of popish Purgatorie grounded vpon a faithlesse superstitious feare And such is popish doctrine neither affoording comfort to the liuing nor ioy to the dead that a man can not say of them as a certaine Thessalian being asked who are at most ease answered they which haue made an end of warfare But these which dye in poperie after they haue made an end of the warfare of this life by their doctrine enter into their greatest labours and paines Thus haue we heard with how many cunning sleights this glozing Frier hath endeuoured to perswade vnto his profession he hath wrapped vp together in this one section no lesse then halfe an hundred vntruths and as he began so he endeth with a lye that they were all vnius labij of one language before the Gospell was reuiued for it is certaine that the Greekes alwayes vsed the Greeke toong the Sclauonians the Sclauonian the Aethiopians the Aethiopian language And how vntrue this is their owne canons shall testifie for Innocentius decreed that in great Cities where people resort of diuers languages that the Bishops should prouide fit men qui secundum diuersitates rituum linguarum diuina illis officia celebrent which according to the diuersitie of their rites and languages should celebrate diuine seruice Lastly he telleth vs that he will proue by aboue an hundred arguments that their religion is only true lawfull c. in a certaine booke which he calleth a Resolution pag. 47. li. 32. which pamphlet when he hath hatched it to his perfection and sent it out of the owlelight into the sunne-shine which as yet so farre as I can learne is not come from vnder the brooders wings it may be either I or some of my brethren will plucke a feather with it And thus is this Section ended and with such successe as all lyers and sclaunderers must looke for And though this false accuser might be thrust vnder the old canon which decreeth Vt qui primum obiectum non probarunt ad caetera non admittantur That they which proue not the first thing obiected should not be admitted to the rest yet I will examine whatsoeuer he can say and cast his light stuffe into the balance and lay his counterfeit coyne to the touch that the vanitie of the one and deceit of the other may appeare THE SIXT SECTION WHAT MOVED the Author to dedicate his worke to the Counsell The Answere THis Section comming out of the same forge bewrayeth the same author it is so patched together with vntruths falshoods like the former He abuseth those honorable persons and deceiueth himselfe to thinke to win grace with wise men by telling of fables Simonides being asked why of all other he deceiued not the Thessalians answered because they were more simple and vnlearned then could be deceiued by me sayth he But their honors are too wise and prudent then to be deluded with such a fablers fictions His seuerall motiues confusedlie shuffled together I will bring into some order if I can 1. Motiue As this cause which I handle is most honorable of all so I am bold to offer the defence thereof to your honors the most honorable and noble consistorie of our nation c. Yet he limiteth this honorable authoritie before saying that the ends and offices of a religious and spirituall common-wealth are diuers from those of a temporall and ciuill gouernment and in that respect matters handled in the one do not so properlie appertaine to the redresse and iudgement of those which rule in the other but are to be decided and reformed by the gouernors of that profession to which they are belonging c. The remooue 1. I had thought that the generall end both of the ciuill and ecclesiasticall bodie had beene one and the same though the offices and functions be diuers namely preseruation not onely of peace but the maintenance of true religion to bring the people vnto God I am sure S. Paule so teacheth that prayer be made for Kings and all that are in authoritie not only that we may leade a quiet and peaceable life but in all godlines and honestie It belongeth then not onely to the ciuill state to prouide for peace that the people may liue quietlie but for true religion that they may liue also godlie honestlie In these two points Eleutherius sometime Bishop of Rome sheweth the office of a King to consist thus writing to Lucius King of Britaine The people and folke of the Realme of Britaine be yours whome if they be deuided you ought to gather together in concord and peace to call them to the faith and lawe of Christ and to the holie Church c. 2. It is an absurd speech that reformation of religion belongeth not properlie to the iudgement and redresse of the Prince her noble Counsellors Thus these pragmaticall Friers would both pull out their right eye of iudgement that they should not be able to discerne and cut off their right hand of power that they should not reforme what is amisse in religion for if the most soueraigne care of pietie and religion do properlie belong to the Prince then the Counsellers of state the most honorable Ministers vnder the Prince can not be excluded And therefore the Apostle in the place recited maketh not mention only of Kings but also of all that are in authoritie vnder them This also hath beene the auncient practise of this land Eleutherius aduiseth King Lucius with the Councell of his realme out of the scriptures to take a lawe to rule his people by The Statute of Praemunire made against prouisions and presentments of Bishoprickes and other benefices from the Pope was enacted by King Edward the third by the assent only of the great men of his Councell and Nobilitie and of the comminaltie without the Spirituall Lords The like Act was made vnder Richard 2. that all they which procured such presentations from Rome or any excommunications from thence in those causes should be banished to the which acte the great men only of the temporaltie without the Cleargie gaue their assent Yea of late in Queene Maries raigne the greatest friend to the Pope that euer he had in England the Prince aduised most like by her Counsell did of her owne authoritie send certaine articles concerning religious matters as reteining of ceremonies vsing of processions manner of baptizing admitting to orders and such like to the Bishop of London presently to be put in execution Yea this discourser soone forgetting what he had said confesseth whose chiefe care speaking of the honorable Counsell must be in taking order for such causes meaning of religion p. 49. l. 14. then as they may receiue direction from the spirituall state which we denie not so the correction and administration belongeth vnto them Thus as a man
whole disordred crue calleth those assertions hereticall and traiterous yea those wicked Popish Iudasâ—â—ed Diuines at Salamanca in Spaine resolued vpon these diuellish conclusions That they sinned mortally which aided the English in Ireland that it was a meritorious act to assist Tyrone that the Catholikes in Ireland which did fight against the Queene were by no construction Rebels Beside these villanous positions which no estate in the world could endure the Iebusites and Masse Priests practises haue been most odious against the life of our Soueraigne the treasons are confessed by the secular Priests themselues Therefore if the state of France vpon one attempt of Iohn Chastel against the King of France suborned by the Iesuites expelled the whole order greater cause hath the state of England hauing experience of many wicked plots deuised and practised both by the secular and irregular Masse Priests to exile the whole societie of both to make their returne into the land of treason Haue not these miscreants now great cause to complaine of persecution and to glorie of such filthie martyrdome I say vnto them with Augustine against the Donatists Recte haec à vobis dicerentur quaerentibus martyrum gloriam si haberetis martyrum causam These things were well alleaged of you that seeke the glorie of Martyrs if you had the cause of Martyrs 2. Nay rather these vngodly and seditious practisers by their impietie obstinacie idolatrie doe persecute the state then are persecuted of the state as Augustine saith Grauius Saram ancilla per superbiam persecuta est quam eam Sara per debitam disciplinam The bondmaid did more persecute Sara by her obstinacie then Sara did her by due discipline and seueritie 3. Yea these froward persons that haue been so often by proclamation forewarned to be packing whereas the law is a sufficient monition it selfe and diuers of them whereas they had deserued death by the law were but exiled and banished as 21. at one time and 31. at another aduenturing notwithstanding to enter the land whether more of a superstitious minde to peruert soules or of an ambitious desire to gaine a kingdome to the Popes seignorie it is hard to say or which is more like of a treacherous resolution to destroy both and so rushing vpon the pikes are accessary to their owne death and cause of their trouble themselues Protestants in the late daies of persecution could not obtaine that fauour to be banished neither were they suffered to depart but Ports and Hauens were laid to keepe them in But this Seminarie broode may be gone if they will the passages are open for them and yet they will remaine among vs to their owne perill Wherefore we may here say againe vnto them as Augustine to the Donatists Patent â—ortae exire non vultis quam persecutionem paâ—â—â—ini nisi à vobis diligit vos persecutor vester persequitur vos furor vester ille vt fugiatis petit iste vt pereatis impellit The gates are wide open and ye will not goe out what persecution suffer you but from your selues your persecutor loueth you your owne furie persecuteth you he desireth you would be packing this forceth you to your owne perishing Wherefore it is euident that these clamorous mates suffer no persecution but punishment for their euill demerits and they suffer most iustly that no amends is requisite in this case vnlesse it be by the like But if they would be exempted from the daunger of the Princes lawes let them follow the Apostles counsell Wilt thou be without feare of the Prince doe well Rom. 13.3 And let them doe as Ambrose saith to the Emperour Ego in consistoria nisi pro te stare non didici extra palatium certare non possum qui palatij secreta nec quaero nec noui I haue learned not to stand in the imperiall consistorie but for thee neither can I striue in the Princes palace which neither know the secrets thereof nor desire So let them neither striue against the authoritie of Princes nor presse to know and knowing to bewray their secrets We desire not their companie neither haue neede of their phisicke And as Pausanias answered a Physition that said all was well with him Because saith he I vse not you for my Physition So I make no doubt but all would be well with vs if such Italianated Physitions would be packing The fourth motiue 1. You vowed it in Baptisme your promise to God to his Church to your countrie is to be performed 2. Many or most of you being of age and discretion in the time of Queene Mary haue practised and professed it 3. So many of your noble companie as are admitted to the honourable order of the Garter haue sworne it 4. You are all sworne Councellors to our Queene which by title of inheritance and at her coronation by the oath and fidelitie of a Christian Prince hath obliged her selfe to maintaine it c. The Remoue 1. They which were baptized vnder the Popish religion were baptized in the name of the Trinitie not into the name of the Pope they were entred into the profession of the Christian faith not of the Popish religion for then by this reason hee that is baptized by an heretike were bound to maintaine his heresie if baptisme in Poperie were a bond to professe that superstitious phantasie Wee denie not but that true Baptisme in substance is giuen in the Romane synagogue but that neither proueth it to be the true Church nor those baptized among them to be obliged to their religion For though we confesse with the Apostle that there is one Lord one faith one Baptisme yet are not these onely professed and had in the Church but onely fruitfully and truly professed in the Church In the which alone as Augustine saith God is not worshipped but in the which alone God is truly worshipped in the which alone faith is not kept but in the which alone faith with charitie is kept Nec in qua sola vnus baptismus habetur sed in qua sola vnus baptismus salubriter habetur Neither in the which alone is this one baptisme had but in which alone baptisme is holesomely had And this is the cause why we iterate not Baptisme giuen in Poperie because it was ministred in the name of Christ and so bindeth to the true Christian profession not to the Romane separation And therefore we say not to vse Augustines words Vt cum ad nos veneritis alterum accipiatis sed vt eum qui apud vos iam erat vtiliter accipiatis That when ye come to vs you should receiue another baptisme but that which they had with you they should hold it with profit He seemeth then erroniously to thinke that Baptisme and the Church cannot be separated that because wee renounce not Baptisme ministred in the Popish Church wee are bound together with their
baptisme to acknowledge their Church and faith But this is a manifest error for as Augustine truly saith Non omnes qui tenent baptismum tenent ecclesiam sicut non omnes qui tenent ecclesiam tenent vitam aeternam All which hold baptisme doe not hold the Church as all that hold the Church doe not hold eternall life Wee confesse then that the Church of Rome hath legitimum baptismum lawfull and true baptisme in substance sed non legitimè but not rightfully or lawfully as Augustine distinguisheth And Aliud est habere aliud vtiliter habere It is one thing to haue it another to haue it profitablie Baptisme may without the Church be had but not profitablie or fruitfully had Wheresoeuer baptisme is had it is the baptisme of Christ not of men of the author not of the Minister and therefore it bindeth to the faith of the first institutor not to the doctrine of the corrupt imitator Neither yet doe the Papists baptize those againe which were initiated by that Sacrament among Protestants and afterward became Apostataes neither doe they thinke them to be tied by that baptisme to the Protestants faith as this Apologist confesseth he was borne in the Queenes raigne of parents conformable to the time pag. 52. and so baptized vnder the Gospell yet hath plaid fast and loose with vs notwithstanding that bond 2. Vntrue it is which in the next place is boldly affirmed for diuers of their Honours were borne since the raigne of King Henry the 8. and so not of yeeres then to discerne Some of them were in that time of the faith which they now professe The rest may say with S. Paul euery one for himselfe What they were in time past it maketh no matter to me Galath 2.6 By this rule neither Saint Paul that had been a circumcised Pharisie should haue been become a preaching Apostle nor yet Titus an vncircumcised Grecian a baptized and beleeuing Christian if a profession first receiued might not vpon better iudgement be reiected or an opinion once entertained might not with more mature aduice be reuersed As though a plant disliking the ground might not be remoued or the ayre for a mans health that is sickly chaunged Augustine to this purpose saith well that was chalenged of the Donatists because he had been a Manichee quantum ille accusat vitium meum tantum laudo medicum meum The more he blameth my disease I commend my Phisition The obiecting of former error doth tend to the praise of the reformer 3. The honourable Knights of the Garter neuer tooke any such oath to bind themselues to the obedience of the Papall faith but rather the contrarie as may appeare by the oath prescribed by statute to bee ministred vnto all her Maiesties officers and ministers whereby they acknowledge the Queenes highnes to be supreame gouernour in this Realme c. in all spirituall or ecclesiasticall causes as temporall and that no forraine Prince Prelate or person hath or ought to haue any iurisdiction power c. within this Realme Thus this slie merchant would entangle their Honours with repugnant oathes as though they should sweare one thing when they are enstalled into the honorable order of the Garter and the quite contrarie when they are sworne of the Councell 4. And as true it is that our late Queenes Maiestie did oblige her self by oath to maintaine the Popish religion which is a most notorious slaunder of her Highnes there being no such thing contained in that princely oath as shall afterward be shewed and her Maiestie hauing giuen her royall consent to the booke of Articles of religion confirmed by act of Parliament and to diuers statutes made for the abrogation of the Papall iurisdiction Thus wee see how disloyallie this Popes creature behaueth himselfe to his Prince being not farre from the imputation of periurie as though her Maiestie should haue promised one thing vpon her oath and performed the contrarie The Preacher aduiseth not to curse the King in thy thought But these malepart popelings dare aduenture not onely to thinke but to speake and practise euill against their Prince An euill requitall for her princely clemencie toward them of whom we may say as Ambrose of Theodosius Quasi parens expostulare malebat quam vt iudex punire c. vincere volebat non plectere Who had rather as a parent expostulate with them then as a Iudge punish them winne them rather with fauour then winnow them with rigour if her Highnes had not been otherwise by their vnnaturall proceedings prouoked And as Cleomenes said to the Argiues that vpbraided him in like manner with periurie It is in your power to speake euill of me but in mine to doe euill to you So these men doe not consider that for their lewd leasings her Highnes might haue iustlie recompenced them with sharpe proceedings The fift Motiue Neuer any Catholike subiect of England hitherto hath abused so much your Honours dishonoured the cause of religion for which we daily vndertake so many troubles c. to make so bold a challenge except he were able to performe it and my confident assurance is I shal not be the first vnhappie and vnaduised man to doe it The Remoue What your successe hath been in your challenges and how well ye haue performed the defence of the Popish cause is well knowne to the world which of your writers hath not been answered to the full or who is there of you that hath not been ouertaken in that he hath vndertaken Your great patrones Harding Saunders Bristow Martin Campion Stapleton with the rest haue had their hands full But which of you hath reioyned vpon B. Iuel D. Fulkes D. Whitakers D. Sutcliffes replies Your offers are brags rather then bickerings false charges rather then true chalenges There is saith the Wiseman that maketh himselfe rich and hath nothing Prou. 13.7 And such are those braggers that thinke no mens writings comparable to theirs and scornefullie rather contemne then soundly confute any thing brought against them You could doe little if you might not bragge but your vaine confidence wil soone faile you and your swelling words will soone abate and your vaine crakes will cracke vpon your owne heads as Hierome saith Cito turgens spuma dilabitur quamuis grandis tumor contrarius est sanitati The rising â—ome is soone dispersed and great swellings shew no soundnes Cicero well said Oratores imperitos ad vociferationem vt claudos ad equum confugere That vnskilfull Orators vse outcries as lame men horses the one cannot go vnlesse he be carried the other can say nothing vnlesse hee crie out And set the lowd outcries vaine bragges and bold facings of our aduersaries aside what are they and what is their cause It is not so among disputers as they say it is with Bee-masters That is iudged to be the best hiue which maketh the greatest noyse
censured first this is the condition of warre it spareth none Secondly this notwithstanding the Citie after his death was taken Thirdly the Pope was forced afterward to absolue and release whom before he had cursed 8. The reason why so many Kings and Regents of the world preuailed not in their attempts and endeuours against the Sea of Rome is euident because they had before giuen their power and authoritie vnto the beast with one consent Reuel 17.13 and therefore Gods iustice required that they should be beaten with their owne rod and suffer vnder that power which another by their authoritie first vsurped But the time shall come that the same Kings and Nations which before gaue their kingdome to the beast shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked Reuel 17.17 But concerning the Indians if the Spanish tyranny had not preuailed more then Popish subtiltie and cruell violence obtained more then Monkish conscience they were like to haue had a cold suite of it and a simple haruest 9. Iulian was punished for Apostasie from the faith not for denying fealtie to the Pope and Valens iudged for his Arrian heresie not for gainsaying the Papall hierarchie The Grecians and Armenians were subdued to the Turkes not for resisting the iurisdiction of the Pope but for other graue and waightie causes which may be alleaged first because the Empire being diuided anno 101. when Leo the 3. proclaimed Charles the great Emperour of Rome was thereby weakened and so by little and little decayed till at the last it became a pray to the Turke The Pope then himselfe was the first occasion of this iudgement which befell them Secondly in that the Greekes began to haue small respect to the Romane Bishop the Pope himself was the cause for that he first forsooke the Greek Empire erecting another in the West as the author of the tripartite worke saith Schisma hoc fecit partitio imperij c. The partition of the Empire made this schisme because the Empire that was but one was made two Et hinc probabile est quod Graeci cum suo domino coeperunt rebellare ecclesiae Romanae And hence it was that the Greekes with their Lord began to rebell against the Romane Church The Pope therefore may for this thanke himselfe Thirdly but the greatest cause of all this diuision of the Empire and so consequently the confusion thereof was the idolatrie of the Greekes who in a generall Councel held at Nice confirmed and allowed the adoration of images about the time of Adrian the 1. by whose counsell Irene the Empresse tooke vp the bodie of Constantine her husband and burned it and cast the ashes into the sea because they disanulled images Immediatly vpon this inhumane fact of Irene and for their idolatrie followed the diuision of the Empire by Leo the 3. the next successor of this Adrian And for the same cause namely their idolatrie was the Citie of Constantinople surprized and sacked of the Turkes for after the Citie was taken the great Turke caused the image of the Crucifixe which was set vp in the great Church of Sophia to be taken downe and writing this superscription ouer the head Hic est Christianorum Deus This is the God of the Christians made it with sound of Trumpet to bee caried round about the Campe and euery man to spit at it ex Ioann Ram. lib. 2. rerum Turcicar This is more like to be the cause of the destruction of that citie Fourthly and as God hath punished the East Churches for their backsliding so must idolatrous Rome looke to haue her part which both in manners and doctrine is as corrupt as euer was the Greeke Church Many yeeres since it was said Latini licet ad ea quae sunt fidei verius adhaereant deo quam Graeci tamen quoad mores multo pluribus sceleribus implicati sunt The Latines although in matters of faith they cleaue more truly to God yet are in manners more corrupt But now the church of Rome is notoriously knowne both in faith and manners to bee much worse If the Greekes were iudged of God for failing in one the Latines cannot escape that come short in both 10. Lastly he telleth vs that in the Primitiue Church before Constantine almost an hundred Pagane Emperours either truly elected or reputed persecuted it and all them excepting tenne or eleuen died miserably when the persecuted Popes put to death by them came not to the third part of that number pag. 69. lin 3 4. c. 1. Vntrue it is that there were before Constantine almost 100. Pagane Emperours there were not many aboue halfe that number 2. Neither were then the Bishops of Rome called Popes by a peculiar stile as now they are 3. This maketh nothing for the present Papall Hierarchie for the Bishops of Rome are declined and fallen away from the faith doctrine of those first persecuted Bishops Martyrs 4. Whereas I confesse there was then great difference between the imperiall ecclesiasticall state both in the short raigne miserable end of the one the long continuance glorious death of the other the case is now altered for since the time of Gregorie the 1. when the Bishops of Rome began to fall away from the true faith the Popes both for their wretched end and short raigne may cōpare with either the Imperiall or any Episcopall seate and farre exceed them For the first Anastasius voided his entrals into the draught Siluerius died in banishment Vigilius drawne vp and downe by the neck in the streetes at Constantinople Sabinianus died being frighted in the night Agathon that condemned Ministers mariage died of the plague Constantin 2. condemned to prison and his eyes put out Leo. 3. cast from his horse and beaten to death Stephanus 8. wounded in a tumult and so battered that he neuer would shew himselfe afterward abroade Iohn 13. slaine in adulterie Bonifacius 7. died of an apoplexie his bodie was drawne through the streetes with ropes and striken through with speares Siluester 2. slaine of the Deuill being a Necromancer Benedictus 9. suffocated by the Deuill Lucius 2. beaten with stones to death Adrianus 4. choaked with a flie Innocentius 4 sodainely died in his bed Nicholaus 3. died sodainely and speechlesse Clement 6. died sodainely of an aposteme Iohn 15. had his eyes put out and died of the stinch of the prison Now sir what haue you gained by obiecting the miserable end of the Pagane Emperours I thinke your Popes may therein compare with them more wretched and desperate ends shall we not finde of any Princes or Prelates then of prophane Popes For shortnes of raigne Popes goe beyond all regents either temporall or ecclesiasticall that euer were in the world not to speake of the regiment of two or three yeares and not aboue of which sort many Popes may be numbred how many of them attayned not to a yeare how many not
behauiour against King Henry his father who finding his sonne Iohn to be numbred amongst his enemies in a certaine schedule exhibited to him thereupon sickned with griefe and gaue his sonnes Gods curse and his which he would neuer release till his dying day 7. King Henry the third was not punished with ciuill warres for opposing himselfe against the Pope but rather for being too much ruled by him for after that in a Parliament held at Oxford in the 42. yeare of his raigne he had condescended to certaine auncient lawes and ordinances whereunto he had before refused to yeeld and for conseruation whereof those douzen peeres which hee speaketh of were ordained the King Ann. 44. procured an absolution of his oath from Rome whereby he had before obliged himselfe to maintaine the said auncient lawes whereupon followed those intestine warres betweene the King and his Nobles in the which the King and his sonnes were taken This contention then was caused not for the Kings disobedience to the Pope but his too great confidence in the Popes authoritie to absolue him from his oath to abrogate the lawes enacted 8. True it is that many miseries and calamities as ciuill warre famine strange diseases happened vnder the raigne of Edward the second and he himselfe at the last lost first his Crowne and then his life but as vntrue it is that these troubles fell vpon him for medling too farre against the See of Rome It is most euident in histories that he was deposed for misgouernment following the counsell of couetous cruell and wicked persons Pierce Gaueston and the two Spencers in whose quarell he in a short space put to death 22. of the greatest men in the realme 9. The like cause is shewed in histories of the great troubles that happened betweene Richard the second and his Nobles and of the great miserie he fell into namely his negligent administration of the commonwealth the intolerable exactions of his officers his crueltie in causing his owne Vncle Thomas of Woodstock and other Nobles to be cruellie put to death for these and the like causes he was deposed and depriued of his Crowne and regall dignitie It was not then his medling in ecclesiasticall iurisdiction as this wisard calculateth but his loose vniust and carelesse gouernment that wrought him this wo. And if it were enacted in this Kings time that Vrbane the Pope should be acknowledged for head of the Church as is here affirmed small reason there was in this discourser to exemplifie this King for his disobedience to the See of Rome which is the scope of all this senselesse section 10. King Henry prospered well in all his affaires after he tooke vpon him to be the supreme gouernor in Ecclesiasticall matters so did his sonne vertuous King Edward the 6. so did not Queene Mary nothing had good successe almost that she enterprised whose raigne was shortest of all her predecessors vnlesse it were vsurping Richard He therefore speaketh vntrulie and vncharitablie that King Edward was not vniustlie punished in his fathers fault for neither had his father of famous memorie faulted herein nor himselfe punished for the same but blessed of God with a godlie raigne and an happie end And thus hath this fabulous chronicler held vs with a long tale feeding the reader with his owne fansies for among all these examples by him produced he hath not verified his coniecture in any one of them that they were punished of God for resisting the papall iurisdiction But the contrarie may easily be shewed that no Kings had worse successe then they which were deuoted to the papall vsurped authoritie and none better then they which impugned the same and for the proofe hereof I will not go farre from home And first concerning the euill hap of Princes made slaues to the Pope other countries yeeld plentifull choice of examples as of Ladislaus King of Bohemia a great enemie to the doctrine of Iohn Husse who died sodainely of the Pestilence Another Ladislaus much about that time King of Polonia at the incitement of Eugenius the 4 brake truce made with Amurathes the great Turke was miserablie slaine Rodolphus rebelled against the Emperour Henry the 4 being set vp against him by Gregory the seauenth and was slaine in battaile The strange ends and bloudie deaths of Henry the second Charles the ninth Henry the third Kings of Fraunce great patrones of popish religion are very well known the first slaine with a shiuer of a speare as he iusted against Montgomery the second dyed of bleeding at the eares and nose and diuers other parts the third was murdered by a Frier But leauing to make mention of forraine stories this one Island of Britannie doth afford sufficient supplie who was more deuoted vnto the Pope and Popes religion before the Conquest then Offa and Edgar and yet none were more punished in their posteritie King Offa first gaue the Peter-pence to Rome he founded the Abbey of Bath and of S. Albons and was himselfe at the length shorne a Monke he most vniustly caused Ethelbert King of East-Angles who gentlie came vnto him mistrusting nothing to be beheaded But what befell the posteritie of this Offa not one of them prospered Eg fredus raigned but foure moneths the rest that succeeded were either slaine or expulsed Kenulphus Kenelmus Ceolwulphus Bernulphus Ludecanus Withlacus of the which Ceolwolfus was banished all the rest were slaine the last two Kings of Offa his race were Berthulfus and Burdredus which were expulsed of the Danes and so the Kingdome of Mercia was extinguished This Offa had a daughter called Ethelburga which was maried to Brithicus King of West-Saxons which first poisoned her husband then she fled into France and became Abbesse of a certaine Monasterie from whence for committing adulterie with a Monke she was expelled and ended her dayes in pouertie and miserie And such successe had Offa his posteritie Edgar was a great friend to the Pope and one of the greatest Patrones of Monkerie he restored and new founded 47. Monasteries but it fared full euill with his posteritie his base sonne Edward was slaine by the counsaile of his step-mother Queene Alfrede his other sonne Ethelred was expelled his Kingdome by Swanus the Dane and constrained to liue in exile in Normandie his sonne Edmund surnamed Ironside was forced to deuide his Kingdome with Canutus the Dane Since the Conquest Richard the first was much addicted to the Church of Rome and the Ministers thereof he tooke his scrip and staffe at Canturburie to go in pilgrimage to Ierusalem to recouer the holie land as they called it from the Infidels and he betooke the regiment of his Kingdome to William Longshamp Bishop of Ely the Popes Legate In Palestina he fought many battailes prosperouslie yet returning home he was taken captiue by the Duke of Austria and sent to the Emperour paying for his raunsome an hundred thousand
factious crue and adulterous seede of that strumpet may in good time also bee dispatched thither to sucke their owne mothers breasts that both the bondwoman and her sonnes may be cast foorth and not be heires with Isaac And if they will with Iudas depart from the Ministers of Christ to the Pharisies we may wish vnto them Iudas end as one saith Iudas iuit ad Pharisaeos non iuit ad Apostolos iuit ad diâ—isoâ— diuisus perijt Iudas went to the Pharisies not to the Apostles he went to those which were diuided and being diuided in the midst perished And happie were it with the Church of England if it were honestly rid of such make bate companions that wee might dwell by none but good neighbours as it is said of Themistocles when hee offered his ground to sell caused it to be proclaimed that he had a good neighbour Now this aduersarie breaking off here his vncharitable accusations returneth to his former defence which how sillie and weake it is shall in the discouerie thereof appeare The fift Defence 1. WHat disloyaltie of behauiour to Commonwealths can be noted in Catholike religion doe wee not teach all dutie vnto Princes and superiours pag. 94. 2. What is there in that sacred function of Priesthood now treason by the proceedings of England that can be guiltie of so great a crime in the statute of treason in Edward 3. nothing is remembred but that which tendeth either to the betraying of King or countrie pag. 95. 3. What is in Priesthood now that was not in former times which euer in Parliament hath been reputed the most honourable calling c. the same Priesthood which was giuen to S. Peter and his Apostles the same which S. Augustine and his associates had that conuerted England pag. 96. 4. There is in that sacrament of Priesthood no renouncing or deniall of any authoritie in England no conspiracie to Prince no betraying of kingdome c. pag. 96. 5. That Priests do absolue from sinnes c. the cause is no temporall thing and yet it cannot be the cause of this treason for Deacons which haue no such authoritie are traytors by the same statute pag. 96. 6. That our Priests are consecrated in forraine countries is not the cause for in former times it hath been the greatest honour to our Clergie to be consecrated in those forraine countries and to be ordered in France to which we be friends and in England is equally treason pag. 97. 7. The Grecians and Germanes diuers in doctrine to the Church of Rome haue their Seminaries of Priests maintained by the Pope and yet they condemne not their Priests for traytors and it is as improbable that the Pope hath an intent to bring England vnder his temporall gouernment as it is vnprobable in those countries 8. How can those religious Schooles be such aduersaries c. where there is no Reader no professor no Lecture no doctrine against our English gouernment where prayer is continually made for her Maiestie The rules and gouernment there consent with the ancient foundations of Cambridge and Oxford pag. 98. 9. What disobedience can it be to denie to any temporall Prince supremacie in causes Ecclesiasticall a preeminence distinct c. which our Kings themselues euer approued in the Roman See which neuer any Turke or Goth or Vandale or Infidell challenged c. nor any temporall Prince vnlesse it be in England pag. 98. 10. The enemies to this See do not condemne it as a disobedience to appeale to Rome in spirituall cases to goe on pilgrimage to Rome to fetch any Crucifixe or picture from thence all Catholikes and Christians of the world without prohibition of their Princes haue accesse thither pag. 99. 11. Our most triumphant Kings haue performed those offices in visiting of Rome in their owne persons pag. 99. The Answere 1. DOe ye aske what disloyaltie there is in your Cacolike religion when by Popish doctrine Princes are not chiefe in their owne kingdoms ouer Ecclesiasticall causes and persons and the Pope hath authoritie by the same to excommunicate and depose Princes and absolue subiects from their oth of obedience And doe ye teach all dutie to Princes when the pestilent vipers the Iudasites doe hold that subiects ought to assist the Pope inuading a countrie by force for religion against their Prince and that they are bound to keepe secret the Popes designements to that end that they were no rebels which aided the Popes Cacolikes in Ireland against the Queene I would not so often alleage these matters but that this brablers confused tautologies can not otherwise be answered 2. There be other points in that statute beside betraying of King or countrie that are made treason as to violate the Kings wife or his eldest daughter or the wife of his eldest sonne but these matters are impertinent they serue only to shew the vntruth of his speech And euen by this statute popish Priests and Iudasites that maintaine a forren Potentate a knowne enemie to Prince and countrie are found to be traytors for they which are adherent to the Kings enemies in his realme giuing them ayde and comfort within the realme or elsewhere are by that statute iudged traytors 3. In popish Priesthood there are many things now which were not in former times as to haue power to make Christs bodie that it is a sacrament and hath an indeleble character their shauing greazing to haue dependance vpon the Bishop of Rome the vow of single life annexed to orders these things in the honorable calling of the Ministers of the Church the auncient and pure age of the Church did not acknowledge And though the popish priesthood for some hundred yeares past hath beene in great credite yet was it another manner of Ministerie which was honoured of the auncient Christian Emperors As the Bishops of the Nicene Councell whom Constantine so reuerenced that he would not sit downe till they had beckoned to him Meletius whose eyes lips and breast Theodosius kissed embraced Chrysostome whom Goinas the Goth did reuerence and caused his children to fall downe at his knees all these were Bishops of another order then the Popes creatures now are It is also a vaine boast that S. Peter had the same priesthood S. Peters presbyters were not Lords ouer Christs flocke as the Popes Clergie is 1. Pet. 5.3 Peter doth make himselfe a sympresbyter with the rest not lord ouer theÌ„ nor they to depend of him and confesseth Christ to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefe shepheard 1. Pet. 5.4 he dare not arrogate that title to himselfe as the Pope doth In some respects they may haue the same priesthoode which Augustine the Monke had though as yet the sacrifice of Christs bodie was not annexed to the priesthood nor many yeares after for he came from Rome and sought the preeminence of that See
but say with Hierome Non consueui eorum insultare erroribus quorum miror ingenia Whose wit I commend their errors will I not defend 2. What if Luther be vntruly alleaged whereof there is iust suspition because the Citer followeth not the addition at Wittemberge of Luthers workes but another at Ieane wherein it is like the aduersary hath played the part of a corrector and made Luther speake according to their owne sense For some of those bookes which he citeth as colloquium mensal I do not find extant in the addition at Wittemberge where it is most like the authentike copies of Luthers workes are kept Therefore it is not vnlike but they haue vsed Luther as Gregory complained in his time Alij tractatus nostros calumniantes ea sentire nos criminantur quae nunquam sensisse nos nouimus Others cauilling at our tractates do accuse vs to thinke that which we know we neuer thought 3. Those speeches wherein Luther is traduced if they be interpreted with fauour though the sound seeme to be somewhat harsh the sense is not hard In the two first he sheweth what temptations he had how he was troubled with many doubtfull cogitations and sometime euen with griefe as it were plunged in hell that he wished in his heart that he had neuer begun that trouble in the Church and that his workes were burned As though such tentations are not incident to the faithfull seruants of God Dauid was sometime so perplexed that he doubted of Gods promises and thought that all men were lyers Psal. 116 11. that euen the Prophets of God deceiued him Saint Paule also had fightings without and terrours within 2. Cor. 7.5 It should seeme then to be a rare thing for popish professors to feele such conflicts in their soule seeing this fresh-water souldier that neuer entred into the lists of these spirituall combats findeth fault with Luther herein In the third sentence obiected Luther doth nothing else but shew his constant resolution of the truth which shall stand in despite of Emperour Turke Pope Cardinals and all aduersaries His peremptory profession thereof might haue bene better qualified in termes which I will not euery where iustifie But his meaning is good that the truth shall preuaile and haue the vpper hand for as Hierome well saith Veritas laborare potest vinci non potest The truth may be blamed but not shamed But as for your gracelesse terme of Gracelesse Luther I doubt not but that he hath least grace that goeth about to disgrace him whom God with many excellent gifts had graced These railing speeches are but like vnto Shemei his casting of stones at Dauid wherewith in the end he hurt himselfe And as Seneca well sayth Ignominias probra velut clamorem hostium ferat saxa sine vulnere circa galeas trepidantia These opprobrious words are like the crie of the enemie a farre off and as stones that do fall downe about our eares without anie hurt So while this railing Rabsakeh vseth no better weapons we are well inough we heare him but feele him not he woundeth his owne credite he hurteth not our cause And we say to him as a certaine Rhodian to an vnshamefast man that made great outcries I regard not what you say but that another keepeth silence We more respect other mens reuerent silence of Luther then his rash loquacitie The second Inducement 1. PRide wine and women are the originals of Apostacie so was it in Luther If pride had not bene they had kept their vow of obedience if wine and riches had not bene they had kept the vow of pouertie if women and wantonnesse had not bene they had kept the vow of chastity But truth is stronger then all c. p. 126. 2. The whole Christian world twenty times gathered together in generall Councell hath giuen sentence with vs many thousands of prouinciall Councels all Kings c. all Popes Fathers Schooles Vniuersities c. all former heretikes haue approued it 3. We haue offered them all trials as great security and safe conduct as Popes Emperours and Kings could giue to come to disputation p. 127. 4. Their owne schollers condemned them Cranmer and Latimer exploded with hissing and clapping of hands in Oxford We neuer had so much as a peece of promise for equality of disputation c. The disputation in the first Parliament to their litle glory that in the Tower no man is ignorant how much it did disgrace them p. 127. The Aduertisement 1. THese three indeed are the pillars of popery If pride were not the Pope would not haue sought to lift vp himselfe aboue Emperours and Kings to tread vpon their neckes cause them to hold their stirrope to kisse his foote the papall hierarchie would not refuse to submit it selfe to the ciuill authoritie If the desire of riches were not the Pope would not so haue pilled and polled all Christian nations with intollerable taxes of First fruits annates tenthes prouisions Archbishops palles Peter pence and such like The first fruits of Bishoprikes in England amounted to the sum of 80000. florenes that is almost 20000. pounds and the value of the first fruits through Europe did arise to the summe of 2460843. florenes that is 553189. pounds or there about If the loue of women and carnall desires had not bin the popish crue would neuer haue condemned lawfull mariage to liue in adulterie incest fornicatiō openly to maintaine courtesans and strumpets as is notoriously euident and practised in Rome their Masse priests would not haue corrupted virgines detained wiues and daughters from their husbands and fathers as the States of Germany complained in the Councell of Norimberge These three then are the pillars of poperie indeed with the which Luther and the Protestants are vntruly slaundered yet hath the truth preuailed according the posie of Darius nobles And whereas he would haue this conclusion put vnder the pillow of the Prince and be awaked out of her dreame lest she should sleepe too long c. the truth is that Queene Elizabeth both awake and asleepe while she liued was resolued of this conclusion for the truth and well perceiued Poperie to be grounded vpon a sandie foundation that outward glorie commoditie pleasure and vanitie were the chiefe pillars of that religion In this faith she liued in this faith she now sleepeth and resteth in the Lord and shall be awaked in the last resurrection to receiue the endlesse reward of the same And though Queene Elizabeth now sleepeth yet God hath raised vp and awaked our gratious Soueraigne to stand vp in her place and to maintaine the same truth You may well put your conclusions vnder his pillow when he sleepeth but when he awaketh he will soone descrie that your Popish instructers are but night birds your best reasons dreames and your religion darknesse and with Darius giue sentence with the truth But of all other this