judge you euen as you judge his cause now offered vnto your consideration Wherefore as you will answer before him as you mean to haue any fauor at his hand deliuer the cause of his sonne Christ Iesus from this ignomie There is yet in this point another fault founde with the gouernment of Christe and another great reason alleaged why the hierarchie of Bb. shoulde be maintained and it is that the one of the 3. states vpon the authoritie whereof the lawes of England haue hitherto stood cannot without great inconuenience be now ouerthrowen Wherevnto the Lord replieth that the gospell of his sonne was brought into this kingdome by the 2. Estates to wit by the temporall Lords of the vpper and the commons of the lower house whereas since a thirde Estate vz. Lords spirituall as they are called was added vnto the 2. former little or no good hath bene enacted for the glorye of God by that counsell And if our State had bene contented according to the order of nature to stand vpon two legs it is not to be doubted but that all the wounds and sores of our church had bene healed and Christs discipline long ago established to our comfort and to the vnspeakeable good of our posterities Moreouer the Lord threateneth assuredly because of this monstrous and vnnatural leg wherevpon our lawes vnto this day are falsly said to haue stood and by the power whereof all the world knoweth this kingdom to haue withstood the right of his soone to laye our whole state euen with the grounde so that it shall haue nothing whereby it may be vpheld And L. Bb. haue no better interest to vphold our lawes then Lorde Abbots haue The state may as well want the one as the other and with as small inconvenience There is added as a conclusion of these inconveniences that it is dangerous to pick quarrels with lawes setled but there is no daunger to quarrell with the lawes of Christs kingdome They of all other princes lawes may be securely quarrelled with ouerthrowne and troaden vnder feete without all danger and yet in our state are they no quarrellers that abuse the sonne of God The time will come wherein it shall appeare that it had bene better for all such wretches that the wombe had beene their graue then that they should haue bene giuen ouer to runne into their owne destruction Our state hath well profited in religion that nowe after 31. yeares of the gospell enjoyed Iesus Christe in demanding his owne right is nowe accounted a daungerous quarreller against lawes setled This slaunder hath bene alreadie answered So hath the other set downe page 92. 93. of this booke concerning the likelihood of altering our ciuill gouernment into a popular state if Christ were once permitted to bear the ful sway therin The rest of the particuler cauils contained in som few pages of this book concerning maintenaunce of the minister by tythes the inconueniencie both of the ministers election by the people and also of excommunication by the whole Church are meer cauils and answered before in the generall and therefore here needlesse to be stoode vpon Now the high court of parliament hath heard of all the iniquitie that can be found in the Lord and his sonne Christ Iesus and you haue heard of all the reasons your careles and wilfull negligence to deal in the Lords matters onely expected whereby hitherto you haue bene enduced to refuse the church-gouernment which he himselfe hath laid downe prescribed in his word and to imbrace in steed therof a confused and an imperfect constitution of mans deuise whether these reasons set downe by our Bb. themselues will be a sufficient warrant vnto you in the day of judgement to refuse Christ Iesus to rule ouer you and your people to maintaine the popishe hierarchie of L. Bb. and to countenaunce their proceedinges who are wholy bestowed for the most part in persecuting and molesting those who open their mouthes in the cause of God and his people for the restitution of those lawes and liberties into our Church whereof they haue tyrannously bereaued it But if you thinke as the trueth is that these figge leaues issuing out of the dark vnderstandings of wicked men can serue you in no steed against the wrath of the lambe Enter more narrowly into this cause grant the same and those that stande in it justice against their enemies least it be layde to your charge that you haue called good euill and euill good and lest it be laid to your charge that you account your owne wayes equall and the wayes of the Lord vnequall that you haue executed no judgement no not the judgement which concerneth the sincere and true worship of the eternal Vnto the equitie of my cause which yet as ye see is not mine but the Lords let this also be joyned that mine aduersarie can lay nothing to my charge wherby I can be proued to haue brokē any penal law of the land I doe thinke my selfe in the cause wherin the Archbishop and the rest that are joyned with him are become mine enemies to haue incurred the penaltie of non of our laws inasmuch as I haue not transgressed the lawe of God For I suppose my selfe to liue in that state the laws whereof are to be accounted of no force which make him punishable whoe before the Lord is an innocent and guiltlesse The duty of a christian subiect draweth from me this perswasion that our state and gouernment vnder her maiestie established by the authority of this house wil not account any lawe to be forcible but that which is agreeable with the law of God and that non are punishable by any lawe in force amonge vs but those only who are offenders against the lawes of God For with what face can it be auouched that he is to be punished against whome the Lord doth not commaunde the sword to be drawne And thrise miserable is that state wherein these lawes are in force which commaund them to be smitten which are not euel doers Of which number non are to be accounted saue those only who by violating humane positiue lawes break also the lawe of God They that hold the contrary are not worthy to liue in a christian state They highly derogate from her maiesties credit and the good lawes of this kingdome And non can possibly hold such a position but those that vnder a pretence of authority either doe or would take occasion to oppresse and tiraunize ouer her maiesties subiects Nowe mine accusers cannot proue me to haue broken the lawe of God in seking the ouerthrowe of their places vntil they haue first prooued their own callings to be lawful according to the word vnto which time if I could haue bin assured of quietnes at their hands this mine appellation had bene needlesse Whereas nowe I am of necessitie constrayned thereunto as wel for the reason before mentioned as also because I can nether haue assurance of safety
Otherwise if a lewd and an vndiscreete turbulent fellowe be armed with this overlarge and vnbrideled commission is not vnlikely but he will abuse halfe the subiects hir maiestie hath And I pray you what is likely to insue thereof Euen this The intolerable vexation and bondage of her maiesties free borne subiects and people and in time it is to be feared the great dishonor if not the contempt of laweful authority it selfe The Archb. of Cant. with his colleagues sendeth abroad his warrant to apprehend whomesoeuer the messenger therein named doth suspect Ought not this waighty charge to be very waightely handeled What choise then make they of the messenger Surely Richard WaltoÌ„ is a man fit for the purpose For they know his good behauiour approued sufficiency and wisdome to be such as for his outragious lewdnes dishonesty and want of gouernment ouer him selfe amongst all the roisters in this land they could not chose a more knowne and notorious lewd person and more vnfit for so waigh ie a charge to be the pursiuant he was somtimes bedle vnto a company in London of the blacke Smithes I thinke The office though but meane yet was that company ashamed to haue a person of that slanderous loose behauiour for their bedle and therefore for his detected crimes heere not to be named they put him out of his place being ashamed to retaine him And yet this is the man Right honorable vnto whose discretion the Archb. of Cant. will commit the molesting and imprisoning of whomsoeuer he shal suspect Admit that among his câ—ppes som of his companions doe bribe him to apprehende the honestest and best affected subiect in a country he may doe it by his commission and for his knowne lewdnes he is not vnlikely to attempt the fact The magistrate is to assist him And when he hath offered you this injury you haue your amends in your hands for he did no more then by his commission he is warranted those who set him a worke are the high commissioners who haue a prerogatiue aboue lawe as they would beare the world in hand May not her maiesties subiects then thinke them selues to be in a good taking when their libertie shal depend vpon the pleasure or disliking of such as are the ofscouring and refuse of men And I doe thinke it neerely concerneth your Hh. of the parliament to see that this abuse of the high commission by these men be no longer tollerated in our state For what care the high commissioners howe tirannously they deale with hir maiesties most louing subiects as long as they hope that no mans accusation and complaint howe just soeuer though in the behalfe of the interest of Christ Iesus can be heard and countenanced against them And therefore they are growne so insolent as they dare enjoine hir maiesties officers either at their commandement to worke impossibilities or vpon the peril to answere the matter before them Form this insolency of theirs it is that of late they haue in their mandatory letters enjoined the Major of Northampton to surcease the execution of his office in the gouernment of that towne vnder hir maiestie and either to become their pursiuant in apprehending one of his neighbours or else personally to appeare before them at London and not to departe their court without special leaue his affaires in her maiesties seruice and the distance of Place betweene Northampton London nothing considered And yet required they of him that which he coulde not bring to passe because the party whome he was to apprehend being wel known to be a dutiful subiect and for the loue he beareth vnto Gods truth to haue bene heeretofore so cruelly dealt with at some of their hands by long imprisonment and so euil dealt with as his cause comming to be heard before the Ll. of her maiesties priuy counsel their Hh. judged the bishops proceeding against him to be against lawe and conscience and so were the meanes of his deliuery the party I say nowe fearing the like injustice that hee sometimes tasted of was compelled with the hinderance of his family to absent himself from his calling And from this hope that their procedings shal neuer com into question it also coÌ„meth to passe that they giue out that I am an Anabaptist an vnderminer of the chair of the magistrat a pestilent a dangerus subiect many waies For otherwise they would neuer haue permitted by their authority any such bookes to be published against me yea but I hold her maiestie with many thousandes of hir best subiects to be vnbaptised and the question betweene master Doctor Some and me is whether such as were and are baptised by popish priests and vnpreaching ministers haue and doe receiue a sacrament If mine aduersarie himselfe had not cleared me of this accusation by his publike writings his slander might at the least haue bin probable wheras nowe his owne writings doe giue him and his allowers the shamelesse vntrueth But howe can they be held no ministers but that the Elements administred by by them should be denied to be sacraments I trust the one may be held the other not denied with better reason by far then the Archb. of Cant. can hold baptim deliuered by women whome al the worlde knowe not to be ministers to be a sacrament And howe wil master D. Some answere himselfe in this point which hath confessed al vnpreching ministers both popish priests and protestant Idoles to be no ministers But it is an Anabaptistical error to account magistracie for an human ordinance As though nothing ordained by man could be Gods ordinance also Or that the places Rom. 12. 1. 1. Pet. 2. 13. were irreconcileable And that it were a more Anabaptisstcal and intollerable error in me to affirme the gouernment and offices of the common wealth to be humaine constitutions which is true then for our Bishops to hould the gouerment and offices of our churches to be the ordinances of man which is most false These and al such accusations laid against me and Gods trueth as by the grace of God in mine answere to master D. Some which are it be long I hope to publish notwithstanding they haue it in their hands they shalbe proued to be palpable slanderers So I do most humbly intreat you of this honorable assembly in regard of the Lords eternal veritie against which these vntrueths are giuen forth to see that either mine accusers shall prooue these crimes wherewith I am charged or cease to slander and trouble me for professing the trueth The cause is the cause of God as I haue proued it is the cause of the church and so the cause of many thousandes of the most trusty most sure most louing subiects that her maiestie hath whose harts by the repelling of this my suite must needes be vtterly discouraged and throwne downe when they shal see the cause of God to haue taken no place in the highest court in the land And
⧠TH' APPELLATION OF IOHN PENRI vnto the Highe court of Parliament from the bad and injurious dealing of th' Archb. of Canterb. other his colleagues of the high commission Wherin the complainant humbly submitting himselfe and his cause vnto the determination of this honorable assembly craueth nothing els but either release from trouble and persecution or just tryall PSALM 35. 19 20 c. Let not them O Lord that are mine enemies vniustly reioyce ouer me neyther let them vvinke with the eye that hate me vvithout a cause For they speake not as friendes but they imagine deceitfull vvordes against the quiet of 〈◊〉 land And they gaped on me vvith their mouthes saying 〈…〉 our eye hath seene Thou seest it O Lord keepe not 〈…〉 far from me O Lorde Arise and vvake to my iudgement 〈…〉 to my cause my God and my Lord. Iudge me O Lord according to my righteousnes and let them not reioyce ouer me Let them not say in their hearts O our soule reioyce neyther let them say vve haue deuoured him IEREM 20. 21. The Lord is vvith me as a mightie Gyant therefore my persecutors shall be ouerthrovvn and shall not preuaile and shalbe greatly confounded for they haue done vnvvisely c. ANNO DOM. 1589. To the right Honorable th'assembly of the High court of Parâ—iament IOHN PENRI wisheth the direction of Gods spirite in all their consultations that they may so behaue themselues in the setting forward of Gods glorie and the good of the weale publique as in the day wherein the sonne of God Christe Iesus shall in flaming fire render euerlasting perdition to those that obeye not the Gospell they may bee found blameles in his sight March 7. THat vvhich in regard of my priuate safetie and quietnes right Honorable and worshipful I am bound before the Lorde to performe the same hath the credite and good report of the cause of God in the promoting whereof by his great and vnspeakable mercies I haue bene employed whether I woulde or no at this present enforced me to accomplish The care of procuring mine owne safetie by al lawful waies from the dangerous attempts of those that seek nothing els but mine vtter ouerthrowe and vndoing nature it selfe and especiallie Gods ordinance hath layed vpon my shoulders The burthen whereof I cannot reject vnlesse I would shew my selfe on the one side more vnnaturall then the bruite beastes which will neuer be guilty of their owne dammage for the most part if they see any way to auoide the same and on the other side to correct Gods prouidence in refusing to trie al the lawful means which he hath ordained and appointed for the deliuerie of his children out of the hands of their malicious enemies But seeing vnto this care of my priuate safe gard is also joyned the publike clearing of Gods eternall trueth from all the slaunders wherewith the iniquitie of mine aduersaries by my vnjust trouble would take occasion to staine the same may not all men clearely see that I am drawen into this action with a twofold coard which as the wise man saith is not easily broken of vnanswerable necessitie The vnjust dealing of the Archb. of Canterb. others of the high commission is such towards me and of a long time hath bin as in the dayes of peace and publike tranquillity of my gracious and dread soueraigne Queene ELIZABETH I may nowe justly account my selfe to be one that in regarde of liberty and quietnes am vnjustly bereaued of the former publique benefit The cause why I enioy not the same is that my conscience will not suffer me whome the Lord of his infinite goodnes hath enlightened with the knowledge of the sauing trueth of his gospell to beholde with silence the lamentable misery of soules wherein my countrymen the inhabitants of Wales liue at this present both in respect of their great ignorance and the greeuous deformity of gods sanctuary among them And I enjoy not the same because vnto my small ability I haue labored and doe labour to effect some redresse of their foresaide misery by lamenting their case shewing vnto them and your Hh. their griefe together with the medicine which the lord hath sanctified as his owne ordinance to cure such maladyes An vnworthy president to be conueyed vnto posterities that it should not be lawfull for a man in the time of knowledg to lament the ignorance of his bretheren in the time of the sauing health of mens soules to withstand their violent perdition in the time of Sions building to lament and repaire the ruines thereof And that in a state professing enmity vnto the Romish religion it cannot be safe for a man to speake against the fornication of that strumpet and humbly to intreat that the holy temple may be cleansed of all her pollution And yet behold such is my case for bewailing the spiritual bondage of my countrimen for shewing vnto them the way whereby they might be restored vnto the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God for crauing that they may be trained in this way and for mocioning that gods holy sanctuary among them may be purified I am tested from post to piller and permitted to haue no assurance of quiet aboade in any of her majesties territories and dominions by the men aforenamed besides the injurious imprisonment wherein heretofore they haue deteined me for this same cause And to the ende I may truely acquaint you of the parliament with my troubles and the true causes thereof you are to vnderstand that the beginning of these mens hatred towards me did arise from the goodwill I beare vnto the glory of my God and the good of his church and that the continuance thereof is for the same cause For vntill such time as the Lorde vouchsafed to vse me most vnworthie I acknowledge from the bottome of my heart as an instrument to motion the parliament holden by prorogation in the 29. yere of her Majesties raigne in the cause of Gods truth I was a man altogether vnknowne vnto th'Archb or any other of the high commission by whome I am now persecuted My suite then vnto the parliament was that the gospell of Christ might in a sauing measure be made knowen and published amongst the inhabitants of wales my deare natiue countrimen The equitie of this petition I manifested in a published treatise allowed to be printed by publike authority The supplication together with the printed treatise were preferred by a worshipfull gentleman of my countrie being himself a member of the house who also shewed the equitie of the petition and in effect auouched the truth of that which in the treatise was set downe The suit I was perswaded would haue beene verie plausible in a christian state and the parliament shewed no disliking thereof though they sinned in the carelesse respect they had therevnto Th'Archb and his associates were contrarie minded they thought the enterprise to be intollerable And yet was there no alteration of the established
gouernment of Bishops at that time sought for The dislike of the petitiō they did not conceal and therfore presently dispatched their warrants to call in the printed bookes and to enquire for the author The books in nomber about 500. togither with my selfe were fastened vpon by the wardens of the Stacioners M. Bishop and Denham accompanied with Cole the Pursiuaunt wherevpon being caried before the high commissioners I was for enterprising the former action charged by th'Archb owne mouth not onely to be a factious slaunderer of her Majesties gouernment but also to haue published flat treason and heresie in my saide treatise I was threatned very bloodily and reuiled vpon in a most vnchristian sort with earnest protestation that they woondered how I durst sollicite the parliament in that petition See the cursed and outragious prophanenes of these whom the Lorde hath in his just judgement giuen ouer to withstande the mightie power of his word As though the matter were to be astonied at that they should be more forward in hindring the cause of Gods glory then meaner men should be to promote the same If they had beene the true gouernours of Gods Church they woulde haue shewed themselues the most earnest fauorers of that supplication For it is well knowen in what a taking the country of wales is for want of the true knowledge of God And assuredly they who of intended mallice withstood that motion shal one day feele the price and reward of their disobedience vnto their neuer ending woe VVell mine offence in presuming to speake in the cause of God oppugned by my betters was accounted so haynous as in close prison I must be kept 12. daies at the keepers vttermost perill Before my departure from the commission vnderstanding their intent to commit me I demaunded the particuler cause why I was so hardlie dealt with Answere was made that they would examine me againe and then I should know After a moneths imprisonment I was deliuered without anie examination or anye mention of the crimes of heresie and treason wherewith I had bene charged And so vnto this daie I remaine ignorant of anie expressed cause wherefore they either tooke away my books or debarred me of my libertie and readie by the grace of God both to conuince the high commission of most injurious dealing in the premises to cleare my selfe of anie crime they can lay to my charge whensoeuer before you of this honorable assembly or any other equall judgement seat they darebe tried with me Since the time of my release I sawe my selfe bounde in conscience not to giue ouer my former purpose in seeking the good of my countrymen by the rooting out of ignorance and blindnes from among them And as it pleased the lord to increase this my care so haue mine aduersaries augmented their rage and fury towards me and especially to the cause that I maintaine This furye of theirs at diuers times shewed by many of their instruments did especially manifest it selfe on the 29. of Ianuary last At which time one Richard Walton hauing a commission from the Archb. and others wherein all her maiesties officers were chardged and commaunded in her name to assist the sayd VValton to make entry into all houses shops c to apprehend all those whome he should any waies suspect and to commit them at his discretion vnto the next Gaol or prison vntil farther order should be taken with them came into the place of mine aboad at Northampton ransacked my study and tooke away with him all such printed books and written papers as he himself thought good what they were as yet I cannot justly tel And not contented to keepe him self within the immoderate limits of a larger commission then as I thinke can be warranted by lawe he offered violence vnto diuers persons and threatened not only to breake open doores hauing noe such commission but also to vntile houses vnlesse he could find me where in deed I was not At his departure he charged the Maior of the towne who then attended vpon him to apprehend me as a traitor giuing out that he had found in my study both printed bookes and also writings which conteined treason in them Whereas the bookes and writings of geatest disgrace evē in the sight of his master which he could there finde were one printed coppy of the demonstration of discipline and an answere vnto master D. Some in writing both which he caried away with him The treason conteined in either of those books is no other then that which Amasiah the high priest at Bethel found in Amos the prophet euen the cleare words of truth not to be abidden in a corrupt state of a church I graunt Behold nowe my Lordes and you the rest of this high court the original and continuance of these mens enmity towards me And judg whether I haue not greate reason both for mine owne safety and for the clearing of the cause wherein I stand to vse this lawful meanes of Appelation vnto your Hh. and worships from their tirannous and vngodly dealing with whome neither mine owne innocency nor yet the equity of the cause can any whit preuaile They are knowne to be very mighty and haue felt them very vnjust and tiranous The only justice which I can expect from them if I fall into their hands is to be kept languishing in prison during their pleasure and neuer suffered to come to the triall of my cause If I hoped for any other measure I should reason contrary vnto mine owne experience against which no conceite ought to take place In consideration wherof being now by the lords prouidence kept out of theire handes and that in the time of the meeting and assembly of the highest councell of this kingdome I doe in most dutifull humble sort make this my just appelation from the Archb. of Canterbury and the rest of his colleagues in commission vnto you of the honorable and high court of parliament humbly referring my selfe and my cause vnto your determination according vnto justice My only suite and petition is that either I may haue assurance of quietnes and safety or that the causes of my trouble being laide open by mine aduersaries I may receiue condigne punishment of mine offences Where it may be seene that I craue no immunity let me haue justice and that is all I craue This in regard of your places you are bound to affoard me as in the day of judgment you shall answere before him vnto whome no vnrighteousnes is acceptable I doe mine aduersaries no injury in appealing from them vnto you For they may be assured of justice at your hands if they will adueuture to pursue their suite And me they cannot blame in repairing vnto you for judgment and equitie seeing from their tribunal seat I am like to receiue nothing else but gal and woormwood If their cause against me be good if it be strong if it be to be embraced nowe let them not be ashamed
charge for maintaining the trueth in asmuch as the Bishopps them selues in their allowed translation of the great Bible vppon the fore aleaged place of Act. 17. haue giuen this note namely That the common and vsuall weapons which the wicked vse against the members of Christ are treason and sedition Their wicked slander against al that seeke the reformation of our church and particularly against me haue verified the truth of this doctrine for assoone as any shewe their dislike of these corruptions with a desire to see Christ bearing sway in the church of England by his owne lawes they presently exclaime that these are the men which subuert the state of the Realm and that gainsay the decrees of her maiestie affirming that there is an other Soueraigne whose alone lawes must be harkened vnto and whose alone offices are to be allowed of in the gouernment of the church and that is Christ Iesus th'eternall sonne of the liuing God in deed if to defend the prerogatiue which he ought to haue in appointing th'officers gouernors of his church be sedition and treason I doe confesse in deed that after the way which they cal sedition and treason so serue I the God of my fathers But this is non other treason then that where vnto our Sauiour Christ and his apostles before me haue giuen their hands and consented and none other treason then that wherevpon all Kings and Queenes do firmly lay the foundation of their royall crownes and Scepters And therefore ye of the parliament ought to be so farr from being mooued with these shamefull reportes nowe raised by our Bishops against Christ Iesus against his trueth and his members as ye should not permitt such profane mouthes that presume in this sort to whette their tongues against heauen and him that sitteth therein to escape vnpunnished The forgers of these palpable vntruethes confesse themselues that Treason and Sedition are th'ordinarie weapons of the wicked against the members of Christe which in deede hath bene th'armour wherewith the diuell in all ages hath furnished his champions against the truth And I cannot blame our Bishops for being skilfull in this accusation seeing so many of their predecessors haue in the like cause troaden the like path before them Amos no sooner began to vtter the trueth in Bethel but Amasiah the high priest there presently smelled out his dangerous attempts And therefore like a good subiect in the singular good will he bare vnto his Soueraigne Lord Ieroboam the sonne of Ioash king of Israel he waded farther into the matter and at length found Amos his treason and sedition to be so intollerable as the Land was no longer able to beare it Especially seeing th'enterprises of the prophet were taken in hand even in the middest of the kingdome to stir vp the subiects to innouation in regard whereof the high priest sawe him selfe bound in conscience to send Ieroboam this message Amos hath conspired against thee in the middest of the house of Israel the land is not able to beare his words for he hath openly spoken that which the Lord hath put into his mouth The like treachery in the place before set down did the priests and the prophets finde in Jeremiah yea and such is the care which the lims of Sathan haue of the ciuil maiestrate that rather then kings and princes should be honored with the maintenance of a perfect building of Gods church they can presently finde no lesse then sedition and treason in their purposes that indeuoure to further that worke When Jerusalem began to be reedified in the daies of Artaxerxes the men beyond the riuer knew well enough that the building of Gods church and th'establishing of his true seruice amongst men is straight way a wicked and a rebellious enterprise For which cause they sent word vnto the king that if Jerusalem a city rebellious and wicked should be once built the kings tribute thereby should be diminished and because they had bin brought vp in the kings court and that it was not meet for them to see the kings dishonor they sent him word that if hee would search the booke of the Chronicles of his father he shoulde finde the true Churche of God to haue bene alwaies rebellious noisome vnto kings and princes and to haue mooued seditions of olde for which cause also it had bene destroyed And further they certified him that if he would suffer the church to be reedified by that meanes the portion beyond the riuer should not be his Nor long after this time Nehemias with the Elders of the Iewes strengthened their hands to finish the building of Ierusalem What saith Sanballat and Tobiah a seruant what a thing is this you doe will you rebell against the King As if the building of Gods church could not chuse but be a rebellious interprise You see by these examples right honorable that it is the lotte of Gods seruants to be accounted seditious men and traitors vnto princes and states whensoeuer they doe but set their faces towards the building of the Lords house and you see apparantly by these testimonies that it is no newe found slaunder which the high commissioners haue forged against me but an auncient quarrell of the Diuell in all ages and times against Gods trueth Which may be the better manifested if you doe consider if either they can alleadge no reason of their accusation or the same if they do shewe any is because I afforad my bounden seruice vnto the trueth For thâ—se are infallible markes whereby awicked enemy of the trueth and a slaunderer of the members of Christ may be knowne namely that either he can yeald no reason of his slaunder because he thinketh it sufficient for him in that cause to inuent an vntrueth without any proofe or his reason shalbe because the seruants of God doe faithfully employ them selues in the seruice of their maister Rheum and Geshem accused Ierusalem of rebellioÌ„ so did Sanballat accuse Nehemias and the Elders of the Iewes But how prooued they their accusations They neede not to labour that way because they slaundered the church of God and the true members thereof against whome for the moâ—t part a slaunder without proofe wil be in steed of a thousand witnesses Ieremiah was accounted worthie to die by the prists and prophets in his time and what was their reason Why say they he hath prophesied in the name of the Lord saying This City shalbe made desolate without an inhabitant Lo heer my Ll. the infalliable markes of the slaunders and enemies of Gods children and where you finde these marks giue judgment accordingly Nowe may it please your honors to demaund of the high commission why they account me to be a disturber of the peace of our church and a seditious person Either they wil think them selues not bound to giue any reason of their accusation because against those that seeke the wealth of Ierusalem any vntrueth wilbe admitted or their
nor just trial at their hands I can hope for nether of these from them For they haue wholly vowed them selues with all their might and maine to slaunder assaile resist and hinder the cause of Gods honor the saluation of his church in the defence whereof farbeit but I should spend my bloud as by the grace of God I will when I am thereunto necessarily called wherefore except ether mine aduersaries which I hartily wish would leaue the smothering of the trueth and the vnjust defence of their intollerable corruptions or that I should surcease which I trust shal neuer come to passe mine indeuours to haue the Gospel planted in my country and the house of God cleansed from pollution I can look for nothing else but al extremities at their hands Heereby also it is manifest that these men wil be so far from graunting me either any release from their tirannous Persecution or yet equity of judgment as they cannot possibly yeeld either of the twoe without the dangerous inpairing of their own state My course by the assistance of God I meane not to alter The cause of my poore country I mean to respect as long as I liue and neuer meane to giue ouer the discouering of those wicked men who in this cleare light of the Gospel detaine the trueth in vnrighteousnes If I may haue rather if Christ Iesus may haue justice against them I haue lately prooued vnto you that not one of these men I meane Lord bishops and whosoeuer depend vppon them ought to be maintained within these domminions Nowe seeing both the obtaining and also the solliciting of this suite must needs be joyned with the impairing of the Archbishop of Canterburies estate the rest in commission with him who sitt in these vnlawful chaires of Lord bishops or any wise depend vppon them how can they without their owne irrecouerable losse administer justice or graunt quietnes vnto me Doe they meane to yeeld vnto the knowne trueth and to giue ouer their places Why then am I molested by them Doe they meane to be stil the men which hytherto they haue bene that is enemies vnto Christs holy discipline and gouernement Then cannot they possibly affoard me any vpright triall For if they should the church of God would be soone disburdened of them And in wisedom they cannot let me go on quietly in my course for the more the trueth is opened the neerer are they to their fall My cause being thus what may be saide of the parliament if I be not releeued by your meanes in my most equal most reasonable and most christian suite Yea but seeing mine aduersaries are so mighty as they are knowne to be and this suite so vnlâ—kely to preuaile against them in our dayes were it not better forme to let them runn on in their wickednes then thus to striue to mine owne hinderance and extreame peril in a gainlesse enterprise And what calling haue I to deale in this cause That is it I knowe that the Diuel would haue euen to be lett alone and permitted quietly to cary all before him at his owne pleasure without any controlement As though the stones of the street had not a sufficient calling to gainsay the wickednesse of men when the seruants of God are tongtied And either it must be said that sinne at some age and time hath a commission to goe vncontroled or that the meanest in Gods church may speake in the behalfe of Gods honor when other men are silent at the treading thereof vnder foote The general desolution then and the oppression of Gods church in my country joyned with the deepe silence of all other men doe make it lawful and warrantable for me to seeke the ouerthrowe of Sathans kingdome not withstanding that I acknowledg my selfe euery way vnfit for so greate aworke And if it should please the Lord to stir vp any of place and guifts to deale in the cause I would soone set my hand vppon my mouth and be silent But I hope that the Archbishop and his bretheren are not growne to that passe as they will take the liberty to continue in vnlawful callings and to molest those that gainsay the badd course because they see not what calling any one man can haue to finde fault with their proceedings And I hope that you of the parliament considering the equity of my suit wil vonchsafe me the hearing in so reasonable a petition Consider the matter which way you wil and you shal find mine Appellation on all parts to be just but especially in regard of the proceedings of mine aduersaries The consideration whereof is not to be ouerpassed by the parliament if any portion of the equitie and justice sometimes florishing in that assembly benowd therein remaining Their vnlawful proceedings appeare first in that they assume vnto them selues the hearing of those causes wherein by vertue of their coÌ„mission they haue no warrant to deale whereat the parliament cannot winke vnlesse they would suffer an Anarchie to take roote in our state This they doe in a double sort For first as before hath bene set downe they lay treason to my charge and therefore send for me by their pursiuants What hath the high commission to doe with men suspected of treason Is the place at Lambeth now become the palor where traitors should be araigned The Archbishop of Canterbury the bishops of London Winchester Doctor Cosin c. nowe become judges in those causes Whether they incurr not the danger of lawe by entering into such matters as are not within the compasse of their commission you of this honorable assembly are best able to judge The trueth is that the Archbishop his associates when I was examined before them in the 29. yeare of her maiesties raigne enforced me to cleare my selfe vppon mine oath of the treason which they gaue out to be contained in the 40. page of my booke at that time written vnto the parliament Tollerate this course and what parloure or chamber may there be so priuate wherein the Archbishop and his assistants wil not arraigne their seditious traitors as they faulsay account them Secondly they presume to determine of those suites the hearing whereof are referred vnto the higher courts and ought not to be vsurped vppon by inferiors vntil the higher councels haue declared that they will not determine of them In this point I had triall of their dealing the last parliament At which time they presumed contrary vnto right and lawful custome and to the infringing of the auncient liberties of this noble house to arrogate vnto them selues the determining and finall ending of that suite wherein I moued the parliament and not the high comission And they wrongfully imprisoned me in the time of the parliament for becomming a suiter even in the cause of God vnto that assembly whereas by the priuiledges of this high counsel I was not to be molested by any during your session but only by your honors vnto whom I became a peticioner