Apostles haue otherwise vsed all their censures only in Christs Name and neuer a word of his Vicars Peter we read did in all the Apostles meetings sit among them as one of their number and when chosen men were sent to Antiochia from that Apostolike Councell at Ierusalem the text sayeth it seemed good to the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church to send chosen men but no mention made of the head thereof and so in their Letters no mention is made of Peter but onely of the Apostles Elders and Brethren And it is a wonder why Paul rebuketh the Church of Corinth for making exception of persons because some followed Paul some Apollos some Cephas if Peter was their visible head for then those that followed not Peter or Cephas renounced the Catholike Faith But it appeareth well that Paul knew little of our new doctrine since he handleth Peter so rudely as hee not only compareth but preferreth himselfe vnto him But our Cardinall prooues Peters Superiority by Pauls going to visite him Indeed Paul sayeth he went to Ierusalem to visite Peter and to conferre with him but he should haue added and to kisse his feet To conclude then the trueth is that â—eter was both in age and in the time of Christs calling him one of the first of the Apostles in order the principall of the first twelue and one of the three whome Christ for orders sake preferred to all the rest and no further did the Bishop of Rome claime for three hundreth yeere after Christ Subiect they were to the generall Councels and euen but of late did the Councell of Constance depose three Popes and set vp the fourth and till Phocas dayes that murthered his Master were they subiect to Emperours But how they are now come to bee Christs Vicars Gods on earth Triple Crowned Kings of Heauen Earth and Hell Iudges of all the world and none to iudge them heads of the Faith absolute deciders of all controuersies by the infallibilitie of their spirit hauing all power both Spirituall and Temporall in their hands the high Bishops Monarchs of the whole earth Superiours to all Emperours and Kings yea Supreme Vice-gods who whether they will or not can not erre How they are now come I say to this top of greatnesse I know not but sure I am Wee that are kings haue greatest need to looke to it As for me Paul and Peter I know but these men I know not and yet to doubt of this is to denie the Catholike Faith nay the Word it selfe must be turned vpside downe and the order of Nature inuerted making the left hand to haue the place before the right that this Primacie may be maintained Thus we see how clearely and strongly his Maiestie both in his Apologie proues the Supremacie of Kings in causes Ecclesiasticall and disproues in his Premonition the pretended Supremacie of Popes euen in Spirituals denying them to be Christs Vicars Peters Successors visible Monarchs heads of the Faith deciders of all controuersies high Priests vniuersall Bishops and destroying the two maine grounds of that Monarchie the Supremacie of S. Peter and their infallibilitie in iudging Truely in the Writing hereof mee thought I was touched with shame and pittie that a Diuine should with such palpable falshoods belie his Soueraigne and gull the world and a Doctor of Diuinitie so fowlie stumble in so plaine and manifest a case howbeit it cannot be denyed to be true which he addes that his Maiestie by that Booke is partly ingaged to admit the triall of the first generall Councels and the most ancient Fathers For the Councels I reuerence and admit saith hee the foure first generall Councels as Catholike Orthodoxe and the said foure generall Councels are acknowledged by our Acts of Parliament and receiued for Orthodoxe by our Church And for the Fathers saith hee I reuerence them as much and more then the Iesuits doe for what euer the Fathers for the first fiue hundred yeeres did with an vnanime consent agree vpon to be beleeued as a necessarie point of saluation I either will beleeue it also or at least will be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same but for euery priuate Fathers opinion it bindes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I will therefore in that case follow S. Augustines rule in iudging of their opinions as I find them agree with the Scriptures what I find agreeable thereunto I will gladly imbrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect So that his Maiestie admitteth the foure first Councels not as Diuine Oracles or as the foure Gospels but as Catholike and Orthodoxe and reuerenceth the most ancient Fathers not as the holy Scriptures but as consonant thereunto And if that triall should be made your holy Father would thereby gaine as litle for the countenancing of his vsurped Supremacie as Zozimus Boniface and Celestine his Predecessours in forging a Canon of the first Nicene Councell for their pretended Iurisdiction in appeales and labouring to force the Councell of Carthage thereunto whereas that Councell in precise termes confineth other Bishops and Patriarchs to the exercise of their iurisdictioÌ„ within their own Diocesses or Prouinces as the Custome of the Bishop of Rome was the words are these Let old Customes be kept they that are in Egypt and Lybia and Pentapolis that the Bishop of Alexandria haue the preheminence of all these because such is the Custome of the Bishop of Rome too likewise also in Antioch and in other Prouinces let the Churches enioy their dignities and prerogatiues which words of the Councel grounding on the Custome of the B. of Rome that as he had preeminence of all the Bishops about him so Alexandria and Antioch should haue of all about them and likewise other Churches as the Metropolitan each in their owne Prouinces doe shew that the Pope neither had preeminence of all through the world before the Nicene Councell nor ought to haue greater preeminence by their iudgement then he before time had This Councell was called about 327. yeeres after Christ and there met in it 318. Bishops the chiefe lights of Christian Religion at that time Ambrose saying that their number was mistically prefigured in those 318. Souldiers by whome Abraham got the victory ouer the fiue Kings The second generall Councell was helde at Constantinople against Macedonius who denyed the Diuinitie of the holy Ghost consisting of 150. Bishops about the yeere 383. called by Theodosius the Elder who both prescribed the place and time the matter to be discussed and maner of proceeding in it sent his Deputie thither to supplie his roome as moderator or president for the keeping of order obseruing of decencie and lastly by his Imperiall power ratified the Decrees thereof all which acts flowing from the prerogatiue of his place and office are now denyed by the Pope and his flatterers any way to belong to
censure of wise men might deseruedly haue purchased some more respectiue termes of the Father whereas Thuanus the most vnpartiall and iudicious Historiographer of our age giues this testimonie of him that he was a Prince of singular naturall indowments and such a one in whom had hee not too much loosed the reines to this pleasure you could hardly find wanting any perfection Nay after his diuorce from his Queene and from the Church of Rome the Bishops which hee named sayth hee were honest men and good Schollers being euer himselfe a great Patron of learning which testimonie I the rather alledge because the Spanish expurgatorie index hath rased it as also diuers other verie memorable passages in this Author B. C. 5. Thus I satisfied my selfe at Schoole and studied the Artes and Philosophie and other humane learning vntill being Master of Artes and fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Cambridge I was at last by the Statutes of that house called to the studie of Diuinitie and bound to take vpon me the Order of Priest-hood then I thought it my duetie for the better satisfaction of mine owne soule and the sauing of othermens to looke as farre into the matter as possible I could that I might find out the Trueth and hauing the opportunitie of a very good Librarie in that Colledge I resolued with my selfe to studie hard and setting aside all respect of men then aliue or of Writers that had mooued or maintained Controuersies farther then to vnderstand the question which was betwixt them I fell to my prayers and betooke my selfe wholly to the reading of the Church Historie and of the ancient Fathers which had no interest on either side and specially â— made choise of S. Augustine because I hoped to find most comfort in him for the confirming of our Religion and the confuting of the Church of Rome G. H. 5. After your perusing the Chronicles of England you betake your selfe to the reading of the Church Historie and ancient Fathers and in speciall make choise of S. Augustine in whom you find the doctrine of Rome euery where confirmed and ours confuted But I would faine know whether one maine point of the doctrine of the Church of Rome be not the Supremacie of that Sea and whether a chiefe feather in that wing be not Appeals from forraine parts Now whether S. Augustine approued them I appeale to his practise being one of those Bishops in the Councell of Carthage who discouered and disclaimed the impudencie and forgerie of the Church of Rome in challenging that as right which some of constraint had performed and others of courtesie had graunted for which himselfe with his fellow-Fellow-Bishops were excoÌ„municated by the Bishop of Rome and for any thing I can finde in the Church Historie so died Some of his workes I haue read specially those of Christian doctrine and of them I will be bold to say that they confirme no one point of Romish doctrine controuersed at this day and surely there if any where had beene the proper place to declare the Bishop of Rome Supreame iudge in all controuersies B. C. 6. In this sort I spent my time continually for many yeeres and noted downe whatsoeuer I could gather or rather snatch either from the Scriptures or the Fathers to serue my turne But when after all my paines and desire to serue my selfe of Antiquitie I found the doctrine of the Church of Rome to be euery where coÌ„firmed by most profound demonstrations out of holy Scripture made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel and most conformable to all Christian soules and saw the current opinions of our great Preachers euery where confuted either in plaine termes or by most vnanswerable consequence although mine vnderstanding was thereby greatly edified for which I had great reason to render immortall thankes to our blessed Sauiour who by these meanes had vouchsafed to shewe himselfe vnto mee yet my heart was much grieued that I must be faine either not to preach at all or to crosse and varâ—e from the doctrine which I saw was commonly receiued G. H. 6. I haue perused your Common-place booke written for the most part with your owne hand and indeed it thereby appeares that your noting might more deseruedly bee termed a snatching then a gathering though by your will you solemnely bequeath it as a rich legacie to C.C.C. in Camb. whereof you were a Fellow but you found the doctrine of the Church of Rome you say euery where confirmed by most profound demonstrations from holy Scripture in trueth I must confesse they are so deepe that throughout this treatise they are inuisible but I much desire to knowe by what profound demonstration from holy Scripture you would proue the adoration of images the administration of the Sacrament vnder one kinde the exercise of publike prayer in a language not vnderstood of the people or lastly the Bishop of Romes vsurpation ouer the temporals of Princes vnlesse you bring Bellarmines profound demonstration to that purpose Pasce oues meas or Baronius Surge occide manduca or the Canonists fecit Deus duo magna luminaria much like a profound demonstration I haue heard of for proofe of the Salique law the lillies neither labour nor spinne therefore the Crowne of France ne tombe point sur laquenouille fals not to the distaffe or like that of a Frier who would needs proue that ten worlds were made in the first Creation and that out of our Sauiours wordes in the Gospel annon decem factisunt mundi but he was well answered by his brother in the words following Sed vbisunt nouem and did hee not deserue the title of D. profundus trow you for so profound a demonstration By such like profound demonstrations you find the doctrine of the Church of Rome made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel which for the Sacrament is drinke yee all of this and for the power of his ministers my kingdome is not of this world wordes deliuered as it seemes out of a propheticall spirit as foreseeing what errours should in after ages spring vp in his Church but you doe well to say that those doctrines were made agreeable to this trueth they may bee made so or at leastwise made to seeme so by forging and hammering vpon the anuill of mens conceits howbeit in themselues they are not so as the belles seeme to the childe to ring that tune which runnes in his head B. C. 7. Being thus perplexed with my selfe what course I were best to take I reflected backe againe vpon the Church of England and because the most of those Preachers which drewe the people after them in those dayes were Puritans and had grounded their diuinitie vpon Caluins institutions I thought peraduenture that they hauing gotten the multitude on their side might wrong the Church of England in her doctrine as well as they desired to doe in her discipline which indeed
Emperours or Christian Princes besides this the Councell it selfe layed a foundation for that which the fourth generall Councell further built vpon in equalizing the See of Constantinople or new Rome to that of the olde The thirde generall Councell was held at Ephesus in the yeere 430. summoned by Theodosius the younger against the Nestorian heresie which diuided Christ into two persons it consisted of 200. Bishops This Councell in which S. Cyrill was president not onely prescribed and limited the Popes Legate and others that were sent in ambassage to the Prince what they should doe but added this threatning Scire autem volumus vestram Sanctitatem quòd si quid horum contemptum fuerit neque Sancta Synodus habebit rata neque vos Communionis sinet esse participes Wee giue your Holinesse to vnderstand that if any of these things which we haue appointed you be omitted by you neither will this holy Synode ratifie your actes nor receaue you to the Communion By which it is euident that the lawful and generall Councell of Ephesus thought they might and sayd they would not onely controle but euen excommunicate the Popes Vicegerent if hee did not that which was enioyned him by the Synode The fourth and last generall Councell which his Maiestie reuerenceth as Orthodoxe was the great Councel of Chalcedon consisting of 630. Bishops called by Martian the Emperour in the yeere 454. against Eutiches who in extreame opposition to Nestorius confounded the natures of Christ making of two distinct natures but one whereas Nestorius rent asunder his person making of one two This great Councell then gaue the Bishop of Constantinople equall priuiledges with the Bishop of Rome as may appeare in the fifteenth Acte of that Councell and when Paschasinus and Lucentius who represented the person of Leo then Bishop of Rome the next day desired of the noble men that sate there by the Emperours appointment as Iudges and Moderatours that the matter might be brought about againe and put to voices pretending that it was not orderly past the Councell that in the absence of the Popes Legates had made this Decree in their presence confirmed the same they contradicting and labouring as it had beene for their liues to withstand it And since his Maiestie and the Realme haue vndertaken the defence of these foure Councils it were to bee wished they might if not otherwise yet by publike authority bee faithfully translated by some chosen men of our owne out of their Originals and where diuerse readings offer themselues vpon comparing of the best printed Copies and Manuscripts the most likely might bee giuen the worke would not bee great and the benefit in my iudgement issuing from thence not small Now for such things as may in shew bee drawen out of these Councils to make against vs and for the Church of Rome I referre the reader to Bellarmines Apologie against his Maiesties Premonition where hee hath put together whatsoeuer either diligence could obserue or malice wrest so that whosoeuer shall now gleane after him shall gaine as little credite to himselfe as aduantage to his cause yet whatsoeuer he hath said or for his purpose pressed from thence is so fully and sufficiently answered by a reuerend learned Prelate of our owne as if our Doctor would haue dealt either as a Scholler or an honest man hee should first haue vndertaken the confutation of that answere before hee had againe pressed his Maiestie with the triall of those Councils From the first Generall Councils hee proceedes to the most ancient Fathers but what neede any farther question of single Fathers since wee haue heard them spâ—aking met together in Councill His Maiestie confines himselfe to the first 500. yeeres and to their Vnanime consent and that in matters of saluation and all this granted hee doth not alwayes promise a stedfast beleefe but an humble silence Now Bellarmine despairing belike to put the matter to the triall of their testimonies complaines that his Maiestie descends not lower and stoopes aswell to the later writers as Bonauentâ—re and Thomas and Anselme whereas our Controuersies are of that nature as they cannot bee receiued as sufficient witnesses in the deciding of them they fell vpon those times which the farther distant they were from the fountaine the more filth they gathered and as the winds are hot or cold dry or moyst according to the qualitie of the Regions through which they blowe and waters relish of the soile through which they run so did they of the ages in which they liued And for the most ancient Bellarmine himselfe commonly dazels the eyes of the world either with the bastardy of false or the corruptioÌ„ of true Fathers whom hee esteemes as they make more or lesse for his purpose none otherwise then merchants doe their casting counters sometimes in his valuation they stand for pounds sometimes for shillings sometimes for pence sometimes for nothing Ireneus and Iustin Martyr who succeeded Polycarpe and Ignatius the hearers and disciples of S. Iohn the Euangelist held that the deuils were not tormented nor to bee tormented before the generall day of Iudgement in which opinion they are seconded by Epiphanius and Oecumenius neither doe I see sayth Bellarmin how we may defend them from errour of Origen he sayes who liued about 200. yeeres after CHRIST that hee was seene to burne in Hell fire with Arrius and Nestorius of Tertullian who liued about the same time that he was an Arch-heretike of no credit Sozemen hee accuses of falsehood in his Apologie touching Paphnutius his proceeding about the marriage of Churchmen and the Fathers yeelding vnto him in the Nicen Councill touching the iurisdiction of Bishops Ieromes opinion saith he is false and in its proper place to bee refuted S. Augustine expounding those wordes as wee doe Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church he charges with errour out of his ignorance in the Hebrew tongue Whereby we may perceiue what account themselues make of the ancient Fathers who call most hotly for a triall by them And in trueth if Mr. Doctour had well considered how Policarpe S. Iohns scholler as I sayd before withstood Anicetus Bishop of Rome about the obseruation of Easter and Polycrates Victor in the same businesse how vehemently Stephen was resisted by Cyprian Bishop of Carthage dying as a martyr and Canonized for a Saint to whom hee imputes errour and the maintenance of the cause of Heretikes against the Church of God the defence of things superfluous impertinent false naught contrary to themselues presumption frowardnesse peruersenesse blindnesse of heart inflexible obstinacie Lastly how Athanasius that renowned Patriarch of Alexandria that stout champion of IESVS CHRIST that pillar of the Church and hammer of Heretikes was persecuted for the Catholike faith Pope Liberius consenting and subscribing to the Synodal sentence whereby he was excluded from the Communion of the Church as witnesseth Binius in his
stand betweene vs sauours not of a Iesuits spirit We for our parts freely professe as Mr Casaubon doth in his Maiesties name Let them in whose power it is to performe it offer vs such a peace of which it may bee sayd Peace trueth haue kissed each other and the controuersie is at an end Let them seuer humane ordinances from diuine superstitious from godly new from ancient needlesse from necessary I say againe saith he and with as loude a crie and much earnestnesse as may be I proclaime it that all men may heare me for as much as concernes his Maiesty and the Church of England the controuersie is at an end His Maiesties intent and full resolution is that they in vaine talke or thinke of Peace who sunder that heauenly yoke of vnitie and verity but saith hee in conclusion speaking to the Romanists their purpose is constantly to maintaine all they hold not to reconcile the minds of well disposed persons by the reformation of that which is amisse in which purpose as long as they shall persist his Maiestie professeth once for all that he will entertaine no societie no Communion at all with the Church of Rome And in this case we sticke not to professe with Nazianzene that there is a kind of holy warre in which who so dies shal vndoubtedly obtaine of the chiefe Bishop of our soules a Plenary Indulgence for his sinnes and â—ith Hillary Amiable is the name of peace and louely the opinion of vnity but who doubts that to bee the onely Peace of the Church which is the Peace of Christ and lastly with Cyprian He is not reconciled to the Church who is separated from the Gospel Now because M. Doctour would perswade the â—orld and his Maiestie himselfe that at his first entrance into this kingdome hee was more inclineable to reconcilement and laboureth by promising honour and riches and security to reduce him againe to the same pretended inclination it shall not be amisse beside that which I haue spoken to this point in diuerse parts of mine answere to acquaint the Reader with his Maiesties protestation euen while matters were yet in a mammering made to Watson as himselfe confessed to the late Earle of Northampton That all the Crownes and kingdomes in this world should not induce him to change any iot of his profession which was the pasture of his soule earnest of his eternal inheritance and as he thus protested at his first entrance so in the conclusion of one of his last speeches to the Parliament he sheweth himselfe in this point euer like himselfe I am now out of conscience and for security saith he not to forget religion I spake to you last as a Prophet that t was likely the Papists had some new plot in hand now you see it is come to passe and I will let you know this much their ayme was not at him alone but at other Princes to whereof I assure you I was one looke that these weedes doe not ouergrow the corne that Papiâ—try be not increased by one thing too much vsed among them They send out their kinsemen children and seruants to Doway and such like places these after they haue bene there nourished come daily ouer and with their poison infect others This one day will make you smart if it be not preuented And I pray God his Maiestie doe not proue as true a Prophet in this latter as the successe shewed him in the former how soeuer it sufficeth to shew his Maiesties auersenes from all maner of reconcilement things standing in the termes they doe Nay M. Doctour himselfe in his Epistle to Casaubon written since his going ouer professeth that except it were expected from his Maiestie that he should in a maner proclaime to the world that he was forced to that religion he saw not how in so great danger and iust anger he could possibly draw neerer to them who well deserâ—ed the anger by procuring the danger M. Doctour then might well haue spared his paines of writing to his Maiestie to that purpose considering withall he had by his owne acknowledgement receiued full answere from M Casuabon that his Maiestiâ—s setled determination was as he had before signified to Cardinall Perron not at all to shake hands with Rome whiles her whordomes and withcrafts yet remaine in such abundance My wish and hearty prayer to God is and I think not mine alone but of all good men neither would I account my life deare to be spent in the furtherance of it that the miserable rent and wide woundes which at this day wee see in the Christian world in matter of Religion might by some good meanes be closed vp for the sparing of the effusion of so much Christian blood the securing of the Crownes of Christian Princes the setling of so great distraction in Christian mindes the wiping away of the scandall of diuision from the Christian profession and lastly resisting with vnited forces the common enemie of the blessed and glorious name of Iesus Christ But as long as the Bishop of Rome shal hang the faith of his followers on this Principle I and my Church cannot possibly erre and with the same stoppe the mouths of all his opposites bee the force and euidence of their arguments neuer so cleare and stronge I cannot conceiue otherwise of such a wish then of an honest desire but without any apparent hope of successe For if diuine authoritie doe concurre with them in all their ordinances if Gods Spirit infallibly assist them in all their decisions what remaines there but only that they teach wee beleeue they command and the world obey Indeed in humane gouernments where reason is shut out there tyrannie is thrust in but where God commandeth to aske a reason is presumption to disobey rebellion to this miserable necessitie haue their assertions tied them which they haue laid for their eternall foundation miserable to themselues and miserable to the whole world nay in so many conferences as haue beene held in this age for pacification it hath beene truely obserued that ere they parted they plainely discouered they came not with any such intent as to yeeld any thing for Peace much lesse for Trueths sake but onely to assay either by perswasion to reduce or otherwise by cunning to intrap and disgrace their aduersaries and if some one of them haue shewed himselfe more moderate at any time it hath beene his vtter disgrace with his owne partie for euer after Now for the manner of mine answering I haue set downe his text at large in his owne words without altering or adding so much as a sillable except it were to make sense where I found none imputing the errour thereof to the Printer rather then the Author I haue followed the Methode of his owne diuision for the most part both in the Chapters Sect. The maine scope of euery Sect. I haue answered in the bodie of my Reply stretching the force of
alterum diem Deo volente Qui te seruet Illustrissime Domine Londini VIII Eid Sept. MDCXIII Tuae Reuerentiae obseruantiss cultor IS CASAVBONVS Right Reuerend my Gracious Lord I Send vnto your Grace the Letter whereof you haue heard The Letter was sent me with intent it should be communicated vnto the King but I thought it fitter to bee suppressed and to be shewed vnto none For I cannot approue the drift of that learned man who wrâ—te the Letter Wherefore I answered him forâ—â—with and with many words aduised him to desist from that purpose I brought him many reasons why I certainely beleeued it was folly or rather frensie to hope for any good from the Romish Phalaris for that very terme I vsed who laughs at our euils if there be any amongst vs. I laid before his eyes how auerse the Peeres of the Romish Church are from all equitie specially Bellarmine of whose impiety I wrote at large vnto him I set before his eyes with how great danger to himselfe he seemed to become the Popes Patron I alledged testimonies of Matthew Paris of the great misery of England when it was vnder the Popes obedience I added the example of that Narbonois who of late sent vnto the Kings MAIESTY a booke of the like argument that being commanded by the KING to say my mind I professed my detestation thereof and that it was his MAIESTIES will to haue some animaduersions set in the margent of the booke After which what became of Carier I know not This I thought good to signifie vnto your Grace but I expected vntill you were returned vnto the Citie for the publishing of my booke stayes meat home I haue other weighty matters whereof to aduise with your Grace within this day or two God willing who preserue you my gracious Lord. London Sept. 6. 1613. Your Graces most respectiue Obseruer ISA. CASAVBON B. C. 17. There is a statute in England made by King Henry the VIII to make him supreame head of the Church in spirituall and Ecclesiasticall causes which Statute enioynes all the subiects of England on paine of death to beleeue and to sweare they doe beleeue that it is true and yet all the world knowes if King Henry the VIII could haue gotten the Pope to diuorce Queene Katherine that he might marrie Anne Bullen that Statute had neuer been made by him and if that title had not enabled the King to pull downe Abbeys and religious houses and giue them to Lay men the Lords and Commons of that time would neuer haue suffered such a Statute to be made This Statute was continued by Queene Elizabeth to serue her owne turne and it is confirmed by your Maiestie to satisfie other men and yet your Maiestie yeeldeth the Church of Rome to be the mother Church and the Bishop of Rome to bee the chiefe Bishop or Primate of all the Westerne Churches which I doe also verely beleeue and therfore I doe verely thinke he hath or ought to haue some spirituall iurisdiction in England and although in mine yonger dayes the fashion of the world made me sweare as other did for which I pray God forgiue mee yet I euer doubted and I am now resolued that no Christian man can take that oath with a safe conscience neither will I euer take it to gaine the greatest preferment in the world G. H. 17. The Statute here intended can be none other then the Sâ—tute 26. of H. VIII Cap. 1. for that is the first Statute that medleth with the Supremacie which Statute is as the Common Lawyers terme it Statutum declaratiuum not introductiuum noui iuris as doth clearely appeare by the Preamble which hath these words Albeit the Kings Maiestie iustly and rightfully is and ought to bee taken and accepted supreame head of the Church of England and so is recognized by the Clergie in their Conuocation yet neuerthelesse for corroboration and confirmation thereof Be it enacted that the King shall bee taken and accepted Supreme head c. So that the Doctor is fowly mistaken to say that there was a Statute made by K. Henry the VIII to make him Supreme head for it was his ancient right that made him so and it was his Clergie that had acknowledged him to be so before the making of this Statâ—te nay the very phrase and letter of this Statute it selfe doeth purposely renounce the power of making and assumes onely the authority of confirming Whereby it is cleare that Henrie VIII made not a statute to make himselfe Supreme in Ecclesiasticall causes as Mr. Doctor affirmeth but to confirme those Statutes and Rights which his noble Progenitors as iuâ—tly challenged to belong to their Crown as the Bishops of Rome vniustly pretended to be annexed to their Myter And where he sayes that the Statute which according to his vnderstanding made him Supreme head did also enioyne the Subiect to beleeue and sweare it tâ— bee true it is manifest that there is not any mention at all of any oath in that Statute but it is true indeede that in the 28. of Henry VIII chap. 10. there is an oath of Supremacie ordeined the refusall whereof by some certaine persons enioyned by that Act to take it was made high Treason And herein againe is the Doctour deceiued nay which is worse seeketh to deceiue others for onely some certaine persons were bound by that Statute to take the oath and not all the Subiects of England as he falsely surmiseth Anno 35. Henry VIII cap. 1. the oath of Supremacie ordeined by 28. was repealed and a new forme of oath prescribed and extended to more persons but neuer to all in generall The same Parliament Cap. 3. enioyneth that the stile of Supreme head be receiued and vsed and this was all that was done by Henry VIII in the point of Supremacie by way of Statute So that to say as Master Doctor doth that all the Subiects in England are bound vpon paine of death to beleeue the Supremacie is a malicious fiction in two respects First touching the persons enioyned to take the oath and lyable to the punishment and then againe as touching the offence for that beliefe alone which is a secret inclination of the minde knowne onely to God the searcher of the heart and not issuable nor tryable by any Law humane should be made an offence punishable by death is in it selfe so absurde as it cannot but appeare to bee a false imputation to charge our Law-makers therewithall Lastly whereas hee sayes that Henry the VIII would neuer haue made that Statute if he could haue gotten the Pope to haue diuorced Queene Katherine that he might haue married Anne Boleine it is cleare and all the world may know that if King Henry would haue ioyned with Francis the French King in the warre of Naples against Charles the Emperour the Pope would not haue stucke to haue giuen way to that diuorce for the better procuring of which Combination hee did not onely
referre this Matrimoniall cause to the hearing and determining of his Legates but gaue Campeius a secret Bull in his bosom as witnesseth Francis Guicciardin in the 19th Booke of his Historie a Catholike in his profession no man more a reporter of things hee sawe no man truer and a creature of the Popes imployed in honourable charges the Copie of it is to be seene in Anti-Sanders dated in the yeere 1527. the 17th of December and the fifth yeere of Clement the seuenths Popedome wherein hee infringeth the former dispensatioÌ„ affirming that the King could not continue in such Matrimonie without sinne whereupon hee decreed that after the delaration of the nullitie of the former mariage and the Kings absolution it should bee lawfull for him to marrie another This Bull he forbad him to shew to any saue onely to the King and Cardinall Wolsey his fellow Commissioner in that businesse and though openly he commanded him to handle the cause with all expedition yet secretly hee willed him to protract the time promising that himselfe would watch an opportunitie to publish the Decree so the King and Queene were cited to appeare before them in May following at which time after some debating of the cause they protracted the sentence till the beginning of August and after many delayes finding that King Henry could not by hope of the diuorce bee drawen to side with the French the Pope commanded Campeius to burne his Bull and to returne home whereby it appeares that King Henry might easily haue had the nullitie of his mariage with Queene Katherine ratified at Rome without taking the title of Supreme head if hee would haue yeelded to the Popes conditions But the Lords you say and Commons would neuer haue suffered such a Statâ—te to bee made had not that title inabled the King to pull downe Abbeys and Religious houses and giue them to Lay men I would faine know then what mooued the Bishops to giue way to it who had no share in that diuision yet had they with the consent of the Clergie passed it in Conuocation before it was so much as proposed in Parliament and for the Commons a very little share fell out to their parts And if â—he assuming of that title were indeed so needfull as you pretend for the supressing of those houses by what authoritie did Cardinall Wolsey dissolue some and the King by his example more before that title was by him publikely assumed Now for Queene Elizabeth it is true that she reuiued those Statutes of Supremacie enacted by her father and repealed by her sister but not without diuers exceptions as may appeare by the bookes in so much as a new forme of Oath was established by her which is the Oath at this day in force the refusall of which vpon a second offering by such as stand conuicted of a former refusall is by the Statute of 5â— Eliz. cap. 1. made high Treason and it is none otherwise Nay further by an expresse prouiso in that Statute none are compellable to take the Oath the second time but Ecclesiasticall persons and some few others especially named in that Statute neither doth shee take to her in that or any other Statute the title of Supreme head but of Gouernour by which what shee vnderstood herselfe expressed in her Iniunctions and her Clergie in their 37. Article confirmed in two seuerall Conuocations where they thus speake Where wee attribute to the Queenes Maiestie the chiefe Gouernment by which title we vnderstand the mindes of some slanderous folkes to be offended wee giue not to our Princes the ministring either of Gods word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Iniunctions also lately set foorth by Elizabeth our Queene doe most plainely testifie but that onely prerogatiue which we see to haue beene giuen alwayes to all godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himselfe that is thâ—t they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Temporall and restraine with the ciuill sword the stubburne and euill doers neither doe I see how Osorius in his Epistle to her can be interpreted to affoord her lesse where he professeth that all Kings are Pro parte suaiuris diuini Vicarij Vicars of Gods Law in their places From Queene Elizabeth you passe to his Maiestie and tell him that he confirmed the same Statute to satisfie other men arguing therein his Maiestie of great weakenesse either as being not able to iudge what he did or as being caried by others against his owne iudgement But that his MAIESTIE did it aduisedly and rather to satiffie himselâ—e then others appeares by this that hee was inuested with the same power which that Statute giues him before his receauing of the Crowne of England and since himselfe with his owne penne hath thus both iustified and explained it if these examples saith he sentences title and prerogatiues and innumerable other in the olde and new Testament doe not warrant Christian Kings within their owne dominions to gouerne their Church aswell as the rest of their people in being Custodes vtriusque tabulae not by making new Articles of Faith which is the Popes office as I said before but by commaunding obedience to bee giuen to the word of God by reforming the Religion accâ—rding to his prescribed will by assisting the Spirituall power with the Temporall sword by reforming of corruptions by procuring due obedience to the Church by iudging and cutting off all friuolous questions and Schismes as Constantine did and finally by making decorum to be obserued in euery thing and establishing orders to be obserued in all indifferent things for that purpose which is the onely intent of the Oath of Supremacie if this office of a King I say doe not agree with the power giuen him by Gods word lâ—t any indifferent man void of passion iudge But yet his Maiestie you say yeeldeth the Church of Rome to be the Mother Church and the Bishop of Rome to bee the chiefe Bishop or Primate of the Westerne Churches Indeed his Maiesty in his first speech in his first Parliament called after his entrâ—nce to this Kingdome is pleased to acknowledge the Romane Church to be our Mother Church this M. Doctour is content to vrge but to conceale that which he addeth defiled with infirmities and corruptions as the Iewes were when they crucified Christ and as I am none enemy saith he to the life of a sicke man because I would haue his body purged of ill humours no more am I an enemy to their Church because I would haue them reforme their errours not wishing their throwing out of the Temple but that it might be purged and clensed from corruption otherwise how can they wish vs to enter if their house bee not first made cleane Herein Mr Doctour dealing with his Maiesty as the deuill did with our Sauiour hee pressed that out of the Psalme which made for himselfe Hee will giue
his Angels charge ouer thee but suppressed that which made against him to keepe thee in all thy wayes now if any man farther desire his Maiesties meaning in calling Rome the Mother Church hee hath fully expressed himselfe in his Premonition Patriarchs saith he I know were in the time of the Primitiue Church and I likewise reuerence that institution for orders sake and amongst them was a contention for the first place And for my selfe if that were yet the question I would with all mine heart giue my consent that the Bishop of Rome should haue the first seat I being a Westerne King would goe with the Patriarch of the West whereby it is cleare that his Maiesties meaning was and is to yeeld the Bishop of Rome ouer other Westerne Bishops in case they should meet iâ— Councell a prioritie in sitting not a superiority in commanding a primacy or precedency in order not a supremacie in power and iurisdiction it beeing the marke which Mr. Doctour driues at and from thence labours cunningly but malitiously to inferre contrary to his Maiesties both minde and words I conclude this point with a Reuerend Prelate His Vicarship to Christ must be proued by stronger and plainer euidence then you haue yet shewed before wee may grant it and for his Patriarkeship saith he which you now take hold of by Gods law he hath nne in this Realme for â—ixe hundred yeeres after Christ he had none for the last sixe hundred as looking to greater matters hee would haue none aboue and against the swâ—rd which God hath ordained he can haue none to the subuersion of the faith and oppression of his brethren in right reason and equity he should haue none you must seeke farther for subiection to his tribunall this land oweth him none B. C. 18. There is another statute in England made by Queene Elizabeth and confirmed by your Maiesty that it is death for any English man to bee in England being made a Priest by authority deriued or pretended to bee deriued from the Bishop of Rome I cannot beleeue that I am a Priest at all vnlesse I be deriued by authority from Gregory the great from whence all the Bishops in England haue their being if they haue any being at all G. H. 18. The Statute intended is the 27. of Eliz. Cap. 2. which indeed in the body thereof hath words sounding to that purpose but the sense is malitiously peruerted and the inference thereupon for he that shall reade through that Statute and consider all the parts shall clearely perceiue that therby none other Priests are intended then Popish Priests made and ordeined by Popish Bishops and not such as Mr. Doctour was made in England by any of our Bishops here Though perhaps it were true that our Bishops did deriue their first authority from Gregory which we do not yeeld vnto considering that Augustine from whom they are pretended to deriue it was not consecrated by him but by Aetherius Archbishop of Arles if wee may beleeue our own Venerable Bede for the title of the Statute is An Acte against Iesuites Seminary Priests and such other like disobedient persons and the preamble of the acte hath these words Whereas diuers persons called or professed Iesuites Seminary Priests and other Priests which haue beene and froâ— time to time are made in the parts beyond the Seas by or according to the order and rites of the Romish Church haue of late yeeres commen and bene sent into England c. So that if according to the rule Praefatio est clauis Statuti we shall interprete the body by the title or preamble howsoeuer the wordes in the body of the acte bee somewhat generall yet what Priests are intended by the Law-makers is euident enough and except M. Doctour were a Priest according to the Order and Rites of the Romish Church by shauing anoynting and imposition of hands by a Popish Bishop and that since the first yeere of Queene Elizabeth he needed not to haue feared the danger of the Law B. C. 19. There is another Statute in like maner made and confirmed that it is death to bee reconciled by a Catholike Priest to the Church of Rome I am perswaded that the Church of Rome is our mother Church and that no man in England can be saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church and therefore I can not chuse but perswade the people to be reconciled thereunto if possibly they may G. H. 19. This Statute also is either purposely or ignorantly mistaken and is not distinct from that following but are both one namely 23. Eliz. cap. 1. The title of it is An Acte to retaine the Queenes Maiesties Subiects in due obedience and the preamble recites that whereas diuers ill affected persons haue practised to withdraw the Queenes Subiects from their naturall allegeance the purueiw of the Acte followeth that all persons which shall put in practise to â—bsolue perswade or withdrawe any of the Queenes subiects from their naturall obedience to her Maiestie or to withdraw them for that intent from the religion established and so foorth shall be traitours and the person willingly absolued or withdrawen as aforesayd to be likewise a traitour so that the withdrawing of the Subiect from their naturall obedience or for that intent from the religion established is the offence made treason and not simple exhorting to the Romish religion as is alleadged And yet to speake a trueth I see not how any exhortation to an absolute submission of the vnderstanding and the will to the Bishop of Romes Iurisdiction which now is made the onely essentiall forme of that religion can well be seuered from such an intent But Rome you say is the mother Church and no man in England can bee saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church Where if you terme it the mother Church in that sense that his MAIESTIE doeth wee imbrace it but if your meaning bee that shee is our mother either in regard that wee receiued the first life or still should receiue the nourishment of religion from her wee denie it our nation being first conuerted to the Christian faith by Ioseph of Arimathea who intombed the Corps of our Sauiour and lieth himselfe interred at Glastenbury together with twelue disciples his assistants where they first preached the Gospel as Gildas affirmeth in the life of Aurelius Ambrosius and Malmesbury in the Booke intituled The Antiquitie of Glastenbury written to Henry of Bloys brother to King Steuen and Abbot of the same place and it is consented vnto by the learned Antiquaries of later times as namely Mr. Cambden Iohn Bale Matthew Parker Polydore Virgil and others grounding themselues vpon the authoritie of the best approued and most ancient writers and withall considering our keeping of Easter and other Ceremonies were after the fashion of the Easterne Church and not of the Westerne at the comming of Austin I may very well coniecture that our
preiudice of any honest man in England to see some vnity betwixt the Church of England and her mother the Church of Rome And now hauing declared the meanes of my couersion to Catholike religion I will briefly also shew vnto you the hopes I haue to doe your Maiesty no ill seruice therein G. H. 21. It is true indeed that those Statutes which you alledge are not seuerall in themselues but members of the same And it appeares well though you had not professed it that at the writing hereof you had not your bookes about you you affirme things vncertaine so confidently and things certaine so falsly But you are sure you say they make such fellonies and treasons as were the greatest vertues of the Primitiue Church whereas wee are more sure that the greatest vertues and fattest sacrifices and shortest cut to heauen as they are now esteemed in the Church of Rome were in the Primitiâ—e Church held none other but murders and parricides and felonies and treasons Thou doest promise saith Augustine to Patilian that thou wilt reckon many of the Emperours and iudges which by persecuting you perished and concealing the Emperours thou mâ—anest two iudges or deputies why didst thou not name the Emperors of thy Communion wert thou afraid to bee accused as guilâ—y of treason where is your courage which feare not to kill your selues To say the Emperours perished for persecuting was treason in his time in our age you thinke it much that reproching of Princes as tyrants and heretiques and aiding the Pope with your perswasions absolutions and rebellions to take their Crownes from them should be punished or adiudged treason how beit a certaine trueth it is that there is no conspiracie so pernitious and dangerous to the state as that which is whispered into mens eares and conueyed into their hearts vpon a sense of deuotion and outwardly couered with a shew of religion notwithstanding as true it is that in England none are put to death for Caâ—holâ—ke religion no nor for the Romish which you call Catholike as hath beene at large iustified in a booke written by a Peere of the Realme intiâ—uled the defence of the iustice of England and is verified by his Maiesty in his Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance in the very entrance of his answere to the Popes first Breue where he not onely cleareth himselfe at large from this imputation but the late Queene that blessed defunct Lady as he there calleth her in whose proceedings saith he who list to compare with an indifferent eye the manifold intended iâ—uasions against her whole kingdome the forreine practises the internall publike rebellions the priuate plots and machinations poysonings murthers and all sorts of deuises dayly set abroach and all these wares continually fostered and fomented from Rome together with the continuall corrupting of her Subiects aswell by temporall bribes as by faire and spaciâ—us promises of eternall felicitie and nothing but booke vpon booke publikely set foorth by her fugitiues for approbation of so holy dâ—signes who list I say with an indifferent eye to looke on the one part vpon these infinite and intollerable temptations and on the other part vpon the iust yet moderate punishmeÌ„t of a part of these hainous offenders shal easily see that that blessed defunct Lady was as free from persecution as thâ—y shall free these hellish instruments from the honour of Martyrdome And againâ— his Maiestie maintaineth the same in his Premonition to Christian Princes not farre from the conclusion As for the cause of their punishment sayth he speaking of Romish Catholikes I doe constantly maintaine that which I haue sayd in my Apologie that no man either in my time or the late Queenes euer dyed here for his Conscience for let him be neuer so deuout a Papist nay though he professe the same neuer so constantly his life is in no danger by the Law if he breake not out into some outward act expressely against the words of the Law or plot some vnlawfull or dangerous practise or attempt Priests and Popish Churchmen onely excepted that receiue orders beyond the Seas who for the manifold treasonable practises that they haue kindled and plotted in this countrey are discharged to come home againe vnder paine of Treason after their receauing of the sayd orders abroad and yet without some other guilt in them then their bare home comming haue none of them beene euer put to death Hitherto his Maiestie Whereas on the otherside wee iustly complaine that they execute our professours though strangers for Religion and only for Religion and in that most bloodie and barbarous manner specially where the Inquisition is in force that whore of Babylon being drunke and yet not filled with the blood of the Saints And whereas you impute crâ—elty to our Lawes what tragicall cruelties were exercisâ—d in Queene Maries dayes euen vpon women and children nay which is most odious and vnnaturall vpon women great with childe I pray God as well forget as some yet aliue well remember Now as you holde and handle our Martyrs worse then Traytors So your most notorious Traâ—tors must stand registred in the Calender of Martyrs Not many dayes before Garnet suffered there came to visite him at his lodging in the Tower certaine choise Diuines amongst whome the chiefe were My Lordes the Bishops of Bath and Wells of Lincolne and Leichfield as now they are among other questions one of them proposed this Whether if the Church of Rome afâ—er his execution should declare him a Martyr hee did approoue thereof hee deepely sighing and shrinking vp his shoulders made this answere Me a Martyr O what a Martyr but the Church will nâ—uer doe it and I pray God it be neuer so much as thought vpon Indeed if I had dyed for the Catholike Religion and vnhappie man had beene acquainted with nothing else but that which was reuealed mee in Confession I might perhaps seeme not vnworthy the honor of Martyrdome and merite the iudgement of the Church but now as the case stands I must acknowledge my fault and confesse the sentence of death pronounced against me most iust Then againe doubling and trebling his sighes and shewing tokens of vnfained sorrow I would to God sayeth he what is done might be vndone I could wish that any other chance had befallen me rather then my name should thus be stained with the blot of Treason which offence though most grieuous yet I distrust not but it may be washed away with the teares of repentance and that Christ will haue mercie on me Sure I am that if I had all the world in my power to bestow I would willingly giue all that I might be freed from the guilt and imputation of treason which lies heauie vpon my conscience shall stand recorded in the sentence of my condemnation Notwithstanding all this is hee recorded a Martyr apologized by Eudemon and by Delrio paralelled with Denis the Areopagite What would Mr. Doctour say to this now had wee
apostata So then in Saint Augustines opinon God did not onely order those honours by his prouidence as you would haue it but conferre them by his bounty Neither haue we any reason to thinke but that he who called Cyrus his Shepheard and his Anointed and gaue him the treasures of darkenesse and assured Nabuchadonosor by his Propheâ— that himselfe had giuen to him a Kingdome and power and strength and glorie may as truely bee sayd to haue conferred that gouernment vpon the Turke which now he holds But it seemes you aime through the Turkes sides to strike at Queene Elizabeth and through her at King Iames Infidels and Heretikes being in the Roman language ranked together So that their king domes being not by Gods donation they might lie loose and by occasion fall as it were by excheate to his holinesse gift Your reasons of the largenesse and long continuance of the Turkish Empire are as farre from the purpose as your whole discourse is from any sound Diuinitie for not to stand vpon the sifting of the trueth of them which in some of them may not vniustly be questioned your inference is that such principles are of great importance to increase and maintaine a temporall estate But the point is whether any can be of sufficient importance to vphold any estate when God for the dishonouring of his CHRIST is purposed to ruine it and as the Psalmist speakes of a fruitfull land to make it barren for the iniquity of the people that dwell therein before you speake of a Supernaturall iudgement of God in destruction and here of a Naturall and humane inuention for preseruation which can hold no more proportion with the former then a Venice glasse with an yron pot or an earthen vessell with a brasen Lastly what states you should meane that are willing to become Turkish I know not but what they are that inioy their estates in capite Ecclesiae ad voluntatem Domini Papae and enioyne the greatest silence and outward reuerence in matters of Religion and withall are content to admit the toleration of Iewes and Turkes too in their Dominions rather then of Christians your selfe when you wrote this could not bee ignorant Nay some of the Popes themselues as namely Alexander the VI. and Paulus the III. if we may credite Thuanus had secret commerce with the great Turke against the Christian Princes and the former of them if Iouius and Guicciardin mistake not tooke vnder hand of the Turke Baiazets two hundred thousand Crownes to kill his brother Gemen And Alexander the III. wrote to the Soldan that if he would liue quietly he should by some sleight murther the Emperour Frederike Barbarossa and to that ende sent him the Emperours picture B. C. 6. It is most true which I gladly write and so giue out with all the honour I can of your Maiesty to speake that I thinke there was neuer any Catholike king in England that did in his time more imbrace and fauour the true body of the Church of England then your Maiesty doth the shadow thereof that is yet left and my firme hope is that this your desire to honour our blessed Sauiour in the shadow of the Church of England will moue him to honour your Maiesty so much as not to suffer you to die out of the body of his true Catholike Church and in the meane time to let you vnderstand that all honour that is intended to him by schisme and heresie doth redound to his great dishonour both in respect of his realla and of his mysticall body G. H. 6. You honour his Maiesty much indeed in giuing out that he imbraceth a shadow in stead of a substance as Ixion did a cloude in stead of Iuno and Iacob bleare-eyed Lea in stead of Rachel but in trueth of the Church of Rome wee may safely say that with Esops dog in snatching at the shadow she hath lost the substance of religion she hath so couered ouer all the parts of diuine seruice with the leaues of ceremonies that hardly is the fruit it selfe to be seene she hath so bepainted the face of Gods worship that not easily is the natiue complexion thereof to be â—ound The Poet spake it of the women of his time Pars minima est ipsa puellasui But we may more truely affirme it of the Romish religion her ornaments and apparell are such that a man may seeke Rome in Rome and her religion in her religion and not find either I will giue but one instance for all Bellarmine in the conclusion of his controuersies of the Sacrament of Baptisme maketh no lesse then twelue ceremonies to march before it fiue to assist and fiue to hold vp the traine of which some are profane the greatest part ridiculous and few or none wherein wee differ so much as knowen to the primitiue Church Now if the Church of England haue scowred off the drosse and pared away the superstition and nouelty retaining the substance together with the most comely and ancient ceremonies aswell in this Sacrament as in other parts of diuine seruice and his Maiesty follow her therein shall he therefore be sayd to imbrace the shadow and not the body whereas in truth if euer King of England embraced the body of religion without respect to the shadow of vaine and needlesse ceremonies it is his Maiesty which while he doth there is little feare by Gods grace of his dying out of the body of Christs true Catholike Church whose head is not the Bishop of Rome but Christ himselfe vnderstood in the 10. of S. Iohns Gospel and there shal be one sheepefold and one sheepeheard B. C. 7. For his reall body is not as the vbiquitaries would haue it euery where aswel without the Church as within but only where himselfe would haue it and hath ordained that it should bee and that is amongst his Apostles and Disciples and their successours in the Catholique Church to whom he deliuered his Sacraments and promised to continue with them vntill the worlds end So that though Christ bee present in that Schisme by the power of his dietie for so he is present in hell also yet by the grace of his humanity by participation of which grace onely there is hope of saluation hee is not present there at all except it be in corners and prisons and places of persecution and therefore whatsoeuer honour is pretended to be done to Christ in schisme and heresie is not done to him but to his vtter enemies G. H. 7. By the reall body of Christ I suppose you vnderstand the naturall his mysticall body being also reall but not naturall and I see not but this naturall body may as well bee euery where wherein you taxe the Vbiquitaries as in heauen and on earth and vpon earth in tenne thousand places at the same instant which the Church of Rome maintaines but it seemes by confining of him to the Church on earth your purpose is to exclude him from
it to the world that no other sect of heretikes not excepting Turke Iew nor Pagan no not euen those of Calicute who adore the deuill did euer maintaine it by the grounds of their religion Marke by the grounds of their religion that it was lawfull or rather meritorious as the Romish Catholikes call it to murder princes or people for quarrell of religion And although particular men of all professions of religion haue beene some theeues some murtherers some traitours yet euer when they came to their ende and iust punishment they confessed their fault to be in their nature and not in their profession these Romish Catholikes onely excepted And if that be your religion which we finde maintained by the chiefe pillars and Doctours of your Church and determined to bee Catholike by your Popes and Cardinals surely we haue as litle reason to entertaine your doctrine as wee haue good reason euer to be iealous of your practise Your doctrine is That the Pope if hee thinke good may excommunicate and depose kings and dispose of their kingdomes by absoluing their subiects from their allegeance and setting forraine princes to inuade there dominions as if they held not their Crownes from God but from him and as if they were to write no more in their stiles by the grace of God but by the Popes grace king of such or such a kingdom Your doctrine is that treason deliuered vnder the seale of cōfession is not to be discouered though it be to the indangering of your Soueraigns person the subuersion of the whole body of the State Your doctrine is That as many Churchmen as are in the Kingdom which in most is a third part in some more they are all exempted from the coertion of the ciuill Magistrate being for punishment whether in bodie or in estate onely lyable to the censures of Ecclesiasticall courts which haue both dependance vpon the Popes authoritie and direction from his Canon Law Your doctrine is That as many Bishops and Arch-Bishops as are any where consecrated ought to take their oath to bee true and loyall to their good Lord and holy Father of Rome to the vtmost to execute and further his Commaunds without any limitation or reference to the authoritie of their Soueraigne Lord the King as may appeare by the tenour of the oath here ensuing which I haue annexed to the end the Reader may iudge whether this be the onely Religion as Mr. Doctour pretendeth to keepe Subiects in obedience to their Kings I Iohn Bishop or Abbot of A. from this houre forward shall be faithfull and obedient to S. Peter and to the Holy Church of Rome and to my Lord the Pope and his Successors Canonically entring I shall not bee of counsaile nor consent that they shall lose either life or member or shall bee taken or suffer any violence or any wrong by any meanes Their counsaile to mee credited by them their messengers or Letters I shall not willingly discouer to any person The Popedome of Rome the rules of the holy Fathers and the regalities of S. Peter I shall helpe retaine defend against all men The Legate of the Sea Apostolike going and comming I shall honourably intreate The rights honours priuiledges authorities of the Church of Rome and of the Pope and his Successors I shall cause to bee conserued defended augmented and promoted I shall not bee in Counsell Treatie or any act in the which any thing shall be imagined against him or the Church of Rome their rights states honours or power And if I know any such to bee mooued or compassed I shall resist to my power and assoone as I can I shall aduertise him or such as may giue him knowledge The rules of the Holy Fathers the decrees ordinances sentences dispositions reseruations prouisions and commandements Apostolike I shall keepe to my power cause to be kept of other Heretikes Schismatikes and Rebels to our Holy Father and his Successours I shall resist and persecute to my power I shall come to the Synode when I am called except I bee let by a Canonical impediment The lights of the Apostle I shall visite personally or by my deputie I shall not aliene or sell my possessions without the Popes Councell so God mee helpe and the holy Euangelists No meruaile then that Henry the eight when he commaunded the forme of this Oath to bee publikely reade in Parliament complained to the Speaker Sir Tho. Audely and some others whom for that purpose he sent for that he had thought the Clergie of his Realme had bene his Subiects wholly but now we haue well perceiued sayeth hee that they are to vs but halfe Subiects or indeed scarce Subiects at all Finally your doctrine is that the Christians in the Primatiue Church abstained from taking armes not so much for conscience sake as because they wanted strength which must needs open a wide gappe to the people vpon any humorous discontent when they once feele their owne strength like an vntamed horse to cast their rider if they may and that I may speake in your own phrase to make no bones of violating the Maiestie of the king and his children and is this a Religion fit to keepe Subiects in obedience to their Soueraignes Whereas our doctrine on the other side is That the persons of princes are sacred and by Gods ordinance priuiledged from all violence and for their actions that they are onely accomptable to God their Crownes and Scepters not disposeable by any but by him who set the one vpon their heads and the other in their hands who hath the name written on his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords who as Iob speaketh leadeth Princes away spoiled and ouerthroweth the mightie and againe he powreth contempt vpon Princes and weakeneth the strength of the mightie Lastly our doctrine is that the Subiects duetie is not by any dispensable but by him alone who by his diuine prouidence subiected them to that power Now whether of these doctrines ours or yours is most likely to keepe men in obedience euen our enemies shall bee our Iudges Yet this to bee your doctrine your bookes witnesse and no man of learning and ingenuitie among you will denie But for our doctrine you pretend the opinions of Caluinists and those countrey Caluinists and those met in an Ale-house not in plaine termes but by consequences gathered not by sober or setled braines vpon iudgement but by working heads of greater libertie at their pleasure and that not in their bookes or speeches but in their liues and practises Thus the mountains swell as if wee should haue a giant borne but at length after much expectation wee haue a little mouse brought into the world What Mr. Doctour are there no principles in the Romish Catholike Religion from whence working heads of greater libertie doe at their pleasures draw the like dangerous consequences in their liues and practises If there bee none how comes it to passe that there are so many
of that profession by whose deedes a man may safely guesse they say in their hearts there is no God If there be any why doe you so pathetically exclaime against Caluinists as if they stood single in this bill of inditement Shall we accuse our Blessed SAVIOVR because he is to some a rocke of offence or his precious Word because to some it prooues a sauour of death vnto death and if wee must acquit him and lay the fault where it is on them who draw poison to hurt themselues out of the sweetest flowers and dazell their owne eyes by looking on the comfortable beames of the Sunne surely you haue no reason in my iudgement in this case as by your selfe it is opened to accuse our doctrine I am not ignorant that all the Popes chiefest Proctors lay it confidently to our charge That wee make God the author as well of sudas his treason as Pauls vocation aswell of Dauids adulterie as Iosephs chastitie as namely Vasquez Feuardentius Campian Hayus Panigirolla Bozius Ignatius Armandus Kellison Posseuin Bellarmin But I will be bold to say it there is none of our writers of note euen among them who are reputed the most zealous followers of Caluin haue written any more in this point then Occham Hugo de Sancto Victore Gregorius Ariminensis Cardinall Cameracensis Medina Durandus Bannes Scotus Thomas and Bellarmine himselfe who as his Maiestie rightly obserueth in the Catalogue of his contradictions set downe in his Apologie manifestly opposeth himselfe touching his opinion in this point in the Booke and Chapter before quoted in as much as hee affirmeth in the 3. Section thereof that God doth not incline a man to euill either naturally or morally and in the tenth Section of the same Chapter auoucheth the cleane contrary namely that God doth not incline to euill naturally but morally and in the same place hee is bold to say that God not onely permitteth wicked men to doe many euils but that by a figure he commandeth it and exciteth men vnto it as a huntsman setteth the dogge vpon the Hare by letting goe the slip that held the dogge Nay hee further addeth hee fits as president ouer the willes of wicked men hee ruleth and gouerneth them he boweth and bendeth them by working inuisibly in them and that positiuely as hee acknowledgeth within a few lines though before hee denie it These very wordes of Bellarmine doth Kellison reprehend in Caluin in the 1. Chap. of his booke of his Suruay the same man maketh Caluin to teach that God is the onely sinner in as much as hee doubteth not to say that the will of God is the necessitie of things whereas indeede they are S. Augustines words de Gen. ad lit lib. 6. cap. 15. and so rightly quoted by Caluin though Kellison professe S. Augustine haue no such thing in the place by him alleaged So that if they had the charitie to interpret the speaches of our men as gently and fauourably as they doe their owne there would appeare little difference or none at all and I will vndertake to shewe if I bee put to it that many speaches and passages goe for currant and Catholike doctrine among them which if they should bee alleaged out of Caluin would be censured as heresie but it seemeth the ground of the song which Mr. Doctor here descanteth on was taken out of Kellison in the forenamed booke and chapter where hee alleageth Caluins words to be these but falsly quoted out of his 37. Booke I grant that theeues and murtherers and other euill doers are the instruments of Gods prouidence whom the Lord doth vse to execute those iudgements which hee hath himselfe determined as if Caluin said any more or so much herein then S. Peter hath giuen him warrant for in the 4 chap. of the Acts where he thus speaketh Of a trueth against thy holy child IESVS whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel were gatherâ—d together for to doe whatsoeuer thy hand and thy counsell determined before to bee done or Ioseph in the 45. of Genesis comforting his brother God did send mee before you to preserue life or Iob when the Caldeans had robbed him of his cattel and flaine his seruants The Lord hath taken away or the Prophet Esay where hee likeneth the King of Assyria to an Axe to a Sawe to a Rod to a Staffe moued and directed by the hand of God for the execution of his iudgements wherefore let Kellison either accuse these holy penmen of God and teach them to correct their manner of speaking or let him cease to accuse Caluin for this passage who there in affirmeth no more nor so much as they doe To conclude what wee maintaine in this poynt touching the will or cooperation of God in sinne or with sinners is among many others fully and cleerely deliuered by the pens of the most Reuerend father in God the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Grace now being in the last of his sixe solemne Lectures read in the Vniuersitie of Oxford for his degree of Doctorship of Doctor Abbot now L. Bishop of Salisbury in his answere to Doctor Bishops preface to his second part of Doctor Morton Deane of Winchester in the first Booke and 25. Chap. of his Cath. Apologie of Doctor Feild Deane of Glocester in his third Booke and 23. Chapter of the Church and lastly of my late worthy Colleague Doctor White in the 41. Digression and 50. Paragraph of The way to the Church The summe of all is this that about and concerning sin God doth three things first as a cause vniuersall hee sustaineth and vpholdeth the beeing and moouing both of the nature and actions whether good or bad of all mankind Secondly by withdrawing his grace which should lighten the vnderstandings and soften and mollifie the hearts of men Thirdly by giuing way to Satan to worke vpon them and no way either strengthening them against him or weakning his force Fourthly by ordinating sinne which is nothing else but the disposing and directing of it in such maner and measure as to him seemeth best that it stretcheth it selfe no further or otherwise either for time or place or persons then his good pleasure willeth sometimes he turneth it to another end then the person doing it thought of somtimes he maketh way for it by shutting vp and stopping all other passages by which it might breake foorth sometimes hee punisheth one sinne with another as pride is punished with enuie he being not the author of enuie as it is sinfull but as is it carries a sting with it implying a contrariety betweene it and the soule of man which maketh it bitter and afflictiue Fiftly and lastly by occasioning sinne accidentally as when God doeth that which in it selfe is good and yet knoweth through the euill disposition which is in men it
shallow as proceeding rather from affection then iudgement is this because if a man aske you say in cold blood whether a Roman Catholike may be saued the most learned Church-man will not denie it Wherein if we be more charitable to you then you are to vs in passing censures of damnation it should in my iudgement rather argue the goodnesse of that Religion from whence such charity flowes towards mens persons then be vrged as a proofe for the approbation of that erronious doctrine which in it selfe it condemns The Turke is too liberall in admitting all Religions to the hope of saluation and on the other side you are too niggardly and sparing in shutting out all from the hope thereof which receiue not the marke of the beast in their foreheads or hands We desiring to runne a middle course betwixt both extremes as we shut out all such who directly deny the merits of CHRIST so doe wee passe a fauourable censure on those who deny him not of malice but of ignorance and that not directly but by consequence It is true that S. Paul hath in the fifth to the Galatians If yee be circumcised CHRIST shall profit you nothing That is if a man put his trust in Circumcision or in any thing else beside Christ though with Christ in the matter of iustification he is abolished from Christ and the merite of his death and Passion Now what confidence the Romanists put in their owne satisfaction for veniall sinnes and temporall punishment either in this life or in Purgatorie due to mortall their writings testifie but yet our assurance is that many of them when they come to make their last account betwixt God and their owne Conscience and throughly consider of the weakenesse and corruption of their owne nature for the vncertaintie of their owne proper righteousnesse and for the auoiding of vaineglory according to Bellarmins aduise they rest wholly in the alone mercie and goodnesse of God renouncing in particular that merite of worke which their Church in generall for her owne aduantage maintaineth and teacheth them to maintaine Or lastly God of his Graciousnesse may accept of their repentance for vnknowen sins and consequently for their erronious opinons which by reason of their education they vnwittingly imbrace yet this charitable construction of ours can bee no sufficient warrant for vs either to shut our eyes against a knowen trueth or to open our eares to hearken to any motion of reconcilement to a knowen errour Now whether a Romane Catholike may bee a good subiect wholly submitting himselfe to Romish positions I referre the reader to his Maiesties speech in Parliament in the yeere 1605 who should know what belongs to his owne state and to mine answere to the 12. Sect. of this Chapter a part of his Maiesties very words in that speech are these I therefore doe thus conclude this point that as vpon the one part many honest men seduced with some errors of Popery may yet remaine good faithfull subiects so vpon the other part none of those that truely knowe and beleeue the whole grounds and schoole conclusions of their doctrine can euer prooue good Christians or faithfull subiects If then we bee so farre diuided both in God and in the king how can we but be vtterly diuided in our selues B. C. 20. Truely there is no reason at all but onely the violence of affection which being in a course cannot without some force be stayed The multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according vnto trueth but according vnto customes and therefore hauing beene bred and brought vp in the hatred of Spaniards and Papists cannot chuse but thinke they are bound to hate them still and that whosoeuer speaketh a word in fauour of the Church of Rome or of Catholike religion is their vtter enemy and the Puritanicall Preacher who can haue no being in charity doth neuer cease by falsifications and slanders to blow the coales that hee may burne them and warme himselfe But if your Maiesty shall euer bee pleased to commaund those make-bates to hold their peace a while and to say nothing but that they are able to proue by sufficient authority before those that are able to iudge and in the mean time to admit a conference of learned and moderate men on either side the people who are now abused and with the light of the Gospel held in extreme ignorance are not yet so vncapable but they will be glad to heare of the trueth when it shall be simply and euidently deliuered by honest men and then they will plainely see that their light of the Gospel which they so much talke of is but a counterfeit light in a theeues lanterne wherby honest mens eyes are dazeled and their purses robbed and it will also appeare that there is not indeed any such irreconciliable opposition betwixt the Church of England and the Church as they that liue by the schisme doe make the world beleeue there is neither in matter of doctrine nor in matter of State G. H. 20. You farther endeuour to prooue in the entrance of this Section that the diuision of the Church of England from the Church of Rome ariseth rather from affection then iudgement in as much as the multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according to trueth but according vnto customes Now whether it be the Church of England or the Church of Rome that stands vpon multitude and that multitude vpon custome the Bishop of Rome himselfe shall be the iudge nay not onely your multitude but the chiefest pillars of your Church stand most vpon it if you had but looked into your great Cardinals notes of your Church you should haue found antiquity or custome to haue beene the second howbeit both Acosta and Xauerius in their seueral writings made the Indians standing vpon their customes the chiefe difficulty of their conuersion to CHRIST It was Symmachus the Pagans argument in his Epistle to Theodosius the Emperour recorded by S. Ambrose Seruanda est tot saeculis fides nostra sequendi sunt maiores nostri qui secuti sunt foeliciter suos Our religion which hath now continued so many yeeres is still to bee retained and our ancestours are to bee followed by vs who happily traced the steps of their forefathers and is not this Mr. Doctors owne argument to perswade his Maiesty to the Romish religion in the 2. and 10. Sect. of this Chapter how comes it then to passe that in this place he findes fault with those that iudge according to custome and makes it a popular errour teach that a while and indeed we may be brought to shake handes with Rome she standing vpon a pretended truth of antiquity but we vpon the antiquity of trueth in as much as our Sauiour said not I am antiquity but I am trueth And S. Cyprian his blessed Martyr Antiquity without truth is nothing els but ancient errour Now the reason you giue that our
doctrine bee as opposite to our Religion as to the Romish then must it needs follow that either ours and the Romish agree in one or that ours is as distant from Caluins as Caluins is from the Romish both which to bee vntrue appeares aswell by the testimonie of all other Romish writers and the authority of the Pope himselfe in his Bull against Queene ELIZBAETH as those whome they terme Lutherans who euer range vs among the Caluinists as also of our owne writers and those of forraine Churches by you termed Caluinistical because with him they ioyne in profession of the same trueth the manifold Letters by them written and Bookes dedicated to our late blessed Queene our Bishops and Noble men by French and Heluetian Diuines specially of Zurich and Basil testifie to the world that they then held their religion to bee the same with ours and ours with theirs and for any thing I know neither theirs nor ours is since changed saue onely some such neutrals as your selfe labour to drawe vs neerer to Rome then they can bee drawen or the trueth it selfe will permit that wee should Among many other testimonies I will onely instance in two the one an Heluetian touching our conformitie with forreine reformed Churches in former times the other a French man touching the present the Heluetian is Bullinger who dedicating his Commentaries vpon Daniel to Horne Bishop of Winchester Iewell Bishop of Salisbury Sandes Bishop of Worcester Parkhurst Bishop of Norwich and Pilkington Bishop of Durham in his Epistle Dedicatory professeth hee did it chiefly to this ende that posterity might vnderstand their indissoluble knot of friendship and the mutual consent betweene England and Suisserland in matter of Religion howbeit they were remooued farre asunder in situation of place The French is Peter Moulin who in defence of his Maiesties Booke against Coffeteau acknowledgeth that wee had enough sufficient men of our owne to defend the Cause but that hee vndertooke the worke to let the world knowe that the same Confession which his Maiestie had made was also theirs and that they and the trueth were assailed in his Person and Writings But what neede I stand vpon the particular testimonies of priuate men since the Confessions of our Churches are extant to be compared as well in the Booke intituled The Harmony as in that other termed The bodie of Confessions In the meane time to giue the Reader some satisfaction I will set downe the doctrine of the Church of England in points of difference together with Caluint on the one side of it and the Romish on the other that so wee may make some estimate whether Caluinisme bee as opposite to the Religion of England as to that of Rome Now for the doctrine of the Church of England I will not extend it so wide as to the Bookes and Lectures of our Bishops and publique professours the lights and guides of our Church and Vniuersities nor yet contract and confine it as Mr. Doctor doeth within the narrow compasse of the Common prayer Booke and Church Catechisme the booke of Canons and therein Nowels Catechisme Can. 79. being confirmed and allowed by publike authoritie But aboue all I very much maruell Mr. Doctors memory should so farre faile him as quite and cleane to forget the Booke of Articles solemnely agreed vpon by the Reuerend Bishops and Clergie of this kingdome at two seuerall meetings or Conuocations of theirs in the yeeres of our Lord 1562 and againe 1604 and lately againe confirmed by two seuerall Canons the 5 and 36 in number since himselfe subscribed to them at the taking of his Orders if not of his Degrees and liuing a long time as Chaplen in house with Archbishop Whitegift and since keeping his ordinary turnes of waiting at Court and residence at Canterbury he could not bee ignorant of them nay I can shewe it vnder his owne hand which argues hee fought against the light of his owne conscience that setting downe the differences betweene the Olde English and New French diuinitie as he calles it hee quotes diuers of those Articles for the doctrine of the Church of England and besides professing himselfe so skilfull in the Statutes he could not but knowe that The Booke of Articles and Iniunctions is by them aswell confirmed and authorized as The Booke of Common Prayer in which Articles are also allowed and ratified The second Booke of Homilies and holy Orders so that whatsoeuer is doctâ—inally deliuered in any of these may safely bee called The doctrine of the Church of England But for the present I will content my selfe with the Booke of Articles onely and for the doctrine of the Church of Rome with the Canons and positions of the Tridentine Councell and Catechisme and for Caluines doctrine with that specially which hee hath deliuered in his 4. Bookes of Christian Institutions Here followeth the Table of differences B. C. 22. For when the breach was resolued on for the personall and particular ease of Henry the VIII and the children of his later wiues it was necessary to giue euery part of the Common-wealth contentment for which they might hold out in the heate of affection and studie to maintaine the breach otherwise it was likely that in the clearenesse of iudgement it would quickly haue growen together againe and then the authours thereof must haue beene excluded and giuen account of their practise G. H. 22 Howbeit Henry the VIII actually indeed made that breach with Rome which continues at this day and is like to doe till Rome by her reformation endeuour to make it vp yet they certainely erre who seeke the cause of it onely in him and in his times or fixing their eyes vpon his person quarrel looke not vp to the state and course of former ages for as no wise man would assigne the cause of death to some accident falling out in the last point and period of life but to some former distemper or intemperancie so the reasons of vnhorsing the Pope and reiecting his authoritie with the generall applause of all the estates of the Realme hauing beene so long anâ— so deepely rooted in mens minds are not to be searched for in the personall and particular proceedings of Henry the VIII but in the ancient Records and euidences of our Histoâ—ians who all complaine of the spurring and gauling and whipping of our land by those Italian riders vntill like Balaams asse shee turned againe opened her mouth to complaine and being out of all hope of reliefe by complaint cast her rider As many witnesses we haue hereof well neere as Writers since the last 600. yeres as many cleere testimonies as there be leaues in Mat. Paris the most learned and sufficient Writer vnlesse you will except William of Malmesburie that those times afforded It was a memorable speech of Robert Grosteed Bishop of Lincolne who liued 358. yeres since in the time of Gregory the IX Caelestine the IIII. Innocent the IIII.
themselues and their forefathers had bene kept in awe and obedience vnto God and their kings G. H. 24. The Commons might haue beene disburdened of their Subsidies had those reuenues and treasures which came or might haue come to the Crowne by the downefall of monasteries bene imployed as they might haue bene the plates and wires of gold of Beckets onely shrine together with the pearles and precious stones of inestimable value filling two great chests But God so ordered the matter for their laying of sacrilegious hands as it may be thought vpon those tenths which by himselfe were consecrated to himselfe that neither it nor the rest prospered neither was the king thereby much inriched nor the Commons relieued it beeing like the dead flie in the boxe of oyntment or the Colloquintida in the Prophets pottage Now for the peoples liberty in making lawes at their own pleasure to liue as they listed it is a matter fondly surmised and published of you not promised by the State nor demanded or expected by them The Lawes Ecclesiasticall were in King Henries time and by his authority appoynted to be compiled and digested by a certaine company of Bishops and other diuines ioyned in Commission with Ciuill and Canon-Lawyers to the number of 32. but this worke being leâ—t imperfect by the death of that king was afterward finished in the dayes and by the command of his sonne Edward which my selfe haue seene though by the vntimely death of that king also it neuer yet receiued publike allowance And for other lawes as the world knoweth they neither could nor can make any without the consent of the Lords spirituall and temporall and the approbation of the king And lastly how the lawes of your Church crossed their affections let their often and dangerous rebellions for the restoring of them testifie there beeing none in trueth more fitting to the humour of a natural minded man as may appeare by this that a man of no religion and like white paper or sponged tables apt to receiue any impression will sooner imbrace yours then any other in the world From this you digresse to their studying of the Scriptures that they might be able to confute confession satisfaction penance and to declaime against that tyranny of the Church whereby themselues and their forefathers had bene kept in awe and obedience to God and their king For their studying of the Scriptures it is indeede a great eye-sore to you because thereby your malice in withholding your followers from reading them and withall your burdensome traditions thrust vpon them for your owne honor and gaine but to their paine and grieuance are clearely discouered and discerned from that which before you call eternall trueth but to them nothing can bee more profitable or to their guides more comfortable so it bee done with reuerence and â—obriety and as our Preface to the Bishops Bible exhorts not so much to dispute and contradict as to learne and obey as being a practise which both our Sauiour himselfe and his Apostles and the holy Fathers of the Primitiue Church specially S. Chrysostome in diuers homilies often and earnestly exhort their heares vnto And for the confutation of those poyntes you name I am of opinion and I thinke not without reason that many of our people are better able by Scriptures to confute them as they are now held and vsed amongst you then your greatest Bishops and Cardinals are from thence able to proue them of whom some haue not sticked to professe that they thought that time which they passed in reading the Scriptures to be of all other the most vnprofitably spent preferring Tullies Orations before Pauls Epistles and Aristotles Ethikes before Solomons Prouerbes B. C. 25. To the Clergiemen that would turne with the times beside the possibilitie of present preferment by the alteration was giuen shortly after leaue to marrie to purchase and to enioy the profit and pleasure of the world as well as the laitie and what carnall minded Monke or Priest would not with might and maine keepe open the breach after he was once plunged in it rather then to be in danger to forgoe so pleasing a coÌ„moditie Hence did arise a necessitie of speaking and writing against Vowes Vrginitie Pouertie Fasting Praying Watching Obedience and all that austeriâ—ie of life which is by the Lawes of the Church required in a monasticall and Priestly conuersation G. H. 25. Little hope was there giuen for the present to the Church-men that yeelded to the King for matter of preferment since the Abbots and Priors were not onely turned out of doores but their houses rased and their goods and lands confiâ—cated And for the Bishops none of their places thereby fell voide they all Rochester onely excepted ioyntly concurring with the king in casting off the Romish yoke and for their marrying purchasing neither of theÌ„ were permitted during the reigne of king Henry who liued reigned somewhat aboue 14. yeres after the breach with Rome Howbeit if wee may credite Mr. Cambden an vnpartiall Antiquarie Churchmen were not forbidden mariage in England till the yere 1102. then Anselme Archbishop of Canterburie sayeth hee offered violence both to nature and to the Scriptures which he writes vpon occasion of one Ealphegus a Priest famous for his learning who was married and dwelt in the South part of Deuonshire And further he alledgeth the words of Henry of Huntindon touching that act of Anselme He forbadwiues to the English Priests being neuer before forbidden which to some seemed a thing very decent to others as dangerous least whiles they aimed to a puritie aboue their reach they might fall into horrible impurities to the dishonour of CHRISTS Name and their profession Those words of Cambden before quoted together with these of Huntindon by him alledged are commaunded to be rased by the Spanish Index But they might aswell haue rased those of theâ—I â—I in Platina auouching that hee saw great reason why Priests should be restrained of mariage but greater why it should be restored them or those of Cassander by that ouer rigorous and vnseasonable constitution speaking of restraint of marriage in Churchmen wee see much grieuous and abominable scandall to haue arisen in the Church or those of Mantuan touching S â— Hillary Bishop of Poictiers in France Non tibi progenies nocuit non obfuit vxor Legitimo coniuncta toro Or lastly those of the same Poet speaking of the father of Nazianzen Praesule Patre satus nam tunc idiura sinebant non horruit illâ Tempestate Deus Thalamos cunabula toedas And in another place of the father of Basil and Gregorie Nyssen Tutius esse volunt qua lex diuina sinebat Isse viâ veterumque sequi vestigia patrum Quorum vita fuit melior cum coniuge quam nunc Nostra sit exclusis Thalamis coniâ—gis vsu. And if marrying be allowed them I see no reason but they should withall be allowed purchasing as they are and alwayes haue
of the same Epistle he mentioneth Marlorates Commentary on that place which was compiled out of the Comments of diuers other learned men but specially out of Caluins besides Caluin died in the yeere 1564. as Beza witnesseth and Salmeron in the yeere 1595. as Ribadineira hath left it vpon record So that it might well be and I verily thinke it was so that Caluin was dead many yeeres before Salmeron set vpon this exposition of the Epistles specially of that to Titus which among his sixteene seuerall Tomes is ranged in the last saue one So that it seemes he wrote it not long before his death and consequently many yeeres after Caluin was dead Lastly the vniformity of the style and the tenour of writing plainely discouers that Caluin was the creditour and Salmeron the debtor or rather the thiefe which I the more marueile at considering in the Preface of his exposition vpon the Epistles he professeth his intent was chiefly to dispute against the heretikes of these times who called themselues Paâ—ls Diuines and gloried in his doctrine And in the third part of his first booke next following proposeth diuers questions touching the Church and the gouernement against Luther and Caluin by name Now for Maldonate and Iansenius though they colour the matter more cunningly in the change of words yet are they nothing lesse beholding to Caluin in many places for the sence And thus we see how out of the mouthes and pennes of those who for reputation of learning were farre aboue and for bitternesse of malice were nothing inferiour to Dr. Carrier Caluins rare and singular gifts are truely acknowledged But he was neuer you say any good subiect or friend to Bishop Duke or King It was the same imputation which by the Iewes was cast vpon Christ and by the Pagans vpon the Christians in the Primitiue Church as may appeare in Tertullians apology for them deliuered by him to the Emperoâ—rs Seuerus and Antoninus a great part whereof is spent in wiping off that aspersion and therefore Caluin may beare it at your hands with the greater patience Against the state of Bishops if he any where write otherwise then becomes him we may well impute it to his zeale against the great abuse of that order in the Romane hierarchie and his desire of establishing his owne discipline which though he did well to erect at Geneua as being a kinde of gouernment most fit for that city yet to shew that wee make him no god we professe he did ill in imposing it as necessary on all other Churches What friend hee was to Kings beside infinite other passages through his voluminous writings his onely Epistle to Francis the French king prefixed to his Institutions doth sufficiently declare which as Beza not without good reason thinketh if that king had but read it would haue occasioned the giuing of some deepe wound to the whore of Babylon hee being not of the humour of those kings that followed after him in the kingdome but a sharpe censurer of a deepe iudgement a great patrone of learning and of himselfe not auerse from that side and though in his Commentaries vpon Amos he seeme to mislike Henry the 8th his title of Supreame Head which by Stephen Gardiner and other sycophants of Court was then interpreted to spread as farre include as ample power as that he had taken from the Pope yet the lawfull Supremacie of kings he both alloweth and defendeth as his Maiesty truely witnesseth for him in his Catalogue of Tortus lies annexed to his Premonition and therein hee sheweth himselfe a better friend to kings then D. Carrier was when he thus passed his censure on him for though hee often dranke to his Maiesties health as he professeth in a letter which he thought worthy the imparting to all well minded Catholikes yet withall hee laboured by might and maine to readuance and reestablish his authority amongst vs who hath professedly crossed and dashed the taking of that oath by which is onely testified that naturall allegiance which we owe his Maiestie Now for his comming to Geneua and the founding of that gouernment discipline there which continues in force amongst theÌ„ with no ill successe at this day whereas you tell vs that being a very yong man of some 26. or 27. yeres old at the most yet he thought good vpon the opportunity to giue the venture and step in himselfe For his age I will not much striue with you but onely desire you to remember that some of your Popes but many of your Bishops and Archbishops and Cardinals haue bin thrust or at least haue thrust themselues into places of greater charge before they arriued to those yeres and perchance before they saw one halfe or a quarter so many Yet it cannot bee denyed but it pleaseth God sometimes to raise vp the Spirit of a yong Daniel or a yong Samuel or a yong Timothie for the effecting of that which an old Ely is vnfit for yong men for the most being most zealous and aduenturous but with all more inconsiderate and old men more cold and remisse but withall more wary and circumspect according to that of S. Ierome in one of his Epistles to S Augustine Bos lassus fortius figit pedem The aduice of an old man is commoÌ„ly best but the execution of young The former haue alwayes beene accounted fitter for setled businesse but the latter for new enterprises in as much as men of age commonly obiect too much consult too long aduenture too little repent too soone and seldome driue businesse home to the full periode but content themselues with a mediocritie of successe as louing to sleepe in whole skinne I am not of that Rabbyes mind who because in Scripture Yong men are sayed to see visions and old men to dreame dreames thereupon inferreth that young men are admitted neerer to God then olde because vision is a clearer reuelation then a dreame But yet experience teacheth vs and a noble Gentleman before named hath rightly obserued it that the more a man drinketh of the world the more it intoxicateth and age doth profit rather in the powers of vnderstanding then in the vertues of the will and affections So that Caluin though hee had beene younger when he came to Geneua then you make him yet had his youth bin no sufficient cause to despise him considering as the Lawyers for the punishing of a malefactor vnder age are wont to say malitia supplet aetatem so may I much rather for a iust defence scientia or prudentia supplet aetatem which shewes it selfe in this that before his comming thither he had written his excellent Commentarie vpon Seneca de Clementia and at Orleans had beene offered the degree of Doctorship in the lawes without paying so much as the ordinary fees by the generall consent of all the publike professours of that facultie whereas their common determination is now sayd to bee Accipiamus pecuniam dimittamus asinum in
doctrine wherof thou speakest is but we may truely answere both in their defence and our owne Nos non sumus nouatores sed vos estis veteratores It is not we that affect nouelty but you the counterfait face of antiquity thereby labouring to make a peace and to strike a league with vs as the Gibeonites did with Ioshua deceiuing him by the shew of old sackes olde bottles old shooes old garments and bread that was drie and moldy You farther charge vs with comforting one another in reporting the good successe which Schismatikes and rebels happen to haue against their gouernors whereas the very enemies of those whome you call Schismatikes and Rebels haue bene many times inforced to acknowledge their good successe to haue come not so much from good fortune as from the extraordinary hand of God so that they haue beene constrained to crie out with Pharaohs sorcerers The finger of God is here At the siege of Rochell the inhabitants being brought to great want as Thuanus reports it euery tide were brought in a kinde of shel-fish he calles them Surdones or Pectunculos which I take to bee little scallops or muscles and that in great abundance for the relieuing of the besieged they hauing neuer bene seene vpon that coast before that time nor since Of Ziska the Bohemian Aeneas Syluius afterwards Pius the second being Pius indeed before he was so in name recorded it to posterity that eleuen times in fought battels hee returned conquerour out of the field and was himselfe neuer foiled The Duke of Medina Generall of the Spanish inuincible nauy sent against vs for the rooting of vs out in the yeere 1588. and blessed by the Apostolicall benediction when hee saw how the windes and the waues and the starres in their order fought against them professed he thought Iesus Christ was turned Lutheran Hispanus ipse saith our famous Annalist Cladem acceptam vt à Deo composito animo tulti Deoque et Sanctis quod non tristior fuerit gratias egit et per Hispaniam agi iussit The King of Spaine himselfe tooke the blow patiently as giuen by God and both himselfe gaue thankes and commanded his Subiects through Spaine to doe the like that it fell no heauier in the consideration of which admirable successe we might apply that to our Church and Religion which was written of the Emperour Theodosius O nimium dilecta Deo cui militat equor Et coniurati veniunt ad classica venti Vpon that occasion and not without reason were some coynes stamped with this inscription Glory to God alone others with this Man proposeth God disposeth and lastly others with this Impius fugit nemine sequente Which all tend to this purpose that it was God fought for vs in the maintainance of his owne cause I will conclude this point with the testimonie of Bizarro an Italian and for any thing I can find no Protestant speaking of our late renowned Soueraigne Quod verò ad me attinet id tantum in praesentia dixerim Elizabetham Britanniae Reginam singulari Dei opt max. bonitate ac prouidentia gubernari Quamuis enim ipsamet egregiâ virtute ac sapientia praedita sit et apud se consiliarios habeat summo iudicio summaque prudentia prestantes tamen fatendum est humana consilia persaepe inania reddi nisi ea diuinitù regantur Id vero vt ita esse iudicem superiorum temporum facit recordatio cum cogito quot interni externique hostes huic opt Reginae insidiati sint et quà m mirabiliter illam Deus ab eorum insidijs atque conatibus eripuerit Touching my selfe I will onely say this for the present that Elizabeth Queene of Britanny hath beene hitherto preserued by the singular goodnesse and prouidence of almighty God For though her selfe be indued with singular vertue and wisedome and shee haue about her Counsellours of excellent iudgement and foresight in the managing of her affaires yet must wee confesse that humane Counsels are often frustrated vnlesse they bee guided from heauen and that I should so thinke the remembrance of the passages of latter times inforceth me when I call to minde how many home-bred and forraine enemies haue layed in waite for the life of that vertuous Queene and how miraculously God hath freed her from all their plots and assaults You goe forward and tell vs that from hence it is come to passe that the lawfull doctrine of the Church of England is contemned as a ragge of Popery and Caluins Institutions cried vp by voyces in Court and Countrey in hope it may one day serue the like turne in England as it hath done in Geneua as if Geneua had not discharged her selfe of the claime of her Bishop and Duke before Caluin compiled his Institutions or as if we knew not that Caluins Institutions make nothing against the gouernment of lawfull Magistrates or if it bee a booke so dangerous as you would make it a wonder it is to mee that neither your selfe nor any as yet of that side haue so much as vndertaken a through confutation of it Must it needes be that all who imbrace his paines and learning in those Institutions intend the subuersion of the state or presently contemne the doctrine of the Church of England Your olde Master Archbishop Whitegift was of another minde who maintained to his vtmost the doctrine of the Church of England and yet gaue he Caluin his due also labouring alwayes where any occasion was offered to countenance his writings with Caluins authority and specially out of that booke which you most mislike yeelding him the title of a famous and learned man Nay euen in the vse of things indifferent hee giues this testimonie of his iudgement and moderation If Mr. Caluin were aliue saith he and rightly vnderstood the state of our Church and Controuersie truly I verely beleeue that hee would condemne your doing and I am the rather induced to thinke so because I vnderstand him to haue allowed many things in the English Church being at Geneua which you altogether mislike To this Archbishops testimonie I could adde the opinion of his predecessours Cranmer Grindal and Parker gathered out of their seuerall Epistles to Caluin and other writings but I will content my selfe with that of Bishop Iewell who was so far frō neglecting or contemning the doctrine of the Church of England as a relique or ragge of Poperie as that the Confession extant in his Apologie for our Church is registred as the authenticall doctrine of our Church as well in the body as in the harmony of Confessions But Archbishop Whitegift goeth farther making both his Apology the defence therof to be the doctrine of the Church of England And by this Archbishops authority was it ordered that those his bookes should be bought of euery Parish and chained in their Churches to be read of the people at vacant times Yet this worthy Bishop in the defence of his Apologie
termeth Caluin a reuerend Father and worthy ornament of the Church of God Now touching his booke of Christian Institution in particular M. Hooker who is well knowne not to haue contemned the doctrine of the Church of England as a ragge of Poperie thus writes Two things saith he speaking of Caluin in his Preface to his bookes of Ecclesiasticall policie of principall moment there are which haue deseruedly procured him honour through the world The one his exceeding paines in composing the Institutions of Christian religion The other his no lesse industrious trauaâ—les for exposition of holy Scripture according to the same Institutions In which two things whatsoeuer they were that afterward bestowed their labour he gained the aduantage of preiudice against them if they gaine-sayed and of glory aboue them if they consented Then which I cannot imagine what could bee vttered more effectually Thus malice would not suffer you to see that worth in Caluin and his Writings which these Worthies professed and published who were notwithstanding more earnest and zealous Patrones of the doctrine of the Church of England then your selfe But it may be you thought it would bee credit enough for you onely to enter the lists with so stout and renowned a champion howbeit to hunt after applause by dishonouring the names of famous men was held by S. Ierome and is accounted by all good and wise men but a tricke of vaine and childish arrogancie there being lesse comparison betwixt Carier and Caluin then Caluin and Stapleton whom notwithstanding a great Diuine and publike professour of one of our owne Vniuersities comparing together professeth there was more sound Diuinity in Caluins little finger then Stapletons head or whole body I will conclude mine answere to this Section with the words of a graue Bishop yet liuing no enemie to the doctrine of the Church of England as his Writings shew Caluin is so well knowen sayeth hee to all those that bee learned or wise for his great paines and good labours in the Church of God that a fewe snarling Friars cannot impeach his name though you would neuer so wretchedly peruert his words Thus much of Caluin and his Writings for I durst not goe so farre as Thurius Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempora chartas Huic peperere viro saecula nulla parem B. C. 29. These reasons or rather corruptions of State haue so confounded the doctrine of the Church of England and so slandered the doctrine of the Church of Rome as it hath turned mens braines and made the multitude on both sides like two fooles which being set backe to backe doe thinke they are as farre asunder as the horizons are they looke vpon But if it please your Maiestie to command them to turne each of them but a quarter about and looke both one way to the seruice of God and your Maiestie and to the saluation of soules they should presently see themselues to bee a great deale more neere in matters of doctrineâ— then the Puâ—itanicall Preachers on both sides doe make them beleeue they are I can not in the breuity of this discourse descend into particulars but if it please your Maiestie to command me or any other honest man that hath taken paines to vnderstand and obserue all sides freely and plainely to set downe the difference betwixt Caluinisme and the doctrine of England established by Law and then to shew Locos Concessos and Locos Controuersos betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome I doubt not but the distance that will be left betwixt for matter of doctrine may by your Maiesty be easily compounded G. H. 29. Whether reason or rather corruption of State haue not bred confusion rather in the doctrine of the Church of Rome then of England let Romes infinite ambition and insatiable couetousnesse masked vnder pretence of doctrine testifie As long as the Bishops of Rome kept them to their profession in the gaining of soules to God matters went wel for doctrine but when once they turned Statists in stead of gaining soules cast about for the gouernment of the world then were their Friars and flatterers found who were as readie to shape and frame her Doctrine according to the modell of State Before the Councill of Trent which was called in the memorie of some yet liuing it is made euident by my learned brother Dr. Carleton in his Consent of the Catholike Church against the Tridentines that the Doctrine of the rule of Controuersies of the Church of Iustifying Faith of Grace was the same in the Church of Rome which is now publikely taught and professed with vs. If by the Church of Rome we will vnderstand her chiefe Prelates not those Friars and flatterers which belonged rather to her Court then her Church from whence then arose this confusion of doctrine which followed after but onely from that corruption of State which went before and yet it cannot but bee acknowledged that as our bodies first warme our clothes and then our clothes serue to keepe warme our bodies so the corruption of State first brought foorth this confusion of doctrine but being brought foorth the daughter serues to nourish and maintaine the mother Now for the confounding of our doctrine wee answere with S. Paul If our Gospel saith he be hid it is hid to them that are lost So we if our doctrine bee confounded it is to them whom the God of this world hath confounded and blinded lest the light of the glorious Gospel of CHRIST who is the image of God should shine vnto them The second thing which you charge vs with is the slandering the doctrine of the Church of Rome and are your Romanists cleare of that accusation or dare any man of iudgement and learning discharge them doth not Pererius accuse Catharinus for calling that an intollerable and desperate opinion of Luther touching Reprobation which notwithstanding was the same opinion and none other as Pererius confesseth then S. Augustine maintained touching the same point Doth not Reynolds our Countrey man howbeit otherwise maliciously bitter against Caluin specially in his Caluino Turcisme in his iudgement free Caluin from the imputation of making God the authour of sinne in his latter yeeres which notwithstanding is still pressed vpon him both by your selfe and others Doth not Bellarmine cleare him from making the second person in Trinitie to be from himselfe and not from the first with which errour notwithstanding hee is charged by Genebrard by Lyndan by Canisius And for our owne Church doth not Bristow affirme that our Religion is prooued by experience to be indeed no Religion Doth not Allen speaking of our Sacraments Seruice and Sermons call them things which assuredly procure damnation Doth not Reynolds in the booke before named endeuour to make our Religion worse then the Turkish not distinguishing betwixt Caluinisme and the doctrine of the Church of England But
to wit Westminster Chester Peterborough Oxford Bristol and Gloucester whereof the fiue last are yet in being at which time hee also erected at Canterbury a Deane with 12. Prebends at Winchester another with 12. more at Worcester another with ten at Chester another with sixe at Peterborough another with sixe at Oxford another with eight at Ely another with eight at Gloucester another with sixe at Bristol another with sixe at Carlile another with foure at Durham another with twelue at Rochester another with sixe and lastly at Norwich another with sixe so that wee haue good reason to thinke he returned againe to the Church much out of the Abbey lands and if notwithstanding all this God blessed him not in his thriuing wee haue nothing else to answere but that of Salomon It is a snare to the man who deuoureth that which is holy and after vowes to make inquiry But in his wiuing hee so blessed him though in this too hee shewed himselfe a man and consequently subiect to humane passion and frailty that three of his children successiuely wore the Crown after him of which the first was renowmed for his vertue beyond his age and the last beyond her Sexe of the one and his mother it was written Phoenix Ianaiacet nato Phoenice dolendum Saecula Phoenices nullatulisse duas And to the other might bee applied Non decor effecit fragilem non sceptra superbam Sola potens humilis sola pudica decens And though they all died without issue yet doth his honour still liue in theirs Henry the II. of France died in the vnitie of the Church of Rome yet three of his sonnes reigning after him left the Crown to a neighbour Prince as the children of Henry the VIII heere with vs did yet none that I haue met with hold him in that regard accursed of God and if in that respect God cursed Henry because hee renounced the pretended authoritie of the Church of Rome then should hee by vertue of that reason haue blessed Henries eldest daughter with issue who with great submission and deuotion reconciled her selfe to that Church and married to the most Catholike King and though the world were for a while so borne in hand yet in the end the great and solemne expectation thereof vanished into smoake Now that Henrie was wearie of his title of Supremacie before he died it appeares not and that hee wished to bee reconciled to the Pope which you call being in the Church againe is as vnlikely since no doubt is to bee made but vpon notice giuen of his Contrition and desire of Satisfaction hee might as easily haue beene absolued as wished it But certaine it is that hee wished it not if we may make coniecture of his wishes from those speeches which a little before his death hee deliuered to Mounsieur de Hannibault Lord Admirall of France and Ambassadour to the French king being then at Hampton Court in the moneth of August and in the yeere 1546. in the hearing of Cranmer Lord Archbishop of Canterburie concerning the reformation of Religion and afterwards more neere his death and more openly to Bruno Ambassador of Iohn Frederike Duke of Saxonie vnto whom the King gaue this answere in the hearing of these foure sufficient witnesses the Lord Seymer Earle of Hartford Lord Lisley then Admirall the Earle of Bedford Lord Priuie Seale and the Lord Paget That if the quarrell of the Duke of Saxonie were nothing else against the Emperour but for matter of Religion he should stand to it strongly and hee would take his part willing him not to doubt nor feare and with this answere dismissed him Besides the manner of his sonne and heire Apparent Prince Edwards education the qualitie and disposition of those persons whom he named as the principall ouerseers of his Will from which number hee excluded the Bishop of Winchester the most busie and forward instrument in those times for the maintenance of the Romish Religion though hee had once admitted him and was earnestly solicited by some of his bed chamber to readmit him are to mee so many euident demonstrations that hee was so farre from wishiug reconciliation with the Church of Rome that hee rather desired and intended if God had spared him life a while longer some more full and perfect reformation of Religon But the secret working of Gods holy prouidence which disposeth all things after his owne wisedome and purpose thought it good rather by taking that King away to reserue the accomplishment of that worke as he did the building of his Temple to Solomon to the peaceable time of his sonne Edward and Elizabeth his daughter whose hands were vndefiled with any blood and life vnspotted with any violence or crueltie Lastly not content to rippe vp the disgraces of his life you dogge him to his very graue bearing vs in hand that he was accursed of God in as much as hee wanted a Tombe which was the want also of Queene Mary his daughter But if the want of a Tombe be a token of Gods Curse vpon Henry then the hauing of it must consequently be a token of his blessing vpon Elizabeth whom notwithstanding you wrappe in the same Curse Nay how many of your Bishops of Rome then are Cursed of God of whom a number are not onely without Tombes but some in the first age of the Church by the fury of their persecutors and some in latter times by the malice of their Successors without Graues also Indeed wee reade of Dauid a man after Gods owne heart His Sepulchre is with vs vnto this day But of Moses a faithfull seruant in all the house of God No man knoweth of his Sepulchre vnto this day And yet in my remembrance we read it no were that either Dauid was more blessed of God for the one or Moses cursed for the other the heathen Poet could tell vs Coelo tegitur quinon habet vrnam And S. Augustine that these kinde of Monuments and Memorials are Solatia viuorum not suâ—sidia mortuorum comforts only for the liuing no helpes for the dead and many noble spirits may be of Catoes minde desirous rather that after their deaths it should be demaunded why they haue no statue erected to their memory then why they haue one This I speake onely to shew that had hee had no Tombe yet were it no great dishonor to him But if we may credite the last but not the worst compiler of the Historie of our Countrey hee was with great solemnitie buried at Windsor vnder a most costly and stately Tombe begun in copper and guilt but neuer finished In the inclosures of whose grates is curiously cast this Inscription Henricus Octauus Rex Angliae Franciae Dominus Hiberniae Fidei defensor And that it might appeare to posteritie how Artificiall and Magnificent this worke was intended he there sets downe the seuerall parcels and pieces of the Modell thereof as he found it described in a Manuscript receiued from Mr. Lancaster
and age and wrought by the frownes and threates of Cardinall Poole then Archbishop of Canterbury the Popes Legate and in England the principall Proctor and Champion for the aduancing of his authority was once brought to acknowledge that shee was a Romane Catholike but herein she did no more then St. Peter did whose successour the Bishop of Rome pretendeth himselfe in denying his Master No more then the Prince of Condie the King of Nauarre and his sister who at the massacre of Paris for feare renounced their Religion and were by the Cardinall of Bourbon reconciled to the Church of Rome though after ward being at liberty they reimbraced their former profession Nay no more then Queene Mary her selfe who being terrified with her Fathers displeasure wrote him a Letter vvith her owne hand yet to be seene in which for euer she renounceth the Bishop of Romes authority in England and acknowledging her Father vnder Christ supreame head of the Church of England confesseth his marriage with her Mother to haue beene vnlawfull and incestuous But I would faine know after Queene Elizabeth came to the wearing of the Crowne by what Catholike opinions shee gaue hope to her neighbour Princes that shee would continue Catholike If it were so as Mr. Doctor would beare vs in hand how was it that the reformed Churches through Christendome applauded her comming to the Crowne as it had beene the appearance of some luckie starre or the rising of some glorious Sunne for their Comfort and reliefe and your pretended Catholikes hung downe their heads as if they had seene some Comeâ— or blazing-starre How she was then affected in religion and so professed her selfe may appeare if no where else yet in Osorius his Epistle which he wrote her not long after her comming to the Crowne where he highly commends her for her wit for her learning for her clemencie for her constancy for her wisdome for her modestie but disswades her by all the arguments he could inuent from the opinions she had conceiued and did expresse in the matter of Religion Pius Quartus doth the like in his letter which he sent her about the same time by the hands of Vincentius Parpalia Abbot of Saint Sauiours who as it appeares in the Letters dated the 5th of May 1560 had priuate instructions to impart to the Queene among which the chiefe were thought to bee as it is reported by the most diligent searcher of truth that if she would reconcile her selfe to the Church of Rome and acknowledge the Supremacie of that See the Pope for his part would bind himselfe to declare the sentence pronounced against her mothers marriage to be vniust to confirme by his authority The English Liturgie and to permit the administration of the Sacrament here in England vnder both kindes By which it appeares that at that time shee then maintained the same opinions which during her life shee altered not And here it may be worth the remembring that the fourteenth day of Ianuary about two moneths after her sisters death as shee passed in her triumphall Chariot through the streetes of London when the Bible was presented vnto her at the little Conduit in Cheape shee receiued the same with both her handes and kissing it layd it to her breast saying That the same had euer been her chiefest delight and should bee the rule by which shee meant to frame her gouernment Before this a Proclamation came foorth that the Letanie the Epistles and Gospels the Decalogue the Creede and the Lords Prayer should bee read in all Churches in the English tongue and though it were the 14th of May after being Whitsunday before the sacrifice of the Masse was abolished and the book of the vniformitie of Common Prayer and the administration of the Sacraments publikely receiued and Iuly following before the Oth of Supremacie was proposed and August before the Images were by authority moued out of the Churches broken and burnt so moderately did shee proceede in this businesse of reformation by steppes and degrees yet is it plaiâ—e aswell by the choyce of those eight whom she added to her sisters Counsell beeing all in profession Protestants which Pius 5 tus in his Bull makes a part of his grieuous complaint and those whom she either restored to their former dignities or aduanced to new being likewise as auerse from the Romane Religion as also by the refusall of Nicholas Heath then Archbishop of Yorke the See of Canterbury by the death of Cardinall Poole who deceased the same day that Queene Mary did being then voide and of the rest of the chiefe Bishops to annoint and consecrate her at her Inauguration it being therefore performed by Owen Oglethorpe Bishop of Carlile by these proceedings I say it is plaine that at her first entrance to the Crowne she sufficiently declared her selfe to bee the same in matter of Religion as afterwards they found her Wherunto if full satisfaction be not yet giuen in this point for farther proofe might be added that when Philip of Spaine wooed her for mariage the funerals of her sister being not yet solemnized The French King by his Agent the Bishop of Engolesme laboured if it had gone forward to stop their dispensation at Rome vnder colour that Queene Elizabeth fauoured the Protestants Religion and the Earle of Feria the Spaniards Agent here in England bore our pretended Catholiks in hand that except that match went forward it could not goe well with them so farre was shee at her first entrance from giuing hope to her neighbours as Mr. Doctor would perswade the world of continuing or turning Catholike by shew of Catholike opinions vnlesse her retaining the ancient forme of Ecclesiasticall policie and the godly Ceremonies vsed in the Primitiue Church be accounted Catholike opinions as in truth if wee take the word Catholike aright they may But no maruell hee should thus boldly and falsely charge the dead since hee spareth not in the same kinde his Maiestie now reigning and by Gods grace long to reigne amongst vs to the confutation of such slanders and confusion of such slanderers Hee goes on and tels vs that all her life long shee caried her selfe so betwixt Catholikes and Caluinists as shee kept them both still in hope But herein he mainely crosseth himselfe aswell in that which hee hath deliuered in the Section next saue one going before that if there bee now the same reason of State as there was all Queene Elizabeths dayes there is as little hope that his Maiestie should hearken vnto reconciliation as then there was that Q. Elizabeth would as also in that which afterwards he addes in this Section that being prouoked by the excommunication of Pius Quintus shee did suffer such lawes to bee made by her Parliament as might crie quittance with the Pope and Church of Rome And in the next Section he sayth It was necessary in reason of State to continue the doctrine of diuision as long as the
this time should they plucke vp their spirits to the abandoning of that vniust challenge hauing now a Soueraigne who in his writings last published to the world bearing the date of this yeere Consecrates his Scepter his Sword his pen his endeuours vnto God in a thankefull acknowledgment of the grace bestowed on him in freeing him from the error of this age and his kingdome from the Popes yoke which kept it in thraldome in which God is now sincerely serued and called vpon in a language vnder stood of all in which the people may read the Scriptures without any speciall priuiledge and with the same freedome as the people of Ephesus of Rome of Corinth reade the Epistles written by S. Paul in which they pay no more tribute by the Polle thereby to obtaine the remission of there sinnes as they did scarce one hundreth yeeres yet past neither are they inforced to seeke their pardons beyond the Seas and the mountaines God himselfe presenting them to my Subiects sayeth hee in there owne Countrey by the doctrine of the Gospel and if in this regard it bee that the Cardinall termes the Churches of my Kingdome miserable for mine owne part 1 esteeme our misery aboue his happinesse since then wee haue by Gods prouidence such a Soueraigne let that aspersion neuer be fastened vpon our Nobility which his Maiesty iustly casteth vpon the French that in as much as they gaue way to the acknowledging of their King to bee deposable by the Pope it were fit that withall they should diuest themselues of their titles and resigne them to the third estate who were the only men that could neither bee so drawen by promises nor affrighted by threats but that they euer helde them fast to the maintenance of their Kings honour and the surety of his person B. C. 40. But perhaps the Commons of England doe gaine so much by the Schisme as they cannot abide to heare of vnity Indeed when the Puritan Preacher hath called his flocke about him and described the Church of Rome to bee so ignorant so Idolatrous and so wicked as hee hath made himselfe beleeue shee is then is hee wont to Congratulate his poore deceiued audience that they by the meanes of such good men as himselfe is are deliuered from the darkenesse and Idolatry and wickednesse of Popery and there is no man dare say a word or once mutter to the contrary But the people haue heard these lyes so long as most of them beginne to bee wearie and the wisest of them cannot but wonder how these Puritan Preachers should become more learned and more honest then all the rest that liued in ancient times or that liue still in Catholike Countreys or then those in England whom these men are wont to Condemne for Papists Neuerthelesse I confesse there bee many honest men and women amongst them that being carried away with preiudice or pretext of Scriptures doe follow these Preachers more of zeale and deuotion to the Church as my selfe did vntill I knew it was but Counterfeite and these good people if they might be so happy as to heare Catholikes answere for themselues and tell them the trueth would bee the most deuout Catholikes of all other But the most of the people were neuer lead by Sermons if they were the Catholike Church is both able and willing to supply them farre better then the Schisme but it was an opinion of wealth and liberty made them breake at first and if they doe duely consider of it they are neuer the better for either of both but much the worse G. H. 40. From the Nobles you descend to the Commons entring your discourse with the like imaginary Sermon of a Puritan Preacher as before you brought vpon the Stage in the 16th Section of this Chapter you paint him forth describing the Ignorance Idolatry and Wickednâ—sse of the Church of Rome and surely if this make a Puritan Dante 's and Boccace and Petrarch and Mantuan must bee Puritan Poets too and Guicciardin a Puritan historian and Sauanorola a Puritan Preacher though all Italians and most of them well acquainted with the Court of Rome which is now come in a manner to be all one with the Church of Rome The Ignorance of the people is such that they adore it as the mother of deuotion contenting themselues to beleeue as the Church beleeueth Of their ordinary Priests that my selfe meeting some of them in the streets and inquiring the way in Latin they haue replied they vnderstood not my Dutch Of their Friars that they haue a Company termed the Fraternitie of Ignorance of their Bishops and Cardinals that in the Tridentine Councill scarce twenty of two hundreth durst aduenture to speake publiquely but serued only as cyphers to fill vp the roomes and make vp the number of voyces Nay of their Popes themselues that some haue passed their grants with Fiatur in stead of Fiat others haue excommunicated them who helde the Antipodes as Zacharie at the instance of Boniface Archbishop of Mentz did Vergilius the famous Mathematician And lastly some haue condemned them for heretikes who studied the more refined kind of learning or any way smelt of the vniuersitie as Platina reports it of Paulus Secundus in whose time he liued and with the description of his life ended his owne Touching their Idolatrie when I shall see Doctor Raynolds his booke De Idololatria Romana soundly and fully answered I will in my Iudgement free them from that imputation before then I must take leaue to suspend it Lastly concerning their wickednesse I maruell the Doctor would giue occasion to rubbe afresh vpon that sore which if I should throughly open would proue so noisome and vnsauory Now if this make a Püritan Preacher to informe his auditory of these corruptions in that Church and to thanke God for our deliuerance from them if not in whole yet by Gods grace in some good measure I confesse my selfe to be a Puritan Preacher and thinke no honest minded Minister in England wil refuse that title tendred vnder those conditions and if the people doe not acknowledge this inestimable blessing with hearty thankefulnesse to God for it it is to bee feared he will remoue their Candlesticke and in his iudgement suffer them to relapse againe into their former disease B. C. 41. For wealth the Puritan vnthrift that lookes for the ouerthrow of Bishops and Churches Cathedrall hopes to haue his share in them if they would fallonce and therefore hee cannot chuse but desire to increase the Schisme that he may gaine by it but the honest Protestant that can endure the State of England as it is could bee content it were as it was for hee should receiue more benefit by it euery way The poore Gentleman and Yeoman that are burthened with many children may remember that in Catholike times the Church would haue receiued and prouided for many of their sonnes and daughters so as
themselues might haue liued and died in the seruice of God without posteritie and haue helped to maintaine the rest of their families which was so great a benefit to the Common-wealth both for the exoneration and prouision thereof as no humane policie can procure the like The Farmer and Husbandman who laboureth to discharge his payments hath little or nothing left at theyeres end to lay vp for his children that increase grow vpon him may remember that in Catholike times there were better penny-worths to bee had when the Clergie had a great part of the Land in their hands who had no neede to raise the Rents themselues and did what they could to make other Lords let at a reasonable rate which was also an inestimable benefite to the Commons so that whereas ignorant men carried with enuie against the Clergie are wont to obiect the multitude of them and the greatnesse of their prouisions they speake therein as much against themselues as is possible for the greater the number is of such men as be mundo mortui the more is the exoneration of the Commons and the more the land is of such as can haue no proprietie in them the better is the prouision of the Commons for themselues can haue no more then their food and their regular apparell all the rest either remaines in the hands of the Tenants or returnes in hospitalitie and reliefe to their neighbours or is kept in a liuing Exchequer for the seruice of the Prince and Countrey in time of necessitie so that the Commons doe gaine no wealth at all but rather doe lose much by the Schisme G. H. 41. You proceede and assure the Commons that our separation from Rome makes much against their wealth and libertie for proofe whereof you beginne with the Puritan vnthrift who lookes for the ouerthrow of Bishops and Churches Cathedrall hoping to haue his share in them Now I denie not but some such vnthrifts there may bee shrouding themselues vnder the vizard of those whome you call Puritans but their power is not so great God bee thanked as wee neede feare them nor I hope shall bee whiles his Maiestie and his posterity sway the Scepter who is so farre from pulling them downe or giuing any way vnto it that hee hath not onely to his immortall fame bound his hands from withdrawing any thing from them but restored them in Scotland and both often and openly professed No Bishop no King and as for them which looke for that ouerthrow let their eyes drop out of their sockets with looking and the yong rauens deuoure them I haue heard of a platforme of our Church gouernment deuised by Parsons if the Pope should once againe recouer his footing amongst vs in which one especiall piece of his proiect is the pulling downe of the Bishopricks Churches Cathedrall that his Holinesse and the Padres may bee all in all so that the Iesuites may most properly bee termed those Puritan vnthrifts And I make no doubt but if his Holinesse could dispence with those who withhold the Tenths of the Church he might as well dispence with the pulling downe of Bishoprickes and Cathedrall Churches Now for those honest Protestants who for matter of religion could be content it were as it was conditionally themselues might receiue more benefit their heads may bee in England but sure their hearts are in Rome deceiuing themselues aswell in vndervalewing the benefit they haue as in expecting that they haue not nor are euer like to haue the faire pretexts and promises made them from Rome being like the Apothecaries boxes haâ—â—ng Catholicon set on their front in capitall letters as if they conteined a soueraigne medicine for all diseases but within are full of deadly poison or like the apples of Sodome which are to looke to beautifull buâ— being touched onely with the finger presently are turned into dust The first apple you present the Commons if they yeeld to the reentertaining of Popish religion is increase of wealth But before we goe any farther in the triall of this point I shall desire all ingenuous Papists rightly to informe both themselues and others what the two Monkes Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster haue left vpon record touching the Bishop of Romes most intolerable exactions in this kingdome whiles his authority here preuailed and then to iudge indifferently whether by submitting our neckes to that yoke which our fathers were not able to beare it be likely the wealth of our land should be increased That which one of the Popes pronounced touching our Countrey was doubtlesse the opinion of them all I speake of latter times Verè hortus noster deliciarum est Anglia verè puteus inexhaustus est vbi multa abundant de multis multa possunt extorqueri England is our Paradise of pleasure a well neuer to bee drawne drie and where much abounds much may be taken It was the speach of Innocent the IV. reported by Maâ—thew Paris anno 1245. about which time S. Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury vndertooke a voyage to Rome to complaine of the great vexations and extortions offered the Clergie and people by Caâ—dinall Otho his Legate who hiding himselfe in the tower of Ousnie Abbey for feare of a tumult of the Schollers of Oxford they termed him Vsurer Simonist rent-racker money-thirster peruerter of the King subuerter of the kingdome enriching strangers with the spoiles of the English but Edmund returning home without successe in his complaint and weary of his life in England by reason that hee could not redresse the Popes oppressions made choise of a voluntary banishment at Pountney in France where hee died with the honour and opinion of a Saint Not long after his Holinesse desirous to see England caused his Cardinals to write their letters to the King that it would be a thing tending much to his honour and safety and to his kingdomes immortall glory to enioy the Lord Popes presence who did long to view the rarities of Westminster and the riches of London but the Kings Counsell told him plainely that the Romane rapines and simonies had enough stained the English puritie though the Pope himselfe came not personally to spoile and prey vpon the wealth of this Church and kingdome the like deniall of entrance hee had found both in France and Arragon it being said that the Pope was like a mouse in a sachell or a snake in ones bosome who but ill repay their hosts for their lodging and the infamies of his Court deserued none other whose filth saith our Monke sent foorth a steame and stench as high as the very cloudes These and worse were the effects of the Bishop of Romes vsurpation here in England by imposing continuall taxes and tallages being sometimes the tenth sometimes the fifteenth sometimes the third sometimes the moity of all the goods both of the Clergie and Laity vnder colour of maintaining the Popes holy warres against the Emperour and the Greeke Church who were then
the rich Abbeys yet were they as much burthened with the poore Frieries who had nothing to helpe them but the deuotion of the people it being commonly sayed of their assisting at Funerals Vbi cadauer ib coruus But they were all you say Mundo morâ—ui vsing â— more but for their food and regular apparrel and turning the residuâ— to pious or charitable or publike vses but if it were so how came it to passe that many times they inriched and aduanced there families as much as any Lay man nay which is worse vsuaâ—ly they spent the residue vpon their gaming and luxurie and their liuing Exchequer was rather for the seruice of the Pope and Court of Rome then of their Prince and Countrey so that the multitude of such Clergy men and the greatnesse of their prouision may well bee obiected by wise men without enuie as it was by the Venetians in the last quarrell betweene them and the Pope if their goods and persons be still as they haue beene hitherto exempt from Secular iurisdiction and publique seruice of the state for the preuention of which mischiefe was the statute of Mortmaine for the lessening of these mundo mortui made by Edward the first and confirmed by all his successours so that vpon due and trew examination the Commons are found to loose nothing but rather gaine much by the reformation of the Church and separation from Rome and if they did not yet were it a poore bargaine for a man to winne the whole world and loose his owne soule B. C. 42. And as for liberty they are indeed freed from the possibilitie of going to shrift that is of confessing their sinnes to God in the eare of a Catholike Priest and receiuing comfort and counsell against their sinnes from God by the mouth of the same priest which duty is required of Catholike people but onely once in the yeere but performed by them with great comfort and edification very often so that a man may see and wonder to see many hundred at one altar to Communicate euery Sunday with great deuotion and lightly no day passe but diuers do coÌ„fesse are absolued and receiue the blessed SacrameÌ„t The poore commons in England are freed from this Comfort neither is it possible vnlesse their Ministers had the seale of secrecie for them to vse it and what is the liberty that they haue in stead therof Surely the seruants haue great liberty against their masters by this meanes and the children against their parents and the people against their prelats and the subiects against their King and all against the Church of Christ that is against their owne good and the common saluation for without the vse of this Sacrament neither can inferiours bee kept in awe but by the gallowes which will not saue them from hell nor superiours bee euer told of their errours but by rebellion which will not bring them to heauen These and such like bee the liberties that both Prince and people doe enioy by the want of confession and of Catholike religion G. H. 42. We willingly acknowledge with S. Paul that to the Ministers of the Gospel is committed the Ministerie of reconciliation and the kâ—ys of the Kingdome of heauen to open and shut as they see cause and therfore in their ordination hath our Church ordained the Bishop to vse these wordes Receiue the holy Ghost whose sinnes thou doest forgiue they are forgiuen and whose sinnes thou doest retaine they are retained consequently if the power of absolution be giuen in these words then is it giuen receiued in the Church of England and as for the people they stand bound as often as they meete in their solemne assemblies to a publique and generall confession howbeit they are indeed freed from the necessitie of that which wee call auricular though not from the possibilitie as you falsly pretend for as we inforce none if they come not as knowing that force may worke vpon the body but neuer vpon the will so we exclude none if thâ—y come with a true penitent heart or out of the Scruple of conscience either to seeke Counsell being ignorant of the qualitie and quantitie of their sinne or comfort against despayre for sinne knowen and acknowledged In this case the only imparting of a mans mind to a trusty Friend like the opening of a feastered sore cannot but bring content to a soule so anguished and perplexed but much more if the vlcer be disclosed to a skilfull and faithfull Pastour of the soule who is no lesse able then willing aswell to vnderstand the nature of the disease as by warrant of diuine ordinance to apply the remedie and sure I see not but the Minister standing in the place of God as his ambassadour and pronouncing absolution vpon humble and harty repentance as from God it should prooue a marueilous great ease and settlement to a poore distracted and distressed conscience in which regard our Church hath well ordayned in one of the exhortations before the Communion that if any of the Congregation bee troubled with the burden of sinne so that he cannot quiet his conscience but requireth further comfort and counsell that he repayre either to the Pastour of his owne Parish or some other discreet and learned Minister of the word and open his griefe that hee may receiue such Ghostly counsell aduice and comfort as his conscience may be releiued and that by the Ministerie of Gods word he may receiue comfort and the benefit of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and auoiding of all scruple and doubtfulnesse and in the visitation of the sicke if he feele his conscience troubled with any waighty matter hee is willed to make a speciall confession and the Minister thereupon to absolue him In the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost which is an absolution onely Declaratorie Conditionall and Ministeriall but the Church of Rome not content herewith challengeth to her selfe herein a power iudicial which is in truth indiuidually annexed to the person and office of him who is Iudge both of quicke and dead This I take to bee the doctrine of the Church of England and the Primitiue writers touching this point and I cannot but wonder that Mr. Doctor so long a Church man of such eminent place amongst vs should be so ignorant therof as to affirme that the people with vs are freed from the possibilitie of confessing themselues whereas Mr. Casaubon a stranger in comparison could informe him that the rigorous necessitie of Confession inioyned and practised in the Church of Rome the Church of England thought fit vpon iust reason to moderate and qualifie but for the thing it selfe shee neuer did wholy annull it nor now doth simply condemne it And for the practise of it in forreine countreys which Mr. Doctour so much boasteth of wee are not all such strangers in those parts but some others haue aswell beene acquainted with their great deuotion in their
how hath their multitude intangled the Christian world yet must no man dare open his mouth to complaine of that We reade of Luther that when he heard his books by publike order were burnt in Rome he as solemnely burnt the Canon law at Wittenberge We haue not proceeded neither thinke wee it fit to proceed so farre but haue rather chosen out of that dunghill to seeke for a pearle which hauing found we are content to keepe and as occasion serues to make vse of We haue not wholly abrogated the Canon law but wee retaine it in part though not as receiuing strength from the Popes authoritie who for any thing I know hath no more right of making lawes for vs then wee haue for him but from the gouernours of our owne Church Neither did the Kings of France in the erection of their Vniuersities receiue it any otherwise then to vse at their own discretioÌ„ not to oblige them as a law or if it did the power of it was deriued from their owne approbation not from Romes imposition and therefore haue they expresly and by name forbidden the 6th Booke of the Decretals to bee read in their Vniuersities as lawe as being expresly against the lawes and liberties of the Gallican Church Now if they refuse one part they might in my iudgement by the same reason if they found it inconuenient or disagreeable reiect the whole and I thinke they would not stand much if occasion serued vpon the casting off of the Canon lawe who could by no meanes yet bee induced to the receiuing of the Canons of the Council of Trent A notable instance hereof wee haue euen in the depth of Popery in our owne Countrey At the Parliament of Merton it was proposed that children borne before marriage might bee adiudged legitimate according to the rule and practise of the Canon law They all made answere with one voice Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari we wil not yeeld to the change of the lawes of England by which it appeares that they receiued not in those very times all the Popes Canons as lawes and those which they receiued they had not the force of lawes because the Pope imposed theÌ„ but because themselues entertained them in that nature and to that purpose ratified them Mr. Doctor need not marueile then if our Parliament now make lawes to the same purpose and by the same authority as they ratified those The Summons of Parliament euer since the time of King Henry the V. and how long before I know not haue in one constant forme and tenour made mention that the Parliament is summoned to consult de negotijs statum defensionem Regni Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae contigentibus of businesses concerning the State and defence of the Realme and Church of England Among other Kings S. Edward begins his lawes with this protestation that it was his Princely care Vt populum Dei super omnia Sanctam Ecclesiam regat gubernet To rule and gouerne Gods people and aboue all the Church of God And before him Ina kâ—ng of the West Saxons professeth that hee called a Councill of his Bishops and Senators that they might consult of matters De salute animarum Statu regni touching the saluation of their soules and the State of the kingdome And therefore doeth our chiefe Antiquarie rightly distinguish our Courts into Ecclesiasticall Ciuill and mixt which hee makes the Parliament as beeing compounded of both and consequently capable to determine of matters of both natures though I must needes say the case is somewhat altered from â—ormer times when not onely the Arch-bishâ—ps the Bishops the Abbots and Priors whose number was double to thâ—t which now it is and litle inferiour to the â—eâ—porall Lords sate in thhe igher House of Paâ—liament and had conâ—luding voâ—ces but the bodie of the Clergie and Cathedrall â—hurches had their Proctours amongst the Commons as may be câ—llected by diuers of our Statutes in print but noâ— that the number of the Lords Spirituall in the higher House is â—essened and the others are cleane excluded the lower House mee thinkes it should stand with reason and equitie that thâ— liâ—ertie of making of lawes or Canons in Church-matters should bee referred and reserued by his Maiesties gracious fauour and with his Royall assent to Church-men assembled in their Conuocation who are presumed to be most able and willing to establish good and wholesome Constitutions and to reforme what is amisse Thus in the yeere 1603 at his Maiesties first entrance into this kingdome by vertue of hiâ— Prerogatiue Royall and Supreame authority in causes Ecclesiasticall did hee graunt licâ—nce and free power vnto them to treate and agree vpon such Ordinances as they should thinke necessary and conuenient for the honour and seruice of Almighty God and the good and quiet of the Church and afterward being by them agreed vpon and throughly considered by his Maâ—estie out of his princely inclination to maintaine the present estate and gouernment of the Church of England hee not onely coâ—firmed them by his Royall Assent but by the same authoritie commaunded the entertainement and execution of them through the Realme Another matter you fling at is the multitude of Lawyers at this day as iâ— they were exceedingly increased but if you had read and well obseâ—ued Foretescues obseruation in this behalfe who wrote about 200. yeeres since being then Chiefe Iustice of England and had compared this time to that you would haue found that the number of that Proâ—ession in those dayes was litle lesse then at this day certainely their colledges were then more then now His words are Sunt namque in eo decem hospitia minora et quandâ—que verò plura quae nominantur hospitia Cancellariae ad quorum quodlibet pertinent centum studentes ad minus et ad aliqua eorum maior in multo numerus licet non omnes in eis semper conueniant MaioruÌ„ quatuor sunt ad minimuÌ„ eorum pertinent in forma praenot at a ducenti studentes aut propè They haue ten lesser houses which they call Innes of Chancerie to euery of which belong one hundred students at least and to some many more though they be not all continually resident in them of the bigger houses they haue â—oure and to each of them in like manner belong two hundred students or thereabout Whereras at this present in some of the Innes of Court there are not 260. and in the greatest little aboue 300. in commons at one time and for the â—nnes of Chancerie they are but eight in number and in most of them not aboue 50. in commons together But if they are increased it may well be imputed not so much to our multitude of statuts as to our long peace the nurse of homebred quarrels or to the dissolution of our Monestaries and that as I conceiue for foure reasons First for that whereas in those dayes when the Monasteries stood many yonger brothers did
him whereas wee euery where teach with S. Peter that as noe prophecie-in the Scripture is of priuate motion so neither is it of priuate interpretation the originall word signifies both Wee cannot take from any Christian man in expouÌ„ding of Scripture a iudgement of discretion in weighing the drift of the Text and conferring it with other passages of like nature though to the guides of the Church and Pastours of mens soules we reserue the iudgement of direction but the iudgement of iurisdiction to the representatiue Church it selfe assembled in Synode for as the spirits of the people are in this case subiect to the Prophets who sit in Moses chaire so the spirits of the Prophets are subiect to the Prophets if not to conuince the conscience at leastwise to impose silence for God is not the authour of confusion but of peace and they which thinke otherwise for mine owne part I thinke of them that the way of peace they haue not knowen I will conclude this point with his Maiesties most graue and godly aduice When ye reade the Scripture reade it with a sanctified and chaste heart admire reuerently such obscure plases as yee vnderstand not blaming onely your owne capacitie reade with delight the plaine places and studie carefully to vnderstand those that are somewhat difficile presse to bee a good Textuary for the Scripture is â—euer the best interpreter of it selfe but presse not curiously to seeke out farther then is contained therein for that were ouer vnmannerly a presumption to striue to bee further vpon Gods secrets then hee hath will bee for what hee thought needefull for vs to know that hath hee reuealed there and delight most in reading such parts of the Scripture as may best serue for your instruction in your calling reiecting foolish curiosities vpon Genealogies and contentions which are but vaine and profit not as Paul saith If these then bee the opinions of the Church of England which you call Caluinisme maintained aswell by the pens as the tongues of those Church-men who sit at the Sterne and in the most eminent places of the Church there will easily appeare a reason to the Parliament if it be demanded why so necessary a partie as the Clergie should at leastwise peaceably enioy that allowance which they haue allotted by Gods ordinance the piety of deuout mindes and the ancient constitutions of the Realme and sure wee are that a great deale lesse reason there is of maintaining so chargeable a Clergie in the Romane Hierarchie where the Popes plenary Indulgence may in a trice effectuate that about which they make so much a doe But at length the Asses eares appeare through the Lions skinne before he haue told vs in generall that those opinions forged for the most part out of his owne braine were too much faâ—ored maintained by Clergie men themselues here he comes at length to open his splene tels vs in plaine termes that the Clergie men he meanes are such who can be content to be Lords and to go in Rochets being indeed the greatest enemies of the Clergie now had the same men who long since did smell his hypocrisie and inclination toward Rome fauoured Dr. Cariers Popish doctrine and designes or endeuoured to haue put him in a Rochet and to haue made him a Lord whereof he thought himselfe worthy though no man else did they had doubtlesse bene in his account the Clergies best friends but for that they discouered and discountenanced his slie purposes and practises they are now become the greatest enemies the Clergie hath they are therefore become enemies because they tell the trueth yet whatsoeuer they are to the Clergie whome they loue and tender as their brethren sure I am they haue proued themselues more loyall to his Maiestie and more faithfull to the State more diligent in their calling and more vnblameable in their wayes then the accuser it being a thing full of commiseration and compassion to see that by these false and wicked suggestions of mutinous and discontented persons the deuil the father of these and all other lies doth daily take possession of the soules of some of his Maiesties subiects both of the Nobles and Commons But another sort of Clergie men you say there are good schollers and temperate men who cannot but in their iudgment approue the trueth of the Catholike religion These that you may the better satisfie you desire two things and by way of counterchange or retribution promise three hauing assurance as you pretend from some of the greatest The first thing you desire is no lesse then the Bishop of Româ—s Supremacie in England which you vaile vnder the title of the subordination of the Church of Canterbury vnto that Church by whose authority all other Churches in England at first were and still are subordinate vnto Canterbury Wheâ—ther Rome may properly be called the mother Church of England I haue already in another place considered but vndoubtedly as the case now stands she being become vnto vs worse then a stepmother we cannot in common reason entertaine vnâ—on with her much lesse acknowledge subiâ—ction vnto her for shall we thinke that the head of the Papacie being in the body of Poperie will bee long behind no no if that one poâ—nt were once yeelded vnto all the rest controuersed betweene vs and them would quickly follow after as a necessarie traine The Frier in Chaucer would haue nothing be killed for his sake only he desired the liuer of the capon and the braine of the pig So the Pope would bee contented there should bee no innouation in England vpon condition his Supremacie and the Masseâ— the second thing you desire were readmitted vpon which two in a manner the whole frame of Poperie is built and therefore in the reformed Churches of France not without good reason in my iudgment such as forsake the fellowship of the Church of Rome and betake themselues to their profession are bound before they bee admitted into their society publikely in the Congregation as to renounce the errours of that Church in generall so in speciall and by name to abiure these two The vsurped authority of the Bishop of Rome and the â—dolatry of the Masse as may appeare in the late declaration of the admittance of the Earle of Candale into their Church in Ianuary last he being sonne and heire to the Duke d'Espernon a chiefe Patron of the Iesuits and their faction and the Lord himselfe as he is stiled in the declaration printed at Rochel 1616 Prince of Busch Duke and Peere of France gouernour and Lieutenant generall for the king in the Prouinces of Xaintongâ— Aâ—goulmois high and low Limosin principall gentleman of the kings chamber in this declaration he also protesteth before God the searcher of hearts and iudge of soules that his change proceeded not from the motions of flâ—sh and blood oâ— from worldly respects but from the meere sencâ— of consâ—ience But to returâ—e to our purpose the latter of