courses of the Iesuites the which I doe againe and againe assure you my Lord doetend to hold off Cyrus and to bring against her an Assur a rod of Gods wrath to tread her in the myre and to bring capitall iudgements vpon all those within this kingdom who hearken vnto their voice And seeing your Lo hath so good a King whose bountie hath been great toward you as you know whose Blood Royall is the brightest Starre which you carrie in the frontispice of all your Honors and whose sacred person you do so faithfully affect whose wisdome and learning hath that reputation with the best of the Papall Clergie as I haue related that they could admit his Maiestie among the first of Iudges to pacifie Christian dissensions if the Lord of his mercy should blesse this time with so happie a constellation Therefore let your Lordship be pleased to obey the voyce of such a King who doth enioyne you nothing contrary to holy Scripture Be with his Maiestie in the purchase of this crowne of glory which God hath said before him to obtaine by his putting forwards of Catholike Vnitie for the safetie of Christian Churches and people from the barbarous invasions of the common enemie the Turke you my Lord in speciall whose speciall merit conioyned with the virtue of your renowned Auncestors haue made you twice worthy to be next his Maiestie in places of publike seruice do hearken vnto the voyce of so many good and worthy Subiects in the Land who do heartily invite you to imbrace those Functions in the State which God nature and your peculiar vertue haue allotted vnto you to the furtherance of pietie and ius◅ice in the Common-wealth And to be briefe liue so that you may be honoured in this life and happie in the next for your constant action of Christian vertues which bee much surer meanes to strengthen a good Religion then Cloysterall bigottrie or contemplation in your Lo person principally As much would I exhort those also who either brooke in their hearts latent displeasure against the Church gouernment or to whom the acceptation of these vsefull Ceremonies would bee distastefull or who vnder colour of those haue distracted hearts from the State seeing the first is you know a most laudable restitution of the ancient Catholike policie and the second a point allowed for vnitie not by the grosse and obscure rudiments of reformation as you would say by Luther and Bucer but by Zanchius and others who shined thereafter as perfect lights in the Church We may be ashamed to bee contentious against such graue iudgements and against the authoritie of a whole Nationall neighbour Church whereof you are brethren and which of all those in Christendome hath onely been reformed perfectly by putting forth of all Idolatrie and holding forth of all noueltie Cato Utyconsis because hee found no reason to obey the time as hee thought he would not liue but slew himselfe although hee might haue possessed chiefe dignities vnder Caesar. Socrates hauing in his choyce either to dye or to be exiled hee chuseth death because said he a man cast from his common wealth is no more a man Is it not strange that you who hold your selfe an vpright christian yea and Pastor that vpon sure and inquestionable points or vpon trifling and indifferent Ceremonies you will not onely refuse to conforme your selfe but by the meanes of your separation you giue the opportunitie of seditious practises both of forraine Insidiators and intestine male-contents which is a cursed and bad part That wee should embrace the name of Separists to runne away and derelinquish that great Citie vpon the mountaine called by the Prophets Ciuit as quaesita non derelicta that we should turne backe to Iudaize by clandestine Synagogues and renounce that ample and famous Title of a true Christian Catholique Christianus mihi nomen Catholicus cogno◅ said all the holy Fathers We do refuse communion with the Church of Rome and with the greatest part of those in Germanie and if we should lye euer deuided from the heads and chiefest members of our owne bodie within this Kingdome certainely I know not what way to excuse such open delight of separation and singularitie since the marke of Christian profession is to bee Catholicke and vniuersall I know you will say the Saints of God are a handfull true but the Church of God is not so it hath by exterior marke◅ a large Communion and extent and cannot bee griped in one hand or in two What is there in reason in nature in Theology which doth not teach vs this Communion and coniunction the light of reason doth tell vs that Vi◅ vnita fortior Things which be vnited are most strong Nature doth shew to vs that the dumbe Elements communicate qualities among thēselues that the most distant Climates of the earth haue mutual commerce beasts which do liue together within the precinct of our Isle will be ordinarily of our societie Theologie hath taught vs to beleeue it for an Article of our Creede that their is a Communion of Saints For the loue of this Communion betwixt man and Angel and for the prosperitie of the kingdome of heauen God did pardon Adam and retreat his holy word Thou shalt die the death so soone as thou dost cat of this And shall not wee re◅it one dramme of our presumptuous purity for our Christian Communion with our brethren of our Church without the which this great Isle our common mother can neuer be truely fortunate nor the ports thereof surely closed against the plots and insidiation of our enemies as if the whole efficacy of Christianity did consist in that one point of Precisenesse while as our good father Saint Augustine did comprise an hereticke vnder that word Agnosca◅ qui precisisunt veniant ad fidem did discriue an vpright Christian by those three properties Contra rationem sobrius contra Scriptur as nemo Christia◅ contra Ecclesiā nemo Catholi◅us That as a sober man he must be subiect to reason as a Christian man subiect to the Scriptures and as a Catholike subiect to the Church The first of which three doth admonish vs all in generall that in any light of reason if wee doe not sing one harmonie in the publike seruice of God we are not as good members of the Church should be studious of her glory nor as good subiects of this kingdome should bee desirous of its felicity The second doth admonish you who are an obstinate Papist that you are no true Christian who will not make the Scripture the infallible rule of your faith The third doth admonish you who are a Stoicall and stiffe Puritane that you are not a peaceable subiect who doth contradict the authoritie of a setled and Orthodoxall Church Alwayes to you who doe hatch grudges for other Interims of the state such as pressure of Subsidies or pretended pouertie of the time I will say this and if it haue no reason I am content to sing
are noted vnder the names of Beasts which make vs the sonnes of that king of beasts the Diuell aduersarius vester tanquum Leo rugieâ—…s ipse est Rex super omnes filios superbiae saith Iob The Diuell againe is noted by the name of the Serpent Serpens erat callidior cunctis animalibuâ—… He is compared to the tortuous serpent full of crookes qui dissipat sepeâ—… mord bit euâ—… Câ—…luber It is â—…aid in Ecclesiasticus and againe Non est caput nequeus super caput colâ—…bri There be also goodnesse and pietie signified by beasts in the holy Scripture The Church of God is said to be a flock of sheepe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audit vocem 〈◊〉 pascâ—… 〈◊〉 me as Non sum missus nisi ad 〈◊〉 quâ—… perâ—…erunt Domus Israel Christ himselfe hath taken the name of a Lion vicit Leo de tribu Iuda to note the difference from that deuouring Lyon whom he hath ouerthrowne figured by that Lyon which â—…s rent by Sampson who was a typicall Sauiour as we know Againe he taketh the name of a Lambe Agnus Dei qui tollâ—… peccata mundi The third person of the Trinitie is figured also by a beast the holy Ghost came downe in Iordan in forme of a Doue and we are commanded to be simple as Doues because otherwise the holie ghostcannot lodge with vs albeit God the Father in the fulnesse and Maiestie of his godhead he who hath said thou shalt make no grauen image c. hath not vouchsafed to figure himselfe by the shape or name of any beast as he would not name himselfe to Moses in other termes then ego sum qui sum to shew how he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew that he is indefinit infinite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would alleage that he spake in person to Mâ—…ses â—…nd did appeare in a fierie bush to him no these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his holy Angels the Apostle testifies that the Tables of the Law were giuen to Moses by an Angell 〈◊〉 prâ—…pter transgressionâ—… 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mediatoris And St. Steuen in the Acts doth witnesse that an Angel vnder the name of God spake to Moses in the bush There appeareth to him saith he in the wildernesse of mount 〈◊〉 an Angell of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush That glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Moseâ—… that no mortall flesh should see his face and liue That great spirit wherof it is said spiritâ—… Domini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terrarum who is in all things al things in him at very 〈◊〉 haue acknowledged it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vides A 〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a â—…cle is a center dilate are or spread out God is all things that euer haue beene or shall be to the end com pleate in that infinite Maiestie and power and his glory dilated and displayed in so many noble creatures how is it than possible to 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 of so great a thing when Salomon coulâ—… 〈◊〉 his glorious Temple sufficient to 〈◊〉 it si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 capiâ—…nt quanto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ista 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 Saint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The person of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper temple wherein he 〈◊〉 whereupon he said 〈◊〉 templum hoc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illud which also is a manifest argument against the erection of whatsoeuer images to Christ because that God the Father in the fulnesse of his Deitie dwelleth in him as the Apostle affirmeth in quo habitat corporaliter omnis plenitudo diuinitatis Alwaies speaking generally of beastes that he mentioned in the Scripture I say that the spirit of God hath neuer as appeareth to me vsed any beast so familiarly as the Asse to be significant of the high misteries of our faith and to bee a type of that pietie and goodnesse which should be in Christian people And first I shew it from this argument a Contrarijs In the Scripture wee finde mention onely of two beastes to whome God did allotte the faculty of speaking the Serpent and the Asse the Serpent opened his mouth to suborne impietie and rebellion against God the Asse opened his mouth to reprehend sinne in the Prophet Therefore seeing it was said that the Serpent was the worst of the beasts neque erat caput nequius super caput Calubri it must bee a iust consequence that the Asse is the best and most simple of beasts and most excellent for naturall goodnesse That by the Asse was signified Gods people appeareth by sundry places in holy Scriptures when Saul was diuers times commanded by Samuel to returne home and receiue the kingdome he answered him still that hee did seeke his fathers Asses till at length the Prophet told him the Asses were found mystically meaning as diuers learned authors doe intepret the people who as Asses were to vnderlie the yoke of his obedience as they haue also expounded that other place of the Asse when our Sauiour going vp to Ierusalem commanded his Disciples saying Inueniet is afinam alligatam pullum cum ea soluite addueite mihi whereby they vnderstood the two people Gentiles and Iewes who were fettered and bound to blindnesse the one to Ethnicke Idolatry the other to vaine legall Ceremonies and were both to bee loosed and by the liberty and grace of the Gospel to be reduced to the obedience of Christ that he might raign ouer them as it is said An Iudaeorum tantum Deus nonne etiam Gentium The great Samson who was a figure of Christ as the spirit of God testifies by the historie of his birth being like vnto that of our Sauiours annunciat to his mother by the Angel Thou wast barren but shalt now beare a sonne which shall be a Nazeret to the Lord and a deliuerer to the people he shall be called Samson Sol corum according to the Hebrew Litâ—… at his death againe hee pulled downe the house replenished with the Philistines his enemies destroying great numbers of them there then in his life as Clarity did perfectly tryumphe 〈◊〉 on the Crosse oâ—… that spirituall Philistine Sâ—… and oâ—… all the hostes of â—…ll The Scripture records of that figuratic sauiour Samson that with the cheeke bone of an Asse he ouerthâ—… mâ—…litudes of his enemies and that being almost stifled in the battel through excesse of heat and thirst fourth of the cheeke tooth of an Aâ—… law-â—…ne â—…spring water to refresh him mystically signifying the Christian vertues of simplicity humility patience painefulnesse obedience flowing from Regeneration and the waters of Baptisme which in nature be aâ—…nine qualities should by the Gospel conquess multitudes to Christ to the ruine of Satans Kingdome The Asse hath knowledge aboue the common imaginatiue sense of beasts There bee certaine currant eraditions that Aristophance affirmed that an Asse was his condisciple in the schooles of Philosophie and that other of Apuleius Magaâ—… who told that
authoritie of a sacred Emperour declaring therby that in the poynts of externall policy he did esteeme them as men ordinary subiects whō in their spiritual functions he had counted as Gods The same authoritie was practised by Charlemaine who in his time did conuocate eight Councels and by his sonne Lewis Debonnaire who did assemble one And to shew it more plainely that this power to conuocate was Imperiall and not Episcopall we read how all the Popes of those dayes did write to Emperours for that effect Pope Innocent sent to Honorius fiue Bishops two Priests to obtaine a Councell for the restitution of Saint Iohn Chrysostome as we read in Euagrius Pope Leo doth beseech Valentine the third to obtaine of Theodose the yonger a Councell against Eutiches and in token that the Popes did not so much as pretend this power to assemble wee finde in Sozemene that Pope Iulius complaines onely that the Bishops of the Orient did not inuite him to the Councell of Antioch saying that a law of the Church prouided that no Decree should passe without the opinion asked of the Bishop of Rome And in Theoderet Pope Damasus makes the same complaint and in the same termes against the councel of Arimini in which such honour was done to the Emperour Constantius and such reuerence to his authoritie that the Fathers conuened there being detayned too long and being pressed to put downe some Decrees which were not orthodoxall they durst not for all that depart vntill they had the Emperours leaue and permission Further now will wee obserue the very internall Iurisdiction of the Church and that which is meerely spirituall to wit the sentence of Excommunication and how it was exercised we doe finde two things in that one is we shall not see that the primitiue Church did excommunicate any Emperour or King albeit there were more occasion against them nor is now contained in the great Bul of the holy Thursday which is yeerely published at Rome against Christian Kings and States Constantius and Valeus persecuting heretikes Trinitaries who would haue forced the Fathers to confessions against the Catholike faith were not excommunicate Theodose the second and Valentinian the third Eutichean heretikes were not excomunicate Basilieius enemie to the Councell of Calcedon Iustinian and of Kings Chilpericke King of France infected with Arrianisme Theodoricke King of Gothes Atalarichus Theodotus Vittiges and many others of whom none was excommunicate no not Iulian the Apostata nor Valentinian the second who fell in an heresie three seuerall times nor Iustinian who fell twise no when they had banished Popes themselues for wee read in an Epistle of Pope Siluerius that beng banished by Belizarius at the command of Iustinian his Master he assembled certaine Bishops to excommunicate Belizarius but did not so much as murmurre against Iustinian by whose direction he was persecuted Neither yet if they did kill a Bishop a◅ Valens who caused some of them to be drowned Secondly we obserue on this point of Excommunication that Bishops in the primitiue Church did excommunicate by the consent and permission Imperiall for Princes fearing that Church Rulers should abuse the spirituall sword made an ordinance repeated afterwards by Iustinian that no person should bee excommunicate vnlesse the cause of their sentence were before the Emperour cleerely prooued to be agreeable to the will and meaning of the holy Spirit which Saint Augustine doth expressely acknowledge in an Epistle to Boniface saying that the Church doth exercise her power against heretikes vnder the permission and power of Kings Some Bishops haue questioned hardly with Emperours as a Bishop did commaund Phillip the Emperour that hee should not enter into the Church but remaine without in the place of the Penitentiaries Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milane dealt right so with Theodosius the great but they did not pronounce any Excommunication maior against them for then they would not haue enioyned them penance if they had beene without the bosome of the Church As for Anastatius albeit some Churches as that and the Church of Ierusalem did excommunicate him yet he was euer in peace and vnion with numbers of Catholike Churches in the Orient which did declare that it was not magnum anathema but rather a t◅merarious Act howsoeuer this be such two or three exceptions will not serue against one ordinarie rule for then to meete these we finde in like manner three extraordinarie acts of Imperiall authoritie which caused excommunicate or eiect the Popes Xistus the third of that name suspected for adulterie was excommunicate by commaundement of Valens the third Theodoricke King of Gothes did eiect from the Church Pope Symmachus And the people of Rome vnder the Magistrates did forbid Pope Pelagius the assembly of the Church besides Saint Iohn Chrysostome deposed and expelled from his Church by Arcadius As for the excommunication of Arcadius done by Pope Gelasius it is doubted of in the Ecclesiasticall histories but I doe not speake of such extrauagant acts but of that which was ordinarily followed whereby it is still verified that the whole sway of Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall was in the Emperors The Conuocation was due to them the processe went by their permission and consent their persons were exempted from excommunication as wee haue heard which bee three maine points of soueraigne Commandement For the fourth which is the confirmation of the Popes it was also due to the Emperours Constantius the sonne of Constantine hee banished Liberius and erected Pope Felix in his place yea farther hee recalled that good Prelate did establish him with the other Theodosius the great a great pillar of the Church by the right Emperiall he setled at Rome together with a Pope a Bishop of a diuers religion I thinke for satisfaction of a mutinous people Laeonius in his time was Bishop of Rome for the Church of the Nouatianes Honorius his son again comming into Italie while Boniface and Eulalius did contend for the Pontificat he chased them both away and after placed Boniface making lawes against such ambicious competences Iulius Nepos the tyrant ouercomming Glicerius the Emperour he made him Pope as Euagrius doth recorde for some hold that he made him onelie Bishop of Milane because he is not found in the catalogue of the Popes Odoacre king of the Horoli being master of Rome he made an ordinance at the solistation of Pope Simplicius and to the imitation of proceeding Emperours That no Pope should be exalted without the consent of Emperiall authoritie When the Emperours had recouered Rome from the Goths Iustinian did not only eiect Vigilius but made him come to Constantinople to be iudged offering to the people of Rome his Arch-deacon Pelagius whereupon they thanked the Emperour willing him to suffer Vigilius and after his death to establish whom he pleased which right did so continue with the seate imperiall that Saint Gregorie the greate durst not honour himselfe with his titles before he had receaued the imperiall confirmation of
his pontificate Finally if we come to speake of the confirmations of councels and canons which is the last point of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction we also finde that nothing was solid vntill the imperiall approbation was conioyned to the spirituall The Rolles of the decrees of the counsell of Nice and Constantinople were presented to Constantine and Theodosius to be subscribed and authorised by them against which foresaide policie of the primitiue Church so farre depending vpon the Emperour I know not what we can pretend vnlesse we will be like those ignorant Gnostickes of whom Irenaeus doth make mention in the fourth Chapter of his third booke who held this opinion that while God did commaund vs to obey superior powers he did accommodat that command to the condition of persons and tymes and that the Church is not now in minoribus as she was then but out of Pagerie and able to commaund her selfe Certayne the lawe of God is immutable and eternall and doeth not suffer ecclipse nor is subiect to the measure of our fantasies If one will say the dealing of Arrian Kings with the church vnder the crosse is not to be drawne in example what shall we say to the Iurisdiction of Constantine the greate the first patron of the Church who tooke vpon him in his tyme to establish Bishops and had at his death Athanasius vnder his Iudicature and what shall we answere to Charlemaine a great fauourer of the Church to his son Lues Debonaire who sent to Rome to iudge a Pope for the murther of Theodore a Romane Senatour of the French deuotion wherein the Pope was forced to cleere himself by the kings owne appointment as the letters of Pope Leon to Lues to that effect doth import Thus if we haue done any thing out of purposse in that processe we are readie to amend it by your owne officers whom weâ—…treate you to send outwell disposed men to take triall of that matter The ecclesiasticall histories and the liues of Popes where they are written besoful of such testimonies and so plaine into them I thought it not necessarie to quote them particularlie So concluding this generall Theme in fauours of the lawfull authoritie of Kings I say the primitiue Church had neuer a Bishop nor Pope who did refuse to submit himselfe to the imperiall Iurisdiction after the example and doctrine of Christ in such manner that we are to esteeme all this contrary clergie of Papall parasites to be a false and bastard Theologie of ambitious monsters who striue to vsurpe that power which God hath reserued to himselfe of disposing of Kings and Diadems of the world after the way of his secret and diuine prouidence which power is so alone to him that no mortall flesh may participate of it as Daniel doth approoue in the Dreame of Nebuccadnezar Altissimus habet Potestatem super Regna hominum dat illa cuivult constituit super illa homines vilissimos The most High hath power ouer the Kingdomes of men hee giueth them to whom hee will and placeth in them most vile men And the Prophet Esay in this point in the person of the Ethnicke Cyrus he doth prophesie his victories hee calleth him the Lords Anoynted of whom God did say Whose right hand I haue holden to subdue Nations before him he ordayned him to be obeyed saying Uae ei qui litigauerit contra factorem suum Woe bee to him who doth question with his Maker Numquid lutum dicet factori suo quid facis Shall the Clay say to the Potter What dost thou make Then hee concludeth saying I haue raysed him and he shall let my people goe not for money but freely When God commanded Nolite tangere vnâ—…s meos hee did not except Saul more then Dauid Balthasar more then good King Iosias what then shall these miserable and wretched potshrads of these times reason with their Maker when he saith Dedi eis Regem in furore meo regnare facit hypocritam propter peccata Populi What shal they haue a count of him or how doe they not heare the voyce of the Prophets of Christ himselfe of the Apostles of the Fathers of the primitiue Church all consentient and contrary to that poysoned doctrine of Rome inuented and maintayned by the Iesuites where in place of these sacred priuiledges yeelded vnto Christian Princes as is said consisting in foure or fiue points of Soueraignity in the Ecclesiasticall gouernment wee shall heare foure or fiue such Maximes as these To Christ is giuen all power in Heauen and Earth and Christ hath giuen the keyes of all to Saint Peter therefore the Pope his successor hath all power also of Heauen and Earth hee is aboue Kings and may translate and destroy their authoritie he is aboue generall Councells and may inhibit them hauing all power in his owne person In place of Christian Apostolike and reuerent speeches of Monarchs Kings there is to be heard fastuous contemptible inuectiues against them serpentine insinuations to cut the throat of their Royall power to depose them spoyle their estates and inuade their liues and these by exoterick or publike writtes and who will be curious of their acroamaticke or hidden and cloysterall doctrine shall bee taught to vnderstand this ground for all that after the raigne of the Antichrist all Nations are to be collected vnder one Pastor and to obey him and to that effect God doth establish and raise some puissant Christian authoritie which should be in the occident as some Rabbins and Iewish Doctors who became thereafter Christians haue obserued by these mysticall wordes of our Sauiour vpon the Crosse Vouch chi hammassiah chesche uitlash bannesthimneth hu daieth roscho daiphen nalt sarphat dareth rachen nalcha That is to say Et erit postquam Messias suspensus fuerit in ligno ecce ipse inclinabit caput suum prespiciens ad occidentem dixit miserebor tui The French say they doth expound this mysterie of the Grandor of the French Crowne because their Princes were myraculously brought vnto the Christian faith receiuing the Flower-de-Luce sent from heauen as their Stories record with a supernaturall power to heale the Ecruelles by touching which Flower is holden sacred and in holy Scripture is recommended aboue all other Flowers being imployed in the worke of the great Candlesticke made by Moses and after vsed by Salomon who built the Temple whereof Moses drew the figure so that they esteeme this Flower to be the true hyerogliphicke of their faith and hold it yet for their Armories they haue beene mightie promoters of Gods Church by destroying flouds of Arrians Gots and Visigotti in Spaine in the daies of Carollo Martello and Pipino his sonne by their expulsion of Longobards and succouring of the seat Apostolicall vnder Carolus Magnus by their exploits in the Orient about the conquest of Ierusalem vnder the Armes of Godfred de Bullion and his partners and by their Christian enterprises against the Saracenes vnder Lodouicus sanctus
seene and God grant it doe not betray the foresight of the most wittie Princes but that they in time discerne these beasts and looke vpon them with the eies of that king of beasts the Lyon whom nature hath made so vigilant ouer his owne safety that he doth neuer sleepe but with open eies as we haue two eyes in our head and none in the members of our bodie so Princes who are heads of the people they must not only haue eyes for themselues but eyes for the bodie of their estates to penetrate most hidden things like vnto that Royall foule the Eagle who being in the high ayre aboue doth see small fishes in the bottome of the waters and as our head hath a Nose to sauour and a Mouth to taste for the necessarie vse of our bodies so they who bee our heads must haue specially in these treacherous and vntrustie times Sagacissimum olfactum most quicke senses able to smell the most secret disposition of their subiects namely of these who liue about their persons what shall we say then of these holy Fathers the Iesuites who haue laid so dangerous nets in the high wayes of Christian Kings and what shall we say of these their holy Disciples who will not spare to murmur against their punishment as to calumniate that sentence worthily lead by the Arch Bishop now of S. Androes against Iohn Ogiluy the Iesuite at Glasgow whose trafficke auowedly was to moue his Maiesties subiects after his owne example to disclaime the authoritie of their most naturall and lawfull King Of the Iesuits your Lo hath my opinion of those be who they will who haue commerce with them or fauour them because I know your Lordship to be farre from being such I say they are hostes Patriae hostis Principis they are no loyall subiects of the Prince nor vpright members of this kingdome I speake not rashly I know as much as any of the Papists who be of that profession and more then many of them and of that Act at Glasgow I say that many such seruices should make a man worthy to watch the Lyons tent to haue his nest next the Eagle and to sit neere the Rudder in the ship of the state Now to conclude this point I appeale to the diuine light of your Lordships conscience whether you doe not thinke in your heart things being as I haue related that this practising of the Court of Rome is to play the beast of the Apocalips who striueth to be worshipped of all the world whither you doe not thinke that vnto her members doth belong the iudgement pronounced by Ezekiel against those who courtise the world and the flesh Dic omni volucri coeli omnibus auibus cunctisque bestijs concurrite vndique c. Thus saith the Lord speake to euery feathered foule and euery beast of the field assemble your selues and come gather on euery side to my sacrifice for I prepare a great sacrifice for you vpon the mountaines of Israel that ye may eate flesh and drinke blood yee shall eate the flesh of the valiant and drinke the blood of Princes of the earth of the Weathers and the Rammes of the Goates of the Bullockes euen of the fat beasts of Basan Thus ye shall be filled at my Table with horses and chariots with valiant men and with all men of warre saith the Lord God Here is a fearefull Proclamation prepared for the feinds of hell who are meant by these feathered foules as the Prophet in one place sayes Malis auibus dedit ad deuourandum he gaue them to bee deuoured of the euill foules of which kind of infernall foules Christ speaking in the Parable of the graine of corne Et volucres coeli comederunt illud and the foules of the aire did eate it vp But who is meant by these Bellators against God and these fat Bulles of Basan will one say the Israelites or the nations about them O but the word of God is eternall and the doctrine of the Prophets is perpetuall and Symbolicall as that Church was Symbolicall that to the worlds end and in all ages the like sinnes shall procure the like vengeance who be they who carrie hornes of ambition like vnto the Ramme was there euer any pride comparable vnto that of Rome where vnder colour of spirituall care there is nothing but contriuing of monarchicall Tyrannie by most wicked meanes as if Christ had left that commission to Saint Peter which Anchises left vnto Aeneas the Grandfather of the Romanes Tu re gere imperio populos Romane memento Ha tibi erunt artes Who be these who carrie hearts polluted with filthie and abominable lustes like vnto the goates mindes puffed vp with vndaunted arrogance like vnto the bulles who bee loaden with sordiditie and riches like vnto fat kine who bee like vnto Sodome ouerflowing with idlenesse and wealth CHAP. VI. The meanes by which it pleased God to reduce this Asse of Balaam with his Counsell against Papisticall and superstitious Induration IT were now a great happinesse for your Lo if you could weigh with sound Iudgement and out of the diuine light which is in your soule the points of this discourse in so many impious and superstitious transgressions but your Lo doth shut your eyes and eares I will yet tell you one iest of my experience Being at Rome I did often heare the chiefest Cardinals deplore Tanquam mortem dilectissimae filiae as the death of their most tender daughter the falling away of this kingdome of Great Brittaine from the seate of Rome affirming that in former ages we were the most vpright Catholike Romanes and most zealous of Christendome and being most curious to demaund a certaine vnderstanding man the reason of that speech he gaue me this answere Per che crano simplichotti lontani mai intendeuano la cuilloneria di questa sedia Because said he your predecessors were simple people farre distant from this who neuer did truely vnderstand the trumperie of this seat because I speake in foro conscientiae your Lordship ought to beleeue me Euen so I say of your Lordship you are remote from these places and doe not see the truth of things and when they are brought before you you doe not looke vpon them with your right eye but with your sinistrous eye not with whole eyes but with sore eyes For like as those whose eyes are weake or diseased doe see better in shadie and darke places then in presence of the sunne so they who haue the eyes of their soule blinded with the shadowes of Pharisaicall coremonies of superstition they cannot willingly abide to haue their sight tried before the brightnesse of Gods word As there were among the Babylonians to be found numbers of holy vessels that were brought foorth of the Temple of Ierusalem when the people were captiued so in the Church of Rome there bee indeed many good and Christian customes and ordinances and sundry pure and sincere grounds of Doctrine mixed with
terrible flames against his neighbours to the end it may approach the more fearefully to himselfe May not wee imagine that it is a great heart-sore to him to see his fellowes so absolute Kings his Maiesty of great Britaine like to Salomon disposing at his pleasure of the Leuiticall functions within the house of God the Church of France from all antiquitie hauing her liberties exempted from Papall Hierarchie both those Kings auowedly defying that pretended Soueraignty while as he one of the first Christian Monarches doth vnderlie the yoake of Priestly Domination For as touching this late practice of Cardinall Perone whereby hee hath so much strained his wits to staine the glory of the French Crowne and to render the ancient Christian and famous priuiledges thereof obscure and problematicke as he speakes that is but an illusion of the Romane Circe cast in to abuse the weakenesse offeminine and childish gouernment which will soone appeare in the owne colours to any Prince in perfection to be an act of perfidious 〈◊〉 against the strength and reputation of that braue 〈◊〉 as it is already both cleerely and cunningly charactered by the truly royall answer and defence made by our most gracious Soueraigne for his neighbour King in minoribus for all Christian Kings in generall against that serpentine and disloyall Oration of the aforesaid Cardinall Alwaies that ielousie and distraction is easie to grow betwixt Spaine and Rome This is a strong reason for it and approued by experience The Spaniards doe already possesse the richest patrimonies of S. Peter Sicilia and Naples that if a violent and headie Pope doe recounter a troubled estate in Spaine it is like enough they will redemaund these whereof the proofe was seene in the person of Pope Sixto Quinto who fauoured Henry the third of France against the holy League for that same cause vpon the other side we are to presume from the like reason that the Spaniard hath no better meanes to possesse these things securely then by clipping the winges of the Popish pride since he hath already gotten the fatnesse of his pot Experience hath in like manner qualified this Carolus Quintus of Spaine and Ferdinand and Maximilian his Successors in the Empire had no greater studies in their times then to haue reformed the Church of Rome for Christian peace and for their owne securitie as is more particularly before rehearsed the misgiuing whereof did breed so great griefe to himselfe before his death and so great displeasure to his posteritie thereafter One other point maketh me to apprehend this disposition of the world to Catholike reformation The whole Clergie of Rome is a thinking how to supplant the Iesuiticall Trafficke and to extirpate those plagueful weedes who by their large vniust priuiledges granted by ambitious Popes for their ambitious and wicked seruices haue ouergone the whole religious orders of the Romane Church invading their Functions at their pleasure as one may well see in that little Treatise which some few yeares agoe came out against them called Introductio in arcam Iesuiticam wherein all their treacheries are perfectly exprest CHAP. XIV A contemplation of the present condition of this Isle of Great Britaine by sundry weightie points and worthy of consideration for our better knowledge of this Time BVT finally of all the circumstances of this present world there is one which doth most moue me to think that this great Iubile of the restitutiō of the catholike Church doth approach and that we be already entered into the prime of that new light First there is now a mightie Monarch of the Protestant side alike to whom hath not been in any time his Maiestie of Great Britaine Secondly a Monarch of such authoritie with all the Protestant States and Princes in matters of Religion that they giue vnto him the Style of the Great St. Augustine to be flagellum haereticorum Thirdly a Monarch of that rare learning accompanied with the true wisdome of a temperate spirit that euen the iudicious opponents except these who bee Iesuiticall doe hold his Maiestie the most sufficient instrument to goe about and bring to passe a generall reformation which points I will pray all those that shall read this discourse to weigh in sinceritie as I shall compendiously set them downe for our edification that wee may thankfully remarke the miraculous and mercifull dealing of God with our Age. There hath euer been since the first Creation two generations in the world one of Cain one of Abel one of Isaac one of Ismael one of Iacob one of Esau one of Ioseph one of his malicious brethren one of Dauid one of Saul one of Solomon one of Absolon one of Simon Peter one of Simon Magus c. Arace of the iust and a race of the reprobate making that admirable Antithesis wherevpon God doth hang the ballance of his glory swayed by his mercy to the one hand and by his iustice to the other this is the secret and hidden mysterie of Gods predestination in the gouernment of the world numero pondere mensura as the Scripture saith And because the wicked as impetuous flouds do ouerflow the world and ouercome the Saints of God with multitude of wicked Princes and false Prophets therefore the Lord doth oftentimes as the storie of the Scripture declareth raise vp both in Church and State some men of extraordinarie vertue and goodnes to preserue the faithfull seed which hath made the Psalmist to say Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis the Lord is admirable in his Saints In the first age of the originall Creation he had his seruant Enoch of whom it is said Placuit Deo translatus est in Paradisum hee pleased God and was translated to Paradice In the second age of vniuersall corruption he had Noah to be the seminarie of the godly of whom it is said factus est reconciliatio In the third which was the peculiar election of the Iewes he had Abraham of whom it is said Et non inventus est similis ei qui conseruaret legem excelsi In the fourth which was his manifestation to be the God of Israel by the written Law hee had his excellent Moses of whom it is written Dilectus Deo hominibus Moses cuius memoria in benedictione In the fist which was the establishment of the Iewish kingdom he had his Prophet Dauid whom himselfe did honour with this testimonie Inveni hominem secundum cor meum In the sixt which was the propheticall illumination of the Synagogue among greater numbers he had in speciall his Eliah of whom it was said Et quis potest similiter gloriari tibi So in the seuenth which was the falling of the Synagogue hee had his great Priest Simeon Onia of whom it is said Quasiignis effulgens quasithus redolens in igne quasi vas auri soliduns ornatum lapide pretioso Euen so in the later ages since the Gospell albeit things goe not by