your selfe very gently dealt withal if you leese but your request and that you seeke for the lawe is that a lying petitioner or suiter shoulde bee frustrate of the thing hee had obteined and thereupon another sayeth That it is good right in plea of Court that hee that is founde to suggest a lye shoulde take no profite by that hee getteth that way you in thus dealing deserue no better Your matter is not onely false but a great slaunder her Maiestie and her lawes to afflict any for their consciences ' If it were any sure it were not you whē in your respect shee is so farre of that many insolences hauing bene cōmitted openly by your Catholikes to the disturbance of her quiet estate and the Church and common wealth haue yet beene pardoned let goe Except you may lawfully and at pleasure doe what you list without check or controlment ye are afflicted Alack their while But looke into the former gouernement when they of your side cōmanded The dealings of your sect haue of late bene so violent that her Maiestie to her great charges trouble we confesse hath bene enforced to looke narrowlier vnto you than hitherto as wel to represse rebels that came frō your holy father y t Pope as to cut thē shorter y t to confidētly openly goe stil about to kindle a new fire prouiding as much as conueniētly may be y t they shal do no harme to tendre moreouer her simple poore subiects y t are sought to be poisoned with the Romane Popish religion If there be any straightnes herein who hath procured inforced it Looke to that M. How on that side Of il vsages doings spring many times good lawes Ye talke of many a thousand but if with your Author you auowe none but such as wil not come to Church here nor take the othe of obediēce to her Maiestie condēning other euē of your own religiō some to hel some other wise ye may spare this exces siue speech of Manye a thousand it may be is likely yee haue infected some few which are to many with your late reconciliation ioined with subtil perswasiō which was the end of your cōming frō the Pope into Englād for which disturbance ye iustly suffer Rude simple ignorāt people womē especially are easily seduced in Parishes where there is litle or no preaching of the Gospel her Maiesties godlines wisedome and the States will of pitie I doubte not prouide they may be better instructed submitting themselues to God and her Maiestie quietly wil not only generally sende abroade such as shal breake vnto thē by doctrine and preaching the bread of life for their soules confortably to feede on like good Pastours dwel among thē to helpe them in neede to driue al Popish wolues the like away But like a tendre mother also she wil beare more with their imperfections than the Pope and you Catholikes doe that send thē quicke to hel And in deede heere with these the consciēce of such weakeones is the place time of bearing til they may be aduanced who for comming to church here simply vnfainedly seeking the comforte of their soules though possibly not so throughly yet fully perswaded in al points of religion for lacke of instruction as were to bee wished are so hardly handled by you false Catholikes A weake conscience in these keeping quiet may be tendred a time borne with by instruction further aduāced If after so long preaching of the Gospel among vs there be any such founde as in out quarters of her Maiesties dominions I feare there be to many With you fiery stubborne rebellious Catholikes pretend what you wil you are so grosse your matter so open plaine yea so violent vnreasonable as neither time place nor reason can beare with you except you repēt amende Remēber this Church state may answere you with that holy father cited allowed by your D. Thomas Who would not haue you nor any heretiques perish but the house of Dauid as he saith otherwise deserued not to haue peace except his sonne Absolon had perished or been slaine in the battaile that he moued against his father so the Catholike church that is not you that wil needs take y e name haue but y e bare name but y e true church of Christ if it gather y e rest by destroying some it healeth y e sorrow of a motherly hart by deliuering sauing so great mighty a people Of 〈◊〉 how farre your corrupt and obstinate dealing is frō it I speake in place Put case thē of y e worser sort for their naughty deserts some fewe haue been restrained of libertie or licētiousues rather some committed to bishops other church men or to good wise godly Gentlemēs custodie some also imprisoned as y e case requireth they fare wel cōmonly lie soft only the loose libertie of a fewe in respect hath been vpon great consideratiō I am assured restrained to foresee preuent euil dangerous attempts as good wisedome and a great blessing of God We haue tasted but too much of the bitter fruite that your late reconciltatiō to the Pope bringeth forth Remember I pray you as oft as ye hot Catholiks plaine of hard dealing in these dayes the cruell vsage of God his faithfull seruantes in times past and of late yeres and yet still in many places among you and ye shall see lesse cause to make such tragical a doe vpon a litle and gentle seueritte towardes a certaine here rather haled vpon them selues then offred as all the worlde may see If further some few traitors haue felt any sharpnes and smart of death their traiterous and seditious dealing by rebelling against our dread soueraigne and the state hath procured it some notorious traitours had neede to be made an example to terrifie and stay others attempts when they growe perilous to the good and setled state This is the great extremitie that you plaine some endure being iustly and orderly proceeded withall by lawe for their offences and that very mercifully too as say the worst yee can ye must needes confesse There is a milde seueritie as there is a cruell pitie One might recken how many things her Maiestie hath borne and for 〈◊〉 howe many matters shee hath put vp and pardoned both them and the persons This it might please you to consider of You say ye haue no other meanes to redresse and ease your miseries but only as confident children to come to the mercy clemency of her highnes your mother borne soueraigne Princes c. Faire words good I wold ye had in deed no other meanes would seeke vse no other But why run ye so fast to Rome then Why seeke ye helpe at stepfathers and stepmothers why procure and bring you in strangers and Italian souldiers why be ye not ruled by your
the Law made by Protestants prohibiting the practise of other religions besides their owne allotteth out the same punishment to al thē that do any way varie from the publike Communion booke or otherwise say seruice than is appointed there as it doeth to the Catholikes for hearing or saying of a Masse What haue you to plaine of in y t fauourablenes of this law towards you Is this straightnesse to Catholikes what more equitie and bearing with woulde you in these times haue an Immunitie to be exempted from all lawes and penalties I blame you not yee so fast and so many waies indanger your selues by breache of lawes that yee neede this remedie greatly but yee deserue it ill the penaltie and the execution of the lawe is that yee plaine of and yet is no more done than lawe if alwaies so much It grieueth you that other fare not as hardly as you The comparison is odious the cause is not equall your minde also is enuious your opinion and affection parciall An enuyous man they say pyneth away at another mans welfare Is your eye euil because her Maiestie is good Murmure not you haue no wrong They that are iustly punished when other of grace and fauour are spared cannot plaine of Iniustice as though they had wrong It is a priuiledge that God in his matters and Princes States and other ciuile Magistrates haue in iniuries done vnto them by iustice to exact and execute penalties where they bee due and by mercie sometime to pardō and release offences done against their Persons vpon great consideration to some certaine without doing any iniustice Iustice mercy may goe stand together and both of them are seuered from extremitie and parcialitie You might spare well ynough many of your exoruations and 〈◊〉 figures you neede not make such exclamation as you doe You thinke that saying and hearing of Masse is too hardly handled by our lawes heere You weigh not the matter aright nor indifferently First what is the Masse Next what meane you to buy such Deuilishe tromperie so deere Your Masse for both saying and hearing is iustly abrogated heere as a thing that in respect of the sacrifice thereof containeth blasphemie against God is iniurious to Christs death and Passion is an Idoll erected directly contrarie to the institution of the Supper of the Lorde and a meere profanation thereof farced and stuft full of grosse superstitions to poison mens soules with so farre from edifying that it destroieth that I speake nothing of the Apishe toyes therein containing great mysteries with you fitter indeede for a stage then for the holie house of GOD. You heare briefly and in summe our opinion of your Masse If you can say better for it out of Gods booke let vs heare that and yee shall God willing heare of vs againe In the meane while for breuitie because you do but touche it in passing I surcease also from doing that nowe which is so often and well done already and rest thervpon and to answere you I denie your suppositiōs till you bring vs some proofe which you doe not heere If ye cannot liue without saying and hearing this abhominable Masse plaine no longer of the miseries that yee willingly runne headlong into the punishement is very moderate and gentle nothing so harde as your desert is in this behalfe It is your honour as seemeth you trauell to recouer your Helena a rare perle a precious iewell mych good dite you with it draffe is good inough for Swine Refuse neither heate nor colde Runne I pray you thorowe fire and water to come to it if yee needes will but yee were better bee admonished and aduised At least all the godly wise will if it bee but for so hainously dishonouring God and deadly wounding their owne soules Thus writeth your Authour in his booke the hearing of Masse is not onely woorth the ventering of a hundred Markes or sixe moneths imprisonment but also of an hundred thousand liues if a man coulde loose euery one for that cause sixe tymes and an hundred tymes miserable is that man which for any worldely respect doeth depriue himselfe of so great a benefite as the participation of this sacrifice is The lyke to this I say of the practise of the other particulars that ye mention and the penalties layed thereon yet is it not harde to spye out your cloaking and colouring of thinges in speeche It is vnnaturall vnreasonable vnconscionable vnduetifull It is against the lawe of GOD and man and namely of this our Countrey that an Englishe man shoulde refuse the othe of allegeance and obedience to our most naturall and dread Soueraigne and vnder pretence of Religion giue it to that proude Prelate of Rome If you haue any thing to say to the contrary bring it foorth our answere you heare our grounds and proofes are so pregnant as if yee considered them wel they might shame or winne you but your religion possible hindreth you from reading the bookes on that side as your Authours opinion is least indeede that good shoulde come therof and therefore it auaileth litle to wryte for you What mischiefs haue beene wrought by your deuised eareshrifte What is nowe sought thereby in your reconciliation what the foundation and vse thereof hath afore time been What a 〈◊〉 and slaughter house to mens consciences Is to well knowen at this day to thinke it may bee set out with colours to commende it the worlde waxeth too wise to bee abused with such grosse absurdities yee talke of a reconciling to God I 〈◊〉 to say in trueth to whome Yet in your reconcilement by your Ghostly father your confiteor must go before his Misereatur In reconcilemēt of your selues to her Maiestie and the State take at leastwyse if yee will followe no better the worldly wise mans counsaile if your stomackes bee come downe confesse and submit your selues to mercie Yee talke much of death as though yee suffered paine of death heere for your religion yee repyne are grieued and offended that other haue not beene put to death for practise of their religion and yet doe I not knowe any of your side that hath suffered the same as I sayde for his Religion in all her Maiesties most happy raigne vnlesse there haue beene founde besides seditious and trayterous dealing in the partie against her Maiesties Royall dignitie and personne and the State of this 〈◊〉 which by wholesome lawes it behoueth her Maiestie to conserue as lyke a good mother of her Countreys shee hath hithertoo done and still doth Yee say among other thinges it is death heere for geuing the supreme Pastour supreme authoritie in causes of the Churche Speake plainely wee say it is for geuing away to the Pope GOD his and Christ his right and tytle and for denying vnder them her Maiesties souerainety in her dominions Wee say yee say vntruelie as the woordes lye It is so farre of from beeing death to giue to the supreme Pastor supreme
an euill conscience For with one offering hath hee made perfect for euer them 〈◊〉 are sanctified c. To Chrysostome and his hyperbolicall speeches you haue your answere elsewhere and to Pope Gregories testimonie seeing Masses bee thought to bee so cheape with you as the hearing of one is so well worth an hundred markes c. where you haue a good pennieworth blame not her Maiestie and the State it were pittie you shoulde haue your masses too good cheape that make suche price thereof I perceiue if they were dogge cheape they were 〈◊〉 worth howe say you to two hundred markes and a yeres imprisonment for hearing of a Masse It is too good cheape it is well worth more yee thinke You are in your hundreds and thousande liues you amplyfie in wordes iolily woulde you needes haue it death which in wordes and tearmes ye so talke of heere at pleasure Take heed make not to great account neither of saying nor hearing Masse for raysing the price Of naughtie behauiour I tell you growe good lawes Cast your number together by Arithmetike and tell vs plainely howe many liues the hearing of one Masse is well worth and howe many you can be content to affoorde in that case But bee wiser and better aduised that is it I wishe You abuse to grosly and childishly the holy scriptures For your Popish Bishops confirmation and your extreeme vnction or aneling whiche is the seconde losse yee thinke yee haue and therefore yee put grace in euery place heere These myraculous giftes in the Primitiue Church serue your Popishe Church neuer a whit to take away all your Popishe graces euen in the whole seuen sacraments Why adde you not to your gresie oyle your spittle c and your Ephata after Christes example to make deafe infants to heare and by touching their tongue to make them speak If it were as easie a matter to bestowe the heauenly and extraordinary giftes or as you heere speake the grace as it is easie to counterfaite the outwarde Ceremonie you woulde bee meruellous men But Apishe imitation is without good grace hee is very simple that in looking on the places yee alleadge only cannot make you answere When wee see the visible graces and giftes of the holy Ghoste come vppon them that your Bishops confirme as speaking tongues c. which are saide to haue beene giuen those the Apostles layde their handes on we will make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in your comparison You tell vs of the grace of Priesthood But Saint Paule neither to Timothie who was an Euangelist and Preacher of the Gospell neither any where els speaketh of your Popish Priesthood as I tolde you before Priestes you say were ordayned for your Masse sacrifice and they cannot other wise bee called Priesces but in respect of y t sacrisice Now the Popishe Masse beareth too late a date besides the naughtines of it to haue beene in the Apostles time and ye prooue nothing An 〈◊〉 and double taking of the worde Masse helpeth but little no not taken out of mens 〈◊〉 nor of sacrifice neither The Apostle thus reasoneth that If Christ should haue offered himselfe often then must hee haue often suffered since the foundation of the world c. If the sacrifice of Christes body and blood to God his father be linked so narrowly with his suffering that is w t his death passion as it cannot bee without the same Then muste you leaue your dayly Sacrificing of him in the Masse whiche you 〈◊〉 commende so highly or els bee founde among them to crucifie againe to themselues the sonne of God make a mocke of him c If Christe be dayly offered Christe is put dayly to suffer But Christe is dayly offered by Popishe Priestes in the Masse say you ergo Christe is put dayly to suffer by you Otherwise thus If Christ be dayly or often offered then muste hee dayly or often suffer But he can not nor needeth not dayly or often suffer Ergo hee cannot nor needeth not dayly or often to bee offred Answere hereto directly shift not thinges off cauill not with your fonde distinction of bloody and vnbloody you professe your Masse sacrifice to be propitiatorie and all one with that Christ offred on the crosse nowe that I tell you was not vnbloody nor without shedding of blood This is the cause that seeing the doctrine of the holy Ghost on the one side and your bad shiftes on the other side maketh vs to abhorre your blasphemous Masse and to crye out against it that I touche not other many and many grosse abuses therin Thus much against your abhominable popish masse which you so much commende though you bring nothing for proofe thereof but bare wordes I see you woulde make vs beleeue that all your sacramentes giue grace therfore ye say the grace of priesthood also howe hap there be so many vngracious priestes and so many graceles priestes then if the order of priesthood giue grace or be a conduite of grace as you speake Belike they that take the order of priesthood leese grace that they that take not that order may finde haue the same Againe how make you this argument common for all those that come to our Churches shall they leese the grace of priesthood why many of them will tel you they neuer minde to be priestes and so shall leese nothing by that but that whiche a great many papistes among you shall leese as well as they which haunt your Churches and abstaine from ours which are called Laymen Againe sir how is priesthood a sacrament by it self I haue heard of your popish sacrament of orders of priesthood neuer The grace of Matrimonie all your wiuelesse priestes Nunnes c. shall leese they are very vnholy belike that so holy an order of God as Mariage can not beseeme them will they reiect the grace of God ye call it the grace of Matrimonie Mariage c. are conduites of grace ye say heere ye belie saint Paul sir and corrupt the text when you make Mariage a sacrament your common translation is no good president to make vs sacramentes Else must you make vs yet againe moe then seuen by him as the learned knowe and I thinke you be not ignoraunt Againe the Apostle sayth expresly there I speake concerning Christ and concerning his Church that is the mysterie hee speaketh of there I leaue to speake of the beastlines of Pope Siricius who wickedly applieth to honorable mariage that sentence of the Apostle They that are in the flesh can not please God to shewe howe contraryly you iudge and speake of Mariage You tell vs of seuen sacramentes siue moe then 〈◊〉 Christ instituted but is that all I wene if ye describe a sacrament to 〈◊〉 it to the number of seuen ye shall finde many moe yee will followe the common opinion of the Romishe Churche I trowe And 〈◊〉 not your glose tell vs euen in mariage that there are two sacraments so shall wee finde eight