readie at al times as our Sauiour teacheth to scatter tares amongst the good seede And considering in these times wee see with our eyes that this is come to passe and it is so grosse that wee may almost grope it with our hands it is ridiculous and most absurd to dispute whether this thing could heretofore happen or hath now happened Therefore the Church of Rome the Greek Church the Church of Antioch and of Aegypt the Abyssine the Moschouite and many others are members much excelling each other in sinceritie of doctrine and faith yet all members of the Catholike Church whose ioynture in regard of the outward forme was long since broken For which cause his Maiestie doth much wonder when hee considers how some Churches which heretofore were but members of the bodie once entire doe now ingrosse all the right of the whole and appropriate to themselues the name of Catholike excluding from their communion and affirming boldly that they belong not to the Catholike Church whosoeuer doe dissent from them in anything or refuse the yoke of their bondage Neither do you only challenge to your selues this right there are others that do the same For his Maiestie speakes it with griefe there are at this day many priuate Churches which beleeue that they onely are the people peculiar which they call the Church Giue them that strength which the Church of Rome hath and they shall doe the same with her and pronounce of all others as hardly as she doth What shall wee say are there not sundrie sects now adaies which are certainly perswaded that they only haue insight into the Scriptures and as the Poet saith that they only are wise that all others walke like shadowes It is true indeed that in euery age there were conuenticles of sectaries and dissemblies which did boast themselues of the Catholike Church and by this prouocation did allure many vnto them but it is the peculiar and famous calamitie of these latter times that the Catholike Church vnto which of necessitie a man must adhere either really and actually or at the least in will and vow is become lesse manifest then it was of old lesse exposed to the eyes of men more questionable and doubtfull For which cause his excellent Maiestie thinketh that he ought more carefully in such a deluge of variable opinions to betake himselfe to the mountaines of the sacred Scripture and as S. Augustine gaue counsell to the Donatists to seeke the Church of Christ in the words of Christ And so S. Chrysostome both elsewhere and of purpose in his 33. Homilie vpon the Acts of the Apostles handling the question How the true Church might be discerned amongst many Societies which challenge to themselues that name teacheth that there be two meanes of deciding that question first the word of God and secondly antiquitie of doctrine not inuented by any new author but alwaies knowne from the birth and beginning of the Church These two trials the King and Church of England embracing doe auouch that they acknowledge that doctrine onely for true and necessarie to saluation which flowing from the fountaine of sacred Scripture through the consent of the ancient Church as it were a conduit hath been deriued vnto these times Wherefore to make an end of this obseruation his Maiestie answeres that it is faultie many waies and cannot stand with the hypothesis propounded Because saith he the Church of England is so farre from forsaking the ancient Catholike Church which she doth reuerence and admire that she departeth not from the faith of the Church of Rome in any point wherein that Church agreeth with the ancient Catholike If you question the succession of persons behold the names of our Bishops and their continuance from the first without any interruption if the succession of doctrine come make triall let vs haue a free Councell which may not depend vpon the will of one The Church of England is readie to render an account of her faith and by demonstration to euince that the authors of the reformation here had no purpose to erect any new Church as the ignorant and malicious doe cauill but to repaire the ruines of the old according to the best forme and in their iudgement that is best which was deliuered by the Apostles to the Primitiue Church and hath continued in the ages next ensuing His Maiestie grants that his Church hath departed from many points of that doctrine and discipline which the Pope of Rome now stifly defendeth but they doe not thinke this to be a reuolting from the Catholike Church but rather a returning to the ancient Catholike faith which in the Romane Church by new deuices hath been manifoldly and strangely deformed and so a conuersion to Christ the sole Master of his Church Wherefore if any man grounding vpon the doctrine of this obseruation will inferre from it that the Church of England because it reiects some ordinances of the Romane hath therefore departed from the ancient Catholike Church his Maiestie will not grant him this vntill he prooue by sound reasons that all things taught by them of Rome especially those which they will haue to be beleeued as necessarie to saluation were allowed of from the beginning and established by the ancient Catholike Church Now that no man can euer doe this at least neuer yet hath done it his Maiestie and the reuerend Bishops of the English Church doe hold it to be as cleere as when the Sunne shineth at mid-day Lastly his Maiestie thinketh it a great offence to forsake the Church but hee vtterly denieth that hee or his Church are guiltie of this crime For saith his Maiestie we depart not voluntarily but we are driuen away And your Honour well knoweth how many and how excellently learned and godly men for these fiue hundred yeeres at the least haue wished the reformation of the Church both in the head and members What grieuous complaints haue been often heard of worthie Kings and Princes lamenting the estate of the Church in their times But what auailed it for vnto this day we see not any one thing amended of all those which were thought most needfull of reformation Wherefore the Church of England in this separation feareth not any fellowship with the Donatists if the matter be debated by ingenuous men They willingly and without cause left the Catholike Church which at that time the consent of all nations did approue whose doctrine or discipline they could not blame but England being enforced by great necessitie separated her selfe from that Church which innumerable Christian people did not grant to be the true Catholike and vniuersall Church nay more which many of your owne writers haue heretofore ingenuously confessed to haue varied much from the ancient Church in matters of faith and discipline to haue patched many new things to the old and euill to the good which indeed is now better knowne to the vniuersall world then that any man can denie or be ignorant
of it Furthermore the Church of England for some ages past had felt the yoke of the Romane seruitude so cruell being afflicted with their often new vexations and incredible exactions that if there were no other cause yet that alone might suffice before equall iudges to free them from the suspition of schisme and as S. Augustine speakes of the Donatists iniquae discissionis of an vniust rent or distraction from the Church For the English did not depart from brotherly charitie vpon a humour as the Donatists did nor as the tenne tribes of the Iewes for feare of imminent euill but after the patience of many ages after vnspeakable miseries at length they withdrew their necks and shaked off the intollerable burthen which neither were they able longer nor would their conscience suffer them to beare Besides this the ancient Church to the end that she might draw the refractarie Donatists to communion was wont with admirable charitie to prouide for the temporall commodities of the Bishops and others that were reconciled but the Church of Rome being desirous of amitie with England what doth she first thunders out her Buls then vseth violence open and secret then receiueth into her bosome and still cherisheth detestable traytors euidently condemned of plotting the desolation of their Countrie lastly numbreth amongst Martyrs those which suffered for the same crimes and daily defendeth their innocencie against all lawes both diuine and humane Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe I am loth to speake but I speake the truth is become a principall patrone of these parricides who of late also that he might draw on his Maiestie hath vsed this argument of wondrous efficacie to perswade that the kingdome of England belongeth to the Pope and that his Maiestie of England euen in temporalties is his subiect and holdeth his kingdome of him I omit other grieuances of the King and Church of England both ancient and moderne which are not to be rehearsed in this place THE SECOND OBSERVATION BEsides those that are necessarie to saluation there are two kind of things which the ancient Church beleeued whereof one is things profitable to saluation the other things lawfull and not repugnant to the same Therefore if a man will embrace the faith of the ancients he must also embrace those things and esteeme them as the ancient Church did HIS MAIESTIES ANSVVERE THose things which were held by the holy Fathers as not absolutely necessarie to saluation but only profitable or lawfull they ought to be esteemed little more then indifferent For the vse of them being as things not simplie necessarie in the beginning was free In such things therefore to deuise any necessitie at all it seemes vniust for by and by there will follow a necessitie of vsing them as wee fee it is come to passe in the Church of Rome which obserues at this day many things as simplie necessarie to the integritie of faith which the ancient Church scarce knew much lesse vsed as matters of necessitie I will alleage foure examples of many It is manifest that in the primitiue Church confession of sinnes was vsed but farre otherwaies then now For that auricular confession in that manner which you haue it was in vse in the primitiue ages I think no man will affirme His Maiestie grants that the Fathers which did first ordaine it had their reasons why they thought that such manner of confession would further the easier attaining vnto saluation but they held it not for a thing necessarie absolutely much lesse for a Sacrament or at least not all the Fathers thought so For as touching S. Chrysostome it is plaine that hee required not of his people auricular confession But the matter is now come to that passe that there is little lesse attributed to this confession then to the precious blood of Christ whereby wee are redeemed the absolute necessitie thereof is so precisely vrged Whence by little grew vp that doctrine in the Church of Rome of not disclosing the secret of confession vpon any occasion soeuer For because they beleeued that it was impossible without this confession to attaine vnto the hauen of saluation therefore they thought it necessarie to remoue all impediments that might hinder it Wherefore in time this doctrine hath proceeded so farre that now to murther Kings or suffer them to be murthered seemes to be no sinne in comparison of breaking the seale of confession which many of your Diuines especially the expounders of the Canon Law haue in their bookes published Moreouer Binetus a Iesuite did auouch as much to me at Paris in the same tearmes which I remember that I told you afterwards We know also neither perhaps is your Honor ignorant of it that there is another Iesuit in France which of late was bold to say That if our Lord Iesus Christ were liuing vpon the earth subiect to death and some man had told him in confession that he would kill him notwithstanding rather then he would reueale that confession he would suffer I tremble to speake it Christ Iesus himselfe to be murthered Which horrible blasphemie you see whence it tooke the originall In like manner abstinence from wine and daintie cheare set times of fasting xerophagiae or eating drie meates the ancient Church reckoned amongst such things as were profitable to the easier obtaining of saluation neither doth his Maiestie denie it giuing a conuenient interpretation according to the intention of the primitiue Church but by your leaue he liketh not that the obseruation of these things should be more strictly required then of such as are expressely contained in holy Writ Againe single life in the Ministers of the Church was in old time commended but now it is commanded and exacted as a matter of absolute necessitie whereof you shall heare more hereafter So whereas S. Paul saith that hee doth afflict his bodie and make it seruiceable his Maiestie honours and calles them blessed that follow this example of the diuine Apostle but he detesteth those which reckon sackcloth and Lacedemonian whippings and such vexations of bodie or as they call them satisfactions amongst the causes of saluation or at least so highly prize them that they make account of slouenrie and whatsoeuer nastines as of sanctimonial perfection But of al such his Maiestie doth especially abhorre them which after the manner of the priests of Baal rending their bodies with scourges would make vs imagine God to be desirous and thirstie for mans blood like Bollona the Pagan Goddesse Only he commends their wisedom which hiring others to be whipped for them doe purchase the merit of those punishments which they haue suffered So it commeth to passe that the rich offend and the poore are punished that penaltie pursueth not the guiloie but him that is in pouertie and want Wherefore his Maiestie as hee thinketh it vnlawfull to condemne those things which the Fathers of the first age by vnanimitie of consent did hold for things expedient or lawfull so he cannot endure to
need then the people of old time For the ancient Doctors vrged euery one to reade the Bible diligently in their houses which now vnder paine of excommunication they are forbidden to touch vnlesse they obtaine a dispensation So that the sacred word of God I tremble to speake it hath now the first place in the catalogue of bookes prohibited His Maiestie knoweth that amongst you there may be found some Bibles translated into vulgar languages but the English Priests at Do way which turned the Scripture into English haue taught him thus much that you were constrained against your willes to make those translations importunitate haereticorum by the importunitie of the heretikes as they of Do way speake For it is heresie with these men to be desirous to reade the word of God with sobrietie and reuerence Neither is his Maiestie ignorant when Renatus Benedictus Priest translated the Bible into French how the Popes of Rome troubled him for that fact and how by their letters they commanded the Bishop of Paris to endeuour that all the French translations might be extorted from the people Which without faile they had effected if there had been no Protestants in France His Maiestie hath read of late also in a booke of a certaine English Pontifician Priest that prayers vttered in an vnknowne tongue haue a kinde of greater efficacie in them then if they were vnderstood Which senselesse dotage was an old heathnish conceit and is not the singular follie of this Priest alone So the Valentinian heretikes did vse Hebrew names in their superstitious mysteries that they might amaze the ignorant multitude and as Eusebius speaketh in the fourth part of his Historie the more to astonish those that were initiated in their superstitions The second abuse is the diminishing of the holie Sacrament contrarie to the institution of Christ the example of S. Paul and the practise of the Church for the space of one thousand yeeres at least as Cassander a learned man confesseth In the third place are priuate Masses where are no communicants I haue said before that these things had their beginning from that peruerse doctrine concerning the sacrifice in the Christian Church Restore vs the ancient faith and the ancient practise In the fourth place his Maiestie obiecteth the present vse and adoration of Images The Councell of Trent confesseth an abuse and the Romane Catechisme giueth some profitable admonition on this behalfe But what are we the better the abuse remaineth it is approued maintained and encreaseth daily His Maiestie omitteth the adoration and inuocation of Saints which as it is now practised neither can nor ought to be excused He omitteth also the religious adoration of reliques which at this day is taught and commanded as a thing necessarie or at least very profitable to saluation Beside the intollerable absurditie as when false or ridiculous reliques are obtruded as the teares of Christ and the milke of our Ladie and such like Hee omitteth the licentious boldnes of your preachers when they stray from the word of God who ought to bee restrained from propounding any doctrine to the people as necessarie to saluation which is not drawne out of the diuine oracles and agreeable to the ancient faith For that is the wholesome doctrine which the Apostle so often commendeth If there were such a restraint many things now practised in the Church of Rome would fall downe of their owne accord As the doctrine of Indulgences as that foppish deuice of the intensiue paines in Purgatorie by vertue of which intension many thousand yeeres are contained in one minute as those battologiae or idle repetition of heedlesse prayers vnpleasing to our Sauiour as he himselfe witnesseth Then it would no longer be accounted great merit to repeate the Rosarie or other prayers and Psalmes twentie or fiftie or an hundred times If these and such like impediments were remoued religious men should peraduenture finde no iust cause to abstaine from your communion There is another thing which his Maiestie thought good not to omit which is written in the end of your Epistle that you will be silent concerning the Pope of Rome because it is manifest to those which haue but meane skill in Ecclesiasticall historie that the Fathers of the first ages the Councels and Christian Emperours in all businesse appertaining to religion and the Church gaue him the preheminence and acknowledged him the chiefe That this is all for this point which your Church requireth to be beleeued as an article of faith by those whom you receiue into communion To this his Maiestie maketh answere and appealing to your owne vnpartiall minde he desireth you to consider the actions of Romane Bishops for almost seuen hundred yeeres past He is loth to stirre the remembrance of things noisome yet gladly would hee haue you know that hee is most certaine of this that the late Bishops of that sea are so vnlike vnto the ancient Popes in sinceritie of faith in manner of life and in the whole course and end of their gouernment that it is altogether vniust things being in this state to draw arguments from the former ages and applic them to this present time Let the forme of the ancient Church be restored and many new lawes heretofore not heard of be abolished In briefe let the Bishop of Rome declare euidently by his actions that he seeketh Gods glorie not his owne that he hath a care of the peace and saluation of his people then his Maiestie as he hath protested before in his Monitorie Epistle will acknowledge his primacie and be willing to say with Gregorie Nazianzen that he hath the care of the whole Church But at this time what the Church of God especially Kings and Princes ought to thinke concerning that sea his Maiestie dare referre it to your owne iudgement to determine For you know what a number of books come abroad daily from Rome and almost all the corners of Europe in defence of the Popes temporall power or rather omnipotencie his dominion and monarchie ouer all the Kings and people of the whole earth You know that Cardinall Bellarmine hath of late written concerning that argument and soone after the death of Henry the Great hath been bold to publish that which all honest men of your owne side doe detest I say all honest men for the complices of that conspiracie doe heartily embrace and to their power defend it as an oracle from the mouth of the Pope which cannot erre Wherefore the Iesuits of Ingolstade in a booke lately published against Master Iohn Gordon the Deane of Salisburie a man nobly borne and very learned doe cite testimonies out of this booke of the Cardinals as if it were the constant opinion and consent of all Catholikes But I desire your Honour to consider whether the ancient Church euer did the like to this and what will be the issue of this madnesse Consider into what danger of vtter ruine they bring the Church of Christ which doe