calumnies and slaunders and that they hold them not at all But it is a matter of state for English Ministers to make Catholikes and Catholike religion odious to the people matter of state I meane for themselues because their owne estate depends vpon their Protestant Religion that Religion being their trade they liue by But as touching the Masse and such points as they doe hould I haue had such proofes and reasons shewed me that I do not now maruell that the greatest and most potent part of Christendome still remayneth in that Religion and that diuers in France Germany and the Netherlandes aswell as in England do forsake Protestancy and other late and new risen opinions and returne vnto this ancient and vniuersall fayth of the Christian world Me thinkes I now heare you aske me where the Masse is found in Scripture But to this I may aske you all the Protestants in the world where they can shew me out of the Scripture after what manner the Apostles themselues did celebrate this Sacrament Christ instituted it at night and after supper in the same paued Parlour at the same table whereat he had supped occasioned thereunto by reason of the lytle tyme he had being from thence to goe into the garden of Gethsemani to make his prayers and preparation to his passiō That the Apostles celebrated also in paued Parlours at supping tables at night after they had supped and not in the morning and being fasting that they had no women present at it seeing Christ had none no not his own Mother notwithstāding her great worthynes In what manner they tooke the bread and blessed it what speeches action or ceremony heerin was vsed whether they vsed the same hymne that was sayd before Christ his rising vp frō the table what hymne that was or what other prayers hymns or by what speeches or ceremonies they shewed our Lords death where can they deliuer vs notice of all this Was there no forme or order set downe and vsed by the Apostles left by them vnto succeeding Christians to follow Or was it left so raw and vnordered that they knew not of any forme or manner of celebration thereof at all Who can imagine the Apostles to haue byn so carelesse and improuident S. Paul telleth vs the contrary when hauing spoken of Christ his institution of this Sacrament he promiseth to set the rest thereunto belonging in order at his comming vnto those to whome he wrote of the same When the Hussites began their pretended reformation of Religion according as they sayd to the tyme of the Apostles they tooke away no Altars out of Churches but left them standing and sayd Masse at them as yet they continue to do When Luther an hundreth yeares after this began his pretended Reformation which he also sayd was according the the tyme of the Apostles he tooke away no Altars neyther but celebrated at them as do those of his sect in Germany at this day calling the Sacrament thereon celebrated by no other name then the Sacrament of the Altar But the first that began to celebrate vpon House-tables were the Anabaptists who began some yeares after Luther And after these came the Caluinists or disciples of Caluin whose doctrine we in England for the most part do follow and these brake downe the Altars in Churches brought house-tables and set them in their places and theron celebrated their Communion affirming this be a reformation according to the tyme of the Apostles and primitiue Church of Christ Heere falleth now to be considered whether the first Christians that had the vse of Churches had in their Churches Altars or House-tables If they vsed first tables then the question is when by what order and vpon what occasion were these tables caryed out Altars builded in their steeds as also what question or dispute hapned about this alteration or what memory or notice is there left vnto the world of it in any Ecclesiastical Annals or other History When Altars were by Caluinists brokē down in Churches cōmunion-tables set in their places all the world tooke notice thereof and euen as much notice must there also haue byn taken if at the first House-tables had bin vsed in Churches that afterward they had byn taken out and Altars there erected Franciscus Aluares who liued six yeares in Aethiopia among the Abissines writeth that their Ecclesiasticall Annales doe testify that they had a Church built in their Countrey to the honour of Christ within ten yeares of his Ascension which Church there yet remayneth and beareth the name as alwayes it hath done of The Church of our Lady of mount Sion and the reason why it is so called is because the stone whereof the Altar was builded was brought thither from Mount Sion Such testimony of the auncient vse of Altars in Churches is not only found among these so auncient Christians but among all other ancient Christians of the world besydes those of the Church of Rome as among those of the Greeke Church those of Cangranor and Malabar in the east Indies that were conuerted by S. Thomas the Apostle and by all other ancient Christians of the world albeit they depend not vpon the Church of Rome And further can I tell you that I haue seene a discourse which as yet is not printed wherin is cleerly manifestly shewed by most great and good arguments that in all those Countreyes wherein the Apostles themselues preached and planted the Christian fayth they did leaue behind them the Masse which hath from their tyme remayned among those Christians and their successours vnto this day As touching the fayth and beliefe of the Reall presence of Christ in the sayd Sacrament it neuer appeared that euer any one mā in the Greeke Church did deny it and in this fayth and belieue all the other most ancient and remote Christians of the world are most confident seing they haue had it ab initio and that it is deryued from the very mouth of Christ That Christ sayd at his last supper taking bread and blessing it This is my body no man can deny That it is his body but only Anabaptistes and Caluinists two late risen Sects who doe deny it if they speake truly then is not Christ to be belieued if they say he meant not as he sayd they make him a double dealer but if he meant not as he sayd then are they to shew where it standeth written in Gods word that he meant it not and not meaning it where it is then written how he would haue his words vnderstood But who shall shew vs this Or where or when shall we find it That Christ was able when he tooke bread blessed it and sayd it was his body to make it so to be who can make doubt that doubteth him not to be Christ and consequently God and why is he not as well able to doe this as to doe with the same his owne naturall body sundry other miracles aboue the
primitiue Church of Christ This vpon their meere saying so I confidently belieued without euer making doubt thereof or further enquiry for any proofe But coming into Germany whither my iourney was as you know intended for the seruice of the Prince Palatine who we then called King of Bohemia and there beholding the Lutheran preachers to stand swaggering in their pulpits with their mouthes as full of Scripture as any of our Pulpit-mens in England might possibly be and there to see them so to contemne scorne deride our English preachers pretension of restoring Apostolicall religion as the most ridiculous iest in the world I stood not a little amazed at the matter Trauailing from Germany into Bohemia there did I heare the Hussite-preachers as I had heard the Lutherans before condemne our doctrine of England laugh and scof at our preachers pretension of primitiue truth as a iest only to make sport withall not conteyning nor carying therewith so much as any shew of truth which to my consideration proued no iest at all Lighting after this in the company of Anabaptists with which albeit England be little acquainted yet in these parts they will also be some body as wel as the rest seing they hold themselues to be as flush in Scripture as the proudest of their Competitors they protested by yea and by nay that our Protestant Religion of England was not consonant but contrary to the truth of the Ghospell of the Lord. What might I thinke of the great boast which our Pulpit-masters in England make of the light of their Ghospell who seeme where they are there alone to be the only men at it in the world whē heere in Germany I heard the Lutheran Preachers whose Patriarke Martin Luther we in England so much cōmend extoll the light of their owne Ghospell aboue the brightnes of the Sunne make our Ghospell of England more dimmer then a lanterne How might I maruell thinke you when I heard the Hussite-preachers so much to scorne our Gods Word of England as if it were but the Word of Robin-hood And what might I imagine when the Anabaptistes that speake nothing but Scripture durst challenge all our Rabins at no other weapon but at the only Word will alwayes be ready to continue the combat as long as they haue fingers to turne ouer leaues in the Bible But what labyrinth may you thinke me to haue lighted in why in my trauails I hapned into an Inne where I had about myne eares all these at once where I found my selfe enuyroned about with different Wordes of God different Lights of the Ghospel where when I went about to defend our Ghospell of England I had Bibles so fast drawne out vpon me that I knew not which way to turne me but was fayne to stand as an Owle among other birdes and with much impatience patiently heare our Gods Word of England made the veriest hotch-potch Olla-podrida of the world They became so pleasant and sportfull with me as to aske me whether God had banished his truest Religion into an I le and hembd it about with the sea to the end it shold dwell no where but there intending thereby that our Religion of England both in fayth and in forme was different from all other Religions that now are extant which when I would haue gaynsayed they strayghtwayes came vpon me with Temporall and Feminine Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction and with pageants of little Popes as though they had their instructions from Puritans and Brownists Lord how hartily did I wish that but some one of our great Pulpit-thunderers had byn heere that can talke so brauely in England before those that belieue in him to haue seene how these different kinds of Scripture-followes would haue Bible-bastonaded him and put him downe like a poore Snake for verily there did neuer squirrell skip more nimbly from one bowgh vnto another in a tree then do these fellowes from one text to another in the old and new Testament Of all which when I had well considered there was nothing wherat I more stood amazed then at my owne ignorance whylst I was in England because I did not apprehend any opposition to any purpose to be made against the Religion there allowed then that which was made agaynst it by those of the Church of Rome and because our Preachers could smoothly dissemble these other opposites and but little meddle with them crying Crucifige lowdest of all agaynst those of the Church of Rome But finding now a farre other matter to wit these seuerall sects so full of Scripture as none in England could be fuller and these so contemptibly to despise scorne hold most ridiculous our English protestant religion as a very mock-religion and in most serious asseueration of their soules to declare it to be the damnation of al their soules that follow it what might I now imagine Finding them also to haue asmuch sense and vnderstanding as great acquaintance as farre to haue trauayled in the Word and as ready in their language to speake defend their causes as any in Englād how Text-fast soeuer he be is able to do and in fine to protest with all zeale vehemency of spirit his resolution for the offering of his body to the torments and paynes of death and his soule to the sentence of saluation or damnation thereon what could I find any of our professing people in England to say more and what reason had I now to reiect these not to heare them speake as well as I had I heard our Pulpit-people in England vnlesse it should only haue byn for their not being Englishmen which were too poore a reason to be yielded vnto All this also considered what I pray you might I thinke whether I were now in a perplexity or no I leaue your selfe to iudge what reason did there now remayne to oblige me vnto our English Protestant Religion other then because it was the Religion of England and whether the following therof because it so was could be a sufficient warrant for the proofe of it to be true Religion and consequently for the saluation of my soule lying dying therin Whylst I stood in this amazement hearing the Hussites most resolute in mayntayning the Reall Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and the Lutherans also the former by transubstantiation the later by consubstantiation yet eyther affirming no signe but the very same body that was borne of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be there I was by this meanes brought to looke backe vnto the Christian world of former ages and to thinke with my selfe that if so be the ancient Church of Rome from which also these new congregations had deryued their Christianity was in processe of tyme become alienated from her first purity by hauing as these pretend nourished and entertayned many corruptions and that God would vouchsafe to benefit the world with a restauration or reformation of Religion according to her first purity that it was not then like
the Match with Spayne wherof there is now great speech and good apparence we must resolue that it resteth most in the disposition of God in whose power is the disposing of all thinges For myne owne part I dare confidently say that I do not think there can a more Great or Honorable Match be found for that Prince in all the world And let passionate men say what they will certayne it is that the continuance of peace and friendship with Spayne is as commodious to England as the keeping of peace friendship with any Countrey whatsoeuer And this the prudent King Henry the seauenth his Maiestyes Ancestour well saw when he matched his sonne and the heyre of his crowne Prince Arthur with the Lady Catharine the Kinges daughter of Castilia when there was no such greatnes added vnto it as now there is And the sayd Prince fayling for he was sickly when he marryed dyed before the mariage in all respects was consumate the sayd King Henry neglected not to procure by dispensation the match to be made with his Son Henry who now was become his heyre insteed of the other and reygned after him by the name of King Henry the eight and albeit this King did put this his marryed wife and most vertuous Queene from him after he had had her about twenty and two yeares for the loue of Anne Bullen yet was it without any iust cause and his match with Anne Bullen proued not honorable vnto him for he caused her to be beheaded for her abhominable adultery of the truth whereof if any doubt there is among other testimonies yet a letter extant of the Lord Cromwells wherein so much is signifyed I know the Puritans and Puritanly affected haue no liking of this new match with Spayne and that their friendes the Hollanders can in no case endure to heare of it the one in regard of reason of State the other in regard of a long wished Puritanicall discipline according to the Holland Reformation Concerning the Hollanders who can thinke his Maiesty obliged to forbeare this match for the giuing of them satisfaction whose greatest desyre indeed is that the Prince should not match at all for their more assurance of bringing the House of Nassow to Domineere in England seeing the Prince Palatine by his mothers side being of that House and coming in the right of his wife to that Crowne England should then become Hollandes buckler against Spayne then might come with this Prince into that Realme I know not how many land-lesse Lords of the same House and he bringing also with him as a Puritan Messias their long desired Reformation how fit would Bishops liuings fall for his Kinsmen and perhapps they would be aswel also contented to beare the names of Bishops or Administrators as the Lutheran Lord that hath gotten by his demeanour the Reuerend tytle of the mad Bishop of Halberstat and as other the like doe in Germany that gallantly ryde vpon their great horses in their apparell of all colours of the raynbow with their rapiers by their sides and huge feathers in their hattes and looke as like Bishops as Owles looke like Apes which goodly Ecclesiasticall state and dignity English Puritans for Reformation sake would perhaps be very well content to commend as well as their Puritan brethren in Scotland haue liked and alowed such like state and tytle to Lords and Gentlemen there and especially when they medled with no more but only with the displaced Bishops liuings and leaue all businesses belonging to the Word wholy in the handes of Puritan-Ministers and Consistory discipline But as the Hollanders and their correspondent-brethren our English Puritanes doe for their seuerall designes desire nothing more then the not going forward of this Match and in very deed no match at all for this Prince as before I haue noted so to the contrary all true and louing subiects to his Maiesty and bearers of dutifull affection to the Prince and countrey ought to desire it and to desire that vpon the accomplishment thereof issue may speedily follow because heerin consisteth both his Maiestyes and the Princes safety And this is all I can say vnto you fore present concerning the match with Spayne As concerning your obiection about difference of Religion The Lady being as you say a Papist and to haue the free exercise of her Religion and consequently the vse of her Chappell and Masse in the Court which you say wil be an ey-sore to the professours of the Ghospell c. Vpon these your wordes I shal be occasioned to open my selfe further then els I should haue byn willing to doe because of giuing you some vnexpected disgust when in making answere vnto your speeches I shal be brought if I must deale directly and playnly as with a friend to declare this eye-sore to be but a miscōceaued sorenes for heerupon I know you will straightways censure me to be turned Papist and condemne me of leuity for being so soone swarued from the light of your Ghospell to the liking of a Religion so generally misliked in England wherby I may stand in danger to loose your loue which very loath I would be to do considering how sincere I haue alwayes found it and what reciprocall correspondence I haue vsed for conseruation of the same The esteeme wherof being indeed the greatest cause that moueth me to be so carefull to endeauour so to excuse myselfe that you may think me the lesse blame-worthy and consequently the lesse breach may be made in your good affection towardes me seeing in myne towardes you notwithstanding difference of iudgmēt in Religion-matters there is none at all for I can see no reason to the contrary but that men may beare themselues in amity and Ciuill cōuersation with one another though the one be inclyned in conscience to serue God in a different manner from the other seeing euery man oweth his honest behauiour vnto men Well then good Sir vpon hope of reseruation of your loue that when you shall haue vnderstood how thinges haue passed you will consider before you condemne me of leuity whether I had any sufficient motiues or no to bethinke my selfe in matter of Religion more then I did before I knew there was so great cause why I should I will heere endeauour to be accomptable vnto you how things haue passed with me in this matter since my coming out of England Whiles I liued in Englād I was as you know as feruēt in our Protestāt religiō wherin I was brought vp as eyther your selfe or any in the Coūtrey can be I was a great reader of Scripture a great frequenter of Sermons and a great hater of Papists I often heard our preachers tell that the Church of Rome was a lienated from her first purity that it had entertayned many grosse errors and corruptions that forsooth the preachers of their Ghospell did restore and teach the very same doctrine that was taught in the tyme of the Apostles and