spirituall and temporall Supremacie as it may seeme with small reuerence Philip by the grace of God c. To Boniface bearing himselfe for chiefe Bishop little health or none at all Let thy foolishnes know that in temporall things we are subiect to no man and that the giftes of Prebends and Benefices made and to be made by vs were and shal be good both in time past and to come And that we will defend manfully the possessours of the said Benefices and we thinke them that beleeue or thinke otherwise to be fooles or madmen Charles the 5. Father to King Philip of Spayne for a lesse matter then withdrawing his subiectes from loyaltie or attempting to depose him and make him no King rang an hot Alarum at Rome gates by his Souldiours and did take the Pope himselfe prisoner And for all his claime of Monarchie let him offer to thrust the King of Spaine from his throane and see if as Catholike as he is he will acknowledge this his Supremacie or rather will not seeke by all meanes to bridle his furie Therefore gentle Sir I must make bold to returne your imputation of lunacy vpon your selfe and your colleagues Thrasilaus a frenticke person who poore man was not in anie proportion worth one ship yet thought all the ships that arriued in the hauen of Athens to be his he would tell them suruey them and set downe accounts of them In like sort a melancholike impression hath so deepely setled it selfe in these mens braines that though indeed they be destitute of the testimonie of Antiquitie yet they boast that the fathers make with them and that all antiquitie is on their side forsooth euen as all the ships of Athens belonged to poore Thrasilaus From his Archprelacie let vs briefely come to his pride which we shall not need to seeke in his inward disposition as this Popeling imagineth it sheweth it selfe apparantlie in outward actions Neither in iudging by the external shew may I as wel cōdemne all other Princes and great men in the world for admitting honour according to their degrees as hee would perswade there being great difference betwixt the outward honour due to Priestes and that which appertaineth to Princes and this Luciferian Priest challenging such honour as no prince or monarch the like The Pope will haue the Emperour to holde his stirrope whilest he mounteth on horsebacke and Pope Adrian was angrie with the Emperour Frederike for holding his stirrope on the wrong side when he is mounted the Emperour must lead his horse by the bridle and Kings walke along before yea when he is carried on mens shoulders the Emperour they say must helpe to carrie him for a space Pope Caelestine the 4. Crowned Henrie the 6. Emperour lying prostrate before him with his feet Gregorie the 7. made Henrie the 4. Emperor with his wife and young child to waite at his gate three diaes bare foot barelegd to sue for absolution and at the length made him to surrender his Crowne into his hands Franciscus Dandalùs the Embassadour of the Noble State of Venice was faine with a chaine about his necke to lie vnder the Popes table like a Dog to pacifie his indignation conceiued against the Venetians What should I speake of his blessed feete which hee maketh Kings and Emperours to kisse What speake I of kissing his feete which barbarous pride yet scarce any heathen Emperour is read to haue shewed towards inferiour persons but towards Kings I thinke none Alexander the third did treade on the necke of Fredericke Barbarossa the Emperour and caused that verse of the Psalme to be song Thou shalt walke vpon the Adder and Cockatrice and shalt tread the Lyon and Dragon vnder thy feete These I take it are sufficient euidences of Pride intolerable and more then heathenish Leauing to set downe further proofes of his pride we will now shew how iustlie hee is tearmed a bloudie Monster Cyrus whose head Queene Tomyris cut off and cast into a bole of bloud with this reproach Satia te sanguine quem sitijsti i. Glut thy selfe with bloud after which thou hast thirsted was but a milke soppe to the bloud sucker of Rome Valla professeth of the Popes in his time that they were called Fathers in name but in deede were murtherers that the Pope maketh warre vpon people that liued in peace and soweth discord amongst Christian Princes Iulius the second plaied the gallant warriour in his owne person and casting aside Peters keyes did betake himselfe to Paules sworde Sundrie Popes haue sent their Cardinals to be generall of their Armies and to shed Christian bloud Pope Adrian set Pipine and Charles Kings of France against them of Lombardie Boniface setteth the King of England against the French King and another time they haue set the French against the English The examples of this bloudie humour in sowing dissention betwixt Kingdomes are so many that the Popes owne Secretarie Platina confesseth Pontifices Romanos inimicitias non secus ac saeuissimos Tirannos exercuisse i. That the Popes of Rome did exercise hostilitie and hatred no lesse then the most cruell Tirants What should I speake of his bloudie trecheries The Emperour Fredericke being in warre against the Turke the Pope did take from him his lands in Apulia and Lombardie perswadeth the Turke by letters not to yeelde vp the holy land to him but to kill him gaue a pardon to whosoeuer would fight against him The Hospitalers and Templaries by letters shewed the Turke how Fredericke might be betrayed which treason the naturall honest Turke detested in this point honester then the Pope sent the letters to the Emperour and said in contempt of Christ and Religion Eccefidelitas Christianorum i. Beholde the fidelitie of Christians Gregorie the seuenth how many waies sought hee to destroy Henrie the fourth Emperour and namelie once when the Emperour was at his Prayers at Saint Maries Church in Rome hee appoynted by a Nouice hired to that purpose to haue the Emperour murthered by throwing downe a great stone vpon him Henrie the sixt Emperour was by a Frier hyred thereto poysoned in the Sacrament how barbarouslie Stephanus dealt with his predecessor Formosus after his death how many Popes Gregorie the seuenth poysoned to get the Popedome how Vrban the sixt sowed diuers Cardinals in sackes and drowned them in the Sea generallie of how many massacres the Popes haue been authors and how they haue reioyced at the effussion of Christian bloud these things to set downe were either to write Iliades after Homer or at the least chiliades after Erasmus In a word Alexander the sixt the Papists themselues condemne for a bloudie monster of whome after his death these verses were publikely scattered Mirum cur vomuit nigrum post fata cruorem Borgia quem biberat concoquere haud poterat Borgia dead much bloud did vomit from his brest What maruaile that the store he dranke could not digest But these happilie were the faultes of olde times
durst protect felons and murtherers against the King and Iustice of the land neither reuerencing King nor obeying his lawes passed ouer without licence to the King of France Further being adiudged to prison by the King for refusing to giue accounts of great summes of money receiued by him and Reignold Earle of Cornewall and Robert Earle of Leicester being sent to him to tell him of the iudgement set downe against him this meeke Martyr and holy Saint was so farre from the obedience of a subiect that he told the earle of Leicester in these words That how much more precious the soule is then the bodie so much more ought he to obey Becket then his terreine King So notorious and euident was the rebellious opposition of this Popish Prelate against his lawfull Prince that he was openly by the king and his Nobles called Traitor in that he refused to giue earthly honour to his King as he had sworne to do and therefore they generally agreed that he was wel worthy to be handled as a periured Traitor and rebell and therefore most impudent is this Ward-worders assertion that neyther the King nor his Officers did charge him with treason If you please to adde hereunto the arbitrement of this controuersie put into the French kings handes with king Henries large offer and Beckets proud refusall there is no man I hope that knoweth what it is to be an obedient subiect but will condemne him for a rebellious Traitour The kings offer in that arbitrement was this There haue been saith he Kings of England before me both of greater and lesse puissance then I am likewise there haue been many Bishoppes of Canturburie both great and holy men what the greatest and most holy of all his predecessours before him hath done to the least of my predecessors before me let him doe the same to me and I am content Which offer though it were in it selfe and so deemed by all that stood by not onely reasonable but more then reasonable so that they all cried with one voice the king hath debased himselfe enough to the Bishop yet the rebellious spirit of this Archbishop would not yeelde vnto it nor accept peace with his King vpon so fauourable a condition What a Giant-like pride traiterous presumption is this to refuse to yeelde so much obedience to his Prince and Soueraigne as the greatest and holiest of his place haue alwaies yeelded to the meanest kinges of this land what needeth any further proofe of Beckets treason Yet if you will you may remember the letter of Maud the Empresse to him Wherin she chargeth him that in as much as in him lay he went about to disinherit the king to depriue him of his crown and if the Empresse might be thought to speake partially on the King her sonnes behalfe yet the two Cardinals sent by the Pope to heare all this controuersie out of question will not condemne him without iust cause And yet in a letter sent from them to the Pope they do condemne him of exciting stirring vp forraine Potentates to make warre against his naturall liege Lord the words of which letter were these William and Otho Cardinals of the Church of Rome to Alexander the Pope c. comming to the land of the king of England we found the controuersie betwixt him and the Archbishop of Canterburie more sharpe and vehement then we would for the King and the greater part about him said that the Archbishop had stirred vp the French King grieuouslie against him as also the Earle of Flaunders his kinsman who was verie louing and kind to him before he made his open aduersarie readie to wage warre against him as is by diuers euidences most certain c. Now for a subiect to stirre vp forraine States to make warre vpon his Soueraigne and countrie was at all times high treason but that Becket did so by the Cardinals confession was by diuers euidences most certaine therefore Becket not now his enemies but his breâ—hren the sonnes of his owne mother being Iudges was a traitor Who then but such a one as hath sold himselfe to all impudencie and shamelesse gainsaying the truth would seeke to couer Beckets rebellions by the facts of Iohn Baptist Ambrose Hillarie of Athanasius Chrysostome which haue as much agreement with the cause of Becket as hath light with darkenes good with euill sweet with sower concerning whose Saint-being I will say nothing sith my purpose is not to search what he is with God after his death but what he was towards his Prince in his life neither am I priuie to his repentance which might be secret at the last gaspe or to Gods iudgements into which I presume not to presse Yet you may remember that long since it was a generall Prouerbe of your Pope-made Saints That many are worshipped for Saints in heauen whose soules are burning in Hell and that in particular concerning Becket great doubt was moued as is by writers alleadged out of Caesarius the Monke whose words are these Quaestio Parisijs inter magistros ventilata fuit vtrum damnatus an saluatus esset ille Thomas c. There was a question debated amongst the masters at Paris whether Thomas Becket was saued or damned To this question answereth Roger a Norman that he was worthie death and damnation because he was so obstinate against Gods minister the king Peter Cantar a Parisien disputed on the contrarie that his miracles were great signes and tokens of saluation and of great holines in him c. Which argument this Encounterer likewise vrgeth But behold what strength is in it For one of these we shall find to be true that either they seemed only and were no miracles indeed such as many by the craft and conueiance of idle Monks haue been shewed to the people as namely those miracles of the Dominicke Friers in their hot contentions with the Franciscans about the conception of our Ladie who thinking by sleight to worke in the peoples heads that which by open preaching they durst not now attempt deuised a certaine Image of the Virgin so artificially wrought that the Friers by priuie gynnes made it to stirre to make gestures to lament to complaine to weepe to grone and to giue answeres to them that asked c. vntill the Franciscans seeing by this meanes their credits to decay and all the almes to be conueyed to the Dominickes boxe and not being vnacquainted with such cousening practises espied their iugling and discouered their feined fraudulent miracles For which cause foure of the chiefest actors in this iugling miracle were burned at Bernâ— Or secondly if they were not counterfeite but done in deed they were not wrought by God but by the power of Sathan to draw men from Christ to Antichrist Of these the Apostle foretelleth vs that whensoeuer it commeth to passe it might not trouble vs That the comming
notice of it if it were concluded on after the marriage why might not this be brought to his Master and others into Spaine by letters from some of the Nobles that were with the King here So that this is but a poore shift to discredite Bradfords aduertisement and the circumstances considered that I did set downe before of his being a Papist in profession in dwelling a Spaniard and in place not to write this without perill I doubt not but to euery one in whom reason ruleth and not passion it will proue probable enough that there might bee a iust cause of such an aduertisement When Lewis the French King his sonne was by our nobles called into England and set vp for their King against King Iohn the Vicount Melun falling deadly sicke vpon remorse of conscience secretly confessed to diuers of the Barons what was the purpose of Lewis to doe when he had once obtained the Crowne namely that Lewis with sixteene of his Counsellors whereof this Vicount was one had compacted after possession of the Crowne obtained to depriue our chiefe Nobles of their lands and possessions and driue them into perpetuall exile And so farther proceeding and with many teares pittying the extreame miserie this land was like to come vnto he brake out into these words My friendes I counsaile you earnestly to looke to your selues and to prouide the remedie in time least it come vpon you vnwares your King for a season hath kept you vnder but if Lodowicke preuaile he will put you from all c. Had Lodowicke so treacherous an intent when our Nobles so highly fauoured him and shal it seeme strange that King Philip should haue such a secret meaning did a Frenchman and an enemie vpon very remorse of conscience bewray this secret and might not Bradford an Englishman though a Papist hazzard his life to discouer King Philips daungerous plot against his countrie Or may our Chronicles recorde this purpose of Lodowicke and publish it to posteritie and may it not be lawfull for me to set downe the discouerie of your Catholike Kings secret determination to admonish my countrie men to take heed how they lend aide to bring in a forraine ruler into the Realme least perhaps it follow that they be displaced themselues and be made straungers in their owne land But the taxes set downe by me as intended to be brought vpon this land you call childish toyes such as one would not imagine that a man of Sir Francis name house and calling would euer publish But such childish toies they are as euerie sound true Englishmā hearing of the seruile gonernment of Spaine and feeling the freedome we liue withall in England will from his heart praise God for the blessed freedome we liue vnder and pray to God for euer to deliuer vs from Spaines bondage and this doe many other Nations besides vs wherof some haue been so miserably taxed that they haue been forced as one doth crediblie report to sell their beds they lie vpon to pay taxations imposed vpon them In the cloze of this when I set downe what you say of your kings determination concerning the Ladie Elizabeth as well as the rest after you haue referred vs to that you haue set downe before of his kindnes to her when she was prisoner to which I haue made you alreadie a full answere you runne into your common place of railing againe and adde That no modest man can cease to wonder how so infamous a libell could be suffered to passe to the print especially containing diuers personall reprochful contēptuous calumniations against so great potent a Prince c. I like you wel sir you are fast to your friends I wish I could find you as faithfull to your Soueraigne then should I find you as hot if not more hot in raging against those of your side that haue most wretchedlie railed against her Maiestie your rightful Soueraigne if you proue worthie to be her Subiect wherin they haue sought to impugne her right to defame her faith to discredit her gouernment to touch her honour to violate and abate the Maiestie of her place c. But as Athalia fled into the Temple and cried out treason treason whereas her selfe indeed was the traitour and Hercules furens in the tragedie raged and threatned to be reuenged of those that had slaine his children himselfe indeed hauing slaine them in his mad moode so these good fellowes crie out against those that vtter opprobrious speeches against Princes whereas themselues are the peerles and matchles men of all Christendome in whom the saying of Saint Iude is verified Which despise gouernment and speake euill of them which are in authoritie I protest I am abashed and my pen trembleth to set down those intolerable calumniations that not onely forreiners but home-borne Papistes haue vttered against her Maiestie I know not how to compare them herein but to the diuell the father of all slaunder and calumniation for as it is written in the Reuelation That the Serpent did cast out of his mouth water against the women like a floud that he might cause her to be carried away of the floud so haue these hell hounds spued forth whole flouds of reprochfull and calumnious slaunders thereby to darken and drown the honour of her Maiestie if they could possiblie Remember Sir in what sort Bartholomaeus de miranda master of the Popes Pallace behaueth himselfe towards your Soueraigne and with how villanous reproches he doth load her in his admonition set before the Epistle of Osorius directed to her Remember how he raileth at her that wrote the cononization of Didacus who being a Spaniard was of speciall purpose sainted by the Pope to further the King of Spaine in his intended conquest of England And though the wiser sorte of our Nation haue learned euen by the lawes of morall ciuilitie as your selfe confesse that a man must speake moderately also of his enemie yet the learned'st of our English Papistes haue not learned to speake moderatelie of their Soueraign whom they ought not to reckon their enemy you know how immoderatly immodestly Station Saunders and Rishton to omit others doe raile against her as against the Turke himselfe they could not doe worse Now Sir how should that which vpon vrgent occasion if to inuade and seeke to conquer the land and to make way thereunto by seeking the shortning of my Soueraignes life through treasons may be reckoned an vrgent occasion I say how should that I haue set downe against your Catholike King anger you if so manie opprobrious and contumelious reproaches as you know vttered against your Soueraigne and that not alone by forrainers but by such as should be subiects doe not moue you I write against a straunger truly these against their Soueraign falsely I to confirme subiects hearts in loyaltie and obedience to their lawfull Soueraigne they to corrupt Subiectes heartes and to make them disloyall and disobedient to their Soueraigne I
doctrine and institute of life these places might haue seemed to serue some turne but to seeke to raise vp a building without a sure and sound foundation is to climbe high for a certaine and dangerous downefall Therefore vnles you can fetch their foundation from the word of truth these places of Scripture shall neuer be proued to concerne them any thing at all A worthie sect it must needes be that was so lately sounded by Ignatius Loiola a lame Souldiour who when hee would tricke vp these Nouices as the Beare licketh her deformed whelpes and send them abroade into the world offered by himselfe and his friends 3000. hoastes or propitiatorie sacrifices to God so many horrible blasphemies against that alone true propitiatorie sacrifice of Christ Iesus which was offered once and onely once for our sinnes thereby to obtaine grace and fauour to his new erected societie Concerning the profession of these Iesuites their doctrine their life name and conuersation what is to be obiected against them whether they be seditious troublers of Common-wealths and seekers of Princes deaths I neede not say any thing since they are by so many so plainelie handled and laide open and almost all the Christian world seeth and abhorreth their treacheries The Sorbonists of Paris will tell you that their name is vsurped without warrant for in deede what presumption is it that not being content with the auncient and honorable name of Christians which was first giuen to the saithfull at Antioch drawne from Christ the name of our Sauiours office who hath made vs Kings and Priests to God his father they will speciallie bee called Iesuites of Iesus which is our Sauiours name of nature and so as much as in them is diuide Iesus from Christ or ouer presumptuouslie by a speciall priuiledge intrude vpon that name their profession they shew to be different from all others consisting in practising as deepe politikes against Princes and States their doctrine that it is lawfull in some cases for Subiects to kill their Princes labouring by stirring vp seditions and authorising treasons to holde vp and strengthen the tyrannie of Spaine This hath been by the way proued in part in my Resistance to the fourth Encounter by the example of Cardinall Allen who publikelie teacheth that there is no warre whether forraine or Ciuill so honorable as that which is vndertaken for Religion By whose perswasions Parrie confessed that hee was animated and encouraged to kill the Queene as also by the cases of conscience which the Iesuites brought with them into England in which they teach that it is a point of faith that if the Pope depose her Maiestie she is no longer to bee obeyed nor acknowledge for our Queene To which may be added that Parrie was hartened and resolued likewise by Iulio Palmio a Iesuite to put in execution his intended treason against her Maiestie And besides this Edmund Yorke and Richard Williams who being apprehended confessed the same were by Iberra the King of Spaines Secretarie hired to murther the Queene the assignation for the payment of 40000. Crownes for the performance of this notable exploite was deliuered as in deposito to one Holte a Iesuite an olde English Rebell Many were the conferences held about this villanie in which Holte the Iesuite did sit in a sort as a President or head of all these conspiracies and did vehemently perswaded Yorke and Williams to enterprise the matter not onelie receiuing of them both an oath to performe it but also ministring to them the Sacrament thereupon himselfe kissing it and swearing to them solemnly for the assurance of their reward shewing also to them the bill of assignation signed with the King of Spaine his Secretaries hand for the more assurance of the payment Yea further that the insatiable thirst in this Iesuite after her Maiesties bloud may be more manifest he tolde Yorke that seeing the English had often failed to perfourme this enterprise if now it should not be perfourmed by Yorke and his Companie he would afterwards imploie Strangers in it Which in deede before this he attempted by perswading one Patricke Cullin an Irishman and a Pencioner of the King of Spaine to come secretly into England to kill her Maiestie and being his ghostlie Father gaue him absolution to this purpose which Cullin being at his comming apprehended and examined confessed the whole and was accordinglie condemned and executed Whether Doctor Guifford be a Father amongst the Iesuites or a simple Priest I cannot affirme sure it is by Sauage his owne confession that hee perswaded this Sauage to vndertake that most barbarous and sauage acte of shedding the innocent bloud of our gracious Soueraigne The famous Iesuite Posseuine exhorteth the Souldiours of Pius Quintus sent into France against those of the Religion that it is their dutie to kill all Protestants otherwise they breake their faith and lose their saluation And to leaue forraine matters and to ende with our owne because to prosecute all particulars in this kinde were infinite Wal-poole a Iesuite did by oath latelie binde Squyre Stanley and others either by poyson or stabbing to kill her Maiestie By which and sundrie other examples it is euident that this Iesuiticall broode is of Caines humour who had a bloudie heart and hand to shed his brothers bloud and that they follow nay runne farre before Chore in conspiracie For farther insight into this new foundation I referre the Reader at his leasure to the Bishop of Winchesters booke before named to Doctor Humfreyes Iesuitismus to Kemnicius c. The profession practise and vertues of this sect was so fully sifted and tried by the Catholikes of France that it may not be thought to be done by enemies that the vniuersity of Paris wholy opposed it selfe against them and by the mouth of their aduocate pronounced thē worthy of Banishment and after that vpon farther search into them the Parliament of Paris by a publike decree condemned them and cast them out of the whole Kingdome of France into perpetuall Banishment A worthy example of the wise and politike Kingdome of France to try out their treacheries which I wish all Christian Kingdomes would follow that so all Iesuites might be perpetually banished into Terra Virginea or Terra Florida with which this fellow in the entrie of his libell disporteth himselfe from whence no daunger of them might redound to any Christian Monarch Whereto the consideration of the principall vow of this new-found sect might serue to perswade Their principall vow is as a Catholike Frenchman setteth it downe to obey their generall or superiour who is alwaies a Spaniard or one of the King of Spaynes Dominions the words of which vow are set downe to be these That in him they must acknowledge Christ to be present as it were and if Iesus Christ should commaund to goe kill they must doe so In which vow to omit the intollerable blasphemie that they make a
the Worlde is nowe amended at Rome euen as sower Alemendeth in summer view the dealings of our moderne Popes and those onely which concerne our owne State First the Pope most iniuriouslie deposed her Maiestie from her Royall Crowne dismissed her Subiects from their obedience due to her yea cursed as many as did obey her further hee sendeth Murton into England to stirre vp Rebellion against her and consequentlie as much as in him lay to fill the land with dead corpses and to make our flouds run dyed with English bloud when this succeeded not hee sent Saunders with sundrie forces to inuade Ireland not onlie to increase Rebellion there but to winne it quite from her Maiestie if hee might The bloud by this occasion shed in Ireland could not yeelde his holines an heartie draught and therefore hee setteth on and abetteth the Spanish King in the yeare 1588. to make Inuasion for a full Conquest and to the ende he might throughlie speede and not faile he lendeth him all the helpe he could but especiallie as hee that writeth the Canonization of Didacus affirmeth because by diuine helpe he thought this Conquest might quickelie be atchieued Sixtus Quintus then Pope in that fittest opportunitie of time did Canonize Didacus a Spaniard and placed him in the number of Saints in whose merites the Spanish King did so greatlie trust And that no propertie of a bloudie monster might bee wanting in him hee suborned Parrey and armed him with full remission of all his sinnes besides other promises murtherouslie to kill her Maiestie and to shed her guiltles bloud If these euidences cannot make this popish Sycophant to see and abhor the Popes bloudie humour I can yeelde no other reason in his excuse but that which a Poet of their owne setteth downe AEthiopes vna quoniam nigredine sordent Ille color nulli vitio datur omnibus idem Vultus alterius si quis reprehenderet ora Et sua damnaret c. i. Blacknes for that it dyes each AEthiops face Blacknes with them is held for no disgrace All are like faced who so doth others blame His proper visage he perforce must shame If this fellow were not an horseleach that is bloudie minded himselfe he would easilie acknowledge the bloudie humour of the Pope To shut vp this point whereas he saith that for my speech against the Pope which is both iust and true I am to be restrained and checked euen for the very honour of England it selfe and our nation I referre it to the honorable iudgement of the higher authority what checke and restraint is fit for this fellow who so stifly standeth for her Maiesties professed enemy and will not endure to haue him accused of a bloudy humour who hath pronounced her no Queene stirred rebellions in her Realme against her sent an Inuadour to conquer her and authorised bloudie traitors secretly to kill hir and that for the honour of England it selfe that it may be freed from the ignominie of breeding such vipers and of our Nation that the people of our Nation may not be so inchanted by the poysoned cup of this Cyrce as to degenerate from Christian loyaltie to Antichristian treacherie whereto the Antichrist of Rome this Encounterers halfe God doth call them Whether the Pope be that special Antichrist wherof Daniel our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles doe speake I will not stand here to dispute specially because all the notes set downe in the Scripture of Antichrist are by sundrie learned men fully prooued to concurre in the Pope and in none other and that by Babilon in the Reuelation is meant Rome not onely as it was when the heathen Emperours held it as the Papistes say but as now it is the Pope raigning in it The tenne reasons sillie ones as they be which you alleadge to proue the contrarie with three times tenne more set downe by your Captaine Saunders are by Doctor Whitakers throughly sifted and refelled as also whatsoeuer the great Iesuite Bellarmine could say for his master to free him from this imputation is by diuers notablie learned fully examined and confuted whose bookes with others of the same argument in English because they are extant and almost in euerie mans hand I refer the reader to them contenting my selfe with a cōpetencie of knowledge for the instruction of mine owne conscience and not presuming to take vpon me to be a teacher of others To conclude whereas this Romane aduocate saith that this lande ought to beare more reuerence to the sea of Rome then other Nations for that it hath receiued more singular benefits from thence namely that it was conuerted from Paganisme to Christian Religion by the speciall diligence labour and industry of the same Sea I answere first that it is apparant by sundrie testimonies that this land was conuerted to the faith long before the time by you specified and not by the Bishop of Rome Guildas testifieth that Britanie receiued the Gospell in the time of Tiberius the Emperour and that Ioseph of Arimathia was sent by Philip the Apostle from France hither where he remained till his death And Beda our countriman likewise doth testifie that in his time this land kept Easter after the manner of the East Church by which may be gathered that the first preachers came hither from the East parts of the world and not from Rome more proofes might be set downe but I spare them Secondly though it be granted that Elutherius sending hither preachers from Rome in king Lucius his time did first conuert this land to the Christian faith I say there is not now the same faith in Rome that was then there was then no Masses said the partes of it were not then found out no transubstantiation no setting vp of Images in Churches the communion was then in both kindes administred to the lay people no vniuersall Pope c. Elutherius writeth thus to King Lucius Yee haue receiued of late through Gods mercie in the Realme of Britanie the law and faith of Christ ye haue with you within the Realme both the parts of the Scriptures out of them by Gods grace with the counsaile of your Realme take ye a lawe and by that lawe through Gods sufferance rule your kingdome of Britanie for you be Gods Vicar in your kingdome according to the saying of the Prophet c. Thirdly the latter Popes haue been more beholding to this land for our money then the land for anie good receiued from them our kings haue often complained that the dropsie thirst of these late Romanists cannot be quenched The Priour of Winchester one Andrew being expulsed was faine to giue to the Pope 365. markes yeerely to be restored againe to his place this and manie such like were but slender gleanings in comparison of the mightie haruest that from this land they yeerelie gathered In a word the Apostle saith of the Thessalonians that they were examples to all that beleeue in Macedonia
Spaniardes for whiles some Spaniardes committed wickednes with those strumpets others with dags and other weapons kept the entrie of the cloistures some of the Deanes men came in the meane space into the cloyster at whom the Spaniardes discharged their dagges and hurt some of them whereof great busines was like to follow But you shew your selfe worse then one of the broode of Cham who was cursed for vncouering his fathers shame for you seeke to lay shame vpon your mother England before she deserue it to please a forreiner and a sworne enemie to her Now let all men of conscience yea of common reason iudge whether of vs two hath the malignant spirit by you named I in discouering the daungerous humours of the Spaniardes for my countries good or you in not onely concealing them but seeking to cleare them for your countries harme and hazard of ruine yea in labouring in your censure to lay so odious a blot of disgrace vpon your natiue countrie Concerning their late King and that before alleaged and proued by me in my former booke against him out of the letter of discouery which I cited this Encounterer promiseth himselfe great aduantage against me the vanitie of whose conceite shall appeare by that which followeth for all his great paines taken and his leauing no stone vnmoued whereby he might discredite either me in cyting such a letter or the discouerer in writing it or both Sometimes hee seemeth to doubt whether there were any such letter of discouerie sent or whether the tale bee not wholy forged by my selfe nay he perswadeth himselfe to discouer both treacherous cogging and shameles forgery in my heart and hand Concerning which obiection of forgerie I doubt not but to all men indifferent it might bee sufficient for me to answere as one AEmilius Scaurus did who being by one Varius accused of treason made this short and plaine answer Varius dicit Scaurus negat vtri creditis Varius saith it Scaurus denieth it whether doe you beleeue In like sorte if I should answere concerning this odious crime of forging and inuenting this letter N.D. a Iesuiticall scholler and sworne Spanish obiecteth it Francis Hostings a Christian and true hearted Englishman denieth it whether doe you credite The iudgements of as many as were not more then halfe Spanish would acquite mee But yet for further euidence I adde that this discouerie was written in nature of a letter from a true hearted Englishman dwelling at that time with a great man in Spaine the name of the writer was one Iohn Bradford not Bradford whom Boner put to death but Bradford a Papist the Nobles to whom this letter was directed were the Earles of Arundel Shrewsbury Pembroke with other Nobles and these named I trust you will cleare them from being infected with the humour you imagine to be fed by him Hauing little hope to perswade the indifferent reader that I forged this letter of mine owne head hee proceedeth to seeke to discredite the certificate in it selfe For short answere whereto there be two things materiall of which I must say somewhat the marriage it selfe of this King to Queene Marie with the conditions thereof insisted vpon by this English Spaniard and made a speciall colour to crush the credite of Bradfords aduertisement and the secret intent of the King by this letter discouered By the first viz. the conditions of the marriage together with the Kings vsage towards the English for a space hee would ouerthrow the second namely the certificate of the Kings secret meaning But Sir your inference hereupon is very feeble and weake in taking vpon you hereby to controule the aduertisement of Iohn Bradford to be false The world hath not found it strange for some politike men to make semblance of loue when they meane nothing lesse I will not hunt far for proofe touching the argument in hand or for disproofe of this Encounterers wrongfull exception against me Let the Anti-Spaniard and Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus both Papists and Emanuel Lewis a Portugal in his open confession at the Guild-hall and sundrie others suffice for my clearing not to haue written that I did without ground of proofe in my former booke It were not amisse to remember and consider what moued your Popish Prelates and others to bee so busie in hand to haue Ladie Elizabeth now our most worthie and happie Queene married to some Spaniard and to bee posted ouer with her portion much about the time that it was said Queen Marie was with childe and when your Catholike King was concluded to bee Protector and gouernour to the issue hoped for I dare not say for offending your Worship that I feare it should haue been the best of our sweet Queenes fortune if that match had gone forward to haue liued with her husband in Spaine whilest your King Catholike enioyed by vsurpation the possession and gouernment of her Kingdome in England to the killing of all true English hearts but I dare boldlie say that many thousands in England doe praise God from their hearts that she so happelie escaped so daungerous and base a match and that we so happelie enioy so worthie and blessed a Queene The conditions of the Marriage and vsage of the King for a space being too weake an inference to disproue the certificate concerning his secret meaning let vs in few words consider somewhat both of the person of the Discouerer and the substance of the discouerie I pray you Sir what should moue Bradford to write this but that an honest true Englishmans heart incited him thereunto he was by profession a Papist by habitation a Spaniard for his Master on whom he attended was one and being amongst them his perill was great in writing this for if he had been discouered his life must haue paide for it he did it not then for hatred to Poperie as you would surmise nor for malice to his Master with whom it appeared he was in good account nor for any hope of rewarde being farre enough off from receiuing any but neere vnto daunger it is plaine he was only when he heard of such a perilous plot to the vtter rooting out of his Countrey men and ouerthrow of his flourishing Countrey hee was forced out of the remorse of a true English mans heart to expose himselfe to the hazard of his life by his setting downe and sending this aduertisement to these Lords But to fill vp the discredite you desire to lay vpon Bradford for this his aduertisement so honestlie giuen to the Nobles of England you aske How he could in Spaine discouer so great a secret that lay in the Kings breast in England For answere I must tell you that I hope it is not vnknowne that there was some intermission of time betweene the Kings marrying of Queene Mary and her death besides that when the King was in England I trust he had not all his Nobles and Counsellors with him if this were consulted on and concluded before the marriage he might then get