it had been as good for you to haue holden your peace and not to haue entituled our preachers and ministers with suche infamous actes as you haue done For your great gaine you looked for thereby may 〈◊〉 turne to your losse if the Popes owne decree your owne counsels and manifest actes and deedes with persons and place may bee credited before the bare worde of one 〈◊〉 without any tryall argument or proofe The II. part VVHo doth not see say you the great varietie of important learned personages whiche from time to time vpon tryall of the truth doe returne vnto vs euen from their ministerie c. If you meane that there are such a number of Apostatase come ouer to Rome or beyonde the seas then to tell you euen truely I and many thousandes besides do neither see it nor heare of it neyther doe wee misse them I will tell you my mind such as are wearie of their welfare in englande I wishe they shoulde taste of euill fare at Rome and suche as are not pleased to bee gouerned by a most mercifull prince at home I woulde they were yokt with a cruell tyrant abrode and suche as are not 〈◊〉 with their owne 〈◊〉 countrey of Englande I woulde they might suffer some penurie in a barran and forraine soyle for thoughe suche maye pleasure you yet I am sure they doe but 〈◊〉 vs. But if there be such a great nūber of thē it is a great tokē they loue not their prince so well as the Pope and therefore more meete to be with the Pope then with their prince And because they preferre the popes lawes before the Queenes proceedings therefore I thinke them more 〈◊〉 for Rome then for Englande You may say they are true to the Pope but I am sure they are false to their prince or els they would be content to bee gouerned by 〈◊〉 grace But though many returne from vs to you yet our prince doth not send them 〈◊〉 to Rome to stirre 〈◊〉 there and to seeke the 〈◊〉 of the pope as the pope hath sent some hither 〈◊〉 England of late to allure the people to rebellion for the confusion of their 〈◊〉 You make as though there were a 〈◊〉 great number of them returned from vs to you if all the important learned personages had returned to be of your 〈◊〉 that are still of ours then you might haue boasted that they had been a great number in deede Yet it seemeth by your saying as though you had almost all and weefe we or none or that shortly for that they refuse vs so fast that Englande will bee destitute of meete men for the ministerie You count our learned men that are dayly wonne from the Gospell to you but you consider not the greate number of the simple and vnlearned sort that our preachers winne dayly from you to vs. If you encrease one way I beleeue wee encrease twise as much an other way And whereas these important learned men you meane before they reuolted frō vs were able to instruct the simple and vnlearned shortly I 〈◊〉 not but that manie of the simple learned that are 〈◊〉 conuerted to vs will bee able to reprooue your sayde important learned personages And this their great returning to your religion you say is vpon the tryall of the trueth This is your owne bare 〈◊〉 for other argumentes or proofe to confirme the same you bring none But belike the tryall of your trueth hangeth 〈◊〉 mens 〈◊〉 to you which if it be so then why may not the daily returning of other to vs try as well that ours is the trueth 〈◊〉 If you meane the trueth is tried by the number of them that returne then we haue no cause to refuse you therein far whereas one doth turne from the Gospell to 〈◊〉 twentie haue and doe dayly both here and in other countreys come from papistrie to the Gospell But the turning or returning of the people is no perfect way to try the trueth For Gods worde 〈◊〉 him that turneth but hee that turneth must not trie Gods worde None of the popes preachers did euer turne so manye in a day to 〈◊〉 as Peter did turne to the Gospel for Saint Peter converted in 〈◊〉 day three thousande by preaching the Gospell Therefore if the trueth of religion depende of the nomber of them that are turned then I am sure the religion of the Gospel is true and all other religions are false For none other religion in all the worlde hath so quickly soddenly and myraculously encreast and sprung vp as the gospel And further if you will make the trueth of your religion to consist by the turning of vs to you why may wee not then as well say that the turkes religion is also true for that diuers Christians haue and doe reuolt to the same And as you say that many of our ministerie is returned frō vs to you euen so I say that many of Christs disciples went from him and walked no more with him yet I hope you wil not say that Christs religion was false because his disciples daparted from him and forsooke his religion But as Christs disciples were false disciples because they departed from Christ euen so our men of the ministerie bee they neuer so learned are false ministers and Apostatas because they are returned from vs whiche teache the same Gospell that Christ taught to his disciples And whereas you boast that they that are returned from vs to you are important learned personages yet if a christian may giue a Iesuite counsell I woulde wishe you not to leane too muche to your or their learning for great learning without Christ is nothing but small learning with Christ is much God beholdeth the lowlie not the learned The blessed virgin Marie the mother of Christ saide that GOD looked on the lowlinesse not of the learning of his handemaide The hawtie and learned Pharisees were not chosen by Christ to be his Apostles they had suche learning that they thought scorne of Christ as you with your learned important personages thinke scorne of the Gospell And as the proud learned Pharisees said to the simple and plaine Iewes that beleeued Christe in these wordes Are yee also brought into errour doe any of the rulers or of the Pha risees beleeue on him but the cōmon people which know not the law are accursed So you with your important learned personages may say to the common simple people that beleeue the gospel wil you be seduced frō our holy mother the Church of Rome will you be brought into the errour of these heretikes of a newe religion do you see any of vs that are important learned personages beleeue on their newe founde doctrine none followe them but the common and vnlearned people which vnderstande not the scriptures Take heede therefore what you doe for our most holy father the Pope hath not onely cursed them but also wee holie Jesuites that holde on the blessed name
the wicked men of the worlde to commit suche wicked acts as they daily do And so because God suffereth such wicked sinners to liue as you thinke vnpunished Therfore the pope may suffer the whores in his stewes to commit whoredom without controlement Whereby it appeareth that you allow the pope to do as God doth verifiyng thereby the saying of Abbat Panormiran who wrote thus That sinne excepted the pope can doe in a manner all that God can doe So that by this your holy Catholike doctrine whatsoeuer God doeth or hath done the Pope may claime to doe the like As thus God was angry with king Saul thrust him out of his kingdome because he killed not king Agag at his commandement being Gods enemie now if y t pope may folow God do as he did thē he may displace such kings thrust them out of their kingdoms y t wil not kil his enemies y e professors of Gods word at his cōmandement I thinke by this example the pope learned of God to depose emperors kings as they haue done Also God suffered it not to raine of three yeeres and sixe monethes amonge the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disobeying of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your 〈◊〉 arguments the pope may keepe 〈◊〉 here in Englande without raine with whome he is angrie because we disobey him and his lawes whiche he is not able to doe If the Pope might or coulde do thus as you seeme to allowe him wee shoulde haue had neyther prince prosperitie peace nor plentie fo long as wee haue had But though you allowe the pope to doe that that God can doe in tollerating sinnes and wickednesse yet God and the pope are farre vnlike in their tollerating and suffering the same For whereas God doth tollerate and suffer wicked sinners to see whether they will repente and amende or not who if they doe not then hee punisheth them one way or other The Pope cleane contrary doeth tollerate and suffer the Curtezans and whores of his Stewes for money to sinne vnpunished though they neither repent nor amende And whereas God doth not suffer them that he taketh for his louing children to sinne vncorrected The pope suffereth his catholike Curtezans of the Stewes in Rome whom he taketh as his deare darlinges to committe whoredome dayly without any punishment But I muse at this that the pope can followe God in suffering of sinne and can not followe him in punishing of sinne For as God doth tollerate many wicked sinners so hath he and 〈◊〉 dayly punishe many wicked sinners But how can you proue that God doth 〈◊〉 tollerate wicked men to commit wickednesse that he doeth not punishe them for it nay I am sure that no suche wicked sinners doe escape Gods punishement though the 〈◊〉 and whores of the Popes Stewes doe escape the popes punishemente For was not all the whole worlde drowned for their wickednesse excepte Noah and his familie was not zodom and Gomorra with all the Countreys thereabout destroyed with fire and 〈◊〉 from Heauen for their 〈◊〉 sinne 〈◊〉 with many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and destroyed as well 〈◊〉 as perticularlye whiche were too muche for mee to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thoughe you thinke that God tollerateth many to commit such wickednesse 〈◊〉 that hee detesteth yet I am sure you cannot prooue that hee taketh money of them to permit them to sinne as the Pope doth on the Curtezans in Rome for their whoredome And it may bee that some wicked men are 〈◊〉 punished of God that you thinke God 〈◊〉 tollerate to sinne vnpunished for God doth correct and chasten his owne children though hee loueth them neuer so 〈◊〉 for whom God loueth him hee chasteneth Nowe if God chasten and correct his deare and louing children liue they neuer so vertuously will hee not punishe the wicked that wallow in detestable sinnes though it seemeth to you that he doth tollerate them to sinne vnpunished One may be punished of God for his wickednes though a 〈◊〉 doth not know of it God hath his secrete punishmentes in store for the wicked which they shall taste when it shall please his diuine Maiestie Yea and that which perhaps you take for no punishement I take to bee the greatest punishment of all Doe you thinke there can bee a greater punishment then for God to giue men ouer to their owne lustes And greedily to take pleasure in sinne and to wallowe in all wickednesse I thinke not And though you doe see them prosper dayly in health wealth pleasure and prosperitie without any misfortune as Policrates did that was one of the thirtie tyrants and though God should so tollerate them in their wickednes that he detesteth shall they therefore escape his punishment thinke you No I warrant you for those that God 〈◊〉 suffer to liue so wickedly and to drawe sinnes togeather as it were with 〈◊〉 and to heape vp sinnes one vpon another without any worldly plague or punishment seeme to bee the children of wrath and vnlesse they repent and turne to God doubtlesse shalbee punished in the torments of hell which farre exceed all y e earthly punishments that can be deuised and whereas the one continueth but a while the other shall be for 〈◊〉 and neuer end Therefore though God doth tollerate as you say with wicked men with many wicked acts in the world which he detesteth yet they are not vnpunished therefore as you seeme to 〈◊〉 vnlesse to be in the intollerable and endlesse paine of hell bee no 〈◊〉 but the whoores of the Popes Stewes are not punished of the Pope whose sinnes it seemeth hee doth not detest but rather fauour because hee suffeereth the same without punishment And although God doth tollerate and suffer many most wicked abhominable sinners vnpunished in this life to y t sight of the world according to his secrete purposes only known to himselfe yet it is too much for you though you are a Iesuite to allowe the Pope to tollerate and suffer the wicked sinne of whooredome which the Almightie God hath flatly forbidden Therefore you were best to councell the pope to let God alone in his doings and not to presume to doe as bee 〈◊〉 but to doe as hee 〈◊〉 vnlesse you woulde haue him to clime into heauen with Lucifer as 〈◊〉 angell and to fall into 〈◊〉 with him as a Diuell The 27. parte THē after you say thus Thirdly 〈◊〉 a noughty wicked thing may somtimes be necessarie cōsequētly tollerated without fault The corruption and lew de inclination of men supposed If you learned this of Christe I would haue you shewe where I shoulde finde it If it be the Apostles doctrine I would know which of them taught it But if it bee your owne deuise as I suppose it is then I doe not take your wordes to be of 〈◊〉 authoritie especially when they repugne the Scriptures 〈◊〉 these doe Therefore I will be so bold to reproue the same with the wordes of Saint Paule if he may be
THE Christian against the Iesuite Wherein the secrete or namelesse writer of a pernitious booke intituled A Discouerie of I. Nicols Minister c. priuily printed couertly cast abrod and secretely solde is not only iustly reprooued But also a booke dedicated to the Queenes Maiestie called A persuasion from papistrie therein derided and falsified is defended by Thomas Lupton the authour thereof Reade with aduisement and iudge vprightly and be affectioned only to truth Hee hath made a graue and digged it but hee himselfe will fall into the pit which hee hath made Psal. 7. Seene and allowed ¶ Imprinted at London for Thomas Woodcocke dwelling in Paules Church yard at the signe of the blacke Beare 1582. To the right honorable Sir Francis Walsingham knight principall Secretarie to her Maiestie and one of her highnesse most honourable priuie Councell Thomas Lupton wisheth earthly prosperitie and heauenly felicitie AS there is hath been and will be right honourable both Wheate and Darnel Corne and Cockle and good Seedes and tares euen so there hath been is and wil be sowers of both sorts For the children of God doe sowe the good corne of Gods word and the seruants of Satan haue and will scatter abroad Darnel the Diuels doctrine But as the godly sowers shall dwell for euer with God whose good seede they did sow Sothe throwers abroad of the Darnell shall dwell with the Diuel except they cease frō their sowing Yet they like senselesse Swine will needes wallowe in the puddle of perdition though they are theeatned with the scriptures for the same Both which sowers are so different at this day that they that haue any glimmering at all may know the good sowers frō the euill the godly frō the wicked the true from the false Notwithstanding these wicked sowers of the diuels darnell goe about as much as in them lie to persuade vs that they are the true sowers and that their Cockle is pure and good corne But whose sowers they are and whose seede they doe sowe all they that are guided by Gods worde doe right perfectly knowe And as there hath been a wonderfull rable of Satanicall sowers from the beginning euer seeking to choke the good corne of Gods worde with their diuelish Darnell so there hath sprung vp not long since a seditious sect of Satanical sowers seeking by al meanes to choke or suppresse the good corue with their cockle and the Gospell of Christ with the doctrine of the Diuell And these are they that call themselues Iesuites but they rather deserue to be called Iudaites for they follow Iudas in betraying not Iesus in sauing One of which number as it shoulde seeme hath made a pernicious booke in praise of the Pope and Papistrie and in reproch of M. Nicols lately conuerted from Papistrie to the Gospel and returned from the Pope to his Prince But it doth appeare that hee doubted his docttrine els hee woulde haue set his name to his booke Wherein also hee doth detract a booke by 〈◊〉 pende and published called A persuasion from papistrie which I 〈◊〉 dicated exhibited to the Queenes 〈◊〉 without disprouing or confuting any one part thereof Whose namelesse worke in such points as I knewe to bee false I haue not only taken vpon me to reproue but also to defend my selfe my said booke by him therein depraued slandered And for that I know your honour to be a zelous fauourer of the Gospell a perfect professour of Gods worde an affable Magistrate whose wisedome and learning is such that you can easily try truth from falshood right from wrong I haue chosen you to bee a Iudge betweene a Christian a Iesuite Beseeching you to pardon mee for my boldnesse heerein assuring your honour that your common commendations and the good will I beare you hath made me to doe that that discretion and modestie shoulde haue made mee refuse But though my basenesse doth not deserue such a Iudge yet the cause which is Christs doth craue such a one Humbly requesting you though your affaires be great and your leasure little to reade and peruse the same as occasion will serue and time will permit Trusting that your reading thereof will bee more delightfull than tedious will rather recreate you than wearie you And thus ceasing heerein any further to trouble your honour I do wishe you in this life to bee guided by God and after to raigne for euer with Christ. Your Honours most humble and faithfull to commaunde Thomas Lupton ¶ A briefe Table for the finding out of necessarie matters of this booke A ANswere vnloked for Fol. 1. Pag. 1. A thing worth the noting Fol. 18. pa. 2. 〈◊〉 lawes in y e chiefe of the popes bosome Fol. 13. pag. 2. Abhominable doctrine to say that any man can doe suche penance as gods iustice requireth fo 34. pa. 1 Apostles did cast lots for a fellow Apostle but not for the prophetes to be their protectors Fol. 38. pa. 2. As god bearteh with wicked men so popes and princes may suffer their stewes Fol. 41. pag. 2. Apt argument of one that is suffered to steale apples Fol. 46. pa. 1. As the Pope hath a heauenly iudgement in his brest so Iesuites haue worldly mens thoughts in their 〈◊〉 Fol. 53. pa. 1 Asper latine for a Cat. Fol. 54. pa. 2. Abundantia latine for water Fol 54. pag. 2. Agnus dei as Christes blood can put away 〈◊〉 Fol. 60. pa. 1. Astronomicall second and they musical semebrief are both in one time Fol. 63. pag. 2. An eosi kinde uf confuting Fol. 67. pag. 2. Authoritie of the Church of Rome is more then gods word Fol. 83. pag. 1. Arguments and circumstances of two sides brought in 15 〈◊〉 words Fol. 88. pag. 1. As much as GOD is better than a priest so much is the priest better than a king Fol. 92. pag. 2. Alexander keeper of Newgate dyed miserably Fol. 94. pag. 1. Acts and monumentes is tyed with long chaines in all Churches of England if Iesuites doe not IyeFol 97. pag. 1. B BArnards text against themselues Fol. 9. pag. 2. Bare brokers extoll base wares Fol. 10 pag. 2. Boniface the Pope caused Pope Iohns eyes to be put out Fol. 20. pag. 1. Bishops dealinges not liked of S. Barnard Fol. 21. pag. 2. Better to haue honestie for nothing at home than to pay decre for knauery at Rome Fol 29. pag. 1. Bread the body of Christ his soule and Godhead is there truly substantially if Jesuites sweare truly Fol. 5. pag. 2. Booke promised that shall shew how falsly Iesuites are for sworne Fol. 6. pag. 2. Boasting of the name of Iesus 〈◊〉 not serue their turne Fol. 8. pa. 1. Berry Uicar of Aylsham a cruell papist died sodeinly with a greate grone Fol. 9. pag. 1. Balaās wickednes made not y e prophetes religion false Fo 18. pa. 1. Boasting learned papists like to the proud learned pharisees Fol. 25. pag. 2. Because the pope would not beelike
if you bee not true and louing subiects to our Queene who vnder God is the chiefe staffe and stay of the peaceable and prosperous state of England then you cannot bee friendes but enemies to England and thus I trowe I haue proued you Englishe enemies These are my very wordes concerning the same which you haue rackt and counterfeated contrary to my writing whereby the indifferent reader may easily iudge whether your wordes are my wordes in effect and whether your writing conclude as mine doth or not In deede as you wrote it it is a very simple and childish argument much like Peter Crabs arguments for prouing of the Popes power True meaning woulde that you shoulde write my argumentes as they be and then to confute them if you can but because you cannot you curtall and peece them at your pleasure otherwise you confute them not And when you haue brought them into such a pickle thē you commit them to your Reader to scanne who thinking you to deale plainely and truely doth therefore despise mee yea and perhaps contemne my booke before hee reade it or heare it But therefore I haue written mine owne wordes as they bee whereby the Reader may perceiue that though you are a Iesuite in name yet you are more like a Iudas in your dealing It is an easie kinde of confuting to write nothing but to 〈◊〉 a mans words If I should haue dealt so with you you might iustly haue derided me and called me a liar without learning as I may call you a learned falsifier a shamelesse Iesuite The 42. part AFter this you falsifie my wordes againe and coyne my writing with your owne counterfeite stamp much like one that when he hath once stolne careth not then howe often he playeth the theefe Surelie if you ment honestly you woulde write my woordes as they bee and confute them after if you can as I haue done yours It appeareth you are verie shamelesse and either regarde not your credite or els you thinke whatsoeuer a Iesuit doth bee ought not to bee blamed nor that any thing can worke his discredite Doe you thinke that your Readers are so childish and so simple to thinke that your rehearsing of my wordes falsely and curtalling them as it pleaseth you without any other argument or proofe is a sufficient confuting of them I thinke not I neuer heard of any that vsed this kinde of confuting but you and because you are the first inuenter thereof I beleeue you are the last that will vse the same If to write nothing but only to repeat falsely and vntruely mens wordes as you doe and haue done bee a sufficient confuting then we neede no great learning to the confuting of any And now let vs heare your cunning confutation with nothing but with mine owne wrested wordes and thus they are as followeth Againe the 〈◊〉 crie vpon their Queene Marie and wee crie vpon our Queene Elizabeth And is not Queene Elizabeth I pray you as well a kings daughter as Queene Mary As well a kings sister as Queene Mary as lawfull Queene of Englande I will not say more as Queene Mary Why then howe can Papistes be otherwise but English enemies and extreeme enemies to Englande These and the like arguments in sense though not altogeather in the same wordes hee dilateth according to his kinde of eloquence throughout all the first part of his booke though he make no partes at all Where as you say it is my eloquence I vtterly refuse it it is your eloquence and none of mine Seeing the words are yours and not mine as you haue confest then the eloquence shall bee yours and not mine You haue written a great sort of fine words and y t elo quētly in this your discouerie and were it reason that I shoulde haue the eloquence of them all from you You are a very kinde and liberall man that can be content to take suche paine in writing then to let me haue all the eloquence that is due to y e same You haue hackt rackt 〈◊〉 and changed my wordes as you list haue vneloquēted them or taken the eloquence frō them that they had and now you discommend me for my eloquence You are like vnto him that spightfully cut a mans tongue out of his head and then dispraisd him because he could not speake Seeing you woulde ueedes dispraise my eloquence it had been reason that you should haue recited mine owne words as I wrote them And then you might Iawfully haue discommended them for lacke of eloquence Therefore if the wordes lacke eloquence then you lacke eloquence as it seemeth because you wrote them not eloquently considering they are your wordes and not mine For you haue left out a great sort of mine and foysted in out of all order many of your owne And though I a Christian cannot bee so eloquent as you that are a Iesuite I must bee content with S. Paule who though he were not very eloquent by S. Hieroms saying yet the most eloquent Philosopher that euer was did neuer so much as hee of whom S. Hierom writeth thus Paulus qui soelecismos facit in loquēdo Christi crucem portat c. Paule that is not able to vtter his minde in congrue speech beareth the crosse of Christ and taketh all men prisoners as if it were in triumph from the Ocean vnto the red Sea he subdued the whole world S. Paul himselfe saith though I be rude in speking I am not so in knowledge here thogh Saint Paule lackt eloqence yet hee lackt not the fauour of God Therfore I had rather lacke eloquence with S. Paul one of Christs Apostles then to be eloquent with you thogh you are one of the Popes Iesuites In your said wordes which you haue so falsified you count them my argumentes in sense though not altogether in wordes but I maruel who gaue you commission to alter my wordes and to put in other wordes for them and to giue my wordes the sense of your forged wordes If I shoulde leaue out your wordes and put in steede thereof what I thinke good of mine owne and to displace your words at my pleasure as you haue done mine then to say that it is the same in sense though not altogether in the same words you might well say then that I 〈◊〉 not done according to the profession 〈◊〉 a Christian though therein you haue doone according to the profession of a Iesuite Though you thinke the Pope hath authority to alter the scriptures and to giue them their sense as hee thinketh good yet I hope that you haue no authoritie to alter and change my wordes and to giue them their sense But belike as you thinke the Pope may alter the Scriptures as hee lyste and giue them what sense it pleaseth him so you beeing his Iesuite may likewise alter my wordes and giue them what sense you thinke good Before whē you dealt with the title of my booke which is
A persuasion frō Papistrie there you altered not my words but wrote thē as I wrote them because you thought y t persuasion beeing mine owne woorde woulde disgrace or discredite mee But now you perceiuing that if you should write mine owne woordes as they bee they woulde not then serue your turne Wherefore you defaced and displaced my woordes and foysted in your owne to my reproche and to your owne credite as you thought But as coggers and foysters of false Dyse thriue but sorily by their trade so you by the chopping and chaunging of my words and foysting in your owne will gaine but little And as they for their cogging and foysting when it is knowne are so dispised that the honest doe shunne them so you when this your subtill shifting is spied for all you are a Iesuite will procure your owne shame Your Reader hauing any good consideration will not thinke but that my woordes hang better togeather then you wrote them But that your dishonest dealing may the better appeare and that the indifferent and wise Reader may iudge whether ' I wrote so fondly as you haue affirmed I will heere both write my very woordes that you so shamefully altered and also the occasion and the circumstance thereof For in this point I went about not only to prooue her 〈◊〉 greate mercie and Ienitie to the obstinate Papistes her disobedient subiects But also though some of the stubborne sort did so little consider her power that they woulde say that shee had no lawe to punishe or execute them for the same that shee had as great power and authoritie to make lawes and to punish them as Queene Mary had But all this you left out besides the marring of my sentences and arguments that the reader might thinke that it had neither good method nor matter And now heere followeth my wordes If he that counterfeateth the Queenes Maiesties seale for some priuate profite breaking thereby but one part of her lawes is a Traytour and is therefore put to death Then are not you that are obstinate and disobedient Papistes Traytours And deserue death that hate your prince without any cause and that withstande and disobey all her godly lawes and proceedings In the louing and obeying of whome and the keeping and obseruing of whose lawes and orders her Graces safetie the preseruation of her person the conseruation of the common wealth and the prosperous state of this Realme doeth chieflye depende If heereby you will not willingly see what you are I feare against your willes you will feele hereafter what you are Open your eyes therefore and see what a mercifull Queene you haue that euer since shee beganne to raigne hath rather mercifully without lawe sought to winne you then cruelly by lawe to enforce or wounde you Thinke not because shee suffereth you that therefore shee cannot punishe nor execute you whiche if some of you sticke not to say openly many of you I beleeue thinke the same priuilie Thinke not because shee hathe made no lawe for you that therefore shee can make no lawe for you for the Queenes maiestie hath as great power to punish the Idolatrous Papistes in her Realme as king Iosia had to burne the Priestes of Baall in his Realme King Asa and his people made a couenant and swore not only to seeke the Lorde to cleaue vnto him and to hearken vn-his voyce but also that whosoeuer did not so shoulde bee slaine whether hee were small or great man or woman which couenant hee perfourmed and brake not And is not our Princesse queene of England aswel as Asa was king of Iuda and hath not shee as great power in her kingdome as he had in his And if GOD was well pleased with king Asa for making and perfourming of that couenant as hee was in deede would hee then bee angrie thinke you with Queene Elizabeth if she made the like and perfourmed it I thinke not But our mercifull Queene though shee hath set foorth the true 〈◊〉 of God as speedily as earnestly and as zealously as eyther king Asa or any other rular to bee followed and obserued throughout her whole realme hath not made any such couenant or law to slea or kill them that do not follow and obey the same But consider this well if the Pope not appointed by Gods lawe to raigne and rule as hee hath doone may murther and kill as many of you thinke hee may the professours and followers of Gods worde beeing not his subiectes for disobeyiug his lawe deuised and inuented by man on earth and procured by the Diuell Then may not wee thinke that our Queene appointed by God and allowed by his worde to raigne ouer vs may lawfully kill and put to death the Idolatrous Papists her subiects for wilfully disobeying and withstanding the law of God that came from heauen beeing long since taught by the Prophetes by Iesus Christe the sonne of God and by his Apostles mooued and procured thereto by God the holy Ghoste Therefore I beseeche you weigh the milde nature of our gracious Queene the mother of mercie that doth not vse the iustice shee may and marke your holy father the Pope the captaine of crueltie that vseth the iniusticie he ought not I pray you is not our Elizabeth Queene of Englande as well as Queene Mary was Whatpower what iurisdiction what authoritie what superioritie what excellencie and what els had Queene Mary that this our Queene Elizabeth hath not Queene Mary was king Henrie the eights daughter so is our Queene Elizabeth Queene Mary was King Edwardes sister so is Queene Elizabeth Queene Mary succeeded her brother King Edwarde so did Queene Elizabeth succeede her sister Queene Mary Queene Mary was lawefull Queene of Englande Queene Elizabeth is as lawfull Queene of Englande I will not say more Queene Mary put downe Gods worde planted by her brother and set vp Papistrie and Idolatrie and obeied the Pope Queene Elizabeth put downe papistrie and Idolatrie planted by her sister and obeyed GOD Queene Mary vsed her harmelesle and obedient subiects cruelly and put them to death that professed gods worde Queene Elizabeth vseth her wicked and disobedient subiects mercifully and suffereth them to liue that professe and stifly defende papistrie and idolatrie the doctrine of the Diuell These comparisons duly considered your Queene Mary did not muche excell our Queene Elizabeth vnles in crueltie and burning her harmelesse subiects Nowe if Queene Mary might put to death her humble and harmelesse subiects for professing of Gods word Then I cannot see but that our Queene Elizabeth may as well execute her stubborne and disobedient subiects whiche shee as yet neuer did that withstande Gods woorde and will needes followe papistrie and idolatrie And further if Queene Mary had a lawe to burne the seruantes of God that were obedient to her concerning their worldly dutie and neuer ment her harme Then why may not our Queene Elizabeth make a Lawe to execute the popes seruantes that are bounde to be her
louing subiectes which are disobedient vnto her and that seeke procure desire and wishe her death and distruction Therefore be thankefull to God that hath giuen you and vs such a mercifull prince to raigne ouer vs and loue and obey her that giueth you for iustice mercie and for extremitie lenitie And nowe as her grace doth refraine from that shee may doe so prouoke not her 〈◊〉 to that shee can doe And as I sayde thinke not that her grace can not vse the swoord against you because shee hath not vsed it for if you thinke so you do not onely deceaue your selues but also do much abuse her Maiestie in that you seeme thereby to make her a Prince without powre whereby you are vnwoorthie of the great mercie shee sheweth vnto you What seruant is so foolishe to thinke muche more to say that because his master doeth not beate him for his fault therefore he can not beate him Because the mercifull father doth not beate his sonne for his offence that maketh not that he can not beate him for the same Shall her clemencie and mercie make you thinke in her disabilitie Therefore if any of you thinke so as I beleeue some of you haue said so you are not worthie of such a merciful mistres that vseth you so Thus farre haue I written to this ende in my said booke whereby it appeareth most manifestly that my drift was altogether to she we forth her Maiesties great lenitie and mercie And that shee hath as great powre and authoritie as Q. Marie had to make lawes and to vse the swoorde with seueritie iustice as well as shee as appeareth by the whole circumstaunce of the matter both before and after which you of purpose did not onely leaue out but also did so choppe and chaunge my wordes to discredite me withall that they had neyther good sentence nor sence And this is the verye cause and grounde why I wrote the saide wordes that you 〈◊〉 vnhonestly altered And though you mislike my eloquence yet I hope the indifferent reader will not thinke y t these my argumēts are so fonde and sencelesse and so disorderly couched as you would haue made them beleeue by your wrested and altered words If they marke but your woordes that you wrote in steade of mine and conferre my comparison betweene Queene Marie and her Maiestie with your wordes they may soone see your malicious meaning For where you haue written The papistes crye vpon their Queene Marie and wee crye vpon our Queene Elizabeth I haue no such wordes at all And morouer within sixe of your lines after you haue fathered these wordes vpon me Why then howe can papistes be otherwise but English enemies and extreeme enemies to Englande If I haue any such sentence or woordes I will yeelde vnto you and bee one of the popes Iesuites which to be I woulde be loth You might haue thought me to be a very dolt if I should go about to proue papists to be english enemies because the Queenes maiestie was a kings daughter and a kings sister You your selfe are so cunning in finding out of such mysticall causes that I am not able to compare with you therein for first you made that M. Nicols going from Wales to England and from thence to Flaunders and so to Rome from Rome to the pulpit in the Towre of London was the cause that he was borne at Combridge in Wales Then after you would seeme to proue that I was a musition because I was a rimer and nowe thirdely because you woulde haue me to be a citer of your causes you woulde make your reader beleeue that I prooue that papistes must needes bee extreeme enemies to england because the Queenes Maiestie was king Henries daughter and king Edwards sister But truely you are tried before to bee so cunning and experte in finding out of the causes of thinges that this deepe profound cause y e is alledged for the prouing of papists to be extreeme enemies to england is of your own inuention for they know that my wit is to weake and my learning to light to find out such a mysticall cause It had been enough for Peter 〈◊〉 to haue 〈◊〉 this argument the prouer of the popes powre that saide because Peter paide the tribute money for Christ himself therfore the pope hath authoritie ouer the whole Church of God And because Christ saide to Peter followe thou me and againe launche forth in the deepe and because Peter drew his sword and cut off Malcas eare therefore the pope hath authoritie of the whole Churche of God This had been a fitter argument for him then for mee Also this argument had been more meet for pope Innocent than for me which woulde proue that the Moone being inferiour to the Sunne therefore the Emperour was inferior to the Pope And that the Emperoute is a thousande folde inferior to him because God hath made two lights in heauen Which is the Sunne and the Moone These such like arguments are more meete for Popes then Protestants And now for that you Iesuites are sworn to the pope Therefore this argument that papists are English enemies and extreeme enemies to Englande because Queene Elizabeth is as well a kings daughter and a kings sister as Q. Marie is a more 〈◊〉 argument for a Iesuite then for a 〈◊〉 If the indifferent reader consider mine own words before written he can spie no such thing as you charge mee withal But may 〈◊〉 perceiue that I wrote the same only to proue that y t Queenes maiestie hath as great powre to vse y e sword and to make laws against her obstinate and disobedient subiects as Queene Mary had And that it is as lawfull for her grace to punish and execute her obstinate disobedient subiects as for Queene Marie to punish and execute her louing and harmelesse subiects the professors of the Gospel that obey her with due obedience Therefore it is no great matter for you to proue that I am neither eloquent nor learned if you may chop change my words foist in your own at your plesure as you haue done Tullie was an eloquent writer yet if I shoulde chop and change his works writings putting in leauing out what I list in the same I could make him seeme quickly to haue but small eloquence Plato and Aristotle were learned Philosophers yet I coulde make them seeme vnlearned if I shoulde vse their bookes as I thought good Salamon was the wisest mā that euer was except Christ whose wordes if I shoulde backe and choppe thrust in and pull out what I list as you haue done I coulde make him see me to bee no very wise writer And as it is no great matter for you to say and prooue that a man can not goe when before you haue cut off his legges So it is a verye easie thing for you to make your reader 〈◊〉 that I haue neyther eloquence learning nor wit when you