retract It is not credible that you received as you saie incredible iniurie in the lawfull proceedings against you The Vniversitie censured you not imprisoned you The Colledge for a time discōmoned you not expelled you This small punishmēt no banishment your Cōplaint is the same with m In orat pro sexto Roscio Fimbria in Tully quod non totum tèlum in corpore recepisset you received great iniurie because you were not suffred to doe great iniury But be not deceiued God is not mocked enter into a serious and religious cogitation whether in this course that you are you need not feare the true description of malecontented Apostats I would you were not sutable to them as they be liuely deciphered both by S. n 2. Pet. 2. Peter and S. o Iude. 13. Iude to be presumptuous standing in their owne opinion wandring starres raging waues of the Sea foaming out their owne shame and speaking evill of them which are in authority which a man that maintaineth your third Counsaile of obedience should not doe The scornfull aspertion you cast vpon vs by the byname of Calvinists we neither reiect nor receiue Reverend learned holy Calvin was the greatest glory of the French Church that ever was since he was Hooker praef to his Church Politic. as a famous writer witnesseth And though our Religion seeke neither antiquitie nor authoritie from him nor we denomination or confirmation by him because as the Apostle speaketh we reioice not in men yet wee reverence him because as the same Apostle in the same verse concludeth o 1. Cor. 3.22.23 whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas al are ours we Christs and Christ Gods Mr LEECH Finally my brethren with my honest petition and necessarie counsaile I ioine my harty praiers and teares with them that it would please the author of all goodnes and the God of all truth to powre the abundant riches of his grace into your soules that your vnderstandings may be fully enlightned with his truth and that your wills may be made conformable therevnto in your profession of the holy Catholike faith For which as I now suffer the want of my natiue country so in defence thereof I shall be ready to yeeld vp my life when it shall please my gratious Lord to call mee vnto that honour whereof I am vnworthy Your devoted brother in Christ Humfrey Leech ANSVVER The Epistolary conclusion with a petition and coūsaile we should receiue more willingly if your petition were more honest and your counsell more Evangelicall Your prayers we returne tenfold into your bosome beseeching the Lord that it may please him to free your vnderstanding by truth ab p Albert. in Comp. Theol lib. 5. ignorantia veri to rectifie your will by good a concupiscentia mali and to purge your whole soule by grace ab impotentia boni that your will maie be subiect to his will your life to his seruice not his service to your will and so you may be reduced to the true Apostolique Catholique faith that as you complaine you suffer the want though the wanton want of your natiue Country so you may not endure the want of heavenly Ierusalem your spirituall Country that when you are to appeare at the fatall and finall iudgement among the great and smale when the muffling of conscience shall bee discovered the worme of conscience be not your portiō And that in your pilgrimage here you may rather wash your garments in the blood of the Lambe then in your owne blood so by the teares of a sinner blood of a Sauiour prayers of his Saints on earth you may bee brought againe to this militant Church in the better world receiue a permanent state in his triumphant Church Yours if you be Christs DANIELL PRICE THE PREFACE VNTO the whole discourse Mr LEECH VVHen first I set footing into this present businesse my purpose was not no not in my most secret thoughts to enter into any point of cōtroversie or to giue occasion of offence or dislike vnto any only my resolution was plainely positiuely as the course of my studies had ever bent and carried me to glaunce at a maine point of doctrine it comming but obiter in my way directly warranted nay lineally deduced from the vniforme consent of all ancient times bequeathed vnto vs by the perpetuall tradition and practise of the Church ANSVVER YOu tooke wrong footing in this busines both in secret and in open sight of God men and Angels wherein let me remember you how manie aimes you gaue to this question how desirouslie you entred into it how not onlie in Academicall but Parochiall sermons you taught it how you frequentlie seasoned your inkepot with the Colloquintida of contradiction sometimes openlie somtimes secretlie continuallie full of opposition Wherin as you were not often happie in the choice so not in the successe one beeing the cause of your pastorall remooue in * A most Faire large and ancient towne famous for building and cloathing but more especially for civill government care of Religion detestation of Popery what soeuer is praise worthy Shrewsbury the other the cause of your Academicall censure in Oxford And whereas you saie you meant to giue but a glaunce the purport of your whole sermon of distinguishing great and small a matter of great consequence prosecuted to small purpose sheweth how you did wire-draw a distinction vpon one part of your Text and prosecute especiallie that one point so farre as the howre and your paper could afford and indeed your glaunce so glanced vpon the whole Auditory that some departed others were perplexed all offended therewith Religion so wronged and the Vniversity disgraced by the publike cōtesting of a superstitious supercilious doctrine the consequences whereof are pernicious and dangerous and the question it selfe the verie ground of Monkish life as the Rhemists confesse Annot. Rhē in Nov. Test wherein men flying some occasions of evill they flie all occasions of doing good and prooue drie figge trees withered vines empty sepulchres broken cesternes And whereas you affirme that the position was directlie warranted nay lineallie deduced from the vniforme consent of all ancient times I thinke I may speake of it as a Cael. Rhod. antiq lectionum Rhodogine did of old Images Perierūt cum antiquitate you haue nothing to proue your position to be old but because it is rotten But we deny it as it shall appeare to haue any part of reverend antiquity to countenance it And whereas you affirme your maine point of doctrin to be bequeathed I enquire if bequeathed by what Testament surely neither by the old nor new by what Legacie Neither by the Fathers nor Generall Councels but by tradition you say wherein I may say to you as our b Mark 7.9 Saviour said to the Pharises Well do yee reiect the Cōmanmandements of God that you may obserue your owne traditions And yet for anie Apostolicall tradition to confirme
vnto thee Arise and if you heare not this I ingeminate his speech yet to a third yong man i Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Mr LEECH O what an exchange had this yong man made what an offer did Christ make him what counsell did the wisdome of the father giue him how much doth it now repent him In a word ô how happy had he beene both in body and in soule since he had beene secure of the salvation both of body and of soule and not only secure of that but thesaurū habuisset in coelo his penny had beene of pure gold he had had measure for measure yea aboue measure heauens remuneration heaped vpon him in lieu of Christian perfection if he had parted with himselfe and abandoned the worlds trash to haue partaked with Christ and heauens treasure ANSVVER It had beene a royall exchange if he hereby for riches that are transitory had obtained heauens blisse his soules security I am glad that all your lamp is not leavened that yet you beleeue a man may bee secure and certaine of his salvation which is a point vncertainely delivered among you What meane you by his now repenting Thinke you that he is in hell I doubt not but you may easily know seeing in Rome you haue news every day from hell and purgatory Certainty of salvation howsoever it be opposed by the Iesuits in generall yet k Medina 1. 2 q. 112. art 5. p. 630. Medina averreth that he would haue every beleeuer certainely to hope he shall obtaine eternall life Vega saith l Greg. de Valentia tom 2. pag. 957. Gregory de Valentia holdeth that some spirituall men may be so certaine that they bee in grace that this their assurance shall be without al feare and staggering And m Cathar assert apolog Catharinus holds the same certainty of faith which we teach I might vrge much out of n 3. d. 23. p. 46. Scotus o Par. 3. q. 61. mem 7. art 3. Alexander of Hales p Lib. 3. distin 20. q. 1. art 2. Bacon others whō you claime yours And q Stap. de Iustif pag. 341. Stapleton commeth so nere to the point as that hee professeth thus wee leaue not a sinner hanging in the midst of wavering doubtfulnesse but wee place him in good and firme hope Your penny of pure gold I will not stand to waigh if I should bring it to the ballance of the sanctuary I should find it scarce sense and much lesse Scripture Mr LEECH And yet this being a counsell not a precept it is not enioined as a precept to all but giuen by way of counsaile vnto perfecter men as the Fathers teach And the reason is excellently rendred by S. Gregory the great to be this It is not enioined as a precept to all for then were it sin either to marry or to possesse any of the worldes goods but yet it is counselled vnto men of more holy rancke For these haue an arbitrary and voluntary choice in their things ANSVVER That your owne advocate should giue evidence against you is great disadvantage S. Gregory himselfe calleth it praeceptum a precept not a counsaile I desire all indifferent readers to looke on the 25 Chapter of his 26. booke of Moralls Greg. Mor. lib. 26. where as I saide before you borrowed this distinction there is only the word precept neither counsel nor counselled is there mentioned And in your place vrged but not quoted not found in S. Gregory suppose it were so it may haue a good meaning for that which you call a counsell is nothing but a particular praecept which though it bind not all yet it must bee observed of those who are furnished with gifts and find themselues fitted thereto by Gods spirit Mr LEECH Such were the Apostles and those Apostolicall mē that hauing possessions sold them brought in the mony laid it downe at the Apostles feete ANSVVERE What Apostles did so Indeed Peter and Andrew forsooke their nets Mat. 4.20 a Mat. 9.9 Matthew forsooke his custome Reliquerunt non vēdiderunt saith one b Luk. 19.8 Zaccheus did restore al Luk. 19.8 c Mat. 19.27 The Disciples did forsake all Mat. 19.27 S. d Phil. 3.8 Paule did vilie value all Phil. 3.8 Only the Merchant did sell all Mat. 13.46 But that is but a parable Laert. Plut. Heathens did somewhat in this kinde e Mat. 13.46 Diogenes neglected all Socrates contemned all Crates cast awaie all and yet these were as farre short of the disciples as the Disciples of Angelicall perfection But to the purpose that the Apostles sold all it is not so they sold nothing for they had nothing to sel That the Apostolical mē sold their possessiōs Act. 4.35 Act. 4.35 it is true but it was not by Evangelicall counsaile nor for Angelicall perfection but to supplie the present want of the Church Mr LEECH Such was holy Antony that ancient Monke of Egypt S. Paul the Hermite S. Benedict S. Hierom S. Basil S. Gregory Nazianzen S. Gregory the great S. Bernard and many other Doctors and Fathers the most renowned lights of learning and greatest pillars of the Church ANSVVER For your Catalogue of Saints f Trithem Anthony was no such Monke nor Benedict the former lived in the year 330 the later in the yeare 500. I marvaile not that you make these to be Monkish Counsellors seeing before you haue so reckoned the Apostles themselues You ioine the Saints very vnequally and claime kindred of some that never knew your religion I examine not the sanctitie of some of them but denie all their bils of Sale or if they sold al I hope you wil be accōptable what they did with the mony I acknowledge the reverence of those blessed Fathers S. Hierom S Basil S. Gregorie Nazianzen c. I marvailed why you brought not in S. Francis till I remembred that g Canus loc Theol. l. 11. c. 7. Canus calleth him a lowsie Saint and yet hee instructed a Cade lambe so wel that it would kneele at Masse and the Saint was wont to preach to geese which heard him with devotion Or why remembred you not S. h Baron ano 1208. n. 5. Fulbert a man of Evangelicall perfection who being sicke the virgin Marie came gaue him sucke from heaven Or among many others i Ant. part 3. art 23. c. 1. §. 1 S. Dominicke whō Antoninus maketh the first inventor of Evangelicall Coūsailes Of whom he affirmeth that before he was borne there were two images founde in a church at Venice the one of S. Paul the other of Dominicke on S. Pauls image was written By this man you may come to Christ on Dominickes image But by this easier Antoninus giveth the reason because Paules doctrine led but to faith and keeping of the commādements but Dominicke should teach the observing of Evangelical Counsailes which is the easier way Risum
these two most worthy pillers of the Church were as the flowers of Roses in the spring of the yeere as Lilyes by the fountaines of waters as branches of Frankincense in the time of Sommer as faire Oliues that bee fruitful or Cypres trees that grow to the Clowdes as i Ecclesiast Ecclesiasticus speaketh of others Cyprian for eloquence Austin for dexterity of wit wisedome learning Cyprian was as k Naz. Orat. in Cyprianū Nazianzene reporteth him the great name of Carthage of all the world whose name was famous in all Churches both Heretique and Christian whose name and workes Nazianzene professeth he reverenced more then he did all others and for his eloquence surpassed all other men so farre as other men doe bruit beasts Saint l Epist ad Paulinum de instit monat Ierome calleth him sweet professing that the Lord dwelt in him and m De doct Christ c. 40. Austin calleth him a most sweet Doctor and most blessed Martyr and concludeth of him Tanti meriti tanti pectoris tanti oris tantae virtutis Episcopus And concerning blessed Austin n Epist ad Aug. 31. 37. Paulinus calleth him the salt of the earth a Candle worthy to be set on the candlestick of the Church his mouth like a Conduit pipe of living water a veine of that eternall fountaine o Eras epist praef 1. tom Augustini Erasmus testifieth of him his name being Aurelius Augustinus that the world hath nothing magis aureum vel augustius that there never was a golden name more worthily giuen to any then to him And if I shall reckon Titles giuen to him that is called the perfection of the Fathers the Hammer of Heretiques the Treasure Megasine liuing librarie of learning and infinite his other Titles it would be tedious Nay Iesuits and all kind of Papists afford him such Encomtasticks that never had any Father of the Church so many Looke c Possevin in appar sacr p. 151. 152. Possevin in his Aparatu sacro where he giueth him the greatest and worthiest Titles that ever any Doctor of the Church had and testifieth that by the consecration of the d Synod Florent Florentine Synod he was called Illustrissimus Latinorū Doctorum You see how grosse your comparison is Concerning the approbation of a general Councell there is no such thing directly named in any of the Concilia Toletana being 13 in number The only Councell of all which that mentioneth Gregory is the last of which e Caranza in Epitome Cōciliorum Caranza in the Epitome of Councells giueth this note Nihil habet hoc concilium singulari annotatione dignum Mr LEECH Concilium Tolctan Did it then become M. Doctor Hutton to detract frō the due worth of so great and learned a Saint since I may yet adde this to perfect his praise whatsoever hee was vnto others doubtlesse vnto vs he was an Apostle to speake in the phrase of the Apostle to whom our English nation standeth perpetually obliged for her conversion from Paganisme vnto the Christian faith Beda Eccles hist Angl. lib. 2. cap. 1. ANSVVER Gregory was not our Apostle All histories be against you Britaine had true religion planted here before your Gregory or his Monke Austin were extant It is recorded by your f Baron Ann. 35. num 5. Chronologicall Cardinall that Ioseph of Arimathaea was here g Theod. de curand grec affect lib. 9. Theodoret saith S. Paul h Bar. anno 597. n. 20. Baronius thinketh S Peter i Nic. l. 2. c 40. Nicephorus saith that Simon Zelotes and k Tertul. advers Iudaeos Tertullian l Orig. in Hom. 4. in Esec Origen and other of the most worthy of the Fathers doe affirme that the Gospell was planted here in the time of the Primitiue Church And that you shall not reply that religion was extinguished and afterwards lightned by Gregory I say religion was not extinct at the comming of that proud petty Monke Austin whom hee sent Witnesse m Lib. 1. c. 8. 17. 21. Bede whom you vntruly cite who writeth that before Austins comming the Britaines were troubled with Arrianisme and Pelagianisme but that three French Bishops delivered them And the forger of the three cōversions n Three con par 1. c 9. n. 1 testifieth more that from king Lucius time vntill the comming of Austin which was foure hundred yeeres and more they did not alter their faith but it remained among them when he entred Therefore Gregory converted not our land per se nor per aliū And Austin as impetuous or imperious as he was was but Gregories Curat For Gregory at that time as o Ordo Rom. praef Cassander observeth did change the Lyturgies and service bookes vsed in our westerne parts for which cause it is likely Austin came ouer So that Gregory and Austin converted bookes not soules and therefore were Translators Correctors no Apostolicall Doctors or founders of our Church Mr LEECH But to passe over the praise of this bright shining star in the firmamēt of the Church my reioynder was that this doctrine must first be proved to be erroneous scandalous before any such imputation ought vpō any absolute necessity to be imposed and fastened vpon it since scādall doth arise from errour errour is an approbatiō of that which is false in iudgement and vnderstanding ANSVVER The answer of the Philosopher in p Diog. Laert. in vit Phil. Laertius to one that immoderatly praised him was fit for you Me hic aut ludit aut odit this fellow would procure me to be scorned or hated Your vnmeasurable LASHON of cōmēding Gregory it deserveth no other speech We esteem Gregory to be the best Pope from the yeere about 600 wherein he lived to this present He never held the q Reg. Epist lib. 9. ep 9. supremacy r Lib. 7. ep 69. l. 7. ep 30. merits and other points of Popery and he never taught this Doctrine as you do therefore the error scandal must remaine with you not with him Mr LEECH And as for defending of S. Gregory my opinion then was and now is that the very name it selfe and Authority of this worthy Father ought and would rather amongst all learned and iudicious divines be my iust defence ful dischardge then that his credit should bee so farre called in question as now after a 1000. yeares continuance in the Catholique Church of Christ being generally reputed Orthodox so long to stande in neede of mine or any other mans defence whatsoever ANSVVER The worthines of Gregory is not denyed But that his very name should be sufficient to prescribe against all opposers and to patronize your conceipt it is much doubted Concerning Gregory I thinke of the reading of him as S. ſ Hier. in ep ad Romanum Ierome doth of reading the other Fathers Meum propositum est antiquos legere probare singula retinere quae
that D. Hutton had inhibited me that D. Benefield whose bookes I was not worthy to carry had publikely confuted my doctrine c. with such like frivolous allegations ANSVVER Here to helpe your memory which wandreth as much as your iudgement you forget that vpō your bragge that all the Latine Church held with you D. Aglionbee asked you what was the Church and you receiving a blow where you had no ward were driven so farre out of the way as to affirme the last resolution of the Church to be not in primam veritatem but in the iudgement of men the absurdity of which position I haue dealt with in your Epistle The Vicechancellour seeing such presumptuous insolence ioined with ignorance herevpon remembred you how the inhibition by authority and the confutation of that controversie might haue staid your proceedings and added the due worth of the Doctor who had determined that point in his solemne Lecture Mr LEECH As for D. Hutton his inhibition I answered as before adding farther that I respected not his iudgement in this matter For I knew indeed that as his vnderstāding is not very deepe so his affection is not very good who in a certaine booke or rather statizing pamphlet concerning the crosse in baptisme defendeth this laudable Christian ceremony by tradition of the Church as it is witnessed by the holy Fathers and yet now in a point of greater importance expressed in Scripture taught by Fathers practised by the Saints defined by the whole Church he blushed not to accuse me nay S. Gregory himselfe of Popery in this doctrine But singular is my comfort to consider by what Iudge I am thus vsed in what cause and with what Patrone from whom our Nation first receiued her first faith for whose faith I must now forsake my nation ANSVVERE You leaue the answer of your neglect of D. Huttons gouernement and traduce his iudgement Inhibition is matter of authority not of learning why disobeyed you that command you answere but not to the purpose you respected not his iudgement Let not malice be iudge but cōsider how base infamous malitious your reproaches be his soūdnes of iudgment is approved sufficiently by the consent of our whole Vniversity And that booke which so scornfully you reproach is esteemed deservingly and is of reverend respect with the best Bishops of our Church Where the Fathers agreeing to Scripture are truly vrged and vnderstandingly interpreted both D. Hutton and all of our part with all willingnesse receiue their assertions But when Fathers are misvrged arrested and impostured by Coccius or Bellarmin and you receiue them at second hand not from the foūtaine but from the ditches we returne your party-coloured blended sentences as vnworthy of approbation because they be vsed as the Tyrant entertained his guest if to long for his bed to chop of if to short to racke them out The doctrine which you call a point of great importance expressed in Scripture taught by Fathers practised by the Saints and defined by the whole Church is not so founded as you presume to teach Scriptures no where expresse it Fathers teach it not the Saints of God haue not practised it the Church of Christ hath not defined it Therefore he only accused you of Popery but not Gregory For as formerly hath beene said D. Hutton and all any way seene in Gregories Moralls may perceiue how you foist into the Text the words Evangelicall Counsells Your comfort will proue your corrasiue your Iudge in this was God others were but his deputies the cause was religiō nay the very marrow pith of Religion and the opposition of many absurd hereticall positions Your Patron was not Gregory hee neither taught you this nor from him our Church received their first faith Neither for defending this were you cōstrained to leaue the Land you forsooke your Religion rather then your Nation Vegetius tells that in the Roman Armies Vegetius Non fugere was a speciall precept The way for you to Triumph had beene to recant and to remaine in your station not to fly Bosquiers speech is true Bonsq cont 7 the Devill is overcome by resisting but the flesh and the world by running away but you fled because you would run into the world Mr LEECH As for D. Benefield with his lecture his bookes I passed them over considering that M. Vicechancellour made excursions from the point loading me only with contumely and disgrace ANSVVER You passed him ouer because he doth so far overpasse you but he is in your bosome his Lecture lyeth heavy on your heart it is such a pang that you will not easily remoue The Vicechancellour loading you as you call it with disgrace knewe you had a back provided for a burthen If his speech seeme harsh to you you turned his tongue being turned your selfe Otherwise his tongue is the hearauld of encouragement and comfort himselfe the refuge of innocencie a Tutor to his Colledge and a father to the Clergy in his Accademicall governement Mr LEECH Wherefore not suffering him to divert mee from the maine issue Haeretici est praecepta Patrum declinare saith worthy Flavian in his first epist to LEO the great I desired him to deale punctually that is to say first to admit a triall by the Fathers or to deny it if he denied it he should be thereby sufficiently convinced Secondly if he admitted this triall then either to disproue my authorities or to approue my doctrine ANSVVER To deale punctually is so proper vnto all his discourses that all his Auditors will acknowledge this a speciall felicity in the power of his speech Your demands were preposterous in your Epistle you commit your selfe to the censure of the Church now to the triall of the Fathers no appeale at all to the Scriptures without which whatsoever is taught is like Israells building in Aegypt without stuffe no warrant for the matter they build with Mr LEECH But he not daring to make a briefe and punctuall answer to my reasonable demands fell extravagantly into a mention of the reformed Churches summoning me before their tribunall for the censuring of this doctrine ANSVVER Not daring Why continueth this Bracchadochian humor it hath long beene in the consumption it will at length spend it selfe What dareth not he that vndertakes without rashnes and performes without feare did ever your experience finde him to be a read shaken with the winde or to want the sinewes of courage and resolution No you knowe hee is ballaced with wisedome and worth able to vndertake the most resolute and vndauntedest of the contrary side in the worlde Neither in this was there the least note of extravancie as your exorbitancie of accusation doth impute for by whom should a minister of the reformed Churches bee censured but by the power iudgement of the reformed Churches Mr LEECH Which course of proceeding I vtterly disclaimed as vnequall because the later Church is not to iudge the former but contrarily the former
Vincentius rule is twice already interpreted and without any further answer to your clamarous repetitions interrogations You received not this point iointly from the fathers The Latin fathers how ever they retaine vpon mistake of S. Paul the word Counsel yet haue no part of your meaning the Greeke are so far from your meaning that they had not so much as the word They therfore that impugne your doctrin do it not vntruly or vnconscionably nor haue condēned you as a brother a graduat or a Minister but because you were a false brother and betraied truth and in your degrees like the Sun that went many degrees backward that in your ministry you were disobediēt you were no better then a Minister of Sathan to buffet the eares of Gods servantes with heresies and in a stubborne opposition contradiction you did repugne Authority and orders stoode out against the Iudges and Magistrates that confuted and censured you And how could you professe such reverence to the fathers you knew not when you were so opposite to your natural fathers as this is your Country Academicall fathers as this is your Vniversity spiritual fathers as this is Aust 48. epist your Church We answer your Patriarke with Saint Austin in his 48. epistle Audi dicit Dominus non dicit Donatus aut Rogatus aut Vincentius aut Hilarius aut Ambrosius aut Augustinus sed dicit Dominus We honor the fathers and where they bring Dicit dominus our eares and harts be open to entertaine them And as S. Austin vsing the same words which your Patriarch doth both vsing the words of Scripture Haereticū devita so this is my 9. irrefragable position to avoid that Religion which claimeth but hath no Antiquitie and only hath though it confesseth it not the most absurd and ridiculous Novelty for mainetenance of their positions Mr LEECH The tenth Motiue The Protestants for want of better meanes to convince the Catholiques propose vnto them questions of capitall daunger I haue often heard the Catholiques cōplaine that where as they are persecuted for righteousnes sake for their Religion yet they are traduced with the crime of obstinacy disobedience treason and such like odious imputations But aboue the rest their iust griefe arising from vniust vexations did seeme to deserue great compassion forasmuch as their life and liuelyhood is alwaies in the mercie of a most vnmercifull law touching Reconciliation and the Supremacie matters of high and capitall nature Touching the later of these two I can say more Doctor Aray because the bloudy hart of a Calvinist did seeke my ruine and subversion thereby For whereas in my sermons I continually gaue this stile vnto his excellent Maiestie viz in all causes and aboue al persons for iustice and iudgmēt supreme Head and Governour the Calvinist suspecting me not to stand throughly affected to the kings Supremacy according to the purport of the law whereby his Maiestie hath as much spirituall Iurisdiction as ever the Pope de facto had in England and 26. Henr. 8. chap. I. I. Edward 6.1 Elizab. See these things excellently discoursed by a Cath. divine against the 5. part of Sir Ed. Cookes Reportes by vertue of his saide supremacie power of Excommunication is graunted by the Lord Chancellour vnto the Delegates vpon Appeales from the Archbishop of Canterbury his courts wished M. Vicechancellour to examine me vpon this point and to require my opinion therein Which severity though it was then declined yet if that other Calvinist had beene in office as lately he was al mē may easily conceiue into what extremity of perill I had beene cast For though I ever did and shall attribute that right vnto his Maiestie which by the law temporal not dissenting frō law divine is annexed vnto his imperiall crown yet I must confesse that I did purposely moderate his title of Supremacie as the law hath established it because I alwaies conceived that the stile of Defensor fidei given vnto the Crowne of England by the Pope did more properly belong vnto him then the other which was translated from the Pope vnto the Crowne by the violence of a King and by the flattery of his subiects And if Doctor Airay had made a cōscience of his Masters iudgement he would rather haue condescended vnto the equity of my opinion then sought to draw my life into the certainety of such a danger But these men are so possessed with malice and adulation that they rather desire to satisfie their owne passions and to winne favour from their Superiours then to speak or doe according to the truth which pleadeth for it selfe within their corrupt hearts and dayly accuseth them before the throne of greatest iustice ANSVVER MAny complaine without a cause as the ful bellied Monks so fatte that they coulde scarsely breath yet cry Heu quāta patimur pro Christo The Protestants never persecuted your Religion but for the vnrighteousnes therof The mulct was inflicted for Popish opinion but execution never was threatned for Religion The oath of supremacy required is not as you treacherously cal it a most vnmercifull law if it were not required it were an vnwise vniust mercy Your accusation so vncharitable as to tearme him bloody who in his governement hath beene meeke as Moses nay in heavy iniuries cast vpō him hath beene as meeke as a Lambe and not opened his mouth I would you were as farre from bloodthirsting as his hart was frō the desire of your bloodshedding But if you remember the particulars as they bee discussed in my answer Pag. 262. it was most seasonable to sound how you stood affected to the kings Maiesty when you denied your faith and appealed from your Church The rather because in your Prayer you often left out the words supreame Head and Governor For howsoever you infer that you vsed all that belongeth to the Supremacie in acknowledging his most excellent Maiesty to be supreame Head and Governour in all causes and aboue all persons for iustice and iudgement yet seeing in the forme of the oath prescribed vnto al you were in particular bound vtterly to testifie declare in your Conscience that the Kings Highnesse is the only supreame Gouernor of this Realme and of all other his Highnesse dominions and countries as well in spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or causes as Tēporall you ought for the avoidance of this suspition to haue spoken cleerely and plainely I knowe there be some that vse such manner of speech in their publike prayers for his Maiestie yet their forme is much more consonant to the required forme then yours is And howsoeuer Salomon was placed on his throne for iustice and iudgement as the Queene of Sheba told him and Doctor Raynolds in the end of the Preface to Harts Conference 1. Reg. 10.9 affirmeth that the Lords Annointed are the higher powers ordained to execute iustice and iudgement yet ever these words haue beene interpreted to containe not only ius Politicum