vnder his Father and Grand-father and for their affections declining to Idolatrie and not truly esteeming the blessings in Iosiah their king powred vpon them the Lord threatneth to bring euill vpon that place and the Inhabitants thereof Which he did by suffering Iosiah to be slaine by the souldiours of the king of Egypt and within few yeares after his death selling his owne people into the hands of the idolatrous Babilonians For as darknesse naturally followeth light and night the day so do great punishments accompanie rare blessings when they are not duely esteemed as they ought Blessed was Ierusalem by the testimonie of the Lords owne mouth when he said My beloued had a Vineyard in a very fruitfull hill and he hedged it gathered out the stones of it and he planted it with the best plants and built a Tower in the middest thereof and made a wine-presse therein But when he looked for grapes and it brought forth wild-grapes the Lord threatned from the height of this blessed estate to cast them into the gulfe of miserie to take away the hedge from his Vineyard that it might be eaten vp and breake downe the wall thereof that it might be troden downe c. The Lord hath not therefore been lesse beneficiall to vs in placing so gracious an head vpon the bodie of this Realme because you and some such as your selfe are doe yet remaine to God ingrate and to your Prince and Countrey vnnaturall Onely I beseech God that whereas by his appointment the Oliue is yet ouer vs with her fatnes and the Figge with her sweetnes and the Vine with her fruitfulries that amongst many other sinnes of our land for our vngratefull contempt of so great a blessing a Bramble be not set ouer vs which is good for nothing but to burne and consume vs and so much concerning my supposed contradiction Now Sir N. D. it is your pleasure to heare my manner of speech in these words If I should take vpon me to enter into the enumeration of all the benefits and blessings that from the Almightie haue beene powred vpon this little Iland of England c. And hauing thus vnperfectly repeated them you passe the ouer with this sleight exception saying That in mentioning our little Iland I must take Scotland with me else I erre in Cosmographie as though England were not deuided in gouernment from Scotland though both rest vpon one continent and as though your selfe did not tearme this Realme an Iland euen where you do distinguish it from Scotland Therefore Nodum in scirpo quaeris and to this shift you are put very often for want of matter But if seemeth that Scotland was named here by you chiefly to make way for your purpose to giue a glaunce at battels murders destruction of Countries Prouinces Townes Cities Houses and particular men that haue beene in Scotland within these fortie yeares as though Scotland had neuer tasted these or any of these before and then you come in with Ireland wherein you seeme to bewaile the death of the noble Desmons whose treasons yet liue by succession in one of the same name who it is said wrote â— treason full letter stuffed with most intolerable opprobries and slaunders against her Maiestie and the state to the King of Spaine And this I hope is no great proofe of your sonâ—dnes to Queen or State France and Flaunders follow to fill vp the number But had you any respect of truth or care of modestie you would neuer haue made the true Religion wee professe the cause of murders tumults and garboyles which teacheth dutifull obedience and condemneth all mutinies seditions and rebellions You should do well to haue told vs who murdered the King the Lord Iames the Lord Russell in Scotland In France who murdered the Prince of Conde after he was taken prisoner which I thinke the law of Armes will not well beare Likewise who they were that laidâ— bloudy hands vpon the Admiral Chattilion being first shot in with a Pistoll with three bullets in the streetes and afterwards slaine in his chamber And so of Marlâ—ret slaine in his garden and of the famous learned man Ramus who hauing paid monie to ransome his life was beyond all humanitâ—e most cruelly quelled And generally who were the Authors not onely of the bloudie massacre in Paris but also of the like vprores in other Cities and quarters of the Realme principally at Lyons Orleans Roan Tolouse in which Cities within the space of one moneth there are numbred at the least thirtie thousand godly Protestants to be slaine your holy father at Rome to shew with what spirit he is led and with what meanes he sticketh to maintaine his Religion which otherwise would fall to the ground so soone as he heard of this bloudie tragedie maketh great ioy with his Cardinals with their procession with their gunshot and singing Te Deum Yea in honour of that Act proclayming a Iubile with great indulgence and solemnitie For Flaunders tell vs who murdered the noble Prince of Orange against whom it was proclaimed that who soeuer could bring him aliue or dead or slaie him should haue fiue and twentie thousand crownes You shall finde that such a Catholike-faith as yours is hath still sought to maintaine it selfe by such Catholike means as these are treasons tumults seditions secret murders and such like As for our true Christian Religion it is so cause of tumults garboyles and murders as Christes birth was of the murther of the poore infants in which neither Christ nor the infants ought offended the madnes was in Herod and all Ierusalem to be for this cause in an vprore In a word it is Herods Religion which seeketh to murther Christ and the Christes and annoynted of the Lord. I proceed to your aduertisement for a better direction to mens iudgements that all blessings of a Common-wealth may be reduced to two heades the one spirituall belonging to the soule and conscience the other temporall concerning the bodie and weale publike and that the Lord hath richly blessed this land since her Maiesties Raigne I doubt not to proue to all that haue iudgement and indifferency following your owne methode And first there hath beene in England since this happie alteration change from popish superstition to Christian veritie One God worshipped in spirit and truth one faith one belief one forme of seruice in praier and praises to God one number of Sacraments which are onely two by the word of God one head of the Church which is Christ the Lord as the holy Ghost testifieth by the Apostle Him hath God appointed to be the head of the Church And his substitute annointed appointed ouer vs is our Soueraigne and Queene who is to commaund and be obeyed in Christ and for Christ in all causes aswell ecclesiasticall as ciuill and not your proud vsurping Priest at Rome and if you can like to looke vpon the harmonie of confessions you shall find all the
I lai◠〈◊〉 in my former booke and for this am I fiercely assaulted by this fâ—â—ous Romanist in his vntemperate Ward-word but wâ—â—â—eâ— in discouering or he in defending deserue more blame I leaue gentle Reader to thy wise and indifferent iudgement The violence of the Puritane spirit is added by him for a reason why he is prouoked by me by which words for all his difference made betweene Protestant and Puritane both of them are apparantly knowne to professe Christ Iesus crucified in religion and in true Christian pollicie to condemne Subiects that shall denie or breake their oath of fealtie and alleageance to their Soueraigne for the pleasing of any earthly power or Potentate whatsoeuer and not to fauour eyther Prince or Pope that shall vsurpingly challenge our Soueraignes princely titles from her or ambitiously seeke by inuasion to dispossesse her of her kingdome or trecherously practise by violence or any waies else to depriue her of life so that though he disioyne vs in tearmes and names yet he shall assuredlie finde wee all ioyne in condemning disloyaltie in subiects ambition in forraine Princes and Potentates and trecherie and treason in any of them all against the State and person of the Lords annoynted and of this number that carrie this minde I professe my selfe most willingly and gladly to be one This Encounterer seemeth to glorie that the yeares of her Maiestie growe on fast but the God of mercie I trust will prolong her daies to the holding out stil of the Popes vsurped authoritie and superstitious doctrine to the suppressing of traitours and treasons and to the daunting and ouerthrow of any that shall attempt by fraud or force to bring in or maintaine either for from these onely come the garboyles by which our State hath beene disquieted and our Soueraigne endangered and from these â—â—gers the Lord of might and mercie preserue her still â—â—â—â—fore gentle Reader you may see that neither Sir Francis nor any Protestant nor Puritane are fit subiects for this seditious fellow to worke vpon to set on foote his desired garboyles as this Machiuilian witted Romanist seemeth propound but most iniuriously to put his owne and his adherents traiterous practises out of memory which are so plentifull in number and so manifest in fact as they can neuer be forgotten After all this he layeth extreame flatterie to my charge both of the State and her Maiesties person in particular which extreame charge of his for he is all in his extreames because it is redoubled vpon me giue me leaue to referre thee gentle Reader to my answere thereunto in my resistance to his first Encounter only where he termeth this flattery by him supposed against me to be a fit bait for such hooks as angle after popular fauour for a further fetch my popularity onely consisteth in this to haue loyalty stand sound and vpright and all trechery and treason suppressed But if it please thee Christian Reader to obserue well this Gentlemans smooth Remitter to the Lords after his thundring Encounters against me with his fawning perswasion of peace and crouching sute for tolleration or alteration of Religion which before I affirme to be the first matter in his intention and iustly call the ruine of our Church and Common-wealth thou wilt easely perceiue what baytes he hookes withall and what good he angles after vnder the sugred and sweet names of peace vnity wheras the good of our peace standeth vpon a good peace vnlesse our peace may be free from present and plaine danger it can promise little present or future good and for his vnitie if it be vnity in veritie as his is not â—eligious Christian man can or will refuse it but praise 〈◊〉 for it and if our vnthankfulnes bereaue vs not of it we enioy that already by and vnder her Maiestie with great comfort and both of her and it would this masked Romanist most gladly see vs depriued Notwithstanding all his fawning and crouching to the Honourable Lords in his Remitter their wisedomes I doubt not will easely finde out this subtile Synons intention who shameth not with a brasen face to seeke to bring in his brasen horse loaden with armed calamities for Englands ruine I haue vndertaken this Popish Champion not with any purpose to follow him in his vaine of rayling for therein I finde him not matchable nor hauing a disposition or desire to be stirring in matter of this nature being more fit to be dealt in by men qualified with farre greater giftes of learning and art then I am but being called as it were into the field by him I haue aduentured vpon the height of his swelling pride and haue shaped him a plaine and sound answere to all the materiall points culled out of my former booke excepted against by him in which how vainegloriously soeuer this proud Encounterer promiseth to himselfe victorie I hope Christian Reader thou shalt find me fully cleared and freed from the force and fury of his false imputations and byting blowes and him directly proued a blind superstitious Papist in Religion a false hearted subiect to his Soueraigne and a man wholy degenerate from the honest affection of a true Englishman And this being performed and finished which I held my selfe bound in duty to doe for thy satisfying and mine owne credit my full resolution is not to toyle any more by contending with such rayling and wrangling spirits And so returning all his vniust imputations against me with his tearmes of fictions and calumniations set downe in the end of his Epistle to himselfe from whom they came I leaue the scope and ende of vs both to be found out by thy Christian wisedome and the carriage of vs both to be censured as in the vprightnesse of thy iudgemenâ— thou shalt finde we deserue To our good God I commend thee and will now hasten to ioyne the combate with this proud Romanist touching his Encounters seuerally and as shortly as possibly I can By him that wisheth your blessed proceeding in the profession of Christ his truth and Gospell FRANCIS HASTINGS AN APOLOGIE OR DEFENCE OF THE WATCH-VVORD Resistance to the first Encounter about the manifold blessings from God through her Maiesties happie Raigne powred vpon this Land THough my intent is not to make answere eyther to the immodest raylings or friuolous exceptions or vagrant excursions of this Encounterer but onely to set downe a short defence of my speeches by him impugned because my state of health and disposition of my bodie will not beare to write volumes yet because both in the entrance of this Libell and in other places of his processe he doth so hainously charge me with the odious crime of flatterie which I hate naturally as a badge of a base mind much more through Christian knowledge as most contrarie thereto I haue thought it not amisse to shape a short answerâ— vnto it In suspition of heresie Ierome as Bishop Iuell alleadgeth would haue no man to be patient
to giue ouer their olde impudent proposition That ignorance of the Scriptures is the mother of Popish deuotion For what meant the so strict forbidding to laye men the reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue but that their deuotion should not growe of the knowledge but of the ignorance of the Scriptures flat contrarie to our Sauiours commandement giuen to the vnlearned multitude of the Iewes Search the Scriptures for in them you thinke to haue eternall life and they are they that testifie of me where the reason annexed to the Commandement sheweth to whom the Commaundement appertaineth euen to as many as it concerneth to seeke after eternall life and to know Iesus Christ and him crucified which is the laytie no lesse then the Cleargie contrarie also to the Apostles exhortation to the Colossians being laye men Let the word of Christ dwell plenteously in you Whereupon Chrisostome noteth Audite seculares omnes comparate vobis biblia animae Pharmaca c. Heare you secular or laye men euery one get vnto you Bibles the Phisicke of your Soule if you will nothing else at the least get you Testaments the epistles of Paul the Gospels the Actes to be daily and diligent instructors to you In a word contrarie to the spirite of the same Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes who reproueth them that they were like vnto Children and vnexpert in the word of righteousnes whereas they ought to haue their wits exercised therein But ignorance of the Scriptures better pleaseth you in the people and shall leade them to such deuotion as maketh more for your aduantage Hence hath growne your deuice of fides Implicita a faith wrapped and folded vnder the obedience of the Church namely that it is sufficient though they knowe not distinctly what they ought to beleeue but obediently submit their vnderstanding to the Church beleeuing as the Church beleeueth though what the Church beleeueth they knowe not This Carbonaria fides is highly commended by Cardinall Hossius who farther teacheth the simple laye man that he should thinke it went very well with him if he could say by heart the Lords praier the Articles of beliefe and the ten Commaundements though he knew not the meaning of the words As for other knowledge if any asked him a question hee should answere that hee did beleeue the Catholike Church And this ignorance of the Scriptures as a fruitfull mother hath brought forth many a blinde daughter of gainfull deuotion to your kitchin what greater deuotion was either then esteemed to be or indeed what acte more for your aduantage then the building of Monasteries and Nunneries and the endowing them with great lands and reuenues And this deuoute daughter mother Ignorance of the Scriptures brought forth which as for the most part they were builded by Kings and great States vpon some great murder either by wane in the field or priuately committed at home so the cause was as in stories may be seene Pro remedio animae meae pro remissione redemptione peccatorum meorum c. For the reliefe of my soule for the redemption and forgiuenes of my sinnes c. Which blasphemous derogation to the death and passion of Christ Iesus the knowledge of the Scriptures would haue quicklie discouered Yea how Deuotion hath been separated from knowledge not in your laye people alone but in your Priests too whilest deuotion hath been so tyed to their daily saying of their Maâ—tins and euensong which without deadly sinne they may not leaue vnsayd whiles in the meane time they vtterly cast aside the Apostles commaundement Giue attendance to reading exhortation and doctrine in the answer of Iohn Lambert to the 25. Article to him obiected may partly appeare I will onely adde this one testimonie that by the confession of some of your owne coate which haue made any conscience of their carriageâ— may appeare how carefullie your deuoutest Fryers haue been to couple knowledge with their imagined deuotion Franciscus Sampson generall of the order of the Friers Franciscans reprouing both their ignorance and carelesnes hath these words Pratres mei dilectissimi à primordio nostrae Religionis floruit conscientia c. My beloued brethren in the beginning of our Religion there flourished conscience but our beauty by little little sliding away the first sillable was taken away and there remained Scientia science or knowledge but now our sinnes so deseruing the first sillable is againe taken away and we remaine Pura entia stipites statuae meere things which haue a being euen very stockes and blockes To adde further proofe in a case so manifest were to light a candle at noone day yet this I will adde ex abundanti If publike praier in the Church and congregation of the faithfull be a chiefe and principall part of Deuotion made you not Ignorance the mother of their Deuotion when as ye would not allow their publike praiers in a tongue that the people vnderstoode Yea your Cardinall Hossius vseth this reason to proue that the Church seruice should be in the Latine tongue rather then the vulgar because saith he since some vsed the vulgar and knowne tongue in Church seruice Deuotion hath not onely not been increased but diminished And our Countrey man but the Popes Champion D. Stapleton in an English booke that he writeth against Bishop Iuel confidently affirmeth that Deuotion is not furthered but hindered by a tongue that is vnderstoode In a word D. Cole Deane of Paules and one chosen not onely to maintaine the Papists assertions against the Protestants in the disputation at Westminster but appointed by the Bishops and other his Colleagues to be the mouth for them all whose speech in the end they all being asked did auow to be the mind and saying of them all euen he in that honorable assemblie of the Councell and Nobles and frequent concourse of the Commons did with great vehemencie maintaine this proposition in these words I say Ignorance is the mother of Deuotion And so Sir Encounterer you must be forced to take it both for a maxime minime though minimè tibi placet to confesse a truth The second fayned position wherewith it pleaseth this deepe Clerke to charge me is because I say your Syde holdeth that it is not for lay men to meddle in matters of Religion c. And for this after your olde railing fashion you charge me with subtiltie and impudencie my subtiltie you say I shew in this word meddle which may either signifie that lay men must not determine or define of matters of Religion or else not to meddle or care for Religion at all And surely Sir though I may giue you good leaue to take it in which fence you will for in the former sence you will not deny but that euen Princes are restrained to doe any thing in causes of Religion within their own dominions without
King of a great part of his Subiects and in the Realme doth gleane out another Realme to himselfe yea challengeth to haue power to depose the Prince Againe the auncient Lawes of the Realme were hereby made to stand for cyphers the Lawes of the Realme will haue a Priest for debt to bee sued before a temporall Iudge but the Popes Lawe commeth and crieth the contrarie Patrones by the Lawes of the Realme should giue Benefices but the Popes Lawe setteth them besides All the dangerous consequences threatned to this Realme by that match it is not my purpose to set downe I will onelie adde a fewe verses made long since concerning that marriage by which the Reader may partlie see what is to be iudged of it Regi non Regi nupsit non nupserat Angla est Non Angla est grauida est non grauida est grauius est Parturit atque parit sic vos voluistis ouantes Nil tamen illa parit sic voluit dominus Duxerat ad paucos menses mox deserit idem Sponsa est mox vidua est sic voluit Dominus Irrita frustrentur semper sic vota malorum Perniciem patriae qui voluere suae A King she matcht yet not a King scant doe her married call English she is not English yet great not with childe at all She breedes and beareth in her wombe as ye triumph and braue Yet brings no childe into the world euen so the Lord would haue Philip a few moneths married her then leaues her with great speede A wife she is a widow straight the Lord had so decreed Euen so confounded be th' attempts of wicked Papists all Which of their natiue Countrie seele the ruine and the fall Now I come to the great fume and chafe of this hot Encounterer for that I say the Recusants cannot professe more loue and loyaltie to the Queene that now is then did Gardiner Boner and Tunstal to her noble Father and Brother which they did confirme by Printed bookes for Gardiner in his booke de vera obedientia c. where like a graue States-man and another Nestor hee takes vpon him to taxe mee either with ignorance in the matters of our owne Realme or with forwardnes to tell vntruthes His allegations are two the first that Gardiners booke de vera obedientia was written for feare of the Kings violent proceeding or not being well instructed perhaps in the controuersie of the Supremacie and that shaken with the frailtie of humane infirmitie hee shrunke with Saint Peter But he may remember that first Gardiner with sundrie others did take a voluntarie and solemne oath against the Pope as by the copie thereof yet extant may appeare wherein he sweareth purely of his owne voluntarie accord and absolutelie in the word of a Bishop c. Then he stayeth not heare but writeth his booke de vera obedientia for the Kings and against the Popes Supremacie which hee professeth to doe with long and mature deliberation and Boner in his preface before that booke perswadeth the reader to esteeme Gardiners censure and authoritie to be of more weightie credence in as much as the matter was not rashlie and at all aduentures but with iudgement and wisedome examined and discussed saying that a man may rightly call him Fabius that with his aduised taking of leasure restored the matter The second allegation is that for King Edwards Raigne it is a flat fable and fiction that I tell of Bishop Gardiners following the sway also of that time Gentle Sir Encounterer did not Gardiner againe in the Raigne of King Edward take a solemne oath against the Popes vsurped authoritie and subscribed to the Kings lawfull Supremacie 〈◊〉 in causes Ecclesiasticall within his owne Realme Yea did he not before King Edward flatlie preach against the Popes Supremacie as also against Images Ceremonies Munkeries Chauntries c. Therefore doe no more blasphemouslie compare Saint Peterâ— fall to Gardiners dissimillationâ— Saint Peter denied vpon the suddenâ— and within few houres 〈◊〉 Gardiner sware solemnly preached publikelie and wrote vpon long and aduised 〈◊〉 and so continued many yeares till 〈…〉 authoritie 〈◊〉 another course Concerning his sermon made at Paules Crosse vpon this text surgereâ— It is time for vs now to arise from 〈◊〉 I shall neede little to answere because it 〈◊〉 concerneth my former booke but how firâ—â—e soeuer your wisdomâ— thinketh that the time since King Henrie shaking of the Popes tirannie might be compared to a sleepe and the resuming of the Pope withall his wares to be an awaking yet what more like might then Poperie and the liuing 〈◊〉 vnto a sleepeâ—â— For as darkenes coâ—ereth all things in the night and men cannot walke safelie for want of light so Ignorance preuaileth in Popâ—â—â—e and the people are misled therein so that they cannot see which way they ought to walke because they are not permitted to exercise themselues in the Word which is a lanterne to our feete and a light vnto our steps and as in sleepe the hungrie man dreameth that he careth but when he awaketh his soule is emptie so in Poperâ—e the people being fed with mens traditions thinke themselues in good plight but when they are truelie wakened as Ionah by Gods spirite they perceiue that they were hunger-starued for want of the true foode of their soule the word of God In stead of all which large comparison of those times of King Henrie and King Edward to a sleepe and commending the Bishops wisdome for the choice of so fit a text I will set by way of opposition another euigilate or caueat to awake made to the Pope and his Clergie long before the profounde Sermon of this youâ—â— Bishop euen in the time of Henrie the fourth called the A.B.C. AWake ye ghostlie persons awake awake Both Priest Pope Bishop and Cardinall Consider wiselie what waies that ye take Daungerouslie being like to haue a fall Euery where the mischiefe of you all Farre and neere breaketh out very fast God will needes be reuenged at the last How long haue ye the world captiued In sore bondage of mens traditions Kings and Emperours you haue depriued Lewdly vsurping their chiefe possessions Much miserie you make in all Regions Now your fraudes be almost at the last cast Of God sure to be reuenged at last Poore people to oppresse you haue no shame Quaking for feare of your bloudie tyrannie Rightfull Iustice you haue put out of frame Seeking the lust of your God the Bellie Therefore â—â—dâ—re you holdlie ceâ—tifie Very little though you be thereof agast Yet God will be reuenged at the last But to looke backe a little vpon this famous Sermon in the long narratioÌ„ that you set down by occasion of this Sermon I must examine some few points wherin either this Proctor belieth the Bishop or the Bishop the King And first if it be true that he affirmeth that King Henrie the eight appointed Gardiner to be one of the sixteene Counsellors in his
sinfull man equall with God for Gods will is the Rule of Iustice and God doth not commaund things because in themselues they are good but they are therefore good and lawfull because he commaundeth them so that if God commaund Abraham to kill his owne sonne he must yeeld simplie obedience and be content to doe so but it is high sacriledge for any man to vsurpe this piuiledge of God all men may and oftentimes doe erre So that we may not thinke any thing lawfull to be done because our superiours commaund it but we must examine all their commaundements whether they be consonant to the reuealed will of God which is the Rule to trie right and wrong good and euill Cicero an heathen man and ledde onely by the light of nature condemneth as most wicked the resolution of Blasius who professed that he so highly esteemed Gracchus that he held himselfe bound to doe whatsoeuer he badde him who being asked as before is noted whether if he should bidde him set the Capitole on fire answered he would neuer bid me do so but if he would I would haue done it But I say to omit this blasphemie is it obscure by the example set downe in this vow if Iesus Christ should commaund to go kill they must doe so whereto this sect tendeth If Christ commaund to kill we must doe so they must acknowledge Christ to be present in their superiours and yeeld obedience to them as to Christ If then the superiours please for the enlarging of the Spaniards territories or for other reasons pleasing themselues to commaund to kill where is the safetie of Princes liues The Iesuites are sworne men to stirre Rebellion yea and to execute murther vpon Princes if their superiours bid them Is not the Princes safetie made to hang vpon the slender twine-threed of the fauour and good liking of the superiours of this sect And do not the Punies teach to our English Papists for a point of faith in their cases of Conscience that the Queene is no longer to be obeied as our lawfull Soueraigne if the Pope depose her Therefore leauing your Iesuites branded with Cains bloudie worke which is proued not by my words but by their owne out of their speciall vow and by their many bloudie practises I wish that as England breedeth no Wolues and Ireland will beare no Snakes venemous Serpents so these two kingdomes may neuer harbor or foster Iesuites who pretend the sweet name of Iesus and come in sheeps cloathing but inwardlie are rauening wolues and as serpents doe hisse into the eares of Subiectes sedition and rebellion against their lawfull Soueraignes As for Parsons because I obiected not against him any speciall or personall matter but the generall imputation of English Iesuites I will in that generall conclude him without spending any more words about his person Resistance to the sixt Encounter about Recusants TRue is the saying of Tully Qui semel modestiae limites transilijt c. He that hath once broken the bounds of modestie must be lustily and outragiously impudent so fareth it with this masked and disguised companion who being vizoured cannot blush he hath runne a strange veine of immodest and impudent rayling in the whole course of his processe in which praise he passeth all that euer I haue read but in this Encounter he is outragious and doth here ouercome himselfe He hath left no corner of his wit vnsought how he might calumniate and slander me he termeth me an Herodian without conscience and readie to pawne my soule for pleasing the Prince and State He chargeth me with a diuellish and detestable disposition against Catholikes that either I haue plaied the part of Iudas to betray and take them or of Caiphas to condemne and afflict them And not content herewith because happely he knoweth no step of anie bloudy action can be shewed in me that I euer whipped stocked fettered or sought to bring any to death yea when one Hanse a Priest was by authoritie committed to me it is well knowne I vsed him withall humanitie and courtesie letting him fare no worse then my selfe and lodge as might haue seemed a better man then himselfe he chargeth not onely my selfe but also my honourable brother that dead is with a supposall of wishes against her Maiesties safetie hauing perfectlie learned the olde lesson of the schoolemaster of rayling Calumniare audacter c. Rayle and slaunder boldlie for though the wound may be cured yet a blemish or scarre will remain But it is well written of Plinie that the nature of the Loadstone is to draw Iron to it but an Adamant set against it doth withstand it that it cannot draw so though this intemperate vnbridled tongue would draw vpon me ignominie reproach and hatred yet against all his calumniations I will oppose the cleerenes and freedome of a good conscience and that shal be as a fenced Tower and wall of Brasse to breake and blunt the forces of all the sharpe arrowes that this vnrulie tongue hath or shall shoote against me And so bequeathing all his rayling in his whole libell to the diuell from whence it proceeded as Saint Iames teacheth vs speaking of such a tongue as his that it setteth on fire the whole course of nature and is set on fire of hell and commending his person to the Lords mercie if it may please him at anie time to indue him with a better spirit to the substance and matter of his exceptions against mee I will shape a short yet I hope a sufficient answere The first exception or rather meere cauill is against these my words that I direct to the common sort That though some Papistes doe shew a good outward ciuill carriage in ciuill matters yet let not that possesse you with too great a regard of them tearming it afterward a deceitfull bayte Whence you gather or rather wring out two things first that I make little account of good life in Catholikes secondly that I leaue good-workes to Catholikes and reserue onely threed-bare faith to our selues But good Sir there is no such matter you misse your ayme verie much as I know grant that not the hearers of the law but the doers shal be iustified and that if we be not doers of the word but hearers onely we deceiue our owne selues hauing no interest in those three benefits specified in our Creed by Christ purchased to the faithfull Forgiuenes of sinnes Glorious resurrection of our bodies Eternall life so I did neuer so much as by dreame imagine any the least forwardnes to good workes in Papistes aboue vs to whom God forbid that herein we should be inferiour It seemeth you are possessed with Narcissus folly to fall in loue with your owne shadowe take heede of his end But I pray you are not the vulgar and common sort easilie deceiued by and outward ciuill carriage of men Who when they see a man keepe good hospitalitie giue almes to the poore