haue happened vnto the K. of Spaines Rebels as hee termeth them in the low Countries what doe they els but admonish all English men to beware how they rebell or stirre in armes against their lawfull Souereigne seeing ouerthrow and confusion threatened as a iust recompence of rebellion And if our English Romanists or anie other whosoeuer her Maiesties naturall subiects will but duely and vprightly consider of these arguments though brought by D. Allen to a contrarie purpose I doubt not but they may bee thereby sufficiently dissuaded and discouraged from all such wicked and vnnaturall attempts But because this Pamphlet of D. Allens is as we haue shewed you altogither politike tending not so much to the defense of the action which he pretendeth as to a further purpose which I haue also discouered herein it shall bee no great labour to me but some reproofe to him to note in a word or two before I make an ende some ouersights euen in pollicie escaped this great politicien euen in this small Pamphlet which is nothing els but a packet of politike driftes composed for a preparatiue vnto mischiefe And first to beginne with the whole argument of his persuasion affirming it to be lawfull for the subiect in cause of Religion to reuolt from his Souereigne what doeth it els but giue warrant and defense to the people of the low Countries in resisting the King of Spaine though he were as D. Allen supposeth him to bee their lawfull and vndoubted Souereigne and consequently to the actions of all such as hitherto haue or hereafter shall yeeld them anie succours or assistance against him For it is well knowen that the first and principall matter wherewith they founde themselues agreeued was the restraint of Religion for that they might not freely vse and enioy the libertie of their consciences vnder him Which beeing the true ancient Catholike and Apostolike Religion clensed from the dregges and superstition of the Romish Church it was and is lawfull for the people of those Countries by Doctor Allens position for defense of that Religion to take armes against the King of Spaine though hee were their rightfull king and consequently for vs or anie other in that lawfull quarrell to assist them Thus the policie which D. Allen contriueth to impeach vs one way is not only a defense vnto vs in the principall cause which he impugneth but as great an impeachment to his owne Patrone Another ouersight in policie which I note in Doctor Allens Pamphlet is that in the whole discourse throughout wheresoeuer he speaketh of the people of the low Countreys hee termeth them Rebels and Heretikes which termes as they cannot but bee verie scandalous to the people so may they bee verie preiudiciall to the K. of Spaine whose partie he so much fauoureth For where the Duke of Parma hath long endeuoured and still doth by such factors and secret practisers as he hath among the States of the countries to win them by faire meanes and inticements to the obedience subiection of the K. of Spaine what a hindrance may this be to that practise whē the people shall see themselues reputed published Rebels Heretikes by so great a man as D. Allen a Cardinall professed Aduocate to the K. of Spaine whom they may imagine for his credit calling and adherencie with the King to know better then themselues what opinion is held of them what minde towards them by the King and not to cast out such words at randon of his owne meere intemperancy What may they gather of it or what construction may any man in reason make of it This onelie may they well thinke with themselues All is not gold that glistereth and within a faire bait may bee hidden a foule hooke And howsoeuer the Duke of Parma in the behalfe of the King his Maister allureth vs with curtesie and faire promises as it standeth with good policie for him to doe if hee may by that meanes draw vs home to his obedience yet hauing once gotten vs vnder his hand it is doubtfull how hee will intreat vs. For the wound which wee haue made him by these long warres and infinite troubles charges and expenses is so great as it can neuer bee so cleane healed but there will still remaine a foule skarre which will put him alwaies in remembrance of the hurt hee hath receiued by vs so that though it bee for the present in shew forgiuen yet wee may well assure our selues it can not in heart bee for euer forgotten neither is it wisedome to trust a reconciled friend much lesse a scarce reconciled Lorde that hath our liues and all at commandement Besides this may also be a caueat vnto vs to be the more circumspect how we trust him that we see euen whilest he is yet seeking to win vs his deuote fauourers such as for their credit vvith him are priuy to the estate of his dealings opinion of vs doe not sticke openly to call vs Rebels Heretikes hovv much more then may vve assure our selues that we are in inward account so esteemed by him And if hee hold vs for Heretikes what faith or promise wil he keep with vs vvhē vve are once fast in hand If Rebels vvhat other thing are vvee to expect at his hāds then the flat reward of Rebels Thus may D. Allens termes and not without great reason kindle or at the least encrease such a suspition in a subtill ielous and wauering people alreadie doubtfull of their securitie as may frustrate all the Duke of Parmaes earnest endeuours and secrete practises for the reclayming of those Countreys and greatly endomage the King of Spaine his owne Patrone For in truth that people is verie apt and hath good cause vpon former experience to bee suspicious in this case by how much the more likely it is these verie termes may drawe them into a further ielousie of the Kinges meaning towardes them which occasion Doctor Allen should not in policie haue ministred to the preiudice of this Catholike Protector 3 Now for the whole latter part of his Pamphlet conteining the persuasion of reuolt iudge I pray you what policie it was for him to enter into that argument in such open sort and in so dangerous a season For where his purpose and whole intent therein is to stir vp his Catholike countreymen against her Maiestie to the aide and assistance of those forrein forces which are prepared for the inuasion of her her Realme see if the very meanes which he vseth to atteine vnto his purpose do not giue sufficient occasion to preuent and cleane cut off the accomplishment and ende of his purpose for which he vseth thē For when her Maiestie shal see an opē persuasion vsed publikely vnto her subiects especially those that are of the Romish Religion inciting them to reuolte from her obedience to ioyne with her enimies against her and to employ their vttermost forces to the
as one that beeing in an errour should hate to bee reformed but came first to the reading and consideration of those thinges which it behooued a Christian to know euen with a bare and naked minde voide of all foredeeming and apt to receiue anie impression onelie humble and desirous to bee instructed in the trueth and whatsoeuer I read or heard expounded out of the holie Scriptures neither did I esteeme it by the credit of the person that taught it but by the authoritie of the doctrine it selfe neither was I led vnto anie opinion by the voice or opinion of multitude but by the testimonie of mine owne conscience consenting thereunto neither did I attribute the more credit to it for that it was first taught mee but for that dailie instruction and reason confirmed it vnto mee neuer variable yet euer willing to yeeld vnto reason and the trueth For I am not of their minde that make Religion as a matter of inheritance to bee taken of their ancestors or their parentes or that thinke it sufficient to saie I beleeue as the Queene beleeues But I thinke it the duetie of a Christian still to endeuour to informe himselfe how hee ought to serue God and not to pinne his soule on another mans sleeue Such a reuerend regard haue I alwaies had and euer will haue of Religion as a matter of saluation not as euerie common action of mans life as a thing to bee measured not by opinion but by trueth to bee chosen not by example but by iudgement to bee holden not for companie but for conscience If you also haue the same measure choice and grounde of your Religion as in reason you ought to haue it maie happlie fall out that the discouerie of the weakenes of D. Allens arguments and of his deceitfull and malicious dealing in this his Pamphlet as it hath confirmed in mee the Religion I hold so it maie alter in you the opinion you haue hitherto persisted in and not without great cause knowing that the naked trueth seeketh neither cloake nor corner nor a simple and good cause anie subtill or bad conueyance Let not then anie preiudicate opinion of my Religion differing from yours withdraw you from the patient reading and considering of my simple discourse no more then the like opinion of D. Allens Religion hath withdrawen me from the diligent perusing and perpending of his subtill pamphlet a greater learned and farre more cunning allurer then myselfe especially seeing that it is no part of my meaning herein either to impugne your Religion which is nothing at all fortified by this pamphlet or to strengthen mine owne which is as little weakened thereby for those pointes I leaue to Diuines if there be any that thinke it worth the reading or answering For mine own part I find nothing in it for which I would haue cast away so much paper and inck sauing onely a cunning conueiance of pernicious driftes tending to the practise of sedition mischiefe which I thought fit to be displayed and laied open to the world that the simple and such as giue too much credit to his doctrine might not be therewith deceiued and thereby drawne to their owne vtter destruction and on the other side that such as are of more capacity and iudgement either better affected in religiō or men indifferent seeing the monstrous shiftes vsed by such a principall Romaine Catholike as D. Allen is might thereby take a Caueat to be the more wary how they yeeld themselues to be seduced by such Catholiks perswasions But let vs now come to the examination of this pamphlet and see what it is that maister Doctor vndertaketh therein and how well he perfourmeth his taske He pretendeth vpon occasion of the former counterfeit letter which I mentioned to you before to resolue the consciences of those English men which were the yeelders vp of Deuenter and Zutphen fortes to the Duke of Parma touching the lawfulnes of their actiō Wherof though he had alreadie by his letters to Sir William Stanley giuen his opinion as he saith yet he will for better clearing of the cause set here downe his mind more largely and distinctly BEfore I runne into the particulars I must note vnto you a thing in generall which is not to be omitted I assure you though I be farre from the profession of Diuinity yet can I not but blush to see a thing written by way of a Resolution for the satisfying of mens consciences being a matter of Diuinity a treatise of 60. pages and not so much in all as halfe 6. textes of Scripture cited for confirmation of the matter proposed either directly or indirectly especially being done by an ancient D. of Diuinity by estimation singularly well read and learned and the onely man of name among all the English Catholikes What is there to bee presumed of it that so learned a man so great a Diuine now a Cardinall and chiefe piller of the Church of Rome should vndertake to resolue mens consciences in a matter of Christian duty yea whereon he pretendeth saluation or damnation to depend only with a Chaos of wordes a confusion of arguments drawne from morall philosophie the law of Nature and heathen constitutions and with definitions distinctions and authorities fet from Plato Aristotle Cicero c leauing vtterly all proofes arguments and authorities of holy Scripture yea skarce so much as alleadging one text by way of exhortation In mine opinion men are in common sense to iudge that either the matter is very bad and not iustifiable by Gods word which yeeldeth not sufficient argument or authority nay none at all for the defense of it or that such Diuines shew themselues to haue very litle zeale or religion in them when they measure matters of conscience saluation or damnation by the line of prophane Doctrine and not of the holy Scriptures Whereupon must necessarily be inferred that they are either impostors and deceiuers in seeking to perswade men by a shew of naturall reason vernished ouer with a glosse of gay wordes and superficiall colours of philosophie that which they are not able to proue by Diuinity or els plaine Atheists Hypocrits in carying onely the bare name of Religion on their backes for a cloake to their disguised practises and neglecting wholly the ground and substance thereof in their cogitations doctrine and perswasions But the lesse M. D. hath vsed the proofes of Scripture and Diuinity in this argument though it be nothing the more for his owne commendation or for the credit of his Doctrine yet haue I the lesse cause to be displeased with it considering that he hath thereby made it the fitter for so meane a scholler as my selfe no Diuine at all to deale with and the easier for any man to ouerthrow Albeit my purpose is not in truth so much to enter into the particular confutation of his arguments which are indeede none at all or not worth the standing vpon as to
it no iniurie to yourselfe to be beaten with your owne rodde Yet must I be so bold as to borrow another argument from you for the iustifying of her Maiesties dealings in the low Countreys to bee lawfull by your owne rule as being for defence against enemies In your Inuectiue against our vniust dealings you saie that wee thinke it cause of warre good inough to hinder our neighbours greatnes and to disturbe other mens quietnes to procure our owne peace and safetie Let vs see what English is to be picked out of this Why should we seeke to hinder our neighbours greatnes are we anie thing the lesse by his being greater no vnlesse he make himself greater by making vs lesse what need we then to feare his greatnes Belike it is to bee feared that if he be greater he will make vs lesse What neede I nodum in in scirpo quaerere what neede I so to hunt out the cause why wee should seeke to hinder his greatnes when D. Allen himselfe hath set it downe in plaine termes to procure our owne peace and safety Whereby he giueth vs a good caueat to prouide for both giuing vs to vnderstand that if the King of Spaine should once grow great as D. Allen thinketh he should in deede if he were once quietly possessed of the Low Countries then should not we long enioy either peace or safety Which in trueth hath bene vpon good cause long suspected by vs but may now better be beleeued when D. Allen though I thinke in trueth vnaduisedly and against his will doth so plainely assure vs of it Now where he saith that We thinke it cause of warre good inough to hinder our neighbours greatnes and to disturbe other mens quietnes to procure our owne peace safety Let vs see whether no man els thinketh so besides our selues VVhat saie you if his owne Author Cicero thinke so as well as we Suscipienda quidem bella sunt saith hee ob eam causam vt sine iniuria in pace viuatur Warres are to be taken in hand that is may must be taken in hād for that cause to that intent that men may liue in peace without iniurie that is all one as if hee should say in peace and safetie VVhereupon I frame my argument thus Those warres which are taken in hand to the end that the vndertakers thereof may liue in peace and safetie are taken in hand vpon iust cause consequently lawfull But our warres against the K. of Spaine if wee hold any warres against him are taken in hand to the end that we may liue in peace and safetie Ergo Our warres against the King of Spaine are taken in hand vpon iust cause cōsequently lawfull The Maior I take out of Cicero the Minor out of D. Allens own words the Argument cannot be denied for it is a good and true Syllogisme and the consequence necessarie VVherby you may euidētly perceiue that not only our wars in the low countries but those also by Sea which D. Allen so defameth if we did mainteine any such warres or anie other warres which wee should vndertake against the K. of Spaine are both iust and lawfull euen by his owne allowance beeing for our owne defense and the procurement of our own peace and safetie Further because D. Allen shall haue no shew of reason left him whereby hee may cauill vpon the word saying that we cannot iustifie our wars to be for defense against enemies the K. of Spaine beeing as he termeth him our neighbour allie and confederate albeit it is a thing not needfull to bee prooued nor doeth anie way concerne my argument which is most strong infallible without it neither will I take vpon me of my selfe to affirme the K. of Spaine to be our enemie or touch him in anie wise with breach of his league confederacie with vs yet to stoppe M. Allens mouth with his owne words that he may I saie haue nothing to cauill vpon I will onlie set himselfe to answere himselfe in this behalfe The defēse saith he of the kings rebels against their most iust Lord Souereigne is no lawfull nor honorable quarrel of warres neither haue the said traitors and rebels any authority to yeeld vp their Souereigns Townes and Ports into his enemies hands or themselues to the English protection or subiection Here D. Allen termeth vs the K. of Spaines enemies and if wee bee his enemies as D. Allen affirmeth then must he necessarily bee our enemie in like sort for it is a word of Relation which beeing rightly pronounced of the one must also necessarily bee pronounced of the other For a Prince can not bee said to bee the confederate of him that is his enemie but they must bee both as the one is either both Socij or both hostes both Confederates or both enemies This a very meane scholler nay euerie man of anie reason or common sense may perceiue to be true And I doe not doubt but D. Allen himselfe when he termed vs the K. of Spaines enemies knew him well inough to bee our enemie Thus you see not only that D. Allen hath failed in the proofe of the one part of his diuision that is That our warres are not for defence against enemies and therfore vnlawfull but also that we haue prooued the contrarie against him both according to his owne diuision that is That our warres are for defence against enemies therefore lawfull also by other reasons of our owne that is That our warres are for the procurement of our owne peace and safetie and therefore most iust and lawfull Wherein our proofes arguments though they be strong inough of themselues against anie man yet are they strongest against him of all men beeing drawen euen from his owne Allegations reasons and assertions and therefore the more to be credited Now come we to the other part and let vs see how hee prooueth The English warres in the low Countreys not to be mooued for reuenge of iniuries or annoyance The Kings Maiestie saith he hath done to the Queene or her Realme no such iniuries for redresse or reuenge whereof shee should by hostilitie enter into his Dominions and surprise his Townes and Castles and bring his people into her subiection This is a point wherein I am loth to meddle in vttering what I thinke or haue heard yea scarcely would I touch that which is commonly bruted abroad in the mouthes of all men considering that the matter concerneth Princes is not fit for priuate men to deale in therfore would I rather refer the iudgement therof to euery mans own particular knowledge opinion conscience Yet bicause it is a part of D. Allens argument which hee must not so clearly carry away least it should seeme to be yeelded vnto him as true I will craue pardon and leaue only to remember some particulars either knowen or commonly beleeued and reported And first I know men of iudgement
and their goods which they know if the contrarie faction should preuaile which God I trust will neuer suffer not onely th'estate of Religion were cleane ouerthrowne but themselues also and all theirs prostrate to the sword rapine and spoile which it sitteth them neerest with all their force might maine to defend As for such as are neither Protestants nor Papists but men indifferent or of no religion at all and as D. Allen termeth them plaine Atheists into which estate he most slanderouslye in his pamphlet reporteth our countrey to bee falne but I trust and do fully assure my selfe that hee shall find fewer of that sort in England than in Rome though the scope be far larger his perswasion in mine opinion shoulde doe but litle good or harme with them First by his owne reason being drawne from Religion how can it worke with them that are of no religion and therefore regard not Religion And if they be men indifferent and such as maye by reading instruction and exhortation bee drawne alike to the embracing of either religion what reason hath D. Allen to thinke that his perswasions should rather draw them to his religion then the continuall preaching teaching of a great number of our godly ministers men as learned and more zealous then D. Allen should winne them to ours Or why should hee imagine that they shoulde more easily bend vnto a blind and superstitious religion grounded vpon ignorance then to a cleere and perspicuous religion grounded vpon knowledge of the truth vnlesse he presume vpon the corruption of mens nature which is more inclined to euil thē to good But neither of these sorts of men are the persons vnto whom D. Allen purposely intēded his perswasions for the matter requireth hearers more affected and assured to his faction howsoeuer he might happely put it in aduenture to seduce others such as were apt to be defiled with his pitch being all but one labour to him But I hope this shall not bee the last labour that such brokers of mischiefe shall spend in vaine They must needes bee therefore of your owne fraternity M. Doctor men sworne to the Popes pantofle with whom your wholsome perswasions must preuaile who I trust when they come to the tale will not bee so many by two partes of the three as you presume But such and so many as they are do you thinke them so simple or sottish as to bee bewitched by your enchauntments to respect more your tromperie then their own oth alleageance and duety But the Pope hath discharged them of all duety you say But they see the contrarie proued against you But whatsoeuer they see you do happely assure your selfe they will see nothing against you But good M. Doctor charme them not so blinde but that you giue them leaue to see what counsell you giue them against themselues Your wordes are weightie and forcible with them in other cases but their owne weale and safety is much deerer vnto them in this case They see the dealings of the Duke of G. and the rest of the holy league in France who though they pretend the quarrell and patronage of the pretended Catholike Religion yet spare they neither Catholike person nor place but vse all violence spoile and sackage of such townes as are meere Catholike and of Catholikes goods without fauour or difference Wherein as they haue shewed thēselues cōformably to your doctrine very obseruant of ciuill Iustice in vsing little partialitie or respect of persons so haue they bewrayed their intent answerable to your pollicy to be the wreake of priuate malice the disturbance of the publike peace and the ambition of a kingdome shadowed onely with the colour of their Catholike Religion In so much as some of the greatest and best Catholikes of that sort which of zeale were entred into that confederacy besides many others most earnestly and sincerely affected to that religion finding at length their disguised purposes haue already cleane abandoned that partie and reuolted to the contrarie And do you imagine our English Romanists so besotted with your Siren songs as that they will take no heede to themselues by th'examples of others their neighbours Yes doubt you not they will forecast all euents that may happen consider what is most likely to happen and seeke their owne safety whatsoeuer happen They know if they should but offer to stir towards a forreine enimies partie against their owne countrey if we get the vpper hand as we faithfully assure our selues God being on our side they loose all they haue both goods landes and liues too like traytors as they well deserue On the otherside if th'enimie shold preuaile which we little doubt and God I trust will neuer permit what protection shall they haue by their Catholike Religion They see the pretended Catholike armies in France spare not the like Catholikes being their owne countreymen what fauour can English Catholikes then expect of a forreine army especially of the Spanish souldiour who in the opinion and report of those nations which haue felt his furie and endured his yoake is very hardly thought of and almost infamous for his pride insolence crueltie rauishments and such like kindes of violence without regard of estate religion decree or calling wheresoeuer he getteth the maistry And if these be his natural properties generally to all men how much more will malice augment his furie towards our nation to whom the very name of an English man is no lesse odious for the enuie of our vertue and valour then the the name of a Spaniard is vnto vs for the report of his vice and insolencie Small fauour or curtesie God wot is an Englishman to hope for at a Spaniards hand be he neuer so Catholike The Spanish souldiour where he is lord neuer vseth to aske or to heare whose wife is this whose daughter whose sister whose house or goods these are A Catholikes wife daughter house goods are as sweete to him as another mans And what pleasure would this be to an English man whatsoeuer his religion be to see his wife forced his sisters rauished his daughters deflowred his house sacked his goods pilled and spoyled by a stranger before his face yea and his own throat cut if he but offer to make defense Such is the fury and violence of the soldiour especially of the Spaniard What auaileth him then the name of a Catholike if it please the lyon in his rauening mood to take the hare for an asse because hee hath long eares To whom shal his headlesse body complaine for redresse And is this the goodwill you beare to your brethren and Catholike countreymen M. Doctor that you would allure them to the bringing in of their own assured calamity vtter ouerthrow They loue yôu better I am perswaded yet not so well as to cast away themselues and all theirs at your request counsell They are
to encounter their wicked proceedings and to hinder the kingdome of Antichrist did put himselfe forwarde to reprooue their errors rebuke their abuses and sincerely to teach the word of God and due administration of the Sacraments according to the true institution of Christ and the doctrine of the Apostles and the Primitiue Church endeuouring to communicate vnto all men the knowledge of the trueth they forthwith condemned him for an Authour of new doctrine a sower of sedition and to make him the more odious vnto the world proclaimed him for an Heretike thundring out their Bulles excommunications and curses against him and all to the ende that men might not incline to him nor giue anie credit or regard to his teaching whereby they might come to the knowledge of the Scriptures and to the discouering of their Popish abuses and impostures Now whē they see these policies no lōger auaile thē but that mighty Princes whole Natiōs mooued by the invvard vvorking of the holie Spirite haue caught hold of and embraced the light of the Gospel and thereby haue begun to descry their iugling and tromperie and to fall away from their obedience they flie now from policie to plaine force and ioyne the one with the other and fall to inciting not only of naturall borne subiects but of forreine Princes and nations to ioyne in armes against the defenders of the true ancient Catholike and Apostolike Faith only to the intent to reduce them to their former subiection and obedience and to establish their owne Antichristian Monarchie And what other meanes vse they to drawe them to the accomplishment of their vngodly and woorse then barbarous designements but euen their ancient and accustomed policie and practise of deceit seducing them with false doctrine and persuading them those thinges to bee most lawfull honourable and necessarie to bee done vpon paine of damnation which are expresly forbidden by the word of God And can anie man then bee so senseles as to bee mooued by their persuasions seeing how first they haue noozled them in ignorance and barred them the meanes whereby they might haue come to the knowledge to bee able to discerne of trueth and falshood only to the intent to binde them wholy to the beleeuing of their traditions and now hauing so Captiued their vnderstandings and iudgements with blindnes as either they haue not the knowledge to descry their abuses or at the least haue it wholy restrained to the credit of their doctrine forbeare not to impose vpon them anie falshood that may further their ambitious purposes There is no man but knoweth that the plaine and simple Truth which is euer able to iustifie it selfe craueth no credit nor feareth to be sifted to the vttermost but it is falshood that seeketh corners and vseth policie to creepe into credit and refuseth to come to open triall And why should then the Romish Church recommend ignorance vnto the people and leade them on in blindnesse with their own traditions restraining from them the reading and knowledge of the Scriptures which is the true touchstone of Religion if their doctrine were pure and sounde and able to abide the touch Christ biddeth all men search the Scriptures why should they then forbid or hinder anie man to reade the Scriptures but that they know the Scriptures condemne both their doctrine and dooings and therefore feare to haue their falshood and wickednes discouered Wherein they doe most of all and most euidently condemne themselues to the iudgement of all men in whom there is anie iote of iudgement or common sense bewraying themselues to bee the children of darkenes not of the light The blinde leaders of the blinde Wolues in Sheepes cloathing And what better marke seeke ye to know them by then the same verie marke whereby Christ himselfe hath notified them vnto you that is by their fruites their pride their ambition their malice their deceit their imposture their falshood their prophanesse to conclude their plaine Atheisme And can you notwithstanding all these notes of them giuen you by Christ beleeue them or suffer your selues to be seduced by them But mee thinkes I doe euen see D. Allen himselfe proceeding on with the rest of Dauus his part and saying to the Pope his Maister Deceptus sum at non defatigatus Hac non successit alia aggrediamur via I am disappointed of my purpose but not weary of my worke Since this trick hath not serued our turne let vs trie another In trueth I doubt nothing of his good will nor of his endeuour neither yet of the readines of the rest of that crue to pursue this argument for neither is this the first assault that D. Allen hath giuen to the subiects fidelitie and obedience neither is D. Allen the first and onely Champion that hath striken the first blow in so bad a quarrell though none of them euer yet answered the encounter But the best hope is let him or anie other giue the assaie againe when and as often as they lust I trust they shall bee still disappointed and in the ende weery or cleane worne out and when they haue attempted all the waies they can they shall bee as wise as they were in the beginning and in the beginning midst and ending neerer to their owne ende then to the ende of their purpose For God will neuer giue successe to so godles an enterprise As for this slender push of D. Allens Pamphlet I hope there is not the holowest hart of all her Maiesties subiects in whom there is either feare of God sense of reason or regard of his owne safetie but that hauing seene his weake forces his brittle weapons his false fiers and counterfeit engines is sufficiently armed in himselfe with his owne honestie faith and loyaltie to abide and withstand and this feeble and forcelesse batterie But what shall I now saie to M. Allen and the rest of our fugitiue Countreymen that haue left their Souereigne their Countrie and their duetie altogither especially such as haue not onelie left them but doe maliciously stirre vp all the meanes they can to ouerthrow destroy and vtterly deface them Shall I whet my selfe wholy to inueigh against them I know their deedes haue not only deserued it but doe iustly prouoke me and euerie good subiect vnto it But I will vse Charitie euen where it is not to bee shewed Shall I then in Charitie reprooue them I would they were as willing to heare reproofe and as readie to bee reformed as they haue been charitably friendly and brotherly admonished Shall I labour to exhort and perswade them to the consideration of their duetie the repentaunce of their grieuous offences committed againste their Souereigne and Countrey and restauration of their due obedience and fidelitie I feare I shall but loose my labour to cry to them Resipiscite conuertimini Be wise and turne their eares are so close stopped their hearts so