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A02483 An ansvvere to a treatise vvritten by Dr. Carier, by way of a letter to his Maiestie vvherein he layeth downe sundry politike considerations; by which hee pretendeth himselfe was moued, and endeuoureth to moue others to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, and imbrace that religion, which he calleth catholike. By George Hakewil, Doctour of Diuinity, and chapleine to the Prince his Highnesse. Hakewill, George, 1578-1649.; Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614. Treatise written by Mr. Doctour Carier.; Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614. Copy of a letter, written by M. Doctor Carier beyond seas, to some particular friends in England. 1616 (1616) STC 12610; ESTC S103612 283,628 378

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bee to this point more fully and cleerely spoken B. C. 13. And for the blessed Sacramēt they do not worship the Accidents which they see but the Substance which they beleeue and surely if Christ be there truely really present as your Maiestie seemeth to graunt hee is hee is as much to bee worshipped as if wee saw him with our bodily eyes neither is there any more Idolatry in the one then in the other If our blessed Sauiour himselfe should visibly appeare in person as hee was vpon the earth Iewes and Infidels would hold it for Idolatry to worship him and would crucifie him againe and so would all heretikes also who refuse to worship him in the Sacrament where hee is really present G. H. 13. You tell vs that the people doe not worship the accidents which they see but the substance which they see not but the question is whether they rightly beleeue the substance of Christs body to lie hidden and as it were buried vnder those Accidents which I am sure Saint Augustine on whom you so much relie is so farre from defending or else the adoration of Images before mentioned that in diuerse places hee maintaineth the cleare contrarie to both And to grant that after the words of Consecration pronounced the bodie of Christ is there folded or kneaded vp in a bodily maner yet whether the Priest that pronounceth them be rightly Ordered and if hee be whether hee pronounce them with the intent that the Church intends they may iustly make a doubt and consequently a question whether their worship bee idolatrous or no for in such cases by confession of all in stead of Christs bodie they worship the bread for our parts wee constantly beleeue him to be in heauen and not in the bread whereas we make a iust doubt whether a great part of them who beleeue him to be in the bread doe with like constancie beleeue that hee is in heauen You further adde that if he be truely and really present as his MAIESTIE seemeth to graunt he is as much to be worshipped as if wee saw him with our bodily eyes But indeed it is not the seeing of him with our bodily eyes that makes the matter or giues occasion of worshipping for then a blind man could not worship him at all nor a seeing man in the darke but the beleeuing of him to be present in a bodily manner Wee beleeue him then with his MAIESTIE it being Caluins opinion expressed in the very selfe same termes to be truely and really present but in a manner Sacramentall not bodily and consequently not to bee worshipped there as being not wrapped vp vnder the accidents of bread but triumphing in heauen And here by your leaue how submissiuely soeuer you would seeme in other places to carrie your selfe towards his Maiestie you make bold to put the title of Heretike vpon him and to ranke him among no better then ●ewes and Infidels But our iust defence is that after the way which you call Heresie we giue more true and lawfull honour to our blessed Sauiour then you casting all that religious worship which you giue to the blessed Virgin to Angels to Saints to the bread in the Eucharist to Images to Reliques to the Crosse and all that opinion of Merit of Supererogation and Satisfaction which you ascribe either to your selues or others wholy and solely vpon him either as God or as Man or as Mediatour betwixt God and Man onely wee denie to giue that honour to his Image or the bread in the Eucharist which is as essentially due to him as to them vndue B. C. 14. After diuers other obiections not so much because I was not as be cause I desired not to be satisfied I came to the Popes supposed pride and tyrannie ouer Kings and Princes and tolde them of the most horrible Treason intended and practised by Catholikes against your MAIESTIE which hath not yet beene iudicially condemned by the Church of Rome They all seemed to abhorre the fact as much as the best Subiests in the world and much more to fauour and defend the authoritie of Kings and Princes then Heretikes doe And they sayed that although your Maiestie were out of the Church yet they doubted not but if complaint were made in a iudiciall proceeding that fact should be iudicially condemned In the meane time it was sufficient that all Catholike writers did cōdemne it and that the Pope by his Breue had condemned it exhorting the Catholikes of England to all Christian patience and obedience and as for any other authoritie or superioritie of the Pope then such as is spiritual and necessary for the vnity of the Church I haue met with none that doe stand vpon it G. H. 14. You well say they seemed to abhorre the fact it being of the nature of those whereof Tacitus speakes Quae nunquam laudantur nisiperacta which are neuer commended till they are ended had it taken effect according to their designes for the setting vp of their Religion among vs it had vndoubtedly bin recorded a most happie and fortunate successe which now by abortion onely and miscariage is stiled an horrible Treason And if they defend the authoritie of Kings and Princes much more then they whom they call Heretikes I would faine know how it comes to passe that more of those Princes w●om you call Catholikes permit within their Dominions the publike exercise of Religion to those Heretikes then the contrarie Surely in my iudgement it is an euident argument that Christian Sta●es conceiue reason to bee more iealous of the one then of the other neither is the reason farre to be sought ●ince the one acknowledgeth no Supreme forreine power which the other doth but the Pope you say condemned the Powder-plot by his Breue I much desire to see that Breue of the Popes which condemnes it I suppose it is most like to be found on the backside of Constantins donation as an Ambassador of Venice told the Pope touching his right to the Adriatique Sea or we may say of it Breuis esse laboro obscurusfio hee is so briefe and obscure in it as we can find no such matter Two Breues of Clements I remember I haue heard of for the withstanding of his Maiesties entrance to the Crowne and two others of Paulus V. against the taking of the oath of allegiance which I marueile M. Doctour neuer vouchsafed so much as once to remember through his Letter but any against the Powder-plot I cannot call to minde I haue seene or so much as heard of Lastly wheras you beare vs in hand that the Popes fauourites stand vpon none other authoritie for their Master then such as is spirituall and necessary for the vnity of the Church I guesse their meaning to be Bellarmines indirect power in temporals or temporall power in ordine as spiritualia in relation to spirituall dueties which is in trueth vpon the matter as much as can be demanded by them
shallow as proceeding rather from affection then iudgement is this because if a man aske you say in cold blood whether a Roman Catholike may be saued the most learned Church-man will not denie it Wherein if we be more charitable to you then you are to vs in passing censures of damnation it should in my iudgement rather argue the goodnesse of that Religion from whence such charity flowes towards mens persons then be vrged as a proofe for the approbation of that erronious doctrine which in it selfe it condemns The Turke is too liberall in admitting all Religions to the hope of saluation and on the other side you are too niggardly and sparing in shutting out all from the hope thereof which receiue not the marke of the beast in their foreheads or hands We desiring to runne a middle course betwixt both extremes as we shut out all such who directly deny the merits of CHRIST so doe wee passe a fauourable censure on those who deny him not of malice but of ignorance and that not directly but by consequence It is true that S. Paul hath in the fifth to the Galatians If yee be circumcised CHRIST shall profit you nothing That is if a man put his trust in Circumcision or in any thing else beside Christ though with Christ in the matter of iustification he is abolished from Christ and the merite of his death and Passion Now what confidence the Romanists put in their owne satisfaction for veniall sinnes and temporall punishment either in this life or in Purgatorie due to mortall their writings testifie but yet our assurance is that many of them when they come to make their last account betwixt God and their owne Conscience and throughly consider of the weakenesse and corruption of their owne nature for the vncertaintie of their owne proper righteousnesse and for the auoiding of vaineglory according to Bellarmins aduise they rest wholly in the alone mercie and goodnesse of God renouncing in particular that merite of worke which their Church in generall for her owne aduantage maintaineth and teacheth them to maintaine Or lastly God of his Graciousnesse may accept of their repentance for vnknowen sins and consequently for their erronious opinons which by reason of their education they vnwittingly imbrace yet this charitable construction of ours can bee no sufficient warrant for vs either to shut our eyes against a knowen trueth or to open our eares to hearken to any motion of reconcilement to a knowen errour Now whether a Romane Catholike may bee a good subiect wholly submitting himselfe to Romish positions I referre the reader to his Maiesties speech in Parliament in the yeere 1605 who should know what belongs to his owne state and to mine answere to the 12. Sect. of this Chapter a part of his Maiesties very words in that speech are these I therefore doe thus conclude this point that as vpon the one part many honest men seduced with some errors of Popery may yet remaine good faithfull subiects so vpon the other part none of those that truely knowe and beleeue the whole grounds and schoole conclusions of their doctrine can euer prooue good Christians or faithfull subiects If then we bee so farre diuided both in God and in the king how can we but be vtterly diuided in our selues B. C. 20. Truely there is no reason at all but onely the violence of affection which being in a course cannot without some force be stayed The multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according vnto trueth but according vnto customes and therefore hauing beene bred and brought vp in the hatred of Spaniards and Papists cannot chuse but thinke they are bound to hate them still and that whosoeuer speaketh a word in fauour of the Church of Rome or of Catholike religion is their vtter enemy and the Puritanicall Preacher who can haue no being in charity doth neuer cease by falsifications and slanders to blow the coales that hee may burne them and warme himselfe But if your Maiesty shall euer bee pleased to commaund those make-bates to hold their peace a while and to say nothing but that they are able to proue by sufficient authority before those that are able to iudge and in the mean time to admit a conference of learned and moderate men on either side the people who are now abused and with the light of the Gospel held in extreme ignorance are not yet so vncapable but they will be glad to heare of the trueth when it shall be simply and euidently deliuered by honest men and then they will plainely see that their light of the Gospel which they so much talke of is but a counterfeit light in a theeues lanterne wherby honest mens eyes are dazeled and their purses robbed and it will also appeare that there is not indeed any such irreconciliable opposition betwixt the Church of England and the Church as they that liue by the schisme doe make the world beleeue there is neither in matter of doctrine nor in matter of State G. H. 20. You farther endeuour to prooue in the entrance of this Section that the diuision of the Church of England from the Church of Rome ariseth rather from affection then iudgement in as much as the multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according to trueth but according vnto customes Now whether it be the Church of England or the Church of Rome that stands vpon multitude and that multitude vpon custome the Bishop of Rome himselfe shall be the iudge nay not onely your multitude but the chiefest pillars of your Church stand most vpon it if you had but looked into your great Cardinals notes of your Church you should haue found antiquity or custome to haue beene the second howbeit both Acosta and Xauerius in their seueral writings made the Indians standing vpon their customes the chiefe difficulty of their conuersion to CHRIST It was Symmachus the Pagans argument in his Epistle to Theodosius the Emperour recorded by S. Ambrose Seruanda est tot saeculis fides nostra sequendi sunt maiores nostri qui secuti sunt foeliciter suos Our religion which hath now continued so many yeeres is still to bee retained and our ancestours are to bee followed by vs who happily traced the steps of their forefathers and is not this Mr. Doctors owne argument to perswade his Maiesty to the Romish religion in the 2. and 10. Sect. of this Chapter how comes it then to passe that in this place he findes fault with those that iudge according to custome and makes it a popular errour teach that a while and indeed we may be brought to shake handes with Rome she standing vpon a pretended truth of antiquity but we vpon the antiquity of trueth in as much as our Sauiour said not I am antiquity but I am trueth And S. Cyprian his blessed Martyr Antiquity without truth is nothing els but ancient errour Now the reason you giue that our
doctrine bee as opposite to our Religion as to the Romish then must it needs follow that either ours and the Romish agree in one or that ours is as distant from Caluins as Caluins is from the Romish both which to bee vntrue appeares aswell by the testimonie of all other Romish writers and the authority of the Pope himselfe in his Bull against Queene ELIZBAETH as those whome they terme Lutherans who euer range vs among the Caluinists as also of our owne writers and those of forraine Churches by you termed Caluinistical because with him they ioyne in profession of the same trueth the manifold Letters by them written and Bookes dedicated to our late blessed Queene our Bishops and Noble men by French and Heluetian Diuines specially of Zurich and Basil testifie to the world that they then held their religion to bee the same with ours and ours with theirs and for any thing I know neither theirs nor ours is since changed saue onely some such neutrals as your selfe labour to drawe vs neerer to Rome then they can bee drawen or the trueth it selfe will permit that wee should Among many other testimonies I will onely instance in two the one an Heluetian touching our conformitie with forreine reformed Churches in former times the other a French man touching the present the Heluetian is Bullinger who dedicating his Commentaries vpon Daniel to Horne Bishop of Winchester Iewell Bishop of Salisbury Sandes Bishop of Worcester Parkhurst Bishop of Norwich and Pilkington Bishop of Durham in his Epistle Dedicatory professeth hee did it chiefly to this ende that posterity might vnderstand their indissoluble knot of friendship and the mutual consent betweene England and Suisserland in matter of Religion howbeit they were remooued farre asunder in situation of place The French is Peter Moulin who in defence of his Maiesties Booke against Coffeteau acknowledgeth that wee had enough sufficient men of our owne to defend the Cause but that hee vndertooke the worke to let the world knowe that the same Confession which his Maiestie had made was also theirs and that they and the trueth were assailed in his Person and Writings But what neede I stand vpon the particular testimonies of priuate men since the Confessions of our Churches are extant to be compared as well in the Booke intituled The Harmony as in that other termed The bodie of Confessions In the meane time to giue the Reader some satisfaction I will set downe the doctrine of the Church of England in points of difference together with Caluint on the one side of it and the Romish on the other that so wee may make some estimate whether Caluinisme bee as opposite to the Religion of England as to that of Rome Now for the doctrine of the Church of England I will not extend it so wide as to the Bookes and Lectures of our Bishops and publique professours the lights and guides of our Church and Vniuersities nor yet contract and confine it as Mr. Doctor doeth within the narrow compasse of the Common prayer Booke and Church Catechisme the booke of Canons and therein Nowels Catechisme Can. 79. being confirmed and allowed by publike authoritie But aboue all I very much maruell Mr. Doctors memory should so farre faile him as quite and cleane to forget the Booke of Articles solemnely agreed vpon by the Reuerend Bishops and Clergie of this kingdome at two seuerall meetings or Conuocations of theirs in the yeeres of our Lord 1562 and againe 1604 and lately againe confirmed by two seuerall Canons the 5 and 36 in number since himselfe subscribed to them at the taking of his Orders if not of his Degrees and liuing a long time as Chaplen in house with Archbishop Whitegift and since keeping his ordinary turnes of waiting at Court and residence at Canterbury he could not bee ignorant of them nay I can shewe it vnder his owne hand which argues hee fought against the light of his owne conscience that setting downe the differences betweene the Olde English and New French diuinitie as he calles it hee quotes diuers of those Articles for the doctrine of the Church of England and besides professing himselfe so skilfull in the Statutes he could not but knowe that The Booke of Articles and Iniunctions is by them aswell confirmed and authorized as The Booke of Common Prayer in which Articles are also allowed and ratified The second Booke of Homilies and holy Orders so that whatsoeuer is doct●inally deliuered in any of these may safely bee called The doctrine of the Church of England But for the present I will content my selfe with the Booke of Articles onely and for the doctrine of the Church of Rome with the Canons and positions of the Tridentine Councell and Catechisme and for Caluines doctrine with that specially which hee hath deliuered in his 4. Bookes of Christian Institutions Here followeth the Table of differences B. C. 22. For when the breach was resolued on for the personall and particular ease of Henry the VIII and the children of his later wiues it was necessary to giue euery part of the Common-wealth contentment for which they might hold out in the heate of affection and studie to maintaine the breach otherwise it was likely that in the clearenesse of iudgement it would quickly haue growen together againe and then the authours thereof must haue beene excluded and giuen account of their practise G. H. 22 Howbeit Henry the VIII actually indeed made that breach with Rome which continues at this day and is like to doe till Rome by her reformation endeuour to make it vp yet they certainely erre who seeke the cause of it onely in him and in his times or fixing their eyes vpon his person quarrel looke not vp to the state and course of former ages for as no wise man would assigne the cause of death to some accident falling out in the last point and period of life but to some former distemper or intemperancie so the reasons of vnhorsing the Pope and reiecting his authoritie with the generall applause of all the estates of the Realme hauing beene so long an● so deepely rooted in mens minds are not to be searched for in the personall and particular proceedings of Henry the VIII but in the ancient Records and euidences of our Histo●ians who all complaine of the spurring and gauling and whipping of our land by those Italian riders vntill like Balaams asse shee turned againe opened her mouth to complaine and being out of all hope of reliefe by complaint cast her rider As many witnesses we haue hereof well neere as Writers since the last 600. yeres as many cleere testimonies as there be leaues in Mat. Paris the most learned and sufficient Writer vnlesse you will except William of Malmesburie that those times afforded It was a memorable speech of Robert Grosteed Bishop of Lincolne who liued 358. yeres since in the time of Gregory the IX Caelestine the IIII. Innocent the IIII.
reason the Bishop of Rome hath or at least wise formerly had the word Mysterie engrauen on his diademe since in the seuenteenth of the Reuel at the fift verse it is foretold it should be written on the forehead of the ●reat Whore For to passe by other depthes of Satan as they bee called Reuel 2. verse 24. I would know what Religion was ener in the world which inuented a policie like to the Popes dispensations in generall but specially in Mariages it being hitherto the best stake in his hedge and without exception the strongest sinew for the tying of Christian Princes vnto him as to their head they being made many of them by it legitimate and illegitimate without it So they stand in a maner bound to defend his authority with the same sword that they do their own Crownes And I am verily perswaded were it not that they lie obnoxious to him in this regard some of them would not sticke so close to him as they doe especially since the publishing of his Maiesties learned and godly premonition vnto them Farther what vse they make of Confessions for the discouerie of all secrets as well of nature as of States Indulgences Canonizations Consecrations Of their bloodie Inquisition which like a sharpe Northerne winde nippes the spring of Religion in the bud Of forging false Authours and corrupting the true Of suppressing the bookes of our Writers and correcting their owne Of spreading false rumors and razing all antiquitie that makes against them the world hath long since discouered Besides all this they haue a baite for euery fish a motiue to draw euery seuerall humour for an ambitious disposition they haue a triple Crowne or a Cardinals cap for a Contemplatiue a Monkes cloister or a Friars coule for a working practical head imployment in State affaires for a Scholasticke preaching writing and in writing some they set to meditations some to politike discourses some to cases of conscience some to commentaries some to controuersies according to the seuerall point and temper of their wits Nay he that shal but consider the politike forme of gouernment obserued in the onely order of the Iesuits their rules their intelligence their corespondence their infinite cunning deuises how to winne some whom they desire for respects to be of their society or to make their friends and to disgrace or remoue others whom they suspect to stand in theirway may iustly pronounce of them that they haue perfectly learned the former part of our Sauiours lesson Be wise as serpents but not the latter be ye innocent as doues wheras nothing argues the inocency of our cause more then that it hitherto hath bin and still is supported meerely by the goodnesse of God and the euidence of trueth H Surely if true religion be vnchangeable then the Romish cannot be the true it hauing suffered so many changes both in doctrine and practise that wee may now iustly question it whether it bee the same or no as the Schollers of Athens did Theseus his ship after many reparations wee may seeke Rome in Rome it selfe and not find it I will instance onely in the Masse which like a beggars cloakehath receiued so many additions and patche● that if S. Peter should now liue to see a Priest saying Masse hee would without doubt conceiue it to bee any thing rather then the commemoration of Christs death or the administration of his Supper and to speake a trueth as long as the traditions of Men are held of equall authoritie with the liuely Oracles and eternall trueth of God it ca●not bee but that religion which is grounded on them should be as subiect to variation as are the conceptions of mens minds So that your ground for the finding out of that religion wherein a ma● might finde rest vnto his soule is excellent good but your application erroneous since there is indeede no rest but vpon eternall trueth and no trueth eternall but that which is diuine B. C. 3. My next care then was after I came to yeeres of discretion by all the best meanes I could to enforme my selfe whether the religion of England were indeed the very same which being prefigured and prophecied in the olde Testament was perfected by our blessed Sauiour and deliuered to his Apostles and disciples to continue by perpetuall succession in his visible Church vntill his comming againe or whether it were a new one for priuate purposes of Statesmen inuented and by humane lawes established Of this I could not chuse but make some doubt because I heard men talke much in those dayes of the change of religion which was then lately made in the beginning of Queene ELIZABETHS raigne G. H. 3. I would demaund by M. Doctors leaue whethermen might not talke as much of the change of religion made in the beginning of Queene Maries raigne as Queene Elizabeths But you will say Queene Maries was a restitution to the ancient and wee replie that Queene Elizabeths was a restitution to a more ancient and most true it is the most ancient is the most true So that in this regard wee may iustly say Nos non sumus nouatores sed vos estis veteratores and with our Sauiour From the beginning it was not so B. C. 4. I was sorry to heare of a change and of a new religion seeing me thought in reason if true religion were eternall the new religion could not be the true But yet I hoped that the religion of England was not a change or a new religion but a restitution of the olde and that the change was in the Church of Rome which in processe of time might perhaps grow to bee Superstitious and Idolatrous and that therefore England had done well to leaue the Church of Rome and to reforme it selfe and for this purpose I did at my leisure and best opportunitie as I came to more iudgement reade ouer the Chronicles of England and obserued all the a●terations of religion that I could find therein but when I found there that the present religion of England was a plaine change and change vpon change and that there was no cause of the change at all at the first but onely that ● King Henry the VIII was desirous to change his olde bedfellow that hee might leaue some heires males behind him for belike hee feared the females would not bee able to withstand the title of Scotland and that the change was continued and increased by the posteritie of his latter wiues I could not chuse but suspect some thing But yet the loue of the world and hope of preferment would not suffer me to beleeue but that all was well and as it ought to be G. H. 4. You told vs before that your care was assoone as you came to yeeres of discretion by all meanes you could to enforme your selfe whether the religion of England were indeed the very same which being prefigured and prophecied in the olde Testament was perfected by our blessed Sauiour and
fire her Nauie and with three thousand Spaniards● subdue Ireland to the Spanish dominion These and many other sufficient reasons to prouoke her we find recorded by Hieronimus Catena in the life of Pius Quintus who was Secretarie to Cardinall Alexandrin that Popes Nephew so that though he haue in that discourse discouered many things to the world of Pius his proceedings against that Queene before vnknowen to our English yet may wee well by reason of his place afforde him credite as also in regarde his booke was Printed and published in Rome it selfe with the Priuiledge and approbation of Sixtus Quintus next Successor to Pius saue one And had she not good reason then to suffer such Lawes to bee made by her Parliament as might crie quittance with the Pope and Church of Rome Yet I will bee bold to say that lesse innocent blood nay lesse blood was shed in her 44. yeeres in maintenance of Christs and her owne authoritie against the vsurpation of the Pope then in her sisters foure yeeres in maintenance of the Popes vsurpation against her owne and her Successours lawfull authority insomuch as an Italian and hee no Protestant as I guesse giues this testimonie of her Tanta extitit eius animi moderatio atque innata clementia vt non immerito c. So great and so apparant was the moderation of her minde and inbred clemēcie that not vndeseruedly it may be said of her which the ancient histories haue left to posteritie of Alexander Seuerus borne of his mother Mammaea Nempe Anaematon hoc est citra sanguinem namely that shee hath gouerned her kingdome without bloodshed Cum suapte natura semper à caedibus crudelitate abhorreat for euen her nature doth abhorre the thought of slaughter or crueltie so he goeth on in a large discourse of her praise And when he thus wrote she had reigned twenty yeres it being a maruell as the late Bishop of Lincolne in his answere to Parsons hath well obserued their Index expurgatorius had not scowred him ere this and for this nay their owne Priests shall speake for Queene Elizabeths Lawes who say that considering Iesuiticall practises shadowed vnder the cloake of Religion all the Lawes enacted against Catholikes were made with great moderation and clemencie as comming from a Prince most milde and mercifull nor haue they cause to vrge repeale of any Statute made so long as Iesuits take such courses Nay which is more Parsons himselfe in the Preface to the first part of his triple conuersion commendeth Queene Elizabeth for her moderate gouernment and that was in the last yeere of her reigne and yet by the way it is worth the noting that in one and the same leafe hauing so commended her in one page mary then she was aliue in the very next page for then he heard shee was dead in a Preface to his Maiestie he compares her to Dioclesian for crueltie whereas her sobrietie and clemencie was such that her brother King Edward was wont commonly to call her His sweete sister Temperance neither did shee euer heare of any capitall punishment though neuer so deserued vpon offenders euen of such as had sought her own death but it bred a kind of horror and sadnesse in her whereby had not her Counsellers earnestly inculcated the necessitie of some exemplary iustice many dangerous attempters had escaped due punishment which mooued her to say being once questioning with a great Diuine in Oxford about books meetest for Princes to studie on that her reading of Senecade Clementia had done her much good but some would perswade her it had done her State as much harme howsoeuer I will shut vp this point with S. Augustine when he was intreated to mediate for a mittigation of some strait Lawes if Princes serue Christ in making Lawes for Christ they doe what they ought I will not gaine say them and your selfe graunt that this course seemed in poli●ie necessary for her who was the daughter of King Henry the VIII by Anne Bulleine borne with the contempt of Rome the disgrace of Spaine and the preiudice of Scotland and it is true indeede that it both seemed and was a necessary course for her not onely in policie but in pietie who was the daughter of him who vpon iust reason vnhorsed the Pope of his pretended authoritie by her who was not onely a zealous professour but a Patronesse of that trueth which wee professe and for her birth with the contempt of Rome and disgrace of Spaine it seemed by her courses shee was not vnwilling to haue it so int●rpreted but for the preiudice of Scotland shee was vpon all occasions so farre as shee conceiued it stood with her safetie and honour most willing to expresse the contrary and surely by her liuing and dying in a single State without marriage she rather prepared a way to the furtherance of that Title which wee now see to our great comfort as she would also no doubt to hers Si quis modo sensus in vmbris if there were any feeling or knowledge in the dead of these temporall and transitory affaires seeing it is fallen out to bee as true in that succession as it is in its owne nature strange Mira cano Sol occubuit nox nulla sequuta est B. C. 33. But now that your Maiestie is by the consent of all sides come to the Crowne and your vndoubted Title setled with long succession the case is very much altered for your Maiestie hath no need of dispensations nor will to pull downe Churches nor no dependance at all on Henry the VIII and if this Schisme could haue preuented your Title with the diuorce of one wife and the marrying of fiue more neither your mother nor your selfe should euer haue made Queene Elizabeth afraid with your Right to the Crowne of England and therefore though it were necessary in reason of State to continue the doctrine of diuision as long as the fruit of that doctrine did continue yet now the fruit of Schisme is all spent and that Parenthesis of State is at an end there is no reason but that the old sentence may returne againe and bee continued in that sense as if the Parenthesis had been cleane left out and that God had of purpose crossed the fleshly pretence of Schisme and raised your Maiestie to restore it as your most wise and Catholike progenitor King Henrie the VII did leaue it G. H. 33. If his Maiestie by the consent of all sides bee come to the Crowne why did Clement the VIII the yeere before his entrance and that as his Maiestie witnesseth in the Conclusion of his answere to Paulus Quintus his first Breue contrary to his manifold vowes and protestations at the same time and as it were with the same breath deliuered to diuers of his Maiesties Agents abroad send to Henry Garnet Iesuite their Arch-priest in England two Bulles to the contrary the one to the Clergie and the other
and more then must be granted by vs it reaching to the deposition of Princes from their thrones and the disposition of their Crownes when his Holinesse shall iudge it fit for the vnity of the Church as well appeared in his Buls both against King Henry the father and Queene Elizabeth the daughter And thus farre Cardinall Perron that peaceable man and your great Patron expressed himselfe in the last assemblie of the three estates of France for which the Pope gaue him and the rest of the Clergy who stucke to him in that businesse as great thankes as if they had saued Saint Peters shippe from sinking both the Cardinall and the Pope supposing as it seemes that those sparkes flew into France from the fire of England howsoeuer sure it is they were quenched by the water of Tyber B. C. 15. So that whereas my hope was that by finding out the corruptions of the Church of Rome I should grow further in loue with the Church of England and ioyfully returne home and by inueighing against the Papists both enioy my present preferments and obtaine more and more I saw the matte● was like to fall out cleane contrary It is true indeed that there are many corruptions● in all States God hath not his wheat field in this world wherein the deuill hath no tares growing and there are not tares more ranke then those that grow among the wheat for optimi corruptio pessima and where grace aboundeth if it be contemned there sinne aboundeth much more But seeing my reading and experience hath now taught me that the trueth of Christian Religion taught and practised at this day in the Church of Rome and all the obedient members thereof is the very same in substance which was pre●igured and prophesied from the beginning of the world perfected by CHRIST himselfe deliuered to his Apostles and by them and their Successours perpetually and vniuersally practised vntill this day without any W substantiall alteration and that the new religion in X England wherein it doth differ hath no ground but either the pleasure of the Prince and Parliament or the common crie and voyce of the people nor no constancie or agreement with it selfe what should I now doe It is not in my power not to know that which I doe know nor to doubt of that which I haue spent so much time and taken so much paines and bestowed so much cost and made so many trials to find And I know if I should yeeld to be reconciled to the Church I should be in this world in all likelihood vtterly vndone and which grieued me more I should bee reiected of your Maiestie my most redoubted Lord and Master and despised by all my deare friends and louers in England G. H. 15. W The Church of Rome holds indeed the substance of Christian Religion in profession but yet by consequence shakes the foundation of it as it holds the death of Christ to be satisfactory for sinne and yet adding thereunto her owne meritorious satisfaction consequently by the latter she ouerthrowes the former for If righteousnesse be by the Law then Christ died without a cause and in reason impossible it is if traditions be held of equall valew with the Scriptures for the constituting of substantiall points but that in short time there should ensue a substantiall alteration and he that knowes not that the Church of Rome holds many things now as parts of the Catholike faith which it helds not in former ages knowes little what hath bene anciently held or now is X If by the religion of England you vnderstand that which is by Law established as in cōmon construction you cannot otherwise be vnderstood you cōdemne your selfe out of your owne mouth in as much as you acknowledge before that the religion established by law in England was the same saue onely it was somewhat defectiue which now is and euer had beene held in the Catholike Church and yet here you say it hath no ground but the pleasure of the Prince and Parliament wheras in trueth we build vpon the Rocke of the Scriptures but you vpon the sand of traditions and which of vs hath the sounder foundation I appeale no farther then reason it selfe to iudge You as though you were not yet dead from the ordinances of the world burden your selues with traditions as touch not taste not handle not which all perish with the vsing and are after the commandements and doctrines of men but we haue a most sure word of the Prophets taking heede thereto according to S. Peters counsell as to a light that shineth in a darke place and as our ground is sure so is our agreement constant and vniforme in all points materiall and necessary to saluation whereas in the building of your tower of Babel such diuersitie of languages is heard that there is hardly any exposition of Scripture or point in controuersie which hath not bene or is called into question either directly or by consequent by some that liued and died in that Church which you call Catholike as will easily appeare to him who shall turne ouer the volumes of of Cardinall Bellarmine which is the true reason as I suppose that his workes are not allowed to bee read of all but of publike professours and such others as haue speciall permission from their Superiours B. C. 16. These were my thoughts at the Spaw which did so vexe and afflict my soule as that the waters could doe my body no good at all but rather much hurt neuerthelesse I auoided the company of Catholikes abstained from the Church and did both dispute and write against the Church of Rome as occasion was offered I still hoped that time would giue better counsell and therefore resolued to goe from the Spaw to Heidelberge to doe my duetie there in the meane time I thought with my selfe it may be God hath mooued his Maiesties heart to peace and reconciliation I knowe his disposition was so in the beginning and I remember M. Casaubon told me when I brought him out of France that his errand was nothing else but to mediate peace betweene the Church of Rome and the church of England Therefore I thought before I would submit my selfe to the Church of Rome I would write vnto M. Casaubon such a letter as he might shew vnto your Maiestie containing such conditions as I thought might satisfie your Maiestie if they were performed by the Church of Rome The copie of which letter is too long here to set down But when M. Casaubon answered me that he knew your Maiestie was resolued to haue no societie with the Church of Rome vpon any condition what soeuer and that it would be my vndoing if those my letters should come to your Maiesties hands or of those that bare the sway I began to despaire of my returne into England vnlesse I would ouerthrow both the health of my bodie and the quiet of my