neither the Prophet euer counselled or mooued the people to disobey Saul being so deposed nor the people euer offered to reuolt or to deny him their obedience seruice nor Dauid the true and rightfull king appointed by God in his place euer sought or cōsēted to depriue him of the kingdome though due vnto himselfe but notwithstanding he knew him to be his deadly enemy and to hunt after his life yet hauing him twice in his hands where he might safely haue slaine him and therby inuested himselfe of the kingdom neuerthelesse wold he neither touch him himselfe nor suffer any other to touch him calling him the Lords annointed and esteeming it a high sin to laie his hand on him though hee were deposed by God himselfe and which is yet most notable caused the messenger that brought him the first newes of his death to be forthwith slaine for his labour And all this notwithstanding yet is not D. Allen ashamed to wrest this example quite contrarie to the trueth for a president to prooue that the Pope hath authoritie to depose and depriue Princes both of their kingdomes and liues and to release discharge the subiects of their allegeance and further that it is lawfull for subiects to reuolt from their Souereignes to yeeld vp their holdes trecherously vnto their enemies and to beare armes against them To which doctrine hee could not haue found in all the whole Scriptures though all bee flat against it anie one example more directlie contrarie then this the iudgement whereof I referre to the reason consideration and conscience of all men that haue anie sparke of Christianitie morall vertue or naturall reason in them Now then if none of all these examples of Scripture which D. Allen hath cited to prooue the Popes authoritie to depose Princes doe shew that anie of those Princes whom he mencioneth was deposed either by Priest or Prophet as hee falslie assumeth but by God himselfe how can hee then inferre vpon these examples that the Pope hath anie such authoritie vnlesse hee attribute as I said before as much authoritie vnto him as to God himselfe And if Saul being deposed by God himselfe yet neither the Prophet did thereupon disswade the people from obeying him nor the people once offered to reuolt from him but continued in all duetie and obedience towardes him as long as he liued which was manie yeeres after his deposition and if Dauid beeing the lawfull annointed King in his place yet neither sought to put him out of the kingdome but yeelded him obedience and seruice calling him Lord maister during his life thought it sin to laie his hand on him notwithstanding he was deposed lastly in token of the misliking and displeasure he tooke at the death of Saul caused the messenger that brought him the tidings thereof to be slaine how can D. Allen by this example induce men of anie reason or sense to beleeue that either the Pope maie lawfully authorise encourage or exhort subiects to disobey or to laie hands on the Lords annointed or that anie subiect may lawfully renounce his allegeance reuolt from and beare armes against his Souereigne beeing a lawfull Prince onelie vpon a colourable warrant of deposition by a man a Priest a stranger who hath no authoritie in the worlde to depose anie Prince from his kingdome no though hee were an Infidel but is himselfe euen by Gods ordinance a subiect to Princes With what face can hee vtter such manifest vntruthes with what confidence can hee persuade himselfe to bee beleeued when his lies are so monstrous and his impostures so euident But most of all with what conscience can hee presume to force the word of God to his purpose which is so directly against him But hereby may all men plainely perceiue how small regard that sect hath vnto religion but onlie to serue their turnes which are not ashamed to make such impudent and vngodly shiftes to maintein their vsurped authoritie Call you this holines M. D. to abuse the people with false doctrine to belie the scriptures to peruert the most sacred word of God to rob him of his own peculiar authoritie and prerogatiue for the defence and furtherance of your owne rebellious practises In trueth it resembleth much the holines of your holie thiefe whom it pleaseth you somewhat merrily in your Pamphlet to compare vnto vs but in truth a righter patterne of your own profession which to speake truely what I thinke in my conscience is much discredited by your owne double dealing You your selfe to further your owne purpose as you supposed could prefixe before your Pamphlet euen in the first page as a sentence vnder the title thereof the resolution giuen by Christ vpon the tempting demand of the Pharisees Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari wherein Christ himselfe commandeth all men to giue vnto Caesar that is to the King and Ciuill Magistrate whatsoeuer is due vnto him that is feare honor subiection and tribute And how dare you then euen in the same Pamphlet countermaund this commandement of our Sauiour bending all your forces craft and cunning to persuade the subiect to resist his Souereigne and thereby to break this high and peremptorie commandement But you saie the Pope hath authoritie to discharge the subiect of this duetie and obedience which is here commanded Shew me then I praie you some Text of Scripture that giueth the Pope so large Commission as you speake of nay shew me anie dispensation out of Gods word that may exempt you or the Pope himselfe out of the compasse of this commandement For the precept is generall and therefore extendeth to all men and besides was expresly giuen by Christ vnto his Disciples to whom hee spake in presence And if the Pope and you bee the Disciples of Christ as you would seeme to bee then must you also as well or rather then others yeeld obedience and subiection to your Ciuill gouernours or els fall into the breach of Christs commandement And if you bee subiect to the ciuill Magistrate as you are by this rule of Christ how can you take that authoritie from them which Christ hath giuen them ouer you If you saie there is no subiection due vnto them longer then they continue in the truth of Religion I pray you tell mee first how prooue you them to be heretikes vnlesse you your selues may be Iudges Will you then both condemne and punish them before they bee conuicted of crime and will you that are parties bee both iudges and executors of your owne will and pleasure Secondly suppose they were as you vniustly condemne them to be heretikes yea suppose they were Iewes Turkes Heathens yet is there neuertheles obedience and subiection due vnto them For what was Caesar himselfe but a Heathen what were the Princes in the Aposties times of whom it is said Let euerie soule be subiect vnto them and whosoeuer resisteth them resisteth the ordinance of God what
were they all but Heathens If Christ himselfe then hath confirmed the authoritie and power euen of Heathen Princes how can the Pope dissolue and take away the authoritie power kingdom yea life too of Christian Princes And yet he claimeth his authoritie from Christ as his Disciple and Vicar here on earth by which title he maketh all Princes subiect vnto his authoritie In truth so is the greatest Prince liuing subiect vnto the meanest Preacher and Minister of God to obey the doctrine and word which hee deliuereth out of the Scriptures and to receiue his instruction exhortation admonition and reproofe yet is hee not though he should reiect his instructions to be therefore deposed from his kingdome or resisted and disobeyed by him And greater authoritie hath not the Pope himselfe ouer anie Prince then the meanest Minister and messenger of God I finde not in all the Scripture that euer Christ gaue vnto his Disciples anie Commission to depose Princes although they should disobey his word but I finde that he gaue them Commission to Preach And whosoeuer shuld not receiue them nor heare their words he bad them that when they should depart out of that house or Citie they should shake the dust of their feete reseruing the punishment of them vnto God As for the superioritie which the Pope challengeth ouer Princes as the Successor of Peter disciple of Christ I finde no such Commission giuen vnto Peter himselfe to authorise him in such sort ouer Princes but I finde that Christ said vnto him three times Feede my sheepe As for the swoord wherby is signified the Ciuil Authoritie Christ expresly forbad Peter to vse it commanding him to put it vp into the sheath To the same effect also spake he not only to Peter but to all the rest of his fellowes the Apostles when there was some contention risen amongst them about superioritie Ye know saith hee that the Lords of the Gentiles haue domination ouer them and they that are great exercise authoritie ouer them But it shall not be so among you But whosoeuer will be great among you let him be your seruant And if the Pope bee Christs Disciple hee must learne this lesson of his Maister to be a seruant to his fellows not a Commander of Kings Christ himselfe from whom the Pope deriueth his supreme authoritie as his Vicar on Earth neuer tooke vpon him the authoritie to depriue Princes of their kingdoms nor to discharge the subiects of their dutie obedience but contrariwise confirmed the power of Princes both by his doctrine teaching that Feare Honor Obedience Subiection is due euen to Heathen Princes and also by his owne example yeelding tribute with all duetie and obedience vnto them and submitting himselfe his bodie and life to their authoritie iudgement correctiō And for himself professed that his king dō was not of this world that he came not to be serued but to serue And if Christ acknowledged himselfe not to haue any kingly authoritie in this world but to be a subiect vnto kings to their inferior officers and a seruant how can the Pope deriue vnto himself from Christ not onlie a kingly authoritie but a predominant authoritie ouer all kings Can the scholler bee greater then his Maister will the Vicar take vpon him more authoritie then hee from whom he taketh all his authoritie Nay will he of himselfe presume to giue warrant directly cōtrarie to the commandement of Christ Let euerie man then iudge both what he is that so opposeth him self against Christ what D. Allen is that iustifieth his so doing for iustification thereof pretendeth warrant of Scriptures against God himselfe which how shamefully he hath therin wrested peruerted and belied hath been I hope alreadie sufficiently declared vnto you so far forth as his pamphlet gaue occasion and farther should haue been but that this question is handled at large and all that D. Allen can say therein abundantly confuted by a learned Diuine a man of as great sufficiencie and of more sinceritie then himselfe in the answere to his Defense of English Catholikes Now to come to the matter and to the prosecuting of D. Allens purpose you see that hee hath not onlie failed in the proofe of the Popes authoritie to depose Princes and consequently of his warrant for the subiects reuolt but also his own examples and arguments retorted against himselfe and the contrarie part prooued both by them and by diuers other reasons and authorities of Scriptures out of which Doctor Allen bringeth not so much as one Text in trueth I must confesse because he cannot vnlesse hee should coyne it himselfe to proue directly his prophane assertions So that no man can be so blind but he must needes perceiue and acknowledge that the Pope hath neither power of himselfe nor authority from God to depose Princes from their kingdomes neither can giue to the subiect any commissiō or licence sauing only that licence which he hath himselfe that is that licence qua sumus omnes deteriores so much as to disobey their Souereignes much lesse to reuolte from them to their enimies to lay handes on them to beare armes against them Whereby it cannot but bee most apparant that D. Allen respected wholye herein the subtilty of his drifte not the soundnes of his doctrine and for the obteinment of credit and attainment of his purpose thereby affied him selfe altogither vpon the smoothnes of his perswasions and the affectionate mindes and inclinations of his adherents ANd sithens we haue alreadie discouered the foundation of his perswasions to bee weake false and rotten it shall not be amisse to bestowe a little labour to trie if a small wind will not ouerthrow the building it selfe which I doubt not but we shall find to be patched togither of as rotten stuffe and of as slender substance as the foundation is and to haue nothing in it to withstand the weather but onely the bare outside and colour of religion The ende whereunto this perswasion of disobedience and reuolte from her Maiestie tendeth hath bene alreadie declared namely the furtherance of all trayterous and rebellious designementes that may be by any person or in any wise attempted against her Maiestie and particularly the assistance of the k. of Spaine and the other forreine forces inuasion nowe presently intended and prepared against our countrey Let vs then next see to what persons D. Allen principally purposeth and addresseth his persuasions First for Protestants and such as are of sound Religion as I trust the greatest parte of England by great ods is D. Allen cannot be so madde as to hope that his perswasions can haue any authoritie or worke any effect with them but to confirme them rather in her Maiesties seruice and obedience for the better mayntenaunce of their Religion and defence of themselues
what they by their demands first vrged him vnto hauing both occasion and encouragement giuen him to speake yet the more cunningly to disguise his principall drift not without a preamble of manie solemne Protestations he still deferred that to the verie last end of his discourse which was indeed the first and only purposed ende of his comming Whose president Doctor Allen seeming verie rightly to haue imitated as well in the matter as in the methode of this his politike Pamphlet first because he will haue it seeme to proceede of an occasion offered and not of his owne voluntarie motion least his intent therin might be suspected and his worke thereby discredited frameth a letter to himselfe in the name of two letters of the Alphabet his supposed honourable friend whom hee faineth thereby verie instantly to demand his opinion touching the lawfulnes of S. W. Stanleys and Captaine Yorkes action in rendring vp the Towne of Deuenter and Fortes of Zutphen vnto the Duke of Parma and thereupon taketh occasion in his answere thereunto to fall as it were by the way into a further matter whereto in truth the whole purpose of his treatie was from the beginning intended A sorie shift of so cunning a Clerke in an Apes skin to couer a Foxe whom euen his verie taile may bewraie As though men were so simple or of so slender iudgement as that they could not discerne by the stile the letter and answere to bee both of one stampe And for the chiefe purpose of this Pamphlet that it tendeth to a farre further end then to the satisfying of the consciences of S. William Stanley and Capt. Yorke and other like Romain Catholikes touching the lawfulnes of the yeelding vp of Deuenter and Zutphen Fortes if this were not a sufficient argument thereof that the parties themselues neuer made conscience or question of the matter either before the yeelding of them or since and therefore needed no such resolution as D. Allen will needs intreat himselfe to offer them which were and are still as resolute as himselfe in disobedience the verie plaine dealing of D. Allen himselfe generally throughout the whole Pamphlet but particularly in the latter and greater halfe of it maketh the thing more then manifest as shalbe laide open vnto you more at large when wee come to the particular handeling of that point I am sorie that I should haue such occasion giuen mee euen in the verie first entrance to vse a comparison so odious and vnbeseeming the name profession and calling of such a man as D. Allen is or should be as to liken him to one in whom the verie Prince of Poets emploied his best witte and skill in liueliest colours to expresse the true shape and substance of a most subtil and malicious dissembler for in truth I doe naturally and inwardly hate all immodestie bitternes and violence of speech generally in all actions of life and conuersation and especially in these of controuersie and confutation where the trueth is to bee defended not our owne passions displaied the aduersarie with reason conuinced not with railing defaced his sinister and lewde dealings orderly reprooued not his person in any wise vndecētly outraged But if D. Allen haue in this Pamphlet both in manner and matter so rightlie resembled Sinon as that hee hath not left mee the choice of anie man to whom I may so rightly resemble him as to Sinon it is hee himselfe and not I that hath made himselfe comparable to Sinon Nay if it appeare further by this Pamphlet that he hath the verie minde meaning intent and counsell of Sinon by like solemne protestations and subtill persuasions vnder colour of Religion to intice you I meane such as are wholie deuoted to his Religion or haue been affected to his doctrine or can be allured by his enchantments to prostrate and laie open your Countrey by your armes and assistance to bring in the Spanish and other forreine forces to the certaine ruine destruction and ouerthrow both of your selues and your Countrey I thinke I may lawfully without iust touch of malice or immodestie bee bold to shew you his shadow in a glasse that hideth his bodie from you vnder a glosse and by the example of his doings whom this man so liuely resembleth laie before your eies the verie marke which hee so cunninglie aimeth at to the ende that beeing once warned you may bee euer armed against his pernicious practises But I know it will bee a matter of great labour and difficultie for mee to persuade you that are of D. Allens religion to see or acknowledge anie errour falshood or malicious intent in him because you are alreadie setled in persuasion of his learning sinceritie and goodnes of his cause and carrie the contrarie opinion of mee because you esteeme mee to bee of a contrarie Religion both to him and your selues Albeit my purpose is not particularly either to drawe him into discredit with you or to withdraw you from the Religion you professe though I could bee content nay most willing and desirous to hazarde mine owne life in trauelling to winne you to the true waie of eternall life but onelie to laie open his errours and abuses to the worlde indifferentlie that such as haue eares to heart maie heare and such as are not wilfullie blinde maie see and satisfie themselues accordinglie yet if either by example or persuasions I maie stirre you vp to the straighter examination of your consciences and better consideration of the groundes of your religion togither with more aduised deliberation how you giue credit to mens counsailes or enter into their confederacies and consequentlie into your owne destructions I shall thinke my selfe of all thinges that euer happened or can happen to mee most happie in this that it hath pleased God to make me the meanes of so happie an effect to you Of whom I will therefore thinke it no skorne to craue euen vpon the knees of my heart onely that which you ought your selues to yeelde mee of your owne accord beeing a thing no waie possiblie hurtfull but likelie manie waies beneficiall vnto you that is that you will onelie bee content for a time to laie aside all affection partialitie and preiudicate opinion and to reade with indifferencie weigh with aduisement and with vprightnes to iudge of that litle which shall be most faithfullie deliuered vnto you I will not in truth neither can I if I would denie my selfe to bee of that religion wherein I haue been bred and brought vp euen from mine infancie that is the true ancient Catholike and Apostolike religion professed in the Church of England which the Romanists do so much impugne and so earnestlie endeuour to supplant But as I doe confesse my selfe most stedfastlie to holde that Religion and therein to stand fullie resolued so do I vnfainedlie protest that since I came to the yeares of reason and discretion to conceiue what Religion was I neuer held anie opinion obstinatelie