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
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
lowest dungeon of discredit I will therefore onely bewayle their want of grace not afflict their persons by rubbing ouer the rawe skarres of their freshe woundes not yet fullye skynned And these forsooth are the famous facts which D. Allen so highly commendeth these the honorable persons whose Orator he maketh himselfe to declaime of their praises And no maruell if an Archtraytor defend Treason for if Treason should haue no defense his owne fact were the more infamous and if the inferiour Traytors be so highly extolled how much the greater is his own glory In the second you are to obserue the actions which he setteth himselfe to impugne and discommend and the persons against whom he opposeth himselfe and shooteth out the most venimous sting of his slaunderous and blasphemous tongue The actions such as by the aduersaries owne arguments affirmations and authorities haue bene already sufficiently iustified against his false calumniations and are in themselues most apparent godly vertuous and honorable The persons so sacred so religious so vnspotted so far aboue all blemish of detraction as Malice it selfe cannot name without reuerence nor thinke on without trembling and such as D. Allen is by Gods owne worde expressely forbidden not onelye to speake but so much as to imagine euill of in thought Yet such is the corruption of his mind the disobedience of his heart the neglect and contempt he hath of Gods commandement as no regard of vertue no respect of ciuility no feare of God or man can restraine his outragious intemperancie But herein hath he obserued Decorum and shewed himselfe in all pointes like himselfe for he that hath professed himselfe an open patrone of vice and trecherie and a cannoniser of disloyall traytors it fitteth best his person and quality to obiect himselfe as a sworne aduersarie to all honorable godly and religious actions and a malicious and slanderous defamer of all true noble vertuous and renowmed personages In the third you are to note the nature of the thing whereunto he goeth about to perswade you that is to reuolte from the due obedience and seruice of your Souereigne to rebell and to take armes against her your countrey a thing first in it selfe vnlawfull displeasing to God and repugnant vnto his word as hath bene by sundry argumēts and expresse authorities of Scripture manifestly declared vnto you secondly for the effects vnnaturall odious and infamous throughout the whole world as being the most pestilent disease of the bodie politike the greatest enimie to ciuill gouernment and the dissoluer of all humane society thirdly for the intent most dommageable and vtterly pernicious to yourselues as tending directly to the very ruine and ouerthrow of your peace liberty welth prosperitie and finally in a word to the extreme miserie calamity and destruction of yourselues and your countrey A fit perswasion for such an author wherein he hath shewed himselfe hitherto no changeling that he might at the least purchase vnto himselfe the commendation of constancie though it be but in meere lewdnes and shamelesse impietie Lastly for a full consummation and accomplishment of his prayses you are in all and euery particular of this his pamphlet throughout to cōsider that which hath bene heretofore in sundry places noted vnto you his fraudulent and indirect dealing not onely in the fallacies and Sophistications of his arguments but also in the opē falshood of his affirmations and especially in his peruerting and wresting of the holie histories and examples of Scripture to his seditious and wicked purposes Which if any vpon the good opinion they haue conceiued of D. Allens integrity zeale in religion do thinke not to be intended by him to the deceiuing of them they do therein vtterly deceiue themselues For it standeth not with reason or common sense for anie man to beleeue that he will make it nice or deintie to abuse the ignorance or credulitie of men which maketh it no conscience to abuse the most sacred and holie word of the eternall God But herein hath he I saie duely and orderly accomplished his course with such equalitie proportion and vniformitie in all points as the middle appeareth in each respect answerable to the beginning and the ende vnto both insomuch as the Authour hath effectually shewed himselfe not to haue degenerated in anie point from his first humour disposition but that you may rightly say of him forsomuch as he hath declared in this pamphlet that if there be one good zeale motion or affection in him there is neuer a bad If anie man thinke mee to haue been more earnest and bitter in speeches against the man then I heretofore promised and professed let him impute it to the bitternes of the argument and occasion for I protest I haue not in any thing inueighed against the person but against his wicked malicious and pestilent practises which I know no subiect well affected could with patience endure to think vpon and I my selfe haue beene enforced to command my selfe temperancie in repeating and answering them labouring in no wise to discredit him but endeuouring wholy to discouer his double and deceitfull dealings his irreligious and prophane policies and his euident abuses and impostures which hath been euer hitherto the onlie meanes that not hee alone but all the rest of the same sect haue vsed to seduce men from the Truth to the following of their faction for the setting vp of their Antichristian Monarchy For that is the verie marke they shoote at to make themselues Lordes and Rulers of the world and to draw as well the authoritie of the swoord as the custodie of the keyes into their owne handes and to bring all Kinges Princes Emperours and all Ciuil powers vnder their subiection and obedience Which knowing at the first that they could not by anie meanes bring to passe if the word of God which is directly against their purposes and beateth downe their intolerable pride and ambitious desire of Souereigntie should once bee made publike and common to the people whereby they might be able to discerne their doctrine and finde out their errors and abuses to keepe and restraine men from that knowledge they endeuoured first to suppresse the holie Scriptures by prohibiting them to be published in those languages wherin the people might read and vnderstand them teaching the people that it was not conuenient for them to meddle with the Scriptures but that it was sufficient for them to relie wholy vpon their doctrine and necessarie for their saluation to beleeue what they taught and to fulfill what they commanded So by this meanes might they teach whatsoeuer they would for who could controll them and whatsoeuer they taught the people were bounde to beleeue vpon paine of damnation for who durst offende his Ghostly Father If anie true member of the Church of Christ stirred vp by the spirite of God and an earnest zeale of his word