Attorneyes coÌ„â—onlie are presumed to haue vvho must speake â—o the purpose hovvsoeuer it be to the truth And â—â— it vvell appeared in that arraignment vvherof â—e novv treat but intend to proceed no further â—â—erein for that the prisoner himself ansvvered this point sufficientlie at the barre as also to the Lordes before in the tovver and a more large discourse maie be made therof hereafter if neede shall require 19. As for your other article about the Antiquity and continuance of your Church a man maie easily see that you sought an occasion to bring it in by making an obiection on the behalfe of Iesuitts against the same and thereby to shevv your skill in ansvvering They hold their religion saie you to be the old Religion where ours is the new confyned to England where on the contrary side their Religion is vniuersall and embraced in the greatest part of this Christian worlde And thus for the maintenance of their rotten Religion doe they seeke to disgrace and blemish our Ghospell But good syr if your ghospell be that of the foure Euangelistes novv receaued vve pretend that it is as much our ghospell as yours and more also for that you receaued it from vs and vpon our Churches credit and for that you call rotten Religion if euer it vvere Religion then neuer can it rott except you put no difference betvvene apples and religion But let vs heare hovv you vvill ansvvere this obiection in your ovvne vvordes as they came set dovvne vnto me from your ovvne mouth 20. But to this saie you I will answere that if our Ghospell be as ancient as Luther it is more ancient then the Iesuitts are though not I trovv then Iesuitts religion albeit it be not conteyned in these narrow limitts of place nor bands of time which they feignedly imagine hauing byn euer since the time of Christ and his Apostles For we doe not deny but that Rome was the mother-Church and had thirty two virginall martyrs of her Popes a-row so continued til in succeeding ages it brought in a masse of errors and idle ceremonyes But you will aske perhaps where our Church lurked before Luthers coming for some hundreds of yeares But I say it makes no great matter where it was so that I â—m certaine it was for as a wedge of gold if it be dissolâ—ed and mixed with a masse of brasse tinne and other metalls doth not loose his nature but remaineth gold still although we cannot determine in what part of the masse it is conteined but the touch-stone will fynde it out so though our Church hath euer byn since Christes time in the vvorld yet being mixed and couered vvith innouaâ—ons and errours vve cannot tell in vvhat part it vvas And I dare say that it is novv more extended then theirs â— for vve haue all England all Scotland all Germany al Denmarke a great part of France al Poland some part of Italie These are your vvordes if the Relators haue byn exact in setting them dovvne as they saie they haue byn And then is there â—o maruaile though you impugne so much the doctrine of scrupulous reseruation of true sense in ambiguous speeches vvhereas so manifestlie you ouer-lash in all those periods vvhich heere you haue layed before vs. 21. But to the matter it self about the Antiquity Continuance Succession Visibility and Assurance of the Church vvhereas you graunt that the Roman Church vvas the true mother-Church from the beginning and had two and thirty virginall martyrs for so you call them for her Popes one after the other vvithout interposition of anie one Bishop that vvas not martyr for more then the space of three hundred yeares you graunt vs so much in this assertion if it be vvel considered as it vvill be hard for you to take it from vs againe aftervvard in your sequent negation vvhich I shal shevv you brieflie by tvvo conuincing Arguments the one Theologicall the other Morall 22. The first is that if the Church of Rome vvas the true mother-mother-Church of Christ and Christian religion for so great a space as you assigne then no doubt vvere all the predictions and promises of Prophets for the greatnes eminency honour certeyntie florishing perpetuitie of the said Christian Church fulfilled in her Christes peculier promises in like manner that he would be vvith her to the end of the vvorld that the holy ghost should lead her into all truth that hell-gates vvhich properlie signify errours and heresies should neuer preuaile against her that she should be the piller and foundation of truth all men bound to obey and beleeue her vvas â—eant also performed in this roman-Roman-Church for three hundred yeares and more and promised â—â— be performed to the end of the vvorld vvherof â—â—sueth that either God is not able to performe what he promiseth for of his vvill there can be no doubt seing he hath promised or else it cannot vvithout impiety be conceaued and much â—â—se beleeued that this Roman-mother-Church so â—â—anted in the beginning by Christ and his Apoâ—â—es bloud and so vvatered for three hundred yeares togeather by the bloud of all her Bishops â—â— spread ouer the vvorld as S. Paul of his ovvne time testifyeth that her faith religion vvas and aftervvard all Ecclesiasticall histories vvithin the time prescribed after doe declare that all other Churches commonly at least-vvise of the vvest-world vvere her daughters by foundation our â—reat-Britany among the rest it is impossible I say to imagine vvith piety hovv this Queene of the vvorld hovv this florishing Church hovv this golden vvedge to vse your ovvne similitude should so be dissolued mingled vvith brasse tinne copper other such contemptible mettalls vvhich you cal Errours innouations as that her Religion should become rotten according to your phrase her self in steed of being the true kingdome inheritaÌ„ce spouse of Christ become his enemy his aduersary an aduovvtresse and the verie povver of Sathan himself against him as you M. Attorney doe make her 23 Hovv I praie you can this be thought by vvhat reason or probability maie it be imagined vvhen hovv by vvhat meanes might this metamorphosis be made The very next age after the forsaid Martyr-Popesliued S. Augustine vvho reciting the said Popes and their Successors vnto his daieâ— called them all holy vvithout distinction and by their lineal succession in the said Church of Rome did persuade himself to haue demonstrated the truth of all Catholicke Religion as vvell in Africa vvhere he vvas as throughout the vvhole vvorld against all heretickes 24. And after him againe liued in the same Sea as Bishops thereof S. Leo and S. Gregory both of them surnamed Great in respect of their great sanctitie great learning and famous acts and vvith them and after them concurred and suceeeded in other Christian Churches of the vvorld as Fathers and Doctors S. Maximus S. Prosper Vincentius Lyrinensis S. Gregory of Tovvers S. Fulgentius S.
by me ansvvered For as for the other parte concerning treason and the vvhole Act of the late arraignement about the same I haue of purpose forborne to speake as vvell for that it is a matter not appertayning to my facultie as also in regarde of the devv respect I beare both vnto the lavves and customes of my countrie my Princes person and the honour of that great assemblie in all vvhich I haue nothing to complaine of all hauing passed by order but onlie of your extrauagant excursions to confoūd religion and treason togeather nay to make religion the fountaine of treason and therby to inuolue vvithin the hatred of treason all those that by conscience are tyed to that religion be they neuer so innocent than vvhich there can be no greater iniquitie imagined 49. VVith M. Garnets particular cause I vvill not meddle in this place he is gone to his last Iudge before vvhome also you and others that haue had parte in the handling therof must finallie appeare to see confirmed or reuersed vvhatsoeuer hath passed in that affaire As for that vvhich you others so often vrged against him to confesse that he vvas lavvfullie condemned by the tēporal lavv of the land importeth little for the impayring of his innocencie before almighty God You knovv vvho said in a farre vveightier cause concerning the tryal of our Sauiour himself VVe haue a law and according to this law he ought to dy for that he hath made himselfe the sonne of God and their error vvas not so much in the obiect as in the subiect for as for the lavv it self vve fynd it in Leuiticus that blasphemie vvhereof the highest degree vvas for a man to make himself God vvas punishable by death but the subiect to vvit the person of our Sauiour vvas mistaken they esteeming him to be onlie man vvhereas they ought to haue knovvne that he vvas God and man as vvell in respect of the predictions of al the Prophets foretelling that Christ should be the sonne of God as also of his stupendious actions that proued him to be trulie Christ so as though the lavv alleadged by the Ievves against blasphemie blasphemers vvere true and in force of it self yet held it not in the person of Christ but vvas in the highest degree iniurious as all Christian-men must confesse 50. Let vs see then hovv from this case of the maister some light may be dravvne to that of his scholler and seruant You M. Attorney pleaded against him as the Ievves Attorneyes did against our Sauiour and said Nos legem habemus c. vve haue a lavv that vvhosoeuer reuealeth not treason by such a space shall be accessarie of treason and dy as a traytor nor do vve deny the lavv or complaine thereof but yet if this case vvere pleaded in a forrayne Catholicke countrie vvhere the prisoner also shoulde haue his Attorney allovved him he vvould saie on the other side Nos legem habemus superiorem Ecclesiasticam Diuino iure intentam qua sacerdos neque mori neque puniri debet ob proditionem sub confessionis figillo cognitam non reuelatam vve haue a contrarie lavv to vvit an Ecclesiasticall and spirituall lavv higher then your temporall and a lavv founded on the lavv of God vvhereby it is ordeyned that a Priest shal neither dy nor be punished nor be accompted traytor for treason discouered vnto him vnder the seale of confession and not by him reuealed nay he shal be punished that most grieuouslie if he doe for anie cause reueale the same 51. And this plea of the prisoners Attorney vvhich by Catholicke doctrine and schooles is easilie proued in all the partes or members heere set dovvne vvould presentlie haue bene admitted in all Catholicke Countries and Courtes and in ours also vvhiles our Kings and people vvere of that religion and your temporall lavv vvould haue byn put to silence Oh you vvill saie but novv it is othervvise and vve care not for your Ecclesiasticall lavv VVherevnto I ansvvere Veritas autem Domini manet in aeternum If this lavv be foūded in Gods truth vvas left vnto his Church by Christ himself the fountaine of al truth for the honour and defence of his Sacrament of Confessiō as al ancient diuinitie doth affirme then must it for euer endure immutable and novv and then heere and there this countrie and that countrie this and that alteration of religion or Princes temporall lavves must not alter the case or substance of truth either in Gods sight or vvise mens eyes and so M. Garnets case dying for this truth in England novv is no vvorse then if he had dyed a thousand yeares gone for the same either in England or any other Cath. countrey that is to say he dying only for the bare cōcealing of that vvhich by Gods and the Churches Ecclesiastical lavvs he could not disclose giuing no cōsent or cooperation to the treasō it self should haue byn accōpted rather a martyr then a traytor no lesse novv 52. VVhich being so cōsider I besech you M. Attorney vvhat a different reckoning there is like to be betvveene you tvvo at your next meeting in iudgement you knovv somvvhat by experience hovv dreadful a thing the forme of publicke iudgement is but not so much as some others for that hitherto it hath byn stil your lot to be actor not reus predominant both in vvordes povver and consequently terrible nothing terrifyed but vvhen the time and case shal come vvherof the holie-ghost foretelleth vs Stabunt iusti in magna constantia aduersus eos qui se angustiauerunt Iust men that vvere ouerborne in this vvorld shal stand vp boldly vvith great constancy against those that ouerbare them and vvhen the saying of our Sauiour shal be fulfilled that euery man shal receaue be treated according to the measure wherby he hath measured to others then vvil be the day of woe neither doe I say this M Attorney to condemne your office I knovv that in all tymes vnder all Princes your office of Fiscal-Aduocate or Attorney hath byn in vse for the Princes seruice and good also of the Common-vvealth if it be vvell and moderatelie vsed but yet I cannot but friendlie put you in mind of that vvhich holie S. Gregory doth admonish vvhere he handleth the cause and reasons vvhy S. Peter S. Andrew S. Iames and S. Iohn retourned to their art of fishing after the Resurrection of our Sauiour but not S. Matthew to his Custom-hovvse to vvit that certaine artes and occupations there are more dangerous farre the one then the other as more subiect and incident to greater sinnes 53. In vvhich kinde trulie Sir if any office in the vvorld be daungerous in deed yours may be accompted in the highest degree that hath euery day almost his finger in bloud or in particular mens afflictions and ouerthrovves And albeit the act of iustice be laudable necessarie yet the Actor
doore or entrance to the Clergie by lawfull vocation and ordination is so necessarie as if it be not obserued all would grow to confusion and no man could know who hath spirituall iurisdiction ouer soules and who hath not And further he confesseth that albeit be appoint but two generall Sacraments for all sortes of people Baptisme to witt and the Lords supper yet he graunteth this Ordination of Church-ministers to be a true Sacrament also and to haue promise of grace annexed vnto it as other Sacraments haue but that it strecheth not so far as the other two doe but is particular for ministers and Clergie-men onlie 15. But then if we presse him how he and his came in by this doore he and they haue no other shift but to say that their first maisters and teachers entred in by this ordinarie vocation and ordination of our Bishops for others there were none at that time to call or ordayne them from whom afterward they disioyned themselues in doctrine to ioyne with the Apostles And this is the leap they make from our age to the Apostles time 16. But suppose they could say this of their first teachers that they had their ordination and consequentlie also their vocation and spirituall iurisdiction from our Bishops yet afterward when they fell to different doctrine and for that cause were cut of by excommunication from them and especiallie now when the said first teachers are dead and gone they can haue no other assurance of their vocation of ministerie then from the people of their owne sect in their Presbyteries as before hath byn said which how much it is or whether it may be any thing at all shall afterward be discussed 17. Now it shall be sufficient onlie for the argument of this Preface concerning the weight and importance of this Controuersie we haue with M. Attorney about spirituall iurisdiction that we consider and beare in mind the different origen from which ech partie of the foresaid three professors of Religion doe pretend to deriue their right and interest to the said spirituall iurisdiction which they exercise And what side soeuer erreth therin erreth also in the maine marke of their saluation and doth draw both themselues and their followers to euerlasting perdition And furthermore that the difference contrariety in this point is much more between Puritanes and Protestants then between them both and Catholickes For that they both doe graunt and cannot denie but that the deduction of spirituall iurisdiction in our Catholike Prelates hath come downe line-allie and successiuelie by ordination and imposition of â—ands the one of the other from the Apostles time though declined as they saie in doctrine But we on the contrary side doe inferre the suretie of our doctrine by the certaintie of this succession of Priestlie power and spirituall iurisdiction For that whersoeuer this is trulie to be found which cannot be but in the true Church there also hath Christ assured vs that by his omnipotent power and presence the puritie and certaintie of doctrine shall euer in like manner be infallibly conserued 18. But to the Protestant the Puritane doth not yeeld thus much by manie degrees and much lesse the Protestant to the Puritane For they doe not graunt the one to the other that they haue true ordination of Priests and ministers among them as to vs they doe in sâ—gne wherof if anie Priest of ours doe fall to their sideâ— they giue him no new orders but thinke him sufficientlie ordayned by vs to minister in their Church which the Protestant doth not admit in Puritane ministers but that they must be ordered againe by their Bishops as hauing no Orders before nor yet the Puritanes with the Protestant-ministers when they turne vnto them but doe appoint that he renounce his former Orders in their Congregation or Presbyterie and by new imposition of hands of the said Presbiterie he be ordayned a new minister in that profession so as by opinion and estimation of the Protestant-religion the Puritane-ministers are meere laie-men taking vpon them spirituall iurisdiction ouer soules without any lawfull authoritie or commission at al and consequentlie haue no power to preach or teach or administer Sacraments and much lesse haue they that high and excellent iudiciall authoritie to binde or loose sinnes And that which followeth also of this that they haue no Sacraments at all no Clergie no ministerie no sacred or diuine thinge but are onlie a lay companie of men and women ioyned togeather in a certaine worldlie secular society as Fish-mongers Iron-mongers Drapes and other like companies in London And the same opinion haue they of the Protestants and of their Church 19. And by this you may see how farre they differ in substance of religion though somtimes for fashion-sake they call themselues Brethren more indeed then both of them from vs as before hath byn said which proceedeth from this mayne ground Principle to wit from whence ech part draweth their Ecclesiastical Power Spiritual IurisdictioÌ„ ouer soules for that this being once found out all the rest is easie and cleere for so much as this true spirituall authoritie can be but in one partie and in one Church onlie which is the true and wheresoeuer it is found there is assurance also of all truth Christ hauing promised vs that this Church and the true Pastors thereof shall not deceiue vs nor be deceiued And therefore that we may boldlie and confidenlie heare their voice and doe that which they bid vs though otherwise in life and manners they should be as bad as Scribes and Pharises 20. And on the other side where this true authoritie and lawfull iurisdiction is not there we must not beleeue though they speake neuer so faire for that we are fore-told and fore-taught that they are but wolues in sheeps apparrel false prophets to deceiue theeues and murderers to kill and destroie other such fore-warnings left vnto vs by Christ and his Apostles All which ought to make vs vigilant attent diligent curious to vnderstand really the truth about Spirituall Iurisdiction which in the ensuing Treatise is handled so far forth as M. Attorney hath giuen occasion though nothing so largely as the thing it selfe might be discussed but yet sufficientlie for euerie discreet man to see the grounds and with that modestie also I hope as may iustlie offend no man And so I shall now passe on to ioyne with M. Attorney more neerly in the maine battaile if first by the way as it were of skirmish we shall answere somewhat in like manner to his Preface wherin diuers points are not vnworthy of consideration THE ANSWERE TO THE PREFACE of Syr Edward Cooke THE KINGES ATTORNEY About Error Ignorance and Truth and vvay to try the same CHAP. I. BEfore I come to discusse the Preface it self which I purpose to sett downe wholy as it lyeth in the Author it shall not be amisse perhaps Gentle Reader to speake a
this shall suffice to this point Now will M. Attorney passe to another of the commendation of Truth as though that were with him and his And wee shall follow him to examine that point also as wee haue done this other about Ignorance The Attorney On the other side Truth cannot be supported or defended by any thing but by Truth herselfe and is of that constitution and constancy that she cannot at any time or in any part or point be disagreable to her self She hateth all bumbasting and sophistication and bringeth with her certainty vnity simplicity and peace at the last Putida salsamenta amant origanum veritas pèr se placet honesta per se decent falsa fucis turpia phaleris indigent Ignorance is so far from excusing or extenuating the error of him that had power to finde out the truth which necessarily he ought to know wanted only will to seeke it as she will be a iust cause of his great punishment Quod scire debes non vis non pro ignorantia sed pro contemptu habers debet Error and falshood are of that condition as without any resistance they will in tyme of themselues fade and fall away But such is the state of Truth that though many doe impugne her yet will she of her self euer preuaile in the end and flourish like the palme-tree she may peraduenture by force for a tyme be troden downe but neuer by any meanes whatsoeuer can she be troden out The Catholike Deuine 16. None do more willinglie heare the commendation of Truth then we who say with S. Paul VVee can do nothing against truth but for truth And therfore do I willinglie ioyne with M. Attorney in this point of praisinge Truth Wee do mislike also no lesse then he all bumbasting and sophistication neither are we delighted with stinkinge salt-fish that had need of Orygon to giue it a good sauour Wee allow in like manner of his other latin phrases and do confesse that Truth herselfe may be troden downe for a tyme by force but neuer troden out But what is all this to the purpose we haue in hand of findinge out the Truth in this our controuersie Let vs suppose for the present that both partes do like well of her but what meanes is giuen heere or may be giuen to discouer where she lyeth In all other controuersies lightly our aduersaries are wont to remit vs only to scriptures for tryall which was an old tryck in like manner of their foresaid forernuners as the auncient Fathers testify for that scriptures being subiect to more cauillation many times both for the interpretation and sense then the controuersie it selfe gaue them commodity to make their contentions immortall 17. But the same Fathers vrging them with a shorter way asked them still Quid prius quid posterius What was first and what after for that heresie is nouelty and commeth in after the Catholike Truth first planted And for that euery hereticke pretendeth his heresie to be ancient and from the Apostles the said Fathers do vrge further that this Truth of our Religion must not only be eldest but must haue continued also from tyme to tyme at least with the greater part of Christians Quia proprium est hareticorum omnium saith old Tertullian pauca aduersus plâ—â—a posteriora aduersus priora defendere It is the property of all hereticks and their peculiar spirit to defend the lesser number against the greater and those things that are later against the more auncient Which agreeth with another saying of Tertullian Quod apud multos vnum inuenitur non est erratum sed traditum That which is found one and the self-same with many to witt the greater parte in the Christian Church is no error but commeth downe by tradition So hee But S. Augustine deliuereth another direction much conformable to this in sense though different in words Consider saith he what is KATH'HOLON Id est secundum totum non secundum partem According to the whole and not only to a part and this is the truth And another of his tyme saith Teneamus quod ab omnibus creditum est hoc enim verè Catholicum Let vs hold that which hath byn beleeued by all for this is truly Catholike and consequently Truth it self And another Father before them both Catholicum est quod vbique vnum That is Catholike vndoubtedly trew which euery where is one and the same And this both in tyme place and substance 18 These are the ancient Fathers directions now let vs apply them to our present question which is so much the easier to discusse for that albeit it comprehend some part of doctrine in controuersie concerninge the Right of temporall Princes to spirituall Iurisdiction yet is it principally and properly a question of fact to witt whether by the ancient common laws of England and practice of our Princes according to the same spiritual Iurisdiction they were exercised by them in former ages by force and vertue of their Imperiall crownes as Queene Elizabeth did or might do by the authority giuen her by an Act of Parlament in the first yeare of her raigne wherby she was made head of the Church and supreme gouernesse as well in all causes Ecclesiasticall as temporall In discussion wherof if we wil vse the directions of the forsaid Fathers for cleere and infallible tryall we shall easily find out where the Truth lyeth which is the but we ought to shoore at and not to contend in vayne for that our assertion quite contrary to that of M. Atourneys is That if we consider the whole ranke of our Christian English Kings from the very first that was conuerted to our Christian faith to witt King Ethelbert of Kent vnto the reigne of King Henry the eight for the space of more then nine hundered years and King Henry himself for the greater and best part of his reigne did all and euery one of them confesse acknowledg the spirituall power and Iurisdiction of the Sea of Rome and did neuer contradict the same in any one substantiall point either by word law or deed but did infinite wayes confirme the said authority ech one in their ages reignes And this is that KATH'HOLON or secundum totum which S. Augustine requireth and vbique vnam which the other Fathers do mention which is a Catholike proofe in a Catholike cause and M. Attorney must needs fly ad partem to a parte only to witt to two or three later Kings of aboue halfe a hundered that went before which is a schismaticall proofe as S. Augustine sheweth Contra partem Donati Against the parte of the heretick Donatus And before him Opratus Mileuitanus and diuers other Fathers who alwayes call Sectaries a Part For that they follow indeed but a part and Catholiks the whole and therof saith S. Augustine their name is deriued And thus much shall serue for our
Iurisdiction be of Gods institution also and duelie to be honoured in his Church and Christian common wealth as before wee haue shewed yet doe they teach the same to be far otherwise deriued and receiued from God then is Spirituall Power that is to saie not immediatlie by Gods owne deliuerie therof but mediatlie rather to witt by meditation of the law of nature and nations For by the law of nature God â—ath ordeined that there should be politicall gouernment for that otherwise no multitude could be preserued which the law of nations assuming hath transferred that gouernment vnto one or more according to the particular formes therof as Monarchie Aristocracy or Democracy or mixt wherin is to be noted that the ordination of God by the law of nature doth giue politicall Power vnto the multitude immediately and by them mediately to one or more as hath been said But Spirituall Power Christ gaue immediatly and by himself to the Apostles and their Successors by these words whatsoeuer you shall bind vpon earth the same sâ—all be bound in heauen And whatsoeuer you shall loose one earth shall be loosed in heauen Wherby you se a generall large commission graunted to them of binding loosing Quaecunque whatsoeuer without exception And the like to S. Peter as head and chiefe by speciall power and commission of those words Pasce oues meas Pasce agnos meos Feed my sheep feed my lambs thryse repeated signifying therby the Preheminence and Primacy of his Pastorall Authoritie in Gods Church as the auncient Fathers haue allwayes vnderstood the same For that to the office of Supreame feedinge is required also all other authoritie necessarie to gouerne direct commaund restraine and punish in like manner when need requireth 8. About which point is to be obserued and considered attentâ—uelie say Catholike Deuines and most learned lawyers that when God almightie giueth any office he giueth also sufficient Power and Authoritie euery way to execute that office as when he giueth the office of a King or temporal Magistrate for good of the Common-wealth he giueth Authoritie therwith not onlie to direct command and instruct but to punish and compell also yea and to extirpate and cut of those when need is that are rebellions or otherwise deserue that punishment And the like is to be obserued in Spirituall Power and Iurisdiction according to which the Ciuil law saith Cui Iurisdictio data est ea quoque concessa esse intelliguntur sine quibus Iurisdictio expleri non potuit To whosoeuer iurisdiction is giuen to him also must we vnderstand to be graunted all those thinges without which his Iurisdiction cannot be fulfilled And the Canon law to the same effect Iurisdictio nullius videretur esse momenti si coërcionem aliquam non haberet Iurisdiction would seeme to be of no moment if it had not some power to compell And finally it is a general rule giuen in the said Canon law that when anie cause is committed to anie man he is vnderstood to receiue also ful authoritie in al matters belonging to that cause 9. Out of all which is deduced that for so much as Christ our Sauiour God and Man hauing purchased to him felfe by the price of his owne blood a most deerlie beloued Church and committed the same as S. Paul saith to be gouerned by his Apostles and Bishops their successours vnto the worlds end it must needs follow that he hath indowed the same Church with sufficient spirituall Authoritie both directiue and coactiue to that end for gouerning our soules no lesse than he hath done the temporal CoÌ„monwealth for affaires of the body Nay much more by how much greater the importance is of the one than of the other as before hath been said 10. If you aske me yet more particularlie where and how by what commission and to whom Christ our Sauiour left this high Spiritual Power in his Church what it is and wherin it consisteth I answere first to the last that it consisteth as often hath been said in guiding our soules in this world to euerlasting saluation in the next Which thinge for that principallie it dependeth of this that we auoide sinnes in this life or if we committ them that they be pardoned vs or corrected by this Power Christ our Sauiour doth most aptlie giue and describe the same Power by the words of binding or loosing sinnes And therefore in the foresaid place alleadged out of S. Matthew his Ghospel he giueth the said commission as you haue heard VVhatsoeuer you shal binde or loose vpon earth shal be bound or loosed in heauen Wherby the Church of God hath allwaies vnderstood full authoritie of Iudicature to haue been giuen to the Apostles and their successors to discerne iudge binde or loose in all things belonging to this end of directing soules 11. Truth it is that diuers learned deuines are of opinion that in these places Christ did but promise to his Apostles to giue them this high iudiciall authoritie in his Church when by his death and resurrection it should be founded And that the actuall performance of this promise was made vnto them in the 20. if S. Iohns ghospell where Christ said vnto them Sicut misit me pater ego mitto vos As my father sent me so I doe send you and then presentlie breathing vpon then he addeth Receiue the Holie-ghost whose sinnes you shall forgiue they are forgiuen vnto them and whose you shal retaine they are retained Where we se that Christ speaketh now in the present tense they are forgiuen and they are retained and not in the future as before in the place of S. Matthew his ghospell And we must note that those words of our Sauiour As my father sent mee so I doe send you are vnderstood by auncient Doctors of Authoritie as though he had said that with the same power authoritie that my father sent mee into this world to gather gouerne my Church I doe also send you that is to saie withall spirituall power necessarie to your office and charge both on earth and in heanen And therfore he saith in S. Matthew his Ghospell That whatsoeuer they shall binde or loose vpon earth which are the Acts of high iudges shall be loosed or bound in heauen 12. And to S. Peter in like manner as Cheif of the rest the promise of his Supreame and singular power besides the other which out of the former general commission he receiued with the rest of the Apostles was made vnto him first in S. Matthews ghospell when Christ said Thou art Peter which signifieth a stone or rocke and vpon this rock will I build my Church and will giue vnto thee the keies of the Kingdome of heauen c. Which he perfourmed afterward in the 21. chapter of S. Iohn after his resurrection when asking him three times of his loue towards him he as manie times gaue him coÌ„mission of high-pastor ouer
and if they bee good and equall it is a publike benefit but much more if they be well executed by a iust Prince which importeth more than writen lavves For that he as M. Attorney confesseth is the soule of the law that giueth life who also without writen lawes either municipall or Imperiall may administer iustice by law of nature and nations if he will What speciall or singular commodity then is here shewed to issue out of the municipall lawes of England aboue others that they should be called our ancient best inheritance Yea as he addeth after in matters of greatest Importance meaning therby our soule saluation Is not this an ouerlashing is not this an egregious hyperbole Do not subiects in Scotland France Italy Spaine and other places enioy their goods in peace and quietnes and their liues and deare countreyes in safty as wel by their lawes Imperial as we do by our municipall Yes and much more if we will beleeue them and their learnedest this vpon some attent consideration of euents which dayly they heare and reade of many men both great and small to haue bin ouerthrowne and condemned in our countrey both in liues liuinges which they thinke by their Imperiall lawes were impossible And one only circumstance of English tryall in life and death to omit the rest doth leaue them astonished to witt that be he neuer so great a man yet for his life and landes honour posterity he may not haue that allowed him which in an action of fiue poundes renr or lesse he should obteyne which is a learned lawyer or aduocate to speake for him at the barre but that all the Princes officers and learned Counsell shall plead against him exaggerating matters to the vttermost and he only suffered to speake for himself and that in measure who for lack of skill or memory or tyme to consider or boldnes to speake or talent to vtter well his meaninge may there betray and ouerthrow both himself his whole posterity in his owne defence 24. And finally the last vpshot being of that dreadfull action to commit the matter to a iury of vnlearned men that must giue their verdicts openly and by consequence vpon the same causes before mentioned of error feare hope or other passion the Prince being alwayes on part interessed may easily be led finistrously to the prisoners condemnation All which inconueniences being carefully prouided for by course of other lawes do make forreine learned men to thinke that ours are more defectiue than we persuade our selues and that it may easily be beleeued that they were made indeed by a Conquerour And I could haue byn glad that M. Attorney in this place had alleaged some singular thing in their extraordinary commendation for that the enioying of our goods liues lands and contrey by them which he mencioneth are very ordinary and vulgar commendations and common to all lawes in generall that euer were made by reasonable men And yet do we not deny but that our English lawes for the whole corpes and dryft therof are very commendable especially where the spirit and meaninge of the first founders is obserued by the followers yet want there not by graue mens iudgments many considerable points that might be better rectified and namely concerning the imperious and dominant maner of proceeding of many lawyers and their exorbitant gaines which yet perhaps M. Attorney will place among the cheife commendations of our said common lawes 25. In the other point also of remitting men for the knowledg of their euidence ancient birth-right in some pointes of greatest importance to faithful Counseloures that will resolue them fully without feare affection or corruption if he meane by these Counseloures as he doth those Iudges and Sages of the Common-law from whom he hath taken these peeces against Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction which after he hath set downe I must needs saie that it is litle to the purpose For albeit now they be dead he may well saie as he doth that they cannot be daunted with any feare moued by any affection or corrupted with any reward yet when they were aliue gaue their resolutions which he saith they did it is hardly credible that they were soe deuoide of those passions as he would make them they being no Saintes but wordlie men that sought their aduauncement vnder their Princes by pleasing their humours as lawyers of our tymes do wherof I could alleadg many examples and some perhaps we may touch after in their due places Now it shal be sufficient to remember that in diuerse Kings daies after the Conquest the cheife cōplaints of the people were against their cheife Iusticers would God wee had not the like cause now who in those times most gouerned the state or abused rather the same as the examples of Hubert de Borgo and Robert Tresilian cheif Iustices vnder K. Henry the third and Richard the second and both of then punished publiklie for their wickednes doe testifie And in the begining of K. Edward the third his raigne I read of a complaint made by the King and the whole Parliament that his father K. Edward 2. had byn induced by euil Counsellours which in that case may iustlie be presumed to haue byn his Iudges and lawyers to sease into his hands the temporaltie of diuerse Bishopricks c. Which for the time to come he promised not to doe And finallie after that againe when the contention and controuersie between the two potent houses of Lancaster and Yorke began and endured for almost 100. years I find few Iudges or great Sages of the common-law to haue lost their liues therin for anie side or partie as manie Dukes Earls Barons knights yea and some Bishops also religious did Which is a signe that those Sages were to wise to oppose themselues to anie sorte of Princes whatsoeuer but could accommodate themselues to all and draw the birth-right of laws to the establishing of any Kings right that by his sword could get the possession 26. But to prosequute these matters no further in this place I am only to adde for conclusion of all that the true ancien◠birth-right aud best inheritance of English subiects indeed i◠their right to Catholique religion which was first planted amonge them from the Sea of Rome by the singular zeale of holy Pope Gregory the first a thousand years gone and continued without interruption to our dayes as afterwards shall be shewed and that for seeking out and cleering the euidence of this right they ought to be diligent and to spare no labour paine or industrie for that therof dependeth their eternall saluation or damnation which doth not of the knowledge or not knowledg of the common law and that for certifyinge themselues in this point they ought to repaire to faithful Counsellers indeed who are the ancient Fathers and writers of Gods Church in euery age who being not only wise and learned but holy also may securely be
presumed to deliuer the Truth in this controuersie which was not raised vp in their dayes and consequently could not be passionate therin nor daunted with feare moued by affection or corrupted with rewarde as later lawyers and Sages might be that gaue sentence in matters which concerned their interest fauour or disfauour of present Princes And would God M. Attorney himselfe would in this point follow the direction of his Poesie out of Macrobius de veterum lectione of reading the ancient Fathers and old incorrupt writers diligently to this effect For I doubt not but that so good a witt as his is would quickly discerne the truth if preiudice or passion vpon interest or disinterest do not depriue him of that happines For albeit our Sauiour hath a dreadful sentence that it is as hard for a rich man to enter into heauen as a Camel to go through a needels eye yet doth he say also in â—he same place that what is vnpossible to man is possible with God which may iustly deliuer rich men from desperation though not from due feare And so much of this Now shal we see what M. Attorney saith more The Attorney The end of such as write concerning any matter which by some for want of instruction is called into controuersie should be with all the candor and charity that can be vsed to perswade resolue by demonstratiue proofes the diligent Reader in the Truth But now a dayes those that write of such matter do for the most part by their bitter and vncharitable inuectiues transported with passion and fury either beget new controuersies or do as much as in them lyeth to make the former immortall Certaine it is that some books of that argument haue had Truth for their Center yet because they haue wanted temperance modesty and vrbanity for their circumference haue to the great preiudice of the truth hardned the aduersaries in their errors and by their bitter inuectiues whetted them not only to defend themselues and to offend in the like but many times being therby vrged to write to defend the error it self to the hurt of many which otherwise might haue vanished away without any contradiction The Catholike Deuine 27. This candor and charitye which M. Attorney wisheth in al writers of Controuersyes is laudable and fully agreeing also to our desires that be Catholicks and it falleth out wel that some grauer men of the Protestant partie do shew at length by publicke testimony their mislike of such bitter and vncharitable inuectiues which their ministers that should be guides of modestie to others being transported with passion and fury to vse M. Attorneys words do exercise and therby they do beget nevv controuersies and make the former immortall All this we graunt and do much allow commend M. Attorneys vrbanity therin and could easily also gesse at the persons whome principallie he meaneth who haue by their beastly late libels so defiled as it were the very art and profession of writing books through base exorbâ—tant and shameles scurrility as men disdayne to reade them any more holding both them and their Authors in most odious contempt 28. And yet in one thing I cannot agree with M. Attorney in this point when he saieth that these bitter inuectiues of theirs haue whetted their aduersaries to defend themselues which otherwise they would not haue done For I holde the contrary to be true which is that their brutish veine of intemperate and shamles writinge hath freed them from all reioynder of any modest or ciuill aduersary wheras on the other side M. Attorney is answered as you see for that his temperance modestie and vrbanity in the circumference of his Center deserueth the same though his said Center haue not that truth in it which were to be wished answerable to those other good commendations of his And this wil ly vpon vs to proue in the prosecution of this whole Answere Now let vs passe to the rest of his Preface The Attorney Hee that against his coÌ„science doth impugne a knowne truthe doth it either in respect of himself or of others Of himself in that he hath within him a discontented hart Of others whome for certaine worldly respects he seeketh to please Discontented he is either because he hath not attained vnto his ambitious and vniust desires or for that in the eye of the State he for his vices or wickednes hath iustly deserued punishment and disgrace and therfore doth oppose himself against the current of the present to please others in respect that his creditt or maintenance dependeth vpon their fauour and beneuolence I know that at this day al Kingdomes and States are gouerned by lawes and that the particular approued custome of euery nation is the most vsual binding and assured law I deale only with the municipal lawes of England which I professe and wherof I haue byn a student aboue these 35. years My only end and desire is that such as are desirous to see and know as who will not desire to see and know his owne may be instructed such as haue byn taught amisse euery man beleeuing as he hath byn taught may see and satisfy himself with the truth and such as know and holde the truth by hauing so ready and easie a way to the fountaines themselus may be comforted and comfirmed Farewell Multa ignoramus quae non laterent si veterum lectio nobis esset familiaris Macrob. 6. Satur. The Catholicke Deuine 29. Albeit this last part of M. Attorneys Preface be somwhat close and darke yet it is not hard these circumstances considered to leuell at his meaning which is that Catholike men that write of controuersies in this time do write against their consciences vpon discontentment which he presupposing without proofe wheras principally he should haue proued this he passeth on to tell vs why they doe it in respect of themselues or others and vpon what grounds their discontentments arise which by M. Attorneys leaue is altogeather impertinent both for that he leaueth vnproued that which especiallie he should haue proued and that which he endeuoureth to proue is wholie from our purpose and hath no coherence with our cause at al. 30. For first we deny that Catholiks doe write against their consciences to impugne a knowne truth for this they holde to be a most hainous and damnable sinne and one of the six that are against the holy Ghost and very peculiar to heretiks as appeareth by those words of S. Paul before recyted where he writeth in respect of this pertinacy in defending their owne heresies and proper elections against their consciences that heretiks are damned by their owne iudgements and so doe the ancient Fathers with great consent ascribe vnto heretiks this speciall sinne amonge others of Impugnatio veritatis cognitae Impugning the knowe truth for willfull defence of their owne fantasies which is properlie termed by tâ—em Pertinacia or peruicacia haeretica Hereticall pertinacy But now for