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puritan ©isitiplme Crarts* 
 
 AN 
 
 ADMONITION 
 
 PEOPLE OF ENGLAND; 
 
 iMarti'tt ilar-'^«Iatf, 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS COOPER, D.D. 
 
 BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN PETHERAM, 94, HIGH HOLBORN. 
 
 1847. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 HUGH WILLIAMS, PMKTEB, ASHBY-STKEET, 
 
 NPnTHAMPTON-SaUARE. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Of the Admonition there are two editions, both bearing the 
 date of 1589, the title-pages of which are so much alike that the 
 most minute examination fails to discover any difference in 
 them. This similarity extends only to the early part of the 
 work, for a difference in the width of the page, in pagination, 
 and other circumstances soon lead to the conclusion of two 
 distinct impressions. By a careful collation of the two 
 editions, a few slight verbal differences occur, though they 
 are unimportant, and the following passage in the corrected 
 edition, " I will nowe come to answere briefly some particular 
 slanders yttered against some Bishops and other by name," 
 does not occur in the original. The second, or corrected 
 edition is that chosen as the text of the reprint. The Author 
 of the Admonition has not affixed his name to it, but the 
 initials T. C. will be found at the end of the short preface ; 
 and the work is well known to have been written by Thomas 
 Cooper, at that time Bishop of Winchester, respecting whom 
 some particulars may be found in Sir John Harington's State 
 of the Church, and in Wood's Athence Oxonienses, by Dr. 
 Bliss. Soon after the publication of the Admonition it was 
 answered by Martin Mar-Prelate in Hay any worke for 
 Cooper, wherein that author pointed out two passages in the 
 Admonition, that, for some reason or other, it had been found 
 necessary to cancel. At page 40 of the original edition. 
 Bishop Cooper says, " The Libeller doth but dreame, let him 
 and his doe what they dare," — over this last word is pasted 
 
 A 2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the word can. At page 135 of the same edition, its author 
 seems to have admitted too much, where he says, " I will 
 not deny it ;" over this is pasted, " That is not yet proued." 
 It is perhaps not unimportant to add that in the second im- 
 pression these passages are printed as corrected. Were we 
 acquainted with the secret history of the Admonition we should 
 not have to conjecture that Martin's calling attention to these 
 variations led to the suppression of the original edition in 
 which they occur, and to the substitution of another whose title 
 page should mislead the reader ; or else, why not call it, what 
 in reality it is, a second, or new edition ? The truth seems to 
 be that the Admonition unquestionably was, as Strype states 
 it to have been, a book of authority, written by command of 
 Archbishop Whitgift, and in which the bishops answered for 
 themselves ; not in writing certainly, but by communicating 
 to its author the facts necessary for their vindication ; because 
 he tells us, " For as much as I haue not bene curious in all 
 my life to examine the doings of other, hauing ynough to do 
 with mine owne, I haue in these matters vsed the instructio 
 of them, whom no honest man may in Christian dutie suspect 
 of vntrueth :" evidently indicating that he had been specially 
 selected and instructed for the purpose. And in the case of 
 Bishop Aylmer, he adds, " This have I laid downe word by 
 worde, as I receiued the same from my Lorde of London." I 
 know nothing that can be plainer than this, for if, to use the 
 words of a learned modern writer, " There are many statements 
 in Bishop Cooper's work which we must utterly dissent from," 
 or, "when matters of doctrine are involved we should always 
 give suspected parties the benefit of a doubt ;" whomsoever it 
 may affect by admitting the statement above, we are not 
 justified in attempting to throw discredit on such direct and 
 credible testimony. 
 
 J. P. 
 
 London, Nov. 18, 1846. 
 
AN 
 
 ADMONITION 
 
 TO THE PEOPLE OF 
 
 ENGLAND: 
 
 WHEREIN ARE AN- 
 SWERED, NOT ONELY THE 
 slaunderous vntrueihes, reprochfuUy vt- 
 tered hy Martin the Libeller, hut also mmy other 
 Crimes by some of his broode, obiected gene- 
 rally against all Bishops, and the chiefs of the 
 Cleargie, purposely to deface and 
 diseredite the present state of 
 the Church. 
 
 Detractor ^ libens auditor, vterqtte 
 Diabolum portat in Ungiia, 
 
 Seene and allowed by authoritie. 
 
 Imprinted at London hy the Depaties 
 
 of Christopher Barker, Printer to the 
 
 Queenes most excellent Maiestie. 
 
 15 8 9. 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 I AM not ignorant (Gentle Reader) what daunger I drawe 
 vpon my selfe, by this attempt to answere the quarrels and 
 slaunders of late time published in certaine Libelles, against 
 the Bishops and other chiefe of the Clergie of the Church of 
 England. We see the eagernesse and boldnesse of their 
 spirit that be the authors of them : we taste alreadie the 
 bittemes of their tongues and pennes. The raging furie of 
 their reuenge vpon all which they mislike, themselues dis- 
 semble not, but lay it downe in words of great threatnings. 
 I must needs therfore looke for any hurt, that venemous, 
 scoffing, and vnbridled tongues can worke toward me. And 
 how shoulde I hope to escape that, when the Saints of God in 
 Heauen doe feele it ? In the course of their whole Libell, 
 ' when they speake of Peter, Paul, or the Blessed Virgin 
 Marie, &c : whome other iustlie call Saintes, their phrase in 
 derision is, Sir Peter, Sir Paule, Sir Marie. Surely it had 
 becommed right well tho same vnmodest Spirite, to haue said 
 also Sir Christ, and so throughly to haue bewrayed himself. 
 Seeing they haue sharpned their tongues and hearts against 
 heauen, wee poore creatures on earth must be content in our 
 weaknesse to beare them. The dartes, I confesse, of deceitiiill 
 
viii To the Reader, 
 
 and slaunderous tongues, are verye sharps, and the burning of 
 the woundes made by them, will as hardly in the hearts of 
 many bee quenched, as the coales of Juniper. But I thanke 
 God I feare them not, though they bring mee greater harme, 
 eyther in credite, lining or life, then I trust that God that 
 seeth, knoweth, and defendeth the trueth, will suffer them. 
 Ambrose beeing in case somewhat like, sayeth thus, " Non 
 tanti est vnius vita, quanti est dignitas omnium Sacerdotum." 
 If I therefore shoulde hazarde the one for the defence of 
 the other : T trust the godlye woulde iudge that T did that 
 duetie which I owe to the Church of God, jand to my brethren 
 of the same function and calling. 
 
 What is the cause why wee bee with such spight and 
 malice discredited ? Surely, because as the duty of fayth- 
 fuU Subiectes dooth binde vs, liuing in the state of a Church 
 refourmed, we doo indeuour to preserue those Lawes, which 
 her Maiesties authoritie and the whole state of the Realme 
 hath allowed and established, and doe not admitte a newe 
 platforrae of gouernment, deuised, I knowe not by whome. 
 
 The reasons that mooue vs so to doe, are these two. First, 
 wee see no proofe brought ovit of _the word of God, that of 
 necessitie such forme of Gouernement ought tp be : Secondly, 
 that by the placing of the same, it woulde bring so many 
 alterations and inconueniences, as in our opinion woulde bee 
 dangerous to the Prince and to the Bealme. Some of those 
 inconueniences I haue in this treatise laid downe, and leaue 
 them to the consideration of them, whom God hath set i» 
 place of gouernment. 
 
 It may be some will iudge that I am worldly affected, 
 because I shewe my selfe so much grieued with losse of our 
 
To the Reader. ix 
 
 credite, and hinderance of good name among the people. In 
 trueth, although a godly Minister shoulde haue no worldly 
 thing so deere vnto him, as his credite : yet if the hurt went 
 no further then to our selues, wee should make lesse account 
 of it. But, seeing by our reproche and infamie, the doctrine 
 which wee teache is greatly hindered, we ought by all lawfull 
 meanes to defend it. Christ himselfe, in this respect, 
 answered such reproches, as the enemies obiected against him. 
 As, " that hee was a friende vnto Publicanes, and Matth. a. 
 sinners : That hee wrought his miracles by the power Matth. n. 
 of Beelsebub : That hee broke the Sabbaoth day : John s. 
 That hee was a Samaritane : That hee had a deuill &c.'' 
 Saint Paul also to the Corinthians against his Aduersaries 
 sheweth, that hee was not a " vaine Promiser :" That hee was 
 not " light" and " vnconstant," and " a wauering Teacher :" 
 That he did not teache " craftily," or " corruptly dispensing 
 the worde of God :" That hee did not " teach ambitiously, 
 as seeking his owne glorie" &c. The like did a nomber of 
 learned Fathers of the Primitiue Church, at large Tertui. 
 answering those vile and reprochefuU Slaunders Meiito, &c. 
 raysed against the Christians in those dayes. Augvstine in a 
 whole woorke answered Assertions falsly fathered vpon him : 
 and so did many other. Wee seeke not therein our owne prayse 
 and commendation. If I doe insert particular prayses and com- 
 mendations, I must say vnto the Libellers, as S. Paul sayde 
 to the Corinthians, " Si insipiens fui in laudando, vos me 
 coegistis." If I haue bene foolish in ouermuch praising, your 
 immodest reproches, vntrueths, and slaunders do driue me to 
 it. In this mine answere, I seeke not to satisfie all kinde of 
 men, but onely the moderate and godly. For the malicious 
 
X To the Reader. 
 
 Back-biter and Rayler will neuer be satisfied : but the more 
 
 he is answered, the worse he will be. If my defence may 
 
 take moderate place with the better sort, I shall be glad : if 
 
 not, I may not be excessiuely grieued with sorowe, but I 
 
 must say with Paul, " Gloria nostra hsec est, testimonium 
 
 conscientiae nostrse." And with Job, " Ecce in caelis testis 
 
 meus." This witnesse in heauen, and the witnesse of our 
 
 owne heart and conscience, is sufficient to comfort vs. And 
 
 for our further helpe, we must pray with Dauid, who was 
 
 lamentably beaten and bitten with viperous tongues, " Leade 
 
 vs, O Lorde, in thy righteousnesse, because of our enemies : 
 
 make thy way plaine before vs." This God I trust, will 
 
 deliuer vs from the daunger of euill tongues, and 
 
 open their eyes and hearts, that they may see 
 
 and vnderstande what hinderance they 
 
 bring to the Gospel of Christ, which 
 
 they will seeme to professe so 
 
 earnestly. Amen. 
 
 T. C. 
 
 The 
 
THE CONTENTS OF THIS TREATISE. 
 
 An Admonition to beware of the contempt of the Bishops and other 
 Preachers. Page 1. 
 
 The ende which the enemy of the Church of God respecteth in woorking 
 their discredite. pag. 21. 
 
 Answeres to the vntrueths and slaunders vttered in Martins late Lihell. 
 pag. 25. 
 
 Against my Lord of Canterhurie. ' pag. 28. 
 
 Against my Lord of London, pag. 39. 
 
 Against the Bishop of Rochester, Lincolne, and Winchester, pag. 48. 
 49. &c. 
 
 The causes why the Bishops desire to maintaine the present state of the 
 gouemment of the Church, and what inconueniences they feare vpon 
 the alteration thereof will come to the state of the Realme. pag, 61. &c. 
 
 Answeres to certaine generall Crimes obiected to all the Bishops without 
 exception : as first, The Crime of Simonie and Couetousnesse. pag. 76. 
 
 The dispensing with Banes for money. pag. 79. 
 
 The Sale of Christian libertie in Marriages. pag. 82. 
 
 That they make lewde and vnlearned Ministers for money. pag. 86. 
 
 That they maintaine an vnlearned Ministery, and therby be occasion of 
 Reuoltings, and many other mischiefs to the Prince and the Com- 
 mon weale : But it is declared that there is no such vnlearned Ministery 
 as they pretend, and therefore can not bee an occasion of Reuolting, or 
 any other like mischiefes, but that there bee other true and right causes 
 to redresse, of which it behoueth them that God hath set in place 
 in time to haue speciall regarde, for feare lest those mischiefes that be 
 pretended, doe increase. pag. 88. &c. 
 
 The Crime of mainteyning Pilling and powling Courts, pag. 110. 
 
 The Crime of abusing Ecclesiasticall discipline. pag, lid. 
 
xii The Contents. 
 
 The Crime of ambition and griedie seeking after Liuings and promotion. 
 
 pag. 117. 
 That Bishops are carnally disposed : which they shewe by hoardmg vp 
 great summes of money, by purchasing Landes for their wiues and 
 children, by furnishing their tables with plate and guilded Cups, by 
 filling their purses with treasonable Fines and Incomes. pag. 121. 
 
 That the Prince ought to take away their great Lands and Liuings, and 
 set them to meane Pensions, that in pouertie they may be answerable 
 to the Apostles, pag. 129. which they take vpon them to prooue by the 
 whole course of the Scriptures, pag. 135. The Lawe. pag. 144. The 
 Prophets, pag. 146. The example of Christ, pag. 156. and the doctrine 
 of his Apostles. pag. 173. 
 
 Answere to the prescription of the old Lawe, with the true meaning 
 thereof. pag- 144- 
 
 Answere to the Allegations out of the Prophets, noting howe absurdly 
 and affectionately they be abused. pag. 146. &o. 
 
 Answere to the example of Christ, and the true doctrine that is to be 
 taken of the same. pag. 156. &c. 
 
 Answere to the doctrine of the Apostles, declaring how the same is rightly 
 to be vnderstanded. pag. 173. 
 
 A Declaration, how Ministers haue bene maintained from the beginning : 
 wherein is shewed, that they haue had both Lands, Houses, Rents, and 
 Reuenues. pag. 192. &c. 
 
 A Declaration, that the wealthie state of the Church was not y^ chiefe 
 cause of setting vp Antichrist in his Throne, as it is pretended : but 
 that the Histories of that time do declare other causes of more im- 
 portance, which also beginne to growe among vs, and therefore good 
 heede to be taken in time. pag. 196. &c. 
 
II AN ADMONITION TO THE CHURCH AND 
 people of England, to take heede of the contempt of 
 those Bishops and Preachers, which God hath sent 
 to them as messengers to bring vnto them the doctrine 
 of their Saluation, 
 
 When I call to my remembrance, the loathsome contempt, 
 hatred, and disdaine, that the most part of men in these dayes 
 beare, and in the face of the worlde declare towarde the 
 Ministers of the Church of God, aswell Bishops as other 
 among vs here ia Englande:'my heart can not but greatly 
 feare and tremble at the consideration thereof. It hath 
 pleased God now a long time most plentifully to powre 
 downe vpon vs his manifold and great benefites of wealth, 
 riches, peace and quietnesse, euen in the middest of the 
 flames of discord, dissention and miserie rounde about vs, 
 yea, and that more is, by the space of these thirtie yeeres, by 
 the continuall preaching of the Gospell hath called vs vnto him 
 (as before time he called his chosen people of the lewes by his 
 Prophets) and yet do we not onely not shew any sound 
 token, either of our returning to him that called vs, or of our 
 thankefull receiuing his worde which he hath sent vs, or of 
 conforming our Hues thereunto, as hee willeth vs: but also 
 euidently to die eyes and eares of all men, shew our hatred 
 and misliking of those reuerend persons, whome it hath pleased 
 God to vse as his messengers to call vs vnto him, and as his 
 instruments to bring vnto vs the 'glad tidings of the Gospel, 
 which before with sworde and fire was taken from vs. For 
 who seeth not in these dayes, that hee who can most bitterly 
 inueigh against Bishops and Preachers, that can most boldely 
 -blaze their discredites, that can most vncharitably slaunder 
 
2 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 their Hues and doings, thinketh of himselfe, and is esteemed of 
 other, as the most zealous and earnest furtherer of the Gospel ? 
 Yea, they thinke it almost the best way, and most ready, to 
 bring themselues in credite and estimation with many. A la- 
 mentable state of time it is, wherein such vntemperat boldnesse 
 is permitted without any bridle at all. What man therefore 
 that feareth God, that loueth his Church, that hath care of his 
 Prince and countrey, can remember this thing, and not dread 
 4 Reg. \7. in his heart, the sequela thereof? When the Israel- 
 ^ '^- ites derided and contemned the Prophets which God 
 
 had sent among them, his wrath was so kindled, that hee 
 
 brought the Assyrians vpon them to their confusion. 
 
 When the tribe of luda did the like to leremie and 
 other messengers of God, they were cast into the captiuitie 
 Matt. 23. of Babylon. When the lewes reprochefully vsed 
 luke 13. Christ, and with wicked slaunder persecuted his Apos- 
 tles that brought to them the light of saluation, their Citie and 
 Temple was burned, their people slaine, and (as Christ threat- 
 ned) their countrey made desolate, and giuen ouer to the 
 spoyle. And shall wee thinke that God will not remaine the 
 same God toward vs ? Is his minde changed ? is his iustice 
 slaked ? is his hand shortned, that either he wil not, or can- 
 not reuenge, as he hath bin. wont to doe ? No (good Christians) 
 let vs neuer deceiue our selues with such vaine and godlesse 
 cogitations. God remaineth alwayes one, and is not mutable. 
 His— benefits to the Israelites and lewes were neuer greater, 
 then they now these many yeeres haue bene toward vs : 
 they were neuer more earnestly, eyther by Gods blessings 
 allured, or by preaching called to repentance then we haue 
 bene. And yet our vnthankefulnesse, in some respectes is 
 greater then theirs, and our vncourteous vsing of his messen- 
 gers not much inferiour : yea, if the willes of many were not 
 brideled by Gods singular grace, in our Prince and gouer- 
 nours, it is to bee feared, it woulde shewe it selfe as outragious 
 as theirs did. We haue iust cause therefore to feare the like 
 
and people of England, 3 
 
 plague, which they in like case sustained: And surely, it 
 cannot bee, but that it hasteneth fast vpon vs. 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 But some will say (I knowe) " That I doe great iniurie to 
 the Prophets, the Apostles, and other messengers of God, to 
 compare them with such wicked men, such blinde guides, 
 such couetous hypocrites, such antichristian Prelates, such 
 symonicall Preachers, as our cleargie men now are." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 I doe not compare them (good Reader) in worthines of 
 grace and vertue, but in likenesse of office and ministerie. 
 These haue brought vnto this realme, the same light of the 
 gospell, the same trueth of doctrine, the same way of salua- 
 tion, that the Apostles brought to the people of God in their 
 time. They are the mouth of God whereby hee speaketh to 
 vs and calleth vs to his knowledge, as hee did his chosen by 
 other in the Primitiue church. And howsoeuer by the 
 libertie of this time, it pleaseth men in the heate of their 
 spirite to boyle out with reprochfull choler against them : yet 
 I am sure, they are not able to vse more bitter and vncour- 
 teous speech, then the like aflfection vttered against the Pro- 
 phets, against Christ himselfe, and his Apostles, as after more 
 euidendy shall appeare. I knowe, they being but fraile and 
 sinfuU men in comparison of those blessed Saints of God 
 beforetime, may giue more iust cause of reproche, and minis- 
 ter more matter to euill tongues, then they did : And yet I 
 doubt not, but the tenth part of that euill that vnthankefull 
 mindes vtter against them, shall neuer be found to be true. 
 They that haue the feare of God, will not rashly iudge of 
 other, and christian charitie will hide the blemishes and faultes 
 of their brethren, and specially of the preachers of the gospell 
 sincerely teaching Gods trueth. Charitie woulde consider, 
 that the times are dangerous, and that wee are lighted into 
 
 B 2 
 
4 An Admonition to the Church, 
 
 these corrupt and perillous last dayes, whereof Christ propne- 
 cied in the Euangelists, and therfore may thinke oar selues 
 thrise happy, if we haue toUerable Ministers, though they bee 
 farre from that rule that Christian perfection requireth. 
 
 These dayes bee like the times Nazianzen writeth 
 Apoiog. ^^^ "When they heare any thing spoken of a Minis- 
 ter or Priest, they by and by conceiue that of all, which is 
 reported of one. And wee are become a Theater, not to Angels 
 and men, (as that Champion Saint Paul sayth,) But wee are 
 become a Stage to the most vile and abiect men at all times, 
 and in all places, in the Streetes, in Shoppes, at Tables, at 
 Feasts, at Councels, euen to the very playing scaffolds, which 
 I speake with teares, and are scoffed at, euen of the vile and 
 contemptible players." &c. 
 
 " The time was (sayth Caluine) when no man durst open 
 his mouth against the Ministers or Preachers of the worde : 
 But nowe there is no speech more plausible. None of these 
 base persons would speake a word, if they did not see them- 
 selues backed by men of great authoritie, and receiue reward 
 for so dealing. Such vntrueths woulde soone vanish and bee 
 , forgotten, vnlesse they were nourished by them for whose 
 pleasure they were deuised." It may be hardly thought, that 
 the true zeale of God, and loue of his Gospell is in that heart, 
 that can easily breake out to the discrediting of the ministers 
 and teachers therof. They woulde rather sigh in their hearts 
 and groane in their consciences, and pray vnto God in the 
 spirit of mildenes, to take away such blemishes from the face 
 of his church, and to amende the faults thereof, if not all at 
 once, yet by little and little, as to his gratious prouidence 
 might seem best. For surely where hatred and contempt of 
 the ministers is, there all goodnes must needes growe to con- 
 fusion. And that maketh mee to feare, that to our great 
 euil, the ruine of the gospell is at hand among vs. For 
 where God is loued and feared, there his word is imbraced, 
 and his ministers reuerenced. 
 
and people of England. 5 
 
 "This is the cause of all euil (sayth Chrysostome) ins.epist. 
 that the authoritie of spirituall gouernours is decayed, adTim.2.1. 
 no reuerece, no honor, no feare is vsed toward them. Obey 
 your gouernours (saith Paul) and be subiect to them. But 
 now al things are ouerthrowen and cleane confounded: 
 Neither speake I this for the gouernours sake, but for your 
 owne." And a little after, " He that honoureth the Priest 
 honoureth God, and hee that despiseth the Priest, by little 
 and little falleth to this also, that he will vse reproch against 
 God himself. He that receiueth you (sayth Christ) 
 receiueth me," And in another place, sayth the 
 Scripture, "Haue his Priestes in honour." " Hence commeth 
 it (sayth Cyprian) that the bonde of the Lordes Dezeio 
 peace is broken: Hence is it that brotherly loue is ^ ^'"°'^" 
 violated : Of this cause is it, that trueth is corrupted, vnitie is 
 broken, that men leane to Schismes : because Priestes are 
 slaundered, Bishops are enuied, and euery man, either com- 
 plaineth that hee is not ordeined rather then another, or else 
 disdaineth to haue another aboue him." &c. 
 
 The lewes were esteemed to despise God, be- 
 cause they made so small account of his seruant 
 Moses. And to Samuel (saith the Lord) " They haue not 
 despised thee, but me." "Yea, if it be an euill Minister, (sayth 
 Chrysostome) yet God marketh, that for his sake thou doest 
 reuerence and obey him, that is not worthie honour of him- 
 selfe, and therefore will he pay thee thy rewarde. If he that 
 receiueth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, receiue the 
 rewarde of a Prophet, it cannot be that he that reuerenceth 
 and obeyeth his ordinarie Minister, shall want his reward." 
 Christians should remember that Bishops and Preachers are 
 the Angels of God, the Amhassadours of Christ, the ^^-^ ^ 
 Ministers of our saluation, and therefore that they 2 Cor. s, 
 can not be slaimdered or abused, but the reproche ^ 
 must touch God himselfe. Esay sheweth, when the vnthanke- 
 fiil and disobedient lewes did mocke the Prophets, Esay sr. 
 
6 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 did put out their lips, and lell out their tongues in disdaine 
 of them, that God was dishonoured with the reproch there- 
 of. Happily it will be doubted, whether our Bishops and 
 Preachers bee the Ministers and messengers of God, or 
 no. Yea, some dare affirme boldly, "thatindeede they be 
 not." But (good christians) beware of such cogitations, as 
 displeasant and misliking affections may raise in you. If they 
 be not the ministers and messengers of God, if they bee not 
 sent of him, then it is not the message of God that they haue 
 brought vs : it is not his worde that they haue taught vs : 
 they bee not Gods Sacraments that they deliuered vnto vs, 
 and so doe a great nomber of vs remain as no Christians. 
 Though they were such vnworthie persons, as the vnthank- 
 full mindes of many doe imagine them, or as the vncharitable 
 tongues and pennes of some of late time haue blazed them : 
 yet bringing nothing vnto you, but Gods will out of his holy 
 Scriptures, (for in deede they haue not done otherwise, how- 
 soeuer their doctrine be defaced) you should assuredly be 
 perswaded, that they are the instruments of Gods blessing 
 vnto you. " Although they that bee superiours," saith 
 in 2. aa Chrysostome, " and Gouernours, were euill, and spot- 
 Conn. ^g^ ^jjj^ manye faultes : yet shoulde not the Disciples 
 withdrawe them from their instruction. For if Christ speak- 
 ing of the Doctours of the lewes, that because they sate in 
 Moyses Chayre, they were worthie to bee heard of their Dis- 
 ciples, although their workes were not commendable: what 
 fauour are they woorthie of, which contemne and trample 
 vnder foote (as it were) the Prelates of the Church, which by 
 Gods goodnesse liue moderately ? If it bee a foule matter for 
 one to iudge an other, howe much more is it vnlawfuU to 
 iudge their Maisters and instructers ?" Baalam was a coue- 
 tous prophet, and yet by him GOD blessed his people. Nowe 
 surely, if you haue receiued at their handes the blessing of 
 Gods trueth, and the light of his holie word, as in deede you 
 haue : the cogitation of this benefite shoulde moue your mindes 
 
and people of England, 7 
 
 more fauourably to thinke of them, and more charitably to 
 iudge of their doinges. Or if you doe not, looke that you leaue 
 not great occasion to men to think of you, that you make light 
 accompt of that doctrine of the Gospell, which aswell their pre- 
 decessours as they, haue, and doe daily preach vnto you : and 
 so that you bee not those men tha,t you would pretende to be. 
 For men will thinke this: If these persons did fauour the 
 Gospell, they woulde rather seeke meanes to hide the ble- 
 mishes and imperfections of their Prelates and Preachers, 
 then thus odiously to amplifie and paint foorth their discredite 
 to their vtter shame and reproche in the worlde. For, as 
 much as in them lyeth, through their sides (in the heartes and 
 mindes of manie) they giue a mortal wound to the doctrine, 
 which by them hath now these manie yeeres beene taught in 
 this Realme. For will men iudge (trowe you) that after so 
 great darkenesse and ignoraunce of Gods woorde, as the Churche 
 of Christ is reported by vs to haue beene wrapped in, that 
 God woulde restore and sende vnto the same the light of his 
 trueth, by so wicked and naughtie instruments, as these men 
 be imagined to be ? (For they condemne not onelie those 
 Bishops and ministers that be now in place, but their pre- 
 decessors also, whose place these men occupie, and whose 
 doctrine they confirme.) Men will thinke surely, either that 
 that doctrine which we call darknesse and errour, was the true 
 light, or that these Preachers can not be so euill persons, as 
 malice doth make them. Christ would not suffer that the deuill 
 shoulde vtter any thing to the glorie of God, and will he suf- 
 fer " deuillish and Antichristian persons" to bee the chiefe 
 Preachers and restorers of his Gospell ? GOD alwaies hath 
 appointed godlie men to be the teachers and reuiuers of his 
 trueth, as Abraham with the other Patriarches, Moses, Aaron, 
 Dauid, the Prophets, the Apostles, And in our dayes Luther, 
 Zuinglius, Oeeolampadius, Cranmer, Ridley, Jewell, 8fC, For 
 God is neuer destitute of his godly captaines to gouerne his 
 Church, and to set foorth his word. 
 
8 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 Ohiectiont 
 " Oh, bat our Bishops and preachers be couetous : they 
 giue not to the poore : they imbesill the goodes of the Church : 
 they bee woorkers and clokers of Simonie : they hinder refor- 
 mation of the Church," &c. 
 
 Answere. 
 But how know you that? It were safe for your consciences 
 first to trie and knowe the trueth, before you rashly, to con- 
 Chrys.inz. demnation, fudge your brother. Common speeches, 
 adTimotb. ^^ coiiiecturall collections doe oftentimes prooue 
 false. Doe you think that al is trae which is spoken of your 
 selues ? I appeale to your owne consciences. Surely hee must 
 bee a very happie man in these dayes, of whome some euill is 
 not spoken, which, in his owne conscience, hee knoweth not to 
 bee true. Nowe if this may, and doeth happen to most priuate 
 persons, howe is it not likely that it happeneth also to Bishops 
 and ecclesiasticall Ministers? Yea, of all other it is most 
 like, that diey shoulde feele the bitternesse of false and back- 
 biting speeches : The Ministers of God haue beene alwayes 
 subiect to that crosse. And in these dayes, they hane to doe 
 with so manie and diuers kindes of enemies, as it is not possi- 
 ble for them to escape the daunger thereof. On the one side 
 is the Papist, whose errours they confute, whose obstinacie 
 they punish : On the other side are the phaniasticall spirites 
 of Anabaptists, Of the families of the loue, and sundry others of 
 the like sort, whose wickednesse and corrupting of the church, is 
 by our ecclesiasticall gouernors drawen into the light, reproued, 
 and repressed. Yea, and beside these, there are an infinit 
 number of Epicures, and Atheistes, which hate the Bishops 
 and speake euil of them, and wish them to be taken away : 
 partly because they are as bridles to their loose and wicked life : 
 partlie because they staye from them, that spoyle and praye, 
 which nowe for a fewe yeeres with great hope they haue gaped 
 after, and with much adoe is holden out of their iawes. 
 
and people of England. 9 
 
 Moreouer, who knoweth not that they which haue the office 
 of iudging, correcting, and reproouing other, bee their doinges 
 neuer so sincere, shall often light into the displeasure and mis- 
 liking of manie, and thereby gette misreport ? Therefore seeing 
 Bishoppes, and other chiefe of the Clergie, are besette with so 
 manie difficulties, and lie in danger of so manie aduersaries : no 
 maruaile though their blemishes bee amplified, and (as the 
 prouerbe is) of euerie moul-hill made a great mountayne. Yea, 
 no maruaile, though their best doinges and sincerestmeaninges, 
 by mislikers are depraued, and with harde and vncharitable in- 
 terpretations wrested to their reproofe. Wherfore al Chris- 
 tians that haue the feare of God, and loue his trueth, but prin- 
 cipally the chiefe gouernours, that haue authoritie to deale with 
 the Clergie, ought to take great heed, that by such deprauing 
 reports they bee not carried to mislike or discredite them, which 
 neuer iustly deserued so great reproofe. Let them diligently 
 consider what may fall vnto themselues also, beeyng in place 
 subiect to like obloquie. What meant Saint Paul, when he 
 saide, " Against an elder, receiue no accusation vn- 
 der two or three witnesses ?" Surely hee did see that 
 the oifice of teachers and reproouers, iudges and gouernors, 
 lieth in great daunger of euill speech and false accusations, 
 and therefore would not haue them rashly condemned, either in 
 priuate or publike iudgement, much lesse to bee defaced and- 
 contemned, to be disobeyed and resisted, yea, though they 
 were more? grieuous offenders, then standeth with the worthi- 
 nesse of their offices. Aaron had srieuouslv offend- 
 
 " •' Nom. 16. 
 
 ed, and greatly distained his calling, when hee was 
 the Minister to make the golden Calfe, and to further the peo- 
 ples horrible and shameful! idolatrie. I trust all the enemies 
 that the Bishops and Cleargie men of England haue, shall 
 neuer bee able to prooue, that in this time of the Gospell, any 
 one of them did euer commit an offence either so horrible, 
 and displeasant in the sight of God, or so hurtfull and offen- 
 siue to the Church. And yet after that, when CoraA, Dathan 
 
 B 3 
 
10 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 and other did call him proude Prelate, and sayde that hee, and 
 his brother vsed tyrannie ouer the people of God, howe grieu- 
 ously God did take it, and howe dreadfull punishment came 
 vpon them for misusing the Ministers of G.OD, the historic 
 doeth sufficiently declare : yea, though many of the offenders 
 were of the highest state, birth and linage, among the people. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 But it is a common Obiection, and many thinke they suffi- 
 ciently excuse their contempt, when they say, " That our 
 Bishops and Preachers speake well, and teach other to doe 
 well, but they foUowe not the same themselues, and therefore 
 men doe not beleeue them, nor be any thing mooued with 
 their preaching" 
 
 Answere. 
 
 But I say vnto you, if you foUowe any doctrine in respect 
 of the person that speaketh it, you doe not like good Chris- 
 tians : yea, if Paul speake any thing of himselfe, you doe not 
 well, if in that respect you beleeue him : but you shoulde 
 
 embrace his doctrine and followe his teaching, be- 
 1 Thes. I. , . , • 1 T ,. ^ 1 
 
 cause he is the Apostle and messenger oi Ood sent 
 
 to deliuer his holy will out of the scriptures, and as it were 
 
 from the mouth of God himselfe. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 Matth. 5. It wil be sayd that Bishops should be " The light 
 i.Pet. 2. of the world, the salt of the earth, patternes and 
 examples to the flocke of Christ." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 I graunt they should be so, and if they be not, the daunger is 
 
 theirs : but Christ is the iudge, whose office thou mayest not 
 
 presume without danger, to take vpon thee, in iudg- 
 
 ing his Minister. If they be not such as they 
 
 shoulde be, wilt thou headlong therefore runne to thine owne 
 
and people of England. 1 1 
 
 perdition, and cast they selfe into the danger of Gods wrath 
 and displeasure, aswell by reiecting the trueth of his doctrine, 
 as also by rashly iudging and condemning his Minister? 
 Doest thou not remember that Christ sayeth, " That 
 men shall make an accompt of euery idle worde that 
 they speake ?" And shall they not make a streight account, 
 thinke you, for their vncurteous and vnsauorie speeches, for 
 their vncharitable and bitter raylings against them, by whose 
 meanes they haue receiued the doctrine of saluation ? Who 
 can be worse then a Publicane? And yet the Pharisey is 
 greatly reproued, for that he spake so contemptuously of the 
 Publicane, and so arrogantly preferred himselfe before him. 
 " The Pharisey (saith Chrisostome) by his euill , 
 speech did hurt the Publican nothing, but rather epist. ad. 
 did him good, yea, though the thinges were true that ''''''"'■ 
 hee spake of him. Wee also drawe vnto our selues extreame 
 euill, by our euill speeches, euen as the Pharisey (as it were) 
 did thrust a sworde into himselfe, and receiuing a sore wounde, 
 departed. Let vs therefore rule our vntamed tongues, least 
 wee also haue a like rewarde : for if hee that spake euill of a 
 Publican, escaped not punishment, what defence shall we 
 haue, that are wont to raile against our fathers ? If Marie 
 which once blasphemed her brother, was so sore punished, 
 what hope of health shal we haue, which dayly ouerwhelme 
 our superiors with railing speeches and taunts 1" 
 
 They that haue the right feare of God, looke first into their 
 owne bosomes : they be inquisitiue of their owne liues : they 
 sitte as iudges and examiners of their owne consciences : but 
 nowe a dayes (the more it is to bee lamented) men forget them- 
 selues : they looke not into their owne doings : they cast that 
 end of the wallet behinde thejn, wherein their owne faultes are 
 wrapped, and be alwayes curiously prying into the liues and 
 doings of other, and specially of Gouernours, Bishops, and 
 Ecclesiasticall Ministers. In them, if they see neuer so light 
 a blemish, if in their face they can finde neuer so small & 
 
12 An Ad/monition to the Church 
 
 warte, or espie in their eye neuer so little a moate, they are 
 esteemed by and by " misshapen Bishops, blinde guides, 
 Monsters of Antichrist, not meete for any roome in Christes 
 Church, not to bee suffered in any Christian common weak." 
 Yea, they loath their doctrine, Counsell and instruction, be it 
 neuer so true and good : they will not take any aduise at their 
 handes : yea, they say their teaching can doe no man good. 
 Thus doe they make those men stumbling stockes for them- 
 selues to perdition, whome GOD of his singular grace and 
 prouidence hath sent with his worde among them, as Minis- 
 ters of their saluation. 
 
 Thinke of Bishops and Preachers, how basely and unchari- 
 tably soeuer it shall please you, they are not onely the Sur- 
 geons of your soules, but your spirituall fathers also. A 
 naturall childe, though he suffer griefe and iniuries at his 
 fathers hande, will not be in a rage against him, but wil take 
 the hurts patiently and mildely, so long as any way they may 
 be borne. Although hee see faultes in his father, (as that he 
 is euill of sight, or doateth for age, or that he be weake and 
 staggereth as hee goeth, yea, and sometime falleth to the 
 grounde) he will not therefore vndutifuUy chide his father, but 
 by such meanes as hee can wil helpe, and with his best inde- 
 uour, wipe away the filth, that he gathereth by his oft falling : 
 hee will bee mindeful of that good lesson, " Noli gloriari in ig- 
 nominia Patris tui, neque enim tibi tam gloria quam 
 probrum est." So surely, those good and kindly 
 children that loue God their great father, wil vse themselues 
 toward their spiritual fathers in his Church. If Noah happen 
 in his sleepe to lye somewhat vncomely, and leaue open his 
 nakednesse, they will not follow the example of cursed 
 Cham, and with derision fetch not their brethren onely, but 
 their fathers enemies also to beholde it, that hee may bee for 
 euer shamed, and the aduersaries mouthes opened against 
 him: They will rather with blessed and obedient Sem and 
 laphet, take the garment of christian charitie, and going back- 
 
and people of England. 1 3 
 
 warde hide their fathers nakednessej yea, and happily with 
 the rushng of their feet, or by c&sting on of the garment, 
 purposely wake him out of his sleepe, that he may vnder- 
 stand hovre vncomely hee doth lie, in the derision, not onely 
 of their vnkind brother, but of other also that seeke his 
 reproche, and by that meanes be taught to take heed that he 
 doe not fal on sleepe againe in such vncomely maner. 
 
 Chrysostome complaineth at this vnkindnesse : „. 
 " What coulde be more happie then they 1 what more Epist. ad 
 miserable then wee ? for they gaue their blood, and °™" 
 their life for their Maisters, but wee will not vouchsafe to 
 vtter so much as a few wordes for our common fathers, when 
 wee heare them reproched, backebited, slaundered, both of 
 their owne and of others : for wee neither reproue or represse 
 such cursed speakers : yea, I woulde to God we our selues 
 were not the first accusers. Surely wee heare not such oppro- 
 brious rebukes at the mouthes of Infidels, as wee see powred 
 out against our superiours, by them that are of the same reli- 
 gion." Thus much haue I spoken, and the longer stoode 
 vppon this matter (the Lord knoweth) not so much to helpe the 
 credite of them that bee blamed, as, if it may be possible, to 
 turne away from vs Englishmen the great daunger of our vn- 
 kindenesse in abusing them, by whome God hath deliuered 
 vnto vs so great and inestimable benefites. 
 
 Olieetion. 
 
 " Some perchance will aske me, whether I entend by this 
 meanes to cloake and hide the corrupt and naughtie life of the 
 chiefe ministers of the Church, whereby they slaunder the 
 Gospel, deface their calling, and be an open offence to a great 
 number of godly." 
 
 Answere, 
 
 I answere, God forbid I should haue any such meaning. 
 Their great offences I greatly reproue, and thinke them 
 
14 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 woorthy, vpon triall of trueth, not only of blame, but also of 
 more sharpe punishment, then any other, for that the offence 
 giuen by them is greater. And we haue a Prince and Ma- 
 gistrate, who by Gods lawe, if there be so iust cause, both 
 may, and ought to deale with them, neither can their autho- 
 ritie bee refused, they claime not exemption. 
 
 But as for their smaller faultes, Christian charitie forceth me 
 to winke at them, because I know greater matter in my selfe. 
 And I see they are men, and no Angels, and they liue in a 
 perillous time, and haue many occasions to offend, so that it 
 is harder for them to stande vpright, then for some other that 
 are in priuate state. Hee is an Angell that neuer falleth, hee 
 is no man. Men are fraile, and in daunger to sinne, though 
 they haue otherwise great graces. If any of them haue fallen 
 with Aaron, to anie great and horrible offence, I trust they are 
 with him also risen by repentaunce, and with teares, in the 
 mercie of God, washed away their wickednesse : Or, if they 
 haue not, I must needes say with Christ, " Better it were that 
 a Milstone were hanged about their neckes, and they cast into 
 the sea," then that by their continuance in euil, they shoulde 
 bee occasion that anie shoulde fall from God, or reiect his 
 Gospell. As their vertues are more profitable and beneficial 
 to the Church of God, then the vertues of other priuate per- 
 sons : so are their vices and faults more hurtfuU and daunger- 
 ous. They stande on an high place where all mens eyes are 
 fastened vppon them : their least faultes cannot be hidde, and 
 the greatest are of all men abhorred. A wart in the face, and a 
 blemish in a Bishoppe, is no small disfiguring of either of them. 
 If other mens faults be scene, the offence is not accounted 
 great : but if a bishops be espied, it is esteemed, not accord- 
 ing to the greatnes of the thing, but according to the dignitie 
 of the person. " Hee that knoweth the will of his Master 
 and doth it notj shalbe beaten with many stripes." 
 In Matt. 8. " Sacerdos (saith Chrysosteme) si pariter cum 
 homii. 27. Subditis peccat, non eadem sed acerbiora patietur." 
 
and people of England, 1 5 
 
 If a Priest shall offend as the inferiour doeth, hee shall suffer 
 not the same punishment, but farre greater. 
 
 It behooueth them therefore in the feare of God, to looke 
 more diligently about them then any other, and specially in 
 these miserable dayes, wherein all mens eyes are so curiously 
 set vpon them, that they almost cleane forget to looke any 
 thing vpon themselues, or to finde fault with any other, then 
 with Ecclesiasticall persons and officers. 
 
 Obiection, 
 Heere some perchaunce will take mee in mine owne turne, 
 and conclude against all that hitherto I haue spoken, yea and 
 against the whole purpose of my writing: " ThatifBishoppes 
 offences bee so grieuous and hurtfull, more then other mens 
 are, and that our Bishops and Ecclesiastical Ministers, are 
 scene to commit so foule and heynous faultes : that they are 
 worthie of all that euill that is spoken against them, and that I 
 cannot iustly blame these persons, that with great zeale doe 
 reproue these their doings, so hurtful to the Church of 
 Christ, and so dangerous to the people of God." 
 
 Answere. 
 Surely, if all bee true that is written and spoken against 
 them, (as I trust, and in part I knowe, it is not) I must needes 
 confesse, and were wicked if I woulde denie, that they had 
 iustly deserued whatsoeuer euill coulde bee vttered of them. 
 For sure I am, if, as I say, all were true that is spoken, that 
 they should be as detestable as anie heretikes that euer were 
 in the Church, yea, as the Pope and Antichrist himselfe, 
 whose pillars and vpholders, they are called and accounted 
 with many. And yet can I not excuse them, which in such 
 manner doe persecute them with the bitternesse of their 
 tongue and penne, no more then I can excuse Nahuchodonosor, 
 or any other tyrant that plagued the people of God, offending 
 against his lawe. For whatsoeuer God in his prouidence 
 respected, they looked onely to the satisfying of their coue- 
 
16 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 tous, ambitious, cruell and bloody affection: And so, what- 
 soeuer God regardeth in chastening his negligent Ministers, 
 or in waking them out of sleepe with the spurre of infamie 
 and reproch : yet by their virulent and vnseasoned speeches, 
 that are vsed, by the scornefuU and disdainefuU reproches, by 
 the rash and vncharitable vntruethes, I feare it may bee too 
 truely gathered, that they which bee the instruments thereof, 
 seeke to fulfill their enuious, proude and disdainefuU appetites, 
 or the working of some other purpose, which they looke to 
 bring to passe, by the discrediting of the Bishops, and other 
 chiefe of the Clergie, which be as great blockes and stops in 
 their way. Qui habet awes ad, audiendum, audiat. But let 
 such persons in time take heede, when God as a merciful! 
 father, hath chastised his children sufficiendy, and stirred 
 them to remember their dueties, that he cast not the rod into the 
 fire, as before time he hath vsed to do, and bring the rewarde 
 of their vnchristian dealing vpon their owne heads. If right 
 zeale, with conscience and detestation of euil, were the roote 
 of these inuectiues, which so boyle in loathsome choller and 
 bitter, gall against the Bishops and other of the Clergie : surely, 
 the same spirit would mooue them to breake out into like 
 vehement lamentations against the euils and vices, which 
 shew themselues in a great nomber of this Realme : I meane, 
 the deepe ignorance and contempt of God in the midst of the 
 light of the Gospell, the heathenish securitie insinne and wick- 
 ednesse, the monstrous pride in apparell, the voluptuous riot 
 and sensualitie, the excessiue buildings and needelesse nestes 
 of mens treasures, which bee as cankers consuming the riches 
 of this Realme. 
 
 What shall I say of the loosenesse of whoredome and adul- 
 terie? the wrongful! wresting by extortion, bribery, andvsury? 
 the crafty cosening for priuate commoditie? the libertiein false 
 swearing and periurie? with the heape almost of all other 
 vices wherewith mans life may be distained? so that if some 
 stay were not by moderat gouernment, and some meane num- 
 
and people of England. 1 7 
 
 ber restrained in conscience, by the doctrine of the Gospell : 
 it were greatly to be feared, that our wickednesse woulde growe 
 in haste to such perfection, as it woulde presently pull out of 
 heauen Gods wrath against vs. But all these thinges are 
 wrapt vp in deepe silence among most of these men, vnlesse it 
 bee to vpbraid Bishops as causes thereof, and the corrupt 
 gouernment, as it is thought, of this Church, with the rich and 
 wealthy states of Bishops, pretended to bee the onely cause of 
 Gods indignation toward vs. But this is the wicked working 
 of the deuill, to turne mens eyes from their owne sinnes, that 
 they may not acknowledge them, and by repentance turne 
 away the displeasure of God and his iustice hanging ouer vs, 
 and, if it be possible, also to destroy the course of the Gos- 
 pell, that hath bene so long with so small fruit among vs. 
 
 But here I haue to aduertise the godly, and chiefely the 
 Prince and Magistrates, that they be not abused and ledde by 
 the ciuming that Sathan hath alwayes vsed, to deface the glo- 
 ry of God, and disturbe his Church. When Sathan seeth the 
 doctrine of Trueth to spring vp amongst men, and somewhat 
 to prosper : when hee seeth wickednesse and vice by diligent 
 preaching to bee repressed, and thereby his kingdome of 
 errour and wickednesse to decay, and the glorie of God to 
 increase: then hee bestirreth him by all meanes hee can. 
 And if by Gods good prouidence the Princes and Magistrates 
 bee such, as by sword and fire he cannot either ouerthrowe 
 it, or worke some mischiefe against it : then seeketh hee by 
 lying and slander to discredit and deface the messengers that 
 GOD sendeth with his worde, and instruments that he vseth to 
 aduance and sette foorth his trueth, by this meanes to worke 
 hinderance to the trueth it selfe. When leremie preached the 
 will of God earnestly and truely vnto the lewes, were there 
 not false Prophets, and other verie neere the Prince, which 
 perswaded him and other rulers, that hee was a naughtie man, 
 not worthie to liue ? that hee was an enemie to his Countrey ? 
 that hee conspired with the Babylonians, and was with money 
 
18 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 or otherwise corrupted by them, to perswade the people of 
 ,T . , = , luda, not to refuse their subiection ? When God by 
 the lewes in captiuitie, and by the fauour of the 
 Queene Hester, began to spread his knowledge among the 
 Gentiles, so that their heathenish idolatrie was somewhat ble- 
 mished, the deuil raised vp a fit instrument by such meanes as 
 before is mentioned, to worke their confusion. For Haman 
 came to king Assuerus, and said, " There is a people disper- 
 sed throughout all the prouinces of thine Empire, not agreeing 
 among themselues, vsing newe lawes, ' and contemning thy 
 ordinances, and thou knowest it is not expedient for thy king- 
 dome, that they should be suffered to waxe so insolent. And 
 if it shall please thee to appoynt, that they may be all put to 
 death, I will bring in tenne thousand talents into the kings 
 treasure." It was a shrewd tale to perswade a Prince. For 
 he tempered his hatefuU and slaunderous lying with the sweete 
 sawce of gaine and commoditie. The subtile Sathan did see, 
 that sometime they which otherwise are good Princes, when 
 hope of great benefite is offered, will be more easily persuaded 
 to some kinde of hard dealing, which otherwise they them- 
 selues would not like. When lohn Baptist was sent to pre- 
 pare the way for the comming of Christ, though hee were a 
 man of very austere lining, did not the Pharisees perswade 
 the people and chiefe rulers, that hee was but an hypocrite ? 
 Matth. 11. that hee was possessed with a deuill, and therfore 
 lohns. that his doctrine should not be beleeued? When 
 Christ himselfe came, a perfect patterne of all temperance and 
 godly vertue, did they not say, that he was a glutton, and a 
 wine bibber ? a Samaritane ? a friend of Publicanes and sin- 
 ners ? a worker with deuils ? a seducer of the people ? &c. 
 and by this means in the hearts of many wrought the discre- 
 dite both of his doctrine, and of his myracles ? In like manner 
 dealt Sathan with his instruments against the Apostles and 
 . godlie professors of Christian religion in the Primitiue Church, 
 as it appeareth in the Ecclesiasticall Histories and auncient 
 
and people of England, 19 
 
 Fathers. For malitious tongues and pennes did 
 spreade abroade of them, that they murdered their Apoiog. in 
 children, and did eate them: that vsually at their coiiec.'*'"' 
 assemblies they committed incest : that thev woorship- »p"^ 
 
 J 1 7 1 , • 1 , , Euseb. 
 
 pea the sunne : that they worshipped an asse head : 
 that they were traitours to the Empire : that they were gene- 
 rail enemies of all mankinde: with an infinite number of other 
 like false and slaunderous crimes, and by this meanes the 
 wicked enemies of Christ raised those grieuous and terrible 
 persecutions, wherewith the Church was vexed the space of 
 three hundred yeeres vnder the Emperours. Yea, and this 
 craft of the deuill ceased not vnder the Christian Emperours. 
 For then stirred he vp schismes and factions, errours and 
 heresies, almost in number infinite, and still by backebiters 
 and slaunderous instrumentes, defaced and brought out of 
 credite the godly and learned bishops, which were as the 
 pillars of Christian trueth, against the enemies of God and his 
 Church. 
 
 Constantine that woorthy and godlie prince, at the begin- 
 ning fauoured and furthered all those reuerend and learned 
 Bishops that did mainteine the doctrine of Nieene Coimcell 
 against the Arians : but afl;er that Eusebius of Nicomedia, the 
 great patrone of that heresie, had procured fi:iendes in the 
 court, and therby crept in some credite with the Emperour, 
 he, and the residue of his sort, deuised shamefull slaunders 
 against Athanasius and other, that, in the ende, with great 
 displeasure of the Emperour, he was banished into Fraunce, 
 and there continued all the reigne of the saide Con- iheod. lib. 
 stantine. His enemies with great impudencie, had ^^^' 
 charged him with shamefull vntruths, as that he Apoi. 2. 
 cruelly and vniustly had excommunicated diuers i. cap. so. 
 persons : that as a couetous extortioner, he had Theodor. 
 oppressed the countrey oi Egypt with exactions : that hee had 
 committed adultery with a strumpet, who was brought before 
 his face to auouch it to be true : that he had murthered 
 
20 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 Arsenius, and vsed his arme to worke sorcery : that he sent 
 sooiat. Ub. money to one that went about treason against the 
 1. cap. 35. Emperor : that hee had affirmed in threatning wordes, 
 that he would cause the city of Alexandria to send no more 
 tribute-come to Constantinople for the Emperors prouision, as 
 before time it had vsed to doe. As they dealt vi\\h Athanasius, 
 so did they in like manner with Eustathius, Macarius, and al 
 other godly Fathers which defended the true faith of Christ, 
 and set themselues against the indeuours of heretikes, and 
 other seditious and factious spirites. And in like maner were 
 other vsed after that time, as Ambrose, Cyrill, and Chrysostome. 
 It were a matter almost infinite to recite the examples thereof, 
 and to shewe how like they are to the attempts of some in 
 these dayes. 
 
 And although it pleased GOD by strange meanes at that 
 time to reprooue sundry of those shamefuU vntrueths deuised 
 against manie : yet by stoute affirmation and colourable proofe, 
 thorow friendship, many of them tooke suche effect, that sun- 
 drie woorthy and good men were put out of their bishoprikes, 
 driuen into banishment, and put to death, to the great trouble of 
 the Church, and exceeding hinderaunce of christian faith for the 
 space of many yeeres. We reade in histories, that Philip king 
 of Macedony, a subtile and politique prince, who is thought to 
 haue conquered more by craft and cunning, then by force of 
 warre and dint of sworde, minding to bring the Grcecians, vnder 
 his subiection, in concluding an agreement with them, conditioned 
 that they shoulde deliuer vnto him their Orators as the very 
 firebrands of discord among them, and the onely occasioners 
 of that displeasure and misliking, that was betweene him and 
 them. At which time Demosthenes one of the Orators, speak- 
 ing for himselfe, admonished the Athenians to call to their re- 
 membraunce, the parable betweene the shepheardes and the 
 wolues. The wolues pretending desire of agreement be- 
 tween them and the shepheards, perswaded them, that all the 
 cause of their displeasure, was the vnseasonable barking of 
 
and people of England. 21 
 
 the dogges : and promised great amitie, so that they woulde put 
 away their ill-fauoured curres and mastiues. But when the 
 dogs were remooued, the wolues tooke their pleasure in spoyl- 
 ing the flocke more cruelly then euer they did before. So 
 (sa.\e\h Demosthenes) this TLmg Philip, xnAex pretence of friend- 
 ship, seeking his owne benefite, would haue you to deliuer 
 vp your Orators, which from time to time call vppon you, and 
 giue you warning of his subtile and craftie deuises, to the ende, 
 that when you haue so done, ere you bee ware, he may bring 
 you and your citie vnder his tyrannie. And this saying of 
 Demosthenes proued after verie true indeede. Euen so (good 
 Christians) the subtile serpent Sathan, prince of darkenesse, 
 seeking to bring the Church of England vnder his kingdome 
 againe, from which by the mightie hand of God it hath beene 
 deliuered, indeuoureth cunningly to perswade the shep- 
 heardes, that is, the chiefe Gouernours of this realme to put 
 away their barking dogges, that is, to put downe the state of 
 Bishops, and other chiefe of the Cleargie, to take away their 
 lands and liuings, and set them to their pensions, the sooner by 
 that meanes to worke his purpose. And heerein he turneth 
 himselfe into an Angel of light, and pretendeth great holines 
 and the authoritie of Gods worde, and the holy Scriptures. 
 For such a subtile Protheus he is, that he can turne himselfe 
 into all maner of shapes, to bring forward his deuise. 
 
 The craftie enemie of the Church of GOD, doeth well 
 knowe the frailetie and corruption of mennes nature, that they 
 will not of themselues easily bende to that is good, vnlesse they 
 be allured vnto it, by the hope of benefite. He vnderstandeth 
 that Honos alit artes, and if he shall by any cunning bee able 
 to pull away the reward of learning, hee right well seeth 
 that hee shall haue farre fewer dogges to barke at him, and 
 almost none that shall haue teeth to bite those hell houndes, 
 that hee will sende to deuoure and destroy the flocke of 
 Christ. Happily there may be some young Spanielles that 
 will quest lauishly ynough, but hee will not feare them, be- 
 
22 An Admonition to the Church 
 
 cause hee knoweth they will haue no teeth to bite. If the 
 state of the Cleargie shall bee made contemptible, and the best 
 reward of learning a meane pension: hee foreseeth that 
 neither yong flourishing wittes will easily incline themselues 
 to godly learning, neither wil their parents and friendes suffer 
 them to make that the ende of their trauaile. To bring this to 
 passe, hee worketh his deuises by sundry kindes of men : first, 
 by such as be Papists in heart, and yet can clap their handes, 
 and set forwarde this purpose, because they see it the next 
 way, either to ouerthrowe the course of the Gospell, or by 
 great and needelesse alteration, to hazard and indanger the 
 state of the common weale. The second sort are certaine 
 worldly and godlesse Epicures, which can pretend religion, 
 and yet passe not which end thereof goe forwarde, so they may 
 bee partakers of that spoyle, which in this alteration is hoped 
 for. The thirde sorte, in some respect the best, but of all 
 other most dangerous, because they giue the opportunity and 
 countenance to the residue, and make their indeuours seeme 
 zealous and godly. These bee such which in doctrine agree 
 with the present state, and shewe themselues to haue a desire of 
 a perfection in all things, and in some respect, in deede, haue 
 no euill meaning, but through inordinate zeale are so caried, 
 that they see not howe great dangers by such deuises they 
 drawe into the Church and state of this Realme. Howe great 
 perils, euen small mutations haue brought to Common-weales, 
 the knowledge of Histories, and the obseruation of times, will 
 easily teach vs. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 But in this place " mee thinketh I heare some crie out with 
 earnest affection against me, and say that I shewe my selfe to 
 bee a carnall man, and in this matter of the Church vse carnall 
 and fleshly reasons out of humaine policie, and do not stay 
 my conscience vpon Gods word and the holy Scriptures, 
 whereunto only in the gouernment of the Church wee 
 
and people of England. 23 
 
 shoulde cleaue, though all reason, and policie seeme con- 
 trary." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 If I doe stay my selfe, and grounde my conscience vpon 
 humane policie, in any matter of faith and religion, I must 
 needes confesse my selfe to be worthie great blame : But if 
 in some things perteining to the externall fourme of gouerne- 
 ment, or the outwarde state of the Church, I haue respect to 
 Christian policie, not contrary to Gods word, I see no iust 
 cause, why I shoulde be misliked, if, in consideration of the 
 corrupt affection of mans nature, I wish the state of a Christian 
 Church and common weale to bee such, that yong and 
 towardly wittes, not yet mortified by Gods spirit, may bee 
 allured with the hope of benefite, to the studie of learning, and 
 principally of the holy Scriptures, leauing the secret direction 
 of their miiide to God. I trust no man can with good reason 
 reprooue this my desire, and in the course of my writing, no 
 man shall iustly say, that either I doe stay mine owne con- 
 science, or will other men to grounde theirs, vpon reason and 
 policie onely, without the word of God. For neither will the 
 feare of God suffer mee so to deale, in rnatter of such weight, 
 neither doe I see, that by such meanes I can further the cause 
 that I write of. 
 
 Many Pamphlets haue bene of late yeres partly written, 
 and partly printed, against the whole gouernment of the 
 Church by Bishops, and those in sundrie sortes, according to 
 the nature and disposition of the Authors, but in all, great pro- 
 testation of euident and strong proofe out of the Scriptures, and 
 other writers : But especially there is one which I haue 
 scene, the writer whereof maketh this solemne protestation 
 following. 
 
 " That as he looketh to be acceptable to the Lord, at the 
 iudgmet of the immaculate lambe, in his accusation that he 
 maketh against the Clergie of this Realme, he will not cleaue to 
 
24 An Admonition to the Church ^e. 
 
 his owne iudgement, nor will foUowe his owne braine, nor wil 
 of himselfe inuent ought, nor vntruly blame ought, but will 
 faythfuUy and truely, sincerely and incorruptly, rehearse the 
 holy Scriptures, and the sentences, actes, and deedes of other 
 learned men, which determine and agi-ee vpon those things, 
 that hee layeth downe against them." 
 
 You may well vnderstand therefore, that such an accusa- 
 tion will not bee answered and shifted away with humane 
 reason onely. The matter must haue more pith and sub- 
 stance in it. But howsoeuer that accusation will bee an- 
 swered, I woulde the authour had perfourmed his protestation 
 as faithfully, as, to carry some credite and fauour, hee layde 
 it out solemnely. Then shoulde not his writing containe 
 so many vncharitable, and contemptuous speeches, so many 
 slaunderous vntruethes, so many wrested Scriptures, so many 
 false conclusions, so many impertinent allegations, as he 
 doth vse. 
 
 The purpose to perswade so great and daungerous a mu- 
 tation in a common weale, shoulde haue caried with it, not 
 onely more trueth, and comelinesse of speech, but also more 
 weight of matter, and sounde substance of proofe. But such 
 is the libertie of this time, and such is the maner of them, 
 that to slaunder and deface other, passe not what they 
 speake or write, 
 
 I will nowe come to answere briefly some particular slan- 
 ders vttered against some Bishops and other by name. 
 
 Against 
 
25 
 
 Against the slaunderous Libels of late published vnder a 
 fained and fonde name 0/ Martin Marpeelate. 
 
 Oh my good Brethren and louing Countrey men, what a 
 lametable thing is this, that euen nowe, when the viewe of 
 the mightie Nauie of the Spaniards is scant passed out of 
 our sight : when the terrible sound of their shot ringeth, as 
 it were, yet in our eares : when the certaine purpose of most 
 cruel and bloody conquest of this Realme is confessed by 
 themselues, and blazed before our eyes : whe our sighes and 
 grones with our fasting and prayers, in shewe of our repent- 
 ance, are fresh in memorie, and the teares not washed from 
 the eyes of many good men : when the mightie workes of God, 
 and his marueilous mercies in deliuering vs, and in scattering 
 and confounding our enemies, is bruted ouer all the world, and 
 with humble thanks renowmed by all them that loue the 
 Gospell : when our Christian duetie requireth for ioy and 
 thankesgiuing, that we should bee scene yet still lifting vp 
 our hands and hearts to heauen, and with thankefuU mindes 
 setting foorth the glorie of God, and with Moses and the 
 Israelites singing prayses vntohis Name, and saying, " The 
 Lorde hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and the Rider, the 
 Ships and the Saylers, the souldiers and their Captaines hee 
 hath ouerthrowen in the Sea : the Lorde is our strength, the 
 Lorde is become our saluation, &c." That euen nowe (I say) at 
 this present time, wee shoulde see in mens handes and bosomes, 
 commonly slaunderous Pamphlets fresh from the Presse, 
 against the best of the Church of Englande, and that wee 
 should heare at euery table, and in Sermons and Lectures, at 
 priuate Conuenticles, the voyces of many not giuing prayse to 
 God, but scoffing, mocking, rayling, and deprauing the liues 
 and doings of Bishoppes, and other of the Ministerie, and con- 
 temptuously defacing the state of Gouernment of this Church, 
 begunne in the time of that godly and blessed Prince, King 
 
26 Answeres to 
 
 Edward the sixt, and confirmed and established by our most 
 gracious Soueraigne. What an vnthankfulnesse is this ? what 
 a forgetting of our duetie towarde God, and towarde our 
 brethren ? what a reproche to our profession of the Gospell ? 
 what an euident testimonie to the Aduersarie, of our hypo- 
 crisie, and deepe malice layde vp in the bottome of our 
 breastes, euen in the middest of our troubles, when these 
 Pamphlets were in penning ? The common report goeth, and 
 intelligence is sundry wayes giuen, that the Enemies of this 
 lande haue rather their malice increased towarde vs, then sus- 
 tained a full ouerthrowe : and therefore by confederacie, are 
 in making prouision for a newe inuasion, more terrible in 
 threatning, then the other. Which may seeme more easie to 
 them, because they now know their owne wants, and our im- 
 perfections : For which vndoubtedly, they will prepare most 
 carefully. " For the children of this worlde, are wiser in 
 their generation, then the children of God." What then 
 meaneth this vntemperate, vncharitable and vnchristian deal- 
 ings among our selues, at such an vnseasonable time ? but as 
 it were, to ioyne handes with the Seminaries, lesuites, and 
 Massing priests, and other Messengers of Antichrist, in fur- 
 thering their deuises, by distracting the mindes of the Sub- 
 iects, and drawing them into parets and factions, in increasing 
 the nomber of Mal-contents, and mislikers of the state : which 
 make no account of religion, but to make their commoditie, 
 though it bee with spoyle of their owne countrey, if oppor- 
 tunitie serue ? In pulling away the good and faithfull hearts 
 of many subiects from her Maiestie, because she mainteineth 
 that state of Church-gouernment, which they mislike, and 
 which is protested to them, to bee prophane and Anti- 
 christian 
 
 There are of late time, euen within these fewe weekes, three 
 or foure odious Libels against the Bishops, and other of the 
 Clergie, printed and spread abroad almost into all Countreyes 
 of this Realme, so fraught with vntrueths, slaunders, re- 
 
Martins late Lihell. 27 
 
 proches, raylings, reuilings, scofflngs, and other vntemperate 
 speeches : as I thinke the like was neuer committed to Presse 
 or paper, no not against the vilest sort of men, that haue lined 
 vpon the earth. Such a preiudice this is to the honour of 
 this State and Gouernment, as neuer was offered in any age. 
 
 For these things bee done with such impudencie and des- 
 perate boldnesse, as if they thought there were neither Prince, 
 nor Lawe, nor Magistrate, nor Ruler, that durst control! 
 them, or seeke to represse them. 
 
 The Author of them calleth himselfe by a fained name, 
 Martin Marprelate : a very fit name vndoubtedly. But if 
 this outragious spirit of boldenesse be not stopped speedily, I 
 feare he wil proue himselfe to bee, not onely Mar-prelate, 
 but Mar-prince, Mar-state, Mar-lawe, Mar-magistrate, and 
 all together, vntil he bring it to an Anabaptisticall equalitie 
 and communitie. 
 
 When there is seene in any Common wealth such a loose 
 boldenesse of speech, against a setled lawe or State, it is a 
 certaine proofe of a loose boldenesse of minde. For, Sermo 
 est index animi, that is. Such as the speeche is, such is the 
 minde. Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur. It hath also in all 
 Histories bene obserued, that loose boldenesse of minde toward 
 the Superiours, is ioyned alwayes with contempt : and con- 
 temptuous boldenesse is the very roote and spring of discord, 
 dissention, vprores, ciuill warres, and all desperate attemptes, 
 that may breede trouble and danger in the State. Yea, and 
 if they be hardened with some continuance of time, and 
 hope of impunitie, and some multitude of assistace gathering 
 vnto them : what may foUowe, I leaue to the wisedome and dis- 
 cretion of them, that God hath set in place of Gouernment. 
 
 These Libellers are not contented to lay downe great crimes 
 generally, as some other haue done, but with very vndecent 
 tearmes, charge some particular Bishops with particular faultes, 
 with what trueth you shall now vnderstand. 
 
 They first beginne with the most Reuerend, the Archbishop 
 c 2 
 
28 Answeres to 
 
 of Canterhurie : which crimes and reproches, because they 
 are many, and of no weight or likelihoode of trueth, I take 
 onely the chiefe, and note the pages wherein they are, setting 
 the answere after, answering them very briefly. 
 
 But in those that touch my Lord of London, because they 
 are by lewd tongues drawen into more common talke, and 
 his person most slanderously inueighed against and discredited : 
 I thought it necessarie the thinges should bee more fully and 
 amplie declared, that the trueth of them might be better con- 
 ceiued. 
 
 For as much as I haue not bene curious in all my life to 
 examine the doings of other, hauing ynough to do with mine 
 owne, I haue in these matters vsed the instructiS of them, 
 whom no honest man may in Christian duetie suspect of 
 vntrueth : and therefore in conscience I thinke the things 
 to be true as I haue layde them downs. 
 
 An answere to such thinges as the most Reuerend 
 
 the Archbishop of Canterhurie is particularly charged 
 withall in the Lihell. 
 
 Liteipag. 2. " His Grace I warrant you, will cane to his graue, 
 the blowes &c." 
 
 Answere. God be thanked, he neuer felt blowe giuen by 
 him or any other in that cause, except the blowes of their 
 despitefull and malitious tongues, which notwithstanding 
 hee contemneth, remembring how true it is that Hierome 
 saith, " Istse machinse hsereticorm sunt, vt conuicti de per- 
 fidia ad maledicta se conferant." When heretikes are con- 
 uinced of falsehood and vntrueths, their shift is to flee to 
 railing and slandering. And againe, " Detractio vilium satis 
 hominum est, et suam laudem quaerentium." To backebite 
 is the shift of base men, and such as seeke their owne praise. 
 
 He did indeede peruse Doctor Bridges booke before it 
 went to the Presse, and hee knoweth that the sufflciencie 
 
Martins late Libell. 29 
 
 thereof causeth these men thus to storme, as not being able 
 otherwise to answere it : which maketh them so bitterly to 
 inueigh against his person, and therefore, " Si insectari per- 
 sonam deploratse causae signum est, (as it is in deede) illorum 
 causa est deploratissima," 
 
 " It is shame for your Grace lohn of Can*, that Libeii. Pa. 
 Cartwrights bookes are not answered." 
 
 Hee neuer thought them so necessarie to bee Answere. 
 answered, as the factious authors of the Libel pretend. And 
 of that opinion are not a fewe wise and learned men, that 
 beare good will vnto the party, and with all their hearts 
 wishe, that God woulde direct him to vse his good giftes to 
 the peace and quietnesse of the Church. There is suffi- 
 cient written already to satisfie an indifferent reader. Hee 
 that with indifferent minde shall read the answere of the one, 
 and the replie of the other, shall see great difference in learn- 
 ing betweene them. 
 
 The desire of disputation is but a vaine brag ; they haue 
 bene disputed and conferred with ofbier then either the wor- 
 thines of their persos or cause did require. Wherin their 
 inability to defend such a cause hath manifestlie appeared, as it 
 is well knowen to. very many, wel able to iudge. But what 
 brags are here by the Libeller vttered, which doe not agree 
 with the old Heretikes and ScMsmatikes ? 
 
 " His Grace threatned to send Mistres Lawson to Libel, pag. 
 Bridewel, because &c." 
 
 This is a notorious vntrueth. For neither did hee, Answere. 
 nor D, Perne euer heare (but of this Libeller) that shee 
 spake anie such wordes of him. But in trueth, aswell for 
 the immodestie of her tongue, wherein she excelleth be- 
 yond the seemelinesse of an honest woman, as also for her 
 vnwomanlie and skittish gadding vp and downe to Lambehith, 
 and fr5 thence in c5panie vnfit for her, without her owne 
 husband, he threatned to send her to Bridewell, if she re- 
 formed not the same : which he meaneth to performe, if she 
 
30 Answeres to 
 
 continue her lightnesse. And yet Dame Lawson so notorious, 
 for the vilenesse of her tongue, and other vnwomanly beha- 
 uiour, is one of Martins canonized Saints : " Quia quod 
 volumus sanctum est," as Augustine said of their predecessors 
 the Donatists. It is likewise an vntruth, which is reported in 
 that page of her words spoken by M. Shaller. For surely if 
 she had vttered them, hee would haue sent her thither with- 
 out faile. But Dame Lawson glorieth in her owne shame, and 
 so do her teachers. 
 
 That which he calleth a " Protection," Chard had from the 
 Lords of her Maiesties priuie Counsell, vpon charitable and 
 good causes moouing their Lordships. 
 
 Libel, pag. " He seemeth to charge the Archbishop with in- 
 ''• fidelitie &c." 
 
 Answere. fhis needeth no answere, it sheweth of what 
 spirit they are. 
 
 Libel, pag. (1 Touching the Premunire 8fC." 
 Answere. The Libeller doth but dreame, let hjm and his doe 
 what they can. 
 
 The same may bee answered to their " threatning of 
 fists &c." 
 
 That which hee speaketh of" buying a Pardon &c." as it is 
 most vntrue, so is it slaunderous to the State. If there were 
 any such matter, it may soone appeare by search : but the 
 impudencie of these men is great, and villanous slaunder will 
 neuer long be without iust reward. 
 Libel, pag. " He saith we fauour Recusants rather then 
 
 Puritans &c." 
 Answere. Herein he doeth notoriously abuse vs : though the 
 Recusant for the most part, behaueth himself more ciuilly 
 before the Magistrate then doth the Puritane : who is com- 
 monly most insolent, and thereby deserueth more sharpe 
 wordes and reproofes then the other. 
 
 That which he speaketh of Recusants threats against Puri- 
 tane Preachers, hath no sense. For how can the Recusant 
 
Martins late Libell, 31 
 
 so threaten the Puritane, when he neuer commeth to heare his 
 Sermons ? But these wicked Martinists account her Maiesties 
 louing subiectes, liking and allowing the orders of the Church, 
 and procuring the contrary to be reformed by authoritie, 
 as Papists and Recusants. By which sinister practise and 
 iudgement many are discomforted, and obedience greatly im- 
 peached. 
 
 "Doth your Grace remember, what the lesuite at Libel, pa. 
 Newgate &c." ^^• 
 
 No truely, for he neuer heard of any such matter, Aoswere. 
 but by this lewde Libeller : neyther doeth he thinke that 
 there was euer any such thing spoken. Schismatikes are 
 impudent lyars, the worlde knoweth what he hath euer bene, 
 and what hee is : he doth disdaine to answere such senselesse 
 calumniations. 
 
 That which he speaketh of Thachwell the Printer, &c. is a 
 matter nothing pertaining to him. M. Richard Yong, was 
 the dealer therein without his priuitie, who is able to iustify 
 his doings in that matter, and to conuince the libeller of a 
 malicious slaunder. The man is knowen and lining : the 
 Libeller may talks with him, and knowe his owne wicked- 
 nesse. " The mouth that lyeth killeth the soule. The Lord 
 will destroy lying lippes, and the tongue that speaketh proude 
 things." 
 
 Waldegraue receiued iustly according to his deserts, hauing 
 founde before that time, greater fauour then he deserued, 
 being a notorious disobedient and godlesse person, an vn- 
 thriftie spender, and consumer of the fruits of his owne 
 labours, one that hath violated his faith to his best and dearest 
 friends, and wittingly brought them into danger, to their 
 vndoing. His wife and children haue cause to curse all 
 wicked and vngodly Libellefs. 
 
 The Calumniation touching the Presse and Letters I'ag- 2* 
 in the Charterhouse (which presse Waldgraue himselfe soulde 
 to one of the Earle of Arundels men, as it is since con- 
 
32 Answer es to 
 
 fessed) must receiue the same answere with the other of 
 Thachwell : sauing that to M. Yong must bee added also, some 
 other of greater authority, who can tel Martin, that his 
 spirite is not the spirit of God, which is the spirit of trueth, 
 but the spirite of Sathan, the author of lyes. Charge them, 
 O shamelesse man, with this matter, who are able to answere 
 thee, and not the Archbishop, whome it toucheth not, though 
 it becommeth not euery common and base person, to demaund 
 an account of the doings of men in authoritie. 
 
 The decree there mentioned, being first perused by the 
 Queenes learned counsell, and allowed by the Lords of her 
 Maiesties most honourable priuie Counsell, had his furtherance 
 in deede, and should haue, if it were to doe againe. It is 
 but for the maintenance of good orders am5g the printers, 
 approued and allowed by the most, the best, and the wisest 
 of that copany, and for the suppression of inordinate persons, 
 such as Waldegraue is. 
 
 Hee erected no newe Printer, contrary to that 
 
 Pag. 25. . 
 
 decree : but vsed meanes by way of perswasion for 
 that party, commended to him by his neighbors, to be a very 
 honest and poore man, hauing maried also the widowe of a 
 Printer : and hee did very well like and allowe of his placing 
 by such as haue interest therein. Neither did hee euer heare, 
 (but by this Libeller who hath no conscience in lying) that 
 hee euer printed any such bookes. This I knowe of a cer- 
 taintie, that Thomas Orwin himselfe hath vpon his booke oath 
 denied, that he euer printed, either the lesus Psalter, or Our 
 Lady Psalter, or that he euer was any worker about them, or 
 about any the like bookes. " But the poisoned serpent careth 
 not whome hee stingeth." 
 
 Whether Waldgraue haue printed any thing against the 
 state, or no, let the bookes by him printed, be iudges. 
 
 I doe not thinke, that eyther hee, or any Martinist euer 
 heard any Papist say, that there was no great iarre betweene 
 the Papistes and the Archbishop in matters of Religion. It 
 
Martins late Lihell. 33 
 
 is but the Libellers Calumniation. If they did, what is that 
 to him ? I thinke Martin him selfe doubteth not of the 
 Archbishops soundnesse in such matters of Religion, as are 
 in controuersie betwixt the Papists and vs. If hee doe, the 
 matter is not great. 
 
 The Vniuersitie of Cambridge, where hee lined aboue thirtie 
 yeeres, and publiquely red the Diuinitie Lecture aboue seuen 
 yeeres, and other places where he hath since remained, will 
 testify for him therein, and condemne the Libeller for a meere 
 Sycophant, and me also of follie, for answering so godlesse 
 and lewde a person. 
 
 It is no disparagement to receiue testimonie of a mans 
 aduersarie : and therefore if Master Reinolds haue giuen that 
 commendation to his booke in comparison of others, it is no 
 impeachment to the trueth therof. I haue not seene Reinolds 
 his booke : the Libell is so full of lies, that an honest man can 
 not beleeue any thing contained in it. 
 
 My Lorde of Canterhurie would be sorie from the bottome 
 of his heart, if his perswasion, and the grounds thereof were 
 not Catholike : hee detesteth and abhorreth schismaticall 
 grounds and perswasions : and thereunto hee professeth him- 
 selfe an open enemie, which he woulde haue all Martinists to 
 knowe. 
 
 " That of the Spaniards stealing him away, &c;" is foolish 
 and ridiculous. I would the best Martinist in England durst 
 say it to his face before witnesse. 
 
 Hee firmely beleeueth that Christ in soule descended into 
 hell. All the Martinists in Christendome are not able to 
 proue the contrary : and they that indeuour it, doe abuse the 
 scriptures, and fall into many absurdities. 
 
 Hee is likewise perswaded that there ought to be by 
 the worde of God a superioritie among the Ministers of the 
 Church, which is sufficiently prooued in his booke against 
 T, C. and in D. Bridges booke likewise, and he is all times 
 ready to iustifie it, by the holy Scriptures, and by the testi- 
 
 c 3 
 
34 Answeres to 
 
 mony of all antiquitie. Epiphanius and August, account them 
 heretikes, that holde the contrary. The Arguments to the 
 contrary, are vaine, their answeres absurd, the authorities they 
 vse, shamefully abused, and the Scriptures wrested. 
 
 He hath shewed sufficient reason in his booke against T, C. 
 why Ministers of the Gospell, may be called Priests. The 
 ancient fathers so cal them. The church of England im- 
 braceth that name, and that by the authoritie of the highest 
 court in England. And why may not Presbyter be called 
 Priest ? 
 
 In these three points (whereof the last is of the least mo- 
 ment) he doth agree with the holy Scriptures, with the 
 vniuersall Church of God, with all antiquitie, and in some 
 sort with the Church of Borne. But hee doth disagree from 
 the Church of Rome that now is in the dregges, which it hath 
 added : as " that Christ should harrow hell : that the Pope 
 should be head of the vniuersall Church : that hee, or any 
 other Priest, should haue authoritie ouer Kinges and Princes 
 to depose them, to deliuer their subiects from the othe of their 
 obedience." These thinges haue neither the word of God nor 
 the decrees of ancient Councels, nor the authoritie of antiquitie 
 to approoue them, but directly the contrarie. As for the name 
 of Priest, as they take it, hee doeth likewise condemne in our 
 Ministers, neyther doe themselues ascribe it to them. And 
 therefore the Libeller in these poyntes writeth like himselfe. 
 Libel, pag. « Touching Wigginton, &c." 
 
 nswere. That which he speaketh of Wigginton, is like the 
 rest, sauing for his saucie and malapert behauiour towarde the 
 Archbishoppe : wherein in trueth, hee did beare with him 
 too much. Wigginton is a man well knowen vnto him, and if 
 hee knewe himselfe, hee would confesse that hee had great 
 cause to thanke the Archbishoppe. As hee was a foolish, 
 proude, and vaine boy, a laughing stocke for his foUie to alL ■ 
 the societie with whom hee lined : so doeth hee retaine the 
 same qualities being a man, sauing that his follie, pride, and 
 
Martins late Libell, 35 
 
 vanitie is much increased : so that nowe hee is become ridi- 
 culous euen to his owne faction. 
 
 The honestest, the most, and the best of his parish did ex- 
 hibite to tlie high Commissioners, articles of very great 
 moment against him : the like whereof haue seldomiB bene 
 seene in that Court. The most and woorst of them are 
 prooued by diuers sufficient witnesses, and some of them con- 
 fessed by himselfe, as it appeareth in record. For which 
 enormities, and for that hee refused to make condigne satis- 
 faction for the same, and to conforme himselfe to the orders 
 of the Church, by lawe established : he was by due order of 
 lawe deposed from his Ministerie, and depriued of his bene- 
 fice, and so remayneth, being vnfit and vnworthie of either. 
 
 The tale of Atkinson is a lowde, notorious, and knowen lie. 
 For neither did he euer say so to the Archbishop, neither 
 would hee haue taken it at his hands, neither was that any 
 cause of Wiggintons depriuation : but vanitie and hypocrisie 
 causeth this man to haue so small conscience in lying, accord- 
 ing to that saying, " Omnis hypocrisis mendacio plena est." 
 
 That heathenish vntruth vttered diuers times in this booke, 
 that the Archbishoppe should accompt preaching of the word 
 of God to be heresie, and mortally abhorre and persecute it, is 
 rather to bee pitied then answered. If man punish not such 
 sycophants, God will do it, to whose iust iudgement the 
 reuenge of this iniurie is referred. He doth bridle factious 
 and vnlearned Preachers, such as the more part of that sect 
 are, who notwithstanding crie out for a learned Ministerie, 
 themselues being vnlearned, and so would be accounted of all 
 men, if it were not propter studium partium. I say with 
 S. Hierome, " Nunc loquentibus et pronunciantibus plenus est 
 orbis : loquuntur quae nesciunt, docent quae non didicerunt, 
 magistri sunt ciim discipuli ante non fuerint." The world is 
 full of them that can speake and talke : but they speake the 
 thinges they knowe not : they teach the thinges they have not 
 learned : they take vpon them to teach before they were 
 
36 Answeres to 
 
 schollers to learne. Indeede our Church is too full of such 
 talkers, rather then sober teachers, whome hee professeth 
 himselfe greatly to mislike. Otherwise hee defieth all Mar- 
 tinistes in Englande, and doeth appeale vnto the whole State 
 of the learned and obedient Clergie for his innocencie therein. 
 Libel, pag. 31 " Touching master Euans, &c :" 
 Answere. That of Euans concerning the Vicarage of War- 
 wike, is maliciously reported. He reiected him for lacke of 
 conformitie to the orders of the Church. If hee haue done 
 him any wrong thereby, the lawe is open, hee might haue 
 had his remedie. That honourable person mentioned by the 
 Libeller, I am sure, accepted of his answer. And I knowe, 
 that according to his honourable disposition, hee thinketh him- 
 selfe greatly abused by the libeller in this point. But what 
 careth such a corner-creeper what he saith of any man, be he 
 neuer so honourable ? The rest of that tale is vntrue, not 
 worth answering. And if the relator thereof durst appeare 
 and shewe himselfe, Martin could not be long vnknowen. If 
 any of his men at any time reported, that hee shoulde say, 
 hee woulde not be beholding to neuer a noble man in this 
 land, &c. hee sheweth himselfe to be of the Libellers con- 
 ditions, that is, a common lyar. For hee neuer spake the 
 wordes to any man, neither doeth he vse that familiaritie with 
 his men. But the Libeller careth not what hee speaketh, 
 either of him, or of his men, so that he may fill vp his libel 
 with vntrue slaunders. 
 
 That which followeth of the Archbishops words to the 
 knight, " that he was the second person of the land, &c." is 
 of the same kinde. The knight I am sure is lining, let him 
 be examined of that matter. True it is, that there was a good 
 knight with him, an olde friend of his about such a sute : 
 but that he euer spake any such wordes vnto him, as the 
 Libeller woulde make the worlde beleeue, is most false : the 
 Knight liueth and can testifie the same. But the Libeller 
 thinketh all men to be as proude and malapert as himselfe and 
 
Martins late Lihell. 37 
 
 other of his faction are, whose pride the world seeth, and it is 
 vntolerable. 
 
 He was neuer D. Perns boy, nor vnder him at Pag- m. 
 any time, but as felow of the house where he was master. 
 Neither did he euer cary his, or any other mans cloak e 
 bagge : Although if he had so done, it had bin no disgrace 
 to him. Better mens sonnes then the Libeller is, haue 
 caried cloakebags. But the lewde man is not ashamed to lye 
 in those things, that are open to euery mans eyes : such 
 is his malice and impudencie. 
 
 How Dauisons Catechisme was allowed, or how Pag. 34. 
 long in perusing, I know not : some paultrie pamphlet belike 
 it is, like to that busie and vnlearned Scot, now termed to be 
 the author thereof. D. Wood is better able to iudge of such 
 matters, then either Dauisgn, or any Martinist, that dare be 
 knowen. 
 
 " Touching the Apocrypha, &c." ^''''^i- pag. 3? 
 
 He gaue commandement in deede, and meaneth to see it 
 obserued. For who euer separated this Apocrypha from the 
 rest of the Bible, from the beginning of Christianity to this 
 day ? Or what Church in the world, refourmed or other, 
 doth yet at this present ? And shal we suffer this singularitie 
 in the church of England, to the aduauntage of the aduersary, 
 offence of the godly, and contrary to al the world besides ? I 
 knowe there is great difference betweene the one and the 
 other: yet all learned men haue from the beginning, giuen 
 to the Apocrypha authoritie, next to the Canonicall Scriptures. 
 And therfore such giddie heads, as seeke to deface them, are 
 to be bridled. A foule shame it is, and not to be suffered, 
 that such speeches should be vttered against those bookes, as 
 by some hath bene : enough to cause ignorant people to dis- 
 credite the whole Bible. 
 
 '■' Touching Doctor Sparke, &c." Libel, pag. 
 
 Their Honors that were the present, can and wil, Answere. 
 I am sure, answere for the bishops to this vntrueth. They 
 
38 Answeres to 
 
 made report to diuers in publike place, and some to the 
 highest, of that cSference, after an other sort, and to another 
 end, the the Libeller doth. That seely Obiection God know- 
 eth, was soone answered in few words, viz. That the tras- 
 lation read in our Churches, was in that point according to 
 the Septuagint, and correspondent to the Analogic of faith. 
 For if the word be vnderstood of the Israelites, then is it true 
 to say, that " they were^ not obedient to his comandement :" 
 but if of the signes and wonders, that Moses and Aaron did 
 before Pharao, or of Moses and Aaron themselues, then is it 
 on the other side true, that " they were obedient to his com- 
 mandement." This might haue satisfied any learned and 
 peaceable Diuine, and pacified their immoderate contention 
 against the booke of common praier. This was then, and is 
 now, the answere to that friuolous obiection, and this is the 
 Nonplus that the Libeller vaunteth of. More modestie might 
 haue become both D. SparJce, and the reporter, euen con- 
 scientia suce imhecillitatis, in that conference. 
 Libel, pa. 50. " Touching Patrike, &c." 
 
 Answere. He neuer made Patrike Minister, neither intended 
 to make him, neither was hee of his acquaintance at all in 
 Worcester. It is wel knowen that the Archbishop hath not 
 ordeined moe, then onelie two Ministers, since his comming 
 to this Archbishoprike. And therefore this Calumniation 
 must be placed with the former. 
 
 Thus is this godlesse Libeller answered in few words, 
 touching such matters wherwith he chargeth the most reue- 
 rend father the Archbishop of Cant, whereby the world may 
 perceiue, with what spirit he is possessed. The wisema 
 Prouer.24. saith, " that destruction shall suddenly come vpo the 
 backbiter and calumniator." The Psalmist saith, " The Lord 
 Psalm 55. wil destroy lying lips, and the togue which speaketh 
 proud things :" and " that death shal suddenly come vpon 
 them, and hell shall receiue them." S. Ambrose saith, " that 
 Detractors are scarcely to be accounted Christians." And 
 
Martins late L ibell. 39 
 
 Cyprian saith, " Non qui audit, sed qui facit conuitium, miser 
 est." Not he that is railed at, but he that raileth, is the 
 wretched man. The wicked lewes, when they could not 
 otherwise answere Christ, called him Samaritan, and saide he 
 had a deuill, and shortly after tooke vp stones, and cast at 
 him. So the Anabaptists, within our memory, after slaun- 
 derous and opprobrious calumniations against the godly 
 preachers and magistrates then lining, fell to blowes and open 
 violence. The Libeller in this booke hath performed the one, 
 and threatned the other. 
 
 This haue I laid downe word by worde, as I reoeiued the same from 
 my Lorde of London: who desireth to haue the matter heard by 
 indifferent ludges, and will shew the Suggestions to be very vntrue. 
 
 And as to Martins lewd exclamatipn against the B. of London 
 cocerning the cloth thought to be stollen fro the Dyars, this 
 is the truth of the case : that vpon notice giue to the said B. 
 that such like cloth was wayued within his Manor of Fulham, 
 and left in a ditch there, and no owner knowen, hee presently 
 hoping to take them that brought it thither, or at the least to 
 saue the same from purloyning or miscarying, appoynted the 
 same to be watched diners nights : and in the end hearing 
 neyther of the owners, nor of the that so waiued it, willed the 
 same to bee brought to his house in Fulham, and there to be 
 kept for him or them which by law ought to haue it, were it 
 in respect of the first property, or of the alteratio therof by 
 means of the liberties. Whereupon, a good space after, the 
 Dyars indeed came to the Bishop, and claimed the cloth, and 
 sought by earnest means to haue it again, without making any 
 proofe, that the cloth was theirs, or that the same cloth was it, 
 for which the theeues were executed, or that fresh sute was 
 made after the saide theeues for the same. But vpon co- 
 ference had with learned Lawyers therein, it was resolued, that 
 the propertie of this cloth was altered and transferred to the 
 
40 Answeres to 
 
 lyberties : and so it seemeth the Dyars themselues haue found, 
 els would they by lawe haue sought remedy therefore yer 
 nowe, it beeing well nie towards three yeares since. Yet 
 neuerthelesse, so far hath the said bishop beene from exacting 
 the extremity, that offer hath bene made to the Dyars of a 
 good part of the cloth, where in rigour of the law, they haue 
 lost all: And further to restore all, or to make sufficient 
 recompence therefore, if by law it ought to be so, vpon the 
 examination of the trueth of the case. And as for Martins 
 erronious iudgraent, that this is theft, beeing taken and claym- 
 ed by right and lawe, as aforesayd, because the true owners 
 are defeated (as hee saith) surely, hee might knowe if it were 
 matter for his humor, that the Lawe worketh this in other 
 cases, as in strayes proclaymed and kept a yeere and a daye, 
 according to the law, the propertie is altered, and transferred 
 to the Lord from the true owner : so is it for stolen cattell, 
 brought bona fide to the ouert market : The first owners pro- 
 pertie is gone, and the buyer hath it : And so is it for waiued 
 goods, as was this cloth. And to shewe that the sayde Bishop 
 had not so great a desire to detaine the cloth as the Libeller 
 hath presumed, hee often times asked an ofBcer of his, howe 
 it happened that the Dyars came not for it : for hee was euer 
 ready, and yet is, to deliuer it to them, or the value thereof, if 
 it prooue to be theirs. And thus much is to be answered to 
 that matter. 
 
 The Libeller obiecteth against the Bishop as a great heinous 
 fault, that of his Porter he made a Minister : which, al things 
 considered, he thinketh that doing to be iustifiable and law- 
 fully done, and not to lacke example of many such that haue 
 bene after that sort admitted, both since her Maiesties com- 
 ming to the Crown, by many good Bishops, and by sound 
 histories Ecclesiasticall, that where the Church by reason of 
 persecutio or multitude of Hamlets, and free Chappels, which 
 haue commonly very small stipends for the Minister, honest 
 godly men, vppon the discretion of the Gouernours of the 
 
Martins late Lihell. 41 
 
 Church, haue and might be brought in to serue in the want of 
 learned men, in prayer, administration of Sacraments, good 
 example of life, and in some sort of exhortation. Arid this 
 man therefore, when the Bishop founde him by good and long 
 experience to be one that feared God, to be conuersant in the 
 scriptures, and of very honest life and conuersation : he allowed 
 of him, to serue in a small congregation at Padingion, where 
 comonly for the meannesse of the stipend, no Preacher coulde 
 be had, as in many places it commeth to passe where the 
 Parsonage is impropriat, and the prouision for the Vicar or 
 Curat is very smal. And how this poore man behaued him- 
 selfe there, time and tryall prooued him : for he continued in 
 that place with good liking of the people 8. or 9. yeres, till he 
 grew dull of sight for age, and thereby vnable for to serue any 
 longer. It is to be foimde among the Greeke Canons, that in 
 Spaine and Africa when the Goathes and Vandalles had by 
 extreme persecution made hauocke of the Church men, those 
 fewe that were left there aliue, made their moane to the 
 Churches of Rome and Italy, that their Churches stoode 
 emptie, because they could get none to serue, no not such 
 as were vnlearned. Whereby it appeareth, that in the time 
 of necessitie, and such great want, the Church did allowe of 
 very meane Clarkes, and so did they in the beginning of hir 
 Maiesties raigne. But Martin and his complices, hauing a 
 desire to throwe out of the Church, the booke of common 
 prayer, would rather haue the Churches serued by none, then 
 by such as by praier and administration of Sacraments should 
 keepe the people together in godly assemblies. But this 
 Libeller being as a botch in the body, wherunto all bad hu- 
 mors comonly resort, and fewe good, was cotent to take this 
 report of this poore man, and not at all to make mention, as he 
 might haue done, of that precise and straight order which the 
 Bishoppe obserueth in making Ministers. For most true it is 
 that the said B. admitteth none to orders, but such as he him- 
 self doth examine in his owne person in poynts of Diuinitie, 
 
42 Answeres to 
 
 and that in the latin tongue, in the hearing of many : whereby 
 it Cometh to passe, that none lightly come at him, but such as 
 be Graduats, and of the vniuersities. But Martin neither 
 himselfe nor his cole cariers seeke for any thing that is co- 
 mendable, but like the spider that gathereth all that may turne 
 to poyson. 
 
 Further, for lacke of true matter, M. Maddockes must be 
 brought in by the Libeller to furnish his railing comedy. It 
 were ynough to say of that thus much, that the most reuerent 
 Father the Archbishop of Canierburie examining that matter 
 betweene the Bishop and Maddockes, with some other Bishops 
 assisting him, founde the matter to make so sore against the 
 Bishop, that Maddockes himselfe was content before them to 
 aske him forgiuenes, and to promise that he would euer after 
 haue a reuerent regard of his duetie towards the saide Bishop, 
 as his Ordinarie. For if he should so vntruely haue played 
 with the name of Aelmer, by turning it into the name of Mar- 
 elme, hee shoulde haue spoken against his conscience, as he 
 himselfe knoweth, and all the Court, and her Maiestie her 
 selfe can testifie, that it was a most shameful! vntrueth biased 
 abroade by one Lichfield a Musicion, which is nowe de- 
 parted. 
 
 Here might bee noted, howe Doctor Feme, beeing at no 
 meane mans table, and hearing of such slanderous rayling of 
 felling of the Elmes at Fulham, he asked one of the company 
 being an ancient Lawyer, howe long the Elmes oi FulhamhaA 
 bene felled. Said the Lawyer, some halfe yere past. Nowe 
 truly saide D. Feme, they are marueilouslie growen in that 
 time, for I assure you I was there within these foure dales, and 
 they seeme to be two hundred yeeres old. And maister Vice- 
 ehamherlaine at her Maiesties being at Fulham, tolde the 
 Bishop that her Maiestie misliked nothing, but that her High- 
 nesse lodging was kept from all good prospects by the thick- 
 nesse of the trees. Lo, you may see hereby, that the Libeller 
 to set out his Pasquill, raketh all things by all reportes from all 
 
Martins late Lihell, 43 
 
 the Sycophants in the world, and maketh no choise of man or 
 matter, so that it may serue his turne. 
 
 And for any Letter written by the maister of Requests 
 so iestinglie, as the Libeller reporteth, Maddockes hath 
 deceiued him : for there was no such matter, nor the man 
 from whome the Bishop wrote, was none of his seruant, 
 nor is. 
 
 Nowe commeth in Dame Lawson to frumpe the bishoppe 
 with impudent and vnwomanlie speech, and vnfit for that sexe, 
 whome Paul vtterly forbiddeth to speake in the congregation. 
 But considering the circumstaunces of time, place, and persons, 
 it is to bee thought that Dame Lawson came at no time to the 
 bishoppe in that brauerie : for if she had, the bishop is not so 
 soft but shee shoulde haue felt of Discipline, and of the 
 Queenes authoritie. Surelie the bishop and such other of the 
 Reuerend fathers that are so bitten by this Libeller, may 
 comfort themselues by the exaple of Athanasius and others as 
 I before haue said, which were most shamefully accused by 
 the heretikes, of murder, robbery, enchantment, whoredome, 
 and other most detestable crimes, to deface them to the 
 worlde, to the ende that their heresies might be the better 
 liked of. But Martin remember that saying " Vse homini per 
 quem scandalum venit," and that lude saith, " that Michael 
 when he disputed with the Deuill about the body of Moses, 
 the Angell gaue no railing sentence against him, but said, the 
 Lord rebuke thee, Sata." And if it pleased you to remeber 
 that booke that is fathered vpon Ignatius in GreeJce which at- 
 tributeth so much to the bishops, you would be good master 
 to bishops, against whom so vnreuerently you cast out your 
 stomacke. 
 
 And for your iesting at the Bishop for bowling vpon the 
 Sabboth, you must vnderstand that the best expositor of the 
 Sabboth, which is Christ, hath saide, that the Sabboth was 
 made for man, and not mair for the Sabboth : and man may 
 haue his meate dressed for his health vpon the Sabboth, and 
 
44 Answeres to 
 
 why may he not then haue some conuenient exercise of the 
 body, for the health of the body ? 
 
 You will take small occasion to rails, before you will hold 
 your tongue. If you can charge the Bishop that euer he 
 withdrew himself from Sermon or seruice by any such exer- 
 cise, you might bee the bolder with him : but contrariwise it 
 is wel knowen, that he and his whole familie doeth euery day 
 in the weeke twise say the whole seruice, calling upon God 
 for them selues, the State, and the Queenes Maiestie, pray- 
 ing for her highnesse by that meanes deuoutly and heartily 
 many times : I pray God you do the like. But, " oratio 
 animae maleuolse non placet Deo :" The prayer of a malicious 
 heart neuer pleaseth God. 
 
 Martin with his bitter stile of malicious Momus dipt in the 
 gall of vngodlinesse, proceedeth in a shamelesse vntrueth 
 touching the Bishops answere to the executors of Allein the 
 Grocer, as though he should flatly denie the payment of a 
 certaine debt, due to the sayde Allein : which is as true as 
 all the rest of Martins writings is honest and sober. For 
 bee it that at the first demaunde, the Bishoppe was some- 
 what mooued to heare his name to be in the Merchants 
 bookes, which hee euer so precisely auoyded, that commonly 
 he sendeth to them whom hee hath to doe with, warning 
 them to deliuer nothing in his name, without his owne hand 
 or ready money, vsed peraduenture some sharpe wordes in a 
 matter that was so suddaine and so strange to him : Yet most 
 certaine it is, that though not at that time, yet very shortly 
 after, the debt was discharged, as shall be prooued, long 
 before Martins railing booke was heard of or seene : ten 
 pound excepted, which the sayde executors for a time 
 respited. But this fellowe will trauaile farre before he will 
 lacke matter to furnish a lye. 
 
 Another mountaine that he maketh of molehils (for such is 
 all his blasphemous buildings) ^is, that one Benison a poore 
 man, was kept in the Clincke I cannot tell howe long, vniustly 
 
Martins late Lihell. 45 
 
 without cause, &c. The trueth is this : Benison comming 
 from Geneua, full fraught with studie of Innouations, and 
 vtterly emptie of obedience, which Beza that learned Father 
 had or might haue taught him, as by his Epistles appeareth, 
 both to the Queene and the gouernors of the Church : 
 set vp in London his shop of disobedience, being maried 
 in a contrary order to the booke and vsage of the Church 
 of England, abusing good M. Foxe as hee himselfe in 
 griefe of heart after confessed. After that, the said Benison 
 gathering conuenticles, and refusing to goe to his owne parish 
 church, seeking to set al in combustion with schisme in the 
 Citie, was long before the B. heard any thing of him, called 
 before Sir Nicholas Woodrofe a graue Citizen, and the 
 Recorder : who found him in such an humour, that they ment 
 to haue sent him to prison. But because he was of the 
 Clergie, they thought good to commit him to his Ordinarie, 
 who trauailing with him most earnestly to bring him to the 
 Church and become orderly, when he coulde prbfite nothing 
 with him, sent him againe to the Sessions to the Lord Maior 
 and the ludges. After they had dealt with him, and could 
 finde at his hands nothing but railing, they sent him againe to 
 the Bishop, and he finding him in vnspeakeable disobedience 
 to her Maiestie and her Lawes, offered him the oath, which 
 he contemptuously and spitefully refused. Which being cer- 
 tified according to order, hee was sent to the Queenes bench, 
 and was condemned, and thereupon sent to prison. And 
 this is that- wonderful tragedie wherin this fellow so greatly 
 triumpheth, wishing belike (as his whole Libell seemeth to 
 desire) that no malicious schismatike should be punished 
 for moouing sedition in the lande. But to this vnbrideled 
 tongue, it may be said as the Psalme sayth, " Quid gloriaris 
 in malitia tua? &c." Where he courseth the Bishop of 
 London with the lewde lying Epithete of Dumbe lohn, fetched 
 I cannot tell from what grosse conceite, either as willingly 
 stumbhng upon Dumbe for Don, or for that he preacheth not 
 
46 Answeres to 
 
 so oft, as hee and other of his crewe babbling in their verball 
 sermons vse to doe, or from whence else I knowe not, vnlesse 
 it please his wisedome to play with his owne conceite, and 
 minister matter to the Prentises and Women of London, to 
 sport himselfe in that pretie deuised and newe founde name. 
 If the Bishop shoulde answere for himselfe, I knowe he might 
 say somewhat after this sort : Good charitable Martin, how 
 olde are you ? how long haue you knowen the man ? what 
 reports in the booke of Martyrs, in Master Ashams booke 
 of his Schoolemaster, and in some learned men that haue 
 written from beyond the Seas, haue you heard of him? 
 Master Foxe saith of him, that hee was one of the fiue, and 
 now onely aliue, that stoode in the solemne disputations in 
 the first of Queene Mary, with a hundred hauberdes about 
 his eares : (the like whereof you threaten now him and others) 
 in the defence of the Gospell, against all the learned Papists 
 in England. For the which hee was driuen into banishment, 
 and there continued for the space of fiue or sixe yeeres, 
 visiting almost all Vniuersities in ItaUe and Germanie, hauing 
 great conference with the most and best learned men : at the 
 last being stayed at lany, an vniuersitie erected by the dukes 
 of Saxonie, and should, if he had not come away, had the 
 Hebrewe lecture, which Snepphinus had, intertained by the 
 to read in their said vniuersity both Greeke and Latin, 
 in the company and with the good loue and liking of 
 those famous men, Flaccus Illyricus, Victorius, Strigellus, 
 D. Snepphinus, called alter Luther, with diuers others, where 
 belike he was not dumb. And after coming home, was 
 appointed among the famous learned men, to dispute againe 
 with the enemies of the religion, the papisticall Bishops, and 
 like, that if the disputations had continued, to shewe him not 
 ignorant in all the three tongues, as he wil yet, if Martin 
 Malapert prouoke him too far, not to be dumbe. Is he 
 dumbe because hee was the onely preacher in Leicestershire 
 for a space, as the noble Earle of Huntington can witnesse ? 
 
Martins late Lihell. 47 
 
 and by their two meanes, that shire, God be blessed, was con- 
 uerted and brought to that state that it is now in ? which in 
 true religion is aboue any other place, because they retaine 
 the Gospell without contention, which fewe other places doe. 
 And in Lincolnesliire did he nothing ? did he not first purge 
 the Cathedral Church, being at that time a neast of vncleane 
 birdes, and so by preaching and executing the Commission, so 
 preuailed in the countrey (God blessing his labours) that not 
 one recusant was left in the countrey, at his comming away to 
 this sea of London ? Is this to be dumbe ? how many Ser- 
 mons hath hee preached at Paules crosse ? sometime three 
 in a yeere, yea, sometime two or three together, being an 
 olde man, to supply some yonger mens negligence. 
 
 It is omitted, that Episcopomastix had a fling at the 
 Bishoppe of London for swearing by his faith, wherefore he 
 termeth him a Swag. What hee meaneth by that, I will not 
 diuine : but as all the rest is lewd, so surely herein he hath a 
 lewde meaning. It is to be thought, that the Bishop wil take 
 profite hereby, being a man that hath diligently read Plutarhe, 
 " De vtilitate capienda ab inimico." If it bee an othe, as this 
 gentleman hath censured it, it is not to be doubted, but that he 
 wil amend it : but if it were lawful, as it may bee for any 
 thing Martin can say, to aske his brotherhood, what Amen sig- 
 nifieth, or whether it be an othe : then in his wicked and mali- 
 cious wishes for the ouerthrow of the Clergie, how oft is he 
 to be found to say Amen ? for in the phrase of our speech, hy 
 my faith signifieth no more, but, in very trueth, bona fide, in 
 trueth, assuredly, id est. Amen. 
 
 It is to be thought, that Martin misliketh to say by his faith, 
 because a railing and slanderous spirit can haue no faith : for 
 where Charitie is away (the soule of all good workes) there 
 can be no faith. Read that of Paul, " Charitas non inuidet, 
 non est suspicax, &c." The contraries whereof swell in Martin 
 as venemous humours in an infectious sore. 
 
 Among other their reproches, they affirme of the bishop of 
 
48 Answeres to 
 
 Rochester, that hee presented him selfe to a benefice. I doe 
 not thinke it to be true, for that I know it can not be good in 
 Lawe. If he hath procured a benefice in way of Commendam 
 (as they call it) it is by lawe allowed, and hath bene done by 
 other. 
 
 The bishop of Lincolne, is knowen to bee learned and 
 zealous in religion. There are few men towarde her Maiestie 
 that haue preached in the court, either oftner times, or with 
 more commendation, or better liking, as well before he was 
 bishop, as since. It is therefore maruaile, that none in all this 
 time could espie his inclination vnto corrupt and Papisticall 
 doctrine, vntill the chickens of the scratching kite yong Mar- 
 tinists, got wings to flee abroad, and crie out vntrueths against 
 euerie man that displeaseth them. 
 
 If the bishop of Lincolne had not euen of late shewed him- 
 selfe in the Commission Court, at the examination of some of 
 them, he had nowe escaped this scratch of the lewde lying 
 Martin Marprelate. What his wordes were I haue forgotten, 
 and yet I heard them deliuered by a learned man that was 
 present. For I did not then meane to deale in this cause, but 
 they were nothing soiiding to that which the Libell layeth 
 downe. And the person considered at whose funerall hee 
 preached, hee could not with comelinesse speake lesse in her 
 commendation then he did, vnlesse they woulde haue had him 
 as rash and furious as themselues, and to enter into Gods 
 secrete iudgement, and openly to condemne her as a reprobate. 
 God may worke great matters in a moment. 
 
 The bishop of Winchester is charged with certeine wordes 
 vttered in two sermons the last Lent : the one in the Queenes 
 Chappell, the other at S. Marie Queries in Southwarhe. The 
 wordes of the challenge are these, " Like a flattering hypocrite, 
 he protested before God and the congregation, that there was 
 not in the worlde at this day, nay, there had not beene since 
 the Apostles time such a flourishing state of a Church, as nowe 
 
Martins late Lihell, 49 
 
 wee haue in England." Surely, if bee had vttered these 
 wordes for the state of the Church appointed by lawe and 
 order, not respecting the faultes of particular persons, it might 
 in Christian duetie bee well defended. But it was not vttered 
 in this manner, nor for the matter, nor for the time. The first 
 part of those wordes hee doth not acknowledge at all, for they 
 are purposely inserted to stirre enuie. 
 
 Thus in deede it was deliuered: " As for the trueth of doc- 
 trine, according to the worde of God, for the right administration 
 of the Sacramets, for the true worship of God in our prayer, 
 layde downe in the booke of seruice : sinc^the Apostles age, 
 vnto this present age of the restoring of the gospell, there was 
 neuer Church vpon the face of the earth, so nigh the sincerii 
 tie of Gods trueth, as the Church of England is at this day." 
 These wordes with Gods helpe, he will iustifie to be true, vpon 
 the daunger, not of his liuing only, but of his life also, against 
 any man that will withstand it : and yet therein shall not shew 
 him selfe either " desperate Dicke," or " shamelesse, impudent 
 or wainscot faced Bishop," as it pleaseth the Libeller to rayle. 
 Neither doth he thinke, that any learned man that fauoureth the 
 Gospell, though he mislike some things and persons now in 
 present vse, will reproue it. The Papists I know in deede doe 
 detest the Assertion, and thinke their Synagogue blasphemed 
 by it: No refourmed Church can iustly take offence at it. 
 Where the bishop is burdened by this speech to excuse the 
 multitude of Thieues, Drunkards, Murtherers, Adulterers, SfO. 
 that be in our Church : neither did his thought conceiue, nor 
 his wordes include any such matter. But what doeth not 
 malice, enuie, and spite vtter against the most innocent person 
 that is ? The bishop of Winchester hath openly more im- 
 pugned the vices of this age heere in the Church of England, 
 then the whole broode of them that are of the Anabaptisticall 
 Conuenticles, and the residue of these Libellers. " Woe be 
 to them" (saith Esay the Prophet) " that speak euill Esay. 5. 
 of good, and good of euill, and put light for darkenesse, and 
 
50 Answer es to 
 
 daikenesse for light, sweete for sowre, and sowre for sweete." 
 Psai. 120. Dauid had great cause to crie, " domine libera 
 animam meam a labijs iniquis, et a lingua dolosa." And 
 Pro. 24. Salomon, " cogitatio stulti peccatum est, et abominatio 
 hominum Detractor." The deuise of a foole is sinne, and all 
 men abhorre the backbiter or Slaunderer. If any man will 
 reprooue the Assertion before written, God willing he shall 
 be answered, so that he rayle not. 
 
 This may be a sufficient aunswere to the vntruth fathered 
 vpon the B. of Winchesters words, and that he is not for the 
 same iustly tearmed " Monstrous and flattering hypocrite, 
 speaking against his owne conscience." But I see in these 
 words the reproch not only of the B. but much more a 
 malicious Spite against this Church of England, and that so 
 deepely setled in their hearts, that their eares cannot, without 
 griefe, heare any good spoken of it. Therefore I thinke my 
 selfe in Christian dutie bound, somewhat farther to foUowe 
 this matter, and with some signification of thankfulnesse, to 
 acknowledge and confesse those excellet blessings, which it 
 hath pleased God, of his great mercies, to bestowe vpon the 
 same, as well in King Edward the sixts dayes, as much more 
 in her Maiesties reigne that nowe is : and first, to beginne with 
 that which is the principall, that is, the sinceritie of doctrine, 
 and all branches of true religion receiued, professed, taught, 
 and established in this Realme. In which point, I thinke it 
 very superfluous and needles for me to recite the particular 
 branches, and to make a new catechisme, or to pen a new con- 
 fession of the Church of England, seeing they both are so 
 sufficiently performed, that (without enuy be it spoken) there 
 is none better in any refourmed Church, in Europe. For a 
 Catechisme, I refer them to that which was made by the 
 learned and godly man Master Nowel, Deane of Paules, 
 receiued and allowed by the Church of England, and very 
 fully grounded and established vpon the worde of God. There 
 may you see all the parts of true Religion receiued, the 
 
Martins late Lihell. 51 
 
 difficulties expounded, the trueth declared, the corruptions of 
 the , Church of Rome reiected. But this I like not in our 
 Church, that it is lawful! to euery man to set foorth a newe 
 Catechisme at his pleasure. I read, that in the Primitiue 
 church, that thing did great harme, and corrupted the mindes 
 of many simple persons with -foule errours and heresies. I 
 see the like at this day : for thereby many honest meaning 
 hearts are caried away to the misliking of our manner of 
 prayer, and administration of Sacramentes, and other orders : 
 whereby it is made a principall instrument to maintaine and 
 increase discorde and dissention in the Church. 
 
 For a sound and true confession acknowledged by this our 
 church, I refer them to that notable Apologie of the English 
 church, written not many yeeres since, by that lewel of 
 England, late Bishop of Sarishurie. Wherein they shall find 
 al partes of Christian religion confessed and proued, both by 
 the testimonie of the canonicall scriptures, and also by the 
 consent of all learned and godly antiquitie for the space of 
 certain hundred yeres after Christ. For the integrity and 
 soundnes, for the learning and eloquence shewed in the same 
 apologie, they (that contemne that notable learned man be- 
 cause hee was a bishoppe) may haue very good testimonie in 
 a little Epistle, written by Peter Martir vnto the said bishoppe, 
 and nowe printed, and in the latter edition set before the same 
 Apologie : where they shall finde that hee speaketh not for 
 himselfe onely, but for many other learned men of the church 
 of Tygure, and other places. Nowe, as this learned bishop 
 doth acknowledge and confesse for this Church, all trueth of 
 doctrine : so doth hee reprooue, condemne and detest all cor- 
 ruptions brought into the same, either by the church of Rome, 
 or by any other auncient or newe heretikes, whome hee there 
 particularly nameth : yea, and to the great comfort of all 
 them that are members of the same church, and acknowledge 
 the same confession, hee prooueth and euidently sheweth, that 
 the testimonies of the Scriptures, wheron that confession is 
 
 D 2 
 
52 Answer es to 
 
 grounded, for the true interpretation of them; haue the wit- 
 nes and consent of all the learned antiquitie, as I haue saide, 
 for certaine hundred yeeres. Which I take to bee a very 
 good comfort and confirmation to all honest consciences in 
 these captious and quarelling dayes. 
 
 That which I meane, I will declare by some particulars. 
 What is more euidet, certain and firme for the article of the 
 " person of Christ in his Godhead and mahood," then those 
 things that the auncient fathers decreed out of the canonical 
 scriptures in the Coucels of Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, 
 Chalcedon, and some others against Arius, Samosatenus, 
 ApoHinWris, Nestorius, Eutiches, and those heretikes that 
 were tearmed Monotholetes Sj'c ? Therfore whosoeuer do 
 teach contrarie to the determination of those councels (as some 
 do in these daies) they do not iustly hold that principal article 
 and foundation of Christian religion. 
 
 Moreouer, as touching the grace and benefite of Christ, the 
 beginning whereof riseth from the eternall loue of God toward 
 vs, and from the free election to redemption and eternall salua- 
 tion, and proceedeth to our vse and benefit, by the dis- 
 pensation of Christ once offered vpon the crosse, by effectual 
 calling wrought by the holy ghost in preaching of the gospell, 
 by our iustification, sanctification, and the gift of perseuerance 
 and continuance in the faith, thereby in the end to obtaine 
 resurrection and eternall life : touching (I say) this free grace 
 of God (another principall ground of Christian religion) what 
 could be, or can bee more certainly or abundantly layde 
 downe out of the holy scriptures, then was determined in the 
 councels of Carthage, Mileuitane, Aurasicane S^c. against the 
 Pelagians, and other enemies of the free grace of God in 
 Christ lesu our Sauiour ? Especially if you adde the writings 
 of August, and other ancient fathers for defence of the same. 
 
 As to that which is necessary to bee knowen touching the 
 true Catholique Church (a matter of great importaunce euen 
 at this day) what can bee more copiously or with more 
 
Martins late Libell. 53 
 
 perspicuity declared, then is by that learned father Augustine, 
 as well in other places, as principally in his bookes against 
 the Donatists ? 
 
 Likewise, for the matter of the Sacrament of the Lordes 
 Supper, (if simple trueth coulde content men) what is more 
 euident, then that doctrine, which hath bene layd down by the 
 ancient fathers, Justine, Irenceus, Tertullian, Cyprian,- Augus- 
 tine, Theodorete, and a number of other ? For proofe whereof, 
 I referre you to B. lewell, in his worthy booke, wherein he 
 answereth Har dings reply against his 27 questions, proposed 
 at Paules Crosse, &c. I remeber, touching this matter of the 
 Sacrament, Oecolampadius, a man of great reading and godli- 
 nes, saith of S. August. " Is primus mihi vellicauit aurem." 
 He did first put me in minde of the true vnderstanding of this 
 Sacrament. 
 
 These foure principal Articles I haue laid downe for ex- 
 ample, that the Christian Reader may the more easily perceiue 
 what comfort it is to any Church, to haue the grounds of their 
 faith and religion so established vpon the holy Scriptures, that 
 for the interpretation of the same, they haue the testimonie 
 and consent of the Primitiue Church, and the ancient learned 
 Fathers. From which Consent they should not depart, either 
 in doctrine, or other matter of weight, vnlesse it so fal out in 
 them, that we be forced thereto, either by the plaine wordes 
 of the Scriptures, or by euident and necessary conclusions 
 following vpon the same, or the Analogic of our faith. 
 Which thing if we shal perceiue, we ought, and safely may, 
 take that liberty that themselues, and especially Augustine 
 hath vsed, and requireth other to vse. " Nee Catho- _ . 
 licis Episcopis, &c." " We must not consent (saith Eccie.oap. 
 Augustine,) so much as to Catholique Bishops, if they 
 be deceiued, and be of opinion contrary to the Canonical! Scrip- 
 tures." Againe, " I am not tied with the authoritie contraCres- 
 of this Epistle. For I haue not the writings of con. lib. 2. 
 Cyprian in like estimation, as I haue the Canonicall 
 
54 Answeres to 
 
 Scriptures, but I measure them by the rule of the holy Scrip- 
 tures. If I finde any thing in his writings agreeing to the 
 Scriptures, I receiue it with commendation and reuerence.: 
 if otherwise, with his good leaue, I refuse it." The like you 
 haue, Epist. 48. 111. ^ 112. In Prommio U. 3. de Trinitate, 
 and many other places. Otherwise, to reiect the testimonie 
 of the ancient Fathers rashly, is a token of too much con- 
 fidence in our owne wits. It was noted as a great fault in 
 Nestorius, and a chiefe cause of his heresie, that contemning 
 the Fathers, hee rested too much vpon his own iudgement. 
 The like confidence drew many learned men, and of great 
 gifl;s, to be Patrons of sundry foule and shamefull errours. 
 How came it to passe, that after that notable Councell of Nice, 
 so many detestable heresies arose against the Deitie and the 
 Humanitie of Christ, against the vniting of both natures, and 
 the distinction of the properties of them ? &c. but only out of 
 this roote, that they contemned the graue sentences, inter- 
 pretations, and determinations of those famous Confessors and 
 great learned Fathers, as were in the same assembled, and 
 had too much liking in their owne wits and learning. But 
 " woe be unto them" (saith Esay) " that are ouerwise in their 
 owne conceite." Vigilius in his first booke against Eutyches 
 saith thus. " These cloudes of fond and vaine accusations 
 are powred out by them chiefly, which are diseased either with 
 the sickenesse of ignorance, and of a contentious appetite : 
 and while they being puffed vp with confidence of a proud 
 stomacke, for this only cause they reiect the rules of faith, 
 laid downe by the ancient fathers, that they may thrust into 
 the Church their owne wauering deuises, which they haue 
 ouerthwartly conceiued." This sentence, I would our vn- 
 charitable accusers and troublers of the Church would well 
 weigh and consider with themselues. Therfore (good reader) 
 I protest for my selfe, and for the residue of this church, that 
 we dare not in consciece, nor thinke it tollerable, with con- 
 tempt to reiect the testimonies of antiquity in establishing any 
 
Martins late Lihell, 55 
 
 matter of weight in the Church. We leaue that to our hasty 
 diuines, that in three yeeres study thinke themselues able 
 to controll al men, and to haue more learning then all the 
 Bishops in England : And for this cause will they giue no 
 credit to ancient writers against their new found equality. For 
 with them, it is a foule fault once in a sermon to name an 
 ancient father, or to alledge any testimony out of his works. 
 
 Nowe (good Christian Reader) seeing by the good blessing 
 of God, we haue all parts of Christian fayth and Religion 
 professed and taught in this Church, and the same grounded 
 vpon the canonicall Scriptures, with the consent and exposition 
 of the Primitiue Church and ancient Fathers : What a vaunting 
 pride is it ? (as Cyprian speaketh) what an vnthankefulnesse 
 to God ? what [an] vncharitable affection toward the Church 
 of their naturall Countrey, that they cannot abide any good 
 to be spoken of it ? pretending nothing but the priuate faultes 
 and vices of some men, or the disagreeing from them in some 
 orders and partes of Gouernement, which they will neuer be 
 able to proue by the word of GOD to bee of necessitie. In 
 other reformed Churches, whome they so greatly extoUe, and 
 would make pateme to vs, haue they not imperfections? 
 Haue they not foule faults, and great vices among all sorts of 
 men, as well Ministers as others? Surely, their worthiest 
 writers and grauest Preachers doe note, that they haue. And 
 if they woulde denie it, the world doth see it, and many good 
 men among them doe bewaile it. I will not stay in the other 
 blessings of God, wherewith hee hath adorned this Church. 
 I shall haue occasion to speake somewhat more of it hereafter, 
 and God send vs grace, that we may with true thankefulnesse 
 acknowledge it. But this I may not omitte without great 
 note of vnthankefulnesse towarde our mercifuU God, which hath 
 not only preserued, maintained and defended the State, but 
 also appoynted this Church to be as a Sanctuarie or place of 
 refuge for the Saints of God, afflicted and persecuted in other 
 Countries for the profession of the Gospell : for whome I am 
 
56 Answer es to 
 
 perswaded wee doe fare the better at Gods hand. And I 
 doubt not but in that respect, al reformed Churches in other 
 places, feeling the blessing of God by vs, thinke reuerently 
 of our State, and pray to God for vs, as all good men with 
 vs ought to doe for them, that the true linke of Christian 
 charitie may soundly knitte vs together in one bodie of right 
 faith and Religion. If some fewe persons thinke amisse of 
 our Church, I impute the cause therof onely to the malicious 
 and vntrue reports made by some of our owne Countreymen 
 vnto them. Which persons, if they did vnderstand the true 
 State of this our Realme, would thinke farre otherwise, as 
 diuers of the most graue and learned writers haue already 
 euidently declared. This also is not the least blessing of 
 God, as well in the time of K. Edward, as in the reigne 
 of our gracious Souereigne, that this Church hath had as 
 ample ornamets of learned men, {Rumpantur vt Ilia Momo,) 
 as the most reformed Churches in Europe, and farre more 
 plentifidly then some place, whose state they seeke to frame 
 vs vnto. Only I except thoSe exceUet men, who God had 
 prepared in the begining to be the restorers of his Trueth, 
 and doctrine of the Gospel in those parts : Namely we haue 
 had B. Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Couerdale, Hooper, and 
 diuers other, which were no Bishops, as M. Bradford, 
 M. Sanders, M. Rogers, M. Philpot, D. Haddon, &c. Most 
 of which, as they haue left good proofe of their learning itv 
 writing : so did they confirme the same with their blood in 
 the ende. The like I may iustly say of them whome God 
 hath sent to restore his Trueth since the beginning of her 
 Maiesties reigne, (howsoeuer it pleaseth the Broode of the 
 Martinists to deface them) as Bishoppe Coxe, Pilkington, 
 Grindall, Sands, Home, lewel, &c. which haue good testi- 
 monie of their learning giuen them by as graue, learned, and 
 zealous men, as any haue lined in this age, among whome 
 for certaine yeeres they liued. A nomber of other haue pro- 
 ceeded out of both our Vniuersities, which though Martin 
 
Martins late Lihell. 57 
 
 Momus wil say the contrary, deserue singular commedation 
 for their learning, and haue declared the same to the worlde in 
 answering and confuting the opprobrious writings of the com- 
 mon Aduersaries. In which their answeres (without enuie and 
 displeasure be it spoken) there appeareth as sufficient learning 
 as doeth in the most workes at this time published by the writers 
 of forreine Countreies. If Englishmen at this time so greatly 
 dispraysed, were giuen with like paines to set forth the exer- 
 cises of their studie and learning, as in other places they doe : 
 they woulde drawe as good commendation of learning to 
 their Countrey, as most other Churches doe. To which 
 nomber of ours, I adde also some of the, whom certaine 
 occasions haue caried away to the misliking of the present 
 state of this Church : which I knowe haue receiued of God 
 singular good giftes, which I pray earnestly they may vse to 
 to his glory, and the procuring the vnity and peace of the 
 Church, which our Hastie Diuines of M. M. his brood, seeke 
 to breake and disturbe. This testimonie, I thought my selfe 
 bounde in conscience to yeelde to that Church of my naturall 
 Countrey, in which, and by which, through the mercy of our 
 gracious God, I am that I am. The godly, I trust, will 
 interprete all to the- best: the residue I looke not to please. 
 
 The B. of Winchester is further charged in this maner, 
 " He said that men might find fault, if they were disposed to 
 quarrel, aswel with the Scriptures, as with the booke of 
 common prayer. Who could heare this comparison without 
 trembling?" Let the Libellers, whatsoeuer they are, re- 
 meber, " Os quod metitur, occidit animam." At that time, 
 in S, Mary Queries church, in a large discourse, he did 
 answere the obiections that many make at this day, against 
 the booke of common praier, and toward the end vttered these 
 words, " If it could be without blasphemy, they might picke 
 as many and as great quarrels against the holy scriptures 
 theselues. For euen the best writings are subiect to the 
 
 D 3 
 
58 Answered to 
 
 slanderous malice of wicked me." This assertion was found 
 fault withall, by a lesuite or Massing priest at that time in 
 the Marshalsey, and therfore the B. the next Sunday follow- 
 ing, expounded his meaning, and at large shewed, that that 
 might be done, which beforetime was done by a great num- 
 ber : and that he was not so far beside himself, as to compare 
 the booke of common prayer with the holy scriptures in 
 dignity, trueth, or maiestie : He leaueth such blasphemous 
 dealing to the Papists, the Family of Loue, and some other 
 Sectaries : but he compared them in this (as it is before said) 
 that the Scriptures themselues were subiect also to slaunderous 
 and deprauing tongues, and yet not therfore to be reiected, 
 whereof he recited sundry examples. Celsus that heathenish 
 Lib. 1. con- Epicure, (against whom Origen writeth) in his book 
 traceisum. called Verax, doth powre out many railing and 
 slaunderous reproches, not only against the holy Scriptures, 
 but also against the course of Christian Religion : as that they 
 receiued their religio and doctrine of the barbarous lewes, 
 that is, out of the bookes of Moses and the Prophets. The 
 Euseb. lib. like did Porphyrins an other Philosopher, and in his 
 6. cap. 19. bookes reprooued the Scriptures in many places : 
 for hee wrote thirtie bookes against Christian religion. That 
 Socr. lib. 1. scoffing sophister Lihanius, and his scholler lulian 
 cap. 9. tjjg Apostata, vsed the like blasphemies aggainst the 
 Christian fayth, and the Scriptures, out of which it was 
 prooued, as appeareth in sundrie auncient Writers. Who 
 knoweth not, that some Heretikes reiected the most part of 
 the olde Testament, as false and fabulous ? The Valentiniane 
 In Prffi- Heretike, sayeth Tertullian, " Quaedam legis et Pro- 
 ecript. Ter- phetarum improbat, quaedam probat, id est, Omnia 
 
 tuU. EUSe- . , - , , ,. rr^ 
 
 bius.Euseb. improbat, dum quaedam reprobat." The Marcionists 
 ^il'.-E^ilZ- '■^''""s "'i^ly *e Gospell of Matthewe, the other 
 
 nius. Theo- they reiect. And likewise they admitte but two 
 
 Epistles of Saint Paul, that is, to Timothie and Titus 
 
 and (as Hierome sayeth) to Philemon, Tatian also depraueth 
 
Martins late Lihell. 59 
 
 the Scriptures, reiecteth the Actes of the Apostles, and picketh 
 sundry other quarrels against them. There was neuer any 
 Heretike, but that to giue countenance to his opinion, he would 
 seeme to ground it vpon the Scriptures. And what is that 
 but wickedly to father lies vpon the Scriptures ? And for this 
 cause you know the Papists think it no sure ground to rest 
 vpon the scriptures onely, affirming blasphemously, that " the 
 Scriptures are darke, vnperfect, and doubtfull, because they 
 may be wrested euery way, like a nose of waxe, or like a 
 leaden Rule." Wherefore, Christian charitie and modestie 
 woulde not thus maliciously and slaunderously wrest and 
 wring the words of the Bishop, tending to a good and godly 
 meaning. 
 
 Of like trueth it is, that he burtheneth the Bishop of Win- 
 chester, to affirme " that it was heresie to say, The preaching 
 of the worde was the onely ordinarie way to saluation," which 
 he neuer thought, or spake, either the, or at any other time of 
 his life. But in handling of that controuersie, Penrie spake 
 things so strangely and obscurely, that he seemed to attribute 
 that effect to the preaching of the word only, and not other- 
 wise vsed by reading : And being vrged with that question, 
 by occasion of reading the Scriptures in Churches, his answere 
 was such, as he euidently shewed himselfe to meane, that that 
 effect of saluatio could not be wrought by hearing the word 
 of God read, with some other wordes, giuing suspition of 
 worse matter. And then in deede the B. rose not out of his 
 place, (as these honest men doe carpe) nor spake in such 
 cholerike maner, as they pretend : but quietly said. My Lord, 
 this is not farre from Heresie. What were the words that 
 Penry vsed, and especially moued the B. to speake, he doeth 
 not at this time remember : but sure he is, they were as farre 
 fro that, which is laide downe in the Libel, as falshood can 
 be from truth. I wonder that me which professe God, yea, 
 or that beleeue there is a God, can with open mouth so 
 boldely powre foorth such heapes of vntrueths. " Detractor 
 
60 Answeres to 
 
 abominabilis est Deo." The counsell of the Prophet is good. 
 Psai.34. "He that would gladly see good daies, let him 
 refraine his tongue from euill, and his lippes that they speake 
 Epist.iib.7. no guile." " The mouth of a malicious man" (saith 
 Epist. 44. Ambrose) " is a deepe or bottomles pit. The inno- 
 cent that is too easie of credit, doth quickly fall, but he riseth 
 againe. But the backebiting railer is by his owne craft cast 
 downe headlong to confusion, in such sort, as he shall neuer 
 Super.cont. recouer him selfe againe." And Bernard, " Let not 
 Sem. 24. jj,y so\x\e be in company of backbiting tongues, 
 because God doth hate them, when the Apostle sayth. Back- 
 biters are odious to God. Euerie one that backbiteth, sheweth 
 himselfe voyd of charitie. Moreouer, what other thing seeketh 
 he by deprauing, but that he whome hee backbiteth, may 
 come in hatred and contempt with the among whom he is 
 depraued ? Wherfore the backbiter woundeth charity, in all 
 that heare him, and somuch as in him lyeth, doth vtterly 
 destroy him whome hee striketh with his tongue." 
 
 As for the reproch of " want of learning," hee will not striue 
 much with them. The Bishoppe hath not vsed (God bee 
 thanked) to vaunt himselfe of great learning. Neyther doth 
 he disdaine to be accounted vnlearned of these men, which 
 many yeares since contemned Bishoppe lewell as a man of no 
 deepe learning, and euen of late daies could saye that Erasmus 
 was no Diuine. His praier is, that the small measure of 
 knowledge, which it pleased God to giue him in the con- 
 tinuance of fiftie yeeres studie, may be employed to the glorie 
 of God, and the benefite of his Countrey. It is knowen fiue 
 and fourtie yeres since, that he was Master of Art, and Stu- 
 dent of Diuinitie, and disputed in that facultie : since which 
 time, hee was neuer drawen from that exercise of good learn- 
 ing. This is his greatest comfort, that since he was a yong 
 man in Magdalen Colledge in Oxford, hee hath bene brought 
 vp in the loue of the Gospell, and was reasonablie able to 
 confirme his conscience, and to represse the aduersary, not 
 
Martins late Libell. 61 
 
 only by the holy scriptures, but also by the writings of the 
 anciet Fathers, and the best authors of this age since the 
 renewing of the Gospell, as he hath many honest and learned 
 men witnesses yet aliue. M. Trauers, whome they preferre 
 before him, he knoweth not what he is. Hee neuer saw him 
 to his remembraunce, but once, and that was at my Lord of 
 Canterburies, in the presence of some honourable persons : 
 at which time the man shewed no great learning. Doctor 
 Sparke is so well knowen to the Bishoppe of Winchester, and 
 the Bishoppe to him, that hee cannot bee perswaded that 
 Doctor SparJce will affirme, that he did put the bishop at that 
 time or anie other (as they terme it) to a non plus. But 
 whatsoeuer hee will doe, if the one or the other, or they both, 
 doe make anie bragge of a victorie then gotten (as I haue 
 before sayde) surelie they doe greatlie forget themselues, and 
 declare that Ladie Philautie did blear their eies, and made 
 that they could not see the right rules of modestie : especially 
 considering, what the witnesses were, and what report they 
 haue made thereof to the best of this Lande, which hath not 
 bene made vnknowen to the world. It is true that Gregorie 
 sayth, " Superbia lumen intelligentise abscondit." Lib.epist. 
 Pride daseleth the eies of a mans vnderstanding. '• -^p'^'- ^• 
 And again, Superhi ^c. Proud men when they thinke them 
 selues despised, fall by and by to railing. Cyprian, that 
 reuerend and learned father, sayth notably. " An Moral 8. 
 high and swelling heart, arrogant and proud bragging ^^^'^- ^^■ 
 is not of Christ that teacheth humilitie, but springeth of the 
 spirit of Antichrist." I pray GOD these men may remember 
 these lessons. 
 
 As touching the Gouernement of the Church of England, 
 now defended by the bishops, this I say. When God restored 
 the doctrine of the Gospell more sincerely and more aboun- 
 dantly then euer before, vnder that good young Prince, King 
 Edward 6. at which time not the gouernours onelie of this 
 
62 Answer es to generall 
 
 Realme vnder him, but a nomber of other Noblemen and 
 Gentlemen, were wel knowen to be zealous in the fauor of 
 the trueth : by consent of all the States of this Land, this 
 maner of gouernment that now is vsed, was by law confirmed 
 as good and godly. The bishops and other of the clergy that 
 gaue their aduise and consent to the same, were learned and 
 zealous. Bishop Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and many other, 
 which after sealed their doctrine with their blood, all learned, 
 graue and wise in comparison of these yong Sectaries which 
 greatly please themselues. M. Couerdal and M. Hooper, 
 neuer thought to be superstitious or inclining to Antichristian 
 corruption, were contented to vse the office, authoritie, and 
 iurisdiction of bishops, the one at Exeter, the other at Glo- 
 cester, Peter Martir, Bucer, and lohn de Alaseo, graue 
 men, and of great knowledge and godlinesse, did liue in that 
 state vnder the Archbishops and bishops that then were, and 
 wrote to them most reuerendly, not refusing to giue them 
 those Titles, that nowe bee accompted Antichristian. The 
 like they did to other of late time. Reade the Preface of 
 Peter Martir, set before his Dialogues against Vbiquity, and 
 see what honourable testimonie hee giueth to bishop Jewel, 
 and what titles he aifoordeth him. To condemne all these as 
 Reprobate and Pety Antichrists, were great rashnesse, and 
 such impudencie as ought not in any Christian Church or 
 common weale to bee borne without punishment. When God 
 had marueilously preserued for vs our gratious soueraigne 
 Queene Elizabeth, and set her in her Fathers seat, being 
 brought vp from her tender yeres, in the instruction of Gods 
 trueth, shee tooke aduise of her most honourable Counsell, 
 Nobles, and learned of the Realme, and especially such as 
 were most forward in religion, and with consent of all the 
 States of this Realme, by law receiued, confirmed and esta- 
 blished the manner of Gouernment, and other orders of the 
 Church now obserued. The learned men that yeelded their 
 advise and consent to the same, were those reuerend and godly 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 63 
 
 persons, that came lately out of banishment, from the schoole 
 of affliction, and could not so soon forget their Lord God, and 
 the zeale of his trueth, namely, Master Cox, Grindall, Sandes, 
 Home, Pilkinton, lewell, Parhhurst, and a number of other, 
 who were after chosen to be bishops, and executed those 
 offices, without grudging or repining of any, vntill about the 
 tenth yeere of her Maiesties raigne, the curious deuises 
 beganne to bee more common. Since which time, by the 
 countenauncing of some, they haue greatly increased in strange 
 assertions, and now be come almost to the highest. The 
 reproches therfore that are giuen to this state by these 
 Libellers, touch not onely the bishoppes, but the Prince, the 
 councell, and the honorable, worshipfull, wise, and learned 
 of the Realme. 
 
 As for this question of Church-gouernement, I meane not 
 at this time to stand much on it. For let them say what they 
 lust, for any thing that hath bene written hitherto touching it, 
 it is sufficiently answered. Onely this I desire, " That they 
 will lay downe out of the worde of God some iust proofes, and 
 a direct commaundement, that there should bee in all ages and 
 states of the Church of Christ, one onely forme of outwarde 
 gouernement." Secondly, " that they will note and name 
 some certaine particular Churches, either in the Apostles time, 
 or afterward, wherein the whole Gouernement of the Church 
 was practised, onely by Doctours, Pastours, Elders, and 
 Deacons, and none other, and that in an equalitie, without 
 superioritie in one aboue an other." If this be done soundlie 
 and truelie, without any wresting or double vnderstanding of 
 the places of Scripture : I protest they will shake that 
 opinion that nowe I haue of this present gouernement of the 
 Church of Englande, Yet vnder correction (I will not say, 
 that I know) but I am surelie perswaded, that they will neuer 
 be able to doe it. 
 
 Moreouer, " I would wish them vnfaignedly to declare 
 whether all the Churches at this day reformed in Europe, 
 
64 Answer es to generall 
 
 where the light of the Gospell was first restored, and specially 
 of Saxonie and High Almaine, haue this gouernement, which 
 by these men is nowe required, and none other." If they haue, 
 it is a good preiudice for their cause : if they haue not, it is 
 hard, that the example of two or three Churches shoulde ouer- 
 rule all the residue, in which the light of the Gospell beganne 
 before them. And it may bee well sayde, " Did the Gospell 
 beginne first with you ?" Wee may not pull downe one Rome 
 and set vp an other. Surely as graue learned men as most 
 that haue written in this time, euidently affirme the contrary, 
 and doe make good proofe of this proposition. " That one 
 forme of Church-gouernement is not necessarie in all times 
 and places of the Church, and that their Senate or Segniorie is 
 not conuenient vnder a Christian Magistrate." 
 
 In Denmarhe they haue Bishops both in Name, and Office, 
 as it appeareth in certaine Epistles of Hemingius written to 
 some of them. In which he sayth : They are greatly troubled 
 with continuall visitation of their Churches. In Saxony they 
 haue Archbishoppes and Bishops in Office, but not in Name, 
 For proofe heereof, I alleadge the testimonies of that learned 
 man ZancJdus in the Annotations vpon certaine parts of his 
 Pag. 2?2. confession. " In the Church of the Protestants" 
 (saith he) " indeede they haue* Bishops and Archbishops, 
 which chaunging the good Greeke names into ill Latine names, 
 they call Superintendents, and generall Superintendents. &c." 
 
 The same ZancMus, in the same his confession, hath these 
 Pag. 170. words, " By the same reason, those thinges that were 
 ordained in the Church touching Archbishops, yea, and the 
 foure patriarches before the Counsell of Nice, may be excused 
 and defended." These wordes and some other were misliked 
 by one famous learned man, who wrote to ZancMus of the 
 same. But Zanchius was so farre from altering his iudgement 
 that in the foresayde Annotations, hee writeth a large defence 
 of it out o{ Bucer, in Epist. ad Ephes. which is also founde in 
 a little Treatise, which the same Bucer hath written De vi et 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 65 
 
 vsu Ministerij. And Zanchius in the same place shewed the 
 reason why hee is so grounded in that opinion. " I beleeue" 
 (sayth hee) " that those thinges which were concluded and 
 determined by the Godly Fathers assembled in the name of 
 the Lord, with common consent and without contradiction to 
 the Scriptures, proceede from the holie spirite of GOD : and 
 therefore I dare not in conscience improoue them. And what 
 is more certaine by the Histories, Councels and writinges of 
 the Fathers, then that those orders of the Ministers, of which 
 wee haue spoken, haue bene receiued and allowed by the com- 
 mon consent of Christendome 1 And I pray, who am I, that I 
 should reprooue those thinges, which the whole church hath 
 allowed ? Neither durst all they that bee of our time" (he 
 meaneth the learned men of Germany) " reprooue the same." 
 
 In the foresayde place of his yfnnotations, when he hath 
 spoken of the gouernement of the churches of Saxonie, he 
 addeth touching other places, " Euen there where Pag. 273. 
 they haue neither the good Greeke names, nor the euill Latine 
 termes : yet haue they certaine chiefe men, in whose hands 
 well neere is all authoritie. Seeing then we agree in the 
 things, why should we haue controuersie about the names and 
 titles V 
 
 This man vndoubtedly knewe the gouernement of all the 
 Churches in Germany. For hee had bene a reader and 
 Teacher in diuers of them. He had bin in Geneua : he 
 taught at Argentine eleuen yeres : After at Clauenna foure 
 yeres : Again after that, at Heidelberge ten yeeres : And 
 lastly, by Cassimire appointed at his town at Newstade, where 
 yet he liueth an olde man, if God of late hath not taken him 
 out of this world. 
 
 Those places of high Almaine, wherein most zealous 
 preachers and learned men haue remained, and with whome in 
 doctrine wee most nighlie agree, haue not one maner viae Guai- 
 of gouernement, nor formes of Discipline. In Tygure '""^ '" '• 
 it is well knowen, they haue no Senate of Elders, 5. &c. 
 
66 Answeres to generall 
 
 nor thinke it tollerable vnder a Christian Magistrate : nor the 
 Discipline by Excommunication, which they more mislike. 
 I thinke it be not much differing at Berne (one of the greatest 
 Churches) as I gather by Aretius in sundry places. At 
 Geneua, and some other places, especially such as haue had 
 their beginning from thence, they haue a gouernment not much 
 vnlike that platforme, which is desired to be with vs, and is 
 nowe in Scotland. I might say the like for some ceremonies 
 and outward orders. In Saxony and at Basile they kneele at 
 the Lords Supper. At Tygure they sit, and it is brought 
 to them : In other places they go and receiue it, for the 
 more expedition, as they passe. 
 
 The like libertie and diuersitie vse they in some other ex- 
 ternall thinges, which I am not willing for some causes to lay 
 downe in writing. All those Churches, in which the Gospell 
 in these daies, after great darkenesse, was first renewed, and 
 the learned men whome God sent to instruct them, I doubt 
 not but haue beene directed by the spirite of God to retaine 
 this liberty, that in external gouernment, and other outward 
 orders, they might choose such as they thought in wisedome 
 and godlinesse to bee most conuenient for the state of their 
 Countrey, and disposition of the people. Why then should 
 this libertie that other Countries have vsed, vnder anie colour 
 bee wrested from vs ? I thinke it therefore great presumption 
 and boldnesse, that some of our nation, and those (whatsoeuer 
 they thinke of themselues) not of the greatest wisedome and 
 skill, shoulde take vpon them to controUe the whole Realme, 
 and to binde both Prince and people, in necessity of con- 
 science, to alter the present state, and to tie themselues to a 
 certaine platforme deuised by some of our neighbours, which 
 in the iudgement of many wise and godly persons is most 
 vnfit for the state of a Kingdome, or to be exercised vnder 
 a Christian Prince that defendeth the Gospell, as in part, 
 experience already hath taught in some. I pray God they 
 looke not further, and haue not a deeper reach, then 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 67 
 
 good subiectes that loue their Prince and countrey, should 
 haue. 
 
 Lastly, I would wish them (leauing the long discourses 
 whereunto Doctor Bridges was drawen by some of their 
 strange and intricate assertions) they woulde briefly without 
 corruption lay downe his arguments and allegations, touching 
 the supreme authoritie of the Prince, and the superioritie of 
 bishops, and modestly, and soundly answere the same, not 
 reiecting the testimonie of the anciet Writers and Historio- 
 graphers, especially such as were within 400, yeeres after 
 Christ, so farre as they may bee Testes temporum. For if they 
 shall otherwise deale, and seeke to shift off the matter with 
 reproches, scofFes, and slaunders : they wil discredit their 
 cause, and make good men thinke, that the spirit with which 
 they are carried, is not the mjlde spirit of Christ, but the 
 spirit of him that is condemned for the father of lying, mur- 
 dering and slandering from the beginning. 
 
 The reason that mooueth vs not to like of this platforme of 
 gouernment, is, that when wee on the one part consider the 
 thinges that are required to be redressed, and on the other, the 
 state of our countrey, people, and commonweale : we see 
 euidently, that to plant those things in this Church, wil drawe 
 with it, so many, and so great alterations of the State of 
 gouernment, and of the lawes, as the attempting thereof 
 might bring- rather the ouerthrowe of the Gospel among vs, 
 then the end that is desired. The particulars hereof in some 
 fewe things, in steade of many doe here follow, and hath 
 bene opened to you before, if reasonable warning would haue 
 serued. 
 
 First, the whole state of the lawes of this Realme will be 
 altered. For the Canon law must be vtterly taken away, with 
 all offices to the same belonging : which to supply with other 
 lawes and functios, without many inconueniences, wil be very 
 hard. The vse and studie of the Ciuill law wil be vtterly 
 ouerthrowen : For the Ciuilians in this Realme line not by 
 
68 Answeres to generall 
 
 the vse of the Ciuill law, but by the offices of the Canon law, 
 and such things as are within the compasse thereof. And if 
 you take those offices and functions away, and those matters 
 wherewith they deale in the Canon Lawe : you must needes 
 take away the hope of rewarde, and by that meanes, their 
 whole Studie. And matters of Tithes, Testaments, and Matri- 
 monie, iudgements also of Adulterie, Slaunder, &c. are in these 
 mens iudgements meere temporall, and therefore to bee dealt 
 in by the temporall Magistrate onely : Which, as yet haue 
 eyther none at all, or very fewe lawes touching those things. 
 Therefore the Temporall and Common lawe of this Realme, 
 must by that occasion receiue also a very great alteration. 
 For it will be no small matter to apply these things to the 
 Temporall lawe, and to appoynt Courts, Officers, and maner 
 of processe and proceedings in iudgement for the same. 
 
 Beside this, the ludiciall law of the lewes, especially for 
 such offences as are against the law of God, must bee brought 
 into this Common weale. For to this opinion doe they 
 playnely incline. For they say already flatly, that no Magis- 
 trate can saue the life of a blasphemer, stubborne Idolater, 
 murderer. Adulterer, Incestuous person, and such like, which 
 God by his ludiciall lawe hath commaunded to be put to 
 death. The same assertion must haue like authoritie for the 
 contrarie, that is, that a Magistrate ought not to punish 
 by death those offences that God by his ludiciall law hath 
 not appointed to be punished by death, and so may not 
 our lawes punish theft by death, nor diuers other felonies : 
 and so some of them haue openly preached. The lawes also 
 maintaining the " Queenes supremacy in goueming of the 
 Church, and her prerogatiue in matters Ecclesiasticall," as 
 well Elections as others, must be also abrogated. Those 
 lawes likewise must bee taken away, whereby Impropriations 
 and Patronages stand as mens lawful possession and heritage. 
 In these Impropriations and Patronages, as I doe confesse, 
 there is lamentable abuse, and wish the same by some good 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 69 
 
 Statute to bee remedied : so how the thing it selfe can with- 
 out great difRcultie and danger be taken away, being so 
 generall as it is in the state of this Realme, I leaue to the 
 iudgement of the wise and godly. 
 
 The lawes of Englande to this day, haue stoode by the 
 authoritie of the three Estates : which to alter now, by leauing 
 out the one, may happily seeme a matter of more weight, 
 then all men doe iudge it. If there were no more then this 
 one thing, which hitherto I haue spoken of, that is, the alter- 
 ation of the state of all the lawes of this Realme : I thinke 
 there is no wise man but seeth what daunger may followe in 
 these perillous times, not onely by fulfilling the thing, but 
 also by offering to doe it. 
 
 It hath beene alwayes dangerous, to picke quarrels against 
 lawes setled. And I pray God, that the very rumour hereof, 
 spread by these mens bookes, haue not already bred more 
 inconuenience, then without hurt will be suppressed : I may 
 not put all that I thinke, in writing. 
 
 The fourme of finding of Ministers by Tithes, must with 
 the Canon lawe be abolished. For it was . not vsed in the 
 gouernment of the Apostles time, nor a great many of yeeres 
 after, and therefore may seeme Papisticall and Antichristian. 
 There must bee some other order for this deuised. Which, 
 with howe great alteration it must bee done, and how hard it 
 wil be to bring to good effect, I thinke there is no man but 
 he seeth : For the linings of bishops and Cathedrall Churches, 
 (whereat they carpe) though they were all that way bestowed, 
 will not serue the third part. 
 
 If this gouernment, whereof they speake, be (as they say) 
 necessary in al places : then must they haue of necessity in 
 euery particular parish one Pastor, a copany of Seniors, and a 
 Deacon or two at the least, and all those to be found of the 
 parish, because they must leaue these occupations, to attend 
 vpon the matters of the church. But there are a niiber of 
 parishes in England not able to find one toUerable minister, 
 
70 Answeres to generall 
 
 much lesse to find such a company. The remedy hereof 
 must bee, to vnite diuers parishes in one, wherof this in- 
 conuenience wil folow, that people in the countrey must come 
 to Church, three, foure, or fiue miles off: whereas now they 
 that dwel in the same towne, can scarcely be forced by any 
 penalties of Law orderly to come vnto the church, to seruice 
 or sermons, so that they will growe to a barbarisme in many 
 
 places. 
 
 Whereas it is required, that the people shoulde choose their 
 Pastours, Elders, and Deacons : it is greatly to be feared, that 
 it wil be matter of schisme, discord and dissension in many 
 places : or that one or two busie heads shall leade the residue 
 to what purpose they will, to the great disquieting both of the 
 Church and of the common weale. Examples heereof did 
 commonly appeare in the olde Churches, while that manner 
 of Election did continue, as the Ecclesiasticall histories in 
 many places doe declare. And that inconuenience caused 
 Princes and bishops so much to intermeddle in that matter. 
 The common people through affection and want of right 
 iudgement, are more easily wrought by ambitious persons 
 to giue their consent to vnworthy men, as may appeare in all 
 those offices of gaine or dignity, that at this day remaine in 
 the choice of the multitude, yea, though they be learned. 
 
 Men doe knowe by experience, that Parishes, vpon some 
 priuate respect, do send their Letters of earnest commenda- 
 tions for very vnfitte and vnable persons : whereby it may 
 bee gathered, what they would do, if the whole choise were 
 in their handes, especially, being so backwardly affected 
 toward the Trueth of Religion, as a great part of men are. 
 They will aunswere (perhaps) that they shall bee ouerseene 
 by the Pastours neere about them in a particular Synode, and 
 forced both to bee quiet, and also to make more fitte elections. 
 But who seeth not what matter of trouble this will bee, when 
 vpoi) the occasion almost of euery Election, they must haue a 
 particular Synode ? And if the Parish will not be ruled (as 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 71 
 
 surely many will not) then must they be excommunicated, 
 and appeale made vnto the Prince and Magistrate. • And 
 that which passeth nowe with quietnesse, and with a little 
 amendment may be well vsed, shall be continuall occasion of 
 broile and trouble, whereto this nation is more inclined vpon 
 light causes, then any other. 
 
 Moreouer, that which is most of all pretended for this man- 
 ner of common Election, that they may knowe their Minister, 
 and thereby haue the better liking of him, cannot possibly bee 
 brought to passe, vnlesse they will imagine, that euery parish 
 shall haue within it selfe a Schoole or Colledge, where those 
 shall bee brought vp, that shall bee preferred to the Ministerie 
 among them. But howe possible that is to bring to passe 
 among vs let any man iudge. If their Ministers shall come 
 vnto them from the Vniuersities or other schooles, they shall 
 haue as little acquaintaunce with them, as nowe they haue, 
 and farre greater occasion of partiall suites, then nowe there 
 is. So that inconueniences by this meanes shall bee increased 
 and not remedied. 
 
 That euery parish in England may haue a learned and 
 discreete minister, howsoeuer they dreame of perfection, no 
 man is able in these dayes to deuise, how to bring it to 
 passe, and specially when by this change of the clergie, the 
 great rewards of learning shall be taken away, and men 
 thereby discouraged to bring vp their children in the studie of 
 good Letters. Furthermore, who seeth not howe smal con- 
 tinuance there shall be in the Vniuersities, to make men of 
 any profound knowledge, when the very necessity of places, 
 shall drawe men away before they come to any ripenesse ? 
 the effect whereof, is partly perceiued at this day already, and 
 much more would be, if their deuise should take place. 
 
 Touching the inconuenience of Discipline by excommu- 
 nication onely, which they so much cry for, how it will bee 
 of most men contemned, and of how small force it wil be 
 to bring to effect any good amendment of life, some learned 
 
72 Answeres to generall 
 
 men of this age in their workes set foorth to the worlde, haue 
 at large declared. I let passe, that experience, teacheth, 
 that men of stubburnnesse will not shunne the company of 
 them that bee excommunicated, and then must they bee ex- 
 communicated for keeping of company with them, and so will 
 it fall out, that more will be excommunicated, then in Com- 
 munion : whereof what deformities and inconueniences will 
 arise, S. Augustine doeth teach vs. The loosenesse of these 
 dayes requireth Discipline of sharper Lawes by punishment 
 of body and danger of goods : which they doe, and will more 
 feare, then they will excommunication. And, God bee 
 thanked, (if men would be contented with any moderation) 
 we haue a very good manner of discipline by the ecclesi- 
 astical commission, which hath done, and doth daily much 
 good, and would do more, if it were more common, and men 
 would take more pains in it. But this is that which they be 
 most grieued with, because they are not doers in it them- 
 selues. 
 
 The deciding of matters in controuersie by the Pastours and 
 Elders of the Church, beside that it will interrupt the 
 course of the lawes of the realme, it will be great occasion of 
 partial and affectionate dealing, and thereby of further strife 
 and discord, and a matter of schismes and diuisions, as is to 
 bee perceiued aboundantly in the ecclesiasticall writers. For 
 some will incline to the one part, and the residue shall bee 
 wrought to fauour the other : which hath bene the principal 
 roote of all schismes in the Church, yea, and thereby of 
 many heresies. Wee must not onely looke in these corrupt 
 times, howe vprightly men should deale, but consider by pre- 
 sent experience of sundrie persons and places, howe affection- 
 ately they do deale in some like matters, and thereby gather 
 what they will doe, when they haue greater authoritie. This 
 order was good, where the church was in persecution vnder 
 tyrants : but where the assistance may bee had of a Christian 
 Prince or Magistrate, it is neither necessarie, nor so conue- 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 73 
 
 nient, as it may be otherwise. Surely common election of 
 Ministers, and this deciding of matters in controuersie by a 
 multitude, will breede greater strife and contention, then 
 without daunger will bee appeased. 
 
 Furthermore, their whole drift, as it may seeme, is to bring 
 the Gouernment of the Church to a Democraeie or ^ris- 
 toeracie. The principles and reasons whereof, if they bee 
 made once by experience familiar in the mindes of the com- 
 mon people, and that they haue the sense and feeling of them : 
 It is greatly to bee feared, that they will very easily transferre 
 the same to the Gouernement of the common weale. For 
 by the same reasons, they shall be induced to thinke that they 
 haue iniurie, if they haue not as much to do in ciuill matters, 
 as they haue in matters of the Church, seeing they also touch 
 their commoditie and benefite temporally, as the other doeth 
 spiritually. And what hereof may followe, I leaue to the 
 iudgement of other. The way hereof is alreadie troden foorth 
 vnto them by some that haue written and spoken in that 
 matter : Which speeches I woulde bee loath to touch par- 
 ticularly, because I thinke diuers of them not to haue any 
 meaning to indure that sequell. But men must consider, not 
 onely what they meane presently themselues, but what other 
 may gather vpon them hereafter. Cyprian, Hillarie, and 
 other ancient writers, did not meane so ill in some things that 
 they left written, as some Heretikes following did father vpon 
 them, vsing their sayings, as the groundes of their false and 
 erronious doctrines. The preachers of the Gospell in Ger- 
 manie, at the beginning, were farre from the meaning to 
 mooue the people to rebell against their Gouernours : but 
 some part of doctrine vndiscreetely vttered by diuers of them, 
 speaking against some abuses, gaue a great occasion thereof to 
 the griefe of all good men, in such sort, as they were not able 
 by any perswasion to quiet them, vntill it had cost a hundred 
 thousand of them their lines. The loosenesse and boldnesse 
 of this time in many, may iusdy cause some feare that the like 
 
 E 
 
74 Answeres to generall 
 
 will happen hereafter among vs. A nomber of other like 
 inconueniences I might lay downe in this place, and diuers of 
 them of as great weight as these. By these fewe, some taste 
 may be taken of the residue. But I will nowe returns in a 
 word or two to the Martinist againe. 
 
 Now because M. M. is so notable a paynter of Bishops 
 visages, and can purtrey them al with faces of seasoned 
 wainscot : it were good for him in some table to behold his 
 owne ougly shape, that he and his children may learne to be 
 ashamed of themselues. I sawe his figure drawen and set 
 forth in a table when I was a yong man : the paynter was one 
 very nigh of his kinne : His name was Lucian. The figure 
 was this, An ancient man of some authoritie sate vpon the 
 iudgement seate ; he was like My das that couetous King : for 
 hee had long eares like an Asse, and had sitting on eche side 
 of him a woman : the name of the one was Ignorance, the 
 other was called lelous Suspition, which two made him very 
 rash in credite. Then commeth in M. Martin M. otherwise 
 called Callumniator, a false accuser, trimmed handsomely for 
 his better credite, and not a wrinckle awry in his garment : 
 but seemed somewhat to halte and not to goe vpright : his eyes 
 and gesture fierce and fierie : In his left hand, he caried a 
 flaming firebrand to note his furie. With his right hand, he 
 drewe by the haire of the head a young man, his name was 
 Innocencie, who lifted vp his haindes to heauen, protesting 
 before God that he was giltlesse in the cause. There folowed 
 two or three, much like to schollers : their names were Dolus, 
 Fraus, Insidiee. These clapped their Master on the backe 
 to encourage him. And because Master Martin will be a 
 gentleman, he had a treader before him, an olde fellowe : his 
 eyes were fierce, his face thinne and withered, his whole coun- 
 tenance much like to one pined away with a melancholy and 
 fretting furie. His name was Liuor, that is, canhred malice, 
 or enuie : A little behinde followed dolefuU Dame repentance 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 75 
 
 in mourning apparell, and looking backe with shame and 
 teares, goeth to meete Lady Trueth, comming somewhat after. 
 In the toppe of the table this sentence was written, " Who so 
 euer slaundereth honest men, shall come to iust punishmet." 
 In the lower part is this, " Nothing can be safe from the backe- 
 biting tongue." Rounde about was this written, " Beware 
 thou neyther slaunder nor giue eare vnto the Backebiter. 
 Flee slaundering both with thine eares, and with thy tongue. 
 Hee that giueth fayre countenance and light eare, encourageth 
 a Backebiter." It Martin that delighteth so much in himselfe, 
 woulde discreetely beholde this Table, I trust hee woulde 
 diminish some part of his foUie. But for that it liketh Martin, 
 not onely to be a false accuser, but also a rash and credulous 
 ludge with his long 'Asses eares receiuing euery vntrueth 
 that is tolde him, he may beholde himselfe in all the partes of 
 the Table. The best aduise that I can giue you, is out 
 of Chrysostome. " Let discretion and truth sit as Hom. Az. 
 ludges ouer your owne soule and conscience. Bring Matth. 
 foorth before them, all thine offences. Lay downe what pun- 
 ishment is due for euery of them. Say continually this vnto 
 thy selfe, Howe durst thou do this ? How durst thou do 
 that ? &c. If thy conscience will refuse this, and prye vpon 
 other mens faults, say vnto her. Thou sittest not here as ludge 
 of other, but to answere for thy selfe. What matter is it to 
 thee, if this or that man offend : looke to thine own steps, 
 blame thine owne doing, and not others." To the descriptio 
 of a Detractor or Backebiter, are these properties. First, he 
 is malicious, and studieth to hurt others, and sometimes pur- 
 posely doeth hurt himselfe, the sooner to hurt other. Secondly, 
 his soule and life is lying. Thirdly, he is an hypocrite and a 
 Dissembler, and pretendeth a zeale of iustice and pietie, to 
 colour his malice. Lastly, he is a serpent byting secretly, and 
 fleeth knowledge. These properties learne by the com.- 
 plaintes ot Dauid in sundry of his Psalmes. " Deliuer me O 
 Lord, from the naughtie, and from the wicked man, which 
 
 E 2 
 
76 Answeres to generall 
 
 deuiseth euill in his heart. They haue sharpened their 
 tongues like Serpents : the poyson of Aspes is vnder their 
 lippes. The mouth of a backbiter is full of cursed speaking : 
 vnder his tongue is sorowe and griefe. He lyeth in waite in 
 secrete places to destroy the innocent. He lyeth lurking as a 
 Lyon in his denne, to rauish the poore. He falleth downe and 
 humbleth himselfe, that the poore may fall into his nette." 
 Reade the tenth Psalme, and diuers other. The residue of 
 their malicious and more then ruffianly railings together with 
 Histrionicall mockes and scofFes, too immodest for any Vice 
 in a Play, are not meete for any honest man to meddle with : 
 and therefore are returned ouer to the Libellers themselues, 
 as vnfallible tokens of that spirite, with which they are ledde 
 to these outragious dealings. But it is "nowe time to answere 
 those quarrels that are made generally against all Bishops. 
 
 Ohiection, 
 
 But let vs see what is layde downe against the Bishops 
 and chiefe of the Clergie. First is, that " they are 
 
 The objec- " i , i-, ,■ /• 
 
 tion of the exceeding couetous, and set to sale the libertie oi 
 ne^sfand ^^e Gospel, and the vse and Discipline of the Church, 
 Simonie of like Simoniakes and Prelates of the Church of Anti- 
 '^ °^ ' Christ : yea, that in Simonie and sale of the Gospell, 
 they are nothing behinde the Bishop of Rome." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 Surely, this is a grieuous and an horrible accusation in the 
 eares of any christian Magistrate : and if it be found true, 
 the offendours not worthie to Hue in this Common wealth : 
 Or if it be false and slaunderous, the Accuser not meete to 
 escape vnpunished. The example of the slaundering the Min- 
 isters of the Church, is a matter more dangerous, then in these 
 dales it is esteemed. But as touching the thing it selfe, I am 
 of opinion, that no man of meane learning, or any experience, 
 hauing regarde of his credite, would vndertake to iustifie such 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 77 
 
 an accusation in the hearing of any honest ma. For, this I 
 dare say, and vpon hazard of that is most deere vnto mee in 
 this world wil proue, that where the state of this our Church 
 of England doth leaue to an euill disposed B. one occasion of 
 the practise of Simony, and couetous oppressio of the people, 
 that the B. of Rome had fourtie. For a taste hereof, I referre 
 the meaner learned to the common places of Muscul. 
 
 ■*■ Muse. 
 
 cap. " Quare comugmm mmistris ademptum." The deminist. 
 better learned, I know, are better able of theselves, ™''" '''*' 
 to make further declaration out of their own lawes, decrees, 
 and registers, commonly read of all them that are desirous to 
 know the trueth, and not by ignorance, to exaggerate infamie, 
 by false and vniust reportes. Yea, the very histories of tliis 
 Realme can witnesse, that by Simony and couetous oppression, 
 the bishops of Rome haue had yeerely out of this Realme 
 more money, then at that time the reuenew of the Kings 
 crowne did extend vnto, or at this day (as I thinke) al the 
 bishopriclcs in England be worth. For Mat. Paris, writeth, 
 that in the time of king Henry the 3. the Pope had Matth. 
 yerely out of this Lande 60000. markes : vnto which if ^*™' 
 you doe adde his like dealing in Germanie and other countreyes, 
 you shall perceiue the value to bee inestimable. And surely 
 I am of that hope, and in my conscience I thinke it to bee 
 Most true, that all the Bishops of this lande, by Simoniacall 
 practise and couetous oppression, do not gaine the hundred 
 part thereof. And if it do rise to that value, it is a great 
 deale too much : yea, if it be one penie, it is wicked, and by 
 no good man ought to bee defended, and much lesse by them 
 to be practised. I hope well of all, although I wil not take 
 vpon mee to excuse all : But for some, I assuredly knowe, 
 and in my conscience dare depose, that since they were made 
 bishops, they haue not wittingly gained that way, one twentie 
 shillings. Therefore in equalling the bishops of England in 
 the practise of Simonie with the Pope of Rome, there must 
 needs bee great oddes in the comparison, and the whole 
 
78 Answeres to generall 
 
 speech may well be called Hyperbole, that is, an vncharitable 
 amplification, surmounting all likelihood of honest and Chris- 
 tian trueth. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " But somewhat to giue countenance to an euill slaunder, it 
 will be sayde, that the Bishop of Rome practized Simonie by 
 al meanes that he had, and our bishops, by as many as they 
 haue." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 Oh, a worthy reason. Is this to iustifie so shameful a 
 slauder of the church of God, vnder a christian Princes 
 gouernment ? Is that Christian Preacher and Bishop, (if any 
 such be) that vseth Simoniacall practise in two or three points 
 of smal importance, and little value in grieuousnesse of offence 
 before God and the worlde, to be equalled to the head of 
 Antichrist, and the principal enemy of the Gospel, practizing 
 the same in a thousand of great weight and vnestimable value ? 
 I can not but wish more charitable hearts to them that will 
 take vpon them the zeale and profession of the Gospell. Let 
 sinne be blamed, eue in them that fauour the word, and chiefly 
 the Clergie : but yet so, as trueth will beare, and modestie 
 with Christian charitie doeth require, lest in much amplifying 
 of small offences, you become instruments, not only to dis- 
 credit the parties blamed, but also to ouerthrow the doctrine 
 that they teach. There ought to be great difference betweene 
 Christian Preachers and writers inueighing against Anti- 
 christ and his members enemies of the Gospell, and zealous 
 professors, blaming and reprouing the faults of their owne 
 Bishop and Clergie in the estate of a church by authority 
 setled. The one part is kindled with an earnest zeale and 
 detestation of the obstinate patrones of errour and Idolatrie 
 the other should bee mooued onely with a charitable sorrowe 
 and griefe, to see Preachers of the trueth, not to declare in 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 79 
 
 life that, which they vtter to other in doctrine. They that 
 by humane frailtie oiFend in blemish of life only, are not 
 with like bitternesse to bee hated, harried, rated and defaced, 
 as they that with obstinate and vnrepentant hearts, offend 
 both in life and doctrine, and to the face of the worlde shewe 
 themselues aduersaries of the truth. Christ after one ma- 
 ner blameth the Scribes and pharises, and after another he 
 reproueth the ignorance, the dulnesse, the ambition and car- 
 nall affection of his owne Disciples that followed him. But I 
 pray you, let vs consider the particular proofe of this generall 
 accusation, and odious comparison. Surely they are so trifling, 
 that I am ashamed to stay vpon them, and yet I must needes 
 speake a word or two of them. The Church of England 
 retayneth a good and necessarie order, that before the cele- 
 bration of marriage, the Banes should be asked three seue- 
 rall Sabboth dayes. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " This order" (saith the aduersarie and accuser) The first 
 " is by Dispensation abused, and by our Bishops vetomnesse 
 solde for money." Dispensing 
 
 •^ with Banes. 
 
 Answere. 
 
 The order I thinke very good and meete to bee obserued 
 in a Christian Church, and not without good cause to be 
 altered : and yet doth it not beare any necessitie in Religion 
 and holinesse, whereby mens consciences should be wrung or 
 wrested. But I wil demaund of the accuser, whether there 
 be not some cases, wherein, the circumstances being con- 
 sidered, this matter may bee dispensed withall among Chris- 
 tians ? And if there be (as no reasonable man can deny) then 
 I aske further, whether there be any lawe in this Church of 
 England, 'whereby, with the authoritie of the Prince, it is 
 granted, that a Bishop may in such conuenient cases dispense 
 with this order ? And if there be such lawe of the Church 
 
80 Answeres to generall 
 
 and of the Realrae : I marueile, how it can be counted 
 Simonie, or couetous selling of the libertie of the Gospell, to 
 dispense with it. 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 " Yea, but if the order bee good, why is it not kept vnuio- 
 lably ? if it be euill, why is it solde for money ?" 
 
 Answere, 
 
 The order is good, no man can deny it, or without good 
 cause alter it : but there is no external order so necessary, 
 but that authoritie may in some considerations lawfully dis- 
 pence therewith. It was a good order and commandement 
 of God, that none but the Priests should eat of the shew- 
 1 Sam. 22. bread, and yet in a case of necessitie, Ahimelech the 
 hie Priest, did dispense with Dauid and his copany in eating 
 the same bread. The external obseruation of tho Sabboth 
 day was a good order, and a commaundement streightly giuen 
 Macoab. by God : and yet we read that the lewes in ne- 
 cessity did breake it, and fought on the Sabboth day. And 
 Marke. 2. Christ himselfe defended his Disciples, that on that 
 Math. 12. Jay did bruise Come and eat it. Therefore by law- 
 full authoritie, such orders may bee dispensed with, and not 
 deserue iust reproofe, much lesse the crime of Couetousnesse 
 and Simonie. 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 " Yea, but the dispensations are solde for money : for some 
 haue for writing, and other for sealing, and my Lord for 
 granting &c," 
 
 Answere. 
 
 By as good reason may they accuse any ludgdj or chiefe 
 officer in this Land, of extortion and bribery : because his 
 Clearkes and vnder officers take money for the writing and 
 
quarreh made against the Bishops. 81 
 
 dispatch of Processes, Writs, and other like matters, whereof 
 happily some small portion comraeth to the ludge or chiefe 
 officer himselfe, and the same also warranted, and made good 
 by the lawes of this Realme. If either Ecclesiasticall Min- 
 isters or other officers and Magistrates, shall by extortion 
 wrest more, then by order is due : there lieth lawfuU remedie 
 and sharpe punishment for the same. And in all societies 
 and common weales that euer haue bene, aswell among Chris- 
 tians as other, it hath beene counted lawful!, that the Min- 
 isters to higher officers, aswell Ecclesiasticall as other, should 
 haue lawful! portions and fees allowed them for such thinges 
 wherein they trauell. Therefore, howe this may be imputed 
 to Bishoppes as Simonie, and sale of Christian libertie, I see 
 not. 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 " They will say. Dispensations for Banes, for greedinesse 
 of money, are graunted more commonly then they shoulde 
 be." 
 
 Answere, 
 
 If that be true, I praise it not, I defend it not, I excuse it 
 not : and I thinke the fault more in inferiour Officers, then in 
 bishops themselues. But in whome soeuer the fault be, that 
 canot be so great and hainous, that bishoppes of England may 
 iustly be accounted " Antichristian Prelates, Petie Antichrists, 
 Subvice- Antichrists" &c. as some in the heate of their zeale, 
 doe tearme them. But God, I trust, in due time, will cdole 
 their heate with the spirite of mildenesse and gentlenesse. If 
 many bishops haue gained by this kind of Dispensation, I 
 maruaile. Surely I knowe some, that neuer receiued pennie, 
 in that consideration, but haue giuen strait charge to their 
 inferiour officers, neuer to dispense with that matter, but vpon 
 great and weighty cause : and such order is now generally 
 taken. But (good Christians) here is the griefe, that moueth 
 
 E 3 
 
82 Answeres to ffenerall 
 
 all this grudge : that euill persons, when, either to cloke their 
 whoredome, or to preuent another of his lawful! wife, or some 
 other like purpose, will marry without orderly asking in the 
 Church, they be for the same conuented and punished by the 
 magistrate. This they be grieued at, and count it great ex- 
 tremitie : for, because they see the lawfuU magistrate, vpon 
 good considerations somtime to dispense with this order, they 
 thinke it as conuenient for them without leaue, of their 
 owne heads to vse the same, to the satisfying of their vnlawfuU 
 lust, or other lewde affection. For such is now the state of 
 this time, that whatsoeuer an Officer, specially Ecclesiastical!, 
 may do by lawful authoritie, the priuate subiect thinketh he 
 may doe the same, at his owne will and pleasure. And if he be 
 brideled thereof, why then it is " Lordlinesse, Symonie, Coue- 
 tousnesse, and Cruel tie." And I pray God, the like bolde- 
 nesse growe not towarde other Officers and magistrates of 
 the Common weale also. Surely, we haue great cause to 
 feare it : for the reasons whereon they ground their doings, 
 may be applied as well to the one, as to the other. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 Another Argument of couetousnesse in bishops is farre 
 The second worse, as it is said, then the former : " that they 
 proofe of prohibite marriage at certaine times, most contrary 
 
 couetousnes ^ j jii-/i\ 
 
 forbidding to (jods worde : that is (say they) a Papisticall prac- 
 of Marriage, ^j^g^ j^, gjj jj^g deargies purse : yea, it is a doctrine 
 of Antichrist, and of the deuill him selfe, prohibiting Marriage 
 euen in Lay men, contrarie to S. Paules wordes, who sayth, 
 Heb. 13. Marriage is honorable in all persons." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 Surely, for my part I confesse, and before GOD and the 
 world protest, that in my conscience I thinke, that whosoeuer 
 forbiddeth marriage to any kinde of men, is tainted with the 
 corruption of Antichristian doctrine, and hath his conscience 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 83 
 
 seared with an hot iro, bearing the mark of the beast spokeQ 
 of in the Apocalypse : but I am clerely resolued that Apoc. 13. 
 the Bishoppes of England are free from anie touch of that 
 opinion, and doe account it no lesse then a token of Anti- 
 christ noted by Daniel, to prohibite lawful! Matriraonie. 
 Their doctrine openlie taught and preached, and the practise 
 of their life doth shewe it to be so, that no man vnlesse hee 
 bee blinded with malice, will impute that error vnto them. 
 Who seeth not, that by exercise of mariage in their owne 
 persons, they cast themselues into the displeasure and mis- 
 liking of a great nomber, in that onely they be maried, con- 
 trarie to the corruption of the Popish and Antichristian 
 Church ? Wherefore, I pray you (good Christian readers) 
 weigh and consider with your selues, what vnchristian and 
 heathenish dealing this is toward the ministers of God, of 
 purpose onely to deface them, and bring them in misliking by 
 sinister interpretations, to cast vpon them the filth and re- 
 proch of that corrupt doctrine of Antichrist, which most of 
 all other they doe impugne in their teaching, and withstand 
 in their dooing. Is there feare of God in those hearts that 
 can do this ? 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " Why ?" (they will say) " It is euident that Mariage is 
 prohibited by them at certaine times of the yeere, and thereby 
 occasion giuen to weake and fraile persons, to fall into whor- 
 dome and fornication, or to burne in their consciences with 
 great danger of their soules." 
 
 Answere, 
 
 Vndoubtedly this must needs be thought a captious and 
 rigorous interpretation, to say that a stay of mariage for cer- 
 taine dales and weeks, is an vnchristian forbidding of mariage, 
 and worthy so grieuous blame, as is cast vpon bishops for it. 
 For then it is a Popish disorder also, and Antichristian cor- 
 
84 Answeres to generall 
 
 ruption, to stay marriage for three weehes, vntill the Banes bee 
 asked : for in that space, light and euill disposed mindes, may 
 easily fall to offence. And yet this order both is, and ought 
 to bee accounted of them, a godly and necessary order in the 
 Church. 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 They will answere, " that it is Popish and superstitious, to 
 tye the order of Marriage vnto any time or season, more 
 then other. For the thing beeing good and lawfull by the 
 worde of God, why shoulde it bee (say they) assigned to 
 any time or place? There is no place more holy then 
 Paradise was, nor no time so good as was before Adam fell 
 by his disobedience, &c." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 I aunswere, if any man appoint Marriage to bee vsed at 
 this or that time and place, for conscience sake, or for holi- 
 nesse, as though the time or place coulde make the thing 
 either more or lesse holy, surely I must needs condemne him 
 as superstitious, and cannot thinke well of the doing, though 
 all the Bishoppes in England shoulde afRrme the contrary. 
 For to make holy, or vnholy, those things that God hath left 
 free, and bee of them selues indifferent, is one of the chiefe 
 groundes of all Papisticall corruption. But I suspect no 
 bishop in this Realme to be of that iudgement, and I dare 
 say there is not. A thing left by Gods lawe free and in- 
 different, may be accounted more conuenient, comely, and 
 decent, at one time and place, then at another : but more holy 
 it cannot bee. 
 
 All meats are free at all times by the law of God : " for 
 nothing is vnclean that is receiued with thanksgiuing : neither 
 doeth any thing that goeth into the mouth defile a man." And 
 yet because it is now a Positiue law in this common weale, 
 not for holinesse, but for orders sake : it is not so comely and 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 85 
 
 conuenient, for an Englishman to eate flesh on Fridayes and 
 Saturdayes, or in the Lent, as it is at other times. 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 Heere they will crie and say, that " both the one lawe, and 
 the other is superstitious and naught, and proceeded both 
 out of the Popes mint, and there were coyned, and had their 
 beginning, and therefore that the Bishops doe wickedly, and 
 like to popish prelates, that so retain in the Church and 
 common weale, the dregs of Antichristian corruption." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 This is the voice and opinion of them only, which think 
 not any thing toUerable to be vsed, that hath bin vsed in 
 the church before time, were it of it selfe neuer so good. 
 These will haue no Font, but Christen children in basons : 
 They wil weare no caps nor surplices : many of them wil 
 not vse the old pulpits, but haue new made : they will not 
 accept a collect or praier, be it neuer so agreeable to the 
 word of God. I maruaile, that they vse the Churches them 
 selues, the which, nothing hath bin more prophaned with 
 superstition and idolatrie. They should do that Optatus 
 Mileuitanus writeth, that the Donatists were wot to do, that 
 is, when they obteyned a Church, which before had beene 
 vsed by Catholikes, they woulde scrape the walles therof, 
 and breake the Communion tables and cups. But it may 
 appeare, that the learned father August, was not of that 
 opinion. For in his epistle written to Publicola, a question 
 was mooued vnto him, whether in destroying the idoles tem- 
 ples, or tlieir groues, a Christian might vse any part of the 
 wood, or water, or any other thing that did apperteine vnto 
 them : His aunswere was, that men might not take those 
 things to their priuate Vse, least they run into suspicion, to 
 haue destroyed such places for couetousnes : but that the 
 same things might be imploied in pios et necessarios vsus. 
 
86 Answeres to generall 
 
 But I recite not this to defend that law, whereby mariage 
 for a time is forbidden. For I thinke it not a matter of such 
 necessitie, neither is it so greatly pressed, as they pretend. 
 I thinke there is no law remaining, that is so little executed, 
 as that is. 
 
 The other law of forbearing flesh on Fridayes, in Lent, and 
 other dayes, for the state of our countrey I thinke very con- 
 uenient, and most necessarie to be vsed in Christian policie. 
 I woulde to God those men, that make so small accompt 
 of this lawe, had heard the reasons of the grauest, wisest, and 
 most expert men of this realme, not only for the maintenance 
 of this Law, but also for some addition to be made vnto it. 
 How God hath placed this land, there is no reasonable man 
 but seeth : The Sea are our walles, and if on these walles we 
 haue not some reasonable furniture of ships, we shal tempt 
 god, in leauing open our country to the enemy, and not vsing 
 those instrumets, which God hath appointed. There is no 
 state of men, that doth so much furnish this realme with 
 sufficient numbers of mariners for our nauie, as fishers do. 
 And howe shall fishers be maintained, if they haue not 
 sufficiet vtterance for those thinges, for which they trauell ? 
 And howe can they haue vtterance, if euery dainty mouthed 
 man, without infirmity and sicknesse, shall eat flesh at his 
 pleasure ? They cannot pretend religion, or restraint of 
 Christian libertie, seeing open protestation is made by the 
 lawe, that it is not for conscience sake, but for the defence 
 and safetie of the realme. Therefore this crying out against 
 this lawe, is not onely needlesse, but also vndiscreete and 
 factious. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 The crime But there bee other matters that more nighly 
 TnU^eT t<"ich the quicke, and if they be true, can receiue no 
 Ministers, face of defence. " They make lewd and vnlearned 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 87 
 
 Ministers for gaine : they mainteine pouling and pilling 
 courtes : they abuse the Churches discipline, &c." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 As touching the first, if they make lewde Ministers, it is 
 one great fault : if they do it wittingly, it is farre a more 
 heinous offence : if they do it for gaine, it is of all other most 
 wicked and horrible, and indeede should directly proue 
 deuilish simonie to be in the. That some lewd and vnlearned 
 ministers haue bene made, it is manifest : I will not seeme to 
 defend it : I woulde they had had more care heerein, that the 
 offence of the godly might haue beene lesse. And yet I 
 knowe, all their faults in this are not alike, and some haue 
 smallie offended heerein. And in them all, I see a certaine 
 care and determination, so much as in them lieth, to amend 
 the inconuenience that hath risen by it. Which thing, with 
 professours of the Gospell, shoulde cause their fault to bee 
 the more charitably borne, least they seeme not so much to 
 haue misliking of the offence, as of the persons them selues, 
 for some other purpose, then they will bee openly knowen of. 
 But if they shoulde doe, as they be (I trust) vniustly reported 
 of, that is, to make lewde and vnlearned Ministers for lucre and 
 gaine : truely, no punishment could be too grieuous for them. 
 Which way that should be gainefull to Bishops, I see not. 
 
 The Clarke or Register, I knowe, hath his fee allowed for 
 the writing of letters of Orders : but that euer Bishop did 
 take any thing in that respect, I neuer heard, neither thinke 
 I, that their greatest enemies be able to proue it vpon many of 
 them. Therfore this may goe with the residue of vncharitable 
 Glanders. Or if there hath bene any one such euil disposed 
 person that hath so vtterly forgot his duetie and calling, that 
 ey ther this way, or any such like, in making of Ministers hath 
 sought his owne gaine and commoditie : it is hard dealing, 
 with the reproch thereof to defame the innocent, together 
 with the guiltie, and to distaine the honestie of them that 
 
88 Answer es to generall 
 
 neuer deserued it. There is no Magistrate in this land so 
 sincere and vpright in his doings, but that by this meanes his 
 honestie and good name may be defaced. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " It will be sayd that all this is but a glose or colour, to 
 hide and tuTne from you those great crimes that you are 
 iustly charged withall. For the world seeth, and all men crie 
 out against you, that you, to the great hurt and hinderance of 
 the Church, vphold and maintaine an vnleamed ministerie, 
 and will not suffer any redresse or reformation to be made 
 therin. Hereby commeth it to passe,- that the people of God 
 be not taught their duetie, eyther to God, or to their Prince : 
 but, by their ignorance, are layde foorth as a pray to Sathan, 
 - For, by that occasion, they be ledde away to euiU with euery 
 light perswasion that is put into their heads, either against 
 God or their Prince, so that it may bee iustly thought that 
 all those mischiefes that of late haue fallen foorth, haue sprung 
 out of this onely roote, aswell in them that haue slid backe 
 and reuolted from religion, as in those that haue conceiued 
 and attempted the wicked murthering of our gratious Prince, 
 and bringing in of a stranger to sit in her royall seate.» You 
 are therefore the principall causes of all these mischiefes." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 This is surely a grieuous accusation : but God, I trust, will 
 iudge more vprightly, and regard the innocencie of our hearts, 
 in these horrible crimes laid to our charge. These accusers, 
 to satisfie their misliking affection towarde our state, not onely 
 suffer themselues to bee deceiued with false and captious 
 reasons, but dangerously also seeke to seduce other. Logi- 
 cians, among other deceitfull arguments note one principally, 
 " A non causa vt causa," that is, when men, either to praise, 
 or dispraise, doe attribute the effects of either part to some 
 things or persons, as causes therof, which indeed are not the 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 89 
 
 true causes. Which false reasoning hath done great harme 
 at al times, both in the Church of God, and in common 
 weales. After the ascensio of Christ, when God sent his 
 Apostles and other holy men to preach the Gospell of our 
 saluation in Christ, and the same was among men vnthank- 
 fully receiued ; God did cast sundry plagues and punish- 
 ments vpon them, as dearth and searcitie, famine and hunger, 
 the pestilence, and sundry other diseases, warre and tumult, 
 earthquakes and great deluges in sundry places. The causes of 
 al this, very sladerously and blasphemously they imputed to 
 Christian Religion, and therby raised those dreadful persecu- 
 tios, which at that time were exercised against the Christians. 
 
 This errour was the cause that Saint Augustine wrote his 
 notable worke De ciuitate Dei, and that Orosius, by the 
 counsell both of Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine, wrote his 
 historic : wherein he answereth this false argument, and 
 sheweth that God in all times, had sent the like plagues for 
 the sinnes and offences of mankinde, and for the reiecting of 
 his word and trueth. 
 
 In the fourtie foure Chapter of leremie. The lewes deceiue 
 themselues with the like argument, to confirme their con- 
 ceiued superstition and idolatrie. " But we will do" (say 
 they) " whatsoeuer thing cometh out of our owne mouth : as 
 to bume incense to the Queene of Heauen, and to powre 
 out drinke ofFrings vnto her as we haue done, both we and 
 our Fathers, our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of ludahj 
 and in the streetes of Hierusalem : for then had we plentie of 
 victuals, and were well, and felt no euill. But since wee left 
 off to bume incense to the Queene of Heauen, and to powre 
 out drinke offerings vnto her, we haue had scarcenesse of all 
 things, and haue bene consumed by the sword and by the 
 famine." In these words you see, to the hardening of their 
 owne hearts, they attribute the good gifts of God to their 
 idolatrie, and their dearth and trouble to the preaching of 
 leremie and other Prophets, which indeede were not the true 
 
90 Answeres to generall 
 
 causes therof. In like maner reason rebellious subiects in 
 common weales, when they seeke to make odious the Princes 
 and gouernors vnder whom they Hue, vniustly imputing to 
 them the causes of such things, wherwith they finde theselues 
 grieued. 
 
 Waisingham. So reasoned the rebels in the time of King Richard 
 the second, against the King, against the Counsell, and chiefe 
 Nobilitie of the Realme, against the Lawyers, and all other 
 States of learning, and therefore had resolution among them 
 to haue destroyed and ouerthrowen them all, and to haue 
 suffered none other to liue in this Realme with them, but the 
 Gray Friers onely. 
 
 Seeing therefore this maner of reasoning is so perillous, it 
 behooueth all them that feare God, and loue the trueth, and 
 will not willingly be caried into errour, to take diligent heed 
 that they be not abused herewith. And so I pray God they 
 may doe, which at this time so earnestly seeke to make odious 
 the state of the Clergie of England, imputing to them the 
 causes of those things, which they most detest and abhorre. 
 
 For if they will see the trueth, and iudge but indifferently, 
 they shall finde that there is no such vnlearned Ministerie, as 
 they complaine of : neither such want of preaching, as may 
 iustly prouoke the wrath of God, to send such plagues and 
 punishments vpon vs, as they recite. This I dare iustifie 
 that since Englande had first the name of a Christian Church, 
 there was neuer so much preaching of the word of God, 
 neuer so many in number, neuer so sufficient and able per- 
 sons to teach and set forth the same, as be at this day, how- 
 soeuer they be defamed and defaced. There be, I confesse, 
 many " vnlearned and vnsufBcient Ministers :" but yet I take 
 it to bee captious and odious, in respect of them to name the- 
 whole " Ministerie" vnlearned or ignorant. For the simplicitie 
 and charitie of Christian iudgement, doth giue the name of 
 any Societie, according to the better part, and not according 
 to the worse. 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 91 
 
 There were in the Church of Corinth, many euill persons, 
 aswell in corruption of doctrine, as wickednesse of life : and 
 yet Saint Paul noteth that Church to bee a reuerend and holy 
 congregation. The Church of Christ militant heere in earth, 
 hath alwayes a great number of euill mixed with them that 
 be good, and oftentimes the worse part the greater : yet were 
 it reprochfuU and slaunderous to call the Church wicked. In 
 like sort may it well bee thought vncharitable, to call the 
 ministerie of the Church of England ignorant, when that 
 (thankes be to God) there bee so many learned and sufficient 
 preachers in this land, as neuer were before in any age or 
 time, and the same adorned with Gods excellent good giftes, 
 and comparable to anie other Church refourmed in Europe. 
 If men would cast so curious and captious eyes vpon the 
 Ministers of other countries, and note the blemishes and im- 
 perfections in them, as they doe in our owne : I am perswaded 
 (vnder correction) they would not thinke so meanely of the 
 state of the Ministerie of England, as they doe. But this is 
 the generall disease of vs Englishmen, to haue in admiration 
 the persons and states of other foreine countreys, and loath 
 their owne, bee they neuer so commendable or good. I 
 speake not this, to note with reproch any refourmed Church 
 in forreine countries, or to diminish the commendations of 
 those excellent gifts, which it hath pleased God plentifully to 
 poure downe vpon them, as the first renuers and restorers of 
 the Gospel in this latter age, to whome, in that respect, we 
 owe great loue and reuerence : But yet they see and acknow- 
 ledge, that they haue imperfections, and cannot haue churches 
 in this world without blemishes. Notwithstanding it is not 
 free among them, no not for the best learned, or of greatest 
 authoritie, in publike speech or writing, to vtter those things 
 which may tend to the generall reproche of their Church or 
 common weale, as it is commonly vsed with vs at this day : 
 Or if they doe, they are sharpely dealt withall for the same. 
 For, as wise gouernours, they see, that such doings is the very 
 
92 Answeres to generall 
 
 seede of dissention, discorde, and faction, the verie pestilence 
 of all Churches, commonweales, and societies. Wherefore in 
 most Churches, they doe tollerate some imperfections setled 
 by order, at the beginning, least by change of lawes, there 
 should bee greater inconuenience. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 " Yea but all their Ministers are learned and able to teach." 
 Answere. 
 
 Of that I doubt : and in some places, by good testimony 
 I know it not to be true. That is easie to be had in a free 
 Citie, that hath no more congregations, but those that be 
 within the Citie, or within a fewe villages about, which is not 
 possible, in so great a kingdome as this is, replenished with 
 so many Villages almost in euery place, as scantly you haue 
 two miles without a Towne or Village inhabited. 
 
 And yet, that men doe not conceiue euill opinion of the 
 Bishops, for that which can not bee remedied : it behooueth 
 the wise and godly to consider, that the state of this Church is 
 such, as of necessitie there must be some of very meane 
 abilitie, in comparison of that perfect rule of a Minister that 
 S. Paul requireth. 
 
 It is well knowen, as it is before recited, that tliere be a 
 number of parishes in this Realme, the liuings whereof are so 
 small, that no man sufEciently learned, will content himselfe 
 with them. In some one meane shire there bee aboue foure 
 score Chappels to be serued, onely by Curates, with very 
 small stipends. To place able men in them, is vnpossible : 
 For neither sufficient number of learned men can be had, nor, 
 if there could, woulde they be contented- to be to such places 
 appointed. And to leaue those parishes and places vnserued 
 of common prayer, and administration of the Sacraments, 
 were an incouenience as great on the other part: For it 
 bringeth men to an heathenish forgetfulnes of God. To ease 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 93 
 
 this matter by combinations and ioyning of many parishes 
 together (as some deuise) besides other inconueniences, the 
 thing is not in the bishops authoritie, nor possible for him to 
 doe. Euery parish hath a sundry patrone, which wil neuer 
 bee brought to agree to that purpose, and to forgoe their 
 patrimonie and heritage. Now to attempt the matter, by 
 making a law for that purpose,, would bee occasion of so great 
 troubles and alterations, as would draw with them more incon- 
 ueniences, then would stand with the safe state of this common 
 weale, as the wiser sort doe see, and were easie for me to 
 declare, if it were pertinent to this matter here to lay them 
 downe in writing. The only remedie that necessitie beareth, 
 is, to tolerate some of the meaner sort of Ministers, hauing 
 carefuU consideration, so much as diligence can doe, that the 
 same may be of life and behauiour, honest, and godly, and 
 such at the least, as may bee able to instruct the parish in the 
 Catechisme. And surely, I hope, by the care of the bishops, 
 that they haue already vndertaken, this thing wil be, either 
 altogether, or in a good part brought to effect ere long time 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 But some will say, that " all this is but a cloake of colour- 
 able reason to hide an vnexcusable fault. For that no neces- 
 sity can excuse a man, to breake the law of God : and 
 Gods holy commandement is vttered by Saint Paula, i Tim. 3. 
 that among other properties, a Minister should be Aptus ad 
 docendum, that is, able to teach, and therefore no bishoppe 
 can be borne with, in making an vnlefarned Minister. For he 
 may not do euill that good may come thereof." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 For answere heereunto, it cannot be denied, but the rule 
 which Saint Paul giueth, is an exact rule, and such i lim, 3. 
 an absolute description of a Minister, as is according ^''- ^- 
 
94 Answeres io generall 
 
 to Christian perfection: and therefore that all Ministers 
 ought to bee correspondent to the same : And so much as 
 they want thereof, they lacke of their perfect state. Yea, 
 and ecclesiasticall gouernours shoulde carefully see, so much 
 as humane frailtie and the miserable state of this worlde wil 
 suffer, that all Ministers of the church of God be such. And 
 when they doe faile heerein, they offend, and goe from that 
 perfection that the worde of God requireth. But yet I doubt 
 not, but God of his great mercie in Christ our Sauiour will 
 gratiously consider, that he hath to doe with flesh and bloud, 
 and that euen his best children liue not here in an heauenly 
 state, but in a miserable and wretched worlde, and specially 
 when he seeth, that they offend not of negligence or malicious 
 wickednesse, but are carried with the necessitie of this 
 earthlie frailtie. For if God shoulde measure all thinges done 
 in his Church by the perfect rule of his word, who should be 
 able to stand before him ? We may not therefore, either 
 condemne other, or esteeme our selues condemned before God, 
 if through the frailtie of the worlde, we be not able to frame 
 all things in his Church to such perfectnesse, as his holy word 
 appoynteth. 
 
 As the description of a Minister, deliuered by Saint Paul 
 to Timothie and Titus is perfect, so doth it containe many 
 branches and properties to the number of (I thinke) twentie or 
 aboue : As, that he must be vnreproueable, the husband of one 
 wife, watching, temperat, modest, not froward, not angrie, one 
 that loueth goodnesse, righteous, holy, harberous, apt to teach, 
 holding fast the wholesome word according to doctrine, able 
 to exhort with wholsome doctrine, and conuince them that 
 say against it, not giuen to much wine, no striker, not giuen 
 to filthie lucre, gentle, no quarreller, not couetous, one that 
 can rule his owne house, keeping his wife and children in 
 honest obedience, not a yong scholler least he be puffed vp 
 with selfe liking, well reported of, graue, not double tongued, 
 holding the mysterie of the faith in a pure conscience. 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 95 
 
 If they wil admit no Ministers as lawful, but such as shall 
 haue fully all these properties : Surely they will cut from 
 Churches the greatest part, or all the Ministers that they haue. 
 Euen that one propertie which they so greatly call vpon, as 
 of all other most necessarie, that is, that hee shoulde be apt 
 to teach : that is, as Saint Paul expoundeth himselfe, to be 
 sufficiently able to teach them that be willing, and to con- 
 uince the aduersarie : If it be pressed to the extremitie and 
 rigour thereof, it comprehendeth so much, as it will exclude 
 a great many of Ministers and Preachers, which in their 
 measure doe good seruice in the Church of God, 
 
 The best writers that euer I did reade vpon that, say. That 
 to the performance of the same, a man must haue readie 
 knowledge in the Scriptures, the vnderstanding of the tongues, 
 the reading of the ancient Fathers, and histories of antiquitie. 
 If a great many of them woulde looke into their owne bosomes, 
 and measure themselues by this rule of sufficiencie : they 
 would not iudge so rigorously of other, nor be so rash to 
 condemne them. 
 
 We see in the Scriptures, that God sometime Exod. 29. 
 beareth with breach of his comandemet, falling by the ne- 
 cessitie of our fraile life. God gaue in charge, as before is 
 sayde, that none shoulde eate of the Shew-bread, but the 
 Priests : And yet in necessitie Dauid did eate of it, i Reg. 21. 
 though he were no Priest. 
 
 The Machabies fought on the Sabboth day contrary to this 
 commandement, " Thou shalt keepe holy the Sabboth day :" 
 and yet it is not read, that God was therfore displeased with 
 them, or tooke punishment of them, though the Scrip- Num. is. 
 ture mention, that one without necessitie gathering stickes on 
 the Sabboth day, was stoned to death. 
 
 Christ himselfe may seeme to giue the reason for their 
 defence, when he saith, " The Sabboth was ordeined Mar. 3. 
 for man, and not man for the Sabboth." 
 
 Yea, in a morall comandement of God touching mariage. 
 
96 Answeres to generall 
 
 we see God to vse a maner of dispensation, in respect of 
 the frailtie of mans nature. The Scripture saith precisely, 
 " Quos Deus coniunxit homo ne separet :" and yet in the lawe, 
 Deut. 24. wee finde this dispensation or qualifying thereof. 
 " When a man hath taken a wife, and maried her, if she 
 finde no fauour in his eyes, &c. then let him make a bill of 
 diuorcement, and put it in her hand, and send her out of 
 his house." 
 
 Of this merciful bearing of God with the breach of his 
 coram aundement, Christ sheweth the reason, Math. 19. saying 
 in this wise. " For the hardnesse of your hearts God suffered 
 you to put away your wiues, but from the beginning it was 
 not so." 
 
 Heere wee learne that our gratious and mercifull God, for 
 the shunning and auoiding of a greater mischiefe among stub- 
 borne people, suffered his seruaunt Moses to giue foorth a 
 more fauourable interpretation of his iust and perfect Lawe, 
 and to suffer diuorcements in such cases, as the right and 
 rigor of his iustice in it selfe, had forbidden. 
 
 This haue I written, not of purpose to incourage men to 
 breake and alter the Lawes and ordinances of God, but rather 
 to comfort those consciences, which in this case may bee 
 troubled, and to put away that opinion, wherewith some are 
 led to thinke that that Congregation is not worthie the name 
 of a Christian Church, not meete wherein a good Christian 
 man shoulde abide as Minister, where all things are not re- 
 formed, to the perfect rule of Gods holy word. 
 
 Surely the auncient Fathers of the primitiue Church do not 
 seeme fo be of that iudgement. For they did all find fault 
 with many enormities in their time, as well in outward cere- 
 monies, as corruption of life, yea, and in some point of doc- 
 trine also : and yet it is not read that they did therefore 
 separate theraselues from the Churches, or thinke that they 
 coulde not as faythfull Ministers serue in them. 
 
 Saint Jugustine sheweth of himselfe, and of Saint Cyprian 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 97 
 
 very notably, as in many places, so chiefely against the 
 Donatists who were infected with that errour : but Aug. de 
 most plainely of all other places, De Baptismo contra ba^Donatistl 
 Donatistas, Lib, 4. Cap. 9. Where at large he dis- iii>.4.cap.9. 
 puteth this question : which place is worthie diligent reading 
 and consideration. 
 
 Cyprian had blamed the Bishops and Ministers Cypr.deiap. 
 in his time, of Covetousnesse, Extortion, and Vsurie. And yet 
 sayth Saint Augustine, " Cyprian writeth vnto Antonianus, 
 that before the last separation of the wicked and the Godly, 
 no man ought to separate himselfe from the vnitie of the 
 Church, because of the mixture of euill persons. What 
 a swelling pride is it" (saith hee) " what a forgetting of 
 humilitie and mildenesse, what a vanting arrogancie, that he 
 can thinke himselfe able to do that which Christ woulde not 
 permit to his Apostles, that is, to separate the weedes from 
 the Come ? &e." Yea, and S. Paul himselfe as before I 
 haue saide, , iudgeth the Church of Corinth, an honorable and 
 blessed Church of God, though there were in the same not 
 onely some blemishes and imperfections, but many great and 
 enormious faultes. Wherefore, to returne againe to my pur- 
 pose, though our Bishops through the necessitie of time, 
 neither at the beginning had, nor now can haue perfect good 
 Ministers in euery parish within their charge : I see no cause, 
 why they may not vse such as with their best diligence they 
 may haue, especially if they order the matter so, as the fault 
 be not in their owne negligence or corruption. 
 
 That you may the better conceiue, that an vn- The causes 
 learned Ministery for want of preaching of the Gos- '^J^^ Mi- 
 pel, is not the cause of the backesliding and reuolting nisterieisnot 
 
 „ • 1 -I p 1 1 • the occasion 
 
 of so many in these dayes, nor ot sundry other mcon- of backe sii- 
 ueniences imputed to the same : you shall easily '*™8 *"• 
 vnderstand, if you will call to your remembrance, that when 
 there were fewer preachers and lesse teaching by great oddes, 
 then of late yeres hath bene, the people did not reuolt as 
 
 F 
 
9S Answeres to generall 
 
 now they doe. There is therefore some other cause, if we 
 will with vpright mindes looke into it. There were fewer 
 preachers and lesse teaching in the dayes of that King of 
 blessed memorie Edward the sixt, and yet did not the people 
 then reuolt, as nowe, although the reformation of the Church 
 was then but greenely settled. They had the same imper- 
 fection and want of Ministers, which we haue now, and that 
 in greater measure : in so much as they were faine to helpe 
 out the want with reading of Homilies, as you know. Which 
 deuise, although it be greatly misliked and inueighed against 
 in these dayes, as " intollerable :" yet did that reuerend and 
 learned father M. Bucer highly commend the same, and 
 shewed his good liking thereof, willing moe Homilies to bee 
 prepared for that purpose. And what were they that were 
 then Preachers, and in the state of gouernment of the Church ? 
 Surely such persons as did diligently obserue those orders in 
 outwarde thinges, which the Bishops nowe, for feare of 
 further inconuenience, desire and studie to maintaine. In 
 the first ten yeres of her Maiesties most gratious reigne, there 
 was little or no backsliding from the Gospel, in comparison of 
 that now is : yet was there not then so much preaching, by the 
 halfe, nor so many Preachers in the Church of England by 
 1000. as now there^are. And since that time (I speake of 
 good experience, and better knowledge then gladly I would) 
 that in diners places where there hath bene often preaching, 
 and that by learned and graue men, there haue bene many 
 that haue reuolted, and litle good effect declared among the 
 residue. You wil aske me then, what I thinke to be the 
 true cause thereof ? Surely, the causes are many : but I will 
 note vnto you onely two or three, that bee of greatest weight. 
 The first First, to haue the fruites of the Gospell setled in the 
 the Gospel Consciences of men, and declared in their lines : It 
 noT^"'*!! '^ "°* sufficient to haue often and much preaching, 
 heere. but also to haue diligent and reuerent hearing. 
 Though the Preachers be neuer so learned and discreete, if it 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, QQ 
 
 be not heard as the worde of God, it is to no purpose. But 
 in these dayes, as in all other, men be easily induced to dis- 
 burthen themselues, and lay the whole fault vpon the Minis- 
 ters and Preachers. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " Oh, say they, if wee had good and zealous Bishoppes, 
 and godly Preachers, such as the Apostles were : vndoubtedly, 
 this doctrine of the Gospell woulde haue had better successe, 
 and would more haue preuailed in mens hearts. For they 
 are not zealous, nor seeme to bee mooued with the spirite of 
 God : therefore it cannot be, that they should moue other.'' 
 
 Answere. 
 
 Though this reason seeme somewhat plausible to some 
 kinde of men, and to be of great force to excuse the common 
 people : yet I aduertise all them, that haue any sparke of the 
 feare of God in their hearts, that they take heede of it, and 
 beware, that, to their own great dager, they be not caried 
 away with it. For it hath bene seldome or neuer heard or 
 read, that the people of God among whom true doctrine hath 
 bin preached (as the Lorde be thanked it hath bene with vs) 
 did euer vse such allegations for their owne excuse and 
 defence. It hath bene alwayes the pretence of the reprobate 
 and wicked, to colour their owne obstinacie, and contempt of 
 Gods word, when they were offered the light of the Gospell 
 and called to repentance. But that these kinde of men may 
 not flatter and deceiue themselues : I let them vnderstande, 
 that the Scriptures in no place teach them, that the offences 
 and faults of the Ministers, are alwayes the only cause, why 
 the word of God doth not take place in mens hearts. It is 
 more commonly, and almost alwaies imputed to the way- 
 wardnesse, vnthankfulnesse and obstinacie of the people that 
 heare it. Therefore it were goo^ for all sortes of men, of 
 what calling soeuer, to looke into their own bosomes, and 
 
 F 2 
 
1 00 Answeres to generall 
 
 carefully to consider, whether the fault thereof be not in them- 
 selues. For they know right well, that the master may bee 
 learned and diligent, and yet the scholer not thriue, by reason 
 of his own dulnesse. The Physition may bee honest and 
 skilfuU, and the obstinate Patient make light of his whole- 
 some counsaile. The seede may be good, and the seede 
 sower a painefull and skilfull husbandman, and yet the 
 fruite not to bee answerable to his trauel, because of the 
 naughtinesse and barrennesse of the ground. This our Sa- 
 uiour Christ teacheth vs in the parable of the Seede-sower. 
 Matth. 13. " The sower" (sayeth he) " went foorth to sowe 
 his seede, and some fell in the high way," that is to say, into 
 the hearts of them that were continually trampled with 
 wicked and vngodly cogitations, so that the seede could not 
 sinke into their hearts, but by those birds of the deuill, was 
 carryed away without fruite. " Some fell into stonie ground," 
 that is, into such hearts as wanted the good iuice and moysture 
 of Gods holy spirite : and therefore when the heate of perse- 
 cution ariseth, or some great temptation assaulteth the, their 
 zeale is withered, and they reuolt from the trueth. " Some 
 fell into bushie ground," that is, into the mindes of them, that 
 were troubled with the cares of the worlde, with the loue of 
 riches, and with the pleasures of this life, which wholly 
 choked vp the good seede of the Gospell of Christ, so that 
 it could not in any wise prosper and bring foorth fruite. 
 Heere you may perceiue, that for one fourth part of good 
 grounde, that yeeldeth fruite of the doctrine of God, there are 
 three greater parts of euill ground, wherein it nothing at all 
 prospereth. But in these our dayes amongst vs, we haue a 
 fourth sort of me, which obstinately at al refuse to heare the 
 word of God, and do shut vp their eares, not only against 
 preaching, but against priuate exhortation also. If there 
 were lesse store of these euill grounds in this land at this 
 day, vndoubtedly wee shoulde see more successe of the Gos- 
 pell, and more ample fruite of our teaching then nowe we 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 101 
 
 doe. It were good for men to looke that these quarrellings 
 at other mens Hues, bee not one of the eoardes of vanitie that 
 Esay speaketh of. " Woe bee to them" (sayth God Eaay. 5. 
 by his holy Prophet) " that drawe on iniquitie with eoardes of 
 vanitie, and sinne, as it were with a Cart-rope," that is. Woe 
 bee to them, that imagine excuses and coulours, to nouzell 
 and mayntaine them selues in contempt of Gods worde, and 
 want of repentaunce. Let men take heede of such dealing, 
 that such Coardes of vanitie pull not on iniquitie so fast, that 
 it draw them to the vtter contempt of God and his trueth. 
 Example whereof is seene at this day, in too many, to the 
 griefe of all good mens hearts : For the schoole of Epicure 
 and the Atheists, is mightily increased in these dales. The 
 like effect Esai/ noteth to haue fallen out among the lewes, 
 at that time. For this hee maketh them to say in derision of 
 the preaching of the Prophets, " Let God make speede, and 
 hasten his worke, that wee may see it. Let the counsell of 
 the holy one of Israel drawe neere, and come, that we may 
 knowe it." And in like maner dealeth the wicked in leremie 
 Chapter 5. " They haue denyed the Lorde, and sayde, It is 
 not hee. Tush, the Sworde and the Plague shall not come 
 vpon vs, neither shall we see it. The threatnings of the 
 Prophets are but winde, and the true word of God is not in 
 them. They vtter their owne fantasies, and these things shall 
 come vnto themselues." Euen with like contempt and 
 derision, many at this day abuse the Preachers of Gods 
 worde. " When we lay before them the terrible threatnings 
 of Gods wrath and indignation, if they reuolt from the trueth 
 of the Gospell, or suffer the same to be betrayed into the 
 handes of the enemie, saying, that God will forsake them : 
 that he will take his defence from them : that he will set his 
 face against them : that he will bring strangers vpon them 
 to destroy their countrey and possesse their great lands and 
 goodly buildings :" Oh, say they. These Preachers make 
 great outcries : they put strange expectations into the peoples 
 
102 Answer es to generaU 
 
 heads : they are vndiscreete : they medle with matters, which 
 do not appertaine vnto them : if matters go amisse, the 
 greatest fault is in themselues. But I haue sufficiently spoken 
 of this maner of intertaining of Ministers alreadie, and shall 
 speake of the same hereafter. 
 
 The second ^^^ second, and in deede a chiefe cause of back- 
 cause of sliding and reuolting, is the schisme, faction and dis- 
 °^' sention, which for the space of these fifteene or six- 
 teene yeeres, hath exceedingly growen, betweene the Ministers 
 and Preachers of England. For the like hath in all ages 
 bene a cause to many, of falling, both from the trueth of God, 
 and to wickednesse of life. Basile speaking hereof, saith, 
 " Ob hsec rident increduli, fluctuant qui modicse sunt fidei, 
 ambigua est fides ipsa." The effects of this schisme hath 
 beene (as in part I haue declared in other parts of this 
 treatise) First, that not only in sermons publikely, but also 
 in common table talke priuately, yea, and in writing and 
 treatises spredde abroad into all mens handes wickedly, vehe- 
 ment and bitter inuectiues haue beene made against the 
 bishops and other Preachers of the Church of England, to the 
 discredite not onely of their persons, but also of the doctrine 
 which they haue taught. Yea, the whole state and gouem- 
 ment of this church, the Liturgie and booke of Common 
 prayer, and the administration of the Sacramentes established 
 by Lawe and authoritie, the externall rites and ceremonies 
 layde downe onely for order sake, haue beene publikely mis- 
 liked, depraued and condemned, as directly contrary and 
 repugnant to the worde of God. Men haue not onely de- 
 liuered foorth these inuectiues against the whole state of our 
 Church, and all the partes thereof: but in the face of the 
 worlde, against Lawe, against authoritie, haue taken vpon 
 them to alter all thinges according to their owne pleasure : 
 Which dealing, you may bee sure, can not bee withoutgreat 
 offence of an infinite nomber, as the worlde euidently seeth 
 it hath beene. Moreouer, many persons, both vndiscreete 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 103 
 
 and vnlearned, because they will not bee accompted Dumbe 
 dogs, haue taken vpon them to preach without license or triall : 
 and entring into discussing of matters no we in controuersie 
 betweene vs and the aduetsarie, haue handled them so coldly, 
 nakedly, and vnperfecdy, that many haue bene greeued to 
 heare them, and some brought in doubt of their consciences, 
 which neuer doubted before. Many strange Assertions, either 
 plainly false, or as Paradoxes, true in some rare and ex- 
 traordinary sense, haue beene by sundry persons, and some 
 of them well learned, vttered and taught, to the troubling of 
 many mens mindes, and specially such as were not able to 
 reach to the depth of them. As for example, that it is a 
 grieuous offence to kneele at the receiuing of the Communion. 
 A gentleman of good countenaunce hath affirmed to my selfe, 
 that hee woulde rather hazard all the land hee had, then be 
 drawen to kneele at the Communion. An heauie burthen to 
 lay vpon a mans conscience, for an external gesture. The 
 doctrine of the Lords Supper, hath bene so slenderly taught 
 by some, that a number haue coceiued with themselues, that 
 they receiue nothing but the external elements, in remem- 
 braunce that Christ died for the. And these their cogitations 
 haue they vttered to other to their great misliking. Priuate 
 baptism, yea and publike also, if it be ministred by one that 
 is no preacher, hath bin so impugned, as if it were no sacra- 
 ment at al : whereby questios haue bin raised by sundry per- 
 sons, what is become of them that were neuer baptised other- 
 wise : Or whether it were not necessary, that all such per- 
 sons, as are certainly knowen, not to haue receyued any other 
 baptisme, then that was priuately done, ought not to be bap- 
 tised againe, because the other is esteemed as no Sacrament ? 
 The article of the common Creed touching Christes descen- 
 sion into hell, contrary to the sense of all ancient writers, hath 
 beene strangely interpreted, and by some, with vnreuerent 
 speeches flatly reiected. These and a number of such other, 
 haue vndoubtedly bred great offence, and wounded the hearts 
 
1 04 Answeres to generall 
 
 of an infinite number, causing them partly to reuolt to Papis- 
 try, partly to Atheisme, and neglecting of all Religion, as is 
 scene by the Hues of many, to the exceeding griefe of all them 
 that feare God and loue his trueth. As I haue talked with 
 many Recusants, so did I neuer conferre with any that would 
 vse any speech, but that he hath alleadged some of these 
 offences to be cause of his reuolting. And some haue affirmed 
 flatly vnto me, that in seeking to presse them to come to our 
 Church and seruice, we doe against our owne consciences, 
 seeing our most zealous preachers (as they be taken) openly 
 gpeake and write, that as well our seruice, as the administra- 
 tion of the sacraments, are contrary to the word of God. I 
 beseech Almighty God of his great mercie, that hee will open 
 the eies of them, which thus eagerly haue striuen against the 
 present state of this Church, to see what hurt and hinderaunce 
 hath come to the profession of the Gospell, by these vn- 
 charitable and needelesse contentions. And vndoubtedly, if 
 God moue not the heartes of the chiefe Rulers and Gouer- 
 nours to seeke some ende of this Schisme and faction, which 
 nowe renteth in pieces this Churche of England : it cannot be, 
 but in short time for one Recusant that now is, wee shall haue 
 three, if the increase of that number, which I mention, be not 
 greater. For I doe heare and see those things, that it grieueth 
 my heart to consider. What hurt and trouble Satan hath at 
 all times raised in the Church of God by occasion of dissen- 
 tion and discorde, mooued not onely by heretikes and false 
 teachers, but also by them, which otherwise haue beene good 
 and godly Christians : the Ecclesiasticall Histories • doe eui- 
 dently declare. What should I recite the Schisme between 
 the East and West Churches, for the obseruation of the 
 feast of Easter, which continued a great number of yeeres, 
 and grew to such bitternesse, that the one excommunicated 
 the other ? What shal I say of the Schismes and grieuous 
 contentions in the East Church, and especially at Antiochia 
 and Alexandria, betweene PauUnus, and Flauianus ? Lucifer 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 105 
 
 and Eusehius ? the Meletians and EustatUans ? all at the 
 beginning good Christians, and imbracing true doctrine ? And 
 yet did they with great troubles, eschewe one the others 
 Communion, as you may reade in Epiphanius lib. 2. Theodor. 
 lib. 1. cap. 8. ^c. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 23. Sozom. lib. 2. 
 cap. 18. for the space of 80. yeres and aboue. I omit the 
 great strife betweene Chrysost. of the one part, and TheopMlus, 
 Cyrill and Epiphanius, on the other, for the burning of Origens 
 bookes. They were all good and learned bishops, and wee 
 doe worthily reuerence their memory : yet fell this matter so 
 foule among them, that because Chrysost. woulde not con- 
 sent to the burning of Origens bookes, Theophilus and Cyrill 
 woulde scantly euer acknowledge him to be a lawful! Bishop. 
 I mention not a great number of other like factios, which 
 grew in the same age, to the trouble and hinderance of true 
 Christianitie, as many godly and learned men did then com- 
 plaine. And sundrie graue authours which haue written in 
 this our time, and before, iudge, that these wayward conten- 
 tions in the East Church, were the chiefe causes that brought 
 vpon them afterward, the heauie wrath of God that tooke his 
 Gospel from them, and cast them into the tyrannie of Saracens 
 and Turhes, as we haue seene now these many yeeres. A 
 notable example to vs (good Christian Eeaders) to take heede 
 in time, and earnestly to pray vnto God, that he will so blesse 
 vs with his holy Spirite, " that we may be all like minded, 
 hauing the selfe same loue, being of one minde and of one 
 iudgement, that nothing be done among vs, through strife and 
 vaine glory, but that in humblenesse of minde, euery one will 
 thinke of other better then of hiraselfe," that wee may grow 
 together in one heart and minde, against the common aduer^ 
 sarie to the glory of God, and the promoting of his gospel, the 
 safety of our gracious Prince, and naturall countrey. Of such 
 discord in the church, S. Basile grieuously c5plaineth, " When 
 I was growen" (saith he) " into mans age, and often going 
 into strange Countries fel into troubles, I obserued and 
 
 E 3 
 
l06 Answer es to generatl 
 
 found, that in other Artes there was great concord and agree- 
 ment betwene them that were the chiefe of those Artes and 
 Sciences : Onely in the church of God, for which Christ died, 
 and vpon which he had plentifully powred downe his holy 
 spirit, I saw great and vehement discord, aswell among them- 
 selues particularly, as in things contrarie to the holie Scrip- 
 tures. And that which is most horrible, I saw them that are 
 the chiefe of the Church so drawen asunder in diuersitie and 
 contrarietie of opinions, that without all pitie, they did most 
 cruelly teare in pieces the flocke of Christ, so that if euer, 
 now it is verified that the Apostle speaketh, From among 
 your selues shall rise men speaking peruerse things, that they 
 may draw Disciples to follow them." 
 
 The third cause and the principal! of all other is. 
 
 The third , , , . , T _ . , , , 
 
 cause of re- that the rampmg and roarmg liion that goeth about 
 uoiting. seeking whom he may deuoure," and watching all 
 occasions to doe mischiefe in the Church of God, hath taken 
 the opportunity of this Schisme and diuision among our selues. 
 And therefore euer since that began, he hath not ceased from 
 time to time, out of his scholes and Nurceries, to sende into 
 this realme fit instrumentes for that purpose, lesuites, Massing- 
 priests, and Seminary men, and such other of our own nation, 
 as haue bin purposely by them corrupted : which beeing 
 armed with some shew of learning, but specially with readi- 
 nes of tongue and boldnes of speech, with some outward 
 shew of holines in wordes, haue mightily preuailed against 
 the subiects of this realme, taking comonly reasons of per- 
 swasion, fro the discord that is among our selues, as by par- 
 ticular dealings with the I haue learned. The indeuours of 
 these men haue taken the greater effect, by one perswasio, 
 which they principally haue vsed : which is, that they haue 
 put into their minds a certain expectatio of a speedy alteration 
 and change to be, not only in religion, but also in the state of 
 the realme. Their reasons haue beene, that all the Princes 
 Catholike in Christendom, were entred into league by all 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 107 
 
 means that might be, to depose our gracious Soueraigne 
 Queene Elizabeth, and to set vp in her place the Queene 
 of Scots when she liued : and then woe be to them that 
 should be found in this land, to remaine in the fauour and 
 liking of the Gospell of Christ, which they blasphemously 
 call horrible schisme and heresie, which would bee reuenged 
 to the vttermost. To worke this deuise, they were let to 
 vnderstand, what plots and meanes were made, how easie, 
 how likely, how certaine to come to passe within few yeres, 
 yea, moneths, yea, dayes. For they confirmed the hearts of 
 all them that bend to their perswasion, with all hope that 
 might be : In so much that I knowe some, that within these 
 two yeeres were very forward in religion, and not onely heard 
 Sermons diligently, but also were at sundry conferences, for 
 their better confirmation : yet within fewe Moneths, with the 
 certaine perswasion of this expectation, were cleans caried 
 away, and so remaine peruerse and obstinate Recusants, with 
 the example thereof shaking the consciences of many other. 
 In these their wicked and deuilish practises against God and 
 his trueth, and against the state of this lande, they were not a 
 little imboldened by slacke and remisse dealing toward them. 
 The lawes were not executed : the aduauntage was giuen to 
 some, that did fauourably compoimd with them. 
 
 Hereby I knowe by good experience, that much harme 
 hath bene done in diuers places. They haue also comforted 
 and imboldened themselues in this, that mercie and fauour 
 shoulde bee shewed them. For this they can say, that Chris- 
 tian Princes and Magistrates, especially such as be Pro- 
 testants, by their owne doctrine, should shewe mercie and 
 clemencie, chiefly in matters of conscience. But what a 
 malicious hypocrisie is this, to call vpon Christian Magistrates 
 for mercie and fauour, and they themselues in the meane 
 time, breath nothing but crueltie and blood in their hearts 1 
 I graunt mercie becommeth a Christian Gouernour, but not 
 without seueritie of lustice. For seueritie stayeth a greater 
 
108 Answer es to generall 
 
 nomber, then mercie and fauour allureth, as {August, saith) 
 De Correct, " Sicut meliores sunt quos dirigit amor : ita plures 
 8i Gratia, g^jj q^^g corrigit Timor." The greater part is 
 alwayes the worst : therefore Magistrates must take heede, 
 that mercie bee not turned into crueltie : For as August, saith, 
 there is " Misericordia puniens et Crudelitas parcens. 
 
 Obiection. 
 
 " Faith" (say they) " is the gift of God, it cannot be forced 
 by any punishment : by hardnesse and extreme deahng men 
 may be made hypocrites, but not religious : yea, they adde 
 further, that the Apostles vsed no such helpe of Princes 
 power to bring men to the faith, or to pull them away from 
 errour." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 But these and such other like their Allegations, are con- 
 trary to the word of GOD, and iudgement of all the ancient 
 learned Fathers, and specially Saint Augustine, who chiefly 
 dealt against the Donatists, in this, and other opinions. Reade 
 Deut. 13. the thirteenth and seuenteenth of Deuteronomie, and 
 * ^'^ see howe straightly God giueth charge for the punish- 
 
 ment of them that seduce other from the true worshippe of 
 God. Tn Exodus he sayeth, " Qui immolat Dijs alienis, 
 praaterquam Domino soli, exterminetur." Hee that offereth 
 vnto any other gods, saue vnto the Lord, &c. In the Nom- 
 hers, he that brake the Sabboth day, was stoned to death, that 
 his example might not seduce other. Paul in the Act. of the 
 Apostles, by the power of God, strooke blind Elymas the 
 magitian, withstanding the truth of God. August, in the ii. 
 Tract, vpon lohn, disputing against the Donatists, by the ex- 
 ample of Nabuchodonosor, exhorteth christia princes to vse 
 sharp punishmet against such persons, as contemne Christ and 
 his doctrine. " If king Nabuchodonosor" (saith he) " gaue 
 glory to God, because hee had deliuered the 3. yong men from 
 the fire, and gaue vnto him so great glory, that he made a 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 109 
 
 decree throughout all his empire, which compreheded so many 
 kingdoms : how should not our kings be mooued, which knowe 
 not onely three yong men to be deliuered out of the fire, but 
 themselues, and all other faithful persons deliuered from the 
 eternall fire of hell 1 especially when they see Christ thrust 
 out of the minds of christians, and when they heare it saide 
 to a christian, Say thou art no christian. Such offences will 
 they commit, but yet such punishments will they not suffer. 
 For vnderstande you what they do, and what they suffer? 
 They kil mens soules, but they are afflicted but in body : 
 They worke to other eternal death, and they complaine that 
 they suffer teporal death. &c." Againe, the same Aug. De vi 
 coercend. Haereticis ad Vincent. Epist. 48. writeth in this 
 sort, " My opinio was at the beginning, that none shold be 
 forced to the vnitie of the church, but that we should ende- 
 uour to deale by the worde of GOD, by disputation, by 
 reasoning, and perswading, least happily of those which wee 
 knewe to be open Heretikes, wee shoulde make counterfaite 
 Christians : but this mine opinion was not ouercome with the 
 wordes of them that reasoned against mee, but by the experi- 
 ence of them, which shewed mee examples to the contrarie. 
 For first mine owne Citie of Hippo was obiected against mee, 
 which was wholly carried away with the opinion of the 
 Donatistes, and yet through feare of the Emperours lawes 
 was turned to the Catholike vnitie. Which Citie, we now 
 see so to detest that pernitious errour, as if it had neuer bene 
 among them. And likewise diuers other cities, were namely 
 rehearsed vnto mee, so that by experience I learned, that my 
 former iudgement was not right." 
 
 The first Christian Emperour Constantine writing to his 
 Lieutenant Taurus, " It hath pleased mee'' (sayth hee) " that 
 in all the places and cities, all the Temples of the idoles 
 should presently be shut vp, and all wicked persons forbidden 
 to haue accesse vnto them. Our pleasure further is, that all 
 men should forbeare their sacrifices. If any such wicked- 
 
110 Answeres to generall 
 
 nesse shalbe committed, let them be beaten downe with the 
 reuengement of the sword, and their substance to be seised 
 vpon, and brought into my Treasurie : And in like maner 
 the gouernours of Prouinces to be punished, if they neglect 
 to execute the same." 
 
 But I will make no longer discourse herein. Such as doe 
 doubt hereof, and desire to be better satisfied, I referre them 
 to a Treatise which Maister Beza hath writte for that matter, 
 I haue tarried the longer in this part, for that I am desirous 
 to let the indifferet christian reader vnderstand, that it is but 
 an affectionate iudgement of some, when they impute the 
 only cause to be in bishops, why there is in these daies so 
 great back-sliding from the Gospel, and so great mischief 
 deuised against the Prince and the State. It appeareth their 
 raindes are blinded with affection, that they cannot see the 
 trueth. 
 
 The quarrel An Other Crime laide against Bishoppes, is, that 
 nin" poS ^^^y maintayn pilling and pouling, and (as some in 
 ing Courts, despite terme them) bawdie courtes. If they main- 
 tayne courtes for the administration of lustice, in such things 
 as are within their charge ; they doe, as I am perswaded by 
 Gods law they may doe, and as by the lawes of this Realme, 
 and state of this Church they ought to doe. But if they 
 mayntaine pouling in their Courtes, that (in deede) is worthy 
 blame, and by no pretence can bee salued. For, as al 
 Magistrates ought to deale vprightly, and without corruption : 
 so principally, such as be Spirituall, and of the Church of 
 God. But howe is it prooued, " that Bishops maintaine 
 pouling Courtes ?" Surely, I knowe not : For they doe not 
 lay it downe in particulars. If they did, I thinke the matter 
 might easily be answered with good reason. 
 
 It may bee they thinke, the vnder-OfBcers take money and 
 bribes, where they should not : For that is polling and ex-, 
 tortion. If it bee so, it is euill, and not to be suffered, 
 and vpon proofe, the Lawe appoynteth sharpe punishment. 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. Ill 
 
 Though it bee true that they surmise in this case, that Officers 
 are so corrupt : it is one thing to say, The Officers vse poul- 
 ing, and another to say. The bishop maintaineth a pouling 
 Court. 
 
 A bishop may haue an euill Officer, whome yet he will not 
 maintaine, no nor suffer, if hee knewe it, and be able to re- 
 dresse it. I am in perswasion, there is no bishop in this 
 Realme, but if it be complayned of, and proofe made vnto 
 him, that his Officers take more then is prescribed by order 
 and law that they may doe, but wil mislike with the thing, 
 and doe his best to see it redressed : Or if hee will not, I 
 fauour not their State so much, but that I could wish him to 
 be punished himselfe. But if a bishops Officers shall be 
 counted to poule, when they take no more then the ordinary 
 fees and dueties by Lawe allowed, and the bishop, when he 
 beareth with the same, shal bee called a maintainer of a 
 poulling Court : this is a matter in a slaunderer to bee 
 punished, and not a fault in a bishoppe "to be blamed. By 
 this meanes all the Courtes in Englande may bee defamed 
 and called poulling Courtes, and the Officers or Judges, vnder 
 whose authoritie they stande, may be reprooued as maintayners 
 of poulling Courtes. Bee it, that there is vnlawful taking in 
 many Courts of this Realme, as happily there is in some 
 by greedie Officers : were it therfore the duetie of christian 
 and godly Subiects, to spread libels against the Prince or 
 chiefe gouernours, as maintainers of corruption, briberie, and 
 poulling ? 
 
 An hard matter it is, in so corrupt times, for anie Magis- 
 trate, to warrant the doinges of all inferiour Officers : I pray 
 God this making of exception to Courtes and Officers, goe 
 no ftetjhier then to the officers of bishops and of the Cleargy. 
 Whatsoeuer they pret^fid, the very root of the matter is this : 
 The yifhole State Eccfcsiasticall, by the loosenesse of this 
 time, is growen into hatred and contempt, and al inferiour 
 subiectes disdaine in any point to bee ruled by them. And 
 
112 Answeres to generall 
 
 therfore when they be called, conuented and punished for 
 such things, wherein they haue offended, or be brideled of 
 that they would doe disorderly : they grudge at it, their 
 stomackes rise against it, and thinke all that is done to be 
 vnlawful, though it be neuer so iust. And because they are 
 not able otherwise to be reuenged, they crie out, that they be 
 cruel and pouling Courtes. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " To cut off the whole matter, it will be said, that by the 
 word of God it is not lawful! for bishops to haue such Courtes, 
 nor to exercise such iurisdiction." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 Yet truely I must answere, that it is lawful for christian 
 subiects to obey it, and vnlawful! for them to kicke and 
 spume against it, seeing it standeth by authoritie of the Lawes, 
 and of our christian and gracious Prince, by whom God hath 
 sent to vs, and doeth continue with vs, the free course of his 
 Gospell. But why may not a Bishop exercise iurisdiction, 
 and haue a Court to iudge, determine, and ende matters ? 
 1. Tim. 5. Surely Saint Paule saieth to Timothie, " Against a 
 Priest or Elder, receiue no accusation, vnder two or three 
 witnesses." Here is an accuser : Heere is a person accused : 
 heere are witnesses examined : here is a iudgement and de- 
 ciding of the matter : therefore here is an exercise of iuris- 
 diction, and a manner of a Court. 
 
 They will say, " It was not Timothies Court onely, but 
 ioyntly exercised with the residue of the Elders, that had the 
 Gouernment." 
 
 Vndoubtedly, there is no such thing there in that place. 
 The words are directed to Timothie onely : the adioyning of 
 some other, is but the interpretation of some fewe : vpon 
 which, to builde the necessity of a doctrine in the Church of 
 Christ, is but hard dealing, and not sufficient to ground mens 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 113 
 
 consciences vpon. And yet here note you, that by this place 
 it is euident, that ecclesiasticall persons may haue, and vse 
 iurisdiction. 
 
 To proue that bishoppes may not alone exercise iuris- 
 diction, they adde Christes saying, Matthew 18. " If thy 
 brother offend thee, goe and tel him his fault between thee 
 and him alone. If he shall heare thee, thou hast wonne thy 
 brother : but if he will not heare thee, take yet with thee one 
 or two : if he will not heare then. Die Ecclesice, tell it to the 
 Church." 
 
 Here (say they) we are willed to " tell the Church :" but 
 " the Church" cannot be vnderstanded to be one person, as 
 the Bishop, or such like. 
 
 First I answere, that by the consent of most Interpreters, 
 that place speaketh not of the exercise of publique iurisdictio, 
 but of a charitable proceeding in priuate offences. And 
 Christes large discourse, which immediately following he 
 maketh vnto Peter, touching the forgiuing of them that doe 
 offend vs, doth very euidently iustifie that meaning. If some . 
 do interprete the place otherwise (as I haue before said) 
 Cliristians should not build thereupon a general doctrine of 
 necessitie. 
 
 It will be asked what Christ meant when he saide Die 
 Ecclesice. As some interprete it, he meant, " Tell the 
 Gouernours of the Church :" After some other, " Tell it 
 openly in the Church or congregation," as Hierome saith, 
 " Vt qui non potuit pudore saluari, saluetur opprobriis," that 
 is, " that bee which coidd not be saued by shame, might haue 
 his saluation wrought by reproch." For a great thing it is to 
 one that hath any feare of God, to haue reproch in the face 
 of the Church. 
 
 And to this interpretation, the most of the ancient writers 
 agree. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 They will reply, that " at that time there were manie Pre- 
 
114 Answer es to generall 
 
 sidents as it were, and gouernours of the Church, together 
 with the chiefe Ministers in euery Congregation." 
 
 Answere, 
 
 I graunt it was so : But it doth not follow thereupon, that 
 it is a commaundement, that for euer in all places and times, 
 it should be so. I am not of that opinion, nor euer was any 
 of the auncient writers, no more are sundry learned men of 
 great credite at this time, " Quod vna semper debet esse 
 oeconomia Ecclesise," that is, that the externall' gouernement 
 of the Church, should alwaies, and in all places be one, and 
 specially by a College or company of Elders, When Christ 
 sayd, Tell the Church, there was as yet no Christian church 
 established : but Christ tooke his speech according to the state 
 of the lewes Church that then was, as in another place he 
 saith, " If thy brother trespasse against thee, leaue thine 
 offering before the altar." If they will gather by the former 
 speech. Tell the Church, that of necessitie, they must haue 
 a company of Elders, as then was in the lewes church : why, 
 let them make like collection of the latter, that of necessitie 
 there must be altars in the church of Christ : the absurditie 
 whereof will bee greater, then any good christian man will 
 easily receiue. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 They will say, " the Apostles afterward, and the Primitiue 
 Church did practise the same." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 That is not yet proued : but let them struggle while they 
 lust, they shall neuer find a commandement in the scriptures, 
 charging that it should for euer be so. It were too great a 
 bridle of christia liberty in things external, to cast vpon the 
 church of Christ. So log as the church of God was in perse- 
 cutio vnder tyrants, it might well seeme to be the best and 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 115 
 
 fittest order of Gouernment : But when God blessed his 
 Church with Christian Princes, the Scriptures doe not take 
 away that liberty, that with the consent of their godly magis- 
 trates they may haue that outwarde forme of iurisdiction, 
 and deciding of Ecclesiastical causes, as to the state of the 
 Countrey and people shall be most conuenient. And that 
 libertie haue diuers reformed churches, since the restoring of 
 the Gospell, vsed. 
 
 Now, as when other Churches in their extemall order of 
 Gouernment, differ fro ours, we neither do, nor ought, to 
 mislike with them : so if ours differ from theirs, retaining still 
 the sinceritie of the gospel and trueth of doctrine, I trust they 
 will euen as charitably thinke of vs. 
 
 If any desire further aunswere in this controuersy of 
 Church gouernment, I referre them, to the reply of D. 
 Bridges, vntill they haue with modesty and grauitie answered 
 his booke. 
 
 It is obiected also against Bishops, " that they Theerimeof 
 abuse Ecclesiasticall discipline." I take " Ecclesi- c^^usficaii 
 asticall Discipline" to consist in reproouing, cor- Discipline, 
 reeling and excommunicating such as be ofFendors in the 
 Church. And I thinke their meaning is here, that bishops 
 and their officers abuse Excommunication, in punishing there- 
 with those persons, which obstinately and with contempt 
 refuse, eyther to appeare, when they bee called to aunswere 
 their offences : or when they appeare, disobey those orders 
 and decrees by Ecclesiasticall officers appoynted. Howe this 
 part of Church Discipline was abused by the Pope, it is well 
 knowen : and that hee made Excommunication an instrument 
 to bring the neckes of Emperors and Princes, vnder his girdle, 
 and to make the whole world subiect to him. For this was 
 almost the onely meane, whereby he became so dreadfuU to 
 all men, and got to himself so great autoritie. The per- 
 petual course of the histories, euen such as were written by 
 his owne Parasites, and chiefly of this Kealme of England, 
 
116 Answeres to generall 
 
 declare this to be most true. For trial hereof, reade the 
 historic of Thomas Beeket. 
 
 But I thinke no man is so caried with the misliking of our 
 Bishops, that he wil accuse them, in this sort to abuse Excom- 
 munication : seeing by their preaching they haue bin principal! 
 instruments to ouerthrow the same in the Church of Rome. 
 
 They can not say, that any Bishoppe of this Church, euer 
 since the restoring of the Gospell, indeuoured to excommu- 
 nicate the Prince and gouernours, of purpose to make them 
 subiect to their authoritie in the Church. And happily that 
 may bee a fault, yea and a great fault that is found with 
 them in these dayes, that they doe not so, and constraine the 
 Prince and Rulers to doe that, which by perswasion they will 
 not doe. 
 
 But howe expedient this maner of Excommunication is for 
 this time, I leaue to the wise and godly to consider. Sure I 
 Tygure. am, that some of the most zealons Churches reformed 
 haue it not, nor thinke it tollerable. And yet such a maner 
 of Excommunication, it is, that many striue at this day to haue 
 brought into the Church, vnder the name of Discipline. 
 
 But how easily it would grow to abuse, and what danger it 
 might bring in this state of time, I thinke there is no wise 
 man that doeth not foresee : vnlesse it be such, as to bring 
 their purpose to passe, and to settle their deuise in the Church, 
 thinke no danger to be shunned. 
 
 As for the Excommunication practised in our Ecclesiasticall 
 Courtes, for contumacie in not appearing, or not satisfying the 
 iudgement of the Court : if it had pleased the Prince, and them 
 that had authoritie to make Lawes for the gouernment, to 
 haue altered the same at the beginning, and set some other 
 order of processe in place thereof: I am perswaded the 
 Bishops and Clergie of this Realme would haue bene very 
 well contented therewith. 
 
 Gualter a learned man of the Church of Tygure, writing 
 vpon the first to the Corinthians, hauing shewed the danger 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 117 
 
 of this other Excommunication, speaketh of a maner of ciuile 
 discommuning, vsed in that Church : Which, or the like good 
 order, deuised by some godly persons, if it might bee by 
 aucthoritie placed in this Church, without danger of further 
 innouation, I thinke it would be gladly receiued to shunne 
 the offence that is taken at the other, and yet surely, vnder 
 correction, the Lawe of alteration would breede some incon- 
 uenience. 
 
 But the perpetuall crying of many to haue a mutation of 
 the whole state of the Clergie, and a number of other thinges 
 in the Church beside, (which must needes draw with it a 
 great alteration in the state of the Realme also) maketh the 
 Prince, and other Gouernours to bee afrayde of any mutation. 
 For they knowe what danger may come in these perillous 
 dayes by innouations : And if they shoulde once beginne, 
 things are so infinite, that they can see no ende of alterations. 
 Therefore seeing wee haue a Church setled in a toUerable 
 maner of reformation, and all trueth of doctrine freely taught 
 and allowed by the autoritie of this Realme, yea, and the 
 aduersaries of trueth by lawe repressed : they thinke it better 
 to beare with some imperfections, then by attempting great 
 alterations, in so dangerous a time, to hazard the state both 
 of the Church and of the Realme. And the like toleration 
 in some meane things, I vnderstand, vpon like consideration 
 hath bene vsed in other Churches reformed beyond the Seas. 
 
 Obieetion. 
 
 An other crime is obiected, not onely against The quar- 
 Bishops, but against all other of the Clergie, that is, "}^^^^ ™J 
 " Ambition and greedie seeking after linings and seeking of 
 promotions. If a benefice fall voyde (say they) then '""^'' 
 rideth he, then writeth hee, then laboureth he, then inquireth 
 hee, who can doe most with the Patrone. And if he be a Lay- 
 man, then at the least, a reasonable composition will serue : And 
 if the Bishop haue the gift, then Master Chancellor, or Master 
 
118 Answeres to generall 
 
 Steward, or my Lords Secretarie, or my Mistresse his wife, 
 must helpe to worke the matter." 
 
 Ansioere. 
 
 Doe you not see, how this malicious spirite passeth ouer all 
 the good gifts, that God hath in these dayes bestowed on a 
 number of learned men, to the great ornament of this land ? 
 and of purpose onely to deface the Church, taketh holde of 
 those imperfections and blemishes, which the corruption of 
 mans nature, specially in so perillous times, and so large a 
 Church, must needes worke in a number? Well writeth 
 De inuidia. BasUe, " Quemadmodum vultures &c. As vultures 
 or carren Rauens flye alway to stinking carcasses and passe 
 ouer many sweet medowes, and many sweete sauouring places : 
 And as the flies shun the whole and sounde places of the 
 body, and rest onely vpon scabs and soares, out of which 
 they suck matter to nourish them : euen so the enuious, 
 malitiou.s, and backbiting spirite, passeth ouer all the orna- 
 ments and worthy commendations of the Hues of men, and 
 carpeth and biteth at those things that he findeth worthy 
 blame." 
 
 This Realme of England neuer had so many learned men, 
 nor of so excellent gift in deliuering the word of God : It is 
 the greatest ornament, that euer this church had. For my 
 part, surely, I doe reuerence and maruell at the singular 
 giftes of God that I see in manie. But these thinges bee 
 wincked at, and passed with silence, and the ambitious doings 
 of some few, brought in, as matter to discredite the whole 
 number of Preachers. 
 
 Diogenes, seeing the cleanly furniture of Plato his house, 
 got vp vpon his bed, and trampled on it with his dirtie feete, 
 saying, " Caleo fastum Platonis," that is, " T contemne and 
 tread vnder my feet the pride of Plato." " True it is," quoth 
 Plato, " sed alto fastu, with another pride woorse then mine." 
 So these men, in rebuking ambition, reach at an higher 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 119 
 
 authoritie and power, then any bishop in England hath or 
 will vse. 
 
 Ambition, I knowe and confesse, is very wicked, and hath 
 euer bene a perillous instrument of the deuil to make mischief. 
 By this he drew our first parents to the disobedience of the 
 commandement of God, perswading them not to be content 
 with that happy state that God had placed them in. By this 
 he incensed Corah, Dathan, and Ahiram with other, to rebel 
 against Moses and Aaron, By this he thought to ouercome 
 Christ, when hee sawe he could not preuaile by other meanes. 
 By this he hath alwayes raysed discorde, dissention, rebellion, 
 warre and tumult, not onely to the troubling and disquieting, 
 but to the shaking and ouerthowing almost of all common 
 weales that euer haue beene, and thereby also hath wrought 
 the murther and destruction of an infinite number of the crea- 
 tures of God. By this he hath fro time to time raised many 
 schismes and heresies in the Church of Christ. By this, vn- 
 doubtedly I thinke he worketh no small euill nowe at this 
 day, in this our church of Englande. But what then ? Doe 
 they thinke, that if the bishoppes landes, and the rich liuings 
 of the Cleargie be taken away, that they shal extinguish 
 Ambition in the heartes of the Ministers ? Was there no 
 Ambition in the church before that bishoppes had lands, or 
 before Preachers had so large liuinges ? No man can so 
 thinke, but they that are ignorant of the Ecclesiasticall his- 
 tories. What was the first roote of the troublesome schisme 
 of the Donatists ? Whereof sprang first the heresies optat. Mi- 
 of the Nouatians at Rome 1 What gaue the first oc- l!"- ''••• '• 
 
 ° Euseb. eccl. 
 
 casion of the pestilent heresie of the Avians ? What hist.Ub.6.c. 
 maintajTied and continued it ? was it not Ambition, *^" ^ *^' 
 and seeking of preheminence ? But what shoulde I number vp 
 anie more examples ? Fewe schismes and heresies in the 
 church, but had their beginning out of this roote. And many 
 knowe, that a repulse of a dignitie desired, was the first cause 
 that our schisme brake foorth, and hath so eagerly continued. 
 
120 Answeres to generall 
 
 Surely, though I confesse, that I see and knowe in our Church 
 more corruption that way, then I am gladde to beholde, and 
 so much especially in some kinde of Ministers, as I praie 
 GOD by some sharpe order may bee diminished : yet this I 
 dare stande to iustifie, that all the enemies of the bishoppes, 
 and better sort of the cleargie, shall neuer be able to proue, 
 notwithstanding the daunger of this corrupt time, that there 
 is at this day in this Realme, such heauing and shoouing, such 
 canuasing and woorking for bishoprikes and other Ecclesi- 
 astical! liuinges, as I will declare vnto them to haue beene in 
 the ancient time aboue a thousand yeeres since, in the best 
 state that euer was in the Church, from the Apostles age vnto 
 this time. That there is no Ambition vsed among vs, (as I 
 haue saide) I dare not aiSrme : but surely, if there be anie, 
 there can be no Ambition on the one part, but there must bee 
 corruption on the other : therefore let them looke vnto them- 
 selues, that haue authoritie to bestow the liuings. The best 
 sorte of the Ecclesiastical liuings are in the disposition of the 
 Princes authoritie. And those honorable that haue to doe 
 therein, and are counsailers to her Maiestie, be not so vnwise, 
 but they can espy Ambition in him that sueth and laboureth 
 for them. And if they doe perceiue it, they are verie greatly 
 to blame, if they suffer it to escape without open shame, 
 or other notable punishment, and thereby bring suspition, 
 eyther, vpon themselues, or vpon those that bee about them. 
 
 As for the corruption in bestowing other meaner liuinges, 
 the chiefe fault thereof is in Patrones themselues. Fob it is 
 the vsuall maimer of the most part of the (I speake of too 
 good experience) though they may haue good store of able men 
 in the Vniuersities, yet if an ambitious or greedie Minister come 
 not vnto them, to sue for the benefice, if there be an vnsuf- 
 ficient man, or a corrupt person within two shires of them, 
 whom they thinke they can drawe to any composition for their 
 owne benefit, they wil by one meanes or other finde him out. 
 And if the bishop shal make courtesie to admitte him, some 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 121 
 
 such shift shall be found by the law, either by Quare impedit, 
 or otherwise, that whether the bishop will or no, he shall be 
 shifted into the benefice. I know some bishops, vnto whom 
 such sutes against the Patrones haue beene more chargeable 
 in one yeere, then they haue gained by all the Benefices that 
 they haue bestowed since they were bishoppes, or I thinke 
 will doe, while they bee bishoppes. They haue iniurie there- 
 fore, to bee so openly slaundered in the face of the worlde. 
 If there bee any bishoppe that corruptly bestoweth his liuinges 
 by sute of Maister Chauncellor, or Maister Steward, or anie 
 other : looke what punishment I woulde haue any lay-man in 
 that case to sustaine, I would wish to a bishop double or 
 triple. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 But now I must come to that which toucheth "^^ °''J^'=' 
 
 , . , tion, that 
 
 bishops most nighly, that is, " that they be carnally the Bishops 
 disposed, and not euangelically, and this their affe.c- ^ndworiS" 
 tion and corruption they shew to the worlde, by disposed. 
 hoarding of great summes of money, by purphasing lands 
 for their wiues and children, by marrying tbpir spnnes and 
 daughters with thousands, by increasing their linings with 
 flockes and beards of grased catte}l, by furnishing their tables 
 with plate and guilded cups, by filling their purses with vn- 
 reasonable fines and incomes, &q." 
 
 Answere, 
 
 Wee heare in this place an heape of grieuous offences, and 
 indeed, if they be true, wel worthy such lamentable outcries, 
 as are made against the. But the godly must consider, that 
 where lauishing tongues and pennes be at libertie, to lay forth 
 reproch without feare of correction or punishment, that the 
 best men in the worlde may be slandered and brought in 
 danger, especially where through enuie. and malice men haue 
 conceiued displeasure against any State. 
 
 G 
 
1 22 Answeres to generall 
 
 Theod. Lib. EustatMus. a godly and chaste Bishop, by con- 
 1. cap. 20. spiracie and false suggestion of certaine Heretikes 
 and Schismatikes, was not accused onely, but vniustly also 
 condemned of adulterie, and by the Emperor Constantine 
 cast into banishment, into a Citie of Sclauonie. Cyrillus a 
 good and learned father, Bishop of Hierusalem, and an earnest 
 Soz. Lib. 4. patrone of the true faith of Christ, was by the 
 cap. 26. heretike Acasius, and his friends in the Court, ac- 
 
 Socr. Lib.2. ' .1111 
 
 cap. 30. cused to the Emperor ConstanUnus, that he had 
 imbezeled the Church goods, and had solde to a player of 
 Enterludes, a rich garment, giuen to the Church by his 
 father. 
 
 This false accusation so much preuailed, that the good 
 Bishop was for it deposed &c. I noted you the like before 
 Athan. of that blessed man Athanasius and other, and might 
 Apoi. 2. bring a great number of examples, out of the Eccle- 
 siastical! histories and writers. For it was the vsuall practise 
 of all such as did endeuour to further any heresie or Schis- 
 maticall faction, were they of the Clergie or Laitie, by all 
 meanes they coulde, through infamie and discredite, to pull 
 downe such as did withstand their euil and troublesome 
 attempts in the Church, and not onely to raile at them, and to 
 deface them with false and vniust reports, but also to draw to 
 their reproch their best and most Christian doings : as the cha- 
 ritable dealing of Cyrill, was so wrested, that it brought him to 
 great danger. And surely I cannot but feare, that the deuill is 
 euen now in hatching of some notable heresies, or some other 
 hid mischiefes, which hee woulde bring foorth, and thrust 
 into the Church of England, and therfore prepareth the way 
 for the same, by defacing and discrediting the best learned of 
 the church, that both would and should resist them. This 
 we see already in that peeuish faction of the families of the 
 hue, which haue bin breeding in this Realme the space of 
 these thirty yeeres, and now vpon confidence of the dis- 
 gracing of the state of Bishops, and other Ecclesiasticall 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 123 
 
 Gouernours, haue put their heads out of the shell, and of 
 late yeeres, haue shewed themselues, euen in the Princes 
 Court. The like I might say of the Anabaptists and other 
 Sectaries, as bad as they. 
 
 As touching this present point of the accusation of Bishops, 
 I haue to admonish the godly reader, that in Christian charitie 
 and wisedome they consider, aswell, what diuers of those 
 persons which now be Bishops, haue bene before time : as 
 also, in what state they are nowe in this Realme, and howe 
 they are beset on euery side with aduersaries and euill 
 speakers of diuers sortes, and then to weigh with themselves^ 
 whether it bee likely that all is true, which is vttered against 
 them, or rather that for despite and displeasure, many things 
 are spoken falsly and slanderously, and many other meane 
 and small blemishes amplified and exaggerated to the worst, 
 more then trueth. 
 
 That those which nowe be, or of late haue bene Bishops in 
 this Church, shoulde be so carnally and grosly giuen oner to 
 the world and the cares therof, as they are by some defamed : 
 my heart abhorreth to thinke, neither will the feare of God 
 suffer me to iudge it to be true. I see what they are pre- 
 sently in all trueth of doctrine : I see how earnestly and zea- 
 lously they teach and defend the same in their preachings : I 
 see howe carefully they beate downe the grosse superstition 
 of Antichrist and his ministers : I call to remembrance, that 
 of late yeeres, in the time of persecution, when the most of 
 them were in state well able to liue, that they were contented 
 for the freedome of their consciences, and that they might 
 enioy the doctrine and liberty of the Gospel, to forsake their 
 linings, to leaue their friendes, to hazard their liues, to bee 
 accompted Traitours, and to sustaine all those miseries and 
 troubles, that might foUowe vpon banishment, and casting out 
 of their Countrey. 
 
 And I see nothing in them, if God, as wee by our vn- 
 thankefulnesse daily deserue, should cast the like scourge 
 
 e 2 
 
124 Answer es to generall 
 
 vpon this Realme againe, but that they would be most readie 
 to do the same, although happily prosperitie in the meane 
 time may drawe them to some offences. May any Christia 
 heart then conceiue of them, although there be faults in them 
 moe then the worthinesse of their office requireth, that they 
 be so carnally and fleshly giue ouer to the world, as the im- 
 modest accusations of many their aduersaries do make them? 
 Mans nature is corrupt and fraile, and therfore may fal to 
 much euil : but that so many learned men trained in the 
 scoole of the Crosse, and continuing in teaching and preaching 
 of the trueth, should be so vtterly caried away from God, I 
 can not beleeue, and I trust, God shall giue some euident 
 token of the cotrary. If there now be, or before time haue 
 bene such, as haue giuen iust occasion in such things, as they 
 are accused of: I cannot but blame them, and wish to the 
 residue more feare of God, and care of their calling. I 
 neuer entred into other mens hearts to see their consciences : 
 I neuer looked into their Gofers to see their treasures : I 
 neuer was desirous to be priuie of their secret doings. I 
 must therfore by that I see, heare, and know, iudge the 
 best. 
 
 He that shall charitably consider the state of Bishops, as 
 they are by the authoritie of the Prince and lawes of this 
 Realme, will not thinke it impietie in them, against the time 
 of necessary seruice of their countrey, to haue some reasonable 
 summe of money before hand, gathered in honestie, and iust 
 vsing of their owne. But if they hoarde vp heapes, either 
 for greedinesse and loue of riches, or of perswasion to put 
 their trust in them in time of affliction, as they are reported : 
 surely their offence cannot be excused. 
 
 As touching their purchasing of lands, I haue not heard 
 much. The greatest value that euer I heard of, doth scant 
 amount to one hundred pound : and that in very few, scarce 
 to the number of 3. persons. Which in them, that so long 
 time haue enioyed so large benefit of liuing, may seeme no 
 
quarrels made against the 'Bishops. 125 
 
 great matter, especially toward the relieuing of their wiues 
 and children, 
 
 Obieetion. 
 
 " They will say perhaps, that Preachers shoulde not bee 
 so carefull for their children, nor Bishops ought not to make 
 their wiues Ladies," 
 
 Answere. 
 
 If any looke to leaue them like Ladies in wealth and 
 riches, they are to blame : but moderatly to prouide for their 
 wiues and children, I thinke them bound in consciece, espe- 
 cially in this vncharitable, vnkind, and ynthankfull world. 
 For we may see the wiues and children of diuers honest and 
 godly Preachers, yea, and of some bishops also, that haue 
 giuen their blood for the confirmation of the Gospel, hardly 
 to scape the state of begging, euen among vs that professe 
 the Gospel, to our great and horrible shame. The sight 
 whereof, I thinke, doth moue some bishops, and other Eccle- 
 siasticall persons, to bee the more careful for their wiues and 
 childre, that they may haue some stay after their time, and 
 not to bee turned to liue vppon Almes, where charitie and 
 Christian consideration is so clean banished,- Ecclesiastical 
 persons are not as other parents are. For so soon as they 
 depart this life, or otherwise bee put from their liuing, because 
 they haue no state but for life, their wiues and children with- 
 out consideration are turned out of the doores. And if in 
 their husbandes time they haue not some place prouided, 
 they hardly can tel how to shift for themselues. And surely 
 experience teacheth mee so much, that I must needs bewaile 
 and lament the pitiful case of diuers honest matrons, and 
 poore infants, which in my knowledge, at the death of their 
 husbands and fathers, haue beene driuen to great hazard and 
 distresse. And this causeth, that most honest women, of 
 sober and good behauiour, are loath to match with ministers, 
 
1 26 Answeres to generall 
 
 though they be neuer so wel learned, bicause they see their 
 wiues so hardly bested, when they are dead. They that are 
 not mooued with this, haue but cold zeale toward the Gospel. 
 
 And seeing the case is so among vs in this realme : as he 
 is worse then an heathen by S. Paules iudgemet, that in his 
 life time doth not prouide for his familie : so surely hee can- 
 not escape the blame of an vnkinde husbad, or vnnatural 
 parent, that hath not some care of his wife and children, after 
 his time. 
 
 I write not this to defend the pernerse or couetous affec- 
 tion of any, neyther doe I thinke that there be manie such in 
 this church. Diuers I knowe, that when God shall call them, 
 will leaue so litle, as their children, as I think', must com- 
 mend themselues only to the prouidence of God. And there- 
 fore it is not well, that the fault of a fewe (if any such 
 be) should bee taken as a matter, to discredite the whole 
 calling. 
 
 But surely, they that murmure so greatly against the 
 moderate prouision of the wiues and children of Ecclesiasticall 
 persons, and turne that as matter of haynous slaunder vnto 
 them : let them pretend what they will, it may be suspected, 
 they scantly think wel of their marriages : Or if they doe, the 
 very Papistes themselues are more fauourable and charitable 
 Aduersaries to Preachers, then they are. For seeing the 
 state of our Church alloweth Ministers to be married, they 
 think it to stand with godly reason also, that they should 
 in honestie prouide for their wiues and children. 
 
 Diuers persons of other calling, by the exercise of an office 
 onely in fewe yeeres, can purchase for wife and children many 
 hundreds, and all very well thought of: But if a bishop, that 
 by state of the lawe hath the right vse of a large lining many 
 yeeres, doe purchase one hundred Markes, or procure a 
 mean Lease for the helpe of his wife and children, it is ac- 
 compted greedie couetousnesse, and mistrust in the prouidence 
 of God. I woulde it were not spite and enuie, with greedie 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops. 127 
 
 desire of bishops Liuinges, that caused this euiil speeche, 
 rather then their couetous and corrupt dealing. They feare 
 that all will be taken from themselues. 
 
 As touching that bishops are blamed for taking of Of taking of 
 " vnreasonable Fines, and furnishing of their Cup- '"'*'*"'• 
 boardes with siluer vessel and plate," I trust euery charitable 
 man, that hateth not the present state, may easily see what is 
 to be answered. To take Fines for their leases and landes, 
 is as lawful for them, by the word of God, and by the law of 
 this Realme, as for any other christian subiect, that hath pos- 
 sessions. And likewise, to haue plate or siluer vessell, their 
 condition beeing considered, is a thing indifferent, and not 
 worthy so great reproch or biting speech as is vsed. If they 
 had not such furniture, it is likely a great number woulde 
 thinke euil of it, and in another sort blame them as much for 
 it. But if they take immoderate Fines, or let vnreasonable 
 Leases, to the grieuing and burthening of their poore and 
 honest Tenants : or if they pompously auaunce themselues, 
 and set their glory in the gorgious plate and gay furniture : 
 I am so farre from defending that abuse that I will bee as 
 . ready to blame them, as any ma. And so much do I mis- 
 like such dealing in them, as I would wish those that can be 
 found faultie in these thinges, by the Princes and Gouemours 
 to bee examined and tryed, and vpon iust and lawfull proofe 
 of their offences, to be punished according to their demerits : 
 And, if the weight of matter so required, to be deposed, for 
 the example of other, and better set in their places. But if 
 that trial were made, as some faults perchance might be found 
 vnworthy their calling : so I am in hope, they would not 
 appeare so great and so grieuous, as to the discrediting of 
 their doctrine, should deserue so heinous and bitter exclama- 
 tions, and so reprochful Libels, as are giuen abroad against 
 them. Faults, in al states, and specially of ministers, would 
 be examined, tried, iudged and punished, by the lawe and 
 ordinary Magistrates : and not an vnchristian loosenesse and 
 
128 Answer es to generatl 
 
 liberty left to vnquiet and vngodly subiects, either by ^uil 
 speeches, or vncharitable writings to slander them, and bring 
 the into hatred and misliking. The example wherof may 
 grow to great danger, and hath bene counted perillous in all 
 common weales, and much more in the Church of God. 
 
 But, I pray you, what is meant by this disgracing of 
 bishops, and other chiefe ministers of the church ? For what 
 purpose are their liues in such sort blazed ? to what ende 
 are their doings so defamed? Why is their corruption, 
 their couetousnesse, their Simony, their extortion, and al 
 other vices, true or false, laide abroad before mens eyes ? 
 Why is the perfect rule of their office and calling, according 
 to the patterne of the Apostles time, required at their hands 
 onely 1 Is God the God of Ecclesiastical Ministers alone ? 
 Is he not the God of his people also ? doth he require his 
 word to be exactly obserued of bishops and ministers alone ? 
 doth he hate vice and wickednes in them alone ? Or doth 
 he lay downe the rule of perfect lustice to them only, and 
 not comprehend in the same all other states of his people, as 
 well as them ? Yes truely, I thinke no Christian is other- 
 wise perswaded. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 Perhaps they will say, " that all other States do wel, and 
 Hue according to their calling. The word of God is sincerely 
 euery where imbraced : lustice is vprightly in all places 
 ministred : the poore are helped and relieued : vice is sharpely 
 of all Other men corrected : there is no corruption, no coue- 
 tousnesse, no extortion, no Simonie, no vsurie, but in the 
 Bishops, and in the Clergie. There are no Monopolies in this 
 Realme practised to the gaine of a fewe, and the vndoing of 
 great multitudes, that were wont to Hue by those trades. All 
 Courtes be without fault, and voyde of corruption, sauing the 
 Ectlesiasticall courts onely. All officers are vpright and 
 true dealers sauing theirs. None other doe so carefully and 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 129 
 
 couetously prouide for their wiues and children. They onely 
 giue the example of all euill life." 
 
 Answere, 
 
 I would to God it were so : I would to God there were 
 no such euils as are recited, but in them ; Yea, I woulde to 
 God there were no worse then in them, on condition that 
 neuer a Bishoppe in England had one groate to Hue vpon. 
 The want surely of the one would easily be recompensed 
 with the goodnesse of the other. 
 
 What then is the cause that Bishops and Preachers haue in 
 these dayes so great fault founde with them ? Forsooth it 
 foUoweth in the next branch of a certaine Accusation penned, 
 against them. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " They haue Temporall landes, they haue great The prinei- 
 liuings, They are in the state of Lordes &c. The ^^y ^^^ bj. 
 Prince ought therefore to take away the same from shops he so 
 them, and set them to meane Pensions, that in ^P'*"' • 
 pouertie they may bee answerable to the Apostles, and other 
 holy Preachers in the Primitiue Church : whereby the Queene 
 may bring 40000 markes yeerely to her Crowne, beside the 
 pleasuring of a great many of other her faithfull subiects and 
 seruants." 
 
 Answere, 
 
 This is the end, why Bishops and other chiefe of th§ 
 Clergie are so defaced, why their doings are so deprauedj 
 why such comon obloquies is in all mens mouthes vpon them 
 raised, that is to say, that the mindes of the Prince and 
 Gouemours, may thereby be induced to take away the lands 
 and liuings from them, and to part the same among them- 
 selves, to the benefite (as some thinke) and to the commoditie 
 of their Countrey and common weale. But it behooueth all 
 Christian Princes and Magistrates to take heede, that they 
 
 G 3 
 
130 Answeres to generall 
 
 bee not intrapped with this sophistrie of Satans schoole. This 
 is that Rhetorike that he vseth, when he wil worke any mis- 
 chief in the Church of God, or stirre vp any trouble or alter- 
 ation of a state in a common weale. 
 
 First by defaming and slandering, he bringeth the parties 
 in hatred and misliking, and when the peoples heads be filled 
 therewith, then stirreth he vp busie and vnquiet persons to 
 reason thus : 
 
 They be wicked and euil men : they are couetous persons : 
 they oppresse the poore : they pill other to inrich themselues : 
 they passe not what they doe, so they may grow to honour 
 and wealth, and beare all the sway in the countrey. Ther- 
 fore bring them to an accompt : let them answere their faults : 
 pul them downe : alter their state and condition : let vs no 
 more be ruled vnder such tyrants and oppressours : we are 
 Nomb. 16. Gods people as well as they. " Did not he deale 
 thus in Corah, Datha and Abiram ? did he not by them, 
 charge the milde and gentle Gouernour Moses, and his brother 
 Aaron, the chosen Priest of God, that they tooke too much 
 vpon them ? that they lifted themselues vp aboue the con- 
 gregation of the Lord, and behaued themselues too Lordly 
 ouer his people ? that they brought the Israelites out of a land 
 flowing with milke and honie, of purpose to worke vnto them- 
 selues a dominion ouer the people, and to make them to 
 perish in the wildernesse ?" By this meanes they so in- 
 censed the hearts, not onely of the common people, but of 
 the Noblemen also, that they led a great number with them 
 to rebell against Moses and Aaron, and to set themselues in 
 their roomes and offices. In like maner, and by like policie, 
 hath hee wrought in all common weales, in all ages and times, 
 as the histories doe sufHciently declare. 
 
 In this Realme of England, when the lewde and rebellious 
 subiects rose against K. Richard 2. and determined to pull 
 downe the state, and to dispatch out of the way the counsellers, 
 and other Noble and worshipfull men, together with ludges, 
 
quarrels made against the Bishops, 1 31 
 
 Lawyers, and al other of any wise or learned calling in the 
 Realme : was not the way made before, and their states 
 brought in hatred of the people, as cruell, as couetous, as 
 oppressours of the people, and as enemies of the Comon 
 weale, yea, and a countenance made vnto the cause, and a 
 grounde sought out of the Scriptures and word of God, to 
 helpe the matter ? 
 
 At the beginning (say they) when God had first made the 
 worlde, all men were alike, there was no principalitie, there 
 was no bondage, or villenage : that grewe afterwardes by 
 violence and crueltie. Therefore, why should we Hue in this 
 miserable slauerie vnder these proud Lords and craflie 
 Lawyers ? &c. Wherefore it behooueth all faithfuU. Chris- 
 tians and wise Gouernours, to beware of this false and craftie 
 policie. If this Argument passe nowe, and be allowed as 
 good at this time against the Ecclesiasticall state : it may be, 
 you shall hereafter by other instruments, then yet are stirring, 
 heare the same reason applied to other States also, which yet 
 seeme not to be touched, and therefore can be content to 
 winke at this dealing toward Bishops and Preachers. But 
 when the next house is on fire, a wise man will take heed, 
 least the sparkes therof fall into his owne. He that is 
 authour of all perillous alterations, and seeketh to worke mis- 
 chief by them, will not attempt all at once, but will practise by 
 little and little, and make euery former feate that he worketh, 
 to be a way and meane to draw on the residue. For he 
 seeth all men will not be ouercome with all temptations, nor 
 will not be made instruments of all euill purposes, though 
 happily by his colours and pretenses he be able to deceiue 
 them in some. The practise hereof, wee haue scene in this 
 Church of England, to the great trouble and danger thereof. 
 At the beginning, some learned and godly Preachers, for 
 priuate respects in themselues, made strange to weare the 
 Surplesse, Cap, or Tippet : but yet so, that they declared 
 themselues to thinke the thing indifferent, and not to iudge 
 
1 32 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 euil of such as did vse them. Shortly after rose vp other, 
 defending that they were not thinges indifferent, but distayned 
 with Antichristian idolatrie, and therefore not to bee suffered 
 in the Church. Not long after came forth an other sort, 
 affirming that those matters touching Apparell, were but 
 trifles, and not worthie contention in the Church, but that 
 there were greater things farre of more weight and im- 
 portance, and indeede touching faith and religion, and there- 
 fore meete to be altered in a Church rightly refourmed : As 
 " the booke of Common prayer, the administration of the 
 Sacraments, the gouernment of the Church, the election 
 of Ministers,'' and a number of other like. 
 
 Fourthly, now breake out another sort, earnestly affirming 
 and teaching, that we haue no Church, no Bishops, no Minis- 
 ters, no Sacraments : and therfore that all they that loue 
 lesus Christ, ought with all speede to separate themselues 
 from our congregation, because our assemblies are prophane, 
 wicked, and Antichristian, 
 
 This haue you heard of foure degrees prepared for the 
 ouerthrow of this State of the Church of England. 
 Against the Now lastly of all, come in these men, that make 
 of Bishops, their whole direction against the liuing of bishops, 
 and other Ecclesiasticall ministers : " that they shoulde haue 
 no Temporal landes, or iurisdiction : that they shoulde haue 
 no stayed liuings of possession of goods, but onely a rea- 
 sonable Pension to finde them meate, drinke, and cloth, and 
 by the pouerty of their life, and contempt of the world, to be 
 like the Apostles. For (say they) riches and wealth hath 
 brought all corruption into the Church before time, and so 
 doth it now." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 Nowe is the enemie of the Church of God come almost 
 to the point of his purpose. And if by discrediting of the 
 
of Bishops Linings, 133 
 
 Ministers, or by countenance of gaine and commoditie to the 
 Prince and Nobilitie, or by the colour of Religion and holi- 
 nesse, or by any cunning he can bring this to passe (as before 
 I haue signified) hee foreseeth that learning, knowledge of 
 good letters, and studie of the tongues, shall decay, as wel in 
 the Vniuersities, as other wayes, which haue bene the chiefe 
 instruments to publish and defend the doctrine of the Gospel, 
 and to inlarge the kingdome of Christ : And then, of neces- 
 sitie, his kingdome of darknesse, errour and heresie must rise 
 againe, and leaue this land in worse state, then euer it was 
 before. 
 
 But to perswade this matter more pithily, to couer the 
 principal purpose with a cloake of holinesse, it is saide, and 
 in very earnest manner auouched, and that by the word of 
 God, " that neyther the Prince can giue it them, nor suffer 
 them to vse it, without the danger of Gods wrath and dis- 
 pleasure : nor they ought to take it, but to ' deliuer it vp 
 againe into the Princes hand, or els they shal shew them* 
 selues Antichristian Bishops, vaine glorious, and lucres men, 
 not ashamed, professing God to continue in that drossie way, 
 and sowre lumpe of dough, that corrupteth the whole Church, 
 and brought out the wicked botch of Antichrist, &c." 
 
 This doctrine (as it is boldly affirmed) " God himself hath 
 vttered, Christ hath taught, his Apostles haue written, the 
 Primitiue church cotinued, the holy Fathers witnessed, the 
 late writers vphold, as it must forsooth bee prooued by 
 the whole course of the scriptures of the olde and new 
 Testament." 
 
 But (good Christians) be not feared away with this glorious 
 countenance, and these bigge wordes of a bragging champion. 
 I trust you shall perceiue, that this doctrine is neither 
 vttered by God, nor taught by Christ, nor written by his 
 Apostles, nor witnessed by ancient writers, nor vpholden by 
 learned men of our time : but that it is rather a bolde and 
 dangerous assertion, vttered by some man of very small skill. 
 
134 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 countenanced with a few wrested Scriptures, contrary to the 
 true meaning of God the father, Christ his sonne, and of his 
 holy Apostles, and a little shadowed with vaine allegations of 
 writers, either of no credite, or little making to the purpose. 
 And surely, how great and earnest zeale, how vehement and 
 lofty wordes so euer the vtterer of this assertion vseth : it may 
 be suspected, that either he is not himself soundly perswaded 
 in true religion, or if he be, that of simplicity, negligence or 
 ignorance, he was abused by some subtile and crafty Papist, 
 that woulde sette him forth to the derision of other, to thrust 
 out into the world, and openly broach this corrupt and 
 daungerous doctrine. 
 
 Wherfore it were good, that they which wil take vpon 
 them to be the furtherers of such new deuises, should better 
 looke to their proofe and witnesses, vnlesse they will seeme 
 to abuse al men, and to thinke that they liue in so loose and 
 negligent a state, that nothing shal be examined that they 
 speake, but that al things shal be as easily receiued, as they 
 may be boldly vttered. But I trust, those that haue the 
 feare of God, and care of their soules, wil not be afraid of 
 vaine shadowes, nor by and by beleeue all glorious brags, but 
 take heed that they be not easily led out of the way, by such 
 as wil so quickly be deceiued themselues. 
 
 I do not answere their vaine Arguments, because I feare 
 that any discreet or learned man wil be perswaded with them : 
 but because I mistrust, that the simple and ignorant people, 
 , or other that be not acquainted with the Scriptures, by the 
 very name and reuerence of the word of God, will be carried 
 away, without iust examination of them. 
 
 To descend something to the consideration of the matter, 
 marke, T pray you, the Proposition that is to be proued. It 
 is not, that they may bee good bishops and ministers of the 
 Church, which haue neither glebe nor temporal lands to liue 
 on : It is not, that there were in the primitiue church, and 
 now are in siidry places, churches well gouemed, which haue 
 
of Bishops Linings. 1 35 
 
 not lands allotted vnto them : Tt is not, that the Apostles had 
 no lands, nor any other a number of yeeres after Christ : For 
 these points, I thinke no man wil greatly stand with them. 
 But this is the Assertion. 
 
 Ohiection, 
 
 " No prince or magistrate by Gods word may lawfully 
 assigne lands to the ministers of the church to liue on, but 
 ought to set them to pensions : Nor any of the Ecclesiasticall 
 state can by the Scriptures enioy, or vse such any lands, 
 but shoulde deliuer them vp to the Prince, &c." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 Looke, I pray you, vpon this Assertion, and consider it 
 well. Doe you not see in it, euen at the first, euident 
 absurditie ? Doe you not see a plaine restraint of christian 
 liberty, as bold and as vnlawfuU a restraint as euer the 
 Pope vsed any ? Do you not espy almost a flat heresie, as 
 dangerous as many branches of the Anabaptists errors ? It 
 is no better then an heresie to say, that by the word of God 
 it is prohibited for Ministers to marry. It is no better then 
 an heresie to aflSrme, that Christian men, by the lawe of God, 
 may not eate fleshe, or drinke wine. Saint Paule doth con- 
 secrate these to be Doctrines of Demies, and there- i. Tim. 4. 
 fore not of the Church of God : and the Primitiue church 
 doeth confirrae these to bee heresies in Saturninus, 
 MdiXciqn, Tatian, Montane, and many other. And I Epiphan. 
 pray you, what doth this Assertion differ from the *^'™- -*'«='■ 
 other, when it is said. It is not lawful for Ecclesiastical per- 
 sons to haue temporall lands to liue vppon 1 As Gen s. 
 marriage is the ordinance of God, and left free by his word 
 to all men : As meates and drinkes are the good creatures of 
 our God, and to be vsed of all such as receiue them with 
 thankesgiuing : so are landes, possessions, money, cattaile, the 
 gppd gifts of God, and the right vse of them, not prohibited to 
 
136 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 any of his people : For to their benefite he ordained them, as 
 his good blessings. Christ by his death made vs free from 
 all such legall obseruations. Therefore S. Paul, Colos. 2. 
 " If ye be dead with Christ to the iudgements of the worlde, 
 why are you ledde with traditions, Touch not, Taste not, 
 Handle not, which all doe perish in abusing ?" This bold- 
 nesse to bridle Christian libertie, and to make it sinne and 
 matter of conscience, to vse the creatures of God, was the 
 very foundation of al Papistical and Antichristian super- 
 stition. Vpon this foundation was builded the holinesse in 
 vsing, or not vsing of this, or that maner of apparell : in 
 eating or forbearing these or those kindes of meates : in ob- 
 seruing this or that day, or time of the yeere : in keeping this 
 or that externall forme of life, with 1000. like inuentions and 
 traditions of men. Neither do I thinke euer any errour did 
 greater harme in the Church, or brought more corruption of 
 doctrine then that did. Therefore I am sorie to see some in 
 these daies, to leane so much to that dangerous stay, for the 
 helpe of their strange opinions in things externall. For, what 
 doe men when they say. It is not lawfull for a Christian man 
 to weare a square Cappe, to vse a Surplesse, to kneele at the 
 Communion? What (I say) doe they but bridle Christian 
 libertie, and to the burden of consciences, make sinnes where 
 GOD made none ? And in like maner, hee that sayeth, It is 
 wicked and not lawfull, that Bishops, Preachers, or Eccle- 
 siasticall persons shoulde haue any temporall landes to liue 
 vpon, hee seemeth to finde fault with the creature of God. 
 For, that Bishops may haue liuing allowed them, is not 
 denied : but to liue by landes, that (say they) is sinne, and 
 prohibited, and therefore the temporall lands and glebe must 
 be taken from Bishops and other Ministers. 
 Bishops '^^^ doctrine notwithstanding, must be proued 
 
 must have and iustified by the Scriptures, and first by the 
 ordinance of God himselfe in the olde testament 
 Numb. 18. In the Numbers, when God had declared to Aaron 
 
of Bishops Liuings, 13? 
 
 what portion he shoulde haue to liue vpon, hee The an- 
 addeth : " Thou shalt haue no inheritance in their oWection of 
 land, neither shalt thou haue any part among them. *eiaweand 
 
 . . •' ^ " . ordinance of 
 
 I am thy part, and thy inheritance among the chil- God. 
 dren of liirael. Behold, I haue giuen the children of Leui 
 all the tenth of Israel to inherit, for the seruice which they 
 serue in the Tabernacle." And againe after, " It shalbe a 
 law for euer in your generations, that among the children of 
 Israel, they possesse no inheritance." " And" in Deut, 10. 
 " the Lord separated the tribe of Leui, &c. Wherefore the 
 Leuites haue no part, nor inheritance with their Brethren, but 
 the Lorde is their inheritance, as the Lord thy God hath 
 promised them." In the 14. Chapter, and in the 18. and in 
 diuers other parts of the law, and in losua 14. " Moses gaue 
 inheritance vnto two tribes and a halfe, on the other side of 
 lordan, but vnto the Leuites hee gaue no inheritance among 
 them." Vpon these testimonies, the application and con- 
 clusion is inferred in this maner. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 " Here it may bee scene what lining God appoynted his 
 Priestes to haue : not landes and possessions, but tithes and 
 offerings. Seeing then God denied it to his Priestes, it is 
 not lawfull for our Priestes. Whose Priestes are they ? If 
 they be Gods Priests, it is not there permitted : If they be 
 Antichrists priests, what doe we with them ?" 
 
 :/inswere. 
 
 As this reason may haue some small shew or likelihoode to 
 the ignorant : so I am sure, they that haue trauailed in the 
 Scriptures, and any thing vnderstand the state of Christianitie, 
 will marueile to see this application of the Texts and the 
 conclusion inferred. Shall the Ministers of the Church of 
 God, nowe in the time of grace, by necessitie be bound to 
 those orders that were among the lewes appoynted for Priestes 
 
138 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 and Leuites by Moses ? Will they bring the heauie yoke and 
 burthen of the Law againe vpon the people of God, after that 
 Christ hath redeemed vs, and set vs free from it ? Will they 
 haue Aaronicall and sacrificing Priestes againe to oflfer for the 
 sinnes of the people? When it is in derision asked, " Whose 
 Priests ours are, if they be not Gods Priests ?" giuing sig- 
 nification that they be the Priestes of Antichrist, it may be 
 right well and truely answered, that they are the Priestes of 
 Gods holy, blessed, and true Church, and yet that they are 
 not such sacrificing Priests of God, as are mentioned in those 
 places, nor in any way bounde to those thinges that they 
 were, the morall Lawe of God onely excepted. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 It is obiected to our Bishops and Ministers, " that in their 
 Landes and possessions, they reteine the corruption of the 
 Romish Church." 
 
 Answere, 
 The aduer- But I marueile to see them which so boldely con- 
 TponPoSsh ^°^ other, to builde their assertions vpon the 
 foundations, ruinous foundations of the Synagogue of Antichrist. 
 As I noted a little before, that they layde their grounde vpon 
 the restraint of Christian libertie : so nowe they settle it vpon 
 the imitation of the legall and Aaronical priesthood, as the 
 Church of Rome did. 
 
 Whence (I pray you) came the massing apparel, and almost 
 all the furniture of their Church in censing and singing and 
 burning of Tapers ? their altars, their propitiatorie sacrifice, 
 their high Bishop and generall head ouer all the Church, 
 with a number of other corruptions of the Church of God, but 
 onely out of this imitation of the Aaronical priesthood and 
 legall obseruations ? Surely, while they thus vphold as 
 good, the wicked foundations of the Synagogue of Sathan, 
 they shall neuer so purely builde vp the Church of Christ, as 
 
vf Bishops Linings. 139 
 
 they woulde bee accounted to doe. They may seeme to be 
 in a hard streight, that to batter down the state of the Church 
 of England, must craue ayde of Antichrist, to set vp a fort 
 vpon his foundation. 
 
 The learned fathers of the primitiue Church, did, so much 
 as they coulde, striue to be furthest off from the imitation of 
 the lewes, and of the Aaronicall priesthood, in so much that 
 they woulde needes alter not onely the Sabboth day, but also 
 the solemnizing of the feast of Easter : And shall the Lawe 
 of the Leuites, and maner of their liuing bee layde downe to 
 vs as a patteme of necessitie, which the Prince must followe 
 in reforming her Church, or else the priestes thereof shall not 
 be the priestes of God, but of Antichrist ? Is there no more 
 reuerence and feare of the maiestie of Gods Prince and 
 sacred Minister, then by such grosse absurdities to seeke to 
 seduce her ? If this bee a conclusion of such necessitie, then 
 let them goe further : for by as good reason they may. 
 
 God sayeth to Aaront " Thou shalt not drinke Leuit. lo. 
 wine, nor strong drinke, thou, nor thy sonnes that are with 
 thee, when yee goe into the Tabernacle of the Congregation, 
 least yee dye. Let it bee a Lawe for euer throughout your 
 generations." 
 
 In another place commaundement is giuen to the Leuit. 22. 
 Priestes, " That they may not eate of that which is rent of 
 wilde beastes." And in the same chapter, " If the Priests 
 daughter be marryed to any of the common people, shee may 
 not eate of the hallowed offerings : but if shee be a Widowe, 
 or diuorced from her husbande, and haue no childe, and is 
 returned into her fathers house againe, she may eate of her 
 fathers meate, as she did in her youth, but there shall no 
 stranger eate thereof." In the 21. of Leuiticus it is sayde, 
 " Speake vnto the Priests the sonnes of Aaron, and say. Let 
 none bee defiled by the dead among their people." And a 
 lide after, " Let them not make baldnes vpon their head, nor 
 shaue off the locks of their beard." And againe, "Let him 
 
140 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 take a Virgine to wife : but a widowe, a diuorced woman, or 
 a polluted &c. shall he not marry." 
 
 Now if the obseruation of the orders appointed by God to 
 the Priests and Leuites of the olde Law, be a thing so 
 necessary in the church of God : Why, " then the Ministers 
 of the Gospell may not drinke wine or strong drinke : they 
 may not suffer their daughters married forth, if they come 
 vnto their houses, to eate any of the tenths and oblations, 
 whereby they liue : they may not come nigh a dead body, nor 
 burie it : they may marry no widowes, but maydes onely." 
 And so likewise shall you bring in by as good authoritie, 
 infinite numbers mo of Leuiticall orders into the Church, and 
 make it rather like a superstitious Synagogue, as the Popes 
 church was, then like a sincere and vndefiled Church of 
 God, as you would pretend to doe. 
 
 But let vs descende further into this allegation, and see 
 howe they ouerthrowe themselues in their owne purpose. 
 If vpon this proofe it be so necessarie, that bishops and other 
 Ministers shoulde not liue by Lands : then, as the negatiue is 
 necessarie in the one branch, so is the affirmatiue in the other. 
 When God hath sayd, " Thou shalt haue no inheritance in 
 their land," he addeth : " Beholde, I haue giuen the children 
 of Leui all the tenth of Israel to inherite for the seruice, 
 which they doe. &c." Then it is of necessitie by the Lawe 
 of God, that bishops and Preachers shoulde liue vpon 
 Tenthes and offerings, neither may this order be altered by 
 any authoritie. 
 
 And here is another errour of the Papists, that Tenths and 
 offerings are in the Church lure diuino, by the lawe of God, 
 and not by any positiue Law of the Church. Thus we see 
 that these men are not able to stand to their positions, but 
 they must ioyne arme in arme with the Papists, in their 
 greatest and grossest errors. And if it be of necessitie, that 
 Ministers must liue by Oblations and tithes, and no other- 
 wise : how can the Prince by Gods Lawe take away their 
 
of Bishops Linings, 141 
 
 Landes, and set them to meere pensions in money ? Or if 
 Princes haue libertie by the Lawe of God, according to their 
 discretions, to appoynt the linings of Ministers, by pensions 
 of money, contrary to the order that God hath prescribed 
 to his Priests in his law : why haue they not like authoritie by 
 the same worde .of God, (if they see it conuenient for the 
 state) to allot vnto them some portion of temporall Landes, 
 and much more, to suffer and beare with that order, beeing 
 already seded in the Church ? By this it appeareth, that thp 
 assertion of the aduersaries doeth not hang together jn it selfe, 
 but that the one part impugneth and ouerthroweth the other. 
 
 But mee thinkes these men deale not directly, but seeme to 
 hide and conceale that which maketh against them. For in 
 the same place of losua, by which they -will prooue, losh. h. 
 that bishoppes and Ministers may not haue any possession of 
 Landes, because hee sayth, " To the Leuites he gaue no 
 inheritance among them," Immediately he addeth, " Sauing 
 Cities to dwell in, and the fieldes about the Cities, for their 
 beastes and Cattell." And in like manner, " The Nom. 35. 
 Lorde sayde to Moses, Commaund the children of Israel, that 
 they giue vnto the Leuites of the inheritance of their possesr 
 sion, Cities to dwell in. And yee shall giue also vnto the 
 Cities suburbes harde by their Cities rounde about them, the 
 Cities they shall haue to dwell in, and the Suburbes or fieldes 
 about their Cities for their cattell, and all manner beastes of 
 theirs. And the Suburbes of the Cities which you shall giue 
 to the Leuites, shall reache from the wall of the Citie rounde 
 about outwarde a thousande cubites. &c. And you shaU 
 measure on the East side two thousande cubites, and on the 
 West side two thousande cubites. &c." In the twentie one 
 Chapter of losua, The number of these Cities is mentioned^ 
 " And the lot came out of the kinred of the Caathites, the 
 children of Aaron the Priest, which were of the Leuites, and 
 giuen them by lot out of the tribe of luda, Simeon, and Benr 
 iamin, thirteene Cities. And the rest of the children o^ 
 
142 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 Caath had by lot of the kinreds of the tribe of Ephraim, Dan, 
 and halfe the tribe of Manasses, tenne cities. And the child- 
 ren of Gerson, had by lotte out of the kinred of the cities of 
 Isachar, Aser, Nepthaly, and the other halfe of the tribe of 
 Manasses in Basan, thirteene cities. And the children of 
 Merari, by their kinreds, had out of the Tribes of Ruben, 
 Gad and Zabulon, twelue cities. The whole number there- 
 fore of the cities assigned to the Leuites in the lande of lurie, 
 amounted to fortie eight." 
 
 Nowe I would demaund of indifferent Christians, that were 
 not obstinately set to maintaine an euill purpose. Whether the 
 state of inheritance without rent, of fortie eight Cities in one 
 Region, no bigger then England, with the fieldes almost a 
 mile compasse, may bee thought in trueth, to bee temporall 
 possessions or no ? Surely I thinke there is no man so way- 
 ward, that will denie it to be most true. 
 
 Wherefore, eyther the worde of God must bee found vn- 
 true, (which is blasphemie to thinke) or els that boulde 
 assertion, that is made of the contrary, is found vaine, and the 
 argument to prooue it, false and deceitfuU. They that had to 
 their portions fortie eight Cities, with the fields thereof, did 
 not Hue by tithes and oblations onely. 
 
 You see therefore (good Christians) how they vnderstand 
 the Scriptures, that in such immodest and confident maner, 
 take vpon them to be masters and controllers of other : and by 
 how sleight allegations and absurde arguments they seeke to 
 leade men into error, euen in great and weighty matters^ 
 without feare of God himselfe, or reuerence of his people 
 with whome they deale. God blesse them with more grace 
 of his true, milde, and humble spirite, that they runne not so 
 headlong, to the daunger of their owne soules, and the trouble 
 of the Church of Christ. 
 
 And for the better vnderstanding heereof, let vs consider, 
 what state the Leuites had in this Lande that was allotted 
 vnto them. They might sell, and alienate it, but not to any 
 
of Bishops Linings. 1 43 
 
 other Tribe or familie, but to some of the same familie, 
 whereof they were. The Lawe therein saith, Leuit. 25. 
 " Notwithstanding, the Cities of the Leuites, and the houses 
 of the cities of their possession, may the Leuites redeeme at 
 all seasons. If a man purchase of the Leuites, the house that 
 was soulde shall goe out in the yere of lubile. But the fields 
 of their Cities may not be soulde, for it is their possession for 
 euer." 
 
 And yet we read that the Prophet leremie bought lere. 32. 
 a peece of land of Hananael his Vncles sonne, which I take 
 to bee, because leremie was his next of kinne, to whome by 
 Lawe after him it shoulde come : So that Hananael soulde 
 onely the interest of his life time. 
 
 Thus, by the way you may note, that buying and pur- 
 chasing of such ground as was lawful! to them, was not pro- 
 hibited to Gods Priests in the olde law. 
 
 Ohiection. 
 
 Happilie they will say, " That although they had some 
 temporall Landes, yet it was in comparison of the large in- 
 heritaunce of the other Tribes, but a small portion : And as 
 the Ministers of God, they liued meanely and porely vpon it." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 But they that rightly consider and weigh the quantitie and 
 largenesse of the Lande of Promise, not being (as I thinke) 
 so large as this Realme of England, shall perceiue, that the 
 same being diuided into twelue partes, according to the 
 twelue Tribes, that eight and fourtie Cities, with the iieldes 
 about them, onely for the tribe of Leui, was a portion, 
 although not so big, yet not much inferiour to the residue, 
 although the one part had their liuing together, and the 
 Leuites had theirs disparkled in sundry partes of the Countrey. 
 To which, if you adde Gods part, that is, the oblations, the 
 first fruits and the tenthes of their fruites, and cattell beside, 
 
144 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 you shall perceiue, that the Priestes, Leuites, and Ministers 
 of the Temple of God were not left in meaner or poorer, but 
 rather in as good or better state, then any of the other Tribes. 
 Which thing vndoubtedly God did of his gratious prouidence, 
 not that his ministers should by wealth wax wanto and proud, 
 but that by that meanes, they might be of more authoritie 
 with his people, and not beeing drawen away by the necessitie 
 of care howe to Hue, they might more freely and quietly 
 attend vpon the seruice of God in the Temple and other 
 places. Wherefore these places of the Law of Moses, were 
 not fitly alleadged to prooue, either, that the Ministers of 
 the Church should haue no temporall possessions, or that 
 they should by stipends of money Hue in poore or base 
 condition. 
 
 It pleased God, that the Leuites shoulde not haue their 
 portion lying together, as the other had, but to bee sparkled 
 among all the Tribes of that nation, that they might the 
 better instruct the people of all partes, in the Lawe and 
 Ordinaunces of almightie God, as their office and and duetie 
 was. But if the value of their portion, together with the first 
 fruites and tenths bee considered, you shall perceiue it was 
 nothing inferiour to any of the best. 
 
 They that had not some peculiar drift and purpose in their 
 heades, which by all meanes, right or wrong, they will 
 further and confirme, but did sincerely, and with good con- 
 science, seeke the true meaning of the spirit of God in the 
 holy scriptures, out of these testimonies of the Lawe of God : 
 might haue gathered a right and wholesome instruction, pro- 
 fitable not onely to Ministers of the Church, but to all other 
 good and faythfull Christians, to whom these places appertain, 
 as well as to bishops and Ministers. 
 
 The right ^°^ ^ Aaron the high Priest in the Lawe, was 
 ynderstand- the figure of the true high Priest Christ lesus our 
 places of the Sauiour : so the inferiour Priestes and Leuites seruing 
 oide Lawe. j^ the temple of God, represent vnto vs all other 
 
of Bishops Linings. 145 
 
 fkithfull and elect of God, whome hee hath chosen vnto him, 
 to serue him as his peculiar heritage, and in steed of the 
 first begotten of mankinde. To this interpretation alludeth 
 S. Peter, speaking, not to Priests alone, but to the whole 
 Church of God, and number of the faithfull. " You are" 
 (saith he) " a chosen generation, a royall priesthood, i. Pet. 2. 
 an holy nation." This exposition S. August, confirmeth, " As 
 for the Priesthoode" (saith he) " of the lewes, Lib.2.quest. 
 there is no faithfull man that doubteth, but that ^"*°" °' "' 
 it was a figure of the roiall Priesthood that should be in the 
 Church. Whereunto all they are consecrated, which apper- 
 taine to the mysticall body of the most high and true Prince 
 of Priestes, as Peter also witnesseth." 
 
 Bede also writeth very euidently to the same pur- I'i-de.temp. 
 
 Salom. cap. 
 
 pose. " By the name of Priesthood in the Scrip- le. 
 tures, figuratiuely is vnderstoode, not onely Ministers of the 
 Altar, that is, Bishops and Priestes : but all they which by 
 high and godly conuersation, and by excellencie of wholesome 
 doctrine, are profitable, not to themselues onely, but to many 
 other, while they offer their bodies as a liuelie and holy 
 Sacrifice well pleasing God. For Peter spake not to Priests 
 onlie but to the vniuersall Church of Ood." Nowe, if this 
 bee true, the right and sincere doctrine, that is to be taken 
 out of the testimonies of the law of God, is this, that as the 
 Preestes and Leuites had not a like porfion of inheritance 
 allotted vnto them, as the residue of their brethren had, but 
 God onely whome they serued, was their portion : so all faith- 
 fuL Christians, being of the true Priesthoode of God, must 
 not thinke they haue any allotted portion in this worlde, but 
 God onely is their portion, to whome they must cleaue, and 
 heauen to bee their inheritaunce after which they must seeke, 
 according as S. Paul saieth, " Wee haue heere no Heb. is. 
 abiding Citie, but wee seeke for one in Heauen. Wee be as 
 pilgrimes and straungers in this earth. Therefore if Cai. s. 
 wee bee risen with Christ, wee shoulde jseeke, those things 
 
146 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 that be aboue, where Christ our portion sitteth at the right 
 hand of God the Father, and our whole heart shoulde be 
 fastened vpon thinges aboue, and not on earthly thinges." 
 This instruction, as nighly and as deepely toucheth all 
 Christians, as it doth Bishops and Ministers of the Church 
 of God. 
 
 But countenaunce must bee giuen to this quarrell against 
 bishops, and this strange Assertion must bee confirmed by 
 the Prophets also, euen as aptly alledged as the other places 
 before mentioned. 
 
 Esai. 56. And first they beginne with Esay. " His watch- 
 
 out'of th"* men are all blinde, they haue altogether no vnder- 
 Prophetsfor standing, they are all dumbe dogges, not being able 
 
 the same iii i-i-i it 
 
 purpose. to barke, they are sleepie, sluggish, and he snortmg, 
 they are shamelesse dogges that neuer are satisfied, the 
 shepheards also haue no vndrstading, but euery man tumeth 
 his owne way, euery one after his couetousnesse with all his 
 power." Out of leremie also, are alledged these wordes. 
 lerem. 8. "I wil giue their wiues vnto aliens, and their fields 
 to destroyers : for from the lowest vnto the highest, they fol- 
 lowe filthie lucre, and from the Prophet to the Priest, they 
 deale all with lies." The Prophet EzecMel also is brought 
 in, to helpe this matter, where hee terribly thundreth against 
 negligent, naughtie and corrupt shepheards, that deuoure the 
 Ezech. 34. flocke and feed it not. " Thou sonne of man, pro- 
 phecie against the Shepheards of Israel, woe bee vnto the 
 Shepheardes of Israel, that feede themselues : shoulde not 
 the Shepheardes feede the flockes ? yee eate vp the fat, ye 
 clothe you with the wooU, the best fedde doe you slay, but 
 the flocke doe you not feede, the weake haue you not 
 strengthened, the sicke haue you not healed, the broken haue 
 you not bound together, &c. but with force and crueltie haue 
 you ruled them." Wise and discreete christians, that in 
 iudging of things feare to be deceiued, and looke to the direct 
 proofe of that which is in controuersie, will marueile to see 
 
of Bishops Liuings, 147 
 
 these testimonies alleadged, to the end before prefixed : that 
 is, that bishops may not enioy any temporall Landes. For 
 there is nothing in these places of the Prophets that toucheth 
 it. But if the ende were onely to make an inuectiue against 
 the negligent, corrupt, and couetous liues of bishops, or other 
 Ministers : indeede these allegations might seeme not alto- 
 gether to be vnfit for the purpose : And happily that is it 
 that is especially intended, by such meanes to make them 
 contemptible and odious. And yet this is no sincere handling 
 of the Scriptures, to apply those places to the particular 
 blaming of some one sort of men, which the spirite of God 
 directeth against many. Who being acquainted with the 
 Scriptures, knoweth not, that by the words Watchmen and 
 Shepheards, in the Prophets, are meant not only bishops. 
 Priests, and Leuites : but also Princes, Magistrates and 
 Rulers ? Vpon the place of Ezechiel aboue recited, Hierome 
 saith : " The speech is directed to the Shepherds of Hierome. 
 Israel ; by which we ought to vnderstand, the Kings, the 
 Princes, the Scribes and Pharises, and the Masters of the 
 people." And againe vpon these words, " The fat they did 
 eate, by a metaphore" (saith hee) " the Prophet speaketh to 
 the Princes, of whom it is said in another place. Which 
 deuoure my people as it were bread." Yea, when Psalm. 32. 
 God himselfe saith in this same place oi Ezechiel, " with force 
 and crueltie haue ye ruled them :" It may euidently appeare, 
 that he speaketh not there to ecclesiastical ministers only, but 
 to Princes, ludges, and rulers also, which sucke the sweete 
 from the people of God, and do not carefully see to their 
 defence, and godly gouernment, but suffer them to bee spoyled 
 of their enemies, and fa wander from God, and his true wor- 
 ship. But what should I seeme to proue that, which all 
 learned knowe to bee most true ? The spirite of God speak- 
 eth to the same purpose by these Prophets vnder figuratiue 
 wordes, that he doeth by other Prophets in playne speeche. 
 " O yee Priestes" (sayeth Osee) " heare this O yee «sec. s. 
 
 H 2 
 
148 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 house of Israel, giue eare O thou house of the King : ludge- 
 ment ip against you, because you are become a snare in 
 Mispath, and a spread nette in Mount Thabor," that is, you, 
 as hunters lay wayte to snare the people, and to oppresse 
 them by couetousnesse, extortion, and briberie : and your 
 corrupt manners is as a nette to take other in, by your euill 
 example. And likewise sayth Micheas. " Heare this O yee 
 heads of the house of laacob, and yee Princes of the house 
 of Israel : they abhorre iudgements and peruert equitie : They 
 build vp Sion with blood, and Hierusalem with iniquitie. 
 The heads thereof iudge by rewardes, and the Priestes 
 thereof teache for hire, and their Prophets prophecie for 
 money." These bee the ordinarie voyces of the holy Ghost, 
 vttered by the Prophets, in sharpe and earnest reproouing, 
 not onely for the people for their wicked reuolting from God, 
 but also, yea and that chiefly, for the Princes, Rulers Magis- 
 trates, ludges. Bishops, Pristes, ministers and other, whome 
 God hath set in place of gouernment. For God hath ap- 
 poynted them, as Shepheards, as guiders, and Patrons of his 
 people, to direct them, to keepe them, to defend them in his 
 true worship, and right seruice, and, if they will bee wander- 
 ing from him, eyther by errour in Religion, or by.wickednesse 
 in life, to instruct and teach them, and by all meanes that may 
 .bee, to call them home againe : or if they will not bee ruled, 
 byauthoritie to bridle and 'restraine them, yea, and by punish- 
 ment to correct them. Now if the watchmen and Shepheards, 
 that is, the guiders and rulers of the people, whether they bee 
 Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall, shall waxe ignorant, and vnskilfull of 
 their dueties, shall become negligent and carelesse of their 
 charge, shall be giuen ouer to voluptuousnesse and pleasure 
 of the wqrld, or to couetousnesse, bribery, and extortion, to 
 iniurie, violence and oppression, and in their gouernment 
 seeke their owne pleasure and commoditie, and nothing re- 
 garde, either the benefite of the people, or the glory of God : 
 then (I say).these speeches of tlie Prophets lie directly against 
 
of Bishops Liuings'. 149 
 
 them, and may well bee vsed to declare the wrath of God 
 towards them. But what maketh this to the purpose pre- 
 tended ? how hangeth this reason together ? God by the Pro- 
 phets earnestly reproueth the gouernours, aswell of the 
 Church as of the commonweale, for their wickednesse, coue- 
 tousnesse, and extortion : therefore bishops, and ecclesiasticall 
 ministers may not by the word of God enioy temporall lands 
 and possessions. Or this, God blameth the priestes of the 
 olde lawe for couetousnesse : therefore the bishops of the 
 church of Christ may haue no Landes and possessions. They 
 that wil be perswaded with such reasons, wil easily be caried 
 away into error. If it were certaine, and did of necessitie 
 followe, that all they, which haue great liuings and possessions, 
 must needes bee couetous : then happily this reasoning might 
 bee of some force. But I thinke there is no reasonable man 
 that wil graunt it, and therefore this reasoning is without all 
 reason. The Priests and Leuites, as themselues confesse, had 
 no great lands and lordships, and yet wee finde them often 
 in the Prophets accused and blamed for couetous- Neither 
 nesse : therefore it is not the want of temporall lands ^° bring'a 
 and liuings, that can bring a poore heart and con- contented 
 
 ° ' o i mind: nei- 
 
 tented minde, voide of couetousnes. We see often ther great 
 
 as couetous and greedie hearts in meane mens p"^'^'^'^'™^ 
 bosoms, as in the greatest landed Lordes in a whole vetousnes. 
 Country. And on the contrary part, wee finde in them that 
 haue verie great possessions, as humble, and as contented 
 mindes, and as farre from the affection of couetousnesse, as 
 in the meanest man that is. 
 
 loh was of great wealth and possessions, and yet wee reade 
 not that hee was euer blamed for couetousnesse : Yea hee 
 beareth witnesse of his owne free heart and liberality, and 
 sayth, " Hee neuer set his heart vpon Gold, nor saide lob. si. 
 to the wedge of Golde, Thou art my hope, nor reioyced of 
 beeing rich, nor because his hande had founde abundance, &c." 
 Abraham also was rich, and God had blessed him with great 
 
150 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 possessions, and yet surely his heart was farre from the loue 
 of money. 
 
 Joseph had no small possessions, and was in place of honour, 
 and yet fewe in the meanest state or degree did euer keepe a 
 more humble heart, or put lesse delight in honour and riches 
 then hee did. I might say the same of Dauid, though a king, 
 and of Daniel, though in very high estate, and in great autho- 
 ritie, and as it may bee thought, in liuing proportionable to the 
 same. When Christ in the gospell had saide, that it was " as 
 Matt. 19. vnpossible for a rich man to enter into heauen, as for 
 Mar. 10. ^ Camell to goe through the eie of a needle," and 
 his Disciples had wondered at that saying, hee aunswered : 
 Luke 13. " That which is with man impossible, is possible with 
 God." Albeit mans corrupt nature, as it is generally giuen 
 to all ill, so it is chiefely inclined to couetousnesse, and 
 delight of the worlde : Yet the good grace of Gods holy 
 Spirite doeth so guide the hearts of his faythfull, that in the 
 midst of greatest abundaunce of his plentifuU blessings, they 
 can retaine the feare of God, and contempt of the worlde. 
 Wherefore, it is great rashnesse and presumption, to con- 
 demne all them to bee giuen ouer to couetousnesse and delight 
 of the worlde, whom they see by the state of the Common- 
 weale, or by the goodnesse of the Prince, or by any other 
 lawfull and iust meanes to haue landes and possessions, or 
 wealth and riches, according to their state. Such persons as 
 so rashly deeme of other, may seeme rather to bewray the 
 sicknesse and ill disposition of their owne mindes, then to 
 iudge truely of them, whome in such case they condemne. 
 It is the pouertie and humblenesse of Spirite and minde, it 
 Matth. 6. is not the pouertie and basenesse of outwarde estate 
 and condition, vnto the which Christ imputeth Gods blessings. 
 If couetousnesse be " a desire to haue, for feare of want and 
 scarcitie," as some learned men haue defined it : then is apoore 
 estate to a corrupt minde a greater spurre to couetousnesse, 
 then lands and plentie of liuing can bee. Before that bishops 
 
of Bishops Linings, 151 
 
 and Ministers had any Landes assigned vnto them, yea, when 
 they were yet vnder the Crosse of persecution in the Serm. de. 
 time of Cyprian : wee reade that hee findeth great ^^//aeba 
 fault with many bishops, which leauing the care of ^^- ^- Not 
 their charge, went from place to place, vsing vnlaw- then 200!'° 
 full meanes to get riches, practising vsurie, and bv ^^^^^ ^"^' 
 
 „-,.,. . , •' Christs as- 
 
 cratt and subtiltie gettmg other mens lands from cension. 
 them. 
 
 In like manner complaine Hierome, Augustine, Chrysostome, 
 Basile, and other auncient Writers, and Histories of their 
 time. Yea, in the Apostles time wee see some giuen ouer 
 to the worlde, and ledde away with couetousnesse, when 
 Ministers as yet lined onely vpon the free beneuolence of the 
 people. Wherefore, it is not pouertie, or a lowe and con- 
 temptible state in the face of the worlde, that can bring a 
 satisfied and contented Spirite. And surely I am of this 
 opinion, that a poore and straight state of lining in the Minis- 
 terie, especially in these dayes, woulde bee a greater cause of 
 euill and inconuenience in the church, and a more vehement 
 temptation to carry away their mindes from the care of their 
 OflSce, then nowe their ample and large liuings are. I coulde, 
 and will (when God shall giue occasion) declare good reason 
 of this my opinion : which for some considerations I thinks 
 good at this time to lette passe. 
 
 If our bishops and other chiefe of the Cleargie, beeing 
 nowe in the state of our Church, by the prouidence of God, 
 and singular goodnes of our Prince so amplie prouided for, 
 be so vnthankfiill vnto God, and so giuen ouer to the worlde, 
 as they are bitterly accused to bee : surely their fault must 
 needes bee the greater, neyther will I, or any other that 
 feareth God, in that poynt excuse them, but pray to God (if 
 there bee any such) that these odious reportes spredde vpon 
 them, may bee a meanes to put them in remembraunce of 
 their duety, and to amend. But vndoubtedly (good Chris- 
 tians) I speak it with my heart, mee thinketh I doe foresee 
 
152 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 at hand those dayes, and that time, when GOD of his iustice 
 will both condignly rewarde our vnthankfuU receiuing of his 
 Gospell, and contempt of his Ministers, and also giue to them 
 iust occasion to declare vnto their aduersaries and euill 
 speakers, that they are not such bond-slaues of the world, nor 
 bee so lead away captiue with the lusts of the flesh, as they 
 are defamed. Yea, I thinke, this crosse of contempt, slaunder 
 and reproch, that nowe is layd vpon them, is Gods fatherlie 
 admonition to warne them : and as it were a meane to pre- 
 pare them to that day that is comming : which day vn- 
 doubtedly will bee " a day of wrath, a day of trouble and 
 heauinesse, a day of vtter destruction and misery, a darke and 
 gloomy day, a cloudie and stormie day, a day of the trumpet 
 and of the alarme against the strong cities. On that day will 
 Sophon. 1.2. the Lord search Hierusalem with Lanthoms, and 
 visite them which continue in their dregges, and say. Tush,- 
 the Lorde will doe no euill. Therefore their' goods shall be 
 spoiled, their houses shall bee laid waste, they shall build 
 gay houses, and not dwell in them, they shall plant vineyardes 
 but not drinke the wine thereof. In that day the Lorde will 
 visite the Princes, and Kinges Children, amd all such as weare 
 gay cloathing, and all those that leape ouer the thresholde so 
 proudly, and fill their Lordes houses with robberie, and false- 
 hoode. On that day God will bring the people into such 
 vexation, that they shall goe about like blinde men, and all 
 because they haue sinned against the Lord, and contemned 
 his worde." Wherefore, I most heartily pray vnto God, that 
 we altogether, both Prince and people, honourable and wor- 
 shipfuU, ecclesiasticall and lay persons, preachers and hearers, 
 may ioine together in the faythfuU remembrance of that day, 
 and to consider that it can not bee farre from vs, and there- 
 fore that it is full time, and more then time, to turne vnto 
 God by hearty repentance, and faithfuU receiuing of his worde; 
 For surelie the sentences of the Prophets, of some men par- 
 tially and affectionately applied to the Clergy and ministers 
 
of Bishops Linings. 153: 
 
 only, do in right and true meaning touch vs all, of al states 
 and conditions. But I wil returne to my matter againe. 
 
 The testimonie of Malachy vsed of some to like effect, as 
 the other before, I haue purposely left to this place : because 
 it speaketh particularly of priestes, and therefore will they 
 haue it more nighly to touch our bishops &c. " And now 
 O yee Priestes" (sayth the Prophet) " this com- Mala. 2. 
 mandement is for you, &c." And a litle after, making com- 
 parison betweene Leui and the Priests of that time, " The 
 Law of trueth was in his mouth, and there was no iniquitie 
 founde in his lippes, he walked with me in peace and in 
 equitie, and hee turned many from their iniquitie : but yee 
 haue gone out of the way, yee haue caused many to fall by 
 the Lawe, ye haue corrupted the couenant of Leui, sayth the 
 Lord of hosts : therefore haue I made you despised, and vile 
 before the people." These wordes of the Prophet doe so 
 touch our bishops and clergie men, if they be so euill as they 
 are made, as all sentences wherein the Prophets blame the 
 Priests of their time, doe touch euill Ministers of the Church : 
 but howe they eyther specially nippe our bishoppes, as it is 
 thought, or any thing. pertaine to the proofe of the principall 
 matter, or reproouing of Preachers liuings by Landes, I see 
 not. In deede this sentence of Malachi might bee rightly 
 vsed against the Pope and his Prelates, which neglecting the 
 whole dutie of Gods ministers, both in preaching and liuing, 
 stayed themselues vpon the authoritie of Saint Peter, and of 
 succession, as though the Spirite of God had beene bounde 
 to their succession, though they taught and liued neuer so 
 corruptly. For so in deede did these priestes whom Malachi 
 reprooueth : they neglected the true worshippe of God, and 
 yet woulde they bee accompted his good and true Priestes, 
 because they were of the tribe of Leui, with whom Num. 25. 
 God had made his couenant, that hee and his seede shoulde. 
 haue the office of the high priesthood for euer. But Malachi 
 sayth they haue broken the couenant on their part. 
 
 H 3 
 
154 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 That our Bishops and Ministers doe not challenge to holde 
 by succession, it is most euident: their whole doctrine and 
 preaching is contrary : they vnderstand and teach, that neither 
 they, nor any other can haue Gods fauour so annexed and 
 tyed to them, but that, if they leaue their dueties by Gods 
 worde prescribed, they must in his sight leese the prehemi- 
 nence of his Ministers, and bee subiect to his wrath and 
 punishment. They knowe, and declare to all men, that the 
 couenant on the behalfe of Leui, that is, on the behalfe of the 
 Ministers of God to be perfourmed, consisteth in these three 
 branches : by preaching to teache the right way of saluation, 
 and to sette foorth the true worshippe of God : to keepe peace 
 and quietnesse in the Church of God: and thirdly, by honest 
 life to bee example vnto others. 
 
 These branches of the couenant, if our Bishops and Preach- 
 ers haue corrupted and broken, they haue to answere for it 
 before God, and their punishment will be exceeding grieuous. 
 
 As for their doctrine, I am right sure, and (in the feare of 
 GOD I speake it) will hazarde my life to trye it, that all their 
 enemies shall neuer bee able so to prooue it, but that it shall 
 bee founde sincere and true : so that I doubt not, but GOD 
 him selfe will beare witnesse with them, as hee did with Leni, 
 that trueth is in their mouth, and (as touching their doctrine) 
 no iniquitie founde in their lippes. For they doe both teache 
 the trueth according to the Scriptures, sincerely, and confound 
 the errours of the Antichristian Church, learnedly and truely. 
 
 They therfore that speake so much against them, may 
 seeme lesse to regarde this part of their obseruing the coue- 
 nant of Leui, then the duetie of Christians requireth. But I 
 trust, our mercifuU God will fauourably consider it, and 
 beare with some other their imperfections in them. I pray 
 God wee be not lighted into that time, that men haue itching 
 eares, and can like no Preachers, but such as clawe their 
 affections, and feede their fantasies in vanities and newe 
 deuises. The couenant of peace they keepe also, lining in 
 
of Bishops Liuings, 155 
 
 vnitie and peace among themselues, and studying (so much as 
 they can) by teaching, and by good order, to keepe it among 
 other. And that is no small cause of their mishking at this 
 time, because they, being in some place of gouemment, 
 according to their dueties striue to represse those, which by 
 vntemperate zeale seeke to disturbe the Church, and to giue 
 cause of faction and disorder, by altering things externall in a 
 setled and refourmed state. 
 
 As touching their liues and conuersations according to the 
 Lawe of God, (as before I haue said) if I must iudge accord- 
 ing to that I knowe, I must thinke the best, because I know 
 no ill. Though there be imperfections in some things : if men 
 woulde charitablie consider, in what time wee liue, and whose 
 Messengers they are, and somewhat withall descend into their 
 owne bosomes, and lay their owne dueties before their eyes : 
 I thinke surely they would iudge of them more christianly 
 then many doe. 
 
 Ohiection, 
 
 " But they will say, that according to the wordes of Mala- 
 chie, God sheweth his iudgement against them for their 
 wickednesse, because hee hatli made them so contemptible, so 
 vile and despised before all the people: for (say they) wee 
 may see howe all men loath and disdaine them." 
 
 Answere. 
 
 It must needes be true (I confesse) that Malachi spake of 
 the Priests of his time : but I doe not take it to be alwayes an 
 vnfalUble token of euill Priests and Ministers, or a certaine 
 signe of Gods displeasure towarde them, when the people doe 
 hate, disdaine, and contemne them. I see more commonly in 
 the Scriptures, that it is a token of unthankefuU, stubborne, 
 and hard-hearted people, which smally regarde the worde of 
 God, and therefore also mislike his Ministers. EliaSj Mi- 
 eheas, Amos, and other Prophets were smally esteemed, you 
 
156 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 knowe, among the Israelites, Esay, leremie, Ezechiel, were 
 euen of as small credite and estimation among the lewes. It 
 may aippeare so to bee, seeing Esay signified, that they lilled 
 out their tongues, in mocking of him, and other of his time. 
 And I am sure, you knowe the fauour and entertainement that 
 the Apostles had also among the same people. I trust then 
 you will not say it was a token of naughtie and corrupt Minis- 
 ters, or of Gods iust iudgement against them : for they were 
 the right and true Prophets, Apostles, and Messengers of 
 God, and yet were in great hatred and misliking of them 
 that thought themselues to be the people of God. 
 
 It may be surely, and in deede I thinke it to be very true, 
 that God hath touched our bishops and Preachers with this 
 scourge of ignominie and reproch, for their slackenesse and 
 negligence in their office: And I pray God they may take 
 this mercifuU warning, and shunne his greater plagues. But 
 I must say withall, as Christ sayth of the Galileans, whose 
 Luke 13. blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifice, and of them 
 vpon whome the Tower of Siloe fel: "Doe you thinke, that 
 they onely are sinners ? nay I say vnto you, if you do not 
 repent, you shall all taste of the same sharpe iustice." If 
 God punish his Ministers, hee will not suiFer the other 
 vntouched. " Nowe the time is come that the iudgement 
 1 Pet. 4. beginneth at the house of God," and if God punish 
 those that hee sent with his worde, what will hee doe to them 
 that vnthankfuUy receiue his worde ? 
 
 Proofes out That this matter of Eeclesiasticall mens liuinss 
 
 oftheNewe ° 
 
 Testament may seeme to be of great importance, and such m 
 against the Jeede as God hath had much care of in all times : as 
 
 rich huings , 
 
 of Bishops, before it hath beene countenanced by the Lawe and 
 Prophets, so must it nowe bee drawen also through the whole 
 course of the newe Testament. Yea, whatsoeuer is vsed, 
 eyther of Christ himselfe or of his Aposdes, against coue- 
 tousnesse, of the loue and care of this worlde, and delight of 
 
of Bishops Linings, 15Y 
 
 this life ; all that, either by fayre meanes or foule, is brought 
 into this fort, to batter and shake the lands and possessions of ■ 
 Bishoppes, and other of the Cleargie. 
 
 And first men are willed, to call to remembrance the ex- 
 ample of Christ our Sauiour, his birth, the state of his life, the 
 choise of his apostles, and his perpetuall doctrine, exhorting 
 to pouerty and contempt of the worlde. " His parents" (say 
 they) " were poore, and lined by an handle craft, descended of 
 a stocke and kinred growen altogether out of credite in the 
 worlde : insteede of a princely chamber, born in an Oxe stall, 
 wrapped in poore clothes, in steede of white and fine linnen : 
 layed in a cribbe for want of a rich cradle: and in place of 
 worthie seruitours, hee had the presence of an Oxe and an 
 Asse. And that hee might shewe*himselfe to delight in 
 pouertie and contempt of the worlde, his natiuitie was first 
 reuealed vnto poore Shepheards watching their flockes. As 
 hee was borne, so was hee bredde, in the poore and contempt- 
 rble Towne of Nazareth, out of the which Nathaniel thought 
 nothing worthy credite coulde come: in which Towne, as it 
 may bee thought, by the exercise of an handle craft, hee 
 liued in obedience of Joseph, and of his Mother. Such as his 
 birth and breeding was, such was the state of his lining, when 
 the full time of his dispensation came : for hee was not borne 
 to any Landes or possessions, neyther had hee any great 
 wealth and riches to susteine him selfe, yea, not so much as 
 an house to put his heade in, but was maynteined by the 
 almes as it were, and by the charitable deuotion of certaine 
 wealthie women of Galiley, and other godly persons. His 
 Apostles that he chose to followe him, and to bee the Ministers 
 of his kingdome, he tooke not out of the state of Princes, 
 noble men, or great and rich Lordes, with Landes and do- 
 minions : but out of the pore state, and condition of fishers, 
 Tent-makers, and toule-gatherers. And thus may wee see our 
 Lorde and Christ altogether wrapped in pouerty, and besette on 
 euery side with the base and contemptible state of the world." 
 
158 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 But to what purpose is all this alleaged ? Forsooth, that 
 wee may vnderstande, that it is not lawfull for such as bee 
 guides of the Lordes floeke, to liue in any other state, then 
 in that the Lorde gaue example of: " For whosoeuer seeketh 
 Christ" (say they) " in other state and sort, then hee gaue 
 example of, seeketh not Christ, but Antichrist and the pompe 
 of the world." So that the sense and effect of the reason 
 is this : Christ was borne, bredde, and lined in pouertie, 
 and chose vnto him Apostles of poore condition : therefore 
 bishoppes and Ministers of the Church must haue no Landes 
 or possessions, but stay them selues in like poore state, as 
 Christ and his Apostles did. I doe not, frame this argument 
 (good Reader) of purpose to cauill, but to admonish thee of 
 the principall state, and that considering the proofe to bee 
 naked in it selfe, thou mayest the better iudge of the strength 
 thereof. 
 
 Surely, I will hencefoorth cease to marueile at the wrested 
 and violent interpretations that Hermites, Monkes and friers 
 haue made vpon the scriptures, to iustifie and set foorth their 
 superstitious life of voluntarie pouertie and forsaking the 
 world ; seeing professors of the gospel, to maintaine their 
 new doctrines, take vpon themselues the like liberty and 
 boldnesse, in abusing the holy Scriptures and worde of God : 
 And yet surely it doth grieue mee, and make my heart bleede 
 to see it. What shall the aduersarie thinke of our dealing 
 with the Scriptures? Surely, that wee doe in so earnest 
 manner pull them from the interpretation of the Fathers and 
 of the Church, to the ende that by applying them according 
 to our owne fantasies, we may set foorth and seeme to iustifie 
 to the worlde, what doctrine soeuer we shall thinke good our 
 selues : And so shall this bee an occasion to discredite all the 
 particular doctrines of the Gospell, which hitherto, as well 
 this Church of England, as other Churches reformed haue 
 taught. But to vnderstand the weight of this reason before 
 vsed against the wealthie linings of our Clergie, wee must 
 
of Bishops Linings. 159 
 
 trie it by a right and iust balance ; that is, by the true mean- 
 ing of the holy Ghost. First therefore, let vs consider the 
 causes of Christes pouertie, and of the choyce of such Apos- 
 tles, which in mine opinion are two : The one is the '^^^ "k''' 
 
 . . „ , . , , . causes of 
 
 necessitie of our redemption : the other is an ex- christes po- 
 ample and iust instruction set foorth vnto Christians, "f^f *""* 
 
 ^ his Apos- 
 
 As touching the first, when the certaine purpose of ties. 
 God had determined that his sonne shoulde come into the 
 worlde, to worke the redemption of mankinde, and his 
 deliueraimce from sinne : necessarie it was for him to satisfie 
 the iustice of God, in sustaining all those difficulties and 
 punishmentes, that were due to man for sinne : that is to 
 say, affliction, ignominie, reproch, contempt, pouertie, and 
 all worldly troubles and miseries, and last of all, death. 
 This is it that the Prophet Esai/ spake of long before. 
 Hee is despised and abhorred of men, hee is such a Esai. ss. 
 man as hath good experience of sorowes and infirmities : we 
 reckned him so vile that we hidde our faces from him. How- 
 beit hee onely hath taken our infirmities on him, and borne 
 our paynes. Yet wee did iudge him as though he were 
 plagued and cast downe of God." This is that humiliation 
 and debasing of himselfe that Paul speaketh of, when hee 
 sayth, " Hee being in the forme of God, thought it Phu. 2. 
 no robberie to bee equall with God, but made him selfe of no 
 reputation, taking on him the forme of a seruant, and made in 
 the likenesse of men, and founde in figure as a man, hee 
 humbled himselfe, made obedient vnto death, euen to the 
 death of the Crosse." These places (good Christians) declare 
 vnto vs, both the pouerty and contemptible state of Christ 
 here in earth, and also the very roote and principall cause 
 thereof: that is, the saluation of mankinde. The sonne of 
 God became the sonne of man, that he. might make vs the 
 children of God : he was borne a weake and tender babe, that 
 hee might make vs strong men in him : hee was tied in 
 swadling bands, that hee might loose and deliuer vs from the 
 
160 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 bondes of the fraile and sinful! flesh : he was wrapped in 
 poore clowtes, that with the garment of his innocencie, he 
 might hide our nakednes : he was borne and liued poorly, 
 that he might make vs rich and plentiful in him : he was a 
 stranger in the worlde, and had not an house to put his head 
 in, that he might purchase for vs a citie and heritage in 
 heauen : he was borne vnder bondage, and payed tribute to 
 Ccesar, that hee might deliuer vs from the tyranny of Hel : 
 he was debased euen to the company of bruite beasts, that 
 hee might bring vs to the glorious company of Angels : he 
 laye in hay in a Crib, that hee might procure euerlasting 
 food for our soules : finally, hee was accused of sin and put 
 to most cruel death, that we being iustified by his merite, 
 might appeare innocent in the sight of God. These be the 
 sweete and comfortable cogitations that good Christians should 
 conceiue vpon the consideration of Christs poore and base 
 state in this life. For pouerty in Christ was not so much 
 for exaple of life, as to satisfie a punishment due to sinne. 
 Riches is the good blessing and gift of God : but pouerty 
 came in at the same doore that death did, that is, by the dis- 
 obedience of our first father. We may not therefore thinke 
 with Monks and Friers, that pouertie in it- self is a more holy 
 state of liuing, then wealth and riches is. But of that more 
 hereafter. Now let vs consider what maner of pouerty this 
 was in Christ. Christ was in himself exceeding rich, both 
 as the son of God, and as the sonne of man. As God, he 
 loh. 16. had al things common with his father. " All things 
 that my father hath" (saith he) " are mine." And againe, 
 lohn 17. " All thine are mine, and mine are thine." As 
 touching his humanitie, hee is likewise of great possessions. 
 Psai. 2. For his Father sayth vnto him, " Desire of me, and 
 J shal giue thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the 
 vttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." How hapned 
 it then, y' Christ being in right Lord of so great possessions, 
 became in the time of his dispensation, almost in the state of 
 
of Bishops Linings. 161 
 
 a beggar ? certainly, quia ipse voluit, because he would him- 
 self. For he that filleth heaue and earth, was born in an 
 Oxe stale in Bethleem : he that had al power in the whole 
 world, was a banished person for a certaine time in Egypt : 
 he that feedeth with sustenance man and beast, foule and fish, 
 partly by labor gate his lining, partly was fed with the 
 liberalitie of other. He that prouideth apparel for al things, 
 hung naked vpon the Crosse : he that sitteth in heauen as his 
 throne, and hath the earth for his footestoole, at an other 
 mans charge was buried and layde in a strange Sepulchre. 
 Christes pouertie therfore was willing, not of any necessitie 
 of holynesse, as I haue said, but to beare that which for sinne 
 was due to vs. Nowe, I pray you, marke the strength of the 
 former reason. Christ, to sustaine the punishment due to our 
 sinnes, lined in great pouertie and humilitie in this worlde : 
 therefore Bishops and Ministers of the Church, of necessitie; 
 must liue in pouerty, and not haue any wealthy liuings, by 
 landes or otherwise. I trust they that haue care of their 
 consciences, will not easily be led to any perswasion by such 
 reasons. They will say, Christ did this also for our example. 
 I graunt, in some respect he did so : By his example he 
 teacheth vs humblenesse and modestie, that we may not bee 
 loath to doe those things, that he did, for the benefit and 
 commoditie of our christian brother. If we so swel with 
 pride, that in respect of our Noblenesse, or birth, or great . 
 estate in the worlde, wee disdaine other, and thinke our poore 
 neighbour doeth vs iniurie, if hee in respect of christian 
 brotherhood require of vs a benefit for his better reliefe : then 
 is it time for vs, to behold the Sonne of God lying poorly 
 in a cribbe or manger, betweene beastes : who, although he 
 were God eternall with his Father, and by his mother borne 
 of the most noble family of manie Kinges and Prophets : yet 
 for our sake hee did so humble and debase himselfe, that he 
 came in so poore and vile condition before men. Further- 
 more, Christ by his example, hath as it were consecrated 
 
1 62 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 pouertie, trouble, miserie, and affliction, that they may not 
 be accompted tokes of the wrath of God, or such things as 
 doe hinder true piety and holines, or let the saluation of our 
 soules. For as mans nature doeth abhorre al afflictions : so 
 chiefly doe men thinke pouertie and neede, to be not onely 
 one of the greatest miseries that can happen to man, but also 
 hateful! to God himselfe. Thus we see men commonly to 
 think of such, as are any way fallen into pouerty and misery. 
 Let loh hereof be an example. In this cause also it is ex- 
 pedient for vs to looke vpon our poore Christ, and to set him 
 before our eyes, that wee may both more patiently beare 
 these thinges, when for Gods cause they light vpon vs, and 
 more charitably iudge of other, whom God therewith toucheth : 
 yea, it is good to teach vs to pull downe our brissles, when we 
 waxe proude of those giftes of plenty and riches, that God 
 hath giuen vs. Thus you see what profit the example of 
 Christes pouerty bringeth : but I pray you, to who is Christ 
 an example ? to bishops and Ministers only ? did he liue in 
 poore and miserable state for Ministers only ? did he die for 
 their sinnes onely ? God forbid. He was borne, he lined, he 
 died for all mankind, and all faithful haue the fruit of this 
 his birth, his life, and his death. Therefore the example of 
 Christs life must stretch further the to Bishops and Ministers. 
 It is a farre truer argument to say, Christ lined a simple and 
 poore life, while he was here on earth : therefore all Chris- 
 tians ought to liue in the same manner that he did, then to 
 apply the same onely to Ministers and Ecclesiasticall persons. 
 Therefore I will all Christians to beware of this hereticall and 
 Anabaptisticall assertion : 
 
 " Whosoeuer seeketh Christ in other state and sort then 
 hee gaue example of, seeketh not Christ, but Antichrist, and 
 the pompe of the world." 
 
 For if this sentence be applied to the example of the poore 
 state of Christ, it is the very ground of Anabaptisticall com- 
 munitie, and that none can be saued, but such as renounce 
 
of Bishops Liuings, 163 
 
 all their goods and possessions. Albeit the example of 
 
 Christ in this place be applied to Ministers onely : yet in 
 
 trueth it appertaineth to all other faithfull, as wel as to them. 
 
 And if the Argument shal be counted good now : hereafter, 
 
 with as good likelihood, and farre truer interpretation, it may 
 
 be vsed against al that shal truely professe Christ. As 
 
 touching that Christ chose so simple Apostles, and of so 
 
 poore estate. Saint Paul sheweth the reason and cause thereof. 
 
 " Brethren" (saith hee) " you see your calling, howe i. Cor. 4. 
 
 that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mightie, not 
 
 many Noble are called : but God hath chosen the foolish 
 
 things to confound the wise, and the weake things to confounde 
 
 the mightie, and vnnoble things of the world, and things that 
 
 are despised, God hath chosen, and things which are not, to 
 
 bring to nought things that are, that no flesh shoulde glorie 
 
 in his presence." If Christ in the entrance of his Kingdome, 
 
 going about to subdue the world to his knowledge, shoulde 
 
 haue vsed the seruice and ministerie of Princes, Noblemen, 
 
 great, wealthie, and rich men : or of such as had bene wise, 
 
 learned, and eloquent, and politique : the glorie of his mightie 
 
 conquest would haue bene attributed to the power and might, 
 
 to the wealth and riches, to tlie wisdome and learning, to the 
 
 eloquence and policie of those, which had bene his ministers, 
 
 and so the glorie of God in that worke of mans saluatioti^ 
 
 should haue bene diminished. Therefore God, to shewe his 
 
 power in heauenly things, ouerthwarted the wisedome of the 
 
 world, and chose his Apostles poore, vnnoble, simple, vn- 
 
 learned, without eloquece, farre from the cunning, wisedome, 
 
 and policie of the world, and by them and by their preaching 
 
 in fewe yeeres wanne the whole worlde to his knowledge, and 
 
 defaced the kingdome of Sathan, consisting in superstition, 
 
 idolatrie, and wickednesse. And in deede, this order of Gods 
 
 woorking by these poore and vnlearned men, preuailed 
 
 against all the Nobilitie, the honour, the power, the might, 
 
 the wisedome, the policie, learning, the eloquence of the 
 
164 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 worlde, so that it might bee truely sayde, " Non est potentia; 
 non est prudentia, non est consilium aduersus Dominum." 
 But what hereof is to bee concluded to this purpose ? for- 
 sooth, " that as Christ thought it fittest to chuse onely poors 
 men to his Apostles, and sent them abroade without any stay 
 of Liuing in the worlde : so hee thinketh it meetest, that his 
 Ministers in his Church in all times and places should be in 
 poore estate, and not to haue any wealth or riches." 
 
 It is good to consider this reason also, that you be not 
 more ledde with it, then the weight and force of it re- 
 quireth. The office of the Apostles was, to goe from 
 Countrey to Countrey, from place to place, to plant Churches 
 vnto God, so that they could not haue any certaine stay of 
 Liuing : It is not therefore like reason, that in a setled 
 Church where the Gospel is receiued, the Ministers and 
 Preachers thereof may haue no certaine forme of Liuing ap- 
 poynted them, eyther by land or otherwise* As Christ chose 
 his Apostles poore, so hee chose them simple, and vnlearned, 
 without eloquence, or any kinde of knowledge, that his glorie 
 thereby might the more be set foorth : Shall we therefore in- 
 ferre thereupon, that it is fittest alwayes for the Ministers of 
 the Church, to bee simple, without learning, eloquence, and 
 knowledge ? It is well knowen that the Anabaptists, and 
 some other phanaticall spirits troubling the reformed Churches 
 beyond the seas, vpon the same example of the Apostles haue 
 gathered, that learning and knowledge is not to bee respected 
 in the choyce of Ministers : because God needeth no such 
 helpes to set forth his Gospel, yea they say that learning and 
 eloquence are perillous instruments, to corrupt the simplicitie 
 of the Gospel, and to giue countenance to errour. Wherefore 
 such persons doe vsually admit among them to the Minis- 
 terie handicrafts men, and such as challenge to themselues the 
 spirite of God onely, without further knowledge. But the 
 godly, I doubt not, vnderstand that all things neither can, nor 
 ought to be like in the state of the Church beginning and. 
 
of Bishops Linings. 165 
 
 vnder persecution, and in the Church setled and liuing in 
 peace and quietnesse. 
 
 The Ministers and Preachers of our Church, beside the ex- 
 ample of Christ and his Apostles liuing in pouertie, are willed 
 diligently to looke into the perpetual doctrine, which Christ 
 in all the Euangelists doeth teach them, touching the state of 
 their liuing, namely against riches, couetousnesse, the gloria 
 of the world, and care of this life. To this doctrine ap- 
 perteyneth that which Christ teacheth. Matth. 6. That 
 they " shoulde not hoarde vp treasure for themselues Matth. s. 
 vpon earth, where thieues breaks through and steale ^^^^ '2. 
 them, but that they should lay vp treasures in heauen &c. 
 That they can not serue two masters, God and Mammon :" 
 That they shoulde not " bee carefull for their life, what they 
 shoulde eate, what they shoulde drinke, or what apparell they 
 shoulde put on : but cast all their care vpon God, and seeke 
 his kingdome, and the righteousnesse thereof," for that it is 
 heathenish carefully to seeke after those other things, which 
 God of himselfe will plentifully cast vpon his : that riches, 
 and the pleasures and cares of this life, are resembled to 
 thornes which choake vp the good seede of Gods Matth. 13. 
 word, and make that it cannot prosper: "That it is Mar. 4. 
 as vnpossible for a rich man to enter into the king- Matth 19 
 dome of God, as for a Camell to goe through the eye i,^_ g 
 of a needle :" That hee cryeth out, " woe to them ^""^ J^' 
 that are full, for they shall bee hungrie : and to them that bee 
 rich, because they haue alreadie their comfort and consolation:" 
 yea, he willeth them to "sell all that they haue, and giue 
 vnto the poore," with a number of other places: wherein hee 
 instructing his disciples and followers, vtterly willeth them to 
 renounce this world and the treasures thereof. Whereupon 
 it is thought it may be very well concluded, that the Minister.s 
 ,pf the Church may not haue any wealthy liuings and espe-: 
 .cially by landes and lordships : and therefore that our Bishops 
 -bee not the true followers of Christ, but walke in the steps of 
 
166 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 Antichrist. Surely our Sauiour Christ did see, that as the 
 perpetuall enemie of mankinde did continually seeke by all 
 wayes to drawe men from God : so he did not vse any meane 
 more commonly, then by honour, glorie, riches and wealth. 
 And therefore when he saw that Christ coulde not by other 
 temptations bee ouercome, he assaulted him with ambition and 
 desire of principalitie, honour, and lordship. This temptation 
 is therefore the more dangerous, because mans corrupt nature 
 is of it selfe greatly inclined to the loue of the world and 
 earthly pleasures. Wherefore I cannot denie, but that our 
 carefull and louing sauiour did often and in many places wame 
 his disciples, and by them all vs, to beware of this working of 
 Sathan, and so much as they could, to shunne his snares. But 
 shall wee thinke therefore, that hee condemneth principalitie, 
 lordship, dominion, wealth, riches, landes, in them that bee 
 his true and faithfull followers ? No surely : for that is the 
 full grounde of the Anabaptists doctrine, to be shunned of al 
 right christians. And yet before I begin to answere this, I 
 must needes protest it is a queisie and dangerous matter, to 
 speake of wealth and riches of the world, for feare of mis- 
 taking, either on the one part, or on the other. For what- 
 soeuer a man shall say in that case, amon^ the vngodly will 
 bee drawen according to their priuate aflfections. 
 
 The rich, when they heare the possession of riches and the 
 right vse of them defended, by and by if Gods special grace 
 stay them not, waxe more confident and secure, and with con- 
 tempt and disdaine of other, thinke themselues free maisters 
 and Lordes of Gods giftes, to vse them euen at their owne 
 pleasure, and to the fulfilling of their own fleshly fantasies. 
 On the cotrary part, when they that bee poore and destitute 
 of those giftes, shall heare the rich blamed for the abuse of 
 their wealth, and signification giuen, that what soeuer is aboue 
 the sufficient maintenance of their own state, is due vnto the 
 poore: they also as rashly enter into iudgement, and con- 
 demne al rich men as couetous, as greedy gatherers, as thieues 
 
of Bishops Liuings, 167 
 
 and extortioners, and cruel detainers of that which by Gods 
 law is due to others. Some there be also, that thinke all vse 
 and administration of riches to be dangerous, and to bring no 
 smal hinderance to the saluation of mens soules. Vnto which 
 perswasion, the phanaticall spirites of the Anabaptists adde 
 more difBcultie, not onely taking away al possession and 
 property, and allowing a Platonicall community of al things : 
 but also denying superioritie, and Lordship and dominion, 
 and bringing in a general equalitie, most dangerous to the 
 societie of man. Wherefore, it behooueth mee so to speake 
 of riches and possessions, that (so neere as I can) none of 
 these offences may be iustly taken. 
 
 First therefore to begin, we may not thinke that Christ 
 in them that be his, condemneth either the possession or the 
 right vse of Lordship, dominion, lads, riches, money and such 
 like : for they are the good gifts of God, wherewith he 
 blesseth his people, as the whole course of the Scriptures 
 declare. " The blessing of the Lord" (saith Salo- Pro. lo. 
 /bob) " maketh rich, and bringeth no sorowe of heart with it." 
 " Blessed is the man" (sayth Dauid) " that feareth Psai. 112. 
 the Lord &c. his seede shall be mightie vpon earth, the 
 generation of the faithfuU shall be blessed, riches and plente- 
 ousnesse shall be in his house &c." And againe, " His home 
 . shall bee exalted with honour : the vngodlie shal see it, and it 
 shall grieue them." Therefore wee see many of the good 
 saints of God, that haue bene indued with great riches and 
 possessions, as Abraham the Father of the faithful, lob, 
 Joseph, Dauid, Salomon, Daniel, And in the new Testament, 
 Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus of Bethania, Mary 
 Magdalene, Sergius Paulus Proconsul of Cypres, the Centurion, 
 and manie other. Wee may not thinke therefore, that Christ 
 condemneth the giftes and blessinges of God, or the vse of 
 them, in his seruaimtes. And that the trueth taken out of 
 the Scriptures may be of more authoritie with you, I wil 
 let you vnderstand it by the wordes of the ancient and 
 
168 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 learned Fathers : so shal you perceiue, it is not my inter- 
 Hierom ad pretation, but theirs. And first Hieroms, " Joseph, 
 Saiuinam. yphich both in pouertie and riches, gaue triall of his 
 vertues, and was both a seruant and a maister, teacheth vs the 
 freedome of the tninde. Was hee not next vnto Pharao, 
 adorned in royal furniture? and yet was he so beloued of 
 God, that aboue al the Patriarkes, hee was a Father of two 
 Tribes. Daniel, and the three young men, had such' rule 
 ouer the power and riches of Babylon, that in apparell they 
 serued Nabuchodonosor, but in minde they serued God. 
 Mardocheus and Hester, in the middest of their purple, silke, 
 and precious iewels, ouercame pride with humilitie, and were 
 of such worthinesse, that they being Captiues, bare rule ouer 
 Conquerours. My speech tendeth to this end, that I may 
 declare that this young man that I speake of, had kinred of 
 royall blood, aboundance of riches, and ornamentes of honour 
 and power, as matter and instrumentes of vertue vnto him." 
 S. Augustine disputeth this question, writing to Hillarius. 
 Epist. 89. " Thou writest vnto me," (saieth hee) " that some say, 
 that a rich man remaining in his wealth, cannot enter into the 
 kingdome of God, vnlesse that hee sell all that he hath, and that 
 it shal not profit, though in his wealth he keep the commande- 
 ments of God. Our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and lacob, vnder- 
 stood not this reasoning : for they all had no smal riches, as 
 the holy Scriptures witnesse, &c." 
 
 And least that some might say, that those holie men were 
 vnder the old Testament, and vnderstood not the perfect law 
 that Christ giueth, when he sayeth, " Goe and sel al that thou 
 Matt. 19. hast, and giue it vnto the poore, and thou shalt haue 
 treasure in heauen," the same Augustine addeth, " If they 
 will say so, they may speake with some reason : but let them 
 heare the whole, lette them marke the whole : they may not 
 in one parte open their eares, and in an other part stoppe 
 them. Hee spake that to one that asked him. What shall 
 I doe to obtayne euerlasting life ? and Christes aunswere is 
 
of Bishops Linings . 169 
 
 not, If thou wilt obtaine euerlasting life, sell all that thou 
 hast : but, if thou wilt haue euerlasting life, keepe the Com- 
 maundementes, &c. And a little after, our good Maister 
 doeth make a distinction betweene the keeping of the Com- 
 mandements, and that other rule of perfectnesse." For in 
 the one part he saide, " If thou wilt enter into life, keepe the 
 Commaundements :" And in the other hee saide, " If thou 
 wilt bee perfect, sell all thou hast, and come and followe me." 
 " How therefore can we denie, that rich men, although they 
 haue not the perfection, shall come into euerlasting life, if 
 they keepe the Commaundementes, and giue, that it may be 
 giuen vnto them ?" And in the ende he concludeth his rea- 
 son in this manner, after hee hath spoken of the vncharitable 
 minde of the riche glutton. " This pride" (sayeth hee) 
 " wherewith this riche man did contemne the poore iust 
 Lazarus lying before his gates, and that trust that hee did 
 put in his riches, whereby he thought himselfe a blessed man, 
 because of his purple, silke, and sumptuous feastes, did bring 
 him to the tormentes of hell, and not his riches," By which 
 wordes of Augustine, it may appeare, it is not riches, Landes 
 and possessions, that GOD condemneth in his seruauntes, but 
 the euill vse of them. Wherefore the same Augustine sayeth, 
 ". When thfe Lorde had sayde. It is easier for a Psai. si. 
 Camell to passe thorowe the eye of a needle, then for a riche 
 man to enter into the kingdome of GOD : and the Apostles 
 maruailing thereat, answered, Who then can bee saued ? What 
 respected they I pray you ? surely, non facultates, sed cupidi- 
 tates : not great substaunce, but greedie desire of them." 
 
 Immediately hee sheweth, that riche Abraham had pre- 
 heminence in heauen, before poore Lazarus. " Reade the 
 Scriptures," (saieth hee) " and thou shalt find riche Abraham, 
 that thou maiest knowe, it is not riches that is punished. 
 Abraham had great store of golde, siluer, cattell and hous- 
 holde. Hee was rich, and yet was poore Lazarus brought 
 into his bosome : the poore man in the bosome of the rich, or 
 
 I 
 
170 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 rather both rich before God, and both poore in spirite &c. 
 Marke this, that you do not commonly blame rich men, or put 
 trust in poore estate. For if a man should not put his trust 
 in riches, much lesse in pouertie." To the like effect speak- 
 eth Hierome, " Is it euill to haue riches iustly gotten, so that 
 a man giue thankes to God that gaue them ? No, but euil 
 it is to put a mans trust in riches. For in another Psalme 
 it is sayde. If riches come vnto thee, set not thine heart vpon 
 them. A man may haue riches for his necessitie, but hee 
 may not possesse them to delight in them." Well thertfore 
 Homii. 2. saith Chrysostome, " As I haue said, wine is not ill, 
 Anttoch. but drunkennesse is ill : so say I, riches are not ill, 
 but couetousnesse is ill. A rich man is one thing, and a 
 HomU. 13. couetous man is another. A couetous man cannot 
 
 ad popul. - . , 1, A 1 1 • • 
 
 Antioch. be a rich man. And to the same meaning m an- 
 other place : " Let vs not falsely accuse either riches or 
 pouertie : for both riches and pouertie are such, as, if we will 
 our selues, bring instruments of vertue. Let vs therefore so 
 frame our selues, that we iudge not so, as we may seeme to 
 blame Gods giftes, but the euill affections of men." The 
 Homii. ad. same Chrysostome, " Riches" (saith hee) " killeth 
 tioch. 58." not : but to be a slaue to riches, killeth, and to loue 
 couetousnesse. And againe, the rich glutton was punished, 
 not because he was rich, but because he wanted mercie. For 
 it may be, that one hauing riches, ioyned with mercie, may 
 attaine to all goodnesse." By these testimonies of the ancient 
 learned Fathers, grounded vpoh the examples and doctrine 
 of the Scriptures, you may perceiue, that riches are the good 
 gift and blessing of God : that the Saintes of God haue vsed 
 and enioied them : that wealth and possessions of them selues 
 are not hinderous to pietie and godlinesse, but rather instru- 
 ments of vertue and meanes to come to heauen : that God 
 doeth not condemne them in his seruants : that it is not a man 
 voyde of lands and possessions, but a heart voyd of coue- 
 tousnesse that Christ desireth : that it is not riches, but the 
 
of Bishops Liuings. lYl 
 
 sinfull affections of men that he reproueth. How then can 
 it bee prooued by Christes doctrine, that any state of his dis- 
 ciples or faithfull seruants and followers, ought not to haue 
 landes, possessions, or ample and large linings ? or that they 
 be by his word so expresly prohibited, that neither Prince 
 may suffer it without danger, nor faithfull Minister with good 
 conscience inioy them ? Let vs somewhat better consider 
 the particular places of this doctrine of Christ, whereon 
 this assertion is grounded. Where Christ saith, " Hoarde not 
 vp treasures for your selues on earth," he saith not, Matth. 6. 
 you shall haue no treasures. To haue treasures, and to hoarde 
 treasures, be diuerse. Hee that hoardeth vp treasures, shew- 
 eth that hee hath a careful! minde to keepe them : but a man 
 may possesse treasures, and yet with free heart bee willing to 
 imploy them to godly purposes : like as lob did, who had his 
 riches alwayes readie to pleasure other. When Christ affirm- 
 eth, that " where a mans treasure is, there is his heart :" by 
 treasure, he meaneth not the possession of riches simply, but 
 hee meaneth that, wherein a man reposeth his chiefe treasure 
 and felicitie to consist. And in deede it cannot be, but that 
 hee that esteemeth his chiefe felicitie in any thing, doeth set 
 his heart also vpon it. Hee that setteth his felicitie in honottr 
 and dignitie, hath his heart possessed with ambition. Hee 
 that thinketh it to bee in worldly pleasure, hath his whole 
 minde on playing, banqueting, feasting and riot. He that re- 
 poseth his felicitie in building, giueth ouer his cogitations vnto 
 that. So hee that iudgeth his blessednes in this life to be in 
 possession of riches and lands, vndoubtedly cannot but haue 
 his heart fastened vpo them. And seeing that God chalengeth 
 vnto himselfe all our whole heart, and our whole soule and 
 minde, they that so do, must needs offend God most grieu- 
 ously, and make of their riches their God, and so as S. Paul 
 saith, become very idolaters. Therfore if either Ecclesias- 
 tical persons, or lay men, do so set their minds on riches, 
 this place nighly toucheth them. When Christ saith, " No 
 
 I 2 
 
] 72 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 man can serue two masters &c. and ye cannot serue God and 
 Mammon," Marke, I pray you, that he saith not: " No man can 
 serue God and get riches." For godly men both haue before 
 time, and now may get lands and riches, procured either by 
 heritage or by gift, or by any other lawfuU meanes. Con- 
 Gene. 32. sider the Patriarch lacol : who passed lordane onely 
 with a stafFe in his hand, and in the time of his liuing in a 
 strange Countrey, gate so great riches, as he returned with 
 two great copanies of seruants and cattel. And yet vndoubt- 
 edly this Patriarch was a good Christian, being saued by the 
 same religion that his Grandfather Abraham was, the father of 
 the faithfull, who with reioycing sawe the day of Christ. 
 Neither doth Christ say, " No man can serue God and possesse 
 riches." For as it is said before, Abraham, loh, and Toseph, 
 possessed great wealth and riches, and yet vndoubtedly, truely 
 and sincerely serued God. Riches are the blessings of God, 
 neither may any more rightly or with better title possesse 
 them, then the good and faithfull seruants of God. What 
 saith Christ then ? forsooth, "No man can serue two masters :" 
 or " No man can serue God and Mammon." Getting or pos- 
 sessing is one thing, and seruing is another. Seruing pre- 
 supposeth a mastership or dominion in him that is serued. 
 Hee that serueth riches, acknowledgeth them to be his Lord 
 and Master. Seruitude or bondage hath this condition, that 
 hee wholly obey his master: that night and day he doe 
 nothing but that pleaseth his master : that hee shall be con- 
 tented to haue the displeasure of al other, so that he may haue 
 the good will of his master ; Finally, whatsoeuer a seruant 
 doth, what labour soeuer he taketh, whatsoeuer by his paines 
 he getteth, he doth it to the vse and behalfe of his master. 
 Whosoeuer is such a bondslaue to riches, is a traitour 
 reuolted from God, neither can it be possible for him to serue 
 God. Such a seruing of Mammon it is that Christ in this 
 place rebuketh, with which seruice, the seruice of God cannot 
 be joyned. 
 
of Bishops Liuingst. 173 
 
 But it were great rashnesse to thinke all that possesse land's, 
 lordships, and riches, of necessitie to be subiect to this slauish 
 seruice of Mammon, as some imen vncharitably iudge of the 
 Bishops and Clergie of England. loseph of Arimathea was 
 a rich man, and yet in time of great perill did more seruice to 
 Christ, then all his poore Apostles which had so little to leese. 
 It is written in the Euangelists, " When euen was come, there 
 came a rich man from Arimathea named loseph, Matt. n. 
 which also himselfe was lesus his disciple. He went to Pi- 
 late and begged the body of lesus. Then Pilate commanded 
 the bodie to bee deliuered, and when loseph had taken the 
 body, hee wrapped it in a cleane linen cloth, and layde him in 
 a newe tombe &c." , Consider the circumstances of the his- 
 toric : weigh the danger of the time : call to remembrance how 
 many thinges might haue hindered, and staled Joseph from 
 this doing, and you shall perceiue that possession of landes and 
 riches, may be ioyned with a free and faithful seruice, yea, 
 often times more faithful, then pouerty and base estate in the 
 worlde. Good Christians therefore may not eondemne as 
 slaues and seruants to Antichrist, al such as haue lands and 
 possessions. Experience in England (God be thanked) hath 
 taught, whe a number of poore Priests and Ministers reuolted 
 fro Christ to the Mammon their Masse, that many which had 
 the greatest liuing in this lad, were most readie not onely to 
 bee banished their countrey, but also to shead their blood, arid 
 giue their lines to serue faithfully their Lord and maister 
 Christ : and I doubt not, wil doe againe, if euer God giue the 
 occasion. Iudge therefore more charitably of your Ministers 
 and Preachers, (O ye English professours) which haue seene 
 these things with your eies, and know not how soon, to the 
 sorow of your own hearts, ye may see the same againe. But 
 they which at this day mislike the state of bishops, and 
 doe write or speake against them, are those persons, which in 
 the time of affliction, eyther were not borne, or els were very 
 yong, and therfore haue no sense of that temptation, which that 
 persecution did then bring. As God of his goodnes granteth 
 
174 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 vs now some Halcion dayes : so I beseech him against that 
 day to giue vs the grace of his mighty spirit, so that we may 
 haue the like constancie. 
 
 It is further alledged out of Christs doctrine, that when he 
 Matth. 22. answered the Pharisees, Matt. 22. he giueth a plaine 
 comandement, that landes and possessions should be at the 
 pleasure of the Prince, and that Ministers of the church ought 
 to giue them vp vnto him. For this he saith, " Giue to 
 Caesar, that which is Caesars, and to God, that is Gods." 
 " But" (say they) " all temporall landes are Caesars, therefore 
 they ought to giue them vnto Ccesar : and our Caesar is our 
 gracious Prince and Soueraigne." 
 
 Truely it woulde make any Christian heart to lament in 
 these dayes, to see Gods holy word so miserably drawen, 
 racked, and pulled in sunder from the true meaning thereof. 
 If the Bishops, and other of the Cleargy of England did 
 grudge or murmure to haue their landes and Liuinges to bee 
 tributarie to the Prince, and subiect to all taxes and seruices, 
 that by the lawes of this realm may be, either to the main- 
 tenance of her person, or to the defence of our countrey : Or 
 if they did challenge such an immunitie or exemption from the 
 authoritie of the Prince, as the Pope and his Cleargy did : Or 
 if they did finde themselues grieued to bee punished by the 
 Prince for the breach of her Lawes, as the Donatists in old, time 
 did, and some now in our age doe : If they were such enemies to 
 Princes and Gouernours, as they woulde exempt the out of the 
 state of true christianitie, and of the Church of God, and make 
 them onelie to serue their turne in euill affaires : then in deede 
 did this place make strongly against them. But I trust the 
 Clergie of Englande, are with all good men out of the suspi- 
 tion of these pointes. They are as willing and readie at all 
 times to bee contributarie, as any other subiectes are : they 
 claime no exemption from her authoritie : they willingly sub- 
 mitte themselues to her correction : they humbly acknowledge 
 their obedience in all thinges, that anie Christian prince may 
 require : and this doe they principally for conscience sake, 
 
of Bishops Liuings. 175 
 
 because it is the ordinaunce and commaundement of God : but 
 much moued thereto also, as men, in consideration of their 
 owne state, which next vnder God dependeth of her Maiestie. 
 Seing therfore the hand of God hath more straightly bounde 
 them vnto her, then other common subiects : I doubt not, b'ut 
 she willingly hath, and shall haue all dueties of obedience 
 at their handes, that any Christian subiects by the word of 
 God are bound vnto. Neither are they in any feare that 
 her Maiestie will presse them to any thing, which shall not 
 stande with the glorie of God, and furtherance of the Gospel. 
 But how these words of Christ before mentioned, doe com- 
 maund them presently to yeeld vp into .her Maiesties hands 
 sueh lands and possessios, as by the graut of her goodnes, and 
 by the law of this realm they nowe inioy, indeede I see not. 
 If such a prince shall come (as I trust in my daies neuer to 
 see) that shal put them to this choise, either to forgo their 
 landes and liuings, or to loose the free course of the Gospell : 
 it is before declared, what their duty is to do therin. And I 
 doubt not, but in the late time of persecutiS, there were many 
 of them that wbuld haue bin glad with al the veines in their 
 heartes, by that choice to haue enioyed in this Realme the 
 freedom of their consciences, though they had bin put to 
 as pore estate, as possibly men might haue liued in. But how 
 that christia princes are warranted, either by this place of the 
 gospel, or by any part of the worde of God, so hardly to deale 
 with the state of the ministery, I haue not as yet learned, 
 though it be in these daies by some boldely affirmed. Amb. 
 hath a worthy saying, wherin he plainly noteth both what a 
 christia prince may do in these things that appertain vnto the 
 church, and how a godly bishop should in that case behaue 
 himselfe. " When it was proposed vnto me" (saith Epist. lib.s. 
 he) " that I should deliuer the plate or vessel of the j^l^^^uxeT" 
 church, I made this answeare : If there were any tium. 
 thing required that was my owne, either land, house, gold or 
 siluer beeing of my owne priuate right, that I would willingly 
 
176 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 deliuer it: but that I coulde not pull anie thing from the 
 Church of God. And moreouer I said, that in so doing I 
 had regard to the Emperours safetie, because it was not pro- 
 fitable either for me to deliuer it, or for him to receiue it. 
 Let him receiue the wordes of a free Minister of God : If he 
 will do that is for his own safetie, let him forbeare to doe 
 Christ iniurie." By these words yee may perceiue, both that 
 Ambrose woulde not deliuer the Church-goods, nor that he 
 thought it safe for the Emperour to require it. The mening 
 of Christ is in those words, to teach his to put a difFerece 
 between the duty that they owe to the Prince, and that they 
 owe to God: and to declare, that within their due boundes, 
 they may both stand together. Therfore they that will 
 rightly follow Christ in this doctrine, must cosider, in what 
 consisteth the duety towards a Prince or Magistrate, and 
 wherein resteth our duetie towards God. Wee' owe to the 
 Prince, honour, feare, and obedience : obedience (I say) in al 
 those things that are not against the worde of God and his 
 commandementes. Those things that God commaundeth, a 
 Christian Prince can not forbid : Those things that God for- 
 biddeth, no Prince hath authority to command. But such 
 things as be external, and by Gods word left indifferent, the 
 Prince by his authoritie may so by lawe dispose, either in 
 comanding, or forbidding, as in wisedome and discretion he 
 shall thinke to make most to the glory of God, and to the 
 good and safe state of his people. Among these things ex- 
 ternal, I think lands, goods, and possessions to bee, and there- 
 fore that the same ought to be subiect to taxe and tribute in 
 such sort, as the lawes and state of the country requireth : yea, 
 and if there shall happen in any country a magistrate, which 
 by violence and extortion shall wrest more vnto him of the 
 lands and substance of the people, then law and right re- 
 quireth: I see no cause warranted by Gods worde, that the 
 inferiour subiects can rebell, or resist the prince therein, but 
 that they shal euidently shew theselues to resist the ordi- 
 
of Bishops Linings, 177 
 
 nace of God. For they haue not the sworde of correction 
 committed into their hande, and often times God by euil 
 princes correcteth the sinnes of the people. Wherefore, if 
 subiects resist the hard dealings euen of euill Magistrates, 
 they doe in that respect striue against God himselfe, who will 
 not suffer it vnpunished. Wherefore leremy willeth the lewes 
 to submit themselues to the obedience oiNahuchodo- lerem. 28. 
 nosor, a wicked andcruell king: and Baruch teacheth Bame. i. 
 them to pray for the good estate of the saide Nahuchodonosor 
 and his nephewe Balihasar. And Saint Peter and j p^j j 
 saint Paul, will Christian subiects not onely to bee Rom. 13. 
 obedient to the heathen tyrants, which were in their '■^™-2- 
 time, as Nero, and such other : but also to make most humble 
 and heartie praiers for them, that his people might liue vnder 
 them a quiet and peaceable life, with all godlinesse and 
 honestie. Tertullian also sheweth the same to haue lertuUi. ad 
 beene the practise of the primitiue Church, euen ^^^p^'^™- 
 toward the enemies and cruell persecutours of the faith of 
 Christ. 
 
 " A Christian" (saith he) " is enemie to none, and least of all 
 to the Emperour, whpme hee knowing to be ordeined of God, 
 must of necessitie loue, reuerence, and honour, and wish to be 
 in safetie together with the whole Romaine Empire." And 
 againe, " We pray for all Emperours, that God lertui. 
 woulde graunt vnto them long life, prosperous Apoiog. 
 reigne, strong armies, faithfull Counsell, obedient Subiects. &c." 
 
 We may learne then by this, that Christian duetie of a 
 subiect consisteth in louing, in reuerencing, in obeying the 
 Prince and Magistrate in all things, that lawfully he command- 
 eth: and in those things that he commandeth vnlawfully, not 
 by violence to resist him, though the same touch our goods, 
 our lands, yea and our life also. As touching our duetie 
 toward God, wee owe vnto him, our selues whollie, both bodie 
 and soule, and all thinges and partes to the same appertaining, 
 according to that his Lawe requireth, " Thou shalt loue God 
 
 I 3 
 
178 Answeres to the Adversaries 
 
 with all thy heart, with all thy soule, with all thy minde, and 
 with thy whole power." For wee are his creatures, and hee 
 is our Lorde and maker. But forasmuch as Princes, Magis- 
 trates, Rulers, Parents, Masters, and all superiours, haue a 
 portion of Gods authoritie ouer vs, as his officers and Lieute- 
 nants in their callings : therefore God doeth permit vnto them 
 some part also of his honour, but so farre, and in such things, 
 and such maner as before is declared, retaining vnto himselfe 
 our faith and religion, with all the partes of his diuine worship 
 consisting in Spirite and in trueth, the calling vpon his 
 blessed name, the confession of his holy trueth, and the 
 obedience of his morall Lawe : which thinges hee doeth not 
 make subiect to any Princes authoritie. And if any Prince or 
 Magistrate by violence and crueltie shall breake into the 
 boundes of our duetie towardes God, I say not that priuate 
 subiects may by violence resist it : but surely they may not 
 obey it, but rather yeelde into his hands, goods, Lands, 
 Countrey, and life too. For so did the Prophet Daniel : so 
 did the yong men his companions : so did the whole number 
 of the martyrs of GOD, by whome the Church of Christ 
 August dc increased as Augustine sayeth, Non resistendo sed 
 Agon. Chn. pgrferendo, not by resisting but by suffering. And 
 Hierom. ad Hicrome : " The Church of Christ was founded by 
 TheophU. suffering reproch, by persecutions it increased, by 
 martyrdomes it was crowned," To this end sayth Tertitl- 
 lian also. Semen Euangelij Sanguis Martyrum. This is the 
 true doctrine of the wordes of Christ before mentioned, by 
 which wee are taught to put a difference betweene our duetie 
 towards God, and that we owe toward the Prince, yeelding to 
 each that which is his : A doctrine most profitable and neces- 
 sary to all Christian Churches and common weales. But who 
 can gather of this, that the Ministers of the Church of Christ, 
 liuing vnder a Christian Prince fauouring and defending the 
 Gospell, must of necessitie giue vp into the Princes hands 
 those landes and possessions, which by the graunt of the same 
 
of Bisho^%\Liuings. 1 79 
 
 Prince and the Lawe of the Land is assigned vnto them ? For 
 if the land be Caesars, and therefore must be deliuered to 
 Caesar : then are all goods, Caesars, and must be also yeelded 
 into his hands. 
 
 God saue vs from Princes that will vse like violence and 
 tyrannic toward our Landes, goods, and bodies, as these men 
 vse to the word of God. I haue not as yet noted vnto you 
 (good Christians) the very grounde of this corrupt interpreta- 
 tion of the doctrine of Christ, and the mischiefe that is hid 
 vnder it. I pray you therefore consider, to whome doth 
 Christ speake in al those places of his doctrine before men- 
 tioned ? Whome doth he teach ? whom doth he instruct, 
 " that they shoulde not hoarde vp treasure vpon earth ? that 
 they may not serue God and Mammon ? that they may not 
 bee carefuU what to eate and what to drinke 1 that they must 
 sell all that they haue and followe him ? that they must re- 
 nounce all that they haue if they wil be his true Disciples ? and 
 lastly that they must yeelde to Caesar that which is Caesars?" 
 Are these things spoken to Ministers onely ? doeth Christs 
 doctrine pertaine to Bishops and Minivers onely ? Is it his 
 will that they onely shoulde followe his godly instructions and 
 commaundements ? Then of likelihoode, as hee came onely 
 to teach Ministers, and to be example of life to them alone : 
 so hee came to saue Ministers onely. But what a wicked 
 vanitie were it so to speake or thinke ? 
 
 Now if Christes doctrine be generall to all the faithful!, as 
 in deede it is: (that beeing the true interpretation that they 
 woulde haue to bee) it must of necessitie followe, that no true 
 Christian can keepe lands and possessions, nor abide in any 
 wealthie or rich estate : which is the very ground of the Ana- 
 baptistes doctrine, as all learned men doe knowe. In so much, 
 that all the famous men, that in this our age haue expounded 
 the Scriptures, or written against the AnabapUstes, doe note, 
 that by this interpretation of the speeches of Christ before 
 mentioned, they do ground their comunitie, and taking away 
 
180 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 of proprietie and possession of goods, with sundry like other 
 doctrines. We may see therefore, and it is time to take heed 
 of it, how Sathan, vnder pretences seeketh to thrust the Spirit 
 of the Andbaptistes and the groundes of their learning into this 
 Church of England. The inconuenience then of this kinde of 
 reasoning is, either, that these sentences of the Gospel touch 
 bishops and Ministers onely, and all other are left free, which 
 is a very great absurdity: or else that the same doctrine 
 gathered out of these places in the same sense that they vse, 
 doth belong to all Christians, which with the Anabaptists 
 taketh away all proprietie and possessions of lands and goods, 
 and (as I haue before saide) bringeth in a Platonicall commu- 
 nitie. I say not, that they which vse these places doe meane 
 it : but surely that inconuenience and daunger foUoweth vpon 
 it. Therefore, they that haue any feare of God, ought to take 
 heed, that their immoderate stomack and affections against 
 bishops and other Ministers, doe not ouerrauch blind tliem, 
 and carrie them away, eyther to the affirming, or to the main- 
 tayning of corrupt and daungerous doctrines, both to the 
 Church and common wealth. If this their doctrine spread in 
 libelles, shall once become familiar vnto the common people 
 of this Realme : it may happily breed such a scab and daun- 
 gerous sore, as al the cunning in this lande wil scant bee able 
 to heale it. God send grace, that heede may be taken thereof 
 in time. 
 
 They will say (I knowe) " That this is but a shift of Logike 
 that the false Sophisters the Bishops doe vse, to turne the 
 matter from themselues, when they say, that this doctrine of 
 Christ pertaineth to al Christians, aswel as to them : and wil 
 aske me howe they will auoyd those plain and euident words 
 that Christ speaketh to his Apostles and disciples onely, when 
 hee sendeth them abroad two and two, to preach the kingdome 
 of God. This (say they) doth belong to Ministers and 
 Preachers onelie." 
 Matth. 10. " As ye goe, preach, saying, that the kingdome of 
 
of Bishops Liuings. 181 
 
 heauen is at hand: heale the sicke, dense the leapers, raise 
 the dead, cast out deuils, freely ye haue receiued, Mar. 3. 
 and freely giue you. Possesse not gold, nor silver, nor Luke 9. 
 money in your purses, nor scrip toward your iourney, neither 
 two coates, neither shoes, nor yet a stafFe. For the workman 
 is worthy of his meate." These wordes, I must confesse, doe 
 not appertaine generally to all Christians, no more doe they 
 generally to al ministers and preachers of all times and places. . 
 Is it euill in it selfe to haue golde or siluer ? or to haue a 
 staffe on the way to walke with? or to weare shooes to saue 
 his feete in ioumeying? I thinke there is no Christian that 
 will so iudge. Christ himselfe had a purse, wherein ludas 
 carried money for his prouision, and hee suffered certaine rich 
 women to goe with him, and to minister to him and to his Dis- 
 ciples. Peter also bare a sworde, and ware sandalles on his 
 feete, when the Angell bade him put on his sandalles. And 
 Paule writing to Timothie, willeth him to bring his cloake 
 with him, although vndoubtedly hee had another garment 
 before. Wee must consider then what it is that Christ in this 
 place meaneth, seeing neither himselfe nor his Apostles did 
 obserue it according to the strictnesse of the letter. 
 
 There bee some that say these precepts bee personall, and 
 for a time onelie, not generall or perpetuall: for that which 
 goeth before may seeme to take away the continuance of these 
 precepts, " Go not in the way of the Gentiles, but to the lost 
 sheepe of the house of Israel." Which precept the Apostles 
 at this time obserued, but afterward they preached the Gospel 
 vnto al the nations of the earth : so doe they thinke, that 
 Christ, for the time of this message onelie, commaunded them 
 to possesse no golde nor siluer, &c. and from thencefoorth 
 that this commaundement was abrogated. This interpretation 
 I can not reiect as euill, or not pertinent to the meaning of 
 Christ. There bee also some hypocrites, and Pope-holie 
 persons, which will haue these preceptes perpetuall, and 
 builde thereon friery and monkish superstitio : They wil not 
 
182 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 touch any money : They wil weare no whole shooes : They 
 wil not haue a staffe to walke with, thinking that they shew 
 themselues die holy seruaunts of God therein. To this inter- 
 pretation verie nighly commeth that, which these men vse to 
 proue, that bishoppes and preachers may haue no landes nor 
 possessions, nor riches, no nor money, further then will barely 
 prouide them meat, and drinke, and cloth, and whatsoeuer 
 is aboue, to be of superfluitie. Some other thinke, that Christ 
 in those woordes onely compareth the Ambassadours of other 
 princes with his ; as if he had sayde, I sende you foorth to 
 preach the kingdome of God : and the state of an ambassade 
 or message doeth require, that T shoulde deliuer vnto you 
 money, and all other like thinges conuenient for this voyage, 
 as princes vse to their Ambassadours: but deceiue not your 
 selues : the maner of this message is diuers from such mes- 
 sages as ciuil princes vse. In ciuill ambassades, great furni- 
 ture (I know) is thought coueniet: but this message of mine 
 is such, as needeth no such matter to set it out. For the 
 maiestie of the thing it selfe, and the myracles that you shall 
 worke, shall sufficiently giue authoritie vnto it. This inter- 
 pretation also I think not amisse : but in my opinion, and 
 that by the iudgement of some other learned men also, the 
 true and simple meaning of Christ was, to teach his Apostles 
 to put their trust and whole confidence vpon the prouidence 
 of God onelie, and for the better perswasion, would haue them 
 at this time to make trlall thereof, and by experience to learne, 
 that though they haue nothing in the sight of the world to 
 feede them, to helpe or to defend them : yet that hee wil so 
 prouide for them, if they continue in their vocation and call- 
 ing faithfully, that they shall want nothing: yea, that the 
 fowles of the aire shall rather feede them, then that they 
 shoulde lacke sustenance. That this was Christes meaning, 
 Luke 22. It may appeare in Saint Luke, where he sayeth to 
 his Apostles, " When I sent you forth without wallet or 
 scrippe, or shooes, lacked you any thing? and they saide, 
 
of Bishops Linings , 183 
 
 No. Then saide he vnto them, But nowe hee that hath a 
 wallet, let him take it vp, and hee that hath none, let him sell 
 his coate and buy a sworde." The Apostles vndoubtedly 
 had great need of this instruction, and to be taught to put 
 their whole trust in the prouidence of God, and to depende 
 vppon that onelie. For he did see that in the execution of 
 their office they shoulde bee cast into all the difficulties of 
 this world, which either Satha or his ministers were able to 
 raise against them. This lesson is very necessary also for all 
 other Christians, but principally for the Ministers and preach- 
 ers of the Gospel, whensoeuer God for the profession and 
 teaching of his trueth shall cast them into the like difficulties. 
 For if they doe not rest vpon that onely, they shall finde lands, 
 possessions, power, authoritie, kinred, friendshippe, and al 
 other helpes of this world, to be but as a broken stafFe to 
 leane vnto. 
 
 But what maketh this against that, that Ministers of the 
 Church in the calme times of quietnesse, may enioy the 
 benefites and liberalitie of good and gratious Princes, whome 
 he hath appoynted as fosterers and nourishers of his Church 
 and people, wherein soeuer those benefites of their liberalitie 
 shall be imployed, bee it landes, possessions, goods, money, 
 or any other maner of prouision ? 
 
 For further proofe of this matter against the wealthie state 
 of the Cleargie, the example of S. Peter also is brought in, 
 who sayeth in the Actes to the poore lame man, Actes 3. 
 Siluer and golde haue I none, ^c. Loe (say they) Sant Peter 
 was a right Apostle, and was in so poore case, that hee had 
 neither siluer nor gold, no not so much as he could bestowe 
 a meane reliefe vpon a poore begger. His example should 
 our rich Bishops and Preachers follow. And Saint Paul to 
 Timothie, Hauing foode and rayment, we shoulde therewith he 
 content. 
 
 " Here wee may learne (say they) what maner of liuing 
 Ministers of the Church should haue, that is, so much onely, 
 
184 Answeres to the Aduenaries 
 
 as will prouide them meate, drinke, and cloth : whatsoeuer is 
 aboue, that is superfluity, and more then Gods word requireth." 
 Who seeth not (good Christians) whereat these men shoote, 
 and what state of the Ministerie, this earnest zeale that nowe 
 is pretended, woulde settle in this Church? that is, more 
 miserable and worse prouided for, then any other state of the 
 lande beside. Those heartes wherein is true deuotion, and 
 the right loue of the Gospell, are rather ouer bountiful! 
 toward the Preachers thereof, then too sparing. For they 
 are thus affected, that they thinke nothing too deare for the, 
 yea, if it were possible, they would giue their eyes vnto them 
 out of their heads, as Paul saith to the Galathians, 
 
 What spirite this is therefore that woulde so hardly pinch 
 and wring the Ministers of the Church, it is euidently to be 
 gathered. The principall purpose at the beginning was, to 
 prooue that the Ministers might not by the word of God 
 inioy any temporall landes: but nowe forsooth, through the 
 goodnesse of their cause, in the vehemencie of their reasoning, 
 and fulnesse of their proofe, it falleth out so, that Ministers 
 may not haue so much as any peny in their purse to prouide 
 them sustenance: but must line vpon the charitable alraes of 
 the people, and content themselues with meate, drinke, and 
 apparell onely, as the Apostles did. " For they are no spirituall 
 men (say they) that haue temporall lining.'' Yea, of the very 
 tithes they ought to claime no more, then may serue them to 
 meate, drinke, and cloth. And if the same be denied them, 
 they may not by lawe sue for it. " For if their coate be 
 Matui, 5. taken from them, they should deliuer their cloake 
 also." 
 
 This doctrine doeth very well iustifie the couetous and 
 vncharitable dealings of many Parishioners, which partly by 
 violence, partly by craftie meanes detame from the Ministers 
 their portion of tithes appoynted by the lawe. This doctrine 
 giueth good countenance to corrupt patrons, who will not 
 bestow their benefices, but by composition of a good part of 
 
of Bishops Linings, 185 
 
 the fruites to their owne vse and commoditie. And when the 
 liuing shall be worth 100. poundes by the yeere, they will 
 aske, whether thirtie or fburtie pounds be not a sufficient por- 
 tion for the Parson? This dealing before time hath bene 
 accounted little better, then sacrilege or simonie : but now it 
 may be thought (if this doctrine be good and allowable) that 
 it is lawfully done, emd according to the word of God : yea, 
 and that the Minister is a couetous worldling, and worthy great 
 blame, that will not content himselfe with such a rate, as they 
 willingly shall allowe him. What care they which thus reason 
 haue, I will not say of the preaching of the Gospel, but of the 
 state of learning and knowledge in the Church of Christ, all 
 men may euidently perceiue. Either they iudge, as I haue 
 before written at large, that men bee Angels without corrup- 
 tion, and will foUowe the course of learning for conscience 
 sake, though there bee no hope of rewarde to allure them : 
 or els they thinke, that God will miraculously giue knowledge 
 to such as he shall incline to the Ministerie, as he did in the 
 primitiue Church to his Apostles and other. 
 
 As touching the example of Saint Peter, it is before de- 
 clared, what cause Christ respected in the choosing of so 
 poore Apostles, and leaning them in so base state and condi- 
 tion of life: that is, that the worke of winning the whole world 
 to the doctrine of saluation by so simple and poore instru- 
 ' ments, as in the judgement of men they seemed, might be the 
 greater glorie to God, as Saynt Paul sayeth : Especially 
 seeing hee did set them foorth, and furnish them with the 
 heauenly riches of his holie spirite, that is to say, extraordi- 
 nary knowledge, rare giftes of vertue, and power to worke 
 myracles. 
 
 But vpon this extraordinarie dealing of God in the founding 
 of his Church, to grounde a generall and perpetuall rule, to 
 binde the Ministers of al places and times, is such maner 
 vsing the Scriptures, as must needes breede great inconue- 
 niences among the people of God. 
 
] 86 Answeres to the Adversaries 
 
 1. Tim, 6. As for the words of Saint Paul, there is no man I 
 thinke, but that hee may perceiue they are spoken generally, 
 and not to Ministers onely, as they are in this place applied. 
 Remember the place: viewe the circumstances: consider 
 what goeth before, and what commeth after, and you shall 
 vnderstand it to bee true. For Saint Paul there, speaketh to 
 Maith. 6. the same purpose, that Christ doth Matth. 6. when 
 he willeth men not to be careful! what to eate, what to drinke, 
 or what to put on, but that they shoulde seeke the kingdome 
 of GOD and the righteousnesse thereof, and all other things 
 shoulde by the prouidence of God bee cast vnto them. So, I 
 say, Saint Paul exhorteth men not to be in loue with the 
 riches of this world, which they shall neuer cary away with 
 them : that they shoulde not practise wicked waies to gaine, 
 but account godlines their chief gaine and comoditie, holding 
 themselues contented with those things that the necessity of 
 nature requireth, that is, foode, and apparell : For whatsoeuer 
 is aboue that, may seeme to bee superfluous. This whole- 
 some doctrine, the spirit of God in the Scriptures doth often 
 cast vpon the consciences of Christians, as a necessarie bridle, 
 to stay the wicked affection of couetousnesse and greedie 
 desire of the world, wherto the corruptio of our nature is 
 giuen. And yet he doeth not condemne riches, or a more 
 plentifull life, as euill in it selfe. It is the heart, the minde, 
 and the affection, that God would haue staied and kept vnder 
 in his obedience, and not the forbearing of the externall 
 creatures as before is at large declared. lob in the middes of 
 his greatest wealth had as poore and as contented a heart, as 
 he that had a small liuing, and did no more exceeds »» 
 gluttonie, or other riotous excesse, then hee did, which had not 
 a peny more then to prouide meate, drinke and cloth. This 
 doctrine, as it doeth generally pertaine to all Christians : so I 
 denie not, but it very nighly and chiefly ought to touch 
 Preachers and Ministers of the Church. Wherefore I must 
 and doe confesse, that so much as our Bishops and Clergie 
 
of Bishops Liuings, 187 
 
 want of the perfourmance heereof, they want of that perfection 
 that by the worde of God they shoulde haue. But howe can 
 it bee prooued heereby, that they may not haue more ample 
 or large allowance then shall suffice them for necessarie foode 
 and apparell ? In deede that contentation of mind they 
 should haue, whensoeuer God calleth them to that necessitie, 
 yea and when they be in their wealthiest state that any condi- 
 tion of a Christian common weale doth giue them, they ought 
 not in those things to exceed, but to keepe that moderation 
 that godlines requireth : and whatsouer is aboue that, they are 
 bound in conscience to see godly and honestly bestowed, or 
 else they grieuously offende God, and giue euill example to 
 other. This rule (as I haue said) pertaineth in like maner to 
 all christians ; and therefore it can no more follow vpon this, 
 that the lands and liuings of ministers must be taken from 
 them, because it bringeth superfluitie vnto them and more then 
 the necessitie of nature requireth, then you can conclude the 
 same against all other Christians that haue more ample lands 
 and liuings then will suffice them to the like purpose. As I 
 haue said before, so say I now again. If our bishops and other 
 clergy men, imploy the ouerplus of their large and plentifuU 
 liuings vnto euill and naughty vses, neither I nor any other can 
 therein defend them. 
 
 For the better vnderstanding of my aunswere to these 
 places, and of the imperfect manner of reasoning vsed by the 
 aduersary: it behoueth to consider, that God in his worde 
 layetli downe a perfect measure of his iustice, and an absolute 
 rule of that life that Christians shoulde leade. As for exam- 
 ple, when hee sayth in the Law, " Thou shalt loue the Lorde 
 thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soule, with all thy 
 minde, with all thy power, and thy neighbour as thy selfe :" 
 This commaundement requireth, that all the parts and mem- 
 bers of our soule inwardly, and our bodie and goods out- 
 wardly, should be bent and giuen ouer to the setting foorth of 
 the glory of God. Our heart is the roote of our aflfections : 
 
1 88 Answeres to the Aduenaries 
 
 therefore we are commaunded to loue or hate nothing, to feare 
 or hope for nothing, to desire or shun nothing, not to be sory 
 for any thing, nor reioyce in any thing, but onely in God and 
 his glory. By our soule, is meant all the course of our life : 
 Our infancie, our young age, our middle age, and our old age. 
 Wherefore in this it is required, that the whole time of our 
 life, from the beginning of our birth to the houre of our death, 
 shoulde bee imployed to the seruice of God. Our minde 
 comprehendeth our reason and vnderstanding : so that by that 
 branche, wee are taught that our vnderstanding, our reason, 
 and all the cogitations of our minde should bee occupied in 
 nothing, but in the loue of God. Our power noteth all the 
 strength and sences of our body, and the abilitie of worldly 
 substance and outwarde giftes of God. So that there is 
 nothing apperteining to vs, eyther inwardly, or outwardly, 
 (as I haue saide) but God wholly requireth the same fo his 
 seruice : and if wee doe fayle therein, wee offend his iustice, 
 and want of that perfect rule of life that is prescribed vnto vs : 
 Insomuch that if the mercie of God in Christ our Sauiour 
 helpe not, wee deserue for the same euerlasting damnation. 
 To the declaration of the latter part of this rule, "that wee 
 should loue our neighbour as our selfe," appertaineth the 
 doctrine of Christ, Matth, 5. " that we should not so much as 
 once bee mooued with anger toward our neighbour, that wee 
 should not looke vpon a woman to lust after her, that wee 
 should not onely loue our neighbour as our selfe, but that we 
 should loue our enemies, blesse them that curse vs, doe good 
 to them that hate vs, pray for them that persecute vs, &c." 
 
 As for our money, lands, goods and possessions, wee should 
 haue our mindes so litle giuen to them, and our hearts so 
 smally set vpon them, that we nothing at all should care for 
 them further, then that they may bee vnto vs, either instru- 
 ments of vertue, or necessary helps of our fraile life. Yea, 
 there is nothing so nigh, nothing so deere vnto vs by Christes 
 rule, eyther eye, or hande, or foote, or whatsoeuer it bee, but 
 
of Bishops Linings. 189 
 
 we should cut it off, and cast it from vs, if it be a let or hin- 
 derance vnto vs to enter into the kingdom of God. Finally, 
 our bodies being here in this vale of miserie, our minds, and 
 hearts and conuersations should be in heauen : "they i. Cor. 7. 
 that haue wiues, as though they had none : they that weepe, 
 as though they wept not: they that reioyce, as though they 
 reioyced not : they that buy, as though they possessed not : 
 they that vse this worlde, as though they vsed it not." 
 
 To this rule of Christian perfection, appertaine all those 
 sentences and exhortations of Christ and of his Apostles, which 
 before you haue heard alledged, tending all to this ende, to 
 pull away the hearts of men from the loue of riches and care 
 'of this worlde, that they may set the same wholly vpon God. 
 This rule is layde downe not onely for Ministers of the 
 Church, as tliough they onely were the seruants of God, but 
 also for all other faithful Christians, whom it bindeth as 
 streightly as it doeth the Ministers. For it is a marke, vnto 
 which they both should direct their whole indeuours. 
 
 They therefore that will apply this rule to some one state 
 of men, and not to other, fal into like error as Monkes and 
 Friers did, dreaming a more straite order by God to be 
 appoynted to one, then to another. The Minister so much 
 as he lacketh of this perfection, so much is hee indebted 
 and in daunger vnto God : And if he flye not to the mercie 
 of God purchased by the merite of Christ to wash away that 
 want and imperfection, vndoubtedly there resteth nothing, 
 but eternall damnation. 
 
 Nowe, as I haue sayde of the Minister, so must I say of all 
 Christians beside. Therefore out of this doctrine is no parti- 
 cular application to bee made more to one state then to 
 another, but onely this, that ministers, because of their calling, 
 should shew themselues to come neerer to this iriarke, then 
 other. Where the errour in reasoning is, you may nowe 
 by this perceiue, which consisteth in two points. First, that 
 the branches of the rule of Christian perfection generally 
 
190 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 giuen to all, are applied onely to Ministers of the Church, as 
 speciall precepts to binde them : And secondly, that the per- 
 forming of this rule is more imputed (as the Monkes and 
 Friers did) to the outwarde refusing of Gods creatures, then 
 the brideling of the affections and humble contentation of the 
 mind before God. 
 
 By this corrupt manner of reasoning in these dayes, are 
 framed sundry daungerous arguments against the state of the 
 Ministerie heere nowe with vs in England. As for example, 
 " Our Bishops and Ministers are euill men : they aunswere 
 not the perfect rule, that is prescribed vnto them by the worde 
 of God : therefore they shoulde bee deposed, their state 
 altered, and their Lands and liuings taken into the Princes 
 hands, or be otherwise imploied as it shall be thought good." 
 
 The daunger of this argument will be easily perceiued, if 
 you apply the same to other states, as thus : " Princes, Ma- 
 gistrates and noble men are euill, they do not fulfill that rule 
 of right and perfect gouernment that the worde of God 
 requireth: therefore pull them downe, set other in their 
 places, or alter their state cleane." 
 
 This is a seditious and perillous argument, especially when 
 common and inferior subiects, not hauing authoritie, shall 
 take vpon them to bee iudges in such cases, as nowe they doe 
 against bishops. 
 
 With this manner of reasoning (as I haue before noted) the 
 Deuill filleth the heads and hearts of his troublesome instru- 
 ments, when hee intendeth to worke mischiefe, eyther in the 
 Church of God, or in the state of any common weale. 
 
 This manner of arguments they alwayes vse, which for 
 priuate respects, pretend generall reformations or alterations 
 in the state of a Church or Countrey, wherein they Hue. Let 
 the bishops and Cleargie of England haue such iudges and 
 triall, as the word of God requireth, and euer hath beene vsed 
 in the Church of Christ : yea, or such as other states woulde 
 thinke reasonable and indifferent for them selues in their 
 
of Bishops Linings . 191 
 
 calling: and then, on Gods name, let them abide the hazard 
 of the sentence eyther with them or against them, and the 
 daunger of such penaltie as in iustice and equitie may be 
 assigned. Another daungerous Argument is this: "Bishops 
 and Preachers by Christ are commaunded not to bee careful 
 for the world, not to hoord vp treasures in earth, yea to 
 renounce all they haue and follow Christ: therefore they 
 ought not to haue any lands or Lordships, or great and weal- 
 thie Liuings, but to be contented with meate, drinke and cloth. 
 &c." The hardnesse of this reason will be the better vnder- 
 standed, if the like bee applyed to some other persons. 
 
 " Noble men and gentlemen, if they wil bee right and true 
 Christians, by Gods worde are commaunded not to be care- 
 full for the worlde, not to hoord vp riches heere on the earth, 
 yea to renounce all that they haue, and followe Christ : there- 
 fore they may not haue so great and ample liuings more then 
 other, but shall content themselues with such a moderate por- 
 tion, as may toUerably maynteine them, in seeing the ad- 
 ministration of iustice in their countreyes, and the residue that 
 nowe is spent in gaming and vnnecessarie pompe, and vanitie 
 of the worlde, to be imployed to the maintenance of a great 
 nomber of the Princes subiects, and people of God, that are 
 not able in meane estate to liue." For in such case were the 
 noble men and Gentlemen of the Israelites called Principes 
 familiarwm, the Princes and chiefe of each tribe and familie 
 among the people of God. 
 
 A many of such factious and seditious arguments may in 
 like manner be framed, more meete for rebels, then for good 
 subiects or faithfuU Christians, which I do in this place for 
 good considerations omitte. For if they shoulde bee so 
 countenaunced with particular allegations of the Scriptures, 
 and furnished with such learning and examples of histories, as 
 factious heades are able to deuise : happily they woulde carrie 
 as much credite, and drawe as great a number of followers 
 and mainteiners, as nowe the like dealing doeth against the 
 
192 Answer es to the Aduersaries 
 
 Clergie, I will not therefore tarrie any longer in this point. 
 I haue set foorth vnto you an example or two nakedly and 
 barely, to this ende onely, if it might bee possible, to open the 
 eyes of some, which seeme in part to bee blinded eyther with 
 affection against bishops, or with a desire to worke and bring 
 to passe some speciall drift and purpose that they haue de- 
 uised : for what cause, it may be more easily by wise men 
 coniectured, then safely by mee layde downe in writing. 
 
 For the further examining of this matter, and that it may 
 be the better vnderstanded, whether ecclesiasticall men may 
 How Mini- ^^'^ ^^^® Consciences enioy the state of their linings 
 sters were by landes or no, Let vs briefely consider the condi- 
 from the tion of the Church, and howe Ministers haue beene 
 beginning, mainteined from the beginning, euen to this day. 
 And heere I must protest, that the Histories and writers, 
 especially such as bee of credite, are so imperfect in this 
 point, as the trueth must bee gathered by conjecture of cer- 
 taine braunches, rather then by any discourse in their writing. 
 
 For the space of the first three hundred yeeres after Christ, 
 it is well knowen to all such as haue looked into the Eccle- 
 siasticall Histories, that it was almost in continuall persecution 
 vnder heathen tyrantes, which with all indeuour sought meanes 
 to oppresse Christian Religion, and the true professours there- 
 of. Wherefore in all that time it was not possible for the 
 church to haue any setled state, by Landes or certaine 
 reuenewe to maintaine the Ministers thereof: but they were 
 sustained onely by the liberall contribution of godlie persons, 
 collected at certaine times for that and other like Christian 
 vses. 
 
 Lib. 4. epi.5. For Saint Cyprian signifieth, that to certaine per- 
 sons appointed to the office of readers, hee distributed the 
 measure of gifts and distributions, as were assigned to the 
 Canon. 5. Priestes. The Canons attributed to the Apostles, 
 make mention of oblations and the first fruites to bee brought 
 home to the house of the bishoppe, beside such thinges as 
 
of Bishops Linings 193 
 
 were offered in the Church. Origen somewhat more straightly 
 seemeth to require the tenthes and first fruites of such in- 
 crease as Christians haue by the blessing of God : his wordes 
 bee these. "It is comely and profitable, that the first fruits 
 should be offered to the Priests of the Gospell also, Homii. ii. 
 for so the Lord disposed, that he that preacheth the '" burner. 
 gospell, should liue by the Gospell. And as this is good and 
 comely : so contrariwise, it is euill and vncomely, that one that 
 worshippeth God, and commeth into the church, knowing that 
 the Priestes attend on the Altar, and serue the worde of 
 God, and ministerie of the Church, should not offer vnto the 
 Priests the firstlings of those fruites that God giueth by bring- 
 ing foorth his sunne and seasonable showers vpon them. For 
 such a soule seemeth not to mee to haue any remembrance of 
 God, or to thinke, that it is God that giueth those firuites." 
 
 It may appeare also, that euen in this time the Church had 
 certaine houses allotted to their Bishops. For when Paulus 
 Samosatenus, afler his deposition, would not depart out of the 
 house that belonged to the Church, it was appoynted by 
 the authoritie of the Emperour Aurelius, that he Euseb. ec- 
 should bee remoued from it, and the house assigned ^^^^'^'•^'^'' 
 vnto him, to whom the Bishops of Italie did agree so. 
 in doctrine. Origen also mentioneth certaine rentes and 
 reuenues to the Church. " Many of vs" (sayeth he) " haue 
 neede of this warning, that wee bee both faithfiiU, orig. tract. 
 and also wise," ad dispensandos Ecelesiee redditus, 
 " to bestowe the rents of the Church." 
 
 And one Petrus de Natalibus writeth, that in the time of 
 Vrhane bishop of Rome, about two hundred twentie and sixe 
 yeeres after Christ, the Church first beganne to possesse landes 
 towarde the finding of the Ministers, Certaine it is^^tbat many 
 godly disposed persons, notwithstanding they were letted by 
 the crueltie of tyrantes, euen in that time gaue large and ample 
 giftes vnto the Church, not onely in money and plate, but as it 
 is to bee gathered, in reuenue also. For Optatus Mileuitanus 
 
194 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 Opt. lib. I. writeth, that Mensurius Bishop of Carthage before 
 Cecilianus, when hee was sent for to the Emperour, fearing 
 that hee should returne no more agayne, left in the custodie of 
 certaine persons Ornamenta plurima et aurea et argentea, 
 " many ornaments of gold and siluer." The restoring of 
 which omamentes and iewels afterwarde, was one great occa- 
 sion of the schisme of the Donatists, as the same Optatus shew- 
 eth. Wherefore it may appeare, the Church was not in those 
 dayes so poore and needie, as some men woulde haue vs 
 thinke it was : though it were then vnder heathenish and cruel 
 tyrants, with all extremitie forbidding, that any persons should 
 giue eyther goodes or Landes to the releefe of it. SahelUcus 
 Ennead. 7. Writeth, that in the time of Maxentius the Emperour, 
 
 one Lucina a noble and rich gentlewoman of Rome, ' 
 appoynted the Church of Rome to bee heire vnto all her sub- 
 stance and possessions. Which, when that cruell tyrant vn- 
 derstbode, hee for the time banished her out of the Citie. But 
 when Constantine that good and first Christian Emperour, vn- 
 Lib. 1. de dertooke the defence and maintenance of Christian 
 eccier°°'° religion, he not only liberally bestowed vpon the 
 
 Church himselfe, but by lawe made it free, to all 
 that woulde giue any thing vnto the Church, were it in Landes 
 Lib. 16. Cod. or otherwise. Which lawe Valentinianus, Theodosius, 
 
 and other afterwarde confirmed, nor euer was it 
 abridged but by lulian the Apostata. A copie of one decree of 
 Lib. 10. cap. Constantine is in Eusehius. " Those thinges that be- 
 ^' long to the right of other, we will not onely not to 
 
 haue retayned, but plainly to be restored. Wherefore our will 
 and pleasure is, that so soone as thou shalt receiue these our 
 letters, if there be any goods belonging to the Catholike Church 
 of Christians, eyther in cities, or other places, taken in pos- 
 session by the citzens, or by any other, that the same presently 
 be restored in like right, as before they had it. See therefore 
 that all things, eyther houses, or gardens, or whatsoeuer, bee 
 with speede restored to the Church againe." By this meanes, 
 
o/ Bishops Linings. 195 
 
 not only the Emperors themselues gaue both lands and many 
 other riche giftes, but also sundry other rich and godly persons. 
 Constantine gaue lands in the countrey about Sabine, g ^ ,, j, . 
 and an house and a garden at Rome. The same nead. ?. lib. 
 Constantine out of the tribute of euery citie, gaue a " 
 portion to the Churches for the maintenance of their Sozom. lib. 
 Ministers, and established them to continue as a Law 
 for euer. 
 
 Eusehius writeth, that beside many other benefites ^useb. cc- 
 (as contribution of come, building of Churches, &c.) <:ies.hist.i3. 
 he graunted to all Ecclesiastical persons, free immu- 
 nitie of all seruices and taxes, sauing only for their lands. For 
 the lands of the Church were subiect to tribute, as ^ ^^^.^^ 
 other were, by an ordinance made by the sonnes of Cod. de 
 the forenamed Constantine. This may appeare also oiericis. 
 by Ambrose, writing of the second Valentinian. " If 
 
 . . , . . Lib. epist 5. 
 
 he require tribute, we denie it not : the lands of the inorat.cont. 
 Church do pay tribute." The Church then had lands, A"^^"'™-"- 
 and that a good while before Ambrose his time, which was 
 about the yeere of our Lord three hundred sixtie and eight. 
 Yea, Ambrose himselfe lined by his owne lands being Bishop. 
 Therefore it may appeare hee did not thinke it to be against 
 the worde of God, for a Bishoppe or Minister of the Church to 
 line vpon the reuenewe of landes. 
 
 After the time of Constantine, the wealth of the Church in- 
 creased, as well in landes as other substance and prouision, not 
 only by the gifts of Emperors, Kings, and Queenes, but partly 
 also (as I haue said) by the deuotion of other godly per- 
 sons, who oftentimes left to the vse of the Church, ■g^^^ j^^ 
 eyther a great part, or their whole substance and i*"- 
 possessions, partly by the gift of Bishops themselues, partly by 
 other Ecclesiasticall persons, which, because they were not 
 maried, nor had issue or heires, were by order bound to leaue 
 vnto the church, all their possessions, both lands and goods. 
 
 K 2 
 
1 96 Answeres to the Aduersaries. 
 
 Sometime also by the punishment of offendors. For it is read, 
 that one Bassus a gentleman falsely accused Sixtus bishoppe 
 „, . of Rome, and when Sixtus had cleared himselfe in a 
 
 Platina. ' 
 
 Sabeii.en- synode of Bishops, Bassus, for his slaunderous accu- 
 ■ 'sation, was banished, and his landes giuen vnto the 
 Church. The same Sixtus gaue landes vnto the Church him- 
 selfe also. Crescentius a noble man gaue vnto the Church of 
 Rome all his substance, and a manour in Sicilie called Ar- 
 mcep^. lib. ffianum. Eudotia the Empresse, wife to Theodosius, 
 14. cap. 5. adorned the Bishops house at Constantinople, and 
 gaue vnto it a yeerely reuenue. By the counsell at Berythe 
 it may appeare, the Church of Edessa had rentes, manours 
 woods, and plate set with pretious stones, &c. This state of 
 wealth the church grewe vnto, not much more then in the 
 space of one hundred yeeres after it pleased God to giue peace 
 vnto it from outwarde and Heathenish enemies : and yet in the 
 meane time had it other tempestes and bitter stormes of ad- 
 uersitie, that did more hinder deuotion and godhnesse, then the 
 bloody persecutions of the Emperors did : as namely the trou- 
 bles raysed by the Arian heretikes, by the space of many 
 yeres, and especially in Asia, Greece, and all the East parts of 
 the world. And shortly thereupon folowed the horrible inua- 
 sion of the Goths, Vandals, Herules, and other barbarous peo- 
 ple, which as swarmes came out of the north parts, and with 
 maruellous cruelty ouerwhelmed all the west Countreyes of 
 Europe, to the great hindrance, daunger, and vnquietnesse of 
 the Church of God. After these stormes and tempests were 
 somewhat ouerblowne, the riches of the Church did very much 
 increase, both in lands and otherwise, by such meanes as before 
 I haue rehearsed. And this generally I. obserue in all his- 
 tories, and in all times, that the wealth thereof vnder Christian 
 Princes was neuer diminished, but rather increased : nor euer 
 did they murmure at it, or thought it too much, vntill the Pope 
 chalenged his vsurped dominion, and did seeke to bring the 
 
of Bishops Linings. 197 
 
 neckes of Princes vnder his girdle, and to alter Empires, 
 Kingdomes, and Principalities at his will and pleasure, saying, 
 that he had lus vtriiisque gladij, the power of both swords. 
 
 " Heere (I knowe) some will say, that by my owns con- 
 fession, I am fallen to acknowledge that botch that first bredde 
 Antichrist, and set him vp into his throne aboue Kings and 
 Princes, that is to say, the immoderate wealth of the Eccle- 
 siasticall men, which then did corrupt religion, and so, say they, 
 doth it now with vs." No, no (good Christians) they that so 
 say, eyther are blinded with ignoraunce, or looke into thinges 
 with partiall eyes, and seeke rather a secrete furthering of 
 priuate purposes, then the knowledge of the true causes of that, 
 whereof they speake. For they that will indifferently considei 
 the states of times, and with true iudgement weigh the 
 circumstaunces of them, may easily discerne, that it was not the 
 wealth of the Cleargie, but other causes of greater weight and 
 importaunce, that sette vp Antichrist aloft in his throane, and 
 wrought him the dominion of the Church, which I pray God 
 may bee more carefully looked vnto among vs, then yet I 
 perceiue that they haue beene : especially if we meane so 
 earnestlie to keepe away from vs the returne of his cor- 
 ruption, as many now woulde seeme to doe. 
 
 The first cause that aduaunced Antichrist, was 
 
 The true 
 
 Schisme and heresie in the Church, for the space of causes that 
 two hundred yeeres and more, together with the bar- ^f* T^ ■*""' 
 barous irruptions which before I spake of. The se- 
 cond cause was, the generall decay of learning, and especially 
 of the knowledge of the Scriptures, and of the tongues. Thirdly, 
 the vsurpation of Ecclesiasticall Discipline, practised against 
 Emperours and Princes, by which hee conquered more then by 
 all other meanes. The helping causes to these principal!, were 
 these two : first, the negligence, the vnskilfulnesse, the vn- 
 worthinesse of many emperours and gouernours, giuen ouer 
 rather to wantonnesse and voluptuous pleasures, then to the 
 care of their charge : and secondly, the superstitious deuotion 
 
 K 3 
 
1 98 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 of the people, maintained by corrupt doctrine. But the graund 
 cause of all causes was, the iust iudgement of God, for the 
 generall vnthankfulnesse of the world, in receiuing the know- 
 ledge of his gospell, which he sent among them. 
 
 And this cause was vniuersall in all estates and kindes of 
 persons, as well ecclesiasticall as other. The bishoppes and 
 Ministers were giuen ouer to maintaine factions and heretical! 
 doctrines : Princes looked more to their sensuall pleasure, then 
 to the godly gouemment of their subiects : the people were bent 
 wholly to superstition and wickednes of life, so that (a small 
 number onely excepted) none did studie howe in life and godly 
 conuersation, to frame thelnselues to the good and wholesome 
 doctrine of the Gospell, which at the hande of many godly 
 men, they at the beginning had receiued. Sundry of these or 
 the like causes haue we now also growing and encreasing 
 among vs : and therefore haue we great cause to fear the like 
 iust iudgement of God, that eyther shall cast vs againe vnder 
 the tyranny of Antichrist, or bring vpo vs some plague no 
 lesse greuious then that is. 
 
 Our ministers and Preachers breake out to Schismaticall 
 factions and curious Doctrines. The people, in steede of 
 superstitious deuotion, haue conceiued an heathenish contempt 
 of Keligion, and a disdaynefuU loathing of the ministers 
 thereof. Vice and wickednesse ouerwhelraeth all states and 
 conditions of men. None almost, vnlesse it bee some that 
 God reserueth to his secrete knowledge, studie to shewe thera- 
 selues thankfull to God, and in life to expresse that, which in 
 doctrine they will seeme to approoue. I pray God, that by 
 abusing this long suffering of the Lorde, wee heape not vp 
 wrath for our selues against the day of wrath. God hath 
 dealt as mercifullie with this land, as euer hee did with any. 
 I beseech him, that in time we may repent with Niniue, and 
 turne to him in sackcloth and ashes, while hee may bee founde, 
 and while hee stretcheth vnto vs the hande of his gratious 
 goodnesse, least when it is too late, and hee hath turned his 
 
of Bishops Liuings. 199 
 
 face from vs, wee crie vnto him with vaine gronings, and mourne 
 with vnprofitable sighings. Hee sent the light of his trueth 
 into this reahme, first in the time of K. Henry the eight, and 
 brake the power of Antichrist among vs : but because hee 
 sawe neyther thankfull receiuing of the Gospell, nor any thing 
 studied for by men generally, but the benefite of Abbey lands, 
 and possessions, to enrich them-selues : hee by and by cut 
 off the comfortable sweetenesse of his word, with the. bitter 
 sauour of the sixe articles, and sharp persecution of them that 
 professed true religion. 
 
 His iustice indeede coulde no longer abide the full ripenesse 
 of the superstition, idolatrie, and wicked life of the Monkes 
 and Friers, and such other swarms of Antichristian impietie : 
 but our vnthankfulnesse deserued not to haue the same turned 
 to our benefite, nor the freedome of his Gospell to be con- 
 tinued among vs to our further comfort. 
 
 In the time of that gratious Prince King Edward the sixt 
 hee gaue vs a larger taste of his word and a greater freedome 
 of all points of sound and true christian doctrine, to our vnes- 
 timable benefite, if wee could haue receiued it accordingly. 
 But euen then also, hee perceiued, that wee sought not so 
 much the increase of his glory, or to frame our lines ac- 
 cording to our profession, as wee did studie vnder counte- 
 nance of religion, by al meanes we could> to work again our 
 owne worldly benefit and commoditie. And therefore did hee 
 the second time take from this realme his fatherly blessing, and 
 cast vpon vs that heauie scourge of persecution, which im- 
 raediatly followed, keeping vs vnder the rodde of his correc- 
 tion by the space of certaine yeeres. 
 
 Neuerthelesse, as a mercifiill Father, declaring that by his 
 chastening he sought not our confusion but our amendment, 
 euen for the glory of his names sake onely, beyonde all hope 
 and expectation, hee shewed vs againe the light of his counte- 
 nance, and that more fauourably and bountifully then euer 
 hee did before, raysing for vs as it were out of the dust of 
 
200 Answeres to the Aduersaries 
 
 death, a Noble Queene, a gratious Prince, as a nurse or pro- 
 tectresse of his church : Vnder the shadow of whose wings, al- 
 though but a Virgine, he keepeth vs in great safetie and quiet- 
 nesse, against al the ancient enemies both of his Church, and of 
 our natutall countrey. Notwithstanding all this, our olde vn- 
 thankfulnesse and forgetfulnesse of our duetie still continueth, 
 and we shew our selues the same men that euer we did before. 
 
 And therefore beside the earnest preaching of his worde, 
 calling vs continually to repentance, who seeth not, that diuers 
 times he hath shaken the rod of his displeasure ouer vs ? as in 
 the Northren rebellion, and in many signes and tokens from 
 heauen, thereby, if it were possible, to waken vs out of our sin- 
 full securitie, wherein wee sleepe so confidently I Yea, and 
 the more to keepe vs in feare, hee hath made vs to nourish in 
 our bosomes the apparent instrument of his wrath, by whome 
 wee coulde not choose but see, that in a moment hee might 
 haue taken from vs both the comfort of his Gospell, and 
 the freedome and happinesse of our state. Here must I put 
 you in minde againe of his exceeding mercies shewed toward vs 
 euen in these fewe Moneths, deliuering vs from the bloody 
 crueltie of our enemies. 
 
 But to what effect, I pray you, commeth all this carefuU 
 working of our mercifuU God, by fayre meanes and foule 
 meanes thus labouring to drawe vs vnto him ? Doth it 
 quicken in vs the care of our saluation ? doth it increase the 
 feare of his displeasure ? doth it stir vp any more zeale and 
 loue of his Gospell ? hath it any thing diminished our vn- 
 charitable strife and contentio ? doth it any thing abate the 
 ■ obstinacie of the aduersary 1 hath it any way diminished the 
 loosenes of our liuing? hath it taken from vs our pride in ap- 
 parell ? our daintines in feeding ? our wastfull and pompous 
 building? hath it made lesse any euill among vs, and not 
 rather encreased euery thing, to an higher degree then euer it 
 was before ? Shall we thinke then, that this our vnsensible dul- 
 ness and vnthankfulnesse, can be without imminent punishment. 
 
of Bishops Liuings, 201 
 
 Surely, me thinketh the song of Esay the Prophet painteth 
 out our state and condition with the euent that will follow of it. 
 " The Lord hath chosen this lande, as his beloued vineyard, 
 hee hath mounded it" with his gratious fauour and Esay. 5. 
 diuine protection, " hee hath stoned it" by casting out the 
 rubble of the Synagogue of Antichrist, the broken stones 
 I meane, of idolatrie, superstition, false doctrine, and corrupt 
 worship of God : hee hath planted among vs the sweete grape 
 of his most wholesome Gospel, and the true vine Christ lesu : 
 he hath set up a watch Tower of Christian gouernment, and a 
 wine presse of earnest preaching of repentance, to presse and 
 wring mens hearts, if it were possible, to yeelde foorth the 
 sweete iuice of the fruits of the gospel to the glorie of God. 
 And he long hath looked, (for these his great benefites) that 
 wee should haue brought foorth sweete grapes, and wee 
 haue yeelded nothing but sowre and stinking fruite, discord 
 and dissension among our selues, couetousnesse, oppression, 
 extortion, drunkennesse, banquetting, voluptuous pleasure, 
 whoredome, adulterie, securitie in sinne, contempt of God, 
 disdaine of his Ministers, despising of his worde, selfe-liking 
 in our owne doings, confidence and trust in our owne wisedome 
 and policie &c. I pray God therefore in time wee may take 
 heede of that heauie iudgement that followeth, I meane, that 
 hee will " take away the hedge, and breake downe the wall" 
 of his mightie protection, whereby onely wee haue hitherto 
 remayned safe, and that hee will lay vs waste that the beastes 
 of the fielde may ouertrample vs : that hee will take from vs 
 the teaching and preaching of his Gospell, wherewith in vayne 
 hee hath so long digged and delued in our barraine heartes : 
 that hee will forbidde the cloudes of his heauenly prouidence 
 to rayne downe vpon vs his great and manifolde blessings, 
 which beforetime hee hath giuen vs, so that wee shalbe left as 
 adesolate ground, breeding nothing but bushes and brambles 
 of ignorance, errour, idolatrie, superstition, heresie and wicked 
 life, and bee made subiectes and slaues vnto our greatest ene- 
 
202 Answ^res to the Aduersaries 
 
 mies. The Lorde tume away that, which our vnthankfuU 
 hearts may iustly feare to be at hand, &c. 
 
 By this that I haue written, as I doubt not but the godly may 
 perceiue it was not riches and wealth of the Cleargie that first 
 set vp Antichrist in the vsurped throne of his dominion ouer 
 the Church, but that there were other more true and right 
 causes that bredde that mischiefe : so likewise that conscience, 
 that feareth God, and without affection looketh into the state 
 of this time among vs, and rightly weigheth and considereth 
 things, may easily iudge, that it is not the Landes and great 
 linings of bishop and Ecclesiasticall persons, but other matters, 
 more heynous and more greuious, that will hasten the wrath and 
 displeasure of God against this Realme, which in deede, it 
 behooueth bishops principally, and all other in their states and 
 conditions to haue care of, and in time, while wee may, by all 
 godly meanes to preuent it. 
 
 The affection of them, which at this day speake so much 
 against the Landes and liuings of bishops, and other Cleargie 
 men, is much like the dealing of those persons, that murmured 
 against Marie oi Bethania, which in the house of Simon the leper, 
 in testimonie of her thankefulnesse, for the great mercies that 
 shee had receiued of Christ, powred vpon his head the pre- 
 cious 03mtment of Spikenard. For euen in like manner our 
 gracious Queene, when God had deliuered her out of the 
 iawes of the greedie lyons, and cruell wolues that sought her 
 blood, and by his mightie hand had set her in the throne 
 of this her Fathers kingdome : to testifie her thankefull minde, 
 and to shewe her liberall and bountifuU heart towarde the 
 Church of God, shee powred vpon it this plentifull gift, 
 towarde the maintenance of the Ministers and Preachers of his 
 worde, that shee might declare to the worlde, that in im- 
 bracing the Gospell, and restoring the same to this Realme, 
 shee had not that minde and affection, which some other 
 haue shewed, that is, vnder colour thereof, to make the in- 
 crease of her owne benefite, and the comraoditie of her 
 
of Bishops Liuings. 203 
 
 Crowne, But as then ludas and some other Disciples mur- 
 mured at Marie, and vnder pretence of holinesse and cha- 
 ritie toward^ the poor, founde great fault with that superfluous 
 excesse (as tliey thought it) euen so nowe, many Disciples 
 among vs, with like colour of religion and holinesse, and 
 of zeale toward the perfection of the Church (forsooth) 
 murmure at the liberal benefit of our prince, which she 
 hath bestowed vpon the Church, and think the same a great 
 superfluitie, that might bee better imployed sundry wayes, to 
 the benefite of the common weale. Whatsoeuer is pretended, 
 I pray God the cause of the griefe bee not the same that lohn 
 mentioneth to haue beene that, which first began lohn. 12. 
 the murmuring at that time. But whatsoeuer is the cause of 
 this reproouing of the liberalitie of our gracious Prince and 
 soueraigne : if the time did now serue, I coulde with better 
 reason and authoritie prooue the Contrary Proposition to that 
 ''which they take vpon them to maintaine : that is, " That it is 
 not lawfull to bestow such liuings vpon Lay men, as are 
 appointed by godly lawes for Ministers and Preachers of the 
 worde of God." But the shortnesse of the time will not now 
 serue to foUowe that course. 
 
 IMPRINTED AT LON- 
 don by the Deputies of Chri- 
 stopher Barker, Printer to the 
 
 Queenes most excellent 
 Maiestie. 
 1589. 
 
puritan Mi&ttj^lint Crarts* 
 
 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER; 
 
 BEING 
 
 A REPLY 
 
 TO THE 
 
 " ADMONITION TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND." 
 
 BY 
 
 MARTIN MAR-PRELATE. 
 
 3Sie'$rintett team t})e 3$Iac& Hettec dStsitian. 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN PETHEBAM, 71, CHANCERY LANE. 
 
 1845. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 "Have you any work for John Cooper'' appears to 
 have been one of the cries of London, according to a 
 print in that scarce and curious volume, " Tempesta's 
 Cries of London," folio 1711. 
 
 There are two or three allusions in the present Tract 
 to its author, which, though they afford us no means of 
 judging who he was, will satisfy us that he was the author 
 also of the " Epistle'' and the " Epitome." " I haue onely 
 published a Fisde, and a Pitomie, wherein also I graunt 
 that I did reasonably Pistle them," says he at p. 60 ; 
 and again atp, 41, "lam alone. No man vnder heauen 
 is priuy, or hath bin priuie vnto my writings against 
 you, I vsed the aduise of non therein. You haue and 
 do suspect diuers, as master Paggett, master Wiggington, 
 master Udall, and master Penri, &c. to make Martin." 
 It has been inferred, with very great probability, that 
 John Penri was the author of the Epistle, and it is 
 remarkable that the author here puts Penri last, against 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 whom and Udall a much stronger suspicion existed than 
 against Eusebius Paget and Giles Wiggington. 
 
 The " More Work for Cooper,'' so often referred to, 
 was never wholly printed, for it was during the printing 
 of it that the press was seized, together with several 
 unfinished pamphlets, and the persons engaged on it ; 
 but whether the whole work exists in any form is very 
 doubtful. 
 
 The original of the present Tract is in black letter, 
 altogether consisting of 58 pages. It was, without 
 doubt, printed with the same types as those used for 
 the Epistle and the Epitome ; and the date of publication 
 may be referred, with some degree of certainty, to the 
 earlier part of the year 1589, because he speaks in the 
 beginning of the pursuivants who were sent about the 
 country to seek for him, which was towards the latter 
 end of the year 1588, and a little further ,on he says, 
 "I loue not the ayre of the Clinke or Gatehouse in this 
 colde time of Winter." 
 
 J. P. 
 
 London, February 10, 1845. 
 
?|ap any toorlte Cor Cooper j 
 
 Or a briefe Pistle directed by Waye of an 
 
 hublication to the reverende Byshopps, counselling them, 
 
 if they will needs be barrelled vp, for feare of smelling 
 
 in the nostrels of her Maiestie and the State, that they would 
 
 vse the aduise of reuerend Martin, for the proulding of their 
 
 Cooper. Because the reuerend T. 0. (by which misticall 
 
 letters, is vnderstood, eyther the bounsing Parson of 
 
 Eastmeane, or Tom Coakes his Chaplaine) 
 
 [hath shewed himselfe in his late Adrrw- 
 
 nition to the people of England'] 
 
 to bee an vnskilfull 
 
 and a beceylfull 
 
 tubtrimmer. 
 
 Wherein worthy Martin quits himselfe like a man 
 
 I warrant you, in the modest defence of his selfe and his 
 
 learned Pistles, and makes the Coopers hoopes 
 
 to flye off, and the Bishops Tubs to 
 
 leake out of aU crye. 
 
 Penned and compiled by Martin the Metropolitans. 
 
 Printed in Europe, not far from some 
 of the Bounsing Priestes. 
 
A man of Worshipp, to the men of Worship, 
 
 that is, Martin Marprelate gentleman, Primate, and 
 Metropolitane of all the Martins whersoeuer. To 
 the Tohn of al the sir lohns, and to the rest of the 
 terrible priests : saith have among you once againe 
 my cleargie masters. For 
 
 BRETHREN, there is such a deale of loue growne of 
 late I perceiue, betweene you and me, that although I 
 would be negligent in sending my Pistles vnto you : yet 
 
 1 see you cannot forget me. I thought you to bee verye 
 kinde when you sent your Purcivaunts about the, coun- 
 trie to seeke for me. But now that you your selues 
 haue taken the paines to write, this is out of all crie. 
 Why it passes to thinke what louing and carefull 
 brethren I haue, who although I cannot be gotten, to 
 tell them where I am, because I loue not the ayre of 
 the Clinke or Gatehouse in this colde time of Winter, 
 and by reason of my busines in Pistleraaking, will not- 
 withstanding make it knowne vnto the world, that they 
 haue a moneths mind towards me. Now truly brethren, 
 I find you kinde, why ye do not know what a pleasure 
 you haue done me. My worships books were vn- 
 knowne to many, before you allowed T.C. to admo- 
 nishe the people of England to take heed, that if they 
 loued you, they woulde make much of their prelates, and 
 the chiefe of the cleargie. Now many seeke after my 
 
 B 2 
 
THE EPISTLE TO THE 
 
 bookes, more than euer they did. Againe, some knew 
 not that our brother lohn of Fulham, was so good vnto 
 the porter of his gate, as to make the poore blinde 
 honest soule, to be a dum minister. Many did not 
 know, eyther that Amen, is as much as by my fayth, 
 and so that our Sauiour Christe euer sware by his fayth : 
 or that bowling and eating of the Sabboth, are of the 
 same nature : that Bb. may as lawfully make blinde 
 guydes, as Dauid might eate of the Shew bread : or 
 that father Thomas tubtrimmer of Winchester, good old 
 student, is a master of Arts of 45. yeares standing. 
 Many I say, were ignorant of these thinges, and many 
 other prettie toyes, vntil you wrote this prettie booke. 
 Besides whatsoeuer you ouerpasse in my writings, and 
 did not gainsay, that I hope wilbe iudged to be true. 
 And so lohn a Bridges his treason out of the 448. page 
 of his booke, you graunt to be true. Your selues you 
 denie not to bee pettie popes. The B. of sir Dauids in 
 Wales, you denie not to haue two wiues, with an hun- 
 dred other thinges which you do not gainsay : so that 
 the reader may iudge that I am true of my worde, and 
 vse not to lye like Bb. And this hath greatly com- 
 mended my worshipps good dealing. But in your con- 
 futation of my book, you haue shewed reuerende Martin 
 to be truepenie in deede : For you haue confyrmed, 
 rather then confuted him. So that brethren, the plea- 
 sure which you haue done vnto me, is out of all scotche 
 and notche. And shoulde not I againe be as readie to 
 pleasure you ? Naye, then I shoulde be as vngrateful 
 towards my good brethre, as lohn of Cant, is to Thomas 
 
TERRIBLE PRIESTS. V 
 
 Cartwright. The which lohn, although he hath bin 
 greatly fauored by the said Thomas, in that Thomas 
 hath now these many yeares let him alone and said 
 nothing vnto him, for not answering his books, yet is 
 not ashamed to make a secrete comparison, betweene 
 himselfe and Thomas Cartwright. As who say, lohn 
 of Lambehith, were as learned as Thomas Cartwright. 
 What say you old deane lohn a Bridges, haue not you 
 shewed your selfe thankfull vnto hir Maiestie, in ouer- 
 throwing hir supremacie in the 448. page of your booke. 
 I will lay on load on your skincoat for this geare anon. 
 
 And I will haue my peny worths of all of you brethre 
 ere I haue done with you, for this pains which your 
 T. C. hath taken with me. This is the puritans 
 craft, in procuring me to be confuted I knowe : He be 
 euen with them to. A craftie whoresons brethren Bb. 
 did you thinke, because y^ puritans T. C. did set lohn 
 of Cant, at a nonplus, and gaue him the ouerthrow, that 
 therefore your T. C. alias Thomas Cooper bishop of 
 Winchester, or Thomas Cooke his Chaplaine, could set 
 me at a nonplus. Simple fellowes, me thinkes he should 
 not, 
 
 I gesse your T. C. to be Thomas Cooper (but I do 
 not peremptorily afHrme it) because the modest olde 
 student of 52. yeres standing, setteth Winchester after 
 Lincolne and Rochester in the contents of his booke, 
 which blasphemy, would not haue bin tollerated by 
 them that saw and allowed the book, vnlesse mistres 
 Coopers husband had bin the author of it. 
 
 Secondly, because this T. C. the author of this booke 
 B 3 
 
10 THE EPISTLE TO THE 
 
 is a bishop, and therefore Thomas Cooper, he is a Bi- 
 shop, because he reckoneth him selfe charged amongst 
 others, with those crimes whereof non are accused but 
 bishops alone, pag. 101. lin. 26. Ka olde Martin yet 
 I see thou hast it in thee, thou wilt enter into the 
 bowels of the cause in hand I perceue. Nay, if you 
 wil commend me, T. will giue you more reasons yet. 
 The stile and the phrase is very like her husbands, 
 y* was sometimes woont to write vnto doctor Day of 
 Welles. You see I can do it in deed. Again, non 
 would be so groshead as to gather, because my reue- 
 rence telleth Deane lohn, that he shall haue twenty 
 fists about his eares more then his owne (whereby I 
 meant in deede, that manye would write against him, 
 by reason of his bomination learning, which otherwise 
 neuer ment to take pen in hand) that I threatned him 
 with blowes, and to deale by Stafford law : Whereas 
 that was far from my meaning, and could by no means 
 be gathered out of my words, but only by him that 
 pronounced Eulojin for Eulogein in the pulpit : and by 
 him whom a papist made to beleeue, that the greek 
 word Eulogein, that is to giue thanks, signifieth to make 
 a crosse in the forhead : py hyhyhy. I cannot but laugh, 
 py hy hy hy. I cannot but laugh, to thinke that an 
 olde soaking student in this learned age, is not ashamed 
 to be so impudent as to presume to deale with a papist, 
 when he hath no grue in his pocked. But I promise 
 you Sir, it is no shame to be a L. bishop if a man could, 
 thogh he were as vnlerned as lohn of Glocester or 
 William of Liechfeld. And I tel you true, our brother 
 
TERRIBLE PRIESTS. 11 
 
 Westchester, had as liue playe twentie nobles in a night, 
 at Priemeero on the cards, as trouble him selfe with any 
 pulpit labor, and yet he thinks him self to be a suffi- 
 cient bishop. What a bishop such a cardplaier ? A 
 bishop play 20. nobles in a night? Whie a round 
 threpence serueth the turn to make good sport 3. or 4. 
 nights amongst honest neighbours. And take heede of 
 it brother Westchester : it is an vnlawfuU game if you 
 will beleeue me. Foe, in winter it is no matter to take 
 a litle sport,' for an od cast braces of 20. nobles when 
 the wether is foule, that men cannot go abroad to boules, 
 or to shoote ? What would you haue men take no 
 recreatio ? Ye but it is an old said saw, inough is as 
 good as a feast. And recreations must not be made a 
 trade and an occupation, ka master Martin Marprelate. 
 I tel you true brother mine, though I haue as good a 
 gift in pistle making, as as you haue at priemeero, and 
 far more delight then you can haue at your cards, for 
 the loue I beare to my brethren, yet I dare not vse this 
 sport, but as a recreation, not making any trade thereof. 
 And cards I tel you though they bee without homes, 
 yet they are parlous beasts. Be they lawful or vnlawful 
 take heed of them for al that. For you cannot vse 
 them but you must needs say your brother T. C. his 
 Amen, that is, sweare by your faith, many a time in 
 the night, wel I will neuer stande argling the matter 
 any more with you. If you will leaue your card play- 
 ing so it is, if you wil not, trust to it it wil be the worse 
 for you. 
 
 I must go simply and plainly to worke with my 
 
12 
 
 THE EPISTLE TO THE 
 
 brethren, that haue published T. C. Whosoeuer haue 
 published that booke, they haue so hooped the bishops 
 tubbs, that they haue made them to smel far more 
 odious then euer they did, euen in the nostrels of all 
 men. The booke is of 252. pages. The drift thereof 
 is, to confute certaine printed and published libelles. 
 You bestowe not full 50. pages in the answeare of any 
 thing that euer was published in print. The rest are 
 bestowed to maintaine the belly, and to confute : what 
 think you ? Euen the slanderous inuentions of your 
 owne braines for the most part. As y' it is not lawfiill 
 for her Maiestie to allot any lands vnto the mainte- 
 naunce of the minister, or the minister to liue vpo 
 lands for this purpose allotted vnto him, but is to con- 
 tent him selfe with a smal pention, and so small, as he 
 haue nothing to leaue for his wife and childre after him 
 (for whom he is not to be careful, but to rest on gods 
 prouidence) and is to require no more but foode and 
 raiment, that in poverty he might be answerable vnto 
 our Sauiour Christ and his apostles. In the confutation 
 of these points, and the scriptures corruptly aplied to 
 proue them, there is bestowed aboue an 100. pages of 
 this book, that is, from the 149. vnto the end. Well 
 T. C. whosoeuer thou art, and whosoeuer Martin is, 
 neither thou, nor any man or woman in England shal 
 know while you liue, suspect and trouble as many as 
 you wil, and therefore saue your mony in seeking for 
 him, for it may be he is neerer you then you are ware 
 of. But whosoeuer thou art I say, thou shewest thyself 
 to be a most notorious wicked slanderer, in fathering 
 
TERRIBLE PRIESTS. 13 
 
 these things vppon those whome they call puritans, 
 which neuer any eniojring common sense would afRrme. 
 And bring me him, or set downe his name and his 
 reasons that holdeth any of the former points confuted 
 in thy book, and I wil proue him to be vtterly bereaued 
 of his witts, and his confuter to be either stark mad, or 
 a stark enemy to al religion, yea to her Maiestie and 
 the state, of this kingdome. No no, T. C. puritans 
 hold no such points. It were well for bishops, that 
 their aduersaries were thus sottishe. They might then 
 iustly insence her Maiestie and the state against them, 
 if they were of this minde. These obiections, in the 
 confutation whereof, thou hast bestowed so much time, 
 are so.farre from hauing anypuritane to be their author, 
 as whosoeuer readeth the book, were he as blockheaded 
 as Thomas of Winchester himselfe, hee may easily 
 knowe them to be obiections onely inuented by the 
 authour of the booke himselfe. For although hee bee 
 an impudent wretch, yet dareth he not set them downe, 
 as writings of any other : for then he woulde haue 
 described the author and the booke by some adient. 
 
 The pviritans in deede, holde it vnlawfull for a mini- 
 ster to haue such temporall reuenews, as whereby tenne 
 ministers might be well maintained, vnlesse the sayd 
 reuenew;s come vnto him by inheritance. 
 
 They holde it^also vnlawfull, for any state to bestowe 
 the linings of many ministers vpon one alone, especially 
 when there is such want of ministers liuings. 
 
 They holde it vnlawfull for anye minister to be Lorde 
 ouer his brethren. And they holde it vnlawfull for 
 
14 THE EPISTLE TO THE 
 
 anye state to toUerate such vnder their gouernment. 
 Because it is vnlawfull for states, to toUerate men in 
 those places whereinto the word hath forbidden them to 
 enter. 
 
 They affirme that our Sauiour Christe, hath forbid- 
 den all ministers to be Lords, Luke 22. 25. And the 
 Apostle Peter, sheweth them to be none of Gods 
 ministers, which are Lords ouer Gods heritage, as 
 you Bishopps are, and woulde bee accounted. These 
 thinges T. C. you should haue confuted, and not 
 troubled your selfe, to execute the fruites of your owne 
 braines, as an enemie to the state. And in these points, 
 I do challenge you T. C. and you Deane lohn, and you 
 lohn Whitgift, and you doctor Coosins, and you doctor 
 Capcase (Copcoat I think your name be) and as many 
 else, as haue or dare write in the defence of the esta-: 
 blished church gouernment. If you cannot confute my 
 former assertions, you do but in vain thinke to main- 
 taine your gelues by slaunders, in fathering vppon the 
 puritanes, the ofspringes of your owne blockheads. 
 And assure your selues, I wil so besoop you if you 
 canot defend your selues in these points, as al the world 
 shal cry shame vppon you, you think pretely to escape 
 the point of your Antichristian calings, by giuing out 
 that puritans hold it vnlawfull for her maiestie to leaue 
 any lands for the vse of the ministers maintenance. I 
 cannot but commend you, for I promise you, you can 
 shift of an haynous accusation very pretily. 
 
 A true man bringeth vnanswerable witnesses against 
 a robber by the high way side, and desireth the iudge. 
 
TERRIBLE PRIESTS. 15 
 
 that the lawe may proceede against him. O no my 
 Lord saith the thiefe, in any case let not me be dealt 
 with. For these mine accusers haue giuen out, that 
 you are a drunkard or they haue committed treason 
 against the state : therefore I pray you beleeue my 
 slsmder against the, that they may be executed : so when 
 I come to my trial, I shalbe sure to haue no accusers. 
 A very prety way to escape, if a man could tel howe 
 to bringe the matter about. Now bretheren bishops, 
 your manner of dealing, is euen the very same. The 
 puritans say truly, that al Lord bishops are pety Anti- 
 christes, and therefore that the magistrates ought to 
 thrust you out of the common welth. Nowe of all 
 loues say the bishops, let not our places be called in 
 question, but rather credit our slanders against die 
 puritans, whereby, if men would beleeue vs when we 
 lie, we would beare the world in hand, that these our 
 accusers are Malcontents and sottish men, holding it 
 vnlawful for the maiestrat to alott any lands for the 
 ministers portion, and vnlawful for the minister to pro- 
 uide for his family. And therefore you must not giue 
 eare to the accusations of any such men against vs. 
 And so we shall be sure to be acquited. But brethren 
 doe you thinke to be thus cleared ? why the puritans 
 hold no such points as you lay to their charg. Though 
 they did, as they do not, yet that were no sufficient 
 reason, why you being pettye popes, shoulde be main- 
 tained in a christian commonwealth. Answeare the 
 reasons that T brought against you : otherwise, Come 
 ofif you bishops, leaue your thousandes, and content 
 
16 THE EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS. 
 
 your selues with your hundreds, saith lohn of London. 
 
 So that you do plainly see, that your Cooper T. C. 
 
 is but a deceitful' workeman, and if you commit the 
 
 hooping of your bishopricks vnto him, they wil so leake 
 
 in a short space, as they shalbe able to keepe neuer a 
 
 Lord bishop in them. And this may serue for an 
 
 aunswere vnto the latter part of your 
 
 booke, by way of an Interim, vntil 
 
 more worke for Cooper 
 
 be published. 
 
?|ap anp bjorfee for Cooper* 
 
 And now reuerend T. C. I am come to your epistle to 
 the reader, but first you and I must go out alone into 
 the plaine fields, and there we wil try it out, euen by 
 plaine syllogismes, and that I know bishops cannot 
 abide to heare of. 
 
 The reuerend T. C. to the reader, page 1 . 
 
 I draw great danger vpon my selfe, in defending our 
 bishops and others the chiefe of the clargy of the church 
 of England. Their aduersaries are very eger : the 
 saints in heauen haue felt of their tongs, for when they 
 speake of Paule, Peter, Marye, &c. whome others iustly 
 ceQI saints : they in derision caU them sir Peter, sir 
 Paule, sir Marie. 
 
 Reuerend Martin. 
 
 Alas poore reuerende T. C. Be not afraid, Heere 
 be non but frends man. I hope thou art a good fellow, 
 and a true subiect, ye but I defend the bishops of the 
 church of England saith he, then in deed I maruell not 
 though thy conscience accuse thee, and thou art sure to 
 be as wel fauoredly thwacked for thy labour, as euer 
 
 c 
 
18 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 thou wast in thy life. Thy conscience I say, must 
 needs make thee feare in defending them. For they 
 are petty popes, and petty Antichristes as I haue 
 proued, because they are pastor of pastors, &c. thou 
 hast not answered my reasons, and therefore swadled 
 thou shalt be for thy paynes, and yet if thou wilt yeeld 
 I will spare thee. Thou canst not be a good and a 
 sound subiect and defend the hierarchy of Lorde bi- 
 shopps to be lawful, as I will shewe anone. Concerning 
 Sir Paul, I haue him not at all in my writings. And 
 therefore the reader must know, that there is a canter- 
 bury trick once to patch vp an acusation with a lye or 
 two. 
 
 Sir Peter was the otiersight of the printer, who 
 omitted this Marginal note vz. He was not Saint Peter 
 which had a lawfull superiour authority ouer the vni- 
 uersal body of the church. And therfore the priest 
 wherof Deane lohn speaketh was Sir Peter. 
 
 And good reuerend T. C. I pray thee tel me, what 
 kin was Saint Mary Queries, to Mary the Virgin. In 
 my book learning, the one was some popish Trull, and 
 the other the blessed virgine. But will you haue all 
 diose, who are saints in deed, called saints 1 Why then 
 why doe you not call saint Abraham, saint Sara, saint 
 leremie. If lohn of Canterbury should marie, tell me 
 good T. C. dost thou not thinke that he would not make 
 choyse of a godly woman. I hope a would. And T. C. 
 though you are learned, yet you go beyond your bookes 
 if you saide the contrary : being a godly woman, then 
 she were a sainte. And so by your rule, her name 
 
HAY ANY WORKB FOR COOPEa. 19 
 
 being Marie, you would haue her called sainte Marie 
 Canterburie. But I promise thee, did his grace what 
 he could, I would call her sir Marie Canterburie as 
 long as he professed himselfe to be a priest, and this 
 I might do lawfully. For he being sir lohn, why should 
 not his wife be sir Marie. And why not sir Marie 
 Queries, as well as sir Marie Canterburie ? I hope 
 lohn of Canterburie whom I knowe, (though I know no 
 great good in him) to be as honest a man as M. Queries 
 was, whom I did not know. Neither is there any 
 reason why you T. C. should holde M. Queries and 
 his Marie, because they are within the diocesse of Win- 
 chester, to bee more honest then M. Canterburie and 
 his wife. Naye there is more reason, why M. Canter- 
 burie and his wife dwelling at Lambehith, should be 
 thought the honester of the two, then Queries and his 
 wife, because they dwel Q the bankes side. But good 
 Tom tubtrimmer, tell me what you meane by the chiefe 
 of the cleargie in the Churche of England ? lohn Can- 
 terburie I am sure. Why good T. C. this speache is 
 either blasphemous or traiterous, or by your owne con- 
 fession an euident proofe, that lohn of Canterburie is 
 Lord ouer his brethren. He that is chiefe of the 
 cleargie, is chiefe of God's heritage, and that is lesus 
 Christ only, and so to make the pope of Canterburie 
 chiefe of Gods heritage, in this sence is blasphemous. 
 If you meane by cleargie, as Deane lohn doeth page 
 443. of his booke, both the people and ministers of the 
 Churche of England : in this sence her Maiestie is 
 chiefe of the cleargie in the Church of England, and so 
 c 2 
 
20 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 your speach is traiterous. Lastly, if by cleargie you 
 mean the ministers of the Churche of England, none in 
 this sense can be chiefe of the cleargie, but a pettie 
 pope. For our Sauiour Christe flatly forbiddeth anye 
 to be chiefe of the cleargie in this sence, Luke 22. 26. 
 And none euer claimed this vnto him selfe but a pettie 
 pope. Therefore T. C. you are either by your owne 
 speach, a blasphemer or a traitor, or els John of Cant, 
 is a pettie pope. Here is good spoonemeat for a Cooper. 
 Take heede of writing against Martin, if you loue your 
 ease. 
 
 Reuerend T. C. page 2. Epistle. 
 
 But I feare them not, while I go about to maintain 
 the dignitie of priests. 
 
 Reuerend Martin. 
 
 Well fare a good heart yet, stand to thy tackling, and 
 get the high commission to sefld abroad the purciuants, 
 and I warrant thee thou wilt do something. Alas good 
 priests, that their dignitie is like to fall to the ground. 
 It is pitie it should be so, they are such notable pulpit 
 men. There is a neighbour of ours, an honest priest, 
 who was sometimes (symple as he nowe standes) a vice 
 in a playe for vfant of a better, his name is Gliberie of 
 Hawsteade in Essex, he goes much to the pulpit. On 
 a time, I think it was the last Male, he went vp with a 
 full resolution, to do his businesse with great commen- 
 dations. But see the fortune of it. A boy in the 
 Church, hearing either the sommer Lord with his Male 
 game, or Robin Hood with his Morrice daunce going 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 21 
 
 by the Church, out goes the boye. Good Gliberie, 
 though he were in the pulpit, yet had a minde to his 
 olde companions abroad (a company of merrie grigs 
 you must think them to be, as merie as a vice on a 
 stage) seeing y^ boy going out, finished his matter pre- 
 sently with lohn of Londons Amen, saying, ha, ye faith 
 boie, are they there, tben ha w' thee, and so came 
 down and among them hee goes. Were it not then 
 pittie, that the dignitie of such a priest should decaie. 
 And I would gentle T, C. that you would take the 
 paines to write a treatise against the boie with the red 
 cap, which put this Gliberie out of his matter at another 
 time. For Glibery being in the pulpit, so fastened his 
 eyes vpon a boye with a red cap, that he was cleane 
 dasht out of countenaunce, in so much that no note 
 could be hard from him at that time, but this. Take 
 away red cap there, take away red cappe there : it had 
 bene better that he had neuer bin borne, he hath marred 
 suche a sermon this day, as it is woonderfull to thinke. 
 The Queene and the Counsell might well haue heard it 
 for a good sermon, and so came down. An admonition 
 to the people of England, to take heed of boies with red 
 caps, which make them set light by the dignitie of their 
 priests, would do good in this time, brother T. C. you 
 know well. 
 
 Reuerend T, C. 
 
 The cause why wee are so spighted, is be- ^°" '"'^_ 
 cause we doe endeuor to maintaine the lawes "^'"^ <*«* 
 which her Maiestie and the whole state of the bishi^. 
 c 3 
 
22 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 Realme haue allowed, and doe not admit a new plat- 
 forme of gouernment, deuised I know not by whom. 
 
 Reuerend Martin. 
 
 Why T. C. saye Eulojin for Eulogein as often as you 
 will, and I wil neuer spight you, or the Bishop of Win- 
 chester eyther for the matter. But doe you thinke our 
 Churche gouernement, to be good and lawfull, because 
 hir Maiestie and the state, who maintaine the reformed 
 religion alloweth the same ? Why the Lorde doth not 
 allow it, therefore it cannot be lawfull. And it is the 
 fait of such wretches as you bishops are, that her Ma- 
 iestie and the state alloweth the same. For you should 
 haue otherwise instructed them. They know you not 
 yet as thorowly as I doe. So that if I can prooue, 
 that the Lord disliketh our Church gouernement, your 
 endeuors to maintaine the same, shew that thereby you 
 cannot chuse, but be traytors to God and his worde, 
 whatsoeuer you are to her Maiestie and the State. 
 Nowe T. C. looke to your selfe, for I will presently 
 make all the hoops of your bishoppricks flie assunder. 
 Therefore 
 
 Our Churche gouernement, is an vnlawfull Churche go- 
 uernment, and not allowed in the sight of God. Because 
 
 That church gouernment is an vnlawful church go- 
 uernment, the offices and officers whereof, the ciuil 
 maiestrate may lawfully abollish out of the church, 
 marke my crafl in reasoning brother T. C. I say the 
 offices and officers for I grant that the maiestrate may 
 thrust the officers of a lawful church gouernment out of 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 23 
 
 the church if they be Diotripheses, Mar-elmes, Whit- 
 gifls, Simon Maugustes, Coopers, Femes, Renoldes, or 
 any such like ludases, (though the most of these must 
 be packing, offices and al) but their offices must stand, 
 that the same may be supphed by honester men. But 
 the offices of Archbishops and bishopps, and therefore 
 the officers much more, may be lawfully aboUished out 
 of the church by her Maiestie and our State. And 
 truely this were braue weather to turne them out : it is 
 pitty to keepe them in any longer. And that would do 
 me good at the hart, to see lohn of London, and the 
 rest of his brethren so discharged of his busines, as he 
 might freely runn in his cassocke and hose after his 
 bowle, or florish with his 2. hand sword. O tis a 
 sweete trunchfiddle. 
 
 But the offices of Archbishops and bishops, may be 
 lawfully aboUished out of the church by her Maiestie, 
 and the state. As I hope one day they shalbe. There- 
 fore (marke now T. C. and cary me this conclusion to 
 lohn O Lambehith for his breakefast) our church go- 
 uerment by Arch, and bishops, is an vnlawful church 
 gouerment. You see brother Cooper, that I am very 
 courteous in my minor, for I desire therein no more 
 offices to bee thrust out of the church at one time, but 
 Archb. and Bishops. As for Deanes, Archdeacons and 
 Chancellors, I hope they wilbe so kind vnto my Lords 
 grace, as not to stay, if his worship and the rest of the 
 noble clergie Lords weare turned out to grasse. I wil 
 presendy proue both maior and minor of this siUogisme. 
 And hold my cloake there sombody, that I may go 
 
24 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER 
 
 roundly to worke. For ise so bumfeg the Cooper, as 
 he had bin better to haue hooped halfe the tubbes in 
 Winchester, then write against my worships pistles. 
 
 No ciuil maiestrat may lawfully either maime or de- 
 forme the body of Christ, which is the church, but who- 
 soeuer doth aboUish any lawful church officer, out of 
 the church gouernment, he doth either maime or de- 
 forme the church. Therefore T. C. no ciuil magistrate, 
 no prince, no state, may without sinn abollishe any law- 
 full officer, together with his office, out of the gouerne- 
 ment of the church, and per consequence, the offices of 
 Archbishops and Lord bishops, which her Maiestie may 
 without sinn lawfully aboUish out of the church, are no 
 lawful church officers, and therefore also, the church 
 gouernment practised by lohn Whitgift, lohn Mar- 
 elme, Richard Peterborow, William of Lincolne, Ed- 
 mond of Worcestor, yea and by that old stealecounter 
 masse priest, lohn O Glossester, with the rest of his 
 brethren, is to be presently thrust out of the church. 
 And me thinks this geare cottons in deed my masters. 
 And I tould you T. C. that you should be thumped for 
 defending bishops. Take heed of me while you liue. 
 The minor of my last sillogisme, that whosoeuer doth 
 abollish the office of any lawfull church officer out of 
 the church, he either maimeth or deformeth the church, 
 I can proue with a wet finger. Because euery lawful 
 Churche officer, euen by reason of his office, is a mem- 
 ber of the bodye of Christe lesus, whiche is the church, 
 and being a member of the body. If the maiestrate doth 
 displace him by aboUishing his office, and leaueth the 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 25 
 
 place thereof voide, then the maiestrate maimeth the 
 body. If he put another office vnto an officer in stead 
 thereof, he deformeth the same. Because the maiestrate 
 hath neither the skil nor the commission, to make the 
 members of the body of Christ. Because he cannot tel 
 to what vse, the members of his making may serue in 
 the church. Do you think T. C. that the maiestrat may 
 make an eie for the visible body of the church. (For 
 you must vnderstand, that wee al this while speake of 
 the visible body) can he make a foote or a hand for 
 that body ? I pray you in what place of the body 
 would you haue them placed ? If our Sauiour Christ 
 hath left behind him a perfect body : surely he hath left 
 therein no place, or no vse for members of the maies- 
 trates making and inuention : if an vnperfect and maimed 
 body, I am wel assured that the maiestrate is not able 
 to perfect that which he left vnfinished. But I hope 
 T. C. that thou wilt not be so mad, and wicked, as to 
 say that our Sauiour Christ, left behind him heere on 
 earth an vnperfect and maimed body. If not, then 
 where shal these offices, namely these members inuented 
 by the maiestrate be placed therein. 
 
 Would you haue the naturall eies put out (as your 
 brethren the bishops haue don in the church of England, 
 euer since lohn of Canterbury vrged his wretched sub- 
 scription) and vnnatural squint gogled eies put in their 
 steede : when the body cannot see with any eies, but 
 with the natural eies thereof, displace them howsoeuer 
 you may seme to help the matter, by putting others in 
 their steed, yet the body shalbe stil blind and maimed. 
 
26 HAY ANY WOBKE FOK COOPER. 
 
 What say you T. C. may the Maiestrate cut of[f] the true 
 and natural legges, and handes of the body of Christe, 
 vnder a pretence to put woodden in their steed. I hope 
 you wil not say that he may. How then commeth it to 
 passe T. C. that you hold lohn of Canterbury his office, 
 and lohn Mar-elms to be true and natural members of 
 the body, that is true officers of the church, and yet 
 hold it laweful for her Maiestie to displace them out of 
 the church. I cannot tel brother what you hold in this 
 point. Me think I haue disturbed your sences. Do 
 you thinke that the maiestrat may displace the true 
 members of the body of Christ, and place woodden in 
 their steed ? Why this is to hold it lawful for the ma- 
 iestrate to massacre the body. Do you thinke he may 
 not ? Then may not her maiestie displace lohn of Can- 
 terburies office out of our church : if shee may not dis- 
 place his office, then either he by vertue of his office, is 
 a lawfull Pope aboue all ciuill magistrates, or els the 
 Church gouernment is so prescribed in the word, as it 
 is not lawfull for the magestrate to alter the same. But 
 Puritans lohn of Canterburie, as the puritans their 
 "cfnttfbe *^^"^^ confesse, is no Pope. Then either the 
 no Pope. church gouernment is so prescribed in the 
 word as it may not be altred, or els the magestrat 
 may abolish a lawful church gouernement, and place 
 another in stead thereof. If the Church gouernment be 
 so prescribed in the worde, as it cannot be altered, then 
 either our gouernment is y^ same which was therein 
 prescribed, or our Church gouerment is a false Church 
 gouerment. If ours be the same which is mentioned in 
 
HAY ANY WORKE POR COOPER. 27 
 
 the word : Then Paule and Peter were either no true 
 Church gouernours, or els Paul and Peter, and the rest 
 of Church gouernors in their time were Lordes, for all 
 our Church gouernours are Lordes. But Paule and 
 Peter, &c. were no Lords, and yet true church gouer- 
 nours. Therefore our church gouernment is not that 
 which is prescribed in the word : and therfore a false 
 and vnlawfull church gouernement. If you thinke that 
 the magistrate may displace the lawful offices of the 
 bodie, then as I said before, you hold it lawfuU for the 
 magistrate to maime or deforme the bodie. Because 
 whatsoeuer he puUeth in the roome of the true and 
 right members, must needs be a deformitie, and what 
 place soeuer he leaueth vnfurnished of a member, must 
 needes be a maime. And this is the onely and sole 
 oiBce of Christe onely, to place and displace the mem- 
 bers of his bodie : to wit, the officers of his Church, he 
 may lawfully do it, so cannot man. And therefore the 
 sots (of which nomber you T. C. and you lohn Whitgift, 
 and you Deane lohn, and you D. Coosins, and you D. 
 Copcot, with the rest of the ignoraimt and wretched 
 defendors of our corrupt church gouernement are to be 
 accounted) which thinke that the offices of pastors, 
 doctors, elders and deacons, or the most of them, may 
 be as well nowe wanting in the Church, as the offices of 
 Apostles, prophets and Euangelists : do notably bewray 
 their vile ignorance, but the cause they doe not hurt. 
 For the beastes do not consider that the offices of 
 Apostles, Euangelists and Prophets, were remoued out 
 of the church, not by man, but by the Lord, because 
 
28 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 hee in his wisdome did not see any vse of such members 
 
 in his body, after the time of the first plant- 
 The apos- ■' 
 
 ties chose ing of the Churche. I say they were re- 
 
 IfJaJeT mooued by the Lord himselfe and not by 
 
 being be- man : because, pardy the giftes wherewith 
 
 they did in they were endued, partly the largenesse of 
 
 steed of Ju- ^j^ j commission, with certaine other essen- 
 
 das, Act. I. ' 
 
 which they tiall properties to them belonging, were by 
 
 would haue _ . , i i i i • i 
 
 don if the him abrogated and taken away, which no man 
 ZnS''''had '^°^'^^ ^°- Againe, the Apostolicall, Euan- 
 beenper- gelical and propheticall callings, were either 
 lawfully or vnlawfuUy abolished out of the 
 Churche, if lawfully, then they were abolished by the 
 Lord : and therefore they are neither to be called backe 
 vntill he sheweth it to be his pleasure that it shoulde be 
 so, neither can the church be truely said to be maimed 
 for want of them : because he which could best teU, 
 what members were fitte for his Churche did abolishe 
 them. If vnlawfuUy, then those callings may be law- 
 fully called backe againe into the church, and the 
 church without them is maimed, that is, wanteth some 
 members. For if their callings were iniuriously abro- 
 gated, they are as iniuriously kept out of the churche : 
 and being members of the church, the church is maimed 
 without, vnlesse the Lorde hath shewed, that the time 
 of their seruice in the bodie is expired. But they are 
 not iniuriously kept out (for so her Maiestie shoulde be 
 said to iniurie the church, vnlesse she would see Apos- 
 tles, prophets and Euangelists, planted therein) neither 
 can the church be saide to be maimed for want of them. 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 29 
 
 because the Lorde by taking them away hath declared, 
 that now there can be no vse of them in the bodie : 
 therefore the Lorde abrogated them. Therefore also 
 they may be wanting, and the churche neither maimed 
 nor deformed thereby. Whereas the keeping out of 
 eyther of the former offices of pastors, doctors, elders 
 and deacons, is a maiming of the churche, the placing 
 of others in their steed, a deforming. Now reuerend 
 T. C. I beseech you entreat mistris Cooper, to write to 
 M. D. Day, somtimes of magdalins, that he may procure 
 D. Cooper, to know of him that was the last Thomas of 
 Lincolne, whether the now B. of Winchester be not 
 perswaded, that reuerend Martin hath suffl[ci]ently 
 prooued it to be vnlawful, for the ciuill magestrate, to 
 abolishe any lawfuU churche officer out of the church. 
 Because it is vnlawful! for him to maime or deforme 
 the bodie of Christe, by displacing the members thereof. 
 But it may be, your Coopers noddle, profane T. C. 
 doubteth, (for I knowe you to be as ignorant in these 
 points, as lohn Whitgift, or dean lohn their selues.) 
 
 Whether a lawfull Church officer, in regard of his 
 office, he a member of the bodie of Christ, which is the 
 Church. 
 
 Therefore looke Rom. 12. vers. 4. 5. &c. and there 
 you shall see, that whosoeuer hath an office in the 
 bodie, is a member of the bodie. There also you shall 
 see, that he that teacheth, which is the Doctor : he 
 y' exhorteth, which is the Pastor : he that ruleth, which 
 is the Elder : he that distributeth, which is the Deacon 
 
30 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 (as for him that sheweth mercie that is there spoken off, 
 he is but a church seruant, and no church officer). 
 There I say, you shall also see, that these 4. offices, of 
 Pastors, Doctors, Eleders and Deacons, are members of 
 the bodie: and 1. Cor. 12. 8. & 28. you shal see that 
 God hath ordained them. Out of al, which hitherto 
 I haue spoken T. C. I come vpon you, and your 
 bishopprickes, with 4. or 5. (yea halfe a dozen and 
 neede be) suche drie soopes, as John of London with his 
 two hand sword neuer gaue the like. For they aun- 
 swere your whole profane booke. First, that the plat- 
 forme of gouernment, by Pastors, Doctors, Elders and 
 deacons, which you say was deuised you knows not by 
 whom, is the inuention of our Sauiour Christ. For 
 God ordained them, saith the apostle, 1. Cor. 12. 8. 28. 
 And therefore vnlesse you will shew your selfe, either 
 to be a blasphemer, by terming lesus Christ to be you 
 cannot tell whom, or els to be ignorant who is lesus 
 Christ : you must needs acknowledge the platforme of 
 gouernment, which you say, was inuented by you know 
 not who, to haue Christ lesus for the author thereof, 
 y,, . y. Secondly, that the word of God teacheth, 
 
 Cooper that of necessitie, the gouernment by Pastors, 
 pag. 2. of doctors, elders, &c. ought to be in euery 
 Im Epistle. Churche, which is neither maimed nor de- 
 formed. Because that Church must needs be maimed 
 which wanteth those mebers, which the Lorde hath 
 appointed to be therein: vnlesse the Lord himselfe 
 hath, by taking those members away, shewed that nowe 
 his bodie is to have no vse of them. But as hath bene 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 31 
 
 sayde, God hath ordained pastors, doctors, elders and 
 deacons to be in his Church, proued out of Rom. 12. 6. 
 7. 8. 1. Cor. 12. 8. 28. Ephe. 4. 12. And he hath 
 not taken these officers away out of his church, because 
 the Church hath continuall need of them. As of Pastors 
 to feed with the word of wisedome : of the Doctors, to 
 feede with the worde of knowledge, and both to builde 
 vp his bodie in the vnitie of fayth : of Elders, to watch 
 and ouersee mens maners : of Deacons to looke Vnto 
 the poore, and church treasurie. Therefore, where 
 these 4. officers are wanting, there the Church is im- 
 perfect in her regiment. 
 
 Thirdly that this gouernement cannot be T. Cooper 
 inconuenient for any State or kingdom. For pag^secmd, 
 is it inconuenient for a State or kingdome, to -Epw*. 
 haue the bodie of Christ perfect therein ? 
 
 Fourthly that euery christian magestrate is bound to 
 receue this gouernment, by Pastors, Doctors, Elders and 
 deacons into the church, within his dominions, whatso- 
 euer inconuenience may be likely to follow the receuing 
 of it. Because no likelyhood of inconuenience ought to 
 induce the magistrate willingly to permit the church 
 vnder his gouernment, to be maymed or deformed. 
 
 Fiftly that the gouerment of the church by Lord 
 Archbishops and bishops, is a gouernment of deformed 
 and vnshapen members, seruing for no good vse in the 
 church of God. Because it is not the gouernment by 
 pastors, doctors, elders and deacons, which as I haue 
 shewed are now the only true members, that is the only 
 true officers of the visible body. 
 D 2 
 
32 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 Sixtly and lastly. That they who defend this false 
 and bastardly gouernment of Archbishops and bishops, 
 and withstand this true and natural gouernment of the 
 church, by Pastors, Doctors, Elders and deacons, are 
 likely in awhile to become, Mar-prince, Mar-state, Mar- 
 lawe, Mar-magestrate, Mar-common wealth. As for 
 Mar-church, and Mar-religion, they haue long since 
 proued them selues to be. 
 
 These six points doe necessarily follow, of that which 
 before I haue set downe, namely that it is not lawfull 
 for any to abollish or alter, the true and lawful gouern- 
 ment of the church, because it is not lawfull for them to 
 maime or deforme the body of the church. 
 
 And I chaleng you T. C. and you Deane lohn, and 
 and you lohn Whitgift, and you D. Coosins : and you 
 D. Copcot, and al the rest that wil or dare defende our 
 established Churche gouernement, to be tried with me 
 in a iudgement of life and death, at any barre in England 
 in this point. Namely, 
 
 That you must needs he, not onely traytors to God and 
 his word, but also enemies vnto her Maiestie and the 
 land, in defending the established Church gouernment to 
 be lawfull. 
 
 You see the accusation which I lay to your charge 
 and here followeth the proofe of it : They who defend 
 that the prince and state, may bid God to battel against 
 them, they are not only traitors against God and his 
 word, but also enemies to the Prince and state. I 
 thinke lohn of Glocester himselfe, wil not be so sensles 
 as to deny this. 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 33 
 
 But our Archbishops and bishops, which hold it 
 lawful for her maiestie and the state, to retain this 
 established forme of gouernment, and to keep out the 
 gouernment by pastors, doctors, elders and deacons, 
 which was appointed by Christ, whom you profane T. C. 
 cal you know not whome, hold it lawful for her maiestie 
 and the state to bid God to battel against them. Be- 
 cause they bid the Lord to battel against them which, 
 maime and deforme the body of Christ, vz. the church. 
 And they as was declared maime and deforme the body 
 of the church, which keep out the lawful offices, apointed 
 by the Lord to be members thereof, and in their steed, 
 place other woodden members of the inuenteon of man. 
 Therefore you T. C. and you Deane lohn, and you 
 lohn Whitgift, and you the rest of the beastly defendors 
 of the corrupt church gouernment, are not only tray tors 
 to God and his word, but enemies to her maiestie and 
 the state. Like you any of these Nuts lohn Canter- 
 bury. T am not disposed to iest in this serious matter. 
 I am called Martin Marprelat. There be many that 
 greatly dislike of my doinges. I may haue my wants 
 I know. For I am a man. But my course I knowe to 
 be ordinary and lawfull. I sawe the cause of Christs 
 gouernment, and of the Bishops Antichristian dealing to 
 be hidden. The most part of men could not be gotten 
 to read any thing, written in the defence of the on[e] 
 and against the other. I bethought mee therefore, of a 
 way whereby men might be drawne to do both, per- 
 ceiuing the humors of men in these times (especially of 
 those that are in any place) to be giuen to mirth. I 
 D 3 
 
34 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 tooke that course. I might lawfully do it. I, for 
 iesting is lawful by circHmstances, euen in the greatest 
 matters. The circumstances of time, place and persons 
 vrged me thereunto. I neuer profaned the word in any 
 iest. Other mirth I vsed as a couert, wherin I would 
 bring the truth into light. The Lord being the authour 
 both of mirth and grauitie, is it not lawfuU in it selfe 
 for the trueth to vse eyther of these wayes, when the 
 circumstances do make it lawful ? 
 
 My purpose was and is to do good. I know I haue 
 don no harme howsoeuer some may iudg Martin to mar 
 al. They are very weake on[e]s that so think. In that 
 which I haue written I know vndoubtedly, that I haue 
 done the Lord and the state of this kingdom great 
 seruice. Because I haue in som sort discouered the 
 greatest enemies thereof. And by so much the most 
 pestilent enemies, because they wound Gods relligion, 
 and corrupt the state with Atheism and loosnes, and so 
 cal for Gods vengance vppon vs all, euen vnder the 
 coulor of relligion. I afBrm them to be the greatest 
 enemies that now our state hath, for if it were not for 
 them, the trueth should haue more free passage herein, 
 then now it hath. All states thereby would be amended : 
 and so we should not be subiect vnto Gods displeasure, 
 as now we are by reason of them. 
 
 Nowe let me deale with these that are in authority. 
 I do make it knowne vnto them, that our bishops are 
 the greatest enemies which we haue. For they do not 
 only go about, but they haue long since, fully per- 
 swaded our state, that they may lawfully procure the 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 35 
 
 Lord, to take the sword in hand against the state : if 
 this be true, haue I not said truly, that they are the 
 gretest enemies which our state hath. The papistes 
 work no such effect, for they are not trusted. The 
 Atheistes haue not infected our whol state, these haue. 
 The attempts of our forraine enemies may be pernicious. 
 But they are men as wee are. But that God, which 
 when our bishops haue, and doe make our prince, and 
 our gouernors to wadge war, who is able to stand 
 against him ? 
 
 Wei to the point, many haue put her maiestie, the 
 parliament and counsell in minde, that the church 
 officers now among vs, are not such as the Lord 
 aloweth of: because they are not of his owne ordaininge. 
 They haue shewed that this fait is to be amended, or 
 the Lords hand to be looked for. The bishops on the 
 other side, haue cried out vpon them, that haue thus 
 dutifully mooued the state. They with a loud voice 
 gaue out, that the maiestrat may lawfully maintaine that 
 church gouerment, which best fitteth our estate, as lining 
 in y^ time of peace. What do they else herein, but say 
 that the magestrat in time of peace, may maime and 
 deforme the body of Christ his church. That Christ 
 hath left the gouerment of his own house vnperfect, 
 and left the same to the discretion of the magestrate, 
 wheras Moses before whome in this point of gouem- 
 ment, the Lord Christ is iustly preferred, Heb. 3. 6. 
 made the gouernment of the legal politie so perfect, as 
 he left not any parte thereof, to the discretion of the 
 magestrate. Can they deny church officers, to be mem- 
 
36 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 bers of the church. They are refuted by the expresse 
 text. 1. Cor. 12. will they aflfirme Christ to haue left 
 behinde him an vnperfect body of his church, wanting 
 members at the lest wise, hauing such members as were 
 only permanent at the magestrates • pleasure. Why 
 Moses the seruant, otherwise gouerned the house in his 
 time. And the sonne is commended in this point for 
 wisdonie, and faithfulnes before him. Heb. 3. 6. Either 
 then, that commendation of the sonn before the seruant, 
 is a false testimony, or the sonne ordained a permanent 
 gouernment in his church. If permanent, not to be 
 changed. What then, do they that hold it may be 
 changed at the magestrates pleasure, but aduise the 
 maiestrate by his positiue lawes, to proclaime that it is 
 his will, that if there shalbe a church within his domi- 
 nions, he will maime and deforme the same. He wil 
 ordaine therein, what members he thinketh good. He 
 will make it knowne, that Christ under his gouernment, 
 shalbe made lesse faithfull then Moses was. That he 
 hath left the placing of members in his body vnto the 
 magestrate. O cursed beastes, that bring this guilt 
 vppon our estate. Repent Caitifes while you haue time. 
 You shal not haue it I feare when you wil. And looke 
 you that are in authority vnto the equity of the contro- 
 uersie, betwene our wicked bishops, and those who 
 woulde haue the disorders of our Churche amended. 
 Take heed you be not caried away with slaunders. 
 Christs gouermentis neither Mar-prince, Mar-state, Mar- 
 law nor Mar-magistrate. The liuing God whose cause 
 is pleaded for, will bee reuenged of you, if you giue eare 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 37 
 
 vnto this slander, contrary to so many testimonies as are 
 brought out of his word, to prooue the contrary. He 
 denounceth his wrath against all you, that thinke it law- 
 full for you, to maim or deform his church : he ac- 
 counteth his Churche maimed, when those offices are 
 therein placed, whiche hee hath not appointed to be 
 members thereof: he also testifieth that there be no 
 mebers of his appointment in the Churche, but such as 
 he himselfe hath named in his word, and those that he 
 hath named, man must not displace, for so he shoulde 
 put the bodie out of ioynt. Nowe our bishops holding 
 the contrary, and bearing you in hande, that you may 
 practize the contrary, do they not driue you to prouoke 
 the Lorde to anger against your owne soules ? And 
 are they not your enemies ? They hold the contrary 
 I say, for they say that her Maiestie may alter this 
 gouernment now established, and thereby they shew 
 either this gouerment to be vnlawfull, or that the magis- 
 trat may presume to place those members in Gods 
 Church, which the Lord neuer mentioned in his word. 
 And I beseech you marke howe the case standeth 
 betweene these wretches, and those whom they call 
 puritans. 
 
 1 The puritans (falsely so called) shew it to be 
 vnlawfull for the magistrate, to goe about to make any 
 members for the bodie of Christ. 
 
 2 They hold all officers of the Church, to be mem- 
 bers of the bodie, Rom. 12. 6. 1. Cor. 12. 8. 28. 
 
 3 And therfore they hold the altering, or the abolish- 
 
38 HAY ANY WORKE TOR COOPER. 
 
 ing of the oflSces of church government, to be the altering 
 and abolishing of the members of the Church. 
 
 4 The altering and abolishing of which members, 
 they holde to be vnlawfuU, because it must needs be a 
 maime vnto the bodie. 
 
 5 They hold Christ lesus to haue set downe as exact, 
 and as vnchaungeable a churche gouemement, as euer 
 Moses did. Heb. 3. 6. 
 
 These and such like are the points they holde, let 
 their cause be tried, and if they hold any other points in 
 effect but these, let them be hanged every man of them. 
 
 Now I demand, whether they that hold the contrary 
 in these pointes, and cause the State to practize the con- 
 trary, be not outragious wicked men, and dangerous 
 enemies of the state, it cannot be denied but they are. 
 Because the contrarie practize of any of the former 
 points, is a way to works the ruine of the state. 
 
 Now our Bishopps holde the contrary vnto them al, 
 saue the 3. and 2. points, whereunto it may be they 
 will yeeld, and cause our estate to practize the contrary : 
 whence at the length our destruction is like to proceed. 
 For 
 
 1 They denie Christ lesus to haue set downe as 
 exact, and as vnchangeable a forme of church gouern- 
 ment as Moses did. For they say, that the magistral 
 may change the church gouernment established by 
 Christ, so could he not do that prescribed by Moses. 
 
 2 In holding all offices of the Church to be members 
 of the bodie, (for if they be not members, what shoulde 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOE COOPER. 39 
 
 they do in the body) they hold it lawful for the magistrat 
 to attempt the making of new members for that bodie. 
 
 3 The altering or aboUishing of these members by 
 the magistrates, they holde to be lawfuU. And there- 
 fore the maiming or deforming. 
 
 Now you wretches (Archb. and L. Bishops I mean) 
 you Mar-state, Mar-law, Mar-prince, Mar-maiestrat, 
 Mar-commonwealth, Mar-church, and Mar-religion. 
 Are you able for your liues, to aunswere any part of 
 the former syllogisme, whereby you are concluded, to 
 be the greatest enemies vnto her Maiestie and the State ? 
 You dare not attempt it I know. For you cannot 
 denie, but they who holde it and defend it lawfuU, (yea 
 enforce the magistrate) to maime or deforme the bodie 
 of Christ, are vtter enemies vnto that magistrat, and that 
 state, wherin this disorder is practized. You canot 
 denie your selues to do this, vnto our magistrate and 
 State : because you beare them in hand, that a lawfuU 
 church gouernment, may consist of those offices, which 
 the magistrate may aboUishe out of the church without 
 sinne : and so, that the magistrate may lawfully cut off 
 the members of Christ from his body, and so may law- 
 fully massacre the body. You are then the men by 
 whome our estate is most likely to be ouerthrowne, you 
 are those that shal answere for our blood which the 
 Spaniard, or any other enemies are like to spil, without 
 the Lords great mercy : you are the persecutors of your 
 brethren, (if you may be accounted brethren) you and 
 your hirelings^ are not only the wounde, but the very 
 plague and pestilence of our church. You are those 
 
40 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 who maime, deforme, vex, persecute, greeue, and wound 
 the church. Which keepe the same in captiuity and 
 darknes, defend the blind leaders of the blind, slander, 
 reuile and deforme Christes holy gouernment, that such 
 broken and woodden members as you are, may be still 
 maintayned, to haue the romes of the true and natural 
 members of the body. Tel me I pray, whether the true 
 and natural members of the body may be lawfully cut 
 of [f] by the magestrate. If you should say they may, 
 I knowe no man would abide the spech. What ? May 
 the maiestrat cutt of [f ] ' the true and naturall members, 
 of the body of Christ ? O impudency, not to be toUe- 
 rated. But our magestrate, that is her maiestie, and 
 our state, may lawfully by your owne confession, cut 
 you of[f], that is displace you and your offices out of 
 our church. Deny this if you dare. Then in deed it 
 shal appeare, that lohn of Canturbury meaneth to be a 
 Pope in deede, and to haue the soueraignty ouer the 
 ciuill magestrate. Then will you shewe your selfe in 
 deed, to be Mar-prince, Mar-law and Mar-state. Now 
 if the magestrate may displace you as he may, then you 
 are not the true members. Then you are (as in deed 
 you ought) to be thrust out, vnlesse the magestrate 
 would incur the wrath of God, for maiming and de- 
 forminge the body of the church, by ioyning vnnatural 
 members thereunto. 
 
 Answere but this reason of mine, and then hang those 
 that seeke reformation, if euer againe they speke of it, 
 if you doe not, I wil giue you litle quiet._ I feare you 
 not. If the magestrate wil be so ouerseene as to beleeue, 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER, 4] 
 
 that because you which are the maim of the church 
 are spoken against, therefore they, namely our prince 
 and state, which are Gods lieftenaunts, shal be in like 
 sort, dealt with, this credulity wil be the magestrates 
 sinne. But I know their wisdome to be such as they 
 wil not. For what reason is this, which you profane 
 T. C. haue vsed. pag. 103. 
 
 The sinful, the vnlawful, the broken, vnnatural, false 
 and bastardly gouernors of the church, to wit archb. and 
 bishops, which abuse euen their false offices, are spoken 
 against. Therefore the true, natural and lawful, and 
 lust gouernors of the common welth, shalbe likewise 
 shortly misliked. Ah sencelesse and vndutifull beastes, 
 that dare compare your selues with our true magestrates, 
 which are the ordinaunces of God, with your selues, 
 that is, with Archbishops and bishops, Which as you 
 your selues confesse (I will by and by proue this) are 
 the ordinances of the Diuell. 
 
 I knowe I am disliked of many which are your ene- 
 mies, that is of many which you cal puritans. It is 
 their weaknes, I am threatened to be hanged by you. 
 What though I were hanged, do you thinke your cause 
 shalbe the better. For the day that you hange Martin, 
 assure your selues, there wil 20. Martins spring in my 
 place. I meane not now you grosse beastes, of any 
 commotion as profane T. C. like a sensles wretch, not 
 able to vnderstand an English phrase, hath giuen out 
 vpon that which he calleth the threatning of fistes. 
 Assure your selues, I wil proue Marprelat ere I haue 
 don with you. I am alone. No man vnder heauen is 
 
 £ 
 
12 HAY ANY WOBKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 priuy, or hath bin priuie vnto my writings against you, 
 I vsed the aduise of non therein. You haue and do 
 suspect diuers, as master Paggett, master Wiggington, 
 master Udall, and master Penri, &c. to make Martin. 
 If they cannot cleare their selues their sillinesse is piti- 
 ful!, and they are worthy to beare Martins punishment. 
 Well once againe answere my resons, both of your 
 Antichristian places in my first epistle vnto you, and 
 these nowe vsed against you. Otherwise the wisdome 
 of the magistrate must needs smel what you are. And 
 cal you to a reckoning, for deceauing them soe long, 
 making them to suffer the church of Christ vnder their 
 gouernment to be maimed and deformed. 
 
 Your reasons for the defence of your hierarchic, and 
 the keeping out of Christs gouernment, vsed by this 
 profame T. C. are already answered. They shew what 
 profane beastes you are. I wil heere repete them. 
 But heere first the reader is to know what answere this 
 T. C. maketh vnto the syllogismes, whereby I prooue 
 all L. bishops to be petty popes, and petty Antichristes. 
 I assure you no other then this, he flattly denieth the 
 Conclusion, wheras he might (if he had any learning in 
 him, or had read any thing) know, that euery dunstical 
 logician, giueth this for an inuiolable precept, that the 
 conclusion is not to be denied. For that must needs be 
 true, if the maior and minor be true, he in omitting 
 the maior and minor, because he was not able to an- 
 swere thereby, granteth the conclusion to be true. His 
 answeare vnto the conclusion is, that al lord Bb. w;ere 
 not pety poj)es. Because pag. 74. Cranmer, Ridly, 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 43 
 
 Hooper, were not petty Popes. They were not pety 
 popes, because they were not reprobates. As though 
 you block you, euery petty pope and petty Antichrist 
 were a reprobate. Why no man can deny Gregory the 
 great, to be a pettye Pope, and a petty and petty Anti- 
 christ. For he was the next immediate pope before 
 Boniface the first, that knowne Antichrist : and yet this 
 Gregory left behind him, vndoubted testimotiies of a 
 chosen childe of God : so might they, and yet be petty 
 Popes, in respecte of their office. Profane T. C. his 
 1 . and 2. reason, for y^ lawfulnes of our church gouer- 
 ment. And what though good men gaue their consent 
 vnto our church gouernement, or writing vnto bishops, 
 gaue them their lordly titles ? Are their offices there- 
 fore lawfull, then soe is the popes office. For Erasmus 
 was a good man you cannot deny, and yet he both 
 alowed of the popes office since his calling, and writing 
 vnto him, gaue him his titles. So did Luther, since his 
 calling also, for he dedicated his booke of christian 
 liberty vnto Pope Leo the tenth. The booke and his 
 Epistle vnto the Pope, are both in Englishe. Here I 
 would wish the magistrat, to marke what good reasons 
 you are able to affijrd for your hierarchie. 
 
 Thirdly, saith profane T. C. page 75. All Churches 
 haue not the gouernment of Pastors and Doctors : but 
 Saxoni and Denmark, haue L. bishops. You are a 
 great State man vndoubtedly T. C. that vnderstand, the 
 state of other Churches so well. But herein the impu- 
 dencie of a proude foole appeareth egregiously. As 
 though the testimonie of a siely Schoolemaster, being also 
 E 2 
 
44 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 as vnleamed, as a man of that trade and profession can 
 be, with any honestie, would be belieued against knowne 
 experience. Yea, but Saxonie and Denmarke haue 
 Superintendents, what then ? ergo L. Archb. and bishops ? 
 I deny it. Though other Churches had L. Archb. and 
 Bb. this prooueth nothing els, but that other Churches 
 are maimed and haue their imperfections. Your reason 
 is this, other good Churches are deformed, therefore 
 ours must needes be so to. The kings sonne is lame, 
 therefore the children of no subiects must go vpright. 
 And these be all the good reasons which you can bring 
 for the gouerment of Archb. and bishops, against the 
 gouerment of Christ. You reson thus. It must not be 
 admitted into this kingdome, because then Ciuillians 
 shal not be able to line, in that estimation, and welth, 
 wherein they now do. Carnal and sensles beastes, 
 whoe are not ashamed to prefer, the outward estate of 
 men, before the glory of Christs kingdom. Here againe, 
 let the magestrate and other readers consider, whether 
 it be not time, that such brutish men, should be looked 
 vnto. Which reason thus. The body of Christ which 
 is the church, must needes be maimed and deformed in 
 this common welth, because otherwise ciuillians should 
 not be able to liue. Why you enemies to the state, you 
 traytors to God and his worde, you Mar-prince, Mar- 
 law, Mar-magestrate, Mar-church, and Mar-common 
 welth : do you not know that the worlde should rather 
 go a begging, then that the glory of god by maiming 
 his church, should be defaced ? Who can abide this 
 indignity. The prince and state, must procure god to 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 45 
 
 wrath against them, by continuing the deformity of his 
 church, and it may not be otherwise, because the ciui- 
 lians els must fall to decay. I wil tel you what, you 
 monstrous and vngodly bishops, though I had no feare 
 of God before mine eies, and had no hope of a better 
 life, yet the loue that I owe, as a natural man, vnto her 
 maiestie and the state would inforce me to write against 
 you: her maiestie and this kingdome, (whome the Lord 
 blesse, with his mighty hand, I vnfainedly beseech) must 
 endanger them selues vnder the peril of Gods heauy 
 wrath, rather then the maime of our church gouemment 
 must be healed, for we had rather it should be so, say 
 our bishops, then wee should be thrust out, for if we 
 should be thrust out, the studie of the ciuil lawe, must 
 needs goe to wrack. Well, if I had liued sometimes 
 a citizen, in that olde and auncient (though heathenish) 
 Rome, and had heard kinge Deiotarus, Cesar, yea or 
 Pompei himself giue out this spech, namely : that the 
 citty and empire of Rome must needes be brought 
 subiect vnto some danger, because otherwise, Catelin, 
 Lentulus, Cethegus, with other of the nobilitie, could 
 not tell how to Hue, but, must needs go a begging. I 
 woulde surely, in the loue I ought to the safetie of that 
 state, haue called him that had vsed such a speech, in 
 judicium capitis, whosoeuer he had bin : and I woulde 
 not haue doubted to haue giuen him the ouerthrow. 
 And shal I being a christian English subiect, abide to 
 heare a wicked crue of vngodly bishopps, with their 
 hangones and parasites, affirme that our Queene, and 
 our State, must needs be subiect vnto the greatest 
 
 E 3 
 
46 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 daunger that may be, vz. the wrath of God, for deform- 
 ing his Church, and that Gods Church must needes be 
 maimed and deformed among vs, because otherwise, a 
 few Ciuillians shal not be able to liue. Shall I heare 
 and see these thinges professed and published, and in 
 the loue I owe vnto Gods religion and her Maiesty, say 
 nothing. I cannot, I will not, I may not be silent at 
 this speech : come what will come of it. The loue of a 
 christian Church, prince and state, shal I trust, worke 
 more in me, then the loue of a heathen Empire and 
 state should do. Now iudge good reader, who is more 
 toUerable in a commonwealth, Martin that would haue 
 the enemies of her Maiesty remoued thence, or our 
 bishops which would haue her life, and the whole king- 
 domes prosperitie hazarded, rather then a few Ciuillians 
 should want maintenance. But I praye thee tell me 
 T. C. why should the gouernment of Christ impouerish 
 Ciuillians ? Because saith he, pag. 77. the Canon law 
 by which they liue, must be altered, if that were admit- 
 ted. Yea but Ciuillians liue by the court of Amraltie, 
 and other courts as well as by-the Arches, vz. also the 
 probatts of Testaments, the controuersies of tythes, 
 matrimonie, and many other causes, which you bishops 
 Mar-state, do vsurpingly take from the ciuill magistrate, 
 would be a means of Ciuillians maintenance. But are 
 not you ashamed, to professe your whole gouernment, 
 to be a gouernment ruled by the Popes Canon lawes, 
 which are bannished by statute out of this kingdome ? 
 This notably sheweth that you are Mar-prince and 
 Mar-state. For howe dare you retaine these lawes. 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 47 
 
 vnles by vertue of them, you meane eyther to enforce 
 the supremacie of the prince to go again to Rome, or to 
 come to Lambeth, It is treson by Statute, for any sub- 
 iect in this land, to proceed doctor of the Cano law, and 
 dare you professe your chiwch gouerment to be ruled'by 
 that law. As though one statute might not refer all 
 matters of the Canon law, vnto the temporall and com- 
 mon law of this Eealme : and this is all you can say, 
 T. C. 
 
 Yes sayth he, the gouernment of Christe, would 2 
 bring in the iudiciall law of Moses. As much as is 
 morall of that law, or of the equitie of it, would be 
 brought in. And do you gainesay it. But you sodden 
 headed Asse you, the most part of that law is abrogated, 
 Soine part thereof is in force among vs, as the punish- 
 ment of a murtherer by death, and presumptuous 
 obstinate theft by death, &c. Hir Maiesties prero- 3 
 gatiue in ecclesiastical causes, should not be a whit 
 diminished, but rather greatly strengthened by Christs 
 gouernment. And no lawe should be altered, but such 
 as were contrary to the lawe of God, and against the 
 profit of the common wealth : and therefore there can 
 be no danger in altering these. 
 
 The ministers maintenance by tythe, no puritane 4 
 denieth to be vnlawfuU. For Martin (good M. Par- 
 son) you must vnderstand, doth account no Brownist to 
 be a puritane, nor yet a sottish Cooperist. 
 
 The inconuenience which you shew of the gouer- 5 
 ment which is, that men would not be ruled by it, is 
 answered afore. And I praye you, why should, they 
 
48 HAY ANY WOBKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 not be better obedient vnto Gods law, if the same also 
 were established by the lawe of the lande, then to the 
 Popes lawe and his Canons. You think that all men 
 are like your selues : that is, like bishops, such as can- 
 not chuse but breake the laws and good orders of God 
 and her Maiestie. 
 
 7 The lawes of England haue bene made, when 
 there was neuer a bishop in the Parliament, as in 
 
 the first yere of her Maiestie. And this reason as al 
 the rest, may serue to maintaine poperie, as well as the 
 hierarchie of Bb. 
 
 8 The gouerment of the church of Christ, is no 
 popular gouemement, but it is Monarchicall, in re- 
 garde of our head Christ, Aristocraticall in the Elder- 
 ship, and Democraticall in the people. Such is the 
 ciuill gouernement of our kingdome : Monarchicall in 
 her Maiesties person : Aristocraticall in the higher house 
 of Parliament, or rather at the Councell table : Demo- 
 craticall in the bodie of the commons of the lower 
 house of Parliament. Therefore profane T. C. this 
 gouernment seeketh no popularity to be brought into 
 the Church : much lesse entendeth the alteration of the 
 ciuill state, that is but your slaunder, of which you 
 make an occupation. And I will surely paye you for 
 it. I must be brief now, but more warke for Cooper 
 shall examine your slaunders. They are nothing else 
 but proofFes, that as by your owne confessions you are 
 bishops of the Diuell, so you are enemies vnto the 
 state. For by these slaunders, you go about to blinde 
 our state, that they may neuer see a perfect regiment of 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 49 
 
 the Church in our dayes. I saye, that by your owne 
 confession, you are bishops of the Diuell. I will prooue 
 it thus. You confesse that your Lordly gcjuernment, 
 were not lawfuU and tollerable in this comonwealth, 
 if her Maiesty and the state of the land did disclaime 
 the same. Tell me, doe you not confesse this. Denie 
 it if you dare. For will you say, that you ought law- 
 fully to be here in our commonwelth whether her Ma- 
 iesty and the Counsell wil or no : Is this the thankes 
 that her Maiestie shall haue, for tollerating you in her 
 kingdome all this while, that nowe you will saye, that 
 you and your places stand not in this kingdome by her 
 curtesie, but you haue as good right vnto your places, as 
 she hath vnto her kingdome. And by this meanes your 
 offices stande not by her good liking, and the good 
 liking of the state, as do the offices of our L. high Chan- 
 cellor, high Treasurer, and high Steward of Englande. 
 But your offices ought to stand and to be in force, in 
 spight of her Maiestie, the Parliament, Counsell, and 
 euerie man els, vnles they woulde doe you iniury. Soe 
 that I know, I, you dare not deny but that your offices 
 weare vnlawfuU in our common wealth, if her Maiestie, 
 the Parliament, and the Counsell woulde haue them 
 abollished. If you grant this, then you doe not hold 
 your offices as from God, but as from man. Her ma- 
 iestie she holdeth hir office, and her kingdome, as from 
 God, and is beholding for the same, vnto no prince nor 
 state vnder heuen. Your case is otherwise, for you 
 hold your offices as from her Maiestie, and not from 
 god. For otherwise, you needed not to be any more 
 
50 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 beholding vnto her Maiestie for the same in regarde of 
 right, then she is bounde to be beholding vnto other 
 states in regarde of her right : and so you in regarde of 
 your Lordly superioritie, are not the bishops of god, 
 but as lerom sayth, the bishops of man. And this the 
 most of you confes to be true, and you see how dan- 
 gerous it woulde be for you, to affirme the contrary : 
 namely, that you holde your offices as from god. Well 
 sir, if you say that you are the bishops of man. The 
 
 tell me whether you like of Dean lohn his 
 T C 38 
 
 booke. O yes sayth T. C. For his grace 
 
 did peruse that book, and we know the sufficiencie of it 
 
 to be such, as the Puritans are not able to answere it. 
 
 Well then, whatsoeuer is in this booke is authenticall. 
 
 It is so, saith T. C. otherwise his grace would not haue 
 
 alowed it. What say you then to the 140. page of that 
 
 booke, where he saith (answering the treatise of the 
 
 bishop of God, the bishop of Man, and the bishop of 
 
 the Diuell) that there is no bishopp of man at all, but 
 
 euerie B. must be either the Bishopp of God, or the 
 
 Bishop of the the Diuel. He also affirmeth, none to 
 
 be the bishop of god, but he which hath 
 
 Deanelohn, ,,.,., i -, ^ 
 
 lib. 4. page warrant, both mclusiuely and also expresly 
 340. Une 7. -^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ Bishops of the 
 
 Diuell, what say you now, are you spighted of the 
 Puritans, because you like good subiects defend the 
 lawes of her Maiestie, or els because like incarnate 
 Diuells, you are bishops of the Diuells, as you your 
 selues confesse. 
 
 Here againe, let the Magistrate once more consider. 
 
HAY ANY WOKKE FOR COOPER. 51 
 
 what pestilent and daungerous beasts these wretches are 
 vnto the ciuill state. For either by their owne con- 
 fession, they are the Bishops of the Diuell (and so by 
 that means will be the vndoing of the state, if they be 
 continued therin) or else their places ought to be in 
 this commonwealth, whether her Maiestie and our state 
 wil or no : because they are not (as they say) the 
 bishops of man, that is, they haue not their superioritie, 
 and their Lordly callings ouer their brethren by humane 
 constitution, as my LL. Chancellor, Treasurer, and other 
 honorable personages haue, but by diuine ordinance. 
 Yea, and their callings, they holde (as you haue heard) 
 not onely to be inclusiuely, but also expreslie in the 
 word. What shifte will they vse to auoyde this point ? 
 Are they the Bishopps of men, that is, holde they their 
 iurisdiction as fro men. No saith Deane Gridges, no 
 sayth lohn of Canterburie and the rest of them, (for all 
 of them allowe this booke of lohn Bridges) for then we 
 are the bishops of the deuill, we cannot auoid it ? Are 
 they then the bishops of God, that is, haue they such a 
 calling as the Apostles, Euangelists, &c. had : that is, 
 such a calling as ought lawfully to be in a christian 
 common wealth (vnlesse the magistrate woulde iniurie 
 the Church, yea maime, deforme, and make a monster 
 of the Church) whether the magistrate will or no. We 
 haue say they. For our callings are not onely inclu- 
 siuely, but also expressely in the worde. So that by 
 Deane Bridges his confession, and the approbation of 
 lohn Canterburie, either our bishops are bishops of the 
 diuel, or their callings cannot be defended lawful, with- 
 
52 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 out fiat and plaine treason, in ouerthrowing her Maies- 
 ties supremacie. And so Deane Bridges hath written, 
 and lohn Whitgift hath approoued and allowed, flat 
 treason to be published. 
 
 Is Martin to be blamed for finding out and discouer- 
 ing traitors ? Is he to be blamed for crying out against 
 the Bb. of the Diuel. If he be, then in deed haue I 
 offended in writing against bishops ? If not, whether is 
 the better subiect Martin or our bishops : whether I be 
 fauored or no, I wil not cease, in the loue I owe to her 
 Maiestie, to write against traitors, to write against the 
 Diuels bishops. Our bishops are such by their owne 
 confession. For they protest them selues to be bishopps 
 of the Diuel. If they should holde the preheminence 
 to be from man. If they hold it otherwise then from 
 man, they are traytors. And vntil this beast Docter 
 Gridges wrote this booke, they neuer as yet durst pre- 
 sume to claim their Lordships any otherwise lawful 
 then from her maiestie, yea and D. Bridges about the 
 60. page saith the same. But they care not what con- 
 trariety they haue in their writings, what treason they 
 hold, as long as they are perswaded that no man shalbe 
 toUerated to write against them. I haue once already 
 shewed treason to be in this booke of the Deane of 
 Sarum, page 448. I shew the like now to be pag. 340. 
 Because Deane Bridges durst not answeare me. They 
 haue turned vnto me in his stead, a beast whome by 
 the length of his eares, I gesse to be his brother, y' is, 
 an Asse of the same kinde. But I wil be answered of 
 the Deane him selfe in this and the former point of 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 53 
 
 treason, or else, his cloister shal smoake for it. And 
 thus profane T. C. you perceue what a good subiect 
 you are, in defending the established gouernment. 
 Thus also I haue answered all your booke in the mat- 
 ters of the lawfulnes of the gouerment by Pastors, 
 Doctors, Elders and Deacons, and the vnlawfulnes of 
 our bastardly Church gouernment, by archbishops and 
 bishops, where also the reader may see, diat if euer 
 there was a church rightly gouerned, that is a church 
 without maime or deformity, the same was gouerned by 
 Pastors, Doctors, elders and deacons. 
 
 Whau, whau, but where haue I bin al this while. 
 Ten to one among some of these puritans. Why Mar- 
 tin ? Why Martin I say, hast tow forgotten thy selfe ? 
 Where hast ti bene, why man, cha bin a seeking for a 
 Samons nest, and cha vound a whol crue, either of 
 ecclesiasticall traitors, or of bishops of the Diuel, of 
 broken and maimed members of the church : neuer 
 winke on me good fellow, for I will speke the truth, 
 lett the puritans doe what they can. I say then that 
 they are broken members, and I say John of Canter- 
 bury if he be a member of the church, I say he is a 
 broken member, and that Thomas of Winchester is a 
 Cholerick member. Yea and cha vound that profane 
 T. C. is afraid lest her Maiestie shoulde giue Bishops 
 liuings away from them. And therefore shutteth his 
 booke with this position, vz. That it is not lawful to 
 bestow such liuings vppon lay men, as are appointed by 
 Gods law vppon ministers. But hereof more warke for 
 Cooper shal learnedly dispute. 
 
54 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 Reuerend T. C, Admonition page 1. 2. 3. 
 
 We vse the Ministers most vile nowe a dayes, God 
 will punish vs for it, as hee did those which abused his 
 prophets. 
 
 Reuerend Martin. 
 
 Look to it T. C. then. For out of thine own mouth 
 shalt thou be iudged, thou vnrighteous seruant. Our 
 bishops are they which abuse the ministers. Our bi- 
 shopps were neuer good ministers as yet, and therefore 
 they are not to be compared with the prophets. 
 
 Reuerend T. C. Page 4. 
 
 Some men will say, that I do great iniurie to the 
 prophets and apostles, in comparing our Bishops vnto 
 the. But we may be happie if we may haue tollerable 
 ministers in this perilous age. 
 
 Reuerend Martin. 
 
 I hope T. C. that thou dost not mean to serue the 
 church with worse then we haue : what worse then lohn 
 of Canterburie ? worse then Tom Tubtrimmer of Win- 
 chester ? worse then the vickers of Hell, syr JefFerie 
 Jones, the parson of Micklain, &c. I pray thee, rather the 
 we should haue a change from euil to worse, let vs haue 
 the euil stil. But I care not if I abide y^ venture of 
 the change. Therfore get lohn with his Canterburi- 
 nesse, remooued, &c. (whome thou acknowledgest to be 
 euill) and I doe not doubt, if worse come in their stead, 
 but the diuell wil soon fetch them away, and so we 
 shalbe quickly rid, both of euill and worse. But good 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 55 
 
 T. C. is it possible to find worse then we haue. I do 
 not maruel though thou callest me libeller, when thou 
 darest abuse the Prophets farre worse, then in calling 
 the libeliers : for I tel thee true, thou couldest not haue 
 anye way so stayned their good names, as thou hast 
 done, in comparing them to our bishopps. Call me 
 Libeller as often as thou wilt, I do not greatly care : 
 but and thou louest me, neuer likenme to our bishops 
 of the diuell. For I cannot abide to be compared vnto 
 those. For by thine owne comparison, in the 9. page, 
 they are iust Balaams vp and downe. 
 
 Reuerend T, C. page 8. 9. 10. 
 
 Though our bishops be as euil as ludas, the false 
 Apostles, and Balaam, yet because they haue sometimes 
 brought vnto vs Gods message, wee must thinke no 
 otherwise of them, then of Gods messengers. For God 
 will not suffer diuellishe and Antichristian persons, to 
 be the chiefe restorers of his gospell. 
 
 Reuerend Martin, 
 
 First T. C. I haue truly gathered thine argument, 
 thogh thou namest neither ludas nor the false apostles. 
 Prooue it otherwise. Then hast thou reuerend Martin, 
 prooued thy selfe a lyar. Now secondly then seeing it 
 is so, I praye thee good honest T. C. desire our ludasses 
 (who was also one of the first Apostles) not to sell 
 their master for money, desire our false Apostles (who 
 preached no false doctrine for the most part) not to 
 insult ouer poore Paule, and desire our good Balaams, 
 not to foUowe the wages of vnrighteousnes. The coun- 
 F 2 
 
56 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPEH. 
 
 sell is good. For ludas, thogh one of the first pub- 
 lishers of the gospell (so were not our bishops in our 
 time) yet hung himself. The false apostles had their 
 reward, I doubt not. And Balaam, as soon as ener the 
 Israelites tooke him, was iustly executed for his wick- 
 ednes. The forced blessing wherewith he blessed the 
 saued him not. 
 
 Reuerend T. C. page 10. 11. 12. 13. 
 Ma[n]y coniecturall speeches flye abroad of bishops, 
 as that they are couetous, giue not to the poore, hinder 
 reformation, Simoniacks, &c. but the chiefe gouernours 
 ought to take heede, that they giue no credit to any 
 suche things. I trust neuer any of them, commited 
 idolatrie as Aharon did. 
 
 Reuerend Martin. 
 
 Yea, I beseeche you that are in authoritie in any 
 case, not to beleeue any trueth against our bishops. 
 For these puritans (although the bishops grant them- 
 selues, to bee as euill as Balaam) coulde neuer yet 
 prooue the good fathers, to haue committed idolatrie as 
 Aharon did. And as long as they bee no worse then 
 Balaam was, there is no reason why they should be 
 disliked. You know this is a troublesome worlde, 
 men cannot come vnto any meare liuing without friendes. 
 And it is no reason why a man should trouble his 
 friende and giue him nothing, a hundred poundes and a 
 gelding, is yet better then nothing. To bowle but 
 seuen dayes in a weeke, is a very toUerable recreation. 
 You must knowe, that lohn of London, hath sometimes 
 
HAY ANY WORKE TOR COOPER. 57 
 
 preached (as this profane T. C. hath giuen out to his no 
 small commendations) thrise in a yeare at Paules crosse. 
 A sore labor, it is reason that he should bestowe the 
 rest of the yeare, in maintaining his health by recreation, 
 and prouiding for his family : giue him leaue but to 
 keepe out the gouernment of the Church, to swear 
 like a swag, to persecute, and to take some small ten in 
 the hundred : and truely he will be loath euer to com- 
 mit idolatrie as Aharon did. I hope, though ludas sold 
 his master, yet that it cannot be prooued since his call- 
 ing, that euer he committed idolatrie. 
 
 Reuerend T. C, page 16. 17. 
 
 Though bishops should ofTende as Noah did in drun- 
 kennes, yet good childre should couer their fathers falts. 
 For naturall children, though they suffer iniuries at their 
 fathers hands, yet they take their griefes verie mildely. 
 
 Reuerend Martin, 
 
 Bishop Westphaling. But what then? Parson CraMai 
 parson of sir lohn Pulchres in London (one of dumbe 
 lohns bousing mates) will be drunke but once a weeke. 
 But what then ? good childre should take linkes in a 
 cold morning, and light them at his nose, to see if by 
 that means some part of the fire that hath so flashed his 
 sweete face, might be taken away : this were their 
 dutie, sayth T. C. and not to crie redde nose, redd nose. 
 But T. C. what if a man shoulde find him lying in the 
 kenill, whether shoulde he take him vpp (all to be 
 mired like a swine) in the sight of the people, and cary 
 him home on his backe, or fling a couerled on him, and 
 F 3 
 
68 HAY ANY WOKKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 let him there take his rest, vntill his leggs woulde be 
 aduised by him to carie him home. But me thinks 
 brother T. C. you defend the bishops but euilfauoredly 
 in these pointes. For you doe, as though a thiefe 
 should saye to a true man, I must needs haue thy purse, 
 thou must beare with me, it is my nature, I must needes 
 playe the thiefe. But yet thou dealest vncharitably 
 with me, if thou blasest it abroad : for though I make 
 an occupation of theft, yet charitie would couer it. So 
 saye you, though our bishops make a trade of perse- 
 cuting and depriuing Gods ministers, though they make 
 a trade of continuing in Antichristian callings, yet cha- 
 ritie woulde haue their faltes couered, and haue them 
 mildely delt with. As though T. C. there were no 
 difference, betwixt those that fall by infirmitie into 
 some one sinne, not making it their trade, and not 
 defending the same to be lawfuU, and our bishops 
 which continue in an Antichristian calling, and occu- 
 pation, and defend they may do so. But wil they 
 leaue think you, if they be mildly and gently delt with. 
 The good lohn of Canterbury, I pray thee leaue thy 
 persecuting : good lohn of Canterbury leaue thy Pope- 
 dome : good father lohn of London, be no more a 
 bishop of the Diuell : be no more a traytor to God and 
 his worde. And good sweet boyes, all of you, become 
 honest men : maim and deforme the church no longer : 
 sweet fathers now, make not a trade of persecuting : 
 gentle fathers keep the people in ignoraunce no longer : 
 good fathers now, maintaine the dumb ministerie no 
 longer. Be the destruction of the Church no longer, 
 
HAY ANY WOEKE FOR COOPER. 59 
 
 good sweete babes nowe : leaue your Nonresidencie, 
 and your other sinnes, sweete Popes now : and suffer 
 the trueth to haue free passage. Lo T. C. nowe I haue 
 mildely delt with the good fathers, I will now expecte 
 a while, to see whether they will amende by faire 
 means, if not, let them not say but they haue bin 
 warned. 
 
 Reuerend T. C, from the 20. to the 30. 
 
 Though the bishops be faltie, yet they are not to be 
 excused that finde fait with them for synister ends. 
 And the prince and magistrates, is to take heed that by 
 their suggestions, they be not brought to put downe 
 L. bishops, to take away their liuings, and put them 
 to their pensions. For the putting of them to their 
 pensions, would discourage young students from the 
 study of diuinity. 
 
 Reuerend Martin, 
 
 I thought you were a fraide to loose your liuings, by 
 the courtier Martins meanes. But brethren feare it 
 not. I woulde not haue any true minister in the land, 
 want a sufficient lining. But good soules, I commend 
 you yet, that are not so bashful, but you will shew you;r 
 griefes. Is it the treading vnder foote of the glory of 
 God, that you feare good men. No no say they, we 
 could resonably wel bear diat losse. But we dye if 
 you deminish the alowance of our Kitchin. Lett vs be 
 assured of that, and our Lordly callings, and we do not 
 greatly care, how other matters go. I will when more 
 worke is published, helpe these young students vnto a 
 
60 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 means to Hue, though they haue none of your Bishop- 
 domes, if they will be ruled by me. 
 
 Reuerend T. C. page 35. 36. 
 There haue bene within these fewe weekes 3. or 4. 
 pamphlets published in print, against bishops. The 
 author of them calleth him selfe Martin, &c. 
 
 R. Martin. 
 But good Tom Tubtrimmer, if there haue bin 3. or 4 
 published, why doth bishop Cooper name on[e] only, 
 why doth he not confute all? why doth he inuent 
 obiections of his owne, seeing he had 3. books more to 
 confute, or 2. at least then he hath touched, nay, why 
 doth he not confute one of them thoroughly, seeing there- 
 in his Bishopdome was reasonably caperclawed. I haue 
 onely published a Pistle, and a Pitomie, wherein also I 
 graunt that I did reasonably Pistle them. Therefore 
 T. C. you begin with a lye, in that you say that I haue 
 published either 3. or 4. bookes. 
 
 Reuerend T. C. page 38. 
 His grace neuer felt blow as yet, &c. What is he 
 past feeling, wilt thou tel me that T. C. he sleepeth belike 
 in the top of y^ roust. I would not be so wel thwacked 
 for the popedome of Canter, as he hath borne poore 
 man. He was neuer able to make good syllogisme 
 since I am sure. Hee alowed D. Bridges his booke 
 quoth T. C. I pray thee what got he by that, but a 
 testimony against him selfe, that either he hath allowed 
 treason, or confessed him selfe to be the bishop of the 
 Diuell. 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 61 
 
 T. C. page 38. He that readeth his grace's answere, 
 and M. Cartwrights reply, shal see which is the better 
 lerned of the twoe. So he shal in deed T. C. and he 
 were very simple which could not discerne that. And 
 there is see much answered already as thou saist, that 
 his grace dare answere no more for shame. And T. C. 
 you your selues grant T. Cartwright to be learned, so 
 did I neuer thinke lohn Whitgift to bee, what com- 
 parison cann you make betwene them ? But Thomas 
 Cartwright, shall I say, that thou madest this booke 
 against me, because T. C. is sett to it, wel take heed 
 of it, if I find it to be thy doing, I will so besoop thee, 
 as thou neuer bangedst lohn Whitgift better in thy life. 
 I see 'heere that they haue quarrelled with thee Wa[ljter 
 Trauerse, lohn Penri, Thomas Sparke, Giles Wigging- 
 ton, Master Dauison, &c. Nay it is no matter, you are 
 een wel serued, this wil teach you I trow to become 
 my chaplaines. For if you were my chaplains once, I 
 trowe lohn Whitgift, nor any of his, durst not once say 
 blacke to your eies. And if I had thy learning Thomas 
 Cartwright, I would make them all to smoak. But 
 though I were as verye an Assehead as lohn Catercap 
 is, yet I coulde deale well inough with cleargie men : 
 yea with olde Winken de word, D. Prime his selfe. 
 And ile bepistle you D. Prime, when I am at more 
 leasure, though in deede I tell you true, that as yet 
 I doe disdaine to deale with a contemptible trencher 
 chaplaine, such as you, D. Bankcroft, and Chaplaine 
 Duport are. But ise be with you all three to bring one 
 day, you shall neuer scape my fingers, if I take you 
 
62 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 but once in hande. You see how I haue delt with 
 Deane lohn, your entertainement shalbe alike. But 
 Thomas Cartwright, thou art T. C. so is Tom Cooper 
 too. The distinction then, betweene you both, shall be 
 this : he shalbe profane T. C. because he calleth Christ 
 lesus, by whom the gouernment by Pastors, Doctors, 
 Elders and Deacons was commanded, to be he knowes 
 not whom : and thou shalt be simple T. C. 
 
 Concerning Mistresse Lawson, profane T. C. is it not 
 lawfuU for her to go to Lambeth by water, to accora- 
 „ . . panic a preachers wife, going also (as com- 
 guod mlt monly godly matrons in London do) with her 
 non mlt man : No saith T. C. I doe not like this in 
 audiet, women. Tushe man, Thomas Lawson is not 
 Thomas Cooper, he has no suche cause to doubt of 
 Dame Lawsons going without her husbande, as the 
 bishop of Winchester hath had of dame Coopers gad- 
 ding. But more worke for Cooper, will say more for 
 mistresse Lawson. 
 
 From whom soeuer Charde had his protection, his 
 Face is glad of it, for otherwise he knoweth not how to 
 get a printer, for the established gouernment, because 
 the bookes will not sell. 
 
 T C vas Touching the Premunire, let the Libeller 
 40. and his, doe what he dare. Why brethren, 
 
 what wisedome is this in you to dare your betters ? doe 
 you not know that I can sende you my minde by a 
 Pistle, and then prooue you to be pettie Popes, and 
 enemies to the State. And how can you mend your 
 selues. It is certain you are in a premunire. If her 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 63 
 
 Maiestie will giue me leaue to haue the law, I will be 
 bound to bring 10000. poundes into her coffers vpon 
 that bargain. And therefore foolish men, dare your 
 betters no more. And here I pray thee mark how I 
 haue made the bishops to pull in their homes. For 
 whereas in this place, they had printed the word dare, 
 they bethought themselues, y* they had to deale with 
 my worship, which am fauoured at the Court, and being 
 afraide of me, they pasted the word can vpon the word 
 dare, and so, where before they bad me and mine doe 
 what we durst : now they bid vs do what we can, 
 hoping thereby to haue a frinde in a corner, whoe 
 woulde not suffer vs to doe what wee ought and durst : 
 and so our abilitie shoulde not be according vnto their 
 demerit. Marke now, ye bishopps of the Diuell, 
 whether you be not afraide of me : I will see you ioUed 
 with the Premunire one day. 
 
 The like thing you shall finde in the 135. page. For 
 there hauing said, that they will not denie the discipline 
 to haue bene in the Apostles time, they haue now 
 pasted there vpon that, That is not yet proued. So 
 that although their consciences do tell them, that the 
 discipline was then, yet they will beare the world in 
 hand, that that is not yet proued. Here you see that if 
 this patch T. C. had not vsed two patches to couer his 
 patcherie, the bishops woulde haue accounted him to be 
 as very a patch as Deane lohn. 
 
 A, but these knaue puritans are more vnmannerly 
 before his grace, then the recusaunts are, and therefore 
 the recusants haue more fauor. I cannot blame them. 
 
64 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 for wee ought to haue no popes. The papists liketh 
 
 the Archiepiscopall Pall, and therefore reuerenceth a 
 
 petty Pope therein. And though the recusant come 
 
 not to heare the sermons, yet he is an informer very 
 
 often, vppon other mens information. 
 
 His grace denieth that euer he hard of any such 
 
 matter, as that the lesuit should say, he would becom a 
 
 braue Cardinal, if popery should come againe. I knowe 
 
 T. C. that long since he is past shame, and a notorious 
 
 Iyer, otherwise how durst he deny tliis, seeing ClifFe an 
 
 honest and a godly cobler, dwelling at Battell bridg, 
 
 ., did iustifie this before his grace his teethe, 
 page 41. ° 
 
 yea and will iustifie the same againe if he be 
 ^ ' called. So will Atkinson too. Send for them 
 
 page . j^ Yie dare. Ministers of the Gospel ought to 
 be called priests, saith his grace, what say you by that ? 
 Then good sir lohn O Cant, when wilt thou say Masse 
 at our house. His grace is also perswaded, that there 
 ought to be a Lordly superioritie among ministers. So 
 was ludas perswaded to sell his master. If you woulde 
 haue these thinges prooued, profane T. C. referreth you 
 to his grace his answer vnto simple T. C. and to doctor 
 Bridges. That is, if you woulde learne any honestie, 
 you must go to the stewes, or if you would haue a good 
 sauour, you must go to the sincke for it. Why thou 
 vnsauorly snufFe, dost tow thinke that men know not 
 D. Bridges and lohn Whitgift. Yea but his grace also 
 firmely beleeueth, that Christ in soule descended into 
 Hell. This is the 3. point of his catholike perswasion : 
 but tell him from me, that he shal neuer be saued by 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 65 
 
 this beliefe, and my finger in his mouth. Let him tell 
 what our sauiour Christ should do, if he did not harrow 
 Hell. Where thou saiest M. Yong had onely the 
 dealing with Thakwel the popish printer, without his 
 gi-aces priuitie, thou liest in thy throat : M. Yong him 
 selfe brought him to his grace, who ordered the matter 
 as it is set downe in my Pistle. But did not I say 
 truely of thee, y' thou canst cog, face and lye, as fast 
 as a dog can trot, and that thou hast a right seasoned 
 wainscoate face of ti nowne, chwarnt tee, ti vorehead 
 zaze hard as home. 
 
 Concerning Walde-graue, its no matter how you deal 
 with him, heez a foolish fellow, to suffer you to spoyle 
 his presse and letters : an a had bin my worships 
 printer, ide a kept him from your douches. And yet 
 it is pitie to belye the diuell : and therefore you shall 
 not belye him and goe scotfree. As for the presse that 
 Walde-graue solde, he did it by order, vz. He solde it, 
 to an allowed printer, I. C. one of his owne companie, 
 with the knowledge of his Warden, Henry Denham, &c. 
 And cal you this fauor, in releasing him after long im- 
 prisonment ? But I will giue you a president of great 
 fauour in deede, wherein you may see what an vngrate- 
 ful fellow Walde-graue is to his grace, who hath bin so 
 good vnto him from time [to] time. There being a con- 
 trouersie betweene another printer and Walde-graue (all 
 matters of printing being committed by the LL. of the 
 Counsell to his grace) Walde-graue made one of his 
 company his friende (who could do much with his 
 grace) to deale for him, who brake the matter to his 
 
66 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 worship, being at Croydon in his Orcharde : so soone as 
 the partie named Walde-graue, he sweetely aunswered 
 him, saying : if it had bin any of the copany saue him, 
 he would haue graunted the suite, but in no case to 
 Walde-graue. Well Walde-graue, obtained the R. H. 
 Lord Treasurers letter in his behalfe to his grace, who 
 when he had read it, said, I wil answer my L. Treasurer : 
 with that Walde-graue intreated for his fauorable letter 
 to the Wardens of his companie, which in the end 
 through D. Coosins he obtained (though late) yet went 
 home at night, thinking to deliuer it in the morning : 
 but before he was readie, the Wardens were with him, 
 and rested him with a Purciuant vpon his graces com- 
 mandement, Walde-graue telling them there was a letter 
 from his grace, which he receiued late the last night at 
 Croidon : who answered, they knew it well inough, but 
 A new re- tl>is is his pleasure now : so they caried Walde- 
 "^"^rf graue to prison, and in this, his grace was so 
 grudge. good vnto him, as to help him with an hun- 
 dred marks ouer the shulders. If this be your fauour, 
 God keepe me from you, ka M. Marprelate. Bishops 
 haue iustly receiued according to their desertes, hauing 
 found greater fauour at my worships hands the euer 
 they deserued, being notorious, disobedient and god- 
 lesse persons, vnthrifty spenders and consumers of the 
 fruits, not of their own labors, (as you say Walde-graue 
 was) but of the possessions of the church, persons that 
 haue violated their faith to god, his church, hir maiesty, 
 and this whol kingdom, and wittingly bring vs al with- 
 out the great mercy of god to our vndoing : so that our 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 67 
 
 wiues, childreft and seruants, haue cause to curse al 
 L. Bb. Lo T. C. you see that I haue a good gift in 
 imitation, and me thinkes I haue brought your wordes 
 into a marueilous good sense, wher as before in the 
 cause of Walde-graue, they were ilfauoredly wrested : 
 and as for his wife and children, they haue iust cause 
 to curse lohn of London, and lohn of Canterburie, for 
 their tyrannizing ouer him : by imprisoning and spoyling 
 his goods, and vexing his poore wife and children, with 
 continuall rifeling his house with their purciuants : who 
 in Nouember last, violently rusht into his house, break- 
 ing through the maine wall thereof after midnight, taking 
 away his goods, for some of the purciuants solde his 
 books vp and downe the streats, to watchmen and 
 others. Ah you Antichristian prelats, when will you 
 make an ende of defending your tyrannic, by the blood 
 and rapine of her maiesties subiectes ? You haue bin 
 the consumers of the fruits of Walde-graues labors : for 
 haue you not sent him so often to prison, that it seemed 
 you made a common occupation thereof? For as soon 
 as any book is printed in the defence of Christs holy 
 discipline, or for y« detecting of your Antichristian deal- 
 ings, but your rauening purciuantes flye citie and coun- 
 trie to seeke for Walde-graue, as though he were boud 
 by statute vnto you, either to make known o the 
 
 who printed seditious books against mv L. f ««<"«» ?/ 
 
 ° ■' his graces 
 
 Face, or to go to prison himselfe, and threat- fauor. 
 ned with the racke. And are you not ashamed to say, 
 that he euer violated his fayth ? you know wel inough, 
 that he is neither Archb. nor L. B. The case thus 
 G 2 
 
68 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 Stood, after he had remained a long time in prison, not 
 that time when Hartwell his graces secretary wisht that 
 his grace might neuer eat bit of bread after he released 
 him. Nor at that time when you profane T. C. told 
 him, that all puritans had traiterous hearts. Nor at 
 that time Wald-graue tolde his grace, that he was worse 
 the Boner in regard of the time. Nor that time when 
 he was straungely released by one of the Lorde of good 
 Londons Swans. Neither was it at y' time, when his 
 grace (good conscionable noble man) violated his pro- 
 mise, in that he told the wardens of the stacioners, that 
 if Walde-graue woulde come quietly to him, and cease 
 printing of seditious bookes, he would pardon what was 
 past, and the wardens promised his wife, that if he were 
 committed, they would lye at his graces gate til he were 
 released, and for al this, yet he was committed to the 
 white Lyon, where he laye sixe weekes. Nor it was 
 not at that time, when his grace allowed Watson the 
 purciuant, to take of Walde-graue, 13. s. 4. pence, for 
 cariyng of him to the white Lyon. But it was that 
 time, when his grace kept him 20. weekes together in 
 the white lyon, for printing the Complaint of the com- 
 minaltie, the Practize of prelats, A learned mans iudg- 
 ment, &c. Means being vsed for his liberty, his frend 
 who was bound for him told him, his liberty was obtained 
 in maner following. You must be bounde saith he, 
 in a 100. pounds, to print no more books herafter,. but 
 such as shalbe authorized by hir Maiesty or his grace, 
 or such as were before lawfully authorized : wherunto 
 he answered, that it was not possible for him to containe 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 69 
 
 himselfe within the compasse of that bond, neither 
 
 should his consent euer go to the same (the Whereby 
 
 ., . . , . - , j< Tnay ap- 
 
 same wil D. Loosins witnes (that maidenly p^are he 
 
 Doctor, who sits cheek by ioU with you) if '"'I? ""^ 
 
 to tiiiS 
 
 he will speake a trueth, which words Walde- friend. 
 graue vttered to him, going in the old pallas at west- 
 minster with his keeper before he was released) yet he 
 woulde gladly haue his libertie if he might lawfully. 
 For saide he, I being a poore workeman to my com- 
 panie, cannot possibly obserue it. For many bookes 
 heretofore printed, had cum priuilegio, and yet were 
 neuer authorized : and againe, that it were but a folly 
 for him to sue to her Maiestie, the office were .very 
 base and vnfit for her. And he might be wel assured 
 that Caiphas of Cant, would neuer authorize any thing 
 for his behoofe, and so it fell out. And thus Martin 
 hath prooued you in this, as in all other things, to be 
 lyars. And what is it that you Bb. and your hangones 
 will not saye by Walde-graue, whom you would hang if 
 you could. I will be briefe in the rest, but so, as reader 
 may perceiue that T. C. was hired to lye by commission. 
 I wil stand to it, that his grace accounteth the 
 preaching of the word, being the only ordinary page 46. 
 meanes of saluation to be an heresie, and doth mortally 
 persecute the same : his appellation to the page 47. 
 obedient cleargie shall stand him in no steed, when 
 more worke for Cooper is published. And there I will 
 pay thee for abusing M. Wiggington, and Master Da- 
 uison, whose good names can take no staine, page 47. 
 from a bishops chopps. Tf his grace reiected Master 
 G 3 
 
70 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 Euans for want of conformity, why is the quare impedit 
 gotten against the bishopp of Worcester, by the noble 
 Earl of Warwick his patron. I hope he wil see both 
 the quare impedit, and the premunire to, brought vppon 
 the bones of father Edmond of Worcester. It is a com- 
 page 48. mon bragge with his grace his parasites, and 
 
 With him selfe, that he is the second person in 
 the land. More work shall pay his grace for com- 
 2 E,d,.ag mending the Apocripha, a profane and a lying 
 14. 21-37. storye in many places, to be vnseparably 
 
 ioined with the holy word of God. You grant 
 D. Spark to haue set his grace and your selfe T. C. at 
 page 50. a non plus, for the septuaginta is contrary to 
 the Hebrew, and therefore, you maintain contrary trans- 
 lations, and require men to aproue both. Martin hath 
 marred Richard patriks market, for otherwise he was in 
 good hope to haue a benefice at his grace his hand, and 
 to be made a minstrell. Shamelesse and impudent 
 wretches that dare deny lohn of Cat. to haue bin at any 
 time vnder D. Perne, but as a fellowe of the house, 
 where he was master, whereas all the world knoweth 
 him to haue bin a poore scholler in that house, yea and 
 his grace hath often confessed, that hee beinge there a 
 poore scholler, was so poor as he had not a napkin to 
 wipe his mouth, but when he hadd gotten some fatte 
 meat of O the fellowes table, would go to the skrine, 
 and first wipe his mouth on the on[e] side and then O 
 the other, because he wanted a napkin, iudge you whe- 
 ther this bee not a meaner state, then to cary a cloakbag, 
 which is not spoken to vpbraide any mans pouerty, but 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 71 
 
 to pull the pride of Gods enemy an ase lower. Although 
 wee cannot beleeue D. Perne in the pulpit, yet in this 
 point wee will not refuse his testimony. I am gladd 
 lohn of London you will not deenie, but you p^ge 51. 
 haue the Diars cloth, make restitution then : ^^- ^^- ^^• 
 thou madest the porter of thy gate a minister lohn, and 
 thou mightest do it lawfully. Why so I pray thee, why 
 man, because he was almost blinde, and at Paddington 
 being a small people, hee could not starue as many 
 soules, as his master doth, which is a great p^gg 55 
 charge. I hope M. Madox will thinke scorne, ^^•_ 
 to ask lohn of London forgiuenesse. The substance of 
 the tale is true. I told you that I had it at the second 
 hand. Are you not ashamed, to deny the elmes to be 
 cut downe at Fulham ? Why her maiesties taker tooke 
 them from lohn of London. And simple fellowes, are 
 you not able to discern between a plesant frump giuen 
 you by a counsellor, and a spech vsed in good earnest. 
 Alas poore lohn O London, doest thou thinke, that M. 
 Vicechamberlain spake as he thought. Then it is time 
 to begg thee for a swagg. And so it is if thou thinkest 
 wee will beleeue the turncoate D. Perne speaking vnto 
 vs in his owne name, who like an Apostate, hath out of 
 the pulpit, tolde so many vntruthes. And as it is as 
 lawfull to boule, O the Sabboth, as it is to page 57. 
 eat, and for you to make dumbe ministers, as ^°- 
 it was for Dauid to eat of the shew bread, pag. 110. or 
 for the Machabees to fight on the Sabboth, or for Moses 
 to grant a bil of diuorcement ? I perceiue these men 
 will haue the good diuinity, if it be to be page 62. 
 
72 HAY ANY WORKE POR COOPER. 
 
 gotten for money. Yea and our Sauiour Christ, sware 
 by his faith very often. How so good lohn. I neuer 
 hard that before, why saith T. C. he sayd Amen Amen 
 very often, and Amen, is as much as by my faith, page 
 62. horrible and blasphemous beastes, whither will your 
 madnes growe in a while, if you be not restrained. M. 
 page 58. Allen the Grocer is paid all saue 10. pound: 
 for the vse of that, the executors haue lohn O Londons 
 blessing. And I thinke they are reasonably wel serued. 
 page 59. If the tale of Benison be not true, why was 
 lohn of London alotted by the counsel, to pay him (I 
 think) 40. pounds for his false imprisonment. lohn of 
 London is not dumb, because he preacheth somtimes 
 thrise a yeare at Pauls crosse. Then we shall neuer 
 page 6. make our money of it I see. But I pray thee 
 &1. 62. fp^ Q_ howe canst thou excuse his blaspeemie, of 
 Eli, Eli, lama sahackthani : there haue bin 2. outra- 
 gious facts amongst others committed in the world, by 
 those that professe true religion, the on[e] was the 
 betraying of our sauiour by ludas an apostle, the other 
 was the horrible mocking of his agonie and bitter pas- 
 sion, by lohn Elmar a bishop in this speeche. If he 
 had bene in some reformed Churches, the blaspheemer 
 woulde haue hardly escaped with his life. And is it 
 true sweete boy in deed? Hath Leicestorshiere so 
 embraced the Gospell without contention, and that by 
 Dumb lohns meanes ? Litle doest thou know what 
 thou hast done nowe, howe if Martin be a Leycester 
 shiere man, hast not thou then sett out the praise of 
 thine owne bane ? For martin I am sure, hath wroght 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 73 
 
 your Caiphas Chaire more wracke and misery, then all 
 the whole land beside. And therefore thou seest, a 
 man may be so madd somtimes, that he may praise he 
 cannot tel what. The bishop of Rochester in page 63. 
 presenting him selfe to a parsonage, did noe more then 
 lawe allowed him. And do so againe good lohn of 
 Rochester, and it will be for thy credit. Fo, these 
 puritans woulde finde fault I thinke with lohn of Cant, 
 (if he beleeuing that Christe in soule went to Hell) 
 should holde it vnlawfuU for a man to pray vnto Christe 
 being in hell. And sweet lohn of Cant, if euer thou 
 praiedst in thy life for any bodies souls, now pray for 
 thy brother D. Squire and Tarletons soules. They 
 were honest fellows, though I think dean lohns 
 ears be longer. For why good sweet lohn, may not 
 your worship do this, as well as William of page 63. 
 Lincolne might pray, that our soules should ''*■ 
 be with the soules of professed traiterous papists. 
 
 The good B. of Winchester did not protest, that at 
 sir M. Queries which was laid to his charge, pa„e 14. 
 but he spake som things that way. Wei bro- ^^- ^^- ^• 
 ther Winchester, you confesse the most part, and we 
 wil beleeue the rest for your sake without witnes. 
 The B. of Winchester neuer said that it was page 71. 
 an heresie, to holde that the preaching of the wo^de was 
 the only ordinarie means to saluation, but inasmuch as 
 Penri helde that the effect of saluation coulde not be 
 wrought by the word read, he said that was not far 
 from heresie : why brother Cooper, what is this els but 
 open confession. For lohn Penri as appeareth in his 
 
74 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 writings holdeth the word read, to be no ordinary means 
 of saluation at al. This I know you wil accoiit an 
 heresie, otherwise your case is damnable, that cause the 
 people to content themselues with reading, and hold 
 that they may ordinarily be saued thereby. Yea but 
 page 72. T. of Winchester disputed a M. of Art, 45. 
 yeare- ago in diuinitie. Here is an old lad 
 once. I hope that disputation was very cholerickly 
 performed. And he did once as prety a thing as that 
 came to. For once preaching at Canter, he was dis- 
 posed to note out T. C. I meane simple T. C. in his 
 sermon, his part he plaid after this sort. He noted 4. 
 great Hidraes of the gospell in his sermon. 1. Carnall 
 security. 2. Heathenish gentility. 3. Obstinat papis- 
 trie. 4. saith he, when I looke in his forehead, I finde 
 T. C. written therein, which I cannot otherwise inter- 
 pret, then thankles curiositie, thanklesse for the benefits 
 already receiued, and more curious than needs in vain 
 and needles questions. The old studet did not know 
 himselfe to be T. C. when he thus spake, and this is 
 y' thankles curiosity y' hath answered Martin. Yea 
 and he saw martins picture drawn when he was a yong 
 man. I perceiue then he was not blind, as the old 
 porter of Paddington, whom lohn of London bedeaconed 
 and beminstrelled. Lucian of Winchester himselfe was 
 the painter. Mydas of Cant, the iudge. The one of 
 the 2. wome caled ignorance, was the good wife of Bath, 
 D. Culpable warden of new coUedge, y^ other called 
 ielious suspicion, was y° fox lohn of Exetor. The came 
 in Winkendeword, alias D. Prime callumniator. This 
 
HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 75 
 
 Winken and his L, of Winchester, drew innocencie : to 
 wit, Martin Marprelat gentleman by the haire of the 
 head. Then followed Bolus fraus insidice. To wit, 
 D. Feme, D. Renold and D. Cosins. The treader was 
 cankered malice, his eyes were fierie, his face thinn and 
 withered, pined away with melancholi, and this was D. 
 Copcoat. Then followed dolfull repentance, y' is, dean 
 lohn repenting that euer he had writte in the Bb. behalfe 
 because his grace is not as good as his worde. T. C. 
 consider this picture vntill we meet againe. Now my 
 busines calleth me away, I am trauelling towards Ban- 
 bury, for I here say that there hath bin old adoe. For 
 bakers daughters wold haue knights whether they would 
 or no. T wil learne the trueth hereof, and so I will post 
 to Solihill, and visiting som parts of Stafford, Warwick, 
 and Northampton shires, I will make a iourney backe 
 againe to norfolke and suffolke : I haue a register at 
 Burie, and by that time my visitors will be come out of 
 Cornwall, Deuon and Hampshire. And now fare thee 
 well good profane T. C. I cannot now meddle with the 
 long period which thou hast in the 33. 34. pag. of thy 
 book, it is but 38. lines : thou art longer wi[n]ded then 
 Deane lohn is I see, though he hath longer periods then 
 that which I set downe. Whereas thou dost complaine 
 that the liuings of our bishopps are so small, that some 
 of their children are like to go a begging. There is a 
 present remedy for that. For to what end els, is lohn of 
 Cant, vnmaried, but to prouide for the bishops children 
 who shalbe poorly left. Though in deed, I neuer said in 
 my life, that there was euer any great familiaritie (though 
 
(0 HAY ANY WORKE FOR COOPER. 
 
 I know there was some acquaintaunce) betweene mistris 
 Toye and lohn Whitgift. And ile befie em, ile befie 
 em that will say so of me. And wherfore is Richard of 
 Peterborowe vnmaried, but to prouide for other mens 
 children. O now I remember me, he has also a charge 
 to prouide for, his hostesse and cosin of Sibson. The 
 peticoat which he bestowed vpon her, within this six 
 moneths was not the best in England, the token was not 
 vnmeete for hir state. Farewell, farewell, farewell olde 
 Martin, and keepe thee out of their handes for all that. 
 For thou art a shrewd fellowe, thou wilt one day ouer- 
 throw them Amen. And then thou swearest by thy 
 faith, quoth lohn of London. 
 
 Martin the Metropolitane to lohn the Metropolitane 
 sayth. Nemo confidat nimium seeundis. 
 
 Martin to his troubled sonnes sayth. 
 Nemo desperet meliora lapsus. 
 
 Anglia Martinis disce favere tuts. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Title.] The words inserted in parenthesis, form, in the original, 
 an erratum at the end. 
 
 P. 7, 1. 4. sir lohns.'] Sir was a title formerly applied to priests 
 and curates in general. Dominus, the academical title of a bachelor 
 of arts, was, at the Universities, usually rendered by sir in English ; 
 so that a bachelor, who in the books stood Dominus Brown, was in 
 conversation called Sir Brown. In the use of the word by our old 
 dramatists and writers, the Christian name appears to have been 
 generally used, although at the Universities it was omitted. In 
 the " Epistle to the Terrible Priests," Reprint, p. 53, we have the 
 « amusing story of sir lefferie lones, in which he is also styled sir 
 lones. Sir Hugh Evans, in the Merry Wives of Windsor; Sir 
 Topas, Twelfth Night ; Sir Oliver, As You Like It ; of Shakspeare ; 
 and the Sir Hugh Pancras, in Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub, will 
 readily occur to most readers. Whether it was from the general 
 prevalence of the Christian name John, that we find so many Sir 
 Johns, I cannot tell ; but it would appear from many instances, 
 that it was applicable to all such as had proceeded to the first 
 degree at the Universities, that of bachelor of arts. The author 
 has in the present instance used the term generically, in which 
 sense the following illustration from Latimer may be quoted : — 
 
 " Instead of a faithfuU and painefuU teacher, they have a Sir 
 John, who hath better skill in playing at tables, or in keeping a 
 garden, than in God's word." — Latimer's Sermons, Dedication. 
 
 The reader who is curious in the matter may consult the Notes 
 to Reed's Shakspeare, ed. 1813, v. 7. 229 ; viii. 117; xiv. 390.482. 
 
 H 
 
78 NOTES. 
 
 P. 7, 1. 13. out of all crie.'] This expression, which is to be met 
 wi;h in the title also, is one of a numerous class of expressions, 
 meaning, out of all measure, beyond measure. 
 
 " Sirrah, Serjeant and yeoman, I should love these maps out of 
 crie now, if we could see men peep out of door in 'em." — Puritan, 
 iii. 5. 
 
 •' And then I am so stowt, and take it upon me, and stand upon 
 my pantofles to them out of all crie." — Six Old Plays, i, 174. 
 
 So also in Martin's Month's Mind, " he knew not which way to 
 turn himselfe, and at length [was] clean Marde [marred], the 
 greefe whereof vext him out of all crie." — Sign, E 3, verso. Shak- 
 speare has out of all whooping, As You Like It, iii. 2. In Greene's 
 Fryer Bacon, " For he once loved the fair maid of Fresingfield 
 out of all hoe." In Martin Mar-Prelate's Epitome, Reprint, p. 49, 
 1. 3, " This is put home I trow, and ouerthroweth the Puritans 
 out of all cesse : and in Shakspeare, I. Hen. IV. " the poor jade is 
 wrung in the withers out of all cesse. In page 8 we have out of all 
 scotche and notche. 
 
 P. 7, 1. 20. moneths mind.'] This expression has nothing to do 
 with the office of the Romish Church for the repose of the dead, 
 formerly used in England, although it is possible the expression 
 might have originated from it Here it expresses the meaning of 
 a strong desire, and just in the same sense it is used in the western 
 counties to this day. Shakspeare, in the following quotation, has 
 used it in this sense, although the Commentators have given some 
 most strange illustrations : — 
 
 "Julia, I see you have a mcK^A's mjnd to them." ' 
 
 Two Gent, of Verona, i. 3. 
 
 Fuller has the expression, " The king had more than a moneth's 
 mind to procure the pope to canonize Henry VI. for a saint." — 
 Ch. Hist. b. iv. § 23. So Hall, 
 
 " And sets a month's mind upon smiling Mary." 
 
 Satires, b. iv. § 4. 
 
NOTES. 79 
 
 And Butler, 
 
 " For if a trumpet sound, or drum beat. 
 Who hath not a month's mind to combat." 
 
 Hudibras, Part i. Cant. ii. ver. 3. 
 
 Nares has given, from Croft's Exoerpta Antiqua, a different origin 
 to the expression, but which does not on examination appear very 
 tenable. 
 
 P. 8, 1. 4. dum minister.^ This story is to be found in Martin's 
 Epistle. 
 
 P. 8, 1. 25. true penie.'] Hamlet uses this expression to the 
 Ghost: " Ha, ha, boy ! say'st thou so 1 art thou there true-penny f" 
 It also occurs in the Malcontent, 1604: " lUo, ho, ho, ho; art 
 thou there old True-penny?" See also Forby's Glossary. 
 
 P. 10, 1. 7. Stafford law.l i. e. club law. 
 
 P. 10, 1. 20, 1. 22. Eulogein.'] Enlogeni in the original, but cor- 
 rected by the author in the errata. 
 
 P. 10, 1. 27. no grue in his pocked.^ Nares, in glossing the 
 word grew, says that it "seems to be put for the Greek term ypu ; 
 i. e. any trifling or very worthless matter." The allusion in the 
 text having evident reference to the moderate knowledge of G;reek 
 which Martin's adversary possessed, may therefore mean, when he 
 hath very little or no learning wherewith to answer him, 
 
 P. 11, 1. 1 and 8. our brother Westchester.^ i. e. Winchester. 
 
 P. 11, 1. 2. Priemeero on the eorrfs.] Primero was a game at 
 cards, very fashionable in the reign of Elizabeth. This word 
 occurs in Pap with a Hatchet, in the Note to which, p. 46, 1. 24, 
 I must request the reader to correct an error inadvertently com 
 mitted, for Greene to read Cooke, the latter being the author of 
 the play of "Tu Quoque." 
 
 P. 11, 1. IS. ka.l i. e. quoth. It is remarkable that the word 
 does not appear in Nares' Glossary. It is frequently used by this 
 writer in his Epistle. 
 
 P. 11, 1. 26. argling.'] i. e. arguing. 
 H 2 
 
80 
 
 P. 13, 1. 21. adient,'] Adjoint, adjunct. It refers to the then 
 general custom of placing in the margin, or " margent," such 
 notes as were necessary to elucidate the text, whether in reference 
 to the author or the title of his hook. 
 P. 14, 1. 21. besoop.'i To belabour. 
 
 P. 15, 1. 13. o/all loues.'] A tender expression frequently used 
 instead of ly all means. Coles renders the phrase by amabo. 
 Shakspeare has some instances : — 
 
 " But Mrs, Page would desire you to send her your little page 
 of ail Imes ; her husband has .a marvellous infection to the little 
 page." — Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2. 
 
 " For all the loves on earth, Hodge let me see it." 
 
 Gammer Gurton, O, P. ii. 76. 
 " Alack where are you ? speak an if you hear ; 
 Speak, of all loves; I swoon almost with fear." 
 
 Mids. N. D. ii. 3. 
 
 P. 16, 1. 8. vntilmore workefor Cooper be published.^ The allu- 
 sion to this intended tract, in the printing of which some short 
 time afterwards the press was seized, is frequent in the present 
 work. 
 
 P. 17, 1. 10. hauefelt of their tongs.l Meaning, I suppose, their 
 tongues covered with felt. Shakspeare has the word : — 
 " It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe 
 A troop of horse viithfelt." — Lear, iv. 6. 
 See Reed's Shakspeare, xvii. 550, ed. 1813, for other instances. 
 
 P. 23, I. IS. tis a sweete trunchfiddle.'] Nares has the word 
 Trtmchejlce, with the following illustration, which, as the running 
 qualifications of Bishop Aylmer are referred to, may not be inap- 
 propriate : — 
 
 " Or say' St thou this same horse shall win the prize. 
 Because his dam was swiftest Trunchefice, 
 Or Runcevall his sire." 
 
 Hall's Satires, ed. 1753, iv. 3. p. 65. 
 
81 
 
 P. 24, 1. 1. bun(feg.'\ i. e. belabour ; I see no reference to it 
 in any Glossary : bumbaste, a word of similar meaning, sometimes 
 occurs. 
 
 " I will so codgell and bombaste thee, that thou shalt not be 
 able to sturre thyself." — Palace of Pleasure, sign. K 6. 
 " I will bombaste you, you mocking knave." 
 
 Damon and Pithias, 0. P. i. 209. 
 P. 24, 1. 17. stealecounter.^ Counters were small circular pieces 
 of base money used for reckoning j and, according to Dr. Farmer, 
 were introduced from France towards the latter part of the seven- 
 teenth century. A stealecounter, therefore, must be one of the 
 pettiest of thieves. 
 
 P. 24, 1. 20. this geare cottons,^ i. e. succeeds, prospers. 
 " Still mistress Dorothy ! the geer tvill cotton." 
 
 Beaumont Sf Fletcher, Mons. Tho. iv, 8. 
 
 " Now Hephestion, doth not this matter cotton as I would." 
 
 Lyly's Alex, S; Camp., O. P. ii. 122. 
 
 P. 24, 1, 26. prove with a wet finger.'] i. e. great ease. Nares 
 seems to think it is derived from the custom of wetting the finger 
 to turn over the leaves of a book with more ease, and quotes the 
 following : — 
 
 " I hate brawls with my heart, and can turn over a volume of 
 wrongs with a wet finger." 
 
 Gabriel Harvey's Pierce's Superer. 21, Reprint, 
 
 P. 27, 1. 12. pulleth.'] Evidently an error for putteth. 
 
 P. 30, 1. 9. soopes.] i. e. blows. 
 
 P. 33, 1. 18. Nuts.] The expression " that's nuts," when any 
 thing witty is said, and especially in reply to another, is very 
 common in the West of England. 
 
 P. 40, last line, so ouerseene.] i. a. guilty of oversight. 
 
 P. 43, 1. 26. Denmark.'] In the original in one copy is Den- 
 make, and in another Denmark, a fact hardly worth noticing but 
 for the purpose of stating that the variation occurs in the same 
 
.82 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 edition, nor can I trace but one edition, although it is stated by 
 more than one authority that there were at least two about this 
 time I there was a reprint I believe in 1641. 
 
 P. 44, last line, procure god to tvrath.1 The sense requires 
 provoke, unless wrath is used as a verb. 
 
 P. 45, 1. 23. ought.'] L e. owed. It occurs in the Mirror for 
 Magistrates, p. 420 : — 
 
 " The trust he ought me, made me trust him so." 
 
 P. 45, 1. 29. hangones.] A word still in use in some counties, 
 frequently joined to rascal, and probably means a person who 
 deserves hanging. It occurs again at page 69. A friend has, 
 however, suggested that it might only be another form for 
 Jiangers-on. 
 
 P. 46, 1. 20. court of Amraltie.'] i. c. Admiralty. Amral occurs 
 in Paradise Lost. 
 
 P. 47, 1. 26. Brownist.'] Robert Brown, from whom the Inde- 
 pendents or Congregationalists date their origin, was a gentleman 
 of Rutlandshire, who suffered several imprisonments for adherence 
 to his opinions. He was a violent opponent of the Church of 
 England discipline and ceremonies. The Brownists were for a 
 long time the subject of popular satire. " I had as lief be a 
 Brownist as a politician," says Shakspeare in Twelfth Night. 
 
 P. 48, last line, regiment.] i. e. government. It appears to 
 have been in general use amongst our old writers to the time of 
 James I. 
 
 P. 51, 1. 16. Deane Gridges.] I. e. Bridges, probably an error 
 of the printer. It occurs again in the next page. 
 
 P. 63, 1. 14. tow.] i. e. thou j it occurs again at page 64, 
 line 26. 
 
 P. 53, 1. 15. Where hast ti bene, S;c.] i. e. thou been, why man 
 I have been seeking for a salmon's nest, and I have found a whole 
 crew. See Note, page 65, line 10. 
 
NOTES. 83 
 
 P. 53, 1. 16. Samons nest."] Of the meaning of this expression 
 I must eonftss my ignorance. 
 
 P. 63, 1. 25. patch.'] i. e. fool. 
 
 P. 65, 1. 2. harrow Hell.'] Harrow ; to plunder, spoil, lay waste, 
 subdue. The harrowing of hell is an expression constantly applied 
 to our Lord's descent into hell, as related in the Gospel of Nico- 
 demus. There were several early Miracle-plays on the subject, 
 one of which, of the age of Edward II., has recently been edited 
 by Mr. Halliwell, from a MS. in the British Museum. Spenser, 
 in one of his Sonnets, addressing Christ, says, 
 
 " And having harrowed hell didst bring away 
 Captivity thence captive." — Sonnets, 68. 
 
 P. 65, 1. 8. cog, face and lye, as- fast as a dog can trot.] This 
 proverb I do not recollect having seen in any collection, although 
 " to lie as fast as a dog can trot" is still in use in Somersetshire. 
 
 P. 65, 1. 10. ti noume, chwarnt tee, ti vorehead xaxe hard as home.] 
 i. e. in plain English, " thine own, I warrant thee, thy forehead is 
 as hard as horn." Steevens, in his Notes on Lear, says, " When 
 our ancient writers have occasion to introduce a rustick, they 
 commonly allot him the Somersetshire dialect. Mercury, in the 
 second Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, assumes the appearance of 
 a clown, and our translator Golding has made him speak with the 
 provinciality of Shakspeare's Edgar." See Golding's Ovid, ed. 
 1603, b. ii. One of these peculiarities is in the various forms 
 which the personal pronoun I is made to assume. Mr. Jennings, 
 in his Somersetshire Glossary, says, that it is variously pronounced, 
 Ise, Ich, IchS, Utchy. AVTienever the word occurs in composi- 
 tion, the mark of elision should be put before instead of after the 
 ch; thus in the text, chwarnt should be 'ch warnt. Without ex- 
 tending this note further, it may be worth while to remark, that in 
 the present instance, in Lear, in Gammer Gurton's Needle, and in 
 every instance which I have met with, the sense requires this 
 mark of elision before the ch. 
 
 P. 70, 1. 26. shrine.] Screen ? 
 
84 
 
 P. 71, 1. 17. frump.'] i. e. a jest : it sometimes means a con- 
 temptuous speech. 
 
 P. 74, 1. 22. martins picture, 4"C.] The description which fol- 
 lows is evidently an allusion to the exhibition of Martin on the 
 stage, some particulars relating to which will be found in the 
 Notes to the Reprint of Pap with a Hatchet. 
 
 P. 76, 1. 16. Richard of Peterborowe.'] Bishop Howland held 
 the see of Peterborough at this time. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Hugh Williams, Printer, Ashby-atreet, Northampton-square. 
 
puritan 3^fe^:^)lme Cratts* 
 
 PAP WITH A HATCHET; 
 
 A REPLY 
 
 MARTIN MAR-PRELATE. 
 
 3&e--]prtnte)f from t^e ©rtglnal Ouaito ©ifitton. 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN PETHERAM, 71, CHANCERY LANE. 
 
 1844. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In presenting the following tract to the public, I offer 
 no apology for the sharpness of its sarcasm, or the 
 coarseness of its language. The comparatively few 
 persons into whose hands it may fall, will, I trust, 
 appreciate that which I can assure them they possess, 
 an accurate reprint of a very rare, and by no means an 
 uninteresting tract. 
 
 The original edition is in small quarto, printed in 
 Roman letter, without date, but evidently in the latter 
 half of the year 1589. It is mentioned with much com- 
 mendation by Nash, in his " First Part of Pasquils 
 Apologie,'' which bears the date of 1590 ; " I warrant 
 you the cunning Pap-maher knew what he did when he 
 made choice of no other spoon than a hatchet for such 
 a mouth, no other lace than a halter for such a necke," 
 And the allusion at page 36, "I drew neere the sillie 
 soule, whom I found quiuering in two sheetes of pro- 
 testation paper,'' shows that it was printed after " The 
 Protestacyon of Martin Mar-Prelate," dated 1589. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the copy which I possess, in the handwriting of 
 Isaac Reed, is the following note : — " Collier, in his 
 Ecclesiastical History, ii. 606, gives this pamphlet to 
 Thomas Nash, but Gabriel Harvey ascribes it to John 
 Lyly. Pierce's Supererogation, 69." To this state- 
 ment respecting the authorship very little can be added. 
 It has been attributed to Nash chiefly from the simi- 
 larity which it bears to his style ; and this opinion is 
 somewhat strengthened by the fact that he wrote more 
 than one tract on the same side. On behalf of Lyly it 
 may be said, that the testimony of Gabriel Harvey is 
 that of a contemporary, and therefore more likely to be 
 true. Mr. J. P. Collier, in his " Annals of the Stage," 
 attributes it to Lyly ; and Mr. D'Israeli, in his " Cala- 
 mities of Authors," to Nash. To these authorities 
 might be added others, which, however, afford no addi- 
 tional evidence, and therefore we must be content to 
 leave the discovery to future research. 
 
 Some letters will be found at the end amongst the 
 Notes, which show us that the exhibiting of Martin on 
 the Stage led to the interference of Lord Burghley, and 
 the then Master of the Revels, Tylney, issued his orders 
 "to stale all plaies within the cittie, utterlie misliking 
 the same :'' it is evidently to the period of this inhibition 
 that the facts mentioned at page 32 must be referred. 
 
 J. P. 
 
 Londm, Nov. i, 1844. 
 
Pappe with an hatchet. 
 
 Alias, 
 
 A Jigge for my God sonne. 
 
 Or 
 
 Crache me this nut. 
 
 Or 
 
 A Countrie cvffe, that is, a sound boxe of the 
 
 eare, for the idiot Martin to hold his peace, 
 
 seeing the patch will take no 
 
 warning. 
 
 Written by one that dares call a dog, a dog, 
 and made to preuent Martins dog daies. 
 
 Imprinted by lohn Anohe, and lohn Astile, for the 
 
 Bayliue of Withernam, cum priuilegio perennita- 
 
 tis, and are to bee sold at the signe of the 
 
 crab tree cudgell in thwack- 
 
 coate lane. 
 
 A sentence. 
 Martin hangs fit for my mowing. 
 
To the Father and the two Sonnes, 
 HufFe, Ruffe, and Snuffe, 
 
 the three tame ruffians of the Church, which take pepper 
 
 in the nose, because they can not 
 
 marre Prelates : 
 
 grating. 
 
 RooME for a royster ; so thats well sayd, itch a little 
 
 further for a good fellowe. Now haue at you all my 
 
 gaffers of the rayling religion, tis I that must take you 
 
 a peg lower. I am sure you looke for more worke, 
 
 you shall haue wood enough to cleaue, make your tongue 
 
 the wedge, and your head the beetle, He make such a 
 
 splinter runne into your wits, as shal make the ranckle 
 
 till you become fooles. Nay, if you shoot bookes like 
 
 fooles bolts. He be so bold as to make your iudgements 
 
 quiuer with my thunderbolts. If you meane to gather 
 
 clowdes in the Commonwealth, to threaten tempests, 
 
 for your flakes pf snowe weele pay you with stones of 
 
 hayle ; if with an Easterlie winde you bring Catterpillers 
 B 2 
 
8 
 
 DEDICATION, 
 
 into the Church, with a Northerne wind weele driue 
 barrennes into your wits. 
 
 We care not for a Scottish mist, though it wet vs to 
 the skin, you shal be sure your cockscombs shall not be 
 mist, but pearst to the skuls. I professe rayling, and 
 think it as good a cudgell for a Martin, as a stone for a 
 dogge, or a whippe for an Ape, or poyson for a rat. 
 
 Yet find fault with no broad termes, for I haue me- 
 sured yours with mine, and I find yours broader iust by 
 the list. Say not my speaches are light, for I haue 
 weighed yours and mine, and I finde yours lighter by 
 twentie graines than the allowance. For number you 
 exceede, for you haue thirtie ribauld words for my one, 
 and yet you beare a good spirit. I was loath so to 
 write as I haue done, but that I learnde, that he that 
 drinkes with cutters, must not be without his ale dagger ; 
 nor hee that buckles with Martin, without his lauish 
 termes. 
 
 Who would currie an Asse with an luorie combe ? 
 giue the beast thistles for prouender. I doo but yet 
 angle with a silken flye, to see whether Martins will 
 nibble ; and if I see that, why then I haue wormes for 
 the nonce, and will giue them line enough like a trowte, 
 
DEDICATION. V 
 
 till they swallow both hooke and line, and then Martin 
 beware your gilles, for lie make you daunce at the 
 poles end. 
 
 I knowe Martin will with a trice bestride my shoul- 
 ders. Well, if he ride me, let the foole sit fast, for my 
 wit is verie kickish ; which if he spurre with his copper 
 repUe, when it bleedes, it will all to besmeare their con- 
 sciences. 
 
 If a Martin can play at chestes, as well as his nephewe 
 the ape, he shall knowe what it is for a scaddle pawne, 
 to crosse a Bishop in his owne walke. Such dydoppers 
 must be taken vp, els theile not stick to check the king. 
 Rip vp my life, discipher my name, fill thy answer as 
 full of lies as of lines, swell like a toade, hisse like an 
 adder, bite like a dog, and chatter like a monkey, my pen 
 is prepared and my minde ; and if yee chaunce to finde 
 any worse words than you brought, let them be put in 
 your dads dictionarie. And so farewell, and be hangd, 
 and I pray God ye fare no worse. 
 
 Yours at an houres warning 
 Double V. 
 
 B 3 
 
INDIFFERENT READER. 
 
 It is high time to search in what corner of the Church 
 the fire is kindled, being crept so far, as that with the 
 verie smoke the consciences of diuers are smothered. 
 It is found that certaine Martins, if no miscreants in 
 religion (which wee may suspect) yet without doubt 
 malecotents (which wee ought to feare) haue throwen 
 fire, not into the Church porch, but into the Chauncell, 
 and though not able by learning and iudgement to dis- 
 place a Sexton, yet seeke to remooue Bishops, They 
 haue scattered diuers libels, all so taunting and slan- 
 derous, as it is hard to iudge, whether their lyes exceed 
 their bitternesse, or their bitternesse their fables. 
 
 If they be answered by the grauitie of learned Pre- 
 lates, they presentlie reply with railings ; which argueth 
 their intent to be as farre fro the truth of deuotion, as 
 their writings from mildnes of spirit. It is said that 
 camels neuer drinke, til they haue troubled the water 
 with their feete, and it seemes these Martins cannot 
 carouse the sapp of the Church, till by faction they 
 make tumults in religion. Seeing the either they expect 
 
TO THE READER. 11 
 
 no graue replie, or that they are settled with railing to 
 replie; I thought it more conuenient, to giue them a 
 whisk with their owne wand, than to haue them spurd 
 with deeper learning. 
 
 The Scithian slaues, though they bee vp in armes, 
 must bee tamde with whippes, not swords, and these 
 mutiners in Church matters, must haue their mouthes 
 bungd with iests, not arguments. 
 
 I seldome vse to write, and yet neuer writ anie thing, 
 that in speech might seeme vndecent, or in sense vn- 
 honest ; if here I haue vsed bad tearmes, it is because 
 they are not to bee answered with good tearmes : for 
 whatsoeuer shall seeme lauish in this Pamphlet, let it 
 be thought borrowed of Martins language. These 
 Martins were hatcht of addle egges, els could they not 
 haue such idle heads. They measure conscience by 
 their owne yard, and like the theeues, that had an 
 yron bed, in which all that were too long they would 
 cut euen, all that were too shdrt they would stretch out, 
 and none escapte vnrackt or vnsawed, that were not 
 iust of their beds length : so all that are not Martins, 
 that is, of their peeuish mind, must be measured by 
 them. If he come short of their religion, why he is but 
 a colde Protestant, hee must bee pluckt out to the length 
 of a Puritane. If any be more deudut than they are, 
 as to giue almes, fast, and pray, then they cut him off 
 close by the workes, and say he is a Papist. If one 
 
12 TO THE READER. 
 
 be not cast in Martins mould, his religion must needes 
 mould. He saith he is a Courtier, I thinke no Courtier 
 so peruerse, that seeing the streight rule of the Church, 
 would goe about to bend it. It may be he is some 
 lester about the Court, and of that I meruaile, because 
 I know all the fooles there, and yet cannot gesse at him. 
 What euer he be, if his conscience be pind to his cogni- 
 zance, I will account him more politicke than religious, 
 and more dangerous for ciuill broyles, than the Spaniard 
 for an open warre. I am ignorant of Martin and his 
 maintainer, but my conscience is my warrant, to care 
 for neither. For I knowe there is none of honour so 
 carelesse, nor any in zeale so peeuish, nor of nature any 
 so barbarous, that wil succour those that be suckers of 
 the Church, a thing against God and policie ; against 
 God, in subuerting religion ; against policie, in altering 
 gouernment, making in the Church, the feast of the 
 Lapithees, where all shall bee throwne on anothers head, 
 because euerie one would be the head. And these it is 
 high time to tread vnder foote : for who would not 
 make a threshold of those, that go about to make the 
 Church a barne to thresh in. Itaque sic disputo. 
 
pappe Mti) an WUf)tU 
 
 Good morrow, goodman Martin, good morrow : will ye 
 anie musique this morning ? What fast a sleepe ? Nay 
 faith, He cramp thee till I wake thee. O whose tat ? 
 Nay gesse olde knaue and odd knaue : for He neuer 
 leaue pulling, til I haue thee out of thy bed into the 
 streete ; and then all shall see who thou art, and thou 
 know what I am. 
 
 Your Knaueship brake you fast on the Bishops, by 
 breaking your iests on them : but take heed you breake 
 not your owne necke. Bastard Junior dinde vpon them, 
 and cramde his maw as full of mallice, as his head was 
 of malapertnesse. Bastard Senior was with them at 
 supper, and I thinke tooke a surfet of colde and raw 
 quipps. O what queasie girds were they towards the 
 fall of the leafe. Old Martin, neuer entaile thy wit to 
 the eldest, for hee'le spend all he hath in a quire of 
 paper. 
 
 Now sirs, knowing your bellies full of Bishops bobbs, 
 I am sure your bones would be at rest : but wee'le set 
 vp all our rests, to make you all restie. I was once 
 determined to write a proper newe Ballet, entituled 
 Martin and his Maukin, to no tune, because Martin was 
 
14 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 Hee out of all tune. Elderton swore hee had 
 
 ZrZletf rimes lying a steepe in ale, which should 
 timt he will marre all your reasons : there is an olde hacker 
 
 fjidfcB thsir 
 
 wits wet- that shall take order for to print them. O 
 thhfuT" how hee'le cut it, when his ballets come out 
 hU swift of the lungs of the licour. They shall be 
 
 " CUTfP-71't 
 
 better than those of Bonner, or the ierkes for 
 a lesuit. The first begins, Come tit me come tat me, 
 come throw a halter at me. 
 
 Then I thought to touch Martin with Logick, but 
 there was a little wag in Cambridge, that swore by 
 Saint Seaton, he would so swinge him with Sillogismes, 
 that all Martins answeres should ake. The vile boy 
 hath manie bobbes, and a whole fardle of fallacies. 
 He begins, 
 
 Linquo coax ranis, cros coruis, vanaque vanis. 
 Ad Logicam pergo, qucB Mart'ins non timet ergo. 
 
 And sales, he will ergo Martin into an ague, I haue 
 read but one of his arguments. 
 
 Tihurne stands in the cold. 
 But Martins are a warme furre : 
 Therefore Tiburne must he furd with 
 Martins. 
 O (quoth I) boy thou wilt be shamed ; tis neither in 
 moode nor figure : all the better, for I am in a moode 
 to cast a figure, that shall bring them to the conclusion. 
 I laught at the boye, and left him drawing all the lines 
 of Martin into sillogismes, euerie conclusion beeing this. 
 Ergo Martm is to bee hangd. 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 15 
 
 Nay, if rime and reason bee both farestalde, lie raile, 
 if Martin haue not barrelde vp all rakehell words : if 
 he haue, what care I to knock him on the head with his 
 owne hatchet. He hath taken vp all the words for his 
 obscenitie : obscenitie ? Nay, now I am too nice ; 
 squirrilitie were a better word : well, let me alone to 
 squirrell them. 
 
 Martin, thinkst thou, thou hast so good a wit, as 
 none can outwrangle thee ? Yes Martin, wee will play 
 three a vies wits : art thou so backt that none dare 
 blade it with thee? Yes Martin, wee will drop vie 
 stabbes. Martin sweares I am some gamester. Why, 
 is not gaming lawful ? I know where there is more 
 play in the compasse of an Hospitall, than in the circuite 
 of Westchester. One hath been an old stabber at 
 passage : the One that I meane, thrust a knife into ones 
 thigh at Cambridge, the quarrel was about cater-tray, 
 and euer since he hath quarrelled about eater-caps. 
 
 I thought that hee which thrust at the bodie in game, 
 would one daie cast a foyne at the soule in earnest. But 
 hee workes closelie and sees all, hee leamd that of old 
 Vydgin the cobler, who wrought ten yeares with spec- 
 tacles, and yet swore he could see through a dicker of 
 leather. He hath a wanton spleene, but wee will haue 
 it stroakt with a spurne, because his eies are bleard, he 
 thinkes to bleare all ours ; but let him take this for a 
 warning, or else looke for such a warming, as shall make 
 all his deuices as like wood, as his spittle is like wood- 
 sere. Take away the Sacke, and giue him some Cina- 
 mom water, his conscience hath a colde stomacke. 
 
16 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 Cold? Thou art decerned, twil digest a Cathedral 
 Church as easilie, as an Estritch a two penie naile. 
 
 But softe Martins, did your Father die at the Groyne? 
 It was well groapt at, for I knewe him sicke of a paine 
 in the groyne. A pockes of that religion, (quoth lulian 
 Grimes to her Father) when al his haires fell off on the 
 sodaine. Well let the olde knaue be dead. Whie are 
 not the spawnes of such a dog-fish hangd? Hang a 
 spawne ? drowne it ; alls one, damne it. 
 
 Ye like not a Bishops rochet, when all your fathers 
 hankerchers were made of his sweete harts smocke. 
 That made you bastards, and your dad a cuckold, whose 
 head is swolne so big, that he had neede sende to the 
 cooper to make him a biggin : and now you talke of a 
 cooper. He tell you a tale of a tubb. 
 
 At Sudburie, where the Martin-mogers swarmd to 
 a lecture, like beares to a honnie pot : a good honest 
 strippling, of the age of fiftie yeares or thereabout, that 
 could haue done a worse act if companie had not been 
 neere, askt his sweete sister, whether lecherie in her 
 conscience were a sinne ? In faith (quoth she) I thinke 
 it the superficies of sinne, and no harme if the tearmes 
 be not abusde, for you must say, vertuously done, not 
 lustily done. Fie, this is filthie ribaldry. O sir, ther 
 is no mirth without ribaldrie, nor ribaldrie without 
 Martin, ask mine hostesse of the iuie bush in Wye for 
 the one, and my old hostesse of the Swanne in Warwicke 
 for the other. She is dead : the diuell she is. You 
 are too broad with Martins brood: for hee hath a 
 hundred thousand that will set their handes to his 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 17 
 
 Articles, and shewe the Queene. Sweeter ^ 
 
 They are 
 and sweeter: for wee haue twentie hundred mtsomany, 
 
 thousand handes to withstand them. I would centimani 
 
 it were come to the grasp, we would show <"» hundred 
 
 . huTids a 
 
 them an Irish tricke, that when they thinke peece: so 
 to winne the game with one man, wee'le make ^;,L^°6„( 
 holde out till wee haue but two left to carrie one thou- 
 them to the gallowes : well followed in faith, 
 for thou saidst thou wert a gamester. All this is but 
 bad English, when wilt thou come to a stile ? Martin 
 hath manie good words. Manie ? Now you put me in 
 minde of the matter, there is a booke coming out of a 
 hundred merrie tales, and the petigree of Martin, fetchte 
 from the burning of Sodome, his armes shal be set on 
 his hearse, for we are prouiding his funerall, and for the 
 winter nights the tales shall be told secundum vsum 
 Sarum : the Deane of Salisburie can tell twentie. If 
 this will not make Martin mad, malicious and melancholic 
 (6 braue letter followed with a full crie) then will we be 
 desperate, and hire one that shall so translate you out of 
 French into English, that you will blush and lie by it. 
 And one will we coniure vp, that writing a familiar 
 Epistle about the naturall causes of an Earthquake, fell 
 into the bowells of libelling, which made his eares quake 
 for feare of clipping, he shall tickle you with taunts ; all 
 his works bound close, are at least sixe sheetes in quarto, 
 and he calls them the first tome of his familiar Epistle : 
 he is full of latin endes, and worth tenne of those that 
 crie in London, haie ye anie gold ends to sell. If he 
 giue you a bob, though he drawe no bloud, yet are you 
 
18 PAPP.E WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 sure of a rap with a bable. If he ioyne with vs, perijsti 
 Martin, thy wit wil be massacred : if the toy take him 
 to close with thee, then haue I my wish, for this tenne 
 yeres haue I lookt to lambacke him. Nay he is a mad 
 lad, and such a one as cares as little for writing without 
 wit, as Martin doth for writing without honestie ; a 
 notable coach companion for Martin, to drawe Diuinitie 
 from the Colledges of Oxford and Cambridge, to Shoe- 
 makers hall in Sainct Martins. But we neither feare 
 Martin, nor the foot-cloth, nor the beast that wears it, 
 be he horse or asse ; nor whose sonne he is, be he Mar- 
 tins, Sonne, lohns, sonne, or Richards, sonne ; nor of 
 what occupation he be, be a ship-wright, cart-wright, or 
 tiburn-wright. If they bring seuen hundred men, they 
 shall be boxt with fourteen hundred boyes. Nay we 
 are growing to a secret bargaine. O, but I forgate a 
 riddle ; the more it is spied, the lesse it is seene. Thats 
 the Sunne : the lesse it is spied of vs, the more it 
 is seene of those vnder vs. The Sunne ? thou art an 
 asse, it is the Father, for the old knaue, thinking by his 
 bastardie to couer his owne heade, putteth it like a 
 stagge ouer the pale. Pale ? nay I will make him blush 
 as red as ones nose, that was alwaies washt in well water. 
 What newes from the the Heraldes ? Tush, thats 
 time enough to know to morrow, for the sermon is not 
 yet cast. The sermon foole ? why they neuer studie, 
 but cleaue to Christ his dabitur in ilia hora. They 
 venter to catch soules, as they were soles ; Doctors are 
 but dunces, none sowes true stitches in a pulpet, but a 
 shoomaker. 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 19 
 
 Faith, thou wilt bee caught by the stile. Martin lu- 
 
 What care I to be found by a stile, when so j^^^ found 
 
 many Martins haue been taken vnder an hedge ? T^i^ fathers 
 
 papers vn- 
 If they cannot leuell, they will roue at thee, der a lush, 
 
 and anatomize thy life from the cradle to the J^ 'started 
 
 graue, and thy bodie from the corne on thy /™™ '"'* 
 
 Fourme. 
 
 toe, to the crochet on thy head. They bee as 
 cunning in cutting vp an honest mans credit, as Bull 
 in quartering a knaues bodie. Tush, (what care I) is 
 my posie ; if hee meddle with mee. He make his braines 
 so hot that they shall crumble, and rattle in his warpt 
 scull, like pepper in a dride bladder. 
 
 I haue a catalogue of al the sheepe, and it shall go 
 hard, but I will crosse the bel-weather. Why shuld I 
 feare hira that walkes on his neats-feete. Neither court, 
 nor countrie that shal be free, I am like death, He spare 
 none. There shall not misse a name of anie, that had a 
 Godfather ; if anie bee vnchristened, He nicke him with 
 a name. 
 
 But whist; beware an action of the case. Then put 
 this for the case, whether it bee not as lawfull to set 
 downe the facts of knaues, as for a knaue to slander 
 honest men. Alls as it is taken ; marie the diuell take 
 al, if truth find not as many soft cushions to leane on, 
 as trecherie. 
 
 Theres one with a lame wit, which will not weare a 
 foure cornerd cap, then l,et him put on Tibume, that hath 
 but three corners ; and yet the knaue himselfe, hath a 
 pretie wench in euerie comer. 
 
 I could tickle Martin with a true tale of one of his 
 c 2 
 
20 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 He calls sonnes, that hauing the companie of one of 
 none but the ^ . . , . , r-in -ji. u 
 
 jieavens to "'* Sisters in the open heldes, saide, hee would 
 
 witnesse. not smoother vp sinne, and deale in hugger 
 
 mugger against his Conscience. In the hundred merrie 
 
 tales, the places, the times, the witnesses and all, shall 
 
 be put downe to the proofe, where I warrant you, the 
 
 Martinists haue consciences of proofe. Doost think 
 
 Martin, thou canst not be discouered ? What foole would 
 
 not thinke him discouered that is balde ? Put on your 
 
 night cap, and your holie day EngUsh, and the best wit 
 
 you haue for high daies, all wil be little enough to keep 
 
 you from a knaues penance, though as yet you bee in a 
 
 fooles paradice. If you coyne words, as Cankerhurie, 
 
 Canterburines, &c. whie, I know a foole that shall so 
 
 inkhornize you with straunge phrases, that you shall 
 
 blush at your owne bodges. For Similes, theres another 
 
 shal liken thee to anie thing, besides he can raile too. 
 
 If Martin muzzle not his mouth, and manacle his hands, 
 
 He blabb all, and not sticke to tell, that pewes and 
 
 stewes are rime in their religion. 
 
 Scratch not thy head Martin, for be thou Martin the 
 bird, or Martin the beast ; a bird with the longest bill, 
 or a beast with the longest eares, theres a net spread for 
 your necke. Martin, lie tell thee a tale woorth twelue 
 pence, if thy witt bee woorth a pennie. 
 
 There came to a Duke in Italic, a large lubber and a 
 beggerlie, saying hee had the Philosophers Stone, and 
 that hee could make golde faster, than the Duke could 
 spend it. The Duke askt him, why hee made none to 
 mainteine himself? Because, quoth he, I could neuer 
 
PAPPE 'WITH AN HATCHET. 21 
 
 get a secret place to worke in ; for once I indeuoured, 
 and the Popes holinesse sent for me, whom if he had 
 caught, I should haue been a prentice to mainteine his 
 pride. The Duke minding to make triall of his cunning, 
 and eager of golde, set him to worke closely in a vault, 
 where it was not knowen to his neerest seruants. This 
 Alcumist, in short time consumed two thousande pound 
 of the Dukes gold, and brought him halfe a ducket : 
 whie (quoth the Duke) is this all ? All quoth he my 
 Lord, that I could make by Art. Wei said the Duke 
 then shalt thou see my cunning : for I will boile thee, 
 straine thee, and then drie thee, so that of a lubber, that 
 weighed three hundred weight, I will at last make a 
 dram of knaues powder. The Duke did it. 
 
 Martin, if thou to cousen haue crept into the bosome 
 of some great me, saying thou hast the churches disci- 
 pline, and that thou canst by thy faction and pollicie, 
 pull down Bishops and set vp Elders, bring the lands of 
 the Clergy, into the cofers of the Temporaltie, and 
 repaire Religion, by impairing their linings, it may bee, 
 thou shalt bee hearkened too, stroakt on the head, 
 greasd in the hand, fed daintelie, kept secretlie, and 
 countenaunst mightelie. But when they perceiue, that 
 all thy deuices bee but Chymeraes, monsters of thine 
 owne imaginations, so farre from pulling downe a 
 Cathedrall Church, that they cannot remooue a corner of 
 a square cap, the will they deale with thee, as 
 the Duke did with the Alcumist, giue thee as /^-^ main- 
 
 many bobs on the eare, as thou hast eaten '*'"*'" ""''^ 
 •^ ^ both sawers 
 
 morsels of their meate, and make thee an ex- of timber, 
 c 3 
 
22 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 but Martin ample of sedition to be pointed at, that art now 
 th^pit'aii ®° mewde vp, that none can point where thou 
 the dust art. All this tale, with the application, was 
 mustfall • , /. J 
 
 in his eies, not of my pennmg, but found among loose 
 
 but he shal papers ; marie he that did it, dares stand to 
 neuerwalke -r r ' ' 
 
 on the it. Now, because I haue nothing to doo be- 
 tweene this and supper, He tell you another 
 tale, and bo begin Winter by time. 
 
 There was a libeller, who was also a coniurer, so that 
 whatsoeuer casting of figures there was, he deceiued 
 them ; at the last, one as cunning as himself, shewed, 
 wher he sate writing in a fooles coate, and so he was 
 caught and whipt. Martin, there are figures a flinging, 
 and ten to one thou wilt be found sitting in a Knaues 
 skinne, and so be hangd. 
 
 HoUow there, giue me the beard I wore yesterday. 
 O beware of a gray beard, and a balde head : for if 
 such a one doo but nod, it is right dudgin and deepe 
 discretion. But soft, I must now make a graue speach. 
 
 There is small difference between Swallowes and 
 Martins, either in shape or nature, saue onely, that the 
 Martins, haue a more beetle head, they both breed in 
 Churches, and hauing fledgde their young ones, leaue 
 nothing behind them but durt. Vnworthie to come into 
 the Church porch, or to be nourished vnder aniff good 
 mans eues, that gnawe the bowels, in which they were 
 bred, and defile the place, in which they were ingendred. 
 
 They studie to pull downe Bishopps, and set vp"' 
 Superintendents, which is nothing else, but to raze out 
 good Greeke, and enterline bad Latine. A fine period ; 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 23 
 
 but I cannot continue this stile, let me fal into my olde 
 
 vaine. O doost remember, howe that Bastard lunior 
 
 complaines of brothells, and talkes of long Megg of 
 
 Westminster. A craftie iacke, you thoght because you 
 
 twitted Mar-martin, that none would suspect you ; yes 
 
 faith Martin, you shall bee thresht with your owne flaile. 
 
 It was one of your neast, that writt this for a loue 
 
 letter, to as honest a woma as euer burnt malt. " Grace, 
 
 mercie, and peace to thee (O widow) with 
 
 feruent motions of the spirit, that it may tiumght 
 
 worke in thee both to will and to doo. Thou ^^^j^^t 
 
 knowest my loue to thee is, as Paules was Corinth as 
 
 . , , wel as 
 
 to the Corinthians ; that is, the loue of co- Paul. 
 
 pulation." 
 
 How now holie Martin, is this good wooing? If 
 you prophane the Scriptures, it is a pretie wit ; if we 
 but alledge Doctors to expound them, wee are 
 wicked. If Martin oppresse his neighbor, why hee 
 saith, it is his conscience ; if anie else doo right, it 
 is extremitie. Martin may better goe into a brothell 
 house, then anie other go by it ; he slides into a bad 
 place like the Sunne, all others stick in it like pitch. If 
 Martin speake broad bawdrie, why all the crue sales, 
 your worship is passing merrie. Martin will not sweare, 
 but with indeede, in sooth, and in truth, hee'le cogge 
 the die of deceipt, and cutte at the bumme carde of his 
 conscience. O sweetelie brought in, at least three 
 figures in that line, besides, the wit ant. 
 
 One there was, and such a one as Martin would make 
 the eldest of his Elders, that hauing fortie angels sent 
 
24 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 him for a beneuolence, refusde to giue the poore fellowe 
 a quittance for the receipt, saying, Christ had giuen his 
 master a quittance, the same howre he told it out : and 
 this was at his table, where he sate with no less than 
 fortie good dishes of the greatest dainties, in more pompe 
 than a Pope, right like a superintendant. 
 
 Now to the two bastards, what were you twins ? It 
 shuld seeme so, for there wet but a paire of sheeres 
 betweene your knaueries. When the old henne hatcht 
 such eggs, the diuell was in the cocks comb. Your 
 father thrusts you forward, remember pettie Martins 
 Aesops crab, the mother going backward, exhorted her 
 sonnes to goe forward ; doo you so first mother quoth 
 they, and we will follow. Now the old cuckold hath 
 puld in his homes, he would make you creepe cleane 
 out of the shell, and so both loose your houses, and 
 she we your nakednesse. You go about impossibilities, 
 wele no such chage, and if ye had it, ye would be 
 wearie of it. 
 
 There was a man like Martin, that had a goose, which 
 euerie daie laid him a golden egge, he not content with 
 the blessing, kild his goose, thinking to haue a myne of 
 golde in her bellie, and finding nothing but dung, the 
 gader wisht his goose aliue. Martinists that liue well 
 by the Church, and receiue great benefites of it, thinke 
 if all Churches were downe, they should be much better, 
 but when they shall see cofusion instead of discipline, 
 and atheisme to be found in place of doctrine, will they 
 not with sighs wish the Churches and Bishops in their 
 wonted gouemmet? Thou art well seen in tales, and 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 25 
 
 preachest Aesops fables. Tush, He bring in Pueriles, 
 and Starts puer ad mensam, for such vnmannerlie knaues 
 as Martin, must bee set againe to their A. B.C. and 
 learne to spell Our Father in a Home booke. Martin 
 lunior giues warning that none write against reuerent 
 Martin : yes, there are a tribus ad centum, from three 
 to an hiidred, that haue vowed to write him out of his 
 right wittes, and we are all Aptots, in all cases alike, till 
 we haue brought Martin to the ablatiue case, that is, to 
 bee taken away with Bulls voyder. 
 
 O here were a notable full point, to leaue Martin in 
 the hangmans apron. Nay, he would be glad to scape 
 with hanging, weele first haue him lashte through the 
 Realme with cordes, that when hee comes to the 
 gallowes, he may be bleeding new. 
 
 The babie comes in with Nunha, Neame, and Dad : 
 (Pappe with an hatchet for such a puppie) giue the 
 infant a bibbe, he all to beslauers his mother tongue, if 
 he driuell so at the mouth and nose, weele haue him 
 wipte with a hempen vfispeHui? How often hast thou 
 talkt of haltring? Whie it runnes still in my minde 
 that they must be hangd. Hangde is the Que, and it 
 comes iust to my purpose. 
 
 There was one endited at a laile deliuerie of felonie, 
 for taking vp an halter by the high way. The lurie 
 gaue verdit and said guiltie. The ludge an honest man, 
 said it was hard to find one guiltie for taking vp a penie 
 halter, and bad them consider, what it was to cast awaie 
 a man. Quoth the foreman, we haue enquired throughly," 
 and found there was a horse tied to the halter. I marie 
 
26 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 (quoth the ludge) then let him be tied to the halter, and 
 let the horse gee home. Martin, a Monarch in his 
 owne moyst conceit, and drie counseU, saies he is enuied 
 onelie, because he leuelleth at Bishops ; and we say as 
 the ludge saith, that if there were nothing else, it were 
 hard to persecute them to death ; but when we finde 
 that to the rule of the Church, the whole state of the 
 Eealme is linckt, and that they filching away Bishop by 
 Bishop, seeke to fish for the Crown, and glew to their 
 newe Church their owne conclusions, we must then say, 
 let Bishops stand, and they hang; that is, goe home. 
 Looke howe manie tales are in this booke, so manie 
 must you abate of an hundred in the next booke, reckon 
 this for one. 
 
 There came by of late a good honest Minister, with a 
 cloake hauing sleeues : ah (quoth a Martinist, sitting 
 on a bulke in Cheapside) he is a knaue I warrant you, a 
 claspe would become one of his coate to claspe his 
 cloak vnder his chinne. Where tis to be noted, that 
 they come in with a sleeuelesse conscience, and thinke it 
 no good doctrine, which is not preached with the cloak 
 cast ouer each shoulder hke a rippier. 
 
 Twas a mad knaue and a Martinist, that diuided his 
 sermon into 34 parts for memorie sake, and would 
 handle but foure for memorie sake, and they were, why 
 Christ came, wherefore Christ came, for what cause 
 Christ came, and to what end Christ came ; this was all 
 for memorie sake. If that Martin could thatch vp his 
 Church, this mans scabship should bee an Elder, and 
 Elders they may bee, which being fullest of spungie 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 27 
 
 pith, proue euer the driest kixes. For in time you shall 
 See, that it is but a bladder of worldlie winde which 
 swells in their hearts, being once prickt, the humour 
 will quicklie be remoued. O what a braue state of 
 the Church it would be for all Ecclesiasticall causes to 
 come before Weauers and Wierdawers, to see one in a 
 motlie lerkin and an apron to reade the first lesson. 
 The poore Church should play at vnequal game, for it 
 should loose al by the Elder hand. Nay Mas Martin, 
 weele make you deale, shuffle as well as you can, we 
 meane to cut it. 
 
 If you had the foddring of the sheep, you would make 
 the Church like Primero, foure religions in it, and nere 
 one like another. I cannot out of his gaming humour. 
 Why? Is it not as good as Martins dogged humour, 
 who without reuerence, regard, or exception, v^eth such 
 vnfitting tearmes, as were hee the greatest subiect in 
 England hee could not iustifie them. 
 
 Shut the doores (sirs) or giue me my skimmer, Mar- 
 tins mouth had sod vnskimde these twelue months, and 
 now it runnes ouer ; yet let him alone, he makes but 
 porredge for the diuell. 
 
 His Elderberines though it be naught worth, yet is it 
 like an elderberrie, which being at the ripenes of a per- 
 fect black, yet brused staines ones hands like bloud. 
 They pretending grauitie in the rottennes of their zeale, 
 bee they once wrung, you shall finde them lighter than 
 feathers. Thats a simile for the slaues. Nay, He touch 
 them deeper, and make them crie, O my heart, there is 
 a false knaue among vs. 
 
28 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 Take away this beard, and giue me a pickede vaunt, 
 Martin sweares by his ten bones : nay, I will make him 
 mumpe, mow, and chatter, like old lohn of Paris garden 
 before I leaue him. 
 
 If Martin will fight Citie fight, wee challenge him at 
 all weapons, from the taylors bodkin to the watchmans 
 browne bil. If a field may be pitcht we are readie : if 
 they scratch, wee will bring cattes : if scolde, we will 
 bring women : if multiplie words, we will bring fooles : 
 if they floute, we will bring quippes : if dispute the 
 matter, we will bring schoUers : if they buffet, we will 
 bring fists. Deus hone, what a number of we will brings 
 be here ? Nay, we will bring Bull to hang them. A 
 good note and signe of good lucke, three times motion 
 of Bull. Motion of Bull ? Why, next olde Rosses 
 motion of Bridewell, Buls motion fits them best. Tria 
 sequuntur tria, in reckoning Bull thrise, methinkes it 
 should presage hanging. O bad application ; Bad ? I 
 doo not thinke there can be a better, than to applie a 
 knaues necke to an halter. Martin cannot start, I am 
 his shadowe, one parte of the day before him, another 
 behinde him ; I can chalke a knaue on his backe thrice 
 a weeke, lie let him bloud in the combe. 
 
 Take heed, he will pistle thee. Pistle me ? Then 
 haue I a pestle so to stampe his pistles, that He beate 
 all his wit to powder. What will the powder of Martins 
 wit be good for ? Marie blowe vp a dram of it into the 
 nostrels of a good Protestant, it will make him giddie ; 
 but if you minister it like Tobacco to a Puritane, it will 
 make him as mad as a Martin. 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 29 
 
 Goe to, a hatch before the doore, Martin smels thee, 
 and wil not feare thee ; thou knowest how he deales 
 with the Archbishop and a Counseller, hee will name 
 thee and that broadlie. Name me ? Mary he and his 
 shall bee namefied, that's it I thirst after, that name to 
 name, and knowing one another, wee may in the streetes 
 grapple ; wee except none : wee come with a verse in 
 our mouthes, courage in our hearts, and weapons in our 
 hands, and crie 
 
 Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere diuos. 
 
 Martins conscience hath a periwig ; therefore to good 
 men he is more sower than wig : a Lemman will make 
 his conscience curd like a Posset. Now comes a biting 
 speach, let mee stroake my beard thrice like a Germain, 
 before I speak a wise word. 
 
 Martin, wee are now following after thee with hue 
 and crie, and are hard at thy heeles ; if thou turne backe 
 to blade it, wee doubt not but three honest men shall 
 bee able to beate sixe theeues. Weele teach thee to 
 commit sacriledge, and to robbe the Church of xxiiij. 
 Bishops at a blowe. Doost thinke that wee are not 
 men Martin, and haue great men to defend vs which 
 write 1 Yes, although with thy seditious cloase, thou 
 would'st perswade her Maiestie, that most of the Gen- 
 tlemen of account and men of honour, were by vs 
 thought Puritafles. No, it is your poore lohns, that 
 with your painted consciences haue coloured the religion 
 of diuers, spreading through the veynes of the Common- 
 wealth like poyson, the doggednes of your deuotions ; 
 
30 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 which entring in like the smoothnes of oyle into the 
 flesh, fretteth in time like quicksiluer into the 
 bones. 
 
 When children play with their meate, tis a signe their 
 bellies are full, and it must be taken from them ; but 
 if they tread it vnder their feete, they ought to be ierkt. 
 The Gospell hath made vs wantons, wee dallie with 
 Ceremonies, dispute of circumstances, not remembring 
 that the Papists haue been making roddes for vs this 
 thirtie yeares ; wee shall bee swing'd by them, or worse 
 by Martin, if Martins be worse. Neuer if it, for they 
 bee worse with a witnesse, and let the diuell be witnesse. 
 Wee are so nice, that the Cap is a beame in our Church, 
 the booke of Common Praier a milstone, the Pater 
 noster is not well pend by Christ. Well, either religion 
 is but policie, or policie scarce religious. 
 
 If a Gentleman riding by the way with twentie men, 
 a number of theeues should by deuise or force binde all 
 his seruants ; the good Justice of Peace would thinke 
 he should be robd. When Martinists rancke robbers of 
 the Church shall binde the legges and armes of the 
 Church, me thinkes the supreme head of the Church 
 should looke pale. 
 
 They that pull downe the bells of a steeple, and say 
 it is conscience, will blow vp the chauncell to make it 
 the quintessence of conscience. Bir Ladie, this is a 
 good settled speech, a Diuine might haue seemed to 
 haue said so much. O sir, I am nor al tales, and rid- 
 dles, and rimes, and iestes, thats but my Liripoope, if 
 Martin knock the bone he shall find marrow, and if he 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 31 
 
 looke for none, we'le knock the bone on his pate, and 
 bring him on his marie bones. 
 
 I haue yet but giuen them a fillip on the conceipt, lie 
 fell it to the ground hereafter. Nay, 'if they make their 
 consciences stretch like chiuerell in the raine. He make 
 them crumple like parchment in the fire. 
 
 I haue an excellent balme to cure anie that is bitten 
 with Martin mad-dog, 
 
 I am worth twentie Pistle-penners ; let them but 
 chafe my penne, and it shal sweat out a whole realme 
 of paper, or make the odious to the whole Realme. 
 
 O but be not partial, giue them their due though they 
 were diuels, so will I, and excuse them for taking anie 
 money at interest. 
 
 There is a good Ladie that lent one of these Mar- 
 tinists fortie pounds, and when at the dale shee required 
 her money, Martin began to storme, and said, he 
 thought her not the child of God, for they must lend, 
 looking for nothing againe, and so to acquite himselfe 
 of the blot of vsurie, he kepte the principall. 
 
 These Martins make the Scriptures a Scriueners shop 
 to drawe conueyances, and the common pleas of West- 
 minster to take forfeitures. Theyle not sticke to out- 
 law a mans soule, and serue it presently with an execu- 
 tion of damnation, if one denie them to lie with his 
 neighbours wife. If they bee drunke, they say, they 
 haue Timothie his weake stomacke, which Saint Paule 
 willeth to warme with wine. 
 
 They haue sifted the holie Bible, and left vs nothing 
 as they say, but branne ; they haue boulted it ouer againe 
 D 2 
 
32 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 and againe, and got themselues the fine meale ; tis 
 meale indeede, for with their wresting and shuffling 
 holie Writ, they find all themselues good meales, and 
 stand at liuerie as it were, at other mens tables. 
 
 Sed heus tu, die sodes, will they not bee discouraged 
 for the common players ? Would those Comedies might 
 be allowed to be plaid that are pend, and then I am sure 
 he would be decyphered, and so perhaps discouraged. 
 
 He shall not bee brought in as whilom he was, and 
 yet verie well, with a cocks combe, an apes face, a 
 wolfs bellie, cats clawes, &c. but in a cap'de cloake, 
 and all the best apparell he ware the highest day in the 
 yeare, thats neither on Christmas daie, Good fridaie, 
 Easter daie, Ascension, nor Trinitie sundaie, (for that 
 were popish) but on some rainie weeke-daie, when the 
 brothers and sisters had appointed a match for parti- 
 cular praiers, a thing as bad at the least as Auricular 
 confession. 
 
 A stage plaier, though he bee but a cobler by occu- 
 pation, yet his chance may bee to play the Kings part. 
 Martin, of what calling so euer he be, can play nothing but 
 the knaues part, qui tantum constans in Jcnauitate sua est. 
 If 't b Would it not bee a fine Tragedie, when 
 
 shewed at Mardocheus shall play a Bishoppe in a Play, 
 will cost and Martin Hamman, and that he that seekes 
 
 you f owe j.^ -^jj downe those that are set in authoritie 
 
 pence : at ^ 
 
 the Theater aboue him, should be hoysted vpon a tree 
 
 twopence: _ 11,1 
 
 at Sainct aboue aU other. 
 
 TOmmos a Though he play least in sight now, yet we 
 nothing. hope to see him stride from Aldgate to Lud- 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 33 
 
 gate, and looke ouer all the Citie at London Bridge. 
 Soft swift, he is no traytor. Yes, if it bee 
 treason to encourage the Commons against the Martin Se- 
 chiefe of the Clereie, to make a senerall re- ™<""*-^'*eff, 
 
 '^ ° and you 
 
 uolt from the gouernment so wel established, shall per- 
 
 • 1 • , • 1 1 1 • ceiue that 
 
 SO wisely mamtained, and so long prospering, j^g ^j ^j^g 
 
 Because they say, Aue Ccesar, therefore *" ^""^^ 
 _ , Gracchus 
 
 they meane nothing against Caesar. There to speake 
 
 may bee hidden vnder their long gownes, short "^ ' *""' '** 
 daggers, and so in blearing Caesars eyes, conspire Cae- 
 sars death.' God saue the Queene ; why it is the Que 
 which they take from the mouthes of all traytors, who 
 though they bee throughly conuinced, both by proofe 
 and their owne confessions, yet at the last gaspe they 
 crie, God saue the Queene. GOD saue the Queene 
 (say I) out of their hands, in whose hearts (long may 
 the Queene thus gouerne) is not engrauen. 
 
 Her sacred Maiestie hath this thirtie yeares, with a 
 setled and princelie temper swayed the Scepter of this 
 Realme, with no lesse content of her subiects, than 
 wonder of the world. GOD hath blessed her gouern- 
 ment, more by miracle tha by counsaile, and yet by 
 counsaile as much as can come from policie. Of a 
 State taking such deepe roote, as to be fastened by the 
 prouidence of God, the vertue of the Prince, the wise- 
 dome of Counsellers, the obedience of subiects, and the 
 length of time ; who would goe about to shake the 
 lowest bough, that feeles in his conscience but the least 
 blessing. Heere is a fit roome to squese them with an 
 Apothegme. 
 
 D 3 
 
34 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 There was an aged man that lined in a well ordered 
 Common-wealth by the space of threescore yeares, and 
 finding at the length that by the heate of some mens 
 braines, and the warmnes of other mens bloud, that 
 newe alterations were in hammering, and that it grewe 
 to such an height, that all the desperate and discontented 
 persons were readie to runne their heads against their 
 head ; comming into the midst of these mutiners, cried 
 as loude as his yeares would allow ; Springalls and vn- 
 ripened youthes, whose wisedomes are yet in the blade, 
 when this snowe shall be melted (laying his hand on his 
 siluer haires) then shal you find store of durt, and 
 rather wish for the continuance of a long frost, than the 
 comming of an vntimely thaw. He moralize this. 
 
 He warrant the good old man meant, that when the 
 ancient gouernment of the state should be altered by 
 faction, or newe lawes brought in that were deuised by 
 nice heads, that there should followe a foule and slip- 
 perie managing ; where if happelie most did not fall, 
 yet all would bee tired. A settled raigne is not like 
 glasse mettal, to be blowne in bignesse, length or fashion 
 of euerie mans breath, and breaking to be melted 
 againe, and so blowne afresh ; but it is compared to the 
 fastning of the Cedar, that knitteth it selfe with such 
 wreaths into the earth that it cannot be remooued by 
 any violent force of the aire. 
 
 Martin, I haue taken an inuentorie of al thy vnciuill 
 and rakehell tearmes, and could sute them in no place 
 but in Bedlam and Bridewell, so mad they are, and so 
 bad they are, and yet all proceedes of the spirit. I 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 35 
 
 thinke thou art possest with the spirites of lacke Straw 
 and the Black-smith, who, so they might rent in peeces 
 the gouernment, they would drawe cuts for religion. 
 
 If all be conscience, let conscience bee the foundation 
 of your building, not the glasse, shew effects of con- 
 science, mildnesse in spirit, obedience to Magistrates, 
 loue to thy brethren. Stitch charitie to thy faith, or 
 rip faith from thy works. 
 
 If thou wilt deale soberlie without scoffes, thou shalt 
 be answered grauely without iests, yea and of those, 
 whom thou canst not controll for learning, nor accuse for 
 iU life, nor shouldst contemne for authori [ti] e. But if 
 like a restie lade thou wilt take the bitt in thy mouth, 
 and then runne ouer hedge and ditch, thou shalt be 
 broke as Prosper broke his horses, with a muzroule, 
 portmouth, and a martingaU, and so haue thy head runne 
 against a stone wall. 
 
 If thou refuse learning, and sticks to libelling ; if 
 nothing come out of those lauish lips, but taunts not 
 without bitternesse, yet without wit ; rayling not without 
 spite, yet without cause, then giue me thy hand, thou 
 and I will trie it out at the cuckingstoole. He make 
 thee to forget Bishops English, and weep Irish ; next 
 hanging there is no better reuenge on Martin, than to 
 make him crie for anger ; for there is no more sullen 
 beast, than a he drab. He make him pull his powting 
 croscloath ouer his beetle browes for melancholic, and 
 then my next booke, shall be Martin in his mubble 
 fubbles. 
 
36 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 Here I was writing Finis and Funis, and determined 
 to lay it by, till I might see more knauerie filde in : 
 within a while appeared olde Martin with a wit worn 
 into the socket, twinkling and pinking like the snufFe of 
 a candle ; quantum mutatus ah illo, how vnlike the knaue 
 hee was before, not for malice but for sharpnesse. 
 
 The hogshead was euen come to the hauncing, and 
 nothing could be drawne from him but dregs : yet the 
 emptie caske sounds lowder than when it was ful ; and 
 protests more in his waining, than he could performe in 
 his waxing. I drew neere the sillie soule, whom I 
 found quiuering in two sheetes of protestation paper. 
 O how meager and leane hee lookt, so creast falne, that 
 his combe hung downe to his bill, and had I not been 
 sure it was the picture of enuie, I shoulde haue sworne 
 it had been the image of death, so like the verie Ana- 
 tomic of mischiefe, that one might see through all the 
 ribbes of his conscience, I began to crosse my selfe, and 
 was readie to say the Pater noster, but that I knewe he 
 carde not for it, and so vsed no other wordes, but ahi in 
 malam crucem, because I knewe, that lookt for him. I 
 came so neere, that I could feele a substantiall knaue 
 from a sprites shadowe. 
 
 I sawe through his paper coffen, that it was but a 
 cosening corse, and one that had learnde of the holie 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 37 
 
 maid of Kent, to lie in a trance, before he had brought 
 foorth his lie ; drawing his mouth awrie, that could 
 neuer speake right ; goggling with his eyes that watred 
 with strong wine ; licking his lips, and gaping, as though 
 he should loose his childes nose, if he had not his 
 longing to swallowe Churches ; and swelling in the 
 paunch, as though he had been in labour of a little 
 babie, no bigger than rebellion ; but truth was at the 
 Bishoppes trauaile : so that Martin was deliuered by 
 sedition, which puUs the monster with yron from the 
 beastes bowells. When I perceiued that he masked in 
 his rayling robes, I was so bolde as to pull off his 
 shrowding sheete, that all the worlde might see the olde 
 foole daunce naked. 
 
 Tis not a peniworth of protestation that can buy thy 
 pardon, nor al worth a penie that thou proclaimest. 
 Martin comes in with bloud, bloud, as though hee 
 should bee a martir. Martins are mad martirs, some of 
 them burnt seauen yeares agoe, and yet aliue. One of 
 them lately at Yorke, pulling out his napkin to wipe 
 his mouth after a lie, let drop a surgeans caliuer at his 
 foote where he stood ; these fellowes can abide no 
 pompe, and yet you see they cannot be without a little 
 squirting plate : rub no more, the curtail wrinches. 
 
 They call the Bishops butchers, I like the Metaphore 
 wel, such calues must be knockt on the head, and who 
 fitter than the Fathers of the Church, to cut the throates 
 of heresies in the Church. Nay, whe they haue no 
 propertie of sheepe but bea, their fleece for flockes, not 
 cloath, their rotten flesh for no dish, but ditches ; I 
 
38 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 thinke them woorth neither the tarring nor the telUng, 
 but for their scabbednes to bee thrust from the pinfolde 
 to the scaffold, and with an Habeas corpus to remooue 
 them from the Shepheards tarre-boxe, to the hangmans 
 budget. 
 
 I but he hath sillogismes in pike sauce, and argu- 
 ments that haue been these twentie yeres in pickle. I, 
 picke hell, you shall not finde such reasons, they bee aU 
 in celarent, and dare not shewe their heads, for wee will 
 answere them in ferio and cut their combes. So say 
 they, their bloud is sought. Their bloud ? What should 
 wee doo with it, when it will make a dogge haue the 
 toothach to eat the puddings. 
 
 Martin tunes his pipe to the lamentable note of 
 Ora whine meg. O tis his best daunce next shaking 
 of the sheetes ; but hee good man meant no harme by it. 
 No more did one of his minions, that thinking to rap 
 out an oath and sweare by his conscience, mistooke the 
 word and swore by his concupiscence ; not vnlike the 
 theefe, that in stead of God speede, sayd stand, and so 
 tooke a purse for God morowe. 
 
 Yet dooth Martin hope that all her Maiesties best 
 subiects will become Martinists ; a blister of that tongue 
 as bigge as a drummes head ; for if the Queenes Ma- 
 iestie haue such abiects for her best subiects, let all true 
 subiects be accompted abiects. 
 
 They that teare the boughs, will hew at the tree, 
 and hauing once wet their feete in factions, will not care 
 how deep they wade in treason. 
 
 After Martin had racked ouer his protestation with a 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 39 
 
 lades pace, hee rimnes ouer his fooleries with a knaues 
 gallop, ripping vp the souterlie seames of his Epistle, 
 botching in such frize iestes vppon fustion earnest, that 
 one seeing all sortes of his shreddes, would thinke he 
 had robd a taylors shop boord ; and then hee concludes 
 all doggedlie, with Doctor Bullens dogge Spring, not 
 remembring that there is not a better Spanniell in Eng- 
 land to spring a couie of queanes than Martin. 
 
 Hee sliues one, has a fling at another, a long tale of 
 his talboothe, of a vulneraU sermon, and of a fooles 
 head in souce. This is the Epistle which he woonders 
 at himselfe, and like an olde Ape, hugges the Vrchin 
 so in his conceipt, as though it should shew vs some 
 new tricks ouer the chaine, neuer wish it published 
 Martin, we pittie it before it comes out. Trusse vp 
 thy packet of Aim flams, and roage to some countrey 
 Faire, or read it among boyes in the belfrie, neuer 
 trouble the church with chattering ; but if like dawes, 
 you will be cawing about ChurcTies, build your nests in 
 the steeple, defile not the quier. 
 
 Martin writes merely, because (hee saies) people are 
 carried away sooner with iest than earnest. I, but 
 Martin neuer put Religion into a fooles coate ; there is 
 great oddes betweene a Gospeller, and a Libeller. 
 
 If thy vaine bee so pleasaunt, and thy witt so nimble, 
 that all consists in glicks and girds ; pen some play for 
 the Theater, write some ballads for blinde Dauid and 
 his boy, .deuise some iests, and become another Scogen, 
 so shalt thou haue vet inough for all thy vanities, thy 
 Printer shall purchase, and all other testers beg. 
 
40 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 For to giue thee thy due, thou art the best died foole 
 in graine that euer was, and all other fooles lacke manie 
 graines, to make them so heauie. 
 
 There is not such a mad foole in Bedlam, nor such a 
 baudie foole in Bridewell, nor such a dronken foole in 
 the stockes, nor such a scolding foole on the cucking- 
 stoole, nor such a cosening foole on the pillerie, nor 
 such a roaging foole in the houses of correction, nor 
 such a simple foole kept of alms, nor such a lame foole 
 lying in the spittle, nor in all the world, such a foole, 
 all. Nay for fooles set down in the scriptures, none 
 such as Martin. 
 
 What atheist more foole, that saies in his heart, There 
 is no God ? What foole more proud, that stands in his 
 own coceit ? What foole more couetous than he, that 
 seekes to tedd abroad the Churches goods with a forke, 
 and scratch it to himselfe with a rake. 
 
 Thou seest Martin with a little helpe, to the foure 
 and twentie orders of knaues, thou maist solder the 
 foure and twentie orders of fooles, and so because thou 
 saist thou art vnmarried, thou maist commit matrimonie, 
 from the heires of whose incest, wee will say that 
 which you cannot abide. Good Lord deliuer vs. 
 
 If this veyne bleede but sixe ounces more, I shall 
 proue a pretie railer, and so in time may growe to bee 
 a proper Martinist. Tush, I doo but licke ouer my 
 pamphlet, like a Beares whelpe, to bring it in some 
 forme ; by that time he replies, it will haue clawes and 
 teeth, and then let him looke to bee scratcht and bitten 
 too. 
 
PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 41 
 
 Thou seest Martin Moldwarpe, that hetherto I haue 
 named none, But markt them readie for the next mar- 
 ket : if thou proceed in naming, be as sure as thy shirt 
 to thy knaues skinne, that He name such, as though 
 thou canst not blush, because thou art past shame, yet 
 they shall bee sorie, because they are not all without 
 grace. 
 
 Pasquil is coming out with the lines of the Saints. 
 Beware my Comment, tis odds the margent shall be as 
 full as the text. I haue manie sequences of Saints, if 
 naming be the aduantage, and ripping vp of lines make 
 sport, haue with thee knuckle deepe, it shall neuer bee 
 said that I dare not venter mine eares, where Martin 
 hazards his necke. 
 
 Now me thinkes Martin begins to stretch himselfe 
 like an old fencer, with a great conscience for buckler 
 and a long tongue for a sword. Lie close, you old 
 cutter at the locke, Nam mihi sunt vires, et mea tela 
 nocent. Tis ods but that I shal thrust thee through the 
 buckler into the brain, that is through the conscience 
 into the wit. 
 
 If thou sue me for a double maime, I care not though 
 the lurie allow thee treble damages, it cannot amount 
 to much, because thy coscience is without wit, and thy 
 wit without conscience, and therefore both, not worth a 
 penie. 
 
 Therefore take this for the first venew, of a yonger 
 brother, that meanes to drie beate those of the Elder 
 house. Martin, this is my last straine for this fleech 
 
42 PAPPE WITH AN HATCHET. 
 
 of mirth. I began with God morrowe, and bid you 
 God night. I must tune my fiddle, and fetch some 
 more rozen, that it maie squeake out Martins Mata- 
 chine. 
 
 Candidissimi Lectores, peto terminum ad libellandum. 
 
 Lectores. 
 Assignamus in proximum. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Title. Pappe with an hatchet.'] According to Mr. Park, in his 
 Notes on the following quotations, " to give pap with a hatchet " 
 is a proverbial phrase for doing a kind thiiig in an unkind 
 manner. 
 
 " They give us pap with a spoone before we can speake, and 
 when we speake for that we love, pap with u hatchet." — Lyly's 
 Court Corned. Z 12 b. 
 
 " He that so old seeks for a nurse so young, shall have 
 pap with a hatchet for his comfort." — Disc, of Marr. Harl. Misc. 
 li. 171. 
 
 So the author of the present tract, at p. 25 : " The babe comes 
 in with Nunka, Neame, and Dad : (Pappe with an hatchet for such 
 a puppie)." But it must be admitted that these illustrations are 
 anything but satisfactory. 
 
 P. 7, 1. 1. rot/ster.'} i. e. rioter. 
 
 " If he not reeke what ruffian roisters take his part." 
 
 Mirror for Magist. p. 484. 
 
 P. 7, 1. 3. gaffers.'] A contemptuous term applied to old men. 
 "Gaffer" and "gammer" are still used amongst the common 
 people. 
 
 P. 7, 1. 9. fooles bolts.] " A fool's bolt is soon shot" is a com- 
 mon proverb. " Bolt " is an arrow ; for which explanation see 
 E. Holmes' Academy of Armory : so also Shakspeare, 
 " Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell." 
 
 Mids. N. D. ii. 2. 
 
 P. 8, 1. 15. he that dririkes with cutters, must not be without his ale 
 dagger.] "Cutter "is a cant term for a swaggerer, bully, or 
 cutpurse: what an "ale-dagger" is I am unable to explain; 
 but as a " dag," or " dagge," is the old term for a pistol, it is 
 
 E 2 
 
44 
 
 not unlikely that something of this kind is meant, instead of a 
 stabbing instrument. 
 
 P. 9, 1. 6. copper replie.'] This may be an allusion to some 
 kind of spurs. We have, in Webster's Malcontent, " Your knight 
 courts your city widow with jingling of his gilt spurs." Works 
 by Dyce, iv. 48. See also many authorities quoted in Nares' 
 Glossary, p. 483. 
 
 P. 9, 1. 10. scaddle pawn."] An allusion to some move in the 
 game of chess which I am unable to explain. " Dydoppers," in 
 the following line, is a common name for the dab-chick. 
 
 P. 10,1. 13. If they he answered hy thegrauitieof learned Prelates.'] 
 This refers to the grave reply of Cooper, bishop of Winchester, 
 entitled " An Admonition to the People of England," to Martin 
 Mar-Prelate's " Oh! read ouer D. lohn Bridges" and " Epitome." 
 P. 13, 1. 10, 12. Bastard lunior — Bastard Senior.'] These allu- 
 sions are to two tracts by Martin Junior and Martin Senior. 
 
 P. 13, 1. 18. Bishops bobbs.'] Here the word appears to mean 
 
 blows, as also in p. 17, last line, " if he give you a bob, though 
 
 he draw no bloud ;" and in p. 21, " give thee as many bobs on 
 
 the eare, as thou hast eaten morsels of their meate." Skelton has 
 
 "And, whan I fayle, bobbe me on the noil." 
 
 The Bowge of Courte, Works by Dyce, i. 40. 
 
 In this sense the word " bob" does not appear in Nares' Glossary. 
 
 P. 14, 1. 1. Elderton swore.] Elderton's company of players 
 
 is mentioned, under the year 1572, in Collier's Annals of the 
 
 Stage, i. 205. 
 
 P. 14, 1. 3. hadeer.] In Nares it is " haxter," and "hackster," 
 
 a haclmied person. " For to bring an old haxter to the exercise 
 
 of devotion, is to bring an old bird to sing prick-song in a cage." 
 
 Clitus's [i. e. Brathwait's] Whimzies, p. 61. 
 
 P. 14, 1. 7. Bonner's ballets — ierkes for a lesuit.] Probably old 
 
 songs with these titles. 
 
 P. 14, 1. 13. The vile boy hath manie bobbes.] That is, taunts 
 or scoffs : " fardle " is bundle. 
 
 " I have drawn blood at one's brains with a bitter bob." 
 
 Alex, and Campaspe, 0. P. ii. 1 13. 
 
 P. 15, 1. 10. three a vies wits.] " a vie," says Bailey, "is a 
 
 wager, challenge, or invitation." Giffbrd, in a note to Every 
 
 Man in his Humour, Act iv. sc. 1, says, " To vie was to hazard, 
 
NOTES. 45 
 
 to put down a certain sum upon a hand of cards ; to revie was 
 to cover it with a larger sum, by which the challenged became 
 the challenger, and was to be revied in his turn with a propor- 
 tionate increase of stake. This vying and revying upon each 
 other continued till one of the party lost courage and gave up 
 the whole, or obtained, for a stipulated sum, a discovery of his 
 antagonist's cards : when the best hand swept the table." — 
 Nares' Glossary, 542. 
 
 P. 15, 1. 15. an old stabler at passage."] " Passage," from the 
 French " passe-dix." " Passage is a game at dice to be played 
 at but by two, and it is performed with three dice. The caster 
 throws continually till he hath thrown dubblets under ten, and 
 then he is out and loseth, or dubblets above ten, and then he 
 passeth and wins." — Compleat Gamester, 1680, p. 119. From 
 the same excellent authority we learn that " stabbing the dice " 
 was one of the tricks practised by the cheats of old times, a full 
 account of which will be found at p. 12. 
 
 P. 15, 1. 25. spume.] i. e. kick. 
 
 P. 15, 1. 28. wood-sere.] This word I cannot trace to any 
 authority. Is it the sap which exudes from the ends of green 
 wood when put into the fire ? 
 
 P. 16, 1. 2. as an Estrich a tioo penie naile.] Of the digestive 
 powers of the ostrich the most extraordinary fables are relatfid. 
 In Skelton's Works by Dyce, i. 65, we have 
 " The estryge that wyll eate 
 An horshowe so great." 
 
 " Let them but remember that the estridge digesteth hard 
 yron to preserve his health." — Lylt's Euphues, N 4. 6. See 
 also Scot's Philomythie, 1616. 
 
 P. 16, 1. 14. biggin.] A sort of cap. " Upon his head he wore 
 a filthy coarse biggin, and next it a garnish of night Caps." — 
 Nash's Pierce Pennilesse. 
 
 P. 17, 1. 12. there is a book coming out of a hundred merrie tales.] 
 A work with this title was printed by John Eastell, and reprinted 
 a few years ago by Singer. To read aloud these collections of 
 " Merrie Tales" appears to have been a frequent winter even- 
 ings amusement. 
 
 P. 18, 1. 1. bable.] the same as bauble. 
 
 P. 18, 1. 4. lambacke.] To beat or bastinado. " Happy may 
 E 3 
 
46 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 they call that dale wherein they are not lambeaked before 
 night." — Discovery of a New World, 115. 
 
 P. 18, 1. 27. cleaue to Christ Ms dabitur in ilia hora.'] That is, 
 relying on Christ for words to utter when he comes to preach. 
 
 P. 19, 1. 4, If they cannot leuell, they will roue at theeJ] To rove 
 is to shoot an arrow at a mark at an elevation, and not point 
 blank. See Nares, 435. 
 
 P. 19, 1. 8. as Bull in quartering a knaues bodie."] It is probable, 
 from the allusion here, at p. 25, 1. 10, and p. 28, 1. 13, that Bull 
 was the name of the common hangman. 
 
 P. 19,1.23. Alls.'] i.e. all is. 
 
 P. 20, 1. 16. bodges.] botches ? , 
 
 P. 23, 1. 5. Mar-martin.'] This is the title of one of the pam- 
 phlets against Martin Mar-prelate. 
 
 P. 23, 1. 25. cogge.] i.e. to cheat. 
 
 P. 26, 1. 22. rippier.] According to Minsheu, a " rippier " is a 
 person who brings fish from the coast to sell in the interior. 
 
 P. 27,1. 1. kixes.] A dried stalk of hemlock or parsley is 
 called a kex ; the form here is plural. The word occurs under 
 various modes of spelling in our old dramatists. 
 
 P. 27. 1. 13. Primero.] A game at cards, said to be the oldest 
 known in England. The curious may consult Nares for a par- 
 ticular description. It was considered a gambling game ac- 
 cording to Greene : — 
 " Spendall. If there be cards i' the house, let's go to primero. 
 Eash. Primero, why I thought thou hadst not been so much 
 gamester as to play at it." — Tu Quoque, 0. P. vii. 2. 
 
 P. 28. 1. 1. Take away this beard, and giue me apickede vaunt.] 
 Pike-devant. The beard cut to a sharp point in the middle, 
 below the chin. It is seen in most of the portraits of Charles I. 
 See Nares, 377. 
 
 P. 28, 1. 3. old lohn of Paris garden.] Paris Garden was a 
 public place for the exhibition of bear and bull-baiting. The 
 allusion here seems to apply to a monkey. We find, from an 
 account of Paris Garden written in 1544, inserted in Collier's 
 Annals of the Stage, iii. 279, that " At the same place a poney is 
 baited, with a monkey on its back, defending itself against the 
 dogs by kicking them ; and the shrieks of the monkey, when he 
 
47 
 
 sees the dogs hanging from the ears and neck of the pony, 
 render the scene very laughable." 
 
 P. 28, 1. 10. if they floute, we will bring quippes.'] To flout or 
 flyte, is to scold or to rate. 
 
 " Po. But what's a quip ? 
 Ma. We great girders call it a short saying of a sharp wit, 
 with a bitter sense in a sweet word." — Alex. & Camp. O.P.ii. 113. 
 
 P. 28, 1. 29. Tobacco.'] This is the earliest notice of tobacco, 
 in the form of snuff, with which I am acquainted. The reader 
 who is curious on the subject of the culture and use of this plant 
 in England, will find much information in the proclamations of 
 James I. and Charles I. in Rymer's Poedera. 
 
 P. 29, 1. 26. poore lohns.l Poor John is a coarse kind of fish ; 
 it is used here, by metonymy, for poor fellows. 
 
 P. 30, 1. 2. like quicltsiluer into the bones."] The full force of 
 this passage will be understood better by a knowledge of the 
 medical practice of the time. 
 
 P. 30. 1. 29. Liripoope.'] That is, a humour put on, an assumed 
 character. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for Sept. 1818, 
 mentions it as a clerical vestment, and quotes the Latin edition 
 of Sparrow's Canons, 4to, 1675, where the word Tippets is ren- 
 dered Liripipia. It is used also in the Statutes of Brazenose 
 College, Oxford, in the same sense. Peck, in his Desiderata 
 Curiosa, p. 570, 4to, 1779, when detailing the dress used by the 
 Commons in the reign of Edward III. 1327-77, says, "their 
 lerripippes I'each to their heels, all jagged." " It was therefore," 
 continues Peck, "identical with what we now call scarves." 
 
 P. 31, 1. 10. realme.] Eeam, of course. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 6. Would those Comedies might be allowed to be plaid that 
 are pend.] These comedies against Martin appear to be totally 
 lost to us. That Martin Mar -Prelate had been exhibited on the 
 stage we are certain, and in Nash's " Returne of the renowned 
 Cavaliero Pasquill of England," 1589, an account is given of the 
 manner in which he was exhibited -. — " Methought Vetus Comcedia 
 began to pricke him at London in the right vaine, when shee 
 brought foorth Divinitie with a scratcht face, holding of her hart, 
 as if she were sicke, because Martin would have forced her ; but 
 myssing of his purpose, he left the print of his nayles upon her 
 cheekes, and poysoned her with a vomit, which he ministred 
 
48 
 
 unto her to make her cast uppe her dignities and promotions." 
 It was, therefore, in the manner of an old Moral, and not with 
 the improvements which had recently been introduced into 
 dramatic poetry, that he was exhibited on the stage. 
 
 Strype, in his edition of Stow's Survey, alludes to the silencing 
 of the players in 1589, " because one Mr. Tylney had utterly, 
 for some reasons, disliked them." Edmund Tylney was the 
 Master of the Revels at this time, a part of whose duty it was 
 to watch oyer the conduct of the players. The exhibiting of 
 Martin Mar-Prelate on the stage induced him to make some 
 representations to Loi-d Burghley against the conduct of the 
 actors in the city. The Lord Treasurer accordingly wrote to 
 the Lord Mayor, requiring him to put a stop to all theatrical 
 exhibitions within his jurisdiction. The answer addressed to 
 Lord Burghley is as follows : — 
 
 " My very ho: good lord. Where by a Ire of your Lordships, 
 directed to Mr. Yonge, it appeved unto me, that it was your ho: 
 pleasure I sholde geve order for the stale of all playes within 
 the cittie, in that Mr. Tilney did utterly mislike the same. 
 According to which your Lordships good pleasure, I presentlye 
 sent for suche players as I coulde heare of, so as there appered 
 yesterday before me the Lord Admiralls, and the Lord Straunges 
 players ; to whome I speciallie gave in charge, and required 
 them in her Majesty's name, to forbere playinge untill further 
 order might be geven for their allowance in that respect: 
 Whereuppon the Lord Admiralls players very dutifuUie obeyed ; 
 but the others, in very contemptuous manner departing from 
 me, wente to the Crosse Keys, and played that afternoone to the 
 greate offence of the better sorte, that knew they were pro- 
 hibited by order from your Lordship. Which as I might not 
 suffer, so I sent for the said contemptuous persons, who haveing 
 no reason to alleadge for their contempte, I could do no less but 
 this evening committ tow of them to one of the Compters, and 
 do meane, according to your Lordships direction, to prohibite 
 all playing until your Lordship's pleasure therein be further 
 knowen. And thus resting further to trouble your Lordship, 
 I moste humblie take my leave. At London the sixte of No- 
 vember 1589. Yr Lordships most humble 
 
 " John Harte, maior.'' 
 , Lansdowne MSS. No. 60, quoted in Collier, i. 272-3. 
 
49 
 
 ■Within six days after the date of this letter, the Privy Council 
 had considered the subject, and, to remedy the abuses, addressed 
 three letters, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Mayor 
 of London, and the Master of the Revels, requiring the first to 
 name a person " well learned in divinity," the second " to ap- 
 point a sufficient person learned and of judgement," and the last 
 to act in conjunction with them, inlicensing all plays to be acted 
 in and about the city of London. These letters are as follow : — 
 
 Nov. 12, 1589. A letter to the Lord Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. — " That whereas there hathe growne some inconvenience 
 by common playes and enterludes in & about the cyttie of Lon- 
 don, in [that] the players take upon [them] to handle in their 
 plaies certen matters of Divinytie and State, unfitt to be 
 suffered: for redresse whereof their Lordships have thought 
 good to appointe some persons of judgment and understanding 
 to viewe and examine their playes before they be permitted to 
 present them publickly. His Lordship is desired that some 
 fytt person well learned in divinity be appointed by him, to 
 joyne with the M"^. of the Revelles, and one other to be nomi- 
 nated by the L: Maior, and they joyntly with some spede to 
 viewe and consider of such Comedyes and Tragedies as are and 
 shall be publickly played by the companies of players in and 
 about the Cittie of London, and they to geve .allowance of such 
 as they sKaJl thinke meete to be played, and to forbyd the rest." 
 
 To the Lord Mayor of London. — " That whereas their Lord- 
 ships have already signifyed unto him to appoint a sufficient 
 person learned and of judgement for the Cittie of London, to 
 joyne with the M"^. of the Revelles, and with a, Divine to be 
 nominated by the Lord Archb. of Cant: for the reforminge of 
 the plaies daylie exercysed and presented publickly in & about 
 the Cittie of London, wherein the players take upon them with- 
 out judgment or decorum to handle matters of Divinitie and 
 State. He is required, if he have not as yet made choice of 
 such a person, that he will soe do forthwith and there of geve 
 knowledge to the Lord Archb. and the M"^. of the Revelles, that 
 they may meet accordingly." ' 
 
 To the Master of the Revels. — " Requiring him with two 
 others, the one to be appointed by the Lord Archb. of Canter- 
 bury, and the other by the Lord Maior of London, to be men of 
 learning and judgment, and to call before them the severall 
 
50 
 
 companies of players (whose servaunts soever they be), and to 
 require them by authorytie hereof to deliver unto them their 
 books, that they may consider of the matters of their Comedyes 
 and Tragedyes, and thereuppon to stryke out or reforme such 
 parte and matters, as they shall fynd unfytt and undecent to be 
 handled in plaies both for Divinitie & State ; commanding the 
 said Companies of players in her Majesties name, that they for- 
 bear to present and play publickly any Comedy or Tragedy, 
 other than such as they three shall have scene and allowed : 
 which if they shall not observe, they shall lett them know from 
 their Lordships, that they shalbe not onely sevearly punished, 
 but made [in] capable of the exercise of their profession for ever 
 hereafter." — Collier's Annals of the Stage, i. 271-7. 
 
 P. 32, marginal note.] " If it be shewed at Paules," that is, 
 by the children at St. Paul's ; " the Theater," a play-house so 
 called, was in Shoreditch ; " Sainct Thomas a Watrings " was a 
 place of execution for the county of Surrey ; and the unfortunate 
 Penry, to whom the Mar-Prelate libels have been attributed, 
 was there hanged. It was situated close to the second milestone 
 on the Kent road, where was a brook, dedicated to St. Thomas 
 a Becket. 
 
 " And forth we rid en a litel more than pas 
 Unto the watering of Seint Thomas, 
 And then our hoste began his hors arest.''' 
 
 Chauoek, Prol. C. T. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 24. Mardocheus.'] i. e. Mordecai. 
 P. 33, 1. 7. Aue Cixsar.'] So in Skelton, 
 
 " Parot can say, Casar, ave, also."- — Works by Dyce, ii. 6. 
 See also the Note in the same work, ii. 341. 
 P. 34, 1. 9. Springalls.'] A growing lad, a youth. 
 " Joseph, when he was sold to Potiphar, that great man, was a 
 faire young springall." — Latimeh's Sermons, fol. 190. 
 
 " There came two springals of full tender yeares." 
 
 Spenseh, F. Q. b. v. ver. 6. 
 
 P. 35, 1. 22. cuekingstoole.'] " We have," says Johnson, " dif- 
 ferent modes of restraining evil. Stocks for the man, a Ducking- 
 stool for women, and a pound for beasts." The Cucking-stool, 
 or Ducking-stool, for it had these and other names, was an 
 
NOTES. 51 
 
 engine invented for the punishment of scolds and unquiet 
 women, by ducking them in the -water, after having placed them 
 in a stool or chair, fixed at the end of a long pole, by which 
 they were immerged. See Brand's Popular Antiq. by Ellis. 
 
 P. 35, last line, mubblejubbles.'j A cant term for any causeless 
 depression of spirits. 
 
 " Our Mary Guitierez, when she was in the mubble fubbles, do 
 you think I was mad for it." — Gaytoh's Festivous Notes, p. 46. 
 
 " Melancholy is the creast of courtiers armes, and now every 
 companion, being in his mubbkfubbles, says he is melancholy." — 
 Ltly's Midas, v. 2. 
 
 P. 36, 1. 20. carde.^ cared. 
 
 P. 38, 1. 9, 10. celarent — -ferio.'] Terms in logic. 
 
 P. 38, 1. 15. Ora whim meg.'] Mr. Dyee, in his Notes to 
 Skelton, quotes from Laneham's Letter concerning the enter- 
 tainment to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle, in 1575, the 
 following : — " What shoold I rehearz heer, what a bunch of Bal- 
 lets and songs all auncient : As Broom broom on hill. So wo is 
 me begon, troly lo. Over a whinny Meg," &c. — Skelton's Works, 
 by Dyce, ii. 340. 
 
 P. 38, 1. 16. shaking of the sheetes.l The name of an old dance, 
 often mentioned with a double entendre by our early dramatists. 
 
 P. 39, 1. 2. souterlie.2 A " sowter " is a cobler, from the 
 Latin sutor. 
 
 " Our sowters had Crispine" [for their patron]. 
 
 Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft. 
 P. 39, 1. 3. frize iestes vpon fustion earnest.'] " Frieze " was a 
 coarse warm woollen cloth, used for outer garments. 
 " Am I ridden with a Welch goat too ? 
 Shall I have a coxcomb of frixe ?" 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5. 
 We have s\so frieze jerkins mentioned in the play of King Edw. 1. 
 P. 39, 1. 16. flimfiams.] i. e. lies. 
 P. 39, 1. 26. glides and girds.] i. e. jests and sarcasms. 
 
 P. 39, 1. 28. Scogen.] Scogan, John or Henry, respecting 
 whom Eitson and Malone held long controversy, is represented 
 by Shakspeare as having had his head broken by Falstaff in his 
 
52 NOTES. 
 
 youth. See 2 Hen. V. iii. 2. Scoggin's Jests are msntione&mth 
 The Hundred Merry Tales in Wily beguiled, 1606. 
 
 " such as can make a large discourse 
 Out of Scoggin's Jests, or the Hundred Merry Tales, 
 Marry, if you go any further 'tis heyond their reading." 
 
 Colliek's Annals of the Stage, iii. 441. 
 
 P. 41, 1. 1. Molduiarpe.'] i. e. the mole. 
 
 P. 41,.l. 28. Elder Jiouse.'] Alluding to the elders or heads in 
 the Puritan form of Church government. 
 
 P. 41, last line, fleech of mirth.'] i. e. for this turn or bout. 
 I cannot trace " fleech " in any glossary. 
 
 P. 42. 1. 3. Martin's Matachine.'] Of this dance, Mr. Douce 
 thus writes : — " It was well known in Prance and Italy, by the 
 name of the dance of fools or maiachins, who were habited in 
 short jackets, with gilt paper helmets, long streamers tied to 
 their shoulders, and bells to their legs. They carried in their 
 hands a sword and buckler, with which they made a clashing 
 noise, and performed various quick and sprightly evolutions." — 
 DoocE, Illustrations of Shakspeare, ii. 435. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 Hugh Williams, Printer, Ashby-street, Northampton-square. 
 
^uritau IStsctplme Eracts, 
 
 PLAINE PERCE VALL, 
 
 PEACE-MAKER OF ENGLAND; 
 
 A REPLY 
 
 MARTIN MAR-PRELATE. 
 
 KeprtnteB from tfjc iSIarft iLetter lESitton, 
 
 WITH 
 AN INTROCUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 LONDOJiT; 
 JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. 
 
 M.DCCC.tX. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following Tract, with that singular fatality which 
 so often perpetuates error, has been generally, and but 
 with scarcely an exception, attributed to Thomas Nash, 
 who, it is well known, was one of the chief writers 
 against Martin Mar-Prelate. The Rev. Mr. Maskell, 
 in his " History of the Mar-Prelate Controversy," justly 
 calls in question this universal consent, and concludes, 
 with some plausibility, that "it is in fact a last gasp 
 of the Puritans : an expression in their extremity of 
 some desire of peace : a wish that they might for a time, 
 until themselves spoke again, be let alone." — H. M. 
 C. 199. 
 
 From its style alone we might conclude that Nash 
 did not write it. It is remarkable also that the follow- 
 ing lines, 
 
 " If any aske why thou art clad so garish 
 Say thou are dubd the forehorse of the parish," 
 
 which appear at the end of the Tract, are to be found, 
 A 2 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with a slight variation, in Gabriel Harvey's " Four 
 Letters and Certain Sonnets,'' 1592, as an epitaph on 
 Robert Greene, 
 
 " Heere Bedlam is : and heere a Poet garish 
 Gaily bedecked like forehorse of the parish j" 
 
 and which there is good reason to believe were written 
 by Gabriel Harvey, or his brother Richard. In this 
 place, therefore, the direct testimony of Nash will be of 
 importance. 
 
 " Some what I am priuie to the cause of Greenes inueighing 
 against the three brothers. Thy hot-spirited brother Richard 
 (a notable ruffian with his pen) hauing first tooke vpon him in 
 his blundring Persiual to play the lacke of both sides twixt 
 Martin and vs, and snarled priuily at Pap-hatchet, Pasquil, and 
 others, that opposde themselues against the open slaunder of that 
 mightie platformer of Atheisme, presently after dribbed forth 
 another fooles bolt, a booke I should say, which be christened 
 The Lambe of God." — Nash's Strange Newes, 1592, sig. 2. 
 
 Now if we refer to Plaine Percevall, we shall find 
 evidence of this " privily snarling." The Dedication of 
 it is, " To all whip lohns and whip lackes ; not for- 
 getting the Caualiero Pasquill [Thomas Nash], or the 
 Cooke Ruffian that drest a dish for Martins diet [Pap 
 with a Hatchet, by John Lyly], and the residue of 
 light fingred younkers which make euery word a blow, 
 and euery booke a bobbe." Whether Greene is in- 
 cluded amongst the " whip lohns," or " whip lackes,'' 
 or the "light fingred younkers," is doubtful; but 
 scarcely a doubt can remain, after considering the cha- 
 racter of the present Tract, in which the writer through- 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 out plays the " lacke of both sides," that it must be 
 the " blundring Persiual," which Nash has fathered 
 upon Richard Harvey. 
 
 The remarkable quarrel between Nash and Harvey 
 is given in a very graphic manner by D'Israeli, in the 
 " Calamities of -Authors." Unfortunately, however, 
 but few facts can be gleaned from it ; and it would 
 appear, too, as if the origin of the quarrel had been 
 misunderstood by him. The sketch which I have here 
 given may serve to illustrate a very interesting period 
 of our literary history ; though so much of the con- 
 temporary literature of this period has perished, that 
 it is not only a work of labour to give in a connected 
 form any series of remarks on a like subject, but it 
 renders on many occasions our conclusions doubtful or 
 erroneous. 
 
 Gabriel Harvey and his brothers Richard and John 
 were of good family, though their father carried on at 
 Saffron Walden the humble trade of a ropemaker. 
 This disagreeable fact becoming known, appears to 
 have caused a great share of the annoyance which the 
 brothers (and especially the elder of them) were fated 
 to meet with in life. The circumstances of the father 
 were sufficiently prosperous (" four sons him cost a 
 thousand pounds at least") to enable him to send his 
 three sons (four it is stated in Harvey's " Four Letters") 
 to Cambridge. The elder, born about 1545, was 
 educated at Christ's college, and took both his degrees 
 in arts. He obtained a fellowship in Trinity-hall, and 
 A 3 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 served the office of proctor. Having studied civil law, 
 he obtained his grace for a degree in that faculty ; in 
 1585 he was admitted doctor of laws at Oxford, and 
 subsequently practised as an advocate in the Prerogative 
 Court of Canterbury at London. Richard, the second, 
 we find in 1583 about to profess divinity ; he subse- 
 quently entered the Church, and was presented to the 
 vicarage of Saffron Walden. John, the younger, after 
 obtaining his degree in medicine, settled at Lynn as 
 a Physician, and died in July, 1592. 
 
 As early as 1577, Gabriel Harvey had given to the 
 world his " Rhetor," and " Ciceronianus ;" and in the 
 following year his " Gratulatio Valdenensium," and 
 " Smithus," a Latin Poem on the death of Sir Thomas 
 Smith, to whom it would appear he stood in the 
 relation of nephew. It is to this period, or shortly 
 after, we must refer the following autobiographical facts, 
 mentioned in the " Four Letters," 1592. 
 
 " I was supposed not unmeet for the Oratorship of the "Uni- 
 versity, which in that spring of mine age, for my exercise and 
 credit I much affected; hut mine own modest petition, my 
 friends' diligent lahour, our High Chancellor's most honourahle 
 and extraordinary commendation, were all peltingly defeated by 
 a sly practice of the old Fox, whose acts and monuments shall 
 never die." — Harvey's Four Letters, S;c. 1592, Reprint. 
 
 Whether the allusion here is to Harvey's " old con- 
 troller Dr. Perne," whom he accuses of " playing 
 fast and loose," or to John Fox the martyrologist, is 
 not clear ; but if to the latter, the fact itself, and the 
 possession of such influence as is here supposed, have 
 
INTRODUCTION. VU 
 
 nowhere, as I am aware of, been noticed by his 
 biographers. 
 
 In 1580 appeared the celebrated Letters between 
 Harvey and Spenser the poet, entitled " Three Proper, 
 and wittie, familiar Letters ; lately passed betvveene 
 two Vniuersitie men : touching the Earthquake in 
 Aprill last, and our English refourmed Versifying. 
 With the Preface of a well wilier to them both." To 
 these were added shortly sifter, " Two other, very 
 commendable Letters, of the same mens writing : both 
 touching the foresaid Artificiall Versifying and certain 
 other Particulars." 
 
 These letters would appear to have originated from 
 his failure to obtain the Oratorship of the University. 
 Shortly before this he had " curiously laboured some 
 exact and exquisite points of study and practice, and 
 greatly misliked the preposterous and untoward courses 
 of divers good wits ill directed : there wanted not some 
 sharp imdeserved discourtesies to exasperate my mind." 
 — Harvey's Four Letters, Reprint, 147. 
 
 Urged forward by various causes, (dislike, young and 
 hot blood, and an invective vein,) these letters, written 
 and circulated probably in manuscript amongst the 
 friends of both, at last were surreptitiously printed. 
 
 " Letters may be privately written, that would not be publicly 
 divulged. . . . Many communications and writings may secretly 
 pass between friends, even for an exercise of speech and style 
 that are not otherwise convenient to be .disclosed j it was the 
 sinister hap of those unfortunate letters to fall into the hands 
 of malicious enemies, or undiscreet friends, who ventured to 
 
VUl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 imprint in earnest that was scribbled in jest (for the moody fit 
 was soon over), and requited their private pleasure with my 
 public displeasure : oh ! my inestimable and infinite displeasure. 
 
 " When there was no remedy but melancholy patience, and 
 the sharpest part of those unlucky letters had been over-read at 
 the Council Table, I was advised, by certain honourable and 
 divers worshipful persons, to interpret my intention in more 
 express terms ; and thereupon discoursed every particularity by 
 way of articles or positions, in a large Apology of my dutiful and 
 entire aflection to that flourishing University, my dear Mother ; 
 which Apology, with not so few as forty such academical exer- 
 cises, and sundry other politic discourses, I have hitherto sup- 
 pressed, as unworthy the view of the busy world, or the enter- 
 tainment of precious time : but peradventure these extraordinary 
 provocations may work extraordinarily in me ; and though not in 
 a passion, yet in conceit stir me up, to publish many tracts and 
 discourses, that in certain considerations I meant ever to conceal, 
 and to dedicate unto none but unto obscure darkness, or famous 
 Vulcan. — G. Harvey's Four Letters, Reprint, p. 15. 
 
 This " Apology" of Harvey does not appear to have 
 been printed, and is probably for ever lost to us. 
 
 It must have been in the " Discourse touching the 
 Earthquake in Aprill last," that the libellous matter was 
 found, which led to the interference of the Privy Coun- 
 cil ; and to this Lyly evidently alludes in the following 
 sentence in Pap with a Hatchet : 
 
 " And one will we coniure vp, that writing a familiar Epistle 
 about the naturall causes of an Earthquake, fell into the bowells 
 of libelling, which made his eares quake for feare of clipping, he 
 shall tickle you with taunts ; all his works bound close, are at 
 least sixe sheetes in quarto, and he calls them the first tome of 
 his familiar Epistle .... If he ioyne with us perijsti Martin, 
 thy wit wil be massacred : if the toy take him to close with thee, 
 then haue I my wish, for this tenne yeres haue I loolci to lambacke 
 him." [Reprint, 17, 18.] 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 Amongst the Letters between Harvey and Spenser, 
 is a Poem by the former, entitled " Speculum Tus- 
 canismi," which, by Harvey's enemies was construed 
 into a libel on Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, the story 
 of whose exile and residence at Florence has been told 
 by D'Israeli. Harvey says that it was Lyly who 
 betrayed him . 
 
 " And that was all the fleeting that ever I felt, saving that 
 another company of special good fellows (whereof he was none 
 of the meanest that bravely threatened to conjure up one which 
 should massacre Martin's wit, or should be lambacked himself 
 with ten years' provision) would needs forsooth very courtly per- 
 suade the Earl of Oxford, that something in those letters, and 
 namely, the Mirror of Tuscanismo was palpably intended against 
 him." [Four Letters, 'p, 17.^ 
 
 Though Harvey goes on to disclaim all reference 
 
 to the Earl of Oxford, Nash tells us that he was 
 
 " compelled to secrete himself for eight weeks in that 
 
 noble mans house, for whom he had thus bladed," and 
 
 that he afterwards was imprisoned in the Fleet, quoting 
 
 the evidence of Thomas Watson in confirmation : 
 
 " But O what news of that good Gabriel Harvey 
 Kuowne to the world for a foole, and clapt in the 
 Fleet for a rimer." 
 
 In one of his Sonnets, Harvey replies : 
 
 " Whose eye but his that sits on slander's stool 
 Did ever him in Fleet or prison see." 
 
 He also alludes to this charge of Nash in " Pierce's 
 
 Supererogation :" 
 
 " As for his lewd supposals, and imputations of counterfeit 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 praises they are, like my imprisonment in the Fleet, of his strong 
 phantasy, and do but imitate his own skill in falsifying of evi- 
 dence, and suborning of witnesses to his purpose." [Reprint, 
 p. 57.] 
 
 Harvey and Lyly were in early life friends. The 
 former, in the second book of Pierce's Supererogation, 
 thus commences : 
 
 " Pap-hatchet (for the name of thy good nature is pitifully 
 grown out of request) thy old acquaintance in the Savoy when 
 young Euphues hatched the eggs that his elder friends laid, 
 (surely Euphues was someway a pretty fellow : would God, Lilly 
 had always been Euphues and never Pap-hatchet) that old ac- 
 quaintance, now somewhat strangely saluted with a new remem- 
 brance, is neither lullabied with thy sweet Pap, or scare-crowed 
 with thy sour Hatchet." [Reprint, p. 81.] 
 
 Lyly's Euphues came out in 1579 : and from the pre- 
 fatory matter we learn that its author had previously 
 been rusticated at Oxford, for glancing at some abuses. 
 One of his first patrons was the Earl of Oxford ; but 
 in 1582 he appears to have lost the favour of that 
 nobleman ; this circumstance is stated in a letter which 
 Lyly wrote upon the occasion to Lord Burghley, in 
 which he protests his innocence. In what capacity he 
 served Lord Oxford is not mentioned, but it may be 
 gathered from the terms of the letter, that he occupied 
 a place of pecuniary trust, which he was supposed to 
 have abused. [Collier's Hist. E. D. P. iii. 175.] 
 
 The quarrel between Lyly and Gabriel Harvey 
 would appear to have begun about 1580, and it is not 
 unreasonable to suppose that it had reference to the 
 
INTEODTJCTION. XI 
 
 discharge of Lyly from his office in the family of the 
 Earl of Oxford. 
 
 In 1583, Bichard Harvey, being as he says, "shortly 
 to profess Divinity," published " An Astrological Dis- 
 course vpon the great and notable Coniunction of the 
 two superiour Planets, Satvrne & lupiter, which 
 shall happen the 28. day of April, 1583," which, having 
 been submitted to the censorship of Doctor Squire, son- 
 in-law to Abp. Whitgift, came out imder his Lordship's 
 express sanction and encouragement. The prediction 
 in this absurd and foolish book did not take place, but 
 the author, according to Nash, had pawned his credit 
 upon it in these express terms : " If these things fall not 
 out in euerie poynt as I haue wrote, let mee for euer 
 hereafter loose the credit of my astronomie." [Nash's 
 Pierce Penniless, 8vo, p. 44, Eeprint.] These ex- 
 press terms, however, do not appear in the book, 
 although the substance of what is quoted is the same. 
 [See R. Harvey's Asirol. Discourse, p. 17, 1583.] 
 
 " Wei, so it happend, that he happend not to be a man of his 
 word : his astronomie broke hia day with his creditors, and 
 Saturne and Jupiter proued honester men than all the worlds 
 toole them for. Wherevpon the poore prognostioator was 
 readie to runne himselfe through with his Jacob's stafic, and cast 
 himselfe headlong fro m the top of a globe, (as a mountaine) 
 and breake his necke. The whole uniuersitie hyst at him, 
 Tarlton at the Theater made lests of him, and Elderton con- 
 sumed his ale-orammed nose to nothing in bear-bayting him 
 with whole bundells of ballets." [Nash's Pierce Pe»»j7ej«, 1592, 
 p. 44, Reprint.] 
 Here, then, we see one of the Harveys, and presently 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 shall find the three brothers, at variance with that 
 gregarious herd of town wits, who, as actors or writers, 
 were connected with the stage at this eventful period. 
 
 In 1589* Nash gave to the world the "firstlings of 
 his foUy " in authorship, being a preface to his friend 
 Greene's " Arcadia," or " Menaphon." This was ad- 
 dressed " To the Gentlemen Students of both Univer- 
 sities," and in it he takes occasion to bestow just praise 
 on Harvey's Latin versification; hence we may con- 
 clude vrith certainty, that the strife waged so many 
 years between them had not then begun. 
 
 Whether any circumstances to us unknown occasioned 
 the production of Lyly's Pap with a Hatchet, or merely 
 his desire of attacking Gabriel Harvey under the mask 
 of Martin Mar-prelate, is uncertain. Harvey tells us 
 that he had been suspected by these mad copesmates 
 [Greene, Lyly, and Nash] of being Martin ; and Lyly, 
 in the extract we have given above from Pap with a 
 Hatchet, charges him with being the author of Martin's 
 Epitome. It is most probable, however, that it was 
 more for the purpose of attacking their common enemy 
 that these writers engaged in a controversy so totally at 
 variance in its object and end to their usual occupation, 
 and not, as has been supposed, that they were patronized 
 and encouraged by the dignitaries of the Church. 
 
 J. P. 
 
 * See' Preface to the Reprint of " An Almond for a Parrot," 
 1845, where the reasons for this eonelusion are given. 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL THE 
 
 Peace-Maker of England. 
 
 SWEETLY INDEVORING WITH HIS 
 
 blunt persuasions to botch vp a Reconcilia- 
 tion between MAR-TON 
 and Mar-tother. 
 
 Compiled by lawfull art, that is to say, without witch craft, or sorcery : 
 
 and referred specially to the Meridian and pole Artichocke of 
 
 Nomans Land : but may seme generally without 
 
 any great error, for more Countries 
 
 then He speahe of. 
 
 Quis furor aut hos, 
 Aut hos, arma sequi, ferrfimque lacessere iussit. 
 
 Printed in Broad-streete at the signe 
 of the Pack-staife. 
 
TO THE NEW VPSTART MARTIN, 
 
 AND THE MISBEGOTTEN HEIRES 
 OF HIS BODY : his ouerthwart neighbor, Mar- 
 Martin, Mar-Mar-Martin, and so foorth following 
 the TrauUla-UUsmus, as farre as Will Solnes stut- 
 tring pronunciation may stumble ouer at a breath : 
 To all Whip Johns, and Whip laches : not forget- 
 ting the Caualiero Pasquill, or the Coohe Ruffian, 
 that drest a dish for Martins diet, Marforms and 
 all Cutting Hufsnufs, Roisters, and the residew of 
 light fingred younlters, which make euery ivord a 
 blow, and euery booke a bobbe : Perceuall the Peace- 
 Maker of England, wisheth grace to the one party, of 
 the other Parish : and peace stichd vp in a Gaber- 
 dine without pleat or wrinckle, to the other party of 
 this Parish. 
 
 I WOULD it had bin Percevals hap, to haue com to 
 the beginning of a friendly feast, or to the latter ending 
 of so dangerous a fraye. And I thought I had bin 
 faire for it at the first: for plodding through Aldersgate, 
 all armed as I was, with a quarter Ashe stafFe on my 
 shoulder, and an emptie belly vnder my northern belt, 
 I spied me, a large P. with a wide mouth like a por- 
 yadge pott, and being quicksented thrust forward on 
 the trale, and found it was Papp. But I cannot tell, 
 what the goodere came into my minde, but somewhat 
 
t DEDICATION. 
 
 it was, that persuaded me to trie before I tasted, and 
 looke before I licked: And though my sharpset- 
 stomach would haue straight fell into acquaintance, by 
 reason of some auncient familiaritie betweene a western 
 fellow, and a whitpot: yet bearing a braine as well 
 as a belly, I stood sauntring ouer it, like a whelp that 
 had scalded his mouth with lapping vp hotte water 
 Grewell: till I found that it was no meat indeed for 
 Percevall, but rather a bone for Martin to digest, 
 if his stomach wold serue him : for though the first 
 ladlefuU had a smacke as soft as pap, the next morsell, 
 a taste as sweet as a fig, and so forth : yet I see he that 
 was Cooke and Cater, thought to feed Martin with 
 these nunchios, as men feed Apes: with a bit and a 
 boxe on the eare. Why but soil maisters, faire plaie 
 and no snatching : is your feasting turned to a fray ? 
 put vp, put vp your weapons, and be some wiser then 
 some. They were neuer tall fellows of their hands 
 that were such hacksters in the street : nor euer prooued 
 old wringers indeed, that fell out at their belly mettall. 
 Go to Martin, go to : I know a man is a man, though 
 he haue but a hose on his head (and thou hast a close 
 house on thine) but the greatest quarrellers meet often 
 with their ouer-match. Putcase thou hadst a good 
 cause (as alas I am a plaine fellow and not giuen to 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 swearing) yet a couple of these late Roysters would 
 marre ten Martins, at the cracking of a stage lest. 
 They haue plaguy Clubfists, the one with his Counter- 
 CufFe, the other with his Country Cuffe, would quickly 
 make a blew Martin. And you on the other side : 
 what neede all this stir? this banding of kilcowes to 
 fight with a shadow ? If I were at home, within the 
 precinctes of mine owne domination, I would charge 
 you in Gods name and the Queens, to put vp your 
 whinyards, you are men inough, able to deale one to 
 one at handigripes, come cut and long taile : why 
 should you offer to take the aduatage of the higher 
 ground? Truly, truly, I will present you at the law 
 day for a ryot, though I be neither side man for this 
 Meridian, nor Warden, but to ward my selfe as I walke. 
 There is more danger in breaking the Queenes 
 Maiesties peace, then you are aware of. That mad 
 companion Martin, you know, plaies least in sight, 
 and serues you, as iEneas serued Turnus, *to make 
 him fight with a mist in steed of a man : he doth but 
 send his picture, to make triall of your affection 
 towards him, as (my boy at home sales) Heliogabalus 
 did, to search the humors of the Roman Senate. If 
 you had vsed his Image somwhat more gentlie, within 
 this space, hee would haue appeared in his likenes, 
 
 A 3 
 
6 DEDICATION. 
 
 incarnated or incased in some knaues skin or other I 
 warrant you : beare with one grosse terrae, so as I 
 make no custome of it. Come on therfore Martin 
 and the rest, house your selues in the next Tauerne, 
 I will set my selfe (not a knaue betweene two honest 
 men) but as a good fellow, betwixt the shadow of 
 Martin, and the naturall shape of your 
 selues, to trie whether I can stint 
 this. Hold my dagger from 
 your throat, or no. 
 
 Yours if you like mee : 
 mine owne if you strike me. 
 
 P.P.P. 
 
piame ^eraball. 
 
 He was a tender harted fellow, though his luck were 
 but hard, which hasting to take vp a quarrell, by 
 the high way side, between a brace of Saint Nicholas 
 Clargie men ; was so curteously imbraced on both 
 parties, that he tendered his purse for their truce, and 
 swapt away his siluer for Copper retaile. Such 
 copsmates would be examined, if it were but for 
 Alcumists : and such a kind hart Chronicled, if it were 
 but for a foole. 
 
 All this wind shakes none of my Come, quoth 
 Perceuall, whereupon Gossip Reason the chiefe actor 
 in the pageant of my braine, and high speaker in the 
 Parlament of my deuise, began this motherly, and well 
 powdered tale. The medling Ape, that like .a tall 
 wood cleaner, assaying to rend a twopenny billet in 
 two peeces, did wedge in his pettitoes, so fast, between 
 the two clefts, that he stucke by the feete for a saie : 
 and remained foorth comming at the discretion of those, 
 whose occupation he enchrochd vpon before he was 
 free : Short though were his prentiship, did he not pay 
 for his learning? Tush Perceuall, hath no felicitie in 
 these captious Intergatories. And therefore good 
 
8 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 sweete Tenant Reason, speaks plainely, and say Land- 
 lord mine (giue euery man his right) he that thrusts his 
 finger between the barke and the tree, is like to be 
 pinched: Counterfet Martin, or Counter Martin, let 
 them fight or be frinds, with a knaues name : encounter 
 not with them, they be like Gunnes, they carry fier in 
 their harts, and death in their mouths. If they get 
 thee within their reach : thou must come to knokham 
 faire, and what betweene the block and the beetle, be 
 thumpd like a stockfish, now gandmer are not these 
 your examples moralized? Pithy stuflfe to keepe a 
 man from crossing the bowling Alley, for feare of a 
 broken shin. Or it moues me as much as the fatherly 
 Two an- rebuke of an old stander, moude that vniuer- 
 cientstan- gjty post, which seemed to take the wall of a 
 Senior and Senior. I cannot though you should bind 
 the post, jjjg J.Q gygjj ^ stubborn post, as that graue 
 student met with in the darke, but carry one bucket of 
 water, when I heare the bels ring backward, and the 
 fire runne forward. They were in a fault, where the 
 fire first began : but first and last, helpe, quench all ; 
 or else these high flying sparks will light on the heads 
 of vs all, and kindle in our bedstraw, if other folkes 
 lodging be no better then mine. Well fare London 
 yet, for a policie besides water (which they put in 
 practise too lately, the more was the pitty :) pull downe 
 the houses burning, lest they catch hold on their 
 neighbors. I, but you talke of cost, and commission. 
 That tricke would aske a long pole and a hoke, and 
 my quarter stafe is too short, except a man stood on 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 9 
 
 tiptoe. But now I remember my selfe, neuer will I 
 ouerstraine my strength, nor play at hand ouer head 
 so high, but where I may feele sure footing. 
 
 Giue me my spectacles, that I may see~ whether I 
 dreame, or whether these sights be all in good sadnes, 
 which I behold, sometime these madcaps be at a fray : 
 sometimes at a feast: it makes no matter whether it 
 be plaine dealing or iugling, take them at the best, and 
 sit downe to their banket. And sith Martin and his 
 brood hath furnished the first course, with sundry 
 dishes, and saweed them throughly: and againe his 
 heauie frinds Pasquill, Marforius, and the fresh Cater 
 of late, haue counter coursd him, with messes somewhat 
 boat of the spice: (for the Pap had corns of long 
 Pepper as big as a hatchet:) I follow like a plaine 
 dunstable Groome, with salt and spoones on a trencher. 
 Indeede you say true, Sal sapit omnia: and seruice 
 without salt, by the rite of England, is a Cuckholds fee, 
 if he claime it. Go to then, and take salt to your 
 soppes, least sorrow attaint them. Make brine for 
 your bull biefe, that it may sucke out those swelling 
 corrupt affections that remaine somewhat rancke in the 
 flesh. As for my spoons, those I brought, that I and 
 my companions might haue one slap at the . 
 
 Spoone meat, wherein Martin boasted his cald his 
 Cookery : and the other set out their skill, spoori*^" ' 
 They had neede be large long Spoons (say meat in his 
 you) if I come to feed with such whipsters. 
 Let me alone, for my actiuity, at the dish meat, and a 
 long arme, though my scoope be the shorter. Perceuall, 
 
10 
 
 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 you are somewhat a mery man, as well as the rest, 
 according to your homely Countrey fashion. Mary sir, 
 there is somewhat in it beside true working, and a 
 Gods name, quoth the good man, that checkt his wife, 
 for hopping about the house, and telling what the 
 schoUers of Oxford paid for their good cheare : when 
 he no sooner stept ouer the threshold, but fell into the 
 same tune and taking ; and about they went. My 
 Masters be ware of Martins circle, for if his frinds or 
 his foes chop into it vnawares, they are like to daunce 
 after his pipe, and set themselues vpon a miry pinne, 
 (for so doth he) till his vnderpinning will faile him, I 
 doubt. 
 
 Come on Martin, put out (as the passenger said to 
 the Miller) not a knaues head, no keepe in, thou art 
 wiser then so, yet if wind doe not faile thee, thy late 
 Customers, which play more sacks to the mill, haue 
 brought greists or iests at least wise to be ground. If 
 thy mill stones be not worne too blunt, for want of 
 pecking, there is picking meat for thee : make meale of 
 it, and take large tole to the enriching of the Tolhet 
 thou talkest off". 
 
 Martin me thinks the clacke of thy mill, is some- 
 what noisome to the whole countrey, thou liuest in; 
 either thou art well set on worke, or else, thou hast 
 wind at will to thy sailes. 
 
 I pray thee make once an auricular confession, tell 
 me in mine eare : is the desire oi Reformation so deeply 
 imprinted in thine hart, as the terme is often printed in 
 thy papers? Is it conscience or lucre, that spurgals 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 11 
 
 thy hackney pen, to force it take so high a hedge, as 
 thou leapest at? I haue seene as mad a trick as this, 
 when a Rancke rider hath put his horse to a hedge, and 
 lay in the ditch for his labor. Thy foming mealy 
 mouth betokeneth stomacke, and yoong vnbridled fits, 
 for all that fatherly countenance, and graue vizard 
 which sometimes thou vsest to plead the cause of thy 
 Reformation vnder. No no, you vse the nostrils too 
 much, and to many vnseasoned frumps, to come of that 
 raze, that sincerely in time of superstition required 
 Reformation. Whow? I go about to disgrace thee? 
 No no I come but by the way of jntreaty, as it were 
 with a becke to admonish thee, that thou putst the 
 wrong foote before, and therefore pull backe. Yet 
 beare with me, if I doubt whether all be gold that 
 glistereth, sith Saint Martins rings be but Copper 
 within, though they be gilt without, sayes the Goldsmith. 
 Idle termes came neuer from Saint Paul, nor reproch- 
 full taunts from Michaell: yet S, Paul, no doubt, was 
 mery in his daies : and the Archangell, you know, was 
 at controuersie with the Diuell. Here againe whow? 
 nay if I trot so heauily, I am neither for Martins riding, 
 nor these three new mery mens reading. Gape Martin 
 that I may see thy age, but take heed, thou bite me 
 not : I thought so : the marke is not out of thy mouth, 
 for thou hast a Colts tooth in thine head still : if thou 
 wilt haue it drawne by fowle means, these Roisters 
 haue beetles to knocke it out : if gently, let me be thy 
 tooth drawer, I haue a kind hart of mine owne, and 
 that name hath been good at such a practise heretofore. 
 
12 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 Take heede Martin, a horse may ouer reach in a 
 true pace, and thou play the foole though thou shouldst 
 haue a good matter in hand. As for my part, I come 
 not to take any part, I am none of those, which loue 
 fending and proouing, if I can part you but for the time 
 present, I am at my lourneies end. Let the higher 
 officers examine the cause, and find the fault (if al be 
 true thou talkest of) where it is : yet (as a wel bearded 
 Poet taught a Queene to speake in a Latine Enterlude) 
 Etsi causa repetentis bona, Mala sic petentis est. Out 
 vpon thee Perceuall, what gibberish is that ? what, what, 
 latine in the moutji of a plaine fellow? Nay I wot 
 neere, but it hath left behind it a wale in my throate 
 like a strange bodylouse in an vnknowne pasture. Wel 
 Martin, Sustine pro nunc, stand by a trice, but looke you 
 depart not the court, in paine of mine Indignation. 
 Thou shalt perceiue that like a good sempster, I can cut 
 euen by a threed, and part this quarrell without par- 
 tiality. If I vse indifferency, call me not lohn Indiffer- 
 ent now, for my good will: or if I lay my helping hand, 
 to the cure of such a broile, without breach of peace, or 
 danger of riot; say not thou as an olde Pasquill said 
 being in a traunce of that famouse and modest Clarke 
 Erasmus, that I hang houering in the mid way betwixt 
 heauen and hell : He no doubt, misused, for fancie sake 
 the memory of a good man deceased : and thou in so 
 saying shouldst mistake the good meaning of one wel 
 Disposed. Stand by I say, till thy turne comes aboute 
 againe. 
 
 Now, my Countrey men on the other part, make 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 13 
 
 your appearance, thinke not skorne that Pereeuall, is 
 somewhat in your tops, my sirnome is Peace-Maker, 
 one that is but poorely regarded in England, bicause 
 Peace hath been long plentifull : but yet one that may 
 speake with some authority, as long as our most roiall 
 Peace-Mistres holds the sterne (which God grant long she 
 may.) That faire, and fairest flower, in our garland, if 
 she should faile : then were it high time for Pereeuall and 
 all Peace-Makers, to put vp their pipes, or else in steed 
 of the soft violine, learne to sound a shrill trumpet. 
 Well then, let a poore mans tale be hard amongst you. 
 Martin is the man and the marke you shoot your 
 forked arrowes at : if you strike his face you can raise no 
 skin, for his forhead is brasse : nor fetch vp his blood, 
 bicause he is giuen to blush no more the my black dog 
 at home: welfare a faire face vpon an ill paire of 
 shoulders yet: if you pearce his hart, you can doo him 
 little harme, for he is liude like a Cat : strike his toong, 
 the biternes of the same, will trace out the Author of 
 the wound, like the fish Torpedo, which being towchd, 
 sends her venime alongst line and angle rod, till it 
 cease on the finger, and so mar a fisher for euer. Fie, 
 fie, will you vpon a spleen, run vpon a Christen body, 
 with full cry and open mouth? Though indeed I 
 cannot blame you, sith his proceedings were so 
 vnchristianlike, if you tooke him for a Monster, or a 
 Maddog : and so went about to worme him : but I am 
 afraide such a carelesse curre, is cureles : wormeseede 
 and reasons will doo him no good: and for other 
 remedies that might come by incision, his wormeaten 
 
 B 
 
14 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 Coscience refuseth, (as Dionysius did the hands of 
 his Barbar, for feare lest mistaking his beard, he would 
 haue cut his throat) and therefore keeps him out of 
 your Clutches. Yt were good to keepe such a Cur in 
 awe, but alas hurt him not, for a dogs mouth is medi- 
 cineable, (they say:) Verum est, if he bite not where 
 he should licke, I am answered. But here is such 
 likening Christianfolks to dogs; that I cannot away 
 with it. Shall we haue neighbors children, lie skufling 
 in the kennel together by the eares like bride well 
 birds ? it is as good as a beare bayting for them, which 
 loue neither, to see either touze other so bedlemlike. 
 Neuer a beadle starring? nor bear -heard at hand to 
 put his staffe in the mouth of the beare, or pull off 
 these dogs? This will proue foule play: whosoeuer 
 get the victorie, " Seu vincas, seu vinceris, maculSre 
 necesse est si:'' the rest was at ray Angel's end: but fare 
 well it, since it is gone : Beare with my shittle remem- 
 brance. I doe not thinke, though Martin and you be 
 of diuerse Parishes, but you be all of one Church, 
 saile all in one ship, and dwell all in one Common- 
 wealth. Nay you are all good subiects, or else I 
 would the woorst were curbd ^ith a checkthong, as 
 bjgge as a towpenny halter, for halting with a Queene 
 so good and gratious. All this hart burning betweene 
 you, is but about the bounds of the Parish, and the 
 limits of the Church Jands. Let the yoouth be content 
 to be infourmed of the Mearstones, by the Auncientry 
 of the Parish: and not continew such bustling, back- 
 biting, with facing and defacing one another to the 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 15 
 
 vttermost : this is Spighf, and not Spirit, or if it be, it 
 is some spightfull Spirit. It were enough to entitle 
 those Browne sectaries of the Blade Prince, with the 
 name of traytors, and not to cast them like squibs and 
 wild fire within your owne hatches, and the body of 
 your owne Common-wealth. Mary who began (say 
 you :) Martin cald tray tor first, he spake lauishly, and 
 must heare as knauishly. Now the blood is vp; he 
 that hath most gall in his garbage, thinks to win the 
 goale. And he that hath most toong powder hopes to 
 driue the other out of the field first. I could tell these 
 eager younsters, how they might be euen with their 
 Aduersary : giue faire words for foule : " Doe good 
 against euill : and heape boat burning coales vpon his 
 head." That is a sentence sooner belieud bicause it is 
 scripture, then put in practise, for all it is true. 
 
 Such a Deane, such a Doctor, slips within the com- 
 passe of treason cries Martin. Another, takes him by 
 the nose with a paire of left-handed pincers, and puis 
 him ouer the pumpes into the same puddle, g p p 
 Wot you what the little wagges saide, when there I 
 they had beene telling many precious miracles Jhee to thy 
 of Robin-goodfellow and the diuell ? We shall P*'"^- 
 speake so long of the diuell in iest, that he shall come 
 amongst vs in good earnest : God warrant vs, and there 
 withall, crost themselues, for it was in the old time : I 
 would we could blesse vs from him, this newe time. 
 But I am afi:aid, there will be so much talke of traitor, 
 and so long vse of such bugs words, that some of our 
 Male-contented HufsnufTs, and Marprelats will prooue 
 B 2 
 
16 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 their words master, yet I will nicke-name no bodie : I 
 am none of these tuft mockadoo mak-a-dooes: for 
 " Qui mochat, moccabitur" quoth the seruingman of 
 Abington. 
 
 And, as who shoulde say, they that named Rebels 
 oftenest with a breath, were the soundest winded 
 subiects: who can tell that? Not I: but sure I am, 
 that the boy which greeted his father with a letter clapt 
 full of commendations, commendations, and nothing but 
 commendations, prooude as vntoward a sonne, as he 
 that directed his superscription to his most obedient 
 parents. 
 
 If Menippus, or the Man in the Moone, be so quick- 
 sighted, that he beholds, these bitter sweete lests, these 
 railing outcries: this shouing at Prelats to cast them 
 downe, and heauing at Martin to hang him vp for 
 Martilmas biefe: what would he imagine otherwise, 
 then as that stranger, which seeing a Quintessence 
 (beside the foole and the Maid Marian) of all the 
 picked yoouth, straind out of an whole Endship, footing 
 the Morris about a May pole. And he, not hearing 
 the crie of the hounds, for the barking of dogs, (that Is 
 to say) the minstrelsie for the fidling, the tune for the 
 sound, nor the pipe for the noise of the tabor, bluntly 
 demaunded, if they were not all beside them selues, that 
 they so lipd and skipd whithout an occasion. 
 
 Backe with that leg Perceuall: Nouice as thou art, 
 dost thou thinke that we are some, all mad ? Alas I 
 am a stranger, and cannot tel what your horse play 
 meanes. Learne, leame to vnderstand the occasion of 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 17 
 
 those actions : Their words are common ? for euery 
 cut-purse vseth them at the Old Bayly, that Occasions 
 hath had • any skill in his miniken Handsaw. f.° ^°" 
 
 •' tions cora- 
 
 I can tell who was acquainted with an olde mon. 
 
 sooker, that caries such Pottieall verses of the State of 
 
 Flanders, in a linnen bag (though they be no baggage 
 
 neither) as would make a man diinke vpon driuing out 
 
 sides, and taking of parts as long as he lilies. My selfe 
 
 drinking hand to hand with the founder of them : for 
 
 lacke of a nutmeg, he gaue me a great and a lesse, to 
 
 grate in a spice bole, and this was the powder. 
 
 " Orgia turbantem natum dum mactat Agaue, 
 Insana, insanum Fenthea, credit aprum." 
 
 Had not he a long wind that sowpd vp these two at 
 a draught? and a good head that carried them away 
 without staggering, togither with their Appurtenances ? 
 " Mad was the mother and kild hir wood spnne, &c." 
 That liquid Poet, had askt himselfe the question, who 
 was in the fault, that two factions were at daggers 
 drawing, till they were like to draw all to an vprore, 
 he answers like a slie slaue; Amho. for that was his 
 meaning, though he wheeld about, seeking to declare 
 his mind, with a Far Fetched Simile. 
 
 But (say you) there is no reason in it, that we should 
 stand bound to the good a-bearing, except Martin were 
 bound to the peace. Yf he snarle like a cur at vs, why 
 should not we prouide a Bastinado for him?- and he 
 making an assault, to mount ouer our parke pales: why 
 may not we haue one cast in his Orchard, and a, fling 
 s 3 
 
18 
 
 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 at his Medlar tree ? Mary sirs, for feare the Cudgell 
 
 fall downe againe upon a mans owne Costard. If a 
 
 swift running streame haue free passage along the 
 
 kennell, fare well it, you shall neuer heare worse of it : 
 
 but stop it, and Hercules like where it finds no way, it 
 
 wil make one : and so set the next neighbors medowes 
 
 all on a floate. When he began to skold first, you 
 
 should haue betooke him to an Ostler, to walke, while 
 
 you had cald an officer to chambfir his toong. 
 
 So if you had done, his owne poison would haue 
 
 festered in his owne flesh. Prid and yenime, if they 
 
 had so ranckly possessed his hart, they would haue set 
 
 his owne skin a strute, and burst his hide before this 
 
 time. I see the vaine is vp in the forhead, and Martin 
 
 shall haue as good as he brings, or else a free schoole of 
 
 skolds shal be set vp for the nonce. O that M. Th, 
 
 Cicero might rise againe, a little before his turne, and 
 
 see railing made a profession, Slaunder set in a Shrine, 
 
 and honored with the slaughter of many ripe wits, in 
 
 steed of a sacrifice ; how would he blame England now, 
 
 (as he blamed Athens when he liude) for erecting 
 
 Chappels in honor of that dishonorable cowple : Reproeh 
 
 Virtutes ^^^ Invpudency : or as he checkd his Coun- 
 
 enim nm trey men the Romans, which had builded an 
 
 vitiaconse- , , > , 
 
 crare decet altar to the Agewe, and a monument to the 
 
 Cic.de lc.2. remembrance of Cursed Fortune. I cannot 
 
 tell what Spirituall Chappels, and Inuisible altars our 
 
 men set vp now a daies, but I am sure, one of the 
 
 Largest Churches in England is like to fall on his 
 
 maribons, and so mar the fashion of his bones, that it 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 19 
 
 may be cald Allstones here after. Had Martin walkd 
 that way he might haue espide a great hole and a miser- 
 able maime in the body of that Church. It is an ill 
 wind that blowes no man to good they say : yea but the 
 Prophet Aggeus would haue giuen counsaile to repaire 
 such a place of praier : if Martin himselfe crie Hauocke 
 at it, beleeue him not, Aggeus was a great deale the 
 honester man, although while he liude he was no saint. 
 Where was I? my ionrney lies not that way: I was 
 about to say that the Printers had hard luck if they lost 
 by these matches that are made of late against Martin. 
 Whose states when I looke vpon, I am ready to crie at 
 as a Countrey man of mine did, when trauersing London 
 streets, he spide a lacke an apes, in a gaie cote, sit 
 mooing on a Marchants bulke: Good Lord what knacks 
 are made for money, now adaies ? 
 
 Speake a blooddy word in a Barbors shop, you make 
 a forfet: and good reason too. Cap him sirrra, if he pay 
 it not. Speake a broad word or vse a grosse tearme 
 amongst huntsmen in chaze, you shall be leasht for your 
 labor : as one that disgraceth a gentlemans pastime and 
 game, with the termes of a heardsman. And is there 
 no penaltie to represse such lauish ouer teachers as 
 offer legends of lies to the presse ? Martin, he put those 
 lies into print vnlawfully, which he coind in hugger 
 mugger: and others opposite to his humor will haue 
 their lies lie open manifestly, if it be but to shew that 
 they dare put in for the whetstone, and make as lowd 
 lies as Martin the forman. But who is the father of 
 such fruit, or the sower of snch seede ? False witnes, 
 
20 PLAINE PEECEVALL. 
 
 and lying was forbode by Moses Law, but is taken vp 
 now for a custome, of one lewd Customer, and hath got 
 Chapmen that will neuer lay it downs, except they 
 make their end as tedious to the indifferent Reader, as 
 his beginning was odious to the peaceable hearer. He 
 that catcheth euery flying tale by the end, may chance 
 to take a frog for a fish, and doo as the boy, that bit a 
 snake by the head insteed of an eele. Heresay is too 
 slender an euidence to spit a mans credit vpon, or to 
 broach a mans Conscience with kitchin termes or any 
 thing, nothing comes amisse to Perceuall. 
 
 I see neighbors how you croud backward, thinking 
 belike to ride vpon my Crupshoulders : T am no Ape 
 Carrier, I pray you defile not my sheeps russet Coate, 
 with your dirtie shoes yet: this home made Karsey, 
 and my plain speeches may haue as much wooll (I dare 
 wot say so much wit) as is in your double pild veluet. 
 Blessed are the Peace-makers (I say :) Mid so are neither 
 the breeders nor feuourities of discord. Cursed are the 
 malitious inuentors of slanders ; and so are neither the 
 renewers nor continuers of Concord. O so some of 
 those companions ply the boxe, to boxe a shadow.e, and 
 beate their knuckels against a bare wall, and to get a 
 sure card on their side, either calles for Justice, and 
 «eekes to incense our noble Queene against the other. 
 Indeed I confesse some of them haue great cause so to 
 dob, but what then ? Let hir imperiall Maiestie alone, 
 by hir gratious leasure, and wisedome, she will prepare 
 a boisterous snuffle, for such boisterous head-strong 
 laddes, as will be wincing. Slow to wrath, and slower 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 21 
 
 to punishment, and alwaies like Elizabeth, she peaseth 
 the sword of Justice, with an vpright hand: when 
 season serues, she will strike, and yet deuide so equally, 
 that she hurts not one heire of an naturall subiect. No 
 doubt she is the naturall mother of this Hand (if Salo- 
 mon himselfe were ludge) that is so tender ouer hir 
 Sonnes and subiects. And they on the other side, step- 
 dames, and most vnnaturall parents, that would haue 
 their children dismembred and cut off in middle. 
 Againe, those children be chaunglings, that in steede of 
 sucking the milke, would sucke the blood of their 
 nourses. . Dost thou beleeue there be any Fairies then 
 Pereeuall ? I cannot tell whether there be Fairies, but 
 I am sure there is a foule Diuell that brings foorth 
 changeable coloured vrchins, which can glister like a 
 glose worme neare gold, looke pale and wan vpon Lead, 
 and browne vpon Iron : tell me now, whether is such a 
 one a Chaungling, a Horselech, or a Chamelceon ? their 
 Law : set downe your staffe, and pause a while, this 
 heauie fardell hath bred a stitch in my short ribs. But 
 well remembred, Crier, make an, o yes, for Martin to 
 come into the Court. O Sir, do you stand vnder my 
 sleeue, and I see you not ? I pray God I haue not a 
 foole at mine elbow, the Diuell you haue, quoth his 
 heauy frinds. I thinke the mad slaue, hath tasted on a 
 ferne-stalke, that he walkes so invisible. 
 
 I haue had conference Martin, with these ruffe 
 Roisters that challendge thee at all weapons, from the 
 forrest bill, to the bodkin. They seeme to blame a 
 certaine Pipe of Pistling, that hath tooke the tip of thy 
 
22 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 toong and a vaine of lauish iangling, that hath made 
 thy palate rise out of socket. Their teeth water at 
 reuenge, and are sharpe set on edge : thy selfe was the 
 grindstone of their wits, and now if they cannot come at 
 the faire, to hold thy nose to the grindstone, they sweare 
 to chop thy Relickes and hacke thine hackle as small as 
 fewell to the fire. I perceiue, and they would faine be 
 on thy lacke for thy sawcines, that thou art principall 
 picker of the quarrell. 
 
 O Martin, honor gray heares, during thy nonage : or 
 else looke for dishonor and dotage if thou canst get 
 any competent yeers on thy backs, before thou pro- 
 curest a hempen chaine aboue thy shoulders. Be thou 
 a yoong boy, or a stale Batchelar, (vnmaried thou art 
 by thine own Protestation) learne to reuerence those 
 two ornaments of a common- wealth. Age and Authority. 
 Barre this pert bearding of men reputed honest for their 
 behauiour, and honorable both for their calling and 
 counsaile : Leaue thrumming thy Pibauld Testes with 
 Scripture, Iron and Clay will not be tempered togither. 
 Thy pamphlets which thou sendest into the broad world, 
 may well be Pistles, but certainely they be no Gospels. 
 The word of God is sufficient to worke the will of God, 
 and neede not thy friuolous medleis, thy humane tra- 
 ditions, or additions, either to qualifie the vertue, or 
 disgrace the enemies thereof, which thou pretend- 
 est, being thy selfe, I doubt, an archenemie to the 
 same. 
 
 Aske the Printer if he haue not a merier booke : this 
 fellow is falne so low into his dumps, that there is no 
 
PLAINE TERCEVALL. 23 
 
 sport in reading him. Let me gape and stretch my selfe 
 a little, and then hay we ye. 
 
 I find that in euery trade and occupation, there is a 
 better and a worse, as there is in euery warpe of fish, 
 a great and a lesse. There is a Shomaker, there is a 
 Cobler: a Tailor, and a Botcher: a Marchant, and a 
 Broker: a Haberdasher and a Pedlar: a Mason and 
 a Dawber: a Minstrell and a Fidler: a Parson and a 
 Uicar: a Minister and a Curat: there steps me in a 
 third tricksie, neat, nimble, spruse Artificer into euery 
 one of these occupations : and like a prickeard Mule 
 will be of another distinct kind from either dame or sire. 
 One standing all vpon his pumps and peintables, will be 
 aboue a Shomaker. Another mounts vpon a loftier 
 Shop bourd then a Tailor, and wil be none otherwise 
 termde then a shaper of garments forsooth. Stand thy 
 ground Perceual, neuer run through such a rablemet 
 of Craftsmen forward, and backeward, I am windles to 
 follow thee so fast ouer and ouer so many trads. I 
 haue thy meaning at one word, as well as at an hundred. 
 Then sir if you be of such a sodaine conceipt, follow me 
 step by step, from these handicrafts to matters of Re- 
 ligion, Some of conscience study to reforme their owne 
 lines, and looke first into their own bosome : others to the 
 intent that all the world might suppose, that nothing 
 were amisse at home, like bad huswifes flie abroad, and 
 search out publike imperfections, to busie their heads 
 about. Some againe endeuor to practise, without a 
 multiplying of words openly: others beare a ready 
 toong in their heads, but bray them in a morter, they 
 
24 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 will neuer be mortified in deeds : Some earnest protes- 
 tants are precise in correcting their owne corrupt 
 affections, and in aduertising their brother kindly of his 
 faults as they fall : he goes for my money. Comes me 
 in an Hipocriticall younster, and he will be a Puritane, 
 and an ase before any that euer bare the name, or else 
 you abuse him. I haue heard of words that haue dege- 
 nerated into a worse signification from a better, but few 
 termes that were betterd by any that vsed them. I 
 hard say a good old Doctor (he shall haue my good 
 word though he be laid in his graue) found out Puri- 
 tanisme in Papistry (for so he termed their fained hipo- 
 crisie) when he dealt against Jesuits : then though we 
 cannot be too forward in a good matter, yet the diuel 
 can inuent sins in excesse, aswell as in defect. Men 
 haue great desire to be compted high fliers and deepe 
 swimmers, yet be the both daungerous exercises, con- 
 sidering that a man hath neither winges to beate the aire, 
 nor finnes to breake the water. Adam would haue 
 beene a God, but that his foote slipt, and he fel into a 
 state mortall. I do not thinke, Martin, but the olde 
 Serpent can tempt the perfectest Eue that euer was, 
 and then let Eue alone to ptrswade hir husband. But 
 thou hast no Eue to trouble thee : no but thou hast flesh 
 and blood to interrupt thee. 
 
 Nay Perceuall, now you wade into such particulars, 
 you are wide : stand not vpon the priuate censuring of 
 persons, lest thou seemest as senseles, as they which 
 determine vpon an Ale bench whether the passenger 
 that passeth by the lettise, be a Saint or a Diuell. Nay 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 25 
 
 ho thereN neighbor : chaue hard them say, that if a man 
 point with his finger in the Court of a Prince, he may 
 chaunce to forfet his whole fist for his sawcines: he 
 points faire, that disapoints his mouth of such a nourse, 
 as either of his hands be. 
 
 But there is one thing vsed amongst these Marrers 
 and Markers of folkes which maske with vizards of 
 Reformation, that stickes in my stomacke, and wil not 
 be digested. The greatest coursers, and professed hun- 
 ters of dumbe dogs : such as wery themselues in hol- 
 lowing after that Vermine, and make their voices hoarse, 
 in crying out against them, are the very foster fathers, 
 that pester our Church with that Cattell. I wish that 
 we had none of these toong-tide Curs, that cannot 
 barke, nor say buflfe to a woulfes shadow : if it were 
 possible. But you that most cry out against them, why 
 haue you brought them vp no better ? Why haue you 
 not taught some of those Puppes their lerrie ? I will 
 take it vpon the credit of my selfe, an vpstantiall yeo- 
 man, that they most part of these mute shepheards are 
 hatchd vp vnder the wing of those which beate most 
 vpon the remoouing of dumbe dogs. I could giue you 
 some examples in Bedfordshire : a whole rablement at 
 least. A Preacher, If his conceipt be any thing swift, 
 that he can rolle it in the pulpit, must haue his reader 
 at his elbow, to fauor his voice. A Minister that hath 
 any thing a fat benefice, and a full belly, will haue his 
 Co-brother to assist him. And what must he be but 
 either an halfe-peny boy, or an idle craftsman, that shall 
 serue for meaite, drinke and cloth, a little tutoring in 
 
 c 
 
26 PtAINE PERCEVALt. 
 
 Diuinitie, and the reuersion of a benefice, when it fauls, 
 where his godfathers commendatorie letters may pre- 
 uaile. I could well like that men of some desert and 
 imploiment should haue their assistants, so they were 
 Preachers, but you shall not take them in that fault. 
 Where is the conscience of these criers out on blinde 
 guides become ? not resident at home now : but abroad, 
 busie in inueighing against Bishops for their tolerations 
 graunted, to such as themselues haue preferred, com- 
 mended, presented. And by this Leger-demaine hath 
 the Common-wealth been robd of Tailors, Shoomakers, 
 and good Artificers, and the Church ouercharged with 
 bad Ministers : which thanke God, I dare saie in their 
 hearts (with that firehot Preacher) that they are so farre 
 from the Romish Religion, as they cannot vnderstand a 
 word of the Latine toong. I tell you, this is a miserie 
 to lieare, and a miserie to see : diat such eager Callers 
 for Reformation, should plant slips of their owne gather- 
 ing : supplant Magistrates for wincking at it, and make 
 file people beleeue, that they would haue it otherwise, 
 with all their hearts. How dare these fellowes aspire 
 to fiirther authoritie in Minister-making, when they 
 suffer their houses to be the Nourceries of such impo- 
 tent and impudent encrochers vpon Church-Offices ? 
 What saie the people to this geare ? tush, let the master 
 alone to speake for the man : he will commend him, for 
 his great profiting in knowledge vnder him: preferre 
 him for a peece of plaine doctrine ; praise him, that he 
 is not infected with PMlosophie, or such like Vniuersitie 
 learning: but especially that he is an honest man. 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 27 
 
 zealous, forward in Religion, and one that seekes for 
 Reformation. This fellow cannot be misliked I warrant 
 you : I, I that one word of Reformation, Martin, which 
 hath been so much in thy mouth, and so gready in thy 
 request, hath made thy Customers swarme like Bees to 
 the ringing of a Bason: but take heed, thine owne 
 Cattaile sting thee not, when they shall taste what 
 Hemloches thou hast mingled, wherewith thine hiue was 
 annointed. 
 
 But tush thy gossips will stand vpon it, that Martins 
 clocke goes true, though the Diuell were in the Horo- 
 loge : their rellish is altered so far with the sirope of 
 selfe-loue, that Choller is called Zeale, and Melancholy, 
 Mortification: whereupon foUowes swift iudgement that 
 cuts all other from saluation : and some bad sullen 
 conceipt peeuishly taken from their owne humorous 
 imagination, that they would haue all stampt vpon, that 
 be not of their stampe, or will not be strainde to their 
 Starke staring madnes. You had best sale now I speake 
 against good men: quatenus they are good, Martin, 
 I am their Orator, in the state demonstratiu'e to extoll 
 them : but a wart is a wart if it were in the face of 
 Alexander: frowardnes is frowardnes, if it were in 
 my Father: sinne is sinne in holie Dauid himselfe. 
 And Socrates had a wanton looke of his owne, though 
 his schoUers should beat the Phisiognomer for so 
 saying. I would they were so good as I could wish 
 them: we should haue better fruit, and more good 
 deeds, which are now both thin sowne god wot, and 
 thinner growne. Yet be they, as be may, I may be 
 c2 
 
28 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 thus bold with their masterships. Beware of a heat, 
 for so long as a man is warme, he cannot feele his owne 
 imperfections, but thinketh that euerie man which 
 sweats not is keycold, such firie Agues fall soonest 
 into a Surfeit, and founder themselues with their intem- 
 perate behauiour. You shal haue a lame lade, bridle, 
 and brag it vp and downe Smithfield, when he is a little 
 chafde, as though hee could stand on no ground for 
 lustines : set him vp in a stable, till he wax a litle cold, 
 and his limbes be so stifiTe, he can stand on no ground 
 for lamenes. Some of thy mates Martin, I am afraid, 
 be alwaies stirring so busily, least standing long still in 
 the open faire, they fall to downeright halting, and so 
 be disclosed for arrant heldings. Such ladish trickes 
 make a sound horse to be suspected, and some hipo- 
 crites, make earnest professors doubted of, yet neither 
 condemned so vnmercifullie as though there were no 
 way but one : God forbid. But leaue leaue, all the sort 
 of you, to boulster vp the faults of your own parish- 
 ioners, and boult out the skapes of such as are none 
 of your sectaries. One spakey Apple will make the 
 whole hourd smel, picke him out: One Hipocriticall 
 dissembler, will bring reproch vpon the whole brother- 
 hood, cull him out: and although he defie the Surphce, 
 (which is a point of great valiancie) yet let him be put 
 to the choice of a whip or a white sheete : if he haue 
 offered in secrecie to defend this position. That a 
 woman waking may lawfully graft Dianaes armes, vpon 
 the Temples of her husband sleeping. You meane 
 vnhappily Perceuall whatsoeuer your wordes be: I 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 29 
 
 know a newst what Circuit you are in. But is it not 
 a Religious deed to conceale the blemish of a brother, 
 least the Gospell be ill spoken of for his misdeeds ? 
 As who should say the punishment of malefactors were 
 not the fruit of the Gospell? which heaUenly and 
 blameles Oracle none but Atheists and Miscreants 
 will condemne for the shameles action, of such a one as 
 speakes of gospels in the day: but vseth I know not 
 what nightspels in the darke. Neuer be afraid that 
 any which hath his fiue senses, will impute the fall of a 
 brother to the ouergreat knowledge he had in the scrip- 
 tures : but to the slender practise and profite he made 
 in the same : for all his great boast. Take heed, haue 
 an eye to the doore, least that, that Frierly ^^ „(,„ ^^i^ 
 Caueat creepe in amongst Protestants, where- *<"»'" o""'^- 
 by their ghostly Fathers wished a man to liue Charily, 
 though not chastly. 
 
 Whether will Percemll and this weather holde? nay 
 no further Martin, thou maist spet in that hole, for ile 
 come no more there : here I pitch my stafie, and stand 
 to vrge thee, with these premises aboue named: thou 
 begannest first, and therefore giue not ouer last. Thy 
 beginning was worst, let thine ending be best. Contro- 
 ;uersies be meate and drinke to the people : but doo not 
 cramme them with such gobbets, as may sticke in their 
 throats, least they hang the head on the shoulder, like 
 him that was slaine with an. arrow at Tiburn prickes. 
 That is a new kinde of diet, with all my hart. Yet sir, 
 when the Steele and the flint be knockde togither, a 
 man may light his match by the sparkle : surely, but I 
 c 3 
 
30 
 
 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 thinke tinder be verie danke now adaies, and though it 
 take fire quickly, yet it takes light by leisure: for there 
 hath been striking and iarring euer since, and a great 
 while before, that a learned man somewhat on thy side, 
 Martin, seemed to persuade that contention for good 
 matters was good: you should haue his words: but 
 that Gr cecum est, non potest legi : and yet I see 
 no more Candles tinded the wont to be, but a 
 great many Beacons more fired then ought to be. You 
 shall neuer make me belieue, that many Arguments 
 tume soonest to Agreements. I haue seene them, 
 which haue seene such hurly burlies about a couple, 
 (that were no Fathers of the Church neither) Aristotle 
 and Ramus, or els aske the Vniuersities, such a quoile 
 with pro and con, such vrging of Ergoes, til they haue 
 gone fro Art togither by the eares, and made their 
 conclusions end with a Clunchfist, right like the old 
 description of Logicke. My yoong maisters could not 
 be content to whet their wits with such a cotentio: 
 but fel to whetting their Tuskes at one another: like 
 those children which sitting in the Chimney corner, 
 some at one side, some at another, with the fire in the 
 middle; fell to it with firebrands^ when they should 
 haue but warmde themselues and away. One litle 
 sparke of dissention, is able to set a whole house, a 
 Towne, an Vniuersitie, a Citie, a whole Realme on fire, 
 the affections of young men be so readie to nourish it. 
 Well then Martin, and you professed Mar-Martins, in 
 presence of me Perceuall shake hands and be friendes, 
 meet halfe way, and I standing iump in the middle will 
 
PtAINE PERCEVALL. 31 
 
 crie aime to you both : so as you come not running with 
 force and maine, and crush me betwixt you for my good 
 will. As for thine offence Martin, of higher Powers, I 
 dare vndertake, the Bishops seeks no blood, so as thy 
 rash attempt might be qualified with submission. And 
 so did Paul, (els I am deceiued) either plead ignorance 
 for an excuse, or seem to recant and correct his ruffe 
 speech, he had made to a man in authority : belike he 
 was afraid least his example should haue animated any 
 pert Controulers of Magistracy, and therefore cut them 
 downe, which should spmke ill of the Ruler of the 
 people. How strangely looke these marchants on 
 both sides ? I would we had an Ostler to giue them a 
 turne or two till their sweating were done. What met- 
 tall be they made of? their noise nothing like bels, and 
 yet a man may stop his eares to hear their dinne, with 
 honestie : it goes through my head, and makes a great 
 many moe deafe and displeased besides me. They 
 agree like two drums, which are headed, the one with a 
 sheeps skin, the other with a wolfes hide. It can neuer 
 be good musicke, that stands all vpon sharpes, and neuer 
 a flat: all diuisions framde with such long discords, and 
 not so much as a concord to end withall, argues a bad 
 eare, and a bungling Artist. Martin and counter 
 Martin, be you not all Countrey men ? make you no 
 account of that name ? vnnaturall children, will you 
 distract your naturall mother? will you send Foxes 
 with fire brands at their tailes, to bume so forward a 
 crop of toward youth, so well eared, that they put vs in 
 hope alreadie of a timely haruest, and a plentiful! 
 
32 PLAINE PERCEVALI. 
 
 Gardiner for seuen yeeres after? send not a whirle- 
 winde amongst them, least beating one against another, 
 they dash out the Cumell, or be ledgde on the ground. 
 
 Go too r say, neuer straine curtesie, who shall begin : 
 beshrow him that comes lagge in so good a course as is 
 renewing of frindship. Downe with those great harts, 
 and bridle those angry fits, stand not in that clamorous 
 accusation of one another, the best of both may be 
 amended. Let the wisest be the forwardest, aisd the 
 most foole the frowardest. What ouerthwart com- 
 panions be these, the more I perswade, the more they 
 looke askaunce ouer their shoulders: you turne the 
 wrong way and be too wayward. Remeber your 
 selues, walke about, and coole this flushing in the face, 
 lest it fume vp, and make you braine sicke. I would 
 faine doo some good vpon you: but when I lead a 
 horse to the water, if he will not drinke, what can I 
 doo, but whistle him. If my presens perswade nothing, 
 yet in mine absence, thinke of Perceual, and let him not 
 haue his name Peace-Maker for naught. I am sorry, 
 if I haue put my finger in the fire, and cannot quench 
 it: yet the best is, I can pull it out againe harmles, for a 
 wet finger burns not. I wil keepe me far enough from 
 the fiame, though perhaps I may smell in the smoke, by 
 touching the brands. 
 
 O Pereeuall! so some of these wil be-daube thee 
 with Inke, and plague thee with blacke and white: for 
 I see how thfey gird thee in their sleeues already. Tush 
 I can paint as fast as they, though perhaps not altogither 
 so faire. But a lewes letter scrible scrable ouer the 
 
PLAINE PERCEVAIL. 33 
 
 Copurtenaunce of a mans countenance, will dash a body 
 wickedly. You see my quarter staffe, is it not a blesse 
 begger, thinke you ? A washing blow of this is as good 
 as a Laundresse, it will wash for the names sake: it 
 can wipe a fellow ouer the thumbs, wring a man in 
 the withers, and must needs dry beate a skoundrell, 
 if it be artificially managed. Will you fight then 
 Perceuall ? no truly, I had rather see my quarter ashe 
 staiFe conuerted into ashes, then I would vse it against 
 any person : and then I am sure I shall not be pinchd 
 on the parsons side: for they would haue peace as 
 well as I. But let a TrauaUor walke with his imple- 
 ments about him: A Dag case may be as good now 
 and then as a case of Dags. The sight of a Hanger 
 rusted in the sheath hanging by ones side, may safe 
 conduct a bodies purse, and saue a picking faint harted 
 theefe fi:om hanging beside. But what if these Roisters 
 draw their Pen and Inkehomes, and so set vpon thee ? 
 They may quickly set me vp, for I will be no Peace- 
 Breaker : yet if they howse me, I may chaunce to 
 thrust a wispe out of the window and so make them 
 waspish. O that is an excellent Auditor for a skold, 
 a cucking stoole will coole somewhat too much this 
 wether: but a wispe wil heate to the hart like Mal- 
 mesie. But you my Masters that striue, for this 
 supematurall art of wrangling : let all matters be husht 
 and quiet a Godsname: if my toong ware currant 
 at the later end of my tale, and incur ^ny suspition 
 that I am currish naturde, bicause I talke of my fence, 
 write my termes in the wind, or let them passe for 
 
34 PLAINE PERCEVALL. 
 
 wind: and carrouse vp your owne quarrels in the 
 cup, and let the licour and they, like good fellowes, 
 march arme in arme, downe your throats. And so 
 hauing skinkde mine Vltimum Vale in a parting pot, I 
 put you both in a draught : And drinke to the funerals 
 of your Enimitie. Stay good neighbors, now I am for 
 your company. 
 
 Medio Tutissimus ibis. 
 
 This worke being finished, and red ouer and ouer by 
 the head of the parish, they called a vestry, wherin 
 they concluded, to write euery man some verses in the 
 commendation of the Author, bicause it was a custome 
 greatly taken vp in the Vniuersitie of late. And thus 
 they ilorish in their mother tong, as here foUoweth. 
 
 Tlw gay bay Larell bow, that prancks my Cole, 
 
 As speciallforehorse of my beanefed Teeme, 
 
 Take Ferceuall, and clap it on thy pole. 
 
 Whose forties such a branch doth well beseeme : 
 If any aske why thou art clad so garish : 
 Say thou art dubd the forehorse of the parish. 
 
 Quoth A. N. Carter. 
 
PLAINE PERCEVALL. 35 
 
 Hold hether, thou bell wether, of my fold, 
 
 Although thou hast dischargde thy duty well : 
 
 Surrender vp thy watch though it were gold : 
 
 For learned Peroeuall must beare the bell. 
 If (quoth my wether) it be Perceuall : 
 Let him for me, take bell and homes and all. 
 
 Not so quoth G. A. Sheepheard. 
 
 Thy praises Peroeuall shall fiorish in my dary. 
 
 My Paper, Curds, my Pen shall be a spoone. 
 
 Where I for aie will make thy praises tarry : 
 
 And if my Paper doe not sincke too soone, 
 Else will I write them all vpon a cheese. 
 That as the same increaseth, so may these. 
 
 Quoth Goodman Bl.farmar. 
 
 The Coblers prophecy vpon the Author. 
 
 This patch here placd, the which I bast: 
 And sow so fast, shall sooner wast 
 
 Then Perceuals renowne. 
 
 My shoe shall rend, my nail blade bend, 
 My lingels end, first shall I spend, 
 
 Before his works goe downe. 
 
 At these assaies, thou gettest such praise. 
 As neer decaies, then goe thy waies. 
 
 For I stand to the same. 
 
 If any such, by chaunce I tuch, 
 
 As seemes to grutch, for I speake so much, 
 
 George Cobler is my name. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
36 PLAINK PERCEVALt. 
 
 Myfrinds all fatter I beseech, 
 
 To yeeld our Perceuall good speech : 
 
 Husht Momus or my needell in thy breech. 
 
 Cast me the bottome of browne 
 threed hither. 
 
 AUfolkes offauour I beseech, 
 
 To yeeld our Perceuall good speech : 
 
 Or else my needell in their breech. 
 
 Cast me hither the bottome 
 of browne threed. 
 
 So T will chalke thy praises vp, 
 And preach thy fame vpon a mip: 
 Remembring Perce, at euery sup. 
 
 ' But that I haue such hast of my 
 
 worlee against Christide 
 
 Quoth N. G. Botcher. 
 
 Feceris Hufsnuffos scribendo relinquere Cuffos, 
 
 Necnon Martinos (appositiui dieo) mali natos dim patre binos, 
 
 Et quoque Clubfistos omnes pacaueris istos, 
 
 Perceuall, ac idem (si possis) scindere pridem 
 
 Ineeptas lites, vis, fanquam runcina, vites. 
 
 Es melior, (quid est Latind propter.) An Ale-house 
 
 To stablish friendship, or botch vp Peace in an Kndship. 
 
 Twenty pound for a Dictionary. 
 
 Giuen in the Church loft. By me H. D. SchoUard 
 maker for fault of a better. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
puritan Mi&tiplim €vntt&* 
 
 AN ALMOND FOR A PARROT; 
 
 A REPLY 
 
 MARTIN MAR-PRELATE. 
 
 3ae=prtntelr ivam Qc 3BIadt Hetter tSSXsitian, 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN PETHERAM, 71, CHANCERY LANE. 
 
 1846, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Although I cannot at this time bring together positive 
 and undoubted evidence of the authorship of the follow- 
 ing tract, (because the materials are at present inac- 
 cessible to me,) at some future period, in the Intro- 
 duction to one of his accredited productions, I hope to 
 place the fact beyond the reach of cavil or question, 
 that Thomas Nash, to whom public fame has given it, 
 was the author. 
 
 Nash was of St. John's College, Cambridge, and 
 took his degree of B.A. in 1585. He is supposed to 
 have quitted the university in some disgrace about 
 1586, but of the cause we are entirely ignorant. The 
 anonymous author of a tract called " Polymanteia," 
 printed in 1595, thus alludes to it : "Cambridge, make 
 thy two children friends ; thou hast been unkind to 
 one [Nash], to wean him before his tinie, and too fond 
 A 2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 upon the other [Gabriel Harvey], to keep him so long 
 without preferment; the one is ancient and of small 
 reading; the other is young and full of wit." Nash 
 himself speaks of his beardless years, in Pierce Penni- 
 less; and Gabriel Harvey, in his Pierce's Supererogation, 
 1592, calls him " a gosling of the printing house;" and 
 in another place "a proper young man;" and elsewhere, 
 "a young man of the greenest spring, as beardless in 
 judgment as in face :" so that he must have taken his 
 degree of B.A. early in life, and we know that he never 
 proceeded Master of Arts. 
 
 It would appear from the Introduction to the follow- 
 ing tract that Nash had visited Italy. Mr. Collier, in 
 his Introduction to Nash's Pierce Penniless [Shakspeare 
 Soc. 1842], says, "We find him [Nash] in London in 
 1587, in which year he wrote a very amusing and clever 
 introductory epistle to a tract by the celebrated Robert 
 Greene, called 'Menaphon,' afterwards better known 
 by the name of 'Greene's Arcadia,' the title it bore 
 in the later impressions. This seems to have been 
 Nash's earliest appearance in the character of an author" 
 [p. X, xi.], then adding in a note, " We take the date of 
 'Greene's Menaphon,' 1587, from the edition of that 
 author's ' Dramatic Works,' by the Rev. A. Dyce." 
 Mr. Collier apparently had forgotten that he had 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 himself stated some years before the fact of the Arcadia 
 having been printed in 1587, "because in Greene's 
 Euphues, his Censure to Philautus, of the same date, it 
 is mentioned as already in print." [Hist. English 
 Dramatic Poetry, vol. iii. p. 150.] 
 
 Whatever may be the date of the first edition of 
 Greene's Menaphon, we have here only to do with 
 Nash's Preface to that work, and, though Sir E. 
 Brydges, in his reprint of it in 1814, mentions 1587, 
 in which he is followed by the Rev. A. Dyce in 1831, 
 [Greene's Works, ii. c. iii], by Mr. Collier above, in 
 the same year, and again in 1842, all agreeing to 'fix 
 the date of Nash's Preface in 1587; yet there is, if I 
 mistake not, internal evidence that it could not have 
 been written before the date of the first known edition, 
 which is in 1589. 
 
 Of the accuracy of the extraordinary facts which 
 Nash relates in the Introduction to the Almond for 
 a Parrot [pp. 5, 6], I had expected to find confirma- 
 tion in some book of travels of the time, but in this 
 have not succeeded. 
 
 Nash, in his Preface to Menaphon, addressed "To 
 
 the Gentlemen Students of both Universities," evidently 
 A 3 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 referring to the Puritans, mentions, " the most poi- 
 sonous Pasquils any dirty-mouthed Martin or Momus 
 ever composed;" of their "spitting ergo in the mouth 
 of every one they meet;" and, unless I am mistaken, 
 the following refers to Penry: "But when the irre- 
 gular idiot, that was up to the ears in divinity before 
 ever he met with probabile in the university, shall leave 
 pro et contra before he can scarcely pronounce it, and 
 come to correct commonweals that never heard of the 
 name of magistrate before he came to Cambridge, it 
 is no marvel if every alehouse vaunt the table of the 
 world turned upside down, since the child beateth his 
 father, and the ass whippeth his master.'' [Reprint of 
 Menaphon, in Archaica, Pref. xiii., 4to, 1814.] The 
 allusions in the whole sentence can only be explained 
 by referring them to Martin Mar-Prelate's " Epistle," 
 "Epitome," &c., which were printed in 1588. 
 
 Secondly, Nash says, " It may be my Anatomy of 
 Absurdities may acquaint you ere long with my skill in 
 surgery." Now, the Anatomy of Absurdities came out 
 in 1589, and the expression "ere long" would scarcely 
 apply had this been written in 1587. 
 
 Thirdly, he says, " If I please, I will think my ig- 
 norance indebted unto you that applaud it, if not, what 
 
INTRODUCTION. VII 
 
 rests but that I be excluded from your courtesy, like 
 Apocrypha from your Bibles 1 " 
 
 This passage appears to refer to a fact which Martin 
 Mar-Prelate states in his Epistle to the Terrible Priests. 
 [Reprint, p. 4.] "The last lent [he is writing in 1588] 
 there came a commaundement from his grace into 
 Paules Church Yard, that no Byble should be bounde 
 without the Apocripha." Strype, in his Life of Arch- 
 bishop Whitgift, admits the order, and takes some pains 
 to justify the Archbishop in issuing it. [See Strype's 
 Whitgift, i. 590. — Cooper's Admonition, 1589.] 
 
 The foregoing inferences, however, are confirmed by 
 the fact that there is an allusion in this Preface to a 
 work which did not appear until 1589. Nash, in 
 giving the roll of English Worthies, introduces the 
 following passage: "I will not say but we . had a 
 Haddon, whose pen would have challenged the laurel 
 from Homer; together with Cab, that came as near 
 him as Virgil to Theocritus. But Thomas Newton, 
 with his Leiland, and Gabriel Harvey, with two or 
 three other, is almost all the store that is left us at this 
 hour." [Pref, to Menaphon, xviii.] 
 
 As Newton's Leiland is a work of unfrequent occur- 
 
Vm INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rence, I subjoin the tide at length: "Principum, ac 
 illustrium aliquot & eruditorum in Anglia virorum, 
 Encomia, Trophsea, Genethliaca & Epithalamia. A 
 Joanne Lelando Antiquario conscripta, nunc primura 
 in lucem edita, Quibus etiam adiuncta sunt, lUustris- 
 simorum aliquot Heroum, hodife viventium, alioruraq ; 
 hinc ind^ Anglorum, Encomia et Evlogia : A Thoma 
 Newtono Cestreshyrio, succisiuis horulis exarata. Lon- 
 dini, apud Thomam Orwinum, Typographum. 1589," 
 in 4to. This work may also contain internal evidence, 
 in addition to the statement in the title-page, that it was 
 first published in 1589. There is a poem at p. 122, 
 "Ad Chr. Oclandum de Elizabetheide sua," which 
 may refer to the first part of Ocland's Elizabetheis, 
 which came out in 1582, but most probably refers to 
 the second part, printed by Thomas Orwin, in 1589. 
 
 I should not have taken the trouble to investigate 
 the contents of this Preface of Nash, "the firstlings of 
 my folly,'' as he calls it himself [p. xxi], with such 
 minuteness, but that it establishes beyond question the 
 fact that Nash commenced his literary career in 1589, 
 and not, as is generally supposed, in 1587. 
 
 In the following Introduction, Nash says, "For 
 comraing from Venice the last summer, and taking 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 Bergamo in my waye homeward to England." Now as 
 he afterwards alludes to the appearance of Martin 
 Mar-prelate in England, and also to the defeat of the 
 Spanish Armada, "neither Philip by his power," this 
 most probably was the latter part of the summer of 
 
 1588, iand if he arrived in England towards the end 
 of 1588, there would be both time and opportunity 
 for him to write the various works, which, published in 
 
 1589, are attributed to him. There is every proba- 
 bility, therefore, that Nash did visit Italy, that he was 
 there in 1588( and that, returning to England with his 
 mind enlarged by travel, he commenced his short, but 
 remarkable career in literature, which, after he had 
 undergone the painful vicissitudes to which authors by 
 profession have so often been subjected, 
 
 "Since none takes pitie of a sohoUer's neede," 
 
 was terminated by his death in 1601. 
 
 I shall not here enumerate the various works which 
 Nash wrote, because an opportunity will offer, in the 
 Introduction to one of his publications, to notice the 
 whole of them. 
 
 Whatever was the origin of the long and bitter 
 quarrel between Nash and Gabriel Harvey, from this 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 passage in the Preface to Menaphon, 1589, "and 
 Gabriel Haryey, with two or three other, is almost all 
 the store that is left us at this hour," we may reason- 
 ably infer that it was not in existence then. The 
 origin, progress, and effect of this quarrel, which 
 included Lyly, Greene, Nash, and the three Harveys, 
 and the right understanding of which is necessary to 
 elucidate the progress of the Martin Mar-Prelate Con- 
 troversy, I hope to give in the Introduction to " Plaine 
 Percevall the Peace-Maker of England," a tract uni- 
 formly attributed to Nash ; but which he, in one of his 
 publications, not only utterly disclaims, but charges it 
 upon one of his most hated antagonists. 
 
 The internal evidence in favour of Nash, as the 
 author of the Almond for a Parrot, is very strong ; and 
 cannot but appear to any one who is conversant with 
 his "Christ's Tears over Jerusalem," a work con- 
 taining more remarkable passages than any publica- 
 tion of the time that has ever fallen in my way. The de- 
 scription of Penry, atp. 39, beginning, "Where, what his 
 estimation was," &c. ; but more especially the paragraph 
 at p. 21, beginning, "Talke as long as you will of the 
 loyes of heaven," &c., may be compared with several 
 passages in "Christ's Tears" wherein Nash describes 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 the horrors endured by its inhabitants during the siege 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 With respect to the title "An Almond for aParrat," 
 the meaning appears obvious ; it is evidently a cant 
 term, and like "A Sop to Cerberus," means a stopper 
 for the mouth. Mr. Halliwell, in his Dictionary of 
 Archaic and Provincial Words, calls it "a kind of 
 proverbial expression," but does not attempt to trace 
 its origin. It is used by Skelton [Works by Dyce, 
 ii. 4], by Webster [Works, iii. 122], and by Mid- 
 dleton [Works, iii. 112]. 
 
 The original, from which the present tract is re- 
 printed, is a small 4to, printed in black letter, consisting 
 altogether of 28 pages. The "Protestation" is referred 
 to at p. 11, "Pap with a Hatchet," at p. 12, and "Hay 
 any worke for a Cooper," at p. 15, by which it is cer- 
 tain that its publication was subsequent to them, and 
 may perhaps be referred to the latter end of the 
 year 1589. 
 
 J. P. 
 London, 
 Nov. 28th, 1845. 
 
An Almond for a Parrat, 
 
 Or 
 
 Cutbert Curry-knaues 
 
 Almes. 
 
 Fit for the knaue Martin, and the 
 rest of those impudent Beggers, that 
 
 can not be content to stay their stomakes 
 
 with a Benefice, but they will needes 
 
 breake their fastes with 
 
 our Bishops. 
 
 Rimarum sum plenus. 
 Therefore beware (gentle Reader) you 
 
 catch not the hicket with laughing. 
 
 Imprinted at a Place, not farre from a 
 
 Place, by the Assignes of Signior Some-body, and 
 
 are to be sold at his shoppe in Trouble-knaue 
 
 Street, at the signe of the 
 
 Standish. 
 
TO THAT MOST 
 
 Comicall and conceited Caualeire 
 
 Monsieur du Kempe, lestmonger and 
 
 Vice-gerent generall to the Ghost of 
 Dicke Tarlton. 
 
 His louing brother Cutbert Curry-knaue 
 sendeth Greeting. 
 
 Brother Kempe, as many alhailes to thy person as 
 there be haicocks in luly at Pancredge : So it is, that 
 what for old acquaintance, and some other respectes of 
 my pleasure, I haue thought good to offer here certaine 
 spare stufFe to your protection, which if your sublimitie 
 accept in good part, or vouchsafe to shadow with 
 the curtaine of your countenance, I am yours till fatall 
 destiny two yeares after doomes day. Many write 
 bookes to knights and men of great place, and haue 
 thankes, with promise of a further reward for their 
 paines : others come of with a long Epistle to some 
 rufling Courtier, that sweares swoundes and bloud as 
 soone as euer their backe is turnd, a man can not goe 
 in the streetes for these impudent beggers. To auoide 
 therefore as well the worthlesse attendance on the one, 
 B 2 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 as the vsuall scome of the other, I haue made choise of 
 thy amorous selfe to be the pleasant patron of my 
 papers. If thou wilt not accept of it in regard of the 
 enuy of some Citizens, that can not away with argu- 
 ment, He preferre it to the soule of Dick Tarlton, who 
 I know will entertaine it with thankes, imitating herein 
 that merry man Rablays, who dedicated most of his 
 workes to the soule of the old Queene of Nauarre 
 many yeares after her death, for that she was a main- 
 tainer of mirth in her life. Marry God send vs more 
 of her making, and then some of vs should not line so 
 disconteted as we do : for now a dayes, a man can not 
 haue a bout with a Balletter, or write Midas habet aures 
 asininas in great Romaine letters, but hee shall bee in 
 daunger of a further displeasure. Well, come on it 
 what will, Martin and I will allow of no such doinges, 
 wee can cracke halfe a score blades in a backe-lane 
 though a Constable come not to part vs. Neither 
 must you thinke his worship is to pure to be such a 
 swasher, for as Scipio was called Africanus, not for 
 relieuing and restoring, but for subuerting and destroying 
 of Africa ; so he and his companions are called Puri- 
 tans, not for aduancing or supporting of puritie, by 
 their vnspotted integritie, but of their vndermining and 
 supplanting it by their manifold heresies. And in deed 
 therein he doth but apply himselfe to that hope which 
 his holinesse the Pope and other confederate forriners. 
 
DEDICATION. O 
 
 haue conceiued of his tpwardnesse. For comming from 
 Venice the last Summer, gnd taking Bergamo in my 
 waye homeward to England, it was my happe soiourning 
 there some foure or fine dayes, to light in felowship 
 with that famous Francattip' Harlicken, who perceiuing 
 me to bee an English man by my habit and speech, 
 asked me many particulars, of the order and maner of 
 our playes, which he termed by the name of represen- 
 tations : amongst other talke he enquired of me if I 
 knew any such Parabolano here in London, as Signior 
 Chiarlatano Kempino. Very well (quoth I,) and haue 
 beene oft in his company. He hearing me say so, 
 began to embrace me a new, and offered me all the 
 courtesie he cplde for his sake, saying, although he 
 knew him not, yet for the report hej had hard of his 
 pleasance, hee colde not but bee in loue with his per- 
 fections being absent. As we were thus discoursing, 
 I hard such ringing of belles, such singing, such 
 shouting, as though Rhodes had beene recouered, or the 
 Turke quite driuen out of Christendome, therewithal 
 I might behold an hundreth bonefiers together, tables 
 spred in the open streetes, and banquets brought in of 
 all handes. Demaunding the reason of him that was 
 next me, he told the newes was there (thankes be to 
 God,) that there was a famous Schismatike one Martin 
 newe sprung vp in England, who by his bookes, libels, 
 and writings, had brought that to passe, which neither 
 B 3 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 the Pope by his Seminaries, Philip by his power, nor 
 all the holy League by their vnderhand practises and 
 policies could at any time effect : for wheras they liued 
 at vnitie before, and might by no meanes be drawne 
 vnto discord, hee hath inuented such quiddities to set 
 them together by the eares, that now the temporaltie is 
 readie to plucke out the throtes of the Cleargie, and 
 subiects to withdraw their allegeance from their Soue- 
 rayne : so that in short time, it is hoped they will bee 
 vp in arraes one against another, whiles we aduantaged 
 by this domestical! enuy, may inuade them vnawares, 
 when they shall not be able to resist. I, sory to heare 
 of these triumphes, coulde not rest till I had related 
 these tidinges to my countrimen. If thou hast them at 
 the second hand, (fellow Kempe) impute it to the inter- 
 cepting of my papers, that haue stayed for a good 
 winde, euer since the beginning of winter. Now they 
 are arriued, make much of them, and with the credit of 
 thy clownery, protect thy Cutbert from Carpers. 
 
 Thine in the way of brotherhood, 
 
 Cutbert Curry-knaue, 
 
In aimontr for a parrat* 
 
 Welcome Mayster Martin from the dead, and much 
 good ioy may you haue of your stage-like resurrection. 
 It was told me by the vndanted purseuants of your 
 sonnes, and credibly beleeued in regard of your sinnes, 
 that your grout-headed holinesse had turnd vppe your 
 heeles like a tired iade in a medow, and snorted out 
 your scornefull soule, like a mesled hogge on a mucke- 
 hill, which had it not beene false as the deuill woulde 
 haue it, that long tongd doctresse Dame Law. muste 
 haue beene faint (in spite of insperation) to haue giuen 
 ouer speaking in the congregation, and employ her 
 Parrats tong in stead of a winde-clapper to scarre the 
 Crowes from thy carrion. But profound CUffe the 
 ecclesiasticall cobler, interrupted from his morning 
 exercise with this false alarum, broke vp his brotherly 
 loue-meeting abruptly, when the spirite had but newly 
 moued him, and betooke him to his solitary shoppe, 
 abutting on the backe side of a bulke. Nor was his 
 souterly sorrow so hippocritically ingratefull, but he 
 determined in the aboundance of his teares, that made a 
 ful tide in his blacking tubbe, to haue stitcht vp your 
 
8 AN ALMOND 
 
 traytourshippe a tumbe of vntand leather, wherein tan- 
 quam culeolo insutus, hee mought haue sought his for- 
 tune in the seas. But I know not how this parracides 
 exequies were prorogd, in so much as a brother in 
 Christ of his at Northampton, fetcht a more thriftier 
 president of funeralls piping hot from the primitiue 
 church, which including but a few words and those 
 passing well expounded, kept his wainscot from wj^ste, 
 and his linnen from wearing, sufficeth he tombled his 
 wife naked into the earth at high noone, without sheete 
 or shroude to couer her shame, breathing ouer her in 
 an audible voice : Naked came I out of my mothers 
 wombe, and naked shall I retume againe. Tut, tut, a 
 thousand of these pranks make no discord in my young 
 maisters discipline, whose reformed fraternity, quoat 
 Scripture so confidently, as if they had lately purchast 
 a commission of cum priuilegio ad interpretandum solum, 
 from Christ and his twelue Apostls. And in deede who 
 knowes whether Maister Martin being inspired, as earst 
 one of his faction, who hearing the waites play vnder 
 his window very early, insulted most impudently, that 
 in the midst of his morning praiers, he was presented 
 with the melody of Angels, so hee in like manner 
 shoulde vaunt of some reuelation, wherein the full 
 sinode of Lucifers ministers angells assembled, did par- 
 lament all their enuy to the subuersion of our esta- 
 blished ministry, and then comes forth some more 
 subtile spirite of hipocrisie, which offers himself to be 
 a false prophet in the mouths of our Martinists, to 
 whom the whole sedition house of hel condiscending. 
 
FOR A PARRAT. i> 
 
 break vp their sessions, and send this seducer into the 
 world, where finding no such mutinous seate, as the 
 heart of our seconde Pilate Marprelate, he chose it in 
 steade of a worser, to bee vnto England as Zidkiah son 
 of Chenaanah was vnto Ahdb. Beare with me good 
 Maister Pistle-monger, if in comparing thy knauery, 
 my full points seeme as tedious to thy puritane perusers, 
 as the Northren mans mile, and a waybitte to the 
 weary passenger, for I tell thee troth, till I see what 
 market commission thou hast to assiste any mans sen- 
 tences, I will neuer subscribe to thy periode prescisme. 
 And hearest thou old Martin, did all thy libells iointly 
 shroude so much substance of diuinity in their out- 
 landish letters, as that one periode of vniformity in 
 T. C. directing to obedience, I would thinke God had 
 bin mercifull to thee in inspiring thy soule with some 
 one separate motion, from reprobation, but when whole 
 reames of paper are blotted with thy huperbolical blas- 
 phemies and religious matters of controversy more then 
 massacred by thy prophane scurrility, I ca but suppose 
 thy hart y' house swept and garnished, into the which 
 the foule spirit returned with other 7. spirits worse 
 then himself. Malicious hipocryt, didst thou so much 
 malign the successeful thriuings of the Gospell, that 
 thou shouldst filch thy selfe, as a new disease into our 
 gouernement ? wert thou the last instrument of Sathans 
 enuy, that as the abhortiue childe of a Chaos of heresies, 
 thou sholdst adorne thy false dealing with the induments 
 of discipline ? Me thinks I see thee smile fi-om vnder 
 thy double-fact hood, to thinke howe craftily thou hast 
 
10 AN ALMOND 
 
 crept into mens cosciences : but wouldst thou obserue, 
 how if thy alarums haue prosperd in our peaceable 
 ears, that make no more breach into our state, then 
 the iron homes of those hony togd prophets into the 
 arraies of the Aramites, Chro. 2. and tenth Chap, thou 
 wouldest with Achitophell return to thy house (at least 
 if thou hast any) and hang thy selfe in a melancholia, 
 for that thy counsaile was turned to foUye. When I 
 first saw thy books, I ascribed thy impudence to the 
 Calahrian wonders of 88. but when 89. beheld thee in 
 a new sute, I imagined the excesse of our sins, sent thee 
 forth to geue railing sentence against vs, as Simei against 
 Dauid in the 2. of Kings. Yet seely sophister wouldest 
 thou return the sobrietie of thy morning wittes to this 
 ouerworne Simile, that the rodde which was made to 
 correct post destinatum finem, is cast into the fire, thy 
 despaire would deeme euery darke hole, the entraunce 
 into hell, thy soule being the cittie, whereof the deuill 
 is made free by endenture. And be it true which pit- 
 tying report hath auouched, Herostratus desire to be 
 famous, made thee to seale him a conueiance of it many 
 yeares since, so that now thy notorious pamphlets hauing 
 passed the Presse, it is to be feared he will come ouer 
 thee for couenantes ere many yeares to an end. It 
 may bee thou hast redde Foxes Monuments more idlely, 
 where lighting on the example of Luther, that by his 
 praiers importunitie, made the deuil to deliuer vp the 
 obligation of his danation, that sold the ioies of Heaue, 
 for the inheritance of earth, thou hopest in like manner 
 in the age of thine iniquities to bee restored to eternity. 
 
FOR A PAKRAT. 11 
 
 by the vncessant inuocation of the Church which thou 
 termest Antichristian. Deceiue not thy selfe thou man 
 of security, for the enemy of Adam is no poeticall 
 Argus, that his eies should be put out by thy arguments. 
 I tell thee troth, he wil be-pistle thee so peuishly, with 
 allegations of vnuenidall sinnes, as though hee were 
 borne within two houses of Battle bridge. It is not thy 
 despairing protestations, can make thy peace with God, 
 whose church thou hast sought to deuide, as did Herods 
 souldiers his garmentes : wele geue thee leaue to tell vs 
 a smooth tale of the intercepting of thy treasons, and 
 curry fauour like a crafty foxe, with the ciuill magis- 
 trate in politique termes of feare and reuerence, but thy 
 heart is no more disguised in this hypocriticall appEirel, 
 then a trenchour Aristvppus in the coate of a Parasite. 
 Why discourse I so soberly, with the mortal enemy of 
 modesty, when as the filth of the stewes, distild into 
 ribauldry termes, cannot confectionate a more intempe- 
 rate stile then his Pamphlets. Thou calst our Bishops 
 wicked by comparison, whereas (wert thou strooken as 
 thou protests with the vntoward euents of thy villanies) 
 thou shouldst find the defilings of the 7. deadly sins, to 
 haufi broght thee by a pleasant pollution, within the 
 possitiue degree of damnation. What talk I to him, of 
 hel or damnation, whom Lucifer hath fumisht to infec- 
 tion, with the painted poison of snout-holy deuotion, 
 and all the powers of darknesse, haue adorned as an 
 intelligencer to their kingdome, of the infirmities in our 
 flourishing Church of England. To this purpose haue 
 they inspired him with a most scurrile spirite of lying. 
 
12 AN ALMOND 
 
 that when his eagle-sighted enuy can truely atract no 
 argument of infamy, his poetica licentia, may h^ue a 
 fresh supply of possibilities, that encrease by cotinuance 
 to a compleat libell of leasings. All you that be schol- 
 lers, read but his last challenge, wherein he laies about 
 him so lamely, as though of his limping brother Pag. 
 hee had lately learned to play at cudgels. But how 
 euer his crazed cause goes on crutches, that was earst 
 so brauely encountered by Pasquin and Marphore.us, 
 and not many moneths since most wittily scofte at by 
 the extemporall endeuour of the pleasant author of 
 Pap with a hatchet : yet is not the good olde creeple 
 vtterly discouraged, or driuen cleane from his dounghill, 
 but he meanes to make the persecuted Coblers once 
 more merrie. Yet by your leaue his other dayes daun- 
 ger is not so fully disgested, that he shuld forget the 
 sanctified mart3rrs his brethren, those runagate Printers, 
 to whose reuenge he bequeatheth a large Pistle of 
 rayling Epithites, and mistearmeth our Bishoppes 
 authoritie, with a whole Textor of tyrannie. A few of 
 whose milder tearms are of this making, wicked Priests, 
 presumptuous Priests, proude Prelates, arrogant Bi- 
 shops, horseleeches, butchers, persecutors of the truth, 
 Lamhethical whelps, Spanish Inquisitours. Thinke 
 you this myrie mouthed mate, a partaker of heauenly 
 inspiration, that thus aboundes in his vncharitable rail- 
 ings : yet are these nothing in comparison of his aun- 
 cient burlibond adiunctes, that so pester his former 
 edition with their vnweldie phrase, as no true syllo- 
 gisme can haue elbowe roome where they are. In 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 13 
 
 which Alphabet these that followe may bee placed : 
 bounsing Priests, terrible Priests, venerable Maisters, 
 proud and pontificall Patripolitians. Gentle reader, I 
 giue you but a tast of them by the waie, that you may 
 knowe them the next time you meete them in your 
 dish, and learne to discerne a poysonous scorpion from 
 wholesome fish. Martin you must thinke, was moude, 
 when his gun-pouder papers were fired aboute his eares, 
 and the spendthriftes his Printers, haled to the prison 
 their patrimonies. Wherefore I cannot blame him 
 though he sends abroade his Letters of supplication, in 
 behalfe of his seruants that did but his bidding. The 
 Church, the Church is persecuted amongst you my 
 maisters, and Martin gettes nere a superintendentship 
 by the shift, but let not Meg Law. crie once more to 
 the Churchwardens for her foode, least shee bring with 
 her a campe royall of scoldes, to scratch out your eyes. 
 Oh she will declaime brauely ouer a Cuckstoole, and 
 plaie the gyant in a narrowe lane with her distafFe. 
 Maister Cooper shall haue his stipend still at Paules 
 chaine, or else shee will sweat for it. I lyke such a 
 wench that will stande to her tackling, why Bishoppes 
 are but men, and she will carrie a Martin in her plac- 
 karde in despite of the proudest of them all. Learne of 
 her you London Matrones, to make hodie-peeles of your 
 husbandes, and leade them like good soules up and 
 downe the streetes by the homes, let it be seene by 
 your courages in scolding, that women haue soules, which 
 a balde eloquent brother of yours, denide not long since 
 in his Sermon at Lichfielde. I, I, my maisters, you 
 
 c 
 
14 AN ALMOND 
 
 may rnocke, on as you see cause, but I warrant you the 
 good olde true-pennie Marprelate is not so merrie, hee 
 sits ruminating under an oake, or in the bottoms of a 
 haystacke, whose bloud shall be first spilte in the 
 reformation of the Church. And not without cause, 
 for hee that hath so lately felte the paine of worming 
 and launcing, caimot but stande in awe of Buls slicing 
 tooles one two moneths after. O it is a hairebrahde 
 whooresonne, and well seene in Phlebotomie, if a but 
 once take knife in hande, cha will as scone let out the 
 seditious humours forth a Martinistes bodie, as the best 
 he in England, that hath bin twentie yeeres practioners 
 in Surgerie, Good munckie face Machiuell, shew but 
 thy head once, and trie him at my request, and if he 
 doe it not more handsomely, then those whom thou 
 callest Butchers and Horseleeches, then neuer trust an 
 olde ladde whilest thou liuest. How euer it • happens, 
 thou bearest thy resolution in thy mouth at highe 
 midnight, and hast Scripture enough to carrie thee to 
 heauen, though thou wert hangde to morrowe. We 
 feare not men that can kill the bodie, quoth Martin, 
 because we feare God, who can cast both bodie and 
 soule into vnquenchable fire. Doest thou feare God in 
 deede, I praie thee good hedge-creeper how shall we 
 knowe that ? What, by the smoothing of thy face, the 
 simpering of thy mouth, or staring of thy eies ? Why if 
 that be to feare God, He haue a spare fellowe shall 
 make mee a whole quest of faces for three farthinges. 
 But thou wilt peraduenture saie, by thy obedience vnto 
 him. Then will I catechise thee more kindly with a 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 15 
 
 fewe more Christian questions ! the first whereof shall 
 be this, wherein thou placest obedience, which if thou 
 aunswerest, by doing that which God hath commaunded 
 in his worde : then would T knowe of thee, whether 
 that of Paul be Canonicall or Apocripha, He that 
 resisteth the magistrate, resisteth the ordinaunce of God. 
 And heire I am sure to be had by the eares with a 
 Geneua note of the distinction of magistrates, but all 
 that shall not serue your turnes, for He driue you from 
 your Die Ecclesice ere I have done, ware the vnmasking 
 of Martin, when it comes tis lyke to bee a shrewde 
 Pistle, I can tell you. Prepare your argumentes as 
 you will, for Mar-Martin lunior, meanes to make such 
 hauocke of you in that his next peece of seruice, as all 
 your borrowed weapons of simple T. C. shall not bee 
 able to withstande. For your olde soaking Demon- 
 strationer, that hath scrapte vp such a deale of Scripture 
 to so lyttle purpose. He leaue his confusion to the 
 vacaunt leasure of our grauer Diuines, who I knowe; 
 did they but once sette penne to paper, woulde grinde 
 his discipline to powder. Thou art the man, olde 
 Martin of Englande, that I am to deale withall, that 
 striues to outstrip all our writers in witte, and iustle 
 our gouernement forth of doores with a iest. What, wee 
 must not let you passe with such fauourable tearmes, 
 as our graue Fathers haue done, your Bookes must bee 
 lookt ouer, and you beaten lyke a dogge for your lying. 
 I thinke, I thinke I shall haue occasion to close with you 
 sweedie in your Hay anie worke for a Cooper, and 
 cutte off the traynes of your tedious syllogismes, that 
 c 2 
 
16 AN ALMOND 
 
 nowe haue no lesse then seauen or eight Termini wait- 
 ing on them. Fortifie your ruinous buildinges betimes, 
 and saie hee was your friende that badde you : for 1 
 can tell you thus much, a whole hoast of Pasquils are 
 comming vppon you, who will so beleaguer your paper 
 walles, as that not one idle worde shall escape the edge 
 of their wit. I giue thee but a brauado now, to let thee 
 knowe I am thine enemie, but the next time you see Mar- 
 Martine in armes, bidde your sonnes and your familie 
 prouide them to God-warde, for I am eagerly bent to 
 revenge, and not one of them shall escape, no not T. C. 
 hiraselfe as full as he is of his myracles. But to pur- 
 sue maister Protestationer in his common place of per- 
 secution. I remember we talkt euen now of a dudgen 
 destinction from which my Bedlam brother Wig. and 
 poltfoote Pag. with the rest of those patches, striue to 
 deriue theyr discipline disobedience. Our Ecclesiasti- 
 cal! gouernment and gouernours say they, are wicked 
 and vnlawfull. Why ? because Sir Peter nor Sir Paul 
 were neuer Archbishoppes of Canterbury, London, or 
 Yorke. They were Fisher-men, and were not able. 
 When CcBsars OiRcers demaunded their tribute to make 
 fine groates amongst them, then what reason is it our 
 Bishoppes should inioy their five hundreds, nay, that 
 which is more, their thousand and two thousands? 
 They were none of these Cartercaps, Graduates nor 
 Doctors, therfore why should we tie our Ministrie 
 to the prophane studies of the Vniuersitie. What is 
 Logicke but the highe waie to wrangling, contayning 
 in it a world of bibble babble. Neede we anie of your 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 17 
 
 Greeke, Latine, Hebrue, or anie such gibbrige, when 
 wee haue the word of God in English? Go to, go to, 
 you are a great company of vaine men, that stand vpon 
 your degrees and tongues, with tittle tattle, I cannot 
 tell what, when as (if you looke into the matter as you 
 ought) the Apostles knew neare a Letter of the booke. 
 I wis it were not two pins hurt, if your Colledges wer 
 fired ouer your heades, and you turnde a begging forth 
 your fellowshippes, like Fryers and Monkes vp and 
 downe the Countrie. I marie sir, this is 'somewhat like, 
 now Martin speakes like himselfe, I dare saie for him 
 good man, he could be contented there were nere a 
 maister of Art, Bachelour of Diuinitie, Doctor or 
 Bishop in England, on that condition he prest Fishermen, 
 scullers. Coopers, Stitchers, Weauers and Coblers into 
 theyr places. You talke of a Harmonic of the 
 Churches, but heere would be a consort of knauerie 
 worth the publishing to all posteritie. Would you not 
 laugh to see Cli. the Cobler, and New. the souter, ierk- 
 ing out theyr elbowes in euerie Pulpit. Why, I am 
 sure Ladie Law. would fast mans flesh a whole moneth 
 together, but shee woulde giue either of them a gowne 
 cloth on that condition. My self doe knowe a zealous 
 Preacher in Ipswich, that beeing but a while a goe a 
 stage player, will now take vpon him to brandish a Text 
 agaynst •Bishoppes, as well as the best Martinist in all 
 SufFolke. Why, I praie you goe no farther then Batter, 
 haue wee not there a reuerent Pastour of Marlines 
 owne making, that vnderstands not a bit of Latine, nor 
 neuer dyd so much as looke towards the Vniuersitie in 
 c 3 
 
18 
 
 AN ALMOND 
 
 his life, yet you see for a neede he can helpe discipline 
 out of the durt, and come ouer our Cleargie verie hand- 
 somely with an heere is to bee noted. Oh he is olde 
 dogge at expounding, and deade sure at a Catechisme, 
 alwayes prouided, that jt bee but halfe a sheete long, 
 and he be two yeeres about it. And_ well too my 
 maisters, for such a one that vauntes himselfe to bee as 
 hee is, as good a Gentleman euerie inch of him, as anie 
 is in all Stafford sheere. Bee what he will, one thing 
 I wote, hee is seldome without a good Cheese in his 
 studie, besides apples and nuttes, although his wife can 
 neuer come at them. I hearde not long since of a 
 stoute conference hee had with a yong scholer, who 
 taking my Deske-man somewhat tardie in his disputa- 
 tions, told him hee was inspired with too much Logique. 
 Where vnto hee reply ed with this solempne protestatio, 
 I thank God, al the world cannot accuse me of that 
 arte. I hope anon maister Martin, T shall bee meetelie 
 euen with you for your knauerie, if I goe but two mile 
 further in your Ministrie. It is not the Primitiue 
 Church shall beare out the Vicar of little Down, in 
 Norfolke, in groaping his owne hennes, like a Cot- 
 queane, I am to come ouer him when I have more 
 leasure, for his tenne shillings Sermons at Thetforde: 
 wherein if he raue as hee was wont to doe, lie make 
 him wishe that hee had been still Vsher of Westminister. 
 Well, to the purpose. You saie Bishoppes are no 
 Magistrates, because they are no lawfull Magistrates. 
 Is it euen so brother Timothie, will it neuer be better, 
 must I euer leade you vp and downe antiquitie by the 
 
FOB A PARRAT. 19 
 
 nose lyke an Asse. May neither Scriptures nor Fathers 
 goe for paiment with you, but still you will bee reducing 
 vs to the president of the persecuted Church, and so 
 confounde the discipline of warre and peace? If you 
 will needes make vs the apes of all their extremities, 
 why doe not you vrge the vse of that communitie 
 wherein Ananias and Saphira were vnfaythfull. Per- 
 swade Noble men and Gentlemen to sell theyr landes, 
 and laie the money at your feete, take awaie the title 
 of mine and thine from amongst vs, and let the worlde 
 knowe you heereafter by the name of Anabaptistes. 
 Admit that the authoritie of Bishoppes were as vnlaw- 
 full as you woulde make it, yet since it is imposed vnto 
 them by the Princes owne mouth, and ratified by the 
 approbation of so many Kings and Emperours, as well 
 in their particular Parliamentes as generall counsayles, 
 you are bounde in conscience to reuerence it, and in all 
 humilitie to regarde it, insomuch as Christ denide not 
 tribute to Ceesar an vsurper, nor appealde from Pilate 
 a Pagan, who occupied that place by the intrusion of 
 tyrannie. Were the Israelites in captiuitie, anie whit 
 exempted from the obedience of subiectes, in that they 
 lined vnder the scepter of Ndbuchodonesor an Idolater, 
 who had blasphemed their God, defaced their Temple, 
 and defiled their holie vesselles. Nay, are they not 
 expresslie commaunded by the Lordes owne mouth, to 
 honour him as their King : Howe can they then escape 
 the dampnation of contempte, that beeing priuate sub- 
 iectes to such a vertuous Soueraigne, as is zealous of 
 Gods glorie will control! her, disposing of honours, and 
 
20 AN ALMOND 
 
 oppose vnto publique derision, those the especiall pillers 
 and ornamentes of her state, whome shee hath graced 
 from their infancie, with so many sundrie ascentes of 
 dignities. But were this all, then shoulde not treason 
 bee such a braunche of your religion as it is. Haue 
 not you and your followers vndermined her Graces 
 Throane, as much as traytours might: call to minde 
 the badde practise of your brother the Booke-binder 
 and his accomplishes at Burie, who beeing as hotte 
 spirited as your worshippes, in the schismaticall subiect 
 of reformation, and seeing it woulde not come of halfe 
 kindlie to theyr contentment, made no more a doe, but 
 added this newe Posie to her Maiesties armes. Those 
 that bee neither hotte nor colde, He spue them out of 
 my mouth, sayth the Lorde. Denie this, and He bring 
 a whole Assizes, as Obsignatos testes of your trecherie. 
 To come neerer to thee Brother Martin. Hast not thou 
 in thy firste booke agaynst Doctour Bridges, as also in 
 Hay anie worke for Cooper, excluded her Highnesse 
 from all Ecclesiasticall gouernement, saying she hath 
 neyther skill nor commission, as shee is a Magistrate, to 
 substitute anie member or minister in the Church. And 
 in an other place, that there is neither vse nor place in 
 the Church for members, ministers or officers of the 
 magistrates making. If this wyll not come in compasse 
 of treason, then farewell the title of Supremacie, and 
 welcome agayne vnto Poperie. By this time I thinke, 
 good-man Puritan, that thou art perswaded, that I knowe 
 as well as thy owne conscience thee, namely Martin 
 Makehate of Englande, to bee a moste scuruie and 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 21 
 
 beggerlie benefactor to obedience, and per consequens, to 
 feare ney ther men, nor that God who can cast both bodie 
 and soule into vnquenchable fire. In which respect I 
 neyther account you of the Churche, nor esteeme of 
 your blonde, otherwise then the bloud of Infidelles. 
 Talke as long as you will of the ioyes of heauen, or 
 paines of hell, and turne from your selues the ter- 
 rour of that iudgement howe you will, which shall 
 bereaue blushing iniquitie of the figge leaues of hypo- 
 crisie, yet will the eie of immortalitie discerne of your 
 painted pollutions, as the euer-liuing foode of perdition. 
 The humours of my eies are the habitations of foun- 
 taines, and the circumference of my heart the enclosure 
 of fearefull contrition, when I thinke howe many soules 
 at that moment, shall carrie the name of Martine on 
 their foreheads to the vale of confusion, in whose inno- 
 cent bloude thou swimming to hell, shalt haue the tor- 
 mentes of tenne thousande thousande sinners at once, 
 inflicted vppon thee. There will enuie, mallice and 
 dissimulation bee euer calling for vengeance agaynst 
 thee, and incite whole legions of deuilles to thy death- 
 lesse lamentation. Mercie will sale vnto thee, I knowe 
 thee not, and Repentaunce, what have I to doe with 
 thee. All hopes shall shake the head at thee, and saie, 
 there goes the poyson of puritie, the perfection of im- 
 pietie, the serpentine seducer of simplicitie. Zeale her 
 selfe will crie out vppon thee, and curse the time that 
 euer shee was maskte by thy mallice, who lyke a blinde 
 leader of the blinde, sufferedst her to stumble at euerie 
 steppe in Religion, andmadesther seeke in the dimnesse 
 
22 
 
 AN AtMOND 
 
 of her sight, to murther her mother the Churche, from 
 whose pappes thou lyke an enuious dogge but yesterdaie 
 pluckpst her. Howe euer proude scorner, thy whoor- 
 ishe impudencie, may happen heereafter to insiste in the 
 derision of these fearful! denuntiations, and sporte thy 
 iesters penne at the speach of my soule, yet take heede 
 least despayre bee predominant in the daie of thy death, 
 and thou in steade of calling for mercie to thy lesus, 
 repeate more oftner to thy selfe, Sic morior damnatus vt 
 ludas ! And thus much Martin, in the way of compas- 
 sion, haue I spoke for thy edification, moued therto by 
 a brotherly commiseration, which if thou bee not too 
 desperate in thy deuilish attempts, may reform thy heart 
 to remorse, and thy pamphletes to some more profitable 
 theame of repentance. But now haue at thee for the 
 goodnesse of the cause, of which thou saist : We must 
 not reason from the successe. 
 
 Trust me therein thou hast spoke wiser then thou art 
 aware of, for if a man should imagine of fruite by the 
 rottennesse, of garmentes by the moath frets, of wine 
 by the sowrnesse, I warrant him for euer being good 
 costerd-monger, broker, or vintner whiles he liues. 
 Therefore we must not measure of Martin as he is 
 allied to Elderton, or tongd like Will Tong, as he was 
 attired like an Ape on ye stage, or sits writing of 
 Paphlets, in some spare out-house, but as is Mar-Prelat 
 of England as he surpasseth King and collier, in crying. 
 So ho ho, brother Bridges. Wo ho ho, lohn a London. 
 Ha ha he, Doctor Copecotes. Doe this and I warrant 
 you, for sauoring of the fleshe, though you take the 
 
FOR A PARRAT. ' 23 
 
 oportunity of the spirite, with euery sister in Christ. 
 Beholde the state of the low Countryes, since your 
 Plaintife Pistler, will needs make the comparison, sup- 
 pose Martin to be the map of Belgia dilacerata, whose 
 chiefe prouinces as they are wholye possessed with 
 Spaniards, so thinke his hart and soule enhabited with 
 spiet, they Romists in the matter of Religion, and he a 
 Papist in supremacies contradiction, her inward partes 
 possessed with Anabaptists, and Lutherans, and his 
 more priuate opinions polluted with the dregs of them 
 both, her farthest borders of Holland and Zeland, 
 peopled God wot with a small number of vnperfite 
 Protestants, and the furthest and fewest of his thoughts, 
 taken vppe with some odde true points of Religion, 
 How now Father Martin, haue not I hit your meaning 
 patte in this comparison. Say, wil you haue any more 
 such interpretations, if you say Amen to it. He also 
 reconcile your allegoricall induction of France, to the 
 present constitutio of your frowardnes: but that shal 
 not neede, since the misery of the one is the mirrour of 
 the other, and the Reader must suppose that Martin 
 would neare haue compared himselfe to Flaunders nor 
 France, but as they reflect by allusion the distraction 
 of his factions faith. Howe euer you take him at the 
 worst, yet is his welchnes perswaded, that the Lord 
 hath some speciell purpose, by preuentinge of his presse, 
 to try who they be that are hipocrites, and what they 
 be y' are innocent : And not vnlike too, for hauing inter- 
 rupted the trafique of honestye, so long as thou hast 
 with thy couterfet knauery, tis more the hie time thy 
 
24 ■ AN ALMOND 
 
 vnder-had treachery, were broght to the touchstone of 
 authority. You think we know not how pretily your 
 Printers were shrouded vnder the name of salt-peter- 
 men, so that who but HodgMns, Tomlins and Sims, at 
 the vndermining of a house, and vndoing of poore men, 
 by diggyng vp their floars, and breaking down their 
 wals. No, no, we neuer heard how orderly they 
 pretended the printing of Accidences, when my L. of 
 Darbies men came to see what they were a doing, what 
 though they damned themselues about the deniall of 
 the deede, is periury such a matter amongst puritans. 
 Tush they account it no sin as long as it is in the way 
 of protestation, being in the mind of a good old fellow 
 in Cambridge, who sitting in S. lohns as Senior at 
 the fellowes election, was reprehended by some of his 
 betters, for that hee gaue his voice with a dunce like 
 himself, contrary to oath, statute and conscience: why 
 quOth hee, I neither respect oath, statute, nor conscience, 
 but only the glory of God. Men are but men and may 
 erre, yea goodman Spe. himselfe in Paules church-yard, 
 although lie saith he hath no sinne, what maruaile is it 
 then, though some corruption cleaue vnto our aged 
 Gentleman by his owne confession. Learne of me to 
 iudge charitably, and thinke that nature tooke a 
 scouring purgation, when she voided all her imperfections 
 in the birth of one Martin : which if it be so, hee is 
 not to be blamed, since as Arist. sayes, vitia natitrce 
 no sunt reprehendenda. Gibe on, gibe on, and see if 
 your father Mar-martin will beare you out in it or no, 
 you thinke the good sweet-faced prelate. Masse Martin, 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 25 
 
 hath neuer broke sword in ruffians hal, yes that he hath 
 more then one or two, if the truth were known, and 
 fought for his wench as brauely as the best of them all, 
 therefore take heede how you come in his way, least 
 hee belabour you with his crabtree stile for your lus- 
 tines, and teache you howe to looke into a Martins 
 neaste againe while you Uve. Alas you are but young, 
 and neuer knewe what his Bumfeging ment, for if you 
 did, you woulde thinke fiue hundreth fistes about your 
 eares, were more then Phisicke in a frosty morning. 
 Write or fight which you will, our champion is for you 
 at all weapones, whether you choose the worde or the 
 sworde, neither comes amisse to him, he neuer took his 
 domesticall dissention in hand to leaue it soone. All 
 England must bee vp together by the eares, before his 
 penne rest in peace, nor shall his rebellious mutinies, 
 which he shrouds vnder the age of Martinisme, haue 
 any intermedium, till religions prosperity and our 
 Christian libertye, mis-termed of him by the last yeare 
 of Lambethisme, doe perishe from amongst vs, and 
 depart to our enemies : then shall you see, what seditious 
 buildinges will arise on the vnfortunate foundations of 
 his folly, and what contentious increase will come from 
 the schoole of contempt. 
 
 If they will needes ouerthrowe mee 
 let them goe in hand with the 
 exploite ^c. 
 
 Holla, holla brother Martin, you are to hasty, what, 
 Winter is no time to make warres in, you were best 
 
 D 
 
26 AN ALMOND 
 
 Stay til summer, and then both our brains wilbe in a 
 better temperature, but I think ere that time your 
 witte wilbe welny worn thredbare, and your banquerout 
 inuention, cleane out at the elbowes, then are we well 
 holpen vp with a witnesse, if the aged champion of 
 Warwicke, doe not lay to his shoulders, and support 
 discipline' ready to lie in the dust, with some or other 
 demonstration. I can tell you Phil. Stu. is a tall man 
 also for that purpose. What his Anatomy of Abuses 
 for all that, will serue very fitly for an Antipast, before 
 one of Egerton's Sermons, I would see the best of your 
 Trauerses write such a treatise as he hath done, against 
 short heeld pantoffles. But one thing it is great pitty 
 of him, that being such a good fellow as hee is, bee 
 shoulde speake against dice, so as he doth : neuerthe- 
 lesse ther is some hope of him, for as I heard not log 
 since, a brother of his, meting him by chance (as 
 theeues meete at the gallowes) after many christian 
 questions of the well fare of his persecuted brethren, 
 and sistern, askt him when they should haue a game at 
 tables together, by the grace of God the next Sabaoth, 
 quoth Phil, and then if it shal so seeme good to his 
 prouidence, haue at you for ames ase and the dise. 
 I forgette to tel you what a stirre he keepes against 
 dumbe ministers, and neuer writes nor talkes of them, 
 but hee calleth them minstrels, when his mastershippe 
 in his minority, plaide the Reader in Chesshire, for flue 
 marke a yeare and a canuas dublet, couenanted besides, 
 that in consideration of that stipend, he make cleane the 
 patrones bootes euerye time hee came to towne. What 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 27 
 
 need more words to proue him a protestat, did not he 
 behaue himselfe like a true Christian, when hee went a 
 wooing for his friend Clarke, I warrant you hee saide 
 not God saue you, or God speed you, with good euen 
 or good morrow, as our prophane woers are wont, but 
 stept close to her, with peace bee with you, very de- 
 murely, and then told her a long tale, that in so much 
 as widowhoode, was an vncleane lyfe, and subiect to 
 many temptations, shee might doe well to reconcile her 
 selfe to the Church of God, in the holy ordinance of 
 matrimony. Manye wordes past to this purpose, but I 
 wotte well the conclusion was this, that since she had 
 hitherto conuerst with none but vnregenerate persons, 
 and was vtterly carelesse of the communion of Saints, 
 she would let him that was a man of God, put a new 
 spirite into her, by carnall population, and so engraft 
 her into the fellowshippe of the faithfuU, to which that 
 shee might more willingly agree, hee offered her a 
 spicke and spanne new Geneua Bible, that his attendant 
 Italian had brought with him to make vp the bargaine. 
 But for all the Scripture he could alledge, it should not 
 bee, Phil. Stu. was no meate for her tooth, God wote 
 he could not get a penyworth of leachery on such a 
 pawne as his Bible was, the man behinde the painted 
 cloth mard all, and so O griefe, a good Sabaoths day 
 work was lost. Stand to it Mar-martin Junior and 
 thou art good inough for ten thousand of them, tickle me 
 my Phil, a litle more in the flanke, and make him 
 winche like a resty iade, whereto a dreaming deuine of 
 Cambridge, in a certain priuate Sermon of his, com- 
 D 2 
 
28 AN ALMOND 
 
 pared the wicked. Saist thou me so good heart, then 
 
 haue at you Maister Compositor, with the constructio 
 
 of Sunt oculos clari qui cernis sydera tanquam. If you 
 
 be remembred you were once put to your trumpes 
 
 about it in Wolfes Printing-house, when as you would 
 
 needes haue clari the infinitiue moode of a verbe 
 
 passiue, which determined you went forwards after this 
 
 order. Sunt there are, oculos eies, qui the which, cernis 
 
 thou doest see, clari to be cleare, tanquam sydera as the 
 
 Stars. Excellent well done of an old Maister of Arte, 
 
 yet why may not hee by authority challenge to himselfe 
 
 for this one peeceof worke the degrees hee neuer tooke. 
 
 Learning is a iewel my maisters, make much of it, and 
 
 Phil, Stu. a Gentleman euery haire of his head, whom 
 
 although you doe not regard according as he deserues, 
 
 yet I warrant you Martin makes more account of him 
 
 then so, who hath substituted him long since (if the 
 
 truth were well boulted out) amongst the number of 
 
 those priuy Martinists, which he threatens to place in 
 
 euery parish. I am more then halfe weary of tracing too 
 
 and fro in this cursed common wealth, where sinfull 
 
 simplicitye pufte vppe with the pride of singularity, 
 
 seekes to peruerte the name and methode of magistracy. 
 
 But as the most of their arguments, are drawn from our 
 
 graue fathers infirmities, so al their outrageous endeuors 
 
 haue their ofspring from affected vainglory. Agreeing 
 
 Hug. lib. ivith the saying of Hug. " Innobedientise mor- 
 de duob. .... 
 
 abusio. bus ex superbiae tumore procedit, sicut sanies 
 
 ex vlcere." The disease of disobedience proceeds from 
 
 the swelling of pride, as madnesse from some vntollera- 
 
FOR A PAERAT. 29 
 
 ble vlcer. The cause whereof Gregory thus expresseth. 
 ''Dum plus exquirunt" saithhe, " contemplando quam 
 capiunt, vsque ad peruersa dogmata erumpunt, Greg. lib. 8. 
 et dum veritatis discipuli esse negligunt, humiliter magis- 
 tri erroris fiunt." Whiles by study they search out more 
 then they vnderstand, they breake forth into peruerse 
 opinions, and whiles they neglect to be the schoUers of 
 truth, they most basely become the schoolemaisters of 
 error. For such is the boldnesse of our boyish deuines, 
 that they will leape into the pulpet, before they haue 
 learned Starts puer ad mensam, and talke very despe- 
 rately of dicipline, before they can construe, Qui mihi dis- 
 eipulus. " Qui venit institui " saith Cassiodorus, " ante- 
 quam instituatur^ alios instituere cupit," &c. The nouice 
 that comes to be informed, desiredi to enforme others, 
 before he bee enformed himselfe, and to teach before hee 
 bee taught, to prescribe lawes before he hath redde Litle- 
 ton, and play the subtile Philosopher, before he knowes 
 the order of his sillables : he wil needes haue subiects, 
 before he can subiugate his affections, and couets the 
 office of a commander, before he hath learned to stoupe 
 to the admonitions of his elders, and beginneth to 
 instruct and perswade, before he bee instructed and 
 perswaded in any kind of art, which their folly once 
 fuelled with y^ frowardnesse of blind zeal, makes the 
 cofound cotempt with gods true worship, and open 
 their mouths against his ordinance, as did the .Prophets 
 against leroboams hil altars. T. C. in Cambridge first 
 inuented this violent innouation, when as his mounting 
 ambition, went through euery kinde of Ambitus, to 
 D 3 
 
30 AN ALMOND 
 
 compasse the office of the Vicechauncelour-ship. But 
 after he saw himselfe disfauourd in his first insolence, 
 and that the suffrages of the vniuersity, would not 
 discend to his dissentious indignityes, his seditious 
 discontent deuised the meanes to discredite that gouer- 
 nement, which he through his il behauiour might not 
 aspire to. The began his inueterat malice, to vnder- 
 mine the foundations of our societies, and reduce our 
 CoUedges to the schooles of the Prophets, to discard all 
 degrees of art as antichristian, to condemne all decency 
 in the ministery as diabolicall, and exclude all ecclesias- 
 ticall superiority forth the Church as Apocripha. No 
 sooner had these new fangled positions entred the tables 
 of young students, but Singularity the eldest childe of 
 heresy, consulted with male-conted melacholy, how to 
 bring this misbegotte scisme to a monarchy. To which 
 purpose hipocriticall zeale, was addrest as a pursuiuant 
 into all places of SufF. Norff. Essex and Midlesex, 
 with expresse commandement from the sinod of Saints, 
 to proclaime T. C. supreme head of the Church. This 
 past on thus, whiles the sworde of iustice, slept in his 
 scaberd, whose vnprouident eie neglecting the beginning 
 of such burnings, hath added a more confirmed fury to 
 the flame, which hath now taken hold on y^ buildings 
 of our bishopricks. How it hath raged in those quar- 
 ters before mentioned to y^ vtter impouerishing of the 
 allegeance of the communaJty, and lamentable vndoing 
 of the estimation of diuers other knights and gentlemen, 
 the whole course of the high commission may testify. 
 Nether was this plague of apostacy vndeserued of their 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 31 
 
 inconstancy, who forsook y^ true service of God, to 
 worship the idoll of Warwicke. Put case his reading be 
 gret and his malice more, that he hath plodded through 
 ten cart loade of paper, and bin the death of ten thousand 
 pound of candels, yet as Gregory saith, " perit omne 
 quodagitur, si non humilitate custodiatur.'' Greg. lib. mor. 
 Whatsoeuer is done doth vanish to infamy, if it be not 
 vpholden by humility: What childe doth not see into 
 the pride of his heart, that first entertained the impu- 
 dency of controlling antiquity, and preferd the poison of 
 his owne peruerse opinions, before the experience of so 
 many Churches, counsails and fathers. " Quae Ber. 2. ser. 
 maior superioria,'' saxth BerrMrde, "quamvt resur. 
 vnus homo toti congregationi indicium suum preferat tan- 
 qua ipse solus habeat spiritii Dei." What greater pride 
 then that one man should aduance his iudgement, aboue 
 the sentence of a whole congregation, as if he alone had 
 the spirit of God. Pride ouerthrew the towr of Babell, 
 prostrated Golias, hug vp Hwman, kild Nichanor, 
 consumed Herod, destroied Antiochus, drowned Pharao, 
 subuerted Senacherih, and I hope will also confound 
 arrogant T. C. and all his accomplishes in the Lords 
 good time. And now that I haue vnburdened my 
 shoulders of the weight of his learning, He ribroste my 
 brother Martin a litle, for obiecting to my Lord Arch- 
 bishop, the not answering of his bookes. Therefore 
 first would I know of sweete M. sauce malapert whether 
 he would haue the care of the common-wealth, and 
 forseing consultation of domestical and forreine affaires, 
 resigned to the retorting of T. C. his vnreuerent railings. 
 
32 AN ALMOND 
 
 Next what such equall proportion his mastership finds 
 in their places, that the grauity and mildnes of the one, 
 should stoupe his attention so low, as the iangling leuity 
 of the other. Were there no other thing to refrayn his 
 grace, from combating with a common barretour then 
 this, that in discordia nemo henedicit Dominum, it were 
 sufficient to pleade his absence from this inferiour fight. 
 But when he considers that saiyng oi Augustine, "NuUus 
 est modus inimicitiis, nisi ob tempus obteperemus iratis," 
 ther is no meane of mallice, vnles for a time we giue 
 place to the furious, and that which another sais, "Sicut 
 nihil est deformius quam respondere furiosis ita, nihil 
 vtilius quam tacere prouocatis." As there is nothing 
 more vnseemely then to aunswere the firoward, so there 
 is nothing more profitable then scilence to such as are 
 prouokt. Let him vse the libertye of his speache as 
 hee please, and detracte from his learninge in what 
 tearmes hee see cause, yet will all Christendome admire 
 his perfection, when T. C. his singularitie shall go a 
 begging vp and downe the low Countries. I will not 
 gainsaie but your reuerend Pastor may haue as knauish 
 a vaine in writing as your selfe, and fasten a slander on 
 the Saintes of heauen, as soone as anie of your sect, for 
 lerome su- "^^^ tam facile est," as lerom sayth, "quam 
 per Oseam. ociosum et dormientem de aliorum labore et 
 vigiliis disputare." There is nothing so easie for a man 
 that is sluggish and idle, as to call in question others 
 mens watchings and labours. "Mens praua," sayth Gre- 
 Greg. 15. gorie, " semper in laboribus est, quia aut moli- 
 tur mala quae inferat, vel metuit ne sibi ab aliis infeant, 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 33 
 
 et quiequid contra proximos cogitat, hoc contra se, a 
 proximus cogitari formidat." A wicked mind lines in 
 continuall toile, because it eyther meditates the iniuries 
 which he is about to inferre, or feares some reproch to 
 be inferred by others, and whatsoeuer hee pretendes 
 agaynst his neighbor, the same he mistrusts to be pre- 
 tended against himselfe. If T. C. hath made thee his 
 atturney, to vrge the not answering of his bookes, then 
 I praie thee bee my Mercurie this once, and tell him 
 thus much from Mar-Martine, that he hath vndone 
 more Printers with his py-bald pamphlets, then his 
 dish-clout dicipline will sette vp agayne this seauen 
 yeeres. Much inkehdrne stufFe hath hee vttered in a 
 iarring stile, and intruded a greate deale of trashe to 
 our eares by a daintie figure of idem peridem, but for 
 anie new peece of arte he hath shewed in those idle 
 editions, other then that his famous aduersary hath 
 before time confuted, he may wel enough bequeth it to 
 Dunce or Dorbel, whece his blundering capacity is 
 lineally descended. What maister T. C. you think 
 that no man dare touch you, because you haue plaid the 
 scuruie scolde anie time these twentie yeeres, but He 
 so hamper your holynes for all the offences of your 
 youth, as all geering puritans shall haue small cause to 
 insult and reioyce at my silence. Then see whether I 
 dare stand to the defence of your defame or no. Take 
 heede good-man Howlyglasse, that I make not such a 
 hole in your coate the nexte Tearme, as Martine and 
 his sonnes shall not sowe vp in hast, I tel you I am a 
 shreud fellow at the vncasing of a fox, and haue cats 
 
34 AN ALMOND 
 
 eyes to looke into euerie corner of a Puritans house. I 
 warrant you my brother Pag. will sale so, by that time 
 I haue talkte with him a little, who although hee bee 
 none of the straightest men that euer God made, yet 
 hath he as good skill in milche bullocks, as anie huswife 
 within fortie miles of his head. Let him alone, and if 
 he doe not know by a cowes water, how many pintes of 
 milke she will give in a yeere, then wyll he neuer help 
 his wife to make cheese agayn whiles hee liues: and 
 without offence to his Pastorshippe bee it spoken, hee 
 will sale pretyly well to a henne, if shee bee not too 
 olde, alwayes prouided, shee haue a neaste of cleane 
 strawe in his studie, and hee groape her with his owne 
 handes euening and morning. Then see if hee doe not 
 make three pounds a yeere of her ouer and aboue all 
 eostes and charges. I marie sir, is not this a husbande 
 in deede, that besides the multiplying of the Church of 
 God, in his householde ministerie, will keepe his wife 
 and familie by crosse bargaines a whole twelue moneth. 
 What woulde he doe my maisters, if he had two good 
 legges, that wil thus bestirre him in his vocation with 
 one and a stump. The world may saie he is lame, 
 and so forth, but hee that had seene him runne from 
 Houns. the other daie, for getting his maide with childe, 
 woulde neuer thinke so. I meruaile with what face 
 eur Bishoppes could depriue such a man of God, that 
 beeing knowen to bee a most heauenly whooremaister, 
 a passing zealous worldling, and a most mortified 
 schismatique, was fitter iwis to teache men then boyes. 
 Bee ruled by Martine, and send him home into Deuon- 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 35 
 
 sheere, or else hee will wrappe all your Cleargie once 
 agayne in Lazarus winding sheete. Which fauour if 
 hee obtayne contrarie to desert, I woulde wishe him as 
 a friend, neare more to vrge Fathers to sweare at the 
 Funt, that the children that are brought thether to be 
 christned, are of none but their owne begetting, lest 
 olde Ragdale plie him as he did in times past, about 
 the shoulders with his plowe staffe. Haue with you 
 Giles Wig. to Sidborough, and let us haue you make 
 another Sermon of Sedgwickes pack-prickes : or such 
 another Prayer as you did of three hours long, when 
 as a friend of yours (that best knew your armes) cast 
 in the Rammes homes at your windowe. If you be 
 remembred, it was the same time, when you cride, 
 Come wife, come seruants, let vs fall on our knees, and 
 praie to the Lorde God to deliuer vs from all euill 
 temptation, for the deuill is euen new gone by, and looke 
 where he hath throwne in his homes at the windowe. 
 Giles, Giles, I haue to talke with you for your sau- 
 cinesse with the right Honorable the Earle of Hunting- 
 ton, in whose presence you (though of all other vnwor- 
 thie) then beeing, when conuersant with other Gentle- 
 men, hee calde for a boule of Beere, which brought, 
 and set downe by him, and he yet busie in talke, you 
 tooke verie orderlie from before him, and trilled it off 
 without anie more bones, bidding his man if he would, 
 goe fill him another. And what of all this I praie you, 
 was that such a wonderous. matter, doth Giles care for 
 anie of your Lordes, Earles, Barons or Bishops. No, 
 no, no barrell better herring with him : we are all made 
 
36 AN ALMOND 
 
 of one and the selfe same molde, and Adam signifieth 
 but red earth. I could tell you a tale worth the hear- 
 ing, that would counteruaile Glib, of Haustead, were it 
 not that it woulde make M. Wig. as cholerike, as when 
 he burst in the Church maugre excomunication, and 
 knockt the keies about y' Sextens head, for not opening 
 vnto him. Come on it what wil, in spite of midsumer 
 moone, you shal haue it as it is, therefore attend good 
 people to the vnfortunate sequele. G. W. of Wig. house, 
 in the land of little Wittam, chosen to the place and 
 function of a pastor, by those reuerend elders of the 
 Church, Hicke, Hob and John, Cutbert C. the Cobler, 
 and New. the broomseller cum multis aliis que nunc 
 prescribere longum est, at length seased (after many 
 yeeres stragling on the superintendentship of Sidborough, 
 wher hauing worn out three or four pulpits with the 
 vnreasonable bounsing of his fistes, it was his chance on 
 a time to haue one quarrell more to another of theiri : 
 so that no sooner mounted on her backe, but he began 
 to spurre her with his heeles, to boxe her about the 
 eares with his elbowes, and so pittiously misuse her in 
 euerie part, as would haue greened anie heathen loyner 
 to the heart, to beholde. Nor coulde his Text containe 
 him in this choler, or pleade anie pardon or pittie for 
 this poore pulpit, but he wold needes ride her to death 
 from one Diocesse to another, from Yorke to London, 
 from London to Canterbury, fi-om Canterburie to Win- 
 chester, and all without a baite, insomuch, that tyred in 
 his waie homeward to his Text, he had stucke in the 
 myre for anie more matter hee had, had not lohn a 
 
FOR A PAREAT. 37 
 
 Borhead come into the church as he did. Whom he 
 espying in good time, crost the midwaie of a sentence to 
 let flie at him in this manner. As for the discipline 
 which those wretches doe hinder, looke, looke good 
 people where that vile whooremaster lohn a Bor- 
 head comes in piping hot from Clayphams wife. 
 Whose verie sight put him so cleane besides himselfe, 
 that he could neyther goe forward nor backward, but 
 stil repeated, lohn a Borhead, lohn a Borhead, that 
 vild whooremaister lohn a Borhead: to whom with the 
 Father, the Sonne, and the holy Ghost, be al honor and 
 praise both now and for euer. Ah hah maister Martine, 
 what get you nowe by your red cap ? Whether was 
 Clayphams wife or lohn a Borhead more in fault, for 
 marring this good sermon. If I. a Borhead, then is it 
 not best for him to come in my brother Wiff. waie, 
 least he stabbe him, as hee did the Drumme once for 
 playing after seruice. How euer it was, may it please 
 you Lordes of the spiritualtie, in consideration of these 
 laudible premises, to sende him home to his charge, 
 that hee may once more preache in the yewe tree. My 
 brother Vd. of Kingston thinkes He spare him for his 
 wiues sake, that is reported to be as good a wench as 
 euer playde her prises at Pancredge, although she is 
 not altogether such a gyantesse, as my brother Wii/. 
 female, but forma fragulis, and Ale is not worth a 
 button, if it be too stale. Wherefore prepare you good 
 neighbour V. to vnder-goe the crosse of persecution. 
 Martine hath vaunted you to be a venterous knight, and 
 I doe meane to breake a launce with you, ere you and 
 
 E 
 
38 AN ALMOND 
 
 I part. Wherfore what saie you nowe to the matter, 
 is Christ descended of bastardisme or no, as you gaue 
 out in the pulpy t? Would you not haue your tongue 
 cut out for your blasphemie if you wer wel serued? 
 Are you a notable preacher of the word of God, and a 
 vehement reprouer of sin, that thus seeke to discredit 
 the fleshly descent of our Sauiour, I thought you such 
 another, when I first sawe you emblazoned in Martins 
 bookes. Tis you that are so holy, that you wil not 
 forsooth be seene to handle anie monie, nor take golde 
 though it shoulde filch it selfe into your purse, but if 
 God moued the heartes of anie of your brethren or 
 sistren in the Lord, to bring in pots, beds or houshold 
 stuffe into your house, you would go out of doores of 
 purpose whiles it was brought in, and then if anie man 
 aske you, how you come so well storde, your answere 
 is that you know not how, but only by the prouidence 
 of God. I must belabour you when all is done, for 
 your backbiting and slandering of your honest neigh- 
 bours, and open inueighing against the established 
 gouernment in your sermons. Helpe him Martin, or 
 else his vpbraided absurdities will make thee repent 
 that euer thou belyedst or disgracedst Hone, Cottington 
 or Chatfield in his cause. May it please you therefore 
 that are in authoritie, considering how reuerently hee 
 hath abused Christs birthright, to restore him to preach 
 that the blockes and stones of Kingstone, do not crie 
 out against you. I foUowe the riuers of folly, whiles 
 the fountaines of infection do propagate their poison. 
 Martin all this while thinkes himself in league with 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 39 
 
 obscuritie, whiles Phebus the discouerer of Mars and 
 Venus adultery, hath streamed his bright day light into 
 the net where he daunceth. Blush squint-eied caitife, 
 since thy couert no more wil contain thee. Ccelum te 
 contegit non habes vrnam. Therfore let al posteritie 
 that shall hears of his knauerie, attend the discouery 
 which now I will make of his villanie. Pen. I. Pen. 
 welch Pen. Pen. the Protestationer, Demonstrationer,, 
 Supplicationer, Appellationer, Pen. the father, Pen., the 
 Sonne, Pen. Martin lunior, Martin Martinus, Pen. the 
 schoUer of Oxford to his friend in Cambridge, Pen. 
 totum in toto, et totum in qualibet parte, was somtimes 
 (if I be not deceiued) a scholler of that house in Cam- 
 bridge whereof D. Per. was maister. Where, what his 
 estimation was, the scorn wherin he liued can best relate. 
 For the constitution of his bodie, it was so cleane con- 
 trarie to all phisiognomie of fame, that a man wold haue 
 iudged by his face, God and nature deuising our dis- 
 grace, had enclosde a close stoole in skinne, and set a 
 serpentine soule, like a counterfet diamond, more deepe" ' 
 in dong. Neither was this monster of Cracouia 
 vnmarkt from his bastardisme to mischiefe : but as he 
 was begotten in adultery and conceiued in the heate of 
 lust, so was he brought into the world on a tempestuous 
 dale, and borne in that houre when all planets wer 
 opposite. Predestination y' foresaw how crooked he 
 should proue in his waies, enioyned incest to spawne 
 him splay-footed. Eternitie, that knew how aukward 
 he shoulde looke to all honesty, consulted with Con- 
 ception to make him squint-eied, and the deuill that 
 E 2 
 
40 AN ALMOND 
 
 discouered by the heauens disposition on his birth-day, 
 how great a lim of his kingdom was comming into the 
 world, prouided a rustie superficies wherinto wrapt him, 
 as soone as euer he was separated from his mothers 
 wombe : in euerie part whereof these words of blessing 
 were most artificially engrauen, Crine ruber, niger ore, 
 breuis pede, lumine lustus. To leaue his natiuitie to 
 the Church porch, where the parish found him, and 
 come to his riper yeres, that now had learnd Puerilis, 
 of the poore mans boy, and nere as pretily entred in 
 Aue Marie English, as any parish clarke in those parts. 
 I am to tel you how laudibly he behaued himselfe in 
 Peterhouse, during the time of his subsistership. First 
 therfore he began with his religion at his first comming 
 thether, Hoc seitote viri, that he was as arrant a papist 
 as euer came out of Wales. I tell you /. a P. in those 
 daies, would haue run a false gallop ouer his beades 
 with anie man in England, and helpt the Priest for a 
 shift to saie Massse at high midnight, which if need 
 were, I doubt not but he would do at this houre. It 
 was not for nothing my masters, that he so be-baited his 
 betters, for shewing the people the relique of our Ladies 
 smock in his sermon, and open detecting of all their 
 other blind superstition. Say what you will, he is a 
 close lad, and can carrie a ring in his mouth, though all 
 the world see it not : what though hee now dissemble 
 with the time, and disguise his Spanish heart in a Pre- 
 cisians habit. May not he hereafter proue a necessarie 
 meber in conspiracies common wealth, and aduantage 
 the holy league as much in this meanes of sedition, as 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 41 
 
 all Philips power by inuasion. Simple English men, 
 that cannot see into poUicie before it supprise your 
 peace, nor interrupt the ambition of trechery, before 
 it hath besieged your prosperitie. Doe you beholde 
 whiles innouations bud, and do not you feare lest your 
 children and family be poisoned with the fruit. The 
 Scythians are barbarous, yet more fore-seeing then you, 
 who so detested al forren innouations, teding to the 
 derogation of theyr ancient customes, that they kild 
 Anacharsis for no other cause, but for y' he performed 
 the rights of Sibil after the manner of the Grecians. 
 What should I vpbraide your simplicitie with the 
 Epidaurians prouident subtiltie, who fearing least their 
 Countrie men shoulde attract innouations from other 
 nations, and especially from their riotous neighbors the 
 lUirians, interdicted theyr merchants from al trafick 
 with them, or trauaile vnto them, but least they should 
 be vtterly destitute of their commodities, they chose a 
 graue man amongst them, knowen to be of good gouern- 
 ment and reputation, who dealt continually for the 
 whole Countrie in the waie of exchange, and meruail- 
 ously augmented their wealth by the reuerence of his 
 wisedome. But you fond men, as in garments so in 
 gouernment continually affecting new fashions, thinke 
 no man can be saued y' hath not bin at Geneua. Your 
 beleefe forsooth must be of that Scottish kinde, and 
 your Bibles of the primitiue print, else your consciences 
 God wot, are not of the cannonical cut, nor your 
 opinions of the Apostles stamp. Pen. with Pan, hath 
 contended with Appollo, and you lyke Midasses, haue 
 E 3 
 
42 AN ALMOND 
 
 ouerprised his musick. Good God, y' a Welch harpe 
 should inchant so many English harts to their confusio, 
 especially hauing nere a string belonging to it, but a 
 treble. Had a syren sung, and I drownd in attending 
 her descante. I would haue bequeathed my bane to 
 her beautie, but when Cerberus shall barke and I turne 
 back to listen, the let me perish without pittie, in the 
 delight of my liuing destruction. Deceit hath tooke vp 
 his seat in a dunce, and you thinke him a saint, because 
 he comes not in the shape of a deuil. We know M. 
 Pen. intus et in cute, first for a papist, then for a 
 Brownist, next for an Anabaptist, and last for y' blas- 
 phemous Martin, whose spirite is the concrete com- 
 pound of all these vnpardonable heresies. But had not 
 the frantike practise of his youth throughly founded his 
 confirmed age in this furie, I woulde haue imagined his 
 vpstart spite, a woder aboue usual speech, whereas now 
 the coniectures drawen from his cradles, detract fro his 
 mallice all maruels. For whiles hee was yet a fresh 
 man in Peterhouse, and had scarce tasted, as we say, 
 of Setons modalibus, he began to affect factions in 
 art, and shew himselfe openly a studious disgracer of 
 antiquitie. Who then such an vnnatural enemie to 
 Aristotle, or such a new-fagled friend vnto Raimis. 
 This one thing I am sure of, hee neuer went for other 
 then an asse, amongst his companions and equalles, yet 
 such a mutinous block-head was he alwaies accoiuited, 
 that through town and Colledge he was comonly called 
 the seditious dunce. For one while he would be 
 libelling against Arist. and all his followers he knew, 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 43 
 
 another while hee would all to be-rime Doctour Perne, 
 for his new statutes, and make a by-word of his bald 
 pate, yea had the Dean, President, or any other officer 
 neuer so litle angerd him, they were sure ere the 
 weeke went about to haue hard of it, in some Ubell or 
 other. This humour helde him at that time, when, by 
 conuersing with French men neare Christes CoUedge, of 
 a Papist hee became a Brownist, how afterwards from 
 a Brownist hee fell to bee an Anabaptist, I referre it to 
 those that knewe his after behauiour in Oxford. But 
 for his last discent, a malo in peius from an Anabaptist 
 to be that infamous Martin, impute it to the age of 
 his heresies, that are now in there Harvest. Neither 
 Would I haue you thinke there was no more heades in 
 it then his owne. For I can assure you to the contrary, 
 that moste of the Puritane preachers in Northampton 
 shire, Warwick shire, Sufolke and NorthfFolke, haue 
 eyther brought stone, strawe or morter to the building 
 of this Martin. Only Pen. found nothing but ri/, which 
 the last part of his name, affordeth sufficiently, you may 
 see what it is for a nest of hornets to hiue together, oh 
 they wil make braue combes to choake bees withal, if 
 they be let alone but one quarter, not so much as T. C. 
 himselfe, but will haue the helpe of his fellow Brethren, 
 if he hath any thing to write against Bishops, were not 
 al the elected in Cambridge, assembled about the shaping 
 of the conftitation of the Remish Testament, O so 
 deuoutly they met euery Friday at Saint Laurence his 
 Monastery, wher the counsails and fathers, were distri- 
 buted amongst seueral companies, and euery one of the 
 
44 AN ALMOND 
 
 reformed society sent there combined quotations weeke 
 by weeke in a Capcase, to my brother Thomas, yet 
 wandring beyond sea, such a Chaos of common places, 
 no apothegmatical Lycosthenes euer conceited. Bishops 
 were the smallest bugs, that were aimed at in this 
 extraordinary beneuolence, God shield, the court haue 
 escapt their coUectios. Some thing it would proue in 
 the end if it wer published, that is pouldred with the 
 brains of so many Puritan springols, and polluted with 
 the pains of such an infinite number of Asses. Much 
 good do it you M. Martin, how like you my stile, am 
 not I old Hie ego qui quondam at y^ besleeuing of a 
 sichophant. Alas poore. idiot, thou thinkest no man 
 can write but thy selfe, or frame his pen to delight, 
 except he straine curtesie with one of thy Northren 
 figures, but if authority do not moderate, the fiery 
 feruence of my enflamed zeale, ile assaile thee from 
 terme to terme with Archilochus, in such a compleat 
 armour of lambicks, as the very reflexcye of my fury, 
 shall make thee driue thy father before thee to the 
 gallows, for begetting thee in such a bloody houre. O 
 God that we two might bee permitted but one quarter, 
 to try it out by the teeth for the best benefice in 
 England, then would I distill my wit into incke, and 
 my soule into argumentes, but I would driue this 
 Danus from his dunghill, and make him faune like a 
 dog for fauour at the magistrates feete. But it is our 
 English policy to aduantage our enemies by delaies, 
 and resist a multitude with a fewe, which makes 
 sediton seede before the haruesters of our souls 
 
FOR A PAREAT. 45 
 
 suppose it in the blade: it is not the spirite of 
 mildenesse y' must moderat the hart of folly, dogs must 
 be beaten with staues, and stuborn slaues cotrolled 
 with stripes. Authority best knows how to diet these 
 bedlamites, although Segnior Penry in his last waste 
 paper hath subscribed our magistrats infants. Repent, 
 repent thou runnagate lozill, and play not the Seminary 
 any longer in corners, least thy chiefest benefactors 
 forsake thee, and recouer the pouerty of their fines, 
 by bringing the pursiuants to thy forme. I heare some 
 vnderhande whisperers, and greeneheaded nouices 
 exclaime against our Bishops, for not granting thee 
 disputation. Alas alas brother Martin it may not be : 
 for thou art known to be such a stale hackster, with 
 thy welch hooke, that no honest man wil debase 
 himselfe in buckling with such a braggar. But sup- 
 pose we should send some Crepundio forth our schools 
 to beat thee about the eares with ergo. Where should 
 this sillogistica concertatio be solemnized: what in our 
 Vniuersity schooles at Oxford, or in puluere Philo- 
 sophico at Cambridge. No they were erected in time 
 of Popery, and must be new built againe before they 
 can giue any accesse to his arguments. Truly I am 
 afraide y' this Generall counsaile, must be holden at 
 Geneua, when al is done, for I know no place in 
 En[g]land holy inough for their turne, except it be some 
 barne or out-house about Bury, or some odde blind 
 cottage in the hart of Warwicke shire, and thither 
 peraduenture, these good honest opponents would 
 repaire without grudging. Prouided alwaies that they 
 
46 AN ALMOND 
 
 haue ther horse-hire and other charges allowed them 
 out of the poor mans box, or els it is no bargain. All 
 this fadges wel yet, if we had once determined who 
 shold be father of the act. Why what a question 
 is that, when we haue so many persecuted elders 
 abroad. The blinde, the halt, or the lame, or any 
 serues the turn with them, so he hath not on a cloak 
 with sleues, or a cap of the vniuersity cut. Imagin 
 that place to be furnished, where shall we finde 
 moderators, that may deale indifferently twixt both 
 parts. Machiuell is dead many a yeare agoe, or els he 
 had bene a fit man for this may-game, therefore whom 
 shal we haue now, since it must be neither yours 
 nor ours. Some vpstart countrey Gentleman, that 
 hath vndone all his tenants by oppression, euen such 
 a one as Scar, of Warwicke shire, that being a noted 
 Martinist, be frinded his poor coppi-holder Criar, 
 and turnd him out of all that ere he had very orderly. 
 How thinke you my lay brethren ? is not here a trim 
 conuocation towards. But mark the end of it, and 
 then you may haps see odde buffeting with the 
 buttond bookes, and battring down of bishopricks. 
 Giles of Sidborough wil off his gown at least, and 
 make demonstrations of Logique with his fists like 
 Zeno, what though he be low and cannot reach so 
 hie as an Archbishop, may not he stad like a 
 iackanapes on his wiues shoulders, and scold for the 
 best game with all that come. He is sauing a 
 reuerence a spritish dispu[t]er, and a pestilent felow at 
 an vnperfect sillogisme. Nay mark me well, and 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 47 
 
 take me at my words, he shal speake false Latine, 
 forge a text, abuse a Bishop, or make a lie of 
 reuelation for more then I speak off with any man in 
 Englad. Neither do I flatter him herin for he hears 
 me not, if I did, it were no matter, considering that 
 virtus laudata crescit. 
 
 From iest to ernest, I appeale to you Gentlemen, 
 how ridiculous in pollicy this disputation would proue 
 if it were granted. First for there Bibles, the 
 touchstone of all controuersies, they must bee of their 
 fouorites translation, or els they will deny there 
 authority as friuolous. Admit they go to the original 
 (which but few of them vnderstand) they wil haue 
 euery man his sundry interpretation. Let our deuines 
 alledge any text, they will expound it as they list, 
 say the fathers or other auncient writers what they 
 will. For such is the growth of their arrogancy, 
 that they are not ashamed to compare themselus 
 with lerome or Austen, and in their tedious sermons 
 preach against them as prophane. If this the bee 
 any betraying of the wretchednesse of our cause (as 
 they call it) not to dispute with them that deny all 
 principles, not to contend with the that wilbe tride by 
 none but themselus, I refer it to all considerate 
 iudgementes, that haue no more experiece in the 
 actions of peace then a reasonable soule may afford. 
 The more pacified sort of our Puritans, would needs 
 perswade the world, that it is nought but a learned 
 ministry which their chapion Martin endeuors : were 
 it no otherwise his pardon were easely sealed, but 
 
48 AN ALMOND 
 
 those that know the treaso of his books, can report 
 of his mallice against Bishops. One thing I am 
 perswaded, that he neither respects the propagation 
 of the Gospel, nor the prosperity of the Church, but 
 only the benefite that may fall to him and his 
 boulsterers, by the distribution of Bishoprickes. 
 Beshrewe mee but those Church-liuings would come 
 well to decayed courtiers. O howe meerilye the 
 Dice would runne, if our lustye laddes might goe 
 to hazard for halfe a dozen of these Dioses[es]. Not 
 a page but woulde haue a flinge at some or other 
 impropriation or personage: and in conclusion, those 
 liuings which now maintaine so many schollers and 
 students, would in two or three yeares be all spent 
 in a Tauerne amongst a consort of queanes and fidlers, 
 that might carouse on their wine-bench to the confusion 
 of religion. Well, to proceede in this text of 
 reformation: is not this thy meaning Martin, that 
 thou wouldest haue two and fiftie thousand Pastors, 
 for two and fiftie thousand Parish churches in England 
 and Wales. If thou saiest the word, we will haue a 
 place in both Vniuersities, begin in Oxford first with 
 the fresh-men, and so go vp to the heades of the 
 Vniuersitie, and then count how many thou canst 
 make. Our Beadles that know the number best, 
 would needes perswade vs, that of all sortes, there 
 is not full three thousand: in Cambridge they say 
 there is not so many by a thousand, then call thy 
 wits together, and imagin with thy selfe, out of these 
 three thousand, and two thousand of all gatherings, 
 
FOR A PAERAT. 49 
 
 how many good preachers may be mustered, some 
 foure hundreth as I gesse, peraduenture thou maist 
 rebate them to some fiftie or threescore, because there 
 is no more open-mouthes of thy profession in both 
 Vniuersities: How farre this fiftie is from fiftie 
 thousand, a farthing worth of Arithmetike will teach 
 you: where wilt thou haue then a competent number 
 to fill vp those defects of dum ministers: inspiration 
 I perceiue must helpe to patch vp your knauerie, 
 and then welfare the cobler of Norwitch, that being 
 one morning somthing earelie at Saint Androwes, 
 and the Preacher not come before the Psalme was 
 ended, stept vp into the pulpet verie deuoutly, and 
 made me a good thriftie exhortation in the praise 
 of plaine dealing. If this bee not true, aske the 
 Maior that committed him to prison for his labour. 
 Such another Doctour would he proue, that standing 
 in election for a liuing that was then in her Maiesties 
 bestowing, came to be examined by men of grauitie 
 in the circumstance of his sufflciencie, who discending 
 eft soones into his vnschooled simplicitie, gaue him 
 this litle English to be made in Latin. There be 
 three Creedes, the Nycen Creede, Athanatius Creede, 
 and the Apostles Creede, all which ought to be 
 belieued vpon paine of damnation. The good simple 
 superintendant, that saw himselfe so hardly beset, 
 craued respite to compasse this vulgar, which graunted, 
 after some deliberation he began thus to go forward, 
 " Tria sunt Creda, vnum Niceni, alterum Athanasii, 
 tertium Apostolorum, quae omnes debent esse creditum, 
 
50 AN ALMOND 
 
 sub poena condemnationis.'' I marrie Sir, here is 
 apeece of scholershippe of the new cut, which for 
 the goodnesse of the Latin might haue borne a part 
 in the Pewteres paggeant. I keepe a register of ten 
 thousand such knacks. Why, there is not a Presician 
 in England that hath abused arte, or mistoken a 
 metaphor but I haue his name in blacke and white, 
 what say you to that zealous sheepebyter of your 
 owne edition in Cambridge, that saide the wicked 
 had a scabbe, a braune, and a crust on their conscience, 
 being so full of their wilie gilies, that we that are 
 the true children of God can not tell how to concerne 
 them : or was not hee a sound carde, that talking 
 of the maiestie and authoritie of the' scriptures, said 
 they were the sweete meates of Saintes, the houshold 
 stufFe of heauen, and the home spunne cloth of the 
 Lords own loombes, being deliuered from the stonebow 
 of his mouth, when he appeared in glory on mount 
 Sinay: But this is nothing to the good sport of that 
 is behinde. What, I must tell you of a fellow that 
 trolles in his rethorike like Martin in his riddles. 
 This hors-holy father preaching on a time in Saint 
 Maries at Oxford, came off with this mannerly 
 comparison: There is an vglie and monstrous beast 
 in our tongue called a hogge, and this vgly and 
 monstrous beast in boistrons and tempesteous weather 
 lifts vp his snoute into the ayre, and cryes wrough, 
 wrough : euen so (deare people) the children of God 
 in the troublesome time of temptations, cry, Our helpe 
 is in the name of the Lord. Such another woodcocke 
 
FOR A PAURAT. 51 
 
 was he of Yarmouth, that said openly in the pulpet, 
 whosoeuer weares a vayle, is an whore without ex- 
 ception, and on an other time, two women comming 
 to be churched, whereof the one wore a vaile, the 
 other went without. He began his thankesgiuing 
 in this forme: Let vs giue God thankes for the 
 safe deliuery of one of our sisters, for the other let 
 vs not giue God thankes, for she is a straunger, and 
 we haue nothing to doe with her, I take her to be 
 Dinah the harlot, that sat by the .high way side, for 
 she hath a vayle ouer her face. In the next place 
 to him, shall he be put that railing on the Papists 
 in his Sermon, alledged this argument to confute 
 their religion. Nay (saith he) you may gather what 
 a wicked and spotted religion this papistrie is,' for 
 Campion himselfe that was accounted their chiefest 
 piller, was reported to haue had the poxe. I haue 
 another in my tables, that handling that place of 
 losua where Rahah entertained his spies, would 
 needes conclude all Inkeepers to be harlots, because 
 Rahah the harlot was an Inkeeper. I shall run 
 my penne out of breath, if I articulate all the examples 
 of their absurdeties that I could. Haue not Trinitie 
 Hall men in Cambridge a preaching brother in 
 Bury yet in sute, for saying all ciuiUians were 
 papists. To let him passe for a patch, that being 
 maister of none of the meanest CoUedges in Cambridge, 
 and by the oth of his admission, bound to take no 
 money for preferments, made answere to one that 
 offered him fortie markes to make his sonne fellow : 
 F 2 
 
52 
 
 AN ALMOND 
 
 God forbid I should take any money for it is against 
 my oth, but if you will giue me it in plate, He 
 pleasure him in what I may. This is the dreamer 
 if you be aduised, that is indebted aboue two 
 thousand houres to the Vn[iu]ersitie, which he hath 
 borrowed by three and foure at a time vpon seuerall 
 sundayes preaching as it came to his course: it is a 
 shame for him, that he doth not pay them, professing 
 such puritie as he doth. Martin, thou seest I 
 come not abruptly to thee like a rednosde ieaster, 
 that in the pride of his pottle-pots curries oner a 
 reuelling riffe raffe of Tapsterly tauntes, and course 
 hempen quippes, such as our brokerly wits doe filsh 
 out of Bull the Hangmans budget, but I speake 
 plaine English, and call thee a knaue in thine owne 
 language. All the generation of you are Hipocrites 
 and belli-gods, that deuoure as much good meat 
 in one of your brotherly loue meetings, as would 
 wel-nye victuall the Queenes ships a whole moneth. 
 It is a shame for you to exclame so against Gardes, 
 and play thus vnreasonably at Maw as you do. 
 Gaffe Martin, doe you remember whom you vpbraided 
 by Primero? well let not me take you at Noddy 
 anie more, least I present you to the parish for a 
 gamster, this the ninth set that you haue lost, and 
 yet you will not leaue oflf. Beware Anthony Munday 
 be not euen with you for calling him ludas, and lay 
 open your false carding to the stage of all mens 
 scorne. I maruell Pasquill comes not away with his 
 legends, considering that the date of his promise is 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 53 
 
 more then expired. It seetnes he stayes for some 
 Saintes that are yet to suffer, and wants none but 
 Martin to make vp his legend of Martyres, if it be 
 so I woulde thou wouldest come aloft quickly, that 
 we might haue this good sport altogether, and not 
 liue euer in expectation of that which is not. O I 
 could furnish him to the proofe with such a packet 
 of male and female professors, as the world might 
 not patterne. A good old dunstable doctor here in 
 London, should be the formost of them, that saide 
 his wife was as good as our Ladie : and another time 
 quarrelling with one of his neighbours that was a 
 Sadler, about setting vp of the Organs, in a good 
 zeale he lift vp his fist, and stroke out two of his 
 fore teeth, like a right man of peace: where haue 
 you lived my brethren, that you haue not heard of 
 that learned Presbiter, that talking how Adam fell 
 by eating of the Apple, discourst thus: Adam eate 
 the Apple and gaue it to his wife, whereby is to be 
 noted that the man eate and the woman eate, the 
 man eate, but how, a snap and away: the woman 
 eat, but how, she laide her thumbe on the stalke, and 
 her finger on the coare and bitte it ouerthwart, in 
 which bytihg it ouerthwart, she broke all the 
 commaundements, insomuch as vnder ten greene spots 
 the ten commandments in euery Apple are comprised: 
 and besides that corrupted her fiue senses. From 
 whence wee may gather this obseruation, that a 
 woman alwaies eates an Apple ouerthwart. Why, 
 this is sound diuinitie, and apt for to edify, Sed 
 
54 AN ALMOND 
 
 dbeundum est mihi, and from the Cleargie must I 
 leape to the Laytie. Wherefore God euen good 
 man Dauy of Canterbury, and better lucke betide 
 thee and thy limbes, then when thou dauncedst a 
 whole Sunday at a wedding, and afterwardes repent- 
 ing they selfe of thy prophane agilitie, thou entredst 
 into a more serious meditation against what table 
 thou hadst sinned, or what part was the principall 
 in this antike iniquitie. The eyes they were the 
 formost in this enditement, but the legs, (O those 
 leude legs,) they brought him thither, they kept 
 him there, they leapt, they daunced, and I leualted 
 to the Vials of vanitie: wherefore, what didst thou 
 but like a true christian chastised them accordingly. 
 The scripture saith, if thine eye offend thee, plucke 
 it out, Dauy saith, my hose and shoes haue 
 offended mee, therefore will I plucke them off. 
 This text thus applyed, off went the woUen stockings 
 with a trice, and they with the good neates leather 
 shoes were cast both into the bottom of a well. 
 The sinners thus punished, and all parties pleased, 
 home went the pilgrim Dauy barefoote and barelegge. 
 And now since wind and tide serues, now I care 
 not if 1 cut ouer to Ipswitch : there is a Cowdresser 
 there that I am sure will entertaine me if she be 
 not dead, great lane of Ipswitch they call her, one 
 that hath beene a tender mother to many a Martinist 
 in her time, and hath a very good insight in a 
 canne of strong wine. A good vertuous Matrone 
 is she and a wise, hauing no fault but this, that 
 
FOR A PARRAT. 55 
 
 she will be drunke once a day, and then she lyes 
 her downe on her bedde, and cryes, O my God, 
 my God, thou knowest I am drunke, and why I 
 should offend thee my God by spuing thus, as I 
 do. I haue not beene in Essex yet, but He set 
 in my stafFe there as I go home, for I haue a petition 
 for my brother that made the Sermon of Repentance 
 to deliuer vp for me to the Councell : but it must 
 not be such a one as he deliuered for him selfe 
 to my Lord Treasurer, beginning with O sweet 
 Margery, could thy eyes see so fare, thy hands 
 feele so farre, or thy eares heare so farre &c. for 
 then euerie seruing man will mocke vs, but it must 
 be of another tune, with most pitifully complaining, 
 that a man can not call an Asse, asse, but he shall 
 be had coram nobis. In this vaine enough, because 
 actions of the case are chargeable, and Guilde 
 men vncharitable. If the dogge Martin barke againe, 
 He hold him tugge for two or three courses, and 
 then beware my blacke booke you were best, 
 for I haue not halfe emboweld my register. Amend, 
 amend, and glorie no more in your hipocrisie, least 
 your pride and vaine glory betray our prosperitie 
 to our enimies, and procure the Lords vengeance to 
 dwell in the gates of our citie. The simple are 
 abused, the ignorant deluded, and Gods truth most 
 pitifully peruerted, and thou art that most wretched 
 seducer, that vnder wolues raiment deuourest widowes 
 houses. Visions are ceast, and all extraordinarie 
 reuelation ended, although a good fellow in Cambridge, 
 
56 AN ALMOND FOR A PARRAT. 
 
 hearing all thinges might be obtained by prayer, 
 prayed two dayes and two nightes- for visions: 
 wherefore broach no more heresies vnder colour 
 of inspiration: if thou doest, thou art like to heare 
 of me by the next Carrier. And so bon nute to 
 your Noddishippe. 
 
 Yours to command as your owne 
 
 for two or three eudgellings at all times. 
 
 Cutbert Curriknaue 
 
 the yonger. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Paqe 9, line 28. indumentsl from induo, Latin, to put on; 
 cover over. The word, as a noun, does not occur in Todd's 
 Johnson nor in Nares. 
 
 "Diana's shape and habit them Sjrfaei?." — Sandys' Ovid,}), ii. 
 "One first matter all 
 Indu'd y/ith various forms." — Milton, Par. Lost. 
 
 P. 11, 1. 6. unuenidall iinnes'\ Unvenial? it seems used in 
 contradistinction to venial. 
 
 P. 11, 1. 8. despairing protestations'] This is an allusion to 
 "The Protestatyon of Martin Mar-Prelat, wherein notwith- 
 standing the surprizing of the printer, he maketh it known vnto 
 the world that he feareth, neither proud priest, Antichristian 
 pope, tiranous prellate, nor godlesse catercap." 
 
 F. 12, 1. 28. burlHond] Todd, in his edition of Johnson, has 
 adduced one illustration of the word burly, which approximates 
 to the meaning here, that of loud, boisterous ; derived, as he sup- 
 poses from borlen, Teut., to make a noise. Though neither in 
 Nares nor Todd, it will be found in Hash's Fierce Penniless [Re- 
 print, Shaksp. Soc;, p. 25] : " The most grosse and senseless 
 proud dolts are the Danes, who stand so much vpon their 
 vnweldie burlibound souldiery, that they account of no man that 
 
 G 
 
58 NOTES. 
 
 hath not a battle-axe at his girdle to hough dogs with, or weares 
 not a cock's fether in a thrumb hat like a oaualier: briefly, he is 
 the bestfoole bragart wadei heaven." 
 
 P. 13, 1. 25. hodie-peeles'] Nash, in his Anatomie of Ahsurdities, 
 uses the word hoddy-peke, there implying cuckold, which is the 
 meaning it bears in this place. 
 
 "Who under her husband's that hoddy-peke's nose must have 
 all the distilling dew of his delicate rose." 
 
 P. 14, 1. 2. true-pennie'] See the Notes to the Reprint of 
 "Hay any Worke for Cooper," p. 79. 
 
 P. 14, 1. 7. Buls sKcJrag.] Bull was the name of the common 
 hangman ; he is quoted some two or three times in " Pap with a 
 Hatchet," and in many of the Dramas of the time. 
 
 P. 15, 1. 21. Old Martin of England.'] An allusion to the " lust 
 censure and reproofe of Martin lunior, by his reuerend and elder 
 brother Martin Senior." 
 
 P. 16, 1. 14. ditdgen distinction.'] I am unable to explain this. 
 P. 16, last line, bibble-habble.] Idle talk. 
 "Malvolio, Malvolio, thy wits the heaven restore! endeavour 
 thyself to sleep, leave thy vain bibble babble." 
 
 Shalcspeare, TwelfthNight, 
 P. 17, 1. 1. gibbrige] Gibberish. 
 P. 17, 1. 19. Cli. the Cobler, Sjc] Cliffe, Newman, Lawson. 
 
 P. 22, 1. 25. Will Tmg,] I cannot give any account of this 
 worthy, unless Will. Kempe, who succeeded the celebrated 
 Tarlton, is meant. Elderton's name is well known, his rimes 
 and ballets are the subject of frequent allusion in the dramas and 
 pamphlets of the time. See " Pap with a Hatchet," [Reprint, 
 p. 14]. Harvey's " Pierce'^ Supererogation." [Reprint, p. 181.] 
 
 P. 23, 1. 25. his Welchnes.] An allusion to Penry. 
 
 P. 24, 1. 4. Hodgkins, Tomlins and Sims.] Hodgkins, and his 
 
69 
 
 two men, Tomlyn and Symms, who were employed to print the 
 Mw-Prplate Tracts after Waldegrave'e press had been brolfen 
 up, were seized at Manchester in printing "More work for the 
 Copper." Their examination will be found in Strype's Annals, 
 vii. 602-5. — 3ee filsp much information in Sutcliffe's Answer to 
 Job Throckmorton, p. 72, 4to, 1595. 
 
 P. 25, 1, 8. Bumfeging,'] i. c. belabouring. The word does 
 not occur in Nares. In " Hay any Worke for Cooper," Martin 
 says, "For ise so bumfeg the Cooper," &c. [Reprint, p. 24.] 
 
 P. 26, 1. 5. the aged champion of Warwicke.^ i. e. Thomas 
 Cartwright. 
 
 P. 26, 1. 8. Phi. Stu.} Philip Stubbes, the brother-in-law of 
 Cartwright. His " Anatomy of Abuses," was printed in 1589. 
 
 P. 31, 1. 24. ribrost.'] To belabour, to beat soundly. 
 " I have been pinched in flesh, and well ribroasted under my 
 former masters; but I'm in now for skin and all." — L' Estrange. 
 
 P. 35, 1. 26. anie more bortes.'\ i. e. without scruple. 
 "Perjury will easily donne with him that hath made no bones of 
 murther." — Bp. Hall, Cases of Conscience, 
 
 P. 39, 1. 6. Pen.Sfc.'] Nash is evidently mistaken in attributing 
 all the Mar-Prelate Tracts to him. The description which fol- 
 lows powerfully reminds us of Nash's characteristic portrait of 
 Gabriel Harvey. 
 
 P. 44, 1. 2. Capcase.l A small travelling case, according to 
 Nares, 72. 
 
 P. 50, 1. 8. sheepe byter.'\ A petty thief. 
 
 " There are political sheepbiters as well as pastoral, betrayers 
 of publick trusts as of private." — L' Estrange. 
 
 " May it please Gentle Pierce in the divine fury of his ravished 
 spirit, to be graciously good unto his poor friends, who would 
 be somewhat loth to be silly sheep for the wolf, or other sheep- 
 biter." — G. Harvey's Pierce's Supererogation. 
 
60 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 P. 51, 1. 26. patch.'] i. e. a fool. 
 
 P. 51, 1. 21. Maw.'] An old game at cards; the pun is not a 
 bad one. 
 
 P. 52, 1, 26. Beware Anthony Munday.] A well known writer 
 and translator of various works. I have not met with the passage 
 alluded to. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HUGH WILLIAMS, PRINTER, ASHBY-STR6ET. 
 
puritan Mi&ti^lim Cractsf. 
 
 AN EPISTLE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CONVOCATION HOUSE: 
 
 BY 
 
 MARTIN MAR-PRELATE, Gentleman. 
 
 Ke^printeli from tfie ISlacIt ILetter iSitition, 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES. 
 
 Seronlr Bliition. 
 
 LONDON: 
 .JOHN PETHERAM, 71, CHANCERY LANE. 
 
 1843. 
 
The following Tracts relating to the controversy between the Puritans 
 and the Church of England, during the reign of Elizabeth, on Discipline, 
 &c. are suggested for pubUcation, on the same plan as the first, which is 
 already published. Those who are desirous of subscribing for the whole, 
 or for any one of them separately, should give early and specific directions 
 to this effect. A limited number only will be printed beyond the sub- 
 scription. 
 
 1 . Oh read ouer D. lohn Bridges, for it is a worthy worke, or an Epistle 
 to the terrible Priests of the Confocation House : with Introduction and 
 Notes. 8vo, [pp. 82,] cloth, lettered. Price, to subscribers, 2s. ; to 
 non-subscribers, 3s. Already published. 
 
 2. Oh read ouer D. lohn Bridges, or an Epitome of the fyrst Booke of 
 that right worshipfull volume written against the Puritanes. Printed on 
 the other hand of some of the priests. Prepanng for pubUcation, and will 
 be from 72 to 84 pages. Subscription, 2s. 
 
 3. A Brieff discours off the troubles begonne at Franckford in Germany, 
 Anno Domini 1554. Abowte the booke off common prayer and Ceremo- 
 nies, and continued by the Englishe men theyre, to thende off Q,. Marys 
 Raigne. 1675. Reprinted in 1643, and subsequently in the Ph<enij!,l'J07. 
 
 4. A Brief discourse against the outward Apparell and Ministering 
 Garments of the Popish Church, 1 566 ; OMd other tracts on the Habits, 
 printed about the same time. 
 
 5. An Admonition to the Parliament. A Second Admonition to the 
 Parliament. Without place or date. [1572.] 
 
 6. Certain Articles, collected and taken, (as it is thought) by the By- 
 shops out of a little Boke, entituled an Admonition to the Parliament, 
 with an Answere to the same, containing » Confirmation of the sayde 
 Booke in shorte Notes. 
 
 Imprinted we know where and whan. 
 Judge you the place and you can. [1572.] 
 
 7. Counter-Poyson : or, the Certaine Forme of Ecclesiastioall Govern- 
 ment. London, tevthout date. [1584.] 
 
 8. A Defence of the Reasons of the Counterpoyson. 1586. 
 
 9. A lamentable Complaint of the Commonalty by way of Supplication 
 to the High Court of Parliament for a learned Ministery. Without plcice. 
 1585. 
 
 10. A briefe discovery of the untruths and Slanders contained in a Ser- 
 mon by D. Bancroft, Feb. 8, 1588, and set forth m print by John Penry. 
 1588. 
 
 1 1. The State of the Church of Englande laide open, in a conference 
 betweene Diotrephes a Byshoppe, Tertullus a Papiste, Demetrius a Usurer, 
 Pandochus an Innkeeper, and Paul a Preacher of the Word of God. 
 R. Waldegrave. Without date. 
 
 12. A Countercuffe given to Martin Junior, by the venturous, hardiej 
 aud renouned Pasquill of England, Caualiero. 1589. 
 
13. The First parte of Pasquils Apologie. Wherein he renders a 
 reason to his friendes for his long silence, and gallops the fielde with the 
 Treatise of Reformation. 1590. 
 
 14. A Myrror for Martinists and all other Schiamatiques, which in 
 these dangerous dales doe breake the Godlie Unity and disturhe the 
 Christian Peace of the Church, by T. T. J. Wolfe. 1590. 
 
 15. A Whip for an Ape ; or Martin dlsplaied ; Marre Mar-Martin, or 
 Marre Martins medling in a manner misliked. 1589. With a collection 
 of other pieces in verse relating to the same subject. 
 
 16. Ha'j'e any work for a Cooper 1 penned and compiled by Martin 
 Marprelate. 1590. 
 
 17. The Protestation of Martin Marprelat. 1589. 
 
 18. The unlawful! Practises of Prelates against Godly Ministers, the 
 Maintainers of the Discipline of God. No date. [1590.] 
 
 19. Pappe with a hatchet, alias a figge for my God sonne, or Cracke 
 me this nut, or a Countrie Cuffe, that is a sound boxe of the eare for the 
 idiot Martin to hold his peace, written by one who dares call a dog a dog. 
 [1590.J 
 
 20. Pasquill's retume to England from the other side of the Seas, and 
 his meeting with Marforious at London upon the Royal Exchange. If 
 my breath be so hote that 1 burn my mouth, suppose I was printed in 
 Pepper AUie, A.D. 1589. 
 
 21. Martin's Months Minde, that is a Certaine Report, and True De- 
 scription of the Death and Funeral, of Olde Martin Marre-Prelate, the 
 great Make-bate of England, and Father of the Factious. 1 589. 
 
 22. Plaine Percevall, the Peace-Maker of England, sweetly indevoring 
 with his blunt Persuasions to botch up a Reconciliation between Mar-ton 
 and Mar-tother. 
 
 23. A Selection from the rery scarce collection printed at Edinburgh 
 in 1593, by R. Waldegrave, entitled " A Part of a Register, contayning 
 sundrie Memorable Matters, written by divers godly and learned in our 
 tirae,^ which stande for, and desire the Reformation of our Church, in 
 Discipline and Ceremonies, accordinge to the pure Worde of God, and 
 the Lawe of our Lande." 
 
 24. A Collection of certaine Sclaunderous Articles, given out by the 
 Bishoppes against such faithful Christians as they now vniustly deteyne 
 in their prisons, together with the answeare of the prisoners thereto : 
 Also the some [sum] of certaine conferences had in the Fleete. 1590. 
 
 25. The Examination of Henry Barrow, John Greenwood, and John 
 Penry, before the High Commissioners and Lords of the Council, with 
 their Answer to the many Questions, why they would not take an oath, 
 and why they refused to hear or have communion in the Church of Eng- 
 land, also Mr. Penry's Declaration of his Faith and Allegiance to her 
 Majesty, &c. faithfully penned by the Prisoners themselves. 
 
 26. D. Bancroft's rashness in rayling against the Church of Scotland, 
 and some reasons rendred why the Answer thereunto hath not hitherto 
 come forth, by J. D. a brother of the said Church of Scotland. Edin- 
 burgh, by R. Waldegrave. 1590. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The original, from which the following tract is re- 
 printed, is a small quarto volume, in black letter, of 
 52 pages. There are several tracts which bear the 
 general title of Martin Mar-Prelate, Martin Senior, 
 Martin Junior, &c., but this, which is the " Epistle," 
 and another, called the " Epitome," are frequently con- 
 founded together, arising probably from the similarity 
 of appearance in the titles, the first paragraph in each 
 being exactly alike, and the second very similar, though 
 in other respects they differ ; and, whereas the " Epis- 
 tle" was printed "oversea," the "Epitome" (which is 
 a continuation of the Epistle) was " Printed on the 
 other hand of some of the Priests," both without date, 
 though it must have been towards the end of 1588, 
 which may be collected from several circumstances 
 mentioned in the tracts themselves ; and, from the 
 appearance of. the type, they were most probably 
 printed by Richard Schilders, at Middleburgh, in Zea- 
 land, Another reason, perhaps, why these two tracts 
 are so frequently confounded together, may arise from 
 both having been written against the same work, namely, 
 " Dr. John Bridges' Defence of the Government of the 
 Church of England for Ecclesiastical Matters against a 
 Treatise of Ecclesiastical Government," &c., a quarto 
 of 1500 pages, the bulk of which, in more than one 
 instance, appears to have excited Martin's spleen. 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The authors of Martin Mar-Prelate were never dis- 
 covered; it is, however, probable that John Penry, 
 " the hot-headed Welshman," as his enemies called him, 
 was the author. He confessedly wrote several works 
 on behalf of the Puritan cause, and in 1593 suffered 
 death for them. 
 
 In the following tract the reader wiU have an opportu- 
 nity of judging of the manner in which the other works, 
 announced in the Prospectus, (should sufficient encou- 
 ragement be given to continue them,) will be published. 
 In the text I have faithfully adhered to the original 
 copy, both in orthography and punctuation ; in the 
 notes to the giving some few particulars for illustrating 
 the allusions in the text. Although some of the words 
 to be met with are now obsolete, the readers, into 
 whose hands it will come, will hardly require a glos- 
 sary of them. The same care in the text, and, I trust, 
 even more attention in the notes, will be given to the 
 subsequent publications. 
 
 In conclusion, I must disclaim any personal or poli- 
 tico-religious feelings in bringing once more before the 
 world these curious productions of by-gone times. Per- 
 sonality and scurrility were used freely by the Martin- 
 ists and their opponents ; and however much it is to be 
 wished that they had written with a gravity and deco- 
 rum more suited to the object they had in view, I could 
 only give that which I found, faithfully and unre- 
 servedly, and this I have done. 
 
 J. P. 
 
 Lon^, Sept. 20tk, 1842. 
 
Oh read ouer D. lohn Bridges, for it is a worthy worke : 
 
 Or an epitome of the 
 
 fyrste Booke of that right worshipful! vo- 
 lume, -written against the Puritanes, in the defence 
 of the noble cleargie, by as worshipfuU a prieste, lohn 
 Bridges, Presbyter, Priest or elder, doctor of Diuillitie, 
 and Deane of Sarum. Wherein the arguments 
 of the puritans are wisely prevented, that 
 when they come to answere M. Doctor, 
 they must needes say something 
 that hath bene spoken. 
 
 Compiled for the behoofe and overthrow 
 
 of the Parsons, Fyckers, and Currats, that have lernt 
 
 their Catechismes, and are past grace : By the 
 
 reverend and worthie Martin Marprelate 
 
 gentleman, and dedicated to the 
 
 Confocationhouse. 
 
 The Epitome is not yet published, but it shall 
 
 be when the Bishops are at conuenient leysure to 
 
 view the same. In the meane time, let them 
 
 be content with this learned Epistle. 
 
 Printed oversea, in Europe, within two fur- 
 longs of a Bounsing Priest, at the cost and 
 charges of M. Marprelate, gentleman. 
 
TO THE 
 
 RIGHT PUISANTE, AND TERRIBLE PRIESTS, 
 
 MY CLEABGIE MASTERS OF THE CONFOCATION-HOUSE, 
 
 WHETHER PICKERS GENERALL, WORSHIPFULL PALTRIPOLITANE, 
 
 OR ANY OTHER OF THE HOLY LEAGUE OF SUBSCRIPTION : 
 
 THIS WORKE I RECOMMEND VNTO THEM WITH ALL MY HEART, WITH 
 
 A DESIRE TO SEE THEM ALL SO PROUIDED FOR ONE DAY, 
 
 AS I WOULD WISH, WHICH I PROMISE THEM 
 
 SHALL NOT BE AT ALL TO THEIR HURT. 
 
 Right poysond, persecuting and terrible priests, the 
 theame of mine Epistle, vnto your venerable master- 
 domes, is of two parts (and the Epitome of our brother 
 Bridges his booke, shall come out speedily). First, 
 most pitifully complayning, Martin Marprelate, &c. 
 Secondly, may it please your good worships, &c. 
 
 Most pitifully complayning therefore, you are to vn- 
 derstand, that D. Bridges hath written in your defence, 
 a most senceles book, and I cannot very often at one 
 breath come to a full point, when I read the same. 
 
 Againe, may it please you to giue me leaue to play 
 the Duns for the nonce as well as he, otherwise dealing 
 with master doctors booke, I cannot keepe decorum 
 personce. And may it please you, if I be too absurd in 
 any place (either in this Epistle, or that Epitome) to 
 ride to Sarum, and thanke his Deanship for it. Because 
 I could not deal with his booke commendablie according 
 to order, vnles I should be sometimes tediously dunsti- 
 call and absurd. For I haue heard som cleargie men 
 
1 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 say, that M. Bridges was a verie patch and a duns, 
 when he was in Cambridg. And some say, sauing 
 your reuerence that are Bb. that he is as very a knaue, 
 and enemy vnto the sinceritie of religion, as any popish 
 prelate in Rome. But the patche can doe the cause of 
 sinceritie no hurt. Naye, he hath in this booke won- 
 derfully graced the same by writing against it. For 
 I haue hard some say, that whosoeuer will read his 
 booke, shall as euidently see the goodnes of the cause 
 of reformation, and the poore poore, poore nakednes of 
 your gouemment, as almost in reading all master Cart- 
 wright's workes. This was a very great ouersight in 
 his grace of Cant, to suffer such a booke to come- out. 
 For besides that an Archb. is very weakely defended by 
 masse Deane, he hath also by this meanes prouoked 
 many to write against his gracious fatherhood, who per- 
 haps neuer ment to take pen in hand. And brother 
 Bridges, mark what Martin tels you, you will shortly 
 I hope haue twenty fistes about your eares more the 
 your own. Take heed of writing against Puritanes 
 while you liue, yet they say that his grace woulde not 
 haue the booke to be published, and if you marke, you 
 you shall not finde scene and allowed in the title of the 
 booke. Well fare old mother experience yet, the burnt 
 childe dreads the fire : his grace will cary to his graue 
 I warrant you, the blowes which M. Cartwright gaue 
 him in this cause : and therefore no maruell though he 
 was loth to haue any other so banged as he himselfe 
 was to his woe. Others say that lohn Cant, ouersawe 
 euery proofe. If he did, then he ouersaw many a 
 
OP THE CONFOCATION HOUSE, 3 
 
 foule salecisme, many a senceles period, and far more 
 slanders. Slanders my friends ? I thinke so. For what 
 will you say, if our brother Bridges, and our cosen 
 Cosins, with manye others, haue had their grace of the 
 Bb. ad practicandum in Flanders 1 Howe could their 
 gouernment stand, vnles they should slander their bre- 
 thren, and make her Maiestie beleeue, that the Church 
 gouernment prescribed in the worde, would ouerthrow 
 her regiment, if it were receiued in our Church, and 
 that the seekers of reformation, are a sort of Malcon- 
 tents, and enemies vnto the state. 
 
 Item may it please your worthy worshipps, to receive 
 this curteously to favour at my hand, without choUer or 
 laughing. For my L. of Winchester is very choUericke 
 and peeuish, so are his betters at Lambeth, and D. 
 Cosins hath a very good grace in iesting, and I woulde 
 he had a little more grace, and a handful or two more 
 of learning, against he answer the Abstract next. Nay 
 beleeue me, it is inough for him to answere the Counter- 
 poyson. And I am none of the malicious sectaries, 
 wherof lohn of London spake the last Lent, 1588. in 
 his letters written to the Archdeacon of Essex, to forbid 
 publike fastes. Ha, ha, D. Copcot are ye there, why 
 do not you answe re the confutation of 'your sermo 
 at Pauls crosse ? fi It is a shame for your grace lohn of 
 Cant, that Cartwrights bookes haue bene now a dozen 
 yeares almost vnanswered : you first prouoked him to 
 write, and you first haue receiued the foyle. If you 
 can answer those books, why do you suffer the Puritans 
 to insult and reioyce at your silence. If you cannot, 
 B 2 
 
4 . AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 why are you an Archb. He hath prooued the calHng 
 to be vnlawfull and Antichristian. You dare not stand 
 to the defence of it. Now most pitifully complayneth, 
 M. Marprelate, desireth you either to aunswere what 
 hathe beene written against the gracelesnes of your 
 Archbishoprick, or to giue ouer the same, and to be 
 a meanes that no byshop in the land, be a Lord any 
 more. I hope one day her Maiestie will either see that 
 the L. Bb. prooue their calling lawfull by the word, or 
 as lohn of London prophesied saying, come downe you 
 bishopps from your thousands, and content you with 
 your hundreds, let your diet be prisdike and not prince- 
 likj&c. quoth lohn Elmar in his Harborow of faithful 
 subiects. But I pray you B. lohn dissolue this one 
 question to your brother Martin : if this prophesie of 
 yours come to passe in your dayes, who shal be B. of 
 London? And will you not sweare as commonly you 
 do, like a lewd swag, and say, by my faith, by iny faith 
 my masters, this geare goeth hard with us. Nowe may 
 it please your grace with y' rest of your worships, to 
 procure that the Puritans may one day haue a free dispu- 
 tatio with you, about y° cotrouersies of the Church, and 
 if you be not set at a flat non plus, and quite ouer- 
 throwen, ile be a Lord B. my selfe : looke to your 
 selues, I thinke you haue not long to raigne. Amen. 
 And take heed brethren of your reuerend and learned 
 brother, Martin Marprelate. For he meaneth in these 
 reasons following I can tell you, to proue that you 
 ought not to be maintained by the authoritie of the 
 Magistrate, in any Christian commonwealth : Martin is 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 5 
 
 a shrewd fellow, and reasoneth thus. Those that are 
 pettie popes and pettie Antichrists, ought not to be 
 maintained in anie Christian commonwealth. But euerie 
 Lord B. in England, as for ilsample, lohn of Cant. lolm 
 of London, lohn Excetor, lohn Rochester, Thomas of 
 Winchester. The B. of Lincolne, of Worcester, of Pe- 
 terborow, and to be briefe, all the Bb. in England, 
 Wales, and Ireland, are pettie popes, and pettie Anti- 
 christes. Therefore no Lord B. (nowe I pray -what mala- 
 thee good Martin speake out, if euer thou ^^f ^^"3™*^ 
 diddest speake out, that hir Maiestie and the *!">■' cannot - 
 
 ^ ^ . "® content 
 
 counsel! may heare thee) is to be toUerated in to stand by 
 
 . 1 1 n andhere,but 
 
 any christian common welth : and therefore they must 
 neither lohn of Cant. lohn of London, &c. are tleman how 
 to be toUerated in any christian commonwelth. *" ^P^*''®- 
 What say you now brother Bridges is it good writing 
 against Puritanes. Can you denie any part of your 
 learned brother Martin his syllogisme. We denie your 
 minor M. Marprelat say the Bb. and their Looketiie 
 assdciats. Yea my learned masters, are you took "pa? 
 good at that? what do you brethren ? say me 107. line 20. 
 that againe ? do you denie my minor ? And I'ne 13. 
 that be all you can say, to denie L. Bb. to be pettie 
 popes, turne me loose to the priests in y* point, for I am 
 olde suersvie at the proofe of such matters, ile presently 
 marre the fashion of their Lorships. 
 
 They are pettie popes, and pettie Antichrists, whoso- 
 
 euer vsurpe the authority of pastors ouer them, who by 
 
 the ordinance of God, are to bee vnder no pastors. 
 
 For none but Antichristian popes and popelings euer 
 
 E 3 
 
6 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 claimed this authoritie vnto themselues, especiallie when 
 it was gainsaid, and accounted Antichristian, generally 
 by the most Churches in the world. But our L. bishops 
 vsurpe authoritie ouer those, who by the ordinance of 
 God, are to be vnder no pastors, and that in such an 
 age, as wherein this authoritie is gainsaid, and accounted 
 Antichristian, generally by all the Churches in the world 
 for y^ most part. Therefore our L. Bb. what sayest 
 thou man, our L. bishopps, (I say) as lohn of Canter- 
 burie, Thomas of Winchester (I will spare lohn of Lon- 
 don for this time, for it may be he is at boules, and 
 it is pitie to trouble my good brother, lest he should 
 
 sweare too bad) my reuerend prelate of Litch- 
 M. Marpre- „,, -ii ^t • ■ ■, ,i 
 
 late you put nelde. With the rest ol that swimshe rable, 
 
 the question ^'6 pettie Antichrists, pettie popes, proud 
 clus^n of"" prelates, intoUerable withstanders of reform- 
 your syllo- ation, enemies of the gospell, and most 
 couetous wretched priests. This is a pretie 
 matter, y' standers by, must be so busie in other mens 
 games : why sawceboxes must yon be pratling ? you are 
 as mannerly as bishops, in medling with that you haue 
 nothing to doe, as they do in taking vpon them ciuill 
 offices. I thinke for any maners either they or you 
 haue, that you were brought up in Bridewell. But it is 
 well that since you last interrupted me (for now this 
 is the second time) you seeme to haue lemt your Caio 
 de moribus in that you keepe your selues on the mar- 
 gent. Woulde you be answered ? Then you must 
 know, that I haue set downe nothing but the trueth in 
 the conclusion, and the syllogismes are mine owne, 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE, 7 
 
 I may do whai I will with therii, and thus holde you 
 content. But what say you my horned masters of the 
 Confocation house ? you denie my minor againe I know. 
 And thus I prooue it. First 
 
 That our Prelates vsurpe their authoritie. 
 
 They vsurpe their authoritie, who violently and vn- 
 lawfully, retaine those vnder their gouemment, that 
 both woulde and ought (if they might) to shake of that 
 yoke wherewith they are kept vnder. But our Lord 
 bishops retaine such (namely other pastors) and vnlaw- 
 fiilly vnder their yoke, who both woulde and ought to 
 reiect the same. For all the pastors in the land, that 
 deserue the names of pastors, are against their wil 
 vnder the bishops iurisdictions. And they are vnlaw- 
 fuUy detained by them, because no pastor can be law- 
 fully kept vnder the pastoral (I meane not the ciuill) 
 authoritie of any one man. Therfore our Bb. and 
 proud popish, presumptuous, profane, paultrie, pestilent 
 and pernicious prelates, bishop of Hereforde and 
 all : are first vsurpers to beginne the matter withall. 
 Secondly 
 
 Our Prelates claime this authoritie ouer those, who by 
 the ordinance of God, are to he vnder no Pastors, 
 
 That is, they claime pastorall authoritie ouer other 
 ministers and pastors, who by the ordinaunce of God, 
 are appointed to be pastors and shepheards to feede 
 others, and not sheep, or such as are to haue shep- 
 heards, by who they are to be fedd and ouerseene : 
 whiche authoritie the bishops claime vnto themselues. 
 For they say that they are pastors of al the pastors 
 B 4 
 
8' AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 within their dioces. And take this of M. Marprelates 
 worde, that there is no pastor of pastors, but he is a 
 pope. For who but a pope will claime this authoritie.. 
 Thirdly, 
 
 This authoritie of owr L. Bb. in England, is accounted 
 Antichristian of the most Churches in the toorlde. 
 
 As of the Heluetian, the Scottish, French, Bohemian, 
 and the Churches of the low countries, the Churches of 
 Polonia, I>enTnarke, within the dominions of the Count" 
 Palatine, of the Churches in Saxonie^ and Sweuia, &c. 
 which you shall see euidently proned in the Harmonie 
 of the Confessions of all those Churches, Section the 
 eleuenth. Which Harmonie, was translated and printed, 
 by that puritan Cambridg printer; Thomas Thomas. 
 And although the booke came out by publike authoritie, 
 yet by your leaue the Bishops hatie called them in, as 
 things against their state. And trust me, his grace will 
 owe that puritane printer as good a turne, as hee paide 
 vnto Robert Walde-graue for his sawciness in printing 
 my frend and deaire brother Diotrephes his Dialogue. 
 Well frend Thomas I warne you before hand, looke t6 
 your selfe. 
 
 And now brethren byshops, if you wil not beleeue 
 me, I wil set down the very words of the French con- 
 fession, contayned page 359. of the Harmonie. We 
 beleeue (saith the confession, art 30.) that all true pas- 
 tors, in what place soeuer they be placed, haue the same, 
 and equall authority among theselnes, giuen vnto them 
 vnder lesus Christ the onely head, and the chiefe 
 alone vniuersal bishop : and that therefore it is not 
 
or THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 9 
 
 lawful! for anye Churche to challenge vnto it selfe, 
 dominion or soueraignty ouer any other. What an 
 horrible heresie is this, wil some say, why ? gentle 
 Martin, is it possible y' these words of the French con- 
 fession should be true ? is it possible that there ought 
 to be an equallity betweene his Grace and the Deane of 
 Sarum, or som other hedge priest : Martin saith it ought 
 be so, why then Martin if it shoulde be so, howe wiH 
 the byshops satisfie the reader in this poynt ? , ^ , , 
 Alas simple fellow whatsoeuer thou art, I lift well fare 
 
 agoodglose, 
 
 perceiue thou dost not mark the words of the 
 confession : My good brethren haue long since taken 
 order for this geare : For the Confession doth not say 
 that aU Pastors, but that all true Pastors, and all Pastors 
 that are vnder lesus Christ, are of equall authority. 
 So that all men see that my brethren, which are neyther 
 true Pastors, nor I feare me vnder Jesus Christ, ar not 
 to be of equall authority. And because this doth not 
 touch them, I will end this whole learned discourse 
 with the words of Pope Gregorie, vnto lohn bishop of 
 Constantinople (for I haue red somthing in my dayes) 
 which words you shall finde in our owne Englishe Con- 
 fession, written by a bish. page 361. of the Harmony. 
 The Popes words be these, " He is also the king of 
 pride, he is Lucifer, which preferreth himself p^^^. ^j^^ ^^^ 
 before his brethren, he hath forsaken the thatmyLord 
 
 of Canter- 
 
 fayth, and is the forerunner of Antichriste." bury is such 
 
 a one. 
 
 And haue not I quited my selfe like a man, 
 and dealt very valiantly, in prouing that my lemed 
 brethren the L. bishops ought not to be in any cliristian 
 B 5 
 
TO AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 common wealth, because they are pettie Popes, and 
 pettie Antichristes. But what doe you say, if by this 
 lustie syllogisme of mine owne making, I proue the 
 Popes once more for recreations sake. 
 
 Whosoeuer therefore clayme vnto themselues pastorall 
 Why Mar- authoritie ouer those Christians, with whome 
 meanest ^^^y cannot possiblie at any time altogether 
 thou. Cer- ^ ^j^g same congregation sanctifie the Sab- 
 thou takest jjoth : thev are vsurpins prelats, Popes and 
 
 that course . •". . r o r ' r 
 
 but a while, pettie Antichrists : For did you euer here of 
 thou wilt set n i i • • , 
 
 thy good anye but oi Fopes and. dumb mimsters, that 
 
 their wits woulde challenge the authority of Pastors 
 ' ouer those Christians, vnto whom they could 
 
 not possiblie on the Sabboths discharge the dutie of 
 pastors : But our L. Bb. challenge vnto themselues 
 pastorall authoritie ouer them, vnto whom they cannot 
 possiblie on the Sabboth, discharge the duty of Pastors, 
 vz. ouer people inhabiting diuers shires distant asunder, 
 with whom, gathered together on the Sabboth, they 
 cannot by order of nature, performe any dutie of Pas- 
 tors : Therefore all the L. Bishops in England, Ireland 
 and Wales (and for the good wil I beare to the reue- 
 rende brethren, I will speake as loud as euer I can) All 
 our L. Bb. I saye, are pettie Popes, and pettie vsurping 
 Antichristes, and I thinke if they will still continue to 
 be so, that they will breed yong Popes and Anti- 
 christes : per eonsequens, neyther they nor theyr broode, 
 are to be toUerated in any Christian common wealth, 
 quoth Martin Marprelate. There is my judgment of 
 you brethren, make y'' most of it, I hope it will neuer 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 11 
 
 be worth a byshopricke vnto you : reply when you dare, 
 you shall haue as good as you bring. And if you durst 
 but dispute with my worship in these poynts, I doubt 
 not but you should be sent home by weeping crosse. 
 I wold wish you my venerable masters for all that, to 
 answere my resons, or out of doubt you will prooue 
 pettie Antichristes, Your comer caps and tippets will do 
 nothing in this poynt. 
 
 Most pitifully complayneth, Martin Marprelate, vnto 
 your honorable masterships, that certayn theeues, hauing 
 stolne from dyars in Thames streat, as much cloth as 
 came to 30. pound, did hide the sayd cloth in Fulham, 
 which is a place within the territories of the Lord dumbe 
 lohn, who by occupation is Lord Bish. of London : 
 The theeues were apprehended, the cloth came within 
 your douches Don lohn of London, and al is fish that 
 comes to the net with your good honor. The theeues 
 being taken, the dyars came to challenge their cloth : 
 lohn London the bishop, said it was his owne, because 
 it was taken within his owne Lordship. But sayth he, 
 if the cloth be yours, let the law go vpon the theeues, 
 and then ile talke farther with you : wel, one or two of 
 the theeues were executed, and at their deathes con- 
 fessed that to be the cloth which the bishop had, but the 
 dyars coulde not get their cloth, nor cannot vnto this 
 day, no though one of their honors wrote vnto him to 
 restore the cloth vnto the poore men. What reason 
 were it he should giue the their own, as though he 
 could not tell how to put it vnto good vses as well as 
 the right owners. It is very good blew, and so would 
 B 6 
 
12 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 seme well for the liueries of his men, and it was goo3 
 greene, fit to make quishions and couerings for tables. 
 Brother London, you were best to make restitution, it 
 is playne theft and horrible oppression : Boner would 
 haue blusht, to haue bene taken with the like fact. 
 The popish sort your brethren, will commend this vnto 
 posteritie by writing assure your selfe. The dyars 
 names are Baughin, Swan and Price : They dwell at 
 Mybooke the old swan in Thames streat, I warrant you 
 with TwH- Martin will be found no lyar, he bringeth in 
 thrhi^h™ nothing without testimonie. And therefore 
 commission. I haue set downe the mens names and the 
 places of their aboade, y' you of this conspiration house 
 may finde out this slannder of trueth, against the L. of 
 good London. It was not therefore for nothing (lohn 
 of London I perceiue) that Mistris Lawson the shrew at 
 Pauls gate, and enemie to all dumb dogs and tyrannicaU 
 Prelates in the land : bad yon throw downe yoiar selfe 
 at hir Maiesties feet, acknowledging your selfe to be 
 vnsauory salt, and to craue pardon of her highnes, be- 
 cause yon had so long deceiued her and her people : 
 You might well ynough craue pardon for your theft, for 
 Martin wil stand to it, that the detayning of the mens 
 cloth is plain theft. 
 
 Riddle me a riddle what is that, his grace threatened 
 to send Mistris Lawson to Bridewell, because she shewed 
 the good father D. Peme, a way how to get his name 
 out of the booke of Martyrs, where the tumecoat is 
 canonized for burning Bucers bones : Dame Lawson 
 aunswered, that she was an honest Citizens wife, a maa 
 
OP THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 13 
 
 well knowen, and therefore bad his Grace an he would, 
 send his uncle Shorie thither. Ha ha ha : Now good 
 your grace you shall haue small gaynes in medling with 
 Margrete Lawson I can tell you. For if she be cited 
 before Tarquinius Superbus D. Stanop, she will desire 
 him to deal as fauorablie with her in that cause, as he 
 would with Mistris Blackwell, tse tse tse, wil it neuer 
 be better with you mistris Lawson. 
 
 Sohow, brother Bridges, when wil you answere the 
 booke intituled, an answere to Bribes his slanders : nay 
 I thinke you had more need to gather a beneuolence 
 among the Cleargie, to pay Charde toward the printing 
 of your booke, or els labour to his grace to get him 
 another protection, for men wil giue no mony for your 
 book, vnles it be to stop mustard pots, as your brother 
 Cosins answer to the Abstract did. You haue bin a 
 worthy writer as they say of a long time, your first 
 book was a proper Enterlude, called Gammar Gurtons 
 needle. But I thinke that this trifle, which sheweth 
 the author to haue had some witte and inuention in him, 
 was none of your doing : Because your bookes seeme to 
 proceede from the braynes of a woodcocke, as hauing 
 neyther wit nor learning. Secondly, you haue to your 
 mediocritie written against the Papists : And since that 
 time, you haue written a sheete in rime, of all the names 
 attributed vnto the Lorde in the Bible, a worthy monu- 
 ment : what hath the hedge priest my brother written 
 anye more ? O is, I crye him mercy, he hath written 
 this great volume which now I haue in hand against his 
 brethren. The qualities of this booke are many, M. D. 
 
14 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 sheweth himselfe to be very skilful! in the learning of 
 ob and Sol, if euer you red olde Fa-Briccot upon 
 Aristotle : M. Deanes manner of writing and his, are 
 not much vnlike, Doctor Terence of Oxforde and this 
 Doctor, may be neere of kindred for their learning. 
 There bee periods in this learned booke of great reason, 
 though altogether without sence. I will giue you a 
 proof or two, page 441. "And although" (sayth the 
 Doctor) "Paul afterward, 1 Cor. 1. 14. mentioning this 
 Sosthenes, Crispus, term him not there, the archgouer- 
 Criapus was ^°^^ °^ *^^ lewes Synagogue, yet as it farther 
 Z^'^Disd-^ appeareth. Acts 18. 11. by Sosthenes, who 
 pies. ^as long before a faythfuU Christian, and as 
 
 some alledge out of Eusebius lib. 1. cap. 13. he was 
 also one of the 72. Disciples chosen by Christ.'' 
 
 Fleering, leering, leering : there is at all no sence in 
 this period. For the words (yet afterward) vnto the 
 ende, M. D. minde was so set vpon a byshopricke, that 
 he brought nothing concerning Crispus to aunswere the 
 word (yet) Therefore I will helpe my reuerende brother 
 to make the sentence in this sort. And although, &c. 
 yet afterwarde my learned brother, D. Yong, Bish. of 
 Rochester, hauing the presentation of a benefice in his 
 hand, presented himselfe thereunto, euen of meere good- 
 wil. I lohn of Rochester, present lohn Young quoth 
 the bishop. Nowe iudge you good readers, whether 
 Martin sayth not true, that there is too much cousenage 
 now a dayes among the cleargie men. 
 
 This sentence following of M. Deanes, hath as good 
 sence as the former, page 655. The D. citeth these 
 
OF THE CONrOCATION HOUSE. 15 
 
 wordes out of the learned Discourse. " God graunt that 
 
 in steede of ordinarye formes of prayers, wee may haue 
 
 preaching in all places." And in steede of Amen, God 
 
 forbidd saye I, quoth the Doctor, with another prayer 
 
 to the contrarye, (nowe marke my masters, whether you 
 
 can finde anye sence in this contrarye prayer, for I 
 
 assure you reuerende Martin can find none) " if it be 
 
 his good will not so much (good lord) to pun- _,, , , 
 
 nish vs, that this our brethrens prayer should D. owne 
 
 words. 
 be graunted." If this be a senceles kind of 
 
 writing, I would there were neuer a Lord bishop in 
 England. 
 
 And lemed brother Bridges, a man might almost run 
 himselfe out of breath before he could come to a fidl 
 point in many places in your booke, page 69. line 3. 
 speaking of the extraordinarye giftes in the Apostles 
 time, you haue this sweete learning. " Yea some of 
 them haue for a great part of the time, continued euen 
 till our times, and yet continue, as the operation of great 
 workes, or if they meane miracles, which were not ordi- 
 nary no not in that extraordinary time, and as the hipo- 
 erites had them, so might and had diuers of the papists, 
 and yet their cause neuer the better, and the like may 
 we say of the gifl of speking with tongs, ^^^^^^, 
 which haue not bin with studie before learned. Dean take 
 
 breath and 
 
 as Anthonie, &c. and diuers also among the then to it 
 
 oil 1 • againe. 
 
 ancient lathers, and some among the papists, 
 and some among vs, haue not bene destitute of the 
 giftes of prophesying, and much more may I saye this 
 of the gift of healing, for none of those giftes or graces 
 
16 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 giuen then or since, or yet to men infer the grace of 
 Gods election to be of necessitie to saluation." 
 
 Here is a good matter deliuered in as good Grama- 
 ticall words : But what say you if M. Do. can prooue 
 that Peter was prince of the Apostles ? That is popery 
 Both these (l"°''^ Martin) to begin withal. Nay but 
 poynts are what say you if he proueth that one priest 
 page 448. among the residue, may haue a lawfull supe- 
 riour authoritie ouer the vniuersall bodye of 
 the Church, is not this plaine treason ? Is forsooth, if a 
 puritane had written it : But Mas Deane of Sarum that 
 wrote these things, is a man that fauoreth bishops, a 
 nonresident, one that will not sticke to play a game at 
 Cards, and sweare by his trothe : and therefore he may 
 write against the puritans what he will, his grace of 
 Canterbury will giue a verye Catholike exposition there- 
 of. This geare maynteineth the crowne of Canterbury, 
 and what matter is it though hee write for the mainte- 
 naunce thereof, all the treason in the world. It wil 
 neuer come vnto hir Maiesties eare, as my friend Ter- 
 tullus in the poore Dialogue that the bishops lately 
 burned hath set downe. His grace is able to salue the 
 matter well inough : yea my brother Bridges himselfe 
 can aunswere this poynt. For hee hath written other- 
 wise, page 288. line 26. in these wordes : " Neither is 
 all gouemment taken away from all, though a moderate 
 superior gouemment be giuen of all to some, and not 
 yet of all in all the Churche to one, but to one ouer 
 some in seuerall and particular Churches." The Deane 
 wil say, that concerning the superioritie of bishops this 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE., 17 
 
 is the meaning. As concerning the treason, written 
 page 448. it may be the foxe D. Feme, who helped 
 him as they say, to make this worthy volume, was the 
 author of it. 
 
 Now brethren, if any of you that are of the Confoca- 
 tion house, would knowe howe I can prooue M. Deane 
 to haue written flatt treason, page 448. as I haue before 
 set downe : draw neere, and with your patience I will 
 proue it so, that M. Deane will stand to his owne words, 
 which I care not if they be sett downe : page 448. line 3. 
 Thus you shall read, " Doth S. Peter then forbid that 
 any one Elder should haue and exercise any superior 
 gouernment ouer the cleargie,'' vnderstanding the clear- 
 gie in this sence, " if he doth not but alloweth it, and 
 his selfe practized it : the howsoeuer both the i eom- 
 name, both of gouerning and cleargy may be ^Jet^good^D. 
 abused, the matter is cleare, that one priest or S"' 'IjJ' good 
 elder among the residue, may haue a superior tongue. 
 authority ouer the cleargie, that is, ouer all the vni- 
 uersall bodie of the church, in euery parti- cieare 
 cular or seuerall congregation, and so not only yea who will 
 ouer the people, but also ouer the whol order '"^''f. ""^ 
 
 * ^ ' question 
 
 of ministers." thereof. 
 
 Would your worships knowe howe I can shew and 
 conuince my brother Bridges, to haue set downe flat 
 treason in the former words. Then haue at you Deane. ■ 
 J . It is treason to affirme her Maiestie to be - , _, 
 
 Locke Stat. 
 
 an infidell or not to be contayned in the bodie 13. Eliza- 
 
 ■' beth. 
 
 of the Church. 2. It is treason to saye that 
 
 one priest or elder, may haue a lawful! superiour, 
 
18 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 authoritie ouer hir Maiestie. Take your spectacles 
 then, and spell your owne words, and you shall finde 
 that you haue affirmed eyther of these 2. poynts. For 
 you afHrme that a priest may haue a lawfiill superior 
 authoritie ouer the vniuersall bodie of the Churche. 
 And you dare not denie her Maiestie to bee contayned 
 within the vniversall bodie of the Church, Therefore 
 to helpe you to spell your conclusion, you haue written 
 treason, if you will be as good as your writing : your 
 learned frend Martin (for no brother M. Deane if you 
 be a traytor) would not mistake you, and therefore say 
 what you can for your selfe : you meane not that this 
 priest shalbe ouer all the church : do you ? but howe 
 shall we knowe that? forsooth because you saye that 
 this superioritie must be in euery particular or seuerall 
 congregation. Is this your aunswere brother lohn? 
 why what sence is there in these words ? One priest 
 may haue a superior authoritie ouer the vniuersall body 
 of the Church, in euery particular or seueraU congrega- 
 tion ? The vniuersal bodie of the Church, is now be- 
 come a particular or seuerall congregation with you ? 
 And in good earnest Deane lohn, tell me howe many 
 orders of ministers be there in a particular cogregation ? 
 For there must bee orders of ministers in the congre- 
 gation, where you meane this bounsing priest should 
 haue his superioritie, and because this cannot be in 
 seuerall and particular congregations: therefore you can- 
 not meane by these words, ouer the vniuersall bodye of 
 the Church, any other thing, then the whole Church 
 militant : But yoii would mende your answere ? And 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 19 
 
 say that this superior priest must be an Englishe priest 
 
 and no forrainer : As for ilsample, his grace j^ g<,o3 jj. 
 
 of Canterbury is an English priest. Do you *^"P'«- 
 
 meane then, that his grace should be this superior priest, 
 
 who by Sir Peters allowaunce may haue a „. 
 
 lawfull superior authoritie ouer the vniuersall "euer alow- 
 
 ed this. 
 bodie of the Churche ? Truely I doe not 
 
 meane so. And good now, do not abuse his graces 
 
 worship in this sort, by making him a Pope. Be it 
 
 you meane this hie priest should be no stranger, yet 
 
 your treason is as great or greater. For you will haue 
 
 her Maiesty to be subiect vnto her owne subiect and 
 
 seruant. And if it be treason to say that the Pope, who 
 
 hath princes and Cardinalls for his seruants, being far 
 
 better than were lohn with his Canterburinesse, may 
 
 haue a lawfull superior authoritie ouer her Maiesty, as 
 
 one being contained with in the vniuersall bodie of the 
 
 Church : is it not much more trayterous to say, that an 
 
 Englishe vassall may haue this authoritie ouer his 
 
 Soueraigne. And brother lohn, did Sir Peter his selfe 
 
 in deede practize this authoritie ? whie what jj ^.^ v 
 
 a priest was he ? Did he alow others to haue *ose that 
 
 ^ _ ^ ^ can be har- 
 
 this authority. Truly this is more then euer I barous as 
 knew til now. Yet notwithstanding, I thinke masse 
 he neuer wore comer cap and tippet in all his 
 life, nor yet euer subscribed to my Lord of Canterbury 
 his articles : Now the question is, whom Sir Peter his 
 selfe nowe alloweth to be this bouncing priest? the Pope 
 of Rome yea or no ? No in no case, for that is against 
 the statute. For will my brother Bridges saye that the 
 
20 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 Pope may haue a lawfull superior authoritie ouer his 
 Grace of Canterbury? lie neuer beleeue him though 
 he saye so. Neyther will I saye that his Grace is an 
 His grace Infidell, (nor yet sweare that he is much bet- 
 get me to t^r) and therefore M. Deane meaneth not that 
 aj^n^t my *^ ^"P^ shoulde bee this highe Priest. No 
 conscience, brother Martin (quoth M. Deane) you saye 
 true, I meane not that the Pope is this priest of Sir 
 Peter. And I haue many reasons why I shoulde denie 
 him this authoritie. First he is a massemonger, that is, 
 a professed idolater. 2. He weareth a triple crowne, 
 so doth not my Lorde of Canterbury. 3. He hath his 
 seat in Romish Babylon in Rome within Italie : you 
 know y" nomber 666. in the Reuelation signifieth La- 
 tenios, that is, the man of Rome, or Ecclesia Italike, the 
 Italian church. Lastly, he must haue men to kisse his 
 toes, and must be carried vpon mens shulders, and must 
 haue princes and kings to attend vpon him, which shew- 
 eth his horrible pride. Sir Peters vniuersall priest and 
 mine, shalbe no such priest I trow, \a. Mas Doctor. 
 No shall not Doctor lohn, I con thee thank. Then thy 
 vniuersall priest, 1. must be no idolator, 2. must be no 
 proude priest, and haue neuer a triple crowne (and yet 
 I hope he may weare as braue a sattin gowne as my 
 Lord of Winchester weareth, and be as cholericke as he) 
 3. he must haue his seat out of Italie, as for fashion 
 sake, at Lambehith Hippo, &c. but at Rome in no case. 
 If I should examine these properties, I thinke some of 
 them, if not all, haue bene accidents vnto English priests. 
 For how many Bb. are there in England, which haue 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 21 
 
 not either said masse, or helped the priest to say masse 
 or bene present at it ? As for the triple crowne, Pope 
 loan the English harlot hath woon it : So did Vrbane 
 the 5. an English man. And concerning pride, I hope 
 that our Bb. howe lining, haue to their mediocritie taken 
 order, that some Popes may be inferior vnto them, as 
 for ilsample, his Canterburinesse, &c. And I cannot 
 see how the planting of the chaire in Rome anye more 
 then Canterbury, can make a Pope. Seeing that Cle- 
 ment the 5. lohn 22. Benedict 12. and all other Popes, 
 from the yeare 1306. vnto 13Y5. sate not in Rome, but 
 for the most part at Avinion in Fraunce. But notwith- 
 standing all this, out of your meaning masse D. such a 
 simple Ingram man as I am, in these poynts, of vni- 
 uersall superior priests, I finde three differences be- 
 tweene my L. of Peterborough, or any other our high 
 priests in England, and the Popes holines : and 3. impe- 
 diments to hinder the Pope from being Sir Peters high 
 priest and yours, vz. his idolatrie, 2. his triple crowne, 
 3. his seat at Rome. But if Hildebrande Pope of 
 Rome, had beene a professor of the trueth (as his grace 
 Doctor turnecoats (Perne I shoulde saye) schoUer is) 
 had wome no triple crowne, had bene Archbishop of 
 Canterbury (and I think we haue had Hildebrands there 
 ere nowe) then he might by the iudgement of the learned 
 Bridges, and the allowance of that Peter, which his 
 selfe practized that authoritie, haue a lawful superior 
 authority ouer the vniuersal bodie of the Church. And 
 what a worthy Canterbury Pope had this bin, to be 
 called my Lords grease ? Thus you see Brother Bridges, 
 
22 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 M. Marprelate an please him, is able to make a yonger 
 brother of you : he hath before proued, that if euer you 
 be Archb. of Canterbury (for you wrote this foule 
 heape against the holy Discipline of Christ, (as Whitgift 
 did the like) in hope to bee the next Pope of Lambeth) 
 that then you shalbe a pettie Pope, and a pettie Anti- 
 christ : Nay he hath prooued you to haue deserued a 
 cawdell of Hempseed, and a playster of neckweed, as 
 weel as some of your brethren the papists. And now 
 brother Bridges once again, is it good writing against 
 the Puritans. Take me at my word, vnlesse you an- 
 swere the former poynt of Antichristianisme, and this of 
 treason, I will neuer write again to my bre[thren] the 
 Bb. but as to vsurpers and Antichristes, and I shall 
 take you for no better then an enemie to her Maiesties 
 Supremacie. And because you haue taken vppon you 
 to defend L. Bb. though you be as very a sot as euer 
 liued, (outcept dumb lohn of London againe) yet you 
 shall answere my reasons, or else I will so course you, 
 as you were neuer coursed since you were a Symonical 
 Deane, you shall not deale with my worshipp, as lohn 
 with his Canterburinesse did with Thomas Cartwright, 
 whiche lohn, left the cause you defend in the plaine 
 field, and for shame threw downe his weapons with a 
 desperate purpose to runne away, and leaue the cause, 
 as he like a coward hath done : For this dozen yeares 
 we neuer saw any thing of his in printe for the defence 
 of his cause, and poore M. Cartwright doth content him- 
 selfe with the victorie, which the other will not (though 
 in deed he hath by his silence) seeme to grant. But 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 23 
 
 I will not be this vsed at your hands, for vnlesse you 
 
 answere me, or confesse (and that in print) Ha, prieste 
 
 that all L. Bb. in England, Wales, Ireland, iJ^fs^"^; 
 
 yea and Scodande to, are pettie popes, and tr^^tme. 
 
 plaine vsurpers, and pettie Antichristes : lie kindle such 
 
 a fire in the holes of these foxes, as shall neuer be 
 
 quenched as long as there is a L. B. in England. And 
 
 who but the worthie Martin can doe so valiantly. Page 
 
 560. master Deane bringeth in Aretius, to proue that 
 
 kneeling at the communion is not ofFensiue. And how 
 
 is the argument concluded think you ? for sooth euen 
 
 thus. Aretius saith, that in Berne they receiue the com- 
 
 munio sitting or standing : therefore saith my brother 
 
 Bridges, kneeling at the commvinion is not vnlawfuU. 
 
 I maruell whether he was not hatched in a goose nest, 
 
 that would thus conclude. 
 
 In another place, page 226. or thereabouts, he prooueth 
 
 that one man may haue two spirituall liuings, jj brother 
 
 because the puritans themselues save, that one Bridges 
 
 '^ ... nowe rea- 
 
 charge may haue two ministers, to wit, a soneth in 
 
 good earnest 
 Pastor and a Doctor. And these be some of for nonresi- 
 
 the good profes whereby our established go- 
 
 uernment is vphelde. 
 
 It would make a man laugh, to see how many trickes 
 
 the Doctor hath to coosen the sielie puritans in his book, 
 
 he can now and then without any noyse, whatacraf- 
 
 alleadge an author clean against himselfe, massT"* '* 
 
 and I warrant you, wipe his mouth cleanly, Deane. 
 
 and looke another way, as though it had not bene he. 
 
 I haue laught as though I had bene tickled, to see with 
 
24 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 what sleight he can throw in a popish reason, and who 
 sawe him ? And with what art, he can conuaye him- 
 selfe from the question, and goe to another matter ? it is 
 wonderfull to thinke. But what would not a Deane do 
 to get a bishoppricke ? In this one poynt, for sparing 
 labour he is to bee admired, that he hath set downe 
 vnder his owne name, those thii^s which (to speak as I 
 think) he neuer wrote himselfe. So let the puritans 
 aunswere when they will, he hath so much of other 
 mens helpes, and such contrarieties in this book, that 
 when they bring one thing against him out of his owne 
 writings, he wil bring another place out of the sayd 
 booke, flat contrary to that, and say that the latter is 
 his, and not the former. For the former, it may bee, 
 was some other friends, not so fullie seen in the cause, 
 as presbyter lohn Bridges was. The reason of these 
 contrarieties was uery expedient : because many had a 
 hand in the worke, euery man wrote his own minde, 
 and masse doctor iojTied the whole together. 
 
 Nowe forasmuch as he hath playd the worthy worke- 
 man, I will bestow an Epitaph vpon his graue when he 
 dyeth, which is thus : 
 
 " Here lies lohn Bridges, a worthie Presbyter he 
 was." 
 
 But what if he be a B. before he die ? what bre- 
 thren? doe, you not thinke that I haue two strings to 
 my bow, is vs haue I, and thus I sing, if he chance to, 
 be a bishop. 
 
 " Here lies lohn Bridges late Bishop, friend to the 
 Papa." 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOtSE. 23 
 
 I care not an I now leaue masse Deanes worship, and 
 be eloquent once in my dayes : yet brother Bridges, a 
 worde or two more with you, ere we depart, I praye 
 you where may a ma buie such another gelding, and 
 borow such another hundred poimdes, as you bestowed 
 vpon your good patron Sir Edward Horsey, for his 
 good worde in helping you to your Deanry : go to, go 
 to, I perceiue you will prooue a goose. Deale closeliar 
 for shame the next time : must I needs come to the 
 knoledge of these things ? What if I should report 
 abroad, that cleargie men come vnto their promotions by 
 Simonie ? haue not you giuen me iuste cause 1 I thinke 
 Simonie be the bishops lacky. Tarleton tooke him not 
 long since in Don lohn of Londons cellor. 
 
 Well nowe to mine eloquence, for I can doe it I tell 
 you. Who made the porter of his gate a dumb minis- 
 ter ? Dumbe lohn of London. Who abuseth her Ma- 
 iesties subiects, in vrging them to subscribe contrary to 
 lawe ? lohn of London. Who abuseth the high com- 
 niission, as much as any ? lohn London, (and D. 
 Stanop to) Whoe bound an Essex minister, in 200.1. 
 to weare the surplice on Easter day last? lohn jj^ ^ . 
 London. Who hath cut downe the Elmes you weary of 
 
 it dumbe 
 
 at Fulham ? lohn London. Who is a camall John, ex- 
 defender of the breache of the Sabboth in all leaue perse- 
 the places of his abode 1 lohn London. "" "'^' 
 Who forbiddeth men to humble themselues in fasting 
 and prayer before the Lorde, and then can say Vnto the 
 preachers, now you were best to tell the people, that 
 we forbidd fastes? lohn London. Who goeth to bowles 
 
 c 
 
26 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 vpon the Sabboth ? Dumbe dunsticall lohn of good 
 London, hath done all this, I will for this time leaue 
 this figure, and tell your venerable masterdomes a tale 
 worth the hearing : I had it at the second hand : if he 
 that tolde it me, added any thing, I do not commende 
 him, but I forgiue him : The matter is this. A man 
 dyiog in Fulham, made one of the bishopp of Londons 
 men his executor. The man had bequeathed certaine 
 Legacies vnto a poore shephearde in the towne. The 
 shepheard could get nothing of the bishops man, and 
 therefore made his mone vnto a gentleman of Fulham, 
 that belongeth to the court of requests. The gentlemans 
 name is M. Madox. The poore mans case came to bee 
 tryed in the court of Requestes. The B. man desired 
 his masters helpe : Dumb lohn wrote to the Masters 
 of requests to this effect, and I think these were his 
 wordes. 
 
 " My masters of the requests, the bearer hereof being 
 my man, hath a cause before you : in as much as I 
 vnderstande howe the matter standeth, I praye you let 
 my man be discharged the court, and I will see an 
 agreement made. Fare you well." The letter came to 
 M. D. Dale, he answered it in this sort. 
 
 " My Lorde of London, this man deliuered your let- 
 ter, I pray you giue him his dinner on Christmas day 
 for his labour, and fare you well." 
 
 Dumbe lohn not speeding this way, sent for the sayd 
 M. Madox : he came, some rough words passed on both 
 sides, Presbyter lohn sayde, master Madox was verye 
 sawcie, especially seeing he knew before whom he spake: 
 
OF THE COKFOCATION HOUSE. 27 
 
 namely, the Lord of Fulham. Wherevnto the gentle- 
 man answered, that he had bene a pore freeholder in 
 Fulham, before Don lohn came to be L. there, hoping 
 also to be so, when he and all his brood (ray Ladle his 
 daughter and all) shoulde be gone. At the hearing of 
 this speeche, the waspe got my brother by the nose, 
 which mad him in his rage to affirme, that he woulde 
 be L. of Fulham as long as he lined, in despight of all 
 England. Naye softe there, quoth M. Madox, except 
 her Maiestie I pray you, that is my meaning, ka dumb 
 lohn, and I tell thee Madox, that thou art but a lacke 
 to vse me so : master Madoxe replying, sayd that in 
 deed his name was lohn, and if euery lohn were a lacke, 
 he was content to bee a lacke (there he hit my L. ouer 
 the thumbs) The B. growing in choHer, sayd y* master 
 Madox his name did shewe what he was,, for sayth he, 
 thy name is mad Oxe, which declareth thee to be an 
 vnruly and mad beast. M. Madox answered againe, 
 that the B. name, if it were descanted vpon, did most 
 significantly shew his qualities. For said he, you are 
 called Elmar, but you may be better called marelme, 
 for you haue marred all the Elmes in Fulham : hauing 
 cut them all downe. This farre is my worthy story, as 
 worthye to bee printed, as any part of Deane lohns 
 booke, I am sure. 
 
 Item, may it please you that are L. Bb. to shewe 
 your brother Martin, how you can escape the danger of 
 a premimire, seeinge you vrge her Maiesties subiects to ' 
 subscribe, cleane contrary to the Statute 13. Elizabeth. 
 What haue you to shew for your selues, for I tell you, 
 r 9 
 
28 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 I heard some say, that for vrging subscription, you were 
 all within the premunire, insomuch that you haue bene 
 driuen closely to buie your pardons, you haue forfayted 
 all that you haue vnto her Maiestie, and your persons 
 are voyde of her Maiesties protection : you knowe the 
 danger of a premunire, I trowe ? Well but tell me what 
 you haue to shewe for your selues ? her Maiesties pre- 
 rogatiue ? haue you ? Then I hope you haue it vnder 
 seale. No I warrant you, her Maiesty is too wise for 
 that. For it shall neuer be sayde, that she euer author- 
 ized such vngodly proceedings, to the dishonor of God, 
 and the wounding of the consciences of her best subiects. 
 Seeing you haue nothing to shew that it is her Maiesties 
 will, why should any man subscribe contrary to statute ? 
 Forsooth me must beleue such honest creatures as you 
 are on your words ? must they ? As though you would 
 not lye : yes, yes, bishops will lye' like dogs. They 
 were neuer yet well beaten for their lying. 
 
 May it please your honorable worships, to let worthy 
 Martin vnderstand, why your Canterburinesse and the 
 rest of the L. Bb. fauor papists and recusants, rather the 
 puritans. For if a puritane preacher, hauing a recusant 
 in his parrish, and shall go about to deale with the recu- 
 sant for not comming to Church. Sir will the recusant 
 say, you and I wiU answere the matter before his grace, 
 (or other the high commissioners, as L. Bb. Seeuillaines 
 (I meane) popish doctors of the bawdie courts.) And 
 assoone as the matter is made knowne vnto my Lorde, 
 the preacher is sure to go by the worst, and the recusant 
 to carie all the honestie : Yea the preacher shalbe a 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 29 
 
 busie enuious fellow, one that doth not obserue the 
 booke, and conforme himself according vnto order, and 
 perhaps go home by beggers bush, for any benefice he 
 hath to line vpon. For it may be the Bb. will be so 
 good vnto him, as to depriue him for not subscribing. 
 As for the recusant, he is known to be a man that must 
 haue the libertie of his conscience. Is this good dealing 
 brethren. And is it good dealing, that poore men 
 should be so troubled to the chauncellors courte, that 
 they are euen wearie of their Hues, for such horrible 
 oppression as there raises. I tell you D. Stannop (for 
 all you are so proiide) a premunire will take you by the 
 backe one day, for oppressing and tyrannizing ouer her 
 Maiesties subiects as you doe. 
 
 Doth your grace remember, what the lesuit at New- 
 gate sayde of yon, namely, that my Lorde of Canterbury 
 should surely be a Cardinall, if euer poperie did come 
 againe into England : (yea and that a braue Cardinall to) 
 what a knaue was this lesuit ? beleeue me I would not 
 say thus much of my Lord of Canterburie, for a thou- 
 sand pound, lest a Scandalwm magnatum should be had 
 against me : But well fare him that sayd thought is 
 fi:ee. 
 
 Pitifully complayning, is there any reason, (my Lords 
 grace) why knaue Thackwell the printer, which printed 
 popishe and trayterous welshe bookes in Wales, shoulde 
 haue more fauour at your gracelesse handes, then poore 
 Walde-graue, who neuer printed book against you, that 
 contayneth eyther treason or impietie, Thackwell is at 
 libertie to walke where he will, and permitted to make 
 c 3 
 
30 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 the most he could of his presse and letters : whereas 
 Robert Walde-graue dares not shew his face for the 
 blood- thirstie desire you haue for his life, onely for 
 printing of bookes which toucheth tlie bishops Myters. 
 You know that Walde-graues printing presse and Let- 
 ters were takken away : his presse being timber, was 
 sawen and hewed in pieces, the yron work battered and 
 made vnseruiceable, his Letters melted, with cases and 
 other tooles defaced (by lohn Woolfe, alias Machiuill, 
 Beadle of the Stacioners, and most tormenting execu- 
 tioner of Walde-graues goods) and he himselfe vtterly 
 depriued for euer printing againe, hauing a wife and sixe 
 small children. Will this monstrous crueltie neuer be 
 reuenged thinke you ? When Walde-graues goods was 
 to be spoiled and defaced, there were some printers, 
 that rather then all the goods should be spoyled, offered 
 money for it, towardes the reliefe of the mans wife and 
 children, but this coulde not be obtayned, and yet 
 popishe Thackwell, though hee printed popish and tray- 
 terous bookes, may haue the fauor to make money of 
 his presse and letters. And reason to. For Walde- 
 graues profession ouerthroweth the popedome of Lambe- 
 hith, but Thackwels popery maintayneth the same. 
 And now that Walde-graue hath neither presse nor let- 
 ters, his grace may dine and sup the quieter. But 
 looke to it brother Canterburie, certainly without your 
 A fyrebrand repentance, I feare me, you shalbe * Hilde- 
 in deede. ^^.^^ j^, jggj_ Walde-graue hath left house 
 and home, by reason of your vnnaturall tyrannie : hauing 
 left behinde him a poore wife and sixe Orphanes, withr 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 31 
 
 out any thing to relieue them, (For the husband, you 
 haue bereaued both of his trade and goods) Be you 
 assured that the crie of these will one day preuaile 
 against you, vnlesse you desist from persecuting. And 
 good your grace, I do now remember my selfe ji^jg knau-- 
 of another printer, that had presse and letter ^^' 
 in a place called Charterhouse in London (in Anno 1587. 
 neere about the time of the Scottish Queenes death) 
 inteligence was giuen vnto your good grace of the same, 
 by some of the Stacioners of London, it was made 
 knowen vnto you what worke was in hand, what letter 
 the booke was on, what volume, vz. in 80. in halfe 
 sheetes, what workemen wrohgt on the same : namely, 
 I. C. the Earle of Anmdels man and three of his 
 seruants, with their seuerall names, what liberallitie was 
 bestowed on those workemen, and by whom, &c. Your 
 grace gaue the Stacioners the hearing of this matter, but 
 to this daye the parties were neuer calde in Coram for 
 it : but yet by your leaue my Lord, vpon this inform- 
 ation vnto your honorable worship, the sta- is not he a 
 cioners had newes, that it was made knowne I'n'Jeed^hat 
 vnto the printers, what was done vnto your t^ushideth 
 
 ■^ ' .^ popene and 
 
 good grace, and presently in steed of the work knauery. 
 which was in hand, there was other appointed, as they 
 saye, authorized by your Lordship. I will not saye it 
 was your owne doing, but by your sleeue, it may be 
 thought is free. And my good L. (nay you he^Mdestie 
 shalbe none of my L. but M. Whitgift and "l^lZ.oi 
 you will) are you partiall or no in all your pounds, 
 actions tell me ? yes you are ? I wil stand to it ? did 
 c 4 
 
32 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 you get a decree in the high court of Starchamber onely 
 for Walde-graue ? if it bee in generall (and you not 
 partiall) why fet you not that printing presse and letters 
 out of Charterhouse, and destroye them as you did 
 Walde-graues? Why did you not apprehend the parties, 
 why ? Because it was poperie at the least, that was 
 printed in Charterhouse : and that maintayneth the 
 crowne of Canterburye ? And what is more tollerable 
 than popery ? Did not your grace of late erecte a new 
 printer contrary to the foresayd decree ? One Thomas 
 Orwine (who sometimes wrought popish bookes in cor^ 
 ners : namely lesus Psalter, our Ladies Psalter, &c.) 
 with condition he should print no such seditious bookes 
 _, . . as Walde-graue hath done ? Why my Lord ? 
 
 knauery my Walde-graue neuer printed any thing against 
 
 Lord, 
 
 the state, but onely against the vsurped state 
 of your Paultripolitanship, and your pope holy brethren, 
 the Lorde B. and your Antichristian swinish rable, being 
 intoUerable withstanders of reformation, enemies of the 
 Gospell, and most couetous wretched, and popish 
 priests, 
 
 Nowe most pitifully complajming, Martin Marprelate : 
 That the papistes will needs make vs beleeue, that our 
 good lohn of Canterbury and they, are at no great iarre 
 in religion. For Reignolds the pa,pist at Rheimes, in 
 his booke against M. Whitakers, comendeth the works 
 written by his grace, for the defence of the corruption 
 in our Churche, against T. Cartwright. And sayth that 
 the said lohn Cant, hath many things in him, which 
 euidently shew a catholike perswasion. Alas my mas- 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 33 
 
 ters shall we loose our metropolitan in this sort. Yet 
 the note is a good note, that we may take heed the 
 Spaniards steale him not away, it were not amisse if 
 her Maiestie knew of it. Wee need not fear (if we can 
 keep him) the Spaniards and our other popish enemies, 
 because our metropolitans religion and theirs differ not 
 much. In the article of Christes descending into hell, 
 they iumpe in one right pat : and in the mayntenaunce of 
 the hierarchic of Bb. and ascribing the name of priest, 
 vnto them that are ministers of the gospel. I know not 
 whether my next tale will be acceptable vnto his grace or 
 not. But haue it among you my masters : M. Wigging- 
 ton the pastor of Sidborough, is a man not altogether 
 unknowen vnto you. And I think his worshipftill grace 
 got little or nothing by medling with him, although he 
 hath depriued him. My tale is of his depriuation, which 
 was after this sort. The good quiet people of Syd- 
 borough, being troubled for certaine yeares with the 
 sayde Wiggington, and many of them being infected by 
 him with the true knowledge of the gospell, by the 
 worde preached (which is an heresie, that his grace 
 doth mortally abhorre and persecute) at length grew in 
 disliking with their pastor, because the seuere man did 
 vrge nothing but obedience vnto the gospell. Well, 
 they came to his grace to finde a remedie hereof: 
 desiring him that Wiggington might be depriued. His 
 grace could find no law to depriue him, no although the 
 pastor defied the Archb. to his face, and would giue 
 him no better title then lohn Whitgift, such buggs 
 words, being in these dales accounted no lesse then high 
 c 5 
 
34 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 treason against a Paltripolitan : Though since that time, 
 I think his grace hath bin well enured to beare the 
 name of Pope of Lambeth, lohn Cant, the prelate of 
 Lambeth, with diuers other titles agreeable to his func- 
 tion. Well Sidborogh men proceeded against their 
 pastor, his grace woulde not depriue him, because he 
 coulde finde no law to warrant him therein, and he will 
 do little contrary to law, for fear of a premunire, vnles 
 it be at a dead lift, to depriue a puritan preacher. 
 Then in deed he will do against lawe, against God, and 
 against his owne conscience, rather then that heresie of 
 preaching should preuail. One man of Sidborough, 
 whose name is Atkinson, was very eger among the rest, 
 to haue his pastor depriued : and because his grace 
 woulde not heare them but departed away, this Atkin- 
 son desired his grace to resolue him and his neighbours 
 of one poynt which something troubled them : and that 
 was, whether his grace or Wiggington were of the deuill. 
 For quoth he, you are so contrary the one from the 
 other, that both of you cannot possibly be of God. If 
 he be of God, it is certaine you are of the deuill, and so 
 cannot long stand : for he will be your ouerthrowe. 
 Amen. If you are of God, then he is of the diuell as 
 wee thinke him to be, and so he being of the deuill, 
 will not you depriue him ? why shoulde you suffer such 
 a one to trouble the Church. Now if he be of God, 
 why is your course so contrary to his ? and rather, why 
 do not you follow him, that we may do so to ? Truely, 
 if you do not depriue him, we will thinke him to be of 
 God, and go home with him, with gentler good will 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 35 
 
 towardes him, then we came hyther with hatred, and 
 looke you for a fall. His grace hearing this northen 
 logicke, was mooued on the sodaine you must thinke, 
 promised to depriue Wiggington, and so he did. This 
 Atkinson this winter 1587. came vp to London, being 
 as it seemed afflicted in conscience for this fact, desired 
 Wiggington to pardone him and oifred to kneele before 
 her Maiestie, that Wiggington might bee restored againe 
 to his place, and to stande to the trueth hereof, to his 
 graces teeth. The man is yet aliue, he may be sent 
 for, if you thinke that M. Martin hath reported an vn- 
 trueth. No I warrant you, you shall not take mee to 
 haue fraught my booke with lyes and slaunders, as lohn 
 Whitgift, and the Deane of Sarum did theirs. I speak 
 not of things by heresay as of reports, but I bring my 
 witnesses to prooue my matters. 
 
 May it please you to yeeld vnto a suite that I haue 
 to your worships. I pray you send Wiggington home 
 vnto his charge againe, I can tell you it was a foule 
 ouersight in his grace, to send for him out of the North 
 to London, that he might outface him at his owne doore. 
 He woulde do his Canterburines lesse hurt if he were at 
 his charge, then now he doth. Let the Templars haue 
 M. Trauers their preacher restored againe vnto them, 
 hee is nowe at leysure to worke your priesthood a woe 
 I hope. If suche another booke as the Ecclesiast. Dis- 
 cipline was, drop out of his budget, it were as good for 
 the Bb. to lie a day and a night in little ease in the 
 Counter. He is an od fellowe in folowing an argument, 
 and you know he hath a smooth tong, either in Latine 
 c 6 
 
36 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 or English. And if my L. of Winchester vnderstood, 
 eyther Greeke or Hebrew, as they say he hath no great 
 skill in neyther : I woulde pray your priesdomes to tell 
 me which is the better schoUer, Walter Traners, or 
 Thomas Cooper, Will you not send M. Wybome to 
 Northampton, that he may see some fniits of the seed 
 he sowed there 16. or 18. yeares ago. That old man 
 Wiborne, hath more good learning in him, and more fit 
 gifts for the ministery in his little toe, then many braces 
 of our Lord Bb. Restore him to preaching againe for 
 Except per- shame. M. Paget shalbe welcome to Deuon- 
 Mcuting shire, he is more fit to teach men then boyes. 
 fielde. I marueile with what face a man that had 
 
 done so much good in the Churche as he did among a 
 rude 'people, could be depriued, 
 
 Briefely, may it please you to let the Gospell haue a 
 free course, and restore vnto their former libertie in 
 preaching, all the preachers that you haue put to silence : 
 and this far is my first suit. 
 
 My 2. suit is a most earnest request vnto you, that 
 are the hinderers of the publishing of the confutation of 
 the Rhemish Testament by M. Cartwright, may be 
 published. A resonable request, the granting whereof, 
 I dare assure you, wotdd be most acceptable vnto all 
 that feare God, and newes of wofull sequell vnto the 
 papists. For shall I tell you what I heard once, from 
 the mouth of a man of great learning and deepe iudge- 
 ment, who sawe some part of Master Cartwrights an- 
 swere to the sayde Rhemish and trayterous RafTodie ? 
 His iudgment was this. That M. Cartwright had dealt 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE, 37 
 
 SO soundly against the papists, that for the answering 
 and confuting of the aduersary, that one worke woulde 
 be sufficient alone. He farther added, that y= aduersary 
 was conftited by strange and vnknown reasons, that 
 would set them at their wits end, when they see them- 
 selues assayled with such weapons, whereof they neuer 
 once drempt, that they should be stroken at. And wil 
 your grace or any els, that are the hinderers of the 
 publishing of this worke, still bereaue the Church of so 
 worthy a lewell : nay, so strong an armour against the 
 enemie. If you deny me this request, I will not threaten 
 you, but my brother Bridges, and lohn Whitgiftes 
 bookes shall smoke for this geare, ile haue my peni- 
 worths of them for it. 
 
 Now may it please you to examine my worthines 
 your brother Martin, and see whether I saide not true 
 in the storie of Gyles Wiggington, where I haue set 
 downe, y' the preaching of the word is an heresie, which 
 his grace doth mortally abhorre and persecute, I can 
 prooue it without doubt. And first that he persecuteth 
 the preaching of the worde (whether it be an heresie or 
 not) both in the preacher and the hearer : the articles of 
 subscription, the silencing of so many learned and worthy 
 preachers do euidently shew, and if you doubt hereof, 
 let my worshipp vnderstand thereof, and in my next 
 treatize, I shal proue the matter to be cleare with a 
 witnes, and I hope to your smal commendations, that will 
 deny such a cleare point. On the other side, that he 
 accounteth preaching to be an heresie, I am now to insist 
 on the proofe of that poynt. But first you must know, 
 
38 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 that he did not account simple preaching to be an heresie, 
 but to holde that preaching is the onely ordinary meanes 
 to saluation, this he accounteth as an heresie, this he 
 mortally condemned. The case thus stoode, lohn Penrie 
 the welsheman (I thinke his grace and my brother Lon- 
 don, would be better acquain[ted] with him and they 
 could tell howe) about the beginning of Lent, 1587. 
 offered a supplication and a booke to the Parliament, 
 entreating that some order might be taken, for calling 
 his countrie vnto the knowledge of God. For his bolde 
 attempt, he was called before his grace with others of 
 the high commission, as Thomas of Winchester, lohn 
 London, &c. After that his grace had eased his sto- 
 macke in calling him boy, knaue, varlet, slanderer, 
 libeller, lewde boy, lewd slaunderer, &c. (this is true, 
 for I haue scene the notes of their conference) at the 
 length a pojmt of his booke began to be examined, 
 where nonresidents are thought intoUerable. Here the 
 Lorde of good London asked M. Penrie, what he could 
 say against that kinde of cattell, aunswere was made that 
 they were odious in the sight of God and man, because 
 as much as in them lie, they bereaue the people ouer 
 whom they thrust themselues, of the ordinarie meanes 
 of saluation, which was the word preached. lohn Lon- 
 don demaunded whether preaching was the onely meanes 
 to saluation ? Penrie answered, that it was the onely 
 ordinarie meanes, although the Lorde was not so tyed 
 vnto it, but that hee could extraordinarily vse other 
 meanes. That preaching was the onely ordinary meanes, 
 he confirmed it by those places of scripture, Rom. 10, 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 39 
 
 14. 1 Cor. 1. 21. Ephes. 1. 13. This point being a 
 long time canuassed, at the legth his worship of Win- 
 chester rose vp, and mildly after his manner, brast forth 
 into these words. I assure you my Lords, it is an exe- 
 crable heresie : An heresie (quoth lohn Penry) I thanke 
 God that euer I knewe that heresie : It is such an 
 heresie, that I will by the grace of God, sooner leaue 
 my life then I will leaue it. What sir, (quoth the 
 Archb.) I tell thee it is an heresie, and thou shalt 
 recant it as an heresie ? Naye (quoth Penrie) neuer so 
 long as I liue godwilling. I will leaue this storie for 
 shame, I am weary to hear your grace so absurd. What 
 say you to this geare my masters of the confocation 
 house 1 we shal haue shortly a good religion in England 
 among the bishops ? if Paule be sayd of them to write 
 an heresie. I haue hard some say, that his grace will 
 speake against his own conscience ? It is true. ,The 
 proofe whereof shalbe his dealing with another Welsh- 
 man, one M. Euans. An honorable personage, Ambrose 
 Dudley, nowe Earle of Warwicke (and long may he be 
 so, to the glorie of God, the good of his Church, and 
 the comfort of al his) in the singular loue he bare to the 
 town of Warwick, would haue placed M. Euans there. 
 To the ende that master Euans might be receiued with a 
 fauorable subscription, &c. he offered the subscription 
 which the Stat, requireth (wherevnto men may subscribe 
 with a good conscience): The earl sent him with his 
 letter, to his gracelesnes of Cant, thinking to obtaine so 
 smal a curtesy at his hands. And I am sure, if he be 
 Ambrose Dudley, the noble Earle of Warwicke (whose 
 
40 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 famous exploytes, both in peace and war, this whole 
 
 land hath cause to remember with thankfulnes) y' he is 
 
 able to requite your kindnes, M. lohn Cant. O said 
 
 his grace to M. Euans, I knowe you to be worthy a 
 
 better place then Warwicke is, and I would very gladly 
 
 Mon- gratifie my Lord, but surely, there is a Lord 
 
 strous hypo- in heuen whom I feare, and therefore I can- 
 cnte. 
 
 not admit you without subscription. Thus 
 
 the man with his poore patrone, the earle of Warwick, 
 were reiected by your grace, and the poore earle to 
 this day, knoweth not how to finde the fauour at your 
 hands, that the man may be placed there. I tell you 
 true lohn Canter. If I were a noble man, and a Coun- 
 sellor to, I should be sicke of the splene : nay I could 
 not beare this at your hands, to be vsed of a priest thus, 
 contrary to the law of God and this land. It is no 
 maruell though his honor could not obtaine this small 
 suit at your graceles hands, for I haue hearde your owne 
 men say, that you will not be beholding to neuer a 
 noble man in this land, for you were the 2. person, &c. 
 Nay your own selfe spake proudly, yea and that like a 
 pope : when as a worthy knight was a suter vnto your 
 holines, for one of Gods deare children (whom you haue 
 kept and do keepe in prison) for his libertie. You 
 answered him he should lie there stil, vnles he would 
 put in sureties vpon such bonds as neuer the like were 
 hard of: and said further, that you are the 2. person in 
 the land, and neuer a noble man, nor Counsellor in this 
 lande should release him : Onely her Maiestie may 
 release him, and that you were sure, shee would not. 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 41 
 
 Doe you thinke this to be he (I pray you) that was 
 sometime doctor Femes boy, and carried his cloak-bagg 
 after him ? Beleeue me he hath leapt lustily ? And do 
 not you knowe that after it is fiiU sea, there ^ 
 
 •' Is not this 
 
 foUoweth an eb ? Remember your brother ambitious 
 Tx n X-. , • 1 , ■ wretche at 
 
 Haman? Do you thmk there is neuer a the highest 
 
 Mordecai to step to our Gracious Hester, for ^ "' 
 
 preseruing the Hues of Jier faithfullest and best subiects, 
 
 who you so mortally hate, and bitterly persecute ? I 
 
 hope you haue not long to raigne. Amen. And you 
 
 M. bishop of Worcester, how delt you with master 
 
 Evans in the same case ? Do you thinke that I do not 
 
 know your knauerye ? you could by law require no 
 
 other subscription of master Evans then he offered, and 
 
 yet forsoth, you would not receiue it at his handes, 
 
 vnlesse he woulde also enter into a bonde, to obserue 
 
 the booke of common prayer in euerie poynt, will law 
 
 permit you to play the tyrant in this sort bishop ? I 
 
 shall see the premunire on the bones of you one day for 
 
 these pranks. And the masmonger your neighbor the 
 
 B. of Glocester, thinks to go free, because in his sermon 
 
 at Paules crosse, preached 1586. in the Parliament time, 
 
 he affirmed, that beefe and brewesse had made him a 
 
 papist. But this will not serue his tume : woulde you 
 
 know what he did ? why he conuented an honest draper 
 
 of Glocester, one Singleton, and vrged him being a lay 
 
 ma to subscribe vnto the booke. The man affirming 
 
 that no such thing cold be required of him by law, 
 
 denied to subscribe : Vpon his deniaU the B. sent him 
 
 to prison. Is it euen so, you old popish priest? dare 
 
42 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 you imprison lay men for not subscribing ? It were not 
 good for your corner cap that her maiestie knew her 
 subiects to be thus delt with. And if this be euer made 
 knowen vnto her, I hope to see you in for a bird. But 
 brother Winchester, you of all other men are most 
 wretched, for you openly in the audience of many hun- 
 dreds, at sir Marie Queries church the last lent, 1587. 
 pronounced that men might finde fault, if they were 
 Oblasphem- disposed to quarrell, as well with the Scrip- 
 ou3wretche. ^^e, as with the booke of Common praier. 
 Who coulde heare this comparison without trembling. 
 But lest you should thinke, that he hath not as good a 
 gift in speaking against his conscience, as my L. of 
 Cant, is endued with : you are to vnderstand, that both 
 in that sermon of his, and in another which he preached 
 at the court the same Lent, he protested before God, 
 A flattering ^'^^ ^^ congregation where he stood, y' there 
 hypocrit. y^^ ^^^ jjj jjjg yfQj\i at this day : nay there 
 
 had not bin since the Apostles time, such a flourishing 
 estate of a Church, as we haue now in England. Is it 
 any maruaile that we haue so many swine, dumbe dogs, 
 nonresidents, with their ioumeimen the hedge priests, so 
 many lewd liuers, as theeues, murtherers, adulterers, 
 drunkards, cormorants, raschals, so many ignorant and 
 atheistical dolts, so many couetous popish Bb. in our 
 ministery : and so many and so monstrous corruptions in 
 our Church, and yet likely to haue no redresse : Seeing 
 our impudent, shamelesse, and wainscote faced bishops, 
 like beasts, contrary to the knowledge of all men, and 
 against their own consciences, dare in the eares of her 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 43 
 
 Maiestie, affirme all to be well, where there is nothing 
 but sores and blisters, yea where the grief is euen deadly 
 at the heart. Nay saies my L. of Winchester (like a 
 monstrous hypocrite, for he is a very duns, not able to 
 defende an argument,- but till he come to the pinch, he 
 will cog and face it out, for his face is made of seasoned 
 wainscot, and wil lie as fast as a dog can trot) I haue 
 said it, I doe say it, and I haue said it. And say I, 
 you shall one day answere it (without repentance) for 
 abusing the Church of God and her Maiestie in this sort. 
 I would wish you to leaue this villanie, and the rest of 
 your diuellishe practises against God his saintes, lest 
 you answere it where your pieuish and choUerick sim- 
 phcitie will not excuse you. I am ashamed to think 
 that the Churche of England shoulde haue these wretches 
 for the eyes thereof, that woidde haue the people con- 
 tent themselues with bare reading onely, and holde that 
 they may be saued thereby ordinarily. But this is true 
 of our Bb. and they are afraid that any thing should be 
 published abrod, whereby the common people should 
 leame, that the only way to saluation, is by the word 
 preached. There was the last sommer a little cate- 
 chisme, made by M. Dauison and printed by Walde- 
 graue : but before he coulde print it, it must be author^- 
 ized by the Bb. either Cante. or London, he went to 
 Cant, to haue it licensed, his grace committed it to 
 doctor Neuerbegood (Wood) he read it ouer in halfe a 
 yeare, the booke is a great one of two sheets of paper. 
 In one place of the booke, the meanes of saluation was 
 attributed to the worde preached ; and what did he 
 
44 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERIIIELE PRIESTS 
 
 thinke you? he blotted out the word (preached) and 
 would not haue that word printed, so ascribing the way 
 to work mens saluation to the worde read. Thus they 
 doe to suppresse the trueth, and to keep men in ignorance, 
 lohn Cant, was the first father of this horrible error in 
 our Church, for he hath defended it in print, and now 
 as you haue hard, accounteth the contrary to be heresie. 
 And popish Goodman, Abbot of Westminster, preach- 
 ing vpon 12. Rom. 1. said, that so much preaching as 
 in some places we haue is an vnreasonable seruice of 
 God. Scribes, Pharises, and hypocrits, that will 
 neither enter in [y]our selues, nor suffer those that will, 
 to enter into heauen. 
 
 May it please your Priestdomes to vnderstand, that 
 doctor Cottington Archdeacon of Surrey, being belike 
 bankerout in his owne countrie, commeth to Kingstone 
 vpon Thames of meere good will that he beareth to the 
 towne (I should say, to vserer Haruies good chear and 
 money bags) being out at the heeles with all other 
 vserers, and knowing him to be a professed aduersary 
 to M. Vdall, (a notable preacher of the Gospell, and 
 vehement reprouer of sinne) taketh the aduantage of 
 their controuersie, and hoping to borow some of the 
 vserers money : setteth himself most vehemently against 
 M. Vdall, to do whatsoeuer Haruie the vserer will haue 
 him : and taketh the helpe of his ioumiman doctor Hone, 
 the veriest coxcombe that euer wore veluet cap, and an 
 ancient foe to M. Vdall, because (in deed) he is popish 
 dolt, and (to make up a messe) Steuen Chatfield, the 
 vicker of Kingston, as very a bankerout and duns as 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 46 
 
 Doc. Cottington (although he haue consumed all the 
 money he gathered to build a CoUedge at Kingstone) 
 must come and be resident there, that M. Vdall may 
 haue his mouth stopped, and why 1 forsoth because 
 your friend M. Haruie woulde haue it so : for sayth 
 Haruie, he rayleth in his sermons, is that true ? Doth 
 he rail, when he reproueth thee (and such notorious 
 yarlets as thou art) for thy vsery, for thy oppressing of 
 the poore, for buying the houses ouer their heads that 
 loue the gospell, and the Lord his faythfull minister ? 
 (M. Vdall) And art not thou a monstrous atheist, a 
 belly God, a camaU wicked wretch, and what not. M. 
 Chatfield you thinke I see not your knauery ? is vs do I, 
 you cannot daunce so cunningly in a net but I can spie 
 you out ? shal I tel you why you sow pillows vnder 
 Haruies elbowes ? Why man, it is because you would 
 borow an 100. pound of him ? Go to you Asse, and 
 take in M. Vdall againe (for Haruie I can tell, is as 
 craftie a knaue as you, he will not lend his money to 
 such bankerouts, as Duns Cottington and you are) and 
 you do not restore M. Vdall againe to preach, I will so 
 lay open your vilenes, y* I will make the very stoones 
 in Kingstone streets shall smell of your knaueries. 
 Nowe if a man aske M. Cottington why M. Vdall is 
 put to silence ? forsoth saith he, for not fauoring the 
 Churche gouernement present. Doc. Hone (Cottingtons 
 ioumiman, a popish D. of the baudy court) saith by his 
 troth, for making such variance in the town. M. Chat- 
 field seemeth to sorie for it, &c. But what cause was 
 alleaged why M. Vdall must preach no longer ? surely 
 
46 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 this onely? that he had not my L. of Winchesters licence 
 vnder seale to shew : and because this was thought not 
 to be sufficient to satisfie the people : Hone the baudie 
 Doctor, charged him to be a sectarie, a schismatike, yea 
 he affirmed plainly, that the gospell out of his mouth 
 was blasphemie. Popish Hone, do you say so ? do ye ? 
 you are a knaue I tel you 1 by y^ same token your friend 
 Chatfield spent thirteene score pounds in distributing 
 briefes, for a gathering towards the erecting of a Col- 
 ledge at Kingstone upon Thames. 
 
 Wohohow, brother London, do you remember Thomas 
 Allen and Richard Alworth, marchants of London, being 
 executors to George Allen somtimes your grocer, but 
 now deceased : who came vnto you on easter Wednesday 
 last being at your masterdoms pallace in Londo, hauing 
 bene often to speake with you before and could not, yet 
 now they met with you : who tolde you they were ex- 
 cutors vnto one George Allen (somtimes) your grocer, 
 and among other his debts, we finde you indebted vnto 
 him, in the some of 19. pound and vpward, desiring you 
 to let them haue the money, for that they were to dis- 
 pose of it according to that trust he reposed in them. 
 Can B. face, You answered them sweetly (after you had 
 cosenorno pawsed a while) in this manner: You are 
 thinke you. raskals, you are villaines, you are arraunt 
 knaues, I owe you nought, I haue a generall quittance 
 to shew. Sir (sayd they) shew vs your discharge, and 
 we are satisfied. No (quoth he) I will shew you none, 
 go sue me, go sue me. Then sayd one of the mer- 
 chants, doe you thus vse vs for asking our due ? Wee 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 4" 
 
 would you should know, we are no suche vile persons. 
 Done lohn of London (hearing their answere) cried out, 
 saying : Hence away, Citizens ? nay you are Dumbe 
 raskcals, you are worse then wicked mam- Lon'jsg 
 mon (so lifting vp both his hands, and flinging Weasing. 
 them downe againe, said) You are theeues, you are 
 Coseners : take that for a bishops blessing, and so get 
 you hence. But when they would haue aimswered, his 
 men thrust them out of the dores. But shortly after, 
 he perceiued they went about to bring the matter to 
 farther tryial : he sent a messenger vnto them confessing 
 the debt, but they cannot get their money to this day. 
 What reason is it they should haue their mony ? hath he 
 not bestowed his liberallitie alreadie on them ? Can 
 they not be satisfied with the blessing of this braue 
 bounsing priest ? But brethren bishops, I pray you tell 
 me ? hath not your brother Londo, a notable brazen 
 face to vse these men so for their owne ? I told you, 
 Martin will be proued no lyar, in that he saith that 
 Bb. are cogging and cosening knaues. This priest went 
 to buffets with his sonne in law, for a bloodie nose, 
 well fare all good tokens. The last lent there came a 
 commaundement from his grace into Paules Churchyard, 
 that no Byble should be bounde without the Apocripha. 
 Monstrous and vngodly wretches, that to maintaine their 
 owne outragious proceedings, thus mingle heauen and 
 earth together, and woulde make the spirite of God, to 
 be the author of prophane bookes. I am hardly drawn 
 to a merie vaine frcaaa such waightie matters. 
 
 But you see my worshipfuU priestes of this crue to 
 
48 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 whom I write, what a perilous fellow M. Marprelate is : 
 he vnderstands of all your knauerie, and it may be he 
 keepes a register of them : vnlesse you amend, they 
 shall al come into the light one day. And you brethren 
 bishops, take this warning from me. If you doe not 
 leaue your persecuting of godly christians and good 
 subiectes, that seeke to Hue vprightly in the feare of 
 God, and the obedience of her Maiestie, all your deal- 
 ing shalbe made knowen vnto the world. And ise be 
 sure to make you an example to all posterities. You 
 see I haue taken some paynes with you alreadie, and 
 I will owe you a better tume, and pay it you with 
 aduauntage, at the least thirteene to the dozen, vnles 
 you obserue these conditions of peace which I drawe 
 betweene me and you. For I assure you, I make not 
 your doings known for anie mallice that I beare vnto 
 you, but the hurt that you doe unto Gods Churche, 
 leaue you your wickednesse, and ile leaue the reuealing 
 of your knaueries, 
 
 <^ Conditions of Peace to be inuiolahlie kept for euer, 
 betweene the reuerend and worthy master Martin Mar- 
 prelate gentleman on the one partie, and the reuerend 
 fathers his brethren, the Lord bishops of this lande. 
 
 1. In primis, the said Lord Bb. must promise and 
 obserue, without fraud or collusion, and that as much as 
 in them lyeth, they labor to promote the preaching of 
 the worde in euery part of this land. 
 
 2. That hereafter they admitt none vnto the minis- 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 49 
 
 terie, but such as shalbe knowen, both for their godli- 
 nesse and learning, to be fit for the ministerie, and not 
 these neyther without cure, vnlesse they be CoUedge 
 ministers of eyther of the Vniuersities, and in no case 
 they suffer any to be nonresidents : and that they suffer 
 M. Cartwrightes answere to the Rhemish Testament to 
 be pubUshed. 
 
 3. That neyther they nor their seruants, vz. their 
 Archdfeacons, Chancellors, nor any other «f the high 
 commission, which serue their vile affections, vrge any 
 to subscribe contrary to the statute 13. Eliza, and that 
 they suspend or silence none, but such, as either for 
 their false doctrine, or euill life, shall shew themselues, 
 to be vnworthy the places of ministers : so that none be 
 suspended or silenced, eyther for speaking (when their 
 text giueth them occasion) against the corruptions of the 
 Church, for refusing to weare the surplice, cap, tippet, 
 &c. or omitting the corruptions of the booke of common 
 prayers, as churching of women, the crosse in baptisme, 
 the ring in marriage, &c. 
 
 4. That none be molested by them or any their afore- 
 said seruants, for this my booke, for not kneeling at the 
 communion, or for resorting on the Saboth (if they 
 haue not preachers of their owne) to heare the word 
 preached, and to receiue the Sacraments. 
 
 5. Lastly, that neuer hereafter they profane excom- 
 munication as they haue done, by excommunicating 
 alone in their chambers, and that for trifles : yea before 
 mens causes be heard. That they neuer forbid publike 
 fasts molest either preacher, or hearer, for being present 
 
50 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 at such assemblies. Briefly, that they neuer slander the 
 cause of reformation, or the furtherers thereof, in term- 
 ing the cause by the name of Anabaptisterie, schisme, 
 &c. and the men puritans, and enemies to the state. 
 
 These be the conditions, which you brethren bishops, 
 shalbe bound to keepe inuiolably on your behalfe. And 
 I your brother Martin on the other side, do faithfully 
 promise vpon the performaunce of the premisses by you, 
 neuer to make any more of your knauery knowne vnto 
 the worlde. And howbeit that I haue before threatened 
 my brother Bridges, in the cause of his superior priest, 
 and your Antichristian callings : notwithstanding, I will 
 write no more of your dealings, vnles you violate the 
 former conditions. The conditions you see, are so rea- 
 sonable, I might binde you to giue ouer your places 
 which are Antichristian : but I doe not, lest men shoulde 
 thinke me to quarrell, and seeke occasions for the nonce 
 to fall out with my brethre. Therefore I require no 
 more but such things as all the worlde will thinke you 
 vnworthy to liue, if you grant them not. And this I 
 doe the rather, because you should not, according to 
 your olde fashion, say y' my worship doth for mallice 
 lay ope your infirmities : nay I haue published not one 
 of your secret falts, what you haue not blushed to com- 
 mit in the face of the sun, and in the iustfiing whereof 
 you yet stand, these things onely haue I published. 
 The best seruants of God I know, haue their infirmities. 
 But none of the will stand in the maintenance of their 
 corruptions as you do, and that to the dishonour of God 
 and the ruine of his Church. You must either amend, 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 51 
 
 or shortly you will bring our church to ruine : therfore 
 it is time that your dealings were better looked vnto. 
 
 You will go about I know, to proue my booke to be 
 a libell, but I haue preuented you of y' aduantage in 
 lawe, both in bringing in nothing but matters of fact, 
 whiche may easily be prooued, if you dare denie them : 
 and also in setting my name to my booke. Well I offer 
 you peace vpon the former conditions, if you will keepe 
 them, but if you violate the either in whole or in part 
 (for why should you breake auye one of them) then your 
 learned brother Martin doth proclaime open war against 
 you, and entendeth to worke your woe 2. maner of 
 wayes as foUoweth. First I will watch you at euery 
 halfe turne, and whatsoeuer you do amisse, I will pre- 
 sently publish it : you shall not call one honest man before 
 you, but I will get his examination (and you thinke I 
 shall knowe nothing of the oppression of your tenants by 
 your briberie, &c.) and publish it, if you deal not 
 according to the former conditions. To this purpose I 
 wil place a yong Martin in euerie diocesse, which may 
 take notice of you practizes. Do you think that you 
 shalbe sufFred any longer, to break the law of God, and 
 to tyrannize ouer his people her Maiesties subiectes, 
 and no man t6ll you of it ? No I warrant you. And 
 rather then I will be disappointed of my purpose, I will 
 place a Martin in euerie parish. In part of Suffolk and 
 Essex, I thinke I were best to haue 2. in a parishe. I 
 hope in time they shalbe as worthie Martins as their 
 father is, euery one of them able to mar a prelate. 
 Marke what wil be the issue of these things, if you still 
 D 2 
 
52 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 keep your olde byas. I knows you would not haue 
 your dealings so knowne vnto the worlds, as I and my 
 sonnes will blase them. Secondly, al the books that I 
 haue in store already of your doings, shalbe published 
 vpon the breache of the former couenants or any of 
 them. Here I know some will demand what these 
 bookes are, because saith one, I warrant you, there will 
 be old sport, I hope olde father Palinod D. Peme, shall 
 be in there by the weekes. Why my masters of the 
 cleargie, did you neuer heare of my books in deed ? 
 Foe, then you neuer heard of good sport in your life. 
 The catalogue of their names, and the arguments of 
 
 ,,. „ . some are as foUoweth. As for my booke 
 
 Mine Epi- •' 
 
 tome is named " Epistomastix,'' I make no mention 
 readie. 
 
 thereof at this time. First my " Paradoxes, 
 
 2. my " Dialogues," 3. my " Miscelanea," 4. my " Va- 
 rise leiciones," 5. " Martins dreame," 6. " Of the liues 
 and doings of English popes," 7. my " Itinerarium, or 
 visitations," 8. my " Lambathismes." In my " Para- 
 doxes" shalbe handled som points, which the comon 
 sort haue not greatly considered of: as 1 That our pre- 
 lates, if they professed popery, could not do so much 
 hurt vnto Gods Church as now they do. 2 That the 
 Diuell is not better practized in bowling and swering 
 then lohn of London is, with other like points. What 
 shalbe handled in my 2. 3. 4. 6. and 6. bookes, you 
 shall know when you read them. 
 
 Mine " Iterarium" shalbe a booke of no great profit, 
 eyther to the Church or commonwealth : and yet had 
 nede to be in follio, or else iudge you by this that fol- 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 53 
 
 loweth. I meane to make a suruey into all the diocesse 
 in this land, that I may keepe a visitation among my 
 cleargie men. I would wish them to keepe good rule, 
 and to amend their manners against I come. For I 
 shall paint them in their coulers, if I finde any thing 
 amisse : In this booke I wil note all their memorable 
 pranckes. As for example, if I finde anye priest to 
 haue done as Sir GefFerie lones of Warwicke shire did, 
 that must be set downe in my visitations, and I thinke 
 I had need to haue many Scribes, and many reames of 
 paper for this purpose. The said sir lefFerie lones, 
 committed a part verie well beseeming his priesthood, 
 which was after this maner. Sir lefFry once in an ale- 
 house (I doe desire the reader to beare with me, though 
 according to M. Bridges his fashion, I write false En- 
 glishe in this sentence) whereunto he resorted for his 
 morning draught, either because his hostesse woulde 
 haue him pay the olde score before he should run any 
 further, or the new, or els because the gamesters his 
 companions wan all his monie at trey trip : tooke su^h 
 vnkindenes at the alehouse, that he sware he would 
 neuer goe againe into it. Although this rash vow of 
 the good priest, was made to the great losse of the ale- 
 wife, who by means of sir lefFerie was woont to haue 
 good vtterance for her ale : yet I think the tap had 
 great quietnes and ease therby, which coulde not be 
 quiet so much as an houre in the day, as long as Sir 
 lefFerie resorted vnto the house, how sweete it was, 
 poore sir lones felt the discommoditie of his rashe vowe. 
 Then alas, he was in a woe case, as you know : for his 
 D 3 
 
54 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 stomacke could not be at all strengthened with the drink 
 he got abroad. But better were a man not to feels his 
 discommoditie, then not to be able to redresse the same. 
 Therefore at length sir lefFerie bethought him of a feat 
 whereby he might both visit the alestond, and also keepe 
 his othe. And so he hired a man to carie him vpon his 
 backe to the alehouse, by this meanes he did not goe, 
 but was caried thither, wherevnto he made a vow neuer 
 to go. I doubt not in my visitation, but to get a hun- 
 dreth of these stratagemes, especially if I trauell neere 
 where any of the vickers of hell are. As in Surrie, 
 Northampton, and Oxforde shires. And I would wish 
 the Purcivants and the Stacioners, with the Woolfe 
 their beadle, not to be so redy to molest honest men. 
 And Stacioners, I would wish you not to be so francke 
 with your bribes, as you were to Thomas Draper, I can 
 tell you his grace had need to prouide a bag ful of 
 Items for you, if you be so liberal. Were you so foolish 
 (or so malicious against Walde-graue) to giue that knaue 
 Draper fine pounds to betray him into your wretched 
 hands : he brought you to Kingstone vpon Thames, with 
 Purcivants to take him, where he should be a printing 
 books in a Tinkars house : (your selues being disguised 
 so, that Walde-graue might not know you, for of Citi- 
 zens you were becom ruffians). There you were to 
 seek that could not be found, and many such iournies 
 may you make. But when you came to London, you 
 laid Thomas Draper in the Counter for cosenage. O 
 well bowlde, when lohn of London throwes his bowle, 
 he will runne after it, and crie rub, rub, rub, and say the 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 55 
 
 diuill go with thee. But what thinke you shalbe handled 
 
 in my " Lambathismes ?" Truely this, I will there 
 
 make a comparison of lohn Whitgifts Canterburines, 
 
 with lohn Brieves his Lambathismes. To speake in 
 
 plaine English, I will there set downe the flowers of 
 
 errors, popishe and others, wherewith those two'worthie 
 
 men haue stuffed the bookes which they haue written 
 
 against the cause of reformation, in the defence of the 
 
 gouemment of Bb. I haue in this book as you shal see, 
 
 gathered some flowers out of lohn of Londons booke, 
 
 but my " Lambathismes'' shalbe done otherwise I trow. 
 
 And now if it may please you of ijie Confocationhouse, 
 
 to here of any of the former books, then break the 
 
 league which I offer to make with you, but if you 
 
 woulde haue my friendship, as I seeke yours, then let 
 
 me see that you persecute no more, and especially, that 
 
 you trouble none .for this booke of mine. For this must 
 
 be an especiall article of our agreement, as you know. 
 
 And Deane lohn, for your part, you must plaie the fool 
 
 no more in the pulpit : we will end this matter with a 
 
 prettie storie of a certaine mischance that befell a B. 
 
 corner cap, as foUoweth. Olde doctor Turner (I meane 
 
 not D. Perne the old turner) had a dog full of good 
 
 quallities. D. Turner hauing inuited a B. to his table, 
 
 in dinner while called his dog, and told him that the B. 
 
 did sweat (you must think he labored hard ouer his 
 
 trencher) The dogg flies at the B. and tooke of his 
 
 corner capp (he thought belike it had bene a cheese 
 
 cake) and so away goes the dog with it to his master. 
 
 Truely my masters of the cleargie, I woulde neuer weare 
 D 4 
 
56 AN EPISTLE TO THE TEERIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 corner cap againe, seeing dogs runne away with them : 
 and here endeth the storie. 
 
 May it please you that are of this house, to tell me 
 the cause, when you haue leysure, why so many opinions 
 and errors are risen in our Church, concerning the minis- 
 tery, and the iojming with preaching and vnpreaching 
 ministers. To tell you my opinion in your eare, I 
 thinke it to be want of preaching, and I thinke your 
 worships to haue bene the cause of all this stir. Some 
 puritans holde readers for no ministers, som hold you 
 our worthy Bb. for little better then faire parchment 
 readers, and say that you haue no learning. Now whe- 
 ther readers be ministers or no, and whether our bishops 
 be learned or no, I woulde wish you brethren bishops, 
 and you brethren puritsms, to make no great contro- 
 uersie, but rather labor that all euil ministers may be 
 turned out of the Church, and so I hope there shoulde 
 be a speedie ende of all those questions betweene you. 
 For then I doubt not, but that Lord bishops whereat the 
 puritans so repine, shoulde be in a faire reckoning with- 
 in short space, euen the next to the dore saue the 
 dog : and I see that you bishopps are well towardes this 
 promotion alreadie. And truely, though the puritans 
 should neuer so much repine at the matter, yet I tell 
 you true, I am glad that you are so esteemed among me. 
 And for mine owne part, I think my masters, that mania 
 of you our Lord Bb. and cleargie men, are men verie 
 notorious for their learning and preaching. And hereof 
 vnder Benedicite betweene you and me, (the puritanes 
 may stand aside nowe) I will bring you some instances. 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 57 
 
 First his grace and my L. of Winchester haue bene 
 verie notable clarkes, euer since M. doctor Sparke set 
 them at a non plus (some of their honors being present) 
 in the conference betweene him and M. Trauers on the 
 puritans side, and the two Archbishops and the B. of 
 Winchester on the other side. D. Sparks argument 
 was drawn from the corruption of the translation of the 
 28. verse of the 105. Psalme, in the booke of Common 
 prayer, and the contrarietie of the translations allowed by 
 the Bb. themselues. For in the book of Common prayer 
 you shal read thus : And they were not obedient vnto 
 his word (which is a plain corruptio of the text) in other 
 priuiledged English translations it is, And they were not 
 disobedient vnto his word, which is according to the 
 veritie of the originall. By the way ere I go any fur- 
 ther, I would know with what conscience, either my 
 brother Cant, or any els of our Bb. can vrge men to 
 allow such palpable corruptions by subscribing vnto 
 thinges meere contrarie to the word. Here also I would 
 shew by the way, and I woulde haue al my sonnes to 
 note, that their vncle Canterburies drift in vrging sub- 
 scription, is not the vnity of the church (as he would 
 pretende) but the maintenance of his owne pride and 
 corruption, which should soon come to y" ground, if the 
 worde had free passage : and therefore he prooueth the 
 same, by stopping the mouthes of y' sincere preachers 
 thereof. For if the vnitie of the Church had bene his 
 end, why hath not he amended this fault in all the books 
 that haue bene printed since that time, which now is not 
 so little as 3 yeares, in which time, many thousand of 
 D 5 
 
58 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 books of Common praier haue bin printed. If he had 
 other busines in hand then the amending of the booke of 
 Common prayer ? why had he not, nay why doth he not 
 leaue vrging of subscription vntill that be amended? 
 Can he and his hirelings haue time to "imprison and 
 depriue men, because they will not sinne, by approuing 
 lyes vpon the holy ghost (which thinges they cannot, 
 nor could not chuse but commit, whosoeuer will or haue 
 subscribed vnto the booke and Articles) And can he 
 haue no time in 3. or 4. yeares to correct most grose 
 and vngodly faultes in the print, whereof the putting 
 out of one syllable, euen three letters (dis) would haue 
 amended this place. But it lieth not in his grace to 
 amende the corruptions of the booke. Belike it lieth in 
 him to doe nothing but sinne, and to compell men 
 against their consciences to sinne, or else to bring 
 extreme miserie vpon them. If it laye not in him, yet 
 he might haue acquainted the Parliament (for there was 
 a Parliament since the time he knew this fault) with the 
 corruptions of the booke. And I will come neerer home 
 to him then so, in the Article concerning the gouemment 
 whereunto men are vrged to subscribe. You must (say 
 the Articles) protest that there is nothing in the minis- 
 tery of the Church of England, that is not according 
 to y" word, or to such like effect they speake. I say 
 that I cannot subscribe vnto this article, because con- 
 trary to the expresse commandement of our sauiour 
 Christ, and the examples of his Apostles, there be Lords 
 in y" ministerie, or such as wold be accouted ministers, 
 will also be called and accouted Lords, and bear ciuiU 
 
OF THE CONPOCATION HOUSE. 59 
 
 officeSj the words of Christ are those. The kinges of 
 the Gentils raigne ouer them, and they that beare rule 
 ouer them, are called gracious Lords, but you shall not 
 be so, Luk. 22. 25. 26. I saye that out of this place, 
 it is manifest, that it is vtterly vnlawfull for a minister 
 to be a Lord : that is, for any L. B. to be in the minis- 
 terie : and therefore I cannot subscribe vnto that Article 
 which would haue me iustifie this to be lawfull. Nowe 
 I will cease this point, because I doubt not but the 
 Articles of subscription, wilbe shortly so made out of 
 fashion, that the Bb. will be ashamed of them them- 
 selues : and if no other will take them in hande, ile 
 turne one of mine owne breede vnto them, eyther Mar- 
 tin senior, or some of his brethren. 
 
 To go forward, his Lordship of Winchester is a great 
 Clarke, for he hath translated his Dictionarie, called 
 Copers Dictionarie, verbatim out of Robert Stephanus 
 his Thesaurus, and ilfauored to they say. But what 
 do I speake of our bishops learning, as long as bishop 
 Ouerton, bishopp Bickley, bishop Middleton, the Deane 
 of Westminster, doctor Cole, D. Bell, with many others, 
 are liuing, I doubt me whether all the famous dunses be 
 dead. And if you woulde haue an ilsample of an excel- 
 lent pulpit man in deede, go no further then the B. of 
 Glocester nowe liuing : And in him you shall finde a 
 plaine instance of such a one as I meane. On a time 
 he preaching at Worcester before he was B. vpon Sir 
 lohns day : as he trauersed his matter, and discoursed 
 vpon many points, he came at the length vnto the very 
 pithe of his whol sermon, contained in the distinction of 
 D 6 
 
60 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 the name of lohn, which he then shewing all his learn- 
 ing at once, full learnedly handled after this manner, 
 lohn, lohn, the grace of God, the grace of God, the 
 grace of God : gracious lohn, not graceles lohn, but 
 gracious lohn. lohn, holy lohn, holy lohn, not lohn 
 ful of holes, but holy lohn. If he shewed not himselfe 
 learned in this sermond, then hath he bene a duns all 
 his life. In the same sermon, two seuerall lohns, the 
 father and the sorme, that had beene both recusants, 
 being brought publikely to confesse their faults, this 
 worthy doctor, by reason that the yong man hauing bene 
 poysoned beyond the seas with popery, was more 
 obstinate then his father, and by all likelihood, he was 
 y° cause of his fathers peruersenesse : with a vehement 
 exclamatio, able to pearce a cobweb, called on the father 
 aloud in this patheticall and perswading sort. Old 
 lohn, olde lohn, be not led away by the Syren sounds, 
 and. inticements of yong lohn, if yong lohn will go to the 
 diuell, the diuell go with him. The puritans it may be, 
 will here obiect, that this worthy man was endued with 
 these famous gifts before he was B. whereas since that 
 time, say they, he is not able to say bo to a goose. 
 You wey this man belike my masters, according to the 
 rest of our Bb. But I assure you it is not so with him. 
 For the last Lent in a sermon he made in Glocester 
 towne, he shewed him selfe to be the man that he was 
 before. For he did in open pulpit confirme the trueth 
 of his text to be authenticaU, being the prophesie of 
 Isaiah, out of the book of Comon prayer, whiche other- 
 wise would (it is to be feared) haue proued Apocrypha. 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 61 
 
 His text was, a childe is borne vnto vs, which after he 
 sweetly repeated very often as before, to the great 
 destruction and admiration of the hearers, saying : A 
 child is borne, a child is borne, a child is borne vnto vs 
 this (sayth he) is proued you know, where in that 
 worthy verse of the booke of Common prayer. Thy 
 honorable true and onely sonne. Afterward, repeating 
 the same words againe : A childe is borne vnto vs, a 
 childe is borne vnto vs : here sayth hee, I might take 
 occasion to commende that worthy verse in our Latenie, 
 where this is made very manifest, that y' prophet here 
 speaketh. By thy Natiuitie and circumcision. What 
 should I prosecute the condemnation of this man, as 
 though other our Bb. and pulpit men haue not as com- 
 mendable gifts as he. 
 
 And once againe to you brother Bridges, you haue 
 set downe a flanting reason, in the 75. page of your 
 book, against the continuance of the gouemraent which 
 the Puritans labor for, and I finde the same syllogisme 
 concluded in no mood : therefore what if I was ashamed 
 to put it downe ? But seeing it is your will, to laye on 
 the puritans with it as it is, put your corner cap a litle 
 nere a toe side, that we inay see your partie coullered 
 beard, and with what a manly countenance, you giue 
 your brethren this scouring. And I hope this will please 
 you, my cleargie masters, as well as if I tolde you how 
 our brother Bridges plaid my L. of Winchesters foole, 
 in sir Maries pulpit in Cambridg, but no word of that : 
 now to my reason. 
 
 Some kinde of ministerie ordained by the Lorde, was 
 
62 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 temporarie (saith he) as for example, the Mosaicall 
 priesthood, and the ministerie of Apostles, prophets, &c. 
 But the ministerie of pastors, doctors, elders and dea- 
 cons, was ordayned by the Lord : Therefore it was 
 temporarie. 
 
 Alacke, alacke deane lohn, what haue you done now? 
 The puritanes will be O the bones of you too badd, 
 for this kinde of arguing, and they wil reason after this 
 sort. 
 
 1 Some man in the land (say they) weareth a wooden 
 dagger and a coxcombe, as for example, his grace of 
 Canterburies foole, doctor Femes cosen and yours : you 
 presbyter lohn Catercap, are some man in the land: 
 Therefore by this reason, you wear a woodden dagger 
 and a coxcombe. 2 Some presbyter prieste or elder in 
 the English ministerie, is called the vicker of hell. As 
 for example one about Oxford, another neere North- 
 ampton, and the parson of Micklaim in Surrie : But the 
 dean of Sarum lohn Catercap, is some priest in the 
 Enghshe ministerie: Ergo he is the vicker of hell. 
 3 Some presbyter priest or elder, preaching at Pauls 
 crosse 1587. tould a tale of a leadden shoinghome, and 
 spake of Catekissing : and preaching at the Court on 
 another time, thrust his hand into his pocket, and drew 
 out a piece of sarsnet, saying, behold a reUque of Maries 
 smocke : and thrusting his hand into the other pocket, 
 drew out either a linnen or a wollen rag, saying, behold 
 a relique of Josephs breeches. But quoth he, there is 
 no reason why Maries smocke shoulde be of sarsnet, 
 seeing losephs breeches were not of silke. This prist 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE, 63 
 
 being lately demanded whether he should be bishop of 
 Eli, answered that he had now no great hope to B. of 
 Eli : and therefore quoth he, I may say well inough, 
 Eli, Eli, Lammasabacthani. Eli, Eli, why hast thou 
 forsaken me. Alluding very blasphemously vnto the 
 words which our Sauiour Christe spake, in his greatest 
 agonie vpon the crosse. The same priest calling before 
 him one M. Benison a preacher, and would haue vrged 
 him to take his othe, to answere to such articles as he 
 would propounde against him, who answered saying, 
 brother bishop, I wil not sweare, except I know to 
 what ? with that the priest fell sicke of the splene, and 
 began to sweare by his fayth : quoth Benison, a Bishop 
 should preache fayth, and not sweare by it. This priest 
 being in his malancholicke mood, sent him to the Clincke, 
 where he lay till her Maiestie was made priuie of his 
 tyrannic, and then released to the priests wo. As for 
 example, the B. of Londoo did ^1 those things and more 
 to : For lying at his house at Haddam in Essex, vpon the 
 Sabboth day (wanting his bowling mates) tooke his ser- 
 uantes and went a heymaking, the godly ministers round 
 about being exercised (though against his commande- 
 ment) in fasting and prayer : But you lohn Catercap, 
 are some presbyter priest or Elder : Therefore you pro- 
 phaned the word and ministerie in this sort. 4 Some 
 presbyter priest or elder in the land, is accused (and 
 euen now the matter is in triall before his grace and his 
 brethren) to haue two wiues, and to marie his brother 
 vnto a woman vpon her death bedd, shee being past 
 recouerie. As for example, the B. of sir Dauies in 
 
64 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 Wales, is this priest as they saye : But you presbyter 
 lohn, are some priest: Therefore you haue committed 
 all these vimaturall parts. 5 Some priest preaching at 
 the funeralls of one who died, not onely being condemned 
 by the lawe of God and of the land, for attempting 
 matters against her Maiesties person and the state, but 
 also dyed an obstinate and professed papist, and without 
 anye repentance for her enterprises against her Maiestie 
 and the state : prayed that his soule, and the soules of 
 all the rest there present, might be with the soule of the 
 vnrepentant papist departed. As for example, the B. 
 of Lincolne did this at Peterborough, August. 2. 1587. 
 But you are som priest : Ergo you made such a prayer. 
 6 Some priest in y° land lately made, or verie shortly 
 meaneth to make, as they say, an olde acquaintance of 
 his owne, Richard Patrick, clothier of Worcester, of the 
 reading ministery. As for example, his grace of Canter, 
 is this priest : But you brother Sarum are som priest as 
 wel as he : Ergo you haue thrust a bankerout clothier 
 in the ministerie. 7 Some priest hauing giuen a man 
 (whose wife had plaid the harlot) leaue to marie another, 
 desiring the man long after he had bene maried to 
 another woman, to shewe him his letters of diuorcement, 
 with promise to deliuer them againe : But hauing re- 
 ceiued them, they are retained of him most iniuriously 
 vnto this day, and he troubleth the man for hauing two 
 wiues : as for example, the B. of sir Asse is this priest : 
 But you dean Catercap are som priest : Ergo you do 
 men such open iniurie. 8 Some men that breake the 
 lawe of God are traytors to her Maiestie, as for example. 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 63 
 
 the lesuites. But all our bishops are some men that 
 breaks the law of God, because they continue in vnlaw- 
 ful callings : Ergo by your reason they are traitors to her 
 maiestie, but I deny your argument, for there may be 
 manie breaches of the law of God, whereof they may be 
 guiltie, and yet no traytors. 9 Some men that will not 
 haue their Lordships, and their callings examined by 
 the worde, are limbs of Antichrist, as for example, the 
 Pope and his Cardinals : But our L. bishops are some 
 men which will not haue their lordships and their call- 
 ings tried by the word : Therefore they are limbs of 
 Antichrist. 10 Some men would play the turncoats, 
 with the B. of Glocester, D. Renold, D. Perne (I wil 
 let D. Goodman Abbot of West, alone now) But all 
 the L. bishops, and you brother catercap are some men : 
 Ergo you would becom papists againe. 1 1 Some men 
 dare not dispute with their aduersaries, lest their vn- 
 godly callings shoulde be ouerthrowen, and they com- 
 pelled to walke more orderly : But our Bb. are some 
 men : Ergo they dare not dispute lest their vngodly 
 callings and places shoulde be ouerthrowen. 12 Som 
 men are theeues and foul murtherers before God, as for 
 example, all nonresidents : Euerie L. bishop is a non- 
 resident : Ergo he is a thiefe and a foule murtherer 
 before God. 13 Some men are become Apostataes fro 
 their ministerie, sinners against their owne consciences, 
 persecuters of their brethren, sacriligious Church rob- 
 bers, withstanders of the known trueth, for their owne 
 filthie lukers sake, and are afraid lest the gospel and 
 the holy discipline thereof should be receiued in euerie 
 
66 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 place : But our Bb. are some men : Therfore (by your 
 reson M. doctor) they are become Apostaes from their 
 ministerie,. sinners against their owne consciences, per- 
 secutors of their brethren, sacrihgious Church robbers, 
 and withstanders of the knowen truth, &c. 14 Som 
 priest is a pope, as for example, that priest which is 
 bishop of Rome is a Pope : But his grace of Cant, is 
 some prie§t : Therefore M. Bridges, by your maner of 
 reasoning, he is a Pope. You may see what harme you 
 haue done by dealing so loosely. I knowe not what I 
 shall say to these puritans reasons ? They must needs 
 be good, if yours be sound. Admit their syllogisms 
 offended in form as yours doth : yet the common peo- 
 ple, and especially dame Lawson, and the gentlewoman, 
 whose man demanded of her, whe she sat at the B. of 
 Londons fire : why mistris wil you sit by Caiphas his 
 fire ? will finde an vnhappy trueth in many of these 
 conclusions, when as yours is most false. And many of 
 their propositions are tried truths, hauing many eye and 
 eare witnesses liuing. 
 
 Men when commonly they dedicate bookes vnto any, 
 enter into commendations of those vnto whom they 
 write. But I care not an I owe you my cleargie mas- 
 ters a commendations, and pay you when you better 
 deserue it. In stead thereof, I will giue you some good 
 counsel and aduice, which if you foUowe, I assure you 
 it will be the better for you. 
 
 First I would aduise you as before I haue said, to set 
 at libertie all the preachers that you haue restrained 
 fro preaching: otherwise it shalbe the worse for you, 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 67 
 
 my reason is this. The people are altogether discon- 
 tented for want of teachers. Some of them alreadie 
 runne into comers, and more are like, because you 
 keepe the meanes of knowledge from them. Running 
 into corners will breed Anabaptistrie, Anabaptistrie will 
 allienate the heartes of the subiects from their lawful! 
 gouernour. And you are the cause hereof. And wil 
 not her Maiestie then think you, require the hearts of 
 her subiectes at your handes, whe she shal vnderstand 
 that they are alienated (as God forbid they should) from 
 her by your means ? yes I warrant you. And if they 
 should put vp a supplication vnto her highnesse, that 
 their preachers might be restored vnto them, I doubt 
 not but they should be heard. I can tell you she tend- 
 reth the estate of her people, and will not discourage 
 their hearts, in casting of their suits, to maynetaine your 
 pride and couetousnesse : you were then better to set 
 the preachers at libertie, then to suffer your cruelty and 
 euill dealing to be made known vnto her. For so they 
 shall be sure I doubt not to preuaile in their suit, and 
 you to go by the worse. And try if her Maiestie be 
 not shortly mooued in this suit. To it my masters 
 roundly, you that meane to deale herein, and on my life 
 you set the prelats in such a quandare, as they shal not 
 know wher to stand. Now M. Prelates I will giue you 
 some more counsell, follow it. Repent cleargie men, 
 and especially bishopps, preach fayth Bb. and sweare 
 no more by it, giue ouer your Lordly callings : reform 
 your families and your children : They are the patterne 
 of loosenesse, withstand not the knowen truth no longer ; 
 
68 AN EPISTLE TO THE TERRIBLE PRIESTS 
 
 you haue seduced her Maiestie and her people. Praye 
 her Maiestie to forgiue you, and the Lord first to put 
 away your sinnes. Your gouerment is Antichristian, 
 deceiue the Lord no longer thereby : You wil grow 
 from euil to worse vnlesse betimes you return. You 
 are now worse then you were 29. yeeres ago : write no 
 more against the cause of reformation : Your vngodli- 
 nesse is made more manifest by your writings : And be- 
 cause you cannot answer what hath bene written against 
 you, yeeld vnto the trueth. If you should write, deal 
 syllogistically : For you shame your selues, when you 
 vse any continued speach, because your stile is so rude 
 and barbarous. Raile no more in the pulpitt against 
 good men, you do more hurt to your selues, and your 
 owne desperat cause, in one of your rayling sermons, 
 then you could in speaking for reformation. For euerie 
 man that hath any light of religion in him will examine 
 your groundes, which being found ridiculous (as they 
 are) will be decided, and your cause made odious. 
 Abuse not the high comission as you do, against the best 
 subiects. The commission it selfe was ordained for 
 very good purposes, but it is most horriblie abused by 
 you, and turned cleane contrarie to the ende wherefore 
 it was ordayned. Helpe the poore people to the meanes 
 of their saluation, that perish in their ignorance : make 
 restitution vnto your tenants, and such as from whome 
 you haue wrongfully extorted any thing : Vsurpe no 
 longer, the authoritie of making of ministers and excom- 
 munication : Let poore men be no more molested in your 
 vngodly courts : Studie more then you doe, and preache 
 
OF THE CONFOCATION HOUSE. 69 
 
 oftener : Fauor nonresidents and papists no longer : la- 
 bor to dense y' ministery of the swarms of ignorant 
 guides, wherewith it hath bin defiled : Make conscience 
 of breaking the Sabboth, by bowling and tabling : Be 
 ringleaders of prophanenes no longer vnto the people : 
 Take no more bribes : Leaue your Symonie : Fauor 
 learning more then you doe, and especially godly learn- 
 ing : Stretch your credit if you haue any to the further- 
 ance of the gospell : You haue ioyned the prophanation 
 of the magistracie, to the corruption of the ministerie : 
 Leaue this sinne. All in a word, become good christians, 
 and so you shall become good subiects, and leaue your 
 tyrannic. And I would aduise you, let me here no 
 more of your euill dealing. 
 
 Giuen at my Castle between two Wales, neither foure 
 dayes from penilesse benche, nor yet at the West ende 
 of Shrofftide : but the foureteenth yeare at the least, of 
 the age of Charing crosse, within a yeare of Midsommer, 
 betweene twelue and twelue of the clocke. Anno ponti- 
 ficattis vestri Quinto, and I hope vltimo of all Englishe 
 Popes. 
 
 By your learned and worthie brother, 
 
 MARTIN MARPRELATE. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Page 3, line 16. D. Oodns hath a very good grace in, testing] The 
 allusion is to the " Abstract of certain Acts of Parliament of cer- 
 tain Injunctions," &c., published in 1584, and which Dr. Cosins 
 replied to by authority of Archbishop Whitgift, in the same year. 
 The Counterpoyson was printed in 1584, which Dr. Copcot an- 
 swered in a Latin sermon, preached at Paul's Cross, in 1585. 
 The sermon does not appear to have been printed, for the author 
 of « A Defense of the Reasons of the Counterpoyson," 1586, tells 
 us, " the author of the Counterpoyson never could get the 
 answeres in writing, as nowe I Iiaiie got them. Since that I myself 
 have fallen uppon the wlwle sermon in writing, so that it seemeth 
 it goeth from hand to hande amongst those who delight in it." 
 
 P. 3, 1. 26. Ca/rtwrights bookes'] The controversy between Whit- 
 gift and Cartwright began in 1572 with the publication of the 
 "Admonition to the Parliament." According to Neal [Hist. 
 Puritans, i. 231. ed. 1822] it was drawn up by Field, a minister, 
 assisted by Wilcox, and revised by others. The authors pre- 
 sented it to the House, for which they were committed to New- 
 gate Oct. 8, 1572. The Admonition was, however, suffered to 
 be printed, and in the course of two years passed through three 
 or four editions. [Strype's Parker, 347.] The imprisonment of 
 Field and Wilcox occasioned the publication of a " Second Admo- 
 nition," written by Cartwright, and two other tracts, entitled 
 " An Exhortation to the Bishops to deal brotherly with their 
 brethren," and another " Exhortation to the Bishops to answer 
 the Admonition." The bishops, thinking it necessary to reply, 
 appointed Whitgift to the work, and, before it came out, it under- 
 went the revision and correction of Archbishop Parker, Dr. Pern, 
 Bishop of Ely, and Dr. Cooper, Bishop of Lincoln. It was enti- 
 tled " An Answeare to a certain Libel, entitled An Admonition 
 to the Parliament, 1572." Cartwright to this replied in 1573, in 
 " A Replye to an Answere made of Dr. VVhitgifte againste the 
 Admonition to the Parliament." Whitgift then published " The 
 Defence of the Aunswere to the Admonition against the Replie of 
 T. C. 1574." The following year came out, "The Second Replie," 
 
NOTES. 71 
 
 and, in 1577, " The Rest of the Second Ueplie of Thomas Cart- 
 vuright agaynst Master Doctor Vuhitgifts Second Ansvuer touch- 
 ing the Church Disciplme." To this " Second Replie " no 
 answer was returned, and hence Martin, writing towards the 
 end of 1588, says, " You first prouoked him to write, and you 
 first haue receiued the foyle;" and, in allusion to the same sub- 
 ject at p. 22, " For this dozen yeares we neuer saw any thing of 
 his [Whitgift's] in printe for the defence of this cause, and poore 
 M. Cartwright doth content himselfe with the vietorie, which the 
 other will not (though in deed he hath by his silence) seeme to 
 grant." 
 
 P. 4, 1. 13. quoth John Elmwr m his Ha/rborow of faithful mh- 
 iecfe.] Written in reply to John Knox's " first Blast of the Trum- 
 pet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women," it is entitled 
 " An Harborowe for Faithful and Trewe Subiects against the 
 late blowne Blast, concerning the Government of Women, anno 
 MDlix. Strasborowe the 26 of April." 
 
 P. 8, 1. 13. Which Harmonie, was translated aiid printed by that 
 puritan Cambridg printer, Tliomas Thomas.'] A new edition of the 
 " Harmony of the Confessions" has recently issued from the 
 press, edited by the Rev. Peter Hall. Its value is much enhanced 
 by the addition of the Articles of the Church of England, 1562, 
 and of Ireland, 1615, the Judgment of the Synod of Dort, and 
 the Westminster Confession, with an Index to the Doctrines in 
 the Harmony. The editor, in a Note appended to the Intro- 
 duction, has thrown some discredit on the statement that Thomas 
 Thomas was the translator of the Harmony, but in the two direct 
 references which Martin has made to it, I find he is accurate ; 
 and B. fair inference may be drawn that in other respects his 
 testimony to a matter of fact may be received. Thomas was a 
 Fellow, and Master of Arts, of King's College, Cambridge, and the 
 author of the Dictionary which bears the name of Thomas Tho- 
 masius, first published in 1588. He was licensed printer to the 
 University 3 May, 1582, but nothing of his is known before 1584. 
 This was occasioned by the Stationers' Company having, on some 
 plea or other, seized his press. Another license was granted to him 
 Feb. 11, 1584. Strype [Annals 3. 442] has given the following 
 account : " A new press had been set up at Cambridge, and in 
 1586 the Harmony, translated out of the Latin, was printing 
 there, which for some reasons was not allowed to be printed in 
 London. Whitgift sent his Letter to the Vice-chancellor and 
 
72 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Heads to cause the said book to be stayed from printing;" it 
 was, however, published the same year, and it might be, as 
 Strype says, "after some review or correction of it," for it has 
 " alowed by publique authoritie " in the title-page, and that the 
 « bishops called them in " may be collected from the following 
 entry in the Stationers' Register A, quoted by Herbert, p. 1417, 
 under the year 1589-90, " Whereas all the seiz'd books were sold 
 to Mr. Byshop, be it remembered that 40 of them being Har- 
 monies of the Churches rated at ijs le peece, were had from him 
 by warrant of my Ld. of Cant, and remain at Lambeth, with Mr. 
 Doctor Cosens." 
 
 P. 8, 1. 20. Dwtrephes his Dialogue] See another allusion to the 
 same work at p. 16 : "as ray friend Tertullus says in the poor 
 Dialogue that the Bishops burned hath lately set down." The 
 title is, " The State of the Church of England laide open in a 
 Conference betweene Diotrephes a Byshoppe, Tertullus a Papiste, 
 Demetrius a Usurer, Pandochus an Innekeeper, and Paul a 
 preacher of the Word of God," printed by Waldegrave, without 
 date, in 1588. See Note to p. 30, 1. 28. 
 
 P. 13, 1. 18. Gammer Chirton's NeedW] Martin here is correct 
 when he tells the doctor this is none of his doing. The author 
 was John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and though acted 
 before, " in Christes Colledge Cambridge," is not known to have 
 been printed until 1575. It is reprinted in Collier's Old Plays. 
 
 P. 25, 1, 14. TaHeton] Allusion to this celebrated actor and 
 buffoon is frequent in the old dramatists. In 1683 he was chosen 
 one of the Queen's twelve players. He died Sept. 3, 1588. In 
 " A Whip for an Ape, or Martin displaied," 1589, he is thus 
 noticed, — 
 
 " Now Tarleton's dead the Consort lacks a vice, 
 For knave and fool thou must bear pricke and price :" 
 and again, in some Rhymes against Martin, — 
 " These tinkers terms and barbers jests first Tarleton on the stage, 
 Then Martin in his bookes of lies, hath put in every page." 
 P. 29, 1. 15. the lemit at Newgate] probably Edmund Campion, 
 who was executed in 1581, although Whitgift was not " Lord of 
 Canterbury" until 1583. 
 
 P. 30, 1. 9. John Wolfe] Was chosen beadle of the Stationers' 
 Company in 1587. According to Herbert [1170] he was in 
 special favour with the court of assistants, and chosen from his 
 
NOTES. 73 
 
 diligence in hunting out and giving intelligence of books disor- 
 derly printed. Herbert has given a catalogue of the numerous 
 books printed by and licensed to him. 
 
 P. 30, 1. 28. Waldegrame hath left home and home'] An entry in 
 the Register of the Stationers' Company explains the cause of 
 proceeding against him. " May 13, 1588. Whereas Mr. Cal- 
 dock, warden, Thomas Woodcock, Oliver Wilkes, and John Wolf, 
 on the 16 April last, upon search of Rob. Walgraues house, did 
 seise of his and bring to Stationershall according to the late 
 decrees of the Starre-chamber, and by vertue thereof, a presse 
 with twoo paire of cases with certain Pica Romane, and Pica 
 Italian letters, with diuers books entituled ' The state of the 
 Church of Englande laid open,' &c. For that Walgraue without 
 aucthority and contrary to the said Decrees had printed the said 
 book. Yt is now in full Court, ordered and agreed by force of 
 the said decrees and according to the same. That the said books 
 shall be bumte and the said presse, letters and printing stuffe 
 defaced and made unserviceable." [Herbert, 1145, who gives the 
 Star-Chamber Decrees.] Waldegrave, after this, by the assist- 
 ance of friends, collected money, and commenced printing at 
 Edinburgh in 1590, being printer to James VI. In that year he 
 brought out the Confession of the Church of Scotland, and on the 
 reverse of the title is the king's patent. [Given by Herbert, 1507.] 
 Until James's accession to the crown of England, in 1603, he 
 remained in Scotland, and then removed to London. The last 
 book which Herbert quotes as being printed by him in Edinbin-gh 
 is dated in 1600, but in 1602 I find his name to " Cartwright's 
 Answer to the Preface of the Rhemish Testament," printed there 
 in that year. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 10. one Thomas Orwin] " Mar. 4, 1587-8. At a court 
 holden this day yt is ordeyned and decreed that T. Orwyn shall 
 from henceforth leave off from further dealinge with printinge 
 whatsoever till such time as the Master, Wardens, and four of the 
 Court of Assistants shall present his name to the High Commis- 
 sioners," &c. ; which it appears they did, for on the 7th March 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, Dr. Cosin, 
 and Dr. Walker addressed a letter to the Court of Stationers, on 
 which he was elected a printer, and presented 14th May to the 
 Archbishop and others, and admitted the 20th May, 1588, to be a 
 printer according to the said decree. [Stationers' Register, quoted 
 in Herbert.] 
 
 E 
 
74 
 
 NOlES. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 25. For Seigmlds the papist at Sheimes in his hooke 
 axjaxmt M. Whitahers] The first Roman Catholic translation of 
 the New Testament into English, was printed by John Fogny, at 
 Rheims, in 1582, to which Whitaker replied in the same year, 
 and was answered by W. Rainoldes in " A Refutation of sundry 
 Reprehensions, Cavils and false Sleightes, by which M. Whitaker 
 laboureth to deface the late English translation, and Catholike 
 annotations of the New Testament, and the Booke of the Dis- 
 covery of heretical Corruptions. Paris, 1583," in 12rao. To this 
 Whitaker then rejoined in " An Answer to W. Rainolds' Refuta- 
 tion of Sundry Reprehensions," &c., 1585, in 8vo. 
 
 P. 35, 1. 26. If suche another booke as the Ecclesiast. Discipline'] 
 Strype [Annals, iii. 285] has given us the following account of this 
 work. " The Brief and Plain Declaration was written in Latin 
 in 1574, and reprinted in English 1584. It seemed to be printed 
 beyond sea. [ed. 1584.] Travers, I think, was the author. The 
 Epistle commendatory is T. Cartwright's," and the reason why it 
 was written in Latin, he says, was that it might be read by the 
 Queen, " who was delighted with things written in Latin." Ban- 
 croft, who lived at the time, has given us a more particular 
 account in his " Survey of the Pretended Holy Disciphne," and 
 in his "Dangerous Positions," both printed in 1593. About the 
 year 1583, where before the platforme of Geneva (for it was left 
 at large in Cartwright's books) had been followed, now there was 
 a particular draught made for England, with a new form of com- 
 mon prayer therein prescribed. It was published the following 
 year, but there were found some imperfections in it, which were 
 referred to Travers to be corrected by him ; and being performed, 
 it came out again in 1586, but it was then severed from the book 
 of common prayer. About Sturbridge fair time, in 1 589, another 
 synod, or general meeting, was held in St. John's College, Cam- 
 bridge, where some other corrections and additions were made, 
 after which those present voluntarily agreed to subscribe it- 
 [See Bancroft's Survey, 66, and Dangerous Positions, 68, 89.] 
 Neal, under the year 1584, states, that " whilst printing at Cam- 
 bridge, it was seized at the press ; the Archbishop advised that 
 all the copies should be burnt as factious and seditious, but one 
 was found in Mr. Cartwright's study after his death, and reprmted 
 in 1644." [Neal, i. 358.] 
 
 P. 36, 1. 22. the Confiitation of the Bhemish Testament may be 
 published'i Clark, in his Life of Cartwright, tells us, that on the 
 
NOTES. 75 
 
 publication of the New Testament at Khelms, Queen Elizabeth 
 sent to Beza, requesting him to answer it. Beza replied, that she 
 had one in her own kingdom far abler than he was to perform 
 such a work, mentioning Cartwright. In the preface to the Con- 
 futation, first printed in 1618, we have the" following account: 
 " The first remarkable motive it seemeth came from Sir F. Wal- 
 singham, who herein as in other affaires, was accounted the 
 mouth and hand of the late Queen and State, by whom M. Cart- 
 wright was not onely incited to begin this busines, but assured 
 also of such aid as should be necessarie for the finishing thereof, 
 to which purpose he sent him an hundred pounds towards the 
 charges, which buying of books and procuring of writers was like 
 to bring upon him. This was about the year 1583, as appeareth 
 by the date of M. Cartwright's letters in answer of the aforesaid 
 motive, which testifie also of the receipt of that hundred pounds." 
 Being also earnestly solicited by several eminent divines of Cam- 
 bridge, as well as the muiisters of London and Suffolk, Cartwright 
 begun the work, and had made considerable progress, when 
 " thorough the envious opposition of some potent adversaries, he 
 met with so great discouragement and hinderances, that he was 
 moved oftimes to lay pen aside, as appears by the letter of 1 586 
 to a noble Earle and Privie Councellor of great note in answer of 
 a letter to encourage him in the work and to understand the for- 
 wardness thereof, and by another of 1590, wherein he certifieth 
 the said Earle that about four years before he had received com- 
 mandment from the archbishop that then was [Whitgift] to deal 
 no further in it, and yet upon special solicitation and encourage- 
 ments both by him and some other honorable personages he had 
 at last taken pen in hand againe ;" but, receiving new discourage- 
 ments from his great adversaries, together with his continual 
 employment in the ministry, he was prevented from finishing it. 
 The copy remained for 30 years in MS., and had become some- 
 what eaten by mice, so that, as published in 1618, the missing 
 parts, and all after Revelations xv., are completed from Fulke's 
 work on the same subject. Pierce, in his Vindication, hints, that 
 Queen EUzabeth furnished the money that Walsingham sent to 
 him ; but if she had done so, the Archbishop would hardly have 
 interfered in opposition to her will. 
 
 P. 43, 1. 22. Tliere was the last smnmer a little ccdecMsme, made 
 by M. Dauison] Herbert, in quoting the title, [p. 1588,] refers to 
 Maunsell's Catalogue, p. 29 ; but a copy was in Heber's collection^ 
 
76 NOTES. 
 
 [Bib. Heber. ii. p. 25,] the title of which is, " A short Christian 
 Institution made first for the use of a private falmily, and now 
 communicated by the Author to other Flocks and Families, by 
 J. D.," printed by R. Waldegraye, without date, in 1588. 
 
 P. 47, 1. 24. that no BybU should be boimde without the Apocri- 
 ^/wt] Fuller [Ch. Hist. bk. ix.] states, that amongst other things 
 discussed at the assemblies of the Puritans was the question, 
 " Whether the books called Apocryphal were warrantable to be 
 read publicly in the church as the canonical Scripture ? " but it 
 must be evident to those who are acquainted with their history, 
 that they rejected the whole as uneanonical. In 1588 Martin 
 denounces it as an attempt to mingle heaven and earth together. 
 In 1592 we find the following language in a Petition to her 
 Majesty : " Sundrie of the Prelates do preach and take their 
 texts out of the Apocrypha, wherein they go beyond their com- 
 mission, unlesse the Apocrypha be a part of Scripture, as one of 
 the Bishops doth entitle it." [Petition, &c., 66.] In 1604 we 
 find, from the Apology of the Lincolnshire Ministers, that one of 
 their objections to the Book of Common Prayer was because " It 
 does too much honour to the Apocryphal writings, commanding 
 many of them to be read for first lessons under the name of 
 Holy Scripture." 
 
 P. 54, 1. 29. iceU howlde, when lohn of London throwes hit 
 ioMjfo] An allusion to the favourite amusement of Bishop Aylmer. 
 For further particulars the reader is referred to Strype's Life of 
 Aylmer. 
 
 P. 55, 1. 22. olde Doctor Turner] Probably Dr. William Turner, 
 author of the English Herbal, a New Book of Spiritual Physik, 
 and other works. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GILBERT AND KIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. 
 
* 
 
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