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the Goodnefs of the fame Prince be pardoned for Queen Elizabeth. that Offence; fhall we determinately fay, that • Man is never after to be trufted in the Prince's Affairs? Nay, God forbid, but rather think of the contrary; that he which once hath run fo haftily and rafhly, that he hath overthrown himfelf and fallen, and broken his Brow or his Shin, 'will after that take heed to walk more warily. As we learn at the Apoftles of our Saviour Christ, which did all forfake him and run away, when he was apprehended and brought before the Jews, and specially of St Peter, which did thrice deny him. And yet after, as well Peter as all the rest of the Apostles, did return again to their Master Chrift; and never would after, for neither Per• fecution nor Death, forfake or deny him any more. So that it may appear, although Men ⚫ have once gone aftray, if they return to the Truth again, their Teftimonies in the Truth be not to be difcredited. And fo I trust that you fee that all thefe Reasons and Objections, made against the Authority of the Church of Rome, be of none Effect, if they be indifferently weighed ⚫ and confidered.

And whereas there was a Reafon made here, that a Temporal Prince, unto whom no Ecclefiaftical Jurifdiction or Rule is given or committed by God, cannot himself be Head of the Church of Chrift; fo he cannot substitute nor ⚫ appoint another to exercise any fuch Jurifdiction 6 or Authority in Spiritual Matters, in or over the • Church of Chrift under him: For as it was then faid, no Man can give to another that Thing ⚫ which he hath not himfelf: Whereunto this Anfwer was made, That a Prince may give to ano"ther that Authority which he hath not himself, • neither may exercise; as for Example, they al⚫ledge, that a King of himself is not a Judge, and yet he hath Authority to appoint Judges to minifter Juftice. And likewife they faid, that a King himself is no Captain, and yet hath Authority to appoint Captains under him, for Defence

• of

Queen Elizabeth. 1558.

·

of his Realm and Overthrow of his Enemies ; and even fo, fay they, he may appoint and fubftitute one under him to exercife Spiritual Jurif'diction, although he have no fuch Authority himfelf. Which Reafons appear unto me not only to be very weak and feeble, but also to be plain falfe and against Scripture; which doth declare, that the Office of a King doth confift especially in these two Points, which these Men deny to be in him; that is, playing of the Judge, and miniftring of Juftice to his Subjects; and likewise in playing the valiant Captain, in defending of the fame his • Subjects from all Injury and Wrong; as the 8th Chapter of the firft Book of Kings declareth in thefe Words; Judicabit Rex nos nofter, et egre• dietur ante nos, et pugnabit Bella noftra pro nobis," that is, Our King shall judge us, and he shall go forth before us and he fhall fight our Battles for us. And likewife Nathan faid unto David's own Perfon, Refponde mihi Judicium; Make me anfwer according to Juftice. And likewife Solomon' ⚫ himself did give Sentence and Judgment between the two common Women, which of them two < was the Mother of the Child which was alive. And as for to prove that thofe Kings, with other in the Old Teftament, were Captains them-1 ⚫ felves in the Defence of their Realms, is more manifeft than I fhall need to travel in proving of • the fame,

And thus to draw unto an End, I trust your Lordfhips do fee, that for Unity and Concord in Faith and Religion, to be preferved and continued in the Church, our Saviour Chrift, the Spouse thereof, hath appointed one Head or Governor, that is to wit, Peter and his Succeffors, whofe Faith he promised fhould never decay, as 6 we see manifeftly it hath not indeed. And for thofe Men which write and fpeak againft this Authority, if therewith their Writings and their • Doings be well confidered, they fhall appear to be fuch, as fmall Credit or none is to be given unto in Matters of Weight, fuch as this is. For who

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• fo readeth the third Chapter of the fecond Epiftle Queen Elizabeth, of St Paul to Timothy, may fee them there lively defcribed with their Doings. And specially one ⚫ Sentence therein may be applied and verified of them most juftly, that is, Semper difcentes, et nunquam ad Scientiam Veritatis pervenientes, that is to fay, Always learning and never coming to the Knowledge of Truth. For as we fee them vary amongst themselves, one from another, fo no one of them doth agree with himself in Mat ters of Religion two Years together. And as they be gone from the fure Rock and Stay of Chrift's ⚫ Church, fo do they reel and waver in their Doctrine, wherein no Certainty nor Stay can be found. Whereof St Paul doth admonith us, and teach us in the Perfon of his Scholar Timothy, to ⚫ be conftant in Doctrine and Religion, and not to ⚫ follow fuch Men. For after, in the fame Chapter, he faith thus, Tu vero permane in iis que didicifti, et quæ credita funt tibi, fciens a quo didiceris, But as for thee, faith St Paul, fpeaking unto every Christian Man in the Perfon of Timothy, conti6 nue in those Things which thou haft learned, and which be credited unto thee, knowing of • whom thou hast learned them. In which Words ' we might understand, that St Paul doth not move any Man to continue in any falfe or untrue Doctrine. Wherefore he moveth every Man to ⚫ confider, not only his Religion and Doctrine, but alfo, or rather, the Schoolmaster of whom he ⚫ learned the fame. For of the Knowledge, Con'ftancy, and Worthiness of the Schoolmaster, or Teacher, may the Doctrine, taught by him, be ⚫ known to be good and found, or otherwife. Now if a Man fhould ask of these Men in this Realm, which diffent from the Catholick Church, 'not ⚫ only in this Point of the Supremacy, but also in <divers of the chief Myfteries of our Faith; of

whom they learn'd this Doctrine which they hold ⚫ and teach, they must needs anfwer, that they ⚫ learned it of the Germans. Then we may demand of them again, of whom the Germans did VOL. III. Dd

• learn

Queen Elizabeth. $558.

learn it? Whereunto they muft answer, that they learn'd it of Luther. Well, then of whom did Luther learn it? Whereunto he fhall answer himfelf, in his Book that he wrote, De Miffa angulari, feu privata; where he faith, That fuch Things as he teacheth against the Mafs, and the bleffed Sacrament of the Altar, he learned of Satan, the Devil. At whofe Hands, it is like, he did alfo receive the rest of his Doctrine. Then here be two Points diligently to be noted; first, That this Doctrine is not fifty Years old, for no Man taught it before Luther. And fecondarily, That Luther doth acknowledge and confefs the Devil to be his Schoolmaster in divers Points of his Doctrine. So that if Men would diligently mind St Paul's Words, where he biddeth us Know of whom we have learned fuch Doctrine as we hold, they would refufe this perverfe and wicked Doctrine, knowing from whom it came. if they will ask us of whom we learned our Doctrine, we answer them, that we learned it of our Forefathers in the Catholick Church, which hath in it continuedly the Holy Spirit of God for a Ruler and Governor. And again, if they ask ❝ of whom our Fathers learned this fame, we say of their Forefathers within the fame Church. And fo we manually afcend in Poffeffion of our Doctrine, from Age to Age, unto the Apostle Peter, unto whom, as St Cyprian faith, our Saviour Chrift did betake his Sheep to be fed, and upon whom he founded his Church.

6

But

So that now we may be bold to ftand in our Doctrine and Religion against our Adverfaries, feeing that theirs is not yet fifty Years old, and ours above fifteen hundred Years old. They have for Authority and Commendation of their Religion, Luther and his Schoolmaster before men'tioned; we have for ours St Peter and his Master Chrift. So that now, by the Doctrine of Irenæus, ་ every Man may know where the Truth is, and whom he fhould follow, which faith thus, Eis, qui in Ecclefia funt Presbyteris, obedire oportet;

6

• his

<

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his qui Succeffionem habent ab Apoftolis, qui cum Queen Elizabeth, • epifcopali Succeffione Charifma Veritatis certum fecundum placitum Patris acceperunt; reliquos vero qui abfiftunt a principali Succeffione, et quocunque Loco colliguntur, fufpectos habere, vel quafi Hareticos, et male Sententiæ, vel quafi ftudentes (partium] et elatos fibi placentes: Aut rurfus ut Hypocritas Quæftus gratia et vana Gloria hoc operantes; qui omnes decidunt a Veritate. That is, 'To "thofe Priests, which be in the Church, we ought to "obey, those which have their Succeffion from the "Apostles, who with Bifhop-like Succeffion, have "received a fure gracious Gift, according to the "Good-will of the Father. But for the other, "which depart from the principal Succeflion, and "be gathered in whatsoever Place, we ought to "hold them suspected, either as Hereticks and of "an evil Opinion, or as making Divifions, and "proud Men, and pleafing themselves; or again "as Hypocrites, doing that for Advantage and "vain Glory, which all do fall from the Truth." And thus I make an End, moft humbly thanking your good Lordships for your gentle Patience; defiring the fame likewife to weigh and confider thefe Things which I have spoken, as fhall be ⚫ thought good to your Wifdoms.'

Amongst the Temporal Lords, in the Oppofition to the Bill of Supremacy, Anthony Brown, Viscount Montacute, (who had been fent to Rome, in the last Reign, by the Parliament, along with Thurlby, Bifhop of Ely, to procure that England might be reftored to the Unity of the Church of Rome, and Obedience to the Apoftolic See ;) out of a Sentiment of Zeal and Honour, fays Cambden, spoke, in the Debate, to this Effect :

LordMontacute's

That it would be a very disgraceful Reflec-1 tion upon England, which was fo lately and fo Speech on the • well reconciled to the Apoftolic See, to make fo fame Subject. fudden a Revolt from it. And, moreover, the

• Hazard would be as great as the Scandal, fhould the Pope thunder out his Excommunication ; and expofe the Nation, by that Means, to the Refent