A defence of the Apologie of the Churche of Englande conteininge an answeare to a certaine booke lately set foorthe by M. Hardinge, and entituled, A confutation of &c. By Iohn Iewel Bishop of Sarisburie.

The B. of Sarisburie.

I doubte not, good Reader, but perusinge these fewe folowinge, thou shalte plainely sée, that the Authours of this Apologie spake not al, that they might wel haue spoken. But, if thou happen to reade Dantes, Petrarcha, Boccase, Man∣tuan, Valla, and others like, thou wilte certainely saie, that euen now, beinge thus chalenged, and called foorth, and required to speake, yet wée haue rather geeuen an inklinge hereof, then opened the particulare secretes of the mater. For thereof S.* 1.1 Bernarde saithe thus, Quae in occulto fiunt ab Episcopis, turpe est vel dicere: It is shame to vtter the thinges, that Bishoppes doo in theire secretes. And therefore he saithe further, euen as did the writer of the Apologie, Melius itaque arbitror super hoc dis∣simulate: Touchinge sutche matters, I thinke it better to dissemble. Franciscus Pe∣trarcha calleth Rome the VVhoore of Babylon, the Mother of al Idolatrie, and Fornication:* 1.2 and saithe, that al shame, and reuerence is quite departed thence. Baptista Mantuanus saithe:

Viuere qui Sanctè cupitis, discedite Roma: Omnia cùm liceant, non licet esse bonum.

Al ye, that woulde liue godly, be packinge from Rome. For there al thinges els are law∣ful: but to be good, it is not lawful. And againe, as it is alleaged once before,

Sanctus ager scurris, venerabilis Ara Cynaedis Seruit, honorandae Diuûm Ganymedibus Aedes.

Hereby, M. Hardinge, ye maie easily sée, that wée of pourpose dissembled, and couered your shame, and spake mutche lesse, and far otherwise of you, then wée might haue spoken.

Erasmus, writing of S. Augustines dealinge againste the Manichees, saith thus, Obscoena Mysteria Manichaeorum protraxit in lucem. Nam haec prodidisse, erat vicisse:* 1.3 He opened, and published the filthy Mysteries of the Manichees. For the very openinge thereof was sufficiente to ouerthrowe them. But happy are they, that liue in sutche sorte, that no man maie wel reuele theire life without blus∣shinge.

Here, M. Hardinge, yée charge vs pleintiefully with Fables, and Sclaunders, and heapes of Lies, greate, fowle, lewde, and shameful, in one companie, al togea∣ther. Wherein it was no greate Maisterie for you to be so liberal: for that hereof ye want no stoare.

But if wee shalbe hable clearely, and plainely to anouche, and iustifie eche thinge, that wee haue spoken, then wee doubte not, but ye wil take al these Lies home againe, and bestowe them fréely emongest your fellowes.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Bernard ad Cle∣rum in Synodo Rhemen. Po••em loco. Fran. Petrar. Epist. 20.
• * 1.2

  Fran. Petrar. Cantilena 92. Onde jugita ogni vergogno. Baptij. Mantua∣nus.
• * 1.3

  Erasmus in vita Augustini.