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I knowe wel yenough the Authoritie of these foresaid persones wilbe but lightly regarded amongest these men▪ Howe then if I cal foorth those for witnesses, whō they thē selues haue vsed to honoure? What if I saie, that Adrian the Bishop of Rome did frankly con∣fesse, that al these mischieues braste out firste from the high Throne of the Pope?
Here haue wee a man of strawe set vp,* 1.1 whom this defender nameth Adrian Bishop of Rome. He geueth him a waze of strawe in his hande, that a farre of semeth to be a sore weapon, taken out of the armorie of Platina,* 1.2 as is pretended. But when ye come neare and beholde what felow this is, and conferre with Platina, touchinge his weapon, ye see it to be a fained thinge. For there is no sutche saieinge by Platina attributed to any of the‡ 1.3 six Adrians Bishoppes of Rome, ‡ whose liues he writeth. And mo there were not. Therefore where you saie, What if I saie, that Adrian, &c. I answere thereto, that if you so saie, you saie a false lie.
Touchinge this pretie fansie of a man of Cloutes, and a vvaze of stravve, I sée wel, M. Hardinge, ye thoughte it good policie, to clowte vp the matter, and to satisfie your Reader with a stravven ansvveare. The stravve was in your eies, M. Hardinge, & not in the man. Ye stoode too far aluffe: your eies daseled: and there∣fore ye knewe not, what ye sawe. If ye had drawen neare, ye should soone haue founde your owne erroure. It was no man of stravve, but Pope Adrian the sixthe, and laste, that wée spake of: Onlesse ye thinke the Popes Holinesse to be a man of stravve. For thus he pronounced at Norinberg in Germanie in the great assemblie of y• Empiere, by the mouthe of Cheregatus his Legate a Latere. A Sacerdotibus iniquitatem populi dimanare: multis nunc annis, grauiter, multis{que} mo∣dis peccatum esse Romae:* 1.4 & inde à Pontificio Culmine malum hoc, atque luem ad in∣feriores omnes Ecclesiarum Praefectos defluxisse: Thus Pope Adrian bade his Legate saie, That the iniquitie of the people grewe from the Priestes: And that nowe, for the space of many yeeres, there haue benne greate, and greuous offenses committed in Rome: And that al this plague, and mischiefe hath flowed vnto al the Inferioure Rulers of the Churche, euen from the Highe Throne of the Popes Holinesse. This same storie is also extante,* 1.5 printed at Colaine in a Booke called Fasciculus rerum Sciendarum.
Thus therefore once againe wée saie, M. Hardinge, that Pope Adrian. 6. frankly confessed, that al these mischiefes procéeded firste euen from the Throne, or Seate of the Popes Holinesse: and, saieinge the same, notwithstandinge your vnciuile speache, wée saie no lie.
And, leste ye shoulde thinke, this Legate Cheregatus either of foregeateful∣nesse, or of malice, did his errante otherwise, then he had in Commission, the like woordes haue sithēce bēne vttered in your owne late chapter at Tridente by Cor∣nelius the Bishop of Bitōto. These be his woordes: Effecerunt tandem, vt Pietas in Fucum,* 1.6 & Hypocrisim, &c. They haue brought to passe, that Godlinesse is turned into Hy∣pocrisie: and that the Sauoure of Life is turned into the Sauoure of Deathe. Woulde God they were not gonne wholy with general consente, from Religion, to Superstition: from Faithe, to Infidelitie: from Christe, to Antichriste: from God, to Epicure: saieing with wicked harte, and filthy mouthe, There is no God. Neither hath there benne this greate vvhile any Pastoure, or Pope, that regarded these thinges. For they al (bothe Pope, and others) sought theire ovvne: and not so mutche as one of them (neither Pope, nor Cardinal) sought for the thinges, that perteine to Iesus Christe.
Therefore, M. Hardinge, ye maie hencefoorthe spare your Vnsauery, and bit∣ter speaches: For in these reportes there is no lie.
Rome the roote of il.
A greate solic. For Platyna vvas deade three∣scoare yeeres before Adrian. 6 vvas Pope.
Vntruthe vaine, and vnad∣uised. For Pla∣tyna vvriteth not one vvorde of Adriane the sixthe.
Iohan. Sleidanus Lib. 4. Ann. 1523.
Fasciculus rerū Sciendarum.
Cornel. Bitonti∣nus in Concil. Tridenti.