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.

Wee neuer suppressed any of your Bookes, M. Hardinge, as you knowe:* 1.1 but are very wel contented, to see them so common, that as nowe, children maie plaie with them in the Streetes. Your manifest Vntruthes: your Simple Conclusions: your often Contrarieties to your selfe: your Newe founde Authoures: your Chil∣dishe Fables: your Vncourteous Speaches: your Rackinge, Corrupting, & Misce∣portinge of the Doctours therein couteined, haue mutche bewraied the miserable feeblenesse of your cause. Your Felowes haue no cause, greately to glorie in sutche healpes: nomore then in other your like Pamflettes, vnmeete of any wise man to be answeared. This was your onely, and special policie, in the time of your late Kingdome. Yee suppressed, and called in, & burnt al our Writinges, what so euer, yea, the very Testament, & Gospel of Christe, truely translated into Englishe, naming them Heretical, and Vnlawful Bookes. And, if any man had conceled, and keapte vnto him selfe for his cōforte, any sutche Booke written by any of our syde, by most terrible, & bloudy Proclamations, yee made it Felonie. So mutche yee despaired, and doubted your owne folies.

As for the Bookes of our Apologie, they haue ben spreadde so farre, & printed so often, in Latine, in Italian, in Frenche, in Duitche, in Englishe, that, as nowe, it were hard to suppresse them. Touchinge the shamelesse lieinge, wherewith yee charge vs. we are wel content to stande to the Iudgement of the wise. Certainely, it shameth vs mutche, to see so litle shame in youre Writinges.

Yee saie, The Pope gaue out his Saueconducte to al the Princes, and Free Citties, and to the whole people of Germanie, to come to the Councel, to propounde, to dispute at theire pleasure, and, when they shoulde thinke it good, freely, and safely to returne, with a large Extension to other Nations, as yee saie, to like pourpose.

But firste, M. Hardinge, what safetie can there be in his Saueconducte, that is not hable to saue him selfe? Pope Eugenius the fourthe,* 1.2 if he had comme to the Councel of Basile, as you knowe, had benne quite deposed from his Popedome, al his Saueconductes notwithstandinge. Pope Iohn. 22. gaue oute as sure a Sa∣ueconducte for the Councel of Constance, as Pope Pius could diuise any for your late Chapter of Tridente. Yet notwithstandinge al his Safetie,* 1.3 beinge him selfe present in the Councel, he was pulled out of Peters Chaire, and depriued of his Dignitie, and stripte out of his Pontificalibus, and turned home againe in his Minoribus, and allowed onely to be a Cardinal, and no lenger to be a Pope. Yee maie remember, Cicero saithe, Qui multorum Custodem se profiteatur, eum sapien∣tes sui primùm capitis aiunt Custodem esse oportere:* 1.4 Wise menne saie, Who so wil take vpon him to saue others, oughte first to saue him selfe.

And what credite maie wee geeue to youre Saueconductes?* 1.5 Iacobus Nachi∣antes. the Bishop of Chioca, for that he had simpred out one halfe woorde of truthe to the mislikinge of the Legates, was faine to renne to Rome, to crepe to the Popes feete, and to craue Pardonne. Yee shamefully betraied, & cruelly mur∣thered Iohn Husse, & Hieronymus Pragensis in your Coūcel of Cōstance. Nei∣ther y^• Protection of the Emperoure, nor the Popes Saueconducte was hable to saue thē. No, your selues haue already ruled y^• case in your said Councel. For thus yee saie, Fides non est seruanda Hereticis: Yee maie holde no Faithe vnto them, that yee calle Heretiques. Sutche is the Safetie,* 1.6 and Libertie of your Councelles.

Ye saie, Our Learned Men were allowed to Propounde, to Talke, to Dispute. What shoulde this auaile? For yee reserued the Determination, and whole Iudgemente to youre selues: and youre selues are sworne to submitte yours whole Iudge∣mente

to the Pope,* 1.7 and without his Iudgemente to Iudge nothinge. And howe maie this seeme a Free Councel, were the guilty partie shalbe the Iudge?

Yee saie, There is an Extension graunted to other Nations. Al this is true in deede. But this same Truthe discrieth youre open Mockerie. For if yee hadde seene the Instrumente, in the ende thereof yee shoulde haue founde youre saide Extension restrained onely to them,* 1.8 that woulde Repente, and Recante the Truthe of God, whiche you calle Erroure.

Howe be it, not longe sithence, the Bishoppes of youre saide Chapter at Tridente were very lothe to allowe any tolerable Sauecondite at al, either to the Germaines, or to any others.

But yee saie, if wee hadde comme to youre Chapter, we hadde benne Confounded. No doubtes, with youre Firy Argumentes. For sutche proufes muste healpe you, when others faile.

As for the gaie stuffe, that youre Tridentine Fathers, after theire Nature Deliberation, as they calle it, and more then twentie yeeres studie, haue sente vs out lately into the worlde, it is too simple to mocke Children.

Wee finde no faulte with you, M. Hardinge, for that youre Bishoppes, and Abbates agree togeather: but for that they agree togeather, as did Herode, and Pilate,* 1.9 the Sadduceis, and Phariseis againste Christe.

Neither maie you wel vaunte youre selues of youre greate agreementes. Yee maie remember, that twoo of the Principal Pillers of youre Chapter,* 1.10 Pe∣trus à Soto, and Catharinus, dissented euen there openly, and shamefully, and that in greate pointes of Religion: and wrote, the one mightily againste the o∣ther: the one charginge the other with Erroure, and Heresie, and coulde neuer bee reconciled.

Notwithstandinge, againste other pointes of Goddes Truthe, bothe they, and the reste ioined stoutely togeather. S. Augustine saithe,* 1.11 Tunc inter se concordant, quando in perniciem Iusti conspirant. Non quia se amant, sed quia eum, qui amandus erat, simul oderunt: Then they agree togeather, when they conspire to destroie the Iuste: not for that they them selues loue one an other: but for that they bothe hate him, whome they ought to loue. Of sutche kinde of Consente S. Hierome, although to a farre contrarie pourpose, imagineth Iouinian thus to saie:* 1.12 Quo'd me damnant Episcopi, non est ratio, sed conspiratio. Nolo mihi ille, vel ille respondeat, quorum me Authoritas opprimere potest, docere non potest: That the Bishoppes condemne me, there is no Reason in theire dooinges, but a Conspiracie. I would not, that this man, or that man shoulde answeare mee, whiche maie oppresse mee by theire Authoritie, and cannot teache mee.

Whether it bee conueniente, that the Pope, beinge notoriously accused of manifeste corruption in Goddes Religion, shoulde neuerthelesse be the whole, and onely Iudge of the same, and pronounce sentence of him selfe, let it be indiffe∣rently considered by the wise.

The Lawe saithe,* 1.13 Nemo sibi debet Ius Dicere: No man maie bee his owne Iudge. Sutche Authoritie, yee saie, Kinges haue in Parlamentes. Hereof I am not hable to dispute. The Princes right many times passeth by Composition: and therefore is not euermore one in al places. Howe be it, the Pope is a Bishop, and not a Kinge: and other Bishoppes be not his Subiectes, but his Brethren.

Youre fourthe Obiection is but a Cauil. Yee saie, yee mocke not Princes Em∣bassadours, but place them nexte vnto youre Legates: to sitte stil, I trowe, and to telle the Clocke. For voice in Iudgemēt ye allowe them none. Thus ye proine their Authoritie, and allowe them Honoure. Notwithstandinge, whether the Emperours, and Princes Embassadours maie sitte so neare to the Popes Le∣gates,

or no, I can not tel.* 1.14 Verily the Emperoure him selfe maie not be so bolde, to presse so neare vnto the Pope. For thus it is ordered in youre Booke of Cere∣monies: Aduertendum est, quod locus, vbi sedet Imperator, non sit altior loco, vbi te∣net pedes Pontifex:* 1.15 This is to be noted, that the place, where the Emperoure sitteth (in General Councel) be no higher, then the place, where the Pope setteth his feete. That is to saie, the Emperoure must sitte at the Popes footestoole, and no higher.

Al the partes of oure Religion, whiche you calle Heresies, yee saie, are alrea∣dy condemned, iuste a thousande yeeres paste. Here, M. Hardinge, it woulde haue woonne you somme good credite, if yee could haue tolde vs, in what General Coun∣cel, vnder what Emperoure, by what Doctours, by what Catholique Learned Fathers, these greate Errours were thus condemned. As nowe, yee roaue onely at large, and feede youre simple Reader with youre emptie Calendares, of thousandes of yeeres, and speake at randonne. If it hadde benne true, yee woulde better haue shewed it: but beinge moste vntrue, as you knowe it to bee, for very shame, yee should neuer haue saide it.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The Popes Sauecon∣ducte.
• * 1.2

  Concil. Basilien. Session. 3. & 4.
• * 1.3

  Concil. Constan. Session. 2. 3. 4.
• * 1.4

  Cicero. Philip. 12
• * 1.5

  Illyricus in Pro∣test. contra Con∣cil. Tridentin. pag. 77.
• * 1.6

  Concil. Constan. Session. 19.
• * 1.7

  The A∣greement of the Tri∣dētine Fa∣thers.
• * 1.8

  Io. Fabritius in Recusatione Cō∣cil. Triden. Iohan Sleidanus li. 23. Anno 1552.
• * 1.9

  Matt. 22. &. 26.
• * 1.10

  Petrus à Soto. Catharinus.
• * 1.11

  August. In Psal. 36. Concione. 2.
• * 1.12

  Hieronym. In A∣polo••etico ad Domnionem.
• * 1.13

  ff. De Iurisdict. omniū Iudicum.
• * 1.14

  The pla∣cinge of Embassa∣dours.
• * 1.15

  Ceremoniarium Roman. li. 1. Sect. 14. cap. 2.