Work for a Cooper 2, Rebuttal 1 – Argument 3
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 lalour / as euer 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 hauehave 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 biſhopps to be lawful / as I will ſhewe anone. Concerning Sir Paul / I hauehave him not at all in my writings. And therefore the reader muſt know / that there is a canterbury trick once to patch vp an acuſation with a lye or two.
Sir Peter was the ouerſight of the printer / who omitted this Marginal note vz. He was not Saint Peter which had a lawfull ſuperiour authority ouer the vniuerſal body of the church. And therfore the prieſt wherof Deane Iohn ſpeaketh was Sir Peter.
And good reuerend T.C. I pray thee tel me / what kin was Saint Mary Oueries / to Mary the Virgin. In my book learning / the one was ſome popiſh Trull / & the other the bleſſed virgine. But will you hauehave all thoſe / who are ſaints in deed / called ſaints? Why then why doe you not call ſaint Abraham / ſaint Sara / ſaint Ieremie. If Iohn 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 being Marie / you would hauehave 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 Iohn / why ſhould not his wife be ſir Marie. And why not ſir Marie Oueries / as well as ſir Marie Canterburie? I hope Iohn of Canterburie whom I knowe / (though I know no great good in him) to be as honeſt a man as M. Oueries was / whom I did not know. Neither is there any reaſon why you T.C. ſhould holde M. Oueries and his Marie / becauſe they are within the dioceſſe of Wincheſter / to bee more honeſt then M. Canterburie and his wife. Naye there is more reaſon / why M. Canterburie and his wife dwelling at Lambehith / ſhould be thought the honeſter of the two / then Oueries and his wife / becauſe they dwel O the bankes ſide. But good Tom tubtrimmer / tell me what you meane by the chiefe of the cleargie in the Churche of England? Iohn Canterburie I am ſure. Why good T.C. this ſpeache is either blaſphemous / or traiterous / or by your owne confeſſion an euident proofe / that Iohn of Canterburie is Lord ouer his brethren. He that is chiefe of the cleargie / is chiefe of Gods heritage / and that is Ieſus Chriſt only / & ſo to make the pope of Canterburie chiefe of Gods heritage / in this ſence is blaſphemous. If you meane by cleargie / as Deane Iohn 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 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 vntounto him ſelfe but a pettie pope. Therefore T.C. you are either by your owne ſpeach / a blaſphemer or a traitor / or els Iohn of Cant. is a pettie pope. Here is good ſpoonemeat for a Cooper. Take heede of writing againſt Martin / if you louelove 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 ſend 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 want 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 Maie / he went vp with a full reſolution / to do his buſineſſe with great commendations. But ſee the fortune of it. A boy in the Church / hearing either the ſommer Lord with his Maie game / or Robin Hood with his Morrice daunce going 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 ye boy going out / finiſhed his matter preſently with Iohn of Londons Amen, ſaying / ha / ye faith boie / are they there / then ha wt thee / & ſo came down & 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 vponupon 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 hauehave heard it for a good ſermon / & ſo came down. An admonition to the people of England / to take heed of boi…s 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.
You may herby perceiue that T.C. is a biſhopThe cauſe why wee are ſo ſpighted / is becauſe we doe endeuor to maintaine the lawes which her Maieſtie and the whole ſtate of the Realme hauehave allowed / and doe not admit a new platforme of gouernment / deuiſed I know not by whom.