A Petition to the Lords Chancellors, Text
Collegium S.S. et Individuae Trinitatis in Academia Cantabrigienſi
A PETITION THO THE LORDES CHANcelours of both vniverſities, & to all the noble LL. of Albion & Ierne, to help reformation of errours bred by not Knovving that To Katelthein eis adou in the Crede meaneth
A going vp to Paradiſe: & no going to Gehenna: nor feeling of Gehenna torment.
The ignorance of vvhichwhich article hath vvroght much ruine to the Goſpel:
VVher men geue over all reſistance.
D. BANCROFT complained, R. H. to the LL. of Amſteldam, vvhen j vvas preaching at Middelburg, that j called him Athean, vilain, jevv, traytour. To theſe four j muſt anſvver. For the three firſt: he is no further charged then an allovver of the comon notes: & ſo longe the King cannot help him. The jevv Pharar hath caught him. Let him accept my defence for him, printed, & ſent him, then yf he any vvit hauehave, he vvill ſvvear that my pen cleareth him from all blames vvhichwhich he vvold faſten vponupon him ſelf. Novv touching the treaſon of the Libel: The Earle of Argiles coſin Germane, vvhichwhich vvas vvith me at Geneva, told the K. hovv the ſenatours shevved him, that vponupon Bancroftes libel, ſcoffing my hope in the ſcottish miſt, a plot vvas Layd to kill me: hindering ſome hopes more then 40000 ſouldiers▪ & 300. french crovvnes vvere offred me to haſten avvay: j beleued it not, till it came ſo nere that euen Beza made accompt j should never go avvay All this, ypon Bācroft his ſcophing of the Scottish miſt. Touching the Diuinitie that to Deſcend to Hel in the Crede is to goe yp to Heauen: your honours ſee, that D. Bilſon hath moſt mightilie proued that: ſo Bancroft allovving Bilſon ſcoffeth him ſelf: vvhē he ſcoffeth that vvhichwhich D. Bilsō proued to be moſt ſure: that he muſt be a moſt open atheiſt ſcoffing him ſelf in the depth of Diuinitie, or the K. muſt be the matter of his Libel: as the K. often ſvvare in Scotland, that I should hauehave vvhat I vvold: for my dangers in his cauſe. And thus I anſvvear. vvhen the K. hath geven ſentence, he may mot plead againſt that. I hope the K. vvill bridle him from that: by your Lps honorable aduertiſement: & remember his vovved recompence.
Your Lordslips moſt humble. Hugh Broughton.
End of the text · Hugh Broughton, A Petition to the Lords Chancellors (1609)