A PANEGYRIQVE OF CONGRATULATION FOR THE CONCORD OF THE REALMS OF GREAT BRITAIN IN UNITY OF RELIGION, AND UNDER ONE KING.  
TO THE MOST HIGH, most puissant and magnanimous, james King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland.  
Written in French by john Gordon Scottish-man, Lord of Long-Orme, and one of the Gentlemen of the French Kings Chamber.  
Translated into English by E. G.  
Imprinted at London by R. R. for Geffrey Chorlton at the great North-door of Paul's. 1603.   

A Panegyrique of Congratulation for the concord of the realms of great Britain, in unity of religion under one King.  
AN ancient writer saith, that the ground and maintenance of all Monarchies and Empires is concord, their ruin and subversion is discord. The Histories of things passed for sixteen hundred years, since the eternal Son of God and Monarch of all monarch, became man to redeem such as should believe in him, show us many fair and admirable blessings which God hath powered upon the islands of great Britain, and the planting of Christian truth in them, the which I will represent unto your Majesty, to show plainly that the concord & union of the people, & nations over whom God hath made you King, is the accomplishment and perfection of all the precedent benefits which his divine bounty hath bestowed upon the people under your most happy government.  
The Apostle Saint Peter in his first Catholic Epistle the second Chapter, sayeth that Christians are; a chosen race, a royal Priesthood, a holy nation, a people purchased to God as his own. The which is very fitly applied to the people under your command, seeing that God hath first united them under this royalty and Priesthood of Christian verity, and afterwards hath used this union of their souls, as a Mother to bring forth the union of three Realms under your Majesty in one royalty. The said Apostle in the same place doth teach us to what end God hath placed us in this happy concord, That is: To the end (sayeth he) that you should declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness to his admirable light. The which should move us to prefer the wonderful works of God, before all worldly things, who having freed and redeemed us from darkness, from invocation and adoration of dead men, and from Pagan Idolatry, wherein our predecessors have been so long abused (worshipping Images, and the visible forms of Creatures, as the Creator himself and the creature instead of the Creator) hath since and in this latter age, called and inspired us to worship him the only Creator of all things.  
Moreover the Apostle in the same place doth show us what man was before, that is, Before you were no people, and now you are the people of God: you had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy. The people (SIRE) of the islands of great Britain, were not united in religion, in peace, in concord, in like affections and will under one King, but they have been long banded one against an other, in a Sea of discords, dissensions, and cruel wars, against the decree and law of God, for that they were out of Christian charity, having no other object in their souls but hatred and malice, with a desire of revenge, and so by consequence they were not God's people, but castaways, by reason of their Idolatry and spiritual fornication wherewith they were polluted, and so unworthy to obtain mercy. But now that the light of the Gospel, the true worship of one God hath taken lively and sure root in their hearts under the fortunate reign of the deceased Queen, and under your happy and lawful succession in these Realms, they are become of one heart, of one affection, and finally being made the true people of God, they have obtained blessing, grace and mercy.  
The comical Poet saith. A King is the image of the living God. Christian divinity teacheth us that in God, there be three people united in one deity essence and power. Saint Augustine compares the Trinity to the three parts of a man's soul, which are distinguished in operations and functions united in one and the same essence. I beseech God (SIRE) so to work in the hearts of your subjects, and in the three realms united under the power, and command of your royal Majesty, that being bound together, they may represent the three persons of the Trinity in one deity, and that agreeing in one will under your Monarchy, they may be made the true image of the heavenly, that all may be one in Christ as Christ is one with his father.  
It was never seen in any age, that the nations of the islands of Brittany, were united in heart and affection under one King, as the admirable power of God hath lately brought them under your majesty: whereof the true and only cause is the purity and truth of Christian religion: the which God of his especial grace hath miraculously planted in your realms, and sense continued in you, causing you to be borne the lawful and undoubted heir of these three▪ ancient Imperial Crowns of the west, to reign Christianly, peaceably and happily as undoubtedly you shall, seeing that God hath endued and beautified you with learning in abundance, and so great wisdom, as I may justly say these virtues surpass the greatness of your royal majesty.  
If we examine the order of Histories, we shall observe, that this most happy union of English and Scottish under one King, hath been long before foreseen by the divine providence, to be finally effected in our age by the establishment of the ancient Christian religion in your islands, and the abolishion of the new religion of Arrius, Nestorius, and Eutichius brought in by the Stratagems of the old serpent, the spirit of error and darkness through the ministry of Popes, who since six hundred years, under the name of Christianity, have built up again this pagan idolatry, having changed the Bishops and pastors of the Church into worldly power, usurping upon the Kings of the Western Empire, in whose souls (through superstition and ignorance of the Christian truth) they have planted a more insupportable tyranny, then that which ancient Rome had conquered by force of arms.  
The great God of armies hath (in your majesties person) begun this happy union and concord betwixt two nations, which had for so many ages been in cruel and bloody wars, that you might employ the valour of their arms for the delivery of his church, from the barbarous tyranny wherewith she hath been long oppressed by Popes. And as Constantine the great, the protector and restorer of the ancient Christian Church, was borne in great Britain, and there began his Empire, obtaining afterwards admirable victories against four Roman Tyrants persecutors of the Church of God, by means whereof he did abolish Gentilism, and planted Christian Religion at Rome and throughout the Empire. In like sort the same God hath raised your Majesty to the height of greatness, to be successor unto Constantine in the said Realms, and to chase out of the same Rome the idolatry and abomination of the Gentiles, the which Satan hath sense brought in under the name of Christ, which is the true means to purchase you the just title of protector and defender of the faith and restorer of Christianity. And as God by that marriage of Henry the seventh with Elizabeth his wife made the Union of the houses of Lancaster and York, who had a long time been in bloody wars, and by the marriage of james the fourth King of Scotland with Marguerite the eldest daughter of the said Henry the seventh your great grandfather, the conjunction of the crowns of England and Scotland within these hundred years: So we hope that the same God will employ this admirable Union under your command to unite the Christian and universal Church under one spiritual royalty, which is the worship of one God, and to abolish idolatry, which hath in a manner swallowed up and devoured the true Church.  
My intention is to represent in brief unto your Majesty and to all Christians desirous of eternal health, the infinite graces & benefits which God hath powered upon your islands, in the planting & maintaining the preaching of his Gospel, that it may plainly appear, that neither the deceased Queen Elizabeth of happy memory, nor your Majesty have established any new religion in your islands, but banished the new, being polluted and defiled with errors and false worships of the Gentiles, Arians, Nestorians, and Eutychians, & that the Religion which doth now flourish in your Realms, is the same which soon after the death of our Saviour was preached and received by the Kings your predecessors, and by the people of your Realms.  
Theodoret a Greek bishop and one of the most ancient of the Church in his books de curatione Grecarum affectionum, sermon 9 de legibus, makes a goodly comparison betwixt the power of the Roman Empire, and their Laws, & the Empire of jesus Christ, and of his Law received throughout the world. He saith, the romans could never make the Persians and Parthians of the East subject to their laws, nor towards the North, the Cimbrians, Danes, nor the people of Britain. But the power of jesus Christ hath been greater, for (saith he) our fisherman that is Saint Peter, and our maker of tents, which is Saint Paul, have made the British people subject to the laws of Christ, the which would not obey the Roman laws, so as antiquity doth testify that the Apostles have preached in our islands. Metaphrastes (cited by the Cardinal Barenius) sayeth that Saint Peter came thither. joseph 
Baleus ex Gilda et a●ijs script. Anglis. Niceph. l. 2. c 4  of Arimathie, and Simon Zelotes came likewise, as Histories do teach us. This seed of the Gospel in your islands took such increase, as King Lucius and all his subjects, about the year 180. did publicly receive the Christian religion.  
And indeed the Chronographers have noted that about the year of our Lord 180 Britain was the first part of the world which did publicly 
Plat. in vit. The: lesph.  receive the faith of Christ, for Lucius King of Britain did in those days depose the Priests of the Gentiles, and did substitute in their places Bishops and Christian pastors; he banished Gentilism out of his country, which happened not in any part of the world, until the time of Constantine the great. Tertulian, and Origen who lived about the same time testify, that the countries of Britain being inaccessible for the Remains were subject unto Christ. The Bishops of this Island were at the council of Nice, held under Constantine the great, three hundred years after Christ, which is the first period of Christianisme, during the which the Christians did suffer twelve most cruel persecutions under the tyranny of Paganism and the Idolatry of old Rome.  
We well wot that during the three first Periods of Christianity, whereof either contains three hundred years, the true and only worship of one God, which hath been planted since the Apostles time in your islands, hath been continued there during the said time, and yet the Christians, which lived in those ages (no not the romans) did ever allow (in the public use of the service of the Church,) of the worship of the host in the Romish mass, nor of the pretended wood of the very cross, nor of the Images of jesus Christ, or his sepulchre seated near to Mount Caluarie, all which are worshipped in the new Romish Church as God himself, which worships are abominations of the Gentiles, Arriens & nestorians, which bring with it the shipwreck of eternal health.  
The Christians which lived during the first Period of the three hundred years of Christianity, did inviolably keep the first commandment▪ Thou shalt have no other Gods against my face, or before me, which the Thargum of the Chaldeans hath interpreted, besides me, or any other than me. The Greek translation saith, other Gods 
Athanas. Oret. cont. gentes. tom. 1. pag. 34.  besides me. Athanasius interpreting this commandment saith, He hath not forbidden them to have other Gods, for that there were other Gods, but least any one falling from the true God, should make him a God of that which is not, like to those Gods which the Poets and writers make mention of, which have but the name of God and not the effect. And the same Author sayeth, If reason and the esteem we hold of God doth make us believe that he may be in all places, and that nothing of all that which God hath under him is God, and that all things are under his power, why do not they which make a creature God, see, that it is out of the definition attributed unto God.  
Theodoret upon the same commandment saith, that the Arrians offend against it, and the true Christians observe it. They do not allow any thing to be held or worshipped for God, but the divine nature: but those which follow the error of Arrius and Eunomius, sin directly against the divine law, for they confess the only Son of God, but they maintain that he was created and is divided from the divine substance. God having said, Thou shalt have no other Gods but me, doubtless these men bring in another God.  
By these authorities we do infer, that the Romans which worship the host in the Mass, break this commandment, for they agree, that it is no part of the divine nature, but of the substance and nature of jesus Christ's humanity, who is worshipped according to his divinity, and not after his humanity, according to the ancient symbols of the Church. The Christian faith than hath for a firm and only foundation the worship of one God, according to this first commandment, and the worship of any thing created by God, which is under him, ought not to be received in the Christian religion, but the only divine nature of the Father, Son, and holy Ghost, aught to be worshipped and called on in Triple unity, without the which nothing ought to be worshipped, without manifest impiety and idolatry.  
The same Theodorei interpreting this commandment, saith, Serm. 2. God the maker of all things in the beginning of the law which he gave unto Moses commanded him to worship one God. I am (saith he) the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, & when he hath put Moses in mind of his late benefits, he exhorts him to persist in the service of god, not to divide his worship but to cleave only unto God, Thou shalt not (saith he) have any other Gods but me. The which doth teach us that those of the Romish corruption have brought in strange Gods, for that they have divided the adoration and veneration betwixt God and his creatures, making three degrees. The first they call Latria, which they attribute to God and to the Host in the Mass equally. The second Hyperdeulia, which they yield to the blessed virgin. And the third Dulia, attributed to their other Saints and to their images and relics, abusing with too gross an ignorance the signification of these Greek words, for Deulia signifies a greater service than Latria. And we learn that in this place Theodoret calls the service and adoration of God, by the name of Deulia, and so do Athanasius and Chrisostome. And Saint Augustine who hath brought in this distinction, attributes both unto God only. In his 84. Question● upon Exod.  
justin Martyr who lived under Antonius Pius in the second age of this period of Christianity, shows plainly that the Christians did not allow of the worship of any thing inferior to the Deity▪ and saith that jesus Christ had so taught them; for speaking to the Emperor in his Apology for the Christians of his time, he writes thus. That God only is to be worshipped, for so Christ doth ●each the greatest commandment is, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou honour with all thy heart and all thy strength, the Lord God which hath created thee. And a little after he saith, we worship God only, in other things we willingly serve you, for that we do acknowledge you for Kings and Princes of men, and we pray unto God that he will give you wisdom equal to your royal power. So as the Christians in matters of religion did not yield any worship to things created, neither did they divide the worship betwixt God & his creatures, as the Romish Church doth.  
Many Christians of the same time, were so exact observers of the only worship of God, as they would not reverence the Roman Emperors, as the soldiers did in civil causes, for Theophilus to Apostolicus the sixth Bishop of Antioch, who lived in the year of our Lord 173. when as Lucius was King of great Britain; saith I shall honour the Emperor more in praying for him, then in worshipping him, for it is not lawful to worship any but God only.  
The Christians of these three first ages, had no Altars, no Images, nor any material crosses of gold, silver, wood, or stone, for Clemens Alexandrinus who was near the Apostles time saith. We Christians are expressly forbidden to use 
In Parenctico.  any art of deceit (for so he calleth painting and making of Images) Thou shalt not (saith the Prophet Moses) make the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath. And the same author Strom. Lib. 5. Pythagoras (saith he) forbids the wearing of rings, nor to engrave in them the images and figures of Gods, as Moses had long before forbidden, and that we must not make any Image, be it graven, molten, counterfeit or painted, that we should not be carried away with sensible things, but should pass unto those things which are comprehended by understanding, And soon after he saith; To honour the essence by the knowledge of a material thing, is to contemn it.  
The Doctrine of the Romish Church doth herein directly oppugn the Doctrine of Christian antiquity, making a new God of the host of the new Mass, giving it the name of God, worshipping it as God, and yet their doctors confess that it is made and created by the words of consecration.  
It is therefore evident that they have brought into the Church a God created, which is not contained in the definition of God, before mentioned by Saint Athanasius, for the host of the Mass is not every where, which is the property of God only, neither doth it contain all things under his power: but contrariwise the Counsel of Trent saith in express words, that jesus Christ God and man is contained under the visibie signs of Bread, of Wine, which is quite contrary to the divine nature, which contains all things in it, and is not contained in any thing. The God therefore of the Romish Mass, is a God created which hath a beginning and ending, and is contained in the visible form of Bread and Wine, and contains not in it all things created; so as the worshippers of this God of the Mass, do worship a new and strange God, contrary to the first commandment.  
If the Arrians (as Theodoret saith) have broken this first commandment, for that they taught that jesus Christ according to his deity was a creature, and yet he was God, with greater reason the romans transgress the same commandment, confessing that the pretended deity of the host of the Mass, is a deity purchased by the consecration, and not by the eternal deity, without beginning and without ending. And the same Theodoret writing against the greeks in the foresaid passage, teacheth us, that by the commandment which saith. Thou shalt have no other Gods but me, that Moses forbids to make any division of the divine worship, but to give all to God only. The romans who have made three degrees of worshipping, cannot deny but they have broken this first commandment, and brought in a multitude of Gods, making as many Gods as they say Masses: So as their plurality of Gods becomes infinite, and surpasseth the multitude of the Paynims Gods. Minutius Foelix, Tertulian, Origen, and A●nobius, who lived in the third age of this first Period of Christianisme, testify that the Gentiles accused the Christians, for that they had neither Temples, Altars, Images, nor visible or Material Sacrifices, and that they did hide from sight, that which they did worship. Cecilius a Pagan Orator, disputing against Octavius a Christian, as Minutius doth report, objected to the Christians. Why have they no Altars, no Temples, no known Images. They did blazon our Christians in the worshipping of the Cross, which they said they deserved, taking the Cross for a punishment. To whom Octavius answers for the Christians. We neither worship nor desire Crosses, but you who have consecrated Gods of Wood, worshipping Crosses of Wood, as pieces of your Gods. Whereby it appears that the ancient Christians in the pureness of Christian religion did neither worship crosses of Gold, Silver, Stone or Wood, as these do of the Romish religion. How should they I pray you worship them, seeing they had them not? & which is more, would not have them? But the Church of Rome doth quite contrary, running after Gods of Gold and Silver, made (as the Psalmet saith) by man's hand.  
Inregarde of that which the Gentiles did object unto the Christians, that they did hide, and not show forth what they did worship. octavius answers for the Christians. Do you think that we do hide what we do worship, although we have neither Temples, nor Altars? for what Image shall I make of God? If thou hast thy right senses, thou shalt find that man is the true Image of God. And a little after he saith: But the God whom we worship, we neither show nor see. If the ancient Christians had been like unto the Romish Christians of this age, the Gentiles could not have objected, that they had neither Altars nor Images: for in truth they have more Altars and Images than the Gentiles had. Neither should they have objected unto the Christians, that they concealed what they worshipped, for the Romans show in the elevation of the Host, the God which they worship, & cause the people to worship it, the which they not only show in Temples, but also in the streets, and in general processions, and other solemnities, they show forth what they worship, against the use of the first Christians.  
Tertulian in his book of Idolatry, confutes with many reasons, the making of all sorts of Images, to root out all matter of Idolatry; and after he had cited the second commandment, whereby it is defended to make the likeness of any thing that is in heaven or earth, he saith, It is forbidden throughout all the world, for the servants of God to use such making of Images, seeing that Enoch had forecoulde that the Devil or the Angels of darkness should turn all the Elements into Idolatry, and all that it contained in Heaven and Earth, that all these things might be consecrated for God against God himself. And so man's error doth worship all things except the Creator of all things. Their Images were Idols, and the consecration of Images is Idolatry. And whatsoever Idolatry commits, must necessarily be attributed to the maker of the Idol.  
That which Origen speaketh upon the Epistle to the romans, is to be considered, to make Christians wholly to reject Idolatry: For after that he hath refuted the Errors of the Gentiles, in that they might know God by the visible Ellementes, yet they had fallen to the worship of the visible Images of Creatures, concluding thus. To the end that in few words we may speak the truth, we hold it an abominable impiety to worship any thing▪ except the Father, Son, and holy Ghost.  
And a little after he saith, They wrong themselves that serve Images, and worship the Creature leaving the Creator: But we christian's which worship and adore the Father, Son, and holy Ghost only, and no other Creature, as we do not err in the divine worship, so do we not offend in our actions and conversation. It is most certain that the Host offered up in the Roman Eyturgie, is not consubstantial with the Father, Son, & holy Ghost, & much less united in consubstantiality with the Trinity, as it is well noted in the sermon de Caena Domini, inserted among the works of Cyprian who lived in the third age, where it is said. That the divine essence is infused in the visible Sacrament after an unspeakable manner, that there might be more devotion and reverence given to the Sacraments, and a more holy access to the truth of him▪ of whose body they be Sacraments, and to the participating of the spirit, not to the consubstantiality of Christ, but to this brotherly and indivisible unity: for the Son only is consubstantial with the Father, the substance of the Trinity may not be divided, our conjunction, and that of Christ doth not confound the persons, nor unite the substances, but doth only consociate the affections, and bind the wills. If in the person of jesus Christ, consisting of three natures in one person, worshipped with one only worship: the divine nature had been only infused in the humanity of jesus Christ after his birth, as Nestorius did teach, and not united personally in the virgin's womb.  
Cyrillus and the other Orthodoxes did rightly maintain against him, that to worship one Christ carrying God in him, had been an Antropolatrie or Pagan Idolatry. With greater reason the infusion of the Divinity in the Sacrament and in the elements of Bread and Wine, cannot attribute unto it the dignity to be worshipped as God himself, for (as that text doth teach us) this infusion which is made in the sacrament is not consubstantial with the deity of the Son of God, the which is only consubstantial with the father and the holy spirit, for that it doth affect a most strait and mutual conjunction betwixt God and us. Saint john in his seventeenth Chapter speaketh of this conjunction and union, where our Saviour prays to his father for all those that shall believe in him. That all may be one, as thou O father art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us. If this union should make that sacrament of the Lords supper to be worshipped, than those which are united in Christ, and by him in God the lather, should worship one another, for our Saviour saith in the sixth of Saint john. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in me & I in him. That we might know (saith Cyprian) that our abiding in him is a true eating, and the drinking an incorporation, with a duty of obedience, joining of wills and unity of affections. The eating therefore is a certain greediness in us, and a desire to remain for ever in Christ.  
We learn by these authorities, that even as Christ's abiding in us by our eating of the sacrament, makes us not capable of worship, for that by this conjunction we are not personally united with the deity of jesus Christ, In like sort the infusion of the divine essence in the sacraments, whereof Saint Cyprian speaks, makes not the sacrament to be worshipped, if it were so, the said adoration were in idolatry like that of Nestorius, who worshipped man carrying God in him, as is said before.  
We may therefore say with good reason against those that worship the creatures, and the images of jesus Christ, his sepulchre, and the wood of the cross, that which Origen speaketh against the Gentiles of his time. God is the virtue which governs all things, and the divinity which filleth all things, making themselves thereby inexcusable, that whereas God hath given them the grace to know him yet have they not honoured him as they ought, neither have they given him due thanks, but have sought in the vanity of their own imaginations the images of God. As those of the Romish Church do in the Mass, for in their host they make figures and images. They have lost in themselves the Image of God: they which vaunted to have the spirit of wisdom, are fallen into the obscure darkness of ignorance. For what is there more abominable than to turn the glory of God to the corporal and corruptible image of man's nature? the which is done at this present throughout all the Romish Church as it is said. So as they have converted God the Creator of all things, into a corporal and corruptible form, whom they thought to worship under those visible forms, we will therefore conclude our discourse of the proof of the true and only adoration of God, observed throughout all the habitable world, during the first period of three hundred years, with the testimony of Arnobius, writing against the Gentiles objecting to the Christians, that they would not worship any but the first, and the greatest of all the Gods, and not the inferior Gods, according to the manner in those days, to whom he answereth saying. And we may say in that which concerns the worship and honour of the divinity, that it sufficeth us to have one only God, God I say the father of all things, who hath created and governeth all things. In worshipping of him we worship all that we ought to worship, when we honour him, we honour in him that which he requires at our hands, what the duty of worship doth exact, that we perform by our worship. For seeing we hold the chief of all divinity, of whom all divine things depend, we think it superfluous to seek to private persons. And a little after he saith: As in earthly kingdoms we are not constrained to worship and honour every private man of the King's house, but in the honour we do unto Kings, those which belong unto them are sceretly honoured with them. So the Christians of that perfect age, did not worship nor call upon any thing under God, as the Romanistes of our age do, which worship the blessed virgin, the Angels Michael and Gabriel, Saint john Baptist, the Apostles and Martyrs, their relics, sepulchres and Images. So as it is most apparent that the Religion planted at this present in the Islands of great Britain is the true ancient Religion, and the only worship of one God, incommunicable to the Creatures, the which hath continued during the first period of the three hundred years of Christianity. So as it is a mere slander what the adversaries of the truth say, that your Majesty hath banished the true ancient Christian Religion out of your Realms, to plant a new Religion, pretended to be begun by Martin Luther, john Calvin, and other great Personages in the purity of the true Christian Doctrine.  
But contrariwise it is an immortal glory which shall increase in your reign, and continue to posterity, seeing that your Majesty is the author of the restoring of the true Christian religion in your realms, having restored it I say to that beauty and sincerity, as it was in old time planted by Lucius your forerunner, the first Christian King of great Britain, who became so affectionate and zealous of the advancement and propagation of the truth, and so great an enemy to Idolatry and the worship of Creatures and visible forms, that of a King he became a Preacher (as some Histories say) And as during the persecution of the Christians under Dioclesian and Maxentius which were the most bloody of all, God used your islands and kingdoms as a refuge for the true Christians which fled from the said persecutions; Even so the same God hath made your most happy reign to be a safe harbour for the Christians of our age, who have been forced to abandon houses, goods, and inheritances, rather than to bow to the Romish worship.  
God the protector of his true Church hath continued his admirable graces over your islands in the second Period of Christianisme, the which begun with the most happy Empire of Constantius 
Euseb. in vita Constan.  Chlorus: for during the last persecution, God raised up this wise and warlike Emperor in the western parts of Europe, in the which England, Scotland, and Ireland, are contained, where the said Emperor took to wife Helen, borne in your said realms, who received into his protection all the Christians which fled from other provinces to avoid the cruel persecution which was made against them by his other associates in the Empire. SIRE, we must here observe a notable policy of this wise Emperor, to try the fidelity of his servants and ministers in the government of his Empire, which will much avail for the preservation of your royal estate. He did publish a feigned edict, commanding all the subjects of his Empire to sacrifice to the false Gods, and whosoever should refuse so to do, to depart out of his armies and Empire. This proclamation being made a great number of Christians, did sacrifice unto the false Gods, to preserve their estates, dignities, and goods: but the true Christians desired rather to leave all, then to serve them, whereupon the Emperor discovered himself presently, and discharged all such as had worshipped these false Gods: saying, How can they be faithful unto the 
Idem in Constant.  Emperor, that are faithless unto God? And as for the true Christians which had left all, he called them home and made them guardiens both of his person and estate, as Eusebius saith. I desire not your Majesty should make such counterfeit proclamations, but that the same God which hath made you successor to Constantius Chlorus, will give you the grace to make such an election of your subjects, as in your most important affairs you admit not any but such as are known to be well grounded in the true Christian religion. For even as a modest woman ought not only to be chaste, but free from all suspicion, even so those which are employed in the affairs of true Christian Princes, (as your Majesty is) should be free from all suspicion of false religion. The said Constantius died at York in England, after that he had instituted Constantine the great his son. the which was an other especial grace which God hath poured upon your realms. And even as under King Lucius, It was the first part of the world, which did banish the Pagan Idolatry, even so God hath raised out of the same Island, the said Constantine the great, who expelled the same Romish Idolatry out of all the other Provinces of the habitable world, whereof your Majesty hath a familiar example to imitate in this restorer of the Christian religion.  
This great Constantine your predecessor and countryman, in the beginning of his Empire, He studied what God he should choose, as the same Eusebius saith, that his Father had condemned the Error of Idolatry, and all his life had worshipped one only God, the protector & guardien of the Empire, the free giver of all good.  
Upon this resolution he made choice of the true God to serve, believing that the only cause of Kings and emperors felicity, proceeded from him alone, as the same Author saith. He worshipped the same God that is above all things. And in his ordinary prayers, being alone he spoke to God alone.  
Whereby it appeareth that the religion which your Majesty hath established in your realms, is conformable to that of your predecessor Constantine, who worshipped (as I have said) but one only God, the Creator of all things, and not the Cross and Images of jesus Christ. In his ordinary prayers he did not call upon the blessed Virgin, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, nor the other Apostles and Martyrs, neither have we read that he did consecrate his Empire to Saint Andrew or Saint George, as some of your predecessors in the time of Error and blindness. But did dedicate 
Euseb. ibid.  his house and family to one King that is God only. God was his only patron, who recompensed him with all good things, and made him Lord and Conqueror over all other Princes. He commanded all his army to call upon one God, as the giver of victories, he appointed that in their prayers, they should lift up their hands to heaven, and the eyes of their understanding to the most high king of Heaven: He also taught them the form of praying to God as followeth. We confess thee to be the only God, we acknowledge thee to be the only King, we call upon thee to aid us (they did not invoke the virgin Marie) by thee we obtain victory over our enemies, we give thee thanks for the benefits we receive in this present life, hoping for future things by thy means: we cry unto thee with all humility that it would please thee to make our Emperor Constantine victorious, and preserve his Godly Children in long life and happy health. They did not call upon the Angels Michael and Gabriel to give them victory.  
Hereby we see that it is a false and slanderous thing, which the adversaries of the truth impute to your Majesty to have left the ancient profession of your predecessors, and to have planted a new religion, begun by Martin Luther, john Calvin and other most learned men, whom God hath stirred up in our age to abolish the false Romish worship, as hath been sufficiently proved to your Majesty in the discources of the first period of the first three hundred years. And to show that the only worship of the Creator, without mingling the adoration of the Creatures, continued unto this ' second period of three hundred years in your Island, I will content myself with the saying of Sedulius Scotus Hibernensis, who lived in the fifth age, in these words which he hath drawn out of Origen which I have before cited. It is a sin of impiety to worship any other but the Father 
Sedulius in cap. 1. epist ad Rom.  Son and holy Ghost. Whereunto Saint Augustine speaks very fitly saying. Know that the Christians, (whereof there is a Church in your Town) Worship not any dead thing, neither 
Aug. epist. 45. ad Max grammat. tom. 2.  any thing that hath been made by God, but God only is worshipped, who hath made and created all things.  
Our adversaries dare not affirm that the host in the Mass is one of the three parsons of the Trinity, as we have said, which were a greater heresy then that of Arrius, who said that the Son of God was a Creature, having a beginning, being not the Son of God from all eternity. All their Doctors teach that it is made and created by the pronountiation of the words of jesus Christ, taking his beginning by the consecration; whereby we infer that they are worshippers of visible forms, and therefore Idolaters in worshipping it, seeing it is no eternal creature, nor consubstantial with God the Father: For Athanasius, Theodoret, Cyrillus and all the ancient Fathers, booth Greek and Latin of the second period of three hundred years of Christianity, teach, that if the Son of God had been created or had had any beginning, that he had not been worshipped; for that the Creature doth not worship the Creature, God only 
Athan. cont. Arr. orat. 3 et epist. ad Ephes.  is to be worshipped; if the Son had been a creature he had not been worshipped, God forbid we should worship the Creature, this madness fits best with the Pagans, and Arrians. And in another place he saith, that the Christians worship not the body of jesus Christ divided from the deity. Neither when we worship the word (saith he) do we separate the word from the flesh, but knowing that the word hath been made flesh, acknowledge that which is in the flesh, to be God. And a little after speaking of the Leper he saith. He worshipped the Lord in his body, and did acknowledge him for God. And the same Athanasins teacheth us, that the body of our Lord is not consubstantial with the Father, and therefore not to be worshipped alone: with greater reason the host, which cannot be said consubstantial with the Father, is not to be worshipped. For if the deity of jesus Christ had not been consubstantial with the Father, and without beginning as the Father is, it had not been lawful to worship him. And this SIRE hath been represented unto you in the first period, the which I repeat here to show the continuance of the worship of one only God.  
It is therefore manifest that the Christians of this second period ending in the six hundred year of Christianity, did believe that it was a Pagan Idolatry to worship any Creature which had a beginning, restraining all adoration but to the Trinity alone, worshipping nothing underneath it, the which is comprehended by Gregory 
Orat. 3. pro. pace.  Nazianzen in few words, where he saith that we must worship nothing above or beneath the Trinity.  
For saith he, it is impossible to worship any thing above God; and to worship any thing underneath God is mere impiety. Let us add hereunto what Theodoret saith, (who lived in the fifth age) touching the adoration of the Sacrament of the lords supper, for that the Romans corrupting his writings, attribute unto him the worship of the symbols of the body & blood of our Lord jesus Christ, which he never dreamt of; for besides that which we have before alleged that he condemned the Arrians, for that they worshipped the deity, which they said was created; He saith in the fifty five question upon Genesis, that God did allow to eat the flesh of beasts, to restrain the people from worshipping of them, foreseeing that men should fall into that blindness and superstition as they should worship beasts, as we read of the worship of the Golden Calf like unto the Egyptians; where Theodoret concludes, that it is a mere madness to worship that which we eat. So as according unto Theodoret the priests should be mad to worship that which they eat. Athanasius against the Arrians teacheth, that the deity is not to be eaten, and yet the romans maintain that their host is God himself and they sin that they eat that which is present in the host, which in effect is to make the deity edible.  
Our Saviour before he left this world, would leave unto all men that should believe in him a perpetual commemoration of his true incarnation and passion, to the end this memorial should be, as it were a Symbol of the presence of his humane nature here on earth. He might as well after the manner of the greeks and romans, have left his portrait lively drawn, to serve for a representation and commemoration unto such as should believe in him, yea they should make infinite numbers of pictures, like unto the stars of heaven, to be in all assemblies of Christians, and to show that he had put on a body like unto those pictures: but he who knew the spirit of man commonly inclined to Idolatry, would not leave his representation in the figure of a man, to take from him all subject of Idolatry, but he chose rather to institute the symbols in the Elements of bread and wine, wherewith his humane nature was nourished, as ours is now, the which is nourished daily, when there is no reason to worship them seeing we do eat them, as Theodoret saith, & yet the spirit of darkness, having in the old time induced men to eat the beasts, and then to worship their Images, hath since 
Expositor ordin. in Rom.  found means to pull from the Church the firm bread in the Communion, bringing in a kind of wafer, which cannot properly be called bread, 
Casand. in Litur.  being so thin, on the which are printed the Images of jesus Christ, the which they have 
Honor. in Gemma animae.  since worshipped, whereas it was instituted only to be eaten in remembrance that jesus Christ had a human body, nourished like unto ours, to continue betwixt him and us the communication of this incarnation, by the Elements wherewith we are all nourished.  
This only adoration of one God, having continued the six first ages after our Saviour. Gregory the first Bishop of Rome brought in the invocation of dead men in the beginning of the seventh age, with many other superstitions: yet did he never teach that we must worship the Images of jesus Christ, as Christ himself, as Thomas Aquinas and other Romish Doctors do teach us, neither did he teach that we should worship the consecrated Host as God, but chose writing to Serenus Bishop of Marseilles, he commands him in express words, that he restrain the people from the worship of Images, and that the people should prostrate themselves with all humility in the worship of the only Almighty and holy Trinity: So as the Romish doctrine of the last ages, is directly contrary to that of the first six ages after our Saviour.  
And yet this Pope commanded them to hold Images in their Churches, yet not to worship them, but to serve as a commemoration unto the people of the Histories of the Bible only, but to what end served this? It was as much as if they should forbid one to be drunk who is naturally inclined thereunto, & yet command him to lodge in a Tavern and to consort himself with drunkards, or like to him that should command a young man in the heat of his youth given to licentiousness, to abstain from it, and yet to lodge in a brothel house. Man's nature is as much or more inclined to Idolatry, then to drunkenness or luxury: & therefore the divine providence knowing this imperfection in man, would take from him all subject of Idolatry. Theodoret Serm. 7. de cur. Grec. affect. saith, That the wicked spirit to deceive ignorant men, invented the Art of painting, graving, and other workmen to forge Images and pictures to serve for matter of Idolatry: and that they have not only filled the Temple with Images, but also the market places, streets, and public places, yea even rich men's houses: the which we see practised at this day in the Temples, markets, streets and houses of our adversaries. Arnobius in the sixth book against the Gentiles saith, that they took the same pretext for the use of Images in their Churches. To serve the ignorant and unruly people, whom they made to worship them▪ giving them venerable forms, to the end saith he, they should believe there were some virtue in their brightness, which did not only dazzle their eyes, but struck a terror in their hearts by the brightness of their resplendent light.  
We are to observe the special grace which God (continuing his work) hath showed to the islands of great Britain, in the beginning of this seventh age: for Gregory the first, having sent Augustine the young, into the same Island, to plant many superstitions, with the invocation of Saints, neither he nor his doctrine were received, but the misery was, that soon after the death of Gregory, the worshipping of Images did so increase, as it was the cause of many troubles betwixt the West and the East, as we shall show hereafter.  
In the seventh, eight, and ninth ages, making the third Period of Christianisme, the Hebrew, Greek, & Latin tongues were almost rooted out in the Western parts of Europe, through the inundation of Barbarians, which did tear in pieces the Roman Empire, with the true divinity: whereby we observe that even as the true religion began with the said Empire, and so increased: even so the Empire decaying, the sincerity of Christian religion was almost abolished, and declined so by their divisions in the West, that Satan working the mystery of iniquity in the hearts of the Eastern Bishops, made them to have no respect to the purity of antiquity, bringing in a new worship of the Creatures, of the Cross, and of the Images of jesus Christ, the Apostles and Martyrs, an Idolatry merely Pagan.  
We read in the acts of the second Council of Nice, printed both in Greek & Latin in Paris, that the said Council did decree, that we must esteem the image of jesus Christ, as jesus Christ himself & that as the person of jesus Christ is distinguished from that of the father in hîpostasis, and united in substance: even▪ so his image should differ from him in substance and be united in person, the which is an intolerable blasphemy, and as great as the heresies of Arrius and Nestorius: for that were to make a God of a material thing o● made by hand, and to worship it as God, as the Gentiles did worship the workmanship of man.  
At that same time God raised up in the Ilane of great Britain; that venerable Beda, who taught the Hebrew, Caidee, Greek, and Latin tongues▪ Divinity and Philosophy, out of whose School came johannes Scotus, and Alcuinus, who planted learning and the sciences in the City of Paris, & was afterwards spread over all Europe. This johannes Scotus was Schoolmaster to the Emperor Charlemain, who with stood the idolatry of the Eastern Churches, causing the second counsel of Nice to be declared heretical and abusive; by that of 
Ado. in Chro.  Frandfort as we read in Ado viennensis. The same Emperor became so learned, as he writ a book against the Pagan worship of images; the which is found among the learned.  
Out of the same school came one after another Rhabanus▪ Ma●rus a Scotishman, as many writers do testify, Cla●dius Taurinensis & Bertr●● a priest, with other lights of the Church, in the third period of Christianity, which are the seventh eight and ninth ages, which have fought against idolatry and the gross errors of the sacrament, as we shall hereafter show.  
The fourth period of Christianisme, which contains the tenth, eleventh, and twelve ages, was so destitute of men adorned with true piety & learning, as the seeds of the Idolatry of former ages, came to the accomplishment of the abomination of dissolution, at which time Berengarius Archdeacon of Angers with his disciples, and Peter de Valdo, with the Schools begun by him about the same period, resisted the Romish idolatry planted in all the West.  
We will likewise observe an especial grace, which God powered upon your islands & realms, during these ages of ignorance & idolatry, for even as the great men of the former period disciples to the English Beda who maintained the only worship of God went out of the Island: even so God during this fourth period: preserved the same realms, & defended them against the tyranny of Rome, for Peter of Clugny writing to Bernard, saith, that the Scotishmen in his time did celebrate, their Easter after the Greek manner, which is a testimony they were not yet subject to the church of Rome, which held them heretics that followwed the ceremonies of the greeks, who in the time of the said Bernard had their liturgy and service of the Church, as they have at this day, which is a communion like unto that of the reformed Church of these times: neither did the Greek Church ever allow of that heathenish worship of the Sacrament of the lords supper as in the Romish Church; which caused Marcus Ephesius (who was Orator for the greeks at the counsel of Florence in a sermon printed at Paris in Greek and Latin, at the end of the volume of Liturgies) to confute the Mass of the Latins, as directly contrary to the institution of jesus Christ.  
So as the Scottishmen who maintained the ceremonies of the Greek Churches, had not yet received the new Romish Mass, nor the heathen adoration of the host, whereby we see that the people of your realms were the first that made public profession of Christ, and abolished Gentilism, during the cruel persecutions of Romish Emperors, and when as the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome, brought into the Church about 400. years since the worship of the host, as God the Creator, the same British peopl were also the last of the West part of Europe, which received the abominable worship of things created instead of the Creator.  
This heathenish worship began under Pope Honerius 3. about the year 1225. who commanded all Priests and Curates to teach the people to kneel at the Elevation of the host in the Mass, or when it should be carried to sick persons; yet this idolatry was not long after received in the Churches of Germany and France. For Ralph de Rivo printed a book at Rome. de Can. obser. propos. 22. witnessing that Nicholas. 3. about the year 1277. took the old missalles out of all Churches of Rome bringing in a new form of Mass invented by the friars minors, or Franciscans: At this day (saith he) all the books at Rome are new after the manner of Saint Francis, and meaning to describe the form of Mass observed in those days in Germany, France & other nations, he saith. Leaving the manner of the friars minors, let us follow the holy Canons, the ancient Scriptures, and the general customs of places, and in doubtful things the most ancient books. And in the twenty three proposition he describes particularly all the ceremonies of the Mass, as it was used in his time, who lived in the beginning of the foreteenth age of Christianisme, at what time it is found that the conjunction of the Bread and Wine was observed according to the institution of our Saviour, and that both the Priest and people did eat and drink together standing, without adoration or invocation of the Sacraments: and in the end of the said proposition he saith. It is sacrilege to use bread only dept in wine in the Sacrament of the Communion. So as there was no difference betwixt the Communion of the reformed Church, and the Communion of the Mass in those days, except the sign of the Cross, and some other ceremonies, vestments and incense. The Mass therefore of our age, is a new fiction of Cordiliers or Franciscan Friars, & the worship of a pretended God, and the privation of the cup is a plain sacrilege: for if they abuse to use bread steeped in wine instead of following the full institution of our Saviour, was (as they said Rodolphus de Rivo writeth) condemned as sacrilege, with greater reason, is it a more horrible sacrilege to have quite taken away the use of the wine from the people. The Romish Church of our age, cannot be called the true Church, seeing they have no Communion of the Cup, and are fallen from the true Priesthood▪ as the Arrians and Nestorians by their errors los● the outward marks of Priesthood.  
During the fifth Period of the ages of Christianisme, which contains the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth ages, the Western Church was divided into two parts: for in the time of Bernard, Peter de Valdo, a rich Bourgesse of Lions, having been instructed in the only worship of God by the reading of the holy Scriptures, had the Romish Idolatry in such horror, as he sold all his goods, and caused the Bible and many writings of the ancient fathers to be translated into French, he made assemblies at Lions, and appointed penfions for religious learned men to set up Schools of divinity, who being since persecuted by the Popes and their adherents, the said Schools were dispersed over all France, and a good part of Spain, Germany, and Bohemia, who have ever since maintained the same articles of the faith, which are professed at this day in the Churches of your realms, whereof some were called Albige●is, and others Taborites, which have flourished and reigned unto this day, notwithstanding all the persecutions, fires, flames, and cruel torments used against them by the supporters and favourers of Rome.  
Out of this School also came john Hus, and jerosme of Prage, Wickliff an Englishman, Paul Cra● a Scottish man, who maintained the true and only worship of one only God, and other articles of the faith, confessed by the reformed Churches of Europe, the which is seen by the articles recited by Aeneas Silvius, (being since 
Aeneas Silvius in Hist. Boem.  Pope) which shows a notable correspondency betwixt the first Period of Christianisme and the fifth: for even as in the first three hundred years the true Christians who worshipped one only God, without mingling the adoration of Creatures had been persecuted by Pagan Rome, even so the worshippers of this true adoration have been cruelly persecuted during the three hundred years of the fifth Period, by Room disguised with a Christian mask.  
There is an other admirable correspondency betwixt these and the second Period, for even as in the end of the first Period, the God of armies did raise up that great Constantine to plant his Church by force throughout all the Roman Empire, being then Pagan, abolishing Idolatry in the worship of men, of Images, and of visible and material forms: even so after the end of th● fifth Period, God suffered the restoring of the 〈◊〉 true ancient & Christian religion to be done by arms. We read in the Bohemian History of the said Aeneas Silvius, that Zisca a great Captain assembled in the year 1501. a mighty army, beating down all Idols and Images, abolishing the new Mass, or the worshipping of the Host. Soon after many Princes did rise, and many faithful learned men by whose ministry and valour, the pureness of the preaching of the Gospel was restored in the sincerity of Christian truth, as it was at the coming of Constantine in the West of Europe.  
I may therefore justly say, that among all the Princes which have laboured for the restoring and reformation of the ancient Church, your predecessors King Edward, and Queen Elizabeth, (of happy memories) have been the first which have built upon this foundation after Constantine, (although long after) and now (SIRE) these blessed souls behold from heaven the full perfection of their work which must be finished by you, whom they have left the successor and heir of their most royal enterprises.  
Your Majesty hath a familiar example in the life of the diseased Queen, (of happy memory) who hath been a true mother unto you: In whose government we have seen as in a looking glass, that God hath accompanied her with an admirable and extraordinary prosperity, felicity, and happy success in all her affairs: for he hath drawn her from a prison to a kingdom, he hath made her to reign forty and five years in great peace and tranquillity, having discovered above twenty enterprises ready to be put in execution against her life and state: he endued her with all kinds of perfections and virtues, as prudence, modesty, and wisdom in all her actions, beautified with a lively and sound judgement far exceeding her sex. And for a fullness of happiness, the same God did prolong her days unto threescore and ten years, in the which she was always victorious over her enemies, both homebred and strangers. What is then the cause (SIRE) I will attribute it wholly unto God, and to the purity of his Gospel, and to Christian religion the which she hath established in her kingdoms, whereof this most Christian and generous Princess made a sincere profession all her life. Having therefore in this peaceable and Christianlike manner yielded up her blessed soul to her benefactor and Creator the great God immortal; she left those realms abounding in all riches, in great peace and admirable union and concord. And moreover to seal up her forepast life and death with a greater benefit, for the love she bore unto her subjects which is a great proof of the blessing of God, we have seen the wisdom she used even at the last gasp, having so profitably and so effectually persuaded her subjects to embrace & acknowledge your Majesty whom she knew to be the true lawful & undoubted heir and successor of her goodly & flourishing Realms of England, and Ireland, by right of consanguinity and lawful succession. Who doth not see the assistance of God in all this action? In that he would have your Majesty established in this most high degree of honour, not for any other respect, but that in reigning happily and in peace, you should finish the full delivery and restoring of Israel, and of the Churches of your realms: and to continue the pure preaching of the Gospel, so happily begun by her Majesty (of blessed and happy memory) against the Idolatry of Rome I doubt no● (SIRE) but Satan and his supporters will herein employ their statagems to counsel your Majesty, & to induce you to join with that great whore of Babylon, a whore which makes the kings & princes of the earth drunk with the cup of her spiritual fornication. But I assure myself that your Majesty (like unto wary & nice Ulysses) will stop your ears against all her charms, enchantments and allurements continuing inviolable, constant and resolute in your royal virtues, the which God hath bountifully planted in you, to maintain and preserve his Church and Sacraments (to his honour and glory) in their purety, against the poisons & Romish invensions of men. Most humbly beseeching your Majesty to remember that the 
* Matth. Paris in Hist. Angl. sub. Henric. 3. pa. 660. Mat. westmon in Flo▪ rib. hist. sub. an. 1216.  Popes pretend to be the true kings of England and Ireland holding the Kings of the said kingdoms for their vassals and tributaries; who now under colour to free you from their said pretensions, would draw you unto them, and impose upon you a most heavy and servile yoke. If your Majesty should so forget yourself as to cleave unto them, who knoweth not that their successors are accustomed to disannul the deeds and promises of their predecessors, and which is more to hold no faith with heretics as they call you? But (SIRE) this is nothing in respect of the hard slavery of souls, whom they torture with their censures and excommunications. So as you shall no sooner subject yourself unto their laws, but upon the first dislike, they will absolve and free your subjects from their oath of obedience due unto their true and lawful King, they will depose you at their pleasures, and give your crowns to whom they like, whereof we have too many late examples. But when they shall see your Majesty to oppose constantly against their tyranny, they will not dare to attempt against you nor your realms. And moreover is not your Majesty at this present protector of the Church of all your realms? yea the greatest of the Sovereign kings which profess the pureness of the Gospel? shall not these lawful titles of honour be sufficient to divert your Majesty from following the counsel of such Sirens of state? They would gladly persuade you to acknowledge this furious beast, who seeks but to devour good Kings, & to challenge to himself all power (as he saith) in heaven, earth and hell. An essential mark that he is the man of iniquity (mentioned in the Scriptures) which hath raised himself above all nations, and above all religion. If this monster held you at his devotion, (the which I with all your good subjects think to be impossible, how great a leviathan soever he be) doubt not (SIRE) but he would make you the most vile and most abject of all his lifetenants, treading you more proudly under his feet, than ever he did the good Emperor Barbarosse. And then let your Majesty consider in what misery, calamity and desolation of desolations both you my Lord the Prince (whom you love dearly) and all your subjects who pray for you hourly, should be reduced in these your flourishing realms.  
The Almighty God which governeth & disposeth of Monarchies according to his will, which giveth victories in battles, who is the spring and fountain of all wisdom and knowledge, give your Majesty a reign like unto the Queen of blessed & happy memory. Increase your Majesty in wisdom and knowledge, and in true piety and pureness of his service: give you victory over all them that shall attempt against you or your estate; and finish the work in you begun for the restoring of the true Church, banishing out of your islands and realms, all tyranny, heresy and Romish Idolatry. And for a happy end, the same eternal God give you a full and perfect enjoying of the Crown of glory in the happiness of eternal life through his son jesus Christ our Lord.  
FINIS.