HIS majesties DECLARATION IN DEFENCE OF The true Protestant Religion: AS It was maintained by his royal Father King James of blessed memory.  
According To the true copy written with his Majesties own hand, and by his special Command appointed to be printed.  
 seal of Charles I 
C R  HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE  
First printed at Oxford by Leonard Lichfield, and since re-printed at London. June 16. 1643.   

His Majesties Declaration, in defence of the true Protestant Religion, as it was maintained by his royal Father, King james of blessed memory.  
I Am such a Catholique-Christian, as believeth the three Creeds; That of the Apostles, that of the council of Nice; and that of Athanasius: The two latter, being Paraphrases to the former.  
And I believe them in that sense, as the ancient Fathers and councils that made them did understand them. To which three Creeds, all the Ministers of England do subscribe at their ordination.  
And I also aclowledge for orthodoxal those, other forms of Creeds, that either were devised by councils, or particular Fathers, against such particular heresies as most reigned in their times.  
I reverence and admit the four first general councils as catholic and Orthodox: and the said four general councils are acknowledged by Our Acts of Parliament, and received for Orthodox by Our Church.  
As for the Fathers, I reverence them as much, and more then the Jesuits do, and as much as themselves ever craved: for, what ever the Fathers for the first five hundred yeeres did with an unanimous consent agree upon to be believed, as a necessary point of salvation, I either will believe it also, or at least will be humbly silent; not taking upon me to condemn the same; but for every private fathers opinion, it binds not my conscience more then Bellarmines; every one of the fathers us●ally contradicting others.  
I will therefore in that case follow Saint Austines rule, judging of their opinions as I find them agreeing with the Scriptures; what I find agreeable thereunto, I will gladly embrace; what is otherwise, I will( with their reverence) reject.  
As for the Scriptures, no man doubteth I believe them; but ever for the Apocrypha, I hold them in the same account that the ancients did. They are still printed, and bound with our Bibles, and publicly red in Our Churches. I reverence them as the Writing of holy and good men: but since they are not found in the Canon, We account them to be secundae lectionis: or, ordines, which is Bellarmines own distinction) and therefore not sufficient whereupon alone to ground any article of faith, except it be confirmed by some other place of canonical Scripture; concluding this point with Ruffinus( who is no novelist I hope) That the apocryphal books were by the Fathers permitted to be red; not for confirmation of Doctrine, but only for instruction of the people.  
As for the Saints departed, I honour their memory; and in honour of them, do we in our Church observe the dayes of so many of them, as the Scripture doth canonize for Saints: but I am loth to believe all the tales of the legended Saints.  
And first for the blessed Virgin Mary, I yield her that which the Angel Gabriel pronounced of her, and which in her Canticle shee prophesied of herself: that is, that she is blessed amongst women; and that all generations shall call her blessed.  
I reverence her as the mother of Christ, of whom our Saviour took his flesh; and so the mother of God, since the Divinity and humanity of Christ are inseparable.  
And I freely confess, that shee is in glory both above Angels and men; her own son( that is both God and man) onely excepted.  
But I dare not mock her, and blaspheme against God, calling her not Diva, but Dea, and praying her to command and control her son, who is her God and her Saviour; nor yet can I think, that she hath no other thing to do in Heaven, then to hear every idle mans suite, and busy herself in their errands; whiles requesting, whiles commanding her son; whiles coming down to kiss and make love with Priests, and whiles disputing and brawling with devils.  
In heaven she is in eternal glory and joy, never to be interrupted with any worldly business; and there I leave her with her blessed Son our Saviour and hers, in eternal felicity.  
As for Prayer to Saints; Christ( I am sure) hath commanded us to come all to Him, that are loaden with sins, and he will relieve us: and Saint Paul hath forbidden us to worship Angels; or, to use any such voluntary worship, that hath a show of humility in that it spareth not the flesh.  
But what warrant we have to have recourse to these Pii Penates, or Tutelares, these Courtiers of God, I know not, I remit that to the philosophical rhetoric Divines.  
It satisfieth me to pray to God through Christ, as I am commanded, which I am sure must be the safest way; and I am sure the safest way is the best way in point of salvation: but if the Romish Church have coined new Articles of faith, never heard of in the first five hundred yeers after Christ, I hope I shall never be condemned for an heretic, for not being a novelist.  
Such are the private Masses, where the Priest playeth the part both of the Priest and of the People; and such are the imputations of the one half of the Sacrament from the people; The Transubstantiation, Election for Adoration, and Circumportation in procession of the Sacraments, the work of supererogation, rightly name Thesaurus Ecclesiae, the baptizing of Bells, and a thousand other tricks. But above all, the worshipping of Images.  
If my faith be weak in these, I confess, I had rather believe too little then too much. And yet, since I believe as much as the Scriptures do warrant, the Creeds do persuade, and the ancient councils decreed, I may well be a schismatic from Rome, but I am sure I am no heretic.  
For relics of Saints; if I had any such that I were assured were members of their bodies, I would honourably bury them, and not give them the reward of condemned mens members, which are onely ordained to be deprived of burial. But for worshipping either them or Images, I must account it damnable Idolatry.  
I am no Iconomacus; I quarrel not the making of Images, either for public decoration, or for mens private uses: but that they should be worshipped, be prayed to, or any holinesse attributed unto them, was never known of the ancients; and the Scriptures are so directly, vehemently and punctually against it, as I wonder what brain of man, or suggestion of Satan, durst offer it to Christians, and all must be salved with nice philosophical distinctions: As Idolum nihil est, and they worshipped( forsooth) the Images of things in being, and the Images of the true God. But the Scripture forbiddeth to worship the Image of any thing that God created.  
It was not a Nihil then that God forbade onely to be worshipped, neither was the brazen Serpent, nor the body of Moses a nihil, and yet the one was destroyed, and the other hidden for eschewing of Idolatry.  
Yea, the Image of God himself, is not only expressly forbidden to be worshipped, but even to be made. The reason is given: That no eye ever saw God; and how can wee paint his face, when Moses ( the man that ever was most familiar with God) never saw but his back parts? Surely, since He cannot be drawn to the vive, it is a thankless labour to ma●e it with a false representation, which no Prince, nor scarce any other man will be content with in their own pictures. Let them therefore that maintain this doctrine, answer it to Christ at the latter day, when he shall accuse them of Idolatry; and then I doubt if he will be payed with such nice sophistical distinctions.  
But Christs cross must have a particular privilege( say they) and be worshipped ratione contactu●. But first we must know what kind of touching Christs body drew a virtue from it; whether every touching or only touching by faith: that every touching of his body drew not virtue from it, is more then manifest; when the woman in the bloody flux touched him, she was healed for her faith: but Peter then  told him, that a crowd and throng of many people then touched him, and yet none of them received any benefit or virtue from him.  
Iudas touched him many and many a time, besides his last kiss: so did the villains that buffeted and crucified him; and yet I may safely pronounce them accursed▪ that would bestow onely worship upon their relics; yea, we cannot deny, but the Land of Canaan itself( whereupon our Lord did daily tread) is so visibly accursed, being governed by faithless Turkes, full of innumerable sorts of heretical Christians, and the very fertility thereof so far degenerated into a pitiful sterility, as he must be accursed that accounteth it blessed.  
Nay, when a certain woman blessed the belly that bare Christ, and the breasts that gave him suck; nay, rather( saith he) Blessed are those that hear the Word of God and keep it. Except then they could first prove that Christ had resolved to bless that three of the cross whereupon he was nailed, they can never prove that his touching it could give it any virtue. And put the case it had a virtue of doing miracles, as Peters shadow had, yet doth it not follow that it is lawful to worship it, which Peter would never accept of. Surely, the Prophets that in so many places curse those that worship Images, that have eyes and see not; that have ears and hear not, would much more have cursed them that worship a piece of a stick that hath not so much as any resemblance of eyes or ears.  
As for purgatory, and all the trash depending thereupon, it is not worth the talking of; Bellarmine cannot find any ground for it in all the Scriptures, only I would pray him to tell me, if that faire green meadow that is in purgatory have a brook running thorough it, that in case I come there, I may have hawking upon it.  
But as for me, I am sure there is an Heaven and an Hell, Praemium and Poe●● for the Elect and Reprobate: How many other rooms there be, I am not of Gods council. Multae sunt mansione● in domo patris mei; saith Christ, who is the true purgatory for our sins: but how many chambers and antichambers the devil hath, they can best tell that go to him.  
But in case there were more places for souls to go to, than wee know of, yet let us content us with that which in his Word he hath revealed unto us, and not inquire further into his secrets. Heaven and Hell are there revealed to be the eternal home of all mankind. Let us endeavour to win the one, and escape the other, and there is an end.  
Now in all this discourse have I left out the main article of the Romish Faith, and that is the head of the Church, or Peters primacy; for who denieth this, denieth Fidem Catholicam, saith Bellarmine.  
That Bishops ought to be in the Church, I do maintain it as an apostolic Institution, and so the ordinance of God, contrary to the Puritans, and likewise to Bellarmine, who denies that Bishops have their jurisdiction immediately from God( but it is no wonder he takes the Puritans part, since jesuits are nothing but Puritan-Papists) and as I ever maintained the state of Bishops, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy for orders sake; so was I ever an enemy to the confused Anarchy, or parity of the Puritans, as well appeareth in my {αβγδ}. Heaven is governed by order, and all the good Angels there; nay, Hell itself could not subsit without some order; and the very Devils are divided into Legions, and have their chieftains. How can any society then upon earth subsist without order and degrees? And therefore I cannot enough wonder, with what brazen face any could say, That I was a Puritan in Scotland, and an enemy to Protestants: I that was persecuted by Puritans there, not from my birth only, but ever since four moneths before my birth: I that in the year of God 84, erected Bishops, and depressed all their popular parity: I that in the said book to my son, do speak more bitterly of them nor of the Papists; having in my second Edition thereof affixed a long apologetic Preface, only in Odium Puritanorum: And I that for the space of six yeares before my coming into England, labouring nothing so much, as to depress their parity, and re-erect Bishops again. Nay, if the daily Commentaries of my life, and actions in Scotland, were written( as Iulius Caesars were) there would scarce a month pass in all my life, since my entering into my thirteenth year of my age, wherein some accident or other would not convince the liar in this point.  
And surely I give a faire commendation to the puritans, where I affirm, that I have found greater honesty with the high-land and border-thieves, the● with that sort of people.  
Of Bishops and Church Hierarchy, I very well allow( as I said before) and likewise of ranks and degrees amongst Bishops. patriarches I know were in the time of the primitive Church, and likewise reverence that institution for order sake; and amongst them was a contention for the first place: and for myself,( if that were yet the question) I would with all my heart give my consent, that the Bishop of Rome should have the first seat; I being a western King, would go with the patriarchs of the West: and for his temporal principality over the signory of Rome, I do not quarrel it neither; let him in God his Name be Primu● Episcopus, inter omnes Episcopos, and Princeps Episcoporuin, so it be no otherways but as Peter was Princeps Apostolorum.  
But as I well allow of the Hierarchy of the Church for distinction of orders( for so I understand it) so I utterly deny that there is an earthly Monarchy thereof, whose word must be a law, and who cannot err in his sentence, by an infalibillity of spirit, because earthly kingdoms must have earthly monarchs, it doth not follow, that the Church must have a visible Monarch too; for the world hath not one earthly temporal Monarch. Christ is his Churches Monarch, and the Holy Ghost his Deputy, Reges Generum dominantur eorum, vos autem non sic: Christ did not promise before his ascention, to leave Peter with them, to direct and instruct them in all things; but he promised to sand the Holy Ghost to them for that end.  
And as for those two places, whereby Bellarmine maketh the Pope to triumph over Kings, I mean, Pasc● oves, and tibi dabo claves, the cardinal knows well enough that the same words of tibi dabo, are in another place spoken by Christ in the plural number: And he likewise knows what reasons the ancients do give, why Christ bade Peter Pascere oves; and also what a cloud of witnesses there is, both of ancients, and even of late Popish Writers; yea, divers cardinals, that do all agree, that both these speeches used to Peter, were meant to all the Apostles, represented in his person; otherwise, how could Paul direct the Church of Corinth to excommunicate the incestuous person, Cum spiritu suo, whereas he should then have said, cum spiritu Petri, and how could all the Apostles have otherwise used all their censures only in Christs name, and never a word of his Vicar?  
Peter we red, did in all the Apostles meeting, sit amongst them as one of their number; and when chosen men were sent to Antiochia from that great apostolic council at jerusalem, the Text saith▪ It seemed good to the Apostles and Elders, with the whole Church, to sand chosen men, but no mention is made of the head thereof; and so in their letters, no mention is made of Peter, but onely of the Apostles, Elders, and Brethren: and it is a wonder why Paul rebuked the Church of Corinth for making exception of persons, because some followed Paul, some Apollos, some Cephas; if Peter was their visible head: for then those that follow not Peter or Cephas, renounce the catholic faith. But it appeareth well that Paul knew little of our new doctrine, since he handled Peter, so rudely, as he not onely compareth, but prefereth himself unto him: But our cardinal proves Peters superiority by Pauls going to visit him. Indeed, Paul saith, he went to jerusalem to visit Peter, and confer with him, but he should have added, and to kiss his feet.  
To conclude then; The truth is, that Peter was both near, and in the time of Christs calling him, one of the first of the Apostles. In order the principal of the first twelve, and one of the three whom Christ for order sake preferred to all the rest, and no farther did the Bishop of Rome claim for three hundred yeeres after Christ: Subject they were to the general councils, and even but of late did the council of Constantine depose three Popes, and set up the fourth; and until Phocas dayes( that murdered his Master) were they subject to Emperors.  
But how they are now come to be Christs Vicars nay, gods on earth, triple crwoned▪ kings of heaven, earth and hell; judges of all the world, and none to judge them. Heads of the Faith, absolute deciders of all controversies, by the infallabillity of their spirit, having all power, both spiritual and temporal in their hands; the High Bishops, monarchs of the whole Earth, superiors to all Emperours and Kings; yea, supreme vice-Gods, who, whether they will or not, cannot err; how they are come, I say, to this top of greatness I know not: but s●re I am, wee that are Kings have greatest need to look unto it.  
As for me, Paul and Peter I ●●ow, but these ●en I know not; and yet to doubt of this, is to deny the catholic faith; nay, the world itself must be turned upside down, and the order of nature inverted( making the left hand to have place before the right, and the last name to be the first in honour) that this Primacy may be mentioned.  
Thus have I now made a tr●e confession of my Faith.  
FINIS.