The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…

6. AND least all this might seem to be only a Calumny, and that managed by secret Whispers only, with design to excite an Envy against us, the Popes of Rome have suborned eloquent and not unlearned Men to undertake the Defence of this desperate Cause, and to represent it to the World in Books and long Discourses, in the best Colours it was possible to give it, to the intent, that being elegantly and copiously pleaded, unskilful men might suspect there was something more than ordinary in it; for indeed they saw that their Cause was every where in a declining Condition; their Arts were now seen through, and so were the less esteemed; their Fortresses were every day undermined, and their Case stood in need of a powerful Patronage and Defence. But then as to those things which they have charged us with, some of them are manifestly false, and condemned by the Consciences of them that object them against us; others, though in the bottom they are false too, yet they have the show and similitude of truth, so that an incautious and unthinking Reader may (especially if he be surprised by any of their laboured and elegant Discourses) be easily circumvented and deceived: and others of the things thus charged upon us, are such as we ought to acknowledge and profess, and not decline the owning them, as if they were Crimes, but defend them, as things that were well and rationally done. For to speak in a word, they slander whatever we do, even those Actions of ours, which themselves cannot deny to be rightly and well done; ⟨p. 8⟩and maliciously deprave and pervert all our Words and Actions, as if it were not possible We should do or speak any thing as we ought. They ought indeed to treat us with more Simplicity and Candour, if they designed truth; but on the other hand, they do not oppose us with truth, nor in a Christian Way or Manner, but with Lies, in a close and crafty way; and abuse the blindness and ignorance of the Rabble, and the want of Learning in Princes, to the inflaming their Hatred against us and the Oppression of the Truth. This is indeed the Power of Darkness, and the Folly of Men, who trust more in the Stupidity and benighted Minds of the unpolished Multitude, than in the Light of Truth; or as St. Jerome expresseth it, This is to contradict with shut Eyes, the Truth, when it is most perspicuous.

6. AND least all this might seem to be only a Calumny, and that managed by secret Whispers only, with design to excite an Envy against us, the Popes of Rome have suborned eloquent and not unlearned Men to undertake the Defence of this desperate Cause, and to represent it to the World in Books and long Discourses, in the best Colours it was possible to give it, to the intent, that being elegantly and copiously pleaded, unskilful men might suspect there was something more than ordinary in it; for indeed they saw that their Cause was every where in a declining Condition; their Arts were now seen through, and so were the less esteemed; their Fortresses were every day undermin'd, and their Case stood in need of a powerful Patronage and Defence. But then as to those things which they have charged us with, some of them are manifestly false, and condemn'd by the Consciences of them that object them against us; others, though in the bottom they are false too, yet they have the shew and similitude of truth, so that an incautious and unthinking Reader may (especially if he be surprised by any of their laboured and elegant Discourses) be easily circumvented and deceived: and others of the things thus charged upon us, are such as we ought to acknowledge and profess, and not decline the owning them, as if they were Crimes, but defend them, as things that were well and rationally done. For to speak in a word, they slander whatever we do, even those Actions of ours, which themselves cannot deny to be rightly and well done;