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

5. BUT Sir, if England only seems so stubborn to you, where are the Ambassadors of the King of Denmark, the Princes of Germany, and the King of Sweden, of the Switzers, of the Grisons, of the Hanse Towns of the Realm of Scotland, and of the Dukedom of Prussia? and now when so many of the Christian Nations are absent from your Council, it is a most foolish thing to speak of none but the English; but why do I speak of them? the Pope himself will not vouchsafe to come to his own Council; and did you not wonder at this too? for what Insolence is this, for any one man at his Pleasure, when he will, to call together all the Christian Kings, Princes and Bishops, and to require them to yield Obedience to him in it, and in the mean time, not meet them there himself? Sure I am, when the Apostles called a Council at Jerusalem, St. Peter the Apostle of whose Chair and Succession the Popes glory so infinitely, would not be absent. But I suppose the Pope Pius the 4th. who now sits in that Chair, remembers very ⟨p. 150⟩well what betided John XXII. that he had no good Fortune at his Appearance in the Council of Constance; for he came thither a Pope, but returned a Cardinal; and therefore the Popes ever since have very wisely taken care of themselves, and kept out of reach, and at home, and have stoutly withstood all Councils and free Debates for above forty years since; when Dr. Martin Luther was assaulted with all manner of Curses and Thunderbolts by the Pope, because he had begun to preach the Gospel, and reform Religion by the Word of God and with all Humility; begged that his Cause might be reserved to the Hearing and Determination of a General Council, he could not be heard; for Leo the X. saw very well, if the thing had been referred to a Council, that his own Concerns would be brought in danger, and that he might hear what he would not.

5. BUT Sir, if England only seems so stubborn to you, where are the Ambassadors of the King of Denmark, the Princes of Germany, and the King of Sweden, of the Switzers, of the Grisons, of the Hanse Towns of the Realm of Scotland, and of the Dukedom of Prussia? and now when so many of the Christian Nations are absent from your Council, it is a most foolish thing to speak of none but the English; but why do I speak of them? the Pope himself will not vouchsafe to come to his own Council; and did you not wonder at this too? for what Insolence is this, for any one man at his Pleasure, when he will, to call together all the Christian Kings, Princes and Bishops, and to require them to yield Obedience to him in it, and in the mean time, not meet them there himself? Sure I am, when the Apostles call'd a Council at Jerusalem, St. Peter the Apostle of whose Chair and Succession the Popes glory so infinitely, would not be absent. But I suppose the Pope Pius the 4th. who now sits in that Chair, remembers very