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

9. I shall not here trouble you with an exact account of the Injuries our Nation hath received from the Popes of Rome; that they have snatched the Sceptres out of the Hands, and plucked the Diadems from off the Heads of our Kings; that they pretend that this Kingdom is theirs, that it is possessed in their Right, and that our Kings are their Beneficiaries of Homagers: These are old Injuries; but of late years, they have stirred up at one time the King of France, and at another the Emperor; and what this Pope Pius has consulted, spoken, done, contrived and threatened against us, need not be remembered here, for his Words and Actions are not so close and secret, but they may be known, and his Will thereby be discovered. And as to the means by which he acquired the Popedom, and the steps by which he climbed to that height of Dignity, I shall say nothing. I do not say that he corrupted the Cardinals, by purchasing their Votes, and by Bargain and Purchase, as by Mines and Ambushes ⟨p. 154⟩aspired to the Popedom. I do no say neither, that very lately, when he was not able to pay the Cardinal Caraffa, by whose Assistance he purchased the Votes of the other Cardinals, and to whom, upon that Score, he owed a very considerable Sum of Money, he cast the poor man into Prison, and there basely murdered him. I leave these, and such other things as these are, rather to you, who being nearer to them, must needs see them more clearly, and understand them better than we do at this distance. And now Sir, do you wonder that we should not come to this bloody man, this Purchaser of Votes, this Bankrupt, and this Simonaical Heretic? It becomes not a wise man (believe me) to throw himself into the Chair of Pestilence, and to consult concerning Religion with the Enemies of all Religion. My Mother (said one) commanded me not to approach to the Infamous; and St. John the Apostle, durst not remain in the same Bath, and wash himself with one Cerinthius a Heretic, lest he should perish with him by a Thunder Clap from Heaven. I have not sat (said David) in the Council of the Wicked▪ neither have I walked with the Workers of Iniquity.

9. I shall not here trouble you with an exact account of the Injuries our Nation hath received from the Popes of Rome; that they have snatch'd the Scepters out of the Hands, and plucked the Diadems from off the Heads of our Kings; that they pretend that this Kingdom is theirs, that it is possess'd in their Right, and that our Kings are their Beneficiaries of Homagers: These are old Injuries; but of late years, they have stir'd up at one time the King of France, and at another the Emperor; and what this Pope Pius has consulted, spoken, done, contrived and threatned against us, need not be remembred here, for his Words and Actions are not so close and secret, but they may be known, and his Will thereby be discovered. And as to the means by which he acquired the Popedom, and the steps by which he climb'd to that heighth of Dignity, I shall say nothing. I do not say that he corrupted the Cardinals, by purchasing their Votes, and by Bargain and Purchase, as by Mines and Ambushes