Here the Bishop was as a man in a rage, and said, "That it was an odious comparison! for it must suppose, that there must be an Ahab, and there must be a Jezebel, and I cannot tell what!"
But I am sure my Exception standeth true; and reviling and railing doth not satisfy my argument. All Antiquity taketh the Scripture into it: and if I had allowed that proportion for good, I had been justly beaten with my own rod.
If the King, the next day, had commanded me to send him all the money and goods I had; I must, by mine own rule, have obeyed him! and if he had commanded the like to all the clergymen in England, by Doctor Sibthorp's proportion and my Lord of Canterbury's allowing of the same; they must have sent in all! and left their wives and children in a miserable case.
Yea, the words extend so far, and are so absolutely delivered, that by this Divinity, if the King should send to the city of London, and the inhabitants thereof, commanding them "to give unto him all the wealth which they have," they are bound to do it!
I know our King is so gracious, that he will attempt no such matter: but if he do it not, the defect is not in these flattering Divines! who, if they were called to question for such doctrine, they would scarce be able to abide it.
There is a Meum and a Tuum in Christian commonwealths, and according to Laws and Customs, Princes may dispose of it. That saying being true, Ad reges, potestas omnium pertinet, ad singulos, proprietas.
To the Seventh (p. [14].), Pius V. was dead before the year 1580; they make no reply, but mend it in the printed book; changing it into Gregory XIII.
To the last (on the same page). Weigh it well! How this Loan may be called a Tribute; and when it is said, We are promised it shall not be immoderately imposed. How that agreeth with His Majesty's Commission and Proclamation, which are quoted in the margent?
They make no answer but in the published Sermon, distinguish a Tribute from a Loan or Aid: whereby they acknowledge it was not well before, and indeed it was improper and absurd: worthy of none but Doctor Sibthorp.