“Sire,” he said, “your Majesty’s Commons reproach us with uncharitable behavior.... On the contrary, we love them with hearty affection, and have only exercised the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church upon persons infected with the pestilent poison of heresy. To have peace with such had been against the gospel of our Saviour Christ, wherein he saith, _I came not to send peace, but a sword_. “Your Grace’s Commons complain that the clergy daily do make laws repugnant to the statutes of your realm. We take our authority from the Scriptures of God, and shall always diligently apply to conform our statutes thereto; and we pray that your Highness will, with the assent of your people, temper your Grace’s laws accordingly; whereby shall ensue a most sure and hearty conjunction and agreement. “They accuse us of committing to prison before conviction such as be suspected of heresy.... Truth it is that certain apostates, friars, monks, lewd priests, bankrupt merchants, vagabonds, and idle fellows of corrupt intent have embraced the abominable opinions lately sprung up in Germany; and by them some have been seduced in simplicity and ignorance. Against these, if judgment has been exercised according to the laws of the Church, we be without blame. “They complain that two witnesses be admitted, be they never so defamed, to vex and trouble your subjects to the peril of their lives, shames, costs, and expenses.... To this we reply, the judge must esteem the quality of the witness; but in heresy no exception is necessary to be considered, if their tale be likely. This is the universal law of Christendom, and hath universally done good. “They say that we give benefices to our nephews and kinsfolk, being in young age or infants, and that we take the profit of such benefices for the time of the minority of our said kinsfolk. If it be done to our own use and profit, it is not well; but if it be bestowed to the bringing up and use of the same parties, or applied to the maintenance of God’s service, we do not see but that it may be allowed.” As for the irregular lives of the priests, the prelates remarked that they were condemned by the laws of the Church, and consequently there was nothing to be said on that point. Lastly, the bishops seized the opportunity of taking the offensive:—“We entreat of your Grace to repress heresy. This we beg of you, lowly upon our knees, so entirely as we can.”[17] Such was the brief of Roman Catholicism in England. Its defence would have sufficed to condemn it. Footnote 13: In Johannem, viii. 36. Footnote 14: MS. petition in Record Office: Froude, _History of England_, i. pp. 208, 214. Footnote 15: Petition of the Commons: Froude’s _England_, i. pp. 208-216. Footnote 16: “Within these ten weeks, I reformed many other things.”—Froude, i. 233, _Reply of the Bishops_. Footnote 17: _The Answer of the Ordinaries._ Record Office MS. Froude, i. p. 225.