Thyest quod nulla posteritas taceat sed nulla probet exceeding any particular Scythian Scillian Marian Tartarian Barbarian Iewish Turkish villany yet it was plotted by Catholiques Anticoton conspired by Catholiques acted Ioh. Mariana and to be acted by Catholiques and maintained as a lawfull doctrinall position by Catholiques Heretofore it was a Catholique doctrine held tyrannous in a king to kill a Priest but now it is thought a meritorious point in a Priest to kill a king and you must iustifie it If you iustifie not it they will not iustifie you Mr LEECH And if this blowe haue not hit home to the finall deciding of this quarrel depriving his heresie of al breathing let him or any or all his complices and especially those six well selected doctours who haue so farre engaged their credits by interessing themselues so deepely in the quarrell warde and answere the blow which they haue publikely received Doctor Benefield for all of them put togither haue not yet diverted the stroke Or if the cause which the principall Actor vndertooke will abide so much as the least touchstone of tryal let him vpon what grounds and confidence soever he stādeth as I dare boldly chardge challeng him he standeth vpon none but hereticall divulge his lecture vnto the cēsure of the world ANSVVER Your challēdge is received But why were not those many challēages answered by you which were offered by the ingenious and learned students of Christ-church and by the ingemminated motions of the Reverend Deane that you shoulde sit to answere or oppose in the scholasticall forme of Disputations about this point The sixe Doctors need not to raise their forces to encounter you One of them whom it most cōcerneth hath opposed more then you and Rome will ever answer His lecture is divulged to the worlds censure so it was desired by the Rightly Honorable and most reverend Bishop Ravis whose great care before his death was that your ignorant scandalous Pamphlet they were his owne wordes might receiue a rigid answere The learned and painefull lecture is able to satisfie any who giue i 1. Tiim 4.1 no heed vnto spirits of errour doctrines of Divels which speake not lies through hypocrisie having their consciences seared with a hot yron With that lecture the places of Scripture be truely expounded the question as in the sight of God truely discussed in the Appendix the ancient Fathers most sufficiently answered Mr LEECH Meane while for the honor of God confusion of Sathan to preserue Christ his word the word of verity from the infectiō of Heresie for the iust defence of this doctrine the due reproofe of hereticall innovatiō I haue thought good here to insert a true coppy of the Sermon preached by me in Oxford to iustifie Evangelicall Counsailes vpon the occasion aboue mentioned Anno Dom. 1608. 27. die Iunij ANSVVERE k Chem. in loc Commun loc de Cons Evang. Luther about to cōfute this very doctrine vseth these words In perpetuam rei memoriam maximè verò in Redemptoris gloriam ista sunt memori mente servanda exaggeranda adversus impudentissimos rabulas Papisticae abominationis defensores I wil not bee so bitter But to the glory of God dischardge of my conscience and satisfying of those great and honorable friends that did importune me to this businesse I follow you line by line to see whether your coppy bee right You say you haue endevored to reproue hereticall innovation I say so much dicit Scaurus negat Varius vtri creditis you must put your selfe vpon God and the Country Mr LEECH Reade it deare Christian brother severely iudge of it impartially and God graunt it may effect in thee what I wish hartily and that is if thou feelest thy selfe called and thy soule mooved effectually to practise the same Amen ANSVVER Wish faithfully pray religiously then no doubt God will giue you vnderstanding in al things which you must haue in your selfe before you cā wish it or teach it to others I lament you should so oppose your selfe to the doctrine of Christs holy Catholique Church in a mercenary respect and discontented humour burthen your soule with so fowle a sinne as this is truely iudged to be even Apostasie All such to the life S. Paule doth decipher and giveth order against such 1. Tim. 6.3 4.5 If any man teach otherwise and consenteth not to the wholesome doctrine which is according to Godlinesse he is puft vp and knoweth nothing he doateth or languisheth about questions and strife of words whereof commeth envy strife raylings evill surmises vaine disputations of men of corrupt mindes destitute of the truth which thinke that gaine is Godlinesse Fly such and feare such So I wish you so I counsell you so I pray for you and seale my counsell wishes and prayers with Amen Mr LEECH THE SERMON PREACHED IN defence of EVANGELICALL COVNSAILES and the Fathers ANSVVER It was and ever will be true Causa patrocinio non bona peior erit In that it is Bellarmines doctrine all your authorities gathered from him you are his advocat hee your author But I know not whose the Sermon is he made it but preached it not you preached it but made it not Mr LEECH AND I saw the dead both great and small stande before God Apoc. 20.12 the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes according to their works This verse naturally floweth into three streames of Christian Doctrine The first is a generall citation of all And I saw the dead both great and smal stand before God The second is a particuler examination of all vpon a two-fold evidence brought in liber conscientiae librū praescientiae the booke of conscience and the booke of God his eternall prescience the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life A finall retribution involved in the act and particuler manner of the iudgement and the dead were iudged of those things which were writtē in the books according to their workes ANSVVER AS the Surgion seeking to heale some vlcerated partes of a corrupted body doth not apply his Kataplasmes vnto every mēber but vnto those that are worse affected so must I deale with your sermon seeke to cure only those partes that are most tainted In this first Passage if by the rules of Criticisme I should examine it I shoulde finde it guilty of diverse errors but chiefly of your mistake in calling the first part of your text a Citation which is an appearance or a vision of the appearāce the effect of the citation I saw the dead both great and smal your best helpe here wil be to let it be dispensed with per metonimiam satis impropriam Mr LEECH The generall citation more particularly wrappeth in it the persons appearing the dead the extent of
Biell in their distinction of faith they hold that it is either fides infusa inspirata an infused faith wrought in vs by the inlightning spirit of God and resting it selfe vpon the truth of God or else it is acquisita suasa a naturall faith grounding it selfe vpon humane authority and wrought by humane motions and persuasions The faith wee haue of the points in Scripture is of the former and better kind not relying on the testimony of the Church whose authority is but a created thing from the first verity as a Prin. fid doct lib. 8. Stapleton confesseth when as the first verity enforceth the minde without further autority to yeeld obedience As also Scripture is that b Rom. 1.16 power cōmanding that c Eph. 6.17 sword dividing that d Ier. 23.27 hammer driving in that e 2. Cor. 10. Pyoner powerfull to overthrow strong holds and to cast downe every high thing therefore onely the authority of the Scripture is to be relied vpon because our faith would reele and totter and fall if the authority of Scriptures stand not fast O then submit your selfe to the censure of Scripture whose maiestie is ineffable whose decree inevitable which rightly looked into with the eye of humility harkned vnto with the eare of attention and vnderstood with the hart of faith wil be the certaine rule authority testimony only to be relied on the piller of truth and Schoole of goodnesse Mr LEECH his Title A TRIVMPH OF TRVTH ANSVVERE A Triumph and why c Ludov. Vives in praefatio ad libros Aug. de civit Dei Honorius the Emperor had a fighting Cocke called Rome wherevpon Vives recordes that when the Goathes surprised Rome the Citty news was brought that Rome was lost the Emperour thought it was his Cocke not his Cittie Your Triumph and his Cocke may go togither d A booke in folio vpō the 4. Gospels Iohannes de la Hay the Jesuit hath lately robd you of the Title his great volume being intituled Triumphus Veritatis and surelie he had some semblance for it for his volume seemed to bee a vessell of good lading though it haue nothing in it but stubble and hay But you to giue your boate of so small burden the Title of a man of warre sure your title is too big your booke is too little It is A Triumph got by flying or a triumph got without fighting Let the Pharisee bee the Herauld of his owne praises Pigmalion enamored with his owne devises let Narcissus do ate on his shaddow let Thersites vaunt without modesty but how much better were it for you that you had styled your booke with some humble and religious title savouring of grace not of vaine-glory But alas Religion without Truth wil be ever vnsavory and reading without iudgement ever peremptory Mr LEECH CHAP. 1. INtreating of this parcell of holy scripture I sawe the dead In a sermon at Christ-Church in Oxford 1607 Apoc. 20.12 both great and small stande before God I distinguished a fowrefolde acception or signification of great and small FIRST great and small for worldly authoritie and temporall condition SECONDLY great and small in respect of heavenly supereminency of grace and spirituall infusion THIRDLY great and small in lieu of diversity of rewards and retribution FOVRTHLY great and small in regard of contrariety and disparitie of workes and operation ANSVVER A time there shall bee when the bookes of everie mans conscience shall be laide forth a day of feare and furie when an vniversall flowde of fire shall overstreame the whole world when the heavens shall threaten the earth cast vp al creatures cry vengeance devils accuse conscience giue evidence and the whole Iurie of Saints passe verdict vpon sinners and then the secrets of all harts shall be disclosed In holy Scripture this iudgement is often mentioned but of all others Hier. that glorious Eagle S. Iohn mounting the high spheare of divinest contemplation doth most expresly by his vision and revelation manifest the declaration thereof and of all other places most pregnantly in this your text Apoc. 20.12 And I saw the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes were opened Was there no other place to confirme an vntruth but that which shall confound all vntruth no other Scripture to iustifie you but that which shall iudge you Would you sow tares vpon that ground vpon which wheate and tares shal be distinguished Remember whence you are fallen and repent and doe the first workes or else I will come against thee saith Christ Rev. 2.5 O the eternity of that cursed time Rev. 2.5 to be spēt in wretchednesse and confusion no myriads of yeeres to free from the execution of that perpetuall iudgement An end not ending a death not dying should terrifie and amase you and make you returne seeing the dead both great and smal shall stand before God But to your distinction There is a great mistake in your fourfold acception of great and small For antiquity which you so much boast of doe all expound it otherwise a Rupert in Apoc. Rupertus by mortuos magnos and pusillos vnderstanding homines impios spiritus malignos b Anselm in Apoc. 12. c Lyra in Apoc. 12. Anselmus Lyra d Hugo in Apoc. 12. Hugo the e Gloss in Apoc. 12. ordinary glosse and many others vnderstanding by the dead great and small malos only wicked men And f Carthus in eund Carthusian intimateth so much of St Austins opinion that he vnderstandeth not by mortuos magnos and pusillos the Saints but by libros apertos Carthusians words be plaine Augustinus per libros apertos intelligit Sanctos in quibus mali poterunt legere seu videre bona quae facere debuerunt neglexerunt Austin vnderstandeth by the books that were opened the Saints in whome the wicked might see and reade the good which they ought to haue done and haue neglected How then holdes your fourfold acception if by the dead you meane the living and by the wicked you meane the Saints g Caelius Rhodog lib. 20. Rhodogine recordeth that Polemo being the spectator of a Tragoedy at Smyrna a ridiculous actor comes out vpon the stage and being to pronounce O coelum ô terra bends his hands and eies to the earth and crieth ô coelum and then lifts his eies and hands to the heaven and pronounceth ô terra Polemo condemneth his action for a soloecisme It is no lesse in you to call evill good and good evill and in the Prophet it is forewarned with a woe Whose fourfold acception this should be I knowe not If your owne I am sorry for the mistake and I confesse it is the first notice that I ever tooke of your breathing in any Schoole learning and in that I shall doe you no more iniury then h Gretzer App. 1. ad lib. 1. Bellarm. § Idem dictū pag. 558. Caietanus homo
THE DEFENCE OF TRVTH AGAINST A booke falsely called THE TRIVMPH OF TRVTH sent over from Arras A. D. 1609. BY HVMFREY LEECH late Minister Which booke in all particulars is answered and the adioining Motiues of his revolt confuted BY DANIELL PRICE of Exeter Colledge in Oxford Chaplaine in ordinary to the most high and mighty the Prince of Wales 1. King cap. 20.11 Let not him that girdeth his harnesse boast himselfe as he that putteth it off AC OX AT OXFORD Printed by Joseph Barnes 1610. TO THE MOST ILLVSTRIOVS PRINCE HENRY PRINCE of Wales Duke of Cornwaile and Earle of Chester the confluence of those choise blessings Peace Grace and Glory MOST GRATIOVS PRINCE with all reverence and devotion I present to your Highnesse this labour To whom shoulde I dedicate it But to your Princelie goodnes to whose service I haue consecrated my tongue and pen and heart and all the offices of my life it is an answer to a revolted late Minister a busines I may say imposed me by some of very honorable respect much encouraged by others especially the most Reverend Archbishop our late Chancelour It is the maintenance of truth O let it receiue countenance from the royall heire apparant of the defender of the truth The infection of Popery spreads too farre some come not to our Church others fly our Land and Church both revile and slander the Church The eies and harts and hopes of all the Protestant world be fixed vpon your Highnesse all expecting your Gracious faithfulnes readines in the extirpation of that man of sinne March valiantly herein Most Gracious Prince and the God of Princes shall protect you his Grace and Providence shall reward your faith and Confidence and shall heape vpon your Highnesse favor and honor and glory in both worldes For which as long as I haue being I shall never cease praying Your Highnesse most humbly devoted and faithfull servant DANIELL PRICE ANSWERE TO THE EPISTLE Mr LEECH TO the learned wise and ingenious Academicks flowrishing in the renowned Vniversitie of Oxford ANSVVER SIR your booke sent from Arras as a peece of worke of divers colours is at length surveyed and reviewed to see whether it be worth the answering The opinion of many was as that of Tully cōcerning a Act. 4. in verrem Heius that you had rather mard the cause then bettred it and therefore your tract vnworthy to bee answered But my minde was otherwise that the cause mard you and therefore you and it to be viewed to be pittied to be answered In which succeeding discourse would I could deale with you as S. b Ierome Tom. 2. Ierome desired to deale with Origen that our Countrymen shoulde know your best things and bee ignorant of your worst For my witnesses be in heaven in my owne bosome that no motion of envy gaine glorie irregular provocation or popular ostentation haue drawne me to this but the all guiding spirit of God by the honourable motion of some and comfortable encouragement of others And therefore I doe refraine all disparagements and personall aspersions against you wishing you had done so against those manie worthy Doctors of our Vniversity An act which I know you once disliked in that baaling Priest c His booke entituled de Triplici hominis officio his epistle to the Vniversitie Weston who as if he had beene one of Psilli who only fed on Poyson or the voice of a man in the mouth of a Devill d Esay 36.4 or Rabshekah sent out of Hell to blaspheme God did vilifie all the Bewclarks of learning aliue dead Doctors and governors of our Academy But let his branded character remaine vpon him and his memory Cams curse and Cains marke e Gen. 4.12 vagus profugus in terris The front of your Epistle sheweth at first that you thinke otherwise of vs thē he doth seeing that you stile our students the learned wise ingenious Academicks flowrishing and our Vniversity the renowned Oxford we shall see how you proceede Mr LEECH Experience doth well approue Saint Bernards saying Efficacior lingua quà m litera the tōgue is of greater efficacie then the pen. And therefore I suffer no little disadvantage in that I must now speake vnto you in a silent letter pleade my cause by a mute advocate of my mind ANSVVER It is true efficacior lingua quà m litera but yet melior anima quà m lingua If your pen expresse not what your tongue is able fullie I would your hart woulde conceiue that which your tongue may speake truly that as some thinke there bee certaine strings that passe from the hart to the tongue so there might bee a concatenatiō that what your hart thinketh your tongue speaketh and your pen writeth may so agree that they may be all to the glorie of God the instructing of others and saving of your owne soule For if your tongue could thunder as f Aul. Gell. lib. 17-c 17. Aristophanes spake of Pericles or you had a tongue like a trumpet as g Hier. adver Ruffin tom 2. fol. 221. Hierome saith Hilary had or as Saint h 1. Cor. 13. Paule observeth the tongue of men or Angels and had not Charitie it were but vayne sounding tickling tinckling The tongue not powerfull without charity and charity not fruitfull without verity S. Austin noted that all marvailed at Tullies tongue but not at his invention and at Aristotles invention but not his tongue I know not that ever you were admired for either But remember to vse the talent given in both as you ought thinke not you suffer disadvantage in that you speake in a silent letter I would it were not silent both for proofe and profit and that your mute advocate were not mutinous Mr. LEECH But since I write vnto thē who are not strangers in my busines but as well eie witnesses of the wrongs which I haue endured as eare witnesses of the doctrine which I preached among you my vndoubted hope is that your harts will be touched with some compassion either toward me vnworthyly entreated by a faction for I will not impute the crime of a few vnto all or towards your selues whome this particular doth very highly import in respect of your learning honor and estimation ANRVVERE You write to those that are strangers to your doctrine not to your person or strāgers not to the hearing but approuing your opinion strangers wee are all to any wrongs done to you not to the wrongs offered by you And therefore thinke you not to touch the hartstrings of our students with a dittie of compassion as if you were as you say wrongfully and vnworthily entreated by a faction Compassion every honest hart will afford you for being misled rather then misused i Lib. 1. de Controver ad Cler. c. 31. St Bernard distinguisheth of pacidicos and pacificos those that in word speake of peace but indeed make ready to battaile So may I
find nothing which they could calūniate And for his learning let l Hosian trist cat cent 16. p. 837. Andreas Masius speake for him whom you haue reason to beleeue who reporteth of him that there was more divinity in one page of Luther then sometimes in a whole booke of some Father The Magdeburgenses though they seeme to be censorious and Aristarchicall were very speciall servants of God for liues most honest for knowledge most learned the eares that heard them blest them and the eies that saw them gaue witnesse vnto them and as Iob speaketh of himselfe so I of them They brake the iawes of the vnrighteous man and pluckt the pray out of his mouth Neither they nor Doctor Benefield did blaspheme Gods spirit as you slaunder them Neither was Gods spirit promised to lodge onely in the Fathers of the Church but even iointly in all the members of the Church And yet for the Fathers wee doe reverence them as much or more then the Papists doe as the KINGS most excellent Maiestie m In his Premon to his booke in his Premonition doth professe Mr LEECH This is right the Puritan cut as D. Bancroft observeth against the Presbyterian faction in some whole Chapters of his Survay And yet after he had thus censoriously handled the Fathers vpon my private conference with him in stead of the Fathers which I called for he offred vnto me two English pamphlets one whereof was entituled the Apologie of the Church of England whereat I could not but smile in regard of his simplicity though inwardly grieved much at the times misery when a statizing Pamphleter who would flie vpon the wing of his penne vnto the height of some ambitious designment shall bee compared nay preferred before the ancient Orthodox divines that painefully laboured in the vineyard of the Church against the brunt of all heresies ANSVVER That you came to Doctor Benefield to bee enformed about this doctrine it is true you came even then when you knew the instant approach of the Act was at hand the very next Saturday before the Vespers which time being vnseasonable did abridge him of any large or ample discourse with you Otherwise I assure my selfe that as no suiter came to that good Emperour Titus that returned discontented so none shall euer come to this worthy Doctor to aske counsell or conference that shall returne vnsatisfied The two bookes that you were offered either of them might haue enformed you that you held an opinion cōtrary to the Church of England to whose Doctrine you subscribed The one which you call the Apologie of the Church of England Oportet esse memorem was a booke entituled The Catholike doctrine of the Church of England an exposition of the Articles of religion professed here published by authority The other Reverēd Mr Perkins reformed Catholique such a booke and such an Author that your Bishop could wish hee had never beene Priest it hath so entoiled him he n In the beginning of his answere cōfesseth that he neuer saw any booke of like quantity published by a Protestant to containe either more matter or to be delivered in better method For Mr Rogers hee liueth worthy of much commendation for that necessary paine and his learned labour will liue long after him M. Perkins he is asleep in the Lord his holynes of conversation soundnes of learning actions labours life death haue sealed him A blessed servant of God I would others were as free from being flying wanderers as he or M. Perkins from being statizing Pamphleters You smiled you say at the Doctors simplicity but vnlesse you repent the world will laugh and hisse at your folly Was it simplicity indeed as simplicity is taken for integrity veritas est simplex the greatest attribute of truth is to be simple and so he might well prefer the simple positiue truth in one of those bookes before all the iugling expunged impostured Copies which you vrge for the Fathers The name of the Orthodoxall Fathers in matter of controversie I hold to be nomen verendum reverendum and the current of the Fathers in the true Copies for the first 500 yeeres or thereabout after Christ is like Iordan which passeth sweetly and quietly through Canaan but for their Current in some points after that time it is I will not say like to Iordan falling into mare mortuum but it is much hindered corrupted and abused I had here ended this point but that your Marginal vrgeth a testimony from that most wise and learned observation of dangerous Positions and proceedings published and practised for the Presbyteriall discipline First you may please to vnderstande that there was want of good manners in neglecting the reverence you owe to that rightly honourable AVTHOR whose eminent place in the State My Lords Grace of Cāterbury painefull Government in the Church carefull authority over our Vniversity and other his honorable respects do adorne him with the cōfluence of many Titles yet this sacred Prelat graue Counsellour our noble Chauncellor must passe so vnregarded by you But what do you ground out of that note His Grace wrote against the ambitiously factious and Paradoxically furious Presbytery Doctor Benefield none such his Profession an honourable Bishops Chaplaine his Positions mainely against Presbytery declare so much Haec nota nihil notat praeter notam malitiae CHAP. 7. Mr LEECH THis solemne lecture reade in publicke schooles by an inceptor in divinity for so venerable a degree enforced me now evē as I would not openly betray the truth of this doctrine vnto a more plaine ample and personall defence inciting mee also nay inflaming me with some extraordinary desire for the reiection and depulsion of his infirme reasons ANSVVER IT is observed a Plin. nat hist lib. 11. c. 37. that in the falling sicknesse the eies though opē see nothing when the minde is darkened dim-sighted so seemeth it with you when in your declining and falling away you could not see or like the deafe adder would not heare charme the charmer never so wisely You say you were inflamed with an extraordinary desire for the reiection of the infirme reasons of the lecture I marvaile you should be in such a heat It had beene wel if with David you had cryed out My heart is hot and the fire is kindled within me that was a heat that tooke fire from the altar but yours was no such spirituall heat b Albert. in comp Theol. Albertus observeth that many sinnes are deciphered by many sicknesses luxury by a feaver envy by a leaprosie Anger by a phrēsie and pride by an inflammation take head of prowde heat such inflaming will breede flashing I would be sorie from my hart to heare that you should turne Melancholy Dominican or lowsie Franciscan or lazy Capuchine but of all others a Iesuiticall incendiary for he is the wilde fire of the world in mind ravenous as a wolfe in head crafty as a Fox in heart
Andradius so who teacheth that the Fathers doe in many places not expound the Scriptures according to the literal sense the only which hath power to proue points of faith and that when they seeke the literall sense they doe not alwaies finde them but giue diuers senses one vnlike another therfore we may forsake their senses all and bring a new vnlike to theirs Now dare you curse Caietan and Andradius Andrad desens fid Trid. lib. 2. and bestow that epithet vpon these that you doe on Luther I knowe you dare not But as in others so in you Tullies observation is remarkable Tully that bad Orators insteed of reasons vse exclamations The reason why Luther is so much vilefied among you Erasmus gaue long since Chronic. Carion Auct a Melanthon lib. 5. when being asked by Frederick Duke of Saxony what hee thought of Luther so earnestly seeking reformation Erasmus answered as Carion records it that Luther had committed two great errors one was that hee touched too neere the Crown of the Pope another that he purged too much the belly of the Monks But the name of Luther shall remain among the posterities for euer and howsoever Hell and Papists haue endeavoured to transferre vpō the cause personall weaknesse most falsly imputed vnto him yet that Epitaph of his framed by Reverend Beza shall be monumentum aere perennius Beza in Epitaphijs Roma orbem domuit Romam sibi Papa subegit Viribus illa suis fraudibus iste suis Quanto isti maior Lutherus maior illa Istum illúmque vno qui domuit calamo The last part of this Paragraph vrgeth Flavianus to which speech we most willingly agree The determinations of the Fathers are not to be changed when their rule is consonant to Scripture but we deny that the generall consent of the Fathers ever helde this point for many of them whom you vrge haue not as in your proofes it is plaine so much as the distinction or any word of Counsaile And againe if by the misinterpretation of that place of S. Paule some of the Fathers read the place so yet the Greeke Fathers haue not any word of Counsels D. Benefield his Appendix pag. 186. in all their workes as Doctor Benefield in his Appendix witnesseth Mr LEECH And therfore to exemplifie further vpon this ground and to raise the particuler building vpon this general foūdatiō I would but aske what meant S. Cyprian that ancient famous martyr in his tract de Nativitate Christi sectione 10. penultima and S. Gregory that worthie pillar of the latine Church in his 26. booke on Iob to stile these consilia perfectionis Counsailes of perfection if there be no Counsailes Secondly what meant Theodoret Primasius Sedulius Haymo Theophylact Ambrose Augustine Hierome Gregory Basill Chrysostome Beda Lyra Aquinas Anselmus with all antiquity greeke and latine Church so to expound that place of S. Paul 1. Cor. 7.25 ANSVVER Suffragia potiùs sunt pendenda quà m numeranda voices and authorities are rather to be weighed thē to be numbred Cyprian or Gregory haue no worde of Counsailes The booke falsely ascribed to Cyprian is denied to be his by Pamelius Bellarmine Possevine many others of your owne as hath beene proved the ancient manuscript thereof in the library of All-soules Colledge here in Oxford entitleth Arnolde an abbat to be the Author of it For Gregory as I haue many times cited so do I now againe if in that place so often quoted viz. the 26. booke 24. 25. Chapters you finde the word Counsaile I will surcease to answere begin to beleeue you It is an easie businesse in you to faine the distinction of Counsels to be in Gregory seeing that the Vaticane Cyclopses haue foisted 168. Epistles into him besides infinite corruptions and contradictions as will shortly appeare by the exact and laborious endeavours of that liuing Library Mr Thomas Iames the indefatigable and carefull President of that businesse and the diligent assistance of many some whereof are the choisest most eminent in all our Vniversity The Fathers that you muster togither out of ranke I reverence yet what Austin in his 19. Epistle said in such another case that I hold good For all these Austin in Ep. 19. and aboue all these we haue the Apostle Paul saith he Though some of these Fathers do so read according to the translation formerly cōdemned yet habemus Apostolū Paulum we haue Paule to witnesse the contrary in his owne word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was but his advise or sentence not counsell Mr LEECH Thirdly what meant S. Hierome ad Eustochium and against that Epicurean Heretique Iovinian one of the first impugners of this Doctrine S. Ambrose in the tenth booke of his Epistles the 82. ad Vercellensem Ecclesiam in his tract de viduis propè finem S. Augustine in his 61. sermon de tempore his 18. tract de verbis Apostoli chapter the 21. his 2. booke of Evangelicall questions chapter the 19. and in his Enchiridion ad Laurentium chapter 121. Origen vpon the 15. to the Rom. S. Basill de vera virginitate S. Chrysostome in his 8. Homilie de poenitentia Nazianzen in his 3. oration which is the first invectiue against Iulian and many others The time would faile mee if I shoulde reckon vp all And therefore to close vp all in a word what meant all antiquity greeke and latine fathers so to distinguish betwixt precepts and Counsailes if there bee no Counsailes ANSVVER Lubertus truely observeth of Bellarmine that in a point where hee is weakest there will hee name and quote Authorities most plentifully but when hee should come to the life of the point then he shuffles away amōg his multitude like a Cut purse in a thrōg or like the fish sepia who being ready to be caught darkens the sea roūd about with a black water issuing from her These authorities and Testimonies of the Fathers haue been answered in that part of the Tract before the Sermon and as the occasion was offered in the sermon and all of them even the most strong and selected authorities that you coulde gather are aunswered plentifully in Doctor Benefields Appendix where it is proved that the Fathers did not set a man beyond the Land-marke of Gods commandement but that by the generall precepts enioining all the particular commanding some every man is bound to serue and feare and loue the Lord with all his heart with all his soule and withall his minde And this necessitate praecepti by the necessary obligement of the cōmandement Austin in 38. Psalm that which Austin vpon the 38 Psal hath written with the pen of a diamond standing fast as Hercules Ne plus vltra that no man can say he is perfit Nemo se dicat esse perfectum and so proceedeth that if any man doe looke for perfection in this life decipit se fallit se seducit se non potest hîc habere perfectionem Mr
desire to be taught the rule of faith out of an humble and a religious meaning here you may learne it it was a question worth his asking a point worthy your learning Mr LEECH Why said he what other ground of faith then the pure word of God I demaunded then who shall interpret this word Hee replied the spirit What spirit good Sir The spirit of God only which privat men thinke they haue Against which rule I except for that it was the common plea of all condemned Heretiques Wherefore I required a triall of this pretended spirit for I cannot admit that to be God his spirit in any private man which consenteth not with the spirit of the Catholique Church And thus you see M.D. Airay that what you formerly reiected out of my rule as Popish you must necessarily admit as true that is Ecclesiasticall Tradition annexed to the sacred Canon for the discerning of private spirits Otherwaies each Heretique will sense Scripture in the mould of his owne braine ANSVVER That the word of God is the ground of beleefe in God sacred Scripture it selfe proveth in manifold and pregnant places as in the olde Testament in the Proverbs Prov. 2.9 They make a man vnderstand righteousnes and iudgement and equity and every good path Esay 8.19.20 in Esay should not a people enquire at their God at the law and at the Testimonie they that speake not according to this word there is no light in them by Malachie Mal. 4.4 Remember the law of Moses which I commanded all Israell with the statutes and iudgements in the new Testament in S. Paul 2. Tim. 3.15 The Scriptures are able to make a man wise vnto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Iesus in S. Peter 2. Pet. 1.19 We haue a most sure word of the Prophets wherevnto we must giue heed as to a light that shineth in darknesse till the day starre arise in our hearts Luc. 1.4 in S. Luke They containe the certainty of those things whereof we are instructed and in S. Iohn Ioh. 5.39 These things are written that yee might beleeue that Iesus is that Christ the sonne of God and in beleeuing yee might haue eternall life and by Christ himselfe sealing this point Search the Scriptures for in them you haue eternall life and they are they which testifie of mee but to this also the Fathers with all reverence haue agreed Basil Ep. 80. ad Eust Med. Let the Scriptures be arbitrators betweene vs saith Basill in his 80 Epistle and whosoever holds consonant opiniōs to those heavenly oracles let the truth bee adiudged on their side We are to enquire for iudges saith Optatus Contra Parmenianum de coelo quaerendus est Iudex Optat. cont Parmen l. 5. the Iudge must bee had from heaven but saith hee wherefore need we to knock at heauen when we haue a iudge wohm wee finde in the Gospell The Scripture is the rule of faith saith Tertullian contra Hermogenem Tertull. cont Hermog Chrysost in 13. Homil. in 2. Corinth It is a most exquisit rule saith Chrysostome in his 13 homily vpon the second to the Corinths It is an inflexible rule Greg. Nyss Grati. de ijs qui adeunt Hierosolymā saith Gregorius Nyssenus And S. Austin ample for this in many places in his booke de bono viduitatis testifieth that the Scripture pitcheth downe the rule of our faith And not only the Ancient Fathers but the Schoole-men haue succeeded in the same resolution Aquinas writeth expresly Aq 1. qu. 1. art 8. that our faith must rest vpon the Canonicall bookes of Scripture Durand agreeth with this Durand pref in senten that the maner of our knowledge exceed not the measure of faith and the holy Scripture expresseth the measure of faith Sum part 3. tit 18. c. 3. Nay Papists haue acknowledged this Antoninus confesseth that God hath spoken but once to vs and that in Scripture so plentifully that hee voucheth Gregory in the 22 book of his Moralls thus God needeth to speake no more concerning any necessary matter Al. 1. sent quaest 1. art 3 1. Coroll seeing all things are found in Scripture Alliaco consenteth to this The verities of Scripture bee the Principles of divinity quoniam ad ipsas saith he fit vltima resolutio Theologici discursus Bell de verbo Dei lib. 1. c. 2. In one word Bellarmin agreeth to all these Testimonies in his first book de verbo Dei Sacra Scriptura est regula credendi certissima tutissima This may serue to shew you that there is no other ground of faith then the worde of God Scriptures Fathers Schoolemen nay even our Adversaries being witnesses Deut. 32.31 as Moses speaketh You demaund who shall interpret this word It is replied the spirit of God which spirit the elect doe know certainly that they haue not only thinke as you traduce the speech of this reverēd Doctor but they assure thēselus that they haue the spirit and hee that knoweth not this ◠Cor. 3.16 is ignorant as Paul teacheth by an interrogatiō Knowe yee not that yee are the Temples of the holy Ghost and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you But against this rule you except for this was you say Chrysos prolog in Epist ad Rohan 3. de Lazar. the plea of al Heretiques It is false Heretiques and the devill did vrge Scripture but these could never for wāt of Gods spirit compare Scriptures together The privat spirit even every Priuat man of himselfe saith Chrysostom only by reading may vnderstand yea need nothing else but to read Chrysos hom 13. in Gene◠by which he meaneth to confer one place of Scripture with another And the same Father giveth the reason Scriptura seipsam exponit auditorem errare non sinit The scripture expoundeth it selfe and suffereth not the hearer to be deceived Distinct 37. Relatum So speaketh Chrys 13. hom in Genes The Canon Law is most plaine herein Non enim sensum extrinsecus alienum extraneum sed ex ipsis Scripturis sensum capere veritatis oportet For we must not from without them seeke a forraine and strange sense but wee must out of the Scriptures themselues receiue the meaning of the truth And a clowde of witnesses do testifie the same Wherefore it is no way necessary that we aske helpe of Tradition which is as I formerly spake the cittie of refuge for all runnagate points in your religion Popish Tradition in the Church soiourning only as the deuill doth to deceiue as a treacherous stranger not to be acquainted with or as an Infidell not to be conversed with and therefore D. Airay taught you the truth when you heretically thought you might mould the sense of scripture in the brain of the brasen head Tradition Mr LEECH And now M. D. Airay being thus overthrowne in the rule of his faith proposed vnto me a question of
may suffice for thy instruction concerning these Motiues Onely I may not forget to advertise thee that whereas through their titles I vse this perpetuall stile THE PROTESTANTS c. howbeit the most learned amongst them differ in iudgement from the common sort and in this respect cannot bee concluded in the generality of ALL I haue not done this without good consideration For though the principall divines in England do vtterly distast the vaine opinions of D. King and such like yet since by publike profession of the truth they giue not sufficient notice vnto the world of their Catholique positions I must involve them also in this common accusation And as they against their knowledge Corde creditur ad iustitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem doe suffer a preiudice to fall vpon God his truth they must likewise against their will suffer an infamy to remaine vpon their owne persons ANSVVER The Catholikes like to the olde Circumcellions are Individua vaga ever in motion Campians reasons Bristowes motiues the one ten the other 48 yours a Iurie This former treatise hath answered all yours But seeing they so commanded your affection and convinced your vnderstanding wee will heare your descriptions and marke the motions If it be the good of your Reader you wish you would not leade him into so many darke entries of the Chambers of death your booke is come into the hands of many better informed soules then your selfe and some that haue breathed lately from their Antichristianisme that haue seene and heard more then you haue and haue hated and abhorred and returned You seeke to iustifie but do condemne your selfe and you hope your satisfaction will proue an infection to some But each man doth disdaine that these should draw ouer any wise Proselyte They are the same in substance as in your sermon only as the Patron of error can change his shapes so doe these You say you must not forget to advertise and I cannot omit to discrie the vntruth in the advertisement For if with an indifferent eie ANY observant in the state of our Church doe looke vpon the more learned Of our Divines he shal finde that either they be writers or publike Readers or continuall Preachers against Popery neither doe they differ in iudgement from the common sort as most iniuriously you traduce them By publike profession in the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace in the essense and substance of religion all agree And howsoever there haue beene some differences in opinion betweene many of the most orient fixed starres in the firmament of the Church as betweene Ruffinus Ierom Ierom Austin Austin Symplician and many others yet all the world wil free our Church from hauing in her Religion any diversly affected from the truth addicted to Popery at the least any that ever were of deserving note or accounted the Principall divines If there be any such homely and home-made peeces as your selfe that coccle they be no sooner noted but punished Your preiudice and infamy will returne vpon your selfe for accusing our worthiest to maintaine a linsey woolsey blended mangled Religion Being supplanted your selfe in reputation you seeke to supplāt others the vtmost spirits of your malice and spite being as Enginers to overthrow the credit of those that by their learned paines do seeke to overthrow the wals of Babell Their publique profession and positions free them from your common accusation their sermons Lectures writings might satisfie you but that these heavenly showers haue fallen besides you Error surprising your will ignorance your knowledge a smale things may moue you that were never setled Mr LEECH The First motive The Protestants admit not a triall of their Religion by the testimony of the Fathers whatsoever they pretend to the contrary BEcause it is a preposterous devise to iudge the former ages of the Church by the later D. Field pag 204. We willingly admit a triall by the Fathers saith he in the name of his Church therefore the courses of my study haue ever beene directed vnto a diligent pervsall of ancient Fathers whose authority simply considered as it may preponderate our moderne writers so in reference vnto the Church being her witnesses who is the iudge to define all controversies their testimony is to be preferred before all Authors whatsoever Neither resolued I thus without serious deliberation and especially contra haeref cap. 1. 2. the graue counsaile of Vincentius Lyrinēsis did prevaile with me seeing that learned holy men did generally conspire in this opinion If any man will discerne Heretical pravity from Catholike verity he must be furnished with a double helpe first the Canon of sacred Scripture Secondly the tradition of the Catholique Church wherein three things inseparably concurre Vniversality Antiquitie Consent The reason of which prescription is yealded by him to be this The Scripture is sublime and forasmuch as all men sense it not alike it is necessarie to adioine therevnto the continuall interpretation of the Church Vpon this infallible ground evident vnto all men of any apprehension I builded my faith conforming it alwaies vnto those Orthodoxe principles which I had derived out of the venerable Fathers Hence I assumed this doctrine of Evangelicall Coūsells which as I delivered out of the sacred volumes of Antiquitie so Antiquitie it selfe deduced it with mee out of the divine Oracles of holy Scripture And therefore seeing that my opinion was cleerely built vpon this foūdation I pressed it vncessantly vntill my vniust Iudges were enforced to forsake this meanes of triall and consequently to punish the Fathers in me as I had spoken by them But when I plainely saw that my doctrine could not be condemned without condemnation of the ancient Church and that my Iudges were driuen to this extremity I inferred that their Religion could not be good and that their consciences were verie bad ANSVVER It is a most preposterous devise to make the Fathers iudges of the Scriptures whereas the Scriptures as S. Austin confesseth ought to be the iudges of the Fathers otherwise what you impute to vs is the practise of your selues which you seeke approbation of the former Church by the latine That the Fathers may preponderate the moderne writers I answere for their antiquity they doe but where the same truth is in both for their authority they do not exceed Hath the Church had no growth since their time Hath the sonne of righteousnesse Psal 19. going from the ende of the heauens and in his compasse returning to the ende thereof againe by his beames given no more light then when it first rose Hath not God revealed somethings to one which he hath not to another 1. Cor. 14.30 as S. Paul speaketh Our reverend estimation of the Fathers is most learnedly and fully delivered by his Maiestie in his premonition and our willingnesse of a triall by the Fathers is openly testified by the Reverend Bewcleark D. Field these exceptions
beene over luxuriant in commending virginity and condemning matrimony your own men had not so censured him as they do Gregory Nazianzene his speech concerning Basill no doubt is as true of many thousād Protestāts who haue bridled the appetites and lusts of the flesh and haue subdued themselues to the obedience of Gods spirit And howsoever Antiquity haue commended the restraint of lawfull thinges to vs yet in this they ever taught that lawfull things when they are hurtfull to vs are vnlawfull we are bound to avoide al things that are hinderances to Gods service Cōtinue your virulency and acrimony of speech against Luther let his works and studies testifie whether hee were of so delicate a spirit as you affirme and if by his carnall sectaries you meane Protestants read our D. Downham Mr Rogers Mr Greenham nay Luther himselfe and see whether we maintaine not that a Christian is bound to watch and pray fast thē consider whether we teach a single faith or no for as wee teach that faith only must iustifie vs so also wee declare that workes must iustifie our faith and continually we preach the excellency and necessity of good works If you lacked Chastisement you might haue complained and beene supplyed fasting I doubt not but you were practised in you were put out of Commons for whipping the Monkes exercise though it sort better that you haue it abroad then at home yet that should not haue been wanting to you if you had acquainted your friends Seriously I answere that Protestants are not lulled a sleepe in the cradle of security How many sighes do many send vp to heaven for their sins what straines of compūction what streames of contrition flow from the limbecke of many of their souls And yet this only serveth not For if this had beene the only way to happines thē had the Pharisies by violence obtained heavē The holinesse of their carriage continuance at devotiō avoidance of all meanes of polution their yeerely tithing monthly almes weekely fastings dayly whippings howrely praiers had holp them But of al such God asketh Who required these things at your hands nay who counselled any man to do this but only such as require will-worship Al these waies in the ballance of the sanctuary appeare to be but hay and stubble straw To this the way hath not led the guides not directed the teachers not informed For performing of this the true Saints haue not beene registred in this the true church hath never bin practised Wherfore my fourth confirmation is to sticke to the vnity of that happy Church which hath so worthily cleared it selfe from these visards of perfection and ragges of superstition Mr LEECH The fift Motiue The Protestants corrupt the holy scripture in defence of their opinions THe proper meanes designed by God to convince Heresie are two to wit sacred scripture and Ecclesiasticall Tradition Now because Heretiques are clearely refuted by the second therefore they fly only vnto the first which they depraue and mangle according to the liberty of their spirits And this they performe partlie in their translations and partly in their interpretation thereof Though many examples might be afforded in this kind yet I need not seeke after further proofe then this present busines doth afford whereof I now intreate For whereas the words of our Saviour are easie and plaine all men do not receiue this saying as though there were such an impossibility therein that the freedome of will concurring with the grace of God could not subdue the inclinations of corrupt nature Tom. 7. in ep ad Wolfgang Hence Luther the slaue of his affections saith that the propension of fervent nature in MAN towardes a WOMAN is so created by God in his body that it cānot be extinct by any vowes and therefore he that resolveth to liue without a WOMAN must leaue the name of a MAN and make himselfe to be plainly an Angell or spirit For it is by no meanes granted vnto him by God so that it is aboue his strength to containe himselfe from a woman And this is by the compulsiue word of God willing and commanding the same Wherefore the Counsaile of virginity is intollerable with them that conceiue such an impossibility to fulfill it To increase Tom. 5. serm de matrimon and multiply it is not a precept saith Luther but it is more then a precept it is implanted nature it is as necessary as meate and drinke It is no more in the power of Man to liue without a womā then to be a woman and no man In vaine then doth our Saviour giue his advise and S. Paul his Counsaile For in Luthers gospell it is more then a precept to avoide virginity And yet my Iudges not admitting it to be a Counsaile could not deny it to be a precept Which yet if it be so why doe they then make lesse conscience to fulfill a Precept then Catholiques do to follow a Counsaile For the neglect of the first is a sin but it is not so in the second vnlesse we tie our selues vnto it by a voluntary vow being not constrained therevnto by a necessary command ANSVVER THe proper meanes appointed by God to confute all sprouting Heresie is Scripture which because it is so powerfull against Popery therefore Papists doe disclaime it and with the most contemptuous Phrases brand that testimony that hath marked them with the stamp of heresie Tearming it a nose of waxe as Peresius blasphemously doth Peres de Tradit praef Pighius con◠3. Eckius Enchr c. 1. prop. 4. or dead inke a dumb iudge as Pighius and besides many other titles of disgrace Eckius affirmeth that God never cōmanded his Apostles to write any Scripture Thus they vilifie the word to magnifie tradition which tradition we acknowledge not for with Mary wee haue chosen the better part and doe assure our selues that there is no means so absolute as scripture to cōvince Heretikes which meanes you would take from vs by laying to our charge false translations and corrupt interpretations Concerning false Translations much might be spoken conferring yours with the Originall how many hundred differences wil be foūd how many Additions Detractions Falsifications Depravations Lyndan de opt gen Interpret l. 3. c. 1. 2. 4. 6. and intolerable Barbarismes be in the vulgar Lindanus hath confessed who acknowledgeth that there be monstrous corruptions of all sorts in it scarse one booke of Scripture that is vndefiled and so haue Bannes and Sixtus Senensis and others accused it And I desire but this resolution of any learned Papist that seeing the Councell of Trent hath approved commanded the vse of the vulgar translation affixing a Bull before it and Sixtus Quintus hath afterwards commanded only his translation to stand in force shewing many errors in the vulgar therefore hath prefixed his Bull before it after him Clemens Octavus finding manifold corruptiōs in the Bible of his Predecessor caused it againe to