Clingius the Franciscan aduise in this case that is Let all false conceit and preposterous confidence bee remooued from it that the trust which should onely be put in the merit of Christ bee not placed vpon these courses and let no man thinke that hereby he deserues righteousnesse remission grace and lastly which I adde remoue but idlenesse superstition necessitie from this kinde of life and we doe not we will not disallow it Neither doe we take our Colledges for any other than certaine sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 monasticall Academies wherein according to the precept of Pelagius the Pope we may be maturely fitted for these holy seruices of God and his Church such were the Monasteries of the Ancient insomuch as Possidonius can witnesse that Saint Austen out of one little house Possid in vita Aug. sent forth ten labourers into the haruest of the Church SECTION XIIII Concerning the Canon of the Scripture NOw lest I be too tedious it is time for mee from these points which doe directly concerne our selues to hasten vnto those which do more closely touch the Maiestie of God and doe as it were send plaine challenges into heauen And those do either respect the Scripture which is his expressed word or Christ which is his naturall and substantiall Word or lastly the worship due vnto his Name And first the Scripture complaines iustly of three maine wrongs offered to it The first of addition to the Canon The second of detraction from the sufficiencie of it The third of hanging all the authoritie thereof vpon the sleeue of the Church For of that corrupt Translation of Scripture which the Trent Diuines haue made onely and fully authenticall I forbeare purposely to speake although it were easie to shew that which Reuchline following the steps of Hierom hath auerred That the Hebrewes drinke of the Well head the Greekes of the streame Hier. aduers â—eluidium and the Latines of the puddle neither will I so much as touch the iniurious inhibition of those holy bookes to the Laity Who can endure a piece of new cloth to bee patched vnto an old garment Or what can follow whence but that the rent should bee worse I referre the reader for the citation of these to my disswasiue from Popery Who can abide that against the faithfull information of the Hebrewes against the cleere Testimonies of Melito Cyril Athanasius Origen Hilary Hierom Ruffinus Nazianzen against their owne Doctors both of the middle and latest age six whole bookes should by their fatherhoods of Trent be vnder pain of a curse imperiously obtruded vpon God his Church Whereof yet some propose to their Readers no better than magicall iugglings others bloudy selfe murders other lying fables and others heathenish 〈◊〉 not without a publike applause in the relation These indeed Caâ—â—â—â— ingennously as his fashion is according to that he had learned of Hierome would perswade vs to haue beene admitted onely by the Ancients into the Canon of Manners not of Faith And surely there be many precepts in Syracider the counterfeit Salomon and Esdraâ— which sauour of excellent wisedome but I wonder what kinde of good manners can be learned from such like histories Catechâ—â—â—eni euen by those Nouices to whom Athanasius bequeaths these bookes Well may I say of these as that Chian seruant of his Master which sold his wine Epith. l. 1. sect 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si quis l. Hester Dan Baeruc Eccl. Iudith Tob. Macca pro Canonicis non recipâ—rit Anathema fit sect 4. Apoc. vlt. and dranke his lees while they haue good they seeke for naught But let these bookes how questionable soeuer to Ephiphanius be all sacred let them be according to the meaning of the councell of Carthage and of Austen so oft cited to this purpose after Canonicall yet what man or Angel dare presume to vndertake to make them diuine Wee know full well how great impietie it is to father vpon the God of heauen the weake conceptions of an humane wit neither can we be any whit moued with the idle cracke of the Tridentine curse whiles we heare God thundring in our eares If any man adde vnto these words God shall adde vnto him the plagues written in this book SECTION XV. Of the Insufficiencie of Scripture NEither know I whether it be more wickedly audacious to fasten on God those things which be neuer wrote or to weaken the authority and denie the sufficiencie of what he hath written The Papists doe both We affirme saith Bellarmine that there is not expressely contained in Scriptures all necessary doctrine either concerning faith Lib. 4. de verbo non scripto c. 30. sect 1. Pari veneratiâ—â—e pari pietatis affectu or manners And the Tridentine Fathers giue charge that Traditions be receiued with no lesse Pietie and Veneration than the Bookes of Scripture Vnwritten Truths saith our wittie Chancellour More are equiualent to the Word of God What place is there for peace There are we confesse certaine things of a middle nature indifferent rites wherein much must be yeelded to the Church much to Traditions but that those things which are simply necessary to saluation whetherto be knowne or to be done should not be found in the holy Scriptures either in their words Per verba per sensum or in their sense as Aquinas distinguishes we iustly hold absurd and with Erasmus contrary to all true diuinitie Some Constitutions for publike order are from the Church but all necessary determinations of faith are to be fetcht from the voyce of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Can. Nic. Graec. con Pisan â—innius Conc. Tom. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is as Nissen truely commends it the right and euen rule of life The law of God is perfect saith Dauid yea and makes perfect saith Paul And what can be added to that which is already perfect or what perfection can there be where some necessary points are wanting yea if we may beleeue Hosius the greatest part How much is the Spirit of God mis-taken Hee wrote these things that wee might beleeue and in beleeuing be saued But now if Trent may be iudge although we beleeue what he hath written yet wee cannot be saued vnlesse we doe also receiue and beleeue what he hath not written How ill was Constantine taught of old how ill aduised in that publike speech for which yet we doe not finde that any of those Worthies of â—ice Theod. l. 1. c. â— Tert. de praeser l. â—â—â—er Her Origin c. 16. 〈◊〉 Rom. Achae in synops Ambr. lib. 3. Hex c. 3. did so much as iogge him on the elbow in a milde reproofe whiles hee sayd The bookes of the Euangelists Apostles as also the Oracles of the Ancient Prophets doe plainely instruct vs in the message and meaning of God How miserably were euery one of the learned Fathers of the Church blinded that they could neuer either see or acknowledge
that giues the inward grace But hath not God giuen inward grace by our outward Ministerie Your hearts shall be our witnesses What wil follow therefore but that our Ministerie is his peculiar appointment SEP Where say you are those rotten heaps of Transubstantiating of bread And where say I leâ—â—ned you your deuout kneeling to or before the bread but from that error of Transubstantiation Yea what lesse can it insinuate than either that or some other the like idolatrous conceit If there were not some thing more in the Bread and Wine than in the water at Baptisme or in the Word read or preâ—â—â—ed Why should such solemne kneeling bee so seuerely pressed at that 〈◊〉 rather than vpon the other occasions And well and truely haue your owne men affirmed that it were farre lesse sinne and appearance of an Idolatrie that is nothing so grosse to tye men in their Prayers to kneele before a Crucifixe than before the Bread and Wine and the reason followeth for that Papists commit an Idolatrie far more grosse and odious in worshipping the Bread than in worshipping any other of their Images or Idols whatsoeuer Apol. of the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Dioc. part 1. pag. 66. SECTION XXXVI OVR kneeling you deriue like a good Herald from the errour of Transubstantiation but to set downe the descent of this pedigree will trouble you Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Lords Supper De Consecr d. 2. Ego Bereng Apol. we doe vtterly denie it and challenge your proofe How new a fiction Transubstantiation is appeares out of Berengaries Recantation to Pope Nicholas The error was then so young it had not learned to speake shew vs the same noueltie in our kneeling Till of 〈◊〉 bleâ—â—eld not the Bread to bee God of olde they haue held it saâ—â—ed This is the gesture of reuerence in our Prayer at the receit as Master Burgesse wâ—ll interpreted it not of idolatrous adoration of the Bread This was most-what in the eleuation the abolishing whereof cleares vs of this imputation you know wee hate this conceit why doe you thus force wrongs vpon the innocent Neither are we alone in this vse The Church of Bohemy allowes and practises it and why is this error lesse palpable in the wafers of Geneua If the King should offer vs his hand to kisse wee take it vpon our knees how much more when the King of Heauen giues vs his Sonne in these Pledges But if there were not somthing more than iust reuerence why doe we solemnely kneele at the Communion not at Baptisme Can you finde no difference In this besides that there is both a more liuely and feeling signification of the thing represented we are the parties but in the other witnesses This therefore I dare boldly say that if your partner M. Smith should euer which God forbid perswade you to rebaptize your fittest gesture or any others at full age would be to receiue that Sacramentall water kneeling How glad you are to take all scraps that fall from any of ours for your aduantage Would to God this obseruation of your malicious gathering would make all our reuerend Brethren wary of their censures Surely no idolatry can be worse than that Popish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bread and the Crucifix striue for the higher place if we should therefore be so tied to kneele before the Bread as they are tied to kneele before the Crucifix their sentence were iust They adore the Crucifix not we the Bread they pray to the Crucifix not we to the Bread they direct their deuotions at the best by the Crucifix to their Sauiour we doe not so by the Bread we kneele no more to the Bread than to the Pulpit when we ioyne our praiers with the Ministers But our quarrell is not with them you that can approue their iudgements in dislike might learne to follow them in approbation and peaceable Communion with the Church if there be a galled place you will be sure to light vpon that Your charity is good whatsoeuer your wisdome be SEP To let passe your deuout kneeling vnto your Ordinary when you take the Oath of Canonicall obedience or receiue absolution at his hands which as the maine actions are religious must needs be religious adoration what is the adoring of your truly humane though called Diuine Seruice booke in and by which you worship God at the Papists doe by their Images If the Lord Iesus in his Testament haue not commanded any such Booke it is accursed and abominable if you thinke he haue shew vs the place where that we may know it with you or manifest vnto vs that euer the Apostles vsed themselues or commended to the Churches after them any such Seruice booke Was not the Lord in the Apostles time and Apostolike Churches purely and perfectly worshipped when the Officers of the Church in their ministration manifested the spirit of prayer which they had receiued according to the present necessities and occasions of the Church before the least pâ—rcell of this pacchery came into the World And might not the Lord now be also purely and perfectly worshipped though this printed image with the painted and câ—â—â—ed â—â—â—ges were sent backe to Rome yea or cast to Hell from whence both they and it came Spâ—â—ke in your selfe might not the Lord be intirely worshipped with pure and holy worship though 〈◊〉 other Booke but the holy Scriptures were brought into the Church If yes as who can denyâ—â— that knowes what the worship of God meaneth what then doth your Seruice booke there The Word of God is perfect and admitteth of none addition Cursed be he that addeth to the Word of the Lord and cursed be that which is added and so he your great idoll the Communion booke though like Nabuchadnezzars Image some part of the matter be Gold and Siluer which is also so much the more detestable by how much it is the more highly aduanced amongst you SECTION XXXVII Whether our Ordinary and Seruice booke be made Idols by vs. YEt 〈◊〉 Idolatry And which is more New and strange such I dare say as will nâ—â—er be found in the two 〈◊〉 Commandements Behold here two now Idols Our Ordinary and our Seruice booke a speaking Idoll and a written Idoll Calecute hath â—ne-strange Deitie the Deuill Siberia many whose people worship euery day what they see first Rome hath many merry Saints but Saint Ordinary and Saint Seruice booke were neuer heard of till your Canonization In earnest doe you thinke we make our Ordinary an idoll What else you kneele deuoutly to him when you receiue either the Oath or Absolution This must needs be religious adoration is there no remedy You haue twice kneeled to our Vice-Chancellor when you were admitted to your degree you haue oft kneeled to your Parents and Godfathers to receiue a blessing did you make Idols of them the party to be ordained kneeles vnder the hand of the Presbyterie doth he religiously adore them Of old they were wont to kisse the
liberos familiae curam gero c. Qui moâ—tâ—m Vertices accuparunt c. Quid â—is homo non est tui negâ—tij scripturas evoluere c. 〈◊〉 tuum magis est quam illorum c. Non nunc fieri potest vt quisquaÌ„ c. Nae negligamus nobis parare libros c. Quid igitur inâ— c. Publicani Piscatores Tabernacularum â—pifices Pastores Apostoli idiota illiterati c. and haue a great charge to looke to It is not for me to read the Scriptures but for them which haue cast off the world which haue taken vp the solitarie tops of Mountaines for their dwellings which liue this contemplatiue kind of life continually What sayest thou O man is it not for thee to turne ouer the Scriptures because thou art distracted with infinite cares Nay then it is for thee more than for them for they doe not so much neede the helpe of the Scriptures as you that are tost in the midst of the waues of worldly businesse And soone after Neither can it be possible that any man should without great fruit be perpetually conuersant in this spirituall exercise of reading and straight Let vs not neglect to buy our selues Bookes lest we receiue a wound in our vitall parts and after he hath compared the Bookes of Scripture to Gold hee addeth But what say they if we vnderstand not those things which are contained in those Bookes What gaine we then Yes surely though thou dost not vnderstand those things which are there laid vp yet by the very reading much holinesse is got Although it cannot be that thou shouldest be alike ignorant of al thou readest for therefore hath the Spirit of God so dispensed this Word that Publicanes Fishers Tent-makers Shepheards and Goat-heards plaine vnlettered men may be saued by these Bookes least any of the simpler sort should pretend this excuse Note that which is read in Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in some better copies is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Goat-heards more agreable to the place Vt famulus vidua mulier omnium hominum indoctissimus exaudita lectione aliquid lucri vtilitatisque reportet Hom. in Gen. 29. Obsecro vt subinde huc veniatis c. In Coloss Hom. 9. Audite obsecro Seculares omnes c. Rhemists in their Preface to their Testament Bellarm. de verb. lib. 2. cap. 15. Haeretici huius temporis omnes in eo conueniunt vt oporteat Scripturas omnibus permittere imo tradere in sua lingua c. At Catholica Ecclesia c. Prohibet ne passim omnibus sine discriâ—ine concedatur eiusmodi lectio c. Duraeus contra Whit. lib. 6. Si Christianis omnibus vt Scripturas forâ—tentur à Christo dictum esse intelligis in magus certè errore c. Promiscuâ— fidelium turbae c. Basil Ep. 82. That all things which are said should be easie to discerne and that the workman the seruant the poore widdow and the most vnlearned of all other by hearing of the Word read might get some gaine and profit And the same Father elsewhere I beseech you saith hee that you come speedily hither and hearken diligently to the reading of the Holy Scriptures and not only when you come hither but also at home take the Bible into your hands and by your diligent care reape the profit contained in it Lastly in his Homilies vpon the Epistle to the Colossians he cries out Heare I beseech you O all you secular men prouide you Bibles which are the medicines for the soule At least get the new Testament Now on the contrary let the new religion of Rome speake first by her Rhemish Iesuites thus We may not think that the translated Bibles into vulgar tongues were in the hands of euery husbandman artificer prentice boyes girles Mistresse Maid Man that they were sung played alledged of euery Tinker Tauerner Rimer Minstrell The like words of scorne and disgrace are vsed by HOSIVS and by ECKIVS and by BELALR de verb. l. 2. c. 15. The wise will not heere regard say our Rhemists what some wilfull people doe mutter that the Scriptures are made for all men c. And soone after they compare the Scriptures to Fire Water Candles Kniues Swords which are indeede needfull c. but would marre all if they were at the guiding of other than wise men All the Heretikes of this time saith BELLARMINE agree that the Scriptures should be permitted to all and deliuered in their owne Mother tongue But the Catholike Church forbids the reading of the Scriptures by all without choice or the publike reading or singing of them in vulgar tongues as it is decreed in the Councell of Trent Sess 22. c. 8. Can. 9. If you thinke saith DVRAEVS that Christ bade all Christians to seach the Scriptures you are in a grosse error For how shall rude and ignorant men search the Scriptures c. And so he concludes that the Scriptures were not giuen to the common multitude of Beleeuers Iudge now what either we say or these Papists condemne besides the ancient iudgement of the Fathers and if euer either CALVIN or LVTHER haue bin more peremptory in this matter than S. CHRYSOST I vow to be a Papist If ours bee not in this the old religion be not you ours Yet this one passage further and then no more lest I weary you Our question is whether the Scriptures depend vpon the authoritie of the Church or rather vpon the authoritie of Scriptures Heare first the ancient Church with and for vs The question is saith S. Aug. de vâ—late Ecclesiae siue Epist contra Potilianum Donatistam cap. 2. Inter nos autem Donatistas questio est vbi sit Ecclesia quid ergo facturisumus in verbis nostris eam qua situri c. Aug. ibid. cap. 16. Vtrum ipsi Ecclesiam teneant non nisi Diuinarum Scripturarum Canonicis libris ostendunt c. Quia nec nos propterea dicimus c. Aug. in Psal 69. in illa verba Omnes qui quaerunt te c. Ne in ecclesiam errares ne quis c. Multi enim dixerunt carnem non habuisse osteÌ„dit c. So Epi. 166. in Ps 57. c. Chrysost Hom. in Matth. 49. Qui vult cognoscere quae sit vera Ecclesia Christi vnde cognoscet nisi c. Eckius in Enchirid c. de Ecclesia Scriptura non est authentica siue authoritate Ecclesiae Scriptores enim canonici â—unt membra Ecclesiae vnde haeretico contendere volenti c. Eckius ibidem Scriptura definit in Concilio visum est Spiritui Sancto c. rem tam clarè expressam definitam Ecclesia sua authoritate mutauit c. Ecce potestas Ecclesiae super Scriptura Si tollamus authoritatem praesentis Ecclesiae praesentis CoÌ„cilij in dubium reuocari poterunt omnium aliorum Conciliorum decreta tota fides Christiana
seuerall members without distinction a substance without quantity and other accidents or substance and accidents that cannot bee seene felt perceiued So they make either a Monster of their Sauiour or nothing A Religion that vtterly ouerthrowes the perfection of Christs satisfaction If all be not paid how hath he satisfied If temporall punishments in Purgatory be yet due how is all paid and if these must be paid by vs how are they satisfied by him A Religion that makes more Scriptures than euer God and his ancient Church and those which it doth make so imperiously obtrudes vpon the world as if God himselfe should speake from heauen while it thunders out curses against all that will not add these Bookes to Gods regards not Gods Curse If any man shall add vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this Booke A Religion whose Patrons disgrace the true Scriptures of God with reprochfull termes odious comparisons imputations of corruption and imperfection and in fine pin their whole authority vpon the sleeues of men Papa facit protestationem ante Canonizationem se nihil intendere facire quod fit contra fidem aut Ecclesiam Catholicam Aliqui tamen clarissimi viri dicunt c. Quia Papâ— quodammodo cogebatur ad Canonizandum quendam contra suum voluntatem lib. Sacr. Ceremon A Religion that erects a throne in the Conscience to a meere man and giues him absolute power to make a sinne to dispense with it to create new Articles of Faith and to impose them vpon necessitie of saluation A Religion that baffoules all Temporall Princes making them stand bare-foot at their great Bishops gate lye at his foot hold his stirrup yea their owne Crownes at his Courtesie exempting all their Ecclesiasticall Subiects from their Iurisdiction and when they list all the rest from their Allegiance A Religion that hath made wicked men Saints and Saints Gods Euen by the confession of Papists lewd and vndeseruing men haue leapt into their Calendar Whence it is that the Pope before his Canonization of any Saint makes solemne protestation that he intends not in that businesse to doe ought preiudiciall to the glory of God or to the Catholike Faith and Church And once Sainted they haue the honour of Altars Temples Inuocations and some of them in a stile fit only for their Maker I know not whether that blessed Virgin receiue more indignitie from her enemies that deny her or these her flatterers that dâ—ifie her A Religion that robs the Christian heart of all sound comfort whiles it teacheth vs that we neither can nor ought to be assured of the remission of our sinnes and of present grace and future saluation That we can neuer know whether we haue receiued the true Sacraments of God because we cannot know the intention of the Minister without which they are no Sacraments A Religion that rackes the conscience with the needlesse torture of a necessary shrift wherein the vertue of absolution depends on the fulnesse of confession and that vpon examination and the sufficiencie of examination is so full of scruples besides those infinite cases of vnresolued doubts in this fained penance that the poore foule neuer knowes when it is deare A Religion that professes to be a 〈◊〉 of sinne whiles both in practise it tolerates open stâ—wes and preferres fornication in some cases to honourable Matrimonie and gently blanches ouer the breaches of Gods Law with the name of Venialls and fauourable titles of Diminution daring to affirme that Veniall sinnes are no hinderance to a mans cleannesse and perfection A Cruell Religion that sends poore Infants remedilesly vnto the eternall paines of Hell for want of that which they could not liue to desire and fâ—ighâ—s simple soules with expectation of fained torments in Purgatory not inferiour for the time to the flames of the damned How wretchedly and fearfully must their poore Layicks needs die for first they are not sure they shall not goe to Hell and secondly they are sure to be scorched if they shall goe to Heauen A Religion that makes nature namely proud in being ioyned by her as copartner with God in our Iustification in our Saluation and idlely puffed vp in a conceit of her perfection and abilitie to keepe more Lawes than God hath made A Religion that requires no other faith to iustification in Christians than may bee found in the Deuils themselues who besides a confused apprehension can assent vnto the Truth of Gods reuealed will Poperie requires no more A Religion that instead of the pure milke of the Gospell hath long fed her starued soules with such idle Legends as the Reporter can hardly deliuer without laughter and their Abettors not heare without shame and disclamation the wiser sort of the World read those Stories on winter Euenings for sport which the poore credulous multitude heares in their Churches with a deuout astonishment A Religion which lest ought should bee here wanting to the Doctrine of Deuils makes Religious Prohibitions of meat and difference of dyet superstitiously preferring Gods workmanship to it selfe and willingly polluting what he hath sanctified A Religion that requires nothing but meere formalitie in our deuotions the worke wrought suffices alone in Sacraments in Prayers So the number be found in the Chappelet there is no care of the affection as if God regarded not the heart but the tongue and hands and while he vnderstands vs cared little whether we vnderstand our selues A Religion that presumptuously dares to alter and mangle Christs last Institution and sacrilegiously rob Gods people of one halfe of that heauenly prouision which our Sauiour left for his last and dearest Legacie to his Church for euer as if Christs Ordinance were superfluous or any Shaueling could be wiser than his Redeemer A Religion that depends wholly vpon nice and poore vncertainties and vnproueable supposals that Peter was Bishop of Rome that hâ—e left any heires of his graces and spirit or if any but one in a perpetuall and vnfaileable succession at Rome That hee so bequeathed his infallibilitie to his chaire as that whosoeuer sits in it cannot but speake true that all which sit where he sate must by some secret instinct say as hee taught That what Christ said to him absolutely ere euer Rome was thought of must be referred yea tyed to that place alone and fulfilled in it That Linus or Clemens or Cletus the Schollers and supposed Successors of Peter must bee preferred in the Headship of the Church to Iohn the beloued Apostle then liuing That hee whose life whose pen whose iudgement whose keyes may erre yet in his Pontificall chaire cannot erre That the Golden Line of this Apostolicall Succession in the confusion of so many long desperate Schismes shamefully corrupt Vsurpations and Intrusions yeelded Heresies neither was nor can be broken Denie any of these and Poperie is no Religion Oh the lamentable hazard of so many Millions of poore soules that stand vpon these slipperie
natures and actions of the creature to view them not idly without his vse as they doe him God made all these for man and man for his owne sake Both these purposes were lost if man should let the creatures passe carelesly by him onely seene not thought vpon He only can make benefit of what he sees which if he doe not it is all one as if he were blinde or brute Whence it is that wise Salomon putteth the sluggard to schoole vnto the Ant and our Sauiour sendeth the distrustfull to the Lillie of the field In this kinde was that Meditation of the diuine Psalmist which vpon the view of the glorious frame of the Heauens was led to wonder at the mercifull respect God hath to so poore a creature as man Thus our Sauiour tooke occasion of the water fetcht vp solemnly to the Altar from the Well of Shilo on the day of the great Hosannah to meditate and discourse of the Water of life Thus holy and sweet Augustine from occasion of the water-course neere to his lodging running among the pebbles sometimes more silently sometimes in a baser murmure and sometimes in a shriller note entred into the thought and discourse of that excellent order which God hath setled in all these inferiour things Thus that learned and heauenly soule of our late Estye when we sate together and heard a sweet consort of Musicke seemed vpon this occasion carried vp for the time before-hand to the place of his rest saying not without some passion What Musicke may wee thinke there is in heauen Thus lastly for who knowes not that examples of this kinde are infinite that faithfull and reuerend Deering when the Sunne shined on his face now lying on his death-bed fell into a sweet Meditation of the glory of God and his approching ioy The thoughts of this nature are not only lawfull but so behoouefull that we cannot omit them without neglect of God his creatures our selues The creatures are halfe lost if we only employ them not learne something of them God is wronged if his creatures be vnregarded our selues most of all if we reade this great volume of the creatures and take out no lesson for our instruction CHAP. IV. Cautions of Extemporall Meditation WHerein yet caution is to be had that our meditations bee not either too farre fetcht or sauouring of superstition Farre fetcht I call those which haue not a faire and easie resemblance vnto the matter from whence they are raised in which case our thoughts proue loose and heartlesse making no memorable impression in the minde Superstitious when we make choise of those grounds of Meditation which are forbidden vs as Teachers of Vanitie or imploy our owne deuices though well grounded to an vse aboue their reach making them vpon our owne pleasures not onely furtherances but parts of Gods worship in both which our Meditations degenerate and grow rather perillous to the soule Whereto adde that the minde be not too much cloyed with too frequent iteration of the same thought which at last breeds a wearinesse in our selues and an vnpleasantnesse of that conceit which at the first entertainment promised much delight Our nature is too ready to abuse familiaritie in any kinde and it is with Meditations as with Medicines which with ouer-ordinarie vse lose their soueraignty and fill in stead of purging God hath not straited vs for matter hauing giuen vs the scope of the whole world so that there is no creature euent action speech which may not afford vs new matter of Meditation And that which we are wont to say of fine wits wee may as truly affirme of the Christian heart that it can make vse of any thing Wherefore as trauellers in a forraine countrey make euery sight a lesson so ought wee in this our pilgrimage Thou seest the heauen rolling aboue thine head in a constant and vnmoueable motion the starres so ouerlooking one another that the greatest shew little the least greatest all glorious the aire full of the bottles of raine or fleeces of snow or diuers formes of fiery Exhalations the Sea vnder one vniforme face full of strange and monstrous shapes beneath the earth so adorned with varietie of plants that thou canst not but tread on many at once with euery foot besides the store of creatures that flie aboue it walke vpon it liue in it Thou idle Truant doest thou learne nothing of so many masters Hast thou so long read these capitall letters of Gods great Booke and canst thou not yet spell one word of them The brute creatures see the same things with as cleere perhaps better eies If thine inward eies see not their vse as well as thy bodily eies their shape I know not whether is more reasonable or lesse brutish CHAP. V. DEliberate Meditation is that wee chiefly inquire for Of Meditation deliberate which both may bee well guided and shall be not a little furthered by precepts part whereof the labours of others shall yeeld vs and part the plainest mistresse Experience Wherein first the qualities of the person Of whom is required First that hee bee pure from his sinnes wherein order requires of vs first the qualities of the person fit for meditation then the circumstances manner and proceedings of the worke The hill of Meditation may not be climbed with a prophane foot but as in the deliuery of the Law so here no beast may touch Gods hill lest he die only the pure of heart haue promise to see God Sinne dimmeth and dazeleth the eie that it cannot behold spirituall things The Guard of heauenly Souldiers was about Elishaes seruant before hee saw them not before through the scales of his infidelity The soule must therefore bee purged ere it can profitably meditate And as of old they were wont to search for and thrust out malefactors from the presence ere they went to sacrifice so must we our sins ere we offer our thoughts to God First saith Dauid I will wash my hands in innocencie then I will compasse thine Altar Whereupon not vnfitly did that worthy Chancellour of Paris make the first staire of his Ladder of Contemplation Humble Repentance The cloth that is white which is wont to be the colour of innocencie is capable of any Dye the blacke of none other Not that wee require an absolute perfection which as it is incident vnto none so if it were would exclude all need and vse of Meditation but rather an honest sinceritie of the heart not willingly sinning willingly repenting when we haue sinned which who so findes in himselfe let him not thinke any weaknesse a lawfull barre to Meditation He that pleads this excuse is like some simple man which being halfe starued with cold refuseth to come neere the fire because hee findeth not heat enough in himselfe CHAP. VI. Secondly that he bee free from worldly thoughts NEither may the soule that hopeth to profit by meditation suffer it selfe for the time intangled with the world which
he who all that his hand shall finde to doe doth it with all his power I haue seene indeed the trauell Ec. 3.20 that God hath giuen the sonnes of men to humble them thereby Ec. 1.8 Ec. 3.9 that all things are full of Labour man cannot vtter it But what profit hath he that worketh of the thing wherein he trauelleth Much euery way first Health The sleepe of him that trauelleth Ec. 5.11 Pr. 20.13 Pr. 10.4 Pr. 13.4 Pr. 14.23 Pr. 12.27 is sweet whether hee eat little or much Secondly Wealth Open thine eies and thou shalt be satisfied with bread yea The hand of the diligent maketh rich and his soule shall be fat and not sufficiency onely but in all labour there is abundance but the talke of the lips bringeth want yet more the riches that the diligent man hath are precious 3. Honour A diligent man shall stand before Kings and not before the base sort Pr. 22.19 Pr. 12.24 and The hand of the diligent shall beare rule but the idle shall be vnder tribute §. 18. Slothfulnesse The properties The danger of it Ec. 4.5 Pr. 19.24 THe slothfull is he that foldeth his hands and eateth vp his owne flesh That hideth his hand in his bosome and will not pull it out againe to his mouth That turneth on his bed Pr. 26.24 as a doore turneth on the hinges and saith Yet a little sleepe Pr. 6.10 a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleepe Euery thing that he ought to doe is troublesome The way of the slothfull man is an hedge of thornes which hee is loth to set foot in There is a Lion without saith he I shall bee slaine in the street Pr. 15.19 who although herein he be wiser in his owne conceit Pr. 22.13 Pr. 26.13 Pr. 26.16 Pr. 12.11 Pr. 13.4 Pr. 21.25 Pr. 18.9 Pr. 10.5 Pr. 19.15 Pr. 20.4 Pr. 20.13 Ec. 10.18 than seuen men that can render a reason Yet the truth is hee that so much as followes the idle is destitute of vnderstanding He lusteth indeed and affecteth great things but his soule hath nought so The very desire of the slothfull slayeth him for his hands refuse to worke And not only hee that is slothfull in his worke is brother to him that is a great waster but he that sleepeth and Slothfulnesse causeth to fall asleepe in haruest is the sonne of confusion and He that will not plough because of Winter shall beg in Summer and haue nothing Loue not sleepe therefore lest thou come to pouerty for what is it that hence commeth not to ruine For the house By slothfulnesse the roofe of the house goeth to decay and by idlenesse of the hands Pr. 24.30 Pr. 24.31 the house droppeth thorow For the Land I past by the field of the slothfull and by the Vineyard of the man destitute of vnderstanding and loe it was all growne ouer with thornes and nettles had couered the face of it and the stone wall thereof was broken downe Pr. 24.32 Then I beheld and considered it well I looked vpon it Pr. 10.4 Pr. 6.6 Pr. 6.7 Pr. 6.8 Pr. 6.9 Pr. 24.33 Pr. 6.11 and receiued instruction so in euery respect the slothfull hand maketh poore Goe to the Pismire therefore thou sluggard and behold her wayes and be wise For she hauing no Guide Gouernour nor Ruler prepareth her meat in Summer and gathereth her food in haruest How long wilt thou sleepe O sluggard when wilt thou arise out of thy sleepe Yet a little sleepe yet a little slumber yet a little folding of the hands to sleepe Therefore thy pouerty commeth as a speedy Traueller and thy necessity as an armed man SALOMONS ETHICKS THE FOVRTH BOOKE TEMPERANCE and FORTITVDE Temperance is the moderation of our desires whether in Diet Sobrietie in words and actions Modestie and Humilitie in affections continencie refraining of anger §. 1. Temperance in diet Excesse how dangerous to Body Soule Estate THe temperate in diet is hee that refraineth his appetite Pr. 25.28 Pr. 23.31 Pr. 23.2 Pr. 23.1 Pr. 25.16 Ec. 3.13 that lookes not on the wine when it is red that puts his knife to his throat when hee sits with a Ruler that when hee findes hony eats but that which is sufficient for him lest hee should bee ouer-full It is true that a man eateth and drinketh and seeth the commoditie of all his labour this is the gift of God yea Ec. 5.17 this I haue seene good that it is comely to eat and to drinke and to take pleasure in all his labour wherein hee trauelleth vnder the Sunne Ec. 9.7 Ec. 3 22. Ec. 2 24. Pr. 21.2 Ec. 2.3 Ec. 2.10 Pr. 27.7 Pr. 30.21 Pr. 30.21 the whole number of the daies of his life which God giueth him for this is his portion God allowes vs to eat our bread with ioy and drinke our wine with a cheerefull heart and there is nothing better than this yea there is no profit but this But not that a man should bee giuen to his appetite that hee should seeke in his heart to draw his flesh to wine or that whatsoeuer his eies desire hee should not with-hold it from them Such a man when hee is full despiseth an hony-combe whereas to the hungry euery bitter thing is sweet and in his excesse is outragious One of the three things yea foure Ec. 5.11 Pr. 23.29 for which the earth is moued and cannot sustaine it selfe is a foole when hee is filled with meat Neither doth this prosper with himselfe For his body The satietie of the rich will not suffer him to sleepe To whom is woe to whom is sorrow to whom is murmuring Pr. 23.30 to whom are wounds without cause and to whom is the rednesse of the eies Pr. 23.31 Pr. 23.32 Euen to them that tarry long at the wine to them that goe and seeke mixt wine For his soule Looke not on the wine when it is red Pr. 13.33 and sheweth his colour in the cup or goeth downe pleasantly In the end thereof it will bite like a Serpent and hurt like a Cockatrice Thine eies shall looke vpon the strange woman Pr. 23.34 Pr. 23.35 and thy lips shall speake lewd things and thou shalt be as one that sleepeth in the middest of the Sea and as hee that sleepeth in the top of the mast they haue stricken mee shalt thou say but I was not sicke they haue beaten me Pr. 25.28 Pr. 23.20 but I knew not when I awoke therefore will I seeke it yet still For his estate He is like a citie which is broken downe and without walls Keepe not company therefore with drunkards nor with gluttons for the glutton and drunkard shall bee poore Pr. 20.1 and the sleeper shall be clothed with rags and in all these Wine is a mocker and strong drinke is raging and whosoeuer is deceiued thereby is not wise §. 2. Modestie In words what it requires
our righteousnesse that must be wherein they failed and we must exceed They failed then in their Traditions and Practise May I say they failed when they exceeded Their Traditions exceeded in number and prosecution faulty in matter To runne well but out of the way according to the Greeke prouerbe is not better than to stand still Fire is an excellent thing but if it be in the top of the chimney it doth mischiefe rather It is good to be zealous in spight of all scoffes Gal. 4.13 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a good thing If they had beene as hot for God as they were for themselues it had beene happy but now in vaine they worship mee saith our Sauiour teaching for doctrines the Traditions of men Hence was that axiome receiued currantly amongst their Iewish followers There is more in the words of the wise than in the words of the Law More Plus est in verbis sapienâ—um quam in verbis legis Galatin Serarius Non malè comparaâ—i Pharisaeos Catholicis that is more matter more authority and from this principally arises and continues that mortall quarrell betwixt them and their Karraim and Minim vnto this day A great Iesuite at least that thinks himselfe so writes thus in great earnest The Pharises saith he may not vnfitly be compared to our Catholicks Some men speake truth ignorantly some vnwillingly Caiaphas neuer spake truer when he meant it not one egge is not liker to another than the Tridentine Fathers to these Pharises in this point besides that of free-will merit full performance of the Law which they absolutely receiued from them For marke Pari pietatis affecta reuerentia Trans iones vna cum libris veteris noui Testamentisâ— spicimus veneramâ—r Decr. 1. Sess 4. Nolo verba quae scripta non sunt legt With the same reuerence and deuotion doe we receiue and respect Traditions that wee doe the Bookes of the Old and New Testament say those Fathers in their fourth Session Heare both of these speake and see neither if thou canst discerne whether is the Pharise refuse me in a greater truth Not that we did euer say with that Arrian in Hilarie Wee debarre all words that are not written or would thinke fit with those phanaticall Anabaptists of Munster that all bookes should be burnt besides the Bible some Traditions must haue place in euery Church but Their place they may not take wall of Scripture Substance may not in our valuation giue way to circumstance God forbid If any man expect that my speech on this opportunity should descend to the discourse of our contradicted ceremonies let him know that I had rather mourne for this breach than meddle with it God knowes how willingly I would spend my self into perswasions if those would auaile any thing but I well see that teares are fitter for this Theame than words The name of our mother is sacred and her peace precious As it was a true speech cited from that Father by Bellarmine Bellum Hereticorum pax est Ecclesiae ex Hilario Bellar. The war of Hereticks is the peace of the Church so would God our experience did not inuert it vpon vs The war of the Church is the peace of Hereticks Our discord is their musicke our ruine their glory On what a sight is this Brethren striue while the enemy stands still and laughs and triumphs If we desired the griefe of our common mother the languishing of the Gospell the extirpation of Religion the losse of posterity the aduantage of our aduersaries which way could these be better effected than by our dissentions Iscâ—â—â—â— That Spanish Prophet in our Age for so I finde him stiled when King Philip asked him how hee might become master of the Low-Countries answered If he could diuide them from themselues According to that old Machiuellian principle of our Iesuites Diuide and Rule And indeed it is concord onely as the Poesie or Mot of the vnited States runs which hath vpheld them in a rich and flourishing estate against so great and potent enemies Concordiâ res paruae crescunt c. Our Aduersaries already brag of their victories and what good heart can but bleed to see what they haue gained since we dissented to fore-see what they will gaine They are our mutuall spoiles that haue made them proud and rich Nostrâ miseriâ tu es magnus de Pomp. Mimus If you euer therefore looke to see the good dayes of the Gospell the vnhorsing and confusion of that strumpet of Rome for Gods sake for the Churches sake for our owne soules sake let vs all compose our selues to peace and loue Oh pray for the peace of Ierusalem that peace may be within her wals and prosperity within her palaces For the matter of their Traditions our Sauiour hath taxed them in many particulars about washings oathes offerings retribution whereof he hath said enough when hee hath termed their doctrine the Leauen of the Pharises that is sowre and swelling Saint Hierome reduces them to two heads In Matth. 23. They were Turpia anilia some so shamefull that they might not bee spoken others idle and dotish both so numerous that they cannot be reckoned Take a taste for all and to omit their reall Traditions heare some of their interpretatiue Praec Mos cum expos Rab. The Law was that no Leper might come into the Temple their Tradition was if he were let downe thorow the roofe this were no irregularity The Law was Ibid. a man might not carry a burden on the Sabbath their Traditionall glosse Ibid. if he carried ought on one shoulder it was a burden if on both none If shoes alone no burden if with nailes not tolerable Their stint of a Sabbaths iourney was a thousand cubits their glosse was That this is to bee vnderstood without the wals but if a man should walke all day thorow a Citie as big as Ninene hee offends not The Church of Rome shall vie strange glossems and ceremonious obseruations with them Sacrarum Ceremoniarum lib. 1. accipit de gremic Camerarij pecuniam vbi nihil tamen est argenti spargensque in populos dicit AuruÌ„ argentum non est mihi quod auteÌ„ habeo hoc tibi do CanoÌ„ Poenitential pag. 1. Numb 12. Ezec. 4. Luc. 5. Otho Frisingensis in praefat In Matth. 23. whether for number or for ridiculousnesse The day would faile mee if I should either epitomize the volume of their holy rites or gather vp those which it hath omitted The new elected Pope in his solemne Lateran procession must take copper money out of his Chamberlaines lap and scatter it among the people and say Gold and siluer haue I none Seauen yeeres penance is enioyned to a deadly sinne because Miriam was separated seuen dayes for her leprosie and God saies to Ezekiel I haue giuen thee a day for a yeere Christ said to Peter Lanch forth into the deepe
vnholy places vnholy garments persons beasts fowles vessels touches tastes Vnder the Gospell all is holy All was made vnholy when the first Adam sinned when the second Adam satisfied for sinne all was made holy Moses the seruant built his house with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 2.14 A partition wall in the midst Christ the Sonne pulled downe that screene and cast all into one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iewes and Gentiles whole hoofes and clonen dwell now both vnder a roofe Moses branded some creatures with vncleannesse he that redeemed his children from morall impuritie redeemed his creatures from legall What should S. Peters great sheâ— let downe by foure corners teach us but that all creatures through the foure corners of the world are cleane and holy S. Paul proclaimes the summe of Peters vision Omnia munda mundis It is an iniurious scrupulousnesse to make differences of creatures iniurious to God to the creature to our selues To God while we will not let him serue himselfe of his owne To the creature while wee powre that shame vpon it which God neuer did To our selues while wee bring our selues into bondage where God hath inlarged vs. When Iulian had poysoned the wells and shambles and fields with his heathenish Lustrations the Christians saith Theodores are freely of all by vertue of PAVLS Quicquid in macellâ— To let passe the idle curiousnesse of our Semi-Anabaptists of the feparation at whose folly if any man bee disposed to make himselfe sport let him reade the Tragicomicall relation of the Troubles Excommunication of the English at Amsterdam There shall hee see such warres waged betwixt brothers for but a buske or whale-bone or lace or cork-shooe as if all Law and Gospell stood vpon this point as if heauen and earth were little enough to be mingled in this quarrell Nec gemina bellum Troianum To passe ouer all other lighter nicenesse of this kinde Who can choose but be ashamed of the Church of Rome which is here in a double extremitie both grosse In denying wiping out holinesse where God hath written it and in writing it where God hath not written it In the first how doe they driue out Deuils out of good creatures by foolish exorcismes I would hee were no more in themselues How doe they forbid meats drinks dayes mariage which God hath written holy Hee that reades Nauâ—rs Manuall shall finde cholericke blasphemie a veniall sinne pag. 91. some theft veniall p. 140. Common lying veniall p. 191. Cursing of parents if not malicious veniall p. 100. and yet the same Author chap. 21. nu 11. p. 209. to eat of a forbidden dish or an allowed dish more than once on a forbidden day is a mortall sinne And now these venials saith Francis a Victoria by a Pater-noster or sprinkling of holy water or knocke of the breast are cleared but that mortall eater is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guiltie of iudgement yea of hell it selfe Scribes Pharisies Hypocrites which prate of Peters chaire but will neuer take out Peters lesson That which God hath sanctified pollute thou not In the other What Holinesse doe they write in religious Cowles Altars Reliques Ashes Candles Oyles Salts Waters Ensignes Roses Words Graines Agnus Dei Medalls and a world of such trash So much that they haue left none in themselues Let mee haue no faith if euer play-booke were more ridiculous than their Pontificall and booke of holy Ceremonies It is well that Ierome reads these words super froenum not super Tintinnabulum Else what a rule should wee haue had tho hee had said Equorum not Templorum What comparisons would haue beene If Holinesse to the Lord must bee written on the bells of Horses much more on the bells of Churches What a colour would this haue beene for the washing anointing blessing christening of them What a warrant for driuing away Deuils chasing of ghosts stilling of tempests staying of thunders yea deliuering from Tentations which the Pontificall ascribes to them By whose account there should be more vertue in this peece of metall than in their holy Father himselfe yea than in any Angell of heauen But their vulgar bridles them in this which reads it super froenum which some superstitious man would say were fulfilled in Constantines snaffle made of the nailes that pierced Christ How worthie are they in the meane time of the whip not of men onely but of God which thus in a ridiculous presumption write Holinesse where God would haue a blanke and wipe out Holinesse where God hath written it For vs there is a double holinesse for vse for vertue All things are holy to vs for vse nothing is holy for vertue of sanctification but those things which God hath sanctified to this vertue his Word his Sacraments We may vse the other and put no holinesse in them we must vse these and expect holinesse from them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing vncleane is Peters rule but with Pauls explication Munda mundis All things are cleane in themselues to thee they are not cleane vnlesse thou be cleane Mine owne clothes shall make me filthy saith Iob. 9.31 Many a one may say so more iustly The proud mans gay coat the wanton womans beastly fashions both shew them to be vncleane and make them so But the lewd man makes his owne clothes filthy his meats drinks sports garments are vncleane to him because he is vncleane to God they are cursed to him because he is cursed of God God hath written on the outside of his creatures Holy to the Lord wee write on the inside Vnholy to men because our outside and inside is vnholy to God yea we doe not onely deface this inscription of holinesse in other creatures toâ—â—â— but wee will not let God write it vpon vs for himselfe O our miserie and shame All things else are holy Men Christians are vnholy There is no impuritie but where is Reason and Faith the grounds of Holinesse How oft would God haue written this title vpon our foreheads and ere he can haue written one full word we blot out all One sweares it away another drinks it away a third scoffs it away a fourth riots it away a fift swaggers it away and I would to God it were vncharitable to say that there is as much holinesse in the Bridles of the Horses as in some of their Riders Oh holinesse the riches of the Saints the beautie of Angels the delight of God whither hast thou withdrawne thy selfe where should we finde thee if not among Christians and yet how can we be or be named Christians without thee I see some that are afraid to be too holy and I see but some that feare to be too prophane We are all Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 1.2 All by calling and some but by calling By calling of men not of God As the Church of Rome hath some Saints which are questioned whether euer they were in nature others whether they be not in Hell burning Tapers to
sinnes be not attributed to them Thirdly That the Church bee not troubled with their multitude Aug. Epist 86. In his enim rebus de quibus nihil certâ— statuiâ— Scriptura Diuina mos populi Dei vel instituta matorum pro lege tuâ—â—da sunt Liuius Dcca l. 4 Nulla lex sâ—tis â—â—â—moda omnibus est id modo quaeritâ—â— si matorâ— partâ— in suâ—â—â—ma proâ—est Fourthly that they be not decreed as necessarie and not to be changed And lastly that men be not so tied to them but that by occasion they may bee omitted so it be without offence and contempt you see our limits but your feare is in this last contrary to his He stands vpon offence in omitting you in vsing As if it were a iust offence to displease a beholder no offence to displease and violate authoritie What Law could euer be made to offend none Wise Cato might haue taught you this in Liuie that no Law can bee commodious to all Those lips which preserue knowledge must impart so much of it to their hearers as to preuent their offence Neither must Law-giuers euer foresee what constructions will be of their Lawes but what ought to bee Those things which your Consistory imposes may you keepe them if you list Is not the willing neglect of your owne Parlour-Decrees punished with Excommunication And now what is all this to infallibility The sacred Synod determines these indifferent Rites for decencie and comlinesse to be vsed of those whom it concernes therefore it arrogates to it selfe infallibilitie A conclusion fit for a Separatist Cum consedissent sancti â—cligiosi Episcopi â—in Tom. 1. p. 239. Sancta Synod Câ—rthagi 4. sub Anastasio 553. Sancta Pacifica Synod Antiochen 1. p. â—20 Sancta Dei Apostolica Synodus 413. Peruenit ad Sanctam Synodum Can. Nic. 18 309. Sancta Synod Laodâ—ccoâ— 288. You stumble at the Title of Sacred euery straw lies in your way your Calepine could haue taught you that Houses Castles Religious businesses old age it selfe haue this stile giuen them And Virgil vittasque resoluit Sacrati capitis no Epithere is more ordinary to Councells and Synods The reason whereof may be fetched from that Inscription of the Elibertine Synod of those nineteene Bishops is said When the holy and Religious Bishops were set How few Councels haue not had this Title To omit the late The Holy Synod of Carthage vnder Anastasius The Holy and peaceable Synod at Antioch The Holy Synod of God and Apostolicall at Rome vnder Iulius The Holy and great Synod at Nice and not to bee endlesse The Holy Synod of Laodicea though but prouinciall What doe these Idle exceptions argue but want of greater SEP To let passe your Ecclesiasticall Consistories wherein sinnes and absolutions from them are as veniall and saleable as at Rome Is it not a Law of the Eternall God that the Ministers of the Gospell the Bishops or Elders should bee apt and able to teach 1 Timoth. 3.2 Titus 1.9 and is it not their grieuous sinne to bee vnapt hereunto Esa 56.10 11. And yet who knoweth not that the Patrons amongst you present that the Bishops institute the Archdeacons induct the Churches receiue and the Lawes both Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall allow and iustifie Ministers vnapt and vnable to teach Is it not a Law of the Eternall God that the Elders should feed the stock ouer which they are set labouring amongst them in the Word and Doctrine Acts 20.28 1 Pet. 5.1 2. And is it not sin to omit this duty Plead not for Baall Your Dispensations for Non-residencie and Pluralities of Benefices as for two three or more yea tot quot as many as a man will haue or can get are so many Dispensations with the Lawes of God and sinnes of men These things are too impious to bee defended and too manifest to bee denied SECTION XXXIII SOME great men when they haue done ill out-face their shame with enacting Lawes to make their sins lawfull While you thus charge our practise Sinnes fold in our Courts you bewray your owne Who hauing separated from Gods Church deuise slanders to colour your sinne Wee must bee shamfull that you may bee innocent You load our Ecclesiasticall Consistories with a shamelesse reproach Farre bee it from vs to iustifie any mans personall sinnes yet it is safer sinning to the better part Fie on these odious comparisons sinnes as saleable as at Rome Who knowes not that to be the Marâ— of all the World Periuries Murders Treasons are there bought and sold when euer in ours The Popes coffers can easily confute you alone What tell you vs of these let me tell you Mony is as fit an aduocate in a Consistorie as fauour or malice These some of yours haue complained of as bitterly as you of ours As if we liked the abuses in Courts G. Iohns Trouble and Excommunications at Amsterdam as if corrupt executions of wholesom Lawes must bee imputed to the Church whose wrongs they are No lesse hainous nor more true in that which followeth True Elders not yours should be indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This wee call for as vehemently not so tumultuously as yourselues That they should feed their Flockes with Word and Doctrine we require more than you That Patrons present Bishops institute Arch-Deacons induct some which are unable we grant and bewaile But that our Church-Lawes iustifie them wee deny and you slander For our Law if you know not requires that euery one to bee admitted to the Ministery should vnderstand the Articles of Religion Can. 34. not only as they are compendiously set downe in the Creed but as they are at large in our Booke of Articles neither vnderstand them onely but be able to proue them sufficiently out of the Scripture and that not in English onely but in Latine also This competencie would proue him for knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If this bee not performed blame the persons cleere the Law Profound Master Hooker tels you that both Arguments from light of Nature Lawes and Statutes of Scripture the Canons that are taken out of ancient Synods M. Hookers fift booke of Ecclesiasticall Politic. Pag. 26.3 the Decrees and Constitutions of sincerest times the sentences of all antiquity and in a word euery mans full consent and conscience is against ignorance in them that haue charge and cure of soules And in the same booke Did any thing more aggrauate the crime of Ieroboams Apostasie than that he chose to haue his Clergie the scumme and refuse of his whole Land Let no man spare to tell it them D. Dâ—wnâ—m of the office and dignitie of the Ministery Counterpoys pag. 179. Dist 34. Can. Lector Papa potest contra Apostolum dispensare Caus 25. q. 1. Can. sunt quidaÌ„ Dispensat in Euangelio c. De concess praebend Tit. 8. Ca. they are not faithfull towards God that burden wilfully his Church with such swarmes of vnworthy Creatures Neither is
you thus Why doth the same Prayer written adde to the Word which spoken addeth not Because conceiued Prayer is commanded not the other But first not your particular Prayer Secondly without mention either of conception or memorie God commands vs to pray in spirit and with the heart These circumstances onely as they are deduced from his Generals so are ours But whence soeuer it please you to fetch our Booke of publike Prayer from Rome or Hell or to what Image soeuer you please to resemble it Let moderate spirits heare what the pretious IEVVEL of England saith of it We haue come as neere as we could to the Church of the Apostles Apolog. p. 170. Accessimus c. H. Burr against Gyfford c. neither onely haue we framed our Doctrine but also our Sacraments and the forme of publike Prayers according to their Rites and Institutions Let no Iew now obiect Swines-flesh to vs He is no iudicious man that I may omit the mention of Cranmer Bucer Ridley Taylor c. some of whose hands were in it all whose voyces were for it with whom one IEWEL will not ouer-weigh ten thousand Separatists SEP The number of Sacraments seemes greater amongst you by one at the least than Christ hath left in his Testament and that is Marriage which howsoeuer you doe not in expresse termes call a Sacrament no more did Christ and the Apostles call Baptisme and the Supper Sacraments yet doe you in truth create it a Sacrament in the administration and vse of it There are the parties to bee married and their marriage representing Christ and his Church and their spirituall vnion to which mysterie saith the Oracle of your Seruice-Booke expresly God hath consecrated them there is the Ring hallowed by the said Seruice-Booke whereon it must bee laid for the Element there are the words of consecration In the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost there is the place the Church the time vsually the Lords day the Minister the Parish Priest And being made as it is a part of Gods Worship and of the Ministers office what is it if it be not a Sacrament It is a part of Prayer or preaching and with a Sacrament it hath the greatest consimilitude but an Idoll I am sure it is in the celebration of it being made a Ministeriall duty and part of Gods worship without warrant call it by what name you will SECTION XXXVIII HOw did Confirmation escape this number how did Ordination Marriage not made a Sacrament by the Church of England it was your ouer-sight I feare not your charitie some things seeme and are not such is this your number of our Sacraments you will needs haue vs take-in marriage into this ranke why so wee doe not you confesse call it a Sacrament as the vulgar misinterpreting Pauls Mysterium Eph. 5. why should we not if we so esteemed it wherfore â—erue names but to denotate the nature of things if wee were not ashamed of the opinion we could not be ashamed of the word No more say you did Christ and his Apostles call Baptisme and the Supper Sacraments but we doe and you with vs See now whether this clause doe not confute your last where hath Christ euer said There are two Sacraments Yet you dare say so what is this but in your sense an addition to the word yea we say flatly there are but two yet we doe you say in truth create it a Sacrament how oft and how resolutely hath our Church maintained against Rome that none but Christ immediately can create Sacraments If they had this aduantage against vs how could we stand How wrongfull is this force to fasten an opinion vpon our Church which she hath condemned But wherein stands this our creation It is true the parties to bee married and their marriage represent Christ and his Church and their spirituall vnion Beware lest you strike God through our sides what hath Gods Spirit said either lesse or other then this Eph. 5.25 26 27 32. Doth he not make Christ the husband the Church his Spouse Doth he not from that sweete coniunction and the effects of it argue the deare respects that should bee in marriage Or what doth the Apostle aâ—â—nde else-where vnto when hee saies as Moses of Eue wee are flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone And how famous amongst the ancient is that resemblance of Eue taken out of Adams side sleeping to the Church taken out of Christs side sleeping on the Crosse Since marriage therefore so clearely represents this mysterie and this vse is holy and sacred what error is it to say that marriage is consecrated to this mysterie But what is the Element The Ring These things agree not you had before made the two parties to bee the matter of this sacrament What is the matter of the Sacrament but the Element If they be the matter they are the Element and so not the Ring both cannot be If you will make the two parties to be but the receiuers how doth all the mysterie lie in their representation Or if the Ring be the Element then all the mysterie must be in the Ring not in the parties Labor to bee more perfect ere you make any more new Sacraments but this Ring is laid vpon the Seruice-booke why not For readinesse not for holinesse Nay but it is hallowed you say by the booke If it bee a Sacramentall Element it rather hallowes the booke than the booke it you are not mindfull enough for this trade But what exorcismes are vsed in this hallowing Or who euer held it any other than a ciuill pledge of fidelitie Then follow the words of Consecration I pray you what difference is there betwixt hallowing and consecration The Ring was hallowed before the booke now it must be consecrated How iâ—ely By what words In the name of the Father c. These words you know are spoken after the Ring is put on was it euer heard of that a SacrameÌ„tall Element was consecrated after it was applied See how-il your slanders are digested by you The place is the Church the time is the Lords day the Minister is the actor and is it not thus in all â—â—her reformed Churches aswell as ours Behold wee are not alone all Churches in the world if this will doe it are guiltie of three Sacraments Tell me would you not haue marriage solemnized publikely You cannot mislike though your founder seemes to require nothing heere but notice giuen to witnesses then to bed Well if publike Brâ— state of Christians 17â— you account it withall a graue and weighty businesse therefore such as must be sanctified by publike praier What place is fitter for publike praier than the Church Who is fitter to offer vp the publike prayer than the Minister who should rather ioyne the parties in Mariage than the publike deputy of that God who solemnly ioyned the first couple who rather than hee which in the
carrie it The Church of Rome hath beene ancient not the errors neither doe we in ought differ from it wherein it is not departed from it selfe I did not more feare your wearinesse than my owne forgetting the measure of a Preface I would passe through euery point of difference betwixt vs and let you see in all particulars which is the old way and make you know that your Popish Religion doth but put on a borrowed visour of grauitie vpon this Stage to out-face true antiquitie Yet lest you should complaine of words let mee without your tediousnesse haue leaue but to instance in the first of all Controuersies betwixt vâ— offering the same proofe in all which you shall see performed in one I compare the iudgement of the ancient Church with yours see therefore and bee ashamed of your noueltie Especially Toby Iudeth Wisd of Salomon Ecclesiasticus Maccabees Euseb l. 4. c. 25. Exposit Symboli veteris instrumenti primi omnium Mosis quinque libri c. Haec sunt quae patres intra Cánonem concluserunt ex quibus fidei nostrae assertiones c. Alij libri sunt qui non Canonici c. First our question is Whether all those bookes which in our Bibles are stiled Apocryphall and are put after the rest by themselues are to be receiued as the true Scriptures of God Heare first the voice of the old Church to let passe that cleare and pregnant testimonie of MELITO SARDENSIS in his Epistle to ONESIMVS cited by EVSEBIVS Let CYPRIAN or RVFFINVS rather speake in the name of all Of the old Testament saith he first were written the fiue bookes of MOSES Genesis Exodus Leuiticus Numbers Deuteronomie after these the booke of IOSHVAH the Son of NVN and that of the Iudges together of RVTH after which were the foure bookes of the Kings which the Hebrewes reckon but two of the Chronicles which is called the booke of Dayes and of EzRA are two bookes which of them are accounted but single and the booke of ESTER Of the Prophets there is ESAY HIEREâ—â—E EzEKIEL and DANIEL and besides one booke which containes the twelue smaller Prophets Also IOB the Psalmes of DAVID are single books of SALOMON there are three books deliuered to the Church the Prouerbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs In these they haue shut vp the number of the bookes of the old Testament Of the new there are foure Gospels of MATTHEVV MARKE LVKE and IOHN the Acts of the Apostles written by LVKE of PAVL the Apostle fourteene Epistles of the Apostle PETER two Epistles of IAMES the LORDS brother and Apostle one of IVDE one of IOHN three Lastly the Reuelation of IOHN These are they which the Fathers haue accounted within the Canon by which they would haue the assertions of our faith made good But we must know there are other bookes which are called of the Ancients not Canonicall but Ecclesiastical as the Wisedome of SALOMON another Book of Wisedome which is called of IESVS the sonne of SIRACH which book of the Latines is termed by a generall name Ecclesiastiâ—us of the same ranke is the book of TOBY and IVDETH and the bookes of the Maccabees Thus farre that Father so HIEROME after that he hath reckoned vp the same number of bookes with vs in their order hath these words This Prologue of mine saith hee may serue as a well defenced enâ—rance to all the bookes which I haue turned out of Hebrew into Latine In prologâ— gâ— to Tem. 3. p. 6. Hic prologus Scripturam quasi GaleatuÌ„ principium omnibus libris quos de Hebraeo c. Vt scire valeamê° quicquid extra bos est inter apocrypha esse ponendum igitur Sapientia quae vulgo Salomonis inscribitur Iesu c. non sunt in Canone c. Euseb l. 6. c. 24. Haud ignoranduÌ„ autem fuerit veteris instrum libros sicut Hebraei tradunt 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec sunt Apocrythae Iesus Sapientia Pastor MaccabaeoruÌ„ libri Iudeth atque Tobia Hugo Card. Concil Trident. Decr. de Canon Script April 8. promulg in quar Sessione SacroruÌ„ vero librorum indicem huic decreto adscribendum censuit c. Sunt autem infra scripti Testamenti veteris quinque libri Mosis c. Tobias Iudeth Sapientia Salomonis Ecclesiasticus Maccab. 2. Si quis autem libros ipsos integres cum omnibê° suis partibus pro vt in Ecclesia Catholica legi consueuerunt in veteri vulgata Latina Editione habenter pro sacrit canonicis non susceperit Anathema sit Aug. de Ciuit. Dei l. 15. c. 13. Sed quomodo libet istud accipiatur c. Ei linguae potius credatur vnde est in aliam facta translatio Ludouic Viues ibid. Hoc ipsum Hieronymus clamat vbique â—c ips◠〈◊〉 ratio c. Sed frustra honorum ingraciorum consensus hoc dâ—cet Hieron l. 3 â—â—m in Esaiam Quod si aliquis dixerit Hebraeos libros pesâ— Ã Iudâ— falsatos c. Sâ— autem dixerint post aduentum Domini saluatoris c. Hebraeos libros fuisse falsatos cachiâ—num tenere non poteâ— vt salâ—r Apostoli c. cap. 6. Decr. p. 1. dist 9. c. vt veterum Vt veterum librorum fides de Hebraeis voluminibus examinanda est ita nouerum Graeci sermonis normam defiderat Ad Decr. p. 1. d. 19. c. 3. Ad diuina reâ—urre scripta Graeca that we may know that whatsoeuer is besides these is Apocryphall therefore that booke which is intituled Salomons Wisdome and the booke of Iesus the sonne of Syrach and Iudeth and Tobias and Pastor are not Canonicall the first booke of the Macabees I haue found in Hebrew the second in Greeke which booke saith hee indeede the Church readeth but receiueth not as Canonicall The same reckoning is made by Origen in Eusebius word for word The same by Epiphanius by Cyrill by Athanasius Gregorie Nazianzen Damascen yea by Lyranus both Hugoes Caietan Carthusian and Montanus himselfe c. All of them with full consent reiecting these same Apocryphall bookes with vs. Now heare the present Church of Rome in her owne words thus The holy Synode of Trent hath though good to set downe with this Decree a iust Catalogue of bookes of holy Scripture lest any man should make doubt which they bee which are receiued by the Synode And they are these vnder-written Of the Old Testament fiue bookes of MOSES then IOSHVAH the Iudges RVTH foure bookes of the Kings two of the Chronicles two of ESDRAS the first and the second which is called NEHEMIAS TOBIAS IVDETH ESTER IOB the Psalter of DAVID containing one hundred and fiftie Psalmes The Prouerbs of SALOMON Ecclesiastes the Song of Songs the booke of Wisdome Ecclesiasticus ESAY HIEREMIE c. two bookes of the Maccabees the first and the second And if any man shall not receiue these whole bookes with all the parts of them as they are wont to
be read in the Catholike Church and as they are had in the old vulgar Latine Edition for holy and Canonicall let him be accursed Thus she Iudge you now of our age and say whether the opinion of the ancient Church that is ours be not a direct enemie to Popery and flatly accursed by the Romish Passe on yet a little further Our question is whether the Hebrew and Greeke Originals be corrupted and whether those first Copies of Sciptures be not to be followed aboue all Translations Heare first the ancient Church with vs But saith Saint AVGVSTINE how soeuer it be taken whether it be beleeued to bee so done or not beleeued or lastly whether it were so or not so I hold it a right course that when any thing is found different in either bookes the Hebrew and Septuagint since for the certaintie of things done there can be but one truth that tongue should rather be beleeued from whence the Translation was made into another language Vpon which words LVDOVICVS VIVES yet a Papist saith thus The same saith he doth HIEROM proclaime euery where and reason it selfe teacheth it and there is none of found iudgement that will gainsay it but in vain doth the consent of all good wits teach this for the stubborne blockishnesse of men opposeth against it Let HIEROM himselfe then a greater Linguist be heard speake And if there bee any man saith he that will say the Hebrew bookes were afterwards corrupted by the Iewes let him heare ORIGEN what he answeres in the eight volume of his explanations of ESAY to this question that the Lord and his Apostles which reproue other faults in the Scribes and Pharises would neuer haue beene silent in this which were the greatest crime that could be But if they say that the Hebrewes falsified them after the comming of Christ and Preaching of the Apostles I cannot hold from laughter that our Sauiour and the Euangelists and Apostles should so cite testimonies of Scripture as the Iewes would afterwards depraue them Thus IEROME And the Canon law it selfe hath this determination that the truth and credit of the bookes of the old Testament should bee examined by the Hebrew Volumes of the new by the Greeke And Pope INNOCENTIVS as he is cited by GRATIAN could say Haue recourse to the diuine Scriptures in their Original Greeke The same lastly by BELLARMINES owne confession Bellar. l. de verb. Dei 2. cap. 11. §. 3. the Fathers teach euery where As IEROME in his booke against HELVIDIVS and in his Epistle to MARCELLA that the Latine Edition of the Gospell is to be called backe to the Greeke fountaines and the Latine Edition of the old Testament is to be amended by the Hebrew in his Comment vpon ZACHARY 8. The very same hath AVSTEN in his second booke of Christian doctrine Chap. 11.12.15 and Epist 19. and elsewhere This was the old Religion and ours now heare the new The present Church of Rome hath thus The holy Synod decreeth that the old vulgar Latine Edition in all Lectures Dispuations Sermons Expositions be held for Authenticall saith the Councell of Trent And her Champion BELLARMINE hath these words That the fountaine of the Originals in many places runne muddy and impure wee haue formerly shewed and indeede it can scarce be doubted Accedit quod patres passim docent ad fontes Hebraeos Graeces esse recurrendum Hieron in lib. contr Heluid in Epist ad Marcellam c. Concil Trid. sess 4. Sacrosancta Synodus statuit vt haec ipsa vetus c. pro authentica habeatur Bell de verb. l. 2. c. 11. Nunc autem fontes multis in locis turbidos fluere c. Omnino contendunt Iudaeos in odium Christianae relig studiose deprauasse ita docet Iacobus Christop litanus Canus c. Bell. 2. de verb. Dei p. 100. So Raynolds in his refutation pag. 303. against Isaac Valla Andradius Monta c. Haeretici huius temporis odio vulgatae editionis nimium tribuunt editiâ—i Hebraicae c. omnia exaâ—â—nari vâ—lunt ad Hebraeum textum quem non semel purissimum fontem appellant Bell. l. 2. de verb. c. 2. Epiphan contr Anomaeos Haeres 76. Omnia sunt clara lucida c. Basil in Ascet oâ— Regul breuiores quae ambiguè obscurê videntur dici in quibusdam locis sacrae script reg 267. Aug. Ep. 3. Non tenta in scriptâ—â—is difficultate perueniter ad ea quae necessaria sunt saluti c. Aug. de doctr Christ l. 2. c. 9. In ijs quae â—pertè in scriptura positá siâ—â—t invenâ—tur illa 〈◊〉 quae continent fidem moresque vinendi Magnificè salubriter spirit sanctui ita script c. De doctr Christ lib. 2. cap. 4. Aug. Epist 3. Modus ipse dicendi quo sancta Scriptura c. Sed invitat omnes humili sermone but that as the Latine Church hath beene more constant in keeping the faith than the Greeke so it hath beene more vigilant in defending her bookes from corruption Yea some of the Popish Doctors maintaine that the Iewes in hatred of the Christian faith did on purpose corrupt many places of Scripture so holds GREGORY de VALENTIA IACOBVS CHRISTOPOLITANVS in his Preface to the Psalmes CANVS in the second booke of his common places But in stead of all BELLARMINE shall shut vp all with these words The Heretikes of this time in hatred of the vulgar Edition giue too much to the Hebrew Edition as CALVIN CHEMNITIVS GEORGIVS MAIOR All which would haue euery thing examined and amended by the Hebrew text which they commonly call a most pure fountaine See now whether that which BELLARMINE confesses to haue bin the Iudgement of HIEROME AVSTEN and all the ancient Fathers be not here condemned by him as the opinion of the Heretikes Ours was theirs and theirs is condemned vnder our names Iudge whether in this also Popery be not an vpstart Yet one step more Our question is whether the Scripture be easie or most obscure and whether in all essentiall poynts it doe not interpret it selfe so as what is hard in one place is openly laid forth in another Heare the Iudgment of the old Church and ours All things are cleare and plaine and nothing contrary in the Scriptures saith EPIPHANIVS Those things which seeme doubtfully and obscurely spoken in some places of Scripture are expounded by them which in other places are open and plaine saith BASIL What could CALVIN and LVTHER say more There is no so great hardnesse in the Scriptures to come to those things which are necessary to saluation saith AVSTEN In those things which are openly laid downe in Scripture are found all those things which containe our faith and rules of our life saith the same Father who yet againe also saith thus The Spirit of God hath Royally and wholsomely tempered the holy Scriptures so as both by the plaine places he might preuent our hunger and by the
there are that lurke in secret and will not be confessed How loth would we bee after all exclamations that your busie Iesuites could rake out so many confessed quarrels out of all our Authors as I haue heere found in two of yours We want onely their cunning secrecy in the carriage of our quarrels Our few and slight differences are blazoned abroad with infamy and offence their hundreds are craftily smothered in silence Let your owne eyes satisfie you in this not my pen see now what you would neuer beleeue What is it then that could thus bewitch you to forsake the comely and heauenly Truth of God and to dote vpon this beastly Strumpet to change your Religion for a ridiculous sensuall cruell irreligious faction A Religion if wee must call it so that made sport to our plaine forefathers with the remembrance of her grauest deuotions How oft haue you seene them laugh at themselues whiles they haue told of their creeping-crouch kissing the Pax offering their Candles signing with Ashes partiall Shrifts merry Pilgrimages ridiculous Miracles and a thousand such May-games which now you begin after this long hissing at to looke vpon soberly and with admiration A Religion whose fooleries very Boyes may shout and laugh at if for no more but this that it teaches men to put confidence in Beades Medals Roses hallowed Swords Spels of the Gospell Agnes Dei and such like idle bables ascribing vnto them Diuine vertue yea so much as is due to the Sonne of God himselfe and his precious bloud I speake not of some rude Ignorants your very Booke of holy-ceremonies shall teach you what your holy-fathers doe and haue done That tels you first with great allowance and applause that Pope VRBAN the fift sent three Agnes Dei to the Greeke Emperor with these verses Balsam pure wax and Chrismes-liquor cleere Balsamus munda cerae cum Chrismatis vnda conficiunt AgnuÌ„ quod munus de tibi magnuÌ„ c. Fulgura de coelo c. Peccatum frangit vt Christi sanguis angit c. Sacr. Cerem lib. 1. Vt ea quae in hoc equaruÌ„ vesculo praeparato ad nominis tui gloriaÌ„ infundere decreuimê° benedicas quatenus ipsoruÌ„â— veneratione honore nobis famulis tuis crimina diluantur abster gentur maculae peccatorum iâ—petrentur veniae gratia conferantur vt tandem vna cum sanctis electis tuis vitam percipere mereaâ—ur aeternam Fran. a Victoria Ordin Praedicatorum Sum. Sacram art 184. p. 204. Sed quod faciet Confessor cum interrogatur de peccato c. Respondes secundum omnes quod sic Sed fac quod Index aut praelatus ex malitia exigat à me iuramentuÌ„ an sciam in Confessione Respondeo quod coactus iuret se nescire in confessura quia intelligitur senescire ad reuelandum aut taliter quod possit dicere Make vp this pretious Lambe I send thee heere All lightning it dispels and each ill spright Remedies stone and makes the heart contrite Euen as the bloud that Christ for vs did shed It helps the child-beds paine and giues good speed Vnto the birth Great gifts it still doth win To all that weare it and that worthy bin It quels the rage of fire and cleanely bore It brings from shipwracke safely to the shore And lest you should plead this to be the conceite of some one Phantasticall Pope heare and be ashamed out of the same Booke what by prescription euery Pope vseth to pray in the blessing of the water which serues for that Agnus Dei If you know not thus he prayeth That it would please thee O God to blesse those things which we purpose to powre into this Vessell of water prepared to the glory of thy Name so as by the worship and honour of them we thy seruants may haue our heynous offences done away the blemishes of our sinnes wip't off and thereby we may obtaine pardon and receiue grace from thee so that at the last with thy Saints and Elect Children we may merit to obtaine euerlasting life Amen How could you choose but be in loue with this Superstition Magicke Blasphemie practised and maintained by the heads of your Church A Religion that allowes iuggling Equiuocations and reserued senses euen in very oathes Besides all that hath bin shamelesly written by our Iesuites to this purpose Heare what Franciscus Victoria an ingenuous Papist and a learned Reader of Diuinitie in Salmantica writes in the name of all But what shall a Confessor doe saith he if he be askt of a sin that he hath heard in Confession May he say that he knowes not of it I answere according to all our Doctors that he may But what if hee be compelled to sweare I say that he may and ought to sweare that he knowes it not for that it is vnderstood that he knowes it not besides confession and so he sweares true But say that the Iudge or Prelate shall maliciously require of him vpon his oath whether he know it in confession or no I answer that a man thus vrged may still sweare that he knowes it not in confession for that it is vnderstood he knowes it not to reueale it or so as he may tell Who teach and doe thus in anothers case iudge what they would doe in their owne O wise cunning and holy periuries vnknowne to our fore-fathers A Religion that allowes the buying and selling of sins of Pardons of soules so as now Purgatory can haue no rich men in it but fooles and friendlesse Deuils are Tormenters there as themselues hold from many Reuelations of Bede Bernard Carthusian yet Men can command Deuils and money can command men A Religion that relies wholy vpon the infallibilitie of those whom yet they grant haue bin and may be monstrous in their liues and dispositions How many of those heyres of PETER by confession of their owne Records by Bribes by Whores by Deuils haue climed vp into that chaire Yet to say that those men which are confessed to haue giuen their soules to the Deuil that they might be Popes can erre while they are Popes is Heresie worthy of a stake and of Hell A Religion that hood-winks the poore Laitie in forced ignorance lest they should know Gods will or any way to Heauen but theirs so as millions of soules liue no lesse without Scripture than as if there were none that forbids spirituall food as poyson and fetches Gods Booke into the Inquisition A Religion that teaches men to worship stockes and stones with the same honour that is due to their Creator which practise lest it should apeare to her simple Clyents how palpably opposite it is to the second Commandement they haue discreetly left out those words of Gods Law as a needlesse illustration in their Catechismes and Prayer Bookes of the vulgar A Religion that vtterly ouerthrowes the true humanitie of Christ while they giue vnto it tenne thousand places at once and yet no place flesh and no flesh
fauourable report allay the bitter contentions of those ancient Christians of Antioch writes thus Theod. hist l. 3. c. 4. Both parts saith he made one and the same confession of their faith for both maintained the Creed of the Nicen Councell And yet this position is spightfully handled by Cardinall Bellarmine Bell. de laâ—cis lib. 3. c. 19. and can scarce draw breath since his last stripes What care we saith he for the same Creed Faith is not in words but in the sense And indeed I remember what Ruffinus reports done by Arrius That worthy Constantine had charged him to write what faith he held he deliuered him a Creed in words ours in sense his owne and how right his wicked brood tooke after their father in the insuing times of the Church let Histories witnesse sure I am whosoeuer shall read the Creeds of their seuerall Sects shall hardly feâ—ch out any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which an Orthodox Censurer would thinke worthy of reproofe How oft doe they yeeld Christ to be God yea God of God and yet perfidiously reserue to themselues in the meane time that absurd conceit That he was created ex non â—â—tibus As therefore Seuerianus the Syrian in Theodoret. spake Greeke as a Grecian but pronounced it like a Syrian so there may be many which may speake truths but pronounce them heretically Iren. l. 1. c. 9. Petr. Chrys Ser. 109. Trinitatem vocabulis mentiuntur Decr. 22. q. 5. humanae For all Heresies saith Irenaeus talke of one God but marre him with their misconceits yea for the most part all Heresies saith Chrysologus set a face of the Trinitie To little purpose It was not ill sayd of Gratian that no man is to care for words since that not the meaning should serue the words but the words rather the meaning Let vs grant all this and more Let it be said of the Creed as Ierome said of the Booke of Iob that euery word abounds with senses Hier. in praef Tert. de prasc There is no Diuine Word as Tertullian speaketh wisely so disolute and deâ—â—sed that onely the words may be defended and not the true meaning of the words set downe To put the Cardinall out of this needlesse feare The proper and natiue sense of the Creed may be fetcht out and I adde yet more except but that one Article of Christs Descension into Hell which Ruffinus confesses he could not find either in the Roman or Easterne Creedes is openly confessed on both parts And yet for all this we are neuer the neerer to peace For from these common Principles of Faith the subtle deuice of Hereticall prauity hath fetcht strange and erroneous consequences which by their sophisticall and obstinate handling are now improued into Heresies and dare now threaten not onely opposition but death vnto those very principles from which they are raysed Of this kind are the most of those Romish opinions which we vndertake to censure in this Discourse But if by the vniuersall consent of all it should appeare that both word and sense are intire that both the principles and necessarie conclusions thence deduced are vndeniably sound Nulla tamen pax cum Lutheranis De Laicis l. 3. 19. Sect. 4. yet saith Bellarmine there can bee no peace with Lutherans Let all the World know this and wonder Our King be it spoken to the enuie of those which cannot emulate him an incomparable Diuine for a Prince yea a Prince of Diuines a King of men and a wonder of Kings mighty both with his scepter and his pen going about in that learned and ponderous Discourse to cleere himselfe from the aspersion of Heresie which that foule hand had vnworthily cast vpon him professes solemnly and holily that whatsoeuer is contained eyther in the Sacred Scriptures or the three famous Creeds or the foure first generall Councels that he embraces with both armes that He proclaimes for His Faith In praefat ad Imper. Princip that He will defend with his Tongue with his Pen with His Sword in that he will both liue and die Yea but this is not enough saith that Great Antagonist of Princes For there are other points of faith wherewith religion is now of late times inlarged Bell. resp ad Regem Non satis est ad haereticum nomen fugiendum illa recipere quae Rex Anglorum recipere atque admittere se dicit pag. 80. Etiamsi nouitia nâ—pâ—ra illa sint si quis tamen ca neget immuâ—â—m ab heresi noÌ„ foâ—e Bell. resp and Regem pag. 98. Bell. l. de laicis 2. c. 19. Dist 22. Omnes Margaritae Decret vel Tabula Mortiniâ— Iâ— verb. Iâ—obediâ—ntia as Transubstantiation Purgatory the Popes Primacie a whole doozen of these goodly Articles hath the Tridentine Councell created in this decayed age of the World lest the Fathers of Italy should seeme to come short of the Apostles and the Pope of Christ any parcell whereof whosoeuer shall presume to call into question is an Heretike presently and smels of the Faggot and how ordinarily is that layd in euery dish that he cannot bee a member of the Church which withdrawes his obedience from their Pope the Head of the Church Neyther is that any whit milder which Gratian cites from Pope Nicholas the Second VVhosoeuer goes about to infringe the priuiledge of the Roman Church or derogates from her Authoritie is an Heretike But that is yet well worse which the allowed Table of the Decree hath peremptorily broched Whosoeuer obeies not the Popes Commandement incurres the sin of Idolatry or as Gregory the Seuenth from whom Gratian would seeme to borrow this which yet is not to be found in his Epistles of Paganisme Whatsoeuer therefore Christ Iesus whatsoeuer the Apostles whatsoeuer the counsels Fathers of the Primitiue Church haue commended to vs to be beleeued shall auaile vs little neither can euer make vs friends vnlesse we will bee content to beslaue our Faith vnto their Popeling And can they thinke wee will looke at peace vpon such a condition That hope were bold and foolish that could expect this Neither doe they more scornfully cast vs out of the bosome of their Church for spetting at these Articles of Straw which their vanitie hath deuised than wee can confidently condemne and execrate their presumption which haue so imperiously obtruded such trash as this vpon the Church of God SECTION V. The impuration or corruption of the Roman Church and their impossibilitie of Reconciliation arising from that wilfull Fable of the Popes infallibilitie BVt to leaue this first head of our Aduersaries indisposition to peace Say that the Papists could be content to hearken to an agreement which I can neuer hope to see whiles Rome is it selfe say they should seeke it yet as things now stand whiles they wil not and we may not stirre one inch from our station of iudgement God forbids the Truth debarres our Reconciliation wee dare not whatsoeuer
Gregorie Ariminensis their old Schoole-man was ashamed of this wicked arrogance and so was Durandus and Pighius and other their Diuines of a more modest temper I would the Iesuites could haue had the grace to haue beene no lesse ashamed and the Tridentine Doctors together with their executioners the Inquisitors Ind. expurg Madriticus p. 149. But what other men haue holily and truely spoken that they haue perfidiously wip't out witnesse their Index of Madrill in these words Out of the booke which is intituled The Order of Baptizing together with the manner of visiting the sicke Printed at Venice in the yeere 1575. Let these words bee blotted out Doest thou beleeue that not by thine owne merits but by the vertue and merit of the passion of our Lord IESVS CHRIST Ex eod litro fol. 34. ad Med. thou shalt come to glory and soone after Dost thou beleeue that our Lord IESVS CHRIST died for our saluation and that no man can be saued by his owne merits or any other meanes but onely by the merit of his passion Ywis Hier. l. de libris Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these are the Scorpions and Snakes of the ancient Diuines as Ierome termed the errors of Origen amongst which the Reader must needs haue walked had not the graue Senate of the Inquisition wisely prouided for our safetie What hope is there now of peace vnlesse they could be content which Bellarmine grants to be the safest way renouncing the merits of their works not so much for their vncertaintie as the imperfection of their Iustice and danger of vaine-glory both to resolue and teach men to repose their whole confidence in the mercy and bounty of God which we can at once both wish and not hope for SECTION X. Concerning Satisfaction SATISFACTION hath neere affinitie with merit and indeed is but as another twig arising from the same root Than which no opinion could bee deuised more iniurious and reproachfull to the merits of CHRIST The word was not displeasing to the ancient Fathers nor in their sense to vs Onely this let mee touch in passing by Tert. de praescrip Fides â—â—â—inum salus proprietatum Consult c. de satisfact that the heedlesse abuse of words to the great wrong of the Church hath bred confusion of things as contrarily that of Tertullian is approued The assured sense of words is the safetie of proprieties Wee haue nothing to doe here with ciuill Satisfaction nothing with Ecclesiasticall whereof Luther not vnfitly said euen in Cassanders owne iudgement Our mother the Church out of her good affection desiring to preuent the hand of GOD Satisfactio penitentialis nihil aliud est quà m conatus infectum reddendiquod factum est Alphons Viruesius aduers Luth. chastises her children with certaine Satisfactions lest they should fall vnder the scourges of GOD. This Canonicall Satisfaction as many call it hath bin too long out of vse on both sides Yea more than this in all our Sermons to our people we beat importunatly vpon the necessity of penitence all the wholsome exercises thereof as fruits worthy of Repentance Not as Cassander wel interprets it as if we desired they should offer vnto God a ransom worthy sufficient for the clearing of the score of their sins but that we teach theÌ„ those offices must be performed by them which God requires of those sinners on whom he will bestow the satisfaction of his Sonne Let them call these satisfactions if they will we giue them leaue But that after the most absolute passion of Christ there should be yet behinde certaine remainders of punishment to be discharged by vs either here or in Purgatory with a purpose thereby to satisfie the diuine Iustice whether they be imposed by God or by the Priest or by our selues as the Tridentine distinction runnes we neither may nor can indure For how nicely soeuer these men distinguish it cannot be but this sacrilegious opinion must needes accuse the truly propitiatory sacrifice of Christ of some imperfection I know they say that both satisfactions may well stand together that of the Mediator and this of man whereof Bonauenture cals the one Perfect Cit. Cass ibid. the other Semiperfect But these are words Let the Sophisters tell me Doth not the fulâ—â—essell containe in it selfe the halfe or what need the one halfe a part when we haue the whole And lastly can any thing be added to that which is perfect But some of their heed fuller Diuines wil neither haue these two opposite nor subordinate to each other For it is a shame to speake what Suarez what Durand and other grosser Papists haue discoursed of this point Let them rather if they will hold which opinion yet hath beene controlled not by the Cardinall onely but by three Popes before him that mens satisfactions serue onely to apply vnto vs that which the satisfactions of Christ haue promerited for vs. Yet euen this shift will not serue Bellermine de Indulg l. 1. c. 4. Piâ—â— 5. Greg. l. 3. clem 6. For Christs satisfaction as they teach respects eternall punishment and not temporall How then can it once be imagined that we by our satisfaction should procure that his suffering which was destinated to the expiation of an eternall punishment should serue to the discharge of a temporall And why should we doe this rather than Christ himselfe Besides how absurdly doth this sound That he whose bounty hath paid our pounds for vs hath yet left vs out of our poore stocke to pay some few farthings for our selues Let me demand then whether could not Christ vndertake these temporall punishments for vs or would he not That he could not is impious that he would not is bold to say and illiberall to doe For where is there any restraint or what are the limits of his mercy The fault is remitted saith the conuenticle of Trent the punishment is not pardoned The Easterne Church would neuer haue said so which alwayes stoutly opposed her selfe to this error And indeed what a shamefull reproach is this to the infinite mercy of the forgiuer what a wrong to his iustice whereto is the punishment due but to the fault Did euer God inflict punishments that were not due Many a time hath he forgiuen to sinners those plagues which both they had deserued and he threatned but neuer did hee call backe for those arrerages which hee had forgiuen God punishes vs indeed or chastens vs rather and that sometimes well and sharply after the remission of our offence Not that hee may giue himselfe satisfaction of vs for how can it be so pleasing to him that it should bee ill with vs but that he may confirme vs to himselfe that he may amend vs Hee layes no stroke vpon vs with a reuenging hand but with a fatherly Wee suffer therefore now but wee satisfie not This is proper onely to that eternall Priest and to his eternall Priesthood and is no more communicable to Saints
there should bee granted by Iohn 22. a Pardon for no lesse than a million of yeeres Who can endure since by their owne confession this fire must last but till the conflagration of the world that yet in one little Booke there should be tendred vnto credulous poore soules Pardons of but eleuen thousand thousands of yeeres What should we make many words of this There is now lying by me a worme-eaten Manu-script with faire Rubrickes in which besides other absurd and blasphemous promises there is power giuen to one little prayer to change the paines of hell due perhaps to him that sayes it into Purgatory and after that againe the paines of Purgatory into the ioyes of Heauen Lib. de Indulg Bellarmine had wisely respected his owne reputation if hee had giuen his voice according to that which he confesseth to haue beene the iudgement of some others That these like Bills were not giuen by the Popes but lewdly deuised by some of his base Questuaries for an aduantage But that which he should excuse hee defends What ingenuity of shame is to be expected of Iesuites and how cleane hath an old Parrot as he said of old forgotten the wand Who may abide this vniust and inhumane acceptation of persons that the wealthier sort may by their purses redeeme this holy treasure of the Church and by money deliuer the soules of themselues and their friends from this horrible Prison while the needy Soule must be stall frying in this flame without all hope of pardon or mature relaxation vntill the very last Iudgement day Lastly who can endure that whiles it is in the power of Christs Vicar to call miserable soules out of this tormenting fire which hell it selfe is said to exceed onely in the continuance yet that he should suffer them to lie howling there and most cruelly broyling still and not mercifully bestow on them all the heapes of his treasure as the spirituall ransome of so many distressed spirits Ambr. de Nabâ—th A wretched man is he as Ambrose said of the rich man which hath the power to deliuer so many soules from death and wants the will Why hath God giuen him this faculty of Indulgences if hee would not haue it beneficiall to Mankinde Auth. operis imperfect and where the Owner of the house will bee bountifull it is not for the Steward to bee niggardly Let that Circè of Rome keepe these huskes for her hogges SECTION XIII Concerning the distinction of Veniall and Mortall sinnes PArdons doe both imply and presuppose that knowne distinction of Mortall and Veniall sinne which neither hath God euer allowed neither whiles he gaine-sayes it will euer the Protestants That there are certaine degrees of euill we both acknowledge and teach so as we may here iustly tax the dishonesty and shamelesnesse of Campion Durcus Coccius and the Monkes of Burdeaux who haue vpbraided vs with the opinion of a certaine Stoicall and Iouinianish parity of sinnes yea Bellarmine himselfe hath already done this kinde office for vs. Some offences are more hainous than other yet all in the malignitie of their nature deadly As of poysons some kill more gently and lingringly others more violently and speedily yet both kill Moreouer if wee haue respect vnto the infinite mercy of God and to the obiect of this mercy the penitent and faithfull heart there is no sinne which to borrow the word of Prudentius is not veniall but in respect of the Anomy or disorder there is no sinne which is not worthy of eternall death Euery sinne is a Viper there is no Viper if we regard the nature of the best but kils whom she bites but if one of them shall haply light vpon the hand of Paul she is shaked into the fire without harme done Let no man feare that harmefull creature euer the lesse because he sees the Apostle safe from that poyson So is sinne to a faithfull man Saint Iohns word is All sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 6. Saint Pauls word is The wages of sinne is death Put these two together and this conceit of the naturall pardon ablenesse of sin vanishes alone Our Rhemists subtill men can no more abide this proposition conuerted than themselues All sinne indeed say they is anomia a transgression of the Law but euery transgression of the Law is not sinne The Apostle therefore himselfe turnes it for vs All vnrighteousnesse saith he is sin But euery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vnrighteousnesse saith Austen vpon the place For the Law is the rule of righteousnesse therefore the preuarication of the Law is vnrighteousnesse Yea their very owne word shall stop their owne mouth for how is sinne vniuocally distinguished into Veniall and Mortall if the Veniall be no sinne and the wages of euery sinne is death That therefore which the Papists presume to say that this kinde of sinne deserues pardon in it selfe vnlesse they will take the word merit catachrestically with Stapleton And that which Bellarmine and Nauarus adde that Veniall sinnes are not against but beside the Law and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Fr. à Vict. summa sacr Poenitentiae nu 100. p. 63. That which Franciscus à Victoria writes that a Bishops blessing or a Lords Prayer or a knocke on the breast or a little holy water or any such like slight receipt without any other good motion of the heart is sufficient to remit Veniall sinne is so shamefully abhorring from all piety and iustice that these open bands both of nature and sinne must be eternally defied of vs. It is an old and as true a ride Decr. 23.4.4 est iniusta c. Petr. Alagâ—â—nae Comp. Manual Nauarri p. 91. p. 267. p. 140. p. 191. p. 352. p. 100. Socr. l. 5.21 â—asinesse of pardon giues incouragement to sinne And beside what maner of sinnes doe they put in the ranke of Venials Drunkennesse adultery angry curses or blasphemies couetousnesse yea stealing lying cursing of parents horrible offences shroud themselues with them vnder this plausible title of veniall He must needs be shamelesly wicked that abhorres not this licentiousnesse Surely Socrates the Historian prophecied I thinke of these men There are some saith he that let goe whoredome as an indifferent matter which yet striue for an holy-day as for their life The ordinarie and not slight Controuersie as Cassander thinketh of the name nature condition punishment of the first sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Originall as Chrysostome calls it I willingly omit Neither doe I meddle with their Euangelicall perfection of vowes nor the dangerous seruitude of their rash and impotent Votaries nor the incoueniences of their Monkerie which yet are so great and many that the elect Cardinals of Paul the third doubted not with ioynt consent to affirme All the Orders of Couents we thinke fit to be abolished but for the condition of that single and solitary life let that be done which Cassander and
ought that is memorable in the way he takes it vp but how many thousand matters of note fall beside him on either hand of the knowledge whereof he is not guilty Whereas some graue and painfull Author hath collected into one view whatsoeuer his Countrey affoords worthy of marke hauing measured many a foule step for that which wee may see dry-shod and worne out many yeeres in the search of that which one houre shall make no lesse ours than it was his owne To which must be added that our vnperfect acquaintance may not hope to finde so perfect information on the sudden as a naturall inhabitant may get by the disquisition of his whole life Let an Italian or French passenger walke thorow this our Iland what can his table-Table-bookes carry home in comparison of the learned Britaine of our Camden or the accurate Tables of Speed Or if one of ours should as too many do passe the Alpes what pittances can his wild iourny obserue in comparison of the Itinerarie of Fr. Schottus and Capugnanus Or he that would discourse of the Royalties of the French Lillies how can he be so furnished by flying report as by the elaborate gatherings of Cassaneus or of Degrassalius What should I bee infinite This age is so full of light that there is no one countrey of the habitable world whose beames are not crossed and interchanged with other Knowledge of all affaires is like musicke in the streets whereof those may partake which pay nothing Wee doe not lie more open to one common sinne than to the eies and pens of our neighbours Euen China it selfe and Iaponia and those other remotest Isles and Continents which haue taken the strictest order for closenesse haue receiued such discoueries as would rather satisfie a Reader than prouoke him to amend them A good booke is at once the best companion and guide and way and end of our iourney Necessity droue our forefathers out of doores which else in those misty times had seene no light wee may with more ease and no lesse profit sit still and inherit and enioy the labours of them and our elder brethren who haue purchased our knowledge with much hazard time toyle expence and haue beene liberall of their bloud some of them to leaue vs rich SECT XII AS for that verball discourse wherein I see some place the felicity of their Trauell thinking it the only grace to tel wonders to a ring of admiring ignorants it is easie to answer that table-talke is the least care of a wise man who like a deepe streame desires rather to runne silent and as himselfe is seldome transported with wonder so doth he not affect it in others reducing all to vse rather than admiration and more desiring to benefit than astonish the hearer withall that the same meanes which enable vs to know doe at once furnish vs with matter of discourse and for the forme of our expression if it proceed not from that naturall dexteritie which we carry with vs in vaine shall wee hope to bring it home the change of language is rather an hinderance to our former readinesse and if some haue fetcht new noses and lips and eares from Italie by the helpe of Tagliacotius and his schollars neuer any brought a new tongue from thence To conclude if a man would giue himselfe leaue to be thus vaine and free like a mill without a scluse let him but trauell thorow the world of bookes and he shall easily be able to out-talke that tongue whose feet haue walkt the furthest what hath any eye seene or imagination deuised which the pen hath not dared to write Out of our bookes we can tell the stories of the Monocelli who lying vpon their backs shelter themselues from the Sunne with the shadow of their one only foot We can tell of those cheape-dieted men that liue about the head of Ganges without meat without mouthes feeding only vpon aire at their nosthrils Or of those headlesse Easterne people that haue their eyes in their breasts a mis-conceit arising from their fashion of attire which I haue sometimes seene Or of those Coromandae of whom Pliny speakes that couer their whole body with their eares Or of the persecutors of S. Thomas of Canterbury whose posteritie if we beleeue the confident writings of Degrassalius are borne with long and hairie tailes souping after them which I imagine gaue occasion to that prouerbiall iest wherewith our mirth vses to vpbraid the Kentish Or of Amazons or Pigmees or Satyres or the Samarcandean Lambe which growing out of the earth by the nauell grazeth so farre as that naturall tether will reach Or of the Bird Ruc or ten thousand such miracles whether of nature or euent Little need wee to stirre our feet to learne to tell either loud lies or large truths We haue heard a bird in a cage sing more change of notes than others haue done in the wilde liberty of the wood And as for the present occurrences of the time the world about vs is so full of Presses that it may and is growne so good a fellow that it will impart what it knowes to all the neighbours whose relations if sometimes they swarue from truth we may well consider what variety of report euery accident will yeeld and that therefore our eares abroad are no whit more credible than our eyes at home Yea rather as Tully could say that at Antium he could heare the newes of Rome better than at Rome so may we oft-times better heare and see the newes of France or Spaine vpon our Exchange than in their Paris or Madrill Since what liberty soeuer tongues may take to themselues a discreet man will be ashamed to subscribe his name to that whereof hee may be afterwards conuinced SECT XIII SINCE therefore Trauell cannot out-bid vs in these highest commodities which concerne the wealth of the minde all the aduantage it can afford vs must bee in those mixt abilities wherein our bodies are the greatest partners as dancing fencing musicke vaulting horsemanship the onely professions of the mis-named Academies of other Nations Who can denie that such like exercises are fit for young Gentlemen not onely for their present recreation but much more for the preparing of them to more serious action Yet must these learne to know their places what are they else but the varnish of that picture of Gentry whose substance consists in the lines and colours of true vertue but the lace or facing of a rich garment but the hang-bies of that royall court which the soule keeps in a generous heart He that holds Gentilitie accomplished with these though laudible qualities partakes more of his horse than his horse can possibly of him This skill then is worthy of our purchase yet may not be bought too deare and perhaps need not to be fetcht so far Neither my profession nor my experience will allow me to hold comparisons in this kinde but I haue bin heartned by no meane masters of these Arts to
cogitation working as it commonly doth remissely causeth not any sudden alteration in our Traueller but as we say of Comets and Eclipses hath his effect when the cause is forgotten Neither is there any one more apparant ground of that lukewarme indifferency which is fallen vpon our times than the ill vse of our wandrings for our Trauellers being the middle ranke of men and therefore either followers of the great or commanders of the meaner sort cannot want conuenience of diffusing this temper of ease vnto both SECT XV. ALl this mischiefe is yet hid with a formall profession so as euery eye cannot finde it in others it dares boldly breake forth to an open reuolt How many in our memory whiles with Dinah they haue gone forth to gaze haue lost their spirituall chastity and therewith both the Church and themselues How many like vnto the brooke Cedron run from Hierusalem thorow the vale of Iehosaphat and end their course in the dead sea Robert Pointz in his preface to the testimonies for the reall presence 2 Chron. 24. A popish writer of our Nation as himselfe thought not vnlearned complaining of the obstinacy of vs hereticks despaires of preuailing because he findes it to be long agoe fore-prophecied of vs in the Booke of the Chronicles At illi Protestantes audire noluerunt It is well that Protestants were yet heard of in the old Testament as well as Iesuites whose name one of their owne by good hap hath found Num. 26.24 Like as Erasmus found Friers in S. Pauls time inter falsos Fratres Socrat. in Iosuam l. 1. c. 2. q. 19. Gretser contra Lerneum c. 1. 2. Vere aiquidam haereticus Iesuitas in sacris literis repertri But it were better if this mans word were as true as it is idle Some of ours haue heard to their cost whose losse ioyned with the griefe of the Church and dishonour of the Gospel we haue sufficiently lamented How many haue wee knowne stroken with these Aspes which haue died sleeping And in truth whosoeuer shall consider this open freedome of the meanes of seducement must needs wonder that we haue lost no more especially if he be acquainted with those two maine helps of our Aduersaries importunity and plausibility Neuer any Pharisee was so eager to make a Proselyte as our late factors of Rome and if they be so hot set vpon this seruice as to compasse sea and land to winne one of vs shall we be so mad as to passe both their sea and land to cast our selues into the mouth of danger No man setteth foot vpon their coast which may not presently sing with the Psalmist They come about mee like Bees It fares with them as with those which are infected with the pestilence who they say are carried with an itching desire of tainting others When they haue all done this they haue gained that if Satan were not more busie and vehement than they they could gaine nothing But in the meane time there is nothing wherein I wish we would emulate them but in this heat of diligence and violent ambition of winning Pyrrhus did not more enuy the valour of those old Romane souldiers which he read in their wounds and dead faces than we doe the busie audacitie of these new The world could not stand before vs if our Truth might be but as hotly followed as their falshood Oh that our God whose cause we maintaine would enkindle our hearts with the fire of holy zeale but so much as Satan hath inflamed theirs with the fire of fury and faction Oh that he would shake vs out of this dull ease and quicken ourslacke spirits vnto his owne worke Arise O North and come O South and blow vpon our garden that the spices thereof may flow forth These suters will take no deniall but are ready as the fashion was to doe with rich matches to carry away mens soules whether they will or no. Wee see the proofe of their importunity at home No bulwarke of lawes no barres of iustice though made of three trees can keepe our rebanished fugitiues from returning from intermedling How haue their actions said in the hearing of the world that since heauen will not heare them they will try what hell can doe And if they dare bee so busie in our owne homes where they would seeme somewhat awed with the danger of iustice what thinke we will they not dare to doe in their owne territories where they haue not free scope onely but assistance but incouragement Neuer generation was so forward as the Iesuiticall for captation of wils amongst their owne or of soules amongst strangers What state is not haunted with these ill spirits yea what house yea what soule Not a Princes Councell-Table not a Ladies chamber can be free from their shamelesse insinuations It was not for nothing that their great Patron Philip the second King of Spaine called them Clerices negotiadores and that Marcus Antonius Columna Generall of the Nauy to Pius Quintuâ— in the battell of Lepanto and Viceroy of Sicile could say to Father Don Alonso a famous Iesuite affecting to be of the counsell of his conscience Voi altri padri di Ihesu hauete la mente al ciclo le mani al mondo l'anima al diauolo SECT XVI YEt were there the lesse perill of their vehemence if it were only rude and boysterous as in some other sects that so as it is in Canon shot it might be more easily shund than resisted but here the skill of doing mischiefe contends with the power their mis-zealous passions hide themselues in a pleasing sweetnesse and they are more beholden to policy than strength What Gentleman of any note can crosse our Seas whose name is not landed in their books before hand in preuention of his person whom now arriued if they finde vntractable through too much preiudice they labour first to temper with the plausible conuersation of some smooth Catholike of his owne Nation the name of his Countrey is warrant enough for his insinuation Not a word yet may be spoken of Religion as if that were no part of the errand So haue we seene an Hawke cast off at an Hernshaw to looke and flie a quite other way after many carelesse and ouerly fetches to towre vp vnto the prey intended There is nothing wherein this faire companion shall not apply himselfe to his welcome Countryman At last when he hath possest himselfe of the heart of his new acquaintance got himselfe the reputation of a sweet ingenuity and delightfull sociablenesse he findes opportunities to bestow some witty scoffes vpon those parts of our religion which lie most open to aduantage And now it is time to inuite him after other rarities to see the Monastery of our English Benedictines or if elsewhere those English Colleges which the deuout beneficence of our well-meaning neighbours with no other intention than some couetous Farmers lay saltcats in their doue-coats haue bountifully erected There it is a wondes
if our Traueller meet not with some one that shall claime kinred or Country of him in a more intire fashion The Society welcomes him with more than ordinary curtesie neither can he refuse except he will be vnciuill to be their guest He cannot mislike the loue of his Country men he cannot fault their carriage And now that they haue mollified the stiffenesse of his preiudice and with much tempting fitted him for their mold he is a tasâ—e meet for one of their best workmen who willingly vndertaking it hath learned to handle him so sweetly as if he would haue him thinke it a pleasure to be seduced Do we thinke this Doctor will begin first with the infallibility of their great Master and perswade him that a Necromancer an Heretike an Atheist cannot erre in Peters Chaire or tell him that hee may buy off his sinnes as familiarly as hee may buy wares in the market or teach him that a man may and must both make and eat his God to his breakfast This hard meat is for stronger mawes He knowes how first to beginne with the spoone and to offer nothing to a weake stomacke but discourse of easie digestion As first that a Catholike so liuing and dying by our confession may bee saued That there is but one Church as but one Christ and that out of this Arke there is no way but drowning That this one Church is more likely to be found in all the world than in a corner in all ages than in the last Century of yeeres in vnity than in diuision And now comes in the glorious brag of the Roman Vniuersality their inuiolate Antiquity their recorded successions their harmonious vnity their confessed magnificence That there is the mother Church as to the rest of Christendome so especially to the English How well a Monarchy the best forme of gouernment beseemes the Church How vnlikely it is that Christ would leaue his Spouse in the confusion of many heads or of none And now that we are but a rag torne from their coat and where was our religion before Luther lay with Bora And what miserable subdiuisions are there in our Protestancie and what a gleaning are we to the haruest of Christendome with infinite suggestions of this nature able as they are plausibly vrged to shake an vngrounded iudgement which if they haue so farre preuailed as that the hearer will abide himselfe hood-winkt with this vaile of the Church how easily shall time leade him into those hatefuller absurdities SECT XVII IN all which proceeding these impostors haue a double aduantage First that they deliuer the opinion of their Church with such mitigation and fauour as those that care to please not to informe forming the voice of the Church to the liking of the hearer not the iudgement of the hearer to the voice of the Church wherein it is not hard to obserue that Popery spoken and written are two things In discourse nothing is more ordinary than to disclaime some of their receiued positions to blanch others It is the malice of an aduersary that mis-reports them they doe not hold that images should bee adored that the wood of the Crosse should be worshipped with the very same deuotion that is due to Christ himselfe that the Church is the Iudge of Gods writings that Paul the fift cannot erre that a man may merit of his maker much lesse supererogate that a mouse may run away with that which either is or was God Almighty that it is lawfull to kill an hereticall King and all other those monsters of opinion which their most classicke Authors haue both hatcht and shamelesly thrust into the light of the world They defie those ridiculous Legends which we father vpon their Church how much do they scorne S. Francis his Bird or his Wolfe or his wounds or his Apostles of Assise Pope Ioane was but a fancy Neuer Pope was an hereticke If now we cry out of impudence and call their allowed Writers to witnes Loe euen they also are forged by vs and are taught to play booty on our side Thus resolued to out-face all euidence they make faire weather of their foulest opinions and inueigh against nothing so much as the spightfulnesse of our slanders It is not possible that any wise stranger should be in loue with the face of their Church if he might see her in her owne likenes and therefore they haue cunningly masked one part of it and painted another so as those features of hers which are vgly and offensiue shal not appeare to any but her own eyes And because bookes are dangerous blabs and will be telling the generations to come how strangely that face is altered with Age and Art therefore their tongues are clipped also and made to speake none but her owne words Out of this licence Exemplar Esist scriptae ad Dominum Paulinum quondam datarium sub Clementis 8. beatae memorie Pontificatu Ibid. Ibid. and hope to winne they can fit their dishes to euery palate and are so sawcy as to make the Church belie it selfe Hence it was that a Spanish Father could teach that it is not of the necessity of faith to beleeue that the present Pope is the Vicar of Christ and the successor of Peter That Hostius the Iesuite could say that the Pope abused his keyes and the authority of the Church in receiuing Henry the fourth That another of his fellowes in a discourse with a French Bishop could disparage the decision of his Holinesse in comparison of a Generall Councell That Menas the Reader of Diuinity at Valledolid following Salas the Iesuite could affirme the lawfulnesse of the mariage of religious persons vpon a doubtfull reuelation That more than one of that Order haue dared to broach Confession by letters against the Bull of Clement the 8. And if these men bee not sparing of their contradictions to that Vice-God of theirs whose vassals they are by peculiar profession how much more boldly will they swimme against the streame of any common opinion that may concerne the bodie of that head SECT XVIII THeir second aduantage is that they regard not with what vntruths they make good their own assertions It is all one with what morter or rubbish they build vp a side From hence flow the confident reports both of their miracles to conuince vs and their slanders to disgrace vs. Father Hayndius a Iesuite of 33. yeeres standing amongst 52. complaints which out of an honest remorse he put vp against his owne Society to their Generall Aquaviua findes this not the least that his fellowes shamed not to seeke the honour of their Order by cogging of miracles What packets flie about daily of their Indian wonders Euen Cardinall Bellarmine can abide to come in as an auoucher of these couzenages who dares auerre that his fellow Xauier had not only healed the deafe dumbe and blinde but raised the dead whiles his brother Acosta after many yeeres spent in those parts can pull him by
Especially since the reason that Ioseph Acosta fetches from the persons which should be the subiect of those Wonders holds as equally for both Indies Ios Acosta l 2. de sâ—l Ind. c. 9. as an Almanack made for the Meridian of one Citie serueth the Neighbours Hitherto then the Prologue of my infamous falshoods such as if all my Writings could haue afforded any equally hainous these had neuer beene chosen out to grace the front of his Detection There must needs be much terrour in the sequel The rest of this storme fals vpon our learned Professor D. Collins one of the prime ornaments of our Cambridge the partnership of whose vniust disgrace doth not a little hearten my vnworthinesse The world knowes the eminency of that mans Learning Wit Iudgement Eloquence His workes praise him enough in the Gate Yet this Malapert Corner-creeper doth so basely vilifie him for ignorance fillinesse pratling rusticitie lying as if in these onely he were matchlesse Indeed whom doth the aspersion of that foule hand forbeare Vilium est hominum alios viles facere I appeale to all the Tribunals of Learning thorow the World whether all Doway haue yeelded ought comparable to that mans Pen whether he haue not so * * This Booke of Doctor Coll. C. E falsly insinuateth to haue bin suppressed All Stationers shops can conuince him of a lye Nothing euer fell from that learned hand without applause coniured downe his Caco-Daemon Ioannes that he neuer dares to look backe into the light againe whether his Ephatha be not so powerfull that if his Aduersarie were any otherwise deafe then the blocke which hee worships it might open his eare to the Truth It angers C.E. to heare that Kings should not dye or perhaps that they whose heads are anointed should dye by any other then anointed fingers The sentence of his Cardinall and Iesuites both de facto and de jure of deposing and murdering Kings is now beside our way Onely we may reade afarre off in capitall Letters Arise Peter kill and eate Hee knowes the word with shame enough I will not so much wrong that worthy Prouost as to anticipate his quarrell rather I leaue the superfluitie of this malice to the scourge of that abler hand from whom I doubt not but C. E. shall smart and bleed so well that he may spare the labour of making himselfe his owne Whipping-stocke on Good-Friday THE HONOVR OF THE MARIED CLERGIE maintained c. The first Booke SECT I. NEither my Charitie nor my Leisure nor my Readers Patience vvill allow me to follow my Detector in all his Extrauagancies nor to change idle vvords of Contumely with a Babbler Declarationes ambitiosorum o era otâ—â—orum cihi sunt Scal. Exer. His twelue first Pages are but the light froth of an impotent Anger wherein hee accuseth my bitternesse and professeth his owne For me I appeale vnto all eyes if my Pen haue been sometimes zealous it was neuer intemperate Neither can he make me beleeue that my Passions need to appeare to my shame in calling Rome Prostitute or himselfe shamelesse Prostituta illa Ciuitas or in citing from the Quodlibet of his owne Catholike Priests the Art of his Iesuites in a a â—he particulars of this â—istorie he shall receiue in due place Drurying of young Heires There is neither Slander nor Shame in Truth For himselfe hee confesseth to haue sharpened his Pen and to haue dipt it perhaps too deepe in Gall But where his Inke is too thicke hee shall giue mee leaue to put a little Vineger to it that it may flow the better In the meane time he shall goe away with this glory That a fouler Mouth hath seldome euer wip'd it selfe vpon cleane Paper After those waste flourishes his thirteenth page begins to strike Refut p. 13. wherein hee chargeth me with odious basenesse and insufficiencie in borrowing all my proofes from Bellarmines Obiections dissembling their Solutions The Man were hard driuen that would go to borrow of an Enemy If al my proofes be fore-alledged and fore-answered by his Bellarmine to what purpose hath this Trifler blurred so much Paper There he saith shall the Reader see all my Scriptures answered the Doctrine of Deuils explicated there that other Let him bee the Husband of one Wife and Mariage is honorable Answered indeed but as he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answerlessely Such cleare Beames of Truth shine in the face of these Scriptures that all the Cob-web Vayles of a Iesuites subtiltie cannot obscure them Their very Citation confutes their Answer And where had we this Law That if a Iesuite haue once medled with a Scripture all Pens all Tongues are barred from euer alledging it If Satan haue mis-cited the Psalme Hee shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee for Temptation may not we make vse of it for the comfort of Protection Briefely let my Cauiller know that it is not the friuolous illusion of any shuffling Iesuite that can driue vs from the firme Bulwarke of the holy Scriptures In this they are clearely ours after all pretences of Solution as he shall well feele in the Sequel and shall secure vs against all humane Opposition Before the disquisition whereof somewhat of must force be premised concerning the state of our Question SECT II. WHere that all Readers may see how learnedly my wise Aduersary hath mistaken me and himselfe I must tell my Detector That all his tedious Discourse sits beside the Cushion Refut p. 12. For thus he writes of my Epistle so as his whole Scope is to disproue the single life of Catholike Priests and thereby to oppugne our Doctrine in that behalfe vpon which conceit he runs into a large proofe of the strong Obligation of Vowes the necessitie of their Obseruation the penaltie and danger of their Violation the praise of Virginitie the possibilitie of keeping it and vpon this very ground builds he the tottering wall of his whole ensuing Confutation insomuch as pag. 130 he sayes That Mariage all times without contrary Iniunction was lawfull is not denyed nor will it be proued in haste That Priests or such as had vowed the contrary might vse that libertie and we say not that Virginitie is violently to be opposed on any for it commeth by free election but where the Vow is free the Transgression is damnable Thus he Now let all indifferent eyes see whether the onely drift of mine Epistle be not to iustifie our Mariages not to improue their Singlenesse to defend the lawfulnesse of the Mariage of our Clergy not to iustifie the Mariages of the Romish to plead for the mariage of our Ecclesiastiques not of Popish Votaries In expresse tearmes I dis-auowed it The interuention of a Vow makes a new state Let Baal plead for himselfe What is it to me if the Romish Clergie may not bee Husbands or if according to the French Prouerbe they haue a Law not to marry and a Custome not to liue chaste Let it be
death yet both then and before his mariage he would take it in great scorne as well he might to bee suspected for dishonest True and might defie Men and Deuils in that Challenge What of this It followes then If Master Hall could for so long together liue a chaste life why no more Why not alwayes Demonstratiuely concluded As if a man should say C. E. doth speake some wise words how can hee at any time write thus foolishly A Christian hath sometime grace to auoyd a Temptation why not alwayes Why doth he not keepe himselfe euer from sinning A good Swimmer may hold his breath vnder the water for some portion of a Minute why not for an houre why not for more A deuour Papist may fast after his Breake-fast till his Dinner in the afternoone therefore why not a Weeke why not a Moneth why not so long as Eue the Maid of Meurs The Spirit of God if at least he may bee allowed for the Author of Continencie breatheth where and when he listeth and that God which makes Mariages in Heauen either auerts the heart from these thoughts or inclines it at his pleasure Shortly The great Doctor of the Gentiles had neuer learned this Diuinity of Doway whose charge is e e 1. Cor. 7.5 Defraud not one another except with consent for a season that yee may giue your selues to Fasting and Prayer And againe Come together that Satan tempt you not through your incontinency He onely wanted my Monitor to jogge him on the Elbow as here What needs all this fleshlinesse if they can safely containe whiles they giue themselues to extraordinarie deuotion Why not more Why not alwayes It is pitie Refut p 65. that no man would aduise the Apostle how great a gap this Doctrine of his opens to all lasciuiousnesse Let me but haue leaue to put Saint Pauls Name in stead of mine into this challenge of my Refuter and thus he argues If S. Paul say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for awhile they are able to liue chaste but not for any long while I aske againe How long that while shall endure Refut p. 65. and what warrant they haue therein for not falling seeing it may so fall out that in the while appointed they may bee more tempted then they shall bee againe in all their liues after How sawcy would this Sophistrie be how shamelesse The words are his onely the Name is changed what the elect Vessell would answer in such a case for himselfe let C. E. suppose returned by mee SECT XIII THe Refuter hath borrowed some Weapons of his Master Bellarmine and knowes not how to weare them It would moue any mans disdaine to see how absurdly those poore Arguments are blundred together We must distinguish them as we may First Saint Paul condemnes the yong Widowes mentioned Refut p. 63. therefore hee ouerthrowes this impossibilitie of containing I answer Saint Paul aduises the yong Widowes to marry and admits none into the church-Church-booke vnder threescore yeares therefore he establishes in some this impossibilitie Secondly Saint Paul aduises Timothy to liue chaste Reader Refut p. 63. 46. tell him the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which their owne vulgar 1. Tit. 8. turnes Sober and in 2. Tit. 5. Prudent But to grant him his owne Phrase Can my Detector descry no difference betwixt Chaste and Single Did he and his Fellowes neuer heare of a coniugall Chastitie So they haue still wont to speake as if Chastitie were onely opposite to Mariage as if no single life could be vnchaste His Espencaeus might haue taught him that Verse in Virgil Casta pudicitiam seruat domus and hee might haue heard of that Roman law of Vestals Castae ex castis purae ex puris sunto yea his Erasmus might haue taught him yet further f f Eras Apol. pro declam Matr. Secundus gradus Virginitatis est Matrimonii casta dilectio Opus Imperf in Matth. Refut p. 64. Ab his duabus Columnis crede mihi difficile duellor Ibid. ex Bernardo C. E. Refut p. 64. E diuerso nihil prohibet in coniugio Virginitati locum esse that euen in Mariage there may be Virginitie Thirdly the Fathers exhort to Virginity especially S. Ambrose and Saint Austin Let him tell this to them that know it not to them that dislike true chastity in Virgins not to them that condemne vnchastnesse in a pretended Virginity To what Vertue do not the Fathers exhort yet neuer supposing them to be within our lure Lastly where is the shame of my Refuter that cites Austin as the Man on whom he depends for his vniuersall possibility of Continency when his own Maldonate professes that S. Austin is the onely enemy to this Doctrine Fourthly Where there is impossibility or necessity there is no sinne no counsell as no man sinnes in not making new Starres in not doing Miracles A stale shift that oft sounded in the eares of Austin and Prosper from their Pelagians The naturall man in this deprauednesse of estate cannot but offend God therefore he sinnes not in sinning Counsell giuen shewes what we should do not what we can g g Aug. l de Nat. Grat c. 43. Iubendo admonet c. saith Austin In commanding he admonisheth vs both to doe what wee can and to aske that which wee cannot doe In Continencie then our indeuour is required for the attaining of that which God will giue vs God neuer imployed vs in making of Starres Though my Refuter is euery day set on greater Worke then making of him that made Starres Lastly it is true there is no sinne in marying there may bee sinne after a vow in not vsing all lawfull meanes of Chastitie The Fathers therefore supposing a h h Post multam deliberationem considerationem c. Basil Refut p. 65. pre-required assurance of the gift and calling of God in those whom mature deliberation and long proofe had couered with the vayle of Virginitie doe iustly both call for their continuance and censure their lapses Fiftly vpon this ground the Father cannot blame his Childe for incontinence To containe implyes impossibilitie Aske him wherefore serues Mariage Yea but to prouide an Husband or a Wife is not a worke of an houres warning in the meane time what shall they doe Sure the man thinkes of those hot Regions of his Religion where they are so sharpe set that they must haue Stewes allowed of one Sexe at least Else what strange violence is this that he conceiues As our Iunius answered his Bellarmine in the like Hic homo sibi videtur agere de equis admissarijs ruentibus in venerem de hippomanc non de hominibus ratione praeditis he speakes as if hee had to doe with Stallions not with Men not with Christians amongst whom is to bee supposed a decent order and due regard of seasonablenesse and expediency A doughty Argument Marg. of the Refut p. 65. wherewith Master Hall is sore
whence he fetches his forceablest r r P. 94. Refut Testimony for forced Continency slit in the Nose and bored in the Eare long-since by Å¿ Å¿ Censur Coci p 133. Salmeron Baronius Bellarmine and Francis Lucas Of the same stampe that the Reader may here see once for all how he is gulled by this false Priest with foysted Authorites is his Augustine De bono Viduatis t t Refut p. 20. 49. 68. thrice by him here quoted not without great triumph branded by Erasmus Hosius Lindanus as likewise u u Refut p. 40. his Augustine de Eccles dogmat confessed counterfeit by Bellarmine his friends of Louain and x x Refut p. 80. the Sermons de Tempore cashier'd by Erasmus Mart. Lypsius the Louanians Whereto let vs adde the book of great Athanasius de Virginitate y y Refut p. 35. produced in great state by C. E. not without great wrong and shame fathered vpon that Saint as if Erasmus and Nannius did not shew the ridiculous precepts therein contained would speake enough To follow all were endlesse Of this kind lastly is his Cyprian de Disciplin bono Pudicitiae not more magnificently z z Refut p. 36. brought forth by C. E. then fairely eiected by Erasmus Espencaeus These are the glorious Testimonies which grace the swelling Pages of mine Aduersarie These are the pious frauds wherewith honest Readers are shamefully coozened It shall suffice thus in a word to haue thanked my Reuerend Monitor for his sage aduice and to aduise my Reader to know whom he trusts Vid. supra Refut p. 74 75. Refut p. 78. Pag. 79. For Origen we haue already answered My Detector could not haue chosen a better man for the proof of the facility of this Worke then him who according to the broad Tralation of his rude Rhemists gelded himselfe and made himselfe no man for it That all graces are deriued to vs from the Fountaine or rather the full Ocean of Christs Merits and Mercies which he shewes from S. Hierome we willingly teach against them so farre are we from being iniurious to the Passion of our Deare Redeemer But if he will therefore inferre that euery man may be a perpetuall Virgin he may as well hope that therefore euery Scribbler may write all true Our Sauiour himselfe which said I will draw all men vnto me yet said All men cannot receiue this not I cannot giue it but they cannot take it As for that practice which he cites from S. Austin of forcing men both into Orders and Continency it shewes rather the Fact then the Equity what was done in a particular Church rather then what should be The Refuter himselfe renounceth it in the precedent Page For the Church forceth none thereunto neither is it any other then a direct restraint of that which the Councell of Nice determined to bee left free Lastly that there may appeare to be no lesse impossibility of honest Truth in some men then true Chastity he cites one place for all out of S. Austin * * Lib. 2. c. 19. de Adulter Coniug vid. sup Let not the burden of Continency affright vs it will be light if it be of Christ it will be of Christ if there be Faith that obtaines of him which commands the thing which hee doth command See Reader with what fidelity and by this esteeme the rest S. Austin speakes there of persons diuorced each from other whom necessity as he supposes the case cals to Continency the Detector cites him for the power of voluntary votaries The very place confutes him It will be Christs yoke saith Austin if there be faith that obtaines of him which commands the thing which he doth command There can be no Faith where is no command Now C. E. will grant there is no o o Neque enim sicut non maâ—haueris non occides ita dici potest non nâ—bes Aug. de Virg. Sanct. l. sing c. 30. Refut p. 80. vsque ad 87. command of single life to all Therefore all cannot aske it in Faith therefore all cannot thinke it the Yoke of Christ all cannot beare it SECT XV. NOw at last like some sorie Squip that after a little hissing and sparkling ends in an vnsauoury cracke my Refuter after all these Flourishes of their possibilitie shuts vp in a scurrilous Declamation against our Ministerie granting it indeed impossible amongst vs to liue chaste and telling his Reader that wee blush not to blaze in Pulpits and printed Bookes this brutish Paradox that Chastitie is a vertue impossible to all because so it is to such lasciuious p p Illud dixerim tantum abfuisse vt ista coacta castitas illam coniugalem vicerit c. saith Polydor Virg. This I may say that it is so farre off that this compelled Chastitie excelled the Coniugall Châ—stitie that no crime of any offence could bring more hatred to the state of Priesthood or more disgrace to Religion or more sorrow to all good men then the blemish of the vnchaste life of Priests c. Polyd. l. 5. c. 4. Libertines sensuall and sinfull people as Heretikes are and here are sordes dedecora scabies libidinum the brutish spirit of Heresie fleshly and sensuall Impure mouth How well doth it become the sonne of that Babylonian Strumpet to call the Spouse of Christ Harlot How well doth it become lips drencht in the Cup of those Fornications to vtter blasphemous Slanders Spumam Cerberi against Innocence By how much more brutish that paradox is so much more deuillish is the vniust imputation of it to vs Which of vs euer blazed it Which of vs doth hate it lesse then the lye that charges it vpon vs How many Reuerend Fathers haue wee in the highest Chaires of our Church how many aged Diuines in our Vniuersities how many graue Prebendaries in our Cathedrall Churches how many worthy Ministers in their rurall stations that shine with this vertue in the eyes of the World If therefore the proper place of Chastitie be the Church of God as this Cauiller pleads it is ours in right q q Hier. l. 2. in Ose Quicunque amare pudicitiam se simulant vt Manichaeus Marcion Arrius Tatianus inflauratores veteris haereseos venenato ore mella promittunt caeterùm iuxta Apostolum quae secretò agunt turpe est dicere Minut. Fal. Octau theirs in pretence And so much more noble is this in ours for that in ours it is r r Inuiolati corporis virginitate fruuntuur potius quà m gloriantur free in them Å¿ Å¿ Talis castitas quia non est spontanea non habet magnam retributionem Bran. Carthus O mysteria O mores vbi necessitas imponitur castitati authoritas datur libidiâ—i Itaque nec casta est qua metu cogitur nec c. Illa pudica qua these tenetur Ambros l. 1. de Virg. forced Infida custos castitatis necessitas as that
this point we haue formerly shewed t t Apud Winâ—on Monachos loco Clericorâ—m primus inâ—â—ituit De Edgaro Rogerus Cestrens lib. 6. If he did not presume vpon Readers that neuer saw Bookes he durst not be thus impudent This argument therefore shall euer stand good and shall scornefully trample vpon all his vaine cauils Ethelwold vvas the first which by the command of King Edgar expelled maried Priests out of s the old erection of Winchester Anno 963. Dunstan and Oswald together with him were the men who two yeeres after first expelled maried Clergie-men out of the greater houses of Merceland As 1177 in the dayes of King Henry the Second the secular Prebendaries of Waltham were first turned out to giue way to their irregulars therefore vntill these times these places were interruptedly possessed by maried Clergie-men If now he shall except that this possession of theirs was not of long continuance but vpon vsurpation whereby the maried Incumbents had iniuriously incroached vpon the right of Monkes Our Monkes of Worcester shall herein fully conuince him who write vnder their Oswaldus Archiepiscopus Oswald Archbishop of Yorke Per me fundatus fuit ex clericis monachatus That is By mee were Monkes first founded out of Clerkes Which was also the fashion of all other erections of this nature so as it is manifest that originally these Churches were founded in maried Clergie-men afterwards wrongfully translated from them to Monkes And if the first possessors had beene t t A Clericis in Monachos translata est senes Pontif. hon vid. supr Monkes how could Monkes haue beene there first founded by Oswald when as Ethelred had long before both founded and furnished it and how out of Clerkes if Monkes had been there before Let my Refuter shew me but a Verse of equall antiquitie in a contrarie rime Per me fundatus fuit ex Monachis Clericatus And I yeeld him my argument Otherwise let the world iudge if hee be not shamelesly obstinate in not yeelding SECT XII Refut p. 324. Non est scriptum ergo non est factum c. BVt to strike it dead my Aduersarie will proue the English Clergie euer to haue beene continent Reader look now for Demonstrations His first proofe is That in all the pursuit of this businesse we neuer reade of any that did stand vpon the former custom of the Church A proper argument ab authoritate negatiuè And what other arguments doth my Detector finde vsed by the then persecuted Clergie Histories record them not therefore doubtlesse they said nothing for themselues and if they vrged other proofes which are not now descended to vs by any relation why not this for one Who can but hisse out so silly sophistry But to stop that clamorous mouth in this poore cauill doth not his owne u u Gul. Malmesde gest Angl. l. 2. c. 9. Monke of Malmesbury tell him that the Clergie vrged this plea for themselues Ingens esse miserabile dedecus vt nouus aduena veteres colonos migrare compellerit c. That it was a great and miserable shame that these vpstarts the Monkes should thrust out the ancient possessors of those places that this was neither pleasing to God which had giuen them that long-continued habitation nor yet to any good man who might iustly feare the same hard measure which was offered to them Thus they whose plea and complaint seemed so iust that Alfgina the Queen Prince Alfere and others of the Nobilitie ouerthrew many of those new-founded Monasteries and reinstalled the Priests in their former right Refut p. 325. His next proofe is from the Letters of Pope Gregory which he wrote to Austin the Monke here in England Risum teneatis Did euer any man doubt but that Pope Gregory was desirous to establish Romish Lawes and orders amongst the English Where yet his Legate found many as good Christians as himselfe vnder another rule conforme to the Greeke Church But how followes this This Pope was willing to in-romanize the English therefore the staffe stands in the corner And yet euen Pope Gregory allowed mariage to those of the x x Greg. resp ad quast 2. Aug. English Clergie which were not within the higher Orders appointing them to receiue their stipends apart a fauour which he saw necessarily to be yeelded to our Nation whiles he abridged others Refut p. 326. The noble Starre of Monkes From Gregory he descends to Beda a man doubtlesse venerable for his learning and vertue but as it is in his Epitaph Monachorum nobile sydus Whether a neighbour at least to Italy by birth as they contend I am sure a Disciple of Abbot Benedict and so great a fautor of the Roman faction that hee censures S. Aidanus and Colmanuus for adhering to those Greeke formes which the Churches of this Iland had anciently followed whose part Ioannes Maior iustly takes against him This Beda in a generall speculation speakes his conceit of the voluntary continency which he holds requisit in the Priesthood sayes nothing of the particular custome of the English Clergie rather in diuers passages insinuating the contrary Amongst the rest hee tels vs that in the y y Bed Eccles hist Aug. l. 4. Synod holden by Archbishop Theodorus and other Bishops at Hereford in the third yeare of King Egfride which was about Anno 673. their tenth and last Canon was pro coniugiis vt nulli liceat nisi legitimum habere connubium For Mariages That no man should marry vnlawfully no man should commit incest no man should leaue his owne wife vnlesse as the Gospel teacheth for fornication onely c. I know my Refuter will plead the vniuersalitie of this Canon and will contend that a Law generally made for all Christians is not without iniury restrained to Ecclesiastiques But let my Reader well consider both the Prologue and Epilogue of that Synode hee shall see that they who are required to keepe these Lawes are Consacerdotes omnes and that whosoeuer shall violate them Nouerit se ab omni officio Sacerdotali nostra societate separatum must know himselfe separate from all sacerdotall office and society so as it will necessarily follow that this Law did at least concerne the Clergie with others though not apart Neither is there any other of those Canons which concernes not the Clergy onely except the first concerning the obseruation of Easter which principally also belonged to them Whereto it makes not a little that in the Booke of Saxon Canons set out for the gouerning of the secular Priests the rule is Let them also doe their indeuour I forbeare the Saxon word for lacke of their Characters The Reader shall since them cited in Saxon by Mat. Parker Def. of Pr. Mar. that they hold with perpetuall diligence their chastitie in an vnspotted bodie or else let them bee coupled with the bond of one Matrimonie Words wherein our Clergie meant to regulate themselues as it
vel nasciturus Nec ipsi etiam virgines essent quia nati non essent Ex foecunditate enim illorum orta est istorum virginitas Magnum igitur bonum est foecunditas de qua sancta praecessit virginitas Quia autem virgines esse debeant qui nuptiarum fructus facientes docet cos verbum quod Deus seminat in cordibus illorum In aliorum enim cordibus seminat verbum bonae foecunditatis nuptiarum fructum facientis in aliorum vero cordibus seminat verbum virginitatis * * Deest opinor pars clausula Illi ergo in quibus seminat verbum virginitatis c. ipsi virginitatem seruare desiderant In quibus vero verbum nuptiarum seminat ipsi facere nuptiarum fructum appetunt WHICH FOR MY COVNTRYMENS SAKE I haue thus Englished I Would faine know who it was that first ordained that Christian Priests might not marry God or Man For if it were God surely his determination is to bee held and obserued with all veneration and reuerence But if it were Man and not God and this Tradition came out of the heart of Man not out of the Mouth of God then neither is saluation got by it if it be obserued nor lost if it be not obserued For it doth not belong to Man either to saue or destroy any man for his merits but it is proper only vnto God That God hath ordained this it it neither found written in the Old Testament nor in the Gospell nor in the Epistles of the Apostles in all which is set down whatsoeuer God hath inioyned vnto men It is therefore a Tradition of Man and not an institution of God nor of his Apostles As the Apostle instituted rather that a Bishop should be the Husband of one Wife which he would neuer haue appointed if it had beene adulterie for a Bishop to haue at once a Wife and a Church as it were two Wiues like as some affirme Now that which hath not authority from the holy Scriptures is with the same facility contemned that it is spoken For the holy Church is not the Wife not the Spouse of the Priest but of Christ as S. Iohn saith He that hath the Bride he is the Bridegroome Of this Bridegroome I say is the Church the Spouse and yet it is lawfull euen for this Spouse in part to marry by Apostolique Tradition For the Apostle speakes thus to the Corinthians because of fornications let euery man haue his owne Wife And I would that all men were as I am but euery man hath his proper gift of God one thus another otherwise For all men haue not one gift namely of Virginity and Continency but some are virgins and containe others containe not to whom he granteth mariage lest Sathan tempt them through their incontinency and they should miscary in the ruine of their vncleannesse So also of Priests some are continent others are incontinent and those which are continent haue receiued the gift of their continence from God without whose Gift and Grace they cannot be continent But those which are incontinent haue not receiued this gift of grace but whether by the intemperance of their humour or the weaknesse of their mind run out into fleshly desires which they would in no wise doe if they had receiued from God the Grace and Vertue of Continence For they also which are deliuered by the Grace of God from the body of this death feele another Law in their members rebelling against the Law of their minde and captiuating them to the Law of sin and compelling them to doe that which they would not This Law therefore holding them captiue and this Concupiscence of the flesh prouoking them they are compelled either to fornicate or mary whereof whether is the better we are taught by the authority of the Apostle who tels vs it is better to marry then to burne Surely that which is the better is to be chosen and held now it is better to marry because it is worse to burne and because it is better to marry then to burne it is conuenient for those which containe not to marry not to burne For mariage is good as August speaks in his booke super Genesin ad Literam in it is commended the good of nature whereby the prauity of incontinence is ruled and the fruitfulnesse of Nature graced For the weaknesse of either Sexe declining towards the ruine of filthinesse is well relieued by honesty of mariage so as the same thing which may be the office of the found is also the remedie vnto the sicke Neither yet because incontinence is euill is therefore Mariage euen that wherewith the Incontinent are ioyned to be reputed not good yea rather not for that euill is the good faulty but for this good is that euill pardonable since that good which mariage hath yea which mariage is can neuer be sin Now this good is three fold the Fidelity the Fruit the Sacrament of that estate In the Fidelity is regarded That besides this bond of Mariage there be not carnall society with any other In the Fruit of it That it be louingly raised and religiously bred In the Sacrament of it That the mariage be not separated and that the dismissed party of either Sexe be not ioyned to any other no not for issues sake This is as it were the Rule of Mariage whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauity of Incontinence ruled And this Rule of Mariage and this three-fold good the eternall Truth hath appointed in the order of his Decree and that eternall Law of his against which whatsoeuer is done spoken or willed is sinne which Augustine in his booke against Faustus the Manichee witnesseth saying Sin is either Deed Word or desire against the Law Eternall This Eternall Law is the diuine Will or Decree forbidding the disturbance and commanding the preseruation of due naturall order whatsoeuer therefore commands naturall Order to be disturbed forbids it to be conserued prohibits men to vse Mariage and to attaine to the threefold good thereof Fidelitie Issue Sacrament and commands them to breake that Rule of Eternall Truth whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauity of Incontinency is ruled commands men to abhorre those things whereby naturall Order is held and maintained This Commandement I say forbids naturall Order to bee obserued commands it to bee disturbed and therefore is against the Law of God and by consequence is sinne For they sinne that ordaine such a command by which naturall Order is destroyed These men doe not it seemes beleeue that of the children of Priests God takes for the building of his City aboue and for the restoring of the number of Angels For if they did beleeue it they would neuer ordaine such a Mandare because they should wittingly and ouer rashly goe about to effect that the supernall City should neuer be perfited and the number of Angels neuer repayred For if the supernall City be to be
lies not in the place yet choyce must be made of those places which may be most helpe to our deuotion Perhaps that he might be in the eye of Israel The presence and sight of the Leader giues heart to the people neither doth any thing more moue the multitude then example A publike person cannot hide himselfe in the Valley but yet it becomes him best to shew himselfe vpon the Hill The hand of Moses must be raised but not emptie neither is it his owne Rod that he holds but Gods In the first meeting of God with Moses the Rod was Moseses it is like for the vse of his trade now the proprietie is altered God hath so wrought by it that now he challenges it and Moses dare not call it his owne Those things which it pleases God to vse for his owne seruice are now changed in their condition The bread of the Sacrament was once the Bakers now it is Gods the water was once euery mans now it is the Lauer of Regeneration It is both vniust and vnsafe to hold those things common wherein God hath a peculiaritie At other times vpon occasion of the plagues and of the Quailes and of the Rocke he was commanded to take the Rod in his hand now he doth it vnbidden He doth it not now for miraculous operation but for incouragement For when the Israelites should cast vp their eyes to the Hill and see Moses and his Rod the man and the meanes that had wrought so powerfully for them they could not but take heart to themselues and thinke There is the man that deliuered vs from the Aegyptian Why not now from the Amalekite There is the Rod which turned waters to blood and brought varieties of plagues on Aegypt Why not now on Amalek Nothing can more hearten our faith then the view of the monuments of Gods fauour if euer we haue found any word or act of God cordiall to vs it is good to fetch it forth oft to the eye The renewing of our sense and remembrance makes euery gift of God perpetually beneficiall If Moses had receiued a command that Rod which fetcht water from the Rocke could as well haue fetcht the blood of the Amalekites out of their bodies God will not worke miracles alwayes neither must we expect them vnbidden Not as a Standard-bearer so much as a suppliant doth Moses lift vp his hand The gesture of the body should both expresse and further the piety of the soule This flesh of ours is not a good seruant vnlesse it helpe vs in the best offices The God of Spirits doth most respect the soule of our deuotion yet it is both vnmannerly and irreligious to be misgestured in our Prayers The carelesse and vncomely cariage of the body helpes both to signifie and make a prophane soule The hand and the Rod of Moses neuer moued in vaine Though the Rod did not strike Amalek as it had done the Rocke yet it smote Heauen and fetcht downe victorie And that the Israelites might see the hand of Moses had a greater stroke in the fight then all theirs The successe must rise and fall with it Amalek rose and Israel fell with his hand falling Amalek fell and Israel rises with his hand raised Oh the wondrous power of the prayers of faith All heauenly fauours are deriued to vs from this channell of grace To these are wee beholden for our peace preseruations and all the rich mercies of God which we enioy We could not want if we could aske Euery mans hand would not haue done this but the hand of a Moses A faithlesse man may as well hold his hand and tongue still hee may babble but prayes not hee prayes ineffectually and receiues not Onely the prayer of the Righteous auayleth much and onely the beleeuer is Righteous There can be no merit no recompence answerable to a good mans prayer for Heauen and the eare of God is open to him but the formall deuotions of an ignorant and faithlesse man are not worth that crust of bread which hee askes Yea it is presumption in himselfe how should it be beneficiall to others it prophanes the name of God in stead of adoring it But how iustly is the feruencie of the prayer added to the righteousnesse of the person When Moses hand slackned Amalek preuailed No Moses can haue his hand euer vp It is a title proper to God that his hands are stretched out still whether to mercy or vengeance Our infirmitie will not suffer any long intention either of bodie or minde Long prayers can hardly maintaine their vigour as in tall bodies the spirits are diffused The strongest hand will languish with long entending And when our deuotion tyres it is seene in the successe then straight our Amalek preuailes Spirituall wickednesses are mastered by vehement prayer and by heartlesnesse in prayer ouercome vs. Moses had two helpes A stone to sit on and an hand to raise his And his sitting and holpen hand is no whit lesse effectuall Euen in our prayers will God allow vs to respect our owne infirmities In cases of our necessity hee regards not the posture of body but the affections of the soule Doubtlesse Aaron and Hur did not onely raise their hands but their minds with his The more cords the easier draught Aaron was brother to Moses There cannot be a more brotherly office then to helpe one another in our prayers and to excite our mutuall deuotions No Christian may thinke it enough to pray alone Hee is no true Israelite that will not be ready to lift vp the weary hands of Gods Saints All Israel saw this or if they were so intent vpon the slaughter and spoyle that they obserued it not they might heare it after from Aaron and Hur yet this contents not God It must be written Many other miracles had God done before not one directly commanded to bee recorded The other were onely for the wonder this for the imitation of Gods people In things that must liue by report euerie tongue addes or detracts something The word once written is both inalterable and permanent As God is carefull to maintaine the glory of his miraculous victory so is Moses desirous to second him God by a booke and Moses by an Altar and a name God commands to enroule it in parchment Moses registers it in the stones of his Altar which he raises not onely for future memory but for present vse That hand which was weary of lifting vp straight offers a sacrifice of praise to God How well it becomes the iust to be thankfull Euen very nature teacheth vs men to abhorre ingratitude in small fauors How much lesse can that Fountaine of goodnesse abide to be laded at with vnthankfull hands O God we cannot but confesse our deliuerances where are our Altars where are our Sacrifices where is our Iehouanissi I doe not more wonder at thy power in preseruing vs then at thy mercy which is not weary of casting away fauours vpon the ingratefull
so they must shew it vpon all good occasions letting passe no opportunitie of making spare of bloud Ishbosheth was it seemes a man of no great spirits for being no lesse than fortie yeares old when his father went into his last field against the Philistims hee was content to stay at home Abner hath put ambition into him and hath easily raised him to the head of a faction against the annoynted Prince of Gods people If this vsurped Crowne of Sauls Sonne had any worth or glory in it hee cannot but acknowledge to owe it all vnto Abner yet how forward is vnthankfull Ishbosheth to receiue a false suggestion against his chiefe Abettor Wherefore hast thou gone in to my fathers Concubine Hee that made no conscience of an vniust claime to the Crowne and a maintenance of it with bloud yet seemes scrupulous of a lesse sinne that carried in it the colour of a disgrace The touch of her who had beene honoured by his fathers bed seemed an intolerable presumption and such as could not bee seuered from his owne dishonour Selfe-loue sometimes borrowes the face of honest zeale Those who out of true grounds dislike sinnes doe hate them all indifferently according to their hainousnesse Hypocrites are partiall in their detestation bewraying euer most bitternesse against those offences which may most preiudice their persons and reputations It is as dangerous as vniust for Princes to giue both their eares and their heart to mis-grounded rumors of their innocent followers This wrong hath stript Ishbosheth of the Kingdome Abner in the meane time cannot be excused from a treacherous inconstancy If Sauls sonne had no true Title to the Crowne why did hee maintaine it If hee had why did he forsake the cause and person Had Abner out of remorse for furthering a false claime taken off his hand I know not wherein he could be blamed except for not doing it sooner But now to withdraw his professed allegeance vpon a priuate reuenge was to take a lewd leaue of an ill action If Ishbosheth were his lawfull Prince no iniury could warrant a reuolt Euen betwixt priuate persons a returne of wrongs is both vncharitable and vniust how euer this goe currant for the common iustice of the World how much more should we learne from a supreme hand to take hard measures with thankes It had beene Abners duty to haue giuen his King a peaceable and humble satisfaction and not to flie out in a snuffe If the spirit of the Ruler rise vp against thee leaue not thy place for yeelding pacifieth great offences now his impatient falling although to the right side makes him no better than traiterously honest So soone as Abner hath entertained a resolution of his rebellion hee perswades the Elders of Israel to accompany him in the change and whence doth he fetch his maine motiue but from the Oracle of God The Lord hath spoken of Dauid saying By the hand of my seruant Dauid will I saue my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistims and out of the hand of all their enemies Abner knew this ful well before yet then was well content to smother a knowne truth for his owne turne and now the publication of it may serue for his aduantage hee wins the heart of Israel by shewing Gods Charter for him whom he had so long opposed Hypocrites make vse of God for their owne purposes and care onely to make diuine authority a colour for their owne designes No man euer heard Abner godly till now neither had he beene so at this time if he had not intended a reuengefull departure from Ishbosheth Nothing is more odious than to make Religion a stalking horse to Policy WHO can but glorifie God in his iustice when he sees the bitter end of this treacherous dissimulation Dauid may vpon considerations of State entertaine his new Guest with a Feast and well might hee seeme to deserue a welcome that vndertakes to bring all Israel to the league and homage of Dauid but God neuer meant to vse so vnworthy meanes for so good a worke Ioab returnes from pursuing a troupe and finding Abner dismissed in peace and expectation of a beneficiall returne followes him and whether out of enuy at a new riuall of honour or out of the reuenge of Asahel hee repaies him both dissimulation and death God doth most iustly by Ioab that which Ioab did for himselfe most vniustly I know not setting the quarrell aside whether wee can worthily blame Abner for the death of Asahel who would needs after faire warnings runne himselfe vpon Abners Speare yet this fact shall procure his paiment for worse Now is Ishbosheths wrong reuenged by an enemy wee may not alwayes measure the Iustice of Gods proceedings by present occasions Hee needs not make vs acquainted or aske vs leaue when hee will call for the arrerages of forgotten sinnes Contemplations THE FIFTEENTH BOOKE Contayning VzZAH and the Arke DAVID with MEPHIBOSHETH and ZIBA HANVN and DAVIDS Ambassadors DAVID with BATHSHEBA and VRIAH NATHAN and DAVID AMON and THAMAR ABSALOMS returne and conspiracie TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY VERY GOOD LORD William LORD BVRLEIGH ALL GRACE AND Happinesse RIGHT HONOVRABLE THere are but two Bookes wherin we can reade God The one is his Word his Workes the other This is the bigger Volume that the more exquisite The Characters of this are more large but dim of that smaller but clearer Philosophers haue turned ouer this and erred That Diuines and studious Christians not without full and certaine information Jn the Workes of God we see the shadow or footsteps of the Creator in his Word we see the face of God in a glasse Happinesse consists in the Vision of that infinite Maiesty and if wee be perfectly happy aboue in seeing him face to face our happinesse is well forward below in seeing the liuely representation of his face in the glasse of Scriptures Wee cannot spend our eyes too much vpon this Obiect For mee the more J see the more J am amazed the more I am rauished with this glorious beautie With the honest Lepers I cannot bee content to enioy this happy sight alone there is but one way to euery mans Felicity May it please your Lordship to take part with many your Peeres in these my weak but not vnprofitable Contemplations which shall hold themselues not a little graced with your Honourable Name Whereto together with your right Noble and most Worthy Lady I haue gladly deuoted my selfe to bee Your Lordships in all dutifull obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations VzZAH AND THE ARKE REMOVED THe house of Saul is quiet the Philistims beaten victory cannot end better than in deuotion Dauid is no sooner settled in his house at Ierusalem than he fetcheth God to bee his guest there the thousands of Israel goe now in an holy march to bring vp the Arke of God to the place of his rest The tumults of Warre affoorded no opportunity of this seruice onely peace is a friend to Religion neither
instance in Moses 866 The wicked in their afflictions like the beasts that grow mad with baiting 874 Euery maine affliction is the godly mans Red-Sea 883 A way to discerne the afflictions of God and Satan 884 The enduring afflictions commendable 887 Afflictions send men to prayer 930 The purpose of affliction is to make vs importunate 971 When God hath beaten his child he will burne the rod. 971 The aduantage which afflictions haue 994 our afflictions more noted of the sender then of the sufferer 995 It is the infirmitie of our nature oft-times to bee afflicted with the causes of our ioy 997 An example of Gods making our afflictions beneficial 1000 Extremitie of distresse will send the prophanest to God 1109 1110 Agag of him and Saul 1073 Ag◠a pretty diuision of our ages and hopes in them 46 and burthens also 48 Agnus Dei The vertue of that which was sent by Pope Vrbanus the fift vnto the Greeke Emperour 621 Ahab of him Benhadad 1351 Of him and Naboth 1356 His spleene against Naboth whether of anger or griefe 1357 Iezebels cōforting him 1357 The power of conscience in him 1359 His sorrow censured 1359 Of his death 1360 c. The number of his Prophets ibid. All Satans subtiltie in desiring not all but halfe the heart p. 2 Our seruice to God must bee totall 477. 478 Whether all may reade the Scriptures 617 Trust him in nothing that hath not a conscience in euery thing 1006 Partiall conuersion of man is but hatefull hypocrisie 1051 The worst men will make head against some though not all sinnes 1109 Allegeance of the oath and iust suffering of those that refuse it 342 c. Almes it ought to be like Oyle 708 Alone Sinne is not acted alone 1138 Altar the altar of the Reubenites 967 No gaine so sweet as of a robbed altar 1054 The Altar cleaued to in danger by Ioab but otherwise not regarded 1261 1262 But t is no fit place for a bloody Homicide 1262 Alteration the itching desire of alteration manifested 1053 Amalek his foyle 893 His sin called to reckoning 1074 Ambition an ambitious man is the greatest enemy to himselfe 5 It hath torment enough in euery estate 16 Pretty steps of ambition 95 Its Character 197 Hard to say whether there be more Pride or Ignorance in ambition 985 Ambition euer in trauel 1150 Ammon of him and Thamar 1144 His lust prettily laid out 1146 Anabaptists their Kings or Captaines pride 443 Their dissention at Amsterdam prettily set out 445 Angels of the offices and acts of good and euill Angels 66 67 The vse that we should make of them as our friends and foes ibid. The danger of wicked men which haue Gods Angels to oppose them 934 Good Angels haue their stints in their executions ibid. How forward the good Angels are to incite to pietie 997 Hearty sacrifices are an Angels feast ibid. T is presumption to discourse of their Orders Titles c. 997 Of the Angell and Zacharie 1159 They reioyce to bee with vs whilst wee are with God 1161 What it is to pray to Angels in the Virgins salutation 1163 Anger the small difference betweene anger and madnesse 140 Anna and Peninna 1028 Of Eli and Hanna 1030 Amsterdam vid. Title Brownists and Separatists their separation iniury to the Church with the censure and aduice 315 Antiquitie of popish deprauing antiquitie 349 Apparell the children of God haue three suits of apparell 37 The glory of apparell is sought in noueltie c. with a sharpe reproofe of out-running modestie in it 1135 Appearance nothing more vncertaine then it 489 Of appearance of things and Men. 490 Appearance may bee reduced into three heads ibid. Where appearance is the rule see how the ordinances of God become to bee scorned 492 The Saints mis-deemed the Gallants estate mis-iudged 493 And false religion seeme true 494 Appearance is either a true falsehood or an vncertaine truth 1078 Application the life of doctrine 1142 Apocrypha whether it be to be receiued as Scripture 614 Austeritie there is euer an holy austeritie must follow the calling of God 995 Arke How to bee reuerenced 949 The strength of Gods Arke 952 The Arke and Dagon 1043 The prophane Philistims toyle in carying the Arke shames many our attendance at it ibid. The Arkes reuenge and returne 1046 The Israelites ioy of the returne of the Arke 1049 The remoue of the Arke 1050 Of Vzzah and the Arke 1127 Arts all arts are handmaids to Diuinitie 143 Asa of him 1326 Foure principall monuments of Asa his vertues 1327 Astonishment By it God makes way for his greatest messages 870 Authority An impression of Maiesty in lawfull authoritie 904 The errour of the mightie is armed with authority 917 Authority the marke of enuy 920 Awe The awefulnesse that God hath put into Soueraignty 1116 Awefulnesse is a good interpreter of Gods secret acts 1129 B BAdam Of him 931 And of his Asse 934 His madnesse in cursing the people 936 A pretty vse of Baalams death ibid. Bablers a good note of them 12 Baptisme A discourse of the necessity of it and of the estate of those which necessarily want it 367 Of Christs baptisme 1189 It giues vertue to ours ibid. Bathsheba Of her and Dauid and Vriah 1137 Shee mournes for her husbands death 1141 Beasts God will call vs to account for our cruelty to dumbe beasts 935 Beauty If it bee not well disciplin'd it proues not a friend but a foe 1145 Beelzebub Who he was 1289 Beginnings Wee must stop the beginnings of sin 937 Strange beginnings are not vsually cast away 994 Those affaires are like to proceed well that haue their beginnings of God 1025 Little can wee iudge by the beginnings of an action what will be the end 1053 As it is seene in Saul 1056 Beleefe First beleeue then conceiue 25 vide Faithfulnesse Beniamin His desolation 1019 Beneficence Our cheerfulnesse thereto excited 373 Benefits Wee lose the comfort of them if wee renue not our perils by meditation 1000 Birth Not to be too much discouraged by the basenesse of our birth 991 The very birth and conception of extraordinary persons is extraordinary 994 Bishops Whether ours be Antichristian 578 Blood It is a restlesse suter 1262 Boaz and Ruth 1025 Body How to bee caried in the worship of God 13 The gesture of the body shold expresse and helpe the deuotion of the soule 894 Dead bodies are not lost but layd vp 942 Boldnesse It s vsuall issue without ability 5 It is dangerous to bee too bold with the ordinances of God 949 Fearfull to vse the holy Ordinances of God with an vnreuerend boldnesse 1049 Boldnesse and feare are commonly misplaced in the best hearts 1052 A good conscience wil make a man bold 1060 Bookes Of neglecting good bookes 411 A bewailing the want of order iudgement in reading Popish bookes 412 God hath two bookes one of his word another of his works 1124 Brownists vide Separatists their scandalous aspersions