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A18107 The vindication or defence of Isaac Casaubon against those impostors that lately published an impious and vnlearned pamphlet, intituled The originall of idolatries, &c. vnder his name, by Meric Casaubon his sonne. Published by his Maiesties command.; Is. f. vindicatio patris. English Casaubon, Meric, 1599-1671. 1624 (1624) STC 4751; ESTC S107684 28,694 88

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howsoeuer he may perhaps differ in opinion from either side yet in charitie he may be vnited vnto both And for no other cause is hee more maligned by the hot-spurres on either part then for seeking to procure peace and concord betwixt them and for doing his best endeauour to make vp the great schisme and rent of the Church that againe wee might come to be all one body Which misery an olde Father was wont long agoe to lament in these words that may be very well applied to our times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth Nazianzen after hee had done speaking of mens maintaining their sides and factions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Whosoeuer keepe a middle ●ourse and follow after peace are ill used on both sides being either contemned or fiercely opposed of which number we being c. For the Papists I haue nothing to say to them now But I haue heere to doe with such kind of men who striuing to runne as farre from Papists as they can haue also vnaduisedly runne withall beyond the bounds of Truth These are the Men that with incredible pride and arrogancy despise all Antiquity that most superciliously contemne the ancient and holy Fathers that studie all they can how to abrogate and abandon all the ancient Constitutions of the Church and in the meane while that arrogate to themselues a power of making what Lawes they list of appointing Ceremonies at their pleasure and of bringing in such a discipline which the Christians of olde neuer heard of as if they had be●ne created the only perpetuall Dictators and Gouernours of the Church of Christ And though they haue no regard at all of any publique tranquillitie refusing to giue way but to the least thing that may make for the peace and vnitie of Christians yet neuertheles they would faine beare vp their credit and for a colour of their bad intents make vs beleeue they are wondrous zealous men Of which sort of men that he was one whosoeuer was the Author of this Booke which these Impostors haue published vnder Is Casa●bons name and that he was no meane one neither but a chiefe champion among them I thinke no body will make question that will but runne ouer the booke and of those infinite places which prooue the same most plainely will but a little more narrowly marke a few There being I suppose scarce any writing extant in this kind which doeth more clearely and euidently argue what an insolent peruerse and rash Author it had A man would verely thinke that hee was one who● had proclaimed open warre and defiance to all Antiquitie or one that being starke-staring mad with noueltie and fury would abandon all the ancient Customes and Constitutions of our Forefathers The Booke indeed by the Title is pretended to be written against Papists but in effect it prooues as aduerse to the Primitiue as to the Popish Church And whereas the Church of England cutting off such corruptions as crept in vpon her in declining ages hath retained many of the Sacred Rites and Ceremonies which the ancient Church had yet she is also cunningly stricken at through the Papists sides with so much the more danger by how much the more craft and close subtiltie it is done Therefore let this be the first Argument of all the rest to prooue that Casaubon neither was nor could be the Author of this Booke For who was it that euer reuerenced the gray haires of Antiquitie more then hee Who euer without iniuring the holy Scriptures ●steemed more highly of the ancient Fathers And for the Church of England what should I neede to speake of i● whose Doctrine and Discipline Rites and Ceremonies hee did so much approoue and embrace that hee could neuer seeme to himselfe to haue commended and magnified it enough Though there were none of his workes and writings left behind him out of which it might be gathered and demonstrated what his mind was herein yet there be many graue and religious men still liuing whom I could call to witnesse how often they haue heard him professe and declare at large that he was thus affected But there will be no neede of that seeing his owne Bookes are euery where extant to confirme it For howsoeuer hee had neuer any occasion offered him purposely and ex professo to handle this Argument yet seeing all his Workes that belong to matters Ecclesiasticall and Diuine haue nothing in them not onely contrary or auerse from the vse and customes of this Church but what is altogether agreeable to the Canons and Constitutions of the sam● and which as occasion is offered doe euer and anon defend them the intelligent Reader will easily perceiue how willingly hee submitted himselfe vnto the Forme thereof rested wholly content with it And for this purpose there are not wanting most certaine proofes and testimonies occurring in many places of his writings which will be enough to stop vp the mouthes of the most impudent gain-sayers As when in his Preface to his Ecclesiasticall Exercitations written to his Sacred Maiestie he saith Qui Ecclesiam habeas in tuis Regnis partim iam olim ità institutam partim magnis tuis laboribus ità instauratam vt ad florētis quondam Ecclesiae formam nulla hodiè propius accedat quàm tua inter uel excessu vel defectu peccantes mediam uiam secuta Quâ moderatione ●oc primum assecuta est Ecclesi● Anglicana ut illi ipsi qui suam ei foelicitatem inuident saepe tamen ex aliarum comparatione illam cogantur laudare deinde c. that is Who haue in your Dominions a Church so established by former ages and so setled by your Maiesties Royal paines and care as no Church this day under heauen comes neerer to the flourishing estate and face of the Ancient then yours which hath taken the middle way betweene them that went astray on both handes by excesse or defect By which moderation the Church of ENGLAND hath got this speciall aduantage that euen such as enuy her happinesse are neuerthelesse oftentimes constrained to magnifie her in comparison of others Besides c. Whereunto these words agree in his Epistle to Cardinall Perron written though in his Maiesties name yet according to his owne sence and meaning Certò clarè ac liquidò sibi constare si notae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaerantur uerè necessaria ad salutem spectentur aut etiam ad decorum Ecclesiae nullam in orbe terrarum Deo vni sit laus gloria inuentum iri quae propius ad fidem aut speciem antiquae Catholicae accedat c. That it was most plaine and manifest unto him how for matters essentiall and truly necessary to saluation or belonging also to the beauty and decency of the Church there was God be thanked none in all the world to be found which came neerer to the faith and face of the ancient Catholike Church c. It wil not be amisse here to set downe his
names of esteem and authority that so they might the better insinuate their pernicious doctrines into them that little vnderstood what they were and seduce the simpler sort of people from the right way And thereupon it came that so many bookes fraught with pestilent doctrine were a●tributed of old to the holy and orthodox Fathers and at this day goe a great number of them vnder their names many whereof at the first perhaps might be their owne but afterwards came to bee so corrupted and adulterated by other mens impurities that like bastards their owne reputed parents would not acknowledge them Of which thing euen Origen alone may bee a sufficient example who was long since numbred among the Arch-heretikes themselues and yet both by ancient and moderne writers is most strongly defended to haue been an Orthodoxe Father many things being falsely imputed vnto him by Heretikes and his Bookes otherwise pure and sound by them corrupted and plaistered ouer with their owne dawbings as S. Ierome and Vincentius Lirinenfis with others haue written of his old Apologists But to be short whether wee exemplifie this kinde of imposture by old or new times I dare say that there was neuer any bastard-booke fathered vpon a man with more notable impudence and fraud then this was vpon Casaubon What purpose they had that were the contriuers of such cousenage and what should chiefly mooue them to doe ●o vnworthy an act many probable coniectures may be made It is not vnlikely that some sculking crafty Puritan came stealing out with it to trie if hee could doe the Church of England a mischiefe Peraduenture one that bare some priuate grudge against my Father thought this way to wound his reputation Or rather it is most likely that some vnletter'd fellow some sharking companion lighting vpon an old moth-eaten Pamphlet which hee thought to be some great treasure and hard to be come by and agreeing with a Sordid Bookeseller to get it reprinted thought it best to put some mans name of note before it that so their gaines which they gaped for might come in the faster by the sale And this last howsoeuer the other two coniectures goe for there may be more in it then this alone they that haue had to doe and enquire into the matter haue found to bee most certaine and true In the meane who would not lament to see what a miserable case we are now adayes brought vnto when such base fellowes as these that neuer had any thing to doe with learning nor honestie neither shall take vpon them to iudge what Bookes may benefite the people and deserue to bee published Vnhappy Theologie which must be made a refuge for Runagates and whether shee will or no be forced to patronize the base seruice of such dishonest Mountebankes that doe so shamefully prostitute her to their gaine and filthie lucre The fault whereof it is a griefe to see how in a maner it comes from the very people themselues who hauing once got it by the end that there is no smal religion in making long discourses and in ostentation of much reading gape after such nouell Pamphlets as fast as euer the Athenians did after newes And so no maru●ile if wee haue euery day such dry kickses abortiue broods sent vs into the world when there are so many to buy them vp● as children doe babies and toyes But to make it no wonder that these Impostors were in such hope to cousen and deceiue the vnskilfull multitude at ease is it not beyond all the degrees of impudence that they should goe about to make Them Patrons and witnesses of their fraud whom they should much rather haue feared to be the Reuengers inst Punishers of it Lord what a licentious age doe wee liue in that such a lurking obscure fellow for hee is famous and knowen for nothing but villany should dare to inscribe his Booke which hee knew to be but forg'd and counterfeit to our most Noble and Pious Prince besides many other great Lords and all in hope of reward and gaine But to let passe this iuggling knaue that sets vs foorth his wares and toyes with such a vaunting kind of language and to come vnto the Booke it selfe Certainly I suppose there is no learned man specially to whom Casaubon or his Writings were not altogether vnknowen that can bee so sencelesse or grosse but vpon the first reading of this Booke hee will presently both perceiue and detest the fraud of these cheating companions And therefore had the Booke come into their hands onely that were able to iudge of such matters and to discerne trueth frō falshood I might haue saued all this labour But inasmuch as the Booke came forth in English and was snatched vp so fast by the vnlearned multitude and is now by their rash iudgement so much commended and approoued I haue heere briefly vndertaken the examination thereof both to rectifie the ignorant and to vindicate my Father from suspicion of impietie that so at last the vizard being pulled off the Pamphlet it may appeare to all as it is in its owne naturall likenesse And first I must seriously confesse that for the originall Author of the Booke I neither know him nor euer heard the least rumour of him what hee was ●t●r an albus French or English or whether he be yet aboue ground or no lest haply some might suspect that I vented any priuate malice of mine owne while in defending of my Father I seeme to write something sharpely against one whom I know not For his Religion I thinke it will satisfie a great many and be enough for his commendation too to say hee was no Papist but rather a fierce enemy to them all Indeed this may be enough for them that thinke a man presently right and orthodoxe enough if hee doeth but once professe himselfe an Aduersarie to Poperie it being their custome to measure the integritie and soundnesse of a mans Religion by his hatred against Papists onely And it is to bee feared lest that the Booke being written against the Sacrifice of the Masse as the Title of it pretends because I neither approoue the Booke nor acknowledoe it to be my Fathers both Father and Sonne as men taken napping be by some Pu●itans reputed for errant Papists But howsoeuer it were a fault to giue any occasion of scandall vnto the weakest members in the Church yet the loue of trueth must more preuaile with me to vndertake her defence then the prauitie of other mens iudgements to deterre me from it In my opinion he defined vertue well that said it was the meane betweene two extreme vices which is not onely true in Morall and Practicall but in some Intellectuall vertues also of which kinde the right apprehension of Trueth is And therefore it is no marueile if they which take that way in matters of Religion doe oppose themselues against two extremes and haue two extremes opposed against them Yet hee that keepes this middle course
iudgement about some certain Rites and Ceremonies which as occasion serued he wrote and inserted into his Ephemerides from whence what hee thought of all others in that kinde may be easily coniectured Octob. 31. An. 1610. Diem sacram non malè posui Dei beneficio sum enim inuitatus bodiè ut interessem sacris quae factasunt ad consecrandos Episcopos duos Scotos Archiepiscopum Scotiae Vidi illos Ritus Impositionem manuum Preces in eam rem O Deus quanta fuit mea uoluptas Tu Domine Iesu serua hanc Ecclesiam Catharis qui ista rident da bonam mentem God be thanked I haue spent this Holy day well For I was this day inuited to be present at the sacred s●lemnities of the Consecration of the Arch●ishop and two other Bishops of Scotland I saw the Cerem●nies the Imposition of hands and the Prayers made for that purpose O God what apleasure it was to me to behold it Preserue thou this Church O Lord Iesu and turne the hearts of the Puritans that deride such things as these Ian. 4. An. 1611. Gratias tibi Domine quod hodi● ad sacram mensam sum admissus Corporis Christi sanguinis● factus sum particeps in Ecclesiâ Anglicanâ cuius Formulam heri diligenter meditatus admodum probaui ordinem agendi mir● laudaui prae receptâ apud alios consuetudine Thankes bee to thee O Lord that I was this day admitted vnto thy Holy Table and made partaker of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Church of England the Forme of which Administration hauing read it ouer yesterday I did highly approoue and commend aboue that custome which others vse And not onely these things which concerne the Church of England but those also wherein hee had to doe with our Aduersaries alone doe sufficiently argue for his defence Euen by his whole manner and genius of writing euery body may knowe that the booke is none of his For who cannot tell with what great moderation and mildnesse Casaubon was euer wont to treat of Controuersies in Religion insomuch that many preposterous Puritanes out of their ignorant and mad zeale did blame him for it and from thence tooke occasion to suspect him more then they had reaso● to doe But this was the way that hee tooke and hee perswaded himselfe it was the best and safest way that could bee taken both for the finding out of trueth and the redresse of error to follow that path which meeknesse and moderation either led him or went along with him in without all affection or partiality either way supposing that such as tooke any other course did put pace in a dangerous and slippery path and put others further out of their way that were gone astray one from another Now if a man should run through the whole rout of Nouellers and diligently make inquiry into their writings I think there could not one bee found for furie and malice and b●tternesse against his Aduersaries to bee compared with this Counterfeit-Casaubon then whom neuer was any man more childishly and fondly in loue with his owne fancie or more bent to his faction It is but a small matter that he hath rail'd a little more bitterly then became a modest man against such things as were worthy of blame but so infinitely to bely his Aduersaries and to put such forged crimes and calumnies vpon them was vnsufferable specially in such an vndertaker for the Trueth of Christ Such manner of dealing with Aduersaries though it may be pleasing to some hotte fiery Zelotes whom learning neuer taught any modesty yet wiser men cannot but condemne it as being fitter to spoyle then to helpe or defend a good cause For if there be● strict Lawes prouided against such colluding pleaders that pretending to helpe a man do of purpose leaue out that which should most make for his cause and bring nothing but false allegations for his defence so to betray his right to his Aduersaries● what is to bee done with such vndertakers of Controuersi●s in Religion that either of purpose or through grosse ignorance let passe those Arguments that be solid and of greatest moment and come in with such idle poore reasons as euery childe may answer and blow away Ought not the same Law when the case is the same to be made against these men as betrayers of an honest and good cause What readier way then theirs can be imagined wholly to alienate our Aduersaries mindes from vs that being ouercome with the truth on our parts began somewhat to incline vnto vs Caius Fabritius is highly commended vnto vs by the writers of old times for his vertue and magnanimity in scorning to accept of that victory in a doubtfull battell which was offered him by the perfidie of a trecherous fellow And is it not a shame now adayes that Christians contending with Christians about the Trueth of Faith should vse lesse faith and conscience one towards another then the Pagans themselues were wont to doe who regarded nothing but their owne wordly praise and honour Can there then be any body so iniurious to Casaubon or so quite bereaued of his owne iudgement as to thinke these things that smell only of a furious Sycophant and a most impudent Calumniator could come from him Frō him I say Whose mildnesse and moderation in matters of Religion is so euident in all his writings that to take any paines to prooue it were but to waste time and to light a candle in the Sunne And howsoeuer it befits not the modestie of a sonne to contend about the learning of his Father yet I hope I may haue leaue without the breach of good manners to say that hee was no meere Blocke or such a one as had no good learning at all ●n him which let but be once granted mee and I doubt not of the good successe I shall haue in vindicating his name and estimation from these Hucksters handes that put this booke vpon him A booke which is so full of excessiue ignorance and stupiditie that whereas euery thing in it except a few scraps taken from others argue a most vnlearned writer there are many things besides which I wonder how they could come from a man that was sound in his senses if yet he is to be thought sound in his senses whom this pestilent madde puritanisme hath once possessed But I suppose the Reader expects that for the better confirmation of what we say we should produce some Examples out of the Booke it s●lfe concerning these things wherewith we haue all this while charged the Author of it It remaines therefore that we briefly runne the Booke ouer rather pointing at the places then vndertaking any refutation of them IN the first part of his Booke hee reckons vp all such things which either happened by occasion or were directly ordained by God in the olde Law hauing some mysticall or typicall signification in them as the Trees of Life and Death of
Knowledge of Good Euill the Rainebow the Feast of vnleauened Bread the cloudie Pillar that went before the Israelites in the day the flame of Fire that guided them in the night the diuision of the Red Sea the heauenly Manna the water that gushed out of the Rocke Oblations and Sacrifices of diuers sorts the Temple of Ierusalem the Priests vestments the water of clensing c. And all these he will haue to been no lesse truely and properly called Sacraments of the olde Testament then Circumcision and the Passeouer were in place whereof were instituted those two Sacraments of the new Testament Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord. I am not ignorant what a large signification the word Sacrament hath but neuer that I could learne were all these promiscuously accounted and reckoned vp among the number of Sacraments by the Fathers and while I weigh this mans words a little better I finde by most certaine confequence that his meaning and purpose was in making all Sacred Signes to be true Sacraments withall to make vs beleeue that the Sacraments of the New Testament are nothing else but meere naked Signes and Figures Neither is there any other meaning to be collected from him in all his passages about the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist For howsoeuer he would sometimes seeme to be farre of another minde when hee vseth the words really and truely yet he applies them no otherwise to the Sacred Symboles of the Supper then hee doeth to any of those Shadowes and Figures of the olde Law acknowledging no power in them of really exhibiting but of signifying onely as pag. 36. or really signifying at most as pag. 81. vpon which ground that is to say that there is no more vertue in the Eucharist then in those Signes he thinkes hee hath most learnedly and strongly confuted the new opinion of Transubstantiation a conceit otherwise most absurd and grosse because forsooth there was no Transubstantiation in the Tree of knowledge of Good and Euill none in the Manna or in the Rocke that flowed with water or in the brazen Serpent c. As if it were not easie to answere our Aduersaries truely out of S. Augustines owne wordes Prima Sacramenta cum suo aduentu Christus impleuisset ablata sunt alia sunt instituta uirtute maiora utilitate meliora actu faciliora numero pauciora The Sacraments of the olde Law being accomplished by the comming of Christ are taken away and others ordained in their place which be greater in power and efficacie better for our profit easier for performance and fewer in number But to make an end with him in this point His onely doctrine is That by faith wee doe really participate of the bodie and blood of Christ and be made one with him● and that the signes and symboles of this our coniunction and fellowship are in the Eucharist whereas wee doe not call them Signes onely but beleeue them further to be the very Instruments and Meanes of our Communion with Christ which is the same that the Primitiue Church teacheth the doctrine of the Church of England and the Beliefe of Is Casaubon as may be seene in his Exercitations and his Epistle to Card. Perron For them that haue such base and abiect thoughts of this diuine Sacrament it is no maruell if they can finde nothing to wonder at in it as this Scribler elsewhere doth grant and some do much more impudently a●●irme but the godly Fathers being wont to call it tremend● Mysterium a Mystery ful of horror and dread would not haue vs once to thinke vpon so great a matter without a holv and sacred feare In his third Chapter going about to shew how from time to time the Signes Sacrifices of the old Law were depraued and subiect to corruption without any iudgement or discretion at all hee reckons vs vp a number of sins and offences of a farre different nature which neuerthelesse he will needs haue properly to belong vnto the Sacraments as the Loathing of Manna and the Peoples murmurring that followed the sinne of Achan the impiety of the sonnes of Heli the rash attempt of Uzzah and others the like among which Iephte's vow and Gedeon's garment are numbred for corruptions of Sacraments And hither hee referres that of 2. Kings 17. 17. Where the Israelites made their children to passe through the fire which this fellow calls Purgatorie Fire and saith that from it was deriued the opinion of the Alcoranists and Mahumetans at this day for Purgatory meaning by his Alcoranists the Papists of our times For so hee calls them else-where them and their Ritualls Durand's Alcoran Titelman's Alcoran c. In his Seuenth Chapter hee cites vs his Ecclesiasticall Commentaries and Pag. 50. hee sends vs vnto them againe T is very well Still haue wee the aduantage euery where matter enough to detect the fraud of these Impostors For whose soeuer these same Commentaries be sure I am they bee none of Casaubon's Hee neuer published neuer wrote any Ecclesiastical Commentaries But I am afraid lest these Commentaries and those of Elasopolitanus bee twinnes out of which the Author of this booke himselfe confesseth he had euery thing to make vs vp this Pamphlet such as it is What these Commentaries of Elasopolitan are I thinke no body yet euer knew or is like to know being at least so vnknowne and vnheard of as the very name of the man seemed strange and monstrous to all learned mens eares that I could meete withall In the same Chapter among the superstitious Ceremonies of Baptisme heretofore brought into the Church he numbreth vp Chrisme Exsufflation and Exorcismes which though they were not vndeseruedly taken away by the Church of England when they began to bee abused vnto ridiculous superstition yet inasmuch as they be knowne to haue been of very great Antiquity it was not the part of a modest man to raile vpon them for abominable things specially as they were vsed in the Primitiue Church Certainely the old godly Fathers S. Cyrill S. Ba●il S. Ambrose S. Augustine and others a little better Doctors of Religion and Piety I trow then our new vpstart Zelotes would neuer haue admitted or allowed them if as this man affirmes they had been first inuented to adulterate the true vse and prime Institution of Baptisme And for Casaubon it is not likely that hee would euer haue giuen any such censure of these Ceremonies against the manner and custome of the ancient Fathers whom how much he reuerenced hee hath elsewhere made knowne in matters of greater moment But wee must not here let passe this one most notorious example of the sencelesse stupidity and malignitie both of this lewd and idle writer Wherefore O you Missalians saith the man haue you foisted in oyles into the holy Sacrament of Baptisme imitating herein the here●ie of Marcus and Marcosus who commanded that Infants to bee baptized should bee anointed In his Margin hee
Cyprian and S. Augustine say of it they that know any Antiquitie cannot be ignorant Againe hee tells vs that from this Custome their Abuse sprung vp who steeped the bread of the holy Supper in the blood of young infants and so celebrated the Sacrament What a most detestable wickednes of a man is this to ioyne the monstrous impietie of lewd miscreants that went for Christians indeede among the vnskilfull multitude but were nothing lesse the vniuersall practise of Christs Church together and to ascribe the wickednesse of heretickes to innocent and harmelesse men So the Pagans of olde what villanie soeuer any base fellow that was but thought to be a Christian had done they were wont to lay it vpon the true Christians themselues as the Writers of those elder ages haue so often complained But so true is it that this wicked bloodshed of infants sprang from the Custome of the Churches mingling water with wine whereof hee makes Alexander to haue beene the first Inuenter as that many of better authoritie then hee fetch the beginning of it from Simon Magus who was a whole hundred yeeres elder then Alexander And it was this Alexander also whom he makes to be the Reuiuer of Iewish Ceremonies in the Church and the first Inuenter of unleauened bread to be vsed in the Eucharist A wonder the man should be no more afraid of the Allobrogicall Consistory the Tribunall seat at Geneua where the same bread according as the olde custome was is vsed at this day In his ninth Chapter to mak● 〈◊〉 way for that which was to follow like a wise fore-caster hee begins to treat of the Religion and Rites of the ancient Romane people which Argument hee handleth iust like himselfe hauing no more knowledge in Antiquitie then what he could get from B●ond●● and Alexander and such other late Writers whom he cites euery where for antiquitie as witnesses beyond all excep●●on yet for this hee is to bee commended though for nothing else that he doeth so ingenuously acknowledge his good Benefactors But how well this kinde of writing agrees with Casaubon to depend wholly vpon new Writers and neglect the olde let them say that are fit iudges in these matters But it made altogether for his purpose to explicate the Paynim Rites and Ceremonies of the Romans frō whence hee vndertaketh to deduce the whole Masse and to conuince it of Paganisme For his vndertaking let honest and moderate men iudge how laudable it is I know hee is not the first or at least the onely man that hath attempted it there haue beene those that would needes fetch the whole Religion of the Papists both in Faith and Ceremonies from Turks Pagans But sure I am that any such thought was very odious to Casaubon who was neither so inept to beleeue any such thing himselfe nor so malignant to perswade other men to it Which I speake not as if I meant to excuse the many and detestable superstitions of Popery no such matter But it is one thing faithfully to reduce errors and corruptions vnto their prime beginnings which many excellent men haue with great felicitie vndertaken and another shamefully to detort and bitterly to exaggerate all things for the bringing of them into hatred which the Author of this Booke hath most impudently done aboue all others that euer belaboured themselues in this kind And seeing the Church of England hath retained many things in her publike Liturgie that were before in the Romane Missall the one cannot altogether be accused of Paganisme without the opprobrious iniury of the other But wee said euen now and it is too manifest that this Pamphlet is in most things repugnant to the Church of England We will briefly point at some of them In the eighth Chapter The keeping of Lent is reckoned vp among those ordinances that be contrary to Christs precept Temples that beare the names of Saints are scorned and taunted at as if they were built to the honour of men and not to the worship of God Praying towards the East and the situation of Churches that way are condemned for inuentions of superstitious heretickes The Titles of Father and Reuerend Father which we vse to giue vnto Ecclesiasticall persons are traduced as being deriued from the custom of the Gentiles Confirmation of children is ho●ted at as the fond deuice of idle men that had nothing el●e to doe Through the Popes sides all distinction of Order in the Church is pulled apieces and a paritie of E●a●gelicall Ministers set vp and maintained as Ius Diuinum The vse of a Surplice in performance of Diuine Seruice hee deriueth from the idolatrous Egyptians and againe those that brought it first into the Church hee sayth plainely were men inspired with the spirit of Numa Pompilius whom hee is eue● and anon calling the Magician● All the Furniture and Ornaments of the Church as vessels of siluer Hangings and Tapisteries are condemned and scorned The vse of Musicke as well uocall as instrumentall in the time of Diuine Seruice● hee doeth most reprochfully raile at affirmes that Numa the Magician and not the Bishops of Rome was the first bringer of it into Churches Dispensations for pl●ralities of Benefices are but an old renewed custome of the Romane Idolaters with him and no Constitution of Christians And these with such other like monstrous absurdities he is not onely so impudent to affirme but he will needs betray and shew such great ignorance al●o to confirme them with reasons that a man cannot tell at what he should wonder most his ignorance or his impudence As for example first bringing that which wee alledged last of all concerning Dispensations and auouching them to haue come from the Romans he saith Ouer these Benefices the high Pontife had usurped a power to giue dispensation to whom he would for the holding of two together as in I itus Liuius it is related of Fabius Maximus who by a dispensation helde two Benefices when hee was created Pontife more then 200. before the Incarnation of ●esus Christ. These things to be spoken by a Pagan after the manner of our own times who would not marueile at But in Liuie there is no such matter Hee speakes not one word of a Dispensation That Fab. Maximus of whom Liuie here writes was neuer any Pontife neither but died when he was young Indeed his Father Q. Fab. the elder was said to haue had two Priesthoods as they call'd them of two kinds nothing like one another● but not two places or two preferments in the same kinde of Priesthood Forsooth the same man was Augur and Pontife too And not to tell you what Plutarch saith that the name Augur was no title of Magistracie or dignity but of Art and knowledge onely Liui's words are Eodem anno Quin. Fabius moritur c. Augur in eius locum inauguratus est Quin. Fabius Max filius in eiusdem locum P●ntifex● nam duo