same assertions And if you will looke there farther you shall see that those Sorbonists were many times troubled with refuting and censuring diverse doctrines which were set abroach two or three hundred yeeres since and that diverse times in the depth of Popery That little Treatise alone will satifie any man that readeth it that in this your assertion of wonderfull consent you are wonderfully out Should not a man thinke that one of your learning had heard of Thomas Vias Caietanus once Cardinall of Rome how deepe a scholer hee was and howe many bookes hee wrote And did all your Popish learned men ioyne in vnity of doctrine and opinion with him How say you to Ambrosius Catharinus no babie among you who wrote purposedly against him I had leifer that Sixtus z Biblioth Sanct. lib. 4. Senensis should tell you the tale because you perhaps will better beleeve him Having then reconed vp the vvorkes of Cardinall Caietane hee thus subioyneth Ambrosius Catharinus Arch-bishop of Coâ—…psa of the order of the Preaching Friers did vvrite as vvell against the foresaid Commentaries of the Scriptures as against the other lesser workes of this man sixe very sharpe bookes of Annotations or Invectiues concerning which I leaue to everie man his owne free iudgement And what maine matters of great importaunce in Divinity these were hee vvho listeth to pervse the a Bibl. lib. 6. sixth booke of the same Authour shall see in particular I mentioned before that it is not agreed vpon betweene your schoole-men whither beastes eating the consecrated hoste do receiue the body of Christ or no. b Li 4. Dist. 13. Peter Lombarde saith No. Albeit if hee should be asked what then the mouse doth eate hee must aunswere God knoweth But c Part. 〈◊〉 quaest 80. art 3. Aquinas is resolute that solong as the sensible elementes doe remaine solong in the Eucharist it ceaseth not to bee the bodie of Christ although a mouse or a dogge doe devour it or it bee cast into the mire And d Part. 3. quaest â—…5 Alexander de Hales is of the same minde The maister of the Sentences following e Aug. Epist 28 lib. 4. Dist. 1. Saint Augustine vvho was but a harde father to Infants did teach that if a childe dyed vvithout Baptisme it vvente to hell The Divines of Paris in the Margente giue him a plaine checke for the same and our later Papistes vvill not haue the babe goe to hell but to the limbus infantum vvhere their paine is paena damni and not paena sâ—…sus a vvant of the ioyes of heaven but the feeling of no torment f Lib. 4. Dist. 11. Peter Lombarde sayeth that the Eucharist is to bee received of all in both kindes but the g Session 13 Councell of Constance sayeth that the people shall haue but onely the breade And yet Gerarduâ—… Loâ—…chius a greate Papist protesteth that they h De missa publica pro roganda are falseâ—… Catholikes hinderers of the reformation of the Church and blasphemers vvho denye the people the cuppe in the Eucharist You haue hearde of the difference of your Thomistes and Scotistes concerning the merite of Congruum and Condignum the difficultye arising out of that place of Saint Paule I i Rom 8 〈◊〉 count that the afflictions of this presente time are not vvorthy of the glorye vvhich shall bee revealed vnto vs. Can you vntill this day bringe your Dominicane and Franciscane Fryers agreed vvhither the Virgine k Iud Vives in Annot. in August de 〈◊〉 Dei li. 20. 26. Marye vvere conceived in Originall sinne or no The Dominicanes mooved by the authority of Aquinas repute her spotted the Franciscanes fighting vnder the banner of of Scotus maintaine her to bee free froÌ„ all which assertion of theirs when the Councel of l Seâ—… 3â—… Basils had ratifyed the Dominicanes except against that as against a Councell not lawfully called the distension continued still so great there about that Pope Sixtus was faine to interpose his authority in it by a solemne Decree commaunding that it should not be disputed of afterward but let the question yet be moved by any in their presence and they will be as hote in it as ever they were Can there be a mainer article of all your Romish faith theÌ„ the acceptation of the Concâ—…ble or CoÌ„venticle at Trent And yet the Popish Divines of m See the answ to the 〈◊〉 Reason Fraunce do not admit it to this day Did Pighins and Ferus accord with their fellow Romanists in so high a question as Iustification by faith alone If you know any thing of them you cannot bee ignorant that in that point they are Protestants Doth n De liber 〈◊〉 biâ—…r Contarenus the Cardinall agree with all his fellowes touching the doctrine of free will To conclude this Period your two great Champions for the Pope Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More could never accord vpon that question whether ther were water in Purgatory or no both perverting the text but the one alleaging that of the Psalme o â—…al 〈◊〉 11. UUee have gone through fire and water and thou hast brought vs out into a cooling place and therefore there must be water there the other citing that of 〈◊〉 Zachary I have loose thy prisoners out of the pitte wherein vvas no water which places to die for it they would not have vnderstood â—…chr 9. â—…1 Suppliâ—… of Soâ—… of any thing but Purgatory and that literally too So there was water in it and there was no water T. HILL AND lastly it is wonderfull to beholde howe all decrees of lawfull Councels and of Popes doe agree in all pointes of doctrine one with another although they were made by diverse men in diverse places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…es vpon diverse occasions and against Heresies not 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but oftentimes contrary one to another This no double 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God G. ABBOT YOu talke here of wonderfull and me thinketh that it is wonderfull that your Komish Rabbins will let such fellows as you are write and publish bookes of matters in controversie And it is almost as wonderfull that any English Papist will lay his soule vpon the credite of such fellowes as you are And it is a peece of a marveile whither you taking on you to be a Doctour without Divinity haue read nothing about this businesse or vnderstood nothing when you reade it or forgot it since or what you haue done with it Of Councels wee shall heare by themselues but the agreement of your Popes may make a harmony fit for hell and the Devill may daunce by it What meaneth that of q Hist. lib. 〈◊〉 Guicciardine who lived not far from Rome The Popes by law doe decree that 〈◊〉 shall bee lawfull for them to recall all promises and covenants although they were most firmely made by their Predecessours And may it be thought that they haue any such Decree Let that of
reverence and honour to those onely bookes of Scriptures which are called Canonicall that I doe most firmely beleeve that no authour of them did erre in writing any thing To other then hee taketh exception Hee speaketh elsewhere plainer b Epist. 48. The Fathers are not so reade as if a testimony might bee so drawne out of them that it were not lawfull to thinke contrariwise if they have otherwise suppoâ—…ed then the truth did require And againe c Epist. 113. I have put the opinions of so great men c. not that I doe thinke them to be followed as the Canonical Scripture And wheÌ„ he was hard pressed in the Controversie of Baptisme with the authority of Cyprian hee aunswereth Cresconius d Contr. Crescen GraÌ„matic lib 2â—… I esteeme the letters of Cyprian not as Canonicall but I consider them out of the Canonicall and looke vvhat agreeth in them to the authoritie of the Divine Scriptures vvith praise to him I receive vvhat doth not agree vvith his good leave I refuse And afterward Because that is not Canonical vvhich thou râ—…est vvith that libertie to vvhich GOD hath called vs I doe not receive that vvhich savoured amisse of that man vvhose praise I cannot attaine vnto to vvhose many letters I doe not compare my vvritinges vvhose vvitte I lone vvith vvhose speech I am delighted whose charity I doe admire whose martyrdome I hold venerable Can ought be delivered more significantly and to our purpose then this is And least that any man should suspect that hee was more strictly laced toward other men theÌ„ he would have other toward him he frequently writeth as modestly of himselfe as he doth wisely of those who went before him As to e Epistol 7 Marcellinus I therefore doe confesse my selfe to bee of the number of them vvhe in profiting doe vvrite and in vvriting doe profite VVherevpon if any thing bee set dovvne by mee either vnvvarily or vnlearnedly which not onely by other men vvho can see that may bee vvorthily reprehended but also of my selfe because even I at least aftervvard ought to see it if I doe profite it is neither to be wondered at nor to be grieved at but rather it is to be pardonned and to bee reioyced at not because there hath beene an errour but because it hath beene disliked For that man doth too perversely love himselfe vvho vvill have other men also to erre that his errour may lye hid And to Fortunatianus f Epist. 111. Neither are wee to account the disputations of any men though Catholikes and commendable persons as the Canonical Scriptures that saving the honour which is due vnto those men it is not lawfull for vs to dislike and reict some thing in their writings if perhaps we shal find that they haue otherwise thought then that truth hath which by the helpe of God hath either bin vnderstood by others or by vs. Such a one am I in the writings of other mens such would I have the vnderstaÌ„ders of mine to be And handling the high mysteries of the Trinity he saith g De Trinit at l. 1. 3 Whosoever readeth these things where he is alike sure let him go on with me where alike hee doubteth let him seeke vvith mee vvhere hee knovveth his errour let him returne to me vvhere hee spieth mine let him recall mee And in the same booke else-where h Lib. 〈◊〉 in pâ—…aefation Let the one not love mee more then the Catholike faith let the other not love himselfe more then the Catholike truth As I say to the one doe not attend on my writings as on the Canonical Scriptures c. This is the minde of Saint Augustine 27 Neither doth this renoumed servant of God heerein goe alone but he hath sufficient of others who in this be halfe do second him The great Dionysius not the supposed Areopagite but another worthy man since his time did long ago informe vs in this doubt Eusebius bringeth him in speaking thus i Eccles. Hist l 7 19 I do very much reverence Nepos yet truth is the neerest friend of all and ought deservedly to be preferred before all And if any thing be rightly spoken that is to be commended without envy but if any thing bee committed to writing not sincerely and soundly this with diligence is to bee sought out to be reprooved To this effect also are the words of S Hierome I k Epist 62 doe know that I my selfe doe esteeme of the Apostles in one sort and of other writers in another sort that the first do alwaies speake the truth and the latter as men doe in some things erre Adde to these that of Theodoret who saith that l Dialog 3. the Fathers of the Church by a veheâ—…ent contention against their adversaries doe many times exceede measure Thus they vse to do who plant trees For wheÌ„ they see a tree growne crooked they do not onely set him vp vpright but they doe bende him to the other side that by too much inclining to the contrarie parte they may cause it to bee straight This is the iudgement of the auncient vvriters themselves concerning the workes of one another that they go too farre that they do may erre that they are not to be ioyned in equal estimatioÌ„ with the Canonical Scriptures And therfore what reasoÌ„ have we not to vse our ChristiaÌ„ liberty in examinig of theÌ„ by the rule of truth so to embrace that which is right and to repudiate that which is of another nature I doe marveile then what advauntage our Papistes doe thinke they can gette by craking vppon the names of these since their authority even in their ovvne iudgement is not absolute and Dictatourlike but vvith a reference and meerely dependent vppon a higher commaunder In which case if they stoope to the scepter of the LORD wee willingly and readily admit of them vvith due honour and reverence othervvise we leaue them But the tryer of them we hold to be the Canonical Scripture of the olde and new Testament 28 On the other side how the Synagogue of Rome speake they of these Doctours never so faire doe deale vvith them it is good that every vveake Christian shoulde know For howsoever they in their vvordes pretende greate honour to them yet in truth they are the onely men in the vvorlde vvho offer notorious vvronge to them For first how are they debased when such lights of the Easterne and VVesterne Church men so fraughted vvith knowledge and adorned vvith eloquence shall not onely bee sette in comparison vvith but set after the Popes barbarous champion Thomas of Aquine Noble Hierome thou hast vvell studyed and renoumed Augustine thou hast wel laboured to come to such a preferment in thine old age For one of the Popes Aug HuÌ„naeus in praefat SuÌ„mm Aquinat ad Pium 5. Pontific Innocents did so much esteeme the learning of Aquinas that he doubted not to give vnto him the first place after
full stuffed with them who want gold and silver yet cannot for beare but they will be craking T. HILL ANd for the maintaining thereof they are not compelled to deny certaine parts of Gods holy Booke as the Protestants and their Prede Aug. lib. 28 con faust c 2. de vtil cred cap. 3. cessours heretikes haue beene inforced to doe The Manichees for that their heresies were so manifestly confuted by the Gospell of Saint Matthew and by the Actes of the Apostles as they sould coine no answere nor other shift they denyed them to be Scripture The Ebionites because the Epistles of Saint Paule disproved most plainely Circumcision which they maintained denyed them to be Scripture Luther reiected the Epistle of S. Iames because it was so plaine against the doctrine of only faith His of-spring refused the Bookes of Tobias of Ecclesiasticus of the Machabees and of some others because in them is plainely taught the Doctrine of the custody of Angels of Free-will of Praier for the Faithfull Soules departed and of Praier to Saints all which they deny and therefore must they needs deny those parts of the holy Bible G. ABBOT 2 YOu charge vs with denying of some partes of Gods holy booke as not making for vs and certainely we shoulde repute our selues men impious and irreligious if wee tooke any thing away from that which is so absolute that it may well bee compared to a Circle where if any thing be added it maketh a balke if any thing be subtracted it maketh a bracke We do right wel know that he who taketh away ought frō the word of the everlasting God the Lord shal take away his g Apoc. 22. 19. portion out of the booke of life for the speech may be applied to the whole Scripture as wel as to S. Iohns Revelation But we wil you to remēber the other part of the holy Ghosts divisiō that God shal adde the h Vers. 18. plagues writen in that booke to him who addeth ought to the book of the Lord. Whē therfore you labour to establish that for authētical which is not inspired frō the holy Ghost but a matter seperat seiunct you may iustly fear least you incurre that peril which you would post of to vs. What heretiks haue done against the Divine volume we dislike and detest as wel as you We condemne it in the i August de vtilit credend cap. 2 3 Manichees that they accepted not the old Testament that they questioned the Gospell of Saint Matthew as not being that which S. Matthew wrote because it manifestlie shewed that Christ was born a mā which they denied that they extenuated the authority of the Acts of the Apost as being much corrupted For this their-sacrilegious attēpt we cēsure thē as deep ly cōdēne thē as much as you do The like mind we do cary of the k Euse Eccl. Hist l 3 21 Ebionits whose opiniōs sprūg vp in the time of the Evāg S. Iohn they wold gladly haue retained circūcisiō stil as being a necessary duty of the Lawe that which Christ his Apostles had received in their own persōs And because S. Pauls Epistles had so directly oppugned this their cōceit as also had shewed the whole ceremonial law to be extīguished they would clean haue expūged thē out of the Canō We repute these for evil heretiks we accept of al the bookes of the old Testamēt which can be proved to be the Testamēt we questiō nothīg of the New Only as you wold not like if vnto the new Testamēt the Gospell of Nicodemus or Hermes his Apocriphal Pastor shold be sewed so we cānot endure that those tracts should be reputed part of the Hebrews Canō which the Iews never knew These 2. Periods of the Manichees Ebionits as also the 2. next touchīg Luther his of-sprīg you haue trāslated word for word out of Cāpiās first Reasō And if there had bin in you grace an indifferēt mīd you might also haue seene this slāder cōcerning Luther l Gul. Wh◅taken Resp. ad Ration Campiani◅ answered But your meaning is to be wilfully blind There is nothing more false then thar Luther reiected the Epistle of Iames. He acknowledged it as Scripture cited it as he did other books And how shāfully was Cāpian put to his plūges whē havīg Luthers works laid before him being bidde turne to that place where Luther so depressed vilefied that Epistle he could find no such thīg but said it was so in a copy of Luthers works which was at Prage in the Emperours Library And if any had sought it there then the booke had beene removed to some other place as the m Munsten Cosmogr l 2 tree which Aeneas Silvius saith was sought in diverse coūtries still missed that tree I meane whose leaues fallīg into the river were turned into Barnacles You might do wel in behalfe of Campian to shew some one of Luthers followers in Germany Dēmarke or else-where who is so opposite to S. Iames his Epistle for those whom some cal the Rigidi Lutherani do sinke nothing which he held Since thē both they we al who professe the reformed Religion do accoūt it Canonical it is but an idle speculation to make that obiection And why should Luther fly that booke as crossing the doctrine of only faith since all other who maintaine that doctrin do accept of that Epi. also S. Iames doth not thwart that which S. Paul had taught for the spirit of God is not cōtrary to it self if there be any difficulty in one n Iac 2 24 single text of that Epistle it is to be explicated out of other places which are more cleere opē S. Paule thē in his Epistles to the Romans Galathiās hath so manifested that point of Iustificatiō by faith alone that he who without preiudice wil read the text shal never need any Cōmentary It is so plaine that diverse Papists looking into that laying aside false and perverted glosses haue embraced that doctrine o Sleidan l 21 Vergerius who intēded to write against Luther in that Argumēt was by traversing of it caught himselfe Nay Ferus and Albertus Pighius who otherwise is a grosse Papist haue subscribed vnto it And wheras our Papists obiect that S. Paul saying that a mā is iustified without the workes of the law doth meane nothing else but the ceremonial law that is lōg since refuted resolved by S. p Aug de spirit liter cap 14 Austē otherwise The same father also doth notably shewe that there is no contrariety betvveene the tvvo q In 83 quaest c. 76. Apostles for that when S. Iames doth say that a man is iustified by works he doth no more crosse S. Paule then the same Apostle doth crosse himselfe r Rom. 2. 13. saying The hearers of the Lavve are not righteous before God but the doers of the Law shall
bee iustified That it is most true which S. Paule hath that a man is iustified by faith without workes because no works done before beleeving helpe toward iustification but that in beleeving actually a man is reputed iust before God that if he die immediatly having no time to worke yet he by beleeving is iustified Notwithstanding that if he liue he ought to bring forth good fruit His coÌ„clusion is that S. Paule doth speake of workes going before faith S. Iames speaketh of works following that faith which hath iustified And a right beleefe wil not be without them if it have time to shew it selfe I might heere adde how frequent a thing it is with diverse Doctors of the Church to vse the word of onely faith in speaking of our IustificatioÌ„ but of that hereafter TheÌ„ to shew that neither Luther nor we need feare the Epistle of S. Iames as crossing our other doctrine we say that S. Paule doth speake of acceptatioÌ„ to be iust S. Iames intendeth a declaration that we are iustified the one beateth on that before God where the setled apprehension of faith prevaileth which notwithstaÌ„ding wil not be without his convenient fruit the other mentioneth that before men who know not the hart but must iudge of that which is externall therefore it is rightly said by the Apostle in their persons s 〈◊〉 2. 18. Shew mee thr faith out of thâ—…e owne workes 3 Whom you meane by the of-spring of Luther we caÌ„not telt but if al who refuse those books be termed his of-spring his children shal be a thousand yeeres elder then himselfe for many of the most ancieÌ„t fathers did disclaime the books of Tobias Ecclesiasticus the Machabees for being Canonical if the rule of s Hist Ecol lib 3. 19 Eusebius he good as no wise maÌ„ wil deny it that the Canonical volumes may be distiguished froÌ„ the Apocryphal suppositious by the iudgmeÌ„t of the church by the stile by the matter purpose of the books they had great reasoÌ„ not to acknowledge theÌ„ for the Church vniformly did never admit theÌ„ they are not writteÌ„ in the language of the Iews to whoÌ„ t Rom. 3 2. were coÌ„mitted the Oracles of God therfore if they were part of Gods Oracles before the comming of Christ these Iewes should haue admitted them and retained them which they did not and the matter of them is but meane and ignoble in comparisoÌ„ of the vndoubted Scripture What a doubtful narration is that in u Cap. 6. 17 Tobias that a spirite should smell a perfume when spirits haue no flesh bones by the testimony of u Luc 24. 39 Christ himselfe coÌ„sequeÌ„tly no organes of scÌ„e that the hart liver of a fish should drive away the Devil Which if it were so S. Peter was much overseene when he taught vs how to repulse SathaÌ„ by x 1 Pet. 5 9. resisting him being stedfast in the faith For it had bin an easier way to have said get you the hart liver of such a fish make a perfume with it he dareth not come nigh you And this would wel haue beseemed S. Peter to set men to catch such fish in remeÌ„brance of his owne occupatioÌ„ since himselfe was a fisher But what if yong Toby had met with such a spirit as those were of whom Christ saith y Matth. 17. 21. This kind goeth not out but by fasting and praier The treatise called Ecclesiasticus if for any cause it should come into the Canon it must be for Salomons sake whom many would haue to bee the authour of it But the Preface it selfe remaineth confessing it to be the worke of Iesus Sirachs sonne of another Iesus his grande-father and the booke meÌ„tioneth z Cap 48. 46. Elias Ezechias Iosias Ieremy diverse other who lived hundreds of yeeres after Salomon And howe questionable a narration is that in it that a Cap 46. 20 Samuel should tell of Saules death after his owne burial which as diverse learned men thinke is a report to be beleeved in NecromaÌ„cy rather theÌ„ in Divinity For if the souls of the righteous being departed be in the haÌ„d of God which our Romanists must coÌ„fesse out of the booke of b Cap 3. 1 Wisdome we do beleeue out of the saying of David c Psal 31. 5. Into thine haÌ„d I coÌ„mend my spirit if those who die in the Lord d Apoc 14 13 do rest froÌ„ their labors how shal we suppose that the soule of such an excelleÌ„t Prophet as Samuel was might be at the coÌ„mand of so base vile a witch to be fetched froÌ„ heaven at her pleasure Or what rest shal other faithfull men and women bee imagined to haue after this life if Necromancers VVitches and Coniurers haue such power over them Albeit therefore that some of the auncient speaking according to the e 1. Sam 2â—… 15 letter of the texte doe name him who appeared Samuel because hee came vp in the likenesse of Samuel as f Epistol 80. Basile when hee saith that the VVitch raised Samuel from the deade and some other not sifting the pointe doe affirme it to bee the soule of Samuel himselfe as g Antiquit. 6. 15 Iosephus the lewe and h Dialog 〈◊〉 Tryphon Iustinus Martyr yet other more exactly looking into it tell vs otherwise as S. Austen when he calleth that which appeered i De doctr Christ lib. 24 23. the image of Samuel and especially Basile who elsewhere more advisedly pronounceth that k Basil in 〈◊〉 cap 8. they were Devils which hissing with their voice did transforme themselues into the habite and person of Samuel Yea l Chron l 1 Genebrard himselfe maketh a great doubt whither it were Samuel or no and citeth Tertullian and diverse other of the Auncients resolving the contrary As for the bookes of Machabees there be many thinges in them that no man can maintaine therfore no part of them is so much as reade in our Church as that m 1. Mach. 1. 7 AlexaÌ„der parted his kingdome among his servants while he was alive that the n Cap 8 7. Romanes tooke the greate Antiochus aliue that they tooke from him o Cap. 8. 8. India and Media and Lydia and gaue them to King Eumenes that they had a Senate consisting of p Vers. 15. three hundred and twenty men who consulted daily that they yeerely committed their q Vers. 16. government to one man whom all obeied and that there was no hatred or envy amongst them Also it wil never bee made hang togither that Iudas should be aliue in the r 2 Math 1. 10. hundred foâ—…escore eight yeere and yet he should be slaine in the s 1 Mac 9. 3. hundred fifty and two yeere Neither that Antiochus should s 1 Mac. 6. 8 die in his bed for griefe and sorrow and in another place should be
vs belieue that although in the first Synode which long since did canonize the bookes of holy writte they were not admitted yet in a later Synode the Canon was made larger And reasons for this he maketh shew to giue But it is too late Genebrard you come after the faire The Councel which cannot erre hath shut them out of dores the Pope hath ratified their Decree therfore you lose your labour and you are but one man against so many Fathers therfore best pul in your hornes For as with your owne side you are like to gaine nothing so otherwise you wil pul an olde house on your head whē by your example you teach vs that a private man may question yea conclude against that which your Counsels haue determined Where by the way let not the simple and vnlearned Christian wonder that in this best booke the Bible there should be any thing which is not properly a member of it for we therin as also in reading some part of them publikely doe but imitate the custome of the most auncient purest c Zanch. in Observat in cap. 1◅ Confessiō Churches ioyning that with Gods most sacred word which vniversally hath bin ioyned among Christians since almost the eldest times and is not refused by the most reformed Churches at this day but we distinguish these writings from the divine volumes and note them by the name or appellation of Apocripha as hidden in comparison of the bright light of the other which may wel endure the light and sunne-shine And by a little Preface before those doubted bookes as also by the Articles of Religion agreed on in Cōvocation An. 1562. we teach what opinion the Church hath of them that they are not received to be publikely expoūded nor to confirme matters of doctrine but only as they cōsent with the other which are Canonical or onely as the writings of some godly men which may serue to giue light to the history or containe some not vnprofitable instructiōs touching good manners And these things in our Sermōs writings we do fequētly notify So that this indifferent course being held there is no iust cause of offence givē either to the weake beleever or to the malitious clamorous adversory that being done which anciently in the best Christian Churches was done and yet the people be taught but howe and in what sence it is done Nay our Church hath beene so carefull for giving any vvay iust occasion of scandale in this matter that it permitteth the Minister to reade in steede of any of these Apocriphal Chapters other Canonicall lessons vpon the Sun-daies and Holy-daies and therefore much more vpon the working-daies as hee in his wisedome iudgement shal see fit requiring of him prudence discretion in that behalfe Which appeareth in the Second Tome of Homilies set out by publike d An. 1563. authority almost in the beginning of her late Maiesties raigne For there in the e An admonition to al Ministers Ecclesiasticall Preface this advertisement being given to all Ministers For that the LORD doth require of his servant whom bee hath set over his housholde to shevve both faithfulnes and prudence in his office c. some thinges are advised vnto him touching his duty but lastly this is subnected and subioyned And vvhere it may so chaunce some one or other Chapter of the olde Testament to fall in order to bee reade vpon the Sundaies or Holy-daies vvhich vvere better to bee chaunged vvith some other of the New Testament of more edification it shall bee vvell done to spende your time to consider vvell of such Chapters before hand vvhereby your prudence and diligence in your office may appeere so that your people may haue cause to glorifie GOD for you and bee the readier to embrace your labours to your better commendation to the discharge of your consciences and their owne Which pointe being well considered avoideth all blame from the Church of England even in the eyes of them that would seeme most quicke-sighted it being not onely permitted to the Minister but also commended in him if vvisely and quietly hee doe reade Canonicall Scripture vvhere the Apocryphal vppon good iudgement seemeth not so fitte or any Chapter of the Canonicall may bee conceived not to haue in it so much edification before the simple as some other parte of the same Canonical may be thought to haue For the wordes wil very well cary both these 7 VVell then if there bee reasons why the Church of Rome doth shut out from the Canon these bookes of Esdras and yet they are printed and bound vp with all their ordinary Bibles if the same or such like exceptions may bee taken against Iudith Tobias and the rest is there not as great reason that they also should be secluded from the Canonicall albeit they remaine in the volume of the Bible The exceptions against all these controversed writings are many but I will reduce them briefly to these three plaine heads which I meane to touch First the matter of the bookes of Esdras is slight and vaine without maiestie and vnworthy the holy and sacred spirit of God Secondly these tracts are not to be founde in the Canon of the old that is the Iewish Church And thirdly in the computation of Christians they are also reiected If we lay these lines and rules to the rest we shall finde them of very little different quality For first the matter of them is not coherent with the rest of the vndoubted scripture In c Cap 5. 12 Tobias the Angell vtteteth somewhat of himselfe which cannot literally be avoided when he saith to old Tobias I am of the kinredos Azarias and Ananias the great and of thy brethren So it is a narration worthy at the least to be pawsed vpon that the d Cap 6 13 seven husbands of Sara should be killed by an evil spirit the first night of their mariage Of the hart and liver of the fish I haue spoken before Is it not a likely matter that e Cap 8. 9◅ Raguel would make a graue for him whom the day before hee so advisedly tooke for his sonne in law now to bury him before hee was dead They are not matters to bee commended by the penne of the holy Ghost that Iudith should f Iud 10 3 4 dresse and tricke her selfe more then became a matrone that so she might allure Holofernes to wantonnesse that shee g Cap. 12 12 14 18 c 13 1 should make shew as not to deny to lie with him that shee should tell such evident h Ca. 10. 12. 13 vntruthes to his servants at her first taking and to i Ca 11 15 16 himselfe afterward That the Iewes should haue peace so long in her life k Ca. 16. 25. time and a great while after her death is a matter vnprobable since these warres of Holofernes are saide to be made in the time of King l Cap. 2. 1.
3. looke pale you amplifie your former proposition that if this be yeelded vnto Christs passion availed little or nothing at all for fifteene hundred yeeres but for a thousand yeeres hee vvas so farre from drawing all vnto him that he drewe not so much as one person that any man can name This is spoken like a man of some mettal indeede by this shal your disciples know how to trust you hereafter But as if yet you had deserved but one end of a sharpingstone and meant to have the rest with you before that you depart you tel vs that in our own couÌ„try there of England which whether you speake with some contept or no your selfe can best discover it is most manifest that all were Papists without exception from the first Christening therof vntill this age of King Henry the eight You are a blessed companion a man may beleeve much vpon your word Doubtlesse you perswade your selfe that all who should reade your booke would be madde or drunke or senselesse or else you must thinke that they would admitte and admire you for a singular lyar Besides that of Antiquitie the vvritings and testimony of your owne men will convince you in this to have neither wit nor shame VVe make it good against you that the thousands and ten thousands of the servants of God in the Primitive Church knew at the first nothing and afterwards but little of your blasphemous Popery and that not in the mainest points And albeit in processe of time superstitioÌ„ as it was p 2. Thes. 2. 3. 1. Tim. 4. 1. 2. Pet. 2. 1. foretold did by little and little creepe in yet in all ages God had his Church of such as did not spotte their soules with your horrible contammations And we maintaine it that in our owne lande there were testimonies most luculent of such as detested the AntichristiaÌ„ pride other loose behaviour of the Romane Clergy both in doctrin manners served the Lord after the prescript of his owne word as now we do endevor to do If you know not this M r. Doctor you have reade but little so in some sort we question your scholarship or else you have reade it and so wee question your conscience But vvee vvill hope the best that it is your ignorance although these present propositions and many other in your booke doe give vs great occasion to suspect your honest conscience Your owne men will be ashamed that you talke in this fashion as anon you shall perceive But I follow you a while T. HILL AND so the Protestants affirme of other Countries boldly say Luther in postil Ger. 1537 part 2. fol. 141. that vntill this age the Gospell lay in the dust was hiddeÌ„ vnder the bench and Christ was vnknowne Which to say as the Protestants must needes say and blush not to say indeede is meere madnes and flat infidelitie and a plaine denying of Christ and no small establishment of Mahomets Religion For the Protestantes and Mahumetanes agree in this that the Church which Christ founded fell some five or sixe hundred yeeres after his ascension into most horrible errours and then say the Turkes the Angell Gabriel was sent from God to Mahomet to teach him hovve hee shoulde reforme the saide Church because it would not stande with the wisedome and goodnesse of Almightâ—… God to suffer his Church to vanish avvaie through errours and superstitions vvithout sending in time to reforme it And in this out of doubte the Turkes have farre greater reason then the Protestantes have vvhich Protestants by their doctrin make Christ the most simple most improvident Lavve-giver that ever was in the vvorld For neither Plato Solon Lycurgus nor any other Lavv-maker vvhosoever was so simple and improvident as to fashion and plant a Common-wealth which before it were vvell setled should vanish away and come to nothing having no sufficient meanes to prevent errours and such abuses as would ever throvve their Lawes destroy their CmÌ„on wealths And therfore if Christ bee God the holy Bible true the Religion of the Papists must needes be that Religion which he ordained and left to all generations and consequently the onely true and right Religion G. ABBOT 10 SInce by your last fore-going wordes it hath appeared to bee your profession in your owne person to speake largely it is most probable that to the vttermost you will racke and pervert the speeches of other There is neither Luther nor any other ProtestaÌ„t so absurd as to say according to that which you would intimate heere that there was no Church till of late that the Gospell was absolutely hidden or Christ simplie vnknowne vntill their daies For we well vnderstand teach coÌ„trary-wise that in the Primitive Church plentifully afterward alwaies more or lesse in some parts of the world or other there were the Elect of God who groning to behould the common errours of their age did strive to beleeve and live after the rule of the Scriptures But the speech of Luther of vs in that behalfe is comparative that in comparison of that which it should bee or that which had bin not long after the Apostles or in respect of that which the Lord hath of late reveiled or of that which by the faithfull might have bin wished the Gospel had not for some later ages so free a course and Christ was not so ordinarlly vnpollutedly taught but the Bible lay much neglected and was cast aside in comparison of other bookes And while we acknowledge this we need not to blush neither is it madnesse in vs but q Act. 26. 25 the words of truth and sobernes as Saint Paule said in a like vniust accusation nor yet infidelity or denying of Christ or the establishing of Mahomets Religion Heere you heape vp many wordes but are not able to prove the least part of your owne Propositions wee must therefore give you leave to say much conclude nothing Your vniust imputatioÌ„ that not only in this but in diverse other matters we ioyne with the Turkes you borrow of Doctor Gefford who no lesse slaunderously then crakingly preteÌ„deth to do great things in his Calvino-Turcismus The maliciousnes wherof is already displayed and the crime returned by a learned r D. Sutliv in Turco Papismo man vpon the Papists themselves It is to be hoped that the Authour thereof will either in time repent him and turne to grace or receive the reward of his blasphemous speeches against Christs Religion his venimous revilings against his naturall Prince country In the meane while he may looke to the clearing of his credit from the accusations of father Parsons s Parsons manifestation cap. 1. 7. who describeth him to be very ill qualified no better theÌ„ a fire-braÌ„d in kindling dissension eveÌ„ among the English fugitives of the Romane Colledge But for our parts know you ô the whole rable of the Romish generatioÌ„ that vvee
being stripped starke naked first and then murthered and fortie poore women being burned in a barne I may adde vnto these many worthy men heere and there dispersed where-of all cryed out against the Church of Rome and desired a Reformation and many of them appreheÌ„ded and delivered to other the true meaneâ—… of Iustification which is the nearest point of Salvation The s Lucas Oâ—…iand l. 〈◊〉 c. 8. Authour of the sixteenth Centurie nameth about the yeare one thousand fiue hundred and somewhat after but yet before Luther Baptista Mâ—…ntuanus and Franciscus Pâ—…cus Earle of Miraâ—…dula both which much inveighed against the Cleargy and their whole practise Also one Doctour Kâ—…serspergius another called Iohannes Hâ—…lten a thirde named Doctour Andreas Proles and Savaâ—…orola all groaning vnder the burthen of those times The Oration of t Oratio ad Leonem 10 Picus in the Councell of Laterane is extant where besides his most bitter taxing of the filthy behaviour of the Cleargy he vseth these words Pietie is almost suâ—…ke into superstition How Mantuâ—… doth every where pay the Romanists may appeare to those who read his works But one place of him I will u Calamitâ—… cum 3. name Petrique domus polluta fluente Marcescit luxu nulla hic arcana revelo Non ignota loquor liceat vulgata referre Sic vrbes populique ferunt ea fama per omnem Iam vetus Europam mores exirpat honestos Sanctus ager scurris venerabilis ara cyaedis Servit honorandae Divûm Ganymedibus ades Quid muramur opes recidivaque surgere tectat Thuris odoratâ—… globulos cinnama vendit Mollis Arabs Tyrij vestes venalia nobis Temple sacerdotes altaria sacra corona Ignis thura preces coelum est venale Deusque Some of them I English thus Priests land now Iesters vile doth serue The Aultars bawds maintaine Of holy Churches of the Gods lewde Ganymeds make their gaine Why do we woder that their wealth and houses falne doe 〈◊〉 Sweete franckincense and cinnamon are the onely marchandise Of the Arabian and but cloathes the Tyrians vse to sell But with vs Churches Aultars Priests yeelde mony very well Things hallowed crownes fire franckincense the praiers which we make Yea heaven yea God are saleable if we may mony take The opinions of Savanarola against Popery are many for them howsoever it be otherwise u â—…uicciard Lib. 3. coloured he was burnt In the matter of free Iustification he is x In psa 51. cleere And the same is written also of y Catalog test verit lib. 19. Tritâ—…ius another learned man who lived at that time How in England Christ had in al these times professours of the truth I shall haue occasion to shew anon when I come to speake of Iohn Wiclef 23 In the meane while I shall not do amisse to mention some other who were betweene the daies of Iohn Hus and Martin Luther A special oppugner of the Papacy was that learned Laurentius Valla a Patritius of Rome and Canon of Saint Iohn of Laterane there He wrote a treatise of purpose against the z Contra 〈◊〉 donationeÌ„ forged Donation of Constantine He pronounceth of his owne experience that the Pope himselfe doth make warre against peaceable people soweth discorde betweene Citties and Princes The Pope doth both thirst after other mens riches and swalloweth vp his owne Hee maketh gaine of not onely the Common-wealth but the state Ecclesiasticall and the holie Ghost The later Popes doe seeme to labour this that looke how much the auncient Popes were wise and holy so much they will bee wicked foolish He lived about the yeare 1420. for the freenesse of his speech and penne was by the Pope driven into exile About the same time lived Arch-deacon Nicolaus de 〈◊〉 who rebuked a De Annatis non sol vendis many things in the Ecclesiasticall state and spake excellently in the matter of Generall Councels and their circumstances as b Ration 9. hereafter may be declared Petrus de Aliaco Cardinall of Cambray gaue a tract to the Councel of Constance touching the c De Reformatione Ecclâ—… reformation of the Church There doth he reprooue many notable abuses of the Romanists and giveth advice how to redresse theÌ„ d Cap. 3. There should not be multiplyed saith he such variety of Images and pictures in the Churches There should not be so many holy-daies There should not so many new Saints be Canonized Apocryphall writings should not be read in the Churches on holy-daies e Cap. 4. Such â—…umerositie and variety of Religious persons is not expedieÌ„t There are so many orders of begging Friers that their state is burdensome to men hurtfull to hospitals and to the poore Few doe now studie ' Divinity for the abuse of the Church of Rome which hath despised Divines All now turne to the Lawe and to Artes of gaine He saith that it was then a proverbe The Church is come to that estate that it is not worthy to be ruled but by Reprobats He hath very much more and in the end concludeth that f Cap. 6. As there were seaven thousand who had not bowed to Baal so it is to he hoped that there be some which desire the reformation of the Church Imagin whither this Cardinall if he had founde some company to haue ioyned with him would not haue said much more About that time lived Leonardus Aretinus whose little booke g In hypocritas libellus Against Hypocrites is worth the reading So is the h Oratio ad cleium Coloniensem Oration of Antonius Cornelius Lynnichanus laying open the lewde lubricity of Priests in his daies So doth he detect many abuses and errours who wrote the i DeceÌ„ gravamina Ger maniae Tenne Grievances of Germany but those who compiled the hundred Grievances of the Germaine Nation doe discover many more Finally he who list to see farther that God even in those dead daies had diverse servants who by more then a glimce did see the truth desired yet more plentifully to be instructed in Religion let him read the k Lib. 19. Catalogus testium veritatis lately set out and there hee shall finde divers whom I haue not named 24 By this time I trust it is manifest how false a slaunder that of the Papists is that before the daies of Martin Luther there was never any man of our ReligioÌ„ Till the time of the Councel of Constance this case is cleared And beyond that it is as easie to shew that Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prage had their immediate antecessours in witnessing the faith of Christ. For they vvere instructed and much helped by the bookes of Iohn VViclef an English man and therefore saith Platina as l In Ioh. 24. sectatours of Wiclef they were condemned in the Councell of Constance Aeneas Sylvius sheweth the means how those Bohemians came to know the doctrine of Wiclef he saith thus m Histo
Bohem ca. 35. He who first raised vp the opinions of the Hussites had them from Oxford carying thence into Bohemia Wiclefs bookes De Realibus Vniversalibus Cochleus who by his good will would bee taken for a vehement defender of Popery giveth yet a larger testimony For he saith n Histor. de Hussitis li. 1. that as a Bohemian brought first into Bohemia Wiclef booke De Realibus Vniversalibus so there was afterward one Pâ—ter Paine a scholer of Wiclefs who after the death of his Maister came also into Bohemia and brought with him Wiclefs bookes which were in quantitie as great at Saint Austens workes o Ibidem Many of these bookes did Hus afterward translate into their mother tongue In plaine tearmes after this the Authour delivereth it that p Lib. 2. the Hussites and Thaborites were branches of Wiclef And in the same booke Hus did commit spirituall fornication with many strangers with the Wiclefists the Dulcinists c. And in the next he avoucheth that q Lib. 3. Hus and Hierome tooke their heresies from Wiclef And once againe he tearmeth the Protestant Germanes r Lib. 6. new Wiclefists What an opinion of this man Iohn Hus had may be fully seene by that wish of his wherin hee praied s Lib. 2. that hee might there bee where the soule of Wiclef was Now what VViclef did teach may be easily gathered if by nothing else yet by the deadly hatred which the Romanists did cary toward him The s Session 8. Councell of Constance did define him to be an Heretike long after his death and commaunded that his bones should be taken vp and burnt Also t Cochl li. 1. Pope Iohn the 23. in a Generall Councel at Rome did before that time condemne him for an heretike which the Hussites did but laugh at But no man had a harder conceipt of him then Cochleus who sticketh not to affirme that u Lib. 2. he thinketh the torments of Wiclef are greater in hell then those of Iudas or Nero. If God Almighty had no better opinion of him the man were in an ill case But the best is this cholerike Criticke is not the Iudge of all the world He was angry beâ—â—ke in behalfe of Transubstantiation concerning which he citeth this Article of Wiclef There was never a greater heresie then that which putteth the Accident without a Subiect in the Eucharist But he might haue named more pointes wherein that holy man did differ from the Church of Rome The u Session 8. Councell of Constance picketh out fiue and forty Articles of his Positions which the learned Reader may finde there Yet doubtlesse many of them are fasly reported which is a matter common with enimies of the truth to perverâ—… and mis-construe that so they may more freely defame There was one x Respo ad â—…8 artic Wiclef In â—…ase rer ex petend 〈◊〉 Wideford who tooke on him to answere eighteene Articles said to be Wiclefs whence a maÌ„ may gather some of his doctrine But that al things there laid against him were not true may wel be obserued out of the same Answere declaring that he had many things coÌ„cerning Wiclef but only by y In fine Articul 10. fame report And z Virgil. Aeneid 4. that is not the most certaine Relater What positioÌ„s indeed he held may be seene in M r. Foxe reporting his life actions as also in the a Lib. 18. Catalogus Testium veritatis And those who be not learned may esteeme of them by the doctrine of Iohn Hus before rehearsed who by the testimony of the Papists themselues as I haue shewed maintained the opinions of Wiclef 25 Now that this worthy champioÌ„ preacher of the Gospell of Iesus Christ went not alone but had many English men and women who in his life time after his death beleeved as he beleeved professed as hee professed is in the next place to bee shewed Among the chiefe of his fautours were Iohn of Gaunt as b Apolog. Hieâ—…arch ca 1. Parsons the Iesuit confesseth and Lord Henry Percy the one of them Duke of Lancaster the other Marshall of Englande Master Foxe citeth out of a c Ex Regist G. Courtney Register of the Arch-bishoppe of Canterbury a Mandate mentioning that the Conclusions of Wiclef were preached in diverse and sundrie places of the Arch-bishoppes Province generally commonly and publikely The same also is manifested by a letter of that Arch-bishoppe to the Bishop of London and in a Monition directed to d Ad Cancellar Ox. Oxford where it is said that certaine Conclusions hereticall and erroneous were generallie commonly preached and published in diverse places of the Province of Canterbury There be extant also e Ad 〈◊〉 Cant. Cancel Oxon. letters of King Richarde the seconde directly signifying so much But there is nothing vvhich maye more amply testifie the spreading of his doctrine then an Acte of Parliamente in the beginning almost of that younge Kinges dayes vvhere it is related that there vvere f Anno 5. Rich 2. ca. 5 diverse preaching dayelie not onelye in Churches and Church-yardes but also in markets fâ—…res and other open places where a great congregation of people is â—…verse sermons containing Heresies and â—…etorious errours This putteth mee in minde of a written booke which once g In manu M r. Guâ—…el Wirley I sawe being a Chronicle compiled by a Monke of Leicester Abbay who writing of the time of the saide K. reporteth at large that the people in faires markets riding by the way almost every where would talke of the Scripture and reprove the customes of that time as also the Priests to the exceeding greate trouble and offence of the Clergy This they might the rather doe out of the word of God because the Scriptures were then translated into English as may bee seene by diverse copies vvritten and remayning to this day supposed to bee so turned by UUiclf And it is very probable that in Leicestershire there were many of those of vvhome the Monâ—…e Leicestrensis spake since at Luâ—…erworth a towne in thâ—…t Counâ—…e Iohn UUiclâ—…f vvas beneficed But the greatest parte of this learned mans abode was at the first in the Vniversitie of Oxford vvhere hee was both a Doctor and Reader of Divinity and therefore is to bee conceived to have many learned men partaking with him in his opinions h In fine R. Edward 3. Maister Foxe saith out of the Chronicle of Saint Albaneâ—… that hee had a benefice in Oxford of vvhich he was deprived by Simon 〈◊〉 Arch-bishop of Canterbury It may be this was nothing else but the Maister-ship or Chiefe Governours place in Baâ—…oll College vvhich I am perswaded that he had since there are yet two auncient writings in the Treasurie of that i In Archivis Colleg. Baâ—…ol College vvhich I have seene who vvere made in the name of Iohn Vviclif Maister of that house
vvriting against u Contra 18 articul Wiolif VViclif maketh y In articulo 11. 12. tvvise mention of a booke of his ovvne sent to the Bishoppe of Hereford Dâ—…num Ersordenseâ—… he calleth him in confutation of the booke of VValter Britte 27 While I wrâ—…e these thinges I cannot but thinke vpon the audacious absurdnesse of my ignorant Doctour who blusheth not to vtter that is is y Ration 1. most manifest that all in England vvere Papistes vvithout exception from the first Christening thereof vntill this age of King Henry the eight Hee is doubtlesse an honest man and worthy to be trusted on his word It is not only manifest but most manifest not that the greatest part but all yea beâ—… shal not be scanted all wâ—…ut â—…ption were â—…apistes c. Were Iohn Wiclifâ—… bones burnt because he was a Papist were the Bulâ—… of the Pope against him for that cause and were the Archbishop Arondelâ—… Costâ—… against his followers so severe because they were Papists The man is hâ—… to be pittied for his simplicity A man may know by the lawes ProclamatioÌ„s letters proceedings by the State against some as against Heretickes As also by the Records of Bishops yet extant by the manifold executions burnings afterward that even in that deepe time of ignorance England did give most noble testimony of Christs truth against Popery eveÌ„ so farre as to the fiery trial If the Christian Reader peruse the Ecclesiastical History of M r. Foxe he shal find how z 〈◊〉 An. 1400. sub K. Henrie 4. before the Coâ—… William Saâ—… a Priest was burnt after him Iohn Baâ—…y and that because they were Wiclevists oâ—… Lâ—… as they the â—…ed them and not because they were Papists There are the reasons also and asseveratioÌ„s of Pâ—…y and Thorpe against Popery with diverse other matters And is it â—…ot to bee thought that the Heretikes increased when a â—…ynode a 〈◊〉 Sub Reg. Henric. 5. was assembled in Sâ—… Pâ—… Church at London into the vvhich â—…me 〈◊〉 Inquisitoâ—… who in a former Synode were appointed to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the vvâ—…gs of VVâ—… vvherein they found 24â—… Conclusions an vvhich they supposed to bee Iâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 â—…eere of K. Henry the 〈◊〉 dâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ward the L. 〈◊〉 was â—…ge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 had beene a â—…de of Traiâ—… but hee was then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ed Hâ—… So was oâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his 〈◊〉 consumed to 〈◊〉 Not longâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besideâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sub 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Religion 〈◊〉 and VVâ—… tvvo 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 followed afterwardâ—… Neither â—…d â—…he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of King 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 escape 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of sundrie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHRISTâ—… 〈◊〉 sake 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 profession of the â—…hy the particular stories of vvhome may bâ—…â—…ounde in the Authour abouâ—… 〈◊〉 The Clergy of these times did beare much sway with their Princes and lefte no meanes vâ—…ught no stone vnâ—…ned to keepe vp the dignitie and preheminence of their Romish Hierarchy and the superstitions Idolatry vvhich then vvas in vse Novve â—…in the raignes of all these Princes so many were slaughtered for the testimonie of a good conscience hovve manie weake brethren vvere there vvho did not make open profession of their faith and hovve many did there lie hid diverse of them in probabilitie having confederates and some of them being Priestes and therefore not vnlikely to have learning both to confirme themselves in the truth and such other as hearde them Thus have I both in England and else-vvhere brought vp the doctrine of the Gospell vntill the time of Iohn VViclef who flourished in the yeere 1371. 28 Heere it may please the Reader to remember that the iudgment before cited of â—…vo c Gregor 11. Gregor 12. Popes vvas that VViclef taught the doctrine of Marsilius of Padua and of Iohn of 〈◊〉 Of the later of these there yet appeareth no monument vvritten But hee ioyned in d Catalog test verle lib. 18. opinion vvith the former But as for Marsilius Patavinus our Adversties cannot but acknovvledge him to bee a verie learned man after the measure of the age vvherein hee lived vvhich vvas in the yeere 1324. Hee vvrote a e Defensor pacis booke against the vsurped power of the Bishope of Rome vvhich argument hee entred into in behalfe of the Emperour Levvis of Bavâ—…e vvho vvas mightily laide at by three Popes successiuelie There the Authour avovveth as right and iust the supreme authoritie of the Emperour displaying the iniquitie of the Popes vsurpation over Christian Princes and Generall Councels The booke is vvoorth the reading to see vvhether all in times past did allowe of the Popes doctrine and proceedinges or not His opinions are these That the Pope is not superiour to other Bishoppes and much lâ—… the Emperour and civill Magistraâ—… That thing as are to bee decided by the â—…ure Thâ—… 〈◊〉 men of the laiâ—… 〈◊〉 in Councels That the Clergy and Pope himselfe are to bee subiect to Magistrates That the Church is the 〈◊〉 companie of the faithfull That CHRIST is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Church and appointed 〈◊〉 to bee 〈◊〉 Uiâ—… That Priestes may bee â—…ryed That Saint Peter was 〈◊〉 at Rome That the Popish Synagoge 〈◊〉 a dâ—… of theeves That the doctrine of the Pâ—… not to bee follovved because it leadeth to everlasting destructâ—… In the time of this Marsilius lived that noble Poet Danie vvho vvrote also a booke against the Pope f Petrus Messias in Ludovico Câ—… the Monarchie of the Emperour but for taking part vvith Lewes of Bavâ—…ere hee vvas condemned for an heretike and his booke â—…hereticall Then also vvrote g Catal. test verit lib. 18. Occam directly to the same purpose but for his labour therein and his large reproofe of the Papâ—…cie in other pointes hee was excommunicated by the romane Bishop vvhich he so much contemned that hee not vnwillingly dyed vnder that sentence Aboute that time vvere here and there dispersed sundry godly men who sawe more then the common sorte touching Religion As h Ibid. ex Hen. de Erford Hayâ—… a Minorite vvho frequently saide in his Sermons that the Church of Rome vvat the vvhere of Babylon and that the Pope and Cardinals vvere meere Aâ—… vvhich propositions were helde somevvhat before also by i Ibidem Gerâ—… and Dulcinus tvvo learned men This Duâ—… may be thought to haue had many followers since k Hist. Hussit lib. 2. Cochleus coulde say that Iohn Hus committed spirituall fornication with the Wâ—…sts and with the Dulâ—…nists The same opinions concerning the Pope and Rome did that rare man l Epist. 20. in Poesi Italica Franciscus Petrarche seeme fully to embrace as may appeare to any who will reade his vvorkes hovvsoever Cardinall
Faith Valent the Emperour with deadlie pravity did send teachers of the Arrian sect The Gothes held the instruction of the first faith which they receaved Ualens had before the rule of the Catholike faith but leaving it hee did intangle himselfe vvith the perverse opinion of the Arrians Therefore by the iust iudgement of God they burned him alive who by reason of him when they are deade are to burne by the fault of their errour And that is the truth your owne conscience D. Hâ—…st telleth you which is manifest by the mincing of your words the greatest part of those Gothes were Catholike Christians before Not all but the greatest part Therefore some which is in truth the whole Nation of the Uese Gothes were first coÌ„verted to Christianity by Arrian Heretikes And so your owne Proposition that Heretikes cannot convert Infidels is made voide by your owne example Nowe wheras you say that such turning is not to make the converted better theÌ„ they were before we must confesse that if you speake of such as be Heretikes indeede and not those whom you onely call Heretikes being Gods good servants that the gaine theÌ„ is but this that formerly they knew not Christ at all and now they know him in some sort although it be not so rightly as they should If this bee to bee accounted but a little then your Indian Converts of whom you boast gaine but a little by you for you mingle to their handes the doctrine of the Gospell with many pollutions of vile Idolatry most horrible superstition like to that of the olde Heathens T. HILL FOR that they having indeede the Scripture in some sorte yet have not the true sence thereof which properly is the sword of the spirite and the wordes are rather the scabard in which the svvord is sheathed And therefore they fighting onely with the scabard vvithout the sword cannot wound the heartes of Infidels And no marveile though they perverte Catholikes for that men are proue to liberty and to loosenesse of life vvhich by such doctrine is permitted So that they are indeede most aptely by Saint Augustine likened vnto Partridges which gather togither Libr 13 cótr Faust cap. 12. youngâ—…ones which they begot not whereas contrarywise the Holy Church is a most fertle Dove which continually bringeth forth new Pigeons G. ABBOT 22 HEretiks you say have the Scripturs in some sort Certainly many of them have the wordes without any difference froÌ„ the Orthodoxe For whereas many of theÌ„ spruÌ„g vp in the Greeke Church they had for the Old Testament the Septuagint in Greeke the Newe Testament word for word in that language wherein it was writen But they want the sence thereof which is the sword of the Spirit for the wordes are but the scabard and the scabard cannot wound the hartes of the Infidels What mischiefe with the letter of the text and their owne perverse interpretation Heretikes may do to theÌ„ who were formerly vnbeleevers may bee gathered by that of the Arrians last named by the Pelagians by the Donatistes and many other But those have not the true sence What is that to vs vnlesse you can prove that we also want it which M. z Ration 〈◊〉 Campian in kindnesse would threape vpon vs. There is not in the world any fit meanes to come to the right sence of Scripture which our men doe not frequeÌ„t They seeke into the Original tonges wherin the booke of God was writen They conferre translations of all sortes they lay one text with another expound the harder by that which is lesse difficult they compare circumstances of Antecedents and Consequents they looke to the Analogy of of faith prescribed in the Creede of the Apostles They search what the first Councels did establish they seeke what was the opinioÌ„s of the Fathers concerning textes in question and refuse not therein to cope with you about the highest points as the Primacy of your Pope Transubstantiation or any other vvhatsoever Yea they looke over the interpretations of your vvriters to knovve if anie thinge there occurre vvorthy observation they conferre one learned man vvith another they praye to the blessed Trinitie to open and lighten their vnderstanding and in a vvorde they omitte no meanes vvhich either Saint a De doctr Chriist l. 3 4 Augustine or anie other good writer doth or can prescribe vnto them Only heere they lay a strawe that they are not perswaded that the Bishop of Rome hath all knowledge iudgment so in b Vide Platin in Paulo 22 Scrinio Pectoris that by his finall sentence all may be resolved no not that he with the c Bellar. de veth Dei li. 3. 3. Councell which he shall like to call is the only determiner of the true meaning of al controversed passages The Poes all of them are men and therefore may be deceived many of them are ignorant men in comparison of any great Clerk-ship and many of them haue entertained vnsound opinions as Liberius and Honorius and divers Councels haue grosly erred as that second Synode of Nice and therefore blame vs not if we pinne not our salvation vpon such weake or partiall mens interpretations 23 When you report that Heretiks pervert Catholiks by your owne second Reason before handled you must meane Papistes by your Catholikes or no body and then you are a right good Proctor to speake in their cause Their matter was bad enough before and in the telling you make it worse Your Catholike men for your words can touch no other are proÌ„e you say to liberty and loosenesse of life Would you haue a fee for this pleading We do not doubt but many of theÌ„ are very licentious great breakers of the Sabaoth swearers and blasphemers and much inclined to other viciousnes whereof if a man would see the spectacle of all spectacles let him but goe to Rome And who would forbeare this lasciviousnes when a pardon from a Pope and absolution from a Priest can make all as cleere as it had never beene But we on the other side teach our people that these your peccatillâ—… doe offend Almighty God and that they yea every d Mat. 12. 36 idle word must be reckoned for and our Church discipline doth bring notorious transgressours to the censure of excommunication and open pennance for their crimes They who haue turned vnto vs are some of the best and gravest of your sect and those which bee most vertuous of life wheras contrarywise many such as among vs haue beene wanton toyish people or deeply touched with suspition of lubricity haue bin observed to retire theÌ„selues to your shores as being the fittest harbour for such rotten vessels It were an easie thing to name many who leading liues as they do a maÌ„ rightly may say of them They are fit to be Papists We doe not envy you such persons although we could wish that even such would come to the truth and not amende their former vice with future
brought for we wil ever do grant so much as any man can in truth wish to bee collected out of them But what is all this to the purpose since neither then nor since they do agree with the polluted doctrine of your Sinagoge and the faith which olde Rome spreade or mainetained is no more consonant to this infidelity which our new Rome maintaineth then an apple is like an oyster Which one answere although it cut of al your cavils which you fetch from antiquity in praise of Rome and we frequētly inculcate it vnto you yet because it so biteth you will in no sort remember It is a tricke in Rhetorike but it is withall but a base shift to slippe by that or to seeme to forget that which woundeth to the hart and vtterly destroyeth T. HILL BUt the Protestants per adventure will grant that the true Church flourished in those dayes but not afterwardes vntill this age in which they haue reformed the same yet is it most manifest that it flourished afterwardes even vntill this our time no lesse then it and before if not more for in Saint Gregory his daies it was spreade all over the worlde as appeareth by his Epistles to the Bishops of the East of Afrike Spaine France England Sicily And by Saint Bede in cap. 6. Cantic as also by Saint Bernard who disputing before Rogerim King of Sicily avouched that in those daies the East all the West Fraunce Germany Englande Spaniardes and many barbarous nations obeyed the Bishoppe of Rome G. ABBOT 8. The Protestāts not fearing that you shal gaine any thing by that which is truth wil refuse to yeeld you nothing that is true In the first Church that is while the Apostles lived the spouse of Christ for doctrine was most glorious for some hundreds of yeares afterwards her honor flourished not a little yet so that some pety superstitions began to creepe in heere and there But about six hundred years after Christ shee for the outward face did more more droupe in doctrine f 1. Ioh. 2. 18 Antichrists began to peepe vp in the Apostles time but then they coulde not properly be called the great Antichrist And that which was thē was not so eminently as that the followers of the Apostles did much obserue it being then more troubled with persecution or heretiks then with superstition In processe of time matters grew to a worse state evil opiniōs creeping in at last the maine g 2. Thes. 2. 3 Apostasie followed But in this Apostasie very great declining there were who yeelded not to the time but kept thēselues vnspotted of the world especially for mainest points of salvation And it being thus whē things were at the worst God in this later age hath suffred that truth which was more hidden to illustrate the Christian world again Yea but you wil proue that since the Primitiue Church faith florished more thē before or at the least it was not diminished vntill our time You can do wonders Sir or els your own reason would informe you that nothing beene added til these lare navigations of the Portingales Spaniards Christianity must needs be exceedingly diminished when the Saracens Turks for so long space haue devored so much of Asia Europa Africa as is or hath bin vnder thē You are but a simple man for story weaker for Cosmography or els you would not so improbably talke at randon But any thing serveth your turne Well the faith was in Gregories times over all the worlde How proue you this Forsooth he wrote Epistles to Bishops of Spaine France England Sicely yea of the East of Afrike Ergo the faith was over all the world A young man of the age of sixteene yeares hath by his diligence learned without booke the Epistle to Philemō that to the Colossians yea the book of Ruth and the Prophecy of Aggeus therefore he can say all the Bible by hart This is Logike for the Seminaries but not currant elsewhere VVhat wrote he into Tartaria or India or Manicongo what to Finland or Iseland or a thousand places more And what saith Bede h In Cantic 6. The summe of the citisens of that celestiall countrey doth exceede the measure of our estimation But this is spoken of all the faithfull that are were or ever shall bee in the world As also that following vpon the texte Adole scentularum non est numerus There are saith hee young maidens vvhereof there is no number because there are sound innumerable cōpantes of Christiā people Which within seaven lines after he maketh most evident The vniversall Church which in the same her faithfull members from the beginning even vnto the ending of the vvorld from the rising of the Sunne vnto the setting from the North and the Sea doe praise the name of the Lorde Doth this shew any extraordinary thing in the time of Beda or any flourishing of the Church or more thē that there were faithfull toward al parts of the world Such is that which was brought touching S. i In vita Bernard L◅ 217 Bernard who vpō a great schisme in the Church of Rome betweene Innocentius and the Antipape Petrus Leonis being sent for to compose this strife and to see whether he could winne over to Innocētius Robert the King of Sicely who stood for Peter in his Oration saith that if Peters side were good they who acknowledged Innocentius for Pope should bee in very ill case And these hee nameth Then the Easterne Church shall perish vvhich at that time coulde comprehend no more but those fewe Christians vvhich were vvarring in or about Palestina for the Greeke Churches did not then acknowledge the Popes Iurisdiction the whole West shall perish Fraunce shallperish Germany shall perish the Spanish and English and the Barbarian kingdomes shall be drowned in the bottome of the Sea Where he doth not adde these special countries over and aboue the VVest but signifieth vvhat was meant by that generall name that is to saye Fraunce Germany Spaine and England vvith some inferiour Kingdomes So that now if S. Bernard doe say any thing heere your all the worlde is vvonderfully shrunke in the vvetting So you strive against the streame and the farther you goe the worse you goe T. HILL AND in these daies it is all over Italie all over Spaine and in Fraunce in most partes of Germany in Poleland Boheme besides England Hungary Greece Syria Aethiopia Aegypt in vvhich Landes are many Catholikes and in the newe world it flourisheth mightily in all the foure partes of the world Eastward in the Indies VVestward in America Northward in Iaponia Southward in Brasilia in the vttermost partes of Afrike G. ABBOT 9 AS many as be disposed to knowe the Popes strength harken now to his muster-maister Al Italie commeth first as being neerest the Popes nose then all Spaine is the second legion But how would it be in these lands if your Inquisitours did
s Lib. 10. Macazar Not far from thence is s Lib. 10. Cetigano you terme it Cerignano one of the Ilands called Celebes Siligan is a town Butuan Piâ—…iliran and Camigu three things called kingdomes but all these t Ibidem foure within the Ile Mindanaus u Lib. 12. Supa is a small place nere 〈◊〉 Sian and that is an Iland towne beyond the Promontory of Malaca turning vp farre to the North. u Lib. 8. Bacian is one of the Moluccos Solar or rather x Lib. 16. Solor is an I le about 300. leagues froÌ„ Malaca being 8. degrees distant from the Aequator toward the South y Lib. 1. Malacca is a citty in that Promontory of India which was wont to be called Aurea Chersonesus is now tearmed Malaca of the city Selebi or rather z Lib. 8. Celebes is principally one Iland nere the Equinoctial but other adioining haue that name coÌ„municated to theÌ„ Thus haue we ended all that be nere to the East Indies The Iland of S. a Osor. Hist. li 3. Thomazo or S. Thomas lyeth directly vnder the Aequinoctial line over against that part of Africa which is tearmed Manicongo or rather a little higher theÌ„ it That which you name S. Domingo is it which in Latin is called b Pet. Mart. Decad. 1. 2. Dominica having that appellation given to it because it was discovered on a Sunday which in Latin is named Dies Dominicus It lieth toward America but much neerer vs then Hispaniola doth and it was one of the Ilands where the Caribes or Canibals did dwell before the comming of ColuÌ„bus toward the West Indies c â—…d Decad. 1. l. 6. Madera is one of the fortunat or Canary IlaÌ„ds lying some few daies iourny South-west ward froÌ„ Spaine You might if it had pleased you haue added the rest of the Canaries and the Azores as also all that lie neere America as Cuba and Hispaniola and many about them also the Philippinas and I cannot tell what But my conceite is that you went no farther because the Author or Copy which you followed weÌ„t no farther For I deale plainly with you I do not hold you gilty of the knowing where al these places be And yet it were no huge labor in the reading over of such an Authour as the d Hist. India aut select Epistol Iesuit Maffeus is to take the wordes heere and there as hee relateth the comming in of the Portingales or the pretended labours of his felowes But I smell it to be borrowed from some other man as your e RatioÌ„ 3. enumeratioÌ„ of Heretikes was from Staphilus In which respect I call to minde howe once on a New-yeares day in the morning a Parish-Clarke in Oxford brought to the Minister of that Parish certaine Latin verses as a token for the Newe yeare The Minister seeing them before he reade them said that hee thaÌ„ked him for his paines but added that he did not thinke that he could haue made a Latin verse The Clarke with an humble smile looking on did no way deny but that the verses were his owne But when the other had reade them he altered his opinion and tolde him that they were taken out of a Printed booke It is true indeede saith the Clarke but Sir I tooke the paines to write them out for you Even so much paines have you taken ignorantly from some ignorant fellowes collections to write these names out for vs. 16. I am induced to think so not only because you have played such pageants before but much rather because a sober man may wel thinke that if you had known what you did or had had any true vnderstaÌ„ding of the matter you wold never have made such a clatter to so small a purpose For it may well be supposed that there be no such places as some are named by you some other of them are so meane as that to this day they never could finde place in any mappe whatsoever published to the worlde Onely they are mentioned by one Iesuite who cannot lye and he maketh every meane man a King if he once parled with a Iesuite he shall want no title You have reckoned vs vp heere one and forty names many of them in themselves small base and inferiour things if diverse of them be ordinarily tearmed Kingdoms yet the whol couÌ„try is not so great as a prety shire in England some of the Ilands are as meane as the I le of Wight is If you will stand on it that these be kingdomes yet wee can make you answere that very many of the Kings of the East couÌ„try are Lordes but as over moale-hils and so it was some thousands of yeeres agone f Gen. 14. 2. You may reade of the King of Sodome and of the Kinge of Gomorah as also of the Kinge of Admah and of the Kinge of Zeboim and yet all these lived vvithin a small compasse of ground For the one and forty names which you note vnto vs you may reade of g Iosu. 12. 9. one and thirty Kinges indeede with whom Iosuah had to deale and yet all their dominion was so within Canaan that the territories of all their regiment was not so much as England alone without Scotland ioyned to it And yet if an ignorant man shoulde heare the names of all those Kinges as they are set downe by Iosua he would looke as much about him as one of your silie Papists doth at those heere in your booke To let them therefore know how you egregiously abuse them you haue said as much as if I should speake in this sort His Maiesty of England hath a great many good subiects I begin to give the instance in Suffex because I heare that this Pamphlet is much in request among backward people there as in the great city of Chichester in Arundel in Rye and in many other good places there about Also in Sandwich with all the Cinque portes and the liberties of the same yea in the Iles of Shepy and Tenet with other lying at the landes end fast by Essex yea adde herevnto Hul New-castle vpon Tine the strong towne of Barwike And if a man should tel this to some vnlettered Italian who lyeth a great way hence he might be made to wonder but the truth were no very high matter Thus it is with these places named which are onely cities townes or angles standing along the sea coast vpon the shore of the Indies and interrupted or intersorted with heathenish dominions or else they are Ilands in the selfe same quality And in many of these if there were some said to be baptised 20. or 40. yeares agone or if there be now but 5. Portingales or Spanyards which keepe a shop or ware-house yet there is the Romish faith Which our Author who never vseth but to cast at All as it seemeth doth acknowledg wheÌ„ coÌ„trary to his custome he hath an extenuation It is happilie received of
that although he were willing to paint himselfe without he was quite rotteÌ„ within And whither for waÌ„t of his prety staruling pensioÌ„ froÌ„ Spaine after that illustrious foile he might not be much humbled in the heigth of his prowd thoughts it is hard to tel Such a maÌ„ner of man was one of the fathers of the Seminary 19 As for Persons the present Rector his mind is nothing inferiour to the others albeit his degree be in a ranke behinde him But that is his owne fault too for his b The copies of certaine discourses extorted fol. 116. fellowes here tell vs that it vvas reported heere in Englande that all the boyes at Saint Omars had conspired to make Persons a Cardinall and had vvritten such effectuall letters to the Pope for it that hee the Generall of the Iesuites and all his friendes in Rome vvere little enough to keepe him from beeing a Cardinall VVell his hearte for Englande is as good as any of his Predecessours c Answere to thinges coÌ„cerning him in the Apology Doctour Bagshâ—…vve sayeth directly that hee perswaded the Students at Rome that they should have at state and all for vvith state-medling they coulde but die and die they shoulde vvithout state medling if they were taken If vvee vvill not trust that Doctor as one professing some hostility toward him let his Greene-coate concerning the Earle of Leicester another Common-wealth of his touching another greate and vvorthy man that dead is speake in their masters behalfe His Doleman sheweth him to haue nothing in him but bastard English bloud And that is the more manifested by his labouring the Students in Spaine and at Rome to consent to the title of the Lady Infanta What affection he cariyed to our late most blessed Soveraigne his short but substantiall approving of the iudgement of Allen Sanders Bristow and Stapleton touching the Bull of Pius the 5. in his d Cap. 4. Ward-word doth declare It is also laid to his charge that he sollicited a man of e Quodl 7. 2 high place in this kingdome to be a close Pensioner to the late king of Spaine to further his invasision He f Apol. c. 12. challengeth to himselfe these bookes The reasons of refusall of going to the Protestants Churches the Epistle of persecution both in Latin and English the defence of the Censure against M. Charke and these shew that all his wits and study were then bent on the one side to supplant the religion that we professe but on the other side to defame the honour of his Prince and country and of all the chiefe officers of Iustice in the same and with such suttletics to steale away the harts of many subiects from them His resolutions g Solutiones 〈◊〉 P. in his pretended Cases of conscience as they are impious so are they most pernicious to the state But the lesse they are there to be wondred at since he openly laboureth in h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1â—… his Apology to mainetaine falshoods and lying dissembling A quivocations with little lesse then blasphemy to our most holy Saviour His ManifestatioÌ„ hath many proper things in it as being that where he sheweth himselfe without a vizarde This is hee who hath had in Spaine and nowe hath at Rome the training vp of those vvho are and must bee our Seminarye Priestes the only Arch-traitour now remaining aliue and to be balanced by none vnlesse peradventure it is but peradventure D. Gifford may be the man I might adde to these as great men at Doway in their times Bristow and Stapleton The one sheweth himselfe a rebell in hart by his i Cap. 15. Motiues which booke D. Allen did allovv to the Presse And how far the other that is old chollerike bitter Stapleton the k Apol. c. 9. learnest man living of our Countrey if vve will beleeue Fa. Persons was engaged in these matters his manifold virulent aspersions scattered in his bookes against his naturall Prince and some personages of high worth do abundantly testifie Such are the teachers Readers and Governours of the Seminaries and such an honest man is Weston at Doway nowe if he be yet at Doway where no doubt they traine vp their Students in good meditations Which I may the rather say if that be true which l Colliar one of their owne company delivered to me to bee so of his own knowledge while he was there in D. Barrets time As our Students in our Colledges haue vsed to make verses and to fixe them vp on the skreenes or elsewhere publikely on the day of her late Maiesties comming to the Crowne so they had sometimes at Doway when they made verses in like sort whither on the day before named I do not remember In this case the invention of one of their gracious strudents was to speake of the three furies in hel Alecto Megaera and Tisiphone whose vertues when with his Poetry he had described hee addeth at last that there was nowe of late a fourth come in Furiarum Quarta whose description he maketh accordingly And this lewd devise was much commended by the Superiours there albeit he plainly designed her for whom by the laws of God man they vvere rather bound to haue spent their best bloud then that the least dishonourable thought concerning her should haue entred into their hâ—â—t And who will wonder that the fruites of such persons doe shew what the roote is whervpon they do sit We may adde to these things abroad the experience which wee haue had at home of Babingtons Somerviles Squires and such vngodly miscreants who incited by Ballard and other sent from the Seminary haue attempted most horrible treasons to the hazarding of the happines of this whole kingdome And were not our state blind if they could not gesse the minde of the souldiors by such captaines the disposition of such scholers by their tutours the affection of the Priests by such Superiours especially since they dayly saw in our owne land that such as had to doe with these emissaries and secret creepers did testifie that they had touched some m Eccl 13. 〈◊〉 pitch being quickly alienated if not in open action yet in apparant affectioÌ„ from therest of the Realme And might not all religious folkes haue groaned in their soules all good subiects haue lamented in their harts if some severe proviso had not beene made to restraine the audacious comming in and the ravenous dissipations of persons so intending mischiefe It should haue beene an vnrecompensable weakenesse to haue permitted such incendiaries to bring all to combustion and our magistrates in the meane time to haue stood by the houses of themselues their neighbours being on fire and to haue thought it a pretty thing to stand and warme themselues by the flame But they being inspired by a better spirit did make good wholsome lawes inhibiting the approaching of such dangerous guests or if they would not forbeare paying them the
Devils in EnglaÌ„d can no where truly be found but in Papists In India our 〈◊〉 Iesuits would make vs beleeve that they Maffeus in select Epist. be as thicke as hoppes but if one of that holy Society fal on theÌ„ he can with as much case fetch him out of a man or woman as one woulde gette money out of his purse by turning it vpside downe And in Italy and Spaine there bee some possessed vvith spirits that the Exorcistes may have worke to shewe themselues vpon Such artificers can haue counterfeits of their owne choosing and taught for the purpose These keepe in ure the olde order of stage-playes to have a Devill and a foole in them alwaies But it is no marveile if our Priestes familiars being put in by one sleight into their abused patients can be plucked out by another They lose nothing by these trickes And if there should be a Devill indeede in any and he should bee so sullen as that with all their crossing reliques and holy water hee woulde not out yet they will saue their stake still the Rhemistes being at hand with this salve that f In Matth 17. 19 it is not in the povver of their Exercistes to cast our Devilles vvhen they vvill They must misse of their purpose sometimes And if any Protestant be neere they will saie It is the better also that the Spirit for that time will not out for if then hee should bee eiected out of the possessed hee vvoulde presently get him into the heretike and then they were never the neere Better keepe him where he is among his olde acquaintance 10 That Simon Magus did attempte to worke a miracle Saint g In Rom 8 Ambrose telleth vs but there wee finde no otherwise but that in deed he did flie vp into the ayre And so much doth Egesippus acknowledge in the place h Lib. 3. 〈◊〉 which you doe quote but hee addeth that by the prayer of Saint Peter in his flying hee vvas fetched dovvne and falling brake his legge Moreover that he attempted to raise to life a knise-man of the Emperours who was deade but missed of his purpose i Greg. Turon histor Fran. lib. 2. cap. 3 Cirola the Arrian Bishop seing Eusebius and some other Bishops which were Orthodoxe to do strange things whereby the people had them in admiration accepted of their doctrine devised to procure to himselfe and his Arrianisme credit by a counterfeit miracle Hee therfore gaue one 50. peeces of gold to pretend that he had bin blind to say that by his praier he was restored to his sight But when Cirola was to passe by expected that this pageaÌ„t should be plaied the counterfeit cranke who could see well before was indeed striken with blindnes and could by no meanes be cured of it by the Arrian but by the Orthodoxe Bishops praying for him he had his sight restored Where-vpon exclaming vpon Cirola he confessed the whole intended fraude Thus the Authour reporteth it but we dare not be to nimble in beleeving his NarratioÌ„s in this kinde since he was too great a relater admirer of the miracles of holy meÌ„ having writteÌ„ k De gloria martyâ—… De gloris Consessor De virtutib miracule S. Martiâ—… bookes specially of that argumeÌ„t not only equalling but far surpassing the Diologues which goâ—… vnder the name of Gregory the Great for vndiscreeâ—… and vnbeleevable vanity If you had stayed at these two examples you had done well but when you ciâ—…e a third of miracles so attempted by the Donatists and alleadge Optatus for it you are out for there is no such matter in that l Optat. li. 〈◊〉 cont â—…arm whole booke neither any speech of any wonder saving this that the Donatists commaunded the Eucharist of the Catholikes to be throwne to the dogges When by the vengeaunce of God the dogges being stricken with madnesse fell vpon them being their owne maisters as if they had beene straungers and tore them with their teeth Also there is speech of a bottle of oyle throwne by the same Donatistes in disgrace out of a windowe which falling on the stones did not breake But if these be allowed this is nothing to your matter for these are rather wonders shewed by God against them then any attempts of theirs to shew miracles and receiving a disgrace by being frustrated in them Now for Luther that he did as you say we finde no such Record neither do you cite vs any authour worthy the least credit for it We are reasonable vvell acquainted vvith your inventions and especially against these tvvo vvhome heere you exagitate according to your custome But if Luther had attempted and not prevailed is it a greater argument of falshoode in doctrine against him then it is against your exorcizng Priests when they misse of their desires as your Rhemusts doe insinuate Indeed we haue some what m Ioh Foxe inhâ—… Eccl. in vita Luther else written of Luther cleane contrary to your report as that vnderstanding of a younge man in VVittemberge vvho by a vvriting written vvith his own bloud had bouÌ„d himselfe to the Divell hee togither vvith a Congregation of many other continued so longe in prayer that the Divell cast in the vvriting at a vvindovve and the younge man vvas freed from him But vvhat that Apostata Staphilus saith of him to whom he was a deadly and malicious enemy we do not much regard n See the defence of the CeÌ„sure Prateolus in hatred to him did giue out that he was the son of an Iâ—…cubus begotten by a Divell And of as lewd a minde toward Calvin was that wicked Bolsec who envying the famous reputation of Calvins person but most of al the progresse encrease of the Gospel by his meanes thought by all vilanous slanders to vnder mine his estimation and by improbable defamations to disgrace him Now that by Romanists a thousand such tales should be begunne encreased and continued we wonder not their whole doctrine is a masse of vntruthes and so many witâ—… as haue the hammering of it so many lyes Stapleton in o Antid in Iohan. 8. whom we finde the slaunder mentioned in your last Chapter hath p Antid in Matth. 16. elsewhere a tale fit for your present purpose that Calvin long devising to shew some miracle so to get fame to himselfe would needâ—… at length cause one Matthew to counterfeâ—… himselfe to be dead that he might be said to raise him to life againâ—… yet that when they came to make the experiment the man was dead in earnest Now this we may beleeue if we wil if wee wil not we may chuse Such things as were never knowne at Geneva to any that conversed with Calvin are at Doway or at Rome as true as the Divels Gospel Some one of you should giue our that he attempted to fly or some such other matter and if one of you would once write it and cast but a
Nabuchodonosor and while the first temple or m Ca 16 20 Sanctuary stood Nay the consultation concerning this warre is reported to be in the n Cap. 2 1â—… eighteenth yeare of Nabuchodonosor we finde in the book of the o 〈◊〉 King 25 〈◊〉 Kings that in the nineteenth yeare of his raigne the same king sent Nabuzaradan his steward to Hierusalem vvho burnt the house of the Lorde the Kinges house and all other of worth in the citty Adde to this that whereas the writers of the bookes of Kings and Chronicles are most exacte in setting downe all great warres and victories of the Iewes from the time of Saul to the ruinating of the first temple there is not one word of any person or circumstance belonging to this warre in them nor in any other vndoubted booke of holy writ Yea Iosephus who was a Iew and with much learning and labour continueth the story of his countreymen from Adam to his own daies hath not the least mention of this Iudith or ought appertaining to her which he being so desirous to coÌ„ceale nothing which might make for the honour of his people would never in such deepe oblivion haue buryed These things may well be questioned 8 The book of Wisdome is by some of the Popish Synagoge not only accounted to be Canonicall Scripture but also reputed to be p Sixt. sent Bibli lib 1. 8 Salomons if not for the compiling yet at least for the matter And the reason therof is yeelded because there is in it a praier in the q Sap. 9. 1. name of Salomon But r Vide Sixt. Senens vbi supra Bellar de verbo Dei li. 1. 13 learned men of our parte rather hold it to be the worke of Philo the Iew which also Bellarmine citeth out of S. Hierome and that not the elder Philo but even the same who with some other of his countrymen was sent in embassage to the s Philo de legat ad caium Emperour Caligula to intreate him that the Iewes might not be forced to accept of and to erect his image or statue at Hierusalem which they held to be contrary to the law of their Moses He therefore compiled that worke insinuating to Kings and great men moderation in their governement terrour of torments after this life and the extreme vanity of Idols matters most fit for their present purpose to Caligula to giue never the lesse credit to all his words he was contented that Salomons name should be vsed in the praier before mentioned because the name of wise king Salomon was famous over al the world And that for this purpose 〈◊〉 the booke of Wisdom was made the whole drift of it may very well purport Now if there were nothing els in this treatise to check it selfe yet that bloudy s Sap 4. 3â—… sentence and censure against all borne in bastardy woulde bewray that it was written with an humane spirite and not by divine authority For although God be pleased sometimes to lay a temporal punishment vpon men so borne as he also doth on other persons yet he who so that we serue him and feare him hath professed of himselfe to be no t Act 10 34 respecter of persons he who blessed Phares being in fornication begotten vpon u Gen 38 18 29. Thâ—…ar so that our Saviour Christs petigree according to the flesh is u Matth. 1 3 derived from him he who forgiveth the parents committing adultery or fornication so that they doe repent which was x 2 Sam 12 13 Davids case adding to his adultery murther also he wil much more pardon the child that is innocent in that behalfe and not accessary to the crime of his nocent parents and will not lay that fearefull iudgement vpon him that neither he nor any who descend froÌ„ him shall long prosper The examples are manifolde how God hath powred various temporall blessings on the issue of such as haue beene borne in fornication as we need look no farther then to William the Conquerour tightly termed y Haillan Histo lib 6 Guillaume le Bastard which notwithstanding ought to incourage none to coÌ„mit that fleshly sinne but rather they are to feare and tremble at it since God may iustly destroy both the bodies and soules of such offen ders But this I haue spoken to shew that the saying of that authour cannot be iustified in Divinity neither may any man goe about to advouch it since albeit all hope well yet few are assured that all things are right in their owne birth Nay Papists theÌ„selues among whom be pretty store of bastards as wel as among other men saw this well enough which caused their z Hugo cardinal Lyra Glo. interl ordinar Dâ—…oni Car thusian Commentatours vpon that place to flie the literall sence and to interpret it of bastards spiritually meant that is heretikes and such like Of the bookes of Ecclesiasticus and the Machabees I haue spoken before and therefore say no more of them but this that S. Austen who thought reasonably well of the bookes of the Machabees yet coulde not tell how to iustifie the a 2. Mach 14. 42 commendation of Razias killing himselfe and therfore is shrewdly b Aug. epist 61. plunged how to salue all by allowing the book and disallowing the fact Since then the matter of these volumes hath such imperfections in it that it cannot keepe coherence with the vn-questioned Oracles of the sacred Scripture and the Spirit of the Almighty is ever vniforme never dissenting from it selfe if the other books do stand as not a c Mat 5. 18 title of them shall perish vnto the worlds end these then must needs fal from that high credit to which Papists would bring them and we are not to blame when we acknowledge not them for divine who haue no such slampe vpon them 9 Secondly we referre our selues to the iudgment of the lewish Church before Christ vvhose the Scriptures then vvere and to whom were commended the d Rom. 3 2 Oracles of God Among them e Luk 24 27 44 Moses and the Prophets and the Psalmes by a generall name comprised all Scripture but otherwise for order and memorie sake they reduced al their books to the two f Sixt Sen Bibli lib 1 and twenty letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and as in them they comprehended al every particle which they and we do receiue so they shut out also from thence al which they we now do expunge No better witnes of this theÌ„ that learned Iosephus who ex g Contr Apion lib. 1 professo haÌ„dleth this sheweth the dignity prerogatiue of the divine inspired writings aboue all other the credit of whom he holdeth doubtful vnsure Now in the nuÌ„ber of those of sacred authority he hath neither Tobias nor Iudith nor any one of their companions h Spec. Aug S. Austen doth witnes that the Iewes do not accepte
there is a worke vnder the name of S. Austen intituled d Lib 2 34 De mirabilibus sacrae Scripturae where by the Authour the book of Machabees is secluded from the Canon NotwithstaÌ„ding we do not vrge thâ—…t to be his but take it for a counterfeit rather yeeld that S. Austen framing his iudgment to some others opinion in the Westerne Church did repute these also Canonicall Yet here that is to be remembred which briefly before I touched concerning S. Ambrose that this mistaking in this worthy Father grew by his want of knowledge in that tongue wherein the old Testa was originally writteÌ„ by which means he was not acquatÌ„ed with many things appertaining to the Iewish church vnto whoÌ„ since al Scripture before Christs time was coÌ„mitted if these had bin Scripture they also should haue bin coÌ„mended then they should haue bin written in the tongue which they vnderstood that is to say in the Hebrew not in the Greek which was a laÌ„guage of the GeÌ„tiles as e Aut l 30. 9 Iosephus testifieth the Iews did not accoÌ„modate theÌ„selues to the learning of any tongue but their own which is to be interpreted of the ordinary sort of theÌ„ But all these controversed writings are only in the Greeke and not in the Hebrew which is a maine argument against them and ruinateth the very foundation of them Now that S. AusteÌ„ knew nothing of the Hebrew he in his own f â—…pist 131. modesty most ingenuously confesseth as also in another place he acknowledgeth that he had but little skil in the Greeke I g Cont. liter Petilian DO nat lib. 〈◊〉 truely haue attained vnto very little of the Greeke tongue and almost nothing And this made the iudgment of S. Austen the more defectiue in that behalfe Now as this great Doctour might bee overtaken partly by his ignorance of the Hebrew and many circumstances belonging to the Iews partly by leaning to the opinion of some other neere about him in the Westerne Churches of Italy Afrike so it is a matter very probable that the h CoÌ„c cart 3. can 471 CouÌ„cel of Carthage induced by the same reasons and most of all by the authority of S. Austen mighte exorbitate in their Censure vvhen they put all these Apocriphal bookes among the writingâ—… Canonical For there assembled none but such Prelates as were about Carthage which standeth toward the West of Africa in comparison of the East Churches The same causes doubtlesse moved i Decret Innocâ—…n CoÌ„câ—…js Innocentius the Bishop of Rome and therefore of the Westerne Church to put all these books into the Canon Tobias excepted of whoÌ„ he saith nothing An errour once begon goeth plentifully forward is not stayed vpon the suddaine WheÌ„ce it was that k Gelas. Epist. in Concilijs Gelasius coÌ„ ming after InnoceÌ„tius did in this case treade the steps of his Predecessor wheÌ„ himselfe togither with seveÌ„ty Bishops doth define al these writings to be sacred Scripture NotwithstaÌ„ding he who wil looke the Decree of Gelasius as l Part 1 Dist. 15. 4 Gratian citeth it about this matter shal see that the iudgmeÌ„t of Gelasius coÌ„cerning the CanoÌ„ is very weake little to be regarded And in those decrees of his which are found amoÌ„g the CouÌ„cels the same wil appeere wheÌ„ he maketh meaner things theÌ„ these coÌ„troversed books to be of irrefragable authority For in the very next Decree to that which I formerly mentioned he saith thus touching an Epistle of Leo one of his Antecessors in the Roman see The text of the Epistle of Pope Leo if any maÌ„ shal dispute of eveÌ„ to one iote shal not revereâ—…ly receive it in all things let him be accursed This heate doth shew that Gelasius was not too too much advised in his determinations of this nature but followed the tract of those that weÌ„t before him without farther ventilating or disquisitioÌ„ And this is the most of that which by mine own reading I find in Antiquity making for the iustification of these Apocryphal bookes And some such shewes there be for the story of Susanna of Bel with the Dragon which also are not in the Hebrew therfore togither with the fragmeÌ„ts of the booke of Esther some other of equal sort are by vs held to be no Scripture Hee who would behould what farther may be saide for these things let him looke m De verbâ—… Dci lib. 1. Cardinall Bellarmine where he shal finde a many weake citatioÌ„s agreeing in substance with those whom before I haue named Now if we looke what is against them we shal easily discover testimony of greater ponderosity to overturne them then is any to support vphold them 12 VVhat the Iewes did or doe esteeme of them you haue heard before Onely take this with you that n 〈◊〉 l. c. 10. Bellarmine can say out of S. o â—…n Prolog gelâ—…at Hierome that all these bookes togither are reiected by the Hebrewes Now let vs see what witnes the Easterne Church giveth of them p Eccl. Hist. lib 4 2â—… Eusebius hath an Epistle of Melito sometimes Bishop of Sardis in Asia the lesser where Melito himselfe saith that of purpose he travelled to Hierusalem into Palestina to know what were the Canonical Scriptures of the Church before Christ and there he setteth downe all those bookes which wee admit none other This was very soone after the age wherin the Apostles lived It is heere to be marked concerning this holy man as also of al the rest whom I shall name that they never had in this businesse reference to ought but to the course of the Iewes accepting their iudgement for the bookes of the olde Testament to be that wherevnto Christians also should cleaue Not long after that time came Clemens Alexandrinus of whom q Lib. 6 11 Eusebius writing saith that hee cited the bookes of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus in his vvorkes vvhich bookes saith Eusebius all men do not receiue And he addeth as it may seeme to prevent least any man vpon his example should attribute much to those two that he cited also the Epistle of Barnabas of Clement By the iudgement then of Eusebius Wisedome Ecclesiasticus at the least are books coÌ„troversed Soone after came r Cap 19 OrigeÌ„ who lived at AlexaÌ„dria in Aegypt And he reckoneth vp the CanoÌ„ of the Iews coÌ„prised in two tweÌ„ty voluÌ„es accepting all that which we accept not naming the other saving the Machabees which he saith to be reiected of the Iews That worke of OrigeÌ„ wherin that was coÌ„tained is now lost yet in those which remain he saith that the book of Wisdome s De principijâ—… lib 4. 3â—… is not accouÌ„ted of authority with al. Athanatius after his time lived also at Alexandria he sheweth what was held for Canonical what was refused s In Synopsi There be Canonicall of the old Testament two
and twenty bookes equal in nuÌ„ber to the Hebrew letters For among the Hebrewes the elemeÌ„ts of the letters are so many But besides these there be yet of the same old TestameÌ„t other books not Canonical which are read only to the Catechumeus Heere is a most manifest distinction betweene the Canonical and the Apocryphall and a signification that these inferiour volumes were only read to such as were novices in the faith but they were not accounted authentical vnquestionable Next I ioyne Epiphanius who lived in Cyprus he t Haetes 8 rehearseth for Canonical Scriptures of the old Testament the Iewes bookes the other not admitted by them he expungeth for Apocryphal And in a u Haeres 76 second place reckoning vp al the divine writings he shutteth out these Apocryphal fellows only after al the volumes of the old new TestameÌ„t rehearsed he nameth also the Wisedoms of SalomoÌ„ of the sonne of Sirach He nameth theÌ„ I say but after al the right ones yet least any man should take advaÌ„tage of the mencioning of those two heare him else-where u De mensuris poÌ„deribus Among the Hebrews there are two and twenty bookes For thâ—…se two bookes written in verse The Wisedome of Salomon which is called Panaretus of all kinde of vertue and the Wisedome of Iesus the sonne of Syrach the nephew of that Iesus vvho wrote that Wisedome in Hebrew so that his nephew interpreting it did vvrite it in Greeke are profitable and commâ—…dious but are not put into the number of those vvhich are received How corruptly theÌ„ doth x De verbo Dei l. 1 14 Bellarmine deale who citeth Epiphanius as an allower of these two bookes and denieth that hee spake against them otherwise then according to the opinion iudgement of the Iewes But infinite such base shiftes are to bee found in that Cardinall In the meane time we see that thus Epiphanius who was very wel skilled in the Hebrew keepeth close both with the Iewish Canon and the iudgement of the Easterne Church 13 Gregory Nazianzen hath a y De veris libris Scriptur little treatise in verse of purpose made to shew what are the books of the old new TestameÌ„t inspired froÌ„ God He in the old reckoneth vp two twenty books after the Iewish fashioÌ„ so oft aboue meÌ„tioned no more There he putteth al these whoÌ„ we acknowledge vouchsafeth not so much as to name Tobias or Iudith or any one of those whoÌ„ we seclude And so doth he againe z De recta educatione ad Selencum To all these so famous learned men of the East Greeke Church wil I adde for the conclusion the Councel of Laodicea which in the last a Canon 59 Canon recapitulateth all the Canonicall bookes of the old Testament but hath not one of those whom the Romanists vvould gladly thrust vpon vs. Nowe is it not a greate sinne thinke you for vs to ioyne in iudgement vvith so many learned and holie men with all the good and religious Hebrews who were before the time of Christ withal the Eastern Church without impeachment for ought that I can truely find Are not we worthy to be reviled and revelled at as renters tearers and clippers of the sacred Bible I doe marvaile why we should be Heretikes for not admitting of these Apocryphals since so many Fathers and reverend Doctors of the Primitiue Church did the same that wee do and yet heretiks they are none Yea but the Romanists doe loue to be tried by themselues And great reason The Westerne Churches they will say haue ever beene of another minde Wel yet here is but one against two and then by S. Austens rule before named the matter should go on our side But what if we find in the Latin Church as much against it as for it Are not our popish people in a prety case for railing vpon vs as if we were manglers deâ—…uÌ„catours of the Bible Hilary was a Bishop of FraÌ„ce and b Prolog su per 〈◊〉 he saith that there bee two and twenty bookes of the olde scripture See his own opinion consonant with that of the Greekish and Iewish Church vnto which number saith hee some doe adde Tobias and Iudith and so make foure and twenty Marke that they be but some who do adde more and these doe adde but two so that the Machabees and the rest are vndoubtedly gone in his iudgement nay I may say in his minde these two also But if any man be in this cause to be heard it is Hierome whom Lodovicus Vives some-where did truely call miraculum orbis the miracle of the worlde Hee lived a good while at Rome and thought highly of that Church and therefore would not hastily break from any thing vvhich generally or vvith good ground was there received Hee travailed into Palestina and there spent much of his time and by longe conference vvith a Ievve and other his extreame labour attained to the exact knovveledge of the Hebrevve tongue and there-vpon as some thinke translated the vvhole Bible into Latin as others suppose reformed and castigated that version vvhich is called the Vulgar and is now only currant among the Papists Also hee made those learned Commentaries on the Prophets which labour may truly be said to be the glory and beauty of all his vvorkes vvhich yet otherwise are renoumed sufficiently Then if any man bee to be heard in this Argument it is this Hierome and that deservedly Hee then speaking of Iudith bestovveth this ierke on it c Epist 10 UUee doe reade in Iudith notvvithstanding of it please any man to receiue that booke But aftervvarde hee goeth more generally to vvorke and d Epist â—…06 sheweth which are the Canonicall bookes even those whome vvee holde for Canonicall and vvhich are Apocryphall even the very same that wee reckon for Apocryphall Neither hath hee yet done but continuing in the same iudgement he sheweth how and in what manner the Church readeth and accepteth those inferiour bookes e Epist 115. As therefore the Church indeed doth read the bookes of Iudith of Tobias and the Machabees but doth not receiue them among the Canonical scriptures so it may read also these two volumes that is Ecclesiasticus and the booke of Wisdome to the edification of the people not to confirme the authority of Ecclesiasticall doctrines What would he haue said thinke you if he had seene our Papists bring these bookes as the chiefe pillers of praier for the dead and intercession of Saints and other such like Apocryphal trumpery 14 And that there were more learned men of the Westerne Church in the same minde with Hierome wee appeale to that treatise on the Creede of the Apostles vvhich some suppose to haue beene written by Cyprian and for that cause it is found among his workes but more generally it is thought to be of Ruffiuus his doing who very well might speake for the evidency
Ephiphanius say as you say concerning Images Doe Clemens Alexandrinus and Basile and Gregory Nazianzen and Chrysostome ioine with you in prohibiting the mariage of the Clergy Is Theodoret youre in the matter of Transubstantiation when hee who in the end of his b Post Epiphan The. Dialog Dialogues writeth the Admonition to the Reader is enforced though hee bee a Papist to confesse that hee hath many things against it Are Tertullian and Saint Augustine of your minde when they expounde This is my body to meane but the signe or figure of his body Is Saint Ambrose yours about praying to Saintes Is Cyprian yea Gregory himselfe of your iudgement about the supremacie of Peter and of the Pope Amongst a hundred examples I doe but touch these things as having occasion else-where more largely to handle every one of these points So litle account do you make of truth being either spurred to it by ignoraunce or blinded with maliciousnes both which in you are wonderfully desirous to vpholde your drowping cause 2 That Causaeus or Luther doe brande your Dionysius Areopagita for a counterfeit and speake of him accordingly we doe not marveile There was one of that name indeede an c Act. 17. 34. auditor of S. Paule but these bookes fastened on him are not worthy of his person What is there in them all which savoureth of a man taught by an Apostolicall spirit S. Paule was facile in his vvriting that the multitude might vnderstand his maine drift every where this is so obscure that nothing can be darker S. Paules words were for edification this is full of vaine curiosity taking on him to describe every angle and office in heaven Sainte d Col. 2. 18 Paule rebuked those who meddling with the worshipping of Angels did advance themselues in those things which they never saw this fellow speaketh of the Angels as if he had been set to take the muster and view of them single from one end of heaven to the other But his booke De divinis Nominibies doth much display him for a counter feit For as it may bee well questioned in him how he could cite the Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans which was e Eue Eccl. hist. li. 3. 30. written but a little before the death of Ignatius he was martyred in the time of Traiane◅ whereas Dionysius was a man of that age that long before Saint Pauls death vnder Nero hee was a Senatour of f Act 17 34 Athens or one of their iudges in the streete of Mars so it cannot be excused that he g De divinis nominibus citeth Clemēt the Philosopher which being Clemens Alexandrinus did liue almost two hundred yeares after Christ and therefore this Dionysius citing him was not like to bee the hearer of the Apostle Paule Now in the eight booke of his Stromata Clemens indeed doth shew himselfe a Philosopher yea if you will a Logician talking of the Predicaments and naming Relatiues which is the point for the which this forged Dionysius citeth him Againe this booke is dedicated to Timothy Bishop of Ephesus who being so long a scholer and fellow traveiler with S. Paule needed not so meane a man in so barbarous a fashion to instruct him in those things which this sweete Authour pretendeth Besides this if there had beene such an Authour of any worth or name some of the ancient writers would haue given him some credite and sometimes haue mencioned him Eusebius letteth not any man scape who was ought or left any monument to the church Notwithstanding he hath not any worde of this Dionysius S. Hierome came after him and wrote a h Catalog scripto Ecclesiastico treatise purposely of such as before his daies left any bookes to posterity where neverthelesse the hame of this Dionysius is not to be found And so much doth i Lib. 6. Bib. Annot 229. Sixtus Senensis himselfe obserue who also k Lib. 2. elsewhere telleth vs that Cardinal Caietane in his Commentaries on the Acts as also on the thirde of Kings excepteth against this Dionysius as vnworthy of all credite There is another treatise in the name of l De caelesti Hierarchia Dionysius which recordeth to vs in particular 9. several orders of Angels If such a tract had bin known amōg the anciēt or had beene of any reputation vvith them some or other of the olde Fathers speaking of Angels vpon iust occasion would haue named either it or the authour or the matter of it m Haeres 64 Epiphanius saith that there are more degrees of Angels then one but howe many hee nameth not To the same purpose speaketh n In Ps. 118. Hilary but he hath no fixed number o Dialog 1. Caesarius the brother of Gregory Nazianzen saith that there be seaven orders of Angels Saint p Eucharid ad Lauren. ca. 58. Austen as wise learned a man as he was yet professeth that he knoweth not what Sedes Dominationes et principatus word◅ by some expounded to bee severall sortes of Angels do mean If he had seene that worke of Dionysius he might haue helped his ignorance for he describeth thē to an inch if we will beleeue him In another place the same q Ad Orosium contr Priscilliā origenistas Austen writeth thus of himself That th◅re be these Seates or Thrones Dominions Principalities Powers in the heavenly furnitures I doe most firmely beleeue and with an vndoubted faith I doe held that they doe somewhat differ between themselues But to the ende that you may thinke meanly of me whom you repute to be a great Doctour what these ◅ee and how they differ amonge themselues I know not But perhaps it may be obiected that r In Questionibus Athanasius yea and out of Dionysius saith that there bee nine orders of Angels I answere first that indeede he nameth one Dionysius attributeth to him the title of a Divine but he calleth him not Areopagita and therefore hee may meane some other later fellow Secondly the treatise containing this is expunged out of the workes of Athanasius and put among those that are held to be forged so that here but one lyer doth speake for another and then their rewarde is that neither of them ought to be beleeved Thirdly it agreeth not with an vndoubted place of s De cōmuni essent patris filij spi. sanct Athanasius for there he rather seemeth to make fiue sorts of Angels that with offices differing frō those of Dionysius as those that teach those that permit thinges to bee done those that punish those that gratifie souls and those who remaine with men Afterward indeede hee mencioneth Thrones Cherubins and Seraphins So that the first who beeing himselfe of any estimation mencioneth Denis is Gregory the Greate who in s Moral lib 32. 18 one place saith that there bee nine orders of Angels but not a word hath he of Dionysius And in a t
so maintaine them For such dissolute dawbing of paper you are worthy to be rewarded at least with nothing It may be said of you your maister Bristow c Virgils Eclog. 3 Et vitula tu dignus hic It cannot be denied that some men of learning haue disliked the over-much heaping vp of Sentences out of the Fathers to no purpose or needlessely especially if it haue bin done in Latin or Greeke wheÌ„ SermoÌ„s are made to the ordinary people in the vulgar tongue But the iudgmeÌ„t of the most iudicious such as respect the edificatioÌ„ of the heaters wil warraÌ„t this their opinion while it dislâ—…keth not the vse but the abuse But that any maÌ„ of learning in our church or of true accouÌ„t in our state haue simply coÌ„dcÌ„ned the vsing of theÌ„ you caÌ„not shew Some weaker men in a little humâ—…ur haue seemed to bee no great favourets of theÌ„ paâ—…tly because they know them not as d 〈◊〉 in Adâ—…gijs Knowledge hath none more eger enemy theÌ„ 〈◊〉 persoÌ„ partly because they haue not learning to vnderstaÌ„d theÌ„ Also because they wil not be at cost to buy theÌ„ or if these impedâ—…eÌ„ts were remooved because they wil not take the paines to read theÌ„ But even such do daily more more reforme their iudgmeÌ„t we doubt not but God who hath put the spirit of moderatioÌ„ temperaÌ„te into the greatest wisest most learned of such as in times past were otherwise minded wil loine vs al in one against you the coÌ„mon enemies of the truth who in an Italionated out-landish faction litle care what you do And so I trust every English maÌ„ defiring to keepe himself in spiritual purity e Iacobâ—… 27 Motiv 14. vnspotted of the world Poperty the odious names of Puritans Precisias wherat you haue so triuÌ„phed shall to the greefe of your harts be extirpated al who loue the Gospel ioining in one as ChristiaÌ„s brethreÌ„ shal be dutiful subiects to God our King Your conclusion is ridiculous worthy to be hissed at The Protestants defend the Fathers against the Puritanes Ergo the Fathers be against both the Protestants and the Puritanes This is Logicke of the Popish Seminary 4 The titles which you heere bestow on the ancient Fathers Bristow setteth downe thus f 〈◊〉 14. excellent wits continual study woÌ„derfull learning servent praier holy coÌ„versation favour in Gods sight mighty working of infinite miracles froÌ„ whence froÌ„ the rest the Reader may iudge whether you had not Bristowes booke lying before you wheÌ„ you skuffled togither this Rhapâ—…ody As for these praises we neither envy theÌ„ nor deny theÌ„ to those great laÌ„pes of the first Church vnlesse it be that of working of miracles wherof we make a doubt And by these helps we say that they were wel furnished to vnderstand expound many things in the Scripture as also somewhat by their neerenesse to the time of the Apostles in those places especially where truth was kepte without mingling And yet we will you heere to remember that fewe or scant any one of the Fathers had the Scriptures freshly delivered vnto him from the Apostles themselues you are pitifully out for diverse hundreds of yeeres came betweene Christes disciples and the most of the olde Doctours And againe to call to minde that soone after the Apostles yea as g Eccl. Hist. Lib 3. 26. Eusebius saith immediately after their death heretakes came plentifully in who laboured what they coulde to corrupt the fountaines wheÌ„ce all pure water was to flowe Remember also that for three hundred yeeres by the extremity of persecutioÌ„ the Pastours were few they had little liberty to come togither to conferre about thinges questioned or to follow their studies so much as they would And yet farther remeÌ„ber that some of theÌ„ came late froÌ„ the Gentiles as Cyprian some froÌ„ heretiks as Eusebius froÌ„ the ArriaÌ„s AusteÌ„ the Manichees somefroÌ„ meere secular callings as Ambrose of al these without Gods special grace they might a little participate Then he is bliÌ„d who seeth not that they had not al those helps as these haue whoÌ„ you cal late folish vnstudied vnlearned profane arrogaÌ„t fellowes These words you vse when you Doctour Hill are not worthy to be sorted with the meanest of a thousand among them which speech without amplification or any diminution may be iustifyed onely in the present Church of England For first wee have the writinges of all those Fathers themselves like to which every private man of them had not no nor all the world neither before their times Secondly since their daies there be infinite bookes written which give light to matters in controversy Thirdly our age by meanes of printing hath better facility to come by al bookes theÌ„ those ancient times had Fourthly progres of daies hath made many thiÌ„gs plainer to later ages because they haue bin already fulfilled theÌ„ they could be to former tims wherin meÌ„ did but gesse at theÌ„ Fifthly God hath made the scriptures of such sort as that meÌ„s wits are to be exercised in theÌ„ vntil y e day of iudgmeÌ„t it beloÌ„geth to that industry which God requireth in his servaÌ„ts y e they shold not satisfy theÌ„selues w t the labours of others so growidle bue they shold search farther inventis addâ—…re Sixthly the helpe of the toÌ„gues is more rife now then it was amoÌ„g the ordinary sorte of them as may be seene by Athanasius who was so stuÌ„bled in the h Prov. 8. 22 8. Chap. of the Proverbs the i Athanas. in decret Nicen. Synod ArriaÌ„s to prove Christ a creature vrging thence by the traÌ„slatioÌ„ of the Septuagint that it is in the text k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag The Lord made mee or created me the beginning of his waies to which without difficulties he might easily haue aunswered if hee had looked into the l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew where it is rather as Hierome readeth it the Lord possessed mee or as Arias Montanus hath it the Lord got or obtained me Also Austen had no Hebrew and both he Gregory very little Greek as els-where I have shewed Now although it be likely that neerest to the fountaines the waters runne most cleerely the farther of that we are they are the more likly to be polluted yet in spirituall thinges that is not to bee vnderstood of place or time but of keeping close to the original of the writen word and not varying from it And so a man furnished by God as m Exod. 31 〈◊〉 Beseleel was to the framing of the Tabernacle may be by the means aboue named and by praier conference study nothing inferiour to those first lightes even as S. Austen was more excellent in some of his expositions on the Scripture then Origene and some other more ancient then himselfe were Which as both for him S. Hierome especially
comparisons to be so familiar yet so significant and lively that wee account him scant worthy the name of an eminent preacher to the people who hath not bin conversant in his works We thinke S. Hierome for his learning not vnworthy to bee called a wonder of the world his vniversal knowledge especially in the sacred tongues togither with his ponderous style are honorable among all vvho knovve good letters Saint Augustine for his iudgement goeth beyond them all his reading was great as most of al appeereth in z De civitate Dei one tract of his being the most noble of all his vvritings his diligence his zeale and acutenesse against heretikes have vvonne him everlasting prayse and so doe vvee esteeme of his vvorkes that we holde him much dis-furnished in the study of Divinity especially for schoole-learning and grapling with an adversary who is not wel acquainted with him Such is the coÌ„tempt that we cary to these reverend persons nay if it were not for avoiding vnnecessary tediousnesse vvee should much farther extoll their due-deserved commendation VVhy then doe wee basely regard them Because vvee bee given to lust and gluttony and they have vvritten so excellently of the Order Rule and Vertues of Monkes This hangeth wonderfull well togither Doe all vvho are given to covetousnesse ambition gluttony and lust hate monkes and monkery al who haue prescribed good rules vnto them Then your Pope and cardinals and all the whole sinful Courte of Rome must stand arraigned for that crime for eche man of any vnderstanding knoweth howe they abound in those vices And besides if precepts for Monkery bee so contrary to these sinnes must not the practise of them in a Monkish life be much more remote from them And vvas it never heard that Nunryes or Monasteries of women haue had many younge bones of little children found in them which came not thither vvithout lust or that many Monkes were little better theÌ„ mishapen gorbellied monstrous Epicures vvhich arose not without gluttony or that in the elections of their Priours Abbots and Bishoppes there vvas infinite competition vvith all kinde of striving banding and canvasing which was not without ambition or that some of their vowed men especially that famous fellowe mentioned by a De moribus Germane Aeneas Sylvius have lefte great summes of money in secret behinde them which were neither gotten nor kepte without avarice Thus nothing can bee more certaine then that men who loue the sinnes which you name may be favourers of Monkes the Monastical creatures haue do commonly bath themselues in such noted crimes 20 VVell S. Basile hath written many things concerning Monkes It may be questioned whether he hath or no for there is great doubte whether those bee his bookes vvherein most is contained touching that argument But if we should allow you your desire he hath no where saide more of that matter then in a b Serm Quomodo ornaretur Monach Sermon where he describeth the qualities of right moÌ„kes froÌ„ which qualities these late ones are very farre distant And Saint c In 1 Tim Homil 14. Chrysostome sheweth how holy religious the Monasteries in his time were to the which if these later Cloister-meÌ„ had kept theÌ„ we should haue found lesse to be discoÌ„mended in theÌ„ Howbeit Chrysostome did not so much admire theÌ„ that hee thought their life to be the only meanes of perfection or that sanctitie and the true service of God was scant any where to bee found but in them which some doting ones in these ages not longe since past have laboured to insinuate into the mindes of men But he spake thus freely to the contrary d In Gen. Homil 43 where are they who sae that it is not possible that a man living in the midst of a city should keepe vertue but hee had neede of retyrednesse and a certaine conversation amongst the mountaines and that he who is over-seer of his owne house and hath a wife and taketh care of children and servaunts cannot bee indued vvith vertue Thus he supposed that men in a monastery might do well and so might other also S. Hierome who vppon some more then ordinary occasion with-drewe himselfe from Rome and lived more privately in Palestina grewe to be a e Invita â—…ilarionis saepè hyperbolical commender of Heremites monkes and cloystered Virgins which life he blazoneth so with his Rhetorical colours that every man must confesse that his vvordes goe too farre if they be literally taken And yet when diverse other were greedy to come from Rome to Hierusalem that they might live there sequestred as hee did he disliked it and saide that f Epist 13 heaven gate did stand open as well to a man in Britaine as at Hierusalem Then were there in England fewe or no Monasteries at all As for S. Austen hee describeth the piety and exercises of auncient g De moâ—…ib Eccle Cathol lib 1 31 Monkes and Caenobites of both sexes and writing vppon the Psalmes he saith h In Ps. 99 In that common life of brethren which is in a Monastery great holy men being daily in hymnes in prayers in the prayses of God doe live therevpon They meddle much with reading They labour with their owne handes thence theymaintaine themselves they aske not any thing covetously Whatsoever is brought in vnto them by godly brethren they vse it with sufficiency with charity NomaÌ„ doth vsurpe to himselfe any thing which anothermay not haue All loue themselves all sustaine one another And yet the same S. Austen was not so simple but that hee spied vnder this habite of holinesse much woolvishnes in his time as cannot be coÌ„cealed wheÌ„ he said thus i Epist. 137. I doe plainely confesse vnto your charity before our Lorde God who is a witnesse vpon my soule since I began to serve God as I hardly have found better men then those vvhich haue profited in monasteries so I have not had triall of vvorse then those vvho have fallen in monasteries And in his booke writen purposely coÌ„cerning Monkes hee describeth many monkes of his time to be k De opere Monachorum c 28 nought idle wandring vp downe setting at sale the relikes of martyrs if they vvere the relikes of martyrs Notwithstanding our late Votaries do lay closer hold on S. Austen then on any one of the Fathers for they give it out that he was the founder of the Augustine Friers and that rabble would derive their petigree from him as some of the both olde and late Cloisterers woulde drawe their descent from Elias and Iohn the Baptist which l Sozom 1 12 Sozomen mencioneth to haue beene talked of in his time For this purpose they give out that Saint Austen went in his monkishe coole and attire cleane contrary to that which is reported in his life by Possidonius vvho lived with him His m Possidons in vita Aug cap 22 apparrell and shooes and
the Canonical Scripture Which albeit originally it be but the censure of one man yet knowe that he was Bishoppe of Rome and when it is prefixed before the Summe of Aquinas dedicated to another Pope it is intended to bee of credite and that more must be of that mind if they thēselues wil. And l Icon. vite Papar in Pio 5 since that time Pius the 5. hath placed the same Aquinas fifte among the Doctou◅ of the Church to the greate preiudice and dishonour of all the rest Secondly vvhat dishonour doe they to the renoumed company of those admirable men vvhen they ranke vvith them and as it vvere thrust vppon them base companions a bastardlye broode vvhich have no learning iudgement or anie other eminente parte to commend them Of their counterfeit Dionysius Areopagite I have spoken before But Maister Harding vvriting against Bishoppe lewel citeth in his greatest matters n L. Humfry in vita luelli Amphilochius Abdias Leontius Martialis Simon Metaphrastes Hippolitus Vincentius Clemens Cletus Anacletus counterfeit Athanasius and Basile and other authours of Decretall Epistles in steede of true Fathers And Bellarmine in his disputes beeing many times neere driven is glad to flye to such as for a stake to a hedge This is to extenuate the reputation of those greate starres and to make them to be meanely thought of because those vvith vvhomethey are sorted deserve no better It is the disgrace of the best when those of vvorst qualitye are coupled vvith them as their fellowes In the time of o Bodin de Rep l 5 4 Pope Iulius the thirde the Cardinals of Rome knevve this vvhen seeing the Pope to create Montanus Cardinall one vvhome for his pleasures sake he had taken out of a most beggerly estate brought him vp at home they ioyned in a request and motion in behalfe of the College of Cardinals that hee vvould not suffer that honourable degree to bee stayned by the presence of so contemtible a man vvho had neither vvealth nor vvisedome nor vertue nor parentage nor learning nor any thinge to commend him Indeed the Pope there had thē at the advātage for he was able to beate them with their own rodde therfore replyed vpon them VVhat vertues I pray you what learning vvhat parentage what good qualities vvas I famous for vvhen you made mee Pope His personall reproofe to them vvas iust othervvise their sute had beene reasonable for such a consort coulde no vvay honest their College as these silye Popishe authours doe no way adde estimation but manifold dis-reputation to the Fathers Thirdly howe shamefully did the predecessours of these late Papists in the time of darke ignorance foist in parts of tracts and whole treatises into the volumes of the Fathers so labouring that new writings might runne currant for old vpstarts for natural very draffe chaffe for good corne There is seāt any one of the Fathers which hath escaped free herein not Cyprian not Austen not Hierome out of whose works many bookes peeces may be pulled which for the matter or style doe no more refēble those authours thē Aesops Asse did a Liō whē he had got that Roial beasts skinne on his backe The Popish Censurers in their editiōs do cōfesse so much but Erasmus a mā who had the gift of p 1 Cor 12 10. discerning of spirits did go beyond them al and in his prefaces arguments or Censures vpon bookes doth yeelde the reasons of his opinion It is incredible to thinke how absurde things are fathered on these Doctours as by name that Adfratres in eremo before said to be intituled to Saint Austen where the absurde fellow sometimes plainly taketh vpō him the name of Austē Bishop of Hippon but to procure admiration saith q Serm 37. that he traveiled into Aethiopia saw there men without heades with their eies set in their brest and others he beheld which had onely one eye in the middle of their fore-head I wishe that either Sir Iohn r M Hac◅its ving Maundevile had beene with him or he with Sir Iohn Maundevile This tricke of iugling in such tractes is a daungerous matter to any who vvill rest himselfe too farre vppon the Fathers vvritinges and our Popishe people haue in their fraude greate advauntage vvhen out of such as they are they vvill confirme their Paradoxes But there is another pointe more tickle then this vvhen their Monkes and Cloister men vvould intersert into the true and proper workes of the best writers whole leafes or pages or sentences more or lesse to serve for their purpose Erasmus who laboured exceedingly in repairing and restoring antiquity to whose paines al learned men do owe much cōplaineth bitterly of this as in one of his s Lib de spirit sāct prefaces to a booke of S. Basile he with griefe saith that the same measure was affoorded to Basile which he had otherwise experimented in Athanasius Chrysostome Hierome and that vvas that in the middle of treatises many thinges vvere stuffed and forced in by other in the name of the Fathers Hēce the Romish generatiō might build even what pleased thēselves But besides all this as in other artes so in Divinity in the writings of the Doctours by the ignoraunce of the Novices in Monasteries sette to write out Copies of bookes yea of their s Vives de canis corrupr art lib 1. Nunnes so imployed diverse argumentes of bookes vvere put into the bookes themselves and Annotations in the Marge ◅t were erepte into the texte Concerning this depravation of learned mens vvorkes in all kindes Lodovicus Vives hath written diverse bookes intituled Of the causes hovve or vvhy the artes vvere corrupted and hath there many observations and complaintes that some ignorauntly some maliciously all audaciously did such thinges I thinke it not amisle to cite one sentence of his vvhich shevveth hovve diverse counterfeite bookes had the names of noble Authours put vppon them Among such as did vvrite out volumes t Libr 1 there vvere some vvho to procure authoritie to a booke did in writing put to it the name of some greate authour other that when in times past many bookes vvere put out vvithout names being mooved vvith some very light coniecture did adiudge it to one or to another other if they did not knowe the name of the title did not doubt to chaunge it and to transferre it to vvhome they thought good there were such as vvrote out bookes vvho looke vvhat name came first in their mind that they did sette before for the title There bee manie examples of all these thinges in those authours vvhome even novve I named Aristotle Plato Origen Cyprian Hierome Augustine Boetius Cicero Seneca and all these have beene received vvithout difference and no lesse authority and credite given to them then to those which were true and naturall This is a noble testimony of a very learned man who spent much traveile purposely in this argument and
sheweth by what sinister meanes such came to bee reputed Fathers who were more fit to bee taken for children 29 Fourthly I name that which is most horrible of all other even a manifest evidence of a desperate cause and that vvhich is rotten at the roote VVherein the impudency and shamelesse fore-head of the vvhore of Babylon and her Peeres can never sufficientlye bee exclaimed vppon albeit heaven and earth and all the creatures therein bee called to vvitnesse For hath this Antichristian broode so longe fledde from the Scriptures to the Fathers and haue they and doe they so crake of these every where and are they nowe forced to raze them and pare them and blurre them else they cannot hould vp their irreligion This is the case of vvhich I desire all my weake and abused country-men to take notice In the Conventicle of Trent there were certaine u Index Expurgar Belgic in Regul CoÌ„cil Tridentini rules made vvhich openlye did pretend the purging and clensing of bookes from hereticall matters but secretly intende more even to raze out what they thinke fitte out of olde or newe as their practise in this behalfe doth testifie vvhich is vvarranted by the covert orders there concluded For this businesse in diverse places of the Papacy vvere secretly appointed some of their owne stampe men conscience-lesse and fitte for any vile acte to revise as well the Fathers as later bookes of all sortes and vvhatsoever made against Popery and could not handsomely bee glosed should vppon the newe printing of the bookes by Printers in Popishe places bee cunningly altered or quite lefte out This must bee done notwithstanding that all the copies even formerly printed by themselves and many written ones in their libraries and as many in ours did plainely shevve the contrarie Yea though marveilous store of copyes vvritten hundreds of yeeres before vvhen as neither Luther nor Hus nor Wiclefe vvere yet borne did concurre in that for which we plead Heere-vppon closely vvas dravvne first u An 1571. one Index Expurgatorius by the vvarrant of Philippe the second King of Spaine and of the Duke of Alva Governour of the Lovve Countryes for him There in the Kinges letters patentes prefixed before the booke charge is given that in every city where booke-sellers dvvell there shoulde bee some Prelates appointed to supervise all noted bookes and that x Diploma Regis Catholici Belgic they should have vvith them privatelye and no other men knovving of it one Index Expurgatorius vvhich they shoulde neither communicate vnto others nor graunt a copy of it to any man but only shall most diligently take care of that that they inquire vppon expunge and restore the places before spoken of According to this were al the new printed bookes proceeded withall by them and our men not knowing the mystery wondred at those things which were left out and altered but could not gesse at the true cause till about fifteene y An 1587 yeeres after Franciscus Iunius by Gods speciall providence light vpon one of them and published it to the vvorlde Sutable to this vvas there by the commaundement of Pope z An. 1572. Pius the 5. a Censure vpon the Glosses of the Canon Lawe closely framed by Frier Thomas Manriq Maister of the holy and Apostolike Palace and the same by the a An 1580 mandate of Pope Gregory the 13. was afterward reviewed by Sixtus Faber also Maister of the same Palace Apostolike and according therevnto were the Glosses of the Canon Lavv printed all thinges being blotted out which made against the Romishe faith This also vvas concealed as the Index Expurgatorius had beene before till that b An 1599 latelye Doctour Iohn Pappus mette vvith it and published it to the view of all vvho vvill reade it I finde also c F. Gregor Capuch in libris Corrig fol 166 mention of a Censure concerning certaine Authours vvhich vvas put out in Spaine in the yeere 1562. but the booke it selfe is not yet come for ought that I knowe to anye of our handes But after that by the meanes of Gaspar Quiroga Cardinall and Archbishoppe of Toledo beeing also cheefe Inquisitour in Spaine d An 1584 Madriti apud Alphons Gomezium RegiuÌ„ Typograph there was printed another Index Librorum Expurgatorum which was not without the advise of the highe Sonate of the holy Generall Inquisition This booke also vvas unknovvne to any Protestant vntill that her late Maiesties forces taking the tovvne of e An. 1596 Calez in Spaine there vvas one of these Indices founde there vvhich beeing brought into England was by a f M. Tho. Iames. man carefull to laye open such fraudes sent to the L. of Plessis into Fraunce vvho keeping the originall in his ovvne Library g An 1601 printed it at Saumure and made it knowne to the bodye of Christendome In the beginning of this edition it is shevved that they thrust out diverse thinges of their ovvne vvriters as out of the vvoorkes of Osorius Ferus a booke called h Edit Venetijs An 1576. Ordo Baptizandi cum modo visitandi Yea out of the Glosse on Epiphanius and from the Tables in the endes of the woorkes of Chrysostome Hilary Hierome Cyril of Alexandria vvhen notvvithstanding the matters to bee put out and razed are either literally or in sence apparantly and not to bee spoken against in the Texte of those Fathers Nay in the Index of the Bibles put out by Robert Stephanus these propositions must bee blotted out as suspect i Ioh 11. 26 Hee vvho beleeveth in CHRIST shall not dye everlastingly k Act. 15. 9. By faith the heartes are purified l Gal. 2. 16 UUee are iustified by faith in Christ Christ is m 1. Con 1 30. our righteousnesse No n Ps 143. 2 man is righteous before God o 1 Cor 7â—… 2. Every man may have his wife wheras yet notwithstanding they are the very worde of GOD as may bee seene in the places quoted 30. Last of all for ought that is yet come to our knowledge there was a treatise p Venetijs An 1597 apud lo Baptistam lo Bernardum Sessam Concerning bookes to bee corrected put out by Fâ—…ter Gregory a Capuchine Neopolitane intituling himselfe Purger of the bookes at Naples This fellow doth frequently make mention of the Censure put out in Spaine Anno 1562. 1584. is much more peremptory then it or any other whom I haue seene I will breefely lay downe some things that I finde in him Speaking then of q Litera F. fol. 153 Frauncis Petrarcha thus he saith Let there bee put out the foure expositions with the texte to wit Dell ' impia Babilonia 〈◊〉 Avara Babilonia Fontana de dolori fiamma del Cielo which matters how neere they touch Rome every one acquainted with Petrarkes works do wel know Mentioning the Bibles of the r Fol. 166. Vulgar edition thus he speaketh Bibles which
these plaine and evident matters it may appeere whether the Romanists or we doe truely make more reckoning of the Fathers since wee yeelde them so much authority as belongeth to auncient godly and learned men noble lampes in the Primitive Church and great illustratours of the truth they in substance overthrow all this since we conserving them they corrupt them and either raze or adde to or pervert such sentences sayings of the Doctours as any way impeach their Romish Hierarchy wherby as vsurpers they raigne and dominere in the consciences of men and women FINIS To the Christian Reader IT is now about one yeare and a halfe agone that beeing intreated to aunswere this Pamphlet which is more fraught with malice and bitter speaking then with truth or learning in behalfe of my poore countrey-men abused by these Seminarians I vndertooke it And albeit for the whole yeere following I was sufficiently burthened with my ordinary businesse therein for the space of 9. or 10. weeks sicke and much weakened with a sharpe and vehement fever yet my desire to dispell these foggy mists of Popery was such that within the compasse of that time I drew vp the first Copy of an Answere to 16. of these Romish Reasons Wherein rather desiring to giue to the Reader a substantial then a flight satisfaction I found by probable coniecture that even so much would grow to a reasonable volume and the like course heere-after being taken with the latter part of D. Hils book there also might arise a work of like proportion Vpon this conceit I fell to revising writing out to the Presse that which formerly I had done and therein by Gods blessing I went so farre that now 6. moneths since I finished so much as heere is published some few interlacings only excepted But when I shoulde haue proceeded to the perfecting vp of the other sixe a burthē was by my honorable Patrone imposed vpō me which togither with my necessary imploimēts at Winchester since that time hath so put me frō cōtēplatiō kept me in cōtinual actiō that I scant haue bin able to sustaine the waight of the daily cōtingent perpetually incūbent busines as is apparant to every mā acquainted with mine estate And in as much as yet for a time I 'am not like to be freed from that charge I am put to this difficulty that either till I haue more leysure I must stay the Answere to these tenne Chapters being now completed by the Printer or I must send these forth without their fellowes which is much cōtrary to my former purpose Notwithstanding at the last I haue resolued vpon the latter of these two courses being the rather inclined thervnto because a learned man of the other Vnivetsity hath lately vn-quartered the whole Quartron of D. Hils Reasons which peradventure in the iudgement of many men may seeme so good a satisfaction to that which the adversarie hath obiected that my future labours in this Argument may very well be spared For this cause my purpose is giving way to my present necessarie services to attend and expect for a while the iudgement and Censure of men wise and learned in our Church and afterwarde to proceede or not proceede as occasion hall require In the meane time I may say that the mainest and principallest bulwarkes of the Romish religion are these which I haue already assaulted and it is as easie a matter to go forward with the rest as it hath beene to deale with these Before persons which are wilfully ignoraunt or perverse togither with their learning Popery may bear some shew but with such as haue the skill to displaye it or the grace to endure the dismasking of it it is but a painted Iesabell Only herein the vnsearchable iudgement of God is to bee admired and his waies which are past finding out are to be wondered at and that with amasement and astonishment that there should yet be so many who haue eies and see not eares and heare not yea harts and vnderstand not but still go forward to make vp the number of the servitors of the beast and of the traine of Antichrist who must haue some to adore him till the dissolution of the worlde But to the ende that such among our Popish Countrey-men as are ordained to salvation may be plucked out of the fire it behoveth vs who are the Ministers of the Gospell to be diligent in preaching the Gospell to such as wil heare and in writing for such as will reade that they may know and beleeue and be saved For the better accomplishing wherof and for the instruction of the ignorant who most readylie are seduced I haue taken these paines endevouring to deliver plainely and without obscurity that which I haue to saie And for the cleering of all my Doctors both general and particular suggestions tracing him step by step besides discussing the maine drifte of his Reasons togither with the validity of those Arguments which others for the strengthening of the Romane perfidiousnesse doe or may rest therevpon And yet in fitting my selfe to the capacity of the vnlearned I haue not beene altogither forgetful to giue some cōtentment to men of more knowledge wherin how farre I haue gone it is not for me but for others to iudge But whereas I haue once made mention of the expelling of the Iesuites out of Fraunce and the sharpe Edict which was there against thē and now the report is strong that vpon some cōditions they are restored thither again to the truth wherof in particular I must ingenuously cōfesse that I cannot yet attaine the difference of time being waighed will easily aunswere for that matter it beeing certainelie here-tofore one waie and nowe peradventure another In respect whereof it is not amisse to know that as it was longer agone that the Copy writtē for the Presse was finished so it is fiue moneths since that the Printer began with this booke howsoever sometimes this worke hath beene interrupted one while with the danger of the Pestilence which of late hath beene so generally spreade another while with the publishing of divers other linal tracts which the present occasion did offer And this also may serue for Answer to another point wherin my charity presumed more quietnes in some men amōgst vs thē thēselues are willing to yeeld correspōdence vnto Nevertheles I trust that this is but a fit that time and experience will giue rest to the most vnquiet and restlesse soirits Lastly I earnestly intreate al Romishly affected English men women that they be not so ready to harken to Iesuits Seminary men as here-tofore they haue bin to follow their lures either in spirituall or temporall matters What they can say for their Idolatry superstitiō is long since known neither haue they yet brought ought of moment but hath received answer And for their other behaviour whither it be cōmēdable Christiā or no let their own books between the
Sozomen that it is beleeved of him that he raised vp a dead man and did show other signes not inferiour to the wonders of the Apostles The tales of t zach Lip pel in vita Nicolas Nicolas are that when he was a sucking childe he knew what it was to fast and therefore on Wednesdaies and Frydaies would not touch the brest till night When he was a man he foresaw a tempest at sea and when it came with his praier he alayed it He appeared in a vision to the Emperour by night and caused him to pardon three innocent men whom he intended to execute Saint Austen u De civit Dei li 22 8 mentioneth that at Milaine neere the bodyes of Protasius and Gervasius a blinde man was restored to his fighte That at Carthage when hee himselfe was in the house Innocentius a chiefe officer of that citty was by prayer miraculously cured of a very fearefull sore Also that Innocentia was healed of a canker in her brest and a Physitian of his gowt by being baptised with divers such other matters For the sixth age that whichis cited out of u Dialog li 3 ca 2 3 Gregory is that when Iohn the Pope had rode on the horse of a Noble-woman the horse would not any more endure a vvoman on his backe no not his olde mistresse that the same Iohn had at Constantinople made a blinde man see and that Agapitus another Pope caused one who was dumbe and lame both to speake and go The wordes of x Li 9. Epi. 58 Gregory about the conversion of Englande are onlye those in generall that God by Augustine the Monke had there shewed great miracles and that hee should not be prowde thereof Bede y Hist lib 1 cap 31 citeth the Epistle of Gregory vnto Augustine and addeth nothing of his owne Of z Lib 4 28 Cuthbert he rehearseth that whereas sprites did haunt a place at his comming thither they gaue over that by prayer he got a well to spring vp in dry grounde that by his meanes barren lande did grow to plentifull fertilitie Of a Li 5 22 3 4 Iohn that he caused a dumbe boy to speak and healed a Nunnes arme that was much indaungered by vnseasonable letting of blovd and such like b Lippeloo in vitis SaÌ„ctor feb 25 Thatasius Archbishop of Constantinople vnder Constantine and â—…ene vvas a great defendour of the erecting and vvorshipping of Images in Churches The miracles related of him out of Ignatius the monke are that after his death at his tumbe vvas cured a woman vvhich vvas troubled vvith an issue of bloude a man that had a sore eie an innumerable multitude of such as were infested vvith fovvle spirites and oflame men and of blinde folkes 4 The c Nova legend Ang. in vita Ruwoldi legende hath of S. Romuald that as soone as he vvas borne hee did speake Divinity and forthwith being baptized did preach high pointes of doctrine lived in all but three daies at his tombe in Buckingham many lame blind were restored Of d Lippeloo Septem 28 è Surio WeÌ„ceslaus it is said that being but a very weak maÌ„ and entring combat with Radâ—…s a most valiant Generall by signing himselfe with the signe of the crosse and by the helpe of Angels attending him hee caused his enemy to fall prostrate downe vnto him Also that the Emperour saw Wenceslaus garded with a couple of Angels King e Idem in â—…anuar 5. Edward who marrying the Earle Godwines daughter did togither with her by consent of them both keep perpetual virginity is recounted to haue cured a lame Irish man by carying him on his back to the Church Also to haue healed the very sore throate of a woman to haue giveÌ„ sight to divers blinde men and to haue helped at his tombe many very ill affected The tales of f Nova legend Angl 〈◊〉 Anselm Anselme be that when once he laked meate for his company he did bid one cast a net into the next river and he caught a great troute that being with a noble man and neither of them seeing what was done or comming he told him that one was bringing a sturgeon vnto him Another noble man being leprous was clensed by drinking the water wherwith he had washed his hands at the Masse At Winchester the towne being on fire he made a crosse with his haÌ„d immediatly the flame ceased He caused a well to spring vp suddainly on the top of a rock At LyoÌ„s divers eating of the remainder of his meat were healed of sundry diseases With his blessing he freed a womaÌ„ possessed of the Devil A souldiour that had the dropsie by putting on the girdle of Anselm was recovered g Bernard vita 5. Mal. Malachy was by birth an Irish man with the annointing of holy oile he healed a boy that was lunatike He so restored hearing to a deafe maÌ„ that when he put his fingers into his eares there seemed to come out of either of theÌ„ a pretty pig He cured one Michael of a bloudy flixe by sending him meat froÌ„ his table Some who came to seeke his life were destroyed by lightning One who spoke ill of him had his tongue eaten vppe with vvormes Hee vtterlye expelled a Devill vvhich remooved out of one vvoman into another and many other such matters hee did Saint h In vita Bernard l 1 10 Bernarde as it is reported of him laide his hande on his vnckle Galdricke beeing sicke and bad his fever departe and it did so He freed of his trouble a man much molested with the Devill by laying him neere the aultar and putting the Eucharist vnder his head At Milaine i Lib 2 4 he droue a Divell out of a woman A boy k Lib. 4 5 also that was a foole and lame deafe and dumbe was made perfectly whole by him and divers other matters of like nature Saint Frauncis when his preaching was despised by the l Mat. Paris in Hen. 3. Romanes went into the fields there charged the crowes and kites and pies to listen to his doctrine which they did for halfe a day without any noise or chattering And thus he did for three dâ—…ies togither Fifteene daies before he dyed there appeared in his hands and feete wounds dropping with bloud as it was with our Saviour Christ hanging vpon the crosse And he had such a hole in his right side that a man might see the in most secrets of his hart But when he was dead none of the wounds appeared vpon him Of S. Dominicke m Ibidem Matthew Paris n In Greg 9. Platina and o Chro. l 4. Genebrard do say that he was canonized for a Saint but they name not his speciall miracles But the p Lippeloo in August 4. abridger of the Legend of Surius who never faileth at any iumpe telleth of him that when the Albingenses did cast a booke of his
into the fire it would not burne And when another hereticke did the same by a paper wherein Dominicke had written some Divinity it had the same effect Moreover that he could fore-tell things that he raysed vp divers persons from the dead As for q Idem August 14 Bonaventure the same authour saith that the miracles which vvere done in his life and at or after his death were very many but in good truth he nameth never a one which hee would not haue spared to do if he might haue gessed what they were r IdeÌ„ in vita S Petri de Motono Maij 19. Celestine before he came to bee Pope had sometimes Angels of heaven ministring vnto him and setting before him dainty bankets After that hee was chosen the Romane Bishop a boy which vvas lame on both his feete being set on the Asse whereon Celestine had rode was presently recovered After that he had resigned the Popedome he cured another lame man but by bestowing his blessing on him s IdeÌ„ in vita Bernardin Maij 〈◊〉 Bernardine is said to haue lift a lame man from the ground and so to haue restored him to his limmes After his death when his body had beene washed to the buriall deafe person by the vertue of that water recovered his hearing The legend hath many narrations of s IdeÌ„ in vita Cathar SeneÌ„s Apr. 29 Katherine of Sienna that shee had as great and intue familiarity with Christ as any one man hath with his deerest friend that shee restored to life again her mother Lapa being dead that of a little very badde meale shee made a very great deale of passing good bread for the reliefe of the poore that wheras a Frier with weeping for her death broke one of his arteries and so vomited a greate quantity of bloud by touching her hands hee was perfectly restored Shee had by Christ himselfe imprinted in her body fiue wounds like those on him at his passion For the space of eight yeares shee lived without receiving any food Of t IdeÌ„ in vita Vincentij 〈◊〉 Aprilis Vincentius it is related that with making the signe of the Crosse he could heale such as were sicke He did prophecy vnto Calixtus the 3 fifty yeares be fore that he should be Pope A certaine madde women killed a childe of her owne cut it in peeces sodde some part thereof for her husbands dinner yet he comming in and setting the peeces togither againe prayed over them and crossed them al stuck togither as before and the child returned to life as if there had beene no such matter If we did lacke a miracle in graine heere were one for the purpose We must imagine that if they had eate the childe he would with a whiffe haue fetched him out of their belly againe and as they should haue beene never the better for it so the boy should haue beene never the worse With fifteene loaues he fedde two thousand men he turned sowre wine making it to be right good to drinke he cured sixty at several times which were possessed with Devils With holy water he alayed a most grievous tempest 5 The first miracle which is set downe of u Id. in vita Ant. a. Maij Antoninus Archbishop of Florence is that when a maide had broken her hearelace or some fillet of her head attire with making the signe of the Crosse he made it whole Hee by praier healed a man that was grievously sicke made a barren woman fruitfull by blessing hericured a woman which for sixe yeares was ill of a dropsietrestored a bewitched childe by his hand-kerchife put vpon it raised another dead childe to life By denouncing the sentence of excoÌ„munication vpon a white loafe of bread he made it as black as a cole and freeing it afterward from the same corse it returned to be as faire as it was before Franciscus de u IdeÌ„ in elus vita Apr. 〈◊〉 Paula could go vpon fire bare-footed and carry stones redde hot with fire in his handes and yet take no hurte Hee coulde cast out Devilles and restore those to health of whose recovery Phisitians did despaire make the laâ—…e goe the dâ—…afe heare the dumbe speake the blinde see the lepers bee cleane yea the deade or those vvho vvere esteemed deade to returne to life Concerning the Iesuite Franciscus Xavier x Commentar Anno 1565. Surius saith that in the Indies hee would sende such boyes as were formerly converted to the faith by him vnto sicke folkes where when they did but rehearse the Creede and tell them that they must beleeue in Christ the patients were healed Also that his body 15 moneths after he was deade remained perfectly whole and vncorrupted yea gaue a most odoriferous smell But Maffeus the Iesuite and fellow to Xavier wil not Propter bonum sociatatis let him goe so He therefore y Hist Indic Lib. 15. reporteth that when two men in a boate at ses were by a storme driven away hee presently made the boate to come againe close to the ship wherein hee was That at Goa immediately he made a sicke man whole That twise in a horrible tempest at sea dipping his boxe of relikes into the water hee made all to bee calme Many other such matters are currant of him among his companions touching all which I may saye that of likely-hood they bee not overmuch beleeved of the Pope or Papists themselues since his Holinesse nor any of his Predecessours haue bestowed the Sainting of this Xavier on him neither hath any one of that Society beene Canonized to this day as the Secular Priests doe rightly obiect against the Iesuites And yet our age is not debarred from putting those who merit it into the CaleÌ„der or Cataloge of Saints since the Pope now raigning eveÌ„ this Clement the 8. hath bestowed this favour in z Icones vitae Paparum in Clement 82. Hiacynthus a Polouian so that the Romanistes haue one Saint more to pray to then their fore-fathers had I trust if you had thought vppon him you would haue done him the honour to haue closed vp your miracle-workers with his name company Yet it should not haue beene for neede if so you had done for already you have insinuated vnto vs many straunge thinges which I have touched more at large as being desirous that your Reader shold know what it is that you do point at But now my opinioÌ„ is that the examples before named produced for the confirmation of the autheÌ„ticalnes of the Romane ReligioÌ„ are very wel worthy our farther examination and advised consideration 6 The story then of the Christian souldiours for the generall consent of approoved writers therein we doe beleeue know that God in mercy inclineth much to the a Iam. 5 17. praiers of his good servaunts That Gregorius Thaumaturgus did something it is likely but whither he by letters could cast out Devils wee doe not hastily credit Great learned men
fight Then if you had your will touching the authority of these controversed books you could not make one quarter of the gaine by them as you suppose but since they are not of the right stampe we may not allow theÌ„ to you Be the matter in theÌ„ for vs or agaiÌ„st vs we may not authorize those for Authentike Scripture which God hath not so authorized In the 2. of the Machabees there is a place against Limbus PatruÌ„ where one of the seven brethren saith p Cap 7 36 My brethren that haue suffered a little paine are now vnder the divine covenant of everlasting life that is to say at that very time inioying it and in possession of it for if it be vnderstood but of the way thither the mother and brother yet remaining aliue were also vnder that covenant of assured hope but we account not of this testimony neither do wee vrge it because the booke whence it is taken is Apocryphal T. HILL FOr Heretikes ever framed the Bible to their opinions changing wresting paring and somtimes flatly reiecting al which made over-plainly against such Doctrine as they devised and so doe most impudently the Protestants now Wheras the Catholikes ever squared their Doctrine by the line and the levell of the Word of her Spouse and therefore never had cause to reiect the least iote of the holy Bible and at one worde the Catholikes followe the Bible but the Protestantes force the Bible to followe them G. ABBOT 5 WHat heretiks do to the Bible or how they intreat it we respect not neither doth it make ought against vs til you haue first proved vs to be heretiks Nay look you well to it whither you do not seclude vs from being heretiks since we do not change wrest pare the Bible We allow al Scripture to be Scripture we wreÌ„ch nothing we alter nothing but avow that our collections and interpretations are consonant to other places of Gods sacred word and in all points material are to be warranted out of some or many of the ancient fathers of the Primitiue Church which when any of you shall iumpe vpon we never refuse to put in trial with you Now that you Pseudo-Catholiks do that indeed wherwith you wrongfully charge vs how can you deny when you admit for q CoÌ„c Triden Sess 4â— authenticall no copy nor translation of the Scripture but the vulgar Latin which hath diverse flawes and gaps in it much being missing which is in the Originall Hebrew Greek When almost in al your r Vaux Catechi Horae beatissim Virginis Catechismes other books you leaue out the second CoÌ„mandement touching Images as too plainly coÌ„vincing your idolatrous carved painted stuffe in Churches So wheÌ„ in the Eucharist you take the Cup froÌ„ the s CoÌ„c Constat Sess 13 people coÌ„trary to Christs institution the relation of the forme of that Sacrament by S. Paule expouÌ„ding s Mat 26. 27 Drinke you all of this to be meant of the Clergy only how do you wrest and pare As when you say that your Masse is a dayly reall sacrifice wheras the t Heb 7 27 cap 10 18 Author to the Hebrews so copiously disputeth that there is no more sacrifice for fin Briefly you do little better then take away all the Bookes of the Bible when for so many yeares togither you willingly suffred not the laity to looke into them And how do you pervert the Scripture to confirme that abuse as when u In Apolog. Staphilus directly applyeth to that purpose the text u Mat 7 6 Giue not that which is holy vnto dogs so accounting the laity to be no better then dogges and swine Yea your great Rabbins Peter x Lib 3 Distinct 25 Lombard the Master of the Sentences Thomas of y Aquin 2. Aquine can finde so much in that place of Iob z 〈◊〉 art 6. The Oxen were plovving and the Asses were feeding in their places taking the oxen plovving to signifie the Priests reading the Scripture the Asses feeding Iob 1. 14. to be the people not troubling their heads with such matters but contenting themselues to beleeue in grosse as the Church and Cleargy do beleeue Are not these sweet men do they not froÌ„ dogs swine Oxen Asses proue their matters handsomely Thus you square your doctrine by the level of the Babilonish harlot no otherwise folowing the Bible verily as many in LoÌ„don do follow the Law when they go to Westminster after the Iudges who know much law but their followers study vnderstand little of it So you sometimes let the Bible stand in your Libraries or studies before you but you look little in it take very small acquaintance of it when any thing commeth to bee questioned you had leifer be tryed by any thing then that and for traditions you wil striue as for your soule knowing they must do the deed in vpholding your Popery or els al wil to the grouÌ„d for in the Scripture it hath no footing But we contrarywise doe teach our people to cary with them Gods booke to read it and meditate on it to try our teachiÌ„gs therby not to force the exposition thereof to their own humour but to the purpose of the holy Ghost And so I leaue you and this your slaunder 6 Here to proceed a litle farther in the matter of this Motiue we are charged as the Reader doth see to offer iniury to the scriptures in denying those to be Canonicall whoÌ„ the Romanists do grace with that name But what is our fault Is it that we do not allow all that to bee of vndoubted authority which is within the coÌ„mon volumes of the Bible Yea that is it as M. Bristow his fellows belike wold say We answer that if this be it the Church of Rome it selfe is gilty of that crime For are there not 2. books which are coÌ„monly called the 3. 4. of Esdras which theÌ„selues evermore coÌ„prise within their Bibles yet repute not Canonical No better triall of this then by the a Session 4â—… Councell of Trent which reckoning vp the sacred Volumes doeth with those vvhich are not controversed yea with those which are past controversie ioyne Tobias â—…dith Wisdome Ecclesiasticus and the two books of the Machabees but of these of Esdras not a word Heere then by the iudgement of that renoumed Synode which curleth as many as ioine not with it some tractes in the Bible are now as good as leaped out of the Bible This fact of theirs wil warraÌ„t our proceedings since by the same reason wherefore they seclude some may more bee shut out if they do deserue it Gentle Genebrard saw this wel and therfore he was desirous although it were but by the head shoulders to haue pulled in these two bookes againe b Lib. 2 Chron An. 3638. postea He therefore more then once is vehement for them would make