mentall reseruations in your writings putting that which you know was false into your paper keeping that which you did imagine might make the same true in your thoughts Finally you slaunder the Church of Rome for lewd prankes about the Fathers volumes wherein I haue proued her practise to be most syncere so that if poore mens purses be neuer more quit of mony then your penne is now of falshood when they are poorest they will not lack a groate yet I thinke my second accusation of your falshood will cleaue faster to your fingers that to cleere your selfe you will be forced to rubb them rudlye on your Printers head 16. The second place you brought out of S. Augustine against the booke of Machabees was a sentence in his booke against the Epistle to Gaudentius l. 2. c. 51. in these very wordes Machabaeorum Scriptura recepta est ab Ecclesia non inutiliter si sobrie legatur vel audiatur maximè propter ipsos Martyres Machabaeos Sed ob hanc causam in Canone morum non fidei censeri posset Signifying said you that there must be great sobriety vsed in hearing and reading of those bookes and that they are in the Canon of Manners and not of faith My accusation was that your minister had added the last sentence conteyning the substance of the matter vnto S. Augustine Sed ob hanc causam in Canone morum non fidei censeri posset But for this cause that booke may be put in the Canon of manners not of faith Will Syr Edward said I suffer himselfe to be thus bobbed his credit blowne vp wil he not set such a frowne on his trencher-ministers as may make thē vanish out of sight Can any staine to his Knighthood be greater then to be thought a notorious falsifier of so great and learned a Father euen in print Thus I wrote in my Treatise which you terme lame and goutie let vs see how nimble-footed you are in your excuse 17. This last clause say you I wōder how it should passe my sight in the reuiew for perusing my first draught I find go written short in another Letter to distinguish my inference from Augustines proofe It seemeth eyther my Manuaries hast or the Printers mispression hath turned go into sed as if the same had bene contiuned which former errour made thē omit consequētly in the English redditio Thus you write cōfessing as much as I accused you of to wit that the last clause was not S. Augustines but the Ministers or your owne Now that there was a short Goe in your first draught seemes not very probable but rather that your Vulcanes haue hāmered it out of your head to excuse your falshood First what likenesse is there betwixt go and sed that your Manuarie or Printer should take the one for the other what probability that he should so consequently corrupt the text as to leaue out consequently vpon the former errour Secondly why should you make your inference in Latine writing in English What English Author doth vse that idle manner of writing but your self neither doe you vse it your self but only in this place which maketh it more then probable that in truth you thought not therof But now you say you vsed it hauing noe better cloak then this short go to couer so notorious a fraud Thirdly for what purpose doth this iuggling togeather of your sentences both in Latin and English with S. Augustines serue but only that the simple Reader may not distinguish the gray-hound from the hare the doue from the kyte Finally may not a man printe whole sentences of his owne as S. Augustines or any other Fathers and being accused of falshood haue the like excuse to yours at his fingers ends that in the draught there was a go which the Printer let goe 18. But you had you say (r) pag. 33. S. Hieromes authority for that inferēce though you quoted him not who sayth (ſ) Hier. praefat in l. Salom. that the Church doth not receiue the booke of Machabees adding legat ad aedificationem plebis non ad authoritatē dogmatum Ecclesiasticorum confirmandā which wordes say you amount to no lesse summe then that those bookes are in Canone morum non fidei censendi I answere first this is nothing to the purpose to proue S. Augustine did reiect them who might be contrarie to S. Hierome in this point not being then defined by any generall Coūcell though S. Hierome may seeme to speake according to the opinion of the Hebrews as he vseth to doe (t) Vide prafat in Daniel Apol. aduers Ruffin not in his owne Secondly I say that those wordes of S. Hierome come short of your summe and that neither in S. Hierome nor any Ancient Father can be found your Protestant distinction of the Canon of Māners and Canon of Faith Euerie booke that may be reade for edification in the Church may not be tearmed a Canō or Rule of Manners as manie books may edifie Faith which doe not rule it so some Authours may edifie the Church in good life though their workes be not the rule of manners A rule must be right so that a thing conformable to it cannot be crooked As what soeuer is agreable to the Rule of Faith is infallibly true soe what is iust with the Rule of Manners is certainely good But actions according to these bookes we speake of you grant may be wicked how then can they be the Canon and Rule of Manners To kill himselfe for example is a thing vnlawfull yet it is conformable to those actions that you say are praised in the Machabees which bookes you accept as a Rule of Manners If a booke that alloweth some thinges against good Manners may be with a litle Caution as you say (v) pa. 37. the Canon of vertuous life I see not why a booke teaching false doctrine in some points may not with like caution be the Canon of Faith you see that your distinction neither grounded vpon reason nor Fathers nor Scriptures is iustlie a beame in my eye Neither doth Caietan whome you cite iumpe altogeather with your conceipt and though he did his sayings are not Oracles with vs. 19. The third testimonie you alledged out of S. Augustine against the Machabees was this sentence (x) Aug. de ciuit l. 1. c. 20. In the holy Canonicall Bookes there is no diuine precept or permission to be found that we may eyther to gaine immortality or to escape any peril or mischiefe make away with our selues vt Razis seipsum occidens laudatur as Razis did kill himselfe and is therefore commended in the booke of Machabees This last clause said I (z) pag. 135. 136. wherein the force of the testimony consisteth is added both in latin and in English to S. Augustines wordes to make him seeme an enemy of the bookes of the Machabees But indeed that Father doth not say that Razias for that is his name and not Razis was praysed
for killing himselfe but denies it expressely l. 2. cont Epist Gaud. c. 31. saying that the Scripture did report what had bene done not praise his death as a thing that should haue bene done Can any corruptioÌ„ said I be greater then this I would wish Syr Edward for his creditts sake to lay the matter of his paÌ„phlet on the Minister that was the true Father therof only chaleÌ„ging to himselfe the stile and phrase which may well beseeme a Knight and is to rich goulden to cloth the foule bratt of a Ministers braine 20 Thus I wrote in answere whereof first you say I shew my selfe a kind aduersarie by quoting the place of S. Augustine in my margent and adding the wordes which were wanting in your quotation the latin sentence for want thereof lame without sense I will not requite him say you with the Prouerbe That profered seruice meritts small thankes but in lieu of his labour I will more fullie aduertise him of my scope My purpose was from a ground out of S. Augustine to proue that the booke of Machabees is not Canonicall my Maior is S. Augustines as well knowne as the begger knows his dish that in holy Scripture there is no precept or permission to make away with our selues but Razias mentioned in the Machabees is commended for a fact of this kind Ergo those bookes are not Canonicall This syllogisme I had a desire to contract Thankes be to God My treatise hath wrought a miracle making your contracted syllogisme stretch out his sinewes and walke on both legges Now your birde spreads abroad her winges which before were so couched vnder S. Augustine that a man might haue sworne on your Booke that the whole argument both Maior and Minor had bene his I dare say Aristotle himselfe with whome you saie you are well acquainted (a) pag. 10. would not haue perceiued a sylogisme in your quotatioÌ„ but haue thought one particle thereof as well as the other S. Austines 21. But haue not yor Ministers deuised soÌ„e excuse or other of this yor cuÌ„ning coÌ„tracting of syllogismes to deceiue the simple yes a very goodly one which you vtter in thes words Artis est arteÌ„ dissimulare It is a poiÌ„t of art to disseÌ„ble art (b) p. 42. He is a simple painter that is driueÌ„ to write Goose or Woodcock ouerhead that people may know what feature he hath drawne vnderneath Neither do RhetoriciaÌ„s vse to distinguish their propositioÌ„s by name leauing worke for the Logicall Analysis to set euerie part in their proper place Thus you Lord what tricks Diuells and their foulers haue to hide their art What mistes doe they cast on their netts to catch Woodcocks How do they impe their sory feathers into the Fathers-Eagle winges Sell their owne greene goslings for white and hoary swannes when their falshood is discouered they tell vs very grauely that they must not write ouer head Goose or Woodcock that people may know the feature they haue drawne vnderneath And they haue reason For should people perceiue the featour of their writings soone would a Christian stomack loath them 22. Plaine dealing Syr Edward might best haue suted with your pen who professe your selfe the Ladies Writer (c) pag. 65. hoping that the report of the worthines of the Author might happily induce those rare creatures to the reading of your lines But how caÌ„ they that haue not studied Logick make a Logicall Resolution of your Rhetoricall syllogismes How shall they that haue not read nor perchanee can read S. Augustine know which wordes are yours which his setting euery thing in his proper place which a learned man may easely do by placing the Maior that Scripture doth neuer commaund nor commend killing ones selfe an Eagle worthy saying in S. Augustines workes where indeed it is found but the minor that Razias is praysed in the Machabees for killing himselfe (d) l. 1. de Ciuitat c. 20. a Goose or Woodcoke in your braine whence and not out of this Fathers booke it came into your Letter 23. Another excuse you haue which you rather insinuate then stand vpon perhaps ashamed to goe still a begging to your Printer to maintaine the credit of your poore brat You will not haue your words to be vt Razis seipsuÌ„ occideÌ„s laudatur as he printed I cited theÌ„ but At Razias seipsuÌ„ occideÌ„s laudatur (e) Counters p 43. so you still repeat theÌ„ signifying that the Printer changed At the note of a syllogisticall subsuÌ„ption into Vt And truely gentle Reader that mayst happily looke into his letter there is so little differeÌ„ce betwixt Vt and At as my hart did much incline to pardon this errour of the Printer But when looking into the English redition (f) Lett. p. 61. I found As Razis insteed of but Razias and that he made As the head of the name wherof it is the last part remembring also that he had giueÌ„ me (g) Counters p. â—8 that last syllable of Razias against law not first cutting off the intaile therof on Syr Edw. bookes These things considered I say I thought my selfe bound in iustice to returne the As to the right place and entaile the last syllable of Razias on the Printer to hould it in Capite of Syr Edward Hoby and his bookes for euer Shall he hereafter presume to print anie of the Knights bookes who still returnes his falshoods vpon his Printer without taking paines to peruse the Authours he citeth he shall haue for his wages the whole word of Lazyas So that now I may call the world to witnesse I am not in his Printers debt for any syllable or letter of Razias except the R. which being a snarling letter he cannot expect from me that saith I write a lisping language 24. Now Syr Edward let vs retourne to you who perceiuing the vanity of this first excuse you deuise another which yet in the end will proue lesse to your credit You say your Assumption also to wit that Razias is praysed in the Machabees for killing himself which I auerred was not S. Augustines is also the the very sentence of that Father though not in that place where your proposition is found yet in another which not to be tedious forsooth to your Reader with long quotations you then omitted in (h) p. 42. your letter Yf you now pay vs in currant mony we will forgiue you the interest of so long forbearance if you cannot as I am sure you will neuer be able to doe it your vanitie is admirable who out of feare to be thought ignorant vndertake to shew thinges that are not 25. You leaue S. Augustine loath you are to make him at odds with himselfe (k) p. 43. you runne vnto Lyra you seeke by that instrument to make S. Augustines doctrine seeme to iarre with it selfe Lyra say you vpon the 24. Chapter of the second of Machabees doth deliuer two cases wherein the Iewes hould it not
only lawfull but also meritorious for a man to kill himselfe First ne subditus fieret peccatoribus Secondly ne in contemptum Dei Caeli eius vita in ludibrio traheretur He concludes Some thinke S. Augustines saying which here followeth in the glosse is thus to be vnderstood Thus writ you not very sincerely relating Lira's doctrine but because it is not to the purpose I omit to discouer you At the naming of S. Augustines saying dreaming that it must needs be your Goose or Woodcock your teeth water to haue it in your mouth O say you that I could meet with the saying of Augustine that I omitted to cite doth Lira say it followeth here in the glosse then will I presume so farre vpon your patience as to write it out Thus you tune your instrument before you play Take heed Sir you abuse not those worthy Gentlemens patience whom you inuite to be your hearers after all these preambles if you sound at last the harsh Hebrew harp of Lyra for the sweet latin Lute of S. Augustine you will giue them iust cause to laugh at your folly 26. The saying you cite for S. Augustines out of Lyra (l) in 2. Mach. c. 14. is this Vnde scriptura huius libri quae recepta est ab Ecclesia ad legendum pro informatione morum non videtur sic Raziam arguere sed commendare de suiipsius interfectione si autem praedicta non sufficiant ad eius excusationem dici potest quòd hoc fecit per specialem instinctum Spiritus sancti Whereupon the Scripture of this book which is receaued by the Church to be read for information of manners doth not seeme here to reproue Razias but rather to commend him for killing of himself and if the aforesaid excuse do not suffice it may be said he did that fact by speciall instinct of the holy Ghost Thus you write calling me Sophister and dizzi-braynd Ismaelite for saying that it was far from S. Augustines grauity to read the Machabees with so little sobriety as to think that Razias was praised for killing himself yet say you whether S. Augustine was of this mind or no let it lye vpon Lyra's report 27. Noe Syr this false report will lye vpon your selfe except you will confesse the truth that some Minister suggested this lye vnto you to disgrace S. Augustine you haue couched such falshood and follie togeather that I know not which I should first and most accuse But with your patience I will touch them both but your folly first For if this be S. Augustines sentence who doth not see that your argument to proue the Machabees not to be Scripture is not worth a rush For if Canonicall Scripture giue leaue to a man to kill himselfe by the especiall commaund and instinct of the holy Ghost if Razias killed himselfe by such a speciall precept what did he against Canonicall Scripture Why should not the booke of the Machabees be sacred though they praise Razias for this fact as well as the booke of Iudges where Sampson is praised who did the like Spiritus latenter hoc iusserat sayth S. Augustine (m) l. 1. de Ciuit. c. 21. qui per eum miracula faciebat The spirit that did Miracles by Sampson secretlie commaunded him to kill himselfe Let vs put your sillogisme into forme as you desire this it is Noe Canonicall booke doth cōmaund or praise killing ones selfe without speciall instinct of the holy Ghost But Razias killed himself by that speciall instinct and for this respect is praised in the booke of Machabees ergo the booke of Machabees is not Canonicall Scripture I dare say you need not write Goose or Woodcock ouer the head of this argumēt euery one wil perceaue the feature you haue drawne though vnderneath you say nothing 28. This is your ignorance but now your Ministers falshood is yet more notorious admirable for you skip ouer the true sentence of S. Augustine which Lyra citeth which is also cited in the Glosse indeed found in his workes and you bring Lira's owne words and illations which stand many lines after for the verie saying of this Father Thus Lyra writeth in that place Some say that the saying of S. Augustine which is found in the Glosse is thus to be vnderstood Doe you long Syr Edward for S Augustines saying Harken vnto Lyra which doth sound it (n) August l. 1. de ciuit c. 21. His exceptis quae lex generaliter iusta ipse fons iustitiae Deus specialiter iubet occidi quisquis hominum vel seipsū vel quemlibet alium occiderit homicidij crimine innectitur Those excepted whom iust lawes in generall or God the fountaine of iustice doth specially commaund to be killed what man soeuer doth make away with himself or any other is guiltie of the crime of murther This is S Augustines saying which you may finde also verbatim in the Glosse in that very page And this saying some did vnderstand that when one killeth himselfe to the end that he may not be drawne by torments to an Idolatrous religion or not be mocked to skorne in contempt of his God that he sinneth not because Iustice in such cases did allow of it 29. Which interpretation is both false and against the minde of S. Augustine who doth often teach and largly proue against the Circumcellians that in such cases killing ones selfe is vnlawfull (o) Quicūque hoc in seipsis perpetrauerūt animi magnitudine fortasse mirandi non sapientiae sanitate laudandi sunt l. 1. de Ciuit. c. 22. that Razias was not cōmēdable for that fact which the Scripture did report not praise Looke into the Glosse vpon that place which is taken out of S. Augustine this peece whereof Lyra citeth you shall not find so much as a word in defence of Razias How can this corruption be excused from witting falshood to passe ouer S. Augustines saying so obuious that lay in the way Was he not a nimble foxe (p) Illa leui velox superabat deuia cursu sūmaque transibat positarum lina plagarum that could fetch such a leape ouer a marble piller into a long peece of ground But to whose charge shall I lay it Your Printer is all readie loaden your Minister I must not meddle with if I touch your Person I shall heare you rage (q) pag. 2. that like a shrewish distracted male-content I scrach kicke spurne hale teare men noble by discent eminent in places profound in iudgment skilfull in tongues famous for learning vertue and experience in trauailes by which periphrases you seeme to discribe your selfe What shall I doe but follow an ancient custome which was to beat the Minstrell when the Cooke did amisse (r) Tibicen vapulat You compare your selfe to (ſ) pag. 61. Gracchus who came not at any time say you to make an Oration without a Minstrell who by the sound of his Pipe did set him a right
to eternize my memory I should not match my selfe with cōtēptible aduersarys by whose ouerthrow profit that eternall may accrew vnto them small praise redound to my selfe by the conquest of scoulding and feminine writers (e) Nullum aut memorabile nomen Foeminea in paena est 29. That the Ladies liberall purse-promises hired me to write is so base a surmise and doth so smell of the trencher that if I may without your displeasure I will rather thinke it the suggestion of some hungrie minister or mercinarie Lecturer then the conceipt of a Knight If I finde no greater stoppe in my race to heauen then the gathering vpp of goulden-apples I shall not need much to feare the loosing of the goale I am sure if you know me well you would be loth the mony you lately made of your woods should haue no more watchfull custody then my thoughts would affoard euen vnto greater summes which education hath made ouer proud to stoope to such base cares Manie that haue more conuersed with me then you haue done will thinke some of your Ministers more skilfull in taking other mens purses then I am in keeping my owne I am content with the inexhaust treasure of his Prouidence who feedeth the Birds of the ayre and clotheth the Lillies of the fielde which doth assure me I shall not want when perhaps your (f) pag. 65. competent patrimonie may be wasted 30. The Lady you glance at as giuing me first encouragement (g) p. 22. to write I neuer saw her nor receiued message from her nor was a pennie richer by her whilst she liued or poorer by her death who died in the Catholike faith as I expected as I haue heard a Knight though Protestāt yet of better credit then your selfe that was present with her not many houres before her death auouch though your Snarling Cerberus seemeth to barke at her ghost as if without Purgatorie it had gone to your Protestāt heauen But the short is your conscience is so tender as you blot out your owne coniectures both against the quick and dead without any care of truth or feare of sinne THE SECOND CHAPTER THAT THE BOOKES OF THE MACHABEES WHERIN Is taught our Catholike doctrine concerning Purgatory is Canonicall Scripture against the Falshood both of the Letter and Counter-snarle NOvv hauing stopped the mouth of your rayling Cerberus I may the more boldly suruey your Hell or Letter against Purgatory to feare me from the discouery of the folly and falshood wherof your Counter-snarle was written You bragge (a) pag. 27. that amongst all you wrote in an hundreth and fourteene pages I haue only a spite at one leafe which lyes in the heart of the letter Lyes in the hart Against what should truth the friēd of truth beare greater hatred specialy those lyes being grosse and inexcusable corruptions of the most learned of the auncient Fathers cōcerning a point of highest importance to wit the Canonicall Authority of the booke of Machabees where Purgatory and other pointes of Catholyke doctrine which you peremptorily deny are clearely proued If lying killeth the soule as the Holy-Ghost saith (b) Sap. 1. Os quod mentitur occidit animam your leaues that haue lyes in their heart what are they but a dead letter 2. Wherefore I will begin the examination of your letter with that leafe you tearme the hart therof Which I proued in my Treatise most false and rotten not conteyning so much as one true lyne whereof I wrote in this sort (c) Ouerthrow p. 133. And here by occasion of S. Augustine and the booke of Machabees I must giue M. Crashaw warning that in proofe of his assertion he bring not such testimonies as are the three Syr Edward Hoby alledgeth out of S. Augustine to proue that he reiected the Machabees ignorantly and impudently corrupted not by Syr Edward himselfe I cannot thinke so dishonorably of men of his calling but by his Trencher-school-maister or some mercinarie lecturer perchance euen by M. Crashaw himselfe who is great in the bookes of this credulous Knight whome they make flye hoodwinkd to catch flyes which if I pull off that he may see how they abuse him I hope he will take it in good part 3. These were my words then which shew a double falshood of your Snarler first it is false that I absolutly accused M. Crashaw as the Authour of those corruptiōs which yet you auouch (d) pag. 56. insteed of perhaps by M. Crashaw making me say yea by M. Crashaw himself for though I did as I might specially suspect him whose desire to deceaue was well knowne vnto me yet I neither did nor durst so peremptorily affirme knowing that manie others besides him may vse that coolening art Secondly you say that I tearmed you notorious falsificatour (e) pag. 32. which was farre from my thoughts and further from my pen. wherwith I did fence your head from that blow The truth is your vnsauourie Letter is so sweet to your tast◠distempered with selfe-conceipt that out of feare some ministers should lurch you you greedily put euerie sillable therof into your owne mouth though it be dressed in the sower sawce of manifest falshood rather will you be thought a false corrupter of soe graue a Father then not the true father of that false brat Had it bene any discredit to haue confessed those quotations were by some minister suggested vnto you Your valiant Writer and Deane D. Morton was he not driuen by his aduersarie to acknowledg that he had taken some corrupted testimonies of our Authours Vide his paramble to a further Encounter vpon the credit of Io. Stocke or R. C Why should that taking authoritys in grosse be thought a blemish in a Knight which was esteemed tolerable yea laudable in a Doctour Or why should you snarle at me for deuising in your defence such an honorable excuse that had you stood vnto it you might both haue layd your falshoods vpon another as that Doctour did and yet haue bene ranked as he is amongst your Protestāts famous authours the marke your ambitious penne aymed at 4. Let it be whose it please a Ministers or a Minstrells Child in the defence therof you vtter so manie new fooleries and falshoods that I make no doubt but the Reader of this my letter if those corruptions were yours will confesse that you haue greater strength of malice to beget falshood then store of witt to mantaine it You say (f) p. 27. that like a Spider-catcher I trauaise my ground with a goodly florish as if I meant with the weake Goddesses to bind Iupiter but if I bring not some Briareus to assist me it will not be long before I be out of breath This is so mystily spoken as I vnderstand it not I dare not say it is an high mysterie or a soaring Birde least you flout me with well flowen Buzzard (g) p. 21. If by Iupiter you meane your selfe and by
a mild Reply before I cast off your snarling reproaches with disdainfull silence Heerin I follow the example of the Cumaean Virgin that was guide to Aenaeas in his foresaid iourney Cui Vates horrere videns iam colla colubris She seeing that Hellish Mastiue to bristle his snakes and ready to inuade her charge to diuert his angre cast before him Melle saporatam medicatis frugibus offam A soppe seasoned with hony and medicinable herbes which sweet morsell did so appease his furie that hauing fawned on her without more adoe he layed downe his sleepy limbes to rest in his vast kennell But hauing cast your barking Cerberus into a sleepe in my first Chapter the rest of my Letter I spend in the spoyle of your Hell I meane in the confutation of the Letter full of blasphemies which some yeares since yow wrote against Purgatorie I haue reduced my discourse to foure heades wherewith I encounter the foure enemyes a Christian verity may haue and which in your Letter band against this point of Catholicke Doctrine to vvit Diuels vvho by lying Philosophers vvho by reason Hereticks vvho by Scripture Atheists vvho by iesting seeke to ouerthrovv the Truth I discouer the Falshood both of your Letter and Counter-snarle concerning the Canonicall authoritie of the bookes of Machabees vvhere the practise of praying for soules in Purgatorie is praysed I lay open the vanitie of your Logick by which you cauill at our Catholike deduction of Purgatorie from Christ his vvordes in the 12. of S. Matthew I shew the vveakenes of your Scripturall assault to defeate the perpetuall tradition of the Church standing in defence of this Doctrine By the light of miracles wherewith GOD doth and still in all ages did illustrate his Church I dissolue the smoky mysts of the Atheisticall scoffs vvhich vampe from your pen. And seeing in your Counter-snarle you will needs pluck a crow with me about the first planting of Christianity amongst the English Saxons therewith I conclude my Letter shewing that we were from Paganisme conuerted to the Catholick beliefe of Purgatorie yea that S. Gregory whome your Mynisters vse to charge to haue bene the greatest Patron of this doctrine was the chiefest Author vnder GOD of this our happy purgation from heathenish superstition So that this my Letter describing fiue Victories of Purgatorie ouer your Falshood Philosophy Heresy Atheisme Idolatry may be tearmed Purgatories Triumph ouer your hell Thus much concerning the matter and substance of my answere Ne respondeas stulto iuxta stultitiam suā Responde stulto iuxta stultitiā suam Prou. 26. v. 4. As for the manner I haue sought to ioyne two Counsells of the holy Ghost vvhich seeme contrary togeather in my Letter To answere and not to answere a foole according to his folly to make my discourse serious as the subiect therof doth require yet lend now and then a few lynes vnto the discouery of your trifles I haue follovved Pithagoras his aduise not to stabbe the fire Ignem ne fodito which from the bramble-bush of your distempered thoughts flashed yet haue I done my best to quench it not with the cold vvater of a dull denyall nor with the oyle of sinners which might increase your flame by soothing you in your errour but with that liquor you are sayd to loue vvell vvith wyne and sugar vvhich togeather with the secret influence of Loue wanteth not vertue to draw out the corruption that maketh your sores angry I haue made you a Purgatorie sallet into vvhich I haue put 5. medecinable herbes The Authoritie of the auncient Church and Fathers before Christ The word of Christ himselfe insinuating the same The Custome of the Church The warrant of Myracles The first Christianitie of our Countrey Fiue potent reasons to mooue you to imbrace the Catholike doctrine in this point and others or at least to purge some part of your prophane humors against it Into this sallet I haue povvred the oyle of charitable exhortations though sometimes I must confesse the vinager of sharper reprehension goeth mingled therwith yet not in such store as may make the same iustly displeasing to your tast The iudicious Reader that may perchance looke into this Letter vvill not wonder that your rude hammering vvith heauy reproaches on the rock of Truth togeather vvith the gentle sound of a solid Answere hath also fetched out some liuely sparkes of iust disdayne Such sparkes did fly sometymes euen from that marble Pillar as you tearme him Saint Augustine as doth appeare in his vvritings though prouoked with iniurious speaches he did as he saith endeauour as much as might be to curbe the motions of anger Fraenatis atque coercitis vanae indignationis aculeis auditori lectorique consulens non ago vt efficiar homini conuitiando superior sed errorem conuincendo salubrior l. 3. contr lit Petil. c. 1. and seeke to ouercome his aduersaries not by strong returne of iniurious reproaches to disgrace their persons but by cleare demonstration of the victorious Truth the beliefe wherof might bring them vnto eternall life This is my drift and hauing so worthy a patterne and president before my eyes I will beginne THE FIRST CHAPTER YOVR WEAKE ACCVSATIONS OF my Treatise which you traduce as respectlesse and vnlearned with iests at some phrases doctrines and histories therof ALTHOVGH your skill in Physike make you write that (a) Letter to M. T. H. pag. 10. much fasting causeth a vertigo or giddines of the braine yet could I haue wished that you had read fasting those few lines of my Treatise which cōcerne your selfe perhaps that which now you mistake as vttered to your reproach would haue seemed spoken rather in your Honour For you might haue perceaued that in my short Censure you so much repine at I did deuide the three degrees of comparision betwixt your three most cōmendable qualities Valour Learning Wit I gaue the positiue to your Valour which I did suppose was famous though not being acquainted with your particuler exploites I could not inlarge my selfe in your military praises The comparatiue I did assigne to your Pen which is better knowne vnto me and seeming to deserue precedence I termed more famous praising your curious stile which though ouer light for a graue Deuine I was willing to winke thereat thinking such a gaudy attire might beseme a courtly Writer To your Wit I did reserue the superlatiue degree whose high pitch with an allusion to your name I did expresse vnder the metaphor of a soaring Byrd Neither did my dull capacity then mark how nigh a kin to a Buzzard the soaring Byrd was I did allude vnto My conceipt which you acknowledg to be simple did without any fraud sincerly ayme at your praise If I did prefer your Wit and Learning before your Valour you haue no iust cause of offence for I praised in you those things most which are most proper to men giuing you Excellency before some men in those qualities
weake Goddesses the corruptions of S. Augustine I layd to your charge the examinatiōs of your excuses will shew that you sticke soe fast in those bryars that neither Briareus with an hundred hands can drawe nor all your Vulcans with their hatches cut you out 5. Let vs come to the particulers the first testimony which Ministers make the Knight bring to proue the Machabees not to be Canonicall is said I (a) Ouerthrow pag 233. out of the booke de Mirabilibus sacrae Scripturae which he by their direction citeth as S. Augustines though all learned men by vniforme consent discard it from that number as a booke of no account which Censure was made of this booke manie hundreth yeares before Syr Edward was borne (b) S. Tho. ◠p. q. 45. ◠3. ad 2. or his Church either whose antiquity he doth say truly the Ladies are not able to conceiue though they may easilie conceaue her noueltye seeing some Ladies may yet liue that are elder then his Church and manie are yet not very old whose parents were some yeares before Luther her first Father But as for that pretended booke of S. Augustine he that hath perused the same and can thinke it to be worthie either of the witt or learning or to sauour of the stile of that learned Father he hath I dare say more skill of trenchers then of Authours specially seeing the Authour himselfe in the fourth Chapter of his second booke doth say in expresse tearmes that he wrote the sayd booke in the yeare of our Lord 627. almost 200. yeares after that S. Augustine was dead And was not Syr Edward thinke you heere bobbed by the Bachelour or some Lecturer 6. This was my charge to which you answere with great admiratiō saying Would any (c) pag 28. man belieue that I should father that booke de mirabilibus sacrae scripturae vpon Augustine As who should say it is an incredible thing marke the force of your sentence consisting in the I which did not ouerweening blinde would perceaue his owne follie for are you indeed so singularlie learned that you can with a wet finger find out all the true works of this Father If you be soe cunning is also this your owne skill so notorious to mankind that it may seeme incredible to anie man that you should cite anie booke vnder his name which is not his Rabshacheh say you auer's that where to my eare your penne meeteth with such a iobbe as I feare your good dogge hath brokē his legge Rabshacheh auer's that Surely I was much to blame to accuse soe learned a Knight of such incredible mistaking Varius ait say you in the margent Scaurus negat you deny it a man forsooth of such credit as your bare word must be takē against the proofes of such a Varius as my selfe But let vs cōpare the sayings of your Letter Counter-snarle togeather then will it appeare who is Varius who doth varie from and contradict himselfe you or I. 7. Your letter to proue that the Machabees were Canonicall in S. Augustines iudgment saith in this sort (d) p. 60. It is not our surmise that S. Augustine seemeth to signifie so much who elswhere to wit in the booke de mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae doth plainely determinately say that they are not of the diuine Canon Thus did your Letter then sing resolutly fathering as your wordes witnesse that booke on S. Augustine Now perceiuing by my accusation that to be grosse ignorance your Snarler barketh in another tune (e) gag 29. Fynding say you that booke in their coppies ranked with those other bookes that goe vnder the title of S. Augustine loath to trouble the margent with any circumlocutiō I only noted where it might be found marke I pray you that only which is one of the things that are most disgracefull in a Knight did you only note in the margent where that booke and sentence might be found and not also auer in your text that it was plainely and determinatly S. Augustines saying Who doth not see that your two bookes snarle at ech-other that you play Scaurus in the one and Rabshacheh in the other peremptorily denying in your Snarle what you did constantly affirme in your letter This is to be Varius indeed and truly Rabshacheh which signifieth in Hebrew multùm Ebrius a man much giuen to drinke which title whether it rather agree to me then to your selfe I am content any indifferent man be Iudge that knoweth vs both 8. And not only is your Snarler forced to eate vp the wordes you spake in your Letter but you doe adde further a new vntruth that you omitted to note the ambiguitie of the author of that booke out of loathnes to trouble your margent with any circumlocution which idle excuse you likewise repeate in your answere to the third falsification (f) p. 42. that you ioyned two places of S. Augustine in one forbearing to note the place where either might be found not to be tedious forsooth to the reader with long quotations A man that hath cast his eye though but once on your booke may perceiue the vanity of this your fig-leafe wherewith you would hide this your falshood For the margent to whose purity you would seeme to beare respect you feare not to defile with hebrew Characters with vulgar sentences both Greeke and French with triuiall verses out of Cato and such childish authors with ridiculous phrases which serue only to wast ynke and blur paper If you name me your margent must also speake Numquam ego hominem magis asinum vidi (g) p. 27. If you see my pinnace a far off nec operam nec oleum sapit (h) pag. 59. You sweare vpon your life I haue beene a notorious truant in my dayes (i) pag. 58. and straight a verse redoundes on your booke side sic vos non vobis Your inkehorne hath no sooner deuised a new Erynnicall word to bestow on a libell but Virgil versifieth vpon it (k) p. 67. Quò tristis Erynnis Quò fremitus vocat You accuse me with soloecismes referring me to your latin Notation (l) pag. 11. Si ego indignus hac contumelia tu tamen indignus qui faceres which is soe heauie and leaden a loade to be layd vpon soloecismes which I neuer obiected to you that the same had reason to crie O. with which letter you marke them 9. Your owne mediocritie is named in your text the Echo thereof soundeth in the Margent to your praise Mediocria firma (m) p. 11. you say that it is art inough for you to please your selfe whome you note with a T. in the forehead as though you were an humble penitent yet in the Margent you versifie in this sort (n) pag. 39. Quem penes arbitrium est ius forma loquendi Which proud verse signifies that by T. you meane Throne where you meane to sit as M. Controuller I omit many other
of your impertinent and ridiculous Annotations these few may suffice to shew that you neuer leaue your margent white without notes but when your head is blank without matter Whence it is cleere that the cause why you did not censure the booke De Mirabilibus as the supposed issue of S. Augustine was not your loathnes to trouble your Margent with circumlocutions but either ignorance that indeed you thought that booke was his which I thinke probable or els fraude which made you vtter what you knew was false to deceaue your Reader which imputation you would haue laid vpon you rather then ignorance 10. But if one demaund of you why you did cite that booke for S. Augustines saying that it was his against your conscience and knowledg as you now confesse You answere in this manner (o) p. 29 As neere as I can remember say you I thus argued with my self If they graunt that S. Augustines penne did discard those bookes the matter wil be soone at an end if they denie that booke to be his then how will they excuse their Church that hath playd many such lewd prankes Or how will they answere antiquitie which distinguished these bookes Thus you argued with your selfe which doth argue that your false Ministers teach you to vse reseruations and equiuocations in your writings about matters of religion to deceaue your lesse-wary Readers You said in your Letter then that the booke de mirabilibus was determinatly S. Augustines which I proued apparently to be false Now you confesse that it is indeed false yea that you knew it was false euen when you wrot it but you had forsooth a reserued discourse that might make the same true to wit that that booke de mirabilibus is S. Austines or else the Church of Rome hath played manie false trickes or els how will they answere Antiquitie Is not this wicked frauduleÌ„t proceeding 11. To make the same dealing more apparent and sensible to you I will vse an example that may touch you neere Suppose I should write that a Protestant Knight in England hath children by a Black-more namely a Girle in the margent citing Syr Edw. Hoby that you proue it to be a lewd slaÌ„der accusing me of iniurious falshood against you My answere is like to yours Will any man think I fathered those children on Syr Edward Hoby indeed not knowing to whose charge I might lay them loth to trouble my margent with circumlocutions I noting the house where such a mother is found I knew Syr Edward was not the Father of those bratts but I thus argued with my selfe If he grant those children to be his the matter is at an end if he deny them then how will he answere his Protestant brethreÌ„ that accuse him of such lewd prankes Were this proceeding Syr Edward iustifiable to vtter slaunderous vntruthes which I know are false excusing them by mentall and reserued discourses I am sure you would detest this manner of dealing in me against your selfe which yet you approue in your selfe against the Church of Rome 12. Moreouer I add that your mentall reseruation which you now vtter is also false to witt that the booke de mirabilibus in our copies is placed in equall ranke with those other that goe vnder the name of S. Augustine and that it is still continued by vs amongst his goulden workes which you tearme a lewd pranke and say that none can read anie Fathers in our EditioÌ„s but he is in danger to catch a snake for an eele except he read Thomas Aquinas before Vidi Opera August à Theolog. Louaniens edita ann 1571. ex officina Plantiniâ—na This you speak which is as grosse an vntruth as the former For in out latter EditioÌ„s this book is not ranked amongst the whole bookes of S. Augustine but in an Appendix after them in a different letter with title of Anonymi cuiusdam the Treatise of a namelesse Authour In the elder Editions these bookes go printed amongst his in the same letter but with this Censure in the beginning and head therof nec stilo nec ingenio Augustinum sapit This Treatise doth neither sauour of the conceipt nor stile of S. Augustine Could the Church of Rome shew greater sinceritie then this 13. Doe you in your owne Bible ranke the Apochriphall bookes as you esteeme them Tobias Iudith Machabees with those of the diuine Scripture cheeke by ioule to vse your owne phrase both in elder and newest Editions of your Bible Do not Canonicall Scriptures excell the Apochriphall more then S. Augustine doth any other Father that liued after him Why should you tearme it a lewd pranke to coople togeather the second in the same volume which goeth for Augustines if it be a holy practise in your Church to ioyne together the first in your Bible that goeth vnder the name of Gods booke 14. Now in the custodie of these workes of Antiquitie the Church of Rome hath bene so Religious that you chaleng those Charters for your doctrine which you caÌ„not deny but haue byn for 1000. yeares at least in her only keeping If the bookes of the Ancient Fathers should be Pupills or Wards of your Church but for one age that you might vncontrolledly cut downe what trees please you not in their groundes we might afterwards haue as great difficultie to find a booke or sentence in their writings which we now plentifully alleadge for our doctrines pag. 40. as I should haue to find you IndiaÌ„ vapour if that be true as you say that it is long since flowen out of my sight yea which doth clerely iustifie the Roman Churches sinceritie the bastardlie boughes as you tearme them more then any true branches of S. Augustine make for your doctrine and now doth the booke de mirabilibus for your Hebrew Canon which is a manifest â—â—signe that these bookes were not fradulently by her ioyned with that Fathers to giue credit vnto them because they fauour her cause as you imagine 15. To conclude you are forced to grant as much as I desired to witt that the booke de mirabilibus ys not S. Augustines as you cited it but that it is altogeather impertinent to proue your intent that the Machabees are not Canonicall in his iudgment You (p) pag. 31. bragg that you haue quit your hands of the first falshood which is so true that whereas I accused you of ignorance and not of falshood not to seeme to haue writteÌ„ in ignorance you haue vttered foure falshoods First that you did not cite the sentence out of the booke de mirabilibus for S. Augustines the contrarie whereof is extant vnder your owne hand in your letter which you wish might be ingrauen in marble (q) p. 62. The second that you did not note the Authour of that booke was doubtfull out of respect to your margent fearing to trouble the same with a learned annotation which you lode euery where with all manner of impertinent stuffe Thirdly you vse
and iust Key Wherefore let your Minstrell whosoeuer he was that piped you this Key to sing and play S. Augustines doctrine vpon Lyra's ditties let him haue the reward your ridiculous excuse doth deserue to be thought Asinus ad Lyram 30. And truely this Father doth so often cleerly and peremptorily auouch the Charter of the Machabees which confirmeth Purgatory to be sacred that I wonder any man that had read his workes as you would seeme to haue done could vndertake to proue the contrary which attempt would haue no other issue then you haue brought yours vnto Shame and Contempt When he makes the Catalogue of Canonicall bookes (t) l. 2. de Doctrin Christian c. 8. doth he not ranke these with the rest That no man can thinke them by his list lesse Canonicall then the other did not this Father subscribe to the Councell of Carthage where those bookes were canonized as euen M. Crashaw doth graunt (v) Serm. p. 80. with whome I might ioyne Doctor Field Reynolds Perkins and many other Protestants (x) See the Protest Apolog. tract 1. sect 10. subdiuis 11. who yield vnto these bookes the warrāt of the Councell for their Sacred authority 31. I can but pittie you who write your learned lynes with Ministers notes before you whose lyes when they are once in your bookes you will be angrie they be not thought yours such is your assertion (z) Lett. pag. 63. opposit to your best Authors that the Councell of Carthage did not admit the Machabees into the Canon in proofe whereof you say that our owne Canus doth confesse that had they beene so ratified it had bene neyther for Gregory nor for any other to haue afterwards doubted of them Shall I tell you the plaine truth This is not the testimonie of Canus that learned Diuine but of Canis your Snarling Curre Canus hath in that place two sayings so mainely opposite to both yours as no Logitian can deuise more perfect contradiction by the rules of Art 32. First he saith expresly (a) l. 2. de loc Theol c. 9. hanc nostram conclusionem docet Concilium tertium Carthaginense This Conclusion that the Machabees are Canonicall is taught by the third Councell of Carthage which saith he though but a Prouinciall Councell was confirmed by Leo the fourth and by the Councell of Trullum This is contradictorie to your first assertion that the Councell did not admit those bookes and against your other that had they admitted them our Gregory might not haue doubted of their Authority in that very place and paragraph you cite he sayth b Id modò in dubium vocare non licet quod D. Gregorio Eusebio reliquis licuit aliquando dubitare It was lawfull for Gregorie Eusebius and others to doubt therof that being but a Prouinciall Councell but now we may not doubt therof after a Generall indubitate definition of the Church Can East be more opposite to West light vnto darknes then the sayings of Canus found in his booke vnto those you report as his Do you thinke to win creditt by your Cur that gredily licks vp all manner of foule and false stuffe from Ministers trenchers And whereas your Snarler saith (c) pag. 36. that S. Augustine granting the Iewes did not admit the Machabees held it small reason for after-Ages to intertaine them in highest esteeme I wonder if that be true you say that you can cite S. Augustine without a Prompter that you had not in promptu at your fingers end the known saying of that Father wherwith he knockes this puppie on the head not the Iewes but Church of Christ saith he libros Machabaeorum pro Canonicis habet (d) l. 18. de Ciuit. c. 36. doth intertaine the Machabees for Canonicall bookes which is the highest esteeme any writings can haue 33. The same doth S. Augustine teach in the testimony by you cited in his bookes against the Epistle of Gaudentius (e) l. 1. c. 31. which I said in my Treatise made against you His wordes are these The Iewes do not admit the booke of Machabees as they do the Law Prophetts and the Psalmes yet is it profitablie intertayned by the Church if it be read and heard soberlie These wordes sayd (f) Ouerth pag. 135. I signifie that the Christian Church admitteth these bookes as Canonicall euen as the Lawe and Prophets were Canonicall with the Iewes And though this my inference doth so displease you that you say no sober setled braine will stumble vpon such a sense (g) pag. 35. yet truly I see no reason why any man should thinke you were sober that stumble vpon such a Censure For by that testimony it appeareth that the Christians gaue that Authority to those bookes which the Iewes did not grant vnto them that the Church did set them vp in the throne from which the Synagogue had kept them which was the Imperiall throne of Sacred Authority otherwise S. Augustines opposition the Iewes did not but the Church doth were vaine For the Iewes did admit the Machabees into the number of Hagiographicall bookes which were read for edification of the People So that if the Christian Church doth admit them into higher Authorities then the Iewes that must needes be the highest of all seeing euen the Iewes did place them in the degree next the highest 34. You rage saying (h) pag. 35. that I infer S. Augustine to speake against his mynde who neuer meant that Canonicall Scripture is receaued with a Si which is necessarie to be acknowledged though it fall out by default to be Sapor mortis ad mortem But neither did I nor S. Augustine say that the bookes are receiued with a Si but that the bookes receaued are profitable to them that read them with a Si. The bookes saith he are receaued profitably if soberlie they be read So that the receauing of the bookes is absolute but the books absolutely receaued do not profit the Readers without a Si sobriè except they be read with sobrietie Had you read S. Augustines wordes with S. Augustines Si you would not so grossely haue missed the finger of his and my meaning Are not thinges most diuine and heauenlie taken without a Si very dangerous and hurtfull The most sacred Sacrament of the Altar the fountaine of grace doth not benefite the soule without a Si dignè except it be worthilie taken which wanting it is Sapor Mortis ad Mortem 35. And if when a man is vnworthie of that Celestiall food the Church may keep the same from him why may she not also keep the Scriptures translated into vulgar tongues from People whome she doth prudently thinke will not make benefit thereof Nor haue stomack to digest so strong and solid meat except it be first masticated by the Preachers mouth Why may she not examine their sufficiencie for the one as she doth their worthines for the other yet you say (i) pag. 35. that S. Augustine neuer dreamed of
such a drunken Church as ours seemes to be by eloyning the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue from common people least it should hurt thē I might wonder that you should call a Church so Ancient Famous and Catholike as the Roman is Drunken for a practice so full of wisdome and circumspection as this is did I not know that the custome of men that are tipled is when they stagger themselues to thinke that Churches and the very heauens reele about them I will not say you wrote in darke seeing you affirme that like Demosthenes you endighted by the lampe (k) pa. 62. Rather will I thinke that your single lampe doubled in your eye which happeneth to them that loue wine when they haue their Cup in their hand Vertigine caelum Ambulat geminis exurgit mensa lucernis 36. In this case perchance you were when you wrote (l) let pag. 42. that Purgatorie is backed neither by any expresse testimonie of holy Writ nor any exemplarie proofe besides Hobgoblins Rawheades Bloudybones Night-ghostes which the world many yeares since hath forgotten to belieue And againe with as litle sobrietie you say (m) let p. 79. vnto vs had it not bene for your Grand Patriarkes S. Homer S. Plato S. Virgil you would neuer haue knowne how to haue set your Compasse for the discouerie of your new-fond land Can your Church be thought sober that permitteth you to pen such staggering and staring exaggerations as these For to say nothing of S. Cyril S. Chrysostome S. Damascene S. Gregorie S. Bernard other Fathers cited for Purgatorie in that learned Treatise which you would seeme to answere whose plaine testimonies for this doctrine may seeme to haue bene Nightghosts in your way which so scarred you as you durst not come nigh them with an answere I hope your pen is not so farre past Modestie as you dare tearme the Doctors marble-pillers of Gods Church Rawheads Hobgoblins or Heathens How happie were Queene Elizabeths Ghost might she enioy the euerlasting companie of those Blessed and neuer see your Heathenish Saints Theseus Aristides Plato Hercules and others Zuinglius tom 2 pecc origin fol. 118. et in exposit fidei Christian fol. 159. whom your great Patriarke Zwinglius admitteth into your Protestant heauen 37. To omit I say this proofe by Fathers which noe learned deuine will denie to be exemplar what say you to the Machabees and the whole Church of God in those daies that did practice prayers for soules in Purgatorie Is not he a Rawhead that condēneth soe manie Saintes both before and after the cōming of Christ into Hell That dareth call that the doctrine of Diuells which is taught in bookes indighted by the holy Ghost if we beleeue S. Augustine With whom I could ioyne other Fathers noe lesse auncient then he canonizing the same bookes would the shortnesse of this Letter permit me But his testimonie may suffice alone which bringeth with it the authoritie of the Church in his dayes For how would he intertaine the Machabees wherof some Fathers doubted but vpon the warrant of the Church without whose word he doth professe that he would not beleeue any of the Ghospells (n) l. contr Epist Fundam c. 5. And seeing ancient Councells do curse and say Anathema (o) Si quis dixerit alias Scripturas praeter eas quas Ecclesia Catholica recipit in authoritate habendas anathema fit Cōcil Toletan 7. in confess fidei to any that shall belieue any booke to be Scripture besides those that ar admitted by the Catholick Church seeing also that to intertaine bookes as Canonicall which indeed are not is more daūgerous preiudiciall to the Church then to reiect those that are truly sacred this supposed who that hath any reuerēd cōceipt of this learned Father will doubt but he had for the Canon he citeth the warrant of the Catholike Church Is it not credible that some Fathers who deny these bookes were ignorant of the Churches warrant rather then S. Augustine so rash and presumptuous as to Canonize them without it For how can he be excused from great temeritie if herin he erred Yea doth he not deserue to be thought a deluder of the Church if she did not indeed intertaine those bookes which he doth constantly avouch she did From which imputation the blessed Saint was so free as euen Caluin (p) l. 3 instit c. 3 §. 10. l. 4. c. 14. §. 26. doth allow him the stile of the best and most faithfull witnesse of Antiquitie 38. You grieue and deplore your hard hap (q) Counters p. 28. that I should endight you for the least wrong done to that Marble-piller that glorious Saint that euer-admired Augustine to whose heauenly Meditations sweet sayings and learned discourses I owe say you more then halfe of my selfe Did you owe indeed to this Father one inch of your life you would not scornefully reiect his authoritie as you doe else-where saying As if our saith were to be pinned on Augustines sleeue (r) Lett. pag. 71. you would not make that the doctrine of Diuells which he did depose was written by a pen ledd by the hand of infallible Truth you would not tearme Purgatorie which you cannot deny but he taught a Satanicall Figment (ſ) Lett. 75. euacuating the Crosse of Christ 39. As for Wrong offered to this Saint none perchance euer did him greater then you haue done in your Letter writing in this manner of him (t) Lett. pag. 70. We find say you that the entyre loue of his mother Monica and other his deare friends made him somewhat too forward in this point And why may not this be one of these things of which he speaketh ad Ianuariū (u) Epist 119. c. 19. There are many things which I dare not reprooue as I would Thus you wrote where you first contradict what now you write in your Snarle calling him glorious euer-admired marble Pillar whom your former words make a wauering Reed beaten with light blastes either of feare or of affection into damnable and diabolicall errours Secondly you make him guilty of that fault which your Cato tearmeth shamefull (x) Turpe est auctori cum culpa redarguat ipsum of sharply reprehēding in others the sinne of superstitious deuotion to the dead wherein he was you say to forward himself Thirdly you offer this Saint intollerable wrong in saying that he did dislike indeed the custome of praying for the dead but durst not reproue it out of feare to (z) Propter nonnullarum vel sanctarum turbulentarū personarū scandala deuitanda offend and giue scandall For how could this his forbearance not be damnable if the custome of praying for the soules in Purgatory be iniurious to Christes blood as you say it is 40. And suppose that feare of men might diminish the sinfulnes of his omission in not reprouing so wicked a custome yet no excuse can couer his impiety in defending and
chiefest Bishops or Patriarks of the East were either Authours or their fautors This was the cause that often the Orthodoxall Bishops of Greece in defence of truth were forced to fly for succour to the Romaine as did Athanasius and Paulus the one Patriarke of Alexandria the other of Constantinople and others (h) Sozom. l. 1. c. 7. To end which dissentions by his Authority Supreme vnder God vpon Earth ouer the flock of Christ he hid procure that Councells might be called in Greece the discipline of the Church requiring that Councells meete examine the cause and punish offenders where the fault was committed Soe that the cause why those Councells were kept in Greece not in Rome was the Purity of the one neuer falling into Heresie and the infelicity of the other neuer to be without inuentours of such monsters 15. This sinceritie likewise of Doctrine as Ruffinus noteth (i) Ruffin in expositione Symboli is the cause that the Church of Rome did neuer add any word or syllable to the Creed but kept the same entyre without addition which saith he happened not in other Churches because other Churches hauing had heresies sprong vp within their owne bowells did add some wordes to the Creed to crosse and meet with such errours which the Romane neuer did nor had need to doe seeing no heresie had neuer beginning in it Thus Ruffinus wherefore seing the Roman Church caused those Councells to be held in Greece confirmed the same afterwards and their Creeds to be receaued through the whole Church who cā deny but we had those foundations of Faith more principally from the Roman then any other Church the Principall Sea from whence saith (k) l. 4. ep 8. S. Cyprian Priestly dignitie one great Pillar and Foundation of Christianity did flow Vnto which Tertullian (l) Praescr c. 31. Irenaeus (m) l. 3. c. 3. Optatus (n) l. 2. cōt Parmen Epiphanius (o) Haeres 27. S. Augustine (p) Epist 165. being vrged by Heretikes did fly as vnto the head deriving Scriptures Creeds and all other Ecclesiasticall traditions from them Wherefore I must thinke that many sick and sory feathers were in that Ministers head that caused you to call them rather Grecian then Roman Plumes though so light a word as Plumes applyed to so graue matters as Scriptures Creeds and Councells doth sauour of the leuity of your phrase 16. This leuity you shew in the prayses you giue to the Church no lesse then in the reproaches Thus you preach Who is he say (q) Lett. p. 67. you that saith not of the true Church with Augustine Non parua Ecclesiae auctoritas well doth her Modesty well doth her fidelitie deserue honorable esteeme she taketh not vpon her to controule the holy Scripture her Mother from whom she drew her first breath she openeth not her mouth till her mother hath deliuered her mynde she commeth not of her owne head with any sleeuelesse arrant Thus you discourse describing the Spouse of Christ and Mother of Christians as a mannerly young Mayd brought vp in Luthers schoole You demaund who is he that doth not say with S. Augustine Great is the authority of the Church And yet you your self are the Man who call that Authority of the Church which S. Augustine in that very sentence reuerenceth as great and venerable idle and sleeuelesse like the Butcher that called for his knife he had in his mouth These are S. Augustines wordes (r) De cura pro mortuis c. 1. We read in the Books of Machabees that Sacrifice was offered for the dead but if this were no where read in the old Scriptures yet ther is no small authoritie of the vniuersall Church which shineth in this custome Behold S. Augustine calleth Doctrines deliuered by the Church without expresse Scripture great shining which you reuile and contemne 17. Thus you contradict the saying of S. Augustine whilst you would seeme to applaud it yet is not this contradiction so witlesse as is your Assertion impious that Doctrines and Decrees of the Church not deliuered in Scriptures are sleeuelesse the perpetuall virginity of the B. Mother after her sacred birth of the Sonne of God you seeme so to beleeue that you would stop your eares against any that should dispute therof (ſ) Lett. p. 39. but where is this written in Scripture what is it but a perpetuall traditiō of Gods Church S. Augustine sayth (t) de Baptism cont Donatist l. 2. c. 7. that it cannot be clearly proued out of Scripture that Heritikes returning to the Church should not be rebaptized yet the Church hath forbidden the same Shall we tearme this prohibition sleeuelesse That these and these bookes be Canonicall and the other Apocriphall where it is taught in Scripture Now he doth not see that Scriptures are the chiefest points of our Faith contayning the fountaine and as it were principles of faith Doe but read your learned Authour Hierome Zanchius who will giue a newer tune then that your Minister piped vnto you That Authour famous in your Cōgregations teacheth (u) Tom. 4. l. 1. de lege Dei that diuers vnwritten traditions concerning doctrine and manners are in the Church which are not only profitable (x) Non solum vtiles Ecclesiae sed ferè necessariae saith he but in a manner necessary which haue their beginning from the holy Ghost which we must reuerence and obey else we contemne the Authority of the Church which is a thing saith he very displeasing vnto God how then doe you preach that the Church neuer openeth her mouth till Mother Scripture haue deliuered her mind 18. I confesse that this your Authour goeth a step backward saying that these vnwriten traditions are not of equall authoritie with the written word (z) Paris authoritatis non sunt cum verbo in sacris literis reuelato but therin he doth cleerely contradict himselfe For the Canon of the Scripture being as he confesseth an vnwritten tradition how can any thing contayned in Scripture be more certaine then some vnwritten traditions are Can any man be more certaine of a truth proued out of Scripture then he is that his proofes are indeed Scripture One may see this doth imply in termes Wherefore great cause had your Doctour Field (a) Of the Church p. 238. to grant that Papists haue good reason to equall their Traditions to the written word if they can proue any such vnwritten verities and his proofe is pregnant because not the writing giueth things their authoritie but the worth and credit of him that deliuereth them though by word and liuely voyce alone 19. Now put these two sayings of your two Doctours togeather and make an argument for traditions let Doctour Field giue the Maior vnwritten verities can they be proued are equall to the written word let Zanchius add the Minor but diuers vnwritten verities and traditions profitable and in a manner necessary for the Church both