Ecclesiasticus Wisdome into their Canon else where more theÌ„ i Deâ—…civita Dâ—…il 18. 36. contâ—… epist Gauden l. 2 once he coÌ„fesseth that they also seclude the books of the Ma chabees k In Synop. Athanasius also acknewledgeth that the books of the old TestameÌ„t are but 22. answering to the 22. Hebrew letters so saith Epiphanius in his treatise De mensuris ponderibus Hilary in his Prologe on the Psalmes hath the same Where it is to bee observed that the Iewish reckoning of these 22. bookes is some what different from that ordinary enumeration which we doe vse for they diverse times comprehende two bookes vnder one but yet so it is exactly that vvhatsoever vve containe within the compasse of the Canon they receaue the same and vvhat vvee doe reiecte they also refuse And that there is such a secluding of some bookes by the Ievves Thomas l Part 〈◊〉 qu 89 art 8 Aquinas maye bee a vvitnesse vvho maketh doubte vvhither Ecclesiasticus bee of authority or no saying The booke of Ecclesiasticus if it haue authority because among the Hebrews it is not received in the divine writingâ—… So that if vvee follovve the Church before Christ vnto whome most properly the Olde Testament did belong we must repute them as now we do Apocryphal hold their credit to be suspect Neither may this bee helped by saying that there was some later Synode vvhich made a larger Canon among the lewes â—…s m Chronog lib. 2. Genebrard would say if hee could tell what hee saide for that is a fable of his owne inventing directly crossing the Councel of Trent as formerly I haue shevved 10 Thirdly among the Christians there is much more against these writings theÌ„ there is for theÌ„ I wil briefely cite what I finde amoÌ„g some of the Ancient which may seeme to helpe theÌ„ n Lib. 3. Epist 9. ad 〈◊〉 Cyprian citeth somewhat out of Ecclesiasticus vnder the name of Salomon Truth but it is for the likenes of the sentences there to those in the Proverbes which also hath caused some other to take it for Salomons not looking exactly into the impossibility of the matter This therfore is but weake o Lib. 2. de principâ—…js OrigeÌ„ bringeth somewhat out of the story of the Machabees Wel but so he doth also in the same place ou of the Liber Pastoris which neverthelesse no wise Papist wil say to be Canonical Yet else-where he p Lib 10. c. 16 ad Rom. saith of that Hermes or Pastor that it seemed to him a very profitable booke and as he thinketh inspired from God No man therfore wil attribute much to Origens iudgement in that behalfe q Stromatâ—… Clemens Alexandrinus doth cite the story of Tobias But even so doth he meÌ„tioÌ„ the Gospel secunduÌ„ Aegypties but he nameth neither the one nor the other Canonical Yea but r De Tobia cap 1. Ambrose writiÌ„g vpoÌ„ Tobias nameth that a Prophetical book So he doth indeed that is of more force theÌ„ any yet meÌ„tioned But his iudgmeÌ„t in this is not to be warranted since s De bono mortis c. 11. else-where he citeth the fourth of Esdras as true Scripture And we are not ignorant that his skil was little or nothing in the Hebrew wherby he might best haue beene acquainted with the customes of the lewes In S. Austen I finde little concerning Tobias and Iudith onely in the enumeration s De doctr Christ. l 2 8 of the Canonical Scripture he citeth them once and there he hath the bookes of the Mâ—…chabees as also VVisedome and Ecclesiasticus which for a likely-hood to the bookes of Salomons are called as Salomons So t Serâ—… 131 de TeÌ„pore else-where according to the coâ—…on custome neere him he tearmeth Ecclesiasticus Salomons booke But deliberately he doth explicate that point where he saith u De civit Dei la 7 20. Custome hath obtained that Wisedome Ecclesiasticus should be said to be Salomons for some no small likenesse of the speech But the more learned doe not doubt that they are not his notwithstaÌ„ding the Church especially that of the West hath long agone received them into authority in the one of whom which is called the Wisdome of Salomon the passion of Christ is most openly prophecied It was written after the passion of Christ even in the daies of Caligula if Philo were the author of it TheÌ„ it is cleere by S. Austen that they were not Salomons workâ—… but yet he would haue theÌ„ to be Canonical And that he hath also in another place u Speculum Augustini The Church of our Saviour doth receive them yet the words of him immediately before are The Iewes doe reiect from the Canon the booke of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus TheÌ„ by the coÌ„fession of this renoumed maÌ„ the Iewes did repudiat theÌ„ Yea that he acknowledgeth els-where x De curo pro mort gerend c 15. The book of Ecclesiast is spokeÌ„ against out of the CanoÌ„ of the Hebrews because it is not in that And in his y Lib. 2 c. 20 RetractatioÌ„s The Iews doe not receive the booke of Wisedome into Canonicall authority Were it not then to be wished heere that S. AusteÌ„ had remeÌ„bred his own rule which is z De doctr Chr. l. 2. 8. that such bookes principally should bee esteemed Canonicall which are so accepted of al churches but of such as are in doubt that they are most to be approved whom most Churches do allow Then if the Iewish Church refused these and the Easterne Church wholy among the Christians great ones also in the Westerne provinces vpon whom he seemeth principally to rely S. Austen by his owne sentence is much oppâ—…gned and refuted And of these in the East West Church you shall heare anone 11 Touching the bookes of the Machabees as it is said before that S. Austen reckoned theÌ„ among the Canonical volumes so a De morib Cath Eccl cap. 23. elsewhere he calleth the secoÌ„d of them Scripture In his bookes b Lib. â—…8 36. Decivitate Dei he expoundeth it to be so among ChristiaÌ„s not in the lewish Synagogue Not the Iews but the Church doth account the bookes of the Machabees for Canonical by reason of the vehemeÌ„t woÌ„derful suffring of some Martyrs And yet the same father in another place speaketh muâ—…h more coldly faintly for theÌ„ c Contra secuÌ„â—… Gaudent Epist lib. 2. For the Scripture which is called the Machabees the Iews do not accouÌ„t as the Law the Prophets the Psalmes to whoÌ„ the Lord doth give testimony as to his witnesses saying It must needes bee that all thinges are fulfilled which are written concerning me in the Law in the Prophets in the Psalmes but it is received of the Church not vnprofitably if it soberly be readâ—…r beard This even by his owne extenuation carieth but smal comfort with it But
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
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
ACADEMIA OXONIENSIS THE REASONS VVHICH DOCTOVR HILL HATH BROVGHT FOR THE vpholding of Papistry which is falselie termed the Catholike Religion Vnmasked and shewed to be very weake and vpon examination most insufficient for that purpose By GEORGE ABBOT Doctor of Divinity Deane of the Cathedrall Church in VVinchester The first Part. Joh. 9. 4. The night commeth when no man can worke Jer. 51. 6. Flee out of the middes of Babylon and deliver every man his soule bee not destroyed in her iniquitie AT OXFORD Printed by JOSEPH BARNES are to be sold in Paules Church-yarde at the signe of the Crowne by Simon VVaterson 1604. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE Thomas Baron of Buckhurst Knight of the Honorable Order of the Garter L. High Treasurer of England one of the LL of his Maiesties most Honorable Privy Councell and Chauncellour of the Vniversitie of Oxford my very especiall good Lord. RIGHT Honorable it is not vnknowne vnto your Lordship that in the dayes of our late most blessed Soveraigne of famous memory some vnnaturall Englishe who as Fugitives had departed their Countrey did maliciously and slaunderously write against our stare Ecclesiasticall and Civil and oftentimes against those who governed both the one the other And albeit the pretence whereof they did make shew to the world was only the restoring of the Romane Religion yet men of deeper iudgmeÌ„t could not be ignorant that they had a purpose to prepare their credulous Scholers for a day of alteration otherwise and in the meane while to make them discontented with the present times which they ceased not to lade with al calumniations and wicked imputations whatsoever Amongst this number was and is a certaine audacious person vvho termeth himselfe Doctour Hill and being a man of no more then a competent learning but yet of a very bolde spirit hath traced the steps of other his felowes which went before him For he principally maketh shew to yeelde Reasons why Popery should be the true faith of Christ and for that purpose heapeth vp a many of weake and worne-out Arguments but toward the middle of his booke falleth into other points as if this Kingdome our Countrey were a sinke of wickednesse beyond all the nations of the earth and therefore detestable to God and good men In respect of which vnsufferable defamations it was helde most fit that this Treatise should receive an Aunswere but especially for the pointes of Papistrie broched and vrged therein which may beguile the harts of the simple or such who are not indifferently affected Having therefore at the intreaty of others vvho wishe the flourishing of true godlinesse traveiled some-vvhat in this Argument for the better setling of such as will take paines to reade or heare it now remaineth that I should recoÌ„mend the protection therof to your Honorable Lordship to whoÌ„ of right duty it appertaineth For as heere-tofore so alwaies I must acknowledge that whatsoever my poore labours can effect is due vnto your Lordship as to a special maintainer of true ReligioÌ„ a lover of our CouÌ„try a Protectour of our Vniversity an vp-holder of learning vnto me a most Honorable Patrone Almighty God evermore blesse and encrease your Honour to the good of his Church to the service of the Kings most gracious Maiestie to the great benefite of this Common-wealth From Vniversity College in Oxford Ianuar. 4. 1604. Your Lordships Chaplein much bounden GEORGE ABBOT To D. Hill as a briefe answere to his two letters prefixed before his booke AS he is not to be commended for skill at his weapon who frameth vnto himselfe a man of straw and then at his pleasure doth pricke or strike him so you are not in too high a degree to be thought well of for your knowledge in Divinity who in the entrance of your petty worke do forge vnto your selfe an Epistle put out in the name of other where-vnto you may say or not say what best fitteth your owne humour You who can be Fitz-Williams in steede of Hill are capeable of such a quality in composing of your former letter you cannot much dissemble it when you pretende your friends the two Citizens that write vnto you to be first so learned as out of a Bud. ex Cicer. Budaeus or Tully to call you Opinator vehemens and secondly so zealous as to seeke to reclaime you from your course and yet you bring them in making no mention of Christian perswasion drawn from Divinity or the word of God but only multiplying vpoÌ„ you worldly reasons of Countrey and Parents and friends preferment and other such like matters Such of our people as are grounded in Religion can readily yeeld some account b 1. Pet. 3. 15 of the hope that is in them but such as withall do make show of learning may be presumed in a matter of this nature would intersert somwhat which might savour of spirituall contemplation especially their letter being sent to one of that minde wherof throughout this treatise you shew your selfe to be But this devise of your owne seemed vnto you the most cleanly shifte that by such a c Fighting with a shaddow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you might haue some colour to divulge your rotteÌ„ ReasoÌ„s yet taking heed too that you vrge not your selfe over-hard least you might bee deemed more vnwise then some of your Popish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…selues a voluntary pennance vvill not lash themselues sorer then agreeth vvith their ovvne fancy In your Answere to this imaginary Letter you woulde haue your Reader conceiue in you a most firme resolutioÌ„ to persevere in Papistry since no Parents are so deare vnto you as the father of all fathers Which iudgment of yours were to be prized at a high rate if it were certaine and vn-questionable that you did walke aright For there is nothing in the world like the pleasing of that eâ—…e which d Psa 121. 4. Chrysâ—…m 23 〈◊〉 Gâ—…n neither slumbereth nor sleepeth and as S. Hierome could say e â—…pist 8. Tom. 9. It is better to blush before sinners vpon earth then before the holy Angels in heaven But if you mistake your walke and runne in the way of falshood in steede of the path of truth so depriue your selfe first of the company of your earthly Parents and then of the comfortable presence of that father which fitteth in heaven you resolue amisse and the issues of your race are the issues of death so that the fruit of your persistance or pertinacy rather is no lesse then truly miserable f Mat. 15. 2. When the Pharisies stood stifly for the Tradition of the Elders S. g Act 22. 4. Paule was so vehement for his old opinions that hee persecuted the way of Christ vnto the death When S. h August de mâ—…us Eccl Cath 1. 18. Austen for nine yeares space could not be reclaimed from Manicheisme they thought they had done well and verily beleeved that those their courses were
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
vnsought to procure glorie to that which was in it selfe very vnglorious Their care therefore was to convert the eies of all persons on their externall hewe which was marveilously adorned and garnished to the sence with their 〈◊〉 Crosses set vp or caried before some Prelates with the triple Crowne Praefat. Catalog Testium veritatis of their Popes the redd hattes of their Cardinals the precious attire of some in their Churches their prodigious apparel abroad the diverse-couâ—…oured coules of their Monkes such singing and chauÌ„ting with Organs such ringing of Belles such trimming of Images many more such sensible matters as that neither the Iewes nor the GeÌ„tiles had the like And amoÌ„g all this if true Religion in diverse were present it is not to bee marveiled at if she were scant seene or if no notice were takeÌ„ of her for her poore vntrimmed or vngarnished hewe for her naked simplicity and vnpainted integrity It was the commendation given to Solâ—… beloved by vvhome the Church is represented that the Ps. 45. 13. Kinges daughter is all glorious vvithin her bevvtiâ—… consisting of puritie in faith veritie in doctrine severenesse in behaviour innocencie patience and such like spirituall complementes And these are as much contemned in others by the Antichristian rabble as they are neglected in themselves vvhereas their externall pompe on the contrarie side is as much despised by the LORD as it is magnified in their fleshly and carnall imaginations And thus I ende this matter hoping that if any Reader thinke that I have beene to long in this Chapter hee will remember the waight of that which hath beene handled and a recompence shall bee made in some other Reasons following vvhere I am not enforced to the large handling of the question then occurrent THE SECOND REASON The name of Catholikes T. HILL NO man can iustly deny but that they who have ever holden the name of Catholikes and have bin knowne thereby were vndoubtedly of true Religion for that they had ever on their side the Scriptures Miracles Fathers Councels Martyrs and for that every one which was against them was ever accounted reputed for an Heretike And the same Catholikâ—… were ever taken as the trunke or as the body of the tree and all others bearing the name of Christians as branches or boughes cut of the same tree Now all the world knoweth that whoseever in any age vvas a member of the Romane Church and vnder the obedience of the high Bishop thereof hee was ever taken for a Catholike so tearmed although in these our daies it hath pleased the Protestants to call such by the name of Papists which indeede is all one with the name Catholikes for that it signifieth such as follow and embrace the doctrine of that Church which hath for her head vnder Christ the Pope And it is not amisse as Chrysostome saith to be named of them vvho governe the Homil. 33. in Acta Church in Christes steede so that they take not their name of any particular man as Heretikes dâ—…e G. ABBOT BY this little which is already passed every man may conceiue that Master Doctor Hill is desirous to write a booke for I dare not saye make one for feare of slaundering him and resolving that the ground of all his â—…ong should bee taken from Master Bristowes Motives he coulde not vvell for very shame beginne as Bristow beganne least at the very entraunce into this his renouned labour he should be deprehended to take vp the most part of his ware on trust Vsing therefore in the front some little simple cunning to goe farther of he with some change borrowed the matter of his first Chapter a Brist 37 45. Motive out of the 37. and 45. Motiue of the other but not willing to trouble himselfe any more in that painefull sorte to seeke farre of his fingers presentâ—…â—…itched to bee doing with somewhat neerer hand and therefore for the slender substance of his second Reason hee goeth fairely and readily to the b Câ—… 1. 3. first and thirde Chapter of his good Maister Bristow and scambling somewhat of his owne in from those two hee patcheth vp all the â—…est Hee hoped that the former being not so much disguised as trans-placed shoulde haue covered all which followed and if that at the first had beene clenly caryed all which commeth after woulde haue beene the safer vnder the protectâ—…on thereof There is or hath beene some what in the world which thinketh all well if the heade of it selfe bee hid although the whole body doe lye out to bee seene If you knowe not what that is 〈◊〉 imagine it to bee Caligula the Emperour vvho albeit in great thunder and lightning as c Sueton in Caligula 51 Suetonius reporteth he would wholy runne vnder his bedde for feare yet if it vvere but a little clappe or flash he would winke with his eies and hide his head alone and then he thought all his body out of perill But for this borrower vpon Interest his body lyeth open to vs searching for it and the head although both winking and hooded hath not beene hid And now take vs with you I pray you 2 Every wise one can deny and that most iustly that such as haue desired to ingrosse the name of Catholikes appropriating it to themselues and yet haue taken no farther care but titularly to be are it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 râ—… as Mâ—…ns 〈◊〉 noâ—… 〈◊〉 cannot rightly make challendge to retaine possesse the Orthodoxe faith but that the Divine Scriptures true and approved Miracles authenâ—…icall Fathers Oâ—…cumenicall Councels and Christes Martyrs may be as suâ—…e from such counterfeites as light is from darkenesse and men shall not bee Heretikes but Godâ—… good servants who vpon sufficient ground do stand against them The true Church is indeedâ—… the Lordes Vine the tree of his delight a more precious plant then anye was in Paradise but those who beare d Apoc. 3 1. a 〈◊〉 to liue yet are deade as it was said to the Angel of the Church of Sardis are to bee accounted no better then dead boughes or rotten braunches vntill they see their owne errour and there-vpon repent And all the vvorlde knovveth that vve may vse your phrase which you borrow of Master e Appendix to the quodlibets in the margent Parsons or of the Fâ—…ench 〈◊〉 le monâ—… that hovvsoever in times past vvhile Rome kept the Apostolike faith a man vâ—…ted to the same profession mighte bee called a Catholike not because simplye and absolutely hee applyed himselfe to the men of Rome but by reason that â—…ointelye and together vvith them hee accepted the Beleefe of the Vniversall Church yet novâ—… one conforming himselfe to the practise of that Cittie to the Decrees of the Popes to the Canons of the Tridentine Councell doeth meâ—… to bee tearmed a Cacolike an Heretike an enemy to the Church an adversarie of CHRIST a vassall of Antichrist But vveâ—… are contented to
question it When the Iesuites mainetaine that the Excommunication Consistorially given against her late Maiesty is a right and Papall sentence but the Seminarians their abetters avouch it to bee a matter of fact and not of faith and therefore the Pope may there in erre And is there one beleefe when you caÌ„not doctrinally agree whither the Pope or the Generall Councell be the greater When not long since m Pigh Eccles Hier. lib. 1. 2. Papists did mainetaine that the authority of the Church was aboue the Scriptures but the n Bellar. de Concil lib. 2. 12. Iesuites now deny it and the o In Gal. 2. 2. Rhemistes as moderatours cannot well tell what to make of it but in some sences rather bend to the prerogatiue of the Church And as you haue reformed many other things in Popery so is your service the same When your Breviaries or Porteises are so much altered since the time of the Councell of Trent and so many shamefull things put out which if they were impious or idolatrous your people before those daies were in a pretty pickle As Georgius Timotheus being more nasute then their predecessors did purge their p Socr. Eccles Hist. 7. 6. Arrianisme and cleared it of many the blasphemies of Arius retaining such as were more plausible so Pius the 5. cleansed the Breviary of many absurdities and helde only those things which he supposed were more defensible q Bellar de verbo Dei lib. 2. 11. In your new Missals also many texts are altered from that which was in the old Your LegeÌ„daries in former times were read in the midst of your Congregations accepted for good truth yet now you reiect your ancient books insomuch that r Motiv 5. Bristow himselfe disclaimeth vncertaine or false Miracles which they reade saith he in I know not what Legenda Aurea so contemptuously he speaketh of it and now that only must goe for currant which s De Vitiâ—… SanctoruÌ„ Surius Lippoman haue revised and allowed Nay hath the Church of Rome ever had one beleefe when the foundations of their faith in which vvill they nill they their soule and salvation must bee acknowledged to consist are and haue beene so and such among them that no man can well tell what to make or determine of them I meane the Scripture which is vnto them as a deade law and the Pope which is as the living Magistrate For first touching the Scriptures we know that with them the Latin Vulgar Edition is only authenticall and so the s Session 4. Councell of Trent hath defined it whereas the Originals of the Hebrew and Greeke which are the first and clearest fountaines are but basely esteemed by many of them insomuch that they t Prolog ad Lector ante li. 1. Esdr. who put out the Complutensian Bible say that they haue set the Latin there betweene the Greeke and Hebrew as Christ was vpon the Crosse betweene the tvvo theeves Now what can any man make of this their Latin Copy when besides the difference of it from the Originals against which we most except it is in it selfe so often altered and chopped and changed for besides the Castigations Corrections of the Lovanists and Coleinists and I cannot tell how many the Pope Sixtus 5. did cause it to be revewed 〈◊〉 professing that hee had amended very much of it he made it to be new printed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praefixa Biblijs Sixti quinti. prefixed a Bul before it testifying that he in his own person had gone through the whole Copie and iudged of it yea amended the faultes escaped in the Printers Presse with his owne hand therfore did give charge by that his ConstitutioÌ„ which was evermore to stand in force that it should never afterward bee altered or any other Copy of the Vulgar Edition bee vsed And if anâ—…e did attempte contrary to his Decree then hee shoulde incâ—…rre the displeasure of Almightie GOD and of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paule This vvas published but in the yeere 1589. and vvithin three yeeres after Anno 1592. commeth Pope Clement the 8. and vnder a coulour that his Predecessour Sixtus had inteÌ„ded torevise his Bible once againe but that hee dyed before hee could effect it hee putteth out another in many hundreds of textes differing from the former so that the diversities compared togither doe make a 〈◊〉 prettie booke and there is little more variety 〈◊〉 Bellum Papale Thomâ—… Iames. for materiall pointes betweene the translation vsed in the Church of England and the Rhemish Testament then is betweene these two And since the nexte Pope vvho succeedeth vvill thinke scorne but to have as much auctoritie as his Anteceslour it may bee chopped not onely once more but many times so that the Romish Church may bee saide to bee so farre of from Vnitie in Veritie that of certainty they have not the Scriptures vvhereon their faith must bee builte but they in former times and these in this present age have various groundes to rest themselves vpon Secondly as nowe it is with the Scriptures so it hath beene heeretofore vvith the Popes when they have had 23. severall Schismes Antipapes being erected the one against the other and those broyles sometimes continuing for scores of yeeres togither vvithout interruption so that all Christendome by partaking vvith them hath beene in an vprore and thousandes by that meanes have beene murthered Novve if it bee such an Article of faith that the Church must bee beleeved yea beleeved in and this Church is the Romane Church and is ministerially inspired by the heade and the heade is not onely like bifidus 〈◊〉 a hill vvith tvvo toppes but triplex Gerion or tricâ—…ps 〈◊〉 vvitlâ—… three partes as it was a little x Vide Câ—…cil Constantions before the Councel of Constance three Popes vsurping at one time and everie one of these doe eurse to the deepest bottome of the lovvest hell all that stande against them nay all vvho are not vvith them and in their Consistories if they bee Popes they cannot erre Will any man vvho hath his vvittes about him thinke that here is one Faith and one 〈◊〉 in the Romish Cocke-pit And especially when these Popes shall against the Antipapes proclaime Croisadoes that men are to marke themselves with the signe of the Crosse and fight against their adversaries as against Turkes Saracens and Infidels the knowne enemies of the Christian profession Heare this yee Papists blush when you mention your Vnity T. HILL BVT on the other side if you looke into the dâ—…ings of Protestants you shall see such dissensions such divisions such schisâ—…s such contraâ—…tie of opinions as the like was never among the Arrians among the Eutychians among the Donatists among the Nestorians among the Valentinians 〈◊〉 yet amâ—…ngest the most â—…arring Heretikes that ever were So as you may plainely beholde in Luther his seede the selfe same thing that the Poets faine of
do that is put vp your pipes make no more noise Yet I cannot so leave you but put you in mind coÌ„cerning Protestants Puritanes that it is probable that the Controversies which then were by your slie secret coÌ„veiances were the more forwarded at the least you Romanistes did your best by hypocrites and other your naughty instruments to coÌ„tinue them For the practise of your religion being of late nothing else but mischievous policie your Emissaries were instructed at their comming into England to sooth both sides and to commend them that so they might persist in their opinions And heere I shall open to the vvorlde some thing of your cunning vvhich is not knowne to every body There g At Rhemes Anno 1579. are certaine instructions vvhich Doctour Allen in a longe continuated speech vvhich hee dictated to his auditours and they in vvriting tooke it from his mouth did bestovve on such Priests as vvere then to bee sent from the Seminarie in Fraunce into England And these vvere to informe them hovve they should deale vvith all sortes of people to pervert them from their faith Thus therefore hee advertiseth them If you chaunce to deale vvith a Puritane you must say vnto him Truely brother for you there is more hope then of these that be Protestants because they for feare of the Prince and the lawe are ready to say and beleeve any thing and therfore me thinketh they be Atheistes but for you there is more hope being either hote or colde If you deale vvith a Protestant tell him there is more hope of him then of such rash brained Puritanes because they with Religion have put of all humanitie and civilitie vvith all other good maÌ„ners Who would not thinke that for mischievous devises this head of Allens was soone after worthy to be covered with a Cardinals hat But by the leave of our Seculars who strive to magnifie him he did not learne this of Saint Peter but rather of Sir Nicholas Machiavel a man of their good acquaintance Heere with our Seminarie Preests both Protestants and Puritanes were for a purpose honest men I would that we had cause so to repute of thâ—…se Romanists 9 Now whereas you call the faith which we professe our Parliamentary Religion you are for that tearme behoulding to diverse of your good maisters For yoâ—… chiefe schoole-master Bristow longe since bestowed that phrase on vs intituling one of his Chapters h Brist Motiv 42. The Parliament Church and Parsons vvho coulde ever readilie enlarge an vntruth i Wardword ca. 4. saith that Peter Martyr and Maister Bucer at their comming into England in King Edvvardes daies vvere conditioned vvith to teach that Religion vvhich should bee established by the Parliament approaching It is vvell confessed by him that our Realme in that Kinges enteraunce was not so weake in the knowledge of Divinity that they needed to be guided by any from beyond the seas but they themselves could search the k Ioh. 5. 3. 9 Scriptures to sifte out what vvas the truth It vvas not so happie vvith that Conventicle at Trente whereas it seemeth all the learned men were so simple that they did nothing but almost verbis concepâ—…is from Rome which gave occasion to that meriment that the holie Ghost who should have bin President of the Councel was brought from Rome in a boxe But the Religion which was then and is now established in England is drawne out of the fountaines of the word of God from the purest orders of the Primitive church which for the ordinarie exercise therof wheÌ„ it had bin collected into the booke of common Praier by the paines and labour of many learned men and of mature iudgment it was afterward confirmed by the vpper and lower house yet not so but that the most materiall points were disputed and debated in the Convocation house by men of both parties and might farther have bin discussed so long as any Popish Divine had ought reasonably to say l Holinshed An. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But there in the beginning of Q. Elizabeths raigne the Antichristian Bishops to their everlasting infamie to the perpetuall preiudice of their cause refused the disputation or conference and crying creake for sooke their cause in the plaine field knowing right well that when Popery must bee brought to the touch-stone of Gods word it will proove base and counterfeite And then it being intended to adde to Ecclesiasticall decision the corroboration of secular governemeÌ„t according to the auncient custome of this kingdome as appeareth by m An 20. 25 38. Râ—…gis Edvard 3 Record froÌ„ the time of K. Edward the 3. the Parliament which is the most honorable Court of Christendome did ratify the same That so all of all orders and degrees might be bound to serve the Lord of heaven not after their owne fancies but as himselfe had prescribed And that this heretofore hath bin the custome of good Princes to cal their Nobles and their people to ioyne with them for the establishing of Gods service every man may know who will but looke into the stories of the Bible For there it will appeere that n Iosuah 〈◊〉 2. Iojuah being olde minding as farre as in him lay to perpetuate the sincere service of the Lord to all succeeding generatioÌ„s did assemble all Israel their Elders their Heads their Iudges their Officers to give consent therto So did o 〈◊〉 Chron. 28. 1. David not onely minding to commend to all his subiects the succeeding of Salomon in the crowne after him but aboue all things pure Religion And was not this the course which Asa did take for the reforming p 2. Chron. 15 9. of those errours wherwith Gods service was intaÌ„gled when assembling all Iudah and Beniamin to Ierusalem hee did cause them by an othe of association and as in way of a stronge covenant to binde themselves to God yea and that vnder the paine of death to flie Idolatrie and to embrace true piety and devotioÌ„ The like might be saide of other Princes who were god ly And these meetings no doubt being such assemblies as our Parliament is or rather being some more generall matter hee who should have termed their conclusions a Parliamentary Religion might have bin reputed no better theÌ„ a scoffing enimy And so may you Doctor Hill be accounted and Bristow in like sorte but Persons over and aboue that may have the name of a slaunderer who can glose and invent any thing which may serve for his purpose as that is that P. Martyr and M. Bucer were indented with all to teach as the Parliament should decree implying that whatsoever it had bin they must have condescended vnto it This lying Iesuite can shew no letter no Acte of Record no testimony of semblaunce of truth to averre this his calumniation But the matter indeed was that the reformers of Religion heere intending to level all by the line of Gods word knew that those two
wemeÌ„ to attend theÌ„ as to wash their feet or their clothes notwithstaÌ„ding others do otherwise interpret the place I wil not now dispute this since al is one in respect of this perseÌ„t purpose But how say you vnto Aquila Priscilla his wife who first came togither froÌ„ Rome to l Act. 18. 〈◊〉 18. CoriÌ„th theÌ„ froÌ„ CoriÌ„th to Ephesus which were prety iourneies if you have any skil in Geography this later viage also was in S. Paules coÌ„pany who thought hiÌ„selfe not the worse that he had a vertuous woman to go a long with him And if you reade the sâ—…rie this m Verse 26. Priscilla by her knowledg in the scriptures did further the conversion of Apollos to the immediate beleeving vpon Christ. For which respects the company of other women vvho are of approved fame is not vnprofitable when men goe aboute the winning of soules since they in private and with their owne sexe may be potent And wee doubt not but many of them in their places doe God very good service his mercy accepting of their obedience and faith as well as of that in men whereof besides a thousande other this may be one argument that our blessed Saviour himselfe in his ter-sacred and immaculate affection fancying as I may say some more then other with an extraordinary humane kindnesse is reported by the Evangelist to haue loved in that sort but fowre whereof two were men two were women the disciple n Ioh. 13. 23. whom Iesus loved and Iesus o Cap. 11. 5 loved Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus Your scorne therefore against woman-kinde may be returned vpon your selues who rather loue to commit sinne cantè then in honest marriage to liue castè and there-vpon some of you like travailers do make bolde rather where you come then be at any further trouble as that p Mat. Paris in Henr. 1. Cardinall of yours did who in Englande did all the day in a Synode inveigh against the marriages of Priestes and at night vvas taken himselfe in bed with a strumpet How doe your younger youthfuller fry make bolde with their neighbours when your graue auncient Cardinals doe shewe themselues so carnall And heere I pray you take knowledge that for a little while I doe favour you T. HILL AND if by any occasion offered vnto such they goe about to plant their Gospell any vvhere they doe it in such a turbulent and 〈◊〉 manner and 〈◊〉 by Epistles after Saint Paules vse but by Pistole as Beza did as every one may see what spirite pricketh them foreward G. ABBOT 15 THat the doctrine of the Gospell shoulde by Sathans servantes bee reputed turbulent and mutinous is no newes Some saide that they founde Saint Paule a q Act. 24 5 pestilent fellovve and a moover of sedition among all the Iewes throughout the world and yet good Sir I pray you do not you beleeue that accusatioÌ„ against him And no truer is this slauÌ„derous Calumniation against vs who teach all Christian duetye to Princes and Magistrates and that for r Rom 13. 5 conscience sake But Calvine and Beza as appeareth by their writings and diverse of our English men as may bee seene to the everlasting infamie of you and yours by the letters of the Martyrs in Master Foxes great volume haue planted and watred confirmed the faith by very learned and godly Epistles imitating therein not onely Saint Paule but diverse other of the Apostles and Saint Ambrose and Saint Austen with many moe the greatest lights in the ancient Primitive Church Their bookes speake to your shame to their owne everlasting praise since as by preaching and verbal exhortation they shewed themselues instant in s 2. Tim 4. 2 season and out of season so by their writings of all sortes and among other by their Epistles they omitted no duty which might appertain to the Ministers of Christ. And this is it which maketh the Romish Synagogue so much to sâ—…arle at them But this word of Epistles as a flaze of your Rhetorike is heere put but to bring in your tale of Pistoles wherewith falsely you doe labour to defame M. Beza Campian telleth vs your meaning when hee saith s Ration 8 A notorious cut threate being full of Beza shoting off a Pistole secretly did kill that French Noble man the Duke of Guize being a Prince of admirable vertue then which fact our vvorld in our age hath seene nothing more deadely nothing more dolefull The Iesuite had quite forgot the Mossacre t Commentar Relig Reip in Gallia l 10. at Paris at Bartholomew-tide 1572. when at the mariage of a king to the daughter sister of a King so many thousands of Noble men and meaner persons assembled thither vpoÌ„ the fidelity of a king were slaine in their beddes or in their owne or their friendes lodgings That was it whereof Campian with those words should haue spokeÌ„ But his malice rather served him and fitter it was for his purpose falsly to accuse that Reverende man Theodore Beza that he had perswaded Poltrot to kill the Guize at the seege of Oreleans We allow not of the deed but vtterly condemne the fact there was never learned man of our party who defended it or excused it The malefactour also received condigne punishment for his labour Indeede the u Ibid. lib. 6. 7. Guizes after the death of their father did publikely giue out that the Admirall and one other noble man had hyred Poltrot ther-vnto and that Beza had approved the deed but when the admiral heard of it he knowing it to be a malicious slaunder did by publike writing require that according to the lawes of Iustice Poltrot who was reported to haue said so much in his torture might be kept aliue that he might come face to face to iustifie himselfe but this was denied and Poltrot in all hast was executed But when the rumour still coÌ„tinued that the Admirall was touchable with the fact he putteth forth an honorable declaration Protestation of his innocency therein which was so apparantly true that the king at Molune in Bourbon did by opeÌ„ sentence cleere him and acquite him of that vniust imputation Now the maine fact being avoided Beza proveth to bee innocent since by his most desperate enemies he was never thought to be more then an accessary by allowing it at the instance of the Admiral wheras in truth he spake not with Poltrot but was more then an hundred miles of from him And yet notwithstanding that all this is as evident as the Sunne good Doctor Hil doe you keepe the lie going and let it not die in your hands 16 But if we shall rightly scanne who they be whom an ill spirit in this case pricketh forewarde let vs remember the practise of the Papacy in this behalfe Was it not the u Ibid. li. 10. younger Guize as holy a Catholike as his Father who suborned one to shoote the
Priest of his order and he who was his Confessour that he very often had asked of God that he would do no miracles by him And that was because he wold not haue the people think too well of him And in as much as mention is heere made of Caesar Baronius I vvill adde one thing more which the said l Lib. 1. An. 1550 Cardinall delivered vpon his othe concerning the same Philip his founder for the said Baronius was one of his company and society In the yeere 1550 now more then fiftie yeeres agone Philip who in the darke of the night vvhen all men are even buried in sleepe so that the lefte hande coulde not knovve vvhat the the right hande did did vse to visite needy persons vvent in the nighte time to cary breade to a poore gentle-man Heere by the Devils meanes vvhile hee sought to avoide a carte comming hastily vppon him hee fell into a verie deepe ditch but Gods helpe beeing at hande in his falling he vvas presently caught of an Angell by the heare of the heade miraculouslye and beeing nothing hurte hee vvas returned out safe by the Angell This did Baronius who vvas not there and coulde haue it but by the reporte of Nerius svveare absolutely to bee true vvhereby vvee may easilie gesse that the same Cardinall in his vvritinges maketh no greate conscience to saye thinges true or false vvhen hee maketh no bones to svveare matters so vnlikely Hee who list to see more of the venerable miracles in Popery let him reade Henrie Stephanus in his French m Cap 39 Apologie of Herodotus and there hee shall finde diverse particulars sette dovvne Are not our Country-men and Country-women blessed when after so long light of the Gospell they chuse to feede themselues fat with legions of such wonders and holde it a high part of their profession to beleeve such things as these are We reade of some whom God doth so giue over to the spirit of delusion that they doe n 2 Thes 〈◊〉 11. beleeuelyes 17 If any heere do aske mee howe came it ever about that such foolishe and ridiculous multitudes of miracles came to bee reported and inserted into their bookes I must first ascribe it to the permission of God who had fore-tolde that so it shoulde bee Secondlye to the pollicy of Sathan vvhose kingdome by this us by a speciall meanes was inlarged Thirdly to the cunning of the Cleargy in those daies vvho made themselues great by the keeping vp of such reportes concerning the sanctitie of any of their confederacy or of such whose reliques they pretended to haue and gained infinitely by the offeringes done in places of these wonders And fourthly to the credulity of the people who would beleeve any thing once set abroach by some suborned for the purpose or by idle companions Gulielmus Neubringensis was a writer very learned and iudicious for that time wherein hee lived And in his storie hee did more then once relate the abuse of that age for spreading abroade the fames of miracles o Neubringens l 3 7. Henry the eldest sonne of King Henry the second of England vvho was in his fathers life time crowned King but dyed before his father was every where by the people reported to have wrought great miracles after his death vvhereas in truth he was an vnadvised and rebellious younge Prince This shevveth hovve apte the people were to intertaine a conceite of any mans doing miracles yea so farre that if they might haue their willes they shoulde soone have beene shrined for Saints Aftervvard p Lib 4 9 there vvas a greate robber vvho beeing slaine it vvas given out of many olde vvomen that hee frequentlye did miracles as if hee had beene some holye person and this rumour grewe so stronge and was so generally spredde that the Bishop was enforced to come to Hampton there display the falshood of the whole narration so that then the superstition was ended Hee q Lib 5 19 mentioneth also a third matter of this kinde that a traiterous fellow of London called VVilliam with the longe bearde vvas also reputed a Saint and a maine doâ—… of of miracles Can vvee have any plainer certificate then this that by the superstition and credulousnesse of the vulgar sort many vvonders were saide to bee done vvhen in truth there vvas no such matter And if for their commodities sake any of the Cleargie would ioyne and giue countenance to the matter the party so grovvne to be a Saint and the fame of his vvonders shoulde never bee extinguished The reader may by these fewe take a tast of the rest of their Saintes and miracles for thousandes vvere done no othervvise then in this sorte and everie man had not the vvitte to see the fraude nor that couragâ—… to reporte it as Neubringensis had And vvhat levvdenesse may wee imagine vvas practised amonge simple people in those darke dayes of Popery vvhen in so glorious a sunne-shine of the Gospell any Seminarians shoulde dare in England to attempte such a practise as Father VVeston the lesuite and Declâ—…ration of Popish impostures practâ—…sed by Edm. no lesse then a vvhole douzen of Priestes conspiring vvith him did of late for some yeeres togither put themselues into They persvvaded some men and three maydens that they vvere possessed vvith the Devill and that they by their Priest-exorcizing faculties could fetch him in out vp and downe at their pleasure They had a holy chaire to set their abused Disciples in and a holy potion to administer to them both matters pretended to be formidable to the foule spirits but indeed trickes to cast their patients into straunge fits that so they might seeme as wel to themselues as others standing by to be possessed in most hideous manner And this was so artificially carried by the Iesuit and his fellowe Iuglers that diverse hundreds of vnstable and vnadvised people being cousened and cunny-catched by their impostures were contented to bee reconciled to the Church of Rome being wonne there vnto by their stupendious miracles A booke also or two was penned to be spread abroade beyond the seas of the admirable dominering of these Priests over the possessing spirits and of the wonders which they had done vppon them Notwithstanding now by the confessions of three of the females one man al which then were the pretended possessed persons of another theÌ„ a Priest a personal actour in this exploit all these five being sworne speaking vpon oth it is manifestly and vndoubtedly discovered to be most egregious insignious illustrious both varletry vilainy that among meÌ„ professing religion devotioÌ„ was ever heard A man may wel suppose that the casting out of Devils and doing of other wonders in India farre countries by the Iesuites and Priestes is a true honest holy matter when such vnspeakeable vndescribable hypocrites do dare before such multitudes of theselues conscious of their own fraud before such troupes of staÌ„ders by
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
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
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.
others his consorts to haue done either vsurpingly or vniustly So that very true it is that the Greekes do not allow the eighth Synode not the other which followed and were held in the west by the meanes of the Romane Bishop with out their indifferent concurrence 11 What you cite in the name of the Lutheranes out of the Magdeburgenses is acknowledged and consented vnto by vs. In the eighth 〈◊〉 cent 8. 9 Century they among other Provincial meetings speaking of the confluence at Nice which is commonly called the second Nicene Councell in the setting downe thereof doe not dissemble their opinioÌ„ that is their dislike vnto it And what Christian man is there rightly advised which hath read the o Exod. 20. second commandement concerning Images who doth not both dislike and detest that Conventicle for decreeing both erection and adoration of Images in Churches In the like sorte in the ninth p cent 9. 9 Century the compilers of it do shew themselues not wel affected to that which you call the eighth Generall Councell they haue no smal reason for it For besides the allegations of the Greekes against it which even now is specified and besides the matter of it which I will not stand to discusse there was a foule attempt at the very entrance into it The Pope of Rome had so farre prevailed that he had there his Agents who stoode at the Councell dore with writing tables profering them to all who would enter there and requiring that they first should subscribe to the Iutisdiction and transcendent authority of the Romane Bishop To which Such as yeelded did enter in and those who refused were not only repelled but it was done with much reproach and disgrace vnto them A fit course to make a free Synode And of this sort either directly or indirectly haue all the Popes Councels bin You tel vs that some Eutychians be in Asia and Nestorians be in the East whereas indeed Asia is in the East but countrey in particular you name vs none nor authour you cite vs none I haue heard indeed of Marchantes who haue travailed in those parts that at this day there is at Aleppo a CoÌ„gregation of Nestorians and likely it is that in the country therabout or farther of in Armenia there may be more Neither is it vnlikely but that some also may embrace the old heresie of Eutyches in those parts In as much then as Nestorius was condemned in the third General q Socn 7. 33 Evagr. 1. 4. CouÌ„cel at Ephesus it is probable that his folowers wil refuse that Synode consequently all coÌ„ming after ratifying that so they must only accept the 2. formost And since Eutyches Dioscorus were coÌ„deÌ„ned in the 4. r Evagr. 2. 4 CouÌ„cel at ChalcedoÌ„ it is most credible that if there now be any who haue coÌ„tinued or revived their daÌ„nable heresies they wil not approue that of Chalcedon but only such as went before it What such in Polonia Hungary do as speake against the Trinity therefore are rather to be called Antitrinitarij then Trinitaries â—…it mattereth not to vs. We disclaime theÌ„ we abominate theÌ„ we execrate theÌ„ as we do the Eutychians Nestorians al other heretiks Neither do we ioine with the Greekes in all things as you know although some of their doctrins we prefer before those of the Church of Rome And therefore most ridiculously vnfittingly do you close vp your Chapter Behold the liberty of your Gospell when here are none named the Lutheranes excepted vvith whom we haue ought to do And for our liberty in the Gospel of reiecting such vnwarraÌ„table stuffe as Image-worshipping TraÌ„substantiatioÌ„ the like maintained by your heretical meetings we learne it of s Gal â—…8 9 S. Paul who hath taught vs not only that if a maÌ„ but if an Angel froÌ„ heaveÌ„ bring any other doctrin theÌ„ is in gods word let him be accursed And we being sufficieÌ„tly informed by Gods word that we are not to be inthralled to the beggerly s Colos 2 20 traditioÌ„s of meÌ„ do purpose by the assistance of the Lords heavenly grace to t Galat. 5 1. stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made vs free VVee accept therefore of this Christian freedome but Libertine-like licentiousnesse vvee leaue vnto you And so for a litle while I dismisse you with this remembrance that what you say of the CouÌ„cels accepted or excepted against by the Greeks the Lutheranes the Eutychians the Nestorians and the Trinitarians both for the matter and quotations you borrow froÌ„ Cardinall a Coacil l. 1. cap 5. Bellarmine 12 TO notifie then the iudgement of our Church concerning CouÌ„cels certainly we do hold them being rightly lawfully assembled proceeded in to be great blessings froÌ„ God notable meanes to remoue schismes to extirpate heresies Thus we are taught by the example of the Apostles 〈◊〉 coÌ„gregating 〈◊〉 Act. 15 6. theÌ„selues togither and by the fruite which some such meetings had in the Primitiue Church Yea we do like of that sentence of blessed Constantine after the Nicene Councel who 〈◊〉 said that the decree of keeping Easter by al vniformly and not 〈◊〉 Euseb de vita Const lib 3 18 by some after the fashion of the Iews was to be imbraced at the gift of God as if it had bin a coÌ„mandement sent downe from heaven For saith hee whatsoever is decreed in the holy Councels of Bishops that all ought to be attributed to the will of God Marke hee saith not generally in the Councels of Bishops nor in the CouÌ„cels of holy Bishops for even such may erre but in the holy Councels of Bishops that is in such as wherin men do holily conforme theÌ„selues vnto the Scripture of truth go no farther theÌ„ God is their guid Such as come without humane preiudice are zealous of truth earnest in praier for it diligent in searching it out huÌ„ble to yeeld conforme theÌ„selues to it Such were the first general CouÌ„cels where men did look to the load-star of the word therefore they are accepted of vs. Yet so that we do not esteeme theÌ„ as the sacred Oracles of God equivalent to the Scripture or of equal authentical force but as the definitions of Godly men out of the word so that they giue no vertue to the old new Test. but take al that which CouÌ„cels haue froÌ„ them therfore as takers and not givers are inferior to them We do therefore hold that speech of Gregory to be hyperbolically vttered not litterally iustifiable I x Greg li 1 Epistol 24. confesse that I doe receiue reverence as the foure books of the Gospell so the foure Councels And again And y Li 2 Epist 49. wee doe so receiue the foure Synodes of the holye Universall Church as the foure bookes of the holy Gospell If it be flatly and directly taken it is a hard and
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
Such small affinity had and haue your late monkes with those of whom we read among the old writers But for absurdities of doctrin especially in commending themselues they go beyond all those of auncient times as I will instaunce in the Franciscanes who maintaine these points which yet are disliked by some other Papists and by some other excused or defended I will cite them out of a great Papist and a Capuchine Frier Gregory of Naples 〈◊〉 That the rule of S. Francis is that life of Iesus Christ which himselfe observed in this world imposed on his In libris corrigeÌ„dis Apostles to keepe and caused to be written in the Gospels and that whosoever doe contradict this rule of S. Francis do contradict or impugne the Gospel of Christ and if they persevere in it are heretikes That S. Frauncis is the Angell of whom it is said in the Apocalyps I saw another Angell having the seale of the living God That no man can bee damned who weareth the habite of S. Francis that is to say saith this favourable interpreter who togither with the habite beareth workes appertaining to salvation That once a yeare S. Francis descendeth to Purgatory and draweth out from thence their soules who living were of his order and leadeth them to Paradise that is saith the interpreter Capuchine he goeth not actually in his owne person but by his vertue in as much as hee intreateth the Maiestye of God for his brethren Gods clemency giveth him pardon for some souls That the order of S. Francis shal endure for ever Thus they teach their Novices bring vp their Friers and preach vnto the people There must needs be much vertue goodnes and mortification where they speake so hypocritically for themselues so basely or blasphemously for Christ our Saviour T. HILL AND generally vvhereas the Doctrine of the auncient Fathers is cleane contrary to the Doctrine of Protestants no marveile though they be reiected by them as they ever haue beene of Heretikes And although Iewell in his Sermon at Pauls Crosse most impudently challenged the Catholikes to bring any thing for certaine points of their Religion out of the Doctours of the first sixe hundred yeares yet Laurence Humfrey Humfridus in vita lew â—…lli his puâ—… fellow confessed that he gaue granted to the Papists more then was meete and was to himselfe iniurious c. and so hee confessed against his companion that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church were on the Papists side and consequently not on theirs G. ABBOT 22 THis may be put in the Catalogue of your TranscendeÌ„t vntruthes which keepe within no compasse in which behalfe you are inferiour to no Papist that hath wrote without a vizarde Your generally here standeth in steede of your olde and auncient All so much frequented by you Then the Doctrine of the auncient Fathers is not only contrary but cleane contrary to the doctrine of Protestants Or else you caÌ„not tell For if you were well opposed I feare that scholer-like you haue read over but a fewe of those Fathers and that causeth you to give both so bold so blind a sentence But it is inough for men no deeper in Popery then you are to know the names of some of the Fathers but for their iudgment coÌ„cerning theÌ„ to take that vp by tradition from their Superiours or Readers who vpoÌ„ ignoraÌ„ce or malice speake what they list You cite sometimes the MagdeburgeÌ„ses And caÌ„not you in those Centuries of yeeres wherin the old Doctors lived find the Magdeburgenses citing some of the Fathers vvho in all questioned points of religioÌ„ speake for vs oppugne your Papistry Neither can you find this in any other Protestant that we want not the auncients to take our part Hath Peter Martyr no such thing in all his works nor Chemnitius nor Calvin or Bishop Iewel whoÌ„ anoÌ„e you name or that x D HuÌ„frey worthy maÌ„ who wrote his life or Bucer or M. Nowel Is S. Cyprian yours in the matter of the Primacy when he doth not only call y Epistol 3 Cornelius the Romane Bishop by the appellatioÌ„ of brother not of Lord nor superiour but in direct termes cutteth the cable whervnto the anker of supremacy is tied Thus he hath z De simplicitat praelatoruÌ„ Although after his resurrectioÌ„ he giveth equal power to al his Apostles saith As my father sent mee c. yet that he might manifest an vnity he disposed by his owne authority the originall of vnity beginning of one That in sooth were the rest of the Apostles which Peter was endued with the like felowship both of honor power but the beginning commeth froÌ„ an vnity that the Church may bee shewed to be one Yea doth your owne Romane Bishoppe Gregory herein ioine with you That I may not stand any longer on particulars but referre questioÌ„s to their places where you give occasioÌ„ to haÌ„dle theÌ„ I say but this in breefe is there any ancieÌ„t Father Greeke or Latin who ever taught as you teach coÌ„cerning the admissioÌ„ Divinar Instit. lib. 2 19 adoratioÌ„ of images which Lactantius so oppugneth as y e be saith that 〈◊〉 there is no doubt but there is no religioÌ„ whersoever is simulachruÌ„ animage which is to be vnderstood if it be retained to a religious vse b In Epist ad Ioan. Episcop Hierosolomitaâ—… Epiphanius going through a Church where was a veile hanging which had in it the picture of Christ or of some Saint tore it as being in the church coÌ„trary to the Scriptures and wheÌ„ he had done of his own charge seÌ„t thither another veile Nay c Lib 7 Epist 109. Gregory himself although he could like that images shold be in churches to be as books to the ignoraÌ„t yet he would not endure that they shold be adored For this point theÌ„ I could wish you y e after your presuÌ„ptuous definitioÌ„ as Claud the Emperour of whoÌ„ d De morte Claudâ—… Seneca merily could say that he was such a Iudge as could determine a cause hearing but one party speake sometimes neither you would doe that which it may bee feared you haue not done before that is fall to reading of the Fathers many times you shal meete w t that which caÌ„not chuse but gawle you drive you to Bellarmines sophisticatioÌ„s not to yeeld to a truth but to see how you caÌ„ cavil against it What you say here against Bishop Iewel that revereÌ„d maÌ„ one of the hartbreakers of your Popery e Ration 5 CaÌ„piaÌ„ had before you where by D. Whitaker it received his answere And before him f Motiv 14â—… Bristow had it who was also answered by D. Fulke yet so oft as you stil cite it so oft must we refute it Truth the it is that the excellent servant of God M. g Laur Humâ—…d in vita Iuel Iewel not impudeÌ„tly but ChristiaÌ„ly vpoÌ„ great deliberatioÌ„ advise did chaleÌ„ge any
English Papist to shew out of the Fathers of the first sixe hundred yeeres diverse pointes of Popery as their private Masse or that the cōmuniō was administred but in one kind or that publike praiers were saide in a language not vnderstood or that the Pope was called the vniversal Bishop or the head of the church or that mē were taught this faith that the body of Christ was contained in the Sacrament substantially really corporally carnally or that Christes body was at once in a thousand places or that there was elevatiō adoratiō of the Eucharist diverse such other matters which the Bishop did constantly deny not to be knowen or taught in those times of the first Church The substance of this h An. 1560 Sermon made at Paules Crosse did D. Humfrey rehearse writing the life of the saide M. Iewel and afterward interserting his ovvne iudgement concerning many matters in difference hee groweth to this head that the onely exacte way of reformation of abuses of determination of truth is the vvorde of GOD that it alone is to bee made the iudge Vppon vvhich insisting hee inferreth that therefore Maister Iewell gaue too much and yeelded to the Papistes more then equity and was too iniurious to himselfe when hee tooke not the surer easier shorter course of triall by the Scriptures alone but gaue larger scope of expatiating into the Councels Fathers But most absurdly is your Popish conclusion gathered out of this that therfore D. Humfrey knew or confessed that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church were against vs and him You should rather haue inferred thus much that D. Humfrey thought that M. Iewell had a sure matter in hand when needing to referre all but to the Scriptures he appealed also to the Fathers that both by the witnesse of God and man he might avouch his assertions In case of triall for land we know that authentical writings and evidences are the best and most absolute meanes of deciding right but if he who oweth and possesseth the writings knowing the integritie of his cause shall not refuse also to haue his quarrell tried by the testimonies of indifferēt mē in the coūtrey he hath departed so much from his owne right and done more then he need to do If then his friend shoulde say that therein hee hath yeelded to more then meete and did himselfe a wrong by it by yeelding his adversary many exceptions wheras he might haue tyed him onely to one should not a stander by make an absurd collectiō if he should gather vpon this that the litigants friend savv well that the witnesse of the Countrey would goe against him And especially when he whom it most concerneth shall by the testimony of those to whom he appealed make good all his asseverations This was the Bishops case and no otherwise then thus was it reported by the Venerable Doctour And albeit this may appeare to bee thus to every one who will read the narration yet because Bristow Campian and you take it all one from another and other may yet take it farther your people be still abused as if so learned a man as D. Humfrey had both disliked M. Iewels words and given sentence touching the Fathers against vs for the farther satisfaction of the Reader I desire these thinges to be marked First that Doctour Humfrey in that booke concerning M. Iewell as also in his i Secund pars Iesuitis other against Campian doth frequently cite the old Fathers for vs in all questions of difference that occurre Ergo he doth not thinke that the Doctors are all on the Papists side and not on the Protestants Secondly that in'all his Lectures Disputations and Sermons he was most copious in citing and alleaging the ol◅ Fathers to confirme our doctrine and to enervate Papistry as not only we may remember who often heard him but divers of our Fugitiues now beyond the Seas who were of his time in this Vniversity Thirdly to this particular that in the very k Fol. 124 place where he speaketh of the Bishops challenge he putteth these wordes before And here is necessarily to be repeated that Protestation or denunciation which was heard out of this place of Paules Crosse which our adversaries doe calumniate to bee vaine and frivolow which notwithstanding they will not deny to be true who are of the better sort of wit and of more excellent learning Can a man speake plainer then the Doctour doth here iustifying that to be true which the Bishop said and calling the adversaries exception to the Challenge a calumniation Fourthly that in the l Fol. 212 place where he saith that M. Iewell yeelded too much when he went to farther triall then the Bible he subioineth this Which he did not willingly but yet he did it not besides the purpose that he might s◅ay you with the testimonie of your Fathers as with your owne sword He calleth the Fathers yours not because he thought them so to be but as Ironically because you bragge of them as if they vvere yours Thus doeth the vanity of this slaunderous cavill appeare to every one who will not wilfully close his eies against truth then for all this forged obiection the Fathers shall as wel be ours as yours T. HILL ANdyet because they haue found by experience that to teach Doctrine contrary to the anciant Fathers soundeth but badly in the peoples eares in their Sermons they gladly nowe and then alleage the authoritie of some Doctour or Father when they can by any meanes wringe or wrest any p◅ece of a sentence so as it may seeme to make for them And indeed he who alleadgeth the Doctours most is most praised of the audience as you well know which is a pittifull thing in them and ridiculous in the Preacher who cānot but know if he haue read any of them himselfe that the Fathers detest vtterly that Doctrine which he wresteth them to confirme and in the meane time the poore audience thinketh that they were of this new Religion whose simplicity is therein most pitifully abused by the Preacher G. ABBOT 23 YOur hatred to the Gospell maketh you easily giue sinister interpretations to our actions We mencion the Fathers in our Sermons to shew that our expositions of Scripture are not singular and m 2. Pet. 1. 20 private interpretations but such as were received in the Primitiue Church to convince the Antichristian enemy who like Iack Bragger boasteth of antiquity when in comparison of Gods booke his beliefe is nothing else but noveltie It is not because wee woulde blinde the eies of the people or stoppe their eares since as you say to teach doctrine contrary to those Auncients soundeth ill for if there be iust cause we plainly and evidently shew where we dissent from them Which wee doe being warranted by the word of God which n Galat 1 8 teacheth vs that if an Angell come from heaven and preach otherwise then the Apostles haue preached
we should hold him accursed And incited there vnto by some of the Fathers themselues in open wordes by other in their Orthodoxe meaning For what Father woulde dare to thinke that his speeches shoulde over-rule the Scripture As for wringing and wresting and straining we detest it Gods truth needeth not to be vpheld by vntruthes We leaue that to the masons of the Popes part who had need vse such supporters to vnder-proppe the rotten and dayly falling ruines of their Antichristian kingdome Now whereas you tell vs that he is most praised of the Auditory who most alleageth the Doctors you had need to help your selfe with more then one distinctiō For among sober wise hearers it is wel accepted when the Fathers are cited to good purpose orderly but some other there be who thinke themselues no meane folkes which on a humorousnesse and because their Preachers are ignorant that way they I meane those ignorant Pastours haue taught them so like not to heare them quoted in the Pulpit Againe the wisest congregation doth not approue of the preposterous vsing of them as vvhen they are cited frequently and yet onely in Latine or Greeke and not Englished to the edification of the people vvhich Saint o 1. Cor. 14. 26. Paule vvoulde ever have aimed at Or vvhen they are hudled one vppon anothers necke vvithout cause Or vvhen they are multiplyed rather for ambition then vppon desire of fruite or vtility You might have considered vppon these thinges but you vvith the Crocodile or Hyena fall rather to a counterfeite commiseration that it is a pityfull thinge that the people shoulde bee made beleeve that the Doctours vvere of the same opinion that vvee are in religion You may doe well to taxe those men who in their Sermons have abused or perverted the sentences of those grave and learned personages Of the two you should rather pity your Papisticall Congregations vvhich are little troubled vvith Scriptures or Doctours but vvith such miracles and fabulous Legendes as your Friers doe lay before them and nothing else So are they turned to puddle waters in steede of the cleere streaming fountaine of the vvater of life That our Preachers who have reade any of the Fathers themselves doe know that they make against that vvhich they preache is an idle suspicious surmise of your owne and nothing else but a falling backe by a Nugatio to that vvhich you formerly have spoken It is one of the highest breaches of conscience for a man standing in the place of God to speake to the people there to vrge that vvhich in his ovvne harte hee knoweth contrary to truth This is inough for Bellarmine and such desperate wretches vvho for a Cardinals hat or some other expectation have solde themselves and their soules to their LORD God the Pope and his LORD God the Devill 24 I haue all this time traced the steppes of a bolde and malicious adversary but now I rather apply my pen to give satisfaction to the doubtfull Reader concerning this maine question Our Popishe writers speake in grosse of the Fathers but what themselves in speciall determine of them they dare not open So much paines therefore ◅s is expedient I purpose to take for them First then I aske them vvill they haue vs accept of all thinges which these learned Doctors haue taught Graunt this and then many bee the heresies vvhich wee must maintaine hovve many were there of them vvhich imagined that the godly after the resurrection should raigne on the earth and that but for the space of a thousand yeeres in all worldly felicity which is the errour of the Chiliasts or Millenary heretikes So dreamed Irenaeus and is taxed for it by p Eccl. Hist. lib 3 33 Eusebius In this conceite also was Tertullian drenched as appeereth by his disputation against q Lib. 3. Marcion VVith the same also vvas Iustinus Martyr tainted as is evident by his Dialoge with Tryphon the Iewe. Yea this opinion descended so lowe that Lactantius vvho lived in the daies of Constantine the Greate vvas not r Divin Iustit l. 7 14◅ free from it Doth not Eusebius s Eccl. Hist lib 6. 11. note it concerning Clemens Alexandrinus that hee doth much comment vpon Apocryphal matters as if they were Scripture How many were the heresies of Tertullian while in all his later workes he raveth vpon the Paraclete of Montanus to the which fantasticall opinion hee was most grossely vvedded One vvhile he thinketh that s Tertul. de Monogamia second mariages are altogither vnlawfull in the Church Another while he frameth a t De ◅uga in persecutione booke that it is not lawful for any Christian to flie at all in the heate of persecution Saint u Epist 157 Austen observeth truly of him that hee contended that the soules of men were not spirits but bodies that they haue their original of bodily seedes Yea so farre he went awry that u Contr. Helvidium Hierome saith of him plainely Of Tertullian I say nothing more but that hee was not a man of the Church VVith him I ioyne Origene who continually almost in his commentaries on the old Testament doth not only by Allegories pervert the literal sence of the stories but sometimes in expresse termes saith that x In Exod. Hom. 1 2 6 in the literal meaning the narration cānot be true which is an exceeding iniury to the Spirit of God Another while he will have the y De Principij l. 3. 6. Devill all the Reprobates albeit they suffer hel torments for a space yet at the last to be saved which doctrine z In ◅on 3 Hierome doth most iustly perstringe howsoever in another treatise he give him his due commēdation for some matters saying a Libr N◅min Hebraicor No man but hee vvho is ignoraunt doth denye that Origene after the Apostles vvas a maister of the Church But for that opinion b Lib 2 Ex pol. in 1 Regum Gregory did not suffer him to goe vvithout his censure Origene saith hee vvhile hee would see without the word of the Lord the Lord appeering hee savve the cloude inordinately because hee vvas afraid at the appeering of the fire For while denying the very least iustice of God he did proclaime his clemency to bee more then needed hee affirmed that hee woulde not onely spare condemned men but also one daye hee woulde deliver the reprobate Angels from everlasting punishment Another of c Commēt super lohannem Origens fancyes vvas that Christ did dye not to redeeme men onely but the starres of heaven He who would see more of his errours may reade d In Ancorat◅ Epiphanius where he passeth not without his taxe but especially let him looke e Lib 1 Theophilus Alexandrinus where his heresies are cited out of his owne works there he hath the severest sētence that may be pronoūced vpō him which is only in Gods hād to give Caesarius