A PERSWASION to the English Recusants to Reconcile themselues to the Church of England Written for the better satisfaction of those which be ignorant By Iohn Doue Doctor of Diuinitie PSAL. 72. Giue thy iudgement to the King O God and thy righteousnes to the Kings sonne 1. PET. 2. Feare God Honour the King Printed at London by V. S. for Cuthbert Burby dvvelling in Paules church-yard at the signe of the To the most High and Mighty Prince IAMES by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defendour of the Faith GRatious and dread Soueraigne I say the truth I lie not my conscience bearing me witnes in the Holy-ghost that I haue with the Apostle great heauinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart for many of my brethren and Country-men And my hearty desire and prayer for them to God is that they may be saued For I beare them recorde that they haue the zeale of God though not according to knowledge which is the onely cause that mooued me to write this short Treatise And because God of his great goodnesse hath vouchsafed your tender yeeres the education of TIMOTHIE and indued your Highnesse since your happy gouernement with princely gifts knowledge to discerne truth and zeale to maintaine truth I humbly present vnto your Maiestie these few lines containing a subiect of so great importance The common voyce and hope of your best affected people is that your Highnesse hath a religious intent to make God yet better knowne in IVDA and his name yet greater in HIERVSALEM to bring all these your Kingdomes to the acknowledgement and profession of one truth so that hereafter HIERVSALEM may be as a walled towne and fenced citty which is at vnitie within it selfe and as it was in the dayes of the IVDGES all ISRAEL may be gathered together as one man from DAN to BEERSHEBA vnto the Lord in MISHPAH The Lord guide and prosper you in all your wayes the Lord establish your house and kingdome the Lord blesse you out of SION that you may see the wealth of HIERVSALEM all the dayes of your life that you may see your Childrens Children and peace in SION Your Maiesties humble Subiect IOHN DOVE ¶ A Perswasion to the English Recu sants to reconcile themselues to the Church of England CHAP. I. It is not enough for them to pray priuatly but it is also required that they ioyne in prayer with the Congregation ALthough the prayers of the faithfull are heard if they be faithfully made in what places soeuer because our Sauiour saith Matthew 7 Whosoeuer asketh he shall receiue and therefore not the Publican onely was Luke 18 2. Reg. 20 heard in the Temple but also King Ezekias in his Chamber Elias vnder the Iuniper tree Ionas in the bottome of the Sea Manasses in the prison Yet the Church is a place more especially Iona 2 oratio Manassis Matth 21. appoynted for prayer it is called the house of prayer and God is more peculiarly present in that house than in all other houses Of the Temple we reade that Gods eyes were open towards that house night and day his name was especially 1. Reg. 8 there he harkened to the prayers of his Seruants which stretched foorth their handes in that place and of them which were in captiuitie if they turned towardes that house which was built for his name A greater promise is made to the prayers of many vnited together than of one and a more fauourable presence of Christ amongst them which make their ioynt petition insomuch that when a congregation is ioyned together in his Matth 18 name he will be in the midst of them and if they agree in earth vpon any thing whatsoeuer they shall desire it shall be giuen of his Father which is in heauen If we lay before our eyes the Stories of the Bible the exercise 2. Ezra 8 of the godly was such In the dayes of Ezra the Scribe it was so All the people assembled themselues together hee brought the booke of the Law of Moses before the assembly of men and women and all that could heare and vnderstand he read from morning vntill mid-day vnto them the eares of all the people harkened to the booke of the Law he preached to them out of a woodden Pulpit he praised the Lord the great God and al the people answered AMEN AMEN with lifting vp their hands and they bowed themselues and worshipped the Lorde with their faces towards the ground In the newe Testament their maner was to meete together on the Saboth day to ioyne in prayer and to heare the word preached and to receiue the sacraments In the Acts of the Apostles at Antiochia was maintained Act. 14 a Lecture of the Law and the Prophets Saint Paul deliuered words of exhortation there after the Lecture and they besought him to preach to them the same sermon againe the next Saboth Saint Paul and his company being at Philippi on the Saboth Act. 17 day went out of the Citty by a riuer where they were accustomed to pray there he preached and conuerted Lydia And no doubt but if our Recusants would heare our Sermons many of them also would be conuerted Vpon the Lords day at Troas the Act. 20 disciples were gathered together to break bread a multitude was gathered together and Paul preached to them When Peter was in prison the Church making a ioynt petition for him obtained a Act. 12 speedy and miraculous deliuery And it was obserued as an especiall vertue in the primitiue Church that they continued together in prayer and breaking of bread and that they had all one heart And to this purpose Saint Paul exhorteth them saying I beseech you brethren in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ that 1. Corin. 1. ye all speake one thing that ye be knit together in one mind and iudgement And againe the God of patience and consolation Rom. 15. graunt that you may be like-minded one to another according to Christ Iesus that you with one mind and one mouth praise God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ The true markes of the visible Church of God are the hearing of the word the participation of the sacraments and publike prayer as out of the scriptures I haue declared Let vs therefore examine the groundes whereupon so many of our nation which would especially be accounted of the true church withdrawe themselues from our publike assemblies refuse to ioyne with vs in so Christian exercises insomuch that whereas it was wont to be reputed a punishment to be interdicted suspended and like Lepers to be shut out of the Congregation they now like Lepers exclude themselues Saint Ambrose needeth not now to excommunicate Theodosius for hee will excommunicate himselfe Sozos li. 7 c. 24 and we haue as much neede to whip them into the Temple as our Sauiour had to whippe them out as hee did in the storie of the Gospel They alleadge
captiues seauentie yeares in Babel and learned the language of the land where they dwelt which was Calde and yet not able to speake it naturally they spake a third kinde of dialect which was the Syriac consisting partly of the Hebrue and partly of the Chalde which language to them became their mother tongue as appeareth by the Syriac words in the ghospel which are therefore called Hebrue because at that time the Hebrues spake them I answere first to the story out of the story The text hath And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men women and of all that could heare and vnderstand it Againe he read there in the streete that was before the water gate from the morning vntill midday before men and women and them that vnderstood it Therefore it is euident by the testimony of the holy ghost that the people vnderstood that language wherein the law was written and read vnto them Bellarmine asketh what neede there was then of an expositour I answere the Leuites expounded not the words but the sense for the text saith The Leuites caused the people to vnderstand the law and in the next verse is explained how the people were caused to vnderstand the law not the words of the law but the law it selfe not the tongue wherein the law was written but the meaning of it for so it followeth in the 8. verse And they read in the booke of the law of God distinctly and gaue the sense and caused the people to vnderstand the reading that is they preached vpon it And forasmuch as the story saith they read distinctly what neede was there of distinct reading to them which vnderstood not the language I answere to his obseruation Forasmuch as the Chalde and Syriac were but dialects of the Hebrew as the Doric and Ionic are but Dialects of the Greeke and the Scottish tongue is a dialect of the English it was incredible that the Iewes in their captiuitie hauing among them Prophets and zealous Priests their selues being also zealous and fully assured to returne againe should so forget their tongue as not to vnderstand their owne Bible so well as the Dorics vnderstand common Greeke and the Scottish men do vnderstand English But which is more although the manner of the Iewes euer hath bin when they were dwelling in strange places to speake the language of the place where they dwelt as I know by my owne experience the Iewes at Frankefort speake Dutch of Prage Bohemish c which tongues haue no affinitie with the Hebrew yet in all places their seruice is in Hebrew and their custome as it hath beene so still continueth to teach their Children so much Hebrew as may be sufficient to vnderstand the Bible and it is manifest by the storie that the Iewes in Babylon did the like Last of all Concerning our prayers if they do vvell looke ouer their ovvne missall or Masse-booke vvhich vvas vsed in England according to the custome of Sarum and conferre it with our Seruice booke they shall finde that there are few things in it but they are either taken out of the Bible or which vvas good in that missal so that they cannot easily mislike our seruice book vnlesse they vvill condemne a best parte of their ovvne Masse-Booke and the Bible So then they may safely come to our Church vve cannot vvithout violating our conscience come to theirs our prayers are in English which all they vnderstand their prayers are in Latin which our people vnderstand not they pray for the dead without warrant we for the liuing for the which they confesse wee haue warrant enough they pray to the dead which wee for iust causes disallow wee pray to the liuing onely I meane the liuing God against which they take no exception Of the Sacraments COncerning the number of Sacraments we will not dispute for as they define a Sacrament there are more than seauen as we define it there are but two This therefore shall not breed any such iarre betweene vs that therefore wee should refuse to communicate together Of Baptisme WEe hold them which are baptized in the Church of Rome to be so sufficiently baptized that they may not be baptized againe neither do they rebaptize them which haue bin baptized in our Church Of the Lordes Supper AS often as we be made partakers of the Lordes Table wee 1. Corint 11 receiue the Lords body because he hath saide it his owne selfe We receiue it with reuerence and deuotion because it is his body For we must not as the Apostle speaketh eate it vnworthily lest so we be guiltie of the Lords body neither will we eate our owne damnation for not discerning the Lordes bodie But how it is his body we cannot see by the eyes of our bodies or humane reason neither can they onely wee discerne it by the eyes of faith and so ought they to do Stephen Gardiner and the learned of their Church were wont to say it was his bodie ineffabili modo after an vnspeakable maner after such a maner as mens tongues could not vtter And therefore as the Vniuersitie of Tiguri putteth them in minde they seeme to haue forgotten what they said before when they take vpon them to farimodum that is Contrà testament Brentij to expresse in plaine terms of logicke yet cleane contrary and repugnant to the rules of logicke his body to be really naturally and substantially hidden and comprehended vnder the accidents of bread It is very strange both to expresse that which they say cannot be expressed and that the accidents of bread can haue their being when the bread it selfe hath no being in whose only being their essence and being doth consist But be it as it is no man can know more or sooner than God wil reueale what expositions soeuer the subtitle and varietie of mens wits do deuise this sacrament is in our Church administred by vs as it was by our Sauior Christ and is set downe in the story of the Gospel I would know therefore what exception they take against it why they should not receiue it with vs It is no scruple or barre to their consciences in what sence we do vnderstand it so as we deliuer it vnto them according to the true manner and forme of our Sauiour Christ his institution And if they will submit themselues to the lawes of our Church and receiue it at our handes we will not be ouer-hastie with them to examine them how they doe expound the wordes Hoc est corpus meum This is my bodie For we know they cannot eate it but by faith and so we wil leaue them to Gods mercy that he would vouchsafe in good time further to satisfie them lay open and reueale his truth vnto them CHAP. IIII. Of Scisme THey alleadge we are Scismatikes because we haue made a defection from the Catholike Church and withdrawne our neckes out of the yoake of obedience to the head of the Church
to restore the whole to his first integritie Neither did Luther reforme those parts vnto the full by reason of the shortnesse of his life and the greatnesse of the cure which he vndertooke but left somewhat to be reformed after him by Caluin and Beza which as they came after him so they saw more truth then was reuealed vnto him for it did not please God to reueale all truth to one man or in one age So then as a Physition which being not able to cure the whole body cureth some parts and members and yet being preuented by death doeth not so perfectly restore those partes which hee cureth vnto their former strength and agilitie but leaueth his worke to be finished by others so did Luther by the Church The Clergie of England therefore in King Henries dayes established religion and ordered their seruice booke according to that smal portion and measure of knowledge which then they had In the dayes of King Edward and Queene Elizabeth more light was reuealed then before and those errours which were espyed were amended And as it was no shame for vs to reforme our errours when wee espied them so it must needs be vnexcusable to the Church of Rome to continue in their errours now they are layde open before them or to winke at nooneday that they will not see them The Lord of his mercie through Iesus Christ giue them and vs his grace that we may agree together in on truth and as sheep of one fold hearken only to the voice of him which is the great Shepheard of our soules which is Iesus Christ Amen The Conclusion I Thought it requisite to forbeare multitudes of quotations of places and allegations of Doctors and Schoolemen because this Treatise was written for the instruction of the ignorant I haue vpon purpose affected breuitie because my desire was that euery one should reade it Some Latine sentences of Bellarmine I haue produced that the Aduersarie might not charge me as if I had falsified any thing or dealt otherwise than ingeniously I haue alleadged those places only which were so pertinent to this businesse which I haue in hand as they could not be well omitted And I haue refrained to handle some other questions which peraduenture would be very pleasing to the Reader because authoritie hath not iudged it conuenient they should be discussed Let it not seeme strange which I haue written that the learned Papists flie from their ancient defences and cleaue to ours and that Bellarmine the great Golias of Rome in his works which beare a title as if they were written wholy against vs doth in many points hold with vs and in those very points iustifie vs wherein he is thought to condemne vs that in very many things he is a Protestant or at the least not a Papist that the Roman religion is refined for it will plainely appeare to all iudicious and indifferent readers I haue spoken of this argument more at large in mine answere to Bellarmines foure bookes de verbo Dei and his fiue bookes de Christo which had beene published before this time had it not beene for the great difficultie of printing Latine bookes here in London but are now beyond the Seas to be printed and I will obserue the like in the rest of his workes which I do intend to answer if God shal giue me life and health and blesse my labours There be many Iesuites and Seminaries dispersed in this land into whose handes I doubt not but this booke will come which if they will but remember what Vrim and Thummim ought to be in pectore Aaronis in the heartes of Gods Ministers if they will reade without partialitie and that I may vse their owne phrase of speach speake sincerely and in verbo Sacerdotis what they thinke I submit my selfe to their censure whether I haue deliuered a truth or not and I perswade my selfe that it they haue that integritie whereof they make profession they will not deny one truth to gaine many worldes But thus much haue I written at this time for the discharge of my conscience the zeale I beare to the truth and the instruction of them which hitherto haue not vnderstoode themselues I pray GOD my perswasion may perswade His Maiestie hath professed that he will establish the truth if he do not that I may with reuerence and in all duty vse his owne wordes his bookes will witnesse against him at the latter day He may doe it if he be assisting to his Ministers But he cannot do it vnlesse he prouide that there be a learned Ministery through the land that the learned be preferred before the vnlearned they which labor in the word before them which are idle that they be preferred according to their worth that they be sufficiently prouided for that they be countenanced by his Highnesse his Nobles the gentrie but especially by the Iudges the Land that they haue no rights denied vnto them which of dutie they may challenge out of Gods word And this his Maiestie shall neuer effect vnlesse he preferre religion before policie remooue Gehezi out of Elisaeus his seruice abandon flatterie banish simonie out of the Church and briberie out of his house and all his Courts The Lord continue and increase his zeale that he may raigne ouer vs like Ezechias to Gods glory the aduancement of the Gospel our happinesse the comfort of his owne soule which he shall one day feele to be more precious vnto him than al his kingdomes To the Protestant Reader Be it very farre from the seruants of God that they should mistake me or conceiue any sinister opinion of my indeuors as if I dealt too fauorably with the Papists For they ought to consider of mine intent purpose which is not to exasperate and prouoke them to anger but to perswade thē which I cannot do by bitter speeches neither yet by burdening them with any vntruths The spirit of meeknes doth best become Christ his ministers and the worde of God hath taught me to deale charitablie with all men but especially to restore them which haue fallen by gentlenesse not to breake the brused reede nor to quench the smoaking flax That I am not of their mind this booke testifieth sufficiently enough That I do not make more fauourable constructions of their Doctrine than truth and veritie doth require their doctrine it selfe doth shew How much I discent from them my Sermon doth witnesse which I preached at S. Paules Crosse about eight yeares since and published in print wherein I shewed that the state of the Papacie was Antichrist In it I set downe as I hope though a briefe yet a full and perfect state of the question what was wanting in words by reason of the shortnes of time was supplied in substance I answered all obiections out of Bellarmine and Sanders which were of moment that it might be an helpe to others which should aferward deliuer the same againe in more wordes and larger volume The God of al wisdome and knowledge direct their harts and mindes to the true knowledge of his worde through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS