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
commaunded to doe wee are but vnprofitable seruants and therefore we will relie vpon the merits of Christ alone renouncing our selues and our workes Let them iudge then who are safest they or we Our difference is not concerning the worke it selfe but only concerning the opinion which we ought to conceiue of the worke they thinke honourably wee basely of our owne workes but worke the same And certainely the worthinesse of workes doth not consist in the excellent opinion which we conceiue of them but in the true and faithfull working not in the pleasing of our selues with our selues or any thing which procedeth from vs. Of Free will THis question hath bred some difference betweene vs in the schooles and yet if we do vnderstand each other we may be easily reconciled For the scriptures speake so plainely that they take away doubts We are say they not of our selues sufficient to thinke a good thought as of our selues but all our sufficiencie is of God The way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man 1. Corint 3. Ierem. 10 to walke and direct his steps No man commeth to Christ vnlesse the Father draw him Draw me and wee will runne after Iohn 6 Cant. 1 Rom. 7 thee What good I would doe that doe I not the euill which I would not doe that doe I saith the Apostle To conclude therefore there are three sorts of agents the one working of his meere will and pleasure which is God the other of necessitie which is nature a third betweene both these extreames partly of willingnesse and partely of necessitie which is man And as no man is good against his will so no man hath power to will any thing that is good vnlesse God giueth him that will So saith the Apostle It is God which worketh in you euen the wil and deede Phil. 2 of his owne good will and pleasure And this will may be compared to the eye which being in darkenesse yet is not blinde neither doth it see without the especiall grace of God Of Prayer WE inuocate God alone who we are sure doth heare vs and they confesse that in so doing wee doe well why then will they not ioyne with vs in well doing But as for Saints departed when they pray to them to be prayed for by them they are not certaine that they doe heare them because it cannot be sufficiently prooued why then will they not pray with vs whose prayers they confesse to be voyde of exception They denie not but that it is better to pray to God then to Saints why then had they not rather be sure of the first place then doubt of the second Their prayer to Saints may breede a scruple in their conscience whether they do well or no. For if they heare them not their praiers are idle words but they must answere at the day of iudgement Matth. 12. for euery idle word which they shall speake As we pray not to Saints departed so wee pray not for Saints or any other deceased If they be in heauen they neede not our prayers if in hel no prayers can helpe them and we dare not say they are in purgatory sith purgatory by the confession of Bellarmine is a tradition not containd in the scriptures He writes that there be many things necessary to be known which are not contained in the scriptures he doth reckon them vp in order and he placeth them so first that women were purged from sinne though vncircumcised secondly that children that died before the eight day were also purged from originall sinne thirdly many Gentiles in the old testament were saued fourthly that of necessitie there be some books which are the holy scriptures fiftly that it must be knowne which bookes are the holy scriptures sixtly that the bookes which wee haue in our hands are the holy scriptures seauenthly that the scriptures are to be vnderstood eightly that Mary was a perpetuall Virgine ninthly that Easter is to be celebrated on the Lordes day tenthly that Infants are to be baptized eleuenthly purgatory But marke his words he saith many things are necessary to be knowne which are not contained in the scriptures among those he maketh purgatory to be the eleuenth therefore he affirmeth that purgatory is a thing necessary to be knowne and not in the scriptures and yet as a man that would halte betweene two religions to please vs and not displease the Papists doth lay it vpon Luther saying Credit Lutherus purgatorium esse tamen asserit purgatorium non posse probari in sacris literis Luther saith he belieueth that there is a purgatory and yet saith it cannot be prooued out of the scriptures The question is whether Bellarmine doth not say so as well as Luther If he do not first why doth he not expresse his owne minde to the contrary in that place secondly why doth he in that long catalogue of such things as are not contained in the scriptures reckon purgatory to be the eleuenth He sheweth that the tenth tradition or vnwritten veritie is the baptisme of Infants that Luther and Caluin hold it lawefull and yet his selfe doth not refuse that opinion which they doe hold and the like must be vnderstood concerning purgatory that as Luther denieth purgatory to be contained in the scriptures so doth Bellarmine or else he doth contradict himselfe which said before that Pargatorium est vndecimum eorum quae ignorari non possunt tamen in scripturis non continentur Purgatory is the eleuenth of these things whereof we may not be ignorant and yet are not contained in the scriptures Sith therefore Bellarmine repeating many things which are not contained in the scripture of which one to be purgatory and yet before as I haue shewd granteth all things to be contained in the scriptures which are necessary for our saluation that we should know them ye must beare with vs De verbo Dei lib. 2. cap. 11. if we doe not belieue purgatorie being no matter of saluation to vs to belieue it We pray in our mother tongue what exception doe they take against it Their priuate prayers are in English as it appeareth by their Iesus psalter their Manuall of Meditations and sundry other prayer books which they haue printed I would know why it might not be as lawfull to pray publikely in the same tongue Which is more I haue seene the Masse by them set forth in Spanish the Spanish being in one page of the booke and the Latine in the other In times past the English testament was printed with the English in one page and the Latine in the other and licensed to be printed and publikely sold by King Philip and Qu. Mary And now of late our English Seminaries of Rhemes haue published the New Testament in English with promise also to set forth the old why may not the English Bible be published by vs as well as by the Seminaries and as well be read publikely in our Church