important he notwithstāding promiseth himselfe without doubt as hauing y e disposition of their hearts in his hande that they also will at last for their own soules for many thousand soules that depend vpō their gouernmēt discoūtenāce the religiō hearken vnto Papistry He would not beforehand make this promise which is his chiefe purpose drawe the multitude to expect backsliding in their honors if he did not highly esteeme his owne basenesse basely iudge of their excellēcie But how doth this inconstant Iesuite still giue in one line and take away in another Haue her Maiesties most honorable Counsell wisdome in cases most importāt are they without wisdome in the most importāt cause of religiō which more thē al other causes importeth them for their owne soules many thousande soules beside Without this wisdom of God in the Gospell there is no wisedome in the wisest men of the worlde Then the Iesuite withdrawing from their honors this wisdome he attributeth to them a wisedome which is no wisedome and so his praises are no praises But he findeth in their wise gouernment feeleth their wisedome to bee according to knowledge their knowledge ioyned with zeale according to y e reuealed trueth which they vnder her Maiestie mainteine to Gods glory y e cutting off of Popish enterprises to the contrary Wherefore y e ages that shal come after shall witnes for her Maiestie for them that in singular wisdom they haue restored mainteined the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ blessedly withstoode the flatteries of Iesuites and the violence of the vnholy fathers army that would in Englād set vp the beast that must be throwen downe into the nethermost hel neuer rise againe whose feareful fall will draw with it the fall of as many as depend vpō her yeeld their seruice to her notwithstanding her intolerable pride bloody fornications Moreouer this Iesuite writeth to their honor without regard of their honors For as if they had no eyes to see nor hearts to consider what may be and what hath bene said for Popish religion he wil now open the questions of religion so faithfully that their honors shall see the substantiall groundes whereon the Popish faith is builded Haue all other Iesuites wanted learning Haue euen this Champions masters wanted strength in the field and dexteritie in their enterprises To heale the woundes of the beast are all other Phisitions Phisitions of no valew Thus we see how this Iesuite chargeth the Lordes as not hauing their eyes yet open to see what religion is and also noteth the wantes of his masters that haue not done that himselfe will vndertake But to performe all these promises he must not alledge the authoritie of his oracle for the oracle himself may sooner with Atlas beare the weight of the worlde vpon his shoulders then mainteine so great a quarell as is the defense of the Romish Church against the Gospel of God as is the maynteining of the worldly kingdome of the Pope against the spirituall and mightie kingdome of Iesus Christ After these things he returneth to his slaunders against the preachers of the worde charging them that they huddle vp and confounde questions of religion But whatsoeuer the Iesuite thus casteth out in malicious false termes God bath blessed the preachers of the Gospell with worthie gifts and a pure forme of preaching agreeable to the puritie of the Gospel which they professe So that if our aduersaries their giftes come to a right examination it shall appeare to al men that if Papists haue learning so we also if they haue order and methode so wee also if they haue giftes to perswade we much more vpon more excellent groundes And which is more then all whereas they preach men we preache God whereas they preache error we preache the trueth not according to men but according to the foundation of the holy Prophets and Apostles Christ Iesus being the head corner stone As for Antiquitie Fathers Coūcils we allowe them as farre as the worde of God doeth not disalowe them But if any oracle from heauen or consent of all the worlde teache or perswade any thing otherwise then we haue receiued in the word we subscribe to the sentence alreadie pronounced by Saint Paul and registred in his holy Epistle to the Galathians What kinde of new preaching these new Iesuites bring I know not but if they followe the veine of their forefathers the auncient Friers then I know that they wil draw byase whether they huddle or no. The worlde is yet full of volumes wherein their sermons are penned downe but with matter so ridiculous and Latine so barbarous that all bookes written to make sport must giue place to them From charging the preachers he proceedeth to charge y e sway of the time for preuayling against him and his The time is neither shorter nor longer better nor worse in it selfe therefore in this figuratiue speach he couertly chargeth the gouerners of the time Wherein he againe vttereth his murmuring repineth that his golden times so often calculated can yet take no place But blessed be the Lord that hath stretched out his arme the swaye and stroke whereof preuayleth against all enemies of the kingdome of Iesus Christ and let not their praises die for euer whome the Lord hath raysed vp to be his instruments in so glorious a worke As for the best blood in your bodies which you woulde spēd for their honors which of them require any such sacrifice at your hande who stand in neede of it In so euil a cause as the perswading of error what can it auaile If I may againe aduise you keepe it to preserue life it may be the Lord hath appointed a day for your true repentance that renouncing your former workes of merite and supererogation you may receiue y e loue of the trueth and builde your faith vpon the merites of Christ alone which shalbe your owne saluation And leaue to professe loue where you practise treason cease to promise the sheading of your blood willingly as in a good cause whereas experience hath lately shewed that you your confederates lost blood in a notorious euill cause But that was the mercy of God that watcheth ouer vs still to take the wicked in their wickednes which mercie shall watch ouer vs continually if we auoide the contempt of y t Gospel we professe and shewe our selues thankefull to his maiestie for so great mercies Againe the Iesuite flaunteth in words vaunteth of his innocent handes lifted vp to heauen euery day euery houre as for the good of their honours To make your hands no fowler then they are yet those innocent handes haue written no innocent bookes they haue cast abroade no innocent libels they helde out no innocent banner of Popish obedience in their actual rebellions heretofore in England presently in Ireland But if those handes may be innocent that haue done
verely hold Images Pardons Praying to Saints seruice in an vnknowen tongue as wicked things But let thē all true professors also know that y e Papists hold Steuen Gardiners rule Yelde but in haly water said he to Cardinall Poole that blusshed at some enormities in popery and yeeld in all Thereupon Papistes yeeld in nothing howsoeuer our home Papists thinke or dissemble the matter This is proued by the open dealing of the Iesuites for there is nothing be it neuer so impious neuer so absurde yea though in their owne conscience neuer so contrary to trueth commō sense but they defend it in a booke written w t publike consent called y e Censure of Colen Hitherto it hath bin truely declared y t y e Iesuites are wicked Monkish Friers y t they labour for learning to abolish learning that they ouerlay the nations where they come that they defend all absurdities of the popish Church But for proofe of their absurd and blasphemous doctrines out of a treatise cōcerning this matter I haue enterlaced their owne words as they are to be foūd in y e same book in other of their writings adioining to euery article of their doctrine y e cleane cōtrary doctrine out of y e word of God as foloweth 1 It is not sinne whatsoeuer is against the Lawe of God Censure of Colen leafe 44. Contrary to y e word of God 1. Ioh. 3.4 The transgression of the Law is sinne 2. Cōcupiscence remaining in the regenerate although it be against the lawe of God yet it is not sinne properly in it self or of it owne nature Cens Col. 38. c. in the hādling of Canisius Catechisme leaf 184. A contrary doctrine is taught by Christ Mat. 5. 28. I say vnto you y t whosoeuer shal see a womā to lust after her he hath already committed adulterie with her in his heart 3 The first motions of lust are without hurt of sinne Cens Col. Fol. 54. 89. contrary to the tenth commandement Thou shalt not couet Exod. 20. 17. 4 The holy Scripture is a doctrine vnperfect maymed lame not conteining all things necessarie to faith saluation Cens Col. fol. 220. cōtrarie to that place of Paul 2. Tim. 3. 16 17. Al y e Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God is profitable to teache to confute to correct to instruct in iustice that the man of God may bee perfect and throughly instructed to euery good worke 5 The want of the holy Scriptures must be supplied by peecing it out with traditions Cens Col. 220. Contrary to a Lawe in Moses Deut. 4. 2. Thou shalt not adde to the wordes which I speake to thee neither shalt thou take from them 6 The holy Scripture is a nose of waxe Cens Col. 117. Contrary to the wordes of Dauid The law of the Lord is perfect conuerting the soule Psal 19. 7. 7 The reading of the holy Scripture is not onely not profitable but many wayes very hurtfull to the Church Cens Col. 21. Christ deliuereth a cōtrary note Mat. 22. 29. Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor parte of Christendome or heathenesse vpon lyke assignation I doubt not as I sayde before but that hee was more readie and ioyous to bee sent into his owne countrey But what authoritie hath the Pope to send out swarmes of Iesuites into all the worlde Are they not content falsely to make him Peters successor and head of the Church but that they will also allowe him to apoynt these newe Apostles to goe out into al y e worlde namely these Iesuites enemies to the doctrine of the true Apostles yea and that in nūber not so fewe I thinke as xii hundred for xii because he would haue more to pull downe then Christ sent abroad to build vp withall 3 His assigned charge is laide downe in the third article which is of free cost to preach the Gospell and minister the sacraments Cunning wordes to cloke an euill matter For he speaketh in words fit for the Gospel to auoyd the vsuall and proper speaches of his Popish priesthod and order that are full of derogation agaynst the trueth For they preach not the Gospell but against the Gospell in the traditions and ordinances of the Pope Their ministerie of the Sacramentes is the saying or singing Masse and corrupt baptisme with other actions which they call Sacraments but are none by any warrant out of the word of God For in their definitions of these other fiue falsly named Sacraments they surcharge their margents with great shewe of proofes but almost all are authorities of men there are very fewe places of scripture quoted and those manifestly peruerted The wordes that folowe in his charge To instruct the simple reforme sinners confute errors and in briefe to crye an alarme spirituall against foule vice and proude ignorance howe great shewe doe they make in the monster Tullie noteth those byers and sellers that gayne but litle except they lie much Euen so these marchants that bye and sell with the woman that sitteth vpon many waters in whose forehead this name is branded A mysterie Great Babylon the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth they gayne nothing but by their shamelesse lyes For that which they set out to sale for instruction is destruction touching the fayth their reformation is a deformation and in their kingdome it may seeme waste labour seeing they haue a shorter way to woorke in blotting that out spel He hath taken vpon him a speciall kinde of warfare vnder the banner of obedience If it be of obedience to God vnder Christes banner it is common to all Christians if it be of obedience to some new false Apostleship of the Popes creation it is as much disobedience to God as it is obedience to those monkish ordinances What plaine dealing then can this be Vnder the title of the glorious banner of obedience the Iesuite recommendeth to the Lordes of the Counsell his disobedience to God his disobedience to the trueth and obedience onely to his Fathers chiefely y e Pope the most blasphemous enemie of God most open enemie to her Maiestie both in his consistorie in the field Obedience acceptable to God is according to his word not according to y e traditions ordināces of mā As for y e Pope he holdeth vp a bāner of rebelliō alwaies against y e kingdō of Iesus Christ many times also against y e kingdome of Princes Vnder this banner he hath lately placed these Iesuites w t some armour finding all other vnlettered and idle Monkes Friers not so fit for y e campe as for the cloister If this votarie hath resigned great interest or manye possibilities of welth honor felicity as he pretēdeth thē the iudgemēt of God was y e heauier against him y t he should sell all he had not to bye the precious pearle recōmēded by Christ but to purchase the
not the worlde maruaile if in purging the Church from so many abominations wherewith the aduersaries had in all places and so long time together defiled it some small matter remained not swept away and caried out with the rest As for the positiue lawes of the lande wherein also the Iesuite woulde seeme to haue knowledge and matter for maintenance of his popish superstitions they make wonderfully against him I speake not this onely in respect of the most godly lawes made of late vnder King Henrie the eyght her Maiesties father of noble fame or since vnder the Josias of these ages King Edward the sixt and in the most blessed and prosperous raigne of her Maiestie but lawes made in the time of Edwarde the first Richard the thirde and some others before and after For euen these haue made auncient lawes as appeareth by a booke written onely of this argument aboue fourtie yeeres since to abandon the Popes authoritie which head of the Popish Church being taken away the body can not remaine but as a dead carkeis that must haue present buriall or remaine as one of y e antique images of Rome that hauing lost the head yet is highly esteemed onely for antiquitie 6 In the sixt article first he sheweth how litle power he hath ouer his tongue or ouer his pen. For being loth to speake any thing that might but sounde of an insolent brag or chalenge yet hee doeth most insolently bragge more then any and chalenge more then all For what one man hath made such a bragge or such a chalenge as out of al sciences against al men to mainteyne that that for want of maintenance is fallen as y e Angel prophecied of y e fall saying Great Babylon is fallen the inhabitants friendes thereof see her dayly fall and there is neyther violence nor subtiltie that can lift her vp againe But the Iesuite moueth pitie rendereth a reason why he may not boast He is a dead man to this worlde In what sense he is dead I know not In deede as yet he can neither be founde aliue nor dead nor the place of his buriall Whatsoeuer other may thinke hee thinketh not himselfe spiritually dead but dead by resignation of a worldly life or danger of death that may come by iustice of lawe Whatsoeuer it is he woulde be pitied before he commeth neere any danger As he moueth pitie so he beggeth loue for the wonderfull loue ready minde he would seeme to beare towarde euery man He offreth hayle master as Judas did a kisse downe to the ground But we must not beleeue words of loue from an enemie y t sheweth malice in deede Yet there is some thing in his professed loue For to treade afterward proudly vpon our heads to make vs kisse y e Popes feete he wil in the Popes seruice first laye his head vnder our feete kisse the ground we tread vpon O false shew of gracious lowlines O seruile wordes of flatterie ioyned with intolerable pride of a deceitfull heart For to whome is not y e notorious pride hideous crueltie of Antichrist knowen It foloweth to see how soone suddenly a double minded man sheweth him selfe inconstant in all his wayes He that in one line abaseth him selfe to the dust in the next exalteth him selfe against heauen He nowe pretending the defence of the maiestie of Christ and yet intending to defend y e tyranny of Antichrist doeth display his courage his affiance his assurance his euidence so impregnable that no mā may encountre with him As before he promised to crye a false Alarme againe sinne so nowe in presumption of himselfe he soundeth the victory and proclaimeth a triumph and that before he hath shewed his face in the field If those wordes did no more tickle the Papists that beleeue all and receiue al from Rome then they doe vs who examine spirites by the worde he might haue reserued them for a fitter time and a better place In a good cause it is good alwaies to be bolde to haue singular affiance in the gratious fauour of Iesus Christ On the other side in an euil cause to trust to a broken reede of Egypt is a double folly bringeth a double mischiefe first an ouerthrow in the attempt and afterward the shame of an euill matter Moreouer for an enemie of the kingdome of Christ to call Christ his King and to borowe his name to iustifie a foule enterprise it is nothing else but to sinne the sinne of them that sweare The Lord liueth and yet deceyue For therein the offender maketh the Lord of hostes a witnesse a reuenger of his impietie In the wordes folowing if his heart varyed not frō his pen he maketh account to haue very fauorable readers that will beleeue so great matters in so slender a man For as one sayde of another matter It is easier to commit murther then to defende it so is it easier to fal into the error of Poperie then to mainteyne it Neuerthelesse this chalenger doeth so vndertake the maintenāce as if nothing could be replyed against him And not contenting himselfe to say The Protestants cannot answere he doeth in spitefull wordes of disgrace ease his stomacke of much gall against the preachers and against their pulpits against the hearers and their vnlearned eares His impressions of malice are so strong and the opinion conceiued of his owne sufficiencie so great that he vaunteth saying I know perfectly that no one Protestant nor all the Protestants liuing can mainteine their doctrine They haue mainteined it by the word of might and trueth against all the aduersaries in writing and solemne disputation as hath bin noted And can they not now mainteine it against one man but of eight or nine yeeres standing in his profession as litle in deede as he is great in his owne conceipt Yes y e meanest of many by y e grace of God can mainteyne it and shall preuayle And if our aduersaries wyll looke into our defences already published they shall see the defence of our religion so great and the cause so manifest that I may truely vse these wordes against the chalenger on the otherside No one Iesuite nor all the Iesuites liuing shall be able to answere that that is written or to roote out that which is planted We face not men downe in our pulpits which is his foule reproch against our holy exercise of preaching but wee labour by the powerfull worde of God to bring all men to the knowledge and obedience of the trueth As for our kingdome of Grammarians againe I vnderstande not his taunt Wee prayse God for the knowledge of many tongues by many Grammers and for the knowledge of Grammer that leadeth into further vnderstanding and these gifts wee vse to the glory of God and the confutation of your religion If his taunt was to note that we want other good artes haue onely some swaye in