aduersary moued to let slip now and then a word or two Yea and let it be noted how one sweet pen-man in this case excuseth another M. Bishop his fellow Watson after that he had with all importunity and fury thorowout his whole booke of Quodlibets runne vpon the Iesuits e Answer to particulars against D. Bishop pag. 17. Sory I am saith he that to some blemish of his former vertues certaine bookes set out of late carry the letters of his name because the stile seemeth too sharp and some thing in them soundeth harshly in Catholike eares But to mitigate the matter the occasion of writing which time and place ministred must be duely considered and withall how he and others were before grieuously hurt in their reputation by the other party and that in defense of their honour they might lawfully discredit the iniurious aggressours Now if any man looke vpon me with the same eies wherewith M. Bishop looked vpon M. Watson he will easily see that the reputation and honour of our religion being so deeply touched and so many infamous aspersions being cast vpon our whole doctrine and ministery by his malicious and slanderous libell the zeale of truth and importunate impudencie of such an iniurious aggressour must needs wrest from me what spleene or passion I had to shew in the seruice of my Prince and in the cause of Iesus Christ And this I hope shall excuse me in this behalfe with all that are friends and welwillers to the cause in hand or if any take exception further I must say to him with the words of S. Bernard f Bern. in Cant. serm 12. Inhumanè corum redarguis opera quorum onera refugis temerariè obiurgat rirum de praelio reuertentem mulier nens in domo Thou dealest vngently to blame the doings of them whose burdens thou refusest it is rashnesse for the woman that sitteth spinning in the house to checke the souldier returning from the warre g Hieron Apolog ad Pammach Delicata doctrina est pugnanti ictus dictare de muro It is a daintie kinde of teaching saith Hierome to sit vpon the wall and to appoint the man in fight in what maner he shall strike Consider that thou art but as a beholder and looker on but I was as hee that felt the blowes and therefore do not maruell if I were more moued than thou yea esteeme of me in this businesse by the experience of thine owne affections in that that toucheth thine owne cause But I must needs heere intreate thee gentle Reader by the way to note how this sweet peÌ„-man carieth himselfe in that kind wherein he obiecteth so great fault to me The flowers of his speech are h Preface to his second part sect 10. Of the same accursed crue was Melancthon Caluin in his institutions to hell i Reproofe Pag. 50. craking impudencie and impudent craking k Pag. 64. a vaine craking iangler and notorious liar l Pag. 211. deuoid of all good conscience honest dealing m Pag. 264 past all shame and worthy to be thrust into an Asses skin n Pag. 272. base and bastardly minded Ministers o Pag. 283. cosening companions false hypocrites most impudent liars p Pag. 281. the spirit that possesseth his heart to wit the father of all lies q Pag. 283. he that will be fed with lies let him take the diuell to his father and M. Abbot or some other such like of his lying Ministers to be his master Nay the terme of lying is nothing euery where and it is wonderfull to see what a rare dexterity he hath to multiply lies vpon me as for example fiue lies in a place where indeed there is no lie r Reproofe Pag. 83. A lie it is saith he that I denied to his Maiesty such authority as would serue for the taking order how God might be rightly serued in his Realm whereas my words are that he denieth to his Maiesty that supreme gouernment in causes ecclesiasticall whereby he should take vpon him so to doe which he so far denieth as that against this Å¿ Pag. 170. 171. c. Supremacy he hath said more than of any one matter thorowout his whole booke What authority he dreameth would otherwise serue so to do that to me is nothing Another lie it is saith he that the Popes lawes doe inhibit Princes to meddle with matters of religion whereas the law is plaine t Dist 96. Si imperator Ad Sacerdotes deus voluit quae ecclesiae disponen da sunt pertinere c. Non publicis legibus non a potestatibus seculi sed a Pontificibus sacerdotibus opus deus Christianae religionis voluit ordinari c. The ordering of matters for the Church God would haue to belong to Priests not to the secular powers not by publike lawes not by secular powers but by Popes and Priests would God haue the worke of Christian religion to be ordered u Sext. de haeret Quicunque Inhibemus ne cuiquam laica personae liceat publicè vel priuatim de fide Catholica disputare Qui contra fecerit excoÌ„municationis laqueo innodetur We forbid any lay person either publikely or priuately to dispute or reason concerning the Catholike faith he that doth so let him be excommunicated Againe he saith A third lie it is that I affirmed Kings to hold their crownes immediatly from God but that his foolery may the better appeare he adeth Which though it be true in that sense he taketh it yet it is false that I said so in that place for I meddle not with those termes of immediatly or mediatly So then he saith so but yet I lie in saying that he saith so because he saith not so in that place whereas notwithstanding I neither charge him with mediatly nor immediatly in that place but onely repeat his owne former words that of Gods meere grace and bounty Princes receiue and hold their diadems and princely scepters Yet againe The fourth lie is that the Pope denieth Princes to hold their Diadems and Princely authority immediatly from God but are to receiue them by his mediation whereas the Pope himselfe saith of the Emperour x Auent Annal lib. 6. Imper ator quod habet totum habet a nobis Ecce in potestate nostra est imperium vt deâ—â—us iâ—ud cui volumus propterea constituti à deo super gentes regna vt destruamus euellamus edificemus plantemus c. Ex epist Adriani 4. What he hath he hath it wholly of vs the Empire is in our power to giue it to whom we will being therefore appointed of God ouer nations and Kingdomes to destroy and to pull vp to build and to plant Which words I alledged vsed by y Bull a Pij 5. apud Sander de schism Anglic. Pius Quintus against Queene Elizabeth and applied generally to that purpose by the z Extrauag de maior
THE THIRD PART OF THE DEFENCE of the Reformed Catholike Against DOCT. BISHOPS Second part of the Reformation of a Catholike as the same was first guilefully published vnder that name conteining only a large and most malicious Preface to the Reader and an Answer to M. PERKINS his Aduertisement to Romane Catholicks c. Whereunto is added An Aduertisement for the time concerning the said DOCT. BISHOPS Reproofe lately published against a little piece of the Answer to his Epistle to the King with an Answer to some few exceptions taken against the same by M. T. Higgons lately become a Proselyte of the Church of Rome By R. ABBOT Doctor of Diuinitie Cypr. l. 1. epist 3. Haec est verè domentia non cogitare nec scire quòd mendacia non diu fallant noctem tamdiu esse quamdiu illucescat dies c. LONDINI Impensis GEORGII BISHOP 1609. THE PREFACE to the Reader GOOD Christian Reader thou shalt vnderstand that vntill the greater part of this Booke was printed I thought I had giuen thee therein an answer to all that Doct. Bishop had published vnder the name of his Second part But being at Southwell not long since to doe my dutie to the most Reuerend Father the L. Archbishop of Yorke his Gr. being pleased to vse speech to me concerning a point in the said Second part and shewing me thereof the booke it selfe I perceiued a defect in that that I had answered finding there handled the other questions of the Reformed Catholike which he had left vntouched in his former booke and whereof in the booke which I had receiued there was conteined nothing In turning the booke I found a fault of the Print in the answer to the Aduertisement corrected in the end of the questions whereby I presently perceiued that he first printed his vngodly Preface here conteined and the said answer for some cunning deuice what it might be I leaue to thee to ghesse did thus publish the beginning and end of the booke and left the middle part to be added at his pleasure afterward As it first came foorth so I receiued it enquiring after no more because I thought I had receiued all and knowing of no more I haue written to no more and had I knowen of the rest before I had printed so much of this I would haue suppressed this till I had confuted that as I haue done this And heereby thou vnderstandest the cause why I haue in diuers places of this booke taxed M. Preface sect 22 pag. 190. Aduert sect 1. pag. 193. c. Bishop for the omitting of those questions because hee himselfe had then diuulged his book without them neither had I heard that he had written any thing of them which taxations though now I cannot alter yet by this Preface I reuoke and doe wish thee to passe them ouer as if they were not there at all Albeit where I might alter them I haue so done and therefore recalled from the Presse the copie of my Preface and aduertisement heere adioyued wherein I had further noted that omission by meanes whereof and for the adding of an answer to some few exceptions taken against mee by M. Higgons lately reuolted from vs so soone as I could get the sight thereof this booke hath been somwhat longer in comming foorth than otherwise it should haue beene To which being though not by my default thus maimed and vnperfect I haue done some disgrace by withdrawing from it the Dedication which I had intended being notwithstanding good Reader to intreat thy gentle patience to take this in good part till God shall giue me opportunitie heereafter to adde the rest Heereafter I say because it shall first be necessarie for mee to returne a Counterproofe to Doct. Bishops Reproofe lately published against a little peece of my answer to his Epistle Concerning which worke of his being such as I presume will in the end make him odious and hatefull to all men that will take knowledge of it I haue heere added some aduertisement for the time and giuen an answer to his Preface wherein he hath taken vpon him to haue said so much as may suffice to discredit me with all indifferent men that whereas it will require some longer time to examine his Reproofe in that sort as I intend it I may notwithstanding in the meane time somewhat abate the edge and remooue the scandall of it whilest by discouery of some of his iuglings if at least being so grosse and palpable they deserue to be called iuglings the Reader shall be able to conceiue what he is in all the rest I will heere amplifie nothing further but refer thee to those obseruations that I haue giuen thee thereof God giue his blessing both to my writing and to thy reading that we may both grow in hatred of Antichristian error and in the knowledge and loue of the trueth of God Thine in the Lord R. ABBOT THE ANSWER TO Doctor BISHOPS Preface to his second part of the Reformation of a Catholike c. 1. W. BISHOP CHristian Reader I suppose it shall please thee better if I doe entertaine thy studious minde with some serious discourse than if I went about to court it with the ordinary complements of a curious preamble Wherefore I purpose by thy gentle patience to handle here a matter of maruellous great importance which M. PERK towards the latter end of his booke laieth out against vs in maner of a most grieuous complaint it is that we Catholikes among many other capitall crimes by vs as he fableth defended doe bolster and vphold the most haynous sinne of Atheisme The man is not a little troubled to deuise wherein we doe maintaine any such point of impietie For compelled by the cleere euidence of trueth he confessed that we doe rightly acknowledge the vnitie of the God-head in the Trinitie of persons yet that hee may seeme to say something therein against vs he flieth vnto the threed-bare ragges of their common slanders of mans merits and satisfactions and such old stuffe and stretching them on the tenter-hooks yet one nayle further then his fellows striueth to draw out of them a certaine strange kinde of Atheisme in this maner The Roman religion makes the merit of the works of men Rom. 11.6 to concurre with the grace of God therefore it ouerthrowes the grace of God Item they acknowledge the infinite iustice and mercy of God but by consequence both are denied for how can that be infinite iustice which may any way bee appeased by humane satisfaction And how shall Gods mercy be infinite when we by our owne satisfactions must adde a supply to the satisfaction of Christ There needs apretie wit I weene to vnderstand how these points appertaine to Atheisme For suppose that we defended that the merit of the works of man concurred with Gods grace as two distinct agents which wee doe not for we hold that no works of man haue any merit vnlesse they spring and proceed
and would he then thus like a micher steale away from all and leaue the chiefe and principall matters of his suggestion without succour or defense I had often said and he hath now verified it that either he would not reply at all or else would doe it in that patching sort as he hath now done And surely had not I my selfe ministred vnto him the matter whereupon hee hath framed his Reproofe without any necessity thereof arising out of his Epistle I should haue gone for this time without any reproofe at all Vpon mention made of the Catholike faith I tooke occasion further than I was compelled by him to insist vpon the name of Catholike and to shew their abuse thereof Vpon his appeale to the Romane Church when the same was in the best and most flourishing estate I tooke occasion of a comparison of the doctrine of the old and new Church of Rome by sundry sentences of the Bishops and other writers of that Church whereas it had beene sufficient for me to haue disprooued those instances whereby he tooke vpon him to prooue the same faith in both From these two points ariseth the whole substantiall part of his booke and had I omitted these in hard case had he beene for the writing of a booke for for defense of his owne allegations he had had nothing more to say Now gentle Reader to confesse to thee the truth I had determined so soone as time should serue by a speciall treatise to enlarge the said comparison and to remooue their exceptions which they haue to take against it and so more fully to describe The true ancient Romane Catholike What then hath M. Bishop in effect done by his Reproofe but onely giuen me further occasion to doe that that I had beforehand purposed to doe and to consider of sundry matters which happily otherwise not minding I might easily haue ouerpassed For the doing of this I must craue thy patience for a time because it is a matter that will require conuenient time but in the meane time to giue thee some satisfaction as touching that Reproofe I haue thought good by a short Aduerisement to make it appeare to thee that Foxes whelpes are all alike that M. Bishop is no changling but continueth in his proceeding the same man that he was in the beginning 3. And first I would haue thee to obserue what a terrible inscription he hath put in the forefront to fright owles and buzzards that they may keepe them in their corners and not come foorth to see the light A Reproofe saith he of M. Doct. Abbots Defence of the Catholike deformed by M. W. Perkins wherein his sundry abuses of Gods sacred word and most manifold misapplying and falsifying of the ancient Fathers sentences be so plainely discouered to the eie of euery indifferent Reader that whosoeuer hath any due care of his owne saluation can neuer heereafter giue him more credit in matter of faith and religion But not contented heerewith to bombast this skar-crow to the full and to cause the greater terrour taking occasion belike by my comparing him and his fellow Wright to Iannes and Iambres he vnderwriteth to that title the words of the Apostle d 2. Tim. 3.8 As Iannes and Iambres resisted Moses so these men also resist the truth men corrupted in minde reprobate concerning the faith but they shall prosper no further for their folly shall be manifest to all as theirs also was Now is not this a horrible coniuration Gentle Reader and sufficient to make any mans haire to stare Wouldest thou not imagine heereby that there should be cause to cry out vpon me yea to hang me vp for abusing Scriptures and fathers and beguiling the world in such sort as he pretendeth But stay I pray thee a while remember that losers must haue their words and they will crie lowdest that smart most neither doth any thing in being handled make so importunate a noise as the filthy swine doth Saint Austine saith rightly that e August de ciu dei lib. 5. cap. 27. Non ideò plus potest vanitas quà m veritas quia si voluerit etiam plus potest clamara quà m veritas vanity is not therefore stronger than truth because if it list it can cry louder than truth Thou knowest that naughty drabs when they are reprooued for their leaud and vnhonest life doe set themselues with all bitternesse and violence to deuise and frame words and termes to gall and disgrace them by whom they are reprooued Thou maiest well conceiue that the greatest occasion of suspicion lieth on his part who like the silly wood-cocke that thrusteth his head into a hole and leaueth his body to be beaten till both head and all be dead so after three yeeres space leauing the whole body of his Epistle vndefended thrusteth himselfe into one corner of a booke there for a time to shrowd himselfe till his head being crushed in that corner also he shall haue no place left further to yeeld him breath But that thou maiest see from what spirit that title of his booke hath proceeded I haue thought good heere to examine the whole matter of his preface wherein he taketh vpon him to iustifie the same and professeth to haue said so much therein f Page 11. as may suffice to discredit me with all indifferent men Marke well I pray thee the matters which he bringeth consider well the waight and the truth of them and then take knowledge of some other obseruations that I shall giue thee concerning the whole book 4. His Preface he beginneth artificially according to a precept of Rhetoricke which teacheth a man g Quintil. Orator institut lib. 5. cap. 13. Haec simulatio hucusque procedit vt quae dicendo refutare non possumus quasi fastidiendo calcemus a dissembling tricke that what he cannot confute he shall seeme scornefully to reiect and trample vpon He telleth his Reader concerning mine answer that h Pag. 3. he found so little substance in it that a long time he was vnwilling to reply vpon it and could not thinke the time well bestowed which should be spent in so friuolous and vaine altercation Aquil◠non capit muscas The Fox would none And in this veine the man much pleaseth himselfe hauing much in his mouth my i Pag. 45. vnlearned writings k Pag. 94. more meet to stop mustard-pots than likely to stop any meane scholars mouth He calleth me l Pag. 86. shallow and shuttle witted m Pag. 16. one of the most shallow and beggerliest writers of these daies n Pag. 52. one of the shallowest for substance of matter that euer he read and o Pag. 40. if saith he there lie more marrow and pith hidden in my writing than one at the first sight would perhaps suppose spectatum admissi risum teneatis then surely it doth require a man of more substance than he though of lesser shew yea p Pag. 47. if
when I saw M. Bishop thus confidently auouching that I belied them I thought vndoubtedly that euen for shame in their latter impressions they had altered those words neuer imagining that he would be so shamelesse as to charge me with belying them in a thing apparent to the sight of euery man Thus I meant in simplicity to haue passed it with referring the Reader to the old books though it were changed in the new But now I pray thee to doe the same that in the end for more assurance I thought good to doe Looke to their edition of the Canon Law printed at Paris Anno. Dom. 1601. and there thou shalt finde it still as I cited it i Extrauag Ioan. 22. cap. Cum inter in glossa Parisiis Anno dom 1601 Cum priuilegio Gregorij 13. aliorum principum Credere dominum Deum nostrum Papam sic non potuisse statuere c. haereticum censeretur To beleeue that our Lord God the Pope might not so decree should be accounted heresie Now whether shall we thinke heere to be more impudent the Pope or M. Bishop Surely the Popes sin is the greater who by k Optat. lib. 3. Passus est homines per se sie iurare tanquam per deum in quo si vnusquisque hominuÌ„ errauerat ipse prohibere debuerat cùm non prohibuit deus sibi visus est Optatus his argument because he doth not forbid this stile taketh vpon him to be our Lord God the Pope M. Bishop hath some grace to be ashamed of it but little grace hath he to deny that which is so open for euery man to see By the hardnesse of his forehead in this thou maiest take occasion to esteeme what hee is in all the rest 12. Againe he saith that it is l Answer to the Epistle sect 13. p. 119. a lie which I cite out of the Decretals that they say the Pope is not a meere man The words are m Decretal Greg. de translat episc Quantò Non puri hominis sed veri Dei vicem gerit in terris Where I doubted not but that by a phrase of speech often vsed where the word of double gouernement hath his proper signification onely in respect of the latter not of the former which it gouerneth the meaning is that he hath not the condition of a meere man but is the vicar of the true God And this meaning is elsewhere confirmed where it is said that n Sext. proaem inglossa Ostenditur per mutation mâ—nominis facta mutatio hominis cùm enim prâ—ùs esset purus homo nunc vicem veri deigeâ—it interris by the changing of the Popes name is imported the changing of the man for where he was before a meere man now he is Gods vicar vpon the earth leauing it to be vnderstood that therefore now he is not a meere man But yet because I knew they might make another construction of those words I would not thereupon rest the proofe of that that I said that the Canonists perswaded the Pope that he was not a meer man but added for that purpose their noble verse whereby they say to the Pope o Clement Prooem in glâ—ssa Nec deus es nec homo quasi neuterâ—es inter vtrunque Thou art neither God nor man but as it were a neuter or mungrell betwixt both euen as elsewhere it is said p Dist 96. Constantinus in glossa In hac parte Papa non est homo sed vicarius dei The Pope in this behalfe is not a man but the vicar of God Tell vs now M. Bishop did I lie or not or doe not you rather dally with your Reader in cauilling thus vainely at one place when you saw the thing that I said purposely iustified by another Surely you take a wrong course this is not the way to recouer the credit that you desire 13. His next quarrell is concerning a place of Beda I alledge out of him that q Answer to the epistle sect 31. pag. 199. in his time the Scriptures were in foure seueral languages of so many seueral nations in this Iland beside the Latin tongue common to them all thereout to search the knowledge of Gods truth This he saith is a lie also but to perswade his Reader that it is so he leaueth out the words wherein I conceiued the proofe to stand The words of Beda are these r Beda hist eccles gent. Anglor lib. 1 cap. 1. Haec in praesenti iuxtra numerum librorum quibus lex diâ—ina scripta est quinque gentium linguis vnam candemque summae veritatis verae sublimitatis scientiam scrutatur confitetur Anglorum videlicet Britonum Scotorum Pictorum Latinorum quae meditatione scirpturarum facta est omnium communis This Iland at this present according to the number of bookes wherein the Law of God is written doth in the languages of fiue Nations search and confesse one and the same knowledge of the highest truth and of true sublimity or height namely of the English the Britons the Scots the Picts and the Latines which by meditation of the Scriptures is become common to all the rest Where I confesse that in those words according to the number of bookes wherein the law of God is written I vnderstood Beda his meaning to be that they studied Gods truth according to the Canonical Scriptures which are contained in a certaine number of bookes not conceiuing such was then my dulnesse that it might be taken that as the Law of God is written by Moses in fiue bookes so this Iland in fiue languages did study and search the knowledge of Gods truth which in further waighing the words I since considered Now M. Bishop to shew his fidelity leaueth out those words imagining that the Reader might perhaps take my first meaning to be as likely as this latter These be S. Bedes wordes saith he This Iland at that time did study and confesse one and the same knowledge of truth of the highest truth he should haue said in fiue sundry languages But if he had meant honesty and plaine dealing he would not haue done thus he would haue set downe the words and left them to the consideration of the Reader that it might appeare what it was that might induce me to that that I affirmed thereupon Albeit setting those words aside I would aske him and he indeed should heere haue told vs how this Iland should in fiue languages study and search the knowledge of the highest truth if they had not in fiue languages the bookes of the highest truth Tell vs M. Bishop we desire to know of you and if you would needes answer the place you should haue declared it how they should study the highest truth without hauing the bookes of the highest truth And that they had so we cannot doubt because it was said by Theodorâ—tlong before Å¿ Theodoret. de enrand Graecor affectib lib. 5. Hebraici libri non
condition of fraile and sinfull flesh Now because no part of this could be imported in that memoriall if it were a thankesgiuing for the Saints therefore whether M. Higgons will or not it must necessarily be taken to haue been a praier for them And heereof there is one argument more in the last part of the comparison when he saith of Christ that he is in heauen and of the Saints that they are in the earth by their bodies yet resting in the earth Where it hath some reason that they should say We pray for them as respecting that their bodies lie yet in the dust of the earth expecting a blessed and happy resurrection which we craue to bee reuealed vpon them but to say that they meant to giue thanks to God for that the bodies of the Saints lie buried in the earth it were senslesse and absurd And because it is confirmed vnto vs by the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy that the Church did pray for the dead in respect of the resurrection therefore wee cannot doubt but that the memoriall heere spoken of by Epiphanius vsed for the Saints in respect of their bodies in the earth was a praier for them to wish their full and perfect consummation by the resurrection from the dead My former conclusion therefore hence deduced standeth good that sith the ancient Church thus praied for the Saints and Martyrs therefore that certaine it is they did not pray vnto them And because they thus praied for the Saints whose soules they were assured were in heauen therefore they praied for the dead without respect of Purgatory which now is made the onely ground and reason of praier for the dead 38. The next matter for which he questioneth me is concerning the opinion of the Greeke churches as touching Purgatory and prayer for the dead My words are such as might haue serued to weaken his motiue had hee not beene resolued without any motiue to remooue and run away What could he haue better to resolue him then that which I say that the Papists themselues confesse that Purgatory was not receiued or beleeued in the Greeke Churches and therefore that it is certaine that they had no respect of Purgatory in their praier for the dead I did not onely say that the Papists confesse it but I cited the places of their confession Alfonsus De Castro saith k Alfons De Castro adu haeres lib. 8. tit de Indulgent In antiquis scriptoribus de Purgatorio feré nulla mentio potissimum apud Graecos Scriptores quae de causa vsque in hodiernum diem purgatorium non est a Graecis creditum Of Purgatory there is in a maner no mention at all with the ancients but specially with the Greeke writers for which cause Purgatory is not beleeued of the Greekes vntill this day Yea not of the Greekes only but of the Armenians also he acknowledgeth that l Ibid lib. 12. de purgatorio vnus ex notissimis erroribus Graecorum Armeniorum est quo docent nullum esse Purgatorium c. they teach there is no Purgatory calling it an errour well knowen concerning them both The words of Roffensis their great and holy Martyr I cited out of Polydore Virgil m Polyd. Virg. de inuent rer lib. 8. cap. 1. ex Roffensi De Purgatorio apud priscos nulla vel quà m rarissima fiebat mentio sed Graecis ad hunc vsque diem non est creditum esse Of Purgatory there was none or very rare mention made amongst the ancient Fathers yea and with the Greekes it is not beleeued till this day Thus did they ingenuously acknowledge as the truth is and did it nothing stagger M. Higgons to finde this so plainly acknowledged Did it make him nothing doubt of his imagined mutuall dependance of Purgatory and praier for the dead Surely he was a very voluntary conuert or else he might easily haue seene that it is no good connexion to say They praied for the dead therefore they beleeued Purgatory but rather they beleeued not Purgatory therefore they praied not for the dead in any such meaning as the Papists now doe He might haue remembred that which I told Doct. Bishop that many amongst vs of custome and of humane affection of loue doe vse many times words of praier for the dead who notwithstanding from the bottome of their hearts doe vtterly defie both Purgatory and the Pope 39. In another place hee saith that it is n Book 1. part 2. cap. 3. ¶ 4. num 2. to our great disreputation that I name the Albigenses as professours of the same faith and religion which we now prefesse But why Forsooth he knoweth no cause himselfe but referreth his Reader to Parsons the Iesuit in his treatise of the three conuersions of England Yea M. Higgons would you make Parsons his narration a motiue of your recantation Would you giue heed to him whom you knew by the testimony of his owne fellows to be a man of Belial an infamous wretch a meere politizing Atheist and therefore likely if it were to serue his turne to deale with the stories of the ancient Christian Martyrs as he hath done with M. Foxes story carying himselfe in all that worke like a very Porphyrie or Iulian applauding himselfe and seeking to bee applauded in a iollity of forcing all things euen against the haire to scorne and mockery You say the Albigenses in their opinions followed the Waldenses as indeed they were the same some part of them onely being so called of the towne wherein they dwelt and would you beleeue Parsons concerning the opinions of the Waldenses who o Exam. of Fox his calen cap. 3. num 13. Of these Waldēses see at large Simon Goulart Catalog test veritatis lib. 15. Where thou shalt see how leaudly Parsons hath dealt with them disclaimeth Aeneas Syluius who was afterwards Bishop of Rome testifying their faith and doctrine vprightly and faithfully as of his owne knowledge that so he may giue way to other either carelesse or malicious reporters who impiously fathered vpon them strange paradoxes in no other sort than Friar p Edm. Campi decem rat cap. 8. passim Campian lately dealt with vs Yea and is not ashamed to cite q Three Conuers pag. 2. c. 10. num 29. Prateolus and Sanders for witnesses thereof whose ioy it hath been to finde out any thing were it neuer so vntrue which they might report opprobrious and disgracefull to them I doubt not but that the Waldenses and Albigenses might happily in some things be otherwise minded than we be and what are they in the church of Rome all in all things of one and the same minde but if wee respect the substance of their faith and doctrine as we may discerne the same not only by r Aeneas Sylu. de Origen Bohem cap. 35. Aeneas Syluius but also by ſ Alfons adu haeres passim Alfonsus De Castro and specially by t Sleidan Comment lib. 16.
is sinne it being the vse and worke of our warfare a Heb. 12.4 to fight against sinne and the grace and power of God assisting vs whereby we ouercome sin He alleageth that S. Iames calleth it only temptation and then first sinne when it conceiueth and I answer him that S. Paul calleth it sinne before it be temptation b Rom. 7.8 sinne wrought all maner of concupiscence in me and therefore in temptation it is sinne See heereof the question of originall sinne handled at large before and of this place of S. Iames the sixt section 33. W. BISHOP Now to conclude this passage if you please to heare to what height of perfect obseruance of the Commandements the Euangelicall Preachers haue brought their followers in Germany vnto by teaching the Commandements to bee impossible and that onely faith iustifieth and that good works haue no reward in heauen and such like Iacobus Andreas a famous Lutheran shall enforme you De planetis who writeth thus That the whole world may see these men alienated from the Papacie and to put no confidence in works De Planetis therefore they doe no good worke at al. In stead of fasting they feast and are drunken day and night in lieu of Almes they oppresse and pill the poore they haue changed praying into cursing and blaspheming the name of God so prophanely that no Turkes nor Saracens commit the like impietie against Christ for humilitie there raigneth pride disdaine crueltie and riot in apparell c. and much more to the same purpose And that this truth may be confirmed by the testimony of two sound witnesses Musculus a man of no smal account among them thus reporteth of his brethren in the Lord. De prophetia Christi Such now adaies is the condition of the Lutherans that if any man list to behold a great number of Knaues robbers malitious persons coseners vsurers and such like deceiuers let him but enter into a Citie where the Gospel is taught and there he shall finde good store of them and a little after Surely it is true that among Heathens Iewes Turkes and other Infidels none can bee found more vnruly and that lesse esteeme of honesty and vertue than the Euangelicall brethren with whom all things passe currant and nothing almost is blamed except vertue For the diuell hath shaken off all their bands and turned them loose R. ABBOT And what M. Bishop are there not thinke you The vertuous conuersation of Papists as many knaues in Rome as in any city of the Lutherans What are there no Minions Courtisans there that serue for the vse of the Pope his Cardinals Did you not remember what was said of Rome by one of your owne Poets Viuere qui sanctè cupitis discedite Roma Depart from Rome all yee whose care is to liue holily Did you not consider that it was easie for vs to retort your words to your selues and to say If you please to heare what good effects the Popish doctrine of iustification by works doth bring foorth looke to the Iesuits Catechisme to Watsons Quodlibets and to the rest of those bookes of the same argument written by Popish Priests concerning the Iesuits who are the Puritane-Papists and the verie quintessence of their religion and yet are there described to be no other but Epicures Atheists fornicatours Sodomites coseners traitours proud malitious contentious couetous and what not Now wee know that the Iesuites will say that you are as leaud and naught as you haue described them to be Like will to like and get you both together there is no such goodnesse in either of you as that you should take vpon you to question our goodnesse And if I should rippe vp this matter of your vertues to the full I should but cause a lothsome and filthie stinke troublesome both to my selfe and to the Reader Therefore I rest my selfe with that answer that I haue a Sect. 15. and of satisfaction sect 19. before giuen vpon the like occasion Onely I must note it for one of M. Bishops Sycophants tricks that hee reckoneth it amongst our doctrines that good works haue no reward in heauen 34. W. BISHOP Hauing done with the Creed and ten Commandements we must now come to our Lords praier Master PER. beginneth with it thus The Lords Praier is a most absolute forme of praier now in this wee are taught to direct our praiers to God alone Our father c. and that onely in the name and mediation of Christ for God is our father onely by Christ therefore to vse any mediation of Saints is needlesse Ans We allow our Lords praier to be a most perfect forme of praier yet hold that many other sort of praiers may be made vnto God very acceptably as sundry other praiers vsed by Christ and set downe in the Gospell doe teach vs and therefore to argue that because one praier of Christs making is directed to God that no other may bee made to any Saint is very childish Wee gather praier to Saints out of S. Pauls requesting the Romans and Corinthians and others to pray for him and out of the mediation of the woman of Cananea to Christ for her daughter and the Disciples speaking to Christ for her with such like both out of the old and new Testament For if it had been either needlesse or bootlesse to haue praied vnto God any otherwise than in the name and by the mediation of Christ then S. Paul would not haue requested the helpe of mortall mens praiers to God for him and if poore sinners praiers may helpe vs much more may the intercession of the glorious Saints do who are in far greater fauor with God See the question of intercession of Saints Againe if that only forme of praier were to be vsed neither were it lawfull to pray to Christ himselfe neither could it bee prooued thereby that we should praie in Christs name For there is no expresse mention of Christs name neither any petition for Christs sake For God may bee truely called our Father in that he immediately createth and giueth vs our soules which is more than our bodies that we receiue from our carnall fathers R. ABBOT If the Lords praier be a most perfect forme of praier The Lords praier excludeth praier to Saints as M. Bishop alloweth it to bee then are we perfectly thereby directed both to whom and for what we are to praie It cannot bee called a most perfect forme of praier wherein there is any want of either of these things To adde any thing to that that is perfect is to denie the perfection of it and to take away any thing from it is to make it maimed and vnperfect Seeing then by the most perfect forme of praier we are instructed to pray no otherwise but to God onely it followeth necessarily that praier to Saints is vnlawfull because it is exorbitant from that most perfect forme M. Bishops exception heereto is
there be more in my booke saith he than you somtimes would haue people to beleeue they that haue a good opinion of it may hap to thinke that those graue and wise men in high authority foresaw that it would hardly be answered by laying nakedly testimony to testimony and reason to reason wherefore they thought it best policy to make choice of som iolly smooth-tongued discourser that might with a ruffling multitude of faire pleasing words cary his Reader from the matter Thus he is all marrow and pith a terrible man our graue wise men in high authority were afraid of him they were put to their shifts to haue his booke answered as for me I am no body all words and no woorth a man of too little substance to encounter with the profound learning of so great a Clerke I doe him heere a double fauour both that I traduce not his foolery as it deserueth and that I forbeare to giue him a ierke for so leaudly demeaning himselfe towards those graue wise men in high authority But what he is and what I am is not to be determined by him or mee God and the Country must trie vs both only this I doe not doubt that my writings vnlearned as they are haue set a dagger at his heart which he shall neuer be able to pull away It appeareth by this Preface that hee hath heard somewhat thereof that pleaseth him not whereupon he is growen so furiated and enraged as that he spitteth nothing but poison and straineth himselfe to the vttermost to disgrace that which he seeth to be so disgracefull to himselfe But he is heerein but as the dogge which gnaweth the stone which causeth paine to his owne teeth but to the stone can doe no harme at all And heere it troubleth him that to his Epistle being but one sheet and a halfe I should write so long an answer of thirty sheetes but I answer him that in the seruice of my Prince and in a busines of that nature I was not to huddle vp any thing but to vnfold and lay open all things that the truth might the more fully and plainly appeare I doe not wonder that he would haue had me more briefe because therby his vnhonest and shamefull dealing should haue beene the lesse seene In a word I wrot as the ancient fathers of the Church haue beene wont to doe not to serue the humour of Heretickes and enemies but as might best make for the satisfaction and edification of Gods Church 5. Another quarrell he hath concerning my sharpe and bitter words disgracefull and odious termes and bitter railing as he speaketh against the best men of their side As touching the persons I must tell him that the best of their side are very bad if they be no better than those of whom I haue spoken As touching the words I will not iustifie my selfe but that in a iust and righteous cause humane affection may carry me somewhat too far in heat but yet I must aduertise M. Bishop that there is a difference to be made betwixt words spoken by way of priuate anger and reuenge and those that are spoken by way of iust reproofe By way of iust reproofe Esay saith to wicked men q Esay 57.3 Ye witches children ye seed of the adulterer and of the whoore By way of iust reproofe Iohn Baptist said to the Pharisees and Sadduces r Mat. 3.7 O generations of vipers who hath forewarned you to flie from the wrath to come In like sort doth our Sauiour Christ bitterly reproch the Scribes and Pharisees calling them Å¿ Mat. 12.34 generations of vipers t Mat. 16.4 a wicked and adulterous generation u Mat. 23.13.16.17.26 Hypocrites blind guides fooles and blind blind Pharisees and in extreame passion saith x Ver. 33. Ye serpents Ye generations of vipers how should ye escape the damnation of hel So doth Steuen speake to the Iewes y Act. 7.51 Ye stifnecked and of vncircumcised hearts and eares And Paul to Ananias z Act. 23.3 God shall smite thee thou painted wall The words then are not alwaies faulty but the occasion thereof is alwaies to be regarded and the occasion thereof must be taken to depend much vpon the condition of the persons For where men are in any sort tractable and do not wilfully oppose themselues against instruction the Apostle prescribeth that rule alleaged by M. Bishop a 2. Tim. 2.24 The seruant of the Lord must not striue but must be gentle towards all apt to teach instructing with meekenesse them that are contrary minded But where men absurdly and wilfully resist the truth and doe leaudly seeke to draw others to be partakers with them in their sin there the Apostles example sometimes taketh place who when he saw Elymas the sorcerer labouring to turne away Sergius Paulus the Romane Deputy from the faith brast out with great indignation and said b Acts 13.10 O full of all subtilty mischiefe thou child of the diuel enemy of all righteousnes wilt thou not cease to peruert the straight waies of the Lord Now therefore albeit I doe not in any sort compare my selfe in measure of grace with those excellent seruants of God as M. Bishop to make himselfe worke full simply cauelleth yet according to that measure of the same spirit which God hath giuen me let no man maruell that I haue beene deeply mooued in heart to see these vassals of Antichrist by trocherous calumniations of true religion to offer so great indignity to the Anointed of the Lord and therefore haue somewhat dipped my pen in gall to exagitate their hypocrisie and iniquity in such sort as to me it seemed the cause it selfe did require Neither will I for that cause be a foule mouthed wrangler as M. Bishop hath stiled me but an earnest Aduocate of Gods truth c Iude vers 3. vehemently contending as the Apostle Iude exhorteth for the maintenance of the faith which was once giuen to the Saints caried with zeale and indignation towards malicious and wicked hypocrits who hauing prostituted their owne soules to the fornications of the whore of Babylon seeke perfidiously to entangle the consciences of others in the fellowship of their vngodly courses and in a word so far from wrangling and hauing with so sound reason and proofe repulsed the cauillations and Sycophancies of his epistle as that after three yeeres he can say nothing for iustification of his motiues which he tendered to the King but shiftingly abuseth the world by a meere collusion enlarging a booke out of some matters of discourse and making a miserable answer onely to some few sentences alledged against him without the compasse of that that he had written But it is not to be omitted in this behalfe what M. Bishop himselfe euen heere saith d Pag. 4. I wot well saith he that the most milde sweet pen-men are sometimes through zeale of the truth or by the ouerthwart dealing of their
obed cap. Vâ—am sanctam De ecclesiastica potestate verificatur vatietnium Ieremiae Ecce constitui te hodie c. Decretall of Boniface the eight and M. Bishop with a wile slily passeth by them and telleth me that I lie saying withall that the common opinion of all their Diuines is to the contrary whereas a number of their Diuines haue published it to the world that God hath setled the power of all kingdomes immediatly in the Pope and that the further disposing of them belongeth to him as is to be seene in the a Large Examination of M. Blackwell pag. 27. 28. c. examination of M. Blackwell the Arch-priest by many of their speeches to that effect some of the bookes being approoued and printed in Rome as containing nothing contrary to the Catholike faith The fift lie saith he that he maketh within the compasse of lesse than halfe a side is that the Pope saith By me Kings raigne whereas notwithstanding the Pope saith expresly concerning the Emperour b Auentin vt supra Per not imperat By me he raigneth and I further quoted the place where he doth say so in his booke of ceremonies which he suppresseth as shal appeare anon Now doest thou not thinke gentle Reader that this man hath a great facility in obiecting lies And this is his maner thorowout his whole booke whilest as the drunken man cried fire fire when he saw but the rednesse of his owne nose so doth he cry out euery while a lie a lie when the lie is no other but a giddy apprehension of his owne distempered braine being with anger growen so farre into melancholy that he thinketh euery straw that lieth in his way to be a lie And indeed we know by experience how the subtil thiefe when he is pursued crieth out with all his might stop the thiefe stop the thiefe that whilest he seemeth to cry after another he himselfe may not be taken to be the thiefe So it is with M. Bishop who in policy crieth out vpon me a lier a lier that he in the meane time may lie freely and no man may suspect him But who the lier is the processe shall declare and let him receiue the shame that belongeth therto In the meane time whereas for reprochfull words he hath applied to me those words of Saint Paul c Rom. 3.13 Their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues they deale deceitfully the venime of serpents is vnder their lips their mouth is full of malediction and bitternesse c. I wish him to consider whether it touch him which is written d Rom. 2.21 Thou which teachest another teachest thou not thy selfe And againe e Luk. 19.22 Out of thine owne mouth will I iudge thee thou euill seruant Consider him I pray thee gentle Reader thorowout his whole booke and thinke with thy selfe whether he be not in this behalfe a sit master for me to be instructed by As touching that he saith that f Pag. 5. if I hold that course of scurrility I shall driue him to giue me ouer in the plaine field I wonder not thereat not for that I giue him cause by any scurrility of mine to leaue the field but for that hee seeth a necessity thereof by the badnesse and wretchednesse of a leaud and vnhonest cause which hee seeth himselfe vnable to defend 6. His next quarrell is that I cite for confirmation and proofe of any doubt our owne writers Bale Fox Iewel Humphrey Holinshed and such other Now if I doe so then I am a foole but if I doe not so then what is he Some of them whom he nameth haue compiled stories of former times collecting what they haue found recorded by others that were before them whose stories standing vncontrolled is it not as lawfull for me to cite as it is for Bellarmine and the rest of his fellowes to cite g Tert. Parsons Respo ad Apolog. pro iuram fidelit Baronius the Cardinall Blondus the Popes secretary Genebrard h Bellarmin de notis eccles cap. 14.15.16 c. Surius Cochleus Staphylus yea Bolsecke a very infamous runnagate and rakeshame and such other of the like stampe or for M. Higgons so often to cite i Motiues Pag. 44. 75. 78. Parsons his three Conuersions or for Parsons there to cite k Three Conuers pa. 2. cha 10. Examen of Fox his calendar chap. 16. passim Waldensis Antoninus Genebrad Surius Prateolus Sanders and such like yea to report what he list vpon hearesay from l Ibid chap. 12. sect 15. Sir Francis Inglefield or for M. Bishop to cite m Of Images sect 20. Bellarmine n Preface 2. part sect 13. Caluino-turcismus o Answer to the Aduer sect 10. Conrad p Ibid. sect 46. Ludolph q Of Traditions sect 16. Gregory Martin yea to report to vs a matter out of r Preface 2. part sect 8. a conference at Paris vpon his owne word yea to write vs a whole booke as he hath done vpon the credit of Bellarmine and some other of his owne side Surely we haue no cause to doubt but that those writers of ours in their relations are men of as great honesty and fidelity as any of theirs though I alledge from them matters of history and fact or doe perhaps cite a sentence of an author mentioned by one or other referring the Reader to the reporter because I haue not the prime authours workes at hand to search the original of it yet very childishly doth M. Bishop conclude heereof that I make their word a confirmation or proofe for any point of faith because I respect not at all what they say but what they haue said or done whose doings or sayings they report and their report I cannot but take to be true so long as I see M. Bishop can say nothing for the disproofe of it Thus haue I alledged out of Å¿ Answer to the epistl sect 4. pag. 26. Holinshed the epistle of Eleutherius Bishop of Rome to Lucius King of Britaine not to prooue any matter of question by Holinsheds word what wizard would so conceiue but to shew by Eleutherius what the duty of a King is towards the Church of God What a iest is this saith M. Bishop how knew this late writer what passed so long before his owne time But I pray thee gentle Reader put the like question to him He telleth thee in great sadnesse that t Reproofe Pag. 248. amongst many other pardons granted by S. Gregory whereof he cannot tell one there is to be seene vntill this day one altar by him erected in the Monastery of S. Andrews in Rome whereat whosoeuer saith Masse for a soule in Purgatory shall deliuer a soule from thence Say now to him What a iest is this how knoweth M. Bishop a new vpstart writer what passed so long before his owne time Would he not thinkest thou take pepper in the nose if a
most materiall points therof which most neerely concerne our iustification and eternall life he continued so sincere and sound as we finde he did Who although he had a conceit that the church of Rome should not erre in faith as M. Bishop alleadgeth out of his Epistle to Innocentius yet if he liued now would disclaime that conceit because he should see the church of Rome oppugning that Doctrine of the imputation of righteousnesse by Christ which he maintaineth at large in that epistle as I haue Å¿ Of Iustification sect 6.8 before cited him in the handling of that point Yea in sundry points from place to place I haue shewed how Bernard fully accordeth with vs and condemneth the doctrine which the church of Rome hath since drawen out of the puddles of her owne schooles so that howsoeuer hee were misted with some superstitious fancies yet that letteth not but that by his iudgement M. Bishop is one of those heretikes against which hee would haue the church coÌ„firmed in the faith For his further censure of the Bishop church of Rome I refer the Reader to that which hath been before said in the second part pa. 70 72. For conclusion of this point I note how in answering my Epistle to the King he taketh the same exception of misapplication to two other sentences borrowed by mee from S. Austin The one is prefixed vnder the title of the booke t Answer to the Epistle ex August de ciu Dei lib. 2. cap. 1. Eorum dicta contraria si toties refellere velimus quoties obnixa fronte statuerunt non curare quid dicant dum quocunque modo nostris disputationibus contradicant infinitum esset If we would so often refute their gainsayings as they resolue with impudent faces not to care what they say so that they may in any sort contradict what we say there should be no end Forsooth S. Austin pronounced this against infidels and with what countenance could M. Abbot cite it against vs Christians which in S. Austins meaning concerneth vs not Forsoorth M. Bishop because S. Austins words of those Infidels do sitly expresse the dealings of such Christians as you be whâ—se peruersnesse and wilfull obstinacie in error is such 〈…〉 howsoeuer plainly your vntrueths be reprooue â—â—â—d conuinced yet you verifie of your selues those other words of S. Austin concerning other such Christians as you be u Aug. de bapt cont Donat. lib. 2. c. 13. Malunt peruersis vocibus veritati reluctari quà m confessis erroribus paci restitui They chuse rather with froward words to striue against the trueth than by the confession of their errors to be restored to Christian peace In the x Epist dedicat to the ansvver to Doct. Bishops epist other place mentioning M. Bishops threatning the King that if he did not yeeld to them God knowes what that forcible weapon of necessity would driue men vnto at length I said that they thereby verified in themselues that which S. Austin said of their predecessours the Donatists Where they cannot by slie and wily cosenage creepe like Aspes there with open professed violence they rage like Lions Heere M. Bishop noteth that both this sentence and the former out of Bernard I set downe in general not quoting the very place because I knew they made nothing for my purpose But I would haue him to note that I penned that Preface being from my bookes and though I did well remember the words yet I could not by memorie particularly note the place But the words he saith are not to my purpose because they were pronounced against the Donatists Yes they are therefore to my purpose because as they serued to expresse the vsage of the Donatists of old so they serue to set foorth the vsage of Popish Donatists and Circumcellions now S. Austin compareth heretikes to Aspes and telleth that y August in Psal 57. Aspides insidiosè volunt venena immittere spargere Aspes lurkingly seeke to thrust in their poison and to disperse the same This he applieth to the Donatists and declaring how Christian Emperours by barring them from the vse of Churches resisted them in that course he sheweth how these proceedings were iustified against the Donatists by the example of the Donatists dealings amongst themselues so as that their mouthes were stopped they had not to plead further for themselues z Ibid. Non est quod respondeant c. Ideoque vbi non possunt lubrica fallacia serpere vt aspides aperta violentia fremunt vt leones profiliunt saeuiunt armatae turbae Circumcellionum dant stragem quantam possunt And therefore saith he where they cannot by their wiles and subtilties creepe like Aspes to spread their poison being by lawes restrained from their wil there by open violence they rage like Lions the troupes of Circumcellions come foorth armed and they murther and kill all that they can Now doe not these words fitly agree to M. Bishop and his fellowes who because they cannot be suffered like Aspes to spread the poison of their hereticall corruptions do fall therefore to raging and threatning to practises of surprising and blowing vp with gunpowder and if they durst to open tumulting and in the meane time saying both M. Bishop and his father and fellow Parsons for they are both in one note that patience often prouoked is turned into furie heereby to imprint in their followers that it is no wonder being so hardly dealt with as they pretend that they take their opportunitie to play the Lions to rauen vpon them by whom they are so ill intreated that so howsoeuer they cleere it for the time as M. Bishop doth yet they may haue them in affection prepared when time shall serue though their * Reproofe pag 30. Parsons Answer to the Apologie for the oth of allegiance pag. vlt. eies I hope shall rotte the while and they shall neuer see it serue But heere is to be noted that he saith that those words may be applied to the Lutherans in Germany and Protestants in England But how I pray M. Bishop seeing S. Austin knew them not nor meant any thing of them He will haue it thought because the Lutherans and Protestants doe in like maner as the Donatists did But then M. Bishop I pray you vnderstand that the words of Austin concerning those Pagans and Donatists are not misapplied to you when you carrie your selfe in the like sort as did the Pagans and Donatists or else by your owne crooked rule you haue abused S. Austins words which you apply to me p Preface to the Reproofe pag. 16. ex August cont Gaudent lib. 1. cap. 19. Nihil affert praeter lassum quassum He bringeth nothing but what is weared and spent because Austin spake those words against Gaudentius the Donatist and I am not Gaudentius 9. Another tricke no lesse shamefull he obiecteth to me in misconstruing the words of the fathers He maketh it to
be but q Answer to the Epistle sect 12. pag. 103. 104. a fable of mine that Gregory the Bishop of Rome commended the zeale of Serenus Bishop of Massilia who could not endure that any thing should be worshiped that is made with hands or did tell him that he should forbid the people the worshipping of them But what will M. Bishop say that Gregory did Marry r Preface to the Reproofe pag. 8 he did not commend but reprehend the vndiscreet zeale of that Bishop who did breake some pictures set in the Church because some late conuerted heathens not yet well instructed in the Christian religion did adore them as if they had beene Gods Well let Gregory tell his owne tale and then doe thou gentle Reader iudge thereof Å¿ Greg. li. 7. ep 109. Indico dudum ad nos peruenisse quòd fraternità s vestra quosdam imaginum adoratores aspiciens easdem ecclesiae imagines confregit atque proiecit Et quidem zelum vos nequid manu factum adorari possit habuisse laudauimus sed frangere easdem imagines non debuisse iudicamus Iderirco enim pictura in ecclesiis adhibetur vt hi qui literas nesciunt saltem in parietibus videndo legant quae legere in codicibus non valent Tua ergò fraternitas illas seruare ab earum adoratu populum prohibere debuit quatenus literarum nescij haberent vnde scientiam historiae colligerent populus in picturae adoratione minimè peccaret I certifie you saith he to Serenus that it came of late to our hearing that your brotherhood beholding some worshipping images did breake the same Church-images and threw them away And surely I commended you that you had that zeale that nothing made with hands should be worshipped but yet I iudge that you should not haue broken those images for therefore is the picture vsed in the church that they who are not learned by booke may yet by sight read vpon the wals those things which they cannot read in bookes Therefore your brotherhood should both preserue the images and forbid the people the worshipping of them that both the ignorant may haue whence to gather the knowledge of the history and the people may not sinne in the worshipping of the picture In the other epistle written of the same matter he wisheth Serenus t Idem li. 9. ep 9. Conuocandi sunt dispersi ecclesiae filij eisque Scripturae sacrae est testimonijs ostendendum quia omne manufactum adorare non liceat quoniam scriptum est Dominum deum tuum adorabis illi soli seruies to gather together againe the Children of the Church who vpon offense of breaking those images had withdrawen themselues from him and to shew vnto them by testimonies of Scriptures that it is not lawfull to worship any thing that is made with hands because it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely thou shalt serue Now compare the words of my answer with these words of Gregory and see whether I say any thing but what he saith Consider where thou maist finde those skiruie shifts of late conuerted heathens and of worshipping images as Gods seeing Gregory saith nothing of worshipping them as Gods but meerely and only of worshipping them affirming that worship by the testimony of scripture belongeth to God only Yea it is to be noted that M. Bishop himselfe confirmeth the same by the words of Gregory which he citeth but that I know not how he is blind and seeth not his owne way u Gregor ibid. Frangi non debuit quod non adorandum in ecclesiis sed ad instruendas solummodò menteâ— fuit nescientium collocatum Gregory saith he telleth him plainly that that should not be broken which was not set vp in the Church to be adored but onely to instruct the ignorant Marke what he saith only to instruct the ignorant Surely if they be set there to be worshipped then not onely to instruct the ignorant if onely to instruct the ignorant then they are not to be worshipped Therfore he absolutely opposeth the one to the other not to be adored but only to instruct the ignorant which cannot stand if it be true which M. Bishop saith that in any maner or meaning they be to be adored Yet he telleth vs that though S. Gregory forbid images to be adored as Gods yet doth he teach them to be worshipped as representations of most holy personages But how may this appeare Marry by his letters saith he to Secundinus to whom he sent the images of our Sauiour of the blessed Virgin Mary and of Peter and Paul It is true indeed that Secundinus sent to Gregory for the picture of Christ and Gregory sent it him signifying to him that his request did greatly please him because saith he thou louest him with all thy heart and whole intention whose image thou desirest to haue before thine eies Withall hee sent him those other pictures which M. Bishop speaketh of So then heere we haue pictures and images and thereof we make no scruple but we haue yet nothing for the worshipping of them For the affirming wherof M. Bishop heere very impudently abuseth his Reader by false translation For the words of Gregory are thus x Greg. lib. 7. ep 54 Scio quidem quòd imaginem saluatoris nostri non ideò petis vt quasi deum colas sed ob recordationem filij dei vt in eius amore recalescas cuius te imaginem videre consideras Et nos quidem non quasi ante diuinitatem ante illam prosternimur sed illuÌ„ adoramus quem per imaginem aut natum aut passum sed in throno sedentem recordamur dum nobis ipsa pictura quasi scriptura ad memoriam silium dei reducit animuÌ„ nostrum aut de resurrectione latificat aut de passione demulâ—et I know verily that thou doest not therefore desire the image of our Sauiour that thou maiest worship it as God but for a remembrance of the sonne of God that thou maiest become feruent in his loue whose image thou considerest thy selfe to behold And we verily fall not downe before it as before the Godhead but we worship him whom by the image we remember either as borne or hauing suffered or now sitting vpon his throne And whilest the picture as it were a writing bringeth to our remembrance the Sonne of God either it reioyceth our minde as touching his resurrection or appeaseth it by his passion Now wheras Gregory saith We doe not fall downe or cast downe our selues before it as before the Godhead M. Bishop readeth We doe cast downe our selues before the said Image not as before a Godhead And so he vnderstandeth the former words Thou worshippest the image but thou doest not worship it as a God taking the particle as to import a distinction of the variety of worship which is onely an exemplification of the propriety thereof For Gregory hath no
diaconos hypodiaconos At hoc non est inxta Canonem sed iuxta hominum mentem quae per tempus elanguit propter multitudinem quum non inueniretur ministeriuÌ„ But thou wilt say vnto mee that in some places Priests and Deacons and Subdeacons do still beget children He answereth But this is not according to the Canon but according to the minde of men which in time hath fainted and for number sake when there were not found to perform the ministery So then he iustifieth that that I affirmed that Priests and Deacons in some places were married and did beget children this being yeelded to the frailty of mens mindes and for the supplying of the ministery though it were not according to the Canon M. Bishop presseth this that Epiphanius testifieth that the Ecclesiasticall Canons had decreed otherwise but the question is not what was decreed by I know not what Canons but what by practise in some places was done The thing that I affirme is that some places admitted no such Canons but their Priests and Deacons and Subdeacons were married men Albeit it were worth the while to know of M. Bishop what Canons those were whence which Epiphanius speaketh of For there was before that time no generall Councell holden but only the Councel of Nice and the Councel of Nice though some motion were made to bring in d Socr. hist eccles li. 2. cap. 8. Visum erat episcopis legem nouam in ecclesiam introducere vt qui â—ssâ—nt sacris initiati sicut episcopi presbyteri diaconi cum vxoribus quas cùm erant laici in matrimoniuÌ„ duxissent minimè dormirent c. Paphnutius vehementer vociferatus est non graue iuguÌ„ ceruicibus illorum imponenduÌ„ esse qui erant sacris initiati honorabile esse coniugium inter omnes thoruÌ„ immaculatum c. viri cum legitima vxore concubitum castimoniam appellarit a new law as Socrates calleth it to separate Bishops Priests and Deacons from the company of their wiues yet gaue it ouer vpon the aduertisment of Paphnutius earnestly crying out that it was too heauy a yoke to be laid vpon the Clergy that marriage is honorable in all and the bed vndefiled that the company of a man with his owne wife is chastity Yea there was an ancient Canon vnder the name of the Apostles e Canon Apost 6. Episcopus vel presbyter vel diaconus vxorem suam ne eijciat religionis praetextu sin fecerit segregetur si perseueret deponatur Let not any Bishop Priest or Deacon put away his wife vnder colour of religion if he doe so let him be excommunicated if he continue therein let him be deposed Which Canon though abbridged in respect of Bishops yet concerning Priests and Deacons is renued in the sixt Councel in Trullo where those fathers professing f Constantinopol 6. in Trull can 13. Nos antiquum Canonem Apostolicae perfectionis ordinisque seruantes hominum qui sunt in sacris coniugia deinceps ex hoc temporis momento firma stabilia esse volumus nequaquam eorum cum vxoribus coniunctionem dissoluentes vel eos mutua tempore conuenienti consuetudine priuantes Quamobrem siquis dignus inuentus fuerit qui hypodiaconus diaconus vel presbyter ordinetur is ad talem gradum assumi nequaquam prohibeatur si cum legitima vxore cohabitet sed neque ordinationis tempore ab eo postuletur vt profiteatur se à legitima cum vxore consuetudine abstenturum c. siquis ergò praeter Apostolicos Canones incitatus sit aliquem eoruÌ„ qui sunt in sacris presbyterorum vel diaconorum vel hypodiaconorum coniunctione cum legitima vxore consuetudine priuare deponatur similitèr siquis presbyter vel diaconussuam vxorem pietatis praetextu eiecerit segregetur c. to obserue the old Canon of Apostolike perfection and order doe decree that the marriages of Clergy men shall from thenceforth continue firme and good and say that they will not dissolue their coniunction with their wiues or depriue them of their mutuall company in time conuenient Wherefore if any say they be found worthy to be made a Subdeacon or Deacon or Priest let him not be put backe though he dwell with his lawfull wife neither let it be required of him in the time of his ordination to professe that he will abstaine from hauing lawfull company with his wife If therefore any contrary to the Apostolike Canons shall be mooued to depriue any Priest Deacon or Subdeacon of the company of his lawfull wife let him be deposed and if any Priest or Deacon shall put away his wife vnder pretence of religion let him be excommunicated and if he so perseuere let him be deposed Now if these were ancient Canons of Apostolike perfection and order as the Councell telleth vs then it was an errour in Epiphanius to account those Canons sincere and perfect that were contrary to these They were it seemeth some positiue and locall constitutions to which he referreth his speech which as they were in some places accepted so in other were reiected but neither the Apostles nor any generall Councel had prescribed any such Canons to be vsed in the Church Now therefore I haue lost nothing by Epiphanius because he plainly saith that for which I alledged him neither hath M. Bishop gained by him any thing against me because he can giue vs no authority for the Canons which Epiphanius nameth for him and we giue him very good authority for other Canons that are against him 11. But in this matter of falsifications M. Bishop yet meaneth to shew himselfe more false I obiected it g Answer to the Epistle sect 14 p. 122. as a horrible impiety written in their law that they stile the Pope Our Lord God the Pope He saith that heerein is h Reproofe in the Preface pag. 10. a double lie First for that I auouch that to stand in the Law which is onely written in the Glosse But is he so nice and strict in his tearmes that he neuer calleth Law but onely the text of Law Surely we call those Law bookes wherein matters of Law are handled although there be no text of Law And might not I say that was written in their Law which is written in the Glosse that is the exposition of their Law and which by authority amongst them is alwaies printed together with the law Albeit what I meant by the Law I expressed my selfe by setting downe the quotation thus Extrauag Ioan. 22. cap. Cum inter in Glossa Yea but the more shamefull lie is that it standeth not in the glosse neither but I bely both the one and the other Where I confesse to thee gentle Reader that I thought that by their new editions he had had some aduantage against me I had read the words as I cited them long agoe in a faire print of the Canon Law in the library of the Church of Worcester Now
Ben Beirdh the chiefest of the wisemen which seeme in all likely hood to tax Austin as a procurer of that slaughter For although he mention the said Taliessin as hauing beene a writer in the yeare 540. yet because there can be imagined no occasion of those words before Austins comming in I conceiue that either there is some errour in the notation of the time or that liuing perhaps to great yeeres as in those daies was no rare thing he wrot the Ode whence those verses are taken in his last time I will define nothing heereof but leaue it to the iudgement of the Reader to conceiue as he seeth cause The verses then he first setteth downe in the Welch tongue as they were written by him that made them a History of Wales by Doct. Powel Gwae'r offeriad byd Nys angreifftia gwyd Ac ny phregetha Gwae ny cheidw ye gail Ac efyn vigail Ac nys areilia Gwaeny theidw ei dheuaid Rhae bleidhi Rhufeniaid A'iffon gnwppa These he repeateth in English thus Wo be to that Priest yborne That will not cleanly weede his corne And preach his charge among Wo be to that shepheard I say That will not watch his fold alway As to his office doth belong Wo be to him that doth not keepe From Romish woolues his sheepe With staffe and weapon strong Where when he nameth Romishwolues we cannot doubt but that he alludeth to some cruelty caused or practised by some that came from Rome which because it can haue no application in those times but only to the slaughter of the Monkes aforesaid therefore I doubt not but that it hath reference to Austin the Monke who came then from Rome as the cause of that slaughter Now because we are in hand with falsifications and misconstructions I hold it not amisse to reduce hither two other taxations of his of the same nature as most properly belonging to this place The first by order of my booke is a place of Mathew Paris by whom I say it appeareth that a Answer to the epistle sect 3. pag. 20. for the space of twelue hundred yeeres after Christ the Popes authoritie could gaine no acknowledgement in Scotland for that in the time of King Henry the third the one and twentith of his raigne when the Popes Legate would haue entred into Scotland to visit the Churches there the King of Scots Alexander the second forbad him so to do alleaging that none of his predecessours had admitted any such neither would hee suffer it and therefore willed him at his owne perill to forbeare Concerning this allegation M. Bishop setteth downe a postscript in the end of his booke when all the rest was finished in this curteous maner Curteous Reader I must needs acquaint thee with a notable legerdemaine which by perusing the authour I found out after the rest was printed Now gentle Reader I know thou lookest for some speciall great matter which he was thus carefull to adde after all the rest was printed but what is it I pray M. Abbot saith he to prooue that the Pope had no authoritie in Scotland twelue hundred yeeres after Christ auerreth that Alexander the second vtterly forbad the Popes Legate to enter within his kingdome which is not true No is Surely then M. Abbot dealt very vndutifully with his Prince to delude him with a false tale But I pray you M. Bishop tell vs what the truth is For his authour Mathew Paris declareth saith hee that the King indeed did at the first oppose himselfe against that visitation of his kingdome to be made by the said Legate not for that he did not acknowledge the Popes supreme authoritie in those ecclesiasticall causes but because it was needlesse the matters of the Church being as he said in good order and for feare of ouer-great charges And is this all M. Bishop that you could finde perusing the authour so diligently as you haue done But I pray you put on your spectacles once more and turne ouer your booke againe Thou shalt vnderstand gentle Reader that the impression of Mathew Paris which I follow is that b Tiguri in officina Froschoviana 1589. at Tigure in officina Froschouiana anno 1589. There in the one and twentieth yeere of Henrie the third being the yeere of our Lord 1237. pag. 431. which in the edition cited by M. Bishop I take by some notes of mine to be pag. 597. thou shalt finde Mathew Paris set downe this matter in these words c Math. Paris in Henrico 3. anno 1237. pa. 431. Volenti autem domino Legato intrare reguum Scotiae vt ibi de negotijs ecclesiasticis tractaret sicut in Anglia respondit rex Scotiae Non me memini Legatum in terra mea vidisse nec opus esse aliquē esse vocandum deo gratias nec adhuc opus est omnia benè se habent Nec etiā tempore patris mei vel alicuius antecessorū meorum visus est aliquis Legatus introitū habuisse nec ego dum mei compos fuero tolerabo Veruntamen quia fama te sanctum virum praedicat moneo te vt si fortè terram meam ingrediaris cau tè progrediaris nequid sinistri tibi contingat c. The Lord Legate being desirous to enter into the kingdome of Scotland there to deale in Ecclesiasticall matters as he had done in England the King of Scotland answered him I remember not that I haue seene any Legate in my countrey nor that there hath beene any need thanks be to God that any should be called neither is there yet any need all things are well No nor in the time of my Father or of any of my predecessours hath any Legate beene seene to haue had any entrance there neither wil I suffer any so long as I am in my right wits Notwithstāding because by report you are a holy man I warne you that if yee doe goe into my countrey yee goe warily lest any thing befall amisse to you For vnruly and sauage men are there dwelling which thirst after mens bloud whom I my selfe cannot tame nor hold them backe from me if they fall vpon you These are the words of Mathew Paris now aske M. Bishop I pray thee wherein standeth that notable legerdemaine which he would acquaint thee with Aske him what it is wherein I haue varied from my authour I said that the king forbad the Legate to enter so saieth the storie I said that the King alleaged that neuer any Legate in the time of any of his predecessours had beene admitted there the storie saith the same I said that this was twelue hundred yeeres after the time of Christ the story noteth it to haue beene in the yeere 1237. Wish him now to tell thee where the legerdemaine is or whether it be rather some policie of his thus to talke of legerdemaine But this place he would not see yet the latter place he saw he quoteth the page 667. iustly agreeing with the
noted of him and signified the reiecting of his story by the Church of Rome May they now thus at their pleasure reiect the ancient Historians of the Church and was it so hainous a matter for me to censure Eusebius being knowen to haue beene an Arian heretike for fathering vpon Constantine a superstition which it appeareth by himselfe he gaue him no occasion to conceiue of him 18. There followeth Chrysostome in the next place against whom Sixtus Senensis sticketh not to put in an exception that e Sixt. Senens Biblioth sanct l. 5. in Prafat Chrysostomus impetu disceptandicum Manichaeis Gentibus c. saeponumerò naturae nostrae vires plus aequo attollit by heat of reasoning against the Manicheeâ— and Heathens he doth often too much extoll the power of nature and Andradius condemning Origen of great errour for imputing sinne to the Virgin Mary saith that f Andrad Defens fidei Trident. l. 5. Neque ab hoc Origenis errato Chrysostomus plurimum abfuit c. Chrysostome was not farre from the same errour of Origen when he charged her with importunity and ambition for that shee interrupted her sonne as he was preaching Will they againe at their liberty thus tax Chrysostome and doe I offend in saying that g Answer to the epistle sect 25. pag. 175. as an Oratour hee apprehended a thing to speake according to present occasion which otherwise he approoued not when I giue plaine demonstration and proofe that it is so The place it selfe gentle Reader will satisfie thee neither need I to vse any defense of it So will the other also where I say of a speech of Chrysostome concerning Constantines sonne that h Ibid. pag. 176. howsoeuer it proceeded from him it is much different from the certaine story I show that it is so what a vaine brangler is hee to cauill at my words when as he is not able to controll the proofe 19. The next abuse that he noteth is to S. Austin wherin he plaieth Will Sommers part striking him that is next him but letting him alone by whom he himselfe is stricken My words are these i Answer to the Epistle sect 8. pa. 54. ex Erasm argument in lib. Hieronym aduers Ioninian Diuus Augustinâ—o errores quosdam confert in Iouinianum quos tamen illi non impingit Hieronymus vtique non dissimulaturus siquid tale docuisset c. Verùm apparet diuum Augustinum nec Iouiniani nec in hunc Hieronymi libros legisse tantum rumore populari didicisse quod nouerat de Iouiniano Erasmus obserueth truly that Austin chargeth Iouinian with some errours whereof Hierome maketh no mention who would not haue passed by them if Iouinian had taught them whereby it appeareth as he collecteth that Austin had neither read Iouinians bookes nor Hieromes bookes against Iouinian but onely by peoples rumours and talke had learned that that he knew concerning Iouinian I note what Erasmus collecteth Erasmus himselfe giueth reason of his so collecting and was not this a mortall abuse committed by me towards S. Austin that M. Bishop should say as he doth In like maner he slandereth S. Austin for writing against Iouinian whose opinions saith M. Abbot very audaciously S. Austin knew onely by hearesay and not of any certainty Doest thou not thinke he is well skilled in his art that can so well bombast such a quarrell as this is But there is forsooth another matter that I say Austin was deceiued where he said that no Priests imbraced Iouinians opinion And did I not prooue so much by Hierome himselfe that there were both Bishops Priests of the same minde Yea that the Clergy Monks of the church of Rome notwithstanding the sentence of Siricius then Bishop of Rome retained still their opinion that maried wiues are the same with God as Virgins are the thing is plaine and were M. Bishop so wise as he should be he would neuer trouble vs with such idle stuffe 20. I note Hierome k Ibid. pag. 54. for rude vndecent speeches against mariage He that will know whether he vsed any such or not let him read his epistle ad Gerontiam de Monogamia and his first booke against Iouinian in which his vsage is such in that behalfe as gaue occasion of great offence in Rome so as that the greatest part of his Apology to Pammachius is spent in excusing such speeches which notwithstanding to say the truth very slenderly hee doth That he wrot against Iouinian with l Pag. 57. all indignation and stomacke who doubteth that readeth what he wrot who seeth not that he laboured to the vttermost of his power to disgrace him against whom he wrot As for railing I mention it not by mine owne words but by the words of Erasmus who saith of him against Vigilantius m Answer to the epist sect 9. pag. 67. ex Erasm argum in lib. Hieron aduers Vigilantium In hunc ita conuicijs debacchatur Hieronymus vt plusculum in eo modestiae cogar desiderare Vtinam argumentu duntaxat egisset a conuicijs temperasset He doth so raile at him as that I cannot but wish that hee had shewed more modesty I would he had dealt by argument onely and had for borne railing speeches False doctrine I name not but if there be nothing false in Hierome how commeth it about that Bellarmine mentioning that n Bell. de Rom. Pont. lib. 1. c. 8. Videtur beatus Hieronymus inea sententia fuisse vt existimaret episcopoâ— esse presbyteris maiores iure ecclesiastico non diuino qua sententia falsa est suo loco refectetur Hierome seemeth to be of that opinion that Bishops by the law of God are not superiour to Priests saith that that opinion is false and he will afterwards refute it or how doth Alfonsus De Castro say that o Alphons de Castro aduers haeres l. 6. apud Sixt. Senens Biblioth sanct l. 6. annot 324. Non veretur fateri Hieronymum hac in parte errasse he doubteh not to confesse that Hierome in that behalfe erred as Sixtus Senenfis hath reported of him Thus it appeareth that I haue not taken exception against any father but that they themselues also except against the same as they doe also against the rest Of Iustinus Irenaeus Epiphanius Oecumenius Bellarmine saith p Bellarm. de sanct beatitud c. 6. Iustini Irenaei c. sententiam non video quo pacto possimus ab errore defendere I doe not see how we can defend their opinion from errour q Idem de Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 7. Videtur mortalitèr peccasse cùm praecepto expresso Apostolico non paruerit Cyprian he saith seemeth to haue sinned mortally for that he obeied not the expresse commandement of the Bishop of Rome In another case he saith r Ibid. cap. 8. Respondeo non esse omninò fidem habendam Tertulliano in hac parte quandoquidem ipse Montanista erat Tertullian
men iust occasion to detest him crying out of falsifying and corrupting of cosenage and deceit when hee himselfe intendeth and practiseth nothing else Such as thou hast seene him heere gentle Reader such shalt thou finde him almost in all his answers throrowout his whole booke which when I shall haue stript out of those ragges wherewith he hath clothed them thou shalt see him a poore Doctour and shalt well perceiue that he was put to a cruell shift and streining of conscience for the writing of this booke 34. In the meane time I callenge him to giue an answer to this aduertisement He hath with wide mouth cried out vpon me for false and corrupt dealing I challenge him to make good his accusation against this briefe Defense I know he loueth not to meddle with the answering of long books and when I shall haue giuen checke to his Reproofe he will not be at leisure to giue me at large a countercheck I challenge him therfore to cleere himselfe if he can against those exceptions that I haue heere taken against him and setting downe plainly the authours words in their owne tongue as I haue done to make it appeare if it bee so that in charging me with falshood and lying hee hath done the part of a trusty and honest man being no further so to be taken if hauing made such a clamour against me of lying lying it now prooue to be but a cry of course not for any matter in me but onely of forme in him I pray thee gentle Reader to vrge him by all meanes thereunto Tell his friends and followers that if in these few matters hee cannot better acquit himselfe it shall be a shame for them to suffer themselues any longer to bee deluded by such a shamelesse man If he say he will doe it in his second part vnderstand that he doth but mocke thee The booke that he hath now published was comming foorth without any name of the first part The Presse being then surprised they haue since by some common aduice amongst them reuiewed and better furnished it and now for a colour haue called it The first part Thou hast beene three yeeres and more in the expectation of this little peece let him not hold thee three yeeres more in the expectation of another part But whether it be this peece or that part thou maiest now by thine owne experience iudge of both If God continue my health and strength and the vse of those eies at the distemper and sorenesse whereof hee so often sporteth himselfe I will by the assistance of his grace giue thee further experience of him in the rest Albeit I thinke thou wilt not wish that I either trouble thee or my selfe with all his wandring discourses his idle descants his fond surmises his imagined contradictions Much worke he maketh that I should say n Reproofe pag. 50. I would stop the aduersaries mouth and leaue him nothing to reply But let him remember that to that part whereof I said so he hath yet replied nothing and let him vnderstand withall that I take not euery dogs barking to be a reply He chargeth me with o Ibid. pag. 62. contradiction for that I say that in his dedication he had no hope to preuaile with his Maiestie and yet I say that in his booke he thought himselfe to haue performed some great exploit that is saith he to preuaile maruellous much with his Maiestie But his Commentarie fitteth not my text because his great exploit there intended was not in preuailing with his Maiesty but as I there declared in writing a famous and woorthy worke the marrow and pith of many large volumes contracted and drawen into a narrow roome Another contradiction he fancieth in that I p Ibid. pag 267. 268. c. say that he reuealed a counsell and secret of his owne and his fellowes in saying God knoweth what that forcible weapon of necessitie will driue men vnto at length and yet I bid him be of good cheere and tell his fellowes that we knew their mind before I answer him that in their desire it is a secret which by all means they conceale and hide and which they would not haue vs by any means or in any sort to imagine of thē and yet by experience wee haue learned to iudge of them that they are as there I said trecherous false-hearted faithlesse waiting for time and opportunitie if power would serue to compell his Maiestie to their order Now to what end should I spend either time or paper for the examining of such dreames To the matter and question of religion or if there be any thing else materiall I will answer him if God will the rest which serueth onely for the lengthning of his booke I will passe by with contempt 35. Now then to leaue M. Bishop for the time I come to M. Higgons who hauing vpon meere discontentments lately reuolted from vs and being strangely become a proselyte of the Church of Rome to the great griefe of his father the vntimely death of his mother the wonder of all who haue knowen what formerly he was hath of figtree leaues like Adam made him a mantle to couer this nakednesse and shame deliuering vnder the name of motiues certaine fantasticall apprehensions whence as he pretendeth he tooke the occasion of this reuolt In these motiues taking vpon him to censure the state and proceedings of our church and to tax sundry of our men who by writing haue applied themselues for the defense thereof he picketh heere and there some petit quarels against me amongst the rest as if in writing against Doct. Bishop I had not dealt syncerely and vprightly in the report and allegation of some things The matters are but few and those such as that I shall not need to stand long vpon any of them The matter that chiefly troubled his head gaue him occasiō of this apostasie was as he pretendeth our deniall of Purgatorie and praier for the dead which he now vpon the sudden hath learned to be an Apostolicall tradition And amongst other reasons that haue induced him so to conceiue of it one is a proposition deliuered by Doct. Field that q First Motiue of T.H. book 1 part 1 ch 2. § 2. num 8. whatsoeuer all or the most famous in all ages or at least in diuers ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man doubting or contradicting it may be thought to be an Apostolicall tradition This he affirmeth to be true of praier for the dead that the most famous and renowmed in all ages haue constantly deliuered it as receiued from them that went before and none haue gainsaied it but damned heretikes and therefore that it must by Doct. Fields rule be taken to be an Apostolicall tradition Whence saith he I was compelled to inferre that Doct. Abbot doth willingly deceiue himselfe saying that praier for the dead is a tradition and ordinance of the Church to which
This deniall of a third place M. Higgons z Book 1. part 1. ch 2. § 4. num 10. acknowledgeth and noteth me in his margent for citing the places where it is denied but seeketh to auoid it by saying that Austin thereby onely denied against the Pelagians any third place of eternall rest heere vpon earth after the day of iudgement for children dying without baptisme for this is the briefe of the differences that hee hath there set downe But this will not serue his turne because Austin doth not meerely deny their third place but from the absolute denial of a third place inferreth that their third place cannot be a August de peccat mer. remiss l. 1. cap. 28. Non est vllus vlli medius loâ—us vt possit esse nisi cum diabolo qui non est cum Christo Hinc ipse dominus volens auferre de cordibus malè credentium istam nescio quam medietatem quam conantur quidam parunlis non baptizatis tribuere c. definitiuam protulit ad haec ora obstruenda sententiam vbi ait Qui mecum non est contra me est There is not any middle place for any man saith he that he may be but with the diuell that is not with Christ He addeth Heereupon the Lord himselfe also willing to take away from the hearts of misbeleeuers this I know not what middle place which some seeke to assigne to children vnbaptised hath to stop their mouthes pronounced a definitiue sentence where he saith He that is not with me is against mee There is then no middle place for infants vnbaptised because there is not after death any middle place for any man and therfore doth the Lord pronounce that definitiue sentence from which how M. Higgons will shift Purgatory I cannot well tell The other sentence is as plaine b August Hypognostic lib. 5. Da mihi praeter hunc alterum locum vbi vitae possit requies esse perennis PrimuÌ„ enim locum fides Catholicorum diuina authoritate credidit regnum essâ— coelorum c. Secundum Gehennam vbi omnis Apostata vel à fide Christi alienus aeterna supplicia experietur Tertium penitùs ignoramus imò nec esse in Scripturis Sanctis inuenimus Giue me beside this that is the kingdome of heauen any other place where there may be perpetuall rest of life For the first place the faith of catholick men by diuine authority haue beleeued to be the kingdome of heauen The second hell fire where euery Apostata and alien from the faith of Christ shall feele euerlasting punishments A third we are vtterly ignorant of yea wee finde by the holy Scriptures that there is none such Where we see that S. Austin taking in hand to refute the third place affirmed by the Pelagians distinguisheth generally how many places there be and resolueth that that third place of theirs cannot be because there is no third place Heauen and hell he saith he findeth in the Scriptures but third place he findeth none and therefore maketh vs confident against beleeuing any Purgatory because in the Scriptures we find none The Papists say they find it there but they say vntruely they finde it in their owne constructions forced vpon the Scripture but in the Scripture it selfe they finde it not All the places which they alleage haue their iust and perfect vse euen by the exposition of the fathers themselues without any Purgatorie to be inferred thereby 37. In the same chapter num 12. he toucheth me again for that wheras Austin reuerenceth Epiphanius as a holy man and famous in the Catholike faith it seemeth good to me to iustifie Aerius a damnable heretike against him But I reuerence Epiphanius as farre as Austin did or teacheth me to doe I acknowledge hee was a holy man and famous in the Catholike faith but yet I say of him as S. Austin saide of Ambrose another holy man and famous in the Catholike faith c August con Pelag. Cele lib. 1. cap. 43. Quantis praedicat laudibus quamlibet sanctum doctuÌ„ virum nequaquam tamen authoritati Canonicae Scripturae comparandum Though he were a holy and learned man yet is he not to be compared to the authoritie of the Canonicall Scripture I dissent from Epiphanius as Austin himselfe did concerning fasting daies as I touched a little before who denieth that to be Apostolike tradition which Epiphanius affirmeth to be so I iustifie Aerius against Epiphanius in one point as in another point S. Hierome did as I haue shewed also d Sect. 21. before not reiecting a truth for that either an heretike hath affirmed it or a Catholike doctour hath denied it but therefore embracing it wheresoeuer I finde it because God hath taught it And although Aerius for Arianisme were iustly to be accounted a damnable heretike yet doe I not thinke that M. Higgons can make good his word which before hee hath giuen that for those matters wherein we approoue him there were beside Epiphanius and Austin many other that did condemne him Epiphanius indeed doth so and Austin professing to follow Epiphanius transcribeth the same from him but Philaster and Theodoret writing of heresies mention no such matter neither doe I thinke that M. Higgons can bring vs any father or story of those times that taxeth Aerius in that behalfe Yea I may not omit that which I pointed at before that when Dulcitius mooued the question to Austin e Aug. ad Dulcit quaest 2. Vtrum oblatio quae fit pro quiescentibus aliquid eorum conferat animabus c. Ad quod multi dicunt quòd si aliquis beneficij in hoc locus esse possit post mortem quantò magis sibi anima ferret ipsa refrigeria sua per se illic confitendo peccata quà m in eorum refrigerium ab alijs oblatio procuratur Whether the offering that is made for the dead doe auaile their soules any thing he setteth downe the opinion of many in that time concerning that point Many say to this matter that if heerein any good were to be done after death how much rather should the soule it selfe obtaine ease to it selfe by confession of sins there than that for the ease thereof an offering should be procured by other men which opinion hee would neuer haue set downe neither would Saint Austin haue let it goe without hard censure if it had beene then publikely taken for heresie so to thinke yea Dulcitius would neuer haue mooued the question thereof if Purgatory had been a knowen and vndoubted point of faith as M. Higgons would faine haue it thought to bee But this is not all that hee hath heere to blame me for for in the margent he chargeth me that I peruert the sense of Epiphanius as though the church had praied for the Saints c. If they did not so what is it then that Epiphanius reporteth Epiphanius reporteth saith he that when we make a memoriall of
purpose he misinforceth the testimony of Epiphanius whereby he would exempt Aerius from the crime of heresie iustly laied vnto his charge by S. Austin and many others But I answer him that though as a man I may be deceiued yet God hath giuen me more grace than that in these matters I will willingly deceiue my selfe In this matter of Epiphanius I do not take my selfe in any sort to be deceiued His conclusion against Aerius as touching praier for the dead is this r Epiphan haer 75. Ecclesia necessâ—râ—ò hoc perficit traditione à patribus accepta quis autem poterit staturum matris dissoluere aut legem patris velut Solomon dicit Audi fili fermones patris tui ne repudies statuta matris tuae ostendens per hoc quòd in scriptu sine scripto decuit pater mater autem nostra ecclesia habet statuta in se posita indissolubilia quae dissolui non pâ—ssuntâ—â— Cùm itaque ordi nata sint in ecclesia statuta benè se habeant omnia mirabâ—ittèr fiant confutaâ—us est tursus etiam hic seductor The Church necessarily doth this by tradition receiued from the Fathers and who may dissolue the statute of his mother or the law of his Father as Solomon saith My sonne heare thy Fathers words and refuse not thy Mothers statutes heereby shewing that both in writing and without writing the Father hath taught and our Mother the Church hath statutes set downe in her which are inuiolable and may not be broken Seeing then saith hee that there are statutes ordeined in the Church and they are well and all things are admirably done this seducer is confuted Now then doe I say that praier for the dead is a tradition Epiphanius saith the same that the Church doth it by tradition from the Fathers Doe I say that he maketh it a statute or ordinance of the Church He himselfe expresly calleth it so and finally presseth the authority of the Church onely for the confuting of Aerius He alleageth no Scripture his words import that he hath none to alledge Onely to grace the ordinances of the Church he wresteth a saying of Salomon nothing pertinent thereto as if we were taught that God without scripture teacheth vs by the Church And if he meane any otherwise but that it is the ordinance of the Church very vainly and idlely doth he heere name the ordinance of the Church But M. Higgons will say that though Epiphanius name it thus a tradition and an ordinance of the Church yet he meaneth it to be such a tradition and ordinance as is from the Apostles But let him meane what he will yet so long as he maketh it a tradition without Scripture my words stand good which I vsed to M. Bishop Å¿ Answer to Doct. Bishops epistle sect 10. pag. 79. 80. Epiphanius resolueth vs that praier for the dead is a matter of tradition and an ordinance of the Church and therefore freeth vs from any trespasse against any thing that Moses or the Prophets or Christ and his Apostles in the Scriptures haue deliuered vnto vs. If it be no matter of Scripture with Epiphanius then I say rightly that he cleereth vs from impugning therein any thing that is deliuered in the Scriptures Albeit because it is by Epiphanius his confession a tradition without Scripture therefore we resolue vndoubtedly that it came not from the Apostles because whatsoeuer they taught concerning faith and saluation is conteined in the Scriptures as before hath beene shewed at large Yea and how vnsoundly Epiphanius vrgeth Apostolike tradition is to be seene in the point which he speaketh of immediately before where he saith that t Epiphan haer 75. Decreuerunt Apostoli quarta prosabbato ieiunium per omnia excepta Pentecoste de sex diebus Paschatis praecipiunt nihil omninò accipere quà m panem salem aquam the Apostles decreed a fast vpon Wednesdaies and Fridaies continually saue betwixt Easter and Whitsuntide and that six daies before Easter men should receiue nothing but bread and salt and water whereas S. Austin professeth that u Aug. epist 86. Quibus diebus non oporteat ieiunare quibus oporteat praecepto Domini vel Apostolorum non inuenio de finitum what daies to fast or what daies not to fast he findeth it not defined or set downe by any commandement of Christ or his Apostles and by Tertullian it appeareth that the Primitiue Church alledged against the Montanists x Tertul. de ieiunio sic Apostolos obsernasse nullum aliud imponentes iugum certoruÌ„ in coÌ„mune â—mnibus obeundorum â—etunorum that the Apostles imposed no yoke of standing and common fasts and of the Lent-fast Socrates resolueth that y Socrat. hist. li. 5. c. 21. Quoniam nemo de ea praeceptum literarum monumentis proditum potest osteÌ„dere perspicuum est Apostolos liberam potestatem in eadem cuiusque menti arbitrio permisisse vt quisque nec metu nec necessitate inductus quod bonum est faceret because no man can shew any written commandement thereof it is manifest that the Apostles left it free to euery mans will and discretion that without feare or necessity euery man should doe what good is Now we cannot wonder that he that would thus vnaduisedly name Apostolike tradition for the one should do the same for the other also Albeit if M. Higgons can iustifie praier for the dead according to Docter Fields rule we will not sticke with him to grant it to be an Apostolicall tradition But he might haue seene that I had put it without the compasse of that rule if he had been desirous to know the truth and had not resolued first vpon other occasions to fall away and afterwards to seeke shifts to excuse his fall I shewed by Origen that the Church at first vsed no praier for the dead by the authour of the ecclesiasticall Hierarchy that when it was first vsed it was vsed onely for iust and holy men of whose soules they were resolued that they were in heauen for what causes I haue expressed there by Epiphanius that they added afterwards to pray for euill men also and publicke offenders by Austin that there was not knowen any definite and certaine vse and effect of praiers and offerings for the dead and that many in his time did plead that if any good were to be done for the soule after death it should rather be by it owne confession of sinnes than by offerings procured by other men And lastly whereas praier for the dead by M. Higgons confession dependeth vpon Purgatory I shewed by Austins expresse words that he had no certaine beleefe or knowledge of any such place which are more cleere to that purpose than that by any Popish sophistications they can be shifted or deluded 36. Albeit I did not only alledge him doubting of Purgatory but also plainly excluding it vpon occasion by denying any third place