man So then as it was not Saint Peters conscience but the errour of his conscience when he refused the meates as vncleane which God had sanctified and made lawfull so it is not their conscience but the error of their conscience that they refuse vs for schisme heresie which indeed are true gospellers and members of the mysticall body of Iesus Christ as by Gods assistance I wil proue And as the Disciples not knowing of Pauls Act. 9. conuersation were afraide to ioyne with him supposing him to be a persecuter when he was a Preacher so they feare to ioyne with vs supposing vs to be in the wrong way whereas indeed we be in the right And because I haue saide it is not vpon conscience that they sequester themselues from vs I will shew them how many wayes a mans conscience may erre and be deceiued and so carried away from the truth and they are these eight following The first is ignorance so the common sort ignorantly alledge we are heretikes that our religion is not warrantable but cannot know what heresie is neither yet rightly conceiue the groundes either of our religion of their owne For they are inhibited to heare our Sermons Vide Cōcil Trid. Pref. in indicem expurg Greg. Mart. de schis to reade our bookes to haue conference with vs or to be catechized by vs. How then should they knowe our religion They are nourished in blindnesse by their owne teachers which hold it as a principle that it is fit they should be ignorant Neither are they permitted to haue the Bible in their mother tongue How then can they know their owne religion They are vnfurnished and vtterly destitute of all meanes and helpes which may bring them to be able to discerne truth from heresie The second is negligence So they which in some measure are learned doo call vs heretikes which can but doo not reade our bookes although they haue them nor examine the groundes which wee hold although they are able and it is permitted vnto them Concerning their owne doctrine they are contented to receiue it for truth vpon the credit of others without further proofe and to see with other mens eyes heare with other mens eares speake with other mens tongues because they will not spend so much time as to search further and what slaunder soeuer they doo heare of vs they are readie to beleeue it For example Edm. Cāp rat 1. Campion slandereth our Church as if we did offer violence to the holy scriptures affirming that Luther wrote contumeliously of Saint Iames his Epistle his disciples blush not to report the same because hee hath written it without further enquirie whether hee writ the truth or not whereas if they would but vouchsafe to examine the place for their owne satisfaction they would finde it a slaunder which they because of their slouthfulnesse do holde for a truth They are contented to buy Campion alone and Gregorie Martine his Preface with the notes of the Seminaries of Rhemes vpon the New Testament and now and then to reade them But as for Doctor Whitaker his answere many of them suffer it not to be in their studies or if it bee in the Catalogue of their liberarie they do not reade it And as for doctor Fulkes answere to Gregorie Martines Preface and the notes of the Seminaries they are so farre from conferring the one with the other that so they might be satisfied and resolued of the truth as they are contented to giue more mony for the Rhemish Testament alone then for the same booke with Doctor Fulkes answer ioyned with it The third is obstinacie For as the first cannot because they be ignorant and vnable to iudge and depriued of all meanes by which they may be enabled and the second do not iudge rightly because they are slouthfull and loth to take so much paines as to trie the spirites to examine doctrine and conferre places So the third sort of men will not vnderstand the truth because they be obstinate they will resist the holy Ghost and stop their eares against the truth as the adder doth against the charmer and as the Iewes did against Saint Stephen Wee shall not perswade Act. 7. them although wee doo perswade them because instruction and Rom. 10. faith commeth by hearing they wil not heare least they should be instructed and beleeue the truth They say their fathers professed that religion and therefore they will rather erre with their fathers Gen. 31. than embrace the truth with vs like Rachel which would not leaue behinde her the gods of her Father but carrie them with her They were brought vp and instructed in this religion from their childhood and now they say they will not alter They 1. Thes 5. forgot the rule of the Apostle which willeth them to make tryall of all and then to hold that which is best For they will heare none they will holde what they haue held and they will not alter for the better And in so doing what do they but as Pharao Exod. 5. did who saide Who is the Lord that I should heare his voice and let Israel goe I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel goe Whereas the Prophet saith To day if ye will heare his voice Psal 95. harden not your hearts The fourth is perplexitie vnstayednesse and trouble of mind like vnto Saule which after he had put away the Sorcerers and 1. Sam. 28. Soothsayers out of the Land yet when he was terrified by the armie of the Philistines seeing it to be very great and could haue no answere from God neither by dreames nor Vrim nor Prophets asked counsell of a Witch at Endor So diuers which haue renounced that religion and imbraced ours yet lying at the point of death in the midst of their conflicts and tentations thinking vpon the arguments which are brought on each side and fearing to halt betweene two opinions and so die vnresolued because they haue not had at that instant conference with such as were able Gen. 19. to resolue them of all their doubts haue suddenly reuolted and not onely followed the example of Lots wife which looked backe vnto Sodome but also of the people which haue saide come let vs goe backe into Aegipt againe The fift is pride and their owne insolencie whereby they are puffed vp and thinke that all men must be subiect vnto them Num. 14. but they neede submit themselues vnto none As Bernardinus Ochinus writ a Booke in defence of Poligamie affirming that numerosum coniugium multitude of wiues was lawfull supposing that after his Maister Peter Martyr was dead no man was able to match him in writing or in disputation like Golias of Gath which 1. Sam. 17 challenged all commers to the combat And this is the speciall cause why Popes and generall Councels doe erre because they hold it as a principle in their Diuinitie that they cannot erre For
commaunded to doe wee are but vnprofitable seruants and therefore we will relie vpon the merits of Christ alone renouncing our selues and our workes Let them iudge then who are safest they or we Our difference is not concerning the worke it selfe but only concerning the opinion which we ought to conceiue of the worke they thinke honourably wee basely of our owne workes but worke the same And certainely the worthinesse of workes doth not consist in the excellent opinion which we conceiue of them but in the true and faithfull working not in the pleasing of our selues with our selues or any thing which procedeth from vs. Of Free will THis question hath bred some difference betweene vs in the schooles and yet if we do vnderstand each other we may be easily reconciled For the scriptures speake so plainely that they take away doubts We are say they not of our selues sufficient to thinke a good thought as of our selues but all our sufficiencie is of God The way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man 1. Corint 3. Ierem. 10 to walke and direct his steps No man commeth to Christ vnlesse the Father draw him Draw me and wee will runne after Iohn 6 Cant. 1 Rom. 7 thee What good I would doe that doe I not the euill which I would not doe that doe I saith the Apostle To conclude therefore there are three sorts of agents the one working of his meere will and pleasure which is God the other of necessitie which is nature a third betweene both these extreames partly of willingnesse and partely of necessitie which is man And as no man is good against his will so no man hath power to will any thing that is good vnlesse God giueth him that will So saith the Apostle It is God which worketh in you euen the wil and deede Phil. 2 of his owne good will and pleasure And this will may be compared to the eye which being in darkenesse yet is not blinde neither doth it see without the especiall grace of God Of Prayer WE inuocate God alone who we are sure doth heare vs and they confesse that in so doing wee doe well why then will they not ioyne with vs in well doing But as for Saints departed when they pray to them to be prayed for by them they are not certaine that they doe heare them because it cannot be sufficiently prooued why then will they not pray with vs whose prayers they confesse to be voyde of exception They denie not but that it is better to pray to God then to Saints why then had they not rather be sure of the first place then doubt of the second Their prayer to Saints may breede a scruple in their conscience whether they do well or no. For if they heare them not their praiers are idle words but they must answere at the day of iudgement Matth. 12. for euery idle word which they shall speake As we pray not to Saints departed so wee pray not for Saints or any other deceased If they be in heauen they neede not our prayers if in hel no prayers can helpe them and we dare not say they are in purgatory sith purgatory by the confession of Bellarmine is a tradition not containd in the scriptures He writes that there be many things necessary to be known which are not contained in the scriptures he doth reckon them vp in order and he placeth them so first that women were purged from sinne though vncircumcised secondly that children that died before the eight day were also purged from originall sinne thirdly many Gentiles in the old testament were saued fourthly that of necessitie there be some books which are the holy scriptures fiftly that it must be knowne which bookes are the holy scriptures sixtly that the bookes which wee haue in our hands are the holy scriptures seauenthly that the scriptures are to be vnderstood eightly that Mary was a perpetuall Virgine ninthly that Easter is to be celebrated on the Lordes day tenthly that Infants are to be baptized eleuenthly purgatory But marke his words he saith many things are necessary to be knowne which are not contained in the scriptures among those he maketh purgatory to be the eleuenth therefore he affirmeth that purgatory is a thing necessary to be knowne and not in the scriptures and yet as a man that would halte betweene two religions to please vs and not displease the Papists doth lay it vpon Luther saying Credit Lutherus purgatorium esse tamen asserit purgatorium non posse probari in sacris literis Luther saith he belieueth that there is a purgatory and yet saith it cannot be prooued out of the scriptures The question is whether Bellarmine doth not say so as well as Luther If he do not first why doth he not expresse his owne minde to the contrary in that place secondly why doth he in that long catalogue of such things as are not contained in the scriptures reckon purgatory to be the eleuenth He sheweth that the tenth tradition or vnwritten veritie is the baptisme of Infants that Luther and Caluin hold it lawefull and yet his selfe doth not refuse that opinion which they doe hold and the like must be vnderstood concerning purgatory that as Luther denieth purgatory to be contained in the scriptures so doth Bellarmine or else he doth contradict himselfe which said before that Pargatorium est vndecimum eorum quae ignorari non possunt tamen in scripturis non continentur Purgatory is the eleuenth of these things whereof we may not be ignorant and yet are not contained in the scriptures Sith therefore Bellarmine repeating many things which are not contained in the scripture of which one to be purgatory and yet before as I haue shewd granteth all things to be contained in the scriptures which are necessary for our saluation that we should know them ye must beare with vs De verbo Dei lib. 2. cap. 11. if we doe not belieue purgatorie being no matter of saluation to vs to belieue it We pray in our mother tongue what exception doe they take against it Their priuate prayers are in English as it appeareth by their Iesus psalter their Manuall of Meditations and sundry other prayer books which they haue printed I would know why it might not be as lawfull to pray publikely in the same tongue Which is more I haue seene the Masse by them set forth in Spanish the Spanish being in one page of the booke and the Latine in the other In times past the English testament was printed with the English in one page and the Latine in the other and licensed to be printed and publikely sold by King Philip and Qu. Mary And now of late our English Seminaries of Rhemes haue published the New Testament in English with promise also to set forth the old why may not the English Bible be published by vs as well as by the Seminaries and as well be read publikely in our Church
A PERSWASION to the English Recusants to Reconcile themselues to the Church of England Written for the better satisfaction of those which be ignorant By Iohn Doue Doctor of Diuinitie PSAL. 72. Giue thy iudgement to the King O God and thy righteousnes to the Kings sonne 1. PET. 2. Feare God Honour the King Printed at London by V. S. for Cuthbert Burby dvvelling in Paules church-yard at the signe of the To the most High and Mighty Prince IAMES by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defendour of the Faith GRatious and dread Soueraigne I say the truth I lie not my conscience bearing me witnes in the Holy-ghost that I haue with the Apostle great heauinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart for many of my brethren and Country-men And my hearty desire and prayer for them to God is that they may be saued For I beare them recorde that they haue the zeale of God though not according to knowledge which is the onely cause that mooued me to write this short Treatise And because God of his great goodnesse hath vouchsafed your tender yeeres the education of TIMOTHIE and indued your Highnesse since your happy gouernement with princely gifts knowledge to discerne truth and zeale to maintaine truth I humbly present vnto your Maiestie these few lines containing a subiect of so great importance The common voyce and hope of your best affected people is that your Highnesse hath a religious intent to make God yet better knowne in IVDA and his name yet greater in HIERVSALEM to bring all these your Kingdomes to the acknowledgement and profession of one truth so that hereafter HIERVSALEM may be as a walled towne and fenced citty which is at vnitie within it selfe and as it was in the dayes of the IVDGES all ISRAEL may be gathered together as one man from DAN to BEERSHEBA vnto the Lord in MISHPAH The Lord guide and prosper you in all your wayes the Lord establish your house and kingdome the Lord blesse you out of SION that you may see the wealth of HIERVSALEM all the dayes of your life that you may see your Childrens Children and peace in SION Your Maiesties humble Subiect IOHN DOVE ¶ A Perswasion to the English Recu sants to reconcile themselues to the Church of England CHAP. I. It is not enough for them to pray priuatly but it is also required that they ioyne in prayer with the Congregation ALthough the prayers of the faithfull are heard if they be faithfully made in what places soeuer because our Sauiour saith Matthew 7 Whosoeuer asketh he shall receiue and therefore not the Publican onely was Luke 18 2. Reg. 20 heard in the Temple but also King Ezekias in his Chamber Elias vnder the Iuniper tree Ionas in the bottome of the Sea Manasses in the prison Yet the Church is a place more especially Iona 2 oratio Manassis Matth 21. appoynted for prayer it is called the house of prayer and God is more peculiarly present in that house than in all other houses Of the Temple we reade that Gods eyes were open towards that house night and day his name was especially 1. Reg. 8 there he harkened to the prayers of his Seruants which stretched foorth their handes in that place and of them which were in captiuitie if they turned towardes that house which was built for his name A greater promise is made to the prayers of many vnited together than of one and a more fauourable presence of Christ amongst them which make their ioynt petition insomuch that when a congregation is ioyned together in his Matth 18 name he will be in the midst of them and if they agree in earth vpon any thing whatsoeuer they shall desire it shall be giuen of his Father which is in heauen If we lay before our eyes the Stories of the Bible the exercise 2. Ezra 8 of the godly was such In the dayes of Ezra the Scribe it was so All the people assembled themselues together hee brought the booke of the Law of Moses before the assembly of men and women and all that could heare and vnderstand he read from morning vntill mid-day vnto them the eares of all the people harkened to the booke of the Law he preached to them out of a woodden Pulpit he praised the Lord the great God and al the people answered AMEN AMEN with lifting vp their hands and they bowed themselues and worshipped the Lorde with their faces towards the ground In the newe Testament their maner was to meete together on the Saboth day to ioyne in prayer and to heare the word preached and to receiue the sacraments In the Acts of the Apostles at Antiochia was maintained Act. 14 a Lecture of the Law and the Prophets Saint Paul deliuered words of exhortation there after the Lecture and they besought him to preach to them the same sermon againe the next Saboth Saint Paul and his company being at Philippi on the Saboth Act. 17 day went out of the Citty by a riuer where they were accustomed to pray there he preached and conuerted Lydia And no doubt but if our Recusants would heare our Sermons many of them also would be conuerted Vpon the Lords day at Troas the Act. 20 disciples were gathered together to break bread a multitude was gathered together and Paul preached to them When Peter was in prison the Church making a ioynt petition for him obtained a Act. 12 speedy and miraculous deliuery And it was obserued as an especiall vertue in the primitiue Church that they continued together in prayer and breaking of bread and that they had all one heart And to this purpose Saint Paul exhorteth them saying I beseech you brethren in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ that 1. Corin. 1. ye all speake one thing that ye be knit together in one mind and iudgement And againe the God of patience and consolation Rom. 15. graunt that you may be like-minded one to another according to Christ Iesus that you with one mind and one mouth praise God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ The true markes of the visible Church of God are the hearing of the word the participation of the sacraments and publike prayer as out of the scriptures I haue declared Let vs therefore examine the groundes whereupon so many of our nation which would especially be accounted of the true church withdrawe themselues from our publike assemblies refuse to ioyne with vs in so Christian exercises insomuch that whereas it was wont to be reputed a punishment to be interdicted suspended and like Lepers to be shut out of the Congregation they now like Lepers exclude themselues Saint Ambrose needeth not now to excommunicate Theodosius for hee will excommunicate himselfe Sozos li. 7 c. 24 and we haue as much neede to whip them into the Temple as our Sauiour had to whippe them out as hee did in the storie of the Gospel They alleadge
captiues seauentie yeares in Babel and learned the language of the land where they dwelt which was Calde and yet not able to speake it naturally they spake a third kinde of dialect which was the Syriac consisting partly of the Hebrue and partly of the Chalde which language to them became their mother tongue as appeareth by the Syriac words in the ghospel which are therefore called Hebrue because at that time the Hebrues spake them I answere first to the story out of the story The text hath And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men women and of all that could heare and vnderstand it Againe he read there in the streete that was before the water gate from the morning vntill midday before men and women and them that vnderstood it Therefore it is euident by the testimony of the holy ghost that the people vnderstood that language wherein the law was written and read vnto them Bellarmine asketh what neede there was then of an expositour I answere the Leuites expounded not the words but the sense for the text saith The Leuites caused the people to vnderstand the law and in the next verse is explained how the people were caused to vnderstand the law not the words of the law but the law it selfe not the tongue wherein the law was written but the meaning of it for so it followeth in the 8. verse And they read in the booke of the law of God distinctly and gaue the sense and caused the people to vnderstand the reading that is they preached vpon it And forasmuch as the story saith they read distinctly what neede was there of distinct reading to them which vnderstood not the language I answere to his obseruation Forasmuch as the Chalde and Syriac were but dialects of the Hebrew as the Doric and Ionic are but Dialects of the Greeke and the Scottish tongue is a dialect of the English it was incredible that the Iewes in their captiuitie hauing among them Prophets and zealous Priests their selues being also zealous and fully assured to returne againe should so forget their tongue as not to vnderstand their owne Bible so well as the Dorics vnderstand common Greeke and the Scottish men do vnderstand English But which is more although the manner of the Iewes euer hath bin when they were dwelling in strange places to speake the language of the place where they dwelt as I know by my owne experience the Iewes at Frankefort speake Dutch of Prage Bohemish c which tongues haue no affinitie with the Hebrew yet in all places their seruice is in Hebrew and their custome as it hath beene so still continueth to teach their Children so much Hebrew as may be sufficient to vnderstand the Bible and it is manifest by the storie that the Iewes in Babylon did the like Last of all Concerning our prayers if they do vvell looke ouer their ovvne missall or Masse-booke vvhich vvas vsed in England according to the custome of Sarum and conferre it with our Seruice booke they shall finde that there are few things in it but they are either taken out of the Bible or which vvas good in that missal so that they cannot easily mislike our seruice book vnlesse they vvill condemne a best parte of their ovvne Masse-Booke and the Bible So then they may safely come to our Church vve cannot vvithout violating our conscience come to theirs our prayers are in English which all they vnderstand their prayers are in Latin which our people vnderstand not they pray for the dead without warrant we for the liuing for the which they confesse wee haue warrant enough they pray to the dead which wee for iust causes disallow wee pray to the liuing onely I meane the liuing God against which they take no exception Of the Sacraments COncerning the number of Sacraments we will not dispute for as they define a Sacrament there are more than seauen as we define it there are but two This therefore shall not breed any such iarre betweene vs that therefore wee should refuse to communicate together Of Baptisme WEe hold them which are baptized in the Church of Rome to be so sufficiently baptized that they may not be baptized againe neither do they rebaptize them which haue bin baptized in our Church Of the Lordes Supper AS often as we be made partakers of the Lordes Table wee 1. Corint 11 receiue the Lords body because he hath saide it his owne selfe We receiue it with reuerence and deuotion because it is his body For we must not as the Apostle speaketh eate it vnworthily lest so we be guiltie of the Lords body neither will we eate our owne damnation for not discerning the Lordes bodie But how it is his body we cannot see by the eyes of our bodies or humane reason neither can they onely wee discerne it by the eyes of faith and so ought they to do Stephen Gardiner and the learned of their Church were wont to say it was his bodie ineffabili modo after an vnspeakable maner after such a maner as mens tongues could not vtter And therefore as the Vniuersitie of Tiguri putteth them in minde they seeme to haue forgotten what they said before when they take vpon them to farimodum that is Contrà testament Brentij to expresse in plaine terms of logicke yet cleane contrary and repugnant to the rules of logicke his body to be really naturally and substantially hidden and comprehended vnder the accidents of bread It is very strange both to expresse that which they say cannot be expressed and that the accidents of bread can haue their being when the bread it selfe hath no being in whose only being their essence and being doth consist But be it as it is no man can know more or sooner than God wil reueale what expositions soeuer the subtitle and varietie of mens wits do deuise this sacrament is in our Church administred by vs as it was by our Sauior Christ and is set downe in the story of the Gospel I would know therefore what exception they take against it why they should not receiue it with vs It is no scruple or barre to their consciences in what sence we do vnderstand it so as we deliuer it vnto them according to the true manner and forme of our Sauiour Christ his institution And if they will submit themselues to the lawes of our Church and receiue it at our handes we will not be ouer-hastie with them to examine them how they doe expound the wordes Hoc est corpus meum This is my bodie For we know they cannot eate it but by faith and so we wil leaue them to Gods mercy that he would vouchsafe in good time further to satisfie them lay open and reueale his truth vnto them CHAP. IIII. Of Scisme THey alleadge we are Scismatikes because we haue made a defection from the Catholike Church and withdrawne our neckes out of the yoake of obedience to the head of the Church
which is the Bishop of Rome and that being seperated from the head we cannot be liuing members of that mysticall body My answere is The head of the Church is Christ 1. Cor 11. and we as members are conglutinate and ioyned vnto that head and to them which obiect that our Sauior Christ in his absence must haue his Deputie that the Deputy or Vicar generall of Christ is the Holy-Ghost which hath the gouernement of the Church Euen as Elias ascending vp let his mantle downe vpon Eliseus to be with him in his steade so our Sauiour departing 2. Reg. 2 Act. 2 Matth. 28. Act. 20. from vs sent downe the Holy-Ghost to possesse his roome and to abide with vs vntill the end of the world Take heede saieth the Apostle to your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy-ghost hath made you ouer-seers so then the Holy-Ghost hath the gouernement of the Church But say they a visible body must haue a visible head proportionably to the body and therefore some one man must be ouer the Church I deny not but weake men desire a visible obiect still before their eies as the Israelites when Moses was out of their sight but a few dayes Exod. 32. would make a calfe to be their gouernour rather than they would want one to be visibly resident among them And therefore our Sauior because we should not in his absence committe the like idolatry did leaue the visible Sacrament of the Eucharist among vs saying This is my body But yet I do answer that a similitude must not as the Schoolemen say Currere quatuor pedibus agree in all things First therefore it is not simply necessarie that the visible bodie should still haue a visible head in sight as if it could not stand without such an head For God had his Church visible vpon the earth before the Papacie and before the Incarnation of Christ but Christ the head of the Church before his incarnation could not be a visible head So therefore as Christ in his Godhead alone before hee was borne was the head of his Church though inuisible likewise is he now in his Godhead and Manhoode vnited together head of the church visible although vpon the earth not to be seene Secondly the time hath beene when there was a long vacancie of the Popedome by reason of ciuill dissention yet the Church then stood without such an head Thirdly no sinfull man is able to discharge such an office as to be ouer-seer of the vniuersal church Fourthly there must be such an influence of necessitie from the head to the body as cannot possibly be from any man to the Church Fiftly the Pope neuer was reputed as head of the whole Church for the East part of the world that is the Greeke Church was euer so auerse from the Sea of Rome that it could neuer yet be brought either to obedience to the Pope or to ioyne in rites and ceremonies with his Church or to be incorporated into that body or to vse the same leiturgie and forme of prayer which that Church vseth All appellations amongst them haue bin to the Patriarch of Constantinople as to the highest Bishop Sixtly what authoritie soeuer the Pope hath had ouer the Latine Church and West part of the world it hath beene giuen him by humane constitutions onely and generall consent of Princes and States which they suffered him to enioy during their owne good liking and no longer And last of all our owne experience can enforme vs that the Catholike princes which are most of all deuoted to the Sea of Rome will be so farre subiect as they thinke fit and no further Charles the fift late Emperor and King of Spaine tooke prisoner Clement the Pope when hee resisted his proceedings in Italie and Queene Mary made her Cosin Cardinall Pole Arch-Bishop of Canterburie though the Pope withstood it neither doe the Kings of France though of the Romish religion euer suffer the Popes to beare any stroke in the election of their Bishops I wish therefore that they would be better aduised before they lay scisme vnto our charge Chap. V. Of Discord and Inconstancie THe vsuall obiections against vs were wont to be that wee haue sects and diuisions among vs. But so had they oftentimes Eckius against Pighius Thomas against Scotus so had the Apostles Peter against Paul and Paul against Barnabas some were of Paul some of Apollo and some of Cephas We contend about white and blacke round and square but in matters of religion we agree That concerning the booke of common prayer when the masse was first put downe king Henry had his English Leiturgie and that was iudged absolute without exception but when King Edward came to the Crowne that was condemned and other in the place which Peter Martyr and Bucer did approoue as very consonant to Gods word When Queene Elizabeth beganne hir raigne the former was iudged to be full of imperfections and a new was deuised and allowed by the consent of the Clergie But about the middle of her raigne wee grew weary of that booke and great meanes haue beene wrought to abandon that and establish an other which although it was not obtained yet we doe at the least at euery change of Prince change our booke of common prayers we be so wanton that we know not what we would haue I answer they haue done the like they cannot denie it for proofe whereof I referre them to the preface which is set before their owne Breuiary wherein it is specified how many times their owne Breuiary hath beene altered It is no discredit either to them or vs to alter for the better and to correct that which we finde amisse All faults are not espied at once neither is all truth reuealed at once But it is damnable to perseuere and continue in an error after it is found out and not to imbrace a truth after it is reuealed The Church had a time of growing three hundred yeares after Christ being then watered and made fruitefull by the bloud of Martyrs then the religion of Rome was found according to that which Saint Paul doth testifie in his Epistle to the Romanes the Bishops thereof Rom. 1. continued zealous and were commonly martired The Church had a time of florishing three hundred yeares which beganne when Constantine the great granted peace vnto the gospel and persecution ceased so long found doctrine was preached But the Church afterward beganne to decay and so went backeward vntill Gregory the great in whose time corruption began to creepe in and so ranne ouer the whole body of the Church and euery christian Kingdome which were members of that body so that the whole visible Catholike Church through the world was mightily deformed Then Luther in his time beganne a reformation againe though he reformed not the whole yet he reformed some partes like a Phygtion which finding a mans body full of sores healeth some members although he be not able
to restore the whole to his first integritie Neither did Luther reforme those parts vnto the full by reason of the shortnesse of his life and the greatnesse of the cure which he vndertooke but left somewhat to be reformed after him by Caluin and Beza which as they came after him so they saw more truth then was reuealed vnto him for it did not please God to reueale all truth to one man or in one age So then as a Physition which being not able to cure the whole body cureth some parts and members and yet being preuented by death doeth not so perfectly restore those partes which hee cureth vnto their former strength and agilitie but leaueth his worke to be finished by others so did Luther by the Church The Clergie of England therefore in King Henries dayes established religion and ordered their seruice booke according to that smal portion and measure of knowledge which then they had In the dayes of King Edward and Queene Elizabeth more light was reuealed then before and those errours which were espyed were amended And as it was no shame for vs to reforme our errours when wee espied them so it must needs be vnexcusable to the Church of Rome to continue in their errours now they are layde open before them or to winke at nooneday that they will not see them The Lord of his mercie through Iesus Christ giue them and vs his grace that we may agree together in on truth and as sheep of one fold hearken only to the voice of him which is the great Shepheard of our soules which is Iesus Christ Amen The Conclusion I Thought it requisite to forbeare multitudes of quotations of places and allegations of Doctors and Schoolemen because this Treatise was written for the instruction of the ignorant I haue vpon purpose affected breuitie because my desire was that euery one should reade it Some Latine sentences of Bellarmine I haue produced that the Aduersarie might not charge me as if I had falsified any thing or dealt otherwise than ingeniously I haue alleadged those places only which were so pertinent to this businesse which I haue in hand as they could not be well omitted And I haue refrained to handle some other questions which peraduenture would be very pleasing to the Reader because authoritie hath not iudged it conuenient they should be discussed Let it not seeme strange which I haue written that the learned Papists flie from their ancient defences and cleaue to ours and that Bellarmine the great Golias of Rome in his works which beare a title as if they were written wholy against vs doth in many points hold with vs and in those very points iustifie vs wherein he is thought to condemne vs that in very many things he is a Protestant or at the least not a Papist that the Roman religion is refined for it will plainely appeare to all iudicious and indifferent readers I haue spoken of this argument more at large in mine answere to Bellarmines foure bookes de verbo Dei and his fiue bookes de Christo which had beene published before this time had it not beene for the great difficultie of printing Latine bookes here in London but are now beyond the Seas to be printed and I will obserue the like in the rest of his workes which I do intend to answer if God shal giue me life and health and blesse my labours There be many Iesuites and Seminaries dispersed in this land into whose handes I doubt not but this booke will come which if they will but remember what Vrim and Thummim ought to be in pectore Aaronis in the heartes of Gods Ministers if they will reade without partialitie and that I may vse their owne phrase of speach speake sincerely and in verbo Sacerdotis what they thinke I submit my selfe to their censure whether I haue deliuered a truth or not and I perswade my selfe that it they haue that integritie whereof they make profession they will not deny one truth to gaine many worldes But thus much haue I written at this time for the discharge of my conscience the zeale I beare to the truth and the instruction of them which hitherto haue not vnderstoode themselues I pray GOD my perswasion may perswade His Maiestie hath professed that he will establish the truth if he do not that I may with reuerence and in all duty vse his owne wordes his bookes will witnesse against him at the latter day He may doe it if he be assisting to his Ministers But he cannot do it vnlesse he prouide that there be a learned Ministery through the land that the learned be preferred before the vnlearned they which labor in the word before them which are idle that they be preferred according to their worth that they be sufficiently prouided for that they be countenanced by his Highnesse his Nobles the gentrie but especially by the Iudges the Land that they haue no rights denied vnto them which of dutie they may challenge out of Gods word And this his Maiestie shall neuer effect vnlesse he preferre religion before policie remooue Gehezi out of Elisaeus his seruice abandon flatterie banish simonie out of the Church and briberie out of his house and all his Courts The Lord continue and increase his zeale that he may raigne ouer vs like Ezechias to Gods glory the aduancement of the Gospel our happinesse the comfort of his owne soule which he shall one day feele to be more precious vnto him than al his kingdomes To the Protestant Reader Be it very farre from the seruants of God that they should mistake me or conceiue any sinister opinion of my indeuors as if I dealt too fauorably with the Papists For they ought to consider of mine intent purpose which is not to exasperate and prouoke them to anger but to perswade thē which I cannot do by bitter speeches neither yet by burdening them with any vntruths The spirit of meeknes doth best become Christ his ministers and the worde of God hath taught me to deale charitablie with all men but especially to restore them which haue fallen by gentlenesse not to breake the brused reede nor to quench the smoaking flax That I am not of their mind this booke testifieth sufficiently enough That I do not make more fauourable constructions of their Doctrine than truth and veritie doth require their doctrine it selfe doth shew How much I discent from them my Sermon doth witnesse which I preached at S. Paules Crosse about eight yeares since and published in print wherein I shewed that the state of the Papacie was Antichrist In it I set downe as I hope though a briefe yet a full and perfect state of the question what was wanting in words by reason of the shortnes of time was supplied in substance I answered all obiections out of Bellarmine and Sanders which were of moment that it might be an helpe to others which should aferward deliuer the same againe in more wordes and larger volume The God of al wisdome and knowledge direct their harts and mindes to the true knowledge of his worde through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS