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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88669	The ancient doctrine of the Church of England maintained in its primitive purity. Containing a justification of the XXXIX. articles of the Church of England, against papists and schismaticks The similitude and harmony betwixt the Romane Catholick, and the heretick, with a discovery of their abuses of the fathers, in the first XVI ages, and the many heresies introduced by the Roman Church. Together with a vindication of the antiquity and universality of the ancient Protestant faith. Written long since by that eminent and learned divine Daniel Featly D.D. Seasonable for these times.	Lynde, Humphrey, Sir.; Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1660 (1660)	Wing L3564B; ESTC R230720	398,492	686

saith Nempe quòd solâ fide in Christum nullis meritis nostris justificamur In Ep. Pauli ad Rom. c. 16. In verba illa deleatur Ind. lib. prohibit p. mihi 629. Ind. Madrid fol. 133 Ind. Belg. p. mihi 393. That we are justified by faith alone in Christ and by none of our merits That our owne workes whatsoever they be are not of that value that they should merit a reward of condignitie or congruitie but so farre forth as God in his mercie doth accept them These and the like passages are commanded to be blotted out And whereas hee sayth a Sic verè nullum hominum genus est quod minimè movetur verbo Dei quàm hi qui in sua justitia confidunt Idem in Joh. c. 1. There is no kinde of men that are lesse moved with the word of God than those which trust in their owne righteousnesse your men as being guilty of their trust in their merits of workes command this and the like passages to bee stricken out Your Index of prohibited Bookes published by the b Opera tamdiu prohibentur quādiù expurgatio nō prodierit Ind. l. prohibit p. 56. Cardinall of Sandonall and Roxas tells us that the workes of Ferus are forbidden to be read till such time as they shall be purged and sure I am when they are purged they are none of his For I appeale to you and your fellow Jesuites Mr. Floyd whether these passages following be his or yours I meane either the Protestant doctrine which he published before Luthers dayes or the Popish tenets which are since altered by the Inquisitors and taught by the Trent Fathers In the third of St. Matthew the true Ferus sayth c Quòd si aliquando mercedem audis pollioeri scias non ob aliud esse debitam quàm ex promissione divina Ferus in Math. 3. If at any time thou heare of a reward promised know that it is not due for any thing else but for the divine promise sake Your Inquisitors command it to be altered thus Quòd si aliquando mercedem audis polliceri scias non sine promissione esse debitam Ind. Madrid fol. mihi 125. If thou heare of a reward promised know that it is not due without the promise The one saith it is not due for any respect but for the divine promise ex promissione divina the other saith it is not due without the promise when the true Ferus addes Gratis promisit gratis reddidit He promised freely and he hath given freely you command these words to be stricken out And whereas Ferus commenting upon the words of Christ Ind. Belg. p. mihi 372. Ind. lib. prohib p. 627. Qui hanc fidem nescit ad Ecclesiā non pertinet etiamsi videtur primus esse in Ecclesia Idem in Mat. l. 3. c. 16. p. mihi 25. Ind. Madrid p. 125. Ind. Belg. p. 370. Tues Petrus c. Thou art Peter and upon this Rocke I will build my Church she wing that this Rocke was meant of Christ by the confession of Peters faith And saith hee whosoever is ignorant of this Faith belongs not to the Church although hee seeme to be the chiefe in the Church These words are otherwise read in your generall Indices and are commanded to bee stricken out And upon the words Si quis natus fuerit c. he saith a In Joh. c. 3. p. mihi 69. Ind. lib. proh p. 625. The Preachers of Gods Word ought first to teach faith by which a man is justified and afterwards good workes there the words by which a man is justified are commanded to be stricken out Now as you have purged many places so likewise you have forged and falsified others by addition or retraction Looke upon his Commentary on the first Epistle of Saint John and you shall behold strange additions and the true Protestant Doctrine wrested to flat Poperty as for instance b Scriptura sacra data est nobis seu certa quaedam regula Christianae doctrinae Idem in 1 Ep. Joh. c. 2. edit Antwerp An. 1556. The holy Scriptures saith the true Ferus are given us as a certaine sure rule of Christian Doctrine In Ferus printed at Rome he is taught to say The holy Scriptures and a Romana edit An. 1577. traditions are given us as a certaine sure rule of Christian Doctrine The true Ferus saith b Justus lic èt in Christo manet tamen sine peccato nec esse potest septies enim in die etiam justus cadit Idem in cap. 3. Though the just man remaineth in Christ yet he is not neither can be without sinne for even the just doe fall seven times a day your Roman Ferus addeth c Sine peccato originali not without veniall sinnes The true Ferus saith d Fi●ē charitatē conjungit Apostolus ita tamen ut fidem praeponat Ibid. The Apostle conjoyneth faith and charity yet so as hee preferreth faith your Roman Ferus addeth he preferreth faith e Additur ordine non perfectione in order not in perfection The true Ferus saith f Charitas timoremexpellit quia fidem quâ Christum vitā propitiationem salvatorem nostrum apprehendimus probat confirmat certámque reddit Ib. c. 4. Aliter Charity driveth out feare because it trieth confirmes and makes assured our faith whereby we apprehend Christ our life propitiation and salvation your Romane Ferus saith g Charitas timorem expellit quia peccata remittit Spirit us sāctus eam consolatur testimonium perhibens quòd filii Dei sumus Ibid. Charity drives out feare because it forgiveth our sinnes and the Holy Ghost doth comfort it giving testimony that we are Gods children The true Ferus saith h Ibid. cap. 5. There be some who after faith doe earnestly urge good workes but because they teach not withall to what end they are to be directed and how much is to be ascribed unto them they give cause that almost all the common people doe trust in their owne workes and so they build upon the sand the Roman Ferus saith There were some who after faith and with faith did earnestly urge good workes but because they cast away their necessity and others ascribed too much to them they all did build upon the sand Lastly in the true Ferus sometimes by changing of a word or by taking away of a word you pervert the sense and meaning of the Author As for instance whereas the true Ferus saith Saint John condemned all glorying in our workes omnem gloriam your Roman Edition hath turned omnem into inanem and saith Saint John condemned inanem gloriam vaine glory Ridiculum est quod quidam bîc volunt Cephas idem esse quod caput Idem in Joh. c 1. p. mihi 43 c. And whereas the true Ferus saith It is ridiculous that some will have Cephas for the head your

doct Fidei Tom. 1. l. 2. Art 2. c. 22. p. 203. viz. that the Church could not create a new article of faith How can any such article saith he framed after many yeares be catholique and universall when as it was unknowne to our fore-fathers for foureteen hundred yeares before It was not beleeved because not heard of when the Apostle tels us faith commeth by hearing Such an article therefore although it be of faith yet it cannot be catholique and this hee proves directly from Fathers and Councels And whereas you affirme that your Church can no more make an article of faith than shee can make a Canonicall Booke of Scripture Canus loc Theol. l. 2. c. 7. p. 38. Canus your Bishop of Canaries will joyne with you That the Church of the faithfull now living cannot write a Canonicall Booke of Scripture and hee gives the reason for it There are not now any new revelations to be expected ither from the Pope or from a Councell or from the universall Church and from hence it will follow of consequence by your owne Logick Therefore the Church can create no new article of faith Thus farre I have waded in your behalfe that you may the better justifie your owne Assertion for you wil find your Church is like a house divided against it selfe and therefore cannot stand long I say that Quere which was made in Waldens dayes was resolved above two hundred yeares before by your profound Schoole-man Thomas Aquinas in your Churches behalfe that the Pope had power Condere articulos fidei to create new articles of faith to remove therefore these fig-leaves with which you would cover the naked truth This learned Doctour well understood that there were many new articles of religion crept into the Church in his dayes he knew well that albeit he were the prime Schoole man of his time yet with all his sophistrie hee could not make them comply with the ancient Catholique faith and thereupon he thought it the surest way to give the Pope an absolute and independant power over faith and religion and accordingly resolved Ad solam authoritatem summi Pontificis pertinet nova Editio Symboli sicut alia omnia quae pertinent ad totam Ecclesiam Thom. 2.2 q. 1. Art 10. It belongs onely to the authoritie of the Soveraigne Pope to make a new Edition of the Creed and all things else that concerne the universall Church Then he concludes the question and gives this reason for it The publishing of a new Creed belongs to his power who hath authoritie finally to determine matters of faith and this saith he belongs unto the Pope Upon which passages Andradius a chiefe pillar of your Trent Councell confesseth that the Bishops of Rome Romanos Pontifices multa definiendo quae anteà latitabant Symbolum Fidei augere consuevisse Andrad Def. Concil Trid. lib. 2. in defining many things which had beene formerly hidden have been accustomed to increase their Creed Now what thinke you of your Aquinas position and your Andradius confession I hope you perceive that your learned Schoole-men are of another opinion And that you may know that your Church doth not approve your pretended Tenet for Catholique doctrine hearken and consider what your holy Father the Pope declareth touching this question and then consider in what case you stand Pope Leo the tenth sent out his Bull against Luther and amongst other articles Certum est in manu Ecclesiae aut Papae prorsus non esse statuere articulos fidei Tom. 4. Conc. Par. 2. in Bulla Leon. 10. in fine Lateran Conc. novissimi p. 135. he chargeth him in particular with this that Luther should say It is certaine that it is no way in the power of the Church or Pope to ordaine articles of faith This you see is Luthers Tenet and this is yours Now what exception think you might the Pope take at this your Assertion Behold for this and the like Tenets he thundereth Anathema against him hee declareth this with the rest of his Articles to be a pestiferous pernicious scandalous and seducing errour to well-minded men he protesteth it was contrarie to all charitie contrarie to the reverence of the holy Church and mysteries of faith and in conclusion condemnes all his Articles as hereticall Inhibentes in virtute sanctae obedientiae ac sub majoris excommunicationis latae sententiae Ibid. p. 136. forbids them to be received by vertue of holy obedience and under paine of the graund Excommunication You have heard the sentence of your Lord Paramount and by it you may know your owne doome If you hold with Luther you are in danger of Excommunication and stand as a condemned heretique by his Holinesse with the Lutherans If you forsake your hold you have lost your faith And thus you have a wolfe by the eares you stand in danger whether you hold him or let him goe I wonder that you having taken so long a time to answer so poore a Work and having many Assistants for the composing of it they and you could be all ignorant of the Popes infallible Bull. Your Cardinall Bellarmine Quasi Ecclesia posterioris temporis aut deserit esse Ecclesia aut facultatem non habeat explicandi declarandi constituendi etiam jubendi quae ad fidem mores Christianos pertinent Bell. in Barcl who in these latter times hath laboured more than any other to uphold your new Articles of faith yet in obedience to the Pope and saving all advantages to his cause when in the question of deposing Kings he failed of antiquitie and proofe out of Scriptures and Fathers at last returnes this peremptorie answer As if the Church of these latter times had ceased to be a Church or had not power to explaine and declare yea to ordaine and command those things which appertaine to faith and Christian manners and that you may know that you and your Co-adjutors stand single in opinion against the Pope and his Cardinals your Jesuite Salmeron will shew you Doctrina fidei admittit additionem in essentialibus Salm. Tom. 13. Disp 6. Par. 3. §. Est ergo Idem Disp 8. that it stands with great reason to make additions in essentiall points of faith and hee gives this answer for it Because nature is not capable of all truths at one time and from this and the like reasons he concludes therefore there may be new traditions concerning faith and manners though they were never created or declared by the Apostles Thus you see the unitie amongst your selves and howsoever these positions may seeme strange to you and others of your opinions yet your Schoolmen and Lawyers have played the Popes Midwives yea Pope Leo the tenth hath put to his helping hand to deliver your Pope Pius the fourth of that issue I meane those new borne Articles of which your Church hath so long time before travailed Briefly let mee tell you your Articles are detected by your owne men

else doe you and your associates confesse that the contrary Tenets were taught and revived by the Ancients And as touching the name of Antichrist if that be appropriate to Heretikes it cannot touch the members of our Church for we make Christ and his Apostles the sole rule of our Faith On the other side if you consider the Pope either as he sits in the place of Christ as his Vicar Generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ag●●●● Christ in the place of Christ as his Vicar or as he and his adherents teach and uphold a doctrine against Christ for the word Antichrist imports both without doubt they beare the markes of Antichrist and consequently the word Heretike reflects upon your selves Cassander tells us there be some who make the Pope of Rome Almost a God Cassand de officio Pii viri preferring his authoritie not onely above the whole Church but above the sacred Scriptures holding his judgement equall to the divine Oracles and for an infallible rule of Faith I see no reason saith he but that these men should be called Pseudo-Catholikes or Papists Indeed I must confesse I much wonder that any Protestant should give you that honourable title of Catholike especially when you terme them by the name of Heretikes Those that have the marke of the Beast imprinted in their foreheads have borrowed both the Name and Nature from him and therefore your Cardinall tells us Bell. de Not. Eccles c. 4. The word Papist is derived from the Pope such as was Peter And more particularly your Gregory Martin and the Rhemists give you to understand Rhem. Annot. in Acts. 11.26 that to be a Papist is to bee a Christian man a childe of the Church and subject to Christs Vicar You that are so inquisitive after other mens pedigrees see if with all your Heraldrie you can make good your nominal descent from Christ and as you stile him Pope Peter Your Father Bristow Bristow Demand 8. as a knowne Antiquarie in this point gives your Father Bellarmine the lye for he avowes it for certaine that your name Papist was never heard of till the dayes of Pope Leo the Tenth and this was 1500. yeares after Christ and this opinion I am sure is most probable and more sutable to the Noveltie of your Religion But say you we Catholikes stile the Knight and the Reformers by the common name of Hereticks You told me formerly the title of Sir would be left for me now you have added to the title the name of Hereticke and you professe it is the worst word of all It seemes the worst word you have is good enough for me But I pardon you and I must let you know that the name of Catholike is as comely with the Professors of your new doctrine as a golden ring in a swines snout And as touching the name of Hereticke wherewith you charge me you rightly resemble Athalia 4 Kings 11. who when shee understood that Joas the right inheritour of the Crowne of Judah was proclaimed King ranne in her furie to the Temple and cryed out Treason Treason when the treason was not in King Joas but in herselfe that wrought it Your Alphonsus à Castro hath written a Booke against the Heretickes in all ages and in his Index haereticorum I have searched diligently and I finde the names of certaine Popes among them but mine owne name I doe not finde For I professe with St. Austin Errare possum haereticus esse nolo I may erre but I will not bee an Hereticke Shall I make my confession unto you I beleeve all things which are contained in the Scriptures and nothing contrary or besides them as matter of faith necessary to salvation Cum hoc credimus priuscred●mus nihil amplius credendum esse Tertul. Ibid. I beleeve the holy Catholicke Church This is an Article of my Faith and this I first received from the Apostles Creed Next I undoubtedly beleeve the Nicene Creed and this was called Catholicke by those holy Fathers to distinguish the Heretikes from the Orthodoxe Christians in the Primitive Church or according to your owne words Chap. 1. p. 2. appointed to be publikely professed by all such as meant to bee counted Catholikes Concil Trid. Sess 3. and for the same cause your Councell of Trent decreed it to be received as a Shield against Heresies and therefore by your owne confession the Councels decree and your Creed it selfe I am free from the name of Heretike Lastly I professe and beleeve Athanasius Creed and that Holy and ancient Father witnesseth of that confession Haec est fides Catholica This is the Catholike Faith If therefore I beleeve the Scriptures and Catholike Church which teacheth the true Faith If I beleeve the Articles of the Nicene Creed which distinguisheth the right Beleevers from the Heretikes If I receive Athanasius Creed which containes the summe and substance of all Catholike Faith and doctrine what remaines then why I should not be exempted from the name of Heretike unlesse I shall acknowledge with you the fourth Creed published by Pope Pius the fourth and consequently subscribe to new particular doctrines which as you confesse doth ever accompanie the nature of Heresie But the Reformers are Heretikes He that shall heare but the word Reformers in all probability will conceive that they were men which opposed some errors or heresies crept into the Church and for that cause desired a Reformation In the Churches of Corinth Galatia Pergamus and Thyatira there were some of the Sadduces opinion who denied the Resurrection others that joyned Circumcision and the workes of the Law with Christ and the worke of salvation The Apostles you know did reprove those errors in their dayes and no doubt many accordingly did reforme themselves Now will you condemne those reformed persons for Heretikes because they differed from the rest with an utter dislike of those errors which the seduced partie retained Surely this is the true state and condition of our Church and accordingly your Trent Fathers made a decree for Reformation in the Councell and pretended that it was summoned to redresse Heresies which were crept into the Church and will you say if they had redressed them the Reformers had beene Heretikes The Rogatian Heretikes would have made the world beleeve that they were the onely Catholikes and the Arrian Heretikes called the true Christians sometimes Ambrosians sometimes Athanasians sometimes Homo●sians And in this manner St. Paul himselfe was called before the Judges to make answer to matter of Heresie and according to this way which you call Heresie Acts 24. so worship we the God of our Fathers beleeving all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets They that so rashly pronounce and call every thing Heresie are often stricken with their owne dart Alph. de Heres l. 1. c. 7. saith your owne Alphonsus and fall into the same pit which themselves have digged for others Hee shewes therefore

so false and so apparently false as that it is not to be doubted but hee that shall averre it will make no soruple of any lie how lewd soever Thus you Good words and found proofes would better become men of your profession If you affirme that you have a Lineall Succession the proofe lyes on your side and when I shall see it as plainly proved as spoken I shall readily confesse my error till then let me tell you it is not your Catalogue of Popes which you say are sold and printed at London that can make a firme agreement of succession in Faith For by that reason our Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie succeeded Queene Mary in Faith and consequently our Faith must be good by your owne confession By that reason Ahaz and Manasses that shut up the doore of the Temple succeeded David in the Faith By that reason Pope Liberius the Arrian succeeded Iulius a Catholike Bishop in the Faith By that reason your Cardinall Poole succeeded Bishop Cranmer our Protestant Martyr in the Faith This most firme Argument therefore as you call it is but weake and infirme and accordingly it was resolved by Saint Ambrose and the ancient Fathers Ambr. de Poenit. cap. They have not the succession of Peter that want the faith of Peter In fine if for no other cause yet for this alone your succession in Faith is interrupted because you your selfe confesse that some Articles which are received as points of Faith in your Church are different from those which were received in the Primitive Churches and therefore want succession in the true doctrine And that you may yet farther know there was an interruption of the true Faith in succeeding Ages Genebr Chrone lib. 4. your owne Genebrard confesseth that there were fifty Popes succeeding one another rather Apostaticall than Apostolicall Cardinall Bellarmine in his Chronologie tels us of six and twentie Schismes in the Papacie wherein it was questionable betwixt the Popes and Antipopes who were the true successors of Peter Your Cardinall Baronius tels us that base Harlots beare all the sway at Rome Baron An. 912. and gave Bishopricks at their pleasures and intruded their Paramours into Peters chaire false Popes whose names are written in the Catalogue of Popes onely to note and designe the times It is not then your Catalogue of Popes which you so much brag of that can free you from Heresie or make good your succession in the Faith and therefore I will conclude as I first began The pedigree of the Romish Faith is drawne downe from the ancient Heretikes and the Protestant Faith from Christ and his Apostles CHAP. VIII The summe of his Answer to Sect. 8. 1. That I allege but three Authors Adrian Coster and Harding and them falsly or impertinently for three severall points of the Protestant Faith none for the universality of it in generall as the title promiseth 2. That it is not sufficient to name some in the Roman Church who held some of our opinions but that I must shew a distinct companie from the Roman making a Church 3. That it is not to purpose to shew the Antiquitie and Vniversality of those points wherin we agree with you but in those other points wherein wee disagree 4. That if it were granted the Protestant Church in former ages lay hid in the bosome of the Roman Church that proveth it to have been invisible rather than visible The Reply IN the eighth Section I assumed to prove the Antiquitie and Vniversalitie of our Religion by and with the consenting testimonies of the Romane Church you tell mee It is a bold and unlikely adventure and it is shamelesse and impudent These words be like a house full of smoake without fire but what is the occasion of all this heinous complaint Forsooth the Knight bringeth not one Author I say not one for the Vniversalitie and Antiquitie of his Church And is this so grievous an accusation Surely I thought there was none so ignorant or impudent as to denie both the Vniversalitie and Antiquitie of three Creeds two Sacraments instituted by Christ the two and twentie books of Canonicall Scriptures of the first foure Generall Councels of the Apostolike Traditions of the Ancient Liturgies of the Ordination of Priests and Deacons These are our Tenets and these were the particular Instances which I made and to bring Authors for the proofe of these as if we made a doubt of that which all true Christians did generally receive and beleeve I say with St. Austin Insolentissimae dementiae Aug. It were a signe of most insolent madnesse But admit I should produce some Authors for proofe of this generall beleefe would their Authoritie free me from your termes of Shamelesse and impudent adventure Certainly no for say you If hee should have one two or three or ten men it would not be sufficient for him unlesse hee have the Authoritie of the Catholike Church or Church of Rome To cite many Authors or to bring none then is all alike to you for in your doome nothing will free mee from the name and punishment due to Heresie but the authoritie of the Church and yet in this you have granted mee more than I could expect for you have given mee liberty to take my authoritie from the Church so it be from the Catholike or the Roman And hereby you have made your Roman Church distinct from the Catholike which is most true which both you your selfe and most of your fellow Jesuits have made all one and confirmed by the title of Roman Catholike in all your writings This being granted I proceed to the rest of your exceptions In this Section say you he bringeth onely three Catholike Authors Adrian Costerus and Harding but no word for Antiquitie or universalitie Thus you Hee that shall reade my Section in Via tuta with this your Answer must needs confesse that you deale not fairly nor ingeniously with mee for sometimes you leape from the beginning of a Chapter to the end then you returne againe to the beginning being willing to conceale or confound the truth of my Assertions You so mingle my words with your own in the same Character that a prudent Reader can hardly discerne mine from yours but most usuall it is with you to cry down my words with bitter passages and decline the question in all As for Instance in this Section whereas I said the Church of Rome doth confesse the Antiquitie and Vniversalitie of our Religion long before Luther I instanced in our three Creeds and the rest before named One while you cry out of my impudencie that I cite no Authors another while that if I did cite them they would not serve my turne but you never mention either the Creeds or Scriptures or Councels or any of the points which you well knew had Antiquitie and Vniversalitie in the name and opinion of all Christians After that you flie to the later end of my Section and there you tell mee

same prayers are said breeds no deformitie at all but uniformitie rather Sith it is not the different sound of words but of sense that makes a difference either in the beliefe or practice of the Church There was never more unitie then in the Apostles time Acts 2.46 when all the be leevers were of one mind yet then they praised God in divers languages Acts 2.9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Indaea and Cappadocia in Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene and strangers of Rome Iewes and Proselites Creets and Arabians wee doe heare them speake in our tongues the wonderfull workes of God To the fourth The diversitie of translations either of the Scriptures or the Church office breedeth no inconvenience at all provided care betaken that the translations bee revised by the learned and licenced by authoritie nay on the contrarie the Church reapeth much benefit by it for languages have beene therby improved and the Scriptures much opened For oftentimes that which is obscure in the originall is cleared in a good translation An unknowne tongue is like a vaile before a beautifull picture or a filme before the eye which by a good translation is taken a-away If it were either unlawfull or inconvenient to translate the holy Scriptures or choyce parts of them in the Church Liturgie into vulgar languages why did Severus translate them into the Syrian S. Ierome into the Dalmatian S. Chrysostome into the Armenian Vlphila into the Gothian Methodius into the Slavonian Bede into the British and the Divines of Doway and Rhemes of late into the English Aeneas Sylbist Bohem. c. 30. Nay why did the Pope himselfe signe and subscribe unto the Petition of Cyrill and Methodius Monkes sent to convert the flaves and Dalmatians who in behalfe of their Converts desired of his holinesse that he would give leave to say service unto them in the Slavonian tongue which the Pope consented unto upon their much pressing him with that text of holy Scripture Ps 150. v. ult Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord and let every tongue confesse unto him To the fift If there were any force in the Iesuits reason at all it would prove that neither the Scriptures of the Old Testament should have beene delivered to the Iewes in the Hebrew nor the New Testament to the Greekes in the Greek For Hebrew was then the vulgar tongue of the Iewes and the Greeke to the Gentiles yet wee find that neither the writing the Old Testament in the Hebrew nor the New in the Greeke which were then the vulgar languages to those people bred any contempt of sacred things with prophanesse and irreligiousnesse but the cleane contrarie effects The use of Scripture in a vulgar tongue is not the cause why any disesteeme or undervalew it but want of instruction in heavenly mysteries and carelesse and superficiall reading without searching into the bottome of the spirituall meaning where Orient Pearles lie A counrerfeit stone if it bee often handled is discovered to be false and thereby looseth its valew whereas a rich Diamond though it be worne every day on the finger loseth nothing of the price or valew of it If the publike use of Scriptures would have derogated any thing from the worth and valew of it God would never have commanded the children of Israel to rehearse the booke of the Law continually to their children Deut. 6.7 8 9 to talke of it when they tarried in their house and when they walked in the way when they lay downe and when they rose up to bind the words of the law for a signe upon their hand and as frontlets between their eyes to write them upon the posts of the house and upon the gates Worldly wise men seeke to improve their knowledge by concealing it or at least impropriating it to some few but God contrariwise valeweth his wisdome by making it common Earthly commodities the rarer the dearer but heavenly Iewels the more common they are the more pretious of other liquour the lesse wee tast the more we thirst after it but heavenly wisedome thus speaketh of her selfe Hee that drinketh of me the more he drinketh the more hee shall thirst As the comfortable beames of the Sun which shineth daily upon us are not lesse valewed then the raies of those starres that seldome appeare in our horizon so the word of God which is the light of our understanding issuing from the Sunne of righteousnesse loseth nothing of the reverend estimation and religious respect due unto it by the frequent irradiation thereof at the preaching and reading of Scripture nay it gaineth rather with all hearers in whom there is any sparke of grace As for danger of heresie Rain l 1. de Idol indeed Claudius Espenceus writeth that a friend of his in Italie told him that in that countrey they made shie of reading Scripture for feare of being made heretiques thereby but by heretiques hee meaneth such as S. Paul was who after the way which they call heresie worship the God of their Fathers Acts 24.14 beleeving all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets for otherwise if heresie bee taken in the proper sence for erroneous doctrine in point of faith it is as absurd to say that the stequent use of Scriptures is a cause or occasion to bring men into heresie as that the often taking of a sovereigne antidote against poyson is the ready meanes to poyson a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys tom 5. Matth. 22.29 S. Chrysostome in his Homilie de Lazaro exhorteth all his Christian hearers to the frequent reading of Scriptures as a speciall meanes to preserve them from errours and heresies For all errours in point of faith arise from the ignorance of Scriptures as our Saviour teacheth the Saduces saying Yee erre not knowing the Scriptures Assuredly there is lesse danger of falling into heresie by reading Scriptures then any other booke whatsoever partly because they alone are free from all possibilitie of errour partly because God promiseth a blessing to those that reade and meditate on them yet our Adversaries suffer all other bookes to bee translated out of the learned Languages into the vulgar only they forbid the translation and publike use of the Scriptures which containe in them most wholsome receipts not only against all the maladies of the will but of the understanding also not onely against all morallvices but also all intellectuall errours in matters of faith which wee call heresies To the sixt Had the Iesuit but an ounce of discretion and common understanding hee would never translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to announce which is no English word at all neither is hee of sufficient authoritie to coyne new words at Doway or Saint Omers and make them currant in England For the matter it selfe it is false which hee saith that the Actions at the Lords