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church_n	according_a	faith_n	scripture_n	5,365	5	5.6751	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68501	The reformed Spaniard to all reformed Churches, embracing the true faith, wheresoeuer dispersed on the face of the earth: in speciall, to the most reuerend archbishops, reuerend bishops, and worshipfull doctors, and pastors, now gathered together in the venerable Synode at London, this yeare of our Lord, 1621. Iohn de Nicholas & Sacharles, Doctor of Physicke, wisheth health in our Lord. First published by the author in Latine, and now thence faithfully translated into English.; Hispanus reformatus. English	Nicolás, Juan de.	1621 (1621)	STC 18530.5; ESTC S101132	17,466	35

a reward vnto any man that would make an end of him When I saw that as long as I remained in France I was in daily danger of my life I betooke my selfe hither into England as into the Hauen of safetie with intent that my selfe who had beene in Spain a bad Physitian of soules in France by Gods blessing a good one of bodies might in England becom a good Physitian in special to my selfe of body and soule by securing them both vnder the Gouernement of the most gracious King Iames the most powerful defender of the sincere vnpolluted faith resoluing to yeeld all obedience vnto such a King professing the Reformed Religion and withdrawing my selfe from Papists whose company is wont to breed infection some-where within his Maiesties Dominions either to exercise my function of Ministery or to practise Physicke and by one or both of these to maintaine my selfe in diet cloathing by my honest labor Neither thought I fit to come hither vnarmed and therfore brought I with me this buckler which I haue already preseted to that most noble Prince Charles the rising Morning-Starre of Great-Brittaine which my small present his Highnesse according to his wonted gentlenesse did most graciously accept And now haue I learned by experience that to be true which al the world witnesseth namely that no eloquence can expresse that pietie towards God and zeale for Gods house which is found in the most mighty King of great Brittain and the most excellent Prince the liuely Image of his renowned Father vpon both whom Nature seemeth to haue powred out all her endowments and ornaments culled out from all others But now I betake my selfe to you Fathers of this Church most Reuerend Archbishops Reuerend Bishops Worshipfull and well-deseruing Doctors and Pastors to you I addresse my selfe who are the salt of the earth Mat. 5. the light of the World a City set vpon an hill to this Synode I flye as to a City of refuge not as a Man-slayer but contrariwise my selfe hauing of late very hardly escaped slaughter Namely in the moneth of February lately past being in London and walking in Pauls there meeteth me as by chance one vnknowne to me but certainely a slieknaue who entering into conference with me about matter of Physicke intreateth mee that I would take the paines to visit a certaine woman which lay sicke of a sore disease and forsaken of other Physitians as vncureable This hee diuers times vrged soliciting me foure dayes together and promising me a large reward Poore I in my simple credulity yeelded thereto he leades me along the streetes for the space of an howre and an halfe then at length we finde the house and therein the sick woman where after much questioning conferring about her disease I tarried supper vpon on the intreaty of him that brought mee thither who at Supper said Grace in Latine Presently after eight of the clocke at night we depart thence Then he making as though he would as hee had promised guide me backe to my chamber leadeth mee cleane another way beyond the Citie wals out of the broad streets through by-lanes and narrow allies into desert places and into the fields Sometime he stops his pace and standeth still sometimes he listneth carefully and when I aske him the cause thereof I listen saith he to heare if any man come by of whom I may aske the way to London which verily I haue lost and know not where I am But verily he lyed for his listning was for nothing else but that he might haue me sure to set vpon mee far enough from any to helpe me I call God to witnesse that when I thus wandred with him in the darke my mind did fore-boad some mischance vnto me whereupon I lifted mine eyes to heauen and armed my selfe as well as I could with repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Iesus Christ Acts 20.21 Now then about ten of the clocke in the night hauing gotten me into such a place as he desired namely in the great fields called S. Iameses he on a sudden flies vpon me with his naked dagger and grieuously wounded me neere the left ventricle of the heart from whence come those two principall vessels of life the one called the veiny Artery and the other Aorta and presently running away left me there halfe dead This wound being giuen me in an extreame cold night and being in depth as much as eight fingers breadth yet not directly but obliquely pearcing was dangerous enough especially when as I knew not where I was nor whom to call on for helpe being vtterly ignorant of the English tongue and surely I had neuer seene the mornings light had not a certaine good Samaritane that very night powred wine and oyle into my wound that is vnlesse the renowned Doctor Mayern his Maiesties most worthy principall Physition being as much replenished with mercy and charity as with knowledge and experience had reached forth vnto me his helping hand and for three weekes space entertained me in his house had speciall care of my recouery Though this wound be healed yet the scarre thereof remaineth and euer will so long as I liue whereof I am so farre from being ashamed it hauing been inflicted vpon me in hatred of the reformed Religion that I rather reioyce in it say with Saint Paul Gal. 6. v. 17. I beare in my body the markes of the Lord Iesus Paphnutius who was present at the Councell of Nice hauing one of his eyes boared out and his ham-strings cut for his cōstant profession of Christianity was not thought to be deformed but rather more beautified by these markes Afford vnto me I pray you reuerend Fathers vnto me the meanest and basest Professor yea and Confessor of the Christian reformed Religion a place in this your Synod not by way of locall presence but by admission into your good opinion and fatherly loue Paphnutius after he had receiued those prints and seales of Christian constancy ceased not to professe and confesse Christ the more feruently verily I am so farre from being discouraged by this dangerous conflict from walking still in that path of pure Religion which I haue set into that this same Dagger is become a goade or spurre vnto me whereby I am pricked on to runne more couragiously and swiftly in the rest of that race which I haue vndertaken Now therefore God thus putting me forward it the more behooueth mee to whet my pen against the errors of papistry and to doe my best for maintaining the honour of all reformed Churches against the calumniations of the Spaniards who are zealous but not according to knowledge and father vpon vs another manner of Confession of faith cleane contrary to that which we professe Wherefore I intreate all you Pastors and Doctors of the reformed Churches by the bowels of Gods mercies to take especiall care and order that the true Confession of your sincere Faith may be made knowne to foraigne people who are miserably deceiued in this behalfe namely to that end there may be published some small Treatises translated or written in the vulgar languages of the people of Spaine Italie France and other Nations I for my part and poore faculty am ready and willing to imploy herein my paines by day and night euen to my last gaspe This this enterprise I say doth neerely concerne the glory of God the sauing of soules the maintaining of the honour of the most gracious King of great Brittaine defender of the Faith as also the shielding of your own reputations from the slanders of the Papists Whose reuilings and forged calumniations against you by no other meanes can be refuted then by that course which here is wished and offered by Him that againe recommends himselfe to your charitable and fatherly embraces Iohn de Nicholas Sacharles Doctor in Physicke FINIS

Saint Paul exhorteth vs 1 Cor. 11.28 and in premising auricular Confessiō as the Pope willeth vs. When therefore by woful experience I found daily more more that I could not say with the blessed Apostle our reioycing is this the testimony of our Conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 And when as I could not finde in the holy Scriptures any mention or proofe of the Masse of Transubstantiation of the vnbloody sacrifice or of Priests appointed to such a function I set vp my rest concerning the Masse to let it passe and meddle no more with it The more was I encouraged to deny Transubstantiation and to giue ouer the Massing Trade not onely by my Masters fore-recited Doctrine which I carefully chewed vpon whilest I remained in the Monastery but also for that I had obserued that he good man would neuer be brought to say Masse himselfe though he were Priested and had beene by his most worthy friends thereto intreated To whom he was wont to giue this wary answer that he was neuer able to beare in minde or to learne by heart the many ceremonies of the Masse whereupon if he should vndertake that action he doubted the sacrifice of the Masse would be marred by the laughter of the by-standers beholding him In this his slye answere gestured not without a smile me thinks I see one thing giuen out in word and another locked vp within his brest Without doubt he in this gaue way to the common weaknesse of those that put him to the question being vnwilling that they should take any scandall at him For as for his priuate Iudgement his Dictates before mentioned shew plainely that he had no small scruple sticking in his minde which could not easily be pulled out and that his suspition against Transubstantiation had taken very deep root in him and therefore he could not finde in his heart to vndergo the atchieuement of the Masse inasmuch as he being perswaded against it or at least doubting of it could not haue such intention of Massing as is required in the very act thereof Another motiue draue me further from the Romish Church namely that the Pope being a Creature dareth to iudge the Law of his Creator euen that Law by which himself is to be iudged at the latter day For insted of the first Commandement of the Decalogue written by the finger of God he hath substituted and obtruded another vnto the Spanish Nation To speake more plainly the first Commandement of the tenne written in Mount Sinai is this Thou shalt haue none other Gods but me This Commandement the Spanyards haue not in their vulgar the common people heare no newes of it What then is the first Cōmandement which the people in Spain are taught to repeat Forsooth this Amor a Dios sobre todas las cosas To loue God aboue all things I deny not this to be Gods commandement yea the grand Commandement being the pith and sum of the whole first Table But if it be lawfull to put out any particular Commandement and to place this instead thereof why in like maner doe they not in the Spanish Catechisme blot out some one of the Commandements in the second Table and put in stead of it Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe which is the summe of the second Table These are without question they are two generall precepts which in no wise exclude any of the ten particular Commandements And verily no man can loue God aboue all and his neighbor as himselfe vnlesse he most exactly keepe all those ten Commandements Yee are my friends if ye doe whatsoeuer I command you saith our Sauiour Ioh. 15.14 But as for the second Commandement so ratified by our great and dreadfull God partly by promises and partly by threats styling himselfe a iealous God and therein forbidding the worshipping seruing or falling downe to grauen shapes or likenesses of any thing in heauen or in earth or in the waters beneath the earth and so condemning all Idolatry and Iconolatry that is Image-worship this Commandement I say is by the son of perdition cancelled and concealed not onely from vs poore Spanyards but also from the Italian French and al other Romanising Churches Let him that hath beene thus bold to blot out Gods words take heed lest his own name be blotted out of the Booke of life according to the threat in the end of Saint Iohns Reuelation Think other men as they please euery one according to the sway of his priuate apprehensions for my part if there were no other plague in the Church of Rome but this that the Pope hath presumed to change the first Commandement to nimme away the second both of them beeing precepts twise written with the finger of God and twise deliuered to Moses with many signes and miracles I shall neuer hope well of those that make the Pope their Idoll vnlesse they shall by Gods grace repent Acts 5.29 and learne that it is better to obey God then men Moreouer another motiue to driue me from Papistry was That whereas our Lord and Sauiour sayd concerning the Chalice of the Eucharist Mat. 26.27 Drinke ye all of this the Pope with no lesse sacriledge then the former saith Ye shall not all drinke of it but you Kings and Priests drinke ye onely of it As for all the rest they must be content to take the Communion in one kinde onely I am often deeply touched with admiration and adore with reuerence humility the infinit patience incomprehensible long suffering of God who in a sort ouercomming himselfe can with-hold his reuenging hand from sending down fire from heauen or making the earth to open for the punishing such abhominable Luciferian pride of the Romane Antichrist When as he hath of old stricken King Vzzah with sodaine death for only daring with his hand to touch and set vpright the Arke of the Couenant when it tottered by reason of the vnruly motion of the Oxen that bare it which Arke was a figure of this holy Sacrament Lastly I cannot but acknowledge that I was wont to be inflamed with no small indignation as often as I thought vpon this Ring-leader of Hypocrites who stiling himselfe The seruant of the seruants of God doth notwithstanding beleeue and teach That the power and authority of Kings ouer their Subiects is only of humane and positiue right but as for him selfe h vpon the words of our Sauiour All power in heauen and in earth is giuen to me as if this had beene spoken of the Bishop of Rome challengeth by diuine right a power of deposing Kings excommunicated by him of dispensing with their Subiects in their Oath of Allegeance of appointing those Kings to bee slaine by whom he shall thinke good so that all this while this Destroyer will haue neither himselfe nor any other that commit such horrible and dismall parricides to be accounted murtherers but rather iudgeth that the massacring of all the Kings of the earth is not so great a

call vpon him if all places did not ring againe with his name nay if this Saintling did not beat and banish out of the Churches not onely God and Christ which perhaps seemeth a small matter to the Romanists but also the Virgin Mary her selfe Francis and Anthony and all the rest of the Saints of the higher forme Charles the Emperor who of old was called Charles the Great because he vanquished the Saracens must now come downe and be called Charles the little in comparison of this new Charles Borrhomaeus who thus triumpheth hauing put to flight not his enemies but his friends and fellow-Saints And why may not we thus by way of reprehension mocke at the common mockery of the world but now it is time for me to awaken out of this extasie I remained in Rome about a Month all which while still me thought I heard the voyce of Christ saying vnto me Come forth come forth out of Babylon I come out on Gods name and passe ouer to Mompelier where God shewed me his aboundant mercie in the middest of his Church and strengthened my heart with the grace of his holy spirit So that eight yeares sithence I there put off my Monkish cowle and abiuring the grosse errors of the Romish Church I did publikly embrace the vndefiled faith of the true and Reformed Religion not without the expresse ioy of in a manner all that City And because I could not then speake the French tongue I did by the aduice of all the Pastors there apply my selfe not to the holy ministery which my losse I yet with many sighes deplore but vnto my olde intermitted study of Physicke But behold while I was thus sayling in the depths of Hyppocrates and Galen a violent tempest ouertaketh me and that was this My Father a man spent with age being fourescore yeeres olde and taking it very heauily that I had fled to the enemies of faith and heretiques so they dreamingly deeme of vs sent to Monpelier one of my elder Brethren together with a Cosen Germane of mine Priest both who for the space of eight daies did beleager mee first with faire intreaties and plentifull teares then with Arguments drawne from Diuinity and Philosophy thirdly by rewards and offers of worldly goods lastly by threats and terrible obiurgations to beate mee off from my found intent and holy resolution I think it not amisse heere to relate their language Thou hast said they twelue Neeces now mariageable which will neuer get husbands so long as thou remainest an hereticke for those who before were willing to marry them now start backe saying God forbid that we should take to wife those that are a-kin to an Hereticke Returne returne to our religion if not for conscience for we know that you are a lerned man and haue not rashly nor without shew of reason left vs yet for the honor of our stocke and blood which thou hast branded with the foule spot of infamy by forsaking the Romane Church embracing a new religion which with all the Professors thereof for they are but a few in number the King of Spaine is resolued to abolish and ruinate Returne therefore to the holy Mother Church at least for the loue and reuerence you owe to our aged Father who euer sithence the time hee heard that you were become an hereticke lieth sicke and bed-ridde pining away with griefe and sorrow Heereto I answered as became a Christian But because they would giue mee no patient audience nor affoord themselues any time to weigh my answer I vsed a very honest slight to bring my brother to the house of Falcarius a very worthy Minister of Gods Word who for the space of an whole houre did make a cleere demonstration of the falsehood of the Romish religion and truth of the Reformed out of the Tenets of them both My brother making obiection of nouelty against the Reformed religion and want of Calling and of Antiquity in Caluin and Beza and other such like Pastors M. Falcarius according to his admirable faculty made answere Sir What Religion call you new ours you are farre wide Our Religion is the most ancient if the Gospell of our Sauiour if the Epistles of Paul and of other the Apostles in a word if the new Testament if the Prophets and the whole old Testament do teach the true religiō needs must you confess that our religion is most ancient for we beleeue nothing but that which wee reade in the old and new Testament that which is drawen thence by necessary consequence Call your Religion I pray you call it new For almost euery Pope when hee commeth new into the Chaire doth impose vpon you new precepts and traditions taken out of his vnwritten word to bee beleeued and awefully obserued by you vnder paine of mortall sinne and what lawes one Pope layeth vpon you to be kept as soone as hee is gone his way by disease or by poyson another doth cancell Mat. 26. Paul 1 Cor. 11. Is not the Communion vnder both kinds very ancient being instituted by our Sauiour himselfe We with the primitiue Church and with the most ancient Fathers doe retaine the same and acknowledge both kindes to be necessary to the essence of this Sacrament Is not the worship of idols and images a new thing and forbidden very instantly in the second Commandement of the decalogue We obey this diuine prohibition but ye obey the Pope commanding adoration of Images against the expresse Word of God Is not the doctrine of Transubstantiation a nouelty crept into the Romane Church not aboue foure hundred yeeres agoe This we constantly reiect because it is repugnant to Gods word implieth a thousand contradictions and maketh those to be Idolaters that are at Masse Those words in the Scripture This is my body are to be vnderstood in the same sense and manner with those That Rocke was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 that is to say a Sacramentall pledge whereby Christ was represented and exhibited to them Or as those words of the Patriarch Ioseph expounding Pharaohs dreame Gen. 41. v. 26. Those seauen faire kine are seauen yeeres Where the word Are is by the consent of all the Doctors taken for signifie The same Patriarch expounding the dreame of Pharaohs Butler Gen. 40.12 Those three branches are three dayes that is doe signifie them when as the Scripture saith Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular are we therefore transubstantiated into the very body of Christ are not these speeches spiritually to bee vnderstoode hereto may be added that the Hebrew tongue hath no verbe which signifieth to signifie and therefore instead thereof vseth the verbe substantiue Sum. Therefore our Sauiour speaking vulgarly could not say this signifieth my body but instead thereof said This is my body Which of the Fathers that florished the first fiue hundred yeeres after Christ did euer beleeue that we are iustified by the works of the Law and not by Faith as the holie Ghost speaketh