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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02483	An ansvvere to a treatise vvritten by Dr. Carier, by way of a letter to his Maiestie vvherein he layeth downe sundry politike considerations; by which hee pretendeth himselfe was moued, and endeuoureth to moue others to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, and imbrace that religion, which he calleth catholike. By George Hakewil, Doctour of Diuinity, and chapleine to the Prince his Highnesse.	Hakewill, George, 1578-1649.; Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614. Treatise written by Mr. Doctour Carier.; Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614. Copy of a letter, written by M. Doctor Carier beyond seas, to some particular friends in England.	1616 (1616)	STC 12610; ESTC S103612	283,628	378

apostata So then in Saint Augustines opinon God did not onely order those honours by his prouidence as you would haue it but conferre them by his bounty Neither haue we any reason to thinke but that he who called Cyrus his Shepheard and his Anointed and gaue him the treasures of darkenesse and assured Nabuchadonosor by his Prophe● that himselfe had giuen to him a Kingdome and power and strength and glorie may as truely bee sayd to haue conferred that gouernment vpon the Turke which now he holds But it seemes you aime through the Turkes sides to strike at Queene Elizabeth and through her at King Iames Infidels and Heretikes being in the Roman language ranked together So that their king domes being not by Gods donation they might lie loose and by occasion fall as it were by excheate to his holinesse gift Your reasons of the largenesse and long continuance of the Turkish Empire are as farre from the purpose as your whole discourse is from any sound Diuinitie for not to stand vpon the sifting of the trueth of them which in some of them may not vniustly be questioned your inference is that such principles are of great importance to increase and maintaine a temporall estate But the point is whether any can be of sufficient importance to vphold any estate when God for the dishonouring of his CHRIST is purposed to ruine it and as the Psalmist speakes of a fruitfull land to make it barren for the iniquity of the people that dwell therein before you speake of a Supernaturall iudgement of God in destruction and here of a Naturall and humane inuention for preseruation which can hold no more proportion with the former then a Venice glasse with an yron pot or an earthen vessell with a brasen Lastly what states you should meane that are willing to become Turkish I know not but what they are that inioy their estates in capite Ecclesiae ad voluntatem Domini Papae and enioyne the greatest silence and outward reuerence in matters of Religion and withall are content to admit the toleration of Iewes and Turkes too in their Dominions rather then of Christians your selfe when you wrote this could not bee ignorant Nay some of the Popes themselues as namely Alexander the VI. and Paulus the III. if we may credite Thuanus had secret commerce with the great Turke against the Christian Princes and the former of them if Iouius and Guicciardin mistake not tooke vnder hand of the Turke Baiazets two hundred thousand Crownes to kill his brother Gemen And Alexander the III. wrote to the Soldan that if he would liue quietly he should by some sleight murther the Emperour Frederike Barbarossa and to that ende sent him the Emperours picture B. C. 6. It is most true which I gladly write and so giue out with all the honour I can of your Maiesty to speake that I thinke there was neuer any Catholike king in England that did in his time more imbrace and fauour the true body of the Church of England then your Maiesty doth the shadow thereof that is yet left and my firme hope is that this your desire to honour our blessed Sauiour in the shadow of the Church of England will moue him to honour your Maiesty so much as not to suffer you to die out of the body of his true Catholike Church and in the meane time to let you vnderstand that all honour that is intended to him by schisme and heresie doth redound to his great dishonour both in respect of his realla and of his mysticall body G. H. 6. You honour his Maiesty much indeed in giuing out that he imbraceth a shadow in stead of a substance as Ixion did a cloude in stead of Iuno and Iacob bleare-eyed Lea in stead of Rachel but in trueth of the Church of Rome wee may safely say that with Esops dog in snatching at the shadow she hath lost the substance of religion she hath so couered ouer all the parts of diuine seruice with the leaues of ceremonies that hardly is the fruit it selfe to be seene she hath so bepainted the face of Gods worship that not easily is the natiue complexion thereof to be ●ound The Poet spake it of the women of his time Pars minima est ipsa puellasui But we may more truely affirme it of the Romish religion her ornaments and apparell are such that a man may seeke Rome in Rome and her religion in her religion and not find either I will giue but one instance for all Bellarmine in the conclusion of his controuersies of the Sacrament of Baptisme maketh no lesse then twelue ceremonies to march before it fiue to assist and fiue to hold vp the traine of which some are profane the greatest part ridiculous and few or none wherein wee differ so much as knowen to the primitiue Church Now if the Church of England haue scowred off the drosse and pared away the superstition and nouelty retaining the substance together with the most comely and ancient ceremonies aswell in this Sacrament as in other parts of diuine seruice and his Maiesty follow her therein shall he therefore be sayd to imbrace the shadow and not the body whereas in truth if euer King of England embraced the body of religion without respect to the shadow of vaine and needlesse ceremonies it is his Maiesty which while he doth there is little feare by Gods grace of his dying out of the body of Christs true Catholike Church whose head is not the Bishop of Rome but Christ himselfe vnderstood in the 10. of S. Iohns Gospel and there shal be one sheepefold and one sheepeheard B. C. 7. For his reall body is not as the vbiquitaries would haue it euery where aswel without the Church as within but only where himselfe would haue it and hath ordained that it should bee and that is amongst his Apostles and Disciples and their successours in the Catholique Church to whom he deliuered his Sacraments and promised to continue with them vntill the worlds end So that though Christ bee present in that Schisme by the power of his dietie for so he is present in hell also yet by the grace of his humanity by participation of which grace onely there is hope of saluation hee is not present there at all except it be in corners and prisons and places of persecution and therefore whatsoeuer honour is pretended to be done to Christ in schisme and heresie is not done to him but to his vtter enemies G. H. 7. By the reall body of Christ I suppose you vnderstand the naturall his mysticall body being also reall but not naturall and I see not but this naturall body may as well bee euery where wherein you taxe the Vbiquitaries as in heauen and on earth and vpon earth in tenne thousand places at the same instant which the Church of Rome maintaines but it seemes by confining of him to the Church on earth your purpose is to exclude him from

first Table in their number making of foure but three and of those three they breake the first and second in worshipping the Blessed Virgine Angels Saints Reliques Images with diuine worship and in speciall the Crucifix and Sacramentall Bread professedly with the same kind of worship which is due to Christ as God and what account they make of the other two their little reckoning of blaspheming and profaning Gods Name and Gods day giue but too sufficient demonstration to the world But to bee plaine with you I finde no such words in S ir Francis Bacons Essayes printed the yere 1612. which vpon this occasion I haue reuised there beeing onely one of religion and that the very first which speakes so wittily so learnedly so fully against your drift in this place and the former section which shewes how the deuill out of the arsenall of false apprehensions sends forth the distorted engines of actions they be his owne words in that place as I cannot but hold it both a fence and a grace to insert it into mine answere whole and intire as himselfe hath deliuered it lest I should doe him iniury by mangling it The quarrels and diuisions for religion saith hee were euils vnknowen to the heathen and no maruell for it is the true God that is the ielous God and the gods of the heathen were good fellowes but yet the bounds of religious vnitie are so to bee strengthened that the bounds of humane societie bee not dissolued Lucretius the Poet when hee beheld the acte of Agamemnon induring and assisting at the sacrifice of his daughter concludes with this verse Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum But what would hee haue done if hee had knowen the Massacre of France or the Powder treason of England Certainely hee would haue been seuen times more Epicure and Atheist then hee was nay hee would rather haue chosen to haue been one of the mad men of Munster then a partaker of those counsels For it is better that Religion should deface mens vnderstanding then their pietie and charitie retaining reason onely but as an Engine and Chariot-driuer of cruelty and malice It was great blasphemie when the deuill sayd I will ascend and bee like the highest but it is a greater blasphemie if they make God to say I will descend and bee like the Prince of darkenesse And it is no better when they make the cause of Religion descend to the execrable actions of the murthering of Princes butchering of people and firing of States neither is there such a sinne against the person of the holy Ghost if one should take it literally as in stead of the likenesse of a Doue to bring him downe in the likenesse of a Vulture or Rauen nor such a scandall to their Church as out of the Barke of S. Peter to set foorth the flagge of a Barge of Pyrats and Assassins Therefore since these things are the common enemies of humane society Princes by their power Churches by their decrees and all learning Christian Morall of whatsoeuer Sect or opinion by their Mercurie rodde ought to ioyne in the damning to Hell for euer these facts and their supports and in all counsels concerning Religion that counsell of the Apostle would be prefixed Ira hominis non implet iustitiam Dei The same noble gentleman speaketh much to the same purpose in his Essay of Superstition as that it erecteth an absolute tyrannie in the mindes of men it hath been the confusion and dissolution of many States an● bringeth a new Primum mobile that rauisheth all the Spheres of gouernement The master saith hee of Superstition is the people and in all superstition wise men follow fooles arguments are fitted to practise in a reuersed order And thus I hope by this time Mr. Doctor hath gained little to the aduantage of his cause from the true and wise obseruations of Sir Francis Bacon Lastly for your instance in Mutinous souldiers I cannot conceiue whither your discourse tends but to shew that more honestie is yet left amongst vs then in those of your profession and is like to bee as long as we feare the assault of a common enemie which is like to bee as long as you remaine in opinion and condition like your selues B. C. 17. And as for their exhortations to obedience to your Maiestie when they haue first infected the vnderstanding of your Subiects with such principles of rebellion as haue disturbed and ouerthrowen all other States where they had their will it is a ridiculous thing to thinke vpon such exhortations and all one as if a fantasticall fellow finding a herd of young cattell in a close should first breake downe the hedges and then crie aloud to the cattell they doe not venture to goe out not seeke any fatter Pasture for feare they bee put in the pound and if they chance to feede where they are because they haue no experience of other and to tary in the Close for an houre or two then the vnhappie fellow should runne to the honour of the cattell and tell him what great seruice hee had done him and how hee had kept his cattell in the Close by ●is goodly charmes exhortations Let them say what they list of their own honesty and of their exhortations to obedience as long as they doe freely infect the peoples soules with such false opinions in religiō they do certainly sowe the seedes of disobedience rebellion in mens vnderstandings which if they bee not preuented by your Maiesties giuing way to Catholike religion will in all likelihood spring vp in the next generation to the great preiudice and molestation of your MAIESTIE and your posteritie so that whether I doe respect heauen or earth mine owne soule or the seruice of your Maiestie God or your neighbours or your subiects my assured hope is that by ioyning my selfe to the Catholike Church I neither haue done nor shall doe any ill duety or seruice vnto your Maiestie G. H. 17. You say that our exhortations to obedience are ridiculous the vnderstanding being once infected with such principles of rebellion as wee teach Had you vouchsafed to haue stooped to the nominating of those principles in particular you had dealt ingenuously and giuen some matter of reply but as you would shew your selfe a polititian in the whole body of your discourse so doe you specially in this that throughout you insist vpon vniuersals which not onely dazell the eyes of their vulgar Reader but yeelde starting holes of euasion to the authour What your Principles are and what ours touching obedience to the ciuill Magistrate I haue already opened in mine answer to the twelfth and thirteenth Sections of this Chapter Now the remedie you say to preuent the mischiefe likely to ensue vpon such doctrine is the admission of Catholike religion as if wee neuer heard nor read of any rebellion abroad nor at home raised from the professours of that religion during the space of a thousand sixe

as the Apostle speakes an end of all strife It is the last resolution in the search of truth and in the body politique the strongest sinew next the bound of nature and conscience wherby the members are tyed to the head and the head againe to the members and the members knit among themselues for the Pope then to promise his Maiesty security and yet by this meanes to withdraw the hearts of his Subiects from their naturall allegeance is as if a man should promise secure passage ouer a Riuer and yet pull downe the bridge or take away the boats which serue for that passage His Maiestie on the other side hath declared the Pope to be Antichrist in his opinion and can hee expect honour or securitie from Antichrist who hath hitherto depended on none but CHRIST he may also be pleased to remember what securitie the two last Henries of France receiued from him Lastly if the Powder-treason were vndertaken without the Popes priuitie how can hee secure his Maiestie from the like except hee can diue into the secrets of mens harts or haue the art to foresee things to come or to charme the deuils in hell God defend vs from such securitie which hath the face of a man but the teeth of a Lyon which first lulles vs asleepe and then driues a naile into our heads My conclusion of this point shall bee that common speech of the Italians themselues Acibo bis cocto a medico indocto a vento percolato inimico reconciliato liberanos Domine from such honour as is expected from a Romish reconciled enemie Good Lord deliuer vs so that wee are verily perswaded by yeelding your necke to the yoke of Rome and perswading his Maiestie and his Subiects to doe the like you haue disclosed your hypocrisie violated your oath disgraced your nation stained your profession forsaken your duetie to your Soueraigne your respect to his Nobles and loue to his Commons and Clergy and not onely so but aswell by your example as exhortations endeuoured what in you lay by wounding euery particular member vtterly to ruine the whole body both of Church and Common-wealth from such Phisitians Good Lord deliuer vs. B. C. 46. But that I must trust to when all the rest will faile mee is the seruice of God and the sauing of my soule in the vnitie of that Church which was founded by Christ himselfe and shall continue vntill his Comming againe wherein all the Saints of God haue serued him on earth and doe enioy him in heauen without which Catholike Church there is no Communion of Saints no forgiuenesse of sinnes no hope of resurrection vnto life euerlasting I beseech your Maiestie let not Caluins Ecclesia Praedestinatorum deceiue you it may serue a Turke as well as a Christian it hath no faith but opinion no hope but pres●mption no charitie but lust no faith but a fancie no God but an Idoll for Deus est omnibus religionibus commune nomen Aug. Ep. All religions in the world begin the Creed with I beleeue in God But homini extra ecclesiam Religio sua est cultus phantasmatum suorum and error suus est Deus suus as Saint Augustine affirmeth G. H. 46. It seemes then you trusted little to the effectuating of these idle phantasticall proiects whereabout you haue made so much adoe and so many vaine flourishes and indeed your confidence could not bee so little as you had little reason to bee confident they should take effect That Church which was founded by Christ himselfe and shall continue vntill his comming again wherinal the Saints of God haue serued him on earth and do enioy him in heauen without which there is no communion of Saints no forgiuenes of sinnes no hope of resurrection vnto life euerlasting is indeed the true Catholike but not the Rom. Church it being founded by Christ before his Comming in the flesh and shall continue vntill his comming againe but not as tied to any certaine place in it all the Saints of God serued him on earth as the Patriarches and Prophets who liued some of them before the foundation of Rome without it there is no Communion of Saints no forgiuenesse of sinnes no resurection vnto life euerlasting which no doubt by Gods mercies and Christes merits would still remaine though Rome were turned into ashes and the Pope into nothing howbeit as a late writer hath well obserued ignorance is now become generally so powerfull a tyrant as it hath set true Philosoiphie Physicke and Diuinitie in a pillorie and witten ouer the first Contra negantem principia ouer the second virtusspecifica and ouer the third Ecclesia Romana making it the onely market or rather Monople both for deuotion and saluation That there is a visible Church in which the Elect and Reprobate are blended together in the outward profession of supernaturall verities and the precious meanes of saluation nay in the illumination of the minde and sundrie inward graces Caluine denieth not but that none are true and liuely members of the mysticall body of CHRIST which hee hath ransomed with his blood and doeth quicken and formalize with his Spirit and will finally crowne with eternall blisse saue the Congregation or Church of the first borne whose names are written in heauen hee truely affirmeth And if Caluin deceiue vs herein so doeth S. Augustine too who in his third booke of Christian doctrine and 32. Chapter disputing against Ticonius who had called the mysticall bodie of CHRIST which is most properly and principally the Church a body bipartie as including both good and bad vseth these wordes Non ita debuit appellari non enim reuera Domini corpus est quod cum illo non erit in aeternum It ought not so to haue beene called in as much as it is not truely the bodie of CHRIST which shall not euerlastingly bee with him nay not onely Caluin and Augustine deceiue vs but S. Paul in the fourth to the Ephesians the fifteenth and sixteenth verses and againe in the fift Chapter of the same Epistle the 25. and 26. verses but for the better clearing of this point wee must conceiue that the Elect or Predestinate of God are of two sorts some elect onely and not yet called some both elect and called of the latter there is no question but they are the principall parts of the Church of God and touching the former they are not actually in the Church but onely potentially in Gods prescience and predestination who hath purposed that they shall bee and knoweth that they will bee when wee say then that none but the Elect of God are of the Church of God wee meane not that others are not at all nor in any sort of the Church but that they are not fully and finally of the speciall number of them who pertake of the most perfect worke force and vertue of that sauing grace whereof that Church is the onely dispenser Neither can this Church serue a Turkes turne aswell as

the rich Abbeys yet were they as much burthened with the poore Frieries who had nothing to helpe them but the deuotion of the people it being commonly sayed of their assisting at Funerals Vbi cadauer ib coruus But they were all you say Mundo mor●ui vsing ● more but for their food and regular apparrel and turning the residu● to pious or charitable or publike vses but if it were so how came it to passe that many times they inriched and aduanced there families as much as any Lay man nay which is worse vsua●ly they spent the residue vpon their gaming and luxurie and their liuing Exchequer was rather for the seruice of the Pope and Court of Rome then of their Prince and Countrey so that the multitude of such Clergy men and the greatnesse of their prouision may well bee obiected by wise men without enuie as it was by the Venetians in the last quarrell betweene them and the Pope if their goods and persons be still as they haue beene hitherto exempt from Secular iurisdiction and publique seruice of the state for the preuention of which mischiefe was the statute of Mortmaine for the lessening of these mundo mortui made by Edward the first and confirmed by all his successours so that vpon due and trew examination the Commons are found to loose nothing but rather gaine much by the reformation of the Church and separation from Rome and if they did not yet were it a poore bargaine for a man to winne the whole world and loose his owne soule B. C. 42. And as for liberty they are indeed freed from the possibilitie of going to shrift that is of confessing their sinnes to God in the eare of a Catholike Priest and receiuing comfort and counsell against their sinnes from God by the mouth of the same priest which duty is required of Catholike people but onely once in the yeere but performed by them with great comfort and edification very often so that a man may see and wonder to see many hundred at one altar to Communicate euery Sunday with great deuotion and lightly no day passe but diuers do cōfesse are absolued and receiue the blessed Sacramēt The poore commons in England are freed from this Comfort neither is it possible vnlesse their Ministers had the seale of secrecie for them to vse it and what is the liberty that they haue in stead therof Surely the seruants haue great liberty against their masters by this meanes and the children against their parents and the people against their prelats and the subiects against their King and all against the Church of Christ that is against their owne good and the common saluation for without the vse of this Sacrament neither can inferiours bee kept in awe but by the gallowes which will not saue them from hell nor superiours bee euer told of their errours but by rebellion which will not bring them to heauen These and such like bee the liberties that both Prince and people doe enioy by the want of confession and of Catholike religion G. H. 42. We willingly acknowledge with S. Paul that to the Ministers of the Gospel is committed the Ministerie of reconciliation and the k●ys of the Kingdome of heauen to open and shut as they see cause and therfore in their ordination hath our Church ordained the Bishop to vse these wordes Receiue the holy Ghost whose sinnes thou doest forgiue they are forgiuen and whose sinnes thou doest retaine they are retained consequently if the power of absolution be giuen in these words then is it giuen receiued in the Church of England and as for the people they stand bound as often as they meete in their solemne assemblies to a publique and generall confession howbeit they are indeed freed from the necessitie of that which wee call auricular though not from the possibilitie as you falsly pretend for as we inforce none if they come not as knowing that force may worke vpon the body but neuer vpon the will so we exclude none if th●y come with a true penitent heart or out of the Scruple of conscience either to seeke Counsell being ignorant of the qualitie and quantitie of their sinne or comfort against despayre for sinne knowen and acknowledged In this case the only imparting of a mans mind to a trusty Friend like the opening of a feastered sore cannot but bring content to a soule so anguished and perplexed but much more if the vlcer be disclosed to a skilfull and faithfull Pastour of the soule who is no lesse able then willing aswell to vnderstand the nature of the disease as by warrant of diuine ordinance to apply the remedie and sure I see not but the Minister standing in the place of God as his ambassadour and pronouncing absolution vpon humble and harty repentance as from God it should prooue a marueilous great ease and settlement to a poore distracted and distressed conscience in which regard our Church hath well ordayned in one of the exhortations before the Communion that if any of the Congregation bee troubled with the burden of sinne so that he cannot quiet his conscience but requireth further comfort and counsell that he repayre either to the Pastour of his owne Parish or some other discreet and learned Minister of the word and open his griefe that hee may receiue such Ghostly counsell aduice and comfort as his conscience may be releiued and that by the Ministerie of Gods word he may receiue comfort and the benefit of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and auoiding of all scruple and doubtfulnesse and in the visitation of the sicke if he feele his conscience troubled with any waighty matter hee is willed to make a speciall confession and the Minister thereupon to absolue him In the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost which is an absolution onely Declaratorie Conditionall and Ministeriall but the Church of Rome not content herewith challengeth to her selfe herein a power iudicial which is in truth indiuidually annexed to the person and office of him who is Iudge both of quicke and dead This I take to bee the doctrine of the Church of England and the Primitiue writers touching this point and I cannot but wonder that Mr. Doctor so long a Church man of such eminent place amongst vs should be so ignorant therof as to affirme that the people with vs are freed from the possibilitie of confessing themselues whereas Mr. Casaubon a stranger in comparison could informe him that the rigorous necessitie of Confession inioyned and practised in the Church of Rome the Church of England thought fit vpon iust reason to moderate and qualifie but for the thing it selfe shee neuer did wholy annull it nor now doth simply condemne it And for the practise of it in forreine countreys which Mr. Doctour so much boasteth of wee are not all such strangers in those parts but some others haue aswell beene acquainted with their great deuotion in their

their Religion of the Church before they wrote it G. H. 4. Here I must confesse I could not but wonder what Mr. Dr. meant if hee had read and beleeued Saint Pauls Epistle to the Galathians in affirming that hee learned his Religion of the Church whereas himselfe in the first and second Chapter of that Epistle inforceth the contrary with so many and so inuincible arguments that they can not but instantly stop the mouth of any who would offer to open it in defence of Mr. Doctours assertions Now I certifie you brethren saith hee that the Gospel which was preached of mee was not after man for neither receiued I it of man neither was I taught it but by the Reuelation of Iesus Christ. Secondly for Saint Marke and Saint Luke though they learned their Religion of the Church by hearing the Apostles as the Apostles themselues did from Christ by hearing and seeing him yet doth it not follow but the former as well as the latter wrote by the instinct and direction of the holy Ghost nay doubtlesse it were no lesse then impietie once to imagine the contrary To which purpose the words of Bellarmine are worthy obseruation Vt vere dicitur Epistola principis quae à principe dictatur etiamsi is qui eam scripsit antea sciebat quae scripturus erat ita dicitur immediatum Dei verbum quod scriptum est ab Euangelistis Deo inspirante dirigente licet scripserint ea quae viderant vel audierant As that is truely sayed to be the Letter of a Prince which hee dictates though hee who wrote knew before what he would write So is it the immediate word of God which is written by the Euangelists God inspiring and directing them though they sawe and heard those things before which they wrote Lastly for S. Luke he learned not the actes of the Apostles which he wrote from the Church himselfe being an actour in a chiefe part of them and whereas Mr. Doctor affirmes that he was not of Christs company whiles he was vpon the earth S●ella a Writer of the Church of Rome in his Enarrations vpon the 24. of S. Lukes Gospel and the 13. verse assures vs that graue Doctors by whome I take it hee meanes the Fathers were of opinion that S. Luke was one of those two Disciples whom our Sauiour instructed as they were iournying to Emmaus B. C. 5. That diuers others did write the Religion of Christ as they did apprehend it but their Gospels and Epistles were reiected by the Church Luke 1. 1. G. H. 5. In the Primitiue Church a great part of the beleeuers but specially their guides were miraculously indued as with other gifts so with a discerning spirit and that not onely in differencing the sinnes and persons of men but iudging of their writings so that though they wrote a trueth touching the Christian religion yet were they able to discerne whether that trueth were written by speciall illumination and instinct of the same spirit wherewith themselues were inspired whereupon wee haue good reason to accept what they accepted as Canonicall and as Apocryphall to reiect what they reiected but for the present Church though it should tenne thousand times reiect the whole or any parcell of that written trueth which they accepted yea though one from the dead or an Angel from heauen should preach any other Gospel yet ought wee rather to accurse then beleeue him notwithstanding the Church of Rome as if she were inuested with equall or higher power though indeede shee reiect no booke as Apocryphall which that Church accepted as Canonical yet doth she accept and impose diuers bookes as Canonicall which that reiected as Apocryphall B. C. 6. That at the day of iudgement there will be no writing to try true Religion from heresie but only the eternall trueth of Christ in the soules of his Saints G. H. 6. But that Eternall trueth of Christ in the soules of his Sain●s is the same and none other then which is contained in the holy Scriptures now the Gentiles indeed in as much as they haue sinned without the Law they shall also perish without the Law that is without the Law written saue onely in the tables of their hearts but the Iewes in as much as they haue sinned in the Law shall be iudged by the Law saith Saint Paul and our Sauiour There is one that accuseth you euen Moses in whom ye trust whereby none other thing can bee vnderstood then the Law written by Moses B. C. 7. That the Scriptures were written by men of the Church admitted Canonicall by Councils of the Church preserued from tyrants by the care of the Church and euer vntill late expounded by the consent of the Church G. H. 7. That the Scriptures were written by men of the Church we confesse yet so as withall it cannot bee denied but those holy men wrote as they were moued by the holy Ghost We also confesse that they were admitted Canonicall by the Councils of the Church that is declared not made to bee so and likewise that hitherto they haue been preserued by the care of the Church which therefore is called The pillar and ground of trueth neither ought they to be expounded but by the consent of the Church if wee speake of exposition to bee publikely allowed and receiued touching fundamentall points otherwise both Caietane and Andradius and Iansenius and Maldonat and diuers others of the Church of Rome in sundrie places professe that they rest not satisfied in any interpretation giuen by the Fathers but preferre either their owne or some other found out in this age So that if Mr. Doctor by the Church vnderstand the Fathers wee haue no reason to barre our selues of that liberty which the chiefe Doctors of the Church of Rome both challenge as due and practice as needfull yet so as wee vse that libertie with moderation and sobrietie the people submitting their iudgements to their Pastours and the Pastours in seuerall to their bodie vnited or represented where no very cleare and manifest reason appeareth to the contrary B. C. 8. How fewe men are able to reade and expound Scriptures any way and whether it be not easier to beleeue the Church then to beleeue a few priuate men that say they can expound Scriptures better then the Church G. H. 8. If wee should follow the rules and practise of the Church of Rome fewer would bee able either to expound or reade the Scriptures then now are Espencaeus a Dr. of the Sorbon witnesseth that hee was told by an Italian Bishop that his Countreymen were terrified from reading the Scriptures lest they should become herettikes but the Doctor demaunding what Arte they then professed why quoth the Bishop both the Lawes but specially the Canon And Robert Stephens demanding some of the Doctors of the Sorbon in what place some passage of the New Testament was written they answered that they had read it in Hierome or the decrees but for

read and search the Scriptures and yee erre not knowing the Scriptures and for traditions he names them not but to reiect them Secondly it is acknowledged by the greatest Clerks and chiefest pillars of the Church of Rome that the Euangelists in writing their Gospels and the Apostles their Epistles were none other but the pens of a ready Writer the Secretaries of their Lord and Master now that which the Secretarie writes according to the direction and inditing of his Lord more commonly is more iustly ought to be called the writing of the Lord then the Secretarie it is St. Augustines reason in the last Chapter of his first booke of the consent of the Euangelists Cum Euangelistae saith hee Apostoli scripserunt quae Deus ostendit dixit nequaquam dicendum est quod ipse non scripserit quicquid enim ille de suis factis dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperauit In as much as the Euangelists and Apostles wrote that which God manifested and spake it cannot be said that himselfe wrote not for whatsoeuer his pleasure was wee should reade touching his workes and words that he gaue them in charge to write as it had beene with his owne fingers Thirdly it is reported by Eusebius lib. 1. cap. 13. that our Sauiour left in writing a letter to Abgarus King of Edessa the copie whereof he there setteth downe at large affirming the originall to haue bene kept among the publique Records of that Citie but for mine owne part I must needs say that if it bee not fained I can not conceiue why it should not be receiued as canonicall Fourthly and lastly it may very well bee that our Sauiour wrote nothing himselfe in as much as those things which were to bee written were testimonies concerning himselfe for though it be true in regard of his diuine authoritie which hee deliuers in the eight of St. Iohns Gospel Though I beare record of my selfe yet my Record is true Yet in regard of the apprehension of flesh and blood it is as true which he hath in the fifth of the same Gospel If I should beare witnesse of my selfe my witnesse were not true B. C. 2. That our Sauiour commanded not his Apostles to write his Religion but to teach it Ite praedicate G. H. 2. As if a man might not teach as well by his pen as his tongue by writing as speaking nay doctrine deliuered by writing as it is conueyed more purely and certainely without mixture arising from humane frailtie and corruption so it spreads farther and lasts longer and if it degenerate is more easily reformed It is worthy to bee marked which St. Luke hath in the Preface of his Gospel to that noble Theophilus Hee confesseth that he had beene instructed in the doctrine of Religion yet hee thought to write vnto him from point to point that hee might haue the certainety of those things so that though hee had indifferent good knowledge before yet writing the storie was the meanes to beget certainety so saith Dauid This shall bee written for the generation to come Neither to my remembrance doe I reade of any that forbad their followers to write but onely the Pythagoreans and the Druides Once wee are sure that it pleased Almighty God to countenance the writing of holy Scripture by his owne practice in as much as hee wrote the Decalogue once and againe in tables of stone And as he led the way himselfe so in expresse termes he commanded his seruants the Prophets to doe the like Moses and Esay and Ieremy and Ezekiel and Habacuk Before the Law was written what vniuersall apostasies there were from the true worship of God the floud is a sufficient testimonie and after it was lost though the Priesthood continued what generall swaruings there were both of Prince and people as well in maners as religion appeares 2. Chro. 34. What forbids vs then to thinke that our Sauiour in commanding his Apostles to teach all nations should not by vertue of that command as well giue them in charge to publish their doctrine by writing as to deliuer it by word of mouth Besides whiles wee reade in the first of the Reuel at the 11. verse that he who was dead and is aliue commands Iohn to write those things which he saw in a booke and againe at the 19. verse Write the things which thou hast seene and the things which are and the things which shall come hereafter And againe in the second and third Chapters in particular to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna write to the Angel of the Church of Pergamus write to the Angel of the Church of Thyatira write to the Angel of the Church of Sardis write to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia write to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea write while I say we finde the charge of writing so often giuen to Iohn and that by him who was dead and is aliue I can neuer subscribe to the trueth of that Proposition that our Sauiour commanded none of his Apostles to write except I should denie S. Iohn to haue beene an Apostle or our Sauiour to be vnderstood by him who was dead and is aliue B. C. 3. That of the twelue Apostles seuen did leaue nothing at all in writing but taught their Successours the Religion of Christ by word of mouth G. H. 3. This Proposition supposeth the number of the Apostles to haue bene but twelue whereas Matthias made the thirteenth and Paul the fourteenth who proclaimes it in the front of the greatest part of his fourteene seuerall Epistles Paul an Apostle But it may be Mr. Doctor will not vouchsafe him that name because he wrote more then any of the Apostles Secondly in the fifteenth of the Actes wee reade that the Apostles met together in Councill wrote Letters the very tenour whereof there appeares neither can it be otherwise conceiued but that the whole number of them or at leastwise the greatest part was there assembled So that to say that seuen of them left nothing in writing is both derogatorie from the authoritie of Scripture and in it selfe vniustifiable Thirdly it may very wel be that seuen of them left nothing els but that Letter in writing not because they held it sufficient to teach only by word of mouth as Mr. Doctor would imply but because sixe of them had written which how needfull it was they should performe appeareth aswell by Saint Paul as Saint Iude. Fourthly and lastly though nothing of their writing bee come to our hands yet it is not certaine whether they left nothing in writing since it is probable that Saint Paul wrote another Epistle to the Corinth which is now no where extant B. C. 4. That Saint Marke Saint Luke and Saint Paul were not of Christs company whiles he was vpon the earth and therefore must needs learne