chiefest Bishops or Patriarks of the East were either Authours or their fautors This was the cause that often the Orthodoxall Bishops of Greece in defence of truth were forced to fly for succour to the Romaine as did Athanasius and Paulus the one Patriarke of Alexandria the other of Constantinople and others (h) Sozom. l. 1. c. 7. To end which dissentions by his Authority Supreme vnder God vpon Earth ouer the flock of Christ he hid procure that Councells might be called in Greece the discipline of the Church requiring that Councells meete examine the cause and punish offenders where the fault was committed Soe that the cause why those Councells were kept in Greece not in Rome was the Purity of the one neuer falling into Heresie and the infelicity of the other neuer to be without inuentours of such monsters 15. This sinceritie likewise of Doctrine as Ruffinus noteth (i) Ruffin in expositione Symboli is the cause that the Church of Rome did neuer add any word or syllable to the Creed but kept the same entyre without addition which saith he happened not in other Churches because other Churches hauing had heresies sprong vp within their owne bowells did add some wordes to the Creed to crosse and meet with such errours which the Romane neuer did nor had need to doe seeing no heresie had neuer beginning in it Thus Ruffinus wherefore seing the Roman Church caused those Councells to be held in Greece confirmed the same afterwards and their Creeds to be receaued through the whole Church who cā deny but we had those foundations of Faith more principally from the Roman then any other Church the Principall Sea from whence saith (k) l. 4. ep 8. S. Cyprian Priestly dignitie one great Pillar and Foundation of Christianity did flow Vnto which Tertullian (l) Praescr c. 31. Irenaeus (m) l. 3. c. 3. Optatus (n) l. 2. cōt Parmen Epiphanius (o) Haeres 27. S. Augustine (p) Epist 165. being vrged by Heretikes did fly as vnto the head deriving Scriptures Creeds and all other Ecclesiasticall traditions from them Wherefore I must thinke that many sick and sory feathers were in that Ministers head that caused you to call them rather Grecian then Roman Plumes though so light a word as Plumes applyed to so graue matters as Scriptures Creeds and Councells doth sauour of the leuity of your phrase 16. This leuity you shew in the prayses you giue to the Church no lesse then in the reproaches Thus you preach Who is he say (q) Lett. p. 67. you that saith not of the true Church with Augustine Non parua Ecclesiae auctoritas well doth her Modesty well doth her fidelitie deserue honorable esteeme she taketh not vpon her to controule the holy Scripture her Mother from whom she drew her first breath she openeth not her mouth till her mother hath deliuered her mynde she commeth not of her owne head with any sleeuelesse arrant Thus you discourse describing the Spouse of Christ and Mother of Christians as a mannerly young Mayd brought vp in Luthers schoole You demaund who is he that doth not say with S. Augustine Great is the authority of the Church And yet you your self are the Man who call that Authority of the Church which S. Augustine in that very sentence reuerenceth as great and venerable idle and sleeuelesse like the Butcher that called for his knife he had in his mouth These are S. Augustines wordes (r) De cura pro mortuis c. 1. We read in the Books of Machabees that Sacrifice was offered for the dead but if this were no where read in the old Scriptures yet ther is no small authoritie of the vniuersall Church which shineth in this custome Behold S. Augustine calleth Doctrines deliuered by the Church without expresse Scripture great shining which you reuile and contemne 17. Thus you contradict the saying of S. Augustine whilst you would seeme to applaud it yet is not this contradiction so witlesse as is your Assertion impious that Doctrines and Decrees of the Church not deliuered in Scriptures are sleeuelesse the perpetuall virginity of the B. Mother after her sacred birth of the Sonne of God you seeme so to beleeue that you would stop your eares against any that should dispute therof (ſ) Lett. p. 39. but where is this written in Scripture what is it but a perpetuall traditiō of Gods Church S. Augustine sayth (t) de Baptism cont Donatist l. 2. c. 7. that it cannot be clearly proued out of Scripture that Heritikes returning to the Church should not be rebaptized yet the Church hath forbidden the same Shall we tearme this prohibition sleeuelesse That these and these bookes be Canonicall and the other Apocriphall where it is taught in Scripture Now he doth not see that Scriptures are the chiefest points of our Faith contayning the fountaine and as it were principles of faith Doe but read your learned Authour Hierome Zanchius who will giue a newer tune then that your Minister piped vnto you That Authour famous in your Cōgregations teacheth (u) Tom. 4. l. 1. de lege Dei that diuers vnwritten traditions concerning doctrine and manners are in the Church which are not only profitable (x) Non solum vtiles Ecclesiae sed ferè necessariae saith he but in a manner necessary which haue their beginning from the holy Ghost which we must reuerence and obey else we contemne the Authority of the Church which is a thing saith he very displeasing vnto God how then doe you preach that the Church neuer openeth her mouth till Mother Scripture haue deliuered her mind 18. I confesse that this your Authour goeth a step backward saying that these vnwriten traditions are not of equall authoritie with the written word (z) Paris authoritatis non sunt cum verbo in sacris literis reuelato but therin he doth cleerely contradict himselfe For the Canon of the Scripture being as he confesseth an vnwritten tradition how can any thing contayned in Scripture be more certaine then some vnwritten traditions are Can any man be more certaine of a truth proued out of Scripture then he is that his proofes are indeed Scripture One may see this doth imply in termes Wherefore great cause had your Doctour Field (a) Of the Church p. 238. to grant that Papists haue good reason to equall their Traditions to the written word if they can proue any such vnwritten verities and his proofe is pregnant because not the writing giueth things their authoritie but the worth and credit of him that deliuereth them though by word and liuely voyce alone 19. Now put these two sayings of your two Doctours togeather and make an argument for traditions let Doctour Field giue the Maior vnwritten verities can they be proued are equall to the written word let Zanchius add the Minor but diuers vnwritten verities and traditions profitable and in a manner necessary for the Church both
about faith manners may be proued What doth follow but that some vnwritten verities and traditions are found which haue equall authoritie with diuine Scripture Is not this argument in good forme Are not the premisses thereof certaine which euen our enemies doe grant May traditions be termed sleeuelesse for which your owne Taylors or Doctours make such glorious winges that therby they fly vp to the throne of diuine Truth 20. But I will not bestow on your suggesting Minister a sleeueles garment but rather grant him a Coate with foure sleeues for his Metaphore by which he maketh the Church Scriptures daughter many Churches as S. Irenaeus writeth (b) l. 3. c. 4. in his time had neuer read any word of Scripture yet did they flourish by keeping the Tradition of Christian doctrine in their hartes Was the Scripture the Mother of these Churches I see not which way you will draw their pedigree from the Scripture except in your next writings you make Scripture Grandmother who hath bin yet scarse 3. yeares a Mother The Church of the old Testament was some thousand yeares (c) 2000 yeares from Adam vnto Moyses before Scripture the Church of the New did flourish many yeares before any Ghospell was written who euer saw or heard a daughter borne before the mother A Sonne before the mother I haue heard of yet he as Man according to which Nature he was her Sonne was not before her So that the Church Child of Scripture a daughter before the Mother is the Pallas of your braine which some Vulcans sharp hatchet hath holpen you to be deliuered of And thus much of your no lesse ridiculous then impious iestes against the authority of the Church 21. After your light skirmish with Scoffes followeth a graue battery of the Churches custome to pray for soules in Purgatory with the Canō of Scriptures (d) Lett. a pag. 80. vsque ad 93. by which you will proue her doctrine in this point to be a Satanicall figment disgracefull vnto the great mercy of God euacuating the Crosse of Christ The places by you alleadged are many but either so triuiall and knowen togeather with the Catholikes answeres or else so ridiculously applied wrung wrested to your purpose that their very sound is able to breake a learned mans head and make him scratch where it doth not itch for want of an answere To giue some few examples What say you (e) pag. 86 shall not Hel gates preuaile against vs and shall Purgatoryes muddy wall hedg vs in Hath the soule of Christ gon downe into the nethermost Hell yet made no passage through the suburbes of Hell Hath he bound the strong Man that he should not harme vs and will he now torment vs himselfe or set we know not whō to do it Thus you Who will not wonder that Purgatoryes wals fall not to the ground with the storme of these your windy interogations shall I make the Logicall Analysis of your Rhetoricall Arguments They be three Ethymens I think The first the gates of hell shall not prauaile against the Church ergo there is no Purgatory The second the soule of Christ went down to the nethermost Hell ergo no Purgatory can be found The third Christ bound the strong Man and took his fortresse ergo Purgatory must vanish away 22. I think Aristotle would be grauelled in these argumēts to find the Mediū to ioyne your extremes togeather For what force hath Christs binding the strong Man that he may not harme his children to proue that God may not chastize them for their sins either by himselfe or another in this world or in the next as he pleaseth when they haue don amisse and committed lesser offences that deserue his lighter displeasure When you say that Hell gates shall not preuaile against vs it is hard to ghesse who those your vsses are Perhaps you meane the Elect Predestinate among whom you number your selfe Let it be so Can you deny but many of your Predestinate and Elect are for robbing and stealing and other such crimes locked vp in London Goales what shall not Hell-gate preuayle against them and shall the wall of a prison mue them vp hath the soule of Christ gon downe into the nethermost Hell and made no passage through New-gates Limbo where sometimes your elect are kept Hath he bound the strong man that he should not harme and shall now a hangman put thē to death You perceaue I hope the vanity of your inferences 23. Let vs heare you preach againe and build a ladder for your elect to passe without Purgatory into Heauen They that dy in the faith say you (f) p. 100 haue peace towardes God they that haue peace towards God are iustified by Christ they that are iustified by Christ are free from the Law and being free from the Law quis accusabit who shall lay any thing to their charge Thus you dispute Where I could lay both folly and falshood to your charge but seing your Protestāt faith freeth you from the Law both of Reason consciēce quis accusabit who dareth accuse you though you write neither wise nor true word I could cast your Elect into Hell from the first step of your ladder For they that dy in the faith haue not peace towards God except their faith be ioyned with good workes S. Iohn (g) Apoc. 14. giuing the reason why the Saintes rest after life saith Opera enim illorum sequuntur illos which you English for their works follow them euen at the heeles But your Protestant faith is so light footed or light headed rather to belieue you shal be saued your charity so heauy heeled to do the good works by which men must be saued that an eternity of torments may passe before your workes ouertake your faith 24. I might also fling them downe from the highest step of all where you say they are free from the Law if you vnderstand it in Luthers sense (h) Tom. 1. Ep. Lat. ep 3◠ad Philippū that though they commit whoredomes or murthers a thousand tymes aday they need not care the bloud of Christ freeth them from the lawe doth not this doctrine togeather with the Authour deserue to be flung into the lowest Hell But if you vnderstand freedome from the law in the Catholick sense that the spirit of Christ maketh that yoke easie and the burden light that in the spirit of loue we may keep the law with great ease as S. Iohn saith (i) 1. Ioan. 5. his commandemcnts are not hard I dare say your Protestants faith hath litle of that spirit that dilateth the heart to runne the way of Gods precepts (k) Psalm 118. that it will neuer be able to get vp this ladder And let thē be indeed iust let them be Saints that keepe the law you obiect that against them that doth cleerely proue a Purgatorie for them in the next life Yea say you but they haue some drosse to
take to your self the Nody you layd on our expositions you seeme in a manner to graunt all to witt that the speach of Christ was indeed senselesse wherein you would fayne haue Maldonate ioyne with you (k) Let. p. 38. you cite him vpon a sentence of Christ saying in this sort Haec oratio hominibus absurda videtur qui non intelligunt Maldonatus sup Matth. 19.14 this speach seemeth absurd to those that vnderstand it not why then say you should this prouerbiall amplification sound soe vncouthly in your eares you would be loath I should serue you with a Non intelligis vnder Maldonates seale But Sir I must by your leaue serue you with Non inuenis vnder the seale of truth Do you consider whether you may not serue your Minister out of whose Note-bookes you copy these falshoods with a Mentiris Maldonats true words vpon the sentence of Christ (l) Matth. 29.24 that it is easer for a camell to passe through a needells eye then a rich man to enter in to the kingdome of heauen are these Absurditas saith he vt videbatur aut potiùs admirabilitas huius sententiae in causa fuit vt quidam Cameli nomine nauticum funem quo Anchorae alligantur intelligerent The absurdity as it seemeth or rather the admirabilytie of this doctrine caused some interprete Camelum a Cable rope by which shippes ryde at Anker Which wordes of Maldonatus make not for you but rather against you We deny not but the doctrine of Christ and his speach may seeme absurd to carnall men by occasion of the height and admirability of his doctrine which the capacity of humayne vnderstanding reacheth not vnto as Maldonatus saith but that the speach and wordes of diuine wisdome should indeed be absurd for want of sense or mystery conteyned in them that he should expresse a truth in a disiuÌ„ctiue speach one clause whereof is senseles which no wise and graue man vseth to doe this absurditie I say and superfluitie of speach we take it a great blasphemy in you to suspect in the doctrine of Christ 25. Hence is answered the Question you make (m) p. 27. It was an old prouerb say you when I went to schoole Veritas non quaerit angulos How commeth it to passe that S. (n) c. 3 29. Markes exposition to wit that the synne against the holy ghost shall neuer be remitted is such a mote in your eyes that you are gauled to the quick that he should decide the question To this I reply with another question how commeth it to passe that the text of S. Matthew being larger in wordes then that of S. Marke is such a beame in your eye that you would haue the same broken in peeces till it be no greater then S. Markes mote The reason is I feare because the partition of Eternity into this world and of the world to come to be two places for remission of synnes is a payre of spectacles through which you must needs see Purgatory except you willfully shut your eyes Is not this quaerere angulos to seeke corners to leaue the open field of S. Matthewes larger sentence seeking a Commentary in S. Marke more retyred and concise speach Seeing S. Matthew is more diffuse in wordes we do him wrong denying them a more copious sense when they may beare it S. Matthew deuideth what S. Marke confoundeth in one the two partes of eternity which in S. Matthew are manifest in S. Mark are hidden how then can S. Marke be thought an expositor of S. Matthew who fouldeth vp what the other layeth open 26. I hope Syr you perceaue this Catholike exposition of Christs wordes or deduction of Purgatorie from them is in it self most sutable with the wisdome of so graue an Author specially backed with the authoritie of so many worthy Fathers expounding them with vs against your mens fancie If S. Augustine changed (o) l. 6 cont Iul. c. 11. vel 23. l. 1. retract c. 23. his exposition of a passage of S. Paul which he had constantly taught before because he perceiued the same was against S. Hilary Gregory Sanctos notosque Doctores Ambrose and other holy and knowne Doctors of the Church Melioribus saith that euer-admired doctor intelligentioribus cessi I yeilded vnto those that were better and more intelligent then my selfe How dare you so peremptorily presume vpon your new deuised exposition contradicted by many not warranted by any ancient Father How did you not feare to lay vpon an exposition receaued generally for many ages in the Church the title of Nody yea to say that the same is backed by noe exemplar proofe besides Hobgoblins (p) let p. 42. 27. What S. Augustine said vnto Iulian the Pelagian who branded the doctrine of original sinne with the title of a Manichean fable may be retorted vpon you that disgrace Purgatory with the style of Satanicall figment Hauing brought six or seauen Fathers for that point of Catholike doctrine he concludeth in this sort saying vnto him (q) l. 1. con Iulia. c. 2. vel 4. finding you in your writings non antelucano conuiuio temulentum sed insano conuitio turbulentum not so much tipled with wine taken next your hart as distempered with senslesse rayling against truth I haue not brought you into Zenocrates schoole where drunken Polemo was made sober but haue summoned you vnto the quiet and venerable assembly of holy Fathers (r) Sanctorum PatruÌ„ pacificum honorandumque consessum Let not my labour be lost behould them that looke on you who sweetly and gently looke on you what sonne are we Maniches are we Hobgoblings or Nodies What can you answere What eies will you lift vp against them You will say you did accuse none of them by name of this errour But what will you do when they shall answere we had rather your rayling teeth should teare our name then our fayth by the merit wherof of our names are written in heauen What sillogismes will you frame What will Aristotles logicke avayle you wherein you would faine shew your selfe skilfull that you may seeme an artificiall disputer against vs Will you dare to drawe your blade of brasse the leaden poyniards of your arguments (Å¿) TuoruÌ„ argumentorum vitrea acies vel plumbei pugiones in their presence What weapons will not tremble and sheuering for feare fall out of your hands (t) Quae abs te arma non fugient nudumque destitueÌ„t dauntted with the maiestie of soe graue a Senate Thus S. Augustine THE FOVRTH CHAPTER THE CHVRCHES PERPETVALL TRADITION to pray for Saints in Purgatory in the next life VVHERE your iâ—sts against the Churches Authorities and Scriptures against this Tradition are answered THAT short and pithy Treatise which you sought to disgrace with froathy lynes alleadged (a) l. 1. p. 1. c. 1. §. 4. for Purgatorie the custome of the Church to pray for the dead and their reliefe in the holy Sacrifice
varnished her wrincled deformityes with faire places of Scripture as is your Protestant practice you would not now be to learne were your knowledge in Ecclesiasticall Hystoryes equall to your skill in Poeticall fables Thus you fight with your text against your margent with your margent against your text with both against the truth nay sometymes your Muse is so madde that in a Poeticall fury she not only crosseth your text but also woundeth your honour Such are the verses you bestow on your Indian weed (d) pag. 38. foeda Tobacciferi quid vult contagio fumi Praeter inauditam per tua membra luem which verses may giue a shrewd suspition that you who haue byn a great friend therof are tainted with that infamous disease 12. But Syr the Learning with want wherof I charged your Letter is neyther Parnassian nor Poeticall nor prophane but sacred holy diuine which not Apollo but Christ teacheth water which not Helicon but Scripture yieldeth gotten not by light familiarity with sacred sisters but by diligent exact reading of Holy Fathers in whose writings what a straÌ„ger you are this my Letter will sufficieÌ„tly discouer It will appeare that you reuile the learned muses of the Christian Church whome you neuer read the doctrines which they most clearly deliuer you dare affirme were not taught but by Heathens Hobgoblius the interpretations they deriue from the foÌ„taine of Scripture you say were fecht from the pit of Hell These things shall be made cleare in the Chapters that follow now to dispach all your toyes before we enter into more serious matter I will shew the vanity of your weake assaults against my Treatise which you seeke to disgrace that the comparison of your pouerty with my (e) pag. 11. nullity may purchase you the title of mediocrity You tearme my booke a (f) pag. 5. little pretty Pigmey yet like one besieging a stronge fortresse you ride thrice about it seeking where you may make a breach to enter battering the lines therof first with flies then with fyes finally with lyes 13. First you search how often I haue named the fly or spider (g) pag. 12. noting in your margent that those two creatures one with the other haue beene forteene tymes put into my whole treatise together charging the same with soloecismes incongruities of speach iesting at a parenthesis which you call iobbing in my first sentence that many a good mans dogge say you hath broken his leg ouer a lesse stile I must confesse sir I doe not bumbast my bookes with your fustian phrases nor builde my stile as you do of strange trees cut from forraine forrests that sure I am none will acknowledge your language to be English except you get a Parliament to naturalize it My drift in writing is not to bee admired but vnderstood which makes mee not sticke to vtter my mind rather in a crabbed then a new created phrase thinking it lesse harme that a cauelling curre pricke his foote then any learned man breake his head To climbe vnto my meaning I am more curious that my doctrine bee true then my speach smooth thinking the booke written in a stile good inough when wordes are so laide in order lines drawne in such compasse that they keep iust proportion with their center to wit truth towardes which I did presuppose the hartes of those worthy Gentlemen vnto whome I wrote did so mainly incline that the thornes of my phrases had it beene more crabbed theÌ„ one iobbing parenthesis can make it would not hold them backe from perusing my Treatise Neyther can I say that therein I haue beene deceiued of my hope 14. But I haue bene you say h for want of a good mydwife fiue yeares in trauaile with my lisping Pigmey wheras you whelped in few months your snarling puppye to which I might answere that a hastie bich bringeth forth blind whelps The seeliest birds are soonest flush (i) Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae Natures perfectest worke in many yeares arriueth vnto mature ripenes Minerua's fruitfull plant is long a growing wheras many barren trees spring vp a pace Glauca salix properat sed multùm tardat oliua My fortune is not like yours to haue still a good midwyfe at hand the smoake of your chimney inuiting learned Ministers to your table who as you seeme to confesse (k) p. 61. lend you their helping-hand in the prompt deliuerie of your Impes Wherin you compare your selfe to Iupiter who was faine to send for Vulcan his hatchet before Pallas could come into the world without the help of these VulcaÌ„s their sharp hatchets that hewed it out of your head you might perchance haue bene more yeares in building your faire Pallas then I spent on my litle Pinnace though those that know me can tell that after I seriously vndertook the task I was not about it so many months as yow name yeares In busines of this nature I desire to make no more hast then good speed Sat citò si sat bene The thing is dispatched soone that is perfourmed well None are more subiect to shamefull falles then such as ride post as your cursorie lines seeme to doe in the slippery veyne of writing 15. I know the Fathers eye is a partiall â—udge in the beautie of his owne Childe yet you giue me good hope that my Creatures will not seeme deformed where learning with indifferencie shall passe her censure seeing your curious and carping sight which the least flye could not escape hath not bene able to shew therin any true fault Were not Canon-shot wanting to batter the sides of my Pinnace the substance of my discourse your (l) puerilis sane augusti pectoris reprehensio Arnob. l. 1. con gentes childish squibbs would not flye so fast at the saile of my stile you that accuse me of leaden art could you haue found in my answere leaden sentences to haue made bulletts against me you would not haue sought to cracke my credit with fourteen flyes with solaecismes incongruities of speach Sure I am the most iudicious Censurers esteeme some few such seeming faults not to be (m) vt facit factem naeuus quod dicitur venustioreÌ„ sic vitia quaedam orationis audiunt figurae ornamenta blemishes but rather ornaments in the purest writers both of the Latin and Grecian language The stile is childish which still feareth the rod not daring to depart one sillable from the rules of Grammar neither would you be so sollicitous about a Solaecisme were not the terrour of Eaton schoole still fresh in your memorie As in a consort of sweet voyces a discord now and then doth make the musick more pleasing so the (n) solaecismi sunt apud politissimos vtruisque lâ—nguae worthyest writers haue left some iobbs passe in their workes which do rather delight then offend a Iudicious reader Thus might I defend solaecismes and incongruities of speach which yet you
of your impertinent and ridiculous Annotations these few may suffice to shew that you neuer leaue your margent white without notes but when your head is blank without matter Whence it is cleere that the cause why you did not censure the booke De Mirabilibus as the supposed issue of S. Augustine was not your loathnes to trouble your Margent with circumlocutions but either ignorance that indeed you thought that booke was his which I thinke probable or els fraude which made you vtter what you knew was false to deceaue your Reader which imputation you would haue laid vpon you rather then ignorance 10. But if one demaund of you why you did cite that booke for S. Augustines saying that it was his against your conscience and knowledg as you now confesse You answere in this manner (o) p. 29 As neere as I can remember say you I thus argued with my self If they graunt that S. Augustines penne did discard those bookes the matter wil be soone at an end if they denie that booke to be his then how will they excuse their Church that hath playd many such lewd prankes Or how will they answere antiquitie which distinguished these bookes Thus you argued with your selfe which doth argue that your false Ministers teach you to vse reseruations and equiuocations in your writings about matters of religion to deceaue your lesse-wary Readers You said in your Letter then that the booke de mirabilibus was determinatly S. Augustines which I proued apparently to be false Now you confesse that it is indeed false yea that you knew it was false euen when you wrot it but you had forsooth a reserued discourse that might make the same true to wit that that booke de mirabilibus is S. Austines or else the Church of Rome hath played manie false trickes or els how will they answere Antiquitie Is not this wicked frauduleÌ„t proceeding 11. To make the same dealing more apparent and sensible to you I will vse an example that may touch you neere Suppose I should write that a Protestant Knight in England hath children by a Black-more namely a Girle in the margent citing Syr Edw. Hoby that you proue it to be a lewd slaÌ„der accusing me of iniurious falshood against you My answere is like to yours Will any man think I fathered those children on Syr Edward Hoby indeed not knowing to whose charge I might lay them loth to trouble my margent with circumlocutions I noting the house where such a mother is found I knew Syr Edward was not the Father of those bratts but I thus argued with my selfe If he grant those children to be his the matter is at an end if he deny them then how will he answere his Protestant brethreÌ„ that accuse him of such lewd prankes Were this proceeding Syr Edward iustifiable to vtter slaunderous vntruthes which I know are false excusing them by mentall and reserued discourses I am sure you would detest this manner of dealing in me against your selfe which yet you approue in your selfe against the Church of Rome 12. Moreouer I add that your mentall reseruation which you now vtter is also false to witt that the booke de mirabilibus in our copies is placed in equall ranke with those other that goe vnder the name of S. Augustine and that it is still continued by vs amongst his goulden workes which you tearme a lewd pranke and say that none can read anie Fathers in our EditioÌ„s but he is in danger to catch a snake for an eele except he read Thomas Aquinas before Vidi Opera August à Theolog. Louaniens edita ann 1571. ex officina Plantiniâ—na This you speak which is as grosse an vntruth as the former For in out latter EditioÌ„s this book is not ranked amongst the whole bookes of S. Augustine but in an Appendix after them in a different letter with title of Anonymi cuiusdam the Treatise of a namelesse Authour In the elder Editions these bookes go printed amongst his in the same letter but with this Censure in the beginning and head therof nec stilo nec ingenio Augustinum sapit This Treatise doth neither sauour of the conceipt nor stile of S. Augustine Could the Church of Rome shew greater sinceritie then this 13. Doe you in your owne Bible ranke the Apochriphall bookes as you esteeme them Tobias Iudith Machabees with those of the diuine Scripture cheeke by ioule to vse your owne phrase both in elder and newest Editions of your Bible Do not Canonicall Scriptures excell the Apochriphall more then S. Augustine doth any other Father that liued after him Why should you tearme it a lewd pranke to coople togeather the second in the same volume which goeth for Augustines if it be a holy practise in your Church to ioyne together the first in your Bible that goeth vnder the name of Gods booke 14. Now in the custodie of these workes of Antiquitie the Church of Rome hath bene so Religious that you chaleng those Charters for your doctrine which you caÌ„not deny but haue byn for 1000. yeares at least in her only keeping If the bookes of the Ancient Fathers should be Pupills or Wards of your Church but for one age that you might vncontrolledly cut downe what trees please you not in their groundes we might afterwards haue as great difficultie to find a booke or sentence in their writings which we now plentifully alleadge for our doctrines pag. 40. as I should haue to find you IndiaÌ„ vapour if that be true as you say that it is long since flowen out of my sight yea which doth clerely iustifie the Roman Churches sinceritie the bastardlie boughes as you tearme them more then any true branches of S. Augustine make for your doctrine and now doth the booke de mirabilibus for your Hebrew Canon which is a manifest â—â—signe that these bookes were not fradulently by her ioyned with that Fathers to giue credit vnto them because they fauour her cause as you imagine 15. To conclude you are forced to grant as much as I desired to witt that the booke de mirabilibus ys not S. Augustines as you cited it but that it is altogeather impertinent to proue your intent that the Machabees are not Canonicall in his iudgment You (p) pag. 31. bragg that you haue quit your hands of the first falshood which is so true that whereas I accused you of ignorance and not of falshood not to seeme to haue writteÌ„ in ignorance you haue vttered foure falshoods First that you did not cite the sentence out of the booke de mirabilibus for S. Augustines the contrarie whereof is extant vnder your owne hand in your letter which you wish might be ingrauen in marble (q) p. 62. The second that you did not note the Authour of that booke was doubtfull out of respect to your margent fearing to trouble the same with a learned annotation which you lode euery where with all manner of impertinent stuffe Thirdly you vse
only lawfull but also meritorious for a man to kill himselfe First ne subditus fieret peccatoribus Secondly ne in contemptum Dei Caeli eius vita in ludibrio traheretur He concludes Some thinke S. Augustines saying which here followeth in the glosse is thus to be vnderstood Thus writ you not very sincerely relating Lira's doctrine but because it is not to the purpose I omit to discouer you At the naming of S. Augustines saying dreaming that it must needs be your Goose or Woodcock your teeth water to haue it in your mouth O say you that I could meet with the saying of Augustine that I omitted to cite doth Lira say it followeth here in the glosse then will I presume so farre vpon your patience as to write it out Thus you tune your instrument before you play Take heed Sir you abuse not those worthy Gentlemens patience whom you inuite to be your hearers after all these preambles if you sound at last the harsh Hebrew harp of Lyra for the sweet latin Lute of S. Augustine you will giue them iust cause to laugh at your folly 26. The saying you cite for S. Augustines out of Lyra (l) in 2. Mach. c. 14. is this Vnde scriptura huius libri quae recepta est ab Ecclesia ad legendum pro informatione morum non videtur sic Raziam arguere sed commendare de suiipsius interfectione si autem praedicta non sufficiant ad eius excusationem dici potest quòd hoc fecit per specialem instinctum Spiritus sancti Whereupon the Scripture of this book which is receaued by the Church to be read for information of manners doth not seeme here to reproue Razias but rather to commend him for killing of himself and if the aforesaid excuse do not suffice it may be said he did that fact by speciall instinct of the holy Ghost Thus you write calling me Sophister and dizzi-braynd Ismaelite for saying that it was far from S. Augustines grauity to read the Machabees with so little sobriety as to think that Razias was praised for killing himself yet say you whether S. Augustine was of this mind or no let it lye vpon Lyra's report 27. Noe Syr this false report will lye vpon your selfe except you will confesse the truth that some Minister suggested this lye vnto you to disgrace S. Augustine you haue couched such falshood and follie togeather that I know not which I should first and most accuse But with your patience I will touch them both but your folly first For if this be S. Augustines sentence who doth not see that your argument to proue the Machabees not to be Scripture is not worth a rush For if Canonicall Scripture giue leaue to a man to kill himselfe by the especiall commaund and instinct of the holy Ghost if Razias killed himselfe by such a speciall precept what did he against Canonicall Scripture Why should not the booke of the Machabees be sacred though they praise Razias for this fact as well as the booke of Iudges where Sampson is praised who did the like Spiritus latenter hoc iusserat sayth S. Augustine (m) l. 1. de Ciuit. c. 21. qui per eum miracula faciebat The spirit that did Miracles by Sampson secretlie commaunded him to kill himselfe Let vs put your sillogisme into forme as you desire this it is Noe Canonicall booke doth cōmaund or praise killing ones selfe without speciall instinct of the holy Ghost But Razias killed himself by that speciall instinct and for this respect is praised in the booke of Machabees ergo the booke of Machabees is not Canonicall Scripture I dare say you need not write Goose or Woodcock ouer the head of this argumēt euery one wil perceaue the feature you haue drawne though vnderneath you say nothing 28. This is your ignorance but now your Ministers falshood is yet more notorious admirable for you skip ouer the true sentence of S. Augustine which Lyra citeth which is also cited in the Glosse indeed found in his workes and you bring Lira's owne words and illations which stand many lines after for the verie saying of this Father Thus Lyra writeth in that place Some say that the saying of S. Augustine which is found in the Glosse is thus to be vnderstood Doe you long Syr Edward for S Augustines saying Harken vnto Lyra which doth sound it (n) August l. 1. de ciuit c. 21. His exceptis quae lex generaliter iusta ipse fons iustitiae Deus specialiter iubet occidi quisquis hominum vel seipsū vel quemlibet alium occiderit homicidij crimine innectitur Those excepted whom iust lawes in generall or God the fountaine of iustice doth specially commaund to be killed what man soeuer doth make away with himself or any other is guiltie of the crime of murther This is S Augustines saying which you may finde also verbatim in the Glosse in that very page And this saying some did vnderstand that when one killeth himselfe to the end that he may not be drawne by torments to an Idolatrous religion or not be mocked to skorne in contempt of his God that he sinneth not because Iustice in such cases did allow of it 29. Which interpretation is both false and against the minde of S. Augustine who doth often teach and largly proue against the Circumcellians that in such cases killing ones selfe is vnlawfull (o) Quicūque hoc in seipsis perpetrauerūt animi magnitudine fortasse mirandi non sapientiae sanitate laudandi sunt l. 1. de Ciuit. c. 22. that Razias was not cōmēdable for that fact which the Scripture did report not praise Looke into the Glosse vpon that place which is taken out of S. Augustine this peece whereof Lyra citeth you shall not find so much as a word in defence of Razias How can this corruption be excused from witting falshood to passe ouer S. Augustines saying so obuious that lay in the way Was he not a nimble foxe (p) Illa leui velox superabat deuia cursu sūmaque transibat positarum lina plagarum that could fetch such a leape ouer a marble piller into a long peece of ground But to whose charge shall I lay it Your Printer is all readie loaden your Minister I must not meddle with if I touch your Person I shall heare you rage (q) pag. 2. that like a shrewish distracted male-content I scrach kicke spurne hale teare men noble by discent eminent in places profound in iudgment skilfull in tongues famous for learning vertue and experience in trauailes by which periphrases you seeme to discribe your selfe What shall I doe but follow an ancient custome which was to beat the Minstrell when the Cooke did amisse (r) Tibicen vapulat You compare your selfe to (ſ) pag. 61. Gracchus who came not at any time say you to make an Oration without a Minstrell who by the sound of his Pipe did set him a right
such a drunken Church as ours seemes to be by eloyning the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue from common people least it should hurt thē I might wonder that you should call a Church so Ancient Famous and Catholike as the Roman is Drunken for a practice so full of wisdome and circumspection as this is did I not know that the custome of men that are tipled is when they stagger themselues to thinke that Churches and the very heauens reele about them I will not say you wrote in darke seeing you affirme that like Demosthenes you endighted by the lampe (k) pa. 62. Rather will I thinke that your single lampe doubled in your eye which happeneth to them that loue wine when they haue their Cup in their hand Vertigine caelum Ambulat geminis exurgit mensa lucernis 36. In this case perchance you were when you wrote (l) let pag. 42. that Purgatorie is backed neither by any expresse testimonie of holy Writ nor any exemplarie proofe besides Hobgoblins Rawheades Bloudybones Night-ghostes which the world many yeares since hath forgotten to belieue And againe with as litle sobrietie you say (m) let p. 79. vnto vs had it not bene for your Grand Patriarkes S. Homer S. Plato S. Virgil you would neuer haue knowne how to haue set your Compasse for the discouerie of your new-fond land Can your Church be thought sober that permitteth you to pen such staggering and staring exaggerations as these For to say nothing of S. Cyril S. Chrysostome S. Damascene S. Gregorie S. Bernard other Fathers cited for Purgatorie in that learned Treatise which you would seeme to answere whose plaine testimonies for this doctrine may seeme to haue bene Nightghosts in your way which so scarred you as you durst not come nigh them with an answere I hope your pen is not so farre past Modestie as you dare tearme the Doctors marble-pillers of Gods Church Rawheads Hobgoblins or Heathens How happie were Queene Elizabeths Ghost might she enioy the euerlasting companie of those Blessed and neuer see your Heathenish Saints Theseus Aristides Plato Hercules and others Zuinglius tom 2 pecc origin fol. 118. et in exposit fidei Christian fol. 159. whom your great Patriarke Zwinglius admitteth into your Protestant heauen 37. To omit I say this proofe by Fathers which noe learned deuine will denie to be exemplar what say you to the Machabees and the whole Church of God in those daies that did practice prayers for soules in Purgatorie Is not he a Rawhead that condēneth soe manie Saintes both before and after the cōming of Christ into Hell That dareth call that the doctrine of Diuells which is taught in bookes indighted by the holy Ghost if we beleeue S. Augustine With whom I could ioyne other Fathers noe lesse auncient then he canonizing the same bookes would the shortnesse of this Letter permit me But his testimonie may suffice alone which bringeth with it the authoritie of the Church in his dayes For how would he intertaine the Machabees wherof some Fathers doubted but vpon the warrant of the Church without whose word he doth professe that he would not beleeue any of the Ghospells (n) l. contr Epist Fundam c. 5. And seeing ancient Councells do curse and say Anathema (o) Si quis dixerit alias Scripturas praeter eas quas Ecclesia Catholica recipit in authoritate habendas anathema fit Cōcil Toletan 7. in confess fidei to any that shall belieue any booke to be Scripture besides those that ar admitted by the Catholick Church seeing also that to intertaine bookes as Canonicall which indeed are not is more daūgerous preiudiciall to the Church then to reiect those that are truly sacred this supposed who that hath any reuerēd cōceipt of this learned Father will doubt but he had for the Canon he citeth the warrant of the Catholike Church Is it not credible that some Fathers who deny these bookes were ignorant of the Churches warrant rather then S. Augustine so rash and presumptuous as to Canonize them without it For how can he be excused from great temeritie if herin he erred Yea doth he not deserue to be thought a deluder of the Church if she did not indeed intertaine those bookes which he doth constantly avouch she did From which imputation the blessed Saint was so free as euen Caluin (p) l. 3 instit c. 3 §. 10. l. 4. c. 14. §. 26. doth allow him the stile of the best and most faithfull witnesse of Antiquitie 38. You grieue and deplore your hard hap (q) Counters p. 28. that I should endight you for the least wrong done to that Marble-piller that glorious Saint that euer-admired Augustine to whose heauenly Meditations sweet sayings and learned discourses I owe say you more then halfe of my selfe Did you owe indeed to this Father one inch of your life you would not scornefully reiect his authoritie as you doe else-where saying As if our saith were to be pinned on Augustines sleeue (r) Lett. pag. 71. you would not make that the doctrine of Diuells which he did depose was written by a pen ledd by the hand of infallible Truth you would not tearme Purgatorie which you cannot deny but he taught a Satanicall Figment (ſ) Lett. 75. euacuating the Crosse of Christ 39. As for Wrong offered to this Saint none perchance euer did him greater then you haue done in your Letter writing in this manner of him (t) Lett. pag. 70. We find say you that the entyre loue of his mother Monica and other his deare friends made him somewhat too forward in this point And why may not this be one of these things of which he speaketh ad Ianuariū (u) Epist 119. c. 19. There are many things which I dare not reprooue as I would Thus you wrote where you first contradict what now you write in your Snarle calling him glorious euer-admired marble Pillar whom your former words make a wauering Reed beaten with light blastes either of feare or of affection into damnable and diabolicall errours Secondly you make him guilty of that fault which your Cato tearmeth shamefull (x) Turpe est auctori cum culpa redarguat ipsum of sharply reprehēding in others the sinne of superstitious deuotion to the dead wherein he was you say to forward himself Thirdly you offer this Saint intollerable wrong in saying that he did dislike indeed the custome of praying for the dead but durst not reproue it out of feare to (z) Propter nonnullarum vel sanctarum turbulentarū personarū scandala deuitanda offend and giue scandall For how could this his forbearance not be damnable if the custome of praying for the soules in Purgatory be iniurious to Christes blood as you say it is 40. And suppose that feare of men might diminish the sinfulnes of his omission in not reprouing so wicked a custome yet no excuse can couer his impiety in defending and
this world is forgiuē in the world to come that they may not be afflicted with eternall torments Thus he Now is S. Augustine doubtfull either of Purgatorie or of the exposition of this place for pardon in the next world Hath this Doctour in his vnfoulding the words of Christ turned vp Nody Or rather your Minister that dealt your Cardes vsing foure false and deceiptfull trickes concerning this testimony of Viues may he not be thought to haue turned vp for you all the Nodies and Knaues in the bunch 8. But this your gaming Metaphore is not so iniurious to these Blessed Saintes as it is blasphemous against the holy Ghost whose thrice venerable writings did you reuerence in your hart more then the follies of your owne braine your pen would haue trembled to haue called that exposition Nody which so many graue Fathers without the contradiction of any do peremptorily affirme to containe his meaning What can be sacred and certaine amongst Christians if an vnlearned Knight may be permitted to deride that which the most famous Deuines and Fathers of former ages do deliuer as an vndoubted verity and Gods infallible word It is true that Fathers to proue this or that Catholike verity may sometimes bring places of Scripture that haue other sense yea perhaps the sense that one or other doth giue may not be the best although the doctrine therby proued be true which is to erre according to the Analogy of the Place not of Faith A distinction you vnderstand not yet when many Fathers of the Church agree in the same exposition of Scripture without the Contradiction of any the same is to be thought the vndeniable sense of that place For which cause Caluin cannot be excused of hereticall rashnes (h) Caluin comment in c. 10. Io. who dareth expound this Text of Scripture Ego et Pater vnum sumus I and the Father are one of vnity of Consent and Will not of nature and substance adding that the Ancients did abuse the same to proue the Consubstantiality of the Sonne of God Happily the text cannot be so strongly vrged but Caluin◠Arrianizing wit may find some plausible euasion to escape the force therof Yet seing the vniforme consents of Fathers haue canonized that meaning of the wordes he can not be a true Christian that will not neyther was Caluin that did not submit his Iudgment therunto For the vniforme consent of Fathers doth not require that euery one none excepted should expresly teach the same doctrine for then scarse in any point could this vniforme consent be proued seeing all write not of the same point but it sufficeth that many haue taught it in diuers ages without contradiction of the rest and such is the exposition of this place for Purgatory and for the dead in the next world Neither is S. Chrysostomes exposition you brought (k) Lett. p. 41. contrary vnto this that the synne against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiuen in this world nor in the world to come that is Non effugient poenam they shall surely be punished in this wold and in the world to come For first it is not sure and certayne that vniuersally all such synners are punished in this world Many tymes they florish prosper and spend their whole liues in great worldly ioylity as diuers Persecutors Sodomites Apostata's haue done which you name as synnes irremissible and call their Authors Synners in grayne Besides synne neuer to be remitted is more then to be punished in this world and in the next For as you heard S. Augustine say some endure temporall punishments in this life only and some in the next life only some in both so that one may be punished both in this and in the world to come and yet haue his sinne forgiuen at last The meaning then of S. Chrysostome is they shal be punished in this world without pardon and in the next likewise without remissiion Whence it doth follow some may be punished in the next with Purgatory Clemency as Boaethius speaketh (l) Lib. 4 praef 4. So that this exposition as I said though it be not taught expresly by euery Father yet is it not contradicted by any These things Syr you should consider before you speake you should wipe away Tobacco smoke from your eyes when a Card is turned vp before you cry Nody least often as now you haue done you lay the foule Epithete on the holy Ghost indeed that true King of Harts who moued those Fathers to expound the wordes of Christ for the remission of sinnes in the world to come 9. You oppose against our Catholike expositiō another deuised by your self or your Ministers wherin you do greatly delight You will grant sinnes pardoned in the next world and yet not yield one penny to our Purgatory box In this world say you (m) Lett. pag. 50. 51. sinnes are fully pardoned quoad remissionis applicationem by the application of pardon vnto them and the selfe same sinnes may and shal be pardoned in the next per remissionis promulgationem by the proclamation of pardon This distinction you thinke is the (n) p. 32. fiue fingers which you imagin will carry away the Set from the Fathers yet I dare say a man that hath bin conuersant in Scriptures will iudge it no better then Nody First because it is a new deuise not backed by the authority of any Father which therfore may iustly be suspected For Scriptures are to be expounded according to the traditions of our ancestors not by our owne fancies as the Goulden paire of Grecian Doctors Basil and Gregory did who durst neuer follow therin their owne iudgments as Ruffinus o recordeth neither would you Scripturarū intelligentiam non ex propria praesumptione sed ex maiorū scriptis authoritate sequebantur whose wit and learning is not to be paralelled with theirs were you as humbly conceited of your self as you haue cause Secondly because you neither do nor can bring any expresse testimony of Scripture to confirme this your new fancy nor any text that may giue the least colour or probability vnto it You cite the words of S. Iohn that the vnbelieuer is already condemned yet say you he must come to a second doome so is it with the belieuer Albeit he hath full remission granted (p) c. 3. v 18 and his pardon sealed in this life yet he must haue the same proclaimed at the generall Goal-deliuery in the world to come in which sense he may as truly be said to haue his sinnes pardoned as the other his condemned 10. Thus you preach very learnedly as you think though God knowes to little purpose For first you neither do nor can tel what is the first doome the vnbelieuer vndergoeth by which he is damned in this world and after which he must come to a second The ancient Fathers expound that place not that he is indeed sentenced in this world but is said to be condemned and iudged
of the Altar which custome he proueth was perpetuall euen from the blessed Apostles S. Cyril Arch-bishop of Ierusalem liuing in Constantine the Great his time writeth of that practice in this sort (b) Cathec mystag 5. When we offer vp sacrifice we pray for our deceased Fathers and Bishops and finally for all men departed amongst vs for we belieue that this is a great help for the soules of them in whose behalfe we offer that holy and fearefull sacrifice which is layd vpon the Altar S. Chrysostome (c) hom 79. ad populum Antiochenum saith as much that it was not vnaduisedly decreed by the Apostles that in the fearefull Mysteries there should be a commemoration of the dead for they knew the dead receiued great benifite vtility therby But most clearely S. Augustine (d) Serm. 42. de verbis Apostol There is no doubt saith he but that by the prayers of holy Church and by the healthfull Sacrifice and by almes the soules of the deceased are released that God may deale more mercifully with them then their sinnes haue deserued for this being deliuered by our Fathers the vniuersall Church doth obserue 2. Behold prayer for the reliefe of the dead receaued from the Blessed Fathers Apostles practized by the vniuersall Church in that her most florishing age whose authoritie to impeach is the badge of heresie whose custome to condemne is insolēt madnes What say you to this Argument Syr Edward Sometimes you labour to proue that this was not an Apostolicall Tradition nor a perpetuall and vniuersall custome of the Church you bring (e) pag. 76. 77. argument vpon argument fiue or sixe one vpon the back of another which it were lost time to set downe For when your swelling pregnant Mountaines come to their Childbirth they are deliuered of a feely mouse the force of your argument consisting in this testimony of Polydore Virgil that Purgatorium aliquando incognitum fuit serò cognitū Ecclesiae vniuersae it was a great while before Purgatory was hard of and but of late knowne to the vniuersall Church I know I might pose you to finde nay sure I am you cannot finde those wordes in Polydore A signe that when you conceiue your noble and worthy lynes you haue Ministers note-bookes before you which is the cause they are so false foule rather resembling a Minister then a Knight some of that crew as it may seeme had summed the substance as he thought of Polydors discourses in that place you cite (f) De inuent l. 8. c. 1. which sume you trāscribe into your Letter as Polydors owne wordes though Polydore in truth speaketh not one word of his owne concerning Purgatory but meerly relateth of Roffensis whome you also bring such is your beggary making two distinct Authours of one 3. Roffensis then must beare the brunt of this battayle whome you quote (g) pag. 77. saying that the Greekes knew not Purgatory vnto this day Nay further he propoundeth this chalenge Reade he that list the ancient Greekes commentaries and he shall finde either little or no mention at all of Purgatory But in this your English Edition you omit that which you haue in your latin Original Quantum opinor as I now think or ghesse sayth that Byshop which is lesse then a new nothing to hang on your sleeue For though Roffenfis at that tyme (h) art 18. aduersus Luth. had such a thought not hauing then so fully perused the Grecian Fathers yet afterwards in that very booke when he commeth to speake of Purgatory (i) art 38. he doth affirme the contrarie in expresse tearmes Whereas Luther did obiect (k) Graeca Ecclesiae Purgatorium non credit manens Catholica that the Greeke Church did not belieue Purgatorie he maketh this answere I take it you meane the vulgar multitude of that Nation not the Fathers of the Grecian Church for that the Grecian Fathers fauour Purgatorie the workes they left behind them doe witnesse then he bringeth diuers authorities in proofe of his Assertion And againe Luther obiecting that Purgatorie could not be proued out of Scripture he doth reply that to pray for soules in Purgatorie is a most ancient custome of the Church adding (l) Cùm Purgatorium à to◠patribus tam Graecis quà m latinis affirmetur art 38. circa principium that seeing so many Fathers both Greeke and Latin auer Purgatorie it is not likly but that truth was made knowne vnto them by sufficient proofes out of Scripture Behold the swelling waues of your Syllogismes which occupy a whole page of your booke now are ended in froath in a silly surmise of Roffensis which vpon mature and exact perusall of the ancient Fathers he doth himselfe peremptorily gaine-say 4. But put case Polydore Virgil or Roffensis had said what you desire could his words way downe in any iudicious ballance S. Augustines cōtrary assertion Especially about the custome of the Church in that age wherein this glorious Saint liued S. Augustine against Polydors or rather your Ministers Serò that Purgatorie is but of late he hath à Patrihus traditum that it is deliuered from our Fathers which Fathers S. Chrysostome declareth to haue bene the Apostles against the emphasis of non vniuersae not the vniuersall he hath the contradictory vniuersa obseruat Ecclesia the whole vniuersall Church doth practice prayer for the relief of some dead Now you haue the whole army of the Christian Church in all ages set in battayle array against you the blessed Apostles with Pykes as I may say of diuine Authoritie standing in the forefront You say (m) Counters p. 24. the Apostles long since lent you a brydle to curbe the motions of swelling pride Si quis se existmet scire aliquid nondum cognouit quemadmodum oporteat eum scire This bit of sobriety if you had it euer in your mouth it may seeme that wine hath washed it downe so tamquam equus sine intellectu you runne against this glorious army You giue a double assault one with Iestes Scoffs deriding Catholikes for the reuerence they beare vnto the Churches authoritie Secondly you bring places of Scriptures which to your fancy seeme to condeme Purgatory and the custome to pray for the reliefe of the deseased First you begin u to iest at the saying of that Treatise that it is insolent madnes to contradict in this sort the custome of the Church pulchrè dictum say you this is your Ladies A. B. C. the Church is as much beholding to you as was Pythagoras to his Schollers insteed of ipse dixit you will haue ipsa dixit Thus you write And truly from such a Poet as your selfe what could we expect but such irreligious iestes who perchance take your pen to write about Theologicall questions when you are in the same case your Father Enuius euer was when he set himselfe to make Heroicall verses 5. For what man that hath any bit either of
Diuinity in his head or Christianity in his hart or Sobryetie in his tongue would haue accused Catholiks for esteeming the Ipsa dixit of the Church as much as the Pythagorians did the Ipse dixit of their Maister Why should not this Ipsa the Mother of Christians the Spousesse of the Holy Ghost this Pillar and Foundation of truth this daughter of God the Father washed with the bloud of his sonne that she might in her doctrine haue no blemish of errour Why should not her word I say be more esteemed of by her children then the saying of Pythagoras a Pagan Philosopher was with his Schollers I perceiue you do loue more then belieue the Feminine Gender perchance you suspect in the Church the fault you lay vpon that Sexe (o) Counters p. 52. with some ryme let them say with what reason Mulier nihil scit nisi quod ipsa cupit This makes you loath to submit your Iudgment vnto Ipsa dixit But you may be sure that the Dixit or Saying of the Church is neuer (p) vt maneat vobi cum in aeternū Ioan. 14. without the dixit of Gods spirit her Maister She hath the warrant of her Spouse that he will make her wordes good he that heareth you heareth me (q) Luc 10. to which her Commission he subscribeth with a dreadfull Curse He that heareth not the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen (r) Luc. 18. Oh what glorious Fathers and Doctors could I name famous in former ages for Sanctity and learning that submitted their Iudgment to the sayings of the Church put their fingers to their mouth when she did gaine-say that they thought true prostrating their learned penns to be euer at the deuotion of her Censure How highly did they esteeme her Dixit her Iudgmēt her Word Let S. Augustine speake (l) de Baptis cont Donatist l. 17. c. 33. vel 53. I dare with the conscience of a secure voyce affirme saith he what in the Gouerment of our Lord Iesus Christ is established by consent of the vniuersall Church And againe (m) de Baptism cōt Donatist l. 4. c. 6 If he say something that doth say We follow what we receaue from the Apostles how much more strongly do we say we follow that which the Church did euer hold what no disputation could ouerthrow (n) Contra epist Fundam l. 5. what a Generall or plenarie Councell hath defined Thus S. Augustine doe you see what a Pythagorean Dixit what vncontrollable Authoritie he granteth to the Church 6. As litle Iudgment or Piety do you shew in your iest at the Ladies A. B. C as though the authoritie of the Church were not the Alphabet and Christ-Crosse-Row in which all Christiās ought and all ancient Christians did learne to reade and belieue the Scriptures The forenamed S. Augustine the Phenix of witts the Mirour of learning did he not learne in this booke Ego vero saith he Euangelio non crederem nisi me Ecclesiae commoueret Auctoritas Truly I would not belieue the Ghospell did not the Churches authoritie moue me vnto it Why should any Lady or Lord Maister of Arts or Doctor disdaine to spell the Ghospell of Christ by the same letters such learning sanctity vsed 8. Shall I tell you your protestant Ladies (*) Has linguas qui nesciunt saepe necessariò hallucinantur VVhitak de sacra scriptura pag. 523. A. B. C For the old Testament those Hebrew Characters now you begin to learne (o) Counters p. 7. and the Greeke letters for the new which if they be ignorant of I assure them according to your (p) Nullū nos editionem nisi Haebraicū in vetere Graecā in nouo Testamēto authenticam facimus VVhitak controu 1. q. 2. p. 128. Churches Principles they cannot reade so much as a sillable that they may be certaine is Scripture They may reade the English translation you will say that is Scripture I deny the same to be Scripture except it be conformable to the Originall wherof those haue no meanes to be sure that cannot read nor vnderstand the two aforenamed learned tongues in which they were primarily written If you say they must belieue it vpon the word of your Church (q) Multi nesciunt literas tamēfidēsanā retinent expraedicatione pastorum Whitak de sacra scriptura p. 588. you bring them back vnto ipsa dixit and make them reade the letters of Christianitie in your Ministers horne booke Were it not better to stick to the Catholicke Ladies A. B. C. that fayre Christs-Crosse rowe which our famous auncestors did learne Cleaue to the authority of that Church which begun in the Apostles by perpetuall Succession of Bishops is deriued vnto this age * Illam Scripturā dicis non esse quam esse dicit vniuersa Ecclesia ab Apostolicis sedibus vsque ad praesentes Episcopos certa successione perducta l. 28. cont Faust c. 2. 8. But suppose one would be scholler to your Church hath she so much skill or any warrant not to erre as we may be sure she will not teach vs amisse Your selues say (r) The whole militant Church may erre as euery part therof Fulke in his answere to a Counterfayte Cath. p. 86. that she may erre and teach vs damnable doctrine For which when at the day of iudgment we shal be called to accompt to say our lessons we may be laughed to skorne loose the eternall reward and be punished for euer As it is insolent madnes to contradict the custome of the true Church (ſ) August Epist 118. ad Ianuarium so is it desperate madnes to follow the directions of such a Church which though we religiously belieue exactly obserue euen vnto death yet may we be perpetually damned But the Ladies of your Church learne forsooth of the spirit they trust to Ipse dixit who will teach them which is the Scripture They are the sheep of Christ and know his voyce from that of strangers These are your Ministers faire promises yet I dare giue them my word though they haue the best spirit that euer possessed any man of your Church notwithstanding they may erre damnably mistake Scripture think that to be true translation which is indeed erroneous Had not Luther the first fruites of the Protestants spirit yet he erred most grossely that euen Zwinglius his fellow-witnes against the Pope doth giue this testimony against him (t) tom 2. l. de sacrament p. 412. Thou Luther doest corrupt the word of God thou art seene to be a manifest corrupter of the holy Scriptures 9. What translation or spirit of your Church may your Ladyes trust if Luther be soe corrupt as this your faithful witnes doth depose I see no remedy for them if they meane to be saued frō the deluge of errours but to fly to your Arke of Noe printed at Venice (u) Counters p. 8. wherein you were shipped when my booke came to
your handes your sheep must learne in an hebrew grammer to vnderstand their pastors they must nibble on those rootes of Iurie which you who haue tasted of them compare to the fyery thunderbolts in Gelons belly wherewith it would be great pittie that your rare creaturs should be troubled And if this Arca cannot saue them nor assure them which is truly translated Scripture let them fly to the true Arke of Noe the Caholike Church to which Luther did foresee his turbulēt spirit raysing discord amongst Christians would force them that truly desire to be saued finally to fly to for rest (x) lib. de veritate Corpor. Christi contra Zwingliū Yf saith he the world continew long the multitude of interpretations will force vs to receaue againe the decrees of Councells and to fly vnto them to conserue vnity of Faith 10. This is the Felicitie of Catholike Ladies to be already shipped in this Arke that by the worde of the Church they know certainely which is the letter of Scripture which your Ladies like stray-sheep must seek on the top of craggy Mountaines as you terme (z) Counters p. 7. the hebrew language not without eminent daunger of an eternall downefall loosing therin tyme they might haue better spēt in works of charitie prayer seruice of God And put case which is morally impossible they find out assuredly the true Hebrew rootes the true text of Scripture yet would they be as much to seek to spel put the leters togeather to make the true sense What confusion is knowne to be in your Church concerning this point that as Irenaeus noted (a) l. 1. c. 5. Cùm fint duo veltres deijsdem eadem non dicunt of ancient heretikes one shall searse fynde two that will spell the same sense out of the same wordes These foure words Hoc est corpus meum this is my body conteyning not aboue fourteene letters you haue deuised aboue fourtimes forty expositions (b) 200. expositions of those fower wordes printed ann 1577. apud Bell. de Euchar. l. 1. c. 8. so different as the Authors of the one damne the fauourers of the other to Hell What shall your poore Ladies do in this combat they may rashly perswade thmselues that this or that exposition is the best but certaine of any thing they can neuer be till they admit the Catholike Ladies A. B. C. the Churches authority learning of her the sense of whom they tooke the text 11. But you go on with your scoffes Me thinks say you (c) Lett. p. 67. I see you playing Demetrius your craft is going to decay therfore you cry Magna Diana Ephesiorum or which is all one in effect Magna Ecclesia Romanorum Thus you You need I feare the remembrance Zeno gaue to a talker that was often laughed at for his folly Loqui lingua in mentem intincta to speake with your tongue dipped in wit not in Wine we do not in defence of Purgatory cry Magna Diana Ephesiorum nor only Magna Ecclesia Romanorum but Magna Ecclesia Christianorum the great Church of Christians in all ages Whē was the Church of Christ greater and according to the Prophesies vniuersally spread ouer the world if not in S. Augustines time When did Christian learning and piety more florish then in those daies And yet euen thē Purgatory was vniuersally belieued Praier for soules of the deceased practized in the whole Christian world as you haue heard S. Augustine witnes what is Magna Ecclesia Christianorum if this be not 12. But you haue a salue worse then the sore to wit that you take it when we name the Church we haue still reference to the former assertion that the Roman Church is of more Principality then the rest Do you call that assertion ours did we inuent that Title think you Former you may well tearme it for how ancient do you take this doctrine to be S. Irenaeus a most ancient Bishop and Martyr who liued immediatly after the Apostles dayes doth giue the former Stile to the Roman Church planted by the most glorious Apostles Peter Paul (d) l. 3. c. 3 Ad quam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem cōuenire Ecclesiam with which euery Church must agree because of her more powerfull principality which Principality you cānot imagin what els it may be besides the Primacy of Peter to whom Christ did make (e) Matth. 16. Ioan. vlt. subiect all other Pastors and Churches by the light of which singuler priuiledg bestowed on this Church in her first Pastor she doth shine velut inter ignes Luna minores 13. And in this respect the Roman Church may be tearmed Diana by which is vnderstood that cleare star whose beames do chase away the darknes of the night which beames the dogges (f) Pierins in Hieroglyph l. 5. de Cane◠who therby see the shadow of their vggly selues cannot endure but weare and wast away themselues with barking at it Heretickes in all ages haue bin condemned by the iudgment of the Roman Sea by the light of her authority they were forced to see the deformity of their hellish pride which hath bin the cause that they haue still waged warre against her And when with their vnited tayles they could not bring fyre inough to burne her Temple by which like Herostratus they thought to eternize their names they haue not ceased with their deuised heades and tongues to rayle and barke at her till some of them burst This consideration moued S. Augustine to say (g) De vtilit cred c. 17. that the Catholik Church deriued from the Apostolike sea partly by Authoritie of Councells partly by the consent of the world partly in the maiesty of Miracles had obtained the height of Authoritie frustra circumlatrantibus haereticis heretikes on euery syde still barking in vaine against her In which kenell your Snarler hath not the least mouth soe that in this age no lesse then in former the verses are found true applyed to the Roman Church Sic latrant sed vasta volat vox irritaventis Et peragit cursus surda Diana suos They bark but wind drowneth their clamours base Diana chast houldes on her heauenly pase 14 Heere may we gather that you vnderstand not well your selfe when you say that we haue receiued neither Scriptures nor the Creeds nor the first foure Generall Councells nor any foundations of faith from the Roman Church perhaps your reason was because these Councells were held not in Europe but in Greece and therefore you call them Grecian plumes Wherein you are grossely deceaued and litle perceaue how highly you commend the Roman Church whiles you seeke to disprayse it For the cause why these Councells were kept in Greece and not in Rome as it is most honorable for the Roman Church so is it little for the credit of the Grecian Those heresies against which such Councells were called did spring vp in Greece often times the