deede to honour the same This was also the scandale that the worthy ould Eleazarus in the booke of machabies so much detested resisted y t he chose rather to dye most cruelly then to cōmittit For whereas the Tyrant did com maund him to eate of the sacrifized meates and he refused the same the vnder officers of the Tyrant being moued with vniust compassion as the scripture tearmeth it offered him secretly other flesh not offered to Idoles and of the which he was not forbidden by his law to eate meaning thereby to deliuer him and to geue out that he had now satisfied the Prince his comāundement But the good old man considering what other men might thincke of it and what Scandale there might ensew of it answered thus as the Scripture sayeth That he would first be sente downe vnto hel before he would doe it for saieth he yt is not conuenient for our age to fayne whereby perchance many yong men thinking that Eliazarus now of nintie yeares ould hath past ouer to the lyfe of the Gentiles may through my dissimulation be deceaued This therefore is the second point of scandale which S. Paul forbiddeth when he sayeth Keepe your selfe from al shew of euil The third point of scandale is in respect of the enemy that is when although I doe not induce any man to siune or offend any mans conscience yet I doe disedefie the enemy and doe that thing whereby the enemye is scandalized and taketh an occasion to blaspheme God his trueth his cause his law or the lyke Whereof S. Paul speaketh to the Corinthians Be you without offence or scandale to the Iewes and also to the Gentiles And in an other place Geauing offence or scandale to no man to the end that our function or ministerie be not blamed thereby And this is that great scandale that Dauid being a King and a Prophet gaue to Gods enemies by his fal and for the which he was sore punished as it appereth by the words of the Scripture which are thes And Dauid sayd to Nathan the Prophet I haue sinned against my Lord and Nathan sayed to Dauid God hath taken away thy sinne but yet because thou hast made the enemies of God to blaspheme for this cause the sōne which is borne to the shal dye the death This also is the scandale that Esdras comming out of Persia towardes Ierusalem with his countrimen the Iewes was affeard to geue to the king of Persia by causing him to think basely of God as not able to helpe and defend his seruants if he should haue asked him ayde to conducte himselfe and his companie to Ierusalem for soe he sayth I was ashamed to aske of the King ayde and horsemen to defende vs from our enemies in the waye because we had said to the King before that the hand or defēce of our God is ouer al them that seke him in honestie and that his empire and strength and furye is vppon all them that forsake hym Finallye of this scandale ment S. Paule and S. Peter also when they sayd that the word of God was blasphemed or spoken euil of by the aduersarie part for the euil lyfe of certayne noughtie Christians Nowe that a Catholicke going to the Churches seruice or prayers of them of the contrary relygion cannot but cōmit this great sinne of scandale in the highest degre that is in al these thrée poyntes before rehersed it is euident to al the world For touching the first poynt if he be a man of any calling his example shal induce some other as wyfe children frendes seruantes or the lyke to doe the same And howsoeuer he scape him selfe they maye be infected and so damned and theyr bloode layd vppon his soule but muche more if he should exhorte or constrayne anye man to doe the same as commonlye manye Sysmatyques doe vse And touchiing the seconde poynte he cannot but offende manye mens Conscyences for they that doe knowe hym inwardelye to be a Catholyque will thynke hym to sinne against against his owne conscience and perhapps be induced to doe the lyke And they who know him not must néedes presume him to goe of conscience and as a fauorer of that religion and soe be brought to lyke the better of that religion and the worse of the Catholicke by his example And as concerning the third and last poynt their is no enemye of the Catholicke religion in the world whether he be Gentile Turke Iew or hereticke but that he must both thincke and speake the worse of the sayd religion séeing the professors of the same are content for worldly pollycie to dissemble it and leauing their own Churches to present them selues to the Churches of their open and professed enemies To conclude in this matter of scandale men must not flatter and deceaue them selues thincking that they walk in a net and are not séene when they geue scandale to all the world which fixeth his eyes vppon them if not for their owne cause yet for the religions sake God is not to be mocked The godly and learned Father S. Ambrose did accuse Ualentinian the Emperour for geuing a publyke scandale to the world because he did but permit certayne aulters to the Gentiles saying that men would thincke that he preuilye fauored them And his scholler S. Augustine thincketh it a scandale if a man should heare a Donatist but speake and he to hould his peace for that the hearer might thinke that if this were euil which the Donatist sayeth the other would reproue him But if S. Ambrose had sene the Emperour to haue gone to the Panims Temples or S. Augustine the other to frequent the Donatistes Churches what then would they haue sayed What excuse then would they haue receaued and this is our very case The Third Reason The Thyrd reason why a Catholicke may not come to Church is for that goynge or not goeyng to the Church is made a signe now in England distinctiue betwixt religion and religion that is betwyxt a Catholicke and a Schismatyke So that a Catholicke by going thether doth directlye denye his religion For the better vnderstanding whereof we must note that the professor of any religion may be knowen by thrée wayes firste by wordes professing him selfe to be of that religion secondly by workes or déedes proper to that religion thyrdly by some signe or marke appointed to signifie that religion As for example In Italy a Iew may be knowen First by his wordes if he would professe him selfe to be of that religion Secondlye by workes proper to Iudaysme as by keaping the Saterday holye daye by circumcysinge his children and the like Thirdly by a notorious signe appointed to distinguishe that religion from al others which is to weare on his head a yealow capp Nowe as these thrée are wayes to professe this religion soe if a 〈◊〉 of an other religion for example a Christian should
A BRIEF DISCOVRS contayning certayne REASONS WHY CAtholiques refuse to goe to Church WRITTEN BY A LEARNED AND vertuous man to a frend of his in England AND Dedicated by I. H. to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie IHS Imprinted at Doway by Iohn Lyon 1580. WITH PRIVELEGE TO THE MOST HIGHE Mightie Princesse ELIZABETH by the grace of God Quene of England France and Irland c. Iohn Howlet wisheth al aboundance of grace and spiritual giftes with true felicitye in Iesus Christ. MY MOST Excellent and soueraygne dread Ladye and Princesse two causes induced me to direct vnto your royal person and most gracious Maiestie this present Treatise after I had read and considered the same The one for that it séemed to me both conceued and penned with such modestie and humilitie of spirite together with al dutiful respect to your highnes to your honorable Lordes of the Counsaile and to the whole estate of your noble Realme contrarye to the spirite and procéedings of al 〈◊〉 as none might iustely be offended therewith but onely in respect of the wryters zeale and opinion in religion which notwithstanding hauinge bene from tyme to tyme the common receaued religion of vniuersal Christendome can not be soe soone abandoned by the disfauour of any one countrye nor lacke men to speake or wryte in defence of the same as longe as there is ether head or hand remaining loose in the world The other cause was for that it séemed to me to contayne matter of great and weightie consideration and much important not onelye to the cause of God but also to your Maiesties soule estate and Realme and vnto the state of many a thowsand of your graces most louing faithful and dutiful subiectes who being now afflicted for their consciences and brought to such extremitie as neuer was hard of in England before haue no other meanes to redresse and ease their miseries but onely as confident children to runne vnto the mercy and clemency of your Highnes their Mo ther and borne soueraigne Princesse before whom as before the substitute and Angel of God they laye downe their gréefes disclose their miseries and vnfould their pitiful afflicted case brought into suche distresse at this time as ether they must renounce God by doinge that which in iudgemente and conscience they doe condemne or els sustayne such intollerable molestations as they can not beare Which your Maiestie by that which followeth more at large may please to vnderstand There are at this day in this your Maiesties Realme fower knowen religions and the professors thereof distinct both in name spirite and doctrine that is to say the Catholickes the Protestants the Puritanes and the howsholders of Loue. Besids al other petye sects newly borne and yet grouelinge on the ground Of these fower sorts of men as the Catholiks are the first the auncientest the more 〈◊〉 number and the most beneficial to al the rest hauing begotten and bred vp the other and deliuered to them this Realme conserued by Catholicke religion these thowsand yeares and more soe did they alwayes hope to receaue more fauour then the rest or at leaste wyse equall tolleration with other religions disalowed by the state But God knoweth it hath fallen out quite contrarye For other religions haue bene permitted to put out their heades to growe to aduaunce them selues in cōmon speach to mount to pulpites with litle or noe controlement But the Catholique religion hath bene soe beaten in with the terror of lawes and the rigorous execution of the same as the verye suspition thereof hath not escaped vnpunished The Lawe made by Protestants prohibitinge the practize of other religions besides there owne allotteth out the same punishment to all them that doe any waye varye from the publique communion booke or otherwise say seruice then is appointed there as it doth to the Catholiques for hearinge or sayinge of a Masse And althoughe the worlde knoweth that the order set doune in that booke be commonlye broken by euerye minister at his pleasure and obserued almost noe where yet smal punishment hath euer ensewed therof But for hearinge of a Masse were it neuer soe secret or vttered by neuer so weake meanes what imprisoninge what arrayninge what condemning hath there bene The examples are lamentable and many freshe in memorye and in dyuers families will be to all posteritye miserable To this now if we adde the extreme penalties laied vpon the practize of certayne particulers in the Catholicke religion as imprisonmēt perpetual losse of goodes and lands and lyfe also for refusal of an othe against my religiō death for recōciling my selfe to God by my ghostly father death for geuing the supreme Pasfor supreme authoritie in causes of the Church death for bringing in a crucifix in remembrance of the crucified death for bringing in a séely payre of beades a medal or an agnus dei in deuotion of the Lambe that tooke away my sinns which penalties haue not bene layed vpon the practise of other religions your Maiestie shal easelye finde to be trew soe much as I haue sayd which is that the Catholike religion wherin we were borne baptized and brede vp and our forefathers lyued and dyed most holyly in the same hath found lesse fauour and tolleration then anye other newer sect or religion what so euer And albeit the world doth know how that the great mercye and clemencie of your Maiestie hath stayed often times and restrayned these penalties from their execution and from the ouerthrowinge of 〈◊〉 men whome otherwise they myght and would haue oppressed yet notwithstanding as I haue sayd there wante not verye pitiful examples abrode which would moue greately and make to bléed that Princely and compassionable harte of your Highnes if their miseries in particuler were knowen to the same especially it beinge in such subiectes as loued and doe loue most tenderly your Maiestie and for such a cause as lyethe not in them to remoue that is for their conscience and iudgement in religion But now these afflictions how gréeuous and heauye soe euer they were yet were they hythertoe more tollerable because they were not common nor fell not out vppon euerye man and if there were anye common crosse layed vppon them as there wanted not they bare it out with patience as their discredit in their countryes whoe were borne to credyte and countenance in the same distrustefull dealinge with all of that relygion notwithstandinge their resolute redines to spend their lyues in your Maiesties seruice and other the lyke afflictions which they shifted out with as they might But at this time present and for certaine monethes past the tempeste hath bene so terrible vppon these kinde of men and their persecutions so vniuersal as the lyke was neuer felte nor feared before For besides the general molestation and castinge into geales both of men women and children of that religion throughe out all partes of your Maiestyes Realmes there are certayne particulers reported here
that thou shouldest be deceaued with that opiniō in such fort that thou shouldest ether by noughty shame or obstinate disdayne refrayne to confesse before the substitute or Vicegerent of our Lord. For whom our Lord did not disdayne to make his substiute his iudgemente must thow be contente also to stande to This benifit therefore of the keyes of the Church and of receauing remission of their sinnes by the same which Catholickes doe thincke to be the greatest benifit of their religiō do they loose that goe to the Protestants Churches besids al the good instructions wholesome councels and vertuous admonitions which Catholickes doe receaue in confession at their ghostly fathers hands then the which things they finde nothinge more forcible to bring them to good lyfe especially if they frequente it often as all 〈◊〉 Catholickes in the worlde nowe doe Fourthlye they loose the infinite benefite of receuing the blessed sacramēt of the aulter the pretious Body and Bloud of Christ being the foode of our soules and as Christ sayeth The bread that came downe from heuen to geue lyfe vnto the world To the worthye eating of which heauēly bread Christ promiseth infinite reward saying He that eateth my flesh and drincketh my bloud hath lyfe euerlasting and I wil rayse him againe at the last day And agayne He that eateth me shal lyue through me Upon which promises of Christ our forfathers of the Primatiue church haue alwayes most earnestlye exhorted al men to the often receauinge of this blessed sacrament alleaging innumerable cōmodities of y e same and prouing by experiēce that the frequēting of this Sacrament is the chéefeste meanes to come to al grace zeale féelinge and lyfe in spiritual matters And on the contrarye parte that the abstayninge from the same is the right way to al spiritual miserye and for the soule of man to wyther away drye vp and starue euen as the plant dothe that lacketh moysture The which we sée nowe by experience in manye a thousand who for lacke of the foode of this blessed Fountayne of grace are as dead in al spiritual cogitations and déedes as a starued stake in the hadge from bearing of flowers and their myndes so ouergrowen with the rancke wéedes of Carnalitye that there is noe difference betwixte them and a brute bullocke for as much the one foloweth his passions as the other Whereby we sée what a losse it is to depryue them selues from the vse of this Sacrament Fiftlye they loose al the merit of their good déedes what soeuer For as S. Gregorie sayeth Euen as none receaued their peny in the Gospel but they onely which had labored within the compasse of the Vineyarde soe no man shal receaue any reward for any good deede of his except he haue donne it within the vnitye of the Church So that if a man should doe neuer so many good déedes geue neuer so manye almes nay as S. Cyprian proueth if a man should suffer neuer so many thinges for Christ yea death it selfe yet if he were out of the vnity of the Catholick Church he shal haue no rewarde therefore And not onely this but if a man be in anye mortal sinne what soeuer as long as he abydeth in the same without repentance and confession al deuines hould that he looseth the rewarde of al his good déedes And the reason is because noe worke can be meritorious of it selfe but onely by reson of the grace from whence it procéedeth but by euerye mortal sinne which a man committeth he losseth grace and much more by goeinge out of the vnitye of the Church And therefore in such men vntil they repente there can be noe hope of anye reward for any good woorke which they shall doe Sixthely they lose the benefit of Communion of Saintes which we protest to beléeue in our Créede That is they haue no parte of the Sacrifices oblations prayers fastinges almes other good woorks done within the Catholique Church which all other Catholiques haue Finallye they being cut of and deuided from the vnitie of the other members they take parte of no influence whiche cōmeth from the head to the bodye that is from Christ to the Churche nomore then a mans hande once cut of doth take blood norishment spirit or lyfe from the arme from which it is now separated as most learnedly S. Austen dothe discourse Wherfore they must néedes wither awaye and make drye wood for hell fyre and as good for them it were in effect to be of anye other relygion as of that whereof they take not one iote of commoditye And to all these myseries they are driuen onely by going to the protestants Churches THE Nynthe Reason THE Nynthe Reason whiche Catholiques may yelde for their refusal of going to the Church may be the example of all men from the beginning which haue had any care or Conscience toward their own religion not only good men of whom I haue geuen diuers examples before but also al others how false erronious soeuer their religion were yet did they alwayes procure to separate them selues from them of the contrarie religion in the acte of prayer and from the Templs Sinagogues Churches Dratories and conuenticles of 〈◊〉 same Soe we reade of the Gentils which thought it to be a great sinne and polution to enter into the Iewes Synagogues or Christians Chnrches The like we read alsoe of the Turkes at thys daye Soe al heretiques from the beginning as soone as they had framed any newe relygion eftsons they erected new oratories to them selues and refused to come to those of other relygions as the Arians Denatists and the rest had their Churches and places of prayer dstincte from the Catholiques whose Churches they detested and auoyded together with their doctrine And soe the Anabaptistes at this daye refuse to goe to the Lutherans Church and the Lutherans to the Trinitaries In like wise the Puritans of our time in Englād refuse to come to the Protestantes churches And the Protestants in oother countries doe vtterly denye to present them selues to Catholique Churches alleginge their consciencs for the same and affirming it to be danmable hipocrisie in them that for feare or for any other temporal repect doe yeld to doe the same against their fayth and conscience Wherby it apeareth that they goe quit against their own docttrine and example in England which obiect the same to Catholiques as disobedience obstinacie and rebellious dealing which in other countries they them selues both teach and practise I wil for mor manifestation of this matter put downe here the very wordes of one of them translated out of french and printed in England and dedicated to y t Lord Tresurour by John Brooke the authors name is John Gardiner a Protestant whoe in his Cathechisme or as he calleth it Confession of his faythe maketh it a great heynous sinne for