tell leasings and would haue his owne word goe for pay But the law saith Vox vnius vox nullius licet honoratae personae The voyce of one is the voyce of none though hee were an honourable person and as Hierome saith Testimonium pro se nec Catoni creditum No not Cato was credited in his owne cause Were this Ignatian sectarie of a more worthie order and an honester man then he seemeth to be he must not thinke his owne surmises can surprise the the truth nor his bold assertions shall be taken for good euidence It had been more commendable in him to be bashfull to speake the truth then shamelesse to vtter any thing as Cato said well he liked better of young men that were giuen to blushing then of pale and wanne The second Obiection 1. IT is a common opinion with this people that the lawes of Magistrates doe not binde in conscience and in secret but onely in publike and open shew for auoiding of scandale What treason may not priuately be plotted and put in practise by this doctrine pag. 86. 2. VVhat other thing doth their approued doctrine of sole faith portend to the world but a desolation of all order c. if a man be onely iustified by faith c. all offences against a commonwealth euen to take away the scepter and Crowne of the Prince may securely be put in action c. pag. 86. 3. That law enacted by Parliament of King Henrie the 8. that all contracts of mariage whatsoeuer were voide by a second mariage consummate was reuoked by K. Edward the 6. yet by the first Parliament of Queene Elizabeth is reuiued from which opinion and the doctrine of remarrying for incontinencie c. what diuorcements dissensions breaches of wedlocke c. haue ensued pag. 89. The Reiection 1. THe Protestants denie not but that the lawes of Magistrates as touching external rites and obseruations doe binde in conscience but not in regard of the things commaunded which are of themselues indifferent and touch not the conscience as the prohibiting of eating of flesh wearing of apparell but in regard onely of our obedience due vnto the Magistrate in lawfull things But concerning Princes lawes of things necessarily appertaining to Gods seruice and the keeping of the commaundements such doe simply binde in conscience enioyning the same and none other things which God commaundeth in his word And this is that which is affirmed in Synopsis which doctrine the aduersarie shall neuer bee able to disproue and therefore he seeketh to obscure this truth by lying being not ashamed to vtter here two great vntruths as though it were affirmed that Magistrates lawes doe not at all binde in conscience and secret and as though the question were of all lawes and not onely of externall rites and vsages which are in their owne nature indifferent for treasons and treacheries are directly contrarie to the law of God and doe pollute the conscience and such lawes doe binde absolutely in conscience both in respect of the particular thing commanded and of the generall rule of obedience 2. Though Protestants teach that onely faith doth iustifie yet they affirme not onely faith to be necessarie And our opinion is that iustifying faith cannot be without fruites that whereas there are no good workes there is no faith neither was that euer a right faith which neuer brought foorth good workes It is therefore a foolish consequent brought in by him Protestants are iustified onely by faith Ergo felons murthers treasons may be safely practised among them for where these things are maintained there is no faith perceiued Good fruits make not a tree good but onely declare it to be good doth it therefore follow that it is no matter whether a good tree bring foorth fruite or not nay if it doe not it is found to be no good tree We say therefore with S. Paul that they which haue beleeued should be carefull to shew forth good workes these things are good and profitable to men But this shall cleere our doctrine of iustification by faith onely from all suspition of treasons treacheries that these cursed attempts are not to be found among the solifidian Protestants but among the nullifidian Papists who standing vpon the merite of their workes make no conscience a great sort of them to practise against their Prince and countrie as it hath been more then twentie times in the raigne of Queene Elizabeth attempted by Romish Priests and Iudasites and their sectaries and by Gods great mercie and watchfull prouidence discouered 3. That law of reuersing precontracts by mariage consummate was made in the Popish Church and as yet the whole bodie of Popish religion remained in England onely the Popes supremacie excepted anno 32. Henric. 8. But it was reuersed vnder a Protestant Prince King Edward the 6. This exception tendeth rather to the disgrace of Poperie then Protestancie It is further a most impudent forgerie that the statute against precontracts was reuiued anno 1. Elizabeth onely so much is reuiued as was repealed by Queene Marie as touching other prohibitions of mariage not that which was reuoked by King Edward The practise also of the Church sheweth the same where a sound and lawfull precontract is admitted against an vsurped mariage though consummate As for mariage after diuorce for fornication where Christ hath giuen a libertie againe to marrie it ought not to be restrained for feare of any ensuing inconuenience least man should seeme to be wiser then God And yet greater daunger is feared and more mischiefe like to be intended where mariage vpon diuorce is denied then where it is admitted for there one partie being a continuall offence to another they shall be constrained to liue vnchastly and incontinently or tempted to practise one against the life of another that the yoke may be loosed whereas when a second mariage where the iustnes of the cause to the Magistrate is approued is graunted the foresaid daungers are the one helped the other preuented Augustine thus resolueth Potius vxore viuente aliam ducat quis quam humanum sanguinem fundat It were better for a man to marrie another his first wife liuing then to shed blood And Ambrose concludeth peremptorily Viro licet vxorem ducere si dimiserit vxorem peccantem It is lawfull for the man to marrie a wife hauing dismissed the first for her offence against mariage Thus it is apparant with what weapons our aduersaries fight with slaunders wrestings misreports But as the law is Testi non iurato non credendum A man is not to be credited not speaking vpon his oth So this fellow is not to be trusted who I am sure would hardly sweare vnlesse his conscience bee cauterised these things to bee true which here he hath obiected I remember Augustine writing to Hierome commendeth the faithfulnes of one Ciprianus that caried his letters Non illi diligentia deerit
The Priests also thus write That there is no competitor vnto the Crowne of England that is a Catholike in whom any probabilitie in the world of enioying the Crowne can be imagined as al men know Thus the Masse-priests were bold to write not long since but simplie and suspiciouslie as though England would afford any competitor to stand vp against the lawfull title of his Maiestie who onely by his royall descent had enterest to succeede in the Crowne which God be thanked we see to all our comforts without any contradiction or opposition to be peaceablie deriued vnto his Maiestie which long may he possesse with honor to Gods glorie We trust then that God which in his mercie hath sanctified this land to professe his Gospell will consecrate it as his Temple to be the piller of truth and candlesticke to hold out the light of his word to the worlds end and that he wil put into the heart of our gratious Soueraigne and honorable Counsellers so to prouide that true Religion may be transmitted vnto posteritie and so blesse the Kings royall posteritie and especiallie his Maiesties dearest sonne and heire apparant Prince Henry that Religion may be so planted in his princely youth that it may grow vp and increase with him It ioyeth me here to remember that couragious farewell which that renowned King Henry the 8. gaue to the Pope England hath taken her leaue of popish crafts for euer neuer to be deluded with them hereafter Romane Bishops haue nothing to do with English people the one doth not traffike with the other at the least though they will haue to do with vs we will none of their merchandice none of their stuffe we will receiue them of our councell no more This Prophesie rather then Proclamation of that magnanimous King we gladlie accept and with all ioyfull acclamation say Amen vnto it Adde vnto this the propheticall exclamation of Roger Clearke Martyr at his condemnation an 1546. at Ipswich fight for your God for he hath not long to continue But most of all are we secured by the prophesie of the Reuelation that Babylon is fallen which we see in part alreadie fulfilled for the tenth part of the citie is fallen alreadie that is the tenth part of that politike bodie of Antichrist which consisted of Monks Friers Nunnes with their Abbeyes Priories Celles Chauntries is ouerthrowne as by a mightie earthquake in the kingdomes of England Scotland Ireland And we further are most sure that after Babylon beginneth to fall it shall not rise againe nor be found no more And howsoeuer God may in iustice deale with some nation in particular for their vnthankfull receiuing of the Gospell to suffer them to be misled againe yet we make no doubt but the generall bodie of Antichrist is decaying and hath receiued a wound irrecouerable Wherefore be it knowne vnto you ye Papists that your kingdome is withering and decaying and ye are they that wax worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued 1. Tim. 3.12 but the Gospell of Christ shall flourish and they that loue him shall be as the sunne that riseth in his strength Only let vs that professe the Gospell be of good courage let vs keepe the profession of our hope without wauering let vs lift vp our hands that hung downe and our weake knees Let vs not be like as Hierome sayth to those that slacke their rowing Quomodo qui aduerso flumine lembum trahit si remiserit manus retro labitur fluentib aquis quo non vult ducitur Like as he which haleth a boate against the streame if he let go his hands falleth backe and is caried whither he would not so he that is remisse in religion is in danger to fall backe to superstition but the worst I hope is past the beginning of reformation is harder then the perfection as Lampis said of the getting of riches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he got great wealth easily and small hardlie So we hope in God that true religion may more easily be continued then it was at the first founded 3 This Iesuited or rather Iudasited Frier for of that rebellious and exorbitant order he is supposed to be proceedeth on in his frierlie vaine of lying he bringeth in Iohn Riuius to say that they meaning all Protestants be Atheists Epicures deniers of the soules immortalitie p. 11. l. 21. Whereas neither he speaketh of all Protestants but only of certaine dissolute liuers among them neither yet affirmeth them to be deniers c. but that they do runne headlong into sinne as though they did thinke c. that the foule perisheth with the bodie There is great difference betweene him that openlie denieth the immortalitie of the soule and him that by his licentious life may be thought not to beleeue the soule to be immortall Indeede we reade that in the Councell of Constance it was obiected to one of your Popes whom ye hold can not erre namely Iohn 23. Quinimo dixit pertinaciter credidit animam hominis cum corpore humano mori c. Moreouer he said and obstinately beleeued that the soule of man dieth together with the bodie and is extinguished as the soule of brute beasts But from among the Protestants you shall not be able to shew one that euer so affirmed or beleeued 4 Where he saith their owne generall and approued doctrine especiallie in England that true faith and good works are inseparable conâ—oc Londâ—n 1562. art 12. condemneth such men for infidels and misbeleeuers p. 12. l. 7. First it is vntrue that those words are found in that article though we admit and receiue the doctrine that article faith indeede that good works spring out necessarily of a true and liuely faith but it condemneth them not straight for infidels that haue not this working and liuely faith for there is great difference betweene him that hath the right knowledge of God though not effectual or working and him that hath no knowledge or the same erroneous And if it be admitted that some infidels or misbeleeuers might be found among Protestants and where the Gospell is professed is that any derogation maister Frier to the Church of God or profession of the Gospell which condemneth such Did the Church of Corinth cease to be a Church because some among them had not the knowledge of God and denied the resurrection Or is the popish Church free from infidels and misbeleeuers I would Atheisme and prophanenes had not inuaded the Popes chaire I thinke that Pope was little better then an infidell and misbeleeuer that said to one of his Cardinals quantum nobis profuit fabula ista dâ— Christo how much hath this fable of Christ aduantaged vs 5 Of the like credit and truth are these words that follow that the Protestants haue beene the onely cause of so many Infidelities Atheismes Epicurismes Iudaismes p. 12. l. 20. that euery man among vs is left
of theirs doe well declare that they feare to be tried by the Scriptures 4. He saith further nothing is more holie credible or worthie to be beleeued then the doctrine he is to teach and to follow S. Augustines phrase that a man should sooner doubt whether he liue He may well follow Augustines phrase his sense he followeth not for Augustine in that place which hee citeth in the margin speaketh not of the articles of Popish religion which he neither knew nor approueth but of the certaintie which we ought to haue of the eternal veritie that is the Godhead whereby we were made And I nothing maruaile to see this fellow so confident in his Popish trash seeing it hath been the propertie of the greatest Heretikes to shew themselues resolute Eutyches said In hac fide genitus sum vsque hodie vixi in ea opto mori I was borne in this faith and hitherto liued in it and desire to die Dioscorus his companion said Ego cum patribus eijcior ego defendo patrum dogmata I am cast out with the fathers I defend the sentence of the fathers Constantinus a Monothelite heretike being asked of the Synode if he would continue in that error answered Etiam domini sic sentio sic credo non est possibile aliter Yea my Lords so I thinke so I beleeue it is not possible otherwise THE FIFT SECTION THis Ignatian professor taketh vpon him in this treatise to proue the certaintie excellencie and dignitie of their Cacolike religion But it fareth with him as Plato saith of louers that they are blind in that which they loue As the Crow thinketh her owne birds fairest so he praiseth the deformities of his profession but as a blind man cannot iudge of colours so his blind affection cannot discerne of true religion Let vs see his reasons and perswasions whereby he doth iustifie and magnifie Popish superstition The first perswasion THe blasphemous impietie of Diagoras Lucretius Epicures the infidelities of Iewes Mahometanes Brachmans and Pagans are by that religion I will defend miraculously confuted and condemned c. The Disswasion I Would that Poperie were free from the imputation of these foure sects which he saith are by them impugned of Atheists Iewes Mahometanes Pagans for then some hope might bee conceiued that they would giue place at the length to the trueth if they were purged of these filthie dregges But as that profession now standeth I feare me it cannot be cleered from the imputation of all these aforesaid impieties 1. If Poperie did not giue way to Atheisme how commeth it to passe that so many of your vnholie fathers the Popes haue been infected that way What was I pray you Iohn 13. that playing at dice called to the diuell for helpe and who is reported to haue drunke to the diuell and Siluester the 2. that gaue himselfe to the diuell to be made Pope and Gregorie the 7. that cast the Sacrament into the fire and Iulius 2. that threw S. Peters keyes as they call them into the riuer Tyber and drew out his sword hauing more confidence in Pauls sword as he termed it then in Peters keyes Iulius the 2. calling for his dish of Porke which he was forbidden by his Phisitions said Giue it me in despite of God Leo 10. said to Cardinall Bembus Quantum nobis profuit fabula ista de Christo. How gainefull to vs hath been this fable of Christ Are these now your holie fathers indeed that were plaine Atheists and is this religion likely to confute Atheisme which as a spider taketh hold with her hands and maketh her web not in Kings but Popes palaces yea buildeth her nest in Popes breast And whence is it I pray you that you and your fellow Iudasites are by your pewfellowes the secular Priests so often proclaimed Atheists Machiauilists diuellish if Poperie whereof you take vpon you to be sect-masters and ringleaders were the ouerthrow of Atheisme Secondly for Iudaisme how can the Romane religion cleere it selfe seeing they retaine so many Iewish rites and ceremonies as the Priestlike garments Altars Incense Palme Salt Oile Iubilee and which is most notorious among the rest they euery yeer like vnto the Iewes consecrate a Paschall lambe 3. And for Mahometanisme it hath great affinitie with Papisme in doctrine manners miracles pilgrimages sects of Monkes in their Alchoran and many rites and ceremonies as is most pithily learnedly proued by an excellent writer and industrious professor of our Church in a seuerall worke of that argument which the aduersarie shall neuer be able to answere to that treatise I referre the reader How then is Poperie a confounder of Mahometanes being rather a compounder with them and cousin germane to many of their erronious and corrupt vsages 4. Concerning Heathenish paganisme if Papists borrowed not much of their stuffe from thence their religion would be left very beggerly and naked 1. The old Romanes maried not in May so the Church of Rome at certaine seasons inhibite mariage 2. The Augur did not lose his Priesthood while he liued hence they haue the indeleble character of Priesthood 3. Of them also they learne to visite the sepulchers of the dead and bring their oblations thither 4. Nisus King of Megaris kept the reliques of his wife Abrota the reliques of Osiris were preserued in Egypt and of Bacchus at Delphos Hence is deriued the Popish reseruation of reliques 5. The Egyptians worshipped the image of Osiris from this practise of the Heathen the Papists haue receiued the adoration of images 6. The Thasians tooke vpon them to canonize Saints so doe the Papists 7. Epicurus did ascribe an humane forme to the Gods so the Papists doe picture God the Father like an old man 8. The Romanes instituted an holie day in memorie of their maides which deliuered Rome from the Frenchmen the Church of Rome hath her festiuities of Virgines 9. Pythes for griefe for his sonne whom Xerxes commaunded to be slaine made himselfe a recluse and Anachorite and so died so hath the Church of Rome their Anchorites 10. The Egyptian Priests did vse to shaue their haire and so hath the Church of Rome their shauelings Diuers hundred such Paganish rites are to this day practised among the Romanists One hath of late written a treatise of this argument wherein hee sheweth the originall of more then 400. points and trickes of Popish religion to haue been taken from the Pagans There the reader shall finde himselfe more fully satisfied in this matter We see then how well Pagans are confuted by that religion which this champion taketh vpon him to defend It is not then the Romane superstition which hath confuted and condemned Atheists Iewes Mahometanes Pagans but the religion which we defend that professe the Gospell of Iesus Christ hath exploded all these impieties and put them to silence and