This Author still prosecutes let all this be spoken that men may discerne and vnderstand that there can be nothing so good but it is exposed to some inconueniences yet procur'd rather by the abuses of men then out of the originall nature and qualitie of things And yet for all this there is no reason that through the disorder and misprision of a few many and good men should loose the fruit and emolument of wholesome doctrine All which our blessed Sauiour plainely intimated vnto vs in the parable of the Cockle where he sayes Matth. â—â— that the other seruants demanding of their master whether they should weed out the bad weeds or no that so they might not be preiudiciall to the good seed hee answered them that they should let them alone because it may well be that in plucking vp the weeds together with the they might irradicate the good eares In which parable hee points out vnto vs that the priuiledge and immunities of the good ought so tenderly to be reserued that many discommodities are to be digested rather then that good men should be hurt or damnified If Christ himselfe taught vs thus much why does the Pope who vaunts himselfe to be his Vicar both teach and practise the contrary Why doeth hee depriue good men of the diuine Scriptures and therein of a treasure inestimable in that some particular bad men vse them ill seeing he is not a vice god vpon earth as with a brasen face hee entitles himselfe but a vice-deuill of hell whose workes he performes and whom men obey in euery thing whereof except he speedily repent hee shall one day receiue the iust reward and recompence But yet let vs proceede a little further with this Author Vnto all this I adde saith hee that sound doctrine is so farre from being a motiue and stimulation vnto errour that rather it is the meanes to confirme and strengthen vs in our faith wherefore I thought good here to insert a thing which a certaine Lord of the holy Inquisition of these kingdomes of Portugall related to me the which is very behoouefull to prooue the benefit of good and discreet reading and the discommoditie that growes from bad and iniudiciall perusing of bookes This Lord therefore reported to mee that a man came to that sacred Court to require mercy who freely confest that applying himselfe to reade corrupt and vicious bookes his true faith was thereby so shaken as that he firmely beleeued hee had no more to answere for but to die like a beast But afterwards vpon a speciall occasion that fell out or rather in that it was so ordained by diuine prouidence he began againe to reade and peruse books of good instruction by meanes whereof he was released of the blindnesse wherein he formerly stood This very Author still annexeth another example of a Moore whose eyes God opened by the helpe of good and commendable reading euen as it happened to the Queene of Ethiopia's Eunuch by reading in the Prophet Esaias Wherefore if the benefites growing from good reading be so diuine and that of corrupt and vicious reading so hurtfull and pernicious let me aske of the Papists one question From whence comes it that bad reading is permitted to all in generall and the good onely to a few in number If they know and beleeue that the Eunuch being one in the ranke of secular men attain'd to the vnderstanding of Christian veritie by reading of the holy Scriptures and that the fore-mentioned Spaniard by the reading of profane bookes lost his faith and became an Atheist how comes it that the Lords Inquisitors after hereticall errors doe not consent that there one onely booke of the diuine Scriptures may be publisht in the vulgar tongue that so secular men like to that Eunuch may daily reade in it whereas they tolerate an infinite company of obscene and vicious bookes permitting them to come into euery mans hands If they take away the holy Scriptures from the popular sort which might be very profitable for many and no preiudice to any except they assume it from their owne corruption and blindnesse vnder colour and pretext that some ground their errors out of them how is it that they suffer so many bad and profane bookes that can benefite none but as experience continually teacheth are the instruments of many euils I cannot conceiue what answere the Papists will returne hereunto but this I am assured of that as the Pope the Inquisitors and great Prelats know well that the vulgar sort can neuer possibly come to the sense and feeling of that miserable seruitude whereunto they haue reduced them by the meanes of depraued and petulant bookes they therefore indifferently permit them to be read of all men making no account of the errors and vices that encrease through the reading of such bookes in that they speake not against the Authoritie of the Pope nor of the Inquisitors But by reason they know that the holy Scripture is a cleare and manifest light that will reueale their workes and false doctrine they vse all the care and circumspection possible that the vulgar sort may not reade them and so come to discerne the insupportable yoke they haue laide vpon them This out of all doubt is the true reason why they suppresse the reading of holy Scriptures and tolerate those that are corrupt and bad And that this may the more clearely appeare I thought fit here to set downe somewhat of much which diuers Spanish Doctors haue vtter'd against prophane bookes and the great preiudice that euery day growes in Spaine by the reading of them Father Torres amongst other things affirmes Torres en la Filosofia de principes pag 943. that many of those bookes vsually read at this day throughout all Spaine are obscene and dishonest and are good for nothing else but to make Pandors and secret Bawdes teaching them to sinne and to send many soules into hell These pernicious bookes haue a number of followers and well-willers but good writings that treat of vertue and pietie he close hid vp in corners for these ill bookes like a canker enter and seaze vpon all parts of the mind and so irradicate and plucke vp the root and ground of all vertues but the Lords Inquisitors winke at all this Father Ioseph de Iesus Maria is very admirable vpon this subiect Fr. Ioseph cap. 13. del lib. de la castidad exhibiting vnto vs many strong and vnanswerable reasons wherewith to subdue and ouercome our aduersaries First of all therefore hee sayes that in many bookes which are much read in the vulgar tongue and come into the hands of the common people in Spaine they vse idolatrous speeches and phrases wherein the Christian Faith and Religion is scandaliz'd and the religious and godly customes of Catholike people That bookes of Poetrie are full of blasphemies and vent more error then euer the Gentiles did in their writings All this the same Author affirmes and daily experience shewes
Scrutamini Scripturas THE EXHORTATION OF A SPANISH CONVERTED MONKE Collected Out of the Spanish Authours themselues to reade and peruse the holy Scriptures Contrary to the Prohibition of the Pope and Church of Rome whose Tyranny in this point plainely appeares to euery mans view With other occurrences of no small importance LONDON Printed by THOMAS HARPER M.DC.XXIV TO THE RIGHT HONOrable and Right Reuerend Father in God IOHN Lord Bishop of Lincolne Lord Keeper of the Great Seale and one of His Maiesties most Honourable Priuie Counsell Right Honorable My singular good Lord AS it runnes in our Spanish Tongue Quien á buen arbol se arrima buena sombra le cobija He that retires himselfe vnder a good tree findes both good shelter and shadow This I haue found most true by my owne experience in that since my voluntary banishment out of my natiue Soile for the peace and libertie of Conscience into this flourishing Kingdome like a poore stranger being in a Labyrinth of worldly cares and necessities It pleased your gracious Lordship not onely to vouchsafe mee the protection of your Honourable house but though most vnworthy further to conferre vpon mee many great and important benefits ioyned with Noble promises of my more preualent preferments when fit opportunitie serued that I cannot but applie my selfe in all the humblest offices within my poore power to manifest therefore some due and vnfained gratitude Seeing as learned Seneca saith the best returne of a benefit est grata beneficij memoria Wherefore as it hath pleased your gracious Lordship to countenance and succour the Author extend the same honourable protection and defence to this his poore labour and worke exposed to the deprauations and malignities of so many powerfull aduersaries The Subiect is Diuine the Testimonies sincere and the End Religious and profitable the beames therefore of your honourable and fauourable countenance will soone dispell these fogges and vapours Gods true worship and seruice will hereby bee aduanced and my vnworthy selfe most highly satisfied if vnder the shadow and safegard of your honourable wing I may but liue and die Your Honours most dutifull thankfull and faithfull poore affectionate FERNANDO TEXEDA TO THE NOBLE AND RELIGIOVS English Nation THis present Treatise which here I meane to publish and diuulge I first writ and penned in the Spanish tongue with an intention to haue benefitted herein my owne Nation and such as were in a way to embrace Gods sinceritie and trueth which notwithstanding could take no effect by reason I wanted fit meanes and conueniencie to print it in the Spanish and then on the other side some speciall friends both mooued and perswaded me to Translate it into English and publish it in my owne name for the better satisfaction of this Noble and Religious Nation both in regard of what they may feare and doubt of in me as also in regard of what I desire to manifest and make knowne impart to this whole Nation That as God hath vouchsafed me the singular grace and fauour to discerne and embrace the trueth of this Apostolicall Church and Doctrine so I hope the same mercy and grace will euer be ready at hand to fortifie and strengthen me against all humane debilities that if iust occasion be offered I may most constantly perseuere in the same to the end and be prepared if God so ordaine to seale and confirme it with my dearest blood And though there haue beene some who after their illumination and profession of this Tructh haue with the dogge returned to their vomite yet the like ought not to bee censur'd and iudged of all For Iudas his being wicked and a reprobate were no iust reason to condemne the rest of the Apostles and so though one English-man should be the occasion of the vntimely death of another yet were it no reason hereupon to beare a generall hatred to the whole Nation Wherefore it must needs argue either a weake or depraued Iudgement by the apostacie of one to presage and expect the like from all others Considering that though there haue beene some who haue reuolted yet many likewise there haue beene who haue perseuered constantly euen to death From whom being good men we should rather presume of others stabilitie and perseuerance then from the other to conclude ill of all by reason of the errour and leuitie of some Since Christian charitie quae non cogitat malum obligeth vs to the same and in that it is onely God who affoords the speciall grace of perseuerance euen as hee was the Authour of a good beginning whose power is no lesse amongst Italians and Spaniards then it is ouer other Nations and who alone is able and willing ex lapidibus suscitare filios Abrahae whereunto let me also annexe this farther that I may modestly affirme somewhat in behalfe of my owne particular nation very fewe Spaniards at any time haue beene found I speake of those that are learned and vnderstanding that euer renounced the Christian faith which they haue once entertained and embraced as it may most apparently be auerr'd and prooued by many zealous and learned men which haue beene and dayly are tormented and exposed to the fire by that cruell and tyrannicall Court of the Spanish Inquisition for maintaining and defending Christian verity and truth so fearefull and terrible a death together with the iniury herein done both to themselues and their friends hauing no power to shake their constancie in a Religion which they haue professed and vndertaken That this is true and infallible it may be obserued in more then a fewe Churches of Spaine wherein many Sanbenitos are hanged vp which are not like those Sacci benedicti in the primitiue Church imposed vpon true and deuout penitents but rather Sacci maledicti which are certaine written Tables wherein are registred the death and punishment of such good Christians whom they haue exposed to a reprochfull and shamefull death for this Religion which they terme Caluinian or Lutherane And were it not for this bloody and cruell proceeding of the Inquisition the Pontificall Religion would at this day be soone banisht out of Spaine and in stead thereof by Gods assistance and furtherance true Religion planted and established as Doctor Yllescas plainely auerres while he much laments and grieues for the small number of Christians at this day In Spaine saith he what should we now haue been if thirteene yeeres since the diabolicall conspiracies of Cazalla and Constantino had not beene discouered Yllescas enlae prefacion y argumento sobre el vlt. lib. de la historia Pontifical y Catholica These infernall conspiracies whereof this Authour speakes were to the great heart-griefe both of himselfe and all other Papists the pure and sincere profession of true Christian Religion This Cazalla of whom this Author so infamously reports euery one speaking as hee is himselfe was a Doctor of Diuinitie of singular vertue and vnderstanding who in the yeere 1557. was burnt in Vallodolid
most stinking and obscure prison hee remained seuen yeeres in the Towne of Valladolid where as all the world knowes hee vnderwent great troubles afflictions and torments because hee vttered in a Sermon a Proposition that was not pleasing to the Pope of Rome though it was but Christian and true whereof peraduenture wee will intreate more at large in another booke Now it remaines we only obserue how the sacred Scriptures are not prohibited the faithfull to containe them within a certaine moderation and gouernement because this impertinent and seuere prohibition as the Papists themselues well knowe is a cause of greater and more pernicious Inconueniences And who can bee so credulous as to beleeue that to make bad men good they must needes depriue them of the holy Bible which is the onely Instrument to make them good when they freely permit dishonest and immodest bookes which are the proper Instruments of sinne and impietie Surely hee cannot but bee a foole that beleeues this But let vs grant that they who tooke from the vulgar the vse and reading of the Scriptures pretended herein to remooue occasion and meanes of breeding errours yet when long experience had taught them that Inci erunt in scillam cupientes vitare Caribdim which is that studying to preuent one preiudice they brought in a thousand seeing through default of the holy Scriptures profane bookes crept in why I say Dato vno absurdo miltae sequuntur did they not labour to suppresse so pernicious a pâ—ague by restoring them and excluding the other seeing naturall reason informes vs that of two necessary euils we should euer imbrace the least how much more in that the holy Scriptures are good of themselues and remote from all euill There is no doubt but if that prohibition simply aymed at the good and benefit of the faithful they would haue beene so but there 's all the matter in that they do not so much seeke the profit and benefit of the faithfull but rather their owne particular ends and interests the which consists mainely inconcealing from the people the knowledge of trueth which they might attayne vnto by meanes of the holy Scriptures and that they should not seeke and affect to vnderstand it they haue alwayes entertained them with the scumme and dregges of idle and profane bookes the reading whereof is not onely frankely permitted them but further it is a cause that opposite to the willes and desires of good men they are perused and read ouer by all of which amongst others the former mentioned Father Ioseph complaines in these wordes Fr. Ioseph ibid. fol. 796. The abusiue and poysonable practise of euill bookes allowed of in Spaine from whence the greatest part of corrupt customes proceedes comes not from the allowance and toleration of the Lawes nor from the King because they haue ordained sufficient remedies against this dammage and preiudice but rather from the negligence and carelesnesse of Iudges both Secular and Ecclesiasticall in executing such iust and good Lawes and they whom this most of all did concerne were the Bishops and Prelats of the Church who being to giue daily notice hereof to Kings and temporal Lords that they might helpe and ioyne together for the banishing out of the Commonwealth these fountains of pollution and vncleannesse they did not only not do it but Kings Princes exhorting them to purge and cleanse the Kingdome of this letiferous poyson they yet liue and perseuere in the same with most pernicious carelesnesse and forgetfulnesse not with out speciall and singular danger to their owne consciences and the soules of their poore subiects A little after the same Authour sayes it is a lamentable pitie that so many sage and wise considerations hauing bene entred into to establish these iust Lawes which was to remooue out of their Studies and Libraries these hurtfull bookes so many Petitions preferred by the Sollicitors of the Kingdome so many meetings and consultations with the Lords of the Counsell with such a number of manifestations written and published touching the Kinggs pleasure in this behalfe it could neuer bee once put in execution the vrgent necessitie of this execution being so materiall and important what shall wee say to this but onely that the Pope Bishops and Fathers of the Faith conniue at this perdition seeing neither the King nor the whole Kingdome can so far preuaile with them as to execute such iust behoofefull and beneficiall Lawes in all other respects they being so sedulous industrious and circumspect in purging as they say the bookes and writings of the holy Doctors of the Church not exempting herein the Scriptures diuine as appeares in a publisht booke called Index expurgatorius All this wee haue produced by reason of that which Father Granada sayes he heard from an Inquisitor and hee himselfe alleadgeth it to shew the great dammage that proceedes from bookes of corrupt doctrine and instruction and the inexplicable emolument profit deriuing from bookes of good and vertuous Argument it now remaines that we should conclude and shut vp this discourse with the very words which the same Granada vseth in the finishing of his discourse Lawes and iust Tribunalls looke not so much vpon particulars as to generalls that is to say not what may happen to particular persons but what generally concerneth the good of all who in no reason ought to perish through the abuse and disorder of some neither in like manner doe they aime at the particular preiudice which things procure if the generall benefits bee greater then the preiudices as we may perceiue in Nauigation at Sea for if the dammages of shipwracke be great and important yet the benefits of Nauigation are farre greater These are the principall reasons which our Aduersaries produce against the publicke vse and reading of the holy Scriptures the rest are so weake and friuolous as they deserue not to haue any more time spent in propounding them for that would bee as much as to refute them and so the time wee should spend in them will be better gain'd in setting downe two reasons which besides the other before alleadged shew plainely to our view and as it were with the pointing of a finger that the Pope depriues not the vulgar of the Bible to doe them good but rather to auoyd and shunne his owne precipice with which wee will close and shut vp this Treatise The first reason is because as Father Luys de Granada sayes all the studie and care of our capitall enemie is Granada en el preambulo de la 2. parte de la introduceion del Symbole to bereaue vs of this light of the word of God and hee confirmes it thus The first thing the Philistines performed when they had Sampson in their power was to plucke out his eyes and when they had done this they found no difficultie in doing whatsoeuer else they meant to lay vpon him euen to the making of him grinde in a Mill. And this Authour addes of the same