is to iudge the later ANSVVER Who ever that was a supposed member in our Ecclesiasticall state durst disclaime the iudgement censure authority of our Church But your reasonlesse reason is the later Church is not to iudge the former If by the former Church you meane the ancient Catholike Church for the first 500. yeeres we maintaine our reformed Church to bee the same but if by the former church you meane the now Roman Catholike faith as Bristow and the Rhemists deliver Bristow mot 12. in marg Rhem in Annot in Rom. 1 8. that the Romane and Catholike Church be all one then we reiect and abhorre that Synagogue of Sathan wherein Ziim and Iim the Ostrich and Vulture and Schritchowle doe remaine And by many more degrees then Papistes prefer the Pope before the Emperour wee preferre the Reformed Churches which doe mainetaine the ancient Catholike Apostolike faith reformed from errors superstitions and heresies stealing in by the degrees of time and occasion into the window of the Church Mr LEECH And what did I herein good Reader but obserue the prescription of Antiquity in this behalfe Contr. Iulian Pelag. lib. 2. and namely that of S. Augustine against the Pelagian hereticks Patres oportet vt populi Christiani vestris novitatibus anteponant eisque potius eligant adhaerere quà m vobis ANSVVER Nay what did you but as Pelagian himselfe did magnifie the nature of man so strengthen the arme of flesh as if you would incite it to rebell against heaven and what did you otherwise then as hereticks of all ages who haue stoode so much vpon authorities out of some authors falsely collected that they will not be drawn no not by Scriptures to the acknoweledgemēt of their errors Such S. Austin observed the Donatists to be Aug. contra Donatist Quis autem nesciat sanctam Scripturam Canonicam tam veteris quā novi Testamēti c. where in a large discourse hee manifesteth that the Canon of Scripture is only so sure that there ought to bee no doubt or disputation thereof but for Fathers and Ancient Bishops much might be reprehended therein The cause that S. Austin in confuting the Pelagians did appoint the reading of the fathers to the people was this because the fathers formerly had delivered by strength of scripture the contrary doctrine to that heresie And yet that holy father speaking of himselfe and al the ancients before him Neque enim debeo negare saith he ad Vincentiū sicut in ipsis maioribus Aug. ad Vincentium Victorem ita multa esse in tam multis opusculis meis quae possunt iusto iudicio culpari that in him nor in any other this is a prescription of Antiquity to rely only on fathers Mr LEECH Here D. Airay distasting my refusall to stand vnto the verdict of the reformed Churches questioned with me about the rule of my faith I answered him briefly Contr. haeres cap. 1. c. See D. Field pag. 239. that I wholly followed Vincentius Lyrinensis his direction to wit Canonicall scripture and Ecclesiasticall traditiō the first being sensed by the second ANSVVER To refuse the iudgement of the ruler and to fly to a stranger is punishable in Policy to condemne and contemne your owne mother Church and to stand to the iudgement of a strange Church nay of a Synagogue a stranger from the Church is culpable in divinity It was a seasonable question to aske the rule of your faith whē it was manifest you had forsaken the faith your answer was vnsound ioining with Canonicall Scripture Ecclesiasticall tradition these be two therefore not the rule but rules whereas Canon regula must be but one Aq. lect 1. in 1. Tim. 6. Aquinas on Timothy affirming that the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles is called Canonicall because it is the rule Traditions wee renounce as vnworthy to be ioyned with Scripture Melch. Can. lib. 3. c. because Canus in this doeth expresly teach that whatsoever the Church of Rome practiseth and hath not warrant from Scripture the same things and the practise of them shee hath received by Tradition which Popish traditions we abhorre to supply scripture with as knowing that the Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation and also affirme that the most certaine rule of interpretation is by comparing Scripture with Scripture Vincentius Lerinensis is not for you he alloweth nothing barely vpon Tradition For by all the passages of his booke he doth plainely teach that no Traditiō is to be received but that which is consonant vnto Scripture such as S. Austin delivereth Quod vniversa tenet Ecclesia Lib. 4. contra Don. cap. 23. such as the whole Church hath doth hold agreeing to the Canon of the revealed word And from famous D. Field that powerfull hammer of all Heretikes that claime tenure in the Church you cā produce nothing to helpe your cause either in that page or in his whole booke Neither is Tradition to sense or expound the Scripture as you say This is your third interpreter first you appealed to the Church then to the Fathers now to Traditions the next appeale must bee to the Pope or else you will be cashierd Mr LEECH This rule he called Popish exclaiming against it as the very ground of Popery and superstition Wherevpon I desired him for my better instruction to giue a rule of faith more certaine infallible then this which be brāded with such disgracefull imputation ANSVVER Popish it is without all gainsaying For howsoever we reiect not all Traditions as first D. Field in his 4 booke of the Church the number and names of the Authors of Canonicall Scripture secondly the cheefe heades of Christian doctrine as delivered in the Creed of the Apostles Thirdly the religion purely collected out of Scripture delivered to succeeding ages fourthly the continuall practise of the Primitiue Church though not expresly commaunded but necessarily contained in Scripture and lastly Traditions of order not of faith such as are our Canons and Constitutions agreeing to the ancient and grounded on S. Paules speech Let all things be done in order I say we reiect not these though Waldensis in his time complained Waldens tom 3. tit 7. cap. 63. that the necessary Traditions of the Church were so confounded that they could hardly be discerned from the rest The points that we deny bee these first Scripture needeth not the Adiectiue help of Traditions it is a most sufficient rule and containeth all things necessary to salvation Secondly wee abhorre the comparison of these two and much more the preferring of tradition before Scripture as Hosius Baronius Symancha and others professe some affirming Hosius contr Petric c. 92. Baron an 33. nu 11. Sym. instit tit 24. n. 40. that all Scripture came to vs by Tradition therefore Tradition more worth others that Scripture needeth help from Traditions but Traditions neede no assistance from Scripture And therefore if you
this it will bee no otherwise prooved then c Confess Petric c. 92. de Traditionibus Hosius proveth that the greatest part of the Gospell is come to vs by tradition and verie little of it committed to writing which is a most rash false conceipt of his But Andradius acknowledgeth that the Cittie of refuge for all the runnagate points in Religion is Tradition His words d Andrad Orthod explic lib. 2. pag. â—0 be Quam traditionum autoritatem si tollas nutare vacillare videbuÌ„tur Manie points would reele totter if not supported by the helpe of Traditions Saint e 1. Cor. 9.6 Paule hath warned that no man presume aboue that which is written and f Regul contract 95. fol. pag. 502. Basill admonisheth that it is necessarie and consonant to reason that everie man learne that which is needfull out of Scripture both for the fulnes of godlines and least they bee invred to humane traditions Yet I answere concerning Traditions that when this controversie is fully discussed you wil be as vnable to proue your position from anie Apostolicall tradition as the men of Doryla in g Cicero pro L. Flacco Tully who when they were to proue somewhat against Flaccus out of their publike Records and their records were called for they said they were robd of theÌ„ by the waie so your Traditions which must speak for you they are lost by the waie no one neither Bellarmine nor Coccius nor Sonnius nor anie writer can produce one Apostolicall sanction tradition or authority And for the practise of the Church the Ecclesiasticall histories shew that the ancient servaÌ„ts of God which first retired themselues from the worlde did it not for anie opinion they had hereby to obtaine perfection but to escape persecution as h Sozomen lib. 1. c. 12. Sozomen writeth and to hide themselues And some of them were lay-men as k Athan. Ep. ad Dracont Dyonisius voucheth some of them married men as i Dion Ecclesiae hierar c. 6. Athanasius recordeth all of them freemen from binding themselues with vowes as l Nic. lib. 9. c. 14. Nicephorus proueth And for the practise of Popish Monkes now the patterns of this Evangelicall perfection m Philobib c. 5. Dunelmensis delivereth it Greges vellera fruges horrea porci olera potus patera lectiones sunt hodie studia Monachorum And you knowe the old verse O Monachi vestri stomachi sunt amphora Bacchi Vos estis Deus est testis teterrima pestis Mr LEECH But yet since contrary to my probable persuasion certaine private spirits whose faith is their owne fancy itching rather after prophane novelty and hereticall innovation then abiding the wholesome doctrine of sacred Antiquitie and the Churches dogmaticall tradition haue by all meanes laboured to impugne my doctrine and to defame my person I haue thought my selfe in conscience and duty both before God and man obliged a swell for the generall satisfaction of all whom this present busines may any way concerne as for my owne discharge in particular being the party herein especially interessed briefly to coÌ„pile and publish the whole carriage and progresse of this matter in the ensuing treatise humbly recommending and ever submitting my opinion vnto the graue and infallible iudgement of the Church at whose feete and tribunall alone prostrating my selfe I must stand or fall as also referring my selfe with the moderat deportment of my cause vnto the sincere iudgement of the discreet and impartiall Reader ANSVVER You were drawne to this vnwillingly in respect of your vnabillity to maintaine the opinioÌ„ but most willingly in desire to stand out in contradiction But why should you rubbe ouer any here with the title of itching spirits Barn It is the rule of S. Bernard when in disputation or coÌ„ference there is rayling or reviling tunc non veritas quaeritur sed animositas fatigatur Truth is not sought for but strong and stubborne stomakes disgordge their poison Hee that hath giuen leaue to try the spirits hath prohibited the condemning nay iudging of a brother and therefore while you slander them with the itch of prophane novelty you bewray your selfe to bee infected with the scab of heresie They that gainesaid your doctrine were wise and honest learned and religious not a few but the consent of all of all degrees among vs. And so farre are they from defaming of your person that I doe assure my selfe that everie religious honest heart in Oxford will bee desirous to cover it with the mantle of charity to pray that it maie bee invested with the robe of Christs righteousnes wishing from our harts that no other cause then conscience and duty as you saie had obliged you to publish this your Treatise and that the discharge of your selfe and satisfaction of others had beene more truelie and charitablie performed that you had submitted your opinion to Gods word rather then the Church seeing the Church is not the infallible rule of iudgement as you hold n Relec. controu 4. de potestat ecclesiae in se q. 3. art 2. resp ad arg 5. Stapleton him selfe after loÌ„g discussing durst not absolutelie affirme it but seemeth to make it rather probable then credible when he confesseth that it is not anie article of our faith to beleeue that the authoritie of the Church is the rule of our faith And not only a Doctor but a Pope speaketh in this case more plainlie o Decret Greg. lib. 5. de sent excom c. 28. a nobis saepe Innocentius affirming that the Churches iudgement followeth opinion which often deceiveth and is deceived And howsoever I maie saie to you as p Aug. de vnit Eccles cap. 2. S. Augustine did to some heretiques of his time De hoc inter nos quaestio versatur vtrùm apud nos an apud illos vera Ecclesia sit the question being controverted betweene you and vs whethers is the true Church neither of vs can proue the argument by the Church seeing q Chrysost in Hom. 10. in 1. Tit Chrysostome doth conclude that the Scriptures must teach who hath the true Church r De vnit Eccles cap. 16. S. Austin resolving that Scriptures be documenta fundamenta firmamenta the proofes foundations grounds of our cause and therefore vnlesse you bee contented to submit your opinion to the Scriptures it is manifest that you acknowledge that your doctrine and the Scriptures were never acquainted The Pharisies the false porters of the kingdome Å¿ Mat. 23.13 tooke awaie the key of knowledge and they received their reward a volley t Luk. 11.42 of wo. Take heede least doing the like you incurre the like danger More respectiue are the Schoolemen of Scripture then you are u Lom dist 23. LoÌ„bard x Scot. 3. dist 23. q. vin Scotus y Oc. 3. q. 8. art 3. Ockam z Bi 3. dist 23. q. 2. lit g. h.
in the gainesaying of Corah None here will be worthily thought men deceived by vaine and vnlearned suggestions Mr LEECH And if some men will obstinately shut their eies yet my trust is that others will looke vp to HeaveÌ„ whence this doctrine descended and whether it doth most readily conduce and that they will no longer take darknesse for light night for day poyson for medecine Heresie for verity since truth bringeth ever with it certainety peace and security at the last ANSVVER Psal 135.16.17 The legend giveth Scripture the lie Scripture saith that Idols haue eies and see not eares haue they and they heare not Legend Aurea and yet the legend reporteth that manie of the Idols Images haue spoken seen and hard They open their eies and see not we may shut our eies and yet see that this Doctrine never proceeded froÌ„ heaven or if it descended from thence the descention was like to Lucifer that fell from thence into the bottomlesse pit and no doubt Lucifers sin was no other then this so farre by elatioÌ„ to superlatiue man that in pride he rebell against God By respiratioÌ„ we send our praiers to heaven by inspiration wee receiue instruction from heaveÌ„ but I finde not that Phrase in any approved Author that doctrine descended from heaven And though the Priest in the law coulde only distinguish betweene a Leaper and a Leaper yet in the Gospell the Lord hath so illuminated his servants that they can easily discerne betweene the darknesse of the vnderstaÌ„ding which is falsum and the light thereof which is verum Which truth is the daughter of Syon and is atteÌ„ded with Peace of CoÌ„science ioy in the holy Ghost remission of sinnes communion of Saints and life everlasting Mr LEECH THE SECOND PART CONTAIning the irregular and violent processe of the Vice-chancellour and his complices against me and the former doctrine VVherein the Reader may excellently discerne the nature of heresie and the condition of Heretickes as in a perfit glasse * ⎠* As Iannes and Mambres resisted Moses so doe these resist the truth men corrupt in minde and reprobat concerning the faith 2. Tim. 3.8 ANSVVER THE SECOND PART CONTAIneth the exorbitant and virulent disobedience and palpable hereticall ignorance of the Author of the Triumph as also the false suggestions and vncharitable imputations against most of the Reverend and worthy Doctors of the Vniversity of Oxford wherein the nature of a conceited malecontented Apostat is discovered who having out of heresie spun the Spiders web an opinion Popish ridiculous out of slander and vnsavory words hatched the Coccatrice eâ—ges phrases reproachfull malitious doth beholde his naturall face in a glasse Psal 75. I said vnto the fooles deale not so madly Iud. 11. They haue followed the way of Caine and are cast away by the deceit of Balams wages and perish in the gainesaying of Korah A TRIVMPH OF TRVTH OR DECLARATION OF THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING EVANGELICAL COVNSAILES Mr LEECH CHAP. I. When I had ended my sermon it seemed good vnto Mr Doctor Hutton who was there present confronted me with ridiculous behaviour to cite me before himselfe immediatly in his owne lodging where I fouÌ„d him accompanied with two other Doctors D. Kilby and D. Benefield who gaue speciall attention vnto my sermoÌ„ with great shew of discontent ANSVVER Chrysost in 2. epist ad Tim. 2. IT is S. Chrysostomes observation that the cause of all evill is the neglect of the authority of spirituall governours when no reverence or feare or honour is vsed towardes them If this had not proved true in you you had not presumed when authority contradicted it to reiterate your former opinions Or to accuse D. Hutton of ridiculous behaviour whose gravity and reverent deportment according to his place age founde not in the whole course of his life any accuser but you his resolution in iudgement and office then in goverment were the motiues causing him to send for you you confesse that the Doctours accompanying him attended but much disliked your sermon so did not they only but the whole Church many standing amased to see you bring forth so publikely those two twins ignorance and impudence Of these two Doctors in the former part you affirmed that one of them approved your Doctrine and Apologisd for your opinion which is most vntrue for he ever abhord your assertioÌ„ as formerly I haue answered you that his worthinesse protesteth and as here plainely vnto all appeareth in that you say these two Doctors gaue attentioÌ„ to your sermon with great discontent Mr LEECH Before these men D. Hutton began to charge me with scandalous erroneous and Popish doctrine fitter to be preached in Rome then in Oxford and therefore in no case to bee suffered there to disturbe the peace of the Vniversitie ANSVVER The Provice chancellor and these Doctors as Indices et iudices veritatis did discharge that true care of Gods glory to charge you with the breach of the peace of the Church by obtruding a doctrine scandalous for the occasion erroneous for the opinion vnsafe to bee read and vnsound to be preached Mr LEECH To this accusation I framed my answer to the same tenour and effect as you haue formerly seene in the kitchin-conference adding farther that the doctrine of the Trinity consubstantialitie c. might be branded with the imputation of Popery as well as this doctrine of Evangelicall Counsells ANSVVER You preached this doctrine twise over verbatim almost as appeareth by the Coppies vnder your haÌ„d that now I haue in keeping at least verbatim in your extorted producing of testimony and now verbatim you haue the same Apology for your doctrine of the Trinity consubstantiality c. which you rank with Evangelicall Counsells and of which I shall haue occasion to reckon with you in your motiues Mr LEECH But such is the temerity of some men that they will rather disclaime a manifest truth then they will concurre in opinion with the Church of Rome And for my part I see no reason why you may not as well renounce that Popish doctrine of the Trinity as this of Evangelicall Counsells since both haue their evidence from the same ground Canonicall Scripture and Ecclesiasticall Tradition yea the later hath more cleere deduction and testification out of the Scripture then the former ANSVVER Such is the miserie of some men that they will in the corruption of their rotten hearts vndertake the defence of some manifest vntruth to get them a name as Reverend D. Kilby protesteth he ofteÌ„ warned you and it is the basenesse of some that in the fruitfull grounds of learning they smell after some dunghill questions of Popery to obtaine a title of singularity Mistake not slander not we disclaime not positions so much because Rome maintaineth them as because Antichrist and heresie invented them and yet looke into her streets marke well her Bullwarkes and religiously coÌ„sider what fountaine hath she not poisoned what part of
received light But in this Art Grace so far aboue Art haue so enriched his iudgement by study that though he mainetaineth the reading of the fathers and the frequent quotation of thē and maketh vse of them in Sermons as much as anie whatsoever in which kinde as in all others his talent is most extraordinary yet he farre disclaimeth that ever he beleeved that you could produce anie true authorities either in generall from the fathers or in particular from Gregory whom you make the Author pillar and maintainer of your Doctrine The observation of Ludovicus Rabus is fit to bee remembred by you In his 1. volume of Collection out of Austin Lud. Rab. in 1. tom to recōcile by the meditatiō of that reverend father divers places of Scriptures There bee saith he two sorts of men which much wrong antiquity Quorum alterum iniquum nimis planè distortum omnia à veteribus piâ antiquitate prodita magno supercilio fastidit atque contemnit D. Kings 40. Lecture vpon Ionas And these are most learnedly confuted by the 40. Lecture of Doctor King vpō Ionas Being worthy to be hissed at and contemned for contemning those blessed ornaments of learning and pillers of religion in their time who spake and wrote lived and died in defence of Christs truth Ambrose worthily stiled orbis terrarum oculus Augustin haereticorum malleus great Athanasius eloquent Cyprian golden mouthed Chrysostome and the rest Their names be memorable and their monuments of indefategable paines be honourable throughout all generations and let it for ever bee a brand of the greatest ignorance to contemne their learning and writing Lud. Rab. ibid Alterum vero nimis cautum circumspectū absque iuditio aut discrimine vllo omnia veterum dicta scripta tanquam Praetoria amplectitur mordicus defēsa cupit such as suck only the gall of their inke study only the blotts of their papers and if there be any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imposed and impostured into the Fathers writings these they study to maintaine That if Tertullian savor of Montanisme or Cyprian of Rebaptisme or Origen of Millieranisme if Nazianzen seem to be an Angelist or Hierome a Monagamist this they swallow without distinction or discreatiō never looking into the Interpretations or Retractations of those opinions And this they will as resolutely teach as Canon of Scripture whereas the most worthy Father that ever lived since Christ time S. Austin in his 2 Tome Epist 19. Aust 2. Tom. Ep. 19. Ep. 40. ad Vinc. Ep. 111. ad Fortun. ad Hieronymum in his 48 Epistle ad Vincentium in his 111 Epistle ad Fortunatianum doth absolutly conclude Neque enim quorumlibet disputationes quam vis catholicorum laudatorum hominum velut Scriptur as Canonicas habere debemus vt nobis nō liceat salva honorificentia quae illis debetur hominibus aliquid in eorum scriptis improbare atque respuere si forte invenerimus quoad aliter senserint quà m veritas habet divino adiutorio vel ab alijs intellecta vel à nobis Talis ego sum in scriptis aliorū tales volo esse intellectores meorum This caveat may serue you especially who relie more vpon reading then vpon vnderstanding Your clause of accusation is false wherein you impute to that famous Doctor and others the accepting and reiecting of the Fathers at their pleasure It is the common practise of your owne as I haue already shewed Mr LEECH Now whereas I added farther that the best learned in Oxford concurred with me in this point yea said hee there are many of you that will play with Popery as the fly doth with the candle you hoouer over and about it as neere as you dare but you will bee sure to keep your wings from sindging ANSVVER You that father opinions vpon the ancient Fathers may as easily traduce moderne Doctors Did ever any concurre with you in publike declaration of this doctrine I speake it againe and am assured of it that you traduce some that favoured your person rather then your doctrine and did much distast that you should any way deale with controversie Who interceeded for you who offered to defend it to dispute it The speech of Mr Vicechancelour concerning those that play with Popery c. I beleeue was only and particularly appropriated to your selfe though you desire to draw others into your reputation livery If any doe confectionat their religion and double in the true worship of God I feare to iudge them and as much feare to follow them Mr LEECH Though I made a friendly defence of those men at whō he malitiously girded as being mē of incomparable worth in that place yet I disclaimed all assistance from them or any others protesting that I depended not vpon men nor Angells but only vpon the sacred Scripture interpreted by the ancient Church Which rule of faith as it is most certaine so my application thereof in this particular is free from all exception ANSVVER Your friendly defence it doth offer offence in cōtinuing the derivation of your owne folly vpon any of incomparable worth Incomparable worth is a title to be bestowed only vpon men of Incomparable paines and studies and so are our Publike Governors and most learned Readers in divinity Of these as many as had occasion to discourse vpon your doctrine haue all gainsaid it and in solemne Lectures and Disputations in our publike divinity Schoole it hath beene often fanned confuted You say you depend not vpō Angells so thinke I also for though the Angells be not ambitious yet I am sure they would thinke it some iniury if not to thē yet to the truth that man should be equall to them in perfection and Angelicall integrity as you affirme From Scriptures interpreted by the Church you received it not the Church did never graunt it the Scriptures doe no where ground it What the rule of faith is you haue already beene taught Mr LEECH Well quoth he whether I shall bee able to proue this doctrine false or not I cannot tell but as I think I shall Howsoever certaine I am that I shall be able to condemne you of great indiscretiō for preaching such doctrine in these revolting times when there is such generall Apostasie from the gospel vnto Popery ANSVVER Qui semel verecundiae limites transilijt gnaviter fit impudēs Whether this your speech deserue not the blackest Character of falshood or no I will not say I cānot tell but I am bound by all the assurances of truth to beleeue that your report in this will be an article against you in iudgement O◠impudens Was there diffidēce or distrust or the least touch of doubt in him was not his resolution so firme and his protestation so faithfull that he told you with much zeale and earnestnesse he knew and would proue your doctrine to bee false and shamefull and your selfe ignorant and most vnskilfull in point of Controversie
capitall danger wishing M. Vicechancellor to question me vpon the point of the kings Supremacy for surely said he you shall finde him vnsound therein ANSVVER The reverend faithfull and laborious Doctor must possesse his soule in patience and receiue his part of your improbable and vncharitable interpretations as wel as others His vnderstanding inlightened with the beames of diuine truth suffer not as you slander him to be overthrowne in his rule of faith his memorable free-will offrings in Sabaoth exercises to turne many to righteousnes his worthy performance of all Vniuersity exercises his indefatigable studies so greate that a place of the most publike charge did sue to him to draw him from his chosen retirednesse his zeale paine faith doctrine manner of living though hee hold his minde vnfainedly below his place yet these testifie to the world his worth to be farre aboue his state The reason that he proposed the point of supremacy to you was this in the course of the proceedings and speeches with you he observed that you had forsaken the reformed congregations of the church the scriptures the infallible rule of faith and therfore seeing your fidelity to God was so changed it was fit time to obserue how you were affected to the Kings Maiesty seeing the Apostle ioineth them togither Feare God honor the King you having neglected the first the second was to be feared The question of the supremacy in this kinde was the only Touchstone the Shibboleh to try an Ephramit Iud. 12.6 for in every true subiect there ought not to be more loue in his hart thē liberty in his tongue to professe the crowne and dignitie and supremacy of that loadstone and gracious loadstar of hearts the kings most royall Maiesty This being not only an ancient Canon and a point confessed by Bishops in this our land in the raigne of the most ancient kings who resisted the vsurpation of that man of blood the Pope but as in the beginning of many Princes raignes so revived in the inauguratiō of our most peaceable most wise most religious Salomon Canons and Constitutiōs made 1603. Canon 1. When in the Convocation helde by all the Beaw-peeres of learning the Bishops and Clergy it was commaunded that all Ecclesiasticall persons of what degree soever should maintaine no obedience or subiection to be due to any forraigne power but that the Kings power within his Realmes of England Scotland and Ireland and all other his Dominions Coūtries is the highest power vnder God to whom all men as well inhabitants as borne within the same doe by Gods lawes owe most loyalty and obedience afore and aboue all other Powers and Potentates in earth If you giue not God what is due to God no marvaile you gaue not Cesar what is due to Cesar A disease in the head is the head of diseases and rebelliō against the head doth manifest the infectious state of the whole body of your beliefe And therfore it wisely was questioned concerning the supremacy It was a question guided by a religious intention and grounded vpon wise observation Mr LEECH But M. Vicechancellours thoughts carried him so far away at that present that he gaue no care vnto this impertinent bloudy question but prosecuting the vindictiue designement formerly concluded vpon betwixt D. Aglionbee and himselfe who held a secret cōference together he resumed his old accusations of false erroneous scandalous and Popish doctrine for delivering and reinforcing whereof I deserued the seuerity of Iustice ANSVVER His vigilancy was not absent Had he beene set on vengeance as you shamefully accuse nowe had beene the time to be avenged but now you see notwithstanding al your reproaches and slanders of passion the worthy Vicechancellour limited his power by his wil and this was a noble revenge that he might hurt and did not There was no such conference between Doctor Aglionbee and him as you report But he did truely and worthily ingeminate and often repeate those tearmes of erroneous scandalous and Popish doctrine Mr LEECH Perceiving now their resolution to punish me without farther examination of my cause or respect of my iust defence I finally proposed vnto them these two demands First that they would proceede against me iuridically by way of Articles so I should know precisely what was the error and falshood of my Doctrine and they should receiue my answer made in forme of law For this hath ever beene the custome of proceeding in this Vniversity and in God his Church ANSVVER It was time when you held right neither in point of Scripture of faith of the Church or of the point in controversie reiected their censure neglected their iudgement and able to vphold your selfe by no means but negatiues And therefore never continue this obstinate accusatiō that they did not examine your cause or respect your defence The cause was offred by disputation to be discussed by Lecture it was already confuted defence you were able to make none but what you brought in a schedule transcribed out of Coccius Your first demand was senselesse Was it not a Iuridicall proceeding to be called according to our Vniuersity statute in that behalfe which is this that for scandalous preaching the Vicechancellour require the assistance of the Doctor of the chaire whose incomparable indefatigable paines hindering him he desired to be spared at that time by the present approach of the Act. D. Holland Vpon the absence of the Reuerend Father of the chaire some other Doctors of Divinity are to be called and there were fiue more in Iuridicall manner appointed here you were convented and censured by the most absolute forme of Law Mr LEECH Herevnto M. Vicechancellour replyed What Articles you shall haue articles time enough meane while I say that all meaning my Sermon is false scandalous Popish erroneous c. ANSVVER Articles were not promised you you accused your selfe and delivered your Articles in your sermō no mention no promise no expectation of any at this your conventing You prevaricat by prescriptiō and custome The old Monke almost blasphemously applied Sicut erat in principio but I may say truly beginning middle ending every Page Section Paragraph haue matter faulty in faith or false in fact And among the rest this Article is to bee preferred against you for speaking of Articles here where there was no such request obtained by you nor expectation of any by promise from him It was iustified and ever will bee till you recant that your doctrine was false in opinion scandalous for the occasion Popish for tradition and erroneous for hereticall innovation Mr LEECH My Second demaund therevpon was that he and his associats would condescend vnto this small request to wit I will here set downe this affirmatiue proposition Sunt Evangelica Consilia and subscribe vnto it in your presence May it please you also to set downe the negatiue Nō sunt Evangelica Consilia and subscribe your severall names therevnto and signifie therewithall
these words the truth is that some there haue beene in many ages Motiue 46. in some points of their opiniō in his next motiue that many points of Protestancie were long before and in divers places As also the Waldenses spoken of by many who were almost 400. yeeres since do manifest our Religion to haue beene more anciēt then so But we stand not so much vpon these as because we are certaine that from the time of Christ the profession and succession of the doctrine of Protestant religion hath with much happines continued and hath appeared in place and persons and time and Doctrine and from the beginning of the Churches declination there haue beene some ever who resisted the Church of Rome and refused their Doctrine and therefore you may conclude as you do that the Gospel hath beene miserably taught amōg thē who haue not sought after the purity of doctrin Scornefull and shamefull is that title you call vs by in the by-name of Lutherans we haue no other title but Christians And as vniust is your slander that Lutherans are men of carnall appetites and base condition whose regularity in life by integrity of conversation is farre aboue any sort of Papists And this your second consideration is my second confirmation that Papists having not true knowledge cannot haue true faith either Originally in the foundation or Doctrinally in their assertions because they want the assurance either evidentiae or inhaerentiae accounting the Scriptures subordinat and the Reformed Churches illegitimat Mr LEECH The third Motiue The Protestants brand the Catholique doctrine with the name of Popery Luther THe name of Papists was first deuised by a luxurious Apostata inventour also of the name of Sacramentaries for so both Catholiques and Zwinglians stand indebted vnto him in these respects By the insolency of this man it came to passe that as many other doctrines so particularly this had beene stamped with the imputation of Popery whence it was that my Calvinian Iudges calumniating both me and it were pleased to fasten the note of Popery vpon it and of a Papist vpon me But since my grounds are meerely Catholique as you see and since this doctrine it selfe is the common faith of ancient Church it followeth either that it is no Poperie as these mē tearme it or that Popery truely conceiued is the very Catholique faith But of the two the later is more probable Wherevpon I inferred this conclusion for my finall resolutiō that Popery was necessarily consequent vpon the true grounds of diuinity and therefore my Iudges betrayed their owne folly in this behalfe for asmuch What Pope did ever devise this and many other doctrines which are called Popepery as by a condemnation of this doctrine they must inevitably confesse that Popery well vnderstood is the doctrine of Antiquity and that the Fathers were no lesse Papists haue in then my selfe ANSVVER LVxurious Apostat you know is a scandalous title cast vpon Luther whose many volumes continuall sermons and indefatigable paines did receiue a better Testimony out of the mouthes of learned Papists as is before proved The sirname of Papists is among some of you gloried in and are you ashamed of it Seeing it commeth from the worde Papa that is the Pope to whom you all profess subiectiō as a matter necessary to salvation why should you abhorre it Indeede it is S. Hieromes rule aduersus Luciferianos If any which are said to belong to Christ wil be tearmed not of our Lord Iesus Christ but of some other Hier. advers Lucif c they are not the Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Antichrist But you reply that you do not approue and assume this name more learned and more wise Papists do Anast Cochel Palaestrit honoris 1. p. 9. 6. Cochelet is zealous in the defence of it if it bee odious to others it is glorious to him wee are Papists saith he and confesse it and glory in that name and to this purpose I coulde cite others Luther was the first Author you say of this name It were the abuse of my Reader to discourse about such impertinēcies but otherwise I could easily disproue this This doctrine was by Luther and your Calvinian Iudges called Popery It was some iniurie sure to ioine things of so dislike natures as to cal him Papist who holds popery and it had beene a great calumny to you if you had not become Papist because then you were tearmed so and now professe your selfe to bee so Is not this a good reason to make you Turnecoate to leaue the religion and Church wherein you were Baptised Or because we tearme your Catholique doctrine Poperie therefore you are so angrie you will leaue vs. But consider that Catholique Doctrine is the Doctrine of the Catholique Church and the true Catholique church by the signification of the word is the vniversal Church so called because it is over al the world is not tyed to anie Country place person or condition of men According to which sense the Romane Church cannot bee called the Catholique Church Boz sig Eccl. l. 19. c. 1. Bell. de Rom. Pont praef lib. 3. c. 21. For Bozius Bellarmine doe complaine that the Protestants doctrine possesseth many and large Provinces England Scotland Denmarke Norwey Sweden Germany Mag Gregor descrip 166. Poland Bohemia Hungaria Prussia Litvania Livonia And Maginus in his Geography saith that the Greeks lōg since departed frō the Church of Rome appointed thēselues Patriarks these provinces follow the Greeks religiō Circassia Walachia Bulgaria Moscovia Russia Mingrelia Brosina Albania Illyricum part of Tartary Servia Croatia and all the provinces living vpon the Euxine Sea And not only all these but how manifest is it that the kingdome of France and the low Countries florish in the Protestant beleefe besides many thousands in Spaine and Italy It is as easie to proue that Popery is not Catholike in time as it is plaine it is not vniversall in place for besides that Reynerius who lived three hundred yeeres agoe Refert Illyr catol. tom 2. doth acknowledge that the Waldenses which professed as wee doe were reputed to haue beene ever since the Apostles time so on the contrary it is open to all the world that the Romane Church hath receaued many new born bastardly opinions which were never before extant I knowe there was a time whē the faith of the Romans was published through out the whole world Rom. 1.8 But now the Angell hath told vs that Babylon is fallen many alterations from the state of that Church Who knoweth not howe strange the point of Supremacy was even in the time of Gregory the great how the Councells of Lateran and Trent giue the Pope so great a transcendency as that he is aboue a generall Councell that the Councell of Constance and Trent forbid the Cup to the lay people that Transubstantiation was made a matter of faith by Innocent
of eradication to bee rooted out of their possessions whereas otherwise their daies might haue been long in the land which the Lord their God had given thē The most Reverend but now deceased much lamēted Prelat did not by chāge of place chāge his thoughts your intimation is base and false to make the worlde beleeue any other affection in his Grace towardes Religion then what God and man approved openly so by the sequel of your busines it is manifest Where in your second limb of that mōstrous accusation is against his Iustice his approbation of the Vniversitie censure was as much as another condemnation of you pretenses his grace needed not for maine reasons wanted not his experience of the truth knowledge wisedome iudgement and goverment of his vicegerent and the worlds experience of his Graces prudent and eminent carriage in all his high and honourable imployments do free them both from your imputations and returne you your smoaky evaporations a Phrase lent you from the sulphureous fume of the bottomlesse pit But you conclude that you are nothing and worse then nothing The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of your booke sheweth that you are somewhat more then nothing the only argumēt to serue your turne to proue the Pope to be God is because he can make something of Purgatory which is nothing I could turn this vpon you but I forbeare and only returne to your owne figure How pleaded you for Iustice With stubborne tumultuous quarellous disobediēce In what In a point derogatory to the Iustice and Law of God When Then when you oppressed truth reiected your faith disobeyed your Iudge beganne to forsake your Church Before whom In the open face of heaven in the presence of God men and Angels in the holie place the pulpit in the best place on the best day For what end the dishonor of God the disgrace of his law which you accused of insufficiencie and imperfection Thus you did delude and were deluded for this these Reverēd Doctors haue beene by you iniuriously traduced That I may truely say no Revolter ever did offer more scandall in generall to our Church or slander in particular to so many worthy members thereof Mr LEECH TO M. DOCTOR KING DEANE OF Christ-Church in Oxford and Vicechancellour of the Vniversitie H. L. wisheth health and salvation in Christ IESVS SIR though your will was your law to punish me without my offence yet it shall not bee your sanctuary to defend your selfe without more sufficient reason For as you convented me before a selected Calvinian assembly so now I convent you and them before all men in the assured confidence of my good cause and in the comfortable peace of my sincere heart And since you dealt with me as a Magistrate by the strength of your authority you must giue mee leaue now to deale with you as a Scholler by the validity of arguments Finally because I wish your future happinesse I cannot omit to acquaint you with your present miserie which I will lay forth before your eies in Syllogisticall manner and then I will referre you vnto the consultation of your owne heart Whatsoever doctrine is founded vpon Scripture according to the conformable opinion of the ancient Church that is a point of Catholike faith But the doctrine of Evangelicall Counsailes is founded vpon Scripture according to the conformable opiniō of the ancient Church Therefore the Doctrine of Evangelicall Counsailes is a point of Catholique faith The Maior is a maxime in all Christian schooles The Minor is proued by the ensuing testimonies of the Fathers whose vniforme verdict in this behalfe is the iudgement of the Church Whosoeuer doth obstinately impugne any point of Catholique faith he is an heretike But Doctour Kinge D. Aglionby D. Airay D. Hutton D. Benefield c. do obstinately impugne a point of Catholique faith Therefore D. Kinge D. Aglionby c. are heretikes De haeres ad Quod-vult D. in perorat The Maior is granted by all men of iudgement and is confirmed by S. Augustines rule The Minor is proued by their own proceedings against me in this particular Every heretike is bound to recant his heresie or else he is liable to the punishment decreed in the Canonicall law of the Church But D. King D. Aglionby c. are heretickes Therefore D. King D. Aglionby c. are bound to recant their heresie or else they are liable to the punishment decreed in the Canonicall law of the Church The Maior is cleare of it selfe The Minor is proued already And because it shall appeare yet more sensibly I pray you to consider that whosoeuer reiecteth the ioint consent of Fathers in a point of doctrine as D. King doth herein he is an hereticke and this I will breefly declare by foure evidences FIRST Epist 1. ad Leon. cap. 1. by the testimony of Flavianus Patriarch of Constantinople saying Haeretici est praecepta Patrum declinare instituta eorum despicere In Concil Chalced. SECONDLY by the testimony of Eudoxius admitted in a generall Councell qui non consentit sacrosanctorum Patrum expositionibus alienat se ab omni sacerdotali communione a Christi praesentia See Sozom. l. 7. c. 12. THIRDLY by the proceedings of the most Christian emperour Theodosius against the proud distracted Hetikes who would not submit themselues vnto the iudgements of the venerable Fathers See Vincent Lit. cap. 41. FOVRTHLY by the practise of the Ephesine Counsaile against Nestorius who was iudged an heretike not only in regard of the matter itselfe Veterum interpretum scripta perdiscere dedignatus est See Socrat. l. 7. c. 32. NOTA. wherein he erred damnably but in regard of the manner and tryall by the holy Fathers which his contemptuous spirit did vtterly decline Many also of those Fathers by whose testimony the cause was then handled against Nestorius are the very same whose verdicts I shall now produce against D. King and against his abettours whosoeuer ANSVVER TO Mr. HVMFREY LEECH LATE Minister now Revolter SIr it is Salomons counsel in the 4. verse of the 26. Chap. of Proverbs not to answer some sort of mē yet in the next verse he adviseth to answer such lest they TRIVPMH in their owne eies Vpō the instruction of the former verse this worthy Deane intends to contēne rather then answer and yet wisheth you lesse presūption greater knowledg lesse sophistry more honesty but vpō the directiō of the insuing vers I the weakest of many yet strōg enough for this cause haue vpon reasons of some importance vndertaken to confute your calumnies to cleere the truth to cōfirme the faithfull In Christian Policy you were to be answered and in common charity you are to bee counselled hereafter to care what you write whom you revile so to rule your pen and order your tongue that you be not iudged either in this worlde or in the future or in both for a prostituted cōsciēce if not a
hardned hart In that presumptuous speech that will was the law to punish you without an offence yet shall not be the sanctuary to defend that Reverende Governour that censured you you are much offensiue to truth It was your ignoraÌ„ce that betrayed you the offence coÌ„deÌ„ned you the law did ceÌ„sure you Now you are far of you veÌ„t your gall like vnto Gall his reproach against Abimelek when he supposed him far enough from him Who is Abimelek and who is Shechem that wee should serue him Your threats be blasts he needs no sanctuary that hath so many in the eares and hearts of the most honoured and best affected of this lande And though you presume to CoÌ„vent him yet at this time a farre meaner man shall discharge him You desire leaue to deale as a scholler it is wel you wil aske leaue that you neglect not all duty to your Master but I assure you it is generally beleeved that if any thing in your whole book be truely your own it appeareth in the validity of these argumeÌ„ts framed so sophistically as if you had only learn'd logike by that rude prescriptioÌ„ Discere si cupias Logicam discas Titlemannum Ille Sophistarum crimina pandere vult Mr Wright complaines that none of our Protestants answer breefly and punctually you shall not need to complaine so In two wordes I answere your three arguments Negatur minor For ever you affirme as a Principle the thinges to be proued which manner of argumentation 2. Prior. c. 16. 8. Topic. 13. 1. soph 5. 2. Soph. 12. Aristotle reckons for a fallacy in many places and tearmes it by this name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a begging to haue that graunted which in the beginning was the maine controversie So Archimedes would moue the whole earth if he could obtaine a seperat standing from the earth which might not be And this is the dealing of all your Champions first they take this as graunted that the Church of Rome is the Catholike Church and then conclude that wee are the Heretiques which is the especiall point to bee proued In your first syllogisme your presumption rather theÌ„ assumption is faulty But the doctrine of Evangelicall Counsailes is founded vpon Scripture according to the conformable opinion of the ancient Church Was there any hope that this might passe vncontroled being the maine controversie of all But it is proued saie you by the ensuing testimonies of the Fathers but it is disproued say I both by that which hath beene said in this Tract as also in particular answer to every Father by D. Benefield that except you be more then perversly obstinate you will vndertake no more such challenges The minor in both your other syllogâ—smes assume that D. King D. Aglion by c. obstinately oppugn a point of Catholique faith and are heretiques and therefore must recant c. And your poore proofes bee their proceedings against you in this particular Alas doe you boast of reading Fathers Schoolemen Children Schooleboyes would be asham'd of such arguments which I easily returne againe in this manner Whatsoeuer doctrin is not fouÌ„ded vpoÌ„ scripture c. aut the doctrin of EuaÌ„gelical CouÌ„sels is not fouÌ„ded c Therefore the doctrine of Evangelicall Counsells is not a point of Catholike faith The syllogisme is good in the first figure by the rules of Logicke though the Minor be negatiue because the Maior is convertible The Minor is proued before in the right interpreting of the testimonies of the Scriptures Fathers which you manifestly wrested and perverted Whosoever doth obstinately maintaine any point of doctrine contrary to Catholique faith is c. But Mr Leech doth obstinately maintaine a point of doctrine contrary to Catholike faith Therefore Mr Leech is an heretique The Maior is graunted by all men of iudgement and it is taught by the same rule of Austin The Minor is proued by his owne proceedings in this particular Every hereticke as in your owne words c. But Mr Leech is an heretike c. Therefore Mr Leech c. The Maior is cleere of it selfe The Minor is proued already and your foure evidences that follow are evidently turned vpon your selfe Thus Baals Priests launce themselues and Saul falleth on his owne sword And in full satisfaction that it may appeare to all men that we suppresse not the truch we reiected not the Fathers for though by the rule of Vincentius and the graunt of Bellarmin all learned Papists wee are only to receiue the vniforme consent of the Fathers yet in this you haue neither all nor the most nor any places pregnant for your doctrine as is manifest by the answere to them and the interpretation of the Fathers To your fourfold evidence In praef com lib. Mosis I might returne First the authority of Cardinall Caietan thus God hath not tied the exposition of the Scripture vnto the sense of the Fathers Andrad defens fidei Trid. lib. 2. Secondly the iudgemeÌ„t of Andradius that they spake not Oracles when they expounded the Scriptures that the oversights of the translation which they followed must needes cause theÌ„ to miste sometimes the right meaning of the holy Ghost Turrecrem In c. sancta Romana d. 15 nu 4. Possev Bibl. select l. 12. c. 23. Thirdly what Turrecremata hath deliuered herein thus At this day there be many things found in the Fathers deseruing no credit Fourthly what Possevine coÌ„cludeth somethings in the Fathers wherein vnwittingly they dissented from the Church are iudged and condemned I could vrge for your foure fortie of your own that doe disclaime the authoritie of Fathers your graÌ„d Iurie is answered so fully by D. Benefield that as no man can say more so I hope it will make you say much lesse I denied not these 4 authorities you here bring but I deny that they bee applied to the present for in all the course of your testimonies we denied no Fathers but interpreted all And now Mr LEECH let me tell you your vndeceiueable Iudge doth see you and wee both must receiue our censure at another barre Once one church held vs in an honourable function one Vniversitie in a loving Communion one Towne the flowrishing and happy and chiefe Towne of our Shire in a kinde participation of all good offices But you are departed Now you are gone you haue broken all these leagues nay more broken your covenant with God in the Ministry of his Church Shame the Devil forsake your stepmother satisfie the world saue your soule We shal wish you but not misse you weep for you but not want you VnderstaÌ„d not amisse good reader for nothing is so contrary to the will consent as error Had these offers beene proposed these propositions had never beene refused First hee only proposed out of a Popish peevish writer these extracted or rather extorted authorities and would never condiscend to answer the point as a scholler in disputation Secondly it was disproved by a publike lecture it was maintained against him by the Reverend Doctors his Iudges that neither Scriptures nor Orthodoxe fathers were for him Thirdly it was manifest that to preach Perfection in this life especially Angelicall integrity was at the least Pelagianisme heresie coÌ„demned by the Fathers and Ancient Church Fourthly that this doctrine being the grounde of workes of supererogation merit c. was plainely against the position of our Church as Doctor Benefield in private conference offered to proue The scandals therefore be full of iniquity which you impose on the Reader if hee beleeue your advertisement I wish you may finde more acceptance before God in the day of retribution then your words are like to finde with any True harted ChristiaÌ„s Seeing error conceived them humor produced them FINIS CHristian Reader this booke was long since promised my attendance was the cause of the stay but at length it is finished I had rather with Cato craue pardon for my fault in doing this then keepe my selfe cleere from committing this fault for I haue herein satisfied the importunity which imposed it on me and the necessity of the cause which drew me to it In the Triumph that is proued true which Tully spake of Athenagoras Of his offence hee spake nothing but complained of his punishment There was small cause of the Authors flying lesse of his reviling His reproachfull tearmes defiling and besmearing those many and worthy Divines I could haue returned in the same language hardly can any that shall answer him avoid it without calumny or so pay him his owne without note of infamy But in these labours nothing is to be more praied for then a sanctified spirit and therefore I haue as much as possibly I might avoided any thing that may seem contumelious or malitious It resteth that I find Christian and brotherly interpretation in this labor by those that shall pervse it My hast may betray the manner of my writing not the matter And it may be I shall find some such readers Hier Prooem in l. 2 coÌ„met in OseaÌ„ as S. Hierom did Alij saith he quasi parva contemnunt quicquid dixerimus contractare despiciunt alij magis aliorum silentium quà m nostrum studium probant quidam in eo se disertos arbitrantur doctos si alieno operi detrahant If such Readers meete with my booke I feare not If my book meet with such I care not The better sort I hope to find leaue attentiue and will pray for all meanes of their instruction in this world and salvation in the better world Errata Read Children p. 40. l. 16. metonymiam p. 113. l. 30. some acknowledge some denie p. 126. l. 10. Aetnam p. 131 l. 9. quo seniores eo saniores 193. l. 5. Ambigne p. 195. l. 15. quod 227. l. 4. editions p. 336. l. 19. Norris l 24.
retract It is not credible that you received as you saie incredible iniurie in the lawfull proceedings against you The Vniversitie censured you not imprisoned you The Colledge for a time discōmoned you not expelled you This small punishmēt no banishment your Cōplaint is the same with m In orat pro sexto Roscio Fimbria in Tully quod non totum tèlum in corpore recepisset you received great iniurie because you were not suffred to doe great iniury But be not deceiued God is not mocked enter into a serious and religious cogitation whether in this course that you are you need not feare the true description of malecontented Apostats I would you were not sutable to them as they be liuely deciphered both by S. n 2. Pet. 2. Peter and S. o Iude. 13. Iude to be presumptuous standing in their owne opinion wandring starres raging waues of the Sea foaming out their owne shame and speaking evill of them which are in authority which a man that maintaineth your third Counsaile of obedience should not doe The scornfull aspertion you cast vpon vs by the byname of Calvinists we neither reiect nor receiue Reverend learned holy Calvin was the greatest glory of the French Church that ever was since he was Hooker praef to his Church Politic. as a famous writer witnesseth And though our Religion seeke neither antiquitie nor authoritie from him nor we denomination or confirmation by him because as the Apostle speaketh we reioice not in men yet wee reverence him because as the same Apostle in the same verse concludeth o 1. Cor. 3.22.23 whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas al are ours we Christs and Christ Gods Mr LEECH Finally my brethren with my honest petition and necessarie counsaile I ioine my harty praiers and teares with them that it would please the author of all goodnes and the God of all truth to powre the abundant riches of his grace into your soules that your vnderstandings may be fully enlightned with his truth and that your wills may be made conformable therevnto in your profession of the holy Catholike faith For which as I now suffer the want of my natiue country so in defence thereof I shall be ready to yeeld vp my life when it shall please my gratious Lord to call mee vnto that honour whereof I am vnworthy Your devoted brother in Christ Humfrey Leech ANSVVER The Epistolary conclusion with a petition and coūsaile we should receiue more willingly if your petition were more honest and your counsell more Evangelicall Your prayers we returne tenfold into your bosome beseeching the Lord that it may please him to free your vnderstanding by truth ab p Albert. in Comp. Theol lib. 5. ignorantia veri to rectifie your will by good a concupiscentia mali and to purge your whole soule by grace ab impotentia boni that your will maie be subiect to his will your life to his seruice not his service to your will and so you may be reduced to the true Apostolique Catholique faith that as you complaine you suffer the want though the wanton want of your natiue Country so you may not endure the want of heavenly Ierusalem your spirituall Country that when you are to appeare at the fatall and finall iudgement among the great and smale when the muffling of conscience shall bee discovered the worme of conscience be not your portiō And that in your pilgrimage here you may rather wash your garments in the blood of the Lambe then in your owne blood so by the teares of a sinner blood of a Sauiour prayers of his Saints on earth you may bee brought againe to this militant Church in the better world receiue a permanent state in his triumphant Church Yours if you be Christs DANIELL PRICE THE PREFACE VNTO the whole discourse Mr LEECH VVHen first I set footing into this present businesse my purpose was not no not in my most secret thoughts to enter into any point of cōtroversie or to giue occasion of offence or dislike vnto any only my resolution was plainely positiuely as the course of my studies had ever bent and carried me to glaunce at a maine point of doctrine it comming but obiter in my way directly warranted nay lineally deduced from the vniforme consent of all ancient times bequeathed vnto vs by the perpetuall tradition and practise of the Church ANSVVER YOu tooke wrong footing in this busines both in secret and in open sight of God men and Angels wherein let me remember you how manie aimes you gaue to this question how desirouslie you entred into it how not onlie in Academicall but Parochiall sermons you taught it how you frequentlie seasoned your inkepot with the Colloquintida of contradiction sometimes openlie somtimes secretlie continuallie full of opposition Wherin as you were not often happie in the choice so not in the successe one beeing the cause of your pastorall remooue in * A most Faire large and ancient towne famous for building and cloathing but more especially for civill government care of Religion detestation of Popery what soeuer is praise worthy Shrewsbury the other the cause of your Academicall censure in Oxford And whereas you saie you meant to giue but a glaunce the purport of your whole sermon of distinguishing great and small a matter of great consequence prosecuted to small purpose sheweth how you did wire-draw a distinction vpon one part of your Text and prosecute especiallie that one point so farre as the howre and your paper could afford and indeed your glaunce so glanced vpon the whole Auditory that some departed others were perplexed all offended therewith Religion so wronged and the Vniversity disgraced by the publike cōtesting of a superstitious supercilious doctrine the consequences whereof are pernicious and dangerous and the question it selfe the verie ground of Monkish life as the Rhemists confesse Annot. Rhē in Nov. Test wherein men flying some occasions of evill they flie all occasions of doing good and prooue drie figge trees withered vines empty sepulchres broken cesternes And whereas you affirme that the position was directlie warranted nay lineallie deduced from the vniforme consent of all ancient times I thinke I may speake of it as a Cael. Rhod. antiq lectionum Rhodogine did of old Images Perierūt cum antiquitate you haue nothing to proue your position to be old but because it is rotten But we deny it as it shall appeare to haue any part of reverend antiquity to countenance it And whereas you affirme your maine point of doctrin to be bequeathed I enquire if bequeathed by what Testament surely neither by the old nor new by what Legacie Neither by the Fathers nor Generall Councels but by tradition you say wherein I may say to you as our b Mark 7.9 Saviour said to the Pharises Well do yee reiect the Cōmanmandements of God that you may obserue your owne traditions And yet for anie Apostolicall tradition to confirme
bona sunt à fide Ecclesiae non recedere I would you had taken this course in reading Gregory But for the point in hand you haue not in al the words of S. Gregory the distinctiō of Praeceptū Consilium no place that defineth Evangelica consilia neither their name number or any thing concerning thē And therefore to any never so little intelligent you will seeme strangely ridiculous to make Gregory Godfather to that childe he never knewe or Author of that doctrine which he never taught or thought Wee call not his credit into question I would yours did it not as I formerly shewed and especially t Bar. Tom. 8. Annal. Ann. Christi 1593. num 62. p. 57. Baronius who speaking of the barrennesse of learning in Gregory his time sheweth that Gregory himselfe was ignoraunt in many things Mr LEECH And yet rather then the doctrine shall be thus odiouslie traduced and my Author want his promerited defence I will according to that poore ability wherewith God hath enabled me endeuor to defend both it and him and therefore if S. Gregory in this point hath not transgressed the boūds of Ancienter Church nor crossed any tenent of his owne Present Church nor yet for this hath hitherto been censured by the lawfull iudgement of any Catholique succeeding Church nay if the Church more ancient then his his owne present and the ever after succeeding Centuries of Catholique Church haue from hand to hand deliuered vnto him receiued with him and with vniforme consent followed him in this point of doctrine never so much as once noting it questioning it impugning it cōtradicting it which certainely they would haue done had the doctrine beene erroneous for their devoted piety spared no Heretique Origen Millienar Tertul. Montanising Cypr. rebaptising no not the most renowned martyrs nor glorious fathers of the Church in any of their errors repugnant vnto the vnity of Catholique verity then vpon these premises I may irrefragably conclude in defence of my Authour and doctrine that S. Gregory his position is no privat opinion hatched out of his owne braine but the vniforme deduction and tradition of Christ his spouse the true Catholique never erring Church inspired guided directed by God his holy spirit in all ages ANSVVER Rather then you will let truth haue the supereminence quae magna est praevalet you will continue to father your opinion vpon Gregory yea and vpon the Primitiue Derivatiue Church Act. 9. But it is hard for you to kicke against the truth The weedes of supererogation growing vnder the shaddow of Evangelicall Counsailes haue had no time of encrease of growing in the ancient primitiue Church None of the first and worthier Fathers taught it It is a common but not commēdable vse among you of imposturing interpreting the Fathers in a wrong sense The chiefest groūd for your doctrine is the misinterpreting of that place of S. Paule which sense neither the Originall will carrie nor any Greeke Father ever followed And that blessed servant of God Mr Perkins in his Probleme proveth against opposers how farre the Fathers were from mainetaining workes of supererogation Physitians that meane to cure the disease first beginnne with the cause so giue me leaue seeing workes of supererogation bee only the inductions and cause of teaching this doctrine First I desire you to answere whether S. Hierome thought any such works were performed who disclaiming them thus speaketh p Hier. lib. 1. c. 3. cont Pelag. Tum ergo iusti sumus quando nos peccatores fatemur iustitia nostra non ex proprio merito sed ex Dei consistit misericordia or whether S. q Retract l. 1. c. 19. Augustine doth thinke a man might supererogate who affirmeth a contrary positiō Omnia mandata Dei facta deputantur quando quicquid non fit ignoscitur or r Chrys in 8. Hom. in 4. ad Roman Chrysostome who in his 8. homily on the 4. to the Romanes affirmeth No man to bee iustified by the Law because none can fulfill the Law ſ Bern. in 73 ser in Cant. or Bernard in his 73. vpō the Canticles who wisheth no man to trust to his own iustice or fulfilling of the Law or to approch neerer what meant t De Consil Evang. statu perfectionis Gerson that famous Doctor to deny any perfection in Evangelicall counsailes Secōdly I desire you to answere why u Aq. 22 dae Art 5. Aquinas teacheth that perfection doth essentially which is perfectly consist in keeping the Commandements which none can do and in the fulfilling of the Lawe if that perfection of Counsailes bee so much aboue the Law why x In sent lib. 3. distinct 34 q. 3. Paludanus vpon the Sentences doth affirme that some men may attaine to as great height of perfection liuing in marriage and possessing much as they that liue single and giue away all that they haue I will aske no more questions but seeing this is so taught by so many reverend Ancients yea by many of your owne later y Ians in 100. Cap. in Evang Iansenius in his 100. chapter vpon the Evangelicall concord professing with Gerson and Aquinas that only the fulfilling of the law doth iustifie and z Cus excit lib. 10. Cardinall Cusanus confessing that none but Christ ever did fulfill the Commandements seeing all this is thus why will you so boldly affirme that this doctrine was never impugned never contradicted c which indeede was never rather taught never approved It is true S. Gregory was never contradicted in this for hee never taught any such thing But this opinion was gainesaid and disliked and the Church never received never generally delivered any such position Although if it had your epithet of never erring Church is scarce currant for you cannot deny but the Church hath had her blots a Dial. contra Lucif S. Ierome cōplained that the whole world groaned and wondred to see it selfe Arrian b Aduers proph Novit Vincentius Lerinēsis confesseth that not only some portion of the Church but the whole Church may be blotted with contagion But this was none of her blots spots or infectious blemishes for shee never generally mainetained or taught this Doctrine Mr LEECH But M. Doctour Hutton lending a deafe eare vnto my defence though in my conscience and iudgement it ought to haue satisfied him sounded another alarome and ringed a fresh peale in my eares charging nay surcharging me ad nauseam vsque for holding any distinction betwixt Precepts Counsailes For saide hee there is no such distinction those which you falsely cal Coūsailes are in deed Precepts and not Counsailes ANSVVER The Comoediā c Plautus Plautus taxeth some that had no stuffe in them but in their tongue and that only in speaking lewdly of their betters Isthic est thesaurus stultis in lingua situs ut quaestui habent malè loqui melioribus Let the lawes of God Nature and Nations
done the like you had never rambled on such a Collection as this to say Christ had erroneously taught him the way to life by vade vende omnia if this bee not a Counsell of voluntary poverty Your sequell is out of ioint and absurd rather Christ would haue never applied this plaister if he looking through the windowes of this young mans soule into his inward most retired roome had not found covetousnes to be his hinderance and encombrance And this proveth it selfe in the Text for he went away sorrowfully I cannot but note the malice and virulent dealing of your ignorant contradicting spirit traducing Calvine for a blasphemous interpreter who taught no more then he learned of the Fathers and if among those that did interpret Scripture since the fathers time any one is worthy to be accounted fidus interpres Horat. Art Poet. for his soūdnesse and profoundnesse blessed Calvin is who was as Eramsus wrot of Tonstall a world of learning Eras epist 84. Claud. Verderius conscio in Autores pag. 174. and as Theodorus Gaza testified of Plutarch that if any mā were so limited that he could only read one humane authors bookes he would read Plutarch so many renowned Divines next vnto sacred Scripture haue of all other authors choisly and cheefly selected this holy servant of God So that in this Paragraph you blaspheme God iniure truth accuse your knowledge and abuse your conscience Mr LEECH Lastly I would but demand what S. Paule meant 2. Cor. 7.25 Vid. Damas dict Gnomi in Indice to distinguish plainely betwixt Precepts Coūsells thus praeceptum non habeo consilium do for so the vulgar readeth which all the latine Church followeth and all the Greeke Fathers haue so taken it if there be no Counsells For he groundeth this his distinction vpon his Masters wordes Non omnes capiunt and therefore S. Paul had no precept But qui potest capere capiat And hence floweth the second branch consilium do as S. Hierom S. Basill and divers others of both Churches doe obserue ANSVVER Discourses that grow tedious are odious and such is this your frequent and too often querulous quaere The distinction in S. Paule is betweene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betweene a precept and sentence no word signifying Counsell in that place I haue already shewed how Antoninus maketh S. Dominick the Author of Evangelicall Counsells Anton. parte 3. vt ante and S. Paul the teacher of faith and the law and yet you produce S. Paul as a speciall bullwark for your Counsel house Many Fathers haue I confesse read that Text so but the originall ministreth no such interpretation nor doe the Fathers themselues otherwise hence ground but that qui potest being enabled is qui debet hee that is commanded You and Coccius teach the Fathers to speak very preposterously Beware of the Fathers curse or rather of Gods curse seeing you call them to beare false witnesse against the Law Gospell and God himselfe Mr LEECH And that this point may be every way full and perfit builded vpon so many seuerall rockes as there bee seuerall places of Scriptures let the Doctors of the Church speake Vincentius Lyrin in cōmonitorio being the most probable Maisters and teachers in the Church against quot capita tot sensus the very bane of all religion mother of innovatiō let the church interpret Scripture and hee that will not heare the Church you know what followeth 2. Pet. 1. vlt. sit tibi tanquam haereticus Nay sit tibi tanquam ethnicus For as it is said of the letter of the scripture that it is not of any private inspiration For it came not in old time by the will of man but holy men spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Serm. 17. in Cantic So may it be as truely saide of the sense of the Scripture that it is not of any priuat spirits interpretation And the reason why every man should flie from a private spirits interpretation A sentence that striketh the Religion in England as dead as a dore naile is this as it is excellentlie rendred by that mellifluous Father S Bernard Nonnulli adesse putant spiritum cùm non adest suúmque sensum pro sensu spiritus sequuntur deviantes suásque sententias magistrorum sententijs praeferūt that is for I cānot but translate it many men thinke that they haue the spirit of God when they haue it not erroneouslie following the sense of their owne private spirits for the meaning of the holy Ghost preferring their owne private opinions before the publique iudgements of their masters and teachers ANSVVER You haue suffered shipwracke vpon your rockes They be severall indeed Psal for they are severed far from you which is manifest in that you rocke to and fro in your preposterous building like a tottering wall or like a broken hedge You call for advocates the Doctors of the Church Num. 23.38 and fetch them in as Balaac did Balaam but they answer as there hee did but with a more holy spirit We are come vnto thee and can we nowe say any thing at all The worde that God hath put in our mouthes that shall we speake But if this helpe you not you call the Church to testifie with you To the church we leaue as much as the spowse hath made her iointer in the interpretation of Scripture by the Church Tertull. libro de praescrip haereticorum that of Tertullian is to be remembred who warneth of some Qui non ad materiam Scripturas sed materiam ad Scriptur as excogitant and thereby run into one of those two miseries which S. Austin observeth Aust Comm. Faustum lib. 22. cap. 32. Caiet in praef Com. in lib. Mosis aut falli imprudenter aut fallere impudenter you say the Fathers of the Church are for you yet Caietā beleeveth that God hath not tyed the exposition of the Scriptures to the senses of the Fathers And if the Fathers serue not you saie let the Church interpret Scripture We distinguish the Church from the Synagogue of Antichrist and seeing wee hold that Scriptures must tell which is the Church wee must deny that the Church must tell vs the sense of Scripture Gerson doth disclaime the iudgement of Pope Gerson de exam doct part 1. cō 5. Councell or Church cōcerning interpretation of Scriptures and trial of doctrine when hee delivereth that the examination of doctrine concerning faith belongeth not to the Councell or Pope but to every one that is sufficiently learned in Scriptures Cus Ep. 2. pag. 833. And Cusanus cannot deny but that by the iudgement of the Church the Scripture is fitted to the time and the sense altered as the time altereth We make the spirit of God speaking in Scripture to be iudge of the Scripture and Act. 17.17 as the men of Berea sought the Scripture to approue the
doctrin of the Apostles though the Apostles doctrine was Scripture so we admit of no fundamentall interpretation to builde vpon but that which is approved by the sacred scriptures The place that you vrge out of Matthew Math. 18.17 Hee that will not heare the Church let him be tanquam Ethnicus you may vpō your better review finde it is spoken concerning those that refuse to heare the admonition or iudiciall censure of the Church not the glosse or interpretatiō of the Church Wee confesse the letter of Scripture was not nor the sense is of any privat inspiration and therefore trial which is made by the Scriptures is no privat iudgement but the publike cēsure of Gods spirit that speaketh openly in the Scriptures to all men And Basils rule shall bee ever the true practise of the true Church Basil de examin doctr part 1. Cons 5. that they that bee conversant in the Scriptures should examine all that is said whether it agreeth with Scriptures From a private interpretation not agreeing with the Canon of Scripture we fly because as you vrge out of Bernard Nonnulli adesse putant spiritum Acts and monuments by Mr Fox many thinke that they haue the spirit of God with them as they that in that Councell sang veni spiritus and an Owle was sent them they killed that spirit And many thinke they haue the spirit Nicol. Clau. disput de cōcil and yet shut out the spirit as the Councell of Pisa did You saie the sentence of Bernard striketh our religion as dead as a dore naile it is a clownish marginall you might haue learned amongst Scholers that a dore naile could not be said to be dead because it had never life Privat opinions with vs sway not each wel disposed mā submitteth himselfe to the censure of the Church wherein we liue our Church to the Scriptures and this wee make to be the last resolution Mr LEECH It is lawfull to followe the spirit in interpreting the Scripture but it must be the spirit of the Church that spirit of peace vnity charity that descended vpon the Apostles vnited for domus vna c. they abode all in one house a signe of externall charitie Mens anima vna one minde one soule for they had but one God one faith one Church Ancient Church Calvins and Luthers congregations a signe of internall spirituall vnity The same spirit ever since continued in the Church vnited in faith not divided in faction And wee may seeke for the sense of the scripture but where It must not be out of the stincking puddle of a private braine The aforesaid gentlemen c. but forth of the treasuring memory of the Church Christi Evangelio vim nō inferat humana praesumptio patrum semel definita non sunt iterum in dubium vocanda This is contrary to cursed Luther it is blessed Leo in his 94. Epistle let not humane presumption dare to offer violence vnto the Gospell of Christ for the constitutiōs of fathers once decreed are not further to bee questioned Nec definitiones eorum perpetuae commutandae quorum regulam secundum scripturam esse didicimus So speaketh Flavianus bishop of Constantinople in his Epistle to Pope Leo the first Neither are the perpetuall determinations of them to be changed whose rule we haue learned to agree with scripture ANSVVERE Vnity was the bond of Patriarkes Chariot of the Prophets refuge of the Apostles solace of the Saints and Character of Christians But is this belonging to them who abhorre vnity whose religion is rebelliō whose faith is faction as our Church litargie speaketh in the prayer against the conspiracies of Papists What part in vnity haue they that haue divided Christs Coate nay Christs body Christs Church Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione loquentes Doe all the opinions in the world squadron themselues into so many divided factions as Papists Do not they like the Midianits sheath every man his sword in his neighbours side Cumel is against Suarez Bellarmine is invaded by Carerius for giuing to little to the Pope Marsilius and Father Paulus encounter him for giving to much Cardinall Columna striueth with Baronius Barelay with Boucher Antonius Augustine tilts against Gratian. That as Ieronymus de Cavallos hath set forth in the law his speculum aureum opinionum Communium contra communes so also in the diversitie of contradictions riotting one against another the sweet and mellifluous Author of the Peace of Rome whom I may tearme a library for a whole nation as Mirandula entitled another great scholler hath most amply delivered and sealed it with their own proofs Doct. Hall so also hath Crastovius in his booke Bellum Iesuiticū 205 contradictions of the Iesuits Pappus hath collected 237 differences in doctrine out of Bellarmine Laborious and reverend D. Willet proveth that there be 70 maine contradictions betweene the olde Papists and the new 37 among the Iesuits 57 points wherein Bellarmin is at strang variance with himself 39 essentiall contradictions of Popish religion 100 opposite Constitutions of the Popish Canons And many more might in this kinde bee registred wherein are divers assertions which are onely taile-tied as Sampsons Foxes with a firebrand betweene them but are head-severed wrenching one from another So that you are the divided factiō not we our difference only de fimbria non de toga yours de toga de corpore de Christo many ridiculous many blasphemous all erroneous We doe not seeke the sense of Scripture out of the stinking puddle of a privat brain as out of the Crows nest of your invention that impostumated phrase doth traduce vs nor doe wee by humane presumption offer violence to the Gospell of Christ as many thousand places in Popery bee abused as your blasphemous Pope who vpon that place Act. 2. Papa Clem. In Canonis cap. disertiss 12. quaest 1. Bellar. lib. 2. de sacram c. 1 Bell. Tom. 1. lib. 3. cap. 3. Bell. de Mon. Erant Apostolis omnia cōmunia addeth immo coniuges or your detorting Cardinal Tortus the Torturer of Scripture vpon that spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas ergo Baptismus confert gratiam ex opere operato or againe vpon that Scripture Bibite ex hoc omnes id est saith hee omnes Apostoli or vpon that place vocauit nomen eius Enos coepit vocare nomen Domini ergo Enos fuit Monachus and infinite many more violences by him offred Your cursed epithet against Luther is full of hellish fury I doe assure my selfe that God blesseth where the Pope curseth and as sure I am blessed are they that die in the Lord and so is he for he resteth from his labours And was Luther cursed for denying some interpretations of the Fathers Did not Caietan as much In praef com in lib. Mosis in affirming that God had not tied the expositions of the Scriptures to the sēse of the Fathers And did not
LEECH To these I might adde Wickliffe against the order of begging friers where he stileth them Christ his high Counsells Likewise Luther in the 30. article of his assertions Iudicious and learned Hooker in his Church Politie and the Apologie in defence of him in the Chapter of satisfaction D. Barlow The Bishop of Rochester and elect of Lincolne in his sermon preached at Court concerning the authority of Bishops the 4. page before the ende ANSVVER It is not vnfitly said by you I might adde for never was so small a booke so stuft with additions and detractions as this is adding to divers Authors detracting from divers persons Heresie is a Bastardy it seldome knoweth the true Father that names many Fathers falsly this vrgeth many fainedly and indeed hath no lawful Father but that outlawried pervagus terrae in the first of Iob Iob. 1. Gen. 4. it selfe being vagus terrae as Cain was in the 4. of Genes For those that here you ad to your Catalogue of Authors and Authorisers First Wickliffe must be heard in his owne maner of speech Wick against begging Friers Chap. 34. Luther yet he needs no interpreter In the 34 Chapter against begging Friers these be his words Many blind fooles binden them to the high Counsells of Christ that cannot keepe the least commandement but see hypocrisie of them sith each Counsell of Christ is commandement for some time and some circumstances how binden they them to more then the commandements Not by the Counsels for they been commandements but they fainen this to draw yong children into their rotten habit and other fooles that knowen not the perfection of Christs order Now you haue heard wickliffe himselfe beleeue him and reade no reporters of his fragments Next Luther fauoureth your cause verie little In the place you cite him hee saith that there is but one Counsaile Evangelicall if you stande to him there avowing only the Counsell of Virginity you must let Poverty go begge and obedience go loose But Luther vpon better consideration doth vtterly discharge all Coūsails Luther de votis Monasticis Tom. 2. fol. 300. in his book de votis Monasticis Tom. 2. fol. 30. a. Mr Hooker is before interpreted and I hope will giue satisfaction though you quote him falsely in his Chapter of Satisfaction the place being found in the Article of superogation His Apologist is also made plaine in the same place The Bishop of Rochester now of Lincolne then the Austin of Hippo nowe the Ambrose of Millaine doth no way yeelde you suffrage in his powerfull sermon cōcerning the Antiquity Superiority of Bishops shewing out of Clemens Alexandrinus that the Apostles manured the Church with a double tillage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If saith hee any thinke that this maketh way to Popish traditions vnwritten verities it is no other then S. Paules distinction of praeceptum and Consilium c. His reverend wisdome most accute iudgement alleaging the word out of a vulgar translation meaneth by the name Consilium those things which S. Paul 1. Cor. 11.34 calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things vnwrittē which the Apostles did or spake as the times occasioned and the holy Ghost directed further then this there is nothing in that place or sermon giving warrant to your opinion of iustifying popish monkish Counsells and how great his dislike is to any such position his learned speech at Lambeth which like a thunderbolt strooke you dumbe doth testifie to all So that all these witnesses refuse you Luther wickliffe Hooker D. Covell and this most reverend Prelat not vouchsafing your doctrine coūtenance or maintenance Mr LEECH These and many more of their ranke I might adde if I could be perswaded that the Fathers needed their sons suffrages And yet certaine I am Sonnes in this point or such like For no otherways did I meane that the sons stande in neede of their fathers testimonies Or were it not rather so that all these being men of eminent note in our Church are rather relatores antiquae fidei quà m authores novae doctrinae relators of the ancient faith of the Church to their credit and honor in that respect he it spoken rather then authors and coyners of any new doctrine And therfore passing them and for this time sparing them not to strike a haires breadth from my former groūds Leo Epist 17. 94. my maine conclusion is this maneant termini patrum intráque fines proprios se quisque contineat sufficiant limites quos sanctorum patrum providentissima decreta posuerunt let the bounds of ancient church abide and let every man keepe himselfe within due bounds limits let the meetes which the Fathers most prouident decrees haue set content vs. And the reason is excellently rendred by S. Bernard Epist 77. ad Hugonem de S. Victore viz quantò viciniores erant adventui salvatoris tantò mysterium salutis pleniùs praeceperunt the neerer the Fathers were to Christ his incarnation the more cleerely and fully received they the mysterie of salvation ANSVVER It is true the Orthodoxall Fathers need not the suffrages of their sonnes and yet Bellarmine denieth it and is so vnnaturall to the Fathers as that he maketh them to need the suffrage of the Pope Bellar. de Pōt l. 2. c. 27. § Respon istos for when hee is pressed by Nilus to follow in the question of the Primacy the opinion of the Fathers he professeth that the Pope hath no Fathers in the Church for they are all his sons So by this Gregory the great shall stand in need of Burgesies testimony Cā you endure this that Gregory whose learning holinesse eloquence c. was so eminent he that you call Patron though he never bestowed so much as opinion vpon you shall he need the testimony of Mounsieur Burghesi whom your owne confesse to be none of the best Popes and sure not of the best men But to the Fathers this I say we respect and honor them in generall and the present quotation of S. Bernard we dislike not For Patres quo saniores eo seniores quo iuniores eo ieiuniores but they being impostured as Papists professe to practise it in their Index expurgatorius that if the Fathers speak against any points now maintained by papists Ind. Expurg belg fol. 20. then the Index warneth thus Let vs excuse it or extenuat it or deny it by some devise or faine some other convenient sense whē it is opposed in disputation Our main conclusion hence is Patres quo Papis viciniores eo corruptiores Mr LEECH To these were my iudgement and opinion any Of Luther Calvin all their proper Disciples Qui non cōsentit Sāctorum Patrum expositionibus seipsum alienat ab omni sacerdo tali communione à Christi praesētia Eudoxius in Concil Chalced. I durst not otherwaies then subscribe with all humble submissiō to the censure of the Church fearing that censure of
Religion hath shee not corrupted The doctrine of the Trinity seeing you here againe vrge it as aboue so I hence remoue it as aboue to your Motiues Mr LEECH Secondly his worship obiected vnto me that D. Benefield had lately and learnedly confuted the said Popish doctrine of Evangelicall Counsells and that therevpon I ought to haue surceased my reply was that D. Benefield his opinion was no canon of my faith nor that his authority was of such value with mee as to preponderate the iudgement of the Ancient Church and testimonies of the venerable Fathers And therefore since I began to publish this doctrine vpon such grounds I was bound in cōscience to defend the same and specially since he made an opposition in schooles vnto my position in the pulpit so that I could not be silent without treason vnto God his truth ANSVVER The argument consisted of reason and religion in reason if the doctrine were answered how could it be gainsaid the learning wisdome degree of Doctor Benefield by infinit degrees paramounting all that ever will be in Mr Leech In religion for if the Canons of the Church grounded on Scripture doe someway obliege our consciences that among the rest one especially provideth that there be no publick contradictiō of points in religion how durst this to be infringed and opposition so peremptorily maintained by you in the Pulpit But you say you did so because that his opinion was no Canon of your faith c. And yet you did make opinion the Canon of your faith and produced your conceit distinction grounds testimonies proofes c all for the most part out of Bellarmine and though you disclaime it yet you vnderwent that Babilonicall servitude which by Alphonsus de Castro is called Miserrima servitus iurare in alicuius verba Magistri Alphons de Castro cont haeres lib. 1. cap. 7. so that opinion was your Canō I haue already professed from the Protestation of D. Benefield that he read no way with purpose to touch you but only in generall as this controversie was the occasion of much innovation much corruption so that yours was the contradiction not his Mr LEECH Thirdly whereas he laid vnto my charge that he had inhibited me to intermeddle any farther with this point I answered that de facto he had never done it and that de iure he could not doe it For God must bee obeyed rather then man Besides though in discretion submission vnto your authority I would haue surceased from prosecution of this matter yet this notorious and intollerable impugnation did force me to breake my intended silence ANSVVER Deny it not for you were charged vpon your second sermon not to intermeddle any further in this point and therefore your distinction de facto and de iure is fond Your inhibition de facto should haue restrained you de iure should haue feared you for the Magistrat beareth not Gods sword in vaine But you say God must be obeyed rather then man By what revelation or fained new found vision had you command from God to preach this sermon the second time We must obey say the Lawyers Parents and Magistrats in licitis honestis but God in omnibus because all things are not only lawful to vs but fruitfull for vs if enioined by him But God Stella in Luc. Glory iudgement vengeance proper to God only Psal 8.5 that as Stella observeth hath impropriated 3 things vnto himself the first being his glory never did send any warrant to you so much to oppose his glory as to place man not as David speaketh little lower but equall or somewhat higher then the Angells in Angelicall integrity spirituall transcendency c as if man should be beholdē to you more then to his glorious maker Besides say you intolerable impugnation did breake your silence you would make the world beleeue you were iniured S. Austin asketh in this case a question libet hominem vindicare Tom. 10. ser 42. in Orat. Domin and must you encourage your selfe in the vnlawfulnesse of revenge But God mē Angells testifie you doe iniury to affirme you had iniury by any notorious or intolerable impugnatiō Were you imprisoned censured excommunicated Deserving all these you were punished by none of these Mr LEECH Fourthly whereas he demanded a copy of my sermon protesting vpon his faith and troth to God that hee would send me presently vnto the Castle vnlesse I then delivered it I was content vpō the perswasion of Doctor Kilby to yeeld into his hands the originall and only copy thereof And so I was dismissed for this time ANSVVER The Copy was demanded And though you say you deliuered it vpon persuasion yet it might haue beene enforced from you This protestation you objected once before against the Provice chancelour and now againe If you could fasten any aspersion vpon him or any that the cause concerned I knowe you would Protestations are often iustifiable and commendable Rom. 9.1 2. Cor. 11.31 Gal. 1.20 as I haue giuen instance before in many of the Saints but especially in Paul in divers Epistles To the Romans I say the truth and lie not my conscience bearing me witnesse To the Corinthians God the father of our Lord Iesus Christ knoweth that I lie not To the Galathians I witnesse before God that I lie not And Espencaeus in his owne practise sheweth that a protestation may very religiously be vsed Espenc tract 6. Epist dedic ad Card. Cast his wordes translated be these I doe RELIGIOVSLY SWEARE that as often as I thought vpon the report of obtaining the Red hat freely which others hunted after for mony who were repulsed I giue immortall thankes vnto God that he suffered not I wil not say so much good but so much evill to happen vnto me Quid facerem Romae mentiri nescio What should I doe at Rome I cannot lie Thus much for your obiection against his protestation and thus much for the honesty of the place where your habitation is now supposed Mr LEECH CHAP. 2. This storme being thus overblowne a quiet calme ensued vntill M. Doctour King deane of Christ-Church and Vicechancellour of the Vniuersitie was now returned frō London vnto whō I made repaire partly to do my duty vnto him and partly to preuēt that sinister impression which D. Hutton and others sought to worke in him to the preiudice of me and of the doctrine which I had preached For which purpose I had collected the testimonies of 24. Fathers that thereby he might be well informed in the state of this present question ANSVVER A storme it was not you felt neither the thunderbolt of excōmunication nor lightning of expulsion If in this storme as you call it you had shed a showre of repentant teares then you might haue been happy Aust in that which S. Austin applyeth to such a purpose Post pluuiam sequitur magna serenitas post nubilū magna claritas post tempestatem magna
that you haue punished me for teaching the contrary assertion ANSVVERE Your second demand was out of all course of reason or sense Was it not knowne to al that you were censured for preaching such Evangelicall Counsells of perfection whereby a man might doe more then the law required yea more then man need to haue performed was not your convention now and inhibition before censure at last sufficient witnes to all the world what you delivered why you were censured c. Nay was not this yea more then this your request offred you viz. that you should if you durst hold your position in the divinity Chappell in Christ church and in forme of a Respondent answere the Vicechancellour promising to appoint fiue paires of Masters to oppose you which you knewe had easily beene performed in that honourable and fruitful Colledge This you refused and thereby shewd that you had not an originall state but a Traditionall insight in this question This you durst not and therefore you required the subscription to make way to some threatning opposition That as the Poet speaketh Pede pes cuspide cuspis so now you hoped there might haue bin another kinde of digladiation pen against pen and hands against hands which you never could haue obtained Mr LEECH This request D. King not only denied but also exclaimed against me for making this petition And no marvell for he that durst never throughout this whole proceeding formally and by expresse mention condemne Evangelicall Counsells how could hee yeeld vnto any such subscription whereby he and the rest might haue remained Heretiques vpon their owne record ANSVVER You neglected the reverence you did owe to his government and detected the wilfull weaknesse of your owne iudgement to require it No such course vsuall in any Iuridicall proceedings And for your vile slaunder that the Vicechancelour durst not condemne Evangelicall Counsells it is impudent He did in the proceedings often rebuke and confute your maner of handling that point not denying but that a nominall distinction of counsells was sometimes vsed but he expresly condemned such Counsells as you preached being of another kinde then S. Austin dâ—livereth with the rest of the Fathers and Wickliffe whom you vrge who all maintaine each Counsell to be a commande for some time and some circuÌ„stance Which sentence and iudgement how you oppugned in your sermons may be seene where till you recant you remaine an Heretique vpoÌ„ your own record I vse your owne wordes Mr LEECH The conclusion of all was this M. Vicechancellour beating me downe with the blow of authority hauing no other meanes to convince me pronounced his definitiue sentence against mee which I will here relate word for word as neere as I could possibly beare it away ANSVVER You were beaten downe as you truly say by authority but more theÌ„ by humane by diuine You were driveÌ„ by Scripture to refuse scripture to be your iudg beateÌ„ by the censure of the Church that you deny to be censured by the Church convicted for stubborne impudence for preaching that doctrine which was inhibited you wheÌ„ you were countermanded it You were convinced for ignorance in that you produced witnesses that you knewe not and vrged Greeke Fathers that you read not And this conviction was not only by the blow of authority but by such a blow from heauen as Paul in the Acts was stroken Scripture Church Fathers Acts. 9. and all arguments of power did agree to this deiection of you and your cause and to the censure that ensueth Mr LEECH M. Leech for preaching scandalous and erroneous doctrine Doctrine as you well knowe stifly defended by the Church of Rome and wherevpon many absurdities doe follow I doe first as Vicechancellour silence you from preaching Secondly as Deane of this house I suspend you from your commons and function here for the space of twelue moneths This is my sentence and before these my associates I require you to take notice thereof ANSVVERE Here is the Act the manner of the Act the reason of the Act or censure The sentence was deliberat and guided with ripe wisdome the hand of Iustice in him was slower then the tongue For besides your heresie in the deliverie there was contumacie in you for presuming so to preach forbidden by Authority and yet was this censure easie by many wished to bee more by all marvailed at that it was no more For as the times increase in daunger so the rigor should increase in discipline But the manner of this censure was milde it passed no farther then losse of commons for a time this was within the walles of the Colledge and silence for preaching within the precincts of Oxford and this within the limits of the Vniversity This was no eiection expulsion out of Colledge and Vniuersity It had been worse by infinite degrees had you beene sent to London And the reason of all this was first intimated for your scandalous erroneous doctrine a doctrine stifly defended by the church of Rome inducing many absurdities I will vse an honourable speech of that most noble CouÌ„sellor at the arraignement of Garnet Earle of NorthamptoÌ„ fit to be bestowed vpon you Currat lex viuat Rex vincat veritas The marginall scurrile Note which you borrowed from some more witty but as wicked pate as your owne I coulde returne as a dart to your very soule but I forbeare because all reproach and contumelies against this worthy do breake themselues as waues shattered in peeces by the force of a rocke Mr LEECH Which sentence though it were tyrannicall and vniust yet it no waies discouraged me but rather confirmed me in my opinion Wherefore I protested the doctrine againe more resolutely then before wishing M. Vicechancellor and his assistaÌ„ts to vnderstande thus much from me First that I held the doctrine with asmuch nay more confidence then ever I did Secondly that I farther concluded the invincibility of the point out of the manner of their proceedings whereat they were driven into the extremity of fury and passion ANSVVER This vvas a greate degree of the hardnesse of your hart and it is manifest that you apprehended this as a pretence of your revolt The Vicechancelour was vrged to this doome which as it was impartiall so was it no way Tyrannicall had it been any other it had bin mercifull iniustice You should haue acknowledged the Truths victory given some signe of humility modesty and reverence to authority You say you were hereby confirmed CoÌ„firmed you were in your flight not in your faith And in your boast that you so againe protested the doctrine if it had beene so you shewed more boldnes then goodnes and the Truth had lost lesse then you gained but it was not so you did not you durst not contest so vmbragiously as you protest here My obseruation through your whole book holdeth true where you bragge most you faine most where you paint your speech there it is most corrupted and
your place or faculty to preach That being most true which you falsely apply of Iehu and Ioram while the fornications of Iezabell and the abominations of Babell were mainetained by you no peace to be kept with you Isay 48.22 God commandeth it There is no peace to the wicked saith God Mr LEECH Wherefore after signification of my thankful minde to his Lordship who now vouchsafed in some sort to commiserat my vniust vexations I answered that I had greater respect of the cause for which I suffered then of the punishment which I did sustaine assuring M. Barkham that restitution vnto my place was not the principall part of my desire For as God did require of me the constant iustification of his eternall truth so I coulde not but require it also at their hands who by their function as Ministers and dignity as Bishops were specially obliged therevnto ANSVVER His Grace commiserated your stubborn opposition but never iudged your iust punishment vniust vexation The respect you had of the cause was more then your respect of God truth faith peace or conscience If restitutiō to your place was not the chiefest of your desires what was Was it your desire of conquest and victory that your individual sentence should haue overswayed the iudgement definitiue resolution of so many so wise and learned Iudges It is impietie to averre that God did require the iustification of this truth by you Truth it is not to be iustified it was not by all the proceedings it is manifest that God by the mediatiō mouth of his Magistrates approveth it not The function and dignity of your iudges did yeeld you all equity though you continue your accusations and supercilious detractions against them Mr LEECH Whereas he pressed me farther with motiues of profit and that I hindered the course of my preferment by contending against the authority of Magistrates who as he said must stand one with another my reply was to this effect that I desired not to rise where truth must fall vertue is the path to Honor Heavē must not be lost for earth the plenty of riches doth not recompence the emptines of the soule a good conscience is a continuall feast ANSVVER These motiues of profit and preferment if they were vsed are subordinate to the motiue of sauing your soule These can neither repaire nor empaire those directing inciting comforts that come from aboue The contentments that the world cā afford are but weake and momentary but the ambition of preferment in heauen is the holy resolution making a true Christian firme and square You hindred your selfe in your worldly heauenly course in cōtending with religious Authority And howsoever you professe you made vertue the path to honour yet this is proued contrary for you refused the best of vertues Lombard quadruplex conscientia your religion And though a good conscience be a continuall feast yet Lombard and others distinguish of conscience that as a good conscience may be troubled so an evill conscience may bee so quieted that it thinkes it selfe good Mr LEECH As for the Magistrates I reverenced their persons and honoured their places knowing that their power is from God but designed for the preservatiō of his truth which if I impugned let them strik mee with the sworde of Iustice but if they withstood it yet I must defend it with courage Ecclus 4. as also I shall suffer for it with patience For I alwaies had the counsaile of the wise man before mine eies Striue for the Truth vnto death c. ANSVVER Had you considered duly that not only their power is from God Rom. 13.2.4 as Paul speaketh but as hee addeth hee that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receiue to themselues condemnation giving the reason for hee beareth not the sworde in vaine your respect had beene more to thē if you had thus remembred the dignity from God giuen them Courage is then good when a good cause and a good conscience meet But to be couragious in defence of any adulterine proposition that hath not radicall truth it is condemned and wil be punished Acts are to be measured by desires desires by integrity And had you had God alwaies before your eies you had not been so Apocryphally wife in your owne eies Mr LEECH Which resolution in me though it sorted not with his liking nor yet perhapps was expected from a poore oppressed scholler whom his vncharitable adversaries had determined either to bowe or breake yet hee importuned me at the least to see his Lord and not to neglect his favorable inclination to doe me good ANSVVER Poore and lame and slack arguments cannot enforce resolution in the will or settle information in the vnderstanding All the connexions and all your concoxions out of Coccius had not this nutritiue power to nourish your conscience to such a strength of resolution But some other vnrevealed cause there is which only the searcher of all hearts knoweth Reprehension is not oppression nor had you any vncharitable adversaries they are adversaries to all vncharitablenesse they meant to direct straighten you not to bow much lesse to breake Some vpon whom you seemed to relie most in Oxford haue protested that they had proceeded in the same or a more strict course against you if the censure had passed their hands Mr LEECH Wherevpon I made a shew that I would shortly visit his Grace And this I did because I did probably collect that my intention was by some meanes disclosed vnto him whereby I might be defeated of that course vpon which I was now wholly resolved For me thought that God did speake within my heart as he spake sometimes vnto Abraham his seruant Goe forth of thy land Gen. 12.1 and from thy kindred and from thy fathers house and come into the land which I shall shew vnto thee For can any Church or any faith be in that land where the very grounds and principles of ancient Christianity are dissolved where there is no certaine foundation to build Religion vpon Where every mans power is his reason to make good his doctrine Where an iniury sustained for the truth can finde no redresse without treasonable connivencie to see the truth oppressed ANSVVER This was Aequivocation in speech and action neither honest but both common among Papists S. Austin condemned the Priscilianists for this and so other Fathers haue reproved this lying mummery hypocrisie Sepulueda de Ration dicēdi testimon Et de ratione dicendi occulta in praefat Azor. Ies Inst par 1. l. 11. c. 4. in fine cap. Emanuel Sa. in Aphor. And not only Scotus Aquinas Henricus Gabriell Biell are resolute against it as Sepulveda witneseth but also Iesuits themselues haue reproued it as Azorius Emanuell Sa and others You began to equivocate timely I doubt not but you haue increased it The reason of making this hypocriticall shew was lest you should be defrauded
froÌ„ robbing the Church of a Sonne the King of a Subiect and your selfe of a soule Your misapplication of that speech of God to Abraham I might dilate much vpon as hauing variety of interpretations which doe vnderstand that place of the devill the world the flesh But I come neerer to your purpose hoping that those wordes that you say God spake to you were receiued by no revelation a frequeÌ„t imposture amoÌ„g Papists filling the mouthes of many swaying the faiths of some But what is the blemish you see in your mother â—oth our Church deny the principles of ancieÌ„t Christianity Doe wee not receiue the Scriptures the Creedes and Fathers of the first 500 yeares Do we not build our Religion vpon the foundation Iesus Christ the corner stone Is the rule of our doctrine any other then Gods sacred will revealed in his word Is any iniury sustained by you for truth It is not iniury but true iustice to punish those that be stubborne in action precipitat in resolution and faulty in opinion not able to maintaine their cause but with much wresting of conscience their revolt ever attended with sedition scandall and humane respect Mr LEECH But I will pretermit good Reader here to make a speciall enumeration of my Motiues drawing me vnto my finall resolution for they will ensue orderly in the thirde last part of this Treatise Only consider with me now with what conflict of flesh bloud I could intertaine this resolution to come out of my Land from my kindred and from my Fathers howse with what griefe I could forsake a noble Vniversity the company of my kindest friends the comfort of my dearest familiars other emoluments which such a place doth actually yeeld and prepareth vnto greater ANSVVERE Your Motiues shall be answered as briefly as vrged because they be to bee scanned at a higher barre Your conflict was not with flesh and blood but you did agree with the world and the Diuell and applyed your selfe to the service of that painted but ill-favoured witch the church of Rome Neither did you forsake our Vniversity friends and familiars before they forsooke you They at length heard hated who at first obserued your folly and pittyed Mr LEECH Howbeit my Brethren since there is banishmeÌ„t indeed where no place is left for truth I esteeme al these things as dongue that I may gaine Christ for he is my sufficient reward I did not conceiue that when I preached my doctrine among you I shoulde haue giuen you such an example thereof in mine owne person But thankes be vnto him who disposeth all things sweetly for the benefit of his children Finally my brethren I wish that you may enioy your country which is aboue without forsaking that which is below But if you cannot by reason of the time theÌ„ looke vp vnto your eternity let not your excellent spirits abase themselues vnto the loue of transitory things For behold I shew you a more excellent way 1. Cor. 12.13 ANSVVER If in the world there be any sanctuary for truth it is there where shee may appeare without controll without colors or disguises Which you woulde willingly acknowledge to be true if ignorance were not the mother of your devotion To forsake all for Christ is blessed but to forsake eveÌ„ Christ himselfe it is most cursed He is a sufficient reward to all that feare follow him and will follow theÌ„ that fly from him How pervious you were to fly from your Country after you had fled from the truth your intent before and your practises since haue manifested But farre be it that God should be reputed as the disposer of you to this vnnaturall and vnchristian disobedience to the Church and State O what bitter punishment must attend that presumption that endangers a double perishing and is so far from having expresse commaund that it hath direct and iust inhibitions Your wish that we may enioy our countrey that is aboue is a wish aboue your charity We wish your admission into the heavenly Hierusalem which is aboue and would from our harts pray for your triumphant state there Luke 16.25 but that as Abraham said to Diues Remember thou in thy life time receiuedst thy pleasure and Lazarus paines therfore he is comforted and thou art tormented so we are willing to awake you with this that seeing you make your selfe of the Church triumphaÌ„t in earth you coÌ„tinuing this course are like to haue small part in the triumphant glory in heaven And while wee for our partes and stations are here wee will affect no pilgrimage but from nature to grace so to glory hoping to accompany them that are in possession of the lawrell And to this iourney we haue no other hie way 1. Kings 8.36 1. Sam. 12.23 Ier. 6.16 Ioh. 14 6. but the good way which God teacheth and the right way which Samuell describeth and the old way which Ieremy informeth al which be not as yours be Crosse waies but doe terminat in the way even Christ Iesus THE THIRD PART CONTAIning 12. Motiues which perswaded me to embrace the Catholicke Religion Briefely and naturally deriued out of the premises * ⎠* S. AVGVST In Psal contra partem Donati Scitis Catholica quid sit quid sit praecisum à vite Si qui sint inter vos cauti veniant vivant de radice THE THIRD PART CONTAINETH 12. Articles against you whereby your 12. Motiues are disproved as having not affinity with the faith of the 12 Patriarks or spirit of the 12. Prophets or doctrine of the 12. Apostles or beliefe of the 12. Articles of our Creed shewing that as Art doth imitate Nature and an ape a man so as many grounds as good Christians rely vpon for their faith Apostats boast to alleadge for their fall Wherein as in the premises the particular Apostasie is confuted condemned with much facility and breuity * ⎠* S. AVGVST In eod Psal Contra Partem Donati Ipsam formam habet sarmentuÌ„ quod praecisum est de vite Sed quid illi prodest forma si non viuit de radice Venite fratres si vult is ut inseremini in radice Dolor est cum vos videmus praecisos ita iacere Aug. de vnitate Ecclesiae cap. 2. De hoc inter nos illos quaestio versatur vtrum apud nos an apud illos vera Ecclesia sit Mr LEECH To the conscionable and Ingenious Reader THOVGH the generall motiues vnto the Catholique Religion are many and waighty yet the particular which issued out of this present businesse where such as conuinced my vnderstanding and swayed my affection to approue and embrace the same Wherefore courteous Reader aswell to procure thy good as to iustifie my selfe and to satisfie others I haue coÌ„municated them vnto thy view For matter they are the same now as when I conceiued them in the beginning for manner they are brought forth in somewhat a different shape Thus much
may suffice for thy instruction concerning these Motiues Onely I may not forget to advertise thee that whereas through their titles I vse this perpetuall stile THE PROTESTANTS c. howbeit the most learned amongst them differ in iudgement from the common sort and in this respect cannot bee concluded in the generality of ALL I haue not done this without good consideration For though the principall divines in England do vtterly distast the vaine opinions of D. King and such like yet since by publike profession of the truth they giue not sufficient notice vnto the world of their Catholique positions I must involve them also in this common accusation And as they against their knowledge Corde creditur ad iustitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem doe suffer a preiudice to fall vpon God his truth they must likewise against their will suffer an infamy to remaine vpon their owne persons ANSVVER The Catholikes like to the olde Circumcellions are Individua vaga ever in motion Campians reasons Bristowes motiues the one ten the other 48 yours a Iurie This former treatise hath answered all yours But seeing they so commanded your affection and convinced your vnderstanding wee will heare your descriptions and marke the motions If it be the good of your Reader you wish you would not leade him into so many darke entries of the Chambers of death your booke is come into the hands of many better informed soules then your selfe and some that haue breathed lately from their Antichristianisme that haue seene and heard more then you haue and haue hated and abhorred and returned You seeke to iustifie but do condemne your selfe and you hope your satisfaction will proue an infection to some But each man doth disdaine that these should draw ouer any wise Proselyte They are the same in substance as in your sermon only as the Patron of error can change his shapes so doe these You say you must not forget to advertise and I cannot omit to discrie the vntruth in the advertisement For if with an indifferent eie ANY observant in the state of our Church doe looke vpon the more learned Of our Divines he shal finde that either they be writers or publike Readers or continuall Preachers against Popery neither doe they differ in iudgement from the common sort as most iniuriously you traduce them By publike profession in the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace in the essense and substance of religion all agree And howsoever there haue beene some differences in opinion betweene many of the most orient fixed starres in the firmament of the Church as betweene Ruffinus Ierom Ierom Austin Austin Symplician and many others yet all the world wil free our Church from hauing in her Religion any diversly affected from the truth addicted to Popery at the least any that ever were of deserving note or accounted the Principall divines If there be any such homely and home-made peeces as your selfe that coccle they be no sooner noted but punished Your preiudice and infamy will returne vpon your selfe for accusing our worthiest to maintaine a linsey woolsey blended mangled Religion Being supplanted your selfe in reputation you seeke to supplāt others the vtmost spirits of your malice and spite being as Enginers to overthrow the credit of those that by their learned paines do seeke to overthrow the wals of Babell Their publique profession and positions free them from your common accusation their sermons Lectures writings might satisfie you but that these heavenly showers haue fallen besides you Error surprising your will ignorance your knowledge a smale things may moue you that were never setled Mr LEECH The First motive The Protestants admit not a triall of their Religion by the testimony of the Fathers whatsoever they pretend to the contrary BEcause it is a preposterous devise to iudge the former ages of the Church by the later D. Field pag 204. We willingly admit a triall by the Fathers saith he in the name of his Church therefore the courses of my study haue ever beene directed vnto a diligent pervsall of ancient Fathers whose authority simply considered as it may preponderate our moderne writers so in reference vnto the Church being her witnesses who is the iudge to define all controversies their testimony is to be preferred before all Authors whatsoever Neither resolued I thus without serious deliberation and especially contra haeref cap. 1. 2. the graue counsaile of Vincentius Lyrinēsis did prevaile with me seeing that learned holy men did generally conspire in this opinion If any man will discerne Heretical pravity from Catholike verity he must be furnished with a double helpe first the Canon of sacred Scripture Secondly the tradition of the Catholique Church wherein three things inseparably concurre Vniversality Antiquitie Consent The reason of which prescription is yealded by him to be this The Scripture is sublime and forasmuch as all men sense it not alike it is necessarie to adioine therevnto the continuall interpretation of the Church Vpon this infallible ground evident vnto all men of any apprehension I builded my faith conforming it alwaies vnto those Orthodoxe principles which I had derived out of the venerable Fathers Hence I assumed this doctrine of Evangelicall Coūsells which as I delivered out of the sacred volumes of Antiquitie so Antiquitie it selfe deduced it with mee out of the divine Oracles of holy Scripture And therefore seeing that my opinion was cleerely built vpon this foūdation I pressed it vncessantly vntill my vniust Iudges were enforced to forsake this meanes of triall and consequently to punish the Fathers in me as I had spoken by them But when I plainely saw that my doctrine could not be condemned without condemnation of the ancient Church and that my Iudges were driuen to this extremity I inferred that their Religion could not be good and that their consciences were verie bad ANSVVER It is a most preposterous devise to make the Fathers iudges of the Scriptures whereas the Scriptures as S. Austin confesseth ought to be the iudges of the Fathers otherwise what you impute to vs is the practise of your selues which you seeke approbation of the former Church by the latine That the Fathers may preponderate the moderne writers I answere for their antiquity they doe but where the same truth is in both for their authority they do not exceed Hath the Church had no growth since their time Hath the sonne of righteousnesse Psal 19. going from the ende of the heauens and in his compasse returning to the ende thereof againe by his beames given no more light then when it first rose Hath not God revealed somethings to one which he hath not to another 1. Cor. 14.30 as S. Paul speaketh Our reverend estimation of the Fathers is most learnedly and fully delivered by his Maiestie in his premonition and our willingnesse of a triall by the Fathers is openly testified by the Reverend Bewcleark D. Field these exceptions
by faith Your last close concerning men assisted with power to punish you disaffected by peevish fancy is meerely false it was not peevish fancie as your Popish folly tearmeth it but it was religious piety policy that disaffected reiected your doctrine the power of Scripture of Fathers of all authority assisting them Rage not courage strengthned you and therefore Iustice and Religion did censure punish you and God wil without your repentance plague you for your vile and violēt tearms against the disciples of truth your selfe being a fellower of blindnes and a hater of goodnes In the meane time this is my 7 confirmation that our doctrine is true Religion and Catholique seeing they that seeke to disgrace it be either statizing Politiques or slaundering Heretiques able to say little in shewe lesse in sense least in truth Mr LEECH The eight Motiue The Protestantes can patiently suffer the articles of the Creede c. to be violated but they are severe in those things that repugne their vtility or sensuality whatsoever EVery truth in respect of God revealing it and the Church propoūding it is of equall necessity to be beleeved howbeit in respect of the matter it selfe one truth may be of greater consequence and dignity then an other And yet it is not the greatnes of the matter it selfe but the manner of revealing which tieth vs to a necessity of beliefe I will instance in this present busines The distinction of Evangelicall Counsailes from Legall Precepts is a truth to be accepted vpon necessity of salvation Why because it is sufficiently revealed vnto vs by God and fullie propounded by the Catholique Church so that it is either wilfull ignorance not to know it or extreame obstinacy to withstand it But yet the Articles of the Creede which are the first elements of faith commended vnto vs by Apostolicall tradition may iustly be reputed more waighty in respect of the matter which is handled therein as namely the descent of Christ into hell Which article of faith is admirably perverted by the Ministers in England un so much as 3. or 4 sondry opinions thereof are freely and vncontroulably deliuered by them vnto their simple flockes I might instance in their different opinions about the Sacraments and other high misteries of saluation wherin fanaticall spirits expatiate without any reproofe But I willingly pretermit these and come to other particular points of doctrine which I preached amōgst them without impeachment First against Caluin his hereticall Autotheisme destroying the vnity of the divine essence I taught with the Nicene Creede and all antiquity that Christ is Deus de Deo hauing the same substance that is in the Father really communicated vnto him in his eternall generation Secondly with S. Gregory Damascen the Greek Latine Church I taught that Christ assumed our nature perfit and complete in the very instant of his conception contrary to the absurd opinion of diuerse Calvinisticall Protestants who avouch that his incarnation was by tēporall degrees and not by entire perfection in an instant Thirdly that God was only the permissiue not any impulsiue cause of sinne though Calvin blaspheme to the contrary and deride the distinction Fourthly Christ crying out Deus meus Deus meus c was not in a traūce he suffred no torments of hell died not by degrees as though his senses decayed by little and little but in perfit sense paine obedience patience humility constancie he rendred vp his righteous soule a voluntary sacrifice for sin But the common opinion of Calvinists is contrary vnto this position Fiftly Filius spiritus sanctus quoniam non sunt a se diem horam iudicij nesciūt a se pater autem quoniam a se est scit a se Hilar. in Mat. Respectu ordinis non teporis Lib. epist 8. c. 42. In Marc. 13.32 Christ was not ignorant of the day of iudgement either as God or man not as God for though he knew it not primarily originally as of himselfe being not God of himselfe yet did he know it secondarily by way of communication from the Father Not as Man for though hee did not know it Ex naturâ humanitatis yet did he know it In naturâ humanitatis as S. Gregory distinguisheth And this doctrine is contrary to Calvin his blasphemous glosse to wit Christus communem habuit cum Angelis ignorantiam These and many such like doctrines directly opposite to Calvin his tenents as he is cōtrary to truth for though his disciples call him a great light of the gospel yet I rather approue the censure of D. Hunnius Calvin Iudaiz a famous Lutheran saying that Calvin is an Angell of darknesse could passe vnnoted and vncontroled by my Calvinian Iudges and all other adherents vnto that faction Why then is this distinction of Precepts Coūsailes so hatefull vnto the Calvinists Alas it toucheth their coppy hold most of them being either married men or bending that way and therefore let Sacraments Christ Church c be abused nay let many points of Catholique doctrine be preached by Orthodox divines yet they are more attentiue vnto the suppression of this truth the like which doth more directly concerne their carnall pleasure and worldly profit For they that haue sold themselues to be the exact vassals of their owne affections and other mens wils are carefull to provide against any thing right or wrong true or false which may be preiudiciall therevnto rather attending what it is which will maintaine their sensuality thē what is orthodox in sound divinity ANSVVER The dignity of truth with the necessity of every truth we preach but this distinctiō so oft idle and vnnecessarily repeated I passe over as ever holding that they be Evangelicall precepts The Article of Christ his descēt into hell is not perverted by our ministers it is beleeued taught by vs witnesse Mr Rogers in his booke The Catholique doctrine of the Church of England Mr Perkins on the Creed our Articles concluded vpon in Convocation and other bookes in this kinde Bellar. de Anima Christi l. 4. cap. 6. §. quaeritur Bellarmin de anima Christi lib. 4. cap. 6. § quaeritur 2. saith thus Omnes conveniunt quòd Christus aliquo modo ad inferos descenderit Of the maner only of this descending if there bee some doubt there was the like also among the Fathers and so Bellarmine also in the place before cited declareth that aboue threescore Creedes of the ancient Fathers Councells leaue out this Article yet Luther Brentius the Centuriasts retaine it and Calvin cited by Bellarmin lib. 2. Inst cap. 16. § 8. dicit hunc articulum in praecipuis habendum The schoolemen agree not on it Durand 3. sent dist 22. quaest 3. Durand 3. sent dist 22. quaest 3. is confuted by Bellarmin in his booke de anima Christi lib. 4. cap. 15. So that if this be a motiue to forsake vs it should also bee a motiue for you to