obiection of dealing without calling or license The other reason they alleage is concerning a late action wherein J had to deale with Mr Hooker Master of the Temple in the handling of which cause they charge me with an indiscretion and want of dutie in that I inveighed as they say against certaine points of doctrine taught by him as erroneous not conferring with him nor complaining of it to them My answere herevnto standeth in declaring to your Honours the whole course and carriage of that cause the degrees of proceeding in it which J will doe as briefly as I can and according to the truth God be my witnes as neere as my best memorie and notes of remembrance may serue me therevnto After that I haue taken away that which seemeth to haue moved them to thinke me not charitably minded to Mr Hooker which is because hee was brought into M. Alveyes place wherin this Church desired that J might haue succeeded which place if J would haue made sute to haue obtained or if J had ambitiously affected and sought J would not haue refused to haue satisfied by subscription such as the matter then seemed to depend vpon whereas contrariewise notwithstanding J would not hinder the Church to doe that they thought to be most for their edification and comfort yet did J neither by speech nor letter make sute to any for the obtaining of it following herein that resolution which J iudge to bee most agreeable to the word and will of God that is that labouring and suing for places and charges in the Church is not lawfull Further whereas at the sute of the Church some of your Honours entertained the cause and brought it to a neare issue that there seemed nothing to remaine but the commendation of my Lord the Archbishop of Canterburie when as he could not bee satisfied but by my subscribing to his late articles and that my answere agreeing to subscribe according to any law and to the statute provided in that case but praying to be respited for subscribing to any other which J could not in conscience doe either for the Temple which otherwise he said he would not commend mee to nor for any other place in the Church did so little please my Lord Archbishop as he resolued that otherwise J should not bee commended to it J had vtterly here no cause of offence against Mr Hooker whom J did in no sort esteeme to haue prevented or vnderminded mee but that God disposed of me as it pleased him by such meanes and occasions as I haue declared Moreover as J had taken no cause of offence at Mr Hooker for being preferred so there were many witnesses that J was glad that the place was given him hoping to liue in all godly peace and comfort with him both for acquaintance good will which hath beene betweene vs and for some kinde of affinitie in the marriage of his neerest kinred mine since his comming J haue so carefully endevoured to entertaine all good correspondence agreement with him as I thinke he himselfe will beare mee witnesse of many earnest disputations and conferences with him about the matter the rather because that contrary to my expectation hee enclined from the beginning but smally therevnto but ioined rather with such as had alwaies opposed themselues to any good order in this charge and made themselues to be brought indisposed to his present state and proceedings For both knowing that Gods commandement charged me with such dutie and discerning how much our peace might further the good service of God and his Church and the mutuall comfort of vs both J had resolued constantly to seeke for peace and though it should fly from me as J saw it did by meanes of some who little desired to see the good of our Church yet according to the rule of Gods word to follow after it Which being so as hereof J take God to witnesse who searcheth the heart and reines and by his sonne will iudge the world both the quicke and dead I hope no charitable iudgement can suppose mee to haue stood evill affected towardes him for his place or desirous to fall into anie controversie with him Which my resolution I pursued that whereas I discovered sundry vnfound matters in his doctrine as manie of his sermons tasted of some sower leaven or other yet thus I carried my selfe towards him Matters of smaller weight and so covertlie discovered that no great offence to the Church was to be feared in them I wholly passed by as one that discerned nothing of them or had been vnfurnished of replies For other of greater moment and so openlie delivered as there was iust cause of feare least the truth and church of God should be preiudiced and perilled by it and such as the conscience of my dutie calling would not suffer mee altogither to passe over this was my course to deliver when I should haue iust cause by my texte the truth of such doctrine as hee had otherwise taught in generall speeches without touch of his person in anie sort and further at cōvenient oportunity to confer with him in such points According to which determination whereas he had taught certaine things concerning predestination otherwise then the word of God doth as it is vnderstood by all churches professing the gospell and not vnlike that wherwith Coranus some times troubled his church I both delivered the truth of such points in a generall doctrine without anie touch of him in particular and conferred with him also privatlie vpon such articles In which conference I remember when I vrged the consent of all churches and good writers against him that I knew and desired if it were otherwise what authors hee had seene of such doctrine he answered me that his best author was his owne reason which I wished him to take heed of as a matter stāding with christian modestie wisedome in a doctrine not received by the church not to trust to his own iudgment so far as to publish it before he had cōferred with others of his profession labouring by dailie praier and studie to know the will of God as he did to see how they vnderstood such doctrine notwithstanding hee with wavering replying that hee woulde some other time deale more largelie in the matter I wished him praied him not so to doe for the peace of the church which by such meanes might be hazarded seeing he could not but thinke that men who make anie conscience of their ministrie will iudge it a necessarie duty in them to teach the truth and to convince the contrarie Another time vpon like occasion of this doctrine of his that the assurance of that we beleeue by the word is not so certaine as of that wee perceiue by sense I both taught the doctrine otherwise namely the assurance of faith to be greater which assureth both of things aboue and contrarie to all sense and humane vnderstanding and dealt with him also privatlie vpon that
commanded but was highly displeased with as of Masses Pilgrimages pardons paines of Purgatory and such like further that no one sequell vrged by the Apostle against the Galathians for ioining circumcision with Christ but might be aswell enforced against the Lutherans that is that for their vbiquitie it may be aswell said to them if yee hold the body of Christ to be in all places you are fallen frō grace you are vnder the curse of the law saying cursed be he that fulfilleth not all things written in this booke with such like he added yet further that to a Bishop of the Church of Rome to a Cardinall yea to the Pope himselfe acknowledging Christ to bee the saviour of the world denying other errours being discomforted for want of workes whereby he might be iustified he would not doubt but vse this speech Thou holdest the foundation of Christian faith though it bee but by a slender thread thou holdest Christ though but as by the hem of his garment why shouldst thou not hope that vertue may passe from Christ to saue thee That which thou holdest of iustification by thy workes overthroweth indeed by consequent the foundation of Christian faith but be of good cheere thou hast not to doe with a captious Sophister but with a mercifull God who will iustifie thee for that thou holdest and not take the advantage of doubtfull construction to cōdemne thee And if this hee said bee an errour I hold it willingly for it is the greatest comfort I haue in this world without which I would not wish either to speak or to liue Thus far being not to bee answered in it any more he was bold to proceed the absurditie of which speech I need not to stand vpon I thinke the like to this and other such in this sermon and the rest of this matter hath not beene heard in publique places within this land since Queene Maries daies What consequēce this doctrine may be of if he bee not by authoritie ordered to revoke it I beseech your HH as the truth of God his gospell is deere and pretious vnto you according to your godly wisdomes to consider I haue beene bold to offer to your HH a long and tedious discourse of these matters But speech being like to tapestrie which if it be folded vp sheweth but part of that which is wrought and being vnlapt laid open sheweth plainely to the eye all the worke that is in it I thought it necessarie to vnfold this tapestrie to hang vp the whole chamber of it in your most Honorable senate that so you may the more easily discerne of all the peeces and the sundry workes and matters contained in it Wherin my hope is your HH may see J haue not deserved so great a punishment as is laid vpon the Church for my sake and also vpon my selfe in taking from me the exercise of my ministery which punishment how heavie it may seeme to the Church or fall out indeed to be J referre it to them to iudge spare to write what I feare but to my selfe it is exceeding grievous for that it taketh from mee the exercise of my calling Which I doe not say is deare vnto mee as the meanes of that little benefit whereby I liue although this be a lawfull consideration and to bee regarded of me in due place and of the authority vnder whose protection I most willingly liue even by Gods commandement both vnto them and vnto me but which ought to bee more pretious to me then my life for the loue which J should beare to the glory and honour of Almightie God and to the edification and salvation of his Church for that my life cannot any other way be of like service to God nor of such vse and profit to men by any meanes for which cause as J discerne how deare any ministery ought to be vnto me so it is my harty desire and most humble request vnto God to your HH and to all the authoritie I liue vnder to whom any dealing herein belongeth that I may spend my life according to his example who in a word of like sound of fuller sense * comparing by it the bestowing of his life to the offering powred out vpon the sacrifice of the faith of Gods people and especially of this Church wherevpon I haue already powred out a great part thereof in the same calling from which I stand nowe restrained And if your HH shall finde it so that J haue not deserved so great a punishment but rather performed the duty which a good and faithful servant ought in such a case to do to his Lord the people he putteth him in trust withall carefully to keepe I am a most humble suiter by these presents to your HH that by your godly wisdome some good course may be taken for the restoring of me to my ministery and place againe Which so great a favour shall bind me yet in a greater obligation of dutie which is already so great as it seemed nothing could be added vnto it to make it greater to honour God daily for the continuance and increase of your good estate and to be ready with all the poore meanes God hath given me to doe your HH that faithfull service I may possibly performe but if notwithstanding my cause be never so good your HH can by no meanes pacifie such as are offended nor restore me againe then am I to rest in the good pleasure of God and to commend to your HH protection vnder her Maiesties my privat life while it shall be led in dutie and the Church to him who hath redeemed to himselfe a people with his pretious blood is making ready to cōe to iudge both the quick the dead to giue to every one according as hee hath done in this life bee it good or evill to the wicked and vnbeleever iustice vnto death but to the faithfull and such as loue his truth mercy and grace to life everlasting Your Honours most bounden and most humble suppliant Walter Travers Minister of the word of God
A SVPPLICATION MADE TO THE PRIVY COVNSEL BY Mr WALTER TRAVERS AT OXFORD Printed by Ioseph Barnes and are to be sold by John Barnes dwelling neere Holborne Conduit 1612. A SVPPLICATION MADE TO THE COVNSELL BY Mr WALTER TRAVERS RIGHT Honourable the manifold benefits which al the subiects within this dominion doe at this present and haue many yeares enioyed vnder her Maiesties most happy and prosperous raigne by your godly wisdome and carefull watching over this estate night day I truely and vnfainedly acknowledge from the bottome of my heart ought worthily to binde vs al to pray continually to almighty God for the continuance encrease of the life and good estate of your honours and to be readie with al good duties to satisfie serue the same to our power Besides publique benefites common vnto all I must needes and do willingly confesse my selfe to stand bound by most speciall obligation to serue and honour you more then any other for the honourable favour it hath pleased you to vouchsafe both oftentimes heretofore and also now of late in a matter more deare vnto me then anie earthly commoditie that is the vpholding and furthering of my service in the ministring of the gospell of Jesus Christ For which cause as I haue beene alwaies careful so to carry my selfe as I might by no meanes giue occasion to bee thought vnworthy of so great a benefit so do I stil next vnto her Maiesties gracious countenance hold nothing more deare and pretious vnto me then that I may alwaies remaine in your Honours favour which hath oftentimes bin helpefull and comfortable vnto me in my ministerie and to all such as reaped any fruit of my simple and faithfull labour In which dutiful regard I humblie beseech your Honours to vouchsafe to do me this grace to conceiue nothing of me otherwise thē according to the dutie wherein I ought to liue by anie information against me before your Honours haue heard my answere and been throughly informed of the matter Which although it be a thing that your wisdomes not in favor but in iustice yeeld to all men yet the state of the calling vnto the Ministrie whervnto it hath pleased God of his goodnesse to call me though vnworthiest of all is so subiect to misinformation as except wee may finde this favour with your Honours we cannot looke for anie other but that our vnindifferent parties may easilie procure vs to be hardlie esteemed of and that we shal be made like the poore fisherboates in the sea which everie swelling waue and billow raketh and runneth over Wherin my estate is yet harder then anie others of my rancke calling who are indeed to fight against flesh blood in what part soever of the Lords host and field they shall stand marshalled to serue yet manie of them deale with it naked and vnfurnished of weapons but my service was in a place where I was to encounter with it well appointed and armed with skill and with authoritie whereof as I haue alwaies thus deserved therfore haue bin carefull by all good meanes to entertain still your Honors favorable respect of me so haue I speciall cause at this present wherein misinformation to the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie other of the high commission hath bin able so farre to prevaile against me that by their letter they haue inhibited me to preach or execute anie act of Ministrie in the Temple or elsewhere having never once called me before them to vnderstand by mine answere the trueth of such things as had bin enformed against me We haue a storie in our bookes wherein the Pharises proceeding against our Saviour Christ without having heard him is reproved by an honorable Counseller as the Evangelist doth tearme him saying doth our lawe iudge a man before it heare him know what he hath done Which I do not mention to the ende that by an indirect and covert speech I might so compare those who haue without ever hearing me pronounced a heavie sentence against me for notwithstanding such proceedings I purpose by Gods grace to carrie my selfe towards them in all seeming duetie agreeable to their places much lesse do I presume to liken my cause to our Saviour Christs who hold it my chiefest honor happines to serue him though it be but among the hindes and hired servants that serue him in the basest corners of his house But my purpose in mentioning it is to shew by the iudgement of a Prince and great man in Israell that such proceeding standeth not with the lawe of God and in a princely patterne to shew it to be a noble part of an honorable Counseller not to allow of indirect dealings but to allow and affect such a course in iustice as is agreeable to the law of God Wee haue also a plaine rule in the word of God not to proceed any otherwise against any elder of the Church much lesse against one that laboureth in the word and in teaching which rule is delivered with this most earnest charge and obtestation I beseech and charge thee in the sight of God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels 1. Tim. 5. vers 19.21 that thou keepe those rules without preferring one before another doing nothing of partialitie or enclining to either part which Apostolicall and most earnest charge I referre it to your Honours wisdome how it hath beene regarded in so heavie a iudgement against me without ever hearing my cause and whether as having God before their eies and the Lord Iesus by whom all former iudgements shall bee tried againe and as in the presence of the elect Angels witnesses and observers of the regiment of the Church they haue proceeded thus to such a sentence They alleage indeed two reasons in their letters wherevpon they restraine my ministery which if they were as strong against me as they are supposed yet I referre to your Honors wisdomes whether the qualitie of such an offence as they charge me with which is in effect but an indiscretion deserue so greivous a punishment both to the Church and me in taking away my ministery and that poore little commoditie which it yeeldeth for the necessarie maintenance of my life if so vnequall a ballancing of faults and punishments should haue place in the commonwealth surely wee should shortly haue no actions vpon the case nor of trespasse but all should be pleaes of the Crowne nor any man amerced or fined but for every light offence put to his ransome I haue credibly heard that some of the ministery haue beene committed of grievous transgressions of the lawes of God and men being of no abilitie to do other service in the Church then to read yet hath it bin thought charitable and standing with Christian moderation and temperancie not to depriue such of ministery and beneficency but to inflict some more tolerable punishmēt Which I write not because such as I think were to be favored but to shew how vnlike
point According to which course of late when as hee had taught that the Church of Rome is a true Church of Christ and a sanctified Church by profession of that truth which God hath revealed vnto vs by his sonne though not a pure and perfect Church further that he doubted not but that thousaÌ„ds of the fathers which lived and died in the superstitions of that church were saved because of their ignorance which excuseth them misalleaging to that end a * 1. Tim. 1.13 text of scripture to proue it the matter being of set purpose openly and at large handled by him and of that moment that might preiudice the faith of Christ encourage the ill affected to continue still in their damnable waies and other weake in faith to suffer themselues easilie to bee seduced to the destruction of their soules I thought it my most bounden duetie to God and to his church whilest I might haue oportunitie to speak with him to teach the truth in a generall speech in such points of doctrine At which time I taught that such as die or haue died at anie time in the Church of Rome holding in their ignorance that faith which is taught in it and namelie iustification in part by workes could not be said by the scriptures to be saued In which matter foreseeing that if swaded not warilie in it I should be in danger to bee reported as hath fallen out since notwithstanding to condemne all the fathers I said directlie and plainly to all mens vnderstanding that it was not indeede to bee doubted but manie of the fathers were saued but the meanes I said was not their ignorance which excuseth no man with God but their knowledge and faith of the truth which it appeareth God vouchsafed them by manie notable monuments and recordes extant of it in all ages Which being the last point in all my sermon rising so naturally from the text I then expounded as would haue occasioned me to haue delivered such matter notwithstanding the former doctrine had bin souÌ„d and being dealt in by a generall speech without touch of his particular I looked not that a matter of controversie would haue beene made of it no more then had beene of my like dealing in former time But far otherwise then I looked for Mr Hooker shewing no griefe of offence taken at my speech all the weeke long the next Saboth leaving to proceed vpon his ordinarie text professed to preach againe that he had done the day before for some question that his doctrine was drawne into which he desired might be examined with all severity So proceeding he bestowed his whole time in that discourse concerning his former doctrine and answering the places of Scripture which I had * Apoc â—3 4. Gal 5â— 3 4. alleaged to proue that a man dying in the Church of Rome is not to be iudged by the Scriptures to be saved In which long speech and vtterly impertinent to his text vnder colour of answering for himselfe he impugned directly and openly to all mens vnderstanding the true doctrine which I had delivered and added to his former points some other like as willingly one errour followeth another that is that the Galathians ioining with faith in Christ circumcision as necessarie to salvation might not be saved And that they of the Church of Rome may be saved by such a faith of Christ as they had with a generall repentance of all their errours notwithstanding their opinion of iustificatioÌ„ in part by their works merits I was necessarily though not willingly drawn to say something to the points he obiected against souÌ„d doctrine which J did in a short speech in the end of my sermon with protestation of so doing not of any finister affection to any man but to beare witnesse to the truth according to my calling And wished if the matter should needs further be dealt in some other more convenient way might bee taken for it wherein I hope my dealing was manifest to the consciences of all indifferent hearers of me that daie to haue beene according to peace and without any vncharitablenesse being duly considered For that I conferred with him the first day I haue shewed that the cause requiring of me in duety at the least not to be altogither silent in it beeing a matter of such consequence that the time also being short wherin I was to preach after him the hope of the fruit of our communication being small vpon experience of former conferences my expectation beeing that the church should be no further troubled with it vpon the motion I made of raking some other course of dealing I suppose my differring to speake with him till some fit opportunitie cannot in charitie be iudged vncharitable The second day his vnlooked for opposition with the former reasons made it to be a matter that required of necessitie some publique answere which beeing so temperate as I haue shewed if notwithstanding it be censured as vncharitable and punished so grievously as it is what should haue beene my punishment if with out all such cautions respects as qualified my speech I had before all and in the vnderstanding of all so reproved him offending openly that other might haue feared to do the like Which yet if I had done might haue beene warranted by the rule charge of the Apostles them that offend openly rebuke openlie that the rest may also feare and by his example who when Peter in this verie case which is now betweene vs had not in preaching but in a matter of conversation not gone with a right foot as was fit for the truth of the gospell conferred not privately with him but as his owne rule required reproved him openlie before all that other might hear and feare and not dare to doe the like all which reasons togither weighed I hope will shew the manner of my dealing to haue beene charitable and warrantable in everie sort The next saboth day after this Mr Hooker kept the way he had entred into before and bestowed his whole houre and more only vpon the questions hee had moved and mainetained wherein he so set forth the agreement of the Church of Rome with vs their disagreement from vs as if we had consented in the greatest weightiest points and differed only in certaine smaller matters which agreement noted by him in two chiefe points is not such as hee woulde haue made men beleeue The one in that he said they acknowledged al men sinners even the blessed Virgin though some of them freed her from sin for the Councel of Trent holdeth that shee was free from sinne Another in that he said they teach Christs righteousnesse to be the only meritorious cause of taking awaie sinne and differ from vs onlie in the applying of it For Thomas Aquinas their chiefe schooleman and Archbishop Catherinus teach that Christ tooke awaie onlie originall sin and that the rest are to be taken away by our selues yea the councel of Trent