A QVARTRON OF REASONS OF CATHOLIKE RELIGION WITH AS MANY BRIEFE REASONS OF REFVSALL By Tho. Hill Imprinted at Antwerpe with Priuiledge 1600. A COPPY OF A LETTER SENT FROM TVVO CITIZENS of London to theyr friend remayning beyond the Seas for cause of Religion WE had great hope deare friend that you would haue beene a stay and comforte to vs all and an ornament to your kinred and Countrie and therefore no costes nor charges were spared in bringing you vp in learning but all was thought well bestowed not doubting but if God spared you life you woulde in time be able not onlie to prouide well for your owne selfe but also to pleasure the best of your friendes But wee see all to fall out quite contrarie to our great griefe endlesse anguish for the blinde opinions and selfe-willed conceites which you haue taken haue ouerthrowne the good fortune which otherwise lay before you they haue discredited you with your kinred disgraced you in your countrey caused you to haue your natiue soile and to leade a poore life in a strainge lande And yet all these might in some sort be borne were they not accompanied with the endlesse mone of your Parents If you well remember you were long since told that if you perseuered to take to holde such opinions as you then began to doe your burning woulde stande you in small steede and consequently your kinsefolkes and friendes should haue little ioy or comfort of you And so we see it is come to passe Your aged Parentes neuer cease to vrge vs to write to you to mooue you yet at the length to remember your selfe and either by returning to amende all which is amisse or else by shewing some Reasons to purge your selfe and so to yeelde them some satisfaction We therefore praye you in all kindnesse to write vnto vs if by no meanes you will be drawen backe from this dolefull course yet vouchsafe to set down some reasons of your Religion to the ende you may cleare and purge your selfe of the suspition of sottishnesse and selfe-wilfulnesse For you are mightily condemned and of your kinsfolkes heere thought to bee Bud. ex Cicer. Opinator vehemens one very opinatiue for that you sticke so stifly to the olde which heere in a manner of all sorts is vtterlye condemned as a grosse and a palpable errour Yet haue not wee your louing friendes so base conceit of you but wee rather thinke that you haue great and weightie Reasons at the least in your owne iudgement to mooue you to take so harde a course as you doe Our desire therefore is that wee may haue them written and sent vs in as briefe manner as you possibly maye for to returne wee will not mooue you except we thought you would conforme your selfe to the Lawes and Religion of your Countrey thereby to shew and to declare to them who wishe you well that you are no such opinions companion as some woulde haue you to be Thus hoping you haue a care to accomplishe our request and not to reiecte our Letters and neglecte the aunswering of them as your woonte and custome hath beene heretofore with our most hartie commendations wee commit you to God Almightie London this 13. of September 1599. Your very louing friends R. G.H. A COPPIE OF THE ANSWERE TO THE LETter afore-going MY DEERE AND louing friendes the 23. of Octob. Ann. 1599. I receiued your Letter dated the 13. of September of the same yere In it you giue me to vnderstand how that my Parents with other of my kindred as also you your selues do greatly grieue for that you are frustrated of the hope and expectation you had of my worldly abilitie in time to come with many other profes of my blinde opinion selfe-willed conceites crossing my good fortune of disgrace among my kindred banishement pouerty and of other such like All which wordes I count but as winde or as vaine florishes the more for that I see all your affection towardes me to be meere carnall and that you loue me Amore concupiscentiae rather than Amore amicitiae seeking your owne good thereby as may appeare by your owne writing yet doe I conster all in the best manner And whatsoeuer you write or say I knowe doth proceede from loue and affection and from true amity but yet sauoring meerly of fleshe and bloode I knowe my Parents to be kinde and louing according as nature giueth to them the instinct so to be and I for my part am ready euer haue beene to yeelde to them all duty of an obedient Sonne as also to you the offices required in a kinde friende But this I must entreat both them and you to giue me leaue to serue and to honour God Almighty who is Father of all Fathers and therefore more to be harkened vnto than any kindred yea or creature whatsoeuer Which thing I cannot doe but by cleauing to this Religion wherein I was Borne Baptised and Confirmed and which I am most strongly perswaded in my vnderstanding and conscience to be the onely true Religion Which setled perswasion and assurance of Faith is not remooueable by any humane meanes therefore in vaine doe you write such letters vnto me and in vaine doe my Parentes grieue at my course for I more lament your state and theirs than you doe mine Assure your selfes that I can neuer be perswaded but that I take the only way to gaine Heauen and so to saue my soule and only for that ende doe I take this course of life as God Almighty best knoweth and mee thinketh you should not deeme it to be any discredite or disgrace so to doe considering I cleaue to the Religion of all our Auncestours and Forefathers which hath beene Vniuersall ouer all Christendome for aboue these thowsand yeeres and therefore cannot disgrace me but it must disgrace the whole Christian worlde also Indeede if I tooke or helde any newe opinions as of Puritanisme Brownisme Martinisme or of Family of Loue or such like newe-sprung conceits you might both iustly condemne my course be vtterly ashamed of such a brainsicke fellowe as should crosse his worldly welfare by such sottishnesse and selfe-wilfulnesse To satisfie my Parents and your request I haue heere written and sent you a Quartron of Reasons of Religion not intending thereby to perswade you or others there to this religion which I professe because I know that to be daungerous as prohibited by the lawes of the land wherein you liue but onlie to shewe to them who wishe mee well what groundes and reasons I haue for my doinges I could haue yeelded you so many if I had thought it fit so to haue done as would haue made vp a iust volume and yet haue left behinde me infinite moe but I thought these to suffice for that I know you haue not leasure or at the least are vnwilling to trouble your selues with reading ouermuch of such matter I tearme them a quartron of reasons because
stand against a whole Realme and wee see no reason but that you may as well come to Church as you did once if wee be not deceaued eate vpon some occasion flesh vpon a friday a thing so opposite to your religion If you can maister your minde so as you may come home in this sort we shall be all most glad of you for if you do neyther Parents nor frends will entertaine you nor speake one worde in your cause for if they should it were but in vaine besides might bring them into some suspitiō discredit God giue you grace to be wise in time for if you holde on in this your wilfull follie wee feare much that you who shuld haue bin most cōfort to your friends wil become their greatest greefe giue thē occasion to wish that you neuer had bin borne whereas being tractable in this our request you may salue all sores past benefit your self pleasure many do great good in your coūtrie comfort your kinsfolkes proue your selfe wise in deed gaine credit amongst the best and liue pleasantly manie an yeare Which thing your Parents and wee most earnestlie desire to see And thus they with paternall blessinges and wee all ioyntlie with millions of commendations commit you to the Almightie London this 2. of October an 1599. Your most kinde and louing friendes R. and G.H. AN AVNSWERE TO THE LETTER AFORE GOING MOST louing frindes I had writtē the reasons of Religion before I receiued the countermaunde in your last letter which came to my handes very late for being dated the 2. of October Anno 1599. it came not to me vntill the 20. of December of the same yeere Perusing the same weighing the contents thereof I find that you little care what religion I reteine in my minde and conscience so that I be conformable to the Lawes of our Country in hearing Seruice as it is nowe set forth or a peece of a Sermon as it is nowe there preached Manye circumstances and surmises you vse but all driue to the finall scope by you intended which is to driue me to your Church And indeede as worldly friends for an especiall kinde of such loue towardes me you labour very much for the which I hartely thanke you but alasle your counsell and desire is no other than S. Peters was to our Lord Christ Mat. 16. or those pittifull frinds was to Eleazarus 1. Mac. 6. for you builde all vpon our present safety welfare in this world And if I thought that I might followe your counsell neuerthelesse saue my soule surelye then I were the most miserable foole that euer was in the worlde if I would not so doe For to speake of my fellow Catholikes in England as well as of my selfe can there I pray you anye man be more madde than to suffer losse of goods and liuing to bee discredited contemned and troden vnder euery mans foote that listeth to spoile them to lie in prison in dungeons to be racked reracked hanged bowelled aliue and boyled and after all this to goe to hell there to bee tormented eternallye with Fire and Brimstone and all for Religion when-as beeing conformable to the Lawes of their country in going to Church they may enioy liuings liberties liues feede at large and liue gallantly alofte in all delicacy mirth pastime pleasure in this world after all this in the ende to be sure of ioy in the next If you coulde proue this to me then I saye you might condemne mee for the wretchedst miscreant that euer liued if I did not yeelde to your aduice and desire But vntil you can proue it I hope you will conster my course in charitable maner and iudge better of me thā that I do it of obstinacy or for feare of discredit or for anye worldly respecte for I cal God Almighty before whome we are sure to meete one daye and to receiue according to our thoughts words deeds to witnesse that I doe refraine refuse to goe to your seruice only for conscience sake that is because I thinke it not laweful for in so doing I should offende God Almightie greatly which I must not doe for a million of worldes But because you write that you suppose me to haue more knowledge then to answere with sillie women it is against my conscience c. and aske vvhat Scripture authoritie or reason I haue for my refusing I thought it good conuenient to shew you briefly some arguments reasons which I know not how to answere if I should follow your counsaile But I will not amplifie or explane them at large for so I should be long and ouer tedious for you who if I be not deceaued can hardly endure to reade through anie prolixe discourse but I wil only point as it were at them with my finger for I know your wits to be ready enough to conceaue the vvhole by a part or parcell To begin therefore I tell you plainely that the reasons why I being a Catholike and most stedfastly beleeuing the Catholike Religion to be most true and consequently all other Sects and religions false and damnable will not goe to heare your seruice or a sermon of your religion are these which follow 1 In so doing I should furnish the Campe of the enimies of the Cathotholike Church with my visible presence which may not be done without offence for Prouer. 14 In the multitude of his people is the Kinges dignitie and in the small number of his folke the ignominy of the Prince I lessen therby the number of Catholikes and encrease the number of Protestantes at the least in open show 2 I should yeeld to an act of a contrary religion exacted of me as a denyall of mine which may not be done without great offence for although you inculcate and ingeminate obedience and dutifulnes to our Prince that it is but an act of obedience sure lie I cannot see but that it is an act of religion for albeit the Statute beare this title An act to retaine her Maiesties subiects in theyr due obedience yet is not meere obedience the marke intended in the Satute for the ordinary way to exact obedience is by othes of fidelitie and homage And why should this law be made for odedience and none els or why shuld obedience be rather shewed in the Church then in other places or why by ioyning with protestants in their seruice rather thē by other maner of waies And I pray you is not obediēce included in euery law as well as in this for it is verie plaine that euery precept or law besides obedience to it selfe intendeth some acte of some other vertue And in this law none can be intended but about religion and so in going to your seruice I shuld make outward professiō of your religion which in my conscience I iudge to be false 3 I should deny my Faith by so doing for before the law of going to the Church was made
Heathen persecutors Iewes Turkes and Heretikes in perpetuall tormentes for persecuting and striuing against the Catholicke ROMAN CHVRCH To this Constantine the great brought peace and quietnesse In this Church there hath beene continuall succession of Bishops without any interruption All Bishopps and Pastours of particular Churches in what land or country soeuer they were in vnder the cope of heauen were mēbers of this Church As for example S. Ignatius at Antioch Peter Alexander Athanasius Theophilus at Alexandria Macharius and Cyrillus at Ierusalem Proclus at Constantinople Gregory and Basil in Cappadocia Thaumaturgus in Pontus Polycarpas at Smyrna Iustinus at Athens Dyonisius at Corinth Gregory at Nysa Methodius at Tyrus Ephreem in Syria Cyprian Optatus Austin in Africke Epiphanius in Cyprus Ambrose Paulinus Gaudentius Prosper Faustus Vigilius in Italy Irenaeus Martine Hylarius Eucherius Gregory Saluianus in Fraunce Vincentius Orotius Hildefonsus Leander Isidorus in Spayne Fugatius Damianus Iustus Melytus Beda in England were Bishoppes and Pastours of this Church In briefe whatsoeuer deedes or works signes or monuments fragments or reliques remaine yet in anie land or countrie of them who planted the Christian Faith there doe testifie the Catholike Roman Religion All Princes Kings Emperors all States and commonweales which euer were christened the Theodosians in the east the Charles in the west the Edwards in Englande the Lewesses in Fraunce the Hermigildes in Spaine the Henries in Saxony the Wenceslaes in Boeme-Lande the Leopoldes in Austria the Steeuens in Hungary the Iosophates in India professed and protected the Roman Religion they builded Churches founded religious houses erected many other Monuments of pietie not for Protestants Iwis but for the professours of the Catholike Roman Religion which Faith and Religion S. Pattricke brought first into Ireland Palladius into Scotland S. Augustine into England and other Apostles into other countries witnesses of this Religion are al Vniuersities Colledges Hospitals Monasteries Churches Chappels and innumerable other monumentes Witnesses their foundations their ordinances yea and the very buildings themselues witnesses all Reuestryes Chauncels with steppes vp Aultars Rood lofts Cross-buildings al Crosses in Church and Church-yeardes Market-places and High-waies witnesses all Bishoprickes Deaneries Arch-deaconries Prebendes Parsonages Vicariages such like ordained trow you for women children to make them gentles Witnesses all tithes and other liuely-hoods so religiously lotted out not for ministers wenches their brats but for Sacred anoynted Priests Good Lord what would the founders of all these premisses say if they might come but to see how their lands and goods which they so religiouslie bestowed to honor God withall are by Protestants employed Witnesses spirituall Courtes Visitations Conuocations Excommunications Suspensions witnesses probations of dead mens wils witnesses bidding and forbidding of banes witnesses partitions of Diocese parishes all ordeyned and instituted by Papists Witnesses auncient lawes and customes witnesses the vulgar manners of people the Election and Inauguration of Emperours the rites of annoynting crowning of kings the dubbing of knights c. witnesses coynes windows towne-gates town-houses all rules and to conclude all things in the world witnes the Catholike Roman Religion Thus haue I briefelie my deare frendes set downe some plaine reasons of the religion which I professe for the enioying of which I am content to forgoe my natiue soyle my deare Parents you my dearest friends with all the rest and all those commodities and pleasures which you account in your letter I wish you not to thinke euill of mee for so doing for it is the religion wherein I was borne baptized and confirmed it is the religion which from time to time hath bin vniuersallie receaued throughout all Christēdome it is the religion which there in our own countrie of al others is the first the auncientest the moste benificiall of all the rest the mother and begetter of the others the religion of all our Christian Predecessours and therefore beare with me I pray you in that I will not yeelde vp my title and interest of that which I haue receaued from myne Elders by lineall and lawful discent no man for these thousand yeares at the least seeking to put mee or any of my predecessors out of it Yet if any Protestant or other whatsoeuer can shew me any good euidence why I should not possesse the same I am readie to giue it vp but hitherto they promising and vaunting to shew good euidence haue brought forth nothing but words and forgerie And therefore by Gods grace I purpose to hold the same euen vntill my dying day except such euidence come against my title as is not to be shewed no not by an Angell if he should come from heauen God blesse you in the aboundance of his mercie who sende vs ioyfull meeting eyther in this world or in the next or in both A COPIE OF ANOTHER LETTER WHICH THE TWO Cittizens of London wrote to theyr friende beyond the Seas shortlie after that the other was sent DEARE AND WEL-beloued friend after that we had sent the last Letter dated the 13. of September Anno. 1599. wee consulting and weighing the contents thereof with some what more deepe considerations then before wee had done it was thought good to write vnto you this second Letter to let you vnderstand that wee will not receaue nor medle with any grounds or reasons of your faith and religion therfore you neede not to trouble your selfe with writing any for wee assure our selues that you can bring forth none but such as Papistes vse to alleadge which are now growne verie stale out of request Onlie this is the desire of vs al that you would returne without delay but yet so as you may shew your selfe obedient to her Ma. lawes in comming to the Church as other good dutiful subiects doe for surelie what Religion soeuer you professe we thinke you may with safe conscience come to heare Diuine Seruice or a Sermon beeing no further vrged but that you may thinke and pray as you list And what Scripture authority or reason can you shew or pretend for refusing so to doe For we knowe the cōmon answere which women such sillie soules are accustomed to make in saying It is against my conscience I may not with a safe conscience so doe is too foolish for you who seeme to haue more knowledge Wee supposed at the first that your refusall proceeded of a timerous ouer scrupulous conscience but now wee beginne to suspect that because you haue gone so far in that course you thinke it would be some discredite as to be deemed vnconstant and a turne-coate if you should in any sort relent and come to conformitie and therefore you minde still to be obstinate but wee friendly aduise you to beware of such peeuishnes proceeding indeede from the roote of pride we wish you to submit your selfe to your gracious Princesse her honourable Coūcell to the lawes of your natiue Country and weigh with your selfe what you are to