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A03334 The first motiue of T.H. Maister of Arts, and lately minister, to suspect the integrity of his religion which was detection of falsehood in D. Humfrey, D. Field, & other learned protestants, touching the question of purgatory, and prayer for the dead. VVith his particular considerations perswading him to embrace the Catholick doctrine in theis, and other points. An appendix intituled, try before you trust. Wherein some notable vntruths of D. Field, and D. Morton are discouered. Higgons, Theophilus, 1578?-1659. 1609 (1609) STC 13454; ESTC S104083 165,029 276

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and I know not where they haue placed hir They can not assigne vnto me any persons time or place wherein their Synagogue had a resplendent face and a laudable dilatation §. 2. The SECOND Consideration touching a visible Church free from any damnable errour The Protestants loosenesse and confusion in their description of the Church 1. I Considered Secondly that this VISIBLE Church can neuer be taynted vniuersally with any errour and specially if it be such as either expressly or implicitely indangereth the principles of saluation for in matters of the necessity of saith she is freed from the possibility of errour 2. Hence it is that i Part. 4. de Vnit. Grac. Considerat 6. Iohn Gerson a man highly * See afterward c. 3. § 3. num 4. c. aduanced by D. Field prescribeth this ensuing obseruation as an infallible rule VVhatsoeuer is determined by the Pope of Rome together with his generall Councell of the Church in matters appertayning vnto faith that is vndoubtedly true and to be receiued of all the world For this consideration is founded in the articles of our faith VVe belieue that there is an HOLY CATHOLIQVE CHVRCH which is exempted from errour in hir faith c. 3. As this position was credible with me for the Authours sake and he vpon D. Fields singular commendation so I was induced farther and more strongly perswaded to intertayn it by the certayn warrant of him who is TRVTH it self and promised his Spirit vnto the holy Apostles with assurance Io. 16.13 that he should lead them into all Truth 4. In quality it is Truth without errour In quantity it is All truth necessary and expedient for them or vs in this peregrinant estate For as this promise belonged then particularly vnto each Apostle so it belongeth now generally vnto the whole Church which being taken either in hir latitude as she is diffused ouer the world or in hir representation as she is collected into a lawfull Synod is priuiledged from errour in hir doctrinall determinations 5. And this was clearely imported vnto me in a sentence of S. 1. Timoth. 3.15 Paull vnto his beloued Timothy whom he instructed how he should behaue himself in the house of God which is the ground and PILLAR OF TRVTH 6. For howsoeuer it pleaseth D. k Pag. 199. The church of Ephesus hath erred damnably in faith Field to elude the grauity and power of this Scripture by restrayning the Apostles sense therein particularly vnto the Church of Ephesus which was committed vnto the Episcopall care of Timothy yet as many reasons did preuayle with me to reiect his exposition so I preferred the authority of S. l Comment●r ibid Ambrose saying that VVhereas the whole world is Gods the Church is sayd to be his howse of which vniuersall Church Damasus the Pope is Rectour at this day This Vniuersall Church is the Pillar of truth sustayning the edifice of faith 7. Herevpon l Prascripe cap. 28. Tertullian deriding the hereticks of his time esteemeth it a base and grosse conceipt in any man to suppose that the holy Ghost who was asked of the Father and sent by the Sonne to be the Teacher of TRVTH should neglect that office vnto which he was designed and that he should permitt the Church to vnderstand the Scriptures otherwise then he spake by the mouth of the Apostles And farther Is it probable saieth he that so many and so great Churches if they did erre should erre thus conformably into the same faith VARIASSE debuerat ERROR doctrinae Ecclesiarum Caeterùm quod apud multos VNVM inuenitur non est erratum sed TRADITVM Errour bringeth variety but where vnity is there is the truth Thus the Churches are many in number but one in faith diuided in place but ioyned in opinion 8. Mine earnest meditation in this point taught me to lament the confusion of our Protestants admitting innumerable sectaries into our vast and incongruous Church Fox in Act. Mon. See the 3. Conuers of Englād which is a very Chimaera thrust together and fashioned in specificall disproportions But this was our necessity hard necessity and not our choyce to make such a pitifull delineation of our Church For whereas we had not any certayn succession to deriue hir descent and petigree from the Ancients we were compelled in this respect to deale liberally like good fellowes and take sondry hereticks with incompatible factions into our society least by the same reason for which we exclude others we should exclude our selues also from the communion of the Church pag. 137. 9. Hence it is that D. Field laying the fundation of his Babell feareth not to say that the Churches of Russia Armenia Syria AEthiopia Greece c. are and continue parts of the TRVE CATHOLICK CHVRCH A position manifestly repugnant vnto Reason and Authority Vnto reason for if truth of doctrine be a Note of the Church as we defend how is that a true Catholick Church which impugneth the truth and how is that one Church which is distracted into many faiths Vnto authority for S. * de haeres in perorat See the 3. conuers of England Part. 2. chap. 10. num 10.15.16.17 c. Augustine doth constantly affirme that whosoeuer maintayneth any heresy registred or omitted by him in his Treatise he is not a CATHOLIQVE Christian and consequently no member of that Church wherein alone we haue the promise of saluation For as our * Fides in Christum faith in Christ must be TRVSTFVLL liuely and actiue by a speciall application of his merits vnto our selues so our * Fides de Christo faith of Christ must be TRVE syncere and absolute by a iust conformity vnto the will of God reuealed by him and propounded by his Church And therefore D. Fields * Part. 4. de vnit Graecorum considerat 4. Gerson intreating of peace and VNITY in the Church laboureth to draw all men into a communion of faith and iudgeth it a great folly in any man to conceiue that we may be saued in our particular sects and errours 10. When I had discouered by an earnest prosecution of this point how naturally and powerfully our Protestāticall * The Church may erre Diuers Churches though erring grosly in faith make vp one Catholick Church c. doctrines conuaigh men into Laodiceanisme and a carelesse neglect of vndefiled Religion whence Atheisme must necessarily ensue I resolued with hearty affection to vnite my self vnto that Church which is pure and single in Religion wheresoeuer I should deprehend the same For though I saw that the Protestants religion was false in some things yet I had great hesitation and doubt whether the Papists were true in all as S. * Confess lib. 6. cap. 1. Augustine spake sometime vnto his louing Mother I am now no Manichee nor yet a Catholick Christian And so mine estate as well as his might be resembled vnto the case of that patient * S.
Mark 8.24 who saw men walking like trees vntill he had a perfect restitution of his sight 11. Wherefore resting my self a while vpon a profitable and sound instruction of m Lib. imperfect in Gen. cap. 1. S. Augustine viz. God hath constituted a mother Church and she is called CATHOLIQVE because she is vniuersally perfect and halteth in * Therefore not in this particular of prayer for the dead nothing I referred the successe vnto a future triall hauing a constant and vnchandgeable purpose neuer to decline nor vary from this ground which I haue here presented vnto your Christian examination §. 3. The THIRD Consideration touching the Protestants zeale in condemning this doctrine of Purgatory and prayer for the dead as hereticall blasphemous c. 1. I Considered Thirdly that this doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead as it is generally renounced by our Euangelicall congregations so it is seuerely censured by many of our writers 2. Hence it is that n Pag. 79. D. Field himself chardgeth Purgatory with the disgracefull imputation of HERESY and yet he graceth it so farr as to affirme that Augustine gaue occasion vnto this heresy in the beginning 3. Hence it is that M. Rogers in the o Pag. 121.122 Catholick Faith of our English Church spending his tempestuous phrases against the doctrine of Purgatory saieth that hereby the Papists nourish most cursed and damnable errours and that * Pag. 123. it teacheth vs to be our owne Sauiours 4. Hence it is that M. Powell in his inconsiderate violence assigning many goodly reasons why p De Antichr pag. 453 NVLLVS NVLLVS inquā PAPICOLA SALVARI POTEST no Papist can be saued includeth * Pag. 123. the figment of Purgatory in that number Likewise in the same kind of precipitation setting downe 23. q De Antichr l. 2. c. 19. blasphemous opinions deliuered by the Church of Rome against the doctrine contayned in our LORDS PRAYER he inserteth this particular viz. * Pag. 457. She teacheth that VVE MVST PRAY FOR THE DEAD 5. But forasmuch as the glorious Emperour CONSTANTINE Great in birth Greater in victory and Greatest in Christian Religion which till his time was planted in the continuall effusion of bloud buylding a magnificent * At Constantinople See Euseb in vita Constant l. ● c. 60. Church in honour of the 12. Apostles did foresee in his religious prouidence that the people mooued with the celebrity of that place would flow thither and there pray for him after his decease whereby he should be partaker of their deuotions for the benefit of his soule I was desirous to vnderstand here briefly by the way whether this imcomparable Prince following the instruction of the Catholick Church herein and whether the Priests together with the people supplicating vnto God pro anima Imperatoris for the * D. Field talketh of naming names c. see before pag. 31 But it is euidēt that the Catholick Church in hir best age prayed for the SOVLES of the dead And this exāple it self is an inuincible demonstration thereof SOVLE of the Emperour after his death as * Ibid. cap. 71. Eusebius relateth who was a reuerend Bishopp and in speciall grace with Constantine were guilty of a blasphemous opinion against our LORDS PRAYER or not 6. And my desire to receiue full satisfaction vnto this point was the rather enkindled within me because our Soueraigne Lord the King to whom all good Catholicks wish the happinesse of Constantine in faith imitating his blessed Mother a true Helena in hir virtues though not in hir fortunes made this just demand according to the sublimity of his excellēt apprehension r See the booke of the Conferēce at Hamptō Court pag. 69. What is it now come to passe that we shall appeach * Omnes nôrunt Cōstantinum fuisse admirandum in Christianismo c. Epiphan hares 69. CONSTANTINE of Popery superstition If the Crosse in baptisme were then vsed I see no reason but that we may still continue it Which royall sentence I applied duly vnto this particular of prayer for the dead and how effectuall it was with me the ingenious Reader may well perceiue if he will vouchsafe to make a little experience therof in his owne respectiue meditations 7. I returned speedily vnto my purpose for I was not willing to eclipse the light of my discourse with the interposition of M. Powells darke conceipts Finally therefore remembring that M. CALVIN is the Ipse dixit in the purest Ghospell in which respect it pleased * In a sermon at S. Maries Church in Oxon. 4. yeares since D. Airay to exhort his Auditours perswading them very earnestly and intreating them that they would by all meanes defend the estimation of M. Caluin and the rather because he is the man against whom the * And what think you of the Lutheransi doth not D. Hunnius himself beseech God to preserue his Church mercifully from th● infection of Caluin See Caluin Iudaiz in fine Papists do principally bend their forces I contented my self with his s Eldershippes censure viz. PVRGATORY is a pernitious fiction of Satan disgracefull vnto the great mercy of God euacuating the Crosse of Christ dissipating and subuerting our faith pure and horrible blasphemy against the bloud of Iesus Christ c. 8. Hence it is that we Protestants haue sentenced Purgatory to be an Antichristian Doctrine For * And what think you of the Lutheransi doth not D. Hunnius himself beseech God to preserue his Church mercifully from th● infection of Caluin See Caluin Iudaiz in fine he is Antichrist that denieth Christ to be come in the flesh And we pretend that howsoeuer this doctrine doth not positiuely deny that Christ is come in the flesh in regard of his Incarnation and Nature as he is a MAN ſ Institut lib. 3. cap. 5. §. 6. yet it denieth the same consequently in regard of his Satisfaction and Office as he is a REDEEMER 9. In which our specious venditation of reseruing inuiolated honour vnto Christ * Epist Ioh. 2. vers 7. I saw that we insist directly in the steppes of Nouatians Nestorians and the like The first pretended that they forsooth did exhibit * See S. Ambros de Poenitent cap. 2. in initio reuerence vnto God by their doctrine inasmuch as they teach that he onely and no man can forgiue sinnes The second could not endure that a woman should be stiled the Mother of their God Thus also the infatuated Presbyterians glory in their excellent cause saying * See M. Rogers in the Preface of his Cathol doctr num 16. Our controuersy is whether Iesus Christ shall be King or no. The end of all our trauayle is to sett vp the throne of Iesus Christ our heauenly King c. Which colourable piety and popular zeale in ancient or later Hereticks aduancing their opinions as Mountibancks extoll their wares did mooue me vnto a just
extend vnto the generall practise iudgement of the Church it is not nor may not be iustified Whereas he sayeth it is not iustified by Protestants that is not true whereas he sayeth it may not be iustified that is very certayn Wherefore I desire you to stand constantly vnto this position and not to flye your ground The THIRD proposition 3. THe iudgement and purpose of the ancient CATHOLICK Church is discouerable vnto us by two meaenes viz. the perpetuall succession of PRACTISE and the conforme testimony of the FATHERS For where we find no substantiall mutation of PRACTISE All men know that the practise of praying for the dead is the same now sustātially as in S. August time and I hope it was not begunne then but continued See before pag. 25. but see it perpetuated in all descents and deriued vnto vs by the long hand of time we may infallibly conclude that the later ages of the Church conspiring with the former are free from just reproof Agayn the testimony of the FATHERS conuaigheth vs vnto the knowledge of the Churches judgement so that we require fidelity in them authority in it they are the witnesses she the judge they relate hir voyce she pronounceth the sentence Theis propositions as they are very perspicuous ponderous so they will excellently and forcibly apply themselues in decision of this controuersy touching PVRGATORY and PRAYER FOR THE DEAD The testimony of S. AVGVSTINE The faithfull do know according to the instruction of the Church that when MARTYRS are recited at the Altar of God this is not done with intention to pray for them it being an injury to pray for a Martyr vnto whose prayers we ought to be recommended but we pray for other deceased men whose commemoration is there made Now for your full satisfaction in this poynt you must here obserue three things viz. the quality of the WITNESSE the competency of the IVDGE the resolution of the MATTER 1. Concerning the FIRST it importeth the witnesse onely to expresse what was the intentiō of the Church in this practise And as S. Augustine is a most faithfull witnesse of Antiquity in M. Inst l. 3. c. 3. §. 10. c. Caluins opinion so it goeth hard if for a MATTER OF HISTORY the Fathers can not find creditt at your hands they should know as well as you what was then in FACT Which sentence being very justly deliuered against the Presbyterians by the Suruay pag. 338. L. of Cant in the question of BISHOPPS c. ought to be considered exactly in this issue 2. Concerning the SECOND you see that the Churches instruction touching this matter was knowen familiarly vnto all the faithfull so that you must either vnnaturally and impiously as Aërian hereticks reiect your Mothers instruction or els as dutifull and obsequious children you must submitt your selues vnto hir doctrine Which least you should intemperately renounce I pray you to remember that famous sentence of S. Augustine viz. Ep. ●18 to call any thing in question which is frequented by the VNIVERSALL CHVRCH it is the part of most INSOLENT MADNESSE 3. Concerning the THIRD you can not but perceiue the clearnesse thereof expressed in this distinction VVe do not pray for Martyrs and VVe do pray for other men By which manifest difference S. Augustine doth sufficiently declare that the memory of Martyrs was celebrated at the Altar by way of THANSKGIVING and gladnesse but the names of other men were remembred by way of PETITION and desire The reason whereof ariseth out of their estate VVe pray not for a Martyr and it were an iniury to pray for him Why Because we know that he is in heauen and to haue any diffidence of his beatitude it were injurious vnto his cause and derogatory from his passion therefore we pray not FOR him as though he wanted our relief but VNTO him rather that he may assist vs with his charitable intercession But we pray for others that is to say for all them of whose actuall felicity the Church hath not yet attayned a secure and infallible perswasion otherwise if she knew that they were in present possession of ioy it were as great as injury to pray for them also as for the Martyrs themselues since the reason why she prayeth not for Martyrs is because she is confidently resolued that they being in heauen stand not in any exigence of hir deuotion Wherefore since the CATHOLICK Church prayed for other mē as not being in heauen or not certainly knowen to be there she did conceiue that they were or might be for ought she knew to the contrary in some third place and consequently in some temporall payn and so necessarily she did belieue that there is a PVRGATORY after this life To contend about WORDS and NAMES it is a vanity for it is sufficient to haue a sure apprehension of the THING it self To litigate about things ACCIDENTALL it is a folly for it is inough to be certayn of the SVBSTANTIALL point the rest haue their probability in their seuerall degrees and are permitted vnto free dispute Finally later ages may amplify not alter the doctrine of the former fayth hath an augmentation to perfitt hir progresse not innouation to chandge hir purenesse IESVS proficiebat sapientiâ Luca. 2.53 aetate c. Now since he that is WISEDOME it self did profitt in sapience and he that is ETERNITY did increase in age it may well become the Church to shew a conformity vnto hir head and Lord. The petition of S. AVGVSTINE Confess l. ● c. 13. Inspire o Lord my God inspire thy servants my brethren that at thy Altar they may remēber Monica thy handmayd with Patricius sometimes hir husband FINIS TRY BEFORE YOV TRVST OR AN ADMONITION Vnto the credulous and seduced Protestants to examine the fidelity of their VVriters and particularly of tvvo principall Doctours viz. D. FIELD D. MORTON A Detection of their falsehood in some matters of great importāce and a discovery of sondry vanities in the new Gospell according to LVTHER ZVINGL and others BY T. H. Maister of Arts and lately Minister Added by way of APPENDIX vnto his FIRST MOTIVE 1609. TO THE WORTHY GENTLEMAN Maister S. E. SIR though the propriety of this little Treatise be yours it being first addressed for your priuate information yet the vse thereof may be deriued vnto others vnder your honourable name buried here and intombed in a parcell of it self For as my hearty affection did single you forth to be the principall obiect of my thoughts so my compassion enlardgeth it self toward all my louing contreymen wholy insnared with you in the same danger and are held captiue therein by the same credulity and facility of belief Popidum qui sibi credat habet S. Bernard de Henrico haeretico ep 240. which hath preuayled with your noble heart to admitt the assertions of your guides without a triall of their exactnesse In which course though I may commend the goodnesse of your
The particular euidences are his seuerall opinions in the matters of faith which are controuersed betwixt the Catholicks and Protestants at this day As for example GERSON belieued the doctrine of (i) See before pag. ●5 Transubstantiation which D. Field abhorreth * pag. 171. saying that it doth imply sondry consequences of horrible impieties GERSON was a patrone of the (k) Part. 4. serm 2. de defunct c Masse which Luther hated as impious and wicked and was so * See Serarius de Lutheri Magistro instructed by the arguments of the Diuell with both whom D. Field (l) pag. 192. doth absolutely conspire in this issue GERSON was resolute in the doctrine of (m) See before pag. 108. Purgatory which D. Field hath pronounced to be an * pag. 79. heresy of the Papists 3. If I would proceed vnto other particularities as namely Inuocation of Saints Indulgences Communion vnder one kind c I might fill many pages in laying forth the irreconciliable differences betwixt D. Field and this worthy guide of Gods Church But I will pretermitt the rest and come to the supreame difference vnto which all other points are subordinate and inferiour as I conceiue that is to say the soueraigne primacy of the Romane Bishopp in whom 4. principalities concurre For he is a Diocesan in one precinct an Archbishopp in one Prouince a Patriarch in one part of the world finally the chief Pastour of all in which administration he succeedeth vnto S. Peter as holy (n) de considerat l. 2. Bernard doth excellently speake Thou Eugenius art he to whom the keyes are deliuered and to whom the sheepe are commended There are other Ianitours of heauen and other Pastours of the flock but thou much more gloriously then they by how much thou doest obtayn each name more eminently then the rest They haue their flocks assigned vnto them euery bishopp his peculiar chardge but all are credited vnto thee and all are one flock vnto thee who art one pastour of all for thou art the pastour not onely of the sheepe but of the pastours themselues Doest thou aske me how I prooue it By the word of our Lord. For to whom I say not of 〈◊〉 the Bishoppes but of the Apostles are all the sheepe so absolutely and so indifferently committed If thou loue me PETER feede my sheepe What sheepe The people of this or that city of this region or of that kingdome No but my sheepe sayth he and who doth not * Cunctis Euangelium scientibus liquet quòd voce Dominicâ sancto onmium Apostolorum principi Petro totius Ecclesiae cura commissa est sayth S. Gregor Registr epist. l. 4. c. 76. plainely see that our Lord did not here designe some but assigne all vnto his care There is no exception where there is no distinction c. So he 4. Behold now also two very effectuall testimonies of Gerson to the same purpose FIRST (o) Part. 1. de Auferib● Papae cōsiderat 8. The formes of ciuill gouernment are subiect vnto mutability and alteration but it is otherwise in the Church For hir gouernment is MONARCHICALL and is so appoynted by the institution of our Lord. If any man will violate this sacred ordinance and persist obstinately in his contempt he is to be iudged an heretick as Martinus of Padua and some others consorting with his fancy Likewise prescribing many directions to compose the differences betwixt the Greek and Latin Church he premiseth this consideration as a fundamentall poynt viz. (p) Part. 4. de Vnit. Graecorū Considerat 3. There must be one head in earth vnto which all men must be vnited For though God himself who in the second Person assumed our nature be the principall and essentiall head yet he hath constituted a vicarian head to be his deputy amongst vs for the administration of his Church for the preseruation of vnity for the communication of the faith vnto all the members thereof c. Which head we call the POPE and OVR HOLY FATHER c. If any man either in malice or folly disturbe this vnion he is a schismatick As we must employ our diligence to procure vnity so we must endeauour to bring all men vnto the obedience of one head 5. Here Gerson declareth himself truly to be a worthy Guide of Gods Church and a singular enimy of the Protestanticall Reformation which hath conuelled and dissipated this ground and principle of vnity by impugning the supremacy of the Pope Wherefore as the (p) In his Suruay pag. 140 Lord Archb. of Cant. had good reason in his experience to say those Churches that haue followed the humour of BIZA in the abolishing of their Bishoppes and Archbishopps may they not iustly wish that he had neuer bene borne So there is greater reason vpon more lamentable experience to say those Churches that haue followed the intemperate humour of LVTHER in abolishing the soueraigne Bishopp may they not iustly wish that he had neuer bene borne For the sects factions and diuisions which haue ensued vpon this breach are in number many in quality odious and there is no certayn end vnto which they finally incline Which euills are well expressed by the Authour of them all (q) Luth. in Galat. c. 5. 15. The concord of the Church being once violated there is neither measure nor end of dissensions VVhen Aphrick was subuerted by the Manichees then succeeded the Donatists who contending also amongst themselues were parted into three sects Likewise in our time first the SACRAMENTARIES fell away from vs then the ANABAPTISTS and neither of theis agree together Thus one sect breedeth more and each condemneth the other 6. But if we would reflect vpon the true cause hereof thou ô Luther thou art the cause of theis perturbations for thou hast taken away the meanes of vnity by displacing the head of the Church in whom it should be eminently preserued as Gerson that worthy guide doth grauely and wisely teach Wherefore let any man of conscience and discretion examine the truth and substance of D. Fields assertion saying (r) Pag. 179. it is the pride of Antichrist the Pope that hath made all the breaches in the Christian world and would haue layd all waste if God had not preserued a remnant Of whom Lutherans Sacramentaries and the like 7. I come vnto a SECOND proposition deliuered by the sayd worthy guide of Gods Church (ſ) Gers Part. 4. Contra bullam mendicant If you demand whether a man may be saued though he reiect the true * Martin 5. Pope I answere he may if ignorance excuse him and if he haue a good will or a mind prepared to yeald obedience when the truth shall be explaned vnto him for then he departeth not from Christ the essentiall head and from his ordinance viz. THERE MVST BE ONE POPE IN THE VNIVERSALL CHVRCH To which effect as I conceiue certayn penitent Nouatians did confesse and (t) Lib. 3. ep 11.
was the man who according to the decree of the Councell of Constance did exhumate the bones of VVickliff and committ them vnto the fire Which proceeding drew this angry sentence from M. Powells pen ibid. pag. 22 Vah inauditam tyrannidem 6. I poynt at theis things by the way that you may see how your Protestants are omnium horarum homines praysing dispraysing aduancing deprauing whom they please and as they please to extort any shaddow of defence for their vnhappy cause so that euery writer amongst them may garnish his title page with this Horatian motto Quò me cunque rapit tempestas deferor I proceed Your Doctour telleth you that Grosthead contemning Papall bulls and letters was therefore named Romanorum malleus contemptor But he should informe you that Grosthead was so named because he would not permitt Italians who in many respects were incompetent for the places designed vnto them in England by the Pope to possesse Ecclesiasticall dignities within his episcopall precinct and howbeit sondry letters were directed vnto him from the Pope yet he thought it lawfull for him to gainsay an vnlawfull demand and therefore he would not condescend vnto that which he esteemed vtterly vniust Whereas your Doctour sayeth farther that the Cardinalls opposed themselues c. he should say that they interposed themselues by counsayle also to intreate not by authority to controll 7. I will not exercise your patience any longer in detection of your Doctours crafty and subtile fetches to intangle his Reader both in his matter and in his wordes a snare is layed in euery line and the foolish among the people are taken therein wise men and circumspect and indued with meane knowledge and solicitous of the truth will soone discouer the obliquity of his paths 8. Thus much most dearely respected Maister S. out of my heartiest loue vnto your noble and heroicall self I haue thought good to sett downe briefly and plainely and perhapps effectually concerning some worthy guides whose names are exceedingly abused to prooue that which they disapprooued and to support that cause which they abhorred as exitiall and deadly heresy from the very bottome of their hearts There remayn yet other worthy guides viz. Camoracensis Sauanarola c. traduced also and inforced to giue testimony vnto that which they did alwayes disclayme As for Cameracensis or Petrus de Aliaco he was the instructour of Gerson and you may discerne the Maister by the Scholler See Gers part 3. in dialog Apologetic In the Examen of Fox his Calendar chap. 9. num 9. 10. c. As for Sauanarola he is quite dischardged from the communion of Iohn Fox his Saints as you may see in the right excellent Treatise of the three Conuersions of England a booke which I do specially recommend vnto you for matter for method and for stile assuring you vpon my owne experience that you shall reade it with great profit and incredible delight where the vanity and falsehood of that deceyuer is dismasked and layed forth in such manner as it doth iustly require 9. Now it remayneth that according to the acutenesse and viuacity of your ingenious spirit you should penetrate deepely into a consideration of your present estate Out of the Church there is no saluation as all men perished out of the Ark which was a type thereof and that you are not within the Church as I do certainly know so your self can not but necessarily suspect For you see that the guides of your soule are deceiptfull and that the grounds of your Religion are absurd If you repayr vnto such worthy guides as Gerson Grosthead c. they condemne you if vnto VVickliffe Husse c. as they dissent from you in many things so there was a time when they did not exist and they were Papists also before they apostatized from the Church Where was your Religion then and in whom was it perpetuated for many ages Will you recurr vnto an inuisible Church S. Augustines disputatiō against the Donatists do clearely cōuince you for he prooueth that the Church neither was nor can be inuisible and concealed pag 19. c. yea your learned Doctour doth liberally confesse the same Will you content yourself with a linsey wolsey mixed heterogeneous Church which hath not a pure See before booke 1. Part. 2. chap. 1 §. 1. 2. immaculate faith but is composed of sondry factions imbued with different and incompatible opinions This were to make the Virgin-Church of Christ an harlot to turne the Catholick religion into hereticall confusion And yet vnto theis impious paradoxes your Professours are ineuitably driuen for the mayntenance and supportation of their cause CHAP. 2. The singular vanity of D. Field pretending that there is no materiall difference betvvixt the Luthérās Zwinglians c. §. 1. Their difference about the question of Vbiquity D. Fields pseudo-theologicall determination thereof Their difference about the Sacrament 1. AS one waue in the sea followeth immediately vpon the neck of an other so the vntruths of D. Field come rowling together and where one hath ended there an other beginneth finis alterius mali Gradus est futuri 2. You haue seene * pag. 2. before that he imputeth the diuersity of his Cadmaean brethren wholly vnto the Papists and then without any intermission he yealdeth a farther plea in their defence saying Yet it fell out by the happy prouidence of God and the force of that mayne truth they all sought to aduance that there was no materiall or essentiall difference amongst them but such as vpon equall scanning will be found rather to consist in the diuers manner of expressing one thing and to be but verball vpon mistaking through the hasty and inconsiderate humours of some men then any thing els Yea I dare confidently pronounce that after due and full examination of each others meaning there shall be no difference found touching the matter of the SACRAMENT the VBIQVITARY presence or the like betweene the Churches reformed by Luthers ministery in Germany and other places and those whom some mens malice called SACRAMENTARIES c. And this shall be iustified against the proudest Papist of them all 3. I find no iustification made by your humble Doctour concerning the Sacrament but in the question of Vbiquity he hath giuen iust aduantadge vnto the Papists if they were proud before See Fabricius in loc com Luth. part 4. p. 55. pag. 1●1 to remember what M. Luther hath left written vnto posterity viz. Scio me in hac causâ non fuisse tam animoso SVPERBO spiritu quàm sum modò c. 4. Wherefore I pray you see the salue of a misappled distinction by which he seeketh to heale the wound of your incurable dissension saying the humane nature of Christ hath two kinds of being the one NATVRALL the other PERSONALL the first limited and finite the second infinite and incomprehensible For seeing the nature of a man is a created nature and essence it can